Saturday, December 29, 2012

Christmas 2012

This is a video of Connor seeing the Polar Express train for the first time on Christmas morning at Grandpa and Gammy's. If you know Connor, you know he doesn't show too much emotion when he first sees something. He is more of a 'take it all in and then see' type of guy.
 But once he figured out how awesome it was, he LOVED it. He wouldn't move from in front of it to eat or open presents. Mark had to basically open all of the rest of his presents for him right next to him, and he would glance every once in a while.
 This video isn't from Christmas, but for his birthday Grandpa and Gammy got him a ride on the Polar Express, and he went a couple weeks ago. This is him telling me all about it.

I love this pic of Kate. I can just hear her, "oohhh!!!" loves ribbon! haha
 
I don't know why, but this video just cracks me up! She did this for almost ten minutes. Hilarious!
 
Christmas morning at home. This is Mark bringing the kids down for the first time! As usual, Connor takes a few minutes to take it all in. He's so cute.
 
 Christmas at Nonnie and Papaw's.
This picture of the "cozy coupe" is by far Kate's favorite present. Mark put it together last night and she spent most of the day sitting in it, crawling in and out, pushing it, and going for rides. We did have a slight car accident when Connor was giving her a ride. Apparently he thought for a moment he was playing bumper cars and drove her straight into the couch. One bloody and busted lip later, she was back in action!

 This picture is kind of blurry, but she is cheesing big!


All in all we had 7 Christmases... WOW! Obviously I don't have pictures from all of them, but sometimes you just get caught up in the moment and forget the camera! God has blessed us with so many people that love us and our kids!

Park and Bowling!

A few weeks ago (when I should have written this post) it was really nice out and Mark James had the day off, so we went to the park! Kate loves the swings. Like, I mean she LOVES them! When it was time to leave and take her out of the swing she yelled at me.
 
 






Oh my gosh we went bowling. It was amazing. The boy loved it and the girl ate her body weight in crackers. Good times.
After I put his bowling shoes on him he told Katie, "Katie, look at my new shoes!" He didn't realize he didn't get to keep them. Stylish. My boy's got good taste.
 





 

Playtime and getting our Christmas tree

I started this post a month ago, and now it is way past due, but oh well... We went to this church that has old Chucky Cheese play equipment that you can play on for free, so we went with Laura and Aubrey and the Lands.
 
 



 
Kate's one year doctor's appointment. Yes, she is one. Just ask her :)

Getting our Christmas tree... (at Lowes... it's becoming a nice little tradition)
She is a little different than last year - click here to see
While we were there Grandpa gave Connor a sword (or as Connor calls it, his wand)... he loves it!


 
Could she be any cuter??






 
 

Monday, November 12, 2012

Kate's first birthday party

Kate had her first birthday party yesterday. She was so good! There were a lot of people and she just got passed around and smiled like crazy when she was eating her cupcake. It was adorable! Her theme was cupcakes - get it Cupcake Kate... anyways... I made (and Katie decorated) a million cupcakes and each kid got a cupcake with m&ms, mini chocolate chips, gummy bears, and three different types of sprinkles to decorate their cupcake with. Each kid also got an apron with their name embroidered on it - they were adorable, if I do say so myself. :)

Here she is waiting for her guests to arrive.



 The camera was on the wrong setting during present opening - so about 100 of them are so blurry you can barely see her, but this is the least blurry one available.
 It was really nice outside temperature wise, but since there was a wind advisory we did all the food and cupcakes in the garage. It worked out really well... doesn't make for a very pretty backdrop for pictues, but oh well! Here are Connor and Ryder decorating their cupcakes.
 Here is Seth, Aly, Lily and Violet.
 And the Lands - sitting at the table they brought haha - there would be no party without Katie - no cupcakes, not enough kids tables... Thanks Katie!
 Oh my gosh she is adorable.

 Connor with the final product - a lot of sugar.
 Kate telling us she is one.

Kate is doing so many awesome things! She picks up sign language amazingly fast and we are surprised every time! She signs more, eat, all done, up, milk, water, no touch, and night night - she actually does what Connor used to do when he was a baby - when she is tired and ready for her nap or for bed at night she will crawl over to the steps, sign night night, and say na na (night night) and just wait for us to take her to bed. Adorable. Awesome.
She also does "how big is kate? soooo big!" and puts her little arms in the air. As you see above, she shows us she is one.
She says mama, dada and night night.
She also claps, waves and blows kisses. Up until a couple days ago her clapping consisted of one hand hitting her elbow of the opposite arm. Not exactly a clap, but a couple days ago she just started doing it right! The first time we noticed her doing it was in her crib on the monitor. It was pretty cute - her clapping all by herself in her crib.
She also pulls up on everything! First it started with the couch, but now she can do it up against the wall or fridge, and even a car seat to see an unsuspecting Baby Quentin Harbert and play with him!
She isn't quite into the "cruising" part yet, but if you put a toy she wants at the opposite end of the couch she will cruise on over to get it, but she doesn't do it much just on her own.
Her personality is starting to show through a bit. She does NOT like to be told no. It is pretty funny. Sometimes I have a hard time keeping a straight face when I tell her no. She knows when she isn't supposed to do something because she will look at me while she is doing it and do the sign we made up for no touch - just wagging her little finger back and forth. It is so cute.. Sometimes she does it without signing no touch and if I just say her name in my Mommy voice she will look at me and sign no touch. She doesn't usually actually stop touching, but she knows! haha... She also makes this sad pitiful face when she wants to do something and I tell her no. It is pretty cute.
She is such a sweet little girl and is so loved!

Friday, October 26, 2012

Pumpkin Carving

Connor is ready to carve his pumpkin!

He is pretty nervous...
 
Mark showed him the top and he pulled his arms back as fast as he could... he was not okay with the "slimy pulp" as he calls it to be so close.

Notice how his little arms are behind his back lol
 
This is a fake you out shot... he never got any closer...

 
Although he did go to town with a spoon.
 
Not a great picture, but the only one of Kate. She LOVED the slimy pulp and even tried to eat it!
 
Mark did a fantastic job of carving our pumpkin...
Too bad the face drawer (me) did a terrible job. Failure.