And I thought we were busy before...

This is what I saw when I opened my bedroom door this morning after getting dressed...

From January February 2009

Just yesterday, at Kendall's 9 month appointment, when the doctor asked me if Kendall was pulling up much, I said no. She really has only started pulling up the past few days, and she hasn't done much of it until today. Every time Haley sees Kendall try to pull up on something, she says 'Mom, you're in trouble now!' She's right.

Kendall crawled backwards for awhile before she figured out how to go forward. During that time, I found her in lots of corners and under furniture ;) The last weekend before she figured out how to go forward, she started getting frustrated that she couldn't get the toys in front of her - the harder she tried to move forward, the further away she got from her target! For the most part, though, she was still happy just to be moving.

From January February 2009

Kendall started moving forward at the end of January - she was 8 1/2 months old, the same age Haley was when she started moving forward. She has enjoyed exploring everything on her own, and Haley sometimes enjoys crawling with her.

From January February 2009

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday to celebrate with Haley. There's no stress and busyness like there is at Christmas, and I really enjoy making Valentines with her. Unfortunately, Haley got sick a few days before Valentine's day this year (and she's still fighting something), so we had to cut some of our plans back. However, we still had fun.

This was my first Valentine's Day photo shoot with TWO little princesses to dress up!

From January February 2009

We didn't get to make as many Valentines as we wanted to, but Haley still got to decorate Valentines for all of her classmates and some of her other friends, too. She had fun choosing stickers and decorating the Valentines with glitter and markers. She wrote the 'Hal' to sign her name on most of the Valentines; I did the 'ey.' Next year, Kendall may be able to join in and make some Valentines of her own.

From January February 2009

I was hoping Haley and I could make and decorate cupcakes together for her class party, but with Haley sick, that didn't work out. Marynell jumped in to save the day, as always, and made us chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting (Haley's choice, of course). She used heart shape cupcake holders and decorated the cakes with sprinkles. Haley's friends at school enjoyed the cupcakes. Haley went to her party for a few minutes - I thought she was feeling better, but she was worn out and didn't stay at school too long.

From January February 2009

Haley enjoyed opening all the Valentines from her friends! This is something I remember from elementary school - I LOVED opening all the Valentines from my classmates.

From January February 2009

Haley with her presents from Marynell.

From January February 2009

Guess what Kendall did with her presents??

From January February 2009

Marynell and her Valentines:

From January February 2009

And yes, Marynell made Haley's dress. Haley wore it last year as well.

Christmas 2008

Christmas was a whirlwind this year...we had a Christmas meal with the Starnes extended family, with the Starnes immediate family, with the Wootens, the Jenkins, and again a few days after Christmas with my parents.

Here is the youngest generation of Starnes. We kept Kendall happy through this picture taking process by saying 'yea, Kendall' and encouraging her to clap her hands.

From Christmas 2008

Baby Savannah slept through most of the activities.

From Christmas 2008

Haley and Jackson.

From Christmas 2008

Haley, Kathryn, Abigail & Olivia.

From Christmas 2008

Haley and Kendall, applauding each other at Grandmama and Papa's house.

From Christmas 2008

My happy baby girl.

From Christmas 2008

Grandmama led the kids in telling the nativity story by using a kid's nativity set.

From Christmas 2008

We love it when the daddies and the uncles help with barbies ;) This barbie doll was a big hit with Haley this year...we've acquired several additional barbies and accessories since.

From Christmas 2008

At the Wooten's...Kendall's the only grandchild who is allowed to sit on the table.

From Christmas 2008

Maynee reads Kendall the book she gave her for Christmas.

From Christmas 2008

Just as she did last year, Haley distributed most of the presents - she helped open some, too.

From Christmas 2008

Cousin Charlie is so silly.

From Christmas 2008

Santa brought Kendall a new bouncy seat to hang in the doorway. Kendall enjoyed it - it took her awhile to get the hang of the bouncing, though.

From Christmas 2008

Santa brought Haley 3 princess dresses (surprise, surprise) - including this Aladin dress.

From Christmas 2008

Kendall expresses enthusiasm over her gifts.

From Christmas 2008

Kendall tried on the cowgirl hat that Santa brought her big sis.

From Christmas 2008

At Aunt Cicely's house, we got to visit with more family, including baby Marie. She's a few months older than Kendall, and into everything.

From Christmas 2008

Jake and Kendall.

From Christmas 2008

We watched Chevy Chases's Christmas vacation...and no, it was not censored for the little ears ;) However, they did not seem to remember any of the not so rated G language.

From Christmas 2008

At Marynell's house, Kevin shows one of the gifts Marynell got Kendall. Yes, he really was that excited for Kendall to get her very own Snow White dress.

From Christmas 2008

Marynell got Kendall a jumper.

From Christmas 2008

And of course...another princess dress for Haley.

From Christmas 2008

Kevin got some twinkees. It's what he eats for breakfast, you know ;)

From Christmas 2008

We ended the gift opening with a princess big wheel for Haley.

From Christmas 2008

We enjoyed all the time we spent with family and friends.

From Christmas 2008

Happy Birthday, Jesus

I love this video...it's an old favorite. Taken just two Christmases ago, toddler Haley (19 or 20 months) answered a few questions (and ignored one question) about the very first Noel. This was Haley's second Christmas...I can't believe Kendall will be this age in just a year!!!!

Holiday Disco Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Holiday Activities

Our weekend was packed this weekend with holiday fun. We took the kids to the annual Christmas party sponsored by my dad's company. The girls got to make stuffed animals (reindeer), get their pictures taken with Santa, and enjoy candy and chicken fingers - two of Haley's favorites ;) Here are the girls with Santa.

From November December 2008

We got our tree Saturday afternoon. Kendall was pretty nonchalant about her first Christmas tree, but Haley was THRILLED to help pick it out. Unfortunately, Kevin was not thrilled with my need to take a picture of the fam before we headed home with our tree. My sweet little Kendie, though, was happy to have her picture taken ;)

From November December 2008

Haley cried when we made her take a nap before she could help decorate the tree ;) When she woke up, though, the tree was set up and I had finished putting lights on it. She was thrilled to put ornaments on it. She hasn't quite yet mastered the art of spreading the ornaments around, though, and a few of our lower branches are pretty heavily weighted down.

Mom took Haley to see a production of The Littlest Angel (hope I got that right) on Saturday night. Here are Haley and Marynell before the show.

From November December 2008

Haley and I went to the children's musical at our church Sunday night. Haley enjoyed it. She will be big enough to sing in the children's choir next year, and I think she will really enjoy it!

Kendall's 6 month dr apt

Kendall had her (belated) 6 month doctor's visit last week. Here is my happy girl just before we left the house.

From November December 2008

Kendall shared smiles with the nurses and her doctor. Her height percentage has shot up and her weight has gone done since her four month checkup. She is longer and heavier than Haley was at this age.

Kendall has recently started sitting up, and she LOVES to blow raspberries - I don't remember Haley enjoying the raspberries as much as Kendall does!

Kendall is less inclined to sit and play by herself these days. Gone are the days where I could put her down, walk away to get something done and nearly forget about the poor child for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. She makes sure EVERYONE in the house knows if she's been left alone :) She prefers to be held or in the middle of whatever action is going on.

She still takes two naps most days, but her morning nap sometimes gets cut short - the 2 to 21/2 hour nap WE ALL used to enjoy is now sometimes as short as 45 minutes. Bedtime is around 7 PM. I wake her between 6 and 6:30 on workdays, and on the weekends she sometimes sleeps past 7.

The links on the left hand side of the page show Kendall's updated height and weight figures.