Peek-A-Boo ~ Happy Girl

Hi Everyone.

This is a video of me playing my new favorite game called Peek-A-Boo with my mommy. In the video you will see my mommy trying to get me to smile by making her grrrrr and googoo noises. She is so silly. I was not in the mood at first but to make her happy, I gave her a few smiles and coos. I hope you enjoy my fun video.

Love,
Kara

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

WE ARE....

PENN STATE!

They did it again! It wasn't a blow-out but it was an exciting game to watch. The Nittany Lions beat the Illini (what kind of mascot is that anyway?) 38-24 making their season 5-0!

Now that is a WHITE out!

4 & 0...WAY TO GO!

I sounded like a HS cheerleader with the title huh? (I wasn't one in HS...I was one of the band geeks sitting in the stands waiting for half time to roll around so we could strut our stuff on the field! Did I make fun of those football cheerleaders? yep! but deep down inside (as I would whisper/laugh with my fellow band geeks at the girls that made mistakes during their cheers), I secretly wanted to be one...shhhh- that's our little secret.)

4 & 0...WAY TO GO! The PSU football team is on fire! Last Saturday, they beat Temple on our home turf with a fourth blow-out of 45-3! Holy-Crap-O-La! Now, I must say, Temple is on our schedule every year and we always beat them because they are not as "strong" as our team (even when we have a less than stellar team)...there is just no comparison. I kinda feel bad for the Owls because I went to a small PSU campus near Temple University in Philly, so I feel a little connection to them for some odd reason? I know, I know...silly...

Tonight our Nittany Lions will face Illinois at State College and we will be watching at home (uncle mike got all the tickets- lucky!) on tv starting at 8pm. Hope they make it 5-0...it should be a good game. This season is starting out on a great note!

New Look!

What do you think of the new look?

A major THANK YOU to Christy for helping me turn the blog into it's new cute Fall look. The Blog Master (Christy D!) also created my new header and cute "signature" you see at the end of this post! She is one of the main reasons I stepped into this wonderful world of blogging....click HERE to view her cute blog and read all about the fun adventures of the D'Angelo Family!

Did you say...FREE?

That's right folks! While blog hopping the other day, I came across this wonderful offer. Suzy from Jack and Jill Photography is offering FREE digital Christmas Card Designs to anyone and everyone who is interested (she will create a free custom made digital file and email it to you...after you receive the file, you can have your cards printed out anywhere you little heart desires...pretty cool, huh?).

Only catch...you must have a BLOG and of course you must post a little snippet about Suzy and her wonderful offer for others to see!

Please visit her blog HERE to get all the great details!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

(uh...a little early!)

Busy, Busy....and Caption Fun!

HAPPY FALL!

We are alive and well....just BUSY! I haven't been a very good blogger lately, huh? Well I promise many posts are coming soon...just have to find the time to create them. Sleep seems a little more important these days! :)

Until then, here is something fun I saw on the Confessions of a CF Husband blog. Nate's blog is great...I blog hopped to him through Christy (thanks CD) and I've been addicted to it ever since. Please visit his blog here if you get a chance, to read all about his life with his wife (who has CF) and his baby daughter (who was born premature)...it's an amazing story!

So anyway, back to the Caption Fun! Below is a picture of my precious Kara.

Please leave a comment with what caption would fit this picture best! I can't wait to see what you come up with! I will choose the best one and create a post on October 1st with the winning caption. Good Luck and thanks in advance for participating! :)

Happy 3 months and BUMBO fun!

Today Kara turns 3 months old!

A few things we have noticed in the last month are:

• Kara has great neck strength! (she has for a while now- it keeps improving)
• Kara is teething! (we are curious when those buds are gonna pop!)
• Kara is quite the talker already!
• Kara's eye color is changing. We are starting to see more green/hazel instead of blue.
• Kara's hair is also changing! Depending on how the light hits it, you can see brunette, red or blond! It is slowly falling out and it seems like blond roots are coming through. Looks like we are going to have another blondie (at least for a little while)...
• Kara is finally taking her nuk! (she still enjoys her sucking on her hands but we really hope she sticks with the nuk! We believe it is easier to get rid of a pacifier then a thumb...cross your thumbs she sticks with the nuk! haha)
• Kara prefers her mommy & daddy to other family members. (we hope she outgrows this...her grandparents would love to hold her without tears!)

