Friday, April 15, 2011

a little giveaway...

Hey!!

So, this is another quick entry. I follow THIS blog, it's amazing. Kellie and James lost their tiny angel baby, Maddie a couple months ago and I love reading about how she is coping day-to-day. I can't help but be inspired by her.. she is making the cutest bows and name blocks and is even taking photography classes. She's amazing.

Anyways, today she is doing a give away and to get an entry, you have to comment on her latest entry, but also post a blog entry about it on your own page, so here it is. http://kandjstaats.blogspot.com/2011/04/thanks-and-giveaway.html They were contacted by e-mealz to give a 3 month giveaway for one super lucky person. They also are offered a 10% discount to everyone who signs up, if you use the word : stronger 

I would love to win but even more, I'd love to just get more people to check out their blog. It's so heartbreaking and heartwarming and inspiring... go check it out! :) http://kandjstaats.blogspot.com/2011/04/thanks-and-giveaway.html

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

xoxo
K

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Catching up on Pictures!

No words. Well, few words- lots of pictures! :) I've been failing lately!



yum.



she loved our walk!! side note- that's her favorite toy... we lost it today! *tear*

could do this walk every day! i loved it and the weather could not have been any better!



she almost fell asleep in the swing! lol


Monday, April 11, 2011

sunshine, beach walks, and war wounds.

This past weekend was... perfect. the sun was shining and we got to head out for a walk along the beach in San Clemente. It was amazing-- I even got a little color!! Lexi was sooo good in her jogging stroller for the entire hour we were walking on the path from North Beach down past the pier and back, too. Everything about yesterday was just amazing.... The walk, lunch at Pedro's Taco's, then a walk down Del Mar! I could do that every day.... it was perfect... maybe a little too perfect.

when we got home, I started to make Lexi's new favorite meal- avocado, garlic salt, and chicken. yum (actually, it really is good. Nick even agrees!) I was cutting up the avocado and getting the seed out with the knife and it slipped, cut right through the avocado skin and right into my hand!! I got my first kitchen war wound. I feel like a real cook now. hahaha It looks pretty whimpy from the outside, but it bled like crazy and I definitely got a great view of the inside of my hand. I sliced the skin between my pointer and middle fingers and although it looks pretty small from on top, it's pretty deep. I thought for sure I would need to go to the ER and get stitches, but luckily Nick and I were able to stop the bleeding and get it all splinted up. I'm going to have my two fingers taped together for a few days so it can heal. Everything about that is fine-- except I definitely can't crochet right now.

That makes me sad. I have a goal of 500 hats to donate this year. Missing out on crocheting days makes me fall behind and that's just not fun. I'm going to host a crocheting party in the next month and donate all the hats that are made to Knots of Love. I'm excited about that organization and can't wait to give hats. I love their cause and have seen first hand how happy the recipients of the hats are.

On Saturday, I made my own hat pattern and gave the hat to Laurie when I finished. She loved it. Seeing her wear the hats I make for her makes it ALL worth it. :) I know she's a little embarrassed about losing her hair, so seeing her smile with the hats is awesome. I hope to bring that same smile to the faces of MANY more cancer patients.

On another note, Lexi is into absolutely EVERYTHING lately! She is crawling and pulling herself up on anything and everything... even tried to pull herself up on Klepto kitty!! (poor thing lays up on the tv most of the day now to stay safe from Lexi) haha... I'm SOOOO happy Klepto is back to her happy little self too. She had 12 teeth pulled last week because she has a mouth disease called stomatitis, basically super bad gingivitis. The only known cure for it is to pull the teeth. She was so sad for a while but has perked back up since her little surgery and eating everything in sight... even getting into the bread on the counter (ate through the plastic to get to the bread!)

So life is pretty busy and crazy right now, but I wouldn't have it any other way Lexi is the best little baby ever and continues to be the happiest baby around. I'm so happy and blessed to get to be her Mommy. I couldn't love her more. :) Nick and I are very happy and proud parents! (I think Nick is REALLY beginning to enjoy being a daddy now... he's always liked it but I can definitely see him enjoying it a TON more lately and I love it sooo much!)

I'll get back on here during nap time to post pictures from the weekend, but for now, I just leave you with words. lots of words. sorry!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Hooked on Hope!

So for the last week, I've been a crazy crocheting person. I found my yarn and taught myself how to make hats and even learned a bunch of new stitches. After I made one for Laurie, and seeing how much she LOVED it, I decided that I could do so much more....

Now, Hooked on Hope is born. It's my new little venture. Since I love crocheting so much (it's such a nice little release for me), I'm going to start selling them. I was going to do a little promo until Easter, but I decided it's so much better to do it always. So, for every single hat I sell, I'll be donating one to a cancer patient. Back in January, when I was taking Laurie in for her radiation treatments at Mission Hospital, I saw a little basket that was filled with little home-made goodies... blankets, hats, scarfs, etc. When I saw one of the patients going through and picking out her favorites, I asked her about it. She told me that Locks of Love donates them to radiation treatment facilities. I recently looked into this and contacted the organization. Although it is an amazing organization and I fully support their cause, they are NOT the ones who should be getting credit for these nice homemade donations. So, here I am... wondering which organization should get credit for this. I'm going to keep searching for who does this and if I can't find answers, Hooked on Hope will be going further and becoming a full-fledged non-profit organization. I'm kind of really excited about this idea and LOVE the patterns I've come across, from Inner Hooker. They are the CUTEST and I really can't wait to see where this little venture will go. If you have a chance, please check out my facebook fanpage, http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Hooked-on-Hope-by-Katee/110661299017247. Please become a fan and encourage others to fan my page too. I really want to reach as many people as possible. I really don't want this to be a "Mission Viejo" thing... or even an "Orange County" thing. I want this to reach as MANY people as possible. I really hope that I can bring smiles to cancer patients faces everywhere with this simple little thing. I love Hooked on Hope and I really can't wait to see it reach it's potential.

Hooked on Hope has really been running my life for the last week. Lexi has been crawling EVERYWHERE and getting into everything lately. I can't wait til our little gate arrives tomorrow. It'll be amazing being able to leave Lexi in a room to help Laurie out and know that she won't be eating any more cat food. (YUCK!!!) She is getting so big and I can't believe how fast she is growing up lately. She is adorable and I am the luckiest mommy in the world to have such an amazing baby girl!!!

Well, I'll be posting lots of pictures soon. Lexi is my little hat model. Only thing that would be cuter is if she had a little hair! haha Have a great week, everyone!!

xoxo
K