our little family

cj is 15 months!

2010-09-09T10:34:00.003-06:00

i'm a little late in posting this, as i have been very busy. on 8/30 cj turned 15 months! the time is flying by. his stats are as follows:

27.6 lbs & 32 3/8 inches long - 75-90% percentile

he is a big boy! he is dangerous. this past weekend he fell in the camper and got his first black eye! first of many i'm afraid. he is continuously falling down, and looking for ways to harm himself. what a mess!!! so sweet, loving and fun though.

september is always a busy month! we had a race in bowie, tx over labor day weekend which i will post more about later. craig's birthday is tomorrow and kaetlyn's at the end of the month. lots of planning and preparation!!

more to follow....

brushy creek sprinkler park

2010-08-25T12:20:00.003-06:00

on monday night the AC decided to stop working and it was the hottest day of the year - 105 degrees! tina and i took the kiddos to the sprinkler park after dinner. they had a BLAST! the girls were much more difficult to get pictures of than cj. kaetlyn and sam ran around and played while cj tried desperately to keep up... won't be too long!

serious planning happening here

sam in the water
trying to get them both in the same picture is almost impossible!loving life!!
the moon as we were leaving the park

galveston weekend

2010-08-25T12:04:00.004-06:00

this past weekend we joined the mendelson crew in galveston for a weekend of swimming and family time. we had a great time. as always, the kids enjoyed the pool and beach. the grown up kids and dad enjoyed the reverse bungee on the seawall on saturday night. i wasn't so great at pulling out the old camera until sunday when we ended our fun time at the houston zoo. it was HOT and kaetlyn goes through like a bullet. it's hard to keep up with her as she moves from one animal to the next. i've located all the pics in the public web album, but here are a couple cute ones.

cj and jake

craig and kaetlyn

the cousins: kaetlyn, jake, dyllan, and cj

this is also a cute video of the kiddos singing and dancing in the car on the way home from the beach.

already getting calls from the principal!

2010-08-25T11:59:00.003-06:00

last monday craig and i were eating lunch together (which is a rare treat) when i got a call from the school's director. she wanted to talk to me because she had to report that, 'cj is biting his friends.' and so it begins... LOL. the discussion went on that she thinks he is bored in the nursery and it is unfortunate this became problematic in the last week of summer when he would be moving to the one year old class this week. they wanted him to spend time with the bigger kids who get a little more stimulation to see if that helped. i told her whatever works! what's funny and what i told her is that he is not biting at home, so it is hard for me to help reinforce with him that this is not acceptable. sitting down a 14 month old for a talk doesn't work so well. i tried subliminal messaging in his sleep that night instead, 'cj... be NICE to your friends.. biting is not nice...' craig just laughed at me, but we haven't had any reports since, so maybe it helped!

storybooks

2010-08-23T11:37:00.003-06:00

at the beginning of the month i forgot to include a funny 'kaetlynism'. when she was sick and complaining of a tummy ache we had a discussion about telling the truth: real stories vs. pretend stories. after a very long explaination from me about the importance of only telling real stories when something is wrong and not making up stomach aches or other potential issues, i asked her, 'so now does your tummy still really hurt?' 'aww mom,' she says to me, 'i think i ate a story book!'

cj's vocab

2010-08-16T09:49:00.002-06:00

the little one is talking more and more every day! sometimes sounds like he's saying more that he actually can. he's getting inflection down, even if the soungs aren't quite right. words he knows: cheese, bubbles, up, hot, bath, hi, bye, uh oh, juice, mama, dada, baba (bottle), night night, kaetlyn (neh-neh), uh-uh (no.. and sometimes yes). he blows kisses, high fives, gives hugs and big sloppy open mouth kisses. loves dancing and music. such a funny happy kid... until he's not. he has developed quite a little temper, that cannot be cured through soothing. if he is pushed to the point of anger the will flail around on the floor and if you try to help him he gets more and more angry... so you just have to let him cry it out and then it's over and he's fine. funny little guy. can't wait to hear his statistics at the end of the month at his 15 month checkup. :)

phone uploads

2010-08-16T09:43:00.004-06:00

pizza and brownies for dinner! YUM
watching baby einstein... tv for HIM!
rockin!!!
hats are fun
just wanted to add a few more pics from the last couple weeks that were taken from my phone:

hot!

2010-08-16T09:28:00.004-06:00

most everyone knows that august is the hottest time of year. august in austin consists of 20 or so consecutive days over 100.. it's awesome. the hottest part of the day is right about 5 pm so when you're driving home from work the car AC can't keep up with the heat and you're sweating... LOVE IT! can't you just feel the sarcastic nature of these comments through the words that you read?? i think we're all ready for fall to begin. we have been busy for the month of august though!

the first weekend in august we went camping / riding at bud buddys with robbie, carrie, barbara, randy and aidan. it was HOT, but we had a lot of fun. the engine on my quad blew out, but it was good times. all of the kids (big and little) had a great time riding around. me and barbara took the kids on a night ride, stopped, turned off the lights, and sang, 'twinkle twinkle little star.' cj loves the quads he will ride and ride... one late afternoon ride settled him into a nap! here's kaetlyn ready to roar!

on tuesday, 8/10 - dad's 60th!!! - he decided last minute to come to austin to celebrate his birthday! me and kaetlyn made him brownnies, but at his request we did nothing else. megan came from waco to spend the night. it was nice to see them both and play with the kiddos. here are a couple shots from the BBQ restaurant we went to for dinner:

last weekend we went to the perkins' house to celebrate alyx's 15th birthday! omg - where has the time gone. admittedly i was not good about getting out my camera for this one. the kiddos played and we ate WAY too much... as usual.
this is a short work week for me - the kids' school is closed on thurs / fri for the switch to fall semester so i will enjoy a little extra time with them, and this weekend we're off to galveston with the mendelson kiddos, poppy, and megan. it will be nice to see them all again so soon. :)

summer is really almost over! september is filled with birthdays and back to the races!! bring it.

perspective

2010-08-16T08:54:00.003-06:00

work has not been the happiest place for me to be these days, so i do my best to focus attention to the things that really matter... family, children, life, God. I am very blessed and try to remind myself daily. kaetlyn is my ultimate cheer leader. she gives me pep talks and helps me stay motivated. one morning on the way to school she and i were talking about my work troubles and this is the conversation that resulted:

me: i can do it. i can overcome, i can win!
k: you can do it mom! you can win the race
me: that's right, yest i can!
k: you can win the race, mom, cuz you're a fast runner!
me: i am a fast runner (chuckle), and i will win!
k: and you will get a trophy!
me: yes i will!
k: and you will give it to me!

another friday after work i asked kaetlyn for a hug cuz i had a hard day. she asked me what's wrong:

me: there's some mean people at mommy's work, they make me upset
k: (giving me a hug) aw mom, do you want me to kill those bad people for me mom
me: (laughing) no baby, everything will be ok... i love you

long week

2010-08-02T08:27:00.004-06:00

last week was LONG. cj sick, kaetlyn sick, kati sick... and no time for mommy to be sick. i think we're coming out the other side of it now though.... thank GOD! cj was not feeling well almost the entire month of july. first was croupy bronchial infection then cruddy eyes, runny nose, etc. kaetlyn had a stomach bug in the beginning of july and then began complaining about it again last tuesday. i took her to the dr on wednesday morning and when all possible issues were ruled out, i decided that kaetlyn and i should have a fun day to ourselves so we went to see toy story 3.... i cried like a baby... i was so happy she was sitting on my lap and couldn't see the tears streaming as andy gave up his toys to go to college... oh boy! what is wrong with me?? LOL

me and kaetlyn holding hands in the movies

this past weekend was our last weekend at home for a while and it was a long one. wish my sore throat would go away! yesterday we celebrated jaxon's 4th birthday with the clemments' family. the kids swam and ate cake and had a great time. i hope the fatigue will pass, as this week at work is a busy one. it does end with a weekend at mud buddy's for camping and riding! HOORAY!

kaetlyn at the birthday party

cj enjoying the cake!!

weekend fun

2010-07-27T08:12:00.005-06:00

we had a fun time last weekend. we're out of town so many weekends, it's almost a treat to stay around the house and participate in austin-type events. friday night we went to terra burger, which is a drive through organic burger place that has a big playground, including sprinkler fun. both kiddos loved it! on saturday night we went to the round rock express game. pictures can be viewed here: http://tractionracing.shutterfly.com/pictures/2472

spoon success!

