A New Life...

Our dear friends, Harry & Kim, welcomed their first child into the world on August 18th...

Welcome Logan McCree Seel

We went to visit them this past weekend to offer any words of encouragement that we could, being such veterans at this parenting thing...hahaha!! They are doing great and soaking in all the newness that a newborn brings to your life. We are so very happy for them and cannot believe this day has finally come. We have all prayed for this baby for a long time and now that he is here and healthy we could not feel more blessed to be able to be a part of his and their lives. I asked Rob if holding a new baby gave him the baby itch and he quickly remarked, "not even the slightest!" I will have to say that I didn't even feel my "baby fever" kick in like I thought it would. We are looking forward to sharing in all their excitement to come!

A Day in the Life of Kate

Kate has been such a blessing to our family and has taught us so much in her short little life. She is 15 months old now and weighs a whopping 21 lbs. and is 31 " long. I took her recently to her well check and the doctor asked me how she was eating. And my response to him was "she eats her plate and if there is any left on Sam's she eats that too! " She eats very well and really enjoys mealtime. She gets very excited when she sees her plate being prepared and as I carry it to her seat. A girl after my own heart! She has a tender sweet heart and responds well to "no touch" most of the time. She just looks at us with those big blue eyes as if to say "I'm sorry." Rob and I chuckle because Sam is quite the opposite when it comes to "testing" our authority. Sam definitely prefers the "ask for forgiveness" policy. I love their differences and appreciate them both for teaching me so much. Below are some more photos of Kate today as she played.

Kate loves to push Sam's truck around and uses it to leverage her walking.


She has just taken to looking at books by herself lately and can sit for awhile just flipping the pages.

She has a mouth full of teeth and red gums where the others are close behind.

She is almost always barefoot. She won't keep them on and that's fine by me.

She loves to look out the window and watch the birds or look for daddy coming home from work.

This is her latest crawl pattern when she is not trying to walk. On the toes!!

Too Hot...

Rob and I took Sam to have his favorite stirfry at Doc Chey's the other night before his "meet the teacher" night at his school. He is only going two days a week for a few hours, but a very big deal around our house!! Rob was teaching Sam the technique of cooling off your food before burning two layers off your tongue. He mainly still just make the noise of blowing through his mouth without the actual air passing his lips...

We did not however put the above pictured Chili Sauce on his food, that was all Daddy:)

Drum Roll Please....

Kate took her first steps on Monday, August 11th!! She is four days shy of turning 15 months old and she finally took some steps. She has been standing unsupported for about 2 1/2 weeks, but no movement until now... We are so proud of her!! Yay Kate!! She is still tentative about the whole idea and chooses crawling 99% of the time, but at least we are one step closer:)

New Favorite Saying of Sam...

So this morning I go in to get Sam up from his bed and he says to me, "mama, my pants are wet, I need new pants." We are not potty trained yet and haven't even thought about starting, so I knew this meant his diaper had failed to contain his nighttime wetness. I picked him up and sure enough, he was soaked along with all of his sheets. I asked him, "how in the world did you get so wet? (kind of joking) and he looked straight into my eyes and said "The sprinkler Mama." I nearly burst into laughter, but he was serious!! I love his creativity!!

Wordless Wednesday...

I am SOOOOOO Thankful For...

A little boy who has the spirit of a sunflower...growing tall and full of beauty every day.

Sunflowers...The one thing I planted that didn't die!!


A husband who loves our babies and is shamefully smitten.

An adventurous baby girl who isn't afraid of anything...yet:)

My entire crew who makes my everyday bright!

A husband who loves me for me and tells me so...

Happy 60th Birthday Dad!!

A truly great man turns 60...My Dad!! On August 1st 2008, my sweet dad celebrated his 60th birthday surrounded by family and friends, just the way he likes it. The weekend began with a cookout on Friday at my parents lake house and a shared "mini" cupcake with Sam to finish off the night. (the real birthday cake was Saturday)! Sam loves to blow out candles, so my dad was kind enough to share in his event. On Saturday morning, we lathered up in sunscreen, packed a lunch and headed for the mountains of NC to go tubing down the Green River! Sam and Kate sat this trip out and stayed home with my mom's ever gracious friend Debbie and her daughter Molly. We arrived at the Green River Tubing Co. and paid an entire $7 per person to outfit us with a tube and piece of string to tie your bottle of water to your tube (very high tech). We then waited in a tremendous group of people to load a very small bus to take us "up the river." We weren't sure the bus was going to make it up the winding mountain roads, because we for sure looked like the Clampett's all jammed in on this bus. But, we all made it and had a good laugh!! After making it to the river entrance, we met up with my dad's friend Jay, his son Jake and girlfriend Deb who were joining us down the river in their kayaks:) The rapids were small, but in some places enough to dump some people out, which is hilarious. The overall trip took 2.5 hours and was so much fun! My dad loves being outdoors and being in nature so this trip was exactly what he wanted to celebrate his big day...My dad is an amazing man who has taught me more than he will ever know, all the while giving unselfishly of himself to our family and everyone he knows. He is quite an example to me andI hope to someday possess just a small amount of the wisdom he has. I love you dad and hope your birthday was fun and memorable...Looking forward to many many more!!

Dad and Kate sharing a moment on the porch Saturday morning.