Life's Little Moments

One of Kaelyn's favorites...

2012-01-12T18:30:00.000-08:00

One of Kaelyn's favorite Christmas presents is that we signed her up for her very first dance class. She is in a ballet class. Her first day was on January 3rd. Her class starts at 5:30 at night.

So of course by 3:30 she was ready to go.

She was overflowing with excitement and anticipation.

And all sorts of cuteness.

She was especially huggy and happy. So cute.

Here is a little video of her in class. She had such a good time. At times she seemed rather graceful, and other times not so much. However, she was adorable the whole time. We are all looking forward to seeing her learn and try new things.

It was so much fun to watch her that first class. I forgot to tell you about the very best part of that class. When they were all done the teacher was stamping their hands and asked each of the girls what they wanted to be when they grow up. Of a class of five girls three of them wanted to be princesses.

Not Kaelyn though, she quickly responded with, "A Paleontologist."

"Oh!" Ms. Mary said very taken aback.

"Because I love dinosaurs and I want to dig up their bones."

I love that kid!

Sitting Pretty

2012-01-08T21:09:00.000-08:00

So guess who has learned a new trick? Alyssa has started sitting up all by herself. She is pretty good at it too. The day after I took this video she spent about 10 minutes sitting on the floor playing with some of her toys.

The best part is how incredibly proud of herself she is every single time.

I love it, and I love watching her grow.

New Year. New you.

2012-01-07T21:49:00.000-08:00

It happens every time. When I have a baby I take a few months off from even trying to look good. I mean when you have a new baby you also have baby weight, and you feel like a zombie because well let's face it newborns don't sleep much. It is hard for me to want to put forth the effort to look good when I don't really feel good. As far as the health and beauty aisle I have always been a fairly low maintenance girl, but right after having a baby I am even more so. I spend maybe 10 minutes getting ready each morning. I usually stick to the bare essentials: get dressed, brush my teeth, put on deodorant, and put my hair in the infamous "mom pony". Eventually, after life with the new baby has settled into a bit of a routine, I get tired of feeling (and looking) frumpy and have to do something about it. Usually that something has been a hacking off my hair and getting a new cut. Jon predicted my change of heart this time around and in talking about it we decided that for Christmas he could get me a gift certificate to a salon so I could go and get a new haircut and with it a new outlook on life.

On December 30th, Jon watched all of the girls for me and I headed off for a few hours at the salon. It was actually only the second time in her life that I have left Alyssa for more than an hour. (The first being the day before when we went to the temple.) It was fantastically fun! Included in my gift package was a haircut and style, a mini mineral make up lesson, a eyebrow waxing, and a manicure. I learned a lot from my make up lesson and the hair stylist. I gained a little more confidence in my ability to do my own hair and make up. In fact, I think I put on make up at least 4 days this week! It is always amazing to me how much better I feel when I know that I look good. It has got me thinking, maybe it is worth the time and effort after all. The girl who cut my hair asked if I was going to wait another 20 months before getting my hair cut again, and I think I have to answer no. Because I have learned that contrary to what I said earlier in this post ("It is hard for me to want to put forth the effort to look good when I don't really feel good.") when I put forth the effort to look good I usually end up feeling good. Interesting little fact, eh?

3:00 in the Afternoon

2011-12-29T15:59:00.000-08:00

I got the idea for this post from a friend. In case you ever wondered what we are up to at 3:00 on a Saturday afternoon, it might look something like this...

Jon working on the computer

Kaelyn playing up in her room

Kylie napping on the couch with her Aunt Katie

Alyssa napping on a different couch (long before she learned to roll over)

And me taking advantage of those naps and working down in the basement.

Happy Halloween

2011-12-29T15:32:00.000-08:00

Our Halloween, while forever ago, was a fun one. While we brought home over 50 pounds of pumpkin we only ended up carving one of them, Kaelyn's. So that one was her design. It has 6 tiny teeth and awesome star eyes. We celebrated by attending the ward's annual trunk-or-treat. An event that is guaranteed to send pretty much anyone into sugar shock. Two months later my kids still have candy in their bags! Kaelyn invited her friend Zoe to go with us to that. So pictured below are Kaelyn (as Annie from "Little Einsteins"), Zoe (as a fairy), and Kylie (The purple princess). Alyssa, I am pleased to say, still fit in her candy corn costume on Halloween night.

In case you don't know who Annie is...

She's the one in the purple box. How'd we do?

My favorite part about this Halloween was that all of my kids asked to dress up as something easy. Their costumes were made of things I already had on hand. I didn't have to go out and buy anything. Which was certainly a plus since Jon's first day of work (after 5 months of unemployment) was on October 28th. The girls also enjoyed trick-or-treating on our small road. Most of the houses that were home said that it has been over 10 years since they last had trick-or-treaters come!

She's a super star!

2011-12-29T15:09:00.000-08:00

So the next big thing to catch you all up on is a big deal to me. On Aug. 24th we started potty training Kylie. Our goal was for her to be diaper free during the days. I was prepared for a long drawn out painful process, I have never felt as much of a failure as I do when attempting the whole potty training thing. I've heard it said that they can give you something to deal with the pain of childbirth, but really they should come up with something for potty training and drivers ed.

We bought a big old bag of M&Ms and put them in a jar labeled "Potty Prize" whenever she was successful on the potty she would get to hand out a potty prize to everyone that was home including herself. It didn't take long before she adopted the whole "one for me one for you" tactic. I didn't fight it though. We figured staying positive about the entire potty experience was more important than conserving the candy. On the second night she refused to put on a diaper with her pjs and she has been diaper free ever since. The first week was painful, with lots of accidents I was so worried that we were in for a repeat experience. However, I realized one important difference in my two potty training experiences. Kylie was running to me saying that she needed to pee while it was running down her leg. She recognized that she needed to go, wahoo! Then somewhere around day 8 it just clicked. It was so easy, well as easy as potty training ever could be for me.
Yes, we still have to remind her to go, but she rarely misses anymore. I am so excited.

I'm not kidding, she is a SUPER STAR!!!
.

Merry Christmas to all (to be continued...)

2011-12-26T09:55:00.000-08:00

We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas day. We certainly did.

I'm happy to report that everyone was surprised/thrilled about their presents at least once today.

Jon got tickets to a Mariners game.

Kaelyn found out she gets to start ballet classes next week.

Kylie got barbies and fairies all at the same time!

Alyssa got to eat wrapping paper. Err, I mean she got to open some presents too.

I'm frustrated.

2011-12-11T10:07:00.000-08:00

I'll openly admit that I don't watch much TV, but this month I find myself feeling a bit of a Grinch. Could it be because I keep seeing garbage like this:

Yep, completely thoughtless gifts. "I'd like it so you must like it too." Classic.

Then there is...

"No one ever wished for a smaller gift."

There are countless other commercials that I find very annoying and somewhat offensive. This years commercials aren't on youtube yet. My point is that with the bad case of gimme that kids get this time of year, the idea that only an expensive gift says "I love you", and the you might not get the gift you want so buy it for yourself now attitude are disgusting to me. That yucky feeling is all around in stores right now, check out the black friday craziness!!!

It leads me to wonder are we celebrating

Christmas

Giftsmas!

I hope that in all the craziness of this holiday season we are each able to feel the true spirit of Christmas. To reflect on the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.

And may I just say my experience this year has firmed up my resolve to NEVER shop for gifts after Thanksgiving ever again.

Unexpected Blessings

2011-11-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

I have gotten far too far behind with blogging life's little (and not so little) moments. I need to work on that, in fact by sitting here I am doing exactly that. This is a story about how August soooo did not start out the way I expected it to. So climb into your time machine. We are going back, back back...

It was a Thursday, Aug 4th to be precise, and I was making dinner when my phone rang. It was my parents on speaker phone telling me that my grandpa (the only grandparent I have left living) had decided that he was quite done living and was on his second day of refusing to eat or drink anything. He'd had a terrible month medically speaking and was very discouraged and sick of dealing with stuff. My parents were letting all of their kids know that the end was near for him. It was a brief phone call, but as I hung up I felt as though I had been punched in the stomach (that is bad news no matter how gently you share it). I ran up to my room and started sobbing. At first I was angry; you don't get to choose when you die! Then as I thought about it I stopped feeling angry. After all my grandpa has lived a long full life. He is such a good man, and his sweetheart died 8 years ago. I could understand why he wasn't exactly thrilled about continuing in this frail existence. It didn't take long for my anger to melt into loneliness though, I wanted nothing more than to be able to tell him how much I love him and to say goodbye. Unfortunately, I could think of no way to make it back to Utah. I was devastated and cried my heart out.

I was very grateful when Jon got home from wherever it was he'd been that night, and came up to comfort me. He had a clear head and reminded me that his parents had already been planning to drive down to Utah the next night to pick up their kids who had been working at various summer camps for the month of July. We asked them if Alyssa and I could ride down with them and they rearranged things so that we could. I will be forever grateful for their kindness. It was not convenient, but they made possible. So I went to bed that night, planning to head to Utah the next day at 5 pm.

Friday morning after breakfast I started a load of Alyssa's laundry and climbed into the shower. While I was in there my dad called to see what my plans were. Jon told my dad, "Skye and Alyssa are already going with my parents." My dad then offered to fly Jon, Kaelyn, and Kylie down. Jon thanked him but had to decline because he felt that he really needed to stay and keep looking for work. After I was out of the shower Jon told me about his conversation with my dad. I figured I ought to give my dad a call. He sounded somewhat forlorn as we talked, that is until he realized I had not left yet Seattle. He almost pleaded with me to let him fly me and the girls down because "he was really hoping to be with all of my girls." And let's be honest, while I felt bad that he would be spending so much on me and the girls, I wasn't going to say no. Flying two hours with a newborn is vastly preferable to driving 15 hours with one! So I got online to find tickets. Our flight left at 2:00 in the afternoon. I have never packed for a week long trip so fast! Alyssa's laundry went into the suitcase wet in a plastic bag because I didn't have time to dry it. We decided that since I was flying with the girls Jon could drive down with his parents that night and be emotional support for me. I was nervous to fly alone with all three of my girls, but through the Lord's tender mercies it went remarkably smoothly.

Grandpa L. picked up these cute girls at the airport.

After my dad had picked us up we stopped at Costco to get some things. While there Jon called me to ask if he should really come down with his parents. He had doubts as to whether or not it was wise to leave the state, because maybe some company would decide to call him in for an interview. After much hemming and hawing we decided that he should come. I figured I would need the emotional support and someone who could take 100% care of my girls if and when we ended up attending a funeral. They drove to his grandma's house in eastern Washington that Friday night and finished traveling on Saturday August 6th.

Our 9th wedding anniversary

As a side note: I don't know why, but there always seems to be something family related going on the day of our anniversary. I was not a fan of spending it apart, but we had celebrated earlier in the week since we knew Jon's parents (our babysitters for the night) would be out of town on our actual anniversary.

We didn't arrive at my parents house, thanks to some nasty traffic problems until about 8:30 Friday night. As such I put my girls to bed and resolved that it would be better to go and visit my grandpa in the morning. My parents house was so somber. It certainly had a feeling of waiting for the next shoe to drop. While the reason we were gathering was not a happy one I was glad to be able to be with my family again. When I thought I would be driving down with Jon's parents I thought it would be fun to make it a surprise and show up at their house. I planned in my head that I would put a note on Alyssa's car seat that said, "Let me be your silver lining.", ring the doorbell and hide to let them find her there. While I didn't get to do that seeing my parents meet their newest grandbaby was a silver lining to my day. I went to bed that night full of nerves and worry about the next day.

By the time I was up and dressed the next morning the mood of the household was greatly lifted. My mom had returned from helping Grandpa get out of bed for the morning. She was pleased (well pleased is to mild a word, but I can't think of a better one right now.) to report that Grandpa had changed his mind a was willing to keep trying to live. That sounds so strange, but I was so grateful. I was so relieved that I would now get to go and visit my grandpa and tell him how much I love him and all of that good stuff minus the say goodbye part. With that single announcement my trip to Utah took a drastic turn. I was now on a week long vacation to visit my family. What's more it was a trip to Utah that did not have every single day planned out. I was able to focus on family and spontaneous fun. Since all of my siblings were in town everyone got to meet Alyssa, something that I did not expect to have happen until much later in her life.

Reed and Alyssa meet for the first time.

I took my girls over to Grandpa's house on Saturday morning after breakfast. I cannot even begin to express the joy it was to share going to that home with them. The girls played with the toys I played with as a child they got berries and peas from the garden. It was absolutely perfect. Grandpa seemed very much like himself, but tired. He even held Alyssa for a little bit.

Four generations

Later in the week I took a photographic tour of Grandpa's house capturing things the way I remember them. I feel like the pictures turned out well because each of them floods me with memories. Not much has changed there in the past 20 years.

