Kegan Pictures and Ty Pictures

Well, it has been a while, but we have been busy - in town (except one weekend I was out)...but busy!

Kegan is still going to school every Tuesday and Thursday and still loving it. In fact, if I did not have to show him which tub had his name on it for his back-pack I think I could leave him at the front door and he would be good to go. He knows what he needs to go to school - always reminding me to get his back pack and bag (lunch box). When we get there he wants to carry it all himself, puts it up where it goes, turns and gives me a kiss and I better be ready because he jolts into the classroom after that. This morning he ran in and gave his teachers hugs (awww) and then went to the table where they sit for morning time and said "seat"...like I am ready to start the day! :)

We have been able to go to the aquarium a few times, too. With the weather being so nice lately it is so pleasant to go and look around. Kegan LOVES the dolphins...and the big shark. He will walk up and down the big tank following the shark around. During the dolphin show, my usually active child, sits or stands and watches the entire thing, clapping and dancing and participating with all the motions. We then proceed to hear stories of splashing dolphins the rest of the day...and week!

Random Updates:
1. He is talking up a storm - much of it understandable... :)
2. I can't remember if this was in my last update but little man can count up to 12 - I have been told this by 2 other people.
3. Kegan is also starting to say his ABCs - he will sing along with me or his Elmo Alphabet video - he doesn't know them all by any means...but he is learning and does join in.
4. As I mentioned a few post earlier Kegan LOVES to sing. Little man still loves the singing and keeps adding more songs...and motions to his repertoire...haha! He is a ham...let me just say that! I will have to video some of his singing and dancing and post it!
5. Kegan can pretty much identify all his colors now and tell you what color he wants to color with, what color shirt he chooses, etc....
6. He is a JUMPING BEAN...wanting to jump off everything. We are on steps...he jumps off the last one. He climbs on benches and jumps off. The type of ground he is walking on changes (ex: grass to concrete) and he jumps...just in case there happens to be a difference in elevation. If he steps off a curb and realizes he could have jumped...he goes back and jumps. Sometimes he just jumps...to jump and see how high he can go!
7. He loves to cook toast. A conversation we had:
Me - Kegan do you want to help mommy cook?
K - I cook toast...butter...
(meaning I will cook the toast and then spread on the butter...all of which I think he could do all on his own if he could lift the toaster out of the cabinet, climb up the counter and get out the better by himself...he knows where it all is though and knows all the steps to cook his toast. Hmm...will this one day by me a few more winks in the morning???)

Those were just a few things I could think of off the top of my head. He is growing up fast...very fast. It is amazing to watch and see what he catches on to and does day to day!

The past few weeks in pictures:
Doing a little business with his daddy. Haha...

Working on his balancing skills...and oh yes, he loved jumping off this box!

Don't take my ice cream sandwich!

If only he was always this happy running errands with me!

Last weekend our church had a "Wild Game Tasting and Fellowship". We found out Kean really liked duck and dove...who knew!?!

Hamming it up...or licking a little bit of left-over duck off his face...

Put me in coach...I am ready!

They had a pool filled with catfish for the kids to fish out of. Kegan kept trying to reach in after them.

Kegan and Joe (one of our youth who worked for Matthew this summer - Kegan loved his name this summer, because he could say it so easily!)

Phew...it is hot...I need a little ice!

Hmm...did I miss the pony rides?

Notice the empty dance floor...except Kegan. He was running around, dancing, clapping, stomping...have a great time. (I found out the next day at church he had many admirers from the audience...haha!)

Gettin' the beat...

Trying his skills at fishing. Grandpa - he still has a bit of work to do. When a little boy across the pool caught a fish and it came up splashing Kegan dropped his rod in the water and ran...hmm...we will have to work on that before we go somewhere where the water is more than 2 feet deep!

Just for grins around the house!

Ok...my farm is set-up and ready.

Better yet...let's go ride on a tractor with daddy at the farm!

(I don't know what was up with the serious face?)

Who needs a chair when you can do all your artwork from the comfort of your very own tractor!

Boots make every outfit complete...or do they???

Mom...I need some pants, please...

The weather in Corpus has been gorgeous the past few days. This morning it was 44 and still in the lower 50 when we left for school, so Kegan got to wear some winter clothes and I thought he looked so handsome and grown-up sitting on the counter while eating his breakfast...so I took a picture!

