Baby Dolls

Mary Katherine loves Grandma Jul's baby dolls.

Just because these babies have seen better days, don't think MK doesn't shower them with as many kisses as the others. She knows it's the inside that counts.
I didn't remember mom buying us this many Cabbage Patch Dolls, but my sister (with the unmatched memory) informed me earlier that these are not the "real" Cabbage Patch dolls--"they have different noses". Grandma Essie made us these look alike dolls as well as baby beds for each one to go in.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and safe travels to everyone over the next week. We love you all--family and friends-- and have been very thankful for your prayers, calls, emails, and texts this week.

Breath of fresh air for all of us

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day! We decided that we all needed to go out and enjoy some fresh air.

Be still and know...

Sometimes all of us just need to sit and stare...

at God's creation.

Walker or Lounger?

Some may call this a walker, for us it's more of a lounger.

My Child

I wanted to hold him.
I wanted to see what she looked like.
I wanted to feel the warmth of his body.
I wanted to compare what she looked like to MK.
I looked forward to putting her in MK's outfits to compare similarities/differences.
I wanted to see MK love on him like she does her baby dolls.
I looked forward to seeing them play together.
I would have melted at seeing Roger love, care, and sacrifice for this baby.
I wanted to sing to him.
I would have taken lots of newborn photographs.

These are just some of the many thoughts filling my head.

But for reasons I don't know or understand, I miscarried. 15-20% of pregnancies end in miscarriages. As common as this is, it doesn't take away from the uniqueness of the sorrow. I will never forget yesterday, this hurt, or this child.

A Picture of Love

I always call on Grandma when it comes to taking MK's pictures. She's the best about getting smiles. I wanted to get some Christmas pictures of MK this afternoon and look what I got---a treasure! I love so much about this photograph! I love the way MK is looking up at Grandma. I love Grandma's hands in the picture. Not only do I love how it shows her reaching out to MK, but I love how it shows her hands. My mom always jokes about how she was told by a co-worker that she had beautiful hands. They aren't "magazine" hands, but hands of character and hard work. Her hands to me are a picture of love and sacrifice. And in summary, that's what I feel this picture is...LOVE

If you want to see the rest of MK's Christmas pictures I've posted them on my photography site. www.catphotography.zenfolio.com

Surprise!

Cousins or siblings?

I was looking back at this picture I took Thanksgiving weekend and think it's funny the resemblance between MK and Wyatt in this picture.

Look at those sweet smiles!

Entertainment

Lately, we've been having alot of fun with these...

You can open the lid, take them all out, examine them, put them in your mouth, throw them, take them one by one to another place, but one thing they never seem to do is...

go back into their box. Amazingly, we aren't missing one yet!

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvxxx

If you're wondering about the title of the post, you'll have to ask MK. She insisted on typing it. I think it means something along the lines of it's time for you to get off the computer and play with me. I haven't updated much on her blog lately, so here's a quick update on MK. We still aren't walking, but I think we are getting closer. She's climbing up on boxes, tables, and my lap. Climbing up the stairs is also a lot of fun. She's also exploring ways to get attention. These including flailing of arms and legs on floor in a fit of frustration, grunting, throwing down any objects I give her, and of course screaming. You can see some of this personality in the pictures. She's learned several words--many of them probably only identifiable by me. Despite some of descriptions being on the negative side, she really is alot of fun right now!

This was a pose in the middle of straining to get up the couch to get her hands on the camera.

She's getting closer to her goal, but does stop for a quick grin.

Not sure what she's thinking on this one.

Okay...no more poses...I really want up where you are.
What if I add a little fake whine to my efforts?

Can I get some help?

Everything seems normal from the front....

Then you see the back, and you're thinking, "That's a pretty cute ponytail."
Then comes the side view....HELP!!...What do you do with a mullet?

Here's an even better side view.

Any advice?

Play Date

Mary Katherine had her friend Cate over this morning to play. I love watching MK play with other kids her age. I see more of MK's personality come out. And let's just say this morning it was confirmed again of her outgoing, dominant personality.

MK loves to squint smile for the camera. It's quite the grin!

They're just enjoying some time with the remotes.

MK giving a little back rub, while Cate watches TV. We like to really cater to our guest!

More of Houston

I somehow managed to take a lot of pictures of Mary Katherine and the dogs, but failed to get her with Aunt Holly and Uncle Brian. Next time we'll definitely want some pictures with them. She loves them!
She sometimes like to pose for the camera.

On Sunday, the boys watched MK while I got to go to a baby shower for Holly and baby Julia.

