Santa's Sick!

So, as with most 4 year olds I assume, we are having some issues with listening and following directions lately. This morning while getting ready for daycare, I had to use the ol "Santa is watching really closely right now and if you don't listen to me and Daddy then he might have to move you onto the naughty list." Well McKenzie's response to this was, "No he's not Mom. He's sick so he can't watch me." I finally figured out that Santa was supposed to visit the daycare yesterday but Santa called in sick so the kids were told that Santa was sick and couldn't make it to visit them. McKenzie seems to think that this means she's off the hook for being good because if he's in bed sick, he can't be watching her. I mean really, can we ever get a break?! I had to break out the elves. When Santa is sick, he sends his elves out to keep an eye on the kids and then they go back and let Santa know who needs to be moved to the naughty list. Well she told me I'm a liar and Santa does not send out the elves and she's never even seen an elf. Needless to say, she was a good hour late to daycare this morning. UGH!

McKenzie has come a long way from last year's holiday dance program. This year she didn't cry about the tutu's being itchy until the very end of the program! Last year she refused to put it on at all. Wow, she's growing up. One thing that I have learned though is that Dance Mom's are crazy. I am going to have to be much more aggressive I guess. I was literally the first one there but the last one in the room once the door opened. I was pushed out the way by parents and grandparents! Once I got in, all the chairs were taken. Here I am carrying this baby carrier with Olivia in it and not one person offered to give up a chair to me (knowing I was the first one there). So I find an open spot on a bench on the side of the room and as I am about to sit down, the old lady sitting next to my spot decided to scoot down saying "I should save a spot for so and so." I was about an inch from sitting on her lap. I couldn't believe it! These dance mom's have not seen the last of me though!!! I can play their little game!! LOL McKenzie's next mission is the ice skating competition which is held on March 1st. She's very excited about it and about working with her coach on a routine. This is going to be another interesting event. I'm sure the costume will be too itchy or something. Who knows! It's definitely entertaining for us though! From what I've seen so far, ice skating mom's are much nicer!!

I got the privilege of taking McKenzie to her first concert. My sister Nicki also took her daughter, Alexa, so we all went together to see the Cheetah Girls. It actually wasn't too bad for a Disney concert. Not that I would want to have to sit through it again. I have to say though that some parents are insane. I saw a girl who couldn't be more than 6 years old wearing a tube top and mini skirt to this concert. She was with her mom who I guess wasn't dressed a whole lot better. Man, these kids are growing up too fast as it is.

Olivia is doing great. She is smiling and giggling a lot now. We think she is teething already. She is drooling a lot and crying much more. She has been getting ibuprofen a lot lately. Poor thing. She still only rolls over when she's mad. Although, she has figured out how to wiggle herself out of her bouncy seat. We have to keep a close eye on her now when she's in that thing. I was making dinner and came out of the kitchen to find her out of the bouncy seat and on the floor just laying on her stomach. She sure wasn't happy about it though!

Bobby and I get a special treat tomorrow night. I won an Extreme Christmas Experience package through Village Pointe Mall. I won dinner for 4 at The Melting Pot, a horse-drawn carriage ride, 4 tickets to the Omaha Symphony and a $200 gift card to Village Pointe mall. Unfortunately we have a Christmas gathering tomorrow night so we are going to go to dinner but have to skip out on the Symphony. If anyone wants to go to the symphony, just let us know. The tickets are up for grabs. I can't pass up The Melting Pot though!!

Santa Clause is Coming to Town!

We decided to take the girls out to see Santa on Saturday. I like to get that taken care of early on in the month to avoid the mile long line where you literally wait for an hour. Our wait was about 10 min on Saturday.



McKenzie told Santa that she would like a lightsaber (which she calls a light saver) so that she can play swords with Will and Ben. She also asked for a magic wand. She was planning to tell Santa what Olivia wanted but says she forgot once she was on his lap. Way to look out for your sister!! Oh well. I'm sure he'll figure it out.



Good luck to all of you who still have Christmas shopping to do and still need to meet with Santa. The mall was brutal on Saturday. We are pretty much done with our shopping luckily!!



Happy birthday to my mom!! It's her birthday today. She got to start it out with a 5:30am Jazzercise class with me. How fun is that? Then she gets to end the day watching McKenzie perform her Holiday Dance Recital!! I'm sure there was nothing else she would rather do on her birthday!! Happy birthday Mom!!



-The Byers

She's on the Move!!

Olivia has figured out how to roll from her back onto her tummy. It was figured out by luck I think. She is a very laid back baby until it comes to feeding. When she wants her food, she wants it now (she takes after her mom). She was so mad last night that we didn't get her a bottle right away that she worked herself up and rolled over. As horrible as it sounds, we wanted to see her do it again so we waited another minute to feed her so she'd do it again. Now she's rolling over in her crib too. What a milestone she has just hit. In no time she'll be crawling around the house. Mom - you said you needed an idea for Olivia for Christmas. Sounds like a baby gate will be needed soon!


We've had such a great week. Last week was fun seeing everyone for Thanksgiving. It is always fun to see family and of course, stuff our faces. We actually started our Thanksgiving a week or two before with Thanksgiving with my dad. Next it was Thanksgiving with the Byers on Thanksgiving day, Thanksgiving with my mom on black Friday and then Thanksgiving with the Zimmerman's on the next Saturday.


Something very cool happened on Thanksgiving day as well. My nephew (first nephew) was born. John Wyatt Hauptman was born at 8:54pm. He's so cute. I have to get all of the time in with him that I can because they will be moving shortly after Christmas. Finally a boy in the family and he leaves! Congrats guys!!


We also got our Christmas tree up last weekend. McKenzie seems to think that once a Christmas tree is up it's suddenly Christmas. Every day she asks if it's Christmas yet. Then once it starts snowing,s he is convinced Santa is coming. Next year we may not put up our Christmas tree until a week before. I have learned from last year though not to put presents under the tree until about a week out. Otherwise she will constantly ask to open her presents and carry them around the house. I'm sure some would end up disappearing. Although, anything we can't find seems to always be behind our living room t.v. That is McKenzie's hiding spot for everything. I had a package delivered while I was in Des Moines for class and she decided she'd hide it behind the t.v. until I came home. Unfortunately, she forgot about it once she hid it.


After Thanksgiving, we decided to take a small family vacation to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City. We had a lot of fun. Surprisingly Olivia slept the entire way there and back. Lucky for us because she hates the car. She will cry nonstop once in the car. We had a lot of fun at the water park and arcade. McKenzie also got to go to the kid spa and get a chocolate manicure. She loved it of course. Olivia seemed to enjoy her first time swimming. She's always loved her baths so that wasn't too surprising.


Well its back to normal everyday life for us. We hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Now on to Christmas!!


The Byers