The loose tooth

Daddy and Kara

Mama and Kara

Well, we have had a very exciting weekend. So much to catch up on. On Thursday we went to a tiger scouts meeting. Aaron really liked it so he is going to join. They meet on the first and third Tuesday of each month so that will be neat. He was telling Nana and Papa about it on the phone and told them about a car that they have to build. He told them, "You use a board. Not like I'm so bored, but a board, board." Then Friday was a school holiday for Aaron. So the kids and I visited Daddy at work and saw some helicopters taking off. Then we went back home and the three of us played hungry hungry hippos. It was cute. Kara would put all the marbles she got back in the center.

Daddy also played when he got home:

We also did some finger painting. Quite messy but very washable so that's good. While Kara was napping Aaron built a rocket and painted it. He really liked that.

That night we went to the Oktoberfest on post. It was cute. We got there right as it opened so there were not a lot of lines. The kids played on the bouncy inflatables for 30 minutes. Then we had a funnel cake and listened to the "German" music. It was interesting.

Saturday Andy's company had a picnic at the lake. It was really nice. There was an inflatable water slide that Kara and Aaron loved. We got to eat with our friends and Aaron got to play with their kids too. It was really neat.

Aaron and I made some Halloween decorations for the windows. He was very creative. Here's his pumpkin. He wanted a mean pumpkin instead of a smiley one.

This is his bat and a kid dressed as a ghost with a trick or treat bag.

Sunday we went to church and Aaron had Sunday school. Then while daddy watches football, I have been making a football word search for Aaron to do. He is getting really good at them. While daddy was watching the game we got hungry for Chili's. So while we were there Aaron said the corn was too hard and it felt like eating a brick. We checked his mouth and he has his first loose tooth. WOW. I was excited and got a bit teary. Here is the before picture with all his teeth. (and when he looses that one I will post an after pic)

In other news. Kara has slept through the night the past two nights! Yea. Unfortunately, we are so used to getting up with her that Andy and I still get up in the middle of the night. Hm..

Kara's new phrase is "how you doing?" She asked Bubba last night while he was trying to go to sleep. Then today when she got up from her nap she asked me as well. Then later she was going upstairs and she told me, "I be right back, mama." Also she has been watching me put on my face cream because I was watching her at the table and she would dump a little water on her hands the rub it on her face and neck. Interesting. Also, with the potty training when we sit on the potty and she doesn't want to try she tells me either, "Pee pee all gone." or "I sorry mama, it's empty."

I guess that's about it for now.

The Continuing Saga

These kids are exhausting, but smart. Maybe that's why they are so exhausting. Anyway, the kids were eating lollipops so I of course, had to sing the song. Kara though it was funny and started singing, Aaron didn't believe it was a real song. Hm. Would I lie to them? So after I convinced Aaron it was a real song he started making the pop noise with his lollipop. Then Kara tried it. It was funny.

Then she was talking on the phone and said, "Blah, blah, blah." Then she laughed and said, "I said blah, blah, blah." She cracked herself up. Interesting.

Kara is still not liking the bed. Nap time is fine but at night she still wakes up screaming. Now she yells for daddy because she knows mama will just check to make sure she's fine the say good night and close the door. Daddy actualy stays in there with her. Can you say daddy's girl? It is getting tiring though. We really enjoyed the summer with her sleeping so nice. Oh well.

Sunday morning we were eating cinnamon rolls and Andy shared his roll with Aaron. Aaron told us, "That shows me that you care!" Hm. Later however he was trying to explain something to me and I told him I didn't understand. He looked at me and said, "You just don't get it Mama." I could hear Andy snickering in the other room.

Kara has learned how to turn on the computer so that's fun. I think she can open it up too, so we are not sure what to do about that. She also discovered that all the cables on the sides can come out as well, so every day we have to plug things in.

At dinner Aaron spilled something and got up to get a napkin to clean it (without us having to tell him). Then he grabbed three and gave on to each of us saying, "I thought you might need napkins too." What a sweetie!

Yesterday we went to the museum, which was fun. The kids love running inside the Chinook and looking at all the helicopters. We also toured the outside, which we normally don't do. There is a sky crane with a cable hook hanging down. So, of course, I had to try it out. Aaron didn't want to and Kara piped up with, "I do it! I do it!" So we got Kara hanging from it. I guess that made Aaron want to try it so he was hanging on it too. We will have to go back and get pictures because they looked cute!

