Please Sign My Guestbook

I have added a new feature at the bottom of the page (because I couldn't get it to fit on the sidebar-GGRRRR!). Check it out and don't forget to sign in. I don't think you have to have a picture, but that would be cool!!!

Random Puke

I have to share what just happened. I was working on something on the computer and Claire walked up to me and said "Mommy, ow" very calmly...then she THREW UP!!! She followed the upchuck episode with a slow turn and then started hopping around the living room saying "hop, hop, hop". I just sat here totally in shock.
Her upset stomch may have had something to do with the tube of toothpaste I found her sucking on a few hours ago. She is addicted to the orajel toothpast. We have to hide the tubes from her (which we obviously did not do a good job of this time).

Well, so are the days of my life...random.

A Friendly Advertisement

I think that since God chose to skip me when handing out the creative gene he has placed a few people in my life that seem to overflow with creativity and craftiness. One of those friends that I am pretty much always in awe of is my friend Krista. She is fantastic for more than one reason...but let me just focus on her talents. She has a baby girl that is one of the cutest babies ever and as all good mothers of daughters know baby girls were created to wear bows :) Well, Krista didn't see any need to spend money on such things when she could just use her "scrap material" that she had laying around to make her own. People are constantly complimenting the bows so what does she do...she decides to start making them for the public. If you are interested in seeing her wor and maybe buying one or tow you should check out her new Etsy shop called Maddy and Me Boutique.

(just for the record if you have chosen not to do the bow thing for your little girl you are still a good mother)

Crazy Busy! How About You?

I was talking with my sister today about hosting her baby shower sometime this summer and afterwards decided to sit down with my calendar and see just how busy my summer is scheduled to be. I was shocked by what I saw. Between now and Claire's first day of Mother's Day Out this fall there are only FOUR weekends that are not already booked.
Last year we kind of took a break from traveling because Claire was not in the easiest stage for being lugged around. This year we are less scared (of her) ;)
We have a few day/weekend trips planned, family coming in to town for Claire's birthday, a couple of friends weddings that are out of state, the big Kavalich family vacation to Hawaii, the big Selke family vacation to Colorado, and Allan's class reunion in California. We are also doing two weeks of swimming lessons in the middle of it all. I am exhausted just thinking about it. The good thing is that everything we have planned I am excited about. I am so glad that Claire is a little more flexible this summer than she was last year and I can't wait to make some great memories with her and my sweet hubby over the next few months.
So what are you doing over the next three months? I have like four days that we can hang out...any takers? AHHHHHH!!!

Creative Tag

So I got this idea from a friend of a friend. This was such a creative way to tell people a little baout yourself. You have to find the pictures for your answers through google or in your own collection.



Age at my next birthday:

Place I want to visit:

My favorite thing:

My favorite place:

My favorite food:

My favorite color:

The city I live in (I chose to do state, city is a little too personal):

Name of pet:

Nickname I had:

Babe, not pig

College major:

First job:

Goal for next year:

Now I tag YOU...let me know if you are playing.

More Estrogen Please

My fantabulous sister, Sara, called yesterday with exciting news...she is having a little GIRL!!! I am so happy for her and Beau. The new little girl has already been named and it is a BEAUTIFUL name- Ainsley Grace. I can't wait to see what she looks like, I am sure she will be a cutie. Only 18/19 more weeks before we get to meet her.
I have loved learning how to be a mommy with her over the last almost two years and now we get to share the adventure of raising little girls. How fun is that?!?!?
Ainsley brings the grand total of grandkids on my side to 8 (5 girls and 3 boys). Claire is racking in the cousins this year which is a good thing since she is totally in love with all things baby.

Congratulations Beau and Sara. You are already such great parents to Asher Case and you will be fantastic parents to Ainsley Grace as well. I can't wait to see Beau melt the day he holds his baby girl for the first time.

Aspiring Make Up Artist

I wanted to get a few things done around the house today and found a little free time while Claire preoccupied herself with "ake-up"- more specifically "ip-stick". Let me just say that in the past when Claire has played with lipstick it usually was just around the lip area. I got a little too into straightening the living room and when I went back into the kitchen this is what I found. When I looked a little shocked she proudly announced "I did ake-up!!!".

I figured why make her stop at this point, I would just let her go until she had finished the entire tube of lipstick or freaked out. Can you guess which happened first?

She started saying "I done", but I had to go start the bath water and figure out how to pick her up and transport her to the bubbles without ruining all my clothes as well. This took a little too long for her liking and she flipped.

All was well once she was placed in the giant tub. I let her soak for awhile and then scrubbed off the first layer with her normal soap. Let her soak a bit more then got out my make up remover because she was still stained. She is looking pretty normal now, just a red hue to her belly button.

I have to say that letting her play with red lipstick may have been a lapse in judgement, but I also think that it was HI-FREAKIN-LARIOUS!!! I pretty much laughed through the entire ordeal.

I won't dedicate an entire post to the other adventure of the day, but after another body painting eperience (this one was with blue fingerpaint) I had her in the shower with me and she made a little deposit on the floor which totally freaked me out. I was just thankful that I was not holding her at the time.

This girl keeps me on my toes. She is a wild child...but let's be honest I kind of egg her on at times. She is my daily entertainment and daily headache. I wouldn't trade one adventure or challenge with her for the entire world.

If You Just Can't Get Enough

I didn't have a ton of pictures from the last three days because my sister, Amy, took over 300. If you want to see some FANTASTIC pictures from the day Chloe was born and beyond check out her blog over the next little bit. She is highlighting the great moments in a few posts over the next day or so.

What a week!!! We went to Waco last Wednesday thinking that my niece would arrive at any moment. I desperately did not want to miss the Big Event so I thought I would head on down just to be on the safe side. Well, Miss Chloe had other plans...she got about half way out (that is an exageration) and decided to stay tucked up all cuddly inside her mama until MONDAY.
We had a great time hanging out with everyone in the meantime. Claire especially had a blast hanging out with her cousins. She loves them SO much!

Chloe Grace

Here are a few pictures as promised of our sweet Chloe Grace. We are already in love with this little beauty. Claire was TOTALLY obsessed which may have caused a little stress for the new parents ;)

It was sad to leave her today, especially since we had so little time to cuddle her. It is good to know that we will be with them again in a few weeks. I have only been home for a few hours and let me just say...there is no place like home.

Introducing My Newest Niece...FINALLY!!!

Chloe Grace kept us all on our toes this last week. She finally made her grand entrance into the world yesterday a little before 1:00 pm. I am not exaggerating when I say that she is GEORGEOUS!!! She weighed in at 8 pounds 5 ounces and 21 inches long. She has a ton of dark brown hair and long eyelashes. The delivery went smoothly, and fast, for Adrielle which was a blessing. I can't wait to start making some memories with our newest little princess.

**I am at a computer taht will not allow me to add pictures, so that is something you can look forward to.

It is ALMOST time!!!

Remember this? This was the night that Coby, Adrielle, and Skyler told us that they were fixing to have another baby. We were all so excited for them! Well the due date in nearing and Adrielle is showing some definite signs that we will be meeting Chloe Grace VERY soon. I think that Claire and I will be heading down to Waco today to wait it out with everyone. Anyone who knows the Selkes very well know that we RARELY miss an opportunity to celebrate with each other over the big and small things in life and this baby girl is one of the big things.

I will let everyone know ASAP when I become an aunt again. I am becoming a professional aunt, counting Chloe Grace I will have ten nieces and nephews...wowzers! Sara will be adding to that number in just a few months as well. A friend of mine recently referred to my family as "the baby factory" which cracked me up. What can I say, we take our responsibility to populate the Earth pretty serious ;)

Goodbye Bailey Girl

Bailey is Allan's dog- Allan's dog that always lived with his parents. When I first met Bailey I thought that the way they treated this dog, like she was nearly human, was odd. After knowing Bailey for five years I would say that she actually was almost human and definitely a part of the Kavalich family. Everyone who met Bailey loved her, she was a fantastic dog!!!
Sadly over the last month Bailey has become pretty sick and Allan's parents had to make the hard decision to send her off to "doggy heaven" today. I am so thankful that we got to spend some time with her this last weekend. We were pretty sure that this was our last time to see her so we took some pictures of Allan saying goodbye to Bailey girl yesterday. This is an especially sad day for Allan and my heart goes out to him more than ever today!

More Family Fun

Mimi Dog Pile Helping make Uncle George's birthday dinner
Claire and Anna racing to a new adventure
Anna, Claire, and Camille hanging out before dinner

It is amazing to me that although we are rarely with Allan's family Claire just knows who her family is. She loves them and that makes me happy! Claire and Anna had an especially fun time together.

One of the funniest things I saw and heard was when Claire had thrown a huge fit and Allan left her in our room to get it all out. A few minutes later I saw Anna holding Claire's hand walking down the hall and Anna said "Claire you can't act like that. You need to go tell your daddy that you are sorry. I love you." Anna is four.

Sweet Madyson

I am in love with this baby girl. Madyson belongs to our good friends Ben and Krista. I could have cuddled her all weekend. She is such a sweet baby and I am sad that we do not get to see her (or her parents) more often. Thank you so much friends for s[ending time with us this weekend, we hope to see you again very soon.

Pool Party

After an incredibly long travel day we had a GREAT time in California! Saturday was such a fun day spent mainly in the pool. I think that the girls splashed for about five hours. To say that they were little raisin babies is an understatement. I just love when Claire sepnds time with her family and truly enjoys herself. This trip was way too short. We can't wait to find another time to go out there...hopefully the flying will go A LOT smoother.

The Bad That Comes With The Good

Allan works in the airline industry. He loves his job and one of the perks to his job is that we can fly for free of charge- not free of stress. We fly standby which at times is a breeze and at times makes me want to scream my head off, cry, curse, and bury myself in a hole...today was one of the bad days.

It all started when my sister who was coming to relieve me of kid duty was running late ( for those of you who know Sara this should come as no surprise). I did have the go ahead to leave the three Powells at my house all alone until she could make it in, but due to an emotional meltdown of a certain one and three year old this could not happen. Needless to say I was late getting to the airport to get on the standby list which resulted in missing the first flight, the WIDE OPEN flight, that would get us to CA in time for dinner and a decent bedtime for Claire.

From that point on it is all a blur...we did get out of Dallas on a flight to Albuquerque where a freaked out gate agent screwed up so we missed another flight. Thankfully a top dog Southwest employee, Becky, had a saft spot in her heart (or maybe she was just sick of hearing Claire scream so loud that the entire terminal needed sound canceling earphones in order to think straight). She found us a flight to Las Vegas and even ushered us past everyone that was trying to get on the plane so that Allan and I could have seats together. Claire finally gave up the fight and slept for most of that flight. When we got to Vegas we were told that more than likely we would not be getting out until 9:30 because all the flights were oversold, but they would add us to the standby list anyway. As luck would have it Vegas trapped enough people so that they missed their flight and we got on a flight that would FINALLY get us to California. The cherry on top of the almost nine hours of travel was that they made me gate check my carryon (which had my video camera, digital camera, all of Claire's in flight entertainment, and her extra clothes) in Dallas because all the overhead bins were full. When we arrived in CA that bag was missing AND because we were nonreving (flying for free) there is no compensation offered for such a mishap. I was at my freaking breaking point.

Claire ate five lollipops, a can of crunchies, some raisins (which some sweet gentleman informed me was worse for her teeth than candy- AAARGH), dried fruit, and a little bit of a quesadilla. She stayed up until 10 (that is midnight TX time). I have to say that she was a trooper for the most part, just a handful of meltdowns.

I am thankful that we survived and are finally in California. The thought of doing all of this again on Sunday to get home makes me want to puke. I also should add that in the last five years of standby travel I have only had three other experiences even close to this and before Claire was around we traveled almost every weekend. I am thankful for free flights.

I am off to crash into a night coma for the next few hours. Allan has to get up for golf EARLY in the morning but he is a little more emotionally stable than me at the moment and nowhere near as exhausted so he will be fine.

***This just in*** My lost bag has arrived and they are sending it to my in laws house first thing in the morning!!! Thank you JESUS!!!

Fun Times

I have been spending WAY too much time on scrapblog. I have been working on some super fun layouts today that I will share once I get back from California.

I have also had a great time today with my nieces and nephews. Amy and Corey headed to New Orleans for the weekend and so Sara and I are going to take turns hanging out with the Powell kids. Claire loves spending time with her cousins and so today has been filled with lots of laughter and chase and just a little bit of the "mine" game and whining.

