I'm ready for the beach....

Daddy's Graduation!!!

YEAH!!! For the past 16 months, Lou has been gone 1 weekend a month (and 2 separate full weeks). He's been working on his MBA at UF in their professional program. While we are VERY proud of him, we are so happy he is done! We went up to UF with him the other weekend for his finals on Saturday and then his graduation ceremony on Sunday. Kelsey was so good during the ceremony. Lou couldn't hear her, but she kept saying "daddy sit" (and pointing up to him. Only about 190 graduates, so it was small) & "daddy wear hat" It was so cute. She spent most of the ceremony playing on the floor with stickers, which was fine by me since she was entertained and not loud. Our good friends Derek and Liz were there with us. They've been awesome friends and let Lou crash at their place every month (which saved us $$$).

Before Derek and Liz got there, Kelsey had a chair to herself. She had so much fun "rocking" the chair up and down. Too bad there wasn't 4 seats in a row, this would've entretained her the entire time for sure (instead of the dirty ground)

This is where she was pointing at daddy

Hiding, playing shy behind a bench

Lou & Kelsey with Derek and Liz

Kels & Daddy w/ the tower in the background

She loves being in daddy's arms

She loved playing with the tassel

CONGRATULATIONS LOUIE!! KELSEY & I ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!

Check out how long her hair is....

A trip to the Animal Farm

My mom's group took a field trip 15 minutes down the highway to a small farm. The wonderful lady who owns it, lets the kids feed and pet the animals. She tells them about the animals and even let them hold some baby bunnies and baby ducks (watch out they poop!) All this animal fun for only $5 a kid. What a deal!!

Kelsey and I arrived a few minutes late and the group was coming out of the barn with hay to feed the sheep, alpacas, pigs and other animals I didn't catch the name of since we were late (oops! I had to stop and get my Starbucks fix)

Petting the bunny with mommyEmma showing Kelsey the baby duck Kelsey, Madeline & Kimber w/ the duck
Standing on a rock checking out all the animals

Here Chicken chicken!!!

Going to see the horses (she LOVED the horses)

Hello Frankie!

Petting the bunny with Ms. Deb

Checking out the bigger bunnies in the cages with Madeline

Sidenote...it's been about 2 1/2 weeks since we went to the farm, but Kelsey still tells me "farm fun" and I ask her what she saw/did and she tells me about the chickens "hold baby duck" hold baby bunny" and about the ducks & horses. I think it left an impression on her. So cool!

Zoo Trip with friends

Last week we took a trip up to the zoo with our friends from the moms' group. It was a long drive, but we had a lot of fun. We saw lots of birds, monkeys, gators, a fox, and Kelsey got to see the Giraffes. As a group, we stopped by the giraffe place twice, but both times the giraffes were not out. Watching a girl feed a bird on her arm. 2 seconds later the bird flew right at Kelsey and landed above her head on the rail.Kelsey petting a bird
This was in the petting area of the zoo...Kelsey was hesitantly petting all of the animals in here.How freaking cute is this...soo totally not posed. They just held hands when we were leaving the monkey area. They have a water area at this zoo. Kelsey was a little hesitant at first. It was so strange.
Then she started to get more comfortable and walked away
Playing with some of the water toys
She found a turtle and a shark and was very happy.

Easter Afternoon

We drove down to visit Lou's family for the afternoon/evening. His mom had an Easter egg hunt setup for the kiddos and the Easter Bunny came to her house as well. While all of the other kids stopped the egg hunt as soon as they saw the gifts from the Easter bunny on the table....Kelsey continued on picking up eggs.

Kelsey had a lot of fun playing with Aunt Jenny and Aunt Michelle.

She also had a blast trying to play with the big boys!

Easter Morning

The Easter Bunny hid Kelsey's basket outside and setup an egg hunt for her as well.

She was so into the egg hunt (cleaning up the eggs) that she didn't really even care about her basket until we made her stop and check it out!

She got a bunny book, bunny ears, a bunny, stickers and a wheel and trapeze for her swing set. (yes, there was no candy... The Easter Bunny realizes she's not even 2 so there's no need for it)

Next climb...Mt. Everest!

Our girl is a climber! We didn't expect her to able to climb her rock wall quite yet, we really only put it on for the bigger kids who come over. She showed us.....

