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!
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...
November was a bit of a rough month. Kara came down with croup the second week of November and missed the whole week of school. Fortunately, she started feeling better just in time for her birthday party. Unfortunately, Emily started feeling sick just as soon as Kara started feeling better. We were supposed to travel to Mimi and Papa's house to visit for Thanksgiving, but Emily was a miserable mess. She had croup, a stuffed nose, and just generally felt terrible. The worst part was the lack of sleep (for everyone). She would wake up crying at least 2-3 times a night, and nothing Mom and Dad could do could really help her. She consoled herself by going through about a box of tissues every couple of days (we went through a lot of tissues). It would have been miserable trying to travel with such a sick little girl, so we we decided to cancel our travel plans at the last minute and reschedule for Spring Break.
We took advantage of being home the long Thanksgiving weekend and got the house all decked out for Christmas. Dad even got out and hung up lights outside!
This was a month of first days of schools! Kara had her first day of first grade on Thursday, August 18th. Kara is really excited to start another year of school. Emily had her first first day of school this year on August 31st. She is starting preschool at the Rec Center, which meets for a few hours every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning. That means... Mom actually has time to herself on a regular basis! So exciting!
Mimi came out to visit us for a couple of weeks this month. We got to hit all kinds of sites around the city. We hit the Celestial Seasonings factory, Denver Museum, which was awesome as always, the Hammond Candy factory, the Denver Aquarium, and afternoon tea at the Huckleberry. It was quite the whirlwind visit!
Kara started playing soccer with some of her friends from teeball. So far she's having fun, but it's mostly just a bunch of the girls running around after the ball. But she's having a blast! Kara also lost her 3rd tooth. We think she looks pretty cool with the gap in her smile. :-)
We decided to take advantage of free admission to Disney for kid's under 3 by taking a trip with the family to Disney World in Florida at the end of February with Mimi and Papa (right before Emily's 3rd birthday). We made a similar trip with Kara right before her 3rd birthday (Blog post of Kara's first visit to Disney). To get the girls in the Disney mood, Mom set up an awesome scavenger hunt (see the video below) on Valentines Day. That day was exactly two weeks before our flight to Disney World. Mom and Dad figured that was plenty of time for the girls to get excited about the trip but not so much time that the girls would pester us with questions about how much longer until our vacation for too long. It worked perfectly as Mom and Kara were able to scout out some of the rides and watch some Disney videos to get prepared and Emily had time to get used to the idea of meeting characters.
Sleeping was a bit of an issue for the first several nights. It was the first time we'd all shared a single hotel room and the first time we'd traveled with the girls since last summer. It seems Emily likes to talk to herself a bit before she goes to sleep. The first few nights, our bedtime process was a cycle of Emily talking a bit, Kara telling her to be quiet and go to sleep, Mom and Dad telling Kara to leave Emily alone, Emily then talking to Mom and Dad, Kara getting annoyed, and so on. Plus, Emily kept waking up every so often and getting up to check if everyone was still there (and waking everyone up in the process), but we got it figured out after the first few nights (thankfully!).
We signed up for a Disney Photo Pass, which was great since we got some good group shots. Emily was a little camera shy at the beginning of the trip, but she warmed up toward the end. We picked out the best for the trip photo album, but here's a link to all the photo pass pictures.
It was quite an eventful trip. Even though we didn't go into a Disney park every day, the trip seemed to fly by and we were always busy!
We hit Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral our first day. It was a favorite visiting place while we were temporarily living in Florida. Kara enjoyed checking out the Rocket Garden, the play area, and the Space Shuttle exhibit. The girls also got to meet Robonaut, which was awesome. Robonaut is a humanoid robot (his twin is currently on the International Space Station, ISS) that you can interact and talk with. By the end, Emily was exhausted and a little cranky (since we'd stayed through her naptime and she didn't sleep too well the night before).
The rest of the trip was taken up with Disney. We hit all four parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Disney Hollywood Studios) plus Disney Springs (formerly known as Downtown Disney). It was a whirlwind trip. We did a couple of character breakfasts: Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary with Mickey Mouse, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, and Minnie and Cinderella's Royal Table, which is a restaurant in Cinderella's Castle with Cinderella (of course), Ariel, Jasmine, Snow White, and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty).
