Merry Christmas!

Mother's Day ~ 2010

Five years ago, I became a mother.

Mother. Mommy. Mom. A childhood dream come true.

I fulfilled my biggest goal in life with the birth of my two beautiful children. Motherhood.

{picture taken April 2010}

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I had the best Mother's Day this year. It consisted of two things: Relaxation and Family. Thankfully I did not have a repeat of my Mother's Day last year.

My first surprise was a beautiful floral arrangement on Thursday.

The card read:

Happy Mother's Day!
There is not enough room on this card to list all the wonderful tings you do for us every day. You are an amazing mom. We don't know what we would do without your love, hard work, and patience.
Love, Ryan and Kara

Obviously, my wonderful husband wrote these kind words. I had to laugh when I read "patience" because most days I don't think this word exists in my vocabulary. But somehow we are surviving the terrible tantrum twos and horrible attitude fours. We are learning and growing together.

Mother's Day morning I was awoken by two sweet chefs, donning their adorable Penn State aprons, giggling at my bedside. They were excited to show me the pancakes they worked so hard making with Daddy. I have to say they were delish. Sorry no pics, lazy picture day. After breakfast, I received another surprise. The first rose bloom of 2010 from our garden.

The family is one of nature's masterpieces.

- George Santayana

Halloween ~ 2009

On Halloween-Eve, we started the holiday festivities with a trip to Weaver's Orchard to finally get pumpkins! Sadly, the weather was horrible the past few weekends causing us to squeeze in some pumpkin picking right before Weaver's closed on Friday evening. This year we did not enjoy a fun hayride to the pumpkin patch or the cool activities that the Orchard has for the children on Saturdays. Instead we raced to beat the sun setting for the evening with choosing what we thought were the perfect pumpkins*.
Here's our weekend in pictures...

What on earth are they staring at?

Oh...just a scary goat on the rooftop!

(yes, that is a real goat on top of the barn roof!)

Kara loved helping Daddy choose the perfect pumpkin*. She inspected them all.

Ryan insisted on picking them up. This one appears to be a little on the heavy side...

....and walking around with them. Any guesses on the phrase of the night?

Kara measuring up against the "medium" hay stacks....they win. :)

Look what we found! GO PENN STATE!

I asked Chris if he could just build one of these in our house?

FYI--We still do NOT know where our bee infestation is coming from. Poor Kara has been stung THREE times in the past two weeks. Thank God she is not allergic like her mama!

After paying for our perfectly picked pumpkins*, some yummy apple cider and a box of homemade sticky buns (Chris added them to the cart at the last minute), we headed home for movie night with Ryan. We watched Monsters vs. Aliens. We give it two thumbs up!

*not so perfect...see below.

This Halloween I wanted to carve a pumpkin. Believe it or not, we have not carved a pumpkin since Ryan was born. I think we just thought Ryan was too young to understand or even help...so why bother, right? Well, this year I decided we must carve a pumpkin.

I found the perfect template online...

Isn't it adorable?! (now we really can't wait for our Disney trip in Nov. 2010!)

Ryan was ready to help while sporting this super silly t-shirt that Grandma High sent to him!

Let the carving begin!

Chris had a cheering section...

"Go Daddy!"

"Carve that Pumpkin!"

We were having a great time cheering for Daddy, but then he lifted the freshly carved lid and we found this...

hmmmm. I know it's been a few years since our last experience with pumpkin "guts" but we are pretty positive that they shouldn't be in liquid form!!!!

Chris took the pumpkin over to the kitchen sink and tried to clean the pumpkin out as best he could...but he accidentally created a small hole on the bottom.

Thus causing this to happen...

The cheering stopped and the gagging started. Yuck!

But we weren't going to let a semi-rotted pumpkin stop us!


Do you see Mickey?


Getting closer...


carving the finishing touches...


And may I present...


The High Family 2009 Halloween Pumpkin!


Once the pumpkin was completed, it was time to take pictures of the kids in their costumes.

Kara the Ladybug

Does this costume look familiar?? Yep, it's the same one she wore last year!!! Click here to see our 2008 Halloween pictures.

Ryan the Bee

LOVE BUGS

Once there was a break in the rain (yep, it rained AGAIN...what a rainy October!), I strapped Kara into the stroller and took the kids around the block. They got A LOT of candy for only doing a block.

This year Candi brought over Kianah and Ava (two out of her four girls) to keep us company and Trick-or-Treat. Ava and Kara were born only three weeks apart but as you can see, differ greatly in height and weight. Watch out Ava, Kara is starting to catch up though. :)

The Ladybug with her Flower!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Mother's Day ~ 2009

Just a little reminder why I am able to celebrate this special day....

Mommy and Ryan

(December 2006)

Mommy and Kara (6.14.08)--------------------------------------------

Now for my Mother's Day review. (warning: a long rambling vent below, if you would like to skip the venting and see pictures, keep scrolling down...)

Today did not go as well as I had hoped or how Chris had planned. It started with three little words that came echoing down the hallway into our room early this morning. "What IS this?", my husband asked our son. Then he yelled for me to get up and come help.

What? Wait...where is the traditional greeting of hugs and kisses while I stay in bed on Mother's Day? What could possibly be wrong that my husband, who is supposed to be on duty all day, would need my help?

As I walked into the hallway, Chris came out of Ryan's room with Kara in one arm and a trashcan in the other. His expression said it all. One word- poop. Before I continue my story, I need to say that Ryan has been doing AWESOME with potty training the past few weeks. He gets up in the morning and goes potty right away. He rarely has accidents and finally let's us know when he has to go OR just goes to the bathroom when he feels the need. We are extremely proud of him and I can't tell you how much better I feel now that he using the potty.

I reached Ryan's room to find him standing in the middle of the room fully dressed for the day. At this point, I am confused because I do not see poop on him or around him. Also, how could he have an accident when I specifically remembered leaving his door cracked open before I went to bed last night...as I do every night. Just as I was about to ask him why he didn't go to the potty, a gush of wind came blowing through his room and there was my answer. It was VERY windy last night. I left a few windows opened and his door must have closed shut sometime during the night. When he woke up, he was not able to get the door open. So it wasn't his fault that he had an accident.

He tried his best to clean himself up. I could tell he was embarrassed and fearful that we would get upset with him. He even tried to "hide" a huge stain on the carpet by putting a bucket over it. So while Chris steam cleaned the carpet, I got Kara changed, then ran a bath for Ryan. Little did we know this was only the start of a crazy morning!

While Chris gave Ryan a quick bath, I fed Kara. She was full of spunk this morning and thought blowing razzberries with a mouth full of oatmeal was fun and hilarious. She also thought my skin must have needed an oatmeal bath because I ended up with a good amount on me. While I can smile about it now, I have to say I was a bit annoyed at the time. I mean, wasn't today supposed to be my day to relax? Daddy was in charge but it sure felt like any other day for me!

As Kara was finishing up, the boys came downstairs and Chris started breakfast. I spent some time in "the pit" with the kiddies so he could cook in peace. He threw some sweet rolls into the oven and started making my favorite breakfast...eggs, hashbrowns, turkey bacon and sausage. We chatted about how crazy windy it was outside and joked about living in a wind tunnel again. The sun was shining but it was deceiving because it was very chilly outside. About 20 minutes had past when Chris realized he forgot to set the timer on the sweet rolls! So needless to say, the buns were a little crispy...and the hasbrowns turned out a little on the dark side too. At this point, my husband is starting to get frustrated.

What else could possibly go wrong today? It was 10 am and we still hadn't eaten. Sensing Chris' frustration at wanting to give me the perfect day but failing miserably at it so far, I decide to take the kids upstairs to give him some space. I open the door to our office to find yet another casualty of the crazy wind. All 4 cactus plants had blown over and we now had potting soil ALL OVER the carpet. As I turn to go back downstairs, I stub my toe on the doorway and break the nail on my big toe (now I really have an excuse as to why I need a pedicure!). Ouch. Now it's my turn to start getting frustrated...only I am in full PMS mode. (yes, to top it off- my monthly friend decided to make a visit at 1:30am on Mother's Day...just lovely! Sorry if that's TMI but it only made matters worse!)

