20 Weeks!!

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!

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

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"

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...

padre island

padre was lots of fun!! good friends, good food, good beach, good pool! it was nice to get away, although much to short. too many great pics to narrow down to only a few. :)

pudding is yummy!

summertime!

we have been really busy this month! i have had 3 trips for work: Oregon, Groves, TX, and an overnight Leadership Management seminar in Austin. craig has been busy acclimating to his new job. he is really enjoying it and starting to do very well. in the midst of all of this, we went to LA for my brother's 30th birthday, mom came to visit, and we have had various other outtings and events with friends. on father's day, we went to cori, trey, and remi's house and swam and bbq'ed and had a lovely afternoon. yesterday, we visited with jake dunham (an old friend of craig who moved to indiana). craig's work also had a grand opening and invited family members to visit their new facility. it is a very nice office and all of his co-workers were very friendly and we had an enjoyable time. earlier in the month, one of my employees had a little dinner party, and below are some great shots of kaetlyn. she thoroughly enjoyed herself! she is becoming quite the little person.... she LOVES nemo.... (momo). she is talking very well and it seems like she says new things on an almost daily basis. she also is able to piece some words together! 'where'd it go?' 'let's go!' 'hi chuck' are several examples. we switched her to a new school on june 10th. it is absolutely wonderful! by the 3rd day, she did not cry when i dropped her off. on the 4th day, she was waving bye-bye before i could finish signing her out! on thursday when i picked her up i asked her, 'did you have a fun day?' and she said, 'fun day.' craig was worried about the transition, and it has gone better than we could have hoped! next weekend we are going to port aransas to the beach, so i hope to get some good pics of kaetlyn and remi playing.

here are the pics from belen's empenada party:

memorial day weekend

boy did we enjoy the long weekend! it was mainly comprised of housework & yardwork, but also included some lounging around and relaxation. at the VERY last minute we decided to have a BBQ on memorial day and we actually had a reasonable showing! it was fun. kaetlyn had a blast! it was very obvious that she was enjoying having friends over to play, and she is quite the little entertainer (show-off). she was pretty darn cute and entertaining to watch. and all the cute little boys... maybe that's what it was! craig and others remarked that the tone of our BBQ's have certainly changed with all the munchkins running around, but it is a refreshing change!

water baby!

on mother's day we got a little inflatable pool for kaetlyn.... boy does she LOVE water! i couldn't get her swimsuit on fast enough.... she was in with her clothes on before i knew it! the pics are pretty darn cute. here are a couple:

i finally got her into a swim diaper on her, but decided at that point that a bathing suit was useless.

last week was my job's annual user conference. this year it was in san antonio, tx, so i was gone from monday - friday. this was the longest i have been away from my girl, and i was very sad. (i even actually cried when i dropped her off at school that monday morning) she's brining out the softie in me, what can i say!?!? megan, nicole, craig, and kaetlyn had an interesting week together, i'll just leave it at that. boy is it nice to be home!!

yesterday kaetlyn and i met tina and samantha at the neigborhood pool. kaetlyn is fearless in the water... she was so excited to be swimming. she was squealing and dancing and wanting to go far away from me... she got her ears wet at least 5 times, but did not care at all! time to invest in ear plugs and an innertube swimsuit!

foof foof!!

so, i just had to tell this cute story - kaetlyn is at the stage where animals are called by the sounds they make, not the actual name of the animal. with that being said, here's the story:

as most everyone knows, kaetlyn still sleeps with us.. 19 months and running... a few nights ago, she had fallen asleep, and craig and i were watching tv. out of nowhere, in her sleep, she said, 'foof foof.' :) craig looked and me and asked, 'did she just say woof woof?!' i said, 'yep!' it was just the cutest thing... dreaming of the dee-oh-gies!!!

wonder what else goes on inside that little brain of hers!!