The Blounts

Christmas 2011 Recap

2012-01-05T21:09:00.006-06:00

so I told myself I wasn't going to get behind again but well....here we are a week into the new year and I'm just now getting my Christmas pictures up so this is going to be a quick recap of all of our Christmas festivities!

Thursday, December 22:
Ryan's Christmas vacation officially began and we headed to Paris to spend a few days with the Blounts! We loved hanging out and being lazy.

Saturday, December 24th:
After a delicious Christmas Eve breakfast, we opened gifts and enjoyed watching the girls play with all of their new things! As always, Gram and Pop did way too much!

We traveled back home Christmas Eve afternoon so we could get everything ready for Santa!

Sunday, December 25th--Christmas morning!

The only thing Kinsey asked Santa for was a baby that went to sleep (one whose eyes close) and a bed to rock her in. She must have been a pretty good little girl because she got just what she wanted!

Seeing her baby for the first time!

Khloe trying out her big girl chair with her swollen, sleepy eyes! Evidently she didn't get the memo that Santa was coming because we had to wake her up so we could open presents!

All ready for church on Christmas morning!

After worship services we changed clothes and headed south to spend a week in GA with Pete and Nana! Kinsey was so excited to see Kayden and Brecken : ) We had a good trip but were so glad to finally get off the road. Ashley had made it in the night before we were excited to get to see him too!

Monday, December 26th: Christmas at Pete and Nana's

Aaron, Gena, and Ella came over for breakfast and then we opened gifts! It was so fun to watch the girls together and just all be together....that's very rare these days!

Ella's wagon was a big hit!

Introducing Dr. Kinsey : )

For lunch on Monday everyone came to mom and dad's for the Guthrie family Christmas! Since everybody was there we took a family picture...all 28.5 of us!

Cousins and spouses

Granny and Papa and their great grand daughters!

All sweet little girls and another one on the way!

the handsome Horne fellows

Tuesday, December 27th: Christmas with Granny Horne and Hobe

Tuesday evening Granny and Hobe made a delicious Christmas meal and we celebrated with them and opened gifts! I know Granny enjoyed watching the girls run around, giggle, and squeal but I think by the end of the night she was ready for some quite! : )

Granny and her girls

Cousins!

Uncle Ashley : )

Papa and Ella Bella

We spent the whole week between Christmas and New Year's at mom and dad's and besides all of us being under the weather with the crud we had a great time! Every morning when Kinsey got up the first thing she asked was if she could go play with Kayden and Brecken : )

She LOVED being with them! We had a great Christmas and like always Santa spoiled us but the best part was just being able to spend it with our families! We are so blessed and are looking forward to seeing what great things God has planned for us in 2012!

Christmas with Mac

2011-12-23T14:42:00.005-06:00

Last night we celebrated Christmas with Mac at the nursing home! Patsy rounded everybody up so Mac could enjoy all of his kids, grand kids and the great-grands at the same time! While he didn't say alot, I think he really enjoyed seeing everyone and watching the kids play! They definitely kept us entertained : )

Gram, Khloe, Kinsey, and Mac Us, Callie, Mac, Jason, Will and Alex

Mac with the little ones!

Mac with his great-grands!

I love the expression on Mac's face! He loves Will!

Ryan and his "mini me"

Mac and Mama Mac with their grand kids and great-grand kids

Typical Kinsey...in mid sentence! : )

My lil' cutie pa-tootie!

Kinsey and Callie playing hide and seek....

LOVE her expression!

Counting...

Helping Mac open gifts

Not sure who was having more fun : )

Breakfast with Santa

2011-12-22T21:51:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago we had the privilege of eating breakfast with Santa at church! Kinsey was so excited about getting to see Santa that is until he actually arrived! : )

Kinsey's snowman picture frame

It's SANTA! I love the look on both of thier faces : )

Trying to talk Kinsey into sitting in Santa's lap.....it didn't work!

but Khloe did and wasn't phased at all!

After we were done taking pics of Khloe and Santa I took her to the nursery for a diaper change and Kinsey went with us. As soon as we got through the door Kinsey looked at me and asked very seriously, "Mama, is that really Santa or is that Emily's daddy?" Umm, umm what? You're 3 three years old! You're not supposed to be smart enough to figure that out!!! So I had to explain that Santa is really busy and needs some helpers this time of year so he sent Mr. Chris a letter asking Mr. Chris to come to our party for him! That seemed to be a good enough explaination so maybe it will buy us a year or two! I have a feeling we're not going to be able to pull anything over on her!

After she knew it was Mr. Chris she was more than happy to go sit in his lap! And look even a 1/2 smile!

So much for trying to get both of them to smile at the same time!

These days I'll take what I can get!

CHEESE!

Trying to get a picture in front of Gram's tree....Khloe had different plans! Lil' stinker!

Aunt Callie's the coolest and brought a tree for Kinsey to decorate! I'm not sure who had more fun putting the stickers on : )

Khloe's 1st Birthday!

2011-12-05T15:46:00.007-06:00

Khloe turned 1 the day after Thanksgiving so we partied out 1 year old style with cake and presents then a nap! : ) Our sweet, spunky baby girl is growing daily and changing far too quickly from a baby to a little girl which this mama is not ready for! We had a great time celebrating Khloe and are so thankful to God for blessing us with a healthy little gal that brings us so much joy!

Cake!

Opening presents....
Kinsey was glad to "help" her...aka open all the gifts herself!

Pop and Gram bought Khloe her lifetime sportsman license so now she will be ready

to go hunting and fishing with Daddy!

Giggling with Pete

Hopefully soon I will get a post of all the wonderful things Khloe is doing at 1 year but that will be another day!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-05T11:52:00.005-06:00

We had a rather uneventful Thanksgiving this year compared to last year when Khloe decided to make her debut! And while I wouldn't trade our spunky little girl for anything I was glad to spend the holiday at home! We hosted Thanksgiving this year at our house which was nice because we not only got to spend time with family but we didn't do any traveling! They all came to us and we appreciated that! We are so very blessed and I will forever be grateful to a most wonderful, loving God who continually blesses me and my family!

Callie had the week off so her and Jenny(a college friend) came to see us, or should I say the girls! : ) It took all of about 1 minute for Kinsey to warm up to Jenny and entertain everybody the rest of the afternoon!
Pete and Nana came on Monday night and Kinsey was so excited to see them...I was too : ) It had been over 8 weeks since our last visit so they couldn't wait to see the girls either! They got to spend all week with us. We really enjoyed having them and I know they soaked up every minute with Kinsey and Khloe!

Building a princess castle : )
Nana and Kinsey baked some peppernuts!

Don't you just love her baking outfit!
Shirt - pants + pink slipper boots = the perfect baking attire!

On Wednesday, Kinsey had a special Thanksgiving lunch at preschool and could invite 2 people. Guess who she picked to go with her?? Let's just say it wasn't Ryan and me! Pete and Nana enjoyed taking her and seeing her preschool!

Thanksgiving Day we enjoyed smoked turkey, ham and all the fixin's! Ryan's gotten into smoking meat lately and wanted to try to smoke the turkey this year. I was all for it because it meant I didn't have to fool with the thing!! He went all out and brined it, rubbed it down in a homemade butter rub, and then babysat it on the smoker for about 6 hours! It was so moist and tender and absolutely DELICIOUS!

Ryan and his turkeyHope you all had a great Thanksgiving too!

An 'Incredible' Halloween

2011-11-01T16:17:00.004-05:00

We had a busy but fun Halloween weekend! Saturday night the youth group from church had a Halloween/dress-up get together so we broke out our super hero apparel and went as the Incredibles! It was lots of fun and everybody liked our costumes!

The Incredibles!

me with my Mr. Incredible

The crew

Kinsey's SuperHero face....she means business!

Little Incredible

Ready for church!

Kinsey had a Halloween party at preschool so Khloe and I got to go hang out with her and her friends for a while! Khloe loved all of the attention she received from the other little girls in the class : )

Last night we had a potluck meal and Trunk or Treat at church. We hated that Ryan had to be out of town but the girls and I had a big time! When I got Kinsey all dressed up I said, "What a pretty princess!" to which she replied very matter of factly, "I am Princess Aurora." (In case you are not up on your Disney movies she is the one who wears the pink dress!)

Princess Aurora

The cutest lil' UT cheerleader...Go VOLS!

Trunk or Treat : )

Princesses Aurora and Rapunzel

me with my sweet babies

Khloe working hard on her DumDum : )

Kinsey with the cutest cowboy EVER! Don't think he was too thrilled about the hug : )

Hope you all had an Incredible Halloween!

Party in the Park

2011-10-18T15:51:00.004-05:00

Saturday we had Kinsey a little birthday party at a local park with some of her friends from church. We couldn't have asked for better weather; it was a little cool but nice and sunny. Kinsey had a great time and loved playing with her friends in the park!

The birthday girl in her bday shirt! (Thanks Nana)
Just a swingin'
Ashlyn and Khloe

Weeee!

Kinsey, Ella, and Sara

Bryson

The cake

Khloe trying it out....she approved : )

Opening gifts

The crew

Mama and Daddy with our big 3 year old!

Thursday Kinsey received some birthday packages in the mail. She was so excited to open them! Thanks Pete, Nana, aunt Melissa, Kayden and Brecken for her bday goodies!

Happy Birthday Kinsey Mae!

2011-10-17T21:30:00.003-05:00

Three short years ago God gave us a precious gift of a sweet, fun loving baby girl! We just thought our life was good until Kinsey arrived and then we realized all the joy a child can bring! We have enjoyed every second of watching Kinsey grow from an infant into a little girl and look forward to seeing what wonderful things God has in store for her! What a blessing she is to us!

Newborn

1 year old

2 years old

Our big 3 year old

Blessed

2011-10-12T20:25:00.005-05:00

I know I've bragged on my in-laws before but I don't think I could ever thank them enough for ALL they do for us! I am so blessed to have married into such a wonderful, loving, caring family! They are always willing to help out or keep the girls whenever we need them, even at the last minute, which means so much! Last Thursday they took us out to eat at Patti's, home of the 2" pork chop...delicious! Callie was on Fall Break so it was fun being all together. Not only did they take us out to eat, they took the girls back to their house for a couple of nights! Don't get me wrong, I love my girls but I thoroughly enjoyed my "me" time, much needed pedicure, and actually having an uninterruped conversation with Ryan!

Family pic at Patti's

The girls did great like always and love going to Gram and Pop's! I'm sure it has nothing with them being spoiled rotten...but I guess that's what grandparents are supposed to do : )

"Touchdown!"

Kinsey loves being in the kitchen with Gram! They were working on the princess crown cookies for her party!

Of course the great-grands love spending time with the girls too!
Mama Mac and Khloe

Kinsey and Margaret reading Cinderella : )
We usually try to get a visit in to see Mac while in Paris. Kinsey sang her ABC's to him!
Just a swingin'

Thank you Gram, Pop, and Aunt Callie for all you do! We love you!

Enjoying the Weather

2011-10-10T21:43:00.004-05:00

Lately the weather has been absolutely beautiful. I love this time of year and taking advantage of being outside! We loved having Ryan home today on his day off so after everyone had a good nap we all headed outside to play for a while and enjoy the beautiful day God blessed us with!

My littlest subject!

(The other one wouldn't slow down long enough to get her pic taken!)

Enjoying a little grass...

laughing at sister

sweet little piggies

Kinsey had a blast swinging in the hammock while Daddy pushed her high!!
Two peas in a pod!

Princess Party in Paris

2011-10-10T21:03:00.005-05:00

I can not believe that in 1 short week my "baby" will officially be 3 years old!!! Oh how I wish I could just make time stand still and keep her little forever! Gram and Pop started the birthday festivities with a Princess Party at their house this weekend with all of Ryan's family. Our princess loved the attention and is glad it is finally her birthday...she's been asking me for like 6 months if it was her birthday!

Our sweet 3 year old!

Patiently waiting for everyone to arrive....she was ready to get the party started! : )

No princess party is complete without.... glass slippers and....
(Kinsey informed me that they were too big for her : )

...pink crown cookies!

Blowing out her candles

Ryan cousin Jason and his family came. The girls loved playing with Will.

Will was wondering what he had gotten himself into with a bunch of crazy girls!

Kinsey LOVED the princess tent Aunt Callie gave her! She even asked to sleep in it : )

Somehow she even talked Callie into getting in it with her!

Khloe enjoyed the birthday fun and is excited hers is just around the corner!

Khloe at 10 Months

2011-09-30T16:07:00.005-05:00

Khloe turned 10 months on Sunday and I just can't believe that in less than 2 months I will have a 3 year old and 1 year old!! Where, oh where, is the time going? Khloe is so much fun these days and has the biggest personality! I am so thankful that God blessed us with such a sweet baby girl!

Things Khloe is up to at 10 months:

-Khloe is on the move...all the time!

-She can crawl everywhere and is pretty fast.

-She's waving hi and bye now usually with a closed fist but occasionally she'll use her fingers.

-Usually when she hears music or hears us singing she'll start to bounce.

-When we cheer for her or say "Yay" she claps.

Our big 10 month old!

-Khloe loves feeding herself Cheerios.

-Khloe has done great transitioning to whole milk from a sippy cup....with the help of a little chocolate ovaltine, that is : )

-Khloe is pulling up on everything and has even tried standing alone a few times! I know she will be walking way too soon!

-At 10 months Khloe still has just 2 bottom teeth and no more in sight but that's okay because I love her sweet gummy smile.

-She loves being outside and swinging in her swing.

