Another Video

We wanted to share this video also from Christmas Eve. This one was taken after the first one I posted. The kids are yelling "Santa, Santa, Santa" and then Mikaiya says "I don't want Santa" followed by "He'll come back" a little bit later.

The best is when Nate tells them about how Santa only delivers toys when kids are snug in their beds. Just watch Rylie's reaction...it's pretty cute! Needless to say she was ready to go home not long after that!

Santa Has Jets!

This video is great. It's from Christmas Eve when the kids were outside putting out their reindeer food. Since it's kind of hard to understand toddlers when they're not yours, key comments of interest are:

At around 5 secs Rylie: "He went away. He went so fast!"
At around 10 secs Mikaiya: "There's another Santa!"
Right after that (Danny, Nate or Jeff): "Santa's got jets!"

Yep, you guessed it...the kids thought the planes flying overhead were in fact Santa. Gotta love it!

Santa Came!

Mikaiya was so excited to see that Santa came on Christmas morning. The look on her face was just a look of awe:

She had a great time opening presents and even got her number 1 request (Cinderella):

She even paused to take a cute picture with her baby sister:

And Braenna enjoyed her Christmas morning as well:

Christmas Eve Festivities

We had a very busy Christmas Eve here. We opened presents in the morning from us, Nana and Pop, and Uncle Johnny, Aunt Jen and Max.

That afternoon, we had a Christmas gathering with our Texas Family. The kids all had a great time and we even had a Santa Claus sighting in the front yard while they were putting down reindeer food.

School Party

The girls had their Christmas parties at school on December 19 (I'm a little behind on my posts!). Braenna got to get her picture taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus:

And she also got a cute hat from one of her little friends:

Mikaiya actually let Mrs. Claus get near her:

And enjoyed her snacks with all of her friends:

Christmas with Grammy and Grampa

We got to spend an early Christmas with Grammy and Grampa this year. It was very nice to have some family around during the holiday season. We all had a great time, especially the girls (and Grammy and Grampa of course!). It was a short but busy visit.

Grammy and Mikaiya made a gingerbread tree:

We had Christmas present opening:

We baked cookies, taught Grampa Wii, and played a lot. Oh, and of course, took lots of pictures!

Thank you Grammy and Grampa for taking time out of your busy schedules to come and visit us! We really enjoyed it!

Merry Christmas Eve

I had to share these pics of the girls today. I couldn't decide which I liked better, so I am posting them both. We hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas Eve and wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Braenna's Half Year Birthday

It is so hard to believe, but our little one is a whole 6 months old today! Time is just flying by. She is so cute and has such a little personality. She finally decided to learn to roll over (and repeat it willingly!) yesterday. It's about time. She still loves to chat and jabbers on and on to anyone who will listen. She loves the mirror and spends her days at school talking to the pretty baby on the other side. She's also been eating cereal now for about a month. She is still not really into it, but we keep working on it. She's up to 16.5-17 pounds now. Growing like crazy! She actually somewhat enjoys tummy time and has been working on figuring out how to move while she's there. She's been tucking her legs up under her and when they're not tucked, they're pushing on the ground to try and get moving. Here's a couple of pictures from today:

A Visit With Santa

We went to our work Christmas party on Friday night and the girls got to visit with Santa. Mikaiya cried at first, but did sit on his lap and we got almost a smile. She also claims she told him that she wants Cinderella for Christmas. Braenna did great, she's at that age where she doesn't care who holds her. Here's the pics I took, we should get the real ones in about a week:

November Pics

Wow, I cannot believe it is December! November just flew by so fast. It didn't seem like a super busy month, but looking back on all the pictures, I guess it was. Hope you enjoy the pictures from this month:

http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=79511228185542372/l=17079459/g=3342801/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope that everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving. This is the time of year that we really think about how greatful we are for all of our wonderful family and friends. Thanks for being such a special part of our lives. Of course we are most thankful for our most precious gifts, our two beautiful little girls. Here they are today in their Thanksgiving outfits.

Braenna is Five Months Today!

