Smith Smiles

Baily's Hospital Stay

2010-11-18T10:50:00.003-06:00

The past 3 days have been filled with a whilwind of emotions! Sunday night, around 11pm, Baily started running a tempature of 102 degrees. Way too high for a baby that is only 5 1/2 weeks old! I called the doctor to see how much medicine to give her and they said I need to get to the ER as soon as possible. So after I gathered a few things for the big girls we were off. Mama dropped Emily and Kaitlynn off at Jay Mac's and met us at the ER. Baily's temp. there was 101.5 so they proceeded to run tests. They need urine and blood samples. This was hard to aquire since Baily was so small and dehydrated from the fever. After 3 needle sticks they were able to get some blood, however they soon came back to inform us that the blood had clotted before they got it to the lab so they would have to stick her again. This time it took them twice to get blood. Poor Baily 5 needle sticks and a cath. The first test they did on the blood came back okay, but they thought they needed to rule out Menangitus (SP?) so they said they would have to do a Spinal Tap :( I could not believe this! They tried twice, unsuccessfully, in the ER to do the spinal tap and decided that they would admit us and let another doctor try again upstairs. Finally at 7am, after a very long stay in the ER, they were able to get us a room on the 2nd floor in the pediatric wing. It took Dr. Martin 2 more tries before she was able to get the spinal fluid she need to grow a culture. They had to put in another cath. and start an IV for fluids to hydrate her and for antibiotics. At that point we were up to 12 needle sticks in our baby girl :( So after this horrible night and morning everyone one was sleep deprived and emotionally drained. Baily was not eating well and could not rest at all! This made for an extremely long, long day. We had so many people call and visit and pray for our sweet baby girl. Thanks so much to each of you! The 24 hour culture tested showed there was not any bacteria growing, our first good news in about 36 hours! The IV fluids were beginning to hydrate her, however she was still running fever (not as high, between 99.7 & 100.9 degrees), and still not eating well and very cranky. Around 6pm on Tuesday Baily was finally able to rest for about 1 1/2 hours and things started to turn the corner in a good direction. Then about 8pm her IV site went bad, vein collapsed or clotted they were not sure, so we had to put another IV in. It took them 2 times before they were able to get this IV started :( That made a total of 14 needle pokes :( :( :( Tuesday night went much better and Baily was able to rest for 2-3 hours at a time and was eating much better! Around 11am we recieved the wonderful news that the spinal tap came back negative! They said that if the blood and urine cultures came back negative we could go home!!!!! So at around 1pm on Wednesday the best news came that we were getting to go home!! Of course it took until 3:30pm for them to discharge us, but finally around 4:00pm we were at home with all three girls asleep! Baily was a little chranky in the evening, but once she finally went to sleep she slept most of the night, only waking up once to eat and then go back to sleep! God truly blessed us by watching over our sweet little Baily Caroline! We give him all the credit! Thanks so much to everyone for their care, concern, calls, visits and especially their prayers! Baily is getting back to her old (6 weeks old) self! Just wish she did not have to go through all of that trama but thankful that she will not remember it! Will post some pictures of our hospital stay soon.

Emily Receives 1st Place at Tumbling Meet!

2010-11-13T14:37:00.009-06:00

Emily standing proud as she gets her 1st place medal!! Emily kept waving at us in the stands!
I wonder what they were saying to each other?

Look at that cartwheel! Both legs off the ground!

Emily and her Proud Mama! Way to go Emily!

Emily showing off her 1st place medal!

Emily had her 1st Tumbling meet of the season today in Idalou. She did an awesome job and has improved so much in the year she has taken lessons! Today she received a 1st place medal, which was outstanding! She was so proud and we were all so proud of her!!! Here are a few pictures from the meet today!

Baily Caroline Smith

2010-11-03T16:22:00.008-05:00

Sweet Baily Caroline came into our lives at 4:51am on October 5, 2010. She weighed 6lbs 12oz and was 21 inches long! She was welcomed by her two big sisters Emily and Kaitlynn still in their P.J.'s! Also there to welcome her was Mommie, uncle's Jay Mac and David and anut Renee'. What an exciting time in our lives!! We already love you so much sweet little Baily Caroline!

Baily Caroline just a few hours old!

Bigest Sister Emily holding Baily!

Smile for the camera Baily!

Just love the bow they put on the hat from the nursery!
Sleeping Beauty!

Mama with her three little girls, Emily, Kaitlynn and Baily!

Sound asleep after her first bath!

Mama looking at sweet Baily Caroline, just a few hours old!

Uncle Jay Mac filled in this chart in the delivery room!

Aunt Renee' holding Baily for the first time!
Doesn't she look good for 5am!

Uncle David holding Baily for the first time!

Uncle Jay Mac holding Baily for the first time!

Emily kissing Baily for the first time!

Kaitlynn was still a little sleepy eyed when she met her baby sister!

Kaitlynn kissing Baily for the first time!

Proud Big Sisters!

Mommie holding Baily for the first time!

Emily is all smiles and ready to meet her newest little sister Baily!

Proud Mama and Beautiful Baily Caroline!

Proud Daddy holding Baily Caroline!

He too is still in his P.J.'s!

Mama still a little sleepy eyed!

4:51AM is a little early for her but well worth it!!

Mama, Daddy, Baily and Dr. Joanna Burke

Where has the Time Gone?

2010-11-03T16:02:00.002-05:00

Where has the time gone? I did not realize that it had almost been a whole year since I last posted anything on this blog :( A lot has changed in the Smith house in one year!! We added a dinning room, playroom and basement to our house and most exciting is that we also added Baby Smith Girl #3 on October 5, 2010. Sweet little Baily Caroline! I am going to post pictures of the last year, probably in retrograde, but at least they will get posted! Time flies when you are enjoying the ride of raising children!!

Emily's 1st Tumbling Meet!

2009-11-08T00:36:00.004-06:00

Emily had her 1st tumbling meet today, Nov. 7, 2009, in Idalou. We had to be there at 8:45am, which is very early for Emily! She did an awesome job on her 2 passes. She had to do 4 cartwheels and she did them all! She was the youngest tumbler there so with all things considered coming in 2nd place was a great accomplisment!

Emily waiting for her turn, a little sleepy eyed still.

The spider walk!

After recieving her 2 place medal!

She was so proud of the medal. She ran up into the stands to show her Daddy and Kaitlynn!!!

Look what they gave me for doing such a great job!!!

On the winners stand :)

At 11:00pm asleep in her P.J.'s or Baya's as Emily calls them.

She wore her medal ALL day long and even fell asleep with it on. She is so proud of it!!!!! And we are so proud of her!!!!!!!!!!

As we were waiting to see what place she recieved Emily wanted to watch herself do her pass on the video camera. She watched it over and over again, along with Kaitlynn. What a great day!!!

Emily's 3rd Birthday!

2009-11-06T07:45:00.009-06:00

WOW! I cannot believe our baby girl Emily is already 3! It has been the best 3 years of my life. She is a joy to be with all the time. And her little sayings, for example when she says excuse me it comes out "Hootius". Now you can catch all of us saying hootius for excuse me :) She is into so many things these days! She started Tumbling lessons the first of September and is really loving it. She has a meet tomorrow, her first one, and hopefully she will do great. The only thing I worry about is that it starts at 9am and Emily has never been a morning person :o Also this fall she started Violin lessons, as I am sure you guessed by the pictures of her holding her new little violin. She likes violin lessons too, however they are much more difficult than her tumbling lessons. She is coming along though. She knows all the parts to the violin, resting and playing position and has just learned the names of the 4 strings (Gabby the G string, Dori the D string, Anna the A string and Emily the E string), can you guess which one is her favorite? She learned Dori and Anna first and when I was working with her during the week I asked her to show me Dori and she did and then I asked her what the other strings name were and she said Nemo (I just thought this was too funny, she actually remember that on Finding Nemo the blue fish trying to help find Nemo's name was Dori) Too bad the musical alphabet does not go up to N only to G. One of the sweetest thing Emily does is holding Kaitlynn's hand. She will hold Kaitlynn's hand when we are riding in the car. She will hold it while we are walking and best of all she always wants to hold Kaitlynn's hand when she goes to sleep. The girls are sleeping together in the toddler bed in their room now. Kaitlynn always falls asleep before Emily does and so when Emily crawls into bed with her she promtly finds Kaitlynn's hand and then tells us good night :)

Emily recieved many presents for her birthday, one of which was a fish tank. She absolutly loves it. We have 11 big fish and 2 or 3 baby fish (depends on the day you look, they keep hiding from us). We were told the fish would probably have babies, however I thought we would have them more than 3 days before they had them. The girls both love watching the fish and of course feeding the fish. She also recieve a new bicycle which she calls her "NEW BIKE" all the time. Her bike riding skills have improved so well since she recieved her new bike (Thanks Mommie!). She even rode all the way to "Mommie's" (my mother) house and back to our house tonight.

We went to have her 3 year check up this past Monday (Nov. 2, same days as we took these pictures). Emily was almost 37 inches tall and weighed 33 pounds. The doctor was happy with how much she had grown.

Oh, the biggest news with Emily right now is that she is finally potty trained. As Shelby says, it is like it happened over night (well that is because he is not with her all the time like I am). It did seems like once she figured out what all was going on she got it. I don't even have to ask her if she needs to go, she just goes into the bathroom when she needs to go and after she comes out she tells me "Mama, I Hee,Heed in the potty". Last week as we were going from Lubbock to Church on Wednesday night, Emily said "Mama, I have to go Hee, Hee", I asked her if she could wait until we got to church (5 minutes away) or if I needed to pull over so she could Tee, Tee on the side of the road. She said "Pull over, I have to go Hee, Hee". So I did. This was a first for us, to Tee, Tee on the side of the road, but much better than a wet carseat!!!!!

What a joy the last 3 years have been, watching Emily grow up. She told me the other day that her "Baya, Haya (baby Kaitlynn for those of you who do not speak Emily's language) is big like ME!" Well, Kaitlynn is not quite that big yet, but they sure do have fun playing with each other, just like 2 little puppies playing with one another :)

The many faces Emily makes!

Busy, Busy, Busy

2009-11-06T07:41:00.003-06:00

Well we have been busy, busy, busy the past couple of months. With Kaitlynn's Birthday in September and Emily's in October I figured I needed to post on those two happenings. I will post these seperately and hopefully with many pictures!!!!

Update Time!

2009-08-16T00:07:00.002-05:00

Well, I have been meaning to update everyone on the happenings in the Smith household but just haven't found the time. So as I tell everyone "I do my best work at midnight" and it is now 12:07am! The kids are fed, bathed and have been in bed for about 2 hours. The house needs cleaning, but that can wait until tomorrow!! I wish I could post some pictures right now, but I need the cord that goes from my camera to the computer, so I will try to post pictures very soon.

