Kealee's Journeys...

2009-04-02T14:56:00.001-07:00

this might be the last post here after I started a new blog for all of us to use - check it out:

http://yeseventhedogisagirl.blogspot.com/

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Eden Louise French - born 3/31/09 3:53 a.m.
7 lbs 6 oz -- 19 inches long

wow, has it been that long?

2009-03-25T18:23:00.001-07:00

here she is in her new pajamas that Becky bought for her. They have cupcakes on them.
Here's an updated shot of Momma's belly. Her due date is Saturday.
Here she was on her way to a wedding in St. Joe for a friend of Shana's and another picture of her and Shana at the wedding.

Sorry it has taken me this long to update the blog.

Today it was....

2009-01-19T18:47:00.000-08:00

...learning how to cook breakfast, reading the Sunday funny papers, and ordering around NaNa and Poppa at Smithville while Shana and I went to the doctor to check on her baby sister. She is still due around March 28th and everything checked out fine with Shana and baby.

Good times at the Grandparents' houses...

2009-01-19T18:45:00.000-08:00

First, it was a New Year's Eve Party at Nanny and PaPa's in Meadville.

Christmas Day at my folks' house...

2008-12-31T08:34:00.001-08:00

Aunt Bon Bon's gift included an Elmo sweatshirt with her name on it. Thanks!

Christmas Eve...

2008-12-31T08:28:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve - Santa came a few hours early...

Her playhouse is a big hit. It's just her size.

snow day...

2008-12-31T08:25:00.000-08:00

A snow day is fun for all...until we have to make it up on a "normal day off"

When the others arrived...

2008-12-31T08:18:00.000-08:00

We had a few more show up including Grandma Hammond, Shana's folks, and Becky Wallace. They all came to enjoy the Big Bird cake that Nanny made her.

She enjoyed the new horse - it even talks...and she always enjoys dress-up clothes.

Kealee's 2nd birthday party...

2008-12-31T08:14:00.000-08:00

First we did Christmas with my folks and Uncle Dale, Aunt Suzi, Brady and Conner.

She was a little excited. So were the old folks.

Thanksgiving 2008...

2008-12-01T18:04:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent pics of Kealee around Thanksgiving.

3 things Kealee still likes to do...

2008-10-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

Eat (especially chocolate)

read her books

have fun!

Thanks to Aunt Lori for finding this duck costume on clearance and buying it for Little Jimmy and thanks to Uncle Jim for saying that Little Jimmy wasn't going to be no duck in no girlie costume and giving it to Kealee.

Kealee has some SUPER grandparents...

2008-08-07T20:26:00.000-07:00

What kid wouldn't want to have grandparents like these?

Here her Nanny takes pictures of her and her PaPa Muck feeding the "baby moo-moo" with cousin Gracie.

Here her NaNa takes a picture of her and her PaPa French with the swingset that they got for her (toddler swing on order but she loves the slide).

Vacation at the Lake of the Ozarks...

2008-07-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

We went to the Lake of the Ozarks for a week with Dale, Susan, Brady, Conner, my Mom and Dad, and Susan's Dad Fred. We stayed at Lake View Resort in Sunrise Beach. I would recommend it. Indoor and outdoor pools and nice access to the Lake near the 11-mile marker.

Here's Kealee at the outdoor pool with Aunt Suzi:

Here's Kealee in the Lake with Aunt Suzi admiring a fish that Conner caught:

Here's Kealee and me on her first boat ride:

Here's Kealee and her Mommy on her first "tubing" experience:

Here's Kealee eating Cheez-it crackers with Brady and Conner. I think they went through 6 lbs of Cheez-Its.

4th of July...

2008-07-22T19:36:00.001-07:00

Getting ready for the party requires cleaning the face...

The star of Dale and Susan's 4th of July party was Elliott - their pot-bellied pig:

Swinging on the farm...

