Going Places

Funny Foto Friday: Spilled Milk

2011-12-23T09:49:00.000-08:00

Beauty From Ashes

2011-12-20T00:09:00.000-08:00

Two years ago we held our baby boy and said our goodbyes. We miss Logan so much. For such a tiny little guy, he sure made a big impact on us. Losing him was the hardest thing we've ever been through, but God brought us through the grief and I must say I'm a better person, friend, wife, mother, daughter after having loved and lost Logan. God is faithful to bring beauty from ashes.

"To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory." Isaiah 61:3

Monterey

2011-11-13T22:02:00.001-08:00

This weekend Chuck and Patrick had planned to go camping in Yosemite Valley, but with rain in the forecast, plans changed and we headed to Monterey instead.

We stayed at the Navy Lodge at the Navy Post Graduate School. The room was huge! It had a large living room, a kitchen, bathroom, and a bedroom with a huge walk in closet that made a great kid bedroom. The building was old with cool architecture and wavy old glass windows.

We bought year passes to the aquarium, so we went 3 different times while were there. We also took advantage of a great coupon deal for Gilroy Gardens and spent a day there. I think I might actually like GG better than Disneyland for the ages our kids are at right now. I loved the focus on gardening and agriculture rather than characters.

On our way back home we stopped and played at The Dennis the Menace Park. Chuck stayed in the car with Ryan while he napped, and it was a little crazy trying to keep up with two kids at a huge park with lots of people. The kids loved climbing on the train engine and my favorite was the roller slide.

We had so much fun that we're already planning our next Monterey trips.

Ryan: 9 Month Photo Shoot

2011-11-05T22:50:00.000-07:00

Upcycled Wreath

2011-10-28T16:16:00.001-07:00

An old bald bike tire + spray paint + a leaf garland = a $2 wreath to brighten my porch. It makes me smile. :)

Kimberly- 3 year old photo shoot

2011-10-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

Clapping

2011-10-12T16:11:00.000-07:00

Ryan has started copying us lately. If one of the kids coughs, he will do a fake cough; if someone screams, he'll fake scream; if you dance, he'll dance; if you slap your hands on the table, he will too. So today at lunch Gramma Kitty taught him how to clap. It was adorable! He was so proud of himself.

Hey Zeus

2011-09-29T23:16:00.000-07:00

Patrick has a friend in his class named Jesus. Yesterday we asked him what Jesus' last name was and he thought for a moment before answering "Zeus". When we asked what his first name was, he said "Hey" :)

Today's Craigslist Find: Teak Roll Top Desk - $45

2011-09-01T22:48:00.000-07:00

Our New Old Trike

2011-08-28T22:43:00.000-07:00

I scored a vintage trike off of craigslist today for a whopping $5! And, it fits all 3 kids! The kids are adorable on it:

Patrick's First Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-24T17:16:00.000-07:00

He wanted his kindergarten photo to be with our new truck that we got last night. :)

Patrick with his teachers.

Standing by their backpacks...

lining up to go in...

Bye, Patrick.

Kimberly gave him the biggest hug and kiss when we picked him up. So sweet...He had a great day and loves kindergarten!

Ryan: 6 Month Check Up

2011-08-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

Ryan had his 6 month check up today. He's doing great. He's sitting up, rolling/scooting around, smiling, laughing, eating solids, sleeping, peeing/pooping...You know, all that stuff that babies do. :) He weighed in at 18lb 14oz (75th%) and measured 25 1/2 inches (25th%) and his head is in the 25th%.

Bubbles, Slides, and Kazoos

2011-07-29T22:28:00.000-07:00

Kimberly turned 3 today! We all had a fun time celebrating. She started the day off with a bubble bath in the garden tub and going out for breakfast and a stop to see Papa at work with Daddy. Then we headed to Lompoc for pizza and games at Mi Amore and an afternoon at the Lompoc Aquatic Center water slides (thanks to Aunt Chelsey for watching Ryan for us so we could go). We rounded out the evening with more pizza at Klondike's with Grammie Mary and Papa Chuck, opened presents and sang "Happy Birthday" led by Patrick on the kazoo. Fun times.

A note to my daughter:

Dear Kimberly Jane,

I love you so much. It's hard to believe it's only been 3 years since you made your debut. I can barely remember what it was like without you. You are such a joy! You have a great personality with lots of spunk and you always steal the show with your cuteness. You are compassionate, brave, beautiful, adventurous, articulate, and determined. There are so many things I love about you! Here are just a handful:

I love your cheesy smile where you squint your eyes tightly and scrunch up your face when I ask you to smile for the camera.
I love that you like to sleep with just pants on so that your soft blanket is against your belly.
I love the way you ask for "uppie" when you need a hug or to be held.
I love how you love shoes.
I love that you like to have your hair done and never complain about me giving you pig tails.
I love your imagination. I specifically love that you think you can see Disneyland from your tree swing.
I love how any time you touch something soft (a stuffed animal, a soft jacket, Ryan's head) your fingers go right in your mouth.
I love how you love and play with your brothers. You keep up with Patrick and can hold your own quite well with him. And with Ryan you are just so sweet and caring, just a perfect big sister to him.

I can't wait to see you learn lots of new things this next year and I am really looking forward to having some "girl time" with you while Patrick is at school this coming year. I see tea parties, dance classes, baking, and swim classes in our future. :) Thanks for being you. God made you so special. I love you.

Love,
Mommy

Personal Chef

2011-07-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Kimberly - Summer of 2009

Add caption

Pregnancy Brain

2011-07-06T23:46:00.000-07:00

"Many expectant and/or veteran moms will tell you that they have experienced embarrassing forgetfulness. It goes by many names -- from pregnancy brain, mommy brain, placenta brain, pregnancy amnesia to the kitschy "momnesia." Pregnancy brain tends to start in pregnancy and continue into the postpartum period." Denise Mann, WebMD

I'd like to add that I don't think it ever really goes away. It is certainly worse during pregnancy and for those first few sleepless months, but I don't think I've been anywhere close to fully functioning since that very first time I peed on a stick back in 2005.

True Story from March of 2010:

I'm walking through the mall today with my mom and kids getting in some excercise despite the rain outside. I'm holding Kimberly on my hip and trying to keep Patrick within eyesight as he prefers to do his own thing and run ahead or trail behind us. My mom is pushing the empty stroller. Well, I guess techincally it's not empty; it has snack bags, my jacket, my purse, my mom's purse and Patrick and Kimberly's animals in and/or on it. Which is the reason that I still bring it, because we all know the kids won't ride in them the whole way and we'll end up carrying them and all the stuff too. Anyhow, as we approach the escalator my mom asks if I want to take the escalator down. I thought for a moment and answered with, "That's fine, but we'll have to take Kimberly out of the stroller first." She looked at me funny. It took me a moment to realize I was holding Kimberly. Oops. I totally understand losing your pencil behind your ear or losing your sunglasses on top of your head, but a 22 lb. girl in your arms? Ya, that's pregnancy brain in action.

And, as if that were not enough for one day, tonight when Chuck fed the dog he told me that there was probably only enough dog food for him to feed her tomorrow night. I asked if that meant there was enough for the morning too or not. I could always go get some tomorrow, but it would be great if there were enough for her morning feeding. Then it dawned on me, I already stoppped at Farm Supply today and picked up dog food. And, even if I hadn't, if there were enough for one more night feeding, that meant there was enough for one more feeding. Total pregnancy brain.

Girlfriends

2011-07-06T23:39:00.000-07:00

A few of my favorite girlfriends. :)

A girlfriend is someone who knows your secrets and loves you anyway.

She's just a phone call away, even if it's from a pay phone much too late at night.

She's the one that knows something is wrong before you even say a word.

The one who will drop whatever she's doing to be by your side when you need her.

She's the one who will share a dressing room with you and tell you the honest truth.

A girlfriend can make you smile and laugh even when you just feel like crying.

She can make the miles seem so short.

She remembers you way back when and tells you you're better looking now than then.

I'm so blessed to have so many fabulous girlfriends.

Ten Years

2011-07-06T23:15:00.001-07:00

This week we celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary!

Chuck,

I love you more today than I could have even imagined 10 years ago. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us for the next 10 years. :)

Love,
Katy

Here's a slideshow of photos of us together over the last 14 years:

Chuck & Katy-The First Ten Years

Sock Buns

2011-07-06T23:15:00.000-07:00

If you know me, you know that I wear my hair up nearly every day. So, when a friend posted a youtube how-to on sock buns on SLOCountyMommies, I had to give it a try. Not only is it supposed to be a way to style your hair, but it's also supposed to be a curling technique. And, yes, you really do wear a sock in your hair!

