Christmas Memories

Kianna digging into her stocking.

Kaylee at her preschool Christmas program showing off the ornament she made for us.
Girls working on their gingerbread house.
Mommy and her girls.
Kianna and Kaylee.

Trevor and I agree that Christmas this year was one of the best we've had. The girls are both at such fun ages, that we were able to create some fun family memories and traditions. Some of those include:

• The girls creating their 1st gingerbread house. Kianna loved eating the candy, while Kaylee loved decorating the house and sneaking some frosting along the way! 
• Kaylee participating in her 1st Christmas Programs at church and preschool. She loved preparing for them and learning lots of fun new songs along the way, her favorite being "Away In A Manger".
  
• Setting out cookies and milk for Santa; and carrots and celery for the reindeer. Kaylee's excited statement on Christmas morning, "Mom, Santa really was here because the cookies are gone!" Santa left the girls a thank you note and Kaylee was even more excited to learn that Rudolph came to her house!!!
• Kaylee making the statement "Christmas isn't all about gifts, it's about Jesus". How precious is that!
• Singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus prior to digging into our monkey bread.
• Watching the excitement on Kianna's face as she opened up her stocking. When asked what she got for Christmas she will gladly tell you that she got "lipstick". FYI: Our little one, has a little addiction to chapstick these days, which makes her always chapped lips quite the mystery!
• Kaylee's favorite gift being her Sleeping Beauty "long-sleeve" nightgown, which she has worn every night since receiving it.
• Hearing Kianna sing "Away in a manger, no crying for a bed. The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay." It is so precious hearing her sing this song!

These are a few of the memories we will cherish.

Witch

I had to hold back laughter today as we were standing in line at Sam's Club behind a lady wearing a long black fur coat and a matching fur hat. Kianna looked at her and said "witch". I immediately knew that Kianna was referring to Cruella De Vil from the movie "101 Dalamations" who also wore a long fur coat. She refers to all the evil people in cartoons as "witch". I just stood there laughing to myself and told her "no honey, she's not a witch". Kids say the funniest things...

Sisters

I knew that my girls were close, but didn't exactly realize how close until this week. The girls were both supposed to spend the night with their grandparents on Tuesday night while Trevor and I went on a date. However, Kianna had been sick all week with bronchitis and a fever and so we decided to stay home with her instead. Kaylee still wanted to go to her grandparents house to bake cookies with her cousin, so we let her. However, Kaylee did not really want to spend the night without her sister, although due to the ice storm we convinced her otherwise. Well Kianna was still napping when Kaylee left for the evening and when she woke up the first thing she asked was "Kiki" (that's what she calls Kaylee) meaning "Where's Kaylee?" I told her she went to Grandma and Grandpa's house and then quickly changed the subject. Too late, I looked at her and she had tears running down her cheeks and said "Me want Kiki". I felt bad for her, so told her we could call Kaylee and talk to her. That made her a little happier. Then the next morning after waking up, again Kianna asked where her sister was and was visibly sad when I told her she was at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was so precious when we went to get Kaylee that morning b/c before Kianna had her boots or coat off, she immediately ran over to Kaylee and gave her a big hug! I love that they are such good friends and pray this closeness will last throughout their lives!

Our Magic Christmas Tree

The girls had a blast decorating our Christmas tree Monday evening. Kianna seemed to have an affinity for putting the ornaments in the same place on the tree, so of course being my anal self I had to spread them out when she hopefully wasn't looking. The best part was after the tree was up, Trevor hooked the lights to a remote control system. We let the girls take turns turning the lights on and off by simply waving their hand in the direction of the tree (much like waving a magic wand). Each time they wave their hand the tree either turns on or off. They love it!! Of course, we don't let them see us pick up the remote control so they think it is magic. Today, Kaylee's preschool teacher asked her if she had her Christmas tree up and Kaylee told her that she has a "magic tree". Her teacher thought that was adorable. Also, at breakfast this morning I caught Kianna waving her arm in the direction of the tree and getting frustrated that the lights weren't coming on. She now knows it only works if Mommy or Daddy are next to her. These are just a few of the precious moments I will cherish forever.