Saturday evening I took my girls to the Fair Days parade. Taking the kids to a parade was on my list of things to do in 2011, so I was excited to have the opportunity. They really seemed to enjoy it, and Alyssa slept through the whole thing. I thoroughly enjoyed spending a day where I grew up doing things that brought back so many pleasant memories of childhood. Saturday was interesting because during the course of the day both Jon's mom and my mom realized that the entire Mathews and Loertscher families were ALL going to be in Utah at the same time. Something that hasn't happened since our wedding day, and may never happen again. This was an opportunity we did not want to pass up, so we thought we'd bless Alyssa while we were down there. So it turns out that it is a REALLY good thing that Jon decided to come down, like I said in my title, it was another unexpected blessing of that trip. We got permission from all of the church leaders we needed to and arranged to do so in the evening on Sunday Aug 7th at my parents house.

My grandpa even felt well enough to come and participate in her blessing!

I was so grateful for that beautiful experience. To be surrounded by our wonderful families, I could not have asked for more. During her blessing my little Alyssa Eloise was alert and attentive. I couldn't believe how quiet she was.

It was a beautiful blessing.

The fact that we had not been planning to bless Alyssa on this trip meant that we were unprepared for the event. The blessing dress that both of my older girls wore on their blessing days was hanging in the closet at home in Washington. My brother and sister in law were kind enough to let us borrow the dress their girls wore. Thanks again Quinn and Dawnie! I also didn't have my DSLR, I only had my little point and shoot camera. Hence the ok, but not great pictures. It didn't help that Alyssa had a diaper blow out after I had only taken about 3 pictures. I kind of wish that we had taken a picture of both our families together. Oh well. Here is the whole Mathews clan.

The remainder of my trip was lots of fun. It was filled with pool parties, cousin sleepovers, and other fun things. We enjoyed a day at the lake with my family. A picnic with Jon's family.

The kids loved using the hand crank ice cream machine.

On Saturday some of us went up to walk/hike the Cascade Springs trails.

Another unexpected blessing of this trip is that I got to attend my niece, Brielle's first birthday party. It was so nice to be with my family again. I look forward to visiting with them again soon.

The definition of insanity...

2011-10-16T23:41:00.000-07:00

Back when Kaelyn was born we made it a goal to have family pictures taken every fall along with the kids individual school pictures. You know, sometime in August or September. This is not how it has played out in reality. Usually it is more like December, and we didn't even get around to it in 2010! I got my DSLR in April of 2008 and was so excited that after I had learned to master that camera I could save a lot of money by taking those family pictures myself.

I first attempted to do so in 2009, but with more than one failed photo session that year I decided that it is simply too hard to be both the mom and the photographer! The mom in me desperately wants a nice photograph to send to the grandparents, something frame worthy. The photographer in me knows how to coax a smile, the mom in me only seems to get those pained grimaces that magically only exist when the camera is out. Not only that, but being on both sides of the lens it quite the challenge. It is very hard to get everyone smiling and looking at the camera in the instant that the 10 second timer on the camera runs up.

Since that went so well it seemed only logical that this month (Oct) I figured it was time to try again. I am very pleased to report that things turned out much better this year than they did in 2009. That is thanks to a lot more experience, a remote control, and a little photoshop magic. I am convinced it is impossible to get everybody looking at the camera and smiling if you aren't behind the lens.

That is not to say it was easy.

I took a whole lot of pictures that you wouldn't put on the wall, but they make me smile.

To this last picture I must say, "Yes, Alyssa we will be doing this every year. Get used to it."

Welcome October

2011-10-01T23:15:00.000-07:00

What a fantastic start to the month! We enjoyed watching General Conference from home. Our kids were even a little better listeners than usual. I especially enjoyed the talks given by Elders Uchtdorf, Bednar and Ardern. I find it very interesting that last night as I was going to bed I decided to take a month long break from Facebook. I spend a lot of time on the computer each day and I don't feel like it is very productive at all. So to have Elder Ardern address that very topic made me feel all sorts of inspired. I know that I am going to miss out on all sorts of fun updates from my friends who live so far away, I will miss feeling connected to you all. However, I feel like I need to be the master of Facebook and not let it be the master of me. Since I seem to have a compulsive need to check it every time I am near a computer I know I need a break.

Today I also finished (well mostly finished) repairing one of our two bookcases that were badly damaged in our move here. It actually fixed up must faster and easier than I expected. I bought some backerboard, sanded it, painted it black to match the bookcase, and nailed it on. It only took me about an hour of active working time. I still need to put some L-brackets on it for extra stability, but I don't really have room for it in my bedroom just yet. We plan to move Alyssa out of our bedroom semi-soon, and I'm sure that by the time that happens I'll have both of my bookcases completely fixed and ready to go. I have been itching to work on a project lately, and this fit the bill quite well. That and the candy corn costume pictured above. I just hope it still fits by the time Halloween rolls around.

This evening while the men of the house attended the Priesthood session we went to a dinner at the pumpkin patch hosted by the farm that Jon's parents have been getting a summer produce box from the past 4 months. The event was kind of a "thanks for participating in the veggi club" thing. I had a really good time. We got a farm fresh dinner, 50 pound of pumpkin (which turned out to be less than my head imagined), a trip through the corn maze, and little goodie bags for the kids. The girls loved climbing around on the hay bales that were set up as seating/decoration. I took the following video while laying down between a gap in the hay bales.

Alyssa slept through almost the whole event, which is how she usually experiences new things. I have pictures of her sleeping at the park, watching her first parade, hiking Cascade Springs, and all sorts of other fun new places. I think this picture is so cute though because she woke up when we were lost in the depths of the corn maze. I pulled her out of the car seat and she seemed rather confused. It was almost as though she was asking with those pretty blue eyes, "Where are we and what is up with the green walls?" Another kid moment in the corn maze happened because we let the girls tell us which way to go at the beginning. Kaelyn took the first few turns picking then Kylie. After we had been in there for awhile and determined that we had missed the first two stamp stations Kaelyn said in a rather dejected tone, "It's my fault. I picked the wrong way." It was at that moment I realized that I had forgotten to set her expectations. She would have been fine if I'd told her before hand that the point of a corn maze is to go in, wander around, get lost, and eventually find your way to the exit. Despite our repeated reassurances to the contrary she was convinced that it was her fault we were lost.

She cheered up substantially once we made it out of the maze and went to pick out our pumpkins though.

All told I'd say it was a very good day for us. Here's hoping the rest of the month follows suit. The potential is there, after all Jon got an unofficial job offer. In theory he will be starting on Oct 10th. Wouldn't that be nice? I'll end with the only picture I have attempted to take of my 3 girls together since the first one of them taken in hospital on the day Alyssa was born. I have a couple with grandparents, but none with just the 3 girls. I plan to change that this week when I take our family pictures. (Really Ann I promise I will actually do it this time!!)

Oh what do you do?

2011-09-24T15:06:00.000-07:00

Oh what do you do on a September day, When all the sky has rain?
Do you can lots of pears,

While in your swimwear?

And dance (or at least try).

Is that what you do? So do I!

Wait, did you just say you don't wear a swimsuit in September?

And you don't can fruit in it either?

You must not LOVE swimsuits like my girls do. That was a fun day.

Take your pick

2011-09-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

Alyssa is 2 months old or 9 weeks old. Take your pick, they are both true. I cannot believe how she seems to grow overnight sometimes. One morning her grandma told me, "She doesn't look like a newborn anymore." I panicked because I hadn't taken newborn pictures (like a real photo shoot kind of a thing) and Eloise was right she did not look anywhere as much a newborn as she had the day before. You can clearly see below what I am talking about.

I took pictures that day anyway, but she really didn't look tiny and new. She lost that newborn look fast. She was only 15 days old when I took the picture with the black hair bow!

Here is a comparison shot I have been doing just for kicks and giggles. (Thanks for the idea Vanessa.)

I am going to continue telling all about my sweet little Alyssa, but first let me explain the many pictures that follow. Alyssa has been socially smiling for about a month now. However, I can never seem to catch that melt your heart grin on camera. She'll be all smiles and then as soon as I pull the camera out she stops. She focuses in on that shiny thing and forgets that she was smiling. Oh well, I figure at some point I'll catch it. So here are some of my many attempts with some fun facts to break them up a bit.

Yesterday I took Alyssa to her two month check-up. I completely spaced that she had an appointment until 5 minutes before the scheduled appointment time. Whoops!

As can be expected they took all of the usual measurements.

She weighs 12 pounds 9 ounces (90th percentile)

That is a 4 pound 3 ounce gain since birth.

Alyssa is 24 inches long.

That puts her in the 98th percentile for height.

Kind of crazy to think that she has grown 4 inches since birth.

She loves facing outward and sitting up instead of laying down. She sleeps like a champ in the early evening hours. If only she would take that 5-6 hour nap starting after 9pm we would be golden.

She doesn't seem to mind tummy time at all. Unless of course she has spit up and promptly planted her face in it. Yes, you read that right I have another very spitty baby.

The most unexpected thing happened while we were waiting in the doctors office. I caught that ever elusive smile. Gotcha cutie! Yes the angles are funny, but I got that pretty smile.

And she continued to oblige me later in the evening. Thanks kiddo. I love you baby girl.

And so it begins.

2011-09-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

The night before school was to begin Kaelyn picked out and carefully laid out her clothes. She even included a hair clip, which is a big deal because she isn't really keen on me doing her hair all that often. When we told her it was time to go to bed she went without the usual foot dragging.

I tucked her in, gave her kisses, then paused a moment at the door letting the moment sink in. I knew as I went to bed that night my life would never be the same. My little girl is growing up. When she woke up in the morning she got herself ready without us having to ask over and over again. I think the dry erase chart I made helped her with that a lot.

I would have to say that it was a wonderful morning. Kaelyn chattered away about how excited she was and how much she was looking forward to the bus ride, the kids at school, and her lunchbox. It was a beautiful day as we made our way to the bus stop as a family. The girls enjoyed some blackberries and huckleberries from the roadside bushes as we waited for the bus to arrive . I'll be honest with you, I have read many of my friends experiences of taking their kids to the first day of school and how they cried and I knew I wouldn't have that reaction. I am nothing but excited for Kaelyn to get to go to school. I love her dearly, but she enjoys school so much and being with other kids so much that I can't really feel sad that she is going.

I have tried many times and can't seem to articulate the way that this experience is making me feel. For 5 1/2 years we have been preparing for this moment. Trying to teach Kaelyn about taking turns, being polite, listening to teachers, about being kind. Trying to teach her confidence, and a willingness to try new things. Only time will tell if we have done well enough. I hope and pray that she is ready for this new adventure. I am so thankful that she was genuinely excited. I mean look at that face...

She is so happy. Ready to take on the world.

And still so innocent.

However, as she climbed onto the bus with that big ol' backpack and her lunchbox in hand I experienced something I didn't expect. My heart soared. I was filled with many different emotions. I was thrilled that Kaelyn was excited, I was felt a great sense of accomplishment that we had made it to the bus stop on time for the 7:56 AM pick up. I felt a tiny bit of shock realizing that my Kaelyn girl really is growing up. The past five years have flown by, and I am certain that the next five will go even faster. I'll blink my eyes and she'll be getting a drivers license.

I also had a bittersweet feeling because she didn't look back. She just climbed right on board, ready for her first day of school. I don't know what I was expecting, perhaps a pause to give me a cute and quick wave like she does when the Primary children sing at church. Or maybe I thought she might give us an over the shoulder glance to get confirmation that she was doing what she needed to. I felt a rush of pride and happiness with just a hint of sadness that she is moving on in life and she doesn't need me like she used to. Yet, that is what we wanted for her, to have confidence that she can do this on her own.

It was one of life's little moments. A moment of joy that I am sure to look back on as the years keep flying by. As we watched the bus drive away I knew that everything would be alright, and I looked forward to picking her up at the end of the school day.

When 3:00 rolled around Jon, Kylie, Alyssa, and I went out to the bus stop to pick Kaelyn up. She was the last one off of the bus and rather hesitant to cross the street. If you think about it that made sense since we were now telling her to cross the street without us. (Which is contrary to everything she'd been taught up to that point about being where cars go.) She did not seem convinced that the cars would not hit her. Once she had made it across the street safely she was excited to tell us about her day. It was all smiles until we talked about lunch. That is when she had realized that she forgot her lunchbox. She broke down into tears and cried the rest of the way home, and for another 10-15 minutes.

This lunchbox is a one of a kind. We used a vintage 1980's box and Kaelyn colored the picture of the "Land Before Time" dinosaurs herself. She is so proud of her work and LOVES her lunchbox. Honestly, could there be a better lunchbox for Kaelyn it has dinosaurs and it is pink! I also like the clever idea I had of adding a dry erase board inside the lid to write her messages for her to enjoy during school.

