Sunday Snapshots

After church on Sunday, I told Kate I wanted to get a few pictures of my big girl.  She agreed, because she'll do just about anything to put off that afternoon nap! 

And y'all.  I think this is the ONLY outfit that Kate has been able to wear 2 years in a row.  We are still in that new-wardrobe-every-season stage.  This little outfit is a hand-me-down and it is a 4T.  It was a bit big on her last year but still worked.  It fits her perfectly this year, though she mostly wears 5T.  Sadly, (and shockingly, based on the number of pictures I take), I don't have one of her wearing this last year for comparison.

I just love this little girl so much, and am so thankful that I get to be her mommy.  She has my heart!

We tried to get little sister in on the action, but she wasn't too thrilled about it. 

I think she was the only kid actually looking forward to that afternoon nap!

Karsten: Two Months

I blinked again, and this happened!

On Saturday, Karsten turned 2 months old.  I'm not quite sure where the past two months have gone, but they have FLOWN by. This little girl is growing so quickly and changing every minute. She is so much fun and we are all very much in love with her. 

Karsten has been "talking" to us lately, and we loves the coos and babbles that come out of her mouth.

Her sleeping has been GREATLY improved.  We've been using Babywise again, and attribute her 7 hour stretches partly to the routine that we've been establishing. Though we have been a lot more lax with it than we were with Kate, it still seems to be working!  Karsten has been eating somewhere between 3-4 oz every 3 hours during the daytime, and at night, we just let her go until she lets us know she is hungry.  And believe me, she lets us know!  

We had her 2 month appointment today (along with the shots- tear! ) and Karsten is most definitely growing. She is our long, lean girl.

Height: 23 1/4 inches (85%)

Weight: 10 lbs 12.5 oz (39%)

Head Circumference: 15 inches (49%)

She has the most serious expressions when she is checking you out.

And then she busts into the sweetest smiles. We've also been lucky and gotten a few laughs!

For now, I'm making the most of my last few weeks at home with her and Kate. I know I'll be posting a THREE month blog again before I know it! :)   And just for comparison sake, here is Karsten at 1 and 2 months old. 

White Chicken Chili (Crockpot)

In an effort to keep recipes in one place (that I definitely don't want to lose), I'm posting this one here.  It's a crockpot recipe, which makes it even better!  Better yet, my crockpot switches to "warm" after it cooks for the set amount of time, so there's no need to rush home to turn it off.  Win-Win.  This makes enough to feed our family of 3 for at least 3 meals (but keep in mind that one is a 3 year old, who doesn't eat a whole lot).  We usually eat it once and freeze the other 2 servings for later.

White Chicken Chili

Chili Ingredients:
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can chicken broth (14 oz)
2 cans white beans, drained (16 oz)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can corn (15 oz)
1 can diced or chopped green chilies (7 oz)
1 package taco seasoning
1 chopped onion
1 clove garlic

Toppings/Sides:
Sour Cream
Colby Jack shredded cheese (or any other kind)
Tortilla chips

Directions:
For the chili, place all ingredients, except for the chicken, in the crockpot and mix well.  Add chicken last.  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.  After cooking, remove the chicken and shred well.  Add chicken back to the crockpot and stir.  This will change your chili from a thin, soupy mixture to the thick, creamy chili. And it's done! Top individual servings with cheese and sour cream. Serve with tortilla chips.

Easy, easy!

It's Christmastime!

Kate has been asking me over and over if it is Christmas yet, and I kept reminding her that THANKSGIVING came before Christmas.  This morning she woke up and again said "Is it Christmastime now??" and I could finally tell her YES!  Though of course, after that answer, she assumed Santa was coming tonight and was sorely disappointed to realize she had to wait a whole month (even though she has no idea what a month is - she just knew it meant he wasn't coming NOW).

I've been excited for Christmas, especially this year.  Kate had fun last year but I knew this year would/will be special.  I pulled out all of my decorations over the past week and put up everything before Thanksgiving except for our tree.  Typically, I'm a NO Christmas decor until after Thanksgiving, but I just couldn't help myself.  Today, Kate helped me put up our tree for the very first time.  She had a BLAST!  I have to say that our tree is a little ornament-heavy around the 2-3 foot range, but that's okay. Kate loved pulling each ornament out- especially the salt dough ornaments that she and I made together the last 2 years.  It was fun to put her hand up to the handprints and see just how much she has grown.  She said "I was LITTLE, Mama!"

