april showers... and flies!!

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!

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

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.

strawberry pickin'

so, this past weekend kaetlyn, jan, and i went to the strawberry picking farm in marble falls. the weather was perfect and we had a lovely day. i am not sure if it is actually called 'the strawberry picking farm," but that's what i call it. in other months they have other items available for picking. they also have some goats and miniature donkeys for the children to look at. the website is http://sweetberryfarm.com/. kaetlyn LOVES strawberrys. they have been a major portion of her breakfast for almost a year. when she realized what we were doing, she just plopped down in the middle of the rows and started eating berries, stem and all!

by the end of the day she was a complete mess! strawberry juice everywhere. jan and i speculated that if a person could get sick from eating strawberries, it would be kaetlyn. she is just so much fun... great sense of humor and a well natured spirit.

just a few more pictures of the past few weeks... we spent the night at the perkins' house when we returned from the cruise. we enjoyed the afternoon and dinner time with randy, barbara, rachel, and alyx.

craig and i are working hard at work and also at home as we are starting to get geared up for summer. boy do i love spring time, and warm weather, the sun staying up until 9 pm, outdoor activities, etc. this summer should hold some new and exciting events for little miss kaetlyn. she starts a new child care place in june, and i am excited for her. i'm sure we will have more family fun times to share!

i'll try to be better at posting more regularly... i guess we'll see. ;P i have now successfully succeeded in catching up to current. HOORAY for me. until next time....

cruise time!!!!!!!

the first week of april, we went on a family reunion cruise with the mendelson family. i must admit that an 18 month old and a cruise boat are not the ideal combination, but we still had a fun time and enjoyed hanging out with the family. i've got a ton of pictures from the cruise, but tried to include the best of the best in this blog.



the boat left galveston at 4 pm. they were a little behind schedule, so we went to eat and waited around. kaetlyn was not feeling great, and actually fell asleep on my shoulder while standing in line while we were waiting to board! pretty uncharacteristic of her, but not the only time on this trip she completely sacked out!

the first day was at sea. the weather was nice, but kaetlyn had a pretty bad cold. acclimation to the boat's movements took me a while. we spent some time by the pool, napping, and wandering around.

.

on tuesday, dad babysat for kaetlyn so craig and i could take an offshore excursion to chichen itza. the ruins were incredible. we could have spent a lot more time exploring! dad also had a nice day with kaetlyn. they went into the town of progresso and wandered around, had a nice nap, and played on the boat until we returned. it was also very nice for craig and i to have an opportunity to spend a little time together without kaetlyn, but we did miss her!

the next day we spent with the entire family at the beach, had a nice lunch in cozumel, and then did some shopping. kaetlyn LOVED the water, but hated the sand! she was extremely distraught when she got sand on her hands and feet. she also was so worn out from the exitement that she fell asleep in the van on the way to lunch, slept through lunch, and did not wake up until about 10 minutes into shopping!!

admitedly, 2 hour formal dinners are not easy with an 18 month old, nor is chasing said 18 month old away from edges and railings extremely relaxing. at sea days were a challenge, but the weather was great. the last day of the cruise, the reed mendelson family found the kiddie pool and enjoyed and afternoon in the sun.

and just a couple more fun shots of kaetlyn... cameras and casinos, oh boy!!!!

ps. do you know how difficult it is to get three small children to look at the camera, sit still, and smile all at once?!?!?!?! :)

it's April!!

i have been so horrible about updating... time is just flying by... and the longer i wait, the more arduous a task this update becomes... i can procrastinate no longer. i know that i would make this much easier if i updated and added our goings on with much more frequency. i will aspire to do so, as i believe this will be a great resource to kaetlyn as she grows up and it is important to me to keep this accurate so she will know about her life. i also know how much all of you attentive readers (lol) love to see pics and watch the little one grow up from afar.

and now i have SO many pictures... i daresay too many to include in 1 blog posting, so i think i will attempt to go by month, but not quite yet.

kaetlyn is now 18 months old. her vocabulary is becoming more extensive on a daily basis. from christmas to march, no, uh-oh, and stuck were the prevailing themes around our house, and i learned from her that every scenario and situation in life can be described by these words. craig went back to work in february and she has been attending a child care place since then. as a result of this, she had repititous ear infections, which finally ended with tubes inserted and adnoids removed in march. this immediately improved her balance and her speach has picked up significantly.

the kiddo has a great sense of humor and keeps craig and i smiling. she is sometimes prone to temper tantrums which involved banging head onto hard wood floor, but these typically only occur when she's hungry or tired. and she is such a sweetie. she gives the greatest hugs and puckers her lips up very cutely for kisses. she is pretty laid back and usually just goes with the flow.

i think this summary is good for now. next blog will cover christmas... :)

colorado bend

today we went to colorado bend and had a fun day! the weather was beautiful... it was the perfect day for a hike :)