Spring Visit to Mimi and Papa's House

For Spring Break this year (2017) we decided to head down to Alabama to see Mimi and Papa (and Gigi and Uncle Trey!).  The week just seemed to flew by!

Montgomery Zoo
Went to see Beauty and the Beast
Meeting Trey's girlfriend, Ashley

We met up with Heather, Justin, Sean, and Robin in Auburn.  The kids had a great time playing on campus and eating pizza!

Our flight out of Atlanta was early in the afternoon, so we had time to meet up with some friends.  Uncle Trey and Ashley picked us up at the house early that morning and drove us up to Atlanta.  We were able to meet up with our friends Patrick, Akila, Amara, and their new baby Kareena and grabbed breakfast with them.  All in all, a great end to a great visit!

Link to pictures

Christmas 2016

Christmas was great this year.  The girls are in the prime time of enjoying Christmas.  They definitely understand what's going on, but no one is too cool for all the fun yet.  The beginning of December started off a little rough with the second round of sickness working its way through the family (even Mom and Dad got pretty sick).  Very fortunately, everyone started to feel better right before Mimi and Papa came out to visit.  They flew out here the week before Christmas and Uncle Trey also flew out a couple days later.  It's been a couple of years since Trey's been out here, so the girls had a great time showing him all their toys and just hanging out with him in general.  We also got out a bit to check out the local attractions.

One day, we headed down to Denver to check out the Denver Museum.  Trey hadn't been there since he was just a little kid, so he had a great time checking it out.  We didn't get to see much since we got out a little late, and Emily ran out of steam shortly after noon.

The city sets up an ice skating rink every year around Christmas.  Papa, Uncle Trey, Dad, and the girls headed there the morning of Christmas Eve while Mom and Mimi did some prep work for Christmas.  Kara had taken ice skating lessons a couple of years ago.  She was a little rusty at first but was skating all around by the end.  Emily tried to skate a bit at first but ended up just letting Dad pull her around in a sled.  We were the first ones there, but within 30 minutes the rink was packed with people enjoying the nice day and the skating.

Emily learned the words to several Christmas carols - Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer were her favorites - and would sing them over and over again for everyone.  Kara enjoyed teaching Emily alternative versions of Christmas carols ("Jingle Bells, Batman smells...").  We bought a little bear that plays a version of Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" that Emily loved to dance to.  Unfortunately, we never could get a good video of her dancing.  Maybe next year.

Christmas day was a blast.  Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Amy came over early in the morning to get the day started.  The girls got some amazing gifts this year from Santa.  Emily was still a little slower with opening presents.  She always wants to play with her new toy, while Kara is definitely at the age where she just rips into all her presents.

The girls are already planning for next year!

Kid quotes:
"We need to keep up appearances... for Emily." - Kara, as we were putting out cookies and milk for Santa.  I think she's on to us...

"Drat." - Emily's favorite new phrase

Link to December pictures

Link to Christmas Day pictures

Visit to Mimi and Papa's and other November Happenings

For Thanksgiving this year, we headed down to Alabama to spend the holiday with Mom's family: Mimi, Papa, GiGi, and Uncle Trey.  We also got to meet Uncle Trey's new girlfriend, Jacie.  It was a whirlwind visit.  We flew down on Sunday and flew out on Friday.  In between, we went out to a hibachi restaurant to celebrate Kara's birthday, visited the Montgomery Zoo, visited Great Grandpa H. (who recently moved to a retirement home in Montgomery), and enjoyed some excellent home-cooking from Mimi.  We were able to meet up with the McDonough family, while they we in town to visit their family.

We kept things pretty low key for November other than Kara's birthday and our visit to Alabama.  We got a decent snowstorm in the middle of the month, which the girls enjoyed playing in.

As soon as we got home (and got mostly unpacked), Kara had us take out all the Christmas decorations.  Kara had a great time putting up the tree and all the ornaments.  Emily had fun setting stuff up, but was much more interested in playing with some of the decorations.

