The Brunjes

Misc.

2009-10-23T12:46:00.000-07:00

Finally we're all done unpacking!!!!! YAY!!!! I'm so glad to have it done. We sold our home in early June and were able to get into the new one mid-July. We have much more room and are a lot closer to work and family. We are thrilled! Katy loves having room to run and play. There's lots of room for her to play in the yard too. Hopefully we'll have a playset soon. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but they will be coming.

I'm sitting here listening to Katy play with her "pets" and basking in the smell of fresh baked bread! It's smells so good. I don't know if it tastes good or not, but it sure smells good. This was my first solo attempt at baking bread. It was fun to do. Katy had fun helping me and got covered with flour. She loves to help me cook or bake. I enjoy letting her help me but don't always enjoy cleaning up the messes.

Donny found a good deal on a riding lawn mower this week. So we finally have our own lawn mower. We had a push one, but the yard is so big that it literally takes hours and hours to push mow it. Now we can mow our grass without having to borrow Papa's mower - yay. Anyway...I tried to cut the grass for Donny on Wednesday, but I couldn't get the mower to start. And of course, when Donny gets home (after dark) it starts right up. So I tried again yesterday and it started and I got about half the front yard done when I needed to stop to help Katy and when I got back on to try and finish the mower wouldn't start. (was that a run-on sentence?) And, yet again, when Donny got home (after dark) it started right up for him. Determined not to let the dag-on mower win, I went out to try this morning only to find that Donny had the key in his pocket at work. So...I'm hoping that Donny'll get home before dark so that I can get the mowing done and win the fight against that darn mower! :) I will win!

Today is the first day that we've tried big girl undies for Katy - and she LOVES them! The whole potty training thing hasn't gone as quickly as I would have liked, but we're making progress at least. We're only on outfit number 3 for today - we've had two accidents. I think that's pretty good for the first time trying them. It's been hard for me to see all of her friends potty trained already when she's still in pull-ups, and not feel like I'm doing something wrong. I think we're getting close though. I just want to be sure that she's done before she gets into Primary in January. I think we'll make it. Anyone have any good "tricks of the trade" for getting it done?

Memories

2009-03-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

Donny put our pictures of Katy in the hospital on his computer and I've had a lot of fun looking at them again. It doesn't seem like it's already been two and half years since we were there. Why was I so eager to get home? It was so much easier in the hospital! I thought I'd share my two favorite pictures. We never thought to get a picture of the three of us together. I wish we had one. But oh well.

Was she really ever so little?

Thank Goodness for Baby Oil!

2009-03-27T19:44:00.001-07:00

Katy gets busier and busier everyday. Her latest escapade was this past Sunday. We were eating lunch at Donny's parents' house and while we were fixing the food, the kids were playing. The next thing I know, Afton came running in to tell me that Katy was coloring her cheeks. I found her in Meme's bathroom with a tube of 16 hour colorstay lipstick. She had "put on makeups." She had it all over her face - on her cheeks, around her eyes and in her hair too. I tried to wash it off and nothing I tried would work. Finally, Monday evening, someone told me to try baby oil, and it worked - hooray! I thought I was going to have to wait until it just wore off and who knew how long that would have taken. On top of that, Monday morning she wandered back to my mom's bathroom and was "doing makeups" with clear nail polish. Luckily, I knew how to get that off, but it too was all over her face. It's almost like she waits until she knows that I can't stop her to go get into things.

Another day a week or so ago, I was doing laundry and had just finished emptying the dryer. I ran back to the bathroom and when I came out I couldn't find Katy. I called out to her and I heard a little voice say "I'm in the cave." I thought she was back in our room, but I didn't see her, so I called to her again and she said "I'm hiding." She was in the dryer! She climbed in and closed the door on herself. She didn't have it pulled all the way closed, but it was realy close.

She loves to climb (as all toddlers do I'm sure) and yesterday I found her kneeling on top of her dresser. Her dresser is about chest high on Donny. I have no idea how she got up there.
She definitley keeps me on my toes. I'm sure it could be a lot worse. Hopefully it'll get better and I can run to the bathroom without having to pray that she won't kill herself. I do enjoy her though and I'm so grateful that I can be home with my little buddy everyday.

