Terrifying

So the day after Christmas I decide to take Ginger to go see The Princess and The Frog. We were originally going to at 1:40pm but for some reasons the line was super long so by the time I got to the tickey booth it was already 2pm. So we went at 4pm. We get there and there are no seats for us to sit together. She has to sit on my lap. That pissed me off. I paid for two seats and I only get one. The movie was wonderful. Ginger was great. That was her first movie theater experience and she was delightful. After the movie I decided I was going to talk to a manager and see about getting reimburesed for one ticket since Ginger had to sit on my lap. On the way there I lost Ginger. I couldn't find her, anywhere. There were a ton of people in the theater waiting to watch Avatar. So it was crowded and I couldn't see her. And I'm screaming her name and she's not answering me, the panic is now clawing at my throat and ready to burst. I'm being stared at like I'm crazy or a bad mom. Then a lady comes to me and grips my arm and basically takes charge and tells me to tell a manager and looked in the bathroom with me. She tells me to stay in one spot and she'll go look for her aswell. A few minutes later Ginger is found. She had somehow doubled back. I was terrified to move anywhere. Cuz' I was stationed close to the exit and I didn't want her to slip by me. And I felt that no one would recognize her like I would. One worker actually told me to calm down and not panic. I just looked at him and asked if he had kids, and he was all no... but I have a sister. Okay I know sibling love is strong and I remember when Erin got lost on the beach in Italy and I was scared and terrified. But this... this was different and even if you are a parent and never lost your kid I don't think you could fully know the full terror that comes with that. I'm so glad that she was found and okay. I got home and just bawled like a baby. Ginger doesn't even know what went wrong. I've taught her before to say 'here' when I call her name, and I didn't hear her. I hope to never have to go through that again. Mom... I don't know how you survived Erin's lostness.

Matrix!

So Santa brought Josh a giant sticky hand in his stocking for Christmas and Josh LOVED it, he pretty much mastered it. He was able to stand in the middle of a room and hit both walls in the same swing without losing rythmn. He was also able to do that with the kids, one would be on one side and the other on the other. Silly Josh. Anyways, Josh was showing Austin his mad skillz when Josh decided to see if he could hit him with it. Here is how it turned out...

Christmas

Don't you just love them in there Spongebob jammies!! (Thank you guys for an awesome Christmas Eve!!)

Christmas Eve was AWESOME!! We went to Dani and Brent's house and it was so great to do some of the traditions that we haven't done in many years. Like caroling!!! That was so awesome. And yes we had the reindeer antlers while we did, it just wouldn't be the same if we didn't. It was fun to have Josh there and have him join in as we did this. It was great to show him some of the traditions that I grew up on. We were going to do a nativity scene as well. But it got to be late so when we got back we had hot cocoa and then opened presents. Well we just opened our christmas eve jammies and the Kynastons opened up all gifts from family, and from each other. It was fun to watch. It was like looking into the future for me. The absolute delight on there faces was so fun to watch. Before we left there house Dani looked up on Norda Santa and looked where he was at and Ginger was just amazed and so into it. Drove home and then set out the plate of cookies and a cup of egg nogg (cuz' that what santa likes to drink when he comes to our house).

What a wonderful day Christmas morning was. Ginger was just delightful. And though Zoey is young she still enjoyed everything as well. Mostly the stuff that she could put in her mouth. When Ginger woke up we should her the plate of cookies and egg nog (egg.noggin as she likes to say) that santa ate. And she just couldn't believe it. She just so darn cute, opening her presents, and Zoeys too. She LOVED the clothes that mom and dad bought her. And thought that candyland looked fun. It's just awesome to enjoy christmas all over again except this time as a parent. Although man... it sure is exhausting to be a parent on christmas day.

I know this video is dark, but it's Ginger when she first turns the corner and sees the presents that santa left and the plate of eaten cookies and the empty cup of egg nogg that santa ate.

