What is sweeter than a newborn baby?

Kelsi and I went to a baby shower this week for my friends Lacey and Leslie. Leslie had her beautiful baby girl last week. Lacey is due with a little boy next month.

This is a pic of Leslie with her daughter Ava Grace. Only Leslie can look THAT beautiful just one week after giving birth. What two beautiful ladies these two are!

I just can't wait to meet Lacey's little guy. It's one of the top reasons that I am sticking around in Clarkston. She was prego 4 years ago when I moved here and she is prego when I am leaving. Isn't she radiant??

I don't know who invited this little devil to the party. She wanted every balloon in sight. Poor Jenny went to so much work and Kelsi destroyed it all. Thanks for indulging her Jen!

See those balloons up on the ceiling....but the end of the day ALL the balloons were up the ceiling with Kelsi demanding that we get them down for her one by one. Kelsi's mind: "no, I don't want THAT pink one, I want THAT pink one. No, I want the BLUE ONE!!!!!!!! Why can't you read my mind? Don't you know I can't articulate my feelings yet? ARGH!!!!"

FAVOR TO ASK

Lakeside Eyecare has started a website. It is still a rough draft with many changes to come, but we would like to ask all of our readers (pretty please with a cherry on top) that if you have a blog that you add a link to the Lakeside Eye website on your own blog. This will enable Lakeside to come up earlier on the list in a internet search for Optometrist's in Coeur d'Alene.

The website is http://www.lakesideeyecare.org/

We would really appreciate your help. Thanks a million!

Happy Easter!

We hope that everyone enjoyed their Easter Sunday. We are so thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, and his atonement and sacrifice for us.

Kelsi enjoyed the visit from the Easter Bunny. She got the cutest little dress from Shabby Apple (and necklace...I can't wear jewelry without Kelsi wanting to wear it). She is such a doll.

She went on an Easter egg hunt and found a bunch of eggs.

She woke up this morning and came out into the living room and INSTANTLY realized a new fixture in the room....

A BALLOON!

She LOVES to hug her balloon and take it all over the house. Every time we go to the grocery store she goes crazy over the balloons, but I never buy her one because I don't want her to expect one every time we go....so I knew she would love this surprise (thanks Grandma & Grandpa M!)

Easter Prep

John made it home on Saturday and he was a great egg dipper.
Kelsi went to bed before the egg dipping festivities began....but she did help me boil the eggs. She found my apron and loved wearing it. She wanted it on until she went to bed.

For the birds

I noticed a few times this week that when I was out in the garage that a bird or two seemed to fly in and out scaring me half to death. I hate birds.....no....I think birds can be pretty and majestic...from a distance. I don't like anything with wings, I feel like they always dive bomb me. Anyway...when I was leaving one day I noticed the garage door opener making a funny sound, I looked up to see a stick that seemed to be caught in the chain. I made my way around the car and looked up and saw the above birds nest! Those little rascals had the audacity to move in to our garage! I felt bad for the possible eggs that may have been inside so I decided to wait until John came home to inspect it. John took it out and now the birds seem to be chirping angrily this morning......anyone else watched the movie "The Birds"? Then I think I made my point.

Family withdrawl....

I miss my family. Although I miss all of them with every fiber of my being, I must admit that I miss her the most....

This is my big sis Tamar. She lives across the country in Philly with her fun family. Even though I talk to her about every other day on the phone, I haven't actually seen her in person for 2 years. So sad. Let me tell you all about this wonderful lady for those that may not know her very well. She pretty much rocks.

She LOVES the beach and the sun in general, she has natural olive toned skin which I am so envious of. She is pretty much a super model, tall, skinny and beautiful. But could you hate her? NO WAY! She is so super nice and helpful. She gives great advice, puts me in my place when she needs to, she's a great mom (despite what she thinks sometimes). She was pretty much born a 35 year old. She is so responsible and EXTREMELY SMART. She started school at BYU planning to do pre-med but switched to nursing when she realized that she couldn't be the best doctor AND the best mom in the world, so she chose the most important of the two. She never says a bad thing about anyone, but you can tell if she isn't happy because she CANNOT hide her feelings, it is SO clear what she thinks from looking at her face. HAHA! She loves her husband and her cute kids and also loves the Lord. She has always been such an example to me. Even though our personalities are a little different, I get along with her more than anyone else I know. I remember going to sleep one night when I was 14 or 15 and she said "Karina, I don't think you realize how lucky we are to have our family". I told her that I did know how lucky we were and she then said "NO, you don't". She was right!!! I told you she was so mature, it took me longer to realize what I took for granted so long. I never want my family to think that I don't know how amazing they are and how much I love and appreciate them.

I LOVE YOU MAR! See you this summer!!!!

*note to Shays...I may do more of these...I would update your blog before I do or I can't promise that I will only say nice things. heehee

Where's the beach?

