Visit to Illinois

Ethan and Katelyn immediately loved each other. It was the strangest thing - they just "went" for each other as soon as they met. There were never any fights between them. They shared so well -toys, food, parents - you name it. Katelyn could walk pretty good but Ethan was still in the walker. Katelyn had the cutest little pink walker. So Ethan started cruising in her walker. He didn't care that it was pink - he was delighted to use it. Katelyn thought he needed help so she taught him how to use all of the toys and she pushed him around. It was the cutest thing ever.

Dad made my FAVORITE breakfast, twice actually. Chorizo and eggs. Yummy. Thanks Dad! Katelyn shared ALL of her many, many toys. Ethan loved her new Elmo Scooter. He also loved her new ball popper. Everyone went dancing Saturday night. Jeff and I stayed home and babysat. It was nice to be alone for a little while. LOL - we did a load of laundry and went to bed. Haha. I have been asked by 100 people (not really, but it seems like it!) if it was awkward that my divorced parents were there together. No, not at all. It was so nice to have both of them to enjoy the kids. It is usually one parent or the other. They have a great relationship and thankfully are great friends. Now, if it were 25 years ago - we'd have a different story to tell. :)

We played the Wii quite a bit. Everyone loved bowling. We ate a ton of Dad's salsa and dip, laughed a lot, went to the pool, and just enjoyed watching the kids play.

Thank you Jerome and Kari. You were so wonderful to share your home with so many of us for SO long. We had a great time and we are so grateful to have been able to go!

Happy Birthday Katelyn!

We went to Illinois to visit Ethan's new cousin, my adorable niece, Katelyn, for her first birthday. It was such a wonderful visit. I have wanted to visit her since she was born, but since she's only 10 weeks older than Ethan, this has been our first opportunity. It was so fun to go to Katelyn's birthday party. She had so many people there. Most of everyone was from Kari's side of the family. But my dad flew in from Arizona and my mom flew with us from OKC to be there. I made her cake, a Blue's Clues cake. it was such a disaster. It didn't all come out of the pan, which would have been OK - except I dropped a full tub of icing in it and ruined it. I felt so bad and started crying. But my mom helped me to KIND OF salvage it. It still looked horrible. But she had so many cute decorations and she received a TON of gifts. It was hilarious because she hated wearing the hat. But as soon as she tried the cake, the crying started to fade as a big smile replaced the frown. The poor girl was exhausted but was such a great party girl!

Oh, and Kari's mom made the BEST egg salad sandwiches and a salad called Taffy Apple Salad. Here's the deal - I told Sharon, Kari's mom, that I HAD to have the recipe for the egg salad. It was just fantastic - I hate it when I make it. She laughed and said she just added mayo and mixed it up. I felt so retarded. I guess I've always tried to make it too complicated. :) The Taffy Apple salad was so yummy and I really don't like apples, not even apple pie. So I was surprised when I loved it!

Happy Birthday Katelyn!!! We love you!!!

Bath Time

While we were visiting cousin Katelyn, the kids took a bath together. It was so funny to watch them. I think I took 40 pictures. The thing that I loved so much is they seemed to be communicating without saying a word. They just looked at each other and it's like they knew what the other was thinking. Katelyn was such a little cutie with Ethan. She was so caring. She shared her toys, helped wash his hair and even taught him some naughty habits - standing in the sink. :) I will forever love pictures of our children in the sink. That is how my Granny and Mom used to bathe me and I love those pictures. Yea! for two sinks!

Park

Today the weather was BEAUTIFUL! Ethan and I went to the zoo with our friend Lisa and her nephew Jacob. We had a blast. (Pictures to come later)
After the zoo we went to the grocery store. We still had some time before dinner when we were done so I decided we should go to the park. We had so much fun! I took Ethan's walker and let him run all around the park. He loved it. The wind was blowing pretty good but he just kept plugging along. I didn't have my camera, just my phone but I had to capture some of the fun on camera. After looking at the pictures, I realized he SO needs a haircut!!!

Lucky

I have always wanted my children to have a great father. Growing up, that was important to me. When we visited my brother's family, it was so nice to see that not only did Ethan have a great father, but his cousin also has a great dad. I am so proud of my brother for being the father he is! Our children are so blessed!

Swimming

While we were in Chicago, we went to an indoor water park. Living in Germany, we went all the time. So my brother and I thought it would be so fun to take our kids. Ethan loved it! We've been going to Water Babies at the Lighthouse so he was used to it. Katelyn only liked the hot tub (it wasn't really hot). The water in all the other pools was pretty chilly but we didn't care. All the "grown ups", if that is what you want to call us, went down the tall water slides. SO much fun! We had a blast.

Contest

My friend Laurie is having a contest.

She is super talented and creates beautiful things! She has done all the vinyl for my house and signs that we gave as gifts! I SO want to be picked, since I know whatever she makes will be awesome. Sign up - you could win too!

Here is her blog.

http://foreveralwaysnomatterwhat.blogspot.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5561223
http://expressyourselfdecor.blogspot.com/