Delicious

I had a cookie exchange yesterday morning and so after lunch I let the girls choose what cookie they wanted for their treat. I had made oreo balls and Kianna wanted to try one of those. For those of you who don't know, she has inherited her mommy's sweet tooth and enjoys chocolate as much as I do. She was taking bite after bite of her treat and then began saying "delicious". I said "what did you say?" and she repeated "delicious". I began laughing, as I was amazed that being 2 years old that she even knew the word "delicious" let alone was using it so appropriately!  It was so adorable. I took a picture for you all to see just how much she enjoyed the oreo ball. 

Sick Little Girls

We had an unfortunate turn of events for our weekend. Trevor's uncle, Lyle, passed away early in the week and the funeral was on Friday up in Rockford, IA. We drove up for the funeral, spent time with family and then headed to Des Moines to stay in a hotel. We stayed at a hotel with a swimming pool and the girls were so excited to swim after 4 hours of driving. We had a great time last night swimming and goofing around as a family. The trouble began this morning...Kianna woke up fussy but she isn't a morning person so that wasn't completely unlike her. We had a nice buffet breakfast in hotel's restaurant, although the girls barely touched their food, which was unlike them. We went back up to the hotel room and Kianna came into the bathroom and said "sick" and then puked all over the bathroom floor and Kaylee soon followed. Poor little girls! 

We were in Des Moines to do some bunk bed shopping for the girls, as they are going to be sharing a room soon. We decided to cut our trip short and head home. Thankfully, we already had a puke bucket in the car due to the girls and I having motion sickness from time to time. The girls shared the bucket on the way home and seem to be on the mend now, as they have been holding their food down since noon. I feel bad for the poor maid who had to clean up our stinky room...

Kaylee's 4th Birthday

Craft time

Kaylee hitting the pinata
Kaylee with her Dora Cake
Kaylee not happy that Kianna is trying to blow out her candle...


I can hardly believe that Kaylee is 4 years old already. Where does the time go? We had her look at her newborn pictures from her actual birthday and she thought that was pretty neat. It has been so much fun watching her grow from a baby into a little girl. She is a smart little girl with an amazing memory. She remembers details from things that happened a year or more ago. For example, on Halloween we were talking about how Grandma Gee Gee (my grandma) was coming over again this year to hand out candy while we went trick-or-treating. Kaylee pointed to a decorative table in the corner of our living room and said "Mom isn't that the table we setup for Grandma last year so she didn't have to bend over to reach the candy?" Her memory continues to amaze us on a regular basis! She is also very thoughtful. She often asks how people are feeling when she knows something has been bothering them (ie. "Mom is your back still hurting you today?" or "Daddy how was your day today?"). We are very proud of the young lady she is becoming!

We celebrated her birthday with two parties at our house: a friend party on the 11th and a family party on the 12th. The theme she chose this year was "Dora the Explorer". She had 10 of her little friends over to celebrate. That made 12 kids total with our two. Lets just say that Trevor and I were in a little over our heads managing 12 kids. Thankfully, our neighbor, Madison decided to stay and help manage the chaos, as well as, one of the aunt's, Sarah, after we began thinking at the last minute that maybe we should have recruited some helpers. It was chaotic with them, so I really cannot fathom what it would have been like without them!! We had several activities planned for the kids including a craft, pinata, scavenger hunt, eating cake, and opening presents. The scavenger hunt was pretty cool. We pretended that Swiper the Fox, one of the characters from Dora, had taken some books and necklaces and the kids needed to go downstairs and try and find them. Trevor had made some maps for the kids to follow. He had them going through a cave (underneath our pool table draped in blankets), a forest (through a narrow hallway with three inflated intertubes that the kids had to climb over), our playhouse where the books were hidden, our ball pit where the necklaces were hidden underneath all the balls, and then crawl into the theater room. The kids loved it. The activity was chaotic because Trevor only wanted to take 3 kids at a time and I had to entertain the other 9 in the meantime, "Duck, Duck, Goose" only entertains kids for so long... Despite the two glasses of milk that were spilled during cake time I'd say the party was a success. The kids all seemed to have a good time and that is the important thing! One of the funniest things that happened was after all of us had finished singing "Happy Birthday" to Kaylee and she was getting ready to blow out her candle her little sister, Kianna, beat her to it and blew out the candle first. You should have seen the look that Kaylee gave her sister and she was just about to yell at her, when we started laughing. I relit the candle and all was well...

