Time flies

I have been a slacker and haven't posted anything for you all in such a long time! We had company and then everyone was sick and so much has been going on and now it's almost Christmas! Whew!

Well, where to begin? Thanksgiving was great and not so great at the same time. As always, it's nice to spend time off of work and with the family but I came down with a wicked stomach bug and gave it to Kira, and my parents! I would not have wished that on my worst enemy because I wanted to die but the good news is that I lost 10 pounds since I couldn't eat for two days. I have since gained back most of that weight but I am determined to lose it again.

Whittier elementary held it's annual spelling bee early this month and Kurgan broke the record and became the only one to win all three years that a student can participate at the elementary school level (4th, 5th and 6th grades). The winning word this time was genus. We are very proud of him and can't wait to see how he does at regionals in January.
Kurgan has been very busy with everything but also managed to earn himself a duet with another boy from his orchestra class. They both played The First Noel during the orchestra concert and I got it on video.

Kira is getting very excited about Christmas and her birthday but she just keeps asking me when we can go to the store so she can buy her brother a gift with her own money!?! What an awesome little girl. She continues to be my big helper with Kash and gets out of the car with me every morning to drop off Kash at daycare and open the door for me, carry the diaper bag, etc.

She has been working on writing a song and I've read a few of the lyrics and I think she might have the next big hit on her hands!

I just finished up my first class back after having Kash and I am so surprised that I actually passed it! I got really far behind in the first two weeks and played catch up the entire time and just barely scraped by with a D-. Thankfully that is enough to move on so I am now in an education class and so happy that I don't have any more math. Lee and I got to attend my company Christmas party this past weekend and it was a really neat event. The food was fantastic, the entertainment was...well, entertaining and the company was great because I sat with Lee! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of us together in our spiffy clothes and it really bums me out because I don't have any pictures of us together other than our wedding.

Lee has been having a pretty tough time in classes but he's continuing to work really hard studying so he can do better. It's tough since we don't sleep very well at night and then we have to get up and use our brains all day. Ugh. It makes me tired just thinking about it.

Kash is now 3 months old and he rolled over for me on the 6th of December but no one was around to see it and so they don't believe me. He hasn't rolled over since.

Ch...ch...ch...changes

We have decided to turn a new leaf in the Freedle household. Well, it's not really my doing...it's Lee's fault. He's got to start eating healthier and since we like to have our meals as a family all of us will be eating better! I'm kind of excited about it because I'm not a big fan of fast food joints (except In-N-Out...I'm kind of addicted) but I think I will definitely miss going out to restaurants. I like the idea of not having to cook or clean up after...I think I might have been a princess in another life. So beginning next week we are going to be eating more organic meats, fruits and veggies. Yum!

Geez, so much has happened in the past couple of weeks! My big sis Cynthia came to visit, Halloween, my birthday, I started back at work, and the Presidential election. My birthday was fantastic! My wonderful mother watched all of the kids so that we could go out to enjoy some fantastic sushi (thanks for the recommendation Jill!) with the Millers and the Meltons who we hadn't seen forever.

Kash started daycare on Monday and is already one of the favorites there. He's been really good about hanging out there for about 11 hours a day but I guess he can't really tell me if he's upset by it. He also got his 2 month shots today and it almost broke our hearts. It's so hard to watch your little ones get hurt even if you know the outcome is good for them.
Lee started back at school this week so soon we will be having study nights again! He also informed me that there are a little less than 600 days before he graduates so I have started a countdown to my retirement. It will be so nice to spend some time with my kids before they are all grown up!! Having the last 12 weeks off of work really opened my eyes to how much I miss while I'm at work. I love being able to be involved in their lives by going to the functions at their school and make sure they're doing their homework, etc.
We are also expecting another visitor this week. Nan is coming to visit us all the way from Maryland!! The kids are super excited to see her and hopefully we'll get to spend a lot of time together.

