The Carstens Family

Rec Center Classes

2009-01-29T18:12:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows me knows I like to stay busy. I have to be busy or I get bored. And a bored Niki is not a nice Niki! So every Season I sign Alahna and myself up for classes that are offered through the City Rec Centers. We have done Rock N Roll kids classes, Swimming classes, and Tumbling classes in the past. Every single class we have done in the past (6 classes total) have been a blast and Alahna has a great time going to them. So this time around I thought I would try something new - it was a Mini Music Class and was described, "Parents and baby enjoy music together. Learn lullabies and rhymes to music, increasing the child's perception of life through music. It's a fun way to bond with your little one." Sounds fun, right? WRONG!
Monday morning Ryan, Alahna and I walk into this class (hey it was his day off - gotta drag him too!) and the instructor had kids on the right of the room in tiny chairs around a pre-school type of table, and the parents on the left side of the room in bigger chairs. We should have known from that moment that this was all wrong for Alahna's age group. We should have walked out right then and there. But we had no idea the next 45 minutes would be pure torture. The instructor, bless her heart, was a nice little old lady. But she had no concept of how to teach the 18 month to about 2 and 1/2 year old age group. The first mistake as I described above was having the kids in a classroom type setting away from their parents. At Alahna's age they need the hands-on approach to learning something new. The teacher kept using words WAAAY over their heads - like count to a beat, march time, and baton! And she wanted them all to say those words! Half of those kids didn't even know how to say their names yet! So needless to say when the class was over, we headed over to the information desk and asked to switch classes (along with the other 15 or so parents that had kids in that class!)!
So on Tuesday we went back to the Rec Center and we were excited to try a different tumbling class than we had tried before. And it would have been a BLAST if Alahna wasn't having a bad day herself. She normally wakes up between 6:30 and 7:00 AM and that day she slept in til 8:30 AM! I think she over-slept because boy oh boy was she grumpy!! And she was not a nice girl! So we left class early, screaming, because we couldn't be a nice girl! Let's hope our next week at the Rec Center goes much better than this past week!

Alahna-ism's

2009-01-17T08:37:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share with you all (and jot these down before I forget) some of Alahna's latest funnies! This girl cracks me up all day long! Now that she is talking in short sentences I hear some of the cutest and funniest things! Like last night she picked up my cell phone, which has a picture of her on the screen, and tells me, "I cute." I said to her, "yes, you are!"
We are always telling her we love her and ask her if she loves us too. She says yes and then we ask her, "how much?" And she says matter-of-factly, "Much!"
And this morning she would not eat her oatmeal for breakfast (we have days where she refuses to eat, I guess today is going to be one of them...) so I ask her, "well what do you think you would eat for breakfast instead?" And without skipping a beat she says, "Hot dogs!" I was rolling on the floor laughing so hard!
Every day is something new with my crazy-but-fun toddler! And I feel truly blessed to be able to stay home with her right now!

One of my New Years Resolutions...

2009-01-02T13:04:00.000-08:00

is to be a better blogger! LMFAO! Seriously though, I haven't done one since August!!! Are you kidding me? So here is my first entry of the New Year to fulfill my Resolution!

December was a really busy month for us. It was my first full month at my new job - being a stay-at-home-mommy. We kept busy with all of the holiday events Vegas has to offer. We went to the Bellagio Botanical Gardens, Opportunity Village, we tried the Springs Preserve Light Exhibit but it was closed that night due to high winds, we saw Santa a few times, went hiking, enjoyed Christmas with the family, and finished up the month with a quick trip to Palm Springs for my nephew Tristan's 3rd birthday.

I always email everyone the months pictures (which I hope to have out by the end of the week!) so I thought I would attach a few video's of our month instead!

This first one is Christmas Eve - Alahna and I made cookies for Santa! It was a TON of fun and she now LOVES Santa!

And these next two videos of when Alahna opened up her Elmo Live from Santa!!

I promise to update this every week or every other at the most!!!

Splash Pad Fun

2008-08-19T20:29:00.000-07:00

I grew up in Hawaii where all we had is the beach (note my sarcasm?)...
Well now that I live in the desert, and it so super hot here, we have to find ways to stay cool in the summer. They have these places called "Splash Pads" with water features for the kids to run through. Alahna LOVES them and has a blast every time we go. Here are a few pictures from our last trip to one.

