The Passing of GG

Sadly, GG K. passed away on the morning of Thursday, November 14th, 2013. She was just about 2 weeks short of her 81st birthday (or, as she would say, she was going to be 49 with 32 years of experience). She had checked into the hospital the previous Friday complaining of chest pains. The doctors did some tests and determined that she had some pretty significant blockages in her arteries. They put in two stents on Saturday, but couldn't get a stent in the artery with the most blockage (she had a 99% blockage of her left subclavian). Grandma decided that she wanted to put in the last stent in the hopes that it would alleviate some of the chronic pain she had been experiencing. The procedure, however, was not successful. The doctors found that the plaque in her arteries was too hard and they were unable to place the stent. Grandma never really recovered from the second procedure. She was disoriented and confused when Daddy went to visit her Wednesday afternoon. She's in a better place now.

Fortunately, Daddy had been able to take both girls down to visit GG recently. She loved the girls. The last thing GG said to Daddy was, "Take care of those girls." I certainly intend to.

Link to GG blog posts

Link to pictures of GG.

Easter 2013

Easter this year as quite the affair.  We had a full house with Mimi, Grandma S., Grandpa S., Aunt Amy, GG K, Cousin Jennifer, and her boyfriend J (and of course Mommy, Daddy, Kara, and Emily) coming over for Easter dinner!  Luckily, it was a beautiful spring day in Colorado, so we were able to hang out in the backyard.  Kara had a great time looking for eggs (she had an egg hunt in the morning and another in the afternoon).  Kara and Emily both cleaned up with presents and candy!  Emily, of course, was a little too small for the candy, so Kara volunteered to eat hers.

Emily is doing quite well these days.  She's getting a little bigger every day.  Some of her newborn clothes are starting to get a little tight on her.  It's amazing how fast babies grow!

And congratulations to our friends Patrick and Akila and their latest addition, Amara.  You guys are in for quite a ride, but a ton of fun!

Link to pictures

Baby Days (and Nights)

So far life with our newest addition is going pretty smoothly.  She's sleeping pretty well (at least for a newborn).  Mommy and Daddy were better prepared this time about the sleep deprivation, so it doesn't seem so bad.  Kara's adjusting to Emily's presence pretty well.  About once a day or so, she'll have a little melt down, but we're hoping that will subside as the weather gets better and we can get out more.

Mimi came out to help the Wednesday after Emily was born (March 13th).  She's been taking the first night shift (and helping out a lot around the house) while Daddy takes the late night/early morning shift.  Mommy, of course, is always on call. :-)

Link to pictures

Christmas 2012

Christmas here in Colorado was very merry this year!  It snowed a couple inches Christmas Eve, so it was a white one too!

The festivities started on the 23rd when Mommy was surprised to find Mimi and Papa H. walking through the door!  Daddy (and everyone else in the family) managed to keep their trip a secret, so that was quite a shocking/happy gift that Mommy received.  Kara was also very surprised to see them and asked if the baby was coming too - Mommy kept telling her that she wouldn't see Mimi again until the baby came...guess she has a pretty good memory these days!

Grandma S., Grandpa S., Aunt Amy, and GG K. came on Christmas morning to spend day the with Kara.  Most of the morning was spent watching Kara tear through her presents and trying to stop her from opening everyone else's gifts!  There were a couple of breaks taken to eat breakfast and play a new game here and there.  Kara got board games (Hi Ho Cherry-O was her favorite), books, DVDs, jewelry, and even a LeapPad!

Santa brought the jack-in-the-box that Kara wanted so badly, and she did play with it happily for the morning.  Then she decided she didn't like it and that it was scary.  Sigh...  Kara also got a turtle that projects stars on her ceiling at night.  She's in love with it.  Now if only she'd go to sleep with the turtle in her room....

We also had a couple friends join us for the afternoon and dinner that night.  Kara really enjoyed all the extra playmates that day. Our little house was full and hopefully everyone had a good time.  We sure did!

Link to pictures

Daddy, Let's Go Look for Bugs!

Almost every day when Daddy gets home from work, the first words out of Kara's mouth are: "Daddy, let's go look for bugs!"  Her favorite bugs are roly-polies (which were Daddy's favorites as well when he was a kid).  She also enjoys finding slugs, worms, beetles, ants, and grasshoppers (though those are very hard for her to catch).