Her family party was a much tamer crowd, with only one other young child present. I made her favorite meal: macaroni and cheese, salad, and fruit salad. She got lots of nice presents and has had fun playing with them since. I can't imagine her needing any other gifts come Christmas time, which is only 6 weeks away. Crazy, I know!

Sisterly Love

28 weeks pregnant...I can't imagine how big I will be in 12 more weeks...

Just thought I would share this adorable picture with all of you. The girls are so excited to meet their baby brother. Kaylee has felt the baby move several times and Kianna likes to kiss my belly. They will make wonderful big sisters!

Halloween 2008

Our Pumpkins
Kaylee's Preschool Class Performance
Kianna will kill me someday for posting this picture, but I thought it was adorable...
Sleeping Beauty
Cousins trick-or-treating

Wow, where to begin. I feel like we have been celebrating Halloween in some form for the past couple of weeks. It started a couple weeks ago with our playgroup's costume party, which is always fun. Then continued this past Thursday with Kaylee's Fall Festival Parade at preschool. She had a fun time going to school in her Sleeping Beauty costume, parading past all the parents, and then singing 3 songs they have been practicing. Then of course we carved pumpkins. The girls each had their own pumpkins to decorate with stickers and then Trevor and I carved pumpkins for them. Kianna of course wanted Mickey Mouse and Kaylee surprised us with a request for Minney Mouse. Then tonight, we trick-or-treated around the neighborhood with the girls' cousin, 7 month old Bryker (AKA: Spiderman). Kianna was a trooper in her horse costume. Her legs are the horse's back legs and then the horse's front legs just hang in front of her. Well, she isn't quite tall enough for the costume, so in order to prevent her from tripping over the horse's front legs she had to give the horse a hug the entire time she was walking around. She made it half-way around our neighborhood before saying "hold me". Kaylee made it to about 7 houses before announcing that she wanted to go back home. I think the girls enjoyed handing out candy to the neighbor kids more than actually getting their own candy. Funny how things turn out...It was a fun evening though, followed by the grandparents coming over to view the costumes and for some yummy dessert.  

Girls Weekend

Last weekend, I made a trip back to Olivet Nazarene University for our Homecoming celebration. It was so fun being back on campus and seeing my good friends. There is just something to be said for getting away with the girls and remembering what life used to be like before kids. Much simpler, but of course I wouldn't trade my current life for the world!

Pictures from Orlando

Orlando Vacation

My three favorite people with their sand castle.

Me with my autographed picture of Jon and Kate Plus 8
Kianna asleep at Magic Kingdom
Kianna asleep at Sea World
Girls with Cinderella and Kianna showing her pretty toe nails.
Kianna with Belle
Girls with Minney and Mickey Mouse

We just returned from our vacation to Orlando. We were there October 8-14th. Trevor was already there for a work conference earlier in the week; so the girls, Grandma Becki, and I met him down there. It was a fun, crazy, exhausting week! We went to Magic Kingdom, Sea World, Animal Kingdom and to the ocean. We ran the girls ragged and they handled it extremely well. Our girls are big nappers and they only got to nap in their beds 1 out of the 6 days we were there. Kianna fell asleep at every park by the end of the day, which is unheard of because our kids only sleep in their beds and occasionally the car. So to fall asleep in her stroller you know she was exhausted! 

Kids are so funny and unpredictable at times. All Kaylee could talk about prior to getting to Florida was wanting to see the castle at Magic Kingdom and seeing the princesses. So when we got to Magic Kingdom we stood in line for 45 minutes for her to be able to meet Cinderella, Belle and Sleeping Beauty (Aurora). When it was her turn to meet them, she got shy all of a sudden and would barely speak to them. However, Kianna was all excited to see them and so she gave them hugs and kisses and showed them her pretty toe nails that Mommy had just painted. It was so adorable! Did I mention, Kaylee wouldn't even get near Belle. She says she just likes the movie with Belle, not the princess Belle. In contrast, Kianna loves Mickey Mouse and had been talking about wanting to say hi to Mickey and give him a hug. So, we stood in line for 20-30 minutes to let her meet Mickey Mouse and Minney Mouse. Of course, when it was her turn to meet them, she was scared of them and would barely speak to them or get close to them at first. Kianna has developed of a fear of characters in costume. Ironically, Kaylee got all excited to see Mickey and Minney and gave them hugs, etc. It is so funny how unpredictable kids can be! They crack me up!

