Dedicated DS Player!

She is one dedicated DS player.

Couldn't even put it down to go to the bathroom :)

Santa Came!

Since we are in Newton every year for Christmas, Santa usually comes the weekend before to our house in Iowa. He came this morning and Jaiden didn't even know he was coming. It took her a little while to realize that there were presents for her under the tree. She got a Nintendo DS, DS accessories and games, Hannah Montana guitar, some ponyville stuff, and a cup cake maker. She was so excited about everything. I love this age at Christmas, they are so much fun. This was a good day for Santa to come since it is -7 temperature outside with a wind chill of -36. We are not going anywhere today and she sure is enjoying her DS.

Playing In The Snow

Friday night we had to shovel the drive again and it was actually in the 20's outside so Jaiden got to play in the snow for the first time this year. We have had snow for a couple weeks but it had been way too cold to play in it. Her and the neighbor girl had a blast. Eric buried them in the big snow pile at the end of the drive.

Our Newest Obsession

We are so addicted to this game. It is so much fun!

Birthday Pictures

Here are a few from the Hannah Montana party

Uncle Kent with his 2 favorite girls

Here present and balloons she woke up to Sunday morning

and Sunday afternoon we went to see Bolt in 3D (that's what the glasses are about)

We asked her what her favorite part about her birthday was and she said everything- this was the best birthday ever :)

Happy Birthday Jaiden!

My baby girl turned 5 today. I cannot believe she is that old already. Time sure does fly. We had a Hannah Montana birthday party when we were home for Thanksgiving with all the family and friends and today we had our own little party for her. She woke up to balloons and her birthday present from us. Then we took her to see Bolt in 3D and ate at Ruby Tuesday's afterwards. We wanted to go to a place that would sing to her for her birthday but apparently not to many restaurants do that anymore, but she still got her ice cream :)

Pictures to follow tomorrow. For some reason I cannot get any pictures to upload.

Santa Again

Today Santa came to Yellowbook. Every year the employees can sign their kids up to see Santa and get a gift. Last year was the first year she would sit on his lap and this year when she sat on his lap she kind of froze up. She has two full pages of stuff she is going to send Santa and every commercial and catalog she is constantly saying "I want that for Christmas" and today when the big guy asked her the question the only thing she could come up with was a paint set. A paint set? She has been going on and on about wanting a Nintendo DS this year and she says a paint set. Then me and Jaiden went with our friends Brandy and Madison to look at Christmas decorations and to eat lunch while the guys went to Des Moines, while we were there saw Santa again. So here we are chance number 2 to tell him what she wants and again says a paint set. When we were leaving I said to her "I thought you were going to tell him you wanted a DS" so then she says " It doesn't matter cause he is a fake one anyway" I asked her how she knew that and she said "cause the real one is still at Yellowbook" and had this look on her face like DUH! So today she got a Pucci Puppy. It is a princess puppy with a carrier, leash, brush and a treat. I think were Santa'd out for this year. She is just ready for him to come to her house. :)

Here she is so patiently waiting in line.

And this is the Pucci Puppy.

The Tooth Fairy Came

She was so excited to reach under her pillow the next morning. She was so tired though. She didn't even get up she kept her eyes closed and reached under and this was the reaction I got.

And this one she raised her arm still hadn't opened her eyes and said "Yesssss"!

The Tooth Fairy Is Coming Tonight!

Jaiden lost her first tooth tonight. It has been just "hanging" there for a week or so and she finally got up enough nerve to pull it out. Eric did the whole fishing story and got it super loose and then she moved it and it fell out. She is so excited. She wants the tooth fairy to bring her quarters. Thank goodness for the change holder in the car. At 10 o'clock I was outside digging for 12 quarters. Jackpot! Whew, neither one of us was willing to get out in the 7 degree snowing weather to go to the gas station to get quarters.



In the picture above the tooth is in the baggie. That way it wouldn't get lost under her pillow.

Banned From Target!

No just kidding we aren't banned from target but let me tell you our experience on Sunday. Eric dropped me and Jaiden off at Target on Sunday to get some Christmas shopping done while he went and got his hair cut. We walked in and the security thing beeped at us. I didn't think anything because we were walking in and a lot of those things never work right and go off all the time. So we do our shopping, pay, and wait around for a few minutes for Eric to get back to pick us up. We start to walk out and the thing beeps. So the "rent a cop" came up to us to check our bags to make sure we didn't steal anything and asks for our receipt. He was looking at everything and says "huh, wonder what made that go off. You didn't buy anything that would make it go off". He says "go ahead and go" and Jaiden was a little ahead of me and when she walked through with nothing in her hand, the thing beeped again. I stopped and said "Jaiden get back here". I was thinking to myself OMG she knows better than to put anything in her pocket without paying for it first. The security guy (who had to have only been pushing 20) kind of looked at me like he didn't really know what to do. I looked in Jaiden's pocket, and nothing. Then he caught this tag in her coat that apparently had set it off.
So here is the story of her coat. I bought her a coat last winter on clearance at old navy for this winter. I has been hanging in the closet since and when it got cold a couple of months ago I pulled it out and she has worn it everyday since. There is a tag in the coat that says remove before washing. I am the kind of person that waits until I wash it to remove it. I never think about it actually get the scissors out to cut it off when we are leaving or when we get home. Apparently those tags are the security feature that they deactivate when you buy it. Little did I know they reactivate their self after so long. So this is why we were "beeped" at Target.

Breakfast With Santa

Today was a busy day. We woke up at 5:30 a.m. got ready and went to Kohl's to do some Christmas shopping. Then we headed to the mall for breakfast with Santa. Jaiden got to look in a glass ball and if she could see herself she was on the "nice" list. Whew! She was there :) She then got to pick out of Santa's bag and she picked out a little stuffed bear.

Then we headed to Boone, IA which is about 2 1/2 hours away to ride the Polar Express. Jaiden has been obsessed the the Polar Express movie for a couple years. It was really pretty neat. The kids wore their jammies, took an hour train ride to the North Pole, they read them the polar express book, sang Christmas Carols, we were served hot cocoa and cookies, and each kid got a bell off Santa's sleigh. It was just like the movie. She was so excited!

Then we drove back to Cedar Rapids, and did more Christmas shopping and grocery shopping and got home at 9 p.m. Needless to say it took Jaiden about 10 seconds to fall asleep tonight and it took Eric about 20 seconds :) I think we all had a blast today. Tomorrow we are going to have a little R & R.

O' Christmas Tree

Friday night after work we went to get our Christmas tree. This is the first year we have got a real tree. It was so very cold picking one out. Jaiden got to pick between a couple that Eric picked out first.

Jaiden is really enjoying the Christmas spirit this year and having a lot of fun with it.

Here is the almost finished product. Of course I had to move around a few ornaments after she went to bed since they were all on the bottom branches :)

Special Delivery

I came home Wednesday from work and I had a package on my porch. When I opened it, it was the purse I have been wanting. A giraffe print. It was from my good friend Jessica. I absolutely love it. Of course it had to make the blog :)

Thanks Jess- I love it!