Jingle Bells

Just when you thought Christmas had passed you by...

A Girl Named Pete

If you are a true Country & Western music fan, you have heard the song "A Boy Named Sue" by Johnny Cash. Well, we have a princess baby doll named Pete. Hey, if a boy can have a girl name, then a girl can have a boy name!

This evening I was laying on the couch with Kaylee and her baby doll. I asked her what the baby's name was and she told me that her name was Pete. I'm not real sure where that name comes from, but I think it is going to stick.

Here is a pic of Kaylee & Pete. Aren't they cute!

Christmas 2008

Kaylee was very blessed once again this Christmas. She received lots of wonderful presents, spent time with family and even performed in her school Christmas pageant.

Another Prayer Answered

Family Picture

On Thanksgiving we had our family picture taken. What a crew...

Tis the Season

Much to Kaylee's delight, the Christmas tree was decorated Tuesday evening. After the lights were put on, I could hear Kaylee chirping 'I help, I help'.

So, with Daddy as photographer and Mommy as her assistant, she set out to decorate the Christmas tree. It looks pretty good. There is a large concentration of ornaments in one area, but that just gives the tree extra character. (It is also a little crooked - thanks to me - but we weren't really going for perfect this year!)

Kaylee is very serious about her work. Very cute.

Here she is with the completed tree. Looks pretty good, except for the whole being crooked thing.

Buddies

Aren't they cute...

The Quilting Project Continues

I have caught the quilting bug. I even took a day off work so that I could work on making my quilt blocks. I'm pretty sure everyone thinks I'm crazy at this point. (Well, even more crazy than before.)

Here is a sampling of the blocks I sewed on Friday. FUN FUN

The ABC Song...Kinda

The McLallin Girls Party

Saturday afternoon was awesome. All the McLallin girls (yes Mary, you are a McLallin girl) got together for a little luncheon. It was so much fun!

Here is the downer...I am the lackey blogger. All the cool things to be said about the gathering have already been blogged about in Leah's and Aunt Carol's blogs.

Look out girls, in an effort to not be the last to report on juicy family news I will probably be posting to my blog in real time when we get together for Christmas on January 3. Do you suppose Grandma Genny has WiFi?!?!

Princess Dress - Day Five

Kaylee is inseparable from the princess dress. She has worn it everyday since last Thursday.

While she is cute as a button in the little number, it is also getting a bit gross. She now has a yogurt spot on the front and a chocolate stain on the sleeve. I asked her if she wanted it washed, she of course said no.

I'm going to attempt a covert laundry maneuver tonight in the hopes of getting the dress washed without being detected. Wish me luck!!!

Surviving Halloween

So, the plan was to have a low-key Halloween this year. Pass out treats. Period.

You know we just can't keep it simple. That would be so unlike us.

When I arrived at daycare on Thursday morning I was informed of the upcoming Harvest Party to take place on Friday. Oh, and the kids are dressing up. Of course, I have no costume for Kaylee.

Thursday night I was off to Pimada to see what treasures still remained the day before Halloween. I was pleasantly surprised to find a princess dress in Kaylee's size. Wow! The best part, 60% off. Scored a cute little Cinderella number for $9.99. I'm feeling pretty good about my purchase. Bring the dress home. Kaylee wants to wear it right now. She is so excited. I'm totally feeling like I am getting the Mommy of the Year Award this year.

I was wrong. I was going to hold out and make Kaylee wait until Halloween to wear the dress, but her and her dad wore me down. OK, OK. You can wear the dress after your bath. She took a bath in record time. That was awesome.

After the bath we put the dress on as promised. I'm feeling good. Everybody seems happy...until Kaylee realizes that I did not buy any matching princess shoes. It was a bit of a tragedy. We convinced her that her church shoes would probably suffice.


Needless to say, I spent my lunch break at Wal-Mart on Friday looking for the shoes. Everything was pretty much picked over, but I did manage to find a pair that kinda match and are a little too big. Neither of which matter to Kaylee. She loves them.


Here is a cute picture of Kaylee getting ready to hand out candy for Trick or Treat. She looks so cute.


She did a little sampling prior to Trick or Treat hours. I think she chose a sucker for this particular sample.

The aforementioned shoes. Don't they look gorgeous!

All in all it was a great night for Trick or Treat. The weather was beautiful and Kaylee helped me pass out treats for about an hour. She was getting cold and bored, so I let her watch Casper while I finished.

She wouldn't take the dress off for bed, so she slept in it. We have been through all kinds of weird phases about sleeping in weird things. Not sure why I thought this would be any different. I did manage to get her to change clothes this morning, but only with the promise she could carry the costume in a bag.

Kaylee was happy as a lark carrying her costume bag into the grocery store this afternoon. Whatever. She behaved. I'm happy.

