Happy 18 Months!!

Wow! Time is just flying by, and Katie is growing up so fast. She is now 18 months old and learning something new everyday.

She is such a happy child. She loves to laugh and thinks most everything her brother does is hilarious!

Some 18 month stats:

Height--31.5 (50th percentile)

Weight--23.5 (25th percentile)

Favorite foods--cheese, apples, bananas, peaches, carrots, tomatoes, cake

Dislikes--pasta, bread, meat, riding in the car, being told no!

Frequent Words--Mommy, Daddy, Bubby/Michael, Nana, PaPa, Granny, MacMac, milk, night-night, pooh-bear, book, mine, go, cat, doggy, duck, baby, truck, shoe, sock, hat, ball, thank you, no, please, love you, Amen

Katie with a mouth full of apples

Thanks again to everyone who has followed Katie over this last year and a half, praying for her and our family. It amazes me how far she has come and how awesome she is now!! We love her sooo much!!

Farmer's Day

Coats has an annual festival each October, called Farmer's Day. We are truly a rural agricultural community and this is a time that has always honored the foundations of our town. Our family loves to participate in this time, in fact, I don't know if I have ever missed a Farmer's Day in my life!

Michael and Katie with Andy's dispays at the museum

Katie chillin in shade after lunch

Waving to Nana from the train

Papa took Michael and Katie to ride the Ferris wheel

During the parade, Curt stopped his tractor in front of us so that Michael could get on and ride with him the rest of the way. He had so much fun!!

September 18, 2010

Last Beach Trip of the Summer

I think Michael would live at the beach if we would let him. He loves it! I told him we were going for the weekend and he said, "that is not too much, mommy, we need to stay 37 days." He is so sad now, knowing that we will not get to go back again until spring.



Katie has always had texture issues so she has never liked the beach, especially the sand. She never even wanted to stand up on the sand, much less sit down and play. But she surely got over that this time. Everyday she would be covered head to toe with sand, and she loved having to run into the waves to wash off.

September 12, 2010

Happy Grandparents' Day!!!

We are so blessed to have such an awesome family, and we celebrated them on this day. Andy and I cooked a great lunch and we enjoyed the company of Nana and Papa Bennie, Granny and Papa John, and MaMac and PaMac. We missed having Bennie's mom, grandma Harmon there with us, and certainly felt the absence of my dear Grandmother Madeline, who passed away last December.

I hope that Michael and Katie always know and appreciate how much their grandparents love them!!!

August 4, 2010

Katie Starts School!!

We were so blessed that Nana Joan was able to keep Katie at home all last year. But this school year we decided that Katie was now strong enough to go to school with Michael. She weathered cold and flu season pretty well last year and we were approved to receive the Synagis shots again this winter, so we feel pretty good about her ability to fight off the germs.

Michael was really excited to take Katie to his school

We came in and Katie met her teacher and her new classmates. She was saying "Hi!" to everyone and giving hugs. Then Mrs. Donna brought out the doughnuts....

Let's just say this was the last picture we took as we were about to leave. There were no tears, no hugs, no "Bye Mommy." Just a wave, with a mouth full of doughnut!

She has really adjusted well. She loves all her new friends and she plays so hard everyday that she is absolutely worn out when she gets home. Occasionally, Michael will tell us that he went up to her room and checked on her during the day. He is a great big brother!!!

Our Time Machine

For anyone that may not know, Andy is a big history buff. If it is older than he is, then he loves it!! (BTW, he did make an exception for me!) He started reenacting while he was in college and when we started dating in '96 I joined in too. Oh those were the days...no kids, packing a very few things, camping...well, not so much anymore :) Andy still goes and does that stuff, but I'm really over the whole sleeping outdoors thing. Plus, we almost have to rent a U-haul now to go anywhere with all the baby paraphernalia we travel with. However, I do make an exception 3 times a year when we travel to Ft. Macon State Park in Atlantic Beach. We do a living history program there every April, July, and September, and it is really fun. Both of the kids went this time and did great, even in the heat! (And YES, WE ARE HOT IN THOSE CLOTHES!) We have really great friends that do this with us--no, we are not the only crazies out there--and it is great to visit with them during these times. Plus, we stay in a hotel (i.don't.camp.anymore) and we can get out on the beach in the afternoons since we are only about 200 yards from it! Please enjoy the slide show of our weekend there.

