The Amazing Race of 1000 Places To See Before You Die

In honor of my favorite tv show starting again last night, I'm going to do a 1000 Places to See update. I don't think I've done one on this blog yet. Probably because we haven't traveled much lately. Boo. Anyhow...Here are the ones of the 1000 Places To See Before You Die that Jonathan & I have seen together (in no particular order)
1. Vienna (Austria)
2. Paris (France)
3. The Rhine Valley (Germany)
4. The Taj Mahal (India)
5. Taal Volcano (The Philippines)
6. Ancient Thai Massage (Thailand)
7. Sydney Opera House & the Harbor (Australia)
8. Pacific Coast Highway
9. San Fran Cable Cars
10. Biltmore Estate
11. Outer Banks
12. Heart of Charleston
13. National Mall & its Monuments
14. Smithsonian & Beyond
15. Palace of Winds (India)
16. Chatuchak Weekend Market (Thailand)
17. The Grand Palace (Thailand)
18. The Oriental (Thailand)
19. Rome (Italy)
20.Sistine Chapel (Italy)
21. Chianti & San Gimignano (Italy)
22. Piazza Del Campo & the Palio (Siena, Italy!)
23. Florence (Italy)
24. Top Tables (India)
25. Savannah's Historic District

Next up:
26. Kauai
27. Oahu

I'm itching to travel again...which is good because the girls & I are headed to Edisto Island tomorrow morning! If I was writing a book on 1000 Places To See Before You Die, I would def includee Edisto. And I would not include so many hotels.

Sunset

About two-tenths of a mile from our house is a farm that we've bought many fresh fruits and vegetables from this summer. If you drive past at just the right time of day, you can see an incredible sunset over the farm with the silos silhouetted in the fading light. Last night as Kiran and I drove back from CVS, we caught it just right. The sky was ablaze with oranges and purples and pinks. I pointed it out to Kiran and told her how beautiful I thought it was and all. Kiran looked at it and said, "Wow. I colored it."

Going Private

I'm thinking about taking my blog private. I enjoy blogging because it helps me sit down and reflect on life. It has built a little community that I love and that I learn a lot from. Its an easy way to keep up with far flung friends and family.

So none of those reasons require me to have my blog public. Really the only reason I've left it public for so long is because I enjoy blog surfing sometimes and I felt it was my duty to have mine out there. Anyway, I'm not convinced that is a good enough reason to keep it public. I just feel like there is no reason why there should be this much information about me and my family on the internet.

So unless you can convince me to keep my blog public, I'll probably go private within the month.

My Luckiest Day Ever

At every MOPs meeting, I write my name on a little slip of paper and deposit it in the hat for a chance to win door prizes. All last year the only thing I won was a little plant which I promptly killed by neglect when I got home. I am horrible at keeping things alive (except kids. and husbands.). Today the girl at the table wrote my name for me since I had Sienna-baby in her wrap when I arrived.

The leader lady drew two names for regular door prizes- books, cds, etc. Then she announced that they had the best grand door prize ever and then she pulled my name out! WOOHOO. Of course I was standing at the food table stuffing a doughnut in my mouth- I really didn't think I'd win- I never win stuff. Except one...ok never mind. So what did I win? I won a birthday party for one of my kids plus 8 of her friends at Monkey Joe's, an indoor inflatables play place. They said its worth like $300. That's awesome. What is not awesome is we just had Kiran's second birthday party. Its good through March but the lady that got it donated said to call and ask about extending the deadline. If we can't, we'll just tell Kiran its her birthday again and have another party. She doesn't know; she's two. Its her birthday when we tell her its her birthday. Its my party and I'll cry if I want to....

Lucky!

Make New Friends...

....but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold. I love old friendships. They are soft and weathered. There is great comfort in knowing people well. Occasionally I find that comfortable friendship with someone quickly but more often for me it takes time- peeling back the layers, becoming more vulnerable, anticipating the other's response.

So I invited myself to my old friend Tara's baby shower. It never occurred to me that Jeni might be there so I was thrilled to see both of them there. While the other ladies (it was mostly friends of our moms) played with Sienna, I got to catch up with these girls and it was refreshing on so many levels. So in honor of our long lasting friendship, I pulled out some old pictures....

Big Pumpkin Night at TFBC- Oct 31 1996 Tara, Kelley, Audrey and Jeni

Sister Act May 1997- Lynn, Jeni, Kelley, Leigh, Tara. We performed for a fundraiser that night- I'm sure it was quite the performance. I do remember that my future husband portrayed Michael Jackson that night. That should have been my first clue.
Buckhorn May 1998- Jeni, Kelley, Brenna, Tara. Jeni is wearing her Samford shirt- she went to Samford for a year before transferring. Tara, her mom, Jeni's mom and I drove to Samford to see Jeni early in the school year. When we returned to Jeni's dorm room that night, we learned Princess Di had died.


Tara's baby shower Sept 2008- Jeni, Tara, Kelley. Jeni is mom to a baby girl, Tara is expecting her first -a BOY- and I have two girls. Its fun to see the next generation being born!

Thanks for walking down memory lane with me...

Sunday Tidbits

1. I'm drinking my first cup of hot chocolate. I'm channeling Mom Fitz b/c I have the a/c and the fan on BUT I'm enjoying my first hot chocolate of the season.

2. We are addicted to House. Love it. It comes on every night at 8 on USA which is right when we are helping Sienna fall asleep. The routine is I nurse her then J holds her till she's out and we watch House while we do it.

3. I'm so behind on posts. I haven't blogged about Sienna's dedication, Tara's baby shower, Elijah's story, Furman game, etc. Oh well. I like making lists better.

4. Hugh Laurie should have won the Emmy for whatever he was up for.

5. I accidentally ate a piece of cheese when making Kiran's grilled cheese on Friday. Sienna woke up at midnight with gas. She hasn't woken up before 4am in at least a month. Thankfully last night she slept through till 5 again but man one tiny bite.

6. I miss cheese. And sour cream. And Oreos. But its totally worth it to sleep through.

7. If I can get up and get the dishwasher unloaded before the girls get up, my whole day goes much more smoothly than when I don't. Its amazing how that one thing sets up my day. The worst is when I get up and I go in the kitchen to find that I loaded the dishwasher and put the soap in but forgot to turn it on. Bummer.

New 'Dos

We were finally able to pull enough of Kiran's hair back to make a ponytail! And Sienna is sporting a new look- The Bald Spot. The unfortunate thing about having so much hair as a baby is it makes that ole bald spot so much more noticeable.




(And Happy Birthday to my sister Erin!)

Request

My sister and brother-in-law's friend, Shane, was in a motorcycle accident this week. They have asked for prayer for Shane- it doesn't look good. He has massive brain trauma and if he pulls through will likely have brain damage. The next 12 to 24 hours are critical as this is the time when his brain should swell the most. Shane is 25 years old and engaged to Beth. They are planning a wedding for February. A car turned left in front of Shane- the driver never saw him and now Shane is barely hanging on to life.

Erin asks for prayer for healing for Shane because at this point they know that only God can heal him. But she also asks for peace in this storm. Please take a moment and lift up Shane and his loved ones.

Hawaii Here We Come

Jonathan bought our tickets to Hawaii!! We are going to Kauai next July. We used our frequent flier miles so each ticket cost us $15. I'm so excited to be going on a trip to one of the most beautiful places on earth with my husband and only my husband! We are leaving the kids with their grandparents and are looking forward to traveling without young children. I figure it will take me half the trip to relax and get out of mom mode. Any suggestions for things to do in Hawaii? We are hoping to make this a trip to remember!

Kiran's Second Birthday

We celebrated Kiran's 2nd birthday with a little backyard birthday party with family and friends.

Jonathan and I with our two year old.

This is pretty much what Sienna did during the party.

