Where were we?
Written on March 31, 2009 by Kevin.
Week in Review
Written on March 20, 2009 by Rylan & Kaitlyn.
Well this week has been pretty neat. Definitely the highlight is that our Mom has been making both of us new things to wear. The things that she makes for Kaitlyn are a bit funny at times but boy are they cute. I think Kaitlyn likes wearing the outfits that Mom designs just as much as I do. She made me a full Donald outfit which I am super happy about and just yesterday she made me a shirt with a huge guitar on it. She even made one for Kaitlyn too. Boy are they neat.
Dad has been working hard lately making a great list of new safe recipes for us to try. He has a lot of things lined up to try. We made pretzels together yesterday. He made the dough and then we sat down and made the pretzels themselves. It was a bit hard so I just ended up making tiny balls. They were yummy just the same though. I think our Mom and Dad are going to eat them up faster than we can. Dad has actually been doing a lot of cooking lately and he made something pretty neat the other night. He mashed a few recipes into one and came up with what he calls 'Hunky Beefcakes'. He used silicone cupcake holders and then filled them with a biscuit and a meatloaf mix. They really turned out looking like cupcakes which is where the name came from. He finished them off with ketchup and mustard frosting. The name may be funny but they were pretty tasty.
An update on our stalker... she is still around but luckily hasn't been knocking on our door or looking through our window. Yesterday though she did just stand outside our door as we headed in. She is pretty darn creepy.
Kaitlyn brought it to my attention and I had to agree that my hair was getting pretty crazy. Dad and I headed off yesterday to get it cut. I've had a bunch of hair cuts but they still scare me a bit. I was not interested in wearing the cape so I ended up getting hair on my new shirt but it was ok. The haircut turned out great. Of course when the lady asked how I liked my hair I told her "I look cute.". :)
Oh another big thing that happened this week was we finally got our cd player installed into the van. We now can jam out to the classic kid songs. Dad could be happier about it but he enjoys us singing the songs. Kaitlyn enjoys singing the "Do Re Mi..." song and I have a few favorites as well but I cannot remember them right now. I think the songs are helping Kaitlyn a bunch because she is starting to say sentences now. We will definitely be singing this weekend because we are heading out to see our Grandpa Paul and Grandma Debra. It should be fun.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Kaitlyn is ready for Spring..
Written on March 18, 2009 by Kevin.
Here she is showing off the new outfit that her mom made her. The sunglasses definitely complete the outfit.
Rylan's Friend Stalker
Written on March 17, 2009 by Kevin.
Over the weekend while the kids were outside riding their tricycles, another girl decided that she wanted to play as well. She gathered Rylan's attention from the other side of the street by playing with a ball and talking to him. We had seen her and her dirty/scratched sisters running around the last couple of days going in and out of peoples homes at random. Even homes that don't have other children. It was clear that they were not being supervised.
Our parent mode quickly kicked in when she was clearly teaching Rylan that it was normal to throw a ball into the road and go run after it. This was quickly put to an end as far as Rylan was concerned. When it was time to head back inside, the little girl decided that it was her home as well. She nearly forced her way passed my wife and after seeing a few of the toys inside, her interest was further peaked. After getting the girl out of the doorway, she headed off only to return a few minutes later. Rylan and the girl had a moment as you can see in the picture. The stalker continued to come back throughout the day. She has been attempting to go in other peoples houses as well which is just amazing. It's almost like they don't know where they live and they are just wanting to go into any home. We have yet to find out where they live. Her sisters, as with her parents, just don't seem to understand what is happening or may. It mind blowing to us and while she may be fine to play with, her actions are not what we are wanting our children to learn right now.
While talking to Rylan through the window she told him to go open the door. He said "OK" but really knew better. Luckily we have a security door with a keylock so the kids cannot just roam out of the home. Mark this stalker down on our watch list.
Pure Concentration.
Written on March 16, 2009 by Kevin.
Here is Rylan falling into the Guitar Hero craze. He now plays all of the instruments including the microphone. He atleast looks the part.
Week in Review
Written on March 13, 2009 by Rylan & Kaitlyn.
Last weekend we headed over to a craft show. Kaitlyn was definitely in heaven because there were dogs everywhere! In fact, they had a dog kissing booth and she got smooches. We weren't there too long but I know Kaitlyn is going to be dreaming about it for a long time.
This week we headed back over to our cousin Hayden and Makenzie's house. Hayden was sleeping when we got there but he eventually woke up and we had a chance to play together. Makenzie sure is looking cute with her smiles now. Kaitlyn was more shy this time around but I think she likes her a lot.