This one is just us opening presents

(sorry if this a little much too many pics and videos, but I figured my mom would love it)

And then later Christmas day Ginger's best friend, Kodie, came over to give Ginger her christmas present. Ginger was so happy. She got a Zhu-Zhu pet. They are kind of weird. But better than having a live hamster. It was great to have friends come over and visit us on christmas.

The finished product

So earilier this month I was asking people for a glue gun so that I could finish a christmas project with Ginger cuz' the regular white glue just wasn't working. I ended up buying one cuz' they weren't that expensive. So now I have one of my very own for future projects. Here's what it ended up at the end. It was fun to make and Ginger enjoyed putting the eyes, buttons, and ear muffs on. Great project for us to share. It's a tree garland. I think it turned out pretty great, if I do say so myself.

It's a bird, no a plane, no its.....

SUPER GINGER AND SUPER ZOEY!!!

Ginger really wanted to have a cape so I tied one on her and then I thought that Zoey would be super cute with one, and I was right, cuz she is. I thought Ginger would just fly around the house but she kept saying 'super sleuth' lol. She got that from Tigger and Pooh super Sleuths. And they wore capes. So cute. They sure do make my days sometimes.

Sledding = Disaster

Happy Snow Day!

Josh digging out our car so he wouldn't have to do it the next day, and he also went to the store.

Ginger making a snow angel, so cute.

Ginger in her "snow shoes" that we made for her, boy did she hate them when we put it on her

that tree looks like it should collaspe from the weight of the snow.

Ginger is loving walking through the snow

See how unhappy she is? Boy she really hated those on her.

But obviously she's much happier now

So as most of you know we were hit with a pretty nice snow storm that left us with 16 inches of snow! It was CRAZY I have never seen that much snow in life, that has been on my doorstep. I'm glad that I was able to just enjoy watching it and didn't have to drive in it. Well the day that it all came down I took Ginger out to build a snowman, but we couldn't cuz' the snow was to powdery, we did make snow angles though. That was cute. And after a few minutes Ginger was done and wanted back in the house. The next I wanted to take Ginger sledding on the small hills by our apartment. Josh took the car work, he didn't feel like trying to ride a bike in 16 inches of snow. (I don't blame him) Let me tell you taking the girls all by myself was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I took Zoey in the stroller thinking it would be easier, but it wasn't since obviously I couldn't push her through the snow so I had to pick up the stroller with her in it and take her where we needed to go. And then I had to double back to get Ginger where I had to pull her on the boogie board (we didn't have a sled and it worked pretty good too), but Ginger would get upset if I left her to long to carry Zoey so I would have go half way put Zoey down, double back to pull Ginger to Zoey pick up Ginger since she kept falling off the boogie board. I did that 3 more times till we got to the little hill. Some other kids were there and had already set up the snow so it was packed down and all we had to do was go down. Well Ginger was already crying cuz' she was cold and Zoey was starting to fuss, I took Ginger down once and she loved it but got snow all over her and started crying and didn't stop so I made her go down one more time and then we could go. We were there for MAYBE 5 minutes. Both girls were crying hysterically and I still had to take them back. I had to carry Zoey in the stroller again. And then I had to carry Ginger cuz' she wouldn't sit on the boogie board. I had an audience at this point. It was great that they didn't offer any help. I was so physically exhausted and struggling for breath that I started to see spots. Man was I glad to be back home. I will never try taking them sledding by myself ever again.

Needless to say, I didn't get very many pictures of our sledding adventure. Just these two.

See the trail of footprints behind her? that was made by me with the pull and drag moves I had to do. Ginger wanted to walk for a bit... crazy girl

See how deep it is? Crazy!

Dance Performance

On Wednesday Ginger's dance class had a little performance for the parents to watch. It was to show what the kids had been learning. It was so much fun to go and watch and Ginger loved to dance for us. Although she did get distracted and she was shy at first. And Zoey LOVED watching it. She was just entranced by it. It was wonderful to watch. And fun. I'm so glad that I put Ginger in this class!

