Ice!

Kylie absolutely loves ice! I think it all started because we give Shea ice cubes as a treat. One day, Kylie decided to steal Shea's ice cube and that was the beginning of that obsession. This is particularly worrying because of all the snow on the ground. Every time someone walks into the house and tracks snow, be it myself, Michael or the dog. Kylie will follow behind picking up the snow and eating it. The other day we caught her picking the snow off of our firewood logs and eating it. GROSS! So we gave her a cup of ice chips and this is what happened:

Yes, she dumped the ice out of the cup, so she could eat them off the floor. What a silly little girl.

Santa's not so fun after all

Kylie had a weekend full of Christmas Parties this weekend. On Saturday the fire dept in town had one for all the firefighter kids and then Sunday Kylie went to Grandma's legion for one. I thought she would love it, she was fascinated by Santa last year. But, as soon as she was placed on Santa's lap, the screams started. The best picture was from Saturday. It wasn't any better Sunday! Maybe next year....

Daddy's Girl

Kylie is so in love with her daddy. As soon as she hears the garage door open, she races to greet him. Then, as long as he is home, he is all that she wants. Forget Momma. Unless she hurts herself, then I am the only one who can fix her boo-boo. The other weekend, Kylie was side by side with her daddy, watching the bears game. This one they actually won! I know... shocker shocker. It was so cute to see the two of them together, both glued to the tv. Go figure!

Deck the Halls

I love the Christmas season. I can't wait until the day after Thanksgiving to break out all my boxes upon boxes of decorations and Christmas cds. The thing I hate, though, is all the mess that decorating the house brings. I guess it isn't a mess, just chaos. Well, I am happy to say that we finished everything last night and our house is on it's way back to order. Yeah! We even trekked out yesterday to, not only one, but two Christmas tree farms to find our perfect tree. The first farm we went to had lots of nice trees but they were all too small for our front room. So, we went to a different one. Kylie had fun riding in her wagon (after we got moving...she wasn't too happy to be woken up and placed into another confining seat... but she got used to it), and when we found our tree, walking around the rows of trees and inspecting the freshly cut trunk of our new Christmas tree.

Birthday Girl!

We had Kylie's first birthday party on Saturday. It was a ton of work but loads of fun.. until the birthday girl got tired and cranky.We had all our family and friends over. Kylie got tons of presents. She is such a loved little girl. She wasn't totally into opening all of them. She seemed to like climbing on them better. She is such a monkey. The cutest part was the cake. Of course. Our little Kylie is such a girl. She wouldn't mash the cake. Instead, she started out licking the icing, the nshe put one finger in and put it in her mouth. Michael and I had to help her dig in. But she had a good time with it.

All about me

Alright, Sarah tagged me to tell 6 things about myself, so here I go...

1. I absolutely love chocolate! If there is any chocolate in our house, it is normally gone within a day. Poor Michael, he hardly ever gets any.

2. I love to cook & bake. It is my time. Michael takes Kylie and I get to spend 30-45 minutes in silence baking/ cooking and relaxing by myself.

3. I hate to shop. Don't get my wrong, I love new clothes and things. But, I despise crowded stores, dressing rooms, lines, and everything that goes with it. Especially during the holiday season. Thank goodness for the internet.

4.I am a piler. I have to have things clean and organized, but I normally clean papers into piles. I have my 'file' pile and my 'do something with this' pile. This drives Michael nuts because he likes things out of sight. So, when I am not around he picks up my piles, mixes them together and shoves them in a drawer or cabinet... normally not remembering which when I ask about it. This drives me crazy!

5. I hate when someone breathes on me... This is normally Michael while we are snuggled up sleeping. The hot breath blowing on me just drive me nuts.

6. I would love to travel the world. I was blessed to go to Italy, Austria, & Hungary when I was 14. But I would love to go back there, and many more places. Michael and I keep telling each other that we will go all over with Kylie to give her as many world experiences as we can. We shall see where life and our funds take us.

Birthday Fun

Michael's birthday was this past Sunday. He didn't want to do anything for it, so we had a family day. It was a lot of fun and low stress which was great. We had a wonderful breakfast, went to church, and then had a picnic lunch (which didn't last long because the cold and wind got the best of us). We went to a nearby forest preserve which is a place we love to go because it is so pretty and peaceful. Kylie had a great time wandering around outside, playing in the leaves, and helping daddy throw the ball for Shea. Later that night, we met Michael's family at Olive Garden to get a good dinner and celebrate. What a great way to spend his birthday!

