Party Details

As many of you already know, Kelsea was a ladybug this past Halloween, so we went with this theme for her birthday. I guess we started that tradition last year with her first birthday when we used her Halloween bumble bee pictures for her invitation. I'll have to consider this when Kelsea chooses her Halloween costume this year....

Here's a picture of the invite:
Continuing with the theme, I made these goodie bags for her seven boy friends. Yep, Nate, Brandt, Adam, Johnnie, Jake, Joey & Royce. Granted the last three are still babies, but how funny is it that Kelsea was the only girl!? Of course that will not be funny in a few years, but to her defense all her close girl friends moved to MN and CO!
My Mom and I made these the day before, and they turned out quite cute if I may do say so myself!

I hung the large ladybug stickers from the chandelier in the dining room, and decorated the house in red & pink, and called it a morning...until the guests started arriving at 10:00. Which was a perfect time for Kelsea and many of her friends, because everyone was gone by 12:30 and she could take a good, LONG nap. But not so good for our morning, as Wallis and I were running around the house like madmen trying to finish everything in time!

And no, we did not dress Kelsea up her up in her costume, instead she wore her princess dress that one of my Mom's dear friends had given Kelsea last year. In fact she wore it for her one year photo shoot that J.J. photographed.

Here's a couple of Kelsea in her dress last year:
And now this year...

Tallish, Average, Tiny

So those are the measurements that we got back from Dr. Sergis at Kelsea's 2 year well-check:

Height: 35 in (75th percentile)
Weight: 26 lbs (50th percentile)
Head: 46 cm (10th percentile)

So I had heard an old wives tale that you double your child's height at age 2, and that's how tall he/she will be as an adult. That sounds silly now, because that would put Kelsea at 70 inches! After doing some researching (isn't that the official term for surfing the web), I read that for boys you double their height, and for girls you multiply their height by a factor of 1.92. This calculation would put Kelsea at 67.2 inches as an adult. However according to this website, Kelsea will be 66 inches tall, just like her Mama! I guess we'll just have to wait and see which of these theories "prove" to be right!

Her Second Birthday

So we started out her special day, well, sleeping of course...she was born at 1:01 in the morning you know! Yes, we set the alarm clock for 1:00 so that I could get down there and snap the picture at 1:01, and I will continue to do this for her next 16 birthdays, is it really only 16 more?

Kelsea woke up in the morning to find in her room two presents from Granddaddy Mike. The first was a stroller for her Bitty Baby, and the second was this. She was is heaven!
After many stroller rides, and inchworm bounces, we finally made it out of the house and to the Aquarium were we got to "see fish." And since I took my travel camera most of the photos I came home with are of other parents children, since she certainly could not hold still long enough for the camera to take the picture. Note to self: bring SLR next time. But my lovely husband did snap one of the two of us. After lunch at Bubba Gumps, we went home to take a much needed nap! I guess her birthday was wearing her out because she slept for almost 3 hours! Whoo-hoo!
Of course by the time she did wake up (4:15) there wasn't much natural light left to take photos, but I did get one of her pretty blue eyes.

It was a day of opening gifts from the Grandparents, because Gramma Laurie and Grandpa Steve came over next with a bag full of goodies. She was especially fond of the new clothes she received for her not so well dressed Cabbage Patch Kids (that were once mine).


And finally we ended the day with a Creative Cakery cake that was to die for. Kelsea did not eat that entire cake, although she would have eaten all the frosting off the top if we had let her.Thanks for a wonderful day Kelsea, hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Stay tuned for birthday party pictures later this week....

Flashback Friday

Has it really been a year? Last year at this time the Killins were here for a visit, and we celebrated J.J.'s 30th Birthday at Buca Di Beppos on Friday, Mazie's 5th Birthday on Saturday, and Kelesa's 1st Birthday on Sunday! Who says you can't have three parties in a weekend?

