Weekend Update

Congratulations to Karensa! She has her office all put together, and it looks great! She has gone into business for herself and is ready to open her doors. We wish her the best of luck in this brave venture. We know she will do great things!

McKenna is no longer a newborn and is definitely a baby now. She coos and smiles. The other day while I was singing to her, she beamed me a huge smile. Last night (at 4am), she was beaming me the biggest, cutest smiles ever.

Michaela has become quite the singer. She sings all day. No song in particular. She makes them up. She sings about me, her brothers, her baby sister, Daddy, the toy she's playing with, the TV, the weather - anything that pops into her mind.

Kevin's tastes are getting older. He is into the older kid's shows now (but still loves PBS Kids). He can't get enough of the Power Rangers. He is getting more elaborate with his Lego creations. Keith got a webcam yesterday and Kevin played with it for hours, snapping pictures of everything. First thing this morning, he flipped on the computer and started up the webcam to snap more pics.

Kyle is now in the mix of fighting over computer use. 19 months old and already uses the computer. He has a program that when ever you move the mouse or hit a key, a fish pops onto the screen. He already knows moving the mouse does stuff and clicking the buttons on the mouse produces stuff and clicking the keyboard too. He is learning hand eye coordination.

The kids had a TON of fun at Disneyland. They are going back again on Friday (the day Mom and Grandma get here). Ellie, Colin, Kevin and Kaela spent the entire day there - just over 12 hours. What troopers! They wanted to see the fireworks and were really excited to see them. They loved the main street parade and all the rides - well, the rides in Fantasyland. They went on the carousel about 4 times. They stayed in Fantasyland. When they go back on Friday, they will probably check out California Adventure.

Saturday was nice. The party for Tina's Graduation and Auntie Nimfa's Retirement was good. It was at the Country Club. There were two terraces on either side of the ballroom we were in and the kids had fun playing out there. The food was good and it was nice to see all the cousins. I think the kids had the most fun. Kaela fell and bit her lip, but she was okay after a good cry. We tried to do an entire family picture. With that many kids and people and 7 cameras shooting at once, I wonder if anyone did manage to get a "perfect" picture. We got a "good" one, but not with everyone looking good.

Keith is home today, but is in the blue room working away as if he wasn't here. He is using today as a work day so that when he takes time off next week, he can use today as a comp day. Yesterday he watched he kids and I went shopping. It was nice to be able to get away. I hadn't done so since my birthday.

We are excited about Mom and Grandma coming down. Grandma will get to see McKenna for the first time. All the kids have really changed in the almost a year since we've seen her.

Well, that is all for now. I added a few pictures to the kids' albums. Click their links to the left. Bye!

It's Just Me and The Babies Today

Kevin and Kaela went to Disneyland today with their Auntie Ris, Auntie Maria and Ellie and Colin. Maria called me about two hours after they had been there and they had already gone one quite a few rides. Kaela, as usual, is very daring and adventurous. Kevin, as usual, is more tentative. Ris, Colin and Kaela went to ride the teacups. Kevin didn't think it looked like something he wanted to do, so Ellie decided she didn't want to go either. But, at the last minute, Ellie changed her mind and hopped the line and joined them. Kevin watched. After they ate their lunch, Kevin decided that he could try the teacups, so they were going to go again. The had also gone on the carousel. Kaela, Ellie and Colin each had a horse and Kevin opted for a nice safe bench on the carousel. Auntie Ris kept him company on that. I can't wait to hear all about their day. They are going to try to stay late into the evening to see the fireworks.

I had a few hours to myself earlier. Kyle and Kenna both napped at the same time. That was really nice. I was able to get some work done on the computer and to take a short cat nap on the couch. I've had this headache for the past two days. It's been hot and I didn't sleep well last night. I was hot, then cold, then hot, then cold. I must've woke a dozen times.

Keith worked a bit late last night. Not as bad as it was last summer, but he's been coming home at a decent time for awhile now and I've been spoiled. They are doing all kinds of projects over there and really keeping busy.

Tomorrow we are headed south for my cousin's graduation party and my aunt's retirement party. It should be fun. All the cousins are planning on being there and I have a feeling that cameras will be flashing all day long. We've never had an occasion with all the grandkids present at the same time. We will probably be trying to do a few group shots. We'll see how that goes. Thirteen kids six and under.

The Hot Weather is Back

Wow, it is definitely late May in Southern California. On the weekend it was blazing hot. It isn't as hot today, nor was it yesterday, but there's something about the sun this time of year. There are no clouds and no shade. Is the sun closer to the Earth? It feels like I'm frying!

