Lueker Munchkin Pictures

New Blog - Lueker Munchkin"s"

2009-10-26T16:39:00.008-04:00

Apparently you can run out of room on blogs. Who knew??? Anyhoo... halfway through putting together our Disney pictures I was informed I had run out of space. Argh! Rather than pay for additional space we're moving on to luekermunchkins.blogspot.com . Please note the "s" on the end of munchkin other than that the address is the same. You can also just follow the link on the side of this page (Lueker Munchkins Blog - Part 2). This title seems more appropriate anyway since we do have two munchkins now instead of just one. :) Hope you all will note the new address and follow us there to see all our fun Disney pictures which are now posted and ready for viewing!

Grandma LaBar: 1910-2009

2009-10-19T16:43:00.015-04:00

My Grandma LaBar passed away this morning, Monday, October 26, at 12:30 AM at the age of 99 1/2 years old. We were planning a big celebration for her 100th birthday next summer and I'm so sorry she'll miss it because nearly all the family was planning on attending. She would have loved seeing everyone and being the center of attention for such an event. I wouldn't have been surprised if Grandma had lived to be 105 so even though 99 is definitely a full life I still find myself surprised that she is gone so quickly and somewhat unexpectedly. A year ago she was still living in her own home! She was an amazing woman who believed deeply in the Lord. She will be missed by many friends and especially her 4 sons, 10 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of her with our family (mostly my girls) over the last four years. We love you Great Grandma!

Last May the girls and I spent several days with Pop-A-Lops visiting Great Grandma in Michigan. One day while we were out to lunch I snapped this picture while Grandma was reaching into Kennedy's car seat to hold her hand. I thought it was a beautiful picture when I took it but looking at it tonight it seems bittersweet as it shows the passage of time.

Reagan giving Great Grandma a hug
Reagan discovered she enjoyed pushing Great Grandma in her wheelchair where ever she needed to go. In this picture we were headed back to Great Grandma's room after visiting in the common area.
I think this picture is so sweet because it looks like Grandma and Kennedy are having a great conversation and throughly enjoying each others company.

Great Grandma and Kennedy enjoying some beautiful outdoor weather, Kennedy was actually fascinated with the arms of Grandma's wheelchair, mostly the part she could see her reflection in much like a mirror.

Because Grandma enjoys chocolate so much we always sent her some special Godiva chocolate for holidays, birthdays etc. While we were visiting in May Reagan gave Grandma this box of chocolate the morning we were getting ready to leave and very much wanted Great Grandma to go ahead and enjoy a piece. While Great Grandma did love chocolate she had a strict rule of only eating one piece per day (even though many of us assurred her at her age it was probably okay to eat as much as she wanted). Grandma would never have dreamed of eating that one piece before breakfast. It was quite funny watching a very stubborn 2 year old trying to convince her 99 year old great grandmother who was sweet but just as stubborn that it was okay to eat the chocolate. Finally Great Grandma partially gave in and pretended to eat the chocolate. lol :)

Last Christmas we visited Michigan so Grandma could meet Kennedy who was just barely over a month old at the time. Here is our first four generation picture with Kennedy. Great Grandma and Kennedy hit it right off and knew just how to make each other smile! :)

Over Labor Day 2008 we had a "LaBar" Day weekend with the intent of getting all the LaBar great grandchildren together for Great Grandma to see. While in Michigan I took this picture of Grandma with one of her rugs she had recently completed. Grandma made many beautiful braided rugs over the years and also taught numerous classes on her method of making braided rugs.

During our "LaBar" day weekend we took the opportunity to capture the great grandchildren's handprints along with coloring for Great Grandma to enjoy after we had left.

Grandma loved a good game of Scrabble and she and Tim played every time he visited. More than once she told me "Tim is a killer Scrabble player. He plays for blood." That cracked me up because she normally didn't talk that way and it was so funny to hear her say that about Tim. There's no doubt she took her Scrabble playing seriously! Last week she told me she'd still like to play another game of Scrabble with Tim.

Uncle Martin is the oldest of Grandma's 4 boys and Riley is the oldest Great Grandchild. Stacy is Uncle Martin's oldest daughter and Rory and Riley are her sons. At the time this picture was taken Riley was the youngest great grandchild.

This 4 generation LaBar picture times 2 was taken during our visit to Michigan in January 2008. My Dad is the youngest son and my Uncle David is the second oldest. My Uncle David's son, Darin, has a son, Brendan, who is just a month younger than Reagan.

This picture was taken in July 2007 and is the first time Great Grandma met Reagan. You can see even at the age of 97 she felt completely at ease holding and giving Reagan a bottle. :)

This is a picture of my cousin, Amber, with Grandma when our family came together to celebrate her 95th birthday in Michigan over the July 4th holiday weekend in 2005.

A LaBar family picture during the 95th birthday celebration weekend

We love and respect you so much Grandma! We will all miss you very much!!! :) XOXOX

Unexpected Michigan Trip

2009-10-19T16:41:00.011-04:00

Last week my Grandma LaBar became very ill and the girls and I made an unexpected trip to Michigan. At the age of 99 1/2 Grandma passed away this morning. I am so glad we live close enough that we were able to visit her one more time. While the occasion wasn't a happy one we did enjoy visiting with all our family who also came to visit Grandma one last time.

Great Aunt Faye reading Kennedy the book Love and Kisses (and giving one or two kisses too :)

Reagan had a great time with the "other" Pop-A-Lops again this past week. Here they are enjoying a luggage cart.
Kennedy decided she wanted to get in on the action too

Grammy, Great Aunt Joan, Amber and Great Aunt Faye after pizza Friday night

Kennedy directing Great Uncle David where she wants to go next

Back at Christmas we were able to meet Great Uncle George and Aunt Joan's puppies Rascal and Rosie. Reagan absolutely loved them! She talked about them for months afterward. Uncle George and Aunt Joan brought Rascal and Rosie with them again all the way from Montana and on Saturday they invited us to go visit them at the kennel where they were staying. Needless to say Reagan still loves those puppies! More than once we heard"Rosie, I love you so much!!!"

Rosie and Rascal were extremely excited to see Uncle George

My cousin Amber came in from Pennsylvania Thursday evening and decided to come visit the puppies with us Saturday morning too.

Kennedy getting some puppy kisses!

What happened to Kennedy? She's getting some good puppy love!

More kisses!

Uncle Martin, Aunt Faye and Kennedy

Stacy and Riley flew in from California on Saturday. We were able to see them briefly Saturday evening and were able to enjoy some good quality play time with them Sunday morning.

Reagan loved Amber during our visit. She was very concerned she wasn't going to get to see Amber before we left Sunday morning and was extremely excited to find her in Stacy and Riley's hotel room. :)

Stacy & Riley and Aunt Faye & Kennedy enjoying a good book

Reagan and Riley looking for a good place to run and play with Mimi (aka Aunt Faye and the "other" Grammy)

When we got to the courtyard someone had a couple of remote control cars they were playing with. Reagan and Riley had a great time together watching and chasing them.

I don't think they were actually holding hands here but I thought it looked so sweet I couldn't help but include this picture in this post! :)

It was hard work to get this picture and wouldn't have happened without the hard work of both Stacy and Amber!

Stacy and Riley brought Reagan and Kennedy a goody bag of lots of fun treats and activities. An instant hit of course were the stickers which Reagan put all over her arm. On our ride home on Sunday, however, Reagan discovered her leg is also a great way to display her stickers. I knew Aunt Faye and Stacy would enjoy this so I had to take a picture to share with them.

Reagan wanted some more stickers after she finished off the first sheet. She started pulling the first ones off her leg to make room for the new ones and I suggested she could just use her other leg. This isn't quite what I meant but I guess she interperted my suggestion as stacking up all the stickers and then placing them on her other leg. Whatever makes her happy! Thanks again to Stacy and Riley for all the goodies!

I am working to put together a post on Grandma LaBar. We loved her lots and she will be missed!

Holden

2009-10-19T16:34:00.008-04:00

While we were gone on our cruise Holden Joshua LaBar was born. We couldn't believe he waited until after we left to make his debut but we are so excited for Aunt Dorothy, Uncle Dan and Heidi! Since we were a bit sick when we returned, we weren't able to plan a visit with Holden until Tuesday, October 20. Before we were able to visit then, however, Great Grandma LaBar became ill and we made a week long trip to Michigan. So I can hardly believe it, but we weren't able to meet Holden until his 2nd week birthday! I trust we will get to spend lots of good quality time with him in the future, however, to make up for these first two weeks... :) He is such a sweet baby! We're sure looking forward to watching Holden grow up! :)

Sweet little honey bear all bundled up and ready for a walk!
Kennedy was more interested in Holden than either Reagan or Heidi this morning. Maybe she already realizes this is her designated playmate. :)

Everybody ready to take advantage of some beautiful outdoor walking weather!

Watch Me Grow - Kennedy - 11 Mon

2009-10-19T16:31:00.005-04:00

11 Mon - Oct 2009

10 Mon - Sep 2009
1 Week - Nov 2008

How is it possible that I am posting my baby's 11 month watch me grow post already? This year has just flown by and Kennedy is simply a delightful baby, we love her sooo much!!!
~
Kennedy has continued to be a super busy baby. She can go up and down stairs now and thinks she is pretty hot stuff when she does it. :) She continues to work on walking. She'll take a few steps but then generally decides it's much faster to do her power crawl. Yesterday I saw her take about 10 steps but that is by far the most I've ever seen her do.
~

She is a wild and crazy baby!!! While staying at the hotel this past week during our visit to Michigan due to Great Grandma LaBar's illness we had lots of opportunity to play in the hotel pool. Missy K. is a total dare devil! She would stand on the steps leading into the pool and literally jump at me. She was also intuitively trying to figure out how to kick her legs and paddle her arms while I was holding her. She is one on the go, wild and crazy baby!!!

~
Kennedy has been working on picking up a few more words this month, actually just in the last week or two it seems. One particular funny word, or not depending on how you look at it, is one Reagan taught her during our cruise. Reagan was grabbing toys shouting "Mine, mine, mine!" when Kennedy started shouting "Mine, mine, mine!!!" right back at her. So even if that isn't one of the first words I would probably choose to teach Kennedy, the two of them went back and forth for a while and it was pretty funny. lol :) I imagine that will become less funny as time goes on... :) She's also saying "yum, yum, yum" and everyone now and then we hear a "da, da, da" or what sounds like "kitty."

Her sleeping pattern is holding steady with getting up 2-3 times per night. It's better than the 5-6 times she was doing for a while there especially since Tim gets up with her once and can typically get her back down pretty easily.

Kennedy had her first major vacation this month on our Disney cruise and loved it! She had a fantastic time with all the characters as you'll see in many pictures yet to come. She has such an outgoing personality and nearly everyone was amazed at how a baby her age would approach the characters instead of being afraid of them. She loved them to the point of struggling/fighting to get down and get to them and away from us everytime she saw one!

Kennedy is such a sweet and loving baby. One of her favorite things is family hugs (where a group of us hug). When we pull apart she will often pull us back together or fall back towards whoever isn't holding her for another family hug. It is so sweet!!!

Missy K. also has a great sense of humor. She thinks she's quite the comedian and cracks herself up all the time. It frequently seems like she's telling us or herself a joke. She does manage to keep us laughing a good part of the day. lol :)

Even when she's not trying to be funny she has such a strong personality she manages to keep us laughing. Kennedy *HATES* to have her diaper and clothes changed. She puts up such a fight; twisting, turning, kicking and screaming. While at the hotel this week one day she saw me coming with her clothes and she sped (literally flew) around the corner of the bed to get away from me. As if that wasn't funny enough she actually crawled under a chair and wouldn't come out for me to dress her. What a little nut!