2008-07-11T20:20:00.001-07:00

Jim and Karen got a new swing - I don't know why they would do such a thing since they don't use it - but Kealee likes it...

The 2 prettiest girls in Livingston County...

2008-07-03T19:57:00.001-07:00

Even though one of them was just accidentally whacked on the nose with a curtain rod by the one that needs to wipe the ice cream off her face.

3 random thoughts...

2008-07-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

She sometimes doesn't get her hair done, her clothes changed, her face washed, or stay out of the dirt when she is home with Da-da but we have fun!

She was fascinated with this hailstorm yesterday

She got a hold of a pen and autographed her legs all over.

She loves her dog...

2008-07-03T19:47:00.001-07:00

Her and JoJo love to hang around together.

double ponytail for church...

2008-07-03T19:44:00.000-07:00

eating dinner...

2008-07-03T19:39:00.001-07:00

She likes to get comfortable sometimes at the table. Maybe not the best manners...Here I think she's asking us, "What mess? I don't see any mess. If there IS a mess I didn't make it".

First hair cut...

2008-07-03T19:34:00.000-07:00

The Worx here in Chillicothe does good work.
=========

Here's what the finished product looked like:

sorry-been a while...

2008-07-03T19:33:00.001-07:00

I don't have any excuses other than trying to keep up with a wild 18 month old is hard work.

Picture time for the actors...

2008-05-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

Karen (Shana's Mom) had made old-time costumes for these grandkids to wear in the "skit" during the program. They were playing kids about 150 years ago so I needed to get a picture of all four. That was my assignment. Luckily for me, Aunt Stacy helped me out - the only problem was one kid wouldn't cooperate - Kealee.

Take one - she runs at me wanting my camera.
Take 2: Aunt Stacy hands her a camera to hold but she won't look at my camera.
Take 3: Anna helps her out - getting close to a good one...
Take 4- as good as we'll get.Take 5. I give up...and so do the rest of them.

Splashing around...

2008-05-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

There was some mud. Instead of telling her "no-no" I just grabbed a camera.

Meadville's Sesquicentennial Parade...

2008-05-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

Meadville (Shana's hometown) had a 3-day celebration of their 150th year this past weekend. One of the parade entries was her Grandma Muck (dressed in old-time garb) with "some of her 61 grandkids" as the sign says...

That's Kealee's cousin Jordan holding her with the Asher boys in the back. Christian is driving the Gator. Grandma Muck is shotgun.

Kealee looks pretty psyched to go, right?

Here's Grandma Muck with Uncle Larry Muck dressed to the hilt.

Here's how Kealee went through the parade:

Her face

2008-05-27T19:55:00.001-07:00

Her face can be messy with food:

Her face can be sweet:

Her face can have lotion on it (she ALWAYS wants lotion when she sees it - although sometimes she seems to eat the lotion)

Sleeping in...

2008-05-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

About a week ago she was having bad dreams or something so she would scream until we (by we I mean Shana) woke up and went and got her and brought her to our bed. She looks pretty funny when we're up and going and she's the only one in a King-sized bed.

Sliding

2008-05-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

She gets to the top of the slide and then wants to stand up. I tell her, "Kealee - No-No-No-No" and wave my finger at her. So, now she climbs up to the top and mocks me but standing and waving her finger saying, "Nah, nah, nah, nah". I don't know where she gets the smart aleck attitude!

JoJo

2008-05-27T19:44:00.001-07:00

Daddy's little girl

2008-05-27T19:42:00.000-07:00

She doesn't look like she could cause any problems, right?

2008-05-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

why is it always a month later??

2008-05-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry it has taken me so long. School was out 5/16 so I don't have too many good excuses. Here are some pictures from earlier this month...She loves to play with JoJo and get in JoJo's bed(s) with her. JoJo usually runs from her to the other bed and Kealee usually follows until JoJo just leaves; however, sometimes JoJo is too tired to run and just stays there with Kealee.

3 things...