2010-07-23T12:06:00.003-06:00

up until yesterday, cj was not successful with spoon usage. he would hold the spoon in one hand and shovel in the food with the other... or use the spoon as a slingshot to fling his bowl around the table... dinner time is messy! my table will never recover. last night, though he was extremely proficient in scooping the rice onto the spoon and making it into his mouth. i'm so proud!! interestingly, he uses his right hand. almost everything else, he does with his left. perhaps we have an ambidextrian on our hands. :)

follow up picture of kaetlyn's pigtails. this morning, we did pigtails again. let's see if they're still in place when i pick her up today.

this has been a long week, and i am so happy it's friday. tonight me and the kiddos are meeting friends for dinner and tomorrow night our riding buddies are joining us in the suite at the Round Rock Express game. Hopefully we'll get some riding in on Sunday as well. Fun weekend ahead!

the world according to kaetlyn

2010-07-21T14:58:00.003-06:00

kaetlyn got her own 'cramra' for christmas. it is digital and holds around 400 pictures. it was full, so i uploaded her pics today.

my little girl is growing up. today she actually asked for pigtails.... progress!

last night she wanted 'blackbird' to be 'blue fish'. as i started to sing she said, 'blue fish can't have broken wings' so we changed it to 'blue terradactyl.' funny funny kid.

ET phone Kaetlyn

2010-07-20T09:09:00.002-06:00

this week the kids are learning about space and astronauts and planets and such.... so kaetlyn and i started talking about aliens on the way home from school. the conversation transpired into kaetlyn telling me she wanted et to come to 'our earth'. so i told her that he was with his family on his planet, but maybe when we got home daddy would help her call him on the phone. lol. or so it would seem. not so great move, mom. the entire night she was obsessed with talking to et on the phone. fortunately, right at bedtime our buddy fred called and pretended to be et while she talked to him on speaker phone. he did a fantastic job! how her eyes were sparkling and she was laughing and so happy. cute stuff. first thing this morning she asked me if we could call et again! i was able to distract her with the movie.... ah... the things we do for love. many thanks to fred for saving the day! hopefully he won't mind playing the part a few more times if needed.

green bird

2010-07-15T13:02:00.003-06:00

sometimes at bedtime is sing 'blackbird' by the beatles to kaetlyn as a lullaby. now, she's changing the song so everytime she asks me to sing about a different color bird. last night was 'greenbird'. LOL

here's a pic from kaetlyn this morning before school - it is baseball cap day.

phone pics

2010-07-14T13:59:00.003-06:00

you can see that cj's spoon is getting used very effectively!
playing in the sprinkler is cause for great amusement and fun

kaetlyn's first real attempt at writing her name... pretty good i think!

bathtime is always a treat!

tough times

2010-07-14T13:36:00.003-06:00

cj is usually pretty laid back and easy going. he's had a little cold and molars coming in, so all he wants is mommy! i'm fortunate to be so loved....

every day he is adding more words to his repertoire: bye bye, bird, ball... the list is growing and growing. balls are his most favorite thing ever!! (except for maybe 4 wheelers) he's got a hilarious sense of humor and we can't wait till he can communicate his thoughts. fun times ahead! he's started shaking his head. waving his arms, and saying 'uh uh' when he doesn't want to do something. all we can do is laugh!

set me free mom

2010-07-14T13:26:00.003-06:00

a couple weeks ago, kaeltyn was watching her newest dinosaur movie. she asked if i would come watch it with her, so we curled up together on the couch. after a few minutes, the following conversation occurred:

k: mom, you want me?
me: yes, of course i always want you
k: ... oh, ok... mom, when are you gonna set me free?
me: ur, um.. you're free.. i thought we were snuggling... you don't want to snuggle? you want to be free?
k: yeah, so i can breathe.

WOW! i had a flash forward about 12 years. what a girl.

another cute one: she really likes bob marley's song 'three little birds' but has created her own lyrics, which don't really make sense but are pretty cute. in galveston she was standing on a kitchen chair dancing and singing. dyllan was cracking up! her words are, 'i'm walrus; i'm out of bed.'

mid-july already!

2010-07-14T13:13:00.003-06:00

the mendelson cousins
cj and logan at aidan's birthday

beach bum cj

sand princess kaetlyn

let's see... fun-filled and action packed doesn't begin to describe the whirl wind that is our life. we're having a blast and the kiddos are growing before my eyes. kaetlyn is perpetually hysterical... the things that come out of her mouth continue to amuse craig and i... i just don't know where she gets some of the stuff. there are so many funny stories that i mentally note to include here, but right now tiredness is interfering with my memory! hate that.

cj is full on walking. we are spending a lot of time playing chase. he's like a tornado and into everything. so far this month we have:

7/3 - spent the 4th weekend in Houston & celebrated Aidan's 4th birthday

7/11 - went to Galveston for a long weekend with the Mendelson crew

we will finish up the month with birthday parties, a trip to bud buddy's, and some family portraits!! august will be here before we know it.

busy bees

2010-06-21T15:40:00.002-06:00

from mid-may till now we have been going non-stop - hence the lack of blog updates. let's see:

5/15 - perkins' family visit
5/22 - cj birthday party
5/29 - memorial day weekend camping trip at hidden falls adventure park - marble falls, tx
5/30 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY CJ!
6/03 - mom arrives in austin to stay with the family while i go to a work conference
6/11 - TORN Race #3 - Greenville, TX
6/18 - camping trip on Granger Lake in Tayler, TX

there are many pics and events to report...i don't even know where to start. boy are we having a fun filled and BUSY summer... and it is already flying by.

most pics are uploaded in the perkins' family web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/home

some are also here: http://tractionracing.shutterfly.com/pictures

will get better again...

so behind! but so big!!

2010-06-16T12:55:00.010-06:00

i can't believe it's been almost 1 month since i've updated... bad me!! so much has happened and we've been very busy... at work and at home.

most importantly, cj celebrated his first birthday on may 30! wow has the year ever flown. stats look like this:

weight - 25 lb 9 oz (75-90%)

length - 29.5 inches (50-75%)

8 teeth (working on molars)

words: uh oh, hi, ow, mama (i'm told he says AMEN at school but have yet to hear it. he also tries to say woof woof, meow, quack)

he LOVES music and dances by bopping up and down and waving his arms from side to side. he walks, high fives, blows kisses, and plays the 'how big is cj' game.

he is busy busy and wants to get into everything he's not supposed to. he's a sweet heart though, and a happy boy.

more catch up to follow... just lots going on!

From 2010_06_13

hawaii day

2010-05-21T11:36:00.003-06:00

yesterday at school was 'hawaii day' and kaetlyn let me put pigtails in her hair for the event. she started to complain that they were hurting, but as soon as she saw herself in the mirror she started laughing and really liked them! as is typical, her 'long neck' had to accompany her to school. :)

cj gets to ride frontwards now. as you can see in the pics below, my backseat is FULL! he really likes it !!

he's feeling much better, for which i am thankful. his antibiotics are all done, and kaetlyn is on her last day of ear drops! its been a crazy couple of weeks, but hopefully we will have nothing but good health in the upcoming weeks. there's lots going on, so no time for illnesss!! cj's been making this new 'crinkly nose' face... pretty cute!

this weekend, megan is coming to town and we are having an early birthday celebration for cj. we will be camping memorial day for his real birthday.

TGIF!!!

what a week!

2010-05-18T13:19:00.004-06:00

last week was very busy preparing for the perkins' arrival to austin friday night. in addition to everything that needed to be done for the weekend, BOTH children got ear infections & craig got a stomach bug. the result is that i didn't get much sleep, but we made it through.

last thursday night, kaetlyn brough home a white fuzzy catepillar. i fished out the hold hermit crab cage and she put it in there. on friday morning, she looked inside the cage and said, 'OH NO! mom... my catepillar has a spider web over it!' it had made a cacoon! really need. now we are waiting to see it become a butterfly. theresa says the hungry catepillar book says it takes around 2 weeks, so i guess we'll see what happens!!

also on thursday night my keys were found. i lost them 3 weeks ago. someone found them on the road in our neighborhood and turned them in at the gym i go to. i am so thankful for this person and wish that i knew who they were so i could properly thank them. despite the fatigue, thursday was a great day!!

saturday i hosted a 'southern living at home' party for theresa, who is now a sales rep. we had a good turn out and it was fun to make some yummy food and have girl time! following this, we were planning to have a birthday party for cj, but had to make a pit stop to the ER before the party could begin.

apparently his antibiotic was not working, and his temp was over 104! of course i panicked, and craig and i took him the the hospital. new antibiotic & more tylenol / motrin, and we went back home to celebrate cj's, rachel's, and scott's birthday!

you can tell from the pics, he's not doing so hot, but he was a trooper. i think he's finally showing signs of improvement. he went to school today, and they haven't called me, so that's a good thing. :) the perkins' pitched in a got him is very own '3 wheeler' which he loves! i will need to get some pics of him playing with it. :)

thanks to all for a fun weekend. back to work today, but am still tired. hopefully cj will be feeling better and better and i will get a little more rest.

