Kendree - 15 months

Our Kenny girl just keeps on growing! We went to the doctor yesterday and she weighed it at 20 lbs. 12 oz. and was 30 inches long (right around the 25th percentile for both). The doctor did recommend taking her in to be screened since she has been a little slower with some of her developmental milestones (crawling and walking).  They recommend that every child is screened at 18 months and just thought Kendree could get checked out a few months earlier, so I have to get that scheduled.

At 15 months Kendree:

• Will walk anywhere if she is holding onto your hand and will let go and take about 3-4 steps on her own before falling.
• Sleeps through the night
• Loves the "big kid" sippy cups the best (you know, the kind that actually leak a little bit when turned upside down-ugh!)
• Smiles and laughs all of the time.
• Now signs cracker, baby, grapes, shoes, hat, and please consistently and will attempt to copy anything you show her.
• Has turned on the babble big time.  She is constantly telling herself or me a "story" and loves to talk.
• Says eh-lo when she holds the play phones, or remotes, or ipod up to her ear.
• Got her second tooth on April 29th (bottom right one).
• Takes either one or two naps a day depending on how she is acting.  This makes scheduling some things hard, while she just has to live without naps other days if we have things going on.
• Loves her blanket (apparently I create monsters with those) and will let you know she is tired by finding it and just collapsing on the floor.
• Sleeps on her stomach for the most part, usually with her feet tucked underneath her and her bum in the air.

Kendree has a crazy obsession with this little drawing board she got for Easter and will drag it around the house with her.

 Until she sees mama with the camera and then she just wants that.

 She was a bit under the weather a week or so ago and fell asleep on the living room floor at 7:00 p.m. (told you she finds her blanket and just collapses on the floor!)

She is also starting to love accessories.  Bracelets are a favorite as are hair bows.  Note the two in her hair here.

 And now her "official" 15 month pictures.  Sans shirt and everything. (sorry for the blurriness, the girl never stops moving).

And now, a video of her walking with her walker.

And some more catch-up

I just can't seem to keep myself on track on this-here blog.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day and was spoiled by Ronnie and the kids.

After church we headed over to Laramie to have dinner with the fam (I think the main reason for this was so that my dad could do the cooking instead of Ronnie doing it-just kidding Ron!).

We showed up in our wicked-sweet new t-shirts.

Wanna see?

This is where I ask you to ignore Easton pulling up his shirt, Kendree's stained shirt (this was post-dinner) and her cry face. [click on the picture to enlarge]

We couldn't be more excited.

Someone turned 30...

And that someone wasn't me (I have 1 year and 7 months before that happens!).

All day long, Easton was sooooo excited that it was Daddy's birthday.  He went in to tell Daddy Happy Birthday in the morning and said, "Happy Birthday!  You're getting bigger!" (think he hears that when he has birthdays?)

After a regular day at work and a dinner out, we came home to a cake!  Easton had to blow out the candles (I don't know a 3 year old around that could resist).

 I asked family and friends for birthday message/memories of Ronnie and was able to get over 30 (thanks everyone!).  I displayed them in 30 envelopes on the wall (along with a banner and caution tape from Hobby Lobby).

 Finally, a picture of the traditional birthday signs that I grew up having on every birthday.

This one is a picture of the sign that took me all day to make.  Thirty things about Ronnie that start with "t".  It was TOUGH!

Happy Birthday Ronnie! Hope it was as good as turning 30 can be!

Easton's Mater Teeth

Easton went to the store with daddy and came home with a Mater (from Cars) teeth sucker.  He loved that thing for two whole days until daddy threw it in the garbage (I still don't really understand what Ronnie was thinking when he did that).

Easton's favorite thing to do was to put the teeth in and then ask me to take a picture so he could look at it. I have about 20 of these on my camera.  Here are the best two:

Easter Videos-lots of them!

Did you know Easter was a few weeks ago?

Oh, you did?

