John and Katie always seem to have the best conversations. He manages to get information out of her that I just can’t… Anyway, he put her to bed tonight and as she was going down her long list of boyfriends: Carter, Lane, Landon, Will, Sam etc. John said “Well, if you had to pick one which one would you pick?” Katie thought about it for a minute then said, “Well, if I had to pick one I would pick Will-because he moved.” Then a few minutes later she said, “I miss him.” Ok at FIRST she was my girl but now she is John’s girl. ha ha!

Well I am FINALLY finished-barring 1 month in 2004 which I think is in the safety deposit box since I can find it at home. Here is Katie’s first year as a baby. Enjoy!

While we are laying in bed reading stories Katie wants to go through this dog book so we can decide dog names for when we WAY in the future decide to get one. This ensues a conversation on how labs have adult bodies but still act like puppies and will jump on you until we teach them not to jump. Her reply, “Let’s let Daddy teach it since he is so much older than us.” ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… John didn’t find this as funny. I am not sure why.

We just had a huge rain storm and the girls LOVE jumping in the puddles. We always put on our rainboots after a good rain storm and go out and have a ball. Well this time it happened on a weekend so Daddy was able to join in on the fun. I never thought about taking the girls across the street to stomp in the puddles on the golf course (or really in the trees just outside the golf course). Katie finds a huge swampy looking puddle and the girls start to wade in. Within about 10 seconds Hannah starts screaming. And I mean REALLY screaming. John and I have never heard her scream like this. He immediately snatchers her out of the water I am frantically looking for anything biting her and rip off her rain boots-still nothing! Finally Hannah screams “ALLIGATOR!” and points to the swampy looking puddle. I must confess at feeling a little guilty because John and my immediate reaction was to start cracking up! Clearly there are NO alligators on our golf course. Maybe in Myrtle Beach but not here. I have talked with Hannah several times and she STILL insists that yes there are alligators out there.

“Alligator! Eat me!” Hannah

It is always fun to go back through the year and see how much fun we had and how much the girls have changed. Hannah just saying a few words to talking up a storm. Katie in her last year of pre-school who still looked like a toddler in the beginning of the year and now looks like a big girl. sniff. sniff.

Most of my day consists of playing with and taking care of the kids, then tackling all the needs of the business and throwing in a load of laundry and cleaning the dishes. There just isn’t much room for anything else. So the house can be quite messy at times depending on how demanding either the kids or the business are that day. Today was one of those days. But as I was walking across the living room floor on my way to bed (with my laptop no less) I noticed my favorite dress pillows from the front room that are really only for decor smashed into one of the girls pottery barn chairs in a make shift bed for one of her teddy bears. A couple steps more is yet another stuffed animal shoved into Katie’s snow boot. And with it appears to be a small toy meant to give the animal comfort. So even with all the mess-how can that not make you smile and remind you that it is all worth while.

Well, I won’t say 2009 was a bad year. It wasn’t. And nothing compares to 2007 so thank goodness we didn’t have another one of those. But it wasn’t a fabulous year. I am hoping 2010 will be MUCH better. More time for family mostly.

I can’t BELIEVE I forgot to post this… As crazy as things were this month with 2 birthday’s, the business driving me crazy with Christmas orders and Wedding albums due in time to take home to relatives to show left me very little personal time so these are the things I missed. But even if it is Christmas and I am just now posting it is still ADORABLE. Katie of course LOVED Santa. Hannah on the other hand wanted nothing to do with him! Maybe next year.

Ah… So typical. Santa brought an awesome, two seat, motorized Jeep for the girls. Well, Santa didn’t quite plug it in right so it wasn’t charged and ready to go like I am sure he hoped for… So even though a box doesn’t move and despite the PILES of other toys to play with Katie promply takes one of the empty boxes and makes a make-shift car out of it for her and Hannah. I told her next year I was telling Santa just to bring her a box. She didn’t think that was funny.

