the backporch

These pictures were taken a couple days ago...before K man got the nasty bug that has trickled through everyone in this house:( Poor sweet pea.

We don't have a backyard really in this house, but we do have a screened in back porch. The other day the kiddos were playing on it and I snapped some pics because I have taken an all time low number of pictures this month.

A drawing with chalk: K, this was after his nap, so he has a sippy of milk, which he wasn't to interested in drinking:) This picture is just so you can see the back of his new haircut:)

Bubbles:

Looks like someone beat her up, but it's just chalk;)

And relaxing:

I will be so glad:

• when everyone is healthy here
• when it feels like fall (the days have been shorter, pumpkin spice lattes are here, now where is some fall weather, please!?)
• when everyone is healthy...oh I already said that, but seriously, this blows!! We are a relatively healthy family, this has been the hardest hit with sickness we have been so far...ugh.

P.S. Thanks to everyone who made a donation, Aislynn (and I) really really appreciate it!!!

4 things

1. I caught whatever nasty nasty virus A had. And nasty it was. This was the sickest I have been in the 11 years Shaun and I have been together. Thankfully, he totally stepped up and played Mr. Mom so I could get better. And good thing I am finally feeling better because now he has the virus:( So far it has made it through everyone but K and really really really hoping it stays that way...

2. I took A and K for well-checks last Tuesday (that was the last day before I was banished to the bed). At 5, Aislynn weighed in at 48.5 lbs and was 45 3/5 inches high. At 15 months (more like 15.5) Kieran weighed in at 22 lbs 2 oz and is 31 inches high. He has finally made it to the 25th percentile in weight, he has been in the 5th the whole time.

3. Since I was out of commission last week, I didn't have time to post before the trike-a-thon occurred, but they are still taking donations through September 22nd, which is tomorrow. Aislynn's school had a trike-a-thon to raise money for St. Jude's hospital. The class that raises to most gets a party, so if you want to make a donation in her name, here you go: www.mytrikeathon.org/aislynn

4. I cut Kieran's hair last Monday. It looks cute...not professional, and I am still getting used to how much bigger he looks. I promise it's better than this bang job (my last attempt at hair-cutting):

That's A circa May 2008:)

five

Yesterday Miss A turned 5. Crazy. It seems like it has gone by in an instant. We had a very low key day because A has been sick with a nasty virus since Tuesday. We are postponing the Disney trip until later. She got to open a few presents and we had cake. I asked her a few questions and here are her answers:

1. What are your favorite foods? watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, apples, carrots

2. What is your favorite color? red

3. What are your favorite movies? The Princess and the Frog, my silly movies (that is the collection of Pixar short films)

4. What are your favorite tv shows? Curious George, Sesame Street, Olivia

5. What are your favorite things to do? swimming, play Candyland, play ponies, crafts, play Hullabaloo

6. What was your favorite thing that happened when you were 4? when I painted :)

7. What do you hope happens to you when you are 5? I feel better (poor honey)

8. If you could live anywhere, where would it be? Disney

9. What's your favorite thing to bake? a cake

10. What do you think you will learn about when you are 5? being good

11. What are your favorite books? Fancy Nancy

She woke up this morning in much better spirits, no fever, and hasn't thrown up since about 6 last night, so hoping that was it and that no one else gets sick in the house. She can't wait to go back to school too, so hoping she feels up to it tomorrow!

sweet sissy

When K wakes up in the morning, or from his nap, he gets a sippy of milk and snuggles with one of us while he "wakes up." Saturday, Aislynn wanted to hold him and then she told me I could take pictures:) Since she normally doesn't want to take pictures, I of course jumped at the chance.

As much as she annoys him and he annoys her (he is quickly catching on to that sibling fun-ness!), she adores and loves him so much:) Oh how I love witnessing these moments:) And seriously, how could you resist this guy? Crazy nap hair and all:)

15 months

Mr. K turned 15 months a week ago, so I decided to do a little update:)At 15 months, he:

