The Pabst's Playground

Well, it may be obvious to quite a few that I have a hard time keeping in touch with everyone. I am terrible at calling or writing to begin with, but add a husband, two kids, two dogs, 3 fish, 4 chickens....and a partridge in a pear tree, I am barely able to get a shower in every day. But I know that is no excuse because you are all going through the same if not even busier lives. So enough with the belly aching.
SO, when I started getting emails from my friends and family with a blog attachment, I thought ....what an amazing idea. I will just try my hardest to keep this one journal up to date with photos and going ons and then if you find yourself missing the Pabsts so much and you can't seem to get us off your mind, just log into this blog and, hopefully if all goes well, it will be full of current pictures and events.
Please forgive me for being such a slacker and thank you to all who continue to love me in spite of me!
I am so loving life right now!



KAI ....

our little Kaiser bean will be 18 months on the 25th of this month and just barely took his first steps a couple of days ago. And, as with everything else Kai does in his life, once he figures out how many options and possibilities that walking can bring, he is now our little speedy waddler. Other than the bruised bum from all his overly excited steps and falls he is loving the world that walking offers him. Yippee!!! We were a bit worried that he would be crawling into the room for his first time in nursery. Kai is so much like is daddy. Since the day he was born he has been such a deep thinker. He just sits back and takes in the world around him as his crazy mom and wild sister run circles around him. It is as if he is taking mental notes for his future Pulitzer prize novel. He causes me to stop and just sit and take in the moments. His favorite thing to do right now is to take the big glass jar that i now have filled with miniature pumpkins on our coffee table. He will take each pumpkin out, one by one, and set them on the ground in a perfect row or stack and then when the jar is empty, he simply picks each one up and sets them back into the jar. A task that would bore me out of my mind is the most important and intriguing thing in his wonderfully simple world. He is only a year and a half and he has already taught me so much. AMAZING!

MAYA....

Maya, Maya, Maya....need i say more. It is almost as if her name alone is a colorful and captivating novel in and of itself. Like I am reciting from a Dr. Seuss book. Just saying her name makes me smile. She is the light of my life and brings light to everyone she smiles at throughout the day. She is so full of life and personality. She has the greatest sense of humor. It seems as though her only goal some days is to make sure she makes everyone belly laugh at least once.
She started going to preschool twice a week this fall and feels like such a big kid. She is loving every minute of it. She takes great pride in each and every pudding painting, pasta necklace or a simple toddler Picasso that she creates at school and shows it off to all who will look. She declares a special spot for displaying each and everyone throughout the house. And to think of all the money I have spent on our home decor. She still "stops traffic" every where we go. I swear, just about every day at least 1 person will tell her how beautiful she is or how cute her curly hair is. She just gives them a little angelic head tilt and buttery smile and says, "thank you". We have to be careful though because just the other day we were walking into a store and a nice lady stopped and oohed and awed at her said how darling she was. Maya just looked the other way. So I told her to say thank you and then once we were alone I asked her why she didn't say thank you and told her she was being a little rude. After a long and exasperated sigh she simply said, "Mom, I just wish I wasn't SO cute because I am bored of saying thank you." So we have found or new parent life challenge is making sure that Maya has great self-esteem and knows that she is so beautiful while still keeping our three year old princess from getting a "big head". Who would have thunk it. She really is such a delight and is her mommies little side kick.

Halloween was so fun this year. I just about ripped out all of my hair while making Mayas Goldilocks dress but the second I put it on her it made the head ache all worth it. I think I will maybe try doing the cookie cutter Cinderella for her next year. Kai was the baby bear and Anthony and I....well there is a bit of a debate as to what we were. But in spite of what my mother thinks, my intentions were totally rated "G". I am a WITCH and Anthony is a RETRO 70's GUY. WE had so much fun at the stake trick or trunking event and Maya was able to show off her costume at her preschool party.

I am so excited for the cool crisp days ahead. Fall is here! Actually with how cold it has been this week, I think God kind of skipped over fall this year and went straight to winter. No real snow yet though. I love everything that the crisp cool breeze brings. I am so anxious for the holidays, the sled rides, the snow men, the smell of warm fire in the air, opening the box of winter clothes and rediscovering my winter wardrobe, oh and yes, the winter marathon training. It all brings butterflies to my stomach.

Nana and Papa (Nan and Lloyd) and Auntie Cheryl are here this week visiting us from Oregon. Mom and Cheryl needed to get some pre-Christmas craft boutique shopping in. I guess the craft shops just aren't the same in Oregon. Or, mom just needed another excuse to come see the grand kids. Whatever the reason, we are so happy to have them here. Especially Maya. She leaves her Nana's side to go to the bathroom and sleep. Although if her bed was any bigger I bet she would insist on sleeping with her too. They are going to be here for Thanksgiving as well so it will be fun to have our first big holiday in our new home with a full house. I even bought new dishes so that we would have a full matching set for everyone. At least, that is what I told Anthony....You can't host a Thanksgiving dinner and have a miss matched table setting, right?!