-She loves bathtime and loves to see how much water she can get everywhere...she's quiet the splasher and doesn't mind getting water in her face.

-She loves watching her baby Einstein videos and smiles as soon as she hears the music start. (She thought she was big stuff sitting in Kinsey's chair one day while Kinsey was at school!)

-Khloe's learned how to play peek-a-boo....

Where's Khloe??...

there she is!

Sweet Sisters!

Labor Day weekend in GA

2011-09-14T09:45:00.009-05:00

After Kinsey asked me everyday for 2 weeks straight if we could go to Pete and Nana's house, I decided it was time to head south for a visit! Ryan was kind enough to let us go for a week and while we were ready to get back and see him we weren't really ready to leave. Every morning as soon Kinsey woke up she asked to go to Kayden and Brecken's house to play : ) She LOVES playing with her cousins and I love watching them together! Terri was home visiting too, so like always, it was good to see her and catch up with her.

The pictures in no particular order...

Pete and Nana with their girls!

Ella Bella and Aaron
B all dressed and ready to go!

Bath time fun!
Khloe cuddling with Pete and Pete enjoying every second! : )
We had a cookout/pool party at Uncle Deland and Aunt Bonnie's with the whole family. We always enjoying catching up with everyone and the girls loved swimming!

The big girls eating...YUM, YUM!

Khloe enjoyed playing a little pool : )
"Hey....Where did the ball go?"

Kinsey and Pete enjoying the water!

Khloe having fun in her own pool!

Ella sportin' her bikini!

Papa and Granny

Like always we had a great time and can't wait to do it again!

Kinsey's 1st Day of Preschool!

2011-08-31T15:01:00.006-05:00

Yesterday Kinsey started preschool and absolutely loved it! There is a local Church of Christ here that has a day care program and we happen to be good friends with the director there so we put Kinsey in part-time. She goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 am to 2 pm and I really think it's going to be good for all of us! : )

Our big girl before her 1st day! (She wanted Lammie Pie to be in the picture too because it was also his 1st day of school!)

Headed to chapel!

Such a big girl now!!
Mrs. Suzy, her teacher, said she did great and Kinsey had lots of fun her 1st day so we're looking forward to a great year!

Kinsey's new schedule threw Khloe's nap time off! She was so tired when we got home but fought going to sleep for an hour so finally I put on a baby Einstein video for her and a few minutes later she was snoring...poor baby!

9 Months!

2011-08-26T14:25:00.003-05:00

9 months ago God blessed us with another sweet little girl and our lives have not been the same since!! Khloe is growing and changing so fast that I can hardly keep up! She is such a fun, loving baby girl but can be a little feisty too!

Khloe's 9 month stats: weight-17 lbs 7 oz (21%) height- 27.5 in (49%) HC 44.5 cm (65%)

-These days Khloe is crawling all over the place and pulling up on anything and everything!

-She is getting faster with the crawling so I've learned to really keep my eye on her or other wise she'll disappear very quickly!

-She's into EVERYTHING!

-She is sleeping through the night now! YAY! Usually she's in bed between 7:30-8pm and will sleep until it's time to nurse around 5 am and then go right back to sleep til 7 or 8! She's just started doing this the past 2 weeks and I'm loving getting caught up on my beauty rest...I need it!

-She'll usually take a morning nap, an afternoon nap and sometimes one in the evening...it just depends on what we're doing.

-Unlike her big sister, Khloe is such a light sleeper and will wake up very easily. I know poor Kinsey gets tired of me telling her to, "Be quiet!"

-Khloe LOVES Kinsey and they play well together most of the time! Kinsey has a tendency to get a little rough with her but little Khloe usually just smiles and takes it! I think she'd had enough of Kinsey's rough housing here..."Mama please help me!"

-Khloe's hair is still brown but is still much lighter at the roots so it wouldn't surprise me if she is a blonde like big sister! Despite my best efforts to keep the knots out of her hair in the back the always return and usually it looks like the picture below...sigh...this too shall pass : ) -She like chewing on her hair bows more than wearing them these days : )

-She loves all of Kinsey's stuff especially if she knows she's not supposed to have it!

-Did I mention she's into EVERYTHING!!

-We couldn't ask for a better eater! There really isn't anything that she doesn't like or won't eat which is such a blessing! She's still nursing 3 times a day but we are going to start on whole milk and hopefully be drinking out of a cup soon because this mama is ready to be done with that phase! (Any advice on weaning a baby would be appreciated!) She eats cereal in the a.m., a fruit or veggie at lunch, and then a protein at supper!

-Khloe loves bath time with Kinsey! She loves to splash and watch Kinsey be silly!

-Kinsey's not so fond of getting her picture taken so it's been hard to get the 2 of them together lately! Thanks to Melissa and hand-me-downs from Kayden and Brecken the girls get to match quite a bit! I love dressing them alike!

We love you sweet Khloe Lyn! Thanks for filling our lives with so much joy!

Look What I Can Do...

2011-08-19T12:50:00.002-05:00

Khloe has recently started pulling up and this is how I found her the other day! I guess that means it's already time to lower the mattress before the little monkey tries to climb out! She was so proud of herself!

Besides pulling up, Khloe is also on the move! It doesn't matter that she doesn't have crawling down pat yet because if she sees something she wants she'll find a way to get to it! Kinsey is learning she has to keep her stuff up if she's doesn't want Khloe to get into it...and so it begins!

She's doing so many new things now that I want to document so hopefully I will be able to get a

9 month post up next week!

Kinsey goes Fishing with Uncle Ashley

2011-06-28T15:16:00.006-05:00

This week we are in Searcy for Uplift at Harding. Last year we brought a group of kids from church and since they absolutely loved it, we're back again this year! Ashley received a promotion and moved to Hot Springs a couple of months ago and since it's not that far from HU the girls and I drove down to spend the night with him and hang out! I'm not sure who had more fun....Ashley or Kinsey : ) They are quite a pair!

Love this one!

Sharing watermelon (aka: making a mess)

Uncle Ashley bought Kinsey her very own fishing pole! She was soooo excited!

Headed to catch a big one...

Reeling him in....

Kinsey's 1st fish!

Playing with Khloe

Uncle Ashley and his girls!

(Kinsey insisted on holding her fishing pole for the pic!)

Thanks Ashley for the great time! We can't wait to see you again soon!

Come and catch up with us!

2011-06-16T18:55:00.003-05:00

It's been almost 2 months since I've blogged and as most of you know once you get behind it's so hard to catch up but I think I've done it! YAY! So come catch up with us and check out all the new posts!

6 Years!

2011-06-16T18:15:00.004-05:00

On President's Day weekend of 2004 I went out on a date with the most amazing man! Someone was actually trying to set him up with my HU roommate and I well...kind of intervened! (That's a whole different story!) After our first date I knew there was something different about Ryan and went home and told my girlfriends that I was going to marry him someday. A little less than a year and a half later I was lucky enough to become his wife! It's hard to believe that it's been 6 years! God has truly blessed me with an amazing Christian man and partner to share my life with and I am so thankful for him--the wonderful husband that he is to me, the amazing daddy he is to our girls, and the provider his is for our family!

Where it all began....Harding

May 27, 2005
Seeing each other for the first time before the wedding!

My handsome man!

The KISS!

In October 2008 God blessed us with our sweet Kinsey Mae!
And then Thanksgiving Day 2010 our family grew by 2 more little feet with Khloe Lyn!

God has blessed our marriage more than I could have ever imagined and I look forward to seeing what else He has planned for our family over the years!

Ryan surprised me and bought a Nikon D5100 camera for us! I have really enjoyed using it and know that we will be able to capture lots of memories for many years to come!

Chuck E Cheese

2011-06-16T15:33:00.007-05:00

Kinsey has been wanting to go to ChuckECheese for a while now. How she knew what it was I have no idea but I guess it just looked like a fun place to go! Anyway, Ryan and I told her when she started using the potty all of the time and could wear BIG girl panties then we would take her. I guess between that and the Dora panties we bought something clicked and we are so proud that Kinsey is potty trained now! YAY! We've been working off and on for about a year now and I'm so excited to only have 1 baby in diapers! She still wears a Pull up to bed (who wants to be changing sheets in the middle of the night? not this mama!) but other than that she has done great and we couldn't be prouder!

We'd been meaning to take her for about a month so on the way home from Valdosta we stopped to take a break from riding and Kinsey LOVED playing! In fact she was so excited about playing the games she wouldn't eat any pizza! Silly girl!

Dancing with ChuckE

She even made it on the big screen!

Ryan had a good time too....isn't the saying "where a kid can be a kid!"

Memorial Day Weekend in Valdosta

2011-06-16T13:55:00.011-05:00

We got to spend Memorial Day weekend in Valdosta with my family! As always we had a great time visiting with everyone and just catching up! Kinsey was so excited to get to play with her cousins, Kayden, Brecken and Ella; that's all she talked about for the entire month of May! Khloe had fun watching the big girls play, wishing she could join in on the fun!

Now to the pictures, in no particular order....

Kinsey and Papa

Cousins

Helping Nana in the kitchen!

Playing with the new toys Nana got her...a princess castle with princesses!

One morning we woke up and I asked Kinsey if she wanted to go wake up Pete and Nana? She politely declined and told me she needed to go check on her princesses! : )

Driving Ella around in the Barbie Jeep

(another thing Kinsey talked about nonstop before going to GA!)

The big girls had so much fun playing in the pool together!

And we can't have a visit to GA with a little photo shoot! It is pretty much impossible to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time much less smile. We gave it our best effort and it was well...probably pretty comical to anyone who was watching!

2nd cousins

Brecken, Ella, Kayden, Khloe, and Kinsey

Sweet girls!

Brecken took her job seriously--not to let Ella escape!

I love all of their expressions...especially Kayden's!

and a close up...hilarious!

Khloe sat up for as long as she could before she wiped out! Don't worry she popped her little head up and was all smiles!

My new favorite pic of Kinsey! I love those sweet curls!

Ella Bella

Granny Horne and the girls

Pete and Khloe

While we were in town I had my 10 year class reunion! I met a few of my classmates at the park to let our kids play! The kids had a great time and the adults had fun catching up! My picture from the reunion didn't turn out but it was great to see everyone and reminisce about high school!

Kinsey played for a while on the toys at the park until she found the real fun....

DIRT!
The finished product!

Kinsey wasn't the only one who had a blast!!

All about Khloe at 6 months!

2011-06-02T17:49:00.011-05:00

May 25, 2011

My sweet Khloe Lyn is 6 months old already and growing like a little weed! Where is the time going??!? She truly is such a sweet, happy little girl who loves to smile and who brings us so much joy!

Here are a few of the things she is up to these days...

-Khloe smiles ALL the TIME!

-She coos and talks to us a lot! We love all of her sweet baby noises!

-She loves to look at herself in the mirror!

-She falls in love with big sister Kinsey more each day! Khloe gets the biggest kick out of just watching Kinsey sing and play! It is so fun to see them interact! I was unloading the car one afternoon and put Khloe in her exersaucer to play and when I came back inside she was just chillin' in her sun glasses! Guess who helped her put them on??? Thankfully Kinsey didn't poke her eye out! : )

This was some of Kinsey's doing too! As you can tell Khloe wasn't crazy about it!

-Khloe loves playing in her exersaucer.

-She is sitting up on her own now...for a little while anyway. She's learning to balance and stay up longer!

-I think she's outgrowing her playmat...these days it turns more into a wrestling match! I'm not sure who won!?

-Everything goes in her mouth but I think one of her favorites is her toes!

-Khloe loves to be outside and loves being in the pool!

-Khloe eats like a little champ! She gets a veggie at lunch and some fruit for dinner or vice versa and loves EVERYTHING! She is nursing 3 times a day now and we're working on taking a sippy cup...such a big girl!

-When it's eating time as you can tell she doesn't play around! She is always ready for the next bite!

-Khloe's still not on a great sleeping routine, or any routine for that matter, but that is totally my fault. She is a very light sleeper and wakes up at the slightest noise very unlike Kinsey who could sleep through anything but we're adjusting! She is sleeping better at night usually from about 8pm-4am when I nurse her and then she goes right back to sleep for a couple of more hours.

Nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby!

-She still likes to be swaddled with one arm in an one out. When she gets tired I just swaddle her up and lay her down and usually she'll go to sleep on her own. Occasionally she'll let me rock her but she likes to be able to stretch out!

-She still doesn't have any teeth but they are definitely coming full force!

We love our sweet baby girl and have really enjoyed watching her grow! Hopefully the next 6 months will not go by so quickly but I know all too well that most likely they'll come and go even faster than the last! We'll just enjoy every moment the good Lord gives us!

Spending time at Gram and Pop's

2011-06-02T14:16:00.008-05:00

I feel fortunate to live as close as we do to Gram and Pop. We get to see them pretty often and always enjoy spending time with them! Over the past month they've come to see us and we've been to their house a few times. These are just a few pictures from our visits.

Mac fell and broke his hip about a month and a half ago and since his surgery he has been in a rehabilitation facility and will be there until he is strong enough to go home. We've been to see him a few times and he just lights up when he sees the girls!

Mac loved the Cheez-its Kinsey shared with him!

Some how Kinsey ended up with Mama Mac's cookie jar and before I knew it all the cookies were gone! Of course Mama Mac didn't care; she just loved Kinsey sitting in her lap for a few minutes!

Mama Mac and her great-granddaughters
Marget and Khloe

Mama Mac and Khloe

Everybody helping make cookies!

Sweet little girl!