• NEVER stops moving when awake and is quite clumsy (the boo boo on his nose occurred after falling over his little push bike toy and getting a bad rug burn)
• if you try to pick him up while he is walking around, he gets very mad at you
• he is starting the going boneless (KnuffleBunny, anyone?) fits...screams and cries, sometimes hits and flails about when you are holding him and he doesn't want you too or sometimes when you are trying to put him in the car seat:(
• when you put pause during Goodnight Moon at this part: the quiet old lady was whispering...he whispers hush:) We also have a book called "What Should We Do With the Boo Hoo Baby?" and when you say "the baby says..." he fills in boo hoo hoo.
• is TOTALLY a Daddy's boy:) Shaun has been getting him in the morning for the past couple weeks so when he wakes up, I hear "da da....da da...da da" on the monitor. Whenever he wakes up from his nap, he knows that Shaun will be up and he can't wait to see him:) If he hears Shaun from another room, he has to go find him. I looooooove watching my boys together;)
• his idea of playing is picking up a toy (usually a block or book) in each hand and carrying it around...sometimes he will take them to another room, find other things, and then carry them back to the living room.
• says "no" a lot. He and A have a game in the backseat where one says no in a sing songy voice, then the other one will and then they laugh. Repeat again and again and again:)
• used to b a good eater, now? Not so much. He is pretty picky, and it seems like his tastes change from day to day. One day he will eat cheese, the next day he won't, etc. He still looooooves bananas (well, all fruit really). The other day while grocery shopping, we walked by the bananas and he started saying "na na na."
• sleeps with his blanky...really need to find another one on ebay or something. When you lay him down for a nap or bedtime, he pulls it around his face and starts chewing/sucking on it.
• loves Thomas the Train. He gets all excited when he sees Thomas and squeals "ta" "ta" "ta".
• Also loves dogs (or "da). Has no fear whatsoever and gets super excited when he sees them.
• likes to bring us blocks and says "bla" for them.
• likes to get Shaun's hat ("ha") off of his head.

and one of my favorite things he does is holds a phone (toy, one of our cells, my mp3 player, or a remote will do) to his ear and says "ho" and proceeds to babble like he is talking on it. Sometimes he starts doing this just when he hears the phone ring....so cute:) He is definitely acting more like a toddler then a baby:( But this is a super fun age, just tiring chasing him around, ha ha;)

In other news, A is turning 5 (seriously cannot believe how fast time has gone by, yikes!) this Saturday, and we are going to Disney to celebrate! I think we are leaving Wednesday and coming back Sunday, so we'll do parks Thursday-Saturday. Should be tons of fun, can't wait!!! :)

food

The last few pictures I have taken seem to have a recurring theme, food:) So that's where I got the name for this blog post:)

Here is a box of fresh fruits and vegetables from Off the Vine. Searching for a way to get produce that is more fresh then the store, we stumbled across this. There are different options but we got the mixed box. Every week they take the most fresh veggies and fruit from FL and the surrounding states and you can order a mixed box, all fruit box, etc. Everything is organic and they have different offerings each week. Our box had green leaf lettuce, okra, fennel, green beans, carrots, celery, gold potatoes, yellow tomatoes, kale, cucumbers, black plums, gingergold apples, cantaloupe, red grapes, and an avocado. What was so great about it was that we tried different things. I would have never probably bought fennel, but we made a delicious pork roast and roasted veggies with it. You can sign up on a recurring basis or do as needed, which is what we will do. This week"s box didn't sound all that appealing to us so we didn't get it. I am so excited that we found this now! We haven't been to the farmers market here in awhile, but with fall on the brink, hopefully some more vendors will be showing up. It was pretty slow during the summer. Here is A eating the cheesecake she made in cooking class last week. The school she goes to has elective classes that she can stay at for after the preschool part ends. So Tuesdays are cooking class and art class is about to begin 2 times a week-fun! She loves cooking class. This week they made pizza macaroni and cheese and she told me she tasted pepperoni and that she does like it so now she will get it on pizza:) We have fallen into some sort of routine now. When we get back from dropping A off, K has a snack and I get their lunch made so when we get back from picking her up, it is all ready and there are no cranky hungry kids:) I bought some little cookie cutters and have been making fun lunches. This has gotten A to try some new foods like green peppers, cucumbers, and avocado that she normally would have turned her nose down on before. I guess when they are in fun shapes, they are harder to resist, lol. I just have her try them and she doesn't have to eat it if she doesn't like it (getting her to try new foods was the hardest part!). Here is an example from one day last week: cheese, ranch dressing for the veggies, cantaloupe, carrots with heart shaped cucumbers for the tops, and turkey, avocado and mustard sandwiches.

Another thing we started doing is making our own popcorn on the stove. It is sooooooo yummy and we are trying to season it different ways, plus, A thinks the popping sounds are totally fun:)

Okay, now I'm hungry, lol!

