Blueberries anyone?

Kara loves blueberries! Tim fixed blueberry pancakes this morning, and Kara loved them--can't you tell?!

18-month doctor appointment

Kara's 18-month appointment was today. Dr. Joe, our pediatrician, was pleased with Kara's progress in all areas. Kara weighed 20 lbs 8 oz, and is 29 1/2 inches long. She had three shots today--MMR, Hep A, and Chicken Pox. She cried of course, but it didn't last too long. Our little peanut is doing great!

**The pictures are of Kara kissing our wooden bear that sits in our office. She likes giving kisses!

Kara & the keyboard

Kara loves to play with our computer keyboards, which isn't very convenient when we're working on the computer. So, when Tim got his new computer after Christmas, Kara inherited his old keyboard. She has a lot of fun on it, so of course we decided to take a couple of pictures of her enjoying it.

Our Leo Bear

I just realized that we do not have any pictures of our dog on our blog! Something is wrong with that, so we took a few tonight to change that fact! Isn't he cute?

Kathy's Outpatient Surgery

I had surgery on my wrist last Friday, the 16th. I started having pain/weakness a little over a year and a half ago. I mentioned it to my family doctor after about a year because the pain was becoming worse. I was referred to an orthopedist who told me that I had something called Stenosing Tenosynovitis. I was given a cortisone shot which solved the problem for 8 months. The pain came back and the tendon in my wrist 'popped' and made a bump protrude. It was strange looking! I saw the orthopedist again in early January and the surgery was scheduled. The pictures posted on here are three days after surgery, and actually look much better. I'm still feeling pain, but that's to be expected for another 10 or 11 more days. It's so odd to not be able to do things with my left hand, or do simple tasks that require two hands...like natural necessities. :-(

Kara's 1st GMU game

Kara went to her first GMU basketball game in November 2008. As you can tell from the picture, she looks like she's having a great time! This picture was actually taken by Kara's Aunt Krista, before Kara hit the 'point of no return'--exhaustion and melt-down time. Unfortunately, we had to leave the game early. We'll have to try taking Kara again when she's a little older. :-)

Kara is 18 months old!

Kara turned 18 months old yesterday, January 13th! Hard to believe our little girl is 1 1/2 yrs old! She is still a little 'peanut', and barely weighs 20 lbs--as of last Friday, the 9th. Kara eats a lot at every meal, and two big snacks a day, so we're definitely not starving her! She looks healthy, as you can tell by the pictures. We're guessing Kara will be small all her life. Nothing wrong with that...great things come in small packages!

The beef has arrived!!!

We ordered a half a cow to tide us over for the next year. The first picture shows the bottom of our freezer that is filled with ground beef. The top four baskets are filled with steaks and roasts. We had our first steaks tonight and they were awesome!!

Doggy PJ'S

Kara got some new pajamas today with her favorite animal on them--a dog! She looked so cute at bedtime, we just had to take pictures.

New outfit and hair clip

Kara is wearing a new outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Lang, and a hair clip made by Aunt Anne! Pretty darn cute! The outfit is size 18 months...but it must run small, because that is the only clothing that size that will fit her. :-)

Celebrating Christmas with Family in Ohio on the 27th

The four of us drove to Ohio to visit with Tim's family and celebrate Christmas. The drive was a little over six hours--the longest Kara has ever been confined to her carseat! She did really well, thanks to the van's DVD player and many hours of new movies for her to watch. Samantha slept, watched movies on the portable DVD player with headset, and listened to her new iPOD. Kathy read, slept and made sure Kara was happy. Tim drove the whole way, which is typical. LOL

We celebrated Christmas the evening of the 27th with Grandma and Grandpa Lang, Aunt Anne, Uncle Matt, Aunt Zoe, Uncle Mike, cousin Bean, and Zoe's mom, Wendy. We enjoyed our visit, and didn't head home till the 31st. We drove back home through snow, but were disappointed to find no snow at home. :-(

Celebrating Christmas with Family in VA on the 26th

The four of us celebrated Christmas with all of Kathy's family in VA on December 26th at Nana & Papas' home. GrandMimi and GrandBob were there too! We had a great time, as the photos show. The kiddos make it all more fun!

Christmas Day 2008!

Kara running to her wagon with mega blocks that Santa left for her!

Kara in her 'princess' chair!

Kara with her xylophone and Elmo Live!

Samantha with her new Canon digital camera!

Samantha received perfume from Aerie. She also received a new ipod nano and was loading videos and songs during the picture-taking. :-)

The finished product--not a pretty picture, in my opinion, but tasted so darn good!


We had a wonderful day celebrating Christmas! It started at 7 am with opening presents & stockings--which only took an hour! Then we had a yummy breakfast...eggs, home-made waffles, and ghutta (family recipe). Afterwards, Kara went down for a nap and the rest of us showered and got dressed for the day. Then we started cooking Christmas dinner. We prepared the turkey with a delicious rub my dad passed down to us. It is a mixture of olive oil, freshly chopped rosemary, freshly chopped basil, minced garlic, Italian seasoning and pepper. Tim followed in his older brother's footsteps and took a picture of the finished product above. Along with the turkey, we had sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce and rolls. It was incredibly delicious, and we loved having our friend, Connie, join us for dinner.

Christmas 2008 has been one to remember!

Christmas Eve 2008

Tim and Kathy have decided to keep the tradition of opening up one gift on Christmas Eve...at least for the children in the family. Kara didn't have to open hers, because there was no way to wrap it! Kara loves her little pink pony from mommy and daddy! When you press its' ears, it neighs and sings a song. :-) It's just the right size for our little Kara. Samantha was dying (and I'm not exaggerating) to open up the 4th book in the Twilight saga! She finished the 3rd book about a month ago, and wasn't too happy about having to wait this long to start the last book. Samantha has been reading every minute since she opened the book (I was barely able to take her picture!), except while eating dinner and during the Christmas Eve service at church. The service was terrific, especially the wonderful music performed by many talented singers. Our family is very blessed and we're so thankful for everything, especially our two beautiful daughters!

Visiting with Grandparents and Great-Grandparents!

Samantha and Kara's grandparents, Nana and Papa, brought Grand Mimi and Grand Bob to our house today! We had a great time visiting before, during, and after dinner. :-) Kara was in rare form, as usual these days, and the center of attention! Samantha was a good, big sister and very helpful...especially during the picture taking!

Celebrating Sean's Birthday!

Our nephew, Sean, celebrated his 4th birthday with family and friends on Saturday! Isn't that smile adorable? We all had a great time eating the yummy food and socializing with the adults while the kiddos played. Sean seemed to really enjoy his cupcake and all of the cool gifts he received. :-) Kara also showed off her beautiful smile and her good walking skills!