man on the loose

Josh's brother, Hunter, just turned 16 ladies. Eat your hearts out. Fathers, lock up your daughters.

Not Dead...

We are alive. We've been having so much fun in California I have forgotten to post! Of course. But don't worry I have a MILLION pictures ready to post.

This weekend was full of parties. Two of them were for my future sister-in-law, Emily. She's adorable, of course! She's marrying this boy. Nope, not Benson, the other one.

All the McLane girls

Aunt Jamie hanging with Ben at Emily's 2nd bridal shower.

More pictures to come!

of course

Of course I would be traveling on the 5 freeway when this happened. I was in traffic for 2 hours. lovely.


http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_14478233?source=most_emailed

too hot

While we were waiting for the spa to heat up we played for a bit. So cute :)

PS-

Couldn't stand the cold anymore, so I jumped ship and landed in California. What luck!!!

Running out of steam?

Lately I feel like I'm not putting very much effort into this blog. I haven't posted pictures in a long while and I haven't had anything super exciting to post. Part of the issue involves the fact that both of our computers have ZERO space to upload any new pictures. Therefore, I have kind-of stopped taking pictures. I know, I know, I'm horrible. I need to be much better. The other issue is the fact that I only have our big camera. Our point-and-shoot camera is out of commission due to the fact we can't find the power charger. Oops. It's just such an effort to lug our big camera around just to take a few pictures of the silly things we do each day. Don't get me wrong, we do some fun things, but just not so exciting that I feel the need to document them with a million pictures. I feel like every time I take out our Canon to get a picture, it's a huge ordeal and I end up losing precious time I could be spending playing with Benson.

So, it is normal to run out of steam when it comes to taking pictures? I guess.

Free is good

Free pancakes at IHOP tomorrow. Enjoy!

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/02/20/free-pancakes-at-ihop-feb-23/?icid=main|main|dl6|link5|http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/02/20/free-pancakes-at-ihop-feb-23/

13 months

Well, our baby is 13 months today. Though he's still allowed to be our "baby", right? I'm not ready to call him a toddler. He's still my little guy!

Anywho, he's 23 pounds now. This kid knows how to pound his whole milk! He L.O.V.E.S it! He also loves his cheese and bread. True mother's son :) He loves to feed himself with a spoon and he's actually all right at it. He's been doing it off and on for a while now, but he's really starting to enjoy it and get the majority of the food in his mouth--for a little while and then he's back to trying to fling the food :)

He's getting taller, but I haven't measured him in a bit so I'll have to do that and get back to you.

He's still learning to walk. He'll hold on to one adult hand and walk around, but he just doesn't want to make the leap to walking alone, which is totally fine with us.

Words:

Mom

Dadda

Mama (grandma)

Hot (he's getting better at blowing on food when it's hot)

Ahem (amen)

Hi (his FAVORITE word!!!)

Hello (only when he talks on the phone)

Bye-bye

Ball (he's getting better at adding the L sound to the end)

Ba (bottle)

Bu (Book)

Help (it sounds like "elp" or "hel" haha)

Signs:

Hi

Eat

More

All done

Please

Thank you

Bye

Help (he's learning this one)

Other actions:

Waves to everyone

Hold up one finger if you ask how old he is

Knows where is head and nose are (he'll point when you ask)

He points to a light if you ask where a light is

Plays patty cake--loves to toss his hands in the air

Claps for himself all of the time.

Blows kisses

Plays ET (he'll touch his finger to yours when you say "ET phone home")

He growls when he sees a picture of a Tiger

He is all boy. He's always on the move. Looks to explore. He's loud. He's fast. He gets into anything and everything. He loves to jump off things. He loves to climb up stairs, slides, walls, etc. His new favorite thing is to climb out of the bath during bath time. I don't like it at all :)

We LOVE his little man! He's so prefect!

Moderate?

So, read this news report. with roughly 20 people being injured, including someone BREAKING THEIR LEG, a United flight on its way to Japan hit "moderate" turbulence. If that is moderate, I would really HATE to know what heavy turbulence is!

