The End of a Decade...

...And what a decade it's been. Follow me through a little recap of the first ten years of the new millenium, or as I like top think of it a wistful walk down memory lane...

Y2K, who could forget it? We all awaited on pins and needles to see if the turning of the century would bring another day or erupt into worldwide chaos. Except for me and a few friends, nope we sat around watching the ball drop on MTV, goofing off, and doing things I'm sure our parents wouldn't have approved of... It was a good New Year, I still have some good pictures of it, in my memory and as proof that we survived. It was also the year that the second Bush was elected president among much controversy involving vote counts in his race against Al Gore, I wasn't old enough to vote, so I didn't get to cast my vote for my own personal choice.

2001, well that was a rough year, for me, my family, and all of America. For my family and I because we lost a few of our members that year, they were both too young and left too much behind. For the country (this is an obvious one) 9/11, what a tragedy. Such a wasted loss of life, so much hatred, yea that was a definite low point and I can tell you still, exactly where I was when I heard that news on the radio, funny how those tragic moments are frozen in time. I do have to throw in one high point for me, I attended my first major concert with Carly Moe, oh yea, we went to see the Backstreet Boys at the Rosea Garden and it was AMAZING!
I'm not going to bore anyone with a memoir of my first decade, just a few of the high points.

The next year was a moment when everything changed, in a big way, and yet it was good, High School Graduation. Yep That's right, the class of 2002 walked down the big aisle and we were handed our diplomas, a group of people I'd grown up with were sent out in the world to find ourselves and become grown-ups (though I don't think we all have yet). All the teachers cheered so relieved to have us off their hands finally. We were good kids, some opf us just had mouths and attitudes that I'm sure were quite wearing on the already fragile nerves of those poor teachers.

Now, in the years following not too much happened I attended college for a couple years, worked a few jobs, dated a few guys, made and lost some friends.George W. Bush beat John Kerry and John Edwards in the 2004 election, with just as much controversy as his 2000 victory presented. 2005 my paternal grandmother passed away, that was a rough time, but that rough time had a bit of silver lining as I met Aaron during that time. So, 2005 was up and down, had highpoints and lowpoints, a LOT of both. In meeting Aaron, I also met my future daughter, Paige which was a great thing. She has truly been one of the highest points of the decade, when she's not driving me crazy....I kid, I kid.

The next year (2006)came one of the greatest changes of all, I moved to Oregon City with Aaron and Paige, got a job as a dental assistant to an Endodontist. It was the biggest and most radical change that I ever chose to subject myself to. It was a great decision and a great experience, I got to re-establish a friendship with one of my best friends, with trips to Powell's and Sushi. :) Aaron also proposed that Christmas, which was a nice topper for the year.

2007 My kid brother graduated and started his journey towards adulthood, he's still on it as well...lol... We got our dog Joey, who Aaron seriously contemplated murdering after he ate a hole in our brand new bathroom wall. Paige found a new best friend in our new neighbor Ian, her senior by a year.

2008... Since it was more recent, what has happened in that year was, well, ALOT. We expanded our family with Cleo, our pit bull who has been a sister to both Paige and Joey, and a dog-ter (instead of daughter, get it?) to Aaron and I. We set a date, found out I was pregnant, and got married. Yes, in that order... We had a great wedding, thanks in large part to our family and friends who were present. We moved from the thriving metropolis of Portland back to my hometown. Paige started Kindergarten with Mrs. Mary as her teacher. And for the country, Barack Obama made history when he was elected the first black President this country has ever had, and was immediately thrust into one of the worst economic crises since the depression.

And now for the final year in this chapter (2009), Addison Kaylin was born on Feb. 3, 2009, on her Great-Granpa Reller's 80th birthday. Due to a condition on her head she was taken to Doernbecher to be checked out, we were there for a few days but she was released when the doctor's gave her a clean bill of health. We took her home. Paige turned 6, and fininshed Kindergarten with high marks (which in K means ++'s). Aaron got his contracting license and started his own flooring business, we moved into a nice place next to people that I've known all my life. Addie learned to roll over, then crawl, then walk, and she's starting to talk. Aaron turned 30. My mom turned 50 and my brother turned 21, so it's been a year full of milestones.