Kara enjoyed doing all the thrill rides. Her favorites were Tower of Terror, Test Track, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Star Tours (a ride with C3PO as a guide on a tour gone very wrong, which Kara, Dad, and Mimi ended up doing Star Tours 4 times in a row since the line was almost non-existent and the ride is a little different every time), Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Astro Orbiter. Kara also really enjoyed Spaceship Earth, though she said she was disappointed that it wasn't a real spaceship. Mom and Dad were a little concerned that Kara would be scared on Tower of Terror, but she said it wasn't nearly as scary as the Haunted Mansion ride.
Emily was a little small for the big rides but really enjoyed meeting the characters. Her favorites were Goofy, Baymax (who she calls the puffy robot), and Tinkerbell. Emily was just in awe of Tinkerbell and just thought she was the coolest person ever. Emily also really enjoyed Frozen Sing-A-Long. Emily did enjoy some of the rides like Winnie the Pooh's Adventure, Dumbo, it's a small world, and Prince Charming Regal Carrousel.
Unfortunately, Emily started to get a sniffle on the last night, so she didn't sleep well, which made for a very unpleasant travel day. But we all made it home safe and sound. I think the girls are ready for their next Disney adventure!
We decided to take advantage of free admission to Disney for kid's under 3 by taking a trip with the family to Disney World in Florida at the end of February with Mimi and Papa (right before Emily's 3rd birthday). We made a similar trip with Kara right before her 3rd birthday (Blog post of Kara's first visit to Disney). To get the girls in the Disney mood, Mom set up an awesome scavenger hunt (see the video below) on Valentines Day. That day was exactly two weeks before our flight to Disney World. Mom and Dad figured that was plenty of time for the girls to get excited about the trip but not so much time that the girls would pester us with questions about how much longer until our vacation for too long. It worked perfectly as Mom and Kara were able to scout out some of the rides and watch some Disney videos to get prepared and Emily had time to get used to the idea of meeting characters.
Sleeping was a bit of an issue for the first several nights. It was the first time we'd all shared a single hotel room and the first time we'd traveled with the girls since last summer. It seems Emily likes to talk to herself a bit before she goes to sleep. The first few nights, our bedtime process was a cycle of Emily talking a bit, Kara telling her to be quiet and go to sleep, Mom and Dad telling Kara to leave Emily alone, Emily then talking to Mom and Dad, Kara getting annoyed, and so on. Plus, Emily kept waking up every so often and getting up to check if everyone was still there (and waking everyone up in the process), but we got it figured out after the first few nights (thankfully!).
We signed up for a Disney Photo Pass, which was great since we got some good group shots. Emily was a little camera shy at the beginning of the trip, but she warmed up toward the end. We picked out the best for the trip photo album, but here's a link to all the photo pass pictures.
It was quite an eventful trip. Even though we didn't go into a Disney park every day, the trip seemed to fly by and we were always busy!
Day 1: Kennedy Space Center
The morning after we flew in, we headed straight to Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral. It was a favorite visiting place while we were temporarily living in Florida. Kara enjoyed checking out the Rocket Garden, the play area, and the Space Shuttle exhibit. The girls also got to meet Robonaut, which was awesome. Robonaut is a humanoid robot (his twin is currently on the International Space Station, ISS) that you can interact and talk with. By the end, Emily was exhausted and a little cranky (since we'd stayed through her naptime and she didn't sleep too well the night before).
Day 2: No park day
We took our second day relatively easy without a park visit. We started off the day with a character breakfast at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary hotel at 9:30. We got to meet Mickey Mouse, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, and Minnie. Mom and Dad were slightly concerned that Emily would be afraid of the costume characters, but she seemed to warm up to them quite well. After breakfast, we did a little shopping at the Contemporary hotel and then took it easy back at our hotel, Shades of Green. That night, we had a fancy dinner at Sanaa in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. They have African animals (like giraffes, wildebeests, and other exotic animals) wandering around the grounds. The girls had a good time checking out the animals before dinner.
