Things I love...

Memories of warmer days at the park...

Gratituesday

Ahhh, I love it when I have time to just sit and think about what I am thankful for... today is one of those days...

Right now, I am thankful...

...that Karlie has finally decided to be an awesome sleeper like her sister. For 9 months I thought that Karis was just an easy baby and Karlie was not and that Karlie was just never going to be the great sleeper that Karis is. But I guess it just took her longer to get there :) Finally, the 13 hour sleep I have been waiting for! (not me, just Karlie; I'm lucky if my night-owl husband lets me get to bed for 8 hours, ha,ha :)

... for Karis' love of singing -- it seriously makes my day when she sings hymns and Christmas carols ALL. DAY. LONG! It makes for such a happy house.

... for Karlie's big belly laugh -- my baby will just look up and start laughing hysterically for no reason other than the fact that you looked at her. I LOVE IT! She cracks me up all day long.

...that we have been completely healthy for over a month now -- not even a sniffle! After a miserable, sleepless month of passing it back and forth between us and thinking we would never all be healthy at the same time, I will never take such such good health for granted.

... that when I try to sneak and eat chex-mix my Mama made me and Karis catches me crunching on something, she asks for granola. And when she sees fruit juice in Daddy's cup, she asks for Kombucha. And that she begs to eat her cod-liver pills all day long :)

... for the many coupon codes I have found online that have helped us stay in budget this Christmas season. Because we are trying really hard!

...that my husband helps with the dishes!

... that our mailman is super nice and returned the "Car Money" envelope of cash that we mistakenly put in the mailbox when we meant to put it in the car. And that he returned another envelope containing a check (for a bill that needed to be paid) that I had forgotten to address.

I could go on, but the girls are waking up:) Hope you are feeling thankful today as well ...

Favorite books of the week

Yes, we are still reading Thanksgiving books :) I requested a ton of them a few weeks before Thanksgiving and they were all out, but now they are available. However, it is somewhat of a good thing, because after having "experienced" Thanksgiving, Karis is more ready to read about it and understand the holiday better.

The Story of Thanksgiving by Skarmeas -- We have been reading a lot of T'giving books and most of the historical ones have way too much info for my 2 1/2 year old. This one, however, is a board book with just the basic info in a way Karis can understand.

Ten Fat Turkeys by Johnston-- this one is just for fun. It is a really silly book about 10 Turkeys falling off a fence because of silly things they do. Karis asked to read this one over and over.

DogKu by Clements-- I think this book is so cool because it introduces kids to a haiku at such a young age. Right now, Karis has no idea about a haiku, of course, but she loves to read the book and it will be a great teaching tool later on. It is a really cute story about a stray dog finding a family.

Christmas Cookies: Bite-Sized Holiday Lessons by Rosenthal-- This is another unique book that teaches big words like gratitude, anticipation, etc., through the story of making cookies. I now ask Karis what anticipation means and she will say, "I can't wait!!!" I'm sure not all 2 year olds will be able to sit still for it, but Karis is obsessed with making cookies so she absolutely loves it :)

Christmas Peekaboo by DK Publishing -- This is a big lift-the-flap book with glittery, "feely" pages. Both Karis and Karlie love it.

I just love 'em!

Finally!

After weeks of Karis talking excitedly about every tree she sees in a store, we finally brought one home! I cannot tell you how ecstatic she was about the whole process -- we went to about 4 different Christmas tree places before finding one nice enough that fit our budget. Every time she got out of the car with us, she was just bouncing with joy! And the tree we finally bought was at a farm near our house -- and there were THREE friendly dogs running everywhere. She was on cloud nine :)

Also, the fact that we put the tree on top of our car really cracked her up -- she will randomly start laughing and exclaim about the tree on top of the car!
It took Daddy a while to get the tree securely in place, but she never left his side :)
Karlie was a big help as well :)
Yes, Karlie was every bit as excited as Karis once we got the tree home!
Trying to get a picture of them smiling in front of the tree just wasn't going to happen -- this is the best I got :)
As you can tell, our tree is not off limits to the girls. It's for them, so I want them to be able to enjoy it. If I lose a few ornaments, who cares? :)
Bringing out all the Christmas stuffed animals and snowmen was also very exciting!
Yep, my girls love the tree!

