Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Stop by and visit

Hi Everyone!

I'm so sorry that I've been an absent blogger over here. I actually need to pay for additional storage space so I can get myself caught up.

Until then, I hope you'll pop by and visit me at:


I update the latest and greatest over there everyday. Pop by, say hello, and become a follower through Google Connect if you like what you see.

Be back soon!
Love, Alissa

Friday, March 11, 2011

Do the Pokey Pokey

Every since Miss Katelyn started her dance class we've been doing a lot of the Hokey Pokey Pokey. It's very quickly becoming a staple in our home. Here Katelyn is showing her Grandma, Nana & Papa on Skype how to do the Pokey Pokey in her tutu and dress up ballet shoes. Don't worry, there's video to come!!

Put your right hand in

take your right hand out

do the hokey pokey

turn yourself around.


Someone has....

been practicing eating with his spoon






Yet he somehow manages to still need a bath when he's all done. Let me tell you, there was applesauce everywhere!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

ONE Year

We just passed the ONE year anniversary of being home owners! Woohoo!! It's hard to believe that one year has already passed. And what a year it has been. We celebrated my Big 3-0, Katelyn's 2nd birthday, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Brayden's 1st birthday and many other memorable get togethers in this wonderful home. We are truly blessed! So far the house is still holding up and thankfully everything broke right before we had to renew our home owner's warranty so it was all covered. Woopie!!

Now as we embark on our 2nd year, I'm already thinking about my 31st birthday {March 30th} in case you want to come back and leave me some blog love, Easter and Katelyn's 3rd birthday.

Here are some of the lovelies {inspiration} I've been day dreaming about.

New bedding to go with our new bedroom furniture we bought as our Christmas present to each other.




3. Pottery Barn - Block Print Pillows

4. Pottery Barn - Bee Pillow

5. Pottery Barn - Home Sentiment Pillow

&

Katelyn's 3rd Birthday - Pinwheel Theme


& even some handmade goodness for her bedroom

{source: Ooh La Lollipop}

Thank you to all of you who have shared in these memories with us and helped make our first year in this home an amazing one! Hope you are all having an amazing day! God Bless!

Love, Kyle, Alissa, Katelyn & Brayden

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

There's no bigger distraction

than playing

PEEK

A

BOO


to make your sad, grumpy little man forget that he's got 5 teeth coming in... for a least 10 minutes.

Then I spend another 20 minutes entertaining him by taking self portraits so he can see them on the itty bitty camera screen. Ahh! The amazing little things that entertain kids. But these pictures... they're priceless!



Love you little man! Don't worry you're teeth will all be in soon!

Sometimes You Just Gotta Bake

We had an impromptu cookie baking party for daddy last week. I'm pretty sure that the kids enjoyed the dough far more than the cookies, but since there were no raw eggs in the mix, I wasn't as concerned as I normally am. It's so fun to watch Katelyn get excited about putting all the ingredients in the bowl. We've been working in measurements and recipes.









And Voila! Delicious gingerbread starfish and cupcakes.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Brayden's 15 Months Old!


Today I took Brayden to his 15 month wellness appointment. Glad to have all the health issues and concerns with his growth behinds us, I was anxious to see how tall he had gotten and how much weight he had gained. It's been a long 3 months and while we've been trying to monitor his height growth at home the last couple months, he's fidgety and I knew I'd get the best measurement today.
Here are his stats:
Height: 31 inches {yup! that's a 3 1/4 inch growth from his 12 mo appointment)
Weight: 22.6lbs

Brayden's in the 50th percentile for height, 10th percentile for weight and his head is measuring in the 75th percentile.

It's been so much fun watching Brayden grow and change over the last few months. We have to keep a close eye on him because now that Katelyn's fully potty trained {yup she even wakes up dry} we often find him here:

Brayden's favorite person besides his Mama is his sister Katelyn. He adores her and follows her everywhere. They love to play in the pretend play kitchen, build castles with their Little People legos, and run around outside. I'll have to upload the video soon, but Brayden can climb up our little toddler play set outside and slide down the slide all by himself.

Brayden loves to help out around the house. When Mommy vacuums the house, he follows along with his little vacuum to help. This picture was taken yesterday with my phone. He was helping Daddy sweep outside.

Brayden is finally sleeping through the night. It began on New Year's Eve and I'm happy to report that I'm not walking around like a zombie anymore. Buddy loves to talk and jabbers on in a language we have yet to understand, but every once in a while we catch a word we recognize {mama, dada, this, that, baba}.

We are finally done with bottles and soft tip sippy cups. I have quite the distain for those soft tip sippys. They love to leak everywhere.

Brayden understands what it means to come to the table to eat, get dressed and put on his shoes to go bye bye, take out his paci to talk, find his sister, and come get his juice or milk. This is encouraging to know that he understands even though he can't fully communicate it yet. The pediatrician was very reassuring today that boys tend to develop their large motor skills younger and they usually get their language a little later. This is not always the case, however, it did make me feel better.

Brayden's next appointment is when he turns 18 months. I'm so excited to see the growth that happens between now and then.

Love, Kyle, Alissa, Katelyn & Brayden

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

{Superman}

This has become part of our bedtime routine around.

The kids love it...




and Daddy loves it...

That is... till Daddy get's hurt!


Then it's time to relax, enjoy some milk and head to bed.... so Mommy and Daddy can relax.

Fun in the Sun...

We've been having some really great weather out here in So Cal. Notice I said been, as in, it's all over and the forecast is rain for the next 4 days. AHHHHH!! Did I mention we have 8 leaks in our roof so rain is not our best friend?! But, back to the great weather we've been having. This weekend Kyle and I decided it would be fun to hook up the sprinkler in the back yard and let the kids run in the water. Even Daddy got in on the fun. Bradyen, as usual, didn't enjoy running in the water. He just wanted to run around the yard. 






Look at that cute tushie!!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

The Paxton Project

A few years ago Kyle and I were privileged to meet the Miller family. They had moved to California to help plan a church in Long Beach. A church plant based out of a church in Orlando, FL. After being out here for almost a year, they felt the Lord calling back to Orlando, FL, and back to YWAM (Youth With A Mission). Over the years we have remained friends with them. Recently, Rachel mentioned on Facebook that she had started a blog, The Paxton Project, so people could walk with them through the journey they are about to embark on... adopting a second child from Korea. Costs are quite a bit higher than they were when they adopted Tysen.... the total comes to $30,000. After reading through her blog, I felt God calling me to help and before I knew it I had emailed her and all my small business contacts talking about doing a raffle that could help raise money towards the adoption.

Thus,
Photobucket


was born! So far we have 28 amazing vendors participating and ALL the proceeds will go to the Miller family.



Here are the details if you want to be involved:
The raffle is going to take place on my Rags to Stitches Boutique blog

Dates: February 28 - March 4, 2011

Time: All week long

How to participate: there will be a suggested $5 donation per entry to win the prizes available. More details will be on the blog before the event starts.
If you want to participate by donating money to the couple, you can do so by clicking HERE and it will take you to my Rags to Stitches blog where you can click on the "Donate Now" button in the top hand side of my side bar.

I hope you will check out the Miller's story and join in The Paxton Project.

I hope you will help too!

Love, Alissa

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Pretty Ballerina

Katelyn went to her first Ballet/Tap class this week. She had so much fun. Last week we went and watched through the window, then we drove by the preschool we're looking into sending her. She was so excited at dinner telling Kyle all about her day and how she wanted to be a ballerina and go to school. Kyle agreed with her that it would be fun, but mentioned casually that it's for big girls who tinkle in the potty. Guess it was just the "motivation" she needed! She was tinkling in the potty and raring to go yesterday morning.