I took out last years sunglasses for Kelsi the other day and realized that they were a little too small. She loves them though and wants to wear them ALL the time now that they are back in circulation. She wanted them on first thing after breakfast! Silly girl.

Let Spring officially begin!

The weather has been flirting with 80 degrees. Kelsi has a yucky cold, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get out of the house and enjoy the sunshine!

We are business owners!

April 1st marked our first day as owners of Lakeside Eyecare in CDA! John had a very busy week with getting things situated at Lakeside, filling in other places and de-winterizing his parents home, and getting his parents truck running again. Kelsi and I spent most of the week up in CDA with John. Kelsi got sick in the middle of our trip and we may have to get our car detailed because it reeks. We were seriously just a mile away from home, but she couldn't hold it in. Too bad I don't have leather seats...much easier to clean.

I was a total slacker and forgot to take the camera with me so we didn't get pictures of John's big day, but stay tuned for pictures to come! He loved all of his patients and was so giddy. It was really cute. I am so proud of you honey! John drove home with me and Kelsi since he is working down here this weekend and will be taking the wood truck back up next week.

In other news, my Dad has been asking how our dogs have been doing. BAD. While I was gone for 3.5 days they decided to go on a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood for any scraps of food they could find. Our friends that fed them had to go on a witch hunt trying to find them. It's a horrible feeling to have your friends search for your misbehaving dogs and take the time out of their day to try to make sure they don't get into too much trouble. The electric fence was still working, but they didn't seem to care. We replaced the batteries just in case today. When we got back last night they weren't here but we found them curled on our front lawn early this morning, bloated and VERY lethargic. They were scared to death of John even though he wasn't showing any anger towards them. They didn't want to go near him, I had to go outside and help to coax Lucky to come with us. They brought this on themselves, but I still feel really bad for them. There you go Dad - there's your update. John is ready to let you have them if you want. I may put up a fight though.

GULP.....

Yup....I am moving up there.

Molten Chocolate surprise

I made the YUMMIEST dessert tonight, and I am SO sad because I can't find where I got the recipe. I thought it was from "Picky Palate", but I can't find it there. SO SORRY to the person who came up with this recipe, but you ROCK. It tasted SO good, they are small so perfect portion control...but I won't tell you how many I ate. Oh yeah, my "no-baked-goods" diet is no more. All I did was binge on ice cream, and I don't even really like ice cream. I do better when I can eat a cookie when I want it. :) ENJOY!!

4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

1 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup flour

12 CHIPS AHOY! Cookies

1/2 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping OR, Real Heavy Whipping Cream, whipped OR small scoop of vanilla ice cream

1. HEAT oven to 425°F. Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until butter is melted. Stir with whisk until chocolate is completely melted.

2. Beat whole eggs, yolks, sugar and flour with whisk until blended. Gradually beat into chocolate mixture.

3.LINE 12 (2-1/2-inch) muffin cups with paper liners; spray with cooking spray. Place 1 cookie, upside-down, on bottom of each cup; cover with batter.BAKE 8-10 min. or until cakes are firm around edges but still soft in centers. **(Watch them, because if the center firms you won't have the lava effect from the chocolate) Let stand 1 min. Carefully remove cakes from pan. Invert into dessert dishes; remove paper liners. Serve with whipped topping.

BEST IF SERVED WARM!!!

Enjoying the weather

We fertilized our yard today, but that didn't stop Kelsi from running around on the pavement and playing with some of her favorite toys...river rocks! (We also learned that she likes to bang them against our french doors...yup, no more rocks in the house)

Curly-Q

Kelsi has SO much hair. Seriously, SO much hair. She gets it from me, there wasn't any real question that she would be bald. Her hair is wavy/semi-curly and very unruly. She has as much hair as most 3-4 year olds do. However, she HATES it when I do her hair. I tried to sponge roll it the other day and was able to get them in while I kept her busy eating, but she found them and started pulling them out 20 minutes later, so the after picture wasn't so great. Anyway, I think she is going to be the first 2 year old to have layered or thinned hair because it is just ridiculous.

Day at the Park

The weather has been SO nice, so I decided to take Kelsi to the park. She was VERY timid and took about 10 minutes to move around instead of just watching all the other kids play. In fact, here she is just watching other kids play....

We live in a one-level home so Kelsi has not learned the art of climbing stairs yet. So, this is her climbing into a tunnel, but confused on how to get out. She wouldn't let me help her figure it out, she made me take her out. Sigh.

Kelsi's favorite thing was the slide. She went down all by herself, over and OVER again.She loved it!!

15 months

Kelsi had her 15 month check-up today and here are her stats.

Height: 31.5 in. (82%)

Weight: 24 lbs 13 oz. (79%)

Head: 48cm (95%)

She is off of her bottle now since she finally learned how to tip her head back when drinking out of her sippy. She says "ball", "uh-oh", & "deegs" - when referring to our dogs, and "do" when referring to her stuffed animal dogs. She also says "no" ALL the time. She is so funny. She walks up to things that she knows she isn't supposed to touch and shakes her finger at it while saying "no!" A couple of her molars broke through recently and she is just getting more and more fun. She understands a lot of things and she signs "more" and "light".

I snapped this picture of Kelsi the other day when I went looking to see what she was doing in her room. It was quiet in there and I didn't see her when I poked my head in at first...then I found her hiding in the corner.

One of her funny things that she likes to do is wear her bib around the house. She gets mad when I take it off of her. After I put her jammies on, she wanted me to put it back on her. She has some personality.

Random pics for the fam

Kelsi reading her book to her bear and her "deegs" (how she says dog).

Kelsi looking adorable


Our friends the Brownes came back to town for a few days and I got to snap a pic of Kelsi and Wyatt together (born 6 weeks apart)

Just to let you know that we are in fact still around...John and I relaxing on the couch.

Fun times

I know I have posted similar pictures before but nothing has been going on around here. Except for the endless amount of paperwork that is consuming our lives. I don't know why everything has to be faxed or mailed these days. I mean C'MON insurance companies, get with it. If you can electonically sign your tax returns, etc, why can't you electonically sign contracts, W-9's, provider info sheets, claim forms, etc!? We are probably personally responsible for the loss of a tree or two in the rainforest.

Ok, back to our little joy...Kelsi plays with Daddy every night before she goes to bed and before John heads to the gym. She looks forward every night to play time with Daddy. When he is home, she follows him all over the house.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Letter from Kelsi:

Dear Grandma and Grandpa "M":

Thanks for the Valentine's day card and pretty pink cardigan. I carried your card around the house all night and mommy and daddy said that I looked super cute in the sweater. Thanks for being so cool.

Love,
Kelsi

PS A special happy valentine's day to my Grandma and Grandpa "C". I miss you and can't wait to see you this fall. We are going to have a lot of fun.

A girl can dream right....?

With Valentines Day coming up I was thinking about all the fun/romantic places that John and I could do/go. We actually won't be doing anything since all of our babysitters are going to a regional church dance. Who organized that??? I would like to have a word with them. But, I digress...

If I could snap my fingers and John and I could go anywhere for Valentine's Day, we would go to Venice, Italy. We would walk around the city and admire it's culture, then go to dinner and have the best authentic Italian dinner we could have ever imagined and then we would take a gondola ride. Oh, and did I mention that I would be wearing this. Perfect vacation, perfect dress.

I will settle for renting a movie, some chinese food and cuddling with my honey. But then again, I am not ever settling when I am with John. Love you babe!

WHAT??????!!!!!!??????

HA! I almost deleted this picture but then thought that it would be perfect for this post. Kelsi is as shocked as we all are. After 4 years with Eye Care Specialists, John found a practice in Coeur d'Alene that he couldn't pass up. That's right! We are moving to the Coeur d'Alene area in just a couple months. We hope to close on financing by April 1st. SBA loans can be tricky we have heard, so we have applied elsewhere to cover our bases. Everything seems to be going well and in just about 2 months we will be business owners. Scary, but exciting. We are both very sad to leave our WONDERFUL friends that we have made here in Clarkston. It was almost 4 years ago that I cried and cried realizing that I had to live here...but here I am crying and crying that I have to leave! I wish I could take everyone with me, wouldn't that be awesome??? Good news, we are less than 3 hours away. I am very excited for John and very proud of him and his ambition and hard work. Even though I am sad, I know that this is a good move for our family, I have felt peace from Heavenly Father as I have asked him for confirmation that this is right and to have a good attitude. Can you all remind me of this next year when I am cursing the winters? (Kelsi and I may head down to CA for Jan and Feb - HAHA!!!) Wish us luck please!

Now, for a few cute pics. I tried to do Kelsi's hair after her bath this morning, but she loves her comb so much that I had to comb it with my fingers while she played with it.

This is Kelsi teasing me with the comb...."you want this mama???"

"Come and get it, I dare you".

Shabby Baby Girl!

Kelsi is our "picture princess". She gets very excited when she sees the camera and loves to ham it up. I found the cutest online boutique for little girl dresses and have been drooling over a few for Kelsi. However, I didn't want to buy her an adorable dress that she was going to crawl all over, so I sat her down and explained to her that as soon as she learned how to walk, I was going to buy her a dress from shabby baby. I don't think it was coincidence at ALL that Kelsi started walking less than a week that I made the deal with her. (heehee) Your dress will be here shortly, Kelsi!

There are so many adorable dresses that it is hard to decide, but if any of you want to check out one of my favs click on the link below. While you are there, shop around for your little one!

http://www.shabbyapple.com/p-185-canary.aspx - Little girls and girls dresses from Shabby Baby