Tripp and Gentry decided to have a dance party in the living room. Aunt Lauren eventually joined in!

The kids had their first Christmas recital at their little preschool last night. Their class went first and sang two songs. Jingle Bells and Wheels on the Bus. Tripp and Gentry are always doing the motions to wheels on the bus at home so I really thought that they would do great. I was secretly just hoping that Tripp would not cry on stage! They went up there and did a great job.... Tripp had to sit in his teacher's lap and Gentry sat there and moved a little bit during the songs, but just seemed more confused than anything!

We took the kids to see Santa as well this passed week. Tripp has no problem sitting in his lap, or any mascot's lap which is interesting because he will not let a regular person come near him! Gentry was deathly afraid of Santa as well as chuck e cheese, and all other mascots. Here are a few recent pictures....
By the way, both Tripp and Gentry are now getting up at all hours of the night. I can't remember the last time Matthew and I got to sleep all night in our own bed without sleeping in their room or having someone in ours!

This week has been so crazy. Tripp and Gentry have both been sick with colds, ear infections, etc. Tripp had to have a chest x-ray because his cough will not go away:( He has been put on breathing treatments two times a day and on medication that will hopefully over the next two weeks get rid of his coughing. Poor little guy has coughing fits at night and continuously wakes himself up. That on top of Gentry waking up consistently for two months now and I can safely say I cannot remember the last time I had a good night sleep! I feel like they are newborns again! I have been sleeping on the floor in their room so I can tend to Tripp when he wakes, as well as Gentry when she wakes. She just needs to see I'm there and she's fine. He needs a little help. Oh, and Matt has a sinus and ear infection too. Good times in the Kata household!
On a better note, Tripp and Gentry are saying new words everyday. I swear Gentry's favorite is Mama. No matter what she is doing, if I'm not around, or if I walk 5 feet from her, she freaks out. She even calls Matthew Mama! He corrects her and asks her what his name is and she, of course, says Dada. They are both in love with Dora, Tripp even sings D-D-D-D-Dora (the song in the cartoon). It's a lot of fun watching these two grow. They are wrestling each other for fun now, which almost always turns into a fight. Very entertaining!

It's been a while since I last updated this thing.....
Matthew and I went on a Caribbean cruise this month for a whole week. It was so much fun, we went with my sister and Reid, and a bunch of other people from the Round Rock Express. We went to Key West, Freeport, and Nassau. Nassau was by far the best place. We spent the day at the Atlantis resort and had an amazing time! Being away from the kiddos was a much needed break, although, come about day 5, I was itching to see them.
We were welcomed home on Sunday, and then next day Tripp and Gentry were both at the doctor's office with colds. Tripp had an ear infection, conjunctivitis, and a terrible cough. Gentry had two ear infections and a fever and cough. It was a rough first week back, but things are good and healthy again. Except for one small problem.... Gentry is still not sleeping. We are going on 2 months of broken sleep. She wakes about 3 times a night screaming "mama mama mama mama" over and over again until one of us goes in there. As soon as she sees us, she climbs in her bed and goes to sleep. It is much easier to lay a pallet on the floor and sleep in their room, or have her sleep in our bed. At least that way we are getting some sleep. But I don't want to get in to the habit of that! We are not sure what to do at this point. I think she may be afraid of the dark, and needs the comfort of knowing someone is near. She could care less that Tripp is there though!

On a different note, we put up all of our Christmas decorations yesterday and went out to find a tree today. We drove 45 minutes out to a Christmas tree farm in Elgin, Texas to cut one down ourselves like we did 2 years ago. They have farm animals, cookies, games, etc for the kids, plus you ride a tractor out to pick out your tree. We knew the kids would love it. We should have called beforehand.... We arrived to find it closed and not open until the day after Thanksgiving. Nice. So frustrating! Remember people, assuming makes an ass out of you and me (ass-u-me)! We then proceeded to head back to Round Rock to Home Depot and found a great tree there.
Matthew bought a train to put around the tree and Tripp is especially thrilled with it. He loves the choo choo. Gentry was a little leery of it at first, but now enjoys it as well.

