A quick pic...

This is a photo I captured yesterday morning... as I was cleaning and packing.  I put Callie in her playpen... but of course, she was unsatisfied with that, so I threw Sneebie in there, too.  Callie was completely content with the idea of hanging out with her brother... poor Sneebert just had to take one for the team.  Here is a photo nearing the end of their willingness to stay in the playpen... it was just too adorable to miss this photo opportunity, mind you, I got the occasional bark and fuss from the two of them until I took them out. 

They both appear to have the same expression!

And I just noticed... look how Sneeberton's muzzle is starting to lighten up... my little Bean's is getting older!  Look at what having a sister does to the poor guy!

Love and kisses!

(and a couple of licks too!)

Grandma and Grampa Van Court visit Salina

It's been a while ago... goodness... a month now (time just goes by too quickly these days!) but Grandma and Grampa Van Court and Penelope came to visit our sweet Callie-girl (and the rest of us too, I suppose).  We had a great time together and Callie loved all of the interesting things Grammie Lou brought in her special bag to play with.

The weather was wonderful and we were able to go on a walk at a local park, Callie and Daddy went down a slide together and Callie loved watching Penelope and Sneebie, always hot on the trail of another dog.  It was so fun for me to watch Callie interact with Gramma and Grampa and to watch as they each taught her something new, whether it was quantum physics from Grampa or how to properly sip from her tea cup from Gramma, I'm so glad I got to catch the memories on video and through photos to share with the family, for-our-ever. Selfish as I am, my favorite parts of the visit were that I got to try out some recipes I've gathered from Pinterest (my newest addiction), caught up on laundry, got to go grocery shopping (ALL BY MYSELF! I was still talking to the cart occasionally)... went through my HUGE paperwork pile (I swear it multiplies in the basket) and was relieved from my duties of always having to feed Callie (truly a chore... she just isn't a big eater... at all).  It was really wonderful and Phillip and I are constantly reminded of how incredibly Blessed we are to have such amazing parents that are willing to help us out and give us a break every now and then.  I truly couldn't have better in-laws, my only complaint is that they live too far away!

I haven't got much time before nap time is over... so here are a few photos to sum up the very fun-filled visit.

Like Father... Like Son, over tea?

Penelope is SUCH a good dog... probably the best Lab I've ever met... she's so mild mannered and tolerates Sneebie and Callie effortlessly!

Bathtime by Grammie Lou

Bathtime by Grammie Lou... supervised by Grampa

... the ending result?  A clean baby... with a crazy "do" :)

With their firstborn baby...

All ready for our walk and sporting our Wyoming hat!!!  She's so silly!

Bedtime Bible stories by Grampa Steve are silly!

Phillip FINALLY talked someone into going with him to test drive the corvette that sits on one of the main streets in Salina, that poor Phillip has to drive by and look at daily...

 

Grammie Lou and Grammie Tamie



 Three Generations of the Van Court's

Callie is thinking "HA HA HA... Grampa will never know if I steal his pen!"

Tag-teaming the impossible to feed Callie

And last but not least... goodbye kisses... we always hate these... but we hope that this will make them want to come back soon!

Thanks for the wonderful visit Grandma and Grampa... it was SOO nice to have you!  Can't wait to see you in just another month!



10.5 months...

Has it really been that long?  As I go back through some of the older posts... I see myself repeating that line over and over again... perhaps it's just a parenthood "staple" phrase.

We enjoyed a weekend at home this weekend... Phillip mowed the lawn for the first time of the season (YES... IN MARCH!).  Mostly to use one of those "rake" blades so he could rake up all of the dead grass, in hopes of our lawn greening up more quickly.  We did a quick photo shoot with Callie and Sneebie... Callie and Phillip were not quite in the mood, so the photos didn't turn out as great as I had hoped, but we captured a couple of cute ones.

It's incredible to me that it's taken me 10.5 months to start to really get the hang of all of this.  We now, routinely, wake up at 8:30, have breakfast, a cup of tea for myself (thank you Louise and my mother for introducing me to tea and it's wonderful caffeinated benefits!!!), we play, she naps, I workout, shower and get ready for the day during her nap time, we have lunch, run errands, play, she naps, I get administrative tasks done, we have dinner, wait for daddy to get home, play some more, play with daddy, have a bottle then daddy puts her to bed.  It's a busy day... but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

 

I just officially made an appointment with our wedding photographer, Marcia Morrison, click HERE to check out some of her photos (we're still in engagements ;) to have professional family photos taken... I'm hoping to have them back by the time of Callie's first birthday.

In a couple of weeks we're headed to Florida to see the Faith Great-Grandparents and Callie will get to put her tiny toes in the sand and the ocean for the first time.  I'm so excited!

Here are some of the photos from this weekends photo shoot:

Here she's looking at me, while I'm trying to get her to smile... she's thinking I'm crazy... Phillip snapped this photo...

Finally a smile!!!  But of course, with something in her mouth... it's nearly impossible to get a smile, with her sitting still, without her holding or playing with something at the same time.  Turns out trying to do the photography by myself is NOT easy!



Big Brother Beans... I love the lighting for his photo shoot better... which happened, of course, during her nap time... He's so handsome in his blue rhinestone necklace!

Alright everyone!  Love, kisses and licks for now from all of us in the middle of Kansas, middle of America, Salina!

**OHHH... some of the most exciting news we've recently gotten... we are expecting to get an Olive Garden ANNNDD a Starbucks in town within the next year!  We're becoming a big city after all!!!***



Playdates...

First some photos from our first trip to the zoo with the Grabie Babie's!!

Here is Helper boy Andrew, leading the way with the map of the Salina Zoo (it's small... but perfect for us!)... Callie had to get a pic of her with the llama!

Camille being super helpful and moving Callie's sunhat out of the way so we can see my sweet baby's face...

The crew... learning about this bear skin...  Callie might be the only one interested here...

In front of the Rhino... Andrew is quite busy planning our next stop...

Two cutie's...

Mom... that guy is REALLY weird!!!

A few photos from todays playdate with our friend Alex Post!  My how the playdates have changed since our first one!  Callie is crawling and crusing everywhere and Miss Alex is army crawling!  We're just having a great time!!!

Trying to catch a photo of these busy bee's!

Notice all of the extra hands trying to get just the right photo!

The girls also have matching cabbage patch babies now!

The mini-Phil and mini-Seth... much cuter versions of the two boys, of course...

Sorry... this one was a quickie... hopefully I have time for a better post soon!  Life has been so crazy busy... we're so blessed!

A quick one...

So I'm just sending out a quick batch of photos... I was called off work this evening (meaning I don't have to go in, and get paid a whopping $2 an hour to keep my phone close to me just in case several pregnant women walk in, in labor all at one time).  So I thought I would go through some photos that were taken this weekend.  It was the weekend of my father's, Jim's, 50th birthday... and to celebrate... he had knee surgery (woo-hooo!).  So all of the Urso clan gathered in Derby to celebrate 50 years of a pretty great guy.

Enjoy these photos and hopefully soon I can do a better blog update to catch you all up on what's been happening in our crazy, super fun lives!

Here's the littlest one... crawling quickly towards my parents grand-staircase... because she LOVES to climb them... I love her little jeans!

One of the best pics we could get of the Van Court's... Her was clearly WAYY to busy to be bothered with photos and was quite angry that we interrupted her oh-so-important play time...  Brother Beans, on the other hand, is quite content to get some mommy cuddle time in.

If you haven't had some of Phillip's grilling yet... you are absolutely missing out.  My dad, Kim, is by far the most AMAZING griller I have ever met.  His steaks out-do any 5 star chef, hands down.  His chicken... perfect, and the prime rib is literally, to die for.  If I could have had him grill for the wedding, I would have, but that would've been an incredible amount of work, and, well... I wanted him to enjoy himself too.  Anyhow... every time we're together, he give Phillip another little piece of his infinite grilling wisdom... needless to say... since I can't have my dad cooking for me all of the time, Phillip has made a great "next option".  Phillip grilled out chicken kabobs and steaks for 10 people for Jim's birthday... here he is, sampling his masterpieces.

 (they were delightful, of course)

I love that they have the same look on their faces...

It's hard to get a good photo of 4 girls... but here we are... flashing the Urso gang sign (an inside joke from our family cruise vacation of 2007)

Enjoying the appetizers...

A drawing Auntie Boo (Alex) made for Callie.  The girls always used to make me drawings that I would post in my dorm room, sorority house and then apartments growing up... this is Callie's first one!  It's a drawing of Auntie Boo and Callie holding hands as BFF's (Best Friends Forever)