Goodbye to Great Grandma S and Great Grandpa H

It has been a pretty rough month for Mom and Dad's grandparents.  Dad lost his grandmother, Great Grandma S, who died on June 18th.  She had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for several years, and couldn't put two words together towards the end.  While she was still mentally with us, she adored Kara.  We had given her pictures of Kara as a baby that consistently got lost (which was one of our first clues her mental facilities were degrading), though she used to tell us that someone was stealing the pictures because Kara was just so cute!

Mom lost her Grandpa, Great Grandpa H, who was also suffering the effects of Alzheimer's.  He broke his hip in June and never quite recovered.  He suffered a stroke on the morning of July 10th and died later that day.  He only met Kara and Emily a couple of times, but he thought they were both pretty awesome.

Link to pictures of Grandma S



Link to pictures of Grandpa H

Summer Fun 2014

This summer has just flown by!  Unfortunately, Daddy hasn't been great at keeping up with the blog, so we'll just hit some of the highlights from the first half of the summer.

The last weekend in June and the first couple of weekends of July were spent picking cherries from our sour cherry tree.  They're not great to eat right off the tree (Emily and Kara would both disagree with that statement), but they make great pies.  We collected enough cherries to make about 4 pies.  Kara got into the action for the first time this year and helped pick a lot of cherries.  Emily grabbed every one she could grab (didn't matter if it was half eaten by a bird and rotting on the ground) and stuck it in her mouth, so picking cherries was a little tricky with her around.

Kara had Vacation Bible School (VBS) the week of June 16th through June 20th.  She had an absolute blast interacting with the other kids and learning new songs.  Mommy and Kara went to the church the Sunday after the camp, so Kara could participate in the "concert" the kids had.  All the other kids stood up with their age group and sang their songs, except for Kara.  She was up there singing with every age group.  Wish we'd gotten that one on video.  Kara had Farm Camp every Tuesday, which was the highlight of every week.  She talked non-stop about the zipline and the goats. She also got to interact with pigs, horses, peacocks, cows, and chickens.  Kara also started swim lessons every Wednesday and Thursday.  She improved a little bit every class.  As if that wasn't enough, Kara took ice skating lessons at a nearby rink every Thursday.  It was mostly just learning how to fall and get back up on your skates without getting hurt, but she enjoyed it!

Emily's summer was much more mellow than Kara's.  She's been working on running (which is currently a fairly quick walk).  She's also been working on talking.  She surprised Daddy one day when he took her to get the mail and she started saying, "Happy, happy" over and over with a big grin on her face.  She's such a sweet girl!

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

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

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