Wordless Wednesday: Strollin' on a Sunday afternoon......

*pssst, notice anyone looking back at Daddy?*

Just because .....she's so beautiful

*Sigh* Keifer, our Keifer. How cherished you are. We love you so much. When did you grow out of the baby/toddler stage and into this big girl look that you have lately? Your body is thinning out, your hair is finally thickening (you've always had lots of hair, but finally it's getting thick enough to start growing). Your eyes of blue are always twinkling with curiosity (or drama!) and you love to talk to anyone and everyone, all.the.time. It's so hard to believe that I had you 2 1/2 years ago. My, how the time has gone my in a blink of an eye. Now, you're a big sister, and an excellent one at that. But don't think I don't notice how you revert into baby talk when you are introduced to strangers initially, or how you cower behind mama when somebody you don't know asks you a question, or how you try to claim "you can't do it" right after we've seen you do it, just because the baby can't. You are still my baby, too: a baby in a growing girls body! XXOO

Nasty bed head

It never fails ~ Keifer wakes up every day with that spot- the exact same spot EVERY DAY ~ in a complete bed head mess. On the flip side, isn't the color of her hair just gorgeous (man if I could bottle it and use it!)

Sassafras goes to School

Yep, Monday night here, and me and my Keifer Lynn are attending an Early Childhood "Art Adventures" class tonight, via the school district I work in. It's 4 Monday nights; from ages 30 months and up. Our Keifer girl is going to be 31 months tomorrow, so she fits the bill for this. Plus, she has been loving any and all type of fine motor activities we throw her way, and is dying for peer interactions. She visited my school 2 x this Fall so far, and is always begging me to take her to my work ("I go to school with you, Mama? Please?"), so she should be pretty pumped up.
Her 2 year old buddy Brandt at daycare is only part-time, but the days he is there she arrives with squeals of delight at the play opportunities, and last week I got to witness her and B. running around the yard, playing chase and giggling to their heart's delight. So much fun to watch. I am just as excited to be on the parent side of the class tonight, too. The teachers are co-workers of mine with whom I used to team teach with last year. It'll be interesting to be on the other side of the fence, within the classroom I taught in last year! I'm so excited! I just hope my sassy girl doesn't decide to try and take charge of anything. I'm sure she will! Ha!

We're going to meet Daddy at Elaine's, all go to dinner, and then he is taking Kyla girl home while Mommy and K1 have quality "school time". YAY!

Oh, squeaky puppy of mine

Of course, Kyla was belly laughing away until I grabbed the camera. She giggles here very cutely,but know that it was full-on belly laughs previously, when she first saw squeaky puppy. We were all belly laughing along with her. Sweet girl. This is how we enjoyed our dinner Friday night :)
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Anyone need a spotter?

Because everyone should have a safety spotter (and oh -so-cute in her Elmo Panties....)......right? I'll tell you, this girl was very worried about Daddy up high on this ladder.

"Daddy, be careful!" she kept saying.

And can you see the tape measure? The one Mama has been using to measure her inches lately?) It's suddenly a favorite toy around these parts. It gets drug around from post to pillar in this house, and it also makes a very useful circle on the ground for jumping into! :)

Don't You Cry For Me!

Precocious, much? This girl is Broadway bound......
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Trick or Treat!

Whew. Where to begin. Halloween WEEKEND was a blur of fun around here. Nana and Papa came down (Dale & Di) and we enjoyed a dinner out Friday night. Nana brought Kyla a new pumpkin hat and we paired it with a bib I found in the $1 bin at Target! Perfect! I called this our "Cute Little Pumpkin" dressed in as a "firework". LOL. She is seriously the sweetest, best little baby ever - honestly! It's all Papa Dale could say all weekend!

Saturday AM rolled around, and Mama, Daddy and Papa took K1 to the zoo- where there was a "HallZOOween " fun time to be had. Too bad the weather wasn't so cooperative- it was about 35 degrees and a blistering wind was blowing. We all bundled up, expecting to be outside trick or treating with the animals, but alas, the events were all INSIDE. Mama didn't really need those long undies on, now did she? *sweaty*.

