Friday, May 30, 2008

Our Crazy Last Few Weeks – Good but Crazy

First weekend in May – Kian’s Birthday Party

Second weekend in May - Discovery Kingdom (Trip 1) and Mother’s Day


Our friends Steve and Lisa accompanied us on our first trip to Discovery Kingdom and the following day was Mother’s Day. (I posted already about this if you want to revisit for most details).

Third Weekend in May – The Scottish Games and Discovery Kingdom (Trip 2)

Saturday morning we got up, headed to Costco to stimulate the economy by reloading our freezer and then we headed to the annual Scottish Games held in our city. We got to see knights jousting, dogs herding sheep, ate fish and chips (ok, I did lol), listened to lots of Celtic music, and had some ale. They also had a kids area that had two big, castle themed, jumpy houses. Kian had a BLAST! It was flippin’ hot that day, but having a cold ale and letting Kian run from jumpy house to jumpy house. It was a great day :)

Short video of Kian dancing to some Celtic music while he ate his lunch;


This trip to Discovery Kingdom we went with our friends Greg and Rachael. We all had a blast – well I know that the three of us did anyway ;) Kian got to feed a giraffe and we got to see a really cool tiger show. We spent most of the day at the park – looking at animals, taking photos and feeding the giraffes. Kian also go to “pet” some stingrays and had an enormous walrus named Jocko follow him around the underwater viewing window. There is a video attached of that – so neat (oh, and Jocko was “happy” just be forewarned lol) Oh, and one important thing we learned was that Sunday is THE BEST day to go to the park – no one was there!








Fourth Weekend in May – Maggie’s Graduation Party in Los Angeles area

We kicked off this weekend early – well extra special stuff happened on Wednesday. My friend Shawna was in town and came to visit us! This was extra special because about two years ago I reconnected with her via the wonders of MySpace. This is someone I went to Kindergarten with – can you believe I knew her when we were both around Kian’s age?!?! We hung out a lot at the end of elementary school and then went different ways. When we found each other on MySpace we found we really connected and became friends :) This is the first time we have seen each other in God only knows how long. It was a short visit but a great one. Kian even said a little prayer thanking God for Shawna and Christine (her friend that came along) that was not prompted by me at all.

On Friday we packed up the family (Toby included) and headed south for my cousin Maggie’s college graduation. It was a luau complete with some awesome BBQ and Wisconsin summer sausage (can I get a WOOT?) It was a 5 hour trek one way but it went by fast and was so worth it :) Thanks to the person that invented the portable DVD player and the Game Boy.

Kian and I apparently kicked my grandparents out of having a place to stay so they couldn’t come for the celebration - ok not really lol Although, my Grandpa will tell you that! The week before the party, my Grandpa underwent open heart surgery and had a triple bypass! Thankfully his only symptom of the blockage was fatigue, but he still recovering and having a pace maker installed. We were sad that they couldn’t make it to the party, but we are happy that we still have our grandpa. Kian has prayed for him nightly (mostly without prompting) for his heart’s boo-boos to heal. He is still on the mend so any prayers or thoughts you can send his way are greatly appreciated!

My Aunt Lori volunteered her babysitting services (in exchange for some movie popcorn – oddly enough my Mom accepts the same payment…hmmm…sounds like a deal to me!) so that Jamie and I could see a late showing of the new Indiana Jones movie (which was ok, but I was glad we saw it in the theater.

We enjoyed spending time with family and helping out where we could. I think Toby enjoyed himself more than any of us, in fact, he was spoiled so much by my Aunt Lori that I think he was a little depressed to be home lol! We were so glad that we lived close enough to make it down.

Phew! So that brings us up to the present. Jamie is back to normal hours at work now, which is very nice, and we are just taking it easy this weekend. The only new thing to report is that Kian is a Spongebob Squarepants fanatic now lol

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The Bug Was Not Gone :(

....because I got it the day before Kian's birthday :( I was in bed all day and wasn't able to even make cupcakes as I had planned. I did manage to get his gifts wrapped and Jamie brought them all upstairs so I could see him open them. He had a great time playing with all of them from what Jamie told me and from what I heard of the new toys "talking" and buzzing downstairs. I felt SO bad that I was so sick on my little man's big day :(

Here is a slideshow of Kian ripping through all his gifts in record speed!




Friday I rested and felt ok. Saturday we went to Discovery Kingdom with our friends Steve and Lisa. Since this was Kian's big birthday thing - we let him ride an elephant (daddy rode too of course). Since Lisa has a "bun in the oven" (hehe) she wasn't able to ride any rides - not even Thomas the Train! So she had to hang back with me and Kian. We went to several shows - which we all liked and hung out at Thomas Town for a while (well we were stranded thanks to a broken lock on the stroller that Jamie saved the day by fixing when he arrived). Next year she will be able to ride though and I will gladly hang back with little baby "D."

Here is a slide show of our time at Discovery Kingdom. Since my stomach was still recovering, Daddy rode everything with Kian.




Well, Sunday, Mother's Day, I was down again. Just felt like crud. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband that let me hang out in bed when I needed to. i did manage to get energy enough to go shopping at Kohl's and use a coupon I got along with our economic stimulation check to buy me some new pants. The ones I own have been falling off of my body! I didn't realize how much weight I really lost until recently! Anyway, the check came at a good time so I wouldn't be walking around with the possibility of my pants falling down walking across the street. lol

Jamie also did me a big favor and defrosted my deep freeze WOOT! This weekend we are going to restock - thanks again to the US governement lol

As of now I am on the mend. Kian and I have mainly hung out at the house and just took things easy. The house has been a complete wreck so I have been slowly working on areas without burning myself out energy wise.

We are gearing up for another big weekend. Saturday we are going to go to the Scottish Games Festival in town. Sunday we are going to go back to Discovery Kingdom with some other friends of ours. May has been a busy month for us so far and hopefully the illness is behind us now :)

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Kian's 4th Birthday Party!

We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends! Saturday our house quickly filled up with people who love Kian and came to celebrate him coming into his 4th year! Kian LOVED having so many friends over and was itching to dig into the Lightening McQueen cake I made him as well as his presents hehehe We grilled hotdogs, had my mom's famous baked beans and some carrots (which is one of Kian's faves). The of course there was cake an ice cream :)

Kian got LOTS of wonderful gifts! He has spent all morning playing with all of them! He even received a gift card which he has almost spent all of already on a remote control Lightening McQueen ;) The biggest gift he got was a GameBoy Mini from Jamie and me. In fact, it's a good thing that he opened gifts toward the end because he spent the rest of the time zoned into the games he got lol

Here are some photos of the festivities!

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Kian showing he's 4
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Yummy CAKE!
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Kian got a Cars game for his GameBoy!
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Rachael, the pro, showing Kian how to work his new GameBoy :)
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Kian, smiling because he was told to but really wants to be playing his game lol!
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This is what Kian looked like for the rest of the night LOL!
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