Happy 1st Birthday Kara!!!!

Kara had a wonderful 1st birthday party at our house! We were thrilled that she seemed happy and enjoyed all that was going on, considering that she's been fighting fevers since late afternoon yesterday. Kara had a febrile seizure at Martins grocery store while Tim was picking up formula yesterday afternoon. It scared him to death, as I'm sure you can imagine! Kathy was in DC at the Women of Faith conference, and felt completely helpless for the 2 1/2 hours that it took her to get from DC to the hospital where Kara was taken by ambulance. The good news is that the blood and urine tests and x-rays came back normal, and her fever dropped from 104 to 99.5 degrees after being given Tylenol and Motrin in the ER. The fever has been up and down since we've returned home, but not as high as it was when Kara had the seizure. The ER doctor told us that Kara would be fighting the fevers for the next few days, so Tim and Kathy will both be staying home with her.

Kara's grandparents, Nana & Papa, her two Aunts and Uncles, and her three cousins came up to celebrate her 1st birthday with her. Kara also had friends, Tristan, Kyra, Chase, Alyssa, Rebecca, Megan and Kaitlyn (as well as their parents) come celebrate with her too! We had a house-full to say the least. The young kids had a great time playing in the bubblegum ball pit and on the bouncy house trampoline! Kara really seemed to like her birthday cake, especially the purple frosting--as the picture shows. :-) Everyone else chowed down on burgers and hotdogs, salads, chips and dips before eating the delicious 'fish in the aquarium' cake that Kara's babysitter, Dawn, made. It was a beautiful cake and it tasted great! Kara received many fun, cute, and age-appropriate gifts from all of her family and friends. Her baby toys just weren't stimulating enough anymore! :-) Enjoy the pictures!

Camping at Rocky Gap for 4th of July Weekend

Well, the weather definitely didn't cooperate during our camping trip at Rocky Gap. We left a little before 2 pm on July 3rd and arrived at the campground at 3:15. We set up quickly and enjoyed about 3 hours of rain-free weather. Then it rained pretty much non-stop until about 7:30 pm on July 4th. Hopefully most of the fireworks shows still took place since the rain stopped for around 3 hours. Because everything was still soaking wet, we decided to pass on the fireworks.

Kara had the worst night's sleep of her little life on the 4th, and woke up crying continuously throughout the night. That is so unlike Kara--who has been sleeping wonderfully through the night since she was around 10 weeks old. Although Kara is an early riser, she goes to bed at 8 pm and wakes up usually at 6 am, and sleeps well for 10 straight hours. When Kara woke up at 6:15 this morning she had a fever of 102.1. And...it was still raining! Needless to say, it was time to pack up and go home. We arrived home at around 10 am, and with the help of an extra long nap and two doses of Tylenol, Kara's fever is down to 99 this evening. We think the fever is a result of teething. Kara has at least four teeth coming in at the same time--could be more that we are not aware of yet. This is obviously causing her a lot of discomfort, which makes her cranky, whiny, and not all that interested in drinking or eating. Thankfully, for Kara and us, we know it's a temporary thing.

The picture of Kara in her tent was taken before the rain started at the beginning of the camping trip. She has on her 'fireworks' shirt that was made at her babysitter Dawn's house earlier in the week. Isn't it cute? The second picture was to document how wet and soggy our campsite was the majority of the time. Kathy took the picture this morning as we were packing up to leave.

We're hoping the next camping trip at the end of July is much drier, and we experience sunshine instead of rain! We bet Aunt Karen and Aidan who will be joining us are wishing for that too!

More pictures from Capon Springs

Trip to Capon Springs & Farm in WV

Our family of four joined all of Kathy's family in Capon Springs for a mini reunion. It was nice to be able to get together and spend time with everyone for more than a few hours. The family resort has awesome food, a nice golf course (Tim enjoyed) and lots of outdoor activities for the kids. We had five rooms with private baths in the West Virginia House. We even had a family room for storing the coolers, with a small fridge, table and chairs, and two couches. The covered porch was used quite a bit during the stay b/c the weather was very nice--especially in the evenings.

