Happy Birthday Jesus!

Dave and Susan started an awesome tradition this year. Each year around Christmas, they are throwing a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party for all their grandchildren. They are keeping the kids overnight, making Jesus a birthday cake, and doing lots of fun activities. Sienna is the only grandchild thus far, but I know Pops & Grandma are looking forward to more munchkins joining this event. For now, they will just have to spoil Sienna! She had such a great time, and Scott and I enjoyed a date night to finish up our Christmas shopping.

Sienna LOVES Grandma's manger

Tracing her hand... heard this took a few tries!

They used her hand tracing to make a Christmas tree. Grandma then helped her finger paint ornaments. Such a good keepsake!

Stirring the cake mix

Tasting the cake mix!

Reading a book with Grandma before bed. (Notice the picture of Sienna from last Christmas in the background!)

Watching a video with Aunt Anne (home from college & got to join in on the party) before bed.

Making a pine cone bird feeder with Pops. Sienna LOVES to watch the birds with Pops.

Music lesson from Pops. Love both of their expressions.

Jesus' finished birthday cake!

So magical through her eyes

As many of you parents know, the Christmas holiday is so magical seen through a child's eyes. We've loved watching Sienna soak in all the sights and sounds of the season this year.

When Christmas lights were first turned on around our neighborhood, she said "whoa!" every time we drove past some one's house with lights. For the first few nights, she would stand by the front door and insist on going outside to see the neighborhood Christmas lights before bedtime. So Scott would oblige, and he'd put her shoes on over her footie pajama's for a stroll around the neighborhood. Those nights are such precious memories.

We've had fun taking her down to the Plaza for dinner a couple of nights. She likes the lights, but she loves the horses giving carriage rides the best.

We've also had fun teaching Sienna a few Christmas songs. Some of her favorites are Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells, and Silent Night. After we sang Jingle Bells to Sienna a few times, she quickly caught on to the part of the song she could participate in. Check out the video to see Sienna's part. (And sorry in advance for our over-excited singing voices!)

Since we're on the subject of Sienna learning to talk, we've been asking her to repeat several words after us. I'd estimate that she can say somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 words pretty distinctly. She has down the m, d, b, t, a, l, n, and p sounds. The newest word she has learned is "NO"! It is so cute to hear her say it! We know we shouldn't encourage it, but it's so stinking cute to hear her little voice be assertive. :)

In other news, Sienna suffered her first injury a week ago. We were at the park, and she tripped while on some playground equipment. It took me about an hour to figure out that her unwillingness to play and her fussiness probably meant that her little trip produced more than a little ouch. (Her blood-curdling cry when I made her stand on her own was my first clue. So sad.) We went to the doctor and took some x-rays. What we thought was a fracture ended up only being a really bad sprain. So Sienna resorted back to crawling for a few days. Other than seeming annoyed by being slowed down by the crawling, she did remarkably well. I just felt horrible! Luckily the sprain healed quickly, and she is back to running around like the energizer-bunny we all know & love.

All dressed up for dinner with mom & dad on the Plaza. (Her cute onesie is designed by Squeaks & Beeps, which is one of my co-workers fabulous children's clothing line.)

What do you do to keep a toddler entertained at the dinner table? Why, you let them pick your nose! (Okay, gross, we know. But Sienna has just discovered you can stick things in your nose, and we think it's funny.)

Or, you can read books... our favorite thing to do while dining out.

Sienna's first bunny ears pic!

Seriously!?!? Love this face!

"Writing" a letter to Santa while waiting in line to visit Mr. Claus.

Dancing on a chair & showing off her cute outfit - complete with jingle bell necklace that I wore as a kid.

Finally gets to sit on Santa's lap! She wasn't so sure of Santa... no tears, but no smiles.

Aunt Kitty is in town! Yea!

Thanksgiving

Of all the things we are grateful for, our family and friends top the list. This Thanksgiving week, we got to spend time with some of our favorite people. We're so grateful for all the love we have in our lives, and we're excited for the start of the holiday season! We are very much looking forward to watching Sienna experience this time of year. (She already LOVES the Christmas lights. She says, "Whoa!" every time we see lights on a house/building/tree, etc.)

Four generations of Williams'

Sienna laughing with Great Granny and Great G

The girl loves her pumpkins

Cutie pic of Sienna.... not sure about the rest of us! : )

Gathered around the illegal fire pit, trying to stay warm!

Fun times

Sienna started feeding herself with the spoon this evening. She LOVED Pops' chili!

Such a happy, messy, little girl!

Rubbing her chili stained hands together in satisfaction

Watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving with Aunt Jenny

Preston, Cosette & Sienna posing in front of the Christmas trees at Union Station. They loved looking at the trees and the trains.

Playing with the blocks at Union Station

They are all getting so big!!

Sienna and I looking at the 50' Christmas tree in Crown Center square. It's beautiful!

Sienna was entranced by the fountains and lights.

Halloween!

Sienna has a new love.... CANDY! Seriously, she loved Halloween. The day before Halloween, Lee's Summit hosted a Halloween parade downtown. About 600 costumed kiddos and pets paraded up 3rd Street; it was so much fun! Sienna loved seeing all the kids dressed up, and she was all about the parade.... smiling, talking, waving and saying 'hi' to everyone. Scott, Sienna, Maddie and I all dressed up as bumble bees. For our clever costumes, we earned 3rd place in the 'cutest family' category! Go, us! The grandparents came down to parade with our family and cheer us (Sienna) on. It was a great morning!

