Weekend, and a little about Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn and I had a fun weekend in Lubbock with my parents. James had to stay in Abilene because he was supposed to coach a soccer game on Saturday - but it got rained out. So, it turned out that he could have come with us. But I think he enjoyed the quietness of the house, and being able to take lots of naps. I wonder what that is like?

We didn't do a whole lot in Lubbock, which I love. Everytime I go home I just feel the need to curl up with my favorite blanket in the big recliner and just chill out. I did get to enjoy my mom's spaghetti and some pineapple upside down cake. I also played golf with my dad for the first time on Saturday. It was freezing to say the least outside, so we just played 9 holes. It was really fun! I wish I could play more often so that I could maybe improve, but we had a good time. And like a little kid, I loved driving the golf cart around! Kaitlyn and my mom went to the Science Spectrum. Kaitlyn loved it. We took her there a few months ago, but I think she enjoyed it much more this time around. She got to see and do lots of neat things.

I also stayed up late with my dad (If 10:30 is late to anyone) and watched Apollo Ono win the gold medal in speed skating. That was exciting! And the relay one?! That is madness!

We got back to Abilene pretty early on Sunday, so that we could get to a banquet at church that evening. I'll blog more about this later, but James and I were asked to be huddle leaders starting this fall. We are soooo excited about it. I'll tell you more about it soon.

Here are a few things Kaitlyn is doing right now. Just wanted to record them somewhere:

* She can say the entire Lord's prayer. It's about the sweetest thing in the world to hear.

* She still loves singing the books of the New and Old Testament.

* While we sing in church, if she sees anyone with their hands raised, she raises her hands. She will leave them up for the entire song. That's always good for a few laughs from the people sitting around us!

* She is getting a lot better and saying her prayers at night and at meal times. When she prays, her voice gets really high. It's pretty cute.

* When I tuck her in, she always says, "Talk about your day and my day." I then have to tell her really slowly every detail of our day. From waking up to tucking her in. And if I leave something out, she is quick to tell me.

* She loves to play baseball with pecans in the backyard. She will throw a pecan to James and he will hit it with a plastic baseball bat. I got James really good the other day when I acted like some of the shell had flown into my eye. He was freaking out. I laughed real hard at that one.

* The girl can eat okra like nobody's business. She thinks the outside skin is like a shell, so she peels it off of each one and just eats the green part in the middle. This could keep her occupied for hours. As well as peeling peanuts.

* She, like her mommy, enjoys her music. We don't have the same taste quite yet, but she can sing along with best of "Toddler Tunes", Veggie Tales Bible Songs, and some other Praise and Worship kids CD. I love listening to her sing, "Skinny Ma Rink A Dinky Dink."

* When I wash her hair at night in the bathtub, she always cries and says, "Don't get it on my tongue!!!" Drama.

* She can put back the chocolate milk. If she sees me making it for her, she has to have 3 "bites" of it with the spoon before I put the lid on her cup. 3 bites. No more, no less.


Kaitlyn is absolutely the funniest person on the face of the earth. She is such a joy. She is very strong willed, and can throw a tantrum with the best of them, but her personality is priceless. I am so very blessed.

Two stories

So, the other day in Walmart the most random thing happened. I was just strolling along, pushing my basket (or buggy as Holly would say). Kaitlyn was sitting in the front part. Let me preface this by saying that Kaitlyn had a SLIGHTLY runny nose. It was by no means running down her chin or anything. It was just a clear, slight run. Okay. So, this lady that we were next to while getting some milk literally stops in her tracks and says, "Oh my Gosh (she used the Lords name in vain however), DO YOU NEED A KLEENEX?!?!!?!" I looked at Kaitlyn thinking she was bleeding or foaming at the mouth or something outrageous - I mean, this lady was totally freaking out. When I noticed that nothing out of the ordinary was wrong with my daughter I said, "Uhh, no thank you, I have some in my bag." Are you kidding me? It was like she had never seen anything like a minor runny nose before. And just because she weirded me out, I did not even wipe Kaitlyn's nose. Just to make her mad.

It gets better. About 10 minutes later, we pass the nose Nazi again. This time she was ready for us. I swear, she was following us around the store. We started to pass each other going opposite directions. She was armed with klennex in hand - AND REACHED OUT TO WIPE KAITLYN'S NOSE. Are you serious?!?!?! I stopped her before she could though and said, "Excuse me, please don't touch my daughter." That's right. I said it. She had a look of total disgust on her face. Kaitlyn even looked cute that day! I put a bow in her hair and everything! And again, just to tick her off - I didn't wipe her nose until we got to the check out line. Not that there was even much to wipe.

