Dana's work has decided that due to a decline versus increase in business like they had initially forcast that they will not be hiring for a supervisor position this year which is a bummer but on the upside all of his superiors have given him rave reviews and have re-assured him that he is still being considered for a supervisor position when one becomes available. He's basically the supervisor of his group in all but title anyway. He did have two employee's but the one was asked to leave due more to personality conflict with Dana's supervisor then anything from what I understand. Came as a shock to both the employee and Dana but eh it's over and done with now. He's got a great employee who was kind enough to pass on her daughters outgrown clothes to us, can't pass up free clothes!
Dana also began carpooling a few weeks ago with a guy named Rob from his work. Rob has a big honking truck, I think it's a Ford F250 or something and it takes about $150 a week to fill it up so he's thrilled to save about $300 a month with carpooling! We're happy since it saves us some as well and Dana's most happy that he doesn't have to drive all the time since he gets really tired of that! Win win!
My work is going well. There's always new deals being thought about and new directions to expand into which is fun. We're a bit slow in my department right now but that's okay, better then being so blasted busy I can't catch a breath! They did pay for my Sam's Club membership since we're using it at least once a month for work which was very nice of them! Since it's a personal account and not a business I can still use it for my personal use as can our office manager since I added her to the account, obviously those expenses aren't covered by the company lol.
I did officially get out of Premier Designs. It's beautiful jewelry but at this time it's just too difficult to keep it up and running and spend time with my family. Plus I really didn't want to have to get a bunch of new pieces of jewelry for shows. I did make back what it cost to be in Premier so that's good. I've sold most of what I had to left to friends and customers for a nice discount so they were happy and I'm happy since I don't have jewelry I'll never wear laying around!
I started a book club with several friends and our first meeting went pretty good. We read a book called Rollback and initially I wasn't too sure I'd like it since it's more sci-fi then I typically go for but it was very good! I do wish they'd tied up a few more loose ends but overall really good book. Our current book that we'll be discussing in a couple weeks is called Perks of Being A Wallflower. Personally I didn't enjoy this one as much, I didn't care for the format-it's all letters he writes some "friend" anomously. I don't know, for me I just wasn't that big on it. It's a very easy read, something you can easily read in half a day or less.
Karalee is getting stronger and smarter every day! She's added to her words and I've lost track of how many she can now say! I know she can say (and actually do) knock knock, night night (comes out like nigh nigh), this, that, and she just added cookie plus so many more! One of her new favorite things to do is point to all the pictures as we walk up or downstairs! She can point out Mommy, Daddy, and herself! I think the picture of Max still perplexes her a bit but she likes looking at it. She loves to close doors, play hide n' seek, and her all time favorite is playing in any bowl of water that is out. Wether it's Max's water bowl inside or the bowl Jim & Gregg have outside just for Max. Currently Karalee has it filled with rocks lol. That's her other favorite thing, to hand us rocks, or toys, or whatever she happens to lay her little hands on. She can point out noses on other people if you ask her but she can't quite figure out where her's is, she did go through a phase where ears were absolutely fascinating! She's pretty much over that for now lol.
We've been letting her have bubble baths on nights that she's not really dirty and we just want to keep routine for night night. She enjoys them and has fun with the bubbles. She's funny, she knows if she stands up in the tub that it's only allowed if she's all done so I always ask and in response she'll start putting her leg over so I figure that's as solid an answer as needed!
4th of July was fun since from our house we can watch about 7 different shows! Karalee was crashed so Dana and I just watched them with our neighbors down on our block corner. On the 5th we joined Jim & Gregg with several of their friends watching fireworks from the top of a garage structure at her work. Gotta say they do a great show but dang it's way too late for Karalee and traffic is cruddy when you head home. Karalee had a pretty good time and really was quite the trooper. Poor kid did get the beejesus scared out of her when the fireworks went off since she had her back to the area and we had no real warning they were going to go off. She jumped and lit into my lap so fast you'd have thought she was launched there by the fireworks. I was so impressed with her though, she never once cried she was just startled and once she snuggled with me and watched from a distance the fireworks for about 10 minutes she was fine and enjoyed the rest of the show. I felt so bad for her at first though, startled out of her playing and shaking. After a few minutes though like I said she was fine and enjoyed watching the fireworks from both my lap and then Dana's.
July 5, 2008
Karalee with her uncle's Jim & Gregg
Dana relaxing before the fireworks
"What would you like to drink?"
Gregg strolling Karalee around when she got bored waiting for fireworks
July 13, 2008
Karalee climbing me to see the camera
"Thought these trash bags could use some sorting...."
July 14, 2008
Driving her Jeep stroller
July 24, 2008
Thought it'd been too long since we had a picture of K sleeping
July 25, 2008
She was sorting VHS movies from the box and then pulled this pose "What's next? My work is done!"
Karalee sitting in movie box
July 26, 2008
Karalee fought her nap so hard one day I just took her for a stroller ride, she crashed and everytime I'd lay it back she'd struggle up and lay her down on the tray so finally I just left her to it. Looks so uncomfortable to me!
July 27, 2008
Karalee discovered she could stick letters on her head so that lead to great fun in the tub one night, silly nut! :-)
Dana decided to lend a hand with compiling letters on her head
Most of July she'd pull up on things/people and walk a handful of steps but she took very few with out prompting. About the last part of July into August she's been standing all by herself and taking a lot more steps! She does the mogli impression when she tires of crawling, for those who can't recall what that looks like it's walking with her hands and feet which is hilarious. She's getting so much more confident about her balance and knowing she can do the walking, we're so darn proud of her!
She's a great eater still, there isn't much she won't eat which is really nice! Her favortite much to my dismay and her father's joy is Kraft Mac N' Cheese. I swear between the two of them it's amazing we ever have any in the cupboard! Both their eyes just light up as if it's this gourmet meal lol. I just don't get it. But I have my own quirks that make Dana-and pretty much everyone else-shake their heads so I guess it's fair lol. Karalee has 7 teeth now! 4 on the bottom and 3 on top! She loves having her teeth brushed now that I've gotten a finger brush so she feels like a big girl. Opens her mouth right up and loves the feel of it running across her teeth and gums, makes my life much easier! 'Course now that I've said that she'll be an absolute pill tomorrow lol.
Karalee got a pool for her birthday and in late June it was finally warm enough to try it out. Let's just say we're a bigger fan then she is lol. We haven't tried it again, we should as she may like it more now. We tried everything, warming the water, holding her, putting bath toys in there, sitting in there and none of it was making it better, she just thought we were insane lol.
June 22, 008
Daddy and Karalee playing near pool
Dana attempting to convince Karalee it'd be fun
Karalee's thoughts on the pool
Dana's parents will be here in a couple weeks to see Karalee and we're looking forward to the visit. Last time they were here was for Karalee's birthday and they'll be here for Christmas but who can pass up the chance to see your grandkid more often if given the opportunity right?
My parents are planning on coming out, I haven't heard firm dates just yet but I know they're shopping for tickets this weekend so I'm excited! Last time they saw Karalee was in November when we went to IL to visit everyone!
Father's Day was pretty low key, we took Dana out to Texas Roadhouse the day before per his request with our friends Jim & Gregg. Had a lot fun there! Father's Day itself Dana got a George Foreman Grill that he was very excited about and an I-Pod Shuffle. He's had a lot of fun downloading songs on the i-pod and using it to ignore people that bug him at work lol. I had planned to just let him take the day to do nothing but he had other plans! Decided to wash his car, mow the grass, fix the dent in my bumper...bunch of other things I don't even remember them all! I figured "Hey, your day do as you please!" Popping the dent did crack me up though since it looked like I ran him over lol.
June 15, 2008
Helping Daddy sort his Father's Day presents
Handing Daddy his card
Happy Father's Day kiss
Karalee decided they both needed to kiss her Winnie The Pooh ball
"I didn't mean to run over him honest officer"
Karalee making sure the pots were in place before heading to bed
We were joking around a few weeks ago that next time we're pregnant he's taking me to the hospital soon as my contractions start to which I laughed and said I don't think so. No way I'm spending several hours stuck at the hospital bored to death waiting for my contractions to get "down to business" He still thinks he'll win this debate, I don't lol. He threatend to carry me which I thought was hilarious since I can't get him to carry me at the weight I am now there's no way pregnant and in labor he'll be carrying me LOL. Made me laugh though to picture it!
Our carpet started pulling away by the enry way of our house so we decided to tile it from the door 8 feet in! We'd been wanting to do it for awhile and it looks so great!! Dana did scare the crud out of me though. He went out the front door to take pictures of clouds so I'm in the laundry room and have the dryer open. Well for those who've never seen the outlay of my laundry room it's more of a nook and if you open the dryer door it's flush against the entrance door from the garage. Well unbeknownst to me Dana decided to come back into the house through the garage so he opens the door and slams into the dryer door and I let loose an exclamation as I almost leapt into the washer I was so startled. He of course thought it was hilarious!
August 1, 2008
Tile work begins
August 3, 2008
Tile work is all done, looks fabulous!
Karalee loves to sort my pots, pans, skillets, and tupperware for me. Apparently I don't keep them in the proper place as the proper place is the floor lol. One day after I picked them up she vocalized to me quite indignently how I was wrong to put them away and that I was most wrong to tell her she couldn't play in the cupboard with the dish soap. The dangers of keeping your kids safe hee hee.
We got a seat for Karalee to sit in on bike rides and her own big girl helmet! She had a blast the first time we went out, the second was just so-so. If it's nice this weekend we'll get back out there since my tire has been fixed. Since Dana is a better rider then I we have her seat on his bike.
June 29, 2008
Karalee sorting my tupperware for me
Karalee explaining why the way I have it is wrong & that she should be allowed to play with whatever she wants
Karalee in her big girl helmet, sunglasses and riding in her seat
Our neighbors Keith & Sandy's little boy Noah is doing really well. He's still on oxygen and will go in for another sleep study at the end of this month. They have been able to keep him off oxygen longer and longer so that's great! I got to hold him a few weeks ago and he's so tiny! Weighs something like 13 pounds but once you're used to picking up Karalee who's 20+ pounds he's like a feather! My friend Staci had teased me about that very feeling when I met her and her family as they came through CO over a year ago. She's now the proud mommy to two little boys who are absolutely adorable!