As usual Katie and I seem to have our deepest conversations in the car. That was the way my Mom and I did it too. As we are driving along Katie asks me, “Who do you think is the greatest person on Earth?”. Thinking well, he’s not on Earth but I know what she means, I reply “Jesus.”. She looks at me with big eyes and says, “Not Santa?”. To which I say, “Well, Santa IS pretty great, but he only brings toys one time a year. Now Jesus is like the Mommy of the whole world! He looks after us, loves us, takes care of us, listens to us.” Katie, “But Mommy, Jesus is a BOY.” Me, “Yes, Katie, I said he was ‘LIKE’ the Mommy of the world. Meaning he does the job of a Mommy for everyone on Earth.”

The girls had a great time at a friend’s birthday. I thought this was very appropriate practice for the fishing they did at their cousins!

We always love visiting the cousins. The girls have a ball. It’s nice to have such a big family. And a bonus is they live on the lake! This time John decided to buy some fishing poles and teach the girls to fish. There weren’t any fish but it didn’t keep them from having a ball. I felt a little bad for the worms though.

“Come on Hannah. Mommies busy. We need to find another servant. That means helper.” Umm… I think the first definition was the correct one. ; )

My older child came downstairs this morning with “I HAD THE BEST DREAM!”. Obvioulsy I envisioned fairy princesses or lands of birthday cakes and presents. But OH NO. Evidently there was a girl in the house and she stepped on her foot and stole her powers. Then there was a bad guy in the house and she pushed him down. Then the girl was by the green chair and Katie got the ‘pad’ (whatever that is) and restored the girls powers. But she was good now. Then Katie says, “Now if a bad guy tries to get me, I will just push him down!” All smiles. Needless to say we had a talk about bad guys. ; )

Hannah just LOVES to dance. So we thought a dance party was a great way to celebrate her turning two. The day started off with a rousing game of Duck-Duck-Goose. But once the party started Hannah decided she wasn’t as excited about being the center of attention. But she warmed up after a while and joined in with the beanie bag dance and the parachute. All in all a GREAT day. Happy Birthday BIG GIRL!!!!

John being the sweet husband he is after making a quick chicken broth run enters the house and hugs us all and says “I am thanking for Katie, Hannah & Mommy.” Katie follows with “I am thankful for my family and my friends.” I then say, “I am thankful for Katie, Hannah, Daddy and my family. I am also thankful for having a wonderful house to have our thanksgiving in.” When we asked Hannah what she was thankful for she said “…cookies”.

Upon noticing I had inadvertently turned the oven off while the turkey was cooking and was commenting to John that dinner would be delayed by a 1/2 hour Katie responded “What happened to the big beast?”

It’s not shocking that the girls had a ball on Halloween. They loaded up on candy and charmed everyone they met. And LOOK! Hannah’s not wearing white! (Wish I could say that for the rest of the days.) ; )

What a treat! (Trick or treat!) Uncle Douglas and Aunt Marilyn came in for a visit to do a little pumpkin carving for Halloween. SPOOKY!!!!!!!!!!!

Ms. Bethany’s is always full of adventure. They are so creative about finding fun ways to entertain the kids. This is one of Katie’s favorite things to do all year. I think now Hannah too!

“Hannah. Did you mess with my coin collection?” Katie

Well after 6 years I am just now getting to editing all my raw video tapes. I just finished a long and short version of 2008. Clearly I am publishing the SHORT version here. They were so adorable. They are growing up so fast. I do wish sometimes I could just freeze time.

This was a little routine Katie’s dance class did right before Christmas to “Santa Claus is coming to Town”. I just ran across it so I had to post!

I just love summer and wish it would never leave. The girls and John love it too. The swimming pool and the swing sets; Katie riding her big wheel and Hannah being pushed by me in her mini-bike. We’ll miss it as the fall leaves are already starting to turn… Bye summer. We are sad to see you go.

“Mom. This candy is so sour it’s making me blink.” – Katie