Again, I'm late with this post, but atleast I got to it before she turned 5!!
On Friday, October 9 our baby girl turned 4!! It is so hard to believe that it has been 4 wonderful years since she was born. She is honeslty the most beautiful, precious little girl that we could have ever hoped to have. In our opinion she is brilliant, she is kind, gentle, caring, compassionate, loving, and most important of all she is HAPPY and HEALTHY!!
She started going to preschool in mid-September. It is perfect for her. She is excelling so much, it's amazing the amount of information that she has taken in, in just a few weeks time. Just in time for her birthday she memorized two poems, really the same poem, but two different versions. She recited them for us on her birthday, they are as follows:
"In September
For a while
I will ride a crocodile
Down the chicken soupy Nile.
Paddle once,
Paddle twice,
Paddle chicken soup with rice!!"
"In October,
I'll be host
To witches, goblins
And a ghost.
Whoope once,
Whoopy twice,
Whoopy chicken soup with rice."
Since her birthday fell on a school day we baked her a batch of sugar cookies to take and share with her classmates. She also got a birthday crown that she got to wear, and she hardly took it off the whole weekend! That night for dinner we took her to one of her favorite places for dinner, Mc Robins (Red Robin for those of us who don't speak toddler-ese). The sang to her and gave her a free ice cream treat in honor of her special day.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Labor Day Camping
Better Late Than Never...I always say, and so thats what this post and a few more will be!
As promised, we went camping over Labor Day weekend. It was a beautiful weekend, pretty much dry the whole time until the morning we were packing up. We spent some time at the beach. Katie decided once and for all that she was brave enough to go down the water slide on her own. As many of our trips seem to, we had family with us, Dans mom and sister. It was the first time we had slept 5 people in the camper, and while it probably wasn't the ideal situation, it wasn't too bad either. (I definitely see a bigger pop-up in our future, we're just not ready for a big trailer yet, a pop-up suits us just fine!!)
Anyhow, it was a great trip, once I actually get around to syncing the phone and camera with the computer I'll post some pics of our summer adventures.
More posts to follow!!
As promised, we went camping over Labor Day weekend. It was a beautiful weekend, pretty much dry the whole time until the morning we were packing up. We spent some time at the beach. Katie decided once and for all that she was brave enough to go down the water slide on her own. As many of our trips seem to, we had family with us, Dans mom and sister. It was the first time we had slept 5 people in the camper, and while it probably wasn't the ideal situation, it wasn't too bad either. (I definitely see a bigger pop-up in our future, we're just not ready for a big trailer yet, a pop-up suits us just fine!!)
Anyhow, it was a great trip, once I actually get around to syncing the phone and camera with the computer I'll post some pics of our summer adventures.
More posts to follow!!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Family
My parents are in town for a week, from last Wednesday to this coming Wednesday. Katie is floating with the clouds. To her there is simply no one in this world better than Grandma and Papa. It is a special thing to see her face, and my parents faces, light up each time they see each other. They stayed at a friends house for the last few nights, and helped them with there garage sale. Katie spent Friday and Saturday over there with them, and quite simply had the time of her life.
Family is a great thing. We miss my parent, they moved to Florida when they retired, but as we have learned quickly, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and each visit now contains a hugely special memory that we can cherish.
We are going to dinner in Mexican Town with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, my aunt and uncle, there son and his wife, another of there sons and my Grandma (or Nana as we call her.) My aunt and uncle and cousins all live in Canada, and Nana lives in Florida, not to far from my parents, so we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like. I plan on taking lots of pictures today, and I'll post them once I get them developed.
Family is a great thing. We miss my parent, they moved to Florida when they retired, but as we have learned quickly, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and each visit now contains a hugely special memory that we can cherish.
We are going to dinner in Mexican Town with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, my aunt and uncle, there son and his wife, another of there sons and my Grandma (or Nana as we call her.) My aunt and uncle and cousins all live in Canada, and Nana lives in Florida, not to far from my parents, so we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like. I plan on taking lots of pictures today, and I'll post them once I get them developed.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Camping
I thought that it would be fun to post about all the camping trips that we have taken, and from here on out I plan to blog about each individual trip. The memories we are making are great and will be remembered forever.
Our first camping trip as a family was June 29, 2008 to July 4, 2008, at the Monroe/Toledo KOA. We took Katie and her cousin Aurora both on their first camping trips and we had a blast. Since this was our first trip together it was also our first trip in our new tent that we spent weeks and weeks shopping for. We got an 8 person tent from Target and we love it. It's mostly blue with some gray and a few orange accents. It has a small screen room on the front that is perfect for storing things in and relaxing under the night sky after the kids go to bed. We had a screen room with us that we had gotten for Dan's dad for Christmas. It was great to have a bug free place to sit for meals and cook under. We did a lot of swimming and playing on the beach, plus we did som art projects with the finger paints and crayola magic marker things we had brought along. We had a little bit of rain one day so we made a trip a few miles up the road to Cabelas and spent a day at the 'inside zoo'. Later in the week we took a trip a few miles to the south and spent the day at the Toledo Zoo, which is amazing and we HIGHLY recommend. The trip was a huge success and we look forward to many more trips in the future.
Our second Camping trip was over Labor Day weekend, 2008, again at the KOA, for 3 nights. This time it was the 3 of us and Dan's mom and sister, and our dog Yoshi. By this time we had managed to find a screen room of our own but still had to borrow a second tent from Dan's dad for his mom and sister to use. Again, we spent a lot of time at the lake/beach and we also took Katie's new fishing pole down to the fishing lake, we didn't catch anything, but it was fun. Again, the trip was a lot of fun, it was our last trip for the year, but the plans for 2009 are HUGE!!
Our first trip of 2009 was May 8-10, again at the KOA. We again took Aurora along with us, and we were joined for the weekend by our friends Stef and Scott and their son Hunter. Dan's mom and sister looked after the dogs and cat. We had bought another tent as we always seem to have extra people with us, while it was a roomy tent and it kept us dry it simply did not live up to our expectations and was returned as soon as we got home. It was pretty early in the season, and it was still pretty chilly but we had a blast!! Before the trip we had picked up a few new camping games, we got ladder ball and horse shoes, and we got an automatic bubble machine, all of which kept the kid entertained for HOURS!! We took another trip to Cabelas, had a blast, took lots of pictures. We were sad to go, but knew we would be returning soon.
May 22-25, we are KOA bound again. Dan's mom and sister joined us again, as did Aurora who had been with us for almost two weeks at this point as her family was in the process of moving and welcoming her new little brother to the world. Dan's dad watched both of the dogs for the weekend. We had purchased another new tent by this point and we were excited to try it out. Katie stayed in the tent with Dan's mom and sister, and Dan and I had the new tent all to our selves. It was a fun weekend, but it came to an end too soon.
This is going to be a busy camping season!! Outing # 3 occurs during the weekend of June 18-21, again with the KOA, can you tell we like it?? It was a celebreation of sorts, as I had just finished the classroom portion of my education to become a Medical Assistant. We are accompanied by a large crowd this weekend. It's us, my aunt Dar, our friends Stef & Scott, there son Hunter, and Scotts brother, his wife and his two kids. We also have a few day time only visitors. There is one other HUGE difference to this trip. We are no longer tent camping, we have purchased a new to us pop-up camper and are pretty excited to take it on its maidan voyage. The weekend was great, lots of swimming, eating and relaxing by the fire. There was a scary moment though, Katie and Hunter were hanging out in Stef and Scotts camper watching a movie, and in a moment of craziness managed to lock themselves and the keys inside of the camper, with all of the adults on the outside, they couldn't figure out how to unlock the lock that they had just locked, so it took a lot of talking, and a frantic call home to locate an extra set of keys, before we were able to walk Katie through opening the emergency exit window and passing the keys through so that we could let them out. Katie was really happy to be out of the camper, but I was so proud of her, she kept her calm and pulled through in a really nerve wracking situation, she's turning in to such a big girl!!
Trip # 4, 4th of July weekend, again, at the KOA. This time we have Dar with us, and my cousin Anne and her son Aidan. Another great trip, made even better by the fact that the campground put on a SPECTACULAR fireworks show to celebrate our nations independence. The campground had a bunch of activities planned for the weekend, including red white and blue tie dye, which we opted to participate in. We did a lot of swimming and eating again, along with many hours spent around the campfire. A great weekend!!
Trip # 5, July 31-August 2, a rare treat, Dan and I are alone on this trip, Katie is spending the weekend at my aunts house. We have also ventured to a new ccampground, precisely 6 miles down the road from the KOA we usually go to. We did a whole lot of nothing, honestly. We took the flat screen tv with us, and the xbox 360. We hunkered down inside the camper and really only left to walk to the bathroom. We watched movies, we slept in late, we relaxed. We celebrated me being done with school for good. It was one of the best weekends I've ever had, sure we missed Katie, but we also really enjoyed the adult only time.
