Christmas day

I feel like this picture should be on a greeting card or something, look how big her eyes are and how excited she looks!  Christmas day was a very long day for us, but SO fun.  When we woke up we opened presents at our house.  It was a very simple Christmas at our house this year.  Colton and I decided we weren't going to exchange gifts and for Korbyn I took four boxes and stuffed them full of her toys that she already had and let her open them.  I know it sounds awful that we didn't even buy our daughter anything for Christmas but she's ONE!  She has absolutely no idea what Christmas even is so we couldn't justify spending the money on something that she's not even going to care about.  Do I feel guilty?  Maybe a little bit, but I guarantee she was just as excited and happy as every other kid on Christmas morning. 

I don't know why my videos aren't loading right, but I had a really cute one of Korbyn opening her first gift, hopefully I can post them soon.

 Then we went to Colton's mom's house for lunch.  Korbyn got so many gifts and she got the opening presents routine down perfectly!

 Santa brought her cousin Avery a pink guitar and she brought it along to memaw's.  It was so cute watching her play it, even Korbyn wanted to try it out.  Avery is showing her how to play it.

 Waiting patiently as daddy opens her new babies.

 I don't know if you know it or not, but Korbyn has this funny little addiction with soft things.  Any blanket, pillow, or toy that is soft she wants to lay on it and cuddle it.  Memaw and papaw made her a blanket and pillow set that is super soft and she immediately was in love!  The poor girl has been at home with an ear infection the last couple of days and she has become SO attached to this blanket.  I eventually had to take the pillowcase off the pillow and let her carry that around because she kept dragging the blanket and tripping on it.

 Then for dinner we went to my nanny and papaw's (my dad's parents) house.  Our family continues to grow so they moved their Christmas out to their garage this year.

Then when we got home we all crashed because it had been such and exhausting, but wonderful, day :)

Christmas Eve

She got this coat and hat for her birthday and I've been chomping at the bit for Christmas to get here so she could finally wear it!  Every time she would put it on I would call her my little Russian.  It's an 18 month so it's a little big but I know the 12 month would have been way too small.  So this way she can wear it all the way through winter, I'm so excited!

Colton and I both snagged a picture with Korbyn before heading off to church on Christmas Eve.

I don't think this was on Christmas Eve but I wanted to get a picture of these shirts that they made.  The reindeer is actually supposed to be in front, but when her teacher made it none of us were paying attention to how high or low we were putting her hand and footprints, we were just worried about the paint getting everywhere!  So when we finished we soon realized that she probably wasn't able to wear it.  Uh...not this momma, if I bought it she's wearing it (I bought the onesie for them to paint on).  So I just turned it backwards and she wore it to her class party at daycare.  I had to unfortunately cut the reindeer's nose off because it would have looked like something was in her britches if I hadn't.

Friday Christmas

 I have several "Christmases" to post so bear with me.  Our first Christmas this year was at memaw and papaw Beisert's house, it was on Friday evening.  Memaw had made sugar cookies and icing for the kids to decorate their own cookies, it was so cute.  Korbyn of course had to supervise.

 We set her on a stool next to the island to watch them decorate.  She kept pointing to the cookies and the icing so memaw gave her some on her finger to taste and from then on she kept swiping her finger across a cookie to get a taste of the icing.  My nephew finally caught on to what she was doing and he said "eww, Torby (that's how he says Korbyn) I not eating that one!"

 She finally just grabbed a cookie and started munching on it herself.

 Then we always have to take a group picture with all the kids before we open presents.  I have to say, even though none of them are looking at my camera it's a pretty good one this year.

Along with our gifts to the kids we put a punch balloon in each of their bags.  They all wanted them blown up of course when they saw them.  So for a while it was chaos as they were all punching them in one room!  Then they got bored with them and moved on to another toy so Korbyn decided it was her turn.  She can actually punch them and make them go back and forth, it was hilarious!

My nieces put together a "production" of Christmas songs.  They were so cute.  They even were calling each other the day before telling who to bring what from home.  They did several songs and I have the cutest video of them singing and Korbyn eating it up, she even started clapping for them when they started.  But I've tried loading this video several times and it won't load right so I'm giving up on it, maybe I can post it later.

