Our Family

2012-02-14T04:38:00.000-08:00

Our little KK is 6 months old and changing so fast. She's eating stage I & II baby foods and even started the dissolvable finger foods last week (Mum-Mums, puffs). She's sitting up on her own and rolling really well. We're enjoying our last couple of months with only 1 mobile child because we know that soon KK will be on the move too. Kinley weighs 14lbs, 2 oz and is in the 13% for both height and weight. Since she had her tubes, she has slept 10-11 hours interuppted for 3 nights in a row which makes Brandon and I very happy! She's now off her reflux medicines and is tolerating a milk based formula without trouble, so no more milk protein allergy. Yay Kinley! She does however still spit up TONS and now instead of only spitting up milk, it's peas and blueberries and carrots, etc.. so it's nice and colored and nice and messy. Our pediatrician seems to think it should improve soon. We sure hope so, you should see the amount of bibs, burp cloths, and outfits we go through a day. Kinley still loves to be held and cuddled which I love and she's got a very sweet personality. She is fascinated with her feet, still loves the paci, and loves to play in her exersaucer and watch her older sister being silly. We love both of our girls so much and can't believe how fast they grow up. Happy 6 months Kinley!

First, a look at how she's grown each month:

More 6 month pics:

Rolling Over

Peek a Boo

Exersaucer Time

Sitting up by herself on the couch

Love!

2012-02-13T13:03:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Snuggled up to Mommy, LOVE this!

Brandon brought Avery her first ever rose, so sweet!

Valentine's day presents, sorry Belle, none for you

Stickers!

Gigi bought Kinley her first bikini :)

Now that Avery is older, it is a lot of fun to have her join in on the various holiday festivities. This year for Valentine's Day she helped Gigi make Valentine's cards for her family (even Belle got one), she made foam sticker hearts for both of her Gigi's, she helped me make chocolate covered pretzels and strawberries for Brandon, helped color a card for him, and made video's wishing her Grandparent's a Happy Valentine's Day. So fun! There's so much love to celebrate this year with two sweet girls, an awesome husband, wonderful family and friends, and of course, a great dog. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Yummy Pretzels

Chocolate!

Look what Avery & I did!

Now on to the strawberries...

Opening the Valentine's cards that Gigi & Grandpa sent them in the mail

Making Valentine's with Gigi last week

Coloring a card for Daddy

Kinley helped too (you can't see it but there's actually a purple marker in her left hand)

Happy Valentine's Day!

We've been very busy at our house

Here are some Valentine's Pics we shot of our little sweeties:

And some Valentine's Day Videos:

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

And, we're done with videos for the night!

Tubes for Kinley

2012-02-13T11:36:00.001-08:00

**I did this post off the app from my phone, some of the pics are out of order, oh well. :)

Kinley got RSV in the beginning of January and although we were very thankful that it went away quickly, it did leave her with fluid in her ears that never went away. We did multiple rounds of antibiotics but couldn't get it gone. So this morning she got tubes. It is only about a 10 minute procedure and it was so helpful with Avery so we knew it was going to be a good thing for KK too. Avery still has one of her tubes in place almost 2 years later. I just still hate the fact that she had to undergo surgery. She's a champ. Woke up just fine out of surgery, had a bottle @ we went home. Got home, took a long nap snuggled on the couch with her Mommy, woke up, had another bottle & now she's rolling around the floor. What a champ!

Before surgery wonder why no one has fed her this morning

Snuggling with Mom in recovery

Fascinated with her name band on her ankle

Still smiling, waiting on Dr. Hung

Back home feeling back to normal!

Spring Toddler Classes

2012-02-13T10:41:00.000-08:00

This spring, Avery is keeping busy with a swimming class at Emler Swim School on Thursday nights and a gymnastics class on Saturday mornings. The gymnastics class is a parent-child class, BUT the swim class is a child only class. It's really weird to just sit and watch her & not join it. Avery seems to really like both classes, especially the swim class once she got over the trauma of the first class without Mommy being there. Here are some pics of Avery in action in her classes.

Swimming under the water with Mr. Mike

Kinley watching her sister learn to swim

Check out the stylin star sunglasses

Avery's first leotard

The Salute

With Coach Steve

January Birthday Time!

2012-02-11T18:03:00.001-08:00

Growing up January was a big birthday month in our family with 3/4 of our immediate family celebrating within 3 days of each other. We've continued the celebration trend still today. Starting off with the weekend before my birthday when Lance, Brandon's Dad, took us our for my birthday. Then the week of, we celebrated my Dad's birthday where Avery & Kinley helped make Grandpa a cake one morning when Gigi was taking care of the girls. Saturday, Gaylan and Kristin came over to babysit the girls so Brandon and I could go out on a day date, shopping at the little boutique shops in Downtown Grapevine and that night we all went out to eat for my birthday. Brandon and Avery made me a special cake that we ate that night. Sunday, my actual birthday, we had dinner at my parents house to celebrate Dad & my birthday (and even my twin brother, Chris's birthday even though he wasn't there). The next weekend, my good friends Julie, Katy, & Jessica took me out for dinner for my Birthday, and Sunday night Brandon's Mom and her husband Craig took us out to celebrate. Wow! I feel so loved!