She has also now conquered climbing the ladder on the back side of the swingset by herself as well. Oh Lordy are we in for it....

Sorry the video is sideways..I'm trying to download software to edit it now...but until then...here it is

Dying Easter Eggs...

On Saturday, we went to our 2nd home, "the River House" (I mean my parents house), to take Kelsey out on papa's boat again. It was a gorgeous day! Kelsey kept telling us it was"windy" and moving her hair out of her face and she kept saying "faster daddy". It was too cute. After lunch we put her down for a nap there. When she woke up I brought her out on the patio with me and she went over to where the life jackets are kept, got her, brought it back to me, told me "life jacket on", put it on, and said (and pointed) "papas boat"! We tried to go out again, but the tide was too low. We decided to dye our Easter eggs there before heading home. PLOP/ CRACK!! That would be Kelsey throwing the egg into the bowl of color. Lou trying to show her how to gently put the eggs in the bowlShe started out dressed, wearing a bib. But Kelsey didn't understand how to "gently" put the eggs in and would basically throw them into the bowls of color. Needless to say some splashed on her, so we stripped the dress off (ran it under cold water) and proceeded to dye eggs.This was her softest dropped one.
Watching the eggs while they sat in the color

Kelsey & Daddy w/ all the eggs in the color So excited they are all done and out to dry!Kelsey & Mommy w/ the eggs

Snack Stealer....

In the afternoon I brought her snack (Annie's whole wheat bunnies) out with us to the swingset. I was giving them to her a few at a time, until she decided she would rather steal the box from me and eat them on her own!

Loves to play w/ her eggs...

When we get home from the park, I usually open the slider and let Kelsey play on the back patio while I make her lunch. When I came out to check on her, this is what I found...so cute!

Unprompted Thank Yous....

I just noticed this past week/end that Kelsey has started saying thank you without being prompted. If I hand her something while I am driving (like her water or snack or a block) she will say "Thank you Mommy". It's so freakin' cute! Granted she doesn't always use it when she should, it's nice to hear it when she does!

Hey Nana & Papa....

I'm drinking milk in your bed!!!!

And wearing your slippers!!

We stayed the night at my parents house Sat night...Kelsey had fun, but was a little confused as to why "nana & papa" were not at their house too!

Photo Shoot

I dressed Kelsey up the other day to take some pictures of her with my diaper clutch. I needed a picture for my website and decided it was more personal to have a picture of her, rather than just a picture of products. The combination of her being a toddler and my camera not being as fast as I would like left me a little frustrated. But we did get 3 good shots. My sister Cindy helped me out some and we picked a final pic and I sent out the info to my web person tonight!!

Papa's Boat!!!!

This weekend was beautiful. We spent Sunday at my parents house and our friends joined us in the morning for a boat ride, cook out, and some water skiing (during naptime). Kelsey was so excited that her 2 best buds, Jack & Maddie, were going to go on Papa's Boat with her.

After an alarming start (the boat alarm went off b/c of low drive oil), LOL, we finally got the boat pulled out to enjoy a "cruise". Beautiful weather and the kids were FABULOUS!!!! It was a great day!

Kels & Mommy

It was very windy in the front of the boat

Helping Daddy Drive the boat
Cap'n Kelsey!

Kels, Jack and Maddie in the front of the boat

Checking out the water/sites in front

Maddie & Kels (Superstars!!!)

Getting ready to pull out from the dock.

Easter Egg Hunt #1

Kelsey and her friends had an egg hunt this morning at the park. Below is a picture of most of the kids in the group. Kelsey is in the front row next to her friend Madeline (who's in a yellow shirt) The kids made their own bags before the hunt. I carried the bag and Kelsey would put the eggs in when she "found" them. This is the only picture I have. See the camera hanging on my neck...nice that I forgot the photo card for it at home so I had no memory to take pics.After nap I took her out in our yard (both front and back) and we had about 6 more egg hunts. I added in the extra empty eggs I had at home. She really loves to clean up, so she was very good at this game and had fun doing it. I would throw the eggs out in the grass and she carried her basket and picked/cleaned them all up. Hopefully I'll have more pics after Friday's egg hunt.