It's been a decade I'm glad I got to be a part of, imagine in 20 or 30 years when the teens are all saying I wish I could have had the experience of living through the 00's... Kind of like I think living through the 50's or 60's would have been pretty neat. I can look at my kids or grandkids then and say, "Hey, I did live through that decade, and what a decade it was."

Thanksgiving, family, and Walking

I am actually getting a November update in before we roll over to December, yay me! Today is the last day of the extended Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend. And It turned out quite well, especially since it was Addie's first Thanksgiving and she got to see almost ALL of her family minus a lot of cousins a a few Aunts and Uncles (in my family that's a small amount of people to miss out on).

We went from house to house just to be sure to fit everyone in and let them all bask in the cuteness that is Paige and Addison. :) We started at Great-Grandma's and ended at Aunt Patty's, with a side of in-laws, and parents thrown in. Paige even got to spend a bit of time with the other side of her family. All-in-all I have to see it was a pretty great Holiday and Addie got to celebrate it in style.
You may wonder; what style is she talking about? I will tell you. Addie has become a walking machine. She no longer crawls, phooey on that, she walks, every where. Now, she doesn't necessarily get there any faster and she does still look like a drunken sailor as she stumbles about but she does not give up. If she falls down, she just gets back up and keeps on trucking. She's not even 10 months yet (okay she will be 10 months in about 5 days, but still) I think she may be a genius. (I bet you didn't know I was a proud parent.)
Her First Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. She ate Turkey, and stuffing, and pretty much anything anyone would giver her, including peas, which in itself is a bit of a miracle.
Paige has been there and done that before when it comes to Thanksgiving, but she still had a blast. She got to see some people she hasn't seen in a long time and make a few new friends. She ate to heart's content and played until she gave herself another cold (don't ask me how). She was thrilled to have '4 whole days' off of school and excited that she got to spend so much time doing different things. We even made cupcakes (I don't cook well, so that was my contribution to the feasts). She read to nearly every person she saw and did so amazingly well. Her book skills are expanding fast and she LOVES to read.
Her cousin Kinley came over to play with her, she's 3 and a half, so their playing is always fun because of the age difference, and they did pretty well, except Kinley didn't share quitre as well as Paige would have liked. but there was a lot of laughter and very few tears, so I mark it down as a success.

As for the rest of us, it was great to see family. I love my family. Uncle Chuck brought me a picture that I am going to display in my living room as a 'Rehdorf Original' ans Karinda kicked all of our butts at a game called 'Last Word' which involves a LOT of yelling (it gets very loud, so it was the perfect game for my family). The Turkeys were fabulous and the pie was the greatest, especially Karinda's peanut butter pie, but the best thing was to get to see and spend quality time with so much of the extended family.

October Update

Okay, so thus far, I fail miserably at blogging. I think of all these amazing things in life that I should blog about and then I sit in front of the keyboard and they all flee from my head. So, today, I'll try to catch up on everything that has occurred in the last 2 months...

Addison is walking. Oh yeah you read right, so far her longest has been 7 steps before falling but still Amazing! Right? I haven't gotten any pictures f her in the act because I am just not fast enough, but still it's pretty amazing. For Halloween she was a garden gnome and it was adorable. She even wore her hat all night, which was a pretty amazing feat as she hates to have things on her head. Oh, she also dances, it's so funny, if I flip the TV to that channel that plays music all the time she immediately begins to bob and when I mute it she stops. We all find it very entertaining. Heck, if there;s nothing else going on I turn it on just so I can get a good laugh, because it's just so cute. She's 9 months now, if anyone was wondering.
That's her in an old halloween cape... she is too cute.

