Happy Birthday Presley!

Presley is one year old today!  It's so hard to believe that an entire year has passed since she was born.  She is such a big girl now, clapping and nodding and talking and playing.  She's always full of energy and always full of love.  She gives hugs and kisses all day long and this weekend she had hugs and kisses from her closest friends and family as we celebrated her 1st year.

She had such a fun party on Saturday!  I think she really enjoyed herself :-)

And look who showed up to wish Presley a happy birthday!  This girl LOVES her Minnie Mouse.

The kids had such a great time with her!  They chased bubbles, danced and playing games.  I think they would have stayed to play all night!

Keegan enjoyed the fun too!

The Hokey Pokey

Singing to Preseley

Fun with the parachute

Ava & Anna and a little chick-fil-a

A picture with Minnie

Aunt Kara & Keegan

I think this was Presley's favorite part :-)  And who could blame her?  We can't believe how much you've grown sweet girl!  Happy 1st birthday! We love you so much!

 

This and That

We have been under the weather the last couple of weeks with yet another cold.  This has been the sickest winter for us and it hasn't even been that cold out!  We've spent a lot of time in our pajamas and I'm so thankful that we are back to normal this week.  I always get the 'January blues' after all the fun of the holidays and having sick babies didn't help! 

We did take advantage of the beautiful Sunday afternoon weather and worked in our front flower bed.  The kids always love a fun trip to Lowes.  They could 'drive' that cart all day long.  I'm so thankful for the little things that make outings easier for parents!

Ava and Keegan have been so sweet with each other lately.  Yesterday, while I was buckling Keegan into the car to go get groceries, Ava came running to the car with two stuffed animals.  I started to protest that she only bring one because my car looks like a toy box these days but I just let it go.  In the rear view mirror I saw her hand one to Keegan and I wanted to cry.  She even carried his toy into the store for him, proclaiming "he needs something to play with while we shop." 

And nothing brings them together quite like Bubble Guppies.  Jeff and I can't figure it out but something about this show captivates them!  I love to see them cuddle even if it's for only 20 minutes.

I had the Today Show on while I was making breakfast this morning and I heard a news package about London preparing for the summer Olympics in 6 months.  I thought there must have been a mistake because the Olympics only take place every 4 years and I clearly remember just watching the China opening ceremonies the night Ava was born.  And then it hit me-- Ava will be 4 this summer.  FOUR!  Not a baby or a toddler but a kid.  It was a sad 'ah ha' moment.

In other news, this little munchkin is turning 1 in four days!  Oh how the first year flies by...

We are so excited to celebrate this weekend!  We love our Mondays and Fridays with sweet Presley!

I love this picture of the 3 of them last Friday but it makes me laugh because it looks like they are trying desperately to bust out of here.  The babies love to bang on the front glass door.  The Windex bottle and I have given up :-)

And lastly, Keegan started clapping a couple of Saturdays ago on his 10 month birthday.  He had just finished a banana in his high chair when I looked over at him and he let out a squeal and just started clapping like he had been doing for months.  I guess it was a really good banana.  He clapped on and off the rest of the day and I captured a video of it that evening.  Now if he hears the word 'clap' or sees someone doing it he claps on demand.  Sweet boy....growing up every day!

 

Ten Months!

Keegan is TEN months old today!  I can't believe how much our baby has grown!

He is 19 pounds of intense energy.  He crawls, scoots and even cruises around the house with his toys. He even walks around the sofa while holding on.   The only task more challenging than trying to change his diaper these days is trying to get a good picture of him.  Some days I consider both my "work out" for the day.  At the sight of a new diaper or a camera in my hand, he turns into the fastest little ten month old I have ever seen.  Eighty percent of the pictures I take of him look just like this...

He talks all the time although we can still only make out 'Da Da.'  He thinks the word 'no' is hilarious and continues to laugh at us when we use it. 

He still gets up between 2am and 3am every night but after a bottle he goes right back down until 8:00 most mornings.  I don't mind the one night feeding at all-- And if I'm being honest, each night I'm a little scared that it may be the last time he needs me to rock him back to sleep.  Hopefully I won't be the crazy mom trying to rock him to sleep when he's five.

It's so fun to watch his little personality develop.  He is not gentle but he is so sweet.  He gives hugs and wet kisses and he is always concerned for big sister.  If she cries he is always soon to follow.  And as rambunctious as he is, he still loves to be held at certain parts of the day. 

He is strong and determined. His little temper shows up when he is unable to get something to work the way he wants, like removing a toy that's too heavy from his basket or turning his push-along around after hitting a wall.  And he continues his fit even after we help him, angry that he couldn't do it himself.  EXACTLY like his big sister! 

Keegan, you are so precious to us.  You are amazing and every morning that I pick you up out of your crib I give thanks for the gift that you are.  We love you sweet boy! 

Cheer!

Monday night Ava started mini cheer at our church for the first time!  It's a five week program with a halftime performance at one of the Upward basketball games in February to showcase the group's routine. This may or may not be a day that I've dreamed about since I learned I was having a girl four years ago.  I'm volunteering as one of the "coaches" which just consists of teaching basic motions.  I haven't done a toe touch in over ten years and I definitely won't be trying it this month!

Here we are before heading out Monday night.  I'm not sure which one of us was more excited :-)

She did so great and she cried when it was time to leave!  Here she is with good friend Morgan after getting her first pom poms. 

We practiced our cheer at home all night long.

I went to bed with 'Let's go...let's fight...let's win...tonight' playing over and over in my head.

And just for fun here are a couple more pics of our girl from this week. 

 Here she is with her Woody doll.  Nana & Gramps actually gave him to Keegan for Christmas but Ava has 'adopted' him as her own.  He goes most places with us and makes a great movie-watching partner.

And she's quite the little 'helper' with laundry lately.  I caught her running around the house with her panties on her head a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't stop laughing.  So now she will rummage through the laundry basket while I'm folding and put on as many garments as she can get on for a laugh.  And she usually gets it!  I can't help but hear Joey from 'FRIENDS'....."Could I be wearing any more clothes?"

(And even if no one else gets the reference, I know Aunt Kara is laughing right now :-)

Cruisin' Keegan

Keegan loves his new leapfrog table.  He will stand and play for ten or fifteen minutes at a time.  I thought I would take advantage of this and place it directly in front of the television console where he likes to push every button on the stereo and DVD player.  Unfortunately, he is smarter and stronger than I suspected and he began pushing the leap frog table across the living room and crawling back to his favorite electronics!  So I remembered Ava's v-tech push-a-long and pulled it out of his closet last week realizing he was probably ready to do some walking.  It was love at first sight.  I captured a video of his second attempt last week and this week he is pretty much all over the house, only stopping at walls and sofas.  Our sweet boy is growing up!