Thanksgiving in Iowa

We left on Monday night at 10:30 pm and drove up to Josh's parent's house in Iowa for Thanksgiving. It was a long trip, but we finally made it the next afternoon. Kylee was so excited to get there and see her Nana, Papa, Aunt Amy, & Maggie (their dog).

We were so excited on Wednesday morning because we looked outside and saw that it was SNOWING!!! Yea! We really miss the snow and Kylee doesn't remember it from last year, so it was really neat for her.

Kylee, her Papa, & daddy were outside making a snowman. When they were about half finished, Kylee decided that she wanted to make a snowdog! Papa promptly volunteered Josh to come up with how to go about making a snowdog. :-) I think it turned out quite well.

Kylee was also able to "help" her Nana make pumpkin pies. Special times!

We had to leave in the evening of Thanksgiving because we had to get back a wedding that Kylee was going to be the flower girl and Josh was going to be officiating. We were able to stop in Jefferson City on the way back for a couple hours to see our friends Jason and Beth. The visit was wonderful but way too short.

Ferry Ride

Dianna and Nathan came down for the weekend before Thanksgiving. Nathan was playing in the Highland Games near Baton Rouge so we went to pick him up. When we got to the Mississippi River to ride across on the ferry, it was in the process of being fixed. We had to wait 1 1/2 hours and finally we got across. Kylee thought it was so much fun. It was working on the way back, so thankfully we didn't have to wait.

Hair Cut

Kylee is going to be a flower girl in a wedding a week from Saturday, so I took her in to get her hair trimmed today. I wasn't sure how she would do, but she sat really still and was just a really good girl. Her favorite part was getting her hair blow dried after! She was holding her baby and her purse the whole time. That was pretty cute. Hopefully she will do just as well next week when Pricillia does her hair for the wedding.

My Little Helper

I was making pumpkin pie this last weekend and Kylee wanted to help me make it. I had her stir the dry ingredients and she actually did a pretty good job. Her "helping" is slowing turning into real help! But whether she is really helping or not we still have fun making memories together.

Trunk or Treat

We had Trunk or Treat at our church last night. They serve hamburgers and have costume contests. A bunch of the people decorate their trunks and then back them all up in a circle and hand out candy from their trunks. It's a fun and safe place for the kids. We had a great turnout. Kylee dressed up like Strawberry Shortcake. I didn't want to spend $30 on a costume so she wore a outfit that has Strawberry Shortcake on it and I found a hat for her at a party store and made a wig for her that was on Velcro in her hat. Well, she wouldn't wear the hat. Oh, well. We tried to get a couple pictures with her hat, but she was trying to get it off in all of them. Maybe next year we'll have to find a costume that doesn't have a hat. (oh, the necklace was her own addition to the outfit!)

Josh dressed up like a bum and decorated the trunk of his car as his "shelter". He came up with it about 2 hours before, so I was quite impressed with how creative he got. He rubbed dirt on himself so he didn't even smell the greatest!

Kylee has been trying to tell me what to wear lately, so I let her pick out what she wanted me to wear (i let her pick the whole outfit - including shoes & belt) and then let her do my hair. She had a great time. She would pick up a ponytail holder and tell Josh where she wanted him to put it in my hair. I tried to get her to put more barrettes in, but she said, "no, I want more ponytails". Needless to say, I had quite the interesting hairstyle that was definitely done by a 2 year old! :-)

William Tell Overature Mom

I received this in a e-mail from a friend a little while back. It is so true. Sit back and enjoy!!!