I just had to throw this one in here because she looks so adorable in glasses!  I hope she never has to wear glasses or contacts of course, but we couldn't resist taking a picture of her.

My sister-in-law made a birthday cake and we sang happy birthday to baby Jesus after we opened gifts. 

Then as the night went on we all got a little silly.  My mom had a box of some of my baby stuff out and we were trying on some of my old dresses on Korbyn.  The frilly dress just doesn't suit her!  Even my sister-in-law said that it just doesn't look like Korbyn!  But I actually took home a couple of my old dresses because they were some that had already come back in style...not the green one though :)

Christmas lights

 We went to the Lights of Tejas with Doug and Loranne Tuesday night.  It was pretty neat, I'm definitely looking forward to taking Korbyn next year because I think she would enjoy it more then.  As soon as we got there we thankfully caught the hayride right before it was about to take off.  During the hayride Colton and I looked at each other and both decided that we were pretty disappointed at what they had to offer.  Let me clarify because I know that sounds really mean.  The tunnel of lights that we are under taking the picture is really all they did with the lights, the only other lights they had displayed were wrapped tree trunks...and that's it.  I'm very thankful that so many people took their time to put this together (because I know it was A LOT of work), but I guess with the heavy advertising they did for so long we just expected more.  Granted they did have several bounce houses, a light maze and a light show (also just tree trunks) so I know for older kids they would have had a blast.

Probably the best thing they had for us was the dining hall where they were selling drinks, dinner, and the free hot chocolate I won!  They had the entire hall filled with lit Christmas trees and they had music playing and the trees were flashing to the beat of the music.  It was really neat and also great because Korbyn loved it and was able to run around and stay warm.  So we probably spent the majority of our time in there drinking our hot chocolate and watching Korbyn.  It was fun and I definitely want to go back next year!

Ponytail

 Korbyn's hair is finally thick enough to put in a little ponytail!  Her teacher put one in her hair probably 6 months ago and I had such a hard time getting it out (because they had to wrap it so tight to get what little hair she had in it) that I didn't put one back in until now.  I'm just always afraid that it hurts her head so I put it in really loose and try not to do it too often so I don't damage it too bad.  The barrette clips are by far our best friend.  They actually stay in her hair.  She's still pretty good about leaving bows in, but if she remembers that it's up there she'll reach up and try to pull it out, while making sure I'm looking at her and smiling of course!

Usually as soon as we get home I'll take the ponytail out and her hair will stick up like this until we get in the bathtub!

Understanding us

Korbyn now loves to carry around bags!  I looked into her purse the other evening and these are all the things she managed to stuff down in there and our tv remote was at the bottom, I probably would have never found that thing.  And it doesn't matter what size, she will try to sling it over her shoulder and carry it around.

We've also realized that we need to really start being careful what we say around her.  The other night we were in the living room and she was playing with her toys and I noticed one of her house shoes had come off of her foot.  To myself I said "oh shoot, now where's her shoe?"  She looked up at me and said "shoe" and walked around the corner into the kitchen and brought me back her shoe to put it on her!  I just stared at her in amazement and at the same time thinking...o crap.  Then another time Colton had something in his hand and Korbyn wanted it but couldn't have it so he put it on the coffee table and said "no, that's trash."  She then picked up what he set down and walked over to the trash can and tried to put it in!

I've noticed too that she's trying to imitate almost everything we say and do.  She can say mommy, daddy, hot, hi, shoe, more and sign for finished and more.  She can somewhat point to her hair, ears, nose, eyes, and mouth when asked where they are but she still gets a little confused.

Day at the farm

 Last Saturday Colton, Korbyn, and I went out to Fedor to help my dad burn some brush piles.  Now that the burn ban has finally been lifted, for a while anyway, everyone is trying to burn what they have before they set another ban.  It was so funny the day after the ban was lifted, you could look in any direction and see smoke everywhere.  A friend of ours who works in College Station but drives back and forth everyday said it looked like Indian territory coming into Lee county!

