Monday, January 26, 2009

A PJ Kind of Day

Today was a PJ kind of day...cold and wet outside. When our playdate plans changed this morning, I made the official decision that Tate and I were housebound and PJbound today. So with an energetic 2-year-old, you have to pull out all the stops to make the day enjoyable for everyone.

By his naptime, I realized that I had read to him all of these books (some more than once) throughout the day. My new party trick may be reciting by memory Is Your Mama a Llama?


And at our house when the garbage trucks come by, all activities must stop. All can then watch the awesomeness that is the garbage truck.




A fun new trick of Tate's is counting from 1-10. By the 27th time today, I figured I should capture it on video.




And finally, one of Tate's favorite episodes of Sesame Street is when Elmo and Zoe have the "How Many Hats Can You Put On Your Head Contest." So we had one of our own today. Just like with Elmo and Zoe, it was a tie between me and Tate...3 hats!



And now the weather reports are saying that ice is headed our way, so we may be repeating the whole day again tomorrow.

Posted by Kelly at 1/26/2009 09:33:00 PM 9 comments

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Tag

I'm feeling the blog writer's block coming, so I was very happy to remember a tag from way back when on Chris's blog. Chris is a new friend that I probably should've met years ago. We seem to live pretty parallel lives...same college, same church, some of the same friends, and same place for our boys to get a little therapy help. In fact we finally met in the waiting room there. It's been fun getting to know my new friend!

4 things I did yesterday:
* showed great restraint while shopping at Target, which is filled with new fun, spring things
* had a nice lunch with Kelli
* cringed several times as Tate bounded through the Chick Fil-A playscape like he was 10 years old
* wrote a list of all of the things I need to do today

4 things on my wish list:
* a 10th anniversary vacation
* a KitchenAid stand-up mixer...just discovered its greatness
* a massage
* fun stationary...always!

4 things I look forward to:
* when American Idol gets to the good people
* when my photo albums are finally caught up
* when I feel like I have a clue on how to parent an energetic toddler
* seeing my 2 out-of-town best friends hopefully sometime soon

4 restaurants I like:
* Bruno's
* Mi Cocina
* PF Chang's
* Babe's

4 favorite TV shows:
* The Office
* Oprah
* American Idol
* NBC Nightly News (yes the target audience is 50+, but I still love it)

4 people I tag:
* Shannon
* Lana
* Audra
* Janell
Posted by Kelly at 1/22/2009 02:32:00 PM 2 comments

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Inauguration Day


All politics aside, today was a historical day. I’ve got many friends on both sides of the party lines, but I can’t help but think and hope that at least for today it doesn’t matter.

It was quite a sight to watch on TV the 2 million people show up to be part of history. And I found myself tearing up several times as I listened to interviews of baby boomers and older saying that they never thought they would see this day.

I’ve mentioned it several times, but the visit to the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis (also the same place MLK was assassinated) made a lasting impact on me. It provided a very small glimpse into a cruel world of racism and hatred that I was fortunate to never see. I’m sure those older than me find it hard to believe that just 50 years from witnessing those atrocities firsthand, we now have a black president.

I’m thankful today to live in a country that can have such a smooth and friendly transition of power and one that can briefly put away the red and blue states to celebrate a new chapter in our history.

OK enough of serious Kelly…here are my less-important observations.

  • You could not pay me enough money to actually be in Washington, D.C., right now. It looked SO cold and SO crowded, not a combination I would deal well with.
  • Are those First Daughters not the cutest things you have ever seen? Loved their little coats.
  • Michelle’s yellow coat and dress weren’t my favorite, but she still looked great.
  • Did you see the guy out in the audience asleep?
  • What in the world happened with the mess-up of the oath of office? Whoops.
  • Hopefully, they get to sleep in a little tomorrow morning.
Posted by Kelly at 1/20/2009 08:32:00 PM 4 comments

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Keeping It Real

One of the things on my to-do list this weekend is to take down my beloved collection of Christmas card pictures. Don’t worry, the lights, tree, and decorations are all down and packed away. But I put off taking down all of the cards as long as possible because Christmas cards rank high in my favorite things about the holiday season.

So as I was looking at the beautiful, smiling pictures of all of my photogenic family and friends, I thought it would be humorous (or maybe something I’ll regret) to show a glimpse into our picture reality these days.

Here is Exhibit #1 of the family picture while at my parent’s house celebrating Christmas. Aren’t we adorable and don’t you just think to yourself, “Wow, they really have it together and must be incredible parents?”






