Holiday Pictures!

I look forward to holiday pictures every single year. Tyler and I have done a Christmas card each year since we have been married, and have always had pictures made for the cards. Now that we have Anslee, holiday pictures have become just another way to watch her grow from year to year. What a special and simple tradition that I will always treasure!

Here are some of the holiday pictures that we are not using on the card, but that we took and love anyway. Tyler's cousin Courtney has a nice camera, so while our family got together over the Thanksgiving holidays, she let her brother Trevor use the camera (in her absence) to snap a few shots of us. I think both Trevor and Courtney ought to look into photography. They both take great pictures!







She was not cooperating at this point.









...and I will end this post with a picture of how our photo session started.



Thank you Watson Cousins for your taking the time to take our pictures and for letting us use your super cool camera. We could not love them more!

In Jon's Honor

September 26, 2008 is a day I will absolutely never forget. I do not think there was another day that year I waited for so anxiously.

Why? This was the day Tyler graduated from the Department of Public Safety Trooper Academy.

What a wonderful day it was. It was a day to celebrate and that paved the way for our growing (I was 20 weeks pregnant) family's future. We could not get down to Austin, Texas fast enough to watch Tyler and his entire recruit class receive their Commission from the State.

This was also the day I had the privilege and honor of meeting Laura McDonald.

Laura looked like me (not physically)! She was a young wife of a Trooper-to-be. We both had the excitement in our eyes of getting our husbands back at the end of the day, after 6 long months of being separated from them by the Academy.

I took my seat next to her and immediately we struck up conversation about how excited we were that they day had finally come. See, she had been dealing with all the emotion of being away from her husband in the same way I had been, so even though we had just met, we had something special in common.

I felt like we became instant friends. Her and Jon were stationed in Post, Texas. They went to a station in an area in which they were familiar and were ready to start life as a Trooper and soon to be teacher!

Laura gave birth to sweet Kacyn Shae McDonald 6 months ago. A family of 3!

I kept up with Laura mostly through facebook. I always thought she was the proudest Trooper wife in all of Texas. Jon had a gem of a wife in her, you see, being a Trooper Wife is not an easy task!

This Monday night, at 10:30 pm Jon was tragically killed in a car accident. What was he doing? Serving. He was on duty on his way to a call to take care of wreck. (A situation that is all to routine for me) There is reason to believe that a tire on his car blew out causing him to loose control of his car and hit a covert on the highway sending his patrol car into flames.

Tyler and I could not believe the news when we heard. We immediately went into tears. Yes, we had heard of Troopers loosing their lives in the line of duty. None that Tyler bunked with in the Academy. None that I had meet the family. None that seemed to be just like us.

Tyler said Jon was a good recruit, and therefore made a good solid Troop. Tyler remembers exactly where Jon sat in their classroom during those dreadful 6 months. They did everything in alphabetical order, and McDonald is not too far from Moses.

To the McDonald Family:
We so appreciate the service of Trooper Jonathan McDonald. We know that he was not only a Trooper, but a loving husband and nurturing father to his baby girl. His life will always be remembered with much honor, and our hearts and prayers go out to you.

Being a Trooper family is risky, but I am so very proud to be apart of one. Thank you, Tyler, and Troopers like Jon who do what you do for the safety of the people of Texas.

Click here for the news story on this tragic event.

The Sisters!

People. No one was more shocked than I when I saw my sweet Kensington on the sonogram monitor and she looked like a mini unborn version of her big sister.

I assumed the two would share some similar features. I thought they would resemble each other enough that people would recognize them as siblings.

At this point, I know Kensington is growing bigger and faster than Anslee did. Her movements are stronger and I can feel her from one side of my belly to the other side at the same time. The obvious, of course, is that while my weight gain has been steady and the same as it was with Anslee up to this point, I am much bigger this go around.

So, while the pregnancies have been different, and in some ways the same, I did not expect them to LOOK this much alike.