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This morning on the way to school, this was our conversation:

K: It sure is foggy outside Mommy!
M: Yes it is!
K: Yeah. Maybe I can see a hog.
M: What?
K: Maybe I can see a hog.
M: A hog?
K: Yeah!!!
M: Wondering why she is thinking about a hog, and how it relates to fog.
K: I love those kinds of birds.
M: Oh, a hawk!
K: Yeah. Those are my favorite kinds of birds! Maybe I can see one of those.

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Just a couple funny stories for you! Hope you have a good Wednesday!!

Sing Song and Curious George

I hate the feeling I have after I haven't blogged in a long time. I feel that there is so much to write about, but I can't think of anything good to say. I'm sure Kaitlyn has said hilarious things that I have already forgotten. She keeps us laughing, that's for sure.

This weekend was Sing Song, so ALL of my family was in town. It was a lot of fun to see everyone. Kaitlyn enjoys seeing her cousins. (Really they are her second cousins, but closer to her age than my age)
Friday night we hung out with my parents, brother, my aunt and my grandmother. My cousin Brenna is a Siggie (they were Penguins this year), so she came over after the Friday night show. Kaitlyn wasn't too sure about the paint she had on her face!

Saturday it was FREEZING cold, so we just made chicken tortilla and potato bacon soup for everyone for lunch. It was soo good. We had a little birthday celebration for Brenna with a Double Chocolate Decadence cake from McKays. YUMMMMM.


We went to the afternoon show of Sing Song. It was a lot of fun to watch, but it lasted for forever. Like 3 1/2 hours. I have to give a shout out to Siggies though, for being the cutest little penguins ever. They did the whole show on their knees. Costumes were so cute - they even had a slide that a few little penguins slid down. It was real funny. They ended up winning on Saturday night. But not with out some drama. They announced that Gata got 3rd, Kojies 2nd, and Alpha Kai 1st. WHAT? So, Alpha Kai celebrated, and some people had already left the coliseum. They then called everyone back in and said there had been a huge miscalculation and Siggies had in fact won. Insane.

Saturday evening I got to go see my two roomies Sara and Sara and their sweet baby boys. I wish I could have spent more time with them!

Sunday Zoe was at Highland. Awesome. Mike was in full effect, our class was overflowing with people... it was a great Sunday.
That afternoon, mom and I went shopping and got Kaitlyn her Easter dress, and some other clothes and shoes.

We took Kaitlyn to see Curious George after her nap - she loved it. It really was a cute show - I recommend it to all of my friends with kids! I really enjoyed the music - Jack Johnson does all of the music. He's my new favorite!!


All in all, a good but busy weekend. I'll post more pics later. Have a good Monday!

Valentines Day

Last night the three of us were just sitting on the couch and these are some of the most precious things Kaitlyn said:

"I love you Daddy. Happy Valemtimes Day."

"I love you Mommy. Happy Valemtimes Day."

"We are all a family."

"Lets just hang out for a couple of minutes."

"You're my best friend ever."

"We're all together!"

"Your name is James, but I will call you Daddy. It makes you sad when I say James."

"We're a special family."


It was the most fun 10 minutes we have had in a long time. She was being so sweet. It was the greatest Valentines gift ever.

Highlights

This weekend:

* Enjoyed a fast food dinner with my parents on their way to Ft. Worth to visit my grandad. Mom brought us my favorite cookies, and some awesome candles. :)

* Got to help some of our good friends Lee and Stephanie fix up their house they will be moving into in April. I will need to blog about this whole thing another day. They are doing an amazing ministry here in Abilene.

* Went to a Valentines Dinner/fundraiser to help support some Marriage and Family Therapy students go to Zambia. It was so fun. We went with really fun friends, had a yummy dinner, and James even bid on a gift card to an awesome spa here - and won!! Yay! Massage and facial, here I come....

* Church was great, as usual. I'm mostly excited about next week when Zoe will be at Highland!
* Ate lunch with friends from church, and got to meet a new family that just moved to Abilene from Austin. They have a little girl about Kaitlyn's age that I'm sure she will play with soon.

* Enjoyed playing Texas Hold'em with James. This is my new favorite game. I'm highly considering quitting my job and joining the World Poker Tour. Good idea?

* Watched Grey's Anatomy and totally freaked out. My favorite show BY FAR. Love it sooo much.

*Also watched the Olympics for like 3 hours. I got teary eyed over Michelle Kwan dropping out. I have no control over my emotions. Also, I love the red-headed snow boarder. He was fun to watch. And I was really sad that Apollo Ono fell and didn't advance to the finals. I love the Olympics!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Happy Monday!