We've gotten to see Callie several times too over the last month. Kinsey loves her Aunt Callie and always enjoys playing with her!

Buddies

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T16:35:00.005-05:00

We had a great but busy Easter weekend spending time with friends, hunting eggs, and eating way too much yummy food! Kinsey was more interested in opening the few eggs she found to see what goodies were inside than seeing how many eggs she could find...oh well maybe she'll get the hang of it next year!

My beautiful girls! Sweet Kinsey Mae

My little Khloe Lyn

The Easter bunny was nice enough to stop by the egg hunt at church yesterday so we just had to get our picture with him! I wasn't sure how Kinsey would do but she climbed right up in his lap and then didn't want to get down to give the other kids a turn!

Hunting eggs...

Found another one...

Kinsey was so excited when she saw that the Easter bunny had left lots of goodies in her basket!

(Don't you love her bed head!)

Khloe checking out her new book!

Seriously mom??

My 1st Easter!

Me and baby

Busy Week

2011-04-19T20:23:00.003-05:00

Last week stayed on the go but had a great week catching up with some old friends and family!

Wednesday-The girls and I drove a little over 2 hours to see some friends from high school whose grandparents live close to Gram and Pop's. Summer and Luke had driven up to visit their Meme and Papa and invited us to come over to see them. It was great to get to catch up a little with them and their Meme and Papa. I have lots of very fond memories of growing up with the Norman kids and love to see them every chance I get! It took Kinsey a little while to warm up to everyone, especially Maddox, Summer's dog but after lunch she came out of her shell and started acting like her goofy self! We had a great visit and can't wait to do it again soon!
Wednesday afternoon we just drove back to Gram and Pop's house and stayed with them since Ryan was out of town for a few nights.

Thursday-We celebrated Margaret and Mac's birthday's for lunch. Margaret turned 86 on Saturday and Mac turned 89 yesterday! Patsy put together a wonderful lunch and then we enjoyed some yummy cake, which was Kinsey's favorite, of course!

Happy Birthday Marget!
Happy Birthday Mac!
Thursday afternoon we got to feed the ducks at a pond close to Gram and Pop's house! Kinsey loves to go see the ducks and they love that someone has come to feed them!

Khloe enjoyed our little stroll to the duck pond and enjoyed watching the ducks too!

Steve and Patsy are always such gracious hosts and we love spending time at their house!

Kinsey paining with Gram....she always has lots of fun things for Kinsey to do!

Saturday-Callie came up so Ryan and I could go out on a date night...something we don't do nearly often enough! I had gotten Ryan Sugarland tickets for his birthday so we ate dinner in downtown Nashville before heading to the concert! Little Big Town opened for Sugarland and both groups put on a great show! I had a fabulous time on our date and always love spending time with my sweet husband! A big thanks to our wonderful babysitter, Callie! We hate to leave the girls but it's always a little easier knowing they are in good hands!

Thankfully this week has been a little slower. Now we're just waiting for the Easter bunny to come visit this weekend!

We love Pete and Nana!

2011-04-11T14:00:00.005-05:00

As most of you know who read our blog, we live about 8 hours away from Pete and Nana which means we don't get to see them nearly enough but it does make the time we do get together all that more precious! Mom has been recovering from her surgery last month and had a few weeks before she started back to school so we talked her into coming to visit us : ) She flew up and stayed with us a week and then Dad came up last week to spend a few days before they had to head home. We had the best time catching up, hanging out, and playing with the girls. We got in a little shopping and mom even sewed a few things for me! I really enjoyed having some adult conversation during the day and an extra set of hands to help out with the girls. Thanks mom you're the best!

Nana was "getting" Kinsey...as you can tell Kinsey was eating it up : )

Nana & Khloe talking

Dad drove up last Monday and got in after Kinsey had already gone to bed. The next morning she came and crawled in bed with me and I asked her who was sleeping in her bed to which she replied, "Pete is! Pete's home! Pete's home!" It was so cute! We took Pete and Nana to Monkey Joe's one day and Kinsey was so excited to take Pete with her! Pete was a good sport and enjoyed the inflatables too! I think Kinsey wore him out! : )

Khloe was excited to be at MJ's too... and she even enjoyed bouncing for a few minutes!

Kinsey got to show Pete and Nana her new play set!

Getting ready to blow bubbles with Pete

Thanks for coming to visit us! We love you and miss you both and can't wait to see you again soon!

The "Blowout Queen" Strikes Again

2011-04-07T21:03:00.002-05:00

Little Miss Khloe may look all sweet and innocent but...

as you can see she is very proud whenever she blows out a diaper and outfit!

And for the close-up in case you missed it!

In case you were wondering our little angel does this at least once a day! What fun!! We did start on cereal this week and she loves it so I'm hoping that it will thicken things up a bit! I guess we'll see...

4 Months and growing...

2011-04-04T14:16:00.004-05:00

My baby is growing up way too fast!!! I know I say this every month but I can hardly believe that Khloe is already 4 months old! She is showing us more of her wonderful little personality and doing new things every day! She really is such a happy, easy going baby who is always full of smiles! Khloe's 4 month stats: Height- 25.5 inches (86%), Weight- 14lbs 10oz (66%), HC- 41.25 cm Things Khloe is doing at 4 months: -Khloe nurses every 4-5 hours during the day and will usually go at least 5-7 hours at night. The Dr. said today we can start her on cereal today so we'll try that and see how it goes! -She will NOT take a bottle. She did for a while but it is so much easier to just nurse her that we've gotten out of the habit and well now she doesn't want anything to do with it. Her Dr. said to see if she'd take a sippy cup with out the valve but if you have any suggestions feel free to leave a comment!

-Within the last month Khloe has earned the title of the "Blowout Queen." For the last 3-4 weeks at least once a day Khloe has completely blown out her diaper and outfit! I told Ryan I hope we have a boy next because if we have a girl she won't have any clothes to wear because Khloe has ruined them all! Well maybe not ruined but definitely left her "mark!" And of course it is never at an opportune time. For example, I go to get her out of her carseat at church for Bible class Sunday morning and her back is covered in poop!... yellow, mustard-y poop all over her cute little dress! And then when we are walking out the door to the Dr. for her checkup this morning I heard her go and almost decided not to check it because she'd already had 2 poopy diapers within the past hour so I thought there's no way there could be enough in her little tummy to blow out a diaper! Boy was I wrong!! I reached my hand in her carseat to feel behind her back to make sure we were okay and once again it is covered in poop! Her outfit, the carseat, my hand, EVERYTHING! Thankfully mom was here because other wise we would have never made it to our appointment on time! When I told Dad how bad her blowouts were he replied,"At least we know her little system works!" I guess that's one way to look at it!

-Khloe started rolling over last week and will easily go from her belly to back but is still working on going from her back to belly!

Chillin' in Kinsey's chair

-She is such a little book worm! : ) We put a book up for her to look at and her little face lit up and she was so intrigued by the pictures...it was so cute! -Khloe LOVES her big sister! As soon as Khloe sees Kinsey coming she flashes a huge smile!

-Khloe loves bath time! Usually the girls take a bath together which they both love! Kinsey acts crazy and Khloe just laughs at her!!

-Khloe has been sleeping with one are swaddled in her boppy pillow but last night slept with out being swaddled and with out her boppy pillow just fine so it seems like she may be outgrowing all that!

-She is very happy in the morning when she wakes up & loves to give us big, goofy smiles!

-And sometimes she finds the most uncomfortable positions to sleep in...like this one! I debated on whether or not to reposition her but she was sleeping so hard I decided to just leave her alone!

-99% of the time Khloe is the most easy going baby but she has her moments when she's not happy and well she's not afraid to let us know!

Gram and Khloe

Khloe cheesin' BIG with Nana!

Gram turns 60!

2011-04-03T15:34:00.004-05:00

Gram's 60th birthday is tomorrow April 4th so this weekend we got to celebrate with her along with lots of other friends and family! There was a great turn out and everyone had a wonderful time! Hope you have a fabulous birthday Gram! We love you and look forward to celebrating many more birthday's with you!

The Birthday Girl

and her walker!

A family pic...with horrible lighting! (Not sure what happened??)

Gram and Pop with their girls!

Aunt Callie with "Little Miss Attitude"

(She was determined NOT to smile despite our best efforts!)

Marget and Khloe

Kinsey loved the spaghetti!

Me and my sweet girls

Khloe partied so hard she was worn out!!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

2011-03-30T14:58:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday to my best friend and the most amazing husband ever!

I love you!

Birthdays, Birthdays, and more Birthdays!

2011-03-27T21:03:00.005-05:00

We got to celebrate several birthdays last week and have a few more to celebrate this next week! So here's the run down...

Happy Birthday to Pete! His birthday was last Tuesday and although we weren't able to celebrate with him in person we will be able to celebrate soon because he and Nana are coming to visit next week and we can hardly wait!

Callie's birthday was last Thursday and luckily she is on Spring Break so she came and spent some time with us last week. Kinsey ate it up; she absolutely adores her Aunt Callie!

Callie with the girls

Little Miss Khloe turned 4 months old last Friday! On Saturday we ate at the Loveless Cafe in Nashville for Callie and Ryan's birthday (which is this week.) The food was great and the company was even better!

Gram has a big birthday coming up and she's having a party on Saturday so we are looking forward to celebrating with her then!

Pictures!

2011-03-21T21:10:00.003-05:00

I love Spring time! Today the weather was wonderful so we played outside after the girls woke up from their nap. Ryan and Pop having been busy building the girls a swing set. They are still working on it but the ladder and slide are up so Kinsey has been wearing it out!

Blowing bubbles...

Just a swingin'....Khloe loves being outside too!

Miss Attitude! She told me not to take her picture.

weeee!

Happy girl...even on a bad hair day : )

Sportin' the shirt Hobe bought for her!

Ready for church!

Khloe is 3 months!

2011-03-07T07:35:00.002-06:00

The past 3 months have flown by and our baby girl is growing like a little weed! I can hardly remember what life was like before Khloe came along! She has been such a blessing to our family and we just love her more than words can say!

Things Khloe's up to at 3 months:

-Her sweet little personality is starting to come out! It doesn't take too much to get a good smile and sometimes even a laugh! I absolutely love her big, gummy smiles...so sweet! She is usually pretty laid back and easy going but she will definitely let you know when she's hungry or tired!

-We are finally starting to get on somewhat of a schedule! YAY! It's been all over the place with her being sick and us traveling but now that things are settling down she's a little more predictable.

-She is sleeping really well at night! When she doesn't sleep through the night, I only have to get up once to nurse her and then it only takes us about 30 minutes for her to eat, for a diaper change and then to get back to sleep.

-Sleeping during the day is still hit or miss. Some days she will nap well and other days she wants to be held and wakes up almost every time I try to put her down! Oh well, she isn't going to be little long so I'm just going to enjoy these precious days!

-She likes to be swaddled with one arm out, usually her right arm. She sleeps so much better being swaddled but hates it when I try to swaddle both arms...I guess it's too confining for her? When trying to fall asleep, she likes to grab onto something...usually my shirt or finger.

-Khloe is going longer between feedings and is nursing every 3.5-4.5 hours so we're down to about 5 feedings a day!

-She weighs around 14 lbs.

-Her eyes are still blue but they have changed some and I think they are going to be brown. She has some lighter hair coming in and at first I thought it might all turn blonde like Kinsey's but I think it's going to stay brown. It will probably just be a little lighter than it is now!

-She LOVES her big sister! Kinsey can always get a smile out of her and can usually keep her entertained for a while! Khloe is always watching Kinsey and knows where she is at all times!

-We took tons of pictures of Kinsey when she was a baby and have a folder on our computer for each month for the first year of her life and well poor Khloe is being terribly neglected when it comes to pictures! (Being the 2nd child, now I understand why there aren't hardly any baby pictures of me!) We've maybe taken enough pictures of Khloe to fill up one of Kinsey's folders!!

We are so blessed to have such a beautiful, happy, healthy little girl and look forward to watching her grow and develop in the months to come!

The Best Medicine is Grandbabies!

2011-03-06T15:02:00.005-06:00

The girls and I traveled to Valdosta last week to be there for mom's surgery. We hadn't seen them since Christmas so it was way past time for the girls to get some lovin' from Pete and Nana! Mom had a little time to spend with the girls before her surgery and soaked up every second of it! Her surgery went great and the biopsy of the mass they removed from her ovary came back benign! Praise God! We are so thankful that she is doing well and this is behind her. (I know she is too!) She does have about 5 more weeks of recovery so if you would keep her in your prayers, I would appreciate it! I am so glad I was able to be there for her to help out after she came home and I know the girls were good medicine for her but I'm positive that she's getting more rest now that we're back home and her house is much quieter : )

Nana reading the new books she bought for Kinsey

Kinsey giving Nana the card and balloon she picked out!

Khloe hanging out with Nana

Kinsey LOVED, LOVED, LOVED playing with Kayden and Brecken! Every morning she would ask if she when she was going to get to see them! It was so much fun watching them play together because they are a mini version of Melissa, Terri and me when we were little!!
A huge thanks to Melissa who gave up her time to keep the girls so I could be at the hospital with Mom until she came home! Granny and Aunt Cathy helped out too and I really appreciate all of them taking such great care of my babies!

Dad was definitely out numbered by women last week but I'm pretty sure he loved every minute of it!

