Merry Christmas

What a week it has been! I thought the 1st 2 Christmas's with Kate were the best but this year won me over. The excitement in her eyes and voice on Christmas Eve were priceless. As you can see from the pictures, she was very excited to help me bake cookies for Santa and throw the carrots on the back patio for the reindeer. As I think back though, I am not sure if she was more excited about baking the cookies or eating the peanut butter filled Hershey Kisses. There is a video in the attached pictures from Christmas morning. She was a little overwhelmed with all the goodies but quickly came out of her shell and enjoyed all of her new presents. The biggest hits appear to be the new baby dolls; the American Girl Bity Baby from Santa and an antique Madame Alexander Baby Victoria from my mom, which is a collection of dolls that I have passed down to Kate. The last two days have been filled with putting the babies to sleep along with trying to play with all of the other new stuff! Oh the excitement...

We had several wonderful celebrations, including the one in Somerset with Ryan's family, the celebration Christmas Eve with my Dad, Aunt Granny and Uncle Pal, Christmas morning with my Mom and Bob, and lastly, Christmas evening with Thirza and the rest of the Ellis family. No one will ever understand how much it meant to all of us that everyone made the trip to Louisville this year versus us doing so much of the travel! Enjoy the pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/Christmas2008##

Professional pictures

Now that our Christmas cards are out, I wanted to pass along the link to some professional pictures that we got as a family. Please feel free to visit the following website and go to the SITE page. Once at the site, go to the PROOFS page and put in the following password:

website: http://www.laurachismphotography.com/
password: RWKM

I hope you enjoy! We had a blast with Laura and hope to use her again. I think the pictures came out great! It was the 1st time since Kate was 3 months old that we got family pictures done.

I will post some pictures from last weekends visit to Somerset in a couple of days. We had our 1st Christmas celebration of the 2008 holiday season last Saturday with Ryan's family. Kate and Ava had a blast as usual and everyone was way too generous with the gift giving. Kate has been busy playing with all of her new toys and art supplies since we got home. Tonight we tried to visit my mom and Bob; however, there was a wreck on the 2-lane highway on the way to their house that blocked the road. We waited for almost 30 minutes; however, the wreck was not going anywhere so we turned around and headed back to Louisville. I am sorry we missed all the fun with Kara and Mark's families.

Since tonight didn't turn out as planned, Ryan and I decided to exchange one gift to one another! I got the new Blackberry Storm phone...YEA!!!!! I am not really into electronics but this phone is so much fun. I am going to activate it tomorrow so I can play with it as soon as possible. Kate and I gave Ryan a new Suunto watch.

More to come this week. I hope to capture some video and MANY pictures of our upcoming celebrations. Kate is so excited about Santa coming through her chimney she can hardly stand it!!

Official Santa Picture

Here is the official Santa picture!!!

Happy Holidays

It has been several weeks since I have had the chance to get on the blog and that is usually the result of being too busy at work. Luckily, starting Tuesday, I am off for 10 days straight and I plan to spend all of that time playing, sleeping and cleaning! 2008 has been a great year professionally for both of us...it has also just been really busy. Now that I am somewhat adapted to my new role, I am hoping that in 2009 I will have a little more balanced :) This week was also a little rough due to Kate having strept throat. She woke up Wednesday night with a fever and saying her tongue hurt. I looked in her mouth and her tonsils were so swollen they blocked her entire throat. It was pitiful. She and I were home Thursday and Friday. Luckily, the doctor said she would only be down for 24 hours and she was right! She is back in action and feeling great!


As you can see below, we visited Santa several days ago and she was a champ. She sat in his lap for almost 3 or 4 minutes, telling him everything she wanted...a piano, babydoll and sunglasses. Lets hope that doesn't change before Thursday!

We are off to Somerset this morning for our 1st of many Christmas celebrations. We will be spending the day with Ryan's family: Chad, Melissa, Ava, Jo, Sandy, and Opal Ann.

http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/GettingReadyForChristmas2008#

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had as wonderful a Thanksgiving weekend as we did! Our 1st of 3 dinners was Wednesday night with my mom and it was as delicious as always. Most of these pictures are from that night and capture the true joy that Cameron and Kate experienced. Kate and Sawyer have always played well together but Kate and Cameron were not a close. That changed this week and they now seem to be the best of friends! The video of them doing 'flips' is great.

We enjoyed another great meal and visit with Ryan's Dad, Opal Ann, and the extended family on the Mardis side on Thursday in LaFollette. And if that wasn't enough traveling, we visited Ryan's mom this afternoon in Berea for a 3rd meal that was then followed by dinner with Janet and John. Needless to say we are full and ready to stay home for a few days.

Sunday will be filled with putting the finishing touches on the Christmas decorations so pictures of that will follow!
http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/ThanksgivingWeekend112708?authkey=UGxgahKKgcI#

Welcome Back April & Jon

After more than 3 years in Florida, my dear friend April and her husband Jon officially moved back to Louisville this weekend and we are so excited to have them both close again. This evening, Michele and her family (Will, William and Whitney) invited us, as well as the Kaufman's (Casey, Jennifer, John Riley, and Lucy) and April and Jon to their house for pizza, cupcakes, wine and beer. The kids had a blast playing downstairs in the playroom and we adults had a blast catching up on all that life entails! Speaking on behalf of all the girls, we are so excited to have April back and look forward to more girl time in the near future. It is amazing how fast time goes as Lucy is already almost 4 months old and it seems like she just arrived yesterday. I enjoyed holding her for over an hour and wish I could do it more. All the other kids are running around, talking, and often times fighting over the same toy. There was so much joy in the Barber's house tonight and I feel so lucky to have been part of it! I apologize for no pictures. We tried but didn't realize the cameria battery was dead...oh well! Guess we will just have to do it again soon :)

Happy Birthday Nana/Mom/Jo

Happy Birthday Nana!!! We all made the trip down to Berea this afternoon to spend the day with Ryan's mom for her birthday. As you can see from the pictures, it was a great trip. Kate and Ava had a ball playing together. We also had the opportunity to meet Jo's new friend, Michael. He was great and by the end of the day, Kate would even go to him...which means a lot since she is still quite shy. We hope Nana enjoyed her new gifts and we look forward to seeing everyone again in 2 weeks!

As all of you know who read this blog...my work schedule has be crazy since June. Luckily, this past week was the last week of travel until January 12th. I have been in Chicago or California 7 weeks in the past 4 months and it has taken its toll! Kate and Ryan have done so good without me! I am just glad to be back to enjoy a little normalacy again! I am a little tired of everytime I leave, Kate thinks I am going to Chicago...even when I am just running out to my car to get something.

This past week I did get a head start on Christmas shopping in Chicago. Kate started talking about Santa Claus this past week so needless to say, we are very excited for the holiday season this year. She knows Santa likes cookies and milk, has reindeer, and brings toys, specifically baby dolls! What joy it is to witness the holiday's through a child's eyes!

I hope everyone has a great week! We will enjoy a week of somewhat normal life!

http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/NanaSBirthday##

Cutest pictures ever...

Thought everyone would enjoy these random pictures! I am off to Chicago again so I will try and catch up via the blog sometime later this week!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! As you can see, sweet Kate was the Itsy Bitsy Spider last night and enjoyed every minute of it. She didn't want to put the costume on at first but ended up wearing it 3 different times to 3 different parties this week, without one complaint. Last night, we walked down to our neighbors house for a cookout/pot-luck. Kate and Grant enjoyed walking around their court and we enjoyed watching all the kids!

I made it back safe from California this week and as always, Ryan and Kate were great together while I was gone. She is becoming more of a mommy's girl now that I am gone so much but still handles me being away great. I brought her home a Donald Duck and a Goofy doll, which made her very happy. Luckily I only travel one more week and then I am home until Jan!!! YEAH.

I hope everyone enjoys the pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/20081031HappyHalloween#

Grant's 2nd Birthday

http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/20081019GrantSBirthday?authkey=uQ990ZOS18k#

Huber's again...

Well, we visited Huber's AGAIN and had just as much fun this weekend as last weekend. Saturday night we babysat Sam while Sarah and Stephen enjoyed a concert and night to themself. Kate and Sam had a blast chasing each other around the house Saturday night and Sunday morning. If that wasn't exhausting enough, we all went to Huber's to meet up with the Wiggins's and the Sherman's. Attached are a few pictures from the day where all the kids enjoyed 2+ hours of sliding, jumping, and petting the animals.

We got to see The Ellis's on Saturday afternoon for an hour or so of tailgating. Ryan, Kate and I drove down to see one of the UK football players we use to host in the 80's, Carmichal Caldwell. He was in town with many of the other UK players from the 80's. It was great catching up with him and giving Kate a few hours to play with Sawyer and Cameron. Enjoy the pics...they are fun!


http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/HuberSFarm101208

Huber's Farm for Pumpkin picking

Today is an absolutely beautiful summer/fall day. Kate and I, along with several of our friends, took a road trip to Huber's and enjoy a great buffet and tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch. We will definitely have to do this again because there is so much to do for Kate!

Enjoy the pics!
http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/PumpkinPatch#

Mr. UPS

Ryan is currently attending a leadership course at UPS, which provides him the opportunity to see various types of jobs at UPS. As you can see from the pictures, this week he gets to ride in the field with one of the delivery guys. In fashion, Ryan got his uniform on Friday and modeled it for Kate and me Friday night after work. Isn't he cute?

I included some pictures from Uncle Chad's birthday party last Sunday at Nana's house! It was great to get Kate and Ava together! The seemed to instantly hit it off so hopefully we can do it again soon :)

Enjoy the pics. Kate and I are headed to Huber's Farm tomorrow for lunch and pumpkin picking. I will attach those pictures when I get the chance this week/next weekend. Ryan, Chad, and their dad (Sandy) are all going to some fancy car show tomorrow so Sunday should be an all around good day!

I hope everyone has a great week!
http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/MrUPS#
http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/UncleChadsBirthday#
http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/AlmostBigEnoughForTricycle#

Kate's Big Girl Bed

When you think life couldn't be any busier...it seems to get busier! Last week, Louisville was one of the many cities that got hit pretty hard by the aftermath of Hurricane Ike! We had winds up to 100 mph that destroyed many trees all throughout the city, including at our house. Luckily, we did not have any damage to our house but did experience 5 days without power and lost a tree and MANY large branches. I got to escape the power outage due to a trip to Chicago but Ryan and Kate weren't so lucky. They were both troopers! Fortunately last week was a short work week for Ryan because he had already taken off Wed-Fri to celebrate the UofL game and the Ryder Cup. This allowed Kate a chance to escape the chaos here in Louisville and visit Nana for several days.

The positive of last week is that we successfully transitioned Kate from the crib to her new big girl bed. We set it up before she got home from Nana's house and she has never looked back. She tells everyone she comes in contact with that she is now in a big girl bed and it is comfy! I can vouch for the comfort level as I feel fast asleep with her last night for the fist time. I guess the one thing that I have learned with my new job is my new state of exhaustion!!!

Enjoy the pics of Kate's new room and some from the storm!
http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/KateSBigGirlBedroom#
http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/HurricaneIkeInKentucky#

New background...no new bed

Thought I would switch it up a little bit! Don't know if I like the new background or not but will stick with it for a few weeks and see.

I was hoping to be able to post a bunch of new pictures of Kate in her new big girl bed but unfortunately our new mattress did not come in on Thursday as expected. We had to special order an antique size mattress for her bed, which has been in my family for 100 years. Hopefully it will come in sometime this week and Ryan and Kate can set it up while I am in Chicago! We have the bedding all washed and ready so hopefully I can send pics next weekend!

Low key weekend here, which was much needed on my end! Since taking on the new job, sleep is one aspect of my life that is definitely not the same. I have learned that Kate functions exactly like me when tired...not at all! I try to use my weekends to catch up on sleep, laundry, cleaning, etc so I truly cherish when we have a weekend with no plans! I am also thankful of our dear friends (Ann, Jack, and Grant) who live down the road and share dinner duty with us 1-2 x/week! Having great neighbors is a life send. For example, we had bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwiches and potato soup tonight for dinner at their house and all I had to do was make a few cupcakes :)

Have a great week and I can't wait to post some pics of Kate in her new bed this coming weekend!

April's Wedding, July 2008

I think I mentioned this in a previous post but I forgot my camera when Ryan and I attended April's wedding in July! I got these great pictures from Michele so now everyone can enjoy the beautiful setting and wonderful weekend we had with our friends!

http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/AprilSWeddingHamiltonIN#

Pictures from Vacation

Here are the pictures...a ton of them! I didn't realize how many I took while in Michigan until I downloaded them today. There are also some capturing Kate's new found hobby...dress up! She loves to walk around the house in my heels! She is pretty good at it, which is scary! There are also some pictures from Kate's visit to see Nana when she and Daddy dropped of Brooks for the week. She is lucky she get to feed the birds at two houses, both Nana's and SueSue's.
Enjoy the pictures!
http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/SummerVacation#

Summer Vacation...whew

Vacation is what life is all about! Ryan and I decided to extend our Labor Day weekend and take the whole week off this year! Our dear friends John and Ginni Moyer invited us up to their lake house in Ellsworth, MI for the week and we have enjoyed it to the fullest! We first enjoyed the long weekend in Louisville; the highlight being the UK win over UofL on Sunday. Ryan was lucky enough to get tickets and enjoyed tailgating with his friends and cheering the CATS on to victory. Kate and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the game in the AC at my mom's house.

On Monday morning, we packed up the van and ventured out for our first road trip as a family. Kate did GREAT despite only sleeping 45 minutes of the 10 hour drive. Unfortunately she is not into movies so the DVD player didn't even keep her occupied. Instead, Ryan and I split our time in the back seat with her and she never once fussed! We got to MI about 6:00, with the Moyer's anxiously awaiting our arrival! As usual it took Kate a while to warm up to Johnny but ever since, they have been great together! I think they are going to have a hard time leaving each other so I guess there will be more frequent visits to Dayton to visit the Moyer family!

During our trip, the weather has been great! On Mon and Tues it was hot, I think low 90's! We were able to enjoy the lake, including a long boat ride and several hours jet skiing. Kate seemed to really enjoy the jet skiing and kept saying, "faster Mommy" or "faster Daddy" the whole time she was out. Yesterday the weather was a lot cooler so Ginni, Johnny, Mick, Kate and myself went up to Friske's Orchard and had a blast! The kids played on the playground for over an hour and we enjoyed a great lunch at their quaint little restaurant. The guys enjoyed a little time alone, most of which was spent playing "Guitar Hero". After lunch and nap, we stayed around the house and played in the sand and fished off the dock until we decided to head to the nearby town, Charlevoix. In Charlevoix, we enjoyed a great dinner and more play time at the park! The scene at the park was breath taking...a huge beach with the harbor in the background. If it wasn't so cold, we would have stayed there forever. We took a bunch of pictures so as soon as we get home, I will post them to the blog!

Today we are catching the Gustav rain, as is everyone else I am sure. Once the kids get up from nap, we are heading to the Children's museum and then spending a little more time in Charlevoix! We decided to stay an extra day because we are having so much fun and just couldn't fathom leaving yet. Therefore, we plan to leave tomorrow afternoon around nap time to leave us a day or two to catch up at home. My and Ryan's busiest months of the year are coming upon us so I am thankful that we were able to take this week off and enjoy each other's company. I can't wait to post the pictures because I feel like we have truly captured the joy we have experienced here in MI! Spending 24 hours a day with the people you love most is what life is all about!

I hope everyone has a good week and I promise to post the pictures on Fri night or Sat morning. I thought I brought my camera cord to download the pics here but I forgot!

**Update: We actually didn't make it to the Children's Museum. We tried but unfortunately it was closed by the time we got there...guess they hadn't updated their open times on the website. Instead, we headed to the mall to let the kids run around since it was pouring down rain and we couldn't enjoy any of the many parks on the beach!**

Sam's 3rd birthday and a great visit with Nancy

It never ceases to amaze me how much one can fit in 48 hours off work :) Friday was fairly uneventful except for venturing out to get Kate's 3rd haircut. As you can see in the beginning of the pictures, one was on order as her bangs were hanging in her eyes. She is starting to do a little better but still hates it! Luckily she doesn't have to get them that often. Her teachers pull it up in pig tails all the time, which you can see in the first pics. I have tried but failed miserably on fixing her hair...therefore, we just cut it!

On Saturday, we all drove to Lexington for a fun filled afternoon. Ryan was busy with his fantasy football draft so Kate and I ventured out on the town ourselves. We first visited Sam and all of his friends at his 3rd birthday party. The Clements' and some of their friends who have a son (Ben) hosted a dual birthday party for Sam and Ben, who both turn 3 within a couple of weeks. We stopped by for a quick visit and got to go on a Treasure Hunt, which was too cute! They also had a huge bouncy thing but as usual, Kate was too timid to venture in with all the boys. I guess someday we will be wishing she didn't like boys...

We then went to the Legends game with my mom and Bob to meet my very first gymnastics coach, Nancy. It has been almost 10 years since I have seen Nancy and she was in town to follow their hometown team, Charlestown Power. It was great catching up on everything and introducing Kate to Nancy! Besides my parents, Nancy was one of the most influential people in my life and it was just great to see her! Hopefully it won't be so long before the next visit. Kate was great at the game and fell fast asleep in the car ride to my mom's. When she woke up this morning, she was able to feed to birds with PeePaw and then sit on the steps and watch the birds fly to the feeders and eat! Boy was she proud. In true PeePaw and SueSue fashion, Kate wore her Sunday best (pj's, SueSue's gardening hat, and sandles) to feed the birds!

We have one more week this week and then we all get to enjoy a week of vacation next week. Our current plans are to stay around here and enjoy the UK vs. UofL football game festivities and then venture up to Michigan for a few days at the lake with our friends, The Moyers. Should be fun and provide me a lot of time to rest, relax, and catch up on pictures, email, cards, etc.

Take care and have a great week!
http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/VisitWithNancyAndSamSBirthdayParty

Weekends are so fun...

I am so thankful when we have slow weekends! Friday we were fortunate enough to get a few minutes of Jennifer and Casey's time and meet their new little girl...Lucy Ryan Kaufman! She was sweet as can be and John Riley is a great big brother so far! Thank you to the Kaufman's for letting us come meet Lucy! She is precious!

As you can see in some of the pictures, Kate had the 2008 Summer Olympics at her school on Friday. We were not able to attend but from the looks of the program, certificate, gold medal, and new hat...they had a ball. Kate's "event" was the Egg in the Spoon Race! As she said herself, "I dropped it Mommy". Needless to say, she may not be the best Egg Racer but at least she had fun. She was on Team Black, which might explain the all black outfit! I hope the pictures capture her pure joy on Friday.
It was great seeing Jo on Saturday night! She was nice enough to come up for a visit and watch Kate while Ryan and I enjoyed a great sushi dinner! Kate has been missing her Nana ever since so we will have to plan another visit soon. We also got a short but good visit in with The Barbers! I didn't grab any pictures so we will have to get together soon so I can take some pics of Whitney and William.
Enjoy the pics...
http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/2008OlympicsAndPottyTraining
http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/LucyRyanKaufman

Cardiology follow-up

I just wanted to give a everyone a follow-up from Kate's appointment with the cardiologist this morning. Everything looks good which is GREAT news! To give a little history, Kate had two little holes in her heart at birth, one between the upper chambers of the heart and one between the lower chambers of the heart. The echo showed today that the hole in the upper chamber has completely closed!!! The hole between the lower chambers is still slightly open but improved and "normalizing" per the doctor. They can still hear that it is open but they are 99% sure that no intervention will be needed. Even though they thought that both holes would be closed by 2, they are really confident that the second hole will definitely be closed by 4 so that is when we next follow up! She was a little better during the tests this year but not by much. For some reason, she is totally petrified by the ekg and echo. I tried bribing her with candy, in which she proceeded to consume 1/2 box of Reece Pieces and 3 suckers, but still screamed her head off. I guess I don't have the bribing thing down pat yet. Oh well...I am pretty sure by 4 she will be an old pro at going to the doctor! Next feat...the dentist. Luckily our pediatrician recommended to wait until 3 since she has been traumatized from the doctor ever since her 1 year appointment with the cardiologist!

Oh the other funny thing this week...she now has feelings. She started saying she is "sad" and will hang her head low and pout. Then sometimes she says she is "happy" and sings and dances. Who knew a 2 year old knew that???

August misc...

Here are some great pictures from the past 2 weeks! Kate is growing like a weed...

While I was away, Kate accomplished talking on the phone and left me several precious messages. She can be so sweet at times but is testing us with her new found independence. I guess this is the start of the terrible 2's and 3's. It seems that she knows just what pushes our buttons. Oh the joys of having a girl!

I hope everyone has a great week!

http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/MiscAugust2008

Better late than never...

I meant to add the following post last Monday (yes...8 days ago) but my internet went down as I was trying to post and I forgot to get back on and update it! I am in Chicago this week so no pictures today but will add some this weekend.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera this past weekend and was unable to capture the beautiful wedding we attended in Hamilton, IN. Luckily; however, several of my other girlfriends were smart enough to remember their cameras so I will upload them to the blog once I get them.

One of my best friends, April, married her sweetheart Jon at his parents lakehouse in Hamilton, IN. Most of us were able to attend the wedding and made a long weekend out of the experience. With 10 of us in a house on the lake, we had a blast catching up on old times and making new memories. We enjoyed a nice lake tour, some jet skiing, floating in the lake, and as always, great food and drinks. We could not have asked for better weather or more perfect setting for a wedding. Thank you to April's and Jon's families for putting on such a great party!

Potty training update...Kate has officially accomplished it! She had one accident in the past week, which was on Friday at Michele's! She still likes to go A LOT because of all the attention but hopefully that will die down soon. We got her the Baby Bjorn seat cover, which is such a luxury now as we can just flush everything down and not have to clean anything! I am so proud of her and love to see the pride she takes in going potty by herself!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Happy Birthday Aunt Granny

I figured out how to download her pictures from Saturday. Hopefully these pictures will make Aunt Granny smile on her birthday :) They are not edited but you get the gist of it!

http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/KateS2YearPictures

Two trips to the zoo and a visit from Nana

Thank goodness for the family pass to the zoo! We got full value of it this weekend. Ryan, Kate and I visited the zoo on Saturday for an hour or so and Kate and I went back today to meet John Riley at the Splash Park! As expected, Kate was scared to death of the water park but did enjoy the Tootsie Pop and John Riley shared. I guess he is getting ready for his little sister to arrive in a few weeks. We can't wait to meet you Lucy!
We also got Kate's 2 year pictures done on Saturday, which turned out just great. I will try and download this to picasa but am not sure if I can. She was a little hesitant at 1st but ended up doing pretty well.

If the zoo and pictures were not enough on Saturday, Ryan and I had a great date night with some friends to help celebrate our friend Jack's birthday. We had a great meal and drinks at Morton's. Thank you to Nana for making the trip to Louisville to watch Kate Saturday night! We enjoyed the free time.

Hope everyone has a great week!
http://picasaweb.google.com/whitneymardis/TwoTripsToTheZoo