Since we got home from our visit to Georgia, Alabama,  and Florida, life has been pretty busy.  Daddy has been working long hours on a recent project (which he successfully completed about a week ago), and Kara and Mommy have been keeping busy with gym classes, art classes, and play dates with the other kids in the neighborhood.  We also broke out the hiking backpack for our first hike of the year during Memorial day weekend.

The first weekend of June was an exceptionally busy weekend.  We kicked it off by visiting Louisville's Touch-A-Truck event.  Kara was very impressed with the helicopter they had there, but she was immediately drawn to the little train they had driving around the parking lot.  After waiting in line for about 15 minutes, Kara finally got her turn, which was very short-lived.  It was probably a little too much for her, and we got her out before the ride was over.  We spent the rest of the time crawling around dump trucks, bulldozers, and school buses.  The next day, we headed over to Aunt Amy's house for a "June Birthday" family party (Mommy's and Grandpa S.' birthdays are both in June).  Kara had a great time playing with Grandma and Grandpa's new puppy (a Chocolate Lab named Ruby), Aunt Amy's dogs (Belle and Briley) and running around the yard.

Some recent Kara quotes:
"You do it yourself!" - To Daddy after he asked her to help him clean up her puzzle.

"Those are the coolest socks I've ever seen!" - Checking out Daddy's work socks

"Look, a stinky sock!  I am making a mess with Daddy's clothes."

"I am being a goofball!"

"Let's go show this to Mommy" - excited to show off her latest bug find to Mommy (she seems to be particularly proud of her worm and slug finds)

"My rolling pin broke again, oh dear.  I need glue to fix it."

During the closing credits of Beauty and the Beast, Kara jumped up to dance and announced to Mommy, "I am beauty and you are the beast.  Let's dance!"

Link to pictures

The Chatterbox

We haven't been great about taking pictures recently, but we have a few good ones of Easter and the crazy weather we've been having!

No, the pictures aren't out of order...We had a few record high's the weekend before Easter, which prompted us to get out the sprinkler and water table...then Monday it was cold and dreary and Tues it snowed! It was odd, but Kara didn't seem fazed. :)

Kara and Mommy went on an Easter egg hunt with friends on Sat, then two at home on Sun. She had a blast finding the eggs and twirling around in her dress. She had lots of fun with G.G. K. and Grandma and Grandpa S. Who doesn't love being the center of attention? Not Kara!

Kara is really getting into her talking groove. She amazes us on a daily basis with her language skills. She must be listening to us, on some level...

Kara often says, "I don't know the word" when she's searching for the right word. A recent example went down like this:
Kara: I want some cereal
Mommy: Would you like some Cheerios?
K: No, I want the one... I don't know the word.
M: Bran flakes? Cheerios?

K: No, the ones with the soft things.
M: Marshmallows?
K: Yes! Marshmallows! I want those!

Other Kara quotes:

"Mommy, I am your friend" (April 8th)

to Mommy - "We will always be friends" and "We are best friends" - both spontaneous after taking my hand for a walk - :O (April 18th)

"It's a pretend turtle. It's not a real turtle." - after an egg from Grandma and Grandpa S. "hatched"

"Why is that so funny?" and "What is so funny?" Deadpan with questioning hands in the air, as some older children where shouting and laughing at the playground - hilarious!


Link to pictures

Christmas 2011

Christmas was a lot of fun this year with Kara.  We got about a foot of snow a couple of days before the big day, so we got to experience our first White Christmas with Kara.  She more or less understood what was going on and got very excited about her presents.

Kara's big gift this year was a play kitchen complete with all kinds of play food, plates, pans, and cups.  Kara was so excited about the kitchen that she barely gave the big Mickey that Mommy bought (and we were sure she would be really excited about) a second look.

It was quite a full house with Mimi (aka Grandma H), Grandpa H., Grandma S., Grandpa S., Uncle Trey, Aunt Amy, GG K, and Great Grandma S. all coming over for Christmas day. While we were opening presents, Kara, Uncle Trey, and Aunt Amy would pick out presents to open from under the tree and Kara would deliver the present.  Kara got a kick out of guessing what the present was before it was opened, but if she couldn't figure it out, she'd say, "I don't know what that is."  It was Mommy and Daddy's first time hosting Christmas.  All in all, we think it was a successful Christmas and a good time was had by all.

Other than Christmas, we had quite an eventful month.  The week before Christmas, Cousin Travis stopped by on his trek from Indiana to California.  He and GG K came over for lunch one day and had fun hanging out with Kara.