Family Fun at Monkey Joe's

2011-02-25T20:08:00.004-06:00

Ryan had last Monday off for President's Day so I told him I wanted for us to have some quality family time before the girls and I headed south to mom and dad's for the week to be here for mom's surgery. The weather wasn't going to be great so I suggested taking Kinsey to Monkey Joe's. I had taken her before with friends but Ryan had never been and well I'm not sure who had more fun...him or Kinsey! They both had a blast jumping, bouncing and laughing, and Khloe and I had fun watching them! Since Khloe has come along Kinsey has become quite the Daddy's girl...she absolutely adores her Daddy and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Weeee!

Racing through the tunnel with Daddy!

By the end of the day Kinsey was climbing up to the top of the slides all by herself!

"Here I Go!"

Wipe out!

As you can see, Khloe had a blast and loved her 1st trip to MJ's

One worn out little gal!

Kinsey's 1st Haircut!

2011-02-23T13:02:00.003-06:00

I finally took Kinsey to get a "real" haircut last week! Ryan and I had trimmed it a couple of months ago but it really needed to be shaped up. Needless to say it was long overdue and now that's it's done I wished I'd have taken her much sooner! She did great and was much more at ease after I gave her a dum dum : )

The crazy madness!

I didn't take a picture of the back but now it all curls up so pretty!

Thankful!

2011-02-12T09:49:00.003-06:00

Khloe's test Thursday morning went well. While they were no fun at all, she did good and it wasn't quite as bad as I had expected! After the VCUG test, the radiologist told us he didn't see anything right off but he would send the final report to Khloe's pediatrician and we would hear from them. About lunch time the nurse from Khloe's Dr.'s office called and said everything was perfectly NORMAL!! She didn't have any reflux, no structural problems, NOTHING!! We were so ecstatic! When talking with the pediatrician earlier, he acted like whenever a baby so little had a UTI there was almost always something else going on...it was never just a random-one time UTI! All I know is that God is so good and hears our prayers! We are so very thankful that she is healthy and no follow up is needed! Praise God!

I can't say thank you enough for all of your kind thoughts, calls, text, and most of all prayers! They mean more than you'll ever know!

Now if we could just get over these yucky, winter colds....

Khloe's Pictures!

2011-02-09T07:44:00.002-06:00

I really wanted to get some good newborn pics taken of Khloe but with her being born around the holidays and us traveling we didn't get around to getting them taken until her 2 month birthday. They turned out better than I could have hoped for....she was the perfect little model : )

Is this not the sweetest face you've ever seen!?!

Sisters!

Check out http://fitzufotos.zenfolio.com/p786991950/slideshow to see more of our sweet baby!

Crazy Week!

2011-02-08T10:48:00.002-06:00

Last week we had a CRAZY week to say the least but thankfully God helped us through and things have settled down! Khloe woke up with a fever of 100.5 last Monday morning and wasn't very alert. I knew something was wrong when I tried to feed her and she didn't nurse very well. By the time we headed to the Dr. her fever had gone down to 99.2 and she was acting much better so I was certain that the Dr. would just say she had a virus and send us on our way. Boy was I wrong! We were at the Dr.'s office for 3 hours and poor Khloe got poked and prodded on. First they pricked her heel to get a blood sample and when they ran the test it showed her white cell count was too high for her to have a virus...it was bacterial and her only symptoms were the fever and her not eating well so her pediatrician (who we love) was determined to find out what was going on. That's when the poking and prodding began : ( He ordered a chest xray first to rule out pneumonia. I had to help hold her down and still while they took the xrays and let me just say it's horrible listening to your baby scream when there's nothing you can do. The xrays showed her lungs were clear so the Dr. informed me he needed to draw blood to send off to the lab for testing and then they would need to catheterize her for a urine sample to check for a urinary tract infection. The Dr. asked for my permission to draw the blood and I really didn't think twice about it but after he got started I understood why....little did I realize that 2 month old's don't have veins good for drawing blood! He dug around in both of her little arms while she screamed bloody murder for what seemed like an eternity before deciding to take a break! By that time, I was getting a little mad and asked if it was absolutely necessary for him to draw blood and he said it was so I nursed poor Khloe to calm her down and comfort her a little. After about 15 minutes the Dr. came back and said we might have more luck finding a vein in her head. I knew I wouldn't be able to watch that and didn't want Kinsey in the room to see it either so we made a much needed trip to the bathroom! (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Kinsey was with us! She was the perfect little angel and it was probably good that she was there to help keep my mind off of what they were doing to Khloe! ) When we returned, they had been successful in drawing blood finally but still had to cath her. I decided to leave the room for that too...call me a bad mama but by that point I was mentally and emotionally drained! After they got the urine sample the Dr. told me her urine was cloudy so he was suspecting a UTI. Before we left, they gave her an antibiotic shot in the thigh and gave us a prescription for an oral antibiotic too! I don't think I've ever been so glad to leave that place!!! I did really well in the office and only got teary eyed a few times but as soon as we hit the doors I broke down. To say I was completely exhausted would be an understatement!

The Dr. wanted to see us again Tuesday so Ryan went with me and Gram and Pop watched Kinsey for us. The urine sample came back and Khloe did have a UTI. She was already acting tons better but the Dr. wanted to give her another antibiotic shot so she got poked again! Poor baby : ( After he explained that she had a UTI, he said that babies this little normally don't get UTI's unless there is something structurally wrong and that once she got over the infection they would need to do further testing. So, we go on Thursday for an ultrasound and VCUG test, which will see if Khloe has reflux. They have to cath her, fill her bladder with dye, and take some xrays to see if her urine is going back up in the ureters. We are not looking forward to this but know it's for the best and praying that whatever is going on can be treated easily. We would really appreciate your prayers on behalf of our sweet Khloe!

After our 3 hour Dr. visit on Monday I told Ryan that I didn't know how parents with really sick babies deal with it day in and day out! I know they don't have a choice but it just made me that much more thankful for my healthy girls! No matter what the outcome of Khloe's tests on Thursday I know that God will be with us and get us through.

I already had Khloe's 2 month well check scheduled for last Thursday so we went back to the pediatrician for the 3rd time in 1 week (too many times if you ask me!) She weighed 11 lbs. 14 oz. (64%) and was 24 in. (90%). I don't remember her head circumference measurement but she fell in the 70% for it. The Dr. thought she was well enough to get her immunizations so her little legs got poked 3 more times but thankfully it's behind us!

Recently my mom found out that she has a mass on one of her ovaries and she got to meet with her gynecologist last week to discuss what was going on. Thankfully he doesn't think that it's anything cancerous but she will be having surgery to remove it on the 24th of this month so please keep her in your prayers too. We are praying that surgery will be all that is needed to take care of the problem and hopeful that after surgery she feel better than ever!

Despite our crazy week last week, we made it through and thankfully this week has been much quieter! I know compared to what some of our friends are going through right now, our worries seem minimal but I'm thankful that we serve a God who hears our prayers and wants us to cast all of our burdens, both big and small, on Him.

On a bright note we got some pictures back of Khloe that we had taken a few weeks ago. I'm way too tired to post them tonight but hopefully I'll get them up tomorrow so be on the look out...and thanks again for your prayers. They mean so much!

Fun at Gram and Pop's

2011-01-29T11:27:00.006-06:00

Last week Ryan was out of town on business so the girls and I went and spent some quality time at Gram and Pop's house and had a wonderful time! Let me just say, I have the best in-laws a girl could ask for! They were happy to have us and we really appreciated them putting up with us for most of the week : ) I know they enjoyed having their grand babies there and it was nice for me to have help with the girls! I even got to sneak out during nap time a few days and have some time to myself...thanks Gram! While we were there, we also got to see Mac, Mama Mac, and Marget. They love seeing the girls and Kinsey is always good to entertain them!

Gram and Khloe
Mama Mac talking to her girls

Girl talk : )

Tuesday night is snowed about 3 inches so Kinsey, Pop and I just had to get out and play in it for a little while!

Looking at the pretty snow : )

me and my sweet Kinsey

Our make shift snow suit...socks for mittens and plastic zip lock bags taped around the leg for boots! Whatever works right?! The "boots" were just a little slippery on the snow and Kinsey kept busting it so we didn't stay outside very long but it was fun while it lasted!

Buck loved playing in the snow too!

Such a pretty snow!

Thanks again Gram and Pop for such a wonderful time! We can't wait to do it again!

All about Khloe!

2011-01-26T09:04:00.004-06:00

Yesterday Khloe turned 2 months old and I can hardly believe it! She is such a little doll and we are really enjoying this little blessing that God has given us! We couldn't have asked for a better baby.Here are some of the things Khloe is doing at 2 months:

-Just in the past week, she's really started smiling at us and cooing. She gives the biggest, gummy smiles....so cute!

-She nurses about every 3-4 hours during the day and will go anywhere from 5-7 hours at night!

-She sleeps really well at night and has even slept through the night several times but during the day it's hit or miss with naps. Some days she sleeps really well but most days she fights it and will fall asleep while being rocked or held but as soon as she's put down her little eyes pop open! oh well on the days she doesn't nap long and I don't get anything done I just remind myself that at least she sleeps good at night!

-She found her hands the other day and loves chewing on them!

-She loves her big sister and has started smiling at Kinsey when she talks to Khloe or when Kinsey is acting silly (which is quite often)! It is so cute to watch them interact.

-She loves being in her Moby wrap. I usually don't put her in it a lot but if I have some things I have to get done I'll wrap her on me and off we go. Usually she lasts all of 2 seconds before she is out like a light! She sleeps so good in that thing!

-Khloe is normally very mild mannered but when she gets mad-she gets mad and will definitely let you know!

-She has lots of long, dark hair but at the roots it is coming in lighter so I'm thinking she might be a blondie like her sister! we'll see...

Fun in the Snow!

2011-01-24T22:13:00.003-06:00

We've had more snow this winter than we've seen the past few years combined! Normally I'd take Kinsey out and let her play but I can't really do that with Khloe and by the time Ryan gets home it's dark. But last Friday Ryan worked from home due to the weather and bad roads so him and Kinsey got out and played after she woke up from her nap! She had a ball and Ryan got a good work out in pulling her on the sled! It was freezing outside so I was sure she wouldn't want to stay out in it very long...boy, was I wrong! She would have stayed outside all night if we'd have let her!

Cheese!

Weeee!

I told her to look at me and smile for the camera. The only thing that moved was her little eyes : ) I think everything else was frozen!

Daddy's girl!

Christmas in South GA

2011-01-24T19:50:00.007-06:00

Over the Christmas holidays we got to spend a week in Valdosta, and although we stayed on the go we had a great time seeing all of our family and friends! It was great for everyone to meet Khloe and Kinsey loved playing with all of her cousins! Ashley got to come home and stay for a week too so it was nice to get to catch up with him especially since we don't get to see him very often!

While we were there Melissa and Aunt Cathy hosted a "Come Meet Khloe" get together and invited friends to come and meet our sweet Khloe Lyn so we didn't have to trek all over the county showing her off! Of course I didn't take a single picture but it meant so much to us for those who were able to come say hi. A big thanks to Melissa for getting it all together! You're the best!

Now for the marathon of pictures...

Uncle Deland took some family pictures since all of us were in town. Of course they turned out great!

The whole Horne crew

Pete and Nana and their girls

Our family of 4!

Cousins!

Aunt Gena and Khloe

Khloe cuddling with Pete

Kinsey loved playing the piano with Pete!

Kinsey, Ryan and Ella
Kayden taking Kinsey for a ride!

Playing dress up : )

Sweet Brecken

Kayden was such a good little mama : )

Uncle Ashley got lots of time with his nieces.

Kinsey sportin' Granny Horne's cool hat!

Granny Horne and her great granddaughters

Nana lovin' on Khloe

Pete and Nana LOVED having all of their babies at home at the same time!

Granny and Papa meet Khloe

Kinsey and Nana building a castle.

Christmas 2010- Just us

2011-01-21T15:11:00.007-06:00

We came home from Paris Christmas Eve afternoon and enjoyed a nice quite evening just the 4 of us! Kinsey and Ryan baked cookies for Santa. (I think a certain little one ate more cookie dough than anything else but that's half the fun, right!?) We talked up Santa coming and that he would bring a few presents for everyone but I don't think Kinsey quite understood because I had to remind her when she woke up Christmas morning that we needed to check to see if he had come during the night! After opening gifts, we enjoyed some yummy cinnamon rolls before packing up and traveling to Valdosta! It was a long trip but the girls did great and it was so good to see everyone and they were all excited to meet Khloe...especially Pete!

I took the girl's pics in their matching dresses for our Christmas card. I thought they turned out pretty well for an unprofessional photographer, a 2 year old and a 2 week old!

Khloe's 1st Christmas Kinsey Mae

My sweet girls!

Making cookies for Santa...

and eating the dough!

Taste test! Yummy!

Santa brought Kinsey a basketball goal which Daddy is enjoying! : )

Kinsey was so excited to have some place to keep her money! She had a few dollars that Granny and Hobe had sent her in the mail she's been keeping in her bed side drawer. As soon as I told her it was a piggy bank to keep her money in she ran back to her room to gather her stash!

Showing off her princess slippers!

Playing with Khloe's present!

Before Christmas I asked Kinsey several time what she wanted Santa to bring her and every time she said she wanted "boots and hat." Meaning rain boots and hat. Now where she got the idea of wanting rain boots and a hat I have no idea but that's all she wanted from Santa! I was so excited to see her reaction when she saw them Christmas morning and well she didn't act very thrilled at all at first but I think they've grown on her!

