A Breakdancin' Family!

Don't send a lame Starring You! eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Playdough is Fun!

The other night Kaylea, Eric and myself were playing with playdough. Kaylea wanted to make snowmen. We had a great time.... I think Eric and I were having more fun than she was! Here are the snowmen we made. The pink one is the one Kaylea made and the teal one is the one we made!

Can it be? NKOTB?!

You heard it right! NKOTB also known as New Kids on the Block are going back on tour! I had to share this because I was one of those crazy NKOTB fans! I had the scrapbook and everything. At night I used to go to sleep to with their cassette tape playing in my boom box and dream about marrying Joey! LOL In fact the very first concert I ever attended was to see New Kids on the Block and believe it or not my big brother Corey took me! Decked out in my vest and black hat I thought I was the coolest thing getting to go and being taken by my big brother! Even cooler I thought... my brother let me go with him to McDonald's to eat afterwards. That's one of my favorite memories I have of my brother and I growing up.

Well they are going on tour again so it seems and will be announcing it in the next few weeks. (Yes I totally want to go!) LOL its going to be hilarious seeing a bunch of 30-something women going crazy over a bunch of 40 year old men re-enacting their boy band moves! Hahaha Hahaha! Too funny!

For more info on this reunion:

http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,EntPeopleTax:NewKidsontheBlock,00.html

Obsessive Compulsive 2-Year-Old!

I've heard that all toddlers have some form of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). I believe that to some extent but I think Kaylea might have it a little extreme. That doesn't come as a surprise to me as IMHO (in my humble opinion) my mother and brother are borderline OCD. See growing up as a child I took after my father... and like him I believe in keeping things in an "organized mess". When we were kids, my brother's room was always neat and tidy, so much so I think his closet was color coordinated and his hangers hung exactly 1 inch apart. (ok maybe I'm exaggerating a little). My room on the other hand was comparable to a war zone. Either that or a dumpster? It was like a bomb of clothes had exploded all over the floor. But, despite the mess, to me it was serenity at its best! Eric has a great saying that we've tried to teach Kaylea, "God Made Dirt, and Dirt Don't Hurt!" She's not buying it though!

She really is the funniest kid I know. She has to have everything a certain way. When we put her to bed her pillows have to be layed out a certain way and her stuffed animal fluffy has to be on her right side, teddy on her left with her water bottle both laying on her "rabbit pillow". Her and fluffy (or who Eric calls, "Big Fluff Dawg") lay on her pillow. If it is out of order in any way, she can't sleep. And when you sing to her she wants you to sing the right words... if you change them she corrects you!

Well last night was the funniest OCD experience of all! See she loves Cheetos, but she gets really frustrated eating them because her hands get "all Cheeto-ie". So as we do every dinner time we gave her a paper towel, so she could wipe her hands in between bites. I even gave her one wet paper towel and one dry one because Cheetos are extra messy. (She usually asks for the wet paper towel with extra messy food like chocolate.... yes I know... and yes she is only 2 and half!) Well it wasn't enough for her last night. She requested that I "feed" the Cheetos to her. I told her I was not going to do that and that she was a big girl. This frustrated her, but, being the smart little girl she is, she came up with her own plan. She used the paper towel to wrap around the Cheetos like a burrito or banana peel and held the napkin that was holding the Cheeto and took a bite. Not your "normal" 2 year old! LOL I had to take a picture!

Kaylea Sings "Itsy Bitsy Spider"

Here is a cute video clip of Kaylea singing Itsy Bitsy Spider in my office at work yesterday.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Add to My Profile | More Videos

New Car! Less Gas! Whew!

For those of you who don't know, we bought a new car last weekend! We finally traded in the good 'ol 2000 Ford Ranger and we got a 2007 Dodge Caliber! Its basically Eric's car (as I have my brother's old "soccer mom van") but its great. We've been needing a new car for a while.... a carseat in the front seat of a truck is not the safest and the truck was getting old and needing repairs too often... not to mention it was a gas guzzler since Eric commutes 45 minutes to an hour to and from work every day. So, in the long run it will definitely save us money!

Its a really cool little car too! Check the pics out below (not our actual car pictured, but close enough!) It is actually considered an SUV, but its more like the cross between a hatchback and a station wagon. The good thing is it was only $36 to fill up on gas! We'd always stop at $40 on the truck so who knows how much it took to actually fill up. I know my van takes $50 to get it to 3/4 a tank! Ouch!

Some cool features:

- The back seats fold down so you can haul stuff.

- It has a little chill zone in the glove compartment for drinks

- The drink holders light up and glow

- Good on Gas!

A Self Portrait by Kaylea

I really believe Kaylea has the gift of being an artist... much like my mom and myself (as a graphic artist). She is always very observant and she notices the tiniest little details. Example, my mother had gotten a calndar from a chinese restaurant and hung it on the wall. Kayle acame over the next day and it was the first thing she noticed. But she didn't just notice the calendar. She also said, "Look, Pandas!" oh and wait for it.... "and bamboo trees!" What two year old notices stuff like that? Really? I don't think I knew what a bamboo tree was when I was two?

So my little Picasso came into the bathroom the other morning to show us the self-portrait she had drawn on her little Dora Magnetic Sketch toy. She said, "Look Daddy I draw Kaylea!" I kid you not there is two eyes a nose and a mouth! She's only two years old people! I think that is observant, amazing, and incredible! Once again she has me totally in awe!

You may want to start collecting some of her artwork now - I'm sure it will be worth more as she gets older! :-)

Kaylea is on Regis and Kelly's Website

OMG! I am totally freaking out here! I went to Regis and Kelly's website and looked at their baby gallery for the contest and Kaylea is there! I've entered her two years in a row and she never made the gallery! There are like over 150,000 pictures submitted so to make it even to the gallery is soooo cool! I am so excited! This doesn't mean she is a finalist, but it does mean her picture was at least noticed and looked at! Click below to see it! Everyone please pray that she can be one of the top ten finalist! (If its God's will of course!) .... and pray that its God's Will lol JK. This is the pic my mom liked best!

http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/regisandkelly/contests/beautifulbabies2008/gallery.html

Kaylea Got her Leapster Back!

Just to give you an update... Kaylea did much better at school today, and first thing apologized to Emily. I think she learned her lesson. So... she got her leapster back and her "treats". :-)

My cute tempermental little red head!

It is amazing to me how red Kaylea's hair looks in different lights? Its not surprising as there are quite a few red heads on my mom's side of the family - Amber & Cody to name a few (Although Amber is now blonde - she was a bright red head as a child) She definitely fits the bill when it comes to the red head's temper. Lately she has gotten very tempermental and I think its the result of the terrible twos mixed with the red head temper... and she is spoiled. She gets upset when she doesn't get what she wants and she doesn't know how to express it except for crying or screaming or whining or recently biting!

On Thursday I had to pick her up from school because she had bitten the arm of a little girl in her class. So, I took off work and went to pick her up and this time she was going to realize she can't get away with it. So I brought her home and took her to her room. She didn't like that at all. Also, we took away all "sweet treats" like chocolate and candy as well as her new favorite toy - her leapster! She has been very apologetic ever since and every day tells me she will be good at school and she is sorry for biting Emily. (She is so sweet when she says this I feel like a big mean mama for punishing her, but I know its the right thing to do.) See lately she will say she is sorry and that she won't do it again, and then she turns around and does it again. So this is why we had to take stuff away.

So tomorrow is the real test. She goes back to school. I told her I was going to ask her teacher how she acted in class and if she tells me she was good, then Kaylea can have a chocolate cookie after school and get her leapster back. My fingers are crossed and I hope she's good but there is part of me that is worried we might get another dreaded call. Let's hope not... I think she has learned her lesson... like most women, she loves her chocolate way too much to keep it away for long!

PS - I'm adding on to this after I wrote the above. We've been working with her all weekend on how to play nice. Putting Kaylea to sleep we asked her, "Tomorrow at school if you want to play with a toy what do you do?" and she responded, "you ask". We followed up with, "And if they say no you can't play with it I'm playing with it, then what do you do?" To which she gave the right answer that we taught her, "You play with another toy!" Good girl, mommy has always lived by, "Some will, Some won't, So What, Next!" The same "sales pitch" applies to kids and sharing toys! LOL She then proceeded to say, "and then I get my chocolate cookie and my leapster back!"

She is also getting inspiration from Princess Jasmine from a movie that we bought her about princess stories. Princess Jasmine ended the movie saying, "Be Strong, and Never Give Up". As I layed her in her bed she was chanting to herself under her breath, "Be Stong, An' Neber Gib Up!" Told you she wanted that chocolate back!

¡Fantastico!

Last week Kaylea had a sore throat (actually I think it was hand-foot-mouth) and two days ago her ear turned out infected ... behind her ear where her piercing is... it was pretty bad. We took her to the doctor and they gave us some prescription antibiotic cream to put on it. Sixty dollars and two days later she is doing much better.... it is healing and will continue to heal as long as we can hold her down and keep her still long enough to put medicine on it!

