Random Karis talk...

"Maybe Daddy will put batteries in it and fix it!" (after finding out that her very favorite headband, the one she wears every waking moment, was broken)

"IMPRESSIVE" (stated very proudly after a big '"toot" in the bathroom :)

Karis: "All our friends are girls?"
Me: Well, we have boy friends, too. Jon is a boy and he is your friend."
Jon: Do you wish I were a girl?
Karis: "YES!"

"Grandma and Papa have pool -- we need bathing suits!!! Daddy not need bathing suits because he is a boy!"

(To Daddy) "You have a baby in your belly!"
Daddy: Well, I guess I need to work out more!

I wuv them because they are my brovers (she meant cousins :)

(Very excitedly) "Hey Mama! May I wear my church shoes because our church friends are coming over!!!"

I know...( from Karis)

Karis has enjoyed learning scriptures with me and these are the first two that she ever learned and the ones she still loves the most... I really need to get her on video saying them because it is just precious :)

Moments I love...

The only thing better than watching my baby dance...

...Is watching her dance with Daddy :)



(Please ignore the shoes that are too big... she has a thing about wearing everyone's shoes :)

This post is part of Momentous Monday :)

My special birthday cake :)

4 years ago, Mark came home from working at UPS around 3:30 in the morning and decided to make me a special strawberry birthday cake instead of going to bed. When I got up around 5am to get ready for work, there he was with my cake!

He has continued the tradition of making me a cake (although he is no longer up at 3:30am :) This year was extra special because Karis helped him make it. As you can tell from the picture, she was ever so excited!

Karlie Sue at 15 months

At 15 months, Karlie Sue...

... Says about 20 words regularly, but her favorites are "suess" (shoes), "oh,oh, oh, oh!" (when she sees something she wants :), and "Pup-pup."

... has gotten to be more of a picky eater, but will eat pretty much anything in front of her if I am reading to her :)

... has her Daddy's skin -- Karis and I turn a lovely shade of pink after being in the sun, but Karlie starts looking like an Indian.

... wants to put her shoes on all the time and then gets very upset if I don't let her go outside immediately there-after!

... Still thinks that anyone who enters our door should immediately read her a book!

... Chatters joyfully all day long, most often about Daddy and Papa and Pup-pup

... Is utterly obsessed with bugs, particularly spiders. I had to knock one down from the ceiling about 2 weeks ago and she is still pointing to the spot and saying "bye-bye" several times a day. She thought a screw in our wall was a spider and fussed for the longest time for Daddy to get it. He finally had to pick her up above his head to show her it wasn't a bug :) She also loves to pick up bugs, dead or alive, when playing outside, much to her sister and Mama's dismay.

... has given up the baby swing and demands to swing like a big girl

... still doesn't know a stranger and says hi to everyone we pass by anywhere we go.

... Begs me to put bows in her hair and then promptly takes them out again to look at them and begs me to put them back in, etc...

...Actually seems to enjoy car rides now!

... Is just so happy and so much fun and we just love her so much!

Strawberry Pickin'

We took the girls strawberry picking on Monday evening and it was just so much fun! Last year, Karlie slept in the carrier the whole time, but this time she was a woman with a mission! She got the idea of putting the strawberries in the bucket right away and started climbing through the patch at lightening speed, picking berries left and right. It was really funny to watch her. Karis mainly picked them and put them right into her mouth :) They were pretty deliriously excited to have all the berries they could ever want in front of them! Karlie was exhausted because it was past her bedtime by the time we stopped. She kind of zoned out in the wagon, stuffing her face with strawberries on auto-pilot :) Karis was excited to be able to "milk" the wooden cow before we left. What a fun evening!

"I know..." (from Karis)

I have been encouraged (through the sweet blog of my dear friend, Mary) to keep a record on my blog of the conversations I have with my girls about God. After we read her story Bible each morning, I try to get Karis to think about what she has learned from our reading by asking her,"So what does this tell us about God?" Here are some of the things she told me this week that she knows about God:

Look what Papa built!

Papa has been wanting to build us a new swing-set for quite some time now. Last year, we really needed a fence, so Papa built us one. But he talked about the swing-set he was going to build for the girls the whole time he was working on the fence :) We have really enjoyed our old one, but it was just not sturdy enough for my two growing girls. This new playset is built so well that it will probably outlast us! Thank you, Papa, for this awesome playset!!The girls just HAD to be out there watching every waking moment -- they were so excited!

Karis was fascinated by everything Papa did. At first she was scared of the loud noises, but by the end of the morning, she had overcome her fear so that she could stand close enough to see well :)

The girls LOVE their new swing that Papa built!

Daddy had to test the slide out to make sure it was secure :)

Papa randomly made a simple swing out of a board he had lying around when he was showing Karis how the drill worked... it turned out she liked it best of all! In this pic she is watching to make sure he puts her favorite new swing on just right :)

Karlie thought she could climb up the slide like she used to, but it is a much steeper slope than before... she definitely needs my help now!

Karis was so excited about her new climbing wall. She must have climbed it about 15 times in a row!

Bedtime hearts...

Every night before bed, Karis chooses a few hearts out of a bowl. These are colorful little paper hearts cut out of construction paper and each heart is written with the name of one of our favorite people. After reading books and singing songs, we pray for the people on the hearts. We've been doing it for about a month now and we usually pray for "our heart" and then prompt her in prayer for hers. She usually just repeats what we say, but tonight I heard her read her own heart by herself and form her own prayer from her own thoughts... it melted my heart so I thought I would share:

"Dear Jesus, tank you for Baby Awie; we wuv her; help her to wuv her Mama and her Daddy. Amen!"

More Favorite Library Books

It has been a while since I shared our favorites, so I have a list of about 50 just waiting for me to post. Don't worry, though, I never have time to type in more than ten at a time :) You might notice an unintentional "dog theme." We happen to love books about dogs around here!

Big Dog, Little Dog by Eastman -- A super duper hit with Karis that she had memorized by the end of the first day and wanted to read it every day afterwards :)

Hairy Maclary's Bone (and all others) by Dodd -- We have fallen in love with the silly rhyming adventures of Hairy Maclary and his silly friends

Hairy the Dirty Dog (and all others) by Zion -- We have also fallen in love with this Hairy the Dog and love all the books about him as well :)

Mama Cat Has Three Kittens by Fleming -- Karis had this one memorized as well and loved it!

The Pig in the Pond by Waddell -- A funny story about what happened when a silly pig decided to jump in the pond

Who Do You Love? by Waddell -- Oh, Karis LOVED this sweet book about a little kitten telling her Mama about everyone she loves before going to bed! We read it over and over!

Good Dog, Carl (and others) by Day -- Carl is another dog we are a huge fan of! These books are really neat because they have no words and Karis can make up the dialogue! The dog takes care of the baby of the family and has all sorts of adventures with her without the Mama knowing.

Never Too Little To Love by Willis -- A very cute book about a little mouse who goes to all sorts of trouble to try to kiss a giraffe :)

Animals Should Definitely NOT Wear Clothing by Barrett -- A very silly book that both girls enjoyed.

Can You Growl Like a Bear? by Butler -- Both girls LOVED making the animal noises with me :)

A better place for stickers...

Karlie LOVES stickers! But we learned rather quickly that if we let
her wear them all day, they are really hard (painful) to get off. So
she found a better place to put them :)

Moments that make me smile...

Karlie's fascination with pretty flowers

Karis' extreme joy in wearing the same shirt as Daddy...

Karlie's obsession with wearing multiple hats at a time...

Such excitement about making cookies...

my "mini-Mark" :)

utter sillines...

Daddy love...

Hearing Karis get such kick out of reading books she has memorized...

...Watching my girls have so much fun dancing together :)

For more posts (that are sure to make you smile) about cherished moments from other Moms, join my blogging friend, Tiffany, at her "Momentous Monday" blog hop!

And there was much rejoicing...

... because Karlie has enough hair for pigtails and ponytails!

It's pink!

It came time to order new uniforms at the Sports Factory, and Mark thought the little girls might enjoy a pink one! To say that Karis was excited would be quite the understatement :) She was much too busy to pose for a picture, so this is all I got. But I think my pink soccer girl is stinkin' cute!

We love hot weather!

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