Just in case that’s exactly what crossed your mind, I’ll correct your thinking by showing you Exhibit #2, which was taken just 30 seconds before.


And since I will probably never be the subject of a reality show, that may be the closest you'll get. Now if any of you other bloggers out there are brave enough (yes that picture of me is quite embarrassing), why don’t you share some of your reality in pictures and make us all feel better about ourselves? :) Come on, it will be fun!
Posted by Kelly at 1/15/2009 10:08:00 PM 7 comments

Monday, January 12, 2009

The Dance - EDITED

First there was this. Now this...



EDIT: And how in the world could I forget to leave off this one? I call it the high energy/techno/Jazzercise version...




The Lion Sleeps Tonight and The Da Da Da Song are sill our favorite dancing tunes around here. Clearly he's learned all of our moves...watch out JT!
Posted by Kelly at 1/12/2009 09:00:00 AM 3 comments

Friday, January 09, 2009

A New Year

Wade & I celebrated the new year and a new beginning for our family this past Sunday night by having 24 child-free hours together in Dallas. We love our little man Tate to pieces, but it is so nice to have a little bit of time away (even just 20 miles down the highway) to reconnect and have a day of uninterrupted conversations. Here is the one and only picture I took.

We spent the time eating out at non-kid-friendly restaurants, did some walking around and shopping, saw a WONDERFUL movie, Slumdog Millionaire, had our favorite dessert at Truluck’s, and got to spend the night at one of my favorite old, restored hotels in Dallas.

Since we were there to celebrate a special occasion and the fact that we were maybe 2 of 10 people in the entire hotel, we got a free upgrade to a ginormous suite. We were already paying only half of the usual rate (note to self that the Sunday night after New Year’s is THE time to get a great rate at a nice hotel), so I was beyond excited about the bargain. They even sent a bottle of champagne to the room. I’m pretty sure the hotel staff was a little bored since no one was there. But hey, I’ll enjoy it!

If you haven’t read here already, we were celebrating our new chapter for Wade and our family as he resigned from his job to run the family business, a clinical research company.

In some form or fashion, this has been years in the making, so it’s exciting to see it all come to fruition. That isn’t to say that I haven’t had moments of nervousness. Wade & I know very well that out of the two of us, he’s got much more the entrepreneurial, risk-taking spirit than I do. That difference provides strengths and weaknesses for us both. In this situation, it’s a great strength for him, and I’ve come around to be very excited about it as well. We laugh and are thankful that I’m past the point of “feeling like I’m going to throw up" from nervousness when I talk about it. We’re both pretty proud of me! :)

But really, I’m extremely proud of Wade for the years, months, and hours of researching, planning, and praying that have brought us to this place of embracing what appears to be a great opportunity. Bring on 2009 and all that it holds!
Posted by Kelly at 1/09/2009 11:11:00 PM 7 comments

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Christmas 2008

I wish I could bottle up the sweetness from Christmas this year. The perspective of a 2-year-old was just priceless. I’m sure future years will have their own benefits, but I just loved Tate’s wonder and awe of all things Christmas. He never caught on to the time concept of when Christmas was, so it was quite the surprise and excitement to see presents under the tree. He isn’t in the “I want” stage (although I know it will come), so he was happy with anything and everything he received. Pure sweetness.

Santa was gracious enough to take a picture after he left all of the presents under the tree.





Purple, white, purple, white, fight, fight, fight! Why do pictures of ornaments looks so pretty…or am I the only one that thinks that?




As you can see from the video below, we are in the major car stage right now. Who needs the big presents when all you really want to do is color the car coloring book…right now…“puuuuuuuuuuuulease.”





And this is after Tate pulled Lightning McQueen out of his stocking. The car never left his hand the entire Christmas morning. He quickly learned how to unwrap presents one-handed.




And yes that is a kitchen for our little boy. I’m training him now so that he’ll be a great husband one day who can cook!



Still holding the car.


This was the second year in a row (maybe a new tradition?) for a Christmas Day family game of Scrabble with my parents. They all humor me one time a year and play. I’m not that great (maybe because I only play once a year), but I love that game. I was pretty excited about my biggest word of the game...even if it didn’t help me win. Congrats Dad!




That evening we had the Strzinek Christmas at Poppy & MoMere’s house. This picture is in the car on the way. He just looked so big to me.




The wagon was a hit!




