Kallie-Kal’s bday

Kallie’s birthday morning started out with a fun treat when we gave her her present right away (hence the reason I will ask you to please excuse Makenna for being only partially clothed, sigh…)

Since then, Makenna has seen a lot more action on that zebra than Kallie has…mostly b/c every time Kallie heads in that direction Kenna “accidentally” cuts her off and gets there first.  “But I didn’t know she wanted to ride, Mommy!”

When Daddy got home from work we took the girls to the park to play.

Then the next day we had Kallie’s birthday party with both families.  This didn’t end well, but we managed to get a few cute pics…

This time I kept things simple and did a “sweets” party…which basically means we ordered pizza and I made a few yummy treats.

Those are chocolate covered apple slices dipped in Heath bar/Reese’s/nuts, etc.  It was a great idea in theory (avoid the hassle and mess of eating a whole apple, just take a slice!), but I see now why you don’t see these treats around…they’re a whole lotta trouble!  😉

Kallie didn’t put on her regular performance upon seeing Lily this time, which seemed kind of strange to me.  She just gave her the wary eye the whole time…this is typical of Kallie toward most people, but not Lily.  She always does her little laugh/dance when they get together.

Mark will be mad at me for posting this, but look at the J-E-A-L-O-U-S eyes Kallie gets when Mark starts loving on Lily instead of her!

She had no interest in her presents, but of course Makenna was more than willing to take over present-opening duties for her.  Gramps and Miss Ellie got her this bank and a whole bunch of change to go in it–FUN!!

This is where I started to see in her eyes that something wasn’t right…

She managed a little grin as we got ready to sing:

Giving us her typical “What, is this a joke?” look:

Not too sure about this…

Kenna to the rescue!

“You want me to do what exactly with this?”

“I don’t think so…”

She was literally gagging just looking at the cupcake, and I knew I wasn’t imagining things b/c she begs for any and all food these days.  So sure enough, I got her out of the highchair and within about 10 minutes she was burning up.  Poor, poor baby…it happened so fast.  She was miserable and I put her to bed early, and Kenna and Lily got to play the night away with Kallie’s new toys.  😦

Anyway, we may need a re-do on the cake scene, because I was pretty sure Kallie would give us the traditional 1st birthday cake show that Makenna wouldn’t have any part of on her 1st birthday…so we’ll see.  If we do I’ll be sure to post pictures! 🙂

In the meantime I’m going to work on getting this little sickie better, try to salvage Halloween for my little ladybug, and I’ll choose to remember Kallie being super cute at the park on her actual birthday. 🙂  Again, I know it’s so annoying that I say it all the time, but my baby talk voice is unbearable!!  Sorry!!

Kallie Joy, You are 1 Year Old!!

One year ago today, you came into our lives and changed our family forever.  You were pretty cozy in my tummy and didn’t want to come out when you needed to, but with a little coaxing you gave me no trouble at all.

You were a sweet and quiet little bundle, scooting right on in before the holidays.  We love the holidays around here, so you just made things even better.

You made Makenna a big sister, and I think you agree that she’s the best one around.

One year later, you live up to your middle name every single day.  You and your sister bring so much joy to my life that sometimes it’s overwhelming.  Your daddy and I are SO blessed that God chose us to be your parents, and we’re trying to do the best job that we can as we help you along in your little life.  At this point, that mostly involves keeping you fed and uninjured.  😉

You are a jokester and an entertainer…you see the humor in things that a 1 year old shouldn’t understand yet.  Your sense of humor baffles us all.  You love to make us laugh and you keep a straight face the whole time, until you can’t anymore and you flash your scrunchy-nose, bunny-teeth grin and laugh along with us.

You love to chew on dirty socks because you know it drives me crazy.  You’ll never touch a clean one, just the dirty ones.  How you know the difference, I have no idea.  You also like to eat stickers, hairs, crumbs, and anything else that can be picked off the floor.  And let’s not forget sticking your hands in the toilet.

You love to quietly make messes when I’m distracted…you define the phrase “It’s a little too quiet in here…”

I wouldn’t say life with you is stress-free or relaxing.  You are adventurous and fearless.  You LOVE to climb anything and everything, and have suffered more than your share of falls because of it.  But you are so tough, and you shake off owies faster than any of us. 

You are the reason baby-proofing was invented.  You pull on blind cords, stick cleaning product bottles in your mouth, put your fingers in outlets, and turn your toys into steps that you climb on to reach other dangerous things.  You stick marbles in your mouth and climb out of shopping carts and strollers.  Never did I imagine I would actually have a Target employee say to me, “Uhh, ma’am, I think your baby got out of the stroller…”  I never owned a single baby-proofing product with your sister, and safety buckles were an unnecessary mystery to me.  As much as I scold you and fear for your safety, I love your curious and mischevious self.

You are drawn to electronics like a bug to a light.  Your favorite toys are the laptop, remotes, our cell phones, the camera, and the calculator.  You have recently discovered how much fun the dvd player and VCR are too.

