Wordless Wednesday, Kati Style

Well...I've got no time for words, so wordless Wednesday is definitely fitting! Here are a few pictures from our trip to Pennsylvania!

Our dinner at Pimanti Bros, where Kevin ate this sandwich...

...probably our favorite meal of the whole trip...Philly Cheese Steak sandwich, filled with sour kraut and french fries...it was delicious!!!

The game...I know, don't talk about it...we all know the results!

...but, the stadium was amazing, and the 108,000 people in attendance was quite impressive.

Our transportation for the weekend...Whose idea was it to give Kevin a Mustang to "tear up"???

Go Steelers...Quite the stadium and fans as well, though only 64,000 in attendance, and not near the atmosphere as the "other" game we shall continue to not talk about.

Looking at downtown Pittsburgh from Heinz Stadium.

Oh, and Kynlee cause she's just too darn cute!!!

So there you have it...Wordless Wednesday, Kati style, where as it turns out, I've got things to say after all...fancy that!

Blessings,

Kati

All Tied up in Knots

Well folks...my stomach is so tied up in knots right now, I can hardly stand it. I don't know whether to go sit in a corner and cry...or to poor myself a drink, and make it a double...or maybe a triple would be better! Anyways...

Kevin and I fly out in exactly 8 hours, for our first "vacation" since either kiddo was born. We've been here or there for a night or two...but never a real vacation, until now. Oh, and let me add, that this will be the first time ever leaving Kynlee where one of us hasn't been there...ahhh!

Where are we headed you ask??? To the Oregon State vs. Penn State football game of course, where else! Yes my friends...Kevin and I are flying across the country to watch our beloved Beavers play football...how dedicated are we! I am truly truly excited to be going, and know that we will have a blast once we are there, and that we will come home to our beautiful children in as good of health as we left them, and I can almost guarantee they will have all their fingers and toes even.....but that doesn't make it any easier. It's just an eiery feeling to be so far away from them, and to be heading into a tropical storm non the less! Who does this "hanna" think she is anyways? We are leaving 80+ degree weather, to be greeted by 60 or 70 degree thundershowers...go figure!

Anyways...the knots will subside, and we will have a blast on our fun filled weekend of sight seeing, OSU football, Steelers football, and time together in the beautiful state of Pennsylvania (so I've heard) So, be thinking and praying for us as we "brave" the storm, and leave our kiddos behind!

Oh, and on a happy note...I WILL FINALLY BE GETTING SOME SLEEP...and if Kevin even tries to wake me up before my body wishes to be woken up...he will be sleeping in the hall! I'll let you all now how that goes!

So, until Monday...this is "fare-well"!

Blessings,

Wordless Wednesday

Blessings,

Sometimes...

Sometimes there is fighting...

sometimes there is laughter...

sometimes there are tears...

sometimes there are smiles...

sometimes there are punches thrown...

sometimes there are hugs shared...

...I think you get the picture...

and sometimes...I just want to eat them up because they're just so darn cute!

Blessings,

This Could be Dangerous

Well my friends...I've figured out how to play with/design my own blog backgrounds, and it's way too much fun! Right now I've only figured out how to do simple things, but I'm working at being a little more crafty, and coming up with fun headers as well! I was spending way too much time online before...now I can only just imagine! Stay tuned...maybe you'll see seasonal changes, maybe monthly, and who knows...maybe even weekly! Ahhh, the possibilities are endless!

Blessings,

"Boys have 'Wienies', Girls don't..."

...and as entirely inappropriate as that may be, a true fact it is!

You see...I've been laughing so hard I nearly peed my pants (okay, not that hard...but a laugh I couldn't control none the less), and of course I was crouched down on the floor behind the kitchen cabinets so as to not be noticed by two adorable 3 and nearly 3 year olds! Why was I laughing so hard you might ask...well...I was witnessing something for the movies, a forwarded email, or maybe even youtube somewhere, but something I definitely never thought I'd witness myself.

You know the whole..."I'll show you mine if you show me yours?" Yeah, well, in not so many words, that is the conversation I witnessed not 10 minutes ago between our dear sweet Kallen and his lovely Ellie!