Guess who was in charge of the sprinkles?

Avery did not take a nap while Gigi & Kristin came over to take care of them and fell sound asleep in the car on the way to dinner.

And this is where she slept the whole dinner.

It was a nice, quiet dinner!

Fascinated by the cake

A little taste of icing

More icing please!

Ready for dinner at Gigi's

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Happy Birthday Uncle Chris!

January Happenings

2012-02-08T19:02:00.001-08:00

I like January's. Not only for the obvious, that it is my birthday month but because things slow way back down into a normal routine again after the Holidays. It's so nice to be able to go to the gym again on the week nights and to not have a crazy To-Do list all the time. Our weekends are more routine now too. Avery goes to a gymnastics class on Saturday mornings and Kinley will hopefully start Gymboree in February and now it's so much easier to go to church regularly on Sunday mornings. We missed going to church and Avery even loves going now too. I'll do another post about my birthday, but besides that and a visit from Opa mid-January while he was going to a dental conference, we've had kind of a quiet January.

Kinley got her first taste of a real bath a couple of weeks ago and has transitioned to the "Duck Tub" for her regular baths. The duck tub is awesome, probably one of our favorite $10 purchases from Target. It even quacks!

Avery loves it when Opa comes to visit. This visit they played Humpty Dumpty had a great fall and Ring around the Rosey, millions of times. Avery was having a blast and kept giggling "Do again." Poor Opa, over and over again he fell!

Kristin came over one Friday night too

We've started regular Friday night movie nights with Avery. Here they are eating their ice cream watching Finding Nemo

Below are some miscellaneous pics I've captured over the past few weeks:

Both girls fascinated by the I-Pad

Friday night movie night. It appears that it was too much for Belle.

Belle climbed in bed with Avery one morning when I was waking her up for school. Avery thought it was hysterical!

Hi Belle!

More Ipad time

Big Smiles

Big smiles immediately followed by Big tears after Kinley threw up on Avery's leg. I found it quite funny!

LOVE this pic!

And finally, vidoes of January Troegle Trouble

Toddler Gymnastics

2012-01-14T05:12:00.000-08:00

Avery has joined a new class this winter. Instead of going to the Little Gym on Saturday mornings, we're now going to a toddler gymnastics class at ASI gymnastics. Brandon took her last Saturday for the first time and he said she loved it. They aren't having a class this weekend because they are hosting a tournament. Here are some pics from her first class. Looks like fun to me, especially the foam pit!

doesn't she look so grown up here??

And here are some short videos from her first class:

Kinley is 5 months old

2012-01-09T18:51:00.000-08:00

Today Kinley is 5 months old. She is weighing in at a whopping 11 lbs, 13 oz. Just like Avery, she's still itty bitty. This month has been a big month of change. Kinley got in her first 2 bottom teeth and started solids. She prefers oatmeal cereal to rice cereal and is eating almost all of the stage 1 foods and a full serving usually. Her favorites right now are sweet potatoes and carrots. Kinley is now sleeping in her own bed and mostly sleeps through the night for about 11 hours. We had to work a little with her on sleep training and she will occasionally wake up in the middle of the night but usually just needs her paci to soothe her back to sleep. She's still nursing but becoming less interested in that so I'm probably going to start weaning her soon and working with the pediatrician to figure out what formula will work best with her sensitive stomach. Girlfriend has no problem with the bottle though, she can down 7 oz at a time, no problem. Kinley is just about to roll over from her back to her stomach, and can already do the other way and if she leans forward enough she can sit by herself for a few seconds at a time. She moved up into the middle aged babies classroom and we were very sad to leave the newborn teacher, Ms. Hanh who had Avery too. She was wonderful! Kinley celebrated her first Christmas and New Years this month and finished the end of her 4th month off with her first illness...RSV. Poor thing, RSV is a yucky, yucky virus that gave her tons of congesion, lots of wheezing, 2 eye infections and 2 ear infections, the need for breathing treatments, and a week off of school. For a couple of days, she was so sad. But, it certainly could have been a lot worse, some babies are hospitalized for that and we are so thankful her case was not that bad. Kinley continues to love to be held and snuggle and she brightens our lives with her sweet, sweet smile and laugh. She's just darling and we love her so much. Happy 5 months Kinley!

Blowing Rasberries

her sweet demeanor

There's that smile!

Sister love. Kinley always gives this huge smile whenever she sees her big sister. Please disregard Avery's messy hair, we all just woke up from a nap. :)

Threw this picture in. This was Avery right as she turned 5 months old, see a resemblance?