Day 3: Magic Kingdom
On day 3 we finally made it to the Magic Kingdom. Mom made reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table (which is a resaurant in Cinderella's Castle) to meet all the Disney princesses. We got to meet Cinderella (of course), Ariel, Jasmine, Snow White, and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). The upside to having breakfast at the castle with the princesses (other than eating in the castle with the princesses) is that we get into the park before it officially opens. We headed straight for Fantasyland and got to check out some of the kid-friendly rides there (Winnie the Pooh's Adventure, Dumbo, it's a small world). After lunch we headed back to the hotel for a little break. After a quick nap for Emily (and a little quiet time for Kara), we headed back to Magic Kingdom. Our second time around, we checked out the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which is a very popular new attraction. It was a fun roller coaster. Kara loved it! We also checked out Mickey's Electric Parade, which both girls enjoyed. After that, Dad and Papa headed back to the hotel with Emily while Mimi, Mom, and Kara hit the Haunted Mansion and the nighttime fireworks show.
Day 4: Animal Kingdom/Disney Hollywood Studios
The next day took us to the Animal Kingdom. As soon as we got into the park, we headed straight to the Wild Africa Trek safari, which always a cool ride to check out. The morning just flew by, and after only a couple of shows, it was time for Emily to head back for naptime. Kara stayed at the park with Mom and Mimi before they all headed over to Disney Hollywood Studios.
Once Emily woke up from her nap, Dad and Papa headed back out with Emily to meet with Kara, Mom, and Mimi. We first checked out the Muppet show, which both girls thought was awesome. Dad, Kara, and Mimi then headed to Star Tours (a ride with C3PO as a guide on a tour gone very wrong), while Papa, Mom, and Emily headed over to the Frozen Sing-A-Long. Papa, Mom, and Emily missed their FassPass window, so Kara, Dad, and Mimi ended up doing Star Tours 4 times in a row (the line was almost non-existent and the ride is a little different every time). We stayed late at the park that night to check out the Fantasmic show.
Day 5: Disney Springs
After two days in a row at the parks, we decided to take it easy and headed to Disney Springs (previously known as Downtown Disney). We poked around the shops for a couple hours and then grabbed lunch at the T-Rex restaurant.
After a nap and a leisurely afternoon at the hotel, we headed over to the Polynesian hotel to grab some dinner at 'Ohana.
Day 6: Epcot
We next headed to Epcot. Unfortunately, Mimi started to feel kind of under the weather as we walked to catch the monorail. She was a trooper and toughed it out, though. We only stayed in the Future World portion of Epcot and hit some of the big rides (Misson:Space, The Seas, Journey into Imagination, Spaceship Earth). Kara really enjoyed Spaceship Earth, though she said she was disappointed that it wasn't a real spaceship. After a quick lunch, Mom and Dad headed back to the hotel with Kara and Emily while Mimi and Papa enjoyed an afternoon touring the World Showcase at Epcot.
Day 7: Magic Kingdom
Our final day at Disney found us at the Magic Kingdom. Fortunately, we were able to get to the gate in time for rope drop, so we were able to hit some rides early in the morning (Space Mountain and Big Thunder Moutain). We also took some time out to visit with characters. Both girls met up with Chip and Dale, and Emily met up with Tinkerbell. Emily was just in awe of Tinkerbell and just thought she was the coolest person ever. Overall, Kara enjoyed doing all the thrill rides (her favorites were Tower of Terror, Test Track, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Star Tours, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Astro Orbiter) while Emily was a little small for the big rides but really enjoyed meeting the characters (her favorites were Goofy, Baymax, who she calls the puffy robot, and Tinkerbell).
Mom and Dad spent the afternoon in the parks while the girls stayed at the hotel with Mimi and Papa.
Unfortunately, Emily started to get a sniffle on the last night, so she didn't sleep well, which made for a very unpleasant travel day. But we all made it home safe and sound. I think the girls are ready for their next Disney adventure!
Christmas was a lot of fun this year. We got the season kicked off right by attending the Christmas party that was put on by Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood. They had cookies, dancing, horse-drawn sleigh rides, and even Santa and Mrs. Claus. Kara definitely was playing along with the Santa thing this year. She sat on Santa's lap at the party (Emily watched from a safe distance), but she made sure Mom and Dad were aware of the gifts she was asking for from Santa.
