Christmas 2008

Well another Christmas has come and gone - what a crazy few days it has been. I hope everyone had a great Christmas....It was actually a nice relaxing Christmas for us - especially since this year, none of the festivities were at our house so we didn't have to worry about trying to get our house straightened up (that's a whole other story these days...lol). We spent lots of time with Andy's family celebrating the holidays, ate way too much food, opened up way too many presents and just had a good time. The kids got spoiled (but isn't that the fun of it?!?!?) I think we need a bigger house - actually I KNOW we need a bigger house, but everyday I keep thinking that the house I think we need isn't big enough anymore either - especially after all the toys they got in the last few days. We have already converted our dining room into a play area to accommodate all of Brooklynn's toys, but even that doesn't seem to be doing the trick anymore. Hopefully in a few weeks my mom and I will get down to business and start de-cluttering room by room - it is so overwhelming - I can only imagine how HUGE our garage sale is going to be in a couple of months.....we could probably stock an entire other house with our stuff that we don't use. Its sad to think back when we got this house back in 2004 how HUGE it felt to us - especially since we basically doubled our living space from our previous house....now it just feels so cramped - its amazing how fast things can accumulate in such a short time. But I guess looking back - our family has grown since then too - we added a couple of dogs and another child to the mix so we're bound to have more things.....well thats what I keep telling myself anyway...hehehe.

Ok well I have rambled on enough about the chaos of our house for now.....see once I get going - its hard to stop... Here are some pics of our kiddos enjoying Christmas and opening presents.


Can't believe I actually got a good shot of both kids before diving into the presents...


Brooklynn HAD to be in the middle of all her big brother's presents...



Andrew got a bunch of neat new things to play with - this Bionic Eye thing is so cool (shows way more than you ever wanted to see when you put it to your carpet - we need our carpets cleaned and FAST!!)

Finally getting back to her own presents....

All ready to go celebrate Christmas Day with the extended family....

See y'all later!!! Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!!

Busy...Busy...Busy...

3 little words that desribe our household on any given day. Somehow the last month has just FLOWN by and we are just 2 days away from Christmas - where did the time go? For once though, I can say that I got my house decorated right after Thanksgiving, finished my shopping a few days ago, and even got all the gifts wrapped earlier than normal. For once, I am more or less on the ball!!! But I did realize about a week ago, that my intentions to do a cute Christmas card somehow got pushed aside......so unfortunately this year, we won't be sending any. So to all those that I have gotten cards from, THANK YOU so much - we loved each and every one of them!
Another busy busy busy person in our household is Miss Brooklynn...she is into EVERYTHING!!!! She is running non-stop and is just a crazy girl. She starts the minute you take her out of her crib until the time you put her down for the night - its non-stop 24/7 with that girl. I should have known from all the kicking she did while I was pregnant with her - we thought for sure she was training for the Olympics or something...hahaha. Anyway...thought I would share some pics of how much she has changed in just even a month - I think these pics really show her personality - esp the last ones with the presents - she is one tough little girl - no fear whatsoever - she is a little daredevil....you can see on one of the bottom pictures the scratches and stuff she has on her face (nothing slows her down)....I couldn't even tell you where they came from - just can't keep track of all her run-ins with the wall, floor, toys, etc... but she is so much fun - definitely full of personality.



Getting in the Christmas spirit one morning...



She is fascinated with our dancing/singing snowman...



you gotta love her style...lol - she loves to steal socks
and then wear them - of course she can't wait to take her
own socks off - go figure!!!



This is how her hair was styled one day when I
picked her up from daycare.....too cute!



She always has to be in the middle of everything!
I was trying to wrap presents and she thought they were
new climbing toys...



So proud of herself....

like I said earlier - no fear!

Happy 1st Bday Brooklynn!!!

Well we survived our 1st b-day party for Miss Brooklynn - and had a great time! She loved every minute of all the attention she was getting over her birthday weekend. Friday, Andy & I got to take the day off from work and spend time with our beautiful daughter. We had so much fun with her visiting people that day as we were running some last minute party errands. Then when we finally got home that day, she got to open her presents from us......she LOVED her new school bus ball pit.....125 colored balls for her to throw all over the house - every mother's dream...lol!!!

