Merry Christmas

Update

It's been a long time since I've updated my blog. In fact, since I use Facebook for so many things, I really neglect my blog all together. Pictures and updates are posted there, so I apologize for not keeping up this site.

I am a week away from completing my first semester at Eastern Illinois in the master of clinical counseling program. I really enjoyed my three classes: theories, professional orientation and pre-practicum (like a counseling lab experience). I am looking forward to some time away from school so I can enjoy the holidays and focus on my family.

MY FAMILY: Ryan is doing so well in his position as an inspection engineer at Marathon. I couldn't be more proud of him. Almost daily we comment about what a difference and blessing this job is compared to the drama and frustration of his last position.

Kayla turns one in 8 days! We have a cupcake themed party planned for family. The next day she will be dedicated at our church in Robinson. It seems like there are so many changes each day now. She is picking up words, funny mannerisms, interacting intentionally with us and starting to walk! Last night, while I was at class, Ryan and his brother saw Kayla take her first four steps.

Here is a little (lame) video of her using the walker to cruise around and her favorite word "woof". She also likes to say "cat". Occassionally she'll say "mom", but is more likely to say "Ash" (cousin Ashlyn) or "ice". And the sideways video is Kayla playing with her toy...I'm not sure how to turn it! :0

First Family Vacation

We spent a wonderful week in Indian Rocks Beach, FL (near Tampa) mid-August. We rented a 2 bedroom penthouse condo on the ocean and since Kayla is still so little, we didn't make plans to do more than sleep, eat and swim.

It was really fun to expose her to the waves, pelicans and sand. She wasn't crawling just yet, so mostly she sat on a beach towel and tried to eat the sand. It was more fun for her when we went to the pool and let her float in her "baby float". On her first try she was a little retisent, but the next day she was excited to kick her chubby little legs in the water and play with mommy & daddy.

We ate in half the time-which is fun for Ryan since he loves to cook and for the other meals we ventured out and had fun trying new restaraunts. Ryan especially loved the seafood and the other diners seemed to have fun watching Kayla and telling us how cute she is! :)

Crawling Kayla

She's been scooting for a few days, but we're gonna say official crawling began on Saturday Aug 24.

Thinking of crawling!

Happy Birthday Nana - Bouncing Kayla

Kayla loves her jumparoo! I thought that for Nana's birthday we might try to share a little video of her youngest grandchild living it up (and down and up and down) ;)

Kayla Photos (mostly) from March to May