Mother's Day

2010-05-10T15:56:00.002-06:00

we had a nice family day... nothing too exciting or extreme, but great quality time. cj woke up early and then was back asleep before 7 am so we didn't actually get out of bed until almost 9! we made pancakes, went to lowes and spent the morning working in the yard. both of my kids LOVE it outside. cj is full on walking and checking everything out... he's a mess and into everything. everyone laid down at naptime and has a peaceful afternoon. tina and sam joined us for dinner, which was nice for kaetlyn to have her buddy to play with for a while... and nice for me to have some grown female conversation! we cooked a nice dinner, spent a little time outside, and let the kiddos play. fun day! i received a barage of items from the kiddos school, and craig also helped the children pick out a present and card for me. kaetlyn picked the dvd 'Brother Bear' and this was my mother's day gift! at their school, kaetlyn's class made strawberry jelly from scratch... YUMMY!

on saturday we went to the farmers market in the morning, and then to 1890 ranch shopping center in the afternoon. nice sushi dinner & book shopping... and baskin robbins. all in all it was a fun weekend with my favorite people in the world.

so continued on from the 'always with you in my heart' conversation last week... last night when i was kissing kaetlyn good night, she put her hand on my check and said:
k: mom, when i'm not with you just put your hand right here. i'll always be with you in your cheek
me: my cheek, huh? (laughing)
k: yes, i'll always be with you in your cheek
funny kid!
me: so, you're going somewhere?
k: yes, i'm going to africa to save the animals

LOVE HER!

work trip

2010-05-06T12:30:00.003-06:00

this week i went on my first work trip since cj was born. it was a quick one - to VA - there one day and back the next. boy did i miss my family! craig did a great job with the munchkins and didn't seem too stressed over it.... in fact he seemed to have enjoyed the special time with the children :) both kids slept with him, which as a nice treat for kaetlyn, and cj only woke up once in the night... wish i had it that easy.

the night before my trip i was telling her i would be gone the next day, but that i would lay with her as she fell asleeep. the following conversation ensued:

k: but mom, i don't want you to go on a trip, i want you

me: i won't be gone long and you'll have fun special time with daddy

k: but mom, i want you

me: i have to go to work so i can make money so we can have the nice toys and things we have

k: but mom, i don't want you to go, i want you

me: i will never leave you and will always be with you forever. put your hands on your heart. when you miss me, put your hands on your heart and know that even if i'm not here, i'm always with you in your heart

k (drifting off to sleep): you're always with me in my heart, you're always with me in my heart, your always with me in my heart....

sweet girl! when i picked her up from school yesterday she was telling me that she wanted to go on an airplane ride because i just went on one. i told her we needed a place to go. she said, 'we can take an airplane to australia... to buy a new horse for me.' that's my girl.

cj's schedule got a little screwed up in my absense and woke up very early both mornings. he's also transitioning to the 1 year old class at school which means only one nap / day.. reviewing his daily reports, it appeared he was his normal happy self, but was so tired by lunch he fell asleep in the high chair tuesday and wednesday!!

i'm so lucky. thank God for all the gifts that have been bestowed on me. grace abounds!

mother daughter tea

2010-05-03T10:02:00.003-06:00

this weekend we were in town and took advantage of some time to get some long over due house work marked off the list. kaetlyn and i spent some time together 'no boys... only girls' and attended a Mother / Daughter tea at the church connected to the kids' school. We spent the morning showering, getting dressed up, painting toenails, ironing dresses, etc. kaetlyn's bff - cadence - was there as well, and we had a fun time. was nice to get a little alone time with her. craig and cj did boy things: lowes, yardwork, and nap!

Torn #2 Meridian 2010

2010-05-03T09:39:00.001-06:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

april showers... and flies!!

2010-04-30T14:20:00.010-06:00

oh where oh where did the month go?? we've been busy that's for sure. :) the month has come and gone SO fast. wow. cj is 11 months old today. he's roughly 25 lbs, 8 teeth, and pretty much walking. he is so busy and fun... just the happiest, silliest little personality. we are so blessed.

in mid-april, we went to supercross with our riding pals, as well as the perkins' and cousin aidan. everyone thorougly enjoyed the races.

this is a pic of randy, kaetlyn, aidan and craig walking in to the event.

the following week, i decided to have some baby k time and picked up the little sweetness from school at lunchtime. she had eaten, but i hadn't so we went to a restaurant and i got lunch. she got ICE CREAM!!! lucky kid! after lunch we went to my work for a couple hours, where she entertained my crew, then we went to see the movie 'How to Train a Dragon.' she loved it so much she cried for an hour afterwards because she wanted to see it again.... craig took her back to see it again on sunday... rough life she has.

while craig and kaeltyn were at the movie, i tried diligently to catch cj's preliminary walking on camera. not so easy when his steps were so unpredictable... i did get some cute footage though.

FRIDAY!

2010-04-09T14:31:00.003-06:00

i just LOVE this picture of cj so i had to get them it up here. :) last night craig and i got a sitter so we could go ride 3 wheelers with the grown ups for a little bit. on the way home i was explaining to kaetlyn that kalee was a girl that was going to come stay with them and play with them for a couple hours while we were out. 'but mom,' she said, 'who's mom is going to stay with us?' she couldn't quite get the concept. it was really cute. 'you mean she's going to make me dinner? and cj dinner? how'd she get so big already? why is no mom going to stay with us?' cute stuff.

craig and i had fun and the time passed quickly. kaley enjoyed the kiddos and said she would be happy to do it again anytime, so that's a good thing. she's the 16 daughter of a woman that works at the kids' school.

tonight we are leaving for houston for the weekend. tomorrow night we're going to watch SUPERCROSS with our traction friends. should be fun times and the kiddos (and daddies) will enjoy it tremendously!

TGIF

easter weekend

2010-04-07T09:15:00.005-06:00

unfortunately i didn't get any pictures of our family dressed up for eater morning. we were a little off kilter (more than usual) on easter morning. kaetlyn woke up at 6 am! and hung out with my dad till me, craig and cj woke up. she messed up the entire basket, egg hunt, blah blah because she was awake. then it was a dash to get ready for 9 am church, etc. oh well! we still had a good time, and fortunately they are still to young to know the difference.

we had an action packed week though. my dad came in town on wednesday night and stayed through sunday. craig and i both took friday off work to have some family time. our list of activities for friday and saturday included children's museum (kaetlyn says buseum), strawberry farm & austin zoo. not to mention, adult dinner out (thanks to tina for watching the kiddos), easter egg decoration, a wonderful easter lunch, and 3 wheeling! and lets not forget the best part - quality family time and memories shared...we were busy!

cj is such a trooper he just hangs with us and soaks it all in. sleeps where he can and absorbs the rest. wide eyes. he really wants to keep up with his sister and tries on many occasions to play with her. pretty funny. i will have to get this on video soon.

when dad got home he sent a really funny email titled 'Easter from a 3 year old: Kaetlyn Perkins.' This is what it said: 'I asked her Saturday night what happened on Easter. Kaetlyn's reply: 'Jesus got on the cross, then the eggs come.' Oh well, close enough.' Funny kid. We made it through the zoo in 1 hour, including the petting zoo and we circled that 3 times! She was so excited, running from one exhibit to the next... 'daddy, what's in this one? wow, take a picture daddy...' then on the to the next as fast as she could. it was so cute. i think we broke a record.

all of the pictures from the weekend are on the Web Album in the folder titled Easter 2010. Here are a couple cute ones, but there are many more.

so busy

2010-03-31T12:50:00.003-06:00

i'm a little disappointed in myself. i've just been so busy i haven't had time to include all the updates i plan. i have them in my mind, but they don't all make it down here as they should. where is all the time going? we've had so much going on.... life is full and we are enjoying every minute of it... well, almost. ;P in all seriousness life is great.

i'm starting to see kaetlyn as a little girl, rather than a toddler child. she is becoming reasonable and sweet... most of the time. her vocabulary is very cute and she impresses me regularly. she loves her brother and is helpful, but is also very independent. there are so many stories... its hard to pick which ones to share.

cj is growing up so quickly. he's a happy boy and his personality is really starting to come through. he like to play games - like chase, patty cake, and keep away - and laugh and i can tell that he's starting to understand english. he babbles a TON, but no real words yet... he also sings, and dances... just WAY too cute. right now he is the only baby in the nursery, so he and his teacher are spending time with the one year olds. apparently he loves it.

yesterday cowboy bob came to school with his pony for the kids to take pictures. from what i hear, it was a cute event. they let cj sit on the pony with kaetlyn. i can't wait to see the pics!

riding at the hills

2010-03-29T16:07:00.004-06:00

the weather was BEAUTIFUL this weekend.... i know i'm skipping some stuff, but i just have to get this one in. so yesterday, we went riding. kaetlyn was oh so excited! when we started going, i stopped and waited for her to ride with me and she said, 'i don't want to ride with you mommy. i wanted to ride all by myself.' i was just following her on the track, so i told her that i was just taking cj for a ride... LOL independent little snot. after she finished riding, she said, 'i need to go to the dr to figure out why my thumb hurts so much.' i explained that almost everyone's thumb hurts after riding for a while. that throttle can hurt!

the slideshow from yesterday will show that kaetlyn got a hold of the camera. the 2nd half of the pictures are from her vantage point.... so cute!! i am so greatful that we've found a family activity that we all love... and a good group of friends as well. blessings abound.

happy anniversary!

