Author Archives: LA

Mixing it up

Well we’re still doing gymnastics but only have 2 more weeks which is bitter sweet. Its been like a roller coaster because we’ve had lows with Kirra not listening, and highs when she’s mastered new skills… Now that we’re doing the Tiny Twisters 1 I’ve realized we’re paying $130 to jump on the trampoline…. Because that is Kirra’s favorite part… Jason and I don’t feel that Kirra is ready to go back to the 2nd level so when this class is over I’m not going to sign her up for this right away again… We feel like at this time its just not the best fit for Kirra. She’s a bit more timid of a gal… and is scared of heights, and balance beams etc… Well I took a few pictures today… enjoy!
On the trampoline

Jumping really high!

Crawling in the blocks

On the uneven bars

Somersault

Beam Circut

Humpty Dumpty game

Slide into the blocks

I looked thru the ECFE catalog to see what (cheaper) activities we can do, and they have a Tiny Tot dance class starting up in November,and that’s only $25! So we’ll do that, and see how that goes… Its all on the floor, and Kirra likes to dance… so hopefully it’ll be a good fit for her!
I started to DVR a new show on TLC called Sister Wives and it makes me sick… yet I’ve watched 4 episodes back to back… what does that say about me? Haha… I really really don’t understand polygamist marriage. I’m glad I’m not in that culture though… In one scene one of the wives 5 daughters were playing barbies.. and they had 1 ken.. and 4 barbies.. and the kids named the barbies all the wives names, and the person playing ken took turns kissing that various barbies… It was kind of ____ – what are they teaching these kids? I was really jealous of their barbie house though… I need to make one!!!
Off to read! Adieu.

Kids Place Live!

So with my Rouge we got 3 months of Satellite radio for free…and there is a station on there for younger children with various silly songs, movie theme songs, and more. Well Kirra’s favorite song by far is “Move it Move it” from Madagascar. I’ve never seen it but may surprise Kirra with it for her birthday…. and the “Hamster Dance”, which we heard today. Kirra gets her fists pumping, and her jam on in the back seat like she’s at a disco! Too Cute!!!!

I Like to Move it!

Happy October Days…

What a great weekend we had! Friday night Jason celebrated his birthday and played poker and Kirra and I had a mommy and me shopping spree. Ok.. ok, it was more like a ME shopping spree, but it was great. I got lots of new shirts, and three new pairs of jeans, in my pre-pregnant size! (Can I get a Woot Woot).

Saturday Kirra and I woke up early and went to our MUMs 3 year old birthday party at a family farm down the road… it was so much fun. They got to pet animals, we went on a hayride,had cupcakes, and opened presents. Kirra got a ballerina barbie and she will not put it down! (Too cute!) There are photos on the home page.
We came home took naps and then went out to the Outback Steakhouse for Jason’s birthday dinner with my folks and his. We all had perfectly delicious steak, and then headed back to my folks for cocktails… (well they did… I was sober driver).
Today was another early day, Kirra and I went to the new campus at church and I volunteered,so we were there for a while. After that we headed over to Wisconsin to see Miah & Amillie’s new house. It is GORGEOUS! I told Jason we ought to move over to Wisconsin, because you get way more house and land for your buck!
I think I found a new love tonight! Tazo Chai Tea with milk (Chai Tea Latte) soooo good! It is the perfect evening snacker! I love practically all of the Tazo teas… I’m trying to keep off the pop and junk food, so tea is my new…thing at night. With the exception of Saturday I haven’t had any pop since Monday. Here is to another week with no pop!
Until next time I bid you adieu!

And now that I’ve had some sleep….

I feel like I haven’t blogged in so long! In reality, its only been just over a week, but for a while I was pretty good about keeping everyone up to date on the happenings in our residence.

