Late Birthday Pics

Last weekend we went up to my parents to have a little birthday party for Kara with the family. It was fun to have most of the cousins there but we definitely missed Ryan, Jenny and her new cousin Andrew.....and we missed Grandma K. too!   We actually got a picture of all of them together!  Kara is walking all over now and I feel like she's about ready to run.  It's amazing how fast she can get away from me now!

Dayna and Kara kept hugging eachother, it was adorable!

Kara's 1st Birthday!

Wow, my baby is 1 year old today!  People always say to enjoy it because it goes so fast and it sure does!!  We had a great day today, Kara was even excited as she decided to wake up at 5:45am this morning.  She must have sensed it was the big day or something!  Her party started at 10am and my house turned into complete chaos as  14 kids under the age of 3 were in my house!  It went very well though and I'm glad I did it.  We had a great time and after about 2 1/2 hours the kids were done I think.  Kara fell asleep instantly after they all left.  There was no way we were going to get all of the kids together to take a picture so I took a few action shots!  Overall we had a great day and we especially thank our Heavenly Father above for such a beautiful and healthy child and the wonderful year He has given us!  God is so great!!

I let Kara have at it with a cupcake.  She was very clean with it, she doesn't like sticky fingers... I understand!  

Brayden was opening Kara's gift from him while Kara was busy opening up the card. 

 It was safest to have the older kids eat their cupcakes outside, even though it felt like a 100 degrees out there! 

Look Who's Walking?!

Over the weekend Kara decided to start taking steps and each day she's doing more and more.  It's so exciting and so adorable!  I didn't think she would be walking by her 1st Birthday and I think she will be!  We have a fun week ahead, a birthday party tomorrow morning at 10am with her little friends and another small party for her on Saturday at my parents for just the family.  It should be fun....probably more fun for me as she has no clue what's going on!  

Swimming

We went to our friend Eda's today to go swimming.   Kara is a little fish and she loved it!!  She was in the water for almost 3 hours.  Mommy loved it as well since I got to float and get a nice tan!  

Addison Brock, Rhett and Kara.  Kara would not just sit so Rhett had to hold her.  

Big Changes Ahead

It seems like it's been a while since I've updated this blog but things have been busy here.  First of all out little baby is turning ONE next Tuesday!  We can't believe it!!  Last year at this time I was patiently waiting to have her, a few days overdue, getting more and more uncomfortable.  Tom's sister Melanie is in that exact same position now, sorry Melanie!   We hope that baby comes soon!  

We also have made a big decision to move up to Oakdale.  It's been a long thought out decision, (and lots of prayers), and we felt like the time was right and that God was directing us up there.   It's always been in the back of our minds to eventually move up there and be closer to family so that time is here.  We are really excited for the change but we are really sad to leave our friends and church here.  We have been truly blessed with all of the friendships we've made here.  Tom will be working for my Dad on the dairy and I am in the process of applying for a RN job at some hospitals to work part time.  We will hopefully be moving by the middle of June if everything goes well.  So that being said, my house will soon be a disaster as I try to pack up things.  This will be interesting with a busy one year old, I'm sure she will unpack boxes as I'm packing them....I can't wait!  

It's been really nice weather this week and so we bought Kara a little $5 pool to last us until we are closer to Grandma's for a real pool.  She loves it and is busy going in and out of it!

Kara thoroughly enjoys going in and out of things now.  I find her in the toy basket, a storage box and even her little blue bathtub in her closet.  She likes to just sit and relax when she's in these small confined spaces!

We had a pretty uneventful Mother's Day but I was very busy at church that day.  I had to play keyboard at the two morning services and play piano at the evening service.  Kara did sleep 31/2 hours in the afternoon so I got a good nap in too.  The evening service was for women only, I have to be honest I was not looking forward to it but it ended up being soooo good!  We listened to Nicole Johnson, a leader in Women of Faith, and she talked about motherhood, the good and the bad.  We got a glimse of a book called "The Invisible Women" and I'm really looking forward to reading it! 

Kara wrote a poem for me on Mother's Day.  

You are a good Mommy, I like when you play with me and read me books.  I also like our walks. I love you more than Bruin.  I like when you tickle me but not with your feet,  so I would like to give you a pedicure for Mother's Days.

(Well obviously Tom wrote this and he also went too far and printed a picture of the nastiest feet ever!!)

Standing

Kara is now able to stand on her own for a little while, but only when she wants to!  Last week she took two steps for me but has refused to do it since.  She definitely has a mind of her own!