Kevin. Hmmm. What is new with him? Not much. Still doing the big brother thing. We were going to try to start training Kaela today to use the potty. He sat on the floor near her and was asking if she was okay. He told her she just had to sit and wait. He also asked her if she just needed a book. He was so concerned. It was too cute. Right now he, of course, is playing with his Legos. He loves them. I am glad I gave up my sets for him. At least now they are being used.
Kaela is officially enrolled in preschool. We have to have her potty trained by Sept 12. This morning was going to be the first day, but I was just so busy trying to clean up the house (someone might be coming over later). I didn't have the patience when after sitting her on the toilet, she peed about ten minutes later right into her pull-up. Oh well. Keith said we could start this weekend when he is here to help. On Saturday, to get to Mom and Dad's on time, we woke the kids around 6:30. She had a dry diaper. So, if we wake her early on Saturday and set her on the potty, maybe she will actually feel what it is like to pee in the toilet and then get a hang of it. I, of course, will keep you posted.
Kyle is talking more. Today, he was grumpy and kept saying nah nahhhhh, nah nahhhhh. Well, duh. I finally realized he was saying, "Nap nap". I got his bottle (which after our vacation we are going to wean him from) and he went right up the stairs to his bed. Haven't heard a peep from him since. He is right now about and hour and a half into his three hour nap. Also today, he was by the range and was saying hot, hot, hot. The oven was off though. But, I think he knows that hot is a temp and not the actual range/oven.
Kenna. She is doing what all the other did. After she wakes in the morning, she eats and goes right back to sleep. Ah. It is so nice. She sleeps all night and then wakes to eat, only to go back to sleep. She is more awake in the afternoon. I think she is also thinning out. Her face isn't looking as chubby.
Well, that's it for now. I'm sure I missed something cute about the kids that I've forgotten about and will remember right after I post. Well, that's it for now. Bye!
Well, we've been busy here in the Fischer household. We went down to Mom and Dad's this weekend and finally got the rest of our stuff out of their house. Keith drove his truck down and we took out the third row seat from my Expedition. Kevin rode with Keith and the three little ones were with me.
We got everything. Well, almost everything. The kids each got one of those huge, life size stuffed dogs from CostCo for each of their first Christmases. We couldn't fit those in without blocking my view or them flying out the bed of the truck, so we left those there to get another day.
I straightened out the garage yesterday to get everything to fit. It looks pretty nice in there. All my stacks of stuff - we have just TONS of stuff - were looking picked through. I straightened those out and packed everything in there tighter.
Well, Dad is looking to get rid of some of his clutter (1 washer, 2 dryers and dining room chairs - all old and broken) and we wanted to get rid of some of ours (a broken computer desk, broken printers, etc). So, someone is coming on Saturday to haul away all our stuff. He is taking the washers and dryers to a metal recycler. I'm glad it's just not going to the landfill.
So, my goal is to purge about half of the stuff in the house. We still have a lot of things sitting in boxes from when we moved to WA the first time and haven't opened them since. So, it leads me to believe that it is something that is doable. A lot of the stuff is mementos from school. I think I am going to just bite the bullet and get rid of it. It'll be hard for me, but I can do it. Right???
Yes, I am an internet junkie. I have been online since the early 90s. That's more than ten years. I've been on the internet so long, that when I got an ICQ number, it was only in the 3 millions. Now it is giving out numbers starting in the 180 millions. I used the original versions of ICQ and mIRC. My first webpage was made in 1994.
I love the internet because you can find a wealth of information on it. Some of it may not be all that accurate though; you should always check as many reference as possible and not just rely on one.
You can find all kinds of interesting trivia like Los Angeles' official name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula" - the longest city name in the US. But it is also known as "L.A." - the shortest.
You can find what ever you want to know on different countries, peopleethnicitieses and on and on. You can get restaurant reviews, movie reviews, music reviews, reviews on almost anything! You can make plane reservations, hotel reservations, camping reservations, compare prices, find discounts, etc etc etc. You can shop - almost every store out there has a .com. Kevin doesn't refer to a site. He refers to a dot com. He says things like, "I am looking at the Power Rangers' dot com."
