Twitterwhatted?!?!

Nothing too exciting to report other than I felt like the last post didn't cover enough of the whole family. It's just we're so boring!

Brent is doing well. For those of you who don't know, he retires from the Army National Guard in June. 22 years of service to the National Guard. Just thinking about that kind of commitment is making my hands sweat! Anyway, I'm so proud of him I could bust a button! Lifetime commissary privileges, here we come!!!

Kaitlyn continues to awe and amaze her parents. She's so tall! And so cute! And so smart! I know that parents say the same thing about their kids, but really, she is super smart. Next hurdle to tackle will be potty training. I *think* she gets it, but mostly she just likes to sit on her potty and hang out. 'Tino usually joins us so she winds up talking to him and trying to get his attention. For his part, he guards the door from intruders (because, of course, potty time is sacred) and ignores her. But it's a ritual and we all enjoy it! She's heavily into Curious George (have you watched it lately? Seriously, the adults around him have lost their minds! "George, you mind the store while I go get more supplies." A monkey??? minding a store??? I give up), jewelry, purses and her mommy and daddy. She's got her favorite boys (Josh and Jeremy) and her favorite girls (Emma and Anna Joe (though the feeling isn't mutual on AJ's part)), her favorite fish (Nemo) and her favorite monster (Elmo). She loves it when the dogs play around her and loves to play with the kittens at adoption days. If you have done something she doesn't approve of, she'll wag her finger, shake her head and jabber at you until she feels like you've gotten it. She's the apple of her daddy's eye and the center of her momma's universe and that's the way she likes it!

The pets are the pets. Tempers flare, teeth get bared, feelings get hurt and then we move on. Mostly Brent and I look at each other and say "Do you know what that was all about??" "I don't know (said in a resigned tone)" "Yeah, well, it's over, so I guess we're good". "Yup, guess so." Sunshine's had a rough go of it lately, so there may be a trip to the internist in our future. Gotta love canine diabetus.

I continue to pound the pavement in search of a job that makes lots of money with very little work on my part. Haha! Not entirely true. Some significant nibbles recently, so we'll see what the universe brings my way. This weekend I'm going to have a mini vacay (in the form of a wholesale abandonment of the Shoup House) visiting Terri in Knoxvegas, TN. Looking forward to seeing her new house and seeing TN in the spring. Almost as much as I'm looking forward to a trip to L'il Dollys. Need a quilt? Hit me up!

Next weekend, as I mentioned in my previous post, I will be doing the Avon 2 day walk. Thanks so much for all the donations. I really can't express just how much I appreciate the love and support. In preparation for the walk, I have my stuff all packed! HA! Just kidding. Those of you who know me well were probably shocked to your core! In true Kelly Anne Hughes Shoup fashion, I still have a lot of things to get settled before the event. HOWEVER, I took care of a major component which is the communication portion. I signed up for Twitter (hence the title). I'm www.twitter.com/tnkgurl Czech it out if you tweet yo!

That's all for now folks! See you when I get back from the bible belt!

Criminal!

Growing up, I had an Uncle Sonny whose nickname for me was "Criminal." When visiting my mother's parents, we had a penny ante game we played called Michigan Rummy. When all was said and done and it was time to close out the game, whatever money was left went to the person with the best poker hand (I am certain that this is what started my poker playing). The max you were looking at was $5, if that, but that's a lot of pennies! I wouldn't say I regularly won, but I won enough that Uncle Sonny gave me the "Criminal" moniker. It's kind of a family legend to be honest and a title I wear proudly, as odd as that may sound.

Fast forward to the present. Kaitlyn and I had a long weekend filled with a lot of activities last weekend. From soccer games, to shopping, to visiting with friends, we were joined at the hip (yup, you guessed it, Brent had military duty). Kaitlyn weathered most of the whirlwind weekend very very well, especially considering on at least one of the days, she had no nap. During our outings, we stopped by my friend Heather's house. Heather has two girls which equals a lot of fun toys for Kaitlyn. I told Kaitlyn it was time to go and got distracted. I turned back to see why Kaitlyn wasn't leaving with me only to see her furiously stuffing the money she found amongst the toys in her pocket!!! Heather saw it too and said it was fine. We got home and counted the booty and Kaitlyn had appropriated 80 cents!!! She later gave her daddy 30 cents, which I grumbled about. I was the one that drove her to and from the heist! I should have been the one to get the cut, not daddy!! Now I've got my own little "criminal".

I'm less than two weeks away from the Avon 2 day! Lots of preparation and training left to do. I haven't made the time to do a long distance walk, so we'll see what kind of shape I'm in after the walk!! Wish me luck cuz lord knows, I'm gonna need it!

Poker, puppies and picking up eggs

We had a fabulous weekend in the Shoup House (I use that a lot cuz it rhymes). Saturday was kicked off with a community Easter egg hunt. The community separates the egg hunt in two age categories: 3 and under and 4-8. I am glad because it takes a lot of the pressure off of the kids to compete. Our initial strategy was to have Kaitlyn and mommy conduct the search while the paparazzi (daddy) took pictures. At the last minute, the Todder in Chief decided she wanted daddy to help with the search. Mommy was relegated to taking pictures. I gave daddy the strategy I overheard while waiting in line: Go straight for the middle cuz you'll get more eggs. You can't see it in the picture above, but the strategy netted at least 20 eggs. Toddler in Chief's general attitude was one of puzzlement: why would anybody randomly drop a bunch of eggs on the lawn and why in the WORLD does she have to pick them up?? Once we left the hunt and started checking out what was in the eggs, it suddenly made sense...there was CANDY in the eggs! I think next year, we'll have a couple of dry runs so she understands the importance of candy gathering. Momma needs her sugar fix! ;-)

To show respect for this blessed weekend (Christ was resurrected after all), I hosted a ladies poker night! To be honest, I didn't really relate the weekend to the event, other that it was one of a few Saturday nights I had free! A good time was had by all and the winner took home $70! Not bad for a first time event. Maybe it will grow in popularity and the prizes will get even bigger!

We had visitors in the form of puppies all weekend. It was a great diversion during breaks on Saturday night, but overall, I'm relieved that they are back in their regularly scheduled foster home. Somehow, it's more daunting to take care of neonate puppies than actual human infants. More mouths to feed? I dunno. I just don't have a knack for puppies. However, in 8 and a half weeks, there will be four ADORABLE puppies available for adoption! Spread the word!

Sunday was a nice quiet day. Toddler in Chief discovered the Easter basket the Easter bunny left her and opened the eggs the Easter bunny forgot to hide. (better luck next year, Easter bunny). Kaitlyn and daddy planted a tomato plant of her very own and generally had a lazy day. Mommy and Kaitlyn went for a 6 mile walk (two hours Kaitlyn tolerated in the stroller very well) and came home to a wonderful ham dinner. All in all a lovely Easter weekend with wonderful weather and a beautiful family! Hope everyone's Easter weekend was just as lovely!

Bbbbaaaaaaaaad....Bad to the bone

What can I say? My daughter is bad to the bone! And too cool for her parents!

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Chasing after a toddler, prepping for the Avon Two day, saving neonate puppies...is there anything this mom can't do?? Oh yeah, sleep! Who needs sleep??

This weekend is Easter. We plan on doing our first REAL Easter egg hunt with other kids. We'll see how well daddy handles that. Generally speaking, when there's kids and chaos, daddy's not very happy. Plus, we're losing our number two bodyguard as Chris is going down to Virginia Beach to visit mom and dad for Easter. We'll just have to provide a ton of pictures!

As for the neonate puppies, I'm sure you're wondering if I broke my Lenten promise to not take in any new animals. To that I say, technically, no. LOL I've been babysitting them off and on since last week, but we've secured fosters for the remaining 4, so I think we're out of the woods both for fosters and for the health of the puppies. Not sure why someone would dump a box of two day old puppies at the shelter, but I'm glad Sharon Huber picked them up. I know a few people who couldn't imagine their life without these pups. :)

Happy Easter every one! Remember, if I don't answer your phone call, it's cuz I'm in a chocolate coma!!!

Lofty Goals

Recently, I decided to take on a very daunting challenge and turn it into a goal. I am going to participate in the Avon 2 Day walk to support breast cancer research. I have to raise a certain amount of funds to be able to participate and I have to be able to walk almost 40 miles. I get 2 days to walk 40 miles, but still, I have turned a corner. For many years I have looked at my husband as some sort of genetic mutant (sorry honey) for wanting to run marathons and ultramarathons and ultra ultra marathons. And here I am, attempting to walk a marathon one day and a half marathon the next day. The voice of caution must have been on vacation the day I signed up for it. But it's for a good cause and I hope the readers of this blog support me.

What I didn't take into consideration was the fact that you have to train to be able to go out and walk 26 miles one day and 13 miles the next. My idea of training and regimen is to get fired up and exercise for two days, have a setback on the third and bag the whole thing on the fourth day, consoling myself with the very same confection (cake, ice cream, Tagalongs, etc) that had me making the resolution in the first place!!! However, this time is different. This time, people have shown, and continue to show, that they believe in me. The outpouring of support has been amazing. Friends and family have contributed monetarily and with strong showings of moral support so I have taken this training seriously.

The fact that I am taking this training seriously has affected my interpersonal relationships, I gotta be honest. I look for suckers, er, I mean partners, to train with me. Failing that, I bring Kaitlyn along in her stroller. People refuse to look me in the eye as I pass them in the hallway on my way to my lunchtime walks so they won't be roped in too! Friends have stopped returning phone calls just to avoid my cajoling! However, this past weekend, I was able to find two suckers, er, I mean wonderful friends, to participate in a 5k with me. I walked a VERY brisk 5k with my friends Jennie, Megan and the ever patient Kaitlyn. We had a phenomenal finish time (nearly linking arms like sweaty Bobsey Twins....er, Triplets I guess), supported a really great cause and left the race patting ourselves on the back for our outstanding race! Kaitlyn, not being used to getting up at 6 am was less than enthused. Jennie was able to capture it in the picture you see at the beginning of the post.

I know this is only the beginning of many many 5ks to come and I can't help feeling that I've stumbled onto something great. Don't expect me to run any time soon (or ever), my friends! I may have set a lofty goal, but I haven't lost my mind just yet!

Where do babies go?

I remember when Kaitlyn was an infant, wondering when she'd reach certain milestones. I never found the brand spankin' new baby part to be very difficult at all. I mean, I love sleep as much as the next guy (probably more) but I always made time for what was important. Cleaning the house could get done when Brent came home and it was his turn with the baby. Spending time snuggling on the sofa, or gazing into each other's eyes, that's what I remember most. But I always wondered "When will she smile? When will her teeth come in? Am I doing it right?" Now I know that I shouldn't have been worried about that part at all. All that is a piece of cake. It's when they find that little glimmer of independence...watch out, world, here she comes!

Here's just an example. This is a dialog between Kaitlyn and her daddy:
D: "Kaitlyn, can I have that please?"
K: "Go 'way!"
D: "Kaitlyn, give it to me please. It's dangerous..."
K: "Go 'WAY!"
Minor scuffle ensues. Daddy winds up with the hotly contested item.
D: "Kaitlyn, go see mommy please"
(As an impartial observer, I have started to pay attention as I'm mildly curious to see where this is going to go)
K: "I NOT!"
Kaitlyn stomps into a room in a completely opposite direction. Daddy dissolves into giggles and I heave a sigh, knowing that we have been given a brief glimpse of the teenage years.

