Her First Steps

Today I brought the kids to Mom and Dad's so that I could go to my client's office. When I get back, Mom tells me that Kenna took two steps towards Grandpa! Well, I have been trying to get Kenna to walk for more than a week now. She is at Grandma and Grandpa's only a few hours, and they get her to take two steps?!? Geez.

So, of course when we get home, I try to coax her to walk. Well, finally as we were getting her ready for bed, she took a few steps towards me. She did it quite a few times. The most number of steps she took without falling was 5. She is on her way!

Are We Going to Have Another Baby?

"Are we going to have another baby?" Kevin asks us at lunch yesterday.

Keith and I look at each other, "Why?" I ask him.

"Because we are moving. When we moved here, we had McKenna," he replies straight-faced.

Hmmm. That is such a good observation on Kevin's part. Keith and I had joked about us having another baby because it seems as though whenever we move into a new place, we have a new baby. Well, when we joked about this, we don't recall Kevin being there.

I didn't even know I was pregnant with McKenna, but Kevin did. Here was that conversation about a year and a half ago:

"Mom, you're getting fatter. I think you are going to have a baby," Kevin said - once again straight-faced.

I reply, "No Kevin, I am just getting fatter."

Two weeks later - a positive pregnancy test.

So, is there something that Kevin knows??? So, what do you think?

Date Night

It's been a long time since Keith and I have been on a nice date. We went out to dinner last month, but it just didn't seem like a date to me. But last night was nice. Typical but nice.

Instead of wearing my normal jeans and sweater, I decided at the last minute to dress up. I actually wore a nice blouse and my nice black pants. I think the last time I really dressed up was for Christmas and I can't quite remember when it was before that!

We went to dinner at Pei Wei, a nice Asian Diner which we has fast become our favorite dining place. It is a family restaurant, but we do find it to be too expensive for the kids. So, we don't take them there. I guess it's good to have a restaurant or two where the kids aren't allowed.

After dinner, we went to the mall and walked around, of course ending up at the book strore. We went our separate ways. Keith to the computer section and I to the craft section. Neither one of us bought anything though.

After the bookstore, it was off to the movies. We hadn't been to the movies since before Christmas and were sorry to see that the prices had gone up to $10 a ticket. It wasn't that just before Christmas! I still remember in high school going to Tuesday $1 nights. Oh well, maybe by the time the kids get to high school tickets will be $20 and the "bargain" will be $10.

The movie didn't start for another hour and a half, so we went to Cheesecake Factory for dessert. The wait was long, and the coffee was crappy ($2.50 for a small cup that wasn't even worth refilling), but we enjoy the cheesecake.

We saw Firewall. It was entertaining enough. They did lay it on a bit thick the Harrison Ford is an older guy now, so in his fight scenes, he got hurt pretty bad and even had a few blunders in the movie - tripping in the forest, knocking into a chair as he jumped - those kind of things that would never have happened in Clear and Present Danger or any of the other "superhero" movies he's been in. Overall though, still an enjoyable actor to watch.

When all was said and done, it was 1:00am. We got home just after 1. We hadn't been out that late in a long time. So, thanks to Ris for watching the kids!

We had a nice typical date night. But, I would like to say that after all these years and all these kids, there is still no one that I would rather be with and spend quiet special moments with than Keith. Aren't I lucky?

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was really nice this year. It was a busy day, but we all had a lot of fun. We took this picture right before our 2nd annual Valentine's dinner. A bit of our heads is cut off, but we still liked this picture the best. You know of course that I took more than one. lol

Kevin and Kaela both celebrated Valentine's Day at school. They both received tons of cards and a lot of candy. While I waited to pick up Kevin from school another mom and I were commenting about how our kids seemed as excited about Valentine's Day as they were about Christmas. Although the holidays have been so commercialized, I guess it's not such a bad thing when kids can have some good memories.

Ris came and watched Kevin, Kyle and Kenna so that I could take Kaela to her classmate's birthday party. It was her first non-relative party. It was at McDonald's. There was a really huge play area that went up about two stories. Well, I don't bring my four kids to theses places often because I can't watch all four by myself. So, Kaela doesn't have that much experience in these things. Well, she decided to climb all the way to the top. When she got up there, she took one look down (it was a series of platforms surrounded by netting) and freaked out. Of course she was at the very top (seven platforms up). Well, she would not come down, do here I am climbing throught his gigantic McDonald's plaything to rescue her - mind you, this is in front of almost ever mother in her preschool class. I made it up there, trying to look as graceful as possible, to find Kaela surrounded by five of her classmates. It was so cute. They were telling her that she would be okay and that they would keep her safe if she wanted to stay up there. She opted to come down with me though. The rest of the time she stayed near the bottom. She still ended up having a really nice time.

After we got home, I got read to make dinner. We had steaks, salmon, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots and spiral pasta. I lit candles and put out the rose centerpiece I made last year. The kids got to drink red "berry" juice in clear glass mugs. After we ate (which was yummy btw), the kids opened up their goodies from the grandparents. They got lots of fun little things. Then to close out the evening, we loaded into the car and headed to Baskin Robbins. We all had ice cream. Kevin got his usual "wild -n- reckless" - a green, blue, purple, white, swirled sherbet thing. Kaela got chocolate chip and Kyle chose mint chocolate chip. Keith and I got our usuals. It was a fun little outing.

Ten Months Old

Well, Kenna is now ten months old. I can't believe how fast it has gone. Her top two teeth are out now. You can see a bit of her right tooth in this picture. She is wearing her ballerina onesie from her Godmother Tina. This was her monthly picture with her bear. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - Ain't she cute???

We Have a Place to Live

Yeah! Such a relief for me. It is stressful trying to have to find a place to live. We signed the papers last night. We are scheduled to move in March 1st. We have to be out of here by March 9th. The lease runs through the end of June 2007. So, I don't have to worry about having to move again until the end of next school year. That was our biggest concern; that we would have to move Kevin with only a few more months in the school year.

Now, on to more stress of having to actually move. We have to move all our utilities and change our mailing address and all the other pains of moving. But, I have lived in a countless apartments and places for the last 15 years. My gosh! This new place will be the 13th place for me, if you count the moves back and forth from WA to CA separately. I think Keith moved around a bit before we married, but I don't know the specifics.

Kenna turns 10 months today. I shall take and post some pictures. Good bye for now.