Introducing.......The Newest Van Weele

not quite sure WHAT Brian and I were thinking this afternoon, but we took the girls over to the Marin Humane Society...they've been asking for a kitten since their birthdays....and we've gone a few times this fall to see kittens, and play with them, etc.....

Brian and I weren't sure we wanted a cat again...our beloved Jake who we had for 12yrs. was put down over 3yrs. ago...but we thought "oh, how could we ever replace Jake"..he truly was the most awesome cat..ever.....

however, this afternoon, it seems that Jake has been reincarnated, in the female version....this little 3 month ball of fire, came into the house, raced around, jumped from couch to chair, jumped from a table onto Catie, leaped, climbed, knocked over stuff and scratched Meig in the face, all in the first few hours.....she's the perfect fit, and JUST like our Jake was...

we've not decided quite yet on a name for this little spitfire...but we have to say, she is CUTE, CUTE CUTE!!!!!!!!!

right now, she's sitting between the girls while they play a game of Trouble, and she's trying to hit the dice with her paw....SO CUTE!!

A Month passes us by....geesh time goes by fast...

My last post left us leaving for Cabo San Lucas on November 18th....hard to believe that so much time has gone by since then with no posting from moi!

i"ll recap Cabo to this weekend below...fun in the sun to cutting down a Christmas Tree in the cold wind and rain, to nice Christmas card photos of the girls....

Meigan will turn 4 1/2 on the 21st of this month...CRAZY! I just had to register her for kindergarten this week....even CRAZIER! how can that be....I remember our trip to New Hampshire to my parents in Dec. 04, when Meig was 18mos. old and she screamed half way to Boston, and half way back on the airplanes.....god, that was just awful...horrible.....how far she has come...though she can still have tantrums like those of years ago, which makes my gray hairs grow at the light of speed...

Catie, almost 7 1/2 (in January)..she's amazing...SO smart, reading well into a 3rd grade level, smart, smart....oh, and as of late... sarcastic, bossy, ignores her parents, rude, screaches at her mother, torments her little sister (finally, she's on the giving end of the torment, she's been tormented for 3yrs. by Meigan).....hmmmmmm.....this should be a "fun" winter season...... again, gray hairs growing at light speed!!

life is as it should be with 2 kids...never a dull moment...all are healthy, happy and just the most special gifts we could ever have in our lives!

OUR 2007 CHRISTMAS CARD PHOTO....

OFF TO CUT A TREE....

Last Sunday the 2nd we went up to Sebastopol to see Brian's oldes son Brian, his wife Karen and Maggie and Schye..who Catie and Meigan adore more than life itself...we had lunch and went in the windy, pooring rain to cut down trees...it was SO MUCH FUN! we hadn't cut a tree in years, and this was such fun.....here are Maggie, Schye and Catie & Meig infront of the tree we got....it was such a fun day...the girls ran throughout the tree farm getting sopping wet...it was fantastic!!

OTHER PICS FROM THE TRIP......

back at SFO....still smilin' though.....

This is the view off our beach...that's part of the Pedregal that you see..homes built into the cliff....ridiculous homes...BIG BIG BIG $$$$$$$ up there.....and one of those on the edge has a pool built into the rock, with a window so they can see out to the Ocean....just crazy...

one last picture before we left for the airport home.....

part of the big pool we hang out at...this is below our condo unit...and off in the distance, that's the Pacific Ocean with a gigantic cruise ship leaving...

Meig and Catie got hold of my camera and did a few goofy photos....they crack me up!

Meig needs to crash...doesn't matter which end of the lounge chair it is apparently...

awww....

Thanksgiving Day...Mexico Style....

we started the day with donuts, cheerio tricks, jumping in the pool a kazillion times during the day (that's Meig in the pink suit, airborne).. lots of fun drinks for Mommy and Daddy by the pool, a traditional (well, sort of ) dinner with our dear friends Bob and Amy at our fav. hangout in Cabo, Pancho Villas, some mariachi music and a whipped cream mustache... it was a fantastic Thanksgiving away from home.....

THE BIGGEST SHIRLEY TEMPLE....EVER!!!!!!!!!!

as you can see by Catie's face, this was like winning the lottery....we took off to San Jose del Cabo (a short ride from downtown Cabo San Lucas) to see this old style town...I was in search of an amazing restaurant that I'd seen on the Food Network (yes, I love the food channel)...we found the restaurant, but it was only open for dinner.....I was SO disappointed...but we found another amazing place for lunch..the Tropicana Inn...sounds a bit cheesy...but once inside, it's an old church, that was the most amazing place we'd ever been in...just beautiful with it's architecture, murals, etc...and top notch lunch...never mind the gigantic shirly temples the girls had....I remember being in Ixtapa, Mexico many many many many years ago, and having margaritas in glasses like the ones Catie had....

early morning sand castles on the beach....

