Back to his old antics

Just when we thought Chase had matured, become a "man" if you will, he reminds us that his childish spirit is still alive and kicking!

So tonight, I decided to surprise my kids (Jim included) with homemade Mac-N-Cheese...they're favorite. I must say, it turned out DELISH. Apparently, we aren't the only ones who thought so.

After heading to work, Jim got the kids bathed and snug in bed only to come downstairs to see that big hairy monster on his back legs.......stretched up as high as he could with his front 2 paws on the kitchen counter.....eating the leftover pasta right out of the baking dish!!!!!

Reminds us of the time after we first got married, we were living in a small apartment and thought it would be a GREAT idea to rescue this sweet soul Chase from the local shelter. He adjusted to our family SO well.........then 5 days later.....we came home to a living room FULL of shredded mail EVERYWHERE! I was literally piecing things together to find out who mailed what since we were getting a lot of post-wedding well wishes. We'll never know who sent us wonderful sentiments that ended up traveling through the bowels of one lovable mutt!

Oh well.....I hope you enjoyed that meal Chase..........tomorrow night we're having Mutt stew so you better watch your back!!! :-)

Smart AND Clean.....double whammy!

I just had to share this cute moment between daddy and his 2 daughters today. After nap, Jim decided to give them both a shower so he lathered up Kaitlin first, then handed her to me to swaddle up and dry. Well, I took that chance to cuddle my little baby and love on her little naked baby self on our bed.

Meanwhile, Kellyn stripped off all her clothes and started heading into the shower with Daddy. This girl perceives shower time as playtime and lugs in her big tub of bath toys with her. She could literally stand in that shower with Jim all day long. I swear she's part tadpole!

Anyhow, while Kaitlin and I are having our sweet moment together......all of a sudden I hear Kellyn's sweet voice completely reciting the ABC's using her alphabet bath stickers we got her for her b-day. With VERY little help from Daddy, she correctly belted out each letter in the correct order. After that, it was 1-10 w/out a miss. I swear......she's a sponge.

Perhaps this is HER way of telling us she's very ready for school! Where did my baby girl go???? :-(

Fabulous Day at Donner Lake

Our dear friends Rick and Cheree (with their 2 sons Alex and Andrew), Cheryl and Russ (and their 2 kids Rowan and Charlie) and Cheryl and Cheree's parents Bob and Carol are not only SO much fun, but they were gracious enough to invite us up to their cabin at Donner Lake for some post-Thanksgiving family time. Jim and I headed up after breakfast yesterday, the weather was sunny and crisp. The PERFECT fall day to spend in the mountains. Kellyn was so excited to see her buddies (Charlie and Rowan, and Alex and Andrew) that she kept repeating their names the whole way there!


Once we arrived, all the kids lined up by the fireplace in their little chairs where "Grandpa Bob" proceeded to lead out a little mock sabbath school class. We sang songs, played musical instruments, even gave offering. It was so cute to see the kids just follow along with the "program" we were creating on the spot.


"Grandma Carol", with the help of her 4 grand kids, actually made the Thanksgiving banner over the fireplace. She is so creative!!!









We decided to take advantage of the perfect weather and walk down to the park by the lake so the kids (including us) could run around and play off all our energy. The boys (and men) were so anxious to show off the new "trail" they had forged through the woods to get to the park. They did an awesome job.....looked quite professional and even included a rock lining. Very impressive!!!


Out of the blue, Kellyn just went up to Grandpa Bob and grabbed his hand. Guess she needed a little bit of "grandparent" love at that moment. It was too cute!













Of course Kellyn spent most of her time on the slides and swings!Go figure!!!










Lake Donner in the background. Just gorgeous!











On our walk home, Kellyn and Charlie shared a special moment together. Walking hand in hand up the mountain. It was SUPER sweet.....almost like they remember those days they spend playing together when I used to babysit Charlie. Oh how we miss that sweet girl!!!