I make my way back down to the kitchen with Kara in tow to let Chris know about the mess in the office. Bear in mind that I am in pain and getting crankier by the minute. Chris is also still upset about having to clean up poop, give his son a bath and then burning breakfast so far this morning, so you can only imagine his reaction to the news about his beloved cactus plants.

He let out a deep sigh and told me that we will clean it up later. For now he wanted me to head back upstairs and wait for my breakfast. A few minutes later, he arrived with a tray full of yumminess! So I eventually got the traditional breakfast in bed...we just had a few obstacles to overcome first. Then my hubby and kiddies gave me a beautiful flower that they crafted on paper and some very awesome cards. It seems Chris is starting his own tradition of creating beautiful crafty flowers with the kids for Mother's Day...I love it! See my post and cute flower that Chris and Ryan made from MOTHER'S DAY last year HeRe.

I got to relax a little bit after breakfast, or shall we say brunch! Before we knew it, it was early afternoon and the kids needed to be fed lunch and put down for a nap. But they had other plans and the RK Alliance reared it's ugly side. Both refused to take a nap!

Later in the afternoon, we stopped by my parents. It was nice to see them and my grandparents on both sides of the family and my older sister Tara with her family. Tara gave me a beautiful plant and wind chime- thanks sis! We had a lovely visit and packed up to leave around 6 so Chris could cook up my all time favorite dinner: Pot Roast!

Turns out we should have just stayed at my parents and ate pizza because we arrived home to find that the roast was still hard as a rock! It would have taken forever to cook, so we fed the kids something quick and went grocery shopping. It was bedtime when we arrived home, we gave the kiddies baths and tucked them in for the night. Around 10 pm, I finally made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner. Yes, not exactly gourmet or special...but Chris did promise a Pot Roast rain check for tomorrow's dinner.

I will always remember this Mother's Day....the one that was filled with chaos and frustration... but above all, I will remember that my husband loves me so much that he still tried to make my day special even with all the craziness, that I got to see my Grandma Delp have a good day with her Alzheimer's (first time in a long time and she knew Kara was my daughter. I almost cried as I hugged her), that I got to visit with my cousin Lisa (we don't get to see each other very often), and that my children are happy and healthy. What MOM could ask for more?

Now it's time to pepper the post with cute pictures!

My sweet baby girl...
...and my adorable son!
Our attempt at getting a picture of me with my sweet and adorable children. (please excuse my crazy hair, it was the end of the day and I had it just pinned up...I think it's time for some highlights again!)

The cute cards and beautiful craft flower that Chris and Ryan made. Ryan got to glue and glitter everything. I loved Kara's card (it's the one with the little girl on it below). It said, "Are you going to have a happy Mother's Day...(inside)...or am I going to have to throw a little tantrum?" HAHA! It couldn't have been a more perfect card!

Of course, my husband picked a card that made me cry. He is so sweet and this year he surprised me with printing out words that he felt described me and glued them inside my card. It was so thoughtful and it made my heart smile! (the cook one cracked me up because really he is the cook in our family!)

Finally after like 30 attempts, we got a good shot.


Happy Mother's Day!

Easter Week

Finally our Easter review with LOTS of pictures!

Our Easter weekend was filled with family and travel. We started with a trip down to York for my niece, Madison's Baptism and 1st Communion on Saturday.

Before the service, we had dinner at the Eagles Nest (a beautiful restaurant with a gorgeous panoramic view of York County and excellent food- I recommend the Twin Lemon Chicken) and a lovely visit with my brother-in-law's family. Sadly, we broke our New Year's resolution and were late for dinner...we are getting better though!

Family Dinner before Easter Vigil
(our family is on the left and Zach's family is on the right)

We prepared ourselves for a long service but what we didn't know was that it was going to last 3+ hours! Ryan and Kara did great the first hour but as hour two began, they started to get antsy with sitting still and staying quiet. Thankfully, this church had a cry room and we spent a good portion of that second hour there until it was time for the baptism.

Madison Nicole Woofter Chris stayed with the children while I snuck back into the church and took photos of Madison during her baptism (no flash of course!). I am so proud of my beautiful niece!

