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Merry Christmas to all.....

...and to all a goodnight!

My beautiful Christmas dress. Don't I just look like a little doll from the toy store?

Christmas reflection!

So, I am sitting here, not feeling very good, my house is not picked up and my daughter is napping, still in her pajamas...with no energy to really care right now. I decided to do some blogging and catch up with my family and friends.
Maybe it is the season...that I love so much...but I am feeling a bit lonely. This time of year is for families to be together, right. Although I am thrilled to start my own family traditions with my little family of three, I am really missing my sisters and brother. And my parents, of course. I have been reading their blogs and emails and just reflecting on our Christmases past. Growing up, we traveled a lot, in the military and my best friends were my sisters.
Let me just share with you some of my favorite Christmas memories. I wish we could all be together every year for the holidays. (I know what you are thinking, Mom...I shouldn't have moved away, I put this on myself)
1) Sledding down the hill in our backyard in Massachussetts. Then building a snowman together.
2) Rolling down the large hill in Maine on our trips to see relatives.
3) Making gingerbread houses and stealing a bite of candy when mom would look away.
4) Waking up in the middle of the night (potty break), in Belgium and swearing that I heard Santa putting gifts under the tree.
5) Putting our shoes out on the night of the 5th of December, in Belgium, to be filled with treats.
6) Wearing our Candy Cane striped pajamas, that all matched.
7) Going to see the Big Star (I mean like the size of a house) in the Piazza in Verona, Italy.
8) One of my favorites...Making our homemade "secret sibling" gifts. We all wanted to give to our little brother once he was born. Or better yet, we all wanted to receive from little brother, it was often a sweatshirt that said, "I am the big sister of EJ", with some darling hand prints, usually in the most inappropriate position on the shirt.
9) Acting out the Christmas Story on Christmas Eve with the newest baby in the family playing the part of our Savior.
10) Eating Clam Chowder for Christmas Eve dinner.
11) Exchanging our "secret sibling" gifts after Christmas Eve dinner. These used to be called "secret sister" gifts, until the boy was born. Love that boy! By the way, the tradition continues!
12) Waking up Christmas morning, having to make our beds and then go into the kitchen for breakfast. Always a holiday treat...Mom's deliciously homemade cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa. If the tree was in view of our breakfast table, Santa would drape a sheet over the door so we could not peek.
13) Seeing our Santa gift layed out in front of our stockings, filled and neatly positioned on the couch in order of age of children.
14) The many years that Mom and Dad surprised us with a great family activities as one of our gifts in the stocking. My favorite, a sleigh ride in Sun Valley.
15) Being with my beautiful sisters and brother, and sharing each memory with them. Thanks Mom and Dad for making my childhood memorable and almost a FANTASY!

Merry Christmas to all those I have met, loved and shared a memory with. Its time to make my children's lives a memory they will never forget...if not a fantasy.

Sledding in Colorado!

Friday Night Date Night

It's been awhile since I have posted a "Friday Night Date Night" post. Tonight we have carried on a tradition, or maybe officially started one. The last couple years, or so, Carl and I have collected a special ornament for the "family tree". So we have decided to take a night each year to visit Santa and pick out a new ornament for the year. That is what we did tonight. Our ornament is a snowman that says "Colorado" on it. Obviously to remember the year we moved to Colorado. Then we made a trip to see Santa. Nice guy!.....
....Of course, Kya was not too thrilled with the "jolly old man". She really didn't scream, just fussed and looked terribly frightened. However, she did not try to get off his lap. Funny girl! Check out the video below.
Santa made Mommy happy this year. He's not giving out candy to the children, he gave Kya a book...love it. Kya wanted to read it right away. Fun!

Looking scared again, but still ok with sitting on Santa's lap. Topping the evening off with a great movie, "Santa Clause 3". I love Christmas time!

Christmas is in the Air.

We've decorated the house, and I love it. I wish I could decorate my house for Christmas all year long. Sit down for a moment and enjoy this post, I am about to share with you a story, and try to be a loving host (ess).

'Twas the night before...near Christmas,
when all through the house.
Not a creature was stirring....ok so ours was quite busy helping me and the spouse.
She was decorating each nook and each cranny with care,
she knows the season that fills the air.

and the story continues below....

The stockings were hung by the chim....breakfast bar with care.
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

Mamma dressed the table for dinner...a mock setting for four.
She was preparing for a church dinner she was asked to decorate for.

Out by the door, they heard such a knock.
Our Hawaiian Snowman stopped by for the season,
hoping for a cold winter with a white boardwalk.
Aloha!

The kitchen was a mess with cookies and sweets,

But trees glistened bright, as well as heartbeats.

Below you will see,
mommy's decorative tree.


To the left, oh how cute,
family ornaments collected,
We all placed on the tree so fun and respected.



We had such a fun time decorating, especially with Kya. She has not even attempted to touch the tree. We told her "don't touch", so now she walks up to it, looks at it and says, in her very understandable babble, "don't touch" while shaking her finger at it. What an angel, maybe I should put on the top of the tree. We hope you all have as much fun as we do preparing for the season. Remember why we celebrate while you adorn your homes with a beautiful decor of colors and lights. Happy Holidays!

All I want for Christmas is my TOOTH BACK!

So, after all her hard work and pain of getting her teeth, my sweet little Kya has lost her first tooth. This is not a good thing. Yesterday I had a photo shoot and Carl was hunting, so Kya spend a couple hours at a friends house. Long story short, there was playing and Kya fell (with her sippy cup in her mouth), crying, bleeding and all that fun stuff. This happened just 20 minutes before I picked her up. So apparently when she fell, her tooth fell out. How this can happen is a mystery to me, but the WHOLE tooth fell out, root and all. Look closely at the picture of her beautiful smile, just to the right of her top right, front tooth, there is a big hole. All her hard work and now we have to say goodbye to her tooth. Ironically, my friend that watched Kya, is married to a dentist. Needless to say, we have free dental care. Hee hee. Kya is a trooper, she has not been bothered by this (well at least not after she cried for five minutes). She's a tough gal. She'll just be toothless until she gets her adult tooth.

Bye Bye Mr. Tooth. We will miss you, truly!

Our Denver trip!

Fish love her! (Be sure to watch the video of Kya "interacting" with the fish...below)

So, we went to Denver this week. Carl had a new employee training conference and they put us up in a hotel. Of course, Kya and I wanted to go and play. Wednesday we went to the Denver Aquarium. Kya loves to watch "fishy" (Nemo), so I thought for sure she would love the aquarium, but I didn't realize that the real "fishy" can be a lot more scary than a cartoon fish. Thursday we went to the outdoor mall downtown and Friday we just hung out and had a "Girls Lunch". It was a fun week, but we are glad to be home now so we can decorate for Christmas. I love it. Stay tuned for those pictures.

This is what Kya did for most of our visit to the aquarium, she hung on to my legs and tried to climb up them saying, "Up" or "Ok". She's a funny girl.

All in all, it was a "Barrell of Fun"

Some things we saw

Kya and I had a lot of fun in Denver. Here are some more things that we saw. This Orangutan and baby scared me. I did not see them at first and then saw them move out of the corner of my eye. Scary, but they are not real.

This tiger, however, is real. There were three of them at the aquarium. Kya didn't really seemed interested in them. They were behind glass and far enough away, she didn't care too much about them.

These birds were loud. Didn't bother Kya much, she loves birds.

Of course, the most smiles I got out of her for a picture were at lunch time. She was so funny while we ate lunch, but the rest of the time, she was either too involved in watching the fish, or she was too scared to want to smile.

At the hotel, we put Kya in a pack-n-play in the bathroom, and covered the doors with a blanket to keep the light out. The first two nights she wasn't sure she liked that. In fact the first night she ended in bed with me at 11:30 (after suddenly waking up screaming). The second night we found her peeking out, trying to find us. It was definitely a picture moment. By the third night, she fell asleep soundly without a peep, of course after a great soak in the hot tub (she loved that).

Thursday, Kya and I went to the 16th Street Mall (an outdoor mall in downtown Denver). We didn't stay outdoors much, it was cold. Besides, Kya was hungry and wanted to eat her lunch. Of course everyone in the food court thought she was the cutest thing ever.

Friday we happened to drive pass Molly Brown's Summer Home. No tours in December, but I did get a picture of the outside. Kinda fun, huh?

Scared of her own reflection

I thought this was pretty funny, she jumped when her own reflection met her finger on the glass. She did like these fish, they were drawn to her (as you can see from the picture above).

Denver or Bust!

We are off to Denver for the week. Carl is doing new employee training, Kya and I are going to paint the town red. I'll tell you about our trip and all the fun things we have planned when we get back. Have a great week all.

Black Friday

We had a great Thanksgiving with dear friends.. I made an apple pie (not nearly as good as Alicia's) but I did make it myself from scratch.

I also put together a relish tray, thanks to my mother-in-law's killer pickled veggies.

And then watching Kya have a ball dipping her crackers into the ranch (pictures below), we had a great Thanksgiving. We certainly missed family and would have loved to spend it with you all, we did have fun. Kya did not want to nap at our friends house so she just fought through, kept playing and then sat on daddy's lap to fall asleep. We wore her out.

Now that we have filled our bellies and slept it off, it's Christmas season. My favorite time of year. Ok, really, the fall is my favorite, but I love the feeling you get with Christmas. The lights, decorations, snow falling and good 'ol Christmas music around every street corner. I love it.

So, I did it...I survived the silliness; I conquered the crowds; and hustled and bustled with the best of them. I have done most of my Christmas shopping (Carl, I still need your wish list). I have never really done it, but I decided to try "Black Friday" shopping, bright and early in the freezing cold. By the way, why do they call it "Black" and not White. Just a thought.

I got up at 4:30 this morning, bundled up and drove less than five miles to the nearest Walmart. Since they are open 24 hours I was able to walk right in and take a look at what the "Hot" items were. Wow, people are nuts. I was just going to see if Kya's Santa gift was on sale. They didn't have it, but I found a few other treasures.

5:00 rolls around and an associate's voice on the PA fills the store and says, "Shoppers, welcome to Walmart, the sale has begun, Merry Christmas." The lady next to me grab several toys and then turned to hurry to her next purchase spot. Another lady was in her way, while trying to get through herself. Some words were exchanged and they were not very kind words. I thought to myself, 'what am I doing here'. All these shoppers who get there early for the awesome deals and want to be the first to get it, don't realize that after 25 minutes, the "hot" items were still there. Maybe a couple hours later they would be sold out, but I got a kick out of all this. Although it was a nut house, I had fun watching people's faces. Determination, desperation, I don't know what it was, but it was funny. So I bought the few items I found and started out to my car.

I looked over and saw a couple of ladies hurrying to their car when one of them said to the other, "Hurry, we have to get to Target next". Well, that was my plan too, Target next, but I was not in a hurry. I'm just out for the experience, right?. Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I heard her say that, my pace picked up to a fast walk. I got in the car and it was only 5:17. But as I drove up the road, about another five miles, maybe a few more, I could feel butterflies in my stomach. What was that? Fear, that I would get run over by the early morning drivers who probably stayed up way too late from the Thanksgiving games and then were in a mad dash to get the best deals; or was it excitement, the same thrill the rest of the shoppers were feeling, that competitive edge. Either way, my heart was pounding.

Well, I got to Target by 5:25 and the line was already a quarter of a mile long. They were not open yet, so the line was outside. It was cold!! I walked casually to the end of the line, not wanting the other shoppers to see me hurry in a crazy fashion (like them). By 6:00, when the doors opened, the line had trippled in length. Amazing!

So I walked around the crowds, stepping out of the way, whenever I saw someone pushing their way through and anxious to push anyone in their way. Way too early to be pushed by anyone!...I was in a good mood. I really didn't have anything in mind to get, I was just looking. They also did not have Kya's Santa gift. After all this, I will be shopping online.

Carl called at 6:20 and wondered if I was done, or would he need to get Kya ready to go to work with him. So I went home. Kya got up, we had eggs for breakfast and then with the butterflies still there, I got Kya dressed, and we went back out into the craziness. It was so fun. Kya was bundled up (it is cold out there today with a light snow fall) and loving it. Again, I really had nothing on my list that I needed, but amazingly, I managed to get probably 90% of my Christmas shopping done.

At the mall, Kya and I stopped to see the puppies at the pet store. She got a kick out of those little wet noses pressed against the glass. Yes, Kya will get a puppy in a stocking one year (when we have a house), because I am living vicariously through her.

After stopping by daddy's office to visit him, we came home at 11:00 am. Kya fell asleep on the way home and after getting her out of the car and transferring her to her bed, she is still asleep, over an hour later.

The cold air, light flurries, Christmas music and crazy shoppers...it was a great day. I love it and Kya had fun too. So, for my first "Black Friday", which by the way I wore black for the occasion, I had fun and the Christmas shopping experience was well worth it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gotta love 'em! Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and eats lots of turkey. Be grateful for every moment you have with your precious loved ones. Love you all!

Things that make me laugh...

Kya is so funny, she is talking more each day. Here are some of her words that make us laugh.

1. "nic-nac" *translation...sticker
2. "nack" * snack
3. "pizza" * pizza, pajamas and most anything that starts with 'p'
4. "I yo" *I love you
5. "ox" *socks
6. "oos" *shoes
7. "duc-dog" *hot dog
and of course her favorite...
8. "bootss" *boots

Most everything else she says is pretty well understood. I love her!

Just because...

So, I haven't posted much of Kya lately. I thought I would share this adorable picture with you. I was playing around with my camera using her as my little model, and other than the fact that she looks like she is choking herself, I thought it was pretty cute. This post is "just because" she reminds me to be true to myself. Along my journey, I find myself reminding myself to look at the blessings in my life and where I am now, rather than looking at what I may have later or where I will be in the future. Each day is priceless, being true to myself is finding pleasure in each day and each moment. One reason I love photography, you can capture those moments of happiness and later, look at them and remember the joy.

My Photography Blog

I am so excited about this. In reference to my previous post "Be True to Yourself", this is me, being ME. One of my passions in life is photography. In college I studied photography and focused my artistic view on Fashion Photography. So in the past couple weeks I have asked myself, "Why am I not pursuing my love of photography?"

No more asking, now I am doing. With a great camera that my sweetie gave to me for my first official mother's day, I am unstoppable. Really, I am so excited about this and I wanted to share it with all of you. Pass on the word to your friends, especially those who live in Colorado. Please feel free to explore my new blog www.paulakphotography.blogspot.com and leave comments of your favorite posts.

Again, this is Me, being Me.

Dancing Queen!

Kya is so funny, she makes us laugh. The other night we went to dinner for Carl's birthday. Texas Roadhouse, yeah! Carl has never been so I took him, he was pretty excited. The food was fantastic. Kya kept pointing out the stuffed fish on the wall and looking at everything saying "ooohhh", what a funny girl. She loves to dance to any beat, here she is dancing to some country while chowing on her food. I love it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful and loving husband. Kya and I went to his work to surprise him with Frosty's for dessert. He was very surprised and loved the visit. "Daddy...we love you, you are the best" Happy Birthday!

Be True to Yourself!

Ok, this is a little off for me to do, but I am a bit vulnerable at this time. In every man (woman's) life, there is a time when one needs to find out who they are...truthfully. I am now at that time...again. I usually don't learn it the first time, or maybe as we grow older, we become different people. One thing I have found myself doing is admiring other people, their hobbies, talents, abilities and selves. In the process of doing that, I also find myself wanting to be like other people. That is not always satisfying, in fact rarely do I ever find pure joy in trying to be like other people. It makes me be less of me...duh! I do like to be different, or the odd ball if you will. So why would this be a challenge or weakness for me? I often pride myself in be the different one, at the same time not being different to fit in or feel worthy, that part I am not so sure about.
I am on a journey...I do love to travel. So really this should be fun for me. I am sure you all could care less about my personal journey, but I am woman, I need to talk and let it off my chest. This is my therapy for the day. (By the way, thank you Alicia for your therapy session...I'll pay you later) Who am I? That is the question I am trying to answer. The best way I know how to do that is to look at who I was as a kid. Of course my philosophy on life has dramatically changed as well as my outlook, but really, when are we the most honest with ourselves...when we are children. I won't bore you with all of my thoughts and personal revelations (my mind can be rather confusing, even for me) but I will share with you the process at which I plan to approach my journey. As with every trip I take, there must be a process of preparation, planning the destination, the how I intend on arriving at the destination. My destination is internal happiness and joy in just being ME, who I really am. I'm not quite sure of how I will get there, but a lot of praying is definitely going to be involved. I also know that in order to get to know me, as I mentioned before, I am going to look at (as corny as this may sound) my inner child. I am also going to look at what I am passionate about in life. Why do anything if you are not passionate about it, you will definitely have the endurance to maintain your goals if there is passion behind it. Ok, enough babble, thank you for enduring this post if you made it through. As much as I hate to admit my weakness, or the fact that I have them, this was therapeutic. This is my tribute to Being True to Yourself, I have not been and now is the time to start.

SHE'S WALKING!!!

15 months and two days...da da dah...She's walking. The last couple days she has been standing on her own just practicing. She knew she wanted to walk, but you know Kya, she does everything in her own time. This morning, even with a horrible cough (that continues to make her throw-up) and a terribly runny nose she wasn't going down for a nap. So I went to get her and set her down, told her to go to daddy.....and she did! The funny thing is, she acts like she's been walking for months. As daddy says, "She has, she just didn't want to let go until now". As you can see, we are so excited! I know, one day I will say, "Why did I ask for this", but I don't think I will ever regret her walking.

So here we are just standing.

Ok, now she walks for the second time and falls.

And here she is. May I be the first one to announce Miss Kya Weeks, a Walker. I am so thrillled, this is a big step (pun intended).

Third times a charm...

Ok, so lets be honest, this is really the tenth time I have tried to post these videos, I think it might actually work this time. Kya is too cute to not video and especially to not share with all of you. This is her playing her piano for the first time. Now she goes up to it, hits a few keys and dances, all while smiling at me with a look of "I'm pretty talented, huh mom?". What a blast, she really does livin' up my days and really entertains us. Growing up as a kid myself, I remember watching my little brother entertain us each night. What a hoot! That is why I couldn't wait to have kids...for the entertainment. I definitely have a show to watch. I hope you enjoy watching too! Please keep in touch, we have more fun videos to post, but I'll give you time to enjoy these.

Ride the Pony

Isn't she so cute. She really has the cutest personality I have ever seen! Kya really loves her horsie and boots. She asks to wear her boots almost everyday. I just might have a cowgirl on my hands.

Halloween Night!

I love Halloween and we had fun. Here is the story, (there is always a story, right?). Grandpa Morgan wanted Kya to dress up like a bird so that she could fly home and visit. Well, Carl and I dressed up like Pirates and Kya was our little parrot. I know, she has peacock feathers, but they are so pretty, so she is our pretty, peacock parrot. She decorated her pumpkin or "punka" with a marker and had a ball. Then we went downtown to daddy's office for a little trick-or-treating there. After a great afternoon nap we dressed for "trunk-or-treating" at the church. Topping the evening off with a little "Chili and hot apple cider" at some friends house....to warm us up. Kya wanted some cider, so we gave her some...and she is either still sick or the cider didn't sit well with her because we all saw her dinner for the second time. She was pooped tonight, since bedtime was an hour and a half late, she zonked as soon as her head hit the pillow. Oops! Well, we had fun, and we hope you all had a great and safe night. Until next year!

Kya decorating her "punka", its a Ghost.

Beautiful Ghost

My little parrot!

She's posing for someone....maybe Cosmo.

Trick-or-Treating at daddy's office. They loved her there.

Halloween party at some friends house after "trunk-or-treating" at the church parking lot.

She loves Halloween, just like Mommy!

"Trunk-or-treating" was a bit cold. We sat in the warm truck most of the time.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

BE CAREFUL TONIGHT!

Serious Technical difficulties!

I know you all are anxiously awaiting the darling videos that I have of Kya playing her piano and riding her horsie. Unfortunately her mother is having some serious difficulties uploading and sharing those videos. I am working on it, so as of this moment this site is officially under construction. I apologize for the inconvience, thank you for your patience. You will not regret the wait.
Sincerely,
Incompetent Mother of Kya

Kya videos

Sorry for those of you who have already seen these videos, some have not been able to watch them on the side of the blog, so I am posting them here. I hope they work this time. Kya has had a lot of fun with her toys, before she got sick of course. She has played the piano a few times in the last couple days. Enjoy my little cutie, we do!

Little Piggies

I just had to post this. Its pretty self-explanatory. Kya mimmicks everything we do now. She is so stinking funny, now that she is feeling better.

My poor little girl!

Quite possibly, one of the saddest things ever is watching your little one feel sick and nauseous and not know what is going on. Watching Kya try to throw up and "get it out" made both daddy and mommy tear up. Kya has literally been sitting on my lap for five days. No energy, throwing almost everything up and sleeping a lot. Poor thing. She is just a different person when she is sick, isn't everyone. I think today she is finally coming around, but still very subdued. Crackers and Pedialyte are our friends. She has even been holding the bowl sometimes while drinking her special "juice". Its sad. She is skinnier too. I have certainly enjoyed the cuddles, but not at her expense.

Watching "Finding Nemo" or "Fishes", has been the only thing that Kya would watch as a distraction from the sick feeling. Its also the only thing she would watch on the road. Besides the move and breaking another tooth through, now being sick, she has not made this transition as smooth as we would hope. She is still and angel and really good. We just hope she is back to her normal self soon. She did tell me that she misses "Gramma" and "Grampa" and of course "Mollie".