You still have your dimples and your big blue eyes, the two things I was afraid you would grow out of quickly.  You are a cuddler, and I LOVE IT.  As soon as I sit down, you crawl over as fast as you can and back yoursef into my lap, then look up at me and flash your cute little grin.  None of us can resist you!

You are determined to be the baby for a while…you refuse to sleep through the night, you refuse to give up your bottle, and you’ve only just now started to enjoy table food.  You take some great baby steps but refuse to try anything more.  You can pitch a “little sister fit” with the best of ’em, complete with eardrum-shattering screams that will scare off anyone trying to disrupt your adventures.

You are everything our family needed Kallie-Kal, and I am so proud that you are our baby girl.  Happy Birthday little one!!  🙂

The Good Messes

Some nights, after the girls are in bed and I’m picking up around the house, I’ll come across something like this:

And I realize that I already miss them, and would gladly get them right back out of bed to play.  This is the kind of “mess” that I don’t touch…it stays right there, where it should be.

Good night all…tomorrow I will wake up and have a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old.  Wow.

 

“I Love Being a Girl…”

So Makenna is just changing and growing up so fast that I keep asking Mark what on earth happened in the past month…she’s already begging me for the clothes SHE likes and begging even harder to get her ears pierced.  What??!?  She’s definitely into all things girly.  My new straightener came with a tiny travel straightener and she loves to pretend to do her hair with it while I’m doing mine…it’s the cutest thing ever.

She’s very serious about it and wants to know if she’s done a good job when she finishes.  🙂

She still had $10 in birthday money to spend this weekend so we hit up the mall and the ONLY place she wanted to spend her money was at Claire’s.  She was in jewelry heaven…I decided to introduce her to the wonder of stick-on earrings to hold her over until she’s 6, when we’ve told her she can get them pierced for real.  Here she is waiting for the big reveal of her earrings of the day:

Yeah, she’ll realize soon that stick-ons don’t compare, but we bought a little more time.  😉

Today at church they had face painting and she surprised me by saying she wanted hers done.  She kept it really tame though, and only went for the basic hearts.  It was so cute, she thought she had to close her eyes the whole time.

Pardon the strange sweatshirt…Mom of the Year here didn’t bring Makenna’s and she was so cold (very out of character for her) that I had to put Kallie’s on her…imagine how much worse I felt when an hour later she was laying on the couch with a 102 fever.  😦  Poor babe.

Pumpkin Fun

Last weekend I couldn’t hold myself back any longer, so we went and picked out our pumpkins and carved them…I’m suffering the consequences now as I look at our pumpkin family on the front porch…4 withering heaps of mold.  😦  It’s my own fault but I can’t help it!

We started Friday night by bundling up to face the 40 degree temps (yes, that’s COLD for down here!) and go down to the little pumpkin patch where we get our pumpkins every year.  Kallie was so funny getting used to having real clothes on!  She kept feeling her jeans and socks and grinning like “Ok, what’s the joke here…”, and the coat and shoes were just the wildest things ever to her. 

The wind was gusting SO hard that I only let Kallie stay out for a minute or two and then she and Mark were banished to watch from the car (I don’t think Mark minded a bit, since he decided to wear shorts and a t-shirt? lol).

The prerequisite for carving pumpkins that night was that Makenna had to take a nap that day so she could stay up late.  Didn’t happen (never does anymore), so we put it off til Saturday night.  Saturday morning we decided to go back to the corn maze so Makenna could show Daddy all the fun.  The girls were goofing off as we got ready:

At the farm…I just love this picture!!  It makes me feel like Makenna is still a little girl, which is something I RARELY feel these days as we hold intelligent conversations and shop in the girls’ department at Target.  😦 

Kallie was happy bundled up in the cold as soon as she found her coat to chew on…

That trip wore Makenna out enough that she took a nap, so we were able to do pumpkins that night.

Our  pumpkin family:

Mark being a goof and posing with his pumpkin:

Makenna and I had a lot of fun making the seeds, even though it took many, many hours over the course of 2 days to complete them all.  I made 3 different kinds and threw them all away by the next day.  They were so crunchy the first day and horribly chewy the next day.  UGH!

Kenna with her pumpkin and Kallie’s pumpkin:

Mine never got carved b/c we ran out of time and didn’t get back to doing it before the mold hit.  😦

Kallie enjoyed having some company on her favorite perch, the fireplace, for a few days.  🙂

Just Another Day at the Park

We had an absolutely perfect day of weather last week (we’ve had other nice ones, but this one was just flawless) and we decided to try a little park that is hidden away near our house that we haven’t been to before.  We were lucky enough to have Kylie with us, which not only makes it more fun, but she took pictures too! 

My little blonde boy:  😉

This picture perfectly captures a typical interaction between Makenna and Kallie…Makenna trying to go about her businenss and play but little sis is in the way, and Kallie yelling at Makenna that she’d better not even think of crossing into her territory:

Quite possibly one of my favorite pictures ever:

Kallie’s reaction to me putting her feet in the sand:

Didn’t I tell you she hates sand?  Crazy!!

