gingerbread devastation!

we keep telling her a tornado hit it!!!

family photos!

yesterday we went to portrait innovations for family photos. i've been very excited about it as last time they did such a a good job. i was really looking forward to having all different sorts of poses and arrangement to put colleges and such together for christmas, as well as get some good christmas pics of the kiddos.... kaetlyn apparently had something different in mind. she was not cooperative in the least. she would not keep her legs crossed, dress down, share the snowman with cj, sit by her brother.... and it just went on and on. i took her in the bathroom and spanked her and scolded her, and even that didn't straighten her attitude. by the end of it she was doing headstands in her dress with her butt in the air pointed strait at the camera! craig and i were losing our ability to cope quickly so we just called it quits... boy do i hate letting her win! cj was a darling angel. we got some great shots of him, and the photo shoot was slightly lopsided due to kaetlyn's lack of participation and cj's big smiles. someone commented that i probably wondered where she got that behavior from... the 'not my kid' kind of approach... but i said, no, she is my daughter. i believe that's the entire issue. there's still some cute ones that i'll post later. this one just couldn't wait.

better luck next year i guess!!

almost christmas!

last weekend we spent time at home. on friday night we went to get a christmas tree and spent family time decorating and listening to christmas music. we ended the evening with a viewing of rudolph the red nose raindeer. :) on saturday, while craig googled at his new quad (pics to follow soon) kaetlyn and i spent time putting up the rest of the inside decorations. she is so cute and easily excitable. it was a lot of fun talking to her and watching her amazement at the nutcrackers and santas. so far, i've had to superglue 3 items... we'll see how many more will require fixing before the season is over! on sunday we spent the afternoon riding. it was a little chilly outside so the kiddos were bundled up. i took a few pics, but not nearly enough.


next tuesday night is the GSLC child led worship service. kaetlyn's class is singing 'hark he herald angels sing.' she has been practicing and it is very cute. last night the school sent home child-prepared dinner for the families, and while we were eating kaetlyn started singing for us. she then took it upon herself to play teacher for craig and i. one hand cupped over her ear (listening) and pointing one finger she says, 'repeat after me. say hark.' so craig and i say 'hark.' then she says, 'say hark the herald angels sing.' we repeat... so on and so forth. she's got the first verse down extremely well, except mercy mild = percy wild. :) too cute to correct. i think its a hard song for 3 year olds.

snow!!

before i get to the snow, let's talk about cj. i'm starting to visibly recognize differences between boys and girls. cj just loves to hold things in his hands and BANG and BANG and BANG! this is extremely entertaining to him, as is splashing in the bathtub. seems like kaetlyn's actions were always much more calculated, as he just flails himself around... sometimes to his own detriment.

From 2009_12_04

the web album includes several more pictures from last night as well, but here are several. cj's 2nd tooth has finally broken through, and he is much happier... for now... until the top ones begin their process.

now, onto the snow. :) it actually snowed here for 1 -2 hours today. it was very pretty little flakes. not enough to stick, but definitely snow. here are a couple pics:

TGIF! I am ready for the weekend and also for this cold to go away. Hopefully some rest will help.

stranger in a strange land!

kaetlyn says the FUNNIEST things i've ever heard i think. this is a prime example of a typical conversation:

a situation at school prompted me to attempt a 'don't talk to strangers' conversation. it went like this:
me: kaetlyn do you know what a stranger is?
k: blank stare
me: a stranger is a person mommy & daddy don't know. we don't talk to strangers.
k: aw, please mom!
craig: talking to strangers can cause danger, we don't want you to be in danger
k: ok, i won't talk to miss shiela then
me: no, miss shiela is a teacher. you can talk to teachers. but you shouldn't talk to people mommy & daddy don't know
k: ok mom. when i grow up can i be a scarecrow?

think she got it?

cj is 6 months old!!

