Monday, December 5, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Weekends are for fun!
Weekends should be fun, but sometimes we are too busy for our own good. This weekend was a little more realized. Friday we picked up the girls from my mother's house and grabbed a quick bite to eat at Panera Bread on Brownsboro and Rudy Lane. The girls were delightfully well-behaved, which does not always happen so we hopped over to RedBox and rented a couple movies and had a great relaxing evening on the couch.
Saturday, we had an easy and lazy morning, then headed out to the Louisville Zoo around 2pm. Our friends, Brent, Kim and thier daughter, Ava, met us there. We had a great time, the girls were once again well-behaved so we ended up staying till 6pm. The past couple of times we have visited the zoo Keegan has been terrified of any and all animals, which makes for a pretty crappy Zoo day. But this time, Keegan was all about the animals, wanted to see every single one, asked questions and even let me take pictures of her with some of the animals. It was a great day!
After the zoo we invited Brent, Kim, and Ava over for dinner, but warned them that I was planning on trying out a new recipe for dinner. They were brave and decided to come for dinner anyways. I planned on making a Hot Brown from the Sacred Heart cookbook. While I was preparing the dish, I got more and more nervous that it was going to turn out terribly, but once it was complete and I brought it to the table, the room got quite and everyone was indulging. Everyone even had seconds and finished it off... SUCCESS! It was so good, definitely one I will make again.
For over a year now, we have been meaning to go to church... our first step was to try a few churches, see which one we liked and then get the girls baptized. Well, that got put off a couple of times, but finally while Ryan had some yard work to complete, I decide to take the girls to St. Joesph's in Butchertown with Ryan's Grandmother "GG". The girls looked adorable in their cute dresses and big bows... Father David even said so after church ;) The church is amazing, and the priest was great too. I think we will go back and check it out with Ryan. Then if we decided to join, we will get the girls Baptized there. Here is a picture of Fiona before church Sunday:
Saturday, we had an easy and lazy morning, then headed out to the Louisville Zoo around 2pm. Our friends, Brent, Kim and thier daughter, Ava, met us there. We had a great time, the girls were once again well-behaved so we ended up staying till 6pm. The past couple of times we have visited the zoo Keegan has been terrified of any and all animals, which makes for a pretty crappy Zoo day. But this time, Keegan was all about the animals, wanted to see every single one, asked questions and even let me take pictures of her with some of the animals. It was a great day!
After the zoo we invited Brent, Kim, and Ava over for dinner, but warned them that I was planning on trying out a new recipe for dinner. They were brave and decided to come for dinner anyways. I planned on making a Hot Brown from the Sacred Heart cookbook. While I was preparing the dish, I got more and more nervous that it was going to turn out terribly, but once it was complete and I brought it to the table, the room got quite and everyone was indulging. Everyone even had seconds and finished it off... SUCCESS! It was so good, definitely one I will make again.
For over a year now, we have been meaning to go to church... our first step was to try a few churches, see which one we liked and then get the girls baptized. Well, that got put off a couple of times, but finally while Ryan had some yard work to complete, I decide to take the girls to St. Joesph's in Butchertown with Ryan's Grandmother "GG". The girls looked adorable in their cute dresses and big bows... Father David even said so after church ;) The church is amazing, and the priest was great too. I think we will go back and check it out with Ryan. Then if we decided to join, we will get the girls Baptized there. Here is a picture of Fiona before church Sunday:
Friday, August 12, 2011
Counting my blessings
I try to remember that I am blessed, very blessed with my family, our health, happiness and more... I know at times that I am sure I can take all of it for granted. I try not too, but I am sure it happens. Working at Volunteers of America (VOA) has reminded me how lucky we really are to have a house, cars, the necessities to be safe, healthy and happy. Not everyone has that and it's becoming more and more of a reality today. I have had the opportunity to meet some really special people and families while working at VOA, many who have touched my heart. These people are not any different than me or my family, they just have not been as lucky in life and are currently experiencing difficult times... my family could easily be in their shoes, if Ryan and I lost our jobs we too could be needing the help of organizations like Volunteers of America. This brings me to my point for saying all of this...
The Summer's family (shown above) recently stayed at our Family Emergency Shelter after a series of unfortunate events, but things recently started looking up for them, until a couple days ago. Rebecca Summers, the mother, unexpectedly passed away in her sleep leaving behind a husband with deteriorating health and six children aged 4 to 18. This family caught the hearts of so many while staying at the shelter, they are the sweetest, most loving family... who have stayed together through tough times. The Courier-Journal published an article on the front page of the Metro section today... you can read it HERE. You can also view a documentary made by Angela Shoemaker below that featured this lovely family before Rebecca's death.
This is such a sad story and my heart goes out to the family, especially the children. They will need help, so there has been a Memorial account set up at PNC. You can contribute to the Summers Family Memorial Account at any Greater Louisville PNC bank location. Every little bit helps.
Again, I need to make a better effort to count my blessings every single day... you never know when it all could change.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Feeling much better
Yesterday (Thursday) while I was getting Fiona ready for school and the girls were both standing in front of the TV watching something on the Disney channel, the cutest thing happened... Fiona looks over at Keegan and starts tapping her on her arm and saying "Sissy". Keegan looks over to Fiona and says "What Fiona?", Fiona responds with "You coming today?" to which Keegan then responds "No, I am sick".
I just love how much they are starting to talk to each other and this little conversation made my heart melt a little... She was so cute, wanting her "Sissy" to come to school with her. Keegan had just told me the day before she missed Fiona and wanted to go back to school - so I know she wanted to go, but also knew she needed to stay home because she was not 100% yet.
Keegan and I are almost back to normal after a long 4 days of feeling horrible. Today Keegan and Fiona are with my Mom, who watches them every Friday, and then around lunch time they get to hang out with GG and Aunt Lauren. And, I am finally back at work and plan to actually work a full day! I am hoping the illness doesn't come back and bite us again.
Wish us luck in staying healthy!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Sicklings
This week started out pretty crappy... Monday morning we got everyone in the car and were almost to day care when Keegan puked all over the car. Unfortunately this is not the first time this has happened, so we quickly pulled over and luckily I had an extra pair of clothes with me for Keegan. We stripped her down, changed her, wiped the car seat down, and off we went. I am so fortunate that I have sick days at work, so I was able to stay home with her. I took her to the doctor that day and of course, nothing we can do,"it's Viral". Ugh.
Tuesday we were home again... And of course, that night I had officially come down with whatever Keegan has. Work was miserable on Wednesday... No wonder Keegan has been so miserable. My wonderful mother offered to watch Keegan while I tried to go to work to catch up, but I threw in the towel at about 1pm. I needed to go home and get better myself.
So here we are, Wednesday evening, and Keegan and I are laying in bed sick as dogs. I think work and day care are out of the question for us tomorrow.
The upside of being home with Keegan this week has been that she has given me plenty of good laughs...
Sherbet makes everything better:
"mommy, does my lip gloss look pretty?"
I'm in the bathroom for a couple seconds and this is what I find when I open the door:
So... Even though we feel like crap, we at least have had a little fun ;)
Tuesday we were home again... And of course, that night I had officially come down with whatever Keegan has. Work was miserable on Wednesday... No wonder Keegan has been so miserable. My wonderful mother offered to watch Keegan while I tried to go to work to catch up, but I threw in the towel at about 1pm. I needed to go home and get better myself.
So here we are, Wednesday evening, and Keegan and I are laying in bed sick as dogs. I think work and day care are out of the question for us tomorrow.
The upside of being home with Keegan this week has been that she has given me plenty of good laughs...
Sherbet makes everything better:
"mommy, does my lip gloss look pretty?"
