Meet Kronk

So, it's been almost 2 yrs since our beloved English Bulldog Jameson passed away. As most if you all know this crushed my heart and has forever impacted my life. I didn't think I would ever be ready for another...

So a few weeks ago we were talking with Peyton about what they had talked about at church. She told us that they had to pick one thing they would LOVE to have, and her choice was a bulldog. So almost instantly Ken wanted to make that happen for her. He and I talked things over and decided to meet up with the same people we got Jameson from.

She brought us three sweet little boy bullies to look over, and almost instantly I fell head over heels for one. We thought it would be a perfect gift for the family, as we all loved Jameson dearly.

So, we brought this lil guy home! He is sweet and rotten at the same time. Our home now feels "whole" again!

Meet Kronk Hough :)

No Shave November

So for years now Ken has wanted to participate in No Shave November, and I have vetoed the idea... As I really am not a fan of beards. Well, this year I told him to go for it. It was a REALLY long month to say the least.

Here are a couple of photos taken the night before he shaved his face. He's such a ham!!

Random Photos

Just a slew of random photos from my phone... My friend Keisha recently shared on her blog that she is doing "phone dumps" and I am totally stealing this idea :). I take a lot of pics on my phone but rarely get them loaded on here. So look forward to weekly photo dumps from my phone!

Calliope Update

My my my how time has flown.  Our little angel is growing so fast, and I am not too thrilled about it.  She has the best little personality, mixed in with a wicked, wicked temper. Calliope is a busy busy little body, and doesn't like to let life pass her by.

Here are some fun facts:

* She can identify her nose, eyes, ears, mouth, tongue, fingers, and belly... I am sure she can tell you where more are, but these are her favorites.  She likes to point them out on her face/body, then on yours.

* She now has a total of four teeth! She is a little slow going on the teeth, but I am ok with that.  The longer they take to pop out the healthier they will be! Teething is REALLY hard on her though, so it makes it rough at times.  Fever, restlesness, major crabbiness, and of course the drool. 

* She weighs 23 lbs and is 31 in. tall. 

* She LOOOOVES animals.  We have been teaching her the different sounds they make, and she tries to imitate us.  She can tell you what sound a cow, lion, duck, dog, cat, and sometimes a monkey.  When we pass cows while out and about she will say "MOOOOOOOOOO!!!"  and quack quack, is often "dack, dack" when we talk about ducks. 

* She doesn't like to sit and eat anymore, so this has forced us to keep at home more often for dinners...  and at home, she likes to eat on the run too.  I am hoping we can get her to sit down again soon.  But for now, we go with the flow to make sure she is eating.

* She loves to make messes! Imagine that... She will dump her toy bin over and over and over again through out the day.  The good thing is she is learning to help me clean up!

* Reading is a passion of hers as well... we read many books all day long. Often times she will just go sit and look at books by herself

* Sleeping is still a good thing, for the most part.  She sleeps most nights all the nright long.  I try to get her down for two naps a day still, but she is slowly trying to get to just one.  That makes for a REALLY long day! As she turns into a grump without a nap.

* Dancing Fool!  Two words to describe her.  If music is on her booty is moving.

* She loves going to her Nana and Papa's House.  When my mom shows up to take her, she gets giddy with excitement.  So much so sometimes, that I am jealous! lol

I could go on and on about her, but will stop here.  Below are a couple of photos of her in late November. Isn't she just the cutest!

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble...

This  year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house, and had about 20 or so of our family and friends over to eat.  While it was sad that many couldn't join us, it was nice to see the ones that did make it.  However, in hosting, we didn't get a chance to take many pictures. :(

We had A LOT of food, and as usual it was super tasty... Ken smoked a turkey all night long, and it was delicious.  I did manage to set the oven on fire the night before while making pies.  That was exciting!  Good thing I married the son of a veteran firefighter!

Here are a few photos of Calliope taken that day... imagine that.  She is the only one who was photgraphed! HA!

Causing a little mischief while I was trying to get ready for company to arrive

CHEESE!!

She was sneaking bites of icing from my moms plate...  this was the look on her face when she was busted!

We had a great time getting to see everyone, and eating some super tasty food.  Only downfall was the clean up, but it was well worth it.

I look forward to it again next year... this time without an oven fire though :)

Happy Halloween

Ok, ok, ok, so I know that I am WAAAAY behind in getting these next few topics blogged about... my laptop is low on memory so I wasn't able to upload the images. So tonight, Ken decided to be nice and let me use his to get caught up on my blogging.  Thanks Dear ;)


So, this was Calliope's first Halloween that she was aware of what was happening.  She was a peacock this year, and a super adorable one at that! Peyton was Oscar the Grouch... which doesn't really match her personality at all, but still a cute costume none the less.

This year we actually ventured down to Ken's office, and let them trick or treat there.  They both had a blast.  Calliope of course was a total ham, and got into a little mischief while trying to take more candy than allowed, and at one point even tried to hijack an ENTIRE BUCKET!  Thankfully she is so cute that no one was upset. :)

So, after dinner we decided to forgo our normal neighborhoods and just go in the neighborhood we live in. Here are some photos from the night.

