It's a Merry Marlatt Christmas

We had the wonderful privilege of having Nanna, Pop, Mimi, and Uncle Rob travel to our house for Christmas this year. What a wonderful Christmas it was!

The only thing we could get Kensley to tell us she wanted from Santa was a candy cane. That was it. Fortunately, Santa knew Kensley would enjoy more. With that said, Santa left Kensley a candy cane, a seat for my bike, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads, a lawn chair, and much, much more!

We also took the opportunity to pose for family pics at our house and at the beach! We can honestly say that we have never had a Christmas picture at the beach. What fun! (brrrrrrrrrrr!)

Kensley and her candy cane

Dress Up

Wheeler Christmas

We three

brrrrr..take two - at the beach

Keep me warm!!!

It's Christmastime at The Marlatts!

I just couldn't stand it. I decorated the house the weekend before Thanksgiving. Generally, I would have waited. However, Mike was away, so I gave myself permission to crank up the Christmas tunes and knock out my decorating since we would be away for Thanksgiving weekend. This has been a great Christmas - already! Kensley just loves all of the lights everywhere from Main Steet to our home. She tells me often how "beautiful" our tree is and how much she likes it.

~Kensley helping decorate~

Our "one finger rule" was overturned this season when it came to touching the tree as I happened upon Kensley gathering my ornaments from the tree and putting them in her sand bucket. Uh, no! Later that evening when Kensley showed Nanna and Pop the tree over the phone, Kensley told Pop, "Do not touch the tree AT ALL!" This was a direct quote from her mother only hours earlier. Since then, Kensley has been tempted, but has been VERY good about not touching the tree "at all!"

Over the weekend, a neighbor informed us about the town's annual Christmas parade, which we absolutely flew by the seat of our pants to make it there. It started at 5:30 and we left here at 5:15. Mike's super-duper parking skills came in handy and he snagged an awesome parking spot right by the town Christmas Tree. Kensley loved the parade, the candy everyone threw from the floats, and BEADS! There was a sweet family who shared their spot with us to absorb some candy. Just the right attitude, especially for the holiday season. Ahhhhh. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays one and all!

Kensley and Daddy

We three Waving to the parade stars!

A sweet family shared their spot with Kensley so she could score some candy.

Say Cheese!

Aunt Marilyn and Aunt Judy came down for the weekend and came bearing Christmas gifts. Because Kensley loves playing with cameras and makes anything a camera, they thought giving Kensley her own camera for Christmas would be the perfect gift! They were right, however the jaws of our house are completely exhasuted from saying, "Cheese" this past week. Here are a few pictures of Kensley opening her camera. The unidentified objects are random things throughout the house - taken by Kensley. I think this is our carpet, which means she was just holding down the shutter button.

How does this work?

Cheese, Elmo. Elmo! Say Cheese!

Contemplating all of the pcitures she was going to take and waiting patiently for batteries.

Ida-clare!

We started off the first part of the month with a crazy BANG! Hmmmm. Where to begin? Well, there's the Cat 2 hurricane/Tropical Storm that we dodged, yet still seemed to get hit.

 

The weekend before Ida made landfall, we ventured across state lines and tried a little furniture shopping. I am in search of "the perfect" sofa and just can't seem to fall in love.

 

While we were away, Mike was informed he may need to come back and take care of some preventative maintenance at work in the event Ida became stronger. The next day at work, they took care of what/who they needed to take care of, and in light of the mounting concerns of Ida's strength, no one would need to report to work on Tuesday. As Ida fizzled and became nothing more to us than a minor rainstorm, the waters (and stomachs) began churning at home. Kensley woke up Monday night to arrive in our room and tell me that she "spit" in her bed. After a couple more minutes with her, I realized she was telling me she vomited. Rest assured, it was gross, but Kensley's a champ and made it through what we initially thought was a 24-hr bug.

All day Tuesday, Kensley was tired, but really didn't show any other signs of lingering illness. That was until 5 o'clock that evening. I was waiting for years in the speedy checkout at Wal-Mart, while Kensley jumped and bounced and had the time of her life. Mike waited patiently and then I heard the most obnoxious belch come from MY two-year-old! I looked at her and realized she had gagged. At that point, I immediately sent her to Mike telling him to take her to the restroom and that she was going to get sick again. He didn't make it, and I was right. Ew.

There we were, Kensley getting sick in the not-so-speedy checkout line at Wal-Mart for everyone to witness. I jumped into action, remembering to leave my unpaid merchandise on the Coke kiosk, and swept Kensley into the restroom. There, I undressed her and cleaned her as much as possible while Mike cleaned up Kensley's mess. All the while, Kensley apologized profusely, "I sawry, Mommy. I choke in Wal-Mart." "I all better, now." And apparently, she was right. Again thankful we were in Wal-Mart, we emerged from the restrooms, Kensley half-naked with no shoes on. (Do you get the humor?!?) Mike gave her one of the shirts off his back and swept her away to the car. I paid for the four items and we went home.

With Wednesday being Veteran's Day, Mike had another holiday with us. I don't remember what we did to be so productive, but later that night, the storm reared its ugly head and struck Mike! Being the dedicated employee, Mike went into work, only to be immediately returned to us for his recovery. It took all day Thursday for him to recuperate just in time to nurse me back to health (and supervise Kensley) on Friday evening and the better part of Saturday morning. I was the most fortunate one to become the least ill. To this very day, Kensley reminds usthat she "choked" in Wal-Mart.

To rid ourselves of the "storm", we ventured down to the beach on Sunday and had a few pictures of the three of us. What a gorgeous way to end a stormy week!

 

---

Lou Ellen Marlatt

To my teacher-friends

One of my faaaaaaaavorite teaching websites is doing a giveaway and I have to share it with you all to increase my chances. http://teachingheartmom.blogspot.com/2009/11/giveway-of-thanks.html