Kara has learned most of the Christmas carols and had a great time this year belting them out. Dad earned himself some serious cool points when he helped Kara finish the Batman parody version of Jingle Bells that Kara learned at school ("Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg..."). What do they teach kids at school these days?
Mimi and Papa were not able to travel out here this year, so we Skyped with them on Christmas Eve and opened their presents then. Kara exploded with happiness when she opened her Lego Scooby-Doo Mansion, and Emily spent most of the day playing with her new doll furniture. We also Skyped with them again and Uncle Trey on Christmas day.
It was a pretty small crowd at the house for Christmas day. Grandma and Grandpa S. and Aunt Amy showed up early in the day. We were able to get the girls corralled to eat some breakfast before they (mostly Kara) just had to open some presents or they would burst! Kara ran through her gifts, but Emily still wanted to play with each gift after opening it. It took her quite a while to get all her gifts open. Later in the day, Laura and Jared, friends from Dad's work, stopped by for dinner.
Kara's favorite gifts this year were probably a tie between a remote controlled car and her Scooby Doo Spooky Castle (860 pieces) Lego set. Kara had fun for days after Christmas putting together her Lego's and racing her car around the house.
Emily really enjoyed her baby cradle and changing table. She thought it was really fun to rock her baby and put her down to sleep (Emily is a nurturer). She also got a cool Mickey Mouse train lego set that she enjoyed. Some fairy wings and a glow stick wand from Aunt Amy were super big hits too!
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)"
This summer has just flown by. Between birthday parties, visitors, Grandma and Grandpa moving, classes, and camps, there was barely any time to relax!
Kara didn't have two consecutive weeks this summer without some sort of class or camp. She did sports camp, swim lessons, Vacation Bible School, and Space Pirate Camp. There was always something going on!
Early in June, we had a little party for Grandpa and Mommy's birthdays. Nothing too big, but Grandpa let Emily blow out the candles on the cake, which Emily really enjoyed, especially after her candle experience for her own birthday cake...
Later in the month, we had Mimi and Papa come out to visit. For the most part, we kept things pretty low key (except for our visit to the North Pole).
We put the girls in swim lessons during July. Emily had been doing so well during her last swim lesson in May, so we signed her up for the next level up (without a parent in the water). That lasted about 10 minutes or so until Emily figured out that Mommy wasn't going to get in the water with her. She wouldn't get back in for the rest of the session. Oh well. Kara, on the other hand, got lucky and had a session with only one other girl (so she got a lot of personal attention). By the end, Kara was able to jump in and swim the entire length of the pool all by herself! Check out the video!
Early in July, Grandma and Grandpa finally closed on their new house. They had us over one night to check out the new place. The girls had a great time playing with bubbles in the backyard with Grandpa and Mom.
Mimi and Papa came to visit us at the end of June. We got the visit off on the right foot by heading up to The North Pole near Cascade, Colorado (just to the west of Colorado Springs). The North Pole is essentially a Christmas-themed amusement park targeted for kids between the ages of 2 and 8, so Kara and Emily were definitely in the target audience.
As we were walking into the park, Santa and Mrs. Claus were there to greet the guests, which Kara thought was awesome. From there, we hit some of the rides. Kara was big enough to ride almost all of the rides (most of them without an adult), so she had a great time running from ride to ride. Emily thought the rides looked great from the side, but quickly changed her mind once she got on some of them. She did eventually do some rides with Kara and had a great time.
The coolest part (literally) was The North Pole, which was a pole covered in ice. That was really neat to check out on a hot day. In addition, we got to sit down with Santa and talk with him at his little cottage. It took Emily a couple of visits until she warmed up to Santa (though she never would sit on his lap), but Kara jumped right up there and started telling all about superheroes (it was a little too far until Christmas for her to be prepared).
All in all, it was a really fun day (though a little hot). Definitely a place we'll have to visit again!
Easter in Colorado is usually a toss up as to whether you'll be celebrating in snow or in the sun. Fortunately, the weather was great this year, so we got to do a lot of egg searching (perhaps a little too much egg hunting?), even though Easter fell a little early in the spring this year.