When we got home I was snuggling with Andy on the couch and Kara wanted more water. She brought her cup to me and said more water. Then since I didn't get up she said, "I need water, PLEASE. Stand up Mommy, Stand up." My work is never done.

This morning (Monday) Kara found the little piano and turned it on. It happened to be at full volume and she didn't like that. She told me and Aaron, "It made noise. It WAS loud. It was awful." Poor baby traumatised by an electric piano.

Here are pictures of Aaron trying to make the lollipop sound.

Daddy Get Your Gun!!!!!!

Look at that hair and that smile!


Adorable!





And we think we are having sleepless nights now! She is going to keep us up worrying even more when she starts dating. She is just adorable.

Anyway, today we went to the commissary. It was interesting. As the kids get older some things get easier and some get more difficult. Aaron is way to big to sit in the shopping cart but he still tries because he is too tired to walk. Hm. So he is usually out of the cart now and we are trying to keep him from running up and down the aisles. Kara now sees that Bubba doesn't have to be in the cart so she wants out too. The entire shopping trip was us saying, "(insert child's name here)! Put that down!" It was exhausting. Fortunately everything we paid for was things that Andy and I picked up and not anything that Kara or Aaron sneaked in, but those days are coming.

While Kara was napping Andy and I played Scrabble. I won. Woo hoo. I used all my letters and made the word "vaulting" on a triple letter score. But I digress. Aaron was helping Andy and he came up with some good words and he noticed the double/triple score spots and was trying to make words on those. We didn't even explain what they were. He picked it up from listening and watching us play today! Wow. He is really good. Some might say gifted! :) (by the way he had four books to read to us this weekend! yikes!)

We also went to the playground today. That was fun. We played cops and robbers, a game Aaron made up. We didn't have the heart to tell him that game has been around a while. Anyway, to his friends Aaron did make up the rules. There was another little girl there who played with us as well. Kara and Aaron and the little girl were all very polite to each other so that was nice.
On the walk home we were looking at the welcome signs in every ones doors. Some had the families' names on them. Andy commented that a lot of them had an Americana theme. Aaron spoke up and said, "I wish we had a constitution so we could put our names on that. Then we could hang that up."

Later this evening I was saying something and Aaron asked "what are you talking about." I told him it was none of his business. To which he replied, "I want my business back!"

Later, I stepped on one of the carpet tacks and it bled so I was trying to clean that up and put a band aid on. As I was doing the band aid Kara sat next to me and told me her toe hurt too. "I need band aid on toe," she told me. So now she has a band aid on her arm exactly where Bubba got hurt yesterday and one on her foot where I got hurt today. Poor thing. Andy came home and asked what happened to her foot so I had to explain to him too. Never a dull moment with those too.

Oh, I forgot the most exciting hing today. The kids got tatoos. The temporary kind. Aaron was the autobot symbol so Kara had to be a decepticon symbol or as she says, 'cepticon! Cute!

One more picture of the lazy princess. She was tired of taking pictures.



Can you believe all that news from just one day????

Wow...lots to say

The Hams:

Sorry for the delay in posting. Kara is not liking the new bed and we are losing our minds trying to outsmart her to stay in there. Today she is finally napping in her crib without me being right next to her door. I started off on the floor and have worked my way to sitting outside the door with the door open. Nighttime however is a totally different story. She does not want to stay in bed and wakes up screaming in the middle of the night. As soon as she wakes up she turns on her light, so I have now turned the light off at the ceiling fan so the wall switch doesn't work. Then she was opening her closet looking for things to play with. So we had to tie the closet door handles together and I tied the blinds as well. Last night we decided maybe she would do better if we left the door open and put the gate in the doorway. That way she can see what's on the other side. (When Aaron was little he would sleep with the door open and that worked for him.) Well, in the middle of the night a big crash. I thought she had figured out how to open the gate and knocked it down, but Andy said oh no, the gates up and Kara is having a tantrum in the hallway. So she hopped over the tall gate. YIKES! We are at our wits end. I'm not sure what else to try so we are just going to let her cry it out as long as we don't hear a big crash. So last night we got her back in bed and closed the door and she cried for an hour before she gave up. I'm not sure that she went to sleep but she stopped screaming. Hm...We are just waiting for her to learn door knobs since she figured everything else out. Anyway so we are extremely exhausted trying to figure out how to calm her down.

Now for the funny stuff.

Kara has learned a lot of shapes and she will tell me which is which when I ask her. The other day she drew a pretty good square on the magna doodle and told me, "Look, mommy a square."

