Mom's Day

Mother's Day is such a special day, to show your Mom how special she is to you. I am so lucky to have my Mom for a mom, and to be a mom. The pay is crappy, you don't get a vacation, but it is the most rewarding job in the entire world. It changes your prespective on the way you see the world, it shows you love that you never knew you had. My mom is my best friend, we can talk on the phone for hours and still have stuff to say. She is beautiful and patient and understanding. She is an amazing Grandma, Cayden adores her.
Do you want to know what the best present I got today was? Cayden can now say "Mommy". He walked around for about 20 minutes saying "Mommy, mommy, mommy" and after a while it turned into "mimi"-it was so darn cute. He's such a great cuddly kid, I'm so proud to be his Mommy.






Yesterday we hosted our first BBQ over here. Let's just say, the day was LONG! The BBQ itself was a lot of fun, more people showed up than I expected! The morning leading to it was a horrible, including a trip to the ER. Cayden loves to help me bake, he likes to stand on the stool and stir things and hand me things. The picture above is him helping me make cupcakes. While I was upstairs getting dressed and made up, Kele and Cayden were downstairs making eggs for breakfast. The step stool was still up so Cayden was standing up there with Dad. Cayden is usually very cautious of the stove, letting us know that it is "hot". Before we knew it, he had touched the stove top for a second and was SCREAMING. I had no clue what to do for a burn, only not to put cold water on it. He was just crying and crying, and we were just blowing and blowing on it. I figured since we had a big day ahead of us, we'd better make a trip to the hospital to make sure it is going to be OK. The last thing I wanted was for it to get worse. Two hours later, the doctor tells us it is "only" 1st and 2nd degree burns, and to just give him some Motrin and to keep an eye on it. It hasn't bothered him since then, thank God!! Poor baby, burns hurt.

Today has been exactly one year since my Grandpa Chuck passed away. He fought a long battle with cancer (cancer SUCKS!) before he lost his strength. I still remember it, my Mom had purchased a ticket to come out and see us in CA on May 9th. On the 8th (I think) my Grandpa slipped into a coma, my mom was TORN on what to do. I still wish I would have just told my Mom to go see him and change her ticket, but I didnt and I regret that. We had just got into bed (yes, we shared a bed and put Kele down on the couch..what a sport :),it was almost 11pm and her phone rings and we just looked at eachother with wide eyes because we just knew. It was my uncle Steve who was sitting right next to him, who watched him take his last gasp for air. I know he passed peacefully and that it must have been heaven (literally) to be out of all that pain. It was such a hard year for Mom and everyone, celebrating Father's Day and his Birthday without him here on earth. A whole year has passed, and we just laid his body to rest last week. He was such a gentle man, who worked until he couldn't work anymore, and who loved watching sports. He has an identical twin brother (Great Uncle Claude) whom we spent time with last week. That was the hardest part of it all, looking at a man who is identical to your own grandpa in almost every way, yet it isn't him. I wish I could hug him one last time, and sit and just stare at him. I know Grandpa is celebrating Mother's Day with his own mom up in heaven, and probably spoiling Grandma Dee (my step grandma).
Happy Mother's Day.

Bench

It took a month to find the perfect bench, but Chelsea found me the perfect one on Target.com! I love it.

I had an itch to make some curtains for C's room, thinking that maybe he might sleep in a little later if the rising sun is blocked out(Yeah right!!). I don't own a sewing machine (yet!) and didn't want to wait to go to my Mom's, so I researched some other options and easily made my own with a lot of heming tape, fabric glue, yellow ribbon, and cute baby giraffe fabric! They definitely aren't perfect but I think they turned out pretty cute, and at least match his room. I asked for a sewing machine for Mother's day, and am going to whip out window treatments for every window in the house! It's a start, I figure. =)

The weather outside is so foggy this morning, beats the snow though. My Grandpa's memorial is on Friday, so we are going to head up to Northglenn on Thursday. Kele put in for TDY so we are waiting to hear if he gets it or not. If not, I guess we will be heading up without him. It will be a good way to help everyone involved grieve properly, as he passed away a year ago on Mother's Day.

Vinyl

It seems like everytime I put Cayden down for an afternoon nap, the doorbell has rung and woke him up! I came to the conclusion that I needed a sign out there. I couldn't get a nail in the siding, so decided that I would have some vinyl made!! My favorite, I could cover my house in vinyl. I had ordered a sign for my parents from an etsy store called, asimpleimpression, and was going to have her make a custom order for me. Turns out she has a website, www.asimpleimpression.com, and you can make custom wood signs and vinyl and see what they will look like right then, pick the font and colors, etc.. I ordered these on Friday and no joke, they were here on Saturday morning. She's quick! I think it turned out so cute, and I also ordered a welcome vinyl to put on the front door.

4/18/09

My Big SIX month old!


I cannot believe that my baby is 18 months today. I remember when he was 6 months, I thought that was so old and here we are, a whole year later and he still continues to amaze me everyday. I love the way he talks like he's a robot, I love the way he kisses the phone when he's talking to Papa or Gama, I love the way he sticks his butt up in the air when he standing up, I love his little ears that look just like his daddy's, I love the way he grabs my face in the grocery store line and kisses me, I love the way he scrunches his nose, I love the way I rock him to sleep every night and he curls up so perfectly in my arms.I am so thankful to be his momma, that he is a healthy and happy boy, that he is 110% boy.