Kellyn giving Charlie a "ride" while we prepare lunch. (sigh) Just wait until Kaitlin enters the mix. WATCH OUT!!










After our park time, we headed back for lunch. I was expecting a little sandwich/chip lunch, but oh no......it was full on gourmet food. Roasted squash, sweet potatoes and parsnips matched with a pecan loaf with mushroom gravy and the measly little pasta salad I brought. And the table was set like it was Thanksgiving all over again!!! So wonderful!


After lunch, we headed down to the media room and that's where the craziness began. Rick brought out the Nintendo Wii and our inner kid just came flying out.


Cheryl and Russ jammed out with fierce competition to Guitar Hero. They made it look easy! Jim and I gave it a shot, thinking THAT doesn't look to bad! Eeks......the crowd on the video game were actually "booing" our characters because we stank that bad. Not a good ego booster! :-)






After we embarrassed ourselves enough with the guitars.....Rick pulled out all the tricks and loaded up the Dance Dance Revolution game. Don't know if you've ever seen this or not, but it's a big square pad (they had 2 so you could compete) and you have to dance to the beat of the given song, landing your feet on designated areas of the pad. Sounds easy, right? Well, let me just say......it's NOT!! Cheryl and I decided to have a "Cheryl Off" and once again, she made it look easy! I was sweating before it was all over with.



Jim and Cheree showing off their disco moves. What you CAN'T see is Kellyn dancing her own moves directly in front of them. She had SUCH a blast!!








On that note.....we said our sad goodbye's and headed back down the mountain to get the girls in bed. Needless to say, they were passed out before we got out of their driveways. That's a good sign of a successful day! It was SOOOO much fun getting to hang out with you all, we can't wait until next time!!! :-)

This is the difference.........

a year and a half can make!!!


Kell and her daddy in June of last year















And now














One thing remains the same......she loves showertime!! ;-)

Today.......

.....is a very special day!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!

Granted, I'm working......but that doesn't damper the spirits. Jim and the girls came to see me at work and we all had a little "Thanksgiving Potluck" together. It was really nice. Too much food of course, but that's ALWAYS ok by me!

Here are a few things that make me thankful:

1. Kellyn and Kaitlin of course - MAJOR source of inspiration. During my pregnancy, all I ever prayed for was good health, and God was gracious enough to give me just that. 2 beautiful healthy little girls that keep me on my toes. I love that the first thing Kellyn wants to do when she wakes up in the morning is see Chase and Xena - and fill their bowls with food. She goes running into the garage and opens their food bin, just waiting for me to hand her their bowls. Chase and Xena love her for that too!!! :-) And I love how Kaitlin will look for me from across the room, and as soon as we make eye contact.....she's all smiles!! That's all it takes. Just a smile.

2. Jim - he truly is my ROCK, my foundation, my strength. Yes, he can also be a source of frustration too sometimes, but I have no doubt I frustrate him too (probably more). But I've never felt such peace like I have when I snuggle up close to him at night, and even in his groggy stupor, he still finds the strength and energy to roll over and wrap his arms around me.

3. My family - the whole shebang!! I love them all. Quirks and everything! From my nieces and nephews to my grandparents - life w/out them would be unimaginable.

4. My friends - really, they ARE part of my family so see above.

5. My pups - I know, it's lame........but no matter day or night, good mood or bad.....they are always there!!! Following me around, leaving me alone if I just need my "quiet time" or snuggling up next to me if I just need a friend. They are the whole package!!! Plus, they are the household watchdogs and keep us safer than any well armed security detail ever could!!

6. My job (and Jim's job)- Seems weird to be thankful for a job but in this day and age I feel very fortunate that we not only both have one, but good ones. Jobs that fulfill and challenge us, along with providing for our family. Jobs that are flexible enough to allow us to be home with our kids so that they can be raised by their parents and nobody else!