This week has been a difficult one for me. My temper tantrums are becoming more crazy and it's driving me nuts. It's driving everyone nuts really. I bopped Kaitlyn with a wooden spoon and mom was not too pleased. We had a very long discussion about how I am a big brother and how I need to help make sure Kaitlyn is safe and not hurt by anyone including me. The rest of the day I tried to make it up to her by being especially good and giving a lot of hugs and kisses. Bed times are becoming more and more difficult as well because I just don't want to go to sleep. Dad has shown us a new trick though and it's helping me. He showed me shadow puppets and all of the neat things that I can do. I get to show Kaitlyn how to count with fingers and I can even make a rabbit. It's pretty cool and dad said he will keep teaching me new ones each night.
Kaitlyn has made our mom very happy. It took this long but she is finally saying mama now. She says a whole bunch of words but she just hasn't wanted to say mama. She is a very quiet girl in fact. She loves to repeat words though and really does know a lot. She is bottling up all of those words and is ready to burst.
Tomorrow we get to go to another hockey game. Our grandpa gave the tickets to our dad for a Birthday gift. It's going to be a lot of fun I think. Kaitlyn can get a bit anxious after being there for a bit but I do pretty well at the games. I think it's going to turn out OK. Maybe we can take some pictures to show.
Ummm I think that's about it for this week. Have a fun weekend everyone.
Say Cheese!
Written on March 12, 2009 by Kevin.
Rylan's custom outfit..
Written on March 10, 2009 by Kevin.
My wife was planning on designing a custom Nightmare before Christmas themed outfit for Rylan to wear to Disneyland when we next go. After putting everything on paper and drawing a bunch of ideas, Rylan decided to make a change. He insisted on a Donald Duck themed outfit instead. His mom began work on it yesterday with a bit of helpful tips from Rylan himself along the way. When he came down stairs he immediately saw the outfit all finished and laying on the couch. He was most certainly thrilled and began putting the outfit on over his pajamas. He is definitely ready for his next trip.
Week in Review
Written on March 6, 2009 by Rylan & Kaitlyn.
Well this week had been filled with sickness and ear aches but luckily they have passed now. All last weekend Kaitlyn was terrible. She just wouldn't stop crying and it finally turned out that she had an ear ache. We headed over to the doctor and got that taken care of and she is all better now. We passed around a tiny cold but we are clear of that now as well.
The other day mom told us that the television broke so we spent the rest of the day singing and dancing to some kid music that Grandma got us for Christmas. Kaitlyn was having a blast and I did too. I like showing everyone my cool dance moves.
This weekend we are going to another craft show event down town. We aren't participating but we definitely want to check out all of the neat things. I think dad mentioned they are having a car show as well. I love looking at all of the weird and crazy cars. Maybe they will have rides or games for us to play as well. Who knows. Hopefully the weather is OK. It has been really hot lately. The other day we were around 90F. That's hot!
Oh I nearly forgot. The other day when Kaitlyn was down for a nap, dad took me outside to play with my tricycle. For the first time I really got it moving. I haven't had a chance to try it much because its always so hot here and there really is no good place to ride it around our house but now I'm ready to go. It has a little cubby in the back which would hold some food if I ever want to head on out into the world on my own. For now, I'm sticking with the folks though.
That's about it. I think I'm going to go talk to Kaitlyn about bugging dad as soon as he opens the door. Maybe we can bug him enough that we can go play with our tricycles. Yippy! Have a good weekend.
Review of Bella Sara Miniatures and Card Packs
Written on March 4, 2009 by Kevin.
I was recently invited to review a product that I had never seen before. Bella Sara has treasure cards and now they have introduced their miniature series as well. Their cards include mystical pictures of horses of all types and they provide you an online code to use at their website so that you can show everyone just how much money you have spent. These are the girly version of Webkinz I suspect.
I received a few packs of cards and miniatures in the mail the other day. I broke them open and it included a few cards, a sheet of tattoos and a sheet of stickers. The most fun came when I opened the pack of horses though. These horses are certainly miniature. So miniature that they are now in our trash as they are not rated for children under 5. If you are a parent concerned about the chemicals that are inside of your children's toys, I recommend looking further into these. After you open the pack of miniature horses you will be hit with a very strong plastic(?) smell. It was definitely a red flag worth noting.
While I love receiving freebies, I am not going to recommend these. As a parent, I would be concerned about the possible chemicals. As for the trading cards and online play, I would again not recommend these. Call me an evil parent but I don't know if I could support getting our kids into something like this or Webkinz. I can see how children would want to continue purchasing packs to compete with friends. The screaming fits are something I could live without.
A very special umbrella.
Written on March 3, 2009 by Kevin.
Rylan is a huge fan of umbrellas and when we saw that we could get a Mary Poppins' umbrella from the Disney Movie Rewards with our accumulated points we had to jump at the chance. We expected him to be super excited and immediately relate it to Mary Poppins but unfortunately he did not. Regardless he was super excited just to have an umbrella. With monsoon season coming, hopefully he can use it.