Missy K. We sure love you lots and all your antics too! :)

Orlando Visit w/the Martin LaBar Family

2009-10-19T16:29:00.013-04:00

On our way to Port Canaveral we made an overnight stop on October 9, in Orlando to visit Uncle Martin, Aunt Faye, Rich, Stacy, Rory and Riley who were vacationing in the area. It was especially nice to spend some time with them the morning of October 10 because it was Rory's 5th birthday. We had a great time and were extremely appreciative that they made time to see us!

This was the first time Kennedy had met Great Aunt Faye and Uncle Martin. Kennedy was fascinated with Aunt Faye's pretty necklace.

Riley (1 1/2 yr), Kennedy (10 mon), Rory (5 yr) and Reagan (2 1/2 yr) checking out the hotel pool together

Reagan and Riley playing hide and seek together

Rory and Reagan playing hide and seek

Run, run, run!

More running!

One happy boy!!!

We decided to try a slightly quieter activity :) Riley was so sweet and intense while coloring.

Riley also worked very hard on making sure he replaced the caps on his markers.

Rory took his coloring very seriously and did an excellent job!

Mimi & Rory and Mommy & Riley coloring together

Stacy reading to Kennedy and Riley

We decided to take the wild and crazies outside for a bit while lunch was being setup. There was a nice grassy area next to the hotel with lots of lizards for the kids to watch and find.

At one point Rory exclaimed "these lizards are big enough that my Daddy can certainly catch one!"

Mimi pinning a birthday badge on her birthday boy

Kennedy enjoying Great Uncle Martin (otherwise known as "the other" Pop-A-Lops according to Reagan) Even though they were nearly 2500 miles away from home Rich and Stacy produced this birthday spread complete with birthday cake and favors for Rory's 5th birthday. Needless to say, we were impressed as well as appreciative of being included in the festivities. Happy Birthday Rory!!! :)

Riley was ready for some cake and couldn't figure out what the rest of us slow pokes were waiting for. He finally decided he would get some himself if no one was going to help him! :)

What a cute 5 year old boy!

Even all the way in Orlando Aunt Faye and Stacy had party favors for the kids. Kennedy received this book and loved it! She and Pop-a-Lops enjoyed it many times throughout our vacation.

I was so impressed with the way Rory was able to count the money he received ($5 & $1 bills as well as coins - I'm also impressed with the U-tube video Uncle Martin posted of him reading)

While after blowing out his candle Rory promptly moved on to presents. Riley, however, was not so easily distracted! Very happy to finally receive some birthday cake!

There's more than one way to eat a piece of cake...

Thanks again for making time and including us on all the fun!

On a slightly different note, I'm working hard on sorting through all our cruise pictures. Dad and I took over 1800 pictures as well as assorted video. I think I have the pictures narrowed down to just under 200 and divded into 13 categories so I'm getting there! I've also nearly decided on the video clips I plan to use. All that said, I will hopefully have everything organized and posted by the end or the beginning of next week. In the meantime, let me just say we had an absolutely amazing time! It was the best vacation I have ever taken and the girls had a ball! We love Disney!!!

Mickey Mouse Here We Come!

2009-10-09T11:34:00.002-04:00

Packed up and ready to go! Now all we need is a Daddy!!! :)

Sweet girls snuggling with blankets in front of the door. Maybe this means we'll get good naps in the car?!?!?

Tim should be headed out shortly so I'm logging off for now but we sure are excited about the trip! This morning when Reagan woke up I was super excited and I asked "Reagan, do you know what today is?!?!?!?" She got super excited, had a huge grin on her face and exclaimed "No!" lol :) I was sure from her expression she was going to tell me what today was but this was much funnier. lol :) Have a great week everyone, I know we will!!! :)

Wisconsin - July 2009

2009-10-08T16:50:00.014-04:00

Back in July (yes, July...) we took a trip with Grammy and Pa to Wisconsin to see the Carlson family. We had a wonderful time with everyone and especially at the belated 4th of July party Uncle Scott and Aunt Arla had and Aunt Pat and Uncle Randy's 30th anniversary celebration. Sorry these pictures aren't chronological (partially because I can't remember the order anymore and partially because I'm using pictures from at least 3 different cameras) or timely. I think this is going to be my last catching up post. If anyone has been waiting to see pictures of something, please let me know, otherwise I'm calling it quits and starting fresh after our Disney cruise! I know I should have been better this summer but somehow moving and living in two places puts a person behind... :) Anyhoo... we had a great time in Wisconsin with everyone and especially enjoyed seeing all the little cousins!

This is probably my favorite picture to date of me with the girls. Thanks to Aunt Arla who took it for us!

Here are the 3 Carlson babies with their mommies. Julie & Amber (9 mon), Jodi & Sophia (7 1/2 mon) and Anna & Reagan (7 1/2 mon)

Aunt Arla giving Reagan a ride (even though she should have been taking it easy after her surgery!!!)

Reagan having fun with Aunt Arla
Kennedy having fun with Aunt Dee

Giving Great Grandma some good loving!

Sweet cousin hugs

Jared and Lydia

Grammy, Kennedy and Great Grandma enjoying a yummy lunch together

Aunt Carla, Aunt Pat and Grammy

Getting a ride from Uncle Scott

Aunt Pat had all sorts of fun outdoor activities planned for the kids but it was a bit chilly that day. Reagan thought it was fine weather, however, and decided she needed to play in the pool. Luckily Jared was willing to humor her and some other kids came and jumped in too after a bit.

Lydia helping Kennedy enjoy walking barefoot in the grass

Happy 30th Anniversary Uncle Randy and Aunt Pat! We hope you have at least another 30 happy years ahead of you! :)

Reagan enjoying corn on the cob at Aunt Arla's house

Delilah and Reagan giving kisses

and now lucky(?) Uncle Scott is getting kisses...

Aunt Arla convinced Uncle Scott that Reagan needed a motorcycle ride

So sweet!

Uncle Phil and Kennedy being sweet too!

One day we enjoyed a picnic of KFC with Great Grandma at the park followed by a drive through the zoo

Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott had a great party including red, white and blue suckers which Reagan and Lydia are enjoying together here

I love this picture of Jonathan and Grandma

Reagan got a little dirty in the sandbox

Mommy and Kennedy enjoying the party

My favorite fireworks picture that Pa took

After the fireworks Reagan and Kolton (4) enjoyed playing with the hool-a-hoop (splg?) together

Wiped out Great Grandma and Reagan waiting for everyone to finish cleaning up so they can go home and go to bed!

One last picture of Great Grandma and Kennedy before we hit the road

A Banner Day!

2009-10-08T16:09:00.011-04:00

Last Thursday Reagan and Kennedy had a very treat filled afternoon. Because Daddy had been working super late due to the government fiscal year end he decided to surprise us by leaving early October 1st when it wasn't busy anymore and bring home treats. He brought roses for Mommy and ice cream with an assortment of toppings for Reagan and Kennedy. Then three packages arrived for the girls. One from Aunt Arla, one from Uncle Scott (ha, ha, ha - Aunt Arla is so funny lol) and one from Grandma and Grandpa. All the candy, stickers, books, clothes and ice cream made for a fun filled afternoon!

Daddy and his girls making their ice cream selections

Reagan applying her chocolate syrup

Reagan being very careful with her sprinklesKennedy selecting her syrup of choice

Kennedy's ice cream treat made her very happy! lol :)

Reagan's face after trying the caramel syrup, she really liked it!

The next couple pictures are after she tried the strawberry syrup. She really, really, really approved of that! :)

Reagan not being quite as careful and a bit more liberal with the sprinkles :)

Reagan with her stack of packages

Very excited about her Tinkerbell sticker and coloring book (this will definitely be coming with us on our trip!)

While Reagan opened the packages Kennedy stood by the staircase and giggled and giggled. Heaven (and I guess Kennedy) only know what was so funny. lol :)

I'm not sure who sent the dipsticks (the packages kind of got mixed together upon opening them) but they were a hit! Reagan was such a nice big sister and shared as well as helped Kennedy enjoy the sugar fest!

Wait, wasn't that dip for me too?

Sometimes the coordination between a 2 year old and a 10 month old is a bit off...

Whew! Finally made it! :)

I love dipsticks!

Wait, maybe I am a dipstick!

See my green tongue!

See my green tongue too???

Thanks for all the goodies everyone!

Pizza Thief

2009-10-08T16:04:00.003-04:00

One night last week when Tim was working late we had pizza while watching a movie downstairs. I have started giving Kennedy small pieces of pizza but she apparently decided that wasn't good enough and when Reagan wasn't watching Kennedy climbed up on Reagan's mini ottoman (from Grammy) and swiped Reagan's pizza!

Yep, guilty as charged and I'm pretty darn proud of myself too! :)

Boyd's Orchard

2009-10-03T21:34:00.018-04:00

Today we went to Boyd's Orchard for some Fall fun with Uncle Dan, Aunt Dorothy and Heidi. As you'll see from this blog I throughly enjoyed my new camera. After deleting a number of pictures from my camera I was shocked to discover I downloaded 235 pictures from today!!! Yikes!!!Some good lessons for our upcoming Disney trip were learned today... In anycase, we had an absolutely wonderful time and I can't wait to go back again next year and take many more pictures of our cute munchkins! :)

My favorite picture of the day! I was so lucky to be in the right position when Kennedy came crawling between some pumpkins for a quick game of peek-a-boo. I love this picture!

Just like last year Reagan loved, hugged and kissed the pumpkins. She definitely takes after me in her love for pumpkins and fall!

Reagan also enjoyed running through the pumpkins

Heidi and Reagan enjoyed following each other too

Heidi deep in thought about whether she has found the perfect pumpkin...

Kennedy checking out the pumpkins

While the big girls ran through the pumpkin patch, Kennedy had a great time crawling through it :)

I asked Tim for assistance in getting Kennedy to smile. Not sure if I'll do that again... As you can probably guess he stuck his tongue out at her which she obviously imitated. When I told him I wanted a nice picture he said he wanted a silly one and besides I could snap a picture of her smiling between the sticking out her tongue pictures. Regardless of how sound he thought his logic was this is all I got. On the other hand I guess he got his way since I would have to say this is a silly picture...

I had hoped to get a cute picture of the girls together in the pumpkins. I have no idea what they're doing, but I guess I could be thankful that they at least both have the same goofy expression on their faces? That and they're both stationary, looking towards the camera, and actually in the picture. lol :)

Reagan is "saving" Kennedy from Daddy here who I said was going to come and get her. I didn't realize that would send Reagan running to rescue Kennedy but I thought the resulting picture was pretty cute and what a sweet big sister!

A picture of the three girls together in the pumpkin patch?

hope you snapped/looked fast because there they go...

Reagan showing Daddy and Kennedy some gourds

After checking out the pumpkins we headed on to the play area which included slides, playground equipment, a band, hayrides, animals and I can't remember what all. Here are Reagan and Heidi heading off together to see what they can discover.

Kennedy enjoying the pirate ship

Without a seconds hesitation Reagan ran right up to try this slide out on her own. She loved it and went down it numerous times!

Away she goes!

She hopped right back up and flew up the haystack to slide down again. Actually, for some reason (from sheer excitement???) she intially tried to climb back up the slide. I don't know why she would do that because we always tell her she has to climb up the ladder and slide down the slide. In anycase, she was confused and it took us a couple of minutes to get her to understand she needed to use the haystacks again (especially since the slide was greased and she wasn't having much success going up it anyway. lol :) After we moved on to the next activity, Reagan suddenly stopped what she was doing and ran/climbed half way back up the haybales to tell the adult assisting the kids get on the burlap sacks "I had a great time my friend."

Heidi decided to check out the slide too (Reagan actually lapped her in her enthusiasm - sorry for cutting, Heidi, and thanks for being such a good and understanding friend!)

While the slide was greased, it went kind of slow and near the bottom virtually stopped. Heidi was so cute because when she was close to the bottom she looked up and said "Mommy, I'm stuck!"

They had tubes set up on hay bales that kids could climb through and slide down. As you can see from the smile on her face this was right up Kennedy's alley!

