Kezzie's One Year Professional Pics

These are Kezzie's one year professional pictures we had taken at Zahasky's Photography in Cresco, IA. I think they did a pretty good job aside from Kezzie being crabby from teething!

Random Cute Photos!

This is the look we see a lot because she is always trying to concentrate on something. You can just see the wheels turning in her head! Kezzie is such a good girl. Unlike a lot of kids, she actually likes wearing her outdoor gear and will often take it out of the diaper bad and give it to me to put on her. She looked so cute here I couldn't resist a picture!

Here is Kezzie exploring what she can find in the diaper bag. She found her snack catcher and there just so happens to be some snacks in it. This is the look of 'uh oh, I'm caught!'

One Year Pics

If you want to, you can check out Kezzie's one year pictures. Just click on 'enter main site' and then 'clients' at the top and enter in 'keziah' for the password. Just a warning...she had a really bad picture day. We managed to get a few good ones but we definitely could have gotten a better smile out of her on a different day. It must have been those teeth coming through again!

Here is the link:
http://www.zahaskyphotography.com

Let me know what you think and which are your favorites! I have to pick by next week!

Keziah's First Birthday Party!

http://

What an awesome party we had for Keziah! There were so many family members that came and a few friends. It was great to see everybody and really nice of them to come. We ate a great meal (pulled BBQ beef sandwiches, deviled eggs, seven layered salad, snicker salad and cheesy hash browns), opened gifts and watched in wonder as Kezzie and her cousins played. We appreciated all the gifts she got. I'd like to be able to tell someone in secret that she loves their gift the best but honestly she has played with them all equally. She is having a blast with all her new toys/movies/books. She got quite a few stuffed monkeys (since monkeys are her favorite), some Baby Einstein movies, several books, a walker, a little people bus and plane and several other things. She is not bored around here that's for sure! Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate her first year of life with us...it was such a special time for our family!

Keziah is ONE Today!

It brings me to tears to think about this last year and all the ways Kezzie has brought joy to our lives. And as Thanksgiving approaches, I am reminded even more of all the things I have to be thankful for. It is amazing how this last year has sped by. She has made me a better person and a better mom. She has taught me so much! She is such a blessing and so much fun to be around. I can't believe I have been a stay-at-home mom for over a year now. Even though it has its hard moments...I love it so much and am so thankful for the days I get to spend with her, teaching her and loving her and getting to know her! What a gift she is. Happy One Year Birthday Keziah!

More Teeth!

I can hardly keep up anymore. Over the weekend Kezzie got two more molars. Friday I found the top left one and Saturday I found the bottom right one. She hasn't been herself lately, but she's still been in a pretty good mood. She only wakes up in the night to complain about it and then goes back to sleep. I give her tylenol before bed and rub some orajel on them all. I think that helps. Her appetite has pretty much been cut in half though. She'll be back to her old self before we know it!

Keziah Milestones!

Kezzie is becoming quite the chatter box...even though she only knows a few words, her brain tells her she can talk. She looks at us and I swear she is telling us a story! Here are some of the things she is mastering these days!
10/28 Says 'hi'
10/30 Says 'Ah-tin' for Austin
10/31 Mooos like a cow
10/31 Makes an elephant noise
10/31 Growls like a lion
10/31 Says 'hot' and uses it appropriately most of the time!
10/31 Plays Peek-a-boo
10/31 Gives us a movie and signs 'movie' when she wants to watch one!
11/1 Says 'baby'
11/1 Says 'bye'
11/2 Says 'Papa' for grandpa
11/8 Points to eyes, nose and sticks out tongue when asked where these things are. She also points to my teeth when I ask her to point to her teeth.
11/10 Says 'hup' for cup
11/21 Says 'appa' for apple

Other signs she has known for a while: drink, milk, bath, play, hello/good-bye,

Christmas Spirit!

Austin and I spent some time together decorating the tree last night. He always enjoys doing it. I hope it never gets old to him! This is the tree in the process and then the final product.

When we were almost done and had one last box of ornaments to put on, Austin felt it should be Christmas tradition to make a human decorated Christmas tree. So he did like he did last year (see photo of him in maroon sweatshirt-Christmas 2007). He hung ornaments from all places possible! He's such a goof! A little side note: Wow he's gotten big in the last year!

And while I was putting on the finishing touches Austin was off by himself taking funny pictures for me to later find. I guess this is supposed to be a big green booger! Have I ever mentioned how much I love this kid and his humor!

Grinders!

Keziah has a molar (bottom right)...I can't believe it! She has quite the mouthful of teeth. This brings us up to #9! I was giving her a bath and she smiled really big at me, and there it was. I thought she had something in her mouth! She acted strange all weekend and Brian and I actually thought she might have a touch of the flu, but I'm sure it was the tooth! Before we know it she's going to be eating steak for dinner!

Family!

