Kaufman Family Christmas 2007 eNewsletter

As some of you may know, we usually send out a family newsletter with our Christmas cards. Unfortunately this year, I not only ran out of time, but realized that I could save a few trees by just doing it this way. So, for those of you that have been wondering how our year went, this is for you!

2007 has been a great year for our family. In January, we finally moved from the 1 bedroom apartment we were in into a 2 bedroom apartment. This move was long overdue, and very much needed. And it was probably the easiest move we've ever made, considering all we did was go from one building to one just across the way. Later, the kids and I spent all of April, and then July and August in Tacoma, WA, having lots of fun with friends and family, which included a Walton Family Reunion in Alberta, and a visit to Dean and Stephanie's home in Montana. After arriving back in Fresno, we were able to find a really nice rental house in Biola, CA, which is just a few miles west of NW Fresno. With this move came a new ward, and we are so grateful for all the awesome people we've met so far! Next we got to have Gramma Sylvia Gibbs stay with us for Thanksgiving, and then Grampa Wes Kaufman came to visit for Christmas! We are so glad that we finally have the space to have family come and stay with us.

Steve has continued to work at his two jobs this year, but again has found some time to spend indulging his interests. One fun outing we enjoyed was a trip to Pismo Beach for the Father's Day Classic Car Show.



He also got hang out with his "car buddies" quite a bit over the summer while the kids and I were in Washington. They even made it to the Lowrider Nationals in Bakersfield, which was quite interesting, he says. But out of all that has happened, the one thing he loved the most was moving into our current home, which finally gave him garages that he could use to work on car improvements, of which he's done lots already. One fun thing he's done to his car so far was to install air ride suspension, which allows him adjust the ride height with the flip of a switch. He's also enjoyed getting involved in the local Lowrider scene and getting to know more about that aspect of car culture, of which he's only ever read about in magazines.


I, Andrea, have continued to teach Brooklyn through our home-based charter school here in California. I started the year as the 3rd counselor in the Sierra Ward Relief Society, and so spent lots of time getting to know the wonderful women in that ward. I'm currently trying to get to know all the children as the 1st counselor in the Kerman Ward Primary. I loved being able to spend lots of time in Washington where I got to take advantage of all the free babysitting I wanted! :) I even got lots of scrapbooking done, which is always a good thing! I'm loving all the space in our new home, and even enjoyed finally being able to decorate for the holidays. I also recently became a huge fan of the library, and have being devouring unread books at an alarming rate. And the best thing about that is, I didn't even have to find room for more bookshelves. :)

Brooklyn has done an amazing job at learning all the things she's been taught this past year in school. Although, she's been a tad obsessed with the Ancient Egyptians ever since our first history lesson about them, and checks out as many books from the library as she can find. She even chose to dress up as Cleopatra for Halloween, and asked Santa for an Egyptian nightgown and an Egyptian CD ROM for Christmas. She's excited to learn about new things in the coming year, and is looking forward to starting piano lessons, now that we have a keyboard to practice on. She is also excited for her 8th birthday in September, because then she'll be able to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She continues to be a great example for Noah, and is always mothering him, and explaining how things are. She even lets him help her play her computer games, and it makes us so proud to see the beautiful, caring young lady she's becoming. We love her so much, and are so grateful for her strong spirit in our family.

Noah has continued to grow in size and energy this year. :) He's learned to do so many things for himself that he won't even let mommy help him anymore. Except for that all-important potty training thing. :) His daily life is still full of cars, trains, helicopters, and movies. He's constantly racing through the house, and of course, he's always the winner. :) He likes to "read like Sister", and practice his ABC's and 123's. He also loves being outside where he can ride his trike, and play in the dirt. He's still mommy's cute, cuddly, snuggy-bug, and as he's our last baby, we're not in much of a hurry for him to grow up. And although, he's very much BOY and THREE, his happy, smiley, energetic spirit is just what we love about him most!

Thank you to all those that have sent us Christmas cards and newsletters this year. We love hearing and seeing how each of you and your families are doing, and hope we will at some time hear from the rest of you!

We hope everyone's Christmas and New Year are full of happiness and love!

Love from ~Steve, Andrea, Brooklyn, and Noah Kaufman


Brooklyn - 7 years old - September 2007


Noah - 3 years old - June 2007

All I want for Christmas . . .

It's a good thing I already have my two front teeth so I can finally want something else for Christmas. Unfortunately, what I want this year doesn't come easy. And it's not something Santa can give me. I have to do it myself.

Two words. Potty. Training.

Not me, of course, but my wonderful 3 year old. Yup, I'm going to spend my Christmas vacation (from teaching Brooklyn, that is) teaching Noah when and how to use the potty. I'm actually kind of excited. (Did I really just write that?) I've been thinking about starting it now for quite awhile. In fact, about a month ago we stopped letting Noah have a water sippy in bed, in preparation for, hopefully, staying dry at night. We had lots of fun decorating his new potty seat with Lightning McQueen stickers. And I bought a pack of incentive stickers that have cars, boats, planes, buses, and trains on them, and Noah is ever so excited to put them on his chart whenever he sits on the potty.