After crawling back and forth and playing peek-a-boo in the tubes Kennedy discovered the tube slides. After looking at this series of pictures I'm sure you won't be in any doubt as to what Kennedy's favorite activity for the day was!

Ready,

set,

Go, go, go!!!

Giggling all the way! lol :)

I don't think she would have ever gotten tired of the slide but unfortunately for her Mommy and Daddy did... I sure love that smile though!!! :)

Heidi absolutely loved dancing in front of the band they had at Boyd's Orchard today. Reagan joined her on and off but Heidi is a truly dedicated performer and audience member! The band even learned Heidi's name. lol :) Here Dan and Heidi are leading the Hokie Pokie. Near the end of this song the leader of the band actually said "Go, Heidi, go!" She was too funny! lol :)

Daddy and his girls listening to the music

Mommy and Kennedy getting ready for the hayride

In the middle of the hayride you could get out and enjoy a pretty elaborate cornmaze. Here are the girls intensely checking out something (???) together in the cornmaze

Kennedy decided she'd like to join the fun too!

This is great!!! :)

I took a ton of these pictures of both Daddies and their girls but this is the only one I thought turned out well. I think I got super lucky with this one in that I just happenned to snap it when they were crossing a path and the light hit them so nicely!

Reagan enjoying and loving her Daddy!

Aunt Dorothy and Heidi back on the hayride after the cornmaze

Kennedy throughly enjoying her first hayride experience

Cousins having fun, fun, fun!

Those eyes simply twinkle!

Our last activity of the day was to visit the animals. While they had a number of barnyard pets the favorites were the goats which you could feed.

Kennedy decided she wanted to check out the goats with the big girls too

Daddy thought Mommy was nuts for letting Kennedy down on the ground to check out the goats with the big girls. After she tried to pick up some food off the ground Daddy told her "no" and scooped her up. Kennedy understands the meaning of the word no and has started to show a real temper when we tell her no. You can see from this picture that Kennedy was voicing her disapproval of Daddy... lol :)

Sweet smile while feeding the goats

Back on the ground and discussing her over all goat experience with Reagan

Reagan had a fantastic time at Boyd's Orchard today. When we were asking her to select a pumpkin so we could go home she kept dramatically saying "No way! I'm not going home!"

Daddy (being a super awesome husband) standing in the crazy line waiting to purchase all Mommy's pumpkins while being "helped" by our little "pumpkin." :)

On a side note, Dorothy and I purchased these matching outfits for the girls when we went shopping together Friday morning. We thought they were pretty cute but I can't tell you how many people commented on them! We must have had at least half a dozen mothers ask us where we purchased them. I don't know if it was the outfits or the adorable girls in them, but we had to agree our girls were pretty darn cute! :)

The Preamble

2009-09-27T12:09:00.003-04:00

When Aunt Julie and Uncle Chuck visited us two years ago in DC we took them to Philly and New York for some site seeing. While visiting the Liberty Bell I found a great book called "We the Kids." It's a book with colorful illustrations of the Preamble of the Constitution. It also explains all the lines of the Preamble in simpler words at the beginning of the book. Whether Reagan loved the colors of the pictures or she's just a little history buff in the making she has always enjoyed reading this book. Labor Day weekend Reagan began randomly reciting the Preamble. We had no idea she had memorized it! This weekend using Grammy's camera we were able to catch it and the Lord's Prayer (see below) on film. I sure love to hear those big words from both the Lord's Prayer and the Preamble with her sweet voice. It is so precious. lol :)

Sorry the videos are sideways. I know that's kind of annoying to watch, but since I'm not use to taping things on Grammy's camera I didn't realize I had done it incorrectly until it was on here. Like most little kids Reagan isn't real keen on performing so I didn't think I should press my luck and try to get her to do it again. As it is, the only reason I could get her to recite them for the camera this morning was by suggesting Ariel and Prince Eric (gifts from Grammy from our shopping trip yesterday) hadn't heard them yet. lol :)

On the history buff note I have to tell a Reagan story that cracked me up this week. She has a set of President books that she loves. I would think they would be way over a two year old's head but she loves them! She also likes finding pictures of the presidents on the internet. If she sees me on the computer, she nearly always comes up and asks if she can see a picture of George Washington. Then she requests to see pictures of Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and Obama. Those are sometimes followed by FDR, Theodore Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson. That's about as many as she knows though. Anyway, she was looking at the book we have on Reagan the other night when she asked me "Is this a picture of Nancy?" It really cracked me up. As it turned out it was a picture of Jane Wyman (Reagan's first wife) so we worked on finding all the pictures of Nancy in the book. It's amazing what little kids pick up. While we have read the book and it does discuss Nancy Reagan I was still amazed that she paid enough attention to realize that a woman standing next to Ronald Reagan should logically be Nancy. So cute and so funny! lol :)

The Lord's Prayer

2009-09-27T11:48:00.004-04:00

We always pray before nap and bedtime with Reagan (meals too of course). About 6-8 weeks ago I decided to start saying the Lord's Prayer when Reagan went down for her nap instead of our regular bedtime prayer. Reagan surprised us over Labor Day by reciting the Lord's Prayer from memory. She really has an amazing memory! At that point we had only been saying the Lord's Prayer once a day for a couple of weeks. I'd never asked her to repeat it and neiter Tim nor I had any idea she had memorized it. Sorry I taped this one vertically too without realizing what I was doing!

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-24T17:31:00.008-04:00

Doing my darndest to catch up here! Figured I better get these pics posted from Labor Day before Grammy and Pa visit again this weekend. I still need to get pictures from Wisconsin and Illinois posted from this summer but I'm going to do my level best to be caught up before we leave on our cruise in two weeks. Wish me luck!!! :)

Pa came up on Saturday of Labor Day weekend to visit and help me select my new camera. On Sunday morning we had sticky buns and Reagan decided she wanted to dunk hers in coffee just like Pa.

After Daddy and Pa finished putting together our nightstands the girls enjoyed playing in the boxes. Actually we still have these two enormous boxes upstairs. While the girls do have fun in them I'm kind of ready for them to go. But how do you remove boxes this size without Reagan noticing??? lol :) Anyhoo... here the girls are reading books and having fun with Pa in their new boxes.

Grammy came from Wisconsin where she had spent the week with Great Grandma Sunday night. Aunt Pat sent a bunch of veggies with her as well as some delicious raspberry jam. Here are Kennedy and Reagan enjoying some fresh corn from Aunt Pat's garden.

Aunt Arla sent a firepit back with Grammy for us so we decided to try it out by making brats and smores Grammy brought the fixings for. Yummy! This was also Reagan's first attempt at roasting marshmellows. While she enjoyed the experience her marshmellows ended up in the ash enough that she opted for eating the marshmellows Grammy fixed instead. :)

Helping Pa dig holes for our new flowers

Playing in the neighbor's sprinklers

Kennedy enjoying the beautiful weather and new flowers

Reagan helping Grammy water the newly planted mums

Reagan watering herself - I belive she was actually have a discussion on how it would help her to grow too :)

Ready to dig some more holes!

Reagan enjoys rolling down the small hill in front of our house

My cute 2 year old girl

Climbing in the wagon from Grandma and Grandpa

Mendelssohn getting some good love

Reagan helping Pa again

Kennedy checking out the new mulch

Thanks to Grammy for bringing us the cute overalls from Wisconsinn (Reagan had been wanting some and I hadn't found any her size). Thanks to Aunt Pat for all the awesome veggies that we're just now finishing up. Thanks to Aunt Arla for the great fire pit (can't wait to use it with you at Thanksgiving!) Thanks to Pa for helping with our furniture and helping me select a new camera. And a super super big thanks to Grammy and Pa for helping us get so many flowers planted and flower gardens mulched!

Duck Costume

2009-09-24T16:23:00.004-04:00

Let me first say, I love this duck or chicken or whatever it is costume! I think it has got to be the cutest Halloween costume ever made! :) I've been trying to decide what the girls should be this year (especially because there are some contests on the cruise we're going on) and so I decided to try Reagan's costume from last year on her. As you may recall she loved wearing this costume last year. She loved it this year too. As a matter of fact she kept wearing it all day! So cute and so funny! lol :)
~
Nap time

Dinner time (note her interesting way to eat a hamburger - bun in one hand and burger in the other)

Even though it still fit Reagan I was curious to see if it would fit Kennedy. While it was a little big it fit pretty well and I don't know which of my girls is cuter in this costume. What can I say? It just makes me smile and I love it!!! :)

Playdough

2009-09-24T15:57:00.006-04:00

Last week Reagan and I made playdough together. We threw all ours away when we moved and I kept forgetting to make any new playdough. Every time we visit Heidi's house Reagan loves her playdough so I knew it was time to make some for our house again. Since Reagan was so awesome about helping with Tim's birthday cake I decided to let her help make the playdough for the first time too. She did an excellent job and helped with everything except for the stove (that still makes me nervous). Even though she had been talking about orange playdough at the last minute she decided on green. Of course as soon as we had the green food coloring in she decided she wanted blue... lol :) Luckily she wasn't too upset and has been very happy to have her green playdough to play with over the course of the last week.

Measuring flower using the fun Mickey Mouse measuring cups Aunt Marta gave Reagan for Christmas

Measuring the salt

Mixing with the matching Mickey Mouse spatula
Adding the food coloring

Mixing up the green playdough before heating it on the stove

Ready to play!

Using her new number cookie cutters from Aunt Arla

I didn't really expect Kennedy to "play" with the playdough but I thought she would have fun feeling the texture of it and squishing it. Boy was I wrong! I think it confused her that I had given her something in her highchair that I didn't want her to eat. As for feeling the texture, it just made her mad!

Do you people see what a poor, unfortunate baby I am?

Alright, maybe life isn't so bad...

Maybe this playdough stuff is mildly interesting

Nope, I hate it! What are you people doing to me???? Get me out of here!

Resigned to my fate and my mother who wants me to experience new things. What a life...

Thanks to Grammy for looking up her playdough recipe for us. :)

Shoes

2009-09-24T13:09:00.003-04:00

Reagan has started enjoying wearing my shoes. A couple of times both she and Kennedy have had a good time pulling all the shoes out of my closet. For this particular photo shoot Reagan was playing with a couple pairs of my shoes that happened to be downstairs. Later on she discovered Daddy's shoes make good toys too. :)

Kennedy thinks playing with shoes is pretty fun too

Then Kennedy decided to combine playing with shoes with one of her other favorite games. She loves to sit on the small indoor trampoline Grammy gave Reagan and drop things off the edge. She then leans over scoops the object(s) back up, looks at it/them for a minute, and drops it/them over the edge again. I'm not sure what is so entertaining about dropping and retrieving objects but at least Kennedy can play this game on her own when she's on the trampoline. :)

Reagan decided to join Kennedy on the trampoline along with some of her favorite toys in Daddy's shoes. :)

Kennedy watching her big sister, actually I think Reagan was explaining what she was doing to Kennedy.

Then Reagan decided it was time for Daddy's shoes and the Backyardigans to move on. It was not an easy task picking up both of Daddy's big shoes and the toys at the same time but Reagan was pretty determined. :)

Persistence

2009-09-24T13:00:00.003-04:00

Kennedy loves crawling up our stairs and for obvious safety reasons we would prefer she didn't. She gets so mad at us any time she sees a gate come out for any space in our house. She will literally sit in front of the gate and yell at it and when she's done come sit in front of us and yell. It's actually pretty funny. lol :) Anyhoo... we got to the point a month or so ago already that we permanently put up a gate in our living room. We can't put the gate all the way to the floor because of where the staircase starts and how the baseboards are. Kennedy has noticed this and every so often tries to make a break for it. Last week I caught one of her evening stair climbing attempts on film. I'll say this for her, she doesn't give up easily...

Almost there, I know I can make it!

