First Bike Ride

Tonight we went on our first bike ride as a family! I'm so excited to own bikes, we just need to find a helmet that fits over Anthony's dreads! It was hard for our first ride. Both Anthony and I were surprised at how difficult it was to bike, especially to pull Kaycee behind. But we're going to keep working at it! 

Marty Birthday Lunch

We met mom at Clearbrook to drop off Marty's birthday cake and cupcakes, then waited around for a while till their meeting was over. We stopped over at church so I could add a blurb to the bulletin and talk to Rob about Camping Club. I'm so excited to get Cardinal Drive Camping Club kicked off this summer!!

While I was inside writing the blurb, Grammy stayed in the car with Kaycee. Kaycee was sleeping and I didn't want to wake her up. Grammy was sleeping when I got back too! Perfect nap time. 

Then we met mom and Marty at Red Apple for Birthday lunch! So happy to celebrate his birthday with him!

Daddy Pictures

Every day she loves to look at these pictures. Today she was drinking her milk and would stop and point and say "Dada".  Sooo cute!

Daddy Pictures

Yesterday I finally finished the collage posters for Kaycee's room. I hung them up near the end of the day, so Kaycee didn't really have time to explore them. However, after our normal morning routine (wake up, Momma comes in, snuggle, drink milk, read book) she noticed the posters. She started at them for a very very long time, then moved closer and closer to them. She finally got very excited and wouldn't stop looking at them. I'm glad she's interested!!

Marty's Birthday Cake

Marty's birthday cake!! Chocolate cake with buttercream filling and icing. Light blue for the sky for the Eagle!! 

Climber

Apparently I need to invest in some sort of climbing apparatus for Kaycee, that is completely squishy with a soft landing surface for the many times she'll fall off of it. I'm thinking that a hard wooden kitchen chair does not fit these standards...

Sad Face

I can't get enough of this sad face. It's so darn cute! 

New Bikes

After this morning's cake disaster and baking a whole new middle tier, Anthony and I unpacked (took out everything possible) the minivan and headed to my parents house, where we repacked it with a lawn mower and bike trailer (for Kaycee) and a bike carrier attached to the trunk. Then we went to the Arlington Heights bike exchange. Boy, was that an experience.  It was set up in a tennis court (that had 4 courts next to each other) with bikes set up in the middle. We arrived 20 minutes after the sale opened and the check out like was all the way around the perimeter. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay and wait in that long line (remember cake disaster).

So we came home bikeless. Anthony then went off to Walmart, several times in fact, to purchase brand new bikes in both our sizes. We're so excited to take our little family on our first family bike ride. (we'll have to wait a few days, seeing as we left some crucial parts to the bike trailer at my parents house...)

Sweet 16 Cake

Unfortunately, I woke up to this, this morning. I would consider this a disaster. So off to Jewel I went for more ingredients for the middle tier. Baked new cakes early this morning and then took a break for a bike adventure, while the cake cooled and set. Then home to torte/fill and decorate. Thankfully, it went smoothly this time! 

Later, Anthony and I went to deliver the cake. My parents picked up Grammy and Kaycee and took them to pick up Marty and go to the restaurant, while Anthony and I delivered the cake. We got to the banquet hall, set up/finished decorating the cake in about 20 min. It looked fantastic when I was totally finished and I believe the client was happy!

Then we went to Red Lobster for Marty's birthday dinner. Dinner took forever, and by the end it was definitely more than Kaycee could handle. But overall, the day went well!!

Reading Books

This is my favorite part of the day. Knowing that I would spend most of the day decorating cakes, I wanted to spend a few extra minutes snuggling with Kaycee in the morning. Thankfully, she snuggled and read books with me for a while this morning. The only complaint I have, is I read the Rainbow Fish book about a million times in a row...

Fun Hat

I may or may not have forgot to turn the heat back on yesterday after I turned it off to open the windows and air out the house. This morning it was about 66 degrees in here. Which, lets just say is about freezing to Kaycee and Grammy. I was cold, but I love it that way (thanks baby Neal). Kaycee decided she needed to wear a hat to keep her head warm. Such a cute hat, thanks Aunt Molly! 

Yummy Giraffe

Apparently, this morning Kaycee wanted some stuffed giraffe instead of breakfast! She's too cute!

