Christmas At School

Christmas season started full swing with lots of activities at school. First was the Music program. We have a new music teacher this year and I have to say he did a GREAT job with the kids and the program. It was called "The Big Chill" complete with kids/teachers wishing for snow so school would be out. Every grade had a part and they all did a great job!

Nana, Aunt Joyce, Aunt Carolyn and Aunt Nancy happen to be here doing their Christmas shopping that day so they were able to come watch the kids. Kaylee and Braden were VERY excited they made it! Kelsee enjoyed snuggling in Nana's lap...except when people clapped!

The 2nd graders were students dressed for winter. They sang lots of songs about winter and wanting snow! It was SO cute! Braden is right in the middle with the blue and white striped hat.

Kaylee is in the middle in the back. The 4th graders were dressed as teachers from the 1980's. Oh was she MAD at me for her outfit!! She said she looked "hideous!!" Wasn't that the point!?!?

For the first time ever Kaylee had a speaking part!! She said it with the group, but that is a HUGE step for her!! Good Job Kaylee!!

Braden with his friend Wyatt after the program...only coincidence they are dressed alike.

School parties were the day before Christmas break. Although I enjoy being able to go to the kids parties this year, I don't enjoy having to split my time between both classes.....so I did miss a few things from each...

Braden passing out the reindeer cupcakes we made for both of their classes. This is Brynlee Cue and Taylor Moody...a few of his friends.

Our school has an Angel tree for the teachers to put items they would like for their classroom and you can choose one and bring it in lieu of class presents. Both kids chose treasure box items....so Dollar Tree here we came!!

Kaylee being silly during goodie time!
Both kids had a great time celebrating Christmas at school, but were SO ready for the day to be over because we left immediately for Texas!!

Happy 8th Birthday Braden!

I am a few days late, but better than not at all like last year! Braden turned 8 on Monday. WOW! Time really has flown! We watched home videos a few months ago and it is so amazing how much a child grows and changes in such a short time. On the video he was 3 and you would ask him how old he was and so matter of fact he would say "5"!! Braden is definitely a character of his own! He can be such a sweet, loving helpful child one minute then a moody, tempermental, sore looser the next! Braden has such a passion for school and reading that I hope he keeps as he gets older. He loves to be at the farm and just be able to go and play as he pleases. His imagination is so big it truly amazes me sometimes! Not a day (honestly probably an hour) goes by that Braden doesn't come up to Kelsee or I and gives us a kiss and says he loves us. He is definitely a Mommy's boy, but as he is getting older he is loving his Daddy time too.

This year Braden wanted his birthday party at the YMCA and he wanted an OSU party!!! We were very excited about both of these choices due to the ease of a party at the Y and well the choice of theme made us proud!!! We enjoyed an hour of cake/presents/pizza then an hour of swimming with 19 kids ages 5-10!

The cake/pizza/drink table

The present table

His cake of choice....Kathy Tuma once again did a fantastic job!

The birthday boy!He was really hamming it up while they were singing!

BLOW!!

It's time to swim! Yes we were responsible for all those kids!! And only had 1 bloody nose!!

Some of the kids enjoying the kiddie area

In our house we have a tradition of the birthday breakfast. From the very beginning Dale and I have done all we can do to make their day special....starting as soon as they wake up. We wake them up with the Happy Birthday song and they have candles in the breakfast of their choice. Braden chose cereal, pop tart and bacon.

Cookies and balloons at school. Our PTO offers birthday balloons so of course I made sure Braden had one. It was fun being the one that actually made his this year. He chose OSU cookies for his school party also. I enjoyed getting to take the cookies to school and spend the time there with him.

YUMMY Kathy Tuma cookie!

Braden had a great birthday few days! He got his gifts of choice (Kung Zhu pets and a track and new bedding for his bed!) and was able to have his choice of meals all day! Chose his breakfast, I took him McDonalds for lunch and we went to his choice of Playa Azul for dinner. We love making this day special for them because they definitely make everyday of the year special for us! Happy 8th Birthday Bubba!!!

