Thanksgiving Week

Our Thanksgiving week this year was wonderful, and yet so different from last year's! This year we finally made the long awaited trip to visit Paul's best friend Juan and his amazing family in Columbus, OH. Paul hasn't seen Juan for almost 2 years (They have never met Khloe') Juan has three of the most well behaved little boy's I have ever met! Juan Jr. (11), Pedro (almost 9), and Gabriel (almost 7) affectionately referred to as "Gabby" or Khloe's version "Gab-ky" Khloe' fell in love with all of the boys but I think her favorite may have been "Gab-ky":) she was sooo cute with him, She followed him everywhere! She wanted to hold his hand all the time... oh lord I think I'm gonna have my hands full! HA HA!

After we stayed and visited with Juan and his family for a couple of days we drove to Indy, only about 3 hrs away. Khloe' had a BLAST with all of her cousins (Ashlynn was the only one missing). It was so great to see this sweet Angel of ours trying to keep up with all the big kids. One night they were all climbing on Uncle Brock's back for a group Horsey ride, Khloe' had to be right there too....Hilarious to see Brock crawling on the floor with 4 kids all sitting on his back and each of them holding onto the one in front of them as the horse (Uncle Brock) and the ride got a little rough and kids were being shaken off the horse's back....We all laughed so hard! Also, it seemed that each night before we all went back to everyone's own house the kids would tightly wrap themselves around either Brock or Chad's or even Paul's legs around their ankles and sit on their feet and the uncles would try and walk around with all the kids on their legs....the kids had such a great time. I just enjoyed the deep belly laughs from everyone as this seemed to be the funniest thing they had ever done! I am sooo loving all of these sweet moments I get to be apart of with them! I wish we lived closer to them more and more every day! I'm just praying that some how in the near future this can happen....I miss my family so much sometimes it hurts!

It'a so amazing to me that this time last year when we went up to Indy the coolest thing was that Khloe' was able to sit up on her own, we would place a blanket down and some toys around her and as long as she could still see me she was content for a long time, I remember thinking "Wow this is great, I can put her down and walk away to do something and she is fine"....what freedom that was"....now this year she was going up and down the stairs at April & Brock's houses to play with the big kids, and every once in a while she would climb back upstairs where we were all at for some water or motion for me to "Mon" (her way of saying Come on) 'cuz she wanted me to play with them downstairs. Or, they would all be running around in a large circle trying to chase Uncle Chad and sure enough little Khloe' is right behind them all...running and laughing as hard as she could!! Just can't believe what a difference a year makes!

One more cute story, while we were at Granna's one day Khloe' started to put together 2 words....She was eating something and I asked her if she wanted another bite or if she was done? She shakes her sweet little head and says "NO BITE".....Paul and I laughed so hard we couldn't believe our little sugar bear was saying more than 1 word! In no time, I'm sure she will be saying full sentences and telling us what she doesn't want to wear, or what she doesn't like to eat and much more! Ha!

Well enough of my sentimental stories, I'm sure you guys want to see some pictures....Here you go!

Great picture of what I tried to describe above! If you can't see this very well, Cole is on Chad's right leg, Drake on his left leg, Mia clinging to both legs in the front and our sweet little Khloe' bear on his back....The amount of screaming and laughing that came from all of them was truly priceless!

Here is a great one of them all with my Dad (Poppy) and my StepMa (Grandma Linda) and as Mia would describe her the grandma who always wears a high shirt (turtleneck) LOL. Inside story I guess!

Look at these 4 little sweetie pie's...so cute and loving with each other!

Ok, I had to throw this pic in. Everytime we had the kids together and wanted them to pose or smile, someone would say "ok guys say CHEESE" For some reason Khloe' would take her 2 fingers and push in her cheeks and smile while saying cheese! HA, I have no idea where she picked this up from!

Mia and Cole trying to do some wonderful singing for all us! Khloe' of course right there trying to get in the mix with them!

The kids all have a blast on this really cool toy of Cole's called a "Gator" (not sure why? it looked like a John Deere thing to me, but what do I know) Of course everyone had to fight over who got to drive....even Khloe' was VERY upset when she didn't get to drive!! I was very shocked to see that she knew how to drive it :)

Daddy, was definitely a "Helicopter Dad" here! It looks like he is pushing it, but it's battery operated but Paul was right there behind Khloe' just in case...LOL!

If you notice in this picture Khloe' is holding Gabby's hand.....too cute!

What a truly wonderful Thanksgiving week! The best part was seeing the smiles and hearing the loud belly laughs that seemed to be a constant majority of every day with our growing Khloe' bear!! Thanks guys for checking in on us, we love you!

Halloween 2011

This was our 1st Halloween to go be able to go trick-or-treating w/Khloe' and I wasn't sure how she would do....but she had a BLAST and so did we! We went trick-or-treating with our neighbors Caylee (7yr), Emily (5yr), their friend Cadence (5yr), and her little brother Noah (7 mo?) and their parents so all together there were 3 couples and 4 RUNNING little girls, Ha! Khloe' just adores Caylee & Emily and always wants to try and do what they are doing, so as the older girls were running up the sidewalks and up to the front doors, of course Khloe' was trying to keep up with them. Khloe' has started this new thing when she gets excited and is running she yells "Ma-ma, mama-mama-mama-mama" the whole time it is sooo cute and hilarious at the same time! She was such a TROOPER and lasted almost 2 hrs running with the other girls. She would get tired from time to time and want me to pick her up, she'd lay her head on my shoulder for just a minute and then want to jump out of my arms and catch up with the girls again! Seriously Paul & I kept saying how we can't believe how cute she was and HOW MUCH FUN We had watching her experience her 1st real Halloween! I can not WAIT until next year to do this again!!!