Paige was a pumpkin for Halloween and we went to the carnival and trick-or-treating and she did well in the candy department. Alhtough, I think her Dad and I haven't eaten most of it. Poor kid. We have a parent teacher conference next week to hear about how genius-like she is in class. I'm sure she'll have all +'s (maybe even some++)on her report card. She's excited for the Holidays, but then again, what child isn't? She brought home her song for the Christmas program..."All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth".. Very appropriate considering she lost both of hers and they haven't come back in yet.
Paige at the Carnival.


Addison refused to look at me.

Aaron turned 30 last week and has been hunting like crazy, but to no avail as he hasn't yet gotten anything and today's the last day, so i doubt that he will. Oh well, I don't know how to cut up a deer anyway. So, it saves me the trouble of learning how. Maybe next year, I wouldn't mind having venison through the winter.

Labor Day in the rain

Well, here we are in the middle of a holiday weekend and we are stuck at home. It was raining so much that we decided to stay home, we didn't want to have either of the girls get sick. And we tent camp and tents and rain aren't good together even if they have an extra weather fly. So, we set the tent up in the living room and camped 'Boot Style' as I like to think of it.

We had hotdogs for lunch(which we boiled since starting a fire in the living room seemed like a bad idea) and ribs for dinner. It was a good time, although our tent is so big, I think we might break the ceiling fan trying to get it down. Oh well, at least Paige didn't feel like she was left behind.



Addison is 7 months old now. Growing so fast. It's really pretty amazing how fast babies grow and how much they learn in such a short time. Her last doctor's appt. (which was about a month ago) she was 16 lbs and 26" they tell me she's in the 99th percentile for her height but the 50th or so for her weight. Maybe in the long run she'll beat my genes and be tall like her daddy. Little early to tell yet, but lets keep our fingers crossed.



On the other hand, Paige is 6 years old. She's pretty impressive in her reading... She can read 'Sam I Am' all by herself... and she's learning her math and how to tell time. I can tell her excitement about school is faltering a little, but over all she still loves it and asks every day if it's time for school, even on the weekend.


Paige is the best big sister and I have to say that I really hope my girls grow up with that special bond that some sister's have, even though there is such a large age gap.

As for everyone else, my mom's 50th birthday is next weekend and my brother turns 21 in November. Where does the time go? I've been helping Aaron at work alot lately. A few days a week and nearly cut my own finger off, just that I'd have an awesome scar. You know what they say, "Chicks Dig Scars". I crack myself up. For those of you that are wondering, Aaron installs floors. Primarily for Home Depot, but if you need some flooring done, you know who to call now.

First day of School

Paige had her first day of first grade today. We got up earlier than usual and prepared for school. The excitement in the air was palpable, she asked every few minutes if it was time to go. Fortunately we live close so we were ready with time to walk. So we walked. I took her in and sat her down in a classroom where my mother once did the same thing, with a teacher who once taught me things such as how to write my name with a flourish.

She had a wonderful time because lucky for her she's still at that age where learning is a pleasure and school is all about the recess. I have no doubts that first grade will be as fun for her as Kindergarten. And more kids in her class that means more friends. And that little girl is all about the friends.

I, on the other hand, was fortunate enough to spend my day cleaning (that was dripping with sarcasm, which loses a bit on paper, or website, whatever). Addison and Aaron played and crawled and watched a movie, while I did dishes, laundry, and slaved over a hot stove, okay that last part was for embellishment.
But over all, we all had a great first day of school. Only 5 more years and Addie gets to enroll... hopefully she's lucky enough to get Miss Mary for Kindergarten too.

My New Super Fantastic Blog

I've seen lots of people are into blogging lately. And as I heart Facebook and myspace, but I am so over Twitter, I thought that I would join yet another wave of the digital revolution and start my own blog. So, here we at the beginning of what looks like a beautiful relationship.