our trip

Green. . . everything is sooooooooo green out here in the midwest. We are having a great time on our trip home (Indy and Michigan). Here are some pictures. . . from the Indy visit. Nana and Grandad (Grandpa to Makena) took us to the Indiana Children's Museum. That place is WOW! Makena had a blast and we will head back there this winter.

Jun23_001

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Future hula dancing firefighter :)

It could have been worse

I will use a rainbow of colors to write this entry to help you fully understand my couch. . .I did this to myself. Makena was coloring on the floor with crayons and on paper when I left her. 10 minutes later I came back to a gorgeous scribbled floor, couch, rocking chair and wall. . .ahhh yes, my daughter colored all over the furniture. Well I laughed about it and shared it with Ryan and he laughed. All was funny until now. . .I can't get it off! This is the couch that I love!!!! Now, it is a couch that I love with Makena's artwork on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But through it all, I say. . . "It could be worse. It could be marker or sharper. It could be paint. It could be a million things but instead it is just 'washable' crayon." I'll keep you undated. Oh, and for those of you who have read the pen entry, I gave her these crayons, it just didn't cross my mind that she would choose today to bust out and be super creative!

water baby

She loves the water. We set up the pool in our backyard and she had a blast!!

Sprinkler

This has been a very busy day for us! I had to go into work this morning for a Spring Performance that my 1st graders put on. Then Ryan meet me at work with Makena and we traded cars and Makena. Then we were off!! Makena and I ran errands for 2 hours. She was PERFECT!!!! So when we got home, we put on our bathing suits and brought out the sprinkler. She had so much fun. We played in the sprinkler and with the water table for about an hour. Then we came in for lunch. Well, she was so tired from all the fun that she crashed for her nap. Yea for me b/c yesterday . . .no nap. I washed the kitchen floor (just a side note here, I had to wash the floor b/c we had a man install undercabinet lighting and there were footprints with mud on the floor) and am now making a dinner for a friend who had a baby. I LOVE summer!!!!!!!

Water Table Fun!!!

She loves playing at her water table. We bought it for her 1st birthday.

She found a pen!!!

Where did she get a pen?? I don't know!

I just want you all to know that I kept dreaming about those little white bugs on my flowers all night long!!! UGH! :)

bugs galore

i am so frusturated with all of the roses and plants in my yard this year. they all seem to keep dying or are being attacked by white bugs/mold/mildew!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today i took my b-day g.c. and purchased some more plants and soil for my yard and i am hoping these take offfffffffffff! (thanks john and linda for the g.c) I just need my mom and dad out here b/c they are the outdoor experts. seriously, my mom can take a dumpy yard and turn it into this amazing flower haven. she has a total green thumb. my dad can fix anything and when owning a home there is always something to fix. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! M/D please, please move out here.
Oh a lighter note:
ryan spent about an hour today finishing the edging in the yard and it looks great. I will take a picture and post it. We also joined forces again with our neighbor so our edging matches and both yards look great.
So, here is something neat. . . last week we visited a new church in our city. they sent us two welcome packets: one was about the nursery. everyone was very welcoming and friendly at the church but it is very small. anyway, tonight we have our friends over for dinner and the doorbell rings. ryan gets it and it is a lady from that church who brought us over COOKIES!!!! she said thanks for visiting the church. OK, we were impressed b/c of the friendliness. So, we are going to check it out again tomorrow and hopefully hear the pastor speak b/c last week was a missionary. i'll keep you upated!

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Big glasses!

Jun09_001

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Cheese

It's Potty Time

Tonight Makena went pee on the potty!!!! It was her idea and she got two potty cookies! (mini teddy grahams). For more details you have to call us. . . Could this be the beginning???? hmmmm. . .*** Just a quick note to say that in April she did go a small amout with my mom here but tonight was a full amount. . .
So are we totally parents or what?? We got soooo exicted about the potty. :)

Rainforest Cafe

Ang, Mandy, and myself at dinner!
Makena's first ride on a carousel! Whee!
A balloon lady made her a butterfly. . .
Ryan and Me
My family

Tonight we went to the rainforest cafe to celebrate my birthday. We sat by a huge gorilla. It took Makena about 10 minutes to warm up to it but she loved the elephants!! It was a great restaurant and yummy food!

b-day

4 days until I am the big 29!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the end is near and so is the beginning. . .

