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!!