After opening presents we got to sing 'Happy Birthday' to her and give her a trial run with cake - what a MESS!!! She loved it though - we only were able to get video of it but don't worry - we got plenty of pics the next day at her party with her cake.

Her party was the next day on Saturday at 3pm - the weather was perfect. We got everything set up and were ready to party. She had a blast - she had some other kids there to play with that were around her age - they are so cute at that age when they play together! Anyway....we had a great time - everything turned out very nicely - Im glad its over though....I had been planning this day for months so it was a nice relief to be done with it and to have it go well. We probably ended up having about 30-35 people attend - including kids so it was a great turnout. Here are some pictures from her special day...

All dressed and ready to party!!!

Daisy Party Room...



Yummy birthday cake...

Cruisin' around with Chloe in the new ride...

Present Time - where do I start???

Trying to figure things out with partner in crime, Blakelyn

Only 1 year old and already busy with the phone.....

Waiting patiently for round 2 with her cake....

Oops...taking too long - I waaaant my cake!!!!!!

'Smash Cake' - BEFORE

How the 'smash cake' got its name...

ewww....squishy!!!

Everything is always more fun with your big brother....

..And finally....the aftermath of the 'smash cake'

A First for Everything....

Hey.....well we've had a busy few weeks - who knew that October would be full of so many things going on?? Its funny - up until I met Andy, I never really knew anyone else other than myself that had an October bday....but that isnt the case in his family. October is THE month for birthdays......almost every week it was someone else's bdays so needless to say we got to eat out a lot to help celebrate! Im glad Brooklynn decided to wait for a November birthday so she could have her own month!!!

Well speaking of Brooklynn - she is now officially a walker. I guess technically she started taking her first few (wobbly) steps back in late Sept and has steadily improved since then, but in the last week or two she has pretty much fine tuned her new skill. She can even get up on her own from the floor and take off, she can lean down and pick things up and stand back up - I am so excited for her.....its funny - such simple things become magnified so much with children - you just take it for granted, but you really do have to learn how to do EVERYTHING in life.....how to roll over, to sit up, to crawl, to walk, etc.....I love seeing her reach all these goals - and you can see how excited she is to do them too. Its so incredible to think how far she has come in just one short year.....it has just FLOWN by way too fast. A few more days and she will be 1 year old...its just crazy to realize that.

I keep thinking back to what I was doing this time last year and how i was feeling and how excited I was that she was almost here and of course how terrified I was of actually having to go through childbirth.....but thats just such a short moment of time. When people ask me what I thought motherhood was going to be like and how it compares to how it actually has been, I tell them its absolutely amazing..I have loved every moment of it - yes the first couple of months were rough with sleep deprivation and recovering from childbirth and a dealing with the demands of a newborn but becoming a mother has been the most incredible thing I have ever done - I am sad each day when I have to drop her off at daycare so I can go to work but I know that she LOVES playing with other kids her own age. In the afternoons, I can't get to the daycare fast enough to pick her up.....the drive seems like it takes forever most days even though its only like 30 mins and the way she lights up and gives me the hugest grin when she sees me walking in the door...just melts my heart - makes even my crappiest days go away. It has been such an incredible year with her and experiencing all her firsts......defintely more than I could have ever imagined......she is everything I had been waiting for and defintely worth the wait.

Oh talking about daycare - she graduated to the Toddler Room...that room is a BLAST! They are hilarious in there - they go non-stop and are into everything - just watching them on camera wears me out! I am excited for her to be in this room - defintely more her speed. They even get to go play outside on a little playground. Oh and they do NOT have cribs in this room - they sleep on little mats wtih their blankets - and it actually has HELPED her nap longer!!!! In the previous 2 rooms, we were lucky if she took a 30 min nap the whole day! In this new room she sleeps at least an hour if not longer each day....its amazing. I never in my wildest dreams thought she would ever stay on a mat by herself - nothing holding/strapping her down either! So she's doing really well in this new room - she seems to love it and the teachers seem to be really good too.....

