Life with The Girl

Pre-Halloween Fun!

2007-10-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

fromSunday we had a fun outting with our Sunday School class for some Pre-Halloween fun for the kiddos! After church we all went to lunch and then out to the pumpkin patch. It was too hot outside for me to make Kaycie put on the ladybug suit, so I let her stay in her scary ghost dress MeMe, but trust me, it was still very cute!

Having cousins is the best!

2007-10-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

Especially when everyone can meet up at Chuck E. Cheese for lunch! Saturday morning we met Michael, Staci, Hunter, and Hannah at Chuck E. Cheese for pizza and some fun games. The kids appeared to have a lot of fun! Kaycie loved playing Skiball, but just didn't get that the balls should be thrown towards the target, not at the wall to her right. But that's okay, she had a great time! 400 tickets later, the kids even managed to get a great loot of prizes, if squishy balls and spider rings are your thing!

Especially when everyone can meet up at Chuck E. Cheese for lunch! Saturday morning we met Michael, Staci, Hunter, and Hannah at Chuck E. Cheese for pizza and some fun games. The kids appeared to have a lot of fun! Kaycie loved playing Skiball, but just didn't get that the balls should be thrown towards the target, not at the wall to her right. But that's okay, she had a great time! 400 tickets later, the kids even managed to get a great loot of prizes!

The State Fair of Texas

2007-10-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

We took off work last Wednesday (and yes, we were honest about our plans!), to take advantage of the fair on a hopefully not so crowded day. Our plan worked out very well. We had wonderful weather, no crowds, and best of all, a really great day as a family with The Girl. Here are a few snapshots of her excitement before we left the house... well, and her going over to play with Mrs. Dawn's docorations next door. Note the baggy jeans~ Momma couldn't figure out the adjustable waist at first.

Finally we arrive at the fair! We stop and say hello to Big Tex first thing, of course!

Then, of course, we had to eat. And a true State Fair attendee Kaycie is, she had a sausage on a stick. My original plan was to share it with her, but I got none. She enjoyed it though!

A mile or two later of strolling around we spotted what Mom had been looking for- the petting zoo. Kaycie really enjoyed the animals and she ran around like a crazy lady in there! It was too cute and so much fun. In fact, it made our whole trip to the fair worth it! :)

We finally managed to pry her away from the animals and back into the wagon for a stroll through the Midway. Unfortunately, she's too short to ride any of the rides. You must be 30 inches, well when you measure The Girl if you don't count the pony tail, she's only 28. So we will have to wait for next year for the rides! At around 6 bucks a ride, we should probably be thankful she's not tall enough yet! Here's a cute shot of riding in style and comfort. (Daddy's on the right in yellow- she's the one in the waggon.)

Her little wagon traveled many, many miles at the fair and I think it's safe to say that her first trip to the great State Fair of Texas wore her out...

She's all girl -

2007-10-16T06:56:00.001-07:00

And Mommy and Daddy are in BIG trouble! See, evidence A-
Already found Mommy's wallet and minutes later, there were no credit cards left in it. She had them all. She's very fond of plastic. I think she wants to go shopping for new shoes- she loves shoes. It doesn't matter if they are her size, Mommy's size, Daddy's size, or way too small (yes her foot finally grew!), she wants to wear them. And walk in them. And show them off.

She knows she's cute. :)

It's October...

2007-10-10T08:31:00.001-07:00

And that means fun Saturday mornings at the Pumpkin Patch! :)

Kaycie was not nearly as excited as her parents to go, but we had been planning this trip for over a month, just patiently waiting on October to arrive~ I mean, we didn't want to look over eager! See Kaycie's thrilled expression? Absolute love of the Elmo Ghost, huh?

Well, we just didn't let her excitement get us down, after all, Hunter was much more excited to see that they had TRACTORS at the pumpkin patch- he declared that he would "Ride it", and I wouldn't be Aunt Shell if I missed that photo opportunity! I think he may have been a little disappointed that the Tractor, was actually a wagon that wouldn't go... but hey, you work with what you have right?

Don't worry, we did find a real, moving tractor that happened to have a chain of um... carts for a quick tour of the pumpkin patch. Kaycie was just bursting with excitement here... more like probably embrassed her mom would squeeze herself into such a contraption.
But hey, I love that girl, who am I to deny her the opportunity to ride just because she's too
young to sit alone?

We tried to ride a full sized hay ride, but it started to rain, and a hayride in the rain wouldn't be fun for any of us, so we headed to McDonald's instead.... what kid wouldn't be content with the subsitution? We did have a few moments for more posing before though!

Kaycie has a new best friend!

2007-09-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

And she's absolutely beautiful! My neice was born on Thursday morning and is just a doll. I can not wait to watch her and Kaycie grow up together and form that great bond that cousins have! Hannah has the best big brother (except for my own, his daddy, of course!) Hunter and I know he will always watch over and protect his girls.

Here's some evidence of Hannah's beauty and Kaycie's love for her...

What a year!

2007-08-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

I know it's been way to long since I have updated this thing, but I am going to start updating at least weekly. That's my goal!