InProcessing

Kele started in-processing on Monday. Today they are finally in Day 1! It seems like no one really knows what to do with them.. The unit he is going to is moving to Carson from Fort Hood and the majority of them aren't getting here until June/July. So until then, they won't have much work to do. The hours have been a little crazy lately (going in at 0530) and then I never know if and when he will be back home for the day. I think today is the first day I haven't seen him at least once. I love this base tho! It is huge, like tons of training area, but the actual base isn't self (aside from housing) really isn't enormous. Bigger than Irwin, but that isn't saying much. The commissary is AWESOME, so is the PX. That is about all that I have explored!

Irwin

I think that it is safe to say that I have never been so relieved to be where I am now.. The last two years were so hard for me, it was such a hard adjustment for Kele and I both. I don't know how I did it! I guess I just took it day by day, and I had a few friends that helped make the time go by a little faster, but honestly I don't miss anything about Fort Irwin. It was hard not to feel down, hard not to feel left out being so secluded in the middle of the desert, literally. The only people that it was hard to say goodbye to were already gone (you know who you are!), so I didn't really have any bitter feelings about moving. It's funny when you move a far distance, you find out who is going to be a true friend and who isn't.. who is going to make an effort to stay in touch, and who you know won't. The same thing happened when I moved out there and the same thing is happening now. Those true friends are pretty hard to come by it seems.
Moving where your husband's job is at, is part of an Army wives life (and not Army wives life also, Auntie Boo :(). But out of love you try and suck it up, be supportive and deal with it in a way that doesn't involve too much complaining. I'm sorry Kele for all the complaining I did!! We are so lucky to have to chance to be back in CO, but now I'm sure we will face new challenges of different sort.

P.S. We made it out of Fort Irwin's housing with not a single charge!!!! Woo!! I love my husband, all his stress and hard work :)


Playin in the backyard!


Pizza face! Yum what a boy!

Happy Easter

We had a great Easter weekend! It feels so weird being so close to family, and being able to drive home in a little over an hour and not miss any family events. It still feels like I am on vacation and should be heading back to CA soon.
Saturday we met my MIL and FIL, Cody, Bri, Carter and Carson, Dean, Maria, Deidree, Brody, Abby and Chloe in Parker, CO for their town Easter Egg hunt! It was FREEZING out. Cayden and the little kids all had a lot of fun picking up eggs, We ended up with about six because C liked to pick them up and shake them for a while. After that we went over to Dean and Maria's (Kele's oldest brother and wife) for a bbq and tons of other food. We had a great time over there, Cayden enjoyed the fish and rocking horse, Kele goofed around with Cody most the time, and I liked watching Deidree playing the drums. That girl is good! She can listen to any song and teach herself the drums. I could never keep a beat like that I don't think.
Sunday we woke up and went to church with my Family (sans katie=( ) and the Cody Jones family. We ate tons of food at my Grandmom's after church, then went to hang out at Cody and Bri's new apartment for a while. We had a rainy drive back, but still managed to get to bed early. Today is Kele's first day of in-processing, he has to be there at 5:30AM, and I am anxious to hear how long the drive took him. At least at that hour in the morning he misses traffic :)
Cayden and I are still busy unpacking, mostly we just need to hang pictures on the walls downstairs. I can't make up my mind where I want anything. Any one know a good interior designer?



Kele and his brothers Dean and Cody, and all the kids (Minus brother Shane and his boys Blake and Brye)(P.S. Can you see both sets of twins??)


On the hunt.


All dressed up and ready to go!

Brr

I am turning into my parents!! For the first time ever, we have to pay all of our utilities..I am pretty nervous what the first bill is going to look like, so lets just say we have quite a few layers on this morning. Is it windy as heck outside, the snow is blowing in..
Kele and his Dad are just about to start their journey. Pray that they dont hit terrible weather!

Moved in!

We are officially residents of Co Springs! Moving is a lot of work, these last two days have just clashed together for me.. I barely know what day it is :)
Brianna came over yesterday to help me paint and to keep me company. We signed for the house yesterday but the movers didn't come until today. Luckily we were wiped out from painting that it didn't make a difference that we slept on the floor! My mom came over today and helped me scrub out cabinets and make-up beds and unpack more boxes.. We probably got 1/2 of the boxes unpacked.
I am forever in-debted to both of you!!! Brianna, when you guys move I will repay the favor! Brianna and I (mostly her) painted half the living room and kitchen, hopefully I will find the motivation to finish it someday! It's hard when I can only do it when C goes to bed and by then I am usually tired too! I LOVE this house so far tho! It wasn't as clean as I expected it to be, you can definitely tell the people before us owned a couple of pets.. I am tired of finding dog hair. I hate complaining but I think that they should at least know. Here are a couple of pictures, it is not done yet, nothing is hung on the walls! (Except a few Chelsea pictures :) )



Cayden's little bathroom

Livingroom/playroom


Here come the movers!

1/2 of the kitchen