John, Kate & Kaylee

Kayteedids

2012-01-30T15:42:00.001-05:00

Check out the Kayteedids blog link up above for a new blog post about a recent baby shower!

Who needs toys when you have a craft room!

2012-01-24T14:00:00.003-05:00

Awhile ago Kaylee found my ribbon drawer and pulled most of them off their spools. I wasn't upset because she was hilarious to watch and was having a blast. She likes the satin ones best. I vowed to re-roll them but then we packed up to move and the mess just got thrown back in the drawer. Today she found them again...I'd like to think she was trying to re-roll them for me. ha! She had a great time decorating me and we probably spent 45 minutes just playing with ribbon. Now she's down for a nap and I'm headed to re-roll...wish me luck!

hmmmm, I wonder if I'm suppose to be playing in here?

California winter

2012-01-23T02:07:00.006-05:00

Last week we travelled up to San Jose for a few days. We are loving this California "winter" weather! We went to the beach one day and had a blast! It was warm with no wind...can't beat it! This picture reminds me of a summer vacation to Pajaro Dunes where Mandy and I had seaweed "pets" named Pebbles and Bam Bam.

Then we went to Happy Hollow with good friends who we haven't seen in way too long. Tony and I went to Mitty together and while standing here we realized that 20 years ago we were standing in the line with our moms to buy our textbooks before Freshman year. 20 years!! Now we have a 2.5 year old and a 1.5 year old on our shoulders!

Kaylee enjoyed the carousel, she rode a leopard with a fish in it's mouth!

Then we came back to Fresno and went to a local hockey game! The Fresno Monsters is a league for 16-21 year olds, basically a feeder team to colleges. We went with my cousin Heidi and her husband Jason.

We had a great time and I think Kaylee is officially a hockey fan. She would raise her arms and yell YAY whenever the crowd went wild.

This week we toured the Fresno Zoo. It is very small but we had a nice time. We purchased a season pass so Kaylee and I can spend a lot of time there during the warmer weather months.

Our favorite animals were the Orangutans (yes, I had to google how to spell that!). There was a Daddy whose head was MASSIVE! We were mesmerized by how large he was. This is the Momma. They have a 1 year old son and a brand new baby girl, and we happened to be there when they were all out playing. It was probably one of the coolest things I've seen.

We went back to San Jose this past weekend just to hang out. It is so wonderful being so close again!

Growing up

2012-01-08T01:22:00.003-05:00

When my sister and I were growing up there were 2 kinds of braids we could choose from: 1. The Grammie braid, named for my Grammie Holt who braided this way. It is a braid with just one rubberband at the end but not a french braid. And 2. The Adelaide braid, named for a friend of mine in Kindergarten who wore her hair in a braid every day. Her braids started and ended with rubberbands. I think my mom knew how to french braid but I never sat still long enough for that kind. I've braided Kaylee's hair both ways but the Grammie braid falls out easily and the Adelaide braid looks like a rat tail! eek! So tonight after her bath I attempted a French braid!

Here's Kaylee's first French Braid and MY first time ever french braiding!

Pretty cool huh?! I'm impressed with myself! But there is a little twinge of sadness that my BABY has hair long enough to braid!

Catching up to 2012!

2012-01-04T02:31:00.012-05:00

Happy 2012! We rang in the new year in our new (rented) home in Fresno and continue to thank God for this new season in our lives.

I suppose I should catch you up on the end of our 2011! I last left off on Thanksgiving. The day after T-day my dad, Michele, Mandy & Seth came to visit. We had cousins, aunts, uncles and more family members come for a grand "day after Thanksgiving party"!

The next day Rob and Brandy came to visit from San Jose! John, Rob and Brandy went to the San Jose St vs Fresno St football game (SJSU won!). John and Rob used to work at the same daycare and one of the students at the time now plays for SJSU. The 3 of them have kept in touch over the years and they had fun watching him play college ball.

The following day we went to Millerton Lake. Kaylee loves water and even though the lake was freezing cold (in my opinion) she had a blast.

The first week of December, Kaylee and I ventured to San Jose on our own leaving John to navigate the Fresno streets on his bike! It was just a quick trip to attend a baby shower. Kaylee enjoyed picking apples in Grandpa's orchard.

Then back home for some downtime until the holidays hit. Kaylee is LOVING having a bathtub, so much that I found her in it playing with her toys and no water!

I had to combine my sewing room with our guest room. Kaylee was suppose to be sitting in the chair next to me but had so much fun sorting bobbins on the table instead.

We went to 2 Christmas tree farms this year! We went mostly for the photo ops but did find a nice tree on one of the trips.

Kaylee was in heaven running in and out of the trees and since we were the only people in the lot we let her play hide and seek. This is all we really saw of her:

She had fun decorating the tree when we got home. Don't tell her, but I had to rearrange the ornaments later since her's were all in one spot. :)

The second farm Kaylee and I went once with my cousin and aunt, and the next day we took John back.

Then Christmas came! We went up to San Jose a week early to celebrate with John's family. It was absolutely a joy to be with all of them! Kaylee had a blast with all of her west coast cousins, aunts, uncles and Grandpa W! She absolutely loves her baby doll from Grandpa among so much more! She was (is) spoiled!!

On that trip to San Jose Kaylee got to play cowgirl with Grandpa R and went to feed cows.

On our way back home we drove up to the Sacramento area to see Joe & Courtney. They live in Colorado but Joe's parents live in CA so they were out here for the holidays. The last time we had seen Joe & Courtney was at their wedding 5 years ago. They're great friends despite the distance and we enjoyed getting our kids together for the first time.

Cindy (Joe's mom) was a dear friend of my moms and it is always a special time to see her. She had HUGE gingerbread men for the kids to decorate and the day was a great one!

(Isn't Kaylee a creative genius??? okay, okay maybe I had a little fun decorating too)

Then it was back home to celebrate Christmas in Fresno.

John worked on Christmas day so we waited until he was home in the afternoon to open presents. I feel very blessed to have a child who is content with small things and didn't demand more. In fact, she tried to give us her presents too!

Slinkys were the big hit...who knew a spontaneous dollar store purchase would go so far!

The other find of the season were the Water Beads (www.waterbeads.net)

We skyped with my dad, Michele, Mandy & Seth and John & Kim on Christmas night although "everyone and their brother" were also skyping so the connection was poor. It was fun to at least say hi and Merry Christmas to family!

My aunt and uncle from Pennsylvania stayed with us for 10 days so we had lots of family time! One of the nights the aunts and uncles ("the adult table" as we called it growing up) had dinner so "the cousins table" had a big get together of our own! We were missing a few but we still had a blast!

My dad and Michele came for 2 days after Christmas (have you been keeping count, this is our 4th celebration!) Grandpa got Kaylee the slide she's been wanting now that we have a backyard to play in with no bugs! And Michele replaced Kaylee's worn out Tangled DVD! We are forever grateful for the new dvd!

And 2 days later Mandy and Seth came to visit! 5 Christmases! I suppose we were making up for the last 5 years of being gone. :) Kaylee had a good time chasing Crum but her favorite activity was making Uncle Seth read to her, no matter how thick the book or how big the words. I think he could have been reading in latin and she still would have been mesmerized.

And now all of our house guests are gone, the Christmas tree is outside and the decorations are slowly going back in their boxes. We are looking forward to a wonderful 2012 in California with more family time, seeing all of our friends who we've missed terribly and watching Kaylee turn 3. It's going to be a great year! Come visit! Seriously! I'm so excited to live somewhere close enough to have visitors!!! :)

Happy 2012!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-25T00:35:00.003-05:00

We are incredibly THANKFUL this year to be back in California! John worked this morning and then we spent the afternoon and evening with my Aunt Jenifer, Uncle Laure, cousins Phillip, Kelly and Bryan! I also made Kaylee's Thanksgiving dress this morning when I realized that nothing in her closet was very "festive". Oddly enough, "Turkey" is Kaylee's nickname so I thought this fabric would be fitting for both her and the holiday!

Kaylee spent the afternoon chasing Kylie, Bryan & Kelly's chocolate lab. Getting Kaylee to look at the camera with Kylie running around was impossible! Any guesses as to how many times one of us said "Kay...I mean, Kylie" or "Ky...I mean Kaylee"

new pajamas

2011-11-17T01:54:00.005-05:00

I have been trying to stay away from the flame-resistant pajamas for Kaylee since they are laden with crazy chemicals. I thought I had been buying the right ones, but it turns out there is no such thing thanks to the feds...I'll spare you my PSA on this topic though (unless you want to hear it). You can buy organic pj's online but they run $50+....um, no thank you. So this week I decided to start making Kaylee's pajamas. I didn't have a pattern handy so I ripped the seams out of an older pair of pants and used them to draw a bigger pattern. I impressed myself! Last time I tried to make pants (USING a pattern) they weren't even wearable! I attribute my increased sewing skills to my sewing teacher Nancy back in Sanford. She's one of the few people I'll miss in NC.

Incase you can't see it, that is the John Deere logos on pink plaid. :)

I'll use long sleeve shirts for the next pairs though since we're headed into colder weather. These pj's are flannel but I think I'll try fleece next. Off to Joann's to find flame-retardant free fabrics!

Kings Canyon National Park

2011-11-16T23:06:00.004-05:00

We now live 1 hour from the Kings Canyon National Park! I've grown up seeing the redwoods but they are still an awe-inspiring piece of nature. John had today off so after lunch we headed up...and up and up and up through the smog layer, then the fog layer and out we popped at 6,000ft elevation.

