Just an ordinary Saturday

Our family tradition for quite some time consists of Tim and Kairis making a big "Saturday morning brunch". I get to sleep in and we all enjoy a yummy homemade meal by Tim. Usually includes pancakes or waffles, eggs, bacon and juice. This is a cute picture I captured of Tim and Kairis enjoying cooking together. :)

Peacock Lane

December, 2010. Another outing, this time to Peacock Lane. We had a great time looking at all the beautiful Christmas lights in Portland. I packed a little bag of homemade popcorn and hot cocoa for all of us to enjoy on our walk. :) It was freezing that night, hence the snowsuits. :)

Gingerbread Men!

December, 2010 Gingerbread men! :)











Yes, I am finally catching up. We made Gingerbread boys and girls at GG and Auntie Linda's house in December. Here are some fun pictures of our time together.

2.5 Years Old!!

My little girl is officially 2.5 years old. Well, yesterday that is. :) We are so blessed by her, but I think you all knew that already. ;)

Yesterday, Kairis said "I don't get it"...her first real official "sentence". I could tell how challenging saying 4 words together was, as it came out choppy at first, but then smooth the second and third time she said it. She is mimicking Tim and I a whole lot these days...her favorites are "Oh goodness!", "oh dear" and other similar phrases. She was at my mom's house Monday night for a couple hours, and when I came to pick her up, she said "no! stay here!". She loves her Nana. :) I'm sure that made my mom feel special.

Kairis has all of her teeth in too--she got the last of her two year old molars in about 2.5 months ago. We are so happy to be done with teething!

I am considering enrolling Kairis in a gymnastics class or something. She is really flexible and enjoys "swinging" on bars, climbing everything and tumbling by doing somersaults. I think she'd really thrive in a group gymnastics class...so, we'll see.

We took a mini vacation to Eagle Crest last week, for a few days. We took Kairis swimming in the indoor pool, and she was hesitant of the water at first, but by the second day, became very comfortable with it again.

On a personal note, we are still in the application process for China. We hope to hear something soon. We are getting anxious and excited about moving, if that's what God has for us.

INFJ

Kairis is starting to speak in sentence form now! It's been a blast watching her communicate with us and others. I have also been reading a great book called "Nurture by Nature" and identifying children's personality type sets through Meyer's Briggs assessments. Kairis is a strong INFJ, meaning she's introverted, intuitive, feeling and judging. Her characteristics as described in the book are so right on--and the most interesting thing is that as she gets old and more talkative, her deep and rich imagination will be more obvious to Tim and I. I have just started to notice what a deep imagination Kairis has, as the other day, I walked into the living room where she was in her "own little world" dancing and talking to herself. As I walked in to grab something, she jumped and said I "scared me!". I guess I "scared her" as she was deep in imaginary play. So cute!!

She is also making things up, and pretend playing a whole lot. The book also described Kairis to a "T" during her baby year, being highly sensitive, cautious, needing lots of affirmation and close physical contact with her parents. Wanting to please, and very compliant. Yep...that's her! A real INFJ. Just like her daddy.

Daddy Date

I had a Saturday meeting a couple weeks ago, and Tim took Kairis on a daddy-daughter date to Burgerville and The Humane Society. She loves animals, so this was a hit! Enjoy these cute pictures!












(this picture is of Kairis doing an infamous "Kairis" thing...wearing Tim's boxers...her fav, the turkeys. :) )

Christmas Memories

We had a special Christmas this year. It seems that Kairis brings so much more joy and excitement along as she gets older....not that we shouldn't have joy and excitement in Christ's birth alone, however there is just something so magical in a way when you are able to view it through a 2 year olds eyes.

Some of our traditions this year included visiting Peacock Lane to see the Christmas lights, making an Advent Calendar with a new activity for each day in December to do together as a family, making gingerbread cookies at GG's while wearing our "ginger" jammies, building a gingerbread house and decorating it, sharing gifts with friends and family, and going to our church Christmas Eve service. I'd say the highlights for Kairis included her fascination and adoration for anything "baby jesus" and nativity related. She loved our nativity scenes, and enjoyed learning about his birthday. She also loved drinking hot cocoa and eating popcorn, as one of the activities from our advent calendar. :)




(insert cheesy grin here)