If you can think it, you can find it on the internet. And it is so easy anyone can do it. Kaela knows her way to the Little Pony website. It isn't bookmarked, but somehow she gets to it. I think she clicks through on another website that we do have bookmarked. She can't read, but she manages to find all kinds of websites that she likes. From the PBS home page, she can get to the websites of all her favorite PBS shows.
Miss a TV show? Find a recap on line, find the transcript on line, find when it is playing again. You can even find a copy of it online *illegal* shhhhhhh....
We spend a lot of time online, but are always finding new and interesting sites. I can spend hours just diggin up info. As you've read, I've been doingenealogygy stuff - very cool. Keith the other day found a site that plays guitar chords. Shows you how to finger them and shows you the minors etc. Then it plays them so you know how they sound. We are researching our vacation online. We can see pictures of rooms in bed and breakfasts and read menus before we are even at the restaurant.
Who has time to make all these sites? I guess the same people that have all the time to cruise them *grin*.
to all the Fathers out there.
The kids made cards for Keith and this morning when we got out of bed, Kevin and Kaela ran up to Keith to wish him a happy father's day. I didn't even have to prompt them to do it. They were so excited about it, they did it on their own!
Today is our normal Sunday. Lazy Sunday. Kenna is asleep and the rest of the kids are upstairs playing and bugging Daddy. I am sitting at the computer watching our lights flicker. We are having electrical problems. Did I mention that before? It started last weekend when we noticed the plugs on one wall - the one with the fridge and Keith's coffee makers - weren't working. The plugs were coming on and off. Well, then on Thursday, I noticed a slight flickering of all the lights downstairs - kitchen, dining area, garage, bath. So, I called the electric company to see if there were problems in the area. No such luck. It's just us. So, Friday, they sent someone out. It appears as though the main power supply to the house is burning itself out. But, it is only half of the supply having the problem. Thus, the problems with only half the house. Anyway, it is on the outside of the house so, the owner has questions as to if it is an association's problem or their problem to get it fixed. Well, in the meantime, we have flickering lights. It is so obnoxious.
Well, this post has gone from Happy Father's Day to our electrical problems. So, let's see if I can end on a better note.
Hmmm. Can't think of one. Geez. Oh well, I shall think about it and post again. Bye!
hearing about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes? Geez. So they are in love and as of today are engaged. But geez, do I have to read "headlines" about them everyday??? Can't Yahoo put anything more important in their headline news? I want to read about REAL news. Okay. The end of my rant for today.
Not much has been happening around here. Well, let's recap and we shall see if nothing has really been going on.
Our Anniversary. Sunday. We went to a Mexican seafood restaurant on the coast. I called the restaurant to see what the dinner crowd wore so that we didn't feel out of place. I wasn't sure if this was a nicer casual restaurant, or a laid back casual restaurant. Well, the hostess said that it definitely was not a jeans kind of place ("Oh no, not jeans," she said). So, Keith and I dressed up, not fancy, fancy, but Keith was in a nice shirt and slacks and I wore a skirt and heels. Well, we get there and everyone is in jeans. There were even shorts and tee shirts, as well as loud obnoxious kids. I know I have kids, but I wouldn't have brought them there. Keith was unimpressed with the food. It was a bit pricey for the atmosphere, but I thought the food was tasty. I didn't think it was so tasty at 3:00am while I was suffering from heartburn. Yick!
Monday. What can I say. It was Monday.
Tuesday. Julie came up with Emily and Zoe. Emily and the kids played hard - in the backyard, upstairs, downstairs, in the garage. Time went by really fast. Before I knew it, Julie was telling Emily that it was time to get going soon. Julie and I just hung out with the babies and talked. We all had a good time.
Wednesday. We met Keith for lunch. We hadn't met him for lunch in ages. Then after dropping him off, I wanted to drive around a little so the littlest ones could nap before we headed off to Ikea. Well, I got lost and all turned around. We ended up getting stuck in totally horrendous traffic. So, what was supposed to be a fun little drive so the babies could take a short nap, turn into us being lost for about an hour and Kenna crying most of the time. We finally made it to Ikea. All the kids were actually pretty good in the store. Kevin and Kaela had fun looking at all the furniture and sat in different chairs and on beds and things. They loved looking at the kid's rooms. Kevin loves to shop and says that Ikea is one of his favorite stores. Yesterday as we were diving around Kevin says, "Mama! Look! Big Lots!" Oh my goodness that boy likes to shop.
