She is 2 WHOLE HANDS!

I cannot believe our Kaylee bug is 10 years old!! 2 WHOLE HANDS, double digits, a decade, a tween, wow hard believe she is already 10! Kaylee is such a blessing to our family! She has been a Daddy's girl from the very start! When she was a baby as soon as Daddy got home from work he would pick her up and they would either play or nap in the chair till supper. She has always said she was not getting married, she was just going to live with her Daddy forever! We will see what her thoughts are on that in about 6 or 7 years! Kaylee is a very nurturing person and is a GREAT big sister! She has always tended to baby Braden. Although they do their fair share of fighting, she is usually the first to reassure him it's ok or console him when he is in trouble! (Makes is quite hard on me!) She has loved both him and Kelsee from the very beginning....I just love to watch her with Kelsee and used to her with Braden too. Even though she was not quite 2 when he was born, she grew up VERY quickly and was great with him.
Kaylee is quite mature for her age. She is very somber most of the time. She does NOT like the attention on her, she does not like to be in front of people (even quit dance simply because she would not do recital!), she likes to be the fly on the wall (has to KNOW everything!), she is very reserved and is very much a thinker! When Kaylee enters a place she is not familiar with she will sit back and observe until she is comfortable with the place before she will even talk sometimes. She does not like to approach something new. Always has to know what is coming next! Kaylee is very much a "do-er", she does not like to stay at home and she does not like to just do nothing.
Our family could not ask for a better oldest child. She is such a great help to both me and the other 2 kids. She absolutely ADORES her baby sister and is very good with kids. My prediction on Miss Kaylee is she will do something in life that has to do with nurturing and children (a nurse or a teacher). Kaylee is also very athletic. She LOVES to play softball, but also plays basketball and tumbles too. She is very much a girlie girl in her clothes and accessories, but not so much in her actions or hobbies. She will do anything Daddy is doing and wants to be VERY much a part of it. She enjoys going with him to the farm and messing with her goat , Snicker.
It is hard to believe it has been 10 years since God changed our lives forever! Dale and I both LOVE being parents. Having Kaylee definitely changed my life and my personality. At one time I honestly did not want children and the minute I saw Kaylee's face I wanted 100 more! (Don't worry we are not going to have 100!)
This year Kaylee's birthday celebration is being done in stages. She wanted to go to Stillwater to eat at Texas Roadhouse so since they were out of school Monday we went then. Nana was able to join us and Ethan and his girlfriend Katy met us there too. She had a great time and actually shocked me that she wanted to have them "sing" to her and sit on the saddle! On her actual birthday it started with her traditional birthday breakfast and Mommy bringing her McDonalds for lunch then dinner of her choice with our friends over. We are doing her party this year with her friend Kaitlyn so we are going to do it in a few weeks.
This pic was taken before school on her birthday morning. She was showing off one of her presents. Her new Toms shoes! She is just so beautiful (if I do say so myself!) I just can't believe it!

Birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse. She wanted a pic of her and Kelsee on the saddle!

Her birthday breakfast. She could not sleep the night before so she was GRUMPY first thing that morning. She chose sausage and biscuits for her breakfast.

Her party at school. She wanted zebra and cheetah print cookies from Kathy Tuma. They are SO yummy but I didn't even get one!!! We also made coke/root beer/grape floats....they loved that! Kaylee actually enjoyed having the class sing to her and then her teacher does 10 hugs instead of spankings! LOL!

Kaylee chose to have hamburgers at home on her actual birthday. We invited our friends the Spragues and the Felbers over to join us. She got to open her big present from us while they were here and also got one from them too. We got her a new camera! (But it was used and has to go back! Has many dings and scratches, had pics on it and the screen is messed up....UGH!) She also got an iTunes card and a cute cup from the Felbers.

Kaylee is not a big cake eater, but she loves cookie cake! Isn't it cute!

Well there will be more birthday pics later when we do Kaylee and Kaitlyn's party, but for now that is all I have. I still cannot believe our "bug" is 10 years old! I still remember her running around here as a lil toddler...she was so funny! She had the deepest voice and was always so serious! She would say "Mommy, Baden (no R!) needs to have a nap now!" or whatever else she thought he needed at the time! Makes me very sad to think about what all we have put behind us already in her lifetime, but then also very excited about what we have still to come!
Kaylee Rae we love you very much and look forward to many more wonderful years watching you grow up!
Happy 10th Birthday BUG!!

