White House Egg Roll 2008

President and Mrs. Bush, opening ceremony
The Egg Roll
The Washington Nationals Presidential men
Volunteers dressed in period costumes

representing some of our past presidents.

This past Friday (set up), then the Monday (the event) after Easter I volunteered for the White House Egg Roll. Wow what an incredible opportunity. I had so much fun!

I was able to be at this event because the national faux finishers assoc I belong to was asked to volunteer. So I jumped at the chance.

The set up was Friday, Sat, and Sun. Friday I helped in the VIP tent, making Easter baskets, which were provided by Longerberger. (150 baskets!)

Then Monday I stood guard at the volunteer tent. There was so much excitement happening all around.

The White House Egg Roll is an event that has been organized by the first ladies since 1878. It includes events and music, readings of childrens books and food. And of course the Egg Roll, which is a race where kids roll eggs with spoons across the South Lawn .

There were games, music stages, childrens celebrities, dressed up characters, story book readings (by the first lady and daughter), easter egg coloring and egg hunt. Outside of the White House grounds everyone was provided with free food, egg salad sandwiches of course.

It was so much fun, next year I would love to be one of the characters.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to everyone we miss you all so much!

Caelan's 411

I told Caelan he had to wear this snow suit even if it was just 1 time. He couldn't move :)

Caelan is getting oh soooo big! What's he been doing lately you ask? Well he's been eatin good, been thru all the Gerber Organic stage one foods ( and likes them all), now is on to stage two, we've tried some other veggies & fruits: avocado, blueberries, strawberries, banana, mashed carrots, mangos & Gerber sweet potato flavored "Oh's".
He is definately a happy guy. He is always smiling & giggling. He greets us every morning with bright eyes and smiles. (Absolutely the best way to start your day.) Sometimes when he babbles he doesn't repeat a single sound so it sounds like he's all excited to tell you something. He even sounds likes he sings sometimes. He can sit very strong on his own, leans over to reach his toys and can stand if you hold his hands. We definately think a tooth is near in his future, he's very drooly, his gums are white and he is constantly running his tongue over his bottom gums. His hair is growin like crazy, he still has some really long birth hairs that look like a really bad comb-over. We're (Mom & Dad) not ready for a haircut yet.
He still loves his Jumpy Jumper, playing with blocks and his "little guys" and loves books. He is really facinated with his hands, feet and our noses. Shawn is working on trying to teach him to clap, he's doing pretty good. We're also working on Sign Language. He has "Up" mastered. Now we're working on Please, Thank You, More, Eat, & Milk.
He will be 7 Mos on the 27th. (Can you believe it?)

Play time

Caelan got lots of Lovin' Grandma time in.

He asks me everyday, how soon are we going back?

St Patrick's Day

Caelan's first St Patricks Day was spent with the twins.

At Karen's house my mom made corned beef & cabbage and soda bread. Yuuuuuummmmmmm! Meeeeeeee!

Caelan had so much fun, but mom forgot to get a picture of him in his green get-up. Just picture the cutest lil wee one in lots o "Kiss Me I'm Irish" gear and shoes that had shamrocks and jingle bells on them. (So cute!)

My Creative Outlet

Sarah's kitchen before
After, faux tile treatment
Client's kitchen before
After, faux finish and diamond faux tile tx behind stove

My two fun painting projects. It felt great to jump back in, but boy did I miss Caelan while I was painting.

Roadtrip to G'ma Betty's House

Sunday, Caelan & I took a roadtrip to Grandma's in Davenport. He did so well on the drive there (he slept almost the whole way). I told him all about the place where Daddy grew up.

We both had such a great time. So many laughs and great food. We were so excited to see Aunt Katharine, Craig and Robin (Shawn's bro and sis). We look forward to our next visit!

An Adventurous Lil Man

Fun at Aunt Sarah's
Grandma love
Caelan and I really had some fun last week while home. Caelan got to spend a lot of time with his cousins while mom had to get some creativity out. Wednesday and Thursday we were at Sarah's while I helped Sarah paint and do some fun stuff in her kitchen. Friday and Monday Caelan stayed and played at Aunt Karen's with the twins while I painted at a client's house.

Saturday, Caelan attended his first play, "Beauty and the Beast". We went with Moshe and Ty. The play was wonderful and Caelan was awe struck, eyes wide as soon as the curtains went up and the music began. It was fun to watch him, watching the actors. Then, 20 min later he was fast asleep. Later that afternoon, we took Caelan to Portillos for the first time ( a momentous event ) the first of many!

The Easter Bunny came early

The Easter Bunny dropped off one of the most exciting things Caelan has ever seen....his first remote control car. This car is the greatest thing, its made for children, no real steering controls just a button to push and the car drives forward and when it comes to an object it turns around. Caelan is just in awe over this thing! He is so funny to watch.

The couple of days that we've been here, it seems like Caelan has grown socially leaps and bounds. He has so much stimulus with constant cousins lovin and wantin to play, and play with his toys, which he's never had to share before. I think he kinda gets it. He seems to be so verbal now. He sits up really well on his own. He responds to the word "No" (sometimes), and will play peek-a-boo with you. He'll pull a blanket over his head then real quick pull it right off, sometimes he'll make a little giggle before he pulls it off. Its so interesting to watch him when Shawn talks to him on the phone. Caelan will be all fidgety, doing this and that, then I hold the phone to his ear and the second he hears Shawn's voice, he's still and intently listening. I know he misses his daddy.

A visit with Aunt Jeanne and Gretchen

On Tuesday we had a fun visit in Rockford with Aunt Jeanne, cousin Gretchen, Ashley and New cousin Nolan. We ate a yummy lunch and had many a laugh. ( and some of us did some snoozing) But the best was the time Caelan spent playing with Nolan, or I should say staring at Nolan.

Fun play day with the cousins

More prunes please.
Ty
Jaedyn
Sarah and the Wee one
Today was a much more laid back day. We started the day off right with a breakfast of champions, prunes! Sarah, Moshe, Ty and Jaedyn came over to play with Caelan. It was so fun to see Caelan playing and laughing with them. He was one big smile all day!

Off to Grandma & Papa's we go

Bro in law Eric and Tyler
My sister Karen and Emily
Me and the Wee one
Cousin Megan & the Wee one
Ahhh the ride home

Sunday we left for Grandma & Papa's bright and early, or so we thought. Saturday night, both Shawn and I had our cell phone alarms set to go off @ 6:00 in the a.m. Sunday (thinking that w/ the time change, the cell phones will always have the correct time...WRONG) The morning is going along well, plenty of time at the airport, I check us in for our flight at the automated kiosk and it says our flight has already left, thinking this was an error, I tried again. Nope, we were an hour late! So note to self, cell phones do not change time @ midnight. We were able to fly standby the following flight. So all was well, flight was great and Caelan was good. Karen and Megan picked us up from the airport in Chicago, we stopped home to pick up the rest of their family and off to the Irish fest we went. It was held at Gaelic Park. Lots and I mean lots of Irishmen and loud Irish music (and drinking, of course.) It was a great time!

Lookin' for the Wee People

Oh look we found a "Wee Person"!

Shawn tells of a story his mom used to tell him on St. Pat's Day when he was little. She would tell him to be careful where he walked on the way to school, don't step on the Wee People. Shawn said it would take him the longest time to get to school that day because he was tip toeing and hopping over every crack and blade of grass so he wouldn't squish anyone.