Today is Braenna's big 5 month birthday! She is growing so fast! This was another busy month for her. She's been working hard at learning to roll over and is getting stronger and stronger by the day. She loves to play on the floor and just kick around. She is up to 15.5 pounds now! What a big girl! We started cereal this last weekend also, she's not quite sure she likes it just yet. The best thing ever though was today...she has learned to giggle and we got it on tape. Check out the cutest video ever:

Here are also a couple of recent pictures of our little angel:

October 2008

I can't believe that it is November already! Where did October go? And is fall ever going to come to Texas? We have had a very busy month in October. We went up to Chicago a few weeks back as you saw in my last post. We've also had a lot going on with respect to Halloween. Last weekend we had "Fall Festival" at daycare on Friday evening. The kids painted pumpkins, played games and got to go to a petting zoo. Then on Saturday we went to a kids Halloween party at a friends house. It was great fun for Mikaiya, they had a big inflatable slide and a bounce house. She got to meet a lot of new kids and participate in a costume parade. She won "Best Jewelry"...maybe you can guess why from this picture:

Braenna went as a kitty cat and won "Best Whiskers":



Both kids had a blast on Halloween. They had a Parade of Costumes at school, which was fun. Braenna actually stayed awake for this parade! Then Mikaiya got to come home and go Trick or Treating with Riley across the street. It was a gorgeous night, so after trick or treating, all of the neighbors got our their lawn chairs and hung out in the front yard handing out candy. It was a lot of fun.

Here's the link to the pics for the month...hope you enjoy!
http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=84111225567054451/l=16974140/g=3342801/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Chicago Trip

The whole family took a trip up to Chicago last weekend for my cousin Jeanna's wedding reception and to see my Grandma Walker and Aunt Carol who flew in from South Carolina. It was a really nice trip. Both girls did GREAT on the airplane...we couldn't believe it! Mikaiya played with stickers the whole way both ways and Braenna slept. Gotta love the airlines though because when we arrived in Chicago, we discovered that our carseat bag containing Mikaiya's carseat and the base for Braenna's carseat conveniently did not make it there. Great bag to lose American!! So they gave us a loaner for Mikaiya and we belted Braenna's carrier seat in. Needless to say, it was a scary ride home and luckily our seats were delivered late that night because we were not taking our children anywhere else like that, especially not Mikaiya in the cheapest, most unsturdy loaner carseat you can imagine!

We were really busy while we were there. We all got to spend a lot of time catching up with Grandma and Aunt Carol, and it was so nice for them to get to spend all that time with the little ones! We went to Jeanna's reception on Saturday and then on Sunday we went to Harms Farm to go to the pumpkin patch. Harms Farm is my aunt and uncle's produce stand. Mikaiya had a blast there on the train and in the bounce house and we even let her pick out a pumpkin to leave for Grammy and Grampa.

Thanks for having us all Grammy and Grampa!!

Here's a link to the pics from the weekend: http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=667261225048729814/l=16943715/g=3342801/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

4 Months Already!

It's hard to believe, but our little baby is now 4 months old! She is getting to be such a big girl! She had her 4 month check up on Friday and she is officially meeting ALL of the milestones that a 4 month old should...which is a big surprise since she was a month early and is technically only 3 months old. She is usually a happy smily baby. She loves to "stand" and look around and still loves to "chat" with anyone who is willing. She's pushing up on her elbows from her tummy and has even rolled from her tummy to back a couple of times now. She is up to 13 lbs 15 oz and 24.5 inches long...both just under average for her age. She's quickly catching up! Here are a couple of pics from her official 4 month birthday:

September Photos

Here's the link to the September photos:

http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=896301222827200325/l=16851932/g=3342801/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

It's been a super busy month here (as you can tell from all the posts!). I went back to work and Braenna started daycare. Daycare is going great for Braenna, work is taking some adjustment time for me. It's not any easier the second time around. Both girls are growing so fast! Braenna is just a little bundle of smiles, coos and baby noises these days. Mikaiya finally decided to get on board with this whole potty training thing and is now in undies full time (except at night). Yay Mikaiya! That's all from here for now!

