Happy Birthday Kaleb

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KALEB!

My son Kaleb Andrew was born Sixteen years ago today! He was and is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am so blessed that God chose me to be his mother. He has been the BEST son I could possibly ask for and I mean that in every sense of the word.


As a single parent putting myself through school while Kaleb was young, I can honestly say that he made it very easy. He never gave me any problems and anyone and everyone that has ever met him, loves him dearly. He is loving, caring and has a huge heart! He was raised with many loving people surrounding him. My mom, who helped so much especially when I was in nursing school, his Dad, who lives out of state but has always been there for him and our friends who we consider family, Mama Sandy and Papa Randy!!! I would like to think that we have all played a part in molding and shaping Kaleb into the wonderful person that he is today!



Kaleb has always had an infectious spirit. He loves to make you laugh and unfortunately that translates into being a class clown! He has been a wonderful student thus far and is always on the Honor Roll. Of course he has been in trouble for talking here and there, oh and there was the time that he and another girl were caught kissing on the playground when he was in Kindergarten! His teacher referred to him as the class "Romeo". But other than that, our KK (his nickname since he was a baby) has been a stellar individual!



He has had some wonderful opportunities in his life, he has been to Disney a hand full of times, traveled to places like Hawaii, Chicago, California, New York to name a few. He has swam with dolphins, been on cruises and went snow boarding in Colorado. He was fortunate enough to go to the Michael Jordan basketball camp in Santa Barbara, CA and then to the New York Nicks camp in NY. The best part is, he is always thankful for everything and never takes anything for granted. He rarely asks for anything and has a very laid back and mellow personality.





For his birthday, we met family and friends in Naples Florida for the weekend. We had a great time and basically celebrated his birthday EVERY DAY!! We were able to leave the little ones at home so we could spend quality time with Kaleb! It was an awesome time! I will write more about our trip later!



HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY KK, WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!



Oh, did I forget to mention how incredibly handsome he is...okay well he is!!!!

Brennan + Shrek = Free entertainment!

My children are quite fascinated with music and singing. One day a couple of months ago The View was on the television and the Broadway "Shrek" was there performing a couple of songs. The children were enthralled with Shrek and the whole cast and the singing and the dancing. I must have replayed those songs a few hundred times! So after that every once in a while I would pull it up on you tube and let the kids watch Shrek.

If you remember this post, then you will remember that Brennan is obsessed with my IPhone and he carries it around playing games, listening to music etc..for a large part of the day. I really can not find too much fault with that because he is not even two yet and he knows his shapes and most of his colors. He can operate the IPhone like an adult and I am not kidding.

So one day while we were out, I had the great idea to pull up the Broadway Shrek and let Brennan watch it so he would stay in his stroller. It worked like a charm and now when I need him to be quiet or if we are at a restaurant or if I need him to stay in his stroller, I will let him watch it on my phone. He has watched it soo much that he sings along with it and says some of the words to the songs. It is the cutest thing EVER! Great news Right?

Okay for the bad news. The first song is a duet with Shrek and Fiona called, " I think I got you beat". This happens to be Brennan's favorite song as well. Towards the end of the song Shrek starts to burp and then Fiona starts to burp, then Shrek starts to "pass gas" if you know what I mean and then Fiona does the same. Ayla and Brennan think that this is HILARIOUS and therefor they mock Shrek and Fiona and start making obnoxious burping noises right along with them. This is all very cute when we are at home, but when we are having dinner at a restaurant more specifically on "Father's day" last month, um it's not so cute. But on Father's day we were eating out and the only way I could get Brennan to sit in his highchair and be some what quiet was to let him watch Shrek.

Of course towards the end he starts making his loud burping noises and although John and I were looking around making sure no one was shooting angry glances our way, the family of four right beside us with two young children of their own didn't mind so much because Brennan was providing FREE ENTERTAINMENT for their two small children and they were all laughing!!

So more often than not, Brennan is usually singing shrek and providing entertainment for all when we are out in public.

Oh, well, It could always be worse...............................I THINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So here is a video of Brennan watching and singing Shrek the Broadway. It is a little long but I promise you it is worth the wait!! He is so funny!!

Future Sports Illustrated Model??

We just go this sweet swimsuit in the mail the other day and Ayla being the girly girl that she is, loved it! She wanted to try it on right away, you can see the tags are still attached! Normally, Ayla does not like to have her picture taken, which is one reason why this is so hilarious! On this day, I was telling Ayla to "POSE" for me and this is what she came up with. I did not tell her what to do or how to do it. This is all AYLA!! As I was looking at the pictures from the "modeling session", I could not stop laughing. These pictures are so funny. I immediately had John come and look at the pictures and he too was in stitches laughing!! I told John she just may be a future Sports Illustrated swimsuit model but Dad didn't think that was such a good idea! Oh well, get ready for a good laugh, if you are drinking something you may want to wait so you don't accidentally spit it out when you are looking at these pictures-Ha! Okay, here is Ayla's modeling debut in her bikini!


Okay, starting out nicely on the floor...


thinking about doing a split......

but this was as close as she got......

Hmm....striking a sultry pose on her back....um, with her diaper sticking out! Always a good look!

Now moving on to the POLE, I mean "column"

She is really working with the "prop"


Work it sista!!


moving on to the couch......


And now for the BEST pose of the day......


Wow, Look at the flexibility, I must say, I was impressed with this one. It cracks me up everytime I look at it!



Okay, all good things must come to an end. I hope you enjoyed the modeling session as much as we did! Don't you love her flower clip? I decided to get crafty the other day and made her a few of these!

So what do you think, SI material or NOT?

Show Us Where You Live Friday

It's that time again, head on over to Kelly's Korner and check out all of the other houses!!












This is our foyer/entrance. It is a small space, so there is not much to see. We just recently put the children's pictures on the wall going up the stairs. I love how that turned out. We have been thinking about putting a bench and shelf on the opposite wall where the little hanging rack is now.



I found one from pottery barn that I LOVE. It looks like this



We would just move the picture somewhere else and put this shelf and bench there for more storage. This would be great for our shoes/jackets..etc


Okay, bye bye now, everyone have a GREAT weekend!!

Ayla featured in online magazine article

Ayla was featured in an online magazine, "Therapy Times" this week. The author of the magazine was doing an article on Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and found my blog about Ayla and asked if I would care to have Ayla featured in it. It is very informative and I thought everyone might be interested, especially all of the JRA mothers out there. Being that this is also National Awareness Month for JRA, I thought this was so appropriate! Click here for the link
Thank you Stephanie, you did an amazing job putting a face to JRA!


Baby StepsChildren with arthritis can lead active livesBy Stephanie Twining 07.06.09
Article available online at: http://www.therapytimes.com/070609JuvenileArthritis

Mommy's Boy

OH, HOW I LOVE HIM SO!!! MY SWEET BABY BOY!!!

Fourth of July Parade

We took the kids to a parade on the fourth! They had a blast and have never seen so much candy in their life!



They both picked up the candy and put it in their bag, for some reason they were not interested in eating it. I guess it probably had something to do with the popsicle's and chips they had BEFORE the parade started!!!!


As usual, the loud noises did not scare Brennan at all, he just found a place to sit and watched everything! Ayla on the otherhand, had her ears covered most of the time!

Look at that wave.. that looks like a future Miss America wave if I do say so myself!!


At the end we had a whole bag full of candy, and as you can see


Ayla was not letting it out of her sight!!

Happy 4th Everyone

Tonight John and I went out on a partial date, partial meaning we took Ayla with us. Brennan was still asleep when we left, so my mom came over and stayed with him while we went to Chili's to eat. Even though we had Ayla, it was still a treat. One toddler is a breeze, but two at least "OUR TWO" umm, not so easy or should I say enjoyable!! Ayla was so good, she loved the chips and dip and since we sat outside, she was fascinated by all of the birds near our table. I think eating outside made a world of difference!


After we ate, we walked downtown and let Ayla see the water fountain. To take her picture, I bribed her with pennies to throw in the fountain! I can't wait to get a zoom lens (fingers crossed) so I can get some better pics. My kids normally run when they see the camera!!


I wanted to take her picture in her new "Cora" dress that I bought her for the fourth!!

We love this dress and the meaning behind it even more!

You see Cora was 10 months old when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Sadly, she went to be with Jesus only three weeks after her diagnosis. I have been following her parents blog, "The Macs" for quite some time now.

They are an awesome God loving couple and just recently they announced that they are expecting again. Yea!!! I am so happy for them!! So, Cora's mommy and Grandma set up an etsy shop and they have been making the cutest dresses, onesies, burp cloths, shirts, blankets and lots of other cute items. The profits go towards "Cora's playground", a playground that is going to be installed at their church and in memory of sweet Cora. It is almost impossible to get anything. As soon as they stock their store, everything is gone within minutes and I am not kidding. I have tried several times to buy a Cora dress for Ayla and I have not been fast enough. Luckily a few weeks ago I was reading the blog and I saw that they had just stocked their etsy store. I went straight to etsy and snatched up this cute little dress and a red flag shirt for Brennan. I was so happy to get these sweet items and to donate to "Cora's Playground".


So, if you love this dress as much as I do, go straight over to "Cora's Etsy Store" and click on the refresh button over and over and over again and you just might get lucky and catch one of these adorable dresses!! With that being said, I hope EVERYONE has a safe and happy fourth of July!!!