Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Kaitlyn,
Happy Birthday to you!

Four years ago today, my beautiful angel pumpkin princess Kaitlyn was born!

From the moment she came into our lives, she was the baby we didn’t know we needed to have until we had her, and then it was like “ahhhh….so that’s what we needed to be a complete family!”.   Chris, Ryan, Nathan and I fell completely in love with this tiny little girl.

It’s hard to describe Kaitlyn in just a few words. She is this bright ray of sunshine that has our family completely under her control. We are powerless to resist her adorableness, her hugs and kisses and the way she is always checking up on everyone to see what they are doing and if they are okay. She’s like a little Mommy already!

So far today, she’s requested to watch Spongebob, she wants lunch at Arby’s, and I still need to wrap her gifts- a new family for her dollhouse and the Snow White doll that comes with the little animals. She already got a cake over the weekend at my parents house,  so we’ll probably go out for ice cream after dinner.

Happy Birthday my big four year old girl! I love you bunches and bunches and bunches!

Bookmark This Post:

Related posts:

1. Happy Birthday to Me, I’m Now Forty-Three Image via Wikipedia It’s my birthday!  I’m 43 today,...
2. Looking for the Happy October begins a long, dark slide for me into...
3. Photo Post- Kaitlyn’s Special Bedtime Moments This was going to be for Wordless Wednesday, but...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I was determined that yesterday would be a FUN! DAY! OUT OF THE HOUSE!  As opposed to a typical Saturday which finds me on my computer all day while the kids play 14 bazillion hours of Rock Band, Oblivion, and Halo.

We started out in the morning heading to a nearby comic book shop for National Free Comic Book Day. Kaitlyn was in her best geek chic t-shirt, the one from ThinkGeek that reads “Come to the dark side, we have cookies-V”  The comic book store had a table set up with piles of comics, and we could each take five. I grabbed a Simpson’s comic and one from Cartoon Network. The boys scooped up Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and Darkhawk.

I wouldn’t have had to spend anything, except there was an artist there selling his own comic ($3.00) plus a really cool drawing of Hellboy ($5.00), and he was chatting with Ryan about how Ryan can learn more about how to draw and writing down his email address and the title of a book Ryan should get, PLUS he’s a blogger, so I caved in and handed over the cash.

From there we went in search of something to eat and ended up at a place called The Pita Pit. We had THE BEST pita sandwiches we had ever had. Mine was turkey,bacon, and mashed avocado with feta cheese and vinegar and oil dressing, YUM. (Three sandwiches, four drinks, $18)

We came home and did a bunch of housework, then Kaitlyn and I took a nap. When we got up, I took Ryan and Nathan plus Nathan’s friend Forrest to Maggie Moo’s for ice cream. We had never been there before. And seriously? The best dark chocolate ice cream I have EVER HAD (3 regular ice creams, one shake, a malt to take home to Chris, $25)

From Maggie Moo’s we went over to Schuler’s bookstore where I wandered around for a good hour looking for something to read.  I kept waiting for the perfect book to jump off it’s shelf and land on me.  I picked up half a dozen titles, flipped through, put them back.

I ended up buying Heather Armstrong’s “It Sucked, and then I Cried“, and when we got home, sat down and read two thirds of it without stopping.  Even though the topic of the book-her first pregnancy, how hard the morning sickness is, how hard it is to deal with the expanding body size, her relatively easy labor, and then those loooooong first few months with a newborn when you would kill someone for a few more hours of sleep- is not unique, it’s the way she writes it. Plus the book has a section of color photos of Leta as a tiny baby, SO cute (one book, $24)

So, $75.00 for one day of “fun”.  And looking at that list, I see that yes, I could have said no at the comic store, taken the kids home for PB&J,  skipped Maggie Moos and thus the bookstore.  But we had fun together too. So I think I’ll give myself a pass on the guilt today and just remember we had a fun day, albeit an expensive one.

Bookmark This Post:

Related posts:

1. Blogworthy Moments Courtesy of My Kids Just about 20 minutes ago, we were sitting at...
2. 5 Ways To Pack A Healthier Lunch School starts next Tuesday for my boys, which means...
3. Looney Tunes Kids Eating Right – Teaching Kids To Make Healthy Choices It’s hard for me to make healthy choices for...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

cross-posted from MomCooks:

Yesterday, Nestle flew me to Solon, Ohio to attend a day-long conference and roundtable discussion on the topic of Let’s Fix Dinner. This morning we started out in the Nestle Baking Kitchen meeting with Jenny from VeryBestBaking.com and eating fresh-baked cookies (YUM). Then we moved into their Culinary Center which is like a huge kitchen with grills and a wood-fire pizza oven station and people chopping and grilling and mixing.