I don't even know where to start since my last update, I think we were just getting teeth then?? Well, we still only have 2 teeth, but the rest of life with The Girl has been a whirlwind of change! Let's see, we have learned to walk, then learned to crawl (what? That's not the order you figured out motion in?), moved into a new house, immediately learned that we can climb stairs over and over, and over, lost a pet, bought a new pet (why didn't you guys warn me how much trouble... err... fun puppies are?), had a birthday party (actually 2 birthday parties!), and continue to amaze me every day with her new discoveries.

I guess it would be easiest to sum things up in pictures- so I will attempt that!

We have moved!! If you don't count the garage full of things we have no idea where to put, we are settled in to the new house! Which bring me to the next picture...

Gus, that's the new puppy, already feels at home here. He and Kaycie have a very unique trait in common, both can fly up the stairs like Champions, but neither can go down....

And here's a tribute to our old puppy Humphrey- he and Gus are a little bit different...

My baby turned One on August 2nd! She's very proud-

I think she enjoyed her birthday party at the daycare, but her favorite part by far, was the Cheeto's!

And here she is at our "at home" party! She had a blast, it was a really fun day! Cute birthday outfits, courtesty of MeMe... My mom is so talented. And no, the birthday girl could not wear the same outfit to both parties!

Growing...

2007-05-17T07:36:00.000-07:00

The girl is growing up too fast- that's just all there is to it. It's like one day I had this tiny, squishy little baby and now I have this baby who is right on the cusp of toddlerhood. She's trying REALLY hard to crawl and walk. I'm not sure which skill she wants to master first... And wow, the thought of her being mobile scares me... really scares me. Heck, if you have been to our house lately, you would know it's not baby proofed- I have reason to be scared! We better get to work on that this weekend. Kaycie is at such a fun stage though, she laughs, plays, blows bubbles, babbles away in her own little language... the daycare teachers say she says Momma a lot, but I only ever hear DaDa. Little stinker! Here's a new picture of her, and her infamous tooth. Yep, still one... my girl likes to do everything in her own time...

Sweet Dreams...

2007-05-08T08:11:00.000-07:00

Ah, the coveted sleep in 6 plus hour stretches! We have actually been really lucky- Kaycie slept through the night around 9 weeks, right about the time I went back to work... it's like she knew Mommy needed her sleep. That only lasted a few weeks though and then we didn't get long stretches again till around 7 months- I still consider myself lucky though.

It's funny though, I spent months consumed with the thoughts of sleep... how to get her to sleep without crying, how to make her stay asleep after I set her down, how to get her to sleep through the night... and now when she pretty consistantly sleeps through the night- we miss her! Every night when Cory comes to bed, he has me turn the monitor ALL the way up so he can hear her little breaths. Just to be sure.

And I wake up missing her little snores and knowing she is just a few feet from me dreaming those sweet baby dreams. But, it is nice to be rested and go into her room in the mornings to find her smiling and so happy to see me. My little girl is growing up so fast!

Time flies when you are having fun...

2007-05-02T13:09:00.000-07:00

It really couldn't be more true when I look at Kaycie~ she's nine months old today. Wow, I can not believe it has already been nine months. She's growing, changing, and tightening that grip she has on my heart more and more each day. When I look at her sweet little face I can't believe she is that same baby I felt kicking from within or the same baby girl who would nurse for hours on end those first few weeks. She's pulling up on everything, wanting to stand. She is so ready to walk, but has no desire to crawl. None, and you can't spark a desire either- she'll outsmart you... she can roll, and you just can't stop her! It's been such a fun journey so far, and I can not wait to see what the future brings for our little family of three!

Don't you just long for the days when leg chubb and a belly were adorable in a swimsuit?

We have teeth!

2007-04-30T07:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess I should say tooth. There's the slightest little sliver of white tooth above the gum. I couldn't be prouder of such a little razor sharp tooth! We have been suspecting teething for well over six months now, so when the white of the tooth finally made it's appearance- the excitement! It was all great fun till the pain hit her last night though... the poor baby cried and screamed all night... Nothing worked it's magic, so I'm just hoping for a better day today.

It's a milestone of such mixed emotions for me, as I am sure they all will be, but I'm so excited to see my girl growing up and of course, I can not even imagine how adorable that little grin will be when it is complete with those cute baby teeth, but then the Mommy in me is just so sad that a certain chapter of her baby hood is ending... it's like this is a sign of all of the growing and changing that is on it's way.

I never thought a tiny white tooth would stir emotions like this! So because I am feeling very, very reminisenct of the days when I had that tiny baby in my arms, here are some old pictures of The Girl when she was just a little peanut. I promise to get to taking some new pictures to update soon!!

These were taken at just days old... my she's changed so much!

The fun begins....

2007-04-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be neat to create this blog as a window into our life with Kaycie- it's truely better than anything I had ever imagined. And trust me, I spent months imagining how our life would change when she would finally arrive. When I was pregnant, Cory use to always say, "We are going to have so much fun!" I would always smile and think how sweet he was... BUT, he was so right!

I can not believe how much our life has changed since last August. We must have had such a boring life! Now from the moment I walk in the door with The Girl, we play, laugh, tickle, cuddle, read, splash in the tub- pretty much anything for one of those sweet giggles! Is there any better sound on earth than that little giggle? And the random things that will bring it on! Last night it was just Cory peeking into her room that brought on an eruption of smiles and giggles. Of course, Daddy was quite happy with that!