Children's Museum

2009-03-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Toni and I took the girls to the Children's Museum. They absolutely loved it! We will definitely be going again. Thanks to Toni, (who remembered her camera and shared her pictures with me) I have a few pictures to remember our trip. There were a lot more, but I just chose a few.

Katy in the Dr. Office section. She didn't really care about fixing her teddy bear, she just wanted to play with the tools.

One of the first places that they found was the art room. They both LOVED painting. I think they both would have stayed and painted all day if we had let them.

It was about all that I could do to convince Katy that we should go see what else there was to play with. I think I finally got her to stop because she saw that there were dinosaurs to play with.

"Aaargg Matey!"

Caroline and Katy outside on the way to the Museum. We couldn't get them to stand any closer.

This was one of the last things that the girls got to do together before Kevin and Toni moved. We really enjoyed having them so close. We will miss them. Katy especially misses Caroline. They had a lot of fun in between the tantrums and the "mine" fights (started by Katy I have to admit). We're looking forward to the next visit!

2009-01-29T11:18:00.000-08:00

I havent' forgotten about the blog. There is so much to catch up on, but I don't like to do posts without pictures. Our camera broke and I haven't taken the time to figure out how to download the pictures we've taken on our video camera yet. It is one of my goals for this weekend.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T17:57:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! I decided not to send out a Christmas letter this year and just post it here instead. We have had a great year. Here are the highlights:

- Donny and I celebrated our 5th anniversary in January. I can't believe it's already been 5 years! I don't feel old enough for that.

- We got to go camping twice this year as a family. Katy absolutely loved it! We would have liked to camp more, but are grateful for the time we got. We have one more "campout" in the works for Christmas Eve in Meme and Papa's backyard. Hopefully it won't be too cold. :)

- Lots of visits with family. It was so nice. In August, Jon (Donny's brother) and Amber came out here. It was a short visit, but it was fun to have the whole family together again. In September, Mom's brothers and sisters had a reunion at the beach. It was good to see aunts and uncles and Grandma again - even though it was short. Also in September, Emily and Chris came out for a way too short weekend. They were able to help us celebrate Katy's 2nd birthday. I can't believe she's 2! She's not my baby anymore, she's a little girl. That's another thing I don't feel old enough for - to have a 2 year old. September was a busy month. Then, in October, we took our vacation and went out to Utah to visit my Grandmas, my sisters (Amy and Emily) and Donny's brother Jon again. I was able to celebrate my birthday with Emily which we haven't been able to do in 6 years. We really enjoyed being able to spend so much time with our families this year - we've been spoiled. Katy had lots of fun with her cousins.

- New callings. Donny and I are both in Primary. I'm serving in the Presidency and Donny is teaching the 10 and 11 year olds. We enjoy being in Primary together. If only we could get Katy to enjoy nursery on her own.

- Watching Katy learn and grow. She has changed so much this year. She talks all the time and will say anything now. We have to be very careful what we say around our little copycat. Some of our favorite things she says are: "Big truck's in trouble!"
"No, mommy. Go play! ober der (over there), dat way."
"Chrismas yights. I yuv it!"
She loves to sing "Happy Birthday" to anything and everything, and "twinkle stars" (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)", and "I Am a Child of God." Her newest song is "E-I-E-I-O" (Old macdonald had a farm) and if I don't do the animal sounds just right, she corrects me. Donny tries to trick me up by getting Katy to ask for an elephant or a giraffe, etc. I love to listen to her sing. She is so much fun. I don't know what I'd do without my little buddy.

As we celebrate this Christmas we remember the birth of the Savior and his Atonement. We thank our Heavenly Father for the gift of His son and for all that we have been blessed with, including so many family and friends. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

8 Things

2008-11-26T11:02:00.001-08:00

Michelle sent this to me a while ago, so here goes...