P.S. I have to brag on Andy a little. Another thing some do not know is just how crafty he is. He sews almost all of our clothes for this hobby. His mom made Michaels outfits this time, but Andy did a great job making his shoes from scratch and he made Katie's dress. He also completely built the gun that Michael is carrying. No, it will not shoot :)

A Most Awesome Day!!

Tom, Jaime, Sheryl, Jared, Beth, Katie, and Andy

The Trost family from Ohio is on a road trip to see family in Florida, and on their way south they stopped for a visit with us in NC. What a great time we had! Their son Jaime was born one week after Katie in Cinncinati and he also had a right-sided Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. We have followed their journey over this last year and were so excited to finally get to meet them in person.

Two Miracles on Wheels!

We had quite an eventful and fun-filled day. First we met for a while in the hotel and let the kids play around a little. Then, we went and spent a couple of hours at Marbles Kids Museum. We all had fun, but I think Jared LOVED it! When they finally kicked us out :) we then piled into the Trost's van and drove over to Parker's House. I had told Sheryl how much this house had meant to us--and so many more families--while we were at Duke with Katie. We were so proud to be able to show them this wonderful place. We even introduced them to Mr. Paul!! The evening was capped off with a trip to Red Robin for dinner. All of the kids did really well throughout the day, especially since there was very little napping and lots of activity. I only wish that Michael had been able to be there with us(he was not feeling well and I didn't want to risk "sharing" anything with the Trosts on their road trip). We really hope to be able to get together again with this wonderful family!!!

Our new Playground

We have been planning to get Michael a playground for quite a long time, but I wanted him to be old enough to really get to play on it and enjoy. I also wanted him to be safe and I was afraid that if he was too young he would fall off and get hurt. Of course this still may happen, but hopefully he will be careful! Well, we finally got one this week. Andy and Bennie decided that they would start very early Thursday morning and hopefully have time to complete it in one day......NOT! It took 2 full days of steady work by both of them to get it done. The slide I wanted was backordered so we still don't have that and one of our swings, but that hasn't stopped Michael! He is soooooo excited!

Our start to summer

Every year the first week out of school, Andy has to take his students to FFA camp at White Lake. We really enjoy this time because I also get to go and take the kids. It is always so much fun, although this year was the hottest one I ever remember! Good thing Katie and I get to stay in the lodge with the air conditioning!! Michael could stay with us too, but he prefers to stay with Andy in the cabin with all of the high school boys. For some reason, I really didn't take many pictures this time but here are a few of Michael pushing Katie around **yikes, near the lake!** which you can tell she loves!!

I had a really proud moment this year! Each meal, the school whose turn it is to set up chooses one student to ask the blessing. When it was Triton's turn, Michael said he would say it. I didn't know if he would go through with it or not, but when it came time, he stood up in front of 275+ high schools students and did it perfectly!!!

The day we left camp, instead of coming home, we went straight to our family's house in Cherry Grove, North Myrtle Beach. We are so blessed to have this house, which has been in our family for over 30 years. I grew up there, and now I get to take my children. While Michael is like a fish--cannot keep him out of the water--Katie was NOT a fan! She didn't like to touch the sand at all, and the waves were a little overwhelming. Oh well, maybe next time!

Bradley and Amanda's Wedding

Andy's nephew Bradley got married last Saturday June 12, to Amanda Wolf, and we were so honored to be a part of their big day.

This was a picture of them at the bridal shower in April.

Michael was asked to be their ring bearer. This made me e x t r e m e l y nervous as he is not the best at following directions and he loves to perform for a crowd =) He doesn't have a shy bone in his body. I was surely expecting him to do something crazy, but he did great!! He loved his tux and Bradley even gave him a special badge to wear that said "Official Ring Bearer."

Memorial Day Weekend 2010

We decided to take a family trip to the mountains this weekend. My parents, Joan and Bennie, went with us. We stayed in Boone and visited Mast General Store, Grandfather Mountain, and Tweetsie Railroad. I have never been to these places either, so it was so much fun! We successfully navigated across the mile high swinging bridge at Grandfather mtn., even though Katie tried her best to lean over the rails! Michael of course, thought he was in heaven at Tweetsie. We even bought him a gun and a badge so that he could "save the train" from the bad guys. Katie did great, even with the 4 hour drive. She loved everything too, except the last train ride at Tweetsie. Since no naps were had that day, the loud sounds were just a little too much for her. Many of the highlights are in the slide show below.