I've put up a slide show and 2 videos, I totally restrained myself from putting up the other 5.

Here's Zoey just focused on watching it!

Thanks Grandma!

My grandma made a blanket for Zoey and mailed out to me back in June. She asked last week how Zoey loved it and I told her that Zoey doesn't have one but Ginger loves hers so much that it's basically falling apart, grandma made one for her too. Well it never got sent to me and we were really worried and so the next I went to the post office but it was closed. Apparantly it closes early on saturday. So I decided to chance it at my old apartment building and see if the clubhouse maybe had it. I thought that was where it was sent to. And miracles of all miracles they did!! They still had it. It had been sitting there since June and they were wondering about it the whole time. My goodness I just couldn't believe it. Thank you grandma for the blanket! It's beautiful.




And here's Ginger with her blankie. Ginger was super excited that Zoey has a blankie just like her.

And it keeps us really warm! I know this first hand since I ended up rocking Zoey back to sleep last night and used it to keep us warm :). I love you grandma. I hope Zoey will love her blankie as much as Ginger loves hers... well I hope she doesn't end up eating it though.

Are you my Mother?

So I know this woman from church/playgroup and she finally came to playgroup (she's normally super busy so she doesn't go that often) and she was wearing this gorgeous nest necklace with little eggs in it, one for each of her kids. She said she made it! I couldn't believe it. She then invited me to her house on Moday where she'll show me how to make one. I went and made one and it was super easy and it turned out super cute! Here's mine! With 2 eggs for my 2 little birds.

UPDATE: so i made one for my mom, my sister and my sister in law for christmas and they loved it! mom's had 4 beads, erin's had 2 (one for Alex one for her) and Desi's had 3. And they loved it! Desi has had many compliments on it which makes me happy! And she's already making noise on there being room for her 4 th child, when she hasn't even had her 3rd! so fun taht they love it!

Thanksgiving

This thanksgiving we spent it at my Aunt Dani's house and it was wonderful. I'm so thankful that even though I moved a couple thousands of miles away I still have family nearby to spend the holidays with. The food was delicious! The company delightful. I enjoyed meething Dani's friends that came to dinner as well. The kids had so much fun. I love hearing kid laughter on the holidays it makes that much more holiday-ish for me. I'm thankful for my husbands job which allows me to be a stay at home mom. I love him so much. I'm so blessed to have Zoey come into our lives healthy and happy. She's the sweetest baby you'll ever meet. I'm thankful for Ginger's... everything. Even though she drives me crazy more often than not, she's just wonderful. She brings joy into my life everyday. Not a day goes by that there isn't something that she does that doesn't make me laugh. I'm thankful for my brother Austin coming to Virginia. It's been so great having him here. It makes being far away from my family having him so close by. Happy Thanksgiving! (better late than never;) )

Get down!

Tilt your head to the left and watch Zoey get down with her bad self!

This was during story time before bed. She just cracks me up. I love her so much!

My favorite is when she drops her arm and really gets into it. Silly girl.

Walking and Talking

Our little Zoey is now walking and talking *sigh*, she says dada now, when I tell to say mama she just continues to say dada. And I thought she was a momma's girl. She's just started to walk this week and she's been doing more and more every day. My little baby is no longer a baby. It's so sad. I love watching her grow up and become more independent but I'm going to miss her being a snuggle bug. Those were some of the best times. I'm trying to cherish every moment that we have and not be too weepy.

Here's a video we took of the first day she walked. Now she's doing more and walking longer distances. Soon she won't be crawling soon.

Pierre- The French LumberJack

On Friday we went to a halloween party and costumes were encouraged. I was just going to wear the halloweeen shirt that I made for me, but at the last moment decided to be a lumberjack. Here is what I came up with...












Pierre the French LumberJack, with the accent and all.

