5, 4, 3, 2, 1... Happy Birthday Kelly!

I still have much to share about our precious daughter, 

and many photos to go along, 

but it'll have to wait because 

today is Kelly's special day! 

 

We decorated the house last night 

and Kelly woke up this morning 

to balloons and streamers,

and 

Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, 

and Donald (decorations)

all wishing her a happy birthday.

She was all gasps when I brought her 

out and she saw everything- so cute!

 

She's having a ball on her new riding toy 

that also greeted her this morning for her birthday. 

This thing is amazing- 

I think it's the best toy ever invented!

 

You will have to see pictures later...

I still am without camera =( WAAAAAAHHH! )=

although my sweet friend, Connie, 

has let me borrow her point and shoot.

She needed her big daddy camera back, 

but she didn't want to leave me completely empty handed, 

so I do have some shots from that camera

that I can upload later.

(Thanks so much my faithful friend =)

Oh, this camera drama has got me all in a tizzy...

I tried to order the D60 kit from Ritz Camera 

last week and they, too, had it backordered!

AARGH!

The good thing is, 

it looks like I am going to get that D90 after all, 

because we can't find the D60 kit anywhere

(for the price we want to pay), 

but we have been able to find some great deals on D90 kits, 

so yay for that!

But as wonderful as that is, I don't have it yet, 

so all this rambling about the camera is to say 

I am so upset that 

I do not have my nice camera 

for Kelly's special day!  

But what am I going to do?  

Whine about it all day long and 

miss the blessing of enjoying my little girl?

No way.

I will enjoy Kelly on this, her second birthday,

her first birthday with us- 

nice camera or not, 

and I will thank God for this precious gift 

of a daughter He has given us.

We are going to the zoo with our friends, 

Kristi and Adyson today!  

Yay!!!

Speaking of the zoo, a certain little monkey 

keeps climbing on me, so I better go...  

More pictures and Kelly stuff to come!

 

Countdown to Kelly's Birthday - Part 6

EEK- I'm running out of days to highlight all of the things about Kelly that I want to!  

How about a "Two For Tuesday"?!  

These collages make it so nice to show a lot of pictures in one post... so, this first collage captures our little Kelly quite accurately.  

You see, Kelly is a CLIMBER.

If it's climbable, Kelly WILL climb it.  She's a fearless and adventurous soul.  

Some days, I admit... okay, most days, I admit... it drives me crazy!  

But I know deep in my heart that Kelly's adventurous nature is a gift, and I'm willing to bet that one day, it will be the source of much pride and joy.  I just don't like it that much right now, while she's still so little.  She's still learning her boundaries and is so accident prone, so it can be a bit exhausting. 

    

If you look at Kelly's face in some of these pictures, you can tell that normally, I would never let her climb all the way up on the desk while taking pictures of her in the act, so naturally, she was confused.  But you can also see that she was delighted!

 

I should add (to any toddlers looking at these pictures)- do not try this at home!

CLICK TO ENLARGE    

This second collage is special to me because it shows how much 

Kelly loves lotion. 

Why is that special, you might ask?

Well, when we learned of Kelly's attachment issues, one of the things I began doing is giving her massages with lotion.  It's a really wonderful bonding exercise that fosters almost every element of bonding: skin-on-skin touch, eye contact, movement, and lots of smiling.  

At first, Kelly wasn't so sure about the massages, but as time went by, she grew to love them.  She also grew to love lotion, and now she loves to put lotion on every day, at least once a day!  I usually let her do her hands and I do the rest of her body, but for these pictures, I let her put it on her legs too, which she really enjoyed!   

CLICK TO ENLARGE 

Countdown to Kelly's Birthday - Part 5

Only two days until Kelly turns two, and this countdown about her wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention how much our little Boo loves to dance.  

It's so fun to watch her- she can light up a room with the joy dancing brings her.  

I hope she always enjoys life to the fullest like this, and never stops dancing like no one is watching.     