We went to Payless shoes for their buy one, get one half off sale. There were five other moms and four other big strollers in the toddler/kids shoe aisle. It definitely is too hot for shoes. Everyone was buying sandals. One mom and I commented to each other that this is a yearly ritual right around this time. She seemed pretty laid back. The other moms were clearly stressed out looking for just the right sandal for their kid. The problem is that Payless carries character sandals. Spiderman, Dora, Madagascar, Hello Kitty, Ninja Turtles, etc. Well, of course no matter what size your child's feet are, they are out of stock of the character they want. They have every single character in every other size but the one your child wants. Why is that?

I hate the character shoes. Very rarely do I buy character shoes. Last year and this year Kevin wanted character shoes. This year he wanted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I let him try them on and if they fit (last year they didn't), then I would indulge him. This year, same thing. They didn't fit. 11 was too small, 12 was too big, no 11 1/2. So, he missed out again. I convinced him to get some nice brown leather ones. Kaela and Kyle both got brown leather ones too.

Afterwards we went to Target, they are remodeling and the store was turned upside down. I couldn't find anything. It made my quick stop there a little too long and it was getting to be nap time. As soon as we got to the car, Kyle fell asleep.

Now we are home. The house is mercifully cool. Kyle and Kenna are asleep. What a nice afternoon.

Oh! Well, I guess I won't wrap it up just yet. What is going on with Kenna?? Two nights in a row, she has slept almost 12 hours through the night. Last night and the night before was 10pm-9:30am. This girl has been sleeping through the night every night since I first blogged about it. Now she is marathon sleeping at night. She is up more during the day, but likes to lie under her arches and play. Her arches is this mat with two arches that criss cross and connect to each corner. There are five dangly thingys that she looks at. It was Kaela's, then Kyle used it and now Kenna is using it.

Okay. That's it for now. Bye!

A Beautiful SoCal Day

A Beautiful SoCal Day

We spent the weekend down in San Diego. We spent Saturday in Balboa Park. The weather was absolutely beautiful. It was a bit on the hot side. The kids got a bit too much sun and had little red faces. Of course we kept McKenna out of the sun and under a blanket as much as possible.

A very nice lady took this family picture for us. We got a lot of smiles and really nice comments about the kids. When we go out, I almost always get comments from other parents "who've been there done that" with the same number of kids. They are always very positive comments. The parents are usually beaming bright smiles, as if they are happy that we have so many children.

Genealogy

Every once in a while I hop on Ancestry.com and search for info on family members. It's difficult to find any genealogical (is that a word?) data on my parent's families. The explanation for that is that most public records were burned during WWII. Also, many people had to flee their homes, and their homes were destroyed. As a result, there are not a lot of pictures around and information, like family trees, were left behind. I have some info from my dad's side, but not much. I have more from my mom's side.

Today, I searched on Keith's grandfather. I had done this several times before, but haven't found more info than I already had. But today, I hit the jackpot! I was able to find info that was already complied that sprouted off Keith's Dad's Father's Mother. So, going back, from that branch, Kevin, Kaela, Kyle & Kenna's ancestors can be traced back 15 generations. The earliest ancestor listed was from 1580. I find this all very fascinating. The tree has over 11,000 names in it. I spent a few hours pouring over it. It is not complete tree in that some of these families had 10 - 13 kids and they had 10 - 13 kids, etc. There was more info on some branches more than others. But it is so interesting to me that my kids have some part of them from these people that lived almost 500 years ago.

Height Predictor

Okay, so I get this e-mail entitled: How Tall will Your Child Be?

Begin the curious type, I click the e-mail links, and it's for kids age 2 and older. So, I did Kevin and Kaela. Here are the results:

"Your boy will likely be 5 feet, 10 inches at age 18."
"Your daughter will likely be 5 feet, 3 inches tall at age 18."

So, given that info, Kyle might be taller because Kyle is more than 2 inches taller than Kevin was at 18 months.

Kaela might end up being the shortest in the family. I was the shortest in mine.

We shall see. It'll be interesting if this turns out to be correct.

Halfway Through May

Sunday and all is business as usual. It is hot today. Low 80s. Kenna is asleep. Kyle, Kaela and Kevin are watching TV and playing. Keith and I are at the computers. I did a bit of cleaning up and straightening today. The garage was a mess and needed to be reset because I had all the dining chairs in there and the "new" stuff we bought.

