One step at a time...or two!

Last night KayLynn stood up in her play pin (where she has been sleeping in our room enjoying the airconditioner) and walked to the edge (holding on to nothing) and held her hands up to be held. Max and I were holding our breaths while watching her! This is the first time that she hasn't had to be tricked into walking! So just wait I am sure in a few minutes, I will be telling you all that she is running.

Sorry for the lack of pictures...I will upload some soon.

A family who saves together...

Everyone is frustrated with our economy and everywhere you go, you see tips on how to save. Also bloggers are giving examples of their Family Frugality, so I thought I would jump on board. SO here are some of the things that we do to make ends meet.

1. We do not have cable (or any tv for that matter).
2. We do not have a home-phone.
3. We have the cheapest possible (lowest minutes possible) phone plan for a family with Tmobile.
4. Yard Sale - we are selling old stuff before we buy new stuff!
5. We shop less at Costco than we used to, and that is saving us money since we were spending more than we needed because it was cheaper!
6. We sell our clothes to “Once upon a child” and use that money to get things that we need for KayLynn.
7. Hand-me-downs!!
8. We save up loads of laundry and don't do half loads anymore. We also do the lower water wash, which has saved us a substantial amount on our water bill - oh and we stopped showering! :) Just kidding.
9. We only turn our window air-conditioner on in the evening.
10. And the hardest is that we have 1 vehicle. I am not recommending this to everyone, but for those who say its impossible for their family – it’s never impossible, its just a lot harder. We have two full-time jobs and three different babysitters and we do it!! Let me tell you it is hard and sometimes we don’t get to go everywhere and do everything, but it saves us gas, insurance and repairs – not to mention we spend more time together since we drive each other everywhere!

**And may I just mention, my husband does all of the money stuff in our home. He is completely in control. I get what I need when I need it and he always makes sure I have the money, as well as savings and paying our house off. I just recently came to the realization of how lucky I am that I never have to worry about it. I am so thankful to him, and greatful that he takes such good care of KayLynn and I.

H-O-T…hot

I have never been more greatful for any one thing in my life. I told Max yesterday that he was runner-up for the love of my life. And yes, first place goes to my air conditioner!! I took yesterday off to spend some time with Max and KayLynn, and halfway through the day I was thinking of work and their air conditioning and wondering if I had made the correct choice! But we had fun, we went swimming with the munchkin, and that always makes her sleep well, which is nice because she is in our bedroom until it cools off. For those of you wondering, that doea not mean our bed. She is sleeping in her portable crib in our room. We will probably go swimming again today when I get off work!

Question???

OK, if this drink has no carbs, no calories, no preservative, no sodium, no caffiene, no protein, no fat, no sugars... What does it have?

Two steps...

Just wanted to let you all know, she took two-unassisted-steps! It's exciting now, but I can't help thinking of all the times in the rest of her life that I will be telling her to sit down!!

When did you first realize you were an adult?

I first realized that I am an adult when I had a daughter. Up to that time I thought that I was too young to be an adult. Getting married just opened up a new and exciting world in which I was excited to figure everything out, but not really an adult yet. The minute that I looked at my daughter in the hospital, held her tiny hands and kissed her little face, I became an adult. The realization that I was in charge of another human being, who had grown inside of me, grew me. So now, for better or worse, I am an adult.

When did you realize that you were finally an adult?

Updates

For KayLynn's First birthday we went to the Lavendar Festival in Sequim. We enjoyed our time and all got sunburns.
The fields were absolutely amazing.
What famous chapel ceiling does this remind you of?


Saturday July 18th Max had the competition - the first event was the tire flip, Max had to flip a tire that was 775lbs!!
He did a great job, and I was so proud of him. These weighed 263ibs.

KayLynn had two birthday parties. The first was with my mom and grandmother and it was princess theme.



Her Second was with everyone. We had a good time, although dinner was a little later than originally expected!


Her favorite toy? The bag that Aunty Nancy's gift came in!

I cannot believe that KayLynn is one year. She is getting so big and changing in so many ways. I love watching her little personality develope. She loves to chat with anyone who will listen, "Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi" you get the picture. She is just so cheerful and such a happy girl. I feel so blessed that the Lord gave me this little one to watch over.

