South Florida Report

It is hot. Ha ha!
We have had a pretty exciting time here in Plantation. Sean's parents came to visit and we had a great visit. That is when Sean and I went to the U2 concert! It was a great show--so worth the 2 year wait!
My parents came a few weeks later. They drove across the country in our new-to-us Mini Van. Her name is Silver Streak, although I think she is grey or maybe champagne. We have joined the Mini Van club and so far I have to say I like it. We turned Rebecca's car seat around so there is less screaming so that is always good--hee hee. Now we just wait to add car seat #2!

My temp job turned into something a bit longer. I actually got a "promotion"! Long story short--I am back at the place I worked as a temp before I went to TrialGraphix. The people I used to work with are now permanent employees and they pick team members for the Quality Control/Assurance team. I got chosen by a girl I used to sit next too! It is weird reporting to her but hey it pays the rent for a few months. I plan to stay on until Baby Allen #2 arrives and there is work to be had.
I really enjoy working but I miss Rebecca terribly during the day. I know I am a better mother by having the outlet to work and use other parts of my brain a few hours a day. Sadly, the job doesn't pay enough for 2 kids in day care so I will stop working once the baby comes and we will probably keep Rebecca in day care 3 days a week. I am continuing to look for a new permanent positions and Sean is looking too.

Rebecca is blossoming at school and talks non stop--Sean taught her how to count to five and recognize "how many fingers?"--at 20 months! She repeats everything we say. I just taught her where her tush is--so funny. My dad taught her to tickle other people so she comes up to you and touches you so lightly you can hardly feel it! The other day we were leaving for school and she said "bye bye Daddy", "bye bye Kylie", "bye bye milk"--I almost peed my pants! We recently bought a potty chair but I don't think she is ready yet. She loves to sit on her potty and it is really funny when she misses and ends up on the floor!!

In closing, here is a picture of Kylie--gotta love her!

Happy Belated 4th

How cute are our children? Sad that Crissy, Elena and the Allen and Leone clan couldn't join us. Maybe next year.

I am going to be an Aunt again...

But, this time its to Baby "Kramer"!!! So very excited and just wanted to share the news. Baby K is due in December. Addison will have a cousin only 16 months younger. Actually, Blain and I are 16 months apart too. I just know that Blain and Loretta are going to be amazing parents. I could not be happier for two more deserving people. They are finding out the sex so, I will update when we hear the news. So, we have lots to celebrate when they visit in August.

Being a parent is the best and so happy my brother and sister in law get to enjoy this awesome journey...My Dad and my Grandmom are ecstatic. I just wish my Mom were here. She would be on cloud 9...I just have to remind myself that I know she is!

xoxo
Krame

One Week

One week of lunches packed...

One week of laundry clean...

One week of clothes laid out...(complete with matching socks & 'clippa's')

One week of groceries purchased...

One week of menu's planned...

One week of bed time help scheduled...

But I haven't been able to stock pile one week worth of lovings...


I'm headed to Houston this afternoon...for one week...sigh...

I've got everyone as ready as they possibly could be. I even purchased a web cam for our home PC so that I can Skype with all of my little dumplings while I'm gone.

And this is only the beginning of about 2 weeks worth of trips that don't include my family. PHEW! I'm exhausted just thinking about it....well, maybe I'm exhausted from all the planning and organizing I've done to try to keep things as simple for Whitebread as I can.

Aside from the insanity that ensues with all this traveling, things are great here!

My Mom retired at the end of last month. I threw her a "Great Big Fat Greek" Retirement Party, complete with an Indian buffet and a fish pinata. Ok, ok, so maybe I strayed from the theme, just a bit...but there was BAKLAVA...lots and LOTS of baklava! Everyone had a blast and we all learned even more about the gorgeous matriarch I call, 'Mom.' For instance, she once applied for a job as Playboy Bunny cocktail waitress at one of the old Playboy Clubs! (Who knew?!) It was a great party and the life squad only had to be called once! (My Grandma had an 'episode' and was rushed to the hospital. She's home and as fine as an 86 year old woman could be expected to be.)

Whitebread just wrapped up another semester of school (only 2 to go!). And the kids have about 2 weeks of school left before they're out for the summer.

