To all the LP blogging families out there...

I have recently agreed to take on doing the newsletter for our chapter, don't ask me why, as I already have a big enough job with being in charge of the membership. Many of our members send us articles that share what their children are up to these days. I have truly enjoyed creating my blog and sharing our story with all of you. And I thank all of you for the blogs that you have for us to read. I'm wanting to write an article for the upcoming newsletter that shares all of our blog sites with the members of our chapter. Many of our members have complimented me on my blog and I believe that they would all benefit from reading yours as well. So, with your permission (a comment back letting me know it's alright) I would like to share your blog in my article. Thanks in advance!

It's okay to show off a little bit, right?

For those of you that have had the privilege of meeting our Caty in person, you probably have received a colored picture from her. Most recently, Mike and Cherylle can vouch for this fact. Caitlyn is a coloring FREAK!! Scott receives at least one new picture a day for his collection at school, which used to cover just his filing cabinet. Now it's extended up the wall and I'm sure other places.

I'm sure that most of you parents of LP's out there can say that our kids are extremely smart. Not sure why it is, but dwarfs usually have higher IQ's. Any of you parents of LP's know why? Caitlyn's been singing songs, as you are all well aware of, she's also known her alphabet letters for quite some time now and can officially write almost all of them. This is where the showing off starts.

Using every color in the crayon box

Her newest thing - making "art projects" - covering papers completely with stickers

AND THE FINAL TADA...

All I had to do was tell her which letters to write. She is able to do her name (she needed a little help with the letters in Caitlyn, as she usually just does Caty), Mommy, Daddy, Nana and Papa without any help. Tutu is pretty easy as well (that is Scott's mom - Tutu is grandma in Hawaiian)

Tag, I'm It!!!

I've been tagged by Jennifer W (Ethan), Alex (Anais), Jill (JD) and Jennifer G (Simon). So, here goes . . .

10 Years Ago, I . . .
1. Had just met Scott and we started dating
2. Was still in college - good old Chico State!
3. Traveled to Montana for my cousin's wedding - Brooklin, has it been that long?
4. Spent a lot of time at the bars (good old Chico State, it wasn't named Biggest Party School for nothing)
5. Loved spending time at the Crazy Horse Saloon in Chico (yahoo for country bars!)

5 Things on Today’s To-Do List . . .
1. Take a walk with Caty to playgroup
2. Collect some leaves on our way home for a Fall Collage
3. Probably play Candy Land with Caty (her favorite game at this point in time)
4. Get my LPA stuff together for an officers meeting Saturday morning
5. Take a much needed nap!

5 Things I would do if I were a Millionaire . . .
1. Sell our house and buy a MUCH bigger one - 1200 sq ft just doesn't cut it
2. Ensure Caitlyn's future (college, etc.)
3. By a brand new car, don't even know what, just a new one, all of mine have been used
4. Pay off our debt
5. Travel

5 Places I have lived . . .
1. Redwood City, CA (same house from birth until I moved away for college)
2. Chico, CA (I lived in so many apartments - I count about 5 different ones)
3. Rocklin, CA
4. Antelope, CA
5. ............

5 Jobs I’ve had . . .
1. Summer Day Camp Counselor
2. Nanny
3. Preschool Teacher
4. Mommy
5. ............

Alright, so I believe that most of the LP moms and also Mike have been tagged, except for one some of you might not have met, Erica. Along with her I tag a few of my other blogging friends - Michelle, Tamie, and Jill Stiber .

Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Caitlyn's preschool class went on their field trip last week to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm. OMG - this place is amazing, huge, incredible! The place is free to the public and only charge for parking on the weekends. There are a few things are the farm that have a fee - playing in the corn maze and riding the train. However with a field trip, it cost us each $7 - which gave us a hayride, a pumpkin each, a ride on the train, watching some pig races - yes I said pig races and a few other things around the farm. We had a great time! Caitlyn was the special helper for the day, which included bringing something from home to share (she brought Abby - her doll), snack (Spongebob Cheezits and Capri Suns) and she got to be line leader. There wasn't much leading of the line, except for when we walked from the entrance to the hayride, but that satisfied her.

We had a great time on the hayride to the pumpkin fields. Although once we got out to the fields, Caty then decided at that moment she needed to go to the bathroom. Of course there was not a port o potty in site - they were back at the beginning of the hayride. So it seems that if I carried her around she didn't need to go as bad, but if I put her down, she did that special little dance. So I carried her around, while trying to find us two decent pumpkins. I settled on two okay looking ones. So here I am trying to carry her around and cart two pumpkins - she was gonna have to walk for a little while. Finally the tractors came back around, picked us up and we were heading back to the beginning and luckily the bathrooms. Unfortunately one of the pumpkins that we picked out (since I didn't get to get a good look at it) has already been tossed into the garbage, as the bottom was rotting out - yuck! Oh well, we had a great time, enjoy the pictures!

LPA District 12 Fall Regional

This past weekend, Caitlyn and I headed to San Jose for the Fall Regional conference. We left Friday morning, and drove to my parents, who live about 30 minutes from San Jose. We got there in time to have lunch and for Caty to take a nap. We played some (my parents are in Maui so it was just us girls for the weekend) and had an early dinner. We drove over to the Fairmont hotel, where the Regional was taking place, for a Welcome Reception. We ran into some old friends and met some new. I was so excited about meeting the Mallinson family from Southern CA. I first met Mike on the POLP (Parents of Little People) yahoo group and then we became friends on MySpace followed by Facebook and now through our blogs - visit Mike's blog "The Mallinson Adventures". Mike's wife's name is Cherylle and they have two kids, Evan and Caitlin. Evan is 5 (right Mike?) and Caitlin is 14 months. Caitlin also has Achondroplasia. Mike and I met almost a year ago just after Caitlin was first diagnosed. I am so happy to have met Mike and Cherylle and look forward to a lifetime of friendship with them. Caitlin is the recipient for my Caitlyn's altered clothing. We have no other younger girls in our chapter and we have no use in keeping the clothes that I have altered, so I am happy to be sending them off to them. We met up with them at the Welcome Reception and my Caitlyn took right to theirs. We pulled up a spot on the floor and listened to some jazz while the kids danced. We seemed to be the place to be for the kids because soon enough we had about 6 or 7 other families join us on the floor. In our chapter Caitlyn is one of the youngest, however out of these families, she was the oldest. Another blogging mom, Jane and her some Jake were also there - they flew up from San Diego. It was great meeting them! Stop by and visit her blog - "The Chronicles of Drake." Jake is such a cutie and a very happy almost 1 year old. Caitlyn really liked him! I hope that the next time we're down in San Diego visiting my brother and sister-in-law, we can plan a get together with them.
Back to the Welcome Reception - we stuck around until about 8:45 or so, then headed back to my parents.

Saturday was going to be a LONG day for us, so instead of waking Caty up and heading to the hotel for the Parent Discussion group (which I had wanted to attend, but it started at 8:30) I decided that it would be better to let her sleep in. She woke around 8:00, we had breakfast and got ready to leave. We showed up at the meeting during the last 10 minutes or so - oh well. After the meeting was over, a few of us decided to head to an area outside where the kids could run around. The Mallinson's, Bradley Williams and his dad Bryan (from our chapter) and another mom which I just met - Anel and her son Matthew (from Southern CA) came with us. Across the street from the hotel there is an area with fountains (obviously way too cold for that, but they looked neat and I'm sure kids run through them in warmer weather) and a stage. We hung out there for almost an hour, while the kids played, and Caitlyn danced and blew bubbles for the younger kids. It was getting to be lunch time, so we headed back to the hotel for Mike and Cherylle to grab Evan from the kid's room and then we decided to meet at Johnny Rockets for lunch. Caitlyn found Mary, one of the girls from our chapter - they have really taken a liking to each other. We chatted with Mary's grandparents for awhile and then headed to lunch. We had a fun and loud lunch with the Williams and Mallinson families. The kids had a great time together.

After lunch Caty and I headed to the car, as we were off to see my friend Jacqui and her husband Ray, who live in San Jose. Jacqui and I met each other in 5th grade and have been good friends ever since. Caitlyn helped Ray with some yard work - cleaning up the leaves. She also liked when he showed her the different vegetables they have growing in their backyard. Across the street from their house is a park, so we took a walk over there and played for awhile. We headed back to their house and spent some more time in the backyard, with Caitlyn playing. It was great seeing them, as we don't get to see each other as often as I would like.

Back to the hotel again... We joined the Mallinson's in their very spacious suite, which they were nice enough to let us change for the dinner later that evening. Caty and Evan played hide and go seek with each other for quite awhile, which was hilarious to watch. Evan is not the quietest of hiders and Caty is not the best at hiding - she needs some help finding places to hide, so I would give her an idea. She would go to that spot and just lay down. It was pretty funny! I also had more altered clothes to give them, so Cherylle and Caitlin when through the box - mainly Caitlin taking everything out and throwing it. I'm so glad that we have them to pass the clothes onto. We then got ready for dinner and headed downstairs. Dinner was okay - a pasta buffet, but with only two choices of pasta and two choices of sauce, nothing special, however the price was somewhat lower than other regionals, so I guess that I can't complain too much. Caitlyn was ready for dinner to be over just as it was starting because she knew that after dinner the dancing started. And boy did she dance!!! Okay, so sometimes it wasn't really dancing - she would run from one end of the dance floor to the other, continuously doing this all night long. A few times she stopped to dancing with a friend, me or Cherylle, but boy was she having a blast. Around 9:30 she hit a wall. She got all weepy and clingy and wanted to be held, so I knew that that was the end of our eveing. We said our goodbyes and headed home. She talked to Scott and my mom on the drive home, which didn't go so well, as she was very tired and not listening to what was being said on the phone. She said goodnight and crashed out after hanging up. When we got home she woke up and started crying "I'm tired." We got ready for bed in record time and she was in by by 10:30 or so. This was an incredibly late night for her as her bedtime is right around 8:00.

For both our sakes she decided to sleep in on Sunday morning until about 8:30. We cleaned up my parents place and headed to Stakes to meet some friends for breakfast. Michelle and her son David met us there as well as another good friend Eric. Caitlyn was sad because Eric's daughter, Ainsley didn't come. Caty did draw her a picture that Eric took to her. We had a nice visit and I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends that I am still in touch with after so many years. Hopefully the next time a few more friends will be able to join us for breakfast. When we visit my parents, I usually try to plan a get together, however this one was such short notice that most couldn't make it.

Anyways, we had a WONDERFUL time at the regional, and are completely EXHAUSTED. Yesterday (Monday) morning Caitlyn decided to sleep in until 10:00!!! Yes I said 10:00!! She needed it though - with late nights and no naps over the weekend. I don't know if we'll make the Spring Regional, wherever it may be, but our chapter, the San Joaquin Valley Chapter, will be hosting the Fall Regional and it's going to be great!

Enjoy the pictures!

Another Park Day

Caty and I took a walk over to the park yesterday and I wanted to share some pictures with you! Her doll Abby had to come with us and Caty was being a great big sister to her, helping her swing, slide and even helped her with counting, which I got on video. It was warm out, however I don't know how many more "warm" park days we'll have as fall is definitely setting in. Enjoy!

Pushing Abby on the swing

Cheese!

Helping Abby on the bars

I asked where she was driving too and she said "somewhere"

Smile!

A slide that she can actually do by herself - it's about as slow as they come

Climbing through the tunnel

Walking about the bumpy bridge

Look at the static!

Teaching Abby to count

Alan and Jayme's Wedding

This past weekend Scott and I traveled to Fresno for Alan and Jayme's wedding. Scott and Al have known each other since Junior High and Al was the best man in our wedding. Scott and I drove to my parents Thursday evening after dinner and spent the night there. They graciously said they would watch Caitlyn so we could have a weekend to ourselves. We headed to Fresno Friday morning, getting in town and joining Al, and a few other friends at BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse for lunch. Dawn and Leo drove up from Las Vegas and Garrett flew in from New York. Leo and Garrett were also groomsmen in our wedding. After lunch we headed to the Tux shop, the guys picked up their tux's and we headed out to Al and Jayme's house. Al had invited all of us to spend the night at their place. By the time we got there, we only had about an hour before we needed to hit the road again to get to the church for the rehearsal. Their house is actually out in Sanger, which is about a 30 minute drive to downtown Fresno. We arrived at the church for the rehearsal, then headed to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. After dinner, we went back to Al's for some drinking and poker. We all turned in by 11:30 that night as the following day was a big one.

The next morning, Al cooked us all breakfast and then we needed to hit the road by 12:00 in order to get gas, grab lunch and get to the church by 1:30. We dropped them off and then, Dawn, Garrett and I headed over to our hotel to get us checked in. Most of the guests were staying at the Radisson, however it was a little more than we wanted to spend so we found a Super 8 about 2 blocks away. When I had gone on their website to make the reservation they were running a special. Each night for 8 days they were giving 800 rooms away for $8.88 a night. HOLY COW!! Well, needless to say it took until the final night of their promotion to get the deal, but we did and boy am I glad that we only paid $9.95 (gotta add the tax on)! It smelled funky (after talking to Garrett, his room smelled the same) and the ac didn't work (luckily it wasn't too warm out). We had about an hour before we needed to leave for the church as the wedding was starting at 3:30.

It was a beautiful ceremony and Jayme looked gorgeous. It was a short but sweet ceremony (the best kind). Afterward, pictures were taken and then we could finally head over for the reception. Since Scott and Leo were to sit at the head table with Al and Jayme, Garrett became our (Dawn and myself) date for the evening. Since we had waited at the church for some time, by the time we got to the reception hall, it was hard to find just 3 seats together. We ended up way in the back, which worked out well. We sat with some of Al's car buddies and their wives. Dinner was good and the drinks were even better, as it was an open bar - we love when we don't have to pay for the drinks, just the tips. Al and Jayme cut their beautiful cake and danced their first dance to "When You Kiss Me" by Shania Twain. I was so surprised that this was their song, as I know that Al isn't a fan of country music. Then the dancing began. I love to be on the dance floor, however Scott isn't a fan of dancing. Give him several beers and he doesn't mind being out there. We spent the night dancing away and had a blast with everyone! Al, being the big guitarist that he is, even pulled out an air guitar solo to a Guns N Roses song. After the reception we all headed back to the Radisson for an after party. We had a great time and finally returned to the hotel around 12:30 or so. We didn't get the greatest nights sleep - we maybe got our $10 worth. There was a HUGE motorcycle convention, the Hawaii vs Fresno State football game and also a fair in town for the weekend, so we heard commotion ALL NIGHT LONG!! Motorcycles reving and college kids yelling. We got up the next morning, not so refreshed, and headed to the airport to drop Garrett off. Then we drove back to my parents, hung out for lunch and hit the road again, finally making it to our home sweet home.

It was a LONG, but wonderful weekend and we are so happy that we were able to share in Al and Jayme's special day!