She is such a joy to have in our family and we feel she makes us complete. Ryan adores her and I know he can't wait for her to grow up so they can play together. With Kara holding her head so well, we have been using the Bumbo now. It is soooo great to put her in there and have free hands to accomplish more around the house now! She loves sitting and watching everyone around her. She especially loves sitting on the table at dinner time and watching her brother eat his food! I can't say he feels the same way! It's too cute.

Kara spent her 3 month b-day sleeping, eating and hanging out in her Bumbo. We think she is going through a major growth spurt because all she wants to do is eat and sleep lately.

Enjoy her photo shoot from today....
(thank goodness for digital cameras-we took a lot of pictures!)

HAPPY 3 MONTHS, KARA!

Triple Blow Out

3 down...9 to go!

That's right....our Nittany Lions are now 3-0! WOOHOO!

They blew away Syracuse with a score of 55-13. Amazing...

Penn State plays Temple next Saturday (easy win) in Happy Valley.....the boys will be going up to the game with Grandma & Pop-Pop while Kara and I stay at my in-laws watching the game on tv. Then we are off to the Bloomsburg Fair on Sunday (also Chris' birthday!) for some game playing, animal watching, craft buying, yummy food eating FUN!

We Remember....

9/11

(Patriot Day)

boo-boo's & giggles

Ryan added another boo-boo to the many existing ones on his legs/knees. This one was a doozie though that caused a lot of blood to come flowing out. If there is one thing I can't stand, it's blood. Just one of the many reasons I did not choose the medical field to work in. But being the mommy, I had to overcome it with strength (act like it's no big deal) and put on a brave mask, all the while cringing inside from the sight of scraped off skin from his knee caps. ewe!

He was quite upset this time around. Usually, he will allow me to clean it and put one of his favorite band-aids on. This one was pretty deep and I think it stung more...so he fought me as I tried to clean it up, put the neosporin (best thing ever made!) on and band-aids. Yes, band-aides. The scrape was so large I had to put an extra big one on but Ryan also insisted that I put scooby-doo and Elmo band-aids over the big one!

The funny part of this story is how he "milked" this injury for the rest of the day! He seriously limped around the house and wouldn't let anyone near him because they might hurt his boo-boo more. Now I know it probably hurt. But when he thought I wasn't looking, I saw he could walk normal and better yet, he would sit on his knees while playing. So his limping and pouty lips were just for show! I tell ya, he is a very good actor. I think we need to start acting classes early...wouldn't want to waste this talent! ha ha.

Ryan & his boo-boo

Speaking of talents, Ryan is getting really good at taking pictures too. I think Chris and I will get him a "child" digital camera for his birthday this year. He is obsessed with our expensive one! Now with this talent ~ he takes after his Daddy! :)

baby Kara (taken by Ryan C. High)

Kara will be three months old soon (she is already 12 weeks old- crazy how time flies!) and quite the talker already. She is still "cranky Kara" at times but we do see a very sweet side to her most of the day. We believe she is actually teething already (I know CRAZY, huh?!) because there are several white tooth buds along her bottom gum that are ready to poke out. Her bottom gum also bled a little this weekend. She has the classic drool issue plus a runny nose and a painful cry at times. I have a feeling she is going to be difficult with getting teeth...unlike her brother who popped them out with no problems! Kara is growing fast. I love her smile and I love when she talks to us. In the following clip, she is having a conversation with Chris and I before bath time...as always, enjoy!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

They did it again!

Penn State played their second game on Saturday afternoon and beat Oregon State (first time the Beavers visited our Beaver Stadium!- I just think that's funny! hahah). It was another blow score of 45- 14 and the boys are proving that they have what it takes to go all the way this year!

Chris took Ryan up to the game at State College while I stayed home with Kara. They had a lot of fun tailgating with Grandma & Pop-Pop High before the game started. Ryan did much better than last year (he only made it through 1 quarter before having a melt down)....Chris actually got through 3 quarters this time. The game was going so well that he didn't mind walking back to the van to finish listening to the game on the radio while Ryan rested.

The Nittany Lions visit Syracuse next week...stay tuned to see if we are 3-0!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the game!

Tailgating with grandma & pop-pop!

(isn't his froggy chair cute!- thanks grandma!)

Silly van fun! Ryan pretending to be Pop-Pop...
hat- check, seat- check, binoculars-check, he's ready-start the game!
Sea of White (or WHITE OUT!)