Everyone is growing like a biscuit here at the Bunn hacienda. The picture to the right is Chef Whitebread training his young apprentice, Atticus, on his brand new outdoor grill!

And in other random news: Whenever I put on one of my tour costumes or I get my hair fixed, the first thing Loki will say to me in an exasperated voice is, "Momma! You're married!" It's the cutest thing EVER. I think that ever since he was in our friends wedding last summer he associates getting dressed up with getting married. It's cute because he gets SO excited about it. I've decided to interpret it as his way of telling me that I'm beautiful! ;D

I hope that you're all enjoying a plethora of summer adventures, yourselves!

The Latest Allen Happenings

So as you all heard my new job got cancelled. I was pretty bummed and had a good cry! It really was tough as I had got Rebecca in the last spot in day care and was slowly getting her used to it. Of course she got a cold and passed it to Sean and I!
After talking about it, we decided to keep Rebecca in day care for part time. We choose 18 hours a week. It gives her a time away from me and to socialize with other kids. She doesn't cry when I drop her off anymore so that is good. They do easel painting at school and I love the fact the fridge is covered in artwork! She even colored a Passover picture! Equal time I guess!

I do have a lead on another temp job and I am waiting to hear about that.

Wanna know a secret? Sean and I signed Rebecca up with a modeling agency. We are not telling our parents yet. We want to see if she gets any calls. It is no skin off our back if she doesn't but we did get a photo shoot out of it. The yellow one is her head-shot and the others are some of my favorites. We will see what happens. We told the agency we are thinking of like catalogs--Macy's, JC Penny, etc. Remember no mentions to my mom--we aren't even posting the pics on FB.

In the Car...

This is an actual conversation that occurred while we were in the car today. Names have not been changed, as NO ONE is innocent:

Loki: Mama, Sissy won't share!
Howie: Loki, she doesn't have anything.
Loki: Yes, she does and she won't share.
Howie: Well, what does she have? I don't see anything.
Loki: She has M&M's.
Howie: No she doesn't! Where would she have gotten M&M's from?!
Loki: They're pretend M&M's.
Howie: Loki, I'm sorry, I don't think I can make your sister share the pretend M&M's that she doesn't even realize she has.

These are the days of our lives...More to come soon!

Happy Birthday Loki

Wow, I can't believe how old our children are getting! Hope the big guy had a great day and that his momma had a special snuggle or 5 with her birthday boy. Love you all!

Ps. This was from when we first started the blog and the most "newborn" picture I could find of Loki in a hurry.

Checking in

Ok, so I didn't post last month, but that was really only 3 days ago.... So, I am either late or early, you be the judge. March was a pretty busy time for our family. Brian has been traveling quite frequently, Melissa and I parted ways at the studio so that meant I had to pick up all of her shifts and Reagan, well, she's still our crazy little monkey.

I am excited to enter into April with a newly hired manager (Britney) and not much planned in our family/work life except until the end of the month. I should be able to catch up on my sleep, cleaning, crafting, etc etc.

Tomorrow, I am planning on sending in the deposit for our mountain house/july 4th getaway. Here is the link for the house just in case those of you who are not going want to be jealous.

That's pretty much all I have on my end. I am throwing in a few pictures of Reagan... just because she is cute! Love you all.

Latest trip to Disney. We waited 1 hour and 20 minutes to see Flynn Rider and Rapunzel and it was worth every second!

I made the scrapbook for her class auction and I got this face shot, so cute!

Photos

Here is a photo from Valentine's Day. We went out to lunch and Rebecca got a red and white cookie. I had no idea the frosting was soft....she loved it!

Updates and Random Stuff

Great idea Krame--We should post at least once a month! Count me in!

Let us see what is going on here--
My parents were here in Feb for a visit. It was my Mom's Christmas Present. We had a blast and it was a nice mommy break for me. My in-laws came for a long weekend right after my parents left and that was fun too.
After that, we all got sick. I really think the first round was brought to us by the Allen's. We are now on the mend...finally! We actually went to the park this week so that was good exercise!
Next up is trying to find a baby sitter. I have decided that I would like a night out once in a while and I am tired of telling people we can't go here or there cause of Rebecca. Sean says he is not ready to leave Rebecca with a stranger yet but I think my plan of several meetings and playdates will convince him.
After that is Mommy and Me swimming classes in April. I am really looking forward to it. Rebecca loves the water so it will be great! Plus is gets us out of the apt for a bit.