Happy Halloween

This was our first year trick or treating in Virgina and it was definately different than Idaho. At first we thought that maybe no one was trick or treating cuz' it was drizzling a bit but that was all. Well it turned out we just couldn't find any hot spots. We drove around for a bit until we found a townhome division and even then it didn't have that many lights on. But Ginger's only 3 so she didn't know what that really meant. She just wanted to knock on the doors and say trick or treat and get some candy. So that's what she did. She loved every moment of it. She was a witch, a super cute one. Zoey was a cute little lamb. The hood was a little to big so she held up the whole time. And I'm not kidding she literally held it up the WHOLE time. It was super cute. Halloween is so much fun when you have little kids who can enjoy it.

Dance

I signed Ginger up for this Music and Movement class they meet evey wednesday from 10-11 am. They dance a little and do a art project and it's only $30 a month so I went ahead and did it. And I couldn't be any happier with my decison. She LOVES it. The first class I couldn't leave. She went crazy when I left. :( poor girl. So I stayed and watched. She was a little shy but that's to be expected from her first class. I got a couple pictures from it. But they're a little blurry cuz' they moved around alot. She went to her third week of dance today and she didn't even have to tell me good bye. The teachers tell me she's participating more and more. And she's only asked for me once.



Getting ready to do their art project. It was a butterfly.

Skipping (more like running for Ginger)

Trick or Treat

So earlier last week I was taking the trash out (growl...) and I was about to throw away the gallon ice cream bucket but I decided last minute I would make Ginger's halloween trick or treat bucket. And I think it turned out pretty good. I pretty much spent the amount it would of taken to just buy one for the supplies but I've gotten imense satisfaction every time I look at it. And I think Josh likes it too. Ginger sure does. She can't play with it till trick or treat time.

The top of the bucket!! You put the treats in it here. Cute huh??

So it obviously has some flaws but not enough for Ginger to care and not enough for me to not be proud of it. For a first time ever project I LOVE IT!!

Ginger says...

As we were shopping in target the other day she decides to hide in the clothes, no big deal EVERY child has done that. But it bugs me. Even more so when she doesn't answer me and I end up screaming her name. Anyways I finally got her out of the clothes and tell her it's time to go she says "yes your highness" it even sounded a little sarcasmy.

Zoey coughs Ginger says "cover your mouth Zo-Zo"

Zoey is getting ready to chew on Gingers favorite blanket corner and Ginger says "that's my corner honey" in voice that you would use talking to babies.

I just thought those were to cute to not share them with everyone. There just might be more of these to come.

Saturday

Saturday morning was spent in the ER with Zoey. She got 2nd degree burns on her jaw, shoulder and forearm. It was a scary terrifying couple of hours but she'll be fine. We were getting ready to take a drive through West Virginia and Josh had put my coffee in the thermos and the strap of it was hanging down and the cap wasn't on it yet. Zoey decided to pull herself up and grab it, it came crashing down on her. So scalding hot coffee soaked her. Josh rinsed her off the best he could. I grabbed and pulled her clothes off and got a cool washcloth (she HATED that), called my mom and told that it was just red she said to watch and if it blisters take her in. One minute later I noticed she was peeling skin, so a blister had formed then popped. I called my mom again she said to take her in and get her checked. At that point all I could see was mostly red and some peeled skin. When we got there we were sent immediatley to the back (so I knew it was kinda bad) and the nurses (like 5 of them) were surrounding us and I finally got a real good look at Zoey and it was bad she had alot of bubbles along her skin I couldn't help but start crying. I felt so helpless. Zoey was just screaming, she hurt so bad. Nothing I did could do would calm her down. We were lucky though, I know your thinking how could we have been lucky? Well when we first got there Zoey's face was beet red so the doctor thought she had burned her face as well. And they don't like those. She would of been sent to the Children's hospital in DC were they know how to treat burns. Which was the only hospital within the whole DC area that could. But once the drugs kicked in for Zoey and she was calm and in no pain there were no burns on her face, well some first degree on her forehead. So she didn't have to go there. After a couple of hours in the ER we were able to go home. So yes I think we were really lucky that as bad as it was we know it could of been a whole lot worse. We need to follow up with the DC burn clinic on Monday. She looks SOOOOO much better this morning. She's herself. I'm still a little shaken and I still tear up thinking about it.