Kaylee had a great time picking up sticks and pinecones.

We asked some German tourists to take our picture but I should have just used the timer function...not sure how you take a blurry picture on the auto setting, but here it is.

John should've worn his camo pants too, I wouldn't have been able to find him!

Coming back down the mountain we hit the fog line again and had to pull over for this shot.

We are enjoying being back in California for sure!

Whirlwind!

2011-11-11T00:16:00.007-05:00

After 2,688 miles and approximately 40 hrs of driving we made it to CALIFORNIA!!

We stopped in Barstow, CA for lunch on our last day of traveling. They have a nice little monument area that we walked around.

Kaylee was the most awesome traveling 2 year old in the history of traveling 2 year olds! She watched Tangled 17 times. I tried changing the movie, but we all agreed that we just loved Tangled the best. Kaylee's carseat was and is still rear-facing. We had no issues keeping her entertained. (Just throwing my PSA in) :)

We arrived to my cousin Heidi's house and stayed with her and her husband for 2 days. Jason treated us to donuts....oh how we've missed real donuts! This is was Kaylee's first donut EVER! Think she liked it? ;)

On Monday, October 31 we got the keys to our rental house and the Mayflower truck arrived! What perfect timing, God is good!

Kaylee was so excited to unpack her toys that she hadn't seen in 3 weeks. She was very busy while we unpacked and we soon found her sound asleep on the floor. This is the first time she's ever fallen asleep on the floor anywhere. :) Too cute!

We moved in on Halloween and had plans to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood with our cousins that night, but Kaylee threw up before they were supposed to arrive so we canceled the plans. She didn't get sick again so I think it was just the stress of everything and the fact that we had eaten fast food for over a week straight! But we dressed her up and trick-or-treated at our own door. Then she helped me pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters!

We're slowly getting settled in and enjoying having family so close! John's Starbucks is 10 minutes from our house! And there is one within walking distance from the house! Dangerous! Kaylee and I have walked to that one already. :)

2011-10-29T11:02:00.005-04:00

I meant to blog about our trip for all you non-facebookers! But apparently, driving for 8 hours a day wipes a girl out and I forgot about the blog. So here is the run down:

Monday the movers arrived at 9am and left at 3pm. They were suppose to have been done by noonish, so we got a much later start to our trip than I had planned. Luckily, we had no reservations anywhere...just playing each day by ear.

Monday night we stayed in Statesville, NC.

Tuesday we headed to Tennessee. We stopped in Pigeon Forge, TN at a river for some last southern fall color photo ops.

Then we headed to Franklin, TN where my friend Beth lives. We had dinner with them and stayed in their beautiful home! Kaylee was excited to play with her friends who we haven't seen in over 6 months! We miss them!

Walkin' in Memphis

Wednesday we drove through Arkansas and stayed in Van Buren, AR for the night.

Thursday was Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, and we finally stopped in Tucumcari, NM. NM by far was the most boring and weirdest part of our trip! So bizarre!

Friday we rushed out of NM and into AZ. We stayed last night in Kingman, AZ.

Today we're headed for Fresno! Should be arriving around 4ish. And now you're all caught up.

2011-10-11T22:23:00.001-04:00

MySpace-Countdowns

I love this girl!

2011-09-27T23:09:00.000-04:00

I just love this picture...it makes me incredibly happy.

Big news!

2011-09-27T18:10:00.003-04:00

Happy Fall!

The Woertman Family Scarecrows

I forget that some of you aren't on facebook or twitter so please forgive me if this is the first you're hearing this!

We are currently in the Due Diligence phase of our house selling! The buyer, a deployed solider who has only seen the house via video!, has until Oct 19 to back out. If we make it to that date, we feel confident in setting our "move across country plan" into action. We close on Oct 31. John will be able to transfer jobs easily and we will most likely drive my truck across country while a moving van takes the rest of our stuff.

We've started to pack already but will really kick it into gear on the 20th once we feel more settled. I don't how people do this selling a house stuff! It is extremely stressful not knowing for such a long period of time! We will be renting in Fresno until we decide which areas we want to settle in. It will be so wonderful to so close to family!! 2 hours to San Jose for my Dad, John's family and our friends! And 4 hours to Mandy & Seth! Can't beat it! See you all soon!!

Rear-Facing Carseats for Toddlers too!

2011-09-09T10:20:00.002-04:00

I've posted about this on facebook before, but I feel like it fell on deaf ears (or blind eyes?) So after reading an article on Parenting.com today about child safety, I feel like saying this about kids in carseats again: “REAR-facing is 5 times safer for two-year-olds.” -Dr. Baer, child safety expert

"The fix: Follow the newly-issued guidelines by the American Academy of Pediatrics that advise parents to keep their toddlers in REAR-facing car seats until age 2 OR until they exceed the height or weight limit for their car seat, which is typically 20 pounds for an infant seat, and 35 to 40 pounds for a convertible seat. Even if your child’s legs are touching the back seat of the car, or even bending so they’ll fit, it’s not unsafe and NOT a reason to turn your child around too soon."

(*info taken from a recent article about Child Safety on Parenting.com http://www.parenting.com/gallery/car-seat-laws-requirements-installation?pnid=318525 )

Don't want to believe me? Watch this... Crash Test Dummies Google it for more. Head on collisions are far more serious than a rear-ender.

I've heard these arguments:

1. I've already turned her around forward facing, she'll be mad if I turn her back around.

I say: So you don't want to enforce rules with your child? Your 2 yr old knows more about safety than you do? And you'd rather her have a broken neck?

2. I don't know how to install the seat.

I say: Take it to a fire station, they'll do it for you. Not an excuse.

3. Other kids will make fun of him for being rear facing still.

I say: Kids make fun of kids no matter what. Wouldn't you rather be safe than sorry? Wouldn't you rather have your child tell you when they're an adult that they remember being made fun of, vs not having your child make it to their adult years?

4. A rear-ended accident would cause the whiplash if they're forward facing.

I say: Do you want whip-lash from a minor rear ended accident, or broken neck, paralysis, or death from a head on collision. You choose.

5. The odds of getting into a fatal head-on collision are so small, it won't happen to us.

I say: I don't have those statistics, but my mom was killed in a head on collision so they do happen to normal people.

This is such a simple fix. You may be one of the lucky ones who never gets in the accident which would be wonderful on so many levels. You might be one of those parents who has had 3 or 4 kids already and never had an accident so why not keep doing things the way you have been, right? If you got cancer would you want the same treatment doctors were doing 10 years ago? nope. Maybe you're a grandparent who isn't up to date on all the new research...tell your kids!

I can't say it enough, this is such a SIMPLE thing to do to protect your sweet babies and toddlers! We run around our houses making them childproof, buying covers for our outlets, gates for stairways, locks for cabinets...why not childproof your car!?!

Back to Kaylee-ville

2011-08-28T18:36:00.003-04:00

This is what happens when Daddy is in charge of getting Kaylee dressed. :)

My little seamstress taking a water break from our busy day of sewing.

"I prefer to go UP"

Cleaning up the deck after the "hurricane" (we didn't get anything major fortunately).

We went to a new park and Kaylee was more excited about the stuff on the ground than any part of the play area!

I've been busy!

2011-08-26T22:18:00.004-04:00

My friends and I are putting together a little holiday boutique in October so I have been busy making Loveys, Loop Loveys, and Blankies to sell there. They're all listed in my store and I can always make more so check out the latest!! There just might be the perfect baby blanket for that little someone in your life!

An Auction for Children's Cancer Research

2011-08-19T10:19:00.004-04:00

Through a friend in my mom's Bible Study a couple of years ago I was introduced to the story of Eve, a 2 year old (at the time) who was diagnosed with bilateral Wilms Tumor (cancer of the kidneys). As much as I feel like I stalk her mom's blog, I won't try to wow you with statistics because I'm sure I'll get them wrong. BUT you can read her blog for yourself...it's listed in my blog list to the left of this post, or click here - Eve vs. Wilms

Eve's mom Christy is absolutely hilarious and writes from the heart. Eve is currently cancer-free...woohoo! But Christy continues to be a warrior in raising money for research to help current and future families. She'll be hiking The Ultimate Hike in October as one of her many fundraising gigs.

So in honor of Eve and to help Christy, I am auctioning off a Kayteedids Lovey and 100% of the total sold price will be donated to CureSearch for Children's Cancer - the organization that the Ultimate Hike is designed for.

The auction is on Facebook with the help of The Mom Shoppe who has a lot more followers than I do. Click here to go to The Mom Shoppe, "like" the page, then go to the multi-vendor album. Look for this blanket to bid on!

If you don't have a facebook account but would like to contribute to the fundraiser, click here to donate The Ultimate Hike.

Air conditioning

2011-08-09T23:54:00.001-04:00

It is still too hot to be outside so we stay home mostly. The other day I was sewing in my craft room and Kaylee was playing in her room. I peeked in to check on her and found her nicely reading to herself. She loves to read, but what she loves even more than reading is hamming it up for the camera.

So I loaded up the rocking chair with more books and went back to sewing. She had been "reading aloud" earlier but soon her reading turned to giggles. I smiled as I listened to her laugh, and tried to picture which book I had given her that was so funny. So I went to find out....

