Saturday, September 27, 2008

Cooking With Kallie

The other night, Reuben and I decided to throw Kallie into cooking. And what better thing to start with than CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!!

She was VERY excited to be helping out. Watch out, Rachael Ray!




Mixing it up with daddy with a Kallie-sized spoon.



This girl has her mama's heart. She knows where the good stuff is!


Monday, September 22, 2008

A Long Overdue Vacation

Last week, we took a much needed vacation to North Carolina. Reuben was lucky enough to go back home in July for youth camp. However, due to the pregnancy, I wasn't able to go and had not been back home since Christmas. Nine months is a long time to go without seeing friends!!

So we set out last Wednesday night after church. We decided to drive a few hours to break up the trip so the girls, specifically Kallie, wouldn't have a hard time being bored in the car. Before we got to New Market, VA, Kallie slept about 45 minutes in the car. Consequently, when we got to our room and settled in to go to sleep at 11:30, she got a second bout of energy and refused to go to sleep until about 2:30 am! She finally fell asleep in the bed with us...sleeping completely sideways (unfortunately, I had her feet).

After a very restful 3 1/2 hours of sleep and a not-so-hearty breakfast, we set out for Natural Bridge. The rain nixed our plans for seeing the bridge, but we did visit the caverns, which Kallie loved. The rest of the trip down to NC was good - Kallie was exhausted, so she snoozed away!

Our first stop was to see Papaw so he could meet Angelyn and see Kallie, who he hadn't seen since Christmas. He was amazed at how much she had grown!


Friday night, Reuben and I left Kallie with mom and dad and went to a Bed & Breakfast in Pilot Mountain. It was so nice (and weird) to have some time to ourselves. When we got there, we were greeted by one of the resident fawns that the owners have raised since birth.


This was the beautiful cabin we stayed in:


Children aren't allowed on the grounds, but they let us slide since Angelyn is just a baby and no one was staying near us that she could disrupt. The one stipulation was that we would sneak her in and out of the cabin. Reuben's good, huh?


Really...could you deny this cutie?


This was the view of Pilot Mountain from the parking lot of the B & B. It was just gorgeous!!


I got really slack on taking pictures, but we had such a nice time. We got to see alot of our friends, Reuben got to play some tennis and softball, and the girls got a little more spoiled by Gramps and Wheezie (love you, mom!).

Just a couple of other random pictures:

Kallie & Angelyn with cousin Dylan. Kallie really had a good time with him. She's still not saying a whole lot (that's understandable, anyway), but she said "Dylan" this morning when I was going through the pictures!!


I hate that this picture is blurry. Kallie has the piano master form down, doesn't she?


Just too cute not to include.



Kallie, who doesn't do well with change, was especially excited when we got home. As we turned onto our road, she started clapping her hands and squealing from excitement. Apparently, there's no place like home.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

In an effort to only have one munchkin in diapers, we Reuben and I have decided to start potty training Kallie. Yesterday we introduced Kallie to her big girl potty. It took a little coaxing to get her to dig into the bag to get it out.


When she finally did get it out, she was very interested in inspecting it.


And, now, off to the races!


Thank goodness she fits! I'm telling you...she is a stout little girl!


Kallie's throne.


I can't believe I originally left this off!!

Last night, Kallie used her new potty!!! We were SO excited. Wish us luck!!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Two Kids = No Time

I can't believe Angelyn is already a month old!! Time goes by so fast when there's no grandparents around to babysit and give you a break. But when you have some...umm...encouragement to put some new pictures or something up (thank you, Heather ;)), sometimes you just have to take a break and get it done! So here goes...

Angelyn is doing great. She had lost about 8 ounces when we came home from the hospital, but at her last weight check she was back up to birth weight. She goes in for her check-up on Tuesday, the 9th. Reuben and I can' believe how different she and Kallie are. Angelyn is a fantastic baby!! With Kallie, we pretty much had to hold her all the time for her to be content. Angelyn will fall asleep on her own without us holding her and is content to be in her bouncer or swing...both of which Kallie didn't really like (especially her swing - she would scream if we put her in there). She sleeps like a champ at night! Since she was about a week old or so, she's been putting in a solid six hours on the first night sleeping shift. And on her one month birthday, she gave us a present - 7 1/2 hours!! It was heaven! So, pictures:

My favorite (August 9, 2008)


Content in her swing (August 30, 2008)


One month old!! (September 3, 2008)




Kallie is doing really good, too. It's hard to believe she will be two in November!! She is so helpful with Angelyn - well, she likes to be and tries to be. She just LOVES being a big sister. She is so good about sharing Reuben and I with Angelyn. She's big on getting us diapers for Angelyn and trying to give her the pacifier -


She is a stout, big girl. She's come a long way from being in the fifth percentile for her age when she was a baby. At her 18-month checkup, she was in the 97th!! She is starting to talk independently a little bit now, but still doesn't say much without us coaching her. She'll repeat just about anything we ask her to. Most of the time it doesn't sound anything like what it's supposed to...but it's cute anyway. She continues to be a big help around the house - she loves helping me empty the dishwasher and put up groceries and laundry. She's a bit of a neat freak, so I'm hoping that will come into play when she can mop!! And now, some pictures of our big girl:

LOVES to brush her teeth with daddy!! (August 25, 2008)



Proof that her hair is growing a little bit. (August 28, 2008)


Such a big girl! (September 3, 2008)



Showing off her animal sound skills: