Seal Beach

We went to my favorite place yesterday...southern CA beaches. Not as much fun with a 19 month old, but I was still a happy girl.

This is my favorite little picture. She was so content to sit and play.

She watched her cousins dig holes, so Kelsi got the hang of it!

Mommy and her pal...

Love that girl!

She doesn't like the water yet. She is a sand beauty (atta girl!). She sat right next to mommy on the beach blanket for about 30 minutes taking shells out of the pail and then back in the pail. This made her mommy very happy.

Children's Museum

We took the kids to the La Habra children's museum. Here she is in her race car.

Riding a horse (don't worry, Kelsi - Katelyn's horse will be much more fun)
Playing trains with the ladies...

Riding on the cow with her cousins...poor cow...

Playing piano...

Showing everyone where the Cow's eye is.Shopping...

& driving.

Adjusting...

Kelsi and I flew to CA earlier this week and she had an interesting time getting here. Flights were all on time which is a first for my experience with Alaska...but anyway. Kelsi is scared (of course) of the engines on the airplane. As soon as we got close to the plane she grabbed me tight and kept saying "mommy, no!". She whined during take off, fell asleep on the leg to Boise and then woke up during decent crying again. All of a sudden things got very "warm". I realized that she peed ALL over me. Am I potty training her, you ask? NO. She was in a CLEAN diaper and our flight was only 50 minutes long, but somehow she managed to overflow her diaper. Fun times. The last leg to LA was fine. Kelsi still didn't like take off and landing, but the rest of the flight she played, ate and read. She is currently a little overwhelmed. My parents house is filled with her aunts, uncle, grandparents and cousins that she has never met. She is a quite the mamas girl. She usually does fine until I need to leave the room. Here is one of her best friends, cousin Emma comforting her while I took a shower.

Her favorite person in the house besides her momma is "be-be Ky". Kelsi loves her cousin Kyle. Here she is "sharing" his toy....
hanging out at the swings....

and having a picnic with Emma & Abby.

I know she misses her Daddy. I showed her a video on my camera of her and John and she gave the camera a kiss. :)

Kelsi did great on the hike when the trail was wide...but at times it got narrow and she DID not like it. But we made her face her fears. :) Sorry that it is sideways.

Family Hike

We have been doing a lot lately, have had a lot of company, took family pictures, went to a fun bridal shower, spent a lot of time on the lake and our family went on another little hike together last week and Kelsi was a lot faster than she was 2 months ago the last time we took her. She had a LOT of fun for the most part. You will see in the couple videos that I will post that it wasn't always sunshine and rainbows...but she did manage to hold a BIG leaf! Small victories.

Learning to eat with a spoon

Before Kelsi was born, I used to say that when she ate, I was just going to strip her down and let her have at it. That really hasn't been the case. I hate it when she gets dirty, but last night I was trying to get dinner ready and she really needed to be pacified, so I warmed up some spaghetti and meatballs and gave her a spoon. She has done pretty well with a fork, but hasn't mastered the spoon yet. Here is her work of art.

She actually did a good job of getting it into her mouth. She got really dirty when she tried to pick up the food that fell off her spoon and then shoved it into her mouth and then wiped her face. Silly girl.

ENJOY!!

The Lake

We have really enjoyed the opportunity to be out on the lake this summer. It took Kelsi a few trips before she gave in and she now LOVES to be in the water. She gets upset when we have to leave. She doesn't really like it when you touch her floatie though!

Bday Party

Kelsi went to her cousin Lauren's bday party this weekend. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN! Here is Lauren as a beautiful butterfly.

They had two floaters there and Kelsi loves to sit in them, preferably when there is no water around.More face painting on my hilarious sis in-law JalynThey had a slip and slide that Kelsi just kept running over to get sprinkled on.


Jalyn took her in the bouncer and she hated it. She whined. Surprised anyone?

And, the best part of course....shoving the cupcake into her face.



PS On a side note, just another funny story about Kelsi. On the way home from church yesterday we had to stop on our road for about 15 minutes because an ambulance was blocking the path. John and Jalyn were trying to pass the time and started whistling with blades of grass. After they were done, they tried to give it to Kelsi and she freaked. GRASS????!!!! I don't know what it is about vegetation that scares her so bad. Even if I have her window down as we are driving up to the main road she scoots as far away from her window as she can in her car seat because she feels the foliage outside is going to touch her. WEIRDO!!!!!!

Kelsi and her "Be" aka Baby

I realized that Kelsi didn't have a doll. She has a stuffed bear that she carries around sometimes and gives kisses, so I decided to buy her a doll. I got her a little stroller to go with it and now she can push her baby all over the house. After she pushed her around she climbed on the couch with her and started pointing at her eyes, ears, mouth and nose and then gave her a big kiss.

Our new home

We accepted their counter to our counter to their counter to our offer. :) Get that? We close on 9/1!! Hopefully, everything goes smoothly with financing and closing on our Clarkston home, because I would really like to live here. Isn't it cute and cozy? And don't you think John's big 'ol TV is going to look great in that space over the fireplace??

Auntie Shays

My sister Shayla came to visit for a few days! We had a great time and Kelsi really loved her Auntie Shays and literally cried when she had to go.

We went down to the boardwalk, ate some Cafe Chulo (closest thing to Cafe Rio around), watched a movie, played mario cart, looked at houses, laid out on the deck, watched little mermaid until we puked and just had a nice visit. I was horrible at taking pictures and didn't take any of Shayla with Kelsi, but I promise that they had a ball together (Shayla - that was a subtle hint...send me your pictures!)

We are outta here!

Well, we did it! Our home in Clarkston is now just a house. It is completely empty and all we have left now are the memories. It was the fastest move in history thanks to the dozen guys that helped move our stuff, to those that helped clean, those who watched my kiddo and those who fed me when I was short on food! We really felt loved and appreciated all the help. Walking out of the house on Sunday was pretty emotional for me. It was our first home and we have so many memories to take with us. I really am going to miss Clarkston. I remember 4 years ago when I moved there people told me "Don't worry, you will like it here in about a year". I remember thinking stubbornly "I don't WANT to like it here". hahaha! That town made me soft!

I took Kelsi outside to play before we left and reflected on the time that we spent there. I remember John hugging me while I cried in the backyard as we looked at our view. I had just moved there and going from West Los Angeles to Clarkston, WA was such a dramatic change. John would say, "but look at our view!" I replied by saying "View of what?". Fast forward 4 years and I was spinning my beautiful daughter around in that same yard and thinking, "I am really going to miss this view". I am so thankful for the person that Clarkston helped me become.

I am so thankful for the friends that I have made that I know will be life-long friends. They truly became my family since I was so far away from my own. Even when I was away on vacation I would look forward to returning to see my friends again.

I am ready to bloom where I am planted and forget about the hard parts about change and remember all the good that can come from it. John and I have seen the Lord's hand in our lives time and time again and we are excited for this new adventure and the trials and blessings that will come from it.

Good-bye Clarkston!!! I have nothing but love in my heart for you and HELLO to North Idaho, get ready for this branch of the CALDERWOODS!!!

This is a little late, but I have completely lost track of my days. Here are the top 10 reasons (there are many more, but I told her she had to keep it to a minimum) why Kelsi thinks John is the best daddy ever.

1. He can't go to bed at night until he has re-tucked me in and watched me sleep for a while.

2. He is the best dance partner around.

3. He loves to let me try new things and get dirty as much as I want.

4. He reads to me everyday

5. He is the funniest tickle monster in the world

6. He has about 136,938 pet names for me

7. He makes up the funniest songs

8. He works all day long so that I can eat yummy food and sleep in a warm bed.

9. He really loves my mommy

10. He loves me.

18 months

(scrunchie face)

Kelsi bringing me her shoes so that she could go outside.

Kelsi had her wellness check up earlier this week and here are her stats:

Weight: 26 lbs. 2 oz. (76%)

Height: 34 in. (97% -atta girl!)

Head: 49 cm. (99% - this is from my mom's side of the family)

She has her own little language that I have to constantly translate for John. Her newest word is "low". As in "flower". I asked the doctor if it was OK that she only says parts of whole words and she said it was fine and that in the next 6 months her vocab should just explode. She is a sweetie, even though she has been super cranky lately. I also found out that she has a double ear infection. OUCH! Who knew? She hasn't been sick or anything...just extra cranky. She has been on her antibiotics for 3 days and they are killing her. I hate to see her in so much pain. :( I have had such a short fuse with her lately and then I feel so guilty when she runs to me with open arms because she hurts.

She still LOVES books and would have me read to her ALL day if I would. She likes to dance. She is still afraid of most things. I have recently added packing tape and elevators to the list. Silly girl.

Nothing special about this unless you love pure cuteness. The video will turn right side up in a couple seconds. This is just Kelsi taking her sweet time (with her walking stick).

Memorial Day weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. We went on a little walk through the English Point Trail system. Kelsi was really slow. She is afraid of vegetation...that's right...scared of it. So for the most part she stayed in the middle of the trail and would stop and point at things and then start walking backwards. We would have to pick her up and catch up with our group. As you can see, she even carried around a walking stick!

When we were leaving, Kelsi got to pet a pretty horse, or a "Dah" (dog) as she calls any animal.

Kelsi has also mastered the art of going up and down the stairs. FINALLY!!! We had a great BBQ and fun time lounging on the deck and playing games with friends.