Oops...notice there are no books in sight! She had quietly put them all on the floor, quietly opened the top two dresser drawers and proceeded to "clean out" every single item from the dresser. It's a task that has needed to be tackled since most of these clothes you see are from last winter! She was quite proud of her cleaning job and how could a mom be mad when you walk in to that face?!

Today all 3 of us braved the heat from the house to the truck, then the truck into the mall! We mostly just wandered around, but Starbucks is always a necessary stop. Cake pop anyone?

Chores

2011-08-06T20:04:00.001-04:00

Is it too early to start adding chores to Kaylee's daily schedule? haha kidding But she sure loves to vacuum. She gets mad if you don't turn it on for her! No fake vacuuming for this kid!

A BIG THANK YOU!

2011-07-24T19:15:00.016-04:00

Picture me up on a stage, glamorous dress, 10,000 people in the audience waiting to hear my speech thanking everyone for helping me put together Kaylee's birthday party. Here it goes:

I'd like to thank God (don't those speeches always start off that way?), but seriously, God gave me Kaylee and therefore it is a must to thank Him. :)

ohhhhhh...she's not a baby anymore!! sniff sniff

And the following people:

My Dad for hosting the party at his house! For cleaning his house spic n span just so we could whirlwind our way through and mess it up again!

Michele for baking chocolate cupcakes (of which I may or may not have eaten 5 of!) and the cake we used for the cake pops. For making her delicious Taco Dip. For channeling her inner-child to make pinwheels. And for all around party prep!

Mandy & Seth (& Crum) for driving in the depths of night just to make it to San Jose in time for me to start cracking the whip on party prep! Mandy did all the flower arrangements using Trader Joe's purple tulips and flowers from the garden and helped with the cake pops and all the set up! Seth helped move heavy things, drove John and Kaylee to Grandpa W's house, and taught Kaylee how to play the Xylophone they gave her. Crum supervised.

The headless Uncle Seth!!

Michelle for running around San Jose with my shopping list prior to our arrival so that I didn't have to ship EVERYTHING out here. For channeling her inner-child too and helpingMichele with the pinwheels. And for attempting to feed Kaylee a corndog after I had neglected to feed my child lunch prior to her birthday party and only realized it 3 hours later when she began to melt down from hunger!

Annika for designing and baking the cake! She hand piped the damask on and added a purple fondant ribbon! Did I mention that she's only 13 and her mom wasn't home to help her while she did all this? Cake Baking Genius! She also helped with the cake pops and party decor!

Bridget for the amazing tissue paper flowers and the much needed & valuable cake pop advice!! (I didn't get any pictures of Bridget, but she was a big help!)

And most importantly John. Without him this party wouldn't have happened...literally. No Kaylee, no party. No money, no party. :) In addition to being my baby's daddy and our financier, he also took Kaylee for the day so that we could party prep without having distractions!

Party Central

My friend Laurie made the cupcake toppers

The purple boards are styrofoam wrapped in purple wrapping paper. If you ever want to make cake pops, I have a lot of advice for ya! We finally got it right on the last few. ha!

h2o...get it?? :)

I saw this table set up on Pinterest and changed it up to match our color scheme. I made the tablecloth because it was cheaper to just buy fabric than an actual tablecloth!!

The party was fun! Kaylee didn't seem to care about opening presents, she just wanted to play with the toys! So her helpful friend and cousins unwrapped them for her.

Life is rough when your mom tries to make you eat a cake pop.

California!

2011-07-22T21:38:00.019-04:00

Our 2 week vacation in California was absolutely wonderful! We celebrated Kaylee's birthday with family and friends, then spent the rest of the time at beaches, pools, and playdates! Get settled in, you're about to read the longest blog post ever...

A few days before we left for our trip, a large tree branch fell on my truck and put it in the body shop. We had a rental car which worked out nicely for our ride to the airport. So we dropped the car off at RDU and took the shuttle to the airline. This is the only picture I got of Kaylee wearing her cute backpack! I filled it too heavy and she fell backwards when I tried to make her wear it. Oops!

Kaylee was a great traveler! She stayed in her carseat and was content to watch movies and play with toys. Kaylee loves the movie Madagascar so she watched in on the first flight to Chicago, then we had video screens at each seat on our flight to CA so she watched cartoons. Brilliant!

We got into SFO just around dinner time. My dad and Michele picked us up and treated us to Round Table Pizza at Michele's house before doing anything else. That was my number one place to eat, no other pizza can even rival the King Arthur's Supreme. I was so busy devouring my pizza that I didn't get any pictures!

Other food places on our list were:

Jade Garden (the best authentic chinese food around - specifically their Honey Walnut Prawns)
Jack in the Box (oh how I miss their Spicy Chicken sandwich)
Manleys Donuts in Willow Glen (can you believe they don't have REAL donuts out here? tragic!)
Eriks' Deli Cafe
Togo's
Carl's Jr
Baja Fresh (John's place, not mine)
Casa Azteca (My place, not John's)

Sigh...as I typed all of those, I'm salivating. We were able to check them all off of our list! My dad took me to Jade Garden again the night before we left so I could eat an entire plate of Honey Walnut Prawns by myself. If you live in the Bay Area, you MUST go eat there.

Okay, back to the real stuff you came for. :) We stayed at my dad's house for the 2 weeks. The morning after we arrived, John and Grandpa (R.) took Kaylee up to feed the neighbor's cows. She's never seen cows in real life and seemed to really like them!

Kaylee also got to meet a lot of animals on this trip! While I prepped for the birthday party the following day, John took Kaylee to Grandpa W's house! Kaylee met Lady there.

Then Crum came to visit with Aunt Mandy and Uncle Seth! I think Kaylee liked how small he was compared to her own "puppies".

We met Bella, the Bloodhound who could be Gauge's long lost sister (if Gauge was actually a bloodhound that is!)

And Cleo was Kaylee's favorite animal of the trip! She petted her more than I've ever seen her touch a dog, including our own! And she gave Cleo lots of kisses! Made me want to get a little dog for her!

She liked to "woof woof" at my dad's cat Squirrel, but she never wanted to pet him. (Don't blame my dad for the cat's silly name, that was my doing! haha)

We celebrated Kaylee's 2nd birthday (2 weeks late) and the party was a success! She doesn't like cake or very many sweets, so the food was really for everyone else. The full party blog post is over on my Kayteedids blog!

I made her dress in my sewing class, and of course the matching bow! She was pretty tired by the end of her party.

We went to the San Francisco Zoo with 2 of John's sisters and 7 of Kaylee's California cousins! It was a typical foggy, cold SF day but we had a great time!

We got there just in time for the bear feedings and Kaylee got nose-to-nose (with glass in between obviously!) with the bear! She thought that was pretty cool!

POOLS! Kaylee LOVES to swim and play in the water. She had a great time swimming at her cousin's birthday party.

And twice at Pool 4 where Daddy grew up going every summer!

With Grandpa at Pool 4!

BEACHES!! Apparently Kaylee loves sand too! She got beach toys for her birthday and they were put to good use on the trip!

We went to Twin Lakes beach in Santa Cruz with Grandpa R.

And later in the trip, also spent a day with a lot of John's family at Seabright beach in Santa Cruz.

We also spent 2 days in Cambria (Southern California). My Aunt Charlene and Uncle Tim live in Pennsylvania but rented a beach house in Cambria for the week. It worked out perfectly and we got to spend time with a lot of my side of the family on that trip. John and I snuck away for a walk to the tide pools. He might not be smiling but he really was happy being there with me...I think. ;)

Oh my goodness, how white are my legs?? I need a California tan, stat!
Cambria sand must look like it tastes better than the other beaches since she didn't try to eat Santa Cruz sand!

She also learned how to "play" foosball with my cousins' kids (we just say they're Kaylee's cousins...much easier).

On our way home from Cambria, we stopped at Carl's Jr. to check it off our list. Mmmmm, Double Western Bacon Burger. *drool*

I had to take a picture with this sign. You can take the girl out of California, but you can't take the Californian out of the girl I suppose!

Kaylee had a blast with all of her cousins, but especially these two! They doted on her and she LOVED their attention! I'm really excited to be closer to them once we move so they can grow up knowing each other better than being so far away!

For her birthday, a long time family friend made Kaylee a special outfit to wear at Grandpa's house. Her shirt says "Kaylee" and the shorts say "Grandpa's Girl". And Grandpa got her a name rock to complete the current family rock line.

One night we went to dinner at Michele's (1 L) house, she has the best backyard for photo ops!

This is Michelle (2 L's). She was a good friend of my mom's and a long time family friend. She has been a honorary Grandma to Kaylee and a huge support to me. She's one of my inspirations for donating my hair (see how short it is!!). Blog post to come about that too!

Let's see, what else did we do...John went to the Giants game and rooted for the Dodgers. I got to see my best friend Jessica, Kaylee had a playdate with her friend Hayden, we ate breakfasts, lunches, and dinners with friends, and hardly stayed home! whew...I'm exhausted! I need a vacation from our vacation!

Cheesepuffs make the airport so much more enjoyable. :) Kaylee was a great traveler on the way home too, except for a little bit of crying on the last flight. Poor girl was sooo tired she just couldn't get comfortable in our laps. She eventually passed out snuggled in my lap though.

