And then there were two....

One week down! Kaitlyn has really enjoyed her first 5 days of Kindergarten. She is super tired at the end of the day though. And by tired I mean extremely hyper, loud and overly energetic. W.O.W. I guess she just has to be on her very best behavior all day at school, so when she comes home she feels safe enough to just let it all out. Maybe this will get better as the year goes on.

So, until 2012 - I now have 2 kids at home during the day! I thought I would write a little about what each of them are up to these days. We'll start with Cora...

The four words that she says the most right now are: draw, doll, video and bubbles. She LOVES scribbling with crayons on just about any surface. She is also usually carrying around or pushing her baby dolls in their stroller most of the day. She loves watching her videos. She says bubbles anytime she is about to take a bath. Bubbles is probably my favorite word that she says. It just sounds extra cute when she says it.

Oh- and she also says, "Don't like it" about pretty much anything that she eats. She still is a VERY picky eater, and really just doesn't eat a whole lot at all.

Which leads me to her bottle. She decided she wants to be in a contest with Suri Cruise to see who can require a bottle the longest. I'll let you know who wins.

She is also very into shoes, lotion, dancing and jumping.

She used to HATE having her picture taken, but lately she has been cheesing it up for the camera.

Now that Kaitlyn is gone, most of the day she walks around saying, "Sissy go? Sissy go?"

She can sing most of the words (or words that sound like the real ones) to "Jesus Loves Me" and "Twinkle Twinkle."

She has her Daddy's sweat glands. She will start sweating after just walking to the car from the house. Bless her...

She attracts mosquito bites like none other. Her poor little (fat) legs look horrible right now!

She is the most beautiful girl and we just love her!!!






And baby Claire......

We predict that she will be the tallest of the 3 girls. It's a little freaky how long she is. However, she is the skinniest of the 3.

She is up on all four's crawling around everywhere! Her little hands are evidence of how dirty my wood floors are. Yuk!

She grinds her teeth. Let me rephrase that. She grinds her 2 bottom teeth against her top gum. This has caused it to actually start bleeding on more than one occasion. I'm not quite sure what to do about this!!

She is already pulling up on the couch and has even pulled up on one of Cora's push toys. This girl is crazy!

She loves her "Johnny Jumper" thing. She can go crazy in there! Cora and Kaitlyn like to spin her around and swing her in it - so it does require pretty much constant attention.

She also loves Baby Einstein videos. And the TV period.

She doesn't really have much interest in baby food. I really hope she doesn't develop Cora's eating habits. Seriously, what's wrong with my kids? Eat already!

When she is drinking a bottle or if I am rocking her to sleep, she always reaches up to play with my hair. I LOVE this. Even when she pulls it.

She is still the most serious. She really doesn't smile or laugh all that much. She'll come around - you can't NOT laugh at our family sometimes.

She LOVES her sleep. She can still easily take 3 naps a day and sleep great all night. Just like her Daddy....

We love her so much. She has been the perfect addition to our family!

First day of Kindergarten...

August 25th came too fast!! Seriously. Where did the summer go?

Kaitlyn has had a "Count-down to Kindergarten" paper chain hanging up in her room for the past 15 days. Today, she was SO excited to throw the last link away. I didn't think I would be emotional at all, but I was wrong. Just the little things got me this morning.

She hasn't been that excited about the dress that I picked out for her to wear today. All week she has been complaining about it. When I bought it she said, "Mom, that is SO 70's." WHAT?! Don't even know where she heard that. Anyway, this morning I was making her lunch before she got out of bed. I look up and she is walking out of her room all squinty eyed trying to button the last button on her dress. She just said, "I changed my mind. I really like this dress."

When we got to the school, we had to park kind of far away - so we had a ways to walk. Kaitlyn NEVER wants to hold my hand. But she reached up to hold it the entire way to her classroom door.

Just watching her sweet eyes look around her classroom and take it all in. Who will she choose to sit next too? Who will she talk to first?

A sweet little girl came in a few minutes after us, wearing the exact same dress as Kaitlyn. She thought that was the greatest thing ever.

A few more pictures with her sweet teacher, Mrs. W and Kaitlyn was ready for us to go.

Dear God,

Thank you SO much for entrusting me with Kaitlyn. I pray that you give me peace as I now put my trust in someone else to take care of her and teach her during the day. Thank you for Kaitlyn's outgoing personality and sweet spirit that made leaving her today a little bit easier. Please keep her safe. Please guard her heart today, and everyday that she is at school, for kids can sometimes be cruel and hurt feelings. I pray that she will reach out and make friends and be the sweet girl that you created her to be. Thank you for all three of my precious girls....

See you at 3:00 baby girl!!!!

Summer days.....

Our summer was busiest at the beginning. Now, we have just been hanging out - enjoying the last few weeks before school starts. We have gone to the pool (more than a few times), gone on early morning walks, enjoyed Tuesdays night kids night at Chick Fil A, visited the Jump Around a few times, played games, watched Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus 3D concert about 37 times, ran through the sprinkler, washed the cars outside... just a whole lotta nothin' really! We did travel to Dallas this past weekend to see James's family. I took Kaitlyn to see Kit Kitterege (sp?). It was really cute, but I wasn't prepared to answer a lot of the questions she asked when the movie was over. It was all about the Depression... But we both enjoyed it! We also spent time in the pool, at a water park in Allen, playing fun games at Nana's, and walking around Stonebriar Mall.

We haven't had a camera for awhile (thank you Cora), but we were finally able to get one last week. So now, for your viewing enjoyment, our update in pictures....

I wasn't aware that I had a 13 year old, but I guess I was wrong...

Ms. Cora LOVES to talk on the phone. She just jabbers away. Anytime she sees me on the phone she says, "Hewwo? Hewwo? Hewwo?" Over, and over, and over again until I give in and hand her the phone.

Claire's new trick! She still doesn't last long sitting up, but we're getting there. She just loves to be on her tummy. Anytime she is on the floor, that's how she wants to be. She is VERY close to crawling. I'm not quite ready for that yet.

I just love her blue eyes. Mr. Mayo must be all worn out...

Sweet girl. Her hair is still looking a little red!

Just in case you were wondering what the longest tongue ever looks like..

This doesn't even look like Claire to me, but I thought it was the cutest smile!

I'm beginning to think they will look a lot alike when they get a little bit older..

Kaitlyn had to ride the carousel at the mall. The last picture I took of her on this was when she was about 2....

Kaitlyn found one of James's books from when he was little. It was actually called "Jamie's Quiet Book." Awww....

Cora and Nana (or Nannie as she calls her) stringing some blocks...




We had fun at Grandpa and Grandmere's pool! Kaitlyn loves for James to throw her up in the air so she can do flips!

Funny hair! I used to love doing my hair like this in the pool when I was little. Or every time I get in the pool actually...


Kaitlyn perfecting her dive...

Cora loves the water!

Cora also loves bath time. Pretty much anything with water makes her happy.

Baby Claire. Already 7 months old!!!
Peek-A-Boo!

Claire's new favorite thing. She especially loves it when her sisters either spin her around in it, or push it like a swing. Parent supervision ALWAYS required....

Cora's new favorite thing. She is still my girly girl. She loves pushing her babies around in the stroller. And she still always has to have some sort of a necklace on.

That's all for now! I'll write later about what each girl is into these days........