I put mine up in the sock bun right out of the shower, so it was really wet and didn't dry after 7-8 hours, thus not working as a curling technique, but I could have added some styling gel and worn it scrunched curly when I took it out. I'll have to remember that for days when Chuck and I are planning to go out in the evening, but I don't have time to dry and hot curl my hair.

Sometime I'll give the sock bun a try with just getting my dry hair damp and leaving it in like on the video so that it will dry into curls.

I think a flower/feather hair clip would really finish off this look nicely.

F I V E

2011-06-27T21:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Patrick,

I am so proud to be your Mommy and I love you so much. I love that you are so loving, affectionate, energetic, determined, sentimental, athletic, smart, eager to help, and creative. You are anything but dull. You're a ton of fun to play with. You're getting really good at playing games like hide and seek, sardines, checkers, go fish and war. And, you're crazy good at riding your bike and playing baseball! I really enjoy watching you learn knew things. You draw the best pictures of racecars, rocketships, rainbows, boats, and people and I love how you write your name in all caps and meander around the page wherever there is room for the next letter. You're going to love kindergarten so much!!! I'm really looking forward to the next year with you. I'm so blessed to call you my son. Happy 5th Birthday, Patrick.

Lots of Love,

Mommy

Double Double

2011-06-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

Ryan had a Dr. appointment (BTW, this new Dr. was way better than the last one he saw!) because he's had a cold for 2 1/2 weeks that he just can't seem to kick. Turns out he has a double ear infection. Again. The Dr. couldn't believe he was so happy, giggly and smiley throughout the whole appointment with an ear infection. He's definitely a mellow little guy. That or he's just gotten used to being sick all the time. He's had 3 colds, 2 ear infections, and a dozen or more albuterol breathing treatments for wheezing in his short 4 months of life.

If we could just get Kimberly to stop bringing home a new cold every few weeks, he might stand a chance at having more than a 2 week stretch of good health. I've become the hand sanitizer queen over the last week and we've given up on going to the Children's Museum for awhile in hopes that we can keep Kimberly well and, in turn, keep Ryan well.

Ryan weighed in at 16 lbs. 5 oz.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had just typed the above when Kimberly came downstairs from her nap to tell me her ear was hurting. It looked a little red like she had been sleeping on that side. I asked her if it hurt on the outside or the inside and she said the inside. Also, over the last week or so she has not been listening well when we are talking to her. It's driving me nuts! She would ask a question, we'd answer and then she would say "What?" We'd repeat the answer. Then she'd ask, "What?" And we'd repeat again. Then she'd say "I don't understand what you're saying."

After hearing that her ear was hurting, I started to suspect that her poor listening might be something more. So, I gave it a test. She was sitting about 5 feet away from me but not looking my way. I asked in a normal tone of voice and normal volume, "Kimberly, do you want some ice cream?" No acknowledgement that I'd said anything. I did it two more times a little louder each time and still nothing. She obviously has an ear infection and that's why she can't hear us. It's not selective hearing after all. So, off to the urgent care we went. And sure enough a double ear infection for her too. It's actually her first ever ear infection. Poor thing. Thankfully she said it doesn't really hurt though.

And, since I was already taking her I figured I'd better get mine checked too since I have been feeling like I have water in my ears this past week and didn't want to end up having to go back for myself in a day or two when it was a full blown infection. Luckily I had no infection, and a bit of Sudafed ought to clear up the congestion before it turns into something more.

Tomorrow, we're off to the doctor again for the third day in a row for Patrick's Kindergarten Physical. By the end of this week I think I'll be more than done with being at Dr. offices.

Willy Wonka at Church

2011-06-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

We sang this song at church today. Partway through the song Kimberly got all excited and said, "Mommy, that's just like Everlasting Gobstoppers!" :)

Preschool Pick-Up Lines

2011-05-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

Patrick and Kimberly played in the dirt today while I gardened. After Kimberly made a sandcastle I overheard Patrick tell her, "Good job, Kimberly. I didn't know you knew how to make a sandcastle. Do you want to go on a date?" Kimberly responded with, "Where will you take me?" Patrick thought for a moment and said, "Maybe to the museum." I'm hoping there are no sandboxes at his kindergarten. I can hear the call from the teacher now...

Mother's Day BBQ

2011-05-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

We celebrated mother's Day by having our first BBQ at the new house. We invited our families over, Chuck built a grate for the built-in BBQ pit and fired it up to cook some ribs, sausage and chicken. YUM!

See the white fence there in the background? When we bought the house, it had no fences between the front and back yards or between the backyard and the alley (which is the main access for all of our neighbor's homes so it is well traveled. So, first on our major project list was caging the children and dog in to keep them safe. Fence building is moving along; posts are set, the rails are up, and today I primered 14 out of 110 picket boards. At this rate, it will take a little over two weeks just to primer and paint the boards! But, soon the kids will have a fenced yard to play in, so I won't have to be outside with them every time they head out to play. I'll probably do a post with before and after pics once the fences are complete.

Anyway, back to mother's Day...

I finally got someone else behind the camera and wrangled up my kids so I could get a photo with me and my 3 blessings.

My boys :)

See that pretty flower bouquet? Patrick made it in his Sunday school class. After class he brought it and showed it to me. I said, "Oh, it's beautiful Patrick. Did you make that? Is it for me?" He answered, "No, it's mine", then he ran back to class and returned with this:

"This one is yours mom. Happy Mother's Day!" Such a sweetie, huh? Later in the afternoon he brought me the big one and told me Happy Mother's Day and said it was for me, but we could share it. :)

The Moms (clockwise from left: me, Chuck's mom, my mom, my sister in law, my dad's mom, Chuck's grandma)

Brandon and his Mommy

Chuck and his MomChuck's Mom and her Mom

My Dad and his Mom Me and my Mom
My brother and MomMom and some of her kids (Chuck was at the grill...and Amber and Erik were not in town...).

Brandon (Can you believe he's almost 1 already?!)

Chuck's Mom and Dad in their matching sweatshirts. :)

My crazy kids. Love them!

I hope you all had a great Mother's Day too.

Happy Mother's Day to the World's Best Mom

2011-05-07T21:50:00.000-07:00

Pedicure Party

2011-04-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

My sister in law, Chelsey, is a new Mary Kay consultant and I hosted herr first pedicure party. My mom, Kimberly and a few girlfriends joined the fun.

Gramma Kitty painted Kimberly's toes for the first time.

My mom made some yummy desserts.

The boys couldn't stand to not be part of the party. They eventually made their way out of the "man cave" and sat and watched us and chatted.

Funny Foto(s) Friday

2011-04-29T21:32:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile, so you get a random sampling of funny fotos today. :)

Ryan's 1 Month Photos

2011-04-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

Photography by Michelle Miller

1 Week Photos

2011-03-04T16:06:00.000-08:00

Ryan's Day Spa

2011-02-24T13:56:00.001-08:00

Ryan loves to take a bath. He gets this "I'm at a day spa" look on his face when you lower him into the water. Then he closes his eyes and is completely relaxed. I love it. :)

Introducing Ryan Eljay Smith

2011-02-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

Our little guy was born on Thursday, February 3rd, at 2:57 am. He weighed in at 6lb. 14 oz. and measured 19 1/2 inches long.

The labor and delivery were even easier than with Patrick and Kimberly since my waters stayed in tact until I was ready to push. At 8cm i was still smiling and talking through contractions! With the others I was in no mood to talk by about 4cm. After 3 pushes Ryan literally came flying out and the midwife and nurse scrambled to catch him before he went off the bed. His umbilical cord had a true knot in it which is rare (it happens about 1% of the time) and is considered good luck if the baby survives.

We are all in love with him. Patrick would be content to hold him all day long. When he first met him he said, "I think he loves me" and last night he asked, "Mommy, can we keep him forever?" Kimberly likes to rub his head and suck her fingers. She also likes to bring him soft toys to snuggle with.

So far, Ryan seems to be the mellowest of our kids. He tolerates constant physical attention and noise very well and rarely makes more than a squeek and only when he's poopy or hungry

36 Weeks

2011-01-17T17:39:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my favorite photos from a maternity shoot with my friend Michelle this weekend.

8 Weeks and Counting Down

2010-12-16T23:19:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I'm already 32 weeks pregnant! At 10 weeks to go, it still seemed like 40 weeks was a ways off, but once I hit the single digits, the closeness really set in. I suppose having Christmas, moving to a new house, and New Years all in that same time frame too is making it seem even shorter. My guess is that by the second week of January (when hopefully the last box is unpacked), time will come to a screeching halt and my last few weeks of pregnancy will drag on.

31 weeks. Photo by Patrick. :)

The kids have been enjoying going to my appointments and helping the midwives with measuring my belly and using the machine to hear Ryan's heartbeat.