Cultures Parade

The kids had a cute little parade at school on Friday. It was the "Celebrating Cultures Parade". All month long each class has been assigned a country and they have been learning about that country. Mikaiya's class was Italy and Braenna's was Japan. For the parade, each class dressed up like something from their country...chefs for Mikaiya's class and karate kids for Braenna's. Afterwards we got to sample foods from each country that the kids and their teachers made.




Braenna had a great time at her first parade...she slept the entire time and didn't even flinch! She sure did make a cute little karate baby though:

Here's Mikaiya in her little chef's outfit...

Plano Balloon Festival

Saturday was our second annual trip to the Plano Balloon Festival. We had a great time! We got there late afternoon and Mikaiya did a few activities in the FREE kid's tent and then got to jump in a bounce house...her new favorite thing!

We then went and sat out on our blanket to watch the balloons launch. This is a picture of a bunch of them up in the sky. Mikaiya was so funny, she kept saying "they're way up high and I can't reach them!".

Here's a nice family shot with the balloons in the background:

After all of the balloons get back, they set them all back up at dusk and do a balloon glow. There were some cool new ones here this year, like the Panda, Mikaiya's favorite:

And here's a picture of them all glowing, it's so neat to see!

I don't think the pics do it justice, so here's a video we took of the glow also:

A great time was had by all! Braenna LOVED the balloon glow and the fireworks at the end. Mikaiya loved everything up until the fireworks at the end. She's still talking today about how she doesn't like fireworks! That's okay though, that won't stop us from heading out again next year!

Braenna's Baptism Weekend

What a busy weekend here! Braenna had her baptism on Saturday and it was quite the event. Aunt Teresa, Aunt Cece and Emily came in Wednesday night and left Sunday morning; Grammy came in Thursday morning and left Sunday morning; Nana and Pop, Uncle Johnny, Aunt Jen, and Max all came in Friday night and left Monday afternoon. We had quite the turnout! The baptism went well and Braenna was just adorable in her beautiful baptism gown that Grammy made for her:We all think Grammy needs to start a side business!! We went to the Dallas World Aquarium on Friday, had the baptism on Saturday with a little gathering at the house afterwards (during the hurricane...which turned out to just be some wind and lots of rain here), and then went to the zoo on Sunday. It was such a busy weekend. Everyone is exhausted, but I think a good time was had by all. Thank you to everyone who attended her special day and to all that took the time to travel all the way down here. It was great to see everyone and we had a really nice time! Here is the link to the pics from the weekend, I apologize for the large quantity, but I wanted to get them out and didn't have time to sort them: http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=746151221528100839/l=16800976/g=3342801/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

3 Months Old!

Braenna is 3 months old today! It is hard to believe, time is really flying! There was not a whole lot new this month that I haven't already written about, with the exception of starting daycare. Braenna of course did wonderful (mommy did okay too!). Braenna is really growing these days and becoming more and more alert and interactive. She still loves to be talked to and played with. She's even growing to somewhat tolerate tummy time! She is up to about 12.5 pounds now and I'm finding new baby rolls to clean on a daily basis! She is really filling out. Here are some pics from recently:

Braenna's First Day of Daycare

Three months old today!!



Her cute baby smile!

August

Sorry for not posting in awhile! Things have not been very eventful here, so I have not had a lot to write about. I guess it's time to wrap up the month and post monthly pics though, so here goes...

August was a pretty slow month for us here as far as activities go, but the month really still just flew by! Mikaiya had a pretty good month. We have been working hard on potty training and she is really making a lot of progress. She wears underwear now all weekend and has been doing well. We still have a few accidents here and there, but that is to be expected. She also moved to her new classroom at school, which has been good too. She was in Early Preschool I and is now in Early Preschool II. Based on the names, I wasn't expecting a lot of differences, but I was very wrong! Mikaiya's new teacher is responsible for preparing all of the kids to start preschool. She is very regimented and strict and runs a very tight classroom, which is perfect for a bunch of 2 1/2 year olds! She is working on potty training the whole class since they cannot move up until they are officially done. Mikaiya is still wearing pull ups most days in school, but she keeps them dry usually. She has been resistent to undies at school because she had an accident one day and was very upset by it. We (us and her teacher) have decided it's best not to push her and we will let her decide when she's ready. We have been getting a lot of homework ourselves in this class too...flashcards, chore sheets to make Mikaiya fill out, etc...

