Adventures of Pandi Bear and Aly Bug

I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family. We miss and love you all :)

Well, it's 3 weeks till Christmas. I'm not done shopping, doing Christmas cards, or wrapping. Another year of procrastinating. LOL Alyson should be really fun this Christmas. She's grown so much lately. She's finally started talking a little bit more and her personality is showing through. Andrea is ready for Christmas as always. Neither of them are too picky about what they want for Christmas. Aly is into Toy Story and Andrea likes Disney channel and her barbies. LOL I just need to finish shopping for the girls. I just have no clue what to get them. They already have so much stuff. HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all our friends and family Kiley

This week has been a bit insane. Most of it started last week. I found out that my cousin Joe was killed. He was run over by a garbage truck. RIP Joe. And if that weren't bad enough, I also found out that my cousin Micky was killed in a car wreck on Monday. RIP Micky. Mom also told me that a cousin named Debbie had died. I never met her or anything but RIP Debbie. I just wish relatives would stop dying. It's freaking me out. Then I got a call on Friday regarding a temp job from the agency that I spoke with last week. I was originally supposed to start on Monday but that didn't work out. Then I did start on Tuesday. Unfortunately, no one told the company that I was working for that I was coming. It all worked out in the end. :) It's all data entry which is super easy just time consuming. LOL Aly did great these two days with a sitter which I was afraid of. The kids are doing great. Aly comes up with more words everyday. Yesterday she asked her daddy ...

I found out last night that my cousin was killed. He was a really good person who left behind a wife and 3 little boys. My thoughts and love are with my family back home. I'm sorry that I will not be able to be there.

So as most of you know, Andrea has struggled to gain weight. Whether it be my fault for not knowing I was pregnant to some other reason I had no part in, she just has had lots of problems gaining weight. As of her birthday this year, the doctor decided to try a new tactic to help her in this area. He told me to have her take a vitamin a day and drink pedia-sure. She seems to like the chocolate and no other flavor, and yes it's expensive. Yesterday, we went back to the doctor to have a weight check. In September, she weighed 40.5 lbs. yes I know she's a skinny stinker. We went in yesterday and they weighed her. I was baffled, I read 40 lbs and was instantly sad. I don't know what else we can do to help her. Then the doctor comes in and is very pleased. I mentions that I don't know what happened and that I'm just at a loss. That's when he tells me that she weighs 46 lbs. I was instantly relieved and now think I need to get my eyes checked. LOL Yes ...

It is finally time to admit that Alyson is not a baby anymore. :( The final nail in the coffin is the fact that as of last night, she no longer sleeps in a crib. We converted it over to a day bed until we can find the piece that makes it a toddler bed. She did great!!!! She stayed in the bed the whole night and didn't even fall out. I knew this day was going to come but I have to say that I'm sad that it's here. On the other hand, I am so very proud of Aly. She is turning into quite the little smart stinker. On a side note, I went to a temp agency today and will hopefully be getting some work soon. Getting out of the house will be fantabulous. Well have a great day/week. :)

Last night Andrea and I had a really cool experience. After dinner, she and I went to see the Navy Sea Chanters. The Navy Sea Chanters is part of the official Navy band (1/5). They are the chorus part. The performed at a nearby school. They have amazing voice and performed a bunch of different songs. At one point, a group of 5 of the guys sang Frankie Valli songs. And another point in the concert, they sang songs of the 1960s which was really cool. At the end of the concert, we got to shake hands and speak with some of the performers. Andrea really enjoyed herself as did I. If ever given the opportunity, I suggest seeing these wonderful performers. The nice thing is that their concerts are free and occasionally you have to have tickets but they are free as well. They have several more concerts this year and a couple include other parts of the band. Check out their website at http://www.navyband.navy.mil . It would be a good time for anyone and I highly suggest it. :)

Well as most kids and parents know, it is generally the end of the first semester of the school year. It is a stressful time of year for some kids as they do not know how their parents will react if their report card is not good. Andrea has always been one of those kids that thinks she is not doing well but knocks it out of the ball park. As was the case for this report card. She asked me one day if I would still love her if she didn't get As. I was sad that she asked me that question because no one should ever withhold affection over a grade. I immediately told her that it didn't matter to me if she got straight Fs, I would always love her. Before looking at her report card, I asked if she had tried her best and she said she had. That alone would have been enough for me. Just to let you know, she got straight A's of which I had no doubt. The kid is smart and since I'm biased I'm saying that from the standpoint that other people have recognized this intellige...

This weekend was a fairly lazy one in the house. It was jammie day on Saturday which was nice. Not having to worry about getting dressed and facing the world. James and I worked on hanging pictures which is pretty good since we have lived here for a couple of months and actually have pictures hung. :) Sunday we worked on various things and played some World of Warcraft with Andi. Aly watched Chipmunks 2 like 3 times. Monday was the start of another busy day. Andi going to school and James going to work. Aly and I did our usual stuff. But yesterday was a little different. I did a little Christmas shopping. I won't say what I picked out for the girls for a couple of reasons. 1) I really like to see their reactions on Christmas. 2) Andrea has a computer and could potentially look here and figure out what she is getting. 3) Christmas is all about them so why spoil their excitement. I also applied for some jobs yesterday. I really miss the working world but will miss the tim...

So today I'm working on getting my Avon order in. I just started selling Avon earlier this year. I think I'm doing pretty good. My mom sells in Buckhannon for me, while I sell in Manassas. If you would like a book please let either my mom or I know and we will get you one. :) I realize that the economy is tough and that people just don't have money so I don't get angry when people don't order. I just wonder about things. I'm currently offering a free contest on my Avon face book page. AVON By Kiley and have sent an invitation to all my friends. All they have to do is suggest my site to their friends until I hit 100 people who like the page. Keep in mind that the contest is free and there is no purchase necessary to win. What I'm confused about is that a lot of people don't want to do it. I mean I'm not trying to steal any customers from any other reps, but just want 100 people to like the page and to get the Avon brand out there even more. An...