We got the day of Easter started off right by doing an egg hunt in the backyard. Kara immediately went running off to look for eggs, but Emily took a more leisurely approach to egg hunting. She opened her first egg and was pretty good with that. We had to prompt her a bit to keep searching for eggs before Kara got them all! Later in the morning, while Mommy, Kara, and Emily talked to Mimi and Uncle Trey on a Skype call, Dad went down the street to help hide eggs for a neighborhood egg hunt. The girls had a great time with that one, running around with the kids and sneaking candy. They were both crashing a bit from the sugar rush once we came home for lunch.
After lunch and quiet time, we headed down to Aunt Amy's house to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa S. for another egg hunt and Easter dinner. After our third Easter egg hunt of the day, the girls had enough candy to last them for years!
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!
In addition to the 6-8 inches of snow we got Christmas night, we were also treated to another couple of inches followed by an arctic blast (the high was 4°F one day) a couple days later. We had plans while Mimi and Papa were visiting (the Denver Aquarium, the Butterfly Pavilion, or maybe the Denver Museum), but with the snow and the cold, the roads were just a little too dangerous for unnecessary driving. The girls started to get a little wild after a few days of being cooped up inside (see the videos).
Kara has started to really get into games. She has learned Uno and must have played it 100 times with Mimi and Papa along with Operation, Trouble, and Let's Go Fishin'. She's also showing an interest in more complicated card games. Maybe she'll be able to get into the annual Christmas family card games next year!
In other news, Emily has found her scream. She will often scream at us if Kara does something she doesn't like or if we won't give her something she wants. Oh, it's gonna be fun with TWO screaming girls...
We got the Christmas season kicked off the day after Thanksgiving by putting up the tree and the decorations. Emily had a good time looking at the decorations and enjoyed putting the star on top of the tree. Kara particularly enjoyed putting decorations on the tree. She even made quite a few decorations to add to the tree (see the pictures)!
A couple of weeks before Christmas, the city puts on a Dessert with Santa event for all the little kids. Both girls enjoyed snacking on cookies and sipping on hot chocolate. Eventually, we made our way up to talk with Santa himself. Kara asked Santa for an electric toothbrush with Ariel on it that played music. She was very specific. :-) Emily didn't know quite what to think of Santa, but she knew she didn't want to sit on his lap and wouldn't let go of Dad when he tried to put her down. Maybe next year.
On December 23rd, Mimi and Papa flew in from Alabama. They spent Christmas Eve making gingerbread cookies and generally preparing for the Christmas festivities.
Christmas day started early this year. Daddy suspects Kara was listening by her door for any little noise because she popped out as soon as Dad stepped out of bed. She did go back to her room but kept popping out. Eventually, Dad went and sat with Kara in her room (we didn't want her to wake up Emily since it was going to be such a busy day) until about 7. Once we let her out, she quickly ran downstairs to check out what Santa brought her. She was excited that she got an electric toothbrush, but she was a little disappointed it didn't play any music. We made Kara wait on the rest of the presents, though.
Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Amy, and Cousin Jennifer showed up around 8:15 and brought another carload of gifts. Kara was really into opening presents this year. She had a great time sorting the presents into piles and would have torn them all open if we hadn't made her wait. Emily, on the other hand, understood what was going on, but she wasn't too interested. Mom and Dad started to feel bad after a while since she just wanted to play with her new presents, and we were just handing her presents to open. In the end, Emily just decided she was done and walked away, which was okay. Emily's favorite new gift was a Curious George stuffed animal, which she carried around with her the rest of the day.
In the afternoon, the snow started to fall, so we did have a white Christmas in Colorado. The snow came down pretty quick, so Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Amy, and Cousin Jennifer had to leave right after dinner (without eating any dessert). Of course, they did take plenty of dessert with them.
A very merry Christmas was had by all. Until next year!
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!
Mimi came out to Colorado to visit us the last part of August. We all had a great time catching up and the girls loved having an extra playmate!
Some of the highlights of the visit included a trip to the Boulder farmers' market, the Butterfly Pavilion, and the Denver Zoo.