So we're home now, trying to get laundry done and keep the house clean for more showings. Hopefully we sell soon and can get back to CA. I got my "tan" (still white compared to most Californians though) but it's so hot here I doubt I'll see the sun for a few weeks. Today's heat index was 111. Awesome. As I type this the weatherman is saying 6am will be the coolest time tomorrow so plan to get out early....bwahahahahahaha!!! Me? Get up early? I'll just stay inside all day.

Never say Never

2011-07-05T10:55:00.006-04:00

Here's a quick run down of why you should never say "never":

1998 - Kate applies to University of Oregon to escape California, stating that she'll only come back to visit and plans on living in OR for the rest of her life.

2000 - Kate moves back to CA.

*Never say never*

2001 - Kate and John start dating. Dreams of getting married, starting a life together include leaving CA and only coming back to visit...or even better, getting our family to move wherever WE move so that we don't HAVE to come back.

2004 - My mom is tragically taken from us and my therapist recommends not making any life changing decisions (like moving) for at least a year. We wait 2 years.

2006 - We decide to move to North Carolina for many reason. We state to just about everyone we know that we'll NEVER move back to CA.

2009 - We have a baby. Wait a minute....priorities change! Where is our family? In California.

2011 - Our house in on the market so we can move back to CA.

*NEVER say NEVER!*

yeah, yeah....go ahead and say "We told you so". Say it to your computer screen though because if you do it to my face, I'll adamantly defend our decision to move to NC and our reasons for actually NOT wanting to move back to CA. I'm just sayin'.

With that said, please feel free to send our listing to every person you know in hopes that they, or someone THEY know, want to move to NC. And if you're in the grocery store one day and you overhear the lady in line next to you on her cell phone talking about how she just wants out of CA and would love to move to the east coast or the south, INTERRUPT HER!! Then give her my email address, phone number, blog, whatever.

Okay, I'm done hustling (for now)....I've been told to hustle our own house, not just rely on the realtor. Plus if WE find a buyer, we don't pay the buyer's agent fee! Extra motivation. ;)

Click here for The MLS listing

Click here for The Virtual Tour

Kaylee is 2!!

2011-06-29T21:17:00.006-04:00

sob sob sob, boo hoo, sniff sniff

I was talking to one of my cousins tonight about how sad I am that Kaylee turned 2 yesterday. It has nothing to do with wanting her to stay a baby, it has everything to do with her growing up...does that even make sense? I have no desire to have another baby to fill my "nest". I am so in love with Kaylee and I have fully enjoyed every stage she has gone through so far. I know that the next stages will be just as great, but turning 2 is a bit more "grown up" than I'm ready for! Go ahead and laugh at me, I'll just wallow by myself. ;)

On the other hand, Kaylee has welcomed 2 with open arms. Little Miss Independent only wants to push the grocery cart herself and she wants her food put on the table so she can pick it up herself.

Even among the bouts of independence, she is still the sweetest little girl I've ever met, and I'm really not just saying that because she's my baby! She is a Giver...She's not possessive of her toys, she'd rather share than play with it by herself. She loves to share her food with anyone who will take a bite. And her latest thing is requiring family hugs before bedtime. Who doesn't love a good family hug before bedtime?!! And did you know that loving monster trucks and power tools are genetic traits? They must be because Kaylee will choose anything with wheels over any other toy in the room and "oom oom oom" it all around the floor. She is drawn to all of John's tools too and tries to use them correctly. She loves to "help" him construct things. :)

Anyway enough about my ramblings, you're all here for the cute pictures not my emotional blabbering. ;) We had a BBQ on Saturday with friends:

The kids had a picnic in our living room:

This was our dessert! (Check out the Kayteedids blog for this story!)

Then we had a BBQ on Sunday with our neighbors but I forgot to take pictures! For someone who wasn't wanting her baby to turn 2, I sure have celebrated quite a bit already! Then Tuesday, her actual birthday, we went to Applebee's for dinner. That's the "biggest" restaurant we have in town. We told our waitress that it was Kaylee's 2nd birthday so they came to sing to her. She didn't seem to know they were singing to her but she was certainly happy that they brought an ice cream sundae bigger than her head!

Sharing with Daddy!
And just so Monday didn't feel left out of the party, we had Starbucks Birthday Cake Pops! mmmmm

Kaylee got a kitchen for her birthday! (Thanks Ed & Michelle!!) She loves to "cook" in the big kitchen so this is perfect for her. She works in her kitchen while I make dinner.

Look at that big girl pony tail! Ahhhhhhhh, she's 2!!!!!!!!!!!! sniff sniff

Happy Belated Father's Day

2011-06-23T21:29:00.011-04:00

In the jobs I've had over the years I've seen many different types of dads. Most of the ones I dealt with in social services with were the ones who didn't take the time to cherish the children they helped bring into this world. Those dead-beat dads are the bottom of the barrel in my opinion.

There are the dads who are there, but not really there. Luke warm, if you will. The ones who are present but have no true relationship with their children. They meet their children's physical needs - food, shelter, clothing - but there is no emotional connection.

Then there are the dads who lead by positive example, support their children through life's journey, and have a true and specific relationship with each child.

I count myself very blessed and fortunate to have THAT kind of dad and more specifically, having the dad that I do. I remember going to the electronic flea market with him on Saturday mornings and getting to eat at McDonalds afterwards. He and I rebuilt my VW Bug from junkyard pieces. He flew to Oregon to drive with me back home after my college years. Just to name a few memories! He had an equal part in raising me and if I do say so myself, I think he did a great job!

And what a great Grandpa he is too! We Skype daily with Grandpa even if it's just to say hi and bye. :)

Another thing that my dad did well was role model to me and my sister what to look for in a husband. I remember a teenage memory vividly...someone had "broken my heart" and I yelled "BOYS SUCK!" as I ran to my room. My dad calmly but loud enough for me to hear said "Not all boys suck." It was so true, not all boys suck. :)

When John and I started dating I knew that he would be a wonderful father. The way he treated (treats) me, his fun-nature and the way he was raised...all good signs that this boy "didn't suck"! :) Now watching him actually be a dad just blows my mind. Yesterday Kaylee bumped her head and she wanted Daddy. Those moments I just stand back and admire the love they have for each other. I am completely and utterly blessed to have John as my husband and as Kaylee's dad.

Eskimo Kisses

Rad Like Dad! - Father's Day dinner at Ruckus

Daddy, I definitely "pick" you!

Thanks Daddy for being my Daddy so we could go out to dinner and I could eat delicious mac n cheese with 2 forks!

And I'm lucky to have a wonderful father-in-law too! The way John was raised is an important piece to who he is today and I can't thank his dad enough for loving him and for welcoming me into their family with open arms.

Happy (belated) Father's Day to the 3 dads in my life!

Favorites

2011-05-31T22:02:00.006-04:00

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've blogged! Blogger wouldn't let me sign in for more than a week! So to anyone who kept checking with bated breath for the latest updates and had to keep looking at squirrels and lizards, I'm sorry. :)

However, there isn't much to report! It's been 95 degrees with 80% humidty on average for 2 weeks now...where did Spring go? We went from 60 to 95 in a blink! So we try to stay inside.

Let's see...you probably want some cute pictures. :) Prepare yourself, I've gone a little crazy. I just think Kaylee is the cutest thing I've ever laid eyes on. She and her daddy are my favorites things on this planet!

Kaylee is obsessed with books and would rather read than do anything else. In fact, after reading no less than 3 books before bed she continues to read to herself and Puppy in her crib. When she wakes up in the morning, she reads to herself for who knows how long. One morning I woke up at 9am (she has been my alarm for 7:30am for a solid 18 months now) and went running to her room wondering why she wasn't awake yet and she was contently reading to Puppy. I have no clue how long she had been awake.

Story time with Daddy before bed.

More Daddy time!

Have I ever mentioned (complained) about the fact that our hose is a far distance from the house, and is located in the well "house" along with mice, bugs, spiders, and probably snakes? Not to mention the redbug infestations hiding in the pathways to the well house. So that explains why I prefer to fill up a storage bin in the house with a few buckets of water and call this a pool:

John and I were working on projects in the house and needed Kaylee to stay entertained. Give this girl a corndog, goldfish, milk and Madagascar and she'll sit for hours...well, however long the movie is.

Happy Memorial Day!

Watching the dogs

Kaylee's newest skill is brushing her teeth all by herself. I usually brush them after she does just to make sure, but she's pretty good at it.

Ha! I couldn't pass up one more nature shot. John saw this bunny sitting by Kaylee's tree. I hope he/she stays in the front yard though...Gauge has been known to catch bunnies.

Today's Nature Sighting

2011-05-22T15:51:00.001-04:00

Science Lesson

2011-05-09T15:35:00.003-04:00

So yesterday I wrote about the mama skink and today I watched again as "she" slithered around on the deck, so I googled "oranged headed skink". They're officially called Broadheaded Skinks. And lo and behold, SHE is a HE! That little "cute" head poking up in my picture is the actual mama Skink. The male Skink was protecting the female because he has impregnated her and he didn't want anybody messing with his woman! He has an orange head because it's "reproduction season" to put it mildly....hey, this is a family blog!

The Broadheaded Skink is one of the only skinks to actually stay with her eggs! What a good mama! The babies are due in July and will have blue tails! So Happy Mother's Day to a pregnant Skink (I really have to make sure I spell that word right! ha!) and good job to the Daddy for protecting his brood. :)

And there is your science lesson from The Woertman Outdoors Camp....don't expect too many of these, I'm pretty anti-outdoorsy! But it's amazing what you see sitting on a porch swing in the woods.