Happy Halloween

This week is brought to you by the letter K, number 7 and Kira! =)

Hi y'all. This Halloween I was a Graveyard Fairy and my brother Kurgan was an Evil Outlaw. We went trick-or-treating in our grandma's neighborhood. Our parents said we could only walk down the block and a teenager came with us. She said she was in charge of us and wanted us to go on a different block and we didn't listen to her but all the other kids did. Then they went to the next house and got scared by a guy that jumped out of a bush with a chainsaw! All the other kids ran in different directions. Rosio had lost all of the kids! One of them came crying home. Our parents were proud of us for not listening to Rosio. We had a LOT of candy. It was the best Halloween ever! The End

ooohs and aahhhs...

Kash is finally starting to smile and be a happy baby! He actually slept for 7 and 1/2 hours straight on the 21st! I woke up feeling so incredibly refreshed (after I ran to the crib to make sure he was okay).














All of the kids have their Halloween costumes ready and we just came up with the perfect family themed costume for next year. It should be pretty great...anyway, Kira is going to be a graveyard fairy this year, Kurgan is going to be an evil skeleton outlaw and Kash is Superman. I think Lee and I might be a cowboy and Indian...it's still up in the air about who will be what. =)
My birthday is next Saturday and then that Monday I return to work! Time flies, eh? I had all these great ideas of things that I wanted to get done while I was off of work but only a handful of those actually got done. I suppose I still have one more week though, don't I? We'll see how much of it actually gets done.
Kira has asked to write the next blog so stay tuned for her post coming soon!

Ock-toe-brrr

Last week was a busy week! Kurgan's 11th birthday was on the 9th and the kids both got out early from school on Wednesday and had both Thursday and Friday off. I took some cupcakes and KitKats to his school for his class to enjoy on Tuesday which was a feat because Kash just happened to be hungry and angry at that time. It was a juggle to get the goodies and him out of the car and make the trek across the parking lot to the office. Man, I had forgotten how heavy those infant carriers can be! Thank goodness that Lee is usually the one carrying Kash whenever we go anywhere.

We surprised Kurgan with our gift and it was pretty tricky of us if I do say so myself...

I had the kids with me because we were running around all day doing things that the birthday boy wanted to do and some errands that I had to get done too. We went to the mall to get Kurgan a replacement Ipod for the one that he accidentally ran through the washer and dryer. He used most of his birthday money to buy it but it was something that he has been talking about getting since it went through the wash several months ago. Lee got off of work and prepared Kurgan's room and then we came into the house and Lee started off by telling Kurgan how he didn't agree with me for allowing Kurgan to get another Ipod and that if he wanted to put music on it he would not be allowed to use our computers and would need to ask his grandma for the use of her computer. We sent the kids to their rooms so we could talk but I ran and grabbed the camera to take this picture of the birthday boy and his new computer! He was so surprised and it made us really happy.

Here is a picture of the kids the morning of picture day at school. I thought they both looked really great. I will mail out pictures to everyone once I get them back from the school. Lee is in the middle of his rotation right now and has a lot of projects that he has to work on. I don't envy him but I have my own homework to do, although mine is much easier! I don't know when it happened, it seems it was overnight but it cooled down and I think it's officially autumn! This is my favorite season and hopefully I will be able to travel up north at some point to see the leaves change.

Speaking of traveling, my best friend Leah is moving from California to Washington for a wonderful job opportunity. I'm very excited for her and I'm also thrilled because that means that I will have an excuse to go to Seattle and see her and the spa where she will be an associate director! Did I hear someone say free spa treatments?!

L-O-V-E

Yes, that's right love is in the air. I feel it. The weather is finally starting to cool off in the evenings which means I will soon be able to snuggle with my wonderful husband! I also found out this week that my dear friend Doran asked his long-time girlfriend to marry him and now they are officially engaged. Yay! Congrats to both of them.

The lovely couple in the picture here are the Cardinals and today is their 2 year anniversary. Don't they look spiffy? I love this picture of them...it's from their wedding day. That's right, they're riding a bicycle built for two. The Freedles wish them a very happy anniversary and hope that they are out celebrating two great years of marriage.

