Free Pizza

CiCi's Pizza did a thing with the fire department last week. If you let the fireman check your smoke detector, you got a free, large, one topping pizza. We obviously cashed in on that. Our smoke detector was in tip top shape. We ate the pizza.
TWO days later, the battery died, it started beeping... our smoke detector is no longer in working order. Glad it was last week and not this one!! Don't worry, a new battery is on the shopping list.

How old are you? TWO

Kaci turned two on Sunday. We decided to make the day special by blowing up 400 balloons. We blew them up in our room and then put them in the living room for her to wake up and find in the morning.

Her initial reaction was SHOCK! Then it was pure mania playing in them. Scroll down to watch the videos of her finding her presents, running, hiding, and eventually popping her balloons.



She LOVED it and so did everyone else that came over to wish her happy birthday.

Brad's friends and professors from school really wanted Kaci to have a birthday party. So we had a little one before church on Sunday. A couple of his friends came with us to church afterwards which was cool. The Waltons and the Madsens also came to both the party and church (considering they're church friends). Kaci loved all the presents and attention. She'd take people on tours of her bedroom to see her new toys. It was so cute.


Her new toys... the stars aligned to make it all possible. Brad found a play kitchen on the side of the road in good condition for free. My mom got all the stuff to make the fruit for her garden for free, she did pay like 3 dollars to ship it to us, I had tons of time to paint her a garden scene to velcro the fruits to, and my friend Victoria sent her a dish set and plastic fruit that you can cut. So she go the whole sha-bang for practically nothing! Her room is so much fun, hence the Kaci guided tours. She got a lot of other fun stuff too, people love to buy kids presents. What fun!



When all was said and done, we did have to pop the balloons, but not before she shoved them all into Kaci's room and played in them one last time. Then, armed with thumb tacks we set out to pop them. We let Kaci help and she had so much fun! She even had fun cleaning up the balloons poppings. She put them all in a bucket and then dump the bucket in the trash and return for more. The balloons were fun from start to finish. Thanks Madsens and friends for helping blow them up!

finding presents in balloons

We hid her presents under the balloons. She had a lot of fun finding them.

running through the balloons

Our house was covered with balloons, you couldn't walk normal, you had to shuffle or you'd pop a balloon or step on it just right and fall down. Kaci didn't seem to mind. She had so much fun running in them!

hiding in the balloons

You've heard of burying people in the sand... Kaci thought it was fun to buried in the balloons. It was so fun to watch her pop out!

popping balloons

After all the fun and games with the balloon, we had to pop them. Kaci thought it was fun. I guess one of the perks of being 2 is that your mom lets you run around with a tack!

Creation Celebration

A church did a free backyard bible camp in our apartment complex. Every night for a week. Kaci loved it. She was a little young, but they didn't mind. She learned new songs and met lots of little friends. She loved the snacks at the end too.


The last day they made little bracelets with different colored beads to remind them of a story they told about Jesus. Kaci is really into colors right now so she was excited about it. She wore it for nearly 3 weeks! It was cute to see her get excited about something and to get attached to something she made.

The funny thing about this little camp is that none of the kids spoke English, okay, like 5 kids did. What did they speak? 3 or 4 different middle eastern languages, spanish, russian, a south african language, and in Kaci's case, kaci-ese. It was hilarious watching them try to tell the kids stories or get them to do things. The kids had no idea what was going on. Lots of motioning, lots of laughing, and lots of confusion. BUT they kept coming back. They averaged 60 kids a night!

Firefly. Lightening Bug... whatever!

We were so excited to see our first fire fly. Brad was super excited to catch some and put them in a jar. We had a lot of fun with them. They're super easy to catch. Kaci likes to swat bugs, so she just stayed in her stroller. We go to Dayton for our evening strolls, it's flat, super small town-ey, and people are way nice. It's sad that we have to drive somewhere just to go for a walk. I hope you can see them glowing, they are so pretty to watch!

Our Garden

It's just the the rectangle Kaci is in, we lined it with corn. It looks like our garden is huge, but it's really not. The plots all kinda run together.

The first harvest: a delicious cucumber. I was way too excited about it!