When Jon's mom suggested the idea of letting Kaelyn color a picture to put on her lunchbox. I'll admit that I had to set aside my control freak tendencies. I wanted her lunchbox to look nice. I went so far as to print out two copies of the coloring book page because she told me that she wanted to use markers to color it. I wanted to have a second copy so she could do it again in colored pencil if and when it she didn't like the final product. She finished her coloring job and was super proud. "I even made them (the characters) the colors that they really are!" Seeing how happy she was with her work, I shrugged and colored the second copy myself just for the fun of coloring. I set that aside in case her picture ever gets lost or ruined in a years worth of being hauled to and from school each day. As I laminated and attached her finished picture I reasoned with myself that it is more important for her to enjoy the process and feel proud of her own work than it is that the lunchbox been done the way I would do it.

I felt good about that decision. Well I did until about half way through her tearful recounting of the lost lunchbox story on the first day of school when she told us that a girl on the bus said that Kaelyn's lunchbox is "UGLY" and that she "doesn't like my lunchbox!" "She said my picture is all skritchy-scratchy." (As in she didn't color in the lines.) Listening to her tell her story with a tear stained face my heart broke.

I wanted to get a picture of her outfit, sadly a smile was no where to be found. : (

Kaelyn finished recounting what the girl on the bus had said with an emphatic, "But I love my lunchbox!" We assured Kaelyn that she had done a fine job on her lunchbox, that it was unkind of that girl to say those things, and that we love her. I couldn't help but wonder, should we have done things differently? Should we have gone out and bought a lunchbox instead of decorating an old one? Is this just the first of many such school bus mockeries? I don't know that my tender hearted girl is ready for that. I don't know that I am prepared to deal with that.

Once Kaelyn and her lunchbox were reunited, we picked it up before the school was locked up for the night, she was again optimistic and excited for the next day of school. I guess we'll see how the year plays out. I hope that she continues to love school. I hope that she can find a good friend quickly.

Well that was unexpected

2011-08-24T22:25:00.000-07:00

This evening Kaelyn had a conversation with Jon that caught us completely off guard.

"I want a website."

"What do you mean?" Jon asked in surprise.

"Like you and Mommy have."

"You want a blog???"

"Yep."

We thought about it for a second and figured why not. We'll just make sure she never posts identifying information on her blog. (Don't know if you've noticed but I never put our last name or the city we live in on my blog, safety matters.) She'll be able to practice composing posts and take a picture or two. Nothing to complain about there. I don't know how long her interest in blogging will last, but I think it will be fun for her. So I hope you enjoy adding Kaelyn's blog to your list of things to check out from time to time. There is a link to it on my sidebar.

You know you want more...

2011-07-25T22:30:00.000-07:00

pictures of Alyssa!

One day old

2 weeks later; she is already growing!

Napping in the swing

Sleepy smiles melt my heart

Well that was fast...

2011-07-14T06:57:00.000-07:00

So as you all know I have been expecting, due July 6th. I was induced with both Kaelyn (for insurance reasons) and Kylie (because we were moving across the country) so I was pretty determined to let this baby pick her own birthday. However, on the 7th I had my last doctor appointment and by that point I was so tired of being pregnant. I knew that my brother and a couple of Jon's sisters would be coming to town in the next week, I really wanted them to have the chance to meet the baby so I asked if it would be possible to be induced with this one. Sorry kiddo, your timing wasn't working out. I figured I had waited till my due date and I know people would be disappointed if they couldn't meet this little one. That and I had had two good experiences with being induced so I figured why not. So my doctor got me a 7:00AM appointment to be induced the next morning (July 8th).

Earlier in the day I finished editing my last outstanding photo shoot, blogging about Kylie's birthday, and other things I really wanted to before the baby was born. It is so much easier to be prepared when you know what you are planning for. So that evening I savored putting my two girls to bed one more time before our world would be turned upside down. Then after they were snug in bed I started cleaning up my room, doing some laundry, and just getting last minute details in order. Foolishly we didn't get to bed until about 11pm. It was a little later than I had planned, but I figured feeling prepared was worth more than a couple extra hours of sleep. Little did I know sleep was not in the cards for me that night.

For the first hour I was laying in bed I experienced the same stupid contractions I had been having every night for the previous two weeks. They were uncomfortable but not painful. I figured that I'd eventually get to sleep and wake up the next day still pregnant as ever. However, midnight rolled around and I was still awake and I started to notice that the contractions were hurting a little more. I thought to myself that maybe I should start paying attention to how far apart they were happening. So I'd glance at the clock. 11:50, 12:19, 12:40-something. Then somewhere around 1:00 AM I started thinking that maybe I should wake Jon up. Before doing that I wanted to make sure that I was really in labor so I got out my cell phone to see if it had a stopwatch or timer, then I headed downstairs to time these some what painful contractions. What I found out over the next 15 minutes surprised me. The following are the time in seconds recorded on the split timer function of my stopwatch tool...

00:00- Contraction starts

00:41- Contraction ends (lasted 41 seconds)

03:50- Contraction starts (69 seconds later)

04:52- Contraction ends (lasted 62 seconds)

07:05- Contraction starts (2 minutes later)

07:50- Contraction ends (lasted 45 seconds)

09:28- Contraction starts (1 1/2 minutes later)

10:05- Contraction ends (lasted 37 seconds)

13:11- Contraction starts (3 minutes later)

13:42- Contraction ends (lasted 31 seconds)

13:56- Contraction starts (15 seconds later)

These contractions seemed pretty much all over the place in length between and duration, but one thing was for sure they were well within the 5 minutes apart lasting 30 to 90 second thing which is given as a guideline for when to head to the hospital. So I went upstairs to wake up Jon. He gave me a blessing before we left and one line really stuck out to me. He said something along the lines that I would be blessed to feel and understand what was going on with my body so that I would be able to do the things I needed to. That stuck out because I thought to myself, "I plan on having an epidural, I don't really want to FEEL what is going on." But since pushing with Kylie was difficult because my epidural was a little too effective, I could understand why I would be blessed with that. I will readily admit I was still nervous about being sent home once we got there, after all this was the first time I had ever gone into labor on my own and I have heard plenty of people get sent home when they were sure it was the real deal.

     The above picture was taken at 01:55 AM in between contractions. I changed into my hospital gown and was hooked up to the contraction and fetal heart rate monitors. They just want to make sure you are really in labor before putting you in a real room. At 02:07 AM I was checked and at 5cm! That was the most painful vaginal exam of my life! At that point I had a new definition of pain. I was surprised at how much each contraction hurt. It hadn't even been a whole hour since I'd decided this might be the real deal and the pain already reminded me of pitocin induced contractions. I told the nurse I wanted my epidural as soon as possible. She responded that after I received my IV I could get that. More than once during that time in the triage room I was in tears telling Jon that I couldn't do this and that I really needed my epidural.

     I was then moved from the triage room to an actual LDPR room. Good old room 336. One of the two nurses asked me if I wanted to go to the bathroom before I got in the bed and got the IV. I figured why not it'll be hours before I can get up again. So I was on the toilet at 02:15 AM and my water broke during an intense contraction (or at least that what time Jon said it was, I have no clue). My feelings went from pain to panic in an instant because as soon as my water broke I felt and undeniable urge to push. There was just an incredible amount of pressure pushing down on me and my body kind of took control. I was definitely NOT IN CONTROL!!! The two nurses rushed into the bathroom and told me we had to get to the bed. I was thinking, "No. I'm not going to the bed, I am going to push now... well actually I think I am pushing now... I know I shouldn't... but I don't think I'm the one in control here... Then again I don't want to have the baby in the bathroom..."
     Eventually they got me to the bed and before I knew it there were 4 nurses in the room. Each flying into action. I remember somebody calling in an order for a table. Somebody else was repeatedly hitting the staff button on the wall, another person was checking me again. The whole room was a blur of activity, and there was a chorus of "DON'T PUSH!" from every person except me in the room. They said it like as if I had a choice!!! I begged to differ. Oh and I also recall the nurse checking me say, "She's complete! Call Dr. B. now!" I was completely panicked! I was screaming and crying and begging Jon to help me. He told me just today (5 days later) that he told me more than one lie during the craziness, all of them related to a promised epidural that would not in fact be coming. Apparently that was the only thing anyone was saying that got me to calm down and focus even just a little bit.
     Jon's eyes were huge. Mind you, I don't think he was panicked at all. His expression was more of a "What the heck is going on here?!" kind of a thing. I am so glad that he was there. I know I could not have made it through that experience without him. The only person I was possibly more happy to have in the room was the doctor who flew in and finally silenced the chous of "Don't push." She was an absolute angel for telling me that I could go ahead and start to push. After only 2 or 3 pushes our sweet baby girl was born at 02:26 AM.

Did you follow that? Less than 31 minutes after my hospital gown was on I had a baby girl laying on my chest! I had spent no more than an hour and a half feeling relatively certain that I was in labor. Not only that, but it hadn't been more than 2 1/2 hours that I had spent even suspecting that I might be in labor. Talk about an intense experience. No epidural, no pain killers, and no preparation for that eventuality. The hustle and bustle of the room didn't slow down much after the birth because there was still a lot to take care of. I had to be stitched up in a couple of places due to second degree tears. For the most part though I was unaware of the stuff going on around me. It took quite awhile before they weighed and measured her. In fact Jon and I both missed hearing how long she was and had to ask later on the afternoon. It all went so fast, we didn't even think to get out our camera until she was a couple of hours old. My head was reeling from the experience.As it turns out I didn't sleep at all that night!

About 2 hours old

First bath (5 AM)

Our first morning together was quiet.Our biggest challenge was deciding what to name our new little girl. We gave about five different names a test drive. None of them seemed quite right. I am pretty sure that we still had not decided by the time our visitors arrived just before lunchtime. Can I just say that from the moment they walked in the door Kaelyn and Kylie were both just beaming. It melted my heart.

One of the things that was different about this new baby experience is that for the first time Jon's parents were able to meet and hold their brand new grandbaby. That was really special to me.

Uncle Brian

Uncle Steven

Aunt Katie

Another thing that made this experience different was that we only spent one night the night she was born excluded) in the hospital. She was all of about 36 hours old when we headed home. My recovery was also much easier, I mean I could move my legs and lift my bum right after giving birth, which was new for me. I guess you can count that as a major perk for skipping the epidural. I have to say that if I was guaranteed to have such a speedy delivery again I would opt out of the epidural again. But if I am going to be in labor long enough to get one I'd want one.

We are so excited to welcome

Alyssa Eloise

Friday July 8th at 2:26 AM

8 pounds 6 ounces

20 inches long

She's Three

2011-07-07T18:05:00.000-07:00

My Kylie girl has had yet another birthday come and go. This one, just like the last one, tried to sneak up on me thanks to a move. The whole month of June just flew by for me and before I knew it my "I'll think about it later." plan for planning for Kylie's birthday was no longer viable. I think we did a good job of celebrating all things considered. Before I get to that let's just do a quick photo review of this cutie.

On her first birthday.

On the day she was born.

On her third birthday

A few days before her 2nd birthday

For the week leading up to her birthday this year Kylie asked over and over again for her birthday cake. "I wan my birfday cake." she would say. We'd kindly remind her that her birthday was not until next week and we would be sure and make her a birthday cake. Her Grandma M. had a pony cake pan which Kylie got pretty excited about when I showed it to her and she would change the color her pony cake should be quite regularly. When her birthday actually rolled around she announced that she wanted a Rainbow Dash cake. It is a good thing I enjoy decorating cakes or that may have been a bit daunting (that's a lot of colors to dye frosting). I think it turned out pretty well, and I had fun doing it.

We spent the morning on Kylie's special day attending a circus performance which her Uncle Steven was in. It was for a group of summer camps that was held at a local elementary school. Kylie seemed a little overwhelmed by all the screaming and cheering summer camp kids. However, once the craziness settled down and the show started she really seemed to enjoy the show.

Kylie was amazed at how many kids were in the gym

The best part may have been playing with the globes while the troop cleaned up

After the circus show was over we went to a nearby park to enjoy a picnic lunch. I absolutely loved the view! The Seattle area is SO green and beautiful.

Beautiful view at the park

We finished up the birthday fun by having cake and ice cream in the evening. We also opened presents. Kylie was so excited and happy. Again I have to say that I love watching my kids enjoy themselves. Those genuine smiles are contagious. Kylie was simply beaming.

Kylie blew out her own candles

Kylie was super excited about her puppy from Kaelyn

It was fun to have Matthew and Molly join us for cake and ice cream

Can I just say I love this picture....$10 is a small fortune when you are 3

All in all it was a very nice day. I am so thankful that Kylie is my little girl. She just keeps growing and learning and keeping life interesting for us. She is also learning to be a better listener, which is very exciting for everyone. I look forward to watching her grow this next year. I am also interested to see how she makes the transition to being a big sister soon. While I am ready to be done with this pregnancy, I don't know that I am ready to have Kylie transform into a big girl overnight. I'll miss Kylie being my baby girl.