I wasn't planning on going out with Colton but at the last minute he said we should come along since it was a pretty nice day and that would give Korbyn to run around too.  She LOVED it.  We weren't really restricting her on anything that she could get into or go, she mostly played in the dirt the entire time.  She also was caught playing in some cow poop!  It's ok, it was dry and we washed her hands.  The girl played so hard and got so dirty that I had to clip her nails just to get the dirt out from underneath them and she got straight into the tub when we got home, but it was so good for her to just play in the dirt!

 She also loves papaw's tractor.  She thought it was a good idea to check the tires out before they went on a ride! 

She wanted so bad to get on it, so papaw took her on a short ride to go check the hog trap.  I was a nervous wreck with her sitting on his lap and I know it's not the smartest thing to do.  I kept telling him "don't let go of her for a second!!!"  He just laughed and was like, Abby please.  Well they weren't gone but maybe five minutes and we could see them the entire time.  When he started heading back I got my camera ready because I wanted to see her reaction.  The girl fell asleep before they even started heading back!

Tractors have never made me nervous, but I guess the first time you see your baby on one is a little gut wrenching.  Heck my dad threw me on one when I was about 9 and told me to figure it out...literally.  I remember it vividly.  We were in our driveway and he put me on it and said he's going to teach me how to drive it.  Well he didn't sit up there with me, he just walked beside it and told me what to do while I was so nervous I was in tears.  But he wouldn't get me down, he knew that I could figure it out and eventually I did.  The same thing when he taught me how to drive a stick.  I was in the process of getting my license and he wanted to teach me how to drive a standard.  We got to a stop sign and I was trying to take off and I kept dying out and I couldn't figure out why!  I was getting so frustrated and embarrassed because the line of cars that were behind us were starting to go around us!  But he wouldn't tell me what I was doing wrong, he just kept saying "Abby, take your time and look what you're doing wrong."  Come to find out I was trying to take off in second gear and in his old truck you HAVE to take off in first.  I always loved that about my dad.  He was so patient and he wanted me to learn by figuring things out on my own, not just having someone tell me what I was doing wrong.

Stressed

If I didn't eat when I got stressed I'd be as thin as a rail right now...unfortunately for me I do the opposite!  Here lately I feel like I go into each day in a fog.  My mind is on so many different things right now. 

First of all Christmas is quickly approaching.  Now, you know I love Christmas time but with it comes a lot of stress.  Having to find a way to please everyone and not hurt feelings, having to buy a ton of gifts etc.  Poor Korbyn, she may get one thing from Colton and I this year!  Then school is also something else constantly on my mind.  I take my exams in January and every time I think about it I feel like I'm going to vomit.  I'm taking two exams, my EC-6 on the 17th and my special education on the 31st.  I've always been a good test taker.  I can be unfamiliar with the material and I could sit down and take a test on something and still pass.  I've always been that way.  I can look at the question and just pick the most obvious answer...except at math, I've always been bad at math.  So you would think I would have nothing to worry about!  But these tests are $120 EACH and I really only have one shot if I want to teach come next school year because it takes about two months to get your scores back.  And I've always been good at things when I have something to specifically learn.  If you give me an assignment and tell me what you're looking for I can ace it.  But I've never been good at "creative thinking" assignments, I tend to over think them.  And with these tests there are no study guides, it's like 400 questions over the TEKS (Texas' curriculum) which are a mile long and are kind of broad.  So I'm trying like crazy to soak up any information about these tests until then.  BUT, I told Colton "you know, if I do pass these things and find a job by next school year I'll be pretty darn proud of myself!" 

On top of that my washing machine has been broken for about a week.  I was putting a load into the dryer the other day and in the clothes was half of the rubber seal from the washing machine!  I will NEVER buy a front load washer again!!!  I haven't been happy with it from the beginning and this was just the icing on the cake.  Colton looked at it and said he could just order a new one and fix it himself (fingers crossed!).  It should be here today and hopefully I can start washing our clothes tomorrow and stop having to use my mom's :)

New things

Now that Korbyn is getting older she's getting into different things.  She now has figured out how to carry a bag around.  I have no idea where she learned this, I guess just from watching me do it everyday.  She likes to carry around my lunchbox.  The other day she just slung it on her arm and took off walking with it like she was really going somewhere!