Another first this past week - HALLOWEEN!!! It was Brooklynn's first halloween - she did so well......we went trick or treating and everything. We went to our friends house and tagged along with them and their 2 kids - Zoey is 18 months and Jessie is almost 7 so Brooklynn and Andrew got to go house to house with their friends. Brooklynn held up really well - she walked and held out her basket at people's front doors - of course she had NO CLUE what she was doing but she loved doing it and was smiling the whole night. More candy for mom...lol!!! If she has 1/2 the sweet tooth that I do, we're in trouble!!!! Here are some of my fav pics from Halloween this year. Brooklynn was a lady bug and Andrew was a bloody grim reaper...lol. Gone are the days of the cutesy halloween costumes for him - now he things the scarier and gross things are cool.......lucky us...hahaha. Anyway...this post is long enough - enjoy the pics. I'll post in a few days after the big bday party on Sat...wish me luck!!

Magic Carpet Ride....

Wow - Im actually doing another entry in the same week!!!! But I had to share this...too cute not to....We made up a new game last night with Miss Brooklynn....called Magic Carpet Ride...she absolutely loves it and just cracks up laughing......I managed to get it on video with my camera so I could share how cute it is.....we are cracking up laughing when she does it.....she's a riot! I think there is a little clip of her walking too - she's getting better and is walking farther each day.....not long and she'll be off! Ok this clip is one of her walking.....I'll have to get a shorter clip of her on the magic carpet ride b/c the ones i have are too big....I'll work on that...but for now - here she is being the 'drunk monkey'....lol

Whats new??

Well so much for keeping this thing up to date - I just signed on and realized its been about 4 months since my one and only post.....I knew I would have some issues keeping this thing going. But I am going to try - I start reading some people's blogs and then link to another one and then onto another one - they are so addicting...but somehow I just can't make myself sit down and write about my life. Its sad b/c I realize now how much I could be writing about and how much I am going to forget b/c I'm not. So anyway....lets see what all has been going on in the last few months.....let me try to break it down by month if I can remember correctly....

July - hmm...lets see....July 4th we went to a party at Andy's business partners beach house down in Crystal Beach - we had a good time just hanging out and relaxing - but the weather wasnt all that great. The BIG thing that stands out in my mind that day was that Brooklynn pulled herself to a standing position from sitting on the floor...I was in shock. Little did I know that my life would never be the same after that....very soon after - like maybe a day or two at most she was 'cruising' around everything in the room.....so that was a big change for us.

Brooklynn also had her 1st plane ride in July - the 2 of us flew up to Toronto to see Grandma and to finally meet all her family and all of my friends...we had a blast. She did surprisingly well on the plane - of course Uncle Michael was with us on the way from Houston to Toronto so that helped...but overall she was perfect..much better than I could have hoped for. This trip was bittersweet....I was so excited to introduce her to that part of her life, but unfortunately the same day we got there, my grandmother, Nana, passed away - literally around the time we got to Toronto...we just missed her by a couple of hours.....it was surreal...the excitement we had been feeling all day was wiped away by sadness at her passing. It wasnt really a surprise - she had been going downhill very quickly in the last few years since my grandfather, Pappi, passed away but I dont think any of us thought it would be that soon. But I think it was a good thing for us to be up there during this time - I was able to be there for my mom and help her through this difficult time.....she was very close to her mom, like I am close to my mom and hopefully Brooklynn will be close to me. So I think it all happened the way it was supposed to. I hadnt seen my Nana in about a year since I was there last and it was probably her way to protect me from not seeing her and how bad she had become. So that was pretty much July.

August....I can't really think of too much that happened in August other than of course Andrew's 9th bday...we had a pool party for him with family and a few friends...he had a good time - its hard to believe I have been in his life since before he was even 2 years old - now he is 9 years old and in 4th grade.....it really is so true that time just FLIES by and if you blink you miss it.