Halloween 2010

For 2010 we decided to go with a "Bug" theme for the kids costumes. Kaylee was able to borrow a costume from Rachael Felber (we just added the shirt), Kelsee borrowed hers from Kristal Harmon (we just added the tutu) and I made Braden's. I think I might have spent $20 total on all 3 costumes!! WOO HOO!! Kelsee was only about 6 weeks old, so of course she was not into Halloween much at all...next year should be a lot of fun!
We started our trick or treating off with our traditional pic at the tree.

Our 3 lil bugs!

Kaylee (9) the Ladybug, Braden (8) the spider and Kelsee (6 weeks) the lil bee
And off we went with our friends the Spragues and their nieces. The kids enjoy trick or treating with other kids so we usually pile up a big group and off we go! Another tradition for us is to take a pic at the first house we stop at. This year it was at Lisa Maly's house. She also was kind enough to pose for a pic of Kelsee's first trick or treat!!

Amanda and I had our girls dressed as the same thing! :) So of course we had to get a pic. The one of the 4 of them is blurry, but it was all I got!! Maleah and Adysen were so cute to go with. Reminded me of what we have to come around again with Kelsee. Maleah did not want to go at all and Ady could not get enough! She was all about the candy and DO NOT TOUCH her bucket!!
This year I was able to enjoy both of the kids' Halloween parties only splitting my time between the 2 of them. However, I was party Mom for Braden's class so I ended up spending more time in there. :( But I had a great time with them both.

Living in a small town is great for so many reasons! But one of them is that our younger grades are able to trick or treat to the local businesses during the school day. This was Braden's last year to get to do this. :( At school all the kids all get out in the hall and parade up and down for all to see their costumes. As you can see Kaylee was not real thrilled with this event! Since I was party Mom for Braden's class I planned a lil healthier snack of PB&J sandwiches cut into Halloween shapes and you would have thought I fed them gold! They loved them!! Also I had pre-cut/baked cookies for them to decorate. It was a mess, but his teacher is a great sport for these things and the kids had a blast!
We had a great Halloween this year (despite the fact that Dale's Grandpa has passed away the day before) and really look forward to some very fun times in the future with lil Miss Kelsee!!

Trip to The Pumpkin Patch 2010

I know these are late.....but better late than never!!
For many years now we have made a trip to the pumpkin patch at a local church for pics and to pick out our prize pumpkin! This year we were very lucky the weather cooperated so we were able to get Miss Kelsee out. The kids enjoy doing the same things every year....having pics taken in the scarecrow and pumpkin, "using the outhouse", playing in the pumpkins, playing in the hay barn, and usually playing on the bridge...but for some reason the bridge was not there this year. We have taken many trips to the pumpkin patch...Nana and Mimi have both joined us, we have done pics in Halloween shirts, we have joined friends, and even had the kids wear their costumes a few times. There are ALOT of pics to share so I did the whole collage thing again...I just can't weed out very many...sorry!

All 3 kids with the 2 prize pumpkins! The big one for Kaylee and Braden to carve w/ Daddy and you can sort of see the lil one they picked for Kelsee.

Wagons are a MUST at the patch. Usually they will both get a wagon and pile it with pumpkins and off they go, but this year Kaylee decided the girls needed to ride and the boy needed to pull them! :)

Pics in the hay barn....hard to imagine just a few years ago I had to lift them up on the bales!

LOTS of pics of all 3 of my beautiful kiddos! The one on the top right is my fav!!

Just a few cute fun pics!

Of course there is a story for these! Dale and Braden found this pumpkin with a big dip in it and decided Kelsee needed to have her pic in it! So they get it all set up and we take the pic. As you can tell she thought she was falling! There were 2 or 3 other families taking pics of babies that day too and yes you guessed it...we started something! Too cute!!

Most of the pics are taken so the hunt for the prize pumpkin is on! This year Braden and Dale took on this task. They searched for probably 10 minutes for the PERFECT one! Once it was found it was time to load it up. Braden pulled, tugged, twisted, turned, lifted and nothing! So Daddy loaded it up for him to pull to the front.

And they all had to be a scarecrow!! Even Kelsee!

Our beautiful oldest daughter!

Our handsome boy!

And our precious baby girl! Kelsee was a trooper on her first trip to the pumpkin patch! She slept the WHOLE time!!

