Never to sit down again....

Wild Boy Garrett is officially walking! Everywhere. I'm scared. I don't think that he will ever sit still again. He is soooo proud of himself and he just waits for approval. He still can't get up to standing from the floor so he uses the couch and then walks around until he falls and crawls back to the couch to get up again smiling all the way. It really is so cute. Just way too early.

Oh BABY!

Kim doesn't blog.... yet, so I am going to do it for her...

Introducing..... LONDYN ELISE RENTMEISTER

Kim and JR had their 2nd beautiful little girl on Monday, January 12, 2009. She was a whopping 8 lbs. 12 oz. with the most shiny black hair I have ever seen. The sad part is that I was off to Hawaii on the big day and missed it all. I was so bummed out but was able to get updates and progress reports over the phone. Congratualations on a healthy, happy, beautiful, content, chubby little girl!

I love her. She is so sweet and content. I could hold her all day. I can already tell that she is going to be very laid back. She is super relaxed and can sleep through any noise... I am jealous of this.. Garrett is the lightest sleeper and wakes up at the lightest sound. Hey, opposites attract right? Maybe they will get married!

Hawaii Report

Is this the most beautiful place on earth? I think so...

Hawaii was amazing. I did NOT want to come home to the cold. We went for 8 days to Kauai thanks to my wonderful parents... this was our Christmas Gift. I may have some of the best parents on earth... not because of the trip but because of what the trip allowed us to do... spend time with each other with no other obligations or worries in the most beautiful place on earth. The kids had a blast and loved hanging out with each other 24/7. We left on Friday morning and arrived after dark on Friday night... that made for a very long day traveling with a 9 month old baby... but, we made it! The first 2 nights we stayed in Princeville which is an amazing resort/condo community. The rest of the week we stayed in a 3 bedroom house in a little town called Koloa. We ate ice cream and shave ice... and everything else we could shove in our faces.. It was the best. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE to eat? Well, eating is by far my favorite thing to do and I did it well in Hawaii...

Here is Gracie playing on the beach and in the ocean. She hated the sand in her swim suit... we had to rinse it out more than once. One day, she was playing in the water and a huge wave came and knocked her down and spun her around in the sand... we all went running to see if she was okay and she just sat up and laughed....what a sport, she was completely covered in sand...too funny!
Baby Garrett loved the ocean as well. He would laugh every time a wave would reach him on the beach. He ate more sand than I want to admit and he wanted to be big and play like the other kids. He spent a lot of time practicing his walking skills, back and forth, back and forth between us. Oh yeah, he cut two more teeth while we were there... top right and left. It gave him a fever and it sucked.

We went to a luau and played on several different beaches, went in the canyon, saw whales and turtles, but my favorite thing we did was stop at some local house that was advertising fresh lei's for sale. An older couple lived there and started feeding us all this fresh fruit that they had grown in their back yard... it was very neat. We had apple bananas, coconut, oranges, and some wierd spiny red fruit that my brother was allergic to. His lips swelled up so we improvised and doped him up on baby benedryl. Funniest part of the trip... poor guy!

HAWAII IS AMAZING!!!

Happy New Year!

2009 is here... Hooray!

We celebrated the new year at home with a bottle of champagne that was never opened, good food that we didn't cook (Rubio's), a competitive game of Taboo, and many great friends. Here's to 2009!

I just wanted to post a few thoughts about the past year and the upcoming year.

2008 has been a great year... and here is why...

Although the economy tanked and I have not done much real estate, My beautiful baby Garrett was born... mom & dad survived a plane crash... Jake started his own business... we moved into another new house... we are healthy and happy... we have great family and friends... and I never have to be pregnant again thanks to the tube tie!

Here is a short list of the things I resolve to do in 2009 and beyond:

- Learn to use my new Camera well

- Work out consistently and lose the rest of this baby weight

- Keep my blog updated regularly

- Serve others and Love more


I am welcoming 2009 with open arms!

Christmas Chaos!

Okay, I have been a busy little mommy this past few weeks and have totally put the blog on the back burner...

I would like to take this time to recap the last weeks of December...

First we had Karli's Birthday to celebrate... it was a good time, we went to her Favorite place... Citris Grill, for some famous artichoke dip and I had the usual pizza number one. It was amazing, as always!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARLI! WE LOVE YOU!

On the 13th, Santa dropped off our very own 'Elf on the Shelf' which Gracie named Maddie. Maddie is an elf that comes into your house and watches the kids all day and then returns to the North Pole at night to report their behavior to Santa. What an amazing little elf... she is magic. Each morning she returned and found a new place in the house to sit and watch the kids. It was fun to see Gracie wake up each morning and run to look for Maddie's new spot.