This past week was picture week and since I did not have to rush off to work that morning I was able to spend some time on Kira's hair and make sure that both of the kids looked presentable. We should be getting their pictures back within the next few weeks. Both of the kids are excited about getting their report cards next week. Isn't that great? I love that they are both so smart and that they really love school.

Kash is finally starting to sleep for longer periods and has kind of fallen into a regular sleep schedule. He usually sleeps from about 10:00pm-3:00am and then wakes up again at around 5:30. It's been really awesome because I feel pretty refreshed after getting that much sleep each night! I really hope I didn't just jinx myself...

Firsts

Kash's umbilical cord finally fell out so we were able to give him a bath for the first time! He was hungry and didn't like it very much but he liked when I took the washcloth and ran water over his belly. He's been having some tummy aches in the evenings and it's been tough trying to get him to go to sleep. Lee actually drove around with him the other night to get him to go to sleep and he slept for 6 hours straight! He's growing so fast and I think that his appearance has changed quite a bit over the past two and a half weeks.

Kurgan is getting excited for his birthday that is coming up but he's a little bummed that he can't have friends over to spend the night like he did last year. I guess we will just have to think of something extra fun for him to do. Kira has been having a lot of fun observing me with Kash. I think she's still a bit apprehensive about hurting him but she's been a big help getting me things that I need.

I've needed extra help over the past couple of days because (without going into too many details) my incision is not healing 100% so I am trying to take it easy. One of my best friends came into town from California and her and her mother came over to see Kash and we all went out for lunch. It's always great to get out of the house and visit with friends!

Catch up

Ok, so I'm playing a bit of catch up here. Lee created this blog for me as a way to keep in touch with our families that are far away (and some of you that are close but don't get a chance to visit much). I wanted to send out some pictures of the kids from their first day of school but I don't think I got the chance so here are Kurgan and Kira on their first day! They were really excited about school and when we went school shopping they gave us a little fashion show of their newest outfits. It was a lot of fun watching them strut their stuff for us.
Things are beginning to get a little better here and everyone is adjusting to having Kash around. I have noticed how unorganized I am and it is driving me a bit crazy but I'm slowly getting things in order. We broke out the swing last week and some other miscellaneous things that we had in the garage and I must say that the swing has been a blessing for us because Kash loves it! We already wore out the batteries that were in it and I'm sure I'll be sending Lee to the store for some more soon.




















We also have some more great news about Kurgan! He was in a ping pong tournament at his school this past week and ended up winning the championship! Now there is a teacher that wants to test his skills against Kurgans so they will be battling next week. AND....that's not all! Kurgan decided that he wanted to run for student council this year and chose to run for President. Lee made up some awesome posters for him to hang up at school although one got rejected because those in charge thought that it showed too much skin. I thought it was a super funny idea for a poster and was a bit bummed that he couldn't put it up at school but I don't think most of the kids would get the joke anyway.

On Friday we found out that (drum roll please....) Kurgan was elected as the school's President for the year! We are so proud of him. We even decided that because it was such a great week for the boy that we would let him pick a place for dinner and we all went to Macayos for some delicious Mexican food (even Kash!). So it's been a pretty crazy week full of fun and adventure for the Freedles and we're hoping that next week brings more fun. Lee is officially on vacation for 2 weeks until his next rotation starts so it will be very nice to have him home.

Kash

Here are some pictures of the newest Freedle family member. We were so excited when Kash David Freedle entered the world on Saturday, September 6th at 12:45pm. He weighed 8lbs. 6oz. and was 18 inches long. Both Kash and I were in the hospital until Wednesday and have been hanging out together at home every day since then. Kurgan and Kira are very proud to have another sibling and they help me out whenever they are home and able to. I have been trying to recover from the C-section and some days have been pretty tough but it gets better each day and my wonderful family has been great by doing all the housework!