Snow Adventures

This past week we had a snow storm, and got about 10" of snow. On Saturday Steve took Kylie out to play in it. This is the first time that Kylie has really been able to experience a lot of snow, since last year she was only about six months old or so when it was winter. She enjoyed exploring the snow on the back deck while I blew up the sledding tube (I guess that's what you call it) inside.

The snow can be hard to walk in.

At the top of the hill in our back yard, ready to go.
She insisted on going by herself, such a brave little gal.

Whee!!



At the bottom of the hill, waiting for Daddy to come pull her back up again.

That $20 tube was money well spent!

Snow Bunny

Last night we got our first snow (or dusting rather) of the 2009/2010 Winter season. When Kylie got up this morning she was ready first thing to head outside. We got her suited up to go out, and I couldn't help myself, the camera had to come out too.

All geared up and ready to go.

Seriously Mom, why all the photos??

Okay, okay, one more...

Isn't snow fun?

And interesting...

Our slide has snow on it

Happy Winter!!

Halloween 2009

This Halloween was extra special, because we now have a real neighborhood for Kylie to go Trick-or-Treating in. The Trick-or-Treat time also provided us an opportunity to meet more of our neighbors. Everyone seems really friendly. Kylie was a butterfly this year.

Here she is, getting ready to go. She was pretty excited.




Steve took her Trick-or-Treating, so that I could stay back and answer the door.

She definitely liked all of her candy. She kept saying "candy, candy" after she got home. We gave her a few Smarties and she was in heaven.

Happy Halloween!

Apple Picking

Today Steve and I decided to take a break from packing and go pick some apples. Barthel's Fruit Farm, which is located about 20 minutes away, has u-pick Honey Crisps, which are a favorite variety of ours. So after Kylie woke up from her morning nap, we loaded up the car to head to the apple farm. As you can see, Kylie was really excited for the experience... (see below)

Once we got out of the car and she woke up, she kept saying "apples, apples!" She really loves apples. We let her have one that Dad picked for her. She really liked it.

It was only after we got home that we realized she had eaten three apples, two at Barthel's, and one on the way home. Apples are good for brain development, right?

We plan on making picking apples a family tradition.

Love the Socks

Last week when Kylie and I were packing for the move, I opened a box I had saved that had shipping peanuts in it. Kylie was sifting through the peanuts, and found an unopened gift. I looked at the shipping label on the box, and it was a gift to me from my parents, in April 2006. How I overlooked the little gift, I have no idea. I let Kylie unwrap it, and among some other items, were these socks. I guess she thought they were hers, and almost every day since she has worn them. With everything. Apparently she's a bigger Hello Kitty fan than I realized....

Our First Home

After a lot of hunting and praying, our offer was accepted on the little house in Jackson that we had our eye on. We close on October 15th. I am feeling excited, a little aprehensive since we're never spent this much money before. Mostly, I feel like we are starting a new chapter in our lives, which I have looked forward to for a long time. Steve and I have been in apartments since the day we were married. It was time! Here are a few pictures.

Kitchen

Dining Room

Living Room



Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Bedroom #1

Bedroom #2

Basement Back Deck and Yard

Wisconsin State Fair

This weekend marked one of the highlights of my summer - going to the Wisconsin State Fair. As far as I am concerned, Wisconsin has one of the best state fairs in the nation. Bold, I know, but true. I have been looking forward to going all summer, so was I delighted to find out that family would be coming to this joyous event with us? Yes! Sarah, Danny, Jackson and Baby Parker were all in attendance, and it was a blast. The kids did exceptionally well, which means we all had fun.

A treat only to be had at the fair is their famous State Fair Cream Puffs. They are as big as a hamburger, loaded with cream. I only ate half...promise.. Kylie really enjoyed the cream puffs.

We got to see cows and horses, goats and pigs. What could be better? Did I mention I got up close and personal with Bessie? Where else can you do that?


I will miss you animals, cream puffs, deep fried food and As Seen On TV products. Until next year....

Like Father Like Daughter

This morning after Kylie got up she went over to the television and kept pointing to it saying "on, on". I tried to tell her that we weren't watching t.v. right now. She became frustrated, so I put her on my lap so that we could discuss this. I told her that I knew she wanted to watch t.v. right now (intending to follow that up with, "but we'll watch it later".) Before I could finish my sentence she interrupted me with "I need, I need". I had to laugh. I guess it's in her DNA to have the "need" for tv...

15 Month Stats

Head Circumference: 46 cm (50th percentile)
Length for Age: 32" tall (90th percentile)
Weight for Age: 22.6 pounds (45th percentile)
Weight for Length: 25th percentile

A little info on the 15 month old:

Activities: Kylie loves to run, collect rocks and sticks and overall being outside. She enjoys watching Sesame Street, but Mom limits her tv time more than she would like. She also enjoys helping Mom unload the dishwasher, wrestling with Dad, and making us smile and laugh with all of her funny anticts.

Eating: Kylie loves fruit. She eats a banana every morning, along with yogurt and toast. She also likes hot dogs, cheese, cereal and desserts (wonder if she gets that from Mom?).

Sleep Schedule: Still taking an hour nap at 9am and 2pm. Goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes up at 6.30. This makes her parents very happy.

We love you Kylie!

Family Vacation in North Carolina

Last week was spent in North Carolina, hanging out with family, and doing some pretty fun activities. We...

