Lickin' the Plate Clean!

My family has a tradition that on babies first birthday...baby gets their very own cake to eat/devour/play with...whatever you'd like to call it!


Kevin and I took to that tradition with Kallen, though his performance left much to be desired! A little frosting on the fingers, a little cake in the mouth...nothing too crazy!



We also followed tradition with Kynlee this last weekend, and boy did she put her brother to shame! I tell you...that girl can eat! And what's a little frosting on the face...arms...tummy...forehead.......................ah heck...what's a little frosting all over?

"What's this?"

"Hmmm...Sure tastes good"

So good she licked the plate clean! (Just like her mommy at her first birthday...fyi)

"Victory"

Blessings,

What Can Your 2 Year Old Do...???

...mine can drive...or crash rather! Yup...no joke. Our little munchkin decided to take the excursion out for a drive the other day!

Okay, here's the real story!

Kallen likes to "drive" my car. He sits in the driver seat, bounces up and down on his knees, turns the steering wheel in all directions, and goes through the motions of actually driving. (pretend key in ignition, adjust the thermostats, check the radio, pretend put the car in gear...and we're off). No harm, no foul right!

Well, Saturday morning, Kevin was in the backseat of my car adjusting carseats and playing with Kynlee, while Kallen was "driving"! Unbeknownst to Kevin, Kal had found the spare key, put it in the ignition, and turned it into the auxiliary position. (As a side note...most cars have a safety mechanism that only allows you to put it into gear if you have the brake depressed. Kallen can't reach the brake at the same time as the gear shifter, so no worries! Well...little did we know, that in the "auxiliary mode", the "safety mechanism" is bypassed, and you are able to shift the car into gear).

So...can you guess??? Yup...Kallen turned the key to auxilary, pulled the car into drive, and since it wasn't running or anything, it acted as if it were in neutral...and down the driveway she went. Now...we have a slight, and I mean slight, slope to our short driveway, so the damage was minimal...but it could have been worse...A LOT WORSE!

The garage door is a little smashed up, but Kevin seems to think he's fixed it now...and no one was behind it when the big crash happened. Like I said...it could have been a lot worse!

We thought Kallen didn't fully realize what had happened until he was sitting in the drivers seat later that day (no key in site), with gear shift in hand, looked back at me, and said "you ready to go backwards mommy?"

Blessings,

It's a mystery to me!

I've been taking a "Mystery" quilt class once a month since March, and why I'm doing it is a big mystery to me. What I mean by that is, this is so far out of my comfort zone, it's driving me crazy. Here's the premise: They told us in the beginning, to get 3 or 4 color families of fabric, and one contrasting light background color. They told us how much to get, and how to cut all the pieces. Then each month we get new instructions on what to do with the pieces, though we don't know what the final quilt is going to look like.

I'm a big planner when it comes to my quilting, and I like everything to flow together. They told us if we like our fabrics, then we will like how everything comes together in the end, but I'm just not convinced yet. I've enjoyed the experience so far, but It's a little nerve racking at times. A good test in trust they told us (they being the teachers).


I enjoy quilting, which is one of the reasons that I'm taking this class, but not the main one. I've decided that I need some time to myself every once in a while, allowing Kevin to have some time with Kallen. Although this is only once a month, it still serves it's purpose! This week however, Kevin had bowling at the exact same time as my class, so we needed a babysitter. My parents had a meeting themselves, and my mother-in-law is taking the class with me...that left grandpa...my father-in-law.


No worries, of course Grandpa is going to do fine with the little guy, but dropping him off, I had my doubts. Not that I thought Rod (my FIL) would do a bad job, but because of Kallen's mood. He hadn't taken a nap or eaten all day, was a little sick, and is still clinging on to me as if I'm going to leave him forever. Besides that, my class was from 7-9 pm, right in the middle of Kallen's 8 o'clock bedtime. Everyone Kept telling me to just walk out the door, and let grandpa deal with it. So, that's what I did.


I left with Rod on the couch, Kallen playing with his toys, and all was well. Sheri (my MIL) and I snuck out the back door and went to sew. I truly only "worried" about Kallen a couple of times while sewing, though everyone kept assuring me everything was fine.


At 9:00, we packed up, and headed back to Rod & Sheri's house. We walked in with Rod in the exact spot we left him, only he was asleep and there were toys everywhere. We looked for Kallen, but didn't see him, so we figured grandpa had put him to bed in one of the rooms, then came back out to rest himself. Nope...grandpa heard us, woke up and pointed to the fireplace mantel straight ahead of him. There was my son, curled up on the fireplace, sound asleep.

