The one and only "Grandfather"

We lost a great man today- my Grandfather.  The one man who didn't receive a cutesy Grandpop name because "Grandfather" was just too fitting.  He was a strong, proud man who worked hard every day of his life.  He was up before the sun- he spent hours cutting the grass and taming the fields on his property, organizing his office, and labeling every device in his house.
He was the rock for my mother (and our family) while going through the divorce.  I wish I could frame the look on his face when that barn house was all ready for us to move into.  He may have looked stern and hard but inside he had a heart of gold.  He lived for those phone calls from his 11 grandchildren, which would last at the most 2 minutes, but afterwards he would talk on and on about, it as if we had been on the phone for hours.
Thankfully, Grandfather will never be far away.  He managed to sneak his hardworking, OCD genes into Mason.  That boy will spend hours working on his homework (he doesn't get that from me, right Katie?!), he likes his room perfectly organized and in order, and when he doesn't like something- you know it.
Memories I will always treasure- visits with you in the den; the BEST Oreo cookies from your cookie jar; your smile around your great grandchildren; your sweet birthday cards; the day that I brought Lilly home; Christmas in the living room; and all of your stories from your past.
I am so thankful that you are where you wanted to be 5 years ago when your Ruthie left.  Give Missy and Miss Jean big hugs & kisses.  I love you.. and Thank you.

one of my all time favorite photos of RE and his love Ruthie

DIY Fun Tepee Tent

We had a fun time creating this little tent for Masons room.  When my siblings and I were growing up, our best friends, the Savages, had an amazing Tepee.  Mitch, Claire, and I always wanted one of our own. When I saw the post for one on Pinterest (I mean seriously, how addicting is Pinterest?!), I knew that I had to make one for myself... um, I mean, Mason and Ellie :)  We had a pair of curtain panels from Mason's old room that we were not using anymore so we used those for the sides.  Worked out perfectly since the colors still match his room decor :)

Different blankets, pillows, books and stuffed friends love cuddling in the tent.  My favorite is when I climb in and we all read books together.  Its snug but super cozy.  
Here is the instructions that we followed http://ana-white.com/2011/06/easy-kids-tent-reading-nook 
Hope you enjoyed :)
xo
K

Pleaseeee can I get it mom?!

We have all seen the scene before- A screaming child in Target with their death grip on the latest toy, while their mom pleads with them to let it go. How many times have I passed that and thought "gosh what a brat. I would never let My kid do that." Flash forward a couple years to me watching Mason as he is throwing a tantrum on the floor of Target because we are leaving without the candy bar...

At first when mason was little, around Ellie's age, I was able to let him carry the toy around until we got to the counter where I would be able to sneak it to the cashier and have her put it back while I distracted him.  We ran through this scene pretty smoothly for a couple of years until mason got onto our game. He just wanted those Thomas underwear so badly, he would not be able to live without the buzz lightyear doll, and god forbid we leave the store without that new curious George book.  

I think I got the idea for "the list" around his Christmas when he was 3. He began one of his requests at Target and I said why don't you add it to your Christmas list? He was so excited to make his list with EVERYTHING that he wanted that as soon as we got home, he " wrote" down all of his requests. It was a win win- he felt relieved to make his request concrete and we were relieved to leave the store with everyone happy.  

We follow this all year long- birthdays, Christmas, Halloween, groundhog day, fourth of July- now of course he doesn't get a gift every day of the year but the list making gets him distracted enough. 

By the end of the week he forgets about the list and most of the items on it. The ones he really remembers I know are the golden tickets so I make my own list for those special moments when a gift is deserved :)

I'm still in the clear with my Elle belle but I know the time will be here before I know it when passing off the toys to the cashier won't work, so the lists will begin for her too ;)

xxoo

k

Ps watch out aunt Claire...Mason has your address and knows where I keep the stamps! A special request list may be making its way to your mailbox!

Life is good

It has officially been one year since we moved to San Diego. In some ways I can't believe a whole year has passed, and in others I can't believe it has only been a year! We are so thankful for the friends that we have met that have so warmly welcomed us into their world. It has made the transition easier and enjoyable. We miss all of our family and friends so much, but these amazing SoCal days are making it hard to imagine living anywhere else but california. Now I know why people move west and never come back. I mean honestly, how can you get a better view than this on your morning run?

Stay tuned for our back and forth battle of where our "forever" home should be :)

Happy Birthday!

Tommy and I attended the 100th Birthday Ball of the US Navy Dental Corps.  It was held on Friday night on the USS Midway in downtown San Diego.  I felt so honored to be there for this beautiful event which honored all of the men and women who have cared for our soldiers for the past 100 years.  Inspiring speeches were made by two retired Naval Officers who each had over 25 years of service to our country .  When they spoke about how lucky we are to live in the United States of America, I felt chills. I know that I take most of my comfortable days for granted.  Our table has food on it every night and we eat until we are full, then we go to sleep in our cozy beds, confident we will see the morning.  Sadly this is not the case in most of the world.  Being in the presence of our military makes me proud to be a part of this country, and very proud of my favorite man for dedicating his time to become someone our military can rely on :)

Happy Friday

Here is a little photo from our morning.  Family day at beautiful Lake O'Neill on Camp Pendelton's base.  Bounce houses, slides, pinatas, volleyball games, egg and sack races- plus load of yummy food- were enjoyed by all.  Proud and happy to be a part of this amazing community of people.  Enjoy your weekend!  I know I will- I'm the birthday girl on Sunday :)

Just walk away.

My little zookeeper, Mason, had some elephants who were going down for a nap in their cage.  As you know, those elephants can escape easily so Mason needed to lock the door to their cage.  Since we do not have a zoo or an elephant cage in our home, my bedroom and bedroom door became their sleeping chamber.  I was not aware of the elephants until I tried to get into my room and found it to be locked from the outside.  We have one of those lovely stick keys that you have to poke through the tiny hole and turn the lock.  Just as easy as 1, 2, 3.... Except that you have to hit the exact spot without being able to see where you are jamming this thing into.  If only someone was there to video the madness- Mason bobbing around the hall with his headlamp and zoo keeper outfit on, Elizabeth running around the house buck naked with a pair of Mason's rainboots on, Lilly with her damn cone on (yes she has a cone again Kate, but thats a whole different story), and me trying every different angle with this stupid key.  So after what felt like 5 hours, I lost my cool. I was about ready to rip the door off of its hinges and down an entire bottle of wine. BUT it was noon on a Tuesday and I had a very tired two year old that needed to get to bed, so I decided to walk. away. from. the. door.
After putting E down for a nap and cleaning up the dishes from lunch, I decided to give it another whirl.  Within 30 seconds the door popped open.  Just in time too, as the baby elephants were starting with their little "wake up noises." Sometimes all we need is a little time away to totally restart our engines :)

all you need is love.. (and sleep :)

Absolutely exhausting day with my five year old. When does it get easier? Just when I think that we are out of the woods with the tantrums and crying, we have another rough day.

Mason enters into a total meltdown when I ask him to clean the pile of books up from his bedroom floor. He cries and screams in his room for 10 minutes. It would take a total of 2 minutes to clean up, why does he have to make it more difficult on himself? I try my hardest to react without emotion when all I want to do is slap him and scream in his face ( I know, i know, I sound so harsh. Please tell me someone else feels this way!). After 15 minutes of crying he is finally cleaning up. I Fill the tub, wash Elizabeth, let her play.. Still waiting for mason to finish. After another 10 minutes I go to check on him. All of the books are away but now he has taken all of his pjs out of the drawer, all the socks out of their drawer, and all of his underwear are on the floor. He claims ( with heavy, tired eyes) that he needs to reorganize them because  they were much too messy. I'm already spent from the day and it's making me even more tired to look at his exhausted face. 

I give him a quick bath, brush his teeth and then ask him to put his pjs on as I put E to bed. When I come into his room he is attempting to re-roll his socks. 

I could not be more tired and frustrated. I know that all he (and I) need is sleep. After prayers and a song, I kiss him and leave the room. As I'm gathering my things to head to my room, he comes out and asks me to come sleep w him because one, he is not tired at all and two, he doesn't want to sleep alone. I resist because I'm scared for this to continue night after night, but as I crawl in bed next to him and tell him that I love him he throws his arms around me, buries his head in mine, and within a minute his heavy, sleeping breath is in my ear. I layed there staring at his little face and reminding myself ( for the thousandth time) that he is just a sweet 5 year old boy who was having a bad day and needed his mommy to comfort him. Hell, I'm 29 and I still feel instantly comforted by my mommy. These kids are my world and yes, I do need a break every once in awhile, but Instead of Counting down the minutes until they are in bed, or planning my next night out, I need to realize how sweet and precious this time is.. Tantrums and all :)
xxo,
k

A little do it yourself fun

Around Christmastime, the kids started asking for a kitchen to play with.  We had one when we lived in Philly but the legs broke and honestly, I was sick of that bright red, blue, and yellow thing.  I was happy to leave it behind when we packed up our stuff for California.  I started looking around for something that would be a bit more pleasant to look at and also fit in with our decor.  We have an open floor plan, which means that the kids toys are in the same room as our living space.  I looked everywhere for something that I found remotely appealing.  I found a few cute wooden ones on various sites, but most were meant for only a two year old.  Elizabeth is only growing taller and Mason is getting taller by the second so a small toddler height kitchen would not do.  I begged Tommy to craft them one with this elaborate guide that I found from Home Depot, but it just was too much work and since I spent so much time trying to find the perfect kitchen, we were really running out of time to get this done before Christmas came.  I kept wishing I could find some sort of hutch or dresser that I could transform into a kitchen for them.  Thats when I found it.  The perfect height.  The perfect style and with plenty of storage for their "food."

Unfortunately I do not have a before picture, but you can imagine from this what it looked like.  It seems like it was meant to be used for bathroom storage but it makes a great play kitchen.  We did not have to do much to it either.  We had this metal bowl for ages and never use so it became the perfect sink.  We cut a hole and slipped it in.  The "faucet" is a pump soap dispenser and is a great size for little hands.  Since it was Christmas time, trees were being sold everywhere.  Tommy had the idea of asking if we could have two of the cut pieces of the bottom of a pine tree to use as the "burners."  The turn switches are dresser knobs.  When we were finished I was nervous it wasn't enough.  We should have crafted a stove or switched the baskets out for more of a microwave or oven feel! Well within the first 5 minutes of playing with it, Mason said "Ellie put all the cold stuff in the fridge over here (the white cabinet door), and this drawer is the oven, and under this is the microwave (referring to both baskets)."  Never underestimate your child's imagination.  Sometimes less really is more! Im just happy that the kids love it and we don't mind looking at it every day :)
Hope this inspires you to see more out of that old dresser, chair, or cabinet.  You never know what it can become with a little love!
xxoo
K

Im backkk

Heyoo!
It has been awhile since my last blog and I have really missed it.  The longer I stayed away, the harder it was to go back.  What subjects would I write about?  Can I just start writing after months of nothing?  I finally said to myself just do it.  Go back.  Write.  You have a ton of stuff to vent and talk about.  So after that silly conversation with myself, here I am!

I'll start with lent.  On the service before lent began, our pastor was encouraging us all to find something that we could enrich ourselves with for lent.  He gave a few suggestions- give up indulgences, volunteer, spend more time with family, repair a lost relationship...

I have a very dear friend who I lost touch with over the past year.  The longer I went without speaking with her, the harder it was to pick up the phone to reconnect.  To be honest, I did not even know what to say.  I said a prayer that I would gain the confidence to call her and tell her how sad I was that our relationship had dissipated.  So..., you think I started that day or the next right?  No!  I still put it off for weeks, saying that I had 40 whole days to get this done.  Plus, anytime I would think "ill just call her now" Ellie would wake up from her nap, or Mason needed to be picked up from school.  Truth was, I was scared.  

Then one day I got the courage to pick up the phone and call.  I received her voicemail, which I will admit, made me gasp a sigh of relief.  After about a week, we set up a time to talk and I am so glad that we did.  After each giving our sides of the story of why we didnt call sooner, and why we were upset with each other for losing touch, we both realized that we misjudged one another.  She was hurt that I did not fill her in on stuff going on with the kids, where I didnt even want to bother her with (what I felt to be) boring details.  How could she even want to know about the 10th poop diaper I changed in a day and the way Mason's temper tantrums drive me up a wall?  But we are friends and friends care about every detail. She didnt call me with things that came up at work because she felt they were just boring details compared to raising children.  Some days when I am at home with a two and five year old, Im desperate to hear of some event that happened in the adult world.  Anyway, long story short, we both agreed to pick up the phone.  Not be afraid to call, text, email with any event.  Even if we just have two minutes to talk, just to let that your friend know you are thinking about them, it can turn their whole day around.  

