Reflections on 2007

This year has been a super busy year and lots of fun and excitement. I'll try to quickly recap (and hopefully not duplicate my christmas letter)

Lauryn: completely potty trained (yea for all of us), learned the alphabet and talks all the time and most of the time you can understand her.

Jeff: Changed careers from marketing to high school teacher. This man has been super busy and wearing many hats. Luckily for Christmas break, he got to put most of them aside.

Kat: Scrapbooked a tons and read 17 books this year (pretty impressive since L has cut into my reading time). Started this blog and learned some new computer techniques.

Haley: blew out her knee...had major reconstructive surgery. Has congestive heart failure which medicine has fixed.

Ditto: still has massive allergies and has chewed his fur off twice.

Reggie: peed in so many unapproved places, so her reward was a new kitty litter box and a cat climbing toy. She also blew out her knee...no surgery, but she can't jump on high places.

***as you can see, our pets were expensive this year. In fact, so much that we received a hand signed card from the vet. Geez!


I think this has been a good year for us. We've tried to take one day at a time and the blog definitely helps me highlight life. Hope your year was as good as ours!

Dinner at Kobe's

We celebrated Christmas with the Loving's by eating at Kobe's (everyone's favorite place). Dinner was delicious as usual. L did a good job of feeding herself rice.

Brett and Dan enjoy their meal.

Our cook at Kobe's was good and entertaining.

L got a My Mommy doll. It's very cute. She loves it, of course. Jeff got a cool KState tshirt and I got a new red patent leather purse (thanks to Bonnie), lotion and a cool photo album.

Christmas highlights

Christmas was successful. L got a little worn out, mostly because she wanted to play with the toys and she had many things to unwrap. She got what she asked Santa for...a vacuum and a Dora kitchen. Here is the famous kitchen and she's cooking up a storm (oh, and talking on the cell phone) Jeff got the biggest present this year. His "lump of coal" was a sound rocker video game chair. I think L was trying to get dibs on it, but I doubt that will happen.

Dinner was great. We have the traditional (for us)...ham, potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry salad and peppermint cake. L loved the frosting.
And L's "lump of coal" was an easel from g&g. She will love this...paints, chalk, etc.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Santa's Workshop

Last night we decided to put Santa's gifts together. L's getting a kitchen and a vacuum. As you can see the kitchen had a few pieces to put together.

Jeff's contemplating the next step. He only had to back up once and said that was more work than trying to put it together.

The finished product!!! After months of hearing, "I want a kitchen" for the past 3 weeks it's been, "I want a Dora kitchen" (after we'd bought this). So crafty us thought, we'll put Dora stickers on the kitchen and it looks great. L will be so excited!

Weekend Fun

This weekend has been fun. We started it off by watching National Treasure 2 on Friday. Excellent movie, btw. T got L a BBQ set which she loves.















Then on Sat. after my parents got in town we went and watched the Shockers play. They won by 9. L had so much fun playing with everyone. She has discovered pop, which she loves. Luckily, she thinks she only gets to drink it at the games, so we're okay with that.













In the last picture, Reggie is hanging out on the presents. We named this "lump on a box of coal"

White out conditions

Today was a blizzard. Unfortunately, my parents were driving thru it from KC to our house. Although it took them 5 hours (should have taken 3), they arrived safely 30 minutes ago. Whew!!! And just when I needed this news...the WSU game is delayed by one hour. So they have a minute to breath before we have to head off to the game.

Sleeting Saturday

Today should be an adventure. My parents are driving today from St. Louis and hopefully will miss some of the weather (but I doubt it). L will be so happy to see her grandparents. I need to pick up the ham and rolls and pick up the house as well as do a little cleaning. I'm sure I can get that done by noon (Ha!) We'll be heading over to Koch Arena tonight to watch the Shockers get the can of whoop ass out again for UAB.

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Good news from our fellow blogger....Amy is having a boy! See her blog at Pins and Needles.

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I will try to keep the blog updated with daily pics and posts. L got this really cute BBQ set from T last night. She loves it (and it is really cool!)

Hey!

L loves to go to the Shocker basketball games. This year, she has learned to love Wu and give him five. She has also learned how to do the "Hey" song. You know how it goes, 'Hey.....we're going to beat the *^## out of you!' She's very good at pointing to the players! And for those of you who are worried, she has no idea what they're chanting.

The End of Harry Potter

So the other night, I stayed up until midnight finishing the last Harry Potter book. In the beginning I wasn't sure I could finish a 759 page book easily, but I forgot how well J.K. Rowling writes. The book was excellent and everything that I had hoped for.

Someone asked me once to tell them the ending because they weren't going to read it. So if you're reading this, please let me know.

A Pretty Patient Cat (Sometimes)

Reggie can be a patient cat when she wants to be. Here she was content laying on the dog's bed and L and I laid the blankie on top of her. She doesn't care. Like Ditto, she loves the attention so that helps. But I will give Reggie credit. At night when I have trouble getting L to bed, I can put Reggie on L's bed and she'll sit there and L is so happy.



....btw, don't except to see this kind of post about Haley. While she is the sweetest girl dog, she doesn't tolerate getting her picture taken with L.

Christmas goodies

So, I've been so busy trying to get my Christmas stuff done, that I just finally realized how bad my blogs have been. Pictures definitely make the blog better. So I'm going to start blogging my creations. Today, L and I made chocolate covered rice krispie treats and pretzel rods. So, so easy and delicious. L helped me put sprinkles on...

..and then enjoyed her own snack. I think she got some of it in her mouth, but I'm not putting any bets on that. Thank you mom for the great ideas (who btw, will be at my house in 6 days (yes, I'm counting)).

Happy eating everyone!

The Most Patient Dog

No, this picture is not Photoshop'd. Ditto has got to be the most patient dog when it comes to L. All the pets love her and each has a different relationship with L, but Ditto, he loves the attention no matter what it is. So when she wants to put the toy bears on his head, he's willing to oblige. What a sweetheart.

The Stockings

A couple of days ago, Jeff was wrapping my presents and he picked up my stocking to fill. I told him that he needed to wait until Christmas Eve because Santa would fill them. At the same time, L says "daddy, leave the stocking alone. Santa will be mad if you mess with it". You tell him, L.

A happy house

Well, Wichita called off school tomorrow so Jeff and L get to stay home tomorrow. Lucky dogs (and cat and kid :))

Baby it's rainy outside

As I type this, it's raining pretty heavily now. Which isn't a bad thing, except it's 32 degrees outside. SOOO...we'll see how the morning is. I'm afraid it's going to be icky outside. At least if it's too bad, Jeff will get to stay home and so will L. I love snow, but I really, really hate the ice. Well gotta sign off before the computer dies.

Sunday post

The weather held off as I had asked and the concert last night was awesome!!! Zombie brought several toys, including a robot and a monster that were like 8 feet tall. Ozzy was good. It seems like since he quit the drugs and alcohol though, he's got a pot belly. Guess you can't have everything!!! He did a great job. Our seats would have been perfect if there weren't speakers in the way. But we could still see pretty well.

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As many of you know, L dislikes milk at my house. She drinks it at the sitter's and everywhere we go when I tell her there's no apple juice. But if I try that at home, she throws a fit. It's been a really long story....so I'm open to suggestions. Linda told me last week to try soy milk. I thought, "eww, I hate soy milk, how would L like it?" But she persisted, L will like it. So I bought a half gallon of very vanilla soy milk and you know what?...we both like it!! It is actually yummy. And today L drank a glass without fuss!!! One for mommy!

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Today was icky outside. Sometime after we went to bed, it snowed some. Not much on the ground and more like ice. And it was really, really cold. So we stayed inside all day and I worked on scrapbook projects. I completed three gifts today. I love them all and I had tons of fun making them, but at the end, my brain was ready for a rest. Luckily, I had put together taco soup in the crockpot so supper was easy with apple slices. I love my crockpot!

Rockin' Concerts

Last night we went to the Coliseum to see TSO, aka Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It is the fifth time I've seen them and the sixth for Jeff. And as usually each year gets better and better. They had quite a few pyros and of course all sorts of lights. The music is outstanding. The concert was 2 1/2 hours and it went by way too fast. We were in row 10 and our seats were perfect. What a wonderful evening.

Tonight, I'm heading out with T and Jeff to see my next favorite band, Ozzy Osbourne and Rob Zombie. I LOVE OZZY!! I know, you're all surprised. But Ozzy is an excellent performer and that's what I love about him. I'm really hoping Zombie brings all his toys to his show. I'll give you a report tomorrow. Pray that the weather stays quiet. It's not too slick right now and I want it to stay that way.

Two Future Wildcat Girls

Reggie's new Favorite Spot

Reggie always has a favorite spot. There are too many to say (plus most of you could care less). But since we cleaned L's room up, she has been camping out in L's room. It is so cool. Reggie will sleep there all day.
But the best part is, Reggie will sleep with L until she falls asleep at night. L is so happy and proud that the kitty loves her.

Spidey to the rescue!

I hope this blog is not premature. We've been working on potty training L for almost three months and it's all been hit or miss (literally and figuratively). This weekend when we were cleaning out L's room, we found some old boy pull ups the Loving's had given us. She was so excited to wear Spiderman pull ups and she doesn't want to mess them up, so she's been going in the potty every time for the past 3 days! Thank you Loving's and thank you Spidey!!!

Blog overload

I know, there are many, many posts today. Sorry. I've been in town, but busy. After turkey day, I got up at 4:20 am to experience Black Friday again. I went with Kurt and Kasey and their moms. As usual, we had a great time and shared lots of laughs. I got lots of good stuff (and have almost all my presents bought and wrapped). Then we started on L's room (and the spare room). Three lawn and garden bags of donations (I'm not a garage sale girl) and a bag of trash, we wittled through all of L's stuff. Her room is almost complete (I'll share pictures when it's done).

Last night, we went to Kay and Peter's after Thanksgiving party in their new home. Fondly nicknamed "the villa", this house is beautiful. They've only been there a few weeks and have transformed it into a french theme in the basement. We had a great time.

Kay and L dance a little at the end of the party. L loves to play with her!

Mom, this one's for you

Mom, remember when we used to talk about how Kay's cats never had any toys. Well, you would be proud. A whole basket full of toys and a fish wand for JoJo to play with. She looks very happy tonight (Packer, of course, was hiding)

More Thanksgiving pics

L loves to pose for pictures. She's hanging out with the snowman (my grandma's all about getting the Christmas stuff out early)
Goofing around with uncle Ken. Who says you need expensive toys. Rubber bands work great!


Oh and the door to the kitchen. Another great toy. And amazingly enough, not once did she pinch her finger in the door. She also used about half a roll of paper on great grandpa's calculator.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This year (as always) we went to C-ville to spend the day with family. We had great food and had fun visiting with everyone and of course, L stole the show. But even she got tired at some point and fell asleep on the couch!

Christmas Shopping

Hello all! Tonight, we went to the Simon Mall "Night of Giving" event. Jeff got tickets at school and we three went to enjoy the evening. We didn't have much in mind to buy, and that's the best kind of shopping. I found several gifts for people and got all my secret santa things, which is good, because I hate trying to figure out what to do at the last minute. The mall was busy, but not too bad. My kind of shopping.

I bought this canvas sign at Hallmark for our house. Thought I'd share it with you since it was cool.

In this home...
We do second chances.
We do Grace.
We do Real.
We do mistakes.
We do I'm sorrys.
We do loud really well.
We do Hugs.
We do Family.
We do Love.

L was worn out. One book and she was begging for music and me to leave her to sleep.

Gingerbread Village

We joined Maria and the boys to the gingerbread village show at a local church today. We got to make our own gingerbread house. It was lots of fun and L had a great time making the house and eating the fixin's too. She was very proud of herself to be able to help.


Her afternoon snack was a sweet and sticky one!!!

Beowulf

Friday night, we went to the Warren to see Beowulf in 3D. It was awesome!! The glasses were so cool and comfortable. And I love 3D....the images are so neat. I love digital technology!
Jeff poses with the glasses. You get your ticket marked to say you have a pair, then the ushers guard the doors to make sure you hand the glasses back.

Thank You, Grams!

Grandma sent L this beautiful Christmas dress, coat and hat. She LOVED it!!! She thinks the hat is her "purse". She was excited to dress up and take pictures. Thanks again grams!

My "Me" Day

Today was a wonderful day. As I mentioned yesterday, we were all off. Today, Jeff went to work and L went to daycare. I had a me day. I got a massage, went scrapbook shopping (found both papers you wanted, mom), ate a healthy lunch at Doc Green's and spent the afternoon watching tv and scrapbooking. For supper, I picked up Little Caesar's and then we headed out to watch WSU play their season opener game. Just what a girl needed...a little R&R.

Happy Veteran's Day!

Sorry it's been so long since I've blogged. I had bronchitis last week and between that and the side effects of the antibiotics, I haven't felt like doing much.

I do appreciate the veteran's. One, my grandfather fought in WW II in the Navy. Two, they work really hard for us. Three, USD 259 was out of school today, so Jeff and I and L hung out all day. We went shopping, played outside, played with playdoh. While L was asleep for a nap we got some wii time in. And we watched tv this am, making comments about the Y&R (we haven't watched that show in years, yet we could still follow the plot just fine.)

Last weekend, Craig, Mandy, Will and Mary Kate came to Wichita for a couple days. Their first night here, we ate at Playa Azul (yummy). I could never get L to either smile or look at the camera with Mary Kate. But these girls are so cute together!



Saturday we went to the zoo. Let me tell ya, this is an excellent time to go. First, it wasn't too hot, second there weren't very many people. We had a great time. My favorite memory? Mandy went to get food for the sheep at the petting zoo, and one of the sheep shoved her out of the way to eat the food as it came out of the machine!
The best part of the whole day? We got to feed the giraffes. They were so cool!! And very hungry. It was awesome to feed them and figure out the trick. Their tongues are so long (Gene Simmons has nothing on these guys) and you have to feed them a certain way or you lose the food. What a good day!

Ribbon Addiction

So I love to scrapbook as you all know, but I'm really addicted to ribbon. I love to buy a yard of a new ribbon even though I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. Lately, I've been trying to reorganize my scrap room and a new idea I got was to put my ribbon in a clear container with holes. I made two of these using Target makeup containers and an exacto knife. While I am really happy to have my ribbon this way....it's easier to see and takes less room, I was shamed about how much ribbon I actually own. It's a little disgraceful!

Forward rolls and bouncing

Tonight, L spent the evening working on her forward rolls. I must say she does a good job. She practiced a few times and then accomplished the roll. She is proud of herself and kept asking me to "take one more picture".


Ta da!


L loves our couch. She thinks that it's made for bouncing. This event went bouncy, bouncy, kaboom!
In a rare moment in this picture, she actually resembles me.

Another WSU basketball season

WSU had their first exhibition game tonight. And overall they played well (and they won). We love to watch basketball, but there are many other fun things to do. One of them is WU sightings. L is in love with WU and shouts out every time she sees him. I think she asked me twenty times, "when can we go see WU?". So in the second half, we went to the concourse and there he was. She was happy to give him five and pose for a picture.
Pre-game...we got there early to make sure we got a decent parking spot. L spends time dancing, singing and goofing off with daddy.


Everywhere we go L makes friends. This is Jadyn. She loves to play with L and they have a great time together.