Caution!!!! These photos may be to graphic for the younger readers!!!!!

If I had superpowers...

If I had superpowers it wouldn't be flying or x-ray vision or super strength or lightning speed... it would be doing laundry in a blink of an eye!! Seriously. In a blink of an eye ALL the laundry would be clean, dried, folded and put away just the way I like it. I think that superpower would be better than ANY of the other super powers that super heros have out there. But then none of them are parents (that I know of) or stay at home moms/dads so they don't know what a daunting task of doing laundry is. I'd rather takle a bad guy rather than laundry somedays. And my kryptonite would be poopy diapers.


Did you know you could seriously knock down your energy bill just by hang drying your clothes? You can. We save $20-50 a month. It super sucks having to do it and you have to do a load basically EVERY day otherwise you get behind. I cheat sometimes and use the dryer but the motor in mine is kinda overheating when I dry clothes in it and it never really fully dries my clothes unless it's a super small load so I guess it's a good thing I'm hang drying my clothes anyways. *sigh* I can't wait till the day when we move into a place where I can bring my front load, energy saving, triple load washer and dryer out of storage... until then I'm doing what I'm doing.

Austin

If you guys have been following mine and my moms facebook then you already know this and if not then you will. My brother Austin and his girl Colette went yesterday to find out if they were having a girl or boy... ITS A GIRL!!! Super exciting. But the news weren't all that good they discovered something about the brain,hydrocephaly I guess it's called (my mom knows a whole lot more) and today they had some more testing and it turns out the baby doesn't have a brain just a brain stem. So they're not going to be able to keep the baby. We are all devasted over this. And poor Austin and Colette to have to go through this. I wish I could be with them and help out any way I can. It's just so horrible.

Fairs

Before we left for Idaho we went to the Prince William County Fair and Dani and the kids were able to join us and it was so much fun.



In Idaho we went to the Western Idaho Fair and my mom and Madison went with us and it was awesome. Madison is such a trooper even though most of the rides weren't that exciting for her she went on them anyways so she could ride with Ginger. What a girl!


Needless to say we are all faired out.

Floating the River

In Idaho we did what all Idahoans do... we floated the Boise river! It was awesome. I don't know I didn't do it more often when I lived there? Probably cuz' I thought oh next year. It was so much. Josh's mom watched Zoey and we took Ginger with us. My mom also joined in on the fun. She rented a tube that had a mesh bottom for Ginger and it was perfect for her. She was safe the whole time. It takes like 3 hours to float it and it was so relaxing and COLD! My mom brought some tubes for us as well, and Josh and I had one to. The ones my mom brought were so small. I felt like a giant in it. And it wasn't easy to keep myself in it the whole time. Me and my totally got dumped going over the first waterfall. Super fun though. But getting back in was difficult. I couldn't believe who awesome Ginger did on the river. I thought maybe she would start getting bored but she enjoyed it the whole time. There was one scary moment where my mom and Ginger (they were tied together) were headed towards the edge and there were some small rapids and Gingers tube went straight up and she nearly landed in my moms lap. Whew! I was starting to shiver real bad that my mom was getting worried and so we took a little break and instantly I felt better once I was out of the cold water. It's so much fun and relaxing to float the river. I'm so glad that my mom came with us and did it with us she's such a trooper.

Meridian Speedway Races

The first Friday we were in Idaho we got free tickets to the races cuz' Josh's cousin's husband was racing his car, so off we went. Zoey stayed with mom and Erin where they had a fabulous time. It was really loud. I'm not really a car racing kind of gal. I started getting a headache but once I put in the earplugs I was good to go. I didn't realize how many crashes there were in the races WOW pretty intense. Also there were these tiny tinny cars that 10 yr olds drove. It was so cute and they hardly crashed. When the races were done we went to go see the drivers. It was quiet so I was a happy girl.