Mother's Day part 2

2011-05-08T20:24:00.007-04:00

John amazingly squeezed in all his husband/daddy duties in this morning before he had to work tonight. He let me sleep in until 10:00am! While I slept away he and Kaylee had a fun morning playing. Then he made his famous french toast for breakfast and we went out to build my swing! We finished the swing just before he had to leave for work.

After Kaylee and I ate lunch we got ready to head into town. I honestly didn't realize that Kaylee and I even owned the same clothes until after I was dressed and was headed to dress her too. Black shirts, jeans, and (fake) black Converses! So of course we had to take some matching mother-daughter pictures! These pics were timer self-portraits which is very hard to do with a 22 month old, but aren't we just the cutest? ;)

Then we went to Home Depot to get a potted plant for the corner of the deck by the swing! I ended up with a small rose bush...we'll see how well I keep it up. An herb garden, a coffee tree, and now a rose bush...I really hope I keep them all alive!

This is how I ride at Home Depot...shh, don't tell Jimmie Johnson that we went to "that other store".

Then we went to Taco Bell for dinner. If it were up to Kaylee, we'd eat Taco Bell for every meal. Yes, that is an empty Mexican Pizza box...and yes, she ate the entire thing.

And here is the swing with the new side table, rose bush and citronella candles burning to keep the bugs away!

Don't you want to come visit and swing with me? A cup of coffee? A glass of sweet tea? A good book? Oh, the possibilities! It folds out flat...maybe I'll go sleep there tonight. ;)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

2011-05-08T13:05:00.005-04:00

Everytime all 3 of us go to Walmart we check out of the garden center and while John does all the "checking out" Kaylee and I sit on the porch swing. So this morning I was presented with our very own swing!! I love it!!! I love you John!! Thanks for knowing me so well!

Here Daddy, let me help you get all the pieces.

I'm so smart...not only can I read at 22 months old, but I can read in Spanish!

Okay Daddy, it says you need to put piece B into piece A...got that?

Momma got a swing, I got a box!

Just a swingin'

And Happy Mother's Day to the Skink who was protecting her new baby Skink from us during the swing construction! I wondered why she never moved even with us being inches from her at times, then this little "cute" face peeked up!

I hacked the Haaks...

2011-05-03T16:25:00.001-04:00

come on over to Mandy & Seth's blog to see my "guest blog"...okay, so I hacked into their account.

http://mandyandseth.blogspot.com/

Coffee, Chimpanzees, and Cake, Oh My!

2011-05-01T15:57:00.014-04:00

We have been working on getting our house ready to sell...slowly but surely. John's latest project was to put a new railing on the deck which included blocking off the holes around the two oak trees. He did a wonderful job!! My husband is very handy and crafty!!

I planted some herbs in pots...my first "herb garden"!

He also won a Coffea Arabcia Coffee tree at a Starbucks meeting. So we're now in the business of growing our own beans!! haha kidding It takes several years to produce beans. I'll let you know in a few years how that goes. :) I have a "brown thumb", not a green one.

Today while running errands we went to a Starbucks (not John's). Kaylee saw the cake pops through the pastry case and just HAD to have one...okay, okay... I had to have one. ;) She had the first couple bites for the photo op.

My friend who made Kaylee's Easter shirt also made this shirt for her!! "I love you a-latte" is a common phrase in our house. Also, "I love you Venti", "Have a Grande", and "See you latte". I know, we're cheesy. :)

Last week Kaylee and I went to the Ashboro Zoo with 2 moms from my MOPS group. One of them has twin 4 year old boys, and the other mom has one 4 year old boy. We spent 6 HOURS at the zoo, plus the 3 hours in the truck (round trip) which made for a long day, but we had a great time! The boys entertained Kaylee which helped her push through the "I'm so tired but refuse to take a nap because I might miss cool animals" phase. Once we got back to the truck she fell asleep before I even had her buckled into her carseat.

Watching the Chimpanzees...well, Kaylee is watching the boys!

Riding in Style!

A special Easter outfit

2011-04-24T22:47:00.005-04:00

There are days that I miss my mom more than others, but holidays are still especially hard. However, this Easter I had a special, unexpected connection to my mom. Last year, I found a box of baby clothes marked "Linda's baby clothes" tucked in the back of one of the closets in my parents' house. Most of them are legitimately my mom's baby clothes that I wouldn't want to try to put a baby in for fear of having to wash them and have them fall apart. But there are 2 dresses in the box that my mom made in her high school home-ec class. In high school my mom could sew better than I will ever be able to sew! This dress fits Kaylee so perfectly. It is as if my mom pinned it onto Kaylee and tailored it specially for her. And that is what made this holiday bearable....that, and this cute face!

My mom loved getting us new shoes and would always tell us stories about getting new shoes as a little girl. Her favorite shoes were the white shoes with the black saddle, but I think she would have loved these!

I made the flower clip to match...actually I made 7 different bows (see easter basket above) but this one was so perfect I didn't even try the others with the outfit!

And what is a photo session without the awesome kid "cheeeeeeeeeeeese" photo?!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-22T22:35:00.002-04:00

A friend of mine from sewing class made this shirt for Kaylee for Easter!! We went to a park for a playdate yesterday and got rained out. But I was able to capture this picture before we had to head back to the truck.

Audrey Hepburn anyone?

Our tornado story

2011-04-21T15:45:00.010-04:00

Picture taken by a friend's cousin with her cell phone, this is IN Sanford.

Let me preface this "story" with a few things:

1. We are fine, no damage to our house.
2. Our "story" is so minor compared to the victims, I'm strictly posting it for friends who have asked.
3. We are thanking God for our safety and praying for the victims of this devastation across the entire South.
4. Thank you to the friends and family who did check in on us. Sanford made the national AND international news, and we appreciate those who were concerned for our safety.

To start with, here is a map I made to help you follow where we were. Notice that the black dots (aka tornadoes) are exactly where we live, go to church, and where we were that day. I didn't put them there, that's is truly where they were. *Shudder*

Saturday, April 16-

John & Kim Haak were out east visiting and brought Chandon up to visit us. We met up with some of my friends in Cary so that Chandon had some kids his own age to play with. The weather was rainy and overcast so after lunch and playing the Haaks, Chandon, Kaylee and I went to the Museum of Life & Science in Downtown Raleigh. (My John was at work in Moore County, 1.5 hrs south of Raleigh) On our way to the museum we heard the Emergency Broadcast Signal come across the radio station. (Side note: here in NC, that EBS is quite common to hear, not like in CA where it's always "this is only a test".) It stated that there was a tornado watch in Lee, Chatham and Moore counties. We live in Lee, but were in Wake County so other than feeling sorry that the puppies were getting rained on back home, I didn't think much of it. Infact, I even stated that Lee county never gets tornadoes that touch down and because they almost always hit Johnston county which is a wide open, rural, farm land area. Whereas Lee County is more populated and mostly wooded areas. So we went ahead onto the museum. We hadn't been inside very long when an announcement came over the loud speaker saying that everyone needed to come to the first floor (we were on the the 4th floor of course) due to inclement weather. Once on the 1st floor, a few minutes went by and another announcement stated that we needed to be evacuated to the basement due to tornadoes. Everyone filed down stairways in a calm manner, I was impressed that no one (to my knowledge) freaked out. We stayed underground for 30-40 minutes until the storms had passed.

Hanging out in the basement

As we left the museum we witnessed just some of the devastation in downtown Raleigh. Many, many oak trees just snapped in half. Picture those beautiful oak trees you see in movies with the rope swing off a big branch, knowing that the tree had been there for hundreds of years...those kind of trees were snapped like toothpicks. Metal roofs were mangled and displaced. Trees had landed on cars. Houses were damaged. It was shocking.

Downtown Raleigh, Picture from WRAL.com

About this time, John called to see where we were (we were headed out of Raleigh back to the Haak's hotel). He told me that the tornado had touched down in Sanford and Broadway (our tiny town) and that Lowes had been destroyed. I didn't quite believe it since the weather looked pretty decent out at this point. But when I tried calling our neighbors and the phone lines were down, I started to worry. Mostly about our neighbors and our dogs though. I knew we could replace the house and belongings. But I was terrified at the reasons for why I couldn't get through to Ray & Linda, and also that Gunner and Gauge had possibly been tossed around in the tornado. Indeed Lowes is gone. And when I saw gone...this is what I mean:

That is the roof...on the ground.

That trailer was in the parking lot originally.

Pictures by Ray & Linda. Ray is our neighbor and works for Lowes. Fortunately he was not working on Saturday. Can you believe that no one was killed in this mess?

I dropped the Haaks off at their hotel and rushed to get home. John left work and headed home as well. He was traveling north, and I was headed south (for the most part, I'll spare you with the exactness). I made it as far as Misty Creek Ranch which had been destroyed (see earlier blog post) but the roads were closed. A local neighbor with a chainsaw told me that it looked like someone had dumped a bucket of lincoln logs on the road for a mile stretch and that the ranch was gone. Heartbreaking! It was going to be a 2-3 hr wait for the road to be cleared, and even once that was cleared we didn't know how far we'd get after that.