Randoms--I was planning on posting pics of Rebecca but the camera needed charged and by then her hair was messed up and so forth and so one. This weekend I will get a few good shots and post!

Here I am

So I never write on this thing because I never really have much worth telling. We don't have kids to report about and the cat stories get old, although not to us. ;-). My family is going through some very difficult stuff right now so I've been dealing with that. Our website is always keeping us busy, always looking for new products, etc.

Elena is doing well although probably about fed up with all this family nonsense but she is a trooper. We had a great dinner with Addison the other night, oh and Kirky and Kramer were there too!!

Dana is flying Michelle and i up to Philly for Charlie's 1st bday party which will include a hay ride might I add. Can't wait for that!

Other than that I spend my days and nights just plugging along and trying to figure out why certain things happen the way they do. Hope to hear from everyone soon!

Crissy

A Tale of Toes!

Boy, you know it's been too long when the first post of 2011 doesn't come until March.

I have all sorts of posts swimming around my head...in fact, I even have chicken pox pictures ready to put up - and that was FOREVER ago...UGH...sorry to let the ball drop for so long. Krames, you're right...thanks for pushing our butts into gear...we really do need to keep this going.

Since there is really NO way to make up for lost time (well, it would take about 100 posts), I'll just move forward with a post that can be summed up by the health of my toenails!

Prior to Friday, the last time I had a pedicure was before we came down to Florida at Thanksgiving! Now, don't get me wrong my toes weren't a toe-tal nightmare - but they were in need of some serious help. It wasn't until Friday that I felt that I absolutely NEEDED to do something about it. On Friday we took out a 'Sex and the City' tour and one can't exactly be a tour guide for a SATC tour and not look absolutely FABULOUS!

So, I got a wonderful, kids-less, pedicure! And while it was very nice, it would have been ALOT nicer to have one of you sitting in the chair next to me!!! (Here's hoping we can make that happen soon!)

Anyway, Friday night we took a group of gals around town and showed them a wild and crazy time which I feel almost certain that none of them will remember. Not a one of them were able to get off the bus without assistance. And of course, then I wondered why I had put so much time and energy into making sure that I had all of my facts straight and followed the SATC theme (which was especially difficult since I still have yet to see an entire episode).

After getting home late Friday night, with a my toes still shining radiantly from my strappy stilletos, I arose early to adorn them in bright green knee highs and running shoes to hit the pavement with Whitebread! We finished this years 'Chasing Snakes 10K' with a completion time of 10 minutes faster than last year!!!

By the time we got home from that, I barely had a chance to rinse my little piggies off and slip them into a historic pair of 1920's mauve pumps embelleshed with sequin trim so that I could help lead a walking tour of historic downtown Johnson City dedicating the 11 new Historic Markers that have been put in place.

Luckily, that was the end of the wild toed wackiness for the weekend and my toes danced a German jig of joy as we indulged at Frieburg's, our local German restaurant for lunch and then...get ready for it...cause it really happened....the WHOLE Bunn family took a THREE hour nap!!!! It was DIVINE!

And the best part is...my toes STILL look AWESOME! :D

In other exciting news, only 1 in 5 Bunn's is still ill. Sweet Atticus is still congested but staying strong. At 11 weeks old he is the biggest Bunn baby and the happiest! We'll be hosting potty training boot camp for Elora the week after next while the kids are on Spring Break from preschool. And Loki continues to question our authority along with every other aspect of life!

And for fun, I thought you might like a pic of the crazy Bunnlettes:
In summary, things are good (albeit CRAZY)!

Much love to All...we hope to see everyone soon.

It's been too long!!!!

Hey buds!
Its really been too long since any of us have posted. Seriously, can we all please make a pact to share a post one a month? Just a few lines or an update...believe me I know we have a few minutes we can spare that are used on something else.

I am just as guilty as I have not posted on here in a long time. So, here it goes. I have been super busy lately as I know we all are each day. I have been working part-time with the Alpine recruiting and now I just started as a contract recruiter for Universal Studios Creative (part time). It is a 6-8 week contract working from home. I am pretty excited about it and hope it can lead to a continued contract but, not sure. I am keeping up with both for now just in case this is short term. Actually, I have little Addee too so let the multi tasking begin. The Universal Creative group are actually separate from the Universal Studios park in that they are more project oriented working on special projects like Harry Potter etc. My Dad continues to be amazing in helping some during the week which is a Godsend. So I will be filling positions like mechanical engineers and creative/graphic roles. I am excited about doing something different and even more excited that its remote so I can be around more for our sweet girl.