Mimi, Grandpa H., and Uncle Trey flew in from Alabama on the 22nd.  Unfortunately, that was also the day the snow decided to come.  We had about a foot of snow on the ground that morning (Daddy got stuck getting out of the driveway), and it continued to snow until early in the afternoon.  We were getting a little worried that the flights would all get delayed or cancelled, but everyone eventually got here.  Once they were here, the snow ended up being pretty fun.  Grandpa H. and Uncle Trey had fun playing with Kara in the snow.  We also headed to Downtown Louisville and enjoyed a horse-drawn carriage ride around town.

The day after Christmas, Uncle Trey headed back to Alabama.  Unfortunately, he missed a visit from Cousin Brad, Maggie, Cousin Cassie, and Scot.  They stopped by on their way to visiting some family up in northern Colorado.  They didn't get to stay long, but it was great to see them.

We could almost write an entire blog post just filled with Kara quotes.  It seems like she comes up with something new and funny every day.  Here are a few selected quotes:
• "Very hot, let it cool down." - Telling Mommy she needs to let her spicy Thai food cool down a bit.
• "Let's do this." - Asking Mommy to dance.
• "That's pretty loud" - Kara shouting as she shakes a bell
• "Ta-ta new kitchen.  Ta-ta love cook!" - Telling Grandma S. about her new kitchen on Christmas Day
• "Ta-ta eat booger" - Kara's first words to Mommy one day
• "I have Fifi ... he love Ta-ta."
• "Thank you, Mr. Fifi, he a good helper." After getting Fifi to help open the door (Mommy really opened it)
• "Fifi, he inside dog"
• "I love Fifi!"
• Holding Fifi over the railing, Kara said, "he looks downstairs... nothing there."

Link to pictures from Christmas Day


And here are some pictures from the rest of December

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

It is definitely starting to look a lot like Christmas around here.  Mommy, Daddy, and Kara got the Christmas tree set up (Kara insisted on putting the star on top) the weekend after Thanksgiving.  The week after Thanksgiving, we got about 8 inches of snow in a storm and then another 5 inches of snow a couple of days later.  It's also gotten quite chilly the last couple of days.  The high today was about 10 deg F.  Kara has enjoyed playing in the snow (when it was warm enough to play outside).

Some recent Kara quotes:

A couple of days after Thanksgiving, Mommy asked Kara if she wanted some pumpkin pie for dessert after dinner.  Kara immediately replied, "Pumpkin pie and ice cream," with a big smile on her face.

During a recent snow day, Kara got a little tired of hanging out in the house with Mommy. So, after lunch Kara got her library bag out, put it around her neck and over her shoulder and said, "Goodbye. Ta-ta go see people, put shoes on".

When Daddy says "Night night," Kara replies with the proper "Good night".

Link to pictures

Look Who's Two!

Our little family has had a very busy November. On November 10th, we headed down to Alabama to visit Mimi and Papa. Uncle Trey, GiGi B., and Great Grandpa H. were also there.  Great Grandpa had never met Kara and GiGi B. hadn't seen Kara for several months, so it was great to see them.  Unfortunately, Mommy and Daddy got really sick while we were there, so that wasn't too much fun. Kara, however, had a great time.  We went to the Montgomery Zoo one day, the Cracker Barrel, and had a great time running around Mimi and Papa's estate.  While we were there, we celebrated Kara's birthday.  Mimi baked and Uncle Trey decorated a great Elmo cake.  Kara enjoyed blowing out the candle ("I no touch" as Kara would say) and opening her presents.

When we got home, we had another birthday party with Grandma S., Grandpa S., GG K, and Aunt Amy.  Kara really enjoyed it when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her.  She also enjoyed the cupcakes Mommy made and spent the rest of the day running around to burn off her sugar rush.  All in all, Kara had two great parties for her second birthday.  It's going to hard to top it for her third birthday!

Kara's latest sayings:
- Whenever we asked her how old she was, Kara would say, "Two years old.  Put birthday hat on top of head."

- Mommy took Kara to the doctor's office for her 2-year check-up.  While they were in the waiting room, Mommy told Kara that Dr. Miller was a good doctor and she'd be fine.  After the appointment (and much crying), Daddy asked her how the doctor's office was.  Kara replied, "Dr. Miller, he's good man.  Listened to Ta-ta heart."

- While we were at Mimi and Papa's, Daddy was drinking some orange juice during Kara's snack.  Once Kara figured that out, she said, "I want some."  To which Daddy replied, after you finish your snack.  Kara came back with "I really want some," and Daddy caved.

