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!





Kian showing he's 4


Yummy CAKE!






Kian got a Cars game for his GameBoy!


Rachael, the pro, showing Kian how to work his new GameBoy :)






Kian, smiling because he was told to but really wants to be playing his game lol!


This is what Kian looked like for the rest of the night LOL!

We are Bug Free!!!

Well, our house is bug free!!! Well, if the stomach bug anyway lol Kian happily returned to preschool today.

Kian's teacher did a tested each kid indiviually on how ready they are for kindergarten. Kian excelled everything! She has yet to do the writing test, but we know that is something he needs to work on. She is trying to see where each kid is at to see what they need to work on.

While Kian was at school I was able to do a lot of running around and prep work for Kian's party on Saturday. Since I had been playing nurse for about a week, the house was a wreck and there were a lot of things that needed attending to :P We have a pretty busy rest of the week - but I am SUPER excited for Kian! He knows he's having a party but I dn't think he knows how many people will be here :) It's going to be a good time :)

The Bug

Well, Kian got the stomach flu early on Thursday morning. It was so bad I had to camp out with a blanket and pillow on his bedroom floor. He continues to be sick throughout the day on Thursday but seemed to perk up a bit toward the end of the night. He was ok through the night but when he woke up in the morning and had some pedialyte he couldn't keep that down :( He was getting lethargic so off to the doctor we went to make sure nothing else was going on. We left with a presription of the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast).

Unfortunately Jamie is feeling pretty sick himself so he stayed home from work. Since I really needed to pick up somethings at the store I left the two of them to be bumps on the couch together while I went to a few stores.

When I came back home an hour or so later I was happily greeted by Kian. I was like, wow, I guess my kid is back lol He was talking a mile a minute and wanted to help me unload groceries :) He's now keeping things down, but he's still under the weather. i bought him the movie Shrek so he would have something new to watch so he is doing that right now as he eats a banana. i am hpiong the rest of the day he just gets better and better.

My New Car Decals!

I have been wanting to get those stick figure family decals for a while. But I could never find anything I liked. I NEVER wear dresses and I wanted something to suit myself and my family. So I turned to ebay. I didn't find stick figures but I found something else :) I ordered them on Saturday and got them TODAY! CRAZY! And my order was personalized. I asked for some additions and had personalized wording on both of them :)

Anyway, here they are! ;)


Full shot of the back of my car - I erased my plate numbers lol

The "Family" one:

Here is the other one:

New Pictures on Snapfish

So, I have been a big time slacker with getting photos uploaded to my snapfish account. The last I had uploaded was in November 2007 ::blush::

I shared the albums so if you are on the list to view, you will get an email to view them. If you didn't get an email and would like to see the photos, just reply with a note to this post and i will get in touch with you to get you on the list to view :)

Update to Kian's Wishlist

We made some updates to Kian's Target wishlist. I removed some things and added somethings. Take a look if you wish :)

Kian's First Ripped Pants

Tonight I was getting Kian's clothes laid out for the next day. I was looking at a pair of jeans he had worn this weekend once to see if he could wear them to school tomorrow. well, I noticed that one knee has a rip in it and needs a repair - how cute is that! It's his first (yes, i know of many), but it just made me think of how much of a big boy he's getting to be!

Kian's Birthday Planning, Spring Cleaning and Scooby Doo

Kian's Birthday is ONE Month from Today!

I can't believe that one month from today my little Kian will be 4!!!! Sheesh time just flies!

I have been planning for a small party for Kian. He has decided on a Cars (the Pixar/Disney movie Cars) as his theme. I am going to make a Lightening McQueen cake (wish me luck!). I have yet to buy party supplies. And I am hoping to be able to make some special invites to his party. I just need Kian to keep his forehead bruise free so I can get a photo of him for them LOL The little turkey seems to get a bruise RIGHT on his forhead every time we want to take photos around his birthday lol I might have to resort of trying to photoshop it out :P

The Spring Cleaning Bug has Bit Us

Jamie started some spring cleaning this weekend. I have continued on that note int he kitchen and pantry areas. I have done a lot of rearranging, purging, and donating. Thankfully on Thursday Big Brothers and Sisters is picking up donations. It is nice to get rid of some things that others can use that we just haven't in years.

Scooby Doo - Where are You?!?!

Kian has discovered Scooby Doo and man has it brought back a lot of memories! Tivo has been recording it as a suggestion. It's funny because when I was his age and older Scooby Doo was one of my FAVORITE shows! We are having a lot of fun watching episodes together from time to time :)

Man-to-Man Time

Jamie and Kian started a new tradition last month. Every Saturday they have their own time together. Jamie takes Kian to have breakfast at McDonalds and then the go out and do something together. Usually it means a trip to Best Buy :)

Kian really looks forward to that time with his Daddy. I am so glad that they started it :)

Kian really likes his new teacher

Kian is such a sweetie! Today when I picked him up from school his teacher, Miss Perry, told me that he told her "I love you" and gave her a hug and kiss! He rarely gives those to people outside our family so I know that he really does love Miss Perry. How sweet is that!

Speech Update and other random things

Speech Update

I am currently in the works of getting Kian started with a new speech therapist. They are trying to get him into group therapy - but right now our schedule doesn't line up great with other kids his age. We can do solo therapy though and it looks like we will be going that route. He will start with the new therapist on Thursday.

Kian is Writing!

