Happy Thanksgiving

We headed up to Columbia again this year for our family Thanksgiving meal. Mark’s parents and brother were there too.  It is nice to be able to gather together in one place for such a wonderful meal.  Each family had their own responsibility for what to bring, made for easy cooking.  Thank you to Michelle and Mark for baking the turkey and dessert and having everyone in your home.Kendall and Jack were able to have some cousin time while we waited for all of the yummy food to finish cooking.  The two of them always have so much fun together.Thanks for sharing all of your fun toys with me, Jack!  ~Kendall I love these three pictures! So sweet!Aunt Michelle made Kendall and Jack some fun pilgrim and Indian headdresses. She’s so creative!Jack had to have his picture taken after we were already gone, after his nap.   The Singer kids with their kids. This was at the request of our proud mommy!Kendall and Jack love their Uncle Adam.  We were so glad to spend time with you and Regal! Kendall enjoyed Thanksgiving lunch with the rest of us.  Her favorite this year was mac and cheese.  She tried turkey, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes and strawberry salad.  I’m so proud of her for trying news things even though she may not always like them on the first try.We enjoyed Thanksgiving on Sunday at church with the Grant’s.  There was so much socializing and good food we forgot to take out our cameras for pictures. 

We continue to have so much to be thankful for each year and this year is no different.  We look forward to getting settled in our new home and for the upcoming holiday season.

She’s walking…slowly but surely

Kendall started taking a few steps over the last few weeks however it’s only been about one or two steps at a time.  Yesterday, she decided she was going to take more.  It was so cute to watch how proud she was of herself after each time she was finished walking.  The video is the best of the seven.  She is quick!  I am excited for this milestone and know now, we are all officially ON THE MOVE! Way to go baby girl! We’re so proud of you!

Ten months old and off to the fair

The Coastal Carolina Fair is in town and what better way to celebrate Kendall’s ten month birthday.  After work, we bundled Kendall up and headed out early to beat the traffic and the crowds. We timed everything perfectly.  There was absolutely no traffic, we pulled right in and waited in NO lines.  Ryan was able to win free tickets from a local radio station so we eased our way passed all the ticket buyers and braved the madness.  I thought for sure that a Friday, the second to last day of the fair, that it would be crazy but our timing couldn’t have been better.

Our first stop, the carousel!  I was super excited however, Kendall wasn’t too sure about it.  The carnies waited for the entire carousel to be full before starting the ride.  She didn’t mind it once we started moving, although these pictures seem to show otherwise.  (Excuse the quality of the fair pictures.  I forgot the camera in the car so these are all with the iPhone). After the carousel, we headed over to eat and get out of the wind for a little bit.  Ryan and I both had a gyro…and waited in NO line to order them.  The animals were our next stop and I think I was more excited to bring Kendall here then to ride on the carousel.  This was Kendall’s third time seeing animals and each time she loves it even more.  We saw cows, pigs, horses, ducks, turkeys, goats, rabbits, hares and chickens, OH MY!! Her favorite this time were the cows and horses.  She laughed each time we passed a cow. Mooooo!!!A quick pose in the rocking chair before saying bye to the animals. We had so much fun at the fair and were there the perfect amount of time.  I am already looking forward to next year when Kendall can ride the kiddie rides and maybe try some fair food. But don’t let it come around too fast. I can wait a year, I promise!   Of course we didn’t leave without an elephant ear for dessert.  Mmmm, it was warm, sugary goodness of 1000+ calories!

Another month older and another month to know how lucky we are to be Kendall’s parents.  It continues to be a joy raising her.  We are so blessed and couldn’t be more proud of our baby girl.  Her first tooth has started popping through and it hasn’t seemed to bother her at this point.  It is the bottom left tooth.  She has started rolling her tongue over the top of it and then sticking her tongue all the way out, too cute!  Two weeks ago she also took her first steps and has done so twice since then.  Right now it’s just 2-3 steps at a time.  I believe she’ll have the hang of it by the end of the month for sure.  You can definitely tell she is ready to walk but knows she can get to where she wants to go quicker by crawling.  I love watching her learn and grow daily. 

