Visit to Memaw and Dedaw's

Last weekend we took a little trip down to Waco to visit Scott's parents, aka Memaw and Dedaw, because we hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving. It's so nice that the max time we have to travel for the girls to see either set of grandparents is an hour and a half. It's an especially easy trip when we time it right and Kendall naps the whole time and then Avery just listens to music or watches a movie. We didn't do anything special really while we were there, just enjoyed visitng. Avery (and now Kendall too) always enjoys playing Memaw's piano and listening to Memaw and/or Dadddy play too. Kendall also really liked rocking in their little bitty rocking chair. It was funny to watch her rock it-- she loves action! Avery enjoyed doctoring Dedaw and sitting on the porch swing with her Memaw while she got her Bible class materials ready for Sunday. Memaw is always so sweet to have a special Bible class for Avery during church on Sunday since their church is small and doesn't have Children's Worship like she is used to. It is definitely the highlight for her and she talks about it for weeks every time after we visit. It makes me so happy to know that she will always have such a neat memory to treasure and to share of going to "Memaw's Bible Class". Another memory of our trip I have to record is when Scott lifted Avery up to look in the baptistry after church she asked, "Are there fish?" Let's hope not!

11 Months

Well, 11 months have come and gone for Kendall and we will be celebrating her birthday in a few short weeks. One thing we have learned for sure: life is always exciting when Kendall is around! Whether it's smiles and laughter and scrunchy faces, or tears and tantrums, she keeps us on our toes and makes life interesting. She is such a sweet, lovey baby though with her hugs and cuddles and open-mouth kisses that you just can't help but love her. She can say a few words now-- bye-bye, hi, uh-uh (uh-oh), ba-ba (bottle- she's learned that one quickly now that I weaned her), dat (book), dada, mama, woof, and boo (moo), teee ("cheese" when you get out the camera)-- but we are looking forward to a lot more talking so that she can communicate what she wants better. She finally has 4 teeth and 2 more that are just poking through. She is eating more finger foods lately, but she is still very hesitant about anything mushy. Luckily, we can still get her to eat baby food fruits and veggies . . . sometimes. Her favorite things are oatmeal, dry cereal, yogurt, Ritz crackers, graham crackers, and baby food meats. Although she doesn't really exhibit reflux symptoms anymore, we have to wonder with her liking so many bland foods and the way she often acts at mealtime if it doesn't still botherd her. I guess (and hope!) that it will either disappear, or she'll eventually be able to communicate somehow that she is refluxing. Kendall has been practicing standing alone a lot lately but has yet to get up the courage to take any steps. Every time we try to coax her to walk, she just lunges for us or drops to her knees and crawls. She has started walking behind her shopping cart and her ride-on toy some though. I'm sure in the next few months she'll be cruising around like it's no big deal and we'll have a hard time remembering when she crawled everwhere. I don't have any height or weight stats, but here are some other facts for the record about Kendall at 11 months: clothes- size 6-12 months, or 12 months, shoes- size 3, diapers- size 3, sleeps 7:30 or 8 PM until 7:30ish AM, naps - 2 a day (2-3 hrs total; AM nap is getting later now and i'm praying that it doesn't disappear for a few more months!), drinks 4 bottles and eats 3 meals a day. As you'll see in the pics, she had her first experience in the sandbox today. The weather was gorgeous and she was bored with swinging, so I thought we'd give it a try. She LOVED it! She sat there by Avery for the longest time playing with the sand toys and then digging a little trench and scooping the sand on herself. And then, as I expected her to do the minute I put her in the sandbox, she took a handful of sand and shoved it right in her mouth. Luckily she only fussed about it for a second and then was fine once I gave her a drink and wiped her mouth. So now I'm looing forward to warm spring days when the girls can play in the sand or water and I can relax and enjoy the weather! Here are a few more pics of my almost 1 year old!

Red River Trip- Part 2

While Scott and I skied during the day, my parents took the girls every afternoon to play in the snow and to sled. What awesome grandparents! Kendall and Avery don't know how lucky they are. On New Year's Eve, Scott and I just skied in the morning and then took the girls to sled ourselves that afternoon. Scott did most of the work pulling them up the hill, but we took turns riding down with them, which was a lot of fun. Avery kept singing "Frosty the Snowman" as we pulled them around and Kendall just smiled and smiled. . . as long as the sled was moving that is. My sister made reservations for us all at Timbers steakhouse on New Year's Eve, and we sure were glad. When we got there at 5:00 there was already a mob of angry people who thought they had reservations but somehow weren't guaranteed a table because of all the parties of 8 or more. All I have to say is thank goodness for our #8-- Miss Kendall! We had a nice dinner and then braved the frigidness to watch the torchlight parade of skiers at 7:00. We didn't come anywhere close to making it to midnight, especially on New Mexico time. I think we were all in bed by 9 or 10 PM! My parents and I did a little shopping on New Year's Day, we took the girls sledding one more time, and then we decided we had had all the fun we could take and we packed up and left a day early. It was nice to get home and have the weekend to recover from the trip, do laundry, put up the Christmas decorations and TRY to put away all those new toys! Thanks Mom and Dad for the wonderful vacation! We had a great time and made a lot of priceless memories!

