Random Sattelmeyer XMas Photos

While it was a quiet Christmas this year at the Sattelmeyer household, the kids enjoyed being the center of attention and getting Maw Maw and Pop Pop all to themselves.

 

Here, Kayla is manipulating Pop Pop into thinking she is this sweet and innocent little girl.  Don't be fooled, Pop Pop...you are trapped in her lair now!!



 Attack of the Jean kids!

 Pop Pop, didn't you say you wanted an upper respiratory infection for Christmas??

 The tree that remains standing all year round.  Only the decorations change.

 I *heart* Maw Maw.

Sometimes, my children just don't cooperate when the camera is out.

 

 Our nightly "dance".  Pop Pop joined us this evening.

 Keeping spider man warm while we ran some errands.

 Helping Maw Maw wrap some presents.

 Okay, we THOUGHT we were being stellar parents of the year, by taking Avery to see his first movie in a movie theater.  WRONG.  Apparently, "Wreck it Ralph" is not the most appropriate movie for a three and a half year old (thanks, Pixar).  AND we may have contributed to juvenile-onset diabetes and a mouth full of cavities by letting Avery have a kids' snack pack from the concession stand...consisting of fatty popcorn (which was frickin' delicious, by the way), sugary gummy bears, and a fruit punch filled with red dye 40.  #parentingfail.

 Kayla "feeding" Grandma Speck's "dog" some milk through a battery.  #parentingfailtwo

 Kayla enjoying some of Grandma Speck's many animated holiday toys.

 Visiting Grandma Speck at her Independent Living Facility.  Kayla was the center of attention (which she knows and enjoys very much).

 Bedtime reading with Maw Maw.

 Helping chop nuts for Pop Pop's traditional Christmas cinnamon rolls.  Uncle Jon Jon, your job has officially been outsourced.

Pop Pop and Daddy took Avery downtown on the rapid train to see all of the festivities.

 Tower City at it's finest.

Snow Days

Ahhh...the snow.  I can't say I miss it too much, as my childhood seemed to be full of it.  Snow reminds me of having to shovel the driveway as a kid, like ALL the time (and my entire family making up stories about how I would just lie on my back in the snow, pouting, while my brothers did all the work...LIES, I tell you!), being stuck inside the house all day because it was too cold to venture outdoors, AND having to wear about three times too many layers of clothing just to run out to the car.  But as much as I would prefer to be on a tropical beach, it still was pretty fun to introduce the kids to snow.  Avery has seen the white fluffy stuff a couple of times before, during other winter vacations in up north, and also the couple of times Charleston got random "snow"; however, this was Kayla's first introduction to it.  I'm not sure she enjoyed it too much....she went through three pairs of mittens before finally calling it quits and taking herself inside.  Let's just say that this girl might be lying on a beach next to me some day soon, soaking up those rays.

Apparently, I did not come to Cleveland prepared for the amount of snow and cold weather.  We had to go shopping for snow boots and extra hats prior to one of the snow storms.  I bought everything plenty large for the kids to grow into, as they probably will not see their snow gear again until next winter.

Luckily, a friend had passed down this cute "ski" jacket to Kayla.  With all of her snow gear on, she reminded me of the little boy in "A Christmas Story".

The kids are ready to go outside and play!

 We took the kids out as soon as it started snowing.  Trust me....by that night, there was a LOT more snow on the ground!

 Avery's snowball.

 Kayla trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue.

 Avery and Daddy's snowman (Kayla and I were long-gone by this point!).

 

Here is a video of the kids checking out the first snowfall of the season in Cleveland.

 

This video shows how much Phil loves me.

And THIS video is when Kayla basically says "see ya" and abandons all of us to enjoy some hot chocolate and heat.

Happy 23 Months Old, Kayla!

Christmas Time! Car Trip to Cleveland

Thank goodness Blogger is somewhat fixed...I am so behind on posts!

We went to Cleveland for Christmas.  We enjoyed a 14 hour car trip (we have discovered that the kids do really well when we leave at 3 or 4 in the morning), snow (Kayla's first), a Cleveland Christmas, visiting Grandma Speck, hogging Maw Maw and Pop Pop all to ourselves, and LOTS of presents.  A great time was had by all.

Thank goodness for double car DVD's.  I don't know how parents functioned without them 20 years ago.

This was Haley's first trip anywhere with us since Kayla was born.  She stayed curled up near Avery for most of the car trip (except when Kayla was eating a snack).

Cute video of the kids singing Christmas carols.  We were literally 5 minutes from my parents' house...and we were all a bit loopy by then.  :)

 

Random December Pics

Here are some final pics from December....I am very far behind!

Enjoying a warm day at the park.  Gotta love winters in Charleston!!!

Kayla and Mommy enjoying the swing.

 

I took Avery to get his haircut for Christmas (the surfer look was driving me crazy).  Kayla decided that she wanted her hair cut too!!  Since I figured that since she would probably kick and scream in the future when her hair was too long and covered with split ends, we should probably go ahead and get this trim out of the way...on Kayla's terms (welcome to my life).  She even tolerated the blow dryer.  I see pedicures in our future!!

Enjoying another morning at tumble gym.

Christmas in Fayetteville

In December, we took a quick trip over to Fayetteville, NC, to visit our cousins, Athena and Little David.  It was a quick trip, with us arriving and leaving on the same day, due to us not having a dog sitter.  The kids all skipped their naps, though, and took advantage of every single second!  The parents were worn out!

Building time in the toy room.  Uncle David is the master builder, as he grew up with construx and legos.

 One kid stuck in a bucket.  It never gets old.

 Aunt Emily and Athena in front of their creation.  I will admit, Athena was the much better builder!!

 Athena reading "Llama Llama..." to Kayla.  Too sweet.

 

 

Kayla and Little David were best buds.

 We need to get a trampoline...ASAP.  Lots of energy was expended here.

 Color time with Maw Maw.

 Present time!!  Kayla got her first set of Legos!!  One is a princess set...and when we got home, Kayla called the princess "Athena" for a little bit!  Too cute.

 

One of the things Avery asked Santa for was a robot.  Uncle David and Aunt Susie got him a Bumblebee Transformer.  He is smitten with it.

After the three hour car ride home that night, we found Avery holding his robot.

Jean Family Photos: Boone Hall Plantation

I normally don't pay someone else to take pictures of my family; I like to take my own of the kids and my Dad takes good pictures of the entire group too.  But I couldn't pass up this deal through Groupon this past fall....and then I was quickly reminded why I don't pay people money to take pictures of my children.  However, for how HORRIBLE the actual photo session went (can you say, total meltdowns??? Uncooperative three year old???  Pouting toddler???), the pictures didn't turn out half bad.  Maybe if I had a better camera, better photoshop/editing software, and better photography skills, my photos would turn out like this too.  :)