Recent quotes:
11/15: "I like Kara. Her my best friend." -Emily

11/15: "I love spending time with you, Dad." -Emily

Kara to Mom: "Do you know who the real Santa is? Because I do, and I'm looking at her and him (gesturing towards Dad)"

Link to November happenings pictures

Link to Shorter visit pictures

Emily is 2!

It's hard to believe that Emily's been with us for two years already.  It's been a blast, and we've had a lot of fun getting to know our little girl.  Emily has grown into an energetic, intelligent, sweet little girl.  Happy birthday, Emily!

Emily talks quite a bit these days, but we suspect she'd talk more if Kara didn't talk so much.  She's also proven to be a very active girl, always trying to keep up with big sister Kara.  She's become quite a good jumper, leaping off things with both feet.  Emily measured in at 34.25" in height (61st percentile) and 25 lb, 6 oz in weight (33rd percentile).

We did a family birthday for Emily this year.  We Skyped with Mimi, Papa, GiGi, and Uncle Trey in the morning.  In the afternoon, Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Amy came over for some cake and ice cream.  Emily enjoyed having everyone sing her happy birthday, even though Kara blew out the candles on her cake (see the video below).  Special thanks to Aunt Amy for some great pictures!

Link to pictures

Visit to Shorter - Fall 2014

Early this month, we packed up the girls and went to visit the family down in Alabama. This was Emily's first flight since she was just a tiny baby, so we were a little nervous about her. For the most part, she did very well. She even passed out for about an hour, which made the time go by much faster. Kara, of course, handled the flight like a champ... as long as she had a screen (Mommy's iPad or her LeapPad) to look at.

While we were down there, Justin, Heather, Sean, and Robin McD came down to visit us at Mimi and Papa's house.  We hadn't seen them in almost two years, and we'd never met Robin!  To paraphrase Heather, "Robin and Emily are best friends, they just may not know it yet!"  Emily and Robin got along pretty well.  For the most part they just played next to each other, though Emily was not too happy when Robin took a ride on her Mickey airplane (her favorite toy at Mimi and Papa's house).  The girls even held hands walking around outside, which was pretty sweet.  Kara and Sean got along really well, mostly because Kara led Sean around the whole time they were there and Sean seemed okay with that.  Sean was such a good sport doing crafts and even reading to Kara.  We also had a little birthday party for Kara.  Overall, it was great to see our friends.  Hope to see you guys again soon!

On the last full day of our visit, we headed into Montgomery to check out the Montgomery Zoo.  It's a really great zoo for kids.  It's not too big, so we could check out almost the whole zoo.  Plus, it has a pretty awesome playground and petting zoo.  We even got to feed giraffes!  The girls both had a really great time.

The trip home was just plain no fun at all.  An arctic front moved into Denver while we were down in Alabama, which caused delayed flights leaving Denver.  We checked our flight status before heading to the airport.  At that time it said our flight was still on schedule; however, about 15 minutes after getting dropped off at the Atlanta airport, we got notification that our flight had been delayed.  In the end, the flight was 2.5 hours late taking off, so we spent almost 4.5 hours at the Atlanta airport.  The flight went pretty smooth except Emily was pretty irritable.  We realized about halfway through the flight that she felt quite warm.  We hoped that if she could just get a good night's sleep, maybe she'd feel better.  We landed in Denver about 8:30 (almost 2.5 hours late) to single digit temperatures.  While Dad was waiting on the jetway in the freezing weather, Emily was throwing up in the terminal.  Fortunately, after that, Emily started acting much better.  Then, Dad forgot one of our bags on the shuttle while we were trying to get everyone and everything to the car.  He had to chase down the shuttle through the icy parking lot in 0 degree weather.  Whew, that was brisk!  Fortunately, the drive home went off without any hitches, and our travel day concluded safely.

All in all, it was a good trip, and it was great to see everyone!

Link to pictures

Christmas 2013

Christmas was a ton of fun this year. I have a feeling Christmas is going to get a little more fun every year as the girls get older!

Kara learned the words to many a Christmas carol, including: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Joy to the World, and Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.  It's all very cute.  Kara really got into the Christmas spirit this year. Multiple times she exclaimed, "It's exactly what I've always wanted!" after opening a gift. In particular she seems to really enjoy her sleeping bag (she crammed all her stuffed animals in there and dragged it around for the next several days), her camera (it took her about 5 minutes to figure out it had video games), and a large book of Garfield comics she looks through every day.

