Photos

I know I promised to post recent pictures, so here's a few for now ....

Miss Princess is 2!

My baby girl turned 2 yesterday. It's hard to believe two whole years have passed since her birth. When Braeden celebrated his second birthday, I was already a few months pregnant with the little princess. However, no babies on the way this time! It's a bit crazy when I think about it. The time seemed to go so much more slowly when it was just Braeden. I remember when we conceived Kaelynn, Braeden was just 22 months old, and it seemed like we had waited forever to decide to start trying for another addition to our family. Now here we are, and Kaelynn is already older than Braeden was when we decided to have another child. I'm almost 100% certain that our family will remain the size it is now.

She had a nice day. I got off work a little early, picked up a small cake for her and headed home. We had dinner, sang happy birthday and ate cake, opened a couple presents, played for a bit and then it was bedtime.

I can't believe she's 2!

Weekend Recap

A great weekend it was!

The baby shower was nice; ate way too much food, and unfortunately had to leave before we had a chance to see the mom-to-be open our gift. Got home, visited and snuggled with my kids for a few minutes before scampering across the street for our first girl's game night.

It was just 4 of us at first, and we ate, talked, and laughed. One more showed up a little later, and then one more. My mom stopped by for a few minutes as well, just so she could meet and put faces to the names. It was one hell of a night. What originally was supposed to be a night of game playing from approximately 6-10pm, ended up being primarily a chin-wagging event that went until a little after midnight. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

I've made some new friends - and such a spectrum of friends it is. Ages range from a year younger than me, up to 40. But we all got along great and had a wonderful time. We're already planning our July get together.

This morning I did get to sleep in a bit (thank you honey!) and then we changed bed sheets, did some tidying, some kid-cleaning and then went out the outlet mall near our house. Got hubby a nice outfit from the Gap, a Christmas gift for my brother and sister-in-law, and some little gifts for our Easter egg hunt we'll be hosting next year (egg shaped erasers, bunny bubble necklaces & stationary sets that I paid a whopping $1 for -- it was DIRT cheap and I could not pass it up). Then we came home, had lunch and hung out.

Brother-in-law, his fiance and their twin girls came over to give our princess her birthday gifts. They stayed for a couple hours, and I had a headache that was slowly progressing. Another neighbor stopped by about 6ish to buy some baby clothes from me, and by that time the headache was getting to be unbearable. I had to lay down and loaded up on pills. I'm feeling better, but it's still lurking and I know I better take it easy unless I want it coming back full force.

At the moment, it's storming and I'm listening to the thunder and watching the flashes of light as I sit here and type this. My neck hurts, so I'm going to go ask my loving husband if he'll massage it for me before I hit the hay. Tomorrow is a new week, and I only have 5 workdays until I'm on VACATION! I'll have 9 straight days of NO WORK. Thank goodness .... I need a break.

So, with that I will end this. I hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend, and I hope everyone else is staying dry! We certainly aren't!!!

Busy Weekend Ahead

For the first time in awhile, I can pretty much say my weekend is booked.

Braeden is out with Grandma & Grandpa, and Kaelynn and I are currently wasting time before the mall opens. So she's watching an Elmo movie, and I'm surfing ebay, checking in with the forum, and blogging. The plan is to head over to the mall and hit Gymboree for their Red Hot Dot sale. I may even hit a second store.

Then it'll be rush, rush as I'll have to get Kaelynn lunch, get her in for a nap, and jump in the shower before having to leave at 2:30 to attend a baby shower with my mom. Unfortunately, we won't be able to stay long because my dad will be watching the kids and I have the ladies game night which starts at 6.

I'm hoping then tomorrow I'll get to sleep in a little bit while Mike gets up with the kids and gives them breakfast. Then it's bathe the kids, and take care of some housework since Kaelynn's party and our out of town guests are coming in next weekend. Mike's brother, fiance and the twins are coming over in the afternoon, and a neighbor might be stopping by to buy some baby clothes from me.

Busy, busy! But, I do like it. It's nice to have things to do, and people to see. I feel like such a social butterfly now. :)

Community Togetherness

I mentioned previously that I took on a "job" moderating for a communal website for our town. It was created by residents in our community (who just so happen to live in our subdivision, on our street, just a few houses down on the other side of the street), and their goal is that it's "run for the community, by the community".

Since becoming a moderator a little over a week ago, I've gotten to know a bit more of what goes on "behind the scenes".

You see, the town where we live in small. Very small. I'm talking a population of 124. The town population sign boasts a big 150, because they rounded up. To date, there is an estimated 1,800 people residing in the town now. The community in which we live has already closed on 579 homes, with 302 more homes that are in the process of going up, a majority of those scheduled to close this summer and fall.

So you can imagine what the "old" residents might be thinking. Some are looking at things in a new light, and are embracing the change. Others are bitter, and are taking it out on residents of our community.

This is where my "job" as a moderator comes in. There seems to be a separation of the "old" town versus the "new". And people are letting their bitterness out on residents of the "new" community within the forum. That's when I have to step in and collaborate with the other moderators/site administrator to figure out just how to smooth things over, or what consequences these "outbursts" will bring.

Thankfully, the issues at hand are relatively mild. Things could be worse, but when it comes to this situation, we have to be on top of things. While this website/forum is meant to help residents of the community share information, ask questions, meet neighbors, plan block parties and the like, it also can be very risky. You run the risk of people slandering others, or worse. If it gets out of control, the association or the village can rule to shut it down altogether.

All that aside, this really is a great place to live. I've met several new friends here, and tomorrow will be the first official "ladies game night" hosted by a neighbor, and it's open to any lady living in the community (and we even have 1 or 2 that will be attending that won't be closing on their homes for another couple months). Our block party is the end of July, and we are planning on hosting an Easter egg hunt for the kids next year.