Foiled again!!!
Reagan decided to try it as well but she had even less luck squirming under the gate. :)

Watch Me Grow - Kennedy - 10 Mon

2009-09-23T17:36:00.005-04:00

Kennedy is sporting her little sailor's dress in honor of our upcoming cruise. We'll be leaving for Florida for Kennedy's first big vacation 2 weeks from Friday (October 9). We're going on a week long Disney Western Carribean cruise with Grammy and Pa and we are super excited!!! :)

10 Mon - Sep 2009

9 Mon - Aug 2009
1 week - Nov 2008

What to say about Missy K? Well, we've had a busy month! That's not hard when you have such a busy baby!!!

Kennedy took her first steps this month so that tops the list of accomplishments. She is still not truly walking but she'll take an independent step or two before plunking down and crawling away. I guess that crawling is ever so much more efficient at the moment for a baby that has so many places to be!!!

Another accomplishment is reading. Yes, reading! Kennedy read her first words earlier this week. We have been using the same "Your Baby Can Read" program we started with Reagan back in January. While Kennedy certainly saw the videos and books we didn't really start it with her until we settled here in July. For that reason I wasn't really expecting to see results with her yet. Having said that, Dr. Titzer, the author of the program, did say that it is entirely possible for babies as young as 9 months to begin to read. Now, having said all that let me explain what I mean. When you show Kennedy the words "arms up" she puts her arms up in the air. This is without any prompting or without seeing a picture of children doing it. I think she is getting pretty close to recognizing the words "clap" and "wave" as well. It's completely amazing to me what kids are capable of!!!

Kennedy now has two bottom teeth. The second one popped through with no problems and without me even realizing she was teething again. One day I just thought I might have seen a second tooth and sure enough there it was! She still won't let me get a good picture though...

In the past week or two she has really gotten clapping down and especially loves to clap for herself. She especially loves it if she's doing something naughty (like trying to stand in the bathtub or highchair) and you tell her not to and she then stops whatever she's doing (sits for example) gets a huge grin on her face and starts to clap. She definitely understands no and when she's being naughty!!! :)

Kennedy has also started pointing at objects she wants. She has a mind of her own and knows what she wants and where she wants you to take her. It's so cute! :) Along this same vain she loves the game of pointing to one person and then immidiately going back to the person she came from - back and forth, back and forth.

She has also started crawling up to us, kneeling down in front of us, and putting her hands up in the air with the sweetest face. I'll probably never get a picture of this to share because heaven help you if you walk away from her when she does that. She goes from total angel to madder than a hornet. lol :) But she gives you the most endearing, sweetest, precious look that you can't help but want to scoop her up and love her!

Speaking of madder than a hornet... Kennedy is definitely developing a temper. Boy can she get mad! Sometimes she's so funny because it truly sounds like she is chewing you out.

At the same time Kennedy is still such a sweet and funny baby. I think she will probably be the class clown some day. She has some of the cheeziest grins and we're sure she's already telling jokes, even if we don't understand them. She has so many little tricks, like sharing her pacifier with you, that she does and then just giggles because she simply thinks she is hilarious. And we agree with her; she is too funny and too cute! lol :)

Another personality trait that is becoming quite evident and I'm glad to see is tenacity. When she sets her mind to something she is one determined little girl. I need to get some gate/step pictures posted I took one day last week as an example. Long story short she loves steps and hates the gates we put up to keep her from going up them. She works pretty hard at getting under the ones we have to put up a little in order to avoid the base board. Whatever the challenge Kennedy is up for it and is not easily distracted!

Reagan and Kennedy have started to enjoy playing together. I guess Kennedy is finally big enough to begin becoming a playmate. I enjoy watching them so much and I can't wait to see that relationship continue to grow!

Kennedy is so super busy, sweet and funny! She keeps us on our toes and laughing all the time. We sure can't imagine our lives without her!

Mt. Olive Wildcat's Homecoming Parade

2009-09-23T00:36:00.009-04:00

This past weekend we went to Illinois to see Tim's youngest brother, Jimmy, play in his senior Homecoming game. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing everyone. Thanks as always to Grandma and Grandpa who let us crash at their place and provide so much yummy food!!!
~
After we got to Mt. Olive Friday afternoon, our first stop was to see the Homecoming Parade. Uncle Jimmy was on the Homecoming Court so he got to ride in the parade. We got a couple of cute picture of Kennedy with him before the parade but couldn't get Reagan to agree to get in the car. I know that about the time Reagan is cooperating for pictures again Kennedy will be going through this phase so I've just about (not quite) resigned myself to the difficulty picture taking will be for the forseeable future. That said, my new camera does make it much easier to snap those candid moments you want to remember!
~
Big smiles from Uncle Jimmy and Kennedy thanks to a lot of hard work from Aunt Julie :)

Uncle Jimmy, Kennedy and Lisa

Grandma had cute shirts made especially for the girls and the Homecoming game. As you can see the back said Uncle Jimmy with his football #70

and Wildcats was written down the arm

Having fun with Aunt Julie

Getting lots of love from Aunt Julie and Uncle Chuck (love those smashed cheeks!!!)

Collecting candy with the help of Aunt Julie, Jenna and Grandpa. By the end of the parade Reagan just sat down and started eating her candy and let everyone else do the work of picking it up and bring it to her. Little bum or smart girl??? I can't decide. lol :)

Grandpa is so not funny...

Oh alright, maybe he is a little funny... lol :)

Jenna helping Reagan with a sucker from the parade

Jenna and Reagan waiting for the parade to return

Reagan and Kennedy enjoying some of their candy together

Enjoying some yummy candy!

Nothing better than Grandma, candy, a parade and beautiful weather!

Wildcats Homecoming Game

2009-09-22T23:54:00.006-04:00

Uncle Jimmy waiting to hear who is Homecoming Queen before the game

I just thought the girls were so cute with Grandpa and Grandma here
Sporting their Uncle Jimmy shirts together

Watching the game with front row seats thanks to Grandpa and Uncle Chuck who went early to setup our chairs.

At one point Grandma had just picked up Kennedy when something exciting happened everyone started to cheer and so naturally Kennedy started to clap. :)

Reagan having fun and flirting with some older men sitting next to us

Since Reagan wasn't using her chair Grandma decided to let Kennedy try it out

So of course Reagan immidiately decided she needed it back and stalked off with it

She took it down next to our good friend Mary and of course never once sat in it again. She did appear to have fun standing in some one else's lawn chair, however....

Our silly sugar bear having fun with Aunt Julie

Our sweet wiped out honey bear

Game pictures - Go Uncle Jimmy (#70) and I believe the only purple uniform you can see at the right of the picture below

Run, Uncle Jimmy, run!!!

More game pics

Even though the game started out well, unfortunately, Uncle Jimmy and the Wildcats didn't win. :( We're so glad we were able to come and see Uncle Jimmy play during his senior year. We wish the Wildcats the best and hope they make it to the playoffs!

Fun at Nonna's House

2009-09-22T23:21:00.006-04:00

On Saturday we spent a good deal of the day at Nonna's house. To celebrate Daddy's birthday she fixed his favorite biscuts and sausage gravy as well as Monkey bread for breakfast. It was delicious! For lunch she fixed his favorite Taco Salad and it was yummy too! Thank you for all the wonderful food and fun!

Reagan loves to slide inside Nonna's house

Kennedy figuring out how she can get up the slide and become a part of the action

On our outdoor slide at home, Reagan frequently requests that we catch her. I'm guessing that's why she decided she needed to catch Kennedy. As you can see from the pics below they both thought it was super fun and funny! lol :)

Then Reagan decided it was Kennedy's turn to catch her. As you can imagine that was a bit more challenging to orchestrate. It ended up being more like Tim tossing Kennedy on Reagan when she made it to the bottom of the slide. It made Reagan happy though so that's all that matters, right? :)

Wild baby that she is, Kennedy loved sliding down the slide!

But when she would get to the bottom of the slide she would just lay their as serious as could be

Kennedy checking out Nonna's new Bear Rocker - so cute!

Kennedy cleaning up the toys. In the last couple of weeks she has started enjoying picking things up and putting them away in bowls, baskets and buckets. Hope this means we have the beginnings of a neat little girl!

Having fun with Uncle Randy and Aunt Kayci who are expecting their first baby next May. Congratulations!!! We're so excited that we have a little cousin on the way!

Nonna bought a puppy that sings "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" The funniest part is that its ears flap up and down. Kennedy was holding it in such a way that when its ears were up they were slapping her in the face which everyone got a kick out of.

Reagan enjoying the puppy with Nonna :)

Nonna also had a cute little chicken that would peck at the ground and move when you wound it up. Both girls thought it was so much fun. While this picture is a bit blurry I love the way you can tell Reagan is running for it before it falls off the coffee table and Kennedy is excited too - what a face! :)

So much fun!

My little chick loving her little chick

McDonald's Playland

2009-09-22T22:57:00.007-04:00

Sunday morning we went to breakfast with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Julie, Jenna and one of Daddy's best friends, Andy Andrasko. We decided to go to McDonald's so the girls could play on the playland. Thanks to Aunt Julie and Jenna who were such good sports to climb around and up and down! :)

Reagan loves those slides!!!

Our little dictator has started pointing to show us where she wants to go

Thankfully Aunt Julie is accomodating and was willing to take Kennedy up...

and up...

all the way to the top!

Kennedy was apparently not impressed with the trip down the big purple slide. Aunt Julie said she didn't think she went fast enough for our wild and crazy baby. lol :)

Kennedy apparently thought it would be funnier to try and get away from Aunt Julie.

Jenna and Kennedy playing Peek-A-Boo

Kennedy loved trying to get away from Jenna who would run from one side of the tree to the other

Thank you to Grammy for these adorable matching outfits! I have to tell a funny story about these outfits, however. While the jumpers fit perfectly the shirts seem a bit small. When I was dressing Reagan we were having enough trouble that we were both laughing while trying to get it on. Finally Reagan looked at me giggling and asked "Mommy, are you putting Kennedy's shirt on me?" lol :) I think she really thought I had messed up or it was truly some sort of a joke I was playing on her. It was pretty funny and we only laughed all the harder after that. lol :)

Visit with Great Grandma Ruth

2009-09-22T22:24:00.005-04:00

Before heading back to Kentucky on Sunday, we made a stop to visit Great Grandma Ruth. Nonna and Aunt Kayci joined us for a while too.
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Warner 4 Generation Picture

Flinging beads with (at) Great Grandma from the Homecoming Game is so much fun!!!

Kennedy kept trying to get a look at Great Grandma under her hat

Great Grandma putting sunglasses on Kennedy

Kennedy doing her best to put sunglasses on Great Grandma

Reading one of her favorites "Peek-A-Who?" with Great Grandma

Reading a Sandra Boynton book with Aunt Kayci

Reagan, who you can tell from the pictures above was her usual cooperative picture taking self (not...), enjoyed cookies and a sticker book which Nonna brought for her

Messy fingers!!!

Only one thing to do with messy fingers, right? Lick them off! lol :)

Finger Painting

2009-09-22T12:31:00.002-04:00

I always loved finger paint growing up. I found an easy recipe for it and so we made it yesterday. All it takes is 2 cups of water and 1/4 cup of corn starch. You bring the mixture to a boil until it seems like the right consistency and then remove to cool. You can make whatever colors you'd like using food coloring. We did the primary colors so Reagan could experiment and mix whatever other colors she wanted from there. We had lots of fun and have plenty of finger paint left over for the future.

Reagan mixing her colors. Next time I think I might give her just two colors at a time so she can really see them change colors vs turning a weird brown/purple. lol :) We learn as we go and at least she had fun mixing it around! :)
Kennedy wasn't really quite sure what we were trying to do her to her and spent more time looking at her fingers and hollering about them than actually "painting" lol :)

Busy Baby!