Red River Trip- Part 1

The day after Christmas we headed off to Red River, NM with my family for a week of skiing and relaxation. After my Dad performed some "Jedi" packing (as Scott called it) to get my parents' stuff, our family's stuff, and a week's worth of food in his Suburban, we were off for the first leg of the drive which would take us to Dalhart, TX. I was worried about how the girls would do on such a long trip, but we just stopped every couple of hours and they really did great. We woke up the next morning to snow in Dalhart, but luckily the roads weren't bad and we made it to Red River by mid-afternoon.

snowy morning in Dalhart

Once we got to Red River and unpacked, Avery was eager to go play in the snow. So we bundled up the girls and went out to the little courtyard behind our condo to let them play. Kendall was NOT a fan of her snowsuit, at least until she discovered sledding the next day. She sat in the snow for a minute, and then started crying and wanted me to pick her up.

My parents were so nice to watch the girls during the day on Sunday through Wednesday morning while Scott and I skiied. It was a true vacation for us. On Sunday when we finished skiing, my parents brought Avery up so she and Scott could do the tubing that they have on the bunny slope every day when the lifts close. The 4:00 session was all sold out, so I took Kendall back to the condo and Scott and Avery stuck around to catch the 5:00 session. That's why it looks like it's nighttime in the pic below. Scott said Avery just squealed the whole way down every time and they had so much fun.

While Scott and Avery were waiting to tube on Sunday, he took her down to see if they had ski boots small enough for her so she could try out skiing. They actually had her size (and she has small feet!), so on Monday morning we took her with us to the slopes and she attended "Daddy Ski School" since they had to be 4 yrs. old to do the actual ski school. It was so much fun to watch! She could actually slide around on her skis a little and we taught her how to put her skis in a snow plow (even though she couldn't do it well enough to actually stop herself). Scott took her up on the lift for the bunny slope several times and skied down with her between his legs. I think she like riding the lift as much as she liked skiing. She kept asking to ride the big lift, or as she called it, "the yellow chairs". Sorry Avery, maybe next time!Avery's first time on skis!

Daddy Ski SchoolWe played "Red Light, Green Light" to teach her to snow plow"Hi Mom!" - riding the bunny slope liftkicking back with Daddy after a morning of skiing

Scott and I skiied pretty hard the whole time. He's a better skier than I am, but I'm able to keep up for the most part. We skiied mostly blues and blacks, but we did take an afternoon to do some scenic skiing and to take my sister and her husband up to the top of the mountain for the first time. It was fun to ski with them and we were able to get at least one picture with both of us in it. Stay tuned for Red River Part 2 coming to a blog near you!

the back side of the moutain had a lot of scenic trails with lots of Aspensthere were also some good views of the town

The "Jumpolene" Christmas

I have officially dubbed Christmas 2008 as "The Jumpolene Christmas." What in the world is a Jumpolene you may ask? Why, it's an indoor/outdoor inflatable trampoline of sorts for tiny tots. And to add to the fun, it's filled with 100 colored balls that fly in the air when you bounce. Back before Thanksgiving, when I asked Avery what she wanted Santa to bring her this year, she was quick to answer, "a jumping thing!" (just like the one Camdyn and Carter have-- thanks Williamsons for the large, obtrusive toy idea!) But seriously, Avery was so excited about the possibility of her own jumpolene that Santa just couldn't resist, even if we have absolutely NO place in our house for one. Luckily, Santa was smart enough to purchase the electric pump that inflates the Jumpolene pretty quickly. Turns out that Kendall really likes it too and it makes a pretty good playpen, which is a definite bonus. As you can see in the pictures, Santa also brought a shopping cart walker for Kendall, which is a really cute toy. She gets up on her knees and crawls behind it across the room so fast and is starting to walk behind it some too . This year we had Christmas with my family, which consisted of dinner and opening presents on Christmas Eve, and then just lunch together on Christmas Day since we were all headed out to Red River, NM the day after Christmas to go skiing. More on our awesome trip later. The girls got TONS of toys from Mimi and Poppi (my parents), great aunt Milly, and from my sister and brother-in-law. I know that no one cares what all they got, but my girls might enjoy reading and remembering one day, so I'll try to list. Avery- Crayola magic light brush, bristle blocks, a my little pony, Leap Frog Tag reading system, 4 games, books, sticker books, coloring books, Crayola twistables and markers, Melissa & Doug pizza party, puppet making kit, Disney princess markers, stickers, and notebook, Play dough magic swirl ice cream shop, Doodle Pro, Sweet and Sassy nail polish, lip gloss, sparkle spray, etc. Kendall- books, ball, baby doll, V-Tech electronic book, V-Tech phone, Playskool ball popper, Fisher Price learning piggy bank and Fisher Price learning puppy. Scott just said to add that he thinks it's damaging for them to have this many toys :) I am still trying to find places for all the toys and I'm already looking forward to the spring Divine Consign sale so we can get rid of some old toys. But it was a great Christmas for us with the highlight being watching Avery's eyes get HUGE on Christmas morning when she saw her Jumpolene! It's definitely fun to experience Christmas again through the eyes of a child.