8 Favorite TV Shows
The Office
Friends
Law & Order
Boston Legal
The Unit
Hell's Kitchen
new fav. is Ace of Cakes
I like to watch the Today Show too

8 Favorite Restaurants
Texas Roadhouse
Zupas (it's in Provo - thanks Em)
Perkins (for sentimental reasons)
Arbys
Chik-fil-A
Ruby Teusday's
Chilis
Macaroni Grill

8 Things That Happened Yesterday
Washed the Dishes
Did the laundry
Called my sister (Happy Birthday Amy)
Sorted through and boxed up Katy's old toys...Finally
Vacuumed
Met with our realtor
Got gas and milk
Watched Cars with Katy

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To
Donny's 4 day weekend - woohoo
Visiting with family over Thanksgiving weekend
Christmas Shopping
Tax Returns so I can by a plane ticket :)
Selling our house
A bigger kitchen (one day)
More kids?
Potato Soup for dinner tonight

8 Things I Love About Fall
Cooler weather
Football Games (even though we don't go to them anymore)
Birthdays
Colors of the leaves
Raking leaves and jumping in them
Hooded sweatshirts
Haunted houses/hayrides
Candy corn

8 Things On My Wishlist
Bigger Kitchen
Fenced in Backyard
Camcorder
Curly Hair
"Sold" Sign out front
Headband/headwrap like Emily's (I can't remember what kind it is)
A play room for Katy
More cute Paper to make cards with

8 People I Tag
Shannon
Jenn L.
Jen I.
Jami
Amy A.
Emily G.

Happy Birthday!

2008-11-10T19:02:00.001-08:00

I can't believe she's two! I've been very slow to get any postings done, especially Katy's birthday. She turned two back in September. We celebrated with Donny's family the week of her birthday and then with my family a week late so that Emily and Chris could be there. It was a lot of fun to have them here for that. Kevin and Toni were up too, so we almost had the whole family together. Katy loved playing with Caroline. Aunt Emily bought the party hats and blowers (is that what you call them??). They played with them for days after the party. Thanks Em! You rock!

Katy and Caroline

Mom and Dad had an old mattress out for the girls to jump on, so naturally that's where we had to have the party. It was so cute to watch them jump and giggle together.

It didn't take long for Katy to figure out how to work it. She was so proud of herself.

We have a lot of birthdays in our family in the months leading up to Katy's so when it came time for her cake, she knew exactly what to do!

When Katy woke up on her birthday, I sang happy birthday to her and when I was done, she blew like she was blowing out candles. She watched her dad, grandma, grandpa, meme, and Caroline all blow out their candles between June and August, so she knew that after "Happy Birthday" come the candles. In fact, everytime she sees a candle she says "happy birthday to you." Sometimes she calls them "happy birthday to you candles," but it sounds more like "hap day to you tandles." (After we carved our pumpkin for Halloween, we lit a candle and turned out the lights so Katy could see it. Before we could blow out the candle we had to sing "Happy Birthday" to the pumpkin. I think we may have started a family tradition.) When she was opening her presents everything was "Oh toot!" (Oh cute). She got mostly clothes, and she was very impressed with all the "dresses" (even though they were shirts).

She talks so much now! Amber suggested that I make a list of all the things that she says right now and I'm beginning to think it might be easier to list the things that she doesn't say. I think my favorite thing that she says right now is Laura. If I'm in another room and she calls me, she says "Noo-wa!" (Laura). It is so cute. She makes me laugh all the time. One night I asked her what she wanted me to cook her for dinner, and she said "how 'bout cookies." I told her that she couldn't eat cookies for dinner and she said "how 'bout cookies." We went back and forth for a little bit like that, and then she said "how 'bout pizza!" When I told her we didn't have any pizza she whispered "how 'bout pancakes!" The whole exchange made me laugh, so now sometimes she says it to try and make me laugh.

Where has all the time gone? I remember when she was just a newborn and crying all night wishing that she would grow up so she would sleep through the night, and that she could just tell me what she needed. We used to say that we couldn't wait for her to get to where she could play with us. Now we find ourselves wishing we could go back and hold that sweet baby again. I have a picture in my bedroom of her when she was just a few days old. I like to look at it and see how much she's changed. I almost forget sometimes that she used to look like that. We wonder what we ever did without her. She has brought so much joy into our lives! I love my little buddy.

What a cute kid!

2008-10-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

Katy's favorite new place is the dryer at Grandma's house. It got really quiet one day so I knew it was time to check on her and I found her in the dryer. I think it's funny that the only dryer she cares about playing in is Mom's.

She is really starting to use her imagination now. She'll play games more and more by herself, which is nice for me so I can get stuff done, but it's a little sad at the same time, cuz she doesn't need or want me as much anymore - she's growing up. Mom and Dad have some little sesame street guys that all us kids played with. Katy loves playing with them too. The other day she lined them up on the counter and said "I'll be right back." Once she was running around the house saying "No stop. Wait, I'm coming!" I think Uncle Brian taught her a game where she says "I'm scared - run! AHHH!", and then runs down the hall. She loves playing with her Uncle Brian. She's also started saying a few things that are just funny to me. One morning she woke up and I was taking too long to get to her, so she started fussing a little and then she said "I cwyin'!" When I need her to listen to me, sometimes I'll put my hands on either side of her face and say "listen" etc. Now she goes around to people and puts her hands on their faces and says "yisten Mom." Anytime I get something for her and even when I put her to bed she says "thanks Mom." When I put her to bed she'll say "Thanks Mom, bye, have a good trip, see ya later." She makes my day when she says thanks mom. I love being her Mom.

Daddy Daughter Fun

2008-10-10T13:38:00.001-07:00

One day when we were at Donny's parents' house I went looking for Donny and Katy and found this. It was so cute I just had to take pictures. Meme bought the table and the tea set for the grandkids and it's the first thing Katy looks for when we go there.

She loves her dad. He's such a good Dad too!

Katy enjoyed taking turns feeding each other "cake"

I've been tagged - twice!

2008-09-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

Ok - I've been tagged twice now and haven't done either of them yet, so here goes. Here's the first one. (sorry it took me so long). I can only answer each question with one word, and I'm supposed to tag 5 people so here goes:

1. Where is your cell phone? pocket
2. Your significant other? Donny
3. Your hair is...? up
4. Your mother is...? great
5. Your father is...? patient
6. What is your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night was...? none
8. What is your favorite drink? milk
9. What is your dream/goal? togetherness
10. What is your greatest fear? failure
11. Where do you want to be in 6 years? home
12. Where were you last night? Mom's
13. What you're not? nightowl
14. Muffins or cupcakes? muffins
15. One of your wishlist items? fence
16. Where did you grow up? Wilmington
17. What is the last thing you did? naptime
18. What are you wearing? jeans
19. What's on your TV? nothing
20. Your pets are...? nonexistent
21. Your computer is...? black
22. Your life is...? FANTASTIC!
23. Your mood is...? happy
24. Are you missing someone? sisters :(
25. Your car is...? new
26. Something your not wearing? makeup
27. Your favorite store is...? target
28. Your summer is...? hot
29. The last time you laughed? morning
30. The last time you cried? August

That was a lot harder than I thought it's be. Anyway, I tag...Amy, Shannon, Jenn L., Jen I. and Jami. Good luck girls!

Now for the second one. I'm supposed to tag 3 people, so check in T if you've been tagged.

THE ABC's OF ME:

A. ATTACHED OR SINGLE? Very much so attached - I don't know what I'd do without Donny.
B. BEST FRIEND? Donny, Emily and Katy - she's my little buddy.
C. CAKE OR PIE? Cake, although I do like cherry pie too.
D. DAY OF THE WEEK? Sunday. Donny doesn't have to work (usually) and we can be together all day without chores getting in the way.
E. ESSENTIAL ITEMS? Katy's snack bag and stickers and my cell phone.
F. FAVORITE COLOR? burgundy
G. GUMMY BEARS OR WORMS? Neither, but I love fruit roll-ups.
H. HOMETOWN? Wilmington
I. INDULGENCE? It used to be chocolate, but now I'm not supposed to eat it, so I'll have to find something else. I would say Ice cream now, but Donny would say it's bags. He might be right, I can't help it.
J. JANUARY OR JULY? Definitely January - I'm a cold weather gal, and that's when I got married too.
K. KIDS? 1 perfect daughter and we hope to have more one day.
L. LIFE ISN'T COMPLETE WITHOUT? My family, and a "Hi Mom!" from Katy
M. MARRIAGE DATE? January 3, 2003
N. NUMBER OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS? Two brothers and two sisters
O. ORANGES OR APPLES? Oranges definately!
P. PHOBIAS OR FEARS? I'm seriously scared of heights and being eaten alive - no joke.
Q. QUOTE? I have a funny story for this one: I've always quoted movies, so when I'm asked what's my favorite quote I think about movies. In one of my lab classes at UNCW, our teacher went around the room and had us all introduce ourselves. We were supposed to say the usual (name, major, where your from etc.) and our favorite quote. So I thought it was a movie quote thing, and I couldn't think of anything else to say so I said ... "Your head has the shell on it." It's from Tommy Boy and it's a quote that Donny and I say to each other a lot. Anyway, everyone was looking at me like "what?" so I had to explain what it was from and the teacher said "O...K...next." I was so embarassed. I told myself that I'd find a quote so I'd have one to share in case I needed to again. It's from David O. McKay I believe..."Happiness does not depend on what happens outside of you, but on what happens inside of you."
R. REASONS TO SMILE? It's a beautiful day; my family is well; Emily is coming soon; I'm going to see Amy soon; I don't have a headache today; why shouldn't I smile?
S. SUPERMAN OR WONDERWOMAN? I'd have to say superman, because I don't really know who Wonderwoman is. (I feel retarded now)
T. TAG 3 PEOPLE... Shannon, Amy, and Jenn L.
U. UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME: I don't even think Donny knows this... I had a major crush on Legolas from the movie Lord of the Rings when it first came out. Not on the actor, but on the character. I know I'm a geek, but it's true.
V. VEGETABLES... I like lot's of them. My favorites are potatos, corn and green beans.
W. WORST HABIT? popping my knuckles
X. X-RAY OR ULTRASOUND? ultrasound if it means I'm pregnant. :)
Y. YOUR FAVORITE FOOD? cereal
Z. ZODIAC SIGN? Scorpio

Ok, now I need to go get something accomplished while Katy's still asleep.

Camping

2008-09-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

Katy figured out how to bend over with her head on the ground and look between her legs. Guess what happens when you do that at the campground?

Brian and Katy on the hammock. It didn't last too long. This "game" wasn't exciting enough for Katy.

Good morning Katy! She loved waking up in the tent (and waking the rest of us up too). :)

The end of July, we went camping with my parents and Brian. It was really hot, but the campground we were at had a lot of shade so the heat was bearable. Katy absolutely loved it. We were later getting up the road than we wanted to be, so we got to put the tent up in the dark. Katy had a big time running around with her flashlight and "helping." We swam in the lake to cool off. I wasn't too thrilled about swimming in a lake, but this one was really clean and didn't have too much "seaweed." It was a lot of fun and it felt wonderful. Katy loved being able to walk around in it. She was convinced that she could get out to the deeper water where everyone else was without my help. Eventually she believed me that she couldn't touch and let me carry her out there. Can you tell she's two? After the lake, it was still pretty hot, so we went into town to kill some time and ended up at Chuck E. Cheese's. She'd only been once or twice before, but she knew exactly what to do. She had a blast! (One of her favorite things to say is "chuck e cheeses." She'll walk around the house saying it - I think she just likes the way it sounds.) We can't wait until it starts to cool down, so we can go camping again.

4th of July adventure

2008-09-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

For the fourth of July we had our families over for a cookout in the backyard. It was really fun. Katy had a blast playing outside with her cousins. Wil would give her a push down the "roller coaster" and then he'd help her back up and they'd do it again. Those kids played and played.
Donny got some firewords from a customer and so we set them off once it got dark. They were too loud for Katy - they scared her. Mom ended up taking her inside so I could watch. The other kids were ok, they were just in and out a lot. After Donny lit one of the fireworks, it tipped over and shot toward us and the house! That was scary. No one was hurt luckily. The ditch caught on fire in a couple of places, but thanks to the boys' cat-like speed and reflexes, they were put out quickly. It wasn't very funny at the time, but looking back on it now, it was. When they went off, everyone went running to get out of dodge. I was screaming - I wasn't trying to be brave. But, Dad was just sitting in his chair as calm and relaxed as he could be. There were fireworks shooting everywhere, and he was just chillin'. Someone there got it on video and Donny says it's really funny, but I haven't seen it. So, you'd think after that little episode, we'd be smart enough not to do any more, right? Well, we weren't. They found some supports so it wouldn't tip over again and kept at it. Thankfully nothing else happened. I tried to get pictures, but they didn't turn out very well.

The kids came back out when we did the sparklers and little fountain things. Katy was afraid of them too, so Dad held her while I got some pictures. They had fun with them, and they went way too fast.

Logan and Brian ended up spending the night with us, and the next morning we bribed them with breakfast at Hardee's if they'd go outside and pick up all the trash from the fireworks. It worked too! We went to the beach and really enjoyed it. Katy stayed out in the waves with me the whole time. I was glad that it was a calm enough day that I could it. As much as I like sitting in the water and playing in the sand, I think jumping the waves is a little more fun :). It was perfect.

Fun with Logan

2008-09-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

Logan and Wil came over for a couple of days while Ashely was a girl's camp. I enjoyed having them over and Katy absolutely loved it! I think Logan and Wil had fun too. While the little ones were napping Logan and I decorated a little cake and some cupcakes. She did such a good job, I thought I'd share them. She's so creative!

Logan decorating the birthday cake for Donny.

This is the game that they played the most. Logan would run with Katy on her car down the hall and they'd skid to a stop just before they hit the door or the couch. Katy would laugh and laugh. She did pretty good waiting while it was Wil's turn, but we still need to work a little on taking turns. When she wasn't playing with Katy or doing the cakes, she was cleaning. (it's always more fun to clean someone elses house - at least to me) It was so nice. She can come over any time! :)

These are the cupcakes that we decorated. Logan made most of them. I decorated a few of the cupcakes too. She made some little flags to go on some of the cupcakes, but I can't remember what they said. I really enjoyed doing that with her. Donny liked his cake too - it was yummy! Thanks Logan!

Ok - so I couldn't get the pictures and the words to layout like I wanted, so hopefully this wasn't too confusing.

Pool Honey

2008-09-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's been a while since I did a post. We haven't been home much lately, and I don't know how to put my pictures on anyone elses computer. Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to catch up and then keep up too :). Back in June we got Katy a little swimming pool, and she absolutely loved it! Too bad it blew away. (We came home one day and it was gone. We drove around the neighborhood and couldn't find it anywhere. Thank goodness Katy was a little too young to realize that it was gone. She only swam in it a couple times.) So, next time we'll get a sturdier one. We let her play in it with the hose while it filled up and then Donny got in with her while I mowed the grass and then I hopped in and it felt SO GOOD. Watching her play with the hose reminded me of when Brian was her age and I'd get in his little pool with him while it was filling up and he'd spray me with the hose and just giggle. I can't believe that was 9 years ago. It's gonna go so fast!

"Hi Mom! Wanna come in?"

She was jumping and splashing and just squealing.

Funny Story

2008-06-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

I keep forgetting to share this story, so I thought I'd put it here, so I don't keep telling the same people. A few Sundays ago, we were sitting on the end of the second row in Sacrament meeting, and were the only people on our row. I was sitting on the aisle, Donny was next to me and Katy was on the other side of him. We were right in the middle of sacrament when Katy jetted down the row to the other end before Donny could grab her. So, I had to get up and walk in front of the whole room to go get her. The water was being passed to the row behind us at the other end and before I could get to her, Katy ran down to the sacrament tray, took a cup, drank it and put it in the empty cup hole. She was so proud of herself for doing it so I told her "good job" and then she was happy to sit on my lap. The Elder who was passing the sacrament started laughing and the people behind her were laughing, then I looked up at the front and the whole Branch Presidency was laughing. I looked down the row at Donny and he was hunched over with his head in his hands and his shoulders were just shaking. Our branch is so small and the "chapel" is so small that I think everyone in the room saw it happen and laughed. She has never wanted to take the sacrament before and I didn't think she was paying any attention, but she knew exactly what she was doing. She doesn't miss a thing!

Four Wheelin' Fun!

2008-06-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

In April, Meme and Papa bought some little four wheelers at a yard sale and had them at the house for Will's birthday. When we all got together for the Birthday celebration, all the big boys had to have a turn. You would have thought it was Christmas morning and Santa had brought them the 4 wheelers. It was fun to watch them - they were so excited and were having a lot of fun. They rode it (there was only one at the house) so much that they wore a track in the grass in Meme's backyard! I only got pictures of Donny on it, but Joe rode it with Afton too, and I'm told that Little Al took it for a spin or two before we got there. In fact, he took Katy for a ride after Donny went inside. So they all got a turn.

Donny taking for a solo ride. Look at that face - you can almost hear his sound effects.

Katy loved riding on it so much that she'd run after it when it wasn't her turn.

Needless to say, the boys were a little too big for it, so they had to get a push to start it. This is Joe getting Donny started, while Al "directs."

I had a hard time getting a good picture of Katy and Donny while they were riding, so I made them slow down long enough for me to get one.

Will got this Gator for his birthday and the kids loved riding in it when they weren't on the big one. Will drove Katy around and around Meme's backyard. It was cute to watch them driving. At one point he even put his arm around her and was driving one handed. Katy had a lot of fun just letting him drive her. Her legs aren't quite long enough yet to reach the pedals, but she still gave it a good try.

It's time for bed

2008-06-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

Katy did one of the cutest things she's ever done last night. Her bedtime routine is to get her pajamas on and then have a drink of milk while I hold her on the couch and then we go rock and sing a couple songs and then I put her down. Usually while she's drinking her milk, Donny and I are watching TV together. Well, last night, she finished drinking her milk and I guess I let her down to play - I don't remember how she got down (I guess I was a little too in to the show). Anyway, she had her blanket and she went walking down the hall towards her room and I thought she was going back to get a toy, but she stopped half way down the hall and came back saying something like "you comin'?" She was telling me that it was time for bed. It was so cute to see her snuggling her blanket while she asked me that, but at the same time it kind of made me feel like a bad mom because I didn't put her down early enough. She is so sweet and patient with her lame mom. Hopefully that won't happen too often. I absolutely love my snuggle time with her when I put her to bed. It's the only time she'll really snuggle with me. She snuggles with Donny in the mornings if she gets up before he has to leave and he really misses it if she's not up early enough. I don't want to give it up, but I know too soon she'll be grown up and too old to rock at bedtime. We'll savor every second of it while it lasts though.

Katy 18 mo. portraits

2008-05-22T11:28:00.001-07:00

3 Firsts for Katy

2008-05-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

Katy sitting around the campfire. She had her own chair, but mine was more comfortable I guess. :)

