Baby Harry

Welcome to the world Baby Harry!!

My step-brother Ben and his wife Sarah welcomed their second precious "short one"! 

Harry Benjamin Oscar Dembroski was born in Scotland on July 25, 2010. 

Congratulations!!!  We can't wait to meet Baby Harry!  xoxo

Baby Harry

and his big sister Edie

Our Niece Charlotte is 1 year old!

Our niece, Charlotte, turned one year old yesterday, July 25!  She is such a precious little girl and loved by all.  Yesterday Ethan left a voice message for her that went something like this: "Happy Birthday Charlotte, Love You!".  Megan says she'll be saving that message forever. :-)

On Saturday Charlotte celebrated her birthday at our house.  There were lots of people, gifts, food, and beautiful weather.  We had a great day and did lots of swimming and playing outside.  We were honored to host her birthday party at our home.

Yesterday Megan and James took Charlotte to have her 1 year pictures taken. 

Here are a couple of the cute pictures.

Mariah's "Little Grandma"

Mariah's Great Grandma on her dad's side passed away last week.  Petra Martinez was known to us as "Little Grandma".  Mariah spent lots of time with Little Grandma over the years and will miss her greatly.  Little Grandma turned 100 years old on July 4, 2010.  What an amazing life!

Here is the article from the newspaper.  Isabel and Reynaldo Rangel are Mariah's Grandparents. 

RACINE - Petra Martinez, 100, passed away Thursday evening, July 15, 2010, in Wheaton Franciscan-All Saints Hospital. She was born July 4, 1910 in Sabinas y Delgo, Mexico the daughter of Juventino and Ricarda (nee: Ruiz) Montoya. Petra married Manuel Martinez in Texas. He preceded her in death. A homemaker, she was a member of Iglesia de Dios Penticostal M.I. Survivors include her children Adelina (Luis) Rivera and their 12 children, Isabel (Reynaldo) Rangel and their two children, Maria Arebalo and her three children, Tito Armando Rodriguez and his six children, and Olga (Kevin) Turner and their 7 children. She is also survived by 41 great-grandchildren, many great- great-grandchildren, other relatives and friends. She was also preceded in death by three sons, Marcelino Martinez, and Alberto and Angel Rodriquez. Funeral services will be Wednesday, July 21, 2010, at 11:30 a.m. in the funeral home Rev.Manuel Lozano officiating. Burial will follow in West Lawn Memorial Park. Visitation will be Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. until the time of the service in the funeral home. STROUF FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATION SERVICES 1001 High Street 632-5101 Online guest book: www.strouf.com

Happy Anniversary to US!

Cory and I have been married for 4 years today!!

Love you honey xoxo

Big Boy Bed - Step 1

On Tuesday I converted Ethan's toddler bed in to a full size BIG BOY BED!!  He absolutely loves it and has been sleeping through the night ever since.  He loves snuggling in to his bed and having lots of room for himself, his "friends", pillows, and blankets.  He also loves when mommy snuggles in by him for a couple minutes each night while tucking him in. :-)  Mommy loves that part too!!  hee hee

Right now we only have a mattress on his bed.  We will pick up a box spring this weekend and complete the set up.  I took this picture this morning after he already got out of bed.  I will take some more nice pics later when everything is completely set up. 

Tons of Pictures!

I have been uploading lots of pictures to flickr. 

Check them out at the links below! :-)

Donny and Molly's Wedding

Some additions to May

June and July

4th of July

Chicago

and 4 new videos

www.lateride.com

Here is a picture taken (by media - not me) from the ride we did on Saturday night/Sunday morning. These groups were behind us.  I have some cool similar pics that I will post later.  Were were in front of them in the VIP section. 

Glasses

Mariah no longer has perfect vision, but she is still pretty close.  She had her first eye exam on Friday and they decided she needed to get a pair of glasses.  She is very lucky and only has to wear them when she is trying to see things far away.  She picked out a trendy pair of frames and should have them in a couple days. 

Chicago, Camping, Wedding, Baptism...

Yes, all of these things took place in one weekend! 

