Happy New Year Florida Style

 After we celebrated Christmas, we headed to Lakeland for New Years.  We had so much fun seeing family and friends.  We even had a PALS reunion party/surprise baby shower for Petunia.  We have some great friends!  The trip was so busy it is a bit of a blur.  It sure was hard to come home.  Even harder because it has been cold and damp.

Of course there were presents from Nana and Papa.

My cousin Linda and her family plus came to go to Universal studios.  Here are the girls with their second cousins; Blake, Kevin and Olivia.

Mom, Linda, Sam, Zoey and I had a girls day of fun shopping.  

And of course Papa was there to entertain.

We had a fun playdate with Zoey's best friend Nick and his brother Rowan.

We also overlapped with Sally, Scott, Izzy and Charlie.  We had breakfast and some fountain playtime.  It is so nice to get the kids together.  

We also got to see a former colleague and his family.  The kids played really well.  

We also overlapped with Aunt Tracy and Uncle Bruce.  They are always a big hit with the girls, so it was great to spend time with them.

And we got to celebrate a very special little boy's first birthday.  Happy Birthday Rowan!

Rowan stood for the first time!

And right after we got back, I had my anatomy scan.  Petunia looks great.  The maternal fetal specialist said he could scan me all day.  Everything was "gorgeous" from her brain to her heart.  And she was estimated at 11 ounces.  Nick was also told that he was not allowed to stop at 3, but needed to try one more time for a boy :), ironic since the doctor has 4 boys.

We hope everyone is enjoying 2015.  We are staying super busy.  Marshall started Monday and UHCL starts Tuesday.  And of course, we are about to enter birthday season.  Sam will be celebrated with a small lunch at the American Girl Cafe.  I still have to plan Zoey's.

End of the year fun!

We went to the park for a cool but fun time.

I got a nice picture of Sam.

Zoey has informed us that she does not like the name Zoey.  She has declared that she shall be called Zo-Zo, after we rejected swapping names with Samantha.  So here is Zo-Zo with her Santa gift, Ella Grace,

Here she is being silly on the truck.

The girls got matching swan necklaces from Nana and Papa and matching swan shirts from us.  We love and miss Lakeland!!!!  They would not both sit still for a great picture, so here is the best I got.

We hope everyone has an amazing New Year!  And Go Jackets in the Orange Bowl!

Christmas fun!

The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas have flown by.  We have stayed busy and here are some highlights.

We went to a local town, Dickinson, to grab dinner and walk through their lights.  It was no Lights of Lakeland, but was pretty neat.  We also went to a walk through Bethlehem at the local Methodist Church, but I did not take any pictures.

I need this in my yard!

We had some Santa parties.  The moms club one could not get a dad to play santa, so a mom with sick kids did, but she did not have boots, so red toenails it was.  :)

We also had a neighborhood party.  The girls had a blast.

We met the Pabons at Kemah.  We had a blast, even though it was so cold.

The girls and I went to the local nature center.  They have one free Sunday a month.  It was pretty and they have an old farmhouse and bison.

 And there were some early presents.  Sam got a nerf rebelle, so Zoey pulled out the old smaller ones.

My main gift is a new oven.  The old one was original and the microwave made a weird noise and the oven had only one working element and was not working well.  So we bought a new one at Sears outlet.  It was a double convection.  Nick had to redo the cabinets to fit it and there were still a lot of challenges.  But it is in now and so pretty.  I also got this spice organizer.  

Sam and Zoey opened a few things already.

Sam continues to work hard at piano.  She has enjoyed the Christmas songs a lot.  She was nervous about being taped, but she is doing so well for having done lessons just over a year.

Merry Christmas from the Southern Kellings!  Hope everyone has a joyous and peaceful holiday season.

It's a....

Here are the results of the blood test....

This is the picture I took to announce on facebook.

Here are some other recent happenings.

Zoey has loved drawing lately.  Here is our family.

We went to the mall to see Santa.