After baths, I got a few quick pictures of both girls in front of the tree.  They both have wet hair and are all lotioned down. Probably not the best time for pajama pictures, but whatever! :)

Kateisms

Most of these have been posted on my Facebook feed already, since that's where I post stuff as it happens so I can go back and then copy/paste them onto here. :)  These are the most recent "Kateisms".  This girl makes us laugh every day!



At dinner tonight, Kevin and I started asking Kate how her day at school was.  She was telling us about what she did, and something she said made me ask her if she had been put in time out.  She said yes, and I asked her why she had to go to time out.  Her response?  
"I made bad choices, Mommy."

Kate got a new play nativity today. As she was playing with it, this was our conversation :

Me- Kate, who is the baby?
Kate- Jesus.
Me- What are his Mommy and Daddy's names?
Kate- Mary and Joseph
Me- And who are those other people?Kate- The shepherds and the wise men. Me- Good job! What do the shepherds take care of?Kate- Sheep!Me- Right! And do you remember what the wise men did?Kate- They brought gifts!Me- Yep! What did they bring?Kate- Ummm.... POPCORN! They brought popcorn.

I'm sure Jesus would have appreciated the popcorn.

I love that Kate calls sparkles "sprinkles". I just can't seem to make myself correct her, because everything is better with sprinkles, right? Especially when she wants me to paint her fingernails, and make sure to put sprinkles on top.

Despite what Kevin may think, Kate KNOWS she has her Daddy wrapped around her little finger. At small group tonight, Kate was begging one of the other adults for a doughnut. The adult told her to ask her mom. Kate started to walk toward me and then turned back around to the adult and said "How about my Daddy??"

Me- Kate, did you know God made you beautiful?

Kate- No I'm not! My hair's a mess!!

We have horses in a facility near our house and we pass by them just about any time we drive somewhere. Kate has been obsessed these horses for as long as we can remember.  She has always begged to ride them, and somehow got it in her head that when she is 4 years old, she'll be able to ride them.  I've just gone with it for now.  As we were driving past the horses the other day, we had the following conversation:

Kate- Can I ride the horses, Mama? 

Me- You know when you can ride them, right? 

Kate- Yep. When I'm like dirt. 

Me- Huh?

Kate- You know, Mom. Old like dirt. Then I can ride the horses. 

Bows & Smiles

My girls love bows. Let me take that back-  I love seeing my girls in bows. :)  There's nothing more southern than a little girl in a big bow.  Unless, of course, the little girl is also wearing something smocked or monogrammed along with her big bow.  Luckily Karsten has a good supply of some super cute headbands, most of which are from Sassy Sweet Pea Designs, to help her keep a bow on her head.  It might be a while before she has as much hair as Kate to be able to clip them in her hair, so I am loving the headband stage... and apparently so is Karsten.  We've gotten some cute baby smiles the last few days and it is so much fun!!  Enjoy the pictures of Karsten (and a few of Kate, who hasn't wanted to sit still recently) in all of their bows, and go check out Sassy Sweet Pea Designs on Etsy or on Facebook.  Their bows are so cute, and very reasonably priced! Happy Friday!!

A Little (Early) Winter Crafting

Kate has really gotten into the arts and crafts kind of stuff. I think it is from all of the painting, cutting, gluing, etc that she does at school.  SO, I decided to pull out the paints and let her do a fun wintery craft on Sunday afternoon while Karsten napped.  Of course, I saw something similar to this on Pinterest (where else?) and decided to give it a try.  Actually, it's really similar pretty much exactly the same as the Valentine's craft I did with her back when she was about 18 months old.

All it took was a small canvas, masking tape, washable paint and paintbrushes!  And of course, a table cloth and bib to protect my table and Kate's clothes!

Here are the snowflakes all taped up and ready to go!

"Let's do this, Mom!"

After a coat of blue paint, we let it dry for a few hours and then went back over it with a coat of silver glitter paint.  Once that coat was dry, we pulled off the tape and there were our snowflakes!  I traced around the outside with a black sharpie just to make them stand out a bit more.  As Kate watched me tracing she said "You're an incredible drawer, Mom!"  She has become quite generous with her compliments lately, but who am I to complain?  I guess it takes LOTS of skill to trace snowflakes- a skill which, according to Kate, I apparently am incredible at. 

And.... the finished product!