Tonight!

UPDATE:: We made it through six hours of being at the theater (that included standing outside in line for almost an hour, waiting in the theater for two and a half hours, and actually watching the movie). It has been a fun tradition to watch these movies on opening night with the same group of women. I actually really liked this movie and I can't wait to see it again when I am a little more awake. Watching the midnight showing really took it out of me this year. It is probably a good thing that the next movie doesn't come out for a year and a half so I can rest up for it. I loved sitting by my sister, Amy, who I have seen all three Twilight movies with and having some uninterrupted time to chat with her without any kid interruptions. As always, I recommend the books first and foremost and the movies are good too!


I am heading out once again with the ladies to watch The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. This is the third movie in the series and I have been to all of them on opening night. I am just as excited as I was the first two movies. We are doing the midnight showing again this go around and I am thinking that may be a little crazy since I am already about to fall over and go to sleep, but I know as soon as the lights dim and the music begins my heart will start pumping and my eyes will pop open. I will let you know how it is...I am sure you are dying to know ;)

Pinkalicious Playdate

Claire and her friend Lila had a fun playdate yesterday. The highlight was their cupcake decorating I think. I read them the book Pinkalicious while they frosted and sprinkled pink cupcakes to take to playgroup later that afternoon. Their little personalities can be so different but they blend together very well. Lila was very meticulous in frosting her cupcakes very well and making sure each one was totally covered in all different kinds of sprinkles. Claire just sped through the frosting leaving big gaps on top and then poured tons of pink sprinkles on hers. She had to be coaxed into adding a bit more frosting and other kinds of sprinkles by Lila.

They also had fun going completely overboard with glitter glue on a picture of a peacock. I think I will have permanent sparkles on my table forever and I kind of like it that way. One of my favorite conversations they had while making this craft...
Claire: "Wow Lila, you are an amazing arter!"
Lila: "A what?"
Claire: "An AR-TER!"
Lila: "Ohhhh an arter. Thanks Claire. You are a great arter too."

They even enjoyed their pizza and matching glasses of apple juice. They decided they were like sisters since they had the same glasses. Another funny conversation during lunch...
Lila: "Claire you really are pretty. I love your outfit."
Claire: "Thanks, I picked it out all by myself. I am good at picking out my outfits."
Lila: "You really are."
Claire: "Lila, you are just like me. You are so pretty! We are like twins."
Lila: "We are twins Claire, this is great!"

I LOVE them!!!

Their Pets

I have never known a child that plays with stuffed animals so much. Claire could pretend with all her pets for hours I think. She especially loves it when we get on the imagination train with her and enter the world she has created with all her animals. The other day she was pretty certain that Allan needed to take "Bullseye" to work with him in a purse so he would think of her while he was away. She assured him that she and her new special pet "Poodlena" would be waiting at home for his return and thinking of him the whole time he was gone. Allan proudly carried his pet and purse into work that morning and sent her a picture of Bullseye on his desk. Claire could not have been more happy. He is such a good daddy and she is such a wonderful creative girl!

Fun Treat

Last Friday my parents were heading home from their anniversary trip to Colorado and stopped in to see us for a couple of hours. It was such a special treat for the kids to get some Poppie and Gibbie time all by themselves. They played at the house a bit, then we went to the pool for about an hour, and topped their time off with a quick dinner. Thank you so much Mom and Dad for taking the time to stop and see us!

Jacob playing in Poppie's hat.

They had a lot of fun taking the hat on and off over and over and over.

My mom got this great shot of Jacob while my dad and I ran an errand and she stayed with the kids. Claire had put a laundry basket over him and he just sat in there and played for awhile...hilarious.

A Fairy Tea

Claire's friend Lila invited her to a Fairy Tea this week and it was perfect. These two princesses looked beautiful all decked out in their fanciest outfits. They searched for flowers that fairies had hidden around the yard, they made heart necklaces filled with pixie dust, they dined on strawberries dipped in fairy dust and little fairy house cakes. Each girl received her very own wand and pair of fairy wings. It was so adorable watching them sip their peach tea and chat under the enchanted tree in Fairy Land. This is such a fun age. Claire has been talking about the Fairy Tea everyday since and is begging to have one at our house in the very near future. It was such a wonderful morning. Randi, Lila's mom, thought of making every little detail perfect as always. She is truly one of the greatest hostesses I have ever known. Thank you for an enchanting time in Fairy Land!

Operation Purge

Allan and I really want to get rid of A LOT of stuff. We have spent the last three years filling up our house with honestly a bunch of stuff we rarely use or need so we decided to start Operation Purge. It will take a while to make our way through the whole house especially if Night 1 was any indicator. We spent TWO HOURS in our closet getting rid of clothes, shoes bags/purses, and a few other things that somehow found its way into our closet. We organized until we couldn't keep our eyes open and we were so happy with the finished product. For those of you who did not see the pit our closet once was this is not a very impressive picture I am sure, but for the rare few of you who have I am sure that you are in awe (ok maybe not awe, but at least thinking "that does look better").

About an hour and a half into the closet cleaning Allan made the comment "It looks great for now, but it will be a wreck tomorrow. We are not really the maintaining type." I thought that I was going to hit him, but deep down I know that he is speaking the truth, or what I hope to be the FORMER truth. I hope that the maintaining will come with this new found desire to simplify. So far we are three days in and going strong. I am thinking that I will blog my way through the purging of Casa de Kavalich for a little accountability.

Wish us luck...we are starting on our bedroom tonight.

Dynamite Daddy

We had a great Father's Day this last weekend. I cannot say enough how amazing Allan is at being a daddy to his children. One day Claire and Jacob will truly be in awe of how blessed they are to have been given the gift of Allan in their lives. I get teary watching him play with them and just be as involved in their lives as he possibly can everyday. Allan you are a treasure to our family and there is no way I can begin to thank you enough for all that you do for us, we all LOVE LOVE LOVE you!!!

We spent Father's Day doing things that Allan likes eating some of his favorite dishes- breakfast casserole and Ritzy chicken. Allan and Claire went swimming while Jacob napped. We all went to Bass Pro Shop where he and Claire painted wooden fish and they all took cheesy pictures for the cover of a pretend magazine, then we went and shot pretend shotguns at their arcade. We even watched airplanes land at Founder's Plaza. He finished the day off watching golf. It was a very low key day, but that is what he wanted and it was his day.

Oklahoma

We spent a few days with my sister and her family last week in Oklahoma and it was so much fun! I just love spending time with her and the freedom of being in the country. The kids picked blackberries, chased Loki the dog and Mary the cat, rode horses, dug in the dirt, and searched for bugs. They all got bug bites and totally dirty everyday, but that just added to the adventure. Every time I am up there I think how much I would love to live in the country, but just a little closer to a big city ;)
I love to watch Asher be ALL boy and Claire be a princess tomboy together. They mesh pretty well for the most part but occasionally have to be separated when he is in a sword fighting mood and she is in a mommy mood. Claire said when we were heading home the other day, "I just love my little Ash-Man, he is hilarious!"...I couldn't agree more. Ainsley seemed so much older on this trip and warmed up to Jacob being in her space. She is getting more and more funny everytime I see her too, it is unbelievable that she is coming up on her 2nd birthday in just a few months.

Asher definitely wins for the best outfit of the weekend. He is dressed as a musketeer, just in case you were wondering. Ainsley is all about being like the big kids and one of the mornings we were there she found one of Claire's (clean) pull-ups and put it on over her diaper and PJ shorts. She wore this outfit all morning, it was hilarious. Jacob has never been so dirty in all of his life. He dug in the dirt and scooted around on the porch. I love the picture of his super dirty bottom.

The highlight of Claire's trip was the horses that they have out at the camp for the summer. She has been obsessed with horses for the last two years and this was her first time to get to ride on a BIG horse. She was in HEAVEN!!! Asher took a ride around the pen too and Ainsley even sat in the saddle for a photo op. Jacob was bouncing up and down begging for a ride, but I decided that may be a better thing for him to do next year.

It was so great to be up there with them and I hope that we can make it out there again next month for a weekend so that Allan can enjoy watching his kids enjoy the country as well. Thank you Sara and Beau for letting us crash at your place...we love you!!!

Baby Owen

Our close friends, Joe and Leanna, had their first baby a little over a week ago. His name is Owen and he is seriously one of the cutest newborns I have ever seen. He was a little chunk, 9 pounds 4 ounces, I just love babies with a little meat on their bones. Sweet baby Owen, I love you, and I can't wait to watch you grow.

