My little man

So there’s this boy.
He kind of stole my heart.
He calls me “mommy”.

A note to a piece of my heart: Zachary.

Two years ago, you turned my world upside down. I could have never imagined how much my life was going to change being the mother of such an amazing little boy. You are really your own person. The total opposite of your sister. I have been learning so much from you. And enjoying every minute.

You are such an energetic little boy. So full of energy, going full throttle all day long. I don’t think you ever stop and sit. You love to play with your trucks and trains. You adore your sister and imitate her all the time. You get really upset when she doesn’t want to play with you. Your love for life is contagious. And your stubbornness is to be reckoned with. Not a day goes by that I don’t hear “I do it!!!!” We have our battles because you are adamant about being so independent.

Despite your stubborn streak and independence, you love your family very much. You love to snuggle and be held. It’s common to hear you asking to be picked up, usually when I am trying to do the dishes or make dinner. Bedtime is always a nice way to end the day. Snuggles in the chair while we read books. And then you stalling when Mommy and Daddy try to leave your room.

So full of love and life. You bring a certain type of joy to this house. I know that I am one of the luckiest and blessed moms in the world to call you my son. I am full of gratitude. I don’t want you to grow up too fast but I am looking forward to watching you grow and blossom.

It’s a Gabba birthday!!!

Zachary’s favorite show is Yo Gabba Gabba. He loves all the music and listens to the cds in the car on a daily basis. There was no other option than to party Gabba style for Zach’s 2nd birthday!

It was a pretty low-key event with grandparents, Stephen’s sister and boyfriend and Zachary’s friends Molly and Noah. Yet, in typical Karon-style, I had to make something. I couldn’t let even a low-key event not turn into a crafty attempt at something. I ended up making a Gabba banner (thank you Pinterest), a birthday banner, cut-outs of each of the characters and a Brobee cake. I really enjoyed myself, truth be told.

The guests were greeted by our Christmas Gabba inflatable. Yo Gabba Gabba music made a wonderful party ambiance while the kids played before lunch. Pizza, wings, salad and chips made up our yummy lunch. Zachary even ate three bowls of salad! Yum! After opening presents, we had CAKE!!!!! My Brobee cake was not professional by any standards but the squeals of happiness from Zachary helped me to overlook any imperfections that I was focusing on.

Like I said, low-key. There were no planned activities or games. The kids just enjoyed playing with Zachary’s toys and running around while the guests got to visit. A fun party if you ask me!

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Zachary turned 2!!!!

Last week, my favorite little man turned two. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been two short years since he joined our family. It’s quadruply hard to believe that we have gone from this:

to this:

Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate with the fun plans I had for Zachary’s birthday. It snowed, not a lot, but Emily’s school was cancelled and basically the entire interstate system in our area was snarled for many hours. But we flew by the seat of our pants and tried to make it a special day anyway.

Once the local roads were fairly clear, we ventured out to one of his favorite places, Dierbergs (aka “the cookie store”) for balloons and a cookie sample. We then went to one of his favorite restaurants for lunch, McAlister’s Deli, where he ate his favorite mac n’ cheese. Nothing is better than opening presents after a little snooze. I loved his face when he saw the kitchen we got for him. It didn’t surprise me in the least when the first thing he went for was the phone on the side.  He was such a crack up when opening presents. He tore wrapping paper into strips and had to make sure each piece was thrown over the side of the couch. He did NOT want help. I think he enjoyed all of his gifts.

Stephen even ventured out to Jilly’s to pick up the custom cupcakes I ordered. (Thank you Living Social for a wonderful deal.) After dinner at the place of Zachary’s choosing, we came back and had cupcakes with Grandma and Papa. More presents were opened and played with as well.

It was a long but good day. I think Zachary really had a great birthday. Despite the yucky weather, we had a great time.

Sharing a birthday

Zachary was born on his cousin Cameron’s first birthday. We decided that we would hold a joint party in Centralia this year. We thought it would be easier and that it would eliminate the issue of travel and weather for my family to travel to our house. What we didn’t plan on was sickness. Emily missed three days of school due to bronchitis and a bad ear infection. Zachary still had an ear infection and started to develop bronchitis as well. Luckily, he wasn’t contagious since he had been on antibiotics and wasn’t running a fever. Poor Emily was devastated when she was told that she couldn’t go because she woke up with a fever. She really wanted to go play with her cousins. I did promise cake though so that helped ease the sting of staying home.

Zachary and I made the drive to Centralia by ourselves. It was our first solo road trip and I must say that he did very well in the car entertaining himself. He didn’t have his sister to play with or a dvd to watch. I was hoping that he would take a nap but should have known better. He did good with his books and trucks. He was ready to get out of the car when we arrived though.

Poor Chloe was outnumbered during the party. You see, there are 7 grandkids. 5 are boys and 2 are girls. We were missing Emily and Timothy. Chloe was still outnumbered 4 to 1. She held her own though like only a 4-year-old can. The kids played, the adults chatted and then we had cake and opened presents. It was a pretty short and to the point party. Zachary was starting to cough and run a low-grade fever so I decided to high tail it out of there so no one else could get sick and blame me.