*First let me tell you about our precious Kaitlynn. She is 11 1/2 months old right now. I cannot believe in just a few short days she will already be a whole year old! Time flies by so fast!!!!! She has 7 teeth right now and I think she is working on number 8. She is walking everywhere and no longer crawls at all! She can even go from the kitchen, through the living room and into the bathroom!!!! Today she walked all the way down the long hall at our new church building, and let me tell you I think that is the longest hallway I know of. She is walking great in shoes also. She is climbling on EVERYTHING. Just yesterday we were outside at the fort and sandbox and I turned around for just a minute and when I looked back Kaitlynn was on the next to top step of the 6 foot high fort! I ran over there and helped her up the rest of the way (as if she need my help to climb up the last two steps). I really have to keep my eye on her now! She can give you 5 when you ask her too, she can give you kisses when you ask her too (as many times as you want her too!!), she can blow on her food if it is too hot and the other day we practiced blowing out a candle and she did it (great, that means she will be able to blow out her candle on her birthday cake!!!!!!), and just today I asked her to wave "Bye, Bye" and she did it (and better yet I caught it on my video camera!!!). She is such a sweet baby girl with such a cute personality!! She loves playing with toys and her big sister Emily. Her favorite thing to do is put objects into things, like balls into a box, coins into her piggy bank, etc. Oh, I almost forgot to mention how much she loves to sing!!! Every Sunday at church while we are singing if you listen closely you can hear Kaitlynn singing!!! It is so sweet! And she already knows the motions to her first bible school song "There is a flag that's flown in the castle of my heart" (she "Sings" and waves her arms in the air), it is so cute (I also caught this on my camera!). I will update you more on Kaitlynn when I post pictures.

*Now for our sweet Emily!!!! She is doing and saying some of the cutest things right now! For example just this evening as we were leaving the new church building (we are in the process of remolding it and were working on it ALL day today) we were driving down Division street in Slaton and passed by Saint Joseph's Catholic Church and I made the comment about them having church tonight, Emily promptly said "No WE go to church in the morning" over and over again. It amazes me that she knews that we go to church in the morning and not at night. She loves going to church and singing all the little songs they sing in class. Her favorites are "I'm all wrapped up, I'm all tied up, I'm all tangled up in Jesus", "There is a flag that's flown in the castle of my heart", "There once was a little boy David", "Roll the gospel chariot", "I may never march", and on and on the list goes. She also likes to sings these songs at home all the time! She is very proud that she can now tell you how old she is and show you on her fingers (Thanks Mommie for helping her learn this!) She can already show you three too (so we are good for over a year now!). She can tell you when her birthday is and she also tells people that Kaitlynn is 1 now (well it is really close!). Oh, the cutest thing happened tonight, after we got home from working at the church all day (and yes Emily helped paint, well she painted her hands, feet and legs and a little bit on the wall too!), we came home and were doing a few chores (Emily's chore is to feed the dogs, which she loves). Shelby decided he need to work on his newest invention which is a stand for his welder to make it portable. Anyway, Emily thought she needed to help, so her Daddy gave her some plyers and a wrench and she went to work on the welder stand! Of course I made sure she was wearing saftey goggles (along with her Daddy). She can be such a prissy little girl one momment and then a tomboy the next. Also the other day Shelby took the girls out to the farm and before Emily would get in the truck she had to go get her tool box so she could work on things at the farm along with her Daddy. Her favorite sayings right now are "What dthat?" and after you tell what it is she says "What dthat do?" She is so inquistive right now and wants to know how everything works. The other day she wanted me to get her a drink of juice. I was very busy with Kaitlynn and I did not promptly get her the juice. The next thing I knew she was handing me the can of apple juice and saying "Ma, I want juice". I just leaned down and told her how smart she was and of course I poured her a cup of juice! She amazes me everyday.

Well, I think that pretty well catches me up for the last month and a half. I am going to try to be better about posting more often. We will see how that all goes. Be looking for pictures from our vacation (that we took in July) to Lake Irwin! We had such a wonderful time! I would like to live up there all summer long (We did get to spend 3 weeks up there this year, I think I will push for 4 next year). The weather is just so wonderful and landscape is so beautiful. And it is nice to get away for being so busy all the time. There is no cell phone service and no TV or internet. Just wonderfully peaceful! Good night all!!

Emily's Shadow!

2009-06-25T08:55:00.002-05:00

I must let you know Emily's newest thing, her shadow! She found it one sunny day outside of the eye doctor's office. Her uncle Jay Mac pointed it out to her. She was quite interested in it. But the best story happen the other night. We were walking from our house to "Mommie's" house (my mother's) and it was about 9:45pm, very dark. Emily insisted on pushing her two baby dolls in her double stroller over to Mommie's so we walked on the road instead of cutting across our neighbor's yard. Anyway when we reached the corner Emily noticed her shadow and pointed it out to me. I acknowledged it and showed her mine. Then we kept walking. After about another block she said "Ma, where did my shadow go?" I told her it was behind her now. She said "Oh!" Then she turned around and said "Come on shadow!" as if it were a real person. The next night when she saw her shadow she said "Let's go shadow!". She has found a friend in her shadow. Just thought I would share those cute stories of my 2 1/2 year old.

First Step!!