Here is Anslee at 28 weeks gestation.



Here is Kensignton at 28 weeks gestation.




Sure, there is no way to really be able to compare the two until Kensington gets here, but this is what we have for now, and based off what I see, I think I am in luck for another cute little girl!

Here is a side by side pic. K on the left, A on the right.



What do you think? Do they look alike?!

Whats the Buzz all about?

Anslee of course! In her bumblebee costume for Halloween!

What fun we had dressing up this year! We had 3 opportunities to be a bumblebee this Halloween season.

She wore her costume to Wee Kids the Wednesday before Halloween, when they had their fall festival/carnival for all the little ones. She is so blessed to be able to be apart of such a wonderful Mothers Day Out program. She has grown leaps and bounds by being in the program. They have wonderful directors, teachers, helpers, and classmates! I feel like she is reaping so many benefits from going twice a week.

Here she is wondering why Mommy is hanging around at school.


On their way to the Carnival. They all hold on to the ring to stay in a line whenever they leave the classroom.



Look at what a fun carnival they put on for the kids!



Playing toddler Ski Ball with her buddy, Caleb, who was Santa Clause this year for Halloween!



Enjoying some of the treats they got from the carnival!



Our whole family was able to go the Church wide fall festival the day before Halloween as well. We were so excited that daddy got to join us this year, as last year he had patrol duty! We had a blast and there was a huge turn out this year!



Playing games with Daddy!



They even had a mini bounce house



The First Baptist Church in Coleman, where Tyler's parents attend, also had a Fall Festival that we went too. We had so much fun there too!



She won 1st place in the costume contest!




Next Halloween, I will have an almost 3 year old and an almost 1 year old. Whoa. We have a lot to look forward too in the next year!

Now, on to Thanksgiving where candy is not as big of a deal, but comfort food is!

The Pregnant Pumpkin's Shoes.

Don't let the title confuse you. Its just my way of saying this post is a melting pot of random pictures and updates!



I am not very crafty. I wish I was more creative so badly, so, I have decided to do what kinds of crafts with Anslee that I could actually come up with up. With it being Fall, and Halloween quickly approaching, it has made the "coming up with ideas" a tad bit easier for me.

Here is something a bit thrown together and random that I thought would be fun and easy to do with not-so-baby girl.

I found some small orange plates for $1.00 a wal mart. I immediately though a pumpkin could be easily constructed out of an orange plate!



I thought, well, cutting out shapes for the face of the pumpkin would be great for practice in the process. She loved it, and hearing her say "ty nangle" for "triangle" makes this mama so proud!



We (Ok, I) cut out triangles for the eyes and nose and squares for the teeth. I only assisted with the glue stick and pasting them too the plate though. She made it clear that I was only to help with those parts.




For the most part, her attention was well kept during our little project. She may have gotten a little off track at times...but had a blast to say the least!




All done and so proud!



As the title of this post would note, I decided to lump several things into one blog. I usually do not have enough interesting things to say to be able to do that, and I still don't this time, but thought I would throw some randomness into the post.

Here I am at 27 weeks along with Anslee's sweet sister, Kensington Kay.



This little one kicks. I mean she moves and punches and rolls and twirls about all day long. All night long. It was about at this point in the pregnancy with Anslee that I started to finally fill out my maternity clothes. Ha! What a joke that would be this time around!

On to a very important subject matter for all girls. Shoes. People, Anslee cannot help that she is already a shoe fanatic. Shoes can make the outfit. Here are a couple of cute shoes that she had to have.



Apparently sparkle is a must for the feet of little girls right now. I love it!

Punkin'

Anslee, at almost 9 months old.








These precious pics were snapped last fall at the pumpkin patch. Her first one.

Look at her now! Her 2nd Fall and visit to the pumpkin patch!







On a side note, this little pumpkin is 21 months old today! I just can't believe it. I know the monthly letter blogs have stopped since she turned one, but I thought I would give a little update on her 21 month old activity!

