"Shoe!"

I can't say that Kaiya doesn't come by it honestly, but Kaiya loves shoes. Recently she has taken to bringing me a pair of shoes when we are just hanging around the house, saying "Shoe!" and lifting up her foot for me to help her put it on. She will just walk around the house with her shoes on. Sometimes she likes to wear one and hold the other one.

Well, tonight my parents watched Kaiya while Jamie & I went to dinner and a movie, and when we came back my parents said that she wouldn't go to bed without her shoes on. So dutiful Grandparent that they are they put her brand new tennis shoes on over her footie pajamas. When we came home we found her like this:


Her other shoe is wedged underneath her. Could anybody love a silly girl more?

A Slight Addendum

Okay, perhaps I was a bit rash. Mamma Mia may be my favorite movie, but the A&E version of Pride & Prejudice is still better; can you classify a mini-series as a movie?

I am forever in love with Mr. Darcy...sigh... I miss Jamie.

Anyway, if for some wacky reason, you have never seen P&P, here is a clip from a scene I like. It's a long excerpt, but especially the first 2 minutes are worth watching.

"Diggin' The Dancing Queen...."

I have a new favorite movie. This statement is not used lightly, or the title given flippantly. I love the new movie "Mamma Mia".

In the beginning, there was ABBA. I first became aware of ABBA in 1995, when I saw the movie "Muriel's Wedding" on a rainy 4th of July. That movie had the message I needed to hear, right when I needed to hear it, and it communicated a large portion of the message through ABBA music, and ever since then, I love the band, and the song "Dancing Queen" has been my signature song.

Now I had heard the hype about the musical Mamma Mia, but I never got the opportunity to see it. So imagine my surprise when I was sitting in a theater watching previews, and the trailer for the movie Mamma Mia came on. Now here is Tristen's weekly confessional: I am a crier. I cry at movie trailers, and I always cry at musicals (I have a whole theory about why life should be a musical). So when the MM trailer came on, I was a bawl baby.

SO! Long story even longer...I went to see the movie tonight with Jen, and BAM! I am in love. The cast is AMAZING, (Mrs. Weasley totally steals the show) and of course, how can you forget Colin Firth (aka Mr. Darcy...sigh...). The movie is everything a musical should be, whimsical, a little over the top and just FUN! The three friends, Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, and Julie Walters are perfect and so much fun. I could see my friends & I in them.

SO!!! GO SEE IT & tell me what you think!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just Another Day!

I sure am glad that I have good friends. Jamie took our camera to Philmont with him, so for the last week, I have been dependent on the kindess of others for pictures. On Monday, we went with Jen & the girls to run around town and ended up at Southlake Town Centre. We bribed the girls to behave, with a trip to the fountain & some change to throw in.

Here is Haylee & Kaiya in front of the fountain, they both look a little distressed...I think the bricks were hot on their bums.

We also let them run around at the pavillion, and Jen got these great shots of Kaiya doing her own thing.


I am glad we got photographic evidence of those cute sparkly shoes she is wearing, because Tuesday night they got completely demolished. They are now basically black shoes, from the recycled rubber tire chips that are the cushion at the Central Market playground. Que Cera Cera, that is what kid's shoes are for right? At least she had a good time.

Here's my favorite pic from the trip though...


Don't worry, I am actually there helping Kaiya, I used my burgeoning photoshop skills to cut me out of the picture!! I probably shouldn't have told you that, but I didn't want anyone to call CPS on me.

Musical Mea Culpa

Okay-so like most people, I love music; but since Kaiya has been born I have changed my tastes a little bit. Okay, lean in close, I am about to share my deepest darkest secret. I like country music. There I said it. Admitting it is the first step to acceptance, right? It just seems to be a little bit more about my life now than Green Day or The Cure. Now don't get me wrong, I still like to rock out, but since I asked Jamie to take me to the Brad Paisley concert for my birthday, I can no longer hide the fact that I am a closet country music lover.

The other change in my music tastes can be viewed as more a convergence. Two of the bands I grew up with and LOVE have now joined the "kiddie-rock" movement. Those would be "They Might Be Giants" and more recently everyone's favorite Canadians, "The Barenaked Ladies" have hopped on the band wagon (ha ha, that's a pun). Now, I can't get this song out of my head, please watch and enjoy.



You can also download another one of the exceptionally silly BNL songs for free from their website: http://www.bnlmusic.com/snacktime/

Happy Independence Day!!!

I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday! Ours was lovely, we had a little bbq with our friends the Churchwells & the Petersons. We started out by setting up our brand new baby pool, which was enjoyed by all the girls, except maybe Kaiya, who I think was a little overwhelmed by all the fun being had in such a close proximity to her.
After the refreshing dip, we had burgers with all the accouterments and waited and waited for it to get dark enough to set off some fireworks!! Yay!!! Which I LOVE to do, probably because I was never allowed to even touch a sparkler as a kid, so it's almost kinda naughty and extra fun to set off your own fireworks. So, we gathered in the Peterson's driveway and set them off in the street.

The older girls did sparklers, and Jamie, Rick & Carl were the official pyrotechnics for the evening. We even had some of our other neighbors come out and enjoy a little of the festivities. Kaiya watched the events quite closely and was somewhat skeptical of some of the fireworks. However in the long run, what she mostly wanted to do was walk (which she now also says, with authority, "WALK!")

Overall, it was a fabulous 4th!

BTW, Jen got a great new camera, and got some fabulous pictures, so if you want to see a few more pics check out her new blog. You can also tell she is more on the ball than I am, and you can check out a lot of the stuff we do on her site first. It takes me a few more days to get it up on my blog. So here it is: http://thechurchwellchronicles.blogspot. com

Watch Out World!!!

Well, she is finally doing it! Kaiya is walking on her own! YAY!!! All last week, she had been taking two or three steps on her own, then falling to her bum as soon as she realized she wasn't holding on to anything. But Sunday night, right before bedtime, she just stood up and walked across the living room. Of course Jamie & I cheered for her like maniacs, and she got excited and kept walking back and forth between the two of us. So, I got the camera out and shot a little video of our little walker, toddling around the room in her pajamas.

(I apologize in advance for the dolphin voice, I just can't help it sometimes!)