holiday fun!

whew! we made it. :) the holidays are almost over. i will have many pics to upload, but am trying to save my camera battery power until i am able to get the charger out of the camper. here's a quick rundown of the past couple weeks:

12/17 - the kids school had child-led worship at 7 pm. i have a video but have to figure out how to make it work in the laptop. kaetlyn was precious! dancin' and singin' away!
12/19 - had our christmas party with our traction racing friends. we all cooked up and ate a huge feast, exchanged gifts white elephant style, let the kiddos play, and of course rode '3 wheelers.' we spent the night at brian & traci's in the rv, woke up, ate breakfast and rode some more! it was a fun weekend!
12/23 - dad came to town to celebrate christmas with us. i spent the previous two days finishing up christmas, wrapping, cleaning, etc. we hung around and looked at christmas lights in the evening.
12/24 - craig had to work in the morning, but got off around 11 am. we took kaetlyn and sam to chuckee cheese for lunch and came home for naptime. we went to the church that the kids' schools is part at 7 pm, looked at a few more chrismtas lights then came home, put out reindeer food (kaetlyn dumped it in one big pile in the front yard), made cookies for santa, and got ready for bed. kaetlyn donated her binky's to all the small children that need them, so we wrote a note to santa so he would know to take the binkys. it went quite well, except that she wanted one to sleep with and said that santa can take it from her mouth while she's sleeping. for the most part, she's doing quite well... big girl! it's a little said for me... my baby girl is growing up.
12/25 - christmas morning was a blast! all the hours of preparation were over with the blink of an eye! kaetlyn had a fun time opening, not only her own presents, but cj's, mommy's and poppi's as well. after we finished our family christmas, dad headed back to LA, and craig, myself and the kiddos drove to houston to spend a couple days with the perkins family. we were on the road by 10:45! once we got there, we had another christmas! presents were had by all, followed by naps, and a wonderful christmas dinner. the children played and the ladies even got a few card games in. :)
12/27 - we left Houston and drove to LA for a couple days. we arrived around 6 pm and had darrell's po-boys and MORE presents waiting for us... so we had christmas once again. the kiddos had fun playing with their new stuff, and we enjoyed the family time.

we had a blast! all the excitement and memories... i wouldn't change a thing, but boy am i glad to be home! we got home last night around 6 pm, and i am thankful to have the next few days off with the kiddos. i will have a chance to get caught up on things and maybe even relax a little! this week we are working on getting kaetlyn out of diapers. she has had on panties and jeans all day, and hasn't had a single accident! i added a diaper for her nap, but am hopeful we can knock this out before the weekend.

some of kaetlyn's prizes include: a bucket of dinosaurs, a bicycle, a kids digital camera, a talking & walking t-rex, a baby nerf gun, a singing dolly (thanks grandma!), a little einstein computer, and the list goes on and on.... cj made out pretty well too... but he doesn't really know the difference at this point. his hammer and drums suit him just fine!! he is trying desperately to crawl, and is extremely frustrated when he can't get where he wants to... he ends up going backward, then cries for help.

this weekend we are planning to go to a race near dallas if the weather permits. we'll know by tomorrow evening if we're racing or just going to a favorite camping spot nearby. today is cold and sleeting... not a great day to be outside, so we're just hanging out.

many pictures to follow! last night when putting kaetlyn to bed, i hurt her feelings and she told me that jesus was going to come take all my presents away. i told her that she was my present... she is my gift from God. she said, 'mommy, i'm not a present with a bow on top!' i told her she was silly. she said, 'that's me. silly silly kaetlyn.' funny girl.

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.