Emily also enjoyed her gifts. She really likes to cruise around with her new walker. For the most part, however, she likes to play with Kara's toys!

The weekend before Christmas was also very exciting. Kara and Emily went to meet Santa. This was the first year Kara sat still long enough to tell Santa exactly what she wanted (Despicable Me). Emily did great as well. She sat there for about 30 seconds (long enough to get a decent picture) before deciding Santa was a little scary. Also that weekend, Kara went to her first movie at a theater. She and Mommy went to go see Frozen. Kara seemed to really enjoy it and is excited to go see another movie! If that wasn't enough, Kara and Dad went to the rock gym to try out rock climbing. Kara did great! She climbed up and down the wall for almost an hour until she figured out that it was a lot of fun to "fall" and let the auto-belay rope lower her back down. We'll have to try that again sometime.

Link to pictures

Mimi and Papa's Visit to Chilly Colorado

Mimi and Papa stayed in Colorado for about a week after Christmas.  Unfortunately for them, a cold front followed the snow storm we got on Christmas.  The high temperature for most days was about 20° F (-6° C), and it was below freezing the whole time.  With all the cold weather, it was a bit challenging to find fun things to do with Kara.  Much of the time was spent playing with the new Christmas toys and watching new movies (and enjoying the classics like Beauty and the Beast).  One day, we even convinced Mimi to go play outside in the snow.  Kara, Mimi, and Papa had fun making a snow mound (the snow was too dry for a snowman) and snow angels.

The big outing for the week was Mimi and Papa taking Kara for a visit to the Butterfly Pavilion.  Kara had a great time holding Rosie the Tarantula as well as checking out the butterflies and climbing in the activity area.

All in all, it was a great (and cold) visit from Mimi and Papa.

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

The Beach!!!

At the end of April, our little family went to visit the family in Shorter, Alabama and take a road trip to Destin, Flordia.  Kara's first trip to the beach!

We flew into Atlanta and stayed with our friends Heather, Justin, and little Sean the first night.  Kara loved visiting them all and sharing Sean's toys.  After getting back home, Kara got a scrape on her knee and said she needed to show it to Sean.  I guess Sean's fascination with showing off boo-boos wore off on her. :)

As always, Kara enjoyed seeing Mimi, Papa, Uncle Trey, and GiGi in Shorter.  She gets a lot of attention (and usually a few new books and toys) when we visit.

For the middle part of our trip down South, Mimi, Uncle Trey, Mommy, Daddy, and Kara headed for the beach in Destin.  Kara was beside herself with the sand and the ocean.  It was really windy and chilly the first night, but she insisted on getting out on the sand.  After that, the days were much warmer.  We stayed right on the beach, so Kara basically dragged an adult or two with her every morning to the water.  Some highlights included "fishing" with her Mickey mouse fishing rod, feeding real fish on the docks, and collecting sea shells.  Enjoy the pictures!

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

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:

Flying down to Alabama

This past week we flew down to Alabama to visit Grandma and Grandpa H. and GiGi B.  Kara had a great time chasing the dogs around (they have 4!), going for rides in her wagon, checking out the cows and horses, and just generally running around!

The week before we went down to visit, Grandpa H. got into a collision with a bicycle. Fortunately, he didn't break anything, but he did have a nice black eye while we were there. It didn't seem to bother Kara, though.

On Saturday, we took Kara into Montgomery to meet up with Justin, Heather, and Sean at the Shakespeare Festival.  There were ducks (and little ducklings), geese, turtles, and fish.  Kara had a great time chasing around the ducks and running around with Sean.  However, the best part was the fountain.  Kara got herself soaking wet splashing around in there.  Good thing Mommy brought a change of clothes.

Overall, Kara had a fantastic time in Alabama with Grandma and Grandpa H. and GiGi!

Kara has become a regular chatterbox these days. She just talks and talks all the time and every once in a while actually says a real word :). She's even starting to say two words in a row, like "Dad hat" and "doggie ruff".