Watch Me Grow

2011-07-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

**This has been updated again**

November 1, 2010

Month 1: I was so excited to see that blue line, somewhat surprised, but excited. Things I was not expecting, but got to experience for the first time: my chest was really tender, I had to pee A LOT, and I was SOOOOO tired.

December 2010

Month 2: I don't know why but I have yet to remember to take a picture of me in month 2 of a pregnancy. It could be that I never really look pregnant, so what is the point. This month I was feeling pretty yucky. Everything made me gag. Thankfully, nothing ever made me throw up.

January 6, 2011

Month 3: Somewhere in this month my morning sickness disappeared. My only symptom this month was exhaustion. Though it is possible that was just a result of dealing with my girls, the holidays, and Jon's business travel?

February 6, 2011

Month 4: One Sunday morning while I was getting ready for church and Kaelyn exclaimed "Whoa, Mom you are huge!" At the time I thought to myself, "Thanks cutie, but I think that statement needs to be reserved for at least a few months down the line." After taking these pictures today though I am rethinking that one. I included both pictures because it makes me laugh that I could look so much bigger in the one than the other. I took them within two minutes of each other! Other big news for this month is that as of the beginning of the month I have been feeling the baby move around in there. That has been really neat. I don't know why but this pregnancy has been so much more emotional for me. I am a lot more excited than I have been with my others. Don't get me wrong, those were exciting for me too. This is just...more so.

March 6, 2011

Month 5: I am really not very good with the whole self portrait thing.Oh well. This month was a good one. It went by super fast for me. I am very excited that I am more than half done now.

April 6, 2011

Month 6: Kind of funny that I was accidentally wearing the same outfit as last month. I have had a lot of aches and pains this month. The type I normally get in month 8 or so. Only 3 more months. I am sure that they will just fly by. Time is just like that for me! I can't believe that it has already been six months!

May 15, 2011

Month 7: I spent pretty much this whole month ignoring the fact that I was pregnant, after all I had a cross country move to make.

June 20, 2011

Month 8: I have really enjoyed this month, well aside from the aches and fatigue. It has been nice to kind of take a month off of "normal" life. I have really enjoyed being with Jon's family. My girls love their aunt and uncles and all the extra attention they are getting. We've enjoyed being together as a family, that is one of the few perks of unemployment. We are now into the final stretch and getting very anxious to welcome our new little one into the world.

"Are we moving again, Ceilia?"

2011-07-01T20:15:00.005-07:00

So in case you missed it (which is totally possible with how little I have been on facebook, blogging, or emailing as of late) we moved from Verona, Wisconsin to the Seattle, Washington area at the end of May.

That makes...let me count...

Tucson (AZ), Tucson (AZ), Midvale (UT), Salt Lake (UT), North Salt Lake (UT), Taylorsville (UT), West Valley (UT), Mayfield Heights (OH), Verona (WI), and now here (WA).

That is 10 MOVES and 5 STATES in our almost 9 years of marriage! I am getting good at that whole moving thing, which is a good thing since this move tested the limits of my skills. It was a challenge for a number of reasons one of the greatest being that I was 30 weeks pregnant when we made the decision to move. Another hard part was that it was the shortest time we have ever had between deciding to move and actually moving, a total of 4 weeks. It all came together though, and I was able to get everything done that needed to get done. (Even with Jon's business trip in the middle of it.) The packing process was pretty funny though, I would pack a whole bunch of boxes, tape them up, and label them. However, since I couldn't lift them I would just leave them all over the house for Jon to move when he got home from work.

I am so thankful to everyone who helped us with our move. Especially Becca, Valarie, Jenny, and Meghann who helped me clean the house. A task I know I could not have completed on my own in time. I also have a very heartfelt thanks for Alisa and Jenny who watched my girls multiple times so I could work without little ones underfoot, and so that my girls didn't watch TV non-stop for 4 weeks. Ironing out all the details took quite awhile, but I have learned that when it is meant to be, things work out.

I have been thinking for quite awhile about the best way to blog about this, and I think a timeline will be the best bet for conveying all the craziness. What I can't figure out how to record in here is the many "one last playdate" or dinner and games with friends we tried to have. I felt so busy in May, but it all worked out pretty well.

April 29- Jon gave his month notice at work. It was now official, we were moving to Seattle. I started packing but was careful to not overdo it. It was a kind of challenging move to pack for because the plan was to live with Jon's parents while he continued to look for a new job. So everything had to be sorted into what needed to be stored vs what we would need at the house.

May 17-19- Jon was gone on yet another business trip.

May 20-21- I did a yard sale to unload some of our unused and awkward to pack things that we just didn't need. I was surprised that I ended up making about $70. This far out shined the last yard sale I tried to do.

May 23- My brother Kyle and cousin Logan fly in from Salt Lake to Madison.

May 24- Kyle and Logan head off in our car on the long drive to Utah. I can't thank those boys enough for driving for us. They went all the way to Cheyenne the first day. That was a lot of driving that my nearly 8 month pregnant self super glad I did not have to do, or sit through. Our ABF trailer was also delivered that afternoon.

Logan and Kyle ready to head out.

May 25- I had my final doctor appointment in Madison that day. We loaded the ABF truck that night. I am thankful for the men who came to help us get it loaded. It took only an hour and a half. I'd even go so far as to say that most (like 80%) of it was loaded in 45 minutes. However, figuring out how to get the odds and ends loaded, like the bikes, was quite the challenge and took the rest of the time. We ended up using exactly the 12 feet we estimated, maybe a few inches less.

All loaded and ready to roll.

May 26- This was one seriously busy day. In the morning a friend drove Jon to the airport to pick up our rental car. There was too much stuff to get done to go without a car. That morning I got to go visiting teaching for the last time in Madison. I loved the sisters that I visit taught and my awesome partner. I miss all three of them. When Alisa dropped me off I really couldn't believe that this was our farewell. That was very hard for me. Alisa has been such a good friend to me, I miss her cheerful disposition her willingness to listen. I have been touched by her example of service and listening to the spirit. I miss her adorable children. Her family always took such good care of ours, especially when Jon was out of town. I am sad to say that I discovered I don't have a single picture of her. We left right after Alisa dropped us off to go to Kaelyn's last day of preschool picnic. The kids sang "Down by the Bay" and we enjoyed a great meal. I am so glad that Kaelyn got to finish out the school year with all of her friends. St. James Preschool was such a wonderful experience for Kaelyn she learned so much and loved her teachers and classmates. I am sad that Kylie won't be able to go to school there.

Ms. Heather

Ms. Mindy

Kaelyn, Izzy, and Jette

Kaelyn and Hannah

May 27- This was our last day in Madison and I am amazed we were able to squeeze as much into as we did. I had a great morning hanging out with my friend Jenny, her family would be moving to their new home the day after we left so we worked a little bit on packing her things too. She took the girls and I to lunch at the Olive Garden then I ran a whole bunch of errands (post office, library, credit union, etc.) while Jenny waited in the car with our girls. It was so fantastic! I also miss Jenny a lot. It has been awhile since we lived so close to friends. Our doors were really only a couple hundred feet apart. Our girls got along so well and Kylie really misses Lizzy a lot. I loved having a friend that we could feel comfortable just dropping by from time to time. I am thankful for Jenny's example of friendship and service. She was always so willing to share with us. We enjoyed spending time with their family.

Skye and Jenny

Jon worked up until the very end. He had his exit interview at 2:00 in the afternoon and he was done and ready to head out by 2:30. We knew had to leave Madison in the most Wisconsin-ite way possible so we went to the Worlds Largest Brat Fest to grab an early dinner before heading to the airport.

That's right, we saw the Weinermobile.

I felt super lucky that we got to enjoy a free ride on the carousel.

The ice cream was fantastic...and didn't last long.

As we were sitting at Brat Fest enjoying the atmosphere, the food, and the beautiful summer day I was almost overwhelmed by the feeling that we were walking out just as things were getting good. It was a moment where both Jon and I had a moments hesitation. That whole "Is this really what we want?" Madison is such a nice place. There are so many things that we enjoyed about it. The people we met are wonderful, the area is nice, we like the local businesses. However, it was only a moment. We knew then and we know now that this is what our family was meant to do.

We made it to the airport in plenty of time. Our flight was supposed to leave Madison a little after 7pm, but was delayed a full hour. We didn't need to worry about missing our connecting flight though because it turned out that our plane was our connecting flight (Something we didn't know when we boarded the first leg of the flight.) Jon was awesome and took the girls for the first and longer leg. Somehow he was able to work some magic and they both slept the whole way. Although it was very late when we arrived we landed in Salt Lake safe and sound. We spent a few days visiting in Utah before finishing up our move, something which I hope to blog about another time.

June 1- The girls and I flew to Seattle in the evening. It was really funny because we crossed paths in the air with Brian, Jon's brother, who flew to Utah to keep Jon company while driving our car up to Seattle.

June 2- Jon and Brian drove to Seattle while the ABF truck arrived and we unloaded it. The next week was spent trying to find a hospital, a doctor, a storage unit, and all the things that come with moving. We are feeling settled now, well as settled as you can in a temporary situation. I am so grateful for my in-laws and how they have been willing to open their home to us. We have really enjoyed being here. I'll be excited for Jon to get a job and we can get out on our own, but I have enjoyed being here.

Our Road Trip in April

2011-06-22T23:28:00.000-07:00

So I apologize for my long time blogging hiatus, but give me a few posts to explain (if you didn't already know what we have been up to) and I am sure that you will all be more than willing to forgive me. The past ~~six~~ eight weeks have been a step beyond insane for me! In an effort to not confuse myself I think I am going to break this post up into smaller ones. So much has happened that it is hard for me to keep track of it all. The first thing of note is that from April 11th to April 27th Jon was out of town on 3 different business trips. He was literally only home on April 16th and 17th (the date of my last post). That was a long time to be without my sweetheart, helper, and best friend.

During Jon's time away I got sick of being alone and headed to Cleveland to visit our friends over Easter weekend. I haven't done a very good job of taking pictures the last few months, and consequently didn't get many pictures of our super fun adventures there. We visited Lake Farm Park, the Natural History Museum, and enjoyed popping in to visit so many of our friends. We also had a lot of fun dying eggs for Easter.

I want to thank both Shannon and the Huangs for letting us stay with them during that trip. The only downside to that trip was the fact that it made me miss Cleveland all over again. It was so much fun to just step back into friendships and conversations as though we had never left. The girls did fantastically well on the 9 hours of driving time each way. We listened to a book on tape and only used the DVD player we borrowed from a friend on the way home.

Our greatest adventure of the trip came when my car started overheating in the middle of Chicago. I called my dad in an absolute panic as steam poured out from under the hood. "What am I going to do?!?" I took the next exit, off into who knows where Chicago, I was really praying that we were in a safe place and the girls and I would be okay. I was rather grateful that there was a gas station right next to exit ramp. I left the girls in the car while I popped the hood and called my dad again. After a few minutes of, "What does a radiator look like?" and "I have no idea where that is?" there was apparently enough information for my dad to let me know that I needed to find a garage to have it repaired. Which left me feeling even more nervous. Thankfully I live in a day and age of wonderful technology and I was able to use my GPS to locate the nearest garage. I'll admit though I wasn't sure that I should believe it when it showed the nearest place to be 0.0 miles away.

As it turns out the garage was attached to the far side of the gas station. I said a prayer of gratitude and took the car over. The men at the shop were very friendly and let us sit in the cashier's booth for the gas station. The girls seemed to enjoy our time waiting, with the help of strawberry milk. After only 45 minutes the mechanic poked his head in and asked me if the car had been worked on recently. At the time I couldn't think of anything more recent than an oil change about a month earlier. He informed me that both of the fans were simply unplugged. The mechanic plugged them back in and sent us on our way without charging me anything. I was so grateful! It was certainly an eventful way to end our road trip.

Something new on the Kylie front

2011-04-17T16:03:00.001-07:00

In the last week Kylie has started singing, a lot. She sings primary songs, she sings songs from Tangled, she sings nursery rhymes. I got this video after she had been singing for at least 5 minutes straight. Just in case you don't recognize it she is singing the counting down song that goes:

Five little monkeys swinging in a tree

Teasing Mr. Alligator, "Can't catch me. Can't catch me."

Along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be.

And snapped that monkey right out of that tree.

She was counting down like so 5,4,4,4,2,2,2,2,2,4,4,4 etc. So this very well could have been the song that never ends. It was super cute though, I hope you enjoy it.

Kylie's personality is developing more and more everyday. I love how much she is learning and growing. She is such a sweet girl full of energy and life. I am so grateful that she is my little girl.

