Laundry Baskets & Cupboards

Today I left the front room for just a couple of minutes to put away some laundry, and when I came back Joaquin had climbed into the laundry hamper. Apparently this is a really fun place to hang out since he stayed in there for almost an hour. He was delighted when one of his favorite shows...The Backyardigans...came on and he realized he could watch it while sitting in the hamper.



This is pure joy:




Yesterday Joaquin also discovered that it is great fun to sit in the kitchen cupboard. While I was cooking dinner he climbed in...and stayed for quite a while. My first thought was...can you guess?

A Christmas Story!

He looked so cute sitting in there! Tonight he was upset, so Jared just opened the cupboard door and in he went. Cheered him right up!

I Need a Napkin in my Hand

Joaquin is full of funny tidbits, and I thought I should write some down before I forget...

I guess I say "Oh my gosh!" a lot when he tells me things, so now he is ordering me to say "Oh my gosh!" if I forget. He will often yell at me to say it faster as well.

Last night he was crying in his sleep. Jared went in to see what was wrong and Joaquin said, "I need a napkin in my hand."

We went through a phase were he wanted medicine before bed. We started giving him "water medicine," which is water in a medicine cup. Works like a charm! We also used that strategy when he started demanding juice at bedtime...just fill a cup with water and call it "water juice." Once again, a happy boy.

Joaquin still loves to yell "What the hell?!" at inappropriate times. Thankfully he has the intonation down perfectly. I guess if your two year old is going to say it, he might as well say it right!

He loves to pretend his name is "Jophes." (Jared asked him if his name was Joseph once and Joaquin thought that was hilarious!)

And I am sure there are so many more that I cannot remember at this moment! :)

Pork Chops and Lemon Meringue Pie

HaPpY bIrThDaY
JARED!!!

We had a really nice time celebrating Jared's birthday...and thankfully he's easy to please. His only birthday requests were pork chops and lemon meringue pie!

Yummy!


This is how happy pork chops make Jared:


Celebrating the big 3-4!




PRESENTS!
(Soundgarden CD, New Mexico Past & Present book & an Atlas...what more could a man want?!)

Happy New Year...It's 2010!

Wow, I really can't believe it is 2010! We rang in the New Year with some great friends...The Christensen Family, The Brimhall Family and the Price Family. We have been so lucky and have made such wonderful friends here in Roswell.

We had a fun night playing Apples to Apples, eating lots of good food, and of course playing a little Rock Band...with Jared singing of course!

(Too bad I didn't take a single picture!)

We are looking forward to a great year!

Thank Goodness It's A New Year

Sadly, as I am sure all fans of the Kallunki Family Blog have noticed, it has been well over a year since I have posted anything on our blog. I have decided it is time to stop messing around and get back to business.

Since I am a bit of an obsessive freak, I have saved spots for all of the posts that I am missing...I HAVE to have them in order, so while I am going to keep the blog current from here on out, I will also be going back to add in all the wonderful memories that I did not post.

Here's to a new year...2010 here I come!

December Moments (2008)

Here are a few fun moments from December of '08:

We had a Christmas Party at church and Santa came to visit with the children. Joaquin would get no closer than this to Santa. He really wanted to give the Big Guy "knucks," but it is a little difficult from several feet to connect fists. I really wish I would have gotten the picture with Joaquin's little arm outstretched and Santa's arm stretched trying to connect for a knuck moment. Oh well! This is the only photo I was able to snap before Joaquin ran away.





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This was a cute moment between the kids. They were hanging out on the couch and Detroit was helping Joaquin with his "glare." (Some of you might remember that Detroit had an AWESOME glare when she was a toddler.) She gave him the glare (while he giggled), and then he gave her a great glare while she was looking at the camera.

(December 17)

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Since we spent Christmas in San Ramon (CA) this year, we decided to have an early Christmas in Roswell so we didn't have to haul all the presents with us. The kids were so excited to get some of their gifts before Christmas...at least Detroit was.

(December 21)

Mom & Me Slumber Party

In early December ('08) Girl Scouts offered a Mom and Me Slumber Party event in Carlsbad. We had a great time and were able to go see The Nutcracker, play games, make crafts, watch movies and we even got to take a river cruise along the Pecos to see all of the Holiday lights.

In addition to having a great time with my daughter I had a fabulous time with two of the moms in my GS troop...Nicole and Maria. Little did we know that the Slumber Party would be the beginning of a great friendship!

Moms and girls after the river cruise:

Maria & Lizzie, Me & Detroit, Melissa (I was her fill-in mom), and Nicole & Briana




Christmas on the Pecos river cruise:




No Christmas scene is complete without reference to Roswell aliens!




One of the events of the night was a fashion show. The mothers had to help the daughters make a lovely outfit out of wrapping paper. It was a lot of fun...and some of the outfits turned out really cute. Here is Detroit modeling her beautiful gown:



All of the girls in their "fashion" attire:

(Detroit, Melissa, Lizzie & Briana)


During this trip, the girls really hit it off. Detroit loves her GS friends!

Detroit, Briana and Lizzie playing games before bedtime:

(December 6)

A Mustached Thanksgiving (2008)

For some reason, Jared and Detroit decided that we needed to have a themed Thanksgiving this year. After searching high and low, we finally found our inspiration...Sponge Bob. One of our favorite scenes in the Spongebob Movie is when Patrick and Spongebob become men...by putting on seaweed mustaches. The song that follows that event is pure genius and inspired us to have a mustache Thanksgiving.

Of course when my two youngest brothers found out that we were having a mustache Thanksgiving, they decided they had to come join in the fun. It was so much fun having them here, and they had really awesome mustaches!

"Now that we're men, we have facial hair..."

How can anyone look so cute with a mustache?!

Detroit, Joaquin and I had to have a little marker help with our mustaches, which equals pure awesomeness!

Jared decided to go a little crazy...

Detroit was so delighted by her mustache!

Apparently Joaquin was not.

It's hard having a mustache.

Ryan and Brett were also delighted by their mustaches...

***UFO Museum***

Before the boys left town they decided they had to do the alien tour of Roswell. Detroit tagged along and had so much fun with her uncles. They went to several tourist shops as well as the UFO Museum.

Ryan and Detroit

Brett and Detroit

Who can resist this guy?!

***Martin's Capitol Cafe***

No trip to New Mexico is complete without eating New Mexican food. Here is our favorite place in town:

Ryan and Joaquin

Joaquin (November 2008)

There was nothing Joaquin enjoyed more at 18 months old than eating, getting messy and taking baths. Here is a particularly fun time he had with his spaghetti...

As much as Joaquin enjoyed the bath, he also enjoyed being "swaddled" in a bath towel. He could sit like this for hours...