Blizzard of 2011 (AGAIN!)

As many of you may remember, back in February, we had a blizzard up in Kansas City.  It seems that everywhere the Gurley family lives, the blizzards will follow!!!  The Oklahoma panhandle received tons of snow, along with really strong winds, causing blizzard conditions on December 19th.  After the snow stopped and the winds subsided, we quickly realized we were snowed in for the day, so we went outside for some family fun in the snow!! 

Karsyn and Daddy having fun!

I can't walk in 12 inches of snow!!!

Sitting on top of a 25" drift

Trying to see if this snow stuff is ok to touch!

Making snow balls with daddy

Daddy trying to teach Karsyn to throw them at Mommy!

Showing Karsyn it's ok to eat (white) snow!

This stuff is yummy!!!

Brrr.....Cold!!!

We started trying to get Karsyn to come inside and she just kept saying, "I need more snow!!"

Daddy covered her up with snow!  She thought that was pretty funny!!

After we went inside, she would go to the window and say, "More snow please....I want to play!"  What started out as her being very careful not to touch the snow, ended up being one of the best ways to entertain her!  She loved eating it and throwing it at Mommy and Daddy!  These moments are what we live for as parents and cherish every single one of them cause she is growing up too fast!!

Dear Santa

Christmas is fast approaching, and we had the opportunity to go see Santa in the Guymon parade with Lori, Ben, Zoe, and Zane.  It was a very cold day, but Karsyn was so excited to see the lights and ask Santa for the toys she wants for Christmas!

Zoe and Zane having fun on the way to Guymon

Zane, Zoe, and Karsyn waiting patiently for the parade to start

Mommy and Karsyn trying to stay warm

She was having a blast sitting in the little chair

We finally made it inside to see Santa!!

What do I ask him??

Dear Santa,

Last year I wrote you and you came through with the toys that I really wanted!  So, we are giving it a shot again this year!!  I have been a very good girl again this year!  I have learned my manners and say please and thank you.  So, will you PLEASE bring me some awesome toys this year??  I would like a little baby doll (a Barbie would work too).  I also love anything that has to deal with Mickey Mouse!  I have a goofy doll, so I would like some of the others too!  Goofy sleeps with me and rides in the car with me...he is a really good pal, so I can't wait to let the others tag along with us too!!  Mommy says I need some jeans that don't fall off me.......I think this is more of a mommy request, but I will go ahead and ask you for mommy so she doesn't have to write you a letter too!!  See, aren't I sweet??  The toy that I would REALLY like to have is a kitchen!  I love to pretend to cook and help mommy in the kitchen, so I really want my own little kitchen so I can cook like mommy does!!  My list isn't very long this year, but is still as important as last year's!  Thank you for reading my letter, and I can't wait til you come to my house!  I'm gonna try to wait up for you, but I doubt I will make it because I go to bed at 8:00!  Just remember that I tried!!!  THANK YOU!!!

Love,

Karysn Paige Gurley 



(She wouldn't smile for the camera!)

Thankful for Uncle Jayson

This Thanksgiving, we were very thankful that Uncle Jayson got to come back "home" and spend a few days with us!  Karsyn was so excited to see him, she wanted to wake him up the first morning he was here!!  We went in his bedroom and she was too bashful to say, "WAKE UP" like she normally does!  Little did we know, Uncle Jayson was already awake and scared us both!!  LOL!!  Karsyn started crying and wouldn't let go of me!!  But, Uncle Jayson knows just how to get her in a better mood.......PRESENTS!!  LOL  He brought her birthday gift with him, and she instantly wanted to get in the floor and play blocks with him!! 

Jayson and I went around and saw some of our loved ones we have lost over the years.  Neither one of us had seen them in several years, so it was really special to be able to go with my big brother to visit the family we love and miss terribly.

Here we are visiting our Great Grandma Clark.  Mark and I live just under a mile from her house, and everyday, I am reminded how great of a woman she was!!!

Uncle Goebel.....man, I really miss this man!!  I have so many great memories growing up so close to him.  He will always have a special place in my heart.

Uncle Silas...he was my favorite great uncle!  My fondest memory of him is when I was in high school and while driving home, every once in a while I would see him parked on the side of the road.  When I got closer, I realized he was washing his pick-up with the sprinkler that was shooting out into the road!!!  He said it was the best free car wash around!  He sure was a special man!!

I just wish that Karsyn would have had the chance to grow up around these amazing people like I did.  They, along with all my other family members, showed me how to love and be loved!  I am thankful Karsyn has family that will teach her the same things!

Jayson and I reminiscing while looking through some of our stuff from high school!  We fought a lot during those times, but we had a lot of really good memories too....I wouldn't change those days for anything.....well, maybe I would change when he would tie a rope around my ankles and drag me around the house!!  LOL

Uncle Jayson and Karsyn building "Karsyn's Castle" with her blocks!  She still asks about her castle, but we can't build one as good as he did.  He's gonna have to come back and build another one for her!