2009-06-17T15:05:00.002-05:00

Kaitlynn took her first step on Sunday, June 14th!!! She has taken a few more steps since then and will be running after Emily before we know it! She is now 9 months old and getting so big. She is up to 19lbs 8oz . She is so interested in everything and how it works, always investigating. I wonder what she thinks sometimes seeing and experiencing things for the first time ever in her little life! She has 5 teeth now and really likes to bite anything she can get to her mouth, including her mother! She bit Emily the other day, and boy was that a shocking experience for Emily! Kaitlynn also absolutely loves food! (Of course I did not have to say that after I told everyone how much she weighs, but oh well) Her favorite food right now is blueberries. She will pick out all of the blueberries on her tray at breakfast and not eat any of the other fruits I put on the tray until ALL of the blueberries are gone! She has also started singing, well baby singing, at church when everyone else is singing. It is so cute. I am amazed at everything she is doing and wish she would just stay my baby forever, oh but how fun it is to watch her learn and grow!

What has been going on in May!

2009-05-25T14:22:00.003-05:00

Well, we have been very busy this May and I have not had much time to put anything on my blog. I thought I would just share a few things the girls have been doing.
Emily is talking up a storm and has now started singing little songs such as "Little Bird". Her favorite book is "Nest is Best" and she wants me or Mama to read it to her at least once a day. When we get to the part in the book where Mr. Bird sings "I love my house, I love my nest, In all the world, MY NEST IS BEST". Emily always wants to sing the part by herself "MY NEST IS BEST". It is so cute!!
We also have 5 new Golden Retriever puppies at our house and Emily is loving them!! I will try to post the pictures of the girls with the puppies soon.
Kaitlynn is growing a changing so much. She is now up to 18lbs 4oz (WOW!). She is very, very mobile. When she wants to share a toy with you she will crawl over to you and give it to you. It is so cute. She is also pulling up on everything and sometimes letting go and standing by herself a little. The other day in the sand box she stood up all by herself for a little while and then fell down on her bottom. She is also "talking" a lot! She makes really neat little sounds trying to express herself!

8 Months Old!

2009-05-01T22:13:00.004-05:00

Wow, I can hardly believe my baby Kaitlynn is now 8 months old. She is such a joy in our lives and I could not imagine life without her. She is growing a changing so much and so fast!! She is now crawling very well. The other day I sat her down in front of her toys in the living room and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Before long I hear her grunting and then look down to see her sweet little smile in the doorway of the bathroom. She had crawled from near the kitchen to the bathroom, amazing. She is also pulling up on everything. Emily, Kaitlynn and I were sitting in the living room playing with toys one day this past week. As Emily and I were playing the fish game I looked at Kaitlynn, she was playing with her little people, then I glanced at her again and she was standing up holding onto our gold chair!! She really likes to stand there only holding on with one hand. She also likes to walk around holding onto things. I know before long she will be walking! She is growing up way too fast!!!

She has been trying to get two new teeth in for about 3 weeks now. Those teeth are just being stuborn. You can see the white part of the top left tooth, but it just will not break through. I am for sure she will have it by 9 months, but we will see. These pictures are from her 8 month photo shoot. I absolutely loved them (and these are just 5 of the 38 poses they took!) The first one is actually the last picture they took. She was getting fussy, so I decided to feed her and well she fell asleep. I had been wanting to get a picture of her asleep and finally got it!!! YEAH! Isn't she a sleeping beauty! The pictures of her in the little yellow sun dress and bonnet are very precious to me. This was my little dress when I was 7 months old (only 30 years ago!). I had Emily's picture made in it when she was 11 months old, but decided to have Kaitlynn's picture made in it this month because she is a little bit bigger than Emily was at this age. The little bonnet makes to whole outfit, I think!

Kaitlynn has so many cute expressions! I love her little smile with her two little teeth showing. But I also like her long staring look. That is one thing she gets from her Daddy. Her eyes and smile she gets from me.

Kaitlynn is also eating so many different foods. Today she had bananas, kiwi and grapes for breakfast, and then cheeseburger casserole for supper (which included carrots, green peas and beans and of course cheese!!).

I love each new day with Kaitlynn, beacause everything she does she is doing it for the first time and it is so new and exciting for her. Oh to see the world through the eyes of a child!!!

Sandbox Fun!

2009-04-24T17:38:00.003-05:00

We bought the girls this sandbox on Tuesday after Emily and her cousin Kevin played in his sandbox for about 4 hours on Monday! I realized that it was time for us to have one at our house, and boy do the girls love it!!! They have spent many hours in it building castles and knocking them down!! I also picked up a toy that you put the sand in the top and then it spins little wheels as the sand goes through it, great fun! Kaitlynn really enjoys the sandbox too! At first when I sat her in it she proceeded to put handful after handful of sand into her mouth. Now she just picks the sand up and drops it, skipping her mouth!!

The sandbox also has a picnic table and bench on one side of it. This was an added bonus and has already been used as a play station! We put it underneath the girls "Giant Fort" as Emily calls it, so that it would always be in the shade. We look forward to many days of great summer fun playing on the fort and in the sandbox!

Reaster Reggs, Reaster Reggs, & more Reaster Reggs!

2009-04-13T14:02:00.011-05:00

I titled this entry "Reaster Reggs" because that is what Emily called Easter Eggs this year. It sounds so cute in person!

Emily was so much fun this Easter!!! She really got into all the egg hunting, egg filling and egg decorating! And really got into the Easter Bunny! She had 5 Easter egg hunts this year, but the weather was so bad that only one of those hunts was outside! She started hunting at Mommie's house the Sunday before Easter. Jay Mac, David, and Renee' were able to come out this Sunday for an early Easter gathering (they all had to work on Easter). When Emily would find an egg she would shake it, if it sounded like something was in there she would put it into her basket, if it did not sound like there was anything in there she would

throw it over her shoulder. We also had an Easter egg hunt at church and Emily and I filled 250 plastic eggs with chocolate candy! She would place one piece of chocolate into each half of the egg and then try to shut it. Sometimes I would have to help her shut the egg.