Halloween Fun

Sunday we had a Halloween party for all the kids in our family. We even made all the adults dress up too. It was a ton of fun. We carved pumpkins, ate tons of food, and watch the bears lose :( I was very impressed with the costumes. My sister came as a pumpkin, My dad was a king, Kristin and Mauricio were Indians, Aunt Mary and Uncle jack were Hippies, April and Ruther were patriots fans (BOO!), Isaiah and Noah were both spider man and they had so much fun together. Aidan was a dragon, Gabriel was a lion, Kylie was a butterfly, I was a football player and Michael was a cheerleader (skirt, panty hose, wig, make-up and all).

Apples!

I love fall! It is my favorite time of year. It isn't too cold yet, so there is lots to do and the trees look beautiful. One of my favorite things to do is go apple picking. I love to go to the orchard and pick our own apples and then come home to make many apple things. This year we went on my mom's birthday and she joined us. It was a lot of fun. Since we went so late in the season, all the good apples were up high in the trees, so we had to do some climbing. Kylie's favorite part... eating the apples while we picked them.

Pumpkins!

While Michael's sister was in town, we found a couple hours to escape and head to the pumpkin patch. Kylie had a lot of fun tottering around the farm, playing with the hay on the ride out to the pumpkins and crawling all over the pumpkins. We were glad that Auntie Suz could be there to share that with Kylie. Not only was it a good time but the weather was beautiful... 85 degrees and sunny. Not your typical fall pumpkin picking day, but we all enjoyed it.

Kylie's Best Friend

Shea

loves Kylie just about as much as she loves him. He will let her

do absolutely anything to him. She can pull his hair, grab his ears, crawl over him, take his toys away, and even stick her hand in his mouth and he just takes it. He loves to lick her all over, which makes her laugh. They are so cute together!

What goes up, Must come down

Kylie loves to climb anything and everything she can. So one day, Michael decided it would be fun to teach her how to climb the stairs. She loved it but she didn't understand the concept of going down...so you constantly had to watch her. Now, I can say that she has mastered the art of going up and down the stairs. This is her favorite thing to do during the day, especially if the cats are anywhere near the stairs; at which time it becomes a game of chase the kitties up the stairs.

Up...

and down...

Shea

So, I have shared tons of pictures/stories about Kylie, that now it is Shea's turn. Shea is our other baby.... our dog. He loves water. Every time Mike puts the sprinkler on, he jumps up and goes to the door and whines to go outside. The other morning, Mike let him out and this is what happened...

Kylie's First Fever

Kylie went to the doctor yesterday. She had her nine-month checkup (even though she is almost ten months...we got a little behind somewhere). So, they checked her out (she now weighs 15lbs 11 ozs and is 29 inches long) and gave her a polio shot. We were so excited because it was only one shot and she didn't even cry. She's had the polio vaccine before so we knew that she may be tired and a little fussy... but we didn't expect what we got a few hours later. Kylie spiked a 104 temp, is fussy and so lethargic. Our poor baby... a day and a half later and she still isn't feeling well. she didn't even eat her lunch! She has been spending lots of cuddling time with mom and dad, eating Popsicles (she loves that part) and wearing cold paper towels on her head. The doctor says to give it another day and see what happens. Hopefully she will start feeling better soon.

Go Cubbies

Back in August, we took Kylie to her first Cubs Game. We were a little worried about how Kylie would do sitting in the same spot for three hours, but we were pleasantly surprised. She did great. It helped that we had a great group of people sitting around us who loved having Kylie there. They kept her amused whenever her attention was wavering. For her first game, Mike tried to get her on tv for her few seconds of fame. He made a sign to hold up during the game. We didn't get on tv... but we had a great time and the cubbies won!

DONUTS!!!!!

Kylie loves food! It doesn't matter what it is as long as it is 'big people' food. She will literally yell at you until you give her some of the food that is on your plate. Then she will double fist it into her mouth so fast, it makes innocent bystanders think we starve our daughter. The funniest moment lately was when Mike brought home donut holes on his way from work. Kylie was playing on the floor and as soon as she spotted the box, she made a bee-line to it. Her hand was in the box so quick that neither of us noticed what happen. That was, until she turned around with a donut hole in her mouth and another in her hand. Our petite little girl shoved that whole donut in her mouth and wouldn't let go of it. We allowed her to eat her two donut holes...they actually kept her busy for a few minutes... and we used the opportunity for a photo session.

On the move

Man, do I miss the days where Kylie just laid in one spot and played with whatever was within reach of her. But, it is amazing to watch her grow and become an amazing little person. She is crawling all over the place and her newest feat is walking...well with help. She will walk around the house pushing her walker everywhere she can. When she gets to a wall, she keeps on pushing until the walker tips and then she resorts to crawling on top of it and standing up against the wall. She is one determined girl who, I'm sure, will be walking in no time. My how quickly she is growing up!