1 year ago today....

It was one year ago today that we got the call from American Adoptions letting us know that a birth mother had chosen our family to raise and love her child! That phone call and that day was one of the most exciting for our family. And...just 24 days later, our baby girl was born! What an amazing day that was for all of us! We are so thankful for our little blessing.

Leaving Florida

On our last morning in Florida, Kara was practicing some of the skills she has learned this week. :-) One of them is pulling herself up on things! She gets on her knees and pulls herself up on whatever she can manage. This week she has used the exersaucer a lot for this trick! I just had to document her efforts.

We are leaving around lunch time to head back to the Pensacola airport. If you read this post before 3 pm, please pray that we have no complications with our flights today! We fly to Atlanta, and then have just enough time to get on our connection to Dulles. We really hope to be home in WV no later than 10 pm tonight! It's been a wonderful week!

Last day of vacation

Today, our last day of vacation, was pretty low-key. The girls, Samantha and Sophie, got tattoos (temporary of course), and all of us did a little shopping. It was a pretty relaxing day--as the whole week has been. A BIG thanks to Ben and Anne for letting us use all of the baby equipment this week. As you can see from the picture, Kara had a grand time playing in the Baby Einstein exersaucer! The Pack n' Play and high chair were well-used also. When Samantha and Sophie weren't outside soaking up the sun by the pool, they were inside watching TV, laughing and just generally acting silly. :-)

Our Boat Trip

Today we rented a pontoon boat and went out on the bay for half the day. We had so much fun, and Kara loved her first boat ride! Kara enjoyed helping Tim drive the boat, and then they cooled off in the water. She even relaxed enough to take a nap, as you can tell from one of the pictures. Samantha and Sophie worked on their tans and then jumped off the boat into the clear, green water. The weather said 80% chance of rain, but we didn't have any problems, and it was absolutely beautiful day!

Kara's Getting Teeth!

We were finally able to get a picture of Kara so you can see that she has two teeth coming in on the bottom. One is a little bigger than the other, but maybe they'll both be completely in by the time she's one year old!

Kara & the Frog

In the video, Tim is playing with Kara and the frog we got for her at Fudpucker's Restaurant the other night. She loves it when Tim throws the frog up in the air--we just LOVE that laugh!!

Crazy Tim & Samantha!!

Tim and Samantha decided to be wild n' crazy today, and do something neither of them had ever done before. They went BUNGEE JUMPING!!! A place called The Track has a 65 foot tower/platform just for insane people who find pleasure jumping off of it--and two of those people are in my family--go figure. :-) Video was taken of both jumps, just so we could prove that they actually did it! There are two videos of Samantha, because Kathy accidentally hit the button right after the jump, which made it stop recording for a second. :-( The two pictures above are taken prior to the jump--one getting 'strapped up', and the other climbing the HUGE platform. PS. The lady talking during the video is NOT Kathy--just some stranger nearby.

Kara is 11 months old today!!

Kara turned 11 months old today--Friday, June 13th! The time has really flown by, but it feels as if Kara has always been a part of our family. I cannot believe she will be one year old in one short month! We plan to have a big party for our sweet, one year old on Sunday, July 13th. So, friends and family better mark your calendars! The picture was taken at The Track today. Kara and Kathy were watching all the people and enjoying the outdoors. :-)

Kara @ the Beach & in the Ocean!

Today Kara experienced the white sand on the beach, and the green water of the Gulf of Mexico--and she loved it! Kara is definitely a lover of all that is Florida. :-)

Kara & the Pool!

Today was Kara's first experience in a pool, and she loved it!! The float in the pictures worked wonderfully, and Kara really enjoyed floating around in it. Tomorrow we'll see what she thinks about the beach and the ocean!