Pictures from our visit to Alabama:

Pictures from Kara's party in Colorado:

Pumpkin Patch 2011

This past Saturday, our neighbor from the townhouse, Lu, invited us to go to a pumpkin patch with her. We were all really excited about it. They had caramel popcorn, hayrides, pumpkins, gourds, and even a corn maze. Unfortunately for everyone, the weather didn't cooperate.  It was drizzling most of our time there, and it was pretty chilly (about 40°F).  By the time we left, it was pouring. It's a good thing we got there early!  While we were there, Kara had a great time playing in the mud and picking out pumpkins.  She especially liked the little pumpkins (which she called "tiny pumpkin" in a high voice).  We picked out about 5 good pumpkins.  Mommy got a little carried away with the gourds, and we now have enough to decorate everyone's house in the neighborhood.

Recent conversations with Kara:
Daddy: "I love you, Kara."
Kara: "I love Fifi!" Fifi is her nighttime stuffed dog.

Kara: "What's that?" - Her new favorite phrase

Kara walking to Mommy with her hand cupped (and empty): "Eat this!"
Mommy:  "What am I eating?"
Kara: pause...."Apples! mmm"

Link to pictures

May Activities

We've had an eventful few weeks but not many pictures to show for it. The major family news is we bought a house April 29th in Louisville! Grandpa S. and Tyler have been doing lots of work on the house, and we'll be moving in Memorial Day weekend.

Kara is a real chatterbox these days (at least with Mommy and Daddy)! She is constantly talking, gibberish and real words. Some "words of the day" include: cheese, apple, happy, up, go, eat, please, dance, shark, turtle, cracker, cupcake and yes, even lots of "mama's"- yeah! Kara refers to herself as "tata" these days, which is pretty funny.

Kara went to her first gym class this past week and had a ball. She started running around the gym floor, climbing and crawling all over the place, before class even started! She really enjoyed the balance beam (with Mommy's help) and the obstacle course. Kara even clapped for the other kids - what a sport!

This morning was filled with family visits. Kara got to meet her great-uncle Randy from Kansas for the first time today! She also got to see Mommy's cousin Cassie. Kara warmed up to her immediately and was even saying "Cassie" by the end of the visit! In addition to Randy and Cassie, GG K. came up for a visit. We showed them around our new house (which is kind of a mess at the moment since we're putting in new hardwood floors). It's a work in progress...

Link to pictures

Easter 2011

When we woke up on Easter morning, we found that the Easter Bunny had left several eggs for Kara in our front yard.  We still haven't figured out who left the eggs, but we have a prime suspect.  Kara had fun finding all the eggs and was really excited when she figured out there was stuff in the eggs.

We went to Aunt Amy's house for Easter dinner.  Grandma and Grandpa S. met us there as well as GG K and Great Grandma S.  Kara enjoyed playing in the backyard and all the attention.  Every holiday with Kara gets more and more fun.

Kara has figured out how to say no, and she is not afraid to use it! We think it might have become her favorite word. Here's how a typical request from Mommy or Daddy will go these days:
     - Kara, it's time to eat. - No.
     - Kara, it's time to go home. - No.
     - Kara, do you want more water? - No.
Mommy and Daddy are not looking forward to the terrible two's!

Kara is learning new words every day.  She recently learned "walk" and is always very excited to walk to the park (Mommy and Daddy have to be very careful with that word).  She's becoming very vocal and is pretty good at making her thoughts known.

Link to pictures




And here are some pictures that Heather and Justin took during our outing in Montgomery.

Christmas 2010!

This Christmas was certainly much, much more exciting than last Christmas. Grandma and Grandpa H. flew in from Alabama to enjoy Christmas with Kara (more on their visit in the next blog entry), and Cousin Jennifer, Cousin Travis, Uncle Archie, and Bonnie flew in from California. It was quite a full house at Grandma and Grandpa S.'s house for Christmas. Kara certainly enjoyed the presents and all the attention she got!

Unfortunately, we didn't get any snow for Christmas. Our family and friends in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Kentucky enjoyed a white Christmas, but we didn't a single flake here in Colorado. Maybe next year...

Link to pictures

Holiday fun

Kara spent Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa S.'s house.  Grandma and Grandpa had all their Christmas decorations out. Kara particularly enjoyed playing with Grandma's Hallmark singing snowman. We showed Kara how to push the button and make them sing. She couldn't get enough of it!

Kara had her one-year check-up with her doctor the week after her birthday. Our girl is very long and lean. Basically, Kara is always on the move - walking around and climbing on everything.