On Halloween, we took Sienna trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. A little before we left our house to hit the neighborhood, Sienna found our bowl of candy for the trick-or-treaters. Before I knew it, she bit through a Butterfinger and came to 'show' me. She had a huge smile on her face and was saying "yummmmmm"! So stinking cute. Thus, her love of candy was born.

After a the first couple of houses, Sienna really caught onto the trick-or-treating thing. In fact, she tried to take handfuls of candy at each house instead of one or two pieces! We only made it to about 8 or 9 houses. At each house, Sienna sauntered up the driveway and ogled at all the yard decorations (Halloween and non-Halloween), admired the kids around her at each house, posed for several pictures from grandparents, mommy & daddy, and collected her candy. (I would say trick-or-treat, Sienna would just stand there with big, wide eyes!) With candy in hand (not in her bucket), Sienna would run back down the driveway and climb into her red wagon to warm up in a nest of warm blankets. We'd stroll onto the next house, pause for conversation & pictures with neighbors, and repeat the same process. It was the best!

Once we got home, it was Sienna's normal bedtime. But she was way too far into a sugar high, and she was not about to miss out on passing out candy to the trick-or-treaters at our house. She she stayed outside with Scott and I, mostly trick-or-treating our own candy bowl over and over again. Occasionally she would give a piece of candy to a trick-or-treater, but mostly she was focused on biting through a KitKat bar. (She was successful. We had to save the wrapper from her throat towards the end of the night.)

Scott and I were surprised how much Sienna really understood the whole Halloween and trick-or-treating process, but I guess we shouldn't have been... she is a quick study! Hope you all had a happy Halloween!

Pumpkin cup from Nana... complete with straw. Loved it!

Going up to her first house to trick-or-treat

She very quickly learned what trick-or-treating was all about... free candy!

Sienna and her friend, Emma

Riding in her wagon between houses

Eating chocolate with Pops

Cutie with her heart bumble bee wings

Posing with Grandma, Grandpa & her Kit Kat after all the trick-or-treating

Posing with Grandma, Pops & her sucker after all the trick-or-treating

Fam pic

A bumble bee costume, sucker, Kit Kat and glow necklace... what else could a girl want?

Sienna loved picking up her little pumpkin and carrying it around.

Belly Button!

Sienna has found her belly button! (She discovered it at Buffalo Wild Wings while dining with daddy.)

In the past couple weeks, Sienna has also learned how to go down the stairs on her tummy. We thought she had that mastered, but she snuck past us today and took a tumble down our first flight of stairs. Luckily she was not seriously hurt... just bumped her head and scared herself (and us)! Ah the joys of learning to be mobile!

A trip to the Ozarks

This past weekend, we took a trip to Branson with my parents. It was a beautiful weekend.... great weather, lots of relaxation and plenty of good memories. On Friday, we spent the day at Silver Dollar City. Sienna loved all the people, pumpkins, scarecrows, leaves and the kiddie rides. We loved watching Sienna enjoy a new experience and loved all the tasty food. :)

On Saturday, my mom, Sienna and I went shopping at the outlet mall while the guys went trout fishing. On Sunday, we hit up a couple of local wineries before heading to dinner and then heading home.

We spent both nights at Branson Landing. Sienna was mesmerized by the fountains & fire display. (The same company that designed the fountains at the Bellagio in Vegas designed the fountains at Branson Landing.) We had ice cream both nights at this great do-it-yourself soft-serve place. Fantastic concept. Hope we get one soon in KC. Miss Sienna loved the ice cream and staying up past her normal bedtime. :)

She did great on this trip. She was a happy camper in her car seat on the ride to and from Kansas City. When she started to get antsy, our portable DVD player was a perfect distraction. She loved watching 'Monsters Inc.'! She also slept great in her pack & play in her own room in our condo. What a difference in her ability to adapt to change between this trip and the last trip we took with her when she was 5 months old!

Williams family pic!

Add in Nana and Papa... looks like Sienna was distracted by all the pumpkins.

Posing for a pic at the candy shoppe.... Sienna was more intrigued by the two old women making peanut brittle.

Sienna loved saying 'hi' to everyone who passed by... just love her to pieces! Such has such a sweet, outgoing little personality.

Sienna's favorite ride. There was a button she could push to raise our 'bug' up and down. She was literally shrieking with laughter the entire ride. So cute! (I barely fit in the back of the 'bug'!)

Scott and Sienna in the frog ride. It was hopping so high that Scott had to hold onto Sienna so she didn't fly out! Sienna was super excited to ride this one, but I think she was a bit overwhelmed to be on the ride versus watching from behind the fence!

Gathering all the leaves. Sienna would gather a whole bunch of leaves and come 'give' them to me. She also likes to tear off small pieces of one leaf and 'give' them to me.

Sienna is obsessed with pointing to eyes lately. Sometimes she gets a little aggressive and almost pokes your eye out! Ha. She is a passionate little girl.

Chilling with mommy on the train ride.

Sticking her head out the train to get a better look at the scenery. She LOVED the choo-choo train.

Waving 'hi'..... a favorite pastime. :)

Taking it all in....

This was Sienna after a failed attempt at a nap in the stroller. She ripped off her shoes & socks while attempting to nap. Seriously tired, but still clapping and enjoying the snowmen. :)

(A nap in the stroller was a pipe dream, but I figured it was worth a shot! Should've known Sienna would be more interested in seeing everything around her versus napping. Those of you that have stroller nappers... what's your secret?!? LOL.)

Pointing at PaPa's nose on the tram ride to the car. (Scott jumped out of the moving tram to get one of Sienna's shoes that had gone overboard. Come to find out... the shoe was just hiding in the floorboard of the tram. Whoops! Thanks for the effort, though, Scott.)