We were in Fort Worth for halloween this year. Tripp and Gentry trick or treated with their cousins, Chase and Avery. Tripp was a disco boy and Gentry was a flapper. They did great going up to the houses! There were two that Gentry refused to go near because she was afraid of their decorations! Tripp had a great time grabbing handfuls of candy from the bowls at each house. He kept dipping his hand in until they finally would pull it away! He did not keep his wig on but for pictures, but he still looked like a disco boy since his hair is practically as big as that wig anyway!

Tripp and Gentry do not like to share snacks with me!

BOO! We love our new skeleton pajamas that glow in the dark!

Things have not been going so well on the sleep front with little Miss Gentry. She has not slept through the night for 2 weeks now, which means I am turning into Mommy Dearest little by little. Matthew and I are taking turns when she wakes up sleeping on the floor in their room. We do not want them sleeping in our bed and turning it into a habit. Not that this is any better, but it is working for now. Each time her little head pops up, she sees one of us, and pops back down. Otherwise, she screams bloody murder until one of us goes in. Nightmares? I don't know, but I have got to get to the bottom of this!

On a good note, Mr. Tripp did not cry once at school today. It's a first! He walked right into his class with Gentry and did not even cry when we left. He is finally comfortable and loving it as much as Gentry does. When we came in this afternoon to pick them up, they usually run to us (Tripp starts crying when he sees us and points to the door), but they just looked up and kept on playing. They are growing up too fast!

So we decided to put the kids in toddler beds. We took down the front of their cribs and put up 2 small rails to keep them from falling out. Last week was tough with the kids getting up what seemed like every hour and coming into our room (especially Tripp). From the day we moved them into toddler beds, Tripp has slept through the night. I think he thought he was getting away with something by climbing out of his crib before. Now that he has the freedom, he could care less. Gentry, on the other hand, continues to wake up twice a night. For almost two weeks straight! She stands up in her bed, does not get out, and does not try to come into our room. I am hoping whatever phase this is ends quickly!


Tripp and Gentry are talking more and more everyday. They are starting to repeat what we say which is not always a good thing! I have been talking to Matthew the passed few weeks about watching our language because I knew at any moment someone would repeat a word that I do not want coming out of my child's mouths! Low and behold, I slipped up yesterday and Gentry decided to repeat my lovely word over and over again. Sh** is her new word. Great. She is constantly testing us by not listening and doing things we tell her not to just to see what happens. Oh, and she pulls Tripp's hair consistently throughout the day. I think she likes doing this because Tripp screams and cries bloody murder every time she does it. She loves getting a good reaction!
Tripp made a breakthrough today at school. He did not cry when I dropped him off. I could not believe it. He usually breaks down, grips me with his legs, and they have to peel him off of me! I was quite proud of him today...

we took a trip to the pumpkin patch today. tripp was everywhere while gentry was trying to figure out what the big orange things were.

tripp was enjoying pulling the wagon around and gentry enjoyed riding in it!

The kids have started climbing out of their cribs. Yesterday was the first day and it has really messed up our nap times! Tripp and Gentry think it is funny to climb out, and it was funny the first time it happened....now it is frustrating! Matt and I are going to try and decide what to do... toddler beds or not? Who knows now, but hopefully we will figure something out soon before it gets too crazy in here!

