Terrific Trim

Emry received a much needed trim today. She was so excited to see in the chair and sat perfectly still the entire time. She looks so grown up in these pictures...time needs to slow down!

Snip Snap and Cut It Out

Emry loves to cut with her safety scissors. Look at the concentration!

Randoms

Here are some random pictures from the past week and a half. Steve and I are both back at work (even though I work from home) so my posts will most likely be a little spotty. I apologize in advance for those of you who are avid followers of our blog. Enjoy!

Babes after a swim.

Tea party with daddy in the fort.

What a ham.

Another Starbuck's date with mommy.

Visit from G&G Sheriff

Steve's parents came down Wednesday afternoon and overnight to see our new place and squeeze on the girls. Even though Emry was a little under the weather, both girls still had a blast with their G & G. Thanks for visiting and please visit again soon! Love you!

Snuggles from Grandpa Keith.

Hangin out at Minsky's. G & G treated us to dinner.

Emry and Gma eating cupcakes that we made for Emry after she filled her 2nd potty chart.

My Little Date

Last week, Emry and I headed to Starbuck's for a little date before story-time. It's not very often we get to do things just the two of us. We sat outside and enjoyed our drinks and mini vanilla scones. She had a chocolate milk and I had a blended coffee. Mmmmm-mmmm!

Fun with the Butler Boys

We watched my good friend Valerie's boys while she had a meeting for work earlier this week. Cole, her oldest is 8 months older than Emry. Owen, her youngest is a month and a half older than Bryn so they have a ball playing together.

The little cuties on the go.

The big cuties having a cupcake party.

Playing in the sprinkler.

Daddy took them on a wagon ride behind his riding lawnmower. Not sure how I felt about this but the kids loved it and he went REALLY slow.

Did I say cute?

Tubing!

We went on our friend's boat on a local lake last week, and Emry decided she wanted to try tubing after watching her friends go with their daddy. She loved EVERY-SINGLE-SECOND squealing in delight and giggling the entire ride. We could barely see her head above the tube. It was so stinkin' adorable and I'm so thankful my girl is brave and willing to try new things. It appears that she'll be a water lover just like her mamma!

Pantry Party

Both girls LOVE playing in our new pantry, especially Bryn. There are many interesting things on eye level for her. One of her faves is the fly swatter. Can't remember the last time we used it to actually swat a fly so I'm hoping it's not too dirty. Maybe I should rethink where I store it.

Well Check

We had Bryn's 9 Month well check this morning. The extra feeding we added to her diet paid off! She climbed from 15th percentile back to 30th percentile for weight. Now we have to work on getting her to take more ounces at each feeding so we can spread them out during the day. Right now she's eating 6 times a day and I think that's a little excessive for a 9 month old. I'm confident it'll all work out. Here are her stats:

Weight: 17 lbs 4 oz (30th percentile)
Height: 28 1/2 inches (90th percentile)
Head Circumference: 17 1/2 inches (75th percentile)

Besides the weight issue, she's as healthy as can be!

The New Pad

I apologize as this post is well overdue...many of you know WE MOVED! We heard that interest rates were EXTREMELY low so we initially thought about refinancing. Then we started discussing the possibility of moving, which is something we weren't planning to do for a LONG time. After much thought, we decided we'd put our house on the market in hopes of selling it for a decent price (considering the current market). Now that our family has grown and we have friends/family from out of town who frequently stay with us, we've been wishing for extra space. Much time and money went into our old home to get it "market-ready" and was well worth it. On March 3rd it was listed...was on the market for 2 months, and in early May, we accepted the third offer we'd received.

From March to early May, we viewed many homes and we were able to narrow down the style, location, etc. of our prospective new home. When we sold our home and were finally able to put an offer on a home, the home had our eye on for a while just gone under contract (bummer). Little did we know, there was a better fit waiting for us. In the end, we ended up buying a home 2 miles south of our old home, in the same school district, and close to everything we've been accustomed to since we moved to KC. We closed on June 21st, and made the big move on June 22nd. Thankfully my mom was here to help with the girls while Steve and I dealt with packing/moving. Thanks again mom....you're amazing!

Five days after we moved, we left for our two week vacation to MN, came home for a day, and left again for a long weekend at the Ozarks. Now we're back for a while, and able to enjoy, organize, and get settled in. The girls are adjusting well, even though Emry asked to go back to the "white house" at first. Totally broke my heart but the request didn't last more than a few days.

