We received some snow and lots of rain the last week. We accomplished our yearly Christmas tree hunt while it was snowing heavily up in the foothills. One of my best snow driving experiences yet. Kaitelyn wasn't to sure about the snow, mostly from getting cold and wet. Email if you want more pics and I'll give you the password for the gmail account with all the pics and vids.

We spent Thanksgiving hanging out at home enjoying Brandy's cooking.


Brandy and Kaitelyn went to the Festival of Trees on 11/24. Kaitelyn had a great time and was very proud of her face paint.


Kaitelyn went to her first dental appointment last week and she was all proud walking out of the office.

Kaitelyn and Leah hanging out while she was here visiting. We look forward to visiting them and we did buy some plane tickets to visit CO 4/18 thru 4/22 and KS 4/22 thru 4/27.

Our good friends, Sarah and John were in town visiting and stayed with us over this past week. It was so much fun having them around. Leah (their little girl) and Kaitelyn had so much fun together. They were like two peas in a pod, they got along so well.

It was very sad to see them go, but we will see them soon! I miss them already :(

The Annual Halloween Party...

Luke and I were scientists this year.

Kaitelyn was sick over that weekend. Even with a 102 fever, she was still having a good time at the party.

Matt and Maddy, aren't they cute!

This year, the party was a little low key. A lot of people were still down in San Diego and were unable to make it to the party. However, it was still a lot of fun. There was lots to eat, drink and talk about. Kyle and Melynda did such a wonderful job decorating their home. I wish we had taken more pictures to share.

This is Kaitelyn's first art project. I was so excited to see it hanging on the wall outside her classroom. I cannot wait to see more!

Let's see...where do we start.

It's been a little hectic in the Chermak household the past few weeks. Brandy has been getting used to working again. Kaitelyn is finally getting used to daycare. Last Tuesday, she let her mommy leave without one tear, not even a whimper. However, the rest of the week, she kinda whimpered when mommy left. Luke has been busy working his graveyard shift.

We're pretty excited to be home and being able to do home improvement projects again. We're really excited to be getting new cabinets, sink, counter-tops and flooring in the kitchen soon. We will also be installing a dishwasher, which means we will have to give up our old school rollie pollie dishwasher :( That thing is a tank!!

Halloween was a lot of fun for us. Kaitelyn was a little monkey and she really enjoyed trick-o-treating this year.

This is Kaitelyn's way of feeding the beagle. Need I say more? :D

Kaitelyn with her new friend Madelyne

Kaitelyn and I spent our last free day at the Zoo with our new friends Melissa and Madelyn. The girls has so much fun running around, hanging out with the hippos and flamingos.

Hanging out at the Las Americas Outlet Mall. Doing last minute shoe shopping before returning to Washington.

Kaitelyn's last visit to the Pepper Grove Park at Balboa Park.

Kaitelyn showing off her horse-riding skills.

Little miss silly pants trying to give us a serious face :)

No Daddy...you're doing it all wrong, I'll take back my horsey now.

Fi.. fi... the watch dog! Gaurding Kaitelyn's horsey while she takes a break.

Awww.... so cute!
Kaitelyn was so exhausted from our last visit to Seaworld. The two of us spent that day visiting some of our favorite shows (ie. Pets Rule and the Sea Otter and Sea Lion Show) and shopping for the perfect Shamu souvenir.

Kaitelyn wanted to show her friend Leah that she finally learned to show us how old she is.

This was during our last week in CA. Kaitelyn and I had fun lounging by the pool the last two weeks we were there. There were days we had the pool and hot tub to ourselves. By the end of our 6month stay in CA, she loved wearing her life vest in the water. She's also into jumping from the edge of the pool into our arms and going under water (with assistance of course).

She's so talented. Can you believe our 15 monther spelled out her name in bathtub paint? ;)

My friend Rhonda from Kansas was down in San Diego visiting relatives. So we were able to meet up at the San Diego Zoo one afternoon for a couple of hours. It was so nice to see her again and do some catching up.

Rhonda is a HUGE K-STATE fan. I was never that involved in wearing the K-state colors until we became friends at work and she took me to the one and only collegiate football game.

Strawberry oatmeal anyone? I have leftovers...