Here are a few pics we took from Sunday when we went to Boo & The Zoo (we invited Caylee & Emily to go with us as we now have a season pass to the Atlanta Zoo, parents and up to 4 kids get in free) & of course some from Halloween night!

She still loves the Kangaroo part the best!

She smeared her nose a little here, it was pretty chilly out that night, but she still looks adorable!

If your wondering about Paul & I's outfit....Paul picked them out! :) Clearly my outfit was a TAD too tight & obviously a little bit of "high waters" but who cares, we had fun and it wasn't about us or OUR outfits.....but we sure got into the spirit of the Halloween season, face paint and all! LOL!

Thanks for checking in on us guys! We love you all very much!

New Muriuki Family Photo's -Fall 2011

I hope you guys have enjoyed looking at these as much as we have. Thanks for stopping by and checking in on us!

Khloe's 1st trip to the Zoo, 1st Wedding, & 1st car!!

Well guys it has been way too long since our last update, so plan on being overloaded with ALL the new pictures :) We took Khloe' to the Zoo this past weekend and she had a blast! She has really been into animals the past couple of months. We have been working on our Lion "ROAR's" our monkey sounds (hands under the armpits), baby piggy noises, Elephants, cat's & mimicking Giraffe's. The zoo was so much fun for all of us. We saw different animals than we had worked on with her, like tiger's & panda's & kangaroo's. She LOVED the kangaroo's!!! She had a horrible melt down when we tried to leave and walk away from the kangaroo's and onto to the next set of animals. We laughed so hard. Daddy taught her how to jump like a kangaroo while saying "Boing, Boing, Boing"....too cute!
-We took her to her 1st wedding on Aug. 28th to our very good friends Eli & Michelle's wedding. She had a blast running around the lobby back and forth between the reception area and the drinking fountain where she insisted on pushing the bar and sticking her hand in the freezing water just so she could shake her now cold hand and blow on it as if to "cool" it off (priceless!) She did a lot of dancing just not on the dance the floor. She danced in front of our table, and ran around to all the pretty ladies with skirts she wanted to touch & would feel the bottom of their dresses, laugh and start dancing...needless to say, no one was annoyed at such a cute baby feeling on their dress or skirt....I was quite embarrassed at first then I thought..."well
what are you gonna do?" We actually only took 2 or 3 pics of Khloe' from the wedding total.

-Khloe' has acquired a new "car" from my friend Jessica's little kids, which she absolutely LOVES! The first few times we took it for a spin in the neighborhood she was smiling from ear to ear and randomly waving in the air as if she was on a parade float, there was no one around but she just kept waving and smiling. We laughed so hard about this beauty queen in training, where does she get these things??!! OK, guys Enjoy the picture OVERLOAD as I promised earlier!

Such a big girl on a 4 man teeter-toter (sp?) very cool little device in the kiddie play land at the zoo

....So excited to climb the stairs up to the slides all by herself!

Playing some bongo's with another little boy at the zoo!

...This was her from one animal exhibit to the next, she would walk/run as if she was on a mission!

This is her and daddy as she was seriously trying to climb into the kangaroo's living areas, boy was she mad when Daddy would not let her get in there and play with them!!!


Look at this face....she was so mesmerized by all the new animals! (half of which Paul and I had no idea what they were until we read the name plates)

The new baby panda that was born in our Atlanta zoo a few months back (I think?)


This was her, doing the impression of a lion's ROAR, claw and all...too funny!

ADORABLE!

OK, this sweet stare was while we were looking at the Giraffe's, she LOVE's Giraffe's!!!


She wouldn't take her eyes off the Giraffe's, kept pointing and say "Daaaaa" and then would mimic the way a Giraffe moves their neck when they walk.


She was definitely trying to climb over the glass here to get in with the wart hogs (we told her they were pigs, that sound she knows!)

This was right before we left for the zoo, I packed a few essentials in this back pack I got instead of her bulky diaper bag. It was way too heavy for her but since her favorite DORA always wears and says "back pack, back pack" she just had to try and wear it too!

Needless to say she could could hardly stand up with it on....LOL!

She seriously looks like she is ready for school, so sweet!

OK, so all of these pics of her laughing are a little game her and I play. Whenever I am sitting in one of these chairs putting my running shoes on, she climbs up next to me and LOVES to try and push me off or kick me off with her feet...I over dramatically, fall on the floor and roll a couple of times as if she really did push me off and she laughs and laughs, one of those sweet belly laughs that is so contagious!!




I love our new little game, makes me laugh just as hard as she does!!


She is loves her new car! She beeps the horn and makes sure to steer when we act like she will run into a mail box or something...she really thinks she is steering....she definitely gets her love of cars from her Daddy!!!


Look at this face! She was mad when she thought it was time to get out of the car, she pointed at me and shook her little finger (which is what we she does to Maxx when she's telling him "NO") I had to laugh at her. In a few months when she actually tells me "NO", I hope I will be much more serious than I was here! :)


This was a little rocking elephant I got for a steal last month.....$8, great deal!!

Just a random photo, one day trying on her old jacket from last fall to see if it still fit her, she looks so mature here! Couldn't resist sharing this one.

One, not very clear photo daddy took of Khloe' & I at the wedding!

OK....no more I promise that's all I have this time! Thanks for checking in on us...Love you guys!!