A first for Kaelyn

2011-04-17T15:52:00.000-07:00

This week Kaelyn was asked to give her first talk in Primary. Daddy helped her write it this morning and she practiced many times before it was time to head to church. I took a video of one of those practice talks so that her grandparents, and anyone else interested but unable to attend primary today, could hear her talk.

She did a great job in primary. She got up and just read her talk without any help from Jon, who held her picture for her. I am so thankful to be the mother of this sweet girl. She blesses my life everyday.

Kaelyn Birthday (Part 2)

2011-03-11T18:45:00.001-08:00

So on Saturday Feb 12th Kaelyn had her dinosaur birthday party. It went really well, aside from the fact that we had to abandon the paleontologist dig activity. The morning of I discovered that I had purchased the wrong kind of sand (not play sand) and rushed to the store to fix the problem. I, however, ended up buying a 40 pound bag of frozen sand. Even with a couple of hours of the space heater in the bathroom at 80 degrees we simply couldn't overcome that obstacle. Thankfully Kaelyn was understanding, and we just put the "fossils" in the party favor bags. Below is Kaelyn's diorama cake which she had fun putting the stuff on top of after I had it all frosted.

I splurged a little this year and bought a tablecloth and dinosaur cups. Kaelyn was super excited that I put dinosaurs on the table. I never let them have toys at the table.

After all of the guests had arrived and decorated a party favor bag we served our dino themed lunch. We had broccoli bushes and chow mien twigs for the plant eaters, bone fossil biscuits for everyone, and dinosaur chicken nuggets for the meat eaters.

Here are our cute party goers enjoying their lunch.

After everyone was done eating we sang to Kaelyn.

She was obviously excited to get to blow out the candles.

Take a big breath kiddo, FIVE is a lot of candles.

Okay, maybe blow a little harder.

Alright another big breath, you're sure to get them out this time.

Um, then again maybe not.

I am pretty sure if she was not wearing the crown her bangs might be going straight up.

That is after all the direction she was blowing, straight up.

Okay 5 years now, and my cute kiddo has yet to blow out her own candles. I feel like I have somehow neglected my parental duty. Note to self, have Kaelyn practice before next year's cake comes out. I know she can blow out a candle, she has done it before. Just never on her birthday cake!! After cake and ice cream we opened the presents. I had to include the picture of when she opened Kylie's present. Kylie was so excited about that Fur Real Kitty. I also have to say I love the fact that Kaelyn had named her kitty Allie Cat. (Or maybe it is alley cat, Kaelyn is punny even if she doesn't mean to be most of the time.)

Here are all of our dino-mite guests.

I think everyone had a good time. They seemed to enjoy the Brontosaurs ring toss and pin the horn on the triceratops games, but mostly the kids just loved playing together. Thanks to all of Kaelyn's friends that came and gave her such nice gifts.

After the party had wrapped up and all of the guests had headed home we got ready to head to Milwaukee for Disney on Ice. Since Thursday night she had continued to insist that Kylie would be going with Daddy. However, Jon and I refused to let her give away her tickets. We knew, even if she didn't that she would love it. I am thankful that she fell asleep even before we made it to the east side of Madison, otherwise it would have been a very long drive listening to her tell me about how we should not be making the trip.

She wasn't grumpy about going, just unbelievably reluctant. I had planned on stopping somewhere along the way to get a fast food dinner of some sort, but since Kaelyn was napping I figured it would be better if I just got something from the concession stand. This picture was taken before the show, we arrived about 30 minutes early, and I absolutely love how you can tell she is forcing the smile. She honestly thought that this would be no fun at all. My brother, described her as obstinate when I had been telling him about her "I'm not interested. Take Kylie." chorus over the phone the day after her birthday. Upon looking up the definition of the word I couldn't agree more: "Stubbornly adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course, usually with implied unreasonableness."

So we waited and ate our hot dogs. Then the show started, Mickey and Minnie came out with their friends...still no interest from Kaelyn. She said she was going to take a nap. I couldn't help but wonder, "Really, you aren't going to watch this? Maybe it was a waste of money. Maybe I should have brought Kylie." But I waited and watched. It was about 5 minutes before the Lion King portion of the show started...

...AND SHE WAS HOOKED!!! She loved the show! Lion King, Little Mermaid, Lilo & Stitch, and Peter Pan. She couldn't take her eyes off of the ice! I, on the other hand, had a hard time taking my eyes off of her. Seriously look at that smile. It was magical!

Sorry about the poor video quality, but I love the her smile, her enthusiastic clapping, and just the look of wonder on her face.

There at the very end of the video you heard her say it herself. "That was a GREAT SHOW!" The drive home was a lot of fun as Kaelyn told me over and over how much fun it was. The best line she said was, "Next time we should buy 4 tickets, because I know that Kylie and Daddy would love the show too!" Talk about make my heart happy. It was so worth it, even worth listening to her try and give her favorite birthday present away.

Kaelyn Birthday (Part 1)

2011-03-08T20:26:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that she...

...is 5!!!

So this year Jon was out of town for a very long business trip the first couple of weeks in Feb. He was originally scheduled to come home on the 11th, but he asked to be able to come home for Kaelyn's birthday. He got permission to come home on the 10th, but his flight wouldn't arrive until 10:30PM. Knowing that Daddy would be gone for most of her birthday I wanted to make it an extra special day. So after I put the girls to bed on the 9th I did some birthday magic.

I put up her dinosaur party decorations and set out her presents from grandparents (I had kept their arrival a secret).

Then I poured balloons all over her bedroom floor so that she could wake up to a couple of fun surprises. When she woke up in the morning we had French Toast for breakfast which she picked, however, when I went to put candles on hers I realized I didn't have any! Oops. So I held the BBQ lighter while Kylie and I sang to her. After eating I let her open her presents from grandparents and the two smaller gifts the I had made for her.

I had to include this picture of her gifts for two reasons. One, look at those cute dino pjs I made. She was so excited about them, and would have worn them every night since except I insisted that they be washed after so many times. Second, please note the red envelope with two familiar faces (or silhouettes). That is our big present for Kaelyn, which I told her she would have to wait to open until Daddy was home.

After opening her presents Kaelyn worked on her fuzzy poster, and had me read her new books to her almost all morning.

Then it was off to preschool for the afternoon. Kylie and I were lucky enough to get to visit her classroom during snack time so that Kaelyn to pass out her dinosaur cupcakes. It was so much fun to be there and see the classroom in action. It was easy to see how special Kaelyn felt on her special day. I like her preschool even more now than I did before.

Don't you love the birthday candle headband?

Kylie loved the cupcakes, and so did everyone else.

After preschool Kaelyn and Kylie just played the afternoon away. They wore themselves both out and took naps around 4:00 in the afternoon. At that point I decided that we could go and pick Jon up because if Kaelyn takes a nap she is up until at least 11:00PM. So my plan was to leave the house at about 7pm, run an errand at JoAnn Crafts, take the girls out to dinner at Kaelyn's restaurant of choice, (Which was she had decided days earlier would be Outback for their tasty Mac a Roo and Cheese.) and then go to Target to pick up a few things. I was quite certain that would be just about perfect for arriving at the airport to pick up Jon at about 10:30PM. The plan was perfect, that is until the logic of a child stepped in.

We were about 10 minutes into our drive to our first stop when Kaelyn out of nowhere insisted that we could not go out to eat without Daddy. I tried to explain that by the time we picked Daddy up all of the restaurants would be closed. I let her know that if she would like maybe we could get ice cream on the way home. NO it had to be a MEAL it had to be ON her birthday and it HAD to be WITH Daddy. That was one stressful car ride. The whole time I couldn't help but think about how I must make her understand that none of us had eaten dinner yet and we were not about to wait until 10:00 at night to do so. My goodness there were buckets and buckets of tears!!! Eventually Grandpa L. saved the day and somehow convinced Kaelyn over the phone that it would be a good idea for us to go out to eat that night, then we could eat with Daddy on a different night. So it was off to Outback Steakhouse for a very late and very leisurely dinner.

*Thanks again Dad, you really saved me :) *

I had been right that the timing was pretty close to perfect, and we arrived at the airport with only about five minutes to kill waiting in the cell phone lot. Kaelyn was so excited to see her Daddy again, and she was SUPER excited to open her last birthday present from us. So there by the light of the airport pick up lane she opened the red envelope with Mickey and Minnie. Inside where two tickets to Disney on Ice for the night of Sat. Feb 12th. We knew she would love it, but neglected to realize that she wouldn't get it.

She pulled those out and said, "What are these?"

"Tickets for you to see Disney on Ice with Mommy or Daddy this Saturday night. You get to pick."

"Umm, tickets are not a good present. Small plastic animals would be much better."

**SIGH**

So we drove home together, telling her that we were certain that she would love this present. She, still being a little bent out of shape by the dinner without Daddy fiasco, said that she did not want to go and that Daddy should just take Kylie. She "was not interested". Once we got home Jon pulled up clips from the show on youtube to show her. She sat by pretending to be all aloof, trying desperately to not be sucked in. No she had to stand her ground and act completely disinterested. A hard task for my now five year old girl to accomplish as she watched the following.

It was quite funny to watch her trying not to watch. She held "firm" to her resolve and repeated her chorus of, "I'm not interested. Take Kylie." So rolling our eyes, and refusing to let her re-gift her birthday present we tucked her into bed wishing her a happy birthday yet again.

Random Fun around the House

2011-02-25T17:55:00.000-08:00

So this is my random collection of fun goings on as of late. First up Kaelyn with her dinosaur pancake. This child eat, sleeps, plays, and dreams dinosaurs.

Next up we have a video of Kaelyn and Kylie playing one morning. I took this because Kylie put every barrette we own in her hair that morning and asked me to put in all the ponytails. Great hairdo for staying in on a cold morning.

The next couple of pictures are evidence of how cold some mornings can be. These are the snow drifts that were behind my house for a couple of weeks. I would guess some were as much as 4 1/2 to 5 feet deep in spots. That was a crazy lot of snow. I am really glad that I live in a condo where some company does the shoveling. Especially since this was during Jon's very long business trip.

And finally we have a picture of Abby, Kaelyn's imaginary friend, tucked into her bed. She even has her snuggly stick. (Thank you Land Before Time for that bit of randomness.) Kaelyn did all of this then pulled me in her room to show me that Abby was asleep.

Binky, where are you?

2011-01-24T09:52:00.001-08:00

So while Jon was out of town the second week of January I decided that it was time for the binky to go the way of the Dodo bird. Kylie has done remarkably well without it. Although she did search for it for about a week. This is a super cute video of her on the hunt. I think my favorite part is near the end where she calls out, "Binky, where are you?"

Another proof that Kylie is growing is that Saturday night she told me she needed to go potty. I helped her take off the dress up she was wearing and she ran off to the bathroom. Jon and I were both surprised when a few minutes later, when Jon went to check on her she proudly announced, "I pee." Sure enough she had!

Today's lunch...

2011-01-23T12:06:00.000-08:00

...was brought to you by the letter B.

On very much of a whim we decided to have a B lunch today. Bread and butter, bananas, broccoli, baby carrots, and blueberries. All served with blue dishes. It was a fun way to liven up lunch. Though let it be noted that Kaelyn wasn't sure that the carrots went along with the theme.

Holiday Recap

2011-01-18T13:53:00.001-08:00

I know it has been a long time coming, but I couldn't skip our Christmas adventures. We were very excited to have Tyler come and spend Dec 22nd through the 27th with us. We always have fun when he comes to visit. On the 23rd the girls and I look him to go and explore Cave of the Mounds in nearby Blue Mounds, WI. That was a fun short walk. Kaelyn and Kylie were both impressed with the cave formations. It reminded me of a miniature Timp caves experience (minus the two hour hike up a mountain). Which considering our group was a good thing.

Here we are a little squished, and this wasn't even "The Narrows" part.

This is Kaelyn trying to show Tyler the snake outline on the ceiling. Can you see it?

Now can you see it?

We ended our outing with a plate of delicious nachos and some fried cheese curds at The Grumpy Troll resturant in Mt. Horeb. Look at that talent. Tyler can eat and be a bed for Kylie all at the same time!

On the Christmas eve we ventured out in the morning to go check on our favorite gift of the year...

...or more accurately our favorite gift for next year. I had an ultrasound appointment to check on our newest baby. The baby is healthy with a heartbeat of 156 beats per minute. The baby was measuring 5 days bigger than expected. That, however, was not enough to have the doctor change my due date. We are still looking at having a July 6th due date. He or she was hiccuping half of the time, which was really cute to watch. I am really glad Tyler was here because that meant after the technition was done taking her mesurments our girls got to come back and see the baby moving around. Kylie spent more time looking at me on the bed than at the screen, but Kaelyn was enchanted by that little figure on the screen. Though you could tell that she was just trusting us that it was in fact our baby. So Tyler, thanks for watching the girls in the waiting room for us while the tech did the measuring part! After that appointment was over we did our regular grocery shopping since we usually shop on Saturdays. You can add grocery shopping on Christmas Eve to the list of things I hope never to do again.

