Friday, September 26, 2008

Tickle Tickle

Beware the Tickle Monster may get you next time you visit Baby Kate!!!!!


Did you notice her little hands moving?

Thursday, September 25, 2008

What Are You Doing on Saturday?

At least for the next five Saturdays I know what we will be doing. Rachel will be cheerleading at the flag football game and Luke will be playing soccer. Our Saturdays this Fall are full of sports fun! Here is a preview of what you might see if you choose to join us one of these Saturdays.


Thank you for the wonderful pictures Cara! I have not been able to get many pictures so far. I have had my hands a little full!

AWANA

Rachel and Luke have started Awana this year. This is Rachel's fourth year to be in Awana. She is an Awana Sparks. The program has been so good. Rachel has memorized so many important bible verses and she can recite the books of the Old and New Testament. Rachel is great at memorization, and working with her has helped me review too.

Luke started Awana last year, but he really was not ready for the structure of the class and learning verses. He liked the food and games, but he was just not mature enough. When Awana started this year we had decided to just wait until next year to start him again. The second meeting this year when Rachel was getting ready to go he announced he wanted to go. I explained to him he would have to go each week and participate in all the activities. He agreed. He even put his own socks and shoes on without being asked! We got there and he got a little nervous. I told him he did not have to go if he did not want to. One of the nice workers came over and talked to him. She told him about all the fun things they would do and the snacks they would serve. The snacks got him. She told him he would have to come in because they did not pass the cookies and juice out at the door. He even thought that was funny. He hesitantly went with her. This week he was excited about going. He had even memorized all his verses without argument. When we arrived he went into the class and did not look back. I was excited to see him so confident! When Chris and I went to pick him up, we got there just in the nick of time to see him get his Cubbie vest and book. They have an awards ceremony at the end of each meeting. I was so proud of him! He had to recite his verses to the workers to get the book and vest. Wow, what a difference a year can make!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

All About Baby Kate

Kate will turn 14 months this week. She is such a precious little girl with the sweetest little smile. She has a smile for everybody! She is very active and has a strong personality. She is really starting to explore everything. She loves taking books off of bookshelves, opening cabinets and drawers and taking everything out of them, unfolding clothes, toilets with the lid up, helping load the dishwasher, getting into the dog cage with Amos, playing with the phone, breakfast, lunch, dinner, baths, going for walks, Baby Einstein videos, The Wheels on the Bus song, and Luke's toys.

Some of her dislikes include the word NO, carrots, big brothers who won't share their toys, and being still. When she gets frustrated she spits. The face she makes when she spits is cute....the spitting not so much! She has a very high pitched scream she uses as defense when Luke is pestering her or we are trying to get something from her she is not supposed to have. It is a very effective attention getter.

Kate has become quite a talker in the past few weeks. We can't understand most of what she says, but I am sure it is all very important. Some understandable words are Mama, Dada, bye bye, uh oh, tickle tickle, and thank you. I am including thank you because she has said it about 5 times now. It is funny how vocal and loud she has become. I guess you have to be loud to be heard around here!

Kate has still not started walking. She can stand for long periods of time, but she has only taken a few accidental steps. She just needs a little confidence because the strength and balance are there. I am sure she will take off before we are ready. I am anxious for her to start walking, so she can go outside and play with Rachel and Luke. She likes to be outside with them, but she does not really like to crawl in the grass.

Kate has recently cut four molars. That makes a total of 12 teeth! With the molars came a nasty runny nose and bad diapers. Her nose has been running for at least the past two weeks. She started running a fever on Sunday. I took her to the doctor yesterday. She has an ear infection in her right ear. The doctor said the runny nose probably caused the infection. This is her first ear infection. I was a little disappointed because we made it 14 months without one. Rachel has been plagued with ear infections her whole life, so we don't want to go down that road again. Luke has never had an ear infection.

I am attaching some recent pictures of Kate doing some of her favorite things. Hope you enjoy!



Here she is unloading her favorite drawer:



She squatted down and crawled away after I snapped this one:


I have a picture of Rachel looking out the back door wearing this same outfit when she was about the same age as Kate:

It had been a long day:



Sunday, September 14, 2008

Happy 30th Birthday Aunt Cara!!!!!!

We hope you have a great 30th birthday Aunt Cara!!! We love you even if you are old!!!!

Love,

Rachel, Luke, and Baby Kate

(Chris and Alanna too)

Thursday, September 4, 2008

The Secret About the Bath Tub

Every since we moved into the house I have been debating whether to tell the kids the secret about the bath tub in our room. It is a jacuzzi tub. Luke wanted to take a bath in our room this morning. It is much deeper than the tub in the hall bath. I agreed he could take one. Well the temptation was just too great. I told him to push the button on the tub (I know I will regret this decision many times over). When he did he got quite a surprise. The jets came on and really livened up the bath water. Kate was watching from outside the tub and even she thought she was missing out! I could not get her undressed fast enough as far as she was concerned. They had a ball turning on and off the jets. Each time they came on they both would giggle and so would I!




Notice how much darker Kate's skin is than Luke. She is going to be our Coppertone Girl!


Here is a video clip of the kids in action.




The Box

I have to tell you two stories, so you understand the funny part of the second story.

Story #1

Chris ordered a new toy when we decided to move. He ordered a new plasma TV! It arrived on Tuesday morning. Chris was working Tuesday, so he could not get it set up until Wednesday. The TV arrived in a very large box, and Luke claimed it as his as soon as he saw it. He thought all day Tuesday about how many different ways he could use his new box. Well, Chris opened his new toy Wednesday morning when he came in. The first piece of paper he pulled out of the box read "Be sure to save this box in case you should need to return this television for any reason." Chris had to explain to a disappointed little boy that he could not play in the box. This did not stop Luke from asking to play with the box and even hiding inside of it several times during the day. Chris had to get onto him over and over again about staying away from the box.

Story #2

That same evening Rachel and Luke decided it would be fun to build a house out of all the boxes we had used to move. They drug all the empty boxes back into the house to build their house. In the middle of this project I reminded Rachel that she had some homework to do, so she stopped to do her homework. This made Luke mad. He kept hollering at her to come play. He came into the kitchen and told her with clenched fists he was really mad at her. Chris was laughing at him and told him to go kick one of Rachel's boxes. Luke then said, "How about I kick another box? How about I kick YOUR box?!?!"

I could not help but laugh! Does somebody need an attitude adjustment or what?