This sweet little girl knows all her animals and can mimic them when asked, and it is just too cute to hear her roar like a lion and cock-a-doodle-doo like a rooster! She is catching on fast to shapes (She knows circle, star, triangle, and square) and colors and just loves to put puzzles together. She can count to 3, but most of the time, every number is 2. Anslee knows A,B, and C and loves going over all the letters at bath time. The girl attempts to repeat any word we say, so we have to be super careful around here of what comes out of our mouths! Sorting/organizing are at the top of her play priority list every single day, and if she was allowed, she would be very happy dressing herself each morning. Her love for food is really more like a, "I will do it to survive" activity than something she enjoys. (I know, if I did not carry her myself I would not be able to claim her as mine). She has moved from the high chair to the booster chair full time now. Apparently the high chair is beneath her, and you would agree if you saw her reaction to it in the last month. She has no idea she is getting a little sister, but can say Kensington surprisingly well. Anslee is putting together two word sentences all the time now, and communicating with her is becoming easier as the days go by!

As far as the potty goes: We get closer and closer to being ready each day. We still are not: 1) waking up in the morning or from naps dry consistently. 2)Able to pull down her own bottoms or 3) Telling mommy or daddy until AFTER the damage has been done. So, with those 3 things still left to tackle, I am still comfortable waiting a little longer to begin. She does know what the potty is and what it is intended to be used for, so I know progress is being made and I know we will get there in due time!

I can't believe that the monthly letter blogs will begin up again when Kensignton turns 1 month old....and that is just 4 months away from now!

Oh, and would you believe we have lived in our home for a full year now? We closed October 1, 2009. Here is us when we moved in!

Now until Then

I have 15 weeks to:

1. Think about, pick out, and put together a brand new nursery for baby Kensington. I want it to be totally different than Anslee's. I think this is my first sign at how different they will be. I just know that what we did for Anslee's room would not in any way work for Kensington. So far, we have the crib and the changing table/dresser with attached hutch, but other than that we don't even have any good ideas. We might start with thinking about a color for her walls...


2. Try to get through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's for the first time with out my Grandmother. We are expecting that this year is going to be especially difficult. I have a feeling that many tears will fall, but I so am hoping that by remembering her in all that we celebrate we will find great joy in the many years we did have her with us on those special days. We will cook up her Japanese food, talk about how it will never be the same as when she made it, and be reminded of what a big part she played in our family holiday traditions. She will be so very much missed, not just this first year without her, but from this point forward.


3. Plan a fabulous birthday party for a sweet 2 (yes, 2 as in TWO)year old! Its amazing to have already changed so very much from January of 2009 until today. From birth to 1, I was astonished by her physical growth. That seemed to be where all the growing happened in that year. Now, from 1 to almost 2, I watched her grow in her ability to understand and start to mastering skills and communicate. That is where growth happened so fast for us this year. I am so excited for this upcoming year. From discussions I have had, blogs and books I have read, and just observations I have had, I am anticipating watching her grow into a person who will have the capacity to reason (when I say reason, I mean reason to the degree of a 2 year old) with morality. By this time next year, my sweet Anslee will begin making choices knowing right from wrong and good and bad. Or, that process will have been started. I still stand in awe of how much she changed in less than 2 years. Oh, and just maybe, we will have learned a thing or two about using the potty!


4. Fall Festivals, Church wide Carnivals, Celebrate the birthdays of My Mother in Law, My Mom, and My Sister in Law (and in that order actually), and Christmas Shopping! People: My TIME and my BUDGET will be running on low before.....

5. Having my 2nd baby girl! Thats right, Kensington's arrival marks 15 weeks from now, and as you can tell, I will be super busy until then. This means that I will practically wake up and she will be here.

Then, after this is said and done, life will slow down a bit....right? Well maybe not, but at least I have a minivan now to lug all my precious cargo around to and from the busy-ness that life will soon bring!