Chapters

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

JACKtionary - Relationship Edition

::Back Story:: Yesterday I asked Jack about how school was going and the new friends he has made...

Me: Do you have a girlfriend?

Jack: NO! Gross!

::long pause::

Jack: But my friend Destiny is a little sweet cheeks and I gotta kiss her everyday on the bus.

::headdesk::

Monday, October 31, 2011

JACKtionary

Jack: I think I am going to get a brother.

Me: Oh ya? Who's having a baby?

Jack: I don't know. You or Michelle (his step-mom). You guys can talk about it and let me know.


Oy.

So I've been on hiatus.

I'll just call it a blogging sabbatical.

I can't believe I have not posted since June! So much has been going on and I don't even know where to begin! I suppose I'll start with the kids...

Jack's lost-tooth count is up to 5, and will probably lash out irrationally at the next person who croons "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth". He started kindergarten in September and LOVES it.

Reese will be two in December and has developed quite the sassy personality. She is obsessed with all things Elmo (or "mo-mo")...and a piece of advice for any Elmo-loving toddler parents, do NOT dress your child in Elmo pajamas if you need to be anywhere in a hurry the next morning. It is quite the battle to get her dressed, and from now on, Elmo pajamas are only worn on Friday and/or Saturday nights. Reese has also developed a taste for fine literature. And by taste, I mean she eats books. And by fine literature, I mean Good Night Moon and Blue Hat, Green Hat.

JP and I celebrated our third anniversary this past week, and celebrated his 32nd Natal Anniversary (birthday, ha.) yesterday. And JP, if you're reading this, I love you. :)

And to be festive, I thought I'd leave you with a picture of the kids from this past weekend. Happy Halloween!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

How do I describe last night? ZOMG.

I'm Katee. I'm 25-years-old. And I'm a Gleek.

Tuesday morning I won 3rd row tickets on the radio to see Glee live last night. JP was supposed to join me to the concert, but got out of it by the skin of his teeth when a friend called wanting to go. His loss.

We got to the Target Center and had to wade through the massive crowd to get to Will Call to pick up the tickets. I checked the tickets to see what seats we got, and was pleasantly surprised EFFING STOKED to discover that we had been upgraded to the second row!!

We made our way to our seats and the show began with an awesome 1/2 hour performance by the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. For the non-Gleeks, this is the dance group that Harry Shum, Jr.(AKA Mike Chang)dances and choreographs for.

After a slight intermission after the performance by The LXD, the show started. ::Cue Katee instantly turning back into a giddy teenager:: Between Kevin McHale doing the Safety Dance, Chris Colfer performing "Single Ladies", being mere feet away from Mark Salling, and sitting next to a Warbler, it was an amazing show from start to finish. I would definitely go back again next year, even if I had to actually pay for the tickets.


Friday, May 13, 2011

Toothless.

Jack would like to share with the interwebs that at 5 years, three months, and 26 days old - he has lost his first tooth.



At 10:30 pm the tooth fairy attempted to do her tooth fairily duties. It was, however, unsuccessful. Jack shot up in bed, looked JP in the eyes, and exclaimed "I'm waiting for the tooth fairy!!" We called it a dry run.

About 30 minutes later he was finally asleep...with his hand under his pillow protecting the tooth. Crap.

Thankfully I the tooth fairy was able to grab the goods, make a deposit, and get the heck out of there without waking the child. Never in my life had I ever imagined that I would be sneaking into my child's room, cash in hand, trying to steal his teeth.

The next morning as Jack emerged from his slumber, squeals of excitement rang through the hallway. The tooth fairy left $5, which Jack promptly shoved into his piggy bank.

::Side Note:: I think we got 50 cents for the loss of our first tooth when we were little...must be inflation.

...because those things only happen to other people's kids.

...or so I thought.

As a parent I never prepared myself for the possibility of something bad happening to either of my children. I saw the world through rose-colored glasses until a call I received on Friday April 29th changed everything...

It was a typical morning at work. I was on the phone with a customer who happens to live near the home where I bring my kids to daycare. Through her end of the phone I heard the sound of sirens in the background. We both commented on the ruckus and quickly shook it off. I work near a hospital and we hear sirens everyday. I got off the phone with the customer, but something didn't quite feel right.

Minutes later I received a phone call from the paramedics. They were at daycare. They had my 16-month-old daughter. She was seizing. I needed to meet them at the hospital.

I grabbed my keys and flew out of the office to the emergency room, calling JP on the way to meet me there. I beat the ambulance and waited for what seemed like an eternity for her to arrive.

When I was finally notified that she had arrived, I couldn't get to her fast enough. The rest of the day was kind of a blur, but I will never forget the look on my husband's face as he ran into the room and together we held our baby girl, and cried. This wasn't supposed to happen to us.