And here are some pictures of our trip to the Blount Cultural Park (aka Shakespeare Festival)

The Miserable Patient

Kara does not like being sick. I mean, nobody likes being sick, but Kara particularly dislikes being sick. She has been absolutely miserable for the last week, though it didn't help that she's getting 3 molars at the same time!

Kara starting coughing and sounding pretty rough last Friday. She didn't nap too well that day and just cried when we tried to put her down to sleep that night. We hoped that she would eventually calm down and go to sleep, but after about 15 minutes, Mommy and Daddy went back into Kara's room to try and soothe her. Kara greeted each of us with a hug (and a couple more each for good measure), which was great; however, the unpleasantness was just about to begin. Mommy had talked to a nurse earlier in the day, and the nurse recommended that we put saline solution in Kara's nostrils to help with drainage. It seemed like a good idea, but Kara didn't agree. She started screaming and crying uncontrollably. The nurse had also mentioned that Kara might be able to sleep better in an inclined position (as in sleeping on someone sitting in a chair), so Mommy ended up "sleeping" with Kara in a recliner for half the night and Daddy took the other half.

Kara didn't sleep very well all weekend and just got crankier and crankier.  She refused to sleep without Mommy or Daddy holding her, which means they took shifts rocking her in a recliner for the whole night and naptimes. It was pretty miserable for everyone.

We took Kara to the doctor's office on Monday, thinking that she might have something more serious than just a cold (like croup or maybe an ear infection). There much be something going around because there were several kids at the doctor's office with the same cough as Kara. Fortunately, the doctor didn't see anything wrong with her ears or lungs and said it was just a nasty cold. Unfortunately, Kara didn't get any better in the next couple of days. In fact, she woke up on Tuesday and Wednesday with a temperature over 103! She also wasn't eating or drinking much and got pretty dehydrated.

We were supposed to go to Alabama to visit Grandma and Grandpa H. and Great Grandma B. (GiGi) on Wednesday, but we decided to reschedule for April. We figured it was much better to suffer at home than to share our misery with a plane full of innocent travelers. Hopefully Kara feels better by April!

Kara finally started to feel better on Wednesday.  She took two two-hour naps and slept by herself in her crib that night, but she was still pretty dehydrated. Mommy and Daddy started clapping and cheering (Yay Kara!) every time Kara took a sip of water to encourage her to drink more.  So now whenever Kara drinks, she claps for herself.  It's pretty funny.  Also, Mommy found that Kara likes popsicles. Yes, we know they're full of sugar, but we figured it was better than nothing.

Our little girl's fever was much lower this morning, so we think she's getting better. She's still super-cranky, but she's napping, sleeping through the night (more or less), and drinking lots of fluids. I think the worst is behind us.

No pictures this week. Hopefully we can get some good pictures of our healthy girl for the next post! Since we don't have any pictures of Kara, here's a link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scu9zzC5U3g&feature=feedf) to one of Mommy and Daddy's favorite clips from Sesame Street. This kid is hilarious!

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

Road Trip!

We took Kara to visit the grandparents (and Uncle Trey and Great Grandma B.) down in Alabama this past weekend, which was her first trip outside the Greenville area. She had some rough spots on the drive down there and the drive back (5 hours in a car is a long time in baby world), but overall, the trip was a success.  She slept through night like a champ and enjoyed playing with all the people (and dogs) during the days.

On Saturday, Heather, Justin, and Sean came down from Auburn to meet Kara.  Sean thought Kara was very interesting.  Kara worked the crowd by talking the whole time and impressing everyone with her rolling over skills.

Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Grandma had a great time playing with Kara, feeding Kara, and reading with Kara during the weekend.  Thanks again for having us!

The First Week Home

We took Kara home from the hospital on Sunday. She fell asleep on the ride home and looked so innocent in her pink blanket and cap that Grammy S. knitted for her. Babies are so deceptively cute...

On Wednesday of the following week, Grandpa H. and Great-Grandma B. came up for Thanksgiving and to meet Kara. Thanksgiving was very interesting with a newborn. We had to eat in shifts. But we love her. She's so pretty.