Nampa Nights

In Downtown Nampa Idaho they do this thing every Thursday night during the summer where they'll have a live band and shut down a couple streets and you can just hang out and visit. We did that while we were there. Boise also does this but it's on Wednesday and I think it's better (don't know for sure since we haven't gone to it yet). So we went and it was pretty neat. We stopped at a fountain and ran through it and got nice and wet and then Austin found us and we went to sit with him and Colette and enjoyed each others company and the live music. But not the creepy homeless mentally handicapped person who would continually sway to the music and stare at the little kids *shudder* Erin is claiming he's a product of inbreeding. He tried selling us some "artwork". Anyways after the music was done Austin wanted to show us a dog park nearby so we called Matt to see if we could pick up Jack(the dog) and he said no. That was a little weird, Jack would of loved the park. Austin went and got his dogs and off we went. It was great. Ginger loved seeing all the dogs and she made a friend. Kids sure do know how to make friends quickly.

Swimming Hole

So while we were in Idaho Josh had a schedule of things he wanted us to do. And going to our swimming hole was one of them. It's not really ours many people know about it. I had my girlfriend Jessica come with us and it was great. The water was COLD!! Man I'd gotten used to Virginia waters, warm. But it was beautiful. Ginger sure did like it. She mostly enjoyed having Jessica pay tons and tons of attention to her. Zoey loved splashing her little feet in the water if you held her up to it. It was just great to go there and enjoy it. Even if it was cold.

Happy Birthday Ginger!

Ginger turned 3 on the 22nd! It was a sad sweet day for me. We were in Idaho for her big day and we planned a huge party at a local park where everyone can come and see us for a bit. Ginger had a blast. She knew it was her party to. All her cousins were there and she couldn't of been happier. She was so much fun to watch the whole time. When the cake arrived she wanted to eat it right away, it had spongebob on it. Her favorite. She couldn't wait to open her birthday cards, that's right cards. She has a thing for cards. She got one in the mail from toys r us and she slept with thing. And when Zoey got a hold of it and it ripped in half she cried. Watching her opening her presents was pure joy. Her expressions were priceless. She loved practically everything. Although her favorite was her Little Mermaid birthday card that played a song that opened up. Too cute. I also decided to take a page out of Aunt Lauri's book and ask people what they loved about Ginger. So without further Ado...

Norman: Her blonde hair and the way she gives kisses

Mom AKA Grammy: Her personality and the way she has "say so's" (that's what she calls her dresses, don't know why) mom thinks its cuz' she says so.

Erin: Her tantrums and how they work, and how she puts her older cousins in their place!

Josh: How she loves me and how she does silly new stuff

Zoey: Pftttttt (she just blew a raspberry at me)

Alex: Ginger (just kept saying her name), because. On a side note when Alex came home with Erin for the weekend we weren't at the house and that's where they went first and Alex went through the whole house calling for her. They're pretty good friends.

Austin: Her mischevious personality

Colette: Her "Perfct" hair

Matt: Her curls, her cheeks and her smile

Desi: Her laugh (in case no one knew Matt and Desi are expecting their first baby together!!)

Kaitlyn: Her curls

Kadin: I don't know, fun to play with

Cathy AKA Nana (Josh's mom): Her beautiful hair, her blue eyes everything about her

Venessa (Josh's sister): How pretty she is, her blonde hair, her blue eyes, her big lips and how she freaks out when she sees me

Kat (Colette's daughter): Ginger plays with me

Madison: Because she acts like me, and she gives her daddy the "look" (don't know what that look is)

Jessica: Funny, so cute, lovable no matter what you do she just loves you

Dad AKA Papa: She's a wild child who acts like her mother, reminds me of her mom