Favorites

I just wanted to jot down some of my favorite things my kids do, usually on a daily basis...

KynnLee comes up to me, motions to my phone and starts dancing.
Translation: Turn the music on your phone so I can dance!!!
That's my girl!!

Jaden knows all about choking because about a year ago he swallowed a bean from his Don't Spill the Beans game. It was pretty traumatic for him. He was scared to do the #2 the next day. Anyhow, he's a pretty good look out for me, if KynnLee puts something in her mouth it's always...
"CHOKING HAZARD!!! SISSY, THAT'S A CHOKING HAZARD!! MOM, SISSY PUT SOMETHING IN HER MOUTH!!!" in a totally frantic tone. Such a good brother... ;)

When Jaden gets cold he says, "get me a blanket, I'm sugaring".

KynnLee often comes up to me and hugs my legs and goes "Oooohhhh" and gives me a pat. Such a little sweetheart!

Warning...picture overload

So, I was a big picture geek on my trip to Kentucky. Since Trev had to stay home to take tests (lucky!), I wanted to take lots of pics and show him how everything went down.

I've always thought downtown Cincinnati is really cool. So since we hit a little traffic, I took some pics, but this is the only one I'm posting...

I remember when we first moved to Kentucky and I thought it was a little annoying how they have horses everywhere... not actual horses, but like on the sign and stuff. After being there a while I realized that it's all really classy the way they use them. And being around for the Kentucky Derby I understood how big of a deal it is. I mean, 2 weeks of celebrations before Derby?? The 2nd largest firework show in North America... it's a big deal. I mean, there were Dancing With The Stars contestants there... that pretty much sums it up for me! I now love their use of horses, I think it's really cool. Anyway, moving on...

Most of you are aware that my girl hates the car. The first half of the drive was ok, the 2nd half had to have a few extra stops. This was the last stop we made at a rest stop just outside of Cincinnati. She was clapping her hands and all happy, 30seconds later I put her in the car...

I will never attempt to travel with this baby during the day again. Of the whole 6 hours it took to get there (that includes stops), this girl slept for about 45 min. of it. The drive home was in the evening, she slept for over half of it.

First off was girl's night. Mexican food. Need I say more? Left to right is Darla, Christine, Ashly,(little Raegan), Rhonda, me, Elizabeth. It was so good to see little Raegan for the first time and we're so happy that Rhonda has a healthy little baby. Look at those cheeks! They were as yummy as they look! My heart goes out to her and her family every time I see a little one with Down Syndrome.

A big huge thanks to Kayla (and a bigger one to Jeff) for babysitting for me. Jaden thought it was cool to see his preschool again.

Jaden and Luke were inseperable. They had fun polishing their skills on the Wii. Jaden always curls his tongue like that when he's concentrating, it cracks me up!!

The next day was beautiful weather so we did some shopping at The Summitt. As I mentioned, Jaden and Luke were inseperable so I offered to take Luke with us. We started out at Old Navy, where the boys were wild and crazy. I mean, literally running and then sliding across the floor on their knees. So, we left in a hurry, but I was able to score some Nutcracker jammies on clearance for KynnKynn. LOVE THEM!! I ask her where her ballerina is and she points to her shirt... that's my girl!! We ended the Summitt adventure (that's not a joke) at Barnes and Noble with a cookie and chocolate milk for the boys. I know, I know, that was just like throwing fuel on the fire. Just don't tell Beeda that I allowed my child to have that much sugar...

Jaden knew very well that Barnes and Noble had a train table in the back. There was no skipping out on that, so we hung out there for a bit and KynnLee found herself a little Fancy Nancy doll. She was so stinkin funny with it, I almost had to buy the little $15 thing.

Of course ALL the kids are exhausted from walking all the way around the Summitt, so they took "the train" back to the car. Seriously, all of them, even KynnLee were doing the "woo woo" train whistle thing all the way back to the other side. I considered it my work-out for the day. (Don't tell Elizabeth about my pansy-of-a-work-out )

That night we got to stay at Elizabeth's and spend some time there. Jaden had fun playing with Madison and Meredith (probably his only girl buddies in KY) while I had a laugh at KynnLee on the grass. She *hates* touching the grass with her hands, she won't even stand up... I'm such a mean mom to be laughing...

Carson wasn't so sure of KynnLee, so we started him off with her locked up in the pack-n-play. He eventually approved of her and even let her suck on some of his toys...

Isn't he a handsome little man? Another healthy/miracle baby blessed to deserving parents. I got to meet this little guy before we left though. He would crawl around with his little tongue out like that, I couldn't resist a snapshot.



Ok, I'm all blogged out for the night. The rest of the trip will have to wait. Good night!

The Viper

I know you all have been waiting for the pics of the Viper. It was a nice day the other day so we spent some time outside playing in it. So here you go...

You can't really tell, but when you start it, the dash lights up a florescent blue. Hilarious! And rearview mirrors... but even with those he's not exactly "the world's best backwards driver".

Jaden thinks he's pretty cool stuff. Every time he gets in it he has to turn on the radio, even if it's on a weird station. We'll have to install some type of seatbelt for KynnLee, it stops pretty abruptly. It was fun taking a stroll around the block, but we're thinking it might have been a good idea for the car to come with a remote control... so WE can control it. He's still got some driving skills to develop...

The princess girl really likes her hot little ride too. She beeps the horn the whole time she's in there. In fact, her little hand is on the horn here....

It's going to be a fun summer!!

The Birthday Month

Well, we just finished our 4^th and final birthday for the year (Whew!!). The kids got spoiled… but that's ok since they got a pretty weak Christmas.

For Trevor's birthday we had the traditional Jason/Brandon/Trevor conversation that always goes like this…. Jason: " Trevor, how old are you?... Brandon, how old are you?.. HA HAHA HA!!" repeated a couple times. For those of you that don't know, Trevor and his older brother are the same age for 2 weeks, and it's downright hilarious when we have this conversation. Brandon hates it, but Trevor doesn't care; but that's what makes it so funny! Here's a sneak peak of how it went down with Trev…

Of course we can't sit on the couch without a Phoebe-dog snuggling up with us.

Jaden was especially spoiled since he got a party with his friends in Kentucky and one with his Ohio friends and dad. We had his party in Kentucky at the park. He was so excited to see all his friends! It's been so long that Jaden ran right past Connor at the park and didn't recognize him! It was funny! Jaden has been into Spongebob lately, so we threw a Spongebob party. Lucky for me, it's the 10^th Anniversary of Spongebob so there were lots of little party favors and nick-nacks. I was so impressed with the cake! I went to the bakery at like 10am and asked if they could have a Spongebob cake ready by 3 and they sure did…

Playing Duck, Duck, Goose. Being rough with the boys. Lots of frosting, just the way he likes it!


The chocolate princess. Total troublemakers. Blowing out the candles!

It wasn't a fancy party, but the kids had fun. They played on the playground, had pizza and cupcakes, and played games. I think Jaden misses his little boy buddies to run around and be rough with.

Our spoiled little boy had his party in Ohio yesterday. He had fun with all his cute little friends playing games. They played Hullaballoo, hot potato, and we had them do a relay game where they have to run with a balloon between their knees, it was pretty funny! A big thanks to Miss Christine (Miss Preschool) for helping me out with games for the kiddos.



Time for cake and presents… boy did we have a surprise in store for Jaden! We've been wanting to get him a Power Wheels, but the outrageous prices of $300-400 made us decide that we would just wait till they had a big sale, or just buy a used one. We went to Walmart to get party stuff and checked them out a bit, again. There was a really cute John Deer tractor with 2 seats, too expensive. Of course we are only going to get one with 2 seats. There was a really cute Mustang that was even more. And a really cute Dodge Viper in a box, no display or price. I thought let's just forget it, we'll get one later. But Trevor insisted that I have someone check the price on that and a couple others. When it rang up for less than $200 there was no stopping Trevor, it was a done deal! Plus it was the last one. I don't know what was up with it, we came home and checked it online and it was over $300. They must have had it specially priced just for us! It worked out so perfect since both grandparents and my sister sent money for his birthday, we really didn't spend much more than we did for KynnLee's birthday.


He had so much fun giving all his friends a ride. It was quite the surprise!! We had him open presents outside because the Viper was in the garage. I'll have to take pics of the inside, it's so cute! It has a GPS (sticker), a working radio that he can plug his "iPod" (mp3) into, and 2 cup holders! Did we hit the jackpot on that or what?

Stay tuned for more pics of the Viper!

Grandma and Grandpa Hellewell

I was tagged by Shanna to write some memories of Grandma and Grandpa. I notice I share some favorites with Shanna, I'm sure we all do. Here goes...

Raspberry Jam (who got dibs on all that jam in her basement?!?! I want some!)
picking raspberries
making jam
playing on the clothes line outside
climbing and playing in the cherry tree
the porch swing out back
Grandpa irrigating the lawn so we could play in "the ditch"
eating raspberries with sugar and milk
roasting hot dogs and marshmallows in the basement fire on Christmas Eve
Grandpa reading "Twas The Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve
Skinny little grandpa dressed as Santa
the Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving
Grandma asking me to play christmas songs or church songs on the piano (even though they were very basic)
making quilts
poster paper, glitter, glue, crayons, etc.
daring each other (cousins) to go down in the potato cellar
riding my bike or walking to their house after school
Grandpa's dog bark!
Grandpa on his riding lawnmower with ginormous ear-muff/plug thingies mowing all his rental properties
making cinnamon rolls
the green room, the pink room, the earwig room
the record player
"The Store" in the basement
Love dollars
"Karie darlins"
"you turken-goose!"
the awesome breakfast in the morning while watching The Price is Right
their van that had a sink in it
the "Familes are Forever" bumper sticker on the van
Grandma's fluffy socks with dress flats

Oh my gosh I can go on too! I thought Shanna had pretty much mentioned everything.

I do have a story about the wall-to-wall bed in the basement. I was down there with a bunch of the cousins and we were getting ready to go to bed when a big ugly spider ran from the fireplace, jumped off and ran across the room. We were all too afraid to smash it, so we sprayed it with hairspray until it died. Then we were talking how when you see one spider, there's usually lots more close by that you don't see... then another one did the same thing! So we sprayed it until it died. Then it happened again TWO more times! I couldn't sleep in the basement after that.

Tag!

Rules: It's harder than it looks! Copy to your own note, erase my answers, and enter yours. Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real, nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You must put the first answer that comes to mind! You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name twice for the boy/girl name.

1. What is your name: Karie
2. A four Letter Word: Kite
3. A boy's Name: Kent
4. A girl's Name: KynnLee
5. An occupation: Kindergarden Teacher
6. A color: Khaki
7. Something you wear: Kilt
8. A food: Kiwi
9. Something found in the bathroom: Kleenex
10. A place: Kentucky!
11. A reason for being late: Keys missing
12. Something you shout: Keep out!
13. A movie title: King Kong
14. Something you drink: Kool-aid
15. A musical group: KISS
16. An animal: Kangaroo

I tag anyone and everyone! Have fun!!

Words of advice...

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