President's Award

Allan was recently awarded the President's Award for his hard work at Southwest Airlines. I am so incredibly proud of him! He has been passionate about the airline industry since he was a little boy and he does his job well. I figure since this is my blog and my very humble husband would never say how amazingly cool it is to win this award I will do a little bragging on his behalf. This award is only given once in a person's career and it is only given to 30-40 people company wide every year. Allan was the youngest recipient this year and definitely has worked for the company the shortest amount of time, most of the other recipients have been with the company 15+ years, Allan has only been there three and a half. As the PA winners were announced their VPs would say a little something about them (i.e. "Susie has a great love of life and is great at customer service.", "Bob found a computer glitch that saved the company 8 million dollars this year.") and the crowd of 1,500 would clap. When Allan's VP introduced him she talked about how committed he is to excellence and how he devised an itinerary plan that made the company over $100,000,000 this last year. There was actually a brief moment of silence, then a huge roar of applause. I could not have been more proud of my husband than I was at that very moment, I even shed a tear or two. It was so wonderful to see all his hard work recognized by the highest of the higher ups at Southwest Airlines. What makes it even sweeter is that Allan would never tell anyone that this was his idea without someone directly asking him about it. He is a man that does his best and looks out for others, even his employer. He is such an amazing man!!

Southwest goes all out for the awards banquet, we had wonderful food, great entertainment (Jason Castro, Seth Meyers from SNL, a dance group some reality TV show, a group called Vocal Trash, and more). It was such a fun night. We both enjoyed getting all dressed up and having our first night away from both kids.

Allan, I love you so much! Thank you for being a great provider for our family, a wonderful example for our children, and super hot in a suit ;) Congratulations on recieving an honor that is well deserved. You may be the first person to win this award twice in your career at this pace...SWA is blessed to have you and I am so glad they know it.

One Year

The very first moment I held Jacob one year ago I fell madly in love. My son has brought me more joy in his first year of life than I ever thought possible. I am so blessed to be his mama and I could not imagine what life would be like without him in my world.

He has a smile that lights up a room, he loves exploring around our house and becomes more adventurous everyday. There is hardly a food he doesn't like which is evident in his 25+ pounds of squishy love. He started walking just before his first birthday and he keeps me on my toes wandering from room to room. He is pretty easy going, but becoming more and more opinionated and has found his voice to let me know when he is not happy with the choices I am making for him. He still wakes up once a night because he just can't get enough of spending time with me. He will let almost anyone hold him for a little bit, but definitely prefers me and his daddy. He loves his sister and thinks she is hilarious, unless she is loving on him too hard or taking his toys away. He is fantastic!!

I love you so much little man!! Happy first birthday, I am loving every moment of your life and I try not to take the blessing that you are in my life for granted.

Celebrating Jacob

Jacob's airplane themed first birthday party was so fun! I am so thankful that we have such wonderful friends that came to celebrate my sweet boy for a couple of hours. I am also so thankful to have a husband that loves hosting and wanted to be involved in making Jacob's first party super special. He made the birthday cake and made the runways on the table. His new metal peddle plane and the bubble machine (which I sadly forgot to turn on until most of the guests were gone) were Jacob's favorite parts of the party.

It was no surprise that once Jacob figured out that the cake was for eating he was all over it. He loved it and savored every bite.

Jacob was blessed with some great gifts. I absolutely love the top middle picture where he looks like he is saying "yesssss!" while holding his new ball. It is so fun to finally have some boy toys around the house.

Out of Control and SO Much Fun

These kids are fun, dramatic, hilarious and out of control and I love them so much. Everyday is a new adventure with Jacob getting more and more adventurous and showing more and more of his personality which is mostly very entertaining except when he harnesses his new found ability to become a screaming jellyfish. Claire is just amazing and creative and opinionated and by far the greatest daughter in my world ;) This summer is going to be full of adventures with these two keeping me on my toes.

Playdate

Claire and Lila are developing a cute little friendship and a little bit ago they had their first girls only playdate. It was so fun to listen to them giggle and pretend to be mommies and princesses. They had many wardrobe changes and makeovers in Claire's bedroom. I just love these two little girls and I really hope that they will be friends for a very long time. They will be starting a dance class together soon and having a fairy tea tomorrow so there will be many more cute pictures of these two in the near future.

Test...

I have so much I want to blog about but I want to include pictures. Please let me know if you can see the picture above so I can start catching this blog up...a lot has happened in the last month.