Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Merry Christmas! Well my second Christmas was definitely a white one. We headed back to Sioux Falls, SD and was not quite sure we were going to make it. With the "supposed" storm of the quarter century upon us, my mom's family was calling all week and telling us the likelihood that we would arrive on Christmas Eve was slim to none. To make matters a little more dicey, Delta was allowing those passengers traveling to the midwest to fly out early. As much as my parents tried to get on an earlier flight it was a no go. So we stuck with our original plan which was flying out early Christmas Eve morning in hopes that we would make it before St. Nicholas!

So at 4:00 in the morning I awoke to find a big shiny strech limo on my doorstep. Daddy installed my carseat and we were off to the airport. This was my first limo ride ever.

Security was a breeze and the flight to Minneapolis went great. With no delays in sight we headed to the gate to board the plane to Sioux Falls. We were in flight for approximately 20 minutes and the pilot came on the loud speaker to inform us that we were directed to return to Minneapolis as our engine was having issues with de-icing. Now for those of you that do not realize this, the flight from Minneapolis to Sioux Falls is 38 minutes total. By the time we got back to Minneapolis, we should have been landing in Sioux Falls. However, Christmas came a little early as Delta delivered a plane two gates down, loaded our baggage and in record time delivered us to Sioux Falls by 2:30 p.m. We were greeted by Grandma and Grandpa Kappenman. Needless to say this storm of the quarter century held off in our favor (more on that to come)!

Because we were supposed to get in at 12:30 p.m. we were a little starved, so we hit the drive through on the way to Uncle Todd and Aunt Barb's house. As it was taking forever, my mom simply asked if they were killing the cow, whereby I responded with a jublient "MOOOO!" This is one of my newest words.

We finally made it to Todd and Barb's just in time to get ready for Christmas Eve. Soon enough Aunt Lori, Uncle Mike, Danny, Bryce and the newest addition Brooklyn arrived. Not sure what to think of her, I just stood by at a distance watching her. Uncle Jeremy came and we opened up our gifts from him. Then Aunt Carol and Uncle John, Micah and Macy came over and we ate dinner. Next thing you know Santa's sleigh arrived up on the roof and down he came with his Elf to deliver me a stick horse that makes a "neigh" sound. He said he had to come early as he was trying to beat the storm. After he left, we spent the rest of the night opening gifts and playing with our new toys.

Christmas morning came and with it we found A LOT of snow on the ground. We weren't sure that Grandma and Grandpa were going to make it as there was 12" of snow. But they plowed through and arrived in time for breakfast and gifts around the tree. Uncle Jeremy showed up a little later that afternoon. Most of the day was spent sholving, playing in the snow with daddy, and figuring out my new toys. It continued to snow all day into the next; by the time the storm was over we had approximately 19" of snow. As for what I got for Christmas, here's the list of goodies: Elmo Live, big drawing pad + crayons, chuck the truck, clothes, savings bond, spinny alphabet/animal thing, tool and hammer, to name a few. I also spent the day feeding Oscar, that dog eats everything and anything you give him, hence his nickname "half fat." The dog is almost as big as I am!!

On Sunday morning we went to church to see baby Brooklyn get baptized. I made it all the way through the baptism and was doing fine until I got to go up front for the children's sermon. Once I figured out that I could walk around, which I did the entire time he was trying to tell me about homeless people, there was no way I was going to sit there and listen to the minister talk about grown up stuff. So my dad and I ended up hanging out in the fellowship area discovering all the areas of the church. After the service, we headed downstairs for breakfast and cake to celebrate Brooklyn!

The remainder of my Christmas weekend was spent getting sick. I still have that perpetual runny nose that just won't stop. On Sunday night, my breathing was very labored and my parents were very worried. So around 2:30 a.m. they woke up Aunt Barb who came in to check on me. It was discovered that I had a fever of 101.5. She called the ER and spoke with a pediatric nurse who stated that the labored breathing was due to my high fever and my body working overtime. Once the fever was gone, my breathing returned to normal.

Overall, my second Christmas was white, wonderful and full of wacky family!

The Chair

This weekend we celebrated Christmas a little early in two locations. We celebrated with Josh and with daddy's family because we're heading back to Sioux Falls for Christmas. It was definitely a white Christmas a little early as 2 feet of snow blanketed central and southern Jersey. We were supposed to go to Jenkinson's Aquarium to see the Sea of Lights, but it was not possible with the road conditions. So instead we just hung out at Josh's house and exchanged gifts. He got me a Handy Manny tool set that I absoultely love. It even has a working flicker!