Picture from WRAL.com

Pictures by Kate

The cell towers had been knocked down, not to mention everyone trying to call each other, so cell service was hit or miss. John and I finally got each other on our cells. He was stuck in Sanford with reports that from downtown Sanford all the way up to Broadway had been destroyed. So he couldn't make it home either. We both back tracked, got to the main highway and met up at a fire station. In this awesome map, the blue lines are the first attempts at getting home. The green line is once we got past the ranch and could get home. It was a lot of driving!

After chatting with the fire fighters we decided to go eat dinner and go to Walmart for some flashlights, snacks, water...a few things to keep us going if we came home to a demolished house...while we waited for the roads to be cleared.

By the time we headed back home, it was dark but the devastation along the way was still evident. Once past the Misty Creek Ranch rubble, it was clear sailing for the next mile home and we pulled in to our driveway with great relief. The only thing out of place was a potted plant that was upside down. As we've learned, this is evident of a tornado vs. hurricane. Had this been hurricane wind destruction, everyone would have had damage. A tornado touches down, takes out whatever is in it's path but leaves things just on the other side of the road untouched. Absolutely bizarre.

We didn't have power for 3 days and lost all of our food in our fridge and freezer, but we're not complaining. Food is easy to replace and in all honestly, the fridge needed a good cleaning anyways. Kaylee even helped clean! I love that she copies me, now just to get her to use some elbow grease and we'll be good to go!

We drive through the carnage every time we have to go somewhere. People lost their homes, some homes were flattened to the ground and that is no exaggeration. There are stories of people being in their mobile homes that lifted off the ground, spun around, and landed back on the ground. There have been deaths but it is amazing that there haven't been more.

That is the foundation of a house...no more house. Picture by Kate.

On a cuter note...

2011-04-18T21:47:00.005-04:00

I bought Kaylee a glow wand for Halloween but we never opened it, so Saturday night she got to play with it since our power was out. She had a blast!

And on Sunday after church and the park with the Haaks, we went to hang out at Starbucks for the bathroom, electricity and internet. And maybe for the cake pops too. Oh yeah, and for the cute store manager. ;)

insanity

2011-04-18T19:35:00.002-04:00

This picture was taken by our friend's cousin in Sanford. It reminds me of that scene in Independence Day where the alien ship blew up the White House.

Too close for comfort!

2011-04-17T16:17:00.009-04:00

Many of you have heard on the national news about Sanford, NC getting hit by the devastating tornadoes. Thank you to those who have sent emails, text messages, and phone calls. We do not have power or phone lines at home and the cell towers were destroyed so cell service is hit or miss in the area. Luckily our house was not hit but just down the street, houses were destroyed.

Last week I took this picture on my way home, just few minutes before our house.

It is the best parts of our commute are Ovation Farms and Misty Creek Ranch. Misty Creek was destroyed yesterday and it breaks my heart. I don't know if they lost horses and cows but I'm guessing they did. More pictures of their farm to come, I have to wait to get home and have power again to download. BUT, this is a picture from WRAL.com of this same stretch of road...just a bit farther back than I was.

I saw this devastation first hand as it was the farthest I could get towards home. I had been stopped at a road block 1/2 mile before this but the sheriff asked me to drive down and get an estimated time of completion from the chainsaw guys. It was literally just neighborhood men with their chainsaws trying to clear the road. An impressive view of community bonding for sure. I offered my truck if they needed to haul trees but at this point they were just trying to get debris off the road.

Sanford was hit hard. The Lowes Home Improvement is no more. That's what you see in the background of this next picture, the tangled metal mess. Pictures from WRAL.com

Across the street is (was) Tractor Supply where we go often, especially for dog food, plus a Big Lots and Food Lion. All were destroyed.

This truck is in that parking lot.

And obviously a stop sign doesn't belong in the grass.
We are thankful to be safe with no damage. I will write more later. Right now I'm at John's Starbucks so I can have a bathroom, phone service, and internet! But I have a very cranky Kaylee who doesn't understand why she's not at home sleeping in her crib. I suppose she could be, but that would require me to dig holes out back for a "bathroom" and as you well know, that doesn't fly with me. ;)

Today's playdate

2011-04-04T20:10:00.003-04:00

As I've mentioned, Monday's are playdate/babysitting days. Today the girls both had naps prior to playing and therefor had a TON of energy to burn off together.

Momma's Helper

2011-04-02T20:40:00.004-04:00

While I made dinner tonight Kaylee helped "clean" the kitchen.

Catchin up

2011-03-30T10:17:00.006-04:00

Last week was John's birthday so Kaylee and I went to visit him at work. She and I shared a Birthday Cake - Cake Pop to celebrate Daddy!

Every Monday I babysit a friend's 3 year old boy and 18 month old girl. It's also a great playdate for Kaylee, to have some girl time! Eliza is the only other little girl we know out here.

And in her spare time, Kaylee researches all the great deals at Joann's for me. What a good Kayteedids assistant!

1/16 Irish heritage...or something like that

2011-03-17T20:04:00.006-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We all wore our green today, did you? If not, here is a little {pinch} from us! :) Kaylee had a loooong day being toted around by mom and dad while running errands, so by the time I got around to taking pictures of her in her holiday outfit, this was the closest I could get to a smile.

We did get a lot of kisses blown to us though so she wasn't entirely mad at us.

While we were at the mall, I had the brilliant idea to put Kaylee on the carousel for her first time.

(I think our camera man was a little dizzy watching us)

She was NOT a fan and although she didn't cry she clung to me and we eventually had to get off the horse and sit on the bench.

On our way home we got stopped by a train....a looooong train. So long that we turned the truck off and I was sitting in the passenger window taking pictures. Kaylee slept through the whole thing and John and I had a good time talking about the train. It was a coal train that probably had 75 cars FULL of coal. It was pretty cool...or maybe we're just easy to please living out in the boonies. heehee

a sunny day!

2011-03-13T23:26:00.002-04:00

Helping Daddy build the new railing on the deck!

Looking for some help...

2011-03-02T16:44:00.001-05:00

Does anyone have a friend who has started a small business and grown it into something big? Any kind of business will work. If so, would they be willing to let me pick their brain? I really just have a couple specific questions. You can email me or leave a blog comment. Thanks!!

BIG happenings

2011-02-20T20:21:00.005-05:00

I don't know if the blog notifies my readers when I update one of my "pages" (the tabs above), so if not go click on the Kayteedids tab to read some cool stuff!! :)

Park Day!!!

2011-02-17T16:04:00.002-05:00

Eeeeeeeee! Today was 68 and not raining or windy, so we went to the park!! This is the first day in MONTHS that we've been able to venture to a park and it was wonderful! We stopped at Chik-fil-A for some nuggets, fries and milk for a picnic. Then Kaylee had fun on the swings for awhile. If she could, I think she'd swing all day. She's like her momma, I'd swing all day if I could too! :D

Feeling Loved

2011-02-15T21:11:00.003-05:00

Whew! We've been busy these last 2 weeks! My Dad and Michele came out to visit for a few days. Kaylee is definitely a Grandpa's girl!

We went to Red, Hot and Blue for some pulled pork. Kaylee actually had mini-corndogs and broccoli but refused to eat the oreo. (She doesn't like sugary stuff!!)

My dad and Michele went to Australia a few months ago and brought Kaylee a stuffed Kangaroo! Kaylee is a good Kangaroo-mama and wanted to feed her new baby.

I took my dad and Michele to the Raleigh airport the same day that I also picked up my friend Tara!! She came to visit us for 5 days. Kaylee loved the constant attention and I loved having Tara here. We even had a photo-shoot with my friend Beth.

Now the house is empty again and we're back to our regular routine. This was a great 2 weeks to tide me over until we get back to CA in June for Kaylee's 2nd birthday. :D

Pennsylvania

2011-01-27T11:04:00.006-05:00

Last week we were able to fly to Pennsylvania to visit my Aunt Charlene and Uncle Tim. We coordinated our trip with my Aunt Jenifer and Aunt Luann from CA. It was a lot of fun spending time with all my aunts and Kaylee enjoyed the amount of attention she received!

Kate, John, Uncle Tim, Aunt Charlene, Aunt Luann, Kaylee, Aunt Jenifer

Uncle Tim showed John how to clear the driveway.

John got to use the Blizzard Wizard!

We drank a lot of coffee thanks to our personal barista!

We played a lot of Wii Golf and Bowling...we pretty much rock! ;)

Kaylee loved having Daddy home alllll the time!

We visited Jim Thorpe, PA. A cute little old town.

We had a delicious Turkey Dinner just like Thanksgiving.
We had an amazing time and can't thank our hosts enough. It's always so wonderful spending time with family.

playtime

2011-01-14T18:08:00.002-05:00

Someone found a half done tutu in the craft room while I was sewing. She had it almost all the way on, so I helped her put it on and went back to sewing. Then she disappeared and when I went to find her, this is what I found.

Brrrr

2011-01-13T22:54:00.004-05:00

Not a lot has happened since Christmas. We've had snow and ice which has kept Kaylee and I home most of that time. So we've had a lot of "stay in our pj's" days. We leave on Saturday for 8 days in Pennsylvania so I'll have far more to update after that trip. :)

We have a "rain chain" that comes off one end of the gutter into a bucket. This is what it looks like frozen! Pretty cool!!
Kaylee loves to be outside, and she was very sad that we weren't going out this day.
So we read books instead. She is a book worm! She "reads" as she turns the pages. Lots of gobbelty-gook, but I'm pretty sure she knows this book by heart.
And just because I haven't posted any pictures of Kaylee eating lately...
Popcorn shrimp Kisses!!
Being silly for the camera. She is a ham!

