Christmas Traditions

Now that Kate is older I want to establish some Christmas traditions with her that we can continue for years to come. Starting with making gingerbread boy cookies.....

Helping decorate the Christmas tree

Carly joins in the fun, too!

The finished product

Making gingerbread houses

They were both a little unsure of Santa. Of course this is Kate's third picture with Santa, now.This was with my own camera. The picture we bought was a lot nicer!

May you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving pics

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration in both Grapevine and Abilene. Kate really enjoyed playing with all of her cousins!

Here is Aubrey, Kate and Isabelle. Kate just looks like trouble. She was being so silly when we took this picture. These three girls are really growing up!

Here are all the Tate grandkids

Here is Lauren, Lindsey and Zack on Thanksgiving day in Abilene. What a good looking group!

Here are all the cousins with Nannie. Carly really admired Nannie.

Kate and Carly wearing matching outfits

Kate and Cole were outside when it was really cold playing with their little nets. Kate was having so much fun, even though it doesn't look like it. She was catching balls with her little net with Cole. Cole was being really sweet helping her, too. Thank you Mom Mom for playing outside with them!

Uncle Jason reading with Cole and Kate before bedtime.

Mom Mom and Carly

Dad Dad cooking some yummy bacon for breakfast on Friday morning.

Earlier this week Kate and Carly were playing in the laundry basket. It doesn't get any better than this!

Yesterday, I gave Kate her first ponytail! It made her look like such a big girl! Her hair is really fine so it makes it hard to put it all up, but we did it!

Potty Training Update

I realized that my last post about potty training may have made me seem like I was really frustrated, but I wasn't. I know that potty training can take awhile and that it is a developmental process for a child. One book I read said to remember to be patient, so true! I chose not to give up for a couple of weeks and really work on it with Kate. We watched movies on the potty and took it every where with us. We let one of her stuffed animals sit on an additional potty as a motivator, we read books on the potty, and I would sit with her for long periods of time as an encouragement. However, after two weeks of this she only went one time on the potty successfully. So I have decided to wait awhile longer. I am going to continue to talk about it and try to make her more aware of the potty etc..., but I think developmentally she is just not ready right now.
Here are some pictures of what the girls have been up to lately....

Kate has discovered play-doh! She played with it for almost an hour yesterday!

This past weekend Kamara and her girls stayed with me while our husbands were hunting. Aubrey slept in our play room on the pull out bed. When she wasn't sleeping on it we folded it up and they loved jumping on it like a trampoline.

These girls love each other! They kept hugging each other over and over again.

We treated them to some cranberry slushes on Saturday after their nap. We all enjoyed our Sonic drinks together! We had a great weekend together. Kamara and I stayed up way too late both nights, but it was good to have that time with her. Kate looked out the window for awhile after they left. She was not ready for them to leave Sunday afternoon.

Zack helped Kate with the idea to push Carly in this little wagon around the house. Carly looks a little unsure just like her Mama(The cautious one)!

We recently started letting Carly sit up in the bath with Kate. She loves her bath time with her sister!

Kate also enjoys finger painting. It is messy, but a lot of fun! It also helps her learn her colors.

Halloween Fun

We had a great time on Halloween this year! We had the Hughes and Cox family over for some warm soup, bread and desserts. We put the little ones to sleep and then us girls took Aubrey and Kate trick or treating while the boys watched the World Series.

We waited to go trick or treating till after the little ones went to bed, so it was already dark. It was quite a treat to be walking outside in the dark. It truly was dark because a lot of our neighbors turn off their lights pretty early to trick or treaters. I think a lot of people wanted to watch the Rangers, too! Kate and Aubrey were unsure at first, but they quickly got the hang of it! Pretty soon they were aggressively dipping their hands in candy bowls. Aubrey mastered saying "Trick or Treat" while Kate needed a little help. Erika was so sweet to go along with us and take pictures.

Hanging out in the front of our house after filling up their bags

Look at these cute butterflies holding hands

"Trick or Treat!"

Aubrey liked to be held in between houses while Kate enjoyed walking in the dark. Here I am holding Aubrey

Here is all of the kids together: Carly, Kate, Aubrey, Ryleigh and Harper

Zack and Kate worked together to carve a pumpkin earlier that day. I thought Zack did a really good job! Kate isn't wearing any clothes to prevent her from getting too dirty.