The hunt at the church was moved to inside the church building because of the cold and windy weather. All the kids hunted in the auditorium which was fun. I even notice that one egg was baptized during the hunt! (ha, ha) Kaitlynn enjoyed this hunt as well. I sat her down by a group of eggs under one pew. She managed to get an egg open and find the chocolate candy inside of it and bite through the foil wrapper with her two little teeth and get some chocolate in her mouth! She also loved pulling the grass out of the easter baskets.

Emily absolutely loved coloring the boiled Easter eggs. It was so much fun to watch her as she dropped a color tablet into each of the six cups of water! She would name each color as it began to fill the water. Then she would plop an egg into each cup, breaking a few of the eggs. Mommie got her this neat spinning egg coloring kit. Emily really loved that too. All in all she colored 3 dozen eggs. Guess what we will be eating the next 2 weeks!

Sunday morning when Emily woke up the Easter Bunny had come to our house. Emily was so excited! The Easter Bunny brought her a set of golf clubs, lip gloss, pez dispensor, a stuffed bunny, and lots and lots of candy! She did not want to go to church that morning, because she was having so much fun playing with her new stuff!! Kaitlynn also

enjoyed what the Easter Bunny brought her. She love digging through her basket looking at all the different sizes of eggs. The Easter Bunny also hid small eggs all over our living room with money in them. Emily loved collecting all of those.

We did manage to get to see the Easter Bunny last Friday. Of course Emily called him the Reaster Bunny. Later that evening she said the Reaster Bunny Hold Me, He BIG. She is used to all the little cotton tails that run around our house and farm, she did not know that bunnies could get that big!

Our final hunt was in Levelland at my cousin Angela's house. This was the only hunt that we were able to do outside and we had to wait for it to stop raining to do it. It was great though. Kyle, Elizabeth, Kevin and Emily all loved the hunt and each found a great number of eggs.

All in all Easter was a great success. Now I just have to start rationing out the candy. Holiday's are so much fun with little kids around for everyone to watch!

Filling Easter Eggs for the church Hunt!

The Reaster Bunny!!!

Oh, I think you missed some Emily!

Kaitlynn found a couple of chocolate filled eggs!

"What did you get in your basket Emily?"

Both girls checking out each others baskets

Look how many I found!

Coloring Eggs the new way!

Maybe my elbow will work better to make the egg spin!

Emily was so pround of this purple egg!

Look at what the Easter Bunny brought the girls!

Is there any candy in this one?

Hunting on the go, Emily did not even have to look to see where to put the egg she picked up. Her eyes were on the next find!

Wow, look at that big egg on that tree!

Emily and Kevin at the end of the hunt! Kevin was so nice to Emily and would pick up the eggs for her and put them in her basket! Well, except for this pink (his favorite color!) egg.

What great fun was had by hunting Reaster Reggs !

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T12:43:00.002-05:00

Kansas & The Zoo

2009-04-04T19:46:00.004-05:00

Over Spring Break we all took a trip up to Kansas for the week to see Granny (Shelby's Mom). We spent most of our time rebuilding the corners of a pasture fence. Everyone pitched in and helped, Granny, Charlie, Emily, Kaitlynn and myself. Of course Shelby did almost all of the heavy, heavy work. I was able to help when the girls were both asleep. Emily helped some, and loved playing in the soft dirt from the holes we had dug.

One day we took a break from building fence and went to the Sedwick County Zoo in Wichita. WOW what a great zoo!!! Emily absolutely loved seeing all the different animals. Some of her favorites were the turtles (pictures below), the gorilla's, giraffe's and the hippopotamus' (you sould here her pronounce that one, HA, HA!)

We spent about 5 hours looking at all the differnt animals. Thankfully we had the handy, dandy double stroller! Emily loved the part of the zoo where she was able to feed some of the animals. She was not one bit afraid of goats and sheep and she went into fed them. She was able to get about 2 feet from the giraffe's and loved it!
Granny bought us lunch at the zoo, and Emily got a kids meal, which came with a plastic monkey head lunch box. She loved it, and always wants to take her snack in it where ever we go! Thanks Granny for the great keepsake! We will always think of our wonderful day at the zoo when we use it!! It was an exhausting day, but well worth it. We all loved seeing all the animals and seeing Emily's expressions everytime we saw a new animal was priceless! We highly recommend going to this zoo if you are ever in the Sedwick County area. A few more animals at this zoo include 3 toed sloths, sting rays, penguins, rinos, lions and tigers and bears (oh my!), a bald eagle. bats (little and big), parrots, wolfs, one animal that looke half zebra and half giraffe, kangaroos and many, many more. If you are really interested you can visit their website.

These turtles were bigger than Emily and would stand up and let the zoo keeper clean under their shells (you can see it in the background a little bit)!

Emily watched this turtle for about 20 minutes

She did not even have to get out of her stroller to feed this rare sheep.

Kaitlynn enjoying chewing on her shoulder strap.