So, today was Day 1. All I can say is. . . he sure knows how to "go" whenever he's NOT on the potty! We've got that part down cold! All he needs to do now is the OPPOSITE of that and we'll be set!

So, here's hoping the next few weeks find us both still alive and kicking. Well, except without the kicking part. :)

Oh, and my REAL Christmas post is coming up next.

Summer Lovin'!

Here's the first of my summer catch-up posts.

The kids and I spent almost 2 months in Washington this last summer. The original plan was to just drive up there a few days before our Walton Family Reunion in Canada, which was scheduled for the first weekend of August, but after learning about Kelly's super fun Girls Get-Away Scrapbooking Weekend scheduled for the second weekend in July, my plans changed! There was no way I was going to miss out on that! So bright and early Monday, July 9, we jumped in the van and drove straight north for the next 14 hours.

I can say now that I'm so glad I decided to go up early. It was so much fun! We rented a big house in Issaquah, and as there were about 8 of us going, it made it very affordable. I really tried to take advantage of the time by getting as many pages done as I could. Having had home-schooled Brooklyn the previous year, I hadn't been able to spend any time on this, so it was good to get in the groove again. Unfortunately, because I was so out of practice of thinking about scrapbooking, I didn't take a single picture the whole weekend. So, no scrapbook page about that! :)

The first few weeks in WA we stayed with Dad and Mom Mason. Mom took full advantage of us being there by working with Brooklyn on her math and reading skills for a few hours everyday, much to her delight! (That'd be Mom's delight, not Brooklyn's :) ) The rest of the time we stayed with our wonderful Auntie Kara, and her cutie boys! While there we filled our days with lots of "fun stuff"!

Trips to the beach at Titlow Park.





Bowling at the Narrows Plaza bowling alley.





And visiting our animal friends at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.







And of course, PDZA's new KidZone play area.







And I can't forget our amazing Uncle John! He has a special talent for coming up with the craziest things to entertain the kids. I could list a ton of things he's done in the past that have left us all in stitches, but they were nothing compared to this. . .



Talk about fun!! Wicked, hilarious fun! :) Boy we sure love our Unkie John!

A great, big bag o' Halloween fun!

It has been quite the Halloween season for us this year. We've had more parties to go to this year than we've ever had. And it's been even more fun this year because both kidlets are finally old enough to understand the whole Trick or Treat thing.



Our first party was Friday, the 26th, at Daddy's work. We got to see lots of helicopters, and all the different departments had their offices decorated. Some were so spooky the kids wouldn't even go in, but for the most part it was fun. They also had a costume contest and Brooklyn made it into the final three in her age group. She didn't win, and was very sad about that, but we were just proud that she was willing to be in it. But she really should have won considering she was the only one who was showing any character, as she stood there in her "Egyptian Stance". :)



Our next party was Monday, the 29th, at one of my friend's house. This was an annual party that they put on every year. Unfortunately, just as the party was about to start, a major thunder and lightning rainstorm broke out over us. In minutes the sky had dumped so much rain that their entire ground-level patio was flooded, so we all had to move indoors. The storm also knocked out power to a lot of our part of Fresno, but fortunately, we were spared, so the party could continue.



They had lots of yummy food, and the house was decorated from floor to ceiling. This special guy was standing next to our table, so Brooklyn was excited to have a fellow Eygptian there to hang out with. :)



She even had the chance to show the guests how to "Walk like an Egyptian". :)



Later in the evening Brooklyn came up to me to show me something very important.



She proceeded to tell me that it said, "Hieroglphys by Cleopatra". I must admit, it's a good thing we had someone present who could explain the importance of this amazing, historical find! She was being so cute that I couldn't help but laugh. And snap a picture, of course!

At the close of the evening, all the kids gathered to take turns hitting the Pinata. Brooklyn did a bang-up job by knocking one of the cones off, and spilling a few treats in the process.



And I was especially excited about this party as it was COSTUMES PREFERRED. What could I do but dress up as well. Thanks goodness I still had the "Sally" costume I made 6 years ago. I knew it'd come in handy again, someday. . . :)



And to wrap up our Halloween season, we enjoyed a fun-filled evening at our ward's Trunk Or Treat party. After playing a few carnival games, getting some tattoos, and making some ghostie-friends, we loaded up on candy and called it a night!




,

We've moved. . . again

Alright, I think we're finally settled enough that I can spend a few minutes posting about our cute new home.

After returning home from our (kids and myself) summer visit to Washington, Steve said that he wanted to start looking for a rental house. It didn't take us long to find this one, and after coming out to see the property and do a walk through, we knew we'd found "the one".



It has a detached 2 car garage, with an extra room and full bathroom attached. The yard is huge, and completely fenced in, including across the driveway, which is paved all the way to garages. It's perfect for the kids to ride bikes on, and there's plenty of parking and room to do car washes.



Steve is, of course, more excited about the garage than anything. He's got all his stuff organized in there, and has already started working on his car, which is what he's always wanted to be able to do.

