Happy New Year 2012

Ah, here I am, updating this neglected blog. Is blogging dead? I very much like the format, but we’re so busy being parents and taking care of our responsibilities that there isn’t much time to put together worthwhile blog postings. I (Ken) like to update my status on Twitter and Facebook, like hundreds of millions of other people.

Life has been mostly about the kids and taking them to see family. It’s great when we visit family and grandparents, aunts, uncles, and nephews keep the kids entertained and safe. Keelie and Kyle both adore their cousin Lainey. They have a standing weekly playdate. In general, Kendra, Steve, and Lainey have been great for the kids and have graciously babysat when needed.

Here Keelie and Kyle take a break from their slapstick routine to calmly hug.

Kori and the kids have also been going to see my mother and siblings on a regular basis while I’ve been at work, and we’ll all go to see Kori’s parents and siblings when we can. Kori has also been taking the kids to local meetups in parks and such.

We’ve tried to get to Disneyland on a regular basis. These kids don’t really grasp that very, very few little kids in the world get to do that. The “Toy Story” movies have Kyle’s imagination, and he alternately pretends to be Woody or Buzz, and usually asks to ride Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters… several times per day. We didn’t make as good of use of our passes to Knott’s Berry Farm.

Kyle knows all of his upper and lower case letters and the sounds they make (and which letters make what sound). He continues to be very musical, and can recognize and sing back tunes even if I’m the one “singing” them, and I’m doing so with different lyrics. Otherwise, he’s such a chip off the old block that sometimes we think we should have made him a Junior.

Keelie is mindful of relationships (“Daddy, your little sister is funny.”) She’s reading above a second grade level, which at 4 1/2 years old isn’t too shabby. She surprises me with her artistic talent. Her memory abilities continue to be scary. She’s also very sociable. While trick-or-treating this year, she would introduce herself to the other kids and ask them for their names. She couldn’t understand why they would rather run quickly to the next house rather than mingle.

Both kids are strong-willed and stubborn. Not sure where they get that. [Ken and Kori both do their “innocent-but-really-guilty” looks.]

The kids both had a gymnastics class over the summer – it was the second time around for Keelie.

Kyle liked doing everything in the class, but at different times than he was supposed to. He took to holding and swinging up on the bar so much than he was doing that other places, too, such as the Aquarium of the Pacific.

Keelie continues her dance classes. She had a recital over the summer and another one just before Christmas.

Is that attitude, or what?

In July, Kori and I got out to see “Weird Al” Yankovic and his AL-pocalypso Band kick off their tour. We had some excellent seats, but we didn’t take such great pictures.

Also in July, we were able to go to a great, intimate event at the Grammy Museum, where Mr. Yankovic was interviewed and then answered questions from the audience, including one from yours truly.

We’d cool down over the summer with swims at Puma & Granddaddy’s and at Nanny’s/Auntie Kim’s/Uncle Mike’s.

In September, we went to Kauai for a week.

It was my first trip to Hawaii, as it was for Keelie and Kyle.

We didn’t even know there was going to be a trip until Mother’s Day. We wouldn’t have been able to afford the trip if it wasn’t for being able to stay at the Keel family timeshare. Actually, in hindsight, given everything else that happened this year, we couldn’t afford to fly there, either. But we did.

We shared a two-bedroom suite with Kendra, Steve, and Lainey. Kyle tossed his cookies upon takeoff from LAX, and it was an omen. Everyone in that suite got sick during week we were there, except for me. It continued through the flight back to LAX.

Here, Keelie works the stage at a luau.

Back home, Kyle re-enacted a scene from one of the bedtime books we read. That’s his soup bowl on his head.

Keelie, along with Nanny, Auntie Kim, and Mommie, returned to Teddy Bear Tea at the Langham just before Christmas. The Langham will always be the Huntington to me.

Kyle and Keelie both enjoyed Christmas…

They are both growing so fast!

Our house was attacked by bees literally just before our September vacation – removing them cost a pretty penny. Both of our vehicles needed expensive work in the last several months, and we’ve run into ongoing trouble with the condo we were pretty much forced to rent out rather than sell when we moved into the house, so that’s been a financial drain as well. If we had known all of these things were coming our way, we wouldn’t have bought the tickets to take that vacation.

I resumed writing columns for LaughingPlace.com and my friends have had me as a recurring guest on their podcast, The Sweep Spot. If you are interested in Disney, especially Disneyland, check out those links.

Kori has been a serious coupon shopper this year, coming home with bags full of groceries for ridiculously low cash spent. She’s very organized  and methodical about it.

Other than what you see above, 2011 was mostly another boring year, which is good. Keelie turned 4, Kyle turned 2. We didn’t lose our house, I didn't lose my job, no major crimes were committed against us (that we know about), we didn't have to file a lawsuit against anyone, none of us suffered a major illness or injury, and the dog didn't die.

May your 2012 be one of happiness, peace, health, and prosperity.

Please keep in touch!

–Ken, for the Pellmans of Anaheim 
January 2012
KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com

Thirteen Months and Counting!

Keelie has passed 13 months! It has been too long since we’ve uploaded pictures and video.

Also, as I mentioned in the previous entry, significant events have been happening for our family.

The first was that the three year legal battle in which Kori was the plaintiff was settled ahead of formal arbitration, saving a lot of people a lot of trouble.

As typical with such out-of-court settlements, we won’t be able to go into details, and nobody - especially not the people who had to pay a bunch of lawyers and still issue a settlement check - admits guilt… blah blah blah. Most of the people we maintained were responsible are no longer with that company anyway. Most. They know who they are, we know who they are, and so do a lot of other people.

Anyway, the lawyers have been paid, the check is in the bank, and the matter is over. I guess it is fitting that it happened near Independence Day.

Speaking of Independence Day – we celebrated at the home of David & Jennifer, along with some other friends.

Certain fireworks are legal in that city. Keelie wasn’t exactly captivated by them. But then, she’s teething more teeth - they just keep coming - and it is hard to tell if she is having trouble with that, or is frightened by something.


Summer has brought a welcome return to swimming, and getting Keelie used to pools – which, despite her expression in the picture above, she tends to enjoy. The three to which we regularly have access are outdoor pools – the one at our condo complex, the one at my mother’s condo complex, and the pool at Puma & Granddaddy’s. So it isn't like we can enjoy them much in the winter, when Anaheim and Pasadena are known to get down to a chilly 60 degrees F.

Below, Keelie reaches for her cousin.

The other big news is that we found a house in Anaheim! We hope to get everything squared away so that we can officially call it ours. Our plan is to hold on to our condo for a while and rent it out. We’ve been waiting for conditions to be right to upgrade, and with the housing market being what it is these days, and with our settlement adding to our savings, the time was right. Who would have thought it would turn out to be a good thing that those people kept dragging out the inevitable conclusion of Kori’s case? A big thanks to them.

Here is Keelie in a secret undisclosed location.

She reaches for the outlet and is told “no”.

So here is a video of her performing what we call “The Tripod”, which is one of her signs of pouting or despair.

You can see in the picture below an example of something else Keelie has been doing lately – putting herself inside boxes and baskets and shelves – basically, wherever she will fit.

Recently, we helped Aunt Kendra celebrate her birthday at the beach.

It was nearing sunset when we got there. Keelie had never been to the beach and we wondered how she would react to sand, considering how grass and dirt freaked her out. She was tentative at first, then she loved it.


She was even flopping over on her belly and making "sand angels". Here is some more video, alas with no sand angels.


Awwwww!

We tried to take her down to the water, but she didn't like the wet sand and never got near the water.

Lightning provided a beautiful show and we could even see the Disneyland fireworks from the beach.

Keelie has been learning more sign language. Soon, she’ll know more signs than I do!

Here’s Keelie in a favorite spot – the bookcase.

Look at Elmo. As Moe from The Simpsons would say, "He ain't laughin' no more!" Actually, Keelie will put herself in that box, too.

She's always loved climbing on stuff, and she’s getting better at it. She’s figured out how to climb up on a wooden rocking chair, on which she will wobble precariously while standing. I tried to discourage her from climbing onto the chair by tilting the chair foward and resting it like that, but she climbed up on the chair anyway, as you can see in this shot.

Yeah, she's determined and creative. I blame her mother.


That’s all for now. Thanks for stopping by. You can find us on MySpace and Facebook (see the sidebar). You can leave us a comment here or e-mail us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com.

A Dip in the Pool and Making the Rounds

After I last blogged here, on Saturday the 15th, we took a trip to the Disneyland Resort, to Disneyland Park in particular. It was the first time we pushed Keelie around in her stroller, still in the car seat because it attaches to the stroller. No pictures, though. I didn’t think to snap one. Oh well.

All we did was walk around. That’s it. We roughly circled the park in the after-dark hours to take a look at how things were, and we came home. Keelie slept for a good chunk of the time. We find it a little difficult to stay out in public too long.

The next evening, we caught a little bit of the Emmys. I think it is a little silly that we have to watch stuff three hours after it happens because we’re on the west coast. The upside is that all I had to do was a quick search online to find out why people were getting cut off in mid-sentence with an odd camera shot accompanied by silence.

We are part of a homeowners association, although there has been almost no activity with it since I married Kori and moved in (yes - in that order). There was a single contentious meeting last year, attended by a rabble-rouser who doesn’t even own or live here. I suspect he was there simply to get people to join his activist organization, because once the “minority” group he was targeting signed up with him, he disappeared, apparently sidetracked with bigger fish to fry in some more high-profile protests last year.

Well, this week there was another meeting. This time, without the huckster. We’ve hired a new management company. The old company didn’t really do anything. This new company claims to be strict, which I know can be a mixed blessing. The downside is that our fees (or whatever the technical term is) will likely increase, but they are ridiculously low right now.

But enough about such mundane matters. Most of you are here to get your Keelie update.

Keelie hit two milestones this week. She hit 3 months of age, and she’s up to the weight she should be, given her birth weight and her age. Yay! Kori has put in a lot of hard work. As a result, we are graduating Keelie from her newborn onesies.

These pictures are from Keelie’s 13-week mark, a day before she turned 3 months old.

Eyes are opening up...

There they are!

Friday, we went to Puma and Granddaddy Keel’s to visit with them and to enjoy their wonderful pool.

It was Keelie’s first time in water, aside from the bath. She didn’t hate it.

I barely recognize this man holding my daughter.

Puma’s enthusiasm for her granddaughter has not diminished in the slightest.

We stayed for quite a while, and so I went and picked up dinner for the four of us. Granddaddy Keel wasn’t feeling well, so he didn’t hold Keelie, which is why there is no picture of that.

Yesterday, we ran some errands and made some more visits. That’s no small feat around the Los Angeles County/Orange County area when we’re undergoing the first real rainfall in many months. Even on a Saturday, traffic was horrible and there were accidents everywhere.

We stopped by Nanny’s, so that Nanny, Aunt Kim, and Aunt Binky could all hold Keelie again.

They are also unfailingly eager to see Keelie.

From there, it was off to True’s housewarming/birthday party. The place was packed. Even though we hadn’t seen the house before, we could tell True had really done a great job on the place.

Keelie hadn’t met Marina since being born, so it was nice to let Marina take Keelie off our hands for a little while.

There were two other babies there and lots of food. It was good.

Thanks for reading. We always appreciate hearing from you. You can leave a comment here, or you can write us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com.