Catie waits patiently for the phone to talk to Nana and Grampa before flying off to Cabo....

Meig calling Nana and Grampa in New Hampshire from the SF Airport while we wait for our plane to Cabo...

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Here is where we'll be spending our week!

http://www.playagranderesort.com/

it's our week of the year to have nothing but FUN!!! and this year will include swimming with dolphins! we usually go the week before Thanksgiving, but this year, our week fell on the holiday week.....

we'll have lots of poolside margaritas.....heck we've earned them!

stay tuned for pics in a week!

Adios!

Kristin, Brian, Catie & Meigan

Beautiful.....

A dear friend took this photo of Catie a few weeks ago...she's a wonderful photographer who captures my kids in photos like nobody else....

growing up so fast our girl is....so fast....and just so beautiful....

Jack-O-Lanterns.....

The girls and I had some fun this afternoon.....both were Catie's designs, carefully drawn out on paper (including the one snaggle tooth on the one on the right).....mind you, it was almost 80 degrees here today...one would think summer was upon us...not Halloween......

some pictures need no words.......

however this one does...

anyone want to guess how many Trader Joe's stickers it takes to keep Meigan quiet??????????????

Soccer Season ends......

Catie LOVED her first soccer experience....they had a great team, named the Shoukas (after an orca whale at Marine World)....Catie had never played before this year, and she really had a great time (which is really what sports for 7yrs. is all about)...

The team got beat today pretty bad, but the girls kept up their fight....after the game we had a little party with cupcakes and snacks, and their coach gave them each a trophy and some photos! Our coach, was just amazing...so great with these girls she was...just fantastic!! (as we saw other coaches who just take 8 & under girls soccer WAAAAYYY to seriously...it is a kids game)...


here is Catie getting her trophy from Coach.... ready to start the game!!!

Trick or Treat Preview

Here are the girls this morning, on our way to the safe trick or treat that our town puts on every year....the kids walk along the downtown and all stores hand out candy....very very fun!

Bri, notice the cobwebs!! The girls were insistent on them, so we got some and put them up...the front of the house looks great.......

tomorrow we carve our pumpkins....

we miss you Daddy! hurry home from London!!!

Now You See it......Now you don't......

This HUGE tree, sat on the easement to our backyard, above our pool.....causing tons and tons if pine needles in our backyard and in our pool, jamming the pool equipment, and in the late summer blocking sun from the pool..........

The picture after....NO MORE TREE!!!
it was a very happy day here for us, as our neighbor behind us on the hill cut that big ole' tree down...so...bring on next summer and the loads more sun we'll have on our pool!!!!!

Brian..check this out....it's amazing! and just think, we didn't have to pay a penny for it to be cut down!!!!! which is good, because I think the dishwasher exploding under the kitchen sink, is gonna cost us some $$$$$$$$$$.......

hurry home from London.....:)

Daddy's in London...week 1....

Brian's been gone since the 21st....and as it stands now, he's due back Nov. 15th....spending time working outside London in Godalming...a very cute suburb or London....he has already found a great pub, and a record store (for those who know Brian well, you know he's hit paydirt with a record store in this little town).....

so, the girls and I have been solo for almost 7 straight days.....so far there has been the usual busy stuff with school, etc. during the week....

now, it's Saturday night, and at 7:30pm, my dishwasher blew a MAJOR leak under the sink, flooding out the garbage disposal AND the pipes....ANd the HD cable box went out, so I had to move the very large TV we have and the stand, and I think strained my neck and shoulders in the midst of that, rewired the cable to work now......and I've had no dinner...

however, I did buy myself a nice silver bracelet today, for my anniverary (Nov 11) as Brian will be in London then....I think I deserve that...

stay tuned...week 2 without Daddy starts Sunday.....we'll see what this has in store for us...

GO RED SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All geared up in our house to cheer on our Red Sox.....Game 1 World Series...tonight!

as the girls chant " Go Red Sox, Go Red Sox, Go Red Sox".....

Another Month almost gone by....

Hard to believe it's been almost a month since my last post... seems I can't find time anymore to blog or even take pictures of the kids anymore....between flying between 2 schools, volunteering at each school, and dragging myself back to the gym and working with a trainer...I'm just too wiped to blog lately....

October is flying by....school, playdates, gymnastics, birthday parties, soccer practices and games, homework...blah, blah blah...and on and on it goes....

no pictures to share from lately (bad mother I am on that front)...but I'll have some next week after Halloween!

The Month of September

wow, the whole month went by and I didn't blog ONCE! how that happened, I'm not quite sure...but it flew by at quite a rapid rate! I'll recap best I can...