Christmas morning was absolutely perfect. Our kids were both so excited about the gifts that Santa had left for them. Our cinnamon roll and hot chocolate breakfast was delightful. Honestly the only thing I would change about that day was the fact that we couldn't go and visit Grandma and Grandpas' houses like I did as a little girl. I think that the video below explains perfectly how much fun our morning was. (Ok after two failed attempts I am going to have to try to post my video some other time.)

Our morning continued with the usual unwrapping and mess making extravaganza.

The girls spent the whole day in their pjs and loved playing with all of the new toys. We had fun Skypeing with both sets of grandparents and other family members. I love technology! Though we did not get to talk with Brian, who is serving a mission in Russia. I guess even technology has it's limits.

Sitting down to an unexpectedly late, but worth the wait Christmas dinner. I am really starting to wonder how on earth our mom's were able to serve a meal on time with everything getting done at the same time. That kind of planning and skill is not a strenth I have devleoped as of yet.

There was nothing spectacular about the 26th, we went to church and hung out at home. Then on the morning of the 27th Jon drove Tyler to the airport before heading off to work. As is usually the case Tyler's visit was full of lots of stories being read and some silly fun. Also his visits always remind me that for all the ups and downs, all the tears and frustrations, I truely am very blessed to have such sweet beautiful and fun girls in my life. I loved having Tyler visit us for Christmas.

That was just the beginning of our holiday fun. Only a few short hours after Tyler's departure a couple of our friends from Clevland arrived. Molly and Matthew drove out to spend some time with us. They were here from Dec 27th to January 1st. We had a good time. I especially enjoyed watching Matthew and Kaelyn play together again. I know that Kaelyn has missed Matthew a lot since we moved. They jumped right into playing every form of dinosaurs known to man, with the boardgame Kaelyn got for Christmas, the toys, the new dino chopsticks, pretending to be dinosaurs themselves!!!

I'd say the highlights of their visit included our trip to the zoo,

our sledding adventure at Elver Park,

(I am kind of bummed that my camera lens cover started malfunctioning that day so I only have half a picture from that fun afternoon of sledding. Thanks again to the Huangs for our new sled. If you want to see some more cute pictures of that adventure and the rest of their visit you can click here to visit Molly's blog.)

Then there was of course the requisit visit to Epic campus to show off what a crazy fun place it is,

and the nightly dance partys that came at the end of Matthew's cello practices. Molly would bounce the bow on the strings and the kids would just dance and go delightfully crazy. It was a lot of fun. I wish I had remembered to take a picture or video of their dancing.

We thourohly enjoyed our time playing with Matthew and Molly again. Thank you for coming to visit us. To top off our holiday fun we had a game night at our house on New Years Eve. There were about 6 families that came over. It was so much fun to have so many people over to play games with. I know that there were at least 6 different games played that night. It has been way too long since we had such a great game night. I am hoping to have many more like it. It was a great way to end 2010.

The Lone Dinosaur

2010-12-05T14:05:00.001-08:00

Kaelyn and Kylie really enjoy this little song from one of the Land Before Time movies. They have watched about a zillion times!

I can tell Kylie really loves this song because she will occasionally put on performances of "The Lone Dinosaur" for us. Complete with her very own unique Kylie styling. Sure, she only really knows the words "tail as fast as lightning" and she repeats "dinosaur" over and over. However, I think it is pretty cute, especially the way that she twists up her face to sing it.

The night that I took this video she was singing for at least 15 minutes straight. I am not a huge fan of the song, but Kylie is making it grow on me.

Funny funny moments

2010-11-28T08:41:00.000-08:00

So this Thanksgiving weekend has been full of things that have made made us laugh out loud. Our girls are so much fun and like most kids, say the darndest things. So here are my top two funny moments of the weekend thus far. The first happened in the car on the way home from the grocery store yesterday morning. Kaelyn asked for a Kleenex. I handed her one and she said, "You know, after I blow my nose it will be a dirty-ex." Jon and I just laughed. Yes kiddo, it will no longer be a "clean-ex" if you have used it.

My second funny story of the weekend was inspired by the many episodes of Mythbusters we watched on Thanksgiving day. One episode there were more than your average number of explosions. (And for Mythbusters average number of explosions per show is pretty high anyway!) Well I have to admit that my concern for the future grew because every time we saw something like this...

...Kylie would laugh out loud and say things like "Explode! Fun!" Another camera angle of the car exploding another roll of laughter from my little Miss Mischief. Hmm, do you think I should I be concerned? Again Jon and I couldn't help but laugh. I should have thought to make a video of her watching that episode. It was so funny!

I absolutely love my girls. They really are a light in my life. We have so much fun together, and they really do remind me to not take simple things for granted. There is so much in life that is blessed. From the beautiful blue sky with fluffy white clouds to the wonder of sparkling white snow. Things that as we get older we don't even notice anymore.

Preschool Thanksgiving Celebration

2010-11-22T08:33:00.002-08:00

Kaelyn's preschool is taking this week of Thanksgiving off, however last Thursday they had a Thanksgiving feast. The girls and I had a lot of fun attending that. It is kind of a bummer that Daddy had to miss it, since he was out of town on a business trip. I was surprised at how much food my girls ate. Kylie especially was wolfing food down. Here is a video of the song that the preschool kids performed before the meal. Kaelyn loves this song and I think it is kind of neat that she has learned to spell family thanks to this song. Hope you enjoy it.

As Kaelyn was watching this video with me she said, "So squishy." Apparently being crowded all up in the front made her reluctant to do some crazy dancing with her classmates. Just so you know the little girl in a purple jumpsuit at the very far left of the line is Kaelyn's favorite preschool friend Jette. Just in case you ever wondered.

Did I scare you?

2010-11-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I know that you are all thinking that aliens must have abducted Skye, because she would NEVER blog about an event the day after it happened. That would be way too fast. Never fear though, I am safe and sound with no paranormal activity here. Well except maybe the fact that I am doing a timely blog entry. ;-) The house is quiet and I have some time to kill before heading to bed.

We had a lot of fun celebrating Halloween this past week. It all kicked off on Wed. with a playgroup party at the church. That was a lot of fun with crafts, games, a story, prizes, and even a parachute. Which was one of my all time favorite group activities as a kid. When we arrived the church was still locked so we waited in the car while the wind was blowing like crazy.

Here are my girls in costume ready to head to that party. Just as I predicted in my previous post Kylie did not want to dress up either time we "had" to. But here she is my unhappy ballerina.

Of course Kaelyn was more than happy to put on her pink triceratops costume. She has worn it almost everyday since I finished it back at the beginning of October. I am happy with the way it turned out. It make my heart happy to know that Kaelyn feels the same way, I have heard her more than once say, "Oh I just love the way my costume turned out!" She sounds like my little echo sometimes.

Getting Kylie dressed for the ward activity on Friday did not go any better. Before we left home Kylie wanted to wear the fairy wings from last year's costume. So I dressed her to match, however, I had to take the wings off to put her in her car seat and she refused to put them back on once we arrived at the activity. She wouldn't wear the tutu either, so she was just weirdly dressed. Orange shirt with nonsense words, purple shorts, and rainbow tights. Oh well!

The ward activity was a major event, with a huge turn out! First was dinner, then a costume parade, followed by a trunk-or-treat, topped off with a carnival! I went home that night exhausted! We didn't really play many of the games because Kaelyn wanted to start with the cake walk. The line for that was HUGE. However, the person running it was kind enough to let Kylie walk with Kaelyn. So that is why they are holding hands in the picture below. Eventually they won a whole plate of cookies. The other picture is of Kaleyn licking the donut powder off of her face from the donut eating contest. The best line of the night was when we asked Kaelyn what she liked about the night she said, "The cake walk becaused I got COOKIES!!"

Both of my girls were in trunk-or-treat heaven! Seriously look at all that candy!

Saturday morning we had a few friends over to decorate Halloween cookies, something that I consider a traditional must do in order celebrate this holiday. It was certainly a laid back get together, but we all had a great time I think. It was fun to see my girls playing so well with friends, and just having a good time. The picture below was taken shortly before our guests arrived. As you can see it was hard to keep Kylie away from the tables of frosting and sprinkles before it was time to get started.

For the actual evening of Halloween we invited two other friends over for dinner in a pumpkin and a friendly game of Wits and Wagers. It was the first time I had ever played it, and it was fun.

All in all I would say we had a spook-tacular week! Hope you did too!

I want to remember forever

2010-10-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

There are somethings that I just want to remember forever. You know those things that are certain to make you smile every time you see them or think about them. Here are a couple of cute things that my girls do, that I have been trying to get on video for quite awhile.

First is Kylie and her way of volunteering to say prayers. At almost every meal Jon will say, "Who wants to say prayer?" Kylie starts this...

...Kaelyn joins in, and then Jon will too just for the fun of it. What a silly bunch I live with : )

Then there is the very endearing way that Kaelyn cuts with scissors.

Please pay close attention to her mouth. So cute!

Just can't wait

2010-10-19T14:49:00.001-07:00

I am so excited for Halloween this year. Kaelyn's pink triceratops costume turned out so cute. I had to think long and hard about what Kylie might keep on. Anything on her head is a no go. I won't tell you what I came up with, we'll just have to wait and see if it works out.

I don't know why Halloween is so much fun these days. To be completely honest I HATE all things scary. I haven't seen Jurassic Park or Sixth Sense because I am sure they would both give me nightmares. I do love finding fun Halloween foods though. This year we won't be doing an all out dinner party like we did in Cleveland, but I really want to have a chance to try these new recipes sometime soon.

Blood red hot chocolate with marshmallow bones

Cauliflower Brains

Dead Man's Dip

Eyeball Soup

Mummy Dogs

I am amazed at how creative people can be. These just look fun. The supply of ideas is seemingly endless. I love the internet.

Meet my little Miss...

2010-10-18T09:44:00.001-07:00

Mischief that is...

Kylie has always had quite the nack for getting into things, and making messes. Sometime I actually find myself being amazed that such a little girl can make such a huge mess. She is making sure, one mess at a time, that I never repeat some of my mistakes.

The top picture is from the day after we arrived in Wisconsin, Kylie got into my makeup and used up all of what was left of my maskera. She was not a fan of the cleaning up process. Lesson learned, never again will I leave my makeup on the bathroom counter.

Then there was the time that I foolishly let her play with the sissors from a mending kit while we drove to the store. We were in a hurry to leave and she had just found them. I looked at them and thought, "Well, she can't cut herself with those. It'll be okay." So I didn't bother to take them away. As we were driving to the store she started crying. I glanced over my shoulder and couldn't see what was the problem. However, once I went to get her out of the car in the parking lot the problem became evident. There was beautiful blonde hair everywhere! All over her clothes, and the carseat, and her face. I'd have cried too if I had hair in my mouth that my hair-covered hand couldn't get out. She had spent the whole drive hacking away at her little ponytail! It was a matted, ratted mess. Only after we were done in the store did I try to take out her hair elastic. The huge clump of hair in my hand in this picture is what came out with it. Lesson learned, Pay 100% attention to a kid with any type of sissiors!

And today I learned don't let Kylie in the bathroom unattended. Let's just say Kylie must have felt I need that extra push to make sure the bathroom floor got mopped today. Today is trash day and like always took the can out to the curb right after breakfast. When I came back in the house I heard the water running again (Kaelyn had just been washing her hands after going to the bathroom). "Kylie turn off the water." (I knew it was her, even if I didn't think she could reach.) Kylie came running around the kitchen island with her little hands covered in soap. So I hurried around the corner to turn off the water, no need to waste it.

And that is when it became evident that Kylie wanted to help me mop the floor in the bathroom. The sink had overflowed and covered 3/4 of the floor. Seriously? I promise you even with the step stool she can't reach the faucet, but I guess she can climb.

I know that she is curious, and wants to be independent. However, with all the adventures and messes that Kylie gets into I am starting to wonder if the lesson I should be learning is: NEVER let Kylie out of my sight!

First day of school, a month ago

2010-10-08T20:17:00.004-07:00

So way back on Sept. 7th Kaelyn started preschool, one actually taught by a licenced teacher. She absolutely loves it. She was very quick to make new friends there and although she often responds with "I don't remember." or "I don't know." when we ask her what she did at school, I know that they are doing all sorts of fun stuff. Thanks to the preschool's website I know more details about what they do in class. I have really enjoyed getting to see those pictures and reading the stories that they share about the classroom experiences. In school she has already had a apple red day and had a fire fighter came to visit their class. Kaelyn has always been one smart cookie, and she is just thriving in that learning environment. It is such a joy to watch her grow.