(the little orange blob to the left is the visitors section)

Over 107,000+ screaming at once...yea that's LOUD!

WE ARE....PENN STATE!
My favorite picture ever! His face says it all!

GO PENN STATE! woohoo!!!

a day in the park ~

After a rough day yesterday, I decided I wanted Ryan to have as much time outside as possible today. (I will not be creating a post about what Ryan did...all I will say is that it tops anything he has done in the past and if you are curious, please email me and I will give you the gross details) We took our daily walk and also stopped by the playground to burn some energy.

Ryan had fun running around and trying out all the different equipment. He is old enough now to climb everything without help and slide down tunnels without having someone there to catch him. It was neat to watch him explore everything and question what they were. He was very interested in the monkey bars and was sad to find out that there were no monkeys that climbed it! He seriously was bummed that he wasn't going to see a monkey today...he cracks me up! After we played and "exercised" at the park, we headed home.

It was a fairly warm day and he insisted on walking most of the way (except going up hills!). This was fine by me because the more I could tire him out the better! He soon started to sweat and said, "Mommy I hot! I want cold." I thought he wanted a drink and tried to give him his water but he pushed it away and said, "no I want cold house now!" Oh...you want to be in the air conditioning at the house. "wes (yes in Ryan's language)." I love that he is using his words more and creates longer sentences. Now if we can only get him to speak clearer, life would be grand!

Enjoy the following pictures of our day in the park and Ryan's narration. :)

"I touch da trees, mama!"

"No monkey! BOO!"

A very cautious Ryan kept saying..."Hold on! Hold on!" as he crossed the bridge!

"Look out mama!"

"I climb high, huh mama!"

"peek-a-boo"

and as we enjoyed our time in the park burning off energy, Kara was close by getting her beauty sleep!

Ryan Funnies

Today for lunch I decided to make Ryan a peanut butter and banana sandwich instead of the same 'ol PB&J. I let him help spread the PB onto the bread and as he did that, I got the banana. He took one look at the banana and said, "oh mommy no! dat a dirty 'anana!" I was confused for a moment before realizing that he thought it was dirty because it had started to brown. I explained that the banana wasn't dirty, it was just ripe (or very sweet). He gave me a "yea right, whatever you say, mom" look. He told me, "no- yucky dirty 'anana!" I peeled the banana and showed him that it looked normal from the inside (thank goodness there were no brown spots!). He looked over again and said, "oh mommy, magic! it look good again!" What a silly and VERY picky little boy.

Signs of Fall

Already? Signs of Fall? That's what we saw on our walk last evening. We also saw signs of fall last week while up at the lake (a post coming soon!). The leaves were already starting to change color and fall to the ground. While I love the feel of fall weather, I wish the days wouldn't start to get shorter. Soon we will have to do our walks in the early morning or very early evenings.

Ryan spotted a lonely pumpkin in a small patch.

Do you see the yellow leaves?

Blowing dandelions is fun!

A Fall Song
by Ellen Robena Field

Golden and red trees
Nod to the soft breeze,
As it whispers, "Winter is near;"
And the brown nuts fall
At the wind's loud call,
For this is the Fall of the year.

Good-by, sweet flowers!
Through bright Summer hours
You have filled our hearts with cheer
We shall miss you so,
And yet you must go,
For this is the Fall of the year.

Now the days grow cold,
As the year grows old,
And the meadows are brown and sere;
Brave robin redbreast
Has gone from his nest,
For this is the Fall of the year.

I do softly pray
At the close of day,
That the little children, so dear,
May as purely grow
As the fleecy snow
That follows the Fall of the year.

Lullaby

There is no denying the bond that my children have for one another. Ryan is the sweetest, most gentle little boy around his sister. Don't get me wrong, he still tries to pull her limbs and pat her head but most of the time he is great with her. Kara never fusses when her brother is holding or talking to her. She seems so fascinated with him...looks at him in a loving way.

Sunday morning Ryan asked if he could hold Kara after I finished feeding her. I set him up on the glider with the boppy and put Kara next to him. Immediately he started to sing Rock-a-bye-baby while slowly stroking her arm. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. I asked him if he would let mommy tape him singing it again...he said yes, but as you'll see- I did most of the singing the second time around! He did end it on a great note though! :)

As you watch the video, take notice to how gentle Ryan is and how Kara looks at her big brother...it is so precious! ENJOY!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com