Update...Finally

Here are lots of fun pics that I have at the bottom of this post. We have had a fun-filled past couple of months. What Happened?
We went to Florida. It was the first time the girls got to go to the ocean. They liked it, a little, but did decide that the sand was fun. The bummer, stomach virus. That's right - everyone of the adults except Graham, and our two girls got SUPER sick. We were laid up for about 24 hours and just passed it around the house. Not fun, but the beach was awesome. You can see us here as we were dressed up and ready to go to the beach. There are some other pics below in the slide-show if you didn't get enough.Also, while in Florida, we celebrated the girls 1st birthday. It was one of about 4 birthday parties and about 10 birthday cakes. The girls are SO lucky! They have the best grandparent, aunts, uncles and cousins. We are so grateful to all of them, and all of you, for the prayers that helped to bring them to us one year ago.So, we rushed back from Florida and right into the birthday. We had a lot of our friends there (but missed many of them). I think that one of the coolest thing was the cake. How cool is this cake. Our friend did it and I think she did an awesome job. She came up with the monkey idea all by herself, and I think it fits perfectly! The girls made a pretty big mess of the cake, but in true Elizabeth style, she got mad b/c she got some of it on her. She hates to be dirty - except when she eats! If she is in her high-chair, all bets are off. If she isn't, she thinks she has to be a prim and proper princess. I know, I am in for it!So, after the birthday party, we decided to go and have another birthday party in Colorado. We went up to CO and spent a few days at Heather's sister's house with their cousin. They are too delicious together. Elizabeth and her have learned to crawl in a most peculiar method. One leg crawls, the other leg bear crawls. It is funny to watch, but at least Elizabeth is mobile. We also got to work on the ranch, ride the four-wheeler and catch some fish. Though it wasn't Ansley's favorite, we did catch some big fish. (a 4lb 4 oz rainbow trout!)


From there, we came back home I got to go offshore fishing. WHAT A BLAST!!! We caught some kingfish, shark, and some other fish (unmentionable). It was a "manly bonding" thing with all of the guys off of Galveston. We also brought home about 30-40 lbs of kingfish, so if you want some fish, come and get it! Here we are with our catch (at least those we could hold). You will al see some of the Blue Water off of the Galveston Coast if you look at the slide show.Now we are back at home and starting all sorts of new stuff. I have a new job which means no more Mr. Mom. Super bummer! I liked staying at home with my girls. We had so much fun together and I can't tell you how great that the first year was for me. Ansley has learned to run all over the house and Elizabeth is a dancin' machine. Just put on some music, and there she goes. Heather is doing great at work (of course) and is working hard to keep it up. We now are the family that eats meals at 6 pm at the table instead of take-out on the carpet. It is a new way of life, but I know that neither I, nor Heather, would trade it for ANYTHING!
Anyway, love you all.
EACH Knies

11 Months and Growing like CRAZY!!!

So I know that it has been a long time, but better late than never... Right? So we are doing great and loving life. Heather and I sit back some times and wonder how we ever lived before now. It is so much fun having the girls in our home. Every day is a new adventure. Of course every parent thinks that their kid is the best and cutest, but look at these pics and tell me mine aren't!
So, sorry but I think that we win!!!
Additionally, we have put Ansley in classes to be a model and this is the result.Money well spent, Right? But not to leave Elizabeth out, we enrolled her in rodeo training. So here is her most recent picture.In addition to rodeo lessons and modeling classes, we also managed to go to CO for a vacation. It was awesome with a capital awesome. I got to fish like crazy and you can even catch me online at http://beaumeyer.com/node/43 (that is my bro-in-laws website if you are looking to buy a home in CO). Oh yeah, and we also took the girls! Aren't they cute with their little cousin? Oh yeah, so cute. We also did a hot dog cook out up in the mountains. As you can see, the marshmellows were so good, Elizabeth decided to save some for later.But it has been a great 11 months. We are looking sadly at next month. I say sadly mostly because they are getting older. The girls are so much fun that we want the time to slow down. Unfortunately, it is going about as fast as Ansley is getting around the house. We wish it would slow down as much as Elizabeth. Just be happy with life and slow it down would be great. But, that is not how our life is now. It is just crazy. But, I think that we are having fun. What do you think?

Love you all - EACH Knies

Don't Steal MY Piggy Bank

So, last night was the Tea Party. My friend Brad, my dad and myself decided that we needed to go to tell Washington to stop the spending.

Most of you may know that I have a pretty loud voice, especially on something like this. Well, apparently, so do my girls.

This is the 5 of us at the rally. Just in case you can't read what their shirt says, here they are again.

And BOY is Elizabeth mad about it in this one!!! She is so mad, she is about to start crying. And Ansley is like her Aunt Alden. When she gets mad, she bites her lower lip. Look Out!

I asked Ansley if she was excited to go and this was her response! Let's go - get your hands off my money!!! Elizabeth agreed as only she can - with a great Elizabeth smile.

All together, good evening. Hope they heard us!