Grandpa H. had a meeting in Colorado Springs last week and was able come visit us for a day.  He had a good time hanging out with Kara and enjoyed playing with her in the park. After dinner, we tried to hang out downtown to see the Parade of Lights.  Unfortunately, the parade didn't start when they were supposed to (at 6:00), and we had to leave without seeing them to get Kara home in time for bedtime.

Tonight, we went to "Dessert and a Story with Santa" at the Louisville Rec Center. Um, we're going to put that in the category of "It seemed like a good idea at the time." They had some temporary tattoos, cookies, and hot chocolate. We tried to get a tattoo on Kara's cheek, but that didn't work out too well. Kara did nibble on a couple of cookies. She also sat pretty still for Santa while he read "The Night Before Christmas". She was even fairly patient while we waited in line to sit on Santa's lap; however, the actual visit with Santa did not go well. Kara sat there for about two seconds before tears started rolling down her cheeks and she started crying. We'll have to try that again next year...

Link to pictures

Kara is 1!

Happy First Birthday, Kara! It is amazing that Kara joined our lives just one year ago. She's such a large part of our lives, we cannot possibly imagine a our world without Kara.

Kara woke up on her birthday around 7:00 (which is pretty normal for her these days), but instead of Mommy greeting her with a Good Morning song, Mommy sang Happy Birthday to her. Kara thought that was quite odd, and gave her Mom the dirtiest look she has. Once we got Kara dressed, we went out to breakfast at The Huckleberry in downtown Louisville. It was delicious! Kara got the Mickey Mouse pancake, though we're pretty sure Mommy and Daddy ate more of the pancakes than Kara!

After breakfast, the day was pretty uneventful until 3:00 when the guests arrived for the party. Grandma and Grandpa S., Great Grandma K. (or GG K. as she likes to be called), and Aunt Amy came for the party. Grandma and Grandpa H. and Great Grandma B. (or GiGi B. as she likes to be called) called in through Skype, so they could enjoy the party as well. We sang happy birthday for Kara (and got another dirty look) and then let her go on her own little cake. Surprisingly, she didn't really enjoy the cake too much. Everyone else, however, enjoyed the cake enough for her. Kara got lots of fun toys and much appreciated clothes for her birthday!

Uncle Trey wasn't able to be there for the party, but did call us on Skype the next day. It was great to see him, and he was surprised how much Kara had grown since the last time he saw her.

In other news, Kara just finished her first session of swim classes. Kara had a lot of fun at every class. She didn't actually learn how to swim, but she did learn how to blow bubbles (she likes to practice now during her baths). She slept very well on swim nights, which made Mommy and Daddy happy. :) Kara is getting pretty good at communicating these days. She's recently picked up the sign for "sleep" and likes to walk into the kitchen and sign "eat" (Mommy will usually give her a little cracker when she does that). Kara is completely off formula and now just drinks whole milk and water. She still gets one bottle just before bed, though that probably won't last much longer. It's amazing watching her grow. Like Mommy said the other day, she's not a baby anymore, she's turning into a little girl. I agree.

Link to November pictures


Link to birthday pictures

Let's Go West!

On May 27th, we headed out West to visit family out in Colorado.  Traveling to Colorado from South Carolina with a baby is quite an adventure, but Kara did great!  She was pretty grumpy most of the day, but was relatively calm during the flight (though it would have been great if she'd slept on the plane, but she didn't).

The first day in Colorado, we just chilled at Grandma and Grandpa's house, letting Kara decompress.  The next day we had friends from Colorado come over to the house to meet Kara.  We got to see a lot of people (though we didn't get to see everyone).  I think everyone had a good time with Kara, and Kara had a lot of fun playing the crowd.

On Sunday, we went to Arvada to visit Great Grandma (G.G.) K. and Aunt Amy.  And for Memorial day, Dad and Grandpa went to Boulder for the Bolder Boulder.  Grandpa ran, lazy Dad just watched.  In the afternoon, we had some more people over to visit Kara.  Overall, we had a great time visiting people!

While we were in Colorado, Kara continued to develop her crawling skills.  She refined her army crawl and then moved on to crawling with her torso off the ground.  She did that for about a day before she decided that she needed to start pulling herself up (see the pictures).  Grandma and Grandpa's house has some steps in the family room, which Kara pulled herself up on.  She started with pulling herself up to her knees but quickly moved on to pulling herself to her feet.  Crazy girl!

Link to pictures