Also, this is apparently love bug season in Alabama. For those not familiar with the love bug, they are very annoying but harmless bugs that fly around everywhere. They are also very fragile because if you try to shoo them off of your clothes you usually end up smooshing them and get bug guts all over you. Well, we have them in the house too so Aaron was asking what is it. I told him a love bug. He said, "Aww, it's trying to love me!" Then a few seconds later Kara reached down and ate it. Aaron gagged and almost threw up but Kara was unfazed. Yuck.

Aaron was trying to show Andy something while Andy was cooking so Aaron told him, "After you do the finishing touches I will tell you!"

Also, I got really sick one evening so the next morning Aaron told us, "I'm having Orange Juice just in case my body wants to get sick."

Last night Andy and the kids were wrestling and Aaron got a scratch. He was fine until I pointed it out. Then he was hollering and moaning very loudly. Kara was asking, Bubba o.k. So we got his arm cleaned up and put a band aid on. As soon as Kara saw the band aid she clutched her arm in the exact same place Aaron had and made the same crying/moaning sounds Aaron did and told us, "Kara need band aid."

Then we had spaghetti for dinner and Kara told me, "All done." So I moved her chair back so I could clean her hands and face and she said, "OH. I clean shirt." And she started picking up the noodles she had dropped on her shirt and ate them. Then again she said, "All done." So I cleaned her hands again and she started to step down and then she saw she had more bread so she told me, "I get bread. I get bread." And started to eat that too. So, I'm not sure she is understanding the concept of all done.

Here are some pictures from the other day. Aaron was looking for his shirt which I told him was in our room. So here's what we saw when he came down the stairs.

He told us he couldn't find his shirt so he put on daddy's.

Here is the airplane Aaron made with blocks.

Then Kara wanted her picture taken.

Then Aaron made Angry eyebrows.

And Kara had to do it too.

More Stuff

Well, the new bed for Kara is working out o.k. We have to lie down next to her bed to get her to sleep. She will crawl up on her own but she won't stay there unless we are in there too. So I haven't been doing too much during the day since a part of it is spent trying to get her napping. Last night however, we were getting ready for bed and heard a thump. I went into Kara's room and saw her sprawled out on the floor fast asleep. So apparently she rolled out and didn't even wake up when she hit the floor. WOW. When Aaron would roll out even when he landed softly on the pillow he screamed bloody murder. They are quite different. She didn't even stir when I picked her up and put her back in bed. Once she is asleep she is a sound sleeper.

Kara and Daddy reading.

The Sweethearts:

The New Bed

Well, Kara was being exceptionally cranky last night when I put her to bed. I think she was overtired. So I put her in her crib and thought she would settle down in a bit. I came downstairs and Andy and I could still hear her crying and crying. A short while later amid the crying we also heard a thump. Now last week we heard a similar sound but it was Kara jumping in her crib. So I wasn't too concerned. Andy went upstairs and made some interesting comments so I ran up there. When I got there he told me that Kara had crawled out of her crib and was running around in her room crying. So we decided for her safety to take the gate off the crib and make it a toddler bed right then. So now she can get out of bed when she wants to. Now she can't open doors YET. That's probably tomorrows adventure. Hopefully she will give us a day off. In the meantime we are trying to adjust to the fact that she can now get out of bed and no telling what else she will be getting into.

This morning I heard her moving around and noticed the light flashing on and off from under her door. Never a dull moment here. I will never be able to give up Dr. Pepper. I need the caffeine just to keep up with those two!!!

Also yesterday we went to church. Kara was, of course, interesting. She likes to talk during the quiet times in church. After we sang the amen, she very loudly stated, "Amen, all done." Then she was lying down on the pew every time we were standing. While I was kneeling she was again lying down and the woman behind us was smiling at Kara and said hi. Kara said hi and the lady continued saying hi. So Kara told her, "No, stop it!" So I had to apologize to her. Fortunately she had kids too, but goodness Kara is getting snotty.

Speaking of snotty, Aaron was also being smart with us. He was honking the horn on the stroller repeatedly, something Kara never does, and we told him to stop. He of course wanted to know why. Because Kara watches everything you do and wants to do everything you do. To which he replied, "Is she watching me while she naps? Because how could she watch EVERYTHING I do if she closes her eyes when she naps?" O.k. he got me there. Then at dinner Andy told Aaron yet again to eat over his plate. We say it two or three times at every meal and he still forgets. Aaron looked at Andy and said very matter-of-factly, "God made me messy." And kept right on eating.

