Visiting Santa

Kaleigh went to see Santa on Thursday night and sat on his lap for the first time ever. She was slightly frightened but never actually cried. We asked her to think of something to tell Santa that she wanted for Christmas so when she was sitting in his lap she said "bicycle". Then when we got up to leave, she asked "where's Kaleigh's bicycle?". I'm pretty sure she only endured the whole experience with hopes of getting that bicycle at the end!

Recent Conversations with my 2 year old:

Nathan is always telling me to write these things down, so this is my way of recording funny things that Kaleigh says and does during the day. It is so much fun talking to her now and I'm sure it will only get funnier as she gets older.

This first conversation took place after we read this sweet Christmas story called "You are my Miracle"

Kaleigh: I'm a miracle too, mommy.

Me: Yes, you are. You are mommy and daddy's miracle.

K: And mommy's a miracle too

Me: Yes (Awww, So sweet)

K: And daddy's a miracle too.

Me: Yes he is.

K: And Dora and Boots are a miracle too.

Me: (feeling slightly deflated) Well, Dora and Boots aren't really real and someone (not God) created them and so they aren't actually...

Whatever, yeah Dora and Boots too.

Here's the 2nd conversation taking place at the table getting ready to eat lunch:

Me: What are you thankful for Kaleigh?

K: Want mommy's drink

Me: But what are you thankful for?

K: Uh

Me: Are you thankful for food?

K: Yeah

Me: And our house, and friends?

K: Yeah and Randy.

Me: You're thankful for Randy? (he was at our house for poker Tuesday)

K: And Amber, and Andy and Liz

Me: Okay, that's nice

K: and Cat

Me: Mimi's cat?

K: Yeah and dog

Me: What dog?

K: And Daddy

Me: Well, that's nice, I'm sure Daddy will be glad to know that he was on the list even if he did come after the cat and some mystery dog.

My New Christmas Card Holder

I've been looking for an affordable Christmas card holder for at least two years and they are so hard to find. On a whim I went into Pier One not expecting them to have anything and they had this one that I like so much, and it was only $10! It is almost exactly like one that pottery barn sells for $60+.

My Christmas card holder

Pottery Barn holder on sale at ebay for $55 minimum (including shipping).

My favorites of 2007

Oprah recently aired the episode of her favorite things of 2007, and I got to thinking about a few of mine. Most of my favorites you can't necessarily go out and buy at the store, and some aren't really new this year, but they are just things I really, really like or use a lot. This list does not include people. So in no particular order, here is the list...

1. My compact digital camera
2. Garage Sales
3. Ceramic straightener
4. Blogs
5. Book of Daniel (from the Bible)
6. Ski Trip with Friends
7. Sushi (Monster Roll & Arkansas Roll at Kobe)
8. Heroes, the TV show
9. Harry Potter Book 7
10. Kaleigh Talking
11. My new Christmas card holder from Pier one
12. Hannah Montana - fun to have on while I play online computer games
13. Online Computer games
14. LSU football
15. DSL
16. DVR
17. Portable Dvd player

Sweet Daughterly Concern...

Just a quick funny Kaleigh story - Me and Kaleigh were shopping yesterday in a busy store and I felt a sneeze coming on. I stopped and sneezed and was expecting the normally polite Kaleigh to say "Bless you, Mommy". Instead she looked at me really intently and asked loudly "Got a Booger?, Got a Booger, Mommy?". I just had to laugh! Nobody said anything but I think I noticed a few smirks around me.

Just a funny picture to go with a funny story.

Check out my Slide Show!

To register or not to register...

That is the question.

I've seen and heard many people talking about registering for Christmas gifts this year, and I'm a little torn on the issue. On one hand, it's always nice to have a list to shop for other people, and to make sure I get things I like. On the other hand, I really don't know what I want and people like Nathan and my mom have been able to find gifts that I love and never would have thought to register for. Also in the past, I've spent a while trying to make a list (at someone else's request) only to not get one thing off of my list. I just think that part of gift giving is the process of really thinking about another person and trying to find a gift from the heart that will please them. What do you think?

Camping Trip

Friday night we went out camping with Nathan's parents and had a great time sitting around the fire and talking and eating really well. It was Kaleigh's first true camping experience. I think she had fun. She was a little scared of the fire at first. We know this because she looked at it and said "I'm scared". Also, we roasted marshmallows and Nathan gave Kaleigh one, thinking she would be all over it. Well, she just didn't get it. It was too strange a taste and texture for her. She held it in her mouth a little then walked off and spit it out. She'll learn.

Nathan and his dad went fishing for a while. Take a look at those catches! I think they had a good time. They did come back Friday evening with some fish that they grilled and we got to eat. Combined with the chicken, potatoes, corn, and beets that we had, we were able to get quite full off those fish!

Our Lil' Ladybug...
Nathan took Kaleigh out trick or treating last night while I was at Awana. Our neighborhood is apparently the place to go b/c people were coming in by the carload. I could barely get back to our house with all the people and cars everywhere. Anyway, once she figured out she could get candy, she had no trouble saying "trick or treat" to these perfect strangers! She couldn't narrow down to just one candy, so for a while she carried around suckers in both hands with her little fists filled with smarties! Too funny!
By the way, I don't know what is up with these older teenagers trick or treating. They don't even dress up! A little tacky if you ask me.


Nathan painted her face. We weren't exactly sure what a ladybug face looks like, so it does look a little like a cat, but still cute either way.


Oh and I have to tell what Kaleigh did today. I was in the study trying to blog and she was pestering me a little bit so I locked her out while finishing up. She was not in the least bit happy about that. Anyway, when I went to find her, I had a feeling she would be doing something rotten and sure enough... She was in the living room sitting in her little white rocking chair with pull-up and jeans around her knees. She looked at me and said "Hey mommy, I went peepee." And yes, she was sitting in a puddle and her jeans were soaked. Needless to say, mommy was not happy but i guess she was thinking something along the lines of "that'll teach you to lock me out".

Parties, Princesses & Pox...

As you can tell from the title of this post, this has been an interesting week. We had our SS slumber party Friday night and it was a lot of fun. We mostly just talked which is the one thing we never seem to have enough time for.









Then Sunday was Maddie's birthday party. She was a very pretty princess. Her mom made her costume and it was much prettier than anything you can buy at the store. Kaleigh just loves Maddie and she did not want to leave the party. It was outside and the weather was perfect.












Monday I started really noticing some suspicious spots on Kaleigh & took her to the Doctor on Tuesday to confirm that she does have chicken pox. She is really fine though.

I know it's kinda gross, but I couldn't find any pictures on the internet of what chicken pox looked like, so here is one of Kaleigh's "patches". Maybe someone else will find it helpful if you are trying to figure out if your child has them. She only has 8-10 spots in all.

We had a playdate at Ethan's house and the kids got to wear their costumes. They were all adorable, but my prize goes to little Catherine in the pumpkin costume. Also, Alyssa Kate had some ladybug rain boots to match her ladybug costume. So cute!! Poor Caleb was not too happy with his costume, even though he was a darling little pumpkin too. Part of the fun for us moms is torturing the kids by making them take a picture before we can leave. Are we mean or what?!?

My little Hershey Kiss...

The kids had so much fun playing outside. I think Kaleigh went up & down the slide 15 times or more. The only way I was able to get her inside was to bribe her with cake! The whole way home she talked about "Amber house playdate".

I babysit Maddie a couple of times a month and she and Kaleigh are such good friends. They are only 10 days apart in age and have alot of fun together. Here are some pictures of them trying on these adorable jackets that my mother-in-law bought and then playing in the playpen (they wanted in there). Maddie is very sweet.

Dressing Up

Kaleigh likes to dress herself now and the results are pretty funny...











She is trying on one of her costumes. This kitty cat costume is from last year but it didn't fit too well then. She also has a Hershey Kiss costume. We will probably have opportunities to wear both.










Jill hosted Bunko this month and I was so impressed to see everyone dress up! There were some cute & funny costumes.

Kaleigh & Noah with their cowboy boots


At the pumpkin patch















Kaleigh "shopping" at Toys R Us - Kaleigh was so funny. We were walking through the store and she started pushing the little stroller. Then, whenever she saw something else she liked, she started carrying those things around too. At one point she had about four big things that she was towing through the store!

Fair Day
Well, I decided we just couldn't stay at home on Kaleigh's birthday, so we ended up going to the fair in the rain. She rode her first ride so I felt it was a success. Then she got to "milk a goat". Notice her very skilled one-handed approach. She also got to see lots & lots of goats. And it was all free!

Kaleigh's Birthday Bash
We had Kaleigh's party on Saturday. We grilled Shish-kabobs and ate outside. It was a gorgeous day. Then Kaleigh opened LOTS of presents from our giving families. Whenever she opened a present, she would say "open" meaning she wanted to get the toy out of it's wrapping and play with it. I thought this was much better than her just saying "more". Be sure & watch to the end of the slideshow so you can see the rainbow cake I made. It was a pain but I think Kaleigh appreciated it. And for her now, cake is synonomous with Birthday.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY, KALEIGH!





We can't believe our little baby is already 2 years old. We celebrated her birthday this weekend with our family and today we are supposed to go to the fair, but it's not looking so good...


Some milestone information -


Kaleigh is a little chatterbox right now. She wakes up talking and doesn't stop unless she's got her thumb in her mouth. I love hearing her melodic little voice. She uses simple sentences like "You hear that choo-choo train?"


She's learning manners and will usually say "Thanks, Mommy" whenever I give her something. When someone sneezes she almost always says "bless you, ____" and if she sneezes, she says "Bless you, boo boo" because that's what I used to say to her.


She can count to ten and sing her ABC's. She loves to sing other songs too, like "Jesus loves me", "Wheels on the bus", and "twinkle twinkle little star".


She can name a lot of shapes, including circle, star, heart, oval, diamond and triangle.


She's working on potty training - some days are better than others. She will sometimes stay clean all day, but only if I take her to potty every couple of hours.


She likes to dance and work puzzles, and her favorite toy will probably be her new little kitchen that she got for her birthday. She loves TV, but I try not to let her watch much. She says "Baby Einstein?" every time we start messing with the DVD player.

She is starting to get a little bit of the terrible 2's, throwing tantrums and saying "no" alot, and "I do it" showing her independence.

I will post some pictures later because (drumroll, please) we are finally getting high speed internet! Yay! I feel like it's my birthday too.

New York City, here we come!
At least in 5 or 6 months hopefully...

My good friend Amy called yesterday. She and her husband, Jeremy just moved to New York and will be there about a year, and she wants to know when Nathan and I can come visit. We have both always wanted to visit New York, so we are planning a trip for the spring. It will be great to see Amy again. She has lived far away for several years now, so we don't get to see each other much. Only once or twice a year.

All that to say, I'm already planning the trip in my head. We will shop & window shop, go to museums, see a show, and try to attend a taping of a TV show. I'm looking for good suggestions of things not to miss, so if you have been, please give me some input.


What is mom cooking for dinner these days?

A blog would not be complete without a funny Kaleigh anecdote, so here it is. We were eating supper last night and I had made a pot roast in the crock pot with potatoes, carrots, and onions. Kaleigh got one of the onions on her fork, held it up and said "Look, Shelly! A worm!" Now I've cooked some strange things in my lifetime, including cookies without flour (an accident) and vegetarian spinach meat loaf (on purpose but a bad idea) but I'm pretty sure serving worms would be an all time low. As for her calling me Shelly, that's what happens when you laugh at your child instead of correcting them. She started calling Nathan and me by our names a couple of months ago, just every once in a while. Now she does it all the time. What a mess!

Hello all! I know you are all looking at this picture of me and wondering...

"How can I get hair like that?!?"

Well, it's not easy. To achieve this look - First of all, you have to be from the South. That is a must. Second, you must have big uncontrollable hair to begin with, and third, you channel the spirit of Dolly Parton and think "big, big, big". Good luck to you all.