It was a good party though. We had a good visit and both boys were spoiled, as usual. I am happy to announce that, from what I am aware of, only one person got sick- Timothy and he wasn’t at the party so it wasn’t from us.

Made it past the holidays….

before the kids got sick…. Sort of.

The Thursday before New Year’s, Emily went to the City Museum with Grandma, Nina and Mike. I wasn’t really sure how much Zachary would be able to do there but it’s a good thing that we arranged to have Emily go with Grandma. We decided to take Zachary into the doctor. He had been dealing with a cold for over a month and was out of sorts. I had a huge “feel like a horrible Mommy” moment when they discovered that both of his ears were pretty infected. He never really ran a fever or complained about them. I really thought we would go and they would say that he’s just got a cold. Boy, was I wrong. Antibiotics should clear him right up.

Fast forward to January. After over two weeks of a wacky schedule, we were trying to get things back to normal. Stephen was going to work, Emily was going to school and Zach and I were going to the gym. That whole “get things back to normal” thing? Yeah, that didn’t happen. Emily woke up the next morning running a fever and hacking up a storm. So much for preschool. By Friday, it was decided that she needed to see the doctor since her cough wasn’t getting any better and the fever was just not going away. Bronchitis, as I suspected, and a really bad ear infection. I had no idea about the ear infection. Only once did she mention that her ear hurt. Apparently, that wasn’t wax it was puss. And Zachary’s ear infection hadn’t cleared up. New antibiotics for both kids. Luckily, the antibiotics were helpful when Zachary developed bronchitis.

One day I decided that the kids needed to get off the couch and do something else. I found some empty shoe boxes, paint and marbles. They had a lot of fun choosing colors and shaking the box. The results were pretty cool. They really liked their marble paintings, as did I.

Luckily, everyone is on the mend and sleeping through the night again. It was one long week!

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It’s coming…….

Kid projects

Don’t worry, the kids had a few projects as well. I haven’t been hoarding all the fun! Emily decorated her gingerbread “shack”. I say shack because I could not get the sucker to stay together very well. I keep saying next year I am going to find a pre-assembled house. Much easier. Now if I can remember that I saw them at Dierbergs this year…

Zachary, my non-crafty child, painted a candy cane. He is so funny. For being all boy, he does not like having dirty hands. I had to make sure that he had a paint brush and that we had a wash cloth nearby.

A visit to the jolly fat man

The kids and I decided to head over to the Bass Pro Shop to check out their Winter Wonderland last week. I have heard that it is a lot of fun but it is super busy. We live very close to the store and know that traffic is atrocious on the weekends and try to avoid the area at all costs. I decided that I would take the kids to see the fat man after Zachary’s nap one day so that we might have a fighting chance of seeing Santa without feeling rushed and overwhelmed. Wonderful decision!

We headed over there around 3:30 and there was one child ahead of us to see Santa. Poor little girl was about 2 or so and wanting absolutely nothing to do with him. Emily took her turn and sat right down on Santa’s lap. She told him all the things she wanted for Christmas, the big one being a new bike. She also told him that Zachary loved cars and he wanted a trike. When it came time to have Zachary sit on Santa’s other knee I began to question whether or not he would do it. It took a little coaxing and arm twisting but he did it. I am sure I told him that we needed a picture for Gaga at one point. I can bribe that kid with Gaga all day long. He wasn’t too sure of the situation but we got a decent picture and that’s what counts!

After we gave Santa our list, we decided to check out all the fun things Bass Pro had set up. We rode the little carousel three different times. It was awesome! There were no lines; no waiting; no worrying about what animal we were going to sit on. The kids got to play with the remote control cars and even take target practice with the toy gun game they had set up. Zachary loved the train set they had set up.

Definitely a good experience. Definitely glad we went during the day.

Decorating the tree

We set up our tree the day after Thanksgiving but really didn’t start decorating until Saturday. Emily was chomping at the bit to get started. She is really at a fun age! She loves Christmas and all the decorations. She really has a good time and did a great job on decorating the tree. Zachary wasn’t really sure what to think about decorating. He loves the tree. Surprisingly, we are able to leave it open this year. We weren’t sure if we were going to have to gate it or not this year but he’s doing great with it. He has only messed with it a couple of times. Our main concern is if he is going to apply the brakes on his pooh train in time before he loses control and crashes into the tree. The boy gets some major speed!

I know this will be such a fun year with both kids! Emily really gets it and Zachary is just fun. We are having a good time with our elf, Fred, and Zachary likes to point out lights and “Ho Ho”. We are going to enjoy every minute!

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Random Zachary

Zachary owns a special piece of my heart, as does Emily. Each of my children are so completely different. I never thought I could love them so much and so differently.
Here is some random Zachary love!

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