holiday fun!

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

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

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

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

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

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

gingerbread devastation!

we keep telling her a tornado hit it!!!

family photos!

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

better luck next year i guess!!

almost christmas!

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


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

snow!!

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

From 2009_12_04

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

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

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

stranger in a strange land!

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

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

think she got it?

cj is 6 months old!!

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

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

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

pics from weekend

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

lots to report

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2009_11_30

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

this is how we roll

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

dinosaurs...

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

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

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

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

naked cj in the bathtub

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

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

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!!

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

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

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

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....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!!