Hair bows

2011-01-06T15:47:00.003-05:00

Do you know a little girl who needs hair bows? I am discontinuing my hair bow line to focus on my blankets, so until they're gone here is a code for 50% off all Kayteedids hair bows KCBOWS

Even if you have a baby this year with very little hair, she'll have hair next Christmas!!

More Merry Christmas!

2010-12-28T22:37:00.013-05:00

Aunt Charlene and Uncle Tim made the drive to NC from PA for Christmas at our house. It is so wonderful to have them "close" enough to travel and we are forever grateful for their hours spent in the car just to come visit us. On Christmas Eve we went out to lunch and then to visit John at work.

Kaylee loved all the attention she got!

She spent Christmas Eve seriously battling a molar and then spent Christmas Day discovering her new "friend" with her tongue.

Santa also wrote back to Kaylee from her Christmas Eve note. AND took all my VIA! ;)

Christmas was a big hit with Kaylee. She understood how to unwrap but didn't quite get it that there were presents inside. I think she was a little hesitant to tear all the paper because of how many times she's told not to on a regular day (ie. "Kaylee, don't pull the paper out of the printer and tear it into a million pieces"). But she loved her Learning Ladybug from Grandpa Rowe. Anything that plays music is a hit. She loves to dance and we've spent the last few days dancing and singing to all the fun songs the ladybug has! She also got these super fun pj's from Michele!

Daddy is her favorite person these days. She is most content in his lap. I love it!

Bounce yourself up & down and say a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a. That's what was going on in this picture.

Later in the day John and Uncle Tim went pumpkin hunting and were successful at catching our big pumpkin still hanging around from Halloween. No we didn't use it for pumpkin pie afterwards...we didn't want to pick shotgun pellets out of our teeth with each bite!

The day after Christmas it snowed about 8-10". John unfortunately had to go to work even though our roads weren't plowed. He drove my truck to work and arrived only to find the power out and no employees willing to drive in the snow. So he had to close the store down after waiting/hoping for the power to return.

Here is our backyard:

And the front yard:

I got a new camera for Christmas so today I played around with it more. This squirrel was at least 30 feet high! Woohoo for zoom!!

Our Christmas cards were ordered late (oops!) and still have not arrived in our own mail (thanks to our lazy postal lady I'm sure), so they'll be happy new year cards instead. Merry Christmas one more time from the 3 of us! What a wonderful year it has been! Friends and family like you have made it a great one! We are looking forward to so much in 2011.

Love,

John, Kate & Kaylee

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T23:26:00.006-05:00

30 more minutes until Christmas here on the east coast...I wonder when Santa arrives. Merry Christmas to you all!

In this house, we believe in Santa...

And that is A LOT!!!

We decorated in pink and green this year so of course this outfit was a must have!

Merry Christmas from The Woertmans!

Kayteedids Couture

2010-12-09T08:14:00.011-05:00

I have two features this week!! The first started yesterday on IndieSpotting, a website to support handmade items! Kayteedids is on both their main site and their Christmas site!

IndieSpotting

An IndieChristmas

And tomorrow I'm being {Freshly Launched} on LaunchHER, a company that does consulting for woman-owned businesses. They do a free "boost" on their blog each week and mine will start on Friday, Dec. 10!

LaunchHER

{Freshly Launched}

Also, if you haven't seen all the new Christmas bows in the shop, check them out!

Kayteedids Couture

Just Say No to Veggies!

2010-12-07T20:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T12:32:00.003-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to our family and friends!

THESE are Thanksgiving Pants...pretty ridiculous and again, I can't follow a pattern to save my life. They'll be a one hitter-quitter.

Today's list of things to do:

2010-11-23T09:40:00.006-05:00

~~1. Start and complete Kaylee's Christmas dress~~
2. Make Kaylee's Thanksgiving pants (what are Thanksgiving pants you ask? You'll see if I get them done!)
3. Finish cupcake blanket, photograph and post in store
~~4. Drop off custom hair bow order at friend's house~~
~~5. Go to store to find a shirt for under Kaylee's dress (we have an event to wear it to tomorrow...ah nothing like last minuteness)~~
~~6. Buy new phone~~

Whew! Maybe since I am publicly announcing my list, I'll actually get it done! Let's see how that goes....off to sew!

Well, I finished 4 of the 6. The pants are half way done. The blanket is done but not photographed. If only there were a couple more hours in the day!

Beef her up!

2010-11-21T09:38:00.006-05:00

With all the posts I've done about Kaylee eating, you'd think she's be a chunky thing. We went for her 15 month wellness check last week (yeah, we're late...there are good reasons though) and although she is gaining weight, it is at a very slow increase on the charts. We had her thyroid checked to be on the safe side and it's perfectly normal, so the doctor said to beef her up. In Kaylee's defense, and mine as the provider of food, she's had the stomach flu twice and something bad to eat once causing her to lose the weight we worked so hard to gain! So Kaylee heard what every child dreams of hearing their doctor say to mom "Give her ice cream! Don't worry about getting the full servings of veggies right now". And my response to that is "I'll have to hide the veggies because she wants to eat those first over anything else". (spaghetti not included) So high calorie foods, here we come!

Turkey, Ranch, and Cheese "burrito" - demolished the entire thing, even picked the fallen turkey and cheese off the tray.

More Taco Bell please!

What? I get corndogs more often now? Wohoo!!!

Happy Fall!

2010-11-20T14:18:00.001-05:00

New and Improved!

2010-11-18T09:49:00.003-05:00

Kaylee was up all night because the poor girl couldn't breathe with this dumb cold. Funnily though, she has as much energy as she always does, keeps smiling, and is generally in great spirits! She must have gotten that from John. He's like that too when he's sick (which I can only count the times he's been sick on one hand in the last 9 years! lucky him!) unlike myself who is a whiny-sleep all day-barely function sickie. Anyways, I'm lucky to have 2 perky sickies versus the other way around! (John's not sick right now just to clarify)

So as I waited for her to drift off to sleep I redid the blog. I've started a new little journey that you'll find in the above tab called "250 Ways to Success" and I'll start updating my Kayteedids stuff under that tab. All "important" and "oh so exciting" blogs will stay on the home page so you don't miss a minute of our highly entertaining life. (read with sarcasm) :D

Kayteedids featured on Expecting Chic

2010-11-16T09:24:00.003-05:00

Expecting Chic featured her custom Kayteedids Loop Blankie today!!!

The first of many to come!

2010-11-11T12:11:00.003-05:00

On Wednesdays Kaylee and I go to our mom's Bible Study at a friend's home. We have a wonderful mom who does childcare and Kaylee really loves her. Yesterday morning I asked Kaylee if she wanted to go see Ms. Megan and she nodded her head and smiled very enthusiastically. There is also a 3 year old little girl, Kaitlyn, who has adopted Kaylee. Kaitlyn REALLY wants to be a big sister some day so she's practicing on Kaylee and does a wonderful job. Yesterday's craft was hand spiders. I'm sure Ms. Megan did the tracing and cutting, but Kaitlyn helped with the glue and glitter. All Kaylee did was hold still to have her hand traced, but it's her first art project! So it's on the fridge. :) I'm a proud mama.

FABRIC!!!

2010-11-04T21:11:00.002-04:00

OH. MY. GOODNESS GRACIOUS! Do you LOVE fabric as much as I do? I found this etsy page that has the CUTEST designs! I'm sure you'll be seeing them in Kayteedids soon enough!

Fabric Shoppe

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T21:49:00.007-04:00

I never really enjoyed dressing up as a kid, but I sure do love dressing Kaylee up! We got a CUTE flower costume from John's Aunt Kathy on our trip to PA/NY. Kaylee didn't want anything to do with the strap on the original flower hat so we went with a Kayteedids flower clip! John had to work tonight so he dressed up as a hunter.

Costume change! One of our favorite books to read is Ladybug GIrl. The costume wasn't exactly like Ladybug Girls, but it was the inspiration. She wouldn't keep the antennas on but fortunately I know a girl (wink wink) who makes super bows!

And check out Kaylee's debut on our favorite online magazine!!!! CupcakeMag | Sprinkles

AND for friends and family only, you can custom order tutus with a shirt or onesie from Kayteedids. They make great gifts, Halloween costumes (okay, so I'm late advertising), even Christmas "dresses", or just fun playtime. I'm not selling them to the public because I want to focus on my other items, but I do love making them so let me know if you're in the market and we can discuss all the fun options!

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-29T17:36:00.004-04:00

This is so fun! I love pumpkins!

Picking out pumpkins with my Daddy!

Hmmmmm. Daddy, this doesn't look like a pumpkin to me!

I love my mommy!

I'm tired of pumpkins, let's just eat leaves instead.

Okay, I'm done.

Mom of the year award

2010-10-28T17:47:00.003-04:00

I'm pretty sure I won't win after giving my 16 month old a whole corndog for dinner followed by some of my cappuccino milkshake! Kaylee has followed in her mama's footsteps and loves fried food. My original plan was to cut up the corndog like you're suppose to so they don't choke on the hotdog, but she used her front teeth to tear at the whole thing so I just carefully watched instead. She ate every last bit including the crunchy goodness stuck to the stick...and without eating the stick! She loves to say "mmmmmm" when she likes something, but just recently she has started actually saying "YUM"...listen for it!