 And she also likes "real" things.  She doesn't play with toys much.  I know once she gets a little older she'll get into babies and things like that but for now she's happy with anything we give her that actually works.

She's also starting this stuff where it's like she's taking up for herself.  At the daycare we kind of laugh because once you're out of the baby room it's survival of the fittest in the rest of the rooms.  Her teacher told me that one day Korbyn was sitting on her lap on the floor when another kid came over wanting to sit on the teacher's lap too.  The teacher told the other kid that she's holding Korbyn right now but that she'll hold them in a little bit, well once Korbyn saw the other kid coming over she started to kick her feet at them!  Like she was telling them to get away from her.  Then she said that another day all the kids were playing and a little girl had grabbed the bucket of blocks and dumped them all out onto the floor.  She said Korbyn was right next to her and none of the blocks even touched her, but it was like Korbyn didn't like the loud noise it made so she just looked at the other little girl and then pushed her down!  Great...my kid is probably going to be the bully in the class.  She just has so much character, you never get bored when you're around her.  Her teacher told me another story about nap time.  She said that they just laid down on their mats and she turned the lights off and was going to put the nap music on.  Well when she pushed play on the radio she forgot to switch out the cds so it was loud, upbeat music and when Korbyn heard it she made a big "o" with her mouth and stood up and started dancing!  She said then all the other kids wanted to get up and dance so she let them dance it out for a little bit then put them all to sleep, so cute!

Christmas spirit

 Christmas time is finally here!!!  I absolutely LOVE this time of year, it just makes me giddy!  Last weekend we started getting into the Christmas spirit around our house (NOT before Thanksgiving...that really bugs me).  At school they started decorating and doing crafts with the kids.  Here we're trying to get Korbyn's hand and footprints for a reindeer shirt, they turned out SO cute.

 Last Sunday we went and got our Christmas tree.  I think this is the earliest we've ever got one.  Colton and I debated whether to just get a small tree and put it on the table for this year or brave a full sized one.  Colton said that he didn't want a small tree so we got a normal one and crossed our fingers.  The trees that we like to get are pre-cut and imported from North Carolina I think and the Christmas tree farm had just gotten their shipment in the night before so there were lots to choose from.  And I guess they were all still packed tightly together because it was not near this big when we picked it out!  When we put it in our living room we stood back and both agreed that it was way too big around for the room.  So we had to put it in our dining/kitchen area.  Which isn't a big deal, I've just never had a tree in the kitchen before!

 Amazingly Korbyn has only touched the tree maybe three times.  We watched her the very first time we put it up and she of course went straight to it and wanted to grab everything but we told her no and moved her away and she was fine with that.  One other time she brought me an ornament off of the tree and I made her walk it back and helped her put it back on and she hasn't touched it since!  Now...we all know Korbyn isn't that sweet ;)  She'll occasionally make sure we're watching her and go up to the tree and have a very sly smile on her face and put her finger about an inch away from and ornament and look back at us and it's like she's saying "I'm not touching it hehe!"  Lil' turd.

 Saturday I drug Colton to the mall to go see Santa.  We left our house around 2 p.m. and I told him either I need to put her down for a nap and not go today or stick her in the truck and let her sleep all the way to College Station, so we just decided to go.  Wouldn't you know she talked ALL the way there and never closed her eyes once.  We first had to go into Walmart to exchange a TV that we bought the day before and that took about an hour.  She was good, but you could tell she was starting to get a little fussy.  Across from Walmart was Tractor Supply and Colton needed to get something from there so I told him I would drop him off and Korbyn and I would circle the parking lot until she fell asleep...HA!  No luck there, she was still wide awake and I even gave her some milk that I thought would surely do the trick.  So we decided to take our chances and just head over to the mall.  We pull into the mall parking lot about 5 and I'm not kidding you, the moment I put it in park she closes her eyes and is out!  Colton said we should probably just sit here for about 20 minutes and let her get some sort of nap, I completely agreed.  We walk in the mall to see Santa and he's not even there!  Technically he was there but he wasn't going to back from break for another 45 minutes!!!  So at this point we're all tired and a little frustrated, but we head over to the food court and grab a bite to eat and go get our picture taken.