Sunday brought even more snow. Initially we had planned on going to church with everyone but there was so much snow that we were not able to leave our house until 10:30 and Aunt Joy and Uncle Chad couldn't make it out of their driveway. Thankfully we have a 4Runner so we plowed right through their neighborhood. Who would have thought that New Jersey would get so much snow...not my parents, they shipped all my snow clothes to South Dakota. So I was without any snowpants to play in the snow. But we made due, I borrowed Ellen's pink snow pants and boots and Aunt Joy made sure to take LOTS of pictures to blackmail me when I get older! My parents thought I didn't care for the snow, it was really the fact that I was wearing pink pants. Sorry, but I will not be posting any evidence of my embarassing pink parade here!

After eating a late lunch/early dinner, Santa delivered lots of gifts under the tree. Ellen and I were definitely the stars with all eyes on us. We tore through gifts galore and became overwhelmed at times with what to do with everything. One thing is for sure, Ellen loves dolls. But we both love boxes!

The best part of the day was my chair from Santa. He left this big item sitting in my living room so my parents could transport it for him. I didn't really question what it was but when it was time to open it, I was very curious at what was behind the wrapping. Once I saw what it was, I went crazy with joy, jumping up and down, and sliding all around on it. I got so many awesome gifts but based upon my reaction I think the chair is going to be hard to top this year!

Shining Star

Today was my Christmas program at school. We have been rehearsing a lot for my big debut but the day before I ended up getting sick with an ear infection. So when the big day came I felt a little rusty.

My parents showed up and were stuffed in the back room of the school like sardines in a can. The infants were paraded in first being held by their teachers and everyone thought they were so cute!

Next up was my class; one thing they forgot to tell us when we were rehearsing is that there was going to be a 1000 beady eyes staring down on us. They expected us to stand there and perform like nothing was abnormal.

So the music starts and our teachers are singing "Dominick the Donkey." All I could do was stand there with a blank stare on my face and stare back at the crowd. Emily deserted me the minute she saw her mom.

Next thing you know "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause" starts blaring, Ms. Erica comes and smacks some big lips on the side of my head, and out of no where I see my mom standing there taking pictures. With all these people blocking my way to her, I just stood there and cried, eventually wandering over to some stranger's lap. Somehow, she broke through the crowd to rescue me, thank god!

We headed back to my classroom for some snacks and juice.

Overall, it was not my best moment and I think i'm pretty sure that this little shining star may not be cut out for broadway!

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service

At approximately 6:15 p.m. Thursday, December 10, 2009, my mother arrived home to find me sitting on the floor in the living room playing with my brown shoes. I came running up to her in bare feet, with no shoes and no socks; not abnormal. Thereafter, around 7:00 p.m., she had to leave to go to a meeting, leaving me and my father to play. I headed to bed around 7:45 p.m. leaving my shoes in the same spot that I left them. My mother arrived home around 9:00 p.m. finding nothing out of the ordinary. My parents went to bed that evening around 10:00 p.m.

I awoke the next morning, Friday, around 6:30 a.m. and the day started out normal. I drank my milk, my mother prepared my breakfast, lunch and snack, and we went upstairs to get dressed. It was not until we came downstairs around 7:30 a.m. that something seemed to be missing. My brown SHOE!! Oh where, oh where, did my shoe go. So logically, my mother called my father, the person who should have known where it was. There was one brown shoe with no match. He had no clue, so she turned to me and asked me, do you know where your brown shoe is? I, of course, could not recall where I put it last. So I ended up wearing my tennis shoes. My mother decided to file a missing shoe report with the local authorities; they told her it had to be missing for 72 hours before they would assist in the search. That evening my parents looked everywhere, high and low, it was no where to be found. It's as if it just walked off without its friend.

Saturday morning, again they tore the house apart looking for my brown shoe. No luck!! So they ended up forcing me to wear my brown boots. I HATE my brown boots. For some reason I can't stand wearing these boots; I just stand there and cry pointing at them. But after marching around the house counting to 10 in English and Spanish I decided they weren't so bad. Well this morning, Sunday, my dad was sitting on the couch and reached for the remote that had fallen between the cushions. Low and behold, out come a brown shoe, the missing brown shoe! Case closed!

I Do!!

I haven't told you guys lately how much my vocabulary is growing. As you can imagine it's getting bigger by the day. A few of my lastest words included shoe, milk, hot, bear, alright, up, two, not nice, all done, sit down, touch down, and I do!

"Not nice" started a few weeks back, before Thanksgiving, when I developed the ability to hit. I don't hit at school, just at home. When I started hitting my parentals, they would tell me "not nice" and to give hugs, not hits. Occasionally my mom would shake her finger at me when she was saying it. So in response I learned that when I hit, I should say "not nice" and shake my finger. So now whenever I hit anything, person, cat, or stuffed animal, I say "Not Nice" in such a tone that I truly mean it. My mother tells me that I'm missing the context on this...whatever that means!