At the end of everyday, I asked the girls what their favorite thing was and they usually picked some random thing they could have done anywhere. For example, Kaylee's  favorite thing at Magic Kingdom at one point (it keeps changing) was the train and ferry ride. At Sea World, the highlight was walking with the flamingos. That was pretty cool, but did I mention it was SEA WORLD not flamingo world. Funny girl!!!

Some highlights were:

1. Swimming in our pool at the end of everyday. The girls had smiles plastered on their faces the whole time.
2. Seeing Jon and Kate Plus 8: This was my highlight and makes for a great story. So, it was the end of the day at Magic Kingdom. I was exhausted and Kianna had just fallen asleep in the stroller, so Grandma Becki, Kianna and I decided to sit while Trevor and Kaylee did one last ride. While Becki and I are sitting there, all of a sudden Becki says "Oh my goodness, that was Jon and Kate Plus 8". I looked and there walking past us was Jon, Kate, Mady and Kara, and their body guard. I got all excited, as I am a big fan of their show on TLC, jumped up and told Becki to stay with Kianna. Mind you I am 25 weeks pregnant at the time and I begin running after them. Their body guard apparently "heard" me running and turned around and looked at me. I immediately stopped running and played dumb by looking to the right and kept walking slowly. After he turned back around, I whipped out my camera and was just about to take a picture of the back of them, when the body guard turned around a 2nd time. This time he shook his head "no" in reference to me taking a picture of them. I said "really, I can't take a picture" and he again shook his head. I must have looked really disappointed because he then waved for me to come up to him where he handed me an autographed picture of the 8 of them. I was so excited!!! Jon, Kate, Mady, and Kara were oblivious to the crazy pregnant woman chasing after them, so that is good! I kept laughing at myself later that day, picturing what I must have looked like chasing after them and it cracked me up! My mom once chased after Doris Day, so I guess it must run in our family...
3. Spending a day at Madeira Beach. My family used to go to Florida once or twice a year when I was growing up, as I have a sister who lives in Tampa, FL. We always spent time at Madeira Beach, so I wanted Trevor and the girls to see it for themselves for sentimental reasons. It was such a fun day. The girls built their first sand castle with Daddy, chased seagulls, and swam in the ocean. Kaylee overcame her fear of the ocean, as she was convinced previously that she would get eaten by a shark upon entering the water. I convinced her they can't swim in shallow water too well, so she came in and swam and that was the highlight of her day! We also had lunch with my sister, Shelli, and her boyfriend, Scott, which was very nice.
4. Petting a stingray at Sea World, along with watching the dolphin and killer whale shows. Very cool!
5. Kaylee road on her first rollercoaster and thought it was pretty cool!
   

Pictures from Bloomsbury Farm

Bloomsbury Pumpkin Farm

We took the girls to the farm today for one of Trevor's work events. We all had a lot of fun. There is so much to do there. Kianna loved all the animals and playing in the corn kernels. There is a building filled with corn kernels, kind of like a sand pit, but with corn instead. She had fun dumping it on her head. We also went on a hayride, walked through a corn maze, played on a huge slide, and jumped on a bounce pad. Kaylee's favorite thing was the bounce pad. It was a fun evening.

Life Lessons from a 3 year old...

So this morning we were trying to get out the door, which seems to be when the girls decide to goof around and doddle the most. I told Kaylee to go get her shoes on, which we have had trouble with her doing in a timely manner. I left the girls to their shoe task when I heard Kianna crying. I go into the laundry room not happy at all and yelling at the girls telling them how when I tell them to do something that I expect them to obey the first time not 3-5 times later. I was pretty upset and both girls ended up crying by the time I was finished with my lecture. I was still upset when we got into the car, but was feeling bad for yelling at the girls. Prior to arriving at our destination, I asked Kaylee to tell me why she had gotten into trouble and she said the following: "For helping my sister. In Sunday School, we learn that Jesus forgives our sins and Leah's Mommy and Daddy teach us that when someone is crying that we should help them." At this point, I was starting to feel a little guilty and asked her what had happened. She said, "I turned on the light and Kianna started crying because she wanted to turn on the light, so I went to her because she was crying." I said what happened next. She said, "You came in and started yelling at me for not putting my shoes on."

