Halloween 2011

This year Kylie dressed up as a shark. Jesse was the shark attack victim and I was the lifeguard. (I will post a picture of the three of us after the Williams Family Halloween Party which is next weekend.)

Here's Kylie getting ready to go trick-or-treating. I love her expression.

Kylie couldn't say, "trick-or-treat," but she did say, "please," and, "thank you." She was such a polite little shark. ;)

We took Kylie to two houses. We hit up two of our neighbors...just enough for the photo ops. Plus, we had to go hand out candy at our house and she had no clue that she was missing out, just look at the photo above. We left the last of the two houses and she was already trying to get into her M&Ms. We could barely get her to walk home because she was so focused on that candy.

We hope you had a great Halloween this year. We sure did!

Carving Pumpkins

I know I'm jumping ahead but my mom wanted to see Halloween pics, so here they are! This was Kylie's first year "carving" pumpkins. Last year she was too little. She got a kick out of touching the goop.

She was a big helper! She liked to be able to stand on the step stool. She thought she was pretty cool!

We carved a Mickey Mouse pumpkin. Everytime she sees it she says, "hot dog, hot dog." (At the end of the episode of Mickey Mouse Club House, they do the "Hot Dog Dance" and sing the "Hot Dog Song.")

And just to balance out the Mickey Mouse, we did a scary Grim Reaper pumpkin.

Kylie's First Birthday: The Cake

The tradition in Jesse's family is that each year, on the kids' birthday, they get their very own cake to attack. The fun of it is, of course, to witness whether the approach of it's owner is the "dainty, courteous" approach, or the "no holds bar" approach. Anyway, after watching Jesse's sisters spend days each year making cakes for their children's birthdays over the years, I was a bit intimidated. I've never made a cake like this before! Luckily, I had my mom around to help give me the tips and tricks to decorating. I made a "practice cake" before I made Kylie's actual cake, and let me say, if you have the right tools, it's hard to screw one up.

So here is the cake I made for Kylie.

Everyone else got cupcakes because it was easier to do and I had to spend most of my time doing Kylie's cake. I did make Oreo ladybugs to top each cupcake though, and let me tell you, they were a huge hit! I just used the Wilton brand chocolate to dip the Oreos in and a little black decorator icing for the eyes, lines, and spots, and they were done. It was super easy and they are really yummy.

So as you can see, Kylie's cake-eating approach was to dig right in! Here is her after-cake-eating shot. (I love the icing beard!)

And here is my favorite picture of the day! My little cutie...She looks so sweet and innocent!

July: Our little Lady turned ONE!!!

We celebrated Kylie's birthday in early July. (I can't believe my baby is one!) We had a small party with the family at our new home. Grandma Kim and Pop Pop flew in from California. Grandma Kaye and Papa came, as well as Great-Grandpa McDowell, her two aunts and their families, one uncle, and all of her cousins.

Because Kylie's nick name is "Bug," we had a lady bug party for her. My mom got her this cute outfit, complete with the tutu to wear that day. She looked super cute in it!

We had a little BBQ in our yard. They are going to kill me for posting this picture, but here is the family eating lunch. (I like the mid-bite poses.)

Then Kylie opened presents and had some cake (another post on the cake to follow. ) They day was a huge success. We had lots of fun and now have some great memories of Kylie's first birthday party. Jesse and I are soooo blessed to have Kylie in our family. She is amazing!

Catch Up: May and June

So in May I was juggling the end of the school year. I absolutely loved teaching this group of kinders. I learned so much from them and they definitely had my heart, however, it was difficult being away from Kylie, so Jesse and I prayed and we decided that I would not be returning the next school year because I really wanted to be a stay-at-home-mommy. I gave my boss a letter saying that I was going to take a year of leave, so that if this doesn't work out I still have a job.

We decided that we would try our luck at running a preschool out of our home, so that I could have the best of both worlds... still being a working mom, but also be able to stay at home with Kylie. This leads me to our next exciting update: we bought a new house! We had decided that we were done renting and were now ready to buy our first home. Our one big stipulation... it had to have a place where I could have a preschool, and of course be big enough for our family to be comfortable in for a long time. Needless to say, we took advantage of the market and found our new home. (All together now..., "Woo Hoo!")

(Here's our new house. Sorry you can't see the whole thing. I guess I need to take another picture because this is the only one we have.)