Wordless Wednesday

Karis talk

Me: "Karis, get your shoes because we are going to go to the library and then go pick up Daddy."
Karis, looking at me in amazement: "Daddy is heavy!!!"


Karis, at the top of her lungs, all day long, every day: "Deck the haws with baws of howy, fa wa wa wa wa, wa wa wa wa!!!!"


Me, preparing Karis for a different type of church service: "We are having church with Grandma and Papa today. We will sing songs and then you will go with Grandma and play with some other children."
Karis, excitedly and hopefully: "Sing 'Over the River' at church today?"
Me: "I don't think so. We will probably sing songs about Jesus! Maybe we will sing some of your favorites like 'Come Thou Fount' or 'Precious Jesus.'
Karis, confidently: "Sing 'I May Never' at church today!" (I'm in the Lord's Army)


On the long trip home from Grandmas we sang "Miss Mary Mack" to distract Karlie from crying. One line says, "he jumped so high, high, high, He touched the sky, sky, sky."
Karis stopped singing, looked out the window, and asked,
"I touch sky?"
"No," I said, "we can't touch the sky. It is too high."
She quickly responded confidently with, "When we get home, I get chair and I touch sky!"


Karis is an incredibly great sleeper and has never tried to climb out of her crib, so we have just left her there instead of transitioning to a toddler bed and perhaps messing up the good sleep habits we have. But we know the day is coming when we ought to change that, so we've been talking to her about it and telling her she can sleep in the big bed whenever she wants. (We have one in her room for guests already.) She says that she wants to, but always chickens out when we actually start to leave the room. Here is a coversation she had as she snuggled with her Daddy before bed last night:

Daddy: Karis, do you want to sleep in your crib or the big girl bed tonight?
Karis: "I sleep on Daddy tonight!"

Karis' version of a favorite nursery rhyme: "Mary had a widdle wam; it's pizza white as snow!"

4 generations of girls!

We went to visit my grandmother yesterday and I am just so thankful for this happy picture we got. Not just for the picture, but because of the memory of yesterday. My grandmother has had some pretty rough spells this winter but she was soooo incredibly happy yesterday playing with my girls. It was just beautiful to watch. And of course the girls had a blast because she let them play in her jewelry box again :)

Free 8.5 x 11 Photoworks Photo Book!

Update: Sorry, this promo has ended. Hope you made your book in time!

Ahh, we've had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I've taken a million and the thought of going through them right now is a little overwhelming. Especially since I spent several hours looking through old pictures to make my free photo book! I've been waiting to post this to make sure it was legit, and now my personalized photo book is safely ordered and completely free! Go to photoworks.com and make sure you choose the personalized cover 8.5 x 11 book (product #3157086.) It looks really nice! Complete your book and use the code BONNIE when you check out. I didn't even have to pay for shipping! That's almost a $50 savings! So I'm pretty excited! Oh, and if you choose the paypal option, you don't even have to give them your credit card and you never have to sign in because your balance is 0. (I always hate giving my card for no reason!) Now, they are only giving away 25,000 of them, so if you want one, you better do it soon!

Not Me from Karlie Sue

Just in case you were wondering, Karlie wanted to let you know some things that she didn't do this past week...

I do NOT take off at breakneck speed anytime I see the dog's bowl on the floor. I would NEVER take food right out from under the dog's tongue and put it in my own mouth while my dear, appalled Mama screams "No, Karlie, No!" from the living room. Because I'm just too sweet to disobey, right?

