Happenings Lately

Ali gave Mckayla this crown and wand when she was around a year and I held on to it untill I knew she would want to play with it. I made her this no sew tutu to go with it. She went around smiling and saying, "I a princess I a princess!".




Mckayla insisted on having EVERY stuffed animal in her possession piled on her bed in order for her to go to sleep. I usually just give her one of her favorites.
Josh and Jesse have a new love. Not romantic. Just obsessive. Texas hold 'em on the phone! The phones were loosing a lot of battery so they went up to our bedroom and were plugged in playing.

Mckayla has been getting really tired and falling asleep on the couch. Both times it was totally unexpected. I looked over when we were watching T.V. and she was passed out!


In other news. We are waiting to hear back on yet another offer we've put on a house. This one seems like it's really going to pan out but we'll see. We think we will likely hear back this week sometime. It's in AF north of Costco. We are in LOVE with it! We pray to be able to handle whatever happens with grace :) Wish us luck!

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to me. A bit later....

I shopped, saved, and waited to get these little beauties! I saved my Christmas and photography money to get the bookcase, and Josh let me buy the picture of Christ for my birthday! I love them both! They make a big difference in my living room. Christ seems to watch and preside over our home, and I feel peace and love when I look at this painting.
I installed some lights I got from IKEA in the top of the bookcase yesterday, and hung up the funky green chandelier thing from Tai Pan. I'm really happy how it turned out. My living room seems more cozy and complete this way :)

We celebrated my 27th birthday on sunday at Ali and Howard's. Ali put a lot of work into making this beautiful from scratch German chocolate cake! Yes, it tastes as good as it looks. She also made some amazing carnitas! They were SO good! I don't know if I liked them or the cake better. She also got me a few really awesome presents. I got a whole bunch of bare minerals eye shadow which I secretly wanted and she just happened to get it for me. Some seriously gorgeous flowers! Some really beautiful jewelery. A jade necklace and some copper chandelier earrings. A waffle maker that makes waffles in the shape of hearts that looks way nice and will be super fun! And to top it off, a really nice hand written card from her and Howie. Thank you SO much! And thank you Howie for cleaning up the mess with your sore foot!

A couple things we've been doing since vacation.

We got some awesome crayola $5 chalk at walmart and try to play outside more so Mckayla can get more exercise. Lets face it. We both need more exercise. She is also getting better at doing the peddles on her trike!


Mckayla has been really good at playing by herself when I am busy. She does some funny stuff like jump up and down and make weird noises on her bed!
I did this puzzle. It's 1500 pieces. I LOVE to do puzzles! It took me 2 1/2 days on the weekend. It's a very whimsical and fun fairytale painting by James C. Christensen.
Mckayla has had serious sleep issues since we've been back. She just started sleeping through the night for 9 hours a few nights ago. It has been a challenge. If you have any sleep problems, I would strongly recommend the Ferber method. Look up his book now at your library!
We got some fun valentines gifts from Gramma Ali! I got these adorable spoons and some cute glass with silver salt and pepper shakers (not pictured). I love them! Josh got a Texas Road House gift certificate. What could be better? The love of your family! But gifts are great too!

And Mckayla got this super cute talking puppy that says funny things like "I woof you" and flaps his ears. She LOVES it!

Daddy and Mckayla have been having SO much fun together when he gets home from work. Mckayla likes to ride the "Daddy horse" and play "tent" with our blankets.
I have been doing lots of things for my church calling. I organize and help plan the Relief Society activities. I have been doing family history work using ancestry.com and it is really interesting and rewarding! If you want to check out my tree, shoot me an e-mail. Josh is busy at work as always, but I think he enjoys solving problems and making things work better. I am proud of him and am SO glad to have a good mormon man! Love you honey :)
So there you have it. Life in the Kissee family. It's all good.

Happy Birthday Newton!

Disneyland/CA

Wow, there's a lot to say. I will try to sum it up!
My family and I drove to CA for vacation last Friday. We got back on Sunday night. We went to Disneyland and Sea World and stayed in a super nice condo. Overall it was the most awesome perfect vacation anyone could ask for! (except Josh wasn't there) Mckayla loved every minute of it and only had about 3 mini fits involving desire to see mickey, goofy and a choo-choo train. She did have a semi-hard time in the car on the way home but did remarkably well I think.
We bought a 3 day pass for Disneyland and just paid a one day admission to Sea World. My sister Mandy and her husband Chris and their 4 year old daughter Madilyn came as well. Mckayla and Maddie had a lot of fun playing together and were largely well behaved and did well waiting in lines. (most of which were fairly short considering the season) We got two little backpacks with the harnesses so the kids wouldn’t run off and they worked like a charm! We were at the parks most days, but were grateful for a rest day in between here and there. Our feet got pretty darn sore!
Mckayla seemed most enamored by: It's a small world, peter pan, the tea cups, the carousel, World of color and Fantasmic nighttime water shows, and the Aladdin mini Broadway play. At the play everyone was turning around to watch Mckayla because she was singing along with the music and clapping and dancing and being SO funny! She tolerated and seemed very interested by pirates of the Caribbean, and the haunted mansion. She never got scared or cried on any rides, but if she didn't like it she would hold on to me and say "all done". She only whimpered a little when she heard the loud booming noise from the fireworks. I asked her if she liked the fireworks and she said, “no, it’s too much”.
My parents were way nice to sit out a bunch of times with the kids so everyone else could go on the bigger rides like Tower of Terror, space mountain, soaring over California, the water rapid ride, and thunder mountain railroad. Tower of Terror was definitely the highlight ride. We went on it four times! Anyway, we had a great time! Thanks mom and dad for the wonderful time! Love you :)