Today is Chad’s 24th birthday!! I say 24 sounds so much older than 23. He says now he’s only 1 year away from being able to rent a car!
Happy Birthday, Chad!! We love you so much!
Love,
Lora, Ava & Kelvin
Posted: August 22nd, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 4
We have a crazy-busy weekend coming up. Since we’re going to be so busy, we celebrated Chad’s birthday today, even though it isn’t until Saturday. I have some pictures, but they’re taking forever to upload because Chad’s downloading something. They will be in my photobucket sometime tonight, though!
I think Chad had a nice early birthday, though. I made the dinner he requested (marinated chicken, mashed potatoes and salad) and his favorite cake (yellow cake with strawberry sauce). I also helped the kids make a gift for him, which I’ll be posting about here if my pictures EVER finish uploading!! He said he didn’t want me to buy him a gift right now because neither of us could think of anything he really wanted. So he’ll be getting a late birthday gift sometime in the future!
Anyway, tomorrow, we’re heading up to Kim and Rob’s house to visit them and Chad’s parents, who will be visiting, too. I really hope that kids handle the car ride OK. We’ll be driving up right after they wake up in the morning, so they probably won’t sleep at all. Ava will be OK, since we have the DVD player, but Kelvin isn’t at all interested in movies yet. We’ll see.
Anyway, we’ll only be staying up there until just after dinner time because we need to be back at our house and able to go to church on Saturday. Our congregation is starting a Growing Kids God’s Way series of seminars and the first one is Saturday evening. Other church members will be providing baby-sitting, so we’ll actually be able to listen and I’m really looking forward to it.
Then on Sunday, a friend and I are going shopping for party supplies for the baby shower we’re throwing for another friend.
So yes, it is going to be a crazy weekend! It’s a good thing we have call center services (OK, I know that didn’t make any sense….I could not figure out how to work that into this post!!) Anyway, I’ll “see” you all on the other side, if I make it through! LOL
Posted: August 20th, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 2
I can’t believe we’re already almost through August!! It seems crazy that kids are already back in school here (they started last Wednesday). I really need to get my butt in gear planning some preschool activities for Ava to start on in a few weeks. I’ve gone back and forth about whether or not to buy a preschool curriculum this year. It isn’t expensive (only $30) and it’s geared towards 2-year-olds, but I’ve found some really good ideas on homeschooling blogs for homeschooling preschoolers without curriculum. Either way, I need to start getting some plans down on paper, so I know what I’m going to be doing.
I also can’t believe it’s getting close to Feast time! I’m already making plans in my head about all the things I need to buy and pack before then. I’m going to need to have the kids’ fall/winter wardrobes before then because right now all the clothes they have in their size are summer clothes (which will not work for Colorado!). I’m excited, though, because I’ve seen some cute fall outfits (and shoes!) this year.
I got the dehydrator my mom bought for me in the mail yesterday! I’m grocery shopping this afternoon and I’m really excited to buy some fruit to dry in it. I’ll be working on a post about it soon!
I really need to start posting here every time the kids do something funny or cute because I seriously can’t remember anything lately (and then you’re stuck with boring posts about clothes shopping and stuff)! I know there was a cute story about Kelvin that I wanted to share, but I guess it will have to wait until I remember it later. He has a new word, though…he started saying “thank you” a couple days ago! I kept thinking I heard him say it (usually when Ava gives him food, which is pretty much constantly LOL), but it took awhile for me to make sure. It’s so cute, though!
Anyway, that’s about all I can think of right now. Time for me to get a few things done before we need to go grocery shopping!
Posted: August 18th, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 2
I’m so glad that the Sabbath is almost here. It has been such a long week. We weren’t extraordinarily busy or anything, I’ve just been really tired. Kelvin is teething again, so neither of us have been sleeping well at all.
Today the kids and I went to the library like we normally do on Fridays. Ava never gets tired of our library…they have so many fun things for the kids: a huge fish tank that includes Nemo and Dory, a playhouse, puzzles, a big car and boat (each can fit at least 5 kids) filled with board books, and a computer room with preschool games. I think Ava could spend all day there, but unfortunately Kelvin gets bored pretty quickly. The only thing he’s even interested in is the fish tank.
During naptime today, I had to do a ton of cooking. A friend was coming over to help plan a baby shower we’re throwing together at the end of the month. I had invited them to stay for dinner, but she hadn’t heard back from her husband yet, so I needed to make sure we had enough food either way. I made burgers, fruit salad, green beans, a yellow cake and strawberry sauce. I also tried to make my own hamburger buns, but they didn’t turn out and I ended up buying some. In the end, they couldn’t stay for dinner, so we have lots of leftovers!!
And now I have Kelvin in bed and Ava will be going to bed in about 30 minutes. After I get the house cleaned up, I think I’m going to bed, too. I really hope Kelvin will let me sleep tonight! This is starting to get really old…my brain is so fuzzy I don’t even have enough brain cells to think about things like insurance marketing! LOL
I hope everyone has a great weekend!!
Posted: August 15th, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 1
I can’t believe I’ve let this blog sit without an original post for as long as I have. I guess I’ve been using all my blogging inspiration at my parenting blog and my money-saving blog. There are several stories about the kids at my parenting blog that I didn’t post here because I don’t want to bore people who read both blogs…but you might want to check that out.