There is Pecan-Crusted BACON, people. I am in heaven.

We’ve only been here an hour and I’ve already been reminded of just how loyal I am to the Nestle brand. I’ve mentioned before that the only acceptable chocolate chip cookie as far as my husband is concerned is ones made with Nestle Toll House Mini Morsels.

Other products made by Nestle include Carnation Condensed Milks, Libby pumpkin, Pria bars, Powerbars, and of course, CANDY. There’s a little tray sitting in front of me with mini butterfingers and nestle crunch bars.

BACON COATED IN BROWN SUGAR, ROLLED IN CRUSHED PECANS, AND BAKED. NOM NOM NOM NOM.

We’re having presentations from a psychologist, an expert on raising teens, Antonia from last season’s Top Chef, and our moderator is a famous Cleveland newscaster. Pretty cool.

I’ll be twittering regularly today with the hashtag #letsfixdinner if you want to keep an eye on those.

I NEED MOAR BACON.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/table4five/

Bookmark This Post:

Related posts:

1. Update on the Nestle Toll House Recall When I visited the Nestle Culinary Center in April,...
2. Nestle announces Libby’s pumpkin shortage Image by Pumpkin Passion via Flickr When I visited...
3. Nestle Family School Supplies Giveaway This giveaway is closed. Congratulations to the winner, comment...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

When Kaitlyn was ONE MONTH OLD, my Great-Aunt Anne took a look at her during the family Christmas party and said:

“her ears really stick out. You should tape them to her head at night to help push them back”.

This was Kaitlyn at one month old:

Her ears did  NOT stick out! Chris and I laughed it off and then when we got in the car to drive home, looked at each other and said “what the heck was she talking about?!?” We think her ears are PERFECT, thank you very much.

I want your comments on this post, please. What was the rudest thing anyone ever said to you about your parenting? Did they criticize you for not piling twelve blankets on your already-warm-enough infant? Act shocked because you were breastfeeding your 13 month old? Accuse you of starving your kids because they were skinny despite eating constantly? Let’s hear your stories!

And, to read more incredible “rude comments” stories, visit the TwitterMoms “Oh, No YOu Didn’t” Contest, sponsored by Care.com.

Bookmark This Post:

Related posts:

1. Parenting an ADD-I Kid is HARD Attention Deficit Disorder: Inattentiveness- difficulty attending or focusing on...
2. More moments from Life With Kaitlyn I am so glad I have this blog so...
3. Photos from the playground Saturday was a perfect Spring day, mid-70s and clear,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This past Sunday we visited Chris’ sister and her family at their house which is about a two hour drive away. It was our first time visiting them at their new and gorgeous house.  We had snacks, gave presents to the kids, went to dinner, it was a nice visit!

The kids were thrilled with their gifts- Ryan got the ROFLcopter t-shirt from ThinkGeek and a Nuttin’ But Stringz CD, Nathan got the Star Wars game for his Leapfrog Didj, and Kaitlyn got a cute MegaBlocks piano and a “Come to the Dark Side, We Have Cookies” shirt from ThinkGeek.  My SIL also made us a wonderful gift basket with homemade Organic Whole Wheat Banana Nut Bread, two mugs, a jar of her homemade hot cocoa mix, and two framed photos of her and Chris dancing at her wedding. I forgot to take a picture of it!  I did take photos of everyone while we were there though:

Nathan, J., and Ryan. J. doesn’t usually look so serious!

SIL, Chris, and MoMo the cat.

My brother-in-law:

Beautiful Holly the Golden Retriever. She’s a really good dog.

Kaitlyn really likes this MegaBloks piano!

My super-cute nephew “P”. Kaitlyn barely remembered him but loved playing with him (and all his toys!):

Me and my nephews, who I was going to hug whether they liked it or not:

Kaitlyn asked me several times today if we could please go back, I told her that her Aunt would love it if the next time we went, Kaitlyn was potty trained. So at the dinner table, Kaitlyn announced that we were going to see Auntie (SIL’s  name), but that she had to be potty trained first. Hey, whatever works!

Bookmark This Post:

Related posts:

1. Photos from Thanksgiving I was supposed to post these yesterday, but yesterday...
2. Family Photos Summer 2009 Chris dumped his camera card last night and I...
3. Wordless Wednesday-Family Life This Week Kaitlyn helping Chris choose which UNO card to play:...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.