Bunco Night/ACES

Tonight, I went to Bunco at Molly's house with the ladies from church. It was a blast! Anthony went to ACES and learned about some gambling magic. My dad came and stayed with Kaycee while mom and I were at Bunco. Dad had so many good things to say about how good Kaycee was while we were gone. I hope it stays this way!

Hidden Remote

For several weeks we have been missing the remote to the T.V. in the family room. We were pretty sure that when Kaycee started to walk, she picked it up and hid it somewhere. We both looked, although admittedly not very hard.  So today, I decided to look a little deeper. I took off all the couch cushions, instead of just feeling behind them and look what I found... I guess that teaches us not to blame Kaycee for things. 

(I thought we would try watching some Sesame Street... that lasted for about 1.5 minutes)

Daddy/Daughter Date

Tonight is Kaycee's first date with Daddy. She got all dressed up and ready to go! They went to Daddy/Daughter date night at Chick Fil A. They got some yummy food, a limo ride and a pretty flower! It looks like they had a great time. When Kaycee's older she's going to really love these Daddy/Daughter dates!!

After their date, they picked me up for a family dessert at Menchies! I love my little family!

Lunch With Aunt Becky

Kaycee and I went and picked up Aunt Becky at the bus station and went out to lunch at Olive Garden. It was fun!! Kaycee did a great job sitting like a big girl and eating her noodles. I however, need to remember that spaghetti noodles are difficult for Kaycee to eat and need to order something different like bow tie or corkscrew noodles! 

Potential Danger

This is a problem...

Jamey's Birthday

After a failed attempt at eating lunch at the Food Truck Extravaganza (the line of cars to get to the Boomers stadium was backed up on Springinsguth road all the way under the highway), we drove up to Carthage to celebrate Jamey's birthday. It started with Jimmy Johns dinner and hanging out in the lobby of the chapel, waiting for the orchestra concert to start. Kaycee played on the floor with Aunt Becky and Emma for a long time! The concert was great and Jamey did a fantastic job! Then we had ice cream sundaes in the Student Union (Jamey's favorite). Happy Birthday Jamey!

Buying Kaycee's Big Girl Car Seat/Double Date

Tonight we dropped Kaycee off with Molly and headed out on our double date with our friend Alaina and a Christian Mingle guy. We ran 1 quick (well actually not really quick, it took quite a while to discuss with the employee) errand. We stopped at Babies R Us to buy Kaycee's big girl seat. We did not necessarily intend to buy it tonight, just to look at talk to the employee. But it was on sale and it was exactly what we decided we wanted. So we did it. It's going to be quite a change.

Then we met Alaina and Vince at the comedy club at Woodfield. Molly called us on the way and explained that Kaycee had a slight temperature, but was acting/eating totally normal. It was bedtime so she offered to just put Kaycee down in the pack n play and let me know if anything got worse. So, we went in to the comedy club early and ordered dinner. It was quite expensive to us, but rather tasty! Vince seemed nice, but he and Alaina didn't seem to click like you would hope on a first date. The comedians were funny (a little distasteful, but funny). Overall, it was really great to hang out with Alaina and we should do that more often!

Lesson Learned

I learned a major Mommy lesson today. Never put Kaycee down to nap with no pants on. She had a diaper on when I laid her down. She spent about 45 minutes talking to herself and generally having a good time. Not sleeping, but not crying either. Then out of the blue she started to cry and scream. I went and peeked in the secret peek hole (the hole where there should be a door handle) and saw a very ugly scene. There was poop everywhere. On Kaycee's face, arms, legs, tummy and in her hair. On the crib sheets, giraffie, crib slats and wall. On the diaper and liner which she was squishing around in her hands. Thankfully Anthony was going to be on his way home shortly. I immediately took her to the bathtub and took her shirt and socks off and ran her under the water. I left the water running because I wanted the poop to wash down the drain and not fill up in the tub, but that caused the hot water to run out quickly. So after letting her play for a few minutes, I realized the water was coming out cold and I needed to wash her with soap still. She was unhappy about her cold bath :( 

Then Anthony got home and I was able to give her over to him, fully washed and warming up in several towels. He took care of the rest, lotion and new clothes/diaper, while I got to clean up the poop. Little did I know that dried poop on the walls and crib slats is very hard to clean up. I really had to put some arm muscle into getting it off the wall. But I did and now it's sparkling clean. (I hope I didn't miss any bits and pieces)