Kaci and our ever growing corn. I wanted to take pictures of her by it as it grew, kind of like a growth chart for our corn, but it never happened... maybe next time we grow corn I'll actually do it.

We've also harvested zucchini. We love zucchini. Brad said if you let them grow they can get to be HUGE. So we let one grow and he was right. It weighed like 10 pounds when we finally picked it. The same day I picked it a friend gave me one the same size from her garden, we now have two. I'm going to make a zucchini casserole, zucchini bread, and chocolate zucchini bread. Yummers!


One of my most prized plants is my pumpkin plant. I've always wanted to grow my own jack-o-lantern. Our plant is doing great, it's huge. I also am excited about my watermelon plant.

Unfortunately, something is eating our garden now, so we're not too hopeful to harvest much else. It's already eaten all my sunflowers, my peppers, my mystery plant, and has started on the zucchini and sadly my pumpkin too. I'm so sad, but we may get corn still. There was a baby watermelon starting to grow, but I'm not too hopeful it'll get much bigger before it's eaten too. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.

Great Business Opportunity

Hi Folks,
This is Brad. So the other day I was accused of a crime I did not commit (not stopping at a stop sign). The officer wrote me a ticket and I was assigned a court date. I went to court, pleaded not guilty and told my story. The judge said "Okay, I'll waive your fine. Just go over there and pay the court costs." So I walked over to the desk and they charged me $61 for "court costs"! (Insert your favorite expletive here __________!)
Now, some people might be angered by being charged a handsome sum of money when no crime was committed. I, on the other hand was inspired. I've decided to change my career... and open up my own courthouse. I'm currently in the hiring process and jobs are available for: Deputy (yes I will give you a badge), Judge (Includes gown and gavel), Court Clerk (I need someone good with math- or maybe someone really bad at math might be better), and Court Jester (just to make the atmosphere a bit happier). Please let me know if you are interested. Thank you.
P.S. Does anybody know the best way to claim a $61 charitable donation on next years tax forms?

Newest News

I'm a seminary teacher now ...

I'll be the one face down in my dinner plate and sound asleep starting in September. I've never been intimidated by an invitation to serve in the church until they invited me to be the seminary teacher for my ward. First off, I feel like you should be at least 40, all my teachers were. Second, I read my scriptures but I don't know or remember all the cool stuff that makes studying them fun. Third, 6 am has never agreed with me. That's when we'll start, not when I have to wake up. YIKES-O-RAMA!!

Newest Nephew

I have a new nephew... litte Mason. The first of my sister's kid's that I won't hold as a newborn. I'm so sad, but at the same time so happy that my little sis is there doing what I can't do. Somehow having her there makes me feel like I'm there. I love that she travels across the ocean to be there for these things.

It's been a bitter sweet thing to think about this new little one. Just when I thought I was totally over the whole miscarriage, I wept uncontrollably again thinking about what my sister is doing right now.

Aloha Mason... the warmest Aloha from your Aunt-y Kerri. I wish I could meet you sooner than what I will.

WE did it!

Ladies and Gentlemen, boy and girls I would like to present to you as evidence of our accomplishment:


Kaci is potty trained!

She has had some accidents, one time I made her laugh so much that she wet herself... I figure that's normal. Another time she wet herself at the dinner table... I must have starved her to death that day. Accidents happen, I don't expect her to be perfect, I just wanted her out of diapers! She tells me when she has to go for the most part. I'm loving it!

How'd I do it? I read a potty book (I loved this book because it told me how hard it was and validated my feelings from a frustrated mom's point of view, it was also totally realistic, didn't sugar coat anything). I promised to give her three days. I did what the book said: sat her on the potty every 25 minutes for three days. Rewarded her for sitting and going. Directed my negative feelings away from Kaci (she had nothing but accidents on day two). And on day 3 she got it! I'm glad it only took 3 days, I don't know if I could have gone any longer. We motivated her to sit and try by doing story time (also a suggestion from the book) only when she was sitting on the potty. She LOVES story time. By day three I couldn't get her out of the bathroom! She got really good at her new favorite book and so I took a video of her reading it with Brad.

