Christmas Take 1

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! Pictures from our North Carolina Thanksgiving will be posted soon! 
Our time in Florida was a whirlwind of holidays due to not being able to be together for the "real" holiday.  Nov. 13th was Uncle Chad's birthday and we celebrated it by going to the beach, seeing rescue loggerhead turtles, having piano lessons, and opening presents.  Chad wasn't the only one who got presents.  Kelsey and Grace got to exchange gifts so we could all see them open them.  Thanks Grace for the new babydoll, which as you can see Uncle Mike liked. 

 

 

 

 

It took us until Sunday to finally get to the beach.  It was a bit windy, but beautiful!  We also finally got a picture of Mike and Lori with Kelsey, yay! 

 Lots of pictures and videos to share!  It's funny to see Kelsey in a tank top dress while opening a Christmas present, gotta love Florida!

 

Thanksgiving Take 1

Chad and Jenelle thought of the idea of having Thanksgiving dinner while we were down there as a family. It was lot of cooking for the 17 people who were around, but it was worth it! Thanks guys!!!

 Uncle Randy had his chance with Kelsey.  This is what the back porch looked like before dinner. Nothing like seeing palm trees whle eating Thanksgiving Dinner!

 Kelsey and Grace wore their matching dresses from Aunt Tammie.

 The chaos that was the kitchen.  Everyone was pitching in to help.  Gotta have the oyster stuffing toast!

                                 Kelsey looks on during dinner.  Notice the bib....enough said. :-) 

                                                       Here are the tables filled for dinner. 

 

 NanNan snuggled with the girls while they read and showed off the pumpkin pies Aunt Lori made from scratch...sooo good!!

Aunt Lori put Kelsey to bed after a long day of family, food, and fun.

Florida, Day 1

On Nov. 10th, late, we flew to Florida to visit Uncle Chad, Aunt Jenelle, and Cousin Grace.  Mark's Uncle Mike and Aunt Lori moved to the island of Tonga 2 years ago.  They came to the states for a month to see family and friends and do business.  We were fortunate enough to have a family reunion down in Florida while they were there.  The next posts will be pictures from that wonderful long weekend.  Grace and Kelsey had a great time playing and enjoying their cousin time. Kelsey loved Grace's toys and we got some ideas for Christmas and birthday presents.  So, you just might see some of these toys in posts in the New Year.  We a fabulous time and miss everyone dearly.  Thanks for the memories!!!

 

Aunt Tammie with Kelsey.                                                             Kelsey drumming and clapping.

 How cute is this mini piano? Grandpa, she's ready to learn!     Fiona was so good to keep out of the way.

 NanNan and PopPop played games with Grace.                    Kelsey loved Grace's air machine.

 Grace and Aunt Jenelle had their time to give Kelsey her bottle and put her to sleep. Don't forget the books!

10 Months!!!

Another month down!  Kelsey turned 10 months today (21st).  Last night she pulled herself completely up while climbing Mommy.  She decided to show off her new skill to Grandpa who got the camera in time to snap the pic. And less than 24 hours of first pulling herself up, she started to furniture walk while Daddy was watching.  She's a little wobbly, but she is gaining confidence with every wobble.

Pumpkin Muffin Please!

Godmommy Meghan and Goddaddy Dan came over on Nov. 6th to watch the Redskins and play with Kelsey.  At least they had a good time playing with Kelsey. :-)  Godmommy Meghan makes the best pumpkin muffins and we let Kelsey try one.  She loved it!

 

Playdate

Kelsey had another playdate with Dean and Lily, 13 months, back on Nov. 5th.  It was hard to get them all in the same shot since they are all so mobile.  We had a great time.  That morning Kelsey got out her bag that Cousin Emily made for her.  I love the penguins!

 

 

Clapping

So alot has happened in the past few weeks.  The last post was made 2 weeks ago, and didn't post when I wanted it to, before we went to Florida, and now we've been there and are back.  I'll be catching up a few things because Kelsey is learning things so fast.  She is a different girl than a few weeks ago.  She taught herself how to clap and can do it just by asking.  On Nov. 3rd Grandpa took her to Clark's Elioak farm and she got to see some animals up close and personal.  Kelsey is eating alot on her own and makes a mess most of the time.  Oh yea, she also got her top two teeth!!!

 

 

Here's how Kelsey is getting to Florida

We are going to Florida, to visit family, at the end of this week, and we are super excited!  So excited that when Kelsey was playing with a box we thought she could fit in it and we could ship her off to Florida early.  I'm sure cousin Grace would love that, or Aunt Jenelle more!

 

 

NanNan comes to babysit again!

NanNan came to babysit to let Grandpa have a few days off.  She brought the Halloween House for Kelsey to play with.  She loved having a new toy to play with and enjoyed NanNan's company.  Of course, when Grandpa came back there were some clothes that were nicely piled on the box when I went to work, and weren't later that day.  Who do you think was guilty of that?

We also went to the pediatrician that day for Kelsey's 9 month check-up.  She was 16.9 lbs and 27 1/4 inches.  We thought she would be heavier, but she is still petite in the 12th percentile. Kelsey is slowly going from 3-6 month clothes into her 6-9 month clothes. She is all set with sleepers for the winter in 6-9 months.   The pediatrician also gave us the go ahead to have her feed herself during mealtime. She loves to eat and puts anything in her mouth that is in front of her.  The pictures below show her eating bananas as finger food for the first time.  She found out they are slippery.