Snow Day, Chirstmas Tree, Parade....

Chad and I are so excited for this Christmas! It is our first Christmas in our own home, our first Christmas tree and to top it off Dathan is SO excited about Santa this year! We went to Ruidoso this weekend and Chad cut down our tree. Dathan helped us decorate and Kacy helped by pulling the ornaments off the tree=) I have been doing too much candy making and can already see this will not be a good month for our waist! While we were in Ruidoso we met up with our good friends Jerry and Nicole and their precious little girl Charise. We enjoyed going to the Walk Through Bethlehem and to a very cold Festival of Lights Parade with them. We ended the day with a hot bowl of chili and a fun game of Settlers of Catan at the cabin.

Kacy fell asleep before the parade ever started and slept through the firetrucks and police car sirens going off right next to us during the parade. I guess she was a very tired little girl!


Jackson (Nicole's nephew), Kacy and Charise bundled up and ready for the Walk Through Bethlehem.

Chad and Dathan getting the tree.

Kacy practicing using the spoon. She is still quite a messy eater when she is feeding herself, but she is getting better.

Kacy and Dathan both enjoyed eating the snow. Kacy was making a face at me here.

My Favorite Season

Many people that are close to me know that I love winter, but really my favorite season is fall. I love the cooler air, the changing colors, the good smells from the kitchen and most of all knowing that winter is next! We have had a great fall this year, one that tops them all! Chad and I enjoyed a week away on a cruise with friends while the children got to spend a week with Grandma, Papa and Mady. We have enjoyed dressing the kids up for Halloween, carving and decorating pumpkins, baking yummy food, going to fall carnivals and seeing the fun of the season through our kids eyes...the best way to see things!
We celebrated Dathan's 3rd birthday over a month ago now. He has really been into pumpkins this fall and wanted a pumpkin cake.
My parents survived the week with all three grandkids at our house while Chad and I were on the cruise.

Our little football girl!

We had a great week cruising with our friends Greg and Delaina from Carlsbad. We went to St. Thomas, St. Marten, Grand Turk and Princess Cays. We had a nice relaxing week.

Chad did the honors of carving the pumpkin after the kids and I had cleaned the inside out. Kacy liked playing with the seeds, but Dathan didn't want much to do with it.

Halloween morning we made pumpkin shaped pancake and Dathan put the faces on them.

Dathan and his good friend Austin at the pumpkin patch.

Kacy loves her blanket and pacifier for nap time and bedtime.

Kacy's Walking!

Making faces for the camera.

We have been thinking that Kacy was going to walk any day, but she seemed to get stuck at 4 - 8 steps for a few weeks. She is now taking over 20 steps at a time and is officially a toddler! She still prefers to crawl most of the time, but is so proud of herself and loves the praise that she gets when she walks.

Colorado September

Life doesn't seem to slow down! When we returned from Montana we unpacked and repacked for a trip to Colorado. I took the kids to CO to visit family and see my Grandma. I made a side trip to Kansas without the kids to visit my cousins and pick my Grandma up.

My two little helpers! Playing in the pile of dirty laundry.

Kacy's last picture with the bunny! We have taken pictures each month since she was born to show how much she has grown. I made this dress for her and thought it turned out really cute.


Kacy is holding a car up to her ear saying "hi" like it is a phone. Oh the hours she will spend talking or texting on the phone when she gets older. =)

Dathan's 1st motorcycle ride. Papa just got a new bike and Dathan loves the "lellow" bike. He enjoyed to ride around the block and wanted to go more.

We went to Cripple Creek, CO to ride this little steam engine train. We were able to watch the engineer shovel the coal into the fire and had fun on the ride. Dathan was not so sure about riding on it at first, but loved it in the end.

Kacy liked playing in the grass, but would not put her knees down while crawling. Very cute!

I drove to CO with the kids alone and it was wonderful when they both slept at the same time!

Kacy is not the best traveler, but does pretty good. She still has serious separation/stranger anxiety, but I am seeing a little improvement. She loves Dathan and they play better together each day. She cruises the furniture and has taken up to 4 steps, but is not officially walking yet.

Montana August

In the middle of August we flew to Montana to visit Chad's family for a week. We had a great time with grandparents and great Aunt Maxine.

Ice cream at DQ. We do not have DQ where we live, so we enjoyed going when we were out of town.

Our lumberjacks! Dathan was such a big helper picking up sticks and making piles with them while Grandpa and Daddy cut up the trees for firewood.

Kacy sat in a stoller and chewed on a piece of wood while we were working.

Dathan and Kacy loved playing the piano. Kacy in particular loves music and dances when she hears music.

Dathan crashed on the airplane.

Happy 1st Birthday Kacy!

Proud parents!

Kacy was not crazy about everyone singing Happy Birthday to her.

First taste

She loved her cake!

First ice cream cone.


It amazes us that a year has already passed. Not only is Kacy 1 now, but Dathan is nearly 3 years old. We are so blessed that God has placed these 2 precious children in our care. We love watching them grow and change, and at times can't wait for stages to end quicker than others, but overall try to cherish all the time we have with them.

Kacy is best described as "sweet". She is smiley and such a happy little girl. She had her 1 year Dr. appt. today and weighed in at 23 1/2lbs and 29 1/2 inches long. She loves to play pat-a-cake, wave bye bye, cruise furniture and walks pushing toys around the house, she says "day day" for Dathan, "dada" and "na na" for no no. She can already throw tantrums when she does not get what she wants or something is taken away. She has stranger anxiety and separation anxiety so leaving her at the church nursery or with a babysitter in nearly impossible. Thankfully she seems to be more consistent with sleeping through the night and is finally sleeping past 5 am. She likes to cuddle and gets shy when people talk to her. We look forward to another fun year with her!

Jumping and Dancing

It seems we cannot keep Dathan from jumping off of stuff these days. I am constantly on him to not jump off the couch, bed, chairs, etc. I take him 2 times a week to the inflatable play place we have in town so that he can jump, but it doesn't seem to get it out of his system. Kacy on the other hand has begun dancing. She bounces up and down to music and knows she's pretty cute. I get comments all the time about what a big smile she has.

Carrots from our mini garden.

Jumping off the bed.

One morning this week Dathan came in our room at 6am and Kacy was actually still asleep (she is usually up at 5 or 5:30am), so I told him to get in bed with me. I was amazed that he fell back asleep and slept until after 7am. What a treat for me!