We have two more trips planned for the year. One for Labor Day weekend and one for a weekend in October. Both will take place at our regular spot, the KOA. I'll blog about each adventure after we return home. Next year we plan on going once a month, from April to October, then for the 3 summer holidays, those early month will be easier with the handy little furnace that our camper houses, great little thing this pop-up of ours is, so glad we got it, it will probably be with us for many years to come (although I can't promise that, as a slightly bigger one would also be more than welcome!!).
To anyone reading this I say, go camping, you will make some of the best memories ever! If you have young kids you will have a new favorite family activity, if your kids are older, get them started now. Some of my best memories from my child hood are of us camping even after we upgraded to a huge motor home, the fact was that we were there together, and the burdens and stresses of every day life were not, if only for a few days. Katie LOVES camping, and I hope she will for the rest of her life, we plan to do as much to influence that as possible!!
Our first camping trip as a family was June 29, 2008 to July 4, 2008, at the Monroe/Toledo KOA. We took Katie and her cousin Aurora both on their first camping trips and we had a blast. Since this was our first trip together it was also our first trip in our new tent that we spent weeks and weeks shopping for. We got an 8 person tent from Target and we love it. It's mostly blue with some gray and a few orange accents. It has a small screen room on the front that is perfect for storing things in and relaxing under the night sky after the kids go to bed. We had a screen room with us that we had gotten for Dan's dad for Christmas. It was great to have a bug free place to sit for meals and cook under. We did a lot of swimming and playing on the beach, plus we did som art projects with the finger paints and crayola magic marker things we had brought along. We had a little bit of rain one day so we made a trip a few miles up the road to Cabelas and spent a day at the 'inside zoo'. Later in the week we took a trip a few miles to the south and spent the day at the Toledo Zoo, which is amazing and we HIGHLY recommend. The trip was a huge success and we look forward to many more trips in the future.
Our second Camping trip was over Labor Day weekend, 2008, again at the KOA, for 3 nights. This time it was the 3 of us and Dan's mom and sister, and our dog Yoshi. By this time we had managed to find a screen room of our own but still had to borrow a second tent from Dan's dad for his mom and sister to use. Again, we spent a lot of time at the lake/beach and we also took Katie's new fishing pole down to the fishing lake, we didn't catch anything, but it was fun. Again, the trip was a lot of fun, it was our last trip for the year, but the plans for 2009 are HUGE!!
Our first trip of 2009 was May 8-10, again at the KOA. We again took Aurora along with us, and we were joined for the weekend by our friends Stef and Scott and their son Hunter. Dan's mom and sister looked after the dogs and cat. We had bought another tent as we always seem to have extra people with us, while it was a roomy tent and it kept us dry it simply did not live up to our expectations and was returned as soon as we got home. It was pretty early in the season, and it was still pretty chilly but we had a blast!! Before the trip we had picked up a few new camping games, we got ladder ball and horse shoes, and we got an automatic bubble machine, all of which kept the kid entertained for HOURS!! We took another trip to Cabelas, had a blast, took lots of pictures. We were sad to go, but knew we would be returning soon.
May 22-25, we are KOA bound again. Dan's mom and sister joined us again, as did Aurora who had been with us for almost two weeks at this point as her family was in the process of moving and welcoming her new little brother to the world. Dan's dad watched both of the dogs for the weekend. We had purchased another new tent by this point and we were excited to try it out. Katie stayed in the tent with Dan's mom and sister, and Dan and I had the new tent all to our selves. It was a fun weekend, but it came to an end too soon.
This is going to be a busy camping season!! Outing # 3 occurs during the weekend of June 18-21, again with the KOA, can you tell we like it?? It was a celebreation of sorts, as I had just finished the classroom portion of my education to become a Medical Assistant. We are accompanied by a large crowd this weekend. It's us, my aunt Dar, our friends Stef & Scott, there son Hunter, and Scotts brother, his wife and his two kids. We also have a few day time only visitors. There is one other HUGE difference to this trip. We are no longer tent camping, we have purchased a new to us pop-up camper and are pretty excited to take it on its maidan voyage. The weekend was great, lots of swimming, eating and relaxing by the fire. There was a scary moment though, Katie and Hunter were hanging out in Stef and Scotts camper watching a movie, and in a moment of craziness managed to lock themselves and the keys inside of the camper, with all of the adults on the outside, they couldn't figure out how to unlock the lock that they had just locked, so it took a lot of talking, and a frantic call home to locate an extra set of keys, before we were able to walk Katie through opening the emergency exit window and passing the keys through so that we could let them out. Katie was really happy to be out of the camper, but I was so proud of her, she kept her calm and pulled through in a really nerve wracking situation, she's turning in to such a big girl!!