Christmas in Paris

2011-01-20T15:34:00.006-06:00

We spent a few days before Christmas in Paris and had a great time! Thursday night we enjoyed dinner with the whole Blount/McDaniel clan and it's always good to be together and get to catch up! Christmas Eve morning we had a yummy breakfast then opened gifts. Kinsey loved helping everyone open their gifts and Khloe slept pretty much the whole time : ) As always, we had a wonderful time and Santa was way too good to us!

Little Miss Priss

Marget and Khloe

Aunt Callie and her girls

Getting into her stocking

Khloe had a few things in her stocking too!

Kinsey loved the baby doll Marget got her! She totes it around everywhere!

Buddies : )

Pop and Khloe

Pictures!

2010-12-13T19:29:00.004-06:00

What a sweet little face!

If you'll notice Khloe has her "bling bling" on thanks to big sister! : )

(If Khloe survives everything Kinsey does to her it will be a miracle!)

Meeting Bryson for the first time! I think it was love at first sight but don't tell Daddy! : )

Sweet babies!

Kinsey and Khloe in their matching duckie PJ's!

Being a BIG sister is hard work!

Snoozin' the day away!

A Special Thanksgiving: Khloe's Birth Story

2010-12-08T08:50:00.009-06:00

So I know it's been a while...we've been just a little bit busy adjusting to life as a family of 4 but we're doing great! I've got lots to catch up on so hopefully I can do it in the next few posts. Before I forget anything I wanted to recall Khloe's birthday--this is more for my sake and will probably be long so feel free to just check out the pics!

Wednesday, November 24th:
From the time I woke up I started having contractions. I had been having contractions off and on for a few weeks so I tried not to get my hopes up but I could tell these contractions were a little different; I was cramping more and just not feeling the best. I had my 39 week checkup at 10:30 that morning so I thought if I was in labor then my Dr. would just send me on over to the hospital. Thankfully mom was here so we loaded up Kinsey and headed to Nashville in hopes that baby Khloe was on the way! My Dr.'s appointment was very routine and when Dr. Storck checked me I was 3 cm and said it was a possibility that I was in early labor but I definitely wasn't far enough along for her to keep me : ( By the time we left the Dr.'s office my contractions were between 7-8 minutes apart and were getting a little stronger so we grabbed a bite to eat and debated on whether or not to stay in Nashville for a while to see if anything was going to happen before driving 45 minutes back to the house. After lunch we went to visit my friend Christy and her new baby Bryson in the hospital all the while the contractions kept coming but the weather was nasty and by that point I was ready to be home! So we headed back to Clarksville and when I saw traffic coming into Nashville backed up on the interstate I told mom that Khloe was waiting for later in the afternoon so we'd have to fight rush hour & holiday traffic! Thankfully she waited another 12 hours! We had a singing service that night at church and my contractions were getting strong enough that I had to stop and breathe through them during the songs so by that point I was pretty sure it wouldn't be too long before Khloe made her debut! By the time we got home from church I knew I needed to try to get some rest just in case!

Thursday, November 25th:
Stronger contractions woke me up about 2:30am so I laid in bed timing them and then finally decided to get up and time them because I was getting uncomfortable. They were about 4 minutes apart and lasting about 1 minute long and after about 45 minutes had passed I decided to wake Ryan up so we could start getting our things together. We both took a shower and got our things packed and by this time I was having to stop and really breathe through each contraction. We woke mom up so she could be getting ready and called Ryan's family to let them know what was going on. A little before 5 am Ryan went to get our neighbor to come sit with Kinsey until Callie got to the house to keep her. Right before we left I called the Dr. to let them know I was in labor and on my way to the hospital. Of course it being Thanksgiving Day, my Dr. was out of town so I got the Dr. on call and luckily she was just as wonderful as my own Dr!

We got to the hospital a little before 6am and thankfully the ride wasn't too bad! I was admitted to the triage unit pretty quickly. The nurse got us settled in and monitors hooked up. Khloe's heart beat was good and my contractions were still coming between 4-5 minutes apart. I was already between 4-5 cm's when she checked me so they started getting ready to move me to a Labor and Delivery room. Before too long we were settled in our room and mom was able to come in. I had invited her to be in the delivery room with us and of course she was so excited to be a part of such a special day! After a couple of hours, my nurse checked me and I was not quite 6 cm's so we were making progress slowly but surely and actually my contractions weren't too terrible. I was still having to breathe through them while Ryan encouraged me and rubbed my feet or legs but I was making it! (I had Kinsey naturally and really wanted to try to do the same with Khloe.) I rocked for a while in the rocking chair before the nurse checked me again and I was between 6-7 cm's. My contractions had slowed down a little so I was surprised that I had progressed any at all! The Dr. came by to check on me and offered to break my water since I was so far along but explained that most likely the contractions would get much stronger and closer together than if we waited for it to break on it's own. At that point I wasn't quite sure if I was ready for that so we decided to hold off and see how I progressed. After about another hour later, the Dr. came in again and checked me...I was still at 7 cm which was a little discouraging because by that time I was really having to concentrate and work through each contraction. Before, in between contractions Ryan, mom and I talked and laughed but it had become all business at this point. I was sitting on the edge of the bed and would lean on Ryan while he rubbed my shoulders and mom rubbed my back. I was really hoping that my water would break because I knew once it did it wouldn't be long before I would be pushing. So after about an hour of tough contractions and still being at 7 cm's I was ready for Khloe to be here! I agreed to let Dr. Rossell break my water and she was right...the contractions got much stronger and closer together but there was no doubt we were making progress! I'm not sure how much time had passed (not a lot) but I told mom to go get the nurse so she could check me again in hopes that I was ready to push. I had made it to 9 cm's but wasn't quite there yet! A few contractions later though I started feeling pressure and when the nurse checked me I was finally complete and ready to push! YEA! I don't think I could have been more excited! Everyone was scurrying around trying to get things ready for delivery and thankfully I only pushed for 10-15 minutes before Khloe arrived at 12:07 pm! I had my eyes closed but remember hearing the emotion in Ryan and mom's voices as they watched Khloe enter the world! As soon as she came out they placed her on my chest (something they didn't do with Kinsey) and I got to see her right away! It was such a special moment that I will never forget! Kinsey was 9 lbs 8.5 oz so I kept telling myself that surely Khloe couldn't be bigger that Kinsey...boy was I surprised when they said she was 9 lbs 9.75 oz!! Thank God for BIG, healthy babies! It was absolutely a wonderful birth experience and I wouldn't have changed anything about it! I was pleased that things went so smoothly and I was able to have another natural birth...there's truly nothing like it! Needless to say our Thanksgiving was a little untraditional this year but we are so very thankful for the special gift God gave us!

Rocking through contractions.Meeting Miss Khloe for the 1st time!

Getting all cleaned up!

Sweet baby girl

Proud Daddy!

Welcome Khloe Lyn

Meeting Nana! It was so special for mom to be here for Khloe's birth! I was a little worried that she might get emotional on me during labor and delivery but she did great and I couldn't have done it naturally without her and Ryan by my side the whole time! Thanks mom-I love you!

Khloe and Grandpop

Proud Gram

Kinsey meeting baby sister for the first time! Once she checked Khloe over she raised my shirt up to check out my belly...it was so cute!

Holding her...

Our family of 4!

Aunt Callie with her newest niece!

What a sweet little face! And don't you love all that crazy hair!

Our big girl!

It's hard to believe that tomorrow Khloe will already be 2 weeks old! We're doing great and I'm loving having a newborn in the house again! I could just sit around all day and love on her! Kinsey is doing good too and is really good with her; she loves to hold her and give her kisses! I've got more pics but that will have to be another post because this one has literally taken me all day to complete! Thanks for checking in on us! Hopefully it won't be quite as long before I post again!

Sisters!

2010-11-27T21:12:00.003-06:00

I snapped this today and thought it was just too cute! Kinsey sure is proud of her little sister!

Such a sweet little face!

Khloe Lyn Blount has arrived

2010-11-25T19:45:00.014-06:00

Introducing Miss Khloe Lyn Blount arriving today, November 25th, at 12:07 pm, weighing in at 9 pounds 9.75 ounces, measuring 21 inches long, looking just like her big sister but only with lots of dark hair.

Kristin and Khloe are both doing well. I am sure that Kristin will add more later, but for now below are a few pictures for you all to enjoy. Thank you all for your prayers, God has truly blessed our Thanksgiving.

Ryan

Baby Khloe News and Baby Bryson

2010-11-24T16:13:00.002-06:00

This morning I had my 39 week checkup and I'm dilated to 3 cm's now and pretty much thinned out but Khloe is still hanging in there! Dr. Storck said she was really surprised to see me and hadn't expected me to make it another week but here we are and she is going out of town for the weekend so most likely she won't be delivering Khloe : ( Honestly, though, at this point I really don't care; I'm just ready! I have been having more contractions today so hopefully it won't be long...who knows!

In other baby news: my good friend from church, Christy, had her little boy Bryson on Monday and at 8 lbs 11 oz, he is such a doll! We went Monday to see them but didn't get to stay very long so since we were back in Nashville today for my dr. appointment we decided to go see him again. When we went on Monday, Kinsey was very quite and didn't know what to think about seeing Mrs. Christy in the hospital bed and she definitely didn't act very interested in baby Bryson! That's one thing that I've been a little worried about was how Kinsey was going to react to us being in the hospital so I'm glad she got to experience seeing Christy and Bryson before I had Khloe. Today Kinsey was so excited to go see baby Bryson again and she did so good with him! She just admired him and even wanted to hold him too! It brought tears to my eyes to see how gentle she was with him. I know she is going to be a wonderful big sister!

Random Pics...

2010-11-18T21:53:00.006-06:00

These are just a few random pictures I've snapped over the past few weeks of our Kinsey. I knew if I didn't get them up before Khloe came then they probably wouldn't make the blog!

Last Sunday morning Ryan decided to make biscuits, sausage, and gravy! As soon as Kinsey realized he was making something she wanted to "help" out : ) I must say they make a great team and breakfast was delicious!

Baking with Daddy is fun!

Grandpop, Gram, and Aunt Callie bought Kinsey a "big girl" chair and it came today. When she was little we had a vibrating chair that turned into a rocker that's been hers. Well I really wanted it for Khloe but knew we'd have to get her something else or otherwise she wouldn't give it up too willingly. I think you can tell by the expression on her face she loves her new chair! (And yes we sported our Big Sister shirt today under a sweatshirt because it was the only white short sleeve shirt she has and I thought a long sleeve one would be too hot! Hopefully in the next day or two she'll be able to wear it and show off her baby sister!)

Miss Priss

Where's Kinsey???

This is what I found when I went to check on Kinsey after she had been sitting on the potty for a few minutes! What a funny little girl!

The other day she found the heart rate doppler and wanted to find "baby Khlode" so after listening to Khloe's heart beat for a few minutes I told her I need to get some things done but she could play with the doppler. When I came back in our room a little later this is what I found...

...she was finding "baby Kholde" too! About a week ago she lifted up her shirt, touched her belly, and informed me that "baby Khlode" was moving : )

She talks about baby sister all the time and is ready to "take her out of my belly!" I have a feeling though when we bring her home she realizes Khloe is here to stay she'll be ready to "put her back!" One afternoon Kinsey got really quite so I went looking for her....she was practicing buckling her stuffed bunny in the car seat! She is going to be such a good little helper!

In baby Khloe news...we're just waiting! I went to the Dr. on Tuesday and I was still just dilated between 2 & 3 cm's. I'm still having contractions but nothing close enough or strong enough to get things started so we wait! I'm definitely ready and would be happy for her to come any day now! I had predicted that she'd be born today but my time is running out unless she comes really fast! Ryan is predicting Monday and I certainly hope he's right....there's a full moon Sunday night so maybe that will get her moving! Mom is supposed to be here Saturday and gets to stay for the week so we're looking forward to having her here....maybe that's what Khloe is waiting on.... : ) Hope you all have a great weekend!

Just Waiting...

2010-11-10T16:50:00.003-06:00

My Dr. appointment went well today...I didn't make as much progress over the weekend as I had hoped but Khloe's little heartbeat is good & strong and I'm feeling well so I really can't complain! Dr. said I was a good 2 cm's and about 60% thinned out so we're getting there and in the mean time we'll just try to be patient waiting! I'm really ready to just meet her and be able to hold & kiss her and look into those sweet eyes! When Kinsey "talks" to Khloe she always says "Take her out" and tries to take her out of my belly...so cute! Well today she was talking to baby and put her little arms around my belly trying to "get Khloe out" and sighed while saying,
"She heavy!" Then she lifted up her shirt and said, "My belly little." So I asked her what my belly was? To which she replied, "Your belly BIG!" So funny that little girl!

Hope you all are having a great week! We'll keep you posted....