So as soon as I finished teaching, I started packing like a mad woman! We moved into the new house in early June. It has been one project after another: paint, unpack, paint, organize, paint, rearrange furniture, oh... and did I mention paint? I feel like the projects never end. I wish I could wiggle my nose and it would all be done, but I guess that is part of being in a new home...and I don't think the projects stop. I'm just trying to be patient and not have "project ADD" which leads to many unfinished projects. But seriously, we are enjoying making this house ours.

(Here's a cute picture of some play time in between packing.)

Kylie and Briggs

Kylie LOVES Briggs, while he likes and tolerates her. Like any 10 month old, she doesn't know anything about personal space. Despite this, he is super gentle with her, lets her climb on him and allows her to invade his spaces. (Please admire the picture!)

Anyway, one night back in May we were all sitting in the living room enjoying our night together. Jesse was sitting on the couch, I was next to Briggs on the floor leaning against the couch and Kylie was climbing on Briggs. (Everyone was in arms' reach.) All of the sudden, Briggs snarled at Kylie, barring teeth, and was in her face, and she started crying and was very scared. I swept her up while Jesse took Briggs outside... he knew he was in trouble. We thought about it and decided that Kylie must have grabbed him or did something to provoke this because he has never, even remotely, been aggressive with her. He has always been amazing with kids and we loved that about him.

Needless to say, we had a decision to make... keep Briggs and risk something happening again, or get rid of Briggs. This was a heartbreaking decision because Briggs is part of our family. He was my first "baby" and got me through the rough times when Jesse and I couldn't get pregnant and start our family. We also thought, it couldn't have been his fault... this was not our Briggs! (In writing this post, I am regretting our decision.) Anyway, we decided we couldn't risk it happening again, so we thought it was best to find Briggs a new home.

Now, for a little bit of silver lining. Jesse's boss offered to take Briggs. He has four kids and the youngest is going into kindergarten this year. His wife prefers small dogs, of which they have two, while he likes big dogs. We, of course, disclosed all of the details of what happened and told him to really consider this with the help of his wife and family because we would hate to hear that it happened to one of his kids. They still said they would take him, and they are such a GREAT family for Briggs.

All of the kids love and adore him! Jesse's boss brings Briggs to work everyday and when the two of them get home, all of the kids yell, "BRIGGS!!!!" (not, "DAD!!!") His wife also loves Briggs. I forewarned him that Briggs would be her dog because he likes women. (He always followed me around and made sure I was ok.) I guess the big dogs that they had in the past, weren't as great of a dog as Briggs is and she has sort of changed her mind about big dogs.

So, to sum up, we got rid of Briggs and he is with a great family who loves him as much as we do! We got to "dog-sit" Briggs last weekend and it was nice to have him in our house again. He steered clear of Kylie but let her pet him and licked her face when we asked him to sit so she can get near him. Kylie was glad to have him back as well. Her face totally lit up when Briggs and I would go in her room in the morning when she was awake.

So, what do you think? Did we make the right decision? Have you ever had to get rid of a pet? How did you get over the guilt?

Kylie's First Easter

So we had a good Easter, although, I noticed that I forgot to think like a kid when planning for a few key Easter details. (Does that make sense?) I forgot to get her an Easter basket! (That's right... I'm not the winner of the "Mom of the Year" Award for 2011.) I also didn't think about putting Easter eggs out for when she woke up in the morning. Anyway, hopefully I'll be better at thinking ahead about this stuff next year. It wasn't that I hadn't thought about it in the weeks prior to Easter... it just crept up on me and then, before I knew it, it was Easter and I was like, "Oh, I need to do that."

So, here are some photos:

Here is Kylie in her Easter dress.

After church, the Easter Bunny placed eggs on our small front lawn for Kylie.

Since she couldn't walk, Jesse and I took turns guiding her to each egg. She would grab them and immediately put them in her mouth. We had to shake her hand above her bucket so that she would drop them in and could collect more.

Here are all of the eggs that she gathered. Such hard work! And what were her eggs filled with?

"Puffs" of course! I had thought of putting new barrettes in them, but again, this was a thought about 2 weeks ahead of time and for some reason I thought I had plenty of time until Easter. Then before I knew it, it was Easter morning and because it was the Sabbath, I couldn't go get any. Luckily, we had "puffs!" :)

Almost 10 months old

Here is a cute photo of Kylie from April. This is totally her...she definitely has a spunky side!