I learned a few very important lessons through this..
It's never too late to go back
Don't let your assumptions control your actions
Don't underestimate your importance to someone (or anyone!)

Love you my little kickapoo!!!!
xxoo
K

Juggling Life

Going through a bit of a rough patch.  Not really even sure why.  I am just trying to balance life, but I am dropping the balls as I am juggling.
Number one feeling that comes with parenting- guilt!  Why is it that I feel guilty no matter what i do with the kids?  The guilt has started to expand now- feel guilt ridden when I leave a light on because it is wasting electricity, I feel guilty when Lilly doesn't get a walk during the day, I feel guilty when I spend too much time on the computer, I feel guilty when I look at clothes at Target, when I came there for food and cleaning supplies...  And the list goes on and on.  Its starting to drive me insane!
As I am venting to some of my mommy friends I found some good advice that I need to keep in mind:
"Do NOT feel guilt.  You did the best you could in that moment.  Next time, do better."
"When the kids are being crazy, sometimes you have to walk away.  But other times, you do need to raise you voice and speak up."
"Change your perspective on the situation and find the positive outlook."
And the best advice from my very own Mommy..  Sometimes you just need to take a step back and find what YOU really need.  Maybe you are on overload and you need a break from the mommy/household routine..  After traveling to and from Texas with 2 kiddos by myself and dealing with them without Tommy while I was there, I think I just need to get away!  Mommy's night out :)
XOX,
Kirby

my favorite hobby

My newest topic is something I am very passionate about, but have not even touched on yet.. Home decorating and do it yourself projects and crafts.  One of my most favorite shows growing up was Trading Spaces.  I would watch it regiously.  When there were Saturday marathons on I was zoned in.  I would make lists of projects that I wanted to do around the house, and I did not even own a house yet.  I would beg my mom to take me to home depot so that I could transform whatever space into my newest vision.  She would oblidge, even though it was her house and her money.  What a good mom!  When I arrived at college I was so excited to decorate my very own "place," even if it was just a twin size bed in a small dorm room shared with two other girls.  I felt like it was my own, it outside of my parents home and I had total say on what I wanted!
Tommy and I had the privilege of "inheriting" my sister in law Julie and brother in law Chris's apartment in Society Hill, Philadelphia.  This was our first home and we loved every second of it.  Julie and Chris really scored when they found this place- first floor apartment, 2 parking spots, and a huge back patio in downtown Philly.  They decorated it so cute and I was so excited to move into the place when they moved to Texas.  It was a first floor apartment but it also had a full size basement room with storage in the back.  We used the basement as a guest room and had our bedroom on the first floor.  This worked out great, until we found out we were going to be adding a little addition to our family.  Now our place was perfect for a single person or a couple, but not an ideal size for more than.  We spent a couple months looking around for a new place but we just kept coming back to our little apartment thinking we wish we could just stay here.  This is when all those years of watching Trading Spaces really payed off. We transformed the apartment into a fully functional place for a small family.  We moved our bedroom into the basement, added a "nursery nook" where we had Mason's crib and changing table.  We made two storage closets into his and hers walk in closets.  It was cozy but we had all that we ever wanted.  Upstairs we changed our old bedroom into a living room and made our old living room more of a kitchen/ eating area/ baby exercauser, mat, swing area.
When we eventually outgrew the place, we started to look for a place of our own to buy.  Being that we did not have a large amount to spend on a place, but we still wanted to be in a decently nice/ safe area we knew we were going to end up with a "fixer-uper."  We looked at this place about 4 times before we finally made an offer.  The outside was really ugly and the inside was pretty scary as well, but I knew that there was potential in it.  When we signed the papers I was excited, but also very nervous to dive into the many projects we had ahead of us.

It is amazing to me how paint can transform a space.  Before we even began any project, we painted every surface in the house.  TONS of work but totally worth the end result.  Even if we never did another thing to the place, it looked a thousand times better.  We were there almost three years, before our move to San Diego, and we spent countless hours on projects to improve the property.  I would never take that time back.  We are still so attached to that house that we found renters to care for it while we are out of town :)

This is my favorite topic of choice right now so stay tuned for more before and after pictures of projects that I (we) have taken on.  As well as some easy do it yourself projects to spruce up your place :)

Ps. For those of you following- New years goal #1 a success so far... Alarm clock on bedside and phone being charged in bathroom so the phone is not the first thing I wake up to

Xoxx
K