And I am NEVER thoroughly convinced that anything my big sis has must be the most wonderful thing in the world. I also do NOT believe that I am bigger and stronger than my big sis and would NEVER crawl right on top of her and yank it from her disbelieving hands. Of, course, she would NEVER retaliate by smacking me across the head and I would NEVER scream loudly just so she gets in big trouble. Because I'm only 10 months and I'm too little to think of such things, right?

I do NOT think the bathroom is the most wonderful room in the house. I do not make a beeline for it the moment someone neglects to shut the door. My big sister has NEVER opened the door for me to have fun and then shut it behind me, leaving my Mama searching the house for me. And even if I did manage to get shut in my favorite place, I definitely could NOT have been going for the toilet bowl cleaner when my Mama found me!

I do NOT absolutely LOVE for anyone to get on their hands and knees and chase me around the house. My family does NOT think I am absolutely adorable as I turn around to look at them with a humongous grin before scampering away as fast as I can. My parents do NOT waste hours chasing me around the house because it is just so much fun to hear my hysterical laughter!

I am NOT obsessed with my Daddy. And even if I were, I would NOT attack him and try to crawl up his legs the minute he steps foot into the house. And I definitely would not completely fall apart if he neglects to pick me up and give me kisses IMMEDIATELY!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Favorite library books of the week

See that bag overflowing with books? Yeah, Karis and I just don't know when to stop :) It looks like that every week. Imagine me, carrying Karlie in the Ergo, with Karis excitedly dragging me all around by the hand, trying to tote this overflowing bag that weighs a ton. For me, the library doesn't just build my brain muscles; it strengthens my arms as well :) So here are our favorites this week:

Old Hat, New Hat by Bernstein -- we have recently come to love the Bernstein books and this one quickly became a favorite. Karis could read it to us after just a few sittings, which we both absolutely loved!

Have You Got My Purr by West -- Ok, the bad grammar in this book that is repeated every single page drove me crazy, but it is an adorable books and Karis had no clue that I changed the words to "Do You Have My Purr?" :) we read this over and over!

A Birthday For Cow by Thomas -- a very silly book about a mouse and a pig making a cake for cow's birthday and the duck keeps trying to throw a parsnip in. The pages are really brightly colored and Karis thought it was hilarious.

5 Little Monkey's series by Christelow -- We have really enjoyed thse books and Karis looks for one every week at the library.

Ten Tiny Tickles by Katz -- we love ALL the books she has written, but this is one that really makes my girls squeal :)

Obsession

I've mentioned before how Karis is obsessed with her kitty and how she likes to cover him up with pictures. The trend has grown so that now she regularly brings him whatever she is obsessed with at the moment. He pretty much sleeps on our bed most of the day, and every day I find him surrounded with her things :)

Ignore the wooden block thing -- Karis only gave him that because she didn't want Karlie to have it, ha,ha :) But her current obsession is a baby Christmas tree that I found at the dollar store with about 25 miniature ornaments. She used to wake up in the morning and plead, "Read library books on couch?" but now her first words are, "Play with Christmas tree?" It was seriously the best couple of bucks that I've ever spent on her. But I'm not sure the cat agrees... :)

Karlie Sue is 10 months old!

Oh, my baby is truly at one of my favorite stages! Always on the go, jabbering up a storm, smiling non-stop, laughing at anything we do. It is just so much fun!

Karlie is a little thing, only 16 pounds and 28 inches long. But the pedi. said that she looks great and was very excited about all her plentiful sounds and ever-so-close-to-walking legs. She now has 5 teeth, with the extra one up top and I just can't wait til the other one pops through so that she will have a balanced grin again (ha,ha :).

She might not weigh much, but this munchkin loves to eat! I think her favorite is a cinnamon-apple-omelet all smashed up with a fork, but boy does she get excited if she sees the dog-food bowl on the floor! Karlie definitely keeps us on our toes! She is still eating her avocados and cod-liver oil like a champ but is having more fun as I slowly let her have more interesting things like a pumpkin muffin smothered in coconut oil :).

