'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Okay, I was going to try to come up with a clever version of this story, but after the first line or so, I decided it just wasn't going to happen.

We spent Christmas Eve together, just us, our small little family. We ran errands, played and napped the day away until it was time to get ready for our Christmas Eve church service. Taryne was such a good little girl during church and even went to the front for the Children's Sermon and had fun.

After church, we had a nice meal and Taryne and I baked some cookies for Santa. We set those out with some carrots for the reindeer and a tall glass of milk in case Santa was thirsty.

After Taryne went to bed, I put the kitchen set together that Santa left. It took a little work, but that is okay, the kitchen set was a huge hit the next day.

When she woke up on Christmas morning, we got her out of her crib, changed her and let her walk into the living room. As soon as she saw the kitchen set, she dropped her blanket and yanked the lion from her mouth and ran over to check it out. She was SOOOO excited!!!

***Okay, so I know I didn't do any silly rhyming or anything to make it like the actual story, but apparently that is how I was saying this entire post in my head...with the exception of the last paragraph. So I know I will always read this post that way. Sorry.

Until next time...Gig'em!

Taryne's Adventures with Aunt Charlotte & Uncle Zach

Last week while Taryne was sick, her Aunt Charlotte & Uncle Zach came to visit and watch her so Kyle and I would not miss work. Apparently Taryne was not sick and played and was silly all day. Here are a few pics from the day...

That night we decided to make things easy and go out for dinner. Well, on Kyle's salad, there were a few onion slice and he set them aside since he did not want to eat them. Taryne saw the onion, picked it up and decided to try it. We can only guess she liked it...at first anyway since she continued chewing on it for a few minutes. She finally decided she did not like the raw onion, but preferred the onion rings instead.

Until next time...Gig'em!

Big Girl at Dinnertime...

Last night we had buffalo chicken mashed potatoes sort of what is offered at a place called Potato Shack in our town. Kyle loves the mashed potato version while I typically get the baked version. When we make it at home, we just do all mashed.

Since Charlotte was still over at our house, we decided to have a "lazy" dinner and eat in the living room while watching a bowl game. Taryne had already had a few things for dinner, but decided she wanted mashed potatoes with everyone else. Normally she will not eat mashed potatoes, so I was a little surprised.

Kyle grabbed one of her spoons and gave her a bite. She grabbed the spoon and insisted that she feed herself the potatoes. So we let her and she did so well. So she proceeded to eat a small bowl of mashed potatoes in addition to the food she had already had for dinner.

She even walked over to Charlotte and tried to get a spoonful of her potatoes to eat. It was a very cute moment and we have the "oh my, she is really growing up" moments way to often lately.

I didn't know I was going to be in the pic...but it is a good pic of Taryne. 

Until next time...Gig'em!

Puppy Love...

Taryne just loves giving us hugs and kisses. She also loves giving Cassie hugs and occasionally she will give Phoebe a hug...if she can attempt to do it without getting licked to death. She also love petting the dogs, especially Cassie.

The other night, she just kept giving Cassie hug after hug. It was too cute. I got these pictures are she had already given her several hugs.

Until next time...Gig'em!

Christmas Program

Last week Taryne had her Christmas program through day care. Taryne's class came out to the song "What Child is This?" and all were dressed in white tees with gold question marks on the front. They also carried electric candles and all the students wore yellow "flame" hats. Taryne is in the Younger Toddler group, but for this program, was lumped in with the other infants, so all the stdents were in the buggies for the song.

Taryne is in the front row on the left....

My friend Carrie, her daughter Morgann, Taryne and Me

Taryne was having fun pointing out the sheep on the backdrop after the program.

Until next time...Gig'em!

Teething...

So Taryne has been teething...alot lately. So much so that she was sent home from day care 2 days in a row. The first day she was "inconsolable" and would constantly cry and was just downright miserable. Fortunately nothing else was wrong, so our only conclusion was teething.

The next day she was sent home with a 102 fever, again, we assume was due to teething since nothing else was wrong. Unfortunately her 102 fever caused her to not be allowed back at day care for at least 24 hours from when she was released. So...thankfully we have her Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Zach fairly close by that they were able to come over and watch her the entire next day.

