Where'd He Go???

Where'd he go? is asked repeatedly by Caleb and Carissa when they play in the back yard. Why? We have a resident baby bunny hopping around. The tots chase the bunny around the yard and when he hides they look under the deck, behind the hedges, in the flower beds, everywhere saying, "Where'd he go?" (about 50 times). Its all too cute except when I discover the little bunny has eaten away at my flowers and vegetables!

This is Carissa and Caleb with their hands up asking the popular question, Where'd he go?

Amazon.com Beauty Bargain

Hop over to Amazon.com and check out the beauty products. For a limited time, if you purchase $25. worth of merchandise from a beauty seller you will receive a free subscription to US Weekly magazine. Read the terms but basically any $25.+ beauty purchase from a single seller will come with a free subscription to US Weekly. If you don't want the magazine subscription you can request to receive the retail value of the subscription ($19.80) in the form of cash by sending in a rebate form. I have never tried this but plan to.
The bottom line? Spend $25, get $19.80 back with rebate. This makes $25. worth of beauty products only $5.20, plus shipping and handling. If you're an Amazon Prime member, your shipping is free. To browse the products that are eligible for this promotion, visit Amazon Beauty .

Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey Circus

My friend Stephanie called Friday night to offer us tickets to the Circus on Saturday morning. I said 'YES'! Jeff's father Jack, (aka Papa) helped me take the little ones. I couldn't predict how the twins would behave but they did fabulous! They were completely mesmerized by the entertainment and they loved the animals.
They sat exceptionally still and without warning would randomly clap, dance, or point to something in excitement. We had a great time.

19 Month Stats

Too busy to get the twins to their 18 month check-up on time, so here are their stats at 19 months.

Carissa:

20.4 Pounds, 3% (finally on the charts!)

32 1/4 Inches, 55%

18 1/2 Head, 55%

Caleb

26.4 Pounds, 50%

33 3/4 Inches, 75%

18 3/4 Head, 45%

Life is fun in the Kintner home. Vocabulary skills are multiplying for both tots daily. They communicate quite well and have their own language with one another. In the past month they are exercising their independence more. Two is going to be FUN. Carissa is finally a strong walker and Caleb is practicing jumping, running and skinning his knees. Elmo has become popular in our household as the twins are LOVING sesame street and all things Elmo.

52 Hours with Aunt Melanie

My Aunt Melanie came to visit me and little ones while Jeff is in Russia.
Hour 1 //After picking her up from the COS airport we headed to the 'Old Farm Park' for some fun. Aunt Melanie was hilarious going down the covered twisty slide with the kiddos. She almost got stuck!

Hour 5 // We took a scenic drive to the West of Colorado Springs in North Cheyenne Canyon Park. We ascended up Mount Baldy, the second highest mountain standing to the South of Pikes Peak and arrived at Helen Hunt Falls. The tots enjoyed walking around and taking in the big waterfall. Caleb and Carissa were highly entertained by touching the run off water from the falls.Hours 6 // We headed down the mountain to The Broadmoor, one of my favorite places in Colorado Springs. We took a walk around the pond and then settled down for a picnic dinner.
Aunt Melanie and Carissa just hangin' out and enjoying the beautiful evening.
This picture tells it all. Carissa is gracefully walking on the path while Caleb is running towards the geese. Of course Caleb arrived first. We fed the geese and their babies stale bread and occasionally Carissa would even steal a bite for herself.
Hour 25 // We took a jaunt to J.C.Penney so that Aunt Melanie could buy Caleb a pair of summer shoes. I wish I had a video for the shopping experience. Caleb was pulling shoes off of the display at breakneck speed and then throwing them in to our cart. Aunt Melanie, in her effort to distract Caleb, showed the tots 4 foam blocks to climb on. That fun ended with Caleb doing a face plant off the cubes where he achieved a nice rug burn on his left check bone. Carissa pulled her sandals off and kept repeating the word 'shoe' over and over and over. Poor girl, Aunt Melanie wanted to buy her an adorable pair of pink Sketchers but they didn't have any shoes small enough. She only wears a size 4! All in the all the shopping trip was a success. Caleb now has a fun pair of sandals. And, Carissa has a fun pair coming to her in the mail.
Hour 32 // Girls night! I got a babysitter for the tots and we headed downtown for a scrumptious dinner at the Melting Pot. We did what we do best, talk!
Hour 48 // A trip to Colorado Springs wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Garden of the Gods. We asked a young couple to take a picture of us. Amazingly, it turned out! Do you see the heart in the red rock? Apparently many people have been married in front of this natural wonder. Caleb has a new love of dogs. He's becoming a little too fearless though as he approached a Boxer dog before I could bat an eye.Hour 52 // Goodbyes and hugs. It was a special visit Aunt Melanie. Thank you.

My Niece Kelci

A frame with white ribbon weaving through the silver edges holds this special picture of my neice and I. Some of you may remember this adorable 4 year old who was the flower girl in our wedding. Her name is Kelci and she is not little anymore, she is 14. all grown up.