All of the Troegle girls (including Belle) napping on the big bed. I had been a part of that which was lovely, but had to get up to go to the bathroom. Didn't seem to disturb anyone that I got up.

She loves to grab that spoon

She snuggled with Julie for almost 2 hours

Baby Belle

Real Belle

Isn't this an awesome picture???

This girl loves her carrots

And she loves kisses from her Mommy

She's gotten very interested in Belle

So cool, literally reading over Avery's shoulder

Avery's buddy, Belle

Thought this was a sweet picture

yum, carrots!

Dance Party!!!

The Troegle's Take on 2012

2012-01-08T18:49:00.000-08:00

NYE was an early night for us but none the less, a fun night. We met up with our friends Bryan and Stacey and their daughter & Avery's friend, Cailee for dinner at an ecclectic burger house called Twisted Root and then walked accross the street at the Shops at Legacy for some Gelato. It was a warm night (like high of 70 degrees that day) so it was so nice to hang out outside. Once we got home and got the girls to bed, oh yes, it's true, I was asleep by 8:45. Happy 2012 everyone, looking forward to what this year will bring!

After we got home, Avery hung out topless in her tights and boots. It was quite the look!

Slumber Party

2012-01-08T18:39:00.000-08:00

The Thursday before Christmas, Avery had a special treat. She and Sophia spent the night with Gigi and Aunt Kristin. How fun is this...they went out to dinner and went to look at Christmas lights, made Christmas cookies, did art projects, and even went to see a movie. How cool is that! What lucky girls to have an Aunt and Grandma who love them so much, they want to do those things for them!

This was actually taken on Christmas Day from Kristin's camera, she emailed it to me with the pictures from their slumber party.

Pretty girls! Sophie is so photogenic!

"Making" cookies. We were told that Avery probably ate more than she decorated. That girl loves her cookies.

Hard at work

Avery's first movie. While they were at the theater, Avery had a poopy diaper and Gigi and Kristin didn't have any more spares, so Avery went comando for a lot of the movie.

Silly Monkey

Silly Monkey #2

Just kidding...one more Christmas Post

2012-01-08T15:24:00.000-08:00

It was actually quite a bit of work to try on our own to take pictures for our Christmas card, so I definitely wanted to share. We had 3 different photos and each photo took about an hour and 50 or so shots to get a "good one". Maybe next year, we'll save all the trouble and have someone take the pic for us.

This is the pic we used. Thank you to Opa and Jo for working so hard to get the girls to look at them and smile and for capturing this picture!

Love Avery's smile in this one, just not Kinley. This was choice #2.

A pic of the girls in their matching Christmas shirts. Avery got so mad at us during this shoot, she actually cried so hard and made herself throw up...lovely, right? She looks so happy here. (by the way, this was one of our last shots we took, even after the melt down episode).

Love how Kinley is smiling at Brandon in this picture.

At least they were entertaining themselves.

The last pic we used on our card in their matching big sister/little sister outfits. Avery wore this shirt up to the hospital when she met Kinley for the first time.

One of my favorite pictures ever

This picture totally captures their personalities.

Christmas Afternoon with Gigi & Papa

2012-01-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

Our final Christmas post!!! Christmas afternoon we all got together at Gaylan's house for a fabulous lasagna dinner followed by Christmas festivities at her house that included silly string wars, naptimes for Ella and Kinley, Avery and Sophie running around having a good ole time, and more present opening. Kristin had bough the girls matching dresses last spring and we finally had a chance to get all girls together in their dresses. Taking the actual photo was quite the challenge, especially for Kinley who was not in the mood for photos. Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas like we did. We are certainly blessed with such a wonderful family to spend it with.

Silly string wars

One of the only pics of our family of 4 we were able to get that day

This picture makes me laugh, no shirt, candy cane striped bottoms and an embrace.

Uncle Zach loving

Such a sweet pic!

Showing off their matching dresses and the hats we got for them for Christmas. I love Etsy!

The babies and their matching hats and dresses

Kinley not having it

Jammie time, ready to go home

Worn out by Christmas, snuggled with her Santa Elmo her big sister gave her. Night night, Kinley, Merry 1st Christmas!

Kinley's new jumper that Gigi gave her for Christmas

Christmas Morning with the French's

2012-01-06T07:01:00.001-08:00

Like last year, we did a Christmas morning celebration at our house with my family. It was an extra special treat to have Chris, Marda, Tyler, & Ainsley here this year too. After we got done Christmas with Avery & Kinley; Mom, Dad, Mimi, Chris, Marda, Tyler, & Ainsley all came over for breakfast and then presents. Gigi & Grandpa gave the 3 older kids scooters which was super exciting for them. All 3 girls got matching dresses. Mimi got a Kindle and Dad as well as Brandon & I and Chris & Marda all got Ipad's...sweet! Rowdy and Belle each got their annual Weimaraner and Springer Spaniel calanders too. Merry Christmas everyone!