I finally finished reupholstering our new dining set. It looks really good I think. I borrowed Mom and Dad's steamer and cleaned the cushions and then reupholstered right over the old stuff. The weekend before Keith and I tried pulling out the staples holding down the fabric, but the mid sized section had like 100 staples in it. There were a total of 6 cushions. I was not up for removing all those staples. Well, it looks good I think. I finished that on Tuesday. I finished the steam cleaning on Monday.

On Wednesday, the kids and I went shopping. We returned items that I bought on the weekend that I decided we didn't really need. One of those items was newborn sized diapers. After I bought them, I realized that Kenna really should be moved up to a size 1. She is so big now! Can you believe she is still sleeping through the night? Today, I was able to sleep in until 8:30.

Thursday the cleaners came. We picked up Kevin's birthday pictures (finally got them developed). I had Mom and Dad take pictures of Kevin's birthday dinner with a disposable camera since we had ours at the hospital. The pictures came out really bad. The pictures were really dark, even though a flash was used. They were also very grainy. I like digital cameras much better.

Friday I had a doctors appointment. All looks good. Keith watched the kids while I was at my appointment and then we drove him to work. We went down to Mom and Dad's that night to watch/feed the dogs. Mom and Dad left for the East Coast on Thursday morning and Ris was expected back from the cruise until Saturday afternoon. So, we went there and spent the night.

Friday was Friday the 13th. I went out with Alma to celebrate. For years, Alma and I have been going out on Friday the 13th. Neither one of us remembers why we started doing it or when. It was back in high school. Gosh, so more than 15 years now! Some years have quite a few Friday the 13ths, others, like this year have very few. This the 13th falls on a Friday only this month. The next one isn't until January 2006, then after that is October 2006.

We had a good time. We weren't able to meet until 9pm. We went to Starbucks for coffee, but they closed at 10:30, so after that we went to Friday's. We split and appetizer. But the time we got home it was just after midnight. It was short, but it was a nice visit.

Saturday, Keith took Kevin and Kaela to the park. It was midday and it was HOT. The kids came home and their faces were all red. Keith said the play equipment was so hot that it was un usable. Kevin and Kaela ended up playing in the sand under the equipment where it was nice and shady. Keith and I also took the time to go through most of our boxes that are still taking up valuable space. I thought that we would end up donation/throwing away a lot of things, but I found that most of the boxes contained books and mementos that we wanted to keep. We already got rid of a TON of books in the garage sales we had and we donate a bunch too. So, it looks like we will be taking a lot of that stuff back here with us. I have a lot of little knick knacky stuff that I have had since I was little. I wonder if I will have the strength to unclutter some of this stuff.

I stopped collecting beanies a few years back. Well, when I say beanies, I mean the animal beanies. I had been collecting the bears. But, shortly after Christmas I stopped collecting bears too. There are just too many to collect. I do buy a bear or two every so often if I think it is especially cute or if they have some special meaning to me. I get bears a presents still, and I do love getting them!

We picked Ris up from the airport in the afternoon. She told us all about their cruise. They all had fun fun fun. Ris said that they went swimming with string rays. But, poor Ellie freaked out and screamed hysterically because she was scared. They were huge rays and the size of them really scared her. Poor Ellie! They spent a lot of time on the beaches of the different ports they went to. The also spent time at the pools when they were at sea. Maria, Ellie, Colin and Ris all had a nice time. Ris brought back tee shirts and shells for the kids and Kaela got a doll. I got a nice little hand woven basket.

We headed back home around dinner time and now it's Sunday. We had a busy week and a nice weekend.

Like Father, Like Son

Like Father, Like Son

I took this picture of Kevin today and remembered that Dad took one of Keith that looked similar. I dug the picture out and I think that the pose is hilarious.

Michaela

Michaela, Today

Kyle Having a Snack

Kyle Having a Snack

McKenna One Month Old

McKenna at 1 month

Mother's Day 2005

It was a nice Mother's Day. Kenna and I had our morning bonding session at 5am. We watched the morning unfold. After about an hour, we went back to bed. I got to sleep in until about 9. When I got up, the kids were busy making me Mother's day pictures. Keith made me a nice card that was hung up on the fridge. Kevin made me a nice jungle scene on the computer, complete with animals, trees, mountains, clouds and the sun and moon. Oh, and a roller coaster and pink mountains. Kaela made me a pretty picture full of bright "girlie" colors. Kyle even scribbles something for me. As I was looking at all of these, Kevin went back to the table and drew me a heart and he even wrote his name without anyone having to help him. That in itself was a nice Mother's Day gift.