The past four days Kelci has been at our house to help me with the babies while Jeff is in Russia with Children's Hope Chest. We have had a fun time with the kiddos and hanging out together. During her visit I have been reminded of things that Kelci loves.
#1. She LOVES movies. Right now her favorite flick is 'Juno'. For her enjoyment I gathered a large stack of movies for her visit - a few from my friend Stacy, a couple from Netflix, and handful from the library. Kelci can watch a movie over and over again without growing tired of it. Yesterday she proved this to be true as she watched 'The Devil Wears Prada' 3 times. I believe the 3rd time she skipped through the boring parts but seriously, how many times can you watch the same movie?
#2 Kelcie LOVES boys. But what 14 year old doesn't? On Thursday during our girls night (w/ me, Kelci, Tammy & Stacy) she voted to watch 'In the Land of Women' solely because Adam Brody was the leading hottie. I admit though, he was enjoyable.
#3 Kelcie LOVES chocolate chip cookie dough. She could barely wait until dinner was over to break out the cookie dough! I personally prefer freshly baked cookies but I was outnumbered 3 to 1, so the other girls ate the dough and I baked a sheet of cookies for myself.
#4 Kelcie LOVES the color yellow. Not only does she have a lot of yellow stuff, the bands on her braces are yellow. I'd be worried about my teeth looking yellow but she doesn't care, she just likes the color yellow.
#5 Kelci LOVES shopping. During her visit we did a fair amount of shopping. When we went to the mall she went in almost every clothing store! I enjoy shopping with Kelci because it is fun to see what she thinks are the current trends. She tried to persuade me to buy a pair of jelly shoes. Hello, back to the 80's?
#6 Kelci LOVES making fun of her 'old' Aunt (me). She found my lack of knowledge about the top 100 music song charts quite amusing. I don't usually think of myself as 'old' but when she pulled up iTunes on the computer and asked me about different artists I felt pretty out of it. She did help to give me the '411' and I truly enjoyed it. I look forward to checking out these new artists!
Kelci is great with the little ones. One day we went to the park and Kelci took them down the covered twisty slide. They loved it! I tried to sport these HUGE sunglasses Kelci ordered from this site but she pulls them off much better than I do!

First Haircut!

Caleb and Carissa got their first haircut! Joanne Huddleson, a friend of ours from church did the honors.
Caleb started off the hair cut with a loud wail because he didn't like getting his hair sprayed with the water bottle. After calming down he held still and did a great job.

Prior to the big cut Caleb was sporting a curly mullet. Now he looks like a big boy.
Carissa was an angel. She just sat there and enjoyed us oooing and awwing over her.(pictured, Carissa, Angie, Joanne)

Swopes Farewell Dinner

On Saturday, May 24th Julie and Darrin Zaruba hosted a memorable Farewell Party for our dear friends Eric and Deanna Swope. It was an intimate dinner party with the closest of the Swopes friends. (Pictured, front row: Valynda, Darrin, Julie. middle row: Kay, Angie, Stacy, Eric, Deanna, Sonja, Brent. back row: Steve, Terri, Jeff, Danny, Ken) (Pictured, Angie, Deanna, Stacy, Julie)
The Zaruba's recruited Terri Skiba and family to cater the evening. While listening to local young artist Andy Brown play the piano, we enjoyed culinary delicacies in a relaxed and fun atmosphere. I especially loved the guacamole dip and the chocolate crepe dessert (pic. left)!
At the end of the evening we gathered in the Zaruba's family room to share stories about Eric and Deanna and to express what we appreciate most about them as people and friends. There was Laughter, Tears, Hugs and a prayer of covering as they move closer to family in Birmingham, Alabama.

Eric and Deanna, you are deeply loved.

You will be missed in our day to day community but we will not forget how much we cherish you.

New Eyes = New Normal

On Friday I got a new pair of eyes! Thanks to LASIK I can now see 20/15 (clearer than 20/20).

My good friend Stacy (pictured with me left) accompanied me to Buckley Vision Institute where I experienced the new VISX CustomVue technology. Two hours later, and less than 10 minutes in the surgery room, I was seeing more clearly than I have in years.

I have considered LASIK for a long time but my fears of 'going under the knife' have held me back from pursuing it. After my personal consultation and eye exam at BVI I felt confident in moving forward with the surgery. Dr. Buckley has performed over 30,000 vision correction procedures and ranks among the top five percent of all VISX surgeons nationwide. His clinic touts a 99% success rate and offers a 20/20 money back guarantee.

What was the LASIK Procedure like?

1. The nurse gave me a mild sedative (wished it wasn't so mild, I was very nervous). Thirty minutes later she thoroughly cleaned the outside of my eyes and I put on an attractive blue hair cap upon entering the surgery room.

2. After lying down on the surgery table my lids were held open with an eye instrument to prevent blinking and my eyes were numbed with eye drops. (I couldn't believe that my eyes were numb after only one drop so I asked Dr. Buckley, 'are you sure I'm numb?' He poked my eye and said 'can you feel this?' of course I couldn't...

3. Dr. B put a device on my eye and my vision went black. A few seconds later a thin flap was created from the outer corneal layers. The flap was created blade-free which means that a laser was used instead of the older, alternate method of using a "microkeratome" blade. Creating the flap was the most uncomfortable part of the procedure. I felt like a plunger was sucking on my eye. It was a bit distressing and uncomfortable but not painful.

4. Next the laser precisely reshaped the remaining cornea beneath the flap. Dr. B instructed me to stare at a flashing light and blink my opposite eye. The laser was loud but virtually quick and painless.

5. Lastly the flap was repositioned and self-adhered within minutes. No stitches required!

When I went home I followed the Dr's orders and took a long nap (oh darn). When I awoke the fogginess had dissipated and I was seeing clearly! I am so happy with my new normal. It was well worth it.