Pagosa Springs

2009-03-26T16:55:00.006-05:00

Mama took Jay Mac, Emily, Kaitlynn and I up to Pagosa Springs, Colorado and what an awesome time we all had!! Shelby, David and Renee' were invited but all had to work :(

We stayed in a wonderful condo that had a living area, dinning area, kitchen (fully furnished), 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a loft. Emily loved the upstairs and would climb up them and then slide down backwards on her stomach, especially in her P.J's (or Ba-yah's as Emily calls them). We had a great time watching movies one day, while Jay Mac and Mama went to a meeting so Jay Mac could get a free lift ticket. He went snowboarding with his friend Melissa who lives in Colorado Springs. It took a while for Emily to warm up to her, but she finally did on the last day. We went shopping and found the girls the cuttiest little shirts. We had ice-cream everyday, since we found a place that only charged $1.19 for a small (but I don't know why they called it a small it was HUGE!) The last day we ate ice-cream I was enjoying mine when all of a sudden the whole thing fell off the cone right onto Kaitlynn's shirt and my shoulder. I managed to save most of it and went to get a cup the eat the salvaged part out of. We went swimming everyday, except for the day we went to the Hot Springs, but more on that later. This was the first time Kaitlynn had gone swimming. She loved it! She would fall asleep everytime we were in the water for a while. Emily really enjoyed swimming also. She learned to jump off the side of the pool into my arms. She also floated by herself a couple of times! We all liked playing the game of motor boat. This is a game from my childhood that you play in the water. You hold the child and spin slowly and say "Motor boat, motor boat go so slow", then you spin a little faster and say "Motor boat, motor boat go so fast", and finally you spin really really fast and say "Motor boat, motor boat step on the gas". Emily would just laugh out loud really hard. One night instead of swimming we went to the Hot Springs. Thanks to Jay Mac for paying our way in!! They were wonderful and of course Kaitlynn fell asleep in the really warm water. We sat in one that was 105 degrees! They were very relaxing, but did not smell very well (like sulfur, yuck!). One afternoon Mama, Emily, Kaitlynn and I decided to go up Wolf Creek pass and then decided to go onto the slopes to see if we could find Jay Mac. Could not believe the amount of snow on top of the mountian. We found out that Emily will be able to take ski lessons next year! Mama already bought her pink ski pants, as you can see in the pictures below and we found a great pink coat for $4 up at a shop in Pagosa. We had such a wonderful time and look forward to going back again next and hopefully Shelby, David and Renee' will be able to come with us! Thank you Mommie for helping us make such great memories, we will treasure them for a lifetime!!!! Kaitlynn enjoying playtime on the floor in the condo.

Emily and Mommie up on Wolf Creek!

Emily making a snow angel up on Wolf Creek ski slopes!

Ready to go everyone?

Sleeping Beauty!

What fun!

Kaitlynn's first time to swim! She loved it!!

Jay Mac and Emily. She loved to ride the lobster.

Mommie and Kaitlynn ready to swim.

Don't you just love our big cowboy hats! Found then at Clines Corners. We would always stop at this store when we went to Pagosa with Mama Mary every summer, so we had to continue the tradition with Emily and Kaitlynn!

6 Months Old!

2009-03-26T16:40:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it but Kaitlynn is 6 Months old now. Sorry I am a little late posting this picture, but I just had to document what she looked like at 6 Months old. As you can see she is sitting up very well now! She is also starting to crawl on her belly. It is really funny to watch. This picture also shows her wonderful smile! She is a really happy baby. She is also eating solid foods now! She eats things like avacados, sweet potatoes, squash, peas, carrots, bananas, peaches, mangos, blueberries, grapes, strawberries, cherrios, and fruit loops! This might explain why she gained 2lbs from 5 months to 6 months. This month she is weighing in at 15lbs 7oz. I can't believe 1/2 of her first year of life has already passed by. She is growing and changing so much everyday. I tell her all the time to stop growing and to stay my baby forever, but just like Emily did, she keeps on growing and growing. She has quite the personality these days too and loves her big sister Emily! She now has 2 teeth and they are coming in very quickly. She can bite now! What a joy she is in all of our lives!

First Tooth!!!!

2009-02-12T17:28:00.002-06:00

Kaitlynn has her first tooth!!! Mama and I were in town today and Mama was in the backseat with Kaitlynn and Emily. She said "Lora, I think I feel a tooth!" So when we stopped and got out at our next stop I checked and sure enough Kaitlynn has her first tooth. It is on the bottom left and has just started to poke through. This probably explains why she has been a little fussy lately. I decided that with this new accomplishment must come a reward and I bought her a new vibrating starwberry teething toy! I can't believe she already has a tooth. She is growing and changing so fast. She now weighs 13lbs and 13oz. Sure wish they would stay little longer!

Bath Time Fun!!

2009-02-11T11:56:00.005-06:00

Bath time is one of our favorite times! Emily had to have a bath this morning and just insisted on Kaitlynn taking one with her. The problem was I was home alone and would not be able to wash Emily's hair and body if Kaitlynn was taking a bath too. But Emily was just very insistant and so I thought about putting the Bumbo seat in the tub with Kaitlynn in it. Kaitlynn loves sitting in that little purple seat and I was sure it would probably float and it did. They were so cute I just had to take a few pictures. The first one Emily is telling Kaitlynn to look at the camera. Emily repeats everything anyone says these days. The second and fourth one I actually was able to get both of them to look at the camera. The third one shows Emily washing Kaitlynn's hair! Everytime I washed something of Emily's then she had to was that part of Kaitlynn's body. She is such a big helper!! They played in the tub for about 45 minutes and I was able to get some laundry folded! What a fun time!

Riding a Horse!