I want a vacation!

My life really isn't that stressfull. I don't have a very hard job, and we live a pretty simple life. But I still REALLY want to go on a vacation. Just me and James. And I want to go to a place that we can just relax and don't feel like we have to fill our day with tons of things to go do. (Though a few things would be fun.) So, my question for this Thursday is:

Where should we go?

Happy Birthday James!

Thank you for always making me laugh.

Thank you for being such a wonderful, fun daddy to Kaitlyn.

Thank you for supporting me when I want to try something new.

Thank you for your prayers.

Thank you for doing the laundry.

Thank you for getting Kaitlyn dressed, fed, and packing her bag 98% of the time in the mornings.

Thank you for working hard to support our family.

Thank you for moving to Abilene.

Thank you for telling me I look good, even when we both know I totally don't.

Thank you for always asking me how my day went, and sincerely caring about it.

Thank you for forgiving me when I screw up.

Thank you for your patience.

Thank you for teaching me how to play Texas Hold 'Em.

Thank you for back rubs.

Thank you for being a wonderful friend to me and to so many others.

Thank you for choosing me to share your life with.

I love you! Happy 28th Birthday!!

Birthday Weekend (a little early)

We had a most busy weekend. I can think of one place I would like to be right now. In my bed asleep. However, that is not an option... so here I am "working." As tired as I am - we had a blast this weekend celebrating James' birthday. (His birthday is tomorrow.)

Friday night my parents came through on their way to Ft. Worth to see my grandad again. While they were here, my dad was fortunate enough to get in on a poker game James had set up with a few friends. James "transformed" our shed into a poker room - but that is another blog for another day.

Saturday morning we enjoyed breakfast at Town Crier - a wonderful place that is becoming our Saturday morning tradition. That afternoon Kaitlyn had a birthday party to go to at Chuck E. Cheese. That place is insane on a Saturday. She had a good time playing games with her friend Boston.


Saturday night was the big surprise.... James' parents came down and surprised him for his birthday. I told him we were meeting some friends at Texas Roadhouse - and when we walked in and he saw his mom - he was soo excited. I'm glad I could pull that one off. I'm not a very good liar. So, we enjoyed a wonderful steak dinner, and Kaitlyn had fun cracking peanuts for an hour. After dinner we went back home to another surprise.. I had invited some of our friends over for desert. We had so much fun - I haven't laughed that hard in a REALLY long time. I am so very thankful for our awesome friends that we have here.


Sunday morning James' mom made breakfast pizza for us (James' favorite meal). While she was cooking, I beat James at his own game - Texas Hold 'Em. Too bad, sooooo sad. I think I will play more often - that was fun! After breakfast we went to the famous Abilene Zoo. James had fun entertaining the monkeys, and it's always fun to feed the giraffes.

After a short nap that afternoon, more friends came over to watch the Super Bowl! I ate sooo much junk food it's not even funny. We had a blast with the Woods and David and Amanda. I have to say, I kind of wanted Seattle to win - I love going for the underdog. Oh well.

What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial?

And Grays Anatomy was amazing as usual. I did NOT want it to be over. Next week looks sooooo good. I love that show!

Adventures in Babysitting, and Question of the Day

Last night we had the pleasure of hanging out with Kaylee and Campbell while Cary and Erica went out for Ericas birthday. We had a really fun time. Kaitlyn and Kaylee played so well together - I only had to get on to them one time for laughing and yelling so loud! I know that Kaitlyn plays with other kids all day long, but I rarely get to see her, and the way she "plays." They played with dress up clothes, played catch, played in Kaylee's bed and pretended they were asleep, played the piano, made "special things" in Kaylees kitchen.... they never got bored.

Campbell is about the cutest thing ever too. Other than the 10 minutes she cried - she was SO happy. She really liked James, she smiled at him the most. Kaylee was so sweet with Campbell all night, but especially when she started crying. It took Kaylee 1.6 seconds to run to her sister and try to comfort her. So sweet. Kaitlyn got super jealous when I was rocking Campbell, but she got over it pretty quick.

Here are a few pictures from our fun night:























I know it's Thursday - so it's time for the question of the week. I'll make this a two part question I guess. Since babysitting is fresh on my mind - what is the craziest/funniest/scariest thing that has happened to you while babysitting? (I'll post my answer in a comment)

I am also inspired by Alyssa's blog today. So, if you don't have a good babysitting story, what is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you?

Have a good Thursday!