And yes, I realize this is another post about Kaylee eating. lol

Pa Pa Paparazzi!

2010-10-19T20:11:00.004-04:00

My dear friend Beth (Beth Tilley Green Photography) was our paparazzi at the Farmer's Market the other day. :) It's pretty fun to have someone take your pictures for you!

First stop Zibbet, Next stop Hollywood!

2010-10-18T12:02:00.004-04:00

Kayteedids is the featured seller on Zibbet this week!! My business has really taken off thanks to family and friends! I have another publicity piece in December with a company called LauncHER and I have a few other avenues I'm working on as well. Soon I'll have to hire an employee! Or a babysitter!

Click here to read my interview!

Even though Kaylee is pictured in a tutu that I made her, I won't be putting tutus in my store for the general public. But if you want a custom one made let me know! I can make any color(s), any length. They'd make perfect Christmas gifts! Email me for prices, it just depends on what you want. I also highly recommend Cutie Pa Tutus and Lelah's Shop for their custom tutus (and other fun things!!).

Silly Face Contest...don't you have those too?

2010-10-12T18:20:00.007-04:00

We went to a new park today that didn't have swings, so we had to create our own fun. Kaylee has inherited my love for making silly faces and so we had a "silly face contest" with each other before our friends showed up to play. Here are a few of Kaylee's best:

Funny thing about this one is that I make this exact same

face quite often! I was just complaining to John the other night that

I really need to stop making this face because I'm getting

wrinkles on that side of my mouth! haha

And just some regular pics

2010-10-11T12:23:00.002-04:00

Does anyone read this blog besides Amy, Becky, Michelle and Michele (thanks by the way)? I'm feeling quite invisible lately. I can't get seem to get more followers on my Kayteedids facebook or twitter pages and no one seems to comment on my blog. I'm in a "delete all my social media" mood so if you really do follow this blog can you comment and let me know please? I'm petty sure you can comment anonymously without signing up for a blogger account. If not, someone tell me that please.

Thanks,

a lonely mom who lives in the boonies and relies on social media contact for her social outlet

Piggy tails

2010-10-07T15:58:00.005-04:00

Today we went to the hospital to visit our new friend Callie who was born yesterday. Callie is 1lb and 1" bigger than Kaylee was and I still cannot wrap my head around the idea that my baby was smaller than the little girl I held today! So tiny and precious!

(That's a Kayteedids bow and headband!!)

Afterwards Kaylee and I went to the cafeteria because they have a Chik-fil-A!! Kaylee had chocolate pudding for the first time and LOVED it, as is evident on her arms and face.

I'm a BIG GIRL!

2010-10-05T22:30:00.003-04:00

We opted for the booster seat tonight at Chili's which was a hit in Kaylee's opinion. She sat in it perfectly and it was fun to have her next to me in the booth. However, it gave her a new view of the restaurant vs. in a high chair where she is faced into the booth. So dinner took backstage to watching EVERY other child, waiter, waitress walk around the place. Also today she mastered the drinking from a straw ability. That also played into not eating dinner...she only wanted to practice her new skill.

eating...again

2010-10-05T15:42:00.003-04:00

Chicken Ranchero Soft Taco with extra chicken anyone?
Kaylee says "Yes please!!"

I let her eat all the chicken out of it first, then roll up the rest of it for a lettuce-sauce-cheese burrito. She finishes it completely and still wants more. Next time...a steak stuffed burrito. ;)

I ♥ tutus!

2010-10-03T14:13:00.004-04:00

My newest addition to Kayteedids is custom tutus with a custom shirt or onesie. They aren't listed on my shop yet, but they will be eventually. As for now Kaylee is my model (as with everything!) and she makes a darn cute ladybug! This one isn't finished but I couldn't resist taking pictures today.

Another food post

2010-10-01T01:01:00.004-04:00

I realize that I post about Kaylee eating a lot. I must admit that it is one of my most favorite activities of the day...watching her eat. She is absolutely hilarious. She talks a lot, she has amazing dexterity, and she loves food. Just the other night she put a green bean in her mouth and said very enthusiastically, "MMMMMMMMM" and then giggled. Her favorite things are cream cheese and spaghetti sauce. Not together, although I'm sure she'd eat it if they were mixed! She has become a connoisseur of mac 'n cheese. At home she's had "the blue box", Kraft, and Annie's Organic. And in the last 2 weeks she's tasted the mac 'n cheese at Red Robin, Smokey Bones, and Joe's Crabshack. Here are her ratings on a scale of 1-10 (10 being MMMMMMM):

Red Robin 10

Smokey Bones 9

Joe's 8

Kraft 5

Annies 4

This is at Joe's Crabshack for my birthday lunch. I took the picture before she devoured her broccoli too. Poor girl has followed in her mama's weirdness of eating each thing o the plate separately.

I have to say that Red Robin truly does have the most amazing mac 'n cheese I've ever tasted. Nothing fancy, nothing added, but there is some deliciousness happening there!

And we're learning to color!

6th Anniversary!

2010-09-26T21:18:00.004-04:00

September 25, 2004

September 25, 2010

I love my life!!

Put your feet up!

2010-09-16T09:44:00.002-04:00

It doesn't get much better than eating waffle fries on the Chik-fil-A patio!

Trip to PA and NY

2010-09-11T21:42:00.011-04:00

We spent this week up in Bath, PA visiting my Aunt Charlene and Uncle Tim. Kaylee made sure we were up to speed on the plane safety features before we left Raleigh.
Kaylee waited until the plane was landing to fall asleep and then slept the whole walk to baggage claim and the car.

Aunt Charlene and Uncle Tim took us to South Philly to experience a REAL Philly Cheesesteak at Geno's. Soooo yummy!

On Thursday we drove up to New York to visit John's family. This is Kaylee with her Great-Grandma Newbold and second cousin Raymond (John's cousin)

John's Aunt Kathy and her twin boys Raymond and Johnny took us to the Queens Zoo.

Isn't she the cutest baby eagle you've ever seen?

Kaylee loved the llamas! She petted them without any hesitation.

The next day we toured around the local Pennsylvania area.

And tomorrow we're headed home. I wish we lived closer, it has been a great week!

One day left to wear white!

2010-09-05T17:55:00.008-04:00

I made this dress for Kaylee this week forgetting the "rule" that you're not suppose to wear white after labor day...good thing that isn't until tomorrow! Whew! Just in the nick of time. Luckily it's big enough that it will at least fit as a shirt next summer. :)

"How do you like my new dress?"

"And my matching barrette?"

"I'm such a big girl!"

"Because I'm..."

"When I see the camera I like to be silly"

"Let's explore the jungle!"

"Dear God, Thank you for the wonderful weather today and my pretty new dress. Amen."

Lovin' bathtime!

2010-09-04T17:54:00.000-04:00

Spaghetti anyone?

2010-08-30T23:47:00.002-04:00

Washed down with some delicious whole milk!

Halloween is coming...

2010-08-29T20:56:00.002-04:00

and you, your daughter, your friend's daughter, your mail lady, etc. all NEED to be festive! Get your ponytail holders now and be ready for the entire month of October!

multi-tasking 2

2010-08-26T00:16:00.003-04:00

Except for having to watch out for falling lunch particles, this is actually a great "toe-painting set up"!

Multi-tasking

2010-08-23T14:25:00.006-04:00

Multi-tasking took a whole new meaning today when I dragged (drug? I never get that right) the high chair filled with a baby, meatloaf, chips, and oranges, into the bathroom so I could take a shower while Kaylee ate lunch. I was rushed on time, this isn't a common practice. :) Although Kaylee enjoyed watching herself eat lunch in the mirror!

What crazy things have YOU done to multi-task?

Does Starbucks make everyone this happy?

2010-08-22T21:51:00.000-04:00

Kayteedids

2010-08-22T21:40:00.008-04:00

I think I've found my niche! I am so excited about my new products in Kayteedids! Please come check out the latest customizable items!

Kayteedids

innovative? or desperate?

2010-08-18T16:43:00.003-04:00

Anyone else get tired of picking up the sippy cup? I'm sure they sell things like this, but no need to buy one when you have rubberbands and link rings!

A new blog to follow!

2010-08-18T14:33:00.006-04:00

In 2001 I met my friend Teal while working at Santa Clara University. Her fashion sense has always been to die for, and her writing skills are top notch! Now that she's expecting her first child in January she started a blog called Expecting Chic to help us moms and moms-to-be stay (or learn to be, in my case) fashionable! Check out her blog here in the link to the right. And please vote for her on Top Baby Blogs (there is a link on her page)!

"olive" you!

2010-08-13T22:08:00.003-04:00

We received a gift card to Olive Garden so today we ate there for lunch. Kaylee enjoyed the kid's raviolis and loved the bread sticks. She loves milk too but I forgot her sippy cup at home so we had to carefully drink from the kid's cup.

I've realized lately that "kid's menu" really means at least 2-3 years old at the youngest. Although Kaylee can finish a meal on the kid's menu, the food comes out blazing hot, or they give you a whole apple as a side leaving it to mom to cut it up with a dull table knife, or a huge cup of milk that no 1 year old can finish, or they serve it on a breakable plate! But we're at the point where I can't share my food anymore because then I go hungry when Kaylee eats half of my entree! I should start a campaign asking restaurants to cater to 1 year olds too! I can't be the only mom who doesn't want to pack a 1 year old's entire dinner in the diaper bag just to go out to eat!