Katy getting ready to get in the boat

The end of last month we went camping with Donny's family and some friends. It was Katy's first time camping and I think it was the first time for most of the other kids as well. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it - we certainly did! Katy absolutely loved it! She ran and ran and ran. She loved having other kids to play with too. Robert's (a friend from work) daughter Gracie is three and she took it upon herself to be Katy's "babysitter." It was really cute to watch them walking around holding hands. I wish I could have gotten more pictures, but I forgot to charge the camera battery before we left, so I had to be really picky with the pictures I chose. It had been too long since we had been camping, and hopefully it won't be that long before we go again. We would love to get a camper, but that's probably a ways off for us. We bought a bigger tent for this campout so that it would fit the three of us and Brian. We didn't try to put it up before we went camping so it was a bit frustrating trying to figure it out. I think part of our problem was that we were on a camper site, so we couldn't stake our tent down. While we were setting it up we watched camper after camper go driving by and I was getting really jealous. I used to think that using a camper was cheating and not real camping, but now I have seen the light and think that's the way to go! I'm okay with cheating! :) Anyway, we finally got the tent up after a few choice words and some excellent ghetto-rigging by Donny. (It wasn't that bad, I'm mostly teasing) I think we'll like it better now that we know how to set it up. Katy loved it. She didn't want to come out. When we did get her to come out I took her down to the playground with Afton and Gracie to play for a while. Katy was having a great time climbing up the slide, until she slipped and fell down it instead. It was a little slide, but she got a bloody nose none the less. It was her first and I'm sure not her last. It was so sad. I've never dealt with that before, so I didn't really know what to do, but we got her cleaned up and she was fine in less than five minutes and ready to play again. I had to get a picture of that.

Katy's first bloody nose. She's scowling at me in the tent.

Katy also took quite an interest in the fire, which made us all really nervous. Meme and Papa especially kept saying to watch her around the fire. Logan was poking the fire with a stick and Katy thought that was really cool and kept trying to "help." I think that was the hardest part - keeping her occupied with something else instead of the fire. The next morning we tried to take Katy out on the paddle boats so Donny and Robert could do some fishing. She enjoyed it as long as we were moving, but once we stopped she wanted to get in the water. We had to paddle to shore to let me and Katy off and Donny took Al and Logan out instead. We tried her again when it was time to paddle back to the dock. She sat in the middle and grabbed hold of the steering knob and "helped." It probably would have made someone watching us from shore dizzy as much as we were going around. (I wanted to put the life jacket picture here, but it didn't work, so it's at the top)

So, it was trip with three firsts for Katy - her first camping trip, bloody nose and boat ride. What an exciting weekend! Needless to say, we were all very ready for bed when we got home Saturday night.

Easter

2008-04-04T12:02:00.000-07:00

The Saturday before Easter, our primary had an Easter Activity and Easter Egg Hunt. Donny wasn't able to come to see Katy hunt the eggs, so we did one on Easter Sunday at our house with his family. Donny is holding Katy's basket. She absolutely loved it! She ran around the yard rubbing her hands together like this in between eggs.

Once the eggs opended and she saw the candy, that was all she was interested in. She'd stop and eat the candy right out of the grass. A little dirt never hurt anyone, right? I tried and tried to get an "action shot" but she's so fast, this is the best I could do. Easter was a lot of fun this year. We really enjoyed having Donny's family over. I can't wait until next year when Katy will be old enough to anticipate it!

I tried again this year to make Katy's dress, but things got piled up at the last minute and it didn't happen. Thank goodness for Meme (Donny's mom)! She bought Katy a couple of really cute dresses a couple of weeks before Easter, so I was able to use one of those for her Easter dress. Thanks Meme - you're a life saver! She was such a doll! But, I didn't get any pictures. What kind of mom am I?:) Maybe I'll still take pictures, and just pretend like they were taken on Easter Sunday.

Our Little Monkey

2008-04-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

I came out from the back of the house one afternoon and this is what I saw. Katy had climbed up on the table and pulled a ziplock bag of pretzels out of the diaper bag and was sitting down to have a snack. How can I get mad at that face? She's so darn cute!

Katy's new trick

2008-04-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

One of Katy's favorite things to do lately is put on my shoes. Here she is in my slippers. They are oversized tennis shoes. I was really surprised how well she was able to walk in them!

She was so pleased with herself! She gets very frustrated when she can't get my shoes to stay on while she walks, but these ones actually cooperated. :)

2008-04-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I've finally done it - I'm a blogger! I've enjoyed looking at family and friend's blogs and have decided that this is the best way to stay in touch. I hope you enjoy my blog as much as I've enjoyed yours. :)