march

march was very busy. on march 12, kaetlyn got tubes in her ears and her adnoids removed at the same time. while we were at the hospital waiting for her surgery, craig checked his email and we learned that my grandmother david passed away. kaetlyn and i left the next day and travelled to cleveland. we were there from thursday until monday, march 17th. we had a nice time visiting with family despite the sadness surrounding the reason for the reunion. i did not bring my camera though.... oops! i guess it wasn't exactly the right environment for snapping a bunch of photos. kaetlyn was a cutie though. the family enjoyed her tremendously.... she also had her first experience with snow! jay showed her how to make snowballs and i did a pretty decent (although not perfect) job of keeping her away from all of grandma's breakable antiques and knick knacks....

because we were travelling on my birthday, # 32 was pretty much a non-event. the perkins family was supposed to come visit for a birthday celebration, but cancelled. we'll have to make sure to celebrate doubly next year.

the next weekend was easter, and mom and megan came to visit. we had a nice time visiting, let kaetlyn find some easter eggs in the front yard, and then went to eat with the fontenot family. jan cooked a great meal and we enjoyed the weekend. craig put some eggs in some tricky spots, but kaetlyn figured them out!! fun stuff.

the weekend after easter we went on the mendelson family reunion cruise to mexico! that will be covered in the next posting. :)

february 2008

the month of january and february were just a time of getting settled and into our routine. craig started working and kaetlyn started stepping stone child care. i have been exceedingly busy with work. it continues to go quite well, but there is definitely not a shortage of stuff to keep me occupied!

we did take kaetlyn to the austin zoo. it is a local rescue zoo and is very small, but fun nonetheless. she LOVES the petting zoo and feeding all the animals.

we also enjoyed some naked baby dancing to baby einstein... blackmail material i know, but WAY too cute to omit.

christmas in april

we spent almost 1 week in lake charles and then travelled to houston to spend about the same amount of time with the perkins. kaetlyn thoroughly enjoys her mendelson cousins. she and dyllan and great buddies and he is soooo sweet with her. at the perkins, we had the priveledge of spending new years with craig's grandmother - katherine and his aunt kathy. and as always, kaetlyn played with aidan and alyx enjoyed both of her baby cousins as well. it seemed that aidan was not very thrilled with sharing his turf (including grandma's house) with kaetlyn and she was picked on a lot... but she just rolled with it and for the most part was not disturbed by his jealousy.
unfortunately we were so wrapped up with family time, that we were not as good at taking pictures as we should have been. theresa's blog surely has some, and i will have to see if mom, taryn, kathy, barbara, rachel have pictures from the christmas and new years holidays....

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... :)

almost christmas!

the month of november just flew past! it was a relatively rough one, but we made it through... on the first weekend of november we went to Lake Charles for a visit with the Mendelson crew... we had a nice time with everyone, but my purse and craig's laptop and other equipment were stolen! Needless to say, it's been difficult to stay caught up with all that needed to be done to remedy our loss. We're getting there though! Since that weekend we've actually been at home, which has been nice. July through October were filled with travelling and weekend events, which are always fun, but we have been enjoying a little more relaxed pace for a change!

Thanksgiving was kind of a drag. the food was great, but kaetlyn had a terrible cold, and Thanksgiving day was the worst day by far. Our original plan included 10 people, but was cut to 5 when the doctor said that kaetlyn was contagious... by the end of the weekend she was feeling much better and it was nice to have the time off work to spend with the family. We did put up Christmas decorations during this time as well!

kaetlyn is becoming quite a little girl... i keep wondering where my baby went... she is just the cutest thing and has the funniest sense of humor and personality! craig and i are enjoying her company very much. most of the time she keeps us smiling.... except for 3-4 am when she decides it's playtime! we're in the process of moving to only 1 nap / day, which will hopefully alleviate her need for early morning playtime.... let's hope so anyway! we've also conquered her serious disdain for shoes - FINALLY! she does just fine now with shoes, and has some cute ones as you will see in the pics below. she is also talking pretty well and is an absolute sweetie. she loves giving hugs and kisses!