I cherish the pics greatly. I know that in the years to come our pics are going to change immensely. In a few short years Kelsee will be a handful to capture sitting still...Kaylee will be too busy with her new teenage life to join us...Braden will decide this is "lame" and I will be lucky to capture a smile....oh how things have already and are going to change! Can I PLEASE just freeze time right now!!!??

What a Difference 4 Months Makes!

Dear Kelsee,
It is hard to believe it has been 4 months since the day we met you for the first time. This month you have hit many milestones! You had your first Christmas!! You rolled over!! You ate cereal!! You are becoming so much more active and alert and have started playing with us and your toys. You went to your 4 month check up the other day and you weigh 16lbs 6oz and are 25" long. You are in the 97th percentile in height and the 95th in weight. You are a very healthy baby girl and Dr is very pleased with your progress! You are in your 3-6 month clothes and a size 3 diaper. Oh and you LOVE your thumb still!! And although you were taking a bottle well, now you have decided you don't like it....so we are still working on that. I wanted to post a pic of you on your first day and then your 4 month picture because it is just amazing to me how much you have grown and changed!!

This is you on your first day of life....look you are already looking for your thumb!

This is on your 4 month birthday! You have grown so much and are such a happy baby!! We LOVE having you around and cannot imagine life without you!
Here are just a few random pics from this past month:

Very sleepy!!

You are definitely the most stylish baby around!! This is just one of your many cute outfits! The shirt came from Doe-Doe, the leggings from Rachael and the bow from Jennie Elmore...you received lots of very cute things from many wonderful people!

Although you do not like to be on your tummy long you do very well at holding up your head and using your back strength. Now that you have figured out the rolling thing you do better because you can just roll over when you are done with your tummy!!

Braden LOVES giving you kisses!! We have to tell him to get out of your face because you can only take so much. Both he and Kaylee absolutely adore you!!

You had cereal for the first time on January 3rd. You were not fond of it and still aren't a few days later. We are still working on it so we will see how you adjust to it.

Once again, it is hard to imagine 4 months have flown by. You have brought so much joy and amazement into this house!! We all were VERY shocked when we found out about you almost a year ago, but would not trade you for anything in the world! Kelsee, you are truly an amazing baby! You are VERY good and very seldom cry, you smile and laugh at just about everyone and the whole town just adores you and you are getting spoiled by so many people! I cannot wait to see what this next month has in store for us....they just keep getting better and better!!
I love you very much!!
Mommy

Sallee Family Christmas

After letting the kids enjoy their Santa presents and eating a YUMMY breakfast, we headed East to Aunt Joyce and Aunt Nancy's house for the Sallee Family gathering. We enjoyed great fellowship with the family and were really glad Heather and Curtis happened to be there the same year as us! (They alternate too and we have seemed to be on opposite years)

These are just some random shots that were taken throughout the day. I have loved dressing the girls in similar or matching outfits (and for now Kaylee likes it too!) so I had them matching shirts made for Christmas. They (of course!) are all bling and say "Blinging in the Holiday." They turned out very cute. I attempted to get a good picture of them but this is about the best I got! Once again Kelsee slept through presents!! Everyone enjoyed Kelsee time. Especially Uncle Marvin!

Not many pics with me in them....wow and here are 2!

We got Avery (Dale's cousins lil boy) a John Deere 4 wheeler that he can get on and push with his feet. He loved it and Kelli says he has ever since!! Too cute!

We attempted to get a pic of the kids together and then some of the 2 babies. Avery was not so sure about this, but we got a pretty good one!

The ones of the 2 babies....the bigger one you can sort of see Avery's hand going after Kelsee's bow. Right after I snapped the pic he pulled it up and POP!! LOL!! The one on the bottom right cracks me up. She thought he was SO funny....him not so much! We have new babies on every side of the family and it will be so fun next year when they are all a lil bigger and are really into this whole Christmas thing.
Well, that is the end of my Christmas posts!! We were very blessed this year with great family time and yummy food! We have had an amazing year with finding out we were going to have a new addition to preparing for her to welcoming her into the world! All while staying very busy with Kaylee and Braden's activities. We very much enjoy being involved in their activities and would not change the craziness is creates for anything!! We look forward to a great, exciting 2011! Kelsee is going to change so much this year and grow like a lil weed I am sure! Braden has great things coming up with finishing 2nd grade, we are going to attempt to start guitar lessons and then playing his last year of machine pitch baseball. Kaylee is going to prepare to be the big man on campus by starting 5th grade next year, she getting ready to show her goat, Fred, is currently starting basketball and is going to begin her first year of kid pitch softball in the Spring.
We hope you had a very Merry CHRISTmas and a Blessed New Year! Much Love to You and Thank You for taking the time to read about our lives!