Okay...so some of you may remember me mentioning we had a leak in our bathroom. Well, it was about four weeks before we were planning to come home. We were in a one bedroom one bathroom apartment when one evening I heard this big gush of water. I didn't think anything of it at first, but then I realized this running water was coming from our bathroom. Well...I checked our bathroom and to my surprise water was pouring out of our ceiling above the light in our bathtub.

The next day...Portofino found mold everywhere inside the walls of our bathroom and we found mold inside our bedroom closet on the walls and carpet. We were forced to move abruptly, but it wasn't all bad. It was like the "Jeffersons", moving on up to the Eastside. We did move to the eastside of the complex and into a bigger and more luxurious 2bed 2bath apartment. It was exciting to be in a nicer apartment, but we wished we could have had the better apartment from the beginning.

Well... the last few weeks have been very very hectic, hence the reason for no postings since September. Kaitelyn and I were busy doing last minute shopping, site-seeing and catching sun at the pool before our trip back home on October 17th. Luke unfortunately, was very busy with work and missed out on a lot, he was working a crazy schedule of 10:30am - 730pm Sunday - Saturday. Luke was able to hit the road Sunday morning from California and made it back home with our junk and farm of animals on Monday afternoon. It's such a wonderful feeling to be back in your own home with your own stuff. Apartment living with four animals was not easy!!!

As some of you may have seen all over the news, there are wildfires all over Southern California and many people are seeking refuge at the Qualcomm Stadium. We were staying in the Portofino Apartments which are just kitty corner from the stadium. We are very fortunate that we were able to come home less than a week before these fires broke out. Unfortunately, for some of our friends, they are still down there enduring the smoke and staying alert of the changing conditions.

Here are some new pics of our family to keep you up to date. Oh yeah...it's amazing how much things can change in 6 months.

Kaitelyn is such a goober...whenever she takes the first bite of something, she makes an awful face like it's disgusting.

We had some friends over for one last "Meatloaf" dinner before Luke started his crazy work schedule. I believe this picture was taken the night before the infamous leak in our bathroom, but that's another story.

Kaitelyn struggles to fit into mommy's bra. She took it from the folded (clean) pile.

Ahhh...the life of a child.

Kaitelyn and I came home Wednesday evening and by Thursday evening, we were without power. A windstorm hit western Washington and knocked power out for thousands of people. We were fortunate to only lose power for about 28 hours. Last December, we were without power for a few days.

Friday, I put Kaitelyn back into daycare while I used the day to toddler proof her room and catch up with my neighbors. Kaitelyn has not been taking the whole daycare thing too well. This morning, we didn't even make it to her room and she started crying and screaming. It just tore me up to see her like that. She's never been disappointed to go anywhere especially where other children are and toys. I stayed for 20 minutes to try and console her, but it didn't help. I finally just had to leave my crying child :(

Returning to work has been better than I anticipated. I was so nervous on my first day back, that I was having to visit the ladies room every 20minutes or so and I had those butterflies in my stomach. Everyone has been very nice and has said nothing but nice things to me.

Why are the lights flashing? Oh yeah, she can go anywhere now.

Should have backed up. One less for the zoo;)

It was entertaining to see this guy sail his way across the bay on his surfboard with an umbrella.

Poor Triton and Alexis

Last week, Maddy, Kaitelyn and I took the dogs for a small walk around the apartment complex and a quick stop at the dog park along the way. We came back and the dogs were completely exhausted. Poor puppies, they're not used to the heat and humidity.

I couldn't resist...(hee, hee, hee). Poor Luke, this is what happens when he works day shift.

WOO WHOOO... DATE NIGHT, BABY!

Last Friday, Luke and I were able to get out on our own for a quiet dinner to ourselves. Matt and Maddy were kind enough to take Kaitelyn for us. However, we dropped Kaitelyn off at their place at 7pm with a big bag of toys and books (thinking they would have a long night of playing ahead of them), we were wrong. Kaitelyn crashed at their place a half an hour later. Maddy was crushed that she couldn't have more time with Kaitelyn to play. I guess we will have to do it again.

Luke and I didn't do anything fancy schmancy, just dinner at Coronado Brewing Company and and evening stroll along Mission Beach. It was nice to get out just the two of us for once. I think this was the third date night we've had since Kaitelyn was born.