"Sit down" is relatively new and is constantly being said by my parents. For instance, just today I'm climbing up on the big brown chair where I decide that it would be so much fun to jump up and down while standing. My silly parents think that i'm going to fall off and crack my head open so they say in a stern voice, "Thad, Sit Down!" Of course they have to make a move towards me before I do so. Then I sit down laughing...it's a big game I love to play. So now I tell them when I'm standing up "sit down." I guess you could say I understand context with this phrase.

"I do" is saved for those rare occasions where I just feel that I need to do it all by myself. This started when I would run away from mommy as she was attempting to get me to do something. She would say, "okay you do it." No fail, I would stop dead in my tracks and heel, attempting to pull off what some would consider to be a world record for a child my age. Needless to say, I now tell her "I do."

One, "TWO", three, yea (clap hands)! I guess you can say that I can count to three, kinda of...or I can tell you what comes after one. Even better is the fact that when I say two I hold up one finger. I learned at school to march around and count to ten, not only in English, but also in Spanish. So now we practice at home by marching around the house and counting.

Alright, is by far my favorite expression, and yes I do understand the context on this one. I love to say "Alrightttt!!" Not sure where I picked this up but everyone thinks it is so funny to hear me say it.

And finally, the one that impressives my father and all men around me...touch down! On Sundays, and probably only exclusive to this Vikings season, I can yell "touch down" on command. I even raise my hands to motion in celebration of such an awesome feat!

Needless to say, I love to talk!

Please Don't Go...I'm Begging You To Stay!

I have finally discovered what separation anxiety means...hanging on to my mom's leg, crying until she gives in, and making her feel guilty for leaving me at school. This didn't begin until a few weeks into my stay in the Next Steps room. The minute we're finished with breakfast and my mom turns the corner, out come the claws straight into her leg. I'm like a cat about ready to fall from the top of a tree. Being that my teacher, Ms. Liz, deals with this a lot she is great at distracting me with a toy, which usually works. What's really funny is that when they come to pick me up at the end of the day I'm not ready to go; I would rather stay and play for a little while longer. I guess I just like to make them think that I don't love being here, but they get pictures that prove otherwise.

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree

I thought I would let you all know that I have moved into a department store, or so I thought, when I walked downstairs on Saturday morning to find the Christmas Tree put up. Somewhere between going to Target every week and seeing ads on TV for Christmas goodies, my parents were brainwashed into thinking that it's okay to put the Christmas Tree up before Thanksgiving happens.

The real fun started when mommy put on the Christmas tunes to help decorate the Christmas tree. I wasn't quite sure what to think of it all, but then out came the ornaments which I gladly assisted in hanging on the tree. Actually, only a few made it on the tree as I prefer to walk around shaking the noisemakers. Of course I love the fact that Kacie hangs out underneath the tree. The saying "I learned everything from my cat" should not apply here: I watched her eat the tree, so I tasted a little myself. Here's a tip for ya - fake Christmas trees do not taste good and are hard to swallow! Especially when your mom sticks her finger in your mouth to fish out the fake needle that your choking on!

With the tree finally decorated the real fun starts; putting the presents under the tree and pulling the ornaments off daily! I hope you have a fun-filled December getting ready for the man in the red hat!

Got A Haircut...Working on the Job

For the last couple of weeks my parents have been telling me that they need to take me to get my hair cut. Even though you can hardly see my hair because its so blond, I didn't really see it necessary to chop these goldy locks, but maybe you see it differently from this picture:






I forgot to mention the fact that I now know where my head, hair, eyes, ears, mouth and nose are, in addition to my belly button, so whenever anyone mentions one of those I immediately point to it. It's pretty darn cute!


So back to the haircut or shall I say hair trauma. After gymnastics we headed to the mall. My parents selected this place because it has cool cars with steering wheels that you can sit in. I guess they thought that it would distract me long enough to let the stylist cut my hair. Well I think someone forgot to tell them that regardless of what the car looks like on the outside, its still a chair that i'm straped into. The good thing was that we got right in, or maybe that was a bad thing. I took some time picking out my chair and ended up selecting the firetruck. So mommy placed me in my holding pin, strapping me down, and up walked this nice looking lady. Next thing you know she's spraying my head down with a hose which I found a little crazy. Then she brings out a comb. I like combs when I can hold them and comb my own hair, but this lady just wouldn't give it up. She kept brushing me like I was a kid that had lots of tangles. Out came the shiny shears next and I started freaking. Then she started freaking because I wouldn't put down my hands long enough to let her cut my goldy locks. So in comes mommy who acts like a straight jacket and down fall my goldy locks. Now mind you, I don't have alot of hair, but the hair I do have, I've grown to like. Well this crazy lady gets out an electric razor because she thinks this is going to make it easier and faster...ha! I guess someone forgot to tell her I could move my head like the speed of light when it came to weird noises and vibrations. Needless to say that didn't last too long as I jumped out of the chair and into mommy's arms. There I remained and the stylist ended up using the scissors while mommy held down my ears so she could cut behind them. At the end of it all, she didn't do the greatest job but who could blame the lady when I was moving around all the time.