Mr. and Mrs. Morris...

Kaylee needed reminders to use her inside voice. She tends to squeal frequently. Kaylee is doing well with toileting at school. :) She participated in show and tell. Kaylee circled the H's in Hannah. At the table Kaylee was helped to locate all the H's. She realized she had someone else's box, and kept looking to make sure she had the right one! Kaylee enjoyed working with he pom poms. She was eager to play with something else, but time ran out.

Kay

So, she squeals a little bit. Excitement overcomes her.

We'll just add that to the list of things work on...you know the one with SHARING on it.

By the way, returned from Louisville last night. When I walked in the door Kaylee was holding the basket of Halloween candy that she will be giving away on Trick or Treat night. I said hello to her. She held the basket tight and said "mine".

I asked her if she missed me. Her reply, oh you guessed it, "no".

Apparently, she views me as the candy taker awayer who is not missed. I love this kid! So honest.

This also made me realize that Halloween may not be very fun for her this year. I thought she would really enjoy giving the candy to the kids. Then I am reminded, she doesn't share! DUH

Mother-Daughter Bonding

Kaylee and I had a little mother-daughter bonding time this morning. We went to Shipshewana fabric shopping. It was a lot of fun. Kaylee was the center of attention at Yoder's. All the ladies were telling her how cute she is. Of course, Kaylee suddenly became shy.

Here is a pic of the fabric we scored for the new quilt. I can't wait to get started.

A Report from Mrs. Shelton

Mrs. Shelton from North Webster Elementary School visits Kaylee about once a week. Here is the letter that was in Kaylee's backpack on Wednesday evening. I love hearing about her day, and I thought you might too.

Mr. and Mrs. Morris:

Kaylee was busy with the paper dolls. She had finished her book report when I arrived. Kaylee didn't want to share the dolls initially. She dressed her doll in several different outfits. Kaylee liked collecting the pieces. She was "exercising" while she was thinking of what to play with next, standing on one foot and then the other while she held on to the table. We played with Mr. Potato Heads. She liked the accessories! Kaylee helped clean up before music.

Kay

A Fussy What?

A fussy cut. Oh yes, there is such a thing. Along with other weird things like fat quarters, selvage, LOF, and WOF (yeah, that makes me think of a dog too). These things exist in a parallel universe called quilting. If you haven't been there, you should try it sometime.

I went to my first quilting class tonight. Wow! I think my college statistics class was less intimidating. I show up knowing nothing more about quilting than what I had managed to gather from a google search earlier in the day. Oh, the other ladies ARRIVE with their 'show and tell'. Past quilting conquests are laying over every surface of the room.

I'm like the guy who showed up bragging about bagging a 'Bambi' only to have everyone else in the room have an 8-point buck strapped to the roof of the car.

The things that the ladies made were beautiful. It will be an absolute miracle if I can actually pull this off. Amongst the excitement of discussing our project I hear rumblings about our next project. What? Are you kidding me? I don't even know how to use a rotary cutter yet!

I am totally excited about getting my fabric and my tools. This should be a fun ride. I'll keep you posted as to my progress (or lack thereof) throughout the course of the quilt. Next class is November 20. Must have fabric selected, cut and sorted. Gee, that sounds easy!?!? (Marilyn, expect calls, lots of calls...)

Here is a pic of what we are making. Marilyn did a beautiful job.


Sidebar: While I was having mini panic attacks at the quilting class, Kaylee was celebrating Great Grandma Genny's birthday. Happy Birthday Grandma!! Thought I should throw that little tidbit in since this is supposed to be a blog about Kaylee. I'll try to keep my ramblings to a minimum on other non-Kaylee related topics.

Therapy is Fun!

Kaylee is making some great progress at therapy. Here she is having some fun with Deb. I know this is therapy, but it looks like a lot of fun to me.

Kaylee is also doing a great job walking with the crutches. (Remember, the crutches she threw back at them when they were first introduced.)

As a little reward for her efforts, Jolene lets Kaylee check out her own blog. I love to watch her facial expressions while she watches herself on the computer.

Below is a great video of Kaylee doing some more walking. You might need a chiropractor after you watch it.

Harvest

Harvest is now in full swing. Uncle Mike and Grandpa Lewie have been busy running the combine and hauling beans. Kaylee rode in the combine with Uncle Mike on Sunday afternoon. She had a great time.


Uncle Mike let Kaylee drive the combine. She even got to push the button to swing the auger out to unload.

Black Pine Animal Park

Saturday morning Cory asked Kaylee what she would like to do for the day. Her answer was, "go to the zoo!" So, instead of packing up and heading to South Bend or Fort Wayne, we went to Albion. We checked out the animals at the Black Pine Animal Park. The cost was similar to that of other zoos, $20 for the three of us for admission.