And we got together with our good friends who live on the other side of Houston.  The girls had a blast and enjoyed sharing our news.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  We go back for a week of classes and then finals.  The girls have school until the next week.  I cannot believe it is time to decorate for Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving

Those who know me, know I love the number 5.  Well, here is the announcement that in 2015, there will be 5 Southern Kellings!  2014 was a pretty rough year, but it has had great moments.  We waited until our future was a bit more predictable job wise to try for kid number 3, but we did not want to space out kids too much.  Additionally, we did not want me to be much older since many risks increase with age.  Happily, we can announce that baby Kelling is low risk for chromosomal disorders based on a Panorama test and the nucal fold test.  We will have the anatomy scan in early January.

We just told the girls after the results came in. They are very excited.  Zoey wants a sister named Flower, although Samantha was wearing a flower sweater so that may have inspired her name choice.  She also has no real concept of time, so the many weeks to go will seem long to her.  Sam is thrilled and promises to be a big help.  I am hopeful that both will enjoy a baby.  I know Zoey will have some issues becoming a middle child, but her spunk should help her through that.  She is our little spit fire.  They have enjoyed telling a few of our friends.

More updates to come....

Have a great Thanksgiving!

I know you cannot get much from these early images, but here are some of the first pictures.

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a nice Halloween.

We were lucky to have my parents visit while Nick went to his annual Human Factors conference, which was in Chicago.  We had a great time with my parents, although Zoey ended up with croup while they were here.  They were so generous to drive all the way out here to help out and spend time with us.  They are the most amazing grandparents and we cannot thank them enough for all they do for us.

Of course there were gifts.

We made a trip to the Johnson Space Center. My dad had never been and space exploration is big in our house right now.  We have also been watching From the Earth to the Moon.  Sam loves it, but Zoey gets a little bored.  When we were at the space center we watched a short film about and saw the podium JFK used for his speech.  When Sam saw him in The Earth to the Moon, she said, "Look there is George Bush Washington."  Umm, not so much.  :)

We also were lucky enough to have Nana and Papa here for Halloween, which is also my dad's birthday.

We had a silly Olaf...

And a still sick Supergirl in her flying stance.  Zoey did not officially have a fever, so we let her go to a few houses.  We had said something about the barking cough she had, which she started calling her doggie cough.  She is finally doing better now, and should go back to school tomorrow.

Nana and Papa are back in Lakeland.  We miss them a ton already.

Ah, October!

It seems like every October of the past few years has been a challenging month.  This year has been no different.  Of course, during this month of gap insurance, everyone has been sick.  Sam started us off with a sore throat and fever.  She was out of school for 3 days.  Then Zoey kicked it up with a higher fever, she got up to 104.  In the end, I am pretty sure she had fifth disease since she got the red cheeks that looked like she had been slapped and the lacy rash.  Then Nick got viral conjunctivitis.  And I got an excruciating sore throat, which I think was just post nasal drip, but my nose never got stuffed.  And Zoey got a splinter that ended up becoming infected in just a couple of days.  I put a bandaid on it when she complained to soften the skin and she took it off, so I ended up forgetting.  She then complained again and it was swollen, red, and had pus.  So we went to CVS to check Nick's eye and Zoey's finger.  Turned out they do not fix finger issues, so Zoey and I went to urgent care for that treatment.  I am glad there are only 9 more days in this month and hopeful that we will all be healthy soon.  Sam did have a very short fever last night, but nothing this morning, so just a day off school and she seems fine.  I know that I will be doubly thankful for health once everyone gets there.

Here is Zoey after the finger treatment.  She was a trooper.  I know it had to hurt, but she stayed still and barely cried.

We have also had some fun in this crazy month.  Here are the girls in silly outfits putting on a concert.

Zoey and I went to a nice pumpkin patch.

And Sam had a sock hop at her school.  I did not find a poodle skirt, so I threw this together.

I wish everyone a healthy and wonderful rest of October.  I hate to ask time to speed up, but I am so ready for November!  Although I would appreciate being able to enjoy the rest of this month too.