Just because

2010-09-19T16:23:00.004-07:00

I usually ask my girls what they want for lunch, and usually I get the answer of mac and cheese or ramen noodles. I'll be honest with you neither of those sound good to me pretty much ever. So I end up eating a lot of peanut butter and honey sandwhiches. Now I like a pb and honey, but not 5 times a week. So I have started on somewhat of a quest to find super fast, easy, and tastey meals that are easy to cook for one. I say cooking for one because chances are if it's tastey my kids probably won't like it! I'm afraid that I am only slightly exsagerating. This week I experimented with a new dish, which was inspired by a side I had at a dinner party back in Cleveland. I love it so I told my sister I'd share the recipe with her, but I figured it is worth sharing with all my friends and family.

So all you have to do is take these...

*Pasta - 2oz dry/or enough for one (I have tried linguinie and fettuccini)
*Olive Oil - 1 tsp
*Minced Garlic - 1 Tlbs
*Water - 1-2 Tlbs
*Cherry or Grape Tomatos - large handful, cut in half
*Lemon Juice - 2 Tlbs
*Basil - 1/2 tsp or 5-6 leaves of fresh

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside. In the same pan you cooked the noodles add olive oil and garlic. Saute that for awhile then add the water and tomatoes. Cook that all together till the tomatos are tender (skins soften a bit). Return pasta to the pan and toss with lemon juice and basil. If using fresh basil add that at the same time you add the tomatoes so that is can cook. Once it is well mixed you are ready to eat my version of

Lemon Pasta

Welcome to our humble abode...

2010-09-05T15:39:00.001-07:00

Okay so this post has been over a month in the making. I took to heart what Jon said the other day,"Don't let perfect become the enemy of good." So here it is good enough, no my pictures aren't hung and I have dirty dishes, oh well...

We have been living here for over a month now and I thought it was time to share what our new place looks like. Naturally not everything is finished. I have at least one craft project in the kids room to finish and the basement needs a lot of help. (mostly in the toy organization department). We have been waiting until payday to buy some needed furniture, like a replacement for the bookcase that broke in the move. So here we go...

Main Living Area

The Hall

The Girls Bedroom

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

I am so excited to have one of these again. Even more exciting was that the tile accents on the floor match the shower curtain and towels I already owned!

The Basement

This closet smelled like smoke (from the upstairs neighbor) but baking soda and vinegar seemed to fix that problem. And now it is a little playhouse for the girls...

Smile Bathroom

Here is yet another storage closet, but this one has a little surprise

With all of the other storage avaliable in the house I was able to transform most of this HUGE closet into a craft room! A great spot where I can leave projects unfinished without worrying that the kids will make a mess of them. I love it!

On the move

2010-09-04T21:06:00.005-07:00

The night we packed our truck I was overwhelmed by how many people came to help us. I felt so loved. I kid you not there were at least 11 men there, plus Molly who brought Matthew and her laptop with a movie to entertain the kids while we loaded the truck. I felt, and still feel, so grateful for each one of you who were able to be there. When we moved to Cleveland everything fit into 10 feet on the ABF trailer, so when we got the 16 foot Budget truck we were worried that our things would be sliding around in there. The first thing we put on the truck was our couch, and at that point two things became evident. First, the ABF cargo area was MUCH taller. Second we would be lucky to get everything on! I seriously consider it nothing less than a miracle that Dan Yeates was able to arrange everything so that it all fit. By the time that were were done loading the truck the next morning there probably wasn't a cubic foot of empty space.

On Tuesday June 28th we pulled out of Cleveland around 1PM. Jon drove the truck and I drove with the girls in our car behind him. The first 20 minutes were the scariest part for me. We were heading south on 271, and seemingly out of nowhere the truck started to rock violently. It was serious enough that I thought I was going to watch my husband die! I watched the tires squish as the full weight of our load shifted from side to side! Eventually, after what seemed like a slow motion eternity, Jon got it under control and that is when we figured out that we couldn't go over 55 or 60 mph! Which made our long drive (9 hours total according to Google maps) even longer. However, I much preferred going slow to ending up a widow. The whole rocking thing happened three or so more times, but Jon got a lot better at preventing and correcting it. Other than that I can say it was a rather uneventful drive. We spent the night in Niles, MI and went to dinner with a friend from Jon's mission. That was certainly a "when else will we have the chance to get together?" thing. The Walker family was very nice and I am thankful for the great meal and company.

The next morning we took the girls swimming at the hotel, just because we could. Then we headed out to finish our drive at about 10:45. A tender mercy of my drive that day is that both of my kids, who never seem to sleep at the same time, dozed off just as we were entering Chicago and slept all the way through. I do not like driving in Chicago (all of 3 times I have done it), and I liked it even less when I didn't have the GPS. However, I feel like Jon and I worked together well for changing lanes and stuff. It got a little tense though when Jon clipped some other trucks mirror and it folded his passenger side mirror in. So in effect Jon spent at least half, if not more, of our hour long drive through Chicago driving 1/2 blind! That was stressful because there was no way to pull over and stop to fix it. I was glad when we got to a toll plaza and I could hop out and unfold his mirror arm. I just wish getting off at said plaza hadn't been such a close brush with death. It was a very last minute change of lanes to Jon's blind side with a car coming up way too fast behind us. Don't worry there wasn't a crash or anything. It just scared me really badly.

Needless to say that with so much driving I was so relived when we arrived at our new place at around 3:30in the afternoon. It was really odd because when we got here the family we are renting from was still here. I have never moved into a place that wasn't empty when we arrived. It all worked out fine of course, but it was certainly different. When people arrived to help out here they got to have some double dip fun. The owners loaded their stuff that was in the house onto a truck. We then moved our truck up and it was unloaded into the living room, then the the rest of the Perkin's things went onto our now empty truck. Yep, the kind folks who helped us move got to move TWO families worth of stuff!

As people gathered around our truck to help unload it at our new place there were a number of gasps as Jon slowly pulled the door open. One guy summed it up best when he said in amazement, "That is the best packed truck I have EVER seen!"

Wow this was a crazy move, but things a have worked out well. I am glad to say that it didn't take us long to get the house out of this state...

...but we'll save that for the next post.

Whoa that was fast.

2010-07-31T17:54:00.000-07:00

*I started this post on June 18th. I started crying and couldn't finish...*

On a warm July afternoon our Ohio adventure began...
We are so thankful to everyone that helped make our move a good one. Jon's parents who drove our car across the country, Tyler who came up to help us unload (and I think he wanted to meet his new niece), those men in the Mayfield ward whom we had never met that were willing to help us unload our things, and my mom who came to help me with the transition of such a new place and now having two kids to take care of.
I was touched at how many people came to drop by our first couple of weeks in Ohio. I felt so welcomed. It wasn't long at all before we started to discover all the wonders that Cleveland has to offer.

The botanical gardens
The Cleveland Indians
The North Chagrin Reservation (Thanks again Hatsuho for inviting us this day. Otherwise Kaelyn would have missed out on this neat experience.)
The Children's Museum
The Science Center
The terrific fountain by Daddy's school

Beautiful shores and beaches of Lake Erie
Squire's CastlePatterson's Farm Family Fun Fest (go on a weekday if you can)
A Free zoo with dinosaurs
The Covered Bridges of Ashtubula County
Lake Farmpark

We discovered that Cleveland was close enough to visit some neat places. Like:

Kirtland

Chagrin Fallswith all its charms

Washington D.C.And all it has to offer

Niagra Falls
The Sacred Grove in Palmyra, NY

There were things about Cleveland that we expected...

Of course there were some unexpected adventures...

Kaelyn had fun in co-op preschools

There were a number of stages...

And plenty reasons to celebrate...
There were always fun surprises that added to the beauty of Cleveland for me...

The very best part about our time in Ohio are the friends we made. I was sad to find that I have next to no pictures of my friends, plenty of my kids' friends, but not mine :( Even if I don't have a picture of you I miss you all.

We truly had hoped to find a job in Cleveland and stay awhile longer. That is not how things worked out. Our time here really flew by so quickly. I wasn't at all prepared to move on. In all our preparations to move I haven't be worried about where we are going, it is just that leaving behind a place that has been so wonderful is hard for me. Cleveland will forever be a part of us, it was our home.

One year older...

2010-07-11T14:11:00.007-07:00

My little ladybug turned two just a few days before we left Ohio. In fact I am embarrassed to admit that we almost forgot her birthday in the whole moving process. She had a little bit of early birthday fun when she opened one of her presents from Grandma and Grandpa M. on the 20th. It is a doll that giggles when you squeeze it, Kylie thought that was good stuff! On her actual birthday, I spent the entire day baking cupcakes. We had invited our friends to come and visit as kind of combined birthday party/farewell party. I wanted it to be a fairly low key affair, so the only plans I made was to serve cake and ice cream. Kaelyn had the idea that we should make butterfly cupcakes, which sounded super cute. I found a couple of really cute ideas online like this one, but those were way more work and expense than I was willing to put into a two year old birthday party less than a week before moving. I did find an easier idea online though. I love the internet! I can look something up and have a step by step guide how to duplicate the outcome. I think I made about 85 or so cupcakes. Crazy? Yes, but fun. And they turned out sooooo cute!
I can't believe I didn't take more pictures that day! I only have pictures of the cupcakes because I asked a friend to take them. We really had a great night spending time with some of our friends. Thank you to everyone who was able to make it. I also want to say thank you to those who gave Kylie such nice gifts, they have all been thoroughly enjoyed. We miss all of our friends in Cleveland, and hope that life is being kind to you.

Cedar Point

2010-07-07T18:28:00.004-07:00

Back when we first moved to Cleveland, Tyler (my brother) said that we should go to Cedar Point, a large amusement park in Ohio, while we lived there. While that sounded like fun it was always out of the budget. However, I guess Tyler wasn't going to let an excuse like that keep us from making some memories. So while he was visiting us during our last week in town he took us out to good old Sandusky, OH. Talk about a fun day!

We made good use of the parent ride passes, which allow one parent (aka:Jon) to ride with a guest (aka:Tyler), while the other parent stays with the kids. Then after those riders have made it through the line the second parent (aka:me) would get to ride with the guest again without having to wait in line. You just get to walk on through the exit and on to the rides! That was really cool! I rode Millennium Force, Raptor, and I think another ride that way. They were all pretty good, but I screamed the whole time on Millennium Force! When we got off Tyler made sure to tell Jon about it.

I only share that somewhat embarrassing tidbit because later on in the day Kaelyn had to ride the kiddie coaster alone because both Tyler and Jon (who were with her at the time, more on that later.) were too tall to be able to fold themselves up in the car to ride with her. However, she rode it by herself and had a great time. When the ride was through she got off and triumphantly announced, "I was so brave. I didn't scream like Mommy!" Apparently, she was paying attention when Tyler was telling Jon about my trip on Millennium Force.

I loved staying with the girls while the guys did all the waiting in lines. By lunch time I was feeling pretty guilty that I got to watch the girls enjoy 2 or 3 rides in the amount of time it took the guys to get through one ride. Sometime around 2pm, while the guys were waiting in line for 'Top Thrill Dragster' I was doing some more kiddie rides with the girls, on one in particular I was riding with Kylie and when she wanted me to hold her she felt really hot. I decided that I should see if I could find some children's Tylenol. After a couple of gift shops failed me I figured I would go to a first aid station. That is where I found out she had a fever of 104.1! Talk about scary! We figured it was probably heat exhaustion, after all it was a hot day. Well I spent the next couple of hours in the pleasantly air conditioned first aid office, holding Kylie while she napped and waiting for her fever to come down. Around about 5pm we decided to have dinner, then Jon ended up taking the girls home. It had been a very long and (mostly) fun day for both of them. Tyler and I stayed until the park closed fitting in as many rides as possible. I had a blast and am thankful that we were able to go.

Up up and away

2010-07-06T14:49:00.008-07:00

Over Memorial Day weekend (yes I know that was forever ago, but it is still worth writing about) we went to see the Chagrin Falls "Blossom Time Balloon Festival". Basically it was about 20 hot air balloons taking off all at the same time. We were ill prepared for the event, but would highly recommend going to anyone interested. Take a blanket and some snacks, and arrive more than 10 minutes before launch time if you want to sit closer than we did. It was fun to see all of the different colored balloons grow bigger and eventually float up over the trees. I think that the girls enjoyed themselves. I know I did because it reminded me of some fond childhood memories of attending Autumn Aloft in Park City with my family.

Graduation day

2010-06-18T11:51:00.006-07:00

On May 16th Jon participated in the commencement exercises for the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.
We were very thankful that Jon's parents, as well as Katie and Steven, were able to come out and be a part of this very special occasion.

