18-months-old

Well, Kayla turned 18-months-old this week (Jan. 13). I can't believe I have actually not taken a picture of her this week. I will post one next week. We went to the doctor yesterday. Kayla weighs 21.4 lbs (8th percentile, want to be in 50th), her head is 19 in. (90th percentile), and her height is 29.75 in. (6th percentile). She is up from 19.8 lbs 3 months ago, so that is exciting. Her doctor is not upset about her weight or height because she is proportionate. Plus, I am short. Kayla is supposed to be saying 10 words right now. We surpassed that MANY months ago. She has well over 150 words and will try to repeat anything you say. If she thinks she cannot say it, she will tell you "no", but still try with her mouth and tongue. She can successfully count 1 to 6, then 9, 10, 11, and sometimes 13. She thinks 7, 8, and 12 are over-rated. However, we are having MAJOR separation and stranger anxiety issues right now. Please keep us in your prayers on that. Kayla cried pretty much the whole appointment, especially when a doctor or nurse came into the room.

Tasha and Greg are also trying to have a better lifestyle in 2009. We are trying to eat healthier most nights. Kayla got us an exercise bike for Christmas. We are each on it at least 4, mostly 5 nights a week after Kayla goes to bed. I will let you know how the progress goes.

Greg has wrapped up deer season and is working on wrapping up duck season. Tasha went deer hunting with Greg a few times and even killed a doe. She is going to take up more of the hunting with Greg in order to have some fun times together.

Tasha has also joined 2 Bible Study groups: Beth Moore's Daniel and First Place 4 Health: Daily Victory, Daily Joy. Both studies are VERY interesting and insightful.

Just thought I would give you a little update on us all as Kayla has turned 18-months-old, especially since we did not send out a Christmas letter this year. Hope all is well with you all! Please let us know how you are doing.

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas Day! We had both sets of our parents there. Everyone enjoyed watching Kayla.
Santa brought her a kitchen. It's just the right size for her. She loves it and says she is cooking.

She did get a lot for Christmas. We were able to put all of the toys she had upstairs and now she has nothing but new toys downstairs.

She really got into unwrapping and opening the presents.

She really liked seeing all of the presents together under the tree.

Here is everything, plus what Santa brought. We had a REALLY great Christmas!

Preparing for Santa

Here we are preparing for Santa to come.
We read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" as a family.

Kayla loves to sit in the big chair and read.

We hung the stockings. Greg's is camo, Abby's has a dog on it, Tasha's is purple, Ziggy's has a cat on it, and Kayla's is red (until she picks a favorite color).

Of course we had to put cookies on the plate for Santa. Kayla could not understand why she could not eat them all right then.

Then we head to do our nightly bedtime routine. All excited that Santa would be coming while we were in bed.

German Family Christmas

Here we are celebrating Christmas with the German side of the family on Christmas Eve.

This is everyone that was there. Tasha's Mom & Dad were there too, but we needed someone to take the picture.


Of course we had to pose with Mawmaw Susie and Poppaw Marvin.

Baking for Santa

We are baking cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Kayla helped with making sure they were put on the pan as they should be.


Of course she had to taste them to make sure they would be okay for the big guy.

She watched them bake.

She was proud of what she had made and wanted to wear her Santa hat.

Say Drew

Here is Kayla saying Drew.

December Spaghetti Night

We had a spaghetti night in mid December. This is an exciting event for us because Greg really does not like spaghetti.

Kayla really enjoyed it. She loves to try to feed herself.


Of course we have to play with our fork in our mouth.

She was really getting the hang of it. She loves her groceries.

It looks like Tasha's crock-pot spaghetti is a hit with Kayla.

Christmas in Arkansas

I know, I know...I have not posted an update in a LONG time! I will post a few times over the next couple of days. I do not want to overwhelm anyone with too many posts all in one day.

These are from our Christmas celebration in Arkansas. My sister-in-law, niece, and nephew left Dec. 19 - Jan. 3 for Germany to visit my brother. They said that they had a wonderful trip and really did not want to come home. Since they were not going to be in town for Christmas, we did an early celebration at Mom and Dad's in Arkansas. My cousins Paula and Mark were there too. We went and got Mammaw for the day and all had a really good day together.

We got the kids to pose in front of the tree. Kayla kept smiling right after the flash went off. But it was too cute with all of their Santa hats on.

Here is everyone that was there. It really was a good time.