7. Freedom. My heart aches for those families torn apart by war. Either they have lost a friend, father, brother, mother, sister, daughter or son......whether due to death or separation by thousands of miles.....families are torn apart. I'm not making a political point, I don't have enough knowledge to do that. But I have full adoration and respect for these men and women and more than anything.......I have complete and total appreciation for the dedication they have made to our country; The best country in the world.

Uh - Oh....

Well....it seems I was born into this world destined to become one big moron. Now most of your would probably agree that I've achieved that goal but tonight, a fellow co-worker showed me an interesting study that brought it all to life.

It seems that some researcher at Yale has entirely too much time on his hands and decided to do a study on how someones initials may influence their performance in school, sports, etc. Well, this has only one ending for me and it's NOT good!

Here's a quote from the article: "C's and D's do reliably worse than everyone else"

Guess what......not only do my initials include a "C" but it ALSO includes a "D"!!! 2 out of 3 of my initials point straight at failure!!!! WHY MOM AND DAD.......WHY????

The researcher even had the audacity to end the article with this statement: "Certainly, my wife made sure we didn't name our daughter with a C or a D after reading the paper". HAR HAR HAR!!! I'm sure he thought he was being cute. Guess there's no chance I'm his illegitimate daughter. Wouldn't that be ironic.

So, there you have it! Wish I would have had this information 10 years ago when I was actually IN school.....maybe it would have saved me from having to use the excuse "but the dog ate my homework". (which by the way.......REALLY happened. Thanks Alutia)

Now......back to my unintelligent life!!

Happy Birthday Paul!!!

Paul.......where do I begin?

First, let me just say this. I've just spent the last hour scouring through my old photos to find a little visual "tribute" I could post for you and so sad to say (but not unexpected if you know Paul).......every picture just wasn't what I would consider suitable (if that's the right word) for a family blog.

And if I know Paul, then I have NO DOUBT this will make him EXTREMELY proud!!! :-)

If any of you know or have met Paul, I'm sure that experience was either totally enjoyable or totally offending. Either one wouldn't surprise me a bit!

Paul has been one of those friends that can literally make me laugh at any time of any day. You never know what's going to come out of his mouth (literally) and I have to say.....I truly respect that in this day and age of political correctness!!

Whether he's talking about work, social or family life (his 2 daughters are a little bit older than mine but the same age apart).....he always has a fresh "spin" on things and I miss him terribly. I miss our impromptu lunches, our 3 hour coffee breaks (yes....he has the cushiest job) and our hours we spent gabbing (that's code for gossiping) about everyone we know over a frosty beverage. Ahhh....those were the days!

He's quite the impressionist (and VERY creative) and he continues to leave the funniest voice mails on my cell phone. I actually remember putting them on speaker phone at my last job and me and my girlfriends would just sit their and laugh our heads off. Even though they had never met him, they got what makes Paul Paul. In fact, I still get e-mails from some of them saying how much they miss listening to his voice mails together at work. It would be the highlight of our day.

We became friends on a fluke. A mutual friend introduced us and that's all she wrote. It was instant and lasting! Even Jim has grown fond of Paul and his antics. We'll both just shake our heads and say "that's Paul". In fact....I'm shaking my head right now as I write this!

Paul, I hope your day is memorable and people remind you every minute how old you are....you geezer you! ;-)

Bouncing Birthday

I'm going to bombard you guys with pictures here but tonight we had SOOOO much fun celebrating Kellyn's b-day party at a local bounce house along with all of her very cool friends. Kellyns didn't know what to think at first, but once everyone got into it....next thing you know, we were drenched in sweat. Good thing we had pita pockets, pizza, veggies, juice and cupcakes to refill our energy bank when it was all said and done.

Miss Ashley (our babysitter) with Kaitlin. I couldn't have imagined getting through tonight w/out her. She was a HUGE lifesaver and Kaitlin was all smiles in her arms!!










Kait absolutely LOOOOOOVED being bounced around. She would squeal at the top of her lungs in delight. I think she even enjoyed it more than Kellyn!! :-)















Kellyn trying to figure out exactly what was going on!


