Exciting but Uneventful Weekend

2010-11-08T13:41:00.003-06:00

Friday night about 8:30 I realized I was having some pretty regular contractions so I sat down and starting timing them while watching a little TV. They were about 8-10 minutes apart and lasted anywhere from 45 seconds to a minute so wondered if I might be in early labor but knew if I was then I better try to get some rest! The contractions weren't painful but they did feel like they were getting a little stronger. I went to bed around 10 but after lying in bed wide awake for over 2 hours, I decided to get up and time the contractions to see if they were getting closer. By the time I finally started getting tired at 2:00 am, they were about 4 minutes apart and still lasting about 45 seconds to a minute or so. When I went back to bed, Ryan woke up and asked how I was doing and I told him that I thought this might be "it"! We both were getting excited but I knew I really needed some sleep because we most likely had a long day ahead of us. So of course since I only had a few hours sleep Kinsey decided to get up at 5 am!! Needless to say I was a little sleep deprived but got up and the contractions were still coming. I called mom and dad and told them they might want to started getting packed and be on "stand-by." I went for a walk and the contractions got stronger and were still regular so I thought surely I wouldn't have regular contractions for over 12 hours and this not be the real thing! I called mom and dad back about 10 am and told them to head this way we were pretty sure Khloe was on the way! Ryan called his family and they started getting their things together too! We were all getting excited! Ryan and I went for a few more laps around the neighborhood Saturday afternoon and that really got the contractions going and they were getting uncomfortable so we were just waiting for my water to break or for the contractions to get strong enough that I couldn't talk through them. Well Saturday night rolled around and neither had happened...at this point I was so exhausted-mentally, emotionally and physically! By this time, I had been having contractions for about 24 hours and really thought it couldn't be false labor, could it?!?. I went to bed about 7:30 and was really expecting something to happen Saturday night or Sunday morning. With Kinsey my contractions didn't really start getting uncomfortable until after my water broke so I just kept praying if it was time for Khloe to come my water would break and so things would really start progressing. I started feeling bad for telling mom and dad to head this way when it was looking like she wasn't going to come! Nothing like making an 8 hour drive (1 way) expecting to meet your new grand-daughter and then her not come! I was able to get some rest Saturday night and when I got up Sunday morning I was still having contractions but they weren't quite as regular as they had been and by yesterday afternoon they had pretty much died down and were very sporadic! To say I was a little disappointed would be an understatement! It was good to see mom and dad though and to spend the day with them! Kinsey was so excited to see them and after they left this morning she kept asking, "Pete and Nana go?" I just kept telling her that they had to go back to GA but would be back when Khloe really decided to come!

I feel good today and am still having a few contractions here and there but I guess she's decided to stay put for a while longer. I go back to the Dr. on Wednesday morning so I am very interested to see if all the contractions I had this weekend made any progress....I sure hope so!

Thanks to everyone who called and text to check on us! Sorry for the false alarm! If you don't mind, keep those thoughts and prayers coming. We really appreciate them all! Hopefully I'll have some exciting news on Wednesday...I'll keep you updated!

36 Week Check up

2010-11-05T07:47:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I had my 36 week checkup and it went very well! I am 1 whole cm dilated (woo hoo!) but my cervix hasn't started thinning out yet so I guess little Khloe isn't quite as ready as mommy is!! I know she'll come when she's ready and I just hope and pray that she is happy and healthy because that's the most important thing!

I was so excited to get my Christmas shopping under way yesterday and hope to finish the rest of it today! I love knowing that it will be done and I won't have to worry about it after Khloe comes! Now to get Kinsey's gifts wrapped before she comes home this afternoon!

Last weekend Kinsey and I had some pictures taken and they turned out AMAZING! Here's a sneak peek and the link if you want to check them out! http://fitzufotos.zenfolio.com/

So Blessed!

2010-11-03T10:18:00.005-05:00

Last night several sweet friends gave Christy and me a shower for baby Bryson and baby Khloe! Christy and I found out the same weekend we were expecting so it's been neat to be able to share our pregnancy with a lady that is so special to me! I was so completely overwhelmed by all the ladies that showed up for the shower and for all of the gifts we received! Khloe will definitely not be needing anything!

me and Christy

Completely overwhelmed by all the gifts to open!

Opening gifts...

Mama Mac made Khloe a beautiful blanket...such a special gift from a great-grandmother!

I know Khloe will love this cute bear that plays lullabies that Aunt Callie gave her! (I guess I kept putting the tissue paper between my knees....not really the best accessory for my outfit!)

Kinsey had a blast opening all of the gifts...including Bryson's! Aunt Callie bought her the cute little shoes she has on and she loved them!

Christy opening her gifts...

All of the gifts...17 packs of diapers in all, I didn't even count the wipes, diaper bags and the cutest little outfits! We shouldn't have any trouble keeping keeping her little booty clean that's for sure! Ryan couldn't believe how many packs of diapers we got...now to find a place for them!

I can't even begin to express how much we love our church family! They have made us feel right at home from the first time we walked through the doors at Stroudsville and when you don't live close to family that means a lot! Thank you God for blessing our life with such wonderful friends!

Getting Ready!

2010-11-02T15:00:00.006-05:00

We've had lots going on but I am slowly getting ready for the arrival of our sweet baby girl! I've made so many list "to do/ need to get" lists that it's not even funny but somehow every time I cross something off the list a new thing gets added! Tonight some ladies at church are giving me and another gal whose also due at the end of November at diaper shower so I'm looking forward to spending time with friends. Patsy and Callie are coming to join in on the fun too so it should be a great night!

Kinsey "big girl" room is just about ready...I have a few more things to hang on the wall and that should be it! I made the letters for her name and was really pleased at how they turned out!

We are so excited that our "baby girl" officially has a name! We tossed around a few different names and Ryan really tried to like Karsyn (my favorite name) for me but said that it just sounded too masculine for a girl so we agreed on Khloe and I couldn't be happier! It is actually a family name on Ryan's side. We're still undecided about her middle name so if you have any suggestions feel free to send them our way. Ryan likes Khloe Lynn, I like Khloe Elizabeth, and Khloe Marie is in the running too! Marie is Patsy and Callie's middle name and I like the way it sounds but Kinsey and Khloe would both have the same initials and we're not sure we want them to sooo right now she's baby Khloe or "Khlode" as Kinsey sometimes calls her : )

We kept the nursery pretty much the same but I did get Khloe's name on the wall last week and it looks so good! Now we're just waiting to meet her!

I have my 36 week checkup on Thursday and I'm very curious to find out if I've starting dilating at all....I've been having lots of contractions and they are getting stronger but nothing too regular so it will be interesting to see if I am. I'm not going to lie, I will be a little disappointed if I'm not but I know she will come when she's ready...just hopefully sooner than later : ) Kinsey is going back to Paris tomorrow with Gram so I'll have a few days to get the rest of my "to do" list accomplished and my goal is to take care of all my Christmas shopping too so we'll see how it goes!

Thanks for checking in on us!

Fun Halloween Weekend!

2010-10-31T15:55:00.007-05:00

We had a fun weekend at Gram and Grandpop's. Kinsey had a blast with Aunt Callie and I enjoyed having lots of help with Kinsey and getting to rest some! Steve and Ryan drove out to Searcy to Harding's football game so they were gone all day Saturday but we had a great time just us girls! Saturday morning, I got Kinsey's 2 year pictures taken by a friend of Steve and Patsy's and she also took a few maternity pics of me and I can't wait to see how they turned out! After a morning of lots of smiling for the camera, we were all worn out so lunch and a nap quickly followed! Once we were re-energized, it was cookie making time! Kinsey loves to "cook" or should I say eat whatever you're supposed to be cooking : )

Patting her dough out...

Eating a little...
Now rolling it out...
I think in the end she ate more dough than she made cookies but oh well....that's part of baking right!?!

We relaxed during the afternoon and got ready for the trick-or-treaters!

Reading a new book with Aunt Callie

Just being silly! I think she was looking for Mocha (the cat) in the bushes! If I was Mocha I think I'd hide in the bushes too! : )

Costume time!!!
Our little Ladybug!

Flying like a ladybug!

Instead of getting Kinsey out in the cold we stayed at home and she helped Gram hand out moon pies to the trick-or-treaters! I think she really enjoyed seeing all the kids dressed up but wasn't quite sure what to think about some of the scary ones! : )

Bathtime is so much more fun with Aunt Callie (of course-everything is for that matter)!

Thanks for such a great weekend, Gram and Grandpop! We had a blast!

Tonight we had Trunk-or-Treat after church services. Kinsey was the cutest lady bug there and had so much fun saying "trick-or-treat" and getting her little punkin filled with candy!

Fall Fun!

2010-10-24T13:45:00.003-05:00

Last night we had a church get together at the Boatwright's and Kinsey had a blast! Every fall they host a time of fun and fellowship complete with a hayride, bonfire, and pumpkin decorating! Kinsey loves being outside and had so much fun running around with her friends!

Decorating her "punkin"!

Cheese!

Kinsey's 1st hayride with Daddy!

Thursday we had some visitors...Granny and Hobe were traveling back from Iowa and stopped to spend the day with us! I'm not sure who had more fun...Kinsey or Granny and Hobe : )

Kinsey and Granny sportin' some cool 3-D glasses : )

Hobe and "Kinsey cute" as he calls her!

Snuggling with Granny! It doesn't get better than that!

Our BIG 2 year old!

2010-10-17T22:54:00.006-05:00

I'm still in denial that my "baby" turned 2 years old today! A lot of people told the first birthday was a little hard or emotional for them but I have to say I have been so emotional about Kinsey turning 2! (I'm sure it has nothing to do with all of these fabulous pregnancy hormones either!) It just seems like overnight she has gone from a baby to a little lady! I didn't have the guts to look back at her newborn pics today and reminicse...I knew I would really lose it if I even tried! I'll save that for later in the week! Just this last week she started talking up a storm and putting sentences together and is acting so grown up and independent. One afternoon Ryan came home from work and asked where this "Chatty Cathy" side had come from because she was going on and on! I told him he probably should get used to it especially with another girl on the way....before too long he won't be able to get a word in at all! : )

Anyway, Kinsey had a wonderful day and we ended her birthday celebration with another round of Elmo cupcakes and had a few of our friends from church over tonight! This morning she helped me make "Blueberry Birthday Muffins" or at least that's what we called them! She liked licking the butter off the best!

So proud of her 2 candles!

All ready for Bible class and church in her birthday dress! Isn't she a doll!?

Happy Birthday!

Opening gifts!

Giving Emily a hug, thanking her for the new Elmo toy!

Jacob, Elizabeth, Emily and Kinsey checking out the new toy! Do you know how hard it is to get 4 kids ages 1-3 to look at you at the same time....IMPOSSIBLE! I finally gave up!

Thank you God for blessing us with such a sweet, fun-loving little girl! We couldn't imagine life without our Kinsey Mae and look forward to watching her grow this next year!

Fun at Monkey Joe's!

2010-10-12T19:56:00.003-05:00

Today we met some friends from church at Monkey Joe's. We had never been but once Kinsey got used to walking (or should I say falling) on the inflatables she loved it and had a blast! I tried to take her on a few of the bigger ones with slides thinking she would like them but realized very quickly that I am way too pregnant to be climbing around on a bunch of inflatables! It was quite a sight! : )

Climbing on the boat...this was her favorite!
And sliding down....weeeee!

We will definitely be going back again soon! Kinsey had so much fun but was completely worn out! About 5 minutes into the car ride home Kinsey was snoozin' away....she slept the whole way home and then another hour or so once she got in her bed! Bless her heart, I don't think she's ever played so hard!

Elmo Birthday Round 2

2010-10-11T21:18:00.004-05:00

We celebrated Kinsey and Mama Mac's birthday's this weekend in Paris! Mama Mac's was the 2nd and Kinsey's is officially next Sunday on the 17th but when you don't live near family you get to have several parties so everyone can be a part! I don't think it's hurt Kinsey's feeling that she's had more than one birthday party! After all, what can be better than Elmo cupcakes, right!?!

Kinsey adores her Aunt Callie and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual! : )

Singing "Happy Birthday"

She was trying to eat Elmo's nose but the harder she tried the deeper it sank in the cupcake!
"Daddy, why are you laughing at me??"
No party is complete without an Elmo balloon!

Opening gifts!

Kinsey had a great time at her party and loved being the center of attention! She is blessed to have so many people who love and care for her. Thanks to Gram and Grandpop for hosting and making her 2nd birthday so much fun!

Happy 30th Anniversary!

2010-10-11T20:59:00.002-05:00

It's been 30 years ago today that mom & dad said "I do." They've been through lots of up and downs through the years and, just like any marriage that lasts, things haven't always been easy but I'm so thankful that they've kept their commitment to each other and to God! They are a blessing to so many around them and I can't wait to see what God has in store for the next 30 years! Mom and Dad---hope you have a wonderful day! We love you so much!

32 Weeks!

2010-10-03T21:42:00.003-05:00

I can hardly believe that in about 8 weeks we will get to meet our new baby girl! This pregnancy has flown by and I have a feeling these next 2 months will go even faster! So much to do and so little time!!! I have done a horrible job at taking belly pics this pregnancy but here's the latest....I realize that the first picture I don't look as big but I think it's just the black top. As you can tell in the 2nd picture baby girl is growing quite nicely! She is such a mover and lately she's been getting the hiccups all the time but I love to feel her move and know that she's growing and developing! I am getting more and more excited to meet her and see what she looks like! : )

Since we got back from Valdosta I've been busy washing up fall and winter clothes for Kinsey. Last Wednesday night at church my poor child was the only one wearing a little summer dress in 60 degree weather! Needless to say it's much cooler here than it was in south GA! We are so very fortunate to have wonderful friends that have given us hand-me-downs...seriously I can't think of anything I need to buy Kinsey for winter except maybe some socks! We are so blessed! I think I am just about done with Kinsey's clothes so tomorrow I will start on washing baby clothes. It's so nice that Kinsey and baby girl were due the same time of year and that baby will be able to wear all of Kinsey's clothes.

Random pic I know but I just thought it was too cute!

Who ever thought a laundry basket could be so much fun!

