Monday, December 19, 2011

Kara Leigh

Kara is growing up so fast! Here are some things she has been doing lately:

She loves to put shoes on. She frequently walks around the house with one shoe on. Not sure why she doesn't put both on!!

She can open the doors in our house. 

She can count to six! We have been working a lot on numbers, and she frequently counts when she is singing to herself.

She is so excited about Santa Claus coming and keeps reminding us all that he is bringing her a dolly.

She can say her name, and has named all of her toys "Kara" now.

She has been starting to string sentences together. Some of my favorites are when she rewards the dog by saying "Good girl, Abby," but she says lots of other things too.

She LOVES to talk on the phone. She has called my sister and mom a couple times on accident!

She knows how to work my iPad and frequently opens the apps that she wants to play.

She remembers books that we have read her, and will "read" the story by telling us what is happening on each page. Her favorite is "bown bear, bown bear," but Go Dog, Go! is another favorite. She calls it "Go Go Dog!"

I don't believe in spanking, but a couple times she has been acting up and we have said, "Do you need a spanking?" and she walks up to us, says "yeah" and sticks her butt out at us. What??? Obviously, it isn't really a threat. The corner, however, works very well.

She and I have a battle of wills almost every night at dinner. I have NEVER met a child as stubborn as Kara when it comes to eating! Our rule has become that she can't drink any milk until she eats her vegetables. Half the time it works, half the time she gets down from the table having not eaten anything.

She loves to help clean and will help unload the dishwasher, make her bed, and "dust" (she just has a dry rag that she rubs all over the furniture).

She loves to watch the Mickey Mouse Christmas Carol. It has a little movie in it called "Small One," which has become her favorite of late. It is a super sweet take on the Nativity Story. However, it has a TERRIBLE song in it that plays over and over throughout the movie. This song has also become Kara's favorite song, so she walks around the house singing "Small one, small one, la la la la." She also asks us to sing this song non-stop.







Harbingers of Death?

Today, we woke up to a little of this:

 (Not loving the trash in the yard. I hate that people throw trash in our yard when they walk by!!!)

And it has continued to snow throughout the day. In the snow, our big pecan tree looked like this:



But little by little, it started to have some visitors.



First one. Then a few more.



Then a few more.



By the end, there were over 50 crows on our pecan tree. Unfortunately, they flew away when they noticed me in the window! But it was a pretty amazing sight. Harbingers of death? No, I think they are just harbingers of snow!!! (Pardon the cheesiness. I couldn't resist!)


They really enjoyed the pecans. Our driveway is littered with shells!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Cuddling





See ya later, probably same place and same time next week!



Tuesday, November 1, 2011

"Treat Please."

Those are the words that Kara strategically used to get candy from the folks in Colorado on Saturday at a Halloween party we went to, although a couple times, she used the shorter, more effective phrase: "Candy!"


We headed up to my dad's this weekend for my brother's birthday, and we lucked out by getting up there in time for the Trunk-Or-Treat. Kara was reluctant to wear her owl hat at first, until I told her that when she wore it, she'd get candy. After that, she couldn't put her hat on fast enough. We had dinner, played games until it was dark enough to go Trunk-Or-Treating (although, Kara grabbed her bag and pulled me around asking me for "candy!" about 20 minutes before it was time to go outside and actually get the candy), and by the time we had visited all the "trunks," she was ready to go around a second time. When we told her she could only go around once, she wasn't too thrilled, but we remedied her mood by telling her she could eat a candy in the car.

First, she was in a parade around the building. 




 She won a cookie, and she was so excited about it. She had to show "bapa" (what she calls my dad).


"I've got my bag, and I'm ready to go. Where's the candy?"

"Kara, if you wear your hat, we can go get candy."


"Nana, look at all this candy!!!"
 
"I love candy!"

 (I'm noticing a theme with the captioning on my pictures. Yes, we talked about candy, a lot).



Halloween (Kinda)

You can't really tell from this picture, but we had a great weekend. 

(Can you see the awe in Kara's face? You mean this is a holiday all about CANDY!?!)

I'll tell you all about it later this afternoon!


P.S. 

How cute was my little owl? Complete with feathers and "whoo-whoo"ing.



Stay tuned!


Saturday, October 22, 2011

Good Days and Sunshine

Today was a good day.







We did a little sewing...



Played outside...



Pondered the universe...



Giggled and laughed...



Enjoyed the sunshine...



And went for a walk.



Hope your day was great too!


Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Autumn is Coming

Whenever someone asks me what my favorite season is, I always have a hard time coming up with an answer. I love ALL the seasons. Recently though, I figured something out... The truth is, what I really love is the change of seasons. I love looking anticipating the adventures and newness that each season brings.

And now, I am loving the advent of Fall. The air smells different. The weather is different. I know we may have a few more days of warmth left, but I just love the feeling of change.

Here are some of the things that Fall brings (to me):

Saying goodbye to the summer greenery, just for a time


Packing away my sandals to replace them with closed-toed winter shoes



Romping in the yard now that we are free from Summer's sweltering heat




(And maybe taunting the cat while we are at it)


 Laying in the grass to watch the clouds drift by


Greeting my sweet dogs as they wait in anticipation at the door for me to come home from school



Seeking the comfort of a warm blanket as the mighty afternoon thunderstorms roll in



Prickly pine-cones and crunchy leaves drifting downward from their homes high in the tree tops




Are you ready for Fall?