Eat and Sleep

Kyle was into his second day without a proper nap. He usually takes one long nap each day. We were having a family dinner for our niece's second birthday, and Kyle was determined to eat his dinner despite being sleepy. This went on for a couple of mintutes before we started capturing it. You might want to click on the "full screen" button at the bottom right of the video ("Esc" ends the full screen mode)...

He usually eats with utensils now, but since this was spaghetti, we let him use his hands.

And a full update covering the last several months will be posted... eventually.

From Christmas to Easter

You know the story… Facebook and other things like that have sucked the life out of blogs like this one. But I still want to keep blogging here. I find it a convenient way to chronicle our lives in a linear way.
Things have been mostly uneventful. Kori and I are raising our two little kids, and anyone who has done that knows that pretty much takes up life for many years.
And when I start to edit pictures to include, Keelie will climb onto my lap and demand to watch videos and see pictures.
So I don’t get to do these updates as often as I’d like.
I’m still working for the same place, and that’s good. There are good people there who do good work. Kori has become very skilled at couponing and bargain shopping. It has become a sort of hobby for her. It’s amazing how she can walk out of a store with bags full of merchandise, having paid maybe a couple of bucks out of pocket… and it is all legit. And, of course, she’s still doing everything else that she does to keep the household running.
We’re starting with some pictures from Christmas 2010…

Grampa Pellman keeps the kids entertained…

It’s great when we visit family. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins keep the kids entertained and safe. It gives us a bit of a breather.
Cousin Macon and Uncle Mike keep Keelie in line…

Aunt Vicki and Cousin Blaine…

Christmas Eve at Auntie Kim’s was great. Christmas morning started out great at home…

Keelie is growing so fast!

Keelie and Kyle love to spin in these chairs at Puma & Granddaddy’s…

These outfits the kids are wearing were gifts from Uncle Steve’s parents… how nice was that???

Later in January, we met up with our friends Lynn, Erin, and Luke in the evening at Disneyland. Keelie and Luke bonded…

To this day, Keelie talks about her buddy Luke and can identify his state, Utah, on the map. Lynn and I need to discuss a dowry.
And now a picture of our messy eater…

There have been a few times lately when Keelie has fallen asleep before we could do our nighttime routine…


Again…

What are little brothers for?

So next time, Keelie found another place to fall asleep…

I’m surprised Kyle didn’t paint Keelie up with his food the way he did himself…

Then, of course, there are times when they mess things up together. After noticing it was too quiet, we discovered why… the kids had emptied the full paper shredder…

That brings us to Easter. Here’s a nice family portrait…

But it wasn’t the only picture Granddaddy Keel took…

And this one is very telling…

The kids love to color, especially with their Aunt Kirby…

And they both love their Cousin Lainey. Kyle and Lainey are thinking of taking their act on the road…

Kyle strikes a pose…

Keelie in her Easter dress…

Keelie tells Puma and Granddaddy what’s up…

Kyle and his Daddy…

Thanks for stopping by to read. You can comment here or contact us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com. You can also follow me on Twitter @pellman.

2010 Christmas Card and Letter

Hey Everyone!

Keelie stopped taking her naps, so our blog updates have been lacking. I used to work on the updates while she napped so she wouldn’t climb in front of the computer and ask to see more pictures. This update will also be serving as our environmentally-friendly (all-electric!) Christmas card and letter, which should work just fine, since you are here reading it.

We’re so excited about wishing you a Merry Christmas…

Can’t you tell?

“Lemme tell you about what a great deal this is, lil’ brother. We go to sleep, and when we wake up, there are new toys over there under the tree!!!”

Print that out, if you must have a tangible card.

This year has been mostly another boring one. which is good. Once again, we didn't lose our home, I didn't lose my job, no major crimes were committed against us, 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.

But we WERE interviewed for a podcast called “The Enthusiast Enthusiast”. We talked about being Disney enthusiasts.

Unfortunately, we did have two family passings this year. Aunt Vicky, the honorary grandmother for whom my younger sister was named, passed away after years of declining health. My stepbrother Justin also left us; he was too young to go. Both are missed!

On a positive note, we’ve been able to enjoy the growth of Keelie as she passed her third birthday celebration and Kyle as he enjoyed his first. And he did enjoy it…

Unlike his cousin Lainey, who had her celebration together with Kyle’s, Kyle had no problem getting messy with cake.

Kyle is almost 16 months of age and he still doesn’t sleep through the night except for rare nights here and there. I heard a lack of sleep may efekt mentle abilly tees, bud eye havn no tissed uh problum.

Kyle is a daredevil climber. He also has quite the temper. Not sure where he gets that. Ahem. He likes music a lot and will dance to it when he can.

Speaking of dancing, as we said in a previous update, we enrolled Keelie in dance class (ballet and tap) since Kori enjoyed dance classes when she was a little girl. Keelie’s class had a recital at an Anaheim holiday event.

She loves going to dance class, but it is hard to get her to pose for the camera with a good smile. We have to take the good shots candidly. Keelie also enjoys Sunday school, educational programming, and long walks on the beach. Uhm, well, ok I made that last one up.

We didn’t take any trips this year. Our free time that we spent out of the home was mostly spent with family. It is always nice to have the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins entertaining the kids because otherwise, given their ages, when we are out somewhere with them all of our energy and attention goes into making sure the kids don’t maim themselves or other kids, don’t break anything, don’t get stolen, and don’t miss a trip to the restroom or changing table. Take heed all of you who are planning to become parents.

Although we didn’t take trips, we did use our annual passes to take the kids to Disneyland frequently and now we also have Knott’s passes, so the kids are going to visit there regularly, too. Thanks to the grandparents who have contributed to both sets of passes!

That’s our year in a nutshell – er, uh, blog posting.

Whether you are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and worship Him as Lord and the One who has saved you from your sins… or are enjoying other festivities and traditions of the season, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy New Year.

Below are some of the better pictures from the last several months… at least the ones that aren’t incriminating, if you care to look…

Please keep in touch!
–Ken, for the Pellmans of Anaheim
December 2010
KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com

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Kyle enjoying a park in late August…

Keelie posing for Granddaddy Keel, expert photographer…

Puma, Uncle Steve, Kyle on my lap, and the back of Granddaddy Keel’s head…

Keelie at the Huntington Library, thanks to Grandma Kathleen…

Grampa Pellman holding his youngest grandchild…

Keelie ready for it to get dark on October 31…

Keelie enjoying a local park…

With Nanny at Teddy Bear Tea at the Langham…

Kyle is all dressed up and ready to wreak havoc with a crayon…

See ya next time!

We’re Enthusiastic

We’re enthusiastic about The Enthusiast Enthusiast.

"The Enthusiast Enthusiast is a podcast for people who are highly interested in people who are highly interested in a particular activity or subject. Both educational and entertaining, each Episode is centered around a new enthusiast and their hobby of choice."

The most recent edition is on Disney enthusiasts. Ms. Jessica Lee Williamson boiled down a couple of interviews of us into a 15-minute podcast and some pictures. It includes how we met, and my teenage fixation on my first true love... Splash Mountain! Keep an ear open for a very good description of "Disney magic" by Kori.

One Year Ago

Things were very different a year ago. Kori was heading in to the final stretch of her pregnancy with Kyle, and had been in the hospital for the birth of our first niece.

It is amazing how much they grow in the first year.

Here’s a picture from back in late June, with Kyle preparing to feed the dog – which conveniently means he doesn’t have to eat as many vegetables.

He tries to make this warning label seem all the more scary…

Keelie enjoys taking a “bath”.

Kyle celebrates Independence Day by practicing his purse snatching skills.

He figures that as long as he smiles and wears outfits like that, nobody will suspect a thing.

We we to Aunt Vicky’s memorial, which included a luncheon at Caltech. Is Keelie contemplating her choices in high education?

Kyle makes his “old man without dentures” face…

And Keelie continues to make her pieces of art…

I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be Liberace or what. Oh… Keelie just told me that is Minnie Mouse. Liberace, Minnie Mouse… it is easy to get them confused. As Kori pointed out to me, it is obviously Minnie Mouse. Before the addition of the black bow, it had been Mickey Mouse - notice the white gloves, the red shorts, and the yellow shoes? Speaking of art , Keelie has started taking dance classes as of this month.

Thanks to Auntie Kim and Uncle Mike, Kori and I slipped away to see “Weird Al” Yankovic at the Orange County Fair. Yankovic and his band have long been my favorites. We don’t get a lot of nights out, so this was a rare treat.

Kim and Mike took the kids to a park, and I think that was Kyle’s first time to play directly on grass. So we didn’t quite get the same reaction when he took him to the park later that same weekend…

Keelie, of course, is a veteran of the park, so she can show Kyle the ropes… literally.

Kyle just got his first haircut!

Kyle is starting to walk. Keelie walked much earlier, but Kyle picked up a few American Sign Language signs before Keelie did. Kids develop at their own rate, of course. Kyle has been very good at crawling, while Keelie had not crawled much before she took to walking.

Thanks for stopping by. Let us know how you are doing and what you’ve been up to. You can comment here or e-mail us a KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com.