These pictures are from Memorial day!
I started back to work yesterday and it has me WIPED!!!! I always have trouble adjusting at first. However, my students are soooo smart and ready for 2nd grade. 15 days left of their 1st grade and my 6th year of teaching. We have 2 weeks off between the end/start of school so we are headed to the midwest to see our families and friends. I am eager to get on the plane and go!!!!!
So here is a dubbbies update. . .
She loves swimming and playing in the pool. On Memorial day we spent a couple of hours at the pool and she is little fish! Let's hope it stays. . .she also now asks for her friends. . . b/c she loves to play with them. When we go walking she knows where they live!!! :) Oh yea. . .did I mention that she is a genius??? (gate kid. . . hee hee Lor and Ang) She still loves to read and even "reads" books out loud. She is singing the ABC song and twinkle twinkle plus she loves to do ring around the rosie. When I take her to daycare she just loves seeing the other little kids but she cries when I drop her off . . . it would break my heart if she didn't cry when I come to pick her up b/c she doesn't want to leave!! We do really like and highly value our provider. Anyway, this is just babble and I don't have any new pictures to add...so bye-bye. . .

WHOA Language

WOW! Kenabee's language has taken off to a whole new level. Ryan's mom has purchased these books and videos called God made Me, God made Animals . . .well when she wants one she says, "God made me?" It is sooo cute. The first time she said it to Ryan, he thougt she was saying,"call Mimi?" (That's my mom.) He cracked up. Well, my break is almost over. :( I have no desire to head back to work. Although I do LOVE my students. . .I LOVED being off. Over the past few months I have meet a lot of cool people in my community (sub for those of you from the midwest). I have tried to walk (4 miles) as much as possible with some of them during the week. It has been fun! Infact, I am about to head out to do my last walk while off track. I head back to work on Tues. but I am booked up until then. :)

Our older niece

This is our other niece! Not only is she beautiful but she is very smart and has tons of friends.

Finger Painting

Makena had a blast finger painting. She was so into it, that when some got on her legs she just rubbed it around. Then she moved to the concrete and it looked so pretty. . . but when we went to wash it off. . . it stained. That's okay b/c maybe the blue will distract from all of the giant cracks!

These are our niece and nephw who live in Michigan!!!
Nicholas is 3 and Savannah is 1. They are soooo fun! We have another niece who lives in Indiana and she is just a riot. She is 14 and soooo hip! She is very smart and way cool. We will get to see all of them in June and we can't wait!!! I will post a picture of our other niece as soon as possible.

FUN DAY!

My friend and I took all of our kids back to that cool place with the fountain today. The weather is gorgeous and the girls (she has three) had so much fun. They ran through the fountain and when we tired of that, we moved to the play area. My friend and I did not want to leave but realized that the kids all needed naps so we headed back. CA is good about having lots to do with kids.
***************UPDATE ON THE KITCHEN**********
Well, when we returned from Maui, we had to finish the tiles. They look great but unfortunatly, the cool faucet that I love had to go. We have to have an airgap for the dishwasher b/c it is code in CA. Soooo. . .we spent about an hour at Home Depot and choose another faucet and orders a matching airgap. Well, my super handy husband was installing the new facuet and one of the pipes broke. So he headed back to HD and got another faucet. When he got home, he laid it all out w/o installing it and discovered that this new one, had a broken part! FOR THE LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, but that time we were just like "Oh Well!!" and we chose to forget the kitchen and watch tv. Speaking of tv. . .I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT CHRIS IS GONE FROM AMERICAN IDOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were shocked at that news last night. All in all it was an upside down night for us, the faucet, and poor chris on american idol!

Water Fountain

WHEE!!!!!!!! Last Saturday we went to this outdoor mall that had a really cool fountain where water squirts out from the bottom. Kids were running through the water and having a blast! Well, it was so neat that here are some pictures of Makena playing in the water.

"night-night"

Makena has a beautiful handmade quilt that she adores and calls her "night-night". She uses it to fall asleep and play with at times. It is her comfort when she is sad, frusturated, upset, happy, excited, needs strength. . .basically it is her attachment object which is very normal for toddlers. I got this book out the library called "the girlfriends guide to the toddler years" to read for pleasure and it is very cute. In it the author talks about these attachment objects or "night-nights" and how she desperatly wishes that she has one as an adult. After reading that I thought for a moment. . .when I am hurting and in need of comfort what do I use as my "night-night"? Well, I turn to God. He gives me comfort when I am stressed out, frusturated, angry, hurt, etc. . .He shares in my happiness and is with me each step of the way. How awesome that an adult can have a "night-night" too! My hope is that one day Makena will say good-bye to her precious "night-night" and turn to God for comfort and strength.