Thursday - today. We straightened up the house because the cleaners were coming. Yes, I clean before the cleaners get here. I don't like scrub and clean, I just tidy the house. Pick things off the floors and clear off counters. I do it to maximize what the cleaners are actually able to clean. Does that make sense? Now Kyle is napping and I hear Kenna starting to cry (she was napping). So, I guess I should go. *sigh*
Well, today is our six year anniversary. It is hard to believe that it has already been six years. Even though we have done a lot in the six years, it seems as though it went by really really fast.
Let's see. What have we done in six years? We've had four kids, threw 9 birthday parties for them, had four baptisms along with four parties to celebrate, changed thousands of diapers, moved six times (if you count the time from WA to CA as two times because of the unexpected extended return to CA), drove from CA to WA or WA to CA eight times, six road trips over 500 miles (not including moving), had three overnight retreats without kids, bought two new (used) SUVs, flown six times - three of those times with kids; no small feat, Keith and I have each worked for three different companies/clients, had two garage sales, one major surgery (Keith), one minor surgery (Kevin), three trips to the emergency room, one speeding ticket, went camping four times, went to different attractions (Disneyland, Sea World, Legoland, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park, Cabrillo National Monument, Mt. Rainier, Space Needle, Pike's Market) too many times to count, gone out of the country once (for our honeymoon), have had three different ISPs, gone through five computers, two TVs, but still using the same stereo, eaten out at almost every type of restaurant imaginable, and 2,191 days filled with cherished memories as a married couple. There is so much more that we have done, like the little everyday things that mean so much more than the trips and material things, but it would take a novel to reminisce about all that. In summary I would say that we've had six wonderfully blessed years together. Luckily for us, the "bad" stuff has been few and far between.
We drove Mom and Grandma to the airport this morning. It was sad to see them leave. They were here a whole week, but it went by very fast. It was really nice to have them here.
Let's see. Were did I leave off last time? Okay. Well, Monday we didn't do anything special. We (everyone but Keith) stayed home during the day. Mom and Grandma had fun playing with the kids and just hanging out with them. I was really spoiled this week as Mom and Grandma tended to Kenna and the rest of them most of the time they were here. I got to relax and cook without kids bothering me every second. Not that they are a bother, but they do need attention. Kyle totally warmed up to both Mom and Grandma and really loved the attention he got from them.
I forgot that on Sunday night, Keith and I went to see the Star Wars movie. The tickets were $9.50 each! I remember back in high school when Tuesday nights were dollar night for first run movies. Granted, high school was more than 15 years ago, but still! We also got a large Coke for $4.50 and a small popcorn for $5. Movies are not a cheap date anymore! Nonetheless, we had a nice time and thought the movie was entertaining. I liked how it tied all the movies in. I wanted to buy the first three movies on DVD (I have them on VHS), but nearly choked when I saw how much they cost. I looked on Amazon.com. I was going to get them from Columbia House, but they are not offered as a selection.
Tuesday Keith took the day off. We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was a nice aquarium. They are having a whale exhibition there (there were no real whales, as of course they are too large!). They had these really nice "passports" with info for all the exhibits in the Aquarium. At certain areas, they had embossing stations to emboss a different whale stamp into your passport. Kevin, Grandma and I each filled our passports with the stamps. It was fun collecting them. When we got there, the aquarium had a TON of kids there on field trips. Luckily they cleared out by 2pm and then it really quieted down.
After the aquarium, we went across the street to Bubba Gump's Shrimp. It is a theme restaurant from the movie Forrest Gump. I had a Shrimp Po' Boy. The kids had a basket of shrimp and chips. Keith and Grandma (who doesn't really care for shrimp) had the fish and chips and Mom had a fish sandwich. I thought it was good food. We had a fun time sitting there, although I think Keith was a bit stressed with the kids. Kyle can be quite grumpy when he is tired. And Kyle tends to scream when the mood strikes him. I high pitched squeal really.
