Kamryn

My baby girl is almost 2 years old!  I'm in such denial that I still have her birthday invitations sitting here untouched....as though she really isn't having a birthday in less than two weeks!  She is so ornery but loving.  I can be so frustrated with her and then she will come up to me for no reason at all and pat me on the back say "I wuv you mommy!....Hug?!"  Oh my gosh.  It truly melts my heart!  She is a very active little girl with little fear.  Poor girl has little bruises and scratches all over from falling, tripping, not paying attention to wear she is going etc.  I can always count on her to greet me with a smile and a big "Hi Mommy!!"  or "Morning!"  Tonight, we went to Gabe's softball game.  The guys ended up practicing since their opponent didn't show up on time and they hit a couple balls over the fence.  I took the kids and we retrieved the softballs for them.  Kamryn kept asking to hold my hand and usually she doesn't want to...for very long anyway.  It seems so small, but I love holding her soft, little innocent hands....so full of love, curiousity and trust!  I hope and pray everyday that Kamryn and I have a relationship like my mom and I do.  We have so much fun together!

What Kamryn is doing these days....
1.  sayings:  "Stop!"   "Go away!"
2.  Likes to sing Twinkle Little Star
3.  Favorite color:  pink
4.  Favorite snack: pistachios, almonds and /or raisins
5.  Likes to repeat anything you say so that she can try to learn new words.
6.  Loves to run around in the gym.  She tries to dribble the basketball and when she can't keep it going, she kicks the ball and then chases it while saying "Hustle!  Hustle!"

Well, I am getting tired and am going to call it a night.  Most of my posts are generally dominated by Graham stories, but I am going to dedicate tonight's post to Kamryn Louise.  I love you sis!!  May God bless you as the journey continues...

Sorry Graham but I had to post this....

Dear Graham and Kamryn:

I realize if Graham was old enough to read, he would probably get mad at me for recording this but I can't help it.  It's funny now Graham, it really is!

Graham came in from outside to "take care of business" in the bathroom.  I went to check on him and he had just finished.

Me: Buddy, do you need me to help wipe.
G: No, I already did it.
Me: Are you sure.
G: Yep.  Why do my underwear stick to the hole where my poop comes out of?
Me: blank stare......then I couldn't help it but I busted out laughing....
G: he got embarrassed and then said...ugh Who says that?!?!
Me: LOL

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A few days ago, shortly after eating lunch, Graham was sitting in his chair in the kitchen just messin' around.  I got up from the table and went to the other room for a minute and all of sudden Graham yells...
"MOM!!!  I have hair on my knees!!!!  It's so little!!!"

Oh boy....I can only imagine what he will say about 10 years from now!
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As for Kamryn, I am still completely amazed at how rapidly her language has picked up the past month!  My absolute favorite thing she says right now is POPSICLES.  She pronounces them as "Eee-poss-cuh-bowls"
Another funny thing she does...
K: Hi mom!!!
Me: Hey Kamryn!
K: Good!

She assumes you are going to ask her how she is doing lol....

Least favorite things right now....when she doesn't want you to do something or even look at her...
K:  yells with attitude "Stop it!" and then tries to slap at you.

She is our biter.  Poor Graham takes a beating from little sassy pants!

It amazes me that she can very purposefully call my mom.  If I leave my phone on the table or within her reach, she will reach and grab it and say, "I call Nana!"   So many times she has called her when I didn't realize that she really was talking to my mom!  She unlocks my phone, goes to my contact list, and whoala.....dials Nana and has a convo!

Another thing that intrigues her....she LOVES to hang!  She walks around the kitchen and says "I hang!" and grabs on to the oven handle or freezer handle and hangs on them like pull-up bars.  I get so mad at her and she just laughs!  I finally started taking her outside and let her play on my gymnastics rings and pull-up bars out there....she LOVES IT!

Let's see Kamryn Louise...what else do you like to do right now???  We bought a riding mower last month and you love to ride with us.  It has actually been nice.  I didn't plan to use the rider at our house but I can actually get something done knowing you are on my lap and Graham is playing with his outdoor toys.  When it comes time to mow the front, I get the push mower and you and Graham drive your motorized car around the front yard and driveway.  It is cute to watch:)

Kid Convos...

Graham started Tae Kwondo this week!  We are trying it out to see if he likes it before we officially sign him up.  Needless to say, he has told us several times that he absolutely loves it and is having fun!  Last night while he was practicing his form, Gabe was trying to talk to him about what to do next.  Graham stopped to take a break and stood a few feet away from but in front of the fireplace...he stood with his arms folded and was looking at his reflection and Gabe asked, "What are you doing buddy?" and Graham replied, "Looking cool."

