Recently in Family Category

Please forgive the previous theme gone.  I was getting hammered with comment spam and 1and1.com didn't have an ImageMagick perl solution for me so I ditched SCode and went with reCaptcha (http://joshcarter.com/software/recaptcha).  Looks and feels better anyways.

Now the whole system doesn't feel as hodge-podge with generic comment response forms.

I'll try and get the old theme and a new one up soon.  In the meantime, here is a direct link to the photo gallery: http://caseys.kcfilms.com/gallery2.

Be sure to check them out. Finally, Shawn helped me get them on there. I hope it won't be this long be fore I can get more.

Hope you are all doing well and enjoying your holidays. It's finally starting to cool down here. We had a fire going over Thanksgiving. It was nice and relaxing. Love you all! -K

Well, after weeks of wiggling, it finally came off.  She rocked it back and forth herself and pulled it out yesterday.  Here are a couple pictures of the new toothless princess.  I'll be sure to get the computer setup so Karen can upload some much needed albums.

Busy with birthdays the last couple of weeks. Rachel turned 5 on the 23rd and Shawn 34 on the 1st. Nana, Papaw Ron and Woo came in for Rachel's birthday and Grammy and Papaw Bob came in to celebrate Shawn's with us. We had a great time with all of the family. Shawn whipped up on my Dad in a round of golf and stomped his Dad in miniature golf.

Rachel had a nice birthday party with 16 of her friends from church and school. She had a "Pizza Party". The kids had fun and ate and ate. She loved all of her gifts. Thank you to those of you who sent her a gift. She is working on her thank you cards. She had about twenty to write and we are half way through them. We did the ones from school and church first and the ones that have to be mailed, we are still working on. So you'll get yours in the mailed, hopefully soon. She is loving school and has a great teacher, She goes three days a week and has made some new friends.

Jax is in school one day a week and loves it. He puts his backpack on and carries his lunchbox around the house and says "bye-bye cool, mama". He is starting to talk more, it hard to understand some of it, so we will be working on that. He still loves ball of any kind. He and Daddy are watching a lot of football. Rachel has gymnastics on Monday nights, so he and Daddy has football night.

We are starting to get involved with things at church. We have had the college group over the last two months for fun and games. They'll be over next month to work on fall baskets for the shut-ins and an ultimate frisbee game against the 20's class. We are starting to finds some friends here. Shawn is playing softball and raquetball or tennis each week. I have a few things that I do as well. It's getting there!

I need to go get Rachel at school. It was great talking to you yesterday Machelle. Thank you for calling me Steffanie! And thank you Lindsay for the Johnny's, that should last me for the next 5 years!

Be sure to check the photo album for updates!

Love "y'all",
K

I finally learned how to upload pictures onto the website.  Shawn keeps changing things around on me and I have to relearn almost every time I want to add pictures.  I you want prints of any of them, send me an email with the album name and the picture numbers.  I'll send them to your local Wal-Mart for you to pick up!

Things are going well here. Shawn is finally at a slowing point at work.  We saw him more last week than we have in the 7 months we've lived here.    It was very weird having him around.  I left him and the kids here on Saturday and got my hair cut and stayed out all day shopping for things for the house.  It was nice to finally have a day for myself.  I had my final eye surgery on the 28th of June, so I glad that's over with. I can see! (most of the time) The left eye's great but the right eye comes and goes.  I was the bad eye to begin with!

The kids are going stir crazy in the house! It has rained every day, so the ground is too went to play on. We go to the mall sometimes to play there, but it is so crowded because everyone else has the same idea. We went to Six Flags on Sunday. We still haven't made it through the whole park. We bought season passes, so we are taking it a little bit at a time. I think I need to find a chiropractor after riding the wooden roller coaster! That was the roughest riding roller coaster I have ever been on! I thought I'd broken a rib. Rachel was a very brave girl and rode a big roller coaster that you go upside down twice. She was scared to death, but she made it. She says she won't do it again, but I have a feeling she'll want to when we go back!  We all got to ride that Rapids ride.  Jax and I got the brunt of all the water.  We were soaked to the core and of course, I wore thin, light colored pants.  So everybody got to see my lovely green panties.  Needless to say, I was not a happy mommy.