Kara and Emily both really seem to enjoy looking at the bugs and butterflies at the Butterfly Pavilion. Emily especially got a kick out of the Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches....ew. And this was her first trip to the Denver Zoo, though she has been to the Cheyenne Mountain (Colorado Springs) and the Brevard Zoo (Melbourne, FL).
The girls also enjoyed just spending time with Mimi. They all had a good time blowing bubbles, playing with scooters and striders (Emily got a new strider while Mimi was visiting), and, of course, splashing in puddles in the backyard! :)
Kid Quotes:
"Despite being called Flying Squirrels, they don't actually fly. They just glide." Tell us more, Professor Kara.
We had a nice visit with Mimi and Papa the last week of May. Kara really enjoyed the extra attention (of course), and Emily warmed up to them very quickly this time around. By mid-week Mimi (and sometimes Papa), was getting giggles and big belly laughs out of Emily.
The weather was a little hot, but we still managed to get out to the park a few times and play in the backyard everyday. This was made extra special with the addition of a jump rocket the grandparents brought (see pics).
We also took the girls to Dinosaur Ridge one morning. It's an area where you can check out dinosaur tracks on the side of a mountain (and a few fossils). Kara enjoyed the tour, while Emily loved the plaster dinosaurs in front of the visitors center.
At the end of the week, Papa, Mommy, and Kara went to visit Daddy for family day at work. There was ice cream, which was a huge hit with Kara! Daddy also arranged for a simulator tour for Dream Chaser. Kara's favorite part was one of Daddy's coworkers who has his cubical completely decked out with Hello Kitty! decoration. Daddy also took Papa on a factory tour, but couldn't check out the Dream Chaser spacecraft since it is currently being overhauled. Oh, well, next time!
We ended the visit with a trip to the Butterfly Pavilion. Kara's favorite part was holding Rosie the Tarantula, but she also enjoying looking at all the cool bugs and butterflies. Kara was quite disappointed, however, that she couldn't get a butterfly to land on her. Meanwhile, Emily treated us with saying her first word, or, at least, the first word that sounded exactly like it was supposed to. She was watching the bees in the beehive and shouted "Bee!" Other than the bees, she also enjoyed walking up and down the stairs and watching the butterflies. We had so much fun that we got season passes, so let us know if anybody wants to hit the Butterfly Pavilion with us!
The Colorado weather is doing its typical spring thing where it teases you with beautiful, sunny weather and then shifts back to cold and snow.
Easter was fun this year. We started off the day with an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. Kara immediately found her first egg and popped it open (there was a Peep inside) and got the day off to a sugar-filled start. Emily was more interested in the birds and watching Kara run around than anything else. Later in the afternoon, we headed over to Aunt Amy's house for another egg hunt and dinner. Emily was kind of getting the egg hunt thing by the end. There's always next year!
Emily is cutting her third tooth (for what seems like the fifth time), so she hasn't been sleeping very well recently. She's also battling about her 100th cold of the season, which is fun. Emily is starting to talk more recently. She now says "dog", "bye bye", "Mama", and "baby". She also developed quite a few hand signals to communicate her wishes to Mommy and Daddy. She is also developing a very bothersome habit of throwing food (which is something Kara never did). Most of the time she just drops her food or sippy cup off the side of her high chair, but occasionally she flings food pretty far. We're hoping she grows out of that one soon.
Kara recently gave a presentation to her preschool classes about herself. Mommy was able to get video of the presentation (see the videos below). Part 1 is pretty short, but Part 2 is quite long. Fair warning.
We also did an overhaul on the backyard. The grass mostly died last summer while we were in Florida, despite Lu's and Grandma and Grandpa's best efforts. We hired a company to put in a new side fence, level the yard, lay sod, and install a sprinkler system. Now we just have to upkeep! Both girls have been enjoying playing in the grass.
Some other big news is that Daddy got a new job. He is now working for Sierra Nevada on the Dream Chaser propulsion system. The job is much closer to home (it's about a 10 minute commute) and doesn't require any travelling. Let's hope the project is a success!
Kara quotes:
Mommy's hair is just black. That's not a cloud of bats, it's just Mommy's hair.
