What a Great Long Weekend

First and foremost - we'd like to congratulate Rob, Rachel and Katelyn on the latest addition to their family and ours! This is our niece, Kristin. She was born on Wed, May 21st. So cute!!!

After a whirlwind week at work last week, including a quick trip to Denver for a project Thu-Fri, it was really nice to indulge in a long weekend. The nice weather was an added bonus. I can't remember the last time we had a nice Memorial Day weekend, minus the crazy weather that came through parts of the state Sunday.

We spent Saturday catching up on some household chores inside and outside. What a great day for that! It felt great to do a bit of spring cleaning. Keira joined us outside and had a great time examining rocks. I had to stop her from eating them several times, but she got the message and stopped putting them in her mouth.

Here she is enjoying the rocks in our yard. They kept her occupied while I did some pruning and Mark mowed the lawn.

Sunday the highlight was going up to our friends, Chi and Polo's house, for a BBQ. They had quite the spread and we got to hang out and catch up. Keira made a new friend named Ella. They had fun chasing each other around the great room though I think Keira had a hard time keeping up with Ella who is 2 1/2 years old. I wish I had caught it on camera, but Ella gave Keira the sweetest kiss. It was so genuine and spontaneous. Absolutely adorable. Here are some highlights of our afternoon.

Keira and Ella had a great time playing with each other. They were great at sharing toys.

Here's a snapshot of Ella playing with my camera case. What a cutie! She had a lot to say, but hey, she's in good company for chatter.

Mark and I busted out laughing when Dr. Chi (yes, she's a pediatrician) questioned whether she had matched the shapes correctly. What's even funnier is she then proceeded to try and shove the square toy in the round hole. Ha ha ha ha!!!

Today Mark and I joined our friends, Pam, Ed and Jalen, for lunch at Granite City. It was a great lunch and a nice chance to catch up. Jalen was really sweet and shared his cars with Keira. Our little girl loved it when he would crash the cars together. She may grow up to be a tomboy...

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend and were able to spend time with family and friends. I think that's the best way to spend time! I'm out...

Keira's 1st Birthday

Last Sunday, May 18, was Keira's 1st birthday. Mark and I can't believe she's a year old - she has grown and changed so much in the past 12 months. We threw her a big birthday party and had a great time. The weather wasn't as nice as we had hoped. It was cooler than expected, but at least the sun was out! It was so nice to see all our friends and all the kids running around. We are so blessed to be surrounded by many wonderful and loving people. The birthday girl was a bit overwhelmed by all the people and attention, but had a terrific day overall. 

She is also having a field day in her new classroom at daycare. She's sleeping on a cot, trying to eat with a spoon, she's started drinking whole milk, she's walking all over the place, etc. And, of course, she "talks" more than ever. It sounds like jibberish to us, but I'm convinced she knows what she's talking about. We just need to figure out her language. :-)

Amazing Young Talent

I took today and tomorrow off to get some stuff done around the house and to just have some rest and relaxation at home. That meant I got to watch Oprah. It was a great show featuring some very talented kids. There was one kid that really stood out for me. Her name was Charice Pempengco. She's 15 years old, is from the Phillipines and has an amazingly soulful voice. Oh my gosh! I was blown away by what I was hearing. Not to perpetuate a stereotype, but I didn't think Asians were capable of singing like that! Ha ha. I wonder if I can teach Keira to sing like that. Probably the best thing I can do is to stop singing. She should know what NOT to sound like. Ha ha. Anyway, here are some You Tube videos if you're curious.

Her performance on Oprah today...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=G5si9j6Nxdw

On some Korean show...They really dug her! Can't blame them though - girl's got talent.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WZccz5cy3ks&feature=related

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and moms-to-be out there! I had a wonderful 1st Mother's Day weekend. We celebrated for me yesterday (Saturday) since we had a lot planned for today. Mark and Keira surprised me Sat morning with a card, flowers and a gift followed by breakfast and a trip to the mall for some shopping. We spent the rest of the day hanging out and relaxing. It was a wonderful day. I'm so lucky to have such a great husband and daughter!

Today Jim and Margaret (my in-laws) came up and we celebrated Mom's Day with them with breakfast at our house. It was nice we were all able to spend time together. I always like it when Keira gets time with her grandparents.

Afterwards we went over to my Dad's and spent the afternoon with him, my sister and brother. We had some lunch and then went out to the cemetery to lay flowers on my Mom's grave. Today will probably always be a bittersweet day in that regard. I often wish Keira would've gotten to know my Mom. I know they would've adored each other. Keira's starting to laugh like my Mom. It's so sweet...

Our first Mother's Day together - Mommy and my little girl

Changes

Not only is Keira turning 1 in less than two weeks, but she's also transitioning from the infant room at daycare to the older infant room. She officially started the transition process this week. That means she spends some time in her new room, but mostly stays in her current room. Next week she'll spend more and more time in her new room so that she'll be in her new room 100% by May 19, the day after she turns 1. I'm so sad about this b/c we've gotten so used to her current teachers, Miss Ronda and Miss Laura. We love them and are so sad she won't be in their care. However, we've gotten to know Miss Katie Jane and Miss Sam over the last month or so and know they'll take great care of Keira too. Keira has grown quite fond of Miss Katie Jane and loves seeing her when she comes to visit her now. We're hoping she'll get better about eating table foods now that she'll be sitting at a table with the other babies. Here are some photos from time spent in her new room this past week.

I'm not sure how much food actually ended up in her mouth, but showing interest in her food is a definite improvement. By the looks of her messy face it looks like she was trying to get some of it in her mouth. Way to go Keira!

This is the first time she got to play in the great room at the center. There are lots of toys and things to play on. Now that she's transitioning she gets to go there and play. As you can see, like in her current room, she really likes the slide.

Getting Ready for Summer

Here's a quick shot of Keira in her new bathing suit. She'll start "swimming" lessons in June. I couldn't resist having her try on her new suit. It fit perfectly and she had a great time prancing around in it for awhile that afternoon.