Puzzles, Smiles, and Nastics - Does it get any better?

Izzy has recently become addicted to puzzles...and her Birthday.  She wants puzzles for her Birthday.  And a purple Dora cake.  We're going to make that happen come June.  She'll be 3 June 5th, how did that happen?!

 And here is Miss Izzy-B before Gymnastics (Nastics) last weekend.  She met a new buddy from Brainerd there - what a small world!

 And then there's Lilypad...little Miss take-it-easy.  She's so relaxed and happy it's unbelievable.  She was watching her sister jump around in her nastics leotard for this picture.  Izzy makes her smile big.

I hope everyone's enjoying the mild winter and getting outside.  Our household has been bumbed not to have snow, but it's been quite nice spending a bit more time outside!

Growing so Fast!

 Look at our little ladies.  They're growing so fast!  Lily is full of expression, smiles, and laughter.  She is such a laid back kid and such a cuddle bug.

 Izzy is the bestest big sister anyone could ask for.  She gives Lily 'lovies' all the time and loves helping take care of her.  There is nothing else that puts a bigger grin on my face than when Izzy entertains Lily and makes her smile and giggle. 

Happy New Year to everyone!

Wow - it's been a while!

Stefanie Devries - you're amazing.  You captured family moments that we will look back on in 50 years with fondness.  Hats off to you - these are the best family pics to date!  Everyone in the Brainerd Lakes Area - visit http://www.mudandmagnolia.com/ to see how talented Stef is.  She's great! 

 We had our family session back in October out at Kavanaugh's Resort (http://www.kavanaughs.com/) and the weather was a bit chilly, but it was a beautiful fall day. 

 As fun as these pictures look - it was a stressful morning.  Lily threw up all over me, I didn't have a change of clothes.  Thank goodness you can't smell these pictures - because I smelled like spit up.  I was paranoid that Izzy was going to spill something on her outfit...didn't happen though! 

 Lily was such a trooper out in the cold.  This little furball hat we had on her was quite warm, but her little cheeky's got cold. 

 This was taken of Lily this past Saturday.  She is the 'smiliest' kid I've ever met.  We used to have to stand on our head with Izzy to get her to smile when she was a baby.  She's a smiley kid now though.

Speaking of the smiley kid...she finally has enough hair to put in pig-tails!  And maaaan does my heart melt with those little pigtails and that big huge grin of hers.  She is SO excited for Christmas, she can hardly stand it.  I tell her it's Jesus's birthday and she says, 'my birthday Mommy'. 

 The kids are growing like weeds, healthy as can be (with occasional sniffles).  It's Christmas time already, time needs to slow down so we can enjoy all of these awesome moments with our kids.  I'm soaking it up as much as my heart can possibly take, but it's tough when time wooshes by as fast as it does!

Introducing Lily Marie Kavanaugh

Meet Lily.  Born on July 22nd, at 8:13pm, weighing in at 6lbs, 10oz, 20.5 inches in length.  After the rollercoaster ride of a pregnancy (being put on strict bedrest at 30 weeks, then moderate bedrest for the remainder of the pregnancy) her arrival was fast and furious...so very opposite of her big sister.  I started labor at 6:30pm and she arrived an hour and a half later (half of that time we were stuck in traffic getting to the hospital!)  We have had a wonderful first month with the transition for Izzy becoming big sister, and having a newborn in the house again. 

Stephanie Devries did an amazing job on these photographs (http://www.mudandmagnolia.com/) She's an up and coming photographer in the Brainerd Lakes area.  Her work speaks for itself, she's an amazing artist!  It helps that we have cute kiddos too...I'm not bias, look for yourself, they're angels!

 Izzy is all about Lily - she always wants to hold her and touch her and gets inches from her face and says "Hi Lily, Hi Lily Hi Lily!"  It's pretty cute.  The day of our photo session with Steph, Izzy was giving Lily kisses.

 Such a genuine smile from our peanutbutter!

 Steph was able to get Lily to fall asleep at the end of the photo session and get such peaceful pics.

 Kisses to little sissy Lily!

 Isn't Dave so lucky to be surrounded by all of us ladies?! 

 I had an idea to have Izzy dressed in these overalls and then to have her sitting with her legs strait out and Lily draped over her legs, naked and sleeping while Izzy kisses her back...it didn't quite work out.  In fact, we didn't even come close to getting the pic, BUT, that's what you get with a 2 year old kid full of energy and a newborn. :)  These are still adorable pics!  Izzy's munchin on some goldfish in this pic.

 Such a beautiful little girl!

 And we've been blessed with another beautiful girl.  More pictures and memories to come on the blog.  We've had a busy month!



Accessorize!

Izzy stays busy with all sorts of accessories in the bathroom when I'm getting ready in the morning.  We were heading out to a friends pool on Monday and she was as busy as could be with headbands and clips.

The big news on Baby K #2 is that I'll be induced next Thursday, July 28th (my due date and sister-in-law's birthday - Happy Birthday Meghan!) if I don't go into labor before then.  We have Mama Margaret (Nana) coming down to visit this weekend and she'll stay with Izzy if baby K #2 decides to grace us with it's presense. :)  Love to all!