2010-03-18T16:00:00.001-06:00

this week was also craig and my anniversary. 7 years! as you can see from the many posts that march has been very busy... hence the reason i have not had time for blog entries.

happy anniversary to craig. i love you. looking forward to 77 more years. :)

my birthday

2010-03-18T15:44:00.004-06:00

yesterday was my birthday as well.... (i know i'm posting a lot today, just have a ton to catch up on) i had a perfect day! i took the day off work and spent time to myself getting stuff done around the house and enjoying some quiet. it was wonderful! when craig got home we went and got the kiddos, picked up shrimp fajitas and had a little birthday party. kaetlyn was so excited for my birthday... she could barely contain herself and keep secret the gifts they picked out for me... 'mom, we got you beautiful earrings,' she whispered in the morning on the way to school. 'are you supposed to tell me this kaetlyn?' i inquired. 'no, mom... daddy said its a secret,' she informed me. here is a pic of my wonderful earrings:

i love my life. i am extremely blessed and am thankful for my husband who went out of his way to make my birthday special.

brithday parties

2010-03-18T15:39:00.005-06:00

over the weekend we went to houston to celebrate logan, barbara, and my birthday. my mom also joined us for the festivities. we had a fun time and the weather was beautiful. cj very much enjoyed his dinner:

silly sock day

2010-03-18T15:30:00.003-06:00

the kids' school had a week of festivities last week:
monday - crazy hair day
tuesday - pajama day
wednesday - silly sock day
thursday - teddy bear day
friday - bicycle day

kaetlyn in her silly socks:
on friday she actually brought her 4 wheeler helmet to school in place of a bicycle helmet and everyone got a huge kick out of it. btw - those socks didn't make it home in one piece.. both of them had holes in their heels from being on top of her shoes all day... all in a good day's fun.

the next pic is just two of a series of sibling pics gone awry. fun times.

Torn Race #1 - Kaetlyn and the Umbrella

2010-03-18T15:11:00.003-06:00

Click here to view this video

this is just hysterical. the weekend was a blast, but sunday it was very rainy and cold. what a mess. check out the link for Traction Racing Family to see more pics and videos from the weekend. my little girl is the cutest thing ever!!!!

cj is 9 months!

2010-03-02T14:40:00.003-06:00

9 month stats:

22 lb 10 oz - 80th percentile

29 inches - 80th percentile

he's dropped a little since he's become mobile. at nine months old, cj has 8 teeth and is pretty much on solid foods. he claps, waves (sometimes), signs 'more' & 'all done', babbles somewhat... mamama, dadadada, babababa, crawls, walks & cruises, and balances standing with no hands. he eats regular food, no baby food at all. he also just started feeding me and thinks its very exciting when the food actually makes it into my mouth. another new trick as of the last few days is the indian. he will let you tap on his mouth and will make a sound as you tap so he sounds like an indian. :) very cute. he is quite a playful and happy baby. he already teases his sister too.... giggle... he pulls her hair and tries to hit her face. i say she's got it coming to her!

cj still does not sleep through the night, but prefers to nurse at least 2 times. stair climbing is another interest we are trying to deter... he's pretty much into everything. banging things and walking behind everything he can are his two favorite activities.

we are very blessed. i am thankful everyday for the life we have.

my boy is cute

2010-03-01T17:02:00.002-06:00

9 month appt is tomorrow morning. details to follow.

cj's octopi

2010-03-01T16:07:00.003-06:00

so a couple weeks ago, craig accidently lost cj's octopi. this is like linus and the blanket... cj and the octopi. sad day. the end result has been positive and we have many good friends and family that helped fill the void until the new one(s) arrived, but i just have to post how AMAZING these little things are. angie, the owner and creator of the octopi was fantastic, shipped quickly and also emailed back... exceptional customer service!

http://www.octopibaby.com/

here are a couple 'older pics' from the fall of cj with his octopi. the attachment started early. you should see him cuddle with it now... and carry it around... and suck on it... i'll have to take some new pics. :)

More Snow and Fred's Video

2010-02-24T15:32:00.002-06:00

Click here to view this video

Fred & Sandy made this video of 'Blizzard 2010' and i just couldn't resist posting it here. If you have speakers, turn them on... funny stuff.
kaetlyn and craig made our family out of snowmen. they're really cute. fun day at home. today is sunny and 50 degrees. gotta love tx!

snow day

2010-02-23T14:15:00.003-06:00

it was snowing this morning when we were getting ready for work / school. i took some pics of the kiddos and the snow and they are located in the perkins family web albums. i tried to get kaetlyn ready really quickly so she could play outside for a few minutes before we left the house. she was really cute. when we got in the car she said, 'i love winter season, mommy. will you turn the christmas music on?' she's a cutie. school closes at 2:45 today, so i'll be picking up the kiddos pretty soon. craig and i are both working from home right now. it's just a-snowin away! it's supposed to continue into the evening. i'm sure i'll have more pictures as the day progresses. :)

only in texas will you swim on sunday and deal with snow on tuesday!

ER

2010-02-22T16:38:00.002-06:00

we had a great weekend! we rode 4 wheelers on saturday and sunday. the weather was beautiful sunday afternoon. we went to this guy's house where there were 7 kids between the ages of 2.5 and 6. they had a blast running around, riding bikes and playing. there's a creek on the property and we took the kiddos to stick their toes in. we also got to get dirty and do some riding... great afternoon.

the remainder of sunday evening didn't turn out so hot. we got home, ate dinner, bath time, etc. and everything seemed fine. around midnight cj woke up with that wonderful seal cough... that's right, croup time. he was trying to sleep and gasping for breath and just down right miserable. craig and i kinda freaked out because it came on so quickly; he really had no symptoms all weekend. so i took him to the ER at midnight.... got home at 1:30. very tired. he's doing well... he never had a fever and they gave him an anti inflammatory to help his throat. they said this should stay in his system for the next 48-72 hours, so i'm hoping we get good sleep tonight. he's had croup once before, but it wasn't quite so sudden. really freaked us out. oh, the joys of parenting. :) you love em so much and they scare you to death! wouldn't have it any other way though.

this week will be good i hope. busy at work, that's for sure. i've also started going to the gym again. nice to get some exercise, endorphins, and stress release. this coming weekend is prep-weekend, because march 5th we're off to the races!

snow is forecasted for tomorrow... we'll see if that really happens. until later.

kaetlyn isms

2010-02-20T10:39:00.002-06:00

thought i'd quickly jot down a few of kaetlyn's little pronunciations and words:

bisdusting = disgusting... say it out loud. it sounds pretty funny
drips = tears. we have to wipe them out of each others eyes at night so she can go to sleep
toenails = fingernails, toenails or hangnails...'mommy i have a toenail'

its a dreary foggy day here, and i just wanna ride!!!

cowboy day

2010-02-18T09:27:00.002-06:00

today is 'cowboy day' at the kids school. here are some pics of kaetlyn. she was very excited. the arms are her 'making muscles like a cowboy'. lol

haircut!!