(I don't have a picture of Steve in his natural habitat, yet. :))

Just inside the front door we have a good sized foyer. Plenty of room for all our shoes. :)



Just past that is the first room, that we're using as an office. It has a nice, big walk-in closet that we've turned into the toy room. It'll help keep the kids room cleaner and more functional, since it's a bit on the small side.



The office is just perfectly sized to have all our desks in there. I love that I now have room to do school with Brooklyn, and to scrapbook, all in the same place. And it's fun having her sitting at her desk, playing on her computer or coloring, while I'm working at mine.



Next is the living room, which is nice and big. All we need is more bookshelves and then we'll be set! (Dad, when are you coming to visit??? :))





Next is our ginormous dining room and kitchen, with its plentiful cupboards. It'll be great having enough room to spread out when we invite friends over for dinner and games!





A door off the dining room leads to the second room which is the master bedroom. Not quite as roomy as I'd like, but good enough for now. It does have a nice walk-in closet with lots of built-in shelves, so I can't complain. Too much. :)





Now the door to the kids' room is off of the kitchen. It's the smallest of the three rooms, but it does have a decent built-in closet. Unfortunately, because of the size, and layout of the doors and closet, there's not enough room for both of the kids' beds. So we're hoping Santa brings us a set of bunk beds, so Noah doesn't have to keep sleeping in the rapidly shrinking Pack N' Play. :)



And then there's the bathroom, which sits right between the two bedrooms. It's kind of in a weird place. There's no separate door to the kitchen or anything. You have to walk through either bedroom to get to it. Kind of hard for overnight guests to use the bathroom without waking someone up, but then again, it's good enough for now. Better than an outhouse, right?



And as always, a million bazillion thanks go to my mommy and daddy for helping us with this upgrade!! You're the bestest, and we can't wait for you to visit!

Here's hoping for a move-free 2008!!!

Slight tangent ahead

I know I said I was going to post about my summer vacation next, but then the hubby and I had to go and find a super cute house to rent, and now we have to move in a few days. So, the packing and cleaning and moving stuff is what's keeping me from fulfilling my promise. But rest assured, the summer fun, and moving story are on their way!

Back to the basics

The reason I started this blog was so I could use it as a way to keep track of all the things that happen in my life. I haven't really been doing that, so this is me re-dedicating myself to this goal. So the next few post are going to be about all the fun things the kids and I did while visiting family and friends in Washington over the summer.

And since I'm still learning how to do all this, please excuse the mistakes I'm sure I'll be making.

Let the fun begin!

Isn't that Random

As those who know me will attest, I'm a bit boring when it comes to my favorites in music. When I like a group, I will usually buy as many of their albums as I can, whether I like the music on them or not. For example, I love Depeche Mode, and have bought almost all of their albums, but can honestly say I don't like many of the ones made after Black Celebration. I also love Enya, and own every one of her albums and love each and every one of them.

But the thing is, now that I'm older, I almost never buy new music. Whether from my favorites or not. And I don't listen to the radio or watch MTV, so I'm pretty much clueless about any new good music out there. So when I hear a random song, or someone tells me about a group that they really like, and I actually remember to check them out, I'm always a bit excited when I end up liking them as well.

Now when I was in high school, I somehow came into contact with 311. Normally I avoid rap and hip hop like the plague, but there was just something about some of the songs on 311's self titled album that I just really liked.
Well, last night I listened to this album again, after not hearing it for over 4 years, and I'm loving it all over again. My favorite tracks are Down, Random, All Mixed Up, Purpose, Don't Stay Home, and Sweet. And now I've spent most of the day listening to it.

My reason for bringing this all up is after telling my husband about today's "habit", he told me he also has their 2001 release, From Chaos, and to listen to it as well. Needless to say, I think I like even more than the one above.
My favorite songs on this album are You Wouldn't Believe, From Chaos, I Told Myself, Champagne, Amber, Uncalm, and I'll Be Here Awhile.

So, the lesson I've learned today is don't dismiss entire genres of music because I may just find my new favorite group where I least expected it.

You can hear a pin drop

So, I'm all alone today. My husband took both kids with him to a car show in Turlock, and it's soo quiet here. Like eerily quiet. I even heard our downstairs neighbor sneeze, which is really weird considering they usually can't even hear my kids screaming. I'm not even sure what to do. It's been so long since I've had time like this to myself.

When my husband told me about his plan for today, my first thought was to maybe do some scrapbooking. But its been months since I've been able to do that, and with our recent move, everything I'd need is still packed away in random boxes. It'd take all day just to find and organize everything. So I'll probably just end up playing computer games the whole time, and then later kick myself for not at least trying to get something done. Oh well, maybe I'll be lucky enough to get another day to myself. But hopefully not till after I finally get my scrapbook stuff in order.

So, this is how this feels. . .

Well, it was my birthday yesterday. Yep, I'm --. Just kidding! Yeah, like I want that info spread all over the internet. :)

But, at least it was a good one. Not great, but good enough, considering my last few birthday have been spent throwing-up, and dealing with 3 year old throw-up. Anything is better than that.

So yeah, boring first post, but that's all you get.