It's been awhile...

So I've been asked to post...pathetic job I'm doing, I know. But between my side job and my other side job I've been keeping pretty busy this summer. So here are a few pics and I know I still owe you Disneyland pictures...they will come eventually.

Jared is playing softball with our church so we attend his games every Thursday evening. My grandparents moved to Bella Vista from Washington state so we got to help them move a couple of weeks back. Kelsey is about to POP--due in 25 days. We went canoeing with our Body Life Group in the pouring rain last Saturday. We've been sick for over a week, my sister and sister-in-law both graduated from high school. We celebrated our 5 year anniversary in Las Vegas this year. I helped some friends sell their house and buy another--YIPEE Mandy and Justin! Kate starts swim lessons this weekend. We've had weddings at Cedaridge every weekend since the first of May...got to go camping with Kristi and Mason for Kristi's birthday. Found out Kate is allergice to milk, eggs, dogs, and dustmites. You name it, we've been up to it for the last couple of months. It's been great but it's been busy...hope you are all having a wonderful summer. Sorry for the lack of posts!:)

I'm goin' to Disneyla--and!!!

My friend Kristi and I took a trip with our kiddos to Orange County, California the last weekend in April. Kristi is from the land of Disney so we got to stay with her family the whole time we were there, and we got the personal tour from professional Disneylanders.:) It was such a great trip save a few flops, but what do you expect with babies?:) More details and pics to come!

Cutie Pa Tootie!!!

Girl is just like her mama--give her a nap and a decent meal and she is GIDDY! :)

Pack(ing material) Rat

So I told you in the Easter post I had a story...well, let me start by telling you that Jared and I have been married 5 years on May 31st, 2008! FIVE WHOLE YEARS! That seems like a lot to me...not like 40 or anything but a good start.

Anyway, we got almost all of our china for our wedding (yes our wedding 5 whole years ago). Probably unlike most of you, we had never used it...until Easter 2008. Yup, I pulled it lovingly out of the boxes it came in, washed them all tenderly by hand, hand dried them, carefully stacked (so as not to scratch one plate with another)them , and served our meal on them. Not only had the china not been used but our flatware had not either. So out those came..each lovely 5 piece place setting to go with the five piece place setting of china. Not that we know what the stupid little fork missing a prong is for, but wow do they look nice!

I'm being incredibly, incredibly careful. Jared lovingly calls me the most graceful clutz he knows.:) So I'm being VERY careful. They are washed and stacked on our dining room table in the middle awaiting the big weekend. I've been so careful and even though one bread and butter plate had a chip in it when I pulled it out, and one set of flatware had the frosted stainless finish instead of the shiny, I was doing realllly good. Until I went to put the table cloth on--I slid the plates toward myself in order to carefully pick them up and transfer--well, not only do the plate have the ability to scratch each other, but also hardwood! Yikes...not too bad after a dose of Old English.

Then after the holiday, I went to Dillards like any post bride would--to exchange/order the items that were damaged, or incorrect. Needless to say, I went as early as I could in order to miss the lunch hour traffice in the Promenade area. Kate and I arrived at 11am to find that the person that normally works in the registry area would not be in until noon. Naptime quickly approaching mind you.

Finally after two employees from other departments could not help, they went straight to the Manager of the entire store--after two short hours (yes I'm being facicious) we finally got to go home with one new set of flatware and an order of china...the box above arrived less than a week later with everything we needed to complete the set! Yea!

As they finished helping me, I had to remind them that at least we were still married after 5 years!

Congratulations Steph & Tom!!!

Congratulations to my sister and brother-in-law-to-be! Tom flew Steph to the Big Apple the day before Easter and popped the question in beautiful Central Park! Unbelievable! And...she said YES! Congratulations you two little lovebirds! Kate insisted she wear her shirt in honor of the big news...and she made the sign herself.:)

"Oh" "Oooohhh" "OOHH!"

She's going through a little "oh" stage. Not sure where's she's picked it up, but it's pretty funny. It's her way to empathize, exclaim, acknowledge, point out, soothe and just about anything else. OH, what a character!