2009-02-11T11:45:00.004-06:00

Here are some pictures of Emily riding a horse for the first time!! The horses name is Kate and thanks to Jeff and Stephanie Lewter, Emily was able to take a ride on her. Emily did very well riding, especially never having been around horses before. Lathan wanted to ride with Emily so I had to get a few pictures of them on Kate together. Someday we would like to get a horse of our own. Thanks to Jeff and Stephanie for helping us make this memory!!

Emily's Mustang

2009-02-11T11:29:00.002-06:00

Here is Emily's Red Mustang that Mommie gave her for Christmas. She absolutely loves this little car. She is getting better at driving it, but still has a hard time with the concept of turning the wheels. She drives it all over Wilson, to the bank, to Lathan and Gage's house, to the post office, to the Luthern church parking lot that is very very smooth, and of course just around in the yard. It is a very detailed little car, with a horn that honks and a radio that plays 3 different songs. It has three speeds, reverse, slow and fast, however we left the screw in place so she cannot go fast yet. It is a two seater, which will be very nice when Kaitlynn gets big enough to ride with her, which won't be too long from now. Oh, it also has an adjustable seat, but we still have to put a pillow behind Emily when she drives because she has a hard time reaching the pedal. Thanks Mommie for this great gift!!!!!

What we've been doing!

2009-02-03T21:48:00.002-06:00

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything. It seems like I just can't get to the computer and then when I do I forget to bring the camera so I can post some pictures. Oh well, maybe I will do better in February!
Here are a few new things that we have been doing. Emily rode a horse for the first time, thanks to Jeff and Stephanie Lewter for providing the horse!! Emily is in the "Me Do It" stage right now, she wants to do everything herself!! Kaitlynn is rolling over, sitting up and reaching for everything! She also laughs really funny, especially when Emily is laughing at her. They seem to really love each other, even as young as they are.
Pictures to come soon!

Christmas Morning!!

2009-01-15T18:07:00.005-06:00

What fun we had on Christmas morning!!! Well, after Emily finally woke up at 10am. Emily loved her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that Santa brought her. She also loved her doll and stroller. She pushed it all the way to the bank and back when we went for a walk that afternoon. As you can see she also wanted to put Kaitlynn in the doll stroller. Kaitlynn was able to enjoy all of her presents from Santa earlier since she was up at 6am. She is wearing the little suit I wore on my first Christmas Day as did Emily. As you can see Emily also loved the ball popping toy Kaitlynn recieved from Santa. We had a really good day, staying in our P.J.'s most of the day and playing with all our new toys.

Just some thoughts

2009-01-13T22:33:00.002-06:00

Emily and Kaitlynn are so funny to watch and grow. Emily picked up her paci tonight with her toes and made sure I saw her doing it! Kaitlynn is buzzing her lips and blowing bubbles a lot. She is also laughing out loud. These girls are so precious to us. I am amazed everyday in the things they do. I thank God for giving me my little girls. I can't imagine my life with out them. I will post some pictures soon. We had a great Christmas and I need to share the pictures with everyone.

Christmas at Granny the Great's

2008-12-23T22:42:00.010-06:00

THE YOWELL FAMILY!

We had Christmas with Granny the Great (Lora's Granny) on December 20th. Everyone was able to be there for about at 3 hour window. We were able to get some really good pictures that we have not been able to do for about 5 years now. Everyone had a really good time. Emily and her cousin Wes played and played. There favorite game was sneak! Kaitlynn was one of three new great grandkids (the other two are Makenzie and Kyle) that were all born within 4 months of each other. Each of Granny's kids had a grandchild this year. That was pretty neat! Granny the Great (who turned 80 years old this year) had a really good day! She made her famous peacan pies, fudge, and banana nut cake, along with the turkey and dressing. The rest of us brought the other fixings. Granny the Great gave me (Lora), as she did all of the grandaughters and grandaughters-in-laws, some china she had painted back in 1979. I will treasure it always. She was a really good painter and we are trying to get her to paint some more. All in all the day was a great success!

Polar Express

2008-12-23T17:57:00.011-06:00

THE POLAR EXPRESS!!! Mommie took us on the Polar Express on December, 18th. Emily was so excited about riding a train. She clapped and said train all the way to the depot. Then when she actually saw the size of the train she was a little scared, but when we boarded the train she was just fine. We were on the top deck, which was really neat! They served hot chocolate and cookies on the over to the North Pole and read the story of The Polar Express. Then on the way back Santa talked to each kid individually and we sang Christmas songs. We all had such fun. The train rocked back and forth the whole ride, so I am glad Shelby did not attend since he is very sensitive to motion sickness. Santa also gave each kid a bell and the Conductor punched each kids ticket, just like the movie but he did not do the fancy words like the movie. I can hardly wait to go next year. Kaitlynn also liked it so much she fell asleep. Actually, I think the rocking motion made her fall asleep. Santa wanted to make sure and get a picture with Kaitlynn also. I know next year both of the girls will really enjoy it. One of the best parts was that we all dressed in our P.J.'s!! This was by far one of our favorite activities this Christmas season!!!

Santa Land!