2009-09-17T16:54:00.003-04:00

As anyone who has spent much time with Kennedy can attest to she is one busy little girl!!! I even hear Reagan occasionally telling her "Kennedy, you are a busy body girl." Actually, Reagan has figured out a pretty clever way to tell on Kennedy without really tattling. If Kennedy is about to get into some type of mischief that I'm not seeing Reagan pipes up with "Mommy, what is Kennedy doing?" It is said very innocently of course. ;) Anyhoo... yesterday afternoon for some reason Reagan was wanting to read books under our desk in our office. Kennedy was playing with some toys I had set out for her by our feet when I heard something and noticed she was gone. I looked out from under the desk we were under and saw she had climbed up in our computer desk and was on top of our printer. She went back at it again today while I was quickly checking e-mail - boy does she move fast! I mean I was sitting in front of the computer and printer and she got herself all the way up and in before I noticed what she was doing. Without saying anything further let me please present Kennedy's new climbing apparatus...

Kennedy was trying her hardest to get back into the desk further but not even little Miss Houdini herself could figure out how to squeeze through that small space!

Tim's Birthday

2009-09-13T22:12:00.006-04:00

Today was Tim's 32nd birthday and we had a nice relaxing day. We visited a church this morning (which we really liked). When we got home Reagan and I made a Dirt Cake for Tim per his request and from his Grammy's recipe. Dan, Dorothy and Heidi came over for a while in the late afternoon for a visit. This evening we had Tim's favorite Surf and Turf meal as a family. All in all a very nice day!

As I mentioned above, and you'll see below, we made Tim a cake. When I called Grandma Karen and Grandpa Jim to get Grammy Alta's recipe, Grandpa suggested I have Reagan help by smashing the cookies. I thought that was a fantastic suggestion but Reagan became very upset at the thought of stepping on and breaking all the Oreos. Poor thing! Kennedy decided it was fun, however, and after Reagan had the chance to calm down she joined in the fun too. Then on a whim I decided to give cooking with Reagan another try (we haven't attempted anything since the cupcakes last December) and we had a wonderful time! She did an awesome job and was such a good cooperater all day today. Without the first complaint she even picked up a bunch of toys for me that Kennedy had made a mess of this afternoon. She can be such a little sweetheart and big helper! Hope you enjoy the pictures of her helping make Tim's cake. :)

Kennedy enjoying the opportunity to play with a plastic bag, cake pan, and cookies.

Reagan decided it was a little bit of fun to smash the Oreos after all :)

Mixing the French Vanilla Pudding

Putting the butter and cream cheese in the mixing bowl

Adding the Powdered Sugar all by herself

Stirring the mixtures and the Cool Whip together

Checking out the egg beaters. Regan was more interested in simply sticking her fingers in the mixture we had created than licking the beaters. Why mess with those tricky beaters when you've got a whole bowl of good stuff sitting right in front of you. I have to admit she had a point...

Spreading the first cookie layer

Decorating Daddy's Dirt Cake with Gummy Worms. When I first asked Reagan what she thought about putting worms on Daddy's cake she immidiately replied "He will not like that." Even after she realized they were candy worms she still told me they were "slimy." lol :)

Being very fastidious in the placement of the worms

All done!!!

Reagan serving the cake after dinner

I got this out of order. Reagan was a perfect little lady and served Daddy and Kennedy first before getting her cake. :)

Giving Daddy and Kennedy their super yummy Dirt Cake

Kennedy getting ready to try out Daddy's birthday cake

Kennedy was so cute because she grinned from ear to ear and after her first bite of Dirt Cake. She obviously thought Daddy had a good idea for a birthday cake!

Reagan enjoying the fruits of her labor

Reagan was such a big helper today. After dinner and dessert she helped carry the dirty dishes to the kitchen. Looking at these pictures Reagan looks like such a little lady to me. My girls are growing up too fast!!! :)

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes for Tim he appreciated them all! :)
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Thank you to Aunt Debbie and Uncle Wayne for the adorable matching dresses the girls are wearing. They looked so sweet today!

Missy K

2009-09-10T20:42:00.006-04:00

I've been talking about getting a nicer newer camera for quite a while now. This weekend, with Dad's help, I finally made a decision on a Canon Rebel XS. So far I'm loving it! It's not super fancy, but it's nice enough I can quickly snap pictures (no delay, yeah!) and it gives me a few more options than a traditional point and shoot camera. My first attempt at being a little more creative was to try and copy a picture I had seen in a scrapbook magazine where a baby's toes were in focus but the body/head were not. Getting the angle on this shot was as difficult as figuring out the focus issues especially since I couldn't get Kennedy to stay sleeping on her back... :) I had a good time playing with the camera in anycase. :)

On to more traditional precious sleeping baby pictures

Such sweet little feet!

My little honey bear waking up

Wide awake and happy! :)

Kennedy can go from zero to sixty with no problem! :)

Am I cute or what?

Am I being naughty???

Naughty or not I sure think I'm funny!

More like hilarious

Maybe just downright hysterical!

Time to catch my breath

or maybe it's time to make some really silly faces

Wild and Crazy Baby Time!

Really Wild and Crazy Baby Time!!!

I am way too funny lol :)

I crack myself up! lol :)

Kennedy Walking!

2009-09-10T20:37:00.003-04:00

Kennedy took her first step, thanks to lots of encouragement from Grammy, on Monday afternoon. Last night she took another step for Daddy. I've witnessed both but didn't have the camera handy enough to catch either step. She is so funny that she isn't walking yet. She has been able to free stand for such long periods of time for so long now. She can stand herself up completely unaided in the middle of a room and she can even lean over and pick up an object and stand back up without any assistance. For some reason, however, she is quite tentative about taking those steps. Having said that, she is so far ahead of Reagan at this age! Reagan was just beginning to crawl at 9 1/2 months and here Kennedy is beginning to walk! Amazing how different little people are. :)

As for other progress Kennedy has started to try and do the movements to "If You're Happy and You Know It." She is best at the "Hooray" section but is so super excited throughout the song. Tim has also witnessed her clap very well but I haven't seen that as much. Tim also taught Kennedy to stick out her tongue when you stick yours out at her. She thinks she is hilarious when she does this and as you can see she gets that tongue completely out of her mouth! She think she is so funny and is continuously cracking herself and us up! lol :)

I Love You, My Eggs!

2009-09-10T20:29:00.002-04:00

Lately we have been working on getting Reagan to sit nicely and not get up until she has finished eating her meal. Yesterday morning she was horsing around and horsing around at breakfast. She wouldn't sit on her bottom and had been hopping off and on her chair. I had just warned her about being careful when there was a big bang and her full plate of eggs hit the floor. I told her to go sit in time out. She went running/crying to time out because her eggs were on the floor and she couldn't eat them. While I was cleaning up the mess I could hear her crying "I love you, my eggs! I love you, my eggs!" What a little goof. lol :) I guess sometimes it's just hard to be two! :)

Last week in DC

2009-09-09T21:45:00.008-04:00

I again apologize for being so woefully behind in certain posts... I wouldn't even bother to post this at this point except a couple of friends have been asking about the pics. The other reason is while I started this blog to keep family and friends who lived far away updated I now use it as much for a journal of our activities. That said, here are the pictures of friends and places we visited our last week in DC at the end of June.

One place I knew we had to work in before we left was the National Zoo. Reagan loves the Giant Pandas and I knew we weren't likely to see them anywhere else for a while. So first thing Monday morning we headed off to say goodbye to the Pandas. They cooperated beautifully and were more active than we've ever seen them before. It was so much fun to watch them walk around!

I had told Reagan we would be able to pick out one Panda stuffed animal. She found these two and told me we needed a Mommy and a baby because "they love each other." :)
Reagan selected a very soft and snuggly panda for Kennedy too
On Tuesday evening we walked to the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington Cemetary to see the Marine Bugle Core show. They also do an amazing silent show with rifles and bayonets.

On the way back from Arlington I stopped to snap a picture of our apartment building. You can see how close to DC it was with the Lincoln Memorial in the background. We actually had a beautiful view of the Potomac and the Jefferson Memorial at night.

On Wednesday we spent the day with the Montantes. Ms. Liz invited us to come swimming at their community pool. It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time.

When we got back to the house the girls had fun riding bikes together and playing with chalk.

This might not be the best picture of Olivia and Reagan but I had to include it because Audrey has the most beautiful blue eyes! What a little doll!

Watching TV together (I think while we were waiting for pizza)

After pizza and popcicles we were a pretty big mess so Ms. Liz suggested throwing everyone in the bathtub. It was one full bathtub with 4 adorable little girls! :)

On Friday we had a playdate with Ms. Mo'mina and the boys at one of our favorite playgrounds. We thought about you at the park last Friday and wished you could have been there with us!

The babies chilling out together

With all the things to do on the playground the three big kids needed to stop and watch the garbage truck in action. Big trucks are pretty cool!

This would have been better on video as the three of them exchanged and swung that big stick around. It's amazing how little kids can do that and not take all their eyes out...

On Friday night we met several friends at Generous George's Positive Pizza and Pasta Place. If you ever visited us in DC I'm sure we took you there. :) It is an eclectic pizza parlor with super yummy pizza and lots of old decorations. This Mickey Mouse greets you as you walk in the door and Reagan loves him. It also happenned there was a clown making balloon animals there that night so Reagan is holding a truly amazing balloon Elmo. Wish I could have gotten more pictures and especially of Jarret, Taron, Sam and company but my camera battery died... :(

On Saturday we headed down to DC to enjoy the National BBQ Festival with Aunt Kim and Uncle Nathan. The food was great and the company was even better! :)

One last picture with the US Capital in the background

After the BBQ Festival we went to church one last time at St. John's and then headed back to the apartment to finish packing up. We didn't end up getting on the road until around 8:00-8:30 so we had a long last trip to Kentucky. It was so nice to get to our new home as a family and permanently that weekend, but we sure do miss all our DC friends!!! You all were so wonderful to us during our 6 years in DC and we hope to make it back sometime next year to visit with you all again. Keep in touch and come and visit us anytime!!! :)

Friday at the Park

2009-09-09T16:44:00.003-04:00

Last Friday, September 4, it was so nice outside we decided to pack a picnic and take a walk to a nearby playground. We had a great time and I think we'll do a picnic lunch at the park again this week, weather permitting.

Swinging together! This was so cute but so hard to get a good picture of! :)

Gotta love that smile!

Gotta love this smile too! :)

Reagan showing Kennedy how to climb through the tunnel

There she goes!

Are you watching?

After sliding back down Kennedy would just giggle and then scoot right off to try again. :)

Boy, am I hot stuff!

Almost there!

This is as far as she ever got. I don't know if she was nervous about taking a step down or if the tunnel was just to slick for her to be able to boost herself out. In anycase she would get this far and then go sliding back down on her tummy. Regardless, she had a wonderful time and I know it won't be long before she's got it completely figured out!

Are you going to let me try this Mom?

I love being naughty!!!

Kennedy never actually got brave enough to get down the slide any further than this but she sure lived crawling out that far before squealing and retreating. lol :)

Louisville Zoo visit with Heidi

2009-08-27T15:26:00.006-04:00

Yesterday we went to the zoo with Aunt Dorothy and Heidi and had a wonderful time! It was a bit humid but the skies were clear and the day was beautiful.

Our first stop was to feed the giraffes. Anyone have any idea how difficult it is to get two 2 year olds and a giraffe to look at the camera at the same time? This was my best shot. :)

Feeding the giraffes
We visited the gorillas and got to see the male Silverback up close and in action. He appeared to get upset at one point and threw a huge green barrel (like it was a cotton ball I might add) before darting around the enclosure. All the other gorillas moved just about as fast as he did in an obvious attempt to get out of his way!