By the time Maddie's baptism was over, it was well after 9pm and we still had over an hour drive. So we quietly said our goodbyes and headed home. I was sad that we missed her 1st Communion, but I know she was happy that we were able to stay as long as we did to support her on her special day.

After we got the kiddies to bed, we prepared for Easter morning and another day of travel. Ryan couldn't wait to go to bed because he knew the Easter Bunny would not make a visit until he was fast asleep. Lucky for him, the bunny did stop by and left some goodies for him and Kara!

AND...he left some eggs for Ryan to find the next morning too!

(isn't this microwave adorable?!)

Here's a cute video of Ryan finding the Easter eggs that morning!

This year was extra special because it marked another "Kara's 1st"...

She seemed to really enjoy her gifts...

...but thought the easter grass was quite yummy!

Here's Ryan showing off all the eggs he found and getting ready to check out his gifts too!

His favorite gift was his new TAG book but he thought the easter grass was cool too. Hmmmm....Maybe we should tell the Easter Bunny to leave only "grass" next year!

This picture makes me laugh. Ryan was asking us why the Easter Bunny didn't stay?! He truly was upset that the bunny didn't stick around to have breakfast with him. The things that come out of his precious little mouth these days...Love him!

Kara just being cute and silly...she didn't care that the bunny didn't stick around!

We dressed the kiddies up in their Easter outfits (again!) and headed up North this time to spend the day with Chris' family in Hazleton. It's tradition to celebrate Easter Sunday at Nanie Smith's house each year. Again, we were late but only by a half an hour (big improvement from last year!). After filling our tummies with yummy ham, kabasi, twice baked potatoes, veggies and "the scrambled egg ball" (forget the name!), Ryan got to go on another Egg Hunt!

He is really good at finding eggs!

It should be interesting when we add Kara to the egg hunts next year!

Speaking of Kara...LOOK WHO CAN STAND alone!

Of course, the Easter Bunny also stopped by Grandma's house AND Uncle Paul's house!

Kara thought this adorable "bunny" that Pop-Pop High got her needed a kiss!

Then we tried to get a photo of the two of them in their Easter outfits...

...it's didn't go so well.

Time for another tradition...decorating Easter Eggs! This year Ryan's cousin's, Samantha and Alex joined in the fun and helped Ryan decorate the eggs...

...while Aunt Adrienne spent some time with Cranky Kara. (will this child EVER get over her stranger anxiety?!)

She may have cried a bit for others, but she did think climbing Uncle Mike's back was a lot of fun! But again, he wasn't trying to hold her so I guess that's why we got some smiles and giggles!

I love this picture...such a cutie pie!

Our 2009 Easter Eggs

As we were packing up to leave, I tried to get a photo of the kiddies with Great-Grandma Smith (aka Nanie). I wasn't successful with this group photo either...someone is either looking away OR moving! Oh well...better luck next time.

What better way to end our Easter week, then attending our Community Association Annual Egg Hunt?! Our development hosts an egg hunt each year on the Saturday after Easter. The weather couldn't have been more perfect this year! Usually, it is freezing cold or windy and wet. Last year, Ryan had his winter coat and hat on! This year he got t0 wear short sleeves.

Ryan doing his best Easter Bunny impression! hahah

Here's Kara with the Easter Bunny....I was able to get a picture before she screamed her head off! Sorry Mr. Easter Bunny, it's not you...it's her.

Ryan waiting impatiently for the hunt to start!

Kara's age group was up first. 0-2 years old. I decided to sit her in the grass and surround her with some eggs to see what she would do. Let's just say, it took her a while to warm up to the idea of touching grass, eggs, etc...

Then Ryan's age group started. 3-5 year olds (he moved up this year!). He was so excited to grab as many eggs as he could carry. We were impressed with how he left his bucket in one spot and brought the eggs back to it. Last year, he tried to pick up eggs with the basket in his hand and kept losing eggs in the process.

Then it happened. He cracked one open and saw....CANDY. He was then on a mission to find all the ones filled with candy...

Just a few of my favorite shots from the Egg Hunt...

Until next year...Happy Easter!