I should totally be packing for our trip tomorrow or SLEEPING, but instead I have chosen to sit on the couch until an ungodly hour watching our shows (Survivor, Lost, and The Office)...boy am I going to regret it in a few hours.

Message From The Sky

I found this cool sight while blog browsing. You should check it out if you have a little free time.

Heading West

Our First Home


Allan, Claire, and I are heading to California this weekend to spend time with his family and some of our friends. We are so glad that Allan has his dream job working in the airline industry and we know that we are where God wants us to be. I am usually so happy to be living in Texas close to my family, but sometimes we wish that we still lived in our cozy condo in Mission Viejo, CA. We had some great friends while we were there (even though it was only for a year). The memories we have from our first year of marriage are some of the fondest we will ever have as we grow old together. Of course there were some struggles, but for the most part everything was as perfect as life can be.

DJ and Jen at our final dinner party before we moved to Texas

Ben and Krista at our final dinner party before we moved to Texas

We are so excited to go back. It is a good thing that Allan's family is still out there so we have a good reason to head west when our hearts are being tugged to revisit our old life. I doubt that we will ever actually live there again, but for some reason it will always feel a little like home. We just have some really great memories of our time pre kids in California.

hanging with the girls on Lake Mission Viejo...good times!

Allan and the boys doing a little fishing

I Dare You

Here is a link that my sister sent me today. I dare you Christians out there to open your hearts like these people are doing. I dare you to find a way to bless those that American society says are trash. I dare you to do what Jesus says...LOVE.



Please let me be the first to say that I was TOTALLY CONVICTED by this site and the video. I do not hold the same level of compassion that the people who started this organizaton have- yet. I am a work in progress, aren't we all. This video really did impact me and make me want to do something to serve (not fix) those that are so confused and making decisions with their lives that are so misguided.

Getting a New Look

Amanda is working on my blog to make it super snazzy. I tell you what she is one great gal! She has been working on all her friends blogs over the last week making them all cool. Thank you Amanda for helping me out. I am glad that you are computer savy and I am glad that you are becoming my friend!

I love the black, white, and red and I am sure that my mom will appreciate the darker writing on the lighter background.

Corner

How could I not take a picture of Claire's first time in the corner?!?! I mean how cute is she. I am not thinking that this is going to be the best form of punishment because she had the best time licking the wall. She was so excited about putting her nose in the corner that I have found her heading over on her own a couple of times and I have had to convince her that only mommy and daddy can make her stand there when she is in trouble. Honestly, this kid loves discipline and not in a holy way. She thinks that it is so funny to be put in time out, put her nose in the corner, and even get spankings on rare occasions. She just smiles really big and then hugs me and says "sorry" and is on her way to the next adventure. I have my work cut out for me...at least she is dang cute!

Game Stop

These kids crack me up. Allan was having a little video game time when he was overtaken by munchkins. Cooper walked up to his mom and said "Mom, can I play Super Smash Brothers? Joe said it was ok." I cracked up that a little almost three year old would have any interest in playing video games on the Wii. It was not too long before Claire and Caroline got in on the action too. Hilarious I tell you!

Starting to Pretend

Claire has just started pretending and it is SO cute! She still wants me to be close by, but she is playing more nad more on her own with her toys. Elmo and one of her baby dolls, Addy, were her favorites of the weekend. They went for walks in the stroller, swims in the fountain (a big no no), and ate a little of everything Claire had to eat. If i could figure out how to pload video I would so you could hear her little voice as she tells Elmo and Baby Addy what to do. I love hearing her talk and pretend SO SO SO much!!!

Buckling up Elmo for a quick snack

Letting him try out some strawberries

Giving him some apple juice to wash it all down

Boat for Sale

Anyone want a boat? Allan has finally decided to get rid of his fishing boat that he bought right about the time Claire was born...not the best timing. Please notice the beautiful and handsome models we chose to enhance the beauty of The Enchanted Emily (that is the name Allan gave it to try and butter me up when he purchased this beauty- hahaha).

Jack is amazed at how fantastic this boat is!!!

Allie and Jack give it two and a half thumbs up...but they have not seen this beauty in the water ;)