There's a boiling pot of dead skeletons in the principal's office. You do not want to go there!
Kara plays make believe and tells stories almost non-stop these days. A particularly interesting one started off with "a boy is reading a bedtime story with three, no, ten chapters. It starts with a girl named Kara drawing a picture...." then she sat down and started drawing. She continued to narrate what she was doing around the house as the chapters in the book, for quite some time. It was pretty neat to watch!
Emily had her first birthday, and we celebrated by all getting sick. When we say sick, we don't mean a little sniffle, we mean a nasty stomach bug that will take you down! Emily got the party started by waking up on Friday covered in vomit. Mommy and Daddy thought maybe Emily had just eaten something that hadn't agreed with her. We were wrong. On Saturday, Emily's birthday, Mom started to feel sick around noon, and Kara started throwing up shortly thereafter. Daddy was able to hold it together through Saturday, doing load after load of laundry to keep everyone with clean clothes and bedsheets. Daddy couldn't hold out forever, though, and fell victim Sunday. Fortunately, Mommy was starting to feel a little better by that time and was able to keep everything together. Fun times, huh?
The following weekend, we did a re-do on Emily's birthday. Grandma and Grandpa came up, and we called Mimi and Papa on the iPad. Emily really enjoyed her cake. She didn't know quite what to do with her wrapped presents, but she eventually figured out how to tear the paper (not quite fast enough for Kara, though).
Emily has now mastered walking. She can move pretty quick these days. She has also been working on her communication. She can usually convey what she wants through grunting and pointing, and we think she might be close to saying her first words. She's said something that sounds a lot like "baby" (while looking at her Baby Beluga CD case) and "here you go" (when sharing her toys). It's amazing how fast they grow up!
Emily is now officially a walker. Emily has been standing on her own, bending down and picking things up while standing, and cruising very confidently for a while now. But she took her first independent steps on February 6th, taking two steps walking to Mommy (Daddy, of course, was on a business trip in Florida). She held steady taking two to three steps for about two weeks, though Daddy didn't really consider two steps walking. On February 21st, Mommy decided to work a bit with Emily to build up her confidence to take more steps. It was mostly fruitless until Emily spotted her sippy cup about 3 feet away and decided to walk to it, taking about 10 steps on the way! Emily was very proud to show Daddy when he got home from work that afternoon! At the time Emily was holding a snack container of cereal in one hand. Mommy thinks the feeling of holding on to something may have given her the confidence to walk without furniture. Who knows?
Mimi and Uncle Trey visited the first week of February (to help out during the aforementioned business trip by Daddy). They got to do some fun stuff while they were here! One day, Kara, Mommy, and Mimi met up with Grandma S. and Aunt Amy to have afternoon tea at the Huckleberry. Daddy and Uncle Trey took Kara sledding, which was a blast! Mimi and Uncle Trey were also treated to an arctic blast. The high one day was 4 deg F!
Emily is regressing a bit with night-time sleep. She has been consistently waking up in the middle of the night (usually between 2 and 4 am) for no better reason than to say hi to Mommy and Daddy. Emily is weaning herself off the bottle. It wasn't too long ago that she'd be drinking 24 ounces a day, but now she barely will drink 15. It's great that she's adapting well to eating adult food, but she still need her calories! Daddy is very excited that the end of bottle cleaning is near!
Kara has become very artistic lately. She is constantly drawing pictures and telling stories. She particularly likes to pretend that she's on a boat with Fifi. Mommy had her first parent-teach conference with Kara's preschool teachers. Her teachers used the terms "big personality" and "high energy" multiple times to describe Kara in class. Mommy and Daddy are just glad they're not the only ones who think that. They also said she is very engaged, tells great, relevant stories and loves playing and talking to everyone. Ms. Larissa said Kara was telling a story about what was at the end of her beanstalk and she said "there was snow in the castle and I BURST WITH EXCITEMENT to make a snowman!" So Kara can sum up her own general state of emotion pretty well. :)
Kara's thoughtful quote of the month:
"Emily's family job is pooping." - After trying to explain to Kara that everyone in the family has jobs to help around the house (Kara clearing her plate spurred the conversation).