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/about-20-hurt-as-united-plane-hits-turbulence/19366590?icid=main|main|dl1|link4|http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/about-20-hurt-as-united-plane-hits-turbulence/19366590

Dear Netflix,

I am addicted to your "instant" movies. I watch a movie a day. Josh thinks it's becoming a bit ridiculous, but I love it! Thank you.

Dear Jeep,

Please just keep running nicely for a few more years. You've supported us this long. You still look great! Thanks for holding up!

Dear Steven Papageorge Salon,

I love love love my hair. It's so much fun. Thank you!

Dear Sun,

You've warmed me so nicely the last few days. With it being in the 40s out here , it almost feels like Spring. Your warmth is ALWAYS welcome. Thank you!

....Sometimes you just need to say thank you....

February Birthdays/Anniversaries

Oops!!! Seriously! I totally forgot! Here we go!

Happy belated birthday to our friend, Parker! He turned 26 earlier this month.

Happy belated birthday to my friend, Kirsten! Have a great year!

Happy belated birthday to, Stevie, my cousin! Hope it was a great one!

Happy 10th Anniversary (today!) to my brother, Andru, and his wife, Marilee! We hope it is a great one!

Happy 16th birthday to, Hunter, Josh's youngest brother (on the 23rd)! We hope it's a great year for you!

She bangs! She bangs!

If anyone makes fun of me for taking a picture of myself then I'll never talk to you again :)! I am not a fan of "self" portraits--literally--but no one was home to take it and so it is what it is....I wanted everyone to see that I did go through with it! I have bangs for the first time!

8 is great

Benson has 2 molars coming in at the same time. They popped through yesterday! This brings his teeth total to 8!

Give it up.

Well, it's Ash Wednesday, and although I'm not Catholic, I'm giving something up for 40 days too. Two years ago I gave up People.com and it was the best decision I'v made in a long time! I have only recently started going on again (when the whole Tiger Woods scandal broke), but two weeks ago I gave it up again because I just don't care enough about the celebrity world anymore to waste my time!

Last year I gave up fast food. I actually kept that up until late last summer.

SO, this year???? Hmmm.... what do I give up? There are a couple of options. Lately I've been spending tons of time on www.aol.com to check the news. It's using up a lot of valuable time. I could give that up but then I'd be totally out of the loop for at least 40 days. Plus, the whole idea behind me doing this is to hopefully stick with it and give up entirely the thing I am giving up for these 40 days.

SO, I'm going to 1. continue to stay away from people.com 2. not eat fast food--I'm going to try this again! 3....I'm going to ADD 1 chapter to my scripture reading a day which will mean I read at least 2 chapters everyday.

It's about making permanent changes, so I'm going to add instead of take away this year.

Mitt, way to take one for the team!

http://www.aolnews.com/2010/02/16/plane-passenger-took-a-swing-at-romney/19359883/?icid=main|main|dl1|link4|http%253A%252F%252Fwww.sphere.com%252F2010%252F02%252F16%252Fplane-passenger-took-a-swing-at-romney%252F19359883%252F

Oh and is everyone keeping track???

http://aolhosted.stats.com/wolympics/medals.asp

Fun website

If you're a parent looking for some fun ideas/crafts to do with your kids...here's a fun website!

http://www.plaidkidscrafts.com

Sappiness below--beware!

I'm going all out of my Valentine shout-out to Josh. You don't have to read this post if you don't want to!

Josh-

Happy Valentine's Day! I love you so much! You are my everything. I truly would be lost without you. Thank you for being the best husband. You truly inspire me! I am a better person because I am married to you. You bring out the best in me and I hope I can do the same for you (although you do a pretty good job of that for yourself). You put up with me, and I am grateful for that. You love me unconditionally and I am even more in love with you for that. Thank you for being my Valentine for 6 years now. It' s crazy to think we've been together that long, but I've loved every moment of it and I look forward to every second we will share.

I love you sweetie.

-Kiera

Benson-

Just so you know, I'm your Valentine until you get married! And you're mine and Daddy's! We love you and are LOVING every moment with you. We just stare at you sometimes and say to each other "he is just so cute!" or "he is just so perfect"--it's so true! You are an amazing little boy and we can see and feel your sweet Spirit and we are so grateful for you. Happy Valentine's day little man. We love you.

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

I've got a fever... And the only prescription is more Olympics!

So, I've always liked the Olympics but I haven't LOVED them like my friend, Erica! She LOVES them! Well, for some reason, I caught the Olympics bug this year and I was addicted watching them tonight!!! Maybe it was the tragedy of the Luge rider

Nodar Kumaritashvili's death

yesterday that drew me in, or maybe it was just the thrill of Hannah Kearney winning the Gold in Women's Moguls, or Apolo Ohno winning his 6th Olympic medal! Whatever it was, I'm now hooked!

Learn Chinese?

Idiot moment # 34596.

We were out to dinner with a group of lawyers and spouses tonight. We ate at a yummy Chinese restaurant in Naperville. (I normally don't like Chinese food so for me to say it was yummy is REALLY saying something!)

Anywho, at the end they gave out the fortune cookies--which let's face it, is the best part of the meal! I tore open my cookie in total anticipation of reading some fantastic fortune saying that I would have eternal happiness and riches galore...Then I read "Learn Chinese: lollipop".

Out loud to the table: "What kind of fortune is this!? Why on earth would my fortune say 'learn Chinese'??!!"

****hey idiot Kiera! Turn the paper over! Your fortune is on the other side! "Learn Chinese is the random thing they type on the back of all fortune cookies so you can learn a Chinese word.****

Good thing everyone laughed and I could laugh at myself.

Who knows maybe that is my fortune.

New Favorite Show?

Undercover Boss.

CBS.

Thank you for this show. I love it!

Encore performance of the series premier this Friday. Check your local listings for time. Watch this show. It's a great idea! I just hope they don't get too sappy.

I give this recommendation with a caveat. The next show is going to be the CEO of Hooters. I don't know what is going to happen, so watch with caution. But like I said earlier, the concept is fantastic!

I loved this guy!

So, I don't know if anyone is a fan of the Discovery Show Deadliest Catch, but I CERTAINLY was when we had cable!!!! I don't know why, but I just really liked the show! Well, one of my favorite Captains died the other day! He suffered a stroke. He had had health problems for a long time (he smoked and drank WAY TOO MUCH), but he was a genuinely good guy. Sad day.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/02/10/discovery-channel-deadliest-catch-captain-dies/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+foxnews%252Fentertainment+%2528Text+-+Entertainment%2529

I'm sorry, where do I live?

So, apparently there was an earthquake here this morning. Neither Josh nor I felt it (we were fast asleep), but a lot of people DID feel it! The epicenter was 45 miles away from us but only about 20 miles from my parents. No injuries were reported, which is a good thing! I felt like I was living in California this morning when I listened to the news reports about the earthquake! haha!

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/earthquake-strikes-outside-of-chicago/19351977?icid=main|main|dl1|link5|http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/earthquake-strikes-outside-of-chicago/19351977

Family Birthday presents

Thanks family for the great gifts!

Baby belts

Friends of ours from our college days started a cute company! They make baby belts! How cute is that?!!? Here's a link to the blog that tells you all about it. Also, she's doing a Valentine's Day giveaway. Check it out!

http://www.onelittlebelt.com/

1 year old pictures

These are a couple weeks old, but they deserve a post anyways :)

i'm a big kid now :)

Welcome to Chicago

I could go two ways with this post. I could take the serious/sad/scared route or I could take the funny/sarcastic/oh well route. I could entitle this post "Where can I turn for peace?"--note the serious tone or "Welcome to Chicago"--note the sarcasm....

As you can see from the title I've decided to take the "oh well" route.

