Cristen's Fall Photos

Cristen: our adopted daughter. our babysitter. our friend.

Cristen’s mom recently asked that I take pictures of her for their Christmas cards.  This afternoon the weather was perfect so while Tyler and Cristen’s father were grilling us dinner we took the opportunity to get some pictures taken.  Cristen is a natural and seriously we were out for about 20 minutes and got ALL these photos.  Cristen was a bit disappointed that it didn't take longer so I told her that we will take more in the near future.

I just love this girl and love that her parents encourage us to have a role in her life.  Just recently, I got to do her make-up and hair for her first dance!

 

So far we are having a great weekend.  Laura and I had a great four mile run this morning.  My sweet friend Lorena, that had moved away, stopped by and we had a great visit.  Then tonight we had a nice birthday dinner with the neighbors.  Hopefully tomorrow goes by a bit slower…I have a lot of things to get caught up on before Monday. 

Happy 12 Months

Dear Kallahan,

You are one year old!  The past year getting to know you has been so much fun.  You are so darling and spunky.  You are defiantly your own person and show your personality more each day.  You are more of a “bruiser” than your brother ever was.  You hardly cry when you get hurt.  You also seem much more aggressive.  When you want something…you let us know.  Just today, Granny was trying to take a small piece of licorice out of your mouth because she was afraid you would choke.  But man, Kal you bit her twice and just hollered because you wanted that candy!  I think we have a fun journey ahead with you but I’m looking forward to every second of it.

In the past few days you really have taken to walking.  You still haven’t stayed up past about 6 steps but when you want to go somewhere you are trying to walk first.  I am still having a hard time wrapping my mind around it - my baby is almost a full-time walker!  Brother was almost 16 months old before he walked…why so soon little buddy?  I know, you are just trying to keep up with that brother. :)

You are still eating well and sleeping through the night.  Mommy rocks you to sleep and since everything else is going too fast, I just might be rocking you til your 18.  This week you officially switched over to whole milk.  You don’t seem to even notice the difference nor have you had any negative reactions.  All that worrying was for nothing.  You love your pacifier and your favorite toy is any kind of truck.  You love to push them on the floor…all boy.  This week we have sang “Happy Birthday” to you quite often.  You just light up and grin from ear to ear.

Well Sweetbaby, you’re a year old now. We love you so much; you and your brother are our life. We are so thankful for every moment with our little cowboys!  It’s been an unforgettable year and thank you for filling our lives with joy. Happy birthday baby boy!
Love, 
Mommy

Kallahan's 1st Birthday Party!!

This Saturday we celebrated Kallahan’s first birthday.  It was an absolute perfect day.  The weather and the company were perfect so naturally the party was perfect.  We sat the party up on the lawn and took full advantage of the outdoors.  My sister, her kiddos, my mom, dad and I worked all morning and afternoon decorating and putting the finishing touches on the party.  Thanks again for all the hard work!  I have the best family and thankfully they embrace my over the top party planning.

I settled on a little red wagon theme several months ago after I saw a darling party on another blog.  I love how it turned out!  Several of our guests asked where I found all the wagons used to decorate.  We had a few around the house and I just mentioned my ideas to a few of the right friends and they were so sweet to let me borrow.  Thanks Granny, Maria & Wanda!!

Our sweet friend Anne made Kallahan’s cake.  It was beyond what I expected and was soooo yummy.  Kallahan defiantly enjoyed it!!  Thanks Anne - we loved having y'all at the party too.

My boss’ wife made the little cowboys the cutest little wagon shirts!  *Notice Keeler's in the picture above.

Embracing the Camera

Lots of babies!!

Thanks to everyone that made Kallahan's first birthday such a perfect day!!  His birthday is actually Wednesday so I am going to soak up the last few days of having a baby under one.  What a great year we have had with the sweetest little baby I know. :)

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Photo Book Tip: Create an adventurous travel photo album at Shutterfly.com.

September Birthdays

This past weekend was a whirlwind of fun.  We headed to Texas early Friday afternoon to attend my oldest nephew’s 11^th birthday.  My sister threw a great pool party at her fabulous new home. Unfortunately, that evening a fall chill came in and made the idea of swimming a bit unbearable for us older folks but all the children had a blast.  

How is this little guy already 11?

Here is Jakob at the same age as Keeler.  I had never thought these two resemble one another but they definitely favor.  Jakob will always hold a special place in my heart.  He was the sweetest little baby and really the first baby I remember being around.  I was only a freshmen in college when he was born.   And since he was born in Minnesota, he was four months old before I met him.  I still remember like it was yesterday, in the airport and oh my, what a feeling when I first saw that chubby little baby spilling out of an umbrella stroller being pushed by my sweet sister.  I spent hours with him doing whatever to make him laugh and he loved his silly aunt.  He won my heart :).  Happy Birthday my favorite oldest nephew!!

Weekend Whoas 

(in pictures)

 I snapped this photo of my little cowboy on Saturday morning.  He was fussing all weekend because he wasn't feeling well.  {He really was sleeping standing up!!}  Unfortunately, we all ended up getting sick.  Everyone seems much better today except for baby Kal so I took him to the doctor this morning.  He got some antibiotics so hopefully he is better for his big birthday party on Saturday!!

 My sister & I walked in a diabetes walk on Saturday for her nephew Todd.  Samantha's birthday was yesterday so we also managed to sneak in a Sunday lunch to celebrate her before we left.  We still plan on having our birthday shopping day in the near future.  #gottalovebirthdayshopping

We got to meet this precious little nugget, baby Grady.  He is so sweet and so perfect.  Congratulations again Mark & Lydia!!

 We had dinner with the Smiths on Saturday evening to celebrate Shay's 30th birthday.  We learned that "the.best.chocolate.cake.ever" comes from the Crab Shack - who would have known?!  

   Ashley asked that I take some photos of Brynlee for her 1st birthday invitation so we took some before dinner on Saturday.   She is honestly a living doll. 

We also got to spend time with Tyler's grandparents from Idaho this weekend.  It was so great to see them.  And we celebrated one more birthday.  Tyler's sister Tiffany's birthday was on Monday.  We had a little cake with her on Sunday.  Okay, seriously no one in our family is allowed to have a birthday in September.  That's enough.

Have a great week!   

Movie Star in the Making!!

I am in the process of helping produce a television commercial for work.  Guess who got the starring role?  That's right, my oldest little cowboy.  

 

 

 

I can't wait to see the end result of the commercial.  The filming that we did today will actually only equal about 2 seconds of the commercial but hey, this starving little actor will take what he can get! :)