On Saturday morning Mariah left with Uncle Scotty for an over night camping trip in Iola.  They went up to see a car show and hang out with my mom and Harry, and other aunts and uncles.  Mariah had a lot of fun!  She played in the kayak, canoe, swam in mucky water without letting her feet touch the bottom, sat around campfires, and spent lots of time checking out cars at the car show.

Cory, Ethan, and I went to a combined wedding vow renewal and baptism on Saturday.  It was a beautiful day and the setting was very pretty.  It was in a park with large trees (and a great playset that Ethan loved).  Cory and I left from the wedding and headed to Chicago.  Ethan stayed with grandma Linda. 

In Chicago, Cory and I stayed at a beautiful hotel downtown.  We had a 16th story view of the lake, Navy Pier, Grant Park, Buckingham Fountain, shedd aquarium, and many other buildings.  We really enjoyed exploring the streets of Chicago.  We walked all over, ate dinner at a very nice family run Italian restaurant, and then got ready for our big ride!  The festivities started at 10pm and our 25 mile bike ride started at midnight.  We rode straight through and finished the ride around 2:15am.  We were very proud of ourselves for completing the ride and still being able to walk afterwards!  We got back to our hotel around 2:45am, celebrated our success with some mimosa's, and then slept until 9:30am. 

I have a lot of pictures and will put them on flickr within the next couple days!

Together

This post is for my followers.  If you received notices for lots of new posts from me today I would like to let you know that they are actually old posts.  I just merged my "Bartlett Family" and "Love My Little's" blogs together into one blog.  No more bouncing back and forth. :-)  I will be deleting the "Love My Little's" site.
Thanks and Happy Friday!!
Kelly :-)

To Be A Kid Again...

Oh what it would be like to be a kid again:

• Sleep in on summer days
• Worry about little
• Biggest cares are about what to wear, who to invite over, what sports to get involved in, what dog to play catch with, what show to watch on TV, how to style your hair or wear your make-up...

Ahhh... to be a kid again... 

To be an adult:

• Find a partner to share your life with
• Pick a home and neighborhood to raise a family
• Find a job that will pay the bills and allow you to have time for family
• Stay sane while balancing marriage, bills, work, kids, animals, friends, activities, laundry, cleaning, shopping, food planning, exercise
• Research everything to make sure you are feeding your family the right milk, putting the right sunscreen on them, getting them the right shots, taking them to the right dentists, sending them to the right daycare, enrolling them in the right school, allowing them to hang out with the right friends, teaching them the right life lessons

...and the hardest part of all... making sure your partner agrees with everything you do at all times...and somehow trying to keep an emotional bond with your partner at all times through all of life's challenges...trying to find compromises as a couple...trying to make all of life's choices together...

Wouldn't it be nice if just once in a while we could step back and be a kid again... maybe for even just one day?!

Maybe not...

Today is day three in my first class towards my masters degree.  I am already not enjoying it and feeling the loads of extra stress... maybe this isn't the right time to go back.  For the past two years I was dead set on the fact that I was done with school and not going to be a professional person.  I was done with the stress of studying while juggling everything else.  Then within the past month or two something triggered me to go back and give it my best... well... I did just that and am now changing my mind. 

I guess I really need to figure out what I want to do in life.  Do I want to make lots of money and work long hours and be important in the professional world?  OR... do I want to stay where I am and make okay money and have set hours and time for family and friends?  As inviting and challenging as option one sounds... I think that my heart is in option two.  As many know my real dream in life would be to live in Florida, be a stay at home mom, and have five kids.  AND as many know that is not going to happen. :-( So, maybe option two is the best compromise for me. 

Maybe this school thing was a reality check for me, an eye opener, something to make me realize that I am good where I am.  I don't need a challenging career.  I don't want a challenging career.  I just want to work at my secretarial job, have Pampered Chef shows once in a while, and then spend the rest of my time with family and friends.  That fits me better.  Ahhh feeling the stress lessen already...

Back to school.......

Yesterday I started my first class towards earning my masters in Higher Education Administration... Excited, yes... nervous, even more so!  I will give this first class my best... but not sure I will stick with the entire program.  I still am not really sure why I am doing this?!  If only I really knew what I wanted to be when I grew up... Sure wish I could have a professional career as a stay at home mommy.... BIG sigh