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!!

no pics :(

the past two weekends have been full of visit time with family. we did not succeed in pulling the camera out... for shame!

first, dad and megan came to visit. we didn't do anything too exciting, but kaetlyn enjoyed her poppy and aunt megan. dad was really visiting megan for dad's day at baylor, but they came down when that was over. dad and i took kaetlyn to the neighborhood playground and took a long walk. we also went to the cedar park episcopal church and out to eat on sunday prior to their departure.

last weekend, we met randy, barbara, and alyx at mud buddy's in halletsville for a weekend of 4-wheelering. we ate too much, got really dirty, sat around and visited, and had a good ol' time. kaetlyn just absolutely adores barbara! they were attached for the majority of our trip. it was very cute to see her so enthusiastic about hanging out with someone other than mom or dad. she likes riding the 4 wheeler too. barbara and i both took her for little 'putt-putts' around the parking lot. most of the time she was quiet, just taking it all in, but every once in a while she would look up and smile really big or say, "whee whee!" also, alyx and i collected firewood and built the bonfire all by ourselves with no male intervention or assistance. very impressive, if i do say so myself.

this coming weekend is mother's day. i've already treated myselft to a manicure & pedicure, and besides that, am not sure what's in store. megan and her friend nicole will be in austin beginning saturday to help craig with kaetlyn while i'm out of town for the entire work week! my company's annual user's conference is in san antonio this year, and i am expected to be there from monday - friday. it's always a lot of fun, but i am not too thrilled about being away from my girl for so long! i know she'll be in good hands though.

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?!?!?!?! :)

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... :)