I've noticed today that Luke's sound effects have improved since our stay with his cousins. He does quite well with explosives and machine gun sounds. Couldn't be prouder. :-)
Friday, November 13, 2009
the 3 days of Cresap
Joey's sister and her husband went on a much needed get-a-way to Nashville for the Country Music Awards and Joey and I lived at their house for 3 days trying to fill their shoes. So, we got to experience what it would be like to have 5 boys (their four plus Luke). And let me tell you - hats off to them and all you with multiple kids. I am exhausted. Luke sure loved being with his cousins all day though.
I've noticed today that Luke's sound effects have improved since our stay with his cousins. He does quite well with explosives and machine gun sounds. Couldn't be prouder. :-)
I've noticed today that Luke's sound effects have improved since our stay with his cousins. He does quite well with explosives and machine gun sounds. Couldn't be prouder. :-)
EMZEEZ!!
My youngest sister Ems came to Memphis! I loved having her here and it reminded me that I really do want to live by my sisters someday. We did some Zumba dancing at the gym, went to the Memphis Zoo, she got some cavities filled by Joes, we biked around the lake, played with Luke at the playground and ate a lot of good food. On the last day she was here - she decided I needed new shoes. We shopped all day and bought me 3 pair of new shoes and some new clothes too. When we got home she helped me go through my closet and get rid of all my ugly shoes. Since I am so bad at it - it was nice to have someone who MADE me get rid of stuff. She was so funny cause her biggest disappointment of the trip was that we didn't have time to go through my CLOTHES too. What a good and helpful sister. Since she's been gone, I've gotten a couple phone calls from her about shoes. She's still going strong. She is a project finisher and this project (project: make katie cuter) is not quite done. So, I like having a personal shopper - it's pretty cool.
Zoo - The Teton Trek
Sunday afternoon Swiss Cheese Fondue
Pile of my ugly shoes
Luke loved Emily. The morning she left we told Luke she was going bye-bye on an airplane. Later that day we were out on the trampoline and an airplane flew over us and Luke pointed and said, "Airplane! I want Emily. I want Emily!!" It was so cute.
Zoo - The Teton Trek
Sunday afternoon Swiss Cheese Fondue
Pile of my ugly shoes
Luke loved Emily. The morning she left we told Luke she was going bye-bye on an airplane. Later that day we were out on the trampoline and an airplane flew over us and Luke pointed and said, "Airplane! I want Emily. I want Emily!!" It was so cute.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Halloween - Atlanta style
Took a trip to Atlanta, GA for the weekend. We wanted to see our friends from Dental School - the Carters and see the Aquarium cause we've heard so much about it.
THE AQUARIUM
the aquarium was amazing. it's the largest in the world and has really neat exhibits. at all times you are surrounded by fish - whale sharks swimming over your head or sawfish sneaking up behind you. we were impressed by the live coral reef they have too. some of our favorites were the giant manta rays, the garden eels (cute little guys who bury themselves in the sand) and the amazon exhibit with trees and vines hanging down - they really did a good job of creating a cool atmosphere. And there were tunnels above our head for kids to crawl around in and look down through windows at fish and their parents. It was weird to just send our 22 month old into a hole and hope he came on the other side. :)
THE WORLD OF COCA-COLA
Enjoying soda's from all over the world...
The Coke museum was kinda funny cause we felt like we basically paid $15 for a 2 hour long Coke commercial. It was fun though. There was a lot of very creative marketing with some nonsense about how happiness and love goes into every bottle. More like caffeine and sugar - potaeto/potato. And somehow they failed to mention how Coca-Cola got its name - Cocaine and Caffeine - which really is the most interesting don't you think? Maybe not the best for marketing the stuff though. Our favorite was the tasting center. There were huge fountain drink towers from every continent with all sorts of crazy drinks from the countries in that continent. Joey loved this drink from Italy called Beverly that was really bitter. (It was disgusting) But then, after drinking our way around the world - he wanted to end with that one and realized it wasn't a good one to end with. It had a bitter aftertaste that just wouldn't quit. So, I think that one got kicked out of 1st place.
HALLOWEEN WITH THE CARTERS:
Mama Bear and Baby Bear
Luke's first time trick-or-treating
I forgot how magical trick or treating is. I haven't been since I was a kid and now I finally get to experience it again after like 20 years. I love crunching through the leaves and breathing the night air - and hearing the squeals of excited costumed kids running from door to door. And the Carter's neighborhood was super festive - every porch was decorated and the people giving out candy were all dressed up. I loved how Luke learned to say "trick-or-treat!" (I really think he was saying "tractor treat") Everyone seemed so delighted to find this cute baby bear the perfect toy or treat. I seriously had a blast taking Luke and I'm glad I get to re-enter this enchanting world of trick-or-treating.