We spent Labor Day weekend out at Stinson Beach with friends who rented a house...FUN was had by all...and what a warm weekend it was out there...gorgeous...the kids were in the water for 2 days straight, and they learned to boogie board...even Meigan was riding the waves in...hilarious.....the adults sat and ate yummy food and drank wine on the beach and relaxed for 2 days...now, that is what I call a vacation!!!

after that, nothing much happened....Meigan wasn't in preschool until the 20th of Sept...then, that glorious day came, and off she went, lunchbox and all! She was so happy to start preschool again!!

We've been in soccer every weekend and Meigan has started gymnastics again every Tuesday.

Last weekend we headed up to Tahoe to do more cleaning out of the house (which isn't selling, by the way)...and it was CHILLY when we got up there Friday....well, by morning time...we had SNOW!!! and it was 28 degrees when we got up...the kids were so excited to see snow, and I thought "oh no, we have no snow clothes"...there was no snow in the forecast.....it was chilly, but it warmed up a bit in the afternoon and we went to an Oktoberfest at the Village at Squaw Valley where Catie and Meigan did kiddie bungee jumps, and Brian and I got a nice big stein of yummy beer! love those events that have something for everyone!!!

Pictures below capture the whole month of Sept...enjoy!!

Catie gets some air.....

Meig gets going....

all strapped in and ready to go!!

SNOW on September 29th????????????? yep....

All ready to go back to preschool....think she's excited???

surfer chick....she LOVED boogie boarding!!!

Catie became a pro....she was on that board for hours.....

The Week in Review Aug 18-26

This past week started out on the 19th with a whopping birthday party/pool party for Brian....of course there are NO pictures...because when one is the hostess...she forgets to use her camera....but, it was a fun party, a good time had by all and most importantly the birthday boy himself!

Monday, I recouperated from Sunday...gosh, it takes a long time to get over a party.....but on Tuesday, we had a very special day! We got to see our good friends the Kezeles...Pat, Carolyn, Lauren and Julia....they used to live here..but moved to Pasadena a few years ago sadly, and it's not that often we get to see them. Catie and Lauren have known each other since before they turned 2...and the last time the 4 girls saw one another was 2 years ago...MUCH too long!!!! but, within 5 minutes, Catie and Lauren acted like no time had gone by at all...it was great! We spent the day out at Stinson BEach where Pat & Carolyn and the girls were renting a house for a week, and the day could not have been more perfect...it was sunny, warm and just fantastic...the girls played on the beach from 12:30 until after 5:30pm when we had to drag them off for dinner...

Here are Catie and Lauren...

and Julia (about to turn 5, and Meigan dashing through the waves)
Thursday brought us a milestone...2nd grade.....here is Catie, with her show-stealing little sister posing for a quick pic on our way out the door to the first day of school...Catie likes her new techer, and hopefully this will be another amazing year at Rancho Elememtary here in Novato...

SAturday morning...8am sharp we were downtown Novato for the annual Soccer Parade...all the teams from Novato Youth Soccer decorate a truck and their team rides through town...it's so much fun and the kids have a blast! here are some pics from the parade!! Catie's team is called the Shoukas...named after the Orca who is the whale performer at Marine World in Vallejo! approporiate for Catie, since she is a big lover of whales and marine life!

here they come down Grant Avenue...it was fun to see them coming down, blowing their soccer whistles...we all had curbside seats outside a coffee house...

later on Saturday, at 2:00pm, the Shoukas had their first game! not sure what the final score was, but the kids had fun! below is a pic of Catie #1, in action on the field!!

here she is, hot and tired and she said "Mom, I really had a fun time out there"....and THAT is what it's all about..

today, Sunday the girls and I went out to Hearts Desire Beach at Tomales STate Park...we love this beach...it's on Tomales Bay, not the foggy, windy pacific side...and it was nice...we met other families with children from China, and we had a really nice day out there.... sadly, I took only 1 picture....it was just so nice to sit in my chair and chat with other parents and watch the kids play, that I didn't take many pictures....

oh, and where is Brian you ask? well, since Thursday, he's been on Long Island...having a reunion weekend with all his childhood school friends.....hmmmmm.....think I"m due for a girls weekend soon??? you betcha! :)

AUGUST 13TH! CATIE'S 6YRS. FAMILY DAY!!!

It's hard to believe that Monday marked 6 years that Catie has been a part of our lives....that's a long time......she's grown into such a beatiful, loving, sensitive, smart little girl right before our eyes...She's got an infectious laugh, she's patient with her little sister and she's pure joy!
It's hard to remember that little baby, who cried with fright upon meeting her Mom and Dad....that amazing moment in our lives, seems like forever ago....but every second of it will be forever embedded in my mind.

We love you Catie...more than you'll ever know!!

Mommy and Daddy