Here is a picture of Keifer the day we bought her frog costume. She was SO excited to put it on and model it for us and show Kyla!

Of course, once we got to the zoo, Keifer adamantly refused to put her froggy costume on (of course), so she trekked around, from treat table to treat table, taking in the sights and sounds of all the kids and adults in costume, as well as checking out her favorite animals (that'll be another post). I'll just say the girl LOVES sharks. She pooped out after we did a little outdoor exploring (a great time to visit the Grizzly bears is when everyone is inside collecting treats!). We got home, ate lunch, and fought with our K1 to nap for over an hour. The girl was PUMPED for trick or treating-it's all she could talk about!

Here she is showing off one of the few tattoos she got from the Zoo- they didn't give out candy: instead, it was fun little Halloween themed toys, color books, and finger puppets. Fun stuff.

After the whole house napped (yep, everyone in the house napped!), we got up and I dressed Kyla in her mini-Froggy costume to be photographed alongside big sister Frog. She loved it. Ahh, I remember the days when Keifer would wear a costume and smile so broadly as well! Keifer refused to put on her hood: the froggy head! We weren't about to fight with her, so we posed our Froggy sisters, and Keifer doted on her baby sissy, Kyla. She loved that she was a frog just like her!

One happy baby!

The Frog sisters!

Keifer even helped show me that Kyla's feet said "ribbit, ribbit'! Aww!
Soon, we had our first batch of neighbor kids at the door-a whole flock of the young ones. We recognized an acquaintance and her girls, and Keifer was thrilled to see all the kids in costume. We were in the midst of leaving, and as we did, she ran out the door, desperate to catch up to "her friends" (as she called them). We caught up with them a block later, and joined their rag-tag group of parents and kids. We taught Keifer that we only go up to the houses that had their lights on. She quickly learned that, and was SO damn adorable.

She would gasp excitedly: *GASP* "Mama, the lights, the lights" - and then take off jogging to the house. She would approach the doors, make various comments about the "jack-o-lanters" (not pumpkins, jack -o-lanterns! LOL), and then quickly scurry down the driveway, eager for the next house.
CJ and I could not contain our laughter. It was like someone had stuck a quarter in the girl. She was so hilarious- all jacked up but yet SWEET about it all. She was very polite and reserved when she requested "trick or treat" and thanked everyone. She even wished a few people "happy Halloween" after she heard other kids do the same thing. At one house, she even tried to go inside to play! LOL. She was so fun, it really warmed our hearts to be with her outside, while Papa and Nana manned our front door and took care of putting Kyla down to bed.

*knock knock knock*

This morning, the girls had fun playing with the witch's hat that I had also found at Target in the $1 bin. Don't you love our baby witch here? Soooo scary, right?

One adorable little witch eating her breakfast

Here's a video clip of Keifer running down the sidewalk to catch up with "her friends" so she could trick or treat. Here are a few more we took- nothing crazy, as it was dark and we were more focused on enjoying our girl.....Enjoy!

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The monster mask?

Sunday of this past weekend, I started getting a really bad headache and had a slight temperature of 99.6. I was nervous that the flu was going to hit me, so I laid down to take a nap and ended up sleeping the entire afternoon away. Monday, I still felt a bit off, but went to work, did my job, and took Keifer to our Ballroom class. That night, as I was feeding Kyla at around 1AM, I suddenly felt like I was going to vomit. I laid down Kyla (luckily she was done with her bottle!) and made it to the bathroom in time to be sick. What? This had hit me out of nowhere, so of course I was nervous that the Swine flu had hit me. Luckily I didn't have a temperature, but I did stay home from work Tuesday, and ended up staying home Wednesday to recover my body as well.

This was me feeding Kyla on Tuesday night. We didn't want our girls to get exposed to any germs that Mama had, even though I'm sure they were already exposed! Keifer really didn't comment on what I was wearing, and Kyla looked at me sort of oddly at first, but then it was happy smiles as usual. I guess a mommy in a mask isn't that uncommon for them! Ha!
I felt it was very appropriate to be wearing the mask a few days before Halloween, right?

Cutest Little Witch & her sissy

Who IS this big girl? Man, my heart just about stopped when I saw these pictures after I took them. Keifer is looking so much more like a "little girl" vs. a toddler! I wish I could slow down time!

