Monday, September 13, 2010

Pee Pee in the potty and so much more...

Well, it is true- after kids decide that they want to pee pee in the potty- they do :) We tried to get Kelson to go several times when she turned 2 1/2, but she showed no desire to do it. Mom told me that I shouldn't stress over it cause I will be trying for months instead of when Kelson is ready it will only take days :) So a week or so after turning 3- Kelson has NAILED the potty thing. Her treats consist of skittles (which she calls pickles) and our promise to take her to disneyworld to see Mickey :) She isn't wearing a diaper at night either :) I'm very proud of her- she pees before she goes to bed and right when she wakes up. She is a very smart girl, so I knew she wouldn't take long to catch on.
I'm so proud of my little girl- although she is getting bigger and bigger each day. Hard to believe she is 3 already. She had a great Mickey Mouse Clubhouse bday party- another water party- and good lord was it a hot one this summer. Whew! She had a great turnout. Trying to decide if we want to attempt the "outside" party anymore :) Guess well figure that out next year. Kelson's at such a fun age where she really shows her personality. She loves loves loves to entertain and has been such a "mommys girl" lately. She doesn't mind being dressed up- although she HATES for her hair to be brushed. Recently Annabelle and Corgan came up from FL to visit and she had a blast with them. They are all at such fun ages. We are planning on going down to FL in December for Christmas with my family and to see Mickey Mouse- as promised to a little girl :) Excited about the things to come...

Jason and I have been trying for another baby for a few months, but with our house remodeling we have been a little pre-occupied. We know that God will bless us with another one when the time is right.

We started around the last week of July adding on 1100 sq ft to our existing house. It's going to be a living room/kitchen open floor plan with laundry room (a shoot from our bathroom to the l/r) a storage closet with underneath access in case of bad weather, and a 1/2 bath. We are adding a back porch and fixing up our existing back porch to be a courtyard. It's very exciting! Our existing kitchen will be another bedroom, our dining room will be a playroom for Kelson, and our living room will be turned into a home theater. Our house will be a little over 3200 sq ft when its all said and done. Along with the 500+ sq foot of "cave". Our house will be our dream house- but in our budget :) We are really looking forward to it and can't believe how smoothly the process is going. We are currently working on electric and sheet rock- and its only been 1.5 months! That's nuts and sooo sweet! As you can tell- we are very excited and looking forward to our unique and AWESOME house :)

On a sadder note, Nanny (Jason's grandmother), but might as well be mine too, has decided to stop her dialysis treatments. She has been doing it for 4+ years and has decided that she is done. She is ready to go to heaven with her sweet grandpap. Kelson has been keeping everyone smiling and our hopes high. We have no idea how long Nanny will last without her treatments, but she already seems somewhat relieved. The last year or so she has had a few strokes, which have really caused her to be immobile and not able to do much on her own. Whenever God decides to bring Nanny to heaven, we will all rejoice for the life that she has lived and the positive impact she has made on all of us. Please just continue to pray for all of us to have strength to get through this heartache.

Monday, April 26, 2010

What a memory...

Jason and I are astounded at how well Kelson remembers things. She STILL talks about our days back in October of last year when we went to DisneyWorld and what we did, who we were with, and what rides she liked. I know most kids her age don't recall things and she remembers. Even stuff that I don't remember. We are amazed at this gift. Also, she LOVES to quote movies (just like Jason and I). Lately she's been doing the line from Lilo and Stitch where Lilo's sister Nani threatens to get a rabbit instead of keeping Lilo- so we go back and forth and quote the whole thing. It's the cutest thing EVER to hear her remember all the words- from both ends- and act it out too. Lilo ends up slamming the door, so Kelson's been doing that part too Then she screams into her pillow just like the movie. I think her remembrance skill comes from learning so many songs too- for being 2.5 yrs old she sure does know lots of songs and remembers most of the words. She is quite the little singer too- imagine that ;) She remembers people's names and nicknames and can say our real names, Kelly, then Mommy and she goes down the list- Jason/daddy, Lucy/Memere, etc... its super cute. She's been saying her full name since she was 2. She always gets lots of compliments on how well she speaks too- she speaks very clear and has a huge vocabulary. Lucy is teaching her french daily, I continue to teach her letters, numbers, shapes, and colors. I recently bought her a Leapster 2, a hand-held game and she LOVES it. It keeps track on how well she does with each skill level and she is at a kindergarten level for shapes/colors :) Makes a mommy proud. She is starting to recognize letters too. Those games are great for teaching. Its so funny to see her playing on jason's computer- using the mouse and clicking where the games are, etc.. she seems so grown up. Another thing that Kelson gets compliments on - not only that she's a cutie pie- but her manners :) We've taught her how to say excuse me if she wants to talk to me and we are doing something else, she says Thank you almost anytime I do something for her, she gives the SWEETEST smile when she gets excited about something, she even says God Bless you when you sneeze :) We've been working on her "tomboy" skills- she can hit the heck out of the ball off her tee- I was VERY amazed at how fast she caught on. She seems to really enjoy it too- she asks to go play outside all the time. She is going to be a very active little girl- we are already doing gymnastics and swimming, so I see softball in the near future. Oh- then we have music lessons that's a must :) She loves to go to the cave and sing on the microphone for everyone- and play Uncle Jay's drums.