 This is Korbyn in line waiting to see him.  She saw him from the side as he sat down in his chair and she just kept staring at him, she wasn't scared it was just like she couldn't figure him out.

This is Korbyn's picture with Santa.  The poor thing has such a nervous smile on her face, it almost doesn't even look like her!  I had a choice between this picture and the one the lady snapped about two seconds after this, which is Korbyn's mouth wide open screaming.  I first chose the screaming one because it was SO hilarious, then changed my mind at the last second.  But of course I was kicking myself all the way home because Colton said that the screaming picture would have made awesome Christmas cards, and then I wanted the other one!  But this one is priceless :)

Maverick's party

 Maverick and Korbyn are only five days apart and they used to be our neighbors but now they've moved away :(  He had his birthday party the day after Korbyn's actual birthday.  I took three of my nieces and nephews along, they are good friends with them too.  It was just me that had them and Korbyn, Colton was helping my dad but came out a little later.  I never mind when they tag along though because the oldest one, Kaylene (in the picture) who is eleven, is such a big help!  And Korbyn absolutely adores her.  Every time Korbyn sees her she starts squealing and sticks her arms out for her.

 The party was pre-walking, so we took her walker with us to keep her entertained.

Maverick got this awesome fire truck as a gift and they let Korbyn ride around on it during the party.  I LOVE this thing!  It has the button that makes it go on the steering wheel, not a pedal that they have to push.  And then when you let the button go it automatically stops...awesome!  She was able to figure it out pretty quick but you can definitely tell in the video when she pushes it and then lets go.

New kid

I feel like ever since her birthday we have this new kid in our house.  It's just so weird how almost over night they can change!  Korbyn is now a pro at walking.  She can even stand up now from crawling, where before she had to crawl to something to pull herself up on. 

 Two weeks ago we went to San Saba and we brought along her walker that she got for her birthday.  We got there Friday evening and usually leave on Sunday.  It was like a switch went off!  Right after lunch on Saturday she just took off on her own!  Ever since then she's unstoppable :)

 She can even walk while drinking her sippy cup...pretty advanced, I know!

 Ohhhh her toothbrush.  Ever since she got her two bottom teeth we brush them every morning and every evening and she can't wait to do it!  Even if she sees her toothbrush on the counter she wants to put it in her mouth.  The only problem is she now wants to walk around with it in her mouth.  Sorry kid, not happening.  I can just imagine that thing lodged in her throat when she falls down on it. 

She's also gaining personality and attitude with every day.  We got these cute headbands for her birthday and she grabbed them off the table (yes, OFF the table) and brought them both to me to put them on her and she insisted that she wear both of them and just continued to play with them on her head.

 And her new favorite thing is suckers.  She wants to hold them all by herself without any help.  Unfortunately for her we'll only let her have them when she's sitting with us.

I was thinking the other day that it must be innate in all children to push their limits and be defiant to some degree.  Korbyn has somehow picked up on these things already!  We have a night light in our living room that she loves to pull out of the socket just because we tell her not to.  Colton was on one couch, I was on the other (behind her) and she kept going over to it and wanting to pull it out.  We tell her no and then if she does it again we'll go move her away and if she goes back then she gets a little pop on the hand.  Well that night she was standing right in front of it, not touching it, but just smiling at Colton.  He told her don't touch it and walked into the kitchen.  This little fart watched him walk out of the living room and as soon as he turned the corner she went to grab it.  I guess she didn't know I was behind her because I was watching her and as soon as she went for it I said "Korbyn, NO!" and she jumped and just walked away from it like "what?  I didn't do anything!"  She's also started to "run" away from us.  If I see her pick up something that she's not supposed to and she knows that I'm coming to take it away from her, she'll giggle and turn and try to walk away as fast as she can to get away from us!  Where do they learn these things?!