Had to take another picture to make sure Kinley got one.

Notice the marshmellows in Tyler's mouth, it was his favorite part of the fruit salad.

How special! Mimi & 4 of her 6 great grand-kids!

Look at Avery and Tyler in this picture, love this!

This was a present that was for all four kids. Look how well they did at opening it together.

My first two blog books, thanks so much Mom & Dad. There is a site where my blog posts are turned into a book so I can always have a book of my blog posts, it's my new family scrapbook. I love it!

An aerial view of Christmas.

Scooters for everyone!

Christmas is exhausting! She's our little snuggle bunny!

Modeling Avery's new dog hat

matching dresses

Ainsley and Avery formed their own marching band. They actually walked all around the house "playing" us music.

Look at Avery's new scooter!

Here's 2 videos of Avery & Ainsley showing off their new scooter skills:

Our Family on Christmas Morning

2012-01-05T19:13:00.000-08:00

This Christmas morning was special for a few reasons, first of all it was Kinley's first Christmas and secondly, Avery is now starting to understand more about Christmas. Although, the holiday season is busy, busy, busy, Christmas morning makes it all worth it!

The look on Avery's face when she came out to see all of the presents

Kinley got her own chair!

Her favorite new toy

Belle even got a present

Christmas morning hugs

Avery helping open the gift she picked out for Kinley. She helped wrap it too, notice the massive number of bows.

We each bought Avery a gift by ourselves, I gave her the hat and Brandon gave her a train set.

I love how Belle is so interested in what is going on in this picture. She was right in the middle of the festivities the whole time.

Christmas wore her out!

It's Avery Minnie Mouse! Yikes, those glasses are a little crazy.

Avery's first look at what Santa brought over night

New toys!

Her new favorite toy: drum, drum, drum

Christmas Eve Party

2012-01-03T14:27:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas Eve, my parents host a Christmas Eve party at their house. This year unfortunately, Dad couldn't be there b/c there was a home Cowboys game on Christmas Eve...which meant that Dad had to be there to run the sound, boo! (It was a terrible game too). We still had a great time. Avery was so excited to hang out with Tyler and Ainsley and even her boyfriend, Will came over for the party too. We loved catching up with some of our extended family and showing off Kinley to them. They haven't seen her since she was about 2 weeks old. Kinley had a blast! She flashed her famous smile all night long. After dinner, Gigi coordinated having the kids make reindeer food that they spread outside in the front yard and then they all got in Gigi's bed and watched (or should I say, attempted to watch) a video together. On the way home, we took Mimi home and all sang Christmas carols in the car, looked at Christmas lights, and looked for Santa. Fun times & fun memories!

Avery followed Ainsley around and did everything she did, it was so cute!

All of the kids played so well together.

Dinner time.

Avery with Aunt Beverly. The oldest member of our family holding the youngest and both of them enjoying themselves. (Can you believe, Aunt Beverly looks so good for 90 years old!)

Christmas kisses!

Sweet girls!

Avery and Kinley had on their matching plaid Christmas dresses.

Kinley loved all of the attention from everyone, especially Mimi and Aunt Beverly.

There's that smile I was talking about.

Guess which one of the 4 kids had trouble sitting still.

Spreading reindeer food.

Opening a present from Tanya, Derek, and Will

Santa was busy at our house that night!

Night night Kinley, Merry Christmas!

Looking for Santa on the way home

Christmas Kisses

Below: 2 videos of the kids spreading Reindeer food

Christmas Eve Day

2012-01-03T13:36:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve was a very exciting day for us. We started off with a low key morning, which never happens for us. Then Ryan and Beth came to visit and we finally got to meet Harper who is 2 weeks old and just darling! Then we went over to my parents house to spend the afternoon with Chris, Marda, Tyler and Ainsley who had driven in from Virginia and had not yet met Kinley. See the next post for details of the Christmas Eve Party.

A little Christmas breakfast

helping Brandon make the annual Christmas morning casserole

she actually is a good little helper

Kinley sharing her changing pad w/her new friend Harper. Isn't it crazy how fast they grow in 6 months?

Beth visiting Kinley

I sure hope that Kinley and Harper will grow up to be as good of friends as Beth and I. I only Wish they lived a little closer than Kansas.

Kinley meeting Uncle Chris for the first time. This is the only snuggle picture I got of the two of them, the rest of the time, he was usually trying to throw her up in the air and stuff. Guess what she did to him, that's right, spit up all over him.

Mimi & Kinley, love this picture!

Avery was so excited to get to play with Tyler & Ainsley. We haven't seen them since last April.

Kinley loved Aunt Marda!

sweet Ainsley is so grown up!

The French family

Cousins! This was not an easy picture to take

Marda made this hat for Kinley, she is so talented!

Ainsley got a new snow white Barbie

Avery got a cool play dough cake making kit that T&A picked out

Nice, Gigi!

Sometimes it is just so hard to convince Avery to smile for a picture

Uncle Chris had a app on his phone where you can call Santa, Avery was quite excited about it.

The Troegle Celebration

2011-12-23T05:19:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was full of fun family Christmas celebrating. Opa and Oma came in town on Saturday and then everyone including Zach, Kristin, Colin, Brooke, Sophia, Ella, Uncle Jerry, Aunt Renee, Josh and Hannah came over on Sunday for a fun-filled Christmas celebration. As usual, Jo (Oma) prepared an incredible holiday meal and she and Opa out did them selves giving the family and especially the kiddos some very special Christmas presents.

Avery woke up from her nap on Saturday and just snuggled with Opa

Kinley snuggled up to Jo while we decorated Christmas cookies.

Watching Frosty the Snowman with Opa before bed

One last snuggle time with Opa before we had to head off to work/school on Monday

Fitting 16 people into our dining room was not an easy task

Kinley's first time to meet Uncle Jerry

Ella's 1st Christmas, look out, she's crawling now!

Playtime with Opa

And with Uncle Jerry

Look at all of the toys Avery brought to Ella

Look at all of this Yummy food!

Desserts

And appetizers...

The little, big girls table

Ella sitting on the table with Josh

Kinley's lunch was not quite as exciting as ours but at least she got to snuggle with Aunt Kristin while eating it

Too much partying for Zach

Tag team effort to give Kinley the rest of her bottle

It's a long story/inside joke but basically we all gathered at the bottom of the stairs to harass someone who we thought had been upstairs in the bathroom for a really long time.

Gathered around telling family stories

Now, to get down to the important business

We lost Zach

Playing with Avery's new Play Dough Kit

That's one tired Avery (notice, however, she still has energy to eat her cookie)

Avery and Sophie helping me feed Kinley her cereal

Deck the Halls....

2011-12-22T19:12:00.000-08:00

What a fun time to begin to start and share some family Christmas traditions with our girls. Check out the pics and videos below for a little tale of what we've been up to:

Avery wasn't the biggest fan of actually meeting Santa in person this year so it took two different visits to get this picture. I'm happy with how it turned out and very thankful for a very patient Brandon, Gigi, and Santa Claus in making this picture happen.

Modeling the matching Christmas Tree outfits Katy gave them

Admiring the Reindeer on her toes

Santa Baby...haha, couldn't resist

Avery and Kinley each had a tree in their own rooms. Here Kinley is hanging out in Avery's big girl bed while we put the lights on Avery's tree.

Avery was actually a pretty good little helper this year

Very proud of her tree. Like the hair? :)

Helping decorate Kinley's tree too

Time to put the lights on the big tree

Daddy's little helper

That's one tired Belle

Going to see Santa (the first time)

They had a really neat Ice Palace display to go through before you met with Santa

And snow to play with too

One of my co-workers that used to be a "professional Santa"

Decorating Christmas Cookies with Dad, they used Brandon's Mimi's homemade receipe

Avery painted this one. Not bad, huh?

Making Santa's beard

Avery liked to make Santa have a big beard

Another set of matching outifts for the girls, its just too cute!

Avery with her new American Girl Doll that Opa & Oma gave her for Christmas. She named her "Baby Doll"

Avery picked out a gift to give to Kinley and helped me wrap it. As you can see, her favorite part was putting the bows on the top. Stay tuned to see what the gift is.

Very proud of her present. Sweet, sweet, sweet big sister!

Kinley admiring her present. She actually reached out and pulled one of the bows off. Smart girl, gets down to business already when it comes to presents.

Avery's tree (Katy gave the girls these cute ornaments)

Kinley's Tree

And Kinley's ornament.

Helping Brandon decorate the tree

Decorating Christmas cookies

Avery's present for Kinley

The Polar Express

2011-12-21T19:37:00.000-08:00

Downtown Grapevine, TX is all done up for Christmas and they run a really neat event called the Polar Express that Gigi took us to. They have a little show, then you walk through a snowy Christmas Tree maze and finally board a real train and ride it for about 30 minutes while they sing Christmas Carols to you and have a visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus. It was so neat! Thank you Gigi for taking us to this. Avery and Kinley both had a blast. Avery even got a keepsake Jingle Bell to take home with her. The first video loaded below is the best, one of my favorites!

Waiting to get on

Love this picture!!!!!

See, told you she had a blast!

On the train. You can't tell in this picture but Avery was very excited and curious about what was going to go on.

Giving her ticket to the conductor

Avery got 2 Jingle Bell necklaces, b/c she stole one from her little sister

Mrs. Claus

Stroller ride through a chilly downtown Grapevine

I think this picture is so cute. She's so cute in her little boots!

Dinner afterwards with Gigi, complete with ice cream.

After a nice long nap after the train ride, Kinley is up and ready for some more action.

Sophia's 4th Birthday Party

2011-12-20T20:05:00.000-08:00

Where has the time gone! Sophia just celebrated her 4th birthday with a Hello Kitty themed party. Avery loves her big cousin so much and had a blast at her party. She keeps asking to go back to "Sophie's party". Happy 4th Birthday Sophia!

(This is Ella, passed out in the middle of the party)

Avery versus the Pinata...

2011-12-20T13:40:00.000-08:00

As you can see by all of the pics below, Avery is having lots of fun! She's so silly all the time and we love to hear her sweet little giggle.

Avery hardly ever gets cold. Here she is at the park when it was like 40 degrees outside. Brandon said he was probably more cold that she was.

Avery picked out this hat for herself from the Target dollar bend.

Hanging out in our jammies

The only way I could get Avery to walk back home with me after going to play at her friend Wesley's house

She now loves to help cook. Unfortunately, she demands to help EVERY time we make a meal now

Avery had a bad cold last week so Brandon stayed home work with her. Here they are eating ice cream, doesn't look very sick to me

Naptime on the big bed with Belle

More pics from Avery and Daddy's sick day

She loves the Iphone feature where you can turn the camera on the screen to face you so you can look at yourself as you take your own picture

Helping make Christmas Cookies

Saturday morning Mickey Mouse Club with her buddy Belle

This is how Avery attempted to watch Sesame Street last week, while Gigi was over taking care of the girls. What a goof ball!

Naptime on the "big bed" with her buddy Belle

More chocolate fondue from one of our favorite Friday night dinner spots, Cedar's Grill.

Avery can now reach into the upper row of pantry cabinets (that we don't have locks for) and I found her walking around the house with this the other day. Like Mother, like Daughter, we sure love our Peanut Butter.

Group naptime last Saturday afternoon. Brandon snapped this shot. I have never had both girls snuggle up to me like that before, it was so sweet!

Avery singing and dancing to an Elmo Music video

I love this video, you have to listen very closely to the conversation Avery is having with Belle, it is so funny!

Kinley 4 months

2011-12-20T03:29:00.000-08:00

Kinley is 4 months old and we are busy, busy, busy! Work for me now is back in full swing and we're right in the middle of the Holidays so we are on the go. Kinley is just darling! She's an itty bitty just like her sister. She weighs 11 lbs, 10 oz (5%) and is 23" tall (11%). We had a great pediatrician visit (except for the shot thing, I still think it is harder on me than on the girls). He's pleased with her size, she's just petite. Her reflux symptoms are doing well with the prevacid, she's still nursing well and taking 6.5 oz bottles, and is even tolerating it when I eat a little dairy. Still no teeth yet and only rolling front to back but she is actually great with tummy time and quite tolerant of it. She loves to watch the action around her (& believe me, there is always action) and has the best little smile. Kinley loves to chew on her hands and is absolutely fascinated with her feet, it is so cute! She's still a crazy spitter upper but our pediatrician thinks that should resolve by 6 months. She initiallly had done pretty well with sleeping but now is starting to wake quite a bit during the night. We're probably going to have to intervene with that soon, because Mommy & Daddy need some sleep.

Avery continues to adore her little sister. We have been so impressed with Avery. Not once has she ever shown hostility or jealously towards her little sister. What sweet precious little girls we have. We have so much to be thankful for this holiday season!

Kinley & her dollie

Avery wanted a part of the picture taking & demanded that ALL of her "babies" join along, Kinleys face cracks me up.

proud smile to her big sister after trying rice cereal for the first time

Her favorit ornament, the Dallas Cowboys sock monkey her Grandpa got for her

Snuggled up with her Dollie, nighty night

And finally, some of our favorite videos below:

snuggled up in the big bed after nap time.

Kinley grabbing Avery's hair

Laughing at Daddy

Spitting up

talking on the floor

Rolling over

Gobble, Gobble

2011-11-30T19:14:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely Thanksgiving this year. We spent the day Thursday at Gaylan's house with the rest of Brandon's family and it was so nice to only have one Thanksgiving meal. In the past, we've had up to 4 meals in one day which is nice to see everyone, but totally crazy too. After we ate Thanksgiving lunch, we all went and played at the park by Gaylan's house and then came back to watch the Cowboys game. The girls crashed that evening and we watched the A&M/UT game at home (sniff, sniff...what a devastating loss and sad end to the series that has brought about so many wonderful traditions for over 100 years). We have so much to be thankful for this year! Thank you, Lord for so many blessings!

Happy first Thanksgiving to Ella and to Kinley

Look at all the stuff we all brought (and this doesn't include all of the food, etc)

Making foam sticker visor hats

A Video Tribute to Zach

2011-11-26T13:44:00.000-08:00

We've taken a bunch of fun videos of Brandon's brother Zach over the past couple of weeks and I wanted to dedicate this post to him. The funniest by far is him trying out Belle's bark collar.