HALLOWEEN DOUGHNUT ON A STRING EATING COMPETITION
Madison won. Joey won. But I bet Preston and I enjoyed our doughnuts more - so we were the real winners. It was so fun to hang out with the Carters. They live in an amazing house and are really living the southern country life. (It's always been Amy's dream to live the life of Scarlett O'Hara - and now she's doing just that... minus the tragic ending) Joey and Bryce talked a lot about Dentistry and Amy and I caught up on each other lives and loved watching our kids play together. We love the Carters. Those kids are so sweet and well-mannered. We've always been impressed with Amy and Bryce's parenting skills. They were all so nice to Luke even though he hit them all with a pink pool noodle as soon as he met them. :) It was so nice of them to host us. Thanks guys!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!!!
THE AQUARIUM
the aquarium was amazing. it's the largest in the world and has really neat exhibits. at all times you are surrounded by fish - whale sharks swimming over your head or sawfish sneaking up behind you. we were impressed by the live coral reef they have too. some of our favorites were the giant manta rays, the garden eels (cute little guys who bury themselves in the sand) and the amazon exhibit with trees and vines hanging down - they really did a good job of creating a cool atmosphere. And there were tunnels above our head for kids to crawl around in and look down through windows at fish and their parents. It was weird to just send our 22 month old into a hole and hope he came on the other side. :)
THE WORLD OF COCA-COLA
Enjoying soda's from all over the world...
The Coke museum was kinda funny cause we felt like we basically paid $15 for a 2 hour long Coke commercial. It was fun though. There was a lot of very creative marketing with some nonsense about how happiness and love goes into every bottle. More like caffeine and sugar - potaeto/potato. And somehow they failed to mention how Coca-Cola got its name - Cocaine and Caffeine - which really is the most interesting don't you think? Maybe not the best for marketing the stuff though. Our favorite was the tasting center. There were huge fountain drink towers from every continent with all sorts of crazy drinks from the countries in that continent. Joey loved this drink from Italy called Beverly that was really bitter. (It was disgusting) But then, after drinking our way around the world - he wanted to end with that one and realized it wasn't a good one to end with. It had a bitter aftertaste that just wouldn't quit. So, I think that one got kicked out of 1st place.
HALLOWEEN WITH THE CARTERS:
Mama Bear and Baby Bear
Luke's first time trick-or-treating
I forgot how magical trick or treating is. I haven't been since I was a kid and now I finally get to experience it again after like 20 years. I love crunching through the leaves and breathing the night air - and hearing the squeals of excited costumed kids running from door to door. And the Carter's neighborhood was super festive - every porch was decorated and the people giving out candy were all dressed up. I loved how Luke learned to say "trick-or-treat!" (I really think he was saying "tractor treat") Everyone seemed so delighted to find this cute baby bear the perfect toy or treat. I seriously had a blast taking Luke and I'm glad I get to re-enter this enchanting world of trick-or-treating.
HALLOWEEN DOUGHNUT ON A STRING EATING COMPETITION
Madison won. Joey won. But I bet Preston and I enjoyed our doughnuts more - so we were the real winners. It was so fun to hang out with the Carters. They live in an amazing house and are really living the southern country life. (It's always been Amy's dream to live the life of Scarlett O'Hara - and now she's doing just that... minus the tragic ending) Joey and Bryce talked a lot about Dentistry and Amy and I caught up on each other lives and loved watching our kids play together. We love the Carters. Those kids are so sweet and well-mannered. We've always been impressed with Amy and Bryce's parenting skills. They were all so nice to Luke even though he hit them all with a pink pool noodle as soon as he met them. :) It was so nice of them to host us. Thanks guys!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!!!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Luke 20-21 months
Luke is actually almost 22 months but I want to quickly document these last couple of months.
Things Luke says:
"I wanna hold you" - means I want you to hold me
"Here ya go. Here ya go!" - using his high "nice voice". when he's in trouble for not sharing or he knows he has something that belongs to mommy or daddy.
"HEWO!" - loves opening and closing doors & poking his head out at us and with his most enthusiastic voice yells "HEWO!"
"Bob da bidda" - Bob the Builder
" I love you! "
"ni Night!"
"a morneen!" - good morning.
He's been pretending a lot lately and loves to pretend to go to sleep and for us to sleep too and then wake us all up with "a morneen!". He also loves to pretend to be a baby and get swaddled and do his fake baby cry "whah, whah!"
Lately I haven't been very good about taking pictures for some reason but here are a few from the last few months.
he likes to keep our sidewalk looking nice. we're so lucky to have him.
one of Luke's favorites: soupy (smoothie). He gets out the blender and says "daddy? soupy?" (dad is the smoothie maker around here) That is his very, very little cup
every boy needs a good stick
romping. i was pretty impressed with his hiking skills. ran straight up hills dodging tree roots and branches.
looking for frogs.
Conductor Luke
bubbles during a smores campfire session at the Terrys
BFF Aiden
Favorite Things:
Pixar movie CARS
Singing songs
Outside, "walk", "stroller"
"catch" - throwing the ball around
Thomas the Train
Aiden. "I want Aiden!", also Trace and Graham.
The train at the zoo
"cookies" (graham crackers), "applesauce" (always in a whisper), yogurt, "cereal" and nanas.
Airplanes, Cars, Tractors, Trucks, Trains, Helicopters etc. He has us read him his "Big Truck Book" and "100 Trucks" every night.
He has a CARS book that he can read TO US from memory!!! Old Truck, New Car, Red Truck, Blue Car, Shiny and Bright etc., etc. It's so cool!
So, here's a video of a rainy day (we've had A LOT of those lately) and some attempts at capturing some of Luke singing. It's so hard at this age. I will just have to remember so many of the things he does in my head. (like he really can sing songs like a champ just not so much when we pull the camera out)
As for an update on Joey and me - Joey got a sweet new mountain bike that he lovingly visits every night in the garage and has yet to ride because of all the rain and mud. The night before the bike arrived, I found him organizing and sweeping out the garage. I asked him what suddenly motivated him to get the garage so clean and he said "I'm nesting for my new arrival". I think he's funny.
Me - I'm almost 26 weeks pregnant and getting bigger. It's a good stage of pregnancy though because I feel good, not too huge yet and I feel the baby move around all the time. I've been going to step aerobics twice a week to help myself keep energized and try to make up for the crazy amounts of food I'm eating. My due date is January 28th so I have a little over 3 months left.
Oh! And Joey's sister Jenny came for a visit! She got some dental work done and then we did the Mud Island River Park (the Mississippi River replica) and took some paddle boats out on the "Gulf of Mexico". Jenny is Joey's oldest sister who is a professor at BYU and has written books and been and TV for being smart. So, she's pretty cool. We had fun cooking for her, feeding her Fat Larry's greasy southern BBQ and staying up late talking.
Joey and his cute sisters - Sarah and Jenny. (incidentally, I also have sisters named Sarah and Jenny.)
our tour of the "Gulf of Mexico" on the back of a green dragon.
Things Luke says:
"I wanna hold you" - means I want you to hold me
"Here ya go. Here ya go!" - using his high "nice voice". when he's in trouble for not sharing or he knows he has something that belongs to mommy or daddy.
"HEWO!" - loves opening and closing doors & poking his head out at us and with his most enthusiastic voice yells "HEWO!"
"Bob da bidda" - Bob the Builder
" I love you! "
"ni Night!"
"a morneen!" - good morning.
He's been pretending a lot lately and loves to pretend to go to sleep and for us to sleep too and then wake us all up with "a morneen!". He also loves to pretend to be a baby and get swaddled and do his fake baby cry "whah, whah!"
Lately I haven't been very good about taking pictures for some reason but here are a few from the last few months.
he likes to keep our sidewalk looking nice. we're so lucky to have him.
one of Luke's favorites: soupy (smoothie). He gets out the blender and says "daddy? soupy?" (dad is the smoothie maker around here) That is his very, very little cup
every boy needs a good stick
romping. i was pretty impressed with his hiking skills. ran straight up hills dodging tree roots and branches.
looking for frogs.
Conductor Luke
bubbles during a smores campfire session at the Terrys
BFF Aiden
Favorite Things:
Pixar movie CARS
Singing songs
Outside, "walk", "stroller"
"catch" - throwing the ball around
Thomas the Train
Aiden. "I want Aiden!", also Trace and Graham.
The train at the zoo
"cookies" (graham crackers), "applesauce" (always in a whisper), yogurt, "cereal" and nanas.
Airplanes, Cars, Tractors, Trucks, Trains, Helicopters etc. He has us read him his "Big Truck Book" and "100 Trucks" every night.