2010-02-17T09:46:00.002-06:00

pictures are in public web album as well. we did it! first haircut was a success. :) she was such a good girl and stood very still. doug was a little nervous as he doesn't normally cut kids hair (and had some bad experiences) and kaeltyn was a little nervous as well. on the way home from school we talked about it and she said, 'i will stand very still, but doug has to be very very very careful with me, ok mommy?' she also asked that i stand with her. no more curls, but we all think it looks very cute. will be much more manageable. she also wanted barrets instead of a headband today!! progress. :)

soccer game follow up

2010-02-16T14:10:00.003-06:00

i talked with one of the teachers about 'soccer game' last night when i picked up the kids. he daughter is also in soccer, so she watched part of the class last week. she said that even though the girls are the youngest, they really do quite well... she also said that kaetlyn does a pretty good job.... phew! relief. :)

on a different note, doug is coming over tonight to do my hair... i think i've convinced all of us (craig, kaetlyn, and especially myself) to cut kaetlyn's hair too... her first haircut ever. we'll have to see how that goes. pictures to follow. yes, my heart strings are yanked. tear!

sigh

2010-02-15T11:11:00.003-06:00

feeling a little nostalgic, but excited at the same time. yesterday i did a little bit of house cleaning and actually threw away kaetlyn's binky on a string... its been a while since santa repoed the binkies, but we've had them around.... i also removed the shelf out of the pack-n-play which has been cj's bed since birth... he's moved to the bottom now. my babies are growing up quick!

cj is trying to walk... won't be long. he's pushing himself all over the house on walking toys, and of course kaetlyn's kitchen stool. he pushes one thing till he gets it stuck, then crawls to the next thing and pushes that until it gets stuck. i recognize this time around why one of kaetlyn's first words was 'stuck' because i find myself continuously asking him, 'are you stuck?' :) he is even letting go and trying to balance... not too shabby for 8.5 months!! he has also rejected baby food and has moved on to 'real' food... his sister was the same way. can't say i blame him.

kaetlyn and i had a conversation about 'soccer game' last night. she said, 'i'm not very good at it, so i get a stomach ache on purpose.' LOL... don't know how she figured that one out. she said she got upset because she was standing in the goal and the other girls were trying to take the ball from her... i'm not sure she understands the concept of how soccer works... i tried to explain, but am thinking we will need to get a soccer ball and practice with her a bit.

we had a nice dinner for valentine's day last night. i bought kaetlyn an art set thingy for her vday gift. she did her first color by number... i was very impressed.

here's a pic of the kiddos at the grocery store yesterday. i LOVE the shopping cards that hold 2 kiddos side by side. it's the little things. :)

party girl

2010-02-09T13:19:00.002-06:00

kaetlyn has been in the party spirit... and when she knows there's a party, she wants to go all out. balloons, party hats... the whole nine. this weekend was remi's 4th birthday and she was prepared to do it in style. party at 2:30 = no nap. here she is ON THE WAY to the party:

proud mommy

2010-02-08T16:16:00.002-06:00

this morning it was raining. dropping the kiddos off can be somewhat of a challenge. in between the parking lot and the door to the school there is a gazebo. so i get kaetlyn out first, carry her to the sidewalk and tell her to run to the gazebo and wait for me while i get cj and the rest of the stuff.... there's lots of stuff involved with two babies and daycare. anyway, kaetlyn does as told and runs to the zebo (kaetlyn-speak) and waits. i get the baby and am running to meet her. right by the door of the school i see a mom with two kids talking to kaetlyn encouraging her to come with them. kaetlyn is standing at the edge of the zebo addamently shaking her head 'no' with a very determined look on her face. the mother says to me, 'i told her to come with me but should wouldn't.' i explained that i told kaetlyn to wait for me in the zebo, so that's what she did. the mother stated, 'WOW! she listens really well.'

i am so proud of kaetlyn. maybe the stranger conversation really did pay off. :)

home today

2010-02-01T09:53:00.003-06:00

first day of february... wow. cj is 8 months old. wow again. as of today he is 21 lb 14 oz. triple wow. he has accomplished a temperature of 103.4 & and his first ear infection!! sucky. we had a nice weekend in houston, despite cj's getting sick. friday night we arrived and the perkins and this was his first night of discomfort. rough night. saturday his temp stayed around 101. yesterday morning was elevated to 102.8 & ultimately when we got home last night was at its highest. dr called out amoxycillan, so that should help. what a good baby he is though... he really doesn't complain too much. he enjoyed our trip and was a happy boy despite the ear.

kaetlyn had a great time with the family. boy does she LOVE getting to play with her cousin, aidan, and he loves her too. they are quite a pair. in my sleep dep haze i wasn't so great at pulling my camera out (bad mommy!) but i'm sure that theresa will post some pics. after dinner on saturday night, the dads were preoccupied with the babies and the moms were cleaning the kitchen, so the 3 year olds had some time to themselves! they decided to empty the bottom three shelves of pop pop's book case into a gigantic disorderly pile under the dining room table.... it was SO funny....needless to say, pop pop was not thrilled. they helped clean it up while we all laughed. theresa got a picture... i bet she posts it.

kaetlyn was so excited about theresa's birthday party - it was so cute. we just had to buy party hats and balloons. she wanted streamers and the whole nine, but fortunately settled with party hats and balloons. theresa wore her party hat with pride. :) cj and i skipped the boys' baptism due to the fever, but craig and kaetlyn joined the family for the special event.

fun weekend. hopefully cj sleeps a lot today... bless his little heart. i'm so tired, but have a lot of work to get done as well....

here's a couple pics of the kiddos from chik fila (sp?) last tuesday night. there was a clown that painted faces and made balloon things. it was great fun.

walker

2010-01-27T12:04:00.004-06:00

the video speaks for itself!!

kaeltyn's a cutie!

dinosaurs & lizards

2010-01-22T09:32:00.006-06:00

are kaetlyn's two favorite things. here's a short video of kaetlyn reading her book to me last night. she got distracted by the camera so we didn't get very far, but you can clearly tell she's got the whole book memorized. we quickly moved on to a photoshoot of her lizards. :)

here are also a few pics from ken's house last weekend - riding '3 wheelers' and hanging out with our friends. kaetlyn got to ride her new bike for the first time and LOVED it. :)

New Baby

2010-01-21T16:43:00.003-06:00

as little cj gets more mobile, he is learning to explore. the other morning he was getting a little near to the top of the stairs so i asked kaetlyn to block him as i was finishing up my morning chores. i explained that cj is little and doesn't understand that he will get hurt if he falls down the stairs. she helped in this effort. so, on the way home that day she said, 'mom, we have to make sure cj doesn't fall down the stairs because if he does he will hurt his eye. we don't want him to hurt his eye, so we will have to make sure he doesn't fall down the stairs.... cuz if he gets hurt then we will need to get a new baby.' wow. lol. i told her that we weren't getting a new baby. cj was the only one we got, so we need to make sure he stays ok.

this morning, she found a forgotten pacifier in the car and was very excited. 'mom, santa brought my binky back!!!' she said. i said i think santa just forgot to get that one. she laughed and said, 'santa forgot it?? hehe...can i have it??' i told her no and she seemed ok with it.

kaetlyn thinks tears are called 'drips' and i haven't corrected her yet as i think it's very cute although it did take me a bit to figure out what she was talking about. she likes wiping my 'drips' at night before bed when i am tired and she prefers that hers are wiped away prior to going to sleep. she thinks they keep her awake.... hmm... i wonder if her teachers know this?!?!

WOW!

2010-01-20T16:51:00.002-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olSyCLJU3O0&feature=youtube_gdata
The Gift of an Ordinary Day - just had to post this cuz i'm sitting in my office bawling!!!! tears streaming down my face. excited about going to a work happy hour for a few minutes, but now want to run home to my babies!!

sappy i realize.... but i guess that's just moms for ya. i love my family.

shoe neurosis & dinosaurs!

2010-01-20T11:19:00.004-06:00

so, i looked up neurotic and it led me to neurosis:

Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving distress....

kaetlyn has become this when relating to SHOES and which ones she will and will not wear. ug. 'these shoes hurt me! WAH!' is a recurring theme every morning... so i thought perhaps she needed a bigger size and bought some new tennies (that she tried on at the store before we brought them home)... nope! that didn't do it.... i think she doesn't like shoes. i'm not the biggest fan, but it's a requirement. guess she'll just have to get over it.

grandma bought her a book for christmas that is called 'dinosaur days'. craig has been reading it to her at bedtime for the past couple weeks, and now she has the ENTIRE book memorized word for word. it is SO cute. she can 'read' it with her eyes closed, i think. she can tell you the correct name for all the dinosaurs.... will have to take a video of her reading that book. so so cute!

kaetlyn got a kid-proof digital 'cramera' for christmas. she just loves it and has taken hundreds of pictures. i tried to upload them over the weekend but was unsuccessful. will have to figure it out soon because i can't wait to post her fine photography!!

cj's crawling!!!