One of her favorites right now is reading bedtime stories.  I can’t even put one book down before she is grabbing another.  Bedtime is one of my most favorite times of the day, cuddling with my baby girl.  Nothing could compare!  She also LOVES Sadie.  She will play with Sadie until she runs away and poor ole’ Sade just lets Kendall do whatever she wants.  Thanks for being such a good dog Sadier-meister!! Sadie is my dog from college who is now 12 years old. Love her!She has started eating a few more finger foods but still prefers the blends I make.  Her favorite right now is shredded cheese.  Slowly but surely we’ll keep adding more.  She is drinking a total of 18 ounces of formula a day and nursing only at night.

Kendall-

Thank you for another amazing month.  You continue to make everyone around you happy and put a smile on even a stranger’s face.  You are starting to show signs of understanding us when we don’t want you to play with something, you know when you want your sippy cup and just how much water you want to drink and you continue to try new foods that mommy gives you for any meal.  I’m glad you don’t put up too much of a fuss with the foods and at least try them all.  Thank you for making our hearts bigger and our lives complete, baby girl.

We love you!

Mommy and Daddy

Happ-bee Halloween!

Another first for our family, Halloween! I was so excited to see Kendall in her bee costume and interested to see how she would do with her flower headband.  Surprisingly she left it on for a little over and hour before remembering it was there and then pulling it off!  Good job, sweet bee!

We headed over to some friends house to roast hot dogs and make smores.  All of the kids were able to play and run around before the mommies and kids did some trick or treating.  We designated the dads to stay at the house and pass out candy, they didn’t mind.  Kendall enjoyed all of the excitement from her stroller as we walked around the neighborhood with all the big kids.  I know next year I’ll look back and think, “remember when she was just watching from her stroller? Now she’s running door to door with all the big kids!”  A girl I know hand made Kendall’s costume and she got so many compliments. I loved it!! Kendall and Stryker have so much fun when they are together.  These pictures of Kendall were too cute for me to not share.  They were motion shots so they are somewhat blurry not to mention the one on the right was with my iPhone with the reverse camera…it cracks me up! On the way home we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa’s house to show off our little bee! She had a fun filled night and was more than ready for bed when we got home!  We had so much fun with you, sweet girl and glad you enjoyed your first Halloween! I am already thinking of what she can be for next Halloween. It was so much fun for our little family!

And we have a pumpkin!

The afternoon that we picked out Kendall’s first pumpkin, we also headed up to Publix for a pumpkin carving kit.  Ryan and I don’t have many carving skills so we cheated with a stencil.  Once we decided on our picture and copied it to the pumpkin, daddy was hard at work making Kendall’s first pumpkin extra special.  Look at that concentration!I missed out on pictures as the work was in progress because the ladies were busy preparing pumpkin seeds for baking. Mmmm, they were good…the first night.  Then they were too chewy. 

I tried my best to get a few pictures of Kendall with her pumpkin but she wasn’t all that interested.  However, she loved looking at the glow of the candle from a distance.  We’ll try again on Halloween when she is in her costume. Here is a before and after picture.  Ryan proved to have some great carving skills. Thanks Daddy!Kendall enjoyed some playtime before bed after she checked out her pumpkin.

St. James Pumpkin Patch

I have been looking forward to taking Kendall to her first pumpkin patch for the whole month and today was the day!  It was perfect weather and we were one of just three other families at the patch which made for easy picture access without strangers in the background.  Kendall was very intrigued and did not want much to do with the camera.  The pumpkin patch will definitely be another family tradition to continue! Nothing could pull her attention away from the pumpkins. Kendall hung out in the hay for a bit and I tried pictures here as well.  She’s so busy these days! Daddy helped hunt for the perfect pumpkin.  There was such a variety to choose from! And we left with the perfect pumpkin! I can’t wait for Kendall to see the carved pumpkin!   

Nine month photo shoot

We headed up to Columbia last Saturday for Kendall’s nine month photo shoot with Aunt Michelle.  This shoot took place on the grounds of the capitol.  It was nice weather and it seemed as if we had the whole area to ourselves.  I chose a few areas I thought would be pretty and my sister started snapping away.  During this session, we did all we could to keep Kendall’s attention on the camera as she was too busy worried about the grass and leaves and her surroundings.  I can only imagine how the twelve month pictures will go.  I’m sure we’ll be chasing her!

She played in the grass…Took pictures with her momma…Climbed on a bench and loved on her momma…Clapped her hands…And played in the shade of a big oak tree.”Thanks again, Aunt Michelle, for taking such great pictures of me! You’re the best!”   ~Kendall