Peyton and Calliope striking a quick pose before hitting the streets!

Peyton was cracking up at the face Calliope was making, too cute not to share...

Come on guys, LETS GO!!

Heading up to the first house, she was so excited

"Tick or Teet!!"  (that is how Calliope was saying "Trick or Treat") Too cute for words!

How sweet is this face?!

Back at home, getting her first goody from her bucket... she wasn't happy when we took it away!

Calliope and I

We stayed out for a little over an hour, and once her bucket was getting too heavy for her to carry we headed home.  She had a blast going door to door, saying "Tick or Teet", and even said thank you!  Once home, she couldn't wait to dig in, and that was so much fun seeing her rummage through it all.

Drew, was too old, so he says... so he stayed home and handed out the candy to our trick or treaters.  I do not like this. :(

This year was so much fun!  I can't wait till next year.  We already have our costume ideas in mind!

"Bye Bye, Smooch!"

Just a little treat from the crazy little one... tonight Ken tried to call and Facetime with his parents, and Calliope saw herself and as usual, LOVED it.  Tonight she decided to tell herself "bye bye" and give kisses.  She is such a ham!

IT'S A BABY..... BOY!!!

So, yesterday was Ken's birthday... and I wanted to see if we could tell what the gender of our newest little bundle of love was for him.  As most of you all know, he was REALLLLLY hoping for a little boy, and we tried just for that!  We went in at 11:45 yesterday to find out. And much to my surprise, it was a BOY!  Ken and I both were beyond thrilled.  God has truly blessed us. 


Upon our first peek at him, he was so precious.  He was totally lounged back, with one leg propped up, and the other laid over.  As if he was laying in a hammock! Here is a photo... they are much better in person, but better something than nothing for here, right?

So, she changed her angles, and there it was!  She pointed out that it wasn't the cord, as it wasn't moving. He certainly had no issues letting us know.  Imagine that! :)

Since it was Ken's birthday, she tried to get a 4D photo for us, even though they usually aren't the best this early in pregnancy.  Guess what he did!?!? He put his hand up just like his big sister Calliope did! It was too cute...

Needless to say yesterday was a very exciting day for us. Drew is thrilled, and Peyton isn't unhappy, lol.


This little guy already has a name:  Nicholas William Hough, and it is amazing that after seeing him again how much love I already have for the little guy.  Now, I can finally start getting some of the things I have been wanting! 


We have another ultrasound on Nov. 22, so be on the lookout for more pics/update around then!

Kissy Face

Recently when asking sweet Calliope for a kiss, she actually puckers up!!!  I could kiss this face all. day. long.

Hard to get her to sit still long enough to capture a great video or picture of it, but this is better than nothin!

Saturday Morning Fun

So, as of late one of Calliope's most favorite things to play with is an empty laundry basket... she will spend hours each day doing random things with it. I captured the following video this past Saturday. Such precious memories being made :)

The newest addition to our family

Ken and I got to have an ultrasound yesterday to take a sneak peek at our "bun in the oven"! We were both thrilled to get to finally see and hear the heartbeat... always helps to bring a little peace to my heart to see that everything is doing ok.

Here is a short little video. The newest little bundle of love, was HIGHLY active, and wouldn't sit still long enough to get the pictures the nurse wanted.  It was pretty cute/funny.  Yesterday the heart rate was 164. 

Next one will be in December at 20 weeks, and hopefully by then we will be able to determine if its a boy or girl!  Stay tuned!  :)

Calliopes First Trip to the Carwash

So, we had a little time to kill a week or so ago before getting Peyton after school. So I went to the car wash. The video captures Calliope during, and man oh man... she didn't care for it.  I LOVE her facial expressions!

A future so bright...

She's gotta wear shades...
I had her put these on and she was being too cute, so I turned the camera on so she could watch herself. Even she thinks she is cute!

Kisses from Calliope

After church on Sunday, Calliope was chilling in her car seat, and began to entertain us all. With her sweet sweet kisses :)  I could listen to this all day!

August, in a nutshell

So, I realize I am WAY behind on getting August (and September for that fact) updated and posted on, but things have been so busy and I just haven't made the time for blogging.

The first week of August we celebrated two big birthdays!  Drew officially became a teenager, and Calliope became a toddler. :(  This was a very hard week for this momma's heart, but I survived.

We had a week long celebration for each of their special days. On August 2nd, Calliope's birthday, we treated her to her very first trip to Build A Bear.  She had a good time running around the store, and she carries her little bear around with her all the time.

Calliope picking out which bear she wanted... this took a while!

She found a keeper

Getting her bear stuffed, and its heart, and all of that fun stuff.  She really didn't care much for this part.

So after the trip to "BAB", we all went out to dinner.  She had herself a celebratory birthday cupcake, and she made the best of mommy and daddy letting her get messy.

yum yum yum!

She had a great time devouring her cupcake

I have SOO many cute pics of her like this, but will refrain from posting them all :)

So fast forward a couple of days, to August 4.  This is Drew's big day!  He woke up to find thirteen presents waiting for him... and a few decorations.

Drew with his birthday loot. One gift for each year of life...

He BEGGED and BEGGED to open them, but wouldn't allow that since neither Ken or Brent were around... so I let him open one. 

This gift was his shopping trip to get a new phone, the iPhone he had been wanting. He was happy

So during the day, we went to get his phone, and just chilled till the men were done with work.  We took Drew and his friend Carter, along with the dads and sisters to eat at Shogun.  YUMMO!  No pictures from that, as we forgot the camera.  Go figure! But it was a good time.

Drew and Carter before Drew opened the rest of his gifts.

Then to conclude the birthday week, we had a birthday bbq for Calliope and Drew.  Some of our closest friends and family came to celebrate with us, and we had a blast. Way too many pics to post, and sadly most of them didn't turn out that great :( The camera operator (*cough Ken cough*) had the settings off.  He did manage to get a good one of their cake though!

Drew's half of the cake

Calliope's half of the cake

I ordered a large cake, thinking there would be too much, NOPE! This entire thing was essentially all gone! 

After eating and gifts, the "big kids" had a water balloon fight in the back yard.  That was a lot of fun to watch, yet sad to watch.  Filling up over 250+ water balloons is hard work to have it all gone in like 1.4 seconds!

We couldn't ask for two better kids, and our lives are blessed each and every day with them around.

Fast forward to the next week, and that was back to school for Drew and Peyton.  Drew started the 8th grade and Peyton entered into the world of middle school! EEEK!  They seriously need to stop growing!

and last but not least, we also announced that we are expecting another little one!  Ken and I couldn't be more thrilled to add one more little one to complete our family.  We have an estimated due date of the first week of April 2012.  We are hoping to have the c-section on April 9th, which is my mom's birthday. :)

Whew! Busy month, huh! Perhaps I will get to September before its October... pray for me, ha!

OUCH, but so pretty!

Since Calliope was born, the grandma's have been wanting to get her ear's pierced. Daddy, said no.  So, he finally agreed that on her first birthday we could take her to have them done.


So, the week of her birthday, my mom came over, and off to the mall we went!

Calliope checking out her options...

Patiently waiting with her Nana 

She was watching the lady "prep"

Before the first big stick...

and after :(

She was NOT happy!

A sucker makes it all better

Despite the small amount of crying, she did really, really well.  She only cried for a minute, and then was over it.  She has done really well with them, and only occasionally does she even remember they are in her ears.

2010 Family Vacation

So, this year we weren't thinking we were going to be able to make it out to see Ken's family... but they were so generous, and helped get us out to Philly and Wildwood.  We all are so very thankful, and had a WONDERFUL time.


We were rather worried, as Calliope doesn't do well in the car. Even on short road trips, she does NOT tolerate it and will scream and cry, A LOT! However, even though she had her moments, she did really well.  Drew and Peyton did too. 


We headed out Friday afternoon and got to Philly on Saturday afternoon. Ken's sister and her husband were in town for a race, so we got to meet up with them, and they got to meet their niece for the first time. This was so nice!  Ken's mom made some pizzelle's (Italian waffle cookies) and Calliope was a fan! Like father like daughter :)

She also had a really good time playing with her grandpops boots...

We also had a celebration for Drew and Calliope, since both of their birthdays are in August, and Ken's family wouldn't be able to celebrate in Arkansas with us.

Drew with his cake

Calliope and her REALLY big cake

As a special treat, Ken's dad also made his homemade pizza.  Which is OHHHH so yummy!

Peyton got to help this time...

So, on Monday morning we packed up and headed to the Jersey Shore... YAAAAY!

Calliope's first smell/sights of the bay with her window rolled down

Peyton wanted to play too :)

The kiddos went right out onto the balcony to take it all in...

 Calliope LOVED the kiddie pool

CC and Me

CC playing on the beach

She realized sand didn't taste so good...

Peyton waiting for a wave to ride

Drew and Peyton LOVED the beach this year.  They would have stayed all day...

Salt water doesn't taste so good either...

Come back water!

Drew riding a wave in

Peyton in her Mamaw's sunhat

If you look closely, Peytons in the photo too!

Peyton, Angela, and Drew

Our little beach baby, she loved it so much

Peyton

Drew

Awww <3

They had lots of fun together!

I was standing in the ocean holding her, and the sounds and motion of the ocean literally put her to sleep!  She crashed while sitting upright.  It was so sweet!

So, this isn't the best quality of picture, but I loved the look on their faces!  They were both irritated with having their photo taken, and Ken was especially grumpy because the camera lens fogged up.  Their matching "grumpy" expression is just too funny...

So, I could post like a 100 more pictures! The reason for the delay in getting these posted is because I had a hard time choosing which ones I wanted to put up!

As I mentioned earlier, this trip wouldn't have happened without Ken's parents and sister.  We are so very thankful for their love and support to get us out there... It is for sure a trip we will all remember, and can't ever express how appreciative we all are for everything they did for us.

xoxo