Trip # 4, 4th of July weekend, again, at the KOA. This time we have Dar with us, and my cousin Anne and her son Aidan. Another great trip, made even better by the fact that the campground put on a SPECTACULAR fireworks show to celebrate our nations independence. The campground had a bunch of activities planned for the weekend, including red white and blue tie dye, which we opted to participate in. We did a lot of swimming and eating again, along with many hours spent around the campfire. A great weekend!!
Trip # 5, July 31-August 2, a rare treat, Dan and I are alone on this trip, Katie is spending the weekend at my aunts house. We have also ventured to a new ccampground, precisely 6 miles down the road from the KOA we usually go to. We did a whole lot of nothing, honestly. We took the flat screen tv with us, and the xbox 360. We hunkered down inside the camper and really only left to walk to the bathroom. We watched movies, we slept in late, we relaxed. We celebrated me being done with school for good. It was one of the best weekends I've ever had, sure we missed Katie, but we also really enjoyed the adult only time.
We have two more trips planned for the year. One for Labor Day weekend and one for a weekend in October. Both will take place at our regular spot, the KOA. I'll blog about each adventure after we return home. Next year we plan on going once a month, from April to October, then for the 3 summer holidays, those early month will be easier with the handy little furnace that our camper houses, great little thing this pop-up of ours is, so glad we got it, it will probably be with us for many years to come (although I can't promise that, as a slightly bigger one would also be more than welcome!!).
To anyone reading this I say, go camping, you will make some of the best memories ever! If you have young kids you will have a new favorite family activity, if your kids are older, get them started now. Some of my best memories from my child hood are of us camping even after we upgraded to a huge motor home, the fact was that we were there together, and the burdens and stresses of every day life were not, if only for a few days. Katie LOVES camping, and I hope she will for the rest of her life, we plan to do as much to influence that as possible!!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Happy Anniversary
Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband Dan. We have been married 3 years today, and it has been a GREAT 3 years.
We both had to work today, and he's not home yet, but we're hoping that we can drop Katie off at his moms or a while and go out to a nice quiet dinner or something. We'll see....
Friday, June 12, 2009
I'm back!!
Has it really been over a month since I posted last? I've had grand plans to post, but it appears that I've not followed through with those plans at all.
It has been an incredibly crazy month and we have been VERY busy. We have been camping twice already this season, and Katie and I have been to Florida, I returned after a few days, she is still there, for 8 additional days. She is having a blast with Grandma and Papa, they've been swimming, to the zoo, shopping, out on the boat, gardening and lots of other things. We talk to her everyday, and she misses us, but not enough that she wants to come home right this minute as opposed to staying there.
We are going camping again next weekend, to celebrate my graduating from Medical Assistant school. It has been a fast, yet still long, 7 months, and I'm technically not done, but I will no longer have to go to work during the day and then class at night. Instead, I will be working 30 hours a week at my externship site and as needed at my job until I have completed the required 180 hours. I am looking forward to being home with Dan and Katie again in the evening, cooking them dinner.
About my externship. I've been honored with the opportunity to do my externship at the Universtiy of Michigan Brighton Health Center. I'm not usually one to brag or boast too much about myself, but only the best students in the school are offered U of M externships, so I'm incredibly glad to have the opportunity. Having U of M on my resume will make a huge difference in the career opportunities that are available to me in the future, and I hope to some day have a job at one of the many U of M locations in the area. Over the next 6 weeks I will be getting real life, hands on experience and I am looking forward to it! I will be hoping to learn and absorb as much as possible so that I can apply it having a succesful career.
Daniel and I will be celebrating our 3 year anniversary in a few weeks. It's hard to believe it's been 3 years already. They have been great, and I'm looking forward to the next 3 years and beyond!
We've made a lot of fun changes around the house lately, I'll post pictures in a few days. The biggest change is that our entire house has been resided. We've also done some pretty major gardening and we completely moved Katie's bedroom, to an entirely different room.
Check back for more later!!
It has been an incredibly crazy month and we have been VERY busy. We have been camping twice already this season, and Katie and I have been to Florida, I returned after a few days, she is still there, for 8 additional days. She is having a blast with Grandma and Papa, they've been swimming, to the zoo, shopping, out on the boat, gardening and lots of other things. We talk to her everyday, and she misses us, but not enough that she wants to come home right this minute as opposed to staying there.
