Thursday, December 31, 2009

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Cousins...Payton and Casey.
Santa brought me a new (kissen or tichen) kitchen! WOW!
The Reichl's, The Getz's, The Kilian's
Cousins: Casey, Alex, Jacob, Jon, and Pat
Sit and Spin...note that she has already taken off her dress.
Prior to disrobing. Casey and Payton admire the sit and spin.
Opening gifts at the Kilian's on Christmas morning.
Family picture on Christmas Eve
Cousins: Casey, Hannah, and Mia
Happy in the snow!
Not so happy in the snow...


Hi Everyone,

We are back from our whirlwind adventure in the land to the North (well, ok...we are back from our trip to PA)...it was an eventful trip! We were set to leave on Friday 12/18 and drive overnight. Mother nature had other plans and due to the monster blizzard the northeast got hit with, we chose to postpone our travel. We ended up leaving on 12/19 and drove to Stony Creek, Va (just south of Richmond) and stay at a hotel. Now we were traveling without the pack and play so Casey and I had the joy of sharing a bed. She thought it was fantastic that you could get in and out of bed whenever you liked and did so until 1:30 AM! We got up on Sunday morning and hit the roads (snow covered and all) around 8AM and didn't arrive in Nazareth until 4pm! Casey was a great traveler in the car...my special thanks to the portable DVD player along with Peter Parker and MJ (I think she watched SpiderMan 3 at least 3 times!!!)

Our time at home was great, very hectic, but in retrospect, we are so thankful to have such a big, loving group of family and friends surrounding us at the Holidays (and always).

Casey got to play in the snow for the first time. She HATED wearing snow boots. She didn't want to walk in them and that made it kind of hard for me to carry her in all her bulky clothes, plus the saucer up the hill for a ride. She LOVED the snow though!

Kyle and I had a great anniversary dinner at Mama Nina's in Bethlehem. The food was awesome and it was so wonderful to get through a meal without having to cut up someone elses food or wipe dirty hands!

Casey really enjoyed her Christmas. I finally got her to sit on Santa's lap on Christmas Eve day at the mall! Woo hoo. She was not a huge fan of opening her own gifts. I'd hand them to her and start to pull at the paper. She'd give it one feeble attempt and look at me and say, "Is stuck"...so I opened most of her gifts again this year. Of course, she was super excited about what was inside!

Our ride back to Beaufort took longer than the ride up (and we were driving in perfect weather conditions)...We split the drive in two parts again. Casey was not as happy for this trip and kept saying, "Home"..."Home"....I felt bad for her and then 10 minutes from our house, she finally fell asleep. Of course, this ruined my plan of walking her in the door to show her the new kitchen Santa brought her down here. Oh well, when she awoke from her mini-nap, she came downstairs and was surprised just the same. She even woke up this morning and asked for her "tichen"/"kissen" so I think we did well!

Now we are are anxiously awaiting the news that my brother Joey and his wife Lindsey are new parents. Lindsey is due on January 10, so I hope to return to PA sometime in late January to see my new niece!

That is all for now....best wishes to everyone in the new year. We aren't doing anything too exciting down here, so if you are out having a blast tonight, have some extra fun for us :o)

Love you all~~~
Katie, Kyle, Casey, and Jim

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

December Part 3

Casey and Jake
Alexis and Casey

Casey playing with the train.

Alexis and Casey

Casey -- the first night she had to wear her hat and mittens. The hat was mommy's!!!

She really liked her mittens!
It's us again~~~

Another quick update on our last week in South Carolina before we head north for Christmas.

We've had an eventful 24 hours here in SC.
Last night, Santa Claus came through the neighborhood on a firetruck. We got to go outside and say "Hi" and he gave Casey a coloring book and crayons. She was a little nervous, but is still talking about her book, and "kayins" from Santa.
Today was a very fun day for Casey (and me). We went to the Island Playground down in Bluffton/Hilton Head with some friends. It is an indoor playground with bounce houses, pretend play areas with dress up clothes, a dinosaur dig, a play kitchen, restaurant area, a train table and lots of slides. The kids played for close to three hours. Casey had SUCH a good time with her friend "Lekis" (Alexis) and Jake. She fell asleep on the car ride home around 1:30 and slept until almost 4pm. Yay for long naps!

When Casey woke up we took Jimmy for his walk and to see if Santa brought us any mail (she thinks all of our Christmas cards are from Santa)...While we were walking and talking I asked her what her name was and she replied "Casey" and then I asked what the dogs name was and she said "Boo bears" (a nickname we've always had for Jimmy). Then I asked her what Daddy's name was and she very quickly said, "Kyle"!!!! So I thought I test her out and ask what Mommy's name was...and don't you know -- she said, "Kayee"!!! I was so shocked!
Anyway...enjoy the few new pictures and maybe I'll post again before we leave...if not--hope to see many of you soon~~~

Love,
Katie, Kyle, Casey and Jimmy













Friday, December 11, 2009

More December

Casey's Christmas present--I put it together myself! (The doors work and everything)
I can't wait to give it to her!!!

Reading her new "Blue's Coos" book from Santa at the Battalion Christmas Party!

There was even a bounce house at the Christmas Party.

Casey did NOT want to sit on Santa's lap...
So she watched him from across the room.

The Lyceum at Parris Island (our Battalion Christmas Party!)

Casey wearing the antlers ;0)

And Casey wearing a tin as a shoe...it makes a wonderful sound on hardwood floors!


Hi Again~

One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2010 is to update my blog more regularly. So I thought I try it out early and add a few more posts on here before 2009 winds down!

Let's see...we had another stormy Wednesday down here this week. Two Wednesdays in a row now we've had severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches/warnings. Yikes. I was in the middle of baking cookies with Christmas music on, all my lights on, feeling very festive...and I thought I heard thunder. I flipped on the weather channel and low and behold we were under a Tornado Warning until 2:30pm. WHAT? It's December!!! I miss the Northeast more than ever right now. I am REALLY hoping that Casey gets to see some snow while we're home over Christmas! Keep your fingers crossed!

I volunteered at Family Day yesterday for 1st Battalion/Delta Company. I LOVE doing this! It is so exciting to see the families come in and they are oozing with pride and anticipation of seeing their new Marine for the first time in 3 months! And then the few that come back into the Visitor's Center the Marines are released for the day...you can just sense the overwhelming emotions that are going on...it's awesome. Graduation is probably the only other thing that tops this. Grown men crying--so proud of what their sons/daughters have become. If you are ever thinking of visiting us while we are stationed here, try and make it on a Thursday/Friday when there is a graduation. It is so moving.

What else??!! Getting things ready to pack up and hit the road to PA next Friday night. Can't believe it's just a week away! OH...and for those of you who I told the "shake your butt" story to...(I though Casey was walking around dancing and saying "shake your butt") I have decoded the sounds--Sake a bah, to .....(drumroll).......................................................



Jingle Bells. And she was dancing because she wanted to hear the song and dance to it. Silly mama!!! Woops!

Well, enjoy the pictures and see you all soon~~

Katie, Kyle, Casey and Jim

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Thanksgiving and Christmas Decorating

The mantle
The winning photo from our Christmas Card photo session...

Someone was not behaving during the photo shoot...and for once, it wasn't my four legged child!

Dad! Where's the turkey??

Stockings :o)

Ready for my Thanksgiving dinner...

Redfish.

You might be a redneck if you have a picture like this one!
We got a BIG tree this year!
Empty boxes=so much fun we lose our tops!

Hi Everyone,
Sorry it's been awhile. We've had a LONG month. Busy with volunteering, starting up an AVON business and trying to get Casey 100% healthy.
Volunteering is great and a lot of fun. I did my first family day (the day before recruit graduation) this month and it was so neat to see all the anxious families so proud of their new Marines!

I decided to give selling AVON a shot. If you or someone you know would be at all interested in ordering or selling AVON check out my website:
www.youravon.com/kkilian. Orders can be placed online now and sent directly to you! Shipping costs are very low and there are always lots of promotional deals!!!

Casey had that nasty stomach bug at the beginning of November and soon after developed a bit of a cold. Well, she's run low-grade fevers on and off, had a drippy eye, and complained of ear pain...so we've had a bit of a rough go with her. She's remained in pretty good spirits, but it stinks when your little one just isn't quite right. Hope we are on the upswing now!

We decided to decorate early for Christmas this year because we are headed to PA on 12/19. We wanted to enjoy our decor for as long as possible...and we had the Kilian's here for Thanksgiving so it was nice to show them our house all "decked". Casey is really so much fun this Christmas. She sees decorations and lights and she says "WOW!!!" She is a huge fan of trees and knows who Santa is now, but is not too sure of the big guy in person. She slapped high five w/Santa at the Savannah mall, but wouldn't sit on his lap. And there was a Santa at our Batallion Christmas party that should wouldn't even go near the side of the room he was on. But she talked about him and the books she got from him for the whole next day. "Santa...books".

Kyle and his dad had a very successful Thanksgiving Day fishing trip. They caught lots of redfish and Kyle even brought one home. We grilled it up for Black Friday breakfast and it was yummy.

Not too much else to share.

Hope to see some of you over the Christmas. We should be home from 12/20-12/28.

Love,
Katie, Kyle, Casey and Jimmy