Kendallella & Her Royal Kitty Cat

Kendall Avery & Savannah Reese


Happy Halloween!
One of my favorite holidays (who doesn't love candy and costumes?) is back and it's really getting to be fun. This year Kendall understood the meaning of dressing up and asking for candy. All along I was sure she would want to be Uniqua, but she was determined to be a princess. So I was all about making sure we did it up right. I found the perfect dress on amazon.com, but when it arrived, it was way too big. That led me to run around to three stores to buy four dresses. I felt like I was shopping for a real princess. Finally, I found one that looked just like the original I'd purchased, but more her size -- and all was well in the kingdom.

Savannah wasn't so worried about the costume and decided to go as a royal kitty cat. She wasn't afraid at all to hold out her bucket for candy. After half a dozen houses we returned home and handed out candy -- Kit Kats, which both girls loved.

Halloween is not daddy's thing. So when I wasn't paying attention, he gave all the remaining candy to the next group of kids and shut the house down -- they'd hit the jackpot!

Appreciation

Kendall & Savannah,

Today our beautiful daughters were returned to us after spending a week with their grandparents, aunt/uncle and cousins in Youngstown. It was the very first time both girls had been away from us for so long and we were very worried about the strain they would pose on the grands.


It turned out to be a great idea that just got better and better each day. The girls were showered with attention and love. Each day they got plenty of fresh air and exercise running around the large, green yard -- something we don't have much here. Back at home, Sanford was showered with attention since Mom and Dad had plenty of time for him. And of best of all ... we got a chance to miss and appreciate each other -- all around.


This is the first blog post I have done in many months and now that I have had a chance to "re-appreciate" my family" I think it is time to resume them. See you real soon ... we have lots of catching up to do!

The Great Kendallini!

Kendall Avery

Nothing can contain her...she's the greatest escape artist ever...the Great Kendallini!

When we first learned that Kendall could escape, Jimmy thought he had put her down for a nap...but then he hears her voice getting closer and closer...until she is right in our bedroom. Could it be that he didn't actually put her down? May be he just thought he did.

"Let me try it again," he says to himself. Back in the crib goes Kendall and Jimmy goes around the corner to watch from behind the door. Well...turns out he's not entirely crazy.

I asked her to re-create the crime scene for me.

Savannah Crawls!

Savannah Reese

Savannah had her first official crawl on Friday, February 5 where I captured it on video at her daycare center (not shown here). She probably moved all of 2 centimeters...but she crawled! By the following Monday she was getting even more comfortable. This video shows her mastery of the skill less than a week later.

WWF

Kendall Avery & Savannah Reese

What's a little wrestling between sisters...? But you gotta play fair!

Zumba

Kendall Avery & Savannah Reese

I hear that Zumba is the latest fitness club craze. I think I now know who invented it...

Savannah at 8 months

Savannah Reese

What a difference a couple of months makes! Savannah is really having a lot of fun being the baby of the family. She's loving eating and especially playing. And this month she started going to daycare full time and she is having a wonderful time. She even has her own theme song that her teachers sing when she enters her class. As you can see, she can stand if she is holding on to something. The other big milestone is self-feeding...picking up real bits of food (see video).

Here's how Savannah is developing.

Nanny Nat's Special Visit

Savannah Reese & Kendall Avery



Thank you cousin Natalie for coming to visit and help us out in January. My closest cousin, Natalie, helped take care of the girls so I could work on launching my own business.

It was a lot of work, and Natalie (a.k.a. Natty) took it very seriously. Besides Savannah's numerous diaper changes and bottle preparations, she always made sure Kendall got her morning exercise as they danced the Bunny Hop around the house, followed by the Hokey-Pokey. Kendall could barely keep up!

Kendall, Savannah & Kipper

Kendall Avery & Savannah Reese


The girls spent most of January battling various winter colds. Some days we never got them out of their PJs. And after days of trying to keep them entertained without too much TV, sometimes they were happiest just "vegging out" and watching Kipper.