Happy Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa! Happy Birthday Uncle Tim!

41 years...we could all learn a lesson or two from you. Congratulations, we love you!

Happy birthday Uncle Tim!!!

Wee Little Designs

My blogger friend Jamie at All Things Avery has started a new small business...and it is fabulous! Check out Wee Little Designs for all of your photo card/announcement/invitation needs. Her designs are beautiful, her photography is beautiful, and so is her little girl! Have fun shopping! : )

Groovin'

Today was so much fun! We went swimming this morning with our playgroup, took a great nap, ate ALL three meals, went shopping for birthday party supplies, and then went to a neighbor friend's birthday party at the local pizza party place! KK had a blast dancing to the "band". Check out this video...nothing like a spotlight messing up your groove!

KK also played skee ball. She has a pretty good arm for being such a peanut!

Still here

I've been a little slow with the postings lately, and Grandma K harrassed me a little to get back on it. She also harrassed me about putting KK to bed without dinner or stories the other night. I guess maybe this is why I haven't blogged much - it isn't as fun to write about time-outs, the naughty spot, tantrums, hitting, harrassing BuddyBuddy, and food getting tossed on the floor. And we still have four days to go before the "terrible twos" officially begin!!! KK is definitely pushing buttons and trying to see how much she can get away with.

While it has been challenging around here lately, I wouldn't trade these days for anything. We've experienced leaps and bounds in development just in the past week or so. KK can sing several songs all by herself (and in tune!) and is starting to talk in complete sentences. When she isn't saying 'real' words, she is just babbling away. She also loves to read to herself. Books are such a hit with her. We read several throughout the day - so many that now she says "The End" when she is done eating or when she wants to stop doing something. What a funny girl.

Speaking of funny...here is a family picture of us that I really like, EXCEPT for my Ooompa Loompa fake spray tan. Scary!
(Helpful hint: If you ever get a spray tan, be very careful when you are doing laundry to not splatter bleach on your arms or you will look like a leopard. Trust me. I felt like I was in one of those Comcast commercials "Sorry Mama, you leopard now!")

This is going to be another busy and special week for us...hopefully there will be a lot of fun, happy things to blog about! : )

They say time flies...

I cannot remember a busier summer, and we are having so much fun! We've been home from MN for four days, but I feel like we never got off the plane and just kept moving at five hundred miles per hour. Thankfully, we've been busy with parties, going to the pool and playing at the park. I am enjoying every moment of watching KK grow, but unfortunately I haven't been able to blog about it very much! One thing is for certain, and that is that she IS growing. In the past couple of days she has mastered a complete sentence: "May I have some milk, please, Mama?" I can already see her figuring out how to manipulate the ability to ask for things sweetly and get her way more often than not.

I'll work on posting some pictures soon, but my 'digital downloads' have been woefully neglected too. I guess some things just have to wait until the watermelon is all gone...

What Santa wears during the summer...

I'll bet you didn't you know that Santa has been hiding a few tattoos under that red suit, or that during the summer he parks his sleigh and revs up a Harley! We have been at a family reunion for the past few days, where KK was thrilled to discover that Santa is actually her third cousin! She loved sitting on his lap, touching his beard, and said Ho Ho Ho every time she looked at him. Thank goodness he loves his family, or I might have been scared. : ) We're still not home for a couple of days...will update more later this week.

Social Butterfly

This morning I took KK to an outdoor concert. She loved singing and dancing with the Music Man, but most of all she liked walking around to everyone and saying "Hi!" and waving at them. She is a social butterfly like her Daddy, making new friends wherever she goes. I am much more introverted and shy than she is, so it is fun to watch her in crowds. Tomorrow KK and I are leaving to visit Grandma and Grandpa and our friends in MN, then we are going to a family reunion this weekend. It's going to be an early morning and a long day...I'm not sure if I'll be able to update for a while, so we hope you have a great weekend!

Party time!

I came across this cartoon page not long ago in a magazine. It made me laugh because, other than the bumper stickers, I can relate to all of them. (Although I never left the house with my pregnant belly hanging out, I did it at home all the time.) The last set particularly made me laugh out loud. The one on the left is EXACTLY how I remember my birthday parties when I was young. The one on the right is EXACTLY what KK's first birthday party was like (minus the pony).

