Anniversary of Elvis' Death AND...

7 years ago today, Don popped the question. After saying "no" 3 times, I gave in! :) True story, well maybe not the "gave in" part.

Here is how we entertain ourselves on Sunday afternoon... (ignore the mess in the background and the fact that Kate has nothing but a diaper on):

BAAAA- usted!

Mischievousness:



Ecstasy:



P.S. Kate was found STANDING in her bed last night. We temporary set up the pack-n-play for her to sleep in until we lower the mattress.

You Can Have Your Cake, and EAT IT TOO!

This past weekend we headed up to North Alabama for our nephew Reid's 1st birthday party. He turned 1 on 8/5/09. Because Kate is beginning to notice more things I was excited to see how she would interact with the boys, their dogs, and the boys' toys. She is starting to want to touch Reid more. Her and Ryan (the 3 year old) don't care a flip about each other. She really didn't pay the dogs too much attention either. She did, however, love all of R&R's toys. It made me want to go out and buy her a bunch of new ones but Don's sister, Tabitha and his mom reassured me that she has a birthday coming up and before long she will have more than enough. She loved Reid's jumperoo and Uncle Rob gave her a red balloon that she loved to almost pieces. I had to take it away from her before it popped loudly in her face and scarred her for life.

Reid didn't do much with his birthday cake. All he did was stick a finger in it. I couldn't believe it! I think him and Kate will have slightly different personalities!

So Close

Kate's 1 year birthday is approaching crazy fast. She was 10 months old this past Saturday, 8/8/09. Here are a few things Kate has been up to lately:

- started eating finger foods - she loves cheese puffs, fruit puffs, biter biscuits, waffles, and mandarin oranges - she has also tried mozzarella cheese, small shell noodles, and small cans of mixed veggies

- she has 5 teeth (3 top, 2 bottom) - 3-4 of them came in, in about 1.5 weeks time!

- she has been waking up alot in the middle of the night (like 3 times,can we say newborn!?!) but in the last few days she seems to be getting back to a regular 10-6am schedule (yes, my baby goes to bed at 10pm!, I am about to start working on that)

- she is REALLY ridiculously close to crawling - she is assuming position and then will take one movement with front hands, fall flat in middle then roll over - she is getting extremely frustrated with herself over this

- don't let this no crawling thing fool you though, she is still into EVERYTHING! seriously, she scoots around and makes her way to whatever she wants, I can not tell you how many times I have caught her in the bottom of the entertainment center!

- her favorite things to do to show excitement is to shake her head and clap her hands....so sweet! (she was doing it the other night in church...yikes!)

- speaking of church, kate has starting this new thing when everyone is singing she starts her loud monotone noise, she is trying to sing too!

- OH, and we believe she said her first word...DaDa! arghhhh! :) We were all loaded up in the van headed from the airport to the cabin in Colorado and Don popped up from behind the seat to look at Kate and she says "DaDa!"

I think that is all the updates for now. Love you sweet baby girl!



* Kate pays a visit to Mamey at work.

Proud Papa

Ummm...do you think someone is ready for football season? Seriously, Petey has not picked up his toy football in months and then just the other night he brings Don this small football. The next day he brings him the larger football (that he can barely fit in his mouth). Don laughed so hard. He is so proud of that mangy mutt. Me too!

My Brother is From...

- John and Amy and a wonderful little sis named Allison (suppose to be a joke)
- Whose favorite past time was torturing his little sister
- With a big extended family with a bunch of aunts, uncles, and cousins – where everyone talks and noone listens
- Where we not only say ya’ll but yes ma’m and no ma’m
- Where when he lies to his mom and gets caught – he justs tells her it is “opposite day” and that everything he says, he means the opposite

My Brother is From –

- where Thanksgiving Dinner always involves at least 25 people and is an all day event
- who will nag you to death to share an experience that he is SO passionate about – “Allison come here…Allison come here…Allison come here”
- where he can reinvent himself constantly – from cowboy to Ninja Warrior (2 toed boots & numchucks) to Hockey Player to Musician to Athlete to Skateboarder to Water Skier to Fisherman and THAT is just in Alabama
- where every evening meal has cornbread, sweet tea, and something FRIED
- where he chases lightening bugs and baby frogs at the lake, and sand crabs at the beach
- where his yard full of pinecones were used as weapons against his sis & best friend riding the go-cart

My Brother is From –

- where he goes to Gulf Shores, Alabama at 15 and drinks Sparkling Grape Juice out of the bottle trying to convince the babes it was the real thing
- where he loves his animals – Mitsy, Walker, Lou Lou, Fussball, George, Skeeter & Mason
- where he proves that he touched the bottom of Logan Martin Lake by returning to the surface with tree branches or rocks in hand
- where at age 12 coaches his 6 years younger cousin how to pick up “babes” at the beach – “Paul, if they mention Rainbow Brite, GET OUT OF THERE!”

My Brother is From –

- where he practices Beavis & Butthead with his best friend every day on the way home
- where he discovers that walking the dogs picks up chicks and really is a good thing
- where he uses an Asian students ID to get in free to the most coveted football rivalry in the South – Alabama versus Auburn and gets more national tv exposure than his sister who had high price legitimate seats
- where Rama Jama Sweet Home Alabama is a Fall Favorite
- where he LOVES to get away from & LOVES to come back to….Alabama

I could say a lot of sweet things about my brother. I will say he is the funniest person I know and whenever I am around him, he reduces me to tears from laughter.



* Read at Wade’s wedding, 7/25/09, Estes Park, Colorado.

Chucky's BACK

Can we say, "SO FRUSTRATED"?!? Kate being forced to learn to crawl by putting things such as dog toys, cameras, iphones, and remotes just outside her reach. See video below: