Wordless Wednesday

Monkeying Around

Tykes and Trykes

Last Wednesday we went to a local activity for little Tykes. It was fun and cheap and we will DEFINITELY be going back!

Here is Kaylee riding her new bike from her Aunt Mary.......she loves it! When not riding around at Tykes and Trykes, she loves to cruise around the house.

She had to take a ride on the BIG bike! GO TIGERS GO!!! It only took her about 3 minutes to figure out how to pedal.

Ainslee wanted in on some of the fun too

But then she got distracted by Cruiz's tutu, and she just HAD to check it out

She got close enough to grab it (see her tongue out). HA! She is like "I have never seen something like that before."

All the kids got to try everyone elses bikes, I think Kaylee was the only one that tried EVERY bike there.

Anyone with little ones in the area that would like details let me know. They also had a "soft play area". Basically it is like a climbing area with slides and tunnels to crawl through (like at Chick-fil-A).

That night when we got home, Kaylee had left one of her lovies out in the living room. Marcus thought since it wasnt in her bed, it must be in the wash. Well it wasnt, and after she had fallen asleep I went into her room and gave it to her. She isnt attached to it by any means. It has always been in her bed with her (almost since birth), but when she doesnt have it she is fine (like when she spends the night out, she doesnt take it with her). I figured she had asked for it, so I wanted to give it to her. When I walked into her room she surprised me with how incredibly LOUD she was snoring......it was so cute! Even her little snores put a smile on my face! But what made me the most happiest mommy ever, was knowing that the snoring was a sign that she was WIPED OUT after a long day of fun!

How many puppies do we have?

"Like puppy, like baby" oh wait the saying is "like father, like son". Well we sure dont have any boys around here, but these girls sure do take after their daddy (the most obvious is their looks) AND their older brother, even though he is a dog.

This is the primary means for transporting toys during the crawling stage for the kiddos in this house! How do your little ones get their toys from one place to the next?

oh and do you know which baby is which? I know it is kinda obvious

New Skin

One of my Christmas gifts from 2008!

Yeah thats NOT a typo

Marcus got me a gift card for skinit, and I didnt want to use it until Ainslee was a little bigger so I could have more than just newborn pictures of her. He got an email from them, just before Christmas (almost a year after purchasing the GC) saying that they were running a sale buy 1 get one 1/2 off. I thought I would take advantage of the sale and go ahead and cash in my GC. It took me 3 hours to get this one made, it almost got deleted 4 times, and it still wasnt quite right (by my standards), but the midnight deadline was quickly approaching and I had to submit my order to take advantage of the sale. Here is what arrived in the mail about 3 weeks later. I LOVE IT!

Mickey Mouse's Boogies

The other day I was reading Kaylee a book before nap time at my mom's house, it was this book.....

This Mickey Mouse book was one of my favorites when I was little, my mom still has lots of things from when we were kids. Anyways, thats not the point, the point is when I was reading this book to Kaylee I nearly peed in my pants from something that she said. She was having trouble holding the book AND turning the pages, when she said "I have to pick Mickey's boogies so I can turn the page."

Wordless Wednesday (videos)

ok so it has been quite a few weeks since my Wordless Wednesday posts, and this one isnt quite wordless.......but oh well

A little fun on the Wii

more fun on the Wii

this is my new favorite video, I wish I would have gotten the camera ready sooner

Kaylee's New Room

Here are the pictures of Kaylee's new room finally finished......well almost! Ha!

I know I know-- that's A LOT of dots! It isnt exactly what I had envisioned, but Im satisfied.

I replaced the picture in the frame as instructed by the godparents......I hope you are happy now. This wall still needs something else, maybe another frame??? I have to shelves I was going to repaint and maybe hang on this wall too, I dont know, my creative juices arent flowing at the moment.Kaylee asked to be in this picture

She said she was going to go to sleep. Does it look like she is going to fall asleep to you?

Even though I still have to figure out something to add to that one wall, move the night stand from Ainslee's room, and possibly sew her a new hamper liner, she STILL loves her new room and drags each and every guest that comes over in there to show them. Just exactly how long can we call it her "new room?"

Been feeling a little guilty lately

I've been thinking for quite some time now that I should be doing more "things" with Kaylee. For those of you that dont know my previous job (before mommyhood) was a preschool teacher. Yeah I know, if you dont know me and you are just blogstalking you wouldve never guessed because I dont do ANY cutesy little crafts, "learning time," or anything even remotely resembling any sort of thing that I was trained to do with little ones. I have no excuses, well no GOOD excuses! I'm just plain lazy! But I have decided to turn over a new leaf, and begin NOW! Better late than never I guess.