Braenna is growing like a weed! She is up to 11.5-12 pounds now and seems really long too! She's had a month filled with smiles, coos and all kinds of curiosity. She loves to look around and hates to lay still! She's been sleeping through the night for a little over a week now which has been really great for us! Go Braenna! Hopefully it keeps up since I go back to work tomorrow and she officially starts daycare. I was really worried about how she was going to do at daycare being that she pretty much sees just me and Jeff...oh yeah, and Jodi...her favorite person to sleep on! But we had a very busy weekend this weekend and she was great with all of the strangers at three different loud get togethers we were at. She let anyone hold her and was very content, so I'm feeling a little better about it all now. She's been quite the trooper this weekend and has shown that she's just a laid back, easy baby! We are so lucky!!

I think that's about it for the month here. Sorry this post is so long, but I haven't written in awhile. I am really nervous about going back to work tomorrw, worrying about leaving my little one (even though I know she's in good hands), and worrying about getting back into the swing of things after being out for 4 months. Should be an interesting week!

Here is the link to our pics for this month: http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=22511220291521214/l=12749016/g=3342801/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB Sorry again about their being so many, but I tried to keep it to as few as I could!

Mikaiya Sings in Spanish

It's been forever since I've posted a video, so I thought I'd put one out here. Mikaiya LOVES to sing these days. This is one of her favorite songs that she learned at school. Hard to believe that she knows her colors in Spanish!!

Braenna Is Two Months Old!

It's crazy that Braenna is two months old already! She is growing into quite the little baby these days. She has a very feisty personality and when she wants something, she wants it now! She's also very curious and loves to look around and is really into any change in scenery. This month brought her first smiles and baby coo's. She is getting really strong and loves to hold up her head. She actually enjoys her tummy time (for a little while anyway!) and loves to play in her little play gym. We've been lucky because she is a pretty good sleeper and has been only getting up one to two times per night to eat. One night this week she actually went 7 hours between feedings! Go Braenna! She had her two month well child visit today and weighed in at 10 lbs 3.5 oz and is now 22 1/4" long. She is still pretty low on the growth curve, but that's to be expected since she was early...we're sure she'll catch up in no time! Here are some pictures of her from today:

The girls...

I finally was able to get the two girls together this weekend for some pictures that actually turned out halfway decent. Here's a couple of my favorites:

July Photos

Here is the link to the July photos: http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=77211217639397682/l=12634594/g=3342801/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

It's been a busy month here. We had Nana and Pop come to visit, the Fourth of July, Braenna's 1 month birthday and so much more! Mikaiya has been enjoying being the big sister and is so good with Braenna. She had a great time with Nana and Pop and also really enjoyed her Red, White and Blue parade at school. She is working hard on potty training these days too and is making a lot of progress! Hopefully soon we won't have two in diapers!

Braenna is growing like a weed and trying hard to catch up to her big sister. She is close to 10 pounds now and 8 weeks old. This month has brought her first smiles and lots of fun facial expressions. It has also brought her finding her voice and we're getting to see a lot more of her personality. We've been very lucky as so far she has been a good baby. She only wakes up twice a night at the most!

Enjoy the pics!

Photographer Newborn Photos

Here are the pictures we had taken in June with our photographer friend. As always, they turned out great! The ones labelled with "Stampf girls" are theones she editted for us. Sorry there's so many, but I cut it down from over 350 to start!

http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=961231216846549147/l=12597444/g=3342801/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Braenna's First Smiles

I finally got a couple of shots of her first smiles on camera! She's been working hard on smiling for about a week now. I was just finally able to catch her in action today.