When they got to our house late that night, Taryne decided to wake up and she walked over to Aunt Charlotte and crawled into her lap and snuggle up close to her. She loves being around her aunt and uncle, but was still surprised at how she wanted to go to her Aunt Charlotte. Taryne is comfortable with most people, but she still prefers Mom and Dad to most others.

Of course the next day she was feeling perfectly fine and running around and being super silly for Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Zach. I was so glad she was feeling better so she could participate in her Christmas Program at day care the next day.

Until next time...Gig'em!

Taryne's First Women's Basketball Game

I feel like I am terribly behind on posts lately. About a week ago, I got some free tickets to one of the Aggie women's basketball games. The opponent was TCU and if I remember correctly they beat us last year. This year was a totally different story. We managed to stomp TCU this year. Whoop!

We have not had a chance to take Taryne to many Aggie sporting events. She was really small last year so we were only able to go to a few baseball and softball games. So it was definitely time to take her to a women's game. The great thing about basketball is that it is a fairly fast paced sport and the games are not terribly long. Great when you have a 15 month old that cannot sit still!

At first she was a little gun shy. I think there were too many lights with all the ribbon boards in Reed Arena and the announcer was a little loud. However, after a little ways into the first half, she became a little more comfortable and was having a blast! She wanted to dance to all the music and was intently watching the game in between stealing pieces of popcorn.

Yes, she loves popcorn. We discovered that the night before when she just had to have a piece. Since she already has 2 molars, we let her try a piece and she decided that she loves it and and we discovered that she could actually eat it.

After the game we went down to the court and visited with several of the players that I know from working in Athletics. Most of them had not met Taryne yet and were super excited to meet her. One even said that Taryne was my twin with blonde hair!

Until next time...Gig'em!

Big Girl Table...

We had Christmas early with my family because my mother works Christmas weekend. She is an RN and works nights and since Christmas Eve and Christmas fall on the weekend, she works. Blah, but oh well, that is life.

One of the gifts she received was a table and chairs set for playtime. Well, as soon as we got home, we got it set up and one of the first things she did was color on the chairs and the table. I guess she was making her mark to let everyone know that it is HER table and chairs.

We made the mistake of giving her a snack at her new table and for the next several days she insisted upon eating all of her meals, especially breakfast, at her new table. Good and bad. Good for the fact she is learning to sit in a chair and finish her food, but bad because she wants to get up more often. And since the chairs are still just a teensy bit too high for her, I have to help her onto the chair each and every time.

We now have a habit of moving the table back and forth from the living room and breakfast area for meals and play time. I originally had planned to have this set in her room for coloring, playing, etc, but I just don't know if that is going to work. The past few days she has been wanting to sit at her normal seat in the kitchen since we are at the table as well. I like being able to control (and strap her in for safety) her meal times...at least for now.

These are from the first night with the table and chairs...

In case you are wondering, the table and chairs set is from IKEA's Children's Collection. It is a great plastic that wipes clean easily and comes in several cute colors. It is a great kid-friendly table and chairs set.

Until next time...Gig'em!

No, don't touch!

I feel like I say that phrase quite a bit lately, especially over the past few days. Up until the end of this past week, Taryne pretty much left the Christmas tree and all the ornaments alone. However, the past few days, she has been constantly testing our patience and wants to touch and remove some of the ornaments from the tree.

The good thing is she actually hangs them back on or makes a pretty good attempt when we tell her "No, don't touch!". She also likes to get into the little nook behind the tree. I guess she is thinking we can't see her mess with the ornaments on that side...

Until next time...Gig'em!

Toys

Taryne has her fair share of toys, especially after her first birthday. I am to the point of rotating out toys and I think sometime in the spring we may look into sharing some of the toys with other children...

For Christmas, one of the toys she received from Mimi and Papa was a laptop computer type toy. It is an awesome toy...but she got the exact same one for her birthday. No problem, I decided to just return it and let Taryne pick out something else.

Well, once we hit the toy aisle at Target, she found this Leap Frog music wand and fell in love. She loved the toy so much, Taryne didn't want to let it go even for a second so we could ring it up and pay for it.

As soon as we got to the car, the packaging was removed and she played with that music wand all day, even when we went out for lunch. Today she played with it quite a bit as well. Thank goodness we didn't have to take it with us to the women's basketball game...that would have been fun.

Until next time...Gig'em!