I can't be more proud of my baby girl than I am today!!!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Kelson the little gymnast and swimmer

I recently signed Kelson up at another local gymnastics place called "The Little Gym". Its in a really ritsy part of town so I knew it would be better and more focused than at Tumblebeez. Kelson and I went to a trial class and LOVED it. They were more focused on the kids, had so much to do, played with balls, bubbles (Kelson's fav), and it was a very safe enviornment. Kelson had a blast- a girlfriend of mine was there with her little girl Emerson who is very close to Kelson's age, so they got along great. Emerson even warmed up to me :) It was really fun. So needless to say I signed her up and just signed her up for the summer classes too. Its a little on the expensive side, but its worth it. Overall its about $15/class- once a week for 45 min. Kelson's favorite thing to do is the uneven bars. She said she is a monkey.
On Sundays we started swimming lessons at the UAH Fitness Center. We go with one of my bunco friends and her little girl. Brigid is 8 months old, so the beginners class is wonderful for her. Kelson already loved being in the water and was not afraid so she is on the advanced side. Once Kelson turns 3 we are gonna move her up to the teacher taught class. The beginners one is parent-child. Which I LOVE! Kelson is quite the little swimmer and doesn't mind getting wet at all. Papa and Gigi got to join us last week while they were visiting from FL.
I was going to sign Kelson up for musical classes too (since she obviously has a talent there), but they don't start teaching piano till they are 4. So we will prob wait another year for that, but continue the other two activities.

We are going on a disney cruise through Europe in less than a month. I can't wait! It feels like forever ago we booked that cruise, and its finally here! Upon our return Jason and I talked about trying for another baby :) So I guess that will happen soon too. I was hoping to lose about 20 more lbs, but I don't see that happening- lol! I'll try to blog about our trip- I can't wait!!! What a neat experience this is going to be.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Catching up...wow- its been a while!

I know its been since last October since I've written. I guess time just got away from me. I've been playing on facebook (an interactive social network) that is easier to use and keep people informed on life events. But since one day I want to print these off for my journal, I wanted to capture some further detailed information.
Well lets see we had Halloween- Kelson was an adorable ladybug and Dumbo (I bought the outfit off ebay for $25- normally double that price online). She looked adorable. I was Cinderella (sexy version) and Jason was a roman soldier. Me and all my girlfriends dressed up as princesses. It was so much fun. Even Jason Miller dressed up as a princess- Jasmine. It was HILARIOUS. Mike Myerson dressed up as my dad- it was hilarious- had the bald thing carrying around a Xango bottle. It was so funny!!! Daddy was a great sport about it too. Halloween is always so much fun.

Christmas was quite eventful- we had so much going on this year. Kelson was soooo into Christmas so that made it even funner for us. She is quite the little diva. She even gave up her pacifier to Santa- we said that she had to give them to the little babies so she could get some Kai Lan toys- and it worked. She did AWESOME on giving it up. She was a little over 2 years old when she gave it up. Did much better than me- and she hasn't discovered the "thumb" ;) Whew! Anyways, mom and dad went to Keri's this year for Christmas, so we had Christmas early at our house, then did Christmas Eve night with the Alberts. We were supposed to do Christmas morning with Nanny and Memere, but both had health issues, so christmas presents got delayed. Which was ok cause it gave us more to look forward to. Kelson seemed to really enjoy Christmas and is still (in Feb) singing Christmas songs. She even learned the one from a Wonder Pets episode. So cute. She catches on and remembers things so well- it amazes me at how smart she is.

I know I'm missing all kinds of thinga and details. Kelson is now 2 1/2 years old. I still can't believe how fast time has flown by. She gets lots of comments on how GREAT she can speak and how adorable she is. I've been told that her personality is so much like I was :) Lucky girl. LOL! She's prob around 28lbs, is 3 feet tall, and has beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes. She still looks like 50% me, 50% Jason. Its cool- I wouldn't want it any other way. She has been so healthy and has brought so much joy to this whole family and corner ;) Her favorite shows/movies are: The Wonder Pets, Kai Lan (which has taught her a few chinese words), YGG, Chipmunks, Nemo, Dumbo, Mickey Mouse and friend anything, and disney princess anything. She can draw a full attached circle with two eyes and a nose and a mouth in the perfect position. I've heard thats pretty advanced. She loves for you to challenge her. She knows almost ALL the animals I can think of and their sounds. I'm working on her with identifying numbers and letters. I'll have her spelling and writing her name soon- I guarantee it :) She is smart enough to do it and catch on.