Also, my calligraphy business is going pretty well. I have had a few jobs in the pipeline going. I have a "group on" type thing through The Knot on 3/14 so I hope it goes well. I just finished a little wedding project for Fr Pat. His 80 yr old brother got re-married so he had me do flowers, order cake and set up, balloons, personalized napkins etc. It was an adventure and just completed it today. Yay! Glad that is off my to-do list! ;o)

Kirk loves his new job and its going well. He has been traveling some lately but, will be home for a while after this trip. So far so good with us both working from home but, I do think one of us will be moving into the guest room as it can get tough with calls. I am so glad he is so happy! By the way, can you believe its our 7 year wedding anniversary tomorrow? Time sure does fly by when you are having fun. We celebrated recently with a fun date night that I planned. We went out to dinner in Winter Park and then to see Wicked. We had a lot of fun!

I joined Weight Watchers on-line and I really like it. I just started a week ago and it is really cool how the system works on line and so easy. I have that extra baby weight that I would just love to lose. Not too much else new. Oh, well this is exciting. We have been planning a cruise to celebrate my Dad's retirement as he asked to do that instead of a party. We are going on a 1 week carnival cruise in August. It will be all of us going including my brother and Loretta and Grandmom. We were able to get adjoining cabins...should be an adventure! We are looking forward to it. By the way, please pencil in Addison's 1st b-day on Sunday, August 14th. Not sure where it will be yet but, that is probably the date. That way Blain and Loretta will be here too.

Well, I have blabbed enough. It is someone else's turn. I am going to put this out there in reference to our next Stetson 6 family get together. I know Katie and Howie worked hard on planning the July 4th so, I have a special request. Can each of you make a suggestion on another type of get together maybe a different time would be better? It would certainly be more fun if we can agree on date. I know the Bunn's are always making the longest drive so it would be most considerate to meet in middle somehow. Just share some ideas buds! I am sure we all appreciate our special friendship...please know that it is close to my heart even though life gets crazy busy! If you could share some ideas on the comments section of this post, please! ;o)

Okay, who is next to blog?!!! PLEASE! It only takes a couple minutes.
Love you all bunches! xoxo
Krame ;o)

PS - Here is a pic of our sweet one...this was from our Valentine's picnic in Feb in Winter Park. Just can't believe she is a little over 7 months old! ;o)

Sweet Babies!

I just love this picture of our babies, so I had to put it on here. I swear I will get all the pictures uploaded in the next few days. There are a few really cute pics of all our little Turkey Babies.

Best Friends

Welcome Addison, we are so happy you are here. Can't wait till you are big enough to play with all your new friends. But for now, just stay tiny and cute and let your Momma sleep a little.

WELCOME BABY COOPER!

Welcome to the world! We are all so excited to meet you and see you grow up! You have wonderful parents who love you so much!

Ohio Trip and various tidbits

Well I survived my first solo trip on a plane with Rebecca. Yeah! Our trip was great and it was wonderful seeing most of my Aunts, Uncles and cousins. Here are a few highlights--

We first went directly to Cleveland where my dad's sister lives. Rebecca was great and even slept for about 30 mins. When we got off the plane people said "I didn't even know there was a baby on the flight!" The lady next to me on the plane was an angel. She was super nice and even offered to hold Becca so I could take a break.
Funny thing---her name was Catherine Cooper!!

My cousin Laurie who works at a day care center got Rebecca a very loud but cool toy and she loves it. Kylie is not a fan! :P We stayed in Cleveland from Thursday to Saturday then headed across the state to my Uncle Greg's house. It is actually where my grandmother lived but his family moved in when she passed away. I love it there. It is a large farm and very quiet. It was cool enough at night to sit outside and talk-imagine that! There were a ton of fireflies and I was tempted to catch a few!