Rod said he had been playing very contently by himself, then all the sudden climbed up on the mantel. He played with the sign a little big, sat there and looked at his grandpa as if to say "you've got your chair, and I've got mine", then kind of just leaned over, laid down, and out he was. Why he chose right there, is a mystery to us all!

Alaska - Installment #1

Here we are; the boys are down for a nap, and I've got a few moments to spare...so, there's no time like the present to start telling you all about our trip! Oh, and I've decided that since I ramble so much, I'll break it down into different parts. That way you don't have to read it all at once...you can have a break from my jibber jabber!!!

Anyways...We started looking for tickets back in February, and realized it was going to cost at least $850 for me alone, and $1200 if I wanted to get Kallen his own seat. Huh...So thanks for the deals Travelocity, Expedia, ect, ect. Next step, look into using our airline miles. Perfect, we've got a lot of miles built up, and never fly anywhere, so why not? Here's the deal with our miles...In order to fly a regular, leave in the morning, arrive in the evening type flight, it was going to take 45,000 miles. If we flew "red-eye" and had long layovers in Anchorage, it would only be 20,000 miles. Huh, decisions, decisions. Well, we decided to go the "red-eye" route, and although you may think I'm crazy, I'll explain myself later!

Since we were leaving at 9:25 pm from Portland, I thought it would be best if we just hung out in P-Town during the day Sunday, so we were already there, and Kallen would get tuckered out. I didn't want him sleeping all the way up to Portland, only to get on a plane a few hours later and try to get him back to sleep again. Makes sense, right!!!

Well, the sky in Portland that day was threatening a good ol' fashioned Oregon rain storm, but we had planned to go to the zoo. Kallen had never been to the zoo, and what better way to get him tired out for the trip then to walk around and look at a bunch of cool animals. We went ahead and braved the odds, and paid the ridiculous $9.75 each to traipse through the wildlife!

Great decision on our part! The sky's parted an hour or so into our quest, and most of the animals were actually quite active. Kallen was content hangin' out in his stroller and being pushed all over the zoo... although the whole point was to get him out walking. Oh well, what are you to do. He loved the animals that were actually moving around and he could tell were something other than a great big rock (aka the hippos), and most of all he loved the train! We heard the train a few times driving around the park, but on our way out, we decided to take him for a ride! That was the highlight of his day, I'm sure! Trying to get him off the train when our ride was over, was quite an adventure, but we managed!

We followed the crowds out the gates, got some dinner, then headed to the airport.

Helping daddy push the stroller!

Sittin' on the train with mommy.

Lookin' at the Elephants

It's a first!

Yesterday morning, Kallen decided to wake up at 6:30...a rare thing compared to his usual 7:30 or 8:00. Well, every morning, no matter what time he's up, he's ready for a nap 2 hours after he wakes. Generally it's around 10:00! Since he was up at 6:30, he was ready for a nap at 8:30, so that's what we did. Well...all that means, is the afternoon nap adjusts a few hours also. Okay, fine, no big deal! We're going through our day like usual, playing here and there, reading, picking up the house, etc, etc. We even went into town to run a few errands. I pay pretty close attention to the clock throughout the day because the little guy needs his naps, and needs them pretty close to the same time every day. Well...that's where my mind was...the same time as usual...only it should have been an hour or so earlier.

You may think that an hour or two wouldn't make much difference, but for a kiddo who needs his sleep, and is pretty set in a routine, it makes all the difference. Anyways...here's the point...I was in the kitchen baking cookies, and Kallen was in the living room playing with his toys. Well, I began to realize the he was winding down and probably ready for a nap, but I couldn't resist letting him go a little longer. He had climbed up on the couch, cuddled in some blankets, and rested his head on a pillow. I thought surely he wont fall asleep, but in the back of my mind I was really wondering...so I let him. It was the cutest thing. He was all curled up on the couch, with his head on a pillow, "sawing logs" (the poor guy is stuffed up, so he kind of snores when he sleeps right now!)

Of course I had to get the camera and take pictures of our first time falling asleep on the couch. I took some pictures then decided it was probably best to move him to his crib. Well, that's where I messed up. I laid him down, no big deal...not a peep out of him, but I forgot to shut off his little birdie mobile thing that goes off when you bump it. Sure enough, Kallen rolled over, hitting the birdie thing, making it sing and play it's light show. Well...that was it. He was up, and there was no putting him back down. The 5 minute power nap was all he needed to be off and running again.

Lesson learned...Staging the photo ops, isn't always the best idea! Oh well, one less nap wont hurt the kid!