Everyone has to earn their keep...

Even the smallest member of the family!

She was having a good time helping Daddy clean up the branches he trimmed from the tree.

In her dress. That's my girl :-)

Since she is pulling her weight, we'll keep her!

First Trip to the Salon

Well, we had about enough of Kelsey's hair hanging in her mouth and cleaning food out of it everytime she ate. So I took her for a little trim. It was not nearly as dramatic as Kyle's first haircut--and she wasn't as happy about it as he was either. But she made it through the 1 minute, 30 second ordeal and came out the other end with a beautiful new 'shape'! Our hairdresser gave her a little side-sweep bang, trimmed all the ends (she said this will make her hair really start to grow now) and some shape around her face.

In the end, we achieved the 'no hair in the mouth when we eat' look. And that is exactly what we were going for!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

And a couple DURING shots:

An hour later, when she was all dry and windblown:

And the best part of this cut is that I can still put the pigtails in...she looks so cute like this:

The Playground in our Yard

The new swingset is officially finished! Poor Bill spent 2 full weekends and a couple other odd hours here and there to get it done, but it was well worth it. He put the finishing touch on last night...the slide...and that may well be both kids' favorite part!

Here are the progress pictures. Can you believe this huge swingset fit in those 3 small boxes?!

Mostly done...minus the slide.

A couple pictures of the kids enjoying the new 'playground'.

A MILLION thanks to Nana and Papa for this awesome birthday gift!!

Birthday Fun at the Zoo

Kelsey's birthday was last Friday. I have been really busy getting ready for our big trip, so I am terribly behind on the blog posts. Sorry, faithful followers!!

I had the day off and decided to take the kids to the zoo to celebrate Kelsey's birthday. The kids had a lot of fun. Kyle was really into the animals this year...Kelsey was really happy to ride around in the stroller and take it all in.

Here are some pictures from our trip to the zoo.

Kyle pointing out the lizard.

The giraffes were his favorite animal this time.

Kyle insisted that I take a picture of this so he could "show Daddy that we found these in the yard!" Yes, it is a sign teaching us about grubs. And sure enough, Daddy did show these to him in the yard. Yuck.

The butterfly bench outside the butterfly house.

Pretty girl in the butterfly house

A little game of peek-a-boo w/ her brother and a light post

He was pretending to be a bird...fly boy, fly!

Signs of Spring

Warning: This is going to be a very picture-heavy post. But I know that most of you who read this blog are really in it for the pictures and not my babbling anyway, so I'm sure I won't hear any complaints.



Here are some recent signs that spring has sprung and summer is on the way!



Love is in the air--Kyle and his 'friend girl' Ella. She is one of his 2 best friends at school. She always greets him as soon as he walks in the door and we have even caught them holding hands. He is going to be really sad when she takes the summer off from daycare...her mom is a teacher...we haven't had the heart to tell Kyle yet. He keeps asking to go to Ella's house to play, but we keep explaining that he has to be invited!



Kelsey loves to be outside. Unfortunately, this is where she spends a lot of her time...strapped into the wagon...since the cement patio and driveway are not very crawling-friendly. I think she will have more fun when she starts walking!

Our first major scrape of the season--he fell on the driveway. No band-aids, please.

The kids' first brush with the ice cream truck. Up until now, we just never told Kyle what that truck playing the music was. But a week or so ago, we were in the house and we heard yelling from outside "Buddy! Buddy! Come, Buddy!" Our neighbor (who calls Kyle "Buddy" and vice versa) was calling him so he could buy him ice cream from the ice cream truck. Now Kyle thinks that ONLY Buddy can buy ice cream from the truck, not mommy and daddy. So if the truck comes around, but Buddy doesn't have any money, he's out of luck :-)

Mr. Picky Eater didn't like the chocolate part of the ice cream bar. What??

Kelsey...not so picky! She loved every part of the ice cream bar and was happy to finish it for him!

Kelsey's first time in the swings by herself. She loved it.
Hey, are you taking a picture of me?!
Kyle loves to climb the rock wall.

Kelsey also loves to climb and give mommy gray hairs!

The last 'month' post

This is it...the last "Kelsey is X months old" post. The next blog entry for her will be her 1st birthday! I can't believe how fast this past year has gone. Seems like just yesterday we were painting her room, washing tiny baby clothes, getting the car seat installed and prepping big brother for the arrival of a new baby. I remember trying to rock Kyle to sleep (we don't do that anymore either!) and both of us ending up frustrated because I had no lap for him to sit on! I also remember playing with him on the floor and not being able to get back up without help.

To look at Kelsey today, I am just amazed at how much she has grown, how much she has learned and how much WE have all learned from her. She is pure joy and laughter and we all love her beyond belief--even her brother. He lights up when she laughs and shows great concern when she cries, especially when he is the reason for her crying.

Enough for now--I'll save the really sappy stuff for next month :-)

Here are the token pictures from yesterday--her 11 month birthday!

This girl loves her baths! And Kyle's baths too, for that matter. When she hears the water running, she starts hyper-ventilating and takes off to the bathroom. It is impossible to keep her out of there when Kyle is in the bath. She loves nothing more than to splash and get mommy wet.

And this is what I deal with every diaper change. It is quite a physical struggle to get her dressed these days. She has the 'alligator roll' mastered. Her changing table is under her window, so she flips over and pulls up so she can look out the window and smack the plastic that is still covering the window (it's still cold in MI, remember?!). I have gotten really good at getting her dressed while she is standing, with her back to me.

As my friend SJ in LV would say "that duck just keeps getting smaller"! Because it is impossible that the baby is getting bigger.

This is her favorite toy, by far. Kyle got this Learning House when he was a year old. I think she has played with it more already than he did in 2 years! She loves to open and close the window and mailbox, crawl back and forth through the door and she learned how to work the 'radio' now so she can play songs and dance. And she loves for other people to play peek-a-boo with her in this house.

Who needs a proper ride-on toy? Kelsey makes do with what she has. Luckily Kyle didn't see her riding his tow truck!

In other "what is she doing now" news...she crawls lightening fast, pulls up on everything, cruises the furniture and is starting to explore climbing (over things and up stairs). She doens't really have any interest in walking yet. She doesn't stand unsupported and won't let go when she pulls herself up. She also is not a fan of walking while holding our hands. But she does walk behind her push toys, so she is working on it in her own way.

She *still* has only 2 teeth. I'm sure we'll see another one or 2 pop through someday! Having only 2 teeth doesn't stop her from eating like a champ though. You can't shovel the baby food in fast enough and she loves her snacks like Puffs and Cheerios. She is also willing to try anything I give her: bananas, avocados, black beans, pasta, chicken...and goodies, of course. She is in heaven when she gets a couple bites of chocolate pudding or graham cracker.

She loves to point, especially at pictures of babies and kids. And she points at her brother a lot too. She babbles constantly but isn't saying anything we recognize as real words yet, except the occasional mama or dada or go-go. She does open up and say "ahhh" when asked, which makes it helpful to see when she has stuck yet another piece of paper in her mouth.

They have been teaching the kids some sign language at daycare and she seems to recognize the sign for 'more' but doesn't sign back to us. She just gets a really big smile when we do the sign for her.

Her stranger anxiety is still as strong as ever and she is a definite mama's girl. But I'll take all the cuddles I can get for now. I'm sure there will come a day where she doesn't want anything to do with us!