Favorites . . .

Just when we think we couldn't possibly love Kailie any more than we already do - she just does some of the sweetest things . . . . here are just a few of our favorite Kailie moments :)


- Especially at bed time when she is saying nite-nite, we both get many "I Lub You" 's . . . it just melts our hearts and usually buys her a little more cuddle time with Mommy and Daddy!


- After Kailie has a bath, she escapes from her towel and will do a few laps around the house completely naked yelling "Steeeaaakkker" . . . . and the chase is on!!!


- Our well mannered little girl has mastered "Peas" and "Da-Do" and uses them whenever she thinks is appropriate - including when she's just strong-armed something away from Hannah, she will promptly run off with a quick "Da-Do"!


- Kailie is very good at folding her hands, bowing her head and saying a very loud "AMEN" when it's time to say blessing before we eat . . . it's just that her big "AMEN" will often come a bit before we're done saying the blessing . . . . or sometimes before we even start!!! We can deal with this at home ok, we're just a little worried about the day she decides to give an "AMEN" in the middle of prayer at church!!!


- Singing is quickly becoming one of Kailie's favorite things to do (or have Mommy and Daddy do) and she could listen to us sing the same song over and over again all day. She is often saying "Gain, Gain, Gain" even before we get to the end of the song. And when songs have actions, after practicing with us first she then will move on to her dollies and make them go through all the same actions - very cute to watch a little-Mommy in action :)


- While most kids run to their parents for hugs when they walk in the door, Kailie comes running over saying "Hand, Hand, Hand" and she takes our hand and brings us right over to whatever fun activity she was doing when we came in through the door - she wants to get us involved in her day just as quick as she can!


- In almost everything Kailie does she is starting to recognize patterns and ownership, in the car there is Daddy's chair (driver), Mommy's chair (passenger), Kailie's chair (carseat). In the morning when she comes into bed she correctly identifies Mommy's pwillow, Daddy's pwillow and Kailie's pwillow (which is usually her 1/2 of Daddy's). The funniest one is at the table we go through Kailie's chair, Hannah's chair, Mommys' chair, Daddy's chair . . . and Uncle Chris' chair??!! It's been a while now since Keli & Chris were in Bermuda but apparently Uncle Chris will always have a 'chair' at the Matthew's kitchen table!!!



These are just a few highlights of the fun, laughter and love that we are so blessed to have in our lives with Kailie each day.


Here are just a few random summer pic's of our little cutie-pie:)

Nooooo Pooh-Pooh's

This is such a fun age as Kailie is so curious and trying to learn something new every day - and one thing she loves to do is mimic anything that we do . . . including diaper changing!

Kailie has recently decided that all her 'babies' (i.e. dollies / stuffed animals) need to wear her diapers and once they get diapers on (with a bit of help from Mommy) she has to take the diapers on and off over and over again and every time she says "Noooooo Pooh-Poohs". It is very cute to watch, but after a while Joel and I got thinking - what if there was Pooh-Pooh's???!!! So we distracted her for a moment and put a handful of raisins in one of the diapers and watched to see what would happen. Well she took off the diaper and started saying "Nooooo Pooh . . . . . " and then when she saw that 'something' was in there she just went super quite and looked completely stunned . . . . she just kept staring in total shock and disbelief . . . . and then all of a sudden she started freaking out, getting really upset, ripping the diaper off her baby (raisins went everywhere) and ran away . . . . . . I know it's terrible but I was in tears from laughing sooooooooooo hard!!!!! It was just so much more of a reaction that I could have ever imagined!!!! So after I got myself together Joel and I went and had some good cuddle time with her to calm her down - and since then she has gone back to checking her babies for "nooooo pooh-pooh's", so hopefully we didn't traumatize her too much. Joel was a bit worried we had really damaged her perception of the world when we were messing with her expectations - and we did have a few moments of feeling like bad parents - but she seems to have recovered and it was a very funny moment for us!!!! It will be a story she'll laugh at one day I hope ;-)

Here is our 'little-mommy' with a few of her babies!!

Bush Gardens

The final installment of our Florida pictures are of Bush Gardens. After doing a bit of research we learned that Bush Gardens had recently opened 'Sesame Safari of Fun' - which is basically a small All-Sesame-Park within Bush Gardens . . . and given Kailie's current love affair with Elmo and the rest of the gang we just had to check it out! It was definitely worth the drive from Orlando! Jana and Chase came along which made our day even better and although it was cookin' hot, we got there nice and early and enjoyed a reprieve from the Disney-type line ups.

We started of with Breakfast with Elmo where Kailie got to see Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie, Ernie & Bert first hand. As long as none of them got too close to her she loved it!!! In 'real-life' her furry Sesame friends are pretty big and intimidating so she preferred to play and dance along with them from a bit of a distance . . . . or in Mommy's or Daddy's arms! We all had a lot of fun all the same:)

The rest of the day was spent going on rides and playing in the water. If it had been up to Kailie she would have stayed in the water fountains all day long and she really let us know that too when we finally had to drag her away!

Oscar's Stomp Swamp!


More 'swamping' . . .

Bush Gardens also had some safari sites that we all got to enjoy:)

Kailie got to choose one Sesame-Buddy and it was hand's-down "Enie" - we thought she might want Abbey - but there was NO swaying her, all we heard was "Enie, Enie, Enie" etc!!

Jana and I were crazy enough to go on this INSANE roller-coaster that basically consisted of two of the biggest drops I have ever seen! At the bottom of one of the drops it splashed up a TON of water - and Chase loved every minute of it!!

This bouncy floor was massive and we weren't allowed to go in, so we weren't sure how Kailie would take to it, but she LOVED it and eventually the lady working the ride had to go and pull her out :)

She loved the 'horsey' carousel.

More fun kiddie rides:)

Gettin' a bit too close Bert . . . . . !!!

Even two of her favorites were a bit much up so close - I'm sure it will be a different story in a year or two:)

Ernie - just the right size:)

The trip home after a very fun day!