Here are some pictures of our Maui trip!

UGH!

incase you are wondering. . .she was sick all night long and has been all day today. . .yuck. . . I feel so bad for her. Good news: my college roommate had a baby boy this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yea D!

random throwing up.. .

This morning Makena wakes up and I go to get her. She is all smiles from her beautiful crib. I lay her down to change her and she says, "juice." (We give her Kid OJ every morning b/c it has calcium in it and vitamins and she refuses to drink milk.) Anyway. . . I change her and then she gets the LOOK on her face and makes a noise. I run to the bathroom with her and . . .up comes something. Well, she is then fine and does not have a fever so we go a wedding and our baby-sitter watches her. Now jump forward hours later. . . we are out biking and stop to see some friends. Makena runs around with her friends for a bit and then doesn't want to leave. She cries the whole way back. . .(5 minutes) and when we take her out of the bike trailer. . .up comes snack. I clean her up and she is fine again so we play and do whatever. . .eat dinner. . .and watch Baby Einstein. . .then she throws up AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok-does she have a tummy virus??????? I check on the dr sears website and realize there is nothing I can do that I don't already know. . .I sure hope that she sleeps through the night and doesn't get sick! BLAH!

we're back. . .

We had a great trip to Maui. . . loved the resort where we stayed. I don't think I have ever stayed at a nicer place!!! We were at the Grand Wailea on Ryan's company $$$ so it was just amazing. One afternoon, Ryan went golfing and I went to the spa. I had a water treatment and massage. . . WOW! I left feeling so relaxed. The highlight was snorking Molokini (sp?). Ryan's work had excursions we could do and we choose this one. We spent a good five hours on the water snorking and boating. I took some water pictures and will post them later. I think I may have even seen a reef shark! :) We did see lots of turtles, yellow tang fish, angel fish, an eel, plus these cute black fish. I loved it! Oh, I tried scuba diving. . .the resort offered free diving lessons in the pool so I went while Ryan was in a meeting. Noone else was there so I had a private lesson! Well, I discovered that my love for snorkling is enough for me b/c being under water that deep just freaked me out!!!! We had a wonderful time but we both missed Makena immensly and were happy to see her early Friday morning!

Apr27_003

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Apr23_001

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At the airport

Apr21_002

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I'm going crazy. . .

I cannot take the mess in my house anymore. I haven't been able to clean anything b/c of all of the dust and dirt from the kitchen. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! But the good news is that we leave in 24 hours!!!! (a little less I think) Makena will do great with her papa and mimi (grammi to the older kids) but we as the parents will have it harder. :) This morning Kena said, "where are you?" to papa. Pretty cool! Her language is growing by leaps and bounds each day! Right now she is "talking" on the phone. It is so funny to hear her have these conversations. She is pushing the page button on the phone and cracking up at the noise it makes. . .not such a great noise! Ryan and dad are going to work on the kitchen all day today and I am off to a baby shower for a bit. Then it will be time to pack!!!!! I am going to try to set up my phone so I can send pictures through it to this blog. I saw it on someone else's blog and it is so cool. Seeeeeeeee you later!

It's the Final Countdown. . .

Ok. . .when reading the title you totally have to sing it like the 80's song. . . we are currently redoing our kitchen counter tops with my dad's help so I will post a picture when they are done. . .my house is a mess b/c of the construction but it will be all done by Saturday night! I am offically out for my break!!!! YA-HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FREEDOM!!! Yes, teachers need a break just as much as the kids! I am going to plant some flowers with my mom so I will write more later!

one week until. . .