2008-04-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

Here are 3 things Kealee loves to do these days:

1-Wear other people's shoes

2-Play with Jo-Jo

3-Sleep with her butt up in the air

new dog...

2008-04-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

We have a new dog. She was a rescue dog from Petfinder and we drove to Raytown, MO to get her last Saturday. Her previous owner rescued her from "straydom" as a puppy and did a great job with her for the last year and a half. The only problem is her name was Olivia. It was too hard for Kealee to say (not to mention the fact that two little girls about her age have that name that she knows) so we decided to change it. For some reason, Kealee started calling her Jo-Jo so it stuck.

She is smart. She is house-trained. She has a lot of energy. She supposedly is mainly Boston Terrier and Jack Russell Terrier but she's bigger than both breeds, I think. I see some boxer in her sometimes. The most important thing is that Kealee loves her.

Kealee and cousins...

2008-03-24T19:16:00.001-07:00

This is Conner, Kealee, and Brady at Easter.

Easter Dress!!!

2008-03-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

Here is Kealee in her Easter dress

been a while...

2008-03-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

Here are some old pics from last month of Kealee trying on her swimsuit that Shana is borrowing from some friends at work. I don't think it's very flattering but Shana loves it.

14 months old!

2008-02-10T20:59:00.000-08:00

She was trying on some dress-up clothes from her Arkansas cousins here.
She was having fun with her Mommy here.
This was before church this morning.

It's hard to believe that she'll be 14 months old on the 13th.

2008 here she comes!

2008-01-06T19:54:00.000-08:00

She'll grab the camera right out of your hand if you're not careful!

Kealee spent a few days at her grandparents' house in Meadville while Shana and I took a relaxing weekend in Branson at a FCA Couples Retreat. They got to take care of her dog Daisy, too. That's why our weekend was sooooo relaxing.

The first week of the new year, our babysitter was out of town so my Mom came up and spent a few days with her while I started back to school. It looks like Mom put her to work vacuuming.

The last picture is of today's Deacon Ordination Service at our church.

Christmas Morning with the Kimsey clan...

2007-12-26T08:16:00.000-08:00

Christmas breakfast with my Mom's side always means mountain oysters, eggs, biscuits, and good cinnamon rolls.

Christmas Eve at the Lincoln's house...

2007-12-26T08:10:00.000-08:00

We went to my cousin Jonica and her husband Thad's house for Christmas Eve.

first time visiting Santa..

2007-12-20T21:24:00.001-08:00

We went to the Parents as Teachers Group Meeting where Santa was visiting. Kealee didn't really like the jolly ol' fat man. In fact, he scared her to death.

her first Nikes from Aunt Ticia...

2007-12-20T21:19:00.000-08:00

a sweater and hat from Aunt Lori and Uncle Jimmy...

2007-12-20T21:14:00.001-08:00

her party on Saturday...

2007-12-20T21:11:00.001-08:00

more birthday morning...

2007-12-20T21:08:00.001-08:00

smiles...

2007-12-20T21:05:00.001-08:00

Kealee's first birthday...

2007-12-20T20:51:00.001-08:00

Her first present - an Elmo Loves You doll

early December pics

2007-12-11T09:07:00.000-08:00

Kealee and the Muck-ins at Thanksgiving

2007-12-11T08:54:00.000-08:00

Halloween 2007...

2007-10-31T21:11:00.001-07:00

Kealee Ann becomes "Raggedy Ann" thanks to a borrowed costume from one of Shana's co-workers. Thanks Tina!

taking a few steps...

2007-10-29T22:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long. We do have some video of her first steps. If interested, email me.

2 of her favorite people...

2007-09-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

PaPa Muck

Grandma French

SMILE! Show us your toofers!!!

2007-09-26T21:09:00.000-07:00

There are two big ones on the bottom as you can see and we can see 2 or 3 or 4 big ones coming in on top, also.

9 month checkup...

2007-09-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

Everything checked out fine. She's just over 23 lbs and just over 30".

2007-08-14T20:12:00.001-07:00

Jordan, Ticia, and Kealee at the party.
Eric's band played at the party. As you can see, there were many volunteers to sing with the band. Eric is the lead guitar/singer with the white hat on...
Eric and Ticia relax in the pool.
Shana's idea of getting in the pool.
Cute as a bug!

The Colorado trip...

2007-08-14T20:04:00.002-07:00

Here are some pictures of Kealee and her Aunt Ticia swimming. We spent the weekend in Parker, Colorado visiting Ticia, Eric (her fiance), and their kids.

I think Kealee spent more time in the water than her Mom did...

trying on a possible Halloween costume...

2007-08-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

This was cousin Gracie's one year and we decided to try it on Kealee to see if it would work. I think so...

FYI Rosco...

2007-07-28T20:25:00.000-07:00

For those of you who didn't know, our oldest dachshund Rosco died recently. He was in his teens and didn't suffer very much. He wouldn't come out for his morning walk and had probably suffered some mini-strokes and maybe a heart attack. He was alive for most of the morning and was dead by noon. Shana's Dad buried him out on the family farm. He will be missed by us all ... but especially Daisy. She's a different dog now - mostly calm and almost depressed.

Rosco was found by Shana's Mom after being abandoned south of Meadville near Fountain Grove Wildlife Area in April of 2005. We took him in and spoiled him rotten. I named him after the sheriff on the Dukes of Hazzard (yes, Daisy is also named after Daisy Duke) - mainly because he reminded me of his dog Flash but I liked the name Rosco better. He loved to sleep under a blanket out in the garage. His favorite food was probably cheese; however too much table food would cause the room to have an odor that Shana and I would call an "eye-burner" occasionally...

bathing beauty...

2007-07-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

First trip to the city pool...

Summer Beauty...

2007-07-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent pics

2007-07-10T19:16:00.000-07:00

She's still a messy eater. Sometimes the first bite produces a funny face.

More summer fun. First, her outfit she wore to the Independence Day Celebration held at Meadville's park with her church family.

Oatmeal once a day...

2007-06-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

As I always say, "if it's worth eating, it's worth getting all over ya!"

Bathing Beauty...

2007-06-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

Sunday she got in the luxurious pool that Jim blew up for her. She loves the water.

at Nanny and Papa's house...

2007-06-25T21:04:00.000-07:00

First there was a stuffed Elmo and a stuffed toy chicken. The problem was if you turned on the chicken it started playing "The Chicken Dance" song and the chicken squawked really loud. That scared her.

been too long...

2007-06-25T21:00:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the delay. Here are some new pics. The top one shows Shana feeding Kealee at my parents' house. Kealee is sitting in what was my Mom's high-chair so it has to be at least sixty years old! The middle picture shows my cousin Annie and her husband Darrell's son Wesley. He enjoyed rubbing Kealee's head. The bottom pic is one my Mom took while she watched Kealee at our house.

Granny's 90th BD Party...

2007-06-12T17:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of Granny's 90th BD Party. Kealee's great-grandparents are 90 and 93. The top shows Cousins Brady and Conner. The second picture is Uncle Dale and Aunt Susan (Doug's brother Dale and his wife Susan). The bottom shows Grandma and Grandpa K with Doug's parents and Kealee and Shana.

2007-06-10T19:42:00.001-07:00

Cousin Gracie loves to dress up and poor little Kealee got caught in the middle!

Mommy's Little Girl...

2007-05-29T05:39:00.001-07:00

cousin Conner turned 10 today...

2007-05-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

So we had to go see him and Brady and everyone else - of course Kealee enjoyed her time with Grandma and Grandpa French a lot, also.

Spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa French...

2007-05-16T19:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day...

2007-05-14T05:58:00.000-07:00

Here are two pictures from this weekend for Shana in honor of Mother's Day. Her mom made the white dress in the 2nd picture.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers.

Cinco de Mayo

2007-05-06T19:16:00.000-07:00

Cinco de Mayo at Grandma and Grandpa French's house...

bright eyes...

2007-05-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

Busy Week...

2007-04-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa French came up to see Kealee last week.
Jim and Karen dropped off Gracie and Jimmy today (4/28) to spend the day with us and took the Asher clan back to Arkansas (from the left: Isaac, Jim, Kealee, Gracie, Karen (holding Jimmy and Anna), Noah, and Samuel)
Holly Boxley stopped by and introduced Kealee and Cooper. He'll be 1 in July.

Sorry it's taken so long to post again...to make a long story short: car wreck, Shana was fine, Kealee wasn't with her, totaled the Sebring, and bought a Honda Pilot...

Easter 2007 at Smithville...

2007-04-09T04:33:00.000-07:00

I think her Aunt Ticia gave her this dress.

with Grandma and Grandpa French

2007-04-09T04:30:00.000-07:00

Kealee put on a quite a show this weekend at Smithville. She was bright-eyed, in a good mood, and squealing for everyone.

STL vs KC...

2007-04-02T05:03:00.000-07:00

Many thanks again to John and Lori Marcolla for the Redbird outfit. That was very nice of them...HOWEVER, doesn't she look happier in the KC Royals stuff??

I explained it to her kind of like the fried egg commercials (this is your brain (KC) this is your brain on drugs (STL))

She thought that was funny.

Back to front rollover...

2007-04-02T04:52:00.000-07:00

After mastering the rollover from the front to the back, now Kealee has figured out to rollover from her back to her front! It won't be long and she'll be rolling all over the place...

She really likes the Baby Einstein Play Center. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa French!

All this work plum wears her out!!!

Sorry for my delay...

2007-03-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

I have no good excuses for not posting in a few weeks. I have been doing other things and forgot about the blog. I was reminded by a few people (surprise! people read this besides you!) that I need to update the pics.

Here are a few from this weekend. Enjoy! She's doing great and sleeping in her own bed pretty much all night long! Praise the Lord!

By the way, Karen got out some of Shana's baby pictures and you could hardly tell which was Shana and which was Kealee. I gave her the chin dimple (it's called a "Denney dimple" in my family) and her love of watching college basketball on the TV but she gets her looks from her Mom...Praise the Lord again!

;-)

Rollover....

2007-03-06T20:14:00.001-08:00

We caught her on video rolling over tonight. Click here http://briefcase.yahoo.com/dfrench23 and go in the Kealee folder to download the video.

crawling won't be long now....

2007-03-02T18:40:00.000-08:00

First time we've seen her raise up like this from her tummy!

2007-03-02T18:36:00.000-08:00

She was also visited by another admirer today - our friend Tanya Burton came by to see how cute she is...

Thanks Grandma!!

2007-03-02T18:27:00.000-08:00

Kealee enjoyed her two days with Grandma French. Since our babysitter was out of town and we both had to work, Shana and I called on Grandma French to come and rescue us.

Here are some pictures - including Grandpa French who stayed late when dropping Grandma off and came early to pick her up to spend more time with Kealee.

1 month pictures...

2007-02-21T17:38:00.000-08:00

We have her one month pictures back and we really think they turned out well.

She's enjoying her time at the babysitter's house. The other little girl there really loves her.

Kealee's favorite things to do are to read and play with her Mommy in the afternoon, talk to her Daddy in the morning, and see her grandparents anytime. She has everyone wrapped around her finger...

missing Kealee...

2007-02-12T07:53:00.000-08:00

Maybe it was just because we missed Kealee but we both decided the Eddie Murphy movie "Norbit" was NOT worth the $6.50 ticket price. I would rather change diapers than watch it again.

We went to Applebee's and my steak was tough, too.

I know Kealee and Jim and Karen were having fun but all in all I would've rather had Kealee on my chest watching some TV...

Sunday...

2007-02-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

Kealee is with her Nanny and PaPa at the farm right now. They wanted to babysit her tonight so we will actually hit a movie and dinner out before a restful night's sleep. Those are rare these days. It was 12-5 Friday night and last night it was 11:30-2 and 3-7.

We really can't complain about her - she's a good baby. Here are some recent shots:

Big Weekend...

2007-02-04T19:23:00.000-08:00

Kealee is pooped after her big weekend.

No, she didn't go to Miami to a Super Bowl party. She went to Smithville and made the rounds.

First, she got in the car with the two smelly wiener dogs and us and went to Grandma and Grandpa French's house on Friday night. Dale, Susan, and the boys were also there to greet her.

Saturday, JayT came over to see her and brag about how his two kids are already potty-trained. Aunt Sharon stopped by, also.

After lunch, she got to see her cousin Brady's 5th grade basketball undefeated team remain undefeated after a close win against another undefeated team from Platte County. Bradymade some big steals and baskets but mainly handled their press well and had a lot of assists to help lead his team to the victory.

She slept most of the game away on Aunt Suzi's cousin Michelle. Saturday afternoon she got to see her great-grandparents - Granny and PaPa Kimsey.

Saturday night brought over Darren, Peggy, and Jake Shaffer...luckily for us no Albert (the 90 lb bulldog who likes me a little too much).
;-)

Sunday morning was the gymnastics meet where cousin Conner's "Mercury Gymnastics" team placed first and Conner put on quite a show with his 3rd overall individual placing and first in the rings.

Last stop was First Christian Church of Smithville for a soup lunch (but mainly for Grandma and Grandpa to show her off to their church family).

Not much the rest of the day but sleep for this little tired girl...

a few more pics from this weekend...

2007-01-29T05:48:00.000-08:00

cousin Jordan and Kealeeanother picture of Kealee and Gracie:
She's dreaming of touchdowns after watching all of that ESPN with me...

Kealee & The Mucks...

2007-01-28T20:57:00.000-08:00

Kealee had a lot of fun this weekend with her cousins. Jordan and Christian (Shana's sister Ticia's kids) flew in from Colorado to see her. Aunt Ticia thought she was pretty cute, too.

Here are a couple of pictures of Kealee and two other cousins - Gracie and Little Jimmy (Shana's brother Jimmy and his wife Lori's kids).

Next stop next weekend - Smithville! Her cousins Brady and Conner haven't seen her in a while and Aunt Suzi is getting pretty upset, I'll bet.

January 20...

2007-01-20T09:10:00.000-08:00

You would think I would have made more posts since Monday.

We didn't have school Tuesday due to ice.

We didn't have school Wednesday due to bad country roads. Kealee's one-month checkup was that morning and the highways were fine. We went to Liberty and Dr. Rinker checked her all out. She weighs 10 lbs 9 oz. now. She's at the 90th percentile in all 3 categories (head circumference, height, and weight). Dr. Rinker thought she felt a "click" on her right hip. That could mean hip dysplasia so she referred us on to Children's Mercy.

We went there on Thursday morning (no school again) and Dr. Olney didn't feel it click. He said even if it clicked, that is pretty normal - it's a "clunk" that he would worry about. We made a follow up appt for April 3rd to get an x-ray on her hip (baby's hips are mostly cartilage until 3 months or so - an ultrasound would've worked but he didn't feel that was necessary either). He thought she seemed just fine.

Friday we did have school. It was a rough week.

;-)

Here are some pictures from today:

MLK Day...

2007-01-15T12:23:00.000-08:00

No school today (snow and ice, too) so Shana decided to play dress up with Kealee.

Here's a picture with her new Old Navy jeans, her shoes her Nanny got her, and the sweater that our CMS Secretary Jeannette Johnson made for her.

She's styling!!!

video...

2007-01-13T17:04:00.001-08:00

Here's a link to a video taken that same day...
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/dfrench23