I started today with cutting, dont ask me why I started with cutting I just did. Let me just tell you that I had NO idea it would turn out the way it did, and that it would be so rewarding for me. I have taught 100+ children, and never gotten such gratification out of it as I did today. I know this is probably because she is MY child. Here is how our "craft time," as Kaylee called it, went this morning.

First I tried showing her how to put her fingers in the scissors, without much success. Then I tried showing her how to cut then paper, while she mirrored what I was doing, still no success. Then I tried holding her hand as SHE cut the paper, but it just wasnt working. Kaylee is such an independent little booger, and I knew that me "helping" her wasnt going to work (that's why I left it as a last resort, but thought I would give it a shot).

Kaylee was getting frustrated and so was I, I couldnt seem to get through to her. Then I had the idea of modifying the scissors to make it easier on her little fingers that kept slipping through the huge holes. I got some duct tape and made the holes smaller.


Then she TOOK OFF! She didnt want to stop cutting.

My favorite part was how she held her mouth as she cut! Priceless!

Notice her open mouth again! HA! And no she didnt cut her finger off. She got close a few times, but thankfully I was keeping a close eye on her.

(disregard all those Christmas boxes in the background, they still need to be put away)

When I told her it was nap time, she wanted to keep on cutting.

You know when you cut, but the piece you are trying to cut off is hanging by the tiniest little thread. Well she HATED that! She kept saying "mommy you get that piece."

Oh and my second favorite part of how she cuts is how, when I tell her to open her fingers, she opens both hands and ends up dropping the piece of paper in her left hand that she is holding to cut. It was so funny! But that just goes to show that she really is listening. ***

I should invent some scissors that have some sort of gel grip (or something like that) so that the tiny little fingers wont slip, and are able to conform to smaller fingers. Or are those already out on the market somewhere? For now I am settling on my modified scissors.

And here is the end result!

She wouldve made the pile bigger, but her pillow in bed was calling her name.

Doing this little activity with her made me SO HAPPY, in so many ways! I was so proud of her for sticking with it even when she got frustrated and wanted to give up! Thankfully she limited her cutting to the paper and not her HAIR! I'll never forget the first day I tried using scissors in my classroom, I had 3 children cut their hair! I was TERRIFIED for the school day to end and to tell their mothers what they had done.

I wonder what our next little project is going to be? I know I need to find all my "school" boxes that are hiding around in the attic, I'm sure I have tons of things to do in those.

***Here is a little story that I just have to share***

When i was teaching, Marcus used to come up to school every so often to visit me or bring me lunch and eat with me. Even if he just stopped by to chat, he would stay in my room and help out for a few minutes. (it is kind of tough having a COMPLETELY opposite schedule as your spouse, so you have to squeeze time in whenever possible). Sometimes he would come during our "work" time. Then children would be at their seats practicing whatever I just taught them how to do. Even though this wasnt as fun as other times in the day, Marcus loved it because I would let him put the stickers/ stamps on the kids papers when they did a good job. This particular year I had a child who was so young that he made the cut off date by a matter of days. He was so far behind all the other children, bless his little heart, and he struggled to keep up. He was such a good little boy, a pleaser, and a good listener. This particular day we were working on concept of same and different. He was stuck on this one problem, so Marcus went over to help him. Marcus tried talking him through it, he tried asking suggestive questions to lead him to the answer, and finally when nothing seemed to be working Marcus said "look closer." And you know what the little boy did.....he brought is little face so close to the paper that he had to look cross eyed just to focus. Marcus about died laughing, but the little boy did exactly what he was told to do. So Sweet! Those are the things I miss most about teaching!

11 month (minus 1 day) gift to herself

Ainslee decided to give herself a gift the day before her 11 month "birthday".........she cut her first tooth yesterday!

She didn't even show the major signs of getting ready to cut one either. Kaylee would always have bad poopies, a low grade fever, and get a white blister where the tooth was about to break through. Ainslee hadn't been cranky, run a fever, or had any other symptoms/ signs that a tooth was on the way in. I hope all her other teeth are this easy.

Birthday Party Pictures

Kaylee's party was yesterday, with another year of just having a small family party. Maybe next year we will do the "friend" party too, but we will see. Both Amma's, Abba, Uncle Johnny, Aunt Mary, and Aunt Ceire all came out to our house. I made dinner, we opened presents, had cupcakes, played, and watched the video DVD my mom made of Kaylee with pictures, videos, and songs from last year. It is such a sweet little reminder of her year as a 2 year old.