2008-12-12T23:39:00.005-06:00

Oh what great memories we made tonight!! For the first time ever we arrived at Santa Land before it opened, so we got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus ride in on their slay. We were also at the front of the line, so were did not have to wait but about 30 minutes. We have waited over 2 hours before in freezing cold weather. It was a great night. Emily went right up to Santa and told him her name was Emily and that she wanted a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for Christmas. Kaitlynn did very well also, not crying once. We were able to get some really good pictures and you will probably see them again in a Christmas Card. After we saw Santa we went and looked at all of the different things they had at Santa Land. And then, as is a tradition, we went and looked at Christmas lights on houses while listening to Christmas music. We did sing a few songs ourselves, well okay I was really the only one singing except when I sang Deck the Halls, Emily did the Fa, La, La, La, La part. It is so cute! If you look really close at Emily's hands you can see that we painted her nails today. She loves having her nails, toes and fingers, painted. Kaitlynn also had her toe nails painted today!! Thanks to Mommie for coming with us and taking pictures at Santa Land. Sorry we did not get a pictures with her, that was my fault. Well, we have her voice on the video we took. Santa Land is one of my favorite things to do during the holiday season. Shelby and I became engaged 9 years ago at Santa Land, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. I hope that it will stay open for many, many years. This was the 52nd year for it to be open, WOW!

Santa and Mrs. Claus

2008-12-12T23:31:00.003-06:00

Today we went to the Wilson Bank and saw Santa and Mrs. Claus. Both of the girls did great and Emily told Santa she wanted a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. This Santa's beard was real! They also had punch and goodies to eat at the bank.

Mommie's Angels!

2008-12-12T23:15:00.003-06:00

Here are Mommie's Angels, Emily and Kaitlynn. These pictures were taken when we finished decorating the tree at Mommie's house. The girls absolutely love Mommie. She is such a wonderful part of their lives. We thank God for her in our lives!!

Decorating the Tree!!

2008-12-12T22:44:00.004-06:00

Here is the basketball ornament Emily just had to have when we were at Ruidoso. She kept saying "Ball, Ball". So I had to buy it for her. Shelby did not quite understand why we already had to have a sports ornament, but Jay Mac and David thought it was great!!

Well here we all are hanging ornaments on Mama's tree. We had such a good time, as always. We all have to hang all of our childhood ornamnets, as you see Jay Mac here hanging his favorite deer that our dog Cuddles chewed the face off of one Christmas. David and I try to hide it from Jay Mac every year, but eventually he finds it and them places it right in the front and at the top of the tree. I think we get more of a kick out of it now that we are ages 30, 26, & 24 then we did many years ago. Renee' actually has one of her own ornaments on the tree this year. It is a purse of course. David also let Renee' hang up some of his ornaments. Shelby did not want to hang up ornaments, so he took pictures and took video. Mama and Kaitlynn hung up Daddy's ornament, that was very special. Emily loved hanging up ornaments, most of them on the bottom rows, but sometimes she would say "High" and we would hold her up to hang one up high. What wonderful memories we made this day!!!

COUSINS!

2008-12-12T16:33:00.006-06:00

This past weekend we went to see Shawn, Sherrie, Ellen, Danny, Hannah, and Parker in Jacksonville. We had a great time! Emily found Parker's glasses one night at supper time and so I had to take a picture. She is so cute! That is Hannah in the background. Danny just loved holding Kaitlynn all weekend! All the kids got along really well. And they all watched a movie Sunday evening in Hannah's room. Emily really loved Ellen's cats and Jay even tried to hitch a ride home with us. It was a great weekend and we can't wait to see them again at Christmas!

12 Weeks Old!

2008-12-05T11:58:00.004-06:00

Here is Kaitlynn at 12 weeks. This is the little cow suit that David and Renee' gave her. I thought it was so cute with the little ears on the hood. She is smiling so much these days and is even laughing out loud.

HARVEST TIME!

2008-12-05T10:45:00.004-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Here we are standing in our Milo field. This is the first milo crop we have raised. We usually grow cotton, but this year our cotton was hailed out so we planted milo. Shelby really enjoys growing this crop, since this is what he was raised growing. We thought this would make the perfect Thanksgiving picture! As you can see Emily really loved playing in the field. She really likes the outdoors.

Falling into Fall!

2008-11-22T18:48:00.002-06:00

Well Fall is definately here. We had our first hard freeze, 18 degrees yesterday. Then this morning all of our leaves on our tree's were on the ground! Shelby and I raked them into this huge pile and Emily just absolutely loved it!! She jumped in the leaves, fell into them, threw them in the air and in her hair. It was a perfectly wonderful day today. The temperature was great when the sun was out. Oh, to be a kid again and enjoy the simple pleasures of childhood like playing in the leaves!

Stuffed!

2008-11-22T18:32:00.003-06:00

Here are Emily and Kaitlynn in thier Thanksgiving shirts! Emily is holding Kaitlynn and I actually was able to get both of them to look at the camera at the same time!! I just love dressing them alike as much as I can. Thanksgiving is just around the conner and I can't wait to get everyone stuffed with great food.

2008-11-17T15:07:00.004-06:00

FUN IN RUIDOSO

Emily found these pinecones on our fall retreat this past weekend. We had a great time with all the Ladies from church. We shopped until we dropped! Emily foound a basketball ornament that she wanted for our tree. It has three basketballs in a row. She kept saying BALL, BALL. So of course I bought it for her.

Picture Time

2008-11-13T00:38:00.006-06:00

These pictures were taken on November 5th. Emily is now 2 years old and Kaitlynn is 2 months old. I just fell in love with these 2 little blue organza dresses with brown roses! The 2 girls looked just absolutely beautiful in these little dresses.

My First Blog!

2008-11-12T23:49:00.000-06:00

This is very new to me. I thought this would be a good way to let everyone keep track of our family. Plus this will help me make sure and download my digital pictures more often.