Sunday, November 30, 2008

Playing in the leaves!

Kathryn has enjoyed playing in the leaves this fall, as you can see! She likes to pose in the piles by laying down in the middle. She loves helping daddy rake and put the leaves in the big box, just like he used to help his daddy when he was little. Once they put the leaves in the box, then he lifts her up and puts her in the box to pack the leaves down so they can add more. The video shows how she likes to play, too.




Payton

The other week my cousin Diana and her son Payton came to visit us for a few days. Payton is exactly one week older than Jackson! They were so cute together, and Kathryn loved Payton's hair! We of course had to do a photo shoot of the boys in their matching outfits. We are so excited to have them so close in age...they will have such fun together as they get older!



Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Jackson's stats

Jackson's stats from his 2-month check up today:
Head circumference: 15.9 inches (58th percentile)
Height: 23.3 inches (61st percentile)
Weight: 13lbs 14oz (88th percentile)

We have one big boy on our hands! Enjoy this video from Sunday.



On a totally different note, Kathryn's dinner tonight was: grilled cheese, fruit, a pickle, black olives, and red onion. No joke... When I was putting her to bed tonight, her breath smelled like onion. Weird!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

2 months old!

Today is Jackson's 2 month birthday (and also Bobby's actual birthday...see previous post!). He is getting bigger and bigger every day. He goes to the doctor on Tuesday, so I'll be sure to post updated stats then. For now, enjoy some pictures:









We love this "little" guy so much! His colic is getting better. He no longer cries every night for hours. He still goes through a fussy period most evenings, but it's usually not too long, and we can get him calmed down eventually. Those weeks of colic were really tough...I wouldn't wish that on anybody! He is very smiley now, and also very talkative. He coos and squeals a lot during his awake time, which is so fun! We joke that he's going to end up talking before Kathryn, because he's so talkative! He really enjoys his swing now (thank goodness!), so he spends lots of time in that throughout the day. However, it has to be on the highest level. He basically has to be moving most of the time to be happy. Whereas Kathryn was content to sit in her bouncy seat or carseat for quite a while, Jackson has little tolerance for either unless they are moving (which is why he likes the swing so much!). We still don't have much of a schedule, as every day is different, but he does seem to have one good long nap period during the afternoon after lunchtime. Sometimes it even coordinates when Kathryn is napping, which is really nice for me when that happens! I'll try to post a video or two of him cooing when I post his Tuesday stats, so stay tuned for that!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to a very special Granddaddy. We love you!!!



Monday, November 17, 2008

Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken

Anyone like alliteration? :) We had this for dinner tonight, it was super easy, and yummy, so I thought I'd share. I didn't take any pictures, sorry.

Here's the recipe:
-1 can cream-of-something soup (I used cream of mushroom)
-1/2 cup chicken broth
-frozen chicken pieces (I used one pack of chicken I had bought on sale and stuck in the freezer)
-packet of Italian salad dressing mix (the seasoning)
-2 cloves minced garlic
-block of cream cheese

Put everything but the cream cheese in the crockpot. Cook on low for 6 hours. Shred the chicken with two forks in the crockpot, then add the cream cheese. Cook on high for 30 minutes or until the cream cheese melts. Serve over pasta. (I served it over brown rice.)

We enjoyed it, it was easy, and yummy. I've been using the crockpot a lot recently, as it's hard to be able to cook a dinner with two kiddos. So, if you have any good and easy crockpot recipes, let me know! You can leave it in a comment, email it to me, or post it to your blog (just let me know if you post!).

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Mill Mountain Star

Last week we took a family field trip up to the Mill Mountain Star. We wanted to enjoy the beauty of the fall leaves before they were all gone. And the Star is a perfect place to do so. On our way home, we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had a great time as a family...we are so blessed!

Self-portrait.Hiking.


After I took this picture, she kept posing in front of the star like this for me to take more pictures!Had to get Jackson with the Star too!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Dinner tonight

For dinner tonight we had turkey breast (made in the crockpot...yum!), mashed potatoes, and green beans. Trust me, dinner isn't usually like this in our house! :) Anyway, guess what Kathryn finished first, before she barely touched her other food, and was asking for more? Yup, the green beans. I love my girl!