Gaylan's 60th Birthday

2011-11-25T20:12:00.000-08:00

2 weeks ago we got together to celebrate Gaylan's 60th birthday. As an extra special treat, Brandon's Aunt Jill was in town from Seattle for the occasion and finally got to meet both girls. We had dinner at Blue Mesa and then went over to Gaylan & Craig's house afterwards for cake and ice cream. The whole house was decorated in the 1950's style in honor of the decade she was born.

Avery fell asleep in the car on the way to the restaurant and we couldn't wake her up so here she is sleeping in a booth. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have from dinner b/c dinner was a little hectic that night with both of the girls.

Cousins, hopefully someday they will be as close as Avery & Sophie

Four little monkeys jumping on the bed...

Avery was stalking the cake all night

Here are some sweet pictures taken the next morning of our sweeties in their matching PJ's:

Jumping on Gigi's Bed

Kinley & Ella

Family Football Day

2011-11-25T19:52:00.000-08:00

2 weeks ago, while Brandon's Aunt Jill was still in town visiting from Seattle, the whole family came over to watch the Cowboys game together. It was a blast and the girls were exhausted!

ASI birthday party

2011-11-20T20:09:00.000-08:00

Avery loves Birthday Parties & especially Birthday Cake! We went to a party at ASI gymnastics for her friend Kennedy that lives down the street. Kennedy was turning 3. Kennedy and her family also have a Weimaraner. They will eventually be in the same elementary class together and we hope they grow up to be great friends!

Thought this was a cool action shot. They were all playing with their balloons.

Silly Monkey

2011-11-20T19:45:00.001-08:00

Ahhh, the energy of a 2 year old. Avery is all about being silly and making us laugh. Here are some pictures of our little Silly Monkey:

Kinley's Bumpo Chair

Fun with Opa

Avery loves it when our neighbor Wesley comes over to play

Sweet girls. They play so well together!

The morning after Halloween. That's Avery's Halloween basket on her head.

Watching Elmo before bed with Opa, Jo, & Belle

Mommy the Pony

This is where we found Avery sleeping one morning when we got up (in our living room). We had no idea she had come out of her room and how long she had been down there.

Riding the Pony

Singing The Wheels on The Bus

Ba-Ba Black Sheep

Jumping at the Little Gym

3 months old

2011-11-20T19:17:00.000-08:00

Better late than never, right. Miss Kinley turned 3 months old about 10 days ago. She weighs 10 lbs, 7 oz and started daycare 2 weeks ago. Kinley adjusted really well and has the same teacher that Avery had at the school, Ms. Hanh. Kinley is smiling, cooing, and laughing out loud now and if she's awake when I pick her up from school, she'll give me a huge smile.

Kinley is rolling easily stomach to back, but not consisently yet, back to stomach. She was doing great with sleeping through the night a few weeks ago, going 8-9 hours between feedings and waking up at a time, but lately has decided to wake up at 4:00 most nights...boo! It's like she has some weird internal alarm clock. Hopefully this phase will go away quickly, because Mommy & Daddy would sure like to sleep through that 4:00 hour since we get up at 5:30 every morning.

Kinley is such a joy! She's quite laid back and loves to be held and to watch the action around her. And with the speed her big sister goes, there is always something going on around her. She still has a pretty sensitive stomach, but we're hoping that will continue to get better with time. Those tummy troubles are the only thing that takes that sweet smile away.

Kinley and her Cowboys sock monkey:

Modeling the outfit that Colin, Brooke, Sophia, & Ella gave her.

Her boyfriend Nate came to visit. Kinley is 8 days older that him.

Ready for her first day at school

Big smiles for Mommy afer her first day at daycare. Mommy was very happy to see those smiles. I miss her during the day.

Hanging out with Opa

She loves to snuggle with Jo

Dr. Seuss storytime with Daddy

Avery used to love it when Brandon would read to her like this

Check this out, this is Avery...

And this is Kinley...pretty crazy!

A beautiful day for the Zoo

2011-11-09T19:25:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, we took Avery to the Zoo. Thanks to Gigi (Gaylan) for taking care of Kinley so we could enjoy a day date with just Avery. That's our first time for both of us to hang out with just Avery since Kinley was born. We had a really good time, even though 1/2 the Zoo was closed that day. Fortunately tickets were also 1/2 price that day. It seemed so easy to have just one child. After we got back from the Zoo, we swapped kiddos and Avery spent the night with Gigi and we got to have some 1:1 time with Kinley. It's so great that we have such wonderful family around so we can do these fun things with our girls.

Monkeys

Kind of funny, Brandon and I don't even know what animal this is, LOL!

Rhino

Avery's first pony ride

1st carosel ride, on the ostrich

Ride 2 on the zebra

Brandon's new hat :)

Trip was a success!

Avery loves Puppies!