2010-01-15T11:26:00.005-06:00

so yesterday when i went to pick cj up at school he actually crawled about 10 paces to me! very slow and laborious at this point, but he made it. :) he's pulling up to standing as often as he can as well... it's almost like a switch is flipped and he's ready to be off and running. this video is a little dark, but shows him making a little bit of ground!

slightly different, but related topic... my boy LOVES to eat. no wonder it's been so difficult for him to move around, he's a bigun... 7.5 months and in 12 month clothing! here are a couple pics of him eating dinner last night.

look at how filthy his arm is in the 2nd shot! yuck... broccoli, pasta noodles, applesauce, and crackers... what a fantastic combo. :)

and finally, another attempt at bathing the children simulataneously... cj is not quite ready for it... life will be much easier when he is..

4 teeth at once...

2010-01-13T16:09:00.002-06:00

does not make for the happiest of babies. but he will soon have a total of 6 real teeth which will make eating real food much easier. you can see the top 3 coming in here. two existing on the bottom plus one new one! what a busy guy.

he is also trying diligently to crawl and stand. he's perfected the stomach to sitting transition and uses this to get around.... won't be long till he's on his feet and going. things sure do start happening quickly after the 5 - 6 month mark!!

web albums

2010-01-11T11:39:00.001-06:00

christmas, new years, etc. pics have been uploaded to our public web albums - see link in right hand navigation bar to Perkins Family Web Album. more posts to follow for funny holiday cheer. :)

Shrek Foot

2010-01-11T11:23:00.002-06:00

how to entertain a 3 year old on a cold weekend at home...
and i just couldn't exist...
my cute kiddos...

santa took the binkies; new years took the diapers!

2010-01-10T13:33:00.004-06:00

i've got so much to add i'm going to make some attempts at doing it gradually. the binkies were probably more difficult than the diapers. she gave them almost willingly but struggled with her generousity for the following weeks. she asked craig to get them back from santa because she didn't care about the little children anymore and she REALLY missed her binkies. it was a little sad. she's recovered now.

on the other hand, we flipped the switch with the diapers. she's been very proud. funny kid. the thing that finally motivated her to make it was our neighbor kathy. kathy told her if she stayed dry, they would go for icecream. surprisingly it worked! after week 1, they went for chik filet and had a ball.... kathy says they'll go again... kaetlyn did not have a single accident at school or home all week. pull ups are pretty much dry in the mornings too! by george, i think she's' got it. :) this change has diminished her ability to nap somehow... not quite sure of the correlation at this point.

holiday fun!

2009-12-29T15:22:00.002-06:00

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!

2009-12-16T12:30:00.000-06:00

we keep telling her a tornado hit it!!!

family photos!

2009-12-13T15:14:00.003-06:00

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!

2009-12-09T13:52:00.003-06:00

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!!

2009-12-04T15:50:00.004-06:00

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!

2009-12-02T12:04:00.003-06:00

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!!

2009-12-01T11:23:00.002-06:00

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

2009-11-30T15:19:00.001-06:00

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

lots to report

2009-11-30T14:13:00.006-06:00

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

2009-11-24T12:58:00.003-06:00

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...

2009-11-23T16:33:00.005-06:00

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.

naked cj in the bathtub

2009-11-20T15:01:00.003-06:00

so i had to take the obligatory baby in the bathtub shots... did my best to make them 'g' rated. :) but just look at my little chunk-a chunk-a! almost 6 months old.... most people think he's around 10 months.

this weekend we are taking the kiddos to this: http://www.dinosaurlive.com/ i can't wait. cj won't care, but kaetlyn is going to LOVE it. will have pictures and stories to share after the weekend.

thanksgiving feast

2009-11-19T13:19:00.003-06:00

today craig and i joined our children for thanksgiving feast at their school. they held chapel followed by a lunch for the families. it was very nice. i had to wake cj up from a nap when i arrived. he was so cute laying in his crib cuddling with his octopie. kaetlyn was so excited! she was bouncing up and down through out the songs they sang in chapel. we ate lunch with her BFF at school, cadence, and her family. after we dropped cj back off at his class, i brought her to her classroom and she grabbed her pillow, blanket, and lambie from her cubby as she ran in the room to listen to the rest of the story her teacher was reading. all the excitement wore her out and she was ready for naptime.

on tuesday morning before school kaetlyn asked me, "mom, will you please put cj back in your tummy?" i asked why and she said, "he's not right." i said, "he's not what??" and she said again, "he's not right... he's not my best friend." i just kind of chuckled... she loves her little brother very much, but sometimes we still do have those moments...

TORN Race weekend

2009-11-18T12:38:00.003-06:00

so i added a new link in the links section that will take you to our family's web album. i also uploaded all the pics from the weekend to this spot for viewing pleasure. i've also received links from the hills & asklunds to their pics, but have not done anything with those yet.

race weekend was a blast!! barbara did a ton of driving to be there with us, and we enjoyed her company (and help with the kiddos) tremendously. the track was like nothing i have ever ridden / witnessed before, but it was a fun time. i had a couple stressful moments in my practice run, but pulled through for the actual race.... after a shot of rum, my fears subsided considerably. last out of the gate, but was able to pass two girls and pull in 2nd place!! craig was having issues getting the yfz to start intermmitantly through out the weekend. he stalled at the line up and was almost caught up to the 2nd place rider, but his quad stalled... atleast now he's got till spring to get his 4 wheeler working in tip top shape!! this is a great picture of craig roarin' through the woods.

can't wait till the spring so we can do it some more. i'm definitely hooked! there were professional riders there on sunday, and when it was their turn it started raining. kaetlyn and i rode around in the rain watching our friends and 'the scarecrows' (the pros) race. i tried to explain to kaetlyn what 'pros' are, but she didn't really get it, so i finally succumbed and pointed out all the 'scarecrows' as they blew by. there was even a lady scarecrow... very cool to watch a woman race against all the guys and get 2nd! fun stuff. check out the pics in the web albums.

cj has a tooth!!

2009-11-13T11:08:00.003-06:00

so, it is not visible enough to take a picture yet, but you can definitely feel the beginnings of a tooth poking through his gums in the bottom. our little big man is growing up so fast.

besides the annoying fact that kaetlyn got me sick and i am writing from my bed, it's been a good week. i feel very blessed and extremely lucky to have such a wonderful family and life. wednesday night i had a work dinner. when i was leaving craig called because kaetlyn wanted to talk to me. i asked her why she wasn't sleeping... 'cuz i want you mom... i love you SO much mom... please sing me 'blackbird singing in the dead of night.' so i sang as i drove, then hung up thinking about how special children are and how lucky i am to have these two little people in my life.

tonight we leave for gordon, tx where we are going to camp and race quads for the weekend! we're SO excited. :) barbara is joining us for the festivites and we are all looking forward to it. this is my first REAL race, and i'm a little anxious, but excited as well. craig is so pumped he can hardly contain himself! i can't wait to watch his race and enjoy a weekend with family and good friends. http://tornracing.com is the website for the folks that are throwing the event. will make sure to take a lot of pics.

home with kaetlyn

2009-11-11T10:57:00.002-06:00

yesterday i had the pleasure of spending a 1-on-1 day with kaetlyn. i made a judgement call to keep her out of school... she didn't have a fever, but i decided to try to be proactive and attempt to prevent illness, as she just didn't wake up like herself. so... we dropped cj off at school an went to my work for a couple hours. she was well behaved until the very end when she just got a little stir crazy.... we went home for lunch, then nap time, and just layed in my bed and watched tv and such while i worked. i think she really enjoyed the day... i know i did. :)

two funnies -

when we got home from the office, she looked around and said, 'mommy - oh no! we forgot cj!!' she was so excited to pick him up at the end of the day. it's nice to see how much she loves her brother.

she talked to craig on the phone after her nap and said, ' i'm having so much fun with mommy!'

was good to have the 1-on-1 time. i think she really needed it. she wasn't nearly as clingy when i dropped her off this morning. (that's been a recent thing) today her class is making dinner to bring home for the family. i am sorry i will miss it... i've got a work dinner with the executive team and italian owners.... grown up stuff.... most of the time kid stuff is MUCH more fun.

weekend fun

2009-11-09T16:30:00.003-06:00

seems like cj adds more functionality to his repertoire on a daily basis. over the weekend we increased his food intake to include squash, which he now will enjoy for dinner for the next week. we also discovered he can move from sitting to his tummy to his back. i have a feeling that our 'little guy' (as kaetlyn calls him) will be moving around in no time. last night in the bath tub he discovered the water coming out of the faucet and stuck his hands frantically in and out of the flow... he was so excited...we're entering a new stage of consciousness. fun times!!