Thanksgiving 2010

I know I have not even posted about Halloween yet, but thought I better try to stay current and then add the old things in as I go....hopefully!! We had a great Thanksgiving this year!! We started the weekend before with Dale's family at his Aunt's Joyce and Nancy's house. (I took the camera but forgot to take any pics!) We had a nice visit there and Kelsee was able to meet some of her family that had not yet seen her.
Our next event was heading to Texas on Wednesday evening. We arrived at my Aunt Lynne's house about midnight. We spent Thursday with my Dad's family at her house. The kids always enjoy playing at "Honey's" house, the girls enjoy planning our shopping adventure and the guys enjoy her comfy couches!! I left Kelsee for the first time at night that night to head out with Emily, Dale and Meagan to grab some GREAT deals! When I left she was asleep and when I got back she had just woke up to eat...so I guess I didn't miss much! Emily, Dale, Meagan and I headed out about 11pm and returned with the back of the Tahoe loaded about 7am!! We took a short nap and headed out to my Mom's brothers house for more Turkey dinner. Once again we had a great visit with the family and it was great to see my Grandparents looking so good.
Saturday morning we slept in...oops...so we rushed around and left Em's about 11 heading North for the big Bedlam game. But first we took Kelsee's 2nd round of pics with her Grow With Me Bow!! They are going to be so cute!!!
And I don't even have to go into our Saturday evening because I am sure ALL of you know how the OU/OSU game turned out....I am still trying to get Dale out of mourning for that!! LOL!
Well, I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving....I have to go change a diaper!! (The story of my life lately!!!)


The Lawson Family ThanksgivingAddie loved putting Kelsee to sleep! She was so funny...when they first got there her sister Bailey wanted to hold Kelsee, I told her her hands were like ice and Addie said "my hands are HOT!" Too cute!!

Snuggled up to her Doe-Doe....Bailey was never far from her all day! She LOVES her Kelsee!!

Meagan, Kelsee, Bailey and Kaylee...not sure where Addie and Macie were. Bailey and Kaylee are 5 days apart.

Lynne, Julie and Emily checking the ads for the best deals!

The men enjoying the comfy couch!!

The Mullins Family Thanksgiving

My Grandmother....isn't she beautiful!?!?

Cousin David

My BFF!! My sister and I

2 of our girls! God knew what he was doing when he gave each of us 2 girls!! Macie's shirt says "Back up Barbie"!!! Too fitting!!!

Nolan....he is just precious!!

I think Macie was enjoying this more than Kelsee!!

Look out! They are teaching Nolan to play on the iPod!!

Cousin Jon...we have to spend LOTS Of time with him over the next 6 months cuz he is deploying in July.....

Giving Doe-Doe bye-bye kisses!!

Just a Quick Update

Things have been ridiculously crazy around here lately so I apologize for the long time between posts! I don't have time right now (heading out to the kids Veterans Day program at school in less than an hour) to post pics, but I have lots to post soon....hopefully!!! But I wanted to get a few things recorded in here before I forget about them!!

All 3 kids had a great time on Halloween. We went with a bug theme this year. Kelsee was a bee, Kaylee was a ladybug and Braden was the spider (I know it is not technically a bug, but it worked!) They were all very cute and I was so proud of myself....between borrowing costume pieces and making some I spent less than $20 on all 3!!! I have lots of great pics of the kids at our annual trip to the pumpkin patch, Halloween parties at school and trick or treating. I promise I will post them later!

We had a very emotional week last week in our house. We lost Dale's Grandpa on Saturday. He was a huge part of Dale's life and he and the kids greatly adored him so even though the immediate grieving process is over, it is not all over. Grandpa was the man that helped mold my husband into the great man he is today and for that I will be eternally thankful to him. Also, my kids have always been very special to him and helped make their trips to Nana's very special. He will be greatly missed by all!

Some news on Miss Kelsee....she is growing like a lil weed!!! We went to the Dr last week and she weighs 12 lbs. 13 oz and was 23 1/2" long!! She is wearing a size 1 diaper and size 0-3 month clothes. She is not going to be in these sizes much longer though!! She is doing great breastfeeding and is starting to sleep longer periods of time too! WOO HOO!! She is getting a lil personality on her and we are LOVING it!! Kelsee loves her brother and sister and when they (well anyone) talks to her she just laughs and coo's right back at you.