Recently Jason and I took Kelson to the Hsv Marriott to partake in the National Discovery Network selection process for finding kids who they deem as cute, something unique, fun, photogentic, and lots of personality. Well she made it through the evaluation selection and now has been invited to partake in the Gulf Coast 2010 Convention located in PCB, FL in May. The National Discovery Network has a grade of A+ from the Better Business Bureau. The Convention costs $495 for the registration fee, $400 for hotel, $200 for photos, and a couple hundred for gas.

She will be in the Divison II group - 2 to 3 years old. She will partake in a runway presentation on Sat morning that I will assist her in. At that time the business sponsor names will be announced and a headshot and body shot will be showing in the backdrop of the runway. Because of her young age she doesn't get a chance to "show off" her talents. The older kids have a chance to do a commercial reading and partake in some workshops, so we shared our concern with the NDN director. She assured us that if Kelson is personable and adorable that we should get a callback on Sunday, in return that's when the agent(s) (national agents- the ones who represent the BIG BOY companies- disney, parents magazine, fisher price, etc..) select your child for possible model, commercial, or films. This is when they will get a chance to see her perform and show off her "Kelson personality". So we are hoping that will be the outcome. Although we are not promised anything. After discussing it, if we can get some financial assistance to do this, we would love to partake in this. If the outcome isn't successful at least we will have the experience. I set up something on facebook asking for donations for us to do this for Kelson. We financially needed help to do this. I knew that if family/friend could help, that they would. What great friends/family we have :)
So may is going to be a busy month. We have the PCB convention to attend and Keri and Keith have paid for our family (mom/dad, us, their family, and Kyle/Renee) to go on a 10 night Disney Cruise traveling throughout Europe :) We fly to Spain and leave from their on the boat. I am soooooo excited. I got to go to Europe last May with Keri (we went to Amsterdam and Paris). So exciting that we get to go by boat- this time we are going to different places in Europe, so that should be most interesting. Plus Jason and Kelson get to be with me this time. I love cruises, so a 10 night one, disney-related, seeing Europe, and being with my family is top notch! What a neat experience. We are hoping my godmother Paula will be working the flight to make things go much smoother. She was such a sweetheart on the last flight to Amsterdam- free everything, sweets, drinks, the works. Love her. So anyways, we have lots going on right now.
Mom and dad just moved down to Florida last weekend. It still hasn't hit me, but I know they are so excited about it. They've been wanting to go back down there since we all go out of high school. Keri and Keith bought another house for mom and dad to rent, so its a win-win for all of them. I'm very happy for them. At times I wish I could just pack up and move to FL too- I would love to be closer to my sister and family and all of Jason's family too. BUT.... there is a lot here too, so its too hard to do anything major right now. With that being said, we are discussing adding on to our house- AGAIN :) I said I was done, but we've done some house searching and I am just not impressed with what I see for the price we can afford. Our bedroom is bad ass so its hard to beat that in a regular house. We love our house and location so if we can just make it a little bigger and re-arrange a few things, we will be so much happier. We are hoping to have another baby in the oven after we return from the cruise, so a bigger house would be nice for that too. Lots to think about.

Jason is no longer a part of Heartland- he has ventured off to do the Jason Albert Band thing. He is super happy and loves the guys. Never any drama there. They are still signed with Herb Graham and his label, but things have pretty much slowed down. Some of the guys are doing their own things too, so its best for everyone. I've even been doing some booking for the JAB. Trying to get them down to Orlando and stuff :) But we aren't sure still if Jason's COUNTRY career is over- we still have a few ideas going on, so don't give up hope on that. If this is where his career ends for Nashville then its cool with us- what a neat experience and so much fun it has been. We got to do so many things and experience so much. I'm fine with whatever he wants to do. I'm here no matter what.

Well I think that about wraps things up for a while- I'll try to start writing again more often. Kelson is our little entertainer and singer- she sings for people at the cave now- imagine that. She likes to do it and that's what makes me happiest. I can't imagine my life without her. Adding to our family can only bring bigger and better things. I can't wait for that. BTW- Kelson said she wants a little sister. If that is true- another girl- then we may have to try one more time for a boy. If its a boy, then I'm not sure if I can handle Kelson NOT having a sister. I LOVE LOVE LOVE having a sister and think every girl needs one. As long as we are doing fine in our marriage, financial stable, and happy I'll have as many as we can/want :)

I'm still working on getting back to pre-Kelson weight. I'm considering trying out te P90X program- hard core- but I'm willing to give it a try. I need something and only have two months before I'm in a bikini on a cruise. Plus I signed up for a "scale back Alabama" competition up at work. So I have to lose 10lbs so our team can get put into a drawing to win some $$$. So wish me luck. So far I haven't had much motivation, but I feel a change coming on and I'm ready to take it on.

Life is great!!!