Jax had his 2 year visit this morning at the doctor. 34.4 lbs and 38 inches tall. He's in the 95% for those two things, but in the 40% for head size. He's got a small noggin like his mom. Hey, I turned out ok. Rachel has a loose tooth, but I won't let her touch it. I think she's too young to be losing teeth, especially the top ones. I don't know if she hit it on something or what, but I don't want her messing with it.

The house is finally coming together.   I need a few more things and I think I'll be content with it for a while.  Why is it so hard to pick out lamps?  You'd think that would be an easy task, but it's not for me.  Still need little wall decor items, but I'm sure I find those here and there when I'm out and about.

We are still waiting for visitors!  If you want to come, come on.  Just give me at least 5 hours notice!

Gonna go for now!  Love you all!

We have had a busy month.  The kids and I went to Arkansas for two weeks. We celebrated Jax's 2nd birthday on Memorial Day since we were there with all of the family.  It was a Blue's Clue's Party!  I made the mistake of giving him his handy dandy notebook right before he was to open his presents.  Sooo, he didn't want to open anything, he was busy drawing clue's in his book.

I'll put some pictures up as soon as I get some from Aunt Laura or Nana.  Also, we went to a family reunion at Giant City State Park in Illinois.  It was a nice place to visit.  Saw some family that I haven't seen in several years.    Anyway, it was a good trip.  Glad to be home though. 

Friday was Jax's actual birthday, so we got up and got around and went out for an early lunch.  Shawn went in later to work since he had to work late the night before.  (Which is really getting old now.)  We had lunch at Olive Garden.  Before we left, Jax opened his presents, blew his candles out on his cake that Rachel made him.  A Blue's Clue's paw print. 

Saturday wasn't so fun.  Both kids were throwing up all day and running fever.  They both wanted to be held all day, so we sat in the recliner and watch tv most of the day.  Of course, Shawn was at work.  Needless to say, I was worn out by the time he got home.  I still can't get the smell out puke out of my head.  I was queasy all day Sunday just thinking about it.

All's well now though.  Rachel's rash is gone, so we are going out and about tomorrow.  It's been raining/storming for the past few days so we haven't been able to get outside and run around.  My final eye surgery is scheduled for the 28th, so keep your fingers crossed this does the job.  i'm sooo ready for this to be over with. PRK, if you've had it done, write me or call me and tell me about it.  They doctor said it's more painful than Lasik. 

Should go for now, it's taken me 4 hours to write this.  I keep getting interrupted.  Hope you all are well.  Love ya.  Come see us!!

This is what I left.  So true, so funny...  There was even a corporate software app that would chime the Intel Bong at specific intervals during the day to remind you to get up and stretch.  Even the CEO has a cube.  I saw it, I saw Andy Grove's too.  At least their buildings could withstand earthquakes like the one we had in Washington.  If the wind blows too hard in my current office building, I'm afraid the whole place could crack apart.

Conan is so funny, and that's totally me with the pens.  I'd go around different areas and snag the best pens and pencils from other groups.  It all comes from the same place, right?

Update: YouTube took the Conan video down. So sorry, it was so funny.

I have successfully been implanted!  The first implant surgery took place March 29th and the second 4 weeks later on April 26th.  After the first surgery,  I still had to wear glasses, which Shawn made fun of me because I had one giant eye and one small eye.  But after the second surgery, I haven't had to wear glasses.  I need them to see the small details of things, but It a wonderful not having to have glasses or contacts. Because of the estigmatism, I will be having the PRK surgery sometime in July.  After that, I'm free and clear of it all!  Our parents have been wonderful.  Mine came in for a week for the first surgery and Shawn's came in for the second.  I don't know what I would have done with out them.