Pinnacles National Monument

2010-12-16T22:53:00.000-08:00

We took a day trip to Pinnacles the day before Halloween to check out the fully opened caves. We had been there about 6 years ago, but it was at a time when the bats were in the caves, so a portion of the caves were closed off to the public. It was so much better being able to explore the whole area and I must admit I was glad to know the bats were not in there. :0 The kids loved it! It just might have to be a yearly tradition now.

Avila Valley Barn

2010-11-29T22:35:00.001-08:00

A little late, but still cute. These are photos from our trip to the barn on Columbus Day. Posted in reverse order, but I'm tired and don't feel like rearranging them. :) Their expressions in these first ones crack me up. It is so hard to get a good smiling photo of the two of them at the same time.

I'm Still Here

2010-11-09T20:28:00.000-08:00

Has it really been over month since my last post?!

I'm blaming it on my new computer, which I love. :) I got a netbook and I have been using it 99% of the time instead of my big laptop. The only catch is that all of my pictures are stored on my big laptop, which means I don't have photos at the ready to stick up on my blog. And, what fun is a post with no photos?

Anyhow, to catch you all up on our life:

Patrick is growing like crazy lately, both in height and developmentally. He's become very independent in the last couple of weeks. He now dresses himself, uses the restroom independently, gets out his own breakfast, and even puts away his clean socks and underwear without being asked. He's also been offering to help out more with house chores. I could definitely get used to this. He also has started to draw pictures of actual things rather than just scribbling. It is so much fun to see his thoughts come out on paper. He calls it "drawloring". Which makes perfect sense because he first draws the pictures and then he colors in the different sections. I'll have to take some photos of his artwork and do a post about them sometime. His imagination is in full swing right now, so dress up and role playing is huge. His latest love is being a pirate.

Kimberly is talking in full sentences now and verbally quite good at keeping up with Patrick. She can definitely hold her own when he tries to persuade her to do/choose something she doesn't want to. You should hear them trying to agree on a movie to watch! Let's just say that many times I get to pick because neither will concede. Kimberly is really into jumping off of things lately. It worries me when I hear her call from the other room, "Watch me jump, Mommy!" I wouldn't worry except that she has no fear and I often come into the room to find her on top of her dresser, the bookshelf, the table, etc. She argues with me that she's not going to hurt herself and after doing it will tell me, "See, Mommy, I not hurt myself. I not cry and cry and cry."

Baby Boy has a name. We told the kids his name a few weeks ago. My family tried to get Patrick to tell them the name, but he would say the baby's name was Tree, Leaf, or some other made-up name. Heehee. But, then they got smart and asked Kimberly who can very clearly say Ryan. Ryan is of Irish origin and means "Little King". We're still keeping the middle name a secret though since both kids have forgotten it already. :) I'll be 27 weeks tomorrow. The pregnancy seems to be flying by at this point and I'm showing quite a bit now. I finally made the switch to maternity jeans on Sunday when none of my jeans would fit anymore. :( I need to buy some more maternity ones because I only have one pair of long jeans and one pair of capris and the weather is getting chilly really fast.

I've been crazy busy lately with house stuff. We've been working hard getting our current house ready to rent out (painting, updating, cleaning, repairing, packing, etc.) and getting all the loan details worked out for a non-owner occupied refinance so that we can get another owner occupied loan to buy a new place. All the new federal regulations on the lending industry make it near impossible to try to keep a house and make it a rental and buy up. I guess so many people have bought while the market is low and then let their first home go to foreclosure. It makes it difficult for those who want to legitimately buy while the market is low and actually keep their home as an investment property. It's been quite a rollercoaster already and we don't even have an accepted offer on the house we want yet. We just put an offer in on it tonight though. Now, we wait to see if the sellers will accept. If they do, we'll be moving by December 31st!

Pirate Dreams

2010-09-29T23:10:00.000-07:00

Hands down, my favorite thing is seeing my children interact with each other in positive ways. It melted my heart the other day when I overheard Patrick and Kimberly's conversation:

P- Guess what, Kimberly? I had a dream about pirates last night. Kimberly, have you ever had a pirate dream?
K- No, Pa-pa.
P-Do you want to have a pirate dream?
K- Ya!
P- Okay, then let me ask God. Kimberly, close your eyes, I'm going to pray. God, please help Kimberly to have a dream about...Kimberly be quiet, I'm trying to pray! God, please help Kimberly to have a dream...Kimberly be quiet, I'm talking to God! God, can you let Kimberly have a dream about pirates with a boat that she can go inside just like my dream? {pause} Thanks. Okay Kimberly, you can have a pirate dream then.

Two

2010-08-17T22:31:00.001-07:00

Oopsies! Apparently I never blogged about my baby girl's birthday. Kimberly turned 2 on July 29th. She loved being the birthday girl. She could not get enough of the attention. We had a small family BBQ to celebrate.

She loved her mini cake on the tiny cake stand.

She's all decked out in her girly accessories.

I don't know why I bother asking her to smile for pictures...

She loved her new soft kitty jammies.

And Mickey and Minnie game.

Checking out her strawberry shortcake set.

We love you, Sweet Baby Girl. Happy 2nd birthday, Kimberly!

I Love Berries!

2010-08-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

There's nothing quite as delicious as fresh picked berries from your own backyard. We've been getting a handful from our strawberries every few days. The blackberries have been done for over a month, but they were delicious too. Now if only my grapes would start producing...

Want to know a secret?

2010-07-31T00:12:00.000-07:00

I'm pregnant!!!

Ok, there you have it, it's not a secret anymore. The word is out. :)

The dute date is February 9, 2011 and I'm currently 12 weeks, 3 days. This photo was taken at 11 weeks. After a great weekend camping at Hume Lake and eating my mom's cooking and having ice cream at the coffee shop every night, I think I'm showing a bit more already. :) I'll have to take another photo...

We had our NT Scan today and everything looks great: all the measurements were perfect and we saw and heard a nice healthy heartbeat of 173 bpm.

And, by the looks of things, we're having another BOY!!!

When I called and told Patrick he was going to have a brother, he asked, "What are we going to do with Kimberly then?" heehee. :)

I was a bit surprised to find out the baby is a boy. I've guessed the gender correctly for the last 3 babies and was certain this one was a girl since I didn't have the crazy irrational emotions I did with the boys and I've been craving everything, especially sweets, like I did with Kimberly. Every pregnancy is different though, I guess.

What a blessing! We're super excited for this new little life growing inside me.

Funny Foto Friday- Burritos, aka 15 minutes of quiet

2010-07-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

My kids like to be swaddled and wrapped up like burritos. I think this just might be my favorite game. :) It usually buys me about 15 minutes of quiet since they keep their hands to themselves and they're all cozy and snug so they suck on their thumb/fingers which means they're also quiet. When things get crazy, I bust out the blankets and swaddle them up. :)

Funny Foto Friday- Papa's Head

2010-07-23T22:39:00.000-07:00

Last week my dad and I took the kids to Firestone in SLO for lunch, then we stopped by Avila Valley Barn to see the animals. We were making our way around when we saw a rooster sitting on top of one of the pens. It was super friendly. As my dad is standing there talking to it, it hops over onto his shoulder!

Ever since, every time we pray Kimberly says, "Thank you. Papa's head." I'm not sure if she's thanking God for letting it happen since it was really funny to watch, or if she overheard me ask if it had scratched him." Either way, it's super cute. Although she has been waking in the middle of the night and when I go check on her and tuck her back in she says, "Mama, pray. Papa's head." The night before last she was in tears because she wanted to keep praying for his head despite the fact that it was 2am and we had already prayed several times that night for Papa's head. I finally just told her that she could keep praying, but I was going back to bed. I think I could learn a bit about praying without ceasing from my daughter. This girl is persistent, even when sleep is involved.

Backpacking- Jennie Lakes Wilderness, Sequoia National Forest

2010-07-22T22:32:00.000-07:00

Chuck and I got away on a backpacking trip earlier this month. It was a blast! We were glad to find something similar in landscape to the Yosemite area but a little closer to home so we didn't have to drive as far to get there. It was gorgeous! There's nothing quite like backpacking with the one you love. :)

Chuck did some fly fishing. He caught mostly rainbow trout.

Beef Stroganoff anyone? It's actually quite good, despite being freeze dried.

The view from our campsite...gorgeous! There were only 7 people at the lake that night. You can see another couple's tent there on the far left in this photo.

See that little person in the photo? That's Chuck fishing.

Ah, the life.

There were quite a few patches of snow left still.

The wildflowers were beautiful.

While Chuck was off fishing, I made the campfire. It was my very first and I'm quite proud of it. I guess I was paying attention to my Uncle Donnie when he was building our campfires every year at Hume.