Kennedy checking out the large stuffed gorilla in the gift shop

This gorilla and Heidi have a funny story. Heidi was running a bit ahead of us. Dorothy wanted her to stop so referring to the Gorillas we had just seen she yelled "Heidi, stop or the Gorilla might get you." Timing couldn't have been more perfect (or worse from Heidi's point of view) as at that exact moment she rounded the corner and practically ran in to this big guy. She literally flew into the air and you've never seen a kid run back to their mother so fast. Bless her heart she was a bit terrified and did cry. Of course Dorothy and I thought it was hilarious. lol :) Dorothy wanted to get a picture of Heidi with the gorilla but she refused to go anywhere near the thing. We finally got a picture with Dorothy by having them stand outside the gift shop with the gorilla in the background. Poor Heidi but too funny! lol :)

Heidi and Reagan seeing how they compare insize to a tiger at the tiger exhibit

After visiting a few of those big animals we headed to the water area. Aunt Dorothy had the brilliant idea of having ice cream before getting in the water so the kids could rinse off there. Thanks for the sweet treat Aunt Dorothy!

~
Kennedy wondering why she doesn't get to hold her ice cream cone...

Reagan paying more attention to the ice cream on her leg than to how its getting there...

Sweet and happy Heidi!

Kennedy says this is more like it!

The last time we visited the water park it was so crazy and there were so many big kids Reagan was nervous and didn't want to wait in the lines for the water slides. This time there weren't very many kids around and as you can see from the pictures below Reagan had a blast!

Heidi checking out some water spouts

Kennedy waiting for the water to reappear

Reagan trying to convince Heidi to try out one of the water slides

Reagan says what fun!

Heidi says, I'm not sure...

Way to go Heidi!

While Kennedy was waiting for Regan to finish up playing in the water she decided she would put herself in Aunt Dorothy's stroller. She is such a busy little girl! :)

Holding hands at the end of a fun day at the zoo!

Watch Me Grow - Kennedy - 9 Mon

2009-08-23T22:06:00.008-04:00

9 Mon - Aug 2009

8 Mon - Jul 2009

1 Week - Nov 2009

We have a new pediatrician and Kennedy had her 9 month checkup today. She is between the 50-75 percentile for height, weight and head circumfrance. Her specific 9 month stats are she is
27 3/4 ins long and weighs 20lbs 7oz.
For her checkup she did have to get one shot. She's such a tough little nut though she didn't even flinch let a lone cry. As a matter of fact she sat right up and started laughing at the nurse who had given her the shot. The nurse told her she was sure Kennedy would be her "best and easiest patient all day." :) What a sweetie! :)
~
Kennedy got her first tooth this month! :) Her first tooth came in on Monday, August 10. While I've felt it I haven't seen it yet because every time I try she sticks her tongue out over her bottom gum and lip. The doctor could hardly get a look at it today either but she said it looks like there's another one getting ready to pop through next to it. Someday I'll see it/them and snap a picture to share with everyone. :)
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Kennedy is a super busy little girl! She started climbing our stairs about three weeks ago and can get all the way to the top on her own. She is quite unhappy (down right mad) whenever she discovers a gate at the bottom of the stairs which prevents her progress.
~
While she is super busy she hasn't taken her first step yet. She free stands all the time but still isn't interested in walking too much. She'll do it with some coaxing while you're holding her hands but it's not an activity she intiates. Sunday was the first time I saw her standup by a little chair and on her own start pushing it around the room.
~
Kennedy is beginning to enjoy looking at books on her own. She's not always so gentle but we'll give her a break since she's only 9 months old. :) We are certainly pleased she enjoys looking at books on her own as well as being read to. The "Peek-A-Who" book is still a favorite as well as basically any Sandra Boynton book, especially "Moo, Baa, La La La." We've also been using the "Your Baby Can Read" program with Kennedy and she seems to really enjoy those books. The books have lots of close up pictures of kids and animals which she enjoys looking at.
~
Her favorite game by far is "Peek-A-Boo." She loves to play it with some one around corners and doorways by crawling away and back to you repeatedly (a take off of this game is simply chasing her which she loves too). She also enjoys the traditional "Peek-A-Boo" game of hiding her or someone elses face. In the last week or two she has discovered she can pull blankets (or whatever is handy) up over her face on her own and she loves to do that. You can also tell she is exceedingly pleased with herself for figuring out how to do this. :)
~
Kennedy is a good eater when it's something she feels like eating... She's not much into baby food, although I have successfully gotten her to eat some baby cereal (important because of iron content) a couple of times in the last week. She much prefers finger foods she can pick up and eat on her own - little Miss. Independent already! Her favorite food by far is watermelon. She loves it and could eat her weight in it! She is a mess from head to toe everytime she eats it but there is no doubt she is enjoying every last bite!
~
Sleeping is still rocky. Knock on wood she's slept through the night the last thre nights. This is a sleeping pattern I hope we can maintain! I love her dearly but it is so nice to get more than a couple of hours asleep at at time! :) She's starting to give up her short nap but it's a toss up as to whether she'll take a long morning nap or a long afternoon nap with Reagan.
~
Kennedy's biggest news for the month is we are quite certain she has said her first word. I wasn't positive when she started saying it a couple of weeks ago but now she's pretty direct at times so we're calling it her first word anyway. :) She likes to say "Mom, mom, mom." It's usually in threes and it started out occurring when she was mad at me. Now it's occurring at other times but it melts my heart anytime. :) I wish I could catch it on video tape but I haven't managed that yet. Those little voices are too sweet for words! :)
~
The most endearing thing Kennedy has started doing with frequency this month is giving kisses. It is so adorable and I absolutely love it!!! She is such a sweet baby and those kisses have to be the most precious gifts ever!

Pablo at the Zoo

2009-08-23T21:25:00.007-04:00

One of Reagan's favorite shows is the Backyardigan's. When we learned Pablo was going to be at the Louisville Zoo we decided we needed to hop over and see him. Reagan decided she needed to take all of her Backyardigan "friends" (also "pals" or "buddies" depending on the moment) along.

Miss. Kennedy was happy to come along and enjoy the beautiful day at the zoo too! :)
Once we got inside the zoo Reagan decided the Backyardigans should be buckled up too. lol :)

So excited to see Pablo!!!

Reagan kept asking "Who is it?!?! Is it Pablo?!?! Do I see Pablo?!?! Look it's Pablo!!!" accompanied with various stomping in place jumping up and down and a general inability to contain herself. It was precious and I can't wait to see her with the Disney characters come October!

Meeting Pablo for the first time. Yes, we had to see Pablo several times. I think it was a good thing the carousel was close by or we might never have escaped the Pablo line.

I think this was a hug from the seccond time through

The third time through Grammy and Kennedy decided to check out Pablo too. Kennedy even decided to give him a kiss. Ahhh...

Reagan loving Pablo (I'm not sure why she stuck him down her shirt to love him lol)

While Reagan had a wonderful time with Pablo, Kennedy had a blast on the Carousel. She thought it was wonderfully funny and had a fantastic time. She made all sorts of faces and was absolutely precious! :)

Screaming in delight!

Too excited to contain herself

Mommy, Reagan and of course Pablo on the Gorilla

Reagan enjoying a ride with Pablo on the Cheetah

I think we must be quite the sight wherever we go with our video cameras and still cameras trying to capture every fun minute with Grammy and Pop-A-Lops! lol :)

Pop-A-Lops and Kennedy checking out a slowly spinning water ball (I'm sure it has a better name than that but I don't know what it is) before we leave

My favorite picture of Pa's today. I think these African Crested Cranes are so cool looking!

Thank you to Grammy and Pa for coming with us to the zoo! We had a wonderful time!!!

Silly Girls

2009-08-23T21:07:00.002-04:00

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words and sometimes a picture can't quite capture or do a moment justice.

Can you spot Old Navy's newest mannequin?

Yesterday while shopping with Grammy Reagan improved Old Navy's back-to-school display by posing herself in and among the existing mannequin's. She stood perfectly still just holding their hands. It was hilarious! She stood there long enough for us to decide to go and get the camera out of the van I'm sure she was in and among them for at least 5 minutes. It was so cute. Then when we left she kept saying "Goodbye my friends! Goodbye my friends!" and repeatedly blew them kisses too. Two year olds are awesome! lol :)

Kennedy loves the game "Peek-A-Boo" and in the last couple of weeks has realized she can play the game all by herself by pulling a blanket/towel etc. up to her face. Yesterday in the carseat, she decided she wanted to play and kept trying to pull the front of her dress up and over her face and would then pull it back down and giggle. Babies are awesome and amazingly creative too! lol :)

Stiriz B-Day Pool Party

2009-08-19T22:21:00.004-04:00

While in Tennessee in June we were able to attend the big Stiriz B-Day part at the Mitchell's home. It was officially Anna's 2nd birthday and since Chaz decided he wanted a pool party (which is difficult to accomodate with a December birthday) we were celebrating his 6thbirthday a few months early.

The birthday girl and her Daddy (Charlie) getting ready to swim

A very serious Noah - he is such a little man! Noah is the son of our good scrapbooking buddy Brenda and was born nearly exactly a month after Reagan and before Anna. Uncle Wayne, Anna and Chaz's Pappy, was exceedingly patient with Reagan in the pool. He accomodated her wonderfully letting her hop in and out to her heart's content.

Kenndy enjoying attention from Anna

The guys eating dinner

Having fun in the cool playhouse

The Stiriz Family blowing out birthday candles

The birthday girl enjoying her cupcakes The 2 year olds chilling out

Anna's new wheels from Pappy and Mamaw

Wasting no time diving into presents! :)

Burgess Falls with Pop-A-Lops

2009-08-19T21:54:00.008-04:00

Our week in Tennessee was timed to coordinate with Anna and Chaz's birthday party. Unfortunately it didn't work out so well in terms of timing with Grammy's schedule as she was in Wisconsin with Great Grandma Carlson. We sure missed her lots but managed to keep busy. Sunday afternoon Pop-A-Lops (formerly known as Pa) took us to Burgess Falls State Park. He picked up KFC for a picnic on the way there and we had ice cream on our way home. It was a great day!

Pa is so fun!!!

Rocks, water and a beautiful sunny afternoon; who could ask for anything more?

Climbing up a mini water fall

Up and off to something new and exciting

Oops!

Pop-A-Lops and Kennedy watching my prim and proper "Little Lady"

I can't remember what Dad was doing here to make Kennedy laugh so hard (the hazards of getting so far behind in blogging/journaling) but I do remember that she thought it was hilarious! I have a whole series of pictures like this of her with that huge huge grin.

Sweet and tired baby and beautiful picture by Pa!

Thanks for the Fried Chicken and fun afternoon at the park Pa!
~

Thank you also to Aunt Arla who gave Reagan the adorable dress she is wearing! That is one of my very favorite outfits of hers this year.

June Tennessee Visit

2009-08-19T21:14:00.006-04:00

Woefully behind, I know, but here are pictures from our time in Tennessee in June. :)

We spent one evening with the Sliger's and Reagan loved being spun and spinning other people in this chair. Thankfully Haley and others were willing to be good sports! :)

Kennedy getting some good attention from Aunt Marta
Aunt Marta's turn to spin! :)

We also spent time with the Stiriz clan. One day in particular Anna was pretty determined that Kennedy she have her paci in her mouth. Cameras/pictures aren't always great at catching action shots but as you can see from the series below Anna is certainly persistent! :)

Poor Anna, she looks so proud of herself when she's checking to see if Kennedy still has that paci in her mouth. What a good friend, even if Kennedy doesn't properly appreciate it!

Precious girlfriends with pacis and blankets. I love how they're looking at each other!

Love how these two are looking at each other too while Kennedy holds on to Chaz's feet. So sweet!

Just playing together :)

We spent a day with Beth Kelly while we were there too. We packed a lot in and sure had a lot of fun! We started the day by jumping on the Kelly trampoline.

Reagan loves trampolines!

Next Reagan decided to try the hamock... lol :)

Then we went to Cane Creek Park to feed some ducks. We were hoping to play on the playground too but it was entirely too hot and we were miserable!!!

After pizza for lunch Beth introduced us to the Candy Caboose. This was Reagan's first candy shop experience and needless to say, she enjoyed it! I had a really sweet picture of her with Beth in the store but I seem to have lost it. Bummer! I also seem to have lost pictures from our last stop of the day. No visit with the Kelly kids would be complete with out ice cream! So even though we had just been to the Candy Caboose we had to run by Marble Slab before taking Beth home. lol :)

Daddy and Reagan playing with new Ice Age figurines

Happy Father's Day (very belatedly)!

The best Father's Day picture we could get of Daddy and his girls

Out to eat a Father's Day breakfast with Grammy and Pa before heading back to DC for the last time

Thanks for all the fun everyone!

Gone Fishin'

2009-08-16T20:46:00.008-04:00

When we were in Mount Olive for Easter Grandma mentioned that Grandpa wanted to take Reagan fishing the next time we were in town. So Thursday night Grandpa took Reagan shopping for her first fishing pole (sorry I don't have pictures they're on Grandma's camera). Reagan had a great time, especially checking out the reels with Grandpa in the store. On Saturday we went to a lake near Mount Olive to see what kind of little fisherman, or rather woman, Reagan would be.

I can't remember what Reagan was telling Grandpa at this point but especially if you enlarge this picture you can tell Reagan is definitely filling him in on something which he finds entertaining. :) My guess is it was somthing like "Shound I do it myself? Yes, I should do it myself" when Grandpa suggested she should wait to reel the line in.
Grandpa was trying to show Reagan where the fish were in these next few pictures because all she wanted to do was reel the line in as soon as they threw it out. I guess when you've never been fishing and you're only two, the idea that a fish will end up on the end of the line if you leave it alone is a bit abstract.

Reagan and Daddy looking for fish

Aunt Julie came along and kept Missy K entertained while I video taped and took pictures of our fishing expidition (note that baby's wild and crazy hair!)

Grandma and Reagan having fun while waiting for Grandpa to catch a fish

Time to try a new spot...

When you're not having any luck catching a fish then checking out the worms might seem like a good idea (Reagan did drop them a couple of times when they squirmed and startled her). Regan determined the worms were "slimey."

Showing the worms to Kennedy and Daddy

The funniest part of our little adventure was when Grandpa finally caught a fish. Everyone got super excited and started running towards him. Reagan started out with us but then I think we kind of scared her so she turned around and ran the other way refusing to join us. lol :) After a little convincing from Grandma, Reagan decided it would be okay to come and check out the fish. Luckily Grandpa was able to keep the fish on the line long enough for Reagan to come help reel it in.

Reagan wasn't quite sure if she wanted to touch the fish or not...

Kennedy on the other hand said "Let me at him!"

Then Grandpa showed Reagan how to hold the fish with two hands to release him back into the water

After that Reagan and Aunt Julie ran up the ramp yelling "Woo hoo!!!" but I didn't get a good picture to capture the moment. Too bad because they were super cute together!

Thank you for this awesome experience Grandpa and Grandma! We look forward to many more fishing adventures with you!

Thank you also to Grandma for the super cute outfits the girls are wearing. I don't think you can see the front of Reagan's dress very well in any of these pictures but there were 3 fish on them. Way too cute! :)

Kennedy + Ice Bags = Funny Faces

2009-07-29T15:43:00.006-04:00

Last night we met Dan, Dorothy and Heidi for a picnic at a Jazz in the park series Lexington has every summer. Unfortunately the concert ended up being canceled (I guess they were afraid of rain but as it was the weather was perfect). Since we were already there and the weather was nice we decided to stay and have our picnic. The kids always provide plenty of entertainment anyway. Speaking of which... Kennedy discovered a fun new game to play with ice bags and we enjoyed the show. lol :) I think she was actually making the faces because she was afraid of hitting herself in the face but she apparently couldn't stop and whatever the reason she was having a blast! lol :)

What are you all looking at?

Reviewing these pictures some of them look as if Kennedy might have been mad or upset. I can assure you she was not. She was having the time of her life shaking those bags for everything she was worth. lol :)

Watch Me Grow - Kennedy - 8 Mon

2009-07-27T10:35:00.004-04:00

8 Mon - Jul 2009

7 Mon - Jun 2009
1 Week - Nov 2008

Kennedy is growing so fast! My baby is nearly gone and she is becoming a toddler - way faster than Reagan did! Kennedy is doing great standing up on her own. She loves to pull up on just about anything and let go. While she is doing a great job standing on her own she isn't really making any attempts to take her first step yet. Even when you hold her hands you have to work at getting her to take a step forward.

~
Kennedy's favorite book is "Peek A Who" which Stacy, Rich, and I believe at that point just Rory sent Reagan some time ago. Kennedy loves that book. Sometimes it is the only book she will let me read. When I put it down to start a new book she will squirm around trying to pick it back up. We literally read it at least a half a dozen times before bed and we read it many more times than that throughout the day. She giggles and giggles at the last page which says "peek a you" and has a mirror. I'm not sure why she thinks this particular book is so funny because we have other books that have mirrors on every page and she prefers this one to all others. She does love the game "Peek A Boo" in general so this book obviously simply does it for her at this stage.

~
For some reason we seem to be going backwards in our sleep patterns. Kennedy gets up at least twice a night and frequently more often. At least she eats and goes right back to sleep. And since she is such a sweet and easy baby in every other aspect I can not complain too much!

Kennedy definitely takes after me in her love of cats. She goes wild over the cats everytime she sees them. She loves them and wants to pet and play with them so badly. Unfortunately for her the cats aren't currently convinced she is much fun.
~

Kennedy continues to be a super happy baby. It takes nothing at all to make her smile. She loves to be tickled and has a great laugh which I think she must get from her father. I love to hear those precious baby giggles and sounds. Speaking of which, she is such a talker! She nearly always has something to say. A couple of days ago Reagan looked at Tim and said "Daddy, what is Kennedy talking about? She's saying yada yada yada..." That gave us a pretty good laugh too. lol :)

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I can't believe we are so close to being finished with Kennedy's duck pictures! I guess time flies when you're having fun and we have throughly been enjoying Missy K!

July in Review

2009-07-22T22:34:00.014-04:00

I'm feeling pretty close to hopelessly behind in this blog at this point so here's my best attempt to at least quickly get caught up with the month of July... :)
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Tim was able to schedule a week off between his new and old jobs. It was so nice to have a relaxing week together in Lexington. During that week Tim decided to take Reagan to her first movie. They went to see "Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs" and Reagan loved it!

Kennedy ready for some one on one time with Mommy

I started running some water for the girls bath last week and then went to get their clothing to wear. I came back and found them like this and thought it was so super cute!

Thought this was a cute pic but boy was it hard to get them both looking up and smiling at the same time!

Last weekend Kennedy enjoyed her first popsicle (thank you to Grammy for leaving them for the girls!)

I loved this picture because Kennedy was crossing her legs

Needless to say Reagan enjoys a popsicle, or two, or three as well...

Reagan received a package from Grandma Pat this last weekend with a number of "Dora the Explorer" items which is a current favorite in our household. She immidiately took off her beloved crocs and put on her new Dora sandals and as you can see she is hugging her water bottle. lol :)

I have spent so many hours painting our bedroom! I tried 8 or 9 different colors before settling on this. If it hadn't been for the fact that furniture was being delivered, so I had to decide, I might still be at it... In the end we decided on a color called Darby Creek and did a stripe with the same color in a semi-gloss. It's amazing how much work (or rather time) that sort of thing takes.

While it might have taken a while to put the tape up for the stripes it took Reagan no time at all to pull it down and boy did she have fun doing it!

Near the end she discovered she could do two at a time and lie down on the floor instead of backing up. What a goof!

Reagan received this dress from Aunt Arla in the mail this week. When the package arrived and we saw it was from Aunt Arla to Reagan she said "That was so nice of Aunt Arla to send a package to me." The first dress we pulled out was so cute and Reagan exclaimed "It's Magnificent!" Tim was just saying that he is really enjoing all of the adjectives Reagan has started using (she frequently tells us she is doing a wonderful job eating or a beautiful or a wonderful job coloring) but that is the first time I had heard magnificent. The dress below was the second and only other dress in the box deemed to be "magnificent." This morning when I got it out for Reagan to wear she told me she would be "adorable." What a little nut!

I'm not sure about adorable but definitely wild and crazy as she watched herself dance in front of the mirror!

July 4th Weekend

2009-07-22T22:33:00.012-04:00

We are throughly enjoying our new neighbors and neighborhood! On the Friday afternoon before July 3rd one of our neighbors decided to have an impromptu block party. I couldn't tell you how many people came but there were at least 20 kids and as many adults. I couldn't believe the turnout especially with such short notice - it was awesome! :)

We brought our wagon from Grandma Karen and Grandpa Jim out for the girls to sit on (it turns into a really nifty bench) but it quickly turned into the most popular item all the kids, regardless of age, wanted to play with and take turns riding on. Eventually another neighbor went and pulled out their wagon too and the kids had a blast going round and round in circles together. :)

Kennedy loves being an upside down baby!

Kennedy also loves it when Grammy puts her up in the air and puts her tummy to her head lol :)

Reagan enjoying the most enormous cheetohs I've ever seen Heidi and Reagan sharing chips and pop

Pa came up with one of the hit toys of the evening. He cut a large cardboard box so that it would serve as a slide on the hill in front of our house. The kids absolutely loved it!

Reagan and Heidi used a neighbor's wagon to watch the fireworks

On Saturday, July 4, we went with the Dan LaBar family to downtown Lexington to watch the holiday parade. It was raining a bit but Reagan didn't mind as it gave her an excuse to pull out her new Mickey and Minnie Mouse umbrella from Grammy.

Reagan, Heidi, and Kennedy waiting for the parade

Sweet cousins

Reagan and Mommy watching the parade

Heidi and Uncle Dan

Reagan "cheesing" for the camera

The many faces of Missy K

The Dan LaBar crew and our neighbors came over for a cook out the evening of July 4. Unfortunately since it was raining Tim had to stand in the garage and step outside to grill the meat. We learned it's somtimes nice not to have furniture, however, as it enables you to easily put up folding tables and chairs in your living room. :)

The girl's table

On the other hand, I guess if we had dining room furniture it wouldn't be necessary to put up all these folding tables and chairs in the living room???

Heidi being so sweet for a picture with Kennedy

Trying to get a quick picture of the three girls in their matching outfits before the fireworks didn't quite work out...

The Ted LaBar crew standing in the rain sharing a large umbrella waiting for the fireworks to begin

The more intelligent Dan LaBar crew waiting in their car for the fireworks to start

We had a great first 4th of July weekend in Lexington. Thanks to everyone who shared it with us and made it so special!

Watch Me Grow - Kennedy - 7 Mon

2009-07-01T11:55:00.012-04:00

Sorry I'm so far behind in posting pictures. Between moving and visiting friends I'm so far behind in everything!!! I did want to at least get Kennedy's 7 month Duck picture up here. I will get pics from our visit to Tennessee and our last week in DC up here as soon as I can!

7 Mon - June 2009

6 Mon - May 2009
1 Week - November 2009

I know I usually post these pics seperately but it's all I can do to get one post up today. lol :) I think it was Reagan's 11 month pictures where I really started having trouble because she was all over the bed. Well Kennedy is all over the place at 7 mon!!! So all over the place, in fact, I couldn't even snap that many pictures of her being all over the place for fear of her falling off the bed. lol ;)

I'm so funny!!!

And pretty precious too!

Kennedy is one busy little girl! She is crawling all over the place. She also discovered she can pull up on things all on her own. Since the weekend she has even been letting go and attempting to stand all on her own!!! She only makes it for a few seconds but I can't believe she's even trying it already. Yesterday she even let go of the coffee table and grabbed for the couch. They're pretty close together but she successfully manuevered between the two objects and remained standing. She is one on the go baby!