Kate is 18 months!

It's March and I knew last year that she would be 1 1/2 at this time in 2008 but it still doesn't seem possible. I have to tell you this is my favorite stage yet! She is hilarious.

We went to the pediatrician last week. She is 29 lbs. and 33 inches tall. Which puts her in the 95th percentile in weight and 90th in height! It's so much fun even just to take her to Wal-Mart...people ask her "what's your name?" Kate says "Day" and then they say "how old are you?" to which she replys with no hesitation "two". By the time we have her saying "one" correctly she will be two and we'll have to start all over again.

She is especially attracted to people who don't pay attention to her and she will say "hi", Hi!" and if there is no response then it's "HIIIIIIIIIII!!!" I'm not sure if her yelling a salutation or people ignoring her is more impolite...

She is quite the eater these days...green beans and bananas top the list, but she's pretty good about eating most anything I make. She has recently adjusted to eating noodles--which is pretty funny to watch. She has figured out cookies, candies, cakes. So we have to be better about what we eat too (which is good).:) Our little accountability partner. ha

Time outs have been more frequent lately--sadly. They really seem to do the trick--our little socialite hates being isolated from the crowd. Overall, though, she is really a very good baby. We are so blessed to be her parents and share in the growth of her little life.

Straight out of the 80's!

Mischievous litter bugger!
Can you say guilty?
Here it comes!
HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter--actually both families and my friend Kristi and her son Mason came to our house this year! Yes, it was my first holiday hosting. We actually got our china out of the boxes, washed and used them! Funny story about that--to come later. Just wanted to share some pics from a wonderful day of celebrating.

Kate & Shep

My friend Jen took these pics of her son, Shepherd, and Kate while she watched them the other day. They are so cute I just decided to post them all!:) What a pair...the last one is especially flattering of Kate.:)

No words

No words to describe but I'm going to try. Kate and I have been home sick for the past three days. I mean literally have not left the house except a brief jaunt to Cedaridge to unlock the doors (10 minute car-ride). So we've done our best to entertain each other, but as you can imagine she's a much better entertainer than I.

The night before last went something like this: rocking, singing, holding, reading to Kate til 2am, sleep til 3:30am, then more rocking, singing, holding, reading, begging Kate to go to sleep til 5am, sleep til 6:45am. Got up on the WRONG side of the bed...two short naps thanks to an over- zealous delivery guy who decided our package needed to be safely put on our back deck (which is literally outside my bedroom window). I thought someone was breaking into the house!

I went to bed at 9:30pm last night per Dr. Husband's orders. It was wonderful! I rarely have those days when I'm like, hey, it's 7:00am and my eyes are open and I'm happy about that and actually getting up and am really awake. So 7:30 Kate's up and she drinks her milk, I change her diaper, and we play in her playroom and read books until 9:30am. I decide it's a good time to take 5 minutes to check my email since I really didn't do that the day before...for you moms out there you understand the monumental amount of time I'm referring to. I'm still learning this fact.

Anyway, I had no more signed in (assuming she's still playing/reading in her playroom), when I hear this kind of scratchy thump thump. I look up and I see she's got this stick thing in her hand and she's thumping the ottoman in the living room with it. I have half an eye on her and go back to typing for about 3 1/2 seconds when I realize what she's holding---the toliet brush. I kid you not. I freaked out! My heart sinks as I view the ottoman with her DaVinci-type brush strokes of toliet water, and I follow the trail of droplets, puddles, and nastiness all the way back to the bathroom. So gross to me...I mean, you're talking to the girl who comes from a family who has probably lost brain cells because of the bleach usage...ask my in-laws. They still laugh about the time my mom bleached the street curbing because it was dirty. Needless to say, I should have bought stock in Clorox yesterday--had I only known.:)

A little later I called Jared to tell him what had happened. He found it hilarious--had himself a really good laugh...I guess sometimes that's all you can do.

*Winks*

You know where to come for a good laugh right? Here Kate is practicing her *winks*.