Birthday Pics

It's Terrible--she's already 2!

Kate at her very first birthday!
Kate at her second birthday!

Words can not express a mother's feelings as she watches her baby grow literally before her very eyes! Two years ago on September 15th, Jared and I became parents of a beautiful baby girl. Last year we became the parents of a one year old. A sweet baby who could walk, and was saying about 60 words, who fell in love with kittycats, who has given us her sweet affections since a mere four months old. This year on September 15th we became the parents of a two year old--a sweet little girl who loves to snuggle in the mornings in "mommy and daddy's bed", who uses her manners impeccably (and has impressed me as of late by saying "thank you so much" and "how are you doing?"), who is fascinated by anything and everything that is Tigger and Pooh, who can link her buddies by name to their parents all by name, who when asked who loves you? will say " Daddy, Mommy, and Jesus", who can recite her alphabet like a champ, who when asked to give kisses wants to do "cheek, cheek, minnel *middle*", who asks to read her Bible more than any other book, and though exploring more and more is a sweetheart with a servant's heart. Can't tell you how much each day with you means to me my dear sweet Kate!

Toddler Comic

Jared and I as well as Uncle Jess & Aunt Keke love to teach our lil' munchkin to say challenging or funny sounding words/phrases. For instance, Jesse taught Kate how to say "Sweet sassy molassy!" Kelsey and I try to get her to say "Rootabega"...which usually comes out "Bega Bega". Jared started teaching Kate how to say "Bounce widdit" & dance...pretty funny. The latest though had me rolling the other day. Jared started teaching her how to say "Boom shocka locka". She says it amazingly well. She also knows how to use and say please, thank you, scuse me, etc.

So, Jared and I are playing with her in the living room. She lets out this adult-sized toot--

Me: "Kate, what do you say?"
Instead of the normal "Scuse me."
Kate: "Boom shocka wocka!" with a big grin
Me & Jared: Laughing like crazy!
Kate: Starts laughing like crazy too!

Labor Day Weekend

Fun in the pool with Nonnie!!!


Our lil' swimmer--all by herself (w/the flotation device of course)!

Daddy and Kate!


Silly goggle girl!

Drinks for Kate!

Drinks for Nonnie!

Tuckered out after a weekend of fun!

Sweet thing!

New Furniture...finally!

I am so excited...after 4 months of waiting...my newly upholstered furniture is here!!! WAHOO! My in-laws gave Jared and I the chair and ottoman when we were newly weds and had no furniture of our own, and my parents gave us the couch when they got some new furniture this year. I have to say I'm totally thrilled with the way they turned out. We are finally filling up our house after 2 1/2 years!:)

Durango

Well, a lot has happened recently for the Marley family. Hasn't left a lot of time to blog...or maybe too much so I just keep putting it off. As of the first of August, Jared is no longer working with his dad due to circumstances out of our control--unfortunately...he loved working with Don and will miss him and the job tremendously, but we trust God has a plan for all of us.

All that to say, as of August first, we've had some free time. Timing made it possible for us to join Daniel and Laura (Jared's bro & one of his sisters) on a road trip to Durango to visit their youngest sister and cousins. It was pretty amazing the way it all worked out...Jared's cousin's wife's former pastor (say that 5 times fast) allowed the five of us to stay in a fully furnished apartment below their home for FREE! We got to do some hiking, rock-climbing, coffee-drinking, hippie watching, shopping and LOTS and LOTS of Olympics. It was a really nice break and what a treat to catch up with Jill, Mark, Ashley, Paul, and Erin! A mini reunion!

I've got lots of pics so hopefully it won't take me hours to upload these!:)

Announcing Ba-Boss

The swaddle!!
Check those lips!
Smitten Momma!
Peaceful sweetness!

