Christmas Time

This was a pretty busy Christmas for us. As we battled off sickness, we attempted to visit with Grandpa, Great Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Jon and Aunt Jenn, and The Bardsley clan. We were grateful to visit with Nana and Uncle Bobby, Aunt Cassie, Uncle John, Nolan and Mazie earlier in the week during my 30th surprise birthday party. (No photos were taken- to my knowledge).

Any way, I do have a few photos from the festivities.

So, I could not keep Colin's Christmas gift a secret until Christmas and gave it to him a week early... it was a GREAT deal and he loved it! His old BBQ was pretty pathetic... rusting and falling apart.

Kellen's birthday party was the Saturday before Christmas, and we sang to him and then he blew out the candles on his cake (his favorite part).

 

His cake didn't taste so bad either :-)

Christmas Eve-Eve we headed to San Diego. We watched/sang Karaoke, we saw Santa (Woody) and Kellen got his first Christmas gift!

Christmas Eve we headed to the annual Baptista party and ate BBQ turkey and hung out with the cousins. I don't seem to have any photos from this either. :-(

Christmas morning however, I have a TON of photos. If any of you know me, the last year my poor camera has been under the weather missing the side panel because the screws fell out and got lost. Well, all I have to do is get new screws, but they don't make it easy to do this. The camera still works (really well), but Colin was fed up, so he got me a new one for Christmas. It came with a case, so it won't get damaged. I got some great gifts... but watching Kellen enjoy Christmas is always the best part. 

This was the first year Kellen seemed to enjoy himself while opening his presents (at least after he got over his horrific grumpy morning... was kinda weird. Here are some pics and a video of his Christmas morning adventures.

New sippy cup from Nana and Papa... we put it in with the Santa gifts because it matched. :-)

Next we headed to Grandma Shelley's house to open some more gifts.

Kellen is in love with everything Veggie Tales, Uncle Tymon and Aunt Brittani got him a coloring book with crayons!

Olivia opened her gift from aunt Haley with Uncle Colin.

Kellen was in desperate need of a nap by the end of that visit, so we headed home to nap and then went to Grandma and Grandpa B's house to visit with them and Uncle Kenny, Aunt Jenny, Laura and Josh.

Kellen and Olivia were chasing each other around the living room! It was really cute.

Watching Polar Express with cousin Josh.

Daddy and Uncle Kenny wanted to watch too!

Both the kiddos were ready to sleep on the way home in their PJ's. Here is a really cute one of Olivia.

Today I tried to put Kellen's new slippers from Nana on his feet. They tie up, so I don't think he can get them off without some real effort. For whatever reason he doesn't like to keep slippers on, and he has a few pretty cool pair. I was able to snag a picture before nap time, and I think they may still be on his feet.

So, after all the traveling, sickness, and CRAZINESS that this holiday has brought, we are all ready for NAPS!! And 2011...

CAR FOR SALE

Hey Everyone!!
We are actually trying to sell our car for reals now. Here are some photos followed by some details.

 Side view... 4 brand new tires

 Front view

Drivers side door

CD player, AC/Heat controls, Auxillary plug

Center console

Arm rest, with additional storage

Drivers view of the back when turn around

Middle set of seats, they recline and fold forward

Odometer, almost 56,000 miles

Back of car

Seats up

Seats down

Front/side view

This car seats 8 people. We purchased it from Carmax in 2009. All of its scheduled maintance has been completed, and again the tires are about 2 weeks old, and the alingment was just done. We are asking $22,500 OBO

If you know of anyone that is interested in purchasing please email:

Mindieg@gmail.com

Our First Mud Run

Last weekend, Colin and I participated in the Gladiator Mud Run in Lake Elsinore. It was a 3 mile run with muddy obstacles to tackle. It was really fun. We dressed up in old Murrieta Valley Cross Country uniforms- didn't really matter if those got dirty, there are a million of them and we are trying to get rid of them any way. Colin looked pretty hot in his little outfit if I might add. :-) There were 12 "obstacles" some included jumping over things while others required you to go through mud. We had mixed reviews from veteran runners, but we had a pretty good time and we got nice and dirty... here are some photos.

We are still nice and clean, Renee took a picture of us before we headed out to the race. Thank you so much Renee for taking pictures and for watching our little kid!! He will love you forever because you gave him his first snow cone!!!

Kellen enjoyed playing in the rocks before the race in the little amount of shade we could find... behind the BBQ pork tent!

"It's hot, let's get this race started already!" Kellen was patiently waiting for us to get going.

Cheese! Two minutes to race time!! One last final clean photo... even though we were already sweating a lot.