I'm in the bathroom for a couple seconds and this is what I find when I open the door:
So... Even though we feel like crap, we at least have had a little fun ;)
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Here comes the bride
This weekend was my sister, Olivia's wedding. Joe and Olivia married in their courtyard downtown. It was a beautiful location to have a wedding. They changed the time to 10:30am, but it was still very hot! Olivia looked beautiful! Isaac, Joe's son was the ring bearer, he was so cute. After the ceremony we cooled off with ice-cream cake.
Congratulations to Olivia and Joe.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Can Keegan come out and play?
There was a knock at our door last night and to my surprise it was the little girl, Abby, from two houses down. Abby is the youngest of 3 girls, she is always outside playing and is cute as a button. When I opened the door she asked "Can Keegan come out and play?" - It took me a second to respond, because I don't think I was ready for it, definitely not expecting it. Did she just ask if my little Keegan could come out and play? I was a little shocked that my little baby girl is turning into a "BIG" girl and was already being asked to come out and play. Finally, with maybe a little too much excitement I said, "OF COURSE SHE CAN". I was so excited for Keegan, so I quickly put her shoes on and hurried her outside. I grabbed her bike from our back porch and watched them ride their bikes.
THE TEA SET.... I remembered that G.G. (Great Grandmother Laura) had given Keegan a little tin tea set for her birthday. I filled up the tea pot with some water and gave them some Nilla Wafers and they were set to have a tea party. They actually played tea party for a long time and finally at about 8:45pm, I told the girls they would need to wrap things up because we would need to walk Abby home soon. Soon after saying this, little Abby looks up at me and said with a huge smile "I am having so much fun." OMG - what a little sweetheart! I was so tickled that she was having such a good time, considering I was so worried our house was going to end up being a bore. 9pm rolls around and Abby's dad was waiting outside for her when we went to walk her home. We told her father she can come over anytime.
After riding for about 20 minutes they decided to go to Abby's backyard and play on the swing set. Of course that got old quick too and decided to play basketball, but as you can imagine Keegan is still a little too small to get the ball anywhere near the basket so they quickly went on to the next thing... Hide & Seek. This was actually quite funny, because from what I know, Keegan has never played this. She was up to hide first and went to just stand under the play-set out in the open, so I had to teach her to hide correctly. Of course she was found quickly and was on to being the counter. She counted to 20 all by herself and found her little friend Abby all by herself.
Then Abby asked if she could come to our house to play, so off we went back to our house. I was a little nervous, because she was 6 and Keegan is 3... I wondered if she would actually like anything at our house or if everything would be too "kiddy" for her. I quickly got out the crayons, markers, construction paper, coloring books, and play-doh for them to play with on the dining room table. Luckily that entertained them for 30 minutes or so and then they ventured back into the living room looking at me for something to do...
THE TEA SET.... I remembered that G.G. (Great Grandmother Laura) had given Keegan a little tin tea set for her birthday. I filled up the tea pot with some water and gave them some Nilla Wafers and they were set to have a tea party. They actually played tea party for a long time and finally at about 8:45pm, I told the girls they would need to wrap things up because we would need to walk Abby home soon. Soon after saying this, little Abby looks up at me and said with a huge smile "I am having so much fun." OMG - what a little sweetheart! I was so tickled that she was having such a good time, considering I was so worried our house was going to end up being a bore. 9pm rolls around and Abby's dad was waiting outside for her when we went to walk her home. We told her father she can come over anytime. So, yesterday was Keegan first invite to "come out and play". She is growing up so fast!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
I am not very good at this... but will try harder
WOW. I finally took a second to look at my blog and see how long it really has been since I made a post, well, I am very disappointed in myself. It has almost been one year. YES... One year. I really want to keep this going and I am going to make a effort to update a lot more regularly. I am very well aware that this is much easier said than done, but I am going to try!
Let's see if I can make a quick update on what has been going on over the last year:
I started a new job August 16, 2010. I am currently the Communication Coordinator at Volunteers of America of Kentucky. I love this job and everything about the organization. Check us out online: www.voaky.org and if you want to learn more about all the amazing things we do, join us for a Real3 Journey - more about these here.
In September of 2010 we had the opportunity to visit Ryan's family outside of DC. This was a great trip and the main reason for it was to see his Momma Ann - who was turning 92 (or 93?). I was so excited to meet Momma Ann and then Keegan fell ill with a double ear infection and strep throat. So, Keegan and I stayed home while the rest of the family visited with Momma Ann. I was sad I was unable to meet her, but obviously did not want to get her sick. I was just so happy that Ryan and Fiona were able to see her.
The fall was great in Kentucky and my sister Olivia was able to capture the girls so well:
Then of course Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's rolled around and those were all wonderful as always.
After the New Year the girls started a new day care, Germantown Day Care. They love being around all the other kids and Ms Carol is their favorite teacher. They come home with adorable little projects and even came home with hand made gifts for us on Mother's day and Father's day. One of the best things about the day care is that it is literally across the street from my office. It is very convenient and gives me a peace of mind that they are so close. Above, is a picture of them going to school (taken last week).
The week of July 4th was our vacation to Seaside, Florida. Ryan's grandmother treated his family to a week in a gorgeous house right on 30A. It was a huge, 4 story house that fit the family perfectly. Everyone had their own space and the girls had their cousin Haiden to play with for most of the week. And of course, Keegan's 3rd Birthday was celebrated in Florida with a Luau party. We had such a blast!
Before we left, my parents gave Keegan her birthday present - a BIKE! My Dad spent all day the Friday before we left teaching her to ride the bike. She loves it, but Fiona is jealous. Looks like we will be getting Fiona a bike for her birthday coming up September 4th. I can not believe she is turning 2!
For now, this is all... I will update again soon!
Let's see if I can make a quick update on what has been going on over the last year:
I started a new job August 16, 2010. I am currently the Communication Coordinator at Volunteers of America of Kentucky. I love this job and everything about the organization. Check us out online: www.voaky.org and if you want to learn more about all the amazing things we do, join us for a Real3 Journey - more about these here.
In September of 2010 we had the opportunity to visit Ryan's family outside of DC. This was a great trip and the main reason for it was to see his Momma Ann - who was turning 92 (or 93?). I was so excited to meet Momma Ann and then Keegan fell ill with a double ear infection and strep throat. So, Keegan and I stayed home while the rest of the family visited with Momma Ann. I was sad I was unable to meet her, but obviously did not want to get her sick. I was just so happy that Ryan and Fiona were able to see her.
The fall was great in Kentucky and my sister Olivia was able to capture the girls so well:
Then of course Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's rolled around and those were all wonderful as always.
After the New Year the girls started a new day care, Germantown Day Care. They love being around all the other kids and Ms Carol is their favorite teacher. They come home with adorable little projects and even came home with hand made gifts for us on Mother's day and Father's day. One of the best things about the day care is that it is literally across the street from my office. It is very convenient and gives me a peace of mind that they are so close. Above, is a picture of them going to school (taken last week).
The week of July 4th was our vacation to Seaside, Florida. Ryan's grandmother treated his family to a week in a gorgeous house right on 30A. It was a huge, 4 story house that fit the family perfectly. Everyone had their own space and the girls had their cousin Haiden to play with for most of the week. And of course, Keegan's 3rd Birthday was celebrated in Florida with a Luau party. We had such a blast!
Before we left, my parents gave Keegan her birthday present - a BIKE! My Dad spent all day the Friday before we left teaching her to ride the bike. She loves it, but Fiona is jealous. Looks like we will be getting Fiona a bike for her birthday coming up September 4th. I can not believe she is turning 2!
For now, this is all... I will update again soon!
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