Last week was the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon and related weekend events. Kirra did the Toddler Trot and had a blast, except that she wanted to keep running past the 50 yards… so I think next year I will enter her in the half mile….
It all went off without a hitch, and in my four years there, was the most fun, and relaxed. I was better prepared administratively, and had full time “temp office” support this year which was amazingly helpful, and I got to shake things up with a new race day job that I absolutely loved! I was out on the course this year / vs. the finish line, so I feel like I experienced the marathon a little more. It was amazing to see some peoples determination when they fell back to the pace vehicles, and then fought their way to finish ahead of us.
After the marathon weekend we’ve gotten to sleep in an extra half hour each day or so this week, so that’s been nice, especially since Kirra has been a night owl lately and not wanting to go to bed on time. Lately its been 9pm or so, and then she moves like molases in the morning!
We had gymnastics again at 5:30 on Monday, and Kirra did NOT have her listening ears, or her “big eyes” on as well as the week before. She was wanting to go on equipment that wasn’t part of our class, and was nervous about some of the “tricks” we were doing…. well since our class “technically” started on Labor Day, and they were closed – we got a make up slip, so we visited the class below Kirra’s this past Wednesday (10/6) at 6:30pm which isn’t as structured, and is more like free play, and let me tell you!!! Kirra and I had way more fun! I talked to the instructor, and she said we can just switch over, and there are lots of 3 y/o that are still in the first level and to just go and have fun! So now we’re in Tiny Twisters 1.
Tomorrow is Jason’s birthday – 29~ so we’ll be the same age for a few months!! We’re going to go to the Outback for dinner, so that should be nice, and I think Jason is going to work on the basement! Which will be great. I can’t wait until the living room is done down here!
Well that’s all I have for right now…. 🙂

Mommy help her!!!!!

Miss “sass-a-frass” has come full circle, and although still in its early phases, I see great potential for a very lippy girl!

Lately its just been incessant whining, and I can’t stand whining. Its like nails on a chalkboard. My dogs a whiner too… I know…. i’m the common denominator right? No… the dog whines for no reason, and Kirra gets so emotional over the smallest things!
Tonight for example, it started out just fine. We came home, let Tyler out, and then put Dora on and had a snack. While watching Dora she wants to know where her baby is… so I said, my room, on my bed… so she walks in the room and was like, waaaa where’s my baby? I said, Its on my bed… she goes back in, and cries she’s not in your bed… and starts to whine… i want my baby….. so I go in my room and plain as day, baby is on my bed….. we go back to the couch where she gathers her “baby supplies”.
She started hyperventilating because she was so distraught about something with her baby. She swaddled her baby doll (which mind you somehow she actually swaddles her baby right, and could probably go head to head with any L&D nurse…I digress)
…and then all the sudden started bawling her eyes out and crying, “help her, help her”. It sounded like a mother who was desperate to get her baby some help… so I said what do you want me to do? And she just starts screaming…. maaaaaammmmaaaaaa, do something… Now she is just sobbing……So i un-swaddle the baby, and Kirra sobs, noooooo she’s going to get cold… so then I start laughing because now she’s just funny…. but then I realize she’s so upset…. she starts to hyperventilate….. so I put the blanket back on the baby, and she just flips out… and says noooooooooo……. now i’m getting irritated so I picked Kirra up and brought her to her room with the baby, and told her she can come out later if she wants…. I went back to the living room and was like, OMG, this is my life…
So I turned on Days of our Lives…. and hung out by myself with my cats… who are not emotionally crazy….
About 10 minutes later she came out and said she was sorry and that she wants to be a good girl. And that was about that…. the rest of the night was just fine.
…..And these are the days of my life….