July = Baking, Messy Spaghetti, Playing, and Haircuts!

2008-08-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

So I know I am a month behind in posting - but we had fun in July, trying to stay cool indoors by baking pies, eating fun and messy foods, playing with our favorite toy (Little People), and getting our second haircut (see pictures at the bottom where she's in blue). I hope that after I catch up through mid-August to post more often! I just need to catch up!

4th of July - 2008

2008-08-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

We were pretty low-key for the 4th of July this year! Alahna and I were on our own, because Ryan had to work. Alahna was in bed before the fireworks went off and lucky for me she slept through all the noise! On Saturday the 5th we went up to the Boulder City train station and met some girls from my play group and rode the train. Alahna had a great time running up and down the train's aisles! Baby girl had a hard time sitting still in the seats!! Here are a few pictures from that weekend:

San Diego Vacation - June of 2008

2008-08-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

So I am a little late in posting this - but better late than never, right? LOL!
We went on vacation to San Diego at the end of June for a long weekend. We went to the beach, saw some great friends (Derek, Ann-Marie, and Alexandria), went to Sea World, and La Jolla. It was a fun trip, but a hard trip with Alahna! She was extremely fussy (working on that top molar!), and all out of whack on her sleeping schedule....so we had Miss Crabby Pants with us! She absolutely LOVED the beach though and we had a blast hanging out with our friends! I made a slideshow of my favorite pictures from the trip:

Alahna's first trip to the Circus!

2008-06-22T13:54:00.001-07:00

We took Alahna to the circus on Saturday, June 21st! We had great seats, down pretty low to the floor, and thankfully no one was sitting in the seats to the left of us. Has anyone told you how hard it is to take a toddler to a show? Well if you haven't heard the warning - let me fill you in! I really wish someone would have filled us in! Of course she pulled the "up, down, up, down" game. And she wanted to run around the seats and couldn't sit still long enough to watch a full act of the circus! Her little attention span is just way too short for a 2 hour show! We left shortly after intermission! We did get a bunch of great pictures and video though! Here are some of the best ones:

Our house has the funk...

2008-06-10T13:37:00.001-07:00

Yup, we all got these awful colds! YUCK! And I am the worst baby of them all....I hate being sick. Hopefully we will all be feeling better VERY soon!
Here are a few new pictures that I haven't shared:

Funniest Video EVER!!!!

2008-06-04T18:26:00.000-07:00

Alahna is a little HAM!!! This is WAY too funny not to watch!

Mother's Day 2008

2008-05-15T15:58:00.000-07:00

Ryan watched Alahna Saturday night while I did a MNO (mommy's night out) with some of the ladies from Alahna's play group. Little did I know they were wrapping my Mother's Day present!

I woke up Sunday morning to Alahna playing in her crib and when I walked into her room saw the presents laying on top of her changing table. It was so sweet! They had brown paper on them with Alahna's "drawing's" and a note from Ryan that said, "just in case you couldn't tell, this says, "mommy, I love you!"" Alahna sat in my lap as we called Ry on speaker phone (he had to work) and opened the presents! This is what we opened:

Alahna and I just relaxed at home in our PJ's for the morning, and then when Ry got off of work we went to Jeff and Vicki's for some pool time and dinner! Alahna was so funny in the pool! I wish I had got some pictures to share, but she wouldn't touch the water! She laid on top of me on the pool raft the entire time! She loved all of the animals over there....the dogs, and fish, cat, and turtles! I think I might have a future vet on my hands! She is absolutely CRAZY about animals! She is too funny though....she thinks they all say "meow!" You ask her what a cat says, and she says "meow" but then you ask her what a doggie says and she says, "meow!" LOL! But she did say "doggie" for the first time over there as well! She is growing up sooooooooo fast! Here is my 14 month old girl on Mother's Day:

Pump It Up Birthday Party

2008-05-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

Our friends son, Jacob, had his 8th birthday party this past weekend at Pump It Up! Alahna had a blast sliding down the inflatable slides and jumping in the bounce houses.

Beginning with Blogs!

2008-05-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

I honestly have no clue what I am doing, but thought I would follow my sister's suit and create a blog of our family as well! So here goes nothing, or everything, or maybe something in between! LOL!

I thought this would be a great place to not only share with all of our friends and family the millions of pictures I take of Alahna, but to describe and share what we have done while taking those pictures! So check back often - because as you know I take millions of pictures!