This girl is so fast! If she sees the kitty at the end of the hallway, she is down the hall body-slamming him or eating his tail before I even start towards her! Thank goodness the cat is so tolerant! Karlie is a pro at walking while holding onto things and I am expecting her to officially turn loose this next month, but who knows :) She can stand by herself for a couple of seconds and loves for me to play the game of standing her up, letting her go, balancing as long as she can, and then falling into my hands.

Did I mention that she jabbers all the time? Her syllables have gotten a little more variety this month and last night she looked right at me and said "Mama" while a friend was holding her. I wasn't paying a bit of attention but everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and excitedly told me that I had missed her first real word! It also sounded like she said Da-da a little while after that, so maybe the words will just be popping out now! I think she recognizes the signs for potty, all done, more, and no. She hasn't done them back to me in context, but a friend who was babysitting said that she seemed to be practicing "more" for quite a while when he was playing with her :) Karlie loves to clap her hands and bounce to music. Can I just say that there is nothing cuter than a little diapered bum bouncing up and down to music? :)

Karlie can really engage and "play" with Karis now and it is just a blast to watch them together. Yesterday, they played a real game of chase: Karis would chase Karlie down the hall, screaming "I'm gonna get Karwie!" at the top of her lungs while Karlie laughed hysterically and crawled away as fast as her little legs would go. Then Karis ran away, yelling, "Karwie get me, Karwie get me!" and sure enough, Karlie turned around and started chasing Karis. It was just so much fun! I am soooo glad that God blessed us with 2 girls so close together!

Free $15 Kodak Gift card

I'm all about picture gifts for the grandparents. So I was excited to see that Kodak is giving away $15 on their website. Click HERE and sign up for their free gift (a $15 off code). I just did it and it is legit. It doesn't apply to shipping, unfortunately, but you can still make something pretty neat for $15! Check out freebies4mom to see some other discount codes to make your $15 go further! But tomorrow is the last day for getting the code, so do it now!

Wordless Wednesday

The tickle monster!

Karis is definitely taking after her Daddy. She thinks there is nothing more fun than pinning someone down to tickle her. And since Karlie is the only one she can catch, Karlie is the ultimate victim. Thankfully, Karlie thinks it is funny that Karis is on top of her laughing hysterically, so we don't usually see tears. But I do have to keep reminding Karis to be gentle!

I just love my little family!

Please don't pay for Christmas cards!!!

I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I wanted to just go ahead and share something I learned last year -- There is no need to pay for photo cards! There are tons of codes running around online from now to Dec 24th, so keep your money! There are a couple of blogs I subscribe to just for this season so I can find the good deals and I'll try to remember to share them with you. Because there is really no reason to spend money when you don't have to, right?

So here is the first code of the season: (Thanks to Freebies 4 Mom) go to seehere photosharing and get 50 free cards (even 5x7!!!!) with FREE shipping! That's a $39.50 value! I just did it and it worked. Type in promotional code freebies4mom-1109.

But what I love most...

Nothing makes me happier than seeing how much my girls love each other!




Photos by KAB photography

Melting my heart...

Such a sweet face that I just can't get enough of...
Tiny little toes...
And a precious little personality that makes my heart melt...
I love my sweet Karlie Sue!

Photos by KAB photography

Filling my heart with joy and laughter...

Oh, she makes me smile no matter how tired I am...
And she has more energy than I could ever keep up with...
I praise God for the joy that fills her heart all day long...
I love my precious Karis Lynn!



Photos by KAB photography

Where is Karlie?

It seems that every time I turn my back, Karlie disappears. The first time, Karis and I looked all over the house before finally finding her beating on the tub. And that is where we've found her ever since. Evidently, she is obsessed with taking a bath and tries to climb in every chance she gets :) Karis thinks it is so funny and calls her "silly" every time :)

Just a tease...

