Thanksgiving '09

We spent Thanksgiving here with Josh's mom's side of the family. It was a nice relaxing day with lots of family and food. The day after Thanksgiving, we went and did some shopping. We didn't go till around 9:30am, so we missed most of the craziness! We put the Christmas tree and decorations up that afternoon. Kylee was so excited to put the tree up and also play with the Nativity. Her only complaint this year was that Mary and Joseph aren't figurines that you put different clothes on. :-) Zane's complaint is that he can't touch the tree or Kylee's Nativity! The rest of the day was spent just playing with the kids. It was a fabulous day with so much to be thankful for.

the kid's table

Mallory and Zane (he sat on this riding lawn mower for a long time)

Joshua and Kylee putting the star on the tree. This is her favorite part of putting up the Christmas tree.

Kylee's Nativity - it gets rearranged all season

Zane, finally deciding that playing with the Christmas tree wasn't going to happen!

Mr. Bedhead

My little guy woke up with some crazy hair this morning.

Trunk or Treat '09

Wednesday night was Trunk or Treat at church. We had a good turn out. Kylee dressed as Cinderella and Zane was a giraffe. They had so much fun.

Kylee (Cinderella) and Gracie (a fairy)

Kylee & Zane with two of their favorite people, Jordan & Wynona


The picture below is the scene that Jason and Josh set up for trunk or treat to hand out candy to the kids. They decided to do a "Good Samaritan" scene. They made it look like Josh's car had crashed into Jason's truck. Josh was injured and Jason was there to help! Those crazy boys made it look too real.

Baby item reviews

The other day I was thinking about all the amazing stuff that they have for babies. Here are just a few items, that make my life easier.

`. I love my Hotsling - I didn't have one for Kylee. I had one of those carriers that took an act of congress to get on and hurts my back and shoulders. Kylee hated it, so we only used it a couple times. Zane loves the hotsling. I used it from the time he was born and am still using it. I think you can use them up to 30 pounds. At Disney World, when he wasn't in the stroller, he usually was in the sling. I've used it around the house, grocery shopping, at the zoo, church functions, etc.

2. Baby Einstein Animal Exploration Tunnel - I didn't have this for Kylee due to the fact that we were living in a studio apartment in Biloxi until she was 10 months old and I tried to have as few of things as possible in that small space. I like the tunnel because it will entertain him longer than just a play gym would. He can lay, sit, or crawl (he is still scooting and crawling backwards!) in it. Kylee even lays down in it with him. He loves that. It can be folded flat if needed but not something that you would want to fold up often (it takes a little bit to fold it flat.).

3. Bumbo Seat - I actually used a Bebe Pod (just about the same thing) for Zane (someone gave it to me) and he liked it really well. If I would have bought one myself, I would have bought the Bumbo Seat. The baby sits a little higher in it and I like the way it's made better. Zane loved it. Before he could sit up, I would put him in it all the time. We even took it into a couple restaurants to put him in instead of using a germ infested highchair at the restaurant! I got a tray with it so he could play with toys.

3. Doorway jumper - Kylee only would last about 5 minutes in it, but Zane really likes it and will stay in it for at least 15-20 minutes.

4. Melodies Bear - Josh's mom actually found these for Kylee and Zane. Kylee got the pink one and Zane got the brown one. The bear has songs, ocean sound, or womb sounds. It stays on for 20 minutes and shut off. It is nice at night sometimes if he wakes up and I put him back down and just turn it on. It calms him down. When they don't want the sounds any more, the sound box comes out.

5. Baby Faith DVDs - I'm not one for just setting you child in front of the TV and let that educate your child, but I really like these DVD's. I usually sit with Zane (and did with Kylee, too) and put the DVD in once in a while and talk about the colors, shapes, etc. while the DVD is playing. It is similar to Baby Einstein, but these are based on Bible stories. I love that about them.

6. Leap Frog Table - A friend gave this to me when I had Kylee. She loved it and Zane is enjoying it too. Keeps them busy for quite a while.

7. A tooth brush!! - Yeah, that sounds crazy, but seriously, it's one of Zane's favorite things. My sister suggested it for Zane when he started teething. His favorite is one that has a suction cup at the bottom. It keeps him entertained for quite awhile!!

New smile!

Surprise Visit

Last Friday, Joanna & Amy came to visit for the weekend. We hadn't told Kylee, so she was SO surprised when Joanna came with me to pick her up from school. It was really sweet because her teacher had written me a note that day that Kylee wanted to call her Nana & Papa because she was missing them. We had a very fun weekend, but wished Dan could have come, too.

Here is Joanna with her parents and siblings:
Jeanette, Jerry, Mo, Pa, Joanna, & Vanessa.

