I got this from Paige's blog. It searches your blog and uses the words from it...www.snapshirts.com/custom.php

Nicholas Robert Kazmer had his dedication ceremony at our church yesterday. Thanks to Grandma Mel, Nana, DaDa, Uncle Russell & Guinea (my grandmother) for all being there to celebrate this special day. Our church was also taking pictures for our directory yesterday. I think this is our first official family of four photo.

College

I cried (ok, bawled) this morning about college. Patrick and Nicholas going to college. After reading Rick’s post on the IM blog, I was watching Baby Bach with Nicholas and coming across parts I remember were Patrick’s favorite when he was a baby. It all just goes by so fast. I guess I have such a clear picture of how fast it is flying by because I have a new baby and a kindergartener at the same time. It really adds perspective of how they grow up and change in such a short period of time. It is hard being a parent, but it is the greatest joy I have even known. I pray we are leading our children in the “way they should go so that when they are old they will not depart from it”.

Thursday 13

13 Cute Things That Patrick Has Said In the Last Week...

1. "When I was a baby, my mommy used to be a dentist." (Correction - I worked for a dentist in the office).

2. "What's so funny of?" Sadly, after 3 years of this phrase, Chuck informed him that he needs to drop the "of".

3. "The computers at school are way better than our computer at home because they have extra special games for kids."

4. "When we get to 100 on the blue number chart, my teacher says we get to do something extra special, like have a treat."

5. "Can you write down Reagan's name so I can coffee it?" (copy)

6. "I forgot to dust the stinkers" (speakers) note:we do not believe in child labor - he likes to dust, mop and clean the bath tubs, so who am I not to let him? He does get allowance money for these chores.

7. "When I grow up and I am a man and I marry a mom" (so I said "you mean wife")"...yeah, wife, I am going to always drive to church so she can put on her make-up." To me, this statement is funny for many different reasons.

8. "When I was 4 and Nana & DaDa went to Switzerland, I called it Sweat Island, but now I call it Switzerland. That was funny, right?"

9. "Don't talk with a binky in your mouth, Mommy" (I was swaddling Nicholas and had the opposite end of the binky in my mouth)

10. "When will I be done with kindergarten?"

11. "What is Oxtail and how do you cook it?"

12. "When can we go to the North Pole and find the stick in the snow like on Little Bear?"

13. "Why is Daddy not afraid of anything?"

Thurday 13 #2

13 Nice Things Chuck has Said/Done for Me in the Last 24 Hours"

1. While we were at church, he came home early from work and picked up all of the toys, unloaded and loaded the dishwasher & cleaned up Patrick's train table.

2. Stays up until 12pm-1am every night to give Nicholas his late bottle, so I can sleep from 10pm-4am. He then gets up at 6:45 (when he doesn't have to be at work until 10am) to make breakfast, help me get Patrick ready and then take Patrick to school.

3. After last night 's emotional unloading and apology on my part, he says with a smile "That's ok...that is what I am here for."

4. Encourages me to be a better person when my feelings have been hurt reminds me of what being a Christian is all about.

5. Didn't freak out on me for buying organic milk even though it is not in our budget right now.

6. Emailed me his schedule for next week, so I will know the real busy late nights vs. the might be out early nights.

7. Told me he loved me before he left for work, at the end of every phone call and before we said goodnight.

8. Called to see how I was feeling in the middle of his very hectic day.

9. Tried to help me fix our crazy sewing machine that causes me so much anguish & time that my mom even said I would be better off hand sewing my current project.

10. Took the fussy baby the minute he walked in the door b/c he could see I was at my limit and needed a break.

11. Called to find out how "Volunteer Training" went at Patrick's school.

12. Every day he always asks me first how my day went when he calls me as he is walking out of the hotel to tell me he is on his way home.

13. Came in and turned out the lights in our bedroom, took the book out of my hands and kissed me goodnight when I was half asleep.

We survivied! The only tears were from mom in the hall after we dropped him off. It was such a relief when we went the night before for "Meet the Teacher" and we found out that a little girl from his pre-school was in his class. And then we found his table and amazingly she was seated next to him. I have to think that prayers were answered because there were only two kids from his pre-school going to his elementary, and there are four kindergarten classes, so the chances of him being with either of those two kids was extremely slim. He was eager to find his class and has come home every day telling us how much he likes kinder and all of the great things he is learning. What a blessing!

Happy Birthday

Great Gran!

This is Luna a.k.a. "the menace". She is actually very sweet, however, she has been puking up furballs since she was 1 year old. She will be 16 in December. Her good qualities are that she has never had an accident unless she was mad at you and doing it on purpose (like when we had a dog for that short period of time). She is very gentle with children, comes when you call her and never bites or hisses. She does try and scratch up our carpet and has in the last few years come to yowling 8-9 times in a row when she is desperate for attention. Having children in the house really knocked her off of her pedestal. We have tried furball laxatives, brushing her daily and she is on hairball food, but she still pukes from time to time.

13 Places I Have Cleaned Up Cat Vomit

1. the window sill
2. my shoes (the leather thing again)
3. patio chairs
4. pillow shams
5. kitchen table on placemats (again, we were out of town)
6. stack of magazines on sofa table
7. desk
8. desk chair
9. clean laundry (can't leave out for long!)
10. under the bed
11. Patrick's bedspread
12. obvious - carpet (usually right before where it meets the tile)
13. her own cat bed!

Shall we continue next week with pee & poop???

This is Scotch a.k.a. Baby Kitty. He loves to be in anything even resembling a cat bed.

13 Places Cat Hair Does Not Belong & reasons why I vacuum every other day

1. That's obvious - the bouncy seat

2. the baby's binky

3. the baby's carseat

4. the cutting board

5. my lingerie drawer

6. the shower

7. the kitchen table (after we have been out of town)

8. the glider

9. the blinds

10. clean laundry (if its sits for any small moment of time on the couch)

11. the computer keyboard

12. our shoes

13. my purse/chuck's wallet (Luna has a thing for leather)

Stay tuned for next week's post "13 places I have cleaned up cat vomit"

When a five year old takes your picture...











Happy Birthday to Me!

What a great night we had! What could be better than grilled wild Alaskan salmon, coconut sticky rice, sauteed Asian veggies and a flour less chocolate cake all prepared by my talented husband? Patrick made me a balloon animal and my presents were an Aaron Shust CD, a trashcan for my car and last but not least...a Hello Kitty stuffed animal! (I guess Chuck took me seriously when I recently asked him if we could redo our bedroom in Hello Kitty). Thanks, guys!

Daddy likes to put diapers on my head!

Sometimes we use
the 2 binky approach!

Baseball Jammies

When Patrick wore the outfit Nicholas is wearing, he was 3 1/2 months old! Nicholas is only 7 weeks in this picture.

Cucumbers, anyone???
We call Nicholas's car seat his happy seat. He talks to it and anytime he is fussy he immediately settles down when we place him in it. Daddy decided this particular night that he should hold a cucumber.