Another flying disaster! :-(

We're convinced that there is no way to fly anywhere these days without having some kind of problem. It all started for us when we checked in at Dulles airport and found out our 3:00 pm flight was canceled. We were placed on the next flight to Atlanta that was scheduled to leave at 4:58 pm. We were a little bummed, but thought leaving 2 hours later wasn't that big a deal. Well, the plane finally pulled out of the gate at 6 pm, and then we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours! We left Dulles at 8 pm and arrived in Atlanta at 9:40 pm--just 15 minutes after the plane (we were supposed to be on) left for Pensacola. We were stranded in Atlanta, and to make matters worse, we had no baggage. No one employed by Air Tran knew where our six pieces of luggage were, including Kara's car seat. We were given a voucher for a hotel room, just to find out that most of the rooms at the hotels accepting the voucher were booked. It was midnight, and we finally booked a room and waited for the free shuttle bus to arrive and take us to the hotel. It didn't show up, and so we accepted the offer from a shuttle bus driver to go to the Super 8 Motel, just 5 minutes from the airport. It was pretty 'dumpy' to say the least, and we were responsible for paying the bill ourselves. By the way, our sweet Kara never fell asleep from 8 pm (her bedtime) until about 12:30 am when we finally got her settled in her port-a-crib at the motel. She was actually very well-behaved (our little angel) considering that she was up way past her bedtime. We all had a very restless 5 1/2 hours of sleep before it was time to wake up and head back to the airport. No toothbrushes or changes of clothes, and no showers--we were looking great! Our 9:30 am flight to Pensacola was on time, and we made it here safely! Yea! The best news was that all of our bags magically made it to our destination too, and the Expedition we rented (for the previous day) was still available! We are so happy to be in Destin, and we plan to really enjoy the rest of our vacation! Sure hope the return flight is better....

**Tim wanted me to add that Air Tran booked all of our seats in aisle 21, the exit aisle! We brought that to the gate attendant's attention and asked if they could complimentary upgrade us to business class because of how terrible our trip had been thus far. The woman said she would talk to other passengers about moving around so that we could get out of the exit row. All of the sudden, she started to load business class and asked us if we were ready to board. We were told that we had three seats in business class, with only two of them together. The fourth person was switched to another seat in coach. I explained that it wouldn't work. We had two 13 yr olds that needed to stay together, and Tim and I needed to stay together to take care of the baby. The Air Tran employee told us that was the best she could do and to just deal with it. We boarded the plane, and as Tim was getting Kara and me settled, an older gentleman offered to let Tim take his seat in business class. We were so surprised and thankful for his generosity! That very nice man had paid extra for his seat in business class, and he gave it up for our family. We will definitely pay it forward!

Leaving for Florida!

We fly to Destin, Florida tomorrow for a week in the sand & the sun! We will return home the evening of June 17th. This is Kara's first trip to Florida, and the house we stay at while in Destin. We're looking forward to introducing her to the pool (she's never been in one), the white, soft sand, and the warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico!! Samantha is bringing her friend, Sophie, again this year, and we're all looking forward to having a great time. The weather here at home has been so horribly hot and humid (mid 90's) the past few days. If it's this hot and humid in Florida, at least we can cool off in the pool or the ocean! Check back next week for several pictures and a new post about our vacation!

Samantha's Birthday Pool Party!

The kids seemed to have a great time at the pool party last night (as you can see from the pictures above)! It was the perfect evening for a pool party, after a day of 95 degree temperatures. Our friends, Susie and Randy helped chaperone, and Susie did a fine job of documenting the occasion by taking lots of good pictures.

Kara's Dedication

Today was Kara's baby dedication at church, and Kathy's parents, sisters and their families were all there to celebrate with the three of us. It was a very nice service and the photo slideshow of all the children that were dedicated was terrific! After church, the 12 of us went to a wonderful brunch at Heatherfield's Restaurant. Everything was delicious, and we really appreciate Samantha and Kara's Nana & Papa treating us all! We were also celebrating Samantha's 13th birthday today with her grandparents, aunts & uncles, and cousins. It was a fun day, and a great way to end the weekend!