We had planned to do two nights on the trail, but a thunderstorm rolled in after the first night and we decided to call it quits since we had backpacked last year in a thunderstorm and found that our tent is nowhere near waterproof. We weren't interested in a repeat of that wet adventure. When we heard the thunder and rain that night tucked warm and dry in our bed at home we were glad we had made that call.

Patrick's Birthday Party

2010-07-11T16:04:00.001-07:00

We had a joint party with Patrick's best buddy, Jackson, again this year. It was a blast! We had teriyaki chicken and beef shish kabobs, played on the water slide, ate cake made by Gramma Kitty, and opened gifts. Everyone had a great time celebrating the newly turned 4 year olds.

This was the first time Patrick has gotten toys that have adult weight limits. I think I'm having as much fun as he is with his new toys.

FOUR

2010-07-07T15:46:00.000-07:00

Patrick's birthday was last week. We had a great time celebrating 4 years with our little man both on his birthday and at his party. It's such a blessing being his mommy. He's bright, affectionate, funny, and athletic which makes him fun to hang out with every day.

I Love You, Patrick. Happy 4th Birthday!

4 Years Old!!!

3 years

2 Years

1 Year

1 Day

Disneyland with Papa Bob

2010-06-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

Kimberly was super excited that Papa came with us to Disneyland. She was most looking forward to going on the Dumbo ride with him, so that's what we did first. Which I am really glad we did, since my camera batteries died at the start of the day. Here she is holding her feather to make Dumbo fly. And here is her cheesy smile. This is what you get if you ask her to smile for the camera. :)
She picked the blue Dumbo for them.

And Chuck, Patrick and I rode in a green Dumbo.

Then we went on the carousel.

Then my camera died. :( The other highlight of the day was Patrick going on his first rollercoaster, Gadget's Go Coaster in Toon Town. He's pretty excited that he can now do a ride that I can't handle. (I don't do rollercoasters! I lose my stomach driving my car over speed bumps.)

We missed having Gramma Kitty with us; she ended up hurting her knee the day before we left and couldn't come. :(

Funny Foto Friday- How to Get Extra Snuggles From an Almost 4 Year Old

2010-06-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

Wear a really wide-brimmed hat and they'll come for the shade. :)

McBurney Family Reunion

2010-06-12T20:54:00.000-07:00

At our 74th Annual McBurney Family Reunion at Hartland last month, my dad, brother in law, Erik, and Chuck were heading out on a ride and Patrick wanted to be in the picture with them. After shooting the picture, the guys left and Patrick followed after them until the end of the driveway when I told him he needed to turn around. He was crushed. He thought he was really going to go riding with them: them on their motorcycles and him on his bike with training wheels. :)

Chuck made it up to him later though by taking him for his first real motorcycle ride. He loved it!

And, if motorcycle riding wasn't thrilling enough, he surprised us by going on the zip line, first with Chuck, then with his cousin, Madelyn, and then solo! He's getting much more daring and brave lately.

(Here he is with Daddy and Madelyn, but I missed getting a picture of his solo run.)

He even let me fling him around in circles on the wheely boards in the gym.

The rest of the reunion was fun too. Lots of yummy food, visiting with family, a talent show (Patrick did skateboard moves and Kimberly hopped), bonfires, hiking and biking. The weather even held out for us and it didn't snow until the evening of the day we left.

Funny Foto Friday: Still Getting Used to the New Bed

2010-06-11T15:41:00.001-07:00

One night last week on my way to bed I checked in on Kimberly and found her sound asleep, standing up!

Funny Foto Friday: At the Park

2010-05-28T15:04:00.001-07:00

Kimberly's Big Girl Bed

2010-05-26T19:23:00.000-07:00

Kimberly finally outgrew her mini crib.
So, I bought some bed rails from the thrift store and did some modifications to turn the full size headboard and footboard from my childhood bedroom set into a toddler bed. She loves her new bed. She slept in it today at naptime for the first time.

She got up once before settling in for a good long nap.

World's Best Sitter

2010-05-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

We had the world's best sitter last night! She said yes to watching the kids at the last minute so we could go to a couple's Bible study, came to our house so the kids could go down to bed at a normal time, bathed and put the kids to bed, washed a load of laundry and folded them, and did the dishes! She's awesome! Oh, and she goes by Gramma Kitty. :) The kids were pretty bummed this morning when they woke up and Gramma wasn't here though.

I'm so glad to have my mom and dad nearby and willing to hang with us and or kids.

Rules and Instructions

2010-05-19T22:19:00.000-07:00

Patrick "reading" the Candyland instructions:
"If you throw the cards everywhere you will just have to put the game away and if you get stuck on the licorice square you will just have to stay there all night."

And "reading" the sign at the park:
"If you run away from your daddy you will just have to leave the park."

It goes to show that he really does know the rules. And, I love the his use of the phrase, "you will just have to". So cute.

First Words

2010-05-18T20:48:00.001-07:00

Patrick read his first words tonight: car, cat, and sun. It was so amazing to hear him sound out and say the words all on his own.

Kimberly's "New" Bike

2010-05-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

1 well-loved, faded, rusty and dirty bike handed down from big brother

1 can of purple spray paint

30 minutes (while the kids were napping and I should have been packing bags for a trip)

1 adorable little purple bike ready for a few more years of riding and 1 very happy little girl

Better Late Than Never, Right?

2010-05-16T21:24:00.001-07:00

I just realized I never posted Easter pics. (Blogger is not letting me move the pictures around so they are all out of order.)

This year we used vinegar instead of water with the food coloring and the color was much more intense. I'll have to remember that for next year too.

Friends from church, Amy and Leighton, got married in the afternoon on Easter at Nojoqui Falls.

My mom made the cakes. Yum!

I've never seen so many people at the base of the waterfall before.

We had Easter dinner at Chuck's parents' with both sides of our family.

We did an egg hunt at church.

In the morning, Kimberly slept in, so Patrick posed with her basket after opening his. :)

Patrick checking out his Easter basket. Shh, don't tell: In an effort to cut down on the number of stuffed animals in our house, I regifted bunnies to them from their existing stuffed animal collection. Neither even noticed. :)

Waiting for the adults to hide the eggs for our indoor egg hunt at Grammie's (it was raining).

Here are Patrick and Kimberly with all of their grandparents and great grandparents together in one photo. Top row: my parents (Grandma Kitty and Papa Bob), my mom's parents (Grandma Lucy and Grandma Roy) Bottom Row: Chuck's Dad's parents (Grandma and Grandpa Korpal), Chuck's parents (Papa Chuck and Grammie Mary), my dad's parents (Grandma Beckie and Grandpa John) What a blessing to have so many grands and great grands, and all are close by so we get to see them often.

Dreams

2010-05-10T22:58:00.000-07:00

Patrick has been having nightmares lately. A few times now Patrick has asked if we can "make his dreams not come" when we are tucking him in for the night. He says he sometimes has scary dreams. We pray with him and remind him that if he's afraid at night that he can ask God to help him not to be fearful and he can come and get us or call us if he needs. Tonight I told him that he should think of some fun things to dream about and if he has any bad dreams to just wake up and start a new dream about something that's not scary.

So a couple hours after bedtime he comes walking out into the livingroom with a big smile on his face and says, "Mommy, I had a dream. Guess what it was about. It was Lightning McQueen and Mater. And, Kimberly's pinwheel turned into a fish and ate Mater. Mater was sad because Lightning McQueen left, but lightning McQueen saw the fish coming and didn't want to get eaten. That's silly, huh? It was a little bit scary, but I liked it."

I tuck him back in and as I'm shutting his door, he says, "Mom, I love telling you my dreams."

Cornerstone Campout

2010-05-10T22:47:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we went with our old church to a campout in Oceano. It was so fun to catch up with everyone. It's hard to believe it has been 6 years since we moved from Atascadero to Santa Maria! The kids had a great time riding bikes around the campground, and "fishing" and chasing the ducks at the park across the street.

Chelsey's Baby Shower

2010-05-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we had my sister in law, Chelsey's, baby shower at church. It was lots of fun celebrating their cute baby boy on the way. She's due in just a few short weeks. Can't wait to meet him.
The Setup Crew The Games

The Gifts

The Mommy

The Devotional

The Prayer Reminder Craft

The Party Planner, Carolyn

Daddy Trips

2010-05-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

I'm finally catching up on blogging about our latest adventures. Here's a series of trips that Chuck took the kids on while I was off at Ladies' retreats. He's such a great husband and daddy. :)

Montana de Oro:

Mt. Pinos

Shell Creek, CA Valley

Jalama Beach:

Remember the Spoiled Granddog Post?