The other night, Shaun and I painted. We decided to do sunsets since we saw a lot of them last week. I love how we interpreted them differently and no, we aren't super duper artists or anything. But it was nice to have another creative release, drink wine and do something together besides watch tv:)

Shaun's is the top and mine is the bottom. A thinks they are masterpieces:)

I have got some layouts to share and am almost done with a sewing project, so maybe when I take pictures of that, I will take pictures of the other ones I have done:)

a super student and sunsets

When I dropped off Aislynn at school on Monday, I looked in her cubby and saw this certificate: Super Student of the Week. She was the super student last week and she didn't even tell us! She said she forgot? Well, I wanted to make a big deal out of it so we surprised her with cupcakes after dinner. So proud of her!!! Just can't figure out how she forgot?? Maybe she thinks she is just so fabulous that it wasn't a big deal, ha ha;)

Something we have been doing lately is eating dinner early then walking on the beach. With all the off-on rainstorms we have been getting, the sunsets have been looking really cool! Eastern Lake was pretty shallow, so we splashed and played around in it one night:I guess they have been taking water samples and the Gulf is okay...still a teensy bit skeptical but we haven't been seeing tarballs for awhile now so maybe it is fine. Just waiting for all the gross seaweed to go away and then maybe we will go swimming in the Gulf again.

Oh, and if any of you were wondering, the collage was made at bighugelabs.com:)

I have 2 layouts to share from last week...haven't had much time to create anything lately:( I have a big order of pictures (Thanks Candi!!) from snapfish that should come soon and then I can get to scrapping! I need to catch up on my sewing class too, I have really fallen behind!

I used a sketch from Studio Calico for the one above. I made this for Candi's use older product challenge. The papers are at least 2 years old and those letters are at least 18 months old. I scraplifted a layout by Kandis Smith. *Oh and Becky, yup a 12x12...kinda miss the square sometimes:) Have a great weekend everyone!

the one with the slump

I have felt like I have been in a slump this week. I think it's still trying to get in some kind of routine, I was sick to my stomach and throwing up all day one day, and Aislynn's behavior has been not the best some days, which has been really frustrating to Shaun and I. But we have had a couple of talks with her and will make a few changes here and there and we should hopefully see some changes in her behavior. So I haven't felt much like taking pictures or blogging. Despite that, there were some major highlights in the week but first here the few snaps I got this week:She has been wearing her sunglasses a lot lately, pretending to be a movie star;) He has been a stinker this week...def. testing his limits lately...

And the back of his hair...I think I am just going to wait to cut it;)

Monday night, we met Brynne and Sean at the Red Bar, one of our fave restaurants...the atmosphere is so cool, and they had a band that night. We only saw a few songs before we headed out to put those crazy kids to bed:)

And this picture below is what happens when both kids get up around 5 a.m. This was about 2.5 hours later:)

We took quite a few beach walks this week. We saw rainbows 2 nights (all the rain this week might have had something to do with my mood too), and some amazing sunsets. I also had a very proud mama moment when I picked A up from school and her teachers commented that I didn't tell them my child was brilliant. They said she read a book to the class and that they were so impressed with the words she was reading and not even having to sound them out. One of the little boys Mom told me that Matthew loves Aislynn. She said he talks about her all the time and the other day he said, "Mom, Aislynn can read and she knows all the animals!" LOL. So cute...

Aislynn also is signed up for a cooking class at school, so on Tuesdays she gets picked up an hour later. She loved it...they made meatballs with noodles stuffed inside and she ate them for dinner that night.

Well, here's to hoping this week has a little bit better vibe to it and we can slip into a routine:) I will hopefully take more pictures and blog more too:)

the one with the updates

It's been awhile since I posted about what this little guy is up to, so I thought I would give a little update:) First some pictures though... Love the one below...he looks so cute:D

He loves this little push thing (we never know what to call it...bike, car, truck? Aislynn calls it a bike). Although this is the cause for most of his bumps and boo boos...he trips over it while pushing it over even stands on the seat part.

And just a picture I caught kinda by accident, but fits perfectly for this stage right now: one busy blur of a little boy. So right now, Mr. K is up to:

• walking ALL over the place...it's amazing how quick they get fast
• knows where his hair, eyes, ears, nose, belly, tongue, and teeth are
• says "ba" for ball and block (you know what he means by which one he is holding, says "da" for dog, "ea" for eat, and says "boo ba" and "di da" a lot (not sure what they mean though)...he started saying "boo ba" after he heard me say "booyah" so maybe that is what that means, lol
• has become quite the ham, especially at dinner, he loves to make us laugh
• he dances...which is hilarious to watch, he wiggles his shoulders and bounces up and down, so funny!
• is def. getting more vocal about when he wants something...he makes noise and points in the general direction of what he wants...oh and if you take something away that he wants, he is very good at letting you know he is mad about that;)
• finally will sit still for other books besides Blue Train Green Train and Goodnight Moon

Okay, that's all I can think of off the top of my head...we are so enjoying this personality of his that is coming through, seriously can't imagine this little dude not in our lives!!