After our late lunch, we drove down the Pacific Coast Highway. It was really nice. We had never driven down in this portion of California. We drove south for about two hours. We saw some really interesting houses and long stretches of beach. Grandma especially enjoyed seeing all the different houses and the trees and flowers. It was a beautiful drive.
Wednesday was another lounging day. Keith was home with us again. We all went to the park in the morning were the kids had a lot of fun (of course). Grandma struck up a conversation with another lady there with her great grandchild. Later, I was able to go run some errands that I had been putting off. I spent about three hours to myself and did some shopping. I even got to go to a bookstore and browse. I was looking for a new book to read, but nothing grabbed my attention. Keith barbecued chicken for dinner and Mom made coleslaw and gingered carrots. Yum!
Yesterday Mom took Kevin and Kaela to the park again. I ran to CostCo for a few things, and Grandma stayed with the baby while Kyle took his nap. We just hung out here at the house.
Mom and Grandma's visit was relaxed, but it sure did go by fast.
I have been really busy this past week and so, I didn't have time to update the blog really. Monday and Tuesday I spent most of the day working on my client's books. There was a problem and the numbers just weren't looking right. I had to go back all the way to February and reconstruct a ton of stuff. It was a big pain in the butt trying to figure out what went wrong, but I finally figured it out. It also took a long time to do the adjustments needed to fix the problem. Sometimes I hate doing accounting work, but it is worth the extra spending money it provides. I am saving up the money for our vacation.
Keith and I are going on vacation the last week in July. My sister had volunteered to watch all four kids for the entire week. She will be getting help from Mom and Dad, but she will be the main sitter. She is going to plan all kinds of fun little outings for them and crafts for them to do while at home. They will have lots of fun with Auntie Ris.
We are not sure exactly where we are going for our vacation. When we last talked about it (last night), we decided to blast our way to Western Washington and work our way down. We have somewhat of a plan, but we are going to leave most of it up to what ever we are in the mood for. We hope to do some camping and we also hope to spend plenty of time lounging on the beach. It is a much needed vacation and we can't wait to finally have some alone time together.
Okay, back to the busy week. Wednesday and Thursday I spent cleaning up the house for Mom and Grandma's visit. I was going to try to get the curtains done (my project that's been ongoing for almost a year), but I decided (with Keith's encouragement) that I was not going to stress out about having the house perfect and exactly how I wanted it by the time Mom and Grandma got here. I keep the house in decent order, so cleaning up wasn't the problem really, it was that I wanted to make curtains, hang some pictures, get the office/craft room together, etc. but I shouldn't try to cram all those projects into such a short period of time. Our lease is getting renewed so, I have time to do all that stuff in the next month or so.
Friday Mom and Grandma arrived. They had an uneventful flight, although Mom thinks she may have lost her driver's license. After picking them up, we headed home and Kyle got some really good Grandma attention as Kevin and Kaela were at Disneyland again. Keith got home late on Friday because on Monday they have a big demo and it is dependent on his program. Well, it was being buggy and he needed to get it fixed. It didn't help that other people held him up until about 4:30pm.
Saturday was the baptism and Colin's birthday party. It all went really nicely. Kenna's baptism was nice. Dad was the celebrant. There were two other babies being baptized that day and all Filipino, so there were quite a good number of people there - as Filipino families tend to be quite large. Well, one of the babies cried the entire time so a lot of us had a hard time hearing most of the baptism celebration. Keith held Kenna as she was baptized with the water. He has held all four of them at their baptisms and it really means a lot to me that he participates like that.
Afterwards was a ton of picture taking. I think we got every conceivable picture configuration with all the family members. We got some really nice pictures. I may post an album soon. After that was the reception and birthday party for Colin. The kids had tons of fun. Maria had them make crowns and necklaces and both little crafts turned out to be very cute. The girls were into it just a bit more than the boys (Kevin), but they all still had fun.
Then we headed home and relaxed the rest of the evening. Today we just hung out at home. Keith worked on finishing up his program and the kids just played. A typical relaxing Sunday. Tonight we are having Tandoori chicken and later Keith and I are going out to watch the new Star Wars movie. So, good bye for now. Keep looking for pictures. I will post them within a few days.
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!
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.
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!