The book is about the number one. Big Bird is on a game show and keeps getting the answer wrong, the answer is always one. So Kaci says "Four? No Bird! One!"

a pee related post on someone else's blog

Wood Chairs = Joy

We had a cute little boy over for a play date while his Mom gave birth at the hospital. Mid sandwich, he tipped over and fell off his chair!

His chair was a black, plastic, folding chair. He didn't cry and I tried to muffle my giggle.

We had the missionaries over for dinner. Mid salad one of them moved suddenly to play peek-a-boo with Kaci and tipped over in her chair and tumbled to the floor!

Her chair was a white, plastic, folding chair. Not even close to sturdy. I don't know who was more embarrassed her or me!

We needed REAL chairs ASAP!

Brad found some free wood chairs on Craigs List. I've always wanted to have crazy un matching chairs that were different colors. These chairs match, but Brad let me paint them different colors. I love them! We can't paint our walls, but we can paint all the furniture we want!

Piano Recital

Here I am in all my piano playing glory... or lack thereof. I practiced my little heart out, but I still made lots of mistakes, BUT the point is that I know how to play with my left hand and my right hand in the C position. I'm way excited for myself, but I don't know how much more progress I'll make on my own. We'll see. I think I'll stick with the C position for a bit longer before I try to learn more. It's harder to teach myself than I expected.

Enjoy, and thanks for coming by to watch. If you watched, please leave a comment, even if you have nothing to say, just say hi, I want to get a feel for who actually reads this blog of mine.

Carla, the pool lady

Our apartment has a swimming pool. A big pool with a deep end and a baby pool. We LOVE it. Kaci and I spend the bulk of our day there. We 2 to 3 times a day, in the morning after breakfast and our trip to the park, we go before or after lunch to get good and tired for our afternoon siesta, and then we go in the evening with Brad (if he's home and has time). It's right across the street from our front door.

We have a pool lady. She sits under an awning, wears a whistle, brings toys, and brings treats. That's right. Every time you go swimming you can get a treat before you leave. Cookies, chips, fruit snacks, granola bars, kool-aid... whatever your heart desires (or your mom's heart desires... occasionally) :)

Kaci has mastered blowing bubbles, holding her breath and going underwater, kicking to get from one end of the big pool to the other (long or short) with floaties on, and entering and exiting the pool by herself. I'm loving it!

Fourth of July EXTRAVAGANZA

We went BIG this year. Between the miscarriage, healing, sickness, Brad's dizzy spells, Kaci's crying fits, Brad's busy schedule, and crazy raining and cold weather we were over due for some serious fun. So, I planned an EXTRAVAGANZA!

We went camping at Burke Lake Park in Northern Virginia. I planned it Call family style. Tons of food, tons and tons of food and hanging out by a lake. In honor of our 3 year anniversary we went camping and had a mondo taco salad. This lake was HUGE, we walked and walked and walked but didn't even make it half way around. We played a lot along the way. Kaci loved being outside all day. She also really liked the tent. She's really into making forts at home, so she thought the tent was amazing.







The next day we went to DC for the parade, festivals, and fireworks. It was a long day, but fun. Lots of people, but they were all super nice. We sat next to the Washington Monument across from the White House for the fireworks. To my surprise, Kaci loved the booms and the colors. She'd say "boom! boom, boom, boom!" and "whoooaa!" She'd also say different colors. She's really starting to pick up on that. It was a huge show. The booms echoed forever because of all the big buildings. It was like surround sound out there.


(kaci waving to people in the parade)

Fireworks

My Fancy Piano

Our hundred year old piano needed a new look.
The plan since we got it (back in FEB) was for Brad to paint it shiny black while I was in Arizona. Well, he tried to bail on me while I was there, so I just kept telling him how excited I was about it and how wonderful it would look and that I would do it myself if he didn't. He said it would take him 100 hours. I told him he should of started the day I left! He came through in the end, and I surprised him with shorter hair. So we are both happy as can be!



Now that I have a fancy black piano that looks amazing, I've decided to have a virtual piano recital. Consider this your official invite!

when: Sunday, July 12th.

where: Here, on the blogspot.

time: 5-10 minutes!

Hope you can come!