More Cuteness!

Caralin has been doing the cutest big girl things lately I am always awaiting her next move just so I can have a good chuckle. I don't know what it is but I just love watching her do something new or listening to all her new words. There is something new everyday. It's GREAT! Yesterday we were playing together after I got home (I had to work) and she said she wanted to read books so I told her to go to her room and get the books she wanted to read and I would be right there. When I went to hewr room a few minutes later she was so cute I had to sneak out and grab my camera to share (Sorry for the dark, and pink, video. The light was off in her room and her pink curtains were closed from her nap which turns her room pink in the late afternoon). Enjoy the video. By the way the book she is reading has mirrors on it (that should help explain some of what she is doing in the video).

New Adventure

The last couple of days have been full of fun and daddy! Kevin has been off and so we have been able to catch up on the time we have missed with him throughout his work week. We did some home improvement and worked on Caralin's birthday present (the playset I mentioned in a previous post). We finally were able to get all of the pieces to our house and now I will be sanding and sealing it over the next month, hopeing it will be ready for Caralin's birthday. So far it has been a smooth process and I am so excited to see it when it is all done. Along with the playset project I am trying to learn to sew! I am reading through the owner's manual hopeing I'll be able to figure out all the tricks. I guess you all can expect home made gifts throughout this year. I'll keep you posted on my progress. We went to the zoo today. It was a fun day but half way through our trip Kevin says we should've gone to the beach... we should have! It was a beautiful day and would have been perfect at the beach. Oh well maybe next week... Here are a couple of cute pictures from our trip today. Enjoy!

Introducing... Our New Look

Well, after way too many hours, I have finally come up with a blog look that I like. I am sure I will continue to tweak it here and there but hopefully it is easier to read and everyone likes it as much as I do.
We have all been sick at one point or another the last two weeks and have spent a lot of time on the couch trying to recover. I think Kevin is coming down with it now, hopefully it won't last long. Thankfully, Caralin and I are feeling much better and we can't wait to get out and about and back to our routine.
We have had a lot of fun watching all the rain and hail from the living room window and Caralin has a new found interest in helping me cook. It is really fun to watch her. When we crack an egg she says "wow!" Too Cute! I'll post some pictures soon but I am a little blogged out for today! Have a great week!

An Inside Look.

Hello all my blog watchers. As you know I have been thinking a lot about Caralin's second birthday coming up soon and trying to plan a fun event. In anticipation of this upcoming birthday I have frequently found myself reflecting on our life the past two years. How much has changed, how far we've come, and how happy we are. So I thought I would use this post to reflect a little with you. We have been confronted with many tough situations the last few years but I firmly believe that no matter how difficult, stressful, impossible, or unfair a situation is God will never give you something you can't handle. So pretty much in our house, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I can't begin to explain it but my faith has brought me through some very tough times and I truely feel fulfilled in my life. Now, of course I don't mean everything is always perfect, I just mean that my heart and spirit are full.

Although I miss my friends in Arizona, moving back to San Diego was a great decision for us. Sometimes it really seems true that "less is more". Even though we took a few steps back and may not have all the luxuries we've had in the past, I am so thankful to be able to stay home with Caralin and enjoy getting some work as a substitute teacher so I can contributed financially to our family. We are so happy to be close to our family again (not to mention the great weather). No more 116 degree summers! I am glad Caralin has been able to spend time with her grandparents, cousins, great-grandma, and great-great-great-aunt (yeah 3 greats!). I didn't get that experience because most of my extended family was in Minnesota. So she is very blessed to have them so close.

I noticed in my posts that I mention cute things Caralin does but don't always give details so I thought I would tell you some things that she has been doing lately. Enjoy!

1. When she wakes up in the morning she yells for me or Kevin "mama (daddy) ake up!" (wake up).
2. She is sweet and cuddly. She loves giving hugs and kisses to EVERYONE. She gives very cute lip pucker kisses too, the best!
3. She is a picky eater but she will always taste everything I give her.
4. Anytime we go through a drive-thru she says "French-fries?" which is funny because we don't eat out very often. (I guess it doesn't take much to be hooked on those things!)
5. She would choose a cup of ice to eat over m&m's (probably why she's so skinny, maybe I should try that).
6. She is a GREAT climber. I think she can scale walls. And lately she has been leaping off the ottoman, belly flopping on her bean bag. Very adventurous.
7. She loves baths. She would sit in there all day if I let her.
8. She loves her baby dolls. She takes very good care of them, even gives them time-out if they are naughty.
9. Her hair is long! Already past her shoulder blades. She likes to play with it (and mine) but doesn't like it when I style it, she takes the clips and rubber bands out.
10. Her new favorite movie is 101 Dalmations. She also likes Tinkerbell, Finding Nemo, Madagascar, and The Jungle Book.
11. She is still potty training so spends most of our time at home sans pants.
12. She likes to come snuggle in our bed in the morning and watch cartoons (I like this because I get a few extra z's).
13. If she hears me calling for "Kev" she will repeat me. (This is really funny)
14. She is definately left-handed.
15. She is starting to recognize and name colors. She knows red and purple real well but is starting to get green, yellow, and blue.
16. She loves cranberry juice.
17. She really loves dogs. Everything dogs - books, stuffed, movies, and of course the real thing.
18. She is a good helper. You can tell she truely likes to help. I love that.
19. She is compassionate. She shows genuine concern for others and will ask "you ok?" if she sees someone hurt or sad. She also appologizes for things and says thank you and she says bless you if you sneeze.
20. She likes to play pretend. She "cooks" in her kitchen. Gets her purse to go "bu-bye". And pretends she's animals or she "sees" an animal, unually a bear or elephant.

I have a million more factoids but I'll save those for another post.
Hope you all are well and you enjoyed this inside info!

Works...

Well I have more proof that God works in mysterious ways and will never give us what we cannot overcome. Kevin and I have been feeling the pinch a little more the past month. I never thought it could happen but Vons has been cutting hours and laying people off. Thankfully Kevin has been spared from any layoff, transfer, or demotion to this point but his hours were cut by up to 25%. Thats a pretty big chunk of income to lose, making my dollar stretching even more difficult (even though I have become a pro at it). Then the unexpected... someone hit our car in the Vons parking lot while Kev was at work. Thus the "mysterious way"... no one was injured because our car was parked and the guys that hit us scraped along the side of our car while backing out. I brought the car in to get the estimate today and I will be picking up a check for 1400 dollars tomorrow! The damage to our car is cosmetic so the car runs fine and since it is an older car with other body scratches anyway so the money is going to help us catch up from the last couple of months. Thank God! Always there. A friend recently told me about a feature on my camera that allows me to take action shots. It takes a picture every second while I hold the button down. Sometimes it is hard to get the picture I want of Caralin because she moves so fast. So we went to the park and I decided to try out this cool feature. I think it is pretty cool and I made it into a movie. Caralin has been sick the past few days and I am hoping she will be better soon. She seems pretty miserable. Her throat is hurting her and she can't breath real well out of her nose. Poor baby. :( We went to the Dr. and it was a mistake. They said it was a virus (which is what they always say) and I got there a half an hour early and we were still there almost two hours. Not a good thing for a sick little girl that just wants to cozy up and watch TV. We made it through. They did a strep test and I requested they did a culture to double check that it is not strep. We have decided to have Caralin's birthday on Sunday March 29th. We will probably do something small at a park with friends and family. It will be nice for everyone to get together. Kevin and I are getting her a playground set that we found in an ad through church. They are giving it away but we have to haul it and sand and seal it. It's worth the hard work if you ask me. We will hopefully be picking it up next week so I will have more pictures soon. Take Care.

California winter

The year is already flying by fast. I can't believe my baby is going to be two in two and a half short months. We have been talking about her birthday party the last couple of days. I would like to do something fun for her since I think she will understand what is going on this year. Since we have a house and a yard we could just have it here but there are so many cute venues that host fun parties it is tempting to go that route, unfortunately they are a little pricey. Please feel free to comment on this post and give me some ideas. I know I say this in every post but I swear Caralin is changing by the second! She has a whole new arsenal of words that literally keeps us on our toes. She has mastered the following words and phases and uses them often: "Cummar" come here, "oer dher" over there, "oer her" over here, "uh dher" up there, "ou-si" outside and "dance daddy". Oh yeah and my favorite new word "helper" which she uses anytime she falls down and needs help up (most of the time she falls on purpose complete with "wwwwhoa!"). It is pretty funny. She has also proven to the world that the Hastings family likes to watch TV with her newest "du du du du du Dora". She sings it all the time, also pretty cute (in my opinion). We have been enjoying our unusually warm January weather by venturing outdoors. We had a playdate the other day and Caralin got to play with a water table for the first time (for those of you who don't know a water table is a kid size table with wells to fill with water). Her friends water table had a tower with a water wheel and they had so much fun playing! That is now on her list of birthday gifts! Kevin had two days off in a row this week so we were able to spend some good family time together. Here are some pictures playing outside.

New Year, new look????

Well it has been awhile since my last post because I have been spending countless hours trying to make my blog better. Unfortunately my efforts were to no avail because I have been unable, up to this point, to complete my "project". So I will continue to post my weekly updates and in my free time keep working on the blog "facelift". Hopefully I will have it all figured out soon. The new year has been good to us so far. We are counting down to Caralin's 2nd birthday on March 29th. She is constantly changing and amazing us. Her language is developing quickly - you can almost have a full conversation with her. Here is a fun video of her singing and "playing" the yukalayle. Enjoy!