 You couldn't see much of the race except the end, here we come approaching the last mud pit!!

 Oh yeah, I pass this girl... Colin was right next to me! The mud was kinda warm... gross.

 I'm pretty sure this is where Colin said he was trying to breath and got mud and dirt all over his teeth! Ewee!

Coming down to the finish... I haven't seen any pictures on the website, but this was pretty sweet looking. 

 Yummy, mud all down my arms... or at least part of them. Kinda weird how that happened.

Just finishing the race... yay we made it!! It's hot out here! Where do we go now??

Muddy kisses! And I'm pretty sure his face was nice and sweaty too.

Our first completed muddy race... where do we clean off??

Another month gone by...

It's amazing to me how fast the time seems to go by. Yet, some days seem like they never end. Kellen is now only 3 months shy of his 2nd birthday. He continues to shower us with his many talents... he seems very aware of his surroundings. He points out everything; the moon, cars, trucks (trash man in particular), water, slides, etc. However, his ultimate favorite is still LIGHTS!!! He will not hesitate to scream it with excitement when he comes upon them and they do not have to be outside at night time, they can be in the house too. Nana just gave Kellen a little monster truck with tires that light up when you push a button. He will go into the bathroom and close the door so he can see the lights shine bright on the tires.

I never thought having a kid would make me more friendly, however we are very adamant about Kellen being polite and saying hello to people (as well as saying please and thank you of course) and well, he makes sure to say hello to everyone! We go to the park in our complex almost daily to burn some toddler energy and whenever there is another kiddo (or adult along the way) Kellen makes sure that he says hello to them all! He made 3 new friends tonight at the park (5 if you include parents, and 7 if you include the neighbor walking her dog).

Kellen is fascinated with the dish washer as well. He will watch me unload the dishes and put them away. He has started removing items one at a time and handing them to me. He will grab a cup, walk over to me and say, "here," and then go back to the dish washer to get more. Colin decided it would be a fun idea to show him how we use the dishwasher one day. He even showed him which button starts the dishwasher, and now if we aren't careful, Kellen will start the dishwasher and wash the same set of dishes several times!

The hardest part right now about having a toddler is the inability for him to always communicate with us. He gets upset when we can't figure out what he needs and of course the tantrums begin. We've found that if we change his attention to something else he usually calms down.

We have been bouncing the idea back and forth several times as to whether or not we want another kiddo one day, we know it will eventually happen probably. However, for now, we are happy with enjoying our little man.

20 Months Old Already

Time seems to be flying these days. Here is the most recent video of our big boy with a whole bunch of food in his mouth!! Black beans and biscuits... pretty sure that was a left-over night dinner. Thankfully the boys don't seem to care!

After dinner we cleaned him up and he proceeded to run around the house in just a diaper. I was able to snag him for a moment and after several pictures we got a smile!

Even though he's had SEVERAL hair cuts, this kid doesn't particularly enjoy the trims these days. I've tried giving him snacks, entertaining him with the blow dryer (his favorite) having him look in the mirror etc. I think he just doesn't like the actual salon, too much going on and it distracts him. I think the next attempt will have to be at our stylists house... in the mean time he has so much hair it allows us to do things with it like the picture below!

It has been so hot outside during the day that sometimes we lack creativity in finding things for him to do. When the playground in our condo complex isn't hot to the touch he enjoys the slides and at church he plays with the kids on the slide too. Sometimes we watch an occasional children's video. His favorite is "Finding Nemo, and Walle." He also enjoys an occasional "Veggie Tales," courtesy of Netflix. Here he is watching "Nemo or as he says it, 'Memo and Dorie.'"

Ahhh yes, driving. Kellen would sit in the car for hours a day and pretend to drive if we would let him. Not only does he LOVE to drive he loves to push ALL the buttons in the car and even the hazard lights! Here he is sitting in the car at camp after our Cross Country kids ran up Killer Peak. The Varsity girls all had "Toy Story" themed shirts with temporary tattoos. They gave one to Kellen to wear and he sported his MV pride by wearing an old racing singlet courtesy of Bethany Bilton (his babysitter).

This final video is of Kellen trying to look in the mirror at himself. It was so cute I just had to tape it. He kept giggling when he would see himself in the mirror. So easily entertained, I love it!

Now that Colin has started back to school, Kellen and I hang out all day every day. :-) Nolan still joins us on Wednesdays. He is such a great boy, we are truly blessed to have him in our lives and are thankful that God has allowed us to be his parents. We constantly pray for him and his daily journeys. Hope you enjoyed the new pictures!