Talk about feeling guilty and completely humbled! I'm so thankful that Kaylee reminded me how important it is to be kind to others, which is what she has been learning in Sunday School. I will continue to pray for and remind myself of the following qualities "love is patient, love is kind...it is not easily angered." I Corinthians 13:4-5. Thank you Kaylee for teaching Mommy this lesson today!

Kianna's Stitches!!!

Okay, so last night was a really bad night! Our family was getting ready to go to small group at one of our friends' homes, when all of a sudden Kianna started screaming. We found her in the laundry room covered in blood. Talk about scary!!!! We rushed her to the ER and after having to wait for an hour, she was given 6 shots in her wound, while being strapped to a table. She then received 6 stitches in the middle of her forehead. It was a horrible experience to say the least! 

Apparently, she had been trying to get her shoes out of the closet, something she does frequently with no trouble, when she fell hitting her forehead on the corner of the baseboard. She is doing well today, although getting her Band Aid changed is not one of her favorite activities. We have to take her back in 5 days to get her stitches removed. As if that wasn't a bad enough night, I ended up getting food poisoning and vomiting repeatedly. Needless to say, I never want to repeat last night! We are so thankful to God that her injury wasn't worse. It is so scary seeing your child injured and in pain. It has taken all morning to try and shake the "what if" scenarios from my mind...

Kaylee was a good big sister. This morning before Kianna woke up, Kaylee decided that she wanted to make Kianna a card. She colored a nice picture with water, sand, a boat, and the sun on it, along with Kaylee's name. She then made an envelope and told me she was going to pretend it was Kianna's birthday so to write "Happy Birthday". I told her that when people get hurt we write "Get Well Soon". She thought that was a good idea. So the moment Kianna woke up there was a card in her face. Kianna has a cute expression where she opens her mouth wide and then covers it with her hand in amazement. She did that when Kaylee handed her the card, so I'd say it was a hit! I love precious moments like those...

It's a Boy!!!

We had our ultrasound this morning and it revealed some very prevalent "boy parts". Daddy is quite proud!!! We are all very excited. Our little guy appears to be very healthy and currently weighs 12 oz. We got some cute pictures of him, but unfortunately they aren't digital. My due date moved up a day to Jan 23rd. 

We're all excited to meet our little guy in time...

Kaylee's 1st Day of Preschool

It is hard to believe that my little girl is big enough to go to school now. She goes two mornings a week and has been talking about going to school for months now. Every time we pass her school, which is right near our house, she says "there's my school". Kianna likes to add "no, my school". Sisters...anyway, she has a really nice teacher and was excited to hand in her first homework assignment which was given to her at her open house the other day. Her homework was to decorate a picture of her face to display at school. Daddy and Kaylee had fun working on it last night before bed. She had gold streamers for hair with two "pretties" or barrettes making piggy tails. Daddy gave her blue M&Ms for eyes and a red balloon for her mouth. She was really proud of her picture! She had a fun time at school, although of course when I picked her up and asked her what she did she says she can't remember. When probed some more she revealed that she colored and had a snack, but can't remember what else they did.

Gymnastics

Kaylee, who is 3 1/2 years old, and Kianna, who just turned 2 a few weeks ago, are both signed up for gymnastics this fall. They both absolutely love it. I got them new leotards last night and Kaylee was so excited to wear hers that I had to convince her to change clothes before going to her first day of preschool. Then, immediately upon leaving preschool, she told me that she needed to get out of her "school clothes" and put on her gymnastics outfit, which she wore for the rest of the day including her nap.

Kianna and I go to class while Kaylee is at preschool so it gives us some one on one time, which we have never had much of.
Kianna was so excited about going to gymnastics this morning that upon exiting the car she raised both arms up in the air and screamed "whoo hoo". It was precious! She had a smile on her face the entire class and kept telling me "come on mom" while moving from activity to activity. Today was her 2nd class and she can already do a somersault down a slight incline all by herself. The all time favorite activity for both girls is swinging through the air like Tinker Bell. They place a harness around their waist and then they soar through the air. Kaylee's ultimate goal is to learn how to do a cartwheel.