One of the big slides - VERY popular with the kids (and the adults)

















Friends Dillon, Julianna, Amelia and Clara (with mom Cindy) literally bouncing, squealing, and running in circles all at the same time. Seems that was a trend tonight. :-)









Ethan making a slam dunk in the "basketball court". His mom and dad (Jen and Chris) live about 1 1/2 hours away and made the trek for Kellyn's party. How awesome is that? Such great friends!!







Andrew trying to keep up with his big brother Alex. GOOD LUCK!!










Kellyn doing her favorite thing....sliding!












Clayton showing off that beautiful smile!












This was SO cute. Ethan REALLY wanted Max's cup and Max wasn't having anything to do with that. In fact, Max started taunting Ethan WITH the cup. What a smart booger!










Nick checking in to maker sure everyone is behaving. :-)









Rowan and his sweet sister Charlie after a good sliding session











Tryg taking Kellyn on a thrill ride.

Ok, so it wasn't JUST the kids having fun. ;-)















All the "big kids" hanging out together.....staring at each other.

Kellyn with her B-day banners hand painted by my dear friend Angela for her 1st birthday.













Since Chase couldn't come to the party, I decided to make a "pseudo Chase" with a bunch of paw print cupcakes for Kellyn and friends to enjoy!









After all that bouncing, these kids were ready to eat. That room was SOOO quiet it was scary. We parents didn't know what to think!!









Like I said before.....Kaitlin is always smiling with Miss Ashley. She's just glad she finally got some food!!!










All the kids scoping out Kellyn's new toys. And boy did she get some good stuff. Everyone was so generous and thoughtful - truly the greatest bunch!!

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR MAKING KELLYN'S DAY SO VERY SPECIAL!!!

Oh.....and BTW (eeks!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIM!!!!

I've been all caught up with Kell's big day I've totally neglected it's my first loves big day too!! Granted, he realized when I ended up having Kellyn on his birthday that his days of actual birthday celebrations were over......but nonetheless, it's STILL his birthday and the deserves many many hugs and good wishes!!

What he REALLY wanted for his birthday 2 years ago, was for me to actually hit my due date and have Kellyn on Nov 1oth (the Marine Corps Birthday - once a Marine always a Marine, right?) but she didn't cooperate. Either that, or she decided to ruin his b-day forever. That sounds more like our little poopie!!! :-)

All of your girls (and Chase and X of course) love you so very much Jim and hope we can help make this day very special for you too!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Poopie!!!!

Poopie.......that's our little Kellyn. It just takes my breath away when I think about my little girl turning 2 years old today. Granted, I always dreamed we would end up with just the most adorable nickname for our kids, but somehow we landed on "poopie" and it just stuck. It stuck so well in fact, that Kaitlin has assumed the roll of "poopie 2". (sigh).....I hope these don't haunt them forever.


Jim and I on our way to the hospital to start the induction. I look at this picture now and think "man.....those 2 people right there are clueless".

:-)











This time 2 years ago, I was getting the best sleep of my entire pregnancy (THANK YOU EPIDURAL) not really understanding what love and joy was ahead of me. I guess that would describe a majority of my "pre-children" days. Granted, I'm not going to lie.......I loved life. I loved being single (no offense Jim), I loved being childless, I loved life. Took every opportunity to hang out with friends, travel and just enjoy every day possible. Some days were better than others, that's for sure....but all in all, things couldn't get better. At least that's what I thought.

24 hours of labor, one fabulous epidural and 1 hour of pushing later........life changed. FOREVER! I'll admit, I didn't feel the "instantanity" (if that's even a word) of the change I had just experienced, but it was there. They handed me that little bundle of flesh, a bottle of ibuprofen and sent me on my way. Once home, I thought "That's it? This is the big deal??".