Later, Kaitlyn decided to put some muscle into "I NOT!" Picture a child, no bigger than a leprechaun with blonde, flyaway curls swirling madly about her head. She's got big blue eyes, a cute nose and pearly white miniature teeth. She can give you the sweetest smile, an impish grin or the steely stare of her father when she's not happy with you. This time, she fixes you with steady gaze, bends at the knees and back, bends her arms at the elbow and shouts "I NOT!" flinging her arms towards the floor. She wants you to know she means business. This wasn't done for any reason in particular, just to show that she could. This time, I am the responsible party as I kept encouraging it in order to record it for posterity (I failed, miserably).

My friend Tish always said my first child was going to be a girl. She said she was looking forward to me having a sassy, girlie girl who was going to keep my on my toes. At the time, I thought that was the meanest thing anybody has ever said to me! I play poker and race cars! What could I possibly teach a girlie girl? It's clear that Tish's prophecy came true, but I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. My time with bebe child is the highlight of my day and even when I'm at the bottom of the well with my patience, all she has to do is turn and smile at me and all is right with my world. I guess kids are just like that. You wanna squeeze 'em with all the love you've got in you one minute and the next minute, you're wondering how much longer until you can implement time out!

So I guess I'm wondering where did my baby girl go and where did this little girl come from?? A little SASSY girl at that. They really do grow up so fast. Who knew we'd grow up with her?

Kaitlyn-isms

Oh the joys of motherhood. The past two weekends, Kaitlyn and I have had quality mommy-daughter time. As in prime time, all the time. No daddy interference whatsoever. And I have come to realize one very important thing: I am not cut out for full time mommyhood. Maybe I could do it if I didn't have a choice, but I have a choice and my choice is not full time mommyhood. I love my daughter dearly, but dear LORD is she a bundle of energy. In the time it takes me to crawl from my bed to the bathroom, she has rearranged her entire bedroom. As I spend time getting ready for the day (including propping my eyelids open with toothpicks as they REFUSE to stay open on their own), half of her room has now made its way into the bathroom. I am not sure how it is possible that I gave birth to this little dynamo of energy, but I heartily appreciate the fact that I get to drop her off somewhere and let Miss Lida try to harness the tornado that is Kaitlyn.

Some of my fave Kaitlyn antics from the past couple of weeks:
- It is most efficient to dry off during your shower as opposed to after the shower. One morning, while I was lathering my scalp, Kaitlyn opens the door and says "Here, mommy." I crack the corner of my eye open to see her thrusting the towel in the shower. I thanked her for her assistance, took the towel and put it back on the side of the tub. Such a helpful little girl.
- "HEY! Don't DO that!" Kaitlyn has picked this up from one of the little girls at day care. She uses it any time she's irritated with something I've done. Which, when you've got a two year old going on 12, is pretty often. Sometimes, I have only mildly irritated her, in which case I get a "Hey...don't..." 100 times a day. Not tedious at all.
- Two. The following is a conversation I had with Kaitlyn>
"Mama, I want mumblemumblemumble"
"Kaitlyn, do you want a cookie? (that was what I had on hand at the time)"
"Yeah!"
"Okay, but you can only have one."
"Two."
"Kaitlyn, you want two?"
"Yeah, two"
What could I do? My child is a genius! I gave her two.
- Another conversation with Kaitlyn (if you can call it that):
Me: "Kaitlyn, I love you"
Kaitlyn: "Mwah"
I love that little girl! Of course mwah means I love you too!

In other family news:
Brent completed his marathon and was not the last one to finish! It was a tough course he said, but he had a good time and got to get away for a weekend. Thankfully, since the weather was about the same as it was in DC, I wasn't envious at all. I mean, who wants to spend 6 and a half hours running anyway? Not this girl!

My dad wound up having a double bypass surgery last week. He's doing well and is due to be released from the hospital today. Don't quote me on it, but I have a feeling the first thing he goes for is a big, fat, juicy steak. Mmmmmm red meat.