The last few weeks have been slow for us…which is a welcome relief! I keep feeling like there’s a big trip coming up that I need to be preparing for and there isn’t! Not even to orlando villas (though I wouldn’t complain if there was!). We don’t have any trips planned until the Feast (there’s a possibility we might go up to WI before that, but there isn’t a date planned).
I’m getting ready to start Ava on some preschool curriculum this year. I found a program for 2-year-olds that looks like it will be perfect. I know she’s pretty young, but she really enjoys doing worksheets and we’ll be working at her pace. At this age, I really don’t want to push her. If she only wants to work on it for 15 minutes, that’s fine with me. We probably won’t start getting more ambitious about it for another few years. I’m really excited about it, though.
I think she might be getting close to being ready for potty training…and I mean it this time! She’s been telling me sometimes when she needs to pee and she never did that on a regular basis before. She still pees in her diaper sometimes and she never poops in the potty, but it’s progress!
Kelvin is growing like crazy….both physically and mentally! He’s 23 pounds now and he crawls on his hands and knees (he still does his army crawl sometimes, though) and pulls up to standing all the time! He’s talking like crazy, too….he says Mama, uh-oh, yuck, go go go, and there’s a few others that I can’t remember. I really need to write them down in his baby book…tonight! I also think he might have said Ava this morning, but I’m not sure.
I’ve been thinking about getting a dehydrator for awhile now. I’ve been freezing as much produce as I can, but we don’t have a chest freezer and both of my above-the-refrigerator freezers are full. So I thought a dehydrator would be a great way to preserve more produce without taking up freezer space. They’re about $40 at Walmart, though, so I hadn’t bought one yet. But yesterday my mom found me one at Goodwill for only $5 and bought it for me!! I’m so excited!! She said it looked like new and had the instruction manual and everything. She was going to try it out today to make sure it works and if it does, she’s going to mail to me. I can’t wait!!!
OK, blogging time is over, I guess. Kelvin just woke up after 10 minutes and I need to go put him back to sleep…*sigh*
Posted: August 11th, 2009 under Ava, Ava's Potty-Training Journey, Kelvin.
Comments: 1
Oooh, it’s bad when there are two Happy Homemaker Monday’s in a row. Going to have to do better this week!
The weather in my neck of the woods:
We had a nice morning, but now we’re getting some strong storms. I honestly don’t mind, though. It’s been awhile since we had any rain!
One of my simple pleasures:
A quiet house while the kids are napping.
On my bedside table:
Sisterchicks on the Loose….yes, still!
On my TV:
Friends.
On the menu for tonight:
Corn Chowder and Buttery Bread Machine Rolls (which I should be putting in the bread machine instead of sitting here blogging)
On my To Do List:
Grocery shopping
Laundry
Day 7 of the 30-Day Shred
New Recipe I tried last week:
Papa Murphy’s Chicken Garlic Pizza. I’ll post the recipe once I get it tweaked. It did not turn out good last night, but I think I know how to make it better!
In the craft basket:
Nothing.
Looking forward to:
Getting the invitations for Sarah’s baby shower out.
Homemaking Tip for this week:
Drawing a blank here.
Favorite Blog Post of the week (mine or other):
Our Mission: Improvise I so admire Monica’s positive attitude in a situation where I’m pretty sure mine would have been not-so-admirable!
Favorite photo from last week:
Not the greatest picture, but I love it because it makes me so happy that Kelvin’s finally old enough that the kids can play together.
Lesson learned the past few days:
The 30-Day Shred makes me hungry. All the time. A little counter-productive, I think.
On my Prayer List:
Our country….enough said!
Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
I had one in mind, but I would have to find it and the kids just got up from their naps, so my computer time is up! I’ll have to save it for next week!
Posted: August 10th, 2009 under Happy Homemaker Monday.
Comments: 2
The weather in my neck of the woods:
HOT! I shouldn’t complain since the weather has been so nice that last few weeks, but I went out to weed for about 15 minutes this morning and came in feeling sweaty, yucky and dehydrated!
One of my simple pleasures:
Reading a few pages of my book before I go to bed. It’s the only uninterrupted time I ever have!
On my bedside table:
Sisterchicks on the Loose
On my TV:
Kate & Leopold
On the menu for tonight:
Leftovers. It’s grocery shopping day, so that doesn’t leave much time for cooking!
On my To Do List:
Grocery shopping
Weeding – check!
Laundry
Make baby food apples
New Recipe I tried last week:
I actually didn’t follow any recipes last week. I had a lot of odds and ends meat and veggies, so I was making up my own recipes and they all turned out really good!
In the craft basket:
Haha! That’s funny! Where on earth would I find time for crafts?
Looking forward to:
My Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred coming in the mail…no weight loss product for me!
Being able to leave my bedroom. I locked myself in here until Chad gets home to kill the wasp that’s buzzing around downstairs. He should be home within 30 minutes.
Homemaking Tip for this week:
Spray for weeds in your landscaping at the BEGINNING of the summer, not in the middle!! In order to spray this week, I’ve had to do some major weeding!
Favorite Blog Post of the week (mine or other):
Hmm…there are so many!! They’re all running together in my head!
Favorite photo from last week:
Oh yes….photos!! I have a ton from our trip up to Wisconsin that I haven’t even uploaded that. I need to get around to that this week!
Lesson learned the past few days:
In order to be a good parent, I really need to learn to slow down and smell the roses!
On my Prayer List:
Stellan
Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
Philippian 4:6-7
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Posted: August 3rd, 2009 under Happy Homemaker Monday.
Comments: 6