We loved our last home and will cherish our time there. Steve and I lived there for 6 years where many memories and experiences were created.

However, we're SOOOO looking forward to our future in the new home. Please come by anytime! We'd love to have you.

*Quick info on the house: New construction (was a model home), Two-story, 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, 4-car garage (the 3rd stall is 40' deep), in a cul-de-sac, unfinished basement.

9 Months

It's crazy to think our peanut is 3 months away from her first birthday! Time has absolutely flown by. It's amazing how much she's grown and flourished since she came into this world. She's one of our sweet angels and as always, we feel so blessed that God brought her into our lives.

Here's what she's up to these days:
~ Nurses 6 times a day (we added an extra feeding around 9:30pm to try and plump her up and it's working!)
~ Nurses 3 times a day, and has formula 3 times (I call her a hybrid eater)
~ Has two teeth and is working on 2 or 3 more. She has major swollen gums and has everflowing drool and snot...poor thing.
~ Is crawling (started on July 5th) and is getting faster everday
~ Pulls up onto her knees
~ Loves her voice and is constantly screaming in delight
~ Naps about 3 times a day
~ sleeps from 7-ish to 6:30/7:00am
~ Wears size 3 diapers
~ Is in 9-12 months clothes
~ Weighs 17 lbs. 0.5 oz
~ Adores her big sister
~ Has rice cereal & veggies/fruits three times a day
~ eats puffs
~ loves being tickled

She's the cutest and we're smitten.

MN Adventure: Part 3

We headed to my grandparent's lake home earlier than planned due to the storm that caused us to lose power at the resort we were staying at with Steve's family. Therefore, we had a little more time to spend at Lake Carlos. We had a full week of lake fun with Gpa Jim, Gma Nancy, Gma Julie, Gpa Ted, Jimmy, and Cindy. We swam, rode on the waverunners, went on boat rides, went on walks, went to the park, lounged on the deck and dock, water-skied, watch movies, and played, played, played. Steve and I even went on a date one evening. One of the most exciting things that happened was that Bryn started crawling on July 5th. She all of a sudden just took off and never looked back.

This is pic I took from the third row in our miracle van on the way back to KC. It was packed to the max with three adults, two children, and everything else that was needed for a two week trip.

We had an absolute blast at the lakes in MN...we so, so look forward to it every year. Lots of love to our families!

MN Adventure: Part 2

After our short visit with my dad and Kathy, we headed further north on Saturday, June 30th, to Six Mile Lake in Bena, MN to fish with Steve's family for a week. Unfortunately, a heavy storm came through Monday evening and blew a tree over into the power lines. The next morning I went into town with Steve's sister and her wife Holly and we learned we wouldn't have power for 4-5 days. Once we realized we wouldn't be able to wash hands, dishes, bottles, flush toilets, turn on fans (to help with heat), we decided it would be best to cut our trip short as living this way would be too difficult with two young kids. We were sad we weren't able to spend more time with the Sheriffs and I hadn't taken any pictures before we left. Praying for better weather next year. :)

MN Adventure: Part 1

We headed out on June 29th for our annual two week vacation to MN to first fish with the Sheriffs and then spend time with the Broz/Maro clan (my mom's side). On our way to Six Mile lake, we stopped at my dad and Kathy's house to spend the night to help break up the trip. Emry got to drive the John Deere Gator powerwheel, take a ride on my dad's 4-wheeler, and watch the local farmer bale hay. She and Grandpa Jeff also played with the marshmallow blaster and Grandma Kathy read her some books. Bryn also got some quality snuggle time with them. The girls love their Gpa Jeff and Gma Kathy.

8 Months!

Sweet Bryn is already 8 months! As always, we love her to pieces and can't get enough of her. Here is what our little peanut is up to:

~ Weighs 16 lbs 1 oz (10th percentile- we're working on beefing her up)
~ Nurses 5-6 times a day
~ Eats baby food 3 times a day
~ Typically refuses to drink from a bottle
~ Takes about 3 naps a day
~ Wears size 3 diapers
~ Is in 6-9 month clothes
~ Sits independently
~ Gets on all fours and rocks, rocks, rocks (she's working on crawling)
~ Has 1 tooth on the bottom...super cute
~ Absolutely ADORES her big sister
~ Is a happy girl