Operation Tango November

Went to dinner last night with Jason and my co-workers… We went to a very tasty Greek restaurant, and we both enjoyed our dinners very very much. Jason and I decided that we’re going to start exploring little mom and pop shop eateries and expand our culinary horizons.
I took Kirra to gymnastics today. Kirra did ok, but didn’t really want to participate with the group, she wanted to do her own thing…She wouldn’t sit in the circle, or line up so that was frustrating on my end, while everyone else’s angelic children behaved perfectly. Then there is this one girl in Kirra’s class who practically IS Shannon Miller, and I think she is younger than Kirra.
I’m guessing she’s done the class before. I polled the other moms and it appears that Kirra is the only one in her class who has never done gymnastics before, and the other kids have been doing it since they were 16 months old. It kind of gave me a complex… but i must not fear, or get too worried that Kirra isn’t doing perfect “starfish” on trampoline, or seat drops. Its just sometimes hard not to compare when its screaming in your face.
Well I will get my revenge this weekend when Kirra wins her age group in the toddler trot. We’ve been practicing year ’round, and cross training too. She WILL be the next Kara Goucher! (if she wants to) but in all reality, she really IS a good runner, and loves to run.
I hosted our small group tonight and it was great to see everyone. I was frustrated at myself for not having the house picked up more, but when you burn the candle at both ends of the stick there isn’t much of a wick to light at the end… which amazingly was the topic in a way…
Lots of last minute preparations are going on at work right now with OPERATIONS beginning on Thursday. Every year my old co-worker [he has since retired] and I would ‘name’ the Race Weekend an operational name since we were both military veterans. We use the phonetic alphabet which common, just sounds cool! Gosh I miss him… I will need to come up with an operational name on my own this year… hmmmm……..
Well for now (after literally 15 minutes of brainstorming with myself) i’ve come up with Tango November… Operation Tango November.… will get underway come Thursday. You can try to figure out what it means… but I can only tell Julliet Alpha… And yes… you can call me a dork!
Tomorrow is great! I have nothing going on after work so I can just relax!

Ren Fest!

Well today we saw a whole new side of Kirra…. a BRAVE Kirra! She wasn’t scared to do anything. We went out to the Renaissance Festival where she jumped really high on a trampoline, rode a horse, went down a HUGE slide by herself, and went on a swing ride!!!!
I even bought her some Fairy wings. They were too cute to pass up, and now she can wear them for other things too! (Like Halloween)
For lunch Kirra had Corn on the Cob, Jason had a turkey leg and I had Fajitas. We snacked on some other stuff too. It was really fun
I ended up buying a bath bomb for me, and a whale shaped luffa!
Enjoy the photos..
Getting her face painted….

 
Getting all suited up for jumping!

We thought she would be scared, but
instead… she went really really high!

Time to feed some goats!

Ridding a pony! Remember back in April, she wouldn’t
even pet a pony let alone ride one!

 
She thought it was just the best thing ever! I think now
she is going to want to ride pony’s a lot more!

Here she is on the swings! She picked out the blue one
all by herself!

Shannon Miller…

Well ok, Kirra’s not quite to the Shannon Miller level with Gymnastics [yet], but she did so much better this week than last week. I think it started better because she was in a great mood when I picked her up from Tally’s [the sitter], and was in a cheerful mood until we left.
She listened this time and for the most part stayed put where she was supposed to. She also was willing to try out each station a little better this time which made me happy! She’s starting to get the hang of it. She did really good on the parallel bars, forward rolls and the ladder, but still needs help not being so scared on the balance beam. She’ll get there though! She loves wearing her Leotard, and has made a new friend Avery (who appears to be younger than Kirra, but by the way really could be Shannon Miller with her skills. She’s really good, so maybe Kirra will watch her and follow by example).
Obviously there is no pressure, and we’re just having fun with all of it! Our teacher is really great too!

Worship and birthday party…

Well we woke up early this morning to go to Home Depot to pick out tile for the basement and carpet. We picked out a tile, and thankfully it was on sale, so we bought all that we needed for our basement.

On the way home it was only 10 a.m. so I decided to go to Lino Lakes church with Kirra and the service was amazing! One of the worship songs was so touching, especially with 2000 + people singing all at once. It actually brought tears to my eyes, and before I knew it I had lots of tears!
After church was over Kirra and I came home for lunch, and then took naps. Kirra had other ideas, but I definitely took a nap. Once we [Jason and I] woke up it was time to head over to my folks house for Missy’s Birthday!
Thinking of a really good wish…..

Blowing out her candles

Um… yeah… I’m 38…..

Gran was with us in spirit, since this would have
been her 95th birthday!

Brother and sisters……

Kirra looking cute as usual….

Jason and I

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