So, we had decided last year that we wouldn't have a big 2nd birthday party for KK, but would do something really small and very simple. Then I realized it was going to be her GOLDEN birthday (2 on the 2nd) and though this probably means nothing to anyone but me, I felt like I should do something a little more special. So, I booked the local farm for her 2nd birthday party! After I reserved it, I went on the Internet and HOLY COW (pun sort of intended) there are so many cute and adorable ideas for farm parties!!!!! One of KK's favorite things to say lately is "Birthday party!" Now, she says "Birthday party! Yee Haaaw!!" While it won't be nearly as big as last year's, KK's party will still be cute and a lot of fun! Life is short; we can always save simple and quiet for next year!!! : )

KK and Friends

This afternoon, KK's special friend J came over to visit. It was so nice to see him and his mommy - it had been too long. They had lots of fun playing with toys, dancing, and singing Ring Around the Rosie! J was also able to stay for playgroup, which we hosted today. To beat the heat, we had a pool party with popsicle treats. For the first hour or so, KK was the only girl at her party! As far as I know, this was the first time KK has had a popsicle and she loved it. They are definitely an outside treat! It was a happy day!

Weekend

Another busy weekend for us. On Friday we went to a local petting farm for stories, cookies, and milk. KK was totally into the animals! She jumped right in with the big kids and pet all of the critters without any hesitation. She loved it! (Even the chickens - I guess she doesn't remember the pecking incident from last fall!)
On Saturday, I went to a baby shower for a great friend. Her baby is absolutely adorable and I could have snuggled with him all day! It was good to see friends that I don't get to see as often as I'd like. KK stayed home with Daddy and they had fun too.
Tonight, Uncle Ray and Auntie Joyce came over for dinner to tell us stories about their trip to NYC to get their daughter settled for her new RN job in Manhattan. Her apartment has a perfect empty spot in the living room for Daddy and I to stay if we ever make it there on vacation! : ) It was good to have them home; we hadn't seen them in a couple of weeks. Their visit also made BuddyBuddy very happy. Uncle Ray has "god status" around here and Buddy got his customary lap time with snuggles and scratches. Life doesn't get any better than that.

SHE DID IT!!!!!

KK went potty on the big girl potty!!!!! And she even TOLD me that she had to go! We are so excited! She's been sitting on the potty almost every night for months now, and we've never had any action. Tonight she was taking a bath and she stood up saying "Potty!" somewhat urgently. So I plopped her on her seat right out of the tub, and...she went!!!! I guess it's time to get serious about this issue. Where did my baby go?!?!?!?!?!

Happy 4th!

KK had a great but tiring day today! Grandma M, Uncle Ry and Auntie Kar, and cousin C all came over to spend the day. We went swimming while the guys golfed; we all had a great time. We had a very nice bbq lunch that KK wouldn't eat. She took a very late (and VERY short) nap, and had a major meltdown after she woke up. Then she didn't eat dinner either. I guess there was just too much going on to be interested in food today.

Tonight, after our family headed home, we went over to Uncle Geoff's for a little while where KK fell in love with "fio-cackers boom boom boom!" and tried to blow out all of the fireworks like they were candles - even though she was nowhere near them. When we got home, the neighbors were doing fireworks on the street so we stayed out for awhile...KK didn't get to bed until 10pm. Tomorrow should be interesting. heh.

The biggest bummer of the day - I didn't really take any pictures! We have a few somewhat blurry, but still cute, shots from my camera phone at the pool. I guess we'll have to do a re-visit to the pool with Cousin C again soon so we can get some pictures! : ) Here is a cute one of the kids sharing a snack after their swim.
We hope you had a happy and safe Fourth of July!

Camping

Daddy came up with a fun idea for us to go camping on Saturday. We roasted marshmallows over a campfire, made s'mores and hung out in a tent. All of this in our very own wilderness backyard! We had intended on the four of us sleeping outside (BuddyBuddy included) but KK was in her crib by 9:30. We could have made it work, but modern conveniences being only a few feet away was too tempting. Of course I couldn't even entertain letting KK sleep in the house alone while we were in the back yard, so we didn't sleep in the tent either. We really had a lot of fun, and it was a good practice run for a real camping trip later this summer. KK especially liked pulling a marshmallow out of the bag, taking one bite, then setting it down and getting a new one. Buddy enjoyed the leftovers. : )