Here is a photo of Kian's hand writing. His teacher wrote where he did it by himself. Right now we are working on writing and cutting as he wants to at home. We are so proud of him!

Jon and Kate Plus 8

If you haven't watched Jon and Kate Plus Eight you should! I have really enjoyed watching the show. It's about a family that has a set of twins and then sextuplets that are pretty much the same age as Kian. It's fun to see a family interacting with their kiddos and seeing them going through some of the exact same things that we are. If you want a peak into what Kian's like right now, then watch some of their recent episodes and imagine there only being one instead of 6 LOL!

Kian's Birthday Wishlists!!!

Kian's birthday is just around the corner! I cannot believe my little man will be 4!!!!

In order to make things easier on everyone, we made a list of things that Kian would love to have. He is set with summer clothing. And since most of you all don't see him very often and do not know what kinds of toys he's into or what he has, we made these lists so that we don't get duplicates and Kian gets what he would like :)

Kian also LOVES to spend money that he is given so giftcards and cash is definately something he would want :)

The links to the list are located on the right column of my blog - under Kian's Birthday Wishlists!!! Click on the link and it should take you right there :)

A New Look and a New Address

I finally realized that I could make my own personal topper to my blog! So, I went a head and did that :)

I also decided to make this blog's web address Life With Kian. So the new link to get there is http://lifewithkian.blogspot.com/

Slide Show of our trip to Canada

Unfortuantely we didn't get any shots of that really great snowfall...we just got shots from when it started falling. Kian was so excited :)

The snow started to fall while we were in our hotel room! Kian was so excited!!



Kian in Awe of Snow!!!




Catching snowflakes on his tounge hehe


Kian on a ride at the mall :)




Making music with a new friend


Our little musician :)

New Preschool Teacher, Health Update, and our trip to Canada

New Preschool Teacher

So, last week I went in to drop off Kian at school to hear that his teacher had to give her two week notice :( Kian was really doing well under her instruction so I am pretty disappointed. They do have someone else who is going to be taking over. She has never taught before, so hopefully it goes well. I know that Kian will benefit from the social interactions for sure. The new teacher will start on Tuesday so we will see how it goes. Kian is so easy going, I'm sure he will love going there :)

Health Update

Kian and I ended up with ear infections last week. We both went to the doctor on Tuesday - luckily both are in the same area so I kind of made the appointments back to back. I wanted to make sure that we were both ok since we were going to be taking a long weekend trip to Canada and be on an airplane. I had some ear pain but Kian had none that I knew of and he had a pretty bad infection. We have both been on antibiotics :P

Our Trip to Canada

Kian did great on the plane rides. I made sure we had lots of snacks and such for him. It definately was a breeze flying with him having Jamie with me to help out. I didn't fare so well on the plane - I still have a bad cold and the pressure from the congestion was very painful on landing and take off. In fact, I am still dealing with a plugged ear from all of it :P

Kian got to see snow for the first time this last weekend! He was VERY excited about it! But going from about 70 degree weather to around 30 was quite a shock to him. I tried to go for a short walk with him outside and he didn't really like the cold - I don't blame him - although it didn't seem too bad to me. For him, that is the first time he felt cold like that!

We got to visit some of Jamie's friends that live in the area and Kian made some new ones too since the friends have children around Kian's age. Everyone is so friendly around there. They seem very stress free - wouldn't that be nice lol

I have to say that one BIG thing I noticed was that people in Canada are VERY allergy aware! Highly!!! There are several local bakeries that are completely nut free and at the one restaurant we ate at, we let them know of Kian's allergy (as usual) and they were keenly aware of what to look for. I am so compeltely impressed and wished that somehow this care could be passed on to Americans too!

We arrived back home on Sunday. It was nice to be home where everything was familiar and warm :)

St. Patrick's Day!

Monday was St. Patrick's Day! I hope you wore green!!!

I wasn't able to do all I had planned since we had just got back from our trip to Canada. But we did have corned beef, potatoes, and cabbage salad. Of course we all wore green, Irish shirts and I played music by the Chieftains as I cooked (ok, I listen to that normally, so I guess it wasn't different lol!). I am longing for March 17th to land on a Saturday or a Sunday to have a big shindig with friends. Ah, I guess someday it will ;)

It's kind of a bummer that Easter is less than a week away from St. Patty's Day. Kian is counting down the sleeps until the "Easter Bunny comes to our door." He's pretty excited about that, and honestly so am I ;) Having a child really brings back some magic that was lost as we grew and stopped believing in those things. Now that we ARE those "things" I guess it makes it fun ;)

Kian is sick :(

I think that Jamie is battling the flu right now. Kian is running a fever of 102 - I have started him on motrin. He's in good spirits but i can tell he's congested. Please send some prayers his way...with his asthma he's high risk :( He had his flu shot this year, but it may have worn off by now...not to mention they apparently predicted the wrong strain of the virus.... Just please keep the prayers rolling.

Our Crazy Week

Illness - bleh

We have been struck with illness in this house...the last week we all over came one virus and now I am pretty sure Jamie has the flu. Jamie even came home early from work yesterday and his home today. He has all the classic signs of the flu...he seems to be doing ok but he feel pretty crappy.

I am praying that Kian's flu shot holds - that's it the right strain....bleh I am so worried about him getting it.

Craziness with Kian

This week has been an interesting one in our household. Kian’s speech therapist has been forceful with me again about giving him a full team assessment. This is something meant for kids that have severe issues – Kian does not fit the bill. I even spoke to his preschool teacher this week to get her feel on things and she doesn’t have ANY concerns about him. In fact, she told me he’s the head of the class and he already knows everything he needs to know for kindergarten! In fact, she’s trying to find things for him to work on that will challenge him – she is working on writing with him now! Since the preschool teacher spends 3 hours two times a week with Kian and his therapist only spends 20 minutes once a week with him.

Here are the things that the speech therapist brought up with me on Tuesday. Keep in mind that he is a 3 ½ year old:

- He holds a crayon with his fist (but not all the time) - she thinks he has poor motor skills. At home he can shoot a basketball, undress and dress himself without really any aid (unless he has buttons like on a shirt) even on down to socks and shoes with velcro. This is what she thinks he needs physical therepy for, which I do not.

- He does not know how to start and end a conversation.

- He changes the subject when talking sometimes. (who doesn’t!??!)

- Her son babysits for us and the last time he did so she told me that Kian was trying to injure our dog. What he was doing was running his HUGE monster truck near our dog - he does this when we are home and I think he does it because the dog will get up and move suddenly. She told me he was hurting our dog, and I have never seen Kian hurt our dog since he was probably 1 year old and poking our dog in the eyeball (lol!)

- He has poor eye contact. With this I have to be honest and say he's improving. He didn't see the therapist one week and he seemed dramatically improved. Now he's kind of reverting back...I don't use the techniques that she has asked me to use with him. I just make sure that when I talk to him that i am looking at him in the eye and he does it even though I do not demand it from him like she does.

Anyway, I decided to call the district's speech pathologist. She does all the evaluations for the school district and is familiar with Kian. I told her about how Kian's therapist wants him to have a full team assessment (which means he see four different specialists in a 2 hour period of time). But I don't feel like there is a reason for him to go in. It's apparent to me that Kian's therapist has no idea what this assessment is for. It's really just to see if a child qualifies for the special ed preschool - which it's clear that Kian does not need. The pathologist listed off a bunch of things that Kian would have issues with....let me tell ya that none of them are even remotely a concern.
Unfortunately, the pathologist does not know Kian's therapist personally and is not even sure if she is employed by the district or if she is out sourced (since speech is done as a state deal, they have to provide service for all the children in need so sometimes they have to outsource).

I also shared with her that the therapist does not really listen to me when I try to tell her that things are not the way she is representing them to be. She has also discussed Kian with her school's psychologist (without my permission) which really did not sit well with the pathologist. Then after I informed her about how the therapist's son babysits Kian and about the dog incident that I mentioned above, the pathologist said that there is not a clear set of boundaries here and she asked if I would feel more comfortable with Kian seeing a different therapist since I am feeling like I will pull Kian from speech all together because of the attitude that this therapist is taking with him. I guess it's impossible for me to pull Kian from speech and then later try to get him back in – so she finally suggested that she try to find an opening for Kian to see a different therapist.

I honestly do still feel like he needs improvement with his speech, but I do not agree with some of the stuff that she is doing with Kian and how she goes about it. Especially the eye contact thing, it seems like she is making it worse! Ugh!

This afternoon I got a call from the pathologist saying that they are working on getting Kian a new therapist! WOOT!

I guess they are wanting to talk to this off-her-rocker therapist to tell her what is going on and let her know we are switching. She is going to be out of town this week but on Friday she will be back and I will get another phone call letting me know what is going on exactly.

I am very encouraged. The pathologist said it looks like he is going to be paired with someone she knows and trusts which makes me feel very relieved!

She also told me, therapists are supposed to be working on speech - nothing else. His first therapist that is not what this person was doing.

Anyway, I feel like I'm not crazy and good about where we are headed with this :)

Jameson and Sarah - 6 Years!!!

It's hard to believe that 6 years ago this weekend I married my best friend :) I wouldn't have imagined the crazy road life has taken us! Even though the road was crazy it has been good and we definately have been blessed :)

Tonight, Jamie and I went out for our anniversary celebration. Kian had our speech therepist's son, Kevin, come over to "play" with Kian while we went out. Kian was SO excited for Kian to come over! He was playing a new video game when Kevin arrived. Kian quickly abandoned it and bolted down the stairs! That speaks volumes to how much he loves being with Kevin :)

Jamie and I went to a movie and had dinner at a non-Kian friendly place. Boy it was nice!! We are going to try to make a monthly deal.

Some Good News - Some Bad News

Good News

Kian is THRIVING in preschool. Today I went to pick him up and he actually cried because he had to leave lol He really loves school and it's been so neat to watch him interact with the other kids when I pick him up. This preschool is definately a great find and I am so grateful for it! He's enjoying himself so much that he actually cried when I went to pick him up LOL!

Bad News

I lost my job yesterday - actually it was more like a week ago...I have not been paid for the last two weeks now. If you could please keep us in your thoughts and prayers - things are going to be beyond tight for us.

Kian gets a Big Boy Bed!!!

We finally broke down (well after Kian took apart part of his convereted toddler bed on Friday) and bought Kian a big boy bed. He already had the blue furniture from IKEA and the bed is from the same collection...the table and chairs as well :) We still need to get some more decor on the walls in there so it looks kinda bare :P Anyway, here it is!

Walking into the door:

Family of Tattoos

Today Jamie got his first tattoo. This is the symbol that the famous artist JR Tolkien used. He authored the books surrounding The Lord of the Rings. Jamie has always been a big fan.


So, on the way over to the tattoo shop I told Jamie that I had a vision of my next tattoo. I wanted three shamrocks (representing each person in our family) and Kian's name underneath it. The guy that did Jamie's tattoo (and who did my last one) had an open appt right after Jamie's so I did mine too!





Well, of course Kian wanted a tattoo too so when we were at Target getting stuff to keep our tattoos from getting dry we found some Cars temporary tattoos.

We Officially have a Preschooler In The House!!!!

This morning I called and cancelled our Mommy and Me class so that we could enroll Kian in preschool two half days a week :)

All weekened long Kian was talking to me about class. He asked if we could go to class EVERY morning he wakes up and if we get in the car to go somewhere, he asks if we are going to class. He loved it!

The original plan was for us to go to Mommy and Me until the session was over in the middle of March. But Kian thrived so much on Friday that we decided to cancel the class and enroll him on Wednesdays at preschool.

I am so excited for him and really Kian is too :) So it's official...Kian is a preschooler!!

Kian's First Day of Preschool!!!!

Today was Kian's first day of preschool on his own. We have been going to a Mommy and Me class that is like preschool but I go with him since this fall. Well, I finally found a place that will take Kian mid year. It's a new school so the class is really small, but I liked how they did things and they are very peanut aware.

So, I dropped him off this morning at 9AM. I said goodbye and told him I would be back when class was over. As I walked away i could see him in the same position I left him in when I said goodbye and I waved to him a few times. He just stood and looked. I was afraid that he might cry...but I guess he was ok :)

I had to run a few errands and when I got back home I felt naked without my little sidekick! I have been a SAHM since the moment Kian was born. We don't have any family around us so it's just the three of us and really just the two of us most of the time. I found myself checking the clock continuously while the phone sat next to me the whole 3 hours Kian was gone!
Well, Kian LOVED it! He did awesome. He participated in everything and was SO excited to tell me all about what he did and show me his art :) He even went on to tell me about everything he did and would say every so often "that was kinda cool" (that is one of his favorite phrases right now lol)

I am so excited for him and can't wait until Mommy and Me is over so he can start going two days a week to preschool instead of one :)

Preschool Starts Friday!

Ah yes, we finally found a preschool for Kian that doesn't cost an arm, a leg and part of your soul per month. lol

Kian and I previewed the class today. It's small and it's just starting up, but I think it will be a good fit for him for now. I do plan on pre-registering him for next year at a school I have heard a lot of good things about. Thankfully I will be able to do that in March for next fall :P Mom is on top of things!

For now we are going to finish up our Mommy and Me classes - which ends in March - and if Kian really likes the preschool we will bump him up to going twice a week instead of just on Fridays.

It's funny because a lot of moms feel sad about their little ones going off to school and growing up. For me, I just feel proud! I'm so happy that he is old enough to be on his own and I look forward to all the new things he learns and hear about what he has done on his own :) And really know it will be good for the both of us to have that time away from each other.

I am very excited for him :)

Kian if he were a cat

If this were Kian he would look like this but be saying "I no can do it.....hmph!" LOL!

No More Binkies Thanks to the Binky Fairy!

Ever since I read a post on my playgroup's message board about the Binky Fairy I have been talking to Kian about her. In case you aren't familiar, the Binky Fairy comes and takes the binkies, when big kids are ready, and brings them to babies who need them. She leaves a big boy toy in its place. The first day I told him about the Binky Fairy said he was ready, so we gathered up his binkies and put them in a baggie. He has two faves and said, "these stay home" so I said, ok well these we are going to keep in the baggie for the binky fairy and I put it on his dresser where he could see them.

We have talked about her off and on. Kian has said he wasn't ready.

Today we went to a Ped dentist who was AMAZING. I said I was concerned about Kian's bite and they said it was from the binky and it could have lasting effects on his bones YIKES!!! After the appointment we had to go to Walmart and Kian saw this big (and ugly) monster truck called the Grave Digger and said he wanted that. I told him that the binky fairy would bring him a big boy toy like that if he gave up his binkies. The look on his face was priceless...somethign TOTALLY clicked for him. All he could talk about was the binky fairy and that darn truck lol!
We get home from shopping and a while later get ready for a nap. He told me he was ready so we got the two binkies and he said he wanted the monster truck. I was gasping because well, i'm at home alone and well, I wasn't going to run back to Walmart to get him this thing! ROFL So I told him that we need to make an appointment with the Binky fairy and she only comes at night (ROFLMAO!). He decided not to nap and when I went in to get him he asked for his binky...I told him I already called the binky fairy and she was coming tonight. He was cool with that. PHEW!

So, last night I went to Walmart and scooped up the Grave Digger. When I got it home DH was SHOCKED at how big it was! lol! When I got home Kian was asleep! And in fact when DH put him down the only thing he mentioned about the blinkies was that he was going to get a monster truck!!! He also slept ALL the way through the night without any issue!

This morning he woke up and both me and DH went to his room - the binky fairy left the monster truck right outside his door. so I opened the door and said, "Kian, what is this?!?" and he couldn't get out of his bed fast enough!!! He ran over and said "MY MONSTER TRUCK!!!" He was so excited it was like Christmas all over again :)

So, this morning he's been playing with this truck - which btw, is bigger than his tonka dump truck! And I took a few pictures of him...and honest to God the poses are his...in fact, he wanted more photos after I was done with new poses ROFL!

Holiday Break

PHEW! It was a great 12 days or so of having Jamie home full time. What did we do? RELAXED! We went out on a few shopping outtings but other than that we all just did what we wanted when we wanted. It was very nice to be able to do that!

Jamie and I rang in the New Year on our own with some sparkling wine while watching Dick Clark's New Years show. It was a nice, quiet evening at home but we enjoyed ourselves :) I made my mom's famous bean dip and smokies - we munched on that all New Years Eve and Day...it was something that made the day feel special :)

It has been hard to get back into the swing of things though. Kian is SO ready for his classes and speech to start up again! Speech - that reminds me that Kian has seemed to take yet another leap in the amount he's talking and being understandable. It's amazing to hear what is going on in his little head throughout the day - gives us all some chuckles here and there ;) As for class, well I am trying HARD to get him into pre-school. He goes to a pre-pre-school right now where I attend class with him. Both Jamie and I feel like he's ready for the next step. I have a call into two different places and I am HOPING AND PRAYING that there is a spot at the first place we want him to go to. They have a NO NUT policy (woot!) and after seeing the structure of the class lined out on their website, I feel like this might be a better fit for him all the way around. We will have to see....right now I am leaving it in God's hands, but I really feel like he needs to be at class without me before he's thrown into pre-K classes next fall. We will have to see...but man it's weighing heavily on my mind (funny how things completely out of your control can do that to you!) I digress!

Jamie's Project Change

Jamie is back at work full time now and as of last week found out he was moved to work on Godfather II. A move he's not real happy about, but at least it's temorary...we are trying to keep a positive out look on it even though it means that Jamie will be home at about 9PM or later every night (Kian will be in bed by then) and that working even longer hours is just around the corner (most likely this summer). We are bracing ourselves and making changes as needed. I just feel bad for Kian not being able to see his Daddy much at all during the weekdays.

The San Francisco Storms

Well, we braved the storms that came through late last week. Thankfully Jamie wasn't feeling well on Friday and stayed home - I would have been VERY afraid if he were driving in the conditions that were outside! The wind was gusting strong and rain was coming down hard off and on. One bridge crossing the Bay was even shut down because of the winds!!! Some things on our patio got wipped around too - I even had to take down my new shamrock wind mobile that my grandparents got me for Christmas for fear it would be blown away and lost forever!

We got pelted with three different storms and more are headed this way GAH! At least the there was no damage to be seen near us...but many places in the area suffered power outages and the thread of flooding. Hopefully the other storms are not as bad as the last few.

2007 In Review

Well, I like to take time at the end of the year to reflect on good and bad highlights. Honestly there were a lot of positive things that happened this year!

January - Jamie's mom, step-dad and sister came out for a visit.

February - Jamie and I celebrated 5 years of wedded bliss together (ok, no I don't live in a freaking castle but the years have been good ones :))

March - St. Patrick's Day!!!! We had our friend's Steve and Lisa over to share in our corned beef and cabbage :)

April - Kian and I headed out to Wisconsin for my Grandparent's 50th Wedding anniversary.

May - Kian turned 3!!

June - The Painstaking treatment began on my foot (ouch!)

July - We threw our first party at our house for the 4th of July! I think everyone had a good time :)

We also celebrated one year of being homeowners! WOOT!

August - We bid goodbye to diapers - Kian was fully potty trained!!! (well, during the day time anyway - but a huge step!)

September - Kian started his pre-preschool class (I say pre-pre because I go with Kian to this class)

October - We took our first family vacation and went to Disneyland!!! We also had a great time visiting with my Uncle Dave and Aunt Lori that live in SoCal.

Kian also got to go trick-or-treating for the FIRST time! Even though we had to take out most of his candy and replace it, he had a great time :)

November - We welcomed Jamie's Dad and Step-mom for a visit. Then a few weeks later my mom arrived for a visit over Thanksgiving! Kian had a great time with all of them :)

December - We decorated the tree and Kian got to help decorate for the first time! Kian also helped me make cookies for the first time too :) Kian's excitement of Christmas has sparked a renewed excitment in our household of Christmas!

We had a very blessed and busy 2007 and we are looking forward to more blessings to come in 2008. We hope you and yours have the same :)

There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays!

This Christmas was spent in the comfort of our own home - just the three of us (ok 5 if you could Allie and Toby). Christmas Eve was had our gorging of gifts that our family sent us. We all received some very nice things, but Kian made quite the haul!

Christmas Eve night we had lasgana with garlic bread and salad for our special meal. We also had home made pumpkin pie - YUM! (ok, I took some store bought help - but nut free ones ;))

Santa brought gifts - the floor in front of the tree was filled with books, a Tonka garbage truck, My First Computer, Thomas Legos and a Thomas mat to play with his smaller trains with.

So far he has LOVED the My First computer (thankfully Santa brought two games to go with it) and his mat for his smaller Thomas trains. He really is enjoying everything, but those he's playing with the most.

And of course Santa stuffed all our stockings - even Toby and Allie's! Kian got two new cars from the movie Cars, a new Disney movie, Thomas underwear, and candy of course ;)

Our christmas vacation has been pretty relaxing. We have all really enjoyed not really having a schedule and just doing what we want when we want. A quiet Christmas this year but a good one :)

Our Christmas Gorging

Well our tree slowly filled with wrapped gifts as the month progressed. This morning, after breakfast, we gorged ourselves on those gifts. Kian was so excited! He has been asking at least once a day if he can open them lol We let him dig in while I pulled gifts from all around the tree and separated them all. Jamie and I helped Huricane Kian with his mass of paper and gifts before we opened our own. We both got some pretty cool stuff! And the best thing was that I surprised Jamie with almost everything I gave him ;) That is VERY hard to do so I was quite proud of myself :)

Before bed Kian and I baked cookies for Santa and set the cookies and some carrots on the special plate that my cousin Maggie gave him for his first Christmas....there is a sang on the plate that says the cookies are for Santa and something like "I was good this year, don't believe those things you hear" hehehe

Tonight Jamie read Kian Twas The Night Before Christmas and even I stayed in the room to enjoy the book :) We said goodnight and haven't heard a peep from that room since! Kian is so excited for Santa to arrive :)

Speaking of the big man in the red suit, I better get to bed so he can drop in ;)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christmas Countdown!

Well, the final stretch is here! Five more days until Christmas! Kian is SO excited to open gifts. It's been a little tough to keep him out of the gifts that are wrapped under the tree, but he's done a great job listening. He does ask several times a day about Santa and if he came lol

Kian has enjoyed the Advent calendar that we bought him last year.


Here he is with the calendar looking for the door to open for the day. It looks really neat but the door numbers are not in order so it's hard for Kian to understand how many more days are left. We do show him on the calendar though how many more days until Christmas and we count together what is left. Kian just really likes to get the candy out of the door that he says Santa brings him lol

A few weekends ago we celebrated Christmas with our friends Steve and Lisa. Here is one of the things they got Kian - which is his favorite right now.


Jamie got some fun things that he has at work with him (one is a BS button - we had to try it outside away from Kian ears! lol) and he also go a hat with his name on it...ok, not really - it's a Jameson Irish Whiskey hat but is VERY fitting :) Jamie loves it!


And as you can see Steve and Lisa know me well :) We hung up the Irish Blessing hanging immediately!


Last weekend Lisa and Steve gave us another AMAZING gift! Lisa offered to watch Kian for the night while me and Jamie went to the EA Christmas party! Steve had a prior engagement that ended up being cancelled so he came along with Lisa as well. I know Kian had as much fun as we did because he loves those two :)

This year we look forward to a quiet Christmas at home - just the three of us. We plan to start a new tradition of making cookies on Christmas Eve night so that Santa can have fresh cookies ;)

We miss you all and know that we will be thinking of all our family and friends that live far and near throughout the holiday season.

Stepping into the New Year with a New Foot

Yesterday was my FINAL treatment on my foot for my warts! WOOT! I've had a little bit of pain, but nothing that some ibuprofen couldn't take care of :) I am relived that this 6 month ordeal of going to the doctor every 10 days is over! Yep, 6 months! phew! But, at least when this is done I won't have to ever do it again :)

So, here's to starting off 2008 on the "left" wartless foot ;)

Kian Visits Santa

Well, Kian met Santa today. Our track record with Santa is now 1.5 out of 4 lol I say 1.5 because when he was 7 months he was cool with Santa and every other year after that he has screamed bloody murder when we it was our turn to see Santa.


This year we were headed down the same road. Thankfully we saw Santa on a weekday so he could take time to talk to Kian. Jamie brought him over to sit on Santa’s lap and Kian yelled “Let’s go that way!!” Well, Santa came down to Kian with a candy cane and a temporary tattoo. Kian said thankyou and then pulled out his “list” that we made this morning (we cut out pictures of toys Kian wanted and put them on some notebook paper). Santa took the list and pointed out some of the trucks and talked to Kian about them. Then he took Kian’s hand and brought him around his little area and showed him the stuffed animals that were decorating the area. He then had Kian sit on his big chair! We FINALLY got a photo with a half smile from my Kian with Santa standing right next to him :)


So, this is the only photo we got this year, but it’s a good one and definitely a great memory for us all :)

Grandma Visits!

My mom made her bi-annual Thanksgiving day trip out to see us. Since my step-dad hunts over the holiday, she is usually at home alone and figures it's a good time to take off and spend the week with us :)

Grandma certainly took this trip as an opportunity to SPOIL Kian! Kian got lots of new cars, crayons and a "magic coloring book" that i think Grandma enjoyed coloring in just as much as Kian did! Every time that Kian woke up from his nap or in the morning he would say, "Where's Grandma Lopas? You wanna play Candyland?" I think my mom played more Candyland with Kian this last week than she has in her entire life lol They also had great fun playing outside, going for walks and going to the park.

It was very hard to say good-bye but her trip was a very good one :)

Kian Met A Goal!

Kian's speech teacher said she is pretty sure she's ready to write in Kian's chart that he has met his goal of putting ending sounds on words! How exciting after such a short period of time!

We are still working on complete sentences and other things related to speech. I also spoke to the teacher about what her thoughts were on the group evaluation that she told me about when we first started going to see her. It will test all areas of development like fine motor, social, speech (those are a few I can think of). If he is delayed enough they will put him into a special ed preschool until he catches up.

For me personally, I see this as a win-win...either we find out Kian's ok and has a few things work on or we find out he has a delay and it is addressed. I have been so concerned about him lately and I figured this will give me an answer one way or another.

Kian's speech teacher, Miss Denise, will be emailing the person who needs to set up the evlaution. She felt she was going to wait and see how Kian is after Christmas break, but since I mentioned a concern she is goign to get the ball rolling. I will have more of an update on this once I have more information.

Brag on Jamie!

Most of you know that Jamie was working on a game based on The Simpsons. Well, the game finally released a few weeks ago. Full Sail, the school that Jamie went to for game design, has a small article on him. Of course I have to brag on my man for being featured! I'm so proud of him!

Copy and paste the link below into your browser to see the article.

http://www.fullsail.com/news/9730-designing-springfield-jameson-durall-and-the-simpsons-game.html

Speech Update and other odds and ends

Grandad and Nan

Jamie's Dad and Step-mom (Nancy - Kian calls her Nan) flew in on Saturday to visit. It was great to have them here as we always enjoy their company. Kian was SO excited to see them and couldn't get enough of playing ball with Grandad or having Nan read him stories.

The cutest thing was when Nancy and I explained to Kian that Grandad and Nan had to go back home to Kentucky. Kian's response to that was, "You stay here." He really liked having them around. Over the last few days he has asked for them, but I think he's realizing that Kentucky is far away.

I believe we all had a great visit - hopefully we will see them again soon.

Speech Update

Kian had his hearing and vision tested today. He is normal in both categories thankfully :)

He is making leaps and bounds of progress in his speech. The last session we went to his teacher (Miss Denise) said that she thinks he's become kinda lazy because she believes the words are there he's just not saying them.

The last few weeks we have been working on ending sounds, making complete sentences and now we are working on looking at the person who is talking. Yesterday Kian had an EXPLOSION in using complete sentences! He's using them almost all the time and it's been amazing to see how much creativity he has and his thought processes! Just today we were on our way somewhere and he saw a cloud big cloud in the sky and we talked bout that for a bit. Then he saw a big truck and we talked about that. then he said as clear as day, "That big truck is going to pick up the cloud." I giggled and I said, wow, that must be a really big truck hehe

Jamie and I are very encouraged with his progress :)

Halloween 2007

Well, Kian was finally not something Blue's Clues related for Halloween hehe He decided to be Thomas the Train. The outfit was perfect for him - last year he was in long sleeves and it was in the 80s! This year it was cooler, but at least we had the option of dressing cool or warm.

Halloween morning we started out by having breakfast at our Halloween decorated table that was have enjoyed all month (special thanks to my Aunt Lori for some cool dishes and decor!). Then we headed off the class. We had a Halloween party where we had some great snacks, sang Halloween songs, did some autumn crafts, and trick or treated "door-to-door" from the doors connecting to the room we were in. Kian had a BLAST! He even did great with particiaption!

There was also a little boy who was dressed as James (one of Thomas' friends). Kian and this little boy played together pretty often throughout the class because of the commonality - so cute!

Here are some photos from Kian at class:







Kian had a blast trick or treating! This was his first year going (we have held off because of his allergy mainly). But this year was the first year he was able to really understand what was going on. He would ring the doorbell and when people would ask "Who are you?" He would say, "Thomas the Tank Engine CHOO CHOO" LOL (btw, that is something he came up with all on his own!) Sometimes he would answer "I'm Kian and then correct himself and go into explaining how he was Thomas." After he said "Thank You" he would say "Let's go find more doors." LOL!

Kian made quite a haul with candy. Unfortunately about 80% of it he could not eat. Needless to say, Jamie will have quite a stash of candy to bring to work tomorrow! Luckily I bought replacement candy for Kian so he does't feel left out. But we did let him enjoy the candy that he did get tonight that was safe for him to eat allergy wise. I'm sure he was in sugar overload mode before bed lol But he was wiped out from all the fun today!

Kian with he Pumpkin that we carved yesterday.



"Let's go find another door!"





Enjoying some candy after his night's work hehe

Pumpkin Patch!

Kian's class went to a pumpkin patch in our area a few weeks ago. We started out with a hay ride to a classroom area where we learned about how pumpkins grow. It started to rain a bit (more like mist) while we were on the hay ride so most of the moms wanted to get their pumpkin and get out! Kian and I took our time. We were able to pick out a pumpkin, a gourd, and a little white pumpkin. We took our time. Got a wagon and loaded it up with our stuff.

Here are some photos of our little excursion. I also threw in a "signature" I made since there are some cute photos of Kian in there :)


Here is me and Kian before the hayride started.


Kian in front of the yearly height sign hehe

Here is Kian with our haul from our visit!

And here is the signature that I made

Kian's first Speech Appointment

Kian started speech therapy yesterday. He actually had a good time. The teacher had him say a word and then would allow him to fish one fish from a game that she had. He really enjoyed himself. Most importantly he responded really well! Kian drops the end sound of some words like cup, truck, cat… The first word the teacher asked him to say was cup, he said “cuh.” The teacher asked him to look at her lips and said “cuP” and asked him to say it again…he said it correctly the second time! He responded well throughout the entire session and even continued on when we came home!

The speech therapist that did Kian’s evaluation said that I would see changes quickly, but really I had no idea that she meant THIS soon! I am very encouraged.

Speech Therepy

This morning I got a call from the person that will be working with Kian. It's close to our house, which is nice and she seems like a nice person. Kian will be starting on Tuesdays at 1PM.

Kian has been making more sentences and actually sounding clearer to us, but he does still need some help. I am really looking forward to getting him started.

Disneyland 2007 Recap

We just got back from our vacation – we ALL had an amazing time! We started with the long trek down to Southern California via the 5 on the last Friday of September. We were surprised at how much of nothing is out there lol! But the trip was uneventful and we had a great visit with my Aunt Lori and Uncle Dave. Toby (our black lab) stayed with them while we were at Disneyland – he of course was spoiled rotton ;)

Sunday afternoon we headed to our hotel to check in. Kian could see the “Hollywood Hotel” (a thrill ride in Californialand) from our room – which we told him was Disneyland and he often would tell us to look out and see Disneyland ;) It was cute! After that, we went to Downtown Disney to look around. We decided to have dinner at the Rainforest Café – it’s a restaurant that has “moving” animals and a “rain storm” at different times. A HUGE snake hanging from the ceiling ended up scaring the poop out of Kian…so we had to sit outside and eat…. We were wondering how the next 4 days at the Disney parks would go! We then headed back to the hotel and before Kian went to bed, we were treated to the Disneyland fireworks…we couldn’t see a lot, but we saw the ones that went high in the sky – Kian loved that!

Before we started our trip, I actually contacted Disney about their food preparations. I called and spoke to the head chef of the park - he was an amazing wealth of knowledge. Gave us a small list of places to avoid. And also assured me that each of their food places has at least one person trained in cross contamination on site - they have to pass an eight hour class in order to be certified to do this! Anyway, I felt very assured when we were there that we would have a great time without any reactions. (speaking of Kian's allergy, in some of the photos you will notice Kian's medical alert bracelet - he's really adjusted to wearing it)

Monday we headed to the park – we took a tram and then discovered that our hotel was very close in walking distance and decided for the rest of the trip we would walk to and from the park. We weren’t sure what Kian could handle ride wise so we thought It’s a Small World would be the best place to start. He’s never been on a Disney type ride before so we wanted to do one we knew for sure was not scary. A while after that we decided to go on Pirates of the Caribbean. I totally didn’t remember how scary it was!!! It has changed a bit because they added some things from the movie – but it was still scary! Kian did AWESOME! There were times he would grab my hand or he would lean up against Jamie but he did AWESOME! So well that we decided to take him into the Haunted Mansion. The Haunted Mansion was done up in the Nightmare Before Christmas theme which was really, really neat! Kian did great there and honestly there wasn’t a ride he didn’t go on – unless he couldn’t because of height requirement. The little guy even rode the Matterhorn TWICE lol

Because of the time of year that we went to the park and because we were there during the week, the park closed at 8PM every night. We decided the first day to let Kian skip his nap and see if he would make it through the day. He did amazingly well! I think it was mainly because he was doing things that he enjoyed the ENTIRE time we were there…heck we ALL enjoyed our time! The only dull moments were when we stood in line – and even with that Kian did fairly well. Every night we stayed for the parade – which is AMAZING! Kian was so amazed by it – even though it was the same thing every night, we were all still in awe :)

Tuesday we headed to Californialand. Jamie and I had never been to that park before so it was a new experience for all of us. We first headed to use some special tickets we got for booking our trip through AAA – we got preferred seating for “A Talk with Crush” – the turtle from Finding Nemo. We all sat right in front and Crush talked to Kian! He called him Kahuna Kian – so for the rest of the day Kian would say “I’m Kahuna Kian!” hehe, so cute! We then headed over to “meet” Lightening McQueen and Tow Mater from the movie Cars. Kian was in awe :) Jamie went on a few rides by himself – the one I did want to go on was Soarin’ over California – which was really neat. Kian and Jamie went on all the rides in the A Bug’s World area. There was a spinning ride that went in the air that looked like it was builtout of food boxes like Chinese take-out and animal crackers. Another ride was like the teacups but it was Francis the Ladybug that spun around and then there were bumper cars. Then we did all went on the train ride which was the caterpillar from A Bugs Life – he ate his way around the track. It was a super cute ride :) Kian enjoyed all those rides – I think he rode all of them 3 times. Californialand seems like it’s more for the older crowd, so once we hit all of what we wanted to ride and see, we headed back over to Disneyland and spent the rest of the day there.

Wednesday we had special passes (again, thanks to AAA) to get in to the opening of Toontown. Toontown in the area of the park where the characters “live.” We got to see a special opening with the mayor of Toontown and was able to get in line and meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Dale (of Chip and Dale). Kian loved that :) After that we headed to Blue Bayou for a special dinner – the restaurant functions on reservations alone and is also on part of the Pirates of the Caribbean – it’s a really neat atmosphere. It was a super neat lunch and really kid friendly – Kian even got veggie sticks and ranch dressing for dipping when Jamie and I got our soup and salad! I was very impressed with Disney and how kid friendly and focused they are.

Thursday was our last day at the park. We also had another perk of getting into the park early one day – and this was the day we chose to do so. We had breakfast at the park and then headed to some rides. Later in the day we stood in line for the new Nemo ride…AMAZING ride and worth the wait! We of course ended the day with the parade and then some souvenir shopping. I think Kian’s favorite item is a Disneyland Semi truck – he’s actually cried at night when he had to go to bed and stop playing with it lol

Friday we took it easy, checked out of our hotel and headed to Downtown Disney for some more souvenir shopping and lunch before we headed back up to my Aunt and Uncle’s house.

We had an AMAZING time and we hope to be able to do it again next year. It was a trip that we all had a blast doing – and really that’s the most important point of having a family vacation.

Here is a short slide show I put together of our vacation. We took over 500 photos! YIKES! So I pulled a select fun few.