kaetlyn LOVES puzzles. i mean she really really really LOVES them. and she's quite good at them, but some of the harder ones do require some assistance. santa might need to take a few ideas from this. her teacher at school told me that she (the teacher) hates puzzles, so when it is puzzle time kaetlyn takes over the class. :) on friday night we went to cori's house for a girls / kids evening. took some cute pics of kaetlyn riding remi's horse with only boots on... if you're interested in the amusing pictures, email me... they're not profane, but rather funny... craig just preferred i not post for all... but will send upon request...

on saturday night we enjoyed 2 family games of candyland... kaetlyn won both times somehow... and no cheating was involved. this was our first experience where she's been able to to understand and follow the rules... good family time. :)

yesterday we went for a brief ride that got rained out. we had a good time till the downpour began. hopefully oneday we'll be able to buy 20 acres of our own somewhere....

bedtime routine consists of craig getting kaetlyn ready and me getting cj ready. then stories, songs, and much stalling from the 3 year old.. while the baby smiles, nurses incessantly and drifts off to sleep.

at home

2009-11-06T16:42:00.002-06:00

this weekend... its been quite a while... had a few offers for plans but not sure we're gonna act on any of it. craig's excited to work on his quad and do some housework.... i think i feel the same way.... we've been out of town for 4 or 5 weekends in a row! next few weeks following this one will be the same.

uncle update: uncle is no longer kaetlyn's daughter, but rather her granddaughter! granddaughter named uncle is brought up a couple times a week... we'll see how long this continues.

TGIF!

cj sits....

2009-11-04T16:29:00.004-06:00

well, sort of. :) but he sure is trying!! won't be too long until he's independent and scootin' around... i can see it coming. he's enjoying his first week of food - bananas. he also likes baby einstein and gets very excited when it's on the tube... usually kaetlyn shows are on when the tv is on and these are a little over his head at this point. baby einstein - baby beethoven to be more specific - is some exciting stuff.

just a pic of the two muchkins... my blessings... my joys... my love.

halloween and more

2009-11-02T10:42:00.006-06:00

so we had a really fun weekend. we arrived to houston right around lunchtime on saturday and spent the afternoon with the perkins family. theresa and i both brought halloween food activities for the toddler children. they created spiders out of oreos and decorated pumpkin cookies... when this was done, the daddies helped them carve pumpkins. this link will take you right to all the pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/perkins.rc/2009_10_31#

the halloween evening was a blast - always entertaining when 3 and the perkins are involved. :) kaetlyn was very brave - i daresay even braver than the boys at scary houses... but her unicorn did get very tired and needed to go home and rest. cj just trooped along in the frontpack. i do think he enjoyed all the sites because once in a while he would shake his arms around.

last night kaetlyn put a relatively difficult puzzle together all by herself! craig and i have both assisted her with this puzzle previously, but she never completed it by herself... i'm really proud of her! she loves puzzles... reminds me of her mommy.

cj started eating babyfood this weekend as well. he likes bananas, so we'll see how it goes. he will officially be eating breakfast and dinner from this point forward!! BIG BOY! 5 months old. :) he just found his tongue and was making funny faces all weekend.

finally a pic of me and craig... just for the fun of it. check out the rest in the album though... there are lots of good ones!!

august galveston trip

2009-10-30T12:18:00.002-06:00

every august we go to galveston with the mendelson's around dad's birthday. it's so much fun to play on the beach and relax by the water. kaetlyn enjoys her mendelson cousins tremendously... its unfortunate that they do not see each other as often as we'd like. we stayed at a different condo this year because our usual spot is still in recovery from previous year's hurricane. it was a nice condo, although i think we all like the other one better. i wasn't so great with the camera this trip, but geez... ya gotta cut me some slack! managing a new born and 2 year old at the beach is effort enough. nevertheless, here are a few pics of the children at the conclusion of the weekend... don't forget the newest addition to the perkins family - Sue - the hermit crab.

i think that robbie took additional pictures this weekend... i'll have to track them down and add to the album.

Galveston Weekend

also, today is dyllan's 8th birthday!!!! happy birthday to dyllan. where oh where does the time go? sunday is megan's 21st as well!!

tomorrow is halloween and we are driving to houston for a birthday celebration for randy and trick-or-treating with the cousins. should be a great time.... will make sure to keep my camera handy and post a lot of pics after the weekend. :)

milk machine

2009-10-29T16:06:00.002-06:00

cj will be 5 months old tomorrow and i am getting excited at the prospect of beginning him on baby foods, but for some reason also a little hesitant... he is my last baby after all! he's been eating rice cereal at dinner time for almost 2 weeks and seems to really enjoy it. the same spoonful equals to around 4 bites as he spits so much back out, but i can tell he's happy about this new addition to his diet. i'm thinking next week i'll bring some cereal to school and he can have that for breakfast and add some fruit or veggie at dinner time to ease him into the process.... exciting stuff!

rachel's wedding

2009-10-28T12:54:00.004-06:00

in july, rachel and scott were wed. cj was 5 weeks old. kaetlyn was the flower girl and aidan was her escort.... they were so very cute. this is a link to the web album containing some of the pics:

07_14_2009

yesterday i flew to denver and back in 1 day. craig manned the troops and did a fine job. i think he even enjoyed some bonding time with his boy.... this is the pic he emailed me from his phone when i was boarding the plane to come home last night.... fast asleep on daddy's chest. :)

From Drop Box

i'm SO tired.

only our child

2009-10-26T12:06:00.003-06:00

so, i skipped a day. never to fear though, got some good stuff for today. we had a really fun weekend camping & riding. got some really cute pics of the kiddos and our 4 wheelin' pals. you can't tell so much from the photos, but i really was there. ;)

on a different note, upon our return from our trip, we took craig to the dr. for bad stomach pains. when this 2.5 hour adventure (with both kids) was complete, i went to fill craig's perscriptions and picked up at $3 bag of bugs from the halloween isle. kaetlyn has been into this type of thing and she carries them around in a little pink purse. so i brough them home and gave this bag of ants, spiders, flies, etc. to my darling daughter. she smiled really big and says, 'oh! thanks so much for these bugs mom, they are wonderful!! look at these ants... they are so cute.' funny funny stuff. craig's ok, he just needs to eat healthy for a bit to get his GI tract back on track.

wild imaginations

2009-10-22T13:17:00.003-06:00

kaetlyn's age is so much fun. it is very entertaining to listen to her playing... creating scenarios with her cars, dinosaurs, or lizards. mommies and daddies, and timeout sessions for items that are not behaving. :)

last night though it took 1.5 hours to get her to bed. craig and i alternated shifts with attempts and after much fuss i finally got her to cave. she was talking about her 'daughter named uncle.' he was her daddy too. she said she missed him so much. i brought her all her dolls - you know, her daughters - but these were not what she was looking for... she told me she missed him so much because he was at his house, but he lived with her too... in her jewelry box.... oh yeah, and he talks... what an amazing daughter uncle is!

i'm very much paraphrasing this very weird conversation. i finally got to the point where i just started to agree with her and deduced that she was referring to some sort of imaginary friend.... but after the event was over and i layed down next to craig, i couldn't help but ask him, "think uncle is her imaginary friend, or is she possessed?"

feet

2009-10-21T12:22:00.004-06:00

around 4 -4.5 months, my babies just LOVE their feet. top picture is kaeltyn in january 07 and bottom picture is cj today. couple more pics from last night and this morning when we were getting ready to go. :)

accomplishment

2009-10-20T09:21:00.005-06:00

every morning, i feel like i've accomplished a full day's work by the time i get to work! craig leaves so early, we're all still asleep, so i have LOTS to do to get myself and the two kiddos out the house. i am very grateful that my job is not the kind that micromanages and watches the clock cuz i'd have been fired a long time ago... was actually terminated from my first job for this very reason, but that's a different story. :)

here are some pics from kaetlyn & craig's birthday parties this year. fun times!!

busy busy!