Home Sweet Home

2010-09-30T15:08:00.004-05:00

We had a great time in Valdosta with family and friends but it was so good to get home yesterday! Dad came back with us to help me out on the 8 hour trip and I was so thankful to have his company and help driving! Kinsey and I hadn't seen Ryan in over a week so we were missing him too! It was nice to all be home and sleep in our own beds!

Kinsey loved playing with all of her cousins and I'm thankful that they are close in age and will hopefully grow up as close as I did with my cousins! It's hard to believe that we'll have another little gal to add to the fun at Christmas! Here are some more pics of the rest of our time at Pete and Nana's...

Bath time fun!

Kayden giving Brecken & Kinsey a ride!
Kinsey had blast with "baby Elwa." Aaron and Gena's air conditioning went out the day we got there so they spent the night at mom and dad's until it was fixed. I hated that it went out but was so glad we got to see them everyday! Kinsey always wanted to see Ella when she woke up in the morning and got very concerned when she got upset : ) Kinsey would say, "Baby Elwa kied (cried). She has tears." Hopefully she'll be that excited about baby sister when she comes along...

Girl talk

I asked Kinsey to read Ella a book but she really didn't want to share.
Okay, I guess I'll let her look at it!

And it didn't last very long....oh well.
Sweet baby
Kinsey liked Ella's Bumbo seat...I caught her kicked back watching cartoons one morning : )

And well there's no trip back home without some kind of fishing/hunting fun! Aaron caught this HUGE gator while we were there. It was massive and even though I knew it was dead I was sure it was going to come back to life and come after me! I'm glad it didn't because I probably would have had this baby and she can't come yet because she still doesn't have a name!

Happy Early Brithday Kinsey!

2010-09-24T13:29:00.003-05:00

Kinsey and I have had a blast spending most of the week at Pete and Nana's house. It had at least 2 months since we'd last seen them so Kinsey couldn't wait to come to their house! That's all she talked about for days before we came down on Tuesday! She was also excited to see baby Ella but isn't too sure about when she cries : ) We've had a great time catching up with family and friends and are so glad we get to stay a little while longer!

I can not believe that Kinsey will turn 2 years old in less than a month! It is just so hard to believe that I have a 2 year old and that she's is not a baby anymore! Mom and Dad are saving their time up to take off when "baby girl" comes so they weren't going to be able to come to TN for Kinsey birthday party so we just decided to have one while we were here! Kinsey is ALL about Elmo these days and LOVES watching Sesame Street so we had a little Elmo party for her and she loved her Elmo cupcakes!

Happy 2nd Birthday Kinsey!

She wasn't sure what to think while everyone was singing to her!

Blowing out the #2 candle!

Yummy!

Kayden helping open presents!

Pete and Nana got her a kitchen, Papa & Granny Guthrie gave her an apron with her name on it, Melissa and John gave her a little shopping cart and Aaron and Gena gave a basket full of food so now she's all set to have lots of fun!

So proud of her new kitchen!

Nana also had a box full of dress up clothes for the girls to play with!

Helping me make her elmo cupcakes!

The best part....licking the beater (aka getting batter everywhere)!

Nana & Ella having fun!

Granny Guthrie, Ella, Kinsey and Granny Horne

Thursday morning I kept Kayden and Brecken....Kinsey had the best time playing with them! And it was so much fun for me to get to watch them together!

Sneak Peek!

2010-09-13T13:44:00.007-05:00

Saturday we got to take a peek at our little gal by way of a 4D ultrasound! I'll just say she wasn't too fond of getting her picture taken. She kept her little hands in front of her face almost the whole time but finally gave us a little smile at the end!

My favorite pic! So sweet!

Looks like she's going to have chubby cheeks like her big sister! : )

Kinsey wasn't quiet sure what to think about seeing baby sister! The other day she was talking to the baby and hugged my belly then looked up at me and said "Take out?" It was so cute but I told her it wasn't quite time for baby sister to come out of mommy's belly but she would be here soon! Boy does Kinsey have a rude awakening coming and poor thing doesn't even know it! I'm still feeling great and we know our baby girl will be here before we know it! I found out today I passed my blood sugar test last week (Woo, hoo!) but my iron levels are low which I kind of expected because I'm always anemic. Thankfully it's nothing that a little iron supplement can't take care of!

Happy 40th Anniversary!

2010-09-11T21:07:00.003-05:00

Today Steve and Patsy celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary! That is quite an accomplishment in this day and time and we're so thankful for their commitment to each other and to God and for their wonderful Christian example to all of those around them! We love you both so much and are so blessed to have you as our parents! May God bless you with many more years together!

Wedding Weekend!

2010-09-06T18:05:00.006-05:00

Saturday Ryan's cousin, Jason, got married so we went to Paris for the weekend and had a great time! The wedding was very simple, but beautiful and as you can see Jason found himself a beautiful bride! We are happy for Jason and Alex and wish them the best!

Kinsey with Mac and Mama Mac

Happy girl!

Family picture!

My sweetheart and growing baby belly : )

Yesterday I was 28 weeks and it seems so hard to believe that we only have about 12 weeks left before meeting our new baby girl! I am getting really excited and my list of things I'd like to get done before she comes keeps getting longer and longer but I'm still feeling good so hopefully I'll get it all done! I have a checkup on Thursday so I'm curious to see how much weight I've gained...I'll just say I'm ahead of where I was at this point with Kinsey! The pounds seem to be going on very easily these days : ) and I'm getting nice and round well....everywhere but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Fun with Aunt Callie

2010-08-28T16:13:00.003-05:00

Thursday night Ryan was out of town so Kinsey and I decided to go see what Callie was up to! At the beginning of the summer she found out she got a counselor position at a brand new school that is a little over an hour away. We have loved having her closer and enjoy getting to see her more often but we still had not been to see her new place so a trip to Aunt Callie's was long over due! We stopped by her school to check it out and Kinsey loved running up and down the hallways and trying to get into all the lockers! Here she is busy working hard at Aunt Callie's desk! She looks like a pro right!

Kinsey enjoyed the rolls at O'Charleys : )

Callie has the coolest turtle ottoman that Kinsey loved playing on!

Pop taught Kinsey that deer with antlers are called bucks.

This is her impression of a "buck deer"

Reading books before bed...

Thanks for having us Callie! We had a great time and can't wait to do it again!

Kinsey's weekend at Gram and Pop's

2010-08-23T20:39:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure who had more fun this weekend....Kinsey or Gram and Pop! They brought her back home this afternoon and stayed to eat supper with us. I really didn't think that I missed her that much until she saw me and her little face lit up when she said, "Mama, mama, mama!" It was all I could do to hold back the tears and then when she wrapped her little arms around my neck well...then I lost it! (Got to love those pregnancy hormones!) She had a blast spending the weekend in Paris and didn't miss us at all. She got to help Gram and Aunt Callie in the kitchen which I know she loved! Patsy had bought Kinsey some pull ups and didn't realize they were boy's until she had already opened the package. When Kinsey saw them she said, "Daddy's pants!" Maybe because they had some blue on them she thought they belonged to daddy! How funny is she!

Kinsey says, "Stir, stir, stir."

Helping Gram make cinnamon toast

Ryan's cousin Jason is getting married in 2 weeks and the family had a shower for them this weekend. From what I hear, Kinsey loved helping them open their gifts!

While Kinsey was having fun at Gram and Pop's, Ryan and I made a very quick trip to West Virginia and back for, Ryan's Harding football buddy, Nate's wedding. The wedding was sweet and simple and we're so happy for Nate and Molly!

Nate and Ryan at the reception

After a busy weekend we are definitely looking forward to an uneventful week! Hope you have great one!

Happy Friday

2010-08-20T06:08:00.003-05:00

So we've not been up to too much lately...just trying to stay cool and beat the heat! Below are a few pics from over the past few weeks! Hope you enjoy!

Just chillin'...

I'm still wondering what has happened to my baby?? She's just growing up way too fast!!!

HUH???

She was so proud she put her own shoes on...LOL!

One day she found this apron in a kitchen draw and wanted to put it on. She definitely is my little helper in the kitchen and always wants to stand in a chair to "help" with whatever I'm doing!

Our little pianist! I heard her playing one afternoon and came in expecting to see her standing up playing...oh no--she had climbed up on the bench and was just playing away like she was an old pro! : )

I know I've mentioned how blessed I am to have such wonderful in-laws but they truly are the best! Yesterday I met them to drop off Kinsey for the weekend because Ryan and I are headed to a friend's wedding in WV. They were more than happy when I asked if they would keep her and I know that she'll have way more fun with Gram, Grandpop and Aunt Callie than she would traveling in the car! Also did I mention that when we made the Kinsey swap yesterday Gram threw 3 packs of newborn diapers in the van! She's already getting us stocked up for Nov and we're so thankful! Thanks so much for all you do for us! You guys are the BEST~

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

2010-08-02T11:39:00.004-05:00

The past few weeks we have been quite busy for us with VBS, traveling, and spending time with family! It's been lots of fun but hasn't left me with much time to blog so I'm going to attempt to get all caught up in 1 post...here it goes!

Two weeks ago we enjoyed a Wild, Wild West themed VBS! The kids had a great time learning about some of the parables and the adults, well we had a good time too but were glad to see the end of the week come! Kinsey learned how to sing the "Lord's Army" song cowboy style and loved to throw in the "yee, haw" at the end but instead it came out "hee, haw!" It was just too cute and she's still singing it like that!

Pete and Nana came to visit and got to stay almost a whole week which was wonderful! We loved having them here and Kinsey loved all of the attention! Unfortunately, I didn't take hardly any pictures but these are just a few...

Queen Kinsey wearing Nana's robe!

Kinsey's loved sharing a popsicle with Pete!Last week Ryan had to go out of town on business so Kinsey and I decided to go to Paris to see everyone. Mama Mac has been in and out of the hospital so we thought we'd go cheer her up. I've learned there's no better medicine for a grandparent than a little Kinsey time! : ) Unfortunately we didn't get to see her because they weren't sure if what she had was contagious or not but we did get to visit with everyone else. She is doing better but still in a rehab center to regain some of her strength so please keep her in your prayers. Gram and Grandpop were wonderful hosts as usual and it was great to spend time with them!

Kinsey found a new friend while visiting at Margaret's!

To top off our travels, Kinsey and I packed up and went to Chattanooga with Ryan Thursday night for a meeting he had Friday morning. We went to the pool and just laid around the hotel room until Ryan was done and then got a little shopping done before heading home! It is nice being able to travel with Ryan when we want to but it's nice to be at home too!

We are really proud of the way Kinsey has caught on to potty training! She is doing great; we still have some accidents every now and then and she still wears pull ups when we go out (just in case) but I couldn't be happier with her progress & I know by November she'll have it down pat! She's such a bright little girl and I'm amazed at how quickly she is growing up! Not to brag : ) but she knows her colors, can help us count to 10--we say 1, she'll say 2, we'll say 3 and so on, and the same with her name--she can almost spell it by herself but usually she'll fill in every other letter! She also knows her share of Bible trivia...right now she knows Adam and Eve were the 1st man and woman, Noah built the ark, baby Moses was put in a basket in the river, Joseph had a coat of many colors, Daniel was thrown in the lions den, Samson was the strongest man in the Bible, Jonah was swallowed by the whale, the walls of Jericho fell down, Zaccheus climbed a tree so he could see Jesus, Jesus was born in a manger, and the little boy who had 5 loaves and 2 fish shared his food. She loves going to Bible class and singing her Bible songs. My prayer is that she always has this same love for God and learning about Him!

In baby news, there's not much to report which I guess is good! She's getting bigger and so am I : ) but I feel great! I will be glad when the weather is a little cooler and we're able to get outside some...it's just too hot right now! We still don't have a name nor are we any closer than we were when we found out a few weeks ago that it's another girl so feel free to suggest a name for our precious #2!

I guess that's all for now. I'll try to be better at updating but no promises! Hope you all have a great week!

Ryan + 3 girls = Out numbered!!

2010-07-13T20:23:00.003-05:00

We had a wonderful Dr. visit today and got to see our sweet, healthy baby GIRL! We couldn't be more excited about having another girl and I'm excited that Kinsey will have a sister so close in age to grow up with! With another girl in the house, Ryan will quickly become out numbered but I know he'll be just as wrapped around this baby girl's pinky and he is with Kinsey...that's just what little girls do to their daddies! No we don't have a name yet and if naming her goes anything like it did with Kinsey it will be a while! If you have any suggestions feel free to leave us a comment...we'd love your ideas! I wish she would have cooperated a little more today during her photo shoot but she didn't so we really didn't get any good ultrasound pics. She did wave at us once which melted our hearts! Today just made us more anxious for November to get here so we can meet our precious baby! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!

Halfway There Baby!

2010-07-11T21:05:00.005-05:00

At 20 weeks today, I am halfway through my pregnancy and I can hardly believe it! Time is flying by and I know November will be here before we know it! We find out Tuesday morning what precious little #2 will be and Ryan and I are both getting very excited to hear that our baby is healthy and to know the sex! I am definitely growing and think between Uplift at HU and the family reunion this weekend I've packed on about 10 lbs in the last month...so it should be interesting to see what the scale says on Tuesday! Baby has definitely started moving more and more the last few weeks. I felt it for the first time at 15 weeks but as each day passes I feel it a little more, especially when Kinsey happens to be on my lap! With each little kick and nudge, I feel so blessed to have a new life growing inside me...there's truly nothing like it! Thank you God for entrusting us with this child!

20 week baby belly

There are 3 thing that I wanted to try to get Kinsey to do/transition into before November rolls around and the baby is here and so far we've accomplished 2 of the 3 so I am very pleased!

