Family Pictures

The closest we got to a smile

I love this one,

just a little perspective on how small she is

The fascination of polka dots

I love her blue eyes

This is my cute baby girl

Kabree telling us she's done

and she's done NOW

My friend Ad took our family pictures a couple weeks ago, we scheduled back in August and wouldn't you know my luck it was freezing cold for the first time the night we scheduled. This is also what happened back when my siblings and I did pics, oh well : ). So, it was pretty dang cold and Little Miss Kabree decided she was more interested in her polka dot sweater then smiling. It's a good thing Ad's my friend cause I was kind of embarrassed that Kabree wouldn't look or smile and then when we moved her from the box onto the chair that I so bad wanted a picture of her on, she screamed bloody murder. Needless to say our photo shoot wasn't exactly what I had imagined it would be (you know perfect with your baby, smiling for every picture and it running smoothly and exactly how I imagined in my head), which I guess was just another realization for me that when kids are done they are done and it's best to just stop. Ad was so patient and good about it. I was so amazed with Ad that she was able to get so many good ones considering I know what Kabree was acting like that night, thanks Ad once again for the great pictures, I love them!

Family Halloween Party

The Flintstones

Our little Pebbles

Seeing Double

I guess great minds think alike

Haylee, Darrel & Laurie

I love Laurie's hair and Darrel's boots

Jessica & Larin aka Peter Pan and Wendy

w/The Lost Boys, Tiger Lilly and the Fairies

Grandpa Elmer w/Justice the mouse

Jamie the vampire

Libby as Lady Gaga

Dad holding Justice & Mom

(These shouldn't count as costumes)

J.T. & Heather as KISS

We had my families Halloween party last weekend. As always it was a lot of fun and everyone had fun dressing up. I thought Zach and I were being so creative with our costumes and I guess my aunt Laurie thought the same, what can we say great minds think a like : )! Actually my aunt Laurie always goes all out on their costumes as you can tell, she even did the hair and check out her cool Wilma Flintstone jewelry she made out of marshmallows, I made mine out of styrofoam and it itched so bad I had to take it off. I do have to say thanks to my Mom and Wendy for helping me make my costumes, I'm so cheap which translates to a lot of work. Good thing my Mom is super crafty and creative. We went to DI and the dollar store looking things we could transform into costumes and Zach found these fur purses at the dollar store and he said "I have confidence in your Mom, she could make a costume out of these for Kabree." He was right I showed my Mom what I had and she told me exactly what I needed to do and I think it worked pretty good. I won't lie I didn't think the costume, sewing machine and I would all make it out alive but we did. Anyone who has ever done any sewing with fur knows what I mean.

Since Koopers baptism was earlier in the day Jessica had a lot of family visiting so they got to come too. I didn't post pics of them because I didn't get permission first. But Jessica has the funnest family and I must say Kabree LOVES her sister Saundra (we do too ; ).

Kooper's Baptism

Kooper and Larin

Kooper with his Dad and Grandpa Vance

Kooper with his Dad and Grandpa Denver

Our nephew Kooper got baptized this weekend, Kooper is such a cute, sweet kid you can't help but smile when ever you are around him. He is such a hard worker, he helps his Dad with the cows and horses all the time and there's no other place he would rather be then working with his Dad on the farm. He has got a grin that melts your heart and the most optimistic attitude I've ever seen. We love this guy so much and are so proud of him. He was lucky enough to be able to have lots and lots of family come and show their support, but by the time we brought the camera out everybody was kind of done with pictures : ) (Larin and Jessica's kids have had lots and lots of pictures this year to say the least, between family pics on 3 sides and 3 different family weddings not to mention their own family pics and wedding).

I will post about the family Halloween party tomorrow today is just about Kooper!

6 Months

Wow the last 6 months have flown by as usual. Kabree has grown so much I can't even believe it. She weighs 14lbs 9oz now and is 24 1/2 inches long. Bath time is still one of her favorite things and she still loves to talk and smile in the mornings. She has started sitting up on her own just this last week and has started eating rice baby cereal. She rolls around like crazy getting to where she wants to be and she loves playing with her toys. She gets more and more personality everyday and it's so much fun! We are so grateful to have Kabree in our home, she makes us so happy!

Eating/Hunting/Couponing/Adoption

As you can see from the title we have a lot to catch up on:

After much persistence from my parents we finally fed Kabree rice baby cereal for the first time a couple weeks ago, well my Mom did. Which of coarse means the pics are on her camera at her house : (. She was so excited right up until Grandma put the food in her mouth and the excitement turned to disgust, she does not care for baby cereal. I do now try to feed it to her a couple times a day but she gets more excited over the spoon and bowl then over the cereal it's self. Hopefully veggies and fruit go over better.