The kids ate their cupcakes and ice cream and I think they enjoyed it.


Kiran did. Elijah did too. Elijah is Kiran's best friend. I have to do a whole post about Elijah and his family. Its only like a year late.


We got Kiran a Radio Flyer tricycle. She loves the trunk in the back more than anything.


Here are four of the six cards Kiran received. Anyone notice a theme? I guess that's what happens when your two year old doesn't watch tv and wears Pampers diapers (Elmo is on the diapers).

Dairy and Tomatoes

I've had a few people ask me about Sienna's desire to be held all the time and sleeping stuff lately so I realized I should update. Around 6 weeks, she really turned a corner. I think there is a natural maturation around 6 weeks for all babies but also around that time we finally figured out she is really sensitive to dairy and tomatoes in my diet. When I eliminate those two things from my diet, she is a completely different baby. She goes to sleep nicely in her swing, she naps for 2-3 hours at a time, she is happy and content when she is awake. She stopped screaming in the car. Well not that one. But even that improved. She now only screams about 50% of the time compared to ALL. THE. TIME. She has turned into a fabulous sleeper (she slept from 9pm-7am last night but now that I told y'all that she won't do it again for a long time I'm sure) and a really smiley baby.

However, eliminating dairy and tomatoes from my diet has cut out probably 90% of my recipes. We are eating a lot of meats, rice, beans, vegetables, fruits, and carbs. But its getting old fast. Please share any ideas for meals that don't have dairy or tomatoes in them. You don't have to share a whole recipe or anything- just the idea will be graciously received. We are ready for some variety.

Party Party Party

We got to have a party last weekend and meet up with some people that we got to know when we lived in India. Among those that we got to see were our good friends Adam & Andrea. We enjoyed them so much while we lived in India. Every week we would get together to watch American Idol every week and critique the performers. This was during the Sanjaya season! Anyhow, A & A love life and it shows! We were thrilled to see them again and meet their daughter who is 10 months old!

The Caskeys and the Sheffermans

The girls

Aashini totally cracked us up because everything was "WOOOOOOOW!" Thomas kept egging her on. Thomas has been to our house three times now which is pretty good for someone who lives in India. Yesterday I told her we had friends coming and she said, "Thomas?" It was really baby Layla with her mom, dad and grandmom. We didn't get any pictures though. Next time.

Fall

Fall has begun in the Caskey household as we held the annual lighting of the Yankee Harvest Candle on September 3 (Thank you Jonathan for my new one for my birthday!)...


Let the leaves-changing, pumpkin-carving, day-hiking, cooler nights, crisper days, bluer skies, football watching begin!

Dueces Wild

I took two girls to the doctor today- one for a two month check up and one for a two year check up.

Sienna weighed 11lbs 8oz which is about 50th percentile. She was 22.5 in long which is also 50 percentile. Her head was 15.5in (I think) which was 60th percentile. Everything checked out great physically. She got three shots in her leg and an oral vaccine. She cried for maybe 30 seconds and was fine.

Kiran weighed 25lbs 10oz which is 40th percentile which is up from 25th percentile at 18 months and 10th percentile at 15 months and below the charts at 12 months. She's done a lot of catching up! Her height was also 50th percentile but I can't remember what it was and I'm too lazy to go pull out her medical folder. Her head was still in the 90th percentile. Its all those brains right? Physically Kiran checked out perfectly too. Kiran got one shot (her MMR was skipped in all the moving around dr's offices) and one flu mist up her nose. She cried for like 10 minutes then moaned in the back of the car for the entire ride home. Oh the moaning.

We are very thankful for our healthy, growing girls!

Kiran

Dear Kiran,

Today you turned two!! Happy teertday! We asked you all day today whose birthday it was (Kiran's or churchin as you say) and how old you were (two- holding out your index finger and thumb to show two). It was a fun day- definitely a celebration of the two years of life you have shared with us.

Your first year of life was fun as you grew physically and hit many huge milestones- rolling over, sitting, eating solid foods, standing, walking and talking. This year was so fun because your personality really came alive. You are a joyous, infectious kid. You make people smile every where we go. From yelling hi to everyone we see in the Target parking lot to barking at dogs we pass on the street, you have a way of bringing people (and animals) into your happy world. You make us smile all the time.

When Daddy & I are away from you, we find ourselves saying "Kiranisms" before long. You are at that really fun stage where you mispronounce nearly every word. I don't have the heart to correct you becuase its so darn cute and I know the time is coming soon when these mispronounced words will be replaced with easily understood words. And I'll miss them. You talk about Chick-fay and Tarjet when we go past them (ok ok when we go in them). You talk ALL the time. We think Sienna's first words will be "Quit talking Kiran!" You call Sienna "Deedeena" unless you are in a hurry and then its just "Didi". You ask us to sing your three favorite songs all the time "Jesus me" (Jesus Loves Me), "Jesus Too" (Jesus Loves the Little Children) and "Tickle Stars" (Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars). You are trying to sing along with us now and that is one of the most precious sounds I've ever heard.

You love to eat. Oh you love food. All kinds of food- spicy or not, healthy or not. You eat oatmeal with blueberries most mornings although you love a from-scratch waffle or pancake that Daddy makes for you. You eat three meals a day and two snacks. You still love to sleep and almost always go bed joyfully probably because it comes after your favorite time of day- BATH! We try to have you in bed by 8pm and you sleep until 7 or 8 in the morning. We moved you to a big girl bed just a few weeks ago. You were so proud to sleep in a big girl bed. You transitioned wonderfully and we only missed a few naps. Last week I put you down for your nap in the pack-n-play at Mimi and Papa's and when Daddy came to check on you because you were still talking after 30 minutes, he found that you had climbed out of the pack-n-play and put yourself to bed on the big girl bed.

You love learning new things and soak up information constantly. You have known your colors for a few months now and that is still one of your favorite things to talk about. You can recognize your letters and are starting to count. You love to color and will do it for long stretches of time. You love to read your books and your favorite book is still your Bible. You request it at every nap time and every night time. Your favorite game is I Spy! We love finding new things for you to spy and you love spying trees, churches, power lines and big trucks. You are such a great helper to me. You help me vaccuum, sweep and wipe. You go get a new onesie for Sienna and hand me diapers and wipes while I change her. Your best buddy is Elijah and we go to the park with him about every week. I loved last week when I picked you up from his house and you were both stripped down to your diapers playing the creek behind their house. You two embodied pure joy at that time and I hope your childhood is full of memories like that.

The greatest joy for your Dad & I this year has been watching you become a big sister to Sienna. You are so gentle with her and attuned to her needs.You love to bring her toys to play with or to alert me when she is crying or awake. You always ask for her when you wake up and love to hold her- for a little while anyway. You have shown incredible patience with me as I learn to be a mom to two little girls. You've had to wait more and be more independent. You have had to come second sometimes and usually you take it all in stride. I eagerly look forward to watching you and Sienna develop a relationship as she grows older. I hope you'll realize how lucky you are to have a sister and that you two will share many fun memories as my sister and I did. I hope that when you and Sienna are older that you can sit and watch your kids play together and know life really can't get much better than this.

You still embody your name- our little ray of light. Your light shines brighter and brighter all the time. Your daddy and I pray that you would be "the light of the world" (Matt 5:14) by trusting in the one who is light (John 8:12). We thank Jesus every day that He gave you to us for our earthly family.

I love you Kiran Elizabeth! Happy Second Birthday!

Rolling into a Photo Shoot

Sienna started rolling over consistently tummy-to-back on Sunday. She's done it at least once a day since then- usually the first time I put her on her tummy that day. I've tried to get it on video but she just won't perform when I ask her too. I tried yesterday but instead it just turned into a photo shoot. I used to do this all the time with Kiran and it was fun to play around with both of the girls.

I call this one the Mom-My Cheeks Are So Heavy One.

Birthday: Mouse Edition

This morning Jonathan was sitting in our blue chair in the den part of our big room and I was a few feet away on the high stools nursing Sienna. J said "Don't panic but you need to know something."

Those are not nice, comforting words.

J continued, "There is a mouse behind the hutch who keeps poking its head out."

At this point the mouse decided to take a lap around the den. It scampered into our bedroom and disappeared. Oh gross. J got to make a run to the store to pick up some mouse traps. I seriously considered packing up the girls and going to my mom's. J reminded me that the mouse is more scared of us so I figured two loud, crying kids would keep the mouse away. And they did all day.

After we returned from our date tonight, the mouse reappeared behind the hutch. He moved to the entertainment center but he knew we were on the hunt so he stayed back there a while. Finally we scared him into Sienna's room. Jonathan had our broom to whack him and I had Kiran's broom to shoo him over Jonathan. Mostly I just stood on the rocking chair calling a play by play of the mouse's movements and encouraging Jonathan by proclaiming my confidence in his mouse-killing abilities. Finally after a long time, J squared off with the mouse in the corner by the door and the mouse didn't stand a chance.

I'm so thankful we went ahead and got the exterminator package when we had the ants issue. They will be coming on Friday to make sure no more mice get into our house.

Mental Floss

Last Christmas, my Uncle Tim drew my name in the annual Christmas drawing of names for presents. Since we share a love of all things trivial, he gave me a subscription to a magazine called Mental Floss. I have loved this magazine- partly because it has nothing to do with food or parenting- and I wanted to share with you 10 things I learned in my last edition of Mental Floss (Sept-Oct 08).
1. The longest jellyfish on record measured 160 feet- more than half the length of a football field.
2. I already knew that our longtime Senator Strom Thurmond set the record for the longest individual filibuster but I learned that a speaker isn't allowed to walk away from the podium- not even to go to the bathroom- so Strom hit the steam room beforehand to sweat out all his excess fluid. He lasted 24 hours 18 min before asking for the bathroom key!
3. Adidas and Puma were founded by competing brothers.
4. One of my favorite campaign slogans is "We Polked you in '44, we shall Pierce you in '52." Pierce won.
5. Walter Mondale's 1984 slogan was "America Needs a Change." Unfortunately for Mondale, Reagan won 49 of the 50 states.
6. Ukraine has a 99.4% literacy rate.
7. KFC's slogan in China is translated as "Eat your fingers off!" (Michelle, Sb- is this true?)
8. Actress Robin Givens married tennis coach Svetozar Marinkovic in 1997, but they separated later the same day.
9. There was a Bible printed in 1631 dubbed "Wicked Bible" b/c the printers forgot a not and printed "Thou shalt commit adultery."
10. The printers of that Bible were executed.

So Busy

I've enjoyed every thing we have done lately but I don't like being so busy that I have to go grocery shopping at 10pm. Anyhow....Friday evening we got to have Lindsey and her parents over for dinner. Lindsey lived in India the same time we did and we haven't seen her in a year. It was WONDERFUL to reconnect with her.

Saturday we met my parents at the Apple Festival in Hendersonville. We have gone many times over the years but this time may have been the hottest. It took a little of the fall atmosphere away. The girls seemed to enjoy it and we certainly did. Although we made a quick exit when Kiran started falling apart and left without getting any apples :(

Main Street in Hendersonville

Grandma (Da-ju), Chief, Sienna & Kiran taking a break from the heat

We enjoyed ourselves!

Sienna peeking out of the wrap

Sunday we went back to TFBC to see our nephew Jay dedicated. I don't have any pictures of that or the brunch afterwards yet.

Tonight we went to my parents' house for a Labor Day/.Lauren's Birthday/Kelley's Birthday cook out. We did get all five grandkids together for a picture but I don't have that one yet either.

It doesn't seem life is going to slow down any time soon. We're hosting three events in the next 6 days- culminating with our oldest turning TWO! Wow. I need to go sleep.