2011-11-08T18:49:00.000-08:00

My good friend and coworker, Rachel and her husband Tim had another liter of golden retriever puppies, this time a surprise liter. We took Avery to visit her first liter last winter and she had a blast so we asked Rachel if we could come visit again this time. Kinley got to come too but she enjoyed hanging out with Rachel while Avery and I played with the puppies and while Brandon took pictures. They are so cute! Its a good thing we have our big dog at home, or else I just may have tried to come home with a puppy or two. :)

Trick or Treat!

2011-11-02T19:07:00.001-07:00

Halloween day and night were lots of fun! Avery went to school that day and got to wear her costume. They had a parade and a Halloween Party. Kinley and I went to the parade to see Avery, but that didn't go so well because Avery started crying once she saw us b/c she wanted to go home with us. Kinley and I joined the parade with Avery and the rest of her toddler class and successfully got her back from her room. Avery got home with lots of goodies in her bag from school and wouldn't put the bag down all afternoon.

Monday night, both Gigi's came over to take part in Halloween and it was also such a big help to have 2 extra sets of hands. After dinner, we got all of our bumble bee's dressed (including Belle) and headed outside with Avery, Belle, and Kinley in the stroller. Gigi (Burden) joined along with us and my Mom Gigi stayed back and handed out candy. Avery had a blast although she was quite shy at the doorways, only whispering Trick or Treat and Thank-you and had to be prompted everytime. Belle got lots of compliments for her costume along the way and Kinley eventually fell asleep in the stroller from all of the excitement. When we got back, Avery stayed outside for a little while too and helped us greet other trick or treaters and hand out candy.

It was a very fun, family night. I am trying to convince Brandon that it would be fun for us to dress up too next year. Stay tuned!

First time to try her costume on and look what she immediately does.

Belle is not so excited about Halloween

Getting ready for school, look who's VERY excited!

So cute!

Hi Avery!

Kinley dressed up to go see the Parade

Avery showing Gigi her Loot from school

Dinner with the Gigi's

And lots of treats too!

Kinley's ready to go!

Avery is ready too

One of my favorite pics EVER!

Belle is ready too

Loving on Belle

Our 3 little Bee's

Avery's good friend, Wesley, who lives down the street

Belle's best friend Chloe who lives next door. She was dressed as a unicorn with a princess riding on her back

And she's off...

Avery has never had candy before so she doesn't quite know what to think

Bumble Bee Dance

Bzzzzzz

Trick or Treating

Halloween Parties

2011-11-02T04:14:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was filled with Halloween parties. We started off the weekend with a party at the Little Gym. It was a cool idea that they had and the place was totally decorated and all of the instructors were dressed up in great costumes, but it was crazy crowded. Avery and Kinley both went dressed in their costumes. They were so cute!

The Hulk is Cody, the instructor that leads Avery's class and did her birthday party

Too much partying!

Check out how packed this place was

Saturday night we all went to a Halloween party that a co-worker of mine has every year.

Dressed and ready for the party

Check out these awesome socks that Anna gave Kinley!

Party animal

Kinley and her boyfriend Collin, the monkey

Kinley and Jason

A video of the big slide at the Little Gym Party

Bumble Bee fun on the air track

Carving Pumpkins

2011-11-01T20:50:00.001-07:00

Sunday night, Gigi & Grandpa came over to help us carve pumpkins. Since Avery is very into Micky Mouse Clubhouse right now, I found a Mickey Mouse carving kit and I thought it would be neat to try. They came out so cool and we got tons of compliments on our pumpkins by trick-or-treaters.

Avery wasn't all that interested initially so Grandpa happily worked on putting together her new backyard toy, her new soccer goal

Grandpa's Pumpkin, Mickey Mouse

Brandon's Pumpkin, Goofy

My pumpkin, Minnie Mouse

Gigi & Avery carved this one together. It was Avery's idea to make a heart shaped nose.

Fall Pics

2011-11-01T20:33:00.001-07:00

We've started taking fun fall pictures posing with pumpkins on the bench in the front of our house. It was a little different this year trying to get two girls to smile at the same time. We ended up taking over 40 pictures and found quite a few favortes:

I loved looking at the pics of Avery we took the past 2 years:

Road Trip

2011-10-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took Avery & Kinley on a road trip to Houston & then to College Station. It was Kinley's first road trip at just 10 weeks old. Both girls did great on the trip & we had a blast! I love road trips, especially with my family!

We went to Houston to visit our friends, Anna & David and their sons Parker & Harrison. It was Parker's 2nd bday party and Avery had a blast playing with Parker and all of his toys, especially all of his outside toys. And she was totally excited to get to eat birthday cake for the 2nd day in a row. What sweet friends they are!

On th way home, we took a detour into College Station to help further brainwash the girls about their future college. You can't start off too early, right? It was Sunday, so campus was kind of quiet, but that made it easy for us to explore.