The Kestersons: January 2012

Monday, January 23, 2012

Artist or Photographer

Lately Beau loves to take pictures with my phone. He's progressed from pictures of our knees and feet to actually getting the target in the photo.

Beau capturing Bella while she put together a puzzle.

Also we recently started playing with playdough a lot more. Below is a picture of his "boy" and one of my "girl". I think he may want to stick to photography.

January 5 Joel turned 32. Normally we go to Sea Ranch for his big day, but we've both been so busy with work that it just didn't work out this year. Boo. But we had a nice dinner with his parents and Gram, then dessert at the Arrighi's. A few days later I took the kids to Pioneer for 4 days to celebrate Aunt Chris' birthday and he was able to live it up bachelor style. I'd say that's a good birthday.

New Bed, New Room

With the baby coming in March, we had to combine Beau and Bella's rooms. Which meant, new beds for both of them and no more crib for Bella. I was super nervous about this transition, but it actually went much better than expected. Beau seems to sleep better at night and traveling with them is a breeze. Only 2 slight problems.

Beau was only napping 1 or 2 times a week whereas Bella still naps daily. So now Beau has his "quite time" in my room during Bella's naps. Which means, no rest time for mom.
Beau plays before going to sleep. He usually doesn't fall asleep until 9/9:30 pm and now he's put Bella on this crazy late schedule as well.

But overall, I'm loving the transition. We still have a few changes we need to do to their room, but thanks to Aunt Mel's help we were able to redecorate.

Christmas Gifts

We received so many wonderful Christmas gifts. Here are a few pics of Beau enjoying some and a video of Bella telling us her favorite book.

Napping on my pregnancy pillow Joel gave me.

Water never tasted so good, thanks to this new cup from Lisa Leggett.

Aunt Chris gave Bella the book Shoe La La for Christmas. One line in the book is "Shoe la la, they're everywhere." As you can see, it's not only Bella's favorite book, but she loves to recite lines from the book as well.

A Day of Returns

About a week after Christmas Melissa and I ventured out with the kids to the mall and many other stores for a day of returns and a purchase or two. I'm not sure Melissa knew what she was getting into, shopping with a pregnant woman and 2 kids, but we accomplished our goals and even had time to ride the carousel. But to say we were exhausted was an understatement.

Noma / Penner Christmas 2012

The day after Christmas we had another party with Joel's mom's family. Then the day after that, the kids and I headed to the Penner's to hang with Jenny and the girls, while the Noma's, Joey and Joel golfed. Something is seriously wrong with the picture, but hey... that's the life of a mom. 4 Christmas! Wowsa!

Mia and Beau taking a water break.

Beau got a new karaokee machine from Grandma & Grandpa Noma. As you can see, it's getting lots of use.

Christmas Day 2012

Christmas Day was even more hectic than Christmas Eve, but a blast spent with family. We started out our day at home. We first read the Christmas Story, prayed together, then opened our gifts. Then I headed out to church and Joel and the kids came about 45 mins later. After church, we came home and met my immediate family for our personal gift opening time before the rest of the family arrived for gumbo dinner. Awe...no holiday compares to Christmas!

Bella just had to try on everything right away.

Sporting the new hats Nana made.

Our kids know way too much about how to operate an iPhone.

All tuckered out...too much gumbo.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was busy busy busy, but fun fun fun. I spent the morning making gumbo for Christmas Day...it only took me 5 hours, then we quickly cleaned up and went to a Christmas Eve children's church service. After church, we headed back to Bob & Janice's for our traditional Christmas Eve gathering. We enjoyed way too much food, then the kids dove into way too many gifts. This was our first year without a baby, so it was so much fun to watch Beau and Bella actually open & enjoy each gift. Each year gets better and better. We are very blessed to have such a big loving family.

I cannot stress how much we need a new camera. Sorry for the lack of pics.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Christmas Tree Lane

A few days before Christmas we packed up the kids, picked up Starbucks and met up with the Arrighi's for a trip down Christmas Tree Lane in Ceres. Since Kelly and Trevor have the bigger car, we parked our car and piled into their car to see the Christmas lights. There were a lot of oohs and aahs as well as a few, Wow, That's Awesome's! To date, it was the best Christmas light experience we've had. It was so fun to see all the kids together enjoying the lights.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Progressive Dinner 2011

This year the Annual Kesterson Progressive Dinner was held in town. It was a nice break for us country folk. We were just able to attend and enjoy. We started out at Kelly and Trevor's for appetizers, then headed to Ami's for the main course, then ended our night at Chris and Laura's for dessert and our white elephant gift exchange. I was really bad about taking pictures, but I did make it out with one. Poor Gram wasn't feeling well and had to go home early, but we were able to steal a picture with her.

Christmas Games and Movies

The week before Christmas Joel and I spent some time with the kids playing cards and watching The Grinch (orig. version). The kids were enamored with the movie and Beau really took to the card games. Bella tried her hardest, but had more fun trying on Daddy's hat.

Bass Pro Shop

The week before Christmas Janice, Kelly, all the kids and myself went to Bass Pro Shop to see Santa and explore. My kids did not want anything to do with Santa, so after the Arrighi kids took a quick photo with Santa we explored the rest of the massive store. It was a fun Christmas outing and the kids really enjoyed their time together.

The Arrighi Kids and Santa