Kamryn has completely mastered being able to unlock my phone and call Nana!  I don't have to say a word, she does it herself.  Nana has just come to expect a call from Miss Kamryn Louise on a daily basis.  Not only has she mastered the art of calling, she now likes to open up my camera on my phone and take pictures.  Today while we were in the kids' room, she got my phone camera up and running and was trying to take a picture of Graham "say cheeeeeeesssseee!"  Graham took the phone and looked into my camera and said, "Hey good lookin'!"

I am afraid that all this looking in the mirror and following the Tae Kwondo instructor, is getting to his head!

Kamryn is trying to stretch and test her limits to full capacity!  When she wants something by golly you better be listening because she doesn't give you much time to respond before she is yelling at you.  I got tired of her talking back to me the other day so I put soap in her mouth (happened to me as a kid!) and said, "there Kamryn, what do you think of that?!?  We don't talk back!"  Kamryn looked at me and said, "mmmm it's good!"   SO....there goes that brilliant idea of punishment!  Today she was doing something she was not supposed to be doing and was hiding in the closet.  I told her to get out and she told me "No!" with the biggest smile on her face!  I asked her if she wanted a spankin' and she said "I smakin...I smakin" and patted her own behind!  When I tell her to go to timeout, she smiles, and walks to a corner and puts her nose in the wall....turns around and smiles at me again.  22 months old!!!!  Really....is really possible to start copping an attitude that young?!?!  gimini Christmas!

I'm going to come up with SOMETHING to phase her...I am!  As the journey continues....

Rainy day...

Howdy!
Let me start by saying, this day has not lacked for any dull moments!  I am going to post a few videos to explain what I mean.

Story of the day:
I got home from work and Gabe had fed the kids lunch.  Kamryn was down for a nap and Graham was downstairs playing.  Gabe is on nights this week so he wanted to try and catch a nap before he went to work.  I decided to make myself a big salad for lunch!  I sat my salad down on the table along with my glass of water and all of a sudden "BOOM!!"  Excuse my french, but my ass flew out of the chair and down the stairs so stinkin fast that I am not sure I even touched all the steps!  "Gabe!  OMG I think we are being bombed...or shot at! Holy Shit !!  Did you hear that?!?"  (when Graham is saying holy shit tomorrow, I have no one but myself to blame)
He is lying on the couch, "yeah, I thought you dropped something??"
Me:  "No I didn't drop anything!  I think someone is in our garage or something I don't know!"

So we head upstairs...he opens our door leading out to the garage and we saw that our garage door was still open.  We are both looking around and I decide to walk out of the garage....I looked around the corner..."OMG GABE!!!!...go look, I don't know what it is but all I see is a tail"

Gabe:  He walks out and peeks around the corner and immediately starts walking me back inside "hurry up get back in side!"  All he could see were claws!!

WE ran into the living room and looked out our front window...a HAWK had flew into our window...the middle to South part of the middle window....knocked its happy ass to the North side of our porch!  We watched him manage to get back on his feet...shake his head and wobble back and forth.  If the bird could talk...."what?, I'm good...I'm good....just gonna stand here...check out the scene"  He sat there for 45 minutes!!!!!  Azzi was about to have a cow but Gabe wouldn't let her out there because she would have had her eyeballs clawed out!  This was insane!  We initially thought it was a Prairie Hawk but Gabe now thinks its a Longwinged Hawk or something like that.  Check out the video of Gabe trying to catch this bird with a Rubbermaid container!!....Yes he was gonna trap it in a Rubbermaid and release it in the country.  All I can picture is the bird escaping in the Jeep and there ya have it folks....Gabe and Mr. Hawk having a showdown in the Jeep!  He was honestly nervous which freaked me out even more!  Gabe vs. Hawk
Anyways...Gabe wanted to see if he could fly and the Hawk obviously managed to do so.  That bird sat in that exact same spot from 1-6:15ish.  When I checked at 7:45pm, it was gone.

The kids managed to stay entertained on this rainy afternoon.  They played anything from puzzles to trains to watching a DVD to reading books etc.  Graham developed a new way of "sledding"...check out the Video.

Kamryn continues to perfect her animal noises.  She has the "monkey" down!  It is hilarious!  While she played with her "Noah's Ark" puzzle type game, she started making monkey noises....I asked her to do it again and then I let the camera roll....Kamryn Monkey.

Oh my what a day...the journey will continue tomorrow :)
Peace out!

Growing like weeds....precious weeds of course...

Unfortunately, I let the busy basketball season get in my way of posting updates on the kids.  They are growing up so fast and I know that sounds so cliche' but it is what it is.  Both are so alike yet so different.  They seem to be going through a period where they are very defiant, picky eaters which hasn't always been the case, and are developing their language.  Graham is using big words for a three year old...in my opinion...and doing so in context.  It amazes me the things he remembers from books or movies or conversations we have had.  Kamryn, is trying so hard to talk!  She has made huge improvements and is saying quite abit now.  We understand her better than anyone b/c we are around her more but those are that are around her more and more have told me that they are starting to pick up on what she is saying also.  She has such a sense of humor!  Her expressions are so animated....smile so contagious!  I promise I am not making this up or forcing her to do so, but I really think she likes basketball!  Today, while Graham attended his first swimming lesson, Kamryn and I played with a basketball in the gym.  After we left the gym, she went running past me down the hall of the YMCA saying, "Nice hustle!.....hustle, hustle, hustle, hustle!"  I love it!  She obviously is too little to dribble or shoot yet so anytime she runs towards a ball, I tell her to hustle!  Apparantly, she has been paying attention :)  Kamryn absolutely loves to play outside!!!  No matter what kind of weather we have, she wants to be outside!  She likes to attempt to ride Graham's old tricycle.  For Christmas we bought them a convertible car, motorized car.  Seeing the two of them ride around together is so fun!  Graham is the driver and Kamryn is his passenger.  They have had a lot of fun with it!
Graham is still enjoying preschool and CrossFit Kids!  We held off putting him in soccer this Spring.  Lately, we have had a lot of trouble getting him to listen.  He is very independent with his thinking!  Hopefully, this is a phase....that passes....sooner than later!
Well, I realize this was a brief update but I am tired and ready to call it a day....until next time...the journey continues :)

Overdue update....

Long time, no post!  Sorry.  I have not had the time to post and have told myself a hundred things I need to remember to write about on here but I will be lucky to remember 5 of those.

Kamryn Louise is now 19 months old!  She has really exploded with her vocabulary in the last month.  My little 20 pounder is kinda sassy.  She has perfected the "No No!" with a finger point so we are all sure to hear about it if we are doing something wrong or not in her favor.  If I were to predict her future, I'd say she is not going to take any crap from anyone!  She likes to pick on her brother almost more than he picks on her.  Although they pick on each other, they love each other to pieces!  Kamryn still struggles with saying "Graham" so to her he is "bubba."  She loves to play with her new laptop (for kids of course), mommy's phone, dig through mommy's purse and drawers, play outside, chase basketballs in the gym, playing with playdough, and has a major obsession with shoes!  For whatever reason, she seems to think her black boots go well with everything from her diaper to her leggings.

Graham is almost 3 1/2 years old.  He is still in preschool!  Sounds like he is a smart little boy and the teacher can call on him whenever she needs an answer but otherwise he is living in his own world and doesn't follow instructions so well.  We will  continue to work on that department!
Gabe introduced him to the movie, "Toy Story."  Quite often, Graham swears he is "Buzz Lightyear."  This past Christmas was his first ever Christmas program.  We were so excited to see him sing with this class!  They had 4 songs to perform.  Between the preschool and pre-K classes there were 48 students.  Graham was placed in the front row....I had my camera and was also sitting in the front of the church....His classmates sang Jingle Bells while he held his arms straight out to the side pretending as though he was Buzz Lightyear!  Anytime the little girl in her Christmas dress, standing next to him, would sway back and forth in her dress, Graham would glare at her like she was the most annoying being on this Earth!  As if Buzz wasn't bad enough, he stood there and picked his nose as well!  :)  Nice huh!
Never too many dull moments in our house.  He still says several clever things and makes us laugh!
A couple weeks ago, when he was "a doctor" (we never know what he will be from day to day) I asked him if he would like a cheese stick for a snack and his response was, "Mom, no, Doctors don't eat cheese they eat 'saugesas'"  I spelled that wrong on purpose b/c that is about how it sounds as it rolls off his toungue.  He loves beef jerky or beef sausage sticks.

As if we are not busy enough, we decided rather than buy a house, we wanted to renovate our basement.  We are building Grahams bedroom and redoing the bathroom.  My cousin Cody, helped us tremendously with all the framing and sheet rocking, moving doorways and building new, and mudding the ceilings.  Gabe has done a ton of work himself.  He laid the tile floor in our bathroom, did most all the plumbing, dug out concrete, did some electrical work, hung light fixtures and installed the shower.  I take care of the kids while he does all this stuff!  He painted the bathroom and Graham's new room.  It's all coming togeteher!!  Anxious to finish the basement so we can then move our laundry to the basement and make the current laundry room a pantry!!

Well I have some work to do for basketball so I better wrap this up.  Hope all is well!  until next time....the Journey continues!