Friends & New Orleans

So, I'm not to quick at posting pictures very soon after they happen, but I guess better late than never! Almost two weeks ago, our friends (BJ & Jana) flew in from Colorado to help Jason & Michelle wire their new house (BJ is an electrician).
Thursday and Friday were spent working on the house. Friday night we took them to the Rice Festival. It's a huge thing here. The kids even get off of school for it. Anyway, we usually only go to the kid's parade and where they have the fun jumps, because the main part is quite disgusting. There is trash EVERYWHERE. We took them down the main street so they could see everything. It was pretty interesting watching some of the people there.
On Saturday, we left the kids with babysitters and went down to New Orleans. I haven't been down there since Katrina except to go to the airport. We did drive through a couple parts where there were houses that were still destroyed, but we stayed mostly in the French Quarter. We ate lunch in a restaurant that used to be a house a LONG time ago. The food was great. We didn't have a whole lot of time, so we pretty much just walked around looking at the main places. We did go to Cafe Du Monde and had beignets. They were delicious.

Cute Pictures

Here are some pictures that I have taken since I blogged in September.

Kylee riding in a ice cream truck at the mall.

Kylee in her "football helmet"

Having fun at Wendy's

Kylee found Joshua's hat and belt.

Kylee & Leah

I have been having problems with my laptop and they finally ended up giving me a new one, so now I can blog again. Yea!

Kylee's friend Leah just had her 2nd birthday. Here are a few pictures from the party.

shoe ideas?

Yesterday I went looking at shoes for Kylee. She is already needing a size 7 (hopefully she doesn't inherit my big feet!!). Anyway, her feet are still chunky on top and so she needs wide width. Since this seems so common, you would think that stores would carry more of them. I did find her some tennis shoes for about $20 which I was very excited about (thanks to Rack Room Shoes). I was wondering if anyone who might have had kids that needed wide shoes had found somewhere that you didn't have to pay $40-$50 a pair. I have looked on the internet, but haven't had much luck their either. Hopefully her feet will be back to normal by the time she gets into the next size.
Well, I just thought I'd toss the question out there so see if any of you might have some ideas. Thanks so much.

productive??

So, yesterday I decided to mow the front lawn. Kylee played by the front door where it wasn't "so hot" as Kylee put it! I was all happy with myself because I had got something productive done (which I hadn't felt like I had all day - must have something to do with having a 2 year old).
Our front door isn't that new. It was probably original with the house. It's wood and the front of it at the bottom is trying to peel some, but I went ahead and just painted over it and we were going to fix it later somehow. Having explained about our door, I come around the corner and find Kylee with pieces of our door in her hands! She found something that was loose and decided that it needed to come off. Having never told her not to peel the door (sounds funny just saying that), she wasn't in trouble but was told to never do that again. :-) Now I laugh whenever I come in the door. I still am going to do some touch up, though.

Oh, I tell Josh on the phone about what she did and he laughs and says, "I wonder who she got her destructiveness from?" Huh, I wonder!!! (After all, Josh IS her dad) :-)

So, at the end of the day the question comes to mind, how productive is the mom on a 2 year old???? Seems like I get one thing done and have to turn around and do something else that was messed up as I did the first thing! I'm not complaining, just stating the facts. The other fact is that Kylee brings joy, happiness, craziness, laughter, love, amazement, etc (oh yes, and insanity) to our lives. Gotta love her.

just us

Joshua is doing Air Force Reserve stuff all this week, so it's just Kylee and me. When I am not getting my work done, we have been playing outside, reading books, getting ALL the toys rearranging them all over the house (this is normal, but without daddy home for lunch and in the evenings to take some of her attention off of me). We both can't wait till he arrives home.

Kylee & Gracie

Kylee and Gracie are only 4 months apart and have become great friends. Sometimes Gracie's mom and I switch off watching both of the girls. It's nice for the girls, and us!

"nap time" which turned into a glimpse of future slumber parties, laughing and giggling, talking, and no sleep

looking out the window at church

posing for the picture (and talking to Valarie)

Orange Beach

Right after Labor Day, we went to Orange Beach, Alabama to visit our best friends who live in Missouri who vacationing there for the week. We had such a wonderful time with them. Jason's parents were there too, so they were very sweet and watched the kids one night so the four of us could go to dinner together. It's been a long time since that has happened. 4 years ago we went on vacation together to Orange Beach and had ate at a local restaurant. It was so good that we went back there again this time. If you ever get down to that area, you should check out Gulf Island Grill. It's fabulous!