Showing off one of her Oscar the Grouch socks that she picked out herself to wear
Showing off both socks! And what post wouldn't be complete without a picture of our angel girl #2? Kyla enjoying a chew on her toy

Little Ballroom Dancer

Our dancer girl is improving her ballroom dancing skills. She loves to pretend to be on the show, and has some pretty dramatic moves. Swinging her hair, doing some drops, rolling around: it's all in the dance routines for her!
This is part 2 of this session right here, and here is her doing some of the jitterbug the other night. She was really doing more jittering but we didn't get too much of it on video! Enjoy!



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Wordless Wednesday: Hey Mister, she's my lovey sister!!!

Exer-saucin' with Kyla

After taking down our Pack & Play (Finally) out of our living room last week, we took out the 'Saucer we had gotten off of Craigslist a few months ago. Kyla really enjoys it at Elaine's house and I know Keifer really loved being in one when she was younger. Kyla was thrilled to be put in this one. She actually giggled really loud and continuously UNTIL: I got the camera out (but of course!). You still get the idea that she was quite thrilled to be in it. And Keifer Lynn, big sissy of the house, she was really digging cleaning the thing off with Mama. I was done,but Keifer insisted on wiping that thing down so NO more germs were on there. Hee hee. I hope she is this clean the rest of her days in my house!
Here is the follow-up clip to this one. I like that Treble is in the background, happy as can be that all his girls are home :)




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Little hands at work

Here is K1 doing some "work" that I brought home from my school. She loves to do any type of fine motor "art" projects at Elaine's house, and I've started bringing home the things I do at work with my kids I teach. She really loves these Do-A-Dot Markers- I encouraged her to "hop hop hop" them for fear of pushing too hard, which didn't matter anyways (as you'll see). I am such a teacher: of course, I was watching her fine motor sequencing: the fact that she is picking it up, twisting the cap off, properly positioning the marker in her hand upside down, and the right siding it up, and twisting the cap on. That is HUGE for a 2 year old to do - it involves multi-steps of motor planning, and I am so proud of my little budding artist. Yeah yeah, be quiet, Mama! :)

Keifer also loves to fill up little notebooks FULL of her name. She really is writing her name- she has gone through quite a few note pads in the past week, and the pen she is holding in this clip here, she has to have THIS pen or writing just isn't the same (apparently). Enjoy.

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Good oral hygiene & chatting with Kyla

A quick clip - many more to be added - from our trip last weekend to visit CJ's parents up North. Keifer was being very good about her oral health, (hee hee), and Kyla was busy entertaining her grandparents with plenty of chatting.
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Cute little ghost

In honor of Halloween approaching, I wanted to share a few simple books that my classes and Keifer have been enjoying. I use these to work on vocabulary, as well as talk about feelings ("is ghost happy or sad?") and labeling. Ghost Eats it All is an adorable, simple book about a ghost gorging on food and the Frankenstein monster is watching and getting hungry (based on visual cues of this). The monster then scares the ghost, who drops all the food, and then monster eats the food all up. Sounds kinda gross, huh? Well, it's really cute and my kids and Keifer love it! There are a few other Ghost books and they too, are simple, cute, bright and fun!

Keifer also adores Where is Baby's Pumpkin, an adorable life-the-flap book that helps search for baby's pumpkin. I also have a few other Baby books (where is her birthday cake, where is her Easter eggs, baby uses the potty, etc.) and they are also very fun for labeling, working on question forms, and generating language. Of course, the element of surprise when she lifts the flap is also fun!

Five Little Pumpkins is a popular finger play that all kids love, and we love this book at our house. Raffi sings this song on one of his CD's which can add a fun audio element to this. We LOVE this Boo Who book, too- it was so amazing to CJ and I last Fall when Keifer was able to find the skeleton, thanks to this book!

Ahhh, how I love to share books that we love! Enjoy!

A Tuesday Tidbit

Baby legs aren't just for babies....as you can see, proudly displayed by the model Keifer Lynn. Oh, was this girl PROUD to be wearing leg warmers under her jumper (borrowed from cousin Aubrie). And no, I was no paid by baby legs to endorse these- this was all on my own! And don't her legs look SOOOO long suddenly? *sigh* My 2 year old is getting so big *sniff*

On the road again....

This is what a "silly" face looks like, according to K1

Forgive me, my lack of blogging. Life with 2 girls and 2 dogs and 2 parents that work full time and try to squeeze every ounce of every second of free time with our girls leaves little room for blogging. Life is busy, to put it mildly. My house is a pit, my car is a pit, but our lives are so happy- busy, but happy.

K1 is a smart aleck who walks with a strut, arms swinging, and voice singing. She is OH so excited for this weekend, to take the "train" to the Target Center for our Movers concert.

K2 continues to grow and delight us with her rapidly developing BABBLE and her adorable (constant!!!!! just like her big sissy) smiles. She is ONE happy baby, I'll tell you that.

Treble is his nervous-nelly self, always wondering where we are and ready to cuddle. Sager isn't left out, she won't let herself - as she wiggles her nose into everything we do.

We spent the past 3 days up visiting CJ's parents in Grand Forks, ND. It was close to 5 1/2 hours on the road one way and girls did amazingly well. We only made one stop. K1 had a difficult last hour - complete with shrieking and the wiggles, and Kyla let herself be known as well. The drive home was a smidgen easier as they both slept a wee bit more and going home always seems to go faster, doesn't it?

Lots of pictures of our visit with Papa Jimbo and Nana Margie to come. The camera is always flashing, and Kyla is also learning how to "talk' to the camera, just like Keifer. Keifer, however, doesn't like the camera in her face. She'd rather be the one snapping the shots herself.

Taking care of bab(ies)

A few random stories and pictures to share with you of some of the things we do in the evenings at our house.

Usually, our day ends after work with Mama picking the girls up at Elaine's house- and loving all the smiles and hugs I get. Keifer is always excited to share the project of the day, and to tell me what she did with her Elaine.
We drive home, usually singing along to one of K1's musical choices, and hoping Kyla isn't wailing in her car seat. The poor baby just isn't too keen on being stuck in that seat.

We get home and I strap the kids into the double stroller. Well, I should say, I strap Kyla in and Keifer sometimes sits in the side seat and sometimes decides to walk "like a big girl". Then, I hook up the pup pups for their walks and we're off! We do the "loop" around our housing complex, and we are always hoping that Keifer's buddy Hayden and his mommy are out in their yard playing. Hayden is about 6 months older than Keifer and his mommy is PG with another baby, due any day now. Keifer and Hayden are two peas in a pod- when they see each other they shriek each other's names and then run around the yard, usually playing with Hayden's fun toys. Mama chats up his mama, and then Kyla's wailing to get out of the car seat prompts us along our walk.

If we don't see Hayden and his mommy, we usually try to do the Loop walk in one sane piece. Mama tends to get a bit cranky dealing with two dogs pulling in two different directions, which means 2 rope/chains being pulled and possibly getting tangled on either the stroller or hitting K1 in the face/body. K1 is usually prancing around or dinging around in her seat in the stroller and of course, the girl cannot be quiet, so we're always chatting or singing. Kyla is sometimes OK, but lately have been howling to get out of that blasted contraption that keeps her down and unable to see what is going on!

We get home, prep for dinner and mama usually resorts to turning on some Movers for K1 to watch while I get dinner started and sometimes feed Kyla a bottle. The puppers are usually playing or happily chomping on their nylabones, happy because we are home . When daddy gets home, it's literally a wild rumpus of activity- shrieking, barking and sheer craziness. Lately, Mama has been trying very hard to cook/prepare some very healthy meals, as she is on a diet, trying to shed the excess baby poundage that won't go away on it's own.

Mama has been trying super hard to get to the gym at least 2 x per week and once or twice on the weekends. Daddy has been good about letting mama go, and leaving him in charge of the girls at home. Mama REALLY needs that time to decompress after a busy day and to help her recharge her batteries - as WELL as attempt to get back into shape.

Sometimes Daddy, sometimes Mommy and even K1 sometimes will read to Kyla girl. Her smile lights up her face when we open up books for her, and if you sing a song to her, she giggles and coos right back at you, as if she wants to sing along!