And here are my latest scrappy pages: The one above, I lifted from Heather Bowser. And that one I lifted from Kelly Goree.

The sewing class started and is going very interesting:) It's harder to sew on fabric...more slippery than paper. I am also terrible at sewing in a straight line. Really really really hoping this is one of those things that practice makes perfect;)

the one on the first day

All week last week she was so nervous until we got a backpack on Friday. Then it was all "When is it my first day of school?" "Is tomorrow my first day of school?" So today was like Christmas morning, I think due to the nervousness mixed with excitement, and she got up at about 6 a.m. She was a star when it came to taking the first day photos: New hair bow, new dress, new shoes:)

She said she was this excited:

She was so excited when we got to school and gave me a big hug and Kieran a big kiss and said "Have a good day with Kieran, Mom." She even told a little girl that was shy, "Some school students are nervous on the first day, but it's okay."

When we picked her up, she was a grumpy, cranky mess. She didn't want to talk about her day or tell me what they did. I think, well KNOW, that she was super tired and it was lunch time. Later though, she filled Shaun and I in on the day. She said they had circle time where all the kids shouted their names, then stations. She picked the kitchen station where her and 2 other girls (she couldn't remember anyone's names...not even the teachers) pretended to make breakfast (fried eggs and bread). She told me "Mom, we pretended we were princesses! I was Cinderella, one girl was Belle, and one was Princess Aurora!" Then they played outside for a little bit, "but not too long because it was so hot." And they had circle time again where the teacher read a story and then they danced. She told me she didn't follow the other kid's moves, she just did what moves she wanted to do:) She brought home 2 pictures she colored, thankfully...as she was quite concerned that her backpack would be empty:) So she did have a good day and she told me she was excited for her second day of school! Woo hoo...so relieved;)

Kieran was so happy to see his sissy, as soon as he saw her he was babbling up a storm and the whole way home he kept chatting away to her:) She said she missed him, but not me...ouch. I said, you must have been to busy to miss me and she said, "Yeah, that's right." Well, at least she missed Kieran:) Now to figure out how to adjust him to this new schedule...kinda cuts into nap time for him since her school is 35-40 minutes away with traffic and is only 3 hours long. He was definitely one cranky dude today.

the one with all the sand

So Shaun and I are HUGE Friends nerds. We have all of the seasons and have been watching them again lately, we are on season 6, one of the best, imo! I saw on someones blog that all of their title posts were, the one with....which if you are Friends nerds like us, you get it;) So I am totally stealing their idea. I mean, each blog post is a little "episode" of our lives, so it fits right? Anyways, I haven't taken any pictures this week since we have gotten back, so it was my mission to get some yesterday.Should I cut his hair? I kinda want to, but just not sure yet. I love how the back curls under almost (need to get a snap of that!) but his hair is getting longer, hmmm... He LOVES these cars. There is a set of four and you pull them backward and let go and they zoom forward. He pushes them around, but hasn't quite grasped how they actually work yet. If we make them go down the long hallway, he giggles big time and chases them, so cute!

Just some more walking pictures, def. getting better at this!

Nice tongue sticking out for concentration;)

So we went for a walk on the beach last night. There was SOOOOO much seaweed washed up, it was gross and it smelled bad:( But K didn't mind...he got the best deal;)

She didn't mind either, she just danced around on the sand.

K's kisses. Slobbery, but sweet, I love them:)

Oh yeah, sand does taste gross...

And if you think that is a sandy face, he was walking on the sand after this and took a nose dive and there was sand EVERYWHERE-his eyes, nose, ears...all over. He wasn't too pleased, so we went home after that:)

Getting ready for school Monday, is it weird that I am feeling some super anxiety over this? Aislynn is too, I know she will love it...I think I am feeling anxiety over her anxiety, lol! Anyways, have a great weekend!

**Oh, P.S. A drew a name for my challenge and Candi is the winner, so I will send you some goodies soon!! Thanks to everyone who played along:D