Sidebar: Cory gets the awesome dad/husband award for letting me sleep until 11:00 on Saturday morning. It was the BEST!

We had a really nice time. It wasn't crowded and they didn't try to sell you something every time you turned around. A great place to look at rescued animals.

Kaylee looking good in her shades. I think she looks like she just walked off an episode of The Hills. Move over LC.

Daddy and Kaylee getting dangerously close to the tortoise.

Cory enjoyed pestering the ostrich. He nearly got a bite on the hand.

Kaylee really thought she should pull the wagon instead of ride. Cory and I both volunteered to ride.

OK, this is just a baboon butt. My immature sense of humor thought it was funny!

Parent-Teacher Conference

Tonight was the much anticipated parent-teacher conference. While I pow-wowed with the teacher at the miniature table and chairs (literally, knees touching the chin size chairs), Kaylee colored pictures with the daycare director, Miss Mary Jane, at the adult size table and chairs...go figure. Anyway, I received a great report from Miss Chris on Kaylee's progress. The sharing issue has not gone away; however, it has improved since the open house. Hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Kaylee is writing/drawing in her journal daily. The pictures are starting to become more of an object than just a scribble - very exciting. Miss Chris indicated that Kaylee is very independent (I think we all knew that!) and enjoys the other children in her class.

Yet again we are blessed with encouraging news. God is good!

Pumpkin Fantasyland

Autumn has arrived in Northern Indiana. The air is crisp, the mums are blooming, and pumpkins are everywhere. It was only fitting that we should take a trip to Pumpkin Fantasyland in Ligonier.

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Does Kaylee Have a Boyfriend?

Today Grandma Jerri dropped Kaylee off at school. One of Kaylee's classmates came into school, looked right at Kaylee and said, "You look just beautiful." This of course embarrassed Kaylee and she wouldn't look at him. Finally, after some prompting from the teacher, Kaylee said thank you.

Me thinks Kaylee might have a new beau!?!

Preschool Open House

Last night was the open house at Kaylee's preschool. Of course, Kaylee fell asleep in the car earlier in the evening. She was in no shape to attend a function where she would actually have to behave. So you might be wondering, what did I do with her? Shipped her to Grandma Kay of course.

The open house was interesting. I was able to see Kaylee's desk, her cubby, and some of her artwork. I spoke with her teacher, Miss Chris. I had a feeling the conversation was about to go somewhere bad when she asked me if Kaylee is an only child. It seems as though Kaylee is having a little issue with sharing. Hey, I was shocked too! ;)

Anyway, I scheduled our parent-teacher conference for October 9. I'm sure more facts will be revealed about school during that visit. I can't wait!

Conversations with Kaylee

I really enjoy watching Kaylee grow and mature. We are now starting to have interesting conversations. Often times while we are doing a project, I'll ask her questions about what we are doing. For example, what color is the sign Kaylee? Can you count the number of princesses on your new lunchbox? I will then praise her for correct answers. Here is a cute conversation from last night:

A little background information first on what we were doing. I am sitting on the loveseat reading a book. Kaylee is sitting in a chair coloring with four markers.

Kaylee: Mommy!

Me: What Kaylee?

Kaylee: What color is this? (holds up yellow marker)

Me: Yellow

Kaylee: Good Job! What color is this marker? (holds up pink marker)

Me: Pink

Kaylee: Good Job! What color is this marker? (holds up blue marker)

Me: Green (I know, that's just mean, but I couldn't help myself.)

Kaylee: No, what color is it?

Me: Mmmm, Blue

Kaylee: Yes! Good Job! What color is this marker? (holds up green marker)

Me: Green

Kaylee: Good Job Mommy!

Me: Thank you

Kaylee: Very, very good job!

Me: Thank you

Kaylee: Very welcome

This little conversation made me think of the children's song we used to sing in Junior Church when I was a child...O be careful little ears what you hear...

Cleaning the Kitchen Floor

...with Kaylee's dress!

Puddles of Fun

Kaylee enjoyed all the rain last weekend. Here she is doing what all kids do in a puddle.

The Zoo...Again

We took another trip to the zoo this summer. We visited the zoo in South Bend. It is a smaller zoo, but we liked it better than Fort Wayne. There is a park next to the zoo that is handicap accessible. Kaylee had so much fun playing there. Here are a few pics of our trip.

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A Little Sewing Project

Most of you know - I DO NOT sew. Last week I dove into a little project for Kaylee. Grandma Kay helped me make a pouch for Kaylee's walker. Let me just say that I have the most patient mother in the entire world. I insisted on doing everything myself (with the exception of threading the sewing machine - I'm not totally crazy!) and she obliged.