Countdown to Kelly's Birthday - Part 4

(click to enlarge)

I'm pretty sure I am not alone 

when I say that my little Kelly 

loves the outdoors.  

I don't know if there is a child who doesn't!  

I am learning how important it is for this 

little flower 

to get out and get some 

fresh air 

and sunshine 

each and every day.

She loves to help me 

if I'm working in the yard. 

I get a kick out of watching her

face light up with 

delight

in herself when she feels

she can do what I am doing 

and is helping me.

I'm so thankful for the 

beautiful Spring weather

because lately, 

we're spending most of our time outside,

which means Kelly is a happy girl.

And if Kelly is a happy girl,

then I am a 

happy mommy!

Countdown to Kelly's Birthday - Part 3

As I have watched Kelly blossom over the past eleven months, one thing I've observed is that the girl loves shoes!  

All day long, from the time she wakes up until it's time for bed, she is bringing me a new pair of shoes to help her put on.  Sometimes she gets frustrated because she wants to wear two pairs of shoes at the same time, one on top of the other! She probably changes shoes 10 times a day, but her favorites to wear when we're out and about are definitely the red cherry flip flops.  

As you can tell, they've seen better days, as have many of them, including my favorites, the Lelli Kelly's. They're such cute shoes, but I love them simply because they bear her name! 

Kelly has not always loved shoes, however.  There was a time when she absolutely hated having shoes on her feet.  When we were in China and bought her some of the ever-popular squeaky shoes, we thought she'd be delighted.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  She screamed bloody murder when we put them on her feet.  We thought it might be the squeakies, so we took them out... nope, she still hated them!  Oh well, good thing it was summer and it was really too hot for shoes anyway.  

It was a good couple of months after Kelly got home before she finally decided she liked shoes, and there's been no looking back since!

Camryn was the one who helped her to change her mind about them, and if you haven't seen this post about how it happened, you have to check it out.  It's one of my favorites!

Countdown to Kelly's Birthday - Part 2

The next thing you should know

is that 

 

Kelly 

loves 

the 

POOL!

Countdown to Kelly's Birthday - Part 1

I have been thinking about Kelly's birthday coming up- it's Wednesday, April 29th. I can't believe my baby's going to be TWO!  

One of the things I decided to do for the blog is to highlight some things about Kelly- some of the things about her that make her "Kelly", as well as some of her favorite things... 

I want to do one a day until her big day.  I haven't planned it all out... I may do a few a day as it gets closer. 

So this first post is about the fact that Kelly LOVES to brush her teeth.  She probably brushes her teeth 5 times a day!  Sometimes she carries her toothbrush around with her and wants to brush her teeth while she watches a show or while we run errands.  She's so silly!  But hey, I bet you won't find any tartar build up on those teeth!  

Isn't she adorable?  

I love her so! 

 

A Puppy and a Popsicle

Oh Happy Day!

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Finally, here is the collage of pictures from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo!
What an awesome zoo, and what a beautiful day it was. To top it all off, we had an absolute blast with our new friends- Natalie, Isabella, and Elliana.
As many of you well know, we are all so spread out in blogland that it's a rare treat to actually get to meet one another in person. Since we were visiting my sister in Colorado, and Natalie lives about an hour from her, we had the privilege of meeting them in person at the zoo! It was so exciting for me to get together with one of my wonderful blog friends. Natalie's blog is adorable- it's called Ladybugs and Daffodils. She always has great pictures and cute stories to share.

I met Natalie after we connected through our blogs, and I quickly grew to adore her as she is just one of those people who will do anything for a friend- or probably a stranger too, for that matter! She is one of the most positive people I know, and she has the biggest heart. She is open, generous, kind, and always so super helpful. She gives me tips she's learned to help me on my blog (like this collage- thanks N!); she shares insights with me to help me with bonding with Kelly; she encourages me all the time in every endeavor or struggle I have; she tells me when there's a good sale or even a blog makeover giveaway; and she's just an overall sweetheart in every way. I could go on and on, but I know I'm probably already in trouble (with her) for gushing over her this much, so I'll stop by saying it was soo fun to get to meet Natalie and her darling girls. They are absolutely beautiful and both girls have such sweet personalities too. Camryn adored them and really enjoyed getting to hold little Elliana. It was obvious that Elliana is very attached to her mommy, so Camryn felt very privileged when Elliana decided she could let Camryn hold her!