He has a CARS book that he can read TO US from memory!!! Old Truck, New Car, Red Truck, Blue Car, Shiny and Bright etc., etc. It's so cool!
So, here's a video of a rainy day (we've had A LOT of those lately) and some attempts at capturing some of Luke singing. It's so hard at this age. I will just have to remember so many of the things he does in my head. (like he really can sing songs like a champ just not so much when we pull the camera out)
As for an update on Joey and me - Joey got a sweet new mountain bike that he lovingly visits every night in the garage and has yet to ride because of all the rain and mud. The night before the bike arrived, I found him organizing and sweeping out the garage. I asked him what suddenly motivated him to get the garage so clean and he said "I'm nesting for my new arrival". I think he's funny.
Me - I'm almost 26 weeks pregnant and getting bigger. It's a good stage of pregnancy though because I feel good, not too huge yet and I feel the baby move around all the time. I've been going to step aerobics twice a week to help myself keep energized and try to make up for the crazy amounts of food I'm eating. My due date is January 28th so I have a little over 3 months left.
Oh! And Joey's sister Jenny came for a visit! She got some dental work done and then we did the Mud Island River Park (the Mississippi River replica) and took some paddle boats out on the "Gulf of Mexico". Jenny is Joey's oldest sister who is a professor at BYU and has written books and been and TV for being smart. So, she's pretty cool. We had fun cooking for her, feeding her Fat Larry's greasy southern BBQ and staying up late talking.
Joey and his cute sisters - Sarah and Jenny. (incidentally, I also have sisters named Sarah and Jenny.)
our tour of the "Gulf of Mexico" on the back of a green dragon.
Friday, September 11, 2009
a Fair and a Cave
Luke liked the free-est things at the Fair. We bought snow cones, tickets to ride rides, showed him the exciting flashing lights of the Ferris Wheel - but let's face it - it was hot and over stimulating and he hated it all. Isn't it funny how sometimes as parents we try to force our kids to have fun? We gave up and were leaving the Fair - all 3 of us very sticky, hot and ornry - when suddenly we found all the things Lukey really wanted. We didn't need to spend money on a fancy Fair. Turns out he likes the simplicity of the Farm Life. (All you Memphians - there is a FREE petting zoo and little farm display that you can go to WITHOUT paying the Fair admission.)
duck waterslide
it's a kangaroo!!
MAMMOTH CAVE
Sunday night we drove to a hotel in Bowling Green, KY and the next morning took a tour through the famous Mammoth Cave. (Well, part of it - it's Mammoth you know - longest cave in the world - over 370 miles)
Joey here: We did the New Entrance tour because it was one of the shortest (for Luke's sake), and most highly recommended tours. The New Entrance has a very interesting history frought with adventure and riches. A man named George Morrison was a mine surveyor local to Mammoth Cave back in the early 1920's. He realized that while most landowners in the area were breaking their backs farming for a pittance, the real money was being made by the owners of Mammoth Cave by charging tour fees. Morrison ingratiated himself with the tour guides and eventually talked one of them into giving him a key to the cave. He explored the cave by night and soon realized that much of the cave's passages wandered outside of the cave owner's land. According to Kentucky law, and pretty much everywhere for that matter, if you own land you own everything underneath it as well. Morrison bought up some cheap land near the cave and started using dynamite to blast in sink holes on the surface (sink holes are funnel shaped basins where water flows into the ground). After some trial and error, a blast revealed a man sized opening into an apparently bottomless pit. After two weeks of using ropes and nephews to descend downward they reached a horizontal corridor where they found initials carved into rocks. Morrison had found the "New Entrance." Since his entrance was a couple miles closer to the main road he was able to divert a lot of the tourist traffic to his entrance and he did indeed become very wealthy.
New Entrance Tour
Frozen Niagra
Historic Entrance
Katie here: So, I think that story about that Morrison guy is funny. It reminds me of something my brother Jake would do. He even set up road blocks and had people dress like police directing traffic to HIS entrance. "Oh, are you looking for Mammoth cave? The old entrance caved in and the new entrance is this way" People were a little disappointed when they didn't see some of the historic cave landmarks they had read about but when Morrison found the Frozen Niagara portion of his cave, it made up for it. And it definitely became a famous part of the cave. (another tip for Memphians - this cave is awesome. It's about a 4 hour drive but worth it. If you have toddlers I would suggest doing 2 of the 30 minutes tours or you could do this tour which was 2 hours but it was a little rough for wild, wanna-run-around kids.)
duck waterslide
it's a kangaroo!!