No, she is not naked! I know this picture makes her look that way. She really enjoyed writing on the little pumpkins.

A picture at the pumpkin patch

Trunk or Treat At Greenville Oaks. A guy dressed up as a gorilla which Kate loved!

We enjoyed all of our Halloween festivities this year!

7 month old Bubble Head

Our little bubble head

I like the swing!

The Shape Block Sorter is one of my favorite toys!

Carly turned 7 months old today! Yeah Carly! We are just enjoying her age so much right now. We still have not mastered sleeping for either naps or bedtime, but I guess that is to be expected for her age.It takes awhile for them to be on a consistent schedule. Her sleeping schedule will vary. However, we can guarantee that she will take probably one short nap( 20-30 min) in the morning and one long nap(1 hour-2.5 hours) in the afternoon. She always goes to bed between 7:30-8:00 pm and wakes up at least once around 2:00 am and then will usually sleep till about 7:30 am. We have been trying a variety of fruits and vegetables and she has liked all the vegetables but none of the fruit. I do mostly homemade baby food because it is healthier and cheaper! She has tried bananas, avocados,butternut squash, zucchini,apples, pears, peaches, and sweet potatoes. She has oatmeal for lunch and a fruit or vegetable for dinner. We can just sit her up on a blanket with toys now and she will play for awhile. It is so nice that she is sitting up but not yet mobile yet. We are fine with that! She loves to talk and say "Da, Da." She will just quietly say it over and over. She almost always wakes up happy unless she is not completely rested. She loves to smile and interact with anybody that will talk to her. She loves tags on objects and little stuffed animals. Her favorite books are the ones with faces on them. She has swollen gums where her two front top and bottom teeth are, so we know it is just a matter of time before we see those teeth! She loves to sit in the backpack on my back. If she is getting fussy and I have stuff to do that is where I put her! She does really well on our morning walk and that is usually where we get our morning nap. She now enjoys going on the swing with Kate at the park, which is fun! She doesn't really have much hair yet, but that is ok! We love our little bald headed baby!
I will do a write up on Kate soon, too.

ACU Homecoming

We had a great time in Abilene a couple of weekends ago for ACU Homecoming. It was my ten year reunion. I felt a sense of sadness all weekend not having Kamara there, though. She was not able to go due to the risk of sickness for Ryleigh. Everybody asked about her and missed her right along with me. However, it was great to see some old friends and family. We drove into town on Thursday night so that Zack could go dove hunting with his Dad Friday morning and so I could go to the Queen Tea Friday afternoon. We got some great pictures with Zack's Iphone but unfortunately were not able to upload them. Hopefully, we can figure out how to post them later.

On Friday morning I went up to Zack's high school and Mom Mom and Aunt Lindsey's work. It was also their Homecoming so I got to be there for the fun pep rally. We then left so that Kate could play some on the playground. It was neat to witness something that was a big part of Zack's life and is still a big part of Aunt Lindsey and Debbie's life.

Friday night we went to the Homecoming Carnival where Kate loved petting the animals and getting her face painted. She was so serious while the girl was painting her face. I felt like she was getting her ears pierced. The sucker was a good distraction. She wasn't sure what was going on.

We got both girl's faces painted. Go ACU!

I had a good time at the Kojie breakfast on Saturday morning. It was really early, but worth it to see some old friends and talk about memories.

It was not the same without Kamara there. We left a place for her in this picture. We had many pictures of the three of us in college. Holly looked so cute pregnant all weekend. She will be having her sweet baby boy any day now! Kudos to her for coming to Homecoming!

Chris holding Carly at the parade.

Kate absolutely loved picking up all the candy in the street throughout the parade. At first she did not get the concept, but then she took do it like a pro! Annie Clark was really sweet and would share her candy with Kate. Kate also enjoyed holding her balloon. Notice that both kids are dressed in purple and white. Purple, white, purple, white, FIGHT! FIGHT!FIGHT!

Zack wanted me to stand in front of the Stomp group walking by during the parade. Kamara and I participated in this group in college. A lot of our friends love to give us a hard time about it. It was actually a lot of fun!

Hopefully, I can post some pictures later!