After one ambulance ride, three hours in the ER, one normal CT scan, one normal EEG, and one visit to the neurologist, it was determined that Reese had a grand mal seizure. We never got any 100% answers as to why, but we will be forever thankful for the health of our daughter - and will never take anything for granted again.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Frustration.

It's tough to be 1.
(sorry that the video is all wonky and sideways!)

Monday, February 28, 2011

JACKtionary

::Back Story:: Jack was talking with my cousin/his God father, Terry about who has known Jack's dad the longest...

Terry: I've known your Dad longer. I've known him for a really long time, since before you were born.

Jack: Nah-uh. I've known him my ENTIRE LIFE.


How do you argue with that?

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

JACKtionary

It's been awhile!

Jack: Mom, I can't wait until I grow up and have my own phone so I can call you from work and tell you what I want for dinner.

Me: ::blank stare::

Such a man.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

a global citizen.

As some of you know, I grew a wild hair and enrolled myself back in school earlier this month to obtain yet another degree. Although I graduated from the same school in September, I am still considered to be a "new" student. A new requirement for all "new" students is to take a course on Global Citizenship to learn what is means to be, and what we need to do to become more of a, you guessed it, global citizen.

In week two I learned that one of the requirements that I need to meet in order to pass the course is to donate my time to volunteer; which would be all fine and dandy...if I had TIME. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE volunteering. But between work, other classes, kids, etc etc etc... I had NO idea where I was going to pull "time" from.

Last night I attended an optional meeting about the global citizenship project, and I will be forever grateful that I did. I learned that volunteering doesn't mean giving up hours of your time each week for a cause. There are many organizations that are seeking "virtual volunteers" for assistance on projects that can take as little as 15 minutes to complete right in your own home. There are even projects that I can have Jack help with. Winner, winner chicken dinner!

Volunteermatch.org is a site that was recommended to me, and now I am recommending it back to you! You can search for in-person and virtual volunteer opportunities in your area and it's a great way to give some good back to your local community without having to dedicate a lot of your time. What can you do today to make someone else's life better?

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

One of the (big) Boys.

Jack's snowmobile surprise on Saturday was a hit! My Dad and brothers made him a track in the backyard. Although it was a little rocky at first, by the end of the day he was doing really well! There was only one casualty of Grandpa's bushes and one minor incident in which my brother literally had to superman off of his snowmobile to catch jack before he took off into the slough.

Suiting up...



One of the boys...


It was a good day.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

I suck at updates.

Bah.

So I made three resolutions for the new year.

1. To keep a travel-sized bottle of contact solution in my purse so I don't have to make the walk of shame into the eye clinic next door to my workplace asking to borrow theirs when my contact falls out of my eye for the seventybillionth time.

check.

2. To spend less and save more so we can get out of the townhome that grew too small too fast.

It's only the 19th day of the year...but so far, so check.

3. To update this blog more often with more than just JACKtionary posts.

Crap

Oh well, two outta three ain't bad, right Meatloaf?

tap tap...is this thing on?

Ok, enough of the lameness. I am running on little to no sleep after being awoken every hour on the hour by JP because god-forbid he be sick in silence. Men are such babies when they are sick...Love you JP! Not to mention the sprinkle of awakenings by Reese who decided to randomly talk in her sleep at two different ungodly hours...and by talk I mean a very loud string of jibberish that sounded like MAmaDADADADAplbbbbbshhh. When I flew out of bed to check on her she was sound asleep. Go figure.

Anywho...

Tomorrow I have the day off of work to accompany Jack and the rest of his preschool class to see Sesame Street Live. While I am looking forward to going, I am looking forward to Saturday even more. Grandpa bought Jack his first snowmobile and I am super excited (and a little motherly-worried) to see him ride. More to come next week on how it goes!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

JACKtionary

My apologies for not posting in nearly a month. December was jam packed with birthdays, shopping, baking, wrapping, blizzards, and about 6 family Christmas get-togethers. Now that the last of the toy packaging went out with yesterday's recycling, I finally have time to get back at it. I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and I wish you all a fantastic new year filled with family, friends, love and laughter.

OK enough already...I'll get the the good stuff.

JACKtionary: Reproductive Edition.

Jack: Mom, you're having another baby.

Me: WHAT!?

Jack: Ya. My Grandma said so. Everyone has to have another baby. Reese isn't a baby anymore so you have to have another one.

Me: ::joking:: What about Grandma? She doesn't have babies anymore. Is she going to have another one?

Jack: I don't think babies will grow inside old people.

::Sorry Grandma Julie!::