This is 1 of the 3 Nerf dart guns Trip received that he was beyond excited about. Will I ever understand boys? :)




Tate & Mo




Our niece and nephew are 9 and 11, and they think pretty much anything Tate does is hilarious. Tate, of course, enjoys being the center of their attention, so it makes for some fun times. They are really sweet and patient with him, and he adores them both.




Our third and final Christmas celebration was a few days later at my parent’s house with my sister and her family.



And I'm sure my Mom will be calling me about this video, but I couldn't not post it. Oh the lengths we will go to for a cute picture of little kids. At least it worked!



It was a “Cars” Christmas.





The present that provided the biggest reaction and excitement of all was the little basketball hoop from Aunt Shannon and Uncle Brad. Tate was pretty excited about it. And the truth is, all of the adults had a good time enjoying it as well.




This picture was after he had played and played and played, working up quite the sweat. So it was time for a shirts vs. skins game.




And the biggest Christmas miracle of all, my Dad somehow managed to get a tripod/timer picture of the entire family with everyone looking at the camera.



I am blessed beyond anything I could ask for with incredibly loving family and friends. I hope I can keep that feeling of gratitude fresh throughout the new year.
Posted by Kelly at 12/30/2008 10:28:00 PM 8 comments

Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas Warm-Up

We are 2 down and 1 to go of Christmas celebrations. Until then, here are some highlights from all of the fun leading up to the big day.

The kick-off to holiday festivities was an Enright family trip to the local Gaylord for Christmas photos of the grandkids in the cute outfits Mimi bought for them. Unfortunately, about 10,000 other people had the same idea that night. Just a tad crowded. The second picture cracks me up and you can see it was way past time for us to go and call it a night.




I had no idea what to expect from the Santa visit this year and so I was pleasantly surprised that it went well. Tate gave him a high-five, said "Hi Santa!," and then looked petrified at the photographers screaming at him to smile. Don't they realize that is the exact opposite way to get a kid to smile?



We also made the trek out to the train exhibit at North Park Mall. It did not disappoint, and we were all 3 pretty impressed. I think Tate said “Bye-bye, choo-choo” the entire drive home.









And this is a good representation of most pictures we try to take of our energetic little guy.




And our annual Christmas Eve tradition is dinner and an early “Spirit of Christmas” present with the Strzineks. It was fun to put both leaves in the dining room table, so that all 9 of us could fit. I even dusted off the old china for maybe its 5th time ever to be used.





Everyone joined in to decorate a gingerbread house and Christmas cookies. Wade had the neat idea to take them to the local fire station that night to spread a little holiday cheer to the poor guys and gals that had to work that night.




Posted by Kelly at 12/26/2008 10:55:00 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy. It is for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you.
He is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11


Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!
Posted by Kelly at 12/24/2008 10:30:00 PM 1 comments

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Celebrating 2!

Life seems to be moving at fast forward speed. So finally here is the recap of the celebrations of Tate turning 2. I’ve always had a thing about birthdays (or any special occasion) and like to make the day as special and fun as possible. Life can’t always be that way, so why not make sure you have a few special ones?

Tate’s birthday was on December 5, and we started the day with a fun first. A local mall has a huge carousel that Tate has seen and watched with awe several times. He’s never really known that I was holding out on him by not letting him take a ride. So we may regret the decision every time we go back there, but it was a fun birthday memory. We were able to share the fun with Aunt Shannon, cousin Mallory, Janell, Alex, and Addison. Ironically, Tate was the one that was a little timid at first, but then he enjoyed the rest of the ride.





Later that night my family came over for dinner, cake, and presents. After searching online for hours (why????), I finally found a good slide climber that I hopefully won’t have to worry about him injuring himself too bad on. He was pretty excited about the slide and then very sad when it was permanently moved outside to the backyard after spending a week in the living room. Despite the runny nose and chapped cheeks, I think he really enjoyed being sung Happy Birthday to and eating cake, of course.




Later that weekend we had his party. I’ve taken him to a weekly Gymboree class for over a year now. He loves that place from the fun music to the dancing, singing, slides, and room to run around as much as he wants. He and his friends seemed to have such a great time, although I think everyone (kids and parents) was pretty wiped out when it was all over.















It was a long weekend, but a special one. How is it possible in just two short years to love someone so much?

And in case you haven’t seen enough pictures of my child :) , check out the super sweet video here that Wade put together.
Posted by Kelly at 12/20/2008 11:36:00 PM 2 comments
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