A Day at the Park....

Today Rebekah, Amy, Andrea, and I went to a bridal shower for Jethro's cousin. Jason, Andrea's husband took, Jonah and Eli skiing. This meant that Jethro had 5 kids- Anna, Jack, Lily, Sarah, and Nya. Luckily, he had to pick up Gideon from the airport and was able to provide much needed help to him. (We ended up with Emma at the shower.) After picking up Gideon from the airport, there was a much needed trip to Wendy's for sustenance and then on to the park to burn excess energy. Gideon and Jethro were nice enough to take pictures at the park.

Anna on the slide.

Nya being herself.

Cute Lily.

Sarah pushing Lily and Jethro pushing Jack.

Lily and Nya.

Sarah and Jack.

Jack

Sarah

Monkeying Around, Peacock Calling, and all sorts of Hogle Zoo Fun

On Friday we finally had halfway decent weather so it wasn't totally freezing. It was in the 50's and a little breezy, but nice enough to be outside. We went about 2 o'clock and there weren't many people there. Luckily, there weren't all the school field trips there either. All the kids were so excited to be there, especially Katya. She was all smiles and open arms the whole time. There were some pretty funny highlights from the day.

This peacock was the first animal we saw. It's feathers were down
until Jack decide to see if it would open it's feathers. Jack would
squawk and then the peacock would and then raise it's feathers. It
was so funny because it went on for a while.


Super cute picture of Sarah, Emma, Amy, and Anna at the elephants.


All the kids finally sat still for a quick picture. Way cute!


The giraffes were inside because it was a little cold. One of
the giraffes would lean over and lick people's hands when they held
them out. Lily was so terrified that it would lick her
that she made me pick her up and hold her so the giraffe
wouldn't get her.


Lily loves Katya and would repeatedly give her hugs.


Anna and Eli walking to see the big cats. Isn't the brother-sister
relationship so adorable?!


Nya just had to be in the picture with Katya and I.


I just love this picture, even though Katya is doing
something funny with her tongue.


Nya playing on the play ground while others were on the train.


Anna, Andrea, Jack, Jason, Lily, Emma, and Sarah riding the train.


Katya so excited to be at the zoo, or going home.
Can't really tell.


Just waiting for everybody so we can leave.


What happens after a long day at the zoo.

A Little Crazy Lately...

Jethro's family is here this weekend. It has been a little crazy with all the kids around, but it is so much fun. We have been running around a lot the last couple of days that I feel that I haven't got anything done. Oh well. They don't come into town a lot, so I enjoy spending as much time with them as I can. Katya is a little overwhelmed by everyone here, but loves it. She doesn't remember everyone form when they were here last July, so it's great that she can interact with them now. There is one face that Katya has pretty much had all weekend, especially when she sees her cousins or aunts or uncles. She is just so happy!

Oh Baby Chub

When Katya was very young and skinny I wondered if she would ever get any baby chub. I still don't think she's that chubby, but the pictures lately have proved that she is in fact getting chubby. Yeah!

Can you notice the change?

Little Miss Reverent

We took this picture on the 18th. Katya fell asleep like this at church by her own will. I had nothing to do with it. At least she has learned how to fold her arms and sit reverently.

My Celebrity Look-alikes

Dancing with the Stars?

Do you think Katya should be the next contestant on "Dancing with the Stars"? We sure do. A couple weeks ago Staci and I got new cell phones. As we were choosing the ringtones, Katya started shaking her right arm up and down and swaying back and forth. We thought it was so cute, but we knew we could never explain it how it really happened. So, tonight, I was listening to music while burping her and this song came on, and Katya just loved it! I set her on the floor and started playing it again. (I tried to get her to do it to a song without the word d**n in it to appease mother and Staci, but she would only do it to this song.) Anyway, the song is the first 15 seconds of Beyonce's "Ring the Alarm (freemason's club remix)". Enjoy the cuteness.