"Hello...I would like to show all of you pictures of my baby brother, Tyson Joseph...but I just call him Ty!"

Here is is...a brother for me!

Cute face, Ty

Nice profile shot. Mom said not everyone might be able to tell the direction of this picture, so let me explain. Ty's head is off to the right...you see the profile of his nose and chin...go over a little to the left and you will see his belly and his backbone (lower middle of the picture). Ty's legs then curve up and over, so he kind of looks like he is in a tight ball. I hope this helped you find him.

I think my baby brother, Ty is adorable and can not wait to meet him. I already talk to him a lot and give him tons of kisses and love pats through mommy's belly! From what mommy tells me, he is kicking and moving a lot, like I did! We are going to be such great play buddies...I know it!!!

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This past weekend Matthew (and the Gramma and Pampa) watched Kegan while I went and had a reunion with my great friends from TAMU. I had fun ladies and look forward to getting together again! :)

A Gender Determined

We went to the doctor today for the sonogram and it is for certain...trust me, no doubt about it...that Kegan has a baby brother on the way!

We are excited and looking forward to an even more active household...haha! :)

(There was another patient right after me, so the nurse is going to get me the DVD with the baby's pictures and video, at my next appointment, so I will post those at that time - Monday, Oct. 27.)

A Parents Most Important Job

I know that as a parent my most important job is train up my child in a way so that when he gets older he will choose Christ, choose to follow Christ, and choose to live a life as a man of God. (2 Chronicles 29:19 "Give my son....the wholehearted desire to obey all your commands, decreees, and pirnciples.") This seems like such a task but I know I can to pray to God with confidence that He will grant Matthew and I the wisdom to lead Kegan on this path.

Although this has always been my prayer for Kegan this weekend it became more real to me - the important job I have as a parent to live my life so Kegan will know choose to live his life following Christ.

*2 Timothy 3:14-15 "But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood and they have given you the wisdon to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus."

On Sunday afternoon I went out with the youth for a few FAITH team visits. One of our stops was to visit with a brother and sister who had recently prayed for the forgiveness of their sins and come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. All we (the three youth and I) knew was that we were going to talk with them about their choice and about taking the next step of believers baptistm. After we knocked the mom came to the door and invited us in, upon us introducing ourselves and telling her why we had come. The son was not there (he was hanging out with another boy from the youth group, who actually was getting baptized that night), but the daughter was and she also sat down with us. As we sat there and talked the mom just began to pour her heart out to our group, with tears swelling in her eyes, about the huge differance she had seen in her son since he came to know the Lord and had started attending Wednesday night Bible study. She said his entire demenor had changed - his attitude, his friends, how he was doing in school...and she attributed it all to the differance the Lord was making in his life. My eyes began to water as I saw a parent, who was at her ends with her son, and then what a turn around he made when Jesus entered his life. What a testimony to me as a parent to continue to pray for and train up my child in the way he should go so all his days he will follow the Lord, who will make his paths straight.


Then, that night Kegan came to join us for the service because there was a special group singing and Pampa thought Kegan would enjoy the music (which he did - especially the clapping to the music...haha!). Before the group started singing however, there was a time of baptism. Kegan was actaully very attentive and watched the entire thing and would clap with the congregation after each person. Cute to watch yes...BUT more importantly, I as a parent sat there and prayed earnestly that Kegan one day would be able to say, "Yes, I need forgiveness of my sins and Yes I believe Jesus came to this earth, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose again so that He is able to save me from my sins and because of that I commit my heart and life to Him." More than anything that will happen in his life, I look forward to the day that Kegan chooses Christ as his Lord and Savior.


Finally, durring the concert the group did some songs for the congregation to sing along with and my son - who has really started getting into trying to sing along with songs he hears, weather we are singing his kiddo songs with motions together or a toy is playing a song - started "singing" along. We were singing the song "Amazing Love" and whereever there were parts of the song that held out longer notes...he would start sining that "sound" with the congregation and would periodically mumble other parts of the song that were repeated a few times. Oh! The preciousness of seeing a child of God sing...on and off key!

Matthew 19:14 "Jesus said, ' Let the childrne come to me. Don't stop them!..."

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Now, for some pictures.

On the way home from Plano we stopped and ate at Fazolie's in Waco. Kegan really enjoyed his pizza and pasta!

Sluuurp!

We got home and quickly had his new table set up.
Crayons, paper...I am ready to go!

Hmm...which one do I choose?