2010-05-02T22:44:00.000-07:00

Here: Spoiled Granddog

Well, not to be outdone by her other grandparents, my parents allowed Gracie in Papa Bob's chair. You know, his precious recliner, the one that he ~~watches tv in~~ sleeps in. The one that you may only sit in if your name is Papa Bob or you are a pregnant or nursing mother. Well, Gracie doesn't qualify for any of those. She's just spoiled, that's all.

And, I don't have a photo of it, but rumor has it that there is lots of spoiling happening no matter where she stays when we're gone. When my Grandma Beckie and Grandpa John have watched her, they take a 20 minute drive out to the lake just so she can go for a walk and smell the bunny rabbits. Now that's spolied! This is also the people who would drive to town to buy their poodle a Burger King hamburger patty every day though. And despite the daily hamburger patty she lived a long and VERY happy life.

Diaper Cake

2010-04-28T21:53:00.001-07:00

What do you do when you no longer need diapers at your house? You make a diaper cake, of course! Honestly, I've always thought making a cake-like structure out of something designed to catch pee and poo was a little weird. That is until I made one. Now I think they're pretty cool. :) I'm still a little freaked out by sleeping babies made from diapers though.

Weird, huh?

Anyway, here's my diaper cake:

The top two layers and flower thingy are made out of burp cloths and the bottom layer is a blanket. The oppposite side of all the solid colors is the striped flannel print you can see in the flower. Oh, and did I mention this was all stash fabric and ribbon? So, I am making a small dent in my over-abundance of yardage. Such a nice feeling.

Cha-Ching

2010-04-27T21:39:00.001-07:00

$63! That's how much I got back when I returned a box of diapers and wipes I bought at Costco. Woohoo! Kimberly is doing great with potty training and as an added bonus, Patrick has now decided to poop on the potty too. So. Exciting. Yesterday we bought Kimberly's first underwear: Hello Kitty. She is in love with them. She calls all cats "Milo". So, if you asked her they would be her Milo underwear. The first pair she wore she ended up peeing in because she forgot to pull them down before using the potty. She cried so hard when I told her she had to take them off. I think she thought she only had one pair, because she would not believe me that I was going to give her a dry pair in exchange for them. So sweet. We're still working on dry nights. She will sometimes get up and pee on her potty in her crib, but not every time. I'm giving it another week.

On a Whim

2010-04-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

I crawled out of bed Monday morning when Patrick came in bright and early to tell me he had pooped in his pants again. Kimberly woke up when she heard Patrick so I got her up and changed her diaper while Patrick headed to the beathroom to get cleaned up. While I was in the middle of cleaning Patrick, Kimberly came in the bathroom to tell me she had a poopy diaper too. A month of changing poopy underwear from a 3 year old with tummy issues had done me in. So, on a whim Monday morning I decided to start potty training Kimberly. I decided it was time to get one of them trained, and it wasn't going to be Patrick, he had made that abudantly clear. I have about 10 friends who have recently potty trained their 1 1/2 year olds using the "3 day method", so I googled some basics, took Kimberly's diaper off of her and settled us in for a few days locked in the kitchen on the tile floor. I figured we might as well go for it since it was going to be raining all week and Patrick wasn't feeling well so we weren't going anywhere anyway.

Day 1 was about 50% potty/50% floor. She'd go a tiny bit if she sat down and tried, but within 5-10 minutes would make a huge puddle on the floor. She also wet during nap and several times at night. Day 2 I decided to set a timer at 20 minute intervals to help remind her to try in an effort to prevent some of the accidents. She was about 75% potty/25% floor this day. She slept dry for her nap, but wet several times at night. Day 3 she had no accidents all day! She even pooped in the potty without any prompting. She slept dry for nap again, but still wet the bed at night. So, here we are day 4: we're no longer stuck in the kitchen and she is now wearing pants. She is doing so well with going on her own, both poop and pee. She even takes her pants off on her own. It's pretty cute. She had one small accident earlier, but caught herself and finished on the potty. Tonight I am going to put the potty chair in her crib so she can get up and go at night. And, if she still wets the bed tonight, then we'll do a diaper for bedtime until she seems more ready to stay dry at night. I know she wakes when she has to go, because she fusses a little, so hopefully she'll wake up enough to try. She wakes about halfway through her naps to go potty, so I know that's what is happening at night too.

Oh, and I think Patrick wants in on the action too because last night for the first time in a very l-o-n-g time, he went in the bathroom and went poop in the potty all on his own. Yay! What will I do with my time when I'm no longer changing poopy pants and diapers? So, that's been our week.

And, since I was stuck in the kitchen, I decided to make a citrus colored quilt. I had been wanting to try out this pattern. I used a cd to rotary cut around for the circles and made my initial blocks 6". I just eyeballed the placement of the circle on the square to save time. It doesn't all line up perfectly, but I think the raw edges will help hide that anyway once it is washed. The quilt is a square made of 81 blocks. Here are a few pics of it:

I have all the blocks made and ready to sew together now, but I can't even count the number of times I had to arrange the blocks because the kids kept walking across them. The worst was Kimberly dragging her blankie across the quilt. When they went down for their nap today I was thinking how nice it would be to not have to rearrange them again since I was going to finish sewing the blocks right then. I go in the other room to make a phone call and come back to find the dog laying on the quilt scratching her back and quilt pieces everywhere. Thanks alot, Gracie, you're worse than the kids! So, that's what we've been up to. For you locals, how has your rainy week been?

Funny Foto Friday- Disneyland Outtakes

2010-04-17T00:01:00.001-07:00

Real Disneyland pics to come. I am way behind on blogging about all of our recent adventures, so I have some catching up to do first. I haven't even blogged about or last Disenyland trip yet.

Funny Foto Friday- Can't You See I'm Ready For a Ride?

2010-04-09T16:08:00.000-07:00

Vote for Kimberly!

2010-04-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

Kimberly is one of 18 entries in the Jasmine Johnson Photography Fresh Faces photo contest. The prize is a photo shoot worth $425. You can vote once a day for the next week. The contest ends April 13th at 8pm. Vote HERE. Thanks.

No! no! NO!

2010-04-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

My sweet baby girl learned to say the word "no". Up until now she would just shake her head to tell us no, but now she says it out loud. When she would shake her head, there were only two kinds of no: the shake only and the wildly flailing arms accompanied by the shake. Now, there are various kinds of no. This girl has mastered in the course of 2 days all the different intonations you can have for that one word. And, let me tell, she has some attitude when she says some of them.

It's nice that I can ask her a question from the other room and hear her response without having to see her, but only if the answer is no, because she doesn't say "yes" yet. She usually bypasses "yes" and just says "please" because most of the time we are asking her if she wants something. Knowing this, I probably shouldn't have asked her in the car today "Do you love Mommy?", because she promptly responded with the snottiest "No!" I've ever heard. When I told her it makes me sad to hear her say that and that she shouldn't use her words to hurt people, she quickly said "sorry". It's a good thing her "sorry" is much sweeter than her "no". I had already forgiven her before she apologized because I love her and I know that she really does love me, but it was still nice to hear her make things right on her own. I'm sure I'll be hearing it again throughout the years with even more attitude than a little one year old can muster up.

Isn't that like God and us. He asks, "Do you love me?" He says, "If you love me, you will obey what I command" and that "he who does not love me will not obey my teaching." (John 14:14-16, 23) Often times by our actions we send back to Him the snottiest "No!" He's ever heard. But, because He loves us, He has already forgiven us long before we ever tell Him we're sorry. The Bible teaches us, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:8-10) He's just waiting to hear "I'm sorry". Really, it's not for His benefit, but ours.

Pismo Beach, CA

2010-04-02T22:38:00.000-07:00

Most Googled For

2010-03-31T22:43:00.000-07:00

I have the live traffic feed at the bottom of my page which tells me who stops by my blog. Most everyone is someone I know, but every couple of days, I have some random one from a google search. The two most common google search words that lead random people here are "Love and Respect Bible Study" and "What does a fish say?". It always makes me smile to realize just how many people google search the fish one. :)

So, if you have a live traffic feed,

What are you most googled for?

Hume Lake Womens' Retreat

2010-03-31T15:33:00.001-07:00

I love Hume Lake!!! I have lots of fond childhood memories of camping at the lake with my family and cousins. It is also where I was when I placed my trust in Jesus as my Savior 14 years ago at high school Winter camp. And, where Chuck accepted Him in college. Now, I also love it for their womens' retreat!

The food was awesome.

The fellowship was sweet.

The latest broom hockey videos were hilarious. :) Hume videos are somewhat of a tradition. They have evolved through the years and have gotten much better. The latest ones are music videos. Check them out here and here. The stage backdrop from this past year's youth camps was so cool. It was a giant library/study.

I got to hang out with my mom. We even stoppped off at Quilters' Paradise on the way up the hill and I found a couple yards of fabric to add to my stash. They may end up being a purse or part of a quilt. :)

The lake was beautiful. It is right between seasons there. The snow is melting off, but the lake is very low still. It's crazy to see just how shallow the lake really is. The weather could not have been better.