Each Knies

So Much to Do

Ok. So there has been so much going on lately that I just haven't had a chance to update you all. But, I will do my best to update you and give you some lovely pictures.
First off - we went to the park for the first time the other day. Boy do my girls love to be in the great outdoors! You can see the slide show to the right to get our outdoor adventure.
But that wasn't all. We also had a great time this past weekend in Huntsville. I took the girls up to the State Park for their first campout. They loved it and apparently, Ansley is more like me than I thought - she LOVES fire!!! But who wouldn't? You can find those pics on the right too.
Last - I took some pics over the past few weeks and thought that they were priceless. So, that will be the 3rd slideshow.
Sorry there are so many slideshows, but that is the only way I can show you all how much fun we had.

As for an update on the girls. They are getting too big!!! That is all I can say. Elizabeth went to the DR today and is 2 ounces shy of 17 lbs. You may be able to tell in the pictures that she is "plenty plump!" We love having 2 rolly-poly babies. The campout was super fun. We went with about 50 of our friends to the campsite and had so much fun. The girls loved the outdoors and loved sleeping in the tent. They also loved all of the attention that they got from all of our friends. I was worried that when they got back home they would not like touching the ground again. I was right. Too many friends, too many people to hold the girls. Of course, that didn't stop Ansley from eating a couple of handfulls of dirt and leaves. Another set of pictures that are worth mentioning are their bath. The girls got a little dirty from eating while outdoors (apparently they watched everyone else eating s'mores and making a mess). Well, they didn't want to be left out, so they made a mess of themselves. So, we took them down to the water spicket and hosed them off there. Cold water - big shock!!! Other than that, all I learned was that they loved the outdoors so much that we are gonna have to plan some more campouts. Also, we may need a space heater b/c Elizabeth has a hard time keeping warm at night. But, she does love to cuddle with mom in the morning on the air matress. They spent a couple of hours sleeping there while dad played with Ansley and made breakfast. Does that sound fair? Oh well.
The best story of the week was this. Elizabeth was holding her hands out wide. I said, "Elizabeth, how much do you love daddy?" She kept her hands spread out wide and smiled so big. Then, Heather thought she would try. "How much do you love mommy Elizabeth?" Elizabeth wrapped her hands around her chest super fast as if to say not at all! She then started laughing about it while everyone in camp got a huge laugh too. Maybe that is why Heather felt like she had to have one-on-one with Elizabeth in bed.
Also going on - Ansley had her first bubble bath with her cousins the other day (on right) while Elizabeth took a little nap with Grand-daddy (on right).
Anyway - that is the update for right now. Hope you all enjoy the pics as much as we do. Love you all -
Each Knies

Fun with Our Family

So we are having more fun every day! Today, I saw Ansley start to crawl. Well, it was more like a comando crawl than anything else, but she was moving. It was a blast to see her.

Also, we ate food from our high-chairs today. It was fun, but a real mess. Ansley sometimes thought that the high-chair tasted better than the food though. So, anyone know how to make high-chair flavored baby food?

She really does like peas! I promise.
I may be a mess, but dang I am cute!
Mmmmmm. This high chair tastes so good.

Any more food Mom?

Also, my girls were so cute this week. I have to show you how cute they are...

I'm Still Super Dad!

So we figured out that baby food costs about $.40 / jar. That wouldn't be so bad, but with 2 kids, we are going through about 6 jars/day. That is about 2.5o / day. Yeah, just multiply that over a year!!! Holy Smokes.
So, a friend of ours told me about a website that I must promote:
www.wholesomebabyfood.com
It is a great site and realy helped us out. So, Heather went to the store this last week and said that we would start making baby food. So we started with some butternut squash and sweet potatoes. I cooked them and blended them all up. They are awesome! The girls like them much more than the regular baby food and we found that it only costs about $.10 - .12 / jar. That is about 75% off. And with the economy so bad, we ned that 75%. We sure aren't gonna get it back from any where else!
Well, then we started looking at other foods. So, we got some peas, green beans, avocados, papaya, bananas and mangos. So on Saturday we mixed them all up and got them all into the freezer. It was a working afternoon, but we wound up making over 120 servings of baby food for just about $14. So we decided that we rock at baby food making. But we didn't know for sure until the girls tried it. Well, Ansley decided she didn't want milk any more, so I think that that is a good vote. And Elizabeth finally started eating baby food. Today she ate about 2 jars at one serving. Piglet! So I say that that is a yes too.
So, if you are interested in homemade baby food, give me a call. I may have some to spare (just for trial purposes though - you can't have all of it!)
So, maybe that will get us some more visitors. Come and see us!
Love
EACH Knies

Weights

Well, I meant to do this the other day, but didn't. Sorry Y'all.
Ansley weighed 15 lbs 13 oz
Elizabeth weighte 16 lbs
Now I know that many of you wonder how Elizabeth weighed more - well she got weighed a week later on her sick appointment. She had a little sinus infection - YUCK! She couldn't breath b/c her nose was so stuffy, but she is doing much better now.
Ansley is still doing great and I think she is in a growth spurt right now.
So, girls are doing great.
See you all soon!