Happy Holidays!

Kaylie, Kaylie, Kaylie...when will you get over your fear of strangers (or anyone other than mom)??  Ever since Kaylie was about 4 or 5 months old, she has been extremely wary of going to anyone other than me or Mark.  If anyone tries to touch her, pick her up, or even sometimes just look at her who is not mom or dad, she cries and cries until I come to the rescue.  Mark's mom has been trying to help me and Kaylie work on this, and she is making some progress.  It usually takes about a day for her to get comfortable every time we visit Mark's family's house, and then she will finally let Grandma and Grandpa pick her up and hold her.  But anyone else...no dice!  (Although, that progress is not totally evident in this picture...)  hehe

We visited Mark's family again this weekend so we could go to a few holiday events.  We went to a "breakfast with Santa" this morning, and a cookie/story time/visit with Santa this afternoon.  I knew that Kaylie was going to scream if I tried to pass her off to Santa, so I stayed with her during most of the pictures.  But we thought it would be funny to get the classic "screaming with Santa" picture, and Kaylie did not disappoint!  (Hope you like the new pic at the top of our blog!)

Other than visiting Santa today, we have been getting in the holiday spirit by baking yummy goodies, decorating our apartment, and teaching Kaylie to shake bells every time we sing Jingle Bells.  She is a cutie pie, despite her fear of strangers.  :)

What else is Kaylie starting to do now?  She likes to climb on EVERYTHING!  She is constantly trying to climb on our ottoman, or climb into her shopping cart or toy tub.  When we read books, she is also starting to grab my finger and point my finger at different pictures on the page.  I tell her what I am pointing at, and then she points my finger to something else.  It's kind of cute.  :)  She also likes to stand in the bath tub (not safe at all!), and completely clear the table of all food when she has decided that she is done eating.  Kaylie hasn't started talking yet, but I am sure that will come soon.

Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the holiday season!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The food was DELICIOUS!  Even Kaylie chowed down...

Thanksgiving sugar cookies.  I stole this idea from my sister Cindy.  She made some last year, and I loved them so much I had to try them myself this year.  Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday - Part 2

Yesterday, we had a family b-day party for Kaylie.  All of Mark's family came over, and Mark was able to take a break from school stuff so we could have dinner, cake, and open presents.  Here are a few pics from the party.     

Kaylie and her cousin (baby Justin)

Is this girl spoiled or what?  Look at all those presents...

Kaylie loves books, so I decided to try and create a b-day cake of one of her favs:  
The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  

Happy Birthday, Kaylie!!

Birthday girl!

Happy 1st Birthday, Kaylie!

Wow, I can't believe my little girl turned 1 year old yesterday.  It is crazy to think that just one year ago, I was in the hospital with Mark welcoming Kaylie into the world.  Our life has changed so much since that day, and we are so grateful to have Kaylie in our family.  She is such a cutie pie!

We had a great day yesterday, despite both being sick.  (Kaylie came down with a cold, and we found out on Monday that she has an ear infection too.  Poor girl!  I have a cold as well, but we decided to party anyway.)  Here are a few pics of Kaylie's b-day...

In the morning, Kaylie had fun playing with her birthday balloons, and a new birthday toy.  Then we were off to Chuck-E-Cheese for a lunch party with friends!

Even though she was sick, Kaylie really liked crawling/walking around all the fun games at Chuck-E-Cheese.  She got to meet Chuck the mouse (is that his name? Chuck-E?), and she ate pizza for the first time.  And she got tons of fun presents from friends, which we did not expect at all.  Kaylie was pretty spoiled yesterday, and I think she had a great day.  Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes, and for celebrating with us!  Happy Birthday, Kay-babe!  We love you!

Plymouth Orchard...with Mark!

I actually got to hang out with Mark on Thursday. Seems like the first time in a while... :) We went to a nearby orchard in hopes of picking out some pumpkins, but found out that you can only pick pumpkins from the patch on the weekends. There were a few pumpkins that were already picked that we could have bought, but they didn't look like the best pumpkins in the world. So, we just enjoyed walking around the place, and spending time as a family. Happy fall!

Stayin' with the Jensen's

Kaylie and I stayed with the Jensen family for a few days this week. Mark had the week off school, but he ended up going to New York for a few days to attend a conference. Since I still don't like to be at home by myself at night, we thought we would go stay with family instead. We had a lot of fun making yummy food and going shopping. Unfortunately, Kaylie got some kind of stomach bug (I'm guessing) because she threw up for the first time, and had the runs for a few days (no fun). She went through soo many diapers, and quite a few outfits, which is why she is basically naked in these pictures. (Sorry!) But despite her illness, she was pretty happy, and had fun playing with toys at grandma's house.

Wahoo! Pushing a stroller for the first time...pretty cute. :)

Halloween Party

Kaylie and I went to a Halloween party with some of Mark's family last weekend. It was a lot of fun. I dressed Kaylie up in her giraffe costume (which she picked out at Babies R Us all by herself). :) She was a cutie, and seemed to have fun crawling around everywhere. Halloween should be fun tomorrow.

Walking around with Aunt Kimberly (a.k.a. Construction Worker)

The cute couple (construction worker and road)

Brent, Ranell, & Justin (they won the best overall costume at the party)