Miss Kelsee has found her thumb lately and unfortunately is loving it. We have pulled her thumb out and replaced it with the paci, and she has even spit the paci out and put the thumb back in!! UH OH!!! We are still working on it and even though it is so cute to watch her suck her thumb, hopefully we will be able to break her of this to avoid future issues.

Well, I had better get going for now and go get us ready and feed lil Missy before we need to go to the school. Oh and I have some other VERY exciting news to share with you at a later date!! So check back for more!!

Kelsee Anne

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Kelsee's First Bottle

From the very beginning of my pregnancy with Kelsee I knew I wanted to try to breastfeed her. I tried with Kaylee and was not successful and did not try at all with Braden, so even though this was baby #3 it was still something new to me. Before she was born I read that having the baby nurse within the first hour of being born would help the whole process be a greater success. So this is something I told the nurses I wanted to do. When we introduced it to Kelsee she was about 20 minutes old and wow she latched on like she had been doing this for years. She has continued to be very successful with nursing and we all could not be happier!
I was a little hesitant to give Kelsee a bottle because nursing was going so well. However, I knew there would come a time when I would need to leave her for more than 3 hours and also with the busy schedule we have there would be times when it would be nice to have a bottle when we are out and about. So planning for the kids fall carnival at school I had Kaylee give her her first bottle on October 14. She sucked that stuff right down and wanted more! I have been pumping in 2 oz bottles (based on advice) and that is just not enough for lil Miss Kelsee!! The 2nd bottle we gave her had 3 oz and it satisfied her a lil more; however, I had to leave her yesterday for a few hours and she took 4 oz!! She has been going back and forth very well, but so far she has only had 4 bottles. I pray that she continues to go back and forth!! I do not plan to give her formula as long as I am continuing to produce plenty for her to eat....which is NOT a problem right now! Anyway, this may have been WAY TOO MUCH INFO for some of you, but it is our life right now. I do still have more pics from the first few days of Kelsee's life....I will get them all posted! I promise!!

Getting her first bottle from Sissy!

I know this post is about her first bottle but I wanted to post this pic of her too....it was taken on her 5 week birthday! She loves her swing!! Kelsee does not take her paci much. She will take it when she is hungry or sometimes when she is sleepy. But when she starts to go to sleep she will spit it out. She is not taking it at all at night so hopefully she won't be too attached!!

Tulsa Fair

Kelsee had 2 firsts this weekend. She had her first trip to the Tulsa Fair/Stock Show and her first stay in a hotel. Dale had 3 heifers selling at the Tulsa Fair so after school Friday, the kids and I loaded up (and wow I forgot how much you have to take for a baby!) and headed East. Kaylee and Braden have been going with us to the stock shows since they were born, so naturally we did not hesitate to take Kelsee along with us. She did great on the car ride over. When we arrived at the fair we were greeted with a welcoming group of people that could not wait to meet lil Miss Kelsee! We love all the great people we have met through the cattle business and enjoy the small amount of time we spend with them. We even were able to spend Friday evening at the pool celebrating a special lil girl's 4th birthday....Happy Birthday Pepper Elmore! We always try to stay at a hotel that has an indoor pool....makes bedtime pretty easy!!
Saturday was the busy day! Dale always gets up early and heads out to the barn early, leaving the kids and I there to get a lil extra sleep and come in a lil later. This typically works out very well, however, with 3 kids was a little more challenging! We finally made it to the barn about 10!! Kelsee was very good all day Saturday, just taking in everything and not letting it bother her at all. Kaylee and Braden had a great time playing with Pepper and helping Daddy out. Braden had a hard time this time with getting rid of one of the heifers. For some reason, even though he only spent a small amount of time with her, he and Anna really bonded! But it was nothing a trip to the midway didn't fix!! Another thing we always try to do is allow the kids to experience the "crazy section" of the fair. Dale and I absolutely despise this area (for different reasons...me all the germs and he can't stand all the people) but tolerate it for them! So after about $30, 3 hours, 2 rides and 1 game later we were DONE!! Oh and we got to go home w/ a huge stuffed Bevo (the Texas Longhorns mascot for my OK readers!!). Braden begged to play "just one game!!" So we gave in and let him ring a duck. Me trying to avoid the meltdown, I spent about 5 minutes before he played preparing him to lose. Telling him the games were a rip-off...the whole spill. Well, Dale bought them each 3 rings and wouldn't you know it, the 2nd one the throws he rings a duck!! And of all the things there he picks the Longhorn! And the first thing out of his mouth was to Daddy....he said "I disappointed Mommy cuz I won!" HAHA! Can't say I was disappointed, surprised, but not disappointed! And thank goodness Kelsee slept through the whole midway area so we were able to keep her covered up in her stroller!
Although I took the camera with us, I forgot to take any pics!! Ooops!! Kelsee enjoyed her first stock show/hotel stay and we all enjoyed a great day at the fair. So much that yesterday we did not go ANYWHERE!! Enjoyed sleeping in and hanging out around here doing laundry, unpacking, and playing ball outside. Kelsee literally slept ALL DAY! Well, she has been initiated and has many more stock shows in her future....hope she enjoyed!

What a Difference a Month Makes!

One month ago today our lives were changed forever! We went from a family of 4 to 5, with only 9 short months to prepare. I will never forget the day we found out about our new addition. Well, actually it started a month prior to that when Braden asked Santa for a baby!! Little did we know that Santa would deliver just that!! I remember having the famous clue (that I won't bother to go into details about!) and thinking "NO WAY!" Well, after about 2 weeks I could not ignore it any longer so I took a test and well the rest is history!!
So much has changed in the past month. Kelsee has grown so much and has fit right into our family perfectly! The kids both loved her from the minute they laid eyes on her. They both are wonderful with her and have been a huge help. Kelsee has been a great baby from the very beginning. She very seldom cries, but has definitely learned to let you know when she is upset! Kelsee is eating very well, going about 3 or so hours in between and is usually only up once during the night! Kelsee loves sitting in her swing and has started enjoying her activity mat too. She has started focusing on things and is really watching faces and following voices. Kelsee is very strong, already holding her head up and will push herself up with her legs too. We absolutely love having a baby around the house! Kaylee loves holding and snuggling with her and Braden loves it when she gives him kisses! (We won't tell him she is hungry and thinks he is food!) Kaylee and I also have really enjoyed dressing her up in all her cute clothes and bows!!
I look forward to recording Kelsee's growth on here and sharing it with all of you. I have posted a pic of her on her first day of life and then another of her today at a month old.


September 7, 2010

October 7, 2010

Kelsee's 1st Photo Shoot by Brooke Anne Images

Most of you know my sister and brother-in-law do photography as a side business. While they were here after Kelsee was born, of course we had to do her first of many photo shoots! We had a great time taking the pics and when they sent them to me they literally brought tears to my eyes! Kelsee is 5 days old in these pics!! There will be more that I add later (he is not quite finished w/ all of them yet) but I could not wait to go ahead and share the ones that are completed. They have very amazing, unique ideas....just wait till you see these!! I hope you enjoy them half as much as we are!!

She is in our dresser drawer in this one!

Absolutely precious!! And you can't even tell she was screaming her head off!!

Laying on her changing table!

Precious!!

Definitely Daddy's baby girl!! But this pic has a story worth telling!! Right after he took some of these Dale was holding our naked baby and she decided she needed to pee....LOL....he got that cleaned up and was getting ready to take more pics and then you guessed it!! She decided to poop on him too!! It was GREAT!! Needless to say, the rest of the pics like this she has a diaper on...although w/ the awesome photographers we have you will never know that!!

Laying on the top of our computer cabinet!

Right now this is the one I have picked out to use for her main pic on her birth announcements. But I keep changing my mind, so there is not telling which ones will make the final print!

Look at those precious feet!!

Isn't this absolutely amazing!! This is our dresser in our bedroom!! I LOVE THIS PIC!!!

I hope you enjoyed those and look back for more later!! There are going to be some more w/ a story and I can't wait to share it with you!
If you liked what you saw check out www.brookeanneimages.com and give them a call!! I promise you will not be disappointed!!