2009-10-19T10:07:00.005-06:00

so i didn't make it to work until almost 9:30 this morning!! typical monday i guess... so much to do. i have high aspirations that one day i will get it together, but it's not feeling likely... oh well! the weekend was a blast! weather was perfect for camping and riding. camping is lots of work, but totally worth it.

at bedtime saturday night, kaetlyn asked me to cut her feet off with scissors because hers were broken and she needed new ones... pretty funny. this morning when i put her in her carseat she said, 'take a break, dude.'

cj barely slept on saturday, and even went for a little ride with me and barbara. we thought it would put him to sleep, but instead he just rode along and looked around. on sunday evening, he ate rice cereal for the first time. he liked it as you can see in the pic below.

busy week this week and off to gordon, tx for races on friday afternoon! we're really excited. will be good times all around. :)

cj

2009-10-16T13:36:00.001-06:00

kaetlynisms

2009-10-16T09:10:00.004-06:00

this falls under the category, 'children say the darndest things' or 'out of the mouth of babes'... not sure which. :) so many things kaetlyn says just absolutely crack us up. my mom even commented on this by asking, 'how come everything kaetlyn says is so funny?' it really is true.

last night craig and i tucked her in bed and were finally laying down and we hear noises, so i get back up and go in her room and ask her with a big smile what's she's doing. she laughs at me and says, 'go back to your room mom... its fine in here.'

a couple weeks ago, her teachers were trying to wake her up from her nap. they gently prodded her to get up, and she wasn't having it. with continual nudging she finally opened her eyes, looked at them and said, 'ug...my batteries are dead!'

this is a kid who will stop '3 wheelin' to have daddy wipe 1 solitary speck of mud off her arm, but her favorite toys are rubbery fake lizards, frogs, and 'patapillas'. our coffee table is now prime real estate for her car parade, garage, and emergency station.

boy do we love our little girl!!

going camping & riding this weekend, and looking forward to it. weather is cooling off and should be nice, although muddy. craig pulled the rv into the driveway last night to start getting ready. this morning on the way to school kaetlyn told me that we're going to have a costume party in her trailer.... fun times!!

life is comical

2009-10-15T10:18:00.004-06:00

i think the video (from last night) pretty well illustrates the hilarious nature of my homelife. this was cj's first introduction to the bouncy seat, and he liked it pretty well. i keep thinking about how comical it would be if my work life and home life intersected at some point, as they are so drastically diverse.

kaetlyn, cj, and i went to pick out kaetlyn's halloween costume last night... what an event. going to keep her costume a secret for now, but be assured that pictures will be coming soon!

nappy poo

2009-10-14T08:19:00.003-06:00

our 4 wheelin' friends LOVE this picture!! they tease craig incessantly about his habitual afternoon nap, which inherited from randy, occurs regardless of local. this picture was shot in the camper on a nice saturday afternoon in august. life is rough!

lots and lots of stuff

2009-10-13T08:57:00.006-06:00

so, since i last updated (february) lots has happened. we are not only the proud owners of 2 4 wheelers, but actually 4! kaetlyn even has her own 50 cc polaris predator. the running joke is that she will not potty train to save her life, but she rides her little quad like a champ! here's some video:

she's getting better and better and will be racing before we know it! i started racing in addition to craig, and it is an absolute blast! we purchased an rv (toyhauler) the day i went into labor with cj - LONG STORY - and so far it has been the greatest investment we've made! this summer consisted of camping & riding, camping & riding, riding & camping and spending lots of time with family and good friends... couldn't have been more perfect.

cj is an absolute dream baby! he was born 10 days early, and we were all packed to go camping & racing the next morning. he was a little scrawny dude, but now at 4 1/2 months, he is surpassed many 6-9 month old babies... he's 18 lbs and in the 90th percentile! he is quite the trooper as he has spent the texas summer camping & riding as well... actually not riding so much.

other events (besides camping & riding) since last post:

march - family weekend trip to san antonio for my birthday
april & may - very pregnant - i was promoted to VP of client services in may
may 30 - welcome to the world Robert Craig Perkins Jr - 'CJ'
july - 2 trips to houston for aidan's birthday and rachel's wedding
august - galveston, tx with the mendelson clan
september - craig's 32nd and kaetlyn's 3rd birthday

every spare moment and weekend has been spent outside.... camping and riding!!

i absolutely cannot believe that it is october already!! we've been so busy, and life is grand! we are truly blessed. kaetlyn is a fantastic big sister... she loves cj very much. she continuously cracks us up with the words that come out of her mouth.... just an absolute character. cj is a happy and calming, although chubby, little soul. he's quick with a smile and a giggle or two. i will add many more pics / slide shows to get this blog caught up and make a point of adding more as often as i can.... when not camping & riding of course. perhaps i will challenge myself with an attempt of a daily addition... think i can pull it off?

Time Just Flies - Lots to Update!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-12T10:09:00.003-06:00

i'll get it together.........one of these days!! so much to update, but right now i just have to stick a picture of cj on this blog.. poor little guy! born 5/30/09, he is now 4 1/2 months and an absolute joy!! i will write more and get whip this blog back in shape... but first things first.

newness!

2009-02-18T15:38:00.006-06:00

so we are now the proud owners of 2 4 wheelers, and some kiddo 4 wheelers as well. kaetlyn enjoys them and especially helping dad work on them. cuteness!! as a result of our new additions, we've spend many weekend days outside this year, which is really nice.

we also celebrated valentines day at sesame street live - elmo's green thumb. kaetlyn enjoyed it. craig.... not so much. i must admit, the story line was a little weak.

i am now 24 weeks pregno... and feeling it. dr appt today revealed that i have accomplished adding 11 lbs to my body in the last 4 weeks. boy am i ever proud! 15 weeks left is really not that long till baby cj will be here... we still have a lot to do.

life is grand. we are having a good time and getting excited that spring is almost here... extended daylight hours and warmth!! YAY.

20 Weeks!!

2009-01-21T15:08:00.005-06:00

i've got a plan to get this blog going and keep it that way! please don't give up hope.

so our newest news is that CJ Perkins will be our newest addition on June 1st. Here are some pictures of him.

we are very excited and blessed. life is going very well for us. very busy, but very well. preparations will soon be underway for the little one. watch out world, here he comes!!!

i am happy to report we are a completely smoke free household! we also have a new addition of a 4 wheeler in celebration of this mighty feat. craig's job is going well, and my promotion is keeping me busy.

kaetlyn is an absolute joy! she keeps us laughing with her little attitude and the funny things she says and does. "mommy, you'll make me cry!" is among her favorite things to say these days, as is, "daddy! that's enough!" she is enrolled in dance class on saturday mornings (ballet / tap) and it is a pretty funny sight! her bouncy horse, 'cowboy', princess dress up clothes, arts and crafts - coloring & drawing & scribble doodling, etc, and movies happy feet & spirit are some of her favorite things these days. she also loves her daddy's 4 wheeler.

i have so many pictures from the last 6-9 months that i will share and send an update of where they are all located.... please bear with me. one of these days i will get it together!

7 weeks!

2008-10-21T15:52:00.004-06:00

although i have so many other updates that have yet to be added to this blog.... this one could not wait. yesterday i received confirmation from the dr. that i am in fact 7 weeks pregnant! kaetlyn will have a new brother or sister on 1 june 2009. below is the ultrasound pics. the picture above is kaetlyn riding back to austin after a weekend with the perkins by herself! craig and i took a long weekend vacation to playa del carmen, mexico. we had a great time. and since we've been home (an entire week) kaetlyn has been sleeping in HER bed in HER room! times are surely changing at the mendelperk household. ;P

pictures of all missing events and our mexico vacation are forthcoming!

time passes quickly

2008-09-28T14:53:00.003-06:00

a ton has happened since i last posted in july... so much to add here, and boy has kaetlyn grown!! i can't add it all right now, but am making a list so that i can come back and add everything sequentially:

trip to houston for aidan's birthday
galveston weekend with the mendelsons
dad visits
trip to rhode island for visit with tiffany
gustav evacuee and megan visit to austin
craig's birthday - happy doo doo daddy
kaetlyn graduated from the 1 year old to the 2 year old class
kaetlyn's birthday - happy doo doo kaetlyn
ACL music festival

And a TON of playtime with friends in between. :) will take some time, but i will get this updated with pics, stories, etc.

stay tuned!

"dum"

2008-07-10T08:35:00.004-06:00

so, we read before bedtime. on of the books we're recently started reading is, "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb" or as kaetlyn calls it "Dum." :) so very cute. if you don't know the book, she calls it this because the monkeys drum on the drum - dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum....

4th of july was fun. barbara, randy, rachel and alyx came to visit and we went to milburn park to watch the firworks. kaetlyn had a great time! she ran around, i showed her how to roll down the hill we were sitting on, and she adopted a chihuahua from the blanket next to us. the fireworks didn't start until 9:30, so by the time they began, she was exhausted and fell asleep within the first 10 minutes!

today i shot some pics of kaetlyn on the way to school. i am so extremely blessed and lucky! i was feeling grateful of my view in the rear view on the way to work each morning! cute stuff...