I have to say after it was all said and done, I think i'm going to let my hair grow out. Here is the end product (I'm still cute!):

Brooklyn

Today I welcomed my newest cousin to the family, Brooklyn Rose. I have only see pictures of her, but she is tiny and cute! I can't wait to see her at Christmas! This is one lucky little girl because she shares her birthday with my daddy (November 19th in case you forgot), and she gets Bryce and Danny as siblings.

Of course she's cute, she's related to me! I've posted a song on my blog titled after her awesome name, so don't forget to check that out.

I have to say, the best thing about having a new baby in the family is that I don't have be baby Jesus in the Christmas story anymore; I'm moving up to being a Sheep this year. So here's a shout out to Great Grandma Johnsrud - bring on the cotton balls and black paint for my nose!

Happy Birthday to You!

November is a crazy month for birthdays, which started this weekend. My mommy's birthday is November 2nd, followed by my cousin Ellen's on the 11th, Uncle Mike's (daddy's best friend) on the 18th, then Daddy's on the 19th, and finishing the month off is Aunt Lori on the 20th. So as you can tell there is a lot of birthday candles to blow out...i'll leave the ages out here as some may be offended.


So to kick off the month, we celebrated Mommy's birthday by surprising her at work with daddy. I was all fine and dandy with this notion until I walked through the front door. She was so surprised she yelled with glee and gave me a little scare. So the first five minutes I spent screaming my head off for all her co-workers; it was delightful. After getting over myself, I conquered both sides of the office with my cuteness as the co-workers just adored me. It was then on to La Dolce by the shore in Belmar, NJ. As I wasn't having the best day as I was teething and overall just tired from my weekend of halloween festivities, my parental units decided that I should try something new for dinner (bad idea). I could hardly sit still, wouldn't eat my dinner, rather I drank it (milk does a body good). I then proceeded to make the dining experience enjoyable for my parents and those that were in the immediate vicinity of my eating area. The drive home found me asleep within 5 minutes of leaving La Dolce...so much for ice cream afterwards, oops!


Finally the weekend arrived on Friday at 4:45. Mommy worked late making us meet her at the local pizza spot - Krispy Pizza. I love this local establishment and it loves us. For the last three Fridays we have visited this place for a pie and garlic knots. Tonight we spiced it up by trying a different pie and sitting at a different table. If you don't know this, my parents are creatures of habit; this is a habit that should die hard :)


Saturday we were up and at 'em for gymnastics. Now I haven't blogged as to my newest adventure with tumbling. As you may recall I began taking gymnastics on Halloween. I am enrolled as a NJ Kidfit member which allows me the luxury of tumbling in a private room made just for kids like me. Its great fun; we spend a 1/2 hour doing cycles of tumbling which consists of climbing over foam objects, jumping up and off of foam objects, swing from rings like monkeys, climbing in and out of small round circles, and sliding down slides. After a half hour of play, we head out to the main floor for 12 minutes of tortured waiting so I can bounce on the trampoline with the teacher. She thinks that having me hold a hoola hoop is going to entertain me while I watch my classmates one by one bounce up and down. When I finally do get my turn I get a smile so big. The best part is the very end of the class when we all get on and take a ride. We bounce up and down on our butts. Overall the class is great and this week went a bit smoother than last. I was a little more patient but not much. Here are some pictures:





After gymnastics we headed to South Jersey to celebrate Ellen's 2nd birthday. I got to see my Grandma and Grandpa Basner, in addition to Great Grandma Basner, Aunt Joy, Uncle Chad & Ellen. It was a great day and I had so much fun playing with Ellen. We sang her Happy Birthday concluding with Ellen blowing out her candle all by herself. She got a goldfish that looks just like Elmo's fish Dorothy; that was a really neat present! We also found out that Ellen is going to be a big sister in June; another cousin for me! Ellen got some great presents that I enjoyed playing with in addition to trying on one of her dresses. I got her slippers and pajamas that she absolutely loved! The day ended with me and Ellen playing ring around the rosies and pointing to our body parts. The drive home found me fast asleep within two minutes of being buckled up and on our way.







Sunday we spent the day with a new friend, Vivian Mangles (what a cutie). One of mommy's good friends is April, her aunt. So we spent the afternoon at her home playing with all her neat toys. We arrived to pizza and other great eats; unfortunately I was not in the mood to eat - I wanted to play as did Vivian. I love visiting new places that have great toys. The best toy of the day was the gourd that I walked around with banging on everything. Additionally, we finally found another family that loves to watch Sunday Football. Believe it or not those people are hard to find in NJ. We will definitely be inviting them over for a playdate at our house in the near future.





Overall it was a great weekend with fun filled adventures as always.