I have a friend in photography that offers an amazing rate: just $20 an hour! I couldn't believe it! So we finally broke down and got family pictures for the first time ever! I was pretty nervous, because Karis is a little stinker and absolutely hates to be told to smile for the camera. She will usually scream "no!" and duck her head and frown. But Ashley was great with her and managed to get some great shots! So here are a couple of them; I will post more when I get the CD from her this week. And if you live in my area, check out her website HERE or e-mail her at kabphotographyforyou@gmail.com to get a great photographer at an awesome price!

Favorite books of the month

Wow! Last month really got away from me! I don't think I shared about our favorite books at all! So here's a somewhat longer list:

Biscuit books!!!! By Alyssa Satin Capucilli and Pat Schories -- These cute little beginning reader books about a silly puppy are absolutely Karis' favorite.
When we go to the library, she HAS to find one before anything else.

Sing Along Stories by Mary Ann Hoberman and Nadine Bernard Westcott -- Karis absolutely loves any book that you can sing and I request one of these every week. These books have funny illustrations and add silly verses to common nursery rhymes.

Baker, Baker, Cookie Maker by Hayward -- Karis has never watched the show, but is now pretty excited about Cookie Monster because she loves this book so much. She loves to make cookies and thinks it is so funny that all his cookies get taken before he can eat them :)

Time to Say Please by Mo Willems -- It is about a girl who wants a cookie (so Karis can really relate, ha, ha) and Karis really loves the last page where I have to say please 50 million times :)

Little Quack Books by Thompson and Anderson -- Cute stories about a little duck family

Mittens books by Schaefer -- Another beginner reader book series about a kitten

Wordless Wednesday

On Reading Books...

Just wanted to let you know that I was asked to write a little article about books for little ones for the 5.2 Project monthly Journal. There are a bunch of other good articles to read, so click HERE to see it :)

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch!

We finally made it to our 2nd annual trip to the pumpkin patch! There were fewer pumpkins left since we went so late in the season, but it was well worth the trip :) Karis was amazed to see all the vines where the pumpkins grew and some "baby" pumpkins on the vines that were still green! And the farm had much more fun in store for us:

Karis loved the "pumpkin "house" and I was excited to get a picture of her peeking through just like last year ! (And when I looked back at those pics from last year, it was hard to believe she was ever that little or that this time last year I was fat and pregnant with Karlie :)
Daddy trying to get a shot with his girls, but they were a little distracted :)
Karlie thought the tunnel was pretty neat...
And Karis was totally pumped about the old-school pumpkin airplane. She loved pushing all the buttons and turning knobs (and Daddy did, too :) We had a hard time getting her away from it :)
And she was surprised to find these random corncobs everywhere and kept trying to collect them all :)
We attempted to get a pic of the girls together in the wagon, but once again, they were a little distracted :)
As usual, Karlie tried to eat everything she came in contact with :)
Just had to do it :)
Karis liked the tire-horesy swing a lot more this year!
And of course, Daddy had to get on as well :)

Can't wait to do it again next year!

The long-awaited 9-month update!

Now that I am capable of taking pictures, I can finally post on sweet Karlie Sue at 9 months! (Because what good is an update without pictures? :)

Little Miss Smiley had quite a rough month with congestion, but that didn't keep her down! She is crusing all over the place, pushing furniture all over the house, knocking everything over, and climbing on top of everything. Whew! I simply can't keep up with her! She is also in the "find every-little-speck-on-the-floor-even-though-Mama-just-vacuumed" stage and has almost choked (scared Mama to death) countless times. Seriously -- I don't know how she manages to find these things! She absolutely loves to "walk" holding onto your hands and Karis thinks it is great fun to try to "help" her and ends up dragging Karlie by one arm across the floor :)

Karlie now has 3 and two-halves teeth (she has two that are oh-so-close to popping through) and is a drooling machine. In fact, her little chin is breaking out from all the continuous drool. I keep coconut oil on it as much as possible, but it just stays wet :) And from the fact that her mouth is always open from "talking" all the time :) This month her squeals turned into real sounds and she is quite proud of her "ba-ba-ba-ba" and "ha-ha-ha-ha" and "ah-ah-ah-ah" and just gets downright excited every time she gets her sounds going. She gets even more excited when I try to get her to repeat "Ma-ma" and can just hardly contain herself. Oh, she is just so much fun!

