From Our Family to Yours

Miss Independence

For the last week or two, Kenna has been really "practicing" taking her clothes on and off by herself. She also wants to be the one to read the books and everything else. We are definitely in a "I do it!" phase.

Last week, Daniel and I were getting ready for bed and went in to check on Miss K before we went to sleep. This is what we found..... We had not heard much noise coming from her room, but I guess she decided that she needed to play with her Rangers hat and then take off her pajamas.

Apparently, she needed a little more reading as well.

She barely woke up when we tried to put her PJs back on....I can't believe that she could fall asleep this way!

Visit with Santa

This morning we had some fun family time and went out for breakfast and then a visit with Santa. Kenna LOVES breakfast food and would not stop eating her pancakes and omelet long enough to smile at the camera. Look at that craziness on her head!

There was a great balloon artist making the rounds and taking donations for Samaritan's Purse. Kenna loved her Rudolph hat and was glad that it didn't interfere with her food consumption!

After breakfast, we headed down to Willow Bend to visit with Santa Claus. They had a wonderful Narnia display and even had fake snow falling while we were waiting our turn.

Kenna wanted to do somersaults on the snow but Mommy had to put a stop to that one! :)

She thought it was fun to look up into the light and the falling snow. I don't have any pictures of Dane because he and Daddy were hanging out on the benches outside...just people watching and enjoying his bottle.

I thought their picture turned out pretty well! The Santa was great and called them each by name as they walked up. Kenna told him that she wanted Kenna presents in the snowman (her stocking has a snowman on it) and Dane presents in the moose (his stocking). She also told him to put Mommy presents in the green one and Daddy presents in the red one. Santa told her that he thought he could probably take care of that and there would be lots of presents in all of the stockings. :)

Merry Christmas!

"I need in there with him"

Yesterday, my kiddos got to spend some quality time with their Daddy. It was the first full day the three of them had spent at home together since Daniel's surgery (Sept 29) and it sounds

like they had a good day. About halfway through the morning, Daniel sent me these pictures. When he and Kenna went in to get Dane, she insisted on getting in the bed with Dane. She loves being in bed with her brother (or pretty much anywhere with him) and will tell us over and over again that she needs in bed with him. I love that she enjoys her brother so much.

... and I love PJ pics!!

My Little Gangsta

Just because I haven't posted in a while, I thought I would add a recent picture of Kenna. I took this picture on the way to work the other day. Daniel said it is a picture of his little gangsta giving a shout out to her homies.....

Serenade by Kenna

As I have mentioned before, Kenna is very into music. She loves to sing and dance and play any instrument that you give her. She is also a girl who really likes her routine....so every night, before bed time (or before you can leave our house if you have come to visit....Ask Uncle Nate) Kenna grabs her guitar and hat and puts on a concert. Hope you enjoy!!

6 months old!!

I can't believe that my baby boy is already 6 months old!! He is such a precious joy to be around and we love his happy personality. His two all-time favorite activities are smiling/laughing and bouncing in his jumper. I think he would jump all day long if we would let him! He has two teeth and really likes to chew on everything...be careful though, those teeth are sharp! He has started sitting up on his own but will still tumble every now and again.

He went to the doctor earlier this week for his 6 month check and weighed in at 17 lbs (44%) and 25.5 in (22%) so he has maintained his "short and stocky" status!

Happy Half-Birthday Daners!!

Kenna's First Haircut and My Solo Trip to Muleshoe

My Mom's birthday was yesterday and it had been too long since we had made a trip to Muleshoe so I decided that it was time for a visit! Daniel is doing much better but was still not up to an almost 7 hour car ride (one-way) so I got brave and went on my own.

We were an hour into our trip and both of my kiddos were sleeping away in the cloudy weather.