As for eating Kennedy has decided she is not at all interested in baby food... She likes any real people food we'll give her but she doesn't want anything to do with baby cereal or pureed food. At her 6 month checkup the doctor said that was fine except that at about 6 months babies iron levels start to drop and the primary way they get their iron is through baby cereal. As such we're supposed to be careful about making sure Kennedy is eating as many Cheerios as she wants to help boost her iron levels. She also loves to drink out of a cup or use a sippy. No bottles for this baby she's pretty determined she's a big girl already!

Back to her checkup - she's doing great. She's in the 90th percentile for height and in the 75th percentile for weight at 7lbs 14ozs. Her head circumferance was in the 50th percentile so she's all over the place (that seems to be the theme of this post). She doesn't look disproportionate to me but maybe that's because I see her everyday. The doctor also said that sometimes the measuring can be a bit off from person to person so as long as she doesn't veer wildly out of the norm and mostly stays in the same growth progression for each of the measurements individually their fine with it.

Kennedy is still super smiley and loves attention from everyone. It literally takes nothing to get her smiling. She is such a sweet sweet baby! We love you Missy K! :)

Louisville Zoo

2009-06-13T11:51:00.011-04:00

Last Sunday, we spent a great day with Grammy, Kelly and Anna at the Louisville. It is a great zoo and we'll definitely be going back!
~
The highlight of our day was Reagan having the opportunity to feed the largest male giraffe, Walker. Unfortunately I don't have a good picture of it to share. I'm hoping to get one electronically soon but until then here is a picture of Kennedy and Grammy with one of the giraffes. They were pretty cool!

Reagan had a great view of the animals a good portion of the day from Grammy's shoulders

Reagan and Grammy checking out the rhinos

Reagan and Anna both loved the elephant calf

Kelly and Anna

Kennedy riding an elephantAnna hugging the elephant

Reagan and "Big" Anna by the zebras

We had the opportunity to see baby Naked Mole-Rats while we were at the zoo. Woo hoo! That's true excitement for you let me tell you... Do you detect a bit of sarcasm in my writing? Well, to a two year old I guess they're a bit more exciting because Reagan took a look at them and said "For goodness sakes, I need one of those!"

Coming through the bamboo forest on the way to see the gorillas

Checking out the size of an adult gorilla

Anna and Reagan looking at a gorilla

Anna and Reagan helping Grammy donate money to save the gorillas

One of Reagan's favorite animals has always been the giraffe. There was no doubt that after getting to feed a giraffe that it was what she loved the most that day. Reagan found two giraffes (a "mommy" and a "baby") she could NOT live without in the gift shop and Grammy insisted on purchasing for her.

Thank you, Grammy, for taking us to the zoo! We had a wonderful visit! :)

Kentucky Fun

2009-06-13T11:38:00.005-04:00

Grammy, Charlie, Kelly and Anna came to spend some time with us in Kentucky this past week. Here are some pictures of the girls having fun from our visit.

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I can't remember exactly how it started but here's how it ended - with Grammy and all 4 little girls playing the piano together. :)

Grammy brought suckers which Reagan refers to as "twirly whirlies" for the girls to enjoy

Grammy wanted to give Reagan a play kitchen back at Christmas but we simply didn't have enough room in the townhouse. She said as soon as we had a new home she would get it for Reagan. This past weekend she delivered on her promise and went and purchased a dream kitchen for Reagan. Here are Charlie, Kelly and Tim working on putting it together.The girls had a great time exploring the food even before the kitchen was put together

Thank you Grammy and Pa for such a cool and fun playset!

Fun in the Sun (and Water)

2009-06-13T11:00:00.007-04:00

Grammy brought an outside animal water play set along to Kentucky for the girls to play with last weekend. As you can see from the pictures below it is a super cool set and the girls (especially Reagan) absolutely loved it!
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Kelly and Grammy (with a bit of "help" from Anna and Reagan) setting everything up
Kennedy's first pool/water experienceReagan's favorite shoes right now are her Crocs from Aunt Nancy and Beth

Anna trying out the giraffe sprinkler

Two cute girls in the frog (Reagan is pretty insistent this is not an alligator) pool

Reagan loves to play in the elephant fountain

Grammy and Kennedy having fun :)

Kelly and Anna

Reagan and Anna being silly and trying to climb the deck

Gotta love that smile!

We gave the girls popsicles and Kennedy was very happy when Grammy offered her one as well. She took her job of eating it extremely seriously!

Later in the week Heidi spent the day with us and the girls played outside again for a while. What cuties!!!

Kennedy enjoyed her swing on the deck while the two year olds played in the water. We think she's pretty cute too! :)

Watch Me Grow - Kennedy - 6 Months

2009-05-28T15:47:00.003-04:00

I've decided to switch it up a bit this month and put the pictures first and words second - I like the pictures much better! :) The quality of the pictures isn't great - I don't know what I'm doing wrong with Dad's camera. It's definitely time for me to have a new camera!!! Anyhoo... hope you enjoy Kennedy's patented Grandpa lips smile. :) I have truly smiley pictures of her but this or her tongue out of her mouth are truly Kennedy at the moment so I thought it was more appropriate even if it is a bit silly. lol :)

6 Mon - May 2009

5 Mon - April 2009
1 Week - November 2008

Kennedy continues to be an absolute delight. She smiles so easily and is so sweet everyone around us smiles where ever we go. On our most recent trips with Grammy and Pa, Pa commented a number of times on how many people Kennedy made smile.

When Reagan turned 6 months old the big news was she was finally rolling. Kennedy's big news is she's crawling! Yes, Kennedy is significantly more physically advanced than Reagan was or ever had an interest in being! :)
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One funny thing Kennedy is doing right now is she loves to be held upside down. There are times when she actively works at getting herself into that position when you are holding her. At first we didn't realize what she was trying to do. She would/will just arch that little back and start getting frustrated if you don't tip her upside down. Then it occurred to one of us that she wanted to be upside down. She just smiles and giggles. What a little nut!

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Kennedy can sit up when she is interested. :) If you go back and look at Reagan's 6 month duck pictures, it appears she is sitting up much better. I think the biggest difference is Kennedy has no interest in sitting up. If you sit her up, she pretty quickly gets herself onto her tummy (now hands and knees) and is off to the next best thing.

Having said that, I think we have another little book worm on our hands and I couldn't be more delighted! Kennedy does very well at sitting and reading with Reagan and me. This is one of my favorite things to do with the girls so I'm so glad Kennedy has let us continue this. I also enjoy reading to her if Reagan happens to go down for nap or bedtime first. Along those same lines Kennedy has a pretty good attention span. As long as she's not tired, hungry, etc. she can pretty much entertain herself for a decent stretch. About the longest she's gone was at Uncle David and Aunt Jolene's house where we were intermittenly paying attention to her one afternoon - Aunt Jolene and Dad figured she mostly entertained herself on the floor for the better part of an hour while we were busy visiting.
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This week we have started introducing some veggies. The first was sweet potatoes which she loved and we've also started green beans which she appeared to approve of as well. We've also introduced oatmeal and bananas to our morning routine as well as increasing her cereal/veggie meals from once to twice per day since she seems to be enjoying her food (I guess that's actually three times total). She loves to drink out of cups and tries to hold them herself but basically refuses to take a bottle. I hope she doesn't give Daddy and Grandma Pat too hard a time while I'm scrapbooking with friends this weekend in Gatlinburg...
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Kennedy is a wonderful sleeper. She goes to bed between 8:00-9:00 and wakes up between 7:00-8:00 the next morning. She might briefly wake up once or twice during the night but even if she does all you have to do is put her pacifier back in her mouth, turn on her seahorse and sometimes cover her back up and she goes right back to sleep. Sometimes she wakes up for a feeding in the early morning hours but this is more the exception than the rule. She has also continued to accomodate me by taking an afternoon nap the same time Reagan does as well as a morning and somtimes evening catnap. I can't imagine a better little sleeper!
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Kennedy is such a precious happy baby and such a joy to have a round. We definitely think she is a keeper!!!

Family Pictures

2009-05-26T17:10:00.003-04:00

Our First LaBar family picture including Kennedy.

Can you believe we managed a LaBar picture this good with the kids??? I was amazed and so happy! Of course we literally took nearly 200 pictures (thanks to Andrew's awesome remote and burst capability) to get this picture. lol :) Thanks for all the help Aunt Arla, Brittany and Lynn!

We also managed this Lueker Family picture which I really liked. Thank you to Grammy and Pa for their help in accomplishing this one! :)

We've spent the last couple of weeks on the road. Shocker, right? :) Unfortunately my camera bit the dust and I forgot to get the cables for the camera Dad is currently letting me borrow. I may try to get to Walgreens in the next day or two and try and get some pictures loaded to a CD but that may be unrealistic... I'll at least try and get the Duck pictures for Kennedy's 6 month birthday. In case I don't get the pictures posted anytime soon (or at all) we had a great time visiting Uncle David, Aunt Jolene, Uncle George and Grandma in Michigan. We also enjoyed one evening with Darin, Elise, Brendan and Alaina. We also had a great visit to Tennessee and especially enjoyed celebrating Melissa Ensor's wedding (it was beautiful and lots of fun!) and Haley Sliger's graduation. I didn't actually get to attend her graduation ceremony (I'm so sorry I missed that!!!) but the Sliger's invited me to a luncheon their church did for the graduating seniors which was so nice. We also enjoyed spending time with the Stiriz's, Kelly's and of course Grammy and Pa!!! Sorry again for being so slow in our posts lately and let me apologize in advance for what I'm sure will be a gap in time before our next post!

Lance's Graduation

2009-05-26T17:03:00.002-04:00

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Wisconsin celebrating my youngest cousin Lance's highschool graduation. Congratulations Lance! Aunt Arla and Uncle Scott had an incredible party for him Saturday afternoon that we throughly enjoyed too! Thanks for giving us a great reason to visit and can't wait to spend a little more time with you guys on our next trip!

The Graduate

Grandma Carlson and Lance
Mom, Lance and Dad

Aunt Arla, Lance, Uncle Scott and Brittany

A less serious family picture :)

Good luck in Oklahoma and nursing school and don't let that big sis run all over you!!! :)

Gypsy and Taboo

2009-05-26T16:52:00.004-04:00

Aunt Dee was nice enough to let us come up and check out their horses Sunday afternoon. Ever since Reagan's first horse ride in Lexington a couple of weeks ago Reagan has been quite excited about horses. She had a wonderful time riding, watching and feeding the horses! Unfortunately we didn't have our act together with the camera so we missed the most excited expressions of the first few times Aunt Dee put Reagan on their backs.

Riding Taboo

Reagan naturally enjoyed climbing in and out of the coral

Riding Gypsy (Reagan actually spent more time on Gypsy but like I said we didn't have our acts together with the camera)

It's a good thing Great Aunts have lots of patience!!! :)

Learning how to feed horses with your hand open

Reagan filling in Aunt Dee on something. One of the cutest parts of Reagan's horse experience was she kept introducing the horses to us going through everyone's names. lol :)

Working on getting grass with Aunt Jen to feed Gypsy

Thank you so much Aunt Dee!

Spinning

2009-05-26T16:12:00.010-04:00

After our LaBar family picture Sunday morning we stayed outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Aunt Arla asked Reagan if she wanted to spin and at first Reagan was pretty grumpy and didn't want too. Once Aunt Arla got her going she didn't want to stop! :) After wearing Aunt Arla out Reagan moved on to Brittany and then Aunt Jen. After a while she figured out it worked best to take turns between the latter two. Wasn't my daughter considerate to let them take a break between spins??? As a side note, I just love these pictures. I love how much fun Reagan is having with Aunt Arla, Brittany, and Aunt Jen, and I love the colors in the pictures too. I'm feeling super inspired to do a scrapbook layout of these pictures this weekend with the girls and can't wait to get to it!!! :)

Checking out Uncle Phil's cows

This is when Reagan figured out she get more consecutive spins if she started going back and forth between Aunt Jen and Brittany lol :)

Thank you to all three of you for the spinning - Reagan loved it! :)