With the vast amount of books available these days, it's hard NOT to be prepared for motherhood. The sleepless nights, breastfeeding challenges, teething, etc.....it's all just a part of "the job". What I WASN'T prepared for was what would develop over the next 2 years. The tender moments that can't be explained in a book (or in words for that matter). Times when I would just look at her and think "I hope in 30 years, I can remember every detail about this moment - the smell of her hair, the sound of her voice, the shape of her smile, the temperature of the room, every little detail".

Some of those moments weren't necessarily storybook like, but there was something special about them that made me love her, and understand her even more. She's becoming her own little person and the evolution is just amazing to me. I LOVE IT!! There are frustrating times, temper tantrums, miscommunication, stubborn selfish toddler behavior. But that all seems to dissipate the moment she comes to us with only the sincere reason to just give us a hug. She needs us as much as we need her - and considering the independent woman I've always been, this is quite the change for me.

And change is good!!!

We love you SO VERY MUCH poopie and you'll always be our little girl - and I swore I would never say that to my kid!

Let me pick your brain......or should I say nose?

There are some things in life that just happen......no starting point, no ending point, no reason. They just happen.

FOR EXAMPLE: A child who picks their nose

Why does this happen? Especially to MY child!!! Seems as though every time I glance in Kellyn's direction, she has that perfect sized index finger jammed up her sniffer. Where did she learn this? More importantly....DID she learn this? I would understand if she was in school/daycare and saw other kids doing it......but she's with me all day every day and I'm 100% positive she didn't get that nasty little habit from me.

We all just assume that nose picking is un-ethical and down right gross, but maybe the big guy upstairs made that finger (and nostril) that size for a reason. Perhaps this is truly the SOLE purpose of that tiny little digit and we as a society have turned it's primary function into a disgraceful display of poor hygiene.

That's what I would like to think.

Come to think of it......she has been spending a lot of time with her father. Hmmmm...... ;-)

Cuteness

Some of my favorite pictures of the past 24 hours.




Watch out Hollywood!! She wore these ALL day around the house!












How can a child be THIS cute?? HOW???














Or THIS cute??

Happy Birthday Gram!!!

Jim's grandmother turns 29 today (again!!) and we wish more than anything we could be there to celebrate with her. She is truly an amazing woman and I fell in love with her the moment we met. She's just precious.......and of course, she won over Kellyn (which is hard to do) during our visit last January. Unfortunately, she hasn't had the chance to meet Kaitlin yet but hopefully soon!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAM!!!!

WEEEEE!!!!

Kell giving Kait a little "thrill ride".

Ponytails and a yodeling goat...need I say more?

So finally......my "little" girl is getting some hair we can actually play with. And that I did. She was so patient while I pulled, yanked and squirmed her hair into little pigtails but aren't they just adorable??






I just didn't have the guts to tell her this "task" was hopeless!!









I think she realized she wouldn't be getting any pigtails out of daddy's hair pretty quick!









Now........the goat part of this story. My co-worker John and I were talking about our girls the other night (he has 2 of his own - but they are older) and he mentioned a toy they had and loved when they were about Kellyn's age. So, he brought it in the next night and let me take it home for the evening to let my girls enjoy it. I'll just let the video do the talking! SO FUNNY!

This next video I just had to post b/c the way she says "goat" is just hilarious. It's a pitch I could never reach. Besides, she has some new dance moves. Watch out Travolta!!

Needless to say, I'm going to be "yodeling in my head" for quite some time.

Last but NOT least.....Catch up: Part 4 Maroon 5 Concert

The day after getting back from Seattle.....me and some girls from work took the night off and had a "girls night" at the Maroon 5 Concert downtown. I'm really like thier music but wouldn't consider myself to be a DIE HARD fan. Hoewever, after seeing them live.....I must say....they are MAJORLY talented. Not only does the lead singer have an amazing (and unique) voice, but he's multi-talented with many instruments. It was well worth the $$ and of course, I'll take any excuse I can take to hang out with my lady "posse". They are so much fun (at work and at play). Looking forward to our next concert!!! :-)