But never fear, this girl has a temper, maybe even more than her sister. I think Karis is more dramatic, but Karlie gets more angry :) Don't even think about taking a toy away from her or bringing her in from playing outside or that head will go back and that back will arch an you will hear the screams! (Don't worry, we are not going to let her get away with that temper:)

I must say that although I am trying to do signs with Karlie, I just don't think about it as often as I did with Karis. She is lucky to see me do one a day which is quite pitiful, I know. I'm going to have to put my chart back on the fridge just to remind myself. But I am quite excited that this 9-month old actually really likes to go potty! It is ever so amazing to me! I think about putting her on the potty maybe 4 times a day and she actually uses it at least 3 times, often more. I need to set a timer or something to remind myself to take her more often to see if she teaches herself to stay dry at an early age.

Karlie has really started to enjoy reading and will now sit still for about 10 books. I read to her by herself every day when she wakes up from her nap because Karis sleeps longer. She also climbs all over us and grabs at our books during the rest of the day when I am reading to Karis. I'm hoping that she will end up loving to read as much as Karis.

A whole week?

Has it really been a whole week since I've posted about my girls? Aaack! I'm going to blame it on the lack of camera. It is really no fun blogging without pictures. But never fear, pictures are back starting right now! Yay! Since you can't really read it, I'm going to tell you what Karlie's shirt says: "I get my good looks from my Dad!" The shirt was Karis' originally, but it is actually more true of Karlie since most people say she is the spitting image of Mark :)

So now that you've missed out on a week of our lives, where do I start? I think I'll just do a random ramblings post to try to fill you in...

--Karlie is still loving the potty and pretty much uses it every time I set her on it. I'm still amazed. Every. Time. Wish I could remember to think of setting her on it mlore often...

--Karis is offically addicted to coconut water. I gave it to her when she had a cold last week and now she asks (pleads) for it All. The. Time. I'm hoping my Kombucha ferments soon so I can give that to her instead. Because even though it's good for her, coconut water is too expensive to eat all the time.

--Mark has had the craziest week at work. Ever. But I guess that's what happens when there used to be four supervisors and now he's the only one left doing everyone else's job plus his own. My husband is such a hard worker that it amazes me sometimes. I could never do what he does. It stinks when he has to bring work home, but he is so good about not doing it when the girls are awake. He is such a great Daddy! Pray that things calm down soon, though, so he can relax with his lazy wife in the evenings :)

-- I've been practicing living without much sleep for the past month. Mark works with lots of kids and keeps bringing bugs home. Then it circles around the house and even if the girls don't get horribly sick, Karlie gets at least a stuffy nose. Then she doesn't want to sleep because she can't breathe well and she doesn't like sleeping with her mouth open. It just makes her MAD that she can't breathe and I can't say that I blame her!! So that means lots of nights propped up on the couch or in a steamy bathroom for me and my baby, trying to comfort her enough to sleep. But that's ok. It my job and I love her. And praise God that I haven't been sick even the tiniest sniffle!

-- Even when she is congested, Karlie is the happiest thing ever when she is awake. My Dad calls her smiley. Oh, I just can't get enough of her! (Except at night; I wouldn't mind it if she slept in her crib again :) And she is super persistent -- if she sees something that she wants, she just plows over anything in her way. No matter who or what it is. She tramples over Karis all the time and Karis just looks at me like, "what is she doing?" Karlie talks/ squeals all the time and its hilarious. Especially when she is congested because she sounds so funny. Our friends at Bible Study were rolling laughing last night because they said she sounds just like a grimlin.

-- Now that Karis can talk so well and can actually say anything that she thinks of, we have been quite entertained by her lately. Its amazing what she comes up with. For instance, yesterday she passed some gas. She looked surprised and said excitedly, "I have a bubble in my bum!" He, he :)

-- Daddy has been so excited to be able to play soccer again! They have indoor soccer at the place where he works so now he plays every Sunday night after the girls go to bed. I cannot even begin to describe the excitement that was my husband after the first game. :) He is having so much fun! And I'm excited about it because the husband of one of my best friends plays with him, so she comes and hangs out with me! We just sat on the couch and talked for 2 hours straight last time! I seriously have not had such wonderful girl talk since I got married and I have dearly missed it! (I mean, I love chatting with my husband and all, but there is no way he could make himself sit still on the couch for 2 hours to chat :) If you are in need of some girl talk, feel free to join us on Sunday nights around 7:30! And sometime this season I want to get someone to come sit with the girls so we can actually go to the game and cheer our fellows on! Yay for Sunday nights!

Silly girl :)

Me, after trying to get some advice from my holistic doctor: "I tried to call the doctor, but she wasn't there"
Karis, very seriously and matter of factly: "Dr. said no more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

Looking at a book that had a bunch of different Mama animals and their babies:
Me: "Look Karis, the alligators are hatching from the eggs!"
Karis, very matter of factly: "I eat eggs!"
(yes, we do eat a lot of eggs around here. But I promise, we don't eat alligator eggs!)

Grandma Connie's jewelry

When we took a weekend home a while back, we visited Great-Grandma Connie. She let Karis play in a HUGE jewelry box full of costume jewelry. Those of you who know my daughter know that she is incredibly obsessed with jewelry. She will run up to complete strangers and point to a necklace and say, "I like your necklace!" And then try to touch it, of course :) I find it so funny because I really haven't worn much jewelry since having babies(who like to grab it.) Anyways, Karis was out of her mind excited, especially when Great-Grandma Connie said that she and Karlie could each pick a necklace and some earrings to keep. This picture doesn't do any justice to her excitement -- it was taken after a nap in the car on the way home. (I dropped my camera and broke it while trying to keep a jumping and excited Karlie out of the jewelry and at the same time capture the extreme happy deliriousness of Karis playing in Great Grandma Connie's jewelry box.)

For the love of a hoodie...

Since our camera is still broken without hope, here are a few pictures that we took last weekend when we went back home...There once was a girl who was very excited about wearing a sweater for the 1st time of the season... And even more excited about the hood on top...

...So excited that she snuck up on Mama and put hers on as well...
Mama tried to sneakily take it back down for a perfect fall family photo...
...but unfortunately Karlie was too distracted to look at the camera...
... so the little girl snuck up on Mama and pulled her hoodie on again, laughing hysterically...
...and we gave up on taking the perfect family picture :)

Potty training a 9 month old?

Karlie just turned 9 months! (monthly update soon to come; waiting on the grandparents to come visit this weekend so I can use their camera.) My amazing friend, Mary, who convinced me to try early potty training, gave me a little potty for Karlie to use. Would you believe that the very first time I set her on it, she tinkled immediately? Yep. And the next time, too! And the next! She even pooped once! It was as if she knew exactly what it was for. There have honestly been very few times in the past week that I have set her on the potty and she hasn't gone at least a little.

Don't worry, though, I'm not going diaperless anytime soon. Karlie still uses her diaper regularly because I am not at all consistent with taking her. (I just set her on the potty whenever Karis goes :). But it is exciting that she seems to know to go in the potty. And that she seems to enjoy sitting there just like her big sister. She just looks at me and grins. I wish I could get a picture of them sitting there together because they are just too cute. Maybe we'll get our camera fixed soon.