We welcomed sweet Ross Franklin Cazzell into the world this morning at 5:42am. "Peanut" arrived at 7 lbs. 14 oz. 21 inches long and yes, it's a BOY! This boy thing is sort of alien to me, but I'm way excited about getting to know him better over the next few weeks. For now, I wanted to show you a few pics of the beautiful fam, trooper mom, and sweet sweet face of the little person we have longed to know and hold over the last 9 months! Thank you God for this amazing miracle! Kate is also excited about Ba-Boss ("Baby Ross").

Fridge Climber

This was so hilarious...this incident truly proves that Kate is indeed my daughter. I heard the commotion as she started scaling the refrigerator. When I walked into the kitchen and asked her what she was doing, all she said was "EAT! EAT!" So funny! A total lack of personality if you can imagine.:) ha

Swimming Lessons

So my friend Mandy agreed to give Kate swim lessons this summer...so fun. Last week was her first one! For the first time in her life, Kate has become a shy, uncooperative, non-excited to swim participant. I have no idea what's gotten into her. Now, she's had two and neither have been very productive--next time I'm planning to don a suit and join them in hopes of a more successful experience.:) The bottom pic is after her first one--seems she had an allergic reaction to Mandy's sunscreen--YIKES! Luckily it came and went very quickly so my worrying was put to rest.

Flower Girl

Steph and Tom plan to have Kate be their flower girl next May in the wedding--we got to try on our first dress last week and Kate is definitely proving to us just how girly she can be! Here's to hoping for little or no drama during the ceremony!

Fourth of July

We actually ended up having some friends over for dinner with their kids, and watching the fireworks in Bella Vista from the back of Jared's truck with them. The best part about a trip to Bella Vista (for any reason really) is the required Dairy Queen blizzard stop.:) But this is especially necessary in July in Arkansas. So Kelsey, Jesse, Amanda, Caleb, Jared, all the kids, and I had a great time getting icecream and watching the fireworks. Kate was mesmerized the moment they started and never jumped or acted frightened at all--even when they did the "sonic boom" ones. We had a great time until the rain started pouring anyway!

Spoken too soon...

OK so I guess I should have said it a long time ago--after I posted the fact that the giraffe and sheep would use the potty before Kate would, I was sooooooooooo proven wrong this morning...KATE USED THE POTTY FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY!!!! YEA! Stickers are a great bribe. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of diapers! YIPEE!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

So as I was cleaning today I kind of lost track of the Kate-apotamus. I don't worry too much these days because if it was really dangerous it would have already happened at least once and now it would be "toddler-proof". But I had to laugh out loud when I walked back to Kate's bathroom and found her "brushing" her teeth, and helping her stuffed animals use her potty chair. I'm afraid the giraffe and sheep have a much better chance of using that potty before Kate...:(.

It's been awhile...

So I've been asked to post...pathetic job I'm doing, I know. But between my side job and my other side job I've been keeping pretty busy this summer. So here are a few pics and I know I still owe you Disneyland pictures...they will come eventually.

Jared is playing softball with our church so we attend his games every Thursday evening. My grandparents moved to Bella Vista from Washington state so we got to help them move a couple of weeks back. Kelsey is about to POP--due in 25 days. We went canoeing with our Body Life Group in the pouring rain last Saturday. We've been sick for over a week, my sister and sister-in-law both graduated from high school. We celebrated our 5 year anniversary in Las Vegas this year. I helped some friends sell their house and buy another--YIPEE Mandy and Justin! Kate starts swim lessons this weekend. We've had weddings at Cedaridge every weekend since the first of May...got to go camping with Kristi and Mason for Kristi's birthday. Found out Kate is allergice to milk, eggs, dogs, and dustmites. You name it, we've been up to it for the last couple of months. It's been great but it's been busy...hope you are all having a wonderful summer. Sorry for the lack of posts!:)

I'm goin' to Disneyla--and!!!

My friend Kristi and I took a trip with our kiddos to Orange County, California the last weekend in April. Kristi is from the land of Disney so we got to stay with her family the whole time we were there, and we got the personal tour from professional Disneylanders.:) It was such a great trip save a few flops, but what do you expect with babies?:) More details and pics to come!