Just hanging out!

Karsyn kept putting her bear in the castle!  It was his home!

Reading a bedtime story!

Jayson and I found our old rocking chairs and he gave Karsyn his too, so she had one for her and one for her bear!

Watching Mickey Mouse in her new rocking chair!

 

We sure enjoyed our visit.  We can't wait til the next time he makes that 8 hour drive to come stay with us again!  Every once in a while, Karsyn will ask if Uncle Jayson is awake and we have to remind her he went home.  She sure loves her uncle!!  I hope she has a special relationship with him like I do with my uncles.  We love you Uncle Jayson!!! 

2 Years (a month and a few days late)

Karsyn turned 2 years old on November 7th, and Mommy has been wanting to get this post done since then, and finally found enough time to sit down and let you all know how she is doing!! If you want to see how much she has changed in the last year, visit here to see her stats and pictures from her 1st birthday!
We took her to the doctor on November 11th for her yearly check-up and of course, the report was a good one!!! 

Here are her stats:

• Weight - 23 pounds (22nd percentile)
• Height - 34 1/4 inches (57th percentile)
• Head circumference - 18 1/2 inches (45th percentile)

Overall, Karsyn is a very healthy little girl!!

 

 

Clothes:

• She is in between sizes at the moment.  She could still wear 18 month clothes if they weren't too short.  The 2T clothes are too big around the waist, so we are on the hunt for some adjustable waist pants for Christmas!!

 

Diapers:

• Absolutely NONE!!!  Yay!!  We started potty training around October 1st and never looked back!!  She is doing so good with it!  Do we have accidents every once in a while??  Sure.  She wears big girl panties all day, every day and only wears pull-ups at night.  She stays dry during naps, and most nights.  In the last month, she has only had 2 accidents during the night!!  We are so proud of our BIG girl!!

Cognitive abilities:

• She is talking in full sentences now, and non-stop!!  She can tell you what hurts, when she is happy, sad, hungry, thirsty, what she wants to eat/drink, and on, and on, and on!!! 
• She LOVES to sing!!  She makes up songs to everyday words!  She can sing all the words to her ABC's, Twinkle Star, Mickey Mouse clubhouse, Jesus Loves Me, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Jingle Bells.  I have a funny story about Jesus Loves Me!  We were at church when Zoe got baptized, and all the kids were in the sactuary.  Once she was baptized, the congretation started singing Jesus Loves Me.  Karsyn was so excited that she could sing along and sang all the words to it!  Once it was over, everybody got quiet, and the pastor was saying a prayer, and Karsyn decided she wanted everybody to start singing Twinkle Star, so she started yelling, Twinkle Star, Twinkle Star!!!  Everybody around us was laughing!  She just didn't understand why we couldn't sing Twinkle Star!!!
• She can count to 20 without any help and even adds objects.  If there are blocks around her, she will say, "Count".  She will point to each one and count them as long as there aren't more than 20!!  If she gets to 20, she starts over at 1!  But, she can tell you there are 2 blocks there, etc.
• She knows her colors, and once she gets started telling you what color things are, she starts asking, "What color is that?" and wants you to play along!  She is putting colors in front of objects now, saying that mommy is wearing a white shirt, etc. 
• She knows most of her shapes.  She knows circle, square, triangle, star, diamond, moon, smiley face, and sad face.
• She loves the moon!!  Everytime we are in the car and it's dark outside, she will say, "Mommy dark." and start looking for the moon until she finds it!  If we turn a corner and she can't see it anymore, she will tell it night-night!!  LOL 

 

 

Toys:

• Her favorite toys are the ones that she can pretend with.  She loves her blocks Uncle Jayson got her, and loves to build "Karsyn's castle" with them.  She loves reading books and climbs up in our laps no matter what we are doing and makes us read her a book!  Her favorites are Itsy Bitsy Spider and her little Bible!  She will come up to us and say, "Read Bible please!"   

 

Bedtime:

• Karsyn LOVES to sleep!!  We got very lucky in this area with her!!  She takes a bath, eats her viatmin, brushes her teeth and daddy gives her a ride on his back to her bedroom!  She crawls up in bed with all her animals, which she now sleeps with Papa bear, Momma Minnie Mouse, Baby Minnie Mouse, Fuzzy, Bunny, Puppy Dog, Glow worm, Mr. Bear, her heart-shaped pillow, butterfly pillow, and Goofy!!  We finally had to tell her no more animals in bed!!  Every night, she was wanting to add to her herd!!!  After we tuck them all in and tell them all night-night, we say her prayers, tuck her in (which usually calls for 2 hugs and 2 kisses for mommy and daddy both!), and she tells us to turn off the light!  She goes to sleep within 10 minutes of us leaving the room!  We are seriously thankful for such an easy bedtime routine! 

We are so proud of our beautiful baby BIG girl!!  She makes us laugh every day and brings such joy to our hearts!  We find ourselves thanking God everyday for allowing us to be her parents!  We can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us!!