Got to play with the cousins. This was a real treat, since Kylie doesn't get to play with other kids that much, and to play with her cousins was EVEN BETTER!! They played hide and go seek, threw the ball around, ran around the yard a ton...they just had a blast. We miss you already Lilly and Trevor! (We miss Neal and Dani too, of course)

Boogied down to some live music (see Kylie doing her signature move of booty out and shake it dance). There is an outdoor shopping center a few minutes away from Grandma Rosie and Grampy's house that has live music in the center of their lawn on Friday and Saturday nights. We went twice, Kylie liked it so much. We enjoyed relaxing on our camp chairs while she wore herself out...

Played at the local playground. I love that Kylie fearlessly slides down the slides like a big girl. This playground was really cool because it had these shade covers high over the equipment so that hot Carolina sun didn't burn our skin and make us too hot. What a blessing!

Had fun running through the cylinder tunnels at the playground. Isn't it fun to peek out?

Went to a drive thru zoo called the Lazy 5 Ranch. It's about 45 minutes north of town. You pay a fee to drive through, and can purchase a bucket of feed for $3.50 to feed the animals, which we did. The zoo has all kinds of animals (you can see deer behind us) that you can see and feed. I fed most of them right out of my hand. We fed a zebra, camels, a giraffe, cow, pig, emu, etc. I was impressed with how sweet the animals were, especially the deer. They were so gentle. More pictures below.

Dad and Mom, Julie Anna, Neal, Dani, Lilly and Trevor - we love you guys! Thank you for having us as guests, and showing us such a good time.

Strawberry Picking

Every year, one of my favorite things to do is to pick strawberries. Growing up we would go to Holden Brothers Produce, plastic tubs in hand, and fill them up with fresh strawberries. I'm sure I ate a few before they made it to the tub. It was a tradition.

One of the things I have looked forward to is taking Kylie to pick strawberries for the first time. Since strawberry picking season in Wisconsin is almost up, I decided this morning to make haste to the strawberry patch, and see if I could pick enough to make some homemade jam, and save a few for putting on top of pound cake. It was a good plan, execution was a little lacking.

Taking a 13 month old who wants to walk ALL OVER THE PLACE to pick strawberries is only a good idea if Dad is coming too. I learned this the hard way. As Kylie and I made our way to the appointed row, she decided she'd rather visit with the other kids that were picking strawberries a few rows over. Before I knew it, she had walked over a few rows of strawberries to make it to her new "friends", and had taken a few falls in the strawberries along the way. Therefore, she had strawberry juice all over her bum, pants, and shoes. I ran to grab her before she got too far, picked her up, which proceeded to transfer the strawberry goo to my favorite jeans. What was supposed to be a wonderful, picturesque opportunity is now disasterous. I managed to feed her some goldfish while I grabbed as many strawberries as possible, and made my way to the car. Little one kicking and screaming the whole time. (I love that she's fiesty!!) Note to self: go on a day that Steve can come too. I did manage to take a couple pictures before the outfit was "decorated".

Despite the poor planning on my part, I'm glad that we got to go get our strawberries. They are beautiful and delicious, and I think despite her times of frustration, Kylie had fun. This experience taught me that I still have SO MUCH to learn as a parent, and I'm grateful that I have my little buddy Kylie with me to share in my successes and failures (such as today....)

Father's Day

This Father's Day, Kylie and I decided to surprise Steve with new pictures for his desk at work. The pictures he had on his desk were from when Kylie was two months old, and she looks so different now. So we hatched a plan. On Tuesday nights Steve has an activity with the youth at church (young men), so Kylie and I could get dolled up and sneak away for the photo session, and he wouldn't know about it. Our friend Kara, a professional photographer (you can see more of Kara's photography here), met Kylie and I underneath the overpass (doesn't that sound so mysterious??) in downtown Wauwatosa, and took some great shots of Kylie and I. Some of my favorites are below:

We picked out a collage frame, put our pictures in it, and presented it to Steve. He was pretty surprised, and I was quite pleased that I was finally able to get a gift for Steve that he didn't guess ahead of time. He always seems to figure out my surprises!

We hope Steve had a great Father's Day. He's such a dedicated Dad and thoughtful husband. We love you Steve!

P.S. A big thanks goes to Kara, for capturing our moments on film, and for being patient with us!

Kickstarting the Fitness

Running lately has been a challenge. I have my jogging stoller, that I love, but the weather has been cold and rainy lately, making running outdoors a little on the difficult side. I can't run indoors in our gym, because the treadmill is a little too interesting to someone who crawls all over the place now. What to do?

First things first, I needed new running shoes. So I picked up these beauties, and even got them on sale. The friendly sales guy gave me $5 off the purchase price (why he did that is a mystery to me, but I'll take it), and then I used my $10 off coupon from my entertainment book, and these babies were just the right price.

Next, I got a deal on a family membership at the Y. Three months for the whole family, only $177 dollars. Who could pass that up? Now I have zero excuses for not exercising, and I'm well on my way to running Crazy Legs next year. Hopefully..

After a Long Nap

Someone had some crazy hair (see the sides?). I love it. And I love that she is actually getting more hair now...

New This and That

This weekend we went out and bought an outside rug for a new frequently visited spot - the balcony. Since the air is warmer, the flowers are in bloom, and the birds are chirping, it is a great place to be. Notice the plastic lattice that Steve put up, to keep someone from sticking their head through the bars. She loves her new outside space. Nana O'Brien - notice she has on her new pink pants. They are perfect!

Kylie also loves her new dress that Grandma Rosie crocheted for her, for her 1st Birthday. It is very soft and snugly. She enjoyed wearing it to church today.