What? You've read approximately 56 other Easter entries.

Well, sorry.  Here's one more.

We did two community egg hunts on Saturday, April 23rd.  Easton "got it" this year, but still loved watching other kids get eggs more than actually picking up eggs. It was freezing cold that morning (35 degrees or so) so instead of a Easter hunt all of the kids looked like they were on a snow hunt or something.

[p.s. one of the kids set the ISO all wonky on my camera and I didn't notice for a week or so, so I apologize for the quality of these pictures, but they are all I have.]

Saturday evening, we dyed our eggs.  Even Kendree got in on the fun.  She loved her one egg and didn't even drop it (a small miracle).

I would say that this was Easton's favorite activity this year.  It is definitely more fun to see him get excited about the holidays (well, the ones I tell him about anyway).

He got some blue and green on his fingers and was fairly upset when we told him that it wasn't going to come off that night.  That's our little neat freak for you.

On Easter morning all I took was video (I know, bad mama!).  So, in the interest of those who don't really care, I've uploaded those onto the kiddos blog.

A teaser of the house

When we bought the house the dining area had carpet. Not so much a long term option with little ones around, so we decided that we would rip out the carpet and replace it with some cheap laminate flooring, just something to get us through.

Well, one thing led to another and before we knew it we were tiling the dining room, kitchen, laundry room and entry ways.

Before: the view from the front door:

 The vinyl in the kitchen:

 And the entryways (please notice the trashed carpet between the two...that led us to a decision you will see in just a minute).

First we ripped out the carpet we didn't want and did the prep work:

 With Kendree's help of course!

Here's Ronnie working on the entry ways.  We decided to have the tile connect the two, so you could walk to and from both doors on tile (A trick I learned from my parents.  You can get to any door in their house on tile).

We tiled into the laundry room as well (it is just off the kitchen).

 Then we decided that it made sense to be able to walk from the kitchen to the dining area on tile (previously the vinyl stopped right at the wall and end of the cabinet.

 And of course the entire dining area.

Obviously, these pictures are pre-grout.  Be assured that the tile is now completely grouted.  I'll be sure to give you the final, final pictures when we do the house tour.

Also, when I say we, I really mean Ronnie's dad, his cousin Michael and Ronnie.  I was on kid patrol and was virtually no help at all.

A little follow up

First, the ipod is found!  I guess I was blaming the wrong child, since I found it in the bottom most crevice of the couch while looking for a missing DVD remote and Kendree doesn't really get on the couch yet.  Never mind that I am POSITIVE I already looked there!

Second, and not because it is less important, remember how my brother got married?  And people asked for pictures, and I never got them up here?  That would be because 1. I am possibly the worst at remembering to take pictures and 2. my camera was still in the shop for the wedding. 

I have one picture to share of Easton and Alayna outside the temple:

For other pictures, of you know, the wedding couple, you'll have to visit my sister's blog.

Kendree - 14 months

At least this one is semi-on time!

At 14 months Kendree:

• Has a tooth that has broken through!  Her bottom left.  We first felt the very tip on April 1st, and it has taken its sweet time since then.  We can just barely see the entire top.
• Seems to be at least progressing towards walking.  She will try to balance on her own throughout the day and is braver at taking steps in between two objects.
• Loves her silver sparkly shoes.  If I don't put them on her in the morning, she'll bring them over to me as soon as she finds them.
• Doesn't really seem to have any new words or signs this month...she's perfecting her whine though!
• Takes one nap a day.
• Is weaned! (3 days after going cold turkey, she slept through the night!)
• Loves her daddy and will crawl to the garage door and say "dada, dada, dada" over and over if she feels like she hasn't seen him recently enough.
• Loves any food we put in front of her, except cold lunch meat.
• Drinks milk, water and VERY watered down juice without showing much preference.
• Hates having her diaper changed. It is a wrestling match every time.