We are going camping again next weekend, to celebrate my graduating from Medical Assistant school. It has been a fast, yet still long, 7 months, and I'm technically not done, but I will no longer have to go to work during the day and then class at night. Instead, I will be working 30 hours a week at my externship site and as needed at my job until I have completed the required 180 hours. I am looking forward to being home with Dan and Katie again in the evening, cooking them dinner.
About my externship. I've been honored with the opportunity to do my externship at the Universtiy of Michigan Brighton Health Center. I'm not usually one to brag or boast too much about myself, but only the best students in the school are offered U of M externships, so I'm incredibly glad to have the opportunity. Having U of M on my resume will make a huge difference in the career opportunities that are available to me in the future, and I hope to some day have a job at one of the many U of M locations in the area. Over the next 6 weeks I will be getting real life, hands on experience and I am looking forward to it! I will be hoping to learn and absorb as much as possible so that I can apply it having a succesful career.
Daniel and I will be celebrating our 3 year anniversary in a few weeks. It's hard to believe it's been 3 years already. They have been great, and I'm looking forward to the next 3 years and beyond!
We've made a lot of fun changes around the house lately, I'll post pictures in a few days. The biggest change is that our entire house has been resided. We've also done some pretty major gardening and we completely moved Katie's bedroom, to an entirely different room.
Check back for more later!!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Checking in!
Wow! I can't believe it's been 6 weeks since I posted last! The last 6 weeks have been crazy, to say the least. I have been working and going to school, full time, Dan has been working full time, and Katie has been spending the day at the sitters.
My parents were in town for a little over 2 weeks while my dad had some doctors appointments. It was great to see them and visit with them. They took Katie to her last 2 gymnastics classes, which worked out nicely since the initial round of classes she took was a Christmas gift from them. They also joined us for one Saturday at her swim classes.
The weather here was beautiful today, we topped out around 84 or 85 degrees. That's really unseasonably warm for us here, but we'll take it any day over the possibility of snow!! Not to mention the fact that us Whitney's LOVE the warm weather, I can't really speak for any of the other Whitney family members, but the 3 of us here in this house do! In celebration of the great weather we bought a new tree and some flowers for our yard, which we will spend most of the day tomorrow planting. Katie was also FINALLY allowed to get her bounce house out. She spent about 5 hours in it today alone! I'm sure she'll sleep GREAT tonight!
What else? Well, a few weeks ago we got Katie 3 fish, the two littlest ones didn't last the week, but the big one is still going strong. Our newest puppy Cocoa is doing much better, the mange appears to be completely gone, and the skin infection has healed nicely, now we just need to work on getting her to gain some more weight then we'll be able to get her fixed. It has become quite evident as she has aged that she is not all lab, it looks like she's half lab half boxer. She's really quite small for a lab which should have been a dead give away, but she is quite beautiful and is VERY friendly! Yoshi is still as crazy and cute as ever, and George the girl kitty is still quite mischevious!
I have quite a bit more to post, but it will have to wait until another day as I'm preactically falling asleep here at the computer!
My parents were in town for a little over 2 weeks while my dad had some doctors appointments. It was great to see them and visit with them. They took Katie to her last 2 gymnastics classes, which worked out nicely since the initial round of classes she took was a Christmas gift from them. They also joined us for one Saturday at her swim classes.
The weather here was beautiful today, we topped out around 84 or 85 degrees. That's really unseasonably warm for us here, but we'll take it any day over the possibility of snow!! Not to mention the fact that us Whitney's LOVE the warm weather, I can't really speak for any of the other Whitney family members, but the 3 of us here in this house do! In celebration of the great weather we bought a new tree and some flowers for our yard, which we will spend most of the day tomorrow planting. Katie was also FINALLY allowed to get her bounce house out. She spent about 5 hours in it today alone! I'm sure she'll sleep GREAT tonight!
What else? Well, a few weeks ago we got Katie 3 fish, the two littlest ones didn't last the week, but the big one is still going strong. Our newest puppy Cocoa is doing much better, the mange appears to be completely gone, and the skin infection has healed nicely, now we just need to work on getting her to gain some more weight then we'll be able to get her fixed. It has become quite evident as she has aged that she is not all lab, it looks like she's half lab half boxer. She's really quite small for a lab which should have been a dead give away, but she is quite beautiful and is VERY friendly! Yoshi is still as crazy and cute as ever, and George the girl kitty is still quite mischevious!
I have quite a bit more to post, but it will have to wait until another day as I'm preactically falling asleep here at the computer!
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