Random Ramblings

Look at my handsome (well as handsome as you can be wearing a princess helmet sitting on a Tinkerbell bike) boy...I think he's so stinkin' cute but I'm pretty biased :)



Daddy gave Mommy's Tahoe a good and much needed vaccuming. Yeah...it was pretty bad. The kids had fun sitting in the drivers seat...






Jacks favorite hiding place so far in the house. He has a brand new kitty condo, but no...he's just fine up here.


Daddy got a new toy...can you guess what it might be???


And a better clue...


Yes...we are now the proud owners of a 75 gallon salt water fish tank. Keith and the kids are VERY excited. Ryan has now added a new word to his repertoire..."ish...ish...ish!!!!"

A new normal

I didn't realize how much of a change it would be in our daily routine when we moved into the new house. I guess I sort of thought we'd do the same thing but in a new place? Boy was I wrong! Moving from a one story to a two story that is almost twice the size has been challenging! Upstairs, downstairs, upstairs, downstairs, sore legs....so tired! Anyway...I'm starting to see the light at the tunnel a bit so I'll post a few pictures from the last couple days. Shockingly I took NONE of us actually moving. I guess I was a bit busy! Also many people keep asking to the see paint colors, etc so hopefully I'll get to that soon. In the meanwhile this will have to tide you over (grandma!!)!

You are never to young to be put to work! :P You can sorta see the main house paint color here...


Relaxing with Daddy...



This box of toys kept him busy for 5 minutes while I unpacked a box ;P


Our poor Chicken Poo Spaniel Bear has had a rough transition to the wood floors. She's scared of her own nails clicking on the floor! So they sold these doggy socks at Petco but they didn't stay on long. Oh well :)


My life at the moment...(you can sorta see our dining room paint color!)


We are loving our new house and feel extremely blessed.

Home

Amidst the excitement of moving to a wonderful BIG new house, I'm feeling a bit sad. As the pictures come down and the walls begin to look bare and the boxes fill up with all our worldly possessions, I can't help but think back almost 6 years to May 15 2004. Keith and I weren't even married yet, but engaged. I'd traveled away from my friends and family to start a life in Houston, TX. I didn't know ANYONE. But we bought a house. A wonderfully awesome (to us) little house with SOOOO much room that we couldn't possibly fill it up right? It was in an awesome community where I'd hoped to get a teaching job.

If you could see our garage right now, I think we have quadruple the amount of boxes than we did when we moved into this house...


It's ours!


A clean slate...


But it didn't take long for us begin filling it up. With furniture... Couches first and then a few months later dining room and bedroom! I don't think I'd (via Keith of course) ever paid for anything so expensive before. Major buyers remorse if I recall!



We also planted this tree...a Sycamore that I LOVE and secretly wish I could take with me to our new house. It grew and grew...just like our family...


We continued to fill the house but this time with a sister for Jack the cat...Cali the Cockapoo...


Our family expanded and we brought home our sweet baby Katelyn Elizabeth...


Followed by Ryan Todd...


And it was quite evident we had outgrown our little house. We were busting at the seams! We had always planned to move when we had a second child and before we knew it there we were.

This house has endured a lot, and protected from harm many times....two hurricanes...one named Rita that passed to the East of us with hardly any local damage and one named Ike that made a direct hit and left us without power for almost 2 weeks...


Two trees falling on it...


And a flood from a washing machine. We were so blessed to have such a wonderful roof over our heads.

I will also miss our wonderful neighbors. We've watched our kids grow together. Some have moved to different neighborhoods as well but I'm sure we will always have a bond...



So little house I will miss you....so many memories created right here in your walls...in your yard...in this neighborhood. Way too many to narrow down in pictures; hopes for the future, newborn cries, first steps, squeals in the backyard, walks around our neighborhood in the wagon and to the park, birthdsys, and family get togethers...

So we are turning the page...we are going to make new memories in our new home. It has a lot to live up too.

Glam

Katie found her princess make-up from Disneyland and decided to give herself a little make-over.

From January 2010

I saw her run from her room to the bathroom rather quickly during naptime and I knew something was up. When I opened the door she gave me those puppy dog eyes and said.."Mommy...look I did my makes ups like Grandma from the airport." Too cute! And just an FYI this is not how my mom does her make-up...I'm sure she'd want me to make that clear :P

Funny Faces

Ryan makes these seriously funny faces sometimes. I have no idea what they are or why he makes them. I think he's trying to copy us making funny faces? It's hard to catch it on camera but I got a few at dinner tonight...ignore the mashed potato face!




Serious face...and she seriously eats her dinner with her hair like this! Drives me batty!


Bubs


On an unrelated note...I felt like a I was on safari catching a rare moment in nature when I took this picture...

Boy On The Move

It's not a month birthday or anything today but I felt like sharing a little about our little man at almost 16 months old.

He loves to climb on/in anything...with his favorite things being the coffee table and chairs.


He's a busy bee...always going, going, going! A smile is rare and fleeting on the camera although he does smile quite a bit.


He likes to figure things out...pushing buttons, taking things apart, pulling things down, seeing how things work...


He talks way more than I remember Katie talking at this age.


Here are some words he says and sounds he makes just so I can look back and remember...

guk - used for milk or drink
cah - car
mama
dada
sissa/sometimes sissy
jah jah- jack jack
puh - poodle/cali
crackah - cracker
fish - goldfish/fish
bah - bye
boo - as in peek-a-boo
nuh uh - as in no
bah boy - yeah he learned this one from Katie who calls him bad boy when he bugs her
uh oh
duck and quack
unk - oink
ah ah - monkey sounds
chuck - truck
ous - outside
up
dow - down
book
dang goo - thank you
apple - uses for most fruit

gosh I'm sure there are more but that's all I can think of.

He's such a sweet boy when he's in a good mood. But if he's cranky watch out. He loves following his sister and his sister loves following him (a little too much). He loves playing in her room, making a mess, dumping the water off her nightstand, pulling things out of her drawers.

He's starting to love trains and anything that "goes." His all time favorite place to be is outside. If the door opens and he's not going out...big time tantrum! He loves to eat fruit and crackers and could probably eat it all day every day if I let him.

He still doesn't like to be left in the church nursery but I am told he cries for a little bit and eventually moves on. He does not mind being left with grandparents at all and in fact probably doesn't notice I'm even gone.

He is for sure a mama's boy through and through. I can't leave a room without him crying and banging on the door. I'm sure it won't be long before Daddy's number one in his book so I'll enjoy it while I can.



Oh and most importantly he sleeps! A far cry from what this little guy was NOT doing a year ago...