She also thinks her hands are quite delicious and has recently moved up to chewing on her thumb, too

Sometimes, Keifer's own baby Kyla needs some primping- so here, she actually brought the doll/baby up to the bathroom and wet her hair to "fix it", much like Mama wets HER hair down in the AM's to fix it. Hmm. She doesn't miss a trick.

Shopping and friends

A few weeks ago, *OK a month ago, wow!* Keifer, Kyla and mommy made a trip to the MOA to meet up with our friends Roxy and her daughter, Eva. We haven't seen Rox or Eva in quite some time, so the MOA is a perfect halfway point for us girls to meet, shop, and have lunch. Keifer, as always, was so excited to go shopping, and did well in the stroller with Kyla, where I made her stay due to the MOA having a Scrapbookers convention (consequently every hallway was filled to the brim with hyped-up scrapbookers!). Eva was so thrilled to finally meet baby Kyla, and Kyla was happy to be held, loved on, and snooze away as we walked the mall.

The standard "pose" picture of the girls -all pretty in pink! Roxy and Eva admiring Kyla

We thought the girls would enjoy meeting Dora at the Nickelodeon Universe, which is the huge indoor amusement park in the center of the MOA (this used to be Camp Snoopy). Keifer has just recently taken an interest in Dora, and has just started watching a DVD of Dora that she received for her Birthday in April. Keifer agreed that Dora sounded like fun, but once we got up close and personal with Dora, K1 froze. She would not come out of the stroller and appeared star struck. She waved at Dora, but didn't even crack a smile. Eva decided she would say hello to Dora.

After the meet and greet, we walked around a bit and then we hit Hanna Anderson because their snow suits were on sale for $20 off their original price. Keifer had her snow suit from there last season (we LOVED IT) and was in need of a new one for this winter. We measured our girl up (she's now 100 cm), and figured out which one to get (this one). Keifer and Eva were walking around the store trying on hats by themselves, which was pretty darn cute.

Keifer found this hat, plunked it on and proclaimed, "Mama, I wear hat like daddy has!"

It was darling on her. If only it wasn't so pricey. Ha.

I would LOVE to see CJ in a hat this style (hee hee). Future runway model? She looks so old to me in this picture *sniff*

Papa(s) & Nana(s) are so much fun

The scene: our living room

The time: last Saturday

The setting: PAPA(s) and NANA(s) were in the HOUSE!

Uff-da! Busy busy busy!

Our girls are so lucky to have both sets of their grandparents alive to enjoy. Unfortunately, both sets live out of town, and we aren't able to see them as much as we all would like to, but with Skype, phone calls and plenty of pictures, we are able to keep them up to date on the comings and goings of their precious grandchildren.

Last weekend, Keifer & Kyla (and CJ and I) were so lucky to experience not one set, but two sets of grandparents in town visiting at the same time! Papa Dale & Nana Dian stayed with us, and the Soup Papa & Nana stayed with Corey & Jill (and Abby & Mason). Keifer was in hog heaven; whirling and twirling and showing off her singing, dancing and super -smart overall skills (ha). Kyla was just happy to be held and read to, and gave them all plenty of awesome one-dimpled smiles that had them all swooning over her with love (of course!).

Here's Keifer pre-dressing, showing Nana Di how much she adores her baby sister

Keifer got to go to Fleet Farm (one of her 4 stand-by shopping places she loves) with just Papa Dale. She was over-the-moon to have her car seat in NANA'S car! Oh, boy! The pride and excitement on her face sums up her adventures with Papa.

Papa's experience? "Boy, does she run a lot!" Um, Papa, that's what carts are for (hee hee)

Papa Dale & 2 of his little ladies (Kyla wasn't ready for her close up just yet)

But later, she made it up to Papa by showing off how strong her neck is and cooing away in between giggles

Nana Margie & her granddaughters: a whole lotta love on this couch! (Abby was too engrossed in some show, I guess?)

The next day, Papa Jim and Nana Margie spent a few hours before heading home. Here Keifer is doing her nebs (as she has been dealing with her respiratory breