Summertime Fun!

We recently visited Cedar Point, the amusement park and water park. The boys absolutely loved the roller coasters! Kamryn rode her very first little roller coaster too. I got her on a few of the bigger rides that she probably was not ready for . . . oops . . . she just closed her eyes and held on tight to me. I rode some of the roller coasters with the boys and don't like them so much as I thought I used to! I usually close my eyes too! Everyone enjoyed the water park. The kids especially love the wave pool. My favorite is the lazy river. It was great family time and a fun end of the summer little trip!

Two Teenagers in the House!!!

Yes, there are 13 candles on Brendan's birthday cake today! We celebrated his birthday by having family over yesterday. Today we went up to Dave & Busters for dinner and games. It was a fun time!

Brendan is excited to finally be a teenager. It seems to me that he has grown up so much faster than Matthew. Probably because he's been hanging out with Matthew and they generally seem the same age. Last weekend Kamryn wanted to watch the video from our time in China. It's emotional for me on so many levels, but what hit me the hardest this time was how young the boys seemed!!! They looked like little boys with little cute voices. They are still cute but they are not boys anymore but young men. I'm so glad I have them on videotape as young boys. I captured their little voices at least. Brendan's voice has deepened and changed already. And almost overnight it seems.

I made him the cutest card for today . . . it said, "Here's something to do on your 13th Birthday. Write yourself a letter about what you expect to be doing 10 years from now and then put it somewhere where it won't be disturbed for the next decade." open the card. "like, say, under the pile of clothes on your bedroom floor!" So appropriately funny!!! I don't know if he thought so but he did laugh because he knows it's true.

When I am reprimanding him or asking him to do something, I often say I am doing it because I love him. Sometimes he responds back to me by saying that I care too much. Any parent knows that that is just not possible. I'm glad he knows I care. Someday he will understand.

Brendan is the most caring kid I know and always thinks of others. He has a heart of gold. He is always thinking of others with genuine concern. He continues to say he wants to be in the Army someday . . . I don't know if I like that but it really doesn't surprise me.

Brendan is doing great in school! He continues to get straight A's and we are really proud of him. I hope Brendan enjoys his teen years, and I hope I survive with 2 teenage boys in the house!

Is Anyone Here?

I know I've been MIA for oh a whole year! 2010 just came and went! Here's a quick recap:

Brendan turned 12 - and is about to turn 13!
Matthew graduated from Jr. High and started High School and drivers ed!
Kamryn started kindergarten. We had a 5 year travel reunion with our China travel mates at our house over the summer. What a fun time! We've been home 5 years as a forever family already!
Kevin's company got bought out and luckily he was retained by the new company. Lots of corporate changes however but we are thankful his job his doing well.
Me, I started working part-time for a Premier Jewelry Director and a couple of months after that decided to become a part of Premier as well as a Jeweler. I was able to travel to Texas and got to tour the company headquarters and manufacturing plant and have dinner at the owner's home too. It really is a wonderful company with wonderful values and great jewelry too!

So now I am wearing lots of hats; wife, mom, daughter, sister, decorator, jeweler, assistant, friend.

I have lots of goals for the year 2011 and one of them is to get a grip on my to do list and I'm starting with the blog. Anyone still out here? I have to admit that I got caught up with the one liner facebook thing. But mainly just lurk on FB and only post once in a while. This really is a better way to journal.

Oh and there's Max. He's doing great too! We survived the puppy stage and are now enjoying him fully. He's a dog with a lot of personality and spunk and we get a kick out of the funny things he does. Yes, he's out of the crate at night now too so our already family bed of Kevin, Kamryn and I turned into an even bigger family bed of Kevin, Kamryn, Max and me:) Lots of warmth on these cold winter nights!

Max is worse than a toddler!

Max came home and quickly found some great spots to lie down. Kamryn's chair being one of them! She is not too fond of sharing it with him. In fact, we've had to deal with some jealousy issues between her and the dog. She's always said she wants a sister, but I don't think she could handle not being the only princess in the house!
















Max is saying, "What? I'm not doing anything."





















Then he's saying, "How can I grab those sandals? I hope no one is looking."


















Max steals socks, toilet paper rolls from the garbage can, and Kamryn's clean pull up. We gate him downstairs so he has free reign of the family room and kitchen but occasionally he gets past us and sprints upstairs. One morning while Kamryn was getting dressed, he took her pull up. Thank goodness it was clean as she really doesn't need to use those anymore.

















Max is a good playmate for Kamryn.

Meet Max

Max is our new puppy. We brought him home in August when he was 8 weeks old. He's not this tiny anymore! He's probably a big part of the reason why I've been so tired too! No more sleeping in on the weekends when he is used to getting up at 6:30am when the boys are getting ready for school during the week.

































The boys have always asked for a dog. We've always said no because they have proven to be allergic to them. But they keep asking and then I started doing some homework about more hypoallergenic breeds. My friend Beth some time ago mentioned that her neighbor sometimes breeds her Bichons. They are in the "hypoallergenic" category. Back in the spring of this year, Kevin & I actually checked out a different older Bichon puppy that another friend told me about, but we walked away, and I walked away knowing that I wasn't ready for it. Then Beth called me this summer and told me about these adorable little pups next door to her. I had to go take a look. One look and it was love at first sight. I couldn't walk away this time and the boys were thrilled!














We were fortunate that Anita was gracious enough to let us "visit" the pups a few times before we were able to bring Max home. Grandpa Ahearn & Grandma Dianne from Florida even got to meet Max before he came home. Look at how the pups all slept together! They are on Max's blue towel. Anita sent home a care package with Max and that same blue towel was part of it. He still loves it! Max was the blue ribbon dog.
















Aren't I cute?

Blog hiatus

Yes, there's been a huge pause in my blog. I can't believe there's been a 6 month hiatus from blogging. It's not because I've had nothing to say or because we've been home doing nothing but twiddling our thumbs. I actually dream of white space on my calendar. No, it's probably not entirely due to the fact that I'm on FaceBo*k now. Although that is fun and quicker to write a one line update. It's probably more or less just due to the fact that I just plain haven't been feeling like it. I have been very fatigued lately and not just the normal tired. So after finally seeing a doctor and several tests, I am on thyroid meds now and getting B12 injections. Hopefully I will feel back to normal soon and my blog will resume because in all truth, I do love having this blog to vent, share, and to use it as a personal journal.

But 6 months is a long time . . . so instead of filling in the gap and trying to catch up (which seems very overwhelming), I will instead focus on the now.


  

Boys Adventure Day

The boys are more into roller coasters now so we spent a day at Universal'$ I$land$ of Adventure. We all really enjoyed that park! There is a Dr. Suess section for the little ones and big roller coasters like the Hulk for the bigger ones.


















Kamryn and I spent most of the day together and Kevin went on the faster rides with the boys. I did one roller coaster and that was enough for me. We took advantage of the parent/child swap feature for the water ride; we all stood in line and then Kevin & the boys went on while Kamryn and I waited on a nearby bench. When the boys got off the ride, Kevin & I swapped places so the boys and I were able to get right back into the line at the end of the line:) The boys got a kick out of it because that way they could ride the rides twice in a row without the wait. Figures, the boys came off the ride looking dry but I ended up getting drenched!

Kamryn also loves Spiderman. Probably because she has seen the Spiderman movies with her brothers. So she loved seeing him IRL. I absolutely LOVED the 3-D Spiderman ride. So very cool.

There's always been something about teacups

Disney Day

Kamryn and mommy had breakfast at the Castle after the salon appointment. K loved having the Princesses come up to our table so she could have her picture taken with all them. Unfortunately for K though, her favorite princess wasn't at the breakfast. She stayed very loyal to Ariel and wore her mermaid dress. The minute we were done with breakfast, we headed to the Grotto to see Ariel.




















Kamryn loved the rides! The faster the better. Good thing her brothers were good sports about riding them with her!
















My princess in her rain poncho.















She was in awe at the wonderful shows!
















and the parades and fireworks at night!

A Princess for the Day

Kamryn had a fairy tale like morning . . . even though it was raining . . . again.


















Kevin dropped us off at 8am, and we made our way to the Castle for an 8:30 appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. We walked in and they presented Princess Kamryn with her royal invitation to the salon. Her Fairy Godmother-in-Training met us and asked Princess Kamryn which hairstyle was the one of her dreams for the day. Kamryn chose the Fairy-tale Princess look since she a true princess at heart.

This is Kamryn before all the magic took place:



















Here she is getting dolled up. Her Godmother-in-Training asked her if she wanted bangs or no bangs. Well I would have said bangs, but before I knew it, Kamryn answered no bangs and I didn't have the heart to change her wish since this was her day. I am not used to seeing my princess without bangs! It makes her look so much older:(















Another girl came by to do her makeup.





















Kamryn got to choose the rhinestone tiara for her hair and a Mickey-shaped hairpin was put on the back of her hair. Here are the finishing touches of the transformation.




















The magic begins when a pinch of fairy dust is sprinkled in your hair!





Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo, May all your dreams come true!

All done!