MAMMOTH CAVE
Sunday night we drove to a hotel in Bowling Green, KY and the next morning took a tour through the famous Mammoth Cave. (Well, part of it - it's Mammoth you know - longest cave in the world - over 370 miles)
Joey here: We did the New Entrance tour because it was one of the shortest (for Luke's sake), and most highly recommended tours. The New Entrance has a very interesting history frought with adventure and riches. A man named George Morrison was a mine surveyor local to Mammoth Cave back in the early 1920's. He realized that while most landowners in the area were breaking their backs farming for a pittance, the real money was being made by the owners of Mammoth Cave by charging tour fees. Morrison ingratiated himself with the tour guides and eventually talked one of them into giving him a key to the cave. He explored the cave by night and soon realized that much of the cave's passages wandered outside of the cave owner's land. According to Kentucky law, and pretty much everywhere for that matter, if you own land you own everything underneath it as well. Morrison bought up some cheap land near the cave and started using dynamite to blast in sink holes on the surface (sink holes are funnel shaped basins where water flows into the ground). After some trial and error, a blast revealed a man sized opening into an apparently bottomless pit. After two weeks of using ropes and nephews to descend downward they reached a horizontal corridor where they found initials carved into rocks. Morrison had found the "New Entrance." Since his entrance was a couple miles closer to the main road he was able to divert a lot of the tourist traffic to his entrance and he did indeed become very wealthy.
New Entrance Tour
Frozen Niagra
Historic Entrance
Katie here: So, I think that story about that Morrison guy is funny. It reminds me of something my brother Jake would do. He even set up road blocks and had people dress like police directing traffic to HIS entrance. "Oh, are you looking for Mammoth cave? The old entrance caved in and the new entrance is this way" People were a little disappointed when they didn't see some of the historic cave landmarks they had read about but when Morrison found the Frozen Niagara portion of his cave, it made up for it. And it definitely became a famous part of the cave. (another tip for Memphians - this cave is awesome. It's about a 4 hour drive but worth it. If you have toddlers I would suggest doing 2 of the 30 minutes tours or you could do this tour which was 2 hours but it was a little rough for wild, wanna-run-around kids.)
Monday, September 7, 2009
Sarah & Shaun ... sitting in a tree....
My dear sissy Sarah got married last month. It was quite the event. The week started with a shower that my sisters and I threw for her. We ended it with a surprise song and dance for her. We wrote new words to ABBA's Dancing Queen all about Sarah and how cool she is.
Rebekah, Ems, Star, Jenny, me and Edith
I know - we are big nerds. But look how hot we all look.
Sarah and Shaun --- pretending that they still like us
The day before Sarah's wedding - we went out to sushi and got massages. This was my first time ever. It was so fun to be with her and her friends.
The Big Day....
CONGRATS SARAH & SHAUN!!!
and welcome to the family Shaun, Rachel & Jack!!!
WE LOVE YOU GUYS!
Rebekah, Ems, Star, Jenny, me and Edith
I know - we are big nerds. But look how hot we all look.
Sarah and Shaun --- pretending that they still like us
The day before Sarah's wedding - we went out to sushi and got massages. This was my first time ever. It was so fun to be with her and her friends.
The Big Day....
CONGRATS SARAH & SHAUN!!!
and welcome to the family Shaun, Rachel & Jack!!!
WE LOVE YOU GUYS!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
It's a girl!!!
Doesn't our baby look like she's laughing so hard with her mouth wide open and her hand on her forehead?? She's laughing because she knows how tricky she's being in making us wait FOREVER to find out that she's a girl. That little sneak. I laid on that ultrasound table for over an hour. (it's ok though cause in that office at least they warm the gel before they squirt on your belly over and over - fancy huh?)
As I laid there today and looked up at the big screen, I realized how I've been taking it for granted that I'm pregnant. Yeah, yeah - I'm pregnant, I'm tired, I'm sick, I'm getting big etc. But it's when you see this little life inside of you with her heart beating fast, her mouth opening and closing, her perfect spine and brain that are healthy - you realize what a miracle this is. Here she's been doing all this amazing developing and all her needs are met and I really haven't done a thing. She's just a real and perfect little being inside of me. Joey even rescheduled his patients so he could be there and I loved that. We are so excited. A little girl!!! Wow.
Pink mashed potatoes to celebrate
Pink rice crispy treats, pink smoothies and a sparkler to celebrate some more.
Today was a good day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Every story has a beginning...
happy kids
FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed
