Uh huh... yeahhh baby.

In the last house we lived in, we never put more than blinds on the windows and it kinda really bugged me. I always wanted to do it, meant to get around to it, but usually couldn't afford to do all the windows at once and I also knew there would be a lot of discussion about what color/kind of window treatments to use, and I also knew I probably wouldn't get what I wanted and if I wasn't going to get what I wanted, why get anything at all then...? Follow me?
So we've been in this house since July and I actually shopped for, chose and purchased a valance and rod for the kitchen! I figured it was only one window — one I spend a lot of time in front of — so it wouldn't break the bank to cover.
I was confident that I could borrow a drill from my neighbor, Steve, and put the whole thing up pretty easily. And I did! Except when I was almost falling off the counter backwards, jamming my head into the ceiling, and using the provided screws that were too long. But it's up and done pretty well. There are only 6 extra holes in the wall, but they're covered up, so they aren't really there, then, right?

Here's how the window looked: severe and boring, right?

Here's how it looks now:

A bit softer and I like how the colors match the walls and cabinets. I'm happy with it, so I think my bedroom is next...uh huh, yeahh baby, I put that up there all by myself! Right on.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween this year was great fun! The weather was pretty nice, albeit cold, but what do you expect for Halloween? Kait was a pirate lass, Kyle was the Joker and Maggie was a banana. The best banana ever!

Kids' toy of the week!

And I call it "toy of the week" because it seems like every time I turn around, there's a new toy Kaiky just HAS to have, "because Ashley got it and it's so cute, I want it Mommy! Pleassssse! Pleeeeeeeeeeease!"
First, it was Japanese erasers. I have to admit, I thought some of them were pretty cute, especially the animals. I was also amazed at some of the detail they put into the food erasers. But, of course, Kaiky had to collect as MANY as she could as FAST as possible, but her weekly allowance didn't come close to satifying her needs for another rubber piece of sushi...

Then, Go Gos Crazy Bones came on the scene and, at $1.99 for a three-pack, both kids were pretty satisfied with how quickly they were able to collect the coolest, the cutest and the RAREST Go Gos. These hard plastic guys really appealed to Kyle and I think he has over 150 (don't do the math, please!).

Go Gos were fun for a long time, but soon I started hearing from Kaiky that Squishies were the way to go, and, "they have them at KidSnips and can we pleaaaase go there and get some? Ashley has them! They are sooo cute, Mom!"
So we went to KidSnips and sure enough, there they were, in one of those gumball-type dispensers for 50 cents each!! I did a major double-take...these were the worst rip-offs yet! And you couldn't even choose which Squishy you wanted, what you got was at the mercy of the gumball machine and the five, slacking, highly-styled hairdressers sitting behind the cash register gawking as we placed all of our hard-earned quarters in the machine. Sigh.

We did finally find Squishies that we could hand-pick at Galt Toys, but for the same ridiculous, rip-off price. They even had big ones for a whole dollar.
Thankfully, the Squishy phase wore off very quickly! Now we're on to Beyblades, which are simply tops marketed from the Japanese Beyblade anime series, which I won't even pretend to know about. All I know is the important stuff: these things are $9.99 at Walgreens, a two-pack is $14.99 at Target, and with this being the most expensive fad yet, I hope it passes quickly!

As the world turns

I can't believe I haven't posted here for over a year! That's partly due to my losing my password to Google, moving to a new house and just being plain old busy. But I resolve to continue posting once again, even though I'm pretty sure no one follows this blog.

Obviously, a lot has changed over the past year, look at the kids! We just took these pictures October 16. Look how beautiful they are. Photo credit: Dory L. Tuohey Photography

One year ago...

Work is somewhat slow today, so I was reviewing old photos and found these two from a year ago, yesterday.
As you can see, some things haven't changed for Kyle.
But some other things have...

Baseball fever

This Spring, Kyle has moved up a level to "Mustang". It's for 3rd and 4th graders so the ages range from 8 to 10 years old. Again, Kyle finds himself having to step it up to play with the "big boys", but he's definitely holding his own.
Last Saturday, he had his first time on the pitcher's mound. He was scared to death, but did just fine.

Kaiky's new bike

On Friday, Kaiky got a brand-new bike. We immediately took it for a spin.



Later, Kaiky scatted on her new bike.

Spring is coming! Maybe.

I couldn't resist these Violas and some Pansies when I was shopping recently. It was a little early to plant them, but they were a good buy. I waited about two weeks before putting them in the ground, but they are in now. Aren't they pretty?

BUGZ! Kaiky's first grade musical

Kaiky was so excited about her first grade musical, BUGZ! She was a firefly and got a yellow t-shirt and antennae to wear in the production and keep forever.

Big Birthday!

Jen, me, Dory and Nora celebrating!

At the Hop!

Recently, Kyle performed in the third-grade musical production, "At the Hop!".

Here is a short video of one of his performances. He is sitting in the front row, first boy on the left, next to the boy in the black leather jacket.


Proud performer with his two biggest fans.

See any resemblance here?

Queen of the Hoop

Since Kaiky couldn't hoola hoop at all at her birthday party, she's been practicing every day in her room.

Check out this video. It's funny and phenomenal at the same time!

Happy 7th Birthday Kaiky!

Kaiky is now 7! Yay! Wow, how time flies!

She had a great birthday party, an "undernighter" which means that her guests all come in pajamas, but don't stay overnight. I love it!

So she had all of the girls from her first grade class at school as well as her long-time buddies — Madelyn, Ava Claire, Josie and Bella. We were sad that Cori and Eddie weren't able to come.

We had a fun-packed evening with a hoola hoop contest, pin-the-tail-on-the-pony, hot horse shoe (hot potato using a real horse shoe courtesy of Dory and Gravano), pizza and cake.
Ava Claire and Kyle playing pin-the-tail-on-the-pony.
Madelyn, Bella, Kaiky and Josie play hot horse shoe.

Cabin Fever

For fear of sounding like a broken record, (and also to think that my kids don't even know what a record is...yikes) I won't say it's cold here again. But it is. So the kids are getting pretty stir crazy and we're doing pretty much anything for fun.
This weekend Kaiky did a lot of drawing on her new dry erase board she got from Ashley's birthday party.


She drew her "best horse ever", which definitely required some photos. And then we took turns drawing on the board. I could only come up with a lame drawing of a teddy bear. Amazing how the use of computers "deleted" my drawing abilities!

Big snow

We still have a lot of snow since it's been so cold here. Today is our first day, in 18 days, that we will reach a temperature above freezing.

Looking ahead...and cringing.

At the end of last summer, I took some "Random outdoor shots" for you all to see, and for all of us to refer back to as I hopefully do some gardening this spring.

Well, I have some new, not-so-random shots that were taken during the last few months. Now I understand why there is a lack of gardening and some other weird landscaping quirks — especially in the back yard.

Since the time I took those nice, sunny outdoor shots, I worked my booty off to move some of my favorite perennials from the old house to this new yard. Now you can imagine my disappointment to see this:


Yeah. That's the entire back yard under about 2 feet of water. This seems to be a regular occurrence. It first happened in September (not shown) when we felt the effects of Hurricane Ike via serious rainfall. We had to pump the water out of the back yard for days.
This time (shown here) I got to brave borderline freezing temps to get the pump going, only to find that the hose was blocked by ice. So after a while of wading around in icy water and wrestling the frozen hose, I got the back yard pumped out a little bit. After 24 hours, the temps dipped below freezing and we had to stop the pump. I can't wait for all of that to melt and end up in the basement again.
But you see where my little garden peninsula is...sigh.

Christmas Day 2008

Better late than never!

Yes, I am way behind. Christmas is all packed away until next year but not forgotten.

First, I thought I was going to be way-cool and have this nice little video all ready for an "Overseas Christmas Wish", but in my usual fine-fashion, I blew it. Better late than never!



Christmas was fun, we spent Eve at Grandma's with Mikey, Allison and Madison. Kaiky adores Madison and enjoyed the time they spent together. Both Kaiky and Madison love books.


Every year, the kids worry that we won't get home from Grandma's before Santa goes over our area. So when we get home, the kids are total wrecks — running around trying to get their pajamas on and get in bed so Santa doesn't skip our house. So this year, the kids got their jammies on at Grandma's house.

Don't eat Kaiky's cookies!

Every year, we never bake cookies. We don't roll out the dough, cut them out and decorate them. Now I know why. It's because it's work, not fun. The kids fight over cookie cutters and only want to decorate 4-5 cookies before they are "done".


The kids did return, though, an hour or so later and things were going wonderfully until I looked up and saw Kaiky licking the cookies!!


Don't worry, all licked cookies have been removed from the inventory. Or not. It's your gamble.

Sledding with K&K

With the impending freezing temps, and the kids begging me to take them sledding, Saturday morning seemed like a good day to go. We had a great time!