These boats were just sitting there needing to be photographed. :)

Mom and me:

The whole group:

Allergy Update

2010-03-30T15:19:00.000-07:00

Patrick had his first appointment with an allergist yesterday. The Dr. was surprised that he already had such an extensive history with allergies, both environmental and food, at such a young age. He said that typically little kids with allergies only have a few things they are allergic to, not a whole list like Patrick does. He agreed with our pediatrician that we should start him on a systemic antihistamine allergy medication to help control his outdoor/environmental allergies. He also agreed with taking him off of the steroid asthma medication that he was on. We're all hoping that being on the allergy med will prevent the reactions to allergens that cause the asthma to flare up. So far, his lungs sound good after being off the asthma meds for a week. Praise God!

For his food allergies, the Dr. also agreed with the pediatrician that we needed to eliminate all of his known food allergens, establish a baseline of feeling good (probably 3-4 weeks), then reintroduce one food at a time to see what his reactions are. If the reactions are tolerable, then we can move on and reintroduce something else. But, if his reaction to a specific food is not something he (or we) can live with, then we have to keep avoiding that food. He suggested starting by adding wheat since it is so hard to avoid (Did you know licorice is made with wheat?!), then milk, egg, soy, etc. He said we should not even bother trying to challenge the foods that we know he has repeatedly reacted to in the past (tomatoes, pineapple, oats. etc.) and just challenge the ones we've never seen a specific reaction to.

I'm still working on getting creative with foods. Corn tortillas, beans and chicken are going to get old rather quickly, I think.

Biking With Friends

2010-03-30T14:38:00.001-07:00

Lately we have been going to the new Orcutt Community Park to play. There is a nice playground with rubber matting under it and a walk/bike path around the baseball and soccer fields. A couple weeks ago we went with our friends, Kristen and Isaac, to ride bikes. It was the first time Kimberly has gone for a bike ride with us on a bike we brought specifically for her to ride. She rode Patrick's favorite little bike and he rode his big bike with training wheels. She was so proud of herself. At one point, Patrick came back to help her go faster so she could catch up with him. It was precious seeing him help his little sister without any prompting to do so. (He has also recently started holding her hand and guiding her in parking lots or to show her something cool. Most of the time, she willing holds his hand and runs along trying to keep up with him.)

Patrick's Allergies

2010-03-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

Patrick's allergies have been horrible lately. A week ago he was to the point where his legs from his thigh to his ankles were covered in excema as well as the inside of his elbow and wrists. And, the screaming itching fits that he experienced for several months last year had started again. The pediatrician suggested that we cut out all of his known food allergens (we had only cut out the easiest to avoid and most reactive ones, but obviously there is still something) and avoid as much as possible his environmental allergens (Fungi/Mold, Timothy Grass, Bermuda Grass, Johnson Grass, Oak Tree, Mites, Ragweed, and Marsh Elder). She also prescribed prednisone to help kick the allergic reaction that he has been having along with a high strength steroid cream to clear the rash. We were warned that the meds might cause tantrums and other fun side effects, but aside from two skipped naps, we didn't notice any side effects from the meds. His legs are clearing up! Yay! And, he says he is feeling less itchy. There is one spot on his leg that has not been clear since the start of last Summer. I wondered if I'd ever see smooth skin in that spot again, and it is nearly all healed. :)

The hard part now is adjusting to his new diet.

Here's what we've been avoiding for the last year:
Orange, Lemon, Lime, Grapefuit, Kiwi, Pineapple, Strawberry, Tomato, Egg White, Oat, and Chocolate

Now we also have to avoid:
Wheat, Milk, and Soybean

I'm realizing that most everything we normally eat either has wheat or milk in it and that most gluten free snack alternatives have soy in them. So, no more cracker type snacks around here.

Patrick's usual breakfast is a yogurt and shredded wheat cereal in milk. His usual lunch is noodles and shredded cheese. And, dinner usually has some kind of bread (tortilla, biscuits, noodles, etc). So, there are major changes happening in my kitchen. Corn and rice are our friends right now. :) Besides fajitas or beans served on corn tortillas, I have no idea what to fix for lunch. Do you have any recipes you want to share that are Patrick friendly? Please?

Guy Trip

2010-03-23T16:11:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago Chuck took Patrick fishing at Red Rock. They didn't catch anything and never saw anything, so they must not have planted yet.

Monkey Dream

2010-03-22T12:50:00.000-07:00

While pulling weeds in the garden with Patrick:

Patrick: "Last night I had a dream."
Me: "Oh, ya. What was it about?"
Patrick: "It was about a monkey."
Me: "What was the monkey doing?"
Patrick: "He was climbing on a tree with his monkey friends and he was closing his eyes and doing this, watch. (He shakes his head side to side.)"
Me: "What were you doing?"
Patrick: "I was standing with the man."
Me: "Oh, were you talking to him?"
Patrick: "No." "My Daddy was there are he was talking to the man."
Me: "What were they talking about?"
Patrick: "They were talking about sunscreen. I was wearing a hat but you still have to wear sunscreen so you don't get sunburnt."
Me: Was that the end of your dream?"
Patrick: "Ya. I saw a bus and it went away pretty fast. Maybe next time I can do that dream and see what's in that dream."

Bob Jones Trail, Avila Beach

2010-03-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

Today we went with friends from church to bike on one of our favorite trails. Kaden and Patrick rode their big boy bikes and Jessie and I pushed Kimberly and Tanner in their strollers. We made it almost to the golf course before stopping along the creek for lunch and lots of rock throwing. Then we stopped and played at the park for a bit before heading back to the parking lot. Patrick is getting really good at riding his big bike. He still prefers to ride his little non-pedal scooter bike because it goes faster though. :)

Mmm. Peanut Butter Cookies from Gramma Kitty's.

Poker Chip Alphabet

2010-03-03T18:59:00.000-08:00

A couple days ago Patrick found the poker chips and wanted to play with them. I figured he would probably use them for counting or stacking or sorting by color or making patterns. But, he thought it would be fun to make pictures with them, so I made a boat and a dinosaur. Then I left him to play by himself while I did some chores. He came and got me a few minutes later to show what he had made with the chips. I came in to find he had made a "V" shape with them. He asked me, "So, what do you think?" I told him, "I like it. It looks like a pyramid or a tent." He told me, "No, Mommy, it's an "A". Which of course it did, minus the middle bar. So, I showed him where the bar went and he proceded to make a half dozen more "A"s. Today he wanted to play again. This time we spent about 40 minutes and went through the whole alphabet. We'd make the letter, say the sound, and then he would sing the song from the Letter Factory, that goes "The A says "a", the A says "a", every letter makes a sound, the A says "a." I was shocked at his interest and attention span since he normally hates instruction of any kind. He never once got frustrated or whined about doing things his way. And, to top it all off after we were done he gave me a hug and said, "Thank you, Mommy, for teaching me my letters." It was so sweet. I'm so glad it went well, because it gives me hope that we won't forever butt heads when I'm trying to teach him things.

By the letter "Q" we had to start stealing chips from other letters because we ran out. :)

Climbing Trees

2010-03-02T15:38:00.000-08:00

I think every kid needs to have an opportunity to climb trees on a regular basis. I grew up climbing oak trees with my cousins in Atascadero. I was perfectly content spending hours up in the trees as a kid. I learned so many lessons from tree climbing: courage, team work, problem solving, and, probably most of all, respect for gravity. We have all of two trees with branches large enough for climbing on our property. One is a huge Liquid Amber tree and the other a medium sized lemon tree. But, I had recently seen a great climbing tree at the college nearby, so we headed over to there to give it a try.

Spoiled Granddog

2010-02-28T21:21:00.001-08:00

We leave her for a week with Chuck's parents and come home to her expecting turndown service.

Don't get any ideas for at home, Gracie. That sort of treatment is strictly for granddogs.

A Date with Daddy

2010-02-28T21:16:00.000-08:00

Chuck has really been enjoying having one on one time with Kimberly lately. She's past the baby stage now and he's much more confident that he can meet all of her needs just as well as (and often better than) me. Here's a photo from their most recent date to the mall for lunch at Decker's Burgers:

Gymnastics

2010-02-24T22:01:00.001-08:00

What better to do on a rainy day than go to a gymnastics playgroup!

Her favorite thing was hanging on the bar. She would hang for a few seconds, then let herself fall and land on the mat. Then laugh hysterically and ask to do it again. It was adorable.

She liked this thing to. She kept going back to it and would yell when the other kids tried to go on it as if it were hers.

She had a hard time with a few of the obstacles because she's so small, but she didn't give up.