My little Pirate

Every week Kaleigh and I go to storytime at the Benton libray and they read books, sing songs and make a craft. The theme this week was pirates so here is Kaleigh showing off her pirate hat. We also have been going to Little Lambs story time at church on Fridays and it is a lot of fun too.

On that same note, I really need some advice about K. I know this is going to sound horrible, but I've taken to shutting myself in a room for a few minutes just to get a little break from her or to do some cleaning, pay bills, whatever. She literally will not leave my side to play with her toys or anything. If I try to sit down, she's on top of me. The only way I can get a break is to turn on the TV for her and I hate to do that. It's not that I don't spend time with her, I do. I've tried giving her my undivided attention for a while, hoping she would be okay to play by herself for a while, but that doesn't work. My only idea is to have another child for her to play with, but my friend Ellen assures me that it may sound good in theory but in reality - not so much. Am I just looking at this all wrong? Any ideas?

Caught in the act...

Sunday after church we had some friends over and Kaleigh took advantage of our distraction to close herself in the study with a magic marker. She wrote all over some note cards, her legs, her hands, her mouth, the walls, and the door. We're not sure what she would have done next if Nathan hadn't found her! Luckily it was washable and everything came clean.

Also I wanted to mention that Kaleigh is now a big football fan. I think it started when she was with my family over labor day and my brother had her watching it. Saturday night we watched the LSU game (which they won 48 to 7, I might add) and she was so into it! Every time they scored she ran around with her hands in the air saying "touchdown, touchdown". When I had to put her to bed she kept asking to "watch football" over & over. It's really not surprising, considering that I was watching LSU play while she was born.

Branson Weekend

We just got back from a fun weekend trip with some wonderful friends. We all had a good time together on a ski trip earlier this year and decided to try a shorter trip together. Everyone else brought their kids, but Nathan and I decided to let Kaleigh stay with my parents. We figured 10 adults and 4 kids in one condo was plenty, and I selfishly wanted to do as much riding as possible at Silver Dollar City. All the kids were really good, though, even Ben! (just kidding, Ben).

It looks like my legs are cut off at the knee in this picture.








Look closely at the sign above Nathan's head... In the kids area at SDC they had this giant ball pen about 5 stories high where you can shoot these foam balls at each other or as I had fun doing - drop them on your friends heads.






This giant swing was the new ride at Silver Dollar City. It scared me worse than anything I've ever ridden, but it was fun. See if you can see Nitzia's face in this picture. She looks about how I felt when I rode.

The whole group - I'm hoping Kaleigh will not be mad at us when she's old enough to realize that we left her at home.

Anyone out there still reading? - I realize it's been over 2 months since my last blog. I won't even try to catch up with pictures, but here's what we've done - weekend getaway with Nathan's best friends from Magnolia & their wives, my first ever reunion w/ college friends in Hot Springs, New carpet for the house, my cousin's wedding in Lake Charles, another friend's wedding in Memphis, get togethers with friends and even a very fun slumber party, going out on the lake in my father-in-law's new boat, and having friends visit from out of town.

A little about Kaleigh - she can count to 10 now, just don't ask her to do it on command! She no longer uses bad words, she can now pronounce "fork" better than I can with about 4 syllables. She calls me Shelly all the time instead of mommy and is now putting lots of words together. For example, she walked in the kitchen last week with her finger held out and said "Gross, booger, you see it?" Sure enough, there on the end of her finger...

One funny story (at least it was to me). We were on Joe's boat last weekend and Joe took off. I didn't have a good hold on Kaleigh and she fell forward and hit her face on the boat. She was really crying hard and I was looking closely to see if anything was bleeding or cut. I couldn't tell if she had hit her nose or her mouth and I was asking her "Kaleigh, what hurts? What's the matter?" Her wailed response - "my craaackerrrrr" So I looked down and yes, there is her dropped cracker on the floor of the boat. As soon as I handed it to her, she stopped crying.