Here were are cutting the Dora fabric for the pouch.

Me using a sewing machine. By the way, it was the first time in fifteen years. Yes, I still stink at it.

Handsewing should not be done by left-handed people. I look totally awkward holding the needle and thread.

And finally, the finished product. It looks so cute. I heard a report back from the pre-school that the pouch is working out nicely for Kaylee to transport her school supplies from her cubby to her desk.

Grandma Kay also made one for Kaylee out of Tinkerbell fabric. I didn't post a picture of hers because it looks better than mine. :)

Follow-Up Appointment with Neurology

Yesterday we traveled to Riley for a check-up with Kaylee's neurologist. I was a fun appointment since all the new med students were running around trying to impress their mentors. They seriously looked like they were thirteen. I think that is a sure sign that I am getting old!

The news was as expected - no change, see you next year - so that was a relief. Dr. Walsh said that he thinks Kaylee is making great progress. He said that maybe genetics research would catch up to Kaylee someday to figure out what is going on with her. Until then, we'll just take each day for what it is - a blessing.

Meet Joe

We have a new addition to our family, our dog Joe. He came to live with us on Monday, and we have been having tons of fun with him. He is a German Short Haired Pointer.


As you can see, Kaylee's not too sure about him yet. I'm sure they will become great friends soon.

First Day of School

Kaylee started preschool yesterday. Here are some pictures of her first day of school. After she came home from school I asked her if she had fun. She said "YES!"

Grandma Jerri reported that Kaylee drove everyone nuts yesterday morning before school started. She told everyone a million times that she was going to school today. Finally, they all had enough. Grandma left early and drove REALLY slow to school - just so they could say they were on their way!

At the Beach

Last Sunday we went to the beach and park in the evening. The water was cold, but that didn't keep Lexy and Kaylee from having fun.

Kaylee wanted to swim so Lexy was giving her a quick lesson.

Here are the girls just before getting out the water. I think they both look cold.

Kaylee really enjoyed the playground equipment, especially the slide.

Daddy did too!

A little side note: Kaylee has been obsessed with wearing the Dora bathing suit this past week. Every evening she thinks she needs to put it on. Twice she has worn it to bed. Silly girl!

Are you ready for some football?

It is FINALLY pre-season. Seems like an eternity since we've seen any Colts Football. I am ready for the season to start. To get everyone else in the spirit, I found some old pics of some of my favorite Colts fans.

GO COLTS!

Heckled by Kaylee

I have been having some car problems (again), so I drove Cory's car to work yesterday. It is a little Toyota Celica with a manual transmission. I haven't driven a car with a manual transmission in about four years. To put it kindly, it was a bit rough.

After I picked Kaylee up from Grandma's house yesterday afternoon, she proceeded to heckle me from the backseat.

Her first comment came only a mile from Grandma's house. I had a little trouble coaxing the car into gear, so we jerked around a little bit. From the backseat I hear Kaylee's little voice, "hold on tight!" She was holding on to the headrest on the front seat. Little does Kaylee know that my driving had improved by the time I picked her up!

A little further into the trip we encountered a hill with a stop sign. As you can imagine, I struggled with this situation. As we were rolling backward I hear another comment from the peanut gallery (aka Kaylee in the backseat). "Mommy broke the car."

I was laughing so hard at this point that I could barely get the car going - that's my excuse anyway.

What a fun day!

Splash Pad

Kaylee visited the Splash Pad at Morsches Park on Friday evening. She had a great time running through the water. I had a great time too...mainly because it is FREE!

Enjoying the Zoo

Our family visited the zoo a couple of weekends ago. We had a great day and enjoyed the exhibits. Surprisingly, Kaylee's favorite things at the zoo weren't the animals - it was the water fountains and the train.

As you will notice from the pics, Kaylee spent most of her day hanging out with her daddy. They had a great time together, which allowed me to hang back and take some cute photos. Enjoy!


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Time for OT & PT

Kaylee goes to occupational therapy and physical therapy every Monday morning with Deb & Jolene. They make her work pretty hard, but everyone has a good time. The crutches have proven to be a challenge for Kaylee.

Before posting the pics, I'll provide a little back story to the crutches. Deb & Jolene first introduced the hot pink crutches several months ago. Instead of being excited and wanting to check them out, she threw them back at Jolene and said 'NO!' As you can see, we've come a long way.

Day at the Fair

The Noble County Fair is in full swing, and we there to check out the action. Below are some photos of our day.

Kaylee loved the bunnies.

Kaylee and Samuel hanging out by the ice cream stand.

Kaylee is 'driving' Joel and Samuel in the Gator.

Grandma Genny, Kaylee, Samuel and Leah are taking in the sights at the floral hall.

Gotta love the shades!