#1) About 2 months ago I cut the tip off of Kinsey's passy and told her the passy was broke. She got mad at first and would just try to chew on it but within a week she didn't even ask for it at all! I was amazed and never thought that getting rid of something she was so attached to would be that easy but it was! Now there were a few rough nights but we made it through, didn't give in, and the little bit of lost sleep was so worth it!

#2) Our big girl has just as easily transitioned to her big girl bed which I'm glad but her nursery is looking more and more sparse and it just saddens me to think how quickly she's growing up! We started taking naps in her big girl bed and she was still sleeping in the crib at night but when we got back from Harding she didn't want to even be laid down in the crib so we put up the bed rail on her big bed and she started sleeping at night in there last week! The only drawback is that she's figured out she can get down and come see us after she's gone to bed : )

#3) We started potty training last week and well it was absolutely exhausting for me but she's catching on and I know I'll be so glad we didn't wait and try to do it after the baby comes! Since we have our Dr. appointment Tuesday morning, Gram and Grandpop offered to keep Kinsey so we just left her in Paris today to stay with them a few nights. Ryan told his mom that we weren't coming back to pick her up until she was potty trained! : ) Of course he was kidding but I'm hoping Gram can work her magic and things will starting clicking for Kinsey over the next few days!

Takin' care of business...

Ready for the Runway!

The best part of baking...licking the beaters!

I can't believe how much our Kinsey has grown up over the past few months! My goal for the next few months is just to enjoy our one on one time together because I know when November rolls around our life will be much busier with a newborn in the house again! We have so much to look forward to! Hopefully I'll get a chance on Tuesday to post some ultrasound pics of our sweet baby boy or girl! Thanks for your prayers!

Blount Reunion

2010-07-11T20:26:00.004-05:00

We spent a wonderful weekend in Paris with the Blounts! Saturday there was a Blount family reunion so we enjoyed catching up with family we don't ever get to see and for me meeting lots of them for the first time. Steve and Patsy did a great job heading things up and I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. Kinsey got to meet a few of her Blount cousins and had fun playing with them! I told myself I was going to take lots of pics and then didn't so these are a few of the ones I did get!

Patsy had quite a spread...it was delicious!

Steve and Ryan

1st cousins

2nd cousins

Working puzzles with McKenzie and Avery

My big girl!

Zoo Trip

2010-07-08T15:23:00.008-05:00

Tuesday a small group from church went to the Nashville Zoo! Besides it getting extremely HOT by noon we had a great time! I invited Callie to come along so she met us there and Kinsey and I had a good time spending the day with her looking at all of the wonderful animals God created! Kinsey was really cute...occasionally I would ask her, " Who made the elephant, bird, snake?" (or whatever animal we happened to be looking at) and she would very matter of factly would reply, "God did." in the sweetest little voice!

Uplift at Harding

2010-07-06T19:35:00.009-05:00

Last week Ryan and I had the privilege of taking 4 girls from our youth group at church to Harding's summer camp Uplift. It was an amazing experience and we made many unforgettable memories! We attend a smaller country church and due to our size we don't have a youth minister so Ryan was recently appointed youth deacon and we have very much enjoyed getting to know the young people better and providing opportunities for them to grow! They all just love Ryan and he's great with them! Of course, Ryan and I, being Harding alum, love going back and being on campus but I think the girls fell and love with campus too and had so much fun they are already talking about going back next year! Now on to the marathon of pics!

Our girls...Casey, Brandi, Mary Grace, and Ashlyn Being silly : )

Our first night on campus we enjoyed an Acapella concert! Baby was lovin' some Acapella and the loud music...I've never felt it move more at one time than during the concert!

Another group shot...

and another one

Singing on the front step of the Benson

Ashley got to come down twice to see us while we were there! As always, it was great to see him and Kinsey just ate him up! (It's ashame you can't tell they are kin!)

The parents of a family we worship with at Stroudsville live in Searcy and invited us over for supper Tuesday night. It was delicious and we all enjoyed a break from the cafeteria food!

Every morning we would always start off by singing silly songs to get the kids awake...here they are "Singing in the Rain"Kinsey fit right in and tried her best to do all the motions....including sticking her tongue out while singing!
Such a big girl!

Ryan was asked to be a God time teacher and had 3 small groups that he met with each day to talk about certain Bible stories and discuss the things they were learning over the week.

This was his 7th - 8th grade group.

The 9th - 10th grade group...I think he enjoyed them the most!

Playing a game they taught him...

Mom was able to go out with us and help with Kinsey which was a HUGE blessing! I learned really quickly that a pregnant woman has no business trying to keep up with a bunch of teenagers and going to bed at midnight every night so I know there's no way I could have kept up with Kinsey without having mom there! They stayed at Terri's and we got to see them during the day which worked out really well. I told her next year she definitely has to go since we'll have 2 kids in tow! Thanks mom, you're the best!

Kinsey and Nana on a HU swing

Reading books in the library!

Cooling off in the fountain!

Family pic!

Terri, Allison and me...it was so good to catch up with these special gals!

The last night was by far the highlight of our trip! After the evening worship service Brandi and Mary Grace told us they were thinking about being re-baptized and Ashlyn told us she was ready to be baptized! Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord of your life and putting Him on in baptism is such an important step and decision for anyone so Ryan talked to each of them, they talked to their parents and each of them decided it was the right decision for them. So Ryan had the privilege of baptizing 3 of the girls at Harding. It was such an amazing experience...there is a baptistry in the fountain in front of the Benson and over 600 fellow Christians sang and rejoiced with us! I am so proud of each of these girls and know they will do great things for God's kingdom!

Ryan baptizing Brandi...

Ashlyn...

and Mary Grace

Mary Grace and Jennifer, her mom and our other chaperon

Ryan and the girls...all smiles : ) There's no better feeling than knowing you are saved!
By the last night Jennifer and I were getting used to staying up late even if we were a little delirious!

As you can tell we had a very emotional week and I think we, as adults, got just as much if not more out of camp than the kids did! It was so nice to be able to spend 4 full days totally focused on our awesome God. We are so easily distracted in our day to day lives that too often we don't make time for Him like we should so a break from the daily grind was much needed for me!

On our way home from dropping the girls off at the church building, Kasey's mom called to let me know that Kasey wanted to be baptized too she just wanted to wait until she got home. So later that evening a small group of us met back up at the church and Ryan got to baptize Kasey too!

The girls rejoicing with Kasey afterwards!

Father's Day 2010

2010-06-23T08:53:00.002-05:00

We had a great, but busy Father's Day at our house! We celebrated Saturday by spending the day in Paris with all of the Blounts. We had yummy BBQ and all of the fixin's and enjoyed catching up with everyone! Kinsey put on a show as usual and ate up all the attention! Sunday we stayed busy with church activities but both of our babies gave Ryan their own special gifts. Kinsey made Ryan's day by sitting and snuggling with him in church...something she usually doesn't do--she's just too busy! And Ryan got to feel baby move for the 1st time so he was pretty excited!

I feel so blessed that our children have such a wonderful father and Christian example to look up to and to call their daddy! Kinsey adores her daddy and I know all of our children will...what's not to adore?! Ryan and I are so very thankful for our dads and the love, guidance, and wisdom they give us. They are both so very special to us and we realize we wouldn't be who we are without them!

Daddy's girl

Kinsey and Grandpop
Granny Horne and Hobe were traveling through on Monday so they stopped and spent the night with us. Although the visit was short, we enjoyed getting to spend a little time with them. Hobe put a $1 in Kinsey's purse so she thought she was big stuff! : )

Giving Hobe his Father's day card she made him!

Kinsey and Granny

Crazy week!

2010-06-12T14:20:00.002-05:00

So as you can tell it's been a while since I've posted but I think this will be my last post for today then I'll be all caught up...scroll on down to check out the other 15 I posted earlier today!

We've had a crazy last couple of days but I think things are finally settling down or at least I hope so! We got back from Valdosta on Monday and for some reason my body thought I didn't have enough morning sickness throughout the first trimester so we need to start all over again! Yuck! Now I've been feeling really good the past 2-3 weeks and thought I was over being sick but evidently not because I was gagging at everything! Seriously, when we got home I walked into the kitchen and started gagging. Poor Ryan wiped down the counters with Clorox wipes, lit some candles, and even put a dryer sheet in the pantry to try to help out! I would like to think that I'm over it now but Monday night Tuesday were kind of rough!

Then Tuesday, Kinsey woke up from her nap and her eyes were all matted and by Wednesday morning she was running a fever! So we just happened to luck out and get an appointment with her pediatrician (usually he's booked) for Wednesday afternoon. He was wonderful, as usual, and checked her over really well...his diagnosis: pink eye and an upper respiratory infection. Fun, fun! Bless her heart, by the time we got home Wednesday afternoon she was pitiful! She slept great that night and when she woke up Thursday morning her eyes looked much better and she just had a low grade temp so I thought she was getting better but that afternoon her fever was up to 102.3. Every 6 hours we'd load up on more Motrin which would make the fever come down, but it seemed like within 4 hours it was shooting back up again! I woke her up at midnight to give her another dose and she was burning up! When I checked her temp it was 103.9 which was pretty concerning to me but she went right back to sleep so I just figured if it was still that high in the morning then I'd call the Dr. While Ryan was getting ready Friday morning to go to work, Kinsey woke up so he put her in the bed with me like he always does. She really didn't feel that hot so we both fell back asleep and slept until about 8 am. Well she woke up crying and when I picked her up I could tell she had a high fever...104.6 to be exact! I thought I was looking at the thermometer wrong but oh no! So I called the Dr.'s office right away and talked to a very nice nurse that told me a few things I could do; she said she was going to talk with the dr. and would call me back if there was anything else I needed to know. By this time I was getting a little emotional---here I am pregnant and hormonal anyways, on top of that I've got a cold and am sick too, and my baby is running a fever that is sky high! Not a good combination!

About an hour later the nurse calls back and says Dr. Roads wants to see Kinsey so off we go to the dr.'s office for the 2nd time this week! Not really my idea of fun! By the time we get there her fever has gone down to 99.8 but she was still acting very sluggish and hadn't eaten anything and for a gal whose first words in the morning are "eat, eat" that's a red flag! So he checked out her ears again, I think he was expecting them to be really bad because he told me on Wednesday that usually ear infections accompany pink eye but her ears looked good so he ordered a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. Did I mention Kinsey screamed when I had to put her on the scale to weight her? so I knew that taking an x-ray wasn't going to be pretty! A few minutes later, we're sitting in the x-ray room and I told Kinsey that a nice lady was going to take a picture of her heart and all she had to do was say "cheese" so she very un-enthusiastically practiced saying cheese a few times. Then the x-ray tech tells me she going to try to put Kinsey in this contraption to hold her still so she only has to take 2 pictures instead of 20 trying to get a good shot which means lower exposure to the radiation. After showing me the contraption, she promised me that she wouldn't hurt Kinsey; just what a pregnant, hormonal woman wants to hear! So I preceded to tell her that I was pregnant and had been a little emotional already that morning so I was probably going to cry when Kinsey started screaming. She was super nice and handed me a box of tissues : )! I helped try to get Kinsey in "torture chamber" but then just had to step away and let the nurse help because she was screaming at the top of her lung and trying to turn around and look for me! It was absolutely heartbreaking :( but Kinsey was fine once she was in my arms again! I'll be surprised if I will ever be able to get her back through the doors of that place though! Nothing showed up on the x-ray so he just said she probably had a bad virus on top of the other things!

On our way home we stopped by Walgreen's to stock up on more Motrin and Tylenol and by the time we got home Kinsey was wiped out so she went right down for a nap and slept for 4 hours. Later in the afternoon, I was fixing her another round of Tylenol and used a syringe from Walgreen's that came with her prescription and realized it was much bigger than the one I had been using the past few days to give her medicine. The smaller one had come with a bottle of Infants Motrin and was marked in ml so when Kinsey was younger I had measured 1/2 tsp and marked on the syringe for the right dosage. Well Kinsey rarely needs any medicine and I guess I didn't remember that it was just 1/2 tsp--now she can take 1 tsp--so the whole time she's been sick I've just been giving her HALF of the amount of medicine that she could take! DUH!! When I realized that I felt like such a dummy! I told Ryan I definitely get worst mother of the year award!! If I'd have been giving her the correct dosage her fever would have probably never gotten that high and it could have saved us the 2nd dr.'s visit and Kinsey's introduction to the torture chamber!! Oh well I guess you live and learn, right!?

Needless to say, ever since Kinsey's been getting the correct dosage of Tylenol and Motrin she's not run anymore fever! It's amazing how that works! Kinsey's still not 100% but we're getting there! Hopefully we'll be able to get out tomorrow and go to church...I'm getting a little cabin fever!

Dad's Graduation

2010-06-12T13:42:00.004-05:00

Dad has been taking night classes at Valdosta Tech for the past 2 years to complete his degree in Heating and Air-conditioning and all of his hard work and dedication paid off last Saturday when he got to walk across the stage and receive his diploma! We were so excited to be a part of this special day for him! Going back to school isn't an easy task for anyone at any age but for a 50 year old man that had been out of the classroom for a such long time it was quite an accomplishment and to graduate with honors on top of that was amazing! We are so proud of you dad and can't wait to see what God has planned for you!

Walking in all decked out in his honors cords!

He's the tall one :)

Getting ready to walk across the stage!

Diploma in hand! Woo, hoo!!

Way to go DAD!

Dad and mom

(I don't think he'd have made it with out her!)

Family pic!