well, the month of december is coming quick! we're fortunate to have already finished our christmas shopping. we are planning to spend the holidays with both families, as we have done for the past several years, except our visits are backwards from what they've been in the past... we will go to LC on 12/22 - 12/28 and then to the Perkins from 12/28 - 1/01. We're looking forward to this trip and a well needed break for both Craig and myself. We're also exciting about the new year and all the excitement it holds

i hope you all enjoy the pics... more to come through out this month and next.

october's gone

october is already almost over.... and the weather has been glorious. the whirlwind that was september spilled into this month...

kaetlyn and i took a trip to baylor and spent the weekend with my mom and megan. we had a good time at baylor. we went to the football game and keatlyn enjoyed herself tremendously. she clapped and clapped. she also loved the band. it was nice to have a girl's weekend.

last weekend we went to enchanted rock with chuck and the clements' family. the weather was great and jennifer, myself, and the kiddos enjoyed a picnic at the top of the rock while the guys spent some time in the cave. it was so nice to be hiking and outside... as the heat of the summer dies down, we're looking forward to getting back outside and hiking as much as possible.

with the holiday season quickly approaching, we should have a lot of stories and pictures to share!! stay tuned....

kaetlyn's one!

as typical, work and life have prevented me from updating this thing with the frequency that i hoped... i will continue to try to do better at staying current. today i did successfully get the slideshow from july working!

on september 29th we celebrated kaetlyn's 1st birthday! friends and family joined us at our house for the festivities. a good time was had by all. i cannot believe it's been a whole year!! and we all survived.... i also can't believe that my baby is becoming a little person! she walks and speaks and has 12 teeth and definitely has a mind of her own... and it has happened so fast!

kaetlyn's a very good natured kiddo... until she's not... but typically she's just a sweetheart. she loves to cuddle and share her food (especially with the dogs). she LOVES animals and also becomes quite infatuated if balloons are spotted. she's enjoying her mobility and loves to walk around. one morning at 7 am she walked across the street and was going straight up to the neighbor's house to say hello, and would've gone straight to the door if i hadn't stopped her!

i could just go on and on... but it's getting really late! here are some pics from the birthday party:

long overdue part III - september - craig's birthday

kaetlyn will be 1 year old in 1 week! i absolutely CANNOT believe it. this month so far, we've not strayed far from home (except my business trips) but we've had an eventful month so far. megan came and spent labor day weekend with us, and the following weekend we celebrated craig's 3oth birthday! he, megan, nicole, jeff (aka boots), and jana went sky diving on saturday morning, and we finished up the day with a BBQ bash! lotsa kiddos and friends enoyed the festivities.

they absolutely LOVED skydiving, and said they will definitely go again! maybe i'll get the guts to try it too...

12 teeth, saying words, and now even eating with a spoon! there's new and exciting stuff going on every day! kaetlyn loves her baths and has discovered the fun game of slipping and sliding around the tub... oh and also splashing!!! i've got a great video of kaetlyn and craig sharing a beef rib together, but it's too big to upload. ask me to check it out!

i took the day off work on craig's birthday and we had a family day! we decided that a trip to the austin zoo would be a good plan. susan and jack met us there. kaetlyn REALLY enjoyed the animals at the petting zoo. she fed the deer and goats from her own hands and laughed!!!

and just a couple more of our cutie pie below. will definitely do a better job of updating from now on... getting behind causes a lot of extra work, as is the case with most things in life. will be sure to post the newest pics from our visit with "auntie tiff tiff" and the birthday next week!

long long overdue part II - august

august blew by! dad came to visit after dropping megan off at college... it was the same weekend as my company picnic. we enjoyed the company of my co-workers, at some good BBQ and relaxed for the afternoon. craig won the canoe race and his team avoided the tug-o-war mud pit! kaetlyn took in the new scenery and was a trooper.

long long long overdue part I - july

so, much has happened in the past couple months, and i have been scrambling to keep up. i'm not sure if i mentioned that i got a promotion at work and life has been crazy ever since. craig is doing well in getting his career going as well! and next weekend is kaetlyns 1st birthday!! can't believe where the time as gone.... she's such a big girl now. she walks and talks... hi and uh-oh are her favorite words. she's smiley and happy (usually) and SO much fun....

first, we'll start with july...

toward the end of july we went to galveston with my dad, megan, nicole, robbie, taryn and the boys. the perkins also met us for the day on saturday! we had fun. here are some pics from that trip: