HOLIDAYS!! are coming.

So, I've been super busy lately. But I'm not dead. :) Here is some Christmasy cocoa in a sweet mug from the grandparents in Lakewood and a banana browned butter muffin. Mmm. :)

Back from the 'Stan

Aaron, a friend from college, joined the Army a few years back and has been in Hawaii and now in Afghanistan. We didn't get to see him before he left, we had just had Keagan and timing wasn't working. But last Wednesday we got news that he'd be in Manhattan for the weekend. So Shannon and I decided to go see him!

So we did. We went to Manhattan and hung out with Aaron, Jenette, Chris, Michelle, and Cassidy and also got to see Newgen and Kerri. It was a nice time.


Aaron bought Rock Band 3 and a Keyboard. So we played that lots on Saturday.


Keagan and Cassidy "played" too.


It's fun to see how Keagan and Cassidy are becoming unique people now. They look less alike and have different voices and different actions. It's pretty neat. One thing that happened lots was one would sleep and the other would be awake. Then they'd switch.


We went and did a geocache at the St. George cemetery at 9:30 Saturday night. It was cold and probably kind of odd for others to see 8 adults and 2 babies wandering around a cemetery. But we found the box and then went back to Jenette's for warm drinks.


On Sunday, Michelle and Jenette played with Cassidy and Keagan. They ate letters by the refrigerator together and took a bath. :)


They are just adorable. I love seeing them hang out together! And in 5 months, Jayme will have a little boy to add to Keagan's cousin mix!


We did some more chilling Sunday, and eventually we headed back home. I had a really good time and I'm glad we went. I just wish it was a shorter drive!




Thanks to Michelle for the pictures. I never take enough. :)

1 Week Shy of 6 Months

I haven't just posted about Keagan recently. So I'll do that now. (And Etsy is still going well.)

She's great. (still.) She can roll over from front to back and back to front. She sits very well, and can almost move herself into a sitting position from laying down. She tries to stand herself up using things (laundry basket, box of blocks, etc.). She says "aaahh" a lot and when there are toys in her mouth she says "bababla" and other such sounds.


She likes getting snot sucked out of her nose. She uses her hands well, but sometimes she actually sees them. It's cute, she stops and just turns them around and moves her fingers. She may be teething. But still no teeth.

She get all jumpy/swimmy when she gets excited. This happens mainly when Shannon comes home or when she sees me.

She's a pleasure in the mornings. All chatty and cute. I love it.

She occasionally puts herself to sleep. Usually in a weird/cute position.


She likes her high chair. We can't use the Bumbo seat for her anymore. She requires constant attention in it because she almost gets out.

Happy Halloween, last week...

I haven't gone trick-or-treating since about 10 years ago. Between hockey, game night, and growing up, I've not gone in a while. Well, this year I went! I didn't actually get candy, but I got dressed up with the family and we all walked around while Nikki and her friend got candy. It was great fun and I'm really glad we all did it.

Shannon and I were in Wichita for the weekend, Jayme played with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra (cool!). Shannon, Mom, Sandra, Charles, Nikki, and I went on Saturday night. Rhonda watched Keagan at Mom's house while we went. It was pretty good. I haven't been to a show like that before. I'm glad I got to go, and even glader that my little sister played in it.

For Halloween, Mom broke out her boxes of costumes from over the last 15+ years. She's still got so much! My mutant Rainbow Brite costume is there (I made in 1996), the hood from the radioactive green squirrel (I made in 1998), and dance costumes, and more! Mom wore her renaissance dress, Jayme dressed as a witch.


Shannon, Keagan, and I wore pirate gear.


Charles dressed as an out of work fairy. He wore random parts we found (zombie shirt, silver pants, and fairy wings).


Nikki was Clifford the big red dog. Jayme made her a cute costume and painted her face. It was fun to walk around.


One of Mom's neighbors goes all out for Halloween. Music, lights, decorations, the works. It's pretty cool.

A Visit from Family

My grandpa and Aunt Diana came from NJ to meet Keagan. It was a great time! We did a lot of hanging out at the house, and eating too. :)

Mom came in Wednesday, Aunt Diana and Grandpa came in Thursday, then Maria, Jayme, Charles, and Nikki came in Friday. It was nice to see everyone and have Keagan get to meet Grandpa and Aunt Diana. Keagan was rather good the entire time. All smily and loving Nikki.

We went to a "pumpkin patch" Saturday.


They sold ridiculuously expensive pumpkins. They went up to 25$ for a large one. But we wanted to carve, so we went to Walmart and got huge ones for 3$ each. Yes, 3$ each.



We were gonna go to Livesay Orchards, about 1 hour away. But it was rainy and 1 hour away. We didn't figure it would be worth the drive. This place is less than 1 mile from out house.


Everyone still seemed to enjoy themselves. And we got a bunch of cute pictures.


That night we had chili and carved the pumpkins. It was fun. Aunt Diana said she hadn't carved before. Below are the finished products. Shannon carved a Halloween Powercat, I carved a normal distribution. Mom carved a witch, Jayme a crazy face. Maria made a snowboarder, and Aunt Diana a girly face.


My mom bought Grandpa a netbook for his birthday. We were worried he'd not like it at all. But quite the opposite! He loved it! The goal is to get him wireless at his house and then he can Skype with us and see us. So, hopefully that all works out.

Sunday Aunt Diana and Grandpa left in the morning, then Maria in the afternoon. We went to Hunter Park and Pei Wei before Jayme, Charles, and Nikki left in the evening.


Mom left Monday afternoon. Now it's back to just the 3 of us. I had an awesome weekend! It was so great to see family! And for my birthday, too!

:)

Happy Birthday to me! I'm a happy and lucky person. :)

Keagan Talks! Sorta.

She can also sit up all by her self. :)

Yard Work

Last weekend we invited my mom down. To help us with yard work. :) We got so much done! I didn't remember to take before pictures, but Shannon took some during pictures. Above my mom and I were trimming hedges and weeding. In the front we trimmed all the trees, flowers, hedges and wedded all the landscaping. The lawn was mowed and edged and we laid new wood chips out. We also painted our house numbers black and put up a new doorbell button. On the side of the house, we mended the gate and the fence and weeded along the house.


Keagan spent some time with us on the front stoop while we worked. She was very good (and cute).


In the back yard we weeded both corners and trimmed down the trees and bushes there. It looks so much cleaner.



We also put of the sunflower from Grandpa on the south side of the house.


It was a good weekend. Got lots done. Now when Aunt Diana and Grandpa come next week the outside of the house will look much better. I just need to find some time to clean up inside. :)

Ren Fest 2010

This past weekend Shannon, Keagan, and I visited Jenette, Chris, Cassidy, and Michelle in Manhattan. Rhonda came up too. It was a fun time on Saturday. We went to Cox! They used to be the best bbq in Manhattan, their BBQ nachos were my favorite!


They left a few years back (looks like in 2005). And this summer they returned! So I was excited to go. It wasn't bad. I got bbq nachos again. They are basically as I remember them. Which is good.


But Billy Simms on Peoria her in Tulsa is still better. Their meats are amazing!

After that we traveled to Wamego for an hour of K-State Tap Ensemble, of which Michelle is a member.


It was an outdoor show.


The main attraction last weekend though, was the KC Ren Fest. We left Sunday and spent just about all day there. Mom and Maria joined us, too. Mom had been looking at houses with Maria in KC the day before. She's looking to buy! How fun.

So here are some pictures of our day.

Jenette and Chris got a tandem stroller for 15$ at a rummage sale. Sweet. So, they decorated it up to be a pirate ship for Cassidy and Keagan. It worked really well and got compliments. :)


Maria brought Hendrix with. He was pretty good. People like him, so even though he's still all pull-y on his leash, it was ok.

Here's our clan split in 2, minus Chris for some reason.



The grandma's and the granddaughters.



Chris and Shannon look Cassidy and Keagan to the petting zoo. Both babies just chewed on their costume the entire time in there.


Just a funny picture.


The two of them got along pretty well. There was some times when they just burped at each other.

Un gluu.

Keagan makes all sorts of sounds when she's in the mood. Such as this:

It may appear cute, but it gets old pretty quick. And it's quite hard to get her to stay quiet. I don't think she fully understands yet. :) She also makes "g" sounds and "gl" sounds. Its pretty cute.