She thought about it sliding in for a second before changing her mind. :)

There were several little girls there her size, like these twin girls a month younger than her.

One of the few pics I got of both kids together. :)

Patrick enjoyed doing these bars.

Kimberly finally went in, but really didn't like it.

Patrick's favorite part was jumping into the "swimming pool" though.

He jumped over,

and over.

and over,

again! Probably 40-50 times. He's going to sleep well tonight!

I Love The Way He Thinks

2010-02-22T22:32:00.001-08:00

Here's a conversation Patrick and I had a couple weeks ago driving home from the grocery store:

P: Mommy, sometimes when I wake up at night there are monsters in my room and I say, "Mommy, help. There are monsters in my room".

M: Remember monsters aren't real. They're just pretend.

P: But, sometimes when I wake up there ARE monsters.

M: You know what you can do when you're afraid? You can pray to God and ask Him to help you not to be scared.

P: But, I can't see God.

K: Well, no, you can't really see Him, but He can see you and He listens when you pray.

P: But, God is far away. He lives on the moon. (Grandma Kitty likes to say this to the kids when they see the moon together: I see the moon and the moon sees me, God bless the moon and God bless me. A little confusing to a 3 year old, I suppose.)

K: He doesn't actually live on the moon, Buddy. He lives in heaven, but He's everywhere. Actually, if you trust God, then He lives in your heart too.

(At this point he lit up like he had made a grand discovery.)

P: I know, Mommy. My spit can go down my throat and into my stomach and see God.

K: (Laughing) You're cute, Buddy.

P: You can't just say that! You should just say Packich Richard Smith, I love you.

K: Patrick Richard Smith, I LOVE YOU!

Mammoth

2010-02-20T22:02:00.000-08:00

Last week we headed to Mammoth with our friends and my parents. We had a great time sledding, downhill skiing, snowboarding, and crosscountry skiing. Oh, and eating, a lot. My mom planned and prepared all the food for the trip and it was delicious.

There was a great spot behind our condo with sled runs.

Gramma Kitty and Papa Bob took the gondola to the top of the mountain.

Cross Country Skiing near the Mammoth Visitor Center

Patrick loved cross country skiing. I think he might be ready to try downhill next year.

Moms' day out on the slopes!

One evening Chuck and I cross country skied to Rock Creek Lodge for dinner. It is a 2 mile trek to the lodge uphill from the road with an elevation gain of about 300 ft. It was the first time we've ever used the classic tracks for cross country skiing. The dinner was fabulous and it was fun to visit with the other couples at our table who were actually staying at the lodge. We were the only ones that skied back to our car in the dark, the rest took snowmobiles out. Going downhill proved to be harder for me than the uphill since I spent the whole time trying to keep from gaining too much speed. I only thought I might eat it once, but I was able to slow myself down eventually. My arms are sure sore still.

Really bright camera flash

Funny Foto Friday: Pigtails

2010-02-19T23:09:00.000-08:00

Couch 2 5k

2010-02-09T23:21:00.000-08:00

MS Walk/Run in SLO April 2004

Before kids, I ran a couple of 10ks. But, after having Patrick I attempted to run and was very discouraged by the jiggle going on in places that had never before jiggled. I ran one time, and never attempted it again. That was 3 years ago. Well, I've decided it's time to run again, jiggles and all. I started a running program called the couch to 5k. You can learn more about it here. Basically it is a running program for non-runners. It is interval training that takes you from mostly walking for 30 minutes to running for 30 minutes in the course of 9 weeks (or however long you need to stretch it out by repeating weeks which totally depends on how far on the couch side you were to start with). There are podcasts you can download to your mp3 player that play music and tell you when it's time to run/walk. I've been using this Christian Indie one. Anyhow, thought I'd share in case anyone else wants to join me. Let me know if you decide to do it and we can pick a 5k (or 10k?) to do together sometime in late Spring/Summer. I just started week 2 today so you wouldn't be far behind. I waited to blog about it just in case I flaked and didn't keep it up. :) But, so far so good. I think it's helping that I've been doing my Bible study at the same time so I'm distracted from thinking that I'm actually excercising. I'm always a little surprised it's over already.

Check It Out

2010-02-08T22:50:00.000-08:00

Yes! The day I've been waiting for has finally arrived: Kimberly now has enough hair (admittedly, barely enough) to hold a hair clip. Evidently it only takes about 10 strands of hair for the good clippies. After her shower today, I noticed that there was a curl of hair on top of her head. And I figured if it was now long enough to curl, it might be long enough to make a teeny tiny ponytail out of. And, I was right!

Funny Foto Friday- Fashion Flashback

2010-02-05T14:23:00.000-08:00

Please tell me this was never actually "in":

By the way- I still tuck my pants into my socks, but only at night when I go to bed.

Sleepover

2010-02-03T21:09:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago Patrick had his first sleepover with a friend; his buddy Jackson came and stayed with us. They had so much fun! It was rainy and ugly out that week, but we made the most of it. For lunch, we took them to JR's drive in restaurant. They both had a hard time understanding how the food tray was going to be attached to the car window. We folded down the seats in the back of the Expedition and they ate corn dogs, onion rings and french fries while they watched a movie on the DVD player.

It's going to be so hard to say goodbye to Jackson and his family when their time in Santa Maria is up. :(

Finally, An Update on the Living Room

2010-01-27T15:39:00.000-08:00

Back in October when I posted this, I promised daytime photos of our front room redo. Ya, I'm slow. :) There are still a few things left to do (like finish adding length to the curtains), but here they are:

I'm looking for opinions on a couple of things:

1) What do you think of this pleated fabric panel that I made to cover the bookshelves? We were originally planning to have cabinet doors made, but are not sure we want to invest that kind of money into a house we may not be in all that long. This fabric was my original inspiration piece for the colors in the front room. But, after adding in brown and then falling in love with the zebra print, I'm not so sure it goes now? What do you think? I also have a solid cream color fabric I could use to make a pleated panel . . . Or maybe I should just get rid of a bunch of fabric and most of our books (that's what's hiding behind there) and leave the shelves open, but very minimally accented with non-breakable things. Hmm?

2) Next question: I bought this desk with the intent to paint it, but can't decide if I should paint it white or black. I'm leaning toward white, but the tv cabinet is black, so I'm not sure which would look better. Thoughts? Also, I would be painting a chair to match, not the one in the picture, but a cute dainty looking one with curves that currently resides in Kimberly's room. Also, I'll probably paint the little table in the window corner to match the desk.

Funny Foto Friday- Mom, He's Picking On Me Again!

2010-01-22T20:37:00.000-08:00

Silly Things Patrick Has Said

2010-01-21T10:26:00.000-08:00

"The batteries died and that's causing lots of problems."

"Oh no, it's raining and windy. We've got to stop that!"

Shell Beach, CA

2010-01-17T13:46:00.000-08:00

We drive by the ocean and see it every week or two on our way to or from somewhere, but it has been awhile since we've stopped and played. We figured we had better get out and enjoy the sunshine before the week of rain started. So, we headed up to Shell Beach for a couple hours. It was gorgeous. Perfect 65 degree weather, about 15 surfers just off the shore, lots of puddles in the tidepools for "fishing", shells to collect, and waves to chase us.

Four weeks ago

2010-01-15T14:53:00.001-08:00

we said goodbye to our baby boy. It seems like it was just yesterday. Sometimes I go a day or two without crying. Today though, I sit and cry. Sometimes I cling to the grief because it's all I have left of him. I miss him. I long for what would have been and the memories we never got a chance to make. I miss feeling him move inside me. I'm sad that I never got to hold his warm body in my arms. To hear his first cry. To introduce him to his big brother and big sister, our family and friends. I just plain miss him and all that could have been. Right now, I wish every visit to the bathroom were not a reminder of our pain.

A couple songs that speak to my heart:
Watermark- Glory baby
Steven Curtis Chapman- Heaven is the Face

Funny Foto Friday- Fashion Statement

2010-01-15T11:56:00.001-08:00

Bathrooom Buddies

2010-01-13T20:49:00.001-08:00

We're doing potty learning times 2 here. Patrick still wears a diaper to bed at night because he has yet to have consecutive dry nights. He also still poops in his pants 75% of the time. Though today he was 2 and 2 pants vs. potty with the poops. He's getting better. Slowly, but surely.

If he doesn't watch out though Kimberly might be totally trained before him. She had her first pee in the potty this week. She woke up dry from a nap so I asked her if she wanted to try and she agreed. She went in the bathroom, sat on the potty for all of 30 seconds and peed. Now she wants to try all the time. She quickly grasped the idea that peeing on the potty=candy.

Today I came around the corner to find this:

Switch:

I guess he wasn't having any luck on his own potty, so he convinced her to trade potty seats with him.

