Christmas

It's amazing how much more fun this Christmas was for Amora than last Christmas. She understood so much more about opening the presents, learned to sing some Christmas songs (Deck the Halls was her favorite), and found out all about Santa. I don't know why but now anytime we can't find something, she says, "Maybe Santa took it." Apparently she learned that Santa steals things. It's pretty funny.

We loved having Adam's family at our place this year even though it got pretty crazy at times having seven adults and one 2 year old in 1500 square feet. But the close quarters gave us plenty of opportunities to hang out. And as always, even with a lot going on, I seem to primarily have pictures of Amora.

This was our very loaded Christmas tree this year. I would venture to say that almost half was for Amora. She had so many gifts that she was opening them all day long. I think we finally finished by about 7 pm. It took so long because she wanted to play with each toy the second she opened it.


The stocking was very exciting. When her daddy woke up, she had to show him each item Santa placed in her stocking. She also peeked in her daddy's stocking to see what he got. Among the highlights in the stocking was princess chap stick (which has since been taken away because she ate too much of it), princess bouncy balls, new socks, and princess magnets.


Amora got so many fun presents. She got a play cookie set from her cousin Billy that allows her to frost the cookies and cut them. She loved it!


Her Uncle Kevin gave her a real tiara. He said that every princess needs a tiara. She'll definitely love growing into it. It's absolutely beautiful.


Amora also got a few great books. She loves books and loves when she gets new books. We've already read these so many times.


Thanks to everyone for such a great Christmas. I felt so spoiled and loved because so many people thought of Amora. This year, my gifts didn't matter much because I was just so happy that Amora enjoyed Christmas. What a fun time in our lives.

Amora at her Best

Here are a few of Amora's cute stories. She just gets more fun and animated the older she gets.

• One day when I was cleaning up after dinner, Amora was sitting on the couch. I went to check on her and she said, "Go in the kitchen, Mommy." She kept insisting that I go in the kitchen. I then find out that it's because she didn't want me to whisk her to her potty and dismissed me so she could go in her diaper in peace.
• Amora thinks that going potty is great. Not so much going potty, but sitting on the potty. She will literally sit there for twenty minutes reading books, playing with toys, and talking to me. She insists that she have an audience and finds it to be the best time to get uninterrupted parental attention.
• Amora came in to see her daddy one morning. With a big grin on her face, she pointed to a toy and said, "This is poop." She finished her joke with the cutest, sassiest laugh.
• She refers to anything in the past tense as "last night."
• If I ask her how she likes something and she likes it she says, "pretty good."
• It's always fun trying to think of how Amora will attempt evading bedtime. She'll take literally twenty minutes trying to go potty, insisting that some is coming. Or she'll call out that she has to go potty once I leave her room. My favorite is when I tell her that when I leave, I'm not coming back. She asks "Daddy come?". "No Amora." "Grandma come?" "No Amora."
• Another time, when I went to check on her at nap time, I see my daughter with an open book on her lap. She then informs me, "I reading to baby."
• I'm talking to my mother-in-law, and Amora says, "Mommy, you sassing Grandma?"
• The other day, Amora told her daddy and me that she was a cat fighter. Any ideas on where she can up with that one?
• I told Amora that she was going to play with her daddy while Mommy when out. I asked her what she wanted to do with Daddy and she said, "Play with scissors." Your secret is out husband!

I love her!

She had a photo shoot taking pictures of herself.

Mommy and Amora


I love to see the temple.

Andre's Wedding

We had the chance to travel to Houston in December for Adam's brother, Andre's wedding. Everything was elegant and beautiful. We got to spend quality time with Adam's other siblings as well. We were so grateful to be able to go (but right before Christmas?). It was a nice trip (besides the flight home, see TSA Story post).

We happened to be gone for Amora's actual birthday, so the hotel tried to make her feel special by letting her choose from their goody basket every time we were at the front desk and surprising Amora with a plate of cookies and card. Marriott outdid themselves.


I love this picture of Hannah and me. She's so beautiful.


Two of the cutest newlyweds ever.


Amora with her grandma at the fountain on the temple grounds. Amora was so happy to see everyone again.


The bride with her bridesmaids and flower girls.


The Loumeau siblings. What a bunch of quality people. I love them all (especially my handsome husband).


And the newest newlyweds. Super cute. Congrats Andre and Ally! May the wedding be just the beginning of an incredible journey as husband and wife!

Happy Birthday Amora!

My sweet angel turned 2 recently, and we had a great time celebrating. We had a jungle themed party because she absolutely loves animals (I figure we'll be doing princess parties for the next few years, so I wanted something different). Among our guests were 7 children and 4 adults. Adam's main job was documenting everything on camera, and he did great. Now I have plenty of photos to share with all of my diligent readers (all two of you). :)

I let Amora choose between two cake designs: a tiger or a monkey. She chose the tiger and was quite satisfied with her choice. She is still talking about her tiger cake. I found a picture online and modified it. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out.


Here's the birthday table with her gifts, cake, and decorations. Each child got to take a fake bug home with them at the end of the party. It was an inexpensive party favor but well received by the children.


The first activity was coloring a jungle picture. I tried to keep things fun and simple so it wouldn't be too chaotic. And what two year old doesn't love to color?


Here are a few of her friends enjoying the coloring action as well.


The next activity was a "feed the monkey" bean bag toss. I maxed out my craftiness on this one by making the bean bags and the monkey box. It was a hit! For Amora's first turn, she grabbed a bean bag, walked over to the box, and dropped it in. She then got the hang of throwing it in and loved that as well. The other kids were also very engaged in this activity.


Then it was time to dig into the cake Amora was lusting after all afternoon. She loved getting sung to. I occasionally will hear her singing "Happy birthday dear Amora..." What can I say? It stuck. I made an orange cake with lemon frosting that was delicious. My only regret was that most of it went to waste after the party because we left town again.


And lastly, we opened gifts. This was much more fun than last year because Amora really knew what was going on. I tried to be very conscious of giving her time to open each gift while still maintaining the attention of the other children.


She received many fun gifts: books, puzzles, a FurrReal kitty, a baby doll that cries, hair clips, and a bedding set (and quite a few more). Thanks to friends and family for joining in on this celebration. Amora loved all of her gifts and is so happy to be two!

Audrey's Wedding

In December, Amora and I traveled to Florida for my sister's wedding. She looked beautiful, and everything was absolutely perfect. I was a bridesmaid, and Amora was a flower girl.

The wedding was about an hour after Amora's normal nap time, and she refused to nap. I was quite worried about how she would do during the actual ceremony. I asked her if she wanted to walk down the aisle with the other two flower girls and she said yes. She did a great job walking down the first half of the aisle, then stopped and looked very confused. I quickly swooped her up and placed her on her grammy's lap. During the ceremony, I heard a little sucking sound and looked over at her to see my little angel sound asleep sucking her thumb.

Here are all of the Kooistra siblings, their spouses (minus Adam), and kids.


The bride with all three flower girls and the ring bearer:


The sisters waiting in the bride's room for the ceremony:


Audrey's family:


The wedding party:


The reception was great. Delicious food, fun music, dancing, and acting crazy. The kids thought the laser was super exciting.


Congrats again to Audrey and Derek! We're so happy for the both of you! Thanks for a great weekend.