And to end our trip, we flew back to Tulsa to see the first day of my nephew Levi's life. I'm waiting for Kizzy to post pictures first. What's taking her so long? What else does she have to do? :)

A little time south of the border...

well...not quite south of the border but close to it. MK and I (along with my parents) went down to Houston to visit sister Holly and Brian, little Julia (still in utero), and...

Isaac - a very masculine, tough looking Westie

Titus-a squinting like Popeye, life's been a little rough on him lately, rather LARGE Boxer

She played a little with Isaac...

He wasn't really interested. But then came Titus. By the end of the weekend, MK was feeding him from the high chair, tickling his legs, and examing his ears. But don't think that Titus didn't pay back any favors. He made sure her hands were always clean and supplied her with many face kisses. According to Holly, Titus was even a little depressed Monday after MK left.

Are you Branded for Life?

This year's theme for OSU homecoming was Branded for Life. Through my upbringing and college experiences I have definitely been branded for life. Everytime I go to Stillwater my body floods with emotions of happiness and nastalgia of the wonderful memories made there. Sometimes I have a hard time with how much it's changed lately. I just want it to stay the same it was. Is that too much to ask? I'll even admit that possibly Roger and I's last major argument had to do with OSU. I'll just say it's like family, it cuts deep when you talk bad about my Cowboys or university. We won't go there...

Anyway, my parents have provided the opportunity for me to get to go back every year and enjoy homecoming. I am very thankful for them doing this and look forward to it every year. Here are a few pics from the awesome weekend!

Here we have a family pic in front of the orange fountain in front of the library. I didn't personally spend alot of time in this building. However, I did walk by it everyday and when I think of buildings at OSU, this one is one of the first to come to mind.

Here we have MK playing in the beautiful pansies in front of the Student Union (another icon of OSU).Grandma Jules and Wyatt mapping out the route for the Walk Around. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the house decs or walkaround. I learned this year that Walkarounds are a little different with a stroller. I spent most of my time dodging people and trying to get around the mazes of people. Roger first attempted to be the "driver" but was not aggressive enough behind the wheel. I tried to explain you can be polite and still pull out in front of people. And now we have made it to Saturday's parade. My highlight of course were the parade marshalls--Garth Brooks, Barry Sanders, and Robin Ventura. Awesome alumni representatives! Would you expect anything less graduating from Oklahoma State.?

We are considering the purchase of one of these monster limo suburbans. They seem so practical and the gas mileage I'm sure is great!

Cousin Ev has some awesome volume. Check out his hair-do for the parade!
The Express Clydesdales really are HUGE animals! I believe Everett referred to them as giraffe horses??
Grandma Jules and her sister Ginger enjoying the parade. Look at them and their quilted orange jackets. They must think alike!

No pictures of the football game as the game as at 8pm and we walked in the very COLD temperature from our hotel. Good game. MK stayed at the hotel with Aunt Kiz and Wyatt.

pumpkins

I love this pale muted green color of pumpkin. I bought one and am thinking about saving the seeds to try to plant next year. Maybe I can have a pumpkin patch at the farm with all these varieties. I'm sure everyone would be on board for that. It's gotta be big money! Maybe just the small circle...come on dad what do you think? And while I'm thinking about it...what about one of those fun corn mazes in another circle???

Such cute little friends!

MK mainly was eating rocks all afternoon.

We don't have any fun pumpkin patches around here that I know of, but there is a really neat store that sells all kinds of pumpkins not far from Laverne. We went with a group of friends and enjoyed looking at all the different varieties, gourds, and fall flowers.

On another note, MK woke up with a fever this morning. It remained up all day, so I took her into the clinic. He diagnosed it as N1H1. Very disappointing for all as we have been looking forward to this weekend in Stillwater for homecoming. Looks like we'll have to wait for next year.

Early Halloween Dress Rehearsal

Since we were staying in Bricktown for the wedding and all the cousins were together, we decided to take early Halloween pictures. I do believe these are the cutest Wizard of Oz characters I've ever seen! My mom made "Dorothy's" costume and Kizzy made the Scarecrow. Aren't they talented?! It was fun walking around the canal. I wish I lived closer to places like this because there are so many picture opportunities! You can see all of the other cute pictures I took at www.catphotography.zenfolio.com (just a little plug.. ;) )

Those ruby slippers didn't want to stay on. Thank goodness for dad! He babysat MK all weekend and really helped out with picture taking.

Here we have Scarecrow helping Dorothy with her ruby slippers and the courageous lion on the prowl.

Ev had several expressions that he believed were true to the scarecrow character. This was a popular one. I'm not sure that the scarecrow had a big chew in his mouth? Perhaps he has seen a different version of the movie than I've seen.