Walt Disney World

We were in Disney World last week and had an absolutely amazing time. With the military discount they were offering, we just had to go this year. Kylee is at a great age to meet the princesses, etc. She looked at them in wonder and amazement. She wore her Cinderella Costume both days were at Magic Kingdom. She even wore the (very uncomfortable) shoes with it most of the first day. We were able to go to all four parks and then Magic Kingdom 2 days. The days went by so fast and we all were exhausted by the night time! We brought two strollers, because we knew that Kylee wouldn't be able to make it walking the whole time. Having not been in a stroller in a long time, she thought it was great fun. Zane did wonderful. He loved looking around. Most of the time that was fine, except when he wouldn't want to sleep so as not to miss anything.
Kylee had been on kid roller coasters before, but was tall enough to go on most of the rides there. Her first roller coaster was the Tower of Terror. That is the elevator one that goes up and drops, and does that over and over a few times. She LOVED it. She was so excited to go on it again that night. I'm glad she likes roller coaster, since Josh and I can never get enough of them!
I am posting a few pictures, and then for those who want to look at about 70 pictures (mainly grandparents, etc!!), I posted a slide show.
Our week was one full of memories and moments that I will never forget. I need to write more about the trip, but I will save you guys, and not do it all on my blog. :-)


I asked Kylee to tell me about her trip to Disney World, and this is what she said and how she said it.
We went with Abby and Keeley and we went to Disney World and then we came back. I had fun at Disney World. And then I saw Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse and they wrote in my autograph book. I loved playing and we went in Minnie Mouse's house first and Mickey's house second. Then we went to see the Ariel show where people dressed up as Ariel and the prince and we saw the dog come up to the prince and Ariel's dad turned her into a human. And then we went to Tower of Terror ride at Disney World. Then we went on a roller coaster and had lots of fun. We saw Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Cinderella, Snow White, and Aladin, and Ariel's prince. We saw Pocahontas, the two bears, the gorilla, Minnie Mouse (again), Mickey Mouse (again), Goofy, Donald Duck (but not Daisey). We saw giraffe's at Animal Kingdom because it's called Animal Kingdom. We saw alligators and pink flamingos. We saw Mary Poppins, Belle and the Beast. Belle was in her library outfit. We saw hippos. We went on a car ride and there was no steering wheel and we had so much fun riding and I just screamed! There were more animals but I can't remember. There were cheetahs. We had so much fun.

Kylee (4 years) & Zane (7 months)

Yesterday we had Kylee and Zane's pictures taken at JCPenny. Kylee was shy for about the first two pictures, and then did whatever the guy told her to do. She was having too much fun. It was so hard to pick the pictures that we wanted. I was really happy with how they turned out. They asked if they could put the one where Kylee is kissing Zane on the forehead up in the portrait studio!! How fun!

These that we took with Zane are the same poses that we did with Kylee
when she was 6 months old.

This & That

There are just some random pictures that I have taken in the last few weeks.

Here is a wedding that was going on in Kylee's dollhouse. I didn't get a picture of the bride and groom. Oops! Anyway, these are all the princesses who attended the wedding. She only has Sleeping Beauty's prince, so the other poor princesses just get to watch the wedding.

He's getting so big.

One Saturday, Kylee asked me to help make a cake for Josh, and and cake for herself. Also we had a cheese and cracker platter for the party. I love the cheese that Kylee made. It's swiss cheese I guess!!!

Here is Kylee with a new baby that was just born. Her name is McKenzie. She was almost exactly the same size as Zane when he was born. It was really fun to hold her.

Zane's steps to playing with a toy.
1. Taste test. 2. Find something to hit it against so it will make noise.

Madi is missed.

It's been one year since our friend's little 15 month old girl Madi died from SIDS. I still don't understand why some things happen like that. I am thankful that although there are no answers sometimes, we do have a God who holds his children through times like this. I admire our friend's faith in God and have seen my faith strengthed because of them.

I have to share this about Kylee today. She was with us when we took some flowers to Madi's grave. She was so concerned about walking around and making sure that anything that had fallen down (flowers, figurines, etc.) were set upright again. Madi is burried in the baby section (so sad...it makes me tear up just thinking about it now) and on one tomb stone is a baby figurine and a mommy figurine. There is another tomb stone that only has a baby figurine. She was getting upset because the baby byitself needed a mommy with it too. :-( Joshua told her that they will come back soon with a mommy figurine. Wow, what a sweet heart she has.

It is comforting that those little ones are with God, but it still makes me so sad for their families who were left behind.

Kids, etc.

Here are a couple new pictures of my kids and then a few of when my parents are here.


We went to the Children's Museum while my parents were here. They had a lot of fun.

Zane loves his baby food. He was grabbing my hand to get more. Very cute.