My parents are finally done with harvest which means Zach and I might actually go a week without going out there. Don't get me wrong I love visiting my parents and love that Zach doesn't mind helping out, it just gets crazy taking a baby overnight so much. Zach got his deer opening day again this year. Which makes me vary happy, I'm looking forward to making my Grandpa's salami now : ), plus I love a good deer roast. Now, lets cross our fingers he gets an Elk too, I'll be honest I only remember having it once and t

hat's when our friends Austin and Rachel cooked it, and it was way yummy.

$21.24

FYI the cat food is $4.74 a bag at Wal-Mart

$19.74

I forgot to put the bottle of mouthwash

and 3 boxes of Puffs tissues in the pic

I've been couponing the last month, thanks to my sis in-laws Gina and Wendy for teaching me and sharing pointers and tips every week. Wow, I'm so addicted! However, I do think this is one addiction that might be ok, my food storage is growing leaps and bounds in a matter of weeks and I'm spending next to nothing. For example I got 8 Snuggle fabric softeners for free, thanks to Wendy's help. For those who know me well, I can do nothing alone so of coarse I'm forcing Heather to do it as well. Her kids are loving it cause now she buys them granola bars and fruit snacks, who wouldn't buy their kids treats when it's $.50 a box. I must admit Walgreen's is my mountain, with their crazy confusing coupon rules and register rewards but so far I've still saved a ton there but my goal is to master that store : )!

One last note to share I have often visited the R House blog but man last week I was browsing through some old posts and came a cross the post A New Dream and wow to anyone who has ever been faced with infertility issues or for anyone who knows someone who has that post really hits home. I think people often don't understand situations that they have never experienced, we are all guilty of that at some point or another. It's so crazy I came across that post but it's exactly what I needed that day. I love Kabree more then anything but being a woman you still feel an ache when others talk about giving birth or being pregnant or when you see a couple with little cookie cutter babies, which is adorable. However, for some couples like Zach and I those are experiences we will never have, which is ok but there is still a grieving process of realizing you will never experience them. It's hard as a person especially as a couple coming to terms that your childhood dream or life plan needs to be revamped and you need a new dream now. Like I said the post just worded it perfectly so please share it with anyone you think it might help.

Keeping Up

My three little buddies

Kabree, Hanna and Justice

Justice is such a little love bug

Little Miss Personality

Ok so I have to confess a few things. First of all holly cow does life change when I baby comes. My house went from always being clean, tidy and laundry always being done to I'm lucky to get just one done. Also, I'm still having a very hard time wanting to leave Kabree with a babysitter and I've only left her with Zach alone once for 3 hours and I was just one street over at my friends playing Bunco. I know I'm pathetic but I just don't like leaving her. However, that night was great, I was able to dress in clothes I could be seen in public in and have adult conversation, although I must confess I talked about Kabree most of the time anyways : ), but still progress is progress no matter how small it might be. Ok my other confession is WOW two babies and a 4 year old is a little more work then I thought. I love it though and so does Kabree. Well, Kabree loves Hanna, as funny as it sounds she gets jealous of Justice. I know she seems too little for that but no joke if I'm snuggling on Justice Kabree will look at me and gets herself all worked up and mad. Heather thinks it's hilarious. Kabree is little Miss Personality lately, she rolls a hundred miles an hour to where she wants to go and it's usually to Justice to steal a binkie or rough him up a bit, yes my little girl is a bully. So I spend most of the day holding Justice in one arm while Kabree sits in my lap and Hanna holds the books and turns the pages for reading time. As bad as it sounds I have to use my toes for pre-school, I point with my big toe as I explain to Hanna what we are leaning. It seems to be working though. Hanna loves all the talking and reading time and as long as the babies are being held they are happy too. I think Hanna loves the babies nap times the best though cause that's our craft or cooking time, I think she misses the old days of just me and her sometimes : )! I guess what I'm getting at is the day's they come to play nothing else gets done. But time really does fly when they are here and Kabree loves watching Hanna and just smiles at her the whole day. So please forgive me if my house isn't as clean as it use to be, if my baking isn't as often or maybe not even as good, if I no longer answer the phone as quickly or answer texts and if my appearance is a bit lacking I guess I've discovered although some can keep it all together I'm one that has to pick and choose and I feel snuggling or talking with my baby tromps everything else hands down. I've waited too long to experience motherhood and I don't want to miss it. My sister in-law told me "you never know when the last time your child asks you to tie their shoe will be, or when the last time you will help them at bath time will be, so enjoy it while it lasts."