Savannah Trip

We went on a trip to Savannah, GA this passed week to visit Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Joe. Aunt Lauren, Uncle Greg, Auntie Caryn and Joe were there. The flight there was quite stressful! I thought I had it all planned out perfectly. I scheduled a morning flight so we were to leave at 7:30 when the kids woke up. We headed straight to the airport and got checked in. All was going smoothly until we boarded the airplane. The kids went crazy! We brought a whole bag of books, toys, snacks, etc. and all they were interested in were those tray tables! They were constantly grabbing them and pulling them down and back up. The people in front of us probably wanted to strangle our kids. We would TRY and keep them from doing this, which would only result in an arched back scream and fit. We had our own row so the kids were non stop moving from one of us to the other, fighting over who looked out the window, and trying to get out and run down the aisle. Our first flight was only 30 minutes to Houston. We did not have to get off the plane, which I thought would be best (I stand corrected), just reboard. The kids of course were going nuts because they had been cooped up since they woke up. The second flight was even worse. It was a little over 2 hours and felt like 10. I wasn't expecting them to be good, but I was expecting them to be better than they were! Matt, of course, was expecting them to sit quietly on our laps and read books and eat snacks. We finally landed in Jacksonville and rented our minivan and headed 1 1/2 hours north to Savannah. The kids had a great time at Grandma's house with all of the family, including Aunt Lucy for a couple of days. We headed to the beach on Friday at Hilton Head. The kids love the surf and sand..... Matthew did not. He got sick with a fever and chills:( We left after a couple of hours and headed home and we did not see Matthew until the next morning. I preceded the next day to come down with a stomach virus and was sick in bed on Saturday. Fun stuff. I did manage to suck it up and play in the annual tennis tournament though. We spent the rest of the days at the house playing on the playground and swimming at the pool. The trip home was just as eventful as the trip there. I thought it would be a great idea if the kids didn't nap until we got on the plane. Our flight was at 3:45. We kept them up in the car, much to GG's disapproval of this, and made it to the airport and checked in. Our flight was then delayed until 4:40. The kids, by this time, have caught a second wind and are going crazy running around laughing, screaming, etc. Tripp kept running into the gift shop trying to touch everything, and then they both decided to knock down the nice display of stuffed animals. We finally boarded the plane and once again were the row that no one wanted to sit next to. After about an hour of craziness, I took Tripp and held onto him so tight that he couldn't escape. He finally relented and passed out on me. I passed him over to Matthew and took Gentry and did the same to her. We actually got to enjoy some quiet time for the last hour and twenty minutes of the flight to Houston. We moved to the front row for the quick flight home and decided to separate across the aisle. This was the magic potion. The kids were angels on the way home. They did not have a choice to climb all over the row because they were leary of the strangers sitting next to them. They stayed on our laps and read a book the whole flight home. Only 30 minutes, but hey, we will take it! All in all, we had a great time! I will have some videos and pictures to post soon.........

GG loves to walk around in my shoes. Her favorites are my red wedges. She loves to go into our closet and pick out shoes, hats, belts, etc....Tripp loves to take anything Gentry has away from her. It does not matter what it is, he needs to have whatever she picks up. In this case, he needs the red wedges.

Matthew and I decided to put the kids in a mothers day out program this year. They go to "school" on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 to 1:30. Their first day of school was today. They screamed and cried when we dropped them off, but we were told that Gentry stopped crying pretty quickly and it took Tripp about an hour! They both did great the rest of the time........ Gentry was concerned about other kid's crying and would then start crying herself! Tripp cried off and on all day. They both ate their lunches and began eating the other kids lunches when they finished theirs! I cannot believe they are already 19 months old and in preschool. It is quite nice, selfishly, to get that time to ourselves!

Future ballplayer....... getting lessons from daddy

Matthew's last game was on labor day this year. We brought the kids up early so they could play on the field a while. Gentry and Tripp were having a lot of fun running around and playing in the muddy warning track!

We had dinner over at my mom's house the other night. Lately Gentry and Tripp think it is just hilarious to scream out over and over again while at the dinner table. This has also happened in public restaurants. In that case, I am literally covering one mouth with each hand asking the waiter for the check. Anyway, they are two crazy kids!

Homerun!

GG playing on the berm at daddy's game

Finally starting a blog.....

Well, we have finally started a blog. I have been putting this off since the kids were born. Tripp and Gentry are 18 months old!!! It has gone by so fast. Let me give you all a quick update on the Kata Family....
Matthew is currently on a 9 day road trip, but it is his last one. The season ends on September 6th. It has been a great season, but I must admit, I am ready for the off-season. Tripp and Gentry are growing like weeds and are all over the place. They both say about 6 or 7 words, and a thousand words in their own little language. Gentry is the flirt and Tripp is a little more leery of new people. They are the best of friends, fight like animals, and definitely keep us entertained! Short and simple......Hope you enjoy our new blog!
Love to all,
The Kata Family