O Christmas Tree

I feel like we got a late start with Christmas this year since Thanksgiving was so late in November! We finally got our tree…our biggest one yet! It was so fun to see Presley get into decorating it this year. I made sure to replace all of our glass ornaments with the non-breakable kind so that we could really enjoy it!

We started a new tradition where the cousins on my side of the family exchange ornaments. Presley was so excited to open her Woody and Buzz ornament from her cousin, Tripp. It took a little while to convince her that it belonged on the tree and not in the playroom!

Here's our tree. It sure is girthy! It fell over twice before we got the stand on tight enough and I had to replace two strands of lights all ready. Here's hoping that it stays upright and lit for the rest of the season!

We're Iced In!

All week we'd been hearing about the impending ice storm but, we definitely didn't expect to wake up to this! We had about 4-5 inches of solid ice…make not mistake, that's not snow, ICE! These Florida-transplants actually enjoyed being iced in for a few days. It was kind of cozy and fun!

We especially enjoyed having Daddy home for an extra day. Jeff's truck was frozen shut (mostly because he thought it'd be a good idea to put a sheet over it to keep it from icing shut but, the sheet got wet and just turned 4-5 inches of ice) and the roads were to treacherous to drive so the clinic was closed.

Presley was pretty impressed with the icicles.

She especially enjoyed eating them.

It sure made for a beautiful start to the Christmas season!

Although,I have to say that I definitely have some things to learn about navigating real winter conditions. I was walking through the parking lot and the ice got the better of me. One minute I was walking, the next I was looking straight at the sky…wet, cold, severely bruised hip, and an even more severely bruised ego. I didn't even attempt to drive.

Giving Thanks

This was my first Thanksgiving outside of Florida in many, many years and it sure was weird! Thankfully, a large chunk of the Tobler-clan gathered in Houston to celebrate the holiday. While we spent Thanksgiving Day in the car (which was a total bummer), we had plenty of fun over the weekend!

We spent one day at Kemma Boardwalk, enjoying walking the boardwalk and riding the rides.

Presley was especially excited about the carousel…

…and the airplane ride. Every time our little plane went up, she'd tell me we were "flying to Florida"!

Presley wasn't so sure about having to share Grampa Karl. But, Grampa didn't seem to mind all of the little girls clamoring for his attention!

We had a fun ride on the choo-choo train. Presley really enjoyed cruising the Boardwalk on the train while eating her snacks.

We also spent a day out a cute little park right on Galveston Bay. It reminded us so much of Florida and it was so nice to enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful view!

Presley was very curious about a lady bug that made itself comfortable on Gramma Jan.

Our last morning there, Violet, Lucia and Ben's elf arrived to kick-off the Christmas season. He brought the girls chocolate for breakfast. Presley was thrilled (and I was grateful to give her a multivitamin to make up for it).

The boys got all gussied up to bless Ben. A pretty handsome crew!

And in what can only be described as herding cats…we attempted to get a picture with all of the cousins in the matching Christmas outfits Janet kindly gave them. This is the best we got. Our sweet little Presley just sat there smiling the whole time. We were very proud.

We started a new tradition this year with a "thankful tree." Every night we each wrote down something we were thankful for on a leaf and added it to our tree. It was such a fun way to help us remember how blessed we are. We truly have much to be thankful for!

Bring On the (Not so) Terrible 2's!

My baby is two! TWO! I can hardly believe it! We are so grateful for our spunky little toddler. She brings so much joy and laughter to our home! At two years old, Presley weighs 25 pounds (27th percentile) and is 34.75" tall (75th percentile). Her noggin is 18.5" around. She may be a lightweight but there's a whole lot of personality in that little body! Here are some of our favorite things about Presley:

• Presley talks, A LOT. I'm always surprised when I get around most other kids her age and they don't talk nearly as much. It makes her seem older (which makes me a little sad) but, it sure makes things easier for us! She really communicates well and has an expansive vocabulary. She uses a lot of 2- and 3-word phrases and is starting to use complete sentences like, "I need it," and "Momma, wake up now!" She has no problem saying what she means. 
• She is very polite. I very rarely have to remind her to say "please" and "thank you" and she'll say "excuse me" if she needs to get around you. She also like to wish folks a "good morning" and tells me "thank you" after I've changed a poopy diaper.
• She LOVES to sing and dance. She's started singing along with me and it's pretty darn cute. She'll sing-a-long to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree, the ABC song, Jesus want me for a Sunbeam, and If You're Happy and You Know It. She also loves the song I Love to See the Temple, but she hasn't started singing along with that one yet. We discovered The Freeze dance at our library's Music & Movement class and we do that dance at least 5 times a day. She also likes to dance to Katy Perry's, Roar (the lion song) and to Shake, Shake, Shake (her) Sillies Out.
• Presley started saying her morning prayers by herself (most days). In her first prayer, she asked Heavenly Father to bless her Auntie Ashley, Uncle Jay, Uncle Braden and Baby Tripp. It was short and sweet but she remembered some of her favorite people!
• She's sleeping in a toddler bed now and it took a couple of weeks for her to adjust. She likes to sneak into our room in the morning and yell, "Boo!"
• She has ZERO interest in potty training. If you ask her where she's supposed to go potty, she'll tell you her "elmo potty" but she has no interest in actually doing her business there. She'll sit on there and pretend but, no action.
• Presley is a natural nurturer. She loves taking care of her baby dolls and wants to make sure Jeff and I are both okay when we are not feeling well. It's amazing to see her developing this talent so young.
• She knows all of her body parts, most of numbers 1-20 and her colors too. I'm pretty sure that she says the wrong thing sometimes just to be a stinker ;)
• She still sucks her thumb and is attached to her lovie blankies. Thankfully, there are two blankies so that they actually get washed (one at a time).
• She is a big fan of the iPad and knows how to use it better than Jeff does ;)
• She loves her nursery class at church and the lady that does singing time there. She practically leaps out of our arms at the end of sacrament meeting to get to nursery.
• Her favorite color is purple
• Her favorite movies are Toy Story and Tangled. We think she has a crush on Flynn Rider.
• Presley loves having her toenails painted, usually a shade of purple.
• She loves to cook (for real and pretend), play with play dough, wear dress-up shoes and accessories and take care of her babies.
• While Presley eats pretty healthy most of the time, she also loves chocolate milkshakes, french fries, and cookies.

She really is a very special little girl and we are so grateful to have her in our family. It is my great privilege to spend my days playing with and caring for her. She's my best little friend.

Baby It's Cold Outside

It was date night with Daddy and we decided to explore Watters Creek. We were lucky to get there for their Christmas kickoff celebration. It was so much fun and so Christmasy! It was a chilly 34 degrees and we enjoyed listing to the live carols, seeing the elves and others in costume and eating some delicious food!

It's been so cold here--a new sensation we've really enjoyed just before Thanksgiving!

Looks Who's 2!

I can hardly believe my baby is two! Since Daddy had to work on her real birthday, we decided Saturday would be our day for celebration. I was so excited to surprise her with her birthday gift--we stayed up late setting up her little kitchen and the new "market" area in her playroom!

P wasted no time and started playing with her new things right away. She was so excited to prepare each of us a plate. She;s been using her play dough lids as plates and was happy to have her own dinnerware!

Then we convinced her to unwrap the two big presents in the room, which she was also excited about.

She quickly found the cookies and got to work!

Presley was especially excited about her shopping cart from "Dammy" and "Dampa-fader".

She filled that thing up and went for a stroll. It makes us laugh because she looks like a little homeless lady carting along all of her belongings.

P has a mild obsession with Toy Story and was very excited to open a box full of her favorite friends from her Auntie Ashley, Uncle Jay and cousin Tripp.

We had a few friends over to celebrate that evening and Presley was very excited to find a "hebban" to add to her outfit.

We had a little party full of Presley's favorite things--purple balloons, pizza, baked Cheetos puffs, suckers, oreos, and ice cream.

 I had good intentions of making her a fancy birthday cake but decided it was not worth staying up all hours of the night for. So, we combined two of Presley's favorite things and got an Oreo ice cream cake! And none of it got thrown away!

Presley and Riley had fun eating, jumping on the trampoline, and running amuck through the house.

Kennedy was the clean up crew and was very happy to sample the goodies left behind on the other kids' plates.

I think we managed to make our sweet little girl feel happy, special and loved--which means the day was a success!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl! We love you!

Presley's First Haircut

With her second birthday fast approaching, I decided it was time to even out my Sweet P's little locks. The sides were much longer than the back so, we had a little trim. She did awesome and was excited to have Momma cut her "harn". I ended up taking 1-2 inches off the sides to make it even and she ended up with a cute little bob.