Shawn's plate is still full with work.  He had to work on Saturday and didn't get home till after midnight.  Hopefully, in about six weeks, this schedule will be over and we can spend nore time together.  I know he's enjoying every minute of it.   Every now and again I hear him say, "I'm a game developer!" 

The kids are doing great.  Rachel has 2 weeks of school left before summer break.  She and I have a Mother's Day Tea tomorrow in her classroom.  Jax is getting so big.  He's trying really hard to get the words and sounds to come out right, but they just aren't yet.  It's funny watching him, especially when he's trying to say M & M's.

Some friends, from Washington, were in town a few weeks ago visiting family while he was on his R & R from Iraq.  Bryan and Candice Herken and their two adorable kiddos came over for a few hours.  It was the first time for us to see baby Lara.  She was born the day we left Washington.  I'm hoping to be able to come out to Washington sometime in August.  From what I 've gathered, I will have disappointed people if I come without my kids, so I'm thinking about bringing them.  I was really wanting  a mommy vacation, but I understand.  If I'm going to visit friends, I should bring the kids.  I guess I can plan a mommy vacation to a beach or somewhere and have my friends meet me there,  Anyone up for it?

Well, Shawn just came in and scared the crud out of me.  I wasn't expecting him till later.  I walked out of Jax's room and he was standing in the dark and asked where Rachel was.  Doesn't sound scary, but it was!  Good thing the kids were still awake, I screamed so loud that the neighbors probably heard it.  Of course, Shawn laughed!  Anyway, more to come later.  I'll post some pictures as soon as Shawn has a minute to get them off the camera.  I don't like messing with his stuff you know!

A little bit of everything is going on! Easter has already come and gone. It's hard to believe that we've been here for 5 months. Shawn is still working long hours. The game is already getting a lot of buzz so that's a good thing. All you guys better go and buy it when it comes out so these long hours are well worth it. Stuntman: Ignition from THQ.

We still have not found a church yet. Several reasons; Shawn's work, can't find one close by that we feel we would fit in with and the ongoing saga of my eyes. For those of you that don't know, I was scheduled to have Lasik surgery on my eyes February 6th. Onthe 5th I went in for an exam and they detrmined that they could not do Lasik because my corneas were too thin and my estigmatism was too bad. So of course I was devastated. And I had six weeks of company coming to help me out after surgery. I had an appointment with another doctor a couple of days later and found that I only had one option if I wanted out of glasses or contacts, implants. So on the 29th of March I went through the first Verisyse Introcular Implant surgery. It actual wasn't as bad as I once thought. I had to go under IV sedation and they made a little incision in the top of my cornea and slid a tiny "contact" lens in. I have two little stitches in my eye that will come out on the 26th of April, when I go in for the left eye. It's amazing how well I can see out of the right eye, which has caused havoc with the glasses. In three months I will have to go back and they will do the PRK laser surgery to correct the rest of the astigmatism that the implants could not correct. Just so you know, I am the only patient, so far, that will have to have the additional PRK surgery. That's how bad my eyes are. I knew I was blind, but not that blind!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY TIMOTHY YORK! Sorry we couldn't be there to celebrate with you. We love you little guy!

It seems like we have had company every other week since we've been here. My Mom and Dad have been here twice, Shawn's Mom and Dad have been here and will be back on the 25th. Shawn's sister Laura and her family we're her for week for Spring Break. It's been nice having them all here. We're ready for you Washington folk to come down!

We went to Six Flags while Laura was here and we ran into Lindsay Brinkley first thing inside the park. How crazy is that! She and her friends drove up for Spring Break! She said that her family is doing well in Houston.

Well that seems to be all that's going on here Rachel has 4 more weeks of preschool before summer break. The kids and I will be heading to Arkansas Memorial Day weekend. Talk to you more soon!