Aunt Deb

I know this post should be more about the California trip that happened forever ago, but due to recent events I feel that I need to post this first.

This past Thursday, November 12th, we lost my Aunt Deborah (my dad's sister) to ovarian cancer.
It's been a rough and busy few days since, with family and organizing for the memorial service that was held today.

I was in charge of creating the service program and I also put together a picture slideshow to music sung by Deb (she is the best singer I've ever known!)

I thought I would share the slideshow on here:

This is the obituary that her sons wrote for her and had printed in the paper over the weekend:

Deborah LaRue BEAN

This poised, stylish, vivacious mother of 4, vocal performer, seminary teacher, and athlete finally succumbed to ovarian cancer after 57 years of a colorful and passionate life. Like her mother before her, she wasted nothing, spared nothing, and gave all she was and had to those around her. She was a Brunette, Red-Head, and Blonde and enjoyed life as each one. She is remembered by her 4 sons, 6 grand children, and the unnumbered family and friends that love and miss her graciousness, energy, and elegance.

I have such great memories of Aunt Deb and will always cherish them: singing along to songs like Savage Garden and country, getting our nails done, playing tennis in Sun Valley, and shopping! We used to love how she would always joke that my dad had her daughters!

I feel blessed and priveleged to have had her in my life! I am also grateful that Karsen was able to meet her as well, even though he won't ever remember it. At least we have picture proof.

Aunt Deb holding Karsen at the hospital, the day he was born - just over 5 months ago! Doesn't she look amazing?

I love her and will miss her terribly!

Love, Michaela

California - The Surprise Party

October 10th, 2009

We got up Saturday morning and got everything ready for Kitti's surprise party. Some of us went to stores to pick some things up like the cake from Costco, and the rest of us stayed behind to decorate.

The invitations said for everyone to come at 1:00 PM. Kitti wasn't scheduled to be there until around 2:00 PM. The best part is how we got Kitti to come all the way from Vista to Linda's house in Temecula.

Map of Southern California showing how far apart Vista & Temecula are:

Linda had called Kitti earlier in the week and said that Holli (Linda's daughter) was having a party at her house for her in-laws anniversary (side note on that: their anniversary is acutally in June!) and they wanted to order some flowers from Kitti to be delivered around 2PM on Saturday. Little did she know that she was creating flower bouquets for her own party!

The cake table with the flowers that Kitti brought:

Of course since this was the first time Tim's extended family got to see Karsen, he got passed around and around! Good thing he's an easy going baby!

While we waited for Kitti and Herb to arrive to the party, Tim's Aunt Joy was holding Karsen and this is how he fell asleep!

We definitely surprised Kitti once she arrived and came around to the back patio....and I got video of it!

Do you think she was surprised? Haha! Not only was she surprised with a party, she was definitely surprised that me, Tim, Karsen, Renee and Bryan were all there! I think that may have been the biggest surprise!

The party setup:
Since everyone was taking turns holding the baby, that left me free to chat with some of the family there. I'm so glad that they have all welcomed me so lovingly into the family!

Me, Holli and Renee gossiping by the pool:

Kitti opening her presents:

Of course the grandparents got some time to hold Karsen as well and I love these next two pictures!

Karsen making sure Grandpa Herb's beard is real:

Cute! (Thanks Holli for this picture!):

It was a fun party with a great turnout! Thank you to everyone who was there and not spilling the beans to Kitti!! :-)

Up next: Pumpkin Patch

Love, Michaela

California

Get ready for a blog post overload!! I'm REALLY behind and have lots to share!!

First let me start with our recent trip to Southern California for Kitti's (Tim's mom) 60th birthday....a whole month ago! (Yes, I'm THAT far behind in my posts!)

A couple of years ago we went down to California and had a surprise party for Herb's (Tim's dad) 60th birthday so we thought we needed to throw a surprise party for Kitti's 60th as well. (We actually started talking about it back in April!) Luckily Tim's cousin Linda was gracious enough to not only allow us to host the party at her house in Temecula, CA, but to open her home for us to stay there all weekend too! And by us I mean Tim, Karsen & Myself and Bryan & Renee! Thank you Linda!!!

The party was set for Saturday, October 10th but we flew down in the evening on Thursday the 8th so that we would have all day on Friday the 9th to shop and setup for the party.

I was a little nervous for the flight down there because it was Karsen's first time on an airplane and I wasn't sure how he would handle the altitude change and the overall experience. But he ended up doing a great job!

We got to the airport in Seattle and got our car parked at a site and got all checked in with our luggage checked without any problems. We had Karsen in his carseat the whole time, since we were going to check the seat at the gate anyway.
When we got to security, we of course had to take him out of his seat to put the seat thru the conveyor belt and carry Karsen thru the metal detector.
As soon as Tim pulled Karsen out of his seat, he discovered that Karsen had pooped so much that it was all over his sleeper and even on the pads in his car seat! I had to carefully carry Karsen thru security so that I didn't get any of it on myself since I didn't have a change of clothes with me.

As soon as we gathered all of our stuff on the other side of security, we headed straight for a bathroom to change Karsen. It was a good thing that we had Renee and Bryan with us to help because we had so much to carry and they waited with all of our stuff while we went into a family restroom. Thanks guys!

Thank goodness that was the only hiccup in our trip! Karsen ended up sleeping the entire plane ride and the entire trip from the airport to Linda's house, which took about an hour or so.

Karsen's first time on an airplane!!

He was such a good boy on the plane!

In California! Karsen's first time outside of Washington state!

The next morning we all got up and got ready to go shopping for everything that we needed for the party the next day. I was the last person ready (anyone who knows me really well shouldn't be surprised...haha!) and Karsen and I found everyone sitting out by the pool enjoying the sunny weather while they waited for us.

We took the opportunity to get a picture of Karsen in front of his first palm trees!

Checking out the pool:

While we were out and about in town, we all got hungry and decided to stop to grab some lunch somewhere. We passed this place called Whoo's and both Bryan and Renee said that they had really good fish tacos and wanted to go there for lunch. Neither Tim or I had ever been there (let alone heard of it) before, but it wasn't bad. We both got carne asada burritos. :)

At Wahoo's we were goofing around:
(Picture taken with my BlackBerry)

***

Later that evening, after dinner, we decided to feed Karsen some rice cereal again. We had the SLR camera with us this time and got a few shots of his messy eating.

Trying the lick the cereal off of the spoon:

I love the cereal on the tip of his nose:
Starting to get a little frustrated with this method of eating:
Even though he had such a messy face, he was still cute!

After we got Karsen all cleaned up and dressed for bed, we decided to play some pool. Even Karsen wanted to get in on the action!

Studying the layout to figure out his strategy:

It was getting late and WAY past Karsen's bedtime. Karsen had fallen asleep, but we hadn't finished playing our game yet and I didn't want to put him in bed in the other room since none of us would be in there. So we pulled the top part of the papasan chair out from the family room and used it as a make shift bed for Karsen while we finished playing. It was funny!

He looks so tiny in the papasan!

He is so cute when he sleeps!

It was a full day (and night before) but it was fun! Because there was so much that went on over that weekend, I'm going to divide different events into separate posts.

Stay tuned for more posts! Up next: The Surprise Party.

Love, Michaela

Vote for Karsen!!

Karsen for babyGap Model!
Gap is holding a nationwide contest to find the next faces of babyGap and GapKids, and Karsen is entered into the contest.

About the Contest:
Gap is excited to announce the launch of its annual Casting Call in partnership with Disney Family.com - a site that provides inspiration and ideas for parents on a variety of topics important to today's families. Gap invites parents nationwide to enter babies (ages four and under) and kids (ages five to 10) into the Casting Call for a chance to be featured in the store windows of babyGap and GapKids in February 2010. Additionally, the winners will receive a VIP experience for four at Disney's THE LION KING in either New York or Las Vegas.
This year, we're also introducing the Fan Favorite, which gives your little stars a chance to win a seven-day/six-night family vacation to either Turks & Caicos or Jamaica from Beaches Resorts - The Luxury Included® Family Vacation.

How it Works:
Entries will be accepted from September 22 - October 22, 2009. Once the entry period closes, a panel of judges will narrow down all of the entries received to 20 finalists (five baby boys, five baby girls, five boys, and five girls). Those finalists will star in a professional Gap photo shoot the week of November 16, 2009. On December 7, 2009, the finalists will be announced on www.gap.com/castingcall and will be voted on by the public until December 21, 2009. The four children who receive the most votes (one from each of the categories) will be announced as the winners on February 1, 2010.

What Can You Do?
Go to the site (http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/beangyrl9/250257529/) and vote for Karsen every day between now and November 17th, 2009. The first time you go to vote, you will be asked to create an account. Don't worry, they won't sell your information. After you create your account for the first time, you can search for Karsen by entering his contestant ID number (250257529) or my member name (beangyrl9).

THANK YOU!!!

Love, Michaela