Makenna’s First Trip to the Dentist

Monday marked a big milestone for Makenna…her first visit to the dentist!  She was excited from the moment I got off the phone from making her appointment the week before, so by Monday she was READY.  We had to wait for a little while, and she kept saying, “Mommy, I JUST want to go get my checkup!”

I was very relieved to find a kids’ dentist, and he was great.  It was pretty painless.  The worst part was some scraping (who doesn’t hate that?) but she was such a trooper!

We planned on just an exam to begin with, but I knew she would do great (and she did), so we went ahead and did the whole shebang with x-rays and a cleaning.

And the verdict is…NO CAVITIES!!

Farm Girls

This past week our preschool co-op class took a trip to a local corn maze and we had so much fun!  I’m constantly reminded of how much things change when you have kids, as far as what you enjoy and the little things that are so exciting when you see them for the first time through little eyes.  All of a sudden a “hayride” (in this case a truck with no hay, haha) or playing with farm animals up close is just the most fun thing ever. 

There was a small hay bale maze for younger kids that Makenna must have gone through 10 times:

As you can imagine, she was very intent on finding her way through.  Picture a bunch of kids running around like wild banshees, and serious Makenna in the middle of them concentrating so hard on finding the right path.  She reminds me of myself when I get to shop all alone….I’m in this bubble where I literally don’t hear or see anything around me.  Ha!

Entering the real corn maze:

We got a chance to shoot the corn cannons, which is basically just an air gun that shoots corn out super far.  The point is to hit a target and win a gimpy t-shirt.  Our corn kept landing right in front of us.  We needed Daddy.  😉

On top of the sand mountain:

Sweet girl on the hayride:

Petting a pig:

Feeding the baby cow:

And picking turnips!

The girls just love this video of the baby cow…he can really moo!

Today we’re taking Daddy and Kallie back to join in the fun.  When Makenna and I went it was in the 80’s with heat indexes in the 90’s, and today we woke up in the 40’s!  Much more appropriate weather, but we’ll see how long our thin Florida skins last… 🙂

Day 8: Home We Go

See you next year!!

Day 7: Pool and Magic Kingdom

This was our last full day, so we wanted to take it easy in the morning and go to Magic Kingdom again that afternoon/evening.  We took the boat across to the Boardwalk for breakfast and ate at Cat Cora’s (Iron Chef) restaurant and it was sooooo good (mine was at least, Mark wasn’t impressed).  While we waited for the boat I whipped out a pair of binoculars I had forgotten I had for Makenna, and I don’t think they left her neck for the rest of the trip.  Gotta love the dollar bin!

Looking back across to our hotel:

We decided to take the bridge and walk back to our hotel.  The weather was so perfect…

While Kallie napped, Makenna and Mark decided to take one last swim and I ended up missing the biggest event of the trip: Makenna conquering the gigantic waterslide!!  Ok guys, this thing is so tall and long that I admit I had a tiny panic attack when I heard that she was going down over and over…but I really almost flipped when I heard that each time she went down, Mark would climb the stairs with her, go down himself first, leave her with the lifeguard, and then she would go down by herself.  When I came down to the pool I had no idea what was going on, so all I had was my digital camera and got this yucky video (part 1 and 2):

I can’t convey to you all how big this slide is, the video doesn’t do it justice at all.  Mark was SO proud of her (especially after she shocked us by riding a roller coaster earlier in the trip), and let her go down 15 times, haha!!

After we FINALLY dragged her out of the pool, we went for one last hurrah at Magic Kingdom.  We did every single family favorite ride again in a whirlwind sprint, and were able to walk on to almost everything again.  It was such a blast!

We finally had a chance to meet the princesses too.  Makenna got to chat with each one and was loving it!

Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty to us less knowledgable folk):

Cinderella:

And my all time favorite princess, Belle…

After another ride on the roller coaster, Makenna rode the race cars with Daddy, and she got to drive:

Have you ever tried to videotape and take pictures at the same time, one with each hand?  That’s why the race car picture is so far away.  😉

I meant to take pretty pictures of everything decorated for fall but of course I forgot, so this is the shot I got on our way out:

Waiting for our final bus ride of the trip:

And that face is my “We’ve come this far and I’m not going to lose it on this squirmy fussy baby trying to crawl all over me and out of my arms!!” face.  Please don’t take my comments as complaining…I just really prefer when people are real about things, and let’s face it–I’m the biggest Disney lover around, but even our family doesn’t enter the gates of Disney World and float on a cloud of bliss throughout the entire week!  We had the best trip ever and made so many memories and I loved almost every single minute of it (except for the incident where I lost my temper on that one awful bus driver ;)).  I’m already searching for our next great deal and will be counting down the days until we do the craziness all over again.  There’s just nothing like Disney World.