Enjoying makers for the first time!

A little messy but tons of fun!


Sadly we had to attend a funeral for a friend of the Setliff's who had worked on the famr for 31 years. It has been and is hard on the family and our prayers go out to Mary and the rest of Jessie's family.

I knew Kegan would not be able to sit still durring the ceromny...or quite, so Maryann (Mar Mar as he calls her) came over to watch him, and from what I heard, he had quite a fun time!

Saturday Matthew decided it was time to hang his deer. Since it was too big to fit about the fireplace - much to his disappoint metn, we had to find a new home for the deer. I think it looks very nice here - however I am still gettin gused to being stared at by a deer while I cook, eat, relax on the couh, walk around the corner...etc....

Matthew told me that he had the stuff out and was in the mood to ahng things so if there was stuff I watned hung on the walkss I better bring them out. I don't htink he knew what he was offering....but out I carried many things that had been collecting till he was ready to hang them!
Kegan decided he needed to get in on the action and help his daddy out.
Daddy was on a stool...so Kegan went and got his little stool...

put it in place next to Daddy...

climbed up....

and reached as high as he could do to "help"


Kyle and Lindsay had come down for the funeral and remained here till Sunday morning so Sturday night was all got together for dinner.
Matthew decided he needed to go buy a new "summer" cowboy hatice black felt one we baught in January was too hot....sooo of we went.
Kegan found himslef a nice felt hat so he could mathc daddy in the winter. (no we did not buy the hat...he will not keep a hat on longer than 10 seconds...so it is not quite worth the money yet!)
I LOVE this picture...aren't they both so cute!

Just a picte of Kegan in his choo-choo underpants, haning out at the house on Monday.

....so for now...we are taking a more relaxed approach to potty training. We put him in the underpants when we are home and go from there....sometimes being very successful and sometimes...I am left cleaning up the floor...but hey, he is trying and learning, so I can't complain.

Baby update: Tomrrow is the day we go to find out the gender!!!

Learning Through Osmosis and Lots to Catch Up On

Ok...as pointed out by some friends and family it has been a while...sorry. We have been VERY busy...between attempts (attempts only) of potty training, my belling growing, and traveling around I just have not had time to sit down at a computer and load pictures.

Learning Through Osmosis?

About the title...my favorite Kegan story from the past 2 weeks. Before leaving to go out of town Kegan got into a habit of wanting to sleep with one of his goodnight board books. When I say sleeping with a book, I don't just mean it laying next to him in bed or near the bed, no no...I mean Kegan is hugging and holding the book, like he does his blankie and puppy, while going to sleep. A little odd...but hey who am I to stop someone loving a book!

Ok, so Kegan started showing SOME interest in potty training, so I went with it. We got the training pants and we spent a couple of days really going good at it...working hard...even got the big boy training pants... (we had lots of time to play and stay at the house since you really can't go anywhere too far while potty training...so Kegan just played around in the training undies all day)

notice the change of underpants...

but after a few days of me being more interested than him and tons of laundry (even with 10 pairs of taining pants) I have decided we shall wait a little longer to see if he gets more interest in it. Going to the bathroom was still not a priority if he was playing...or coloring...or just walking around in a different part of the house. Plus...I don't think when one is pregnant is the ideal time to potty train...bending down and everything else you have to do...esxhusting...even more so when you have a baby in your tummy. Hopefully though, he will get a great bit of enthusiasm BEFORE this baby comes....

Two Sundays back...oh, maybe three....

Kegan say Mommy get her Bible for church and Daddy get his Bible for church, so before heading out the door, he started saying "Bible...Bible" and went to his room to get his very own Bible to take to church - which he held the entire time on the trip to church. Of course, when we got to church and his he wanted to go in and play and left the Bible to Matthew and I...but still.... First, so cute. Second, what a great lesson and reminder that our kids see what we do and mimick us...what do we want them mimicking.

Thursday - MDO

Woo-hooo....Kegan had NO tears going to Mother's Day Out. He walked into the school holding his lunch and backpack, putting them up where they belong and then...with out even giving me a kiss or hug good-bye...went to his class door, opened it up, walked in and say "HIIII" to all his teachers. I am guessing he is now fully comfortable going. Oh...already independent...bitter-sweet.

Monday

The Setliff's returned from Germany (late Sunday night) and brought back Kegan one of the COOLEST toys I have ever seen. Check it out. It looks and sounds like a real chain saw - extra (rubber) chain included, has a safety guard, just works exactly like a real one. Kegan really liked it....so did Matthew...haha!