Katya's New Talents 2

So the last post about Katya and her talents was all about unbuttoning shirts and untying shoes. Well, she has a new one now. I often put slippers on her so that she can't untie them and also because they are easier. She has figured out how to get them off her little feet. She usually does this in her crib when she's supposed to go to sleep or after she wakes up. I put them on tight so somehow she has figured out how to undo velcro and pull the off. Luckily it is getting to the warmer time of year when shoes and socks aren't as necessary. That crazy little girl. I wonder what her next talent will be.

Something cool.

I saw this on some other blogs and thought I'd give it a try. It's pretty cool.

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Our New House

Does she need a haircut?

I think that the food that we are feeding Katya is putting hair on her head a little too fast. What do you think?

Katya's New Talents

Katya is constantly learning things and developing these new talents. Her newest talent was one that I was hoping she wouldn't develop until she was three or four. She has now learned to untie double knotted shoes and unbutton shirts. It isn't just something she's done once or twice, it's been done on multiple occasions. I always double knot her shoes really tight so she can't untie them. Well, she has gotten really good at somehow getting her little fingers in there and loosening the laces and being able to untie them. I'm not quite sure how she does it, but it doesn't take her too long. She always makes sure that I'm not looking so she doesn't get caught. Her other talent of unbuttoning shirts was learned way to early. Looks like she'll be one of those kids who will streak through the house. The way we discovered her talent was that she sits on Jethro's lap while he's doing something. He will usually be distracted by the computer or t.v. and she will get her little fingers around the buttons on his shirt and quickly unbutton them. He doesn't notice until I point it out. She has done this quite a few times on different shirts. She is also sure that no one sees her unbuttoning the shirt. It's pretty funny.

Ok, now for a funny story about her new talents. Today Katya woke up really early this morning before Jethro went to school. Jethro held her for awhile and then I was holding her Jethro was tying his shoes. She was totally leaning forward and staring intently at Jethro's shoes with a very serious look on her face. Jethro said, "Katya, are you watching daddy so that you can learn how to untie your shoes better?" Her response to that was doubling over in laughter. Way to funny!!

Little Miss Giggles

Katya is getting to the stage where she is super goofy. She is always laughing and is way ticklish. She also makes the funniest faces. She loves to play this game with us in the mornings. We will go in to get her up and she'll be in there sucking her fingers. She looks away as if she doesn't see us, but we know she does. She'll keep looking away as we stand and look at her. Slowly she'll start to smile and then she gets this huge smile and rolls over in laughter. She thinks it is so funny to tease us. It is just the cutest thing. She just loves to laugh and make us laugh.

It is crazy to see her grow up so fast. She says da-da and ba-ba. She'll be talking before we know it. She also tries to crawl. She goes straight up on her arms and then goes down on her stomach and straightens her legs and is on her tiptoes with her little but in the air. It is like she is doing little push ups. As soon as she figures out how to put the two motions together she'll be crawling.

She had an appointment the other day and she now weighs 13 pounds 2 ounces. She is getting big! It feels like just yesterday she was a little 6 pounder. I love seeing her grow and I look forward to her doing so many more of the cute kids things. Jethro always laughs at me when I start a sentence out with, "I can't wait till Katya.....". Here are some of them: takes dance lessons, says mommy, walks, takes swimming lessons, can run around and play with Nya, and so many big girl things. I love that she is so little and will miss it when she gets big, but I am just so excited to see her grow and develop and do things all by herself.

Her are some more pictures of her.

This is one of Katya's goofy faces. Silly girl.

This is what Katya does when she gets caught doing something.
She always laughs afterwards.

"I learned this from my mommy. Can I get a boost to the keyboard, daddy?"

If we were M&M's, what would we look like?

I was just on the internet and remembered that you could make m&m characters to look like people. I wondered what Jethro, Katya and I would look like if we were m&m's. Here we are:





If you want to see what you would look like, go and become an m&m. It's just something fun to try.
When you do try it, post your m&m so we can all see.