In just a week we will be in Hawaii. . . I am so excited but I also realized that I have a lot to do. My dad told me that I have to get a note saying that they can take Makena into the doctor and make decisions for med. treatment. WHOA! I was soooo not thinking about that. We are going to bust out our yucky counter tops in the kitchen and put down granite tiles. I think it will look much nicer and it will be WAY easier to clean. However, here is the kicker, I have to choose and buy the tile by Wednesday so Ryan and my dad can install it before we leave. As you all know, I do not make decisions fast and most tile places close at 4:00 p.m. so . . . I think I am coming down with a bad cold on Tuesday. (hee hee) Ok, here is a story of how GOD watches over us:
tonight we were at my aunt's house for dinner with about 10 other people. Kenabee was playing all over and we were on her like a hawk b/c my aunt's house is gorgeous and it has a pool in the backyard. . .well all of the sudden, this lady said, "Is that her outside?" AND Ryan jumped up, I did too, and he ran out the backdoor as Makena was RIGHT by the pool. She was not about to go into the pool; I don't think she realized it was there. Someone had cracked open the door and she opened it more and walked out. This was all in about 30 seconds. All in all it was a crisis averted and GOD was sooo watching out for her. :) We had a great Easter and we hope that you all did too!

One more picture

Here is another picture of Makena. She was so enchanted with picking the yellow flowers and throwing them into the fountain.

Easter Sunday 2006

Happy Easter! Today we went to a different church than the one we attend and afterward, we stopped off at my favorite little restaurant. Outside of the restaurant were these beautiful flowers and a fountain. We took lots of pictures of Makena in her Easter dress. I just love the frilly party dresses!

My sister Angela and me at a bachelorette party two weekends ago!

Today Makena and I met up with our friends at the park. We saw ponies, ducks, "woofs", and took a train ride. The weather has finally returned to normal and it is a GORGEOUS day! I am going off track in just a few days. Then it is off to Maui for Ryan and I! We are so excited. . .especially because it is free! I need a break from my other job. I love when I get to just be a mommy and wife. . . soooo much fun! I just talked to my sister who lives far away. I want her to come see us this summer. We have talked about doing a sister weekend once a year and all flying to a special place. What fun! Sisters are great!

At the Zoo

While in AZ, we went to the Zoo. It was so fun viewing all of the animals with Makena. She was mesmerized and loved them all . . . except the sheep at the petting farm. One almost knocked her over and her love for sheep has ended . . .at least for now. :)

Boys will be Boys

We spent the weekend with some friends in AZ. Check out the matching shorts!!!!!

I quit my masters!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I felt so convicted that it was not what I was to do so after many, many, many talks with wise people. . .I concluded that now is NOT the time. I can do it later. Makena is only little once and I was just miserable with not being able to focus on her. So, now I am so happy and at peace. Ya-Hoo! We are off to visit some friends this weekend and can' wait to see them. It has been soooo cold here that we are looking forward to going to a warmer climate. Well I took Makena to the doctor today to have her iron levels checked again. (She has been low for 9 months now.) It was such a hassel! The nurse took her blood in a small glass vial and left the room. I got Kenabee all calmed down when, in came the nurse again and siad that she had to take more blood b/c the vial broke! Grrrr. . . so now my precious baby had to have her other finger pricked and would not stop crying. It was awful. The good news is that is finally at the low-normal mark. I just have to keep giving her the vitamins with iron in it to keep it up. (My husband just walked in the house and handed me a gorgeous bouqet of flowers. I am so lucky!!)

Hail

I am sitting at my computer where I am working on this research paper for class and I am totally annoyed at doing it. . .suddenly, the sky got really dark and then there was a loud THUNDER and it started hailing!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love when the weather goes crazy like this in CA. (It happens like once every two years!) But the bad news is that somewhere up in this weather are my parents flying in an airplane and my mom gets motion sick, jsut like me! So not good! Gotta keep working. . . :(

One week down

I turned in my first assignment for my class last night and then took a night off. Juggling everything is tricky!!!! I definetly need a house cleaner because as much as I love to clean, it just isn't happening with everything else. So my parents are flying in on Saturday for 7 weeks. Yep, 7 weeks. They are actually staying for an extra week so that Ryan and I can celebrate our 3rd anniversary early and go to Maui. (It is a business trip that he won.) I am very excited to have them out here. I just wish that my whole family could be together!!! Well, speaking of that, Ryan and I are seriously praying about where to go and when to leave our CA address. My contract is for another year and then I have to reapply again to job share. We also want another baby (me: girl, ryan: boy :) ) in a year or so. Lots of changes are going on!! I think that I am going to stick with my masters and try to do as much as possible. If we do move, however, having a masters may not be to my benefit within the teaching field. . . but OH WELL!!!!!!!!! I am tired of second guessing myself and my decisions. Well I am off to get ready to run some errands with Makena bee!