Trip to Plano:

Headed up to Plano. Kegan did pretty good on the trip up - thank goodness taking a pretty good nap. Much to my joy we got to go to Freebirds that night for dinner. Kegan seemed to enjoy it all - he really liked to tortillas...yumm!

He even got to see Karsyn that night. Both kids were SO thrilled to see each other. (He had been talking about seeing her the entire trip down after I talked about it that morning before we left.) They both literally screamed each other's names when they saw each other and gave the sweetest hugs. Needless to say, they did not forget one another.
That night he even got to play in Grandpa's boat.

I suppose that is a spectator sport.

Go Karsyn...go...Kegan looks like he is enjoying the ride to nowhere...haha

Silly face, I know. Kegan is singing his "oooo" to the song "Don't worry be Happy" being sung by the singing fish in the garage.

So much excitement...and all in one day.

Since the men have been fishing we have got to spend lots of great time with Karsyn and aunt Wendy - the kids really are very fun to have together...keeping each other and us laughing!!! Kegan even got to join Karsyn at daycare on Friday while Mom, Wendy, and I had a girls day to Canton. When we got there they seemed like that had a fun day together and were sad when they got in separate cars. Not to fear, we we were going to the same place and seriously, the way they acted when they saw each other you would have thought they had not seen each other in weeks...not minutes!

Some pictures from hanging out with Karsyn.

Borrowing a night shirt from Karsyn after bathing over at her house late one eveing.

Climbing in the boxes we got at Canton. Silly kids!

Playing with a new favorite toy Grams had at her house...a hammer and pegs to hit with the hammer...and not one is telling him no...oh what fun!

Saturday

With the guys still on the river and not heading home till later in the day, Grams, Aunt Wendy, Karsyn, Kegan and I headed off to the Dallas Arboretum for some pumpkin patch fun...and more! They had a BLAST...but boy were us three adults TIRED...haha!

A visit to the pumpkin patch...

Kegan's favorite thing to do at the pumpkin patch...climb!

Woah!

You try and take a picture of two very active 2 year olds...haha...

Another favorite - the pumpkin house

Notice where his feet are standing...not just on the pumpkin, but as high as he can get on the stem of the pumpkin!

Grams and her helpers...

Let me help by taking this off your load Grams...(Doesn't that look like a helpful face?)

Walking (well, usually running or hopping) around the Arboretum enjoying all the pretty scenery.

Checking out some fish in the pond.

Kegan spotted this lions and said "ball...ball"...we had no clue what he was talking about till he started to stick his hand in the lions mouth and we heard something roll around. The lion had a ball in his mouth, that was basically stuck in there (it was part of the statue). I tell you, the child LOVES balls...no matter where he sees them.

Picking up and throwing acorns...or rocks as they like to call them.

Kegan thinking he needs to dive further into the water than mommy thinnks...

Group picture infront of the waterfalls...you don't know how many pictures it took till we got one where we were all 4 looking at the camera...

Taking the time to stop and smell the roses.

Peek-a-boo...playing with the shutters in a little thatch roof kids house.

Enjoying the floating pumpkin fountain.

Kegan was not done with the pumpkin fun when we got in the car, so he decided to play with Karsyn's pumpkin sock cap...

First things first...how to put it on??? Hmm...something about this does not feel right...

How is this?

All right...looking good!

The men finally made it home and Kegan was so happy to see his daddy and grandp and Uncle No No!...To finally not be the only man, again, too!

Sunday

All dressed up and ready for church.

Grandpa, Kegan and Grams

Playing with Karsyn after church. Once again...trying to get these two to sit still for a picture...haha...

try try as fast as you can...you can't take a picture of me, I Kegan...

While Wendy and Nolan went to a Hocky game and Matthew and I went out to eat and visit with some of my friends Grams and Grannpa had grandchild duty...all parties involved were happy for those arrangements.

Enjoying a little snack at Kegan's new table Mommy got him.

Everyone playing happily in Grams's office/kid play room.

Bath time...testing the water...

Baby Updates:

Not too much new, just lots of movement - I love it!

Only a 1 1/2 weeks till we get to see the baby on the way in another sonagram and hopefully find out the gender!

In the meen time, a pictre of Wendy, me, and my bump...hehe...see the baby bump poking out! :)