Saturday, January 12, 2013

Goodbye

After MUCH thought, we have decided to shut down this blog.  We have reached the limit on free storage, so in order to continue, we will  have to pay monthly to keep this going.  We have enjoyed sharing each moment of Karsyn's first 3 years with you all, and are sorry we can't continue this journey with you.

With love,

Mark, Myranda, and Karsyn

Friday, January 4, 2013

Karsyn's First 3 Years

My cousin, Brian, helped me make a video of Karsyn and her first 3 years!!  It is kinda long, but there were too many great pictures to choose from!! 





We are so blessed that God chose us to be Karsyn's parents!!  We could not be happier with the life that we have with her!!  We love you more everyday, Karsyn!!! 

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Dear Santa

Karsyn was so excited to go see Santa and tell him what all she wants for Christmas.  Once she got there, I think she was in awe and couldn't say a word!!  LOL!!  She just kept smiling and staring at him!!



This year is special because Karsyn told me exactly what to write down for her letter to Santa for the first time!  So, here it is:

Dear Santa,

I forgot!!  I'm going to give you a big kiss and you are the best Santa ever!!!  I want a lot of toys.  I want a robot, remote......AND batteries, I want a dollhouse with a boy doll....no, no...a girl doll!  I want a trampoline like Miss Kelly at gymnastics has, and I want a bubble popper!

Love,
Karsyn

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Thanksgiving

We had the honor this year to host Thanksgiving for all of Mark's family!  We were sad that his sister, Toni, and her 2 kids were unable to come....maybe next time!  We had a house-full, and loved every minute of it!  Karsyn had so much fun and didn't understand where everybody went after they all went home.  She kept asking, "Where is all my family??"  LOL! 

Mark's oldest brother, Danny, and his family got here early am on Wednesday morning and everybody else came that evening.  They all stayed until either Saturday or Sunday so we had days of fun!!

KK straightened Karsyn's hair and this is Aunt Roxie making it pretty!!

Karsyn telling Uncle Danny all about something!!

Here is a pic (not very good one) of the gang eating some yummy food!!

Once most of the crowd left, we had a little friendly competition......aka Bedlam!!  Of course, I had to put Karsyn's OSU outfit on for Uncle Danny who is a Sooner fan....Blech!!  

After the game, Karsyn had fun hanging out with KK and Ashten!!
 
We had a great time reconnecting with all our family!  Can't wait to see you all again!  You all are welcome here anytime!  

Thursday, November 29, 2012

3 Year Check-up

Karsyn had her 3 year check-up in Amarillo on November 16th.  I cannot believe how much she has grown this last year!  She is definitely becoming a big girl fast!!!  Here are her stats from the appointment:

Height:  38 1/4 inches - 79th percentile! 

Weight:  31 pounds - 55th percentile!

This is the first time since she was born that she is in the average or above average range!!  She has always been around the 25th percentile in both of these areas!!  She gained 8 pounds and grew 4 inches this past year!  Amazing!

Here are some other stats:

Clothing:  She mostly wears size 3T now.  Some of the pants are too big in the waist, but we have to buy this size for her long legs!  3T jeans are almost too short, but there is no way she could wear a 4T in the waist!

Potty Time:  She is such a big girl now!  She hasn't even had to wear pull-ups since last December!  She has only had 3 accidents at night this whole year!  She is starting to use the potty all by herself.... wiping and everything!  The other night, I heard the toilet lid shut so I ran in there, and she had gone potty, wiped, and flushed the toilet all without even telling me she needed to!  In some ways, this makes me sad....she is becoming too independent!!!  LOL

Cognitive Abilities:  There really aree too many things she can do to name.  She amazes me at how well she can communicate!  She knows her shapes, colors, letters, and numbers.  Her memory is crazy good!  Her favorite song right now is "Don't Take the Girl" by Tim McGraw.  She calls it "The Johnny Song".  She knows every single word to it and can sing it without the music.  She wants Daddy to sing it to her before bed almost every night, and she loves to listen to it on his computer!  She loves books!  We read to her everynight and after we are done, she likes to take the book and read it to us!!  Of course, she can't read yet, but she remembers the words and pretends to read it.

Toys:  She loves her LeapPad 2, Mommy's Kindle, tools, cooking, dressing up like a princess.....pretty much anything and everything!!!  She even loves to clean-up her toys!  As I am typing, she is putting all her tools back in the toolbox, and I didn't even have to ask her to!!!  Oh, and I cannot forget Mr. Bear!  This is by far the most important toy of all!  She has actually broken the ribbon around his neck several times, and Nanny had to get him a new ribbon not too long ago.  She doesn't like the new ribbon as much and actually asked for the other one back.  Since we switched ribbons, she doesn't rub it on her nose anymore....I guess it's just not the same with the new one.  We have started talking to her about leaving Mr. Bear in her bed and not taking him everywhere with her, and her eyes just fill up with tears, so I think we will tackle that later!!! 

Naps:  Oh, naps.....how I am going to miss these!!  This is my time to either get certain stuff done around the house, or just relaxing.  However, I thinks she is starting to outgrow her naps.  There are days when she takes one and there are days where she just isn't tired and will stay awake.  She will still tell us when she is super tired, and ask if she can go to sleep. 

Bedtime:  Well, since Mommy stays home now, we have gotten pretty lenient on what time she goes to bed.  We usually have her in bed by 9:30 at the latest.  We have had some issues with her sleeping patterns this last year.  She got into the habit of not staying in bed at bedtime, and we would fight her for 2 hours and sometimes even longer to go to sleep.  We did finally get her to quit doing that, and now she goes to bed pretty easily again.  There are nights when she takes too long of a nap that she will have a hard time going to sleep.  Some nights, she will test us and get out of bed a couple times, but she knows that she will get in trouble if she does, so usually, she just lays in bed and plays until she falls asleep.  Overall, I cannot complain about her sleeping habits cause she is a Gurley and she loves to sleep!!!  LOL!!

We are amazed each and every day at how much our little baby isn't a baby anymore and how much she is growing!  She is our little princess and we couldn't be more proud of her!!  We love you more and more each day, sweet pea!!!!

What Time is it?? It's Time to Party!!

We had Karsyn's 3rd birthday party on November 10th!  She loves the show "Bubble Guppies", and wanted that to be her birthday theme.  Of course, nothing can be simple.....there is absolutely nothing in stores that has the Bubble Guppies on it, so I had to improvise!  I made the invitations and think they turned out pretty good for an amateur!!



We set up the tables and Karsyn could hardly contain her excitement!!  She couldn't wait until everybody showed up!

Bubble Guppies cake that Reyna Ochoa made!  She did such a good job and it was yummy!!!

The piñata!

Once everybody got to the party, she started opening presents!  She wanted to play with everything, and we had to keep telling her there were more gifts to open!!  



The look says it all!!!  She was so excited when she got jewelry!!!

She was so busy, we had to recruit Abby to help hold up clothes for pictures!!  This is a dress Nanny got her and the picture doesn't do it justice....it is beautiful!

All the kids ready to pull the strings to open the piñata!  We got one that the strings can be pulled since Karsyn is so young.  It was fast and furious!!!  

The candy fell and the kids went wild!!!

There were a few people that couldn't come to the party, but were generous enough to still give her a gift.  Jamey, Chelsey, Emma, and Maddie gave her a crown, earrings, and glass slippers the other day and she couldn't wait to get home and try it all on!  Everytime she dresses up, she says she has to go show the mirror!  She loves looking at herself dressed as a princess!

 We want to thank everybody who came out and made her day special!  She was so busy and was having so much fun, she skipped her nap!  Needless to say, she slept really good that night!!  We are so fortunate to have family and friends that help us celebrate her!!!  We love you all!!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

3 Year Pictures

Once again, Judy has blown us away!!!  She came out to the house to take Karsyn's 3 year pictures and I cannot pick a favorite!!!  We went over to the Home Place of the farm to take some pictures and went to the house where my grandpa was born for more.  We are so blessed to be able to raise our daughter in the very place I was raised that has so much family history!!!  I sure hope my grandparents like these pictures!!!



 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 

 
 
And last, but definitely not least.....Judy was able to capture the true nature of Karsyn!!! 
 
I have no idea how we can possibly get any better than these next year!!  Judy, you are amazing and you have a special ability to get the pictures that depict Karsyn to the T!!!  We love you and can't thank you enough!!