Then we celebrated the holidays with several groups of amazing people... The first group (in no specific order) was Kim, Jenni, the kids, and the hubby's... it was a Friday night filled with gifts, lasagne, and good times. Thank you Jenni for doing pretty much everything to make the night a success. Everything turned out wonderful... probably because I didn't do ANYTHING!

You girls are priceless to me! I am so lucky to have such amazing girl friends. I hope our daughters stay friends throughout their lives and are there for each other like you have always been there for me. I love you both so much!

We then went to another fun Christmas party on Saturday hosted by some other great friends, Brian & Trina... I love this group of friends... (same group we spent Halloween with!) We are guaranteed a good time with you guys. I don't remember a lot about the night but I do know I came home with two really great aprons and a headache to last a lifetime.... Not so fun!

Next we celebrated with the Families.... My side on Sunday at Grandma Lucy's! I made a huge pot of Chili and my wonderful mother made her famous Clam Chowder... YUMMY! We were able to hang out with some sweet cousins that we rarely see with our busy lives. It is always good to get together with everyone even if it is only once or twice a year.

Christmas Eve was great... snow, snow and more snow! We always spend Christmas Eve at Jake's Grandparents house.... it is pure CHAOS and that is exactly what I love about it. We had a great dinner and then the fun began. Here is how it went:

Gracie opened her first gift from uncle Paul. She was sooooo excited to open it and it turned out to be FAKE POOP.... She Cried.. It was hilarious! I know I am mean but it was too funny not to laugh. She thought the poop was the only gift she was going to get...she was not happy, poor girl! The little boys all got little guys that pee when you pull down their pants... I was peed on several times that night. All the little girls got fake poop but Gracie was the only one that cried. Paul also gave all the little boys real birds....finches. Gracie wanted one sooo bad and Conner graciously said that she could have his but we are terrible mean parents and wouldn't let her take the birds home. We blamed it on Sally the Cat. I knew she would come in handy. The kids finished opening up gifts and then BINGO! I love this game. We all bring prizes for the winners... Jake won and Gracie picked a black cabbage patch doll... Success... She loves it. It was meant to be a joke gift and it turns out that the doll is just what Gracie wanted. Yay!

We got home late Christmas Eve and went to bed after midnight exhausted from all of the festivities. Karli slept over with Gracie. When we woke up on Christmas morning.... SANTA HAD CAME! It was amazing to watch how excited and happy Gracie was. She was amazed that Santa brought her stuff that she didn't even ask for. Here is a quick list of the things that Santa and others gave Gracie... talk about spoiled!

- Sleeping Beauty Barbie-Sleeping Beauty Walking Horse-Princess table and chairs-Princess Polly Pockets-Two pair of shoes-Pajamas & underwear-Make-up-Movies and Leapster games-Necklaces -Nintendo DS & Games (Granny Goose and Papa)-Portable DVD Player (Karli)-Snorkeling Gear (Grandma & Grandpa)-Littlest Pet Shop (Grandma & Grandpa Thomas)-Smart Cycle (Ya Ya) and much more... Good night.. I don't know what to do with all this Stuff!

Garrett didn't need much as he is only 9 months old... so he got clothes, pajamas, shoes, blankets, and a few toys... A walk behind or ride on fire truck and a leapster ride on/walk behind.

Jake got a new surround sound system and some clothes and shoes... not much... but I got spoiled rotten.

Jake gave me the new Cannon SXI Rebel camera that I have wanted forever! I was sooo excited. Now I just have to figure out how to use all the great features and lenses. Good thing we are off to Hawaii to try it out!

On Sunday after Christmas we went to Dorene's for another Christmas party with Jake's Mom's side of the family and played more BINGO! I won $100! It was super fun.

Somewhere in the midst of all the Christmas Chaos and the SNOW Jake wrecked my car. He chose to take my car (the one with low profile tires that doesn't stop in the snow) one snowy morning because his truck was sparkling clean and he didn't want to get it dirty. Go figure! He crashed into a huge boulder... good times... that is one expensive car wash but I'm soooo not mad because I had the best Christmas ever! Did I mention that Jake gave me the camera that I have wanted forever!!!!

I have soooo many new pics on my camera that I need to go through... so I will add pictures of all the chaos soon.

baby steps...

Garrett took his first real unaided steps on Christmas day... he turned nine months old on the 27th of December and will be fully walking very soon. I knew he would walk early but not this early.... Gracie walked at 10 and a half months. We don't know whether to be excited or not. He already gets into everything and is a very busy 9 month old boy. He is a champ at the stairs now because I still haven't learned to keep the gate up...oops! It's really cute because when he sees me coming he tries to go up or crawl as fast as he can... he crawls on his hands and feet so he can go faster. We also think he is a lefty like his daddy... how sweet.