At Mazie's Party, we attempted to get all four girls in a picture (looking at the camera), but as you can tell from the picture it didn't quite work out that way...
And to commemorate the Killins, Laughrey, & Stahr Birthday weekend we had this for dinner tonight. Hope you guys both have a wonderful birthday! Wish we were all together to celebrate again.

Ten on Tuesday

Ten things I am looking forward to in 2008
1) Kelsea turning TWO
2) The arrival of Pondegore Killins
3) Wallis finishing school and becoming my little engineer nerd
4) No more diapers (Kelsea is in the pull her pants down, take her diaper off and sit on the potty phase...if only she would actually go potty...I think this new trick of hers is growing old for her teachers)
5) A night to ourselves, thanks to Stevie & Jennie who have volunteered to overnight babysit!
6) A trip to Texas to visit our friends the Hennings & the Sandness'
7) A pay raise, ok so it's not much but I'll take it...thanks Congress (and tax payers)!
8) Trying to get pregnant....but don't get too excited folks because that won't be until the END of the year!
9) Stevie & Jennie's wedding - 4/6/08 - what a great date!
10) Capturing all the little moments of Kelsea's 2nd year and sharing them with you!
For example, Kelsea putting her dolls, make that her boy dolls in timeout:
and giving her girl dolls lots of brown bear hugs...such a smart girl she is...

Outtakes from the Christmas Card Photo Shoot

Our amazing friend and talented photographer, J.J. came for a week long visit in November. On the very first day she arrived to our home (5 mos pregnant btw), she took our family Christmas card photos. I love so many of them that I thought I'd share a few that didn't make the card this year...



We don't have very many pictures of the three of us, and it's so nice to have so many that you actually want to hang up on the wall! Thanks J.J. for taking such wonderful pictures, we are oh so grateful!

A few reflections on 2007

Kelsea hit quite a few milestones this year to include walking, running (mostly running actually) and lots of talking. She loves to repeat everything we say... should make for some fun conversations this year!

We said goodbye to Grandma Ruth, and Kelsea's teacher Teri

We welcomed many of our friends babies into this world; to include, Peyton Rogers, Jacob Stahr, Jake Vuoso, Beau Henning, Maren Sandness, Ephraim Cobb, Jude Fuhrman, Andrew Janasiewicz, & just yesterday Joey Bolander!

I turned the big 30! Thirties is the new twenties, right? (-:

We moved into our new home in May, and are enjoying the short walk to the beach...here's a few picture's taken there today

Kelsea in her new Baby Gap outfit from Aunt Robie
Kelsea waiting for the wave to come in so she can throw her ball of sand at it
Hiding behind Daddy so the COLD water doesn't get her
Giving Daddy a Brown Bear Hug
Watching a surfer catch a wave, and contemplating how she is going to listen to her Mommy and Daddy all the time this year! (-:

Happy New Year Friends & Family! We hope you have a blessed 2008!

Our last day of 2007

Why it was a great day (in no particular order)...
1) Pilates class at 8:15
2) A trip to Babies R Us that was under 20 minutes (to buy this potty seat) http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2267518 and did not have to wait in line! Learned the only way to shop at Babies R Us, is 5 minutes after they open and only on New Years Eve...
3) The Christmas decorations are packed up and put away. We heard a lot of "Bye-Bye Santa"
4) Drank lots of tea thanks to a great hostess who made sure my cup was never empty. Who knew a $10 tea set would be such a hit!?
5) I finished Kelsea's Birthday invitations, now I just got to mail them...oh, and plan the party...
6) Daddy got to work out at the gym
7) Kelsea and Daddy got to eat Target popcorn-YUMMY treat!
8) I got to do lots of snuggling, to include several brown bear-brown bear and polar bear-polar bear hugs.
9) My daughter cooked me dinner and cookies for dessert on her new kitchen. Of course, she has informed me that her kitchen is "broken" since water does not come out of the faucet.
10) We (meaning Katie & Wallis) watched the movie, Once. Neither of us could figure out the last time we (meaning Katie & Wallis) sat down to watch a movie...6 mos... maybe a year? Too long that's for sure!

We hope your last day of 2007 was as sweet as ours!