I couldn't recommend a better place to live and raise a family.

Haven't Much Time

I haven't had much time lately to get on here and really write something of substance. It's summertime and we are spending more time outdoors and it seems this is just a busy time of year in general.

Kaelynn's birthday is approaching quickly. My little girl will be two years old already. Hard to believe, and bittersweet. That is my baby, she can't grow up too fast! As it is, her brother turned 4.5 this month as well, so we are now less than 6 months away from his FIFTH birthday. Yikes!!!

My aunt and uncle are coming into town in 2 weeks. We're very excited to see them! It's been nearly 2 years since we last saw them. Braeden is very excited about them coming, especially since my aunt promised him a shopping trip to buy him something special!!! Kaelynn was only 3 months old when she "met" them and saw them the first and only time, so she doesn't really remember them, but I know she'll just love getting attention and love!

So, things are pretty busy here getting ready for our houseguests, our little girl's birthday party, and the 4th of July.

I have also taken on a new task. I'm now a moderator on my town's website/forum. It was developed by home owners right here in our community (we are in a new development that is being built in a town of 124 (although the population sign says 150)) and it is for the community, by the community. I was asked last week to become a moderator, and on Wednesday night I met to meet with the site administrators (and "founders") - who also just happen to live 3 doors down across the street - and became an offical moderator. It's really a great place for our small (growing) town, and I was honored to be asked.

So, if you don't hear from me for awhile, you'll know why. But I promise to check in when I can, and hopefully I'll have new pictures to share soon, too!

Check dis shizzle out, yo!

I came across this website from a friend's blog.

I was laughing my ass off, nearly peeing my pants.

Pull up your own blog, or a discussion forum website and I guarantee you'll be roaring too.

www.gizoogle.com

I made it!

June 9 ended up being pretty uneventful.

Aside from my stress-relieving squishy pink cow being decapitated at work, nothing bad (nor necessarily good) happened all day.

It was just a pretty normal day all around.

Message from a Bird

After I awoke this morning an hour before I needed to get up, I dozed back to sleep and had another dream.

This time I dreamt that a bird got into the house. It was a finch. As it flew past me, my eyes bulged and I exclaimed that a "bird in the house meant death". I freaked out in my dream, badly, because again .... I was taking this bird in the house as a sign for June 9.

I woke up, and was immediately disturbed, and quite honestly I still am. However, thie bird happened in a dream, not real life, so does the superstition still hold true? Plus, I read up on it, and a bird in the house can either mean death, or that it is just bringing an important message. This dream could also have to do with the fact that it was sitting in the back of my mind, in my subconcious because it was just a few days ago that I listened to a radio program and they were taking phone calls from listeners and what their superstitions were. A woman called in and said she had many issues/superstitions with birds - and mentioned that a bird in the house meant death.

I have been constantly thinking about what the message of June 9 has meant, whether it was intended to let me know that something good was going to happen, or bad. We are now 3 days away, and I'm even more scared.

I just can't win!

Normally I ask my parents to look after the kids when Mike and I would like to go somewhere. We don't do it very often at all, and because they watch the kids during the week, I feel guilty asking other times.

I want to see The Breakup pretty badly. This is the first movie in a long time that I've wanted to really go see while it was in the theater. Most times it's not a big deal and I can wait til it comes out on DVD.

So Mike asks me if I'd like to go tomorrow. I agree, but tell him that I don't really want to ask my parents because I feel like they are with the kids enough as it is. We end up setting it all up that Mike will pick up his sister tomorrow evening while I feed the kids dinner at home, and then we'll head out to the show while Auntie Megan plays with them a bit, and tucks them into bed for the night. We figure we'll only be gone a few hours max and should be home before 10.

Of course, what do my parents say? "How come you didn't ask us?" Well, I thought I was doing a good thing and finding alternate childcare rather than always asking them. Sheesh! But I guess next time I'll just suck it up and ask them and not feel bad about it!

Viewing the World

Last night I went out for a couple hours - hoping for a gorgeous sunset or something that stood out to me that would make a nice photo.

The sunset wasn't as spectacular as the night prior (of course the night I didn't go out with my camera to try to capture it!), but I did manage to get a few good shots that I liked (a couple are in my photo blog).

But while I was out driving, the windows down, breeze in my hair, and my music turned up - I felt good. I felt like I could truly enjoy the sights of our world, the beauty of the Earth. Things we take for granted everyday.

Our Earth is truly amazing and I am going to try to photograph every beautiful aspect of it.

I will be taking a digital photography class as long as one will be running this fall. I'm not going to skip out when I have this aspiration and desire to take good pictures, and know what I'm doing. So, looks like I'll be a "student" in the fall, even if it is only for one class.

June 9

The other night I had a dream about my Granny that died almost 15 years ago. I was in my grandparents townhome they owned, and I in my dream it was just as I remember it from ages ago.

I was in their bedroom, and I was going through some things. I found a tape recorder, and I was listening to it. It was my Granny speaking, but I can't remember what she was saying on the tape.

What stood out the most, though, was not something in the dream, it was something that I was getting through the dream. The date of June 9 was coming through to me, and I woke up remembering that date: June 9.

This date has no relative importance to me. It's not a birthday that I recall, nor is a date of a death or anything else that I remember offhand.

I haven't dreamt of my grandparents in a long, long time. So long that I can't honestly remember the last time I had a dream, if at all. So this one really stands out, and I feel like my Granny was trying to tell me something about that date.

I have no clue what, though. Is it something good? Bad? Should I play the lottery that day? Should I not leave the house that day? What???

It's not really sitting well with me. We are just about a week away from that date, but what does it mean to me? Why was she trying to tell me that date, but not tell me what about that date was important? I can't help but be a little worried.