September..well you would think I would remember it quite well since it just passed...but my brain has turned to complete mush....I still try to blame it on 'baby brain'......used to be 'pregnancy brain' but obviously had to change that since its been almost a year since i was preggers! The big thing that stands out is we FINALLY got hit by a hurricane!!! I have to admit - I am a freak when it comes to storms - I love them - I am fascinated by them and could just sit and watch them for hours - any kind of storm...just love them....something about them just gets me. So I always keep track of the tropics during hurricane season and just kind of watch them. Of course I dont want a place to be devastated - dont enjoy that part of the storm but I do admit I was always a bit disappointed when a storm would look like it was heading to us but turned away. Well I stated paying attn to 'Ike' way back when it formed...there was just something about it that told me - this is the one.....Ike is the one thats going to Houston. And sure enough I was right. The actual storm was pretty incredible - it was only a Cat 2 storm - which turns out is more than enough to cause all sorts of damage......it gave me a taste of what a hurricane can do....but the aftermath is another story. I think i am done wanting a hurricane....I hate seeing all the damage it causes to places that I know and love and hearing the sad stories and knowing people who lost everything. Its just heartbreaking.....I cant even imagine. So anyway that was our big September event on the large scale of things.

Another more personal event to us that happened (is still happening) is that Miss Brooklynn took her first steps!!!! She was about 10.5 months old.....I joke that she looks like a drunk monkey! She walks with her arms up in the air for balance and wobbles all over like she's had a few too many to drink....lol - its so cute. I will try to get it on camera so I can post the clip here. She's not too sure about the walking thing yet so we have to encourage her and help her out to get her going....but its a step in the right direction.

October.....well I celebrated another birthday.....(#32)shhh..dont tell anyone...lol! Actually its not that bad....I still find it weird to think that I am that old already. Esp when we were out to dinner for my bday and all the highschool kids were leaving the restaurant for homecoming...they are like HALF MY AGE!!!! Thats when it hits me...OMG - I am getting older!!! I still feel that young until I actually see someone that age and then reality sets in....I am a MOTHER with a kid and a husband and house and a job....its just crazy....

I am also in the middle of planning Brooklynn's 1st bday party...I am stressing big time over it trying to make it just perfect for her. Of course she wont have a clue what is going on but thats one of the things I am big on - doing a bday party all up - its all about the child that day and I want them to feel so special and its THEIR day......thats how I always felt and want my kids to feel the same way. I LOVE getting the bday stuff together and throwing the parties....I have done some pretty neat parties for Andrew over the years - we've done Spiderman, dinosaurs, sharks, camoflage you name it......so now I get to do the girly themes....so much fun. I'll post pics once I get everything ordered. Its so much fun celebrating kids birthdays...they just have so much fun.

Anyway...I think that pretty much brings it all up to date.....Hopefully it wont be another 4 months until my next post...I'll try harder...promise! In the meantime, here are some recent pics of Brooklynn and everything she is into.....which is EVERYTHING!!!

New Beginnings...

Hi!! Well here goes....

I realized this would be a PERFECT way for me to keep all my friends and family updated with what is going on in our lives - especially since I have so many loved ones so far away. I miss sharing so much of our lives and especially Brooklynn's life and how fast she is changing. Everything is happening way too fast and I catch myself thinking back so many times and already realizing that I am starting to forget details about certain things that have happened. I think this will be a great way for me to get it all down so I don't forget how I am feeling or whatever. So I will do my best to keep this thing updated and try to add to it often....it will be such an awesome tool if I can just make myself get in the habit of taking the time to do it. Hopefully, some of yall will see how fun (and easy) it is and will start one of your own so I can keep up to date on your lives too!

To My Canadian Family (both family and friends)....I miss each and every one of you and hate the fact that we are so far apart and get to see each other so rarely. I love hearing from you about whats going on in life and just whatever you may have to say. Hopefully this will make it seem like we aren't so far apart by keeping in touch.

Anyway...this is enough for now - just wanted to get this thing started.....hope you enjoy!Kristen :)