All Wrapped Up...

Hello, all! A late Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you! Yes, we are still alive...sorry for the long absence! We have simply been all wrapped up in life! In October we got all ready to move, closed on the house Nov 6 then postponed our move by a week so we could do some work around the new house before we moved in. We moved in, hosted Thanksgiving for Daniel's family a few days later and have been going ever since! Grandpa (my dad) came to visit then it was Christmas and Nana (my mom) was here to visit(and she even painted Carly's room too)!


Carly is now our big girl- 3 years old! We cannot believe she has grown up so much in just a few short years. She continues to learn and grow at an amazing rate. She's always saying things that make us laugh. She is, of course, a normal 3 year old who likes to test the boundaries but she is all-in-all a great kid! Carly is a great big sister. She kind of swaps between being a helpful, loving big sister and the tormenting older sister but normally she is very good with Kate. The other day I was on the phone as the girls were playing in the playroom. I saw that Kate had a runny nose and went into the living room to get a tissue. As I walked back into the playroom I realized that Carly was ahead of the game- she had already gotten a tissue, wiped Kate's nose, gave her a big kiss and a toy! Pretty sweet! She really likes going to Mother's Day Out ("school") on Thursdays. She likes her teachers, gets to play with her friends and learn all sorts of new stuff. We have a little playgroup we meet with once a week and several other friends we get together with during the week as well, which keeps us having fun. She loves to sing and dance and generally be goofy. For those of you 'in the know' about kid's tv, she really likes Super Why and The Fresh Beat Band. She enjoys riding her scooter around the house, drawing, playing games and cooking in her kitchen. She likes asking you what you want to eat and then saying "we don't have any of that, we only have cheeseburgers". A couple of days ago she said "check it out, Mom"! And yesterday a friend at church told us that Carly was telling her a story. She didn't fully understand the story but she got that Carly spilled something on herself and said, "...and I was like, I need to go to Wal Mart!" Ha ha.

About a week ago, our "baby Kate" turned 1!! We just had a birthday party for her with Daniel's family yesterday. Let me just say that Kate is my girl- she tore into that cake like she was an old pro! She has been sort of walking for at least a month now but is starting to venture out on her own a bit more without prompting from us. She is so very proud of herself when she makes it without falling down! She has been gradually adding words to her vocab since late October- mama, dada, baby, hi, hop, ball, up, more, bye bye, bath time (ok, she sort of says that one)...you get the idea. She babbles all the time so I'm sure there are more words I just haven't distinguised yet! She can sign 'more' and 'finished' while eating. She's very cheeky like her sister, likes to tease you then crawl away giggling. Kate's a cuddler, she enjoys all sorts of foods, though she is very into crackers and honeydew at the moment. Like her sister, she's not a huge fan of sleep- she's pretty much just taking one nap during the day and waking several times at night.

At Carly's 3 year dr appointment and Kate's 9 month, both girls were healthy. Carly wasn't a fan of having to get a shot but she's such a trooper, she just gasped then asked for a treat! Carly was in the 90% for height and 75% for weight and Kate was in the 75% for height and 50% for weight. Where did they get their height from?? =)

As for Daniel and I, we are doing well. Daniel is still enjoying his job and the new challenges that brings. He just worked on a big project and got 'Employee of the Week' (he'll be so happy I shared that with you. ha ha.) for doing such a great job. The guys he works with and their spouses just came over to watch the Super Bowl last week so that was a great time together.

I'm enjoying my time with the girls, hanging out with friends and spending time at home. Since it's the middle of winter, it's been pretty cold and the outside has not been so inviting. I'm looking forward to the time when we can just go hang out in the back yard without having to bundle up (and looking forward to the time when I can put Kate outside without having to worry about her eating grass and insects). I have been seeing the chiropractor to see if we can make my headaches any better. So far, it's not making a positive difference but I'll keep trying. Carly and Kate have charmed Ms Shiela and Ms Darcie at the chiropractor's office- they play with the girls while I'm in treatment.

Though I thought I moved to Texas for a mild climate, this winter has been particularly cold, windy and snowy! It has snowed about 4 times- we had a fair amount of snow the day before Christmas. It was accompanied by wind and ice and kept us from driving over to Dallas to celebrate Christmas with Daniel's family- we got together the day after Christmas instead. We just had a doozie of a snow storm (for Texas) when we got 12.5 inches (31.75cm) of snow on Thursday. Carly and Daniel had a great time playing in the snow. Carly just walked around eating handfuls of snow, they made snow angels and a snow lady. I say snow lady 'cause it kind of looked like she was wearing a skirt! Kate even got out in the snow for a couple of minutes. She just wanted to get down and romp around in it but we made her come inside instead (there's a picture to prove how uncool she thought that was).

We are starting to get more involved in our church which is very welcome. We really miss being involved and serving in a church body since we left Alice. We have slowly gotten to know people at our new church and are beginning to serve as we are able and find needs. Carly really has fun at Sunday school and Kate does well in the nursery. We have enjoyed being closer to family and getting to see them more often. We enjoyed Christmas with Daniel's family and my mom, who was down from Kansas City. We hope to make a trip up to KC in the next few months.

Well, I guess this blog is 'all wrapped up' as well. Enjoy the boat load of pics (176 to be exact- from Oct til now)! We love you! Over and out-- Mom