Kallen had said "he" in reference to something Ellie did, and she ever so politely informed Kallen that she was a girl, not a boy. Kallen responded by saying, "no, you're a boy". Well...Ellie then proceeded to tell him that she was girl because "boy's have wienies, and girls don't", and since she didn't have a "wieny", then she was in fact a girl. Oh my dear friends...it didn't stop there. She then proceeded to pull down her pants and show Kallen that indeed she did not have the necessary male parts, to which he responded by pulling down his pants and showing that he was equip with said male parts!

They laughed a little, giggled a little and proceeded to sit down and talk about the subject a little more and about how boys work, and girls stay home and have babies (something we have not even talked about with our children, nor are we "pushing" on them in any way shape or form, however it just so happens to be the situation in both of our homes, and it what they both "know"). Anyways, I chose to remain in my hiding spot as to not make a big deal of this curiosity between friends and the conversation eventually dissipated and drifted into other things.

Kids sure make me laugh!!!

Blessings,

A Bookcase Sounds Good, Right about Now!

Sleep is an amazing thing, and it would be that much more amazing if I actually got to experience it!!!

Now, don't get me wrong...I go to bed at a decent time (normally no later than 10:00), and I'm able to fall asleep and drift off into a wonderful dreamy slumber. Until... the crying/screaming/thrashing begins roughly an hour later, and continues on through the night!

Yes...Kallen is not sleeping. I think I've told you all before a little about the little man's sleeping issues, but it's gotten so bad that we have a call into the pediatrician for a referral to the sleep specialist. If I'm not functioning on the amount of sleep I'm getting, then how in the world do I expect my 2 1/2 year old to function either?

I've been trying to figure out just what could be bothering him, and possible solutions to get him into a more restful sleep, but to no avail. We've tried white noise, black out fabric on the windows, no naps, shorter naps, even longer naps, no TV, no sugar...trust me, we've tried it all, and the only thing that seems to work is Benedryl or Motrin right before bed. Sorry...I'm not going to give him Benedryl every night just to get him to sleep better, there has got to be another way! It's been so long now, that his lack of sleep has compounded and I'm half expecting to find him like this one day...At least he'd be sleeping, right!!!

For the longest time, I've been thinking he was waking up with "night terrors", and that it was "just a phase he would grow out of" (doctors words). While it bothered me, I knew there wasn't really anything we could do about it. Now that I've kept a sleeping journal of sorts for the kiddo this last week or so...I'm not convinced!

Anyways...we're all cranky, feisty, irritable and just plain not fun to be around right now...so don't pity me, just be praying for sleep to find it's way into our house!

*update: As I was posting this, I looked over and found Kal on the couch like this! He's thrashing a bit, mumbling, and being just plain restless, but his eyes are closed, and he's unresponsive, so as far as I'm concerned...he's asleep enough for me!

Blessings,

I Tried!!!

There are people, who tried and true, have their children's pictures professionally taken. Whether it's monthly, quarterly, or even yearly...The "professional" pictures are a necessity to document the ever growing and changing lives of their children.
While that is fine and dandy for those people...that is not us!!!

When Kallen was 6 months old, we went to one of those mall studios and had a session done, and just last year when Kynlee was born, we had a 15 minute promotional sitting with both kiddos! That's it, in the nearly 3 years. It's not that I haven't wanted to document those stages in their lives, but it seems to me that the 300+ pictures I take of my kiddos each month, documents those times just fine!

Well, that being said...I had a wild hair this morning, to go take some pictures of the kids, that were a little more "staged" then normal! I was hoping to find a park with little or no activity, and start snapping away. My biggest goal actually, was to get the kids to sit together for 2 seconds so I could actually get a decent picture of them together, something I have yet to achieve.

Yet again...this is what I got when I tried to get the two of them to both look, and both smile at the same time:

The..."get away", "near choke", "what are you doing mom", "I'm not listening to your 100 times of asking me to look and smile mom", and my personal favorite..."Now what" poses!

Kallen was pretty cooperative when he was by himself, and actually looked at the camera when I asked him too...well, once at least!!!

Kynlee on the other hand, just wanted to play peek-a-boo

and when her brother found a squirrel hole, she was just as intrigued by it as he was

and we finished off our morning at the park, with a little 'follow the leader' through the "dinosaur bones"

All and all...the kids had a blast, and I decided that sometimes real life pictures are just as memorable and "capturing" as staged shots...so...I'll just continue to shoot away, and when I get the cute ones, woohoo!!!

Blessings,