Back when I met Natalie in cyberspace, we became fast friends as we had so many things in common, and especially because both of our youngest daughters share a bit of history in that they both spent the first several months of their lives at Yangxi SWI. It's so cool to me that we can connect our girls here in the States, so they can share that very special bond. I think it will be especially good for them as they get older and begin to realize their feelings about it all. To have one another and to know they will understand in ways that we, as parents, never can, makes me feel so thankful to know them, and especially grateful for this Internet world! We'd probably never have connected otherwise.

Natalie did a great post about how wonderful this blog community is, and how much she enjoys checking in on everyone and all their little cutie pies on their blogs... I couldn't agree with her more. I love watching all our little ones grow and hearing all about what and how everyone is doing, so keep it up, bloggers! And for those of you who don't have blogs yet, PLEASE, start one! (You know who you are!)
Okay, enjoy the pictures! I think they're pretty self-explanatory, although I would love to caption them. I'm a little disappointed that the pictures are so small when you look at the collage. I probably should have used a smaller amount of pictures, or I should have done three or four collages, but I'll keep working at it and remember for next time! 

If you click on the collage, it should enlarge.

Kelly, Kelly, Quite Contrary...

How does your garden grow? 

 

(Okay, I know that didn't rhyme, but it's what came to mind when I saw these pictures ;)

Our first yellow squash

These pictures show the progress of our little garden!  I can't even tell you how much joy it brings me to watch our vegetables grow.  It's almost ridiculous how much pleasure I get out of it.  I must go out and check on my garden half a dozen times a day, just checking in on everybody (it's so bad I've personalized my vegetables!), pulling new weeds that have popped up, and making sure they all look good and nobody is wilted.  But most of all, I am looking for something that's changed since I was out there the time before.  This morning, I was so excited when I saw these big, yellow blooms on our squash!  All this sunshine we're getting is really giving our garden a boost!  

Our first baby zucchini

Kelly in the garden on St. Patrick's Day

Kelly in the garden today

Oh, how I love having a garden!

A big thanks to my sweet neighbor, Connie, for letting me borrow her camera while I'm without one. That's how I got these awesome shots, and many more that I will share soon!

Out With the Old- In With the New!

So it has been a little crazy here lately! There is so much I want to share, but can't seem to catch my breath long enough to sit down and write much of anything worth reading.  After a virus attack on our already old computer, we decided to take the plunge and get the iMac we've been wanting for years.  This is my first post from it, and while I have MUCH to learn, I must say: I LOVE IT!!!!!

 

As if the computer crashing wasn't enough, my cell phone battery kept dying, like ten minutes after it would be fully charged.  So I went in to get a new battery and ended up walking out with this new phone, a new blue tooth, and a new car charger... eek!  Yet another new contraption I need to figure out how to use.  I still don't even know how to put it in vibrate mode, or on speakerphone.  I did manage to get it on speakerphone the other day, but I don't know how!  I've got some serious studying to do...

Then, this weekend, my darling little angel baby (sarcasm definitely intended) got a hold of my camera and broke it!  Now it wasn't the nicest camera to begin with (I've actually hated it for the most part,) but it was the only camera I've had.  We have been shopping for a digital SLR for several months now, (waaaay over-doing it on the research if you ask me... huh hem, CLINT!)  so it's not like it was a huge loss because we were planning on getting a new camera anyway, but the problem is that I do not have my new digital SLR yet, so now I am completely "cameraless."  WAAAAH. 

The place we planned on ordering it from (with a couple of lenses and other goodies) is currently out of stock, and their price and reputation can't be beat, so I don't know what to do... I know we should wait until they get it back in stock, but I DON'T WANT TO WAIT!  

Of course, Kelly looked so cute dressed up for church yesterday, but did I have a camera to snap her picture with?  Why no!  I didn't!  Then she and Camryn swam yesterday afternoon and they were so cute laying out together afterwards (Kelly is really mimicking everything we do lately so she was laying exactly like her big sister right next to her, and it was just so darling), but did I get a picture of that???  Noooooo....  

So you see why I hate every day that goes by that I don't have a camera?  Ugh, it's torture, I tell you! 

Well, here is a picture of my soon-to-be new camera.  I really want the D90, but I'm such an amateur that it would probably be more camera than I would know what to do with right now, so this will be a good starting point for me.  I intend to learn lots with this baby and it will be a stepping stone to the next best camera in a year or two.    

Kelly's First Easter

I am going out of order on my posts here... I still want to share some great Colorado pictures too, but I'm trying to figure out how to do a collage with those, so it might take a little longer before I get them up here.
This Easter was a little crazy with us getting home from Colorado at 10PM the night before, so I must admit, we did not dye any Easter eggs this year. I felt terrible about it, but decided to let myself off the hook since Kelly's so young, I figured she probably wouldn't remember anyway. The big kids are kind of past it... =(

We were lucky to make it to church on Easter morning, as draggy as we all felt from our full day of travel the day before. I was so glad we did because it was a very powerful service that helped me to get my focus off all the suitcases I still needed to unpack and onto what was really important- praising God for the amazing gift of Jesus and the hope we have because of His resurrection.

We got home from church, had lunch, and then the big kids and I filled plastic Easter eggs with candy and hid them in the backyard for Kelly to hunt. I wondered how she would do, never having hunted Easter eggs before, nor seeing anyone else do it either, but she caught right on and seemed to really enjoy herself.

Here she is - Camryn is giving her

her Easter basket so she can start hunting!

"Oh Boy!"

"This is going to be fun!"

Finding her first egg...

She wanted to open each egg as she found them... so cute!

See that blue one in the background?

Let's see if she finds it...
Yep- she found it!

She had to open it and see what was inside.
"Mmmm, this jelly bean is yummy..."
"Uh-oh, it's stuck to my tooth!"


She just couldn't get enough of those jelly beans!

Camryn comes to see if she can help...

Caleb comes to help too...

We purposely waited to mow until after the Easter egg hunt.

Those eggs really hid well in the tall grass!

Sharing some jelly beans with daddy...

It turned out to be a very simple but especially blessed day with Kelly home for her first Easter. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter as well!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo pictures to come next!

Wordless Wednesday

Photo courtesy of Natalie =)

Mark Keathley

I forgot to mention back when the Keathley's were here (because I think most of you already know it), but Mark is an amazing artist.
I completely forget to mention it most of the time, because in my eyes, they are simply our very precious friends... but when I stop and think about the talent God has blessed Mark with, I can't not mention it.
Mark and Bonnie are both amazing people- they have brought so much joy and beauty into our lives- we are blessed to call them friends. But for those who don't know them, I'm happy to at least share the beauty of Mark's artwork with you.

Check out Mark's website, or simply google "Mark Keathley" and you can see some of his incredible work for yourself. These are a few he did several years ago, with Caleb and Camryn as his subjects. Can you tell which one is Caleb, and which one is Camryn?

How Toddlers Entertain Themselves At Airports...

Kelly played "Peek-A-Boo" with us while we waited to board our plane...Peek-A-Boo! I see you!
Ah-ha! I found you Mommy!
Oh wait, I was the one hiding, wasn't I?

When "Peek-A-Boo" got old, she listened to some tunes with Camryn on her iP0d...

And then she dug through Camryn's bag to see if there was anything interesting in there...

These are just a few of the things a toddler will do for entertainment at an airport...

the cutest thing was that she managed to entertain many more than just herself in the process... oh how everyone loves a baby!