This afternoon we had our family pictures taken for the church directory. The kids were really good. Aaron had some awesome smiles, but Kara made some funny faces. The photographer was pretty good with children. She told the kids to say hey turkey and then after the picture she would say did you call me a turkey. Aaron looked down like he didn't want to admit it but Kara piped up with a loud YES. I think we got a few good pictures, but man were they expensive. But we will finally have a nice family picture since we haven't had one done since before Kara was born.

Aaron has discovered computer games so he is getting really good at them. Today he was telling me how to do one and getting really frustrated with me that I didn't do it exactly as he said, or that I messed up. Hm..

We didn't really do anything exciting for Kara's birthday today. We had her party last week so I think that was pretty nice. Next year she will be old enough for us to have the several parties like Aaron. :) I hope we can afford it!

Kara's Birthday Party

Well, Kara hasn't been sleeping well so I haven't blogged in a while.

Last weekend we had Kara's second birthday party. Nana and Papa drove in Wednesday and Mike and Christi and Honey arrived on Friday. We had Kara's party on Friday. While Nana was making cupcakes Kara told me she needed a birfhday cake. So I guess she knew what was going on. She enjoyed opening presents although at first she wasn't sure what to do. Aaron helped her open and she really liked all the presents.



Then we lit her candle and sang Happy Birthday


She wasn't exactly sure what to do so Andy and Aaron helped.




Then we remembered to take off the shirt and she got quite messy. She had icing in her hair on her legs and elbows and even on her back. I don't think she actually ate any cake it was all icing.



After we hosed her down she was playing with her presents. She made Christi sit and have a tea party with her. Aren't they adorable?





The next day Kara and Mike were reading a magazine. Notice Kara's leg.

That night the kids and Andy and Mike had a water fight. It was funny.

Also, Christi wasn't feeling well. So while Aaron was doing his nighttime prayers, Andy was rubbing his belly to get Aaron to pray for her to feel better. He did but not like we expected. Aaron said, "And help Mike and Christi have a baby for us to play with." To which Kara replied loudly, "AMEN!" It was hilarious.

We really enjoyed having Mike, Christi, Nana, Papa and Honey. It took Kara a bit to warm up to Honey though. At first every time honey would come close, Kara would point at Honey, so we would know Honey was invading Kara's space. One time she even told Honey, "No, doggy. Mine!" when Honey came within two feet of her toy. Finally though she warmed up to Honey and started asking, "Where doggy go?" when Honey wasn't around. It was a really fun weekend and we were sad when Mike and Christi had to leave.

That evening we went up to our neighborhood office to ask a question. Kara and Aaron of course asked for cookies before the lady even got off of the phone. When continued strolling while the kids were eating in the power wheels. All of a sudden Aaron screeched to a stop. I thought Kara was choking on her cookie or something but Aaron just looked at Kara and asked if he could eat her cookie. Hm.. He does take care of her though because when we were eating left over cupcakes that had a hard candy decoration on them, he looked at me and said, "Someone's gonna have to move that (pointing to the candy) because Kara can't eat it."

Monday we treated Nana and Papa to a visit to the museum. Aaron was really nice and let Kara push the elevator button without me reminding him. Kara was really excited at one of the displays. It had a jeep coming out of the front of the helicopter. She screamed, "Power Wheels!" and tried to climb inside. Another display was all glassed in (or so I thought) and empty and Kara started to climb in. Apparently one side was not encased in glass. Kara certainly makes these trips more interesting.
Kara's newest expression is that she will ask us a question and answer o.k. and assume that's our answer as well. She told me, "How bout cookies. Okay!" I told her no. "How bout chips? Okay!" nodding her head as shes saying it. I told her no again and she got a bit mad. The terrible twos begin.

I also have a lot to brag on Aaron. We were playing boggle and he wanted to play so we explained it to him. Every round we played he would get about two words and a few times it was words we didn't even see. Not bad for a six year old. I was impressed. Also, this week we got a note home about the gifted program. He has been selected for testing so we shall see. We had a conference with his teacher and she recommended him. Apparently his reading level is that of a third or fourth grader and they aren't even done testing him yet. WOW. She said by the end of first grade they expect the kids to get to level 16 on the test. He's already made level 30 and they are not finished testing. I was shocked. I know he is smart but I didn't realize what level he was at. I feel like our home library is sorely lacking now. Anyway, I was really impressed and I'm a bit nervous about the gifted program. So we shall see what comes of that.
Hopefully I have caught you all up and I will try to write more now that I am feeling better and Kara is sleeping better.