Monday, May 31, 2010

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day everyone!
I know a lot of people think its just a time for pools to open, summer to start, graduations, or a nice three day weekend, but do you know the real reason we have Memorial Day? If you have a loved one in the service or had then you know.

It commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War it was expanded after World War I.
Because we have two wars going on we really need to thank those who serve and have served. My brother, Erik, is leaving for the Marine Corp at the end of June to serve out country. My other brother Zeph leaves for the National Guard June 1st. I am a former Army wife and know the burden it can but on the men and women serving. Aaron so many friends get hurt and killed while in Iraq for 15 months and knows that honoring those who have fallen are important.

This Memorial Day really think about all those military burial grounds, each headstone has a name, they were a person, and that person died making sure we could live in a free country.

I personally want to thank my brothers for joining the services and protecting us and wish them safe returns home. I want to thank my husband's friends who died while serving in Iraq and to their families who loved them. For all who have died in a war and to those families that have lost someone dear to them I thank you for being there and sacrificing for each American.




Saturday, May 29, 2010

Back To Work I Go....

I'm headed back to work on Tuesday after being home for 6 weeks. I have started quit a few post to be scheduled to post since I won't have AS much time after Tuesday. I'm going to miss my girls and naps but I'm happy to start getting a paycheck again so we can do things and get a new car in August/September.

We have learned a few tricks to get Kimi to sleep longer the 45 minutes which will come in handy because of Aaron working nights. I have started a great supply of breastmilk in the freezer for feedings and will be pumping religiously at work. Kimi is starting to become a little easier to make happy and is making a ton of eye contact and smiles. She is now offically 6 weeks old and doing great.








My MIL flies in Tuesday night as well and will be her for a week. The girls are going to love having Grandma around to play with and read books with.

I will be posting for Memorial Day so stay tuned for that :)

Toyota Swagger Wagon

This is awesome!







Pink Saturday

So I have joined Pink Saturday featured on How Sweet The Sound.

Its a fun way to meet new bloggers and I get to see a ton of stuff pink! Win win for me me. Here is my entry for:






Here is a adorable pink flower headband my friend McKenzie made for Addi she sells them.

Just a few of my many lotions, but my two favs happen to be pink!


These are some cute gift bows my Nana gave Addi for her birthday.



My mom gabe me and my sister each a different colored angel ornament a few years ago for Christmas and of course mine was pink.




Cute baby Kimber in her pink boppy chair.





Her changing table.






And her bath...love that pink







One of many binkies of Sydnee's








Addi's new necklace









My oh so favorite set of coffee cups my Nana gave me. I drink out of one of them every morning.










She also gave me a set of these very cute drinking glasses.
I am a Sharpie junky and of course I have every pink sharpie they make.
Highlighter
Some of many pink hairbows of the girls'
Finally, Addi's very girly bedding. I am working on a painting to match it for her room.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Coconut-Carrot Cookies with Orange Icing




1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped peeled carrots
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sweetened flake coconut
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon orange juice
2 teaspoons finely grated orange peel

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
Place carrots in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until carrots are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and mash with a fork; cool.
Combine sugar, shortening, ½ cup butter, eggs and mashed carrots in a medium bowl. Beat until smooth. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl until well combined. Stir into creamed mixture until well blended. Stir in coconut. Drop by level tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart on nonstick cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Cool on a wire rack.
Meanwhile, combine powdered sugar, orange juice, orange peel and butter in a small bowl. Beat until smooth. Spread cooled cookies with icing.
Makes 36 cookies.



Friday, May 7, 2010

Show Us Your Life- Your Kids' (Future Kids') Names

Show Us Your Life with Kelly's Korner

I have always loved hip, unisex names for my girls and always had special meanings for thier middle names I have always gotten a lot of compliments on my girls' names. Here is the story behind each of them:

SHELBY KAY- While I was pregnant with Shelby I loved looking for names. I came up with Shelby because my favorite movie is 'Steal Magnolias' and that is Julia Robert's charater's name (that was her second movie she was in right before Pretty Woman). Kay is for my ex mother-in-law who also has the same middle name. Shelby is also my cousin Corbin's middle name.

MACKENZIE ALVA- I wanted to have a 'M' name when I got pregnant the second time. My ex, Tom, and I had decided that two kids was enough and that this was our last baby. I wanted Makayla but Tom didn't like it and thought up Mackenzie. I wanted to pass down my middle name of Alva to her since my Nana and Great-Grandfather Wally had the same middle name so had to pass the tradition on. We kept the name a secret for a long time so my ex MIL called her Shaniqua for a long time while I was pregnant lol

ADDISON FAYE- Addison went through about five different names til I finally picked one. I had the name Charolette picked out for a long time, but knew I wanted her middle name to be my best friend's name of Faye (she helped through a lot of stuff during my divorce). Since I was on my own and newly divorced I had to think of the name myself. About a few weeks before she was born I decided I liked Autum better. The night I went into labor I was talking with my brother Erik and he wanted to know what I had decided on. I told him to guess and that it started with 'A'. We were watching Grey's Anatomy at the time (one of my favs) and he said Addison, I said no but I love that name so I decided to name her Addison Faye.

SYDNEE EMMERSON- It took Aaron and I a looong time to decided on Sydnee's name. My FIL had suggested Elegence, lol which we said no cause it sounded like a stripper name. Aaron wanted to name her Allison so there would be Aaron, Addison, Allison. I said that was too close to Addi. I loved the name Emmerson but he didn't like it for a first name. Aaron's maternal grandmother, Mary Ellen, passed away while I was five months pregnant. At the funeral lunch we were talking with family and decided on Sydnee Emmerson for her name. My cousin also has the same first name just spelt Sydney. So again keeping the names in the family.

KIMBER BRYCE-BAILEY- Finally with Kimber, we really thought we would be getting a boy so were weren't really thinking of girl names. We wanted to do a 'K' name to go with our last name Klein. We couldn't think of a good girl 'K' name. We decided to name her Bryce Bailey, Aaron thought of Bryce and I thought of Bailey, until one night Aaron mentioned Kimber and I fell in love with it. We couldn't decided on which name to keep for the middle name so since Kimber is our last baby we decided to do Kimber Bryce-Bailey. She has the only name that has no family meaning behind it but we love little Kimi more than ever.



Thursday, May 6, 2010

Thank you Very Much Thursday




Free Therapy!
The way it works is that you take out all your frustrations on people/things that peeved you off during the week and thank them in a very sarcastic way, for being who or what they are/doing what they did. Post on your blog with the button above and then link it to The Daily Dribbles



Sleep- Thanks so much for NOT showing up til at 2am and then not staying for more that 4 hours.





Direct TV- Thanks for NOT broadcasting the local channels so I then have to have a antenna that doesn't get good reception for me to record Grey's Anatomy.



Gas bubbles in Kimi's tummy- Thanks so very much for invading my little baby's tummy so she is uncomfortable and cranky. I would appreciate you making yourself scarce!



Sydnee- Baby girl, thanks so much for putting half a roll of toilet paper in the toilet and then overflowing it so I could take 30 minutes to clean it up. Also for the afternoon nap surprises that you do with your dirty diapers. That's a fun way to start the afternoon.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Weight lost challenge 2010

Current Weight- 170 lbs

Pounds to lose- 50 lbs



Now that I have had Kimber right before summer, I can now focus on losing my pregnancy weight and the extra 10lbs I had before I got pregnant. My goal is to be 120-125lbs and to lose most of it by July 4th. So here is my workout routine for the next few weeks and then I will add or to it after I heal some more:

Monday: Brisk/Fast walking on treadmill 15 mins

Tuesday: Brisk/Fast walking on treadmill 15 mins
Weights (Arms) 15 mins

Wednesday: Brisk/Fast walking on treadmill 15 min

Thursday: Brisk/Fast walking on treadmill 15 min
Weights (Arms) 15 mins

Friday: Brisk/Fast walking on treadmill 15 min

Saturday: OFF

Sunday: Brisk/Fast walking on treadmill 15 min
Weights (Arms) 15 mins



Ill be getting up around 7am starting Monday so I can get use to getting up, working out after Aaron gets home, then getting ready for work. I'm not going to change my eating habits right now, because I do need the calories for Kimber, but I will cut Dr Pepper down to two a day, drink atleast 3-4 bottles of water/vitamin water, and keep with my workout routine. I really think if I stick with that I will lose weight no problem.



Ill update my weight every Sunday with what I weigh and what I have lost so far. Wish me luck!

All About Me Mondays- Teacher Tribute







So there is a new blog that I have found MommyBrain which has a lot of cool themed post. Im going to try and follow and this one is called 'All About Me Mondays' she gives you a theme for monday and you then post on your blog and link to her site and read others. Its cool.





This week is about a teacher that influenced you. I didn't really have a teacher the influence me but I absolutly admire people who are teachers. They have a patience and a drive that is special to work with people/ I have many family members that are teachers like my cousin Sydney and Aaron's Aunt Jamie is a special needs teacher for kids with delayed learning disabilities.





Teachers should be more apprieciated and paid better for thier hard work they do and the great jobs they do without kids. When I was in junior high we had to take a personality test that would tell us what would be the best job for us. I took it twice and was always told I would be a great teacher. I have patience but I dont think I have enough lol.





My girls have had great teachers so far and I hope Addi, Sydnee, and Kimi are as lucky :)

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Addison Faye 4 years old today!!

Scrapbook at WiddlyTinks.com
Digital Scrapbooking Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com


Addison turned 4 years old today! We had a pink princess party for her and invited my family. She loved the whole thing. Here are so pictures:


Pretty Princess Dress as she calls it
The awesome food spread I made for everybody

Ballarina Bear Birthday Cake






Shelby and Kenzie










Blowing out the candles






yummy cake







From the left: Erik, Jr, Zeph, and Alexandra








Opening presents




















Here new fairy princess outfit from Nana Mac and her new Moxi girl doll











Addison and Aaron












Shelby, Kenzie, and Addi