Espalier

2010-01-09T14:18:00.000-08:00

If you've been in our backyard, you've probably noticed the apple trees that are growing against our back garage wall. I planted them the first Winter we were in our house, so January 0f 2005. It was the best way to get several fruit trees to fit in our yard without giving up our grass space. Plus, I like the look of espaliered trees. :)

3 months after planting. They weren't much to look at in the begining, just 3 Stick Vs.
17 months after planting (That would be Patrick in the sling at 2 days old helping to water the trees.) The left tree which I believe is a Granny Smith, took off, while the other two were still spindly and bare. Thus began the challenge of trying to train the trees to do what I wanted when the left one clearly wanted to do something other than be part of my lattice plan.
4 1/2 years after planting. The two on the right are starting to catch up finally.

And, here they are today at 5 years:

It's hard to tell in the pictures, but the size of the trunk on the left tree is huge in comparison to the two on the right and their growth patterns are totally different. Originally I planned to do a lattice pattern, but gave up when the trees were not growing at the same rate. Next time around, I'll buy trees of the same variety so I stand a chance of actually finishing my intended design.

This angle shows just how little space they take up. That strip of dirt is about 14" deep and 12 feet long. The trees are spaced about 3 feet apart.

The trees would be covered in apples right now if it weren't for a really cute little boy who claims that hitting the apples off the tree with a baseball bat is not the same as picking them. :)

Christmas 2009

2010-01-03T22:36:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve on "The Hill" (also known as my grandparents' house in Atascadero): Cutest gift ever.

Here's a pic of my cousin Tommy and me. We were best friends growing up. There are lots of stories of our crazy antics as kids. He and his wife (both are in the Army) are expecting their first child this Summer. Tommy's going to be a really fun dad.

Christmas Morning at Our House:

Killing time before opening presents because Kimberly was still sleeping. Why she chose Christmas morning to sleep in, I'm not sure.
This year I got smart and bought some large "C" clamps from Harbor Freight to hang the stockings. It was fun to actually have them hanging with stuff in them Christmas morning and not have to worry about the kids pulling a heavy weighted stocking holder down on themselves.

Chuck's parents came over for Christmas breakfast.

Kimberly got a DVD of her favorite movie: Milo and Otis.

Christmas Day at Grammie and Papa's:

An American Girl doll from Grammie and Papa.
The Cousins

Blessings in the Midst of Trials

2009-12-26T15:12:00.000-08:00

We still have reason to be thankful despite the miscarriage of our baby at 13 weeks, 6 days. Here are some of the things we are thankful for:

*We had just shy of 14 weeks of pregnancy to get to know and love our baby

*We had two opportunities to see our baby moving around with a healthy heartbeat. He even waved at us. :)

*We found out very early (12 1/2 weeks) at our nuchal translucency ultrasound that the baby was a boy

*I was still able to get in for my midwife appointment even though I was 15 minutes late because my car battery died while at the hosiptal getting my blood test done

*My favorite of the midwives was the one working. Helen is so incredibly compassionate. You really feel like she cares about you as a person first and then as a patient. (She is the one that delivered Patrick.)

*My mom was with me and the kids. After not hearing the heartbeat with the doppler, Helen went to get the ultrasound machine. Thankfully, Patrick had to go potty right when Helen was starting the ultrasound so the kids and my mom weren't in the room to hear the bad news

*Chuck was able to drop what he was doing and come right away

*I had choices for what to do next: wait it out, D&C, induction. Given my sister's complications from a D&C, I wanted to avoid one if at all possible and was thankful that I had other options

*I have a great group of friends at SLOCM, some of whom have had second trimester miscarriages and were a huge help in making the decision to be induced

*I had to switch to the doctor's care because the midwives are not allowed to deliver babies in their second trimester due to the increased risk of severe maternal bleeding. The doctor, though somewhat surprised at my choice to be induced rather than have a D&C, still followed my wishes. I wanted to have an ultrasound to make sure the whole placenta delivered and, if there was retained placenta, to do the D&C in the labor and delivery room rather than the OR.

*I was in the labor/delivery area of the hospital rather than on the regular floor which I'm sure would have made the whole thing feel much less like having a baby and more like a medical procedure. Chuck said it was difficult walking the halls with other dads who were having much different emotions at the birth of their child than he was. Surprisingly though, the sounds of newborn babies crying wasn't as bad as I anticipated. I guess because I didn't go to the hospital expecting to hear my baby cry.

*It turned out that I had met the day nurse, Gina, a couple years before at a Women's Retreat and we had quite a few mutual friends. They began attending Cornerstone Community Church shortly after we moved away. It was very encouraging knowing that she was also a Christian. She prayed with us when neither of us had the words to speak.

*The night nurse, Elizabeth, was a sweetheart. So incredibly sensitive to what we were going through. She laughed with us. And she cried with us when our baby boy was delivered and when she had to go off shift.

*I chose to get an epidural since I might need to be numbed for a possible D&C later anyway and figured I might as well take full advantage of not having to feel the contractions. The anesthesiologist was very compassionate. His wife is pregnant and due the same time I would have been so he was pretty emotional thinking about his own wife and child. I think the epidural was harder for others to watch than for me to get. Both Chuck and Michelle felt faint watching the procedure. The nurse said she can't watch them either or she'll pass out. Chuck later ran into the anesthesiologist in the hall and he was in tears over our loss.

*After several doses of misoprostol, there was some progress but it was clear it would be awhile. We got a few hours of sleep and at 6am our little boy was delivered. He was tiny at just 4 1/4 inches long. His little hands and feet were adorable.

*We had a couple hours to see and hold our baby, take some photos of him with a tiny quilt my mom made for him that would have matched his nursery bedding and say our goodbyes.

*An utrasound showed that the placenta fully delivered and I did not need a D&C

*My best friend, Michelle, was able to come and be with us at the hospital until 2:30am. It helped to have someone to talk to and laugh with about other stuff besides the impending delivery. Not sure what I'd do without her. She has been right by our side through this whole thing. She came the night we found out, sat with us at the hospital, joined me for some last minute Christmas shopping a couple days after, and then came the following night along with my friend Corinne to hang out and chat again and give us gifts from our girls' night out group. My close girl friends had a tree planted in memory of our baby, got us gift certificates for dinner and ice cream and offered to watch our kids so we can go on a date night sometime.

*My mom has been a huge help. She took the kids for several days while I was in the hospital and recovering. She also came and helped out at the house afterwards. She did dishes and laundry and childcare and meals. With the continued cramping I've had over the last 7 days, it's been nice to have some help with the kids and house. And, she did all of this while having her own plate very full with planning a wedding reception for my cousin, baking the cake, decorating the building, etc. Not to mention that she still has lots of Christmas shopping, baking, and such to do. They never even got a tree this year!

*Our friends and family have been a huge blessing and encouragement to us at this time. Church friends, family, friends from SLOCM, blogging friends, etc. have all sent their condolences and words of encouragment over the loss of our son. We appreciate everyone's prayers while we were in the hospital and now as we grieve. We go back to the doctor on January 7th. We will hopefully get the results from pathology and chromosome testing at the appointment and have some answers as to why our baby lived so short a life.

All this to say that God is good! Even when things are tough, he's still good.

My First Christmas in Heaven

2009-12-24T02:12:00.000-08:00

“I see the countless Christmas trees around the world below
With tiny lights, like heaven's stars, reflecting in the snow.
The sight is so spectacular, please wipe away the tear,
For I am spending Christmas with Jesus this year.
“I hear the many Christmas songs that people hold so dear,
The sounds of music can't compare with the choir up here.
I have no words to tell you, the joy their voices bring,
For it is beyond description, to hear the angels sing.
“I know how much you miss me, I see the pain inside your heart.
But I am not so far away, we really aren't apart.
So be happy for me, dear ones, you know I hold you dear.
And be glad I'm spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.
Please love and keep each other, as my Father said to do.
For I can't count the blessings or love he has for each of you.
So have a Merry Christmas and wipe away that tear,
Remember, I am spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.”

This poem was supposedly written by a 13 year old boy who died of a brain tumor that he had battled for four years. He died on December 14, 1997. He gave this to his mom before he died. His name was Ben.

Christmas Tree

2009-12-20T08:33:00.000-08:00

This year we went to the tree farm with our friends, The Doughans, and Grammie Mary and Papa Chuck. Patrick and his buddy Jackson had a great time running through the trees and "cutting" down trees with their stick saws. Kimberly liked finding the little ends of pine branches on the ground and smashing dirt clods.

Corinne and Micah holding the tree so it doesn't fall over.

Jackson and Patrick helping to cut down the Doughan's tree.

Kimberly finding treasures.

Patrick and Daddy cutting down our tree.

Chuck, Colin and the kids.