I got a little too cocky and took pictures of how well our trip was going. Of course, that meant that they both woke up not too long after that. Well, actually, Dane woke up and then his fussing woke his sister. After that they were both up for the remainder of the drive. Dane slept a total of 40 minutes and Kenna slept for about an hour. Not at all what I was planning on! Luckily, Kenna remained completely entertained with the DVD player and her snacks. Dane required a little more attention but, overall, he wasn't too bad. His fussing actually got me out of a ticket (I think) when I got to stop and chat with the nice man who said I was driving a little too fast. Dane was wailing by the time he came up to the window so I think he gave me a break! I definitely slowed down after that... :)

We pulled into Muleshoe and drove to my sister-in-law's new hair salon. She and her partners recently moved locations and it was fun to see what they have started doing to the new place! We got there in time to surprise my mother, who had no idea that we were coming. She was getting her hair done and sat up to see me and my two kids standing there....I love surprises!!

Even though Kyla had already been working all day and it was after 7, she was nice enough to give Kenna her first haircut....ever! I can't believe that she is over 2.5 years old and has never had a haircut. You can blame her daddy for that one. He was still not too thrilled with the idea but made me promise not to cut it too short and to not give her bangs!

I did a good job and didn't even cry! Kenna loved pointing out all the colors on her cape to her Poppy.

She was so still and cooperative! I wasn't sure how she would react but she did really well.

"The Men" - watching all the hair drama...(Cade/Dane, Dad/Anson)

I loved the grin on Dane's face in this one!

Kenna loved the way her hair turned out. On Monday morning, after we were back home, she told me that I didn't need to brush her hair at all because "Kywa already made it pretty!"

I was really happy with the way it turned out!

On Saturday, we spent the day hanging out at my parents house and going to look at Cade and Kyla's new home...fun, fun!

Dane got some sweet cuddling in with his great-grandmother.

And this is what happens when Uncle Cade finds out that his two nieces are supposed to be taking a nap on Poppy and Mimzi's bed....he has to go get them all riled up! Just wait Cade...you will have kids of your own someday!!! :)

As one of the main reasons for our trip, Kenna and Abbye were more than happy to help Mimzi blow out her candles. They did a great job!!!

The trip home was much better than on the way up there. Kenna still only slept for about an hour but that seems to be her sleeping limit in the car seat. Dane, on the other hand, slept for over 3 hours! We were all very glad to get out of the car when we got home.

Overall, it was a great adventure!!!

Daniel's Beard

I really can't believe that it has been almost two weeks since I posted! I'm not really sure what has been going on - other than staying crazy busy taking care of these three! :) Daniel is actually doing really well following his surgery. He is officially 6 weeks out (today) and is slowly starting to be able to do more things. He is still on crutches but is now allowed to put about 50% of his body weight on his left leg (yea!). Now, he gets to lose the brace that has been his near constant companion and the wonderful (can you read the sarcasm?) CPM machine also disappeared last week. He is definitely on the mend!

Since he hasn't been going to work (since the beginning of Sept.) he has also not been shaving. He has not shaved since the day before his surgery on Sept. 29th. Here is my bearded hubby...

...trying to look intellectual. :)

And just because I love pictures of little babies sleeping with their bottoms in the air.....

Happy Halloween!

My two little kiddos were such cute little football kids! Kenna was an A&M cheerleader and did a great job saying "Gig 'Em" and "touchdown." (You can watch the video from my previous post to see her practicing doing the thumbs up). Dane was an adorable little football. I was trying to get a picture of Dane where you could see his entire costume but he was not interested in looking at the camera. Doesn't he make a great football!?!

Kenna LOVED shaking her pom-poms and only gave them up after the first two trunks when she realized what was being put in her bucket. After that Mommy held the pom-poms while Kenna trunk or treated. She became quite the expert!

Dane just chilled in the stroller - well, he wasn't actually chilling, he was roasting! - We didn't leave the football costume on too long because it was 82 degrees outside.

One more picture of my two cutie-pies!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Gig 'Em Aggies!

As I have posted previously, Kenna is in LOVE with her sunglasses. She recently decided that Dane needed to wear his glasses too and she was going to be the one to put them on him. He wasn't as big of a fan...

Kenna has been practicing the last few weeks saying "Gig 'Em Aggies." She has had the hardest time learning how to do the thumbs up. For the longest time, she has been sticking her pointer finger out instead of her thumb, and, when she does get her thumb out, her finger doesn't stay in and she does the guns up instead. But apparently she has finally figured out a way to get it done (And you even get to hear one of the two phrases most commonly heard at our house these days..."I don't need help"...the other is "I do it all by myself!")