{Randomness} November

 Here are our November Shenanigans....

November 1, 2012 - "Look Mom I can crawl like Will."

November 2, 2012

November 5, 2012 - Who knew an ice cube could be SO much fun!?

November 9, 2012 - Katelyn always says "Take our picture" after I'm done taking Will's weekly picture. Who can say no to that?!?

November 9, 2012 - and then she wants just HER picture taken....and she has to pose like she's taken lessons from somewhere!

November 11, 2012 - Katelyn was playing with play doh, so we gave Will some too! He wasn't so sure of it though!

November 16, 2012

November 16, 2012

November 17, 2012 - Taken at a birthday party. The boys are all just months apart.

November 25, 2012 - Bubble fun at Grandpa and Papa's thanks to Will's new Christmas present from Cousin Tanya, Neil and Owen. Will LOVES it and well, so does Katelyn! They have a ton of fun in the bath each night- it's hard to get them out, even with cold water!

Tea Party

Katelyn's preschool class had a tea party at school. They were supposed to wear their finest, fanciest outfit, both boys and girls. All by 1 girl in her class wore a Disney Princess dress and all the boys but 2 had on sweater vests and 1 had on a full tuxedo. They were all just adorable!!!

Ready to go to school for her tea party!

The purpose of their Tea Party was to learn manners. They had been learning about royalty all week long so this went right along with being prim and proper. They went to another room and sat around round table that had table clothes on them. The teachers poured the kids tea after they asked properly and they ate cupcakes, little sandwiches, fruit and veggies.

Katelyn with her friend Katy at drop off.  They're both ready for the tea party!!

Here is her class all gussied-up!

Here's her placemat. They even learned where to put the tableware on the table so it's in the proper position. She got to bring this home and it now sits at your spot at the table. She makes sure that everything is in it's proper spot at each meal.  I love that they started working on this with the kids at this young age! I think setting the table properly is something that has long been forgotten.

Once again, can I say how impressed I am with her teachers?!?! The other 3 year old class did not do this, just hers!!

{3.5 Years} Katelyn

Katelyn always sees me taking monthly pictures of Will and wanted me to take some of her. I'm glad she wanted this because they turned out beautifully. It helps when you have an adorable subject (Yes, I'm biased!) So for the reason for these pictures, we'll call them her 3.5 year pictures!

Katelyn has grown up SO much in the last 6 months! She is now attending Preschool 4 days a week and L.O.V.E.S. every.second.of.it! If she could go on Friday's she would. I am beyond impressed with how much she has learned in just the few short months that they have been going. I feel so blessed that she was able to get into this school (it's pretty popular) and more so that she got the teachers that she did!

She knows all of her ABCs, can count to 16, recognizes most letters and is starting to say the sounds of the letters and knows certain letters are at the beginning of certain words/names. She is writing the letters SO well and can write her name amazingly. Her teacher's said that they haven't even worked with her on it, she just started copying it from her name tape. She loves to color and do art projects. When she colors, she stays in the lines so well!

She is such a goofball and likes to be silly! She loves spending time with her Daddy and wants to help do all the things he is working on. If he is doing anything with the trailer, you can count on her being there to help. 

She also likes spending time with me and "helping" do whatever craft project I may be working on or wanting to help bake cookies or brownies. I try to be patient and let her help with as much as she can because I know there will come a day when she doesn't want to help out. She likes to help unload the dishwasher - her job is to put the silverware away.

This girl LOVES to sing and dance! Jack has some songs on his ipod that she loves, so she enjoys going with him places because she can sing along to all the songs. And it's crazy how many of the words she knows. She seems to be able to listen to something a few times and it sticks! Some of her favorites songs are : Pontoon - Little Big Town, Country Girl (Shake it for me) - Jason Aldean, Good Girl - Carrie Underwood, Mean - Taylor Swift. There are many more, I just can't think off the top of my head right now. When we put these songs on at home, she runs around dancing and singing. It's like she's on stage and entertaining people! She has learned several bible songs at preschool and likes singing them often as well. It's so cute to hear her version of "Jesus Loves Me" and "The B-I-B-L-E." It makes me so happy that she's learned these songs because I remember learning them in Sunday school at her age.

One of my favs!!

She loves spending time outside - riding her trike, running, etc. She's been doing gymnastics for the last 2 months and has really gotten quite good. I never thought I'd have a gymnast on my hands, but it just may be the case. She gets so excited when Monday rolls around and it's gymnastics day!

Katelyn loves spending time with her friends that she has made here in Missouri - Liam and Katy. We try to do play dates often because they don't get as much play time at school as they would like!

She is starting to get over her pickiness of an eater that she once was. She will at least try her food now without the huge struggle we once had. If she isn't into what we are having for dinner that night, she has to eat at least 3 bites because she is 3 years old. Usually she finds that it's not so bad after she tries it. And, she has found her sweet tooth! She loves chocolate and candy. I knew she'd come around - after all she is her Momma's child :)

She wrote this all by herself - without tracing anything!! I was one proud Momma when she brought this home from school!

Now enjoy a few songs by Katelyn :)

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Jesus Loves Me

On Brave Old Army Team - USMA Fight song (She knows all by one line that she always forgets).

The song they sing before the leave the room at school.

Stats:
31 Pounds (with clothes and after a meal!) She's such a skinny mini!
37.5 inches
Size 3T
Size 8 shoes

Thanksgiving 2012 and Will's Baptism

For Thanksgiving this year, we headed back to Wichita to be with my family. My Grandmother had a stroke in October and has been in the hospital and now nursing home since trying to get stronger. I really wanted to see her. Even though we are so much closer to KS than when we lived in GA, it's still a 6 hour drive with a baby that doesn't care to travel too long.

We left on Thursday and went straight to Emporia to see Grandma. We met my parents and brother there and stayed for a little while and then headed to Wichita. It was a long day in the car, but it was nice to not have to make the drive up to Emporia over the weekend. We were able to get all of the driving out of the way on one day.

Katelyn and Will were pretty excited to see Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Matt. Katelyn had a little slumber party on an air mattress. She slept on it when we went to OK to visit Matt and thought it was the coolest thing, so she was kind of excited to be able to do it again. The kids has more fun jumping on it before bedtime though....even Will. He was giggling so hard! We were all laughing at them laughing.

Since we spent most of our Thanksgiving day driving, we had our Thanksgiving Dinner on Friday. Katelyn ate everything at dinner and surprised Grammie and Papa! She loved the turkey but her favorite were the rolls! I think she out-ate all of us on the rolls. She would have ate more probably if we would have let her! I'm so glad that we are moving out of the picky eating phase! Praise the Lord!

Papa and Uncle Matt went out on Thanksgiving night to score a sweet deal on new cell phones and after staying out ALL night they got what they wanted. By staying out all night, they saved over $400. I guess that may be worth it??

Katelyn is helping Grandma make the pumpkin pie for dinner.

Our little "Turkeys!"

Trying to stand up to the stairs and he was successful! It won't be long and this will be what he'll be doing to everything!

While we were back in Wichita, I got to spend a little time with a great friend, Courtney. She hadn't met Will yet and I hadn't seen her little girl since last Christmas. Boy, they grow so fast!

 My cousin Tanya, Neil and Owen stopped through on their way back to OK from Manhattan. The kids exchanged Christmas gifts. They got Katelyn a pink fleece blanket with Minnie Mouse and her name embroidered on it. She loves it and sleeps with it every night on her bed. Will got a Musical Bubble Octopus that you hang in the bath tub and this thing is the biggest hit! Both kids LOVE it and it has to be turned on EVERY night!

On Sunday before we headed back to Missouri, we had Will baptized at the church I grew up in and also the church Katelyn was baptized in and where Jack and I got married. Grammie and Pops came in from Missouri on Saturday and were also there for this special day. Will looked pretty stunning in his white outfit. :) It had a bow tie and matching vest with crosses on the vest.

Ready to go. Keeping the bib on until we get to church to avoid his outfit catching the spit up.

Waiting for church to start at Ascension Lutheran Church.

Thankfully they do the baptism at the very beginning of the church service. Will was wide awake through the entire thing. He didn't even mind when the pastor put the water on his head. I think it may have helped that Jack was able to hold him the entire time. When we had Katelyn baptized, the pastor took her and held her but she was also 2 months old and asleep. Pastor Bingenheimer probably thought it was safer to just leave the baby with his dad! And smart idea it was.

As soon as it was over, he drank a bottle and slept for the rest of the service. We couldn't have had better kids in church! Katelyn didn't make a peep either.

She wanted to go up for Children's message, but not by herself so i joined her. I remember going to the Children's message up there when I was a kid. So awesome!

And of course we had to have pictures afterward!

Will's a happy camper because of his nap, but Katelyn wasn't in the picture taking mood. Go figure - they both can't be in sync with each other!

Will with his sponsor, Uncle Matt! Thanks Matt for being both kid's sponsors - this means a lot!

With my family - Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Matt

With Jack's parents - Grammie and Pops

We had a great time over Thanksgiving but of course it always goes so fast. We'll be back before long because Christmas is just right around the corner.

{9 Month Pictures}

{9Month Pictures}

More cute picture of lil man! :)

One of my favs!!

Until next month!