Here are the facts:

Josh and I left on Friday to go to my parent's house overnight.

We left at 4 pm Friday afternoon.

We returned home Saturday night around 10 pm.

I took Benson straight up to bed when we returned home.

I went down to the kitchen to put some of our groceries away.

I turned around and saw that our 2nd floor balcony door was open and the handle had been broken.

I checked the sliding glass door (in the dining room) that leads out to the same balcony and it was open.

Looked down at the yard below and noticed skid marks in the snow (from someone jumping off our balcony).

Someone had broken into our home.

Crap. Kiera's piece of mind went straight out the open balcony door.

We called the police. They came and filed a report. They checked the whole house to make sure no one was still inside. They said that while they could not recall the last time our neighborhood had any break ins, they said that we were more vulnerable because of the size of the homes and the idea that valuable things would be inside.

Well, our poor "burglars" got a sad surprise when they broke into our house. There was nothing valuable to take. In fact, they were so unimpressed by our "valuables" they chose to take nothing. From what we can tell, they didn't even bother to rustle any papers. Nothing was out of place.

So, while that was a relief, being me, I immediately began to wonder how and why. How did they get up to the 2nd story balcony and why on earth wouldn't you save yourself the trouble of climbing to the 2nd story when there are numerous doors and windows on the 1st floor??? Why our house? How did they know we weren't home? OR if they didn't know we weren't home WHY break into a home with people still inside? Why didn't they take anything?

So many questions. But what do you do? I'm not going to say I'm not unnerved by the situation. It sucks not feeling safe in our own home and not knowing why this happened. However, there is nothing I can do about what has already happened, so I have to move on. It happened. Luckily we weren't home and nothing was taken, but it still happened and it still sucks.

But oh well. Can't change the past.

I can, however, plunk down $45 a month for a little "store bought" piece of mind...The alarm company is coming tomorrow to set up our alarm system. I've always wanted an alarm system for this home and now I get one. Aren't I lucky...note the sarcasm.

PS-we went to our neighbor's house tonight and asked explained the situation and asked if she had noticed anything. She said that she knew we were gone on Friday and that was why she thought it was weird she saw our KITCHEN LIGHT ON A 1 am that night. She thought we had a timer on.

Nope, Mari, no timer, just some idiot breaking into our house.

Such is life.

Feed me Daddy

Does this happen when anyone else's Daddy feeds them??

Ignore the fake phone...This kid gets soooo messy when Daddy feeds him, but they have so much fun it's worth it!

DISNEY WORLD!!!

These are only a few weeks late! Be prepared for the most pictures ever posted on a blog...You don't have to look at them all... but I needed to post them for memory sake.

Day 1:

Benson was sooooo excited to 1. be off the plane and 2. be on the Disney Express Bus that took us to DISNEY WORLD!!!

Day 2: Disney Hollywood Studios Park.

Mads posing for the camera.

Benson was having so much fun. Can't you tell :)

The troops--Avery was hiding behind the blanket.

Honey I Shrunk the Kid Playground. Benson wasn't too impressed, but the girls had a blast.

This is basically what Benson did the whole time we were in the play area. For some reason he didn't like the texture of the ground and so he couldn't crawl around like he wanted.

Avery having fun!

View from our room at the Boardwalk Villas.

Hanging out in our room

Day 3: Magic Kingdom Park...and a crane....

The only picture of me from the whole trip...haha!

It's Mickey!

Benson was so excited to be at Disney World!

Madi eating her ice cream.

It really is a small world.....

Random Parade....

It's Mickey again!

All of the best Disney characters.....

Random pictures of our adventures...

Back at the hotel playing around...This is what he did when I asked him to smile. haha!

Day 3 Night: Walkin' the Boardwalk

Boat to the Epcot Center

Epcot at night....

This is the happiest place on earth, Mom!

Day 4: heading home!

When we got home Josh got his gifts :)

What a fun adventure! Thanks again Sarah and Mary Hoagland!