I don't know that I will be able to put into words how proud I am of Jon. The work and effort that he has put into his education the past two years is amazing to me. He has been going to school full time, he held 3 different internships (only one of which was over "summer break"), he has served at church, and he has done an amazing job of balancing all of that and still being available for us, his family.

I am thankful for the countless mornings he got up with Kylie and let me sleep in until he had to go to school. I am thankful for the many times he supported me going to personal activities, despite the fact that he had things that he could be doing (aka homework). There are so many things that I am thankful for. I feel blessed that we have had the opportunity to be here in Ohio, Jon went to school with many incredible people. I am glad to have met them, and I hope that they each find success in life. And that those who are still looking find jobs very soon :)

Way to go Weatherhead Class of 2010!

Some prayers are not appreciated...

2010-06-14T18:29:00.002-07:00

So as most of you know we have been working very hard to get Kaelyn potty trained. It has been a good 2 1/2 years of trying off and on for a couple weeks at a time. At least 6 good faith efforts on our part. We started again at the very end of May, this time vowed that Kaelyn would be diaper free during the days. And we have stuck to it. I'd say she is successful 60% of the time with #1 and well #2 is a FOPP (she'll get it all figured out I am sure). However, we aren't going to quit this time. Both weeks she has gone to church in panties she has kept them dry.

Potty training an older kid certainly has it's funny moments (to go along with the frustrating ones). The following is a funny thing that happened about a week ago. It was bedtime and I said family prayer. Among other things, I asked Heavenly Father's help for Kaelyn as she is trying to learn to use the potty. When prayer was over Kaelyn said in her matter of fact voice, "Mom I have something to tell you."
"What do you want to tell me?" I responded.
"Praying about my panties..." she paused to make sure I was paying attention then, "Pbwtt!" she blew a big old raspberry. Well at least we know what she thinks about that. We couldn't help but laugh.

My new favorite way to exercise

2010-06-11T04:48:00.002-07:00

Shortly after my birthday this year I was on facebook and posted something along the lines of, "It is such a nice day! I wish I could take my girls on a bike ride." So my brother called up the next day and offered to send me the money so I could buy a bike trailer. I told him that I did not have a bike...yet. So I started looking for a bike on craigslist. Two days later I found one for only $30. We have really enjoyed the bike and bike trailer. It has certainly increased the number of times that we get out to enjoy the beautiful weather. I am sure that is just one of the many reasons my girls love it!

Toy Mexico

2010-05-20T18:35:00.024-07:00

We recently returned from an incredible trip. We spent 4 days and 3 nights at an all inclusive resort near Cancun, Mexico to attend the wedding of a good friend of mine from high school and to celebrate Jon's graduation from the MBA program. It was amazing!

I have never stayed at a resort so this was very much a new experience for me. The picture below is of the open air lobby, complete with bellhop, where they greet you with a hot towel and a refreshing drink. Even Kaelyn and Kylie got little fruit smoothies. Everything was so fancy. From the well groomed beach right down to Kylie's bed which was made up by housekeeping each day. I mean look that that little pillow, how cute is that?!The weirdest part of the experience for me was meal times. The had 3 different restaurants, plus a snack bar, and whenever you felt like it you could go and eat, enjoy the ocean view and then leave without a bill. That was something else. Of the American style, Asian style, and Mexican style restaurants we like the Mexican best. All of the food was phenomenal though! Kaelyn loved, loved, loved her "rainbow drinks". She even became bold enough to start asking the waiters for one by the second night. We found it pretty easy to get into the super relaxed atmosphere, where the only things you "have" to do each day is eat and sleep. Only Kylie had a hard time adjusting and I blame that mostly on the fact that she didn't get an afternoon nap the first day we were there. Because neither Jon nor I wear a watch, and we weren't carrying our cell phones around like we usually do, we were sometimes eating much later than usual. Despite those things Kylie really did seem to be having a good time.*By the way don't you love how you can see Jon chilling out by Kylie's hand? I thought that was funny.* The beach was fun for each of us in a different way. After weeks of build up and anticipation Kaelyn got to build a few successful sand castles. She enjoyed digging around in the sand and looking for sea shells and other treasures. However, she wanted nothing to do with the actual ocean water.
Kylie, on the other hand, enjoyed putting her feet in the ocean, but seemed to HATE having sand between her toes. Jon had a good time playing some games of pick up beach volleyball and I enjoyed watching while sitting in a lounge chair catching up on my journal writing. Oh it was so relaxing, heaven.

Some other highlights of our time at the resort were the circus show, a massage for Jon and I, the many activities planned for the kids, the night out alone thanks to DH's nieces, and the girls really liked playing in the "short pool" where they could stand up. Both of my girls were awestruck by the Mariachi band and donkey that came to the dinner the night before the wedding. Talk about fun stuff. I think the look on Kaelyn's face says something along the lines of, "I think this is pretty crazy, but way fun."

I have to share a funny story that happened while we were eating dinner there one night. We were talking about how neat it was to be there at the resort and Kaelyn said something about how cool Mexico was. Jon assured her that this was not real Mexico (implying that it was too touristy, she of course didn't get that) So she piped up, "Oh then it is toy Mexico?" We kind of chuckled to ourselves and told her, "Yeah sort of." Someday when our kids are older we might have to go back and check out real Mexico. I am so glad that I got the chance to go. We had a good time and really enjoyed the wedding, which was another thing that Kaelyn had been anticipating about our trip for quite some time.

The wedding was breathtaking, and the bride beautiful.
Tonya and DH are so cute together. It made my heart happy to see them so in love and excited about life.
I had worried about whether or not it was a good idea to take my kids to a wedding, but they found ways to keep themselves entertained and quiet during the ceremony. I was actually really proud of them. My many thanks go to Jon who keep them under control so that I could just enjoy the ceremony, and take lots of pictures. Thanks again to Tonya and DH for letting us be a part of your special day.

Train Game

2010-04-25T19:44:00.003-07:00

When Ann was here visiting we went to Lake Farm Park with a friend, and Kylie LOVED the train that they have there. She would wait for it to come out the tunnel then chase it along the glass case. Then she would go back to where she knew it would be coming out again. So Ann thought I should put up this video, while I agreed with her I am just now getting around to it two weeks later. In case you can't tell Kylie says "Oh it's there!"

I couldn't help but wonder.

2010-04-17T12:10:00.002-07:00

As I was going through old pictures and videos I couldn't help but wonder what a side by side comparison of my girls at the same stage of life would look like. So this is an ode to how wonderful it is to know that we are each individuals. You'll have to let me know if you can tell who is who. (Much easier at the end than at the beginning.)

I readily admit I have a hard time telling their newborn pictures apart .

Almost 4 months old

10 months old

With their 1st birthday cakes.

At 19 months. Then a video at 20 months later for both of them. Sorry this first video is sideways, that is before I learned you can't rotate a video.

The older they get the more individual they become. I love them both very much and I can't wait to see what life has in store for us.

Bubble fun

2010-04-08T20:34:00.005-07:00

Yesterday I got new bubble wands for the girls. They were very excited to go out with Ann to play, here is just some of the fun that followed.

In case you can't tell that is Kylie squealing "bubble" over and over again. And at the very end she says "Wahoo!" When was the last time you went wahoo?

The second video has just a snip-it of Kaelyn talking, but she was saying things like, "Rainbow bubbley, don't go away! I will miss you forever!" the whole time they were playing.

Watching them play put a smile on my face, and in my heart. Who knew that joy comes in a $1 bubble wand? I am looking forward to a summer full of fun moments, you know the kind you keep with you and look back on when you need a pick me up. These girls may not stay small forever, but these little moments will always stay with me.

Beautiful Easter Weekend

2010-04-03T10:24:00.013-07:00

The past few days have been absolutely beautiful here. Weather in the 80's and plenty of fun things to do. We have taken advantage of a good number of things. My favorite part has been the time that Daddy/Jon has been able to spend with us. We have made a few trips to the park, we've even had our first picnic of the year.

Friday we went to the park to "hunt" Easter eggs with friends. That was fun to watch. Kylie seemed to be somewhat picky about her eggs, she would pick up then put down and pass up lots of eggs. However, when she found an egg that met whatever her criteria was she was especially excited about it.

Kaelyn was very excited that she was considered one of the big kids, the cut off being 2 1/2. I think that she had more fun playing at the park with so many friends than hunting eggs, but whatever. It was a fun start to our day.

We ended Friday on a high note to because we had our friends over for a yummy Sukiyaki dinner with mochi for dessert. It was the first time we had ever tried making sukiyaki, and I am happy that it turned out. Hatsuho had made the mochi before so we knew that would be good, but since she taught me how and got me a copy of the recipie now I know how to make it too. It was a very fun night, our girls loved playing outside together after dinner. I wish I had taken pictures.

Today we went to a pancake breakfast put on as a fund raiser for girls camp. They were also holding an egg hunt, which looked like a lot of fun, however, after eating we headed out to an Easter egg hunt in Chagrin Falls. One of Jon's classmates had invited us out to that. We are glad we went, it was fun.

Our timing there was perfect because we got to the park and were the last ones to get to ride the train before the line started to get long. Then we lucked out and were one of the first 10 kids to get a balloon animal. It was a lot of fun to watch that clown crank out so many fun animals: ducks, penguins, fish, horses, and so many more.

Kaelyn choose a dinosaur. (Not surprising, huh?)

It was a very fun event. I really appreciated the fact that every child that participated in the egg hunting got the same amount of candy regardless of how many eggs they collected. Thanks again Andy for the invite. We are enjoying conference and are looking forward to dyeing eggs together tonight.

Day late and a dollar short.

2010-03-26T12:05:00.004-07:00

Dear Grandmas and Grandpas,
(and other family we are so far from),

I know that I should have posted these videos months, and in some cases years, ago. Some of them I have even promised to put up in the past, I feel shame. I was going through and backing up files today and these are so cute and still make me smile. So I figure better is late than never.

This first one is from Aug 2008, right after our move. Kaelyn loved "The Cat in the Hat" and had us read it to her every night. The video is proof of that. Her little voice is so cute.

This one is Kylie saying dinosaur, one of her first and favorite words. (Jan 2010)

This one is Kylie opening, or possibly eating, her Christmas present from Great Grandma M.(Dec 2008).

I am sorry I am such a blogger slacker.
Love, Skye

A Day at the Farm

2010-03-21T13:51:00.007-07:00

Our St. Patrick's day was so much fun. We had a fantastic afternoon visiting Lake Farm Park. It was especially fun because we got to see lots of new baby animals. The little goats in the picture to the left were born only 4 or 5 hours before we got there! In the video, assuming I can get it to post you can see some of the little lambs that were super curious about our girls. Kaelyn loved it! She got to hold one and pet them. We were even lucky enough to get to help feed some of the lambs bottles! One of my favorite parts of the afternoon was when the staff was trying to move the sheep to an outdoor pasture. There was a whole bunch of doubling back and bleating from the mama sheep, but ones they each had found their little ones they were quiet and cooperative. It was super cute.
After we were done at the Farm Park we stopped by a nearby mall and got some ice cream cones. It was a super special day because Jon got to spend it with us. We have had so much fun with him being home more often, now that his internship is done. The weather was great and I am so looking forward to spring being here to stay.

Someone has an opinion

2010-02-28T17:45:00.004-08:00

So Kylie is developing into a very opinionated little girl. Her new favorite thing is ducks. If there is a duck anywhere around she will see it and point it out.

The other day when I was in JoAnn's looking for fabric for dresses she saw some duck fabric. She got all excited and said, "Duck, duck, peese (please) duck." So I let her hold the bolt while I finished looking around. When I was done I went to put the duck fabric away and she started crying, "Peese duck duck duck peese!" My mom heart melted, because please is a new word for her, and I remembered that she had Christmas money from her Great Grandma. So I did some quick thinking and decided to make her a pillow case. It was pretty easy, except for the part where I had to fend off the "help" I was getting with the sewing machine.

So here it is, the duck pillowcase. Kylie loves it. Kaelyn covets it. I just think it is cute.

A flood of memories

2010-02-27T08:38:00.002-08:00

Today I took the girls sledding for the first time ever. My thanks to Hatsuho for the idea to go sledding today, thanks to Lindsay who mentioned on her blog that she had used cookie sheets to sled in her own yard awhile back, and many thanks to my parents for taking me sledding/tubing growing up. I have so many fond memories of having fun in the snow.

Today was the beginning of many more great memories that I now get to make with my own kids. Cleveland winters also just got a little more bareable. Our outing was pretty short, but we had a good time sledding down the pile of snow that was made at the end of the abandoned (other than our car)parking lot by the plow. A little hill for my little girls. Sorry there are no pictures, with just me and the girls I had no spare hands for picture taking. But just imagine rosy cheeks, big smiles, and the cookie sheet sleds.