Anyways, last night we were putting Kaylea to bed and like every night we said our prayer. Eric added onto our normal prayer and asked God to help her boo boos feel better. And Kaylea said, "Daddy I really want my boo boos to go away." And he said, "They are sweety they are getting all better!" Then she got a big smile on her face and said, "¡FANTASTICO!"

I love it! It really pays off to let your kids watch Dora! She is learning spanish and its so cute. Sometimes I will say, "Whats the magic word?" and she says, "Please, Por Favor!" And every day when Eric picks her up at my mom's house she calls me on the phone and says, "¿Que pasa, Chica?"

Kids pick Spanish up so easy... Ex. - me when I was a kid. Of course I was immersed into Spanish because we lived in South America. So I'm thinking as she gets a little older and into Elementary school I'd like to get her into a school that has a Spanish Immersion program so that she can learn spanish even more! What are your thoughts on teaching your kids another language? Have your kids been in a Language Immersion program? Any tips you have to share are welcome!

I'll Call You When I'm Thirteen!

So there are two things I learned yesterday.

1.) Never go to a restaurant when your two-year old has just woken up from a nap, and obviously had planned on sleeping a little longer.

2.) Men are men whether they are 4 years old, 25 years old or 40 years old. And Kaylea can't date till she is 30!

We did this last night. Kaylea woke up from her nap just as we arrived at Carraba's Italian Restaurant and was not in the happiest of moods. We thought it would pass but soon realized it would not....plus I think she just wasn't feeling very well. "I wanna go home!" she cried over and over and tears rolled down her face. So we took turns taking her for a walk around the restaurant. She calms down when you do this.... problem is as soon as she sees you are returning to the table, she starts crying again.

But last night, seated at the table next to us was a family with a little boy and a little girl. The boy was 4 years old and the girl was turning three in April... so just 1 month younger than Kaylea. They saw that Kaylea was upset and wanted to come over and say hi to her and cheer her up. It was very sweet.

Next thing you know, the little 4-year-old boy comes up to Kaylea and says, "I have a surprise for you! When I am 13 I'm gonna give you a call!" Well myself, Eric and the other two parents all burst out laughing. Kaylea didn't quite understand why we were laughing and probably thought we were laughing at her cause she kept crying. So I took her on another walk....

As we walked around the restaurant Kaylea stops and says, "Mommy I DON'T WANT to call that boy!" (Good girl!) I laughed at this too and then we returned inside. Kaylea calmed down for a minute in the arms of her daddy and with an ice cream sundae :-)

Then the little boy returned to our table and said, in a cute flirty shy manner, "My mommy says she has the most Bee-U-ti-ful lips she has ever seen!" Then he giggled and covered his face with his hands and ran back to his table.

It was really funny and really cute...even though I ended up getting my meal to go, and Eric woofed down his lasagna faster than Garfield! But I think we are gonna be in for it when she is thirteen!

My favs for the Regis & Kelly Beautiful Baby Search

These are my favs.... tell me what you think! She should win right? :-) I've entered her every year and so far no luck, and next year is the last year she is eligible. I wish it was a personality contest too because she would win hands down.... not to mention she's the smartest two year old I've ever met! Now of course they receive over 100,000 entries each year so I'm sure the chances of getting picked are slim, but either way to me Kaylea is the most beautiful baby! And by the way - I think her blue eyes are turning brown and green (hazel like her mommy's!)

Happy New Year!

A year has passed and time has flown
We've gotten older and Kaylea has grown!

Kaylea began preschool this year as you know,
She's learned ABC's, Colors and Numbers to show.

Her vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds,
She talks more than her mother! (Can you imagine that sound!)

She is becoming a comic just like her dad,
Two peas in a pod, Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dad.

While Kaylea has been hard at work in school,
Learning her manners and playing it cool,

Mommy has been working hard at the Bee,
And writing this blog, and keeping up Snowbirdy.

Daddy has started a new job this year,
And his days are now filled with Flip Flops and gear.

So 2007's been busy and we've done quite alot,
We're hoping this year will slow down, probably not!

So we rang in the new year and I ate black eyed peas,
And nobody else would try them even though I said "PLEASE!"

It is now a new year, yes 2008,
And I'm sitting at work trying to procrastinate.

So to all of our family and friends we hold dear,
We hope you have a fun and prosperous new year!