Hanging out around the house:

 Now she sees mom's camera

 Practicing with the walker:

 Found these on the ipod (it is found!) they are of Kendree at 13 months.

A Product I LOVE

I don't talk a lot about products, just the ones I really, really love.

One of those is the Signing Time DVDs.

Both my kids sign (Easton still), and both of my kids LOVE the DVDs.

It is their 10th anniversary, so for the next two days, you can get single DVDs for $10 each (limit 10).

This is a FANTASTIC deal.

So, I thought I would share.

Want more of my thoughts on the product?  Start with the Baby Signing Time DVDs for kids 3 and under, they are much more entertaining for the little ones, then as your kid starts to get older (between 2 and 3) add to your collection starting with Signing Time Series One Vol. 3.  It will have some repeat signs from the Baby Signing Time DVDs but the Silly Pizza Song alone is worth your money.  Then continue to add to your collection and enjoy communicating with your child and less tantrums.  For reals.

P.S. I think they must be having significantly more traffic than normal on their site, so be patient.

A little catch up on Easton

A month ago, we went with some friends to the children's section of the Wyoming State Museum. 

Somehow, Easton ended up as the pillow for two girls on the cot.

 And he continued to stay there...

 And stay there.  At least we knew where they all were!

 This is where Easton prefers to watch television....

And this is the face he gives when mama makes him move back.  Life is hard.

The little stinker

Normally that title designates that this post would be about Easton.

But no.

This one is about the Kenny-girl.

And my lost ipod.

Like, really lost ipod.

The last time Ronnie and I both saw it was Sunday after church. It was on the floor of the living room (I know, not the safest keeping place, but Easton had been playing with it before church and in the rush to get out the door, nothing was done with it).

Since then we have been scouring the house.

Every drawer, every toy bin, every crevice, every cupboard.

And underneath EVERYTHING (even the dishwasher, fridge and stove).

I've gone through every trash can except the kitchen trash (next on my to-do list) and we've shined a light with a mirror down every heat vent.

Please tell me you have some secret place that I haven't covered.

Kendree - 13 months

I know, I know.  I am almost a month late on this one....such is life when you are moving I guess.

At 13 months Kendree:

• Is cruising on everything she can get her hands on.  She has no qualms with using strangers if they are useful to get to her end game.
• Wants to do what big brother is doing...always
• Loves ALL food, especially from mom or dad's plate.
• Is taking two naps a day, but is looking like she may be transitioning to one a day.
• Is still not sleeping through the night...getting up once a night to nurse.
• Nurses to sleep at night.
• Loves to wrestle!  Sometimes other little kids don't quite understand what the heck she is trying to do.
• Still has absolutely no teeth!
• Wears size 3 shoes and is still in 12 and 12-18 month clothes.  Mama hasn't had a chance to get out the wardrobe change with the move, so she is squeezing into everything (shirts, that is).
• Is starting to show a little "toddler-ness" and lets you know when she is unhappy about you taking away something, etc.
• Says this (dis), ball (ba), Easton (kinda like eh-eh) (in addition to the words she was saying last month).
• Signs bread and cheese and we are working hard on please and thank you.
• Wears her hair in a ponytail on top every day to keep those long ones from getting in her eyes.
• Is as usual, lighting up our family!

Hanging out with Daddy.

Pointing, and probably saying "dis."

 At this point she was done with the camera but I wanted to try and get a picture of how long the hair in front was getting.


 So now, she wears her hair like the picture below...

I would have several more pictures, but a little one year old has lost my ipod, so we'll have to wait on those for now.

Sisters, Sisters

There is no doubt that Erc and I are sisters.  In fact, most ask us if we are twins....although not very recently now that we aren't out and about together very much.

When you are a truly devoted sister, you get married just 7 weeks apart.

And then you buy houses within 6 weeks of each other.
Erc's house:

 Our house:

I think the next milestone I'd like to hit with Erc is for us to become millionaires within about  two months of each other.

Sound good Erc?