boy does time fly. we went to his 6 month checkup this morning and his stats are as follows: 19 lbs 13 oz / 27.5 inches long. he is in almost the 90th percentile for both length & weight!! so at 6 months of age, what does cj do?? he can sit and roll. he also can kindof get into crawling position, but doesn't really know what to do from there. he's got 1 bottom tooth, with the 2nd bottom trailing closely behind. he loves to hold toys and move them from hand to hand. although he's not quite babbling yet, he laughs all the time and squeals and talks. he is a very happy baby. he currently eats 2 meals a day: breakfast and dinner. rice cereal & a fruit of some sort for breakfast and a veggie and fruit for dinner. so far he has tried bananas, squash, pears, sweet potatoes, applesauce, and green beans. green beans are the only type of food he hasn't liked. carrots and prunes soon to come. yummy!!

according to the doctor, he's doing very well. she said it may take him longer to crawl due to his size, but he'll get it sooner or later. kaetlyn came to the appt with me and was very disturbed when he got his shots. she was shaking her hands and crying and yelling at the nurse, 'why are you doing that to him?? don't hurt my baby brother!!' i honestly think she was more upset about them than he was... it was very sweet to witness her concern and love for our 'little guy'... even though i guess he's really not so little!

i feel so lucky and blessed and am thankful every day for all that i have been given.

pics from weekend

after 2nd glance, so many pics were my favorites, so i'm linking a slideshow straight into the blog:

lots to report

we had a fun filled and action packed trip to LA for the holiday weekend:

- wed night stopped at the perkins for tacos and enjoyed the company of randy, barb, theresa, logan, and aidan and then continued on to LC. traffic was bad getting out of Austin and even though we left earlier than we hoped to the drive was long. we arrived in LC around 10:30 pm.

- thursday was turkey day! the family enjoyed breakfast at IHOP and then went back to mom's for hanging out, naps, and finally thanksgiving dinner. craig fried a turkey and mom and i handled the sides. dinner was scrumptious!

- friday was mom's BIG birthday. we ate darrell's for lunch, hung around the house and let the cousins play during the day. in the evening we all went to a surprise birthday dinner at the pioneer club. dad helped us reserve a private room, so even the kiddos attended and had a great time! kaetlyn made meme wear her 'birthday princess' tiara. fun stuff!

- saturday morning was cj's baptism. randy, barbara, theresa, logan, and aidan joined all the mendelson's for the festivities and a delicous lunch following. saturday afternoon was just more hanging around (and napping) for us while dad, megan, robbie, carrie and the boys went to the mcneese game.

- sunday we left LC around 10:15 and returned to the perkins for lunch. this time we were joined by randy barbara, rachel, scott and alyx!!

holidays are fantastic time for family, despite that one of these wonderful individuals has given me a cold... i am grateful to have all of them in our lives and feel blessed that our children are surrounded by so much love.

kaetlyn certainly had a blast with her cousins! i believe that craig enjoyed the boys' nerf guns more than they ever have and had to go buy his own before we left town. cj is just the happiest guy... despite teething, constipation, and a small cold he just smiles all the time.

all of the pics are located in the 'Perkins Family Web Album' entitled - 11/30/09.

2009_11_30

The link is also on the right side of the blog post, but i couldn't help but include a couple of my favorites here.

this is how we roll

even though the pics are in the web album, i thought i'd post a few more from the TORN race.... riding and racing has become a HUGE part of our life and it is an absolute blast! the kiddos have a great time playing outside and the adutls have a great time getting away from it all. what more could we ask for?

dinosaurs...

were awesome!! kaetlyn absoluted LOVED the show. she cried when we were leaving and cried herself to sleep saturday night because she, "missed the dinosaurs so much!!" the pictures don't quite do it justice. it was very dark in there and they requested no flashes, but we tried.

as you can see cj enjoyed the dinosaurs tremendously!!!! at the end he woke up and stared in awe like his big sis. :)

i so enjoy weekends and spending time with my munchkins. it's amazing how fast they grow and change. it seems like cj is doing new stuff almost daily. yesterday afternoon after kaetlyn's nap, the 3 of us were sitting on her bed. i was watching her play with dinosaurs and we were putting them in her horse trailer / toy hauler. cj was captivated and earnestly attempting to interact and play with her. she's not the best at sharing, but will concede to letting him have 1 of the 15 dinosaurs on the bed. and he's happy to just be able to be a part of it. i'm so excited for what the future will bring.

this picture was just really cute.... looks like he's waving... maybe he is.