This last weekend we took some time to spend with family. We had a get together with my mom's side of the family at my parent's house. And it just so happened that my dad's brother and wife and their four kids were in town too so we got to see them on Sunday. Since so much was going on at mom and dad's, we decided to pack up our things and go for the weekend. Upon getting Kezzie packed she discovered this back pack hanging on a hook in her closet. It was my back pack from when I was in kindergarten (I actually have a picture somewhere of me with it on, waiting for the bus). It was my favorite thing! I decided to use it to put Kezzie's clothes in since she was loving it so much. She kept hugging it! But with the clothes in it she couldn't lift it or carry it anymore so she just sat down on the floor with it in her lap, holding it! It's as big as she is!

Here are some random photos from our get together on Saturday!

This is Aspen and Kezzie. There are several of them together. Aspen will turn one the second week in December. Kezzie and Aspen are less than 3 weeks apart. I think they are going to enjoy growing up together! Aspen is one of my cousin Kim's daughters.

Yes, Aspen can already walk...Kezzie has some catching up to do! It's so funny how different kids develope!

Kezzie is very interested in baby Bennett! Ethan is growing up so fast. Doesn't he look like such a little man?!

Kezzie is sharing or showing her toy to baby Bennett. And Aunt Jamie snuggles in for a nice snap shot with Miss. Cutie Pie Kezzie!

This is the best picture! Bennett is so sweet and cuddly. I love every time I get to see him! This is my Uncle Perry. Ethan jumped in there at the last second to be a part of the photo! Kezzie really took to my uncle. Maybe he looks a little like my dad...

Catching up!

11/4 I can't believe the weather this year. Kezzie is actually in a short sleeve shirt and we have our doors and windows open. She is enjoying watching the cars go by out our front door. There isn't much action, but she still hangs around waiting for the next one to go by! Or maybe she's watching for big brother to come home from school!

This is just a random cute picture of me and my sweet girl!

This is a photo of Kezzie's masterful placement of chairs. She pulls one out from the dining room table and walks with it until she runs into something. This is usually where she gets stuck! They are the perfect chairs for learning to walk because they have wheels. She does a good job of not letting them get away from her!

There are three things that Kezzie is really really into right now and those are: books, her farm animals & barn and her two monkeys on loan from Austin! What could be better than monkeys swinging around in the barn with the farm animals?! In the second picture she is holding onto one of those screaming flying monkeys...she adores it and carries it everywhere with her. It is her favorite of the two monkeys. However, either of the two monkeys will do when it's time for bed! Austin has a third monkey that is black and she wants nothing to do with that one!

Random Kezzie Photos!

Isn't she just the cutest little thing? At the doctor today she weighed 20 pounds and 2.5 ounces!! She has come down with a pretty vicious cough and cold so we just wanted to make sure she checked out ok...she did!

This is a horse that my parents have had since I was little. I loved it then and now Kezzie is loving it! It even neighs! It is quite the treat to ride when we go visit Grandma and Grandpa Smith!

Grandma & Pa Smith with their Grandkids minus Gavin :(

A Cedar Rapids Visit!

On Saturday we decided to head to our old stomping grounds and visit some friends. We stopped first to my good friend, Angie's house. She has three wonderful kids who I miss seeing often. Kezzie and the kids had a blast together while the adults talked! Then Brian and I went on to Westdale mall...not much happening there but we were able to do a little shopping which is way out of the norm for us. Then we went to Kristin's house to visit her and the new baby. My friend Jami was also there and Brian had plans to visit some friends so it was just us girls (and Hunter) for the evening. It is always great to see them! And Hunter is such a sweet boy. He is adorable! On Sunday Brian visited an old co-worker and took Kezzie with. And then once Kezzie laid down for a nap Kristin and I ventured out to lunch and Target with sleepy Hunter. It was a great visit and a much needed vacation away from home! I am already missing them again! We'll go back again soon but I think Hunter needed Kezzie and all her noisiness to leave for a bit...he started plugging his ears and saying "la, la, la, la, la!" (see picture for proof!!

Halloween!

It was fun to take the kids out trick-or-treating. We started out at G-ma & pa Uglum's house. From there we went home and got our dogs to walk with us out trick-or-treating. We were only out for about 45 minutes. Believe it or not Austin was the one complaining to go home (Kezzie wasn't exactly content toward the end either). It was because he was tired of his costume. The mask didn't leave much breathing room so he kept saying, "my cheeks are getting chapped!" And the robe part was sagging. I really think he was just happy enough with the amount of candy he had and ready to be home where he could count his loot and watch TV! We didn't carve pumpkins this year for some reason. We just never got around to it. It's too bad because that is my favorite part of Halloween. The dogs were pretty wore out when we got back and Bucky had to spend some time in his kennel because his paws just couldn't take the walk and were bleeding everywhere. We didn't know it until we got back though :(

Once we got home where we were warm (not that it wasn't the nicest Halloween night I can remember) we got our candy dish ready so we could hand out candy the remainder of the time. Kezzie managed to sneak a chocolate tootsie pop from the bowl and was carrying it around the house sucking on it with just the wrapper on. Evidently she scraped a little piece of the paper away and was getting some flavor...she was LOVING it!! I didn't have the heart to take it away quite yet so I did what any smart and good mom would do...I took the wrapper off. Only for a couple sucks! And then came the tantrum! (Note to self-make sure you are going to let her finish it if you are going to let her have it!)