Santa Stopped By!

"HOLY COW YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!" Those were Braden's words as he RAN (not sure why he was the one chosen to hold the baby!) into the living room to see what was left the night before. Needless to say both the older 2 kids were EXCITED about the goodies Santa left and from the way Kelsee will sit in hers and just play away I think she is enjoying hers too.

I would love to know what is going through Kelsee's mind at this point!! The bottom pic they are reading Santa's response to their letter. The part I love is where he told them they needed to do a better job getting along this next year!!! WOO HOO SANTA!!! :0)

Kaylee is so reserved and calm most of the time so it is very hard to know if she likes what she gets or not. She just shows no emotion about ANYTHING! Santa brought her some really cute stuff for Lanie (her American Girl doll), lots of cute girlie stuff, brown boots and the big ticket item was and iPod Touch! Oh and of course the silly glasses she loves to make people think she really has glasses.....silly!!

Now Braden on the other hand...you KNOW if he is excited or very unhappy about is gift. But Santa was a big hit this year!! Bradens pile consisted of lots of cool boy toys! He got some cars, a car track thingie, games, books, an Airsoft Rifle (not sure what Santa was thinkin!!!) and his big item was also an iPod Touch!! They both LOVE their iPods and could not wait to start texting Macie!!!

Kelsee got this adorable Tea Party Exersaucer and man she loves her new found independence!!! Kelsee hates to lay down so she has never been a huge fan of her bouncie seat. Just too much for babies you know!! :) So she LOVES being able to sit up in her exersaucer and see the world! This week she has started really playing with her toys that the kids keep her stocked with on the exersaucer! She just jumps up and down in it and SMILES!! So cute!! Santa also brought her some books, bath tub toys and a few other small toys. Oh and some spoon were in her stocking!!

All Ready for Santa

We love taking time on Christmas Eve to prepare for Santa. The kids still get SO excited and that is so exciting for Dale and I. We prepared our cookies earlier in the day, opened our new jammies, and now it was time to get everything ready. Kaylee's first Christmas Dale started reading her the story of Jesus' birth as her bedtime story. It is so amazing to think of how that one task has evolved over time. That first year she fell asleep! The next year we had just added a newborn, then we went to both of us trying to wrangle 2 toddlers long enough for him to get the story read, to having to explain that this is the real reason for this special night and not just all about Santa, to sharing the time with Meagan and Macie when we are in Texas to this year seeing them get the bible out themselves and watching Braden take Daddy the bible and Kaylee taking Kelsee from Nana to go sit with them. It is definitely a moment we will not take for granted and now with our new blessing we have MANY more wonderful years of reading this special story!!

I absolutely LOVE this picture!! And I didn't even have to tell anyone to "move into the pic", "don't hit her", or "stop pouting and listen!"

Kelsee is all dressed in her First Christmas PJ's and ready for bed!!

Cookies for Santa - Check
Letter to Santa - Check
Hay for the Reindeer - Oops!! We forgot to have Nana bring some so Kaylee put in the letter to stop at her house and grab some!

We were all set for Santa to arrive and Uncle Chris told us how to look up where he was and since he was in Mexico we had to get to bed fast!! Amazingly both kids went to sleep fairly quickly!

Christmas Eve

If we are home for Christmas, we let the kids open their presents from us Christmas Eve evening. This year was our year to be here so Nana joined us for LOTS of presents. We enjoy buying gifts....especially for our kids. I know we buy them WAY too much, but as long as we enjoy it (and don't have to use credit!!) I am sure we will continue. It is a tradition in our house to take a pic with your "pile" before you open and then when we open we do 1 at a time going youngest to oldest till each one is finished. This makes it important for Mommy to make sure the number of packages are even!

Kaylee's gift request list this year was very small, but that did not make it hard for me to shop for her. One of the main things on Kaylee's list this year was a pair of MissMe jeans and I splurged and got her some and she was SO excited! Dale's mom got them both some books, while they were waiting their turn we caught both of them reading!! Not the best timing, but I LOVE that they have a great love of reading!!!