My cousin Stephanie is expecting in November so we had her family shower while we were there. There were 22 people there and Rebecca was the highlight. She smiled at everyone and sang and babbled. She was then nicknamed "the happiest baby". She even napped with all the excitement. Rebecca got to meet her Great-great Aunt and Uncle (my grandma's brother). We took a ton of pictures! Alanna was able to change her work schedule so she drove up to see us. I miss her! My cousin Nathan also came home to "harrass" Uncle Bob. I used to babysit Nathan and play with him. Now he is a college grad and training to be a Police Officer. Between you and me--Nathan is one of my favorite people ever!

The flight back home was great since I had my parents to assist. Rebecca slept most of the longest flight--man she gets heavy! She was wide awake when Sean picked us up and she got the biggest hug from Daddy. He really missed her! Kylie of course went ape crazy when she saw us and her new toy from Gramma and Grandpa! We are settling in today and I sent my parents to the grocery store while Rebecca naps, plus I need 15 minutes by myself!

Tidbit--(long story short, I hope). Sean's co-worker's mother (got that?) owns a restaurant and needs a new GM. She wants to show Sean the property and talk about him running it. It is located in Stuart, Fl about 2 hours from Orlando and 2 hours from Miami. The pay is average but he was offered 50% of the profits. That has a ton of potential salary-wise. The restaurant has been in business for 13 years. Needless to say, this is such a weird time for us. We are going to head up to the restaurant this weekend, I think and check it out. We have a ton of preliminary questions before we even talk about this career change. The what-ifs are overwhelming! I feel good about the opportunity even if we pass on it. I just know that something will come for us and we will work it out. As long as we are together we will be fine.

Happy Birthday Kater Tot! ;o)

Just wanted to wish you a very Happy Birthday! Hope you and Brian enjoy a fabulous b-day weekend in Amelia. Thank you for your wonderful friendship. Sending you much love and very happy birthday wishes.

Happy Birthday sweet friend! I LOVE YOU! xoxo

Oh BOY!

Another Lengthy Update

(because I'm COMPLETELY incapable of making these short)!

As I'm sure you won't be surprised we've got ALOT going on. It's Wild, it's Wacky, it's downright EXHAUSTING (or maybe that's just me being pregnant...lol).

My dear sweet friend Meghan just got married and Loki and I were both in the wedding. It was SUCH a treat to be in a wedding with him and he was SUCH a trooper. It was SCORCHINGLY HOT and he was NOT in any sort of attire appropriate for such heat. But he hung in there the whole time and did GREAT for photos. Here are just a few teasers for you for now.

In the picture above, we we were all supposed to be disgusted by the newlyweds kissing so I told Loki to stick his tongue out - which he did - only then I was trying to get him to look at the camera...LOL.

And here is our sweet man, soaked in sweat, ridiculously smiley and completely unwilling to change out of his "Handsome Attire"

I should also mention that while we were at Meghan's wedding, we had a tour go out...the VERY first tour, we've ever MISSED. It apparently went well. It's WEIRD having your business go on without you, but it did and I'm excited about what this means for our weekends!

I'm really in a VERY happy place right now. I've been a little more busy with work than I'd like to be this week but I am supposed to be full time and I'm probably not working more than a full time load, I'm just not accustomed to such a steady stream of projects! That being said, I couldn't be happier about our current situation. We DEFINITELY made the right decision staying put. I get to see the kids and WB thoughout my "work day." And I STILL have quite a bit of flexibility in my schedule. It's GREAT.

AND I just got the brand new HTC Droid Incredible today! And it's just that...INCREDIBLE. Well, OK, so really I don't know for sure if it's incredible, yet, since I've only had it a few hours and for the majority of those WB's been setting it all up for me and trying to figure out how to use it so he can show me...but I have high hopes.

We'll probably be headed down to Jonesborough Days this weekend to celebrate the 4th. And we have a cook out planned with my sister. So we should stay pretty busy. I'm a little bummed that we probably won't get to see any fireworks this year. Loki could probably handle them and would likely enjoy them, but Elora's still a little small and again with the whole not wanting to traumatize our children...

It's too bad we're not all together again watching the fireworks displays over the theme parks from the comfort of the resort's stair well. Sigh. Good times! I guess that's probably the ONLY thing that I'm NOT happy about: my distance from you ladies! Well, there's still time. Who knows what the future holds. I love you all and hope that you all have a Safe & Happy Fourth of July!