Baby it's cold outside!

So we made our annual trip to see the "ICE" exhibit at the Gaylord. We took our sitter to stay with Ryan while we took Kella through. It's 9 degrees inside the rooms to keep the ice from melting, needless to say its a little chilly for a 6 week old! And please excuse the pictures, I left our camera at home so we had to purchase a $13 disposable at the hotels gift shop!!! The theme for this year's display was the Grinch! Everything was from Whoville.

Look at our little penguin!!!

They give you these snazzy coats to wear due to the temperature.... I know, I know, you thought we all had our own matching coats!

Behind Kella is the grinch sitting on a block of ice adjusting his "reindeer" dog and sleigh. K kept saying, "mom, it's cold on his bo-bo!" Precious!

I wish you could tell by the pics, but the exhibit is amazing. Everything you see is made out of ice.

Big sis

I can't believe the size of Ryan, she looks almost as big as Kella in this picture. Chunky monkey!!!

Too bad Ryan didn't enjoy this moment as much as Kella & I did. It's funny how Kella seems to grow up over night. There are many new things she does that are learned over time, which is expected, but she amazes us with what she can do just from one day to the next. We have had potty training down for awhile now, and we have always helped her onto and off of the potty. The other day in our bathroom she needed to go, my hands were full and I told her just a minute, turned around and she was on the potty, had already gotten a hand-full of toilet paper and was doing her business! Oh lord! I couldn't believe she went all by herself. This task is beyond helpful now that my hands are usually full with Ryan, cause let's face it, a 2 year old usually needs to "go" at the most in-opportune times!

I know it looks like Kella is choking Ryan in this picture, but I love the look on her face. And please, don't judge. Kella has the worst bed head of any child I know!

Tasty treats!

Kella was all decked out for her last day of school before Christmas. Luckily she still fit into those darn Santa leg warmers I made for her last year! She got lots of goodies from her classmates. As you can see she got her own gingerbread mug with lots of tasty treats inside.... mmmmm.... craisens! Her favorite! She usually corrects me when I call them that, she says, "no mom, they're cwanberries!" She enjoyed a nice cup of hot chocolate this morning, check out the brown mustache!

Girl time!

Here are some shots we got just hanging out at home. Kella took this first pic for us. She's getting pretty good. I thought we might get her one of those Little Tykes digital cameras for Christmas, but looks like she might skip that and go strait to the real thing.

Kella loves for Ryan to hold her finger. I didn't realize that's what they were doing until I uploaded the pics and got a good look. When she cries Kella always runs to her, covers her with a blanket and says "here Ryan, hold my finger"... it's really the cutest thing!

We still haven't figured out who Ryan looks like. There isn't much resemblance to Kella's baby pics. Kella was such a clone of Kipp, "Kipp-on-a-stick" as her uncle Derrick would call her! Ryan is definitely her own person with her own look. She hasn't lost much of her black hair, her eyes are still blue and she continues to grow-grow-grow! At 6 weeks I am already able to put her in her 3 mo. clothes! This is such a change from Kella, my tall, skinny, have to force her to eat, still fitting in last year's clothes, little girl!

Ho Ho Ho!

Here's a glimpse of the Streff household at Christmas. Kipp did a great job on the lights this year. We finally figured out (from the help of our neighbors) that you can stick the lights on your brick with a hot glue gun! Who knew!

Ryan is now 6 WEEKS! We can't believe its already been that long.

I caught Ryan sucking her thumb for the first time. She usually tries to get her whole fist in, but this time she found her thumb and latched on!

This last pic is Kella at 6 weeks also. It was about this same time that she too found her fingers. She still sucks on her first two fingers of her right hand when she's tired. Unlike a paci, we can't take her fingers away!

You lie fwyd wiiiice (You like fried rice!)

It was time for our 2nd annual Japanese Christmas with the Canterbury's & friends! We had a great night enjoying hibachi at Kobe's Steakhouse, one of our FAVORITES!!! And by the way, this picture was taken by our photographer in the making, KELLA!!!!

Another great pic by Kella!!!