Sunday was Halloween. It was a pretty busy day for several reasons. First off, I had to go to the grocery store at least for a couple of items since I was unable to do the shopping on Saturday like I normally do. Then the pumpkins had to be carved and we had three of them. They turned out nice. Andrea wanted hers to be a vampire and Aly's was a smiley face with fangs. The third one turned out to be the words "Am I Scary" which James was aiming to make it "Andi and Aly" but the N accidentally turned into a M. LOL Part of the day was James trying to get some part for his labtop to work, which didn't turn out well. Looks like we're going to have to replace it when we can :( I got dinner ready at about 4:30/5:00 so that I would have enough time to get the kids ready for trick r treating. We had chicken patty's and green beans. One of our favorites. :) Then it was time to get the kids ready to go out. Aly's costume was easy since she was ...

Ok so we had a separate day today as a family. James went to the rally in DC. The one hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. He said that he had lots of fun. He went with his friend Christa and some of her friends. The dressed up and carried signs at the rally. They got to see a lot of stuff on a jumbo-tron. He said that they saw, Ozzy Osbourne, Cat Stevens, The Roots, Kid Rock, and the O'Jays. As well as Sam Waterson, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. I guess that they broadcasted it on Comedy Central today as it was happening. There are many, many pictures on Flickr.com. I'm jealous that he got to see Ozzy but for the most part, I honestly think I had a better day. The girls and I went to the 4th Annual Chili Cook-off sponsored by Whitt's Harley Davidson here in Manassas. We went over at about 1pm and got to try about 16 different types of chili. There was even a green chili and a white chili. Alyson wouldn't try anything but Andi and I got our fill of ...

I took the kids to the fall festival at Andi's school on Friday. We had a lot of fun. They had some games like bag toss, tug of war, and musical spot. Andrea did really well on the bag toss, she threw it in the farthest hole. I was so proud. Aly even tried the bag toss. She walked up to the hole and shoved it in. It was really cute. There was an obstacle course that Andi did really well with. You had to push the ball so far then carry it then jump with it and at the end, you had to push it with your head for about 50 yards. It was funny as well as exhausting to watch. After the obstacle course, we had some nacho chips and Andrea had a snow cone ( cherry). After that we had some really great popcorn. And then we ended the trip with 4 free books and two pumpkins. Andrea picked the biggest pumpkin and guess who had to carry it. And we walked. it's probably a quarter mile from our house, and it was one heavy pumpkin. Great start to a fun weekend. :)

This weekend is going to be crazy. We have so much going on. Today is picture day at school. Andi is wearing a cute red/white dress. She's such a girly girl. Alyson and I need to try to deliver an Avon order. Otherwise, we need to spray paint James' hat for his costume that he is wearing to the Rally to restore Sanity/Fear in DC. We also have to get some laundry done, clean the cat litter, put away clothes, clean the house, eat lunch and various other things before Andrea gets out of school. Then we go pick up Andi and her school is doing some kind of festival thing. James has to close so it will be late before he gets home. Then we have to have dinner and then he wants to carve the pumpkin with Andi, I realize that this should have already been done but what can you do. Also, he bought something for Andi's computer and needs to install that if it gets here today. Let alone play with Aly. That's just today. Let alone Andi needs to do any homework that she has. ...

I posted pictures to my facebook page the other day. Some of which were from Sunday when we took the kids a park near our house. A year ago, Aly wouldn't have been able to do much other than slide and now she climbs everywhere and does all kinds of stuff. Andrea has learned to throw a Frisbee and is learning to catch it. She gets her clumsiness from me. Looking at those pictures, I am starting to realize how much time has flown by. It seems like yesterday that Alyson was a small baby who needed me for everything and now all she does is tell me "no". Andrea completely baffles me with her intellect and sarcasm. She's 9 and more sarcastic than some 20 year olds that I know. They are just growing up too darn fast. Before I know it, Andrea will be dating and Alyson will be in school. Scary, scary thoughts. Then today, Aly and I ran some errands. We picked up Andi and then came home. After James came home, Aly and I helped with some laundry. We always fold the lau...

Last night after James finally got home, James and Andrea decided to play World of Warcraft. Andrea is really having fun playing and likes playing with us. Good family time. While they were playing I decided to play "Nickelback Live at Sturgis." Now, I love Nickelback and have seen them in concert. Aly loves music. So you can guess where this is leading. LOL I taught her to head bang. Which at two is the cutest thing I think I have ever seen. I laughed my butt off and she thought that was hysterical. So of course, I videotaped it. I have posted it on my facebook account. It is too cute. Aly loves to dance and listen to music. I always wonder what she will be as she gets older. Andrea swears that she will be a doctor. I hope so.

I had forgotten about this blog for a while. Let's have a recap of events. The last time I was on here, I was still pregnant. LOL Alyson is 2 years old now and ornery. Andrea is 9 and in 3rd grade. We live in Manassas, VA and James is no longer in the Army. I am a stay at home mom who sells Avon. Check out the website at http://www.youravon.com/krowan . Alyson decided to make me wait. She was born on August 24, 2008. On a side note, that is also my grandmother's birthday. Didn't I give her a great present. :) Aly is growing fast and learning all kinds of things. She really likes "joooice" as she says it. Andrea is still smart as a whip and proves it more a little every day. She seems to like 3rd grade. She is at a new school again this year and her teacher just had a baby girl. Andrea still loves soccer and girl scouts but isn't in them right now. James was discharged from the Army in July 2009 and we moved to Virginia. He is now working in Sterl...