Last weekend when Mom was here, she drew with the kids and read them all kinds of neat books. She also worked with Kevin on writing his name. She would draw a straight line and then on another piece of paper write out Kevin's name. Kevin would copy the letters. When we were filling out Kevin's Mother's day cards for his Grandmas and Great Grandma, I did the same thing. But as I watched him, I noticed that he wasn't looking at what I hard wrote, and it appeared he was writing the letters from memory. So, when he handed me my Mother's day heart with his name, it proved that he could finally write his name. I am so proud!

After receiving my pictures from the kids, Keith went to get his hair cut and took Kevin along. Kyle and Kenna both slept and Kaela and I cleaned up. Keith and Kevin came home and we all hung out for a while so Kyle could nap. We woke him up then walked to the park. The kids had fun playing (of course) and then Keith and Kevin played soccer for a bit. We headed home and then went out to dinner with Mom and Dad. We went to Claim Jumper and ate a ton. The kids were pretty good in the restaurant. Kyle was good as long as he was entertained. Keith and Mom played crayon soccer with Kyle. Mom and Keith as across the table from each other and Kyle was at the head. They rolled the crayon back and forth to each other while Kyle tried to grab it. They were all having fun and Kyle laughed and laughed. The couple at the next table even thought it was funny. After dinner, Dad treated us all to ice cream at Dairy Queen.

By the time we got home, it was later. Mom and Dad left, the kids got into their PJs and then they went to bed. Keith and I watched a little TV and then we went to bed. It was a nice Mother's day.

It's Friday

Today is a nice day. It is a little cold, but the sun is out. It was cloudy and gloomy all day yesterday. It rained very hard in the evening last night. They say that we are having record rainfall this year. It hasn't been tons and tons of rain, but for Southern California, it certainly has been a lot.

Kyle is napping right now and Kevin and Kaela are playing in the backyard. Kenna is awake in her swing, but I have been having to hold her a lot today. She is still sleeping through the night, and so she has been up a lot during the day. Well, I thought that I would be getting more stuff done around the house after I gave birth, but I seem to be doing just as much as I was while pregnant, which was not much. She wants to be held all the time or wants to eat. I can't do anything during the day around the house because she needs attending to. As I write this, she is in her swing starting to cry, so I think I shall sign off. Bye for now.

It's May Already???

Wow, yesterday I realized that it was already May 2. I thought it was the 1st. McKenna turned one month old already. I can't believe it. Time is going by so fast. We are going to the elementary school today to pick up the paperwork to get Kevin signed up for Kindergarten. I wonder if I'll be one of those moms that cry on their kid's first day of school. Probably not lol.

We ventured out to CostCo yesterday. Me and the four kids. I like their carts there. The kid seat part holds two kids which is really nice. It is big enough to click the infant seat into as well as Kyle. So, Kyle and Kenna rode up front, Kaela sat in the basket part. Kevin walked. The problem with that was that he kept walking in front of the cart and with the infant seat in there, I couldn't see him. I was scared I was going to plow right into him. I had to remind him several times to say next to me.

We ended up spending a boatload of money, and I only had 14 items. The diapers and formula were just about a third of the total.

Did I ever tell you I hate shopping at CostCo? No matter when I go, there are always too many people there. People, that outside of CostCo are probably normal people, become really lame while shopping in CostCo. It must be the high shelves that block out the sunlight or something. Although the aisles are big enough to drive cars through, someone is always in the way. Why stop your cart in the middle of the isle, stand about two feet from it and look at the stuff on the shelf? I can't squeeze between you and your cart, nor can I get between you and the shelf. Use your brain and move your cart to the side. Would you stop your car in the middle of traffic to see what was on the side of the road? Also, when my cart is fully loaded with kids and 150 pounds of CostCo bulk items, do not step in front of me or dart out from the end of the aisle. I can't stop this now 200 pound shopping cart at the blink of an eye. Watch where you are going. Again, if you were driving your car, would you pull out into traffic without looking? How hard is it to apply traffic common sense to shopping at CostCo? Then the checkout lines, oh my, don't get me started on the lines. Okay, I shall stop now.

Today we are headed to WalMart. I just discovered that if you upload pictures to them online, you can have them printed in an hour and then pick them up in the store at no extra charge. If you want to wait a few days, they will mail them to your house at a reduced rate per picture and they will pay for the shipping. I think that is pretty cool. Our printer has all of a sudden started to suck at printing (I think it may have something to do with me changing the brand of photo paper we use). Anyway, we are picking up the pictures today. I hope they come out decent.