I have a few explanations for the pictures in the slideshow below.
The 1st picture shows Kaylee holding up 3 fingers (one for each year of her age)***
The 4th picture shows Kaylee wearing some jammies she got that she just HAD to put on, so she put them on over her clothes and wore them the entire party.
Towards the end when you see her eating her cupcake on the TV tray, we were all settling in to watch the DVD my mom made for her. She was so excited to see herself on TV

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

*** Our little family doesnt have any "traditions" yet, for anything. I have been trying to come up with somethings that we can start doing that we can do each year, and the kids can grow up with those memories of doing the same thing each year. So far all I have been able to come up with is this.....each year on the child's birthday (or in this case, 3 days late on the party day) the child will hold up how old they are on their fingers. I know this is a small little tradition, but I hope that we are able to keep it up, and remember to take the pictures each year. Before Ainslee was born I really wanted to document her growth by taking the pictures of her next to the same thing on certain days (ie 1 week, 2 w, 3 w, 1 month, 2 month, etc) sadly I didnt do that, and I regret it, I really regret it. Maybe that can be my goal for our next child (should we have one).

I've got an itch

I've had this feeling for a few weeks now, and it has been bugging me. I mentioned it to a friend (or 2) and decided it was time to talk to Marcus. So last week, while driving into town, I laid it on him without any warning (and really completely off the subject we were talking about at the time), he had a "hard" time hearing me, and an even harder time processing the words that I was saying, I thought he just might have an accident due to shock. However; he was quite open and willing to discuss options, much more open than I thought, considering his past views on the matter. He has been really subborn with this particular topic, but as time has passed I think he has begun to see MY side, and he is slowly but surely making his way to MY side. Now I'm not saying that I want to do anything about this feeling immediately or anything, but I definietly want to start getting some plans in order, cause this itch I have......needs a lotta help to scratch!

I'm ready for another baby!!!

You think I should scratch that itch?

Happy Birthday

Kaylee had a fantastic day!

Everyone was calling to tell her happy birthday and singing to her.

She had so much fun with the snow, but kept saying, "I need more snow than that!" Ha! I think it is funny that we got like 1/8th of an inch and schools and businesses closed.

We made chocolate dipped pretzels for a birthday treat.

We are having her "family" birthday party on Sunday, so more pictures will come after that.

K baby

Tomorrow Kaylee will turn 3!

I cant believe it! She looks and acts so much older than 3, but there is a part of me that still sees her as a little baby. Lately she has been telling everyone when her birthday is, and when they ask how old she is going to be, they dont believe her when she says she is going to be 3.

Here are a few of the things that have come out of her mouth lately.....

K-"Daddy let me borrow these." (some of his business cards)
Me-"oh that is so sweet of daddy. He is such a nice daddy, isnt he?"
K-"Yeah, he is so nice and generous too."

This next story needs a little prelude; each night our bedtime routine is 2 books and 2 songs. I sing You are my Sunshine and I Love You, Kaylee. Each night I try to sing them in different voices, weird voices, high and low, fast and slow. Each night she tells me "No momma, sing it properly." But tonight she said "dont sing it like that." I asked "how do I sing it then?" She said "you figure it out!"

She is growing so fast, becoming more and more independent. Her newest achievements are dressing herself, going to the potty ALL.BY.HERSELF (wiping and all), clearing her dishes from the table after a meal, riding a tricycle and plasma car (more on that fabulous little gift later), no diapers at nap time or bedtime (unless she is sick, then she tends to have accidents at night, I cant blame her considering she is in her bed for 14 hours), helping with Ainslee, and trying to teach her new things.

I just love that little girl, and cant believe that 3 years have passed already!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYLEE!!!

I have to mention some of Ainslee's new accomplishments too. She has been cruising more and more, you know, walking along while she holds onto something (i.e. the couch). She also pushes her toys and walks, but tonight she surprised me when she stood up next to the table in the playroom and then dropped her toy. She was then able to let go of the table and squat down without holding onto anything, grab her toy, and stand back up again. I screamed and cheered and clapped my hands, Kaylee joined in the celebration, but had no idea why she was clapping. Little accomplishments are so fun to witness, I am so happy that I am fortunate enough to be able to see them all.
But there are STILL.NO.SIGNS.OF.ANY.TEETH! I am about to have a toothless 11 month old! She will be playing soccer before she cuts her first tooth! That is a skill that I must have passed down to her, she already dribbles the ball while she crawls, or she will hold it in her hand while she crawls, but my favorite way she gets around with her toys is when she carries them in her mouth. It is too funny! Balls are probably her favorite toy now.
Oh and she is kissing too, all the time! They are such sweet and slobbery little kisses, with her mouth wide open and her tounge out most of the time, and she is very generous with them, gives them to anyone that asks for one. Im gonna have to have a talk with her about that.

Good night now, this tired momma is going to bed E-A-R-L-Y tonight! I hope we wake up to some snow in the morning!