Max and I also did get an evening to celebrate our anniversary. It has been two years. I love Max more now than the day we were married and I love getting to know him more each day. It is so funny how fulfilled I can be just making his lunch and picking up the house before he gets home in the evening. He is so patient, and loving towards me. Sometimes I look at the kind of things I make him deal with and I wonder why he picked me.
I mean who could not love this man, he is the sexiest man on earth.

My bucket list...

I think there is everything right with having a list of dreams for your life. I love lists. Everyday I make lists and there is something so triumphant about crossing things off. So, I have decided to create my bucket list. 100 things that I want to do before I die. Here are my first 26, what would your bucket list look like?


1) Be the best wife I can possibly be
2) Be the best mother I can possibly be
3) Teach my child (children someday) to Love the Lord
4) Work to become a stay at home mom
5) Go to a wine tasting with Max
6) Visit Times Square
7) Own a hot tub
8) Finish remodeling/redecorating our home
9) Move into our “dream home”
10) Work from home taking photos of babies
11) Get my first paying photography job
12) Participate in a jury
13) Have dinner at The Herbfarm
14) Take a hot air balloon ride
15) Go on a zip line
16) See the Eiffel tower
17) Take a family vacation once a year
18) Go away with Max once a year without any sidekicks
19) Travel
20) Visit Hawaii since everyone else has!
21) Have another child (or two)
22) Exercise 3 times a week
23) Hold Max’s hand more
24) Make one night a week devoted strictly to family
25) Take dancing lessons with Max
26) Finish my bachelor’s degree

I really will give an update on our lives (anniversary, birthday) soon, I promise Brenda!

More KayLynn Pics

Well, today we got KayLynn pics and boy is she cute! It was so hard to decide which to chose, but I could only chose one! If you would like to see them go to http://smilestore.picturepeople.com and use ID mrslefebvre@hotmail.com and access code b20fda5f46.

My two favorites were
and but I ended up getting a different one, because I really wanted one with the big alphabet block "1" in it for her first birthday!!

Family Reunion

I have never worked so hard in my entire life. I have also never held my daughter so much - I think she is about 100 pounds now!!

This weekend was a success and I think that most of my family had fun. For those of you interested in seeing about 5 gazillion pictures, feel free to watch this smilebox, mostly I just posted it for easy access for my family!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Washington's Strongest Apple

If you are interested in seeing a strongman competition, come on out. Max will be competing in the next Washington's Strongest Apple competition. The first time I went, I was surprised how much fun it is to watch. It will be held in Des Moines (22307 Dock Avenue, Des Moines) at 10am on July 18th, 2009. Usually you need to bring a blanket because its grass seating. This year the event happens during Des Moines’ 50th Birthday Celebration in conjunction with a car show & the Farmer’s Market opening so it should be a fun day.

Welcome to my family

I have been planning a family reunion for many months. This weekend there will be about 75 people in town eating, talking, playing and laughing. It is amazing how much work goes in to planning something like this. I am very excited because many of these people have never met KayLynn. In fact, my grandmother came in this last week and I was able to get a picture of KayLynn and her great-grandmother! So, I probably won't be on again till they are all gone and then I will bombard you with pictures. Tata!

The rest of The Fourth pictures

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Happy Fourth!

I think it is every kid's dream (and maybe some adults) to eat a doughnut bigger than them... KayLynn sure enjoyed it!!

Thank You Aunt Diana ...

...for the new summer dress

Having fun in the sun

Amazing Technology

I just realised that my pictures upload to an album online that I can print/download. When I found this album - purely be accident, there were pictures in it from long before I was married. And, actually, some of them turned out pretty good!

OK this is not the best photo, but sometimes after I take Max to work on Sundays after church KayLynn and I go to the mall and play on the toys.
We took "daddy" out to lunch at the taco truck - 2 tacos for $1. KayLynn drove.
KayLynn and Tristan playing the nursery.
The last time that Max and I had a date - we went to the barley wine festival in Tacoma and then walked around. We had a really good time, bu the doesn't look too happy in this photo though!