Braden always has a never ending list....I feel sorry for Santa!! Although he never gets everything on his list, he was still pleased...even with the clothes!
I love the pic of Kelsee and her "pile!" This was pure perfection on Mommy and Daddy's part!! She actually stayed awake through most of these presents, but obviously had no clue what was going on. While Dale and I were shopping at Target, we came across the dog in the picture. I was holding Kelsee and I made the dog start singing and lighting up. Boy did her arms and legs start going 100 miles an hour and she grinned HUGE and laughed!! Of course Daddy said "we have to have that!" When she opened it the reaction wasn't quite the same, but it didn't take her long to renew her excitement for it!! We have had a great time with Kelsee on her first Christmas and SO look forward to next year when she is more into it and is able to rip open her own presents.
We are so blessed with our precious lil family!! I still can't believe we have 3 kids!!! We very much enjoyed being home on Christmas Eve this year to spend the whole day celebrating our family.

Cookies for Santa

The kids spent Christmas Eve getting ready for Santa! Complete with making him some YUMMY cookies. They pretty much did all the work for the cookies this year....cut, baked and decorated. It is amazing how big they are getting. You really notice it when you think of things like this that they do every year.

Time to roll them and cut them!

Then they worked hard on decorating them just right. Braden was very precise with his and every detail had to be just right....even though he only lasted for about 4 cookies. Kaylee on the other hand...she decorated every last one of them and put LOTS of icing on each one...and as long as the cookie was covered she wasn't really concerned about the appearance. Oh well, I am sure Santa didn't care!!

Christmas with Doe-Doe and Mimi

On Monday before we had to leave :( we exchanged our gifts with my sister and her family and my Mom. And once again the kids all got alot of nice, CUTE stuff! We always have a great time with my sister and her family and always HATE to have to go. We are so blessed to have such wonderful nieces and I enjoy shopping for them about as much as I do my own kids!! When Kaylee was born I was so worried she would not know my family or have a chance to build a relationship with them due to the distance....boy was I wrong!! All 5 of our kids absolutely ADORE each other and have such a deep love...we are SO blessed!!!

Meagan has lost her lil shadow (Kaylee) to Macie lately so she is really enjoying her Kelsee time!! Donnie...what can we say...I think the girls are rubbing off on you!! :) My kids have the best Aunt ever!!!

Kids are getting ready to open their presents. Kelsee slept again through this set too...you can see her asleep in her carrier next to Dale. I love the ones of Macie opening hers from us. Later we found out her and Kaylee told each other what they were getting....we wondered why they didn't seem as excited as we expected! Lil stinkers!!! Kaylee finally got her hamOCK for Lanie (her American Girl doll). Mimi gave all the kids $100 gift card to spend....we are still debating what to use theirs on!!

My sister started a tradition a few years ago...we counted this year and I think it was 6 years ago...she buys the kids a new ornament that is just from her. These pics are of them opening theirs for this year. Kaylee and Bradens are really cute glittery balls and Kelsee's is a ceramic baby bootie....CUTE!! I did not get a pic of hers...:(

After we finished opening gifts we got all our stuff together and then all went out to eat lunch. After that we headed North. :( I am always sad to leave and count down till we get to either go back or they get to come here.
It was a fast and furious 3 days, but we had a great Texas Christmas!! And we even unloaded the car and put most everything away that night when we got home!!

Mullins Family Christmas

On Sunday we left Arlington and headed to McKinney to celebrate with my Mom's side. As usual Rene' outdid herself on the wonderful food!! The kids always enjoy spending time there with my cousins ...they think they are really cool!! We were also happy Natalie was able to bring Ruth this time!! She was not allowed to be around people yet at Thanksgiving so we were not able to meet her.

Kelsee enjoyed time with Mimi and Grandad and snuggling with Uncle Don and Josh. She was a lil fussy and very tired that day, but she LOVED sleeping on her Uncle Don. The one on the top right is lil Ruth sleeping soundly in the bouncy seat. We have 2 new babies on this side too and will be having another one soon....next year is going to be LOTS of fun on this side too!

Once again the kids received ALOT of nice gifts!! Kelsee got lots of cute clothes and a few toys, Braden got some games, toys and a Rubix Cube, and Kaylee got this orange hoodie (that she is wearing out already!) and some make-up sets and some other cute toys!

Kelsee really likes her Glow Worm!! She was fighting her sleep during present time this time. She was cracking us up snuggling and laughing at her Glow Worm with Mimi.

After the kids and my Grandparents finished opening their goodies the adults played "Dirty Santa." This is always fun and can be quite interesting and competitive!! :) We then took 5 very tired kids to my sisters house and they were crashed by 10:00!!