Enjoying Heather's dessert and watching the "biiiiig fire" on the grill. Great place for dinner with the kiddos, free entertainment!!!

Kella getting some practice with chop sticks.

Kella loves her Heather & Chad!!!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Kella's "school" had a Happy Birthday Jesus party last Thursday morning. We got to help with an art project, eat snacks and of course sing Happy Birthday to Jesus! What a fun morning!!!

Fun stuff!

Here's Ryan enjoying her first "real bath", not her usual wipe-down, can you say bye-bye belly button! I remember Kella crying the whole time, but Ryan seemed to enjoy the pampering.

Happy Thanksgiving! Ryan made her first road trip to Oak-kah-koma (as Kella says). We planned our strategy and fed everyone before we left, but unfortunately leaving Dallas at

4 o' clock on a friday set our schedule back by almost 2 hours. Ugh! It made for a funny story, here goes.... We stopped at our usual spot in Atoka for potty breaks and red bull. I discovered that Kella had wet herself when we made it to the bathroom. This was after I carried her in and my arm was now wet! Back in the car, I stripped her down and found the nearest pair of pants & new panties, not matching, of course. Kipp graciously offered 2 of his t-shirts for her to now sit on in her wet car seat. I sent him in after a bag from the convenient store to put the wet clothes in, he had to explain to the clerk what it was for when she wanted to double bag our goodies after his request. The guy behind him said, "road trip, huh?" Kipp - "yeah, my daughter peed in her car seat while she was asleep" (Note to self - pack pull-ups for long distance driving where sleeping is involved.) He said, "yeah, us too. Our dog has already thrown up 3 times!" We had parked next to each other and had a good laugh when the boys returned to the car. By this time Ryan was awake and HUN-GRY, so we spent the next 20 min people watching the fine citizens of Atoka! Good times!

II am fortunate enough to have a husband who, I think, loves Christmas more than I do. We both anxiously wait to put up the lights when it seem like our neighbors won't think we're too eager. We came home early from Sallisaw just to do our decorating. It has been so fun this year to see Christmas through Kella's eyes. Last year she would get excited, but didn't really get it, but this year has been such a joy and its only Dec. 4th!!!! We decorated "her" tree and she still gets excited every time we walk in her room. "It's christmas tree lights! Sooo spark-ah-lee!" If I can figure out how to add a video on this thing, her rendition of "Jwingle Bewls" is pretty spectacular!

Toot-Toot!!!

We visited the trains at Northpark mall. Here we are in New York, New York!
Mount Rushmore

Ryan was the best traveler. This is what she does ALL DAY!!!

Can you say bless-ing!!!

We made our way all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. Whew! What a day!

Can I get someone to look this way. hehehe

Oldies but goodies!

I ran across these pics that mom took this summer. Such a sweet girl!

This stork was rented by our friends Tal & Casey. Kella got such a kick out of it. Her "big sister" star is now hanging in her room. Our neighbors enjoyed it just as much when their kids asked "why do they have a bird in their yard?" Ahhhh, kids!

Here's just a taste..... of sweetness!!!!!

I recently went throught a bible study with my dear friend Cheryl Scruggs. Most of you know she and her husband, Jeff, have played significant roles in mine & Kipp's relationship. They were also part of our wedding ceremony in Mexico, that's how much they mean to us. Cheryl & her friend, Mona, led a women's bible study where we read Jen Hatmaker's book "A Modern Girl's Guide to Bible Study", if you struggle with how to read/study the bible, I highly recommend this book. I met some amazing girls in this study, one of which is Avery. She is an amazing photographer and offered to shoot maternity pics to add to her portfolio. Due to the insane amount of rain we received in October, we got rained out for most of the times we set. Since Ryan's arrival came before we shooting, she offered to do a newborn setting here at the house. She was sweet enough to capture a few of Kella (she got to jump on the bed for this, which is a big no-no in our house..... remember the monkey's?!?!?!)

Visit her blog for a few more AMAZING pics of the girls! Did I mention she is amazing???

www.photographybyavery.com