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Football!!

This past Saturday was yet another UVA football game, and this time we were all able to go! (The last time we "all" went was when I was 37 weeks pregnant at the end of August!) So, this was Jackson's first game! The weather was beautiful, 70 degrees, and we had a great time. The kids did great!

Waiting to go, sporting a cool shirt!
Kathryn cheering on the 'Hoos! She looooves the games!
Johnny into the game, while Jackson takes a little nap.

Then he woke up and decided to cheer for the team too!

After the game, we went to our relatives Sal and Virginia's house in Charlottesville to enjoy a feast! We all wore our Jon Copper jerseys to support our favorite player who is friends with Johnny and Randy. The family with the jerseys from the front......and from the back.

Our family!Sal with Jackson. I'm not even sure if I can explain Sal's relation to Jackson...some kind of cousin?

Jackson was worn out from the day. And so was Kathryn! The funny thing is, his shirt was the same size as Kathryn's. I'd think it'd look so much bigger on him, but it wasn't! He's a big boy, like his daddy. Maybe someday he'll be wearing a real UVA jersey! :)

Friday, November 07, 2008

Oh, and I forgot to mention...

...that Kathryn is also very interested in going to the potty these days! She still hasn't actually done anything in the potty yet, but she asks to go quite frequently, so we'll take her as often as she asks to go. I'm hoping that it's a good sign toward potty training very soon!

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

22 months old!

I started this yesterday but never got around to finishing it. I figured it was time for a Kathryn-only post! :)


Today Kathryn is 22 months old. I can't believe she's only 2 months away from being 2 years old! She is so much fun these days! She still loves to play outside, even when it's quite chilly out. I'm not sure what we'll do about the winter, since she loves to be on the go so much. Here she is in her Big Bird sweater on one of those chilly days, ready to go out!She also loves to help me cook, and any time she even thinks I'm going to cook something, she drags a chair over to the stove or sink to help me.
Here she is "nursing" her baby doll. She doesn't do this very often, actually, but a couple of weeks ago she was really into it. Every time I said Jackson needed to eat, she'd run and grab my nursing cover and get her baby doll to feed her. As you can tell, it's a very serious thing!
She's been really into music lately, as in, her music (you know, music for toddlers sung by kids). Every time we get in the car, she points to the radio and says "Noooo" until we put her music on. (Just so you know, we don't always give in to her; sometimes we tell her sorry, we're listening to our music now.) She loves to sing along, though, and it's so sweet to hear her. She also loves to dance to her music, or anything she hears really. She still loooooves her baby brother, and whenever we ask her for a kiss or a hug, she has to give him one first, then us, then he gets another one last! She loves to give him his paci, put his blanket on, rock his seat when he's fussing, and give him lots of hugs and kisses. She also loves to get under his little play gym with him and look at the toys hanging above. Sometimes she'll play under it by herself...a little regression? :) She's still not talking much; my guess is she has about 18 words or so. However, she'll surprise us all the time with a word when we ask her to say it. But then, she won't say it again. So we know she has the ability, we're just waiting for things to "click" and her to start speaking more. She understands pretty much everything we tell her, though, and is often a big help because of that! She'll put things away, pick things up, get things for us, etc. She's so sweet and loves to help out.

Well, I'm sure there's tons more I can say about her. But that's all the major things that I can think of right now. Can you believe she'll be 2 years old in just 2 months? Wow, time flies...

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Halloween

Our cute little pumpkin.Big sister holding baby brother.
What a cute ladybug!

Smiling behind his hand!

Kathryn and Jackson had a great Halloween. We were busy with lots of stops to make. First it was on to Aunt KK's house. Then we went over to Johnny's parent's church, where they had Trunk or Treat, to see Grandma and Aunt Cindy. Then it was on to the Young's house to see Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Randy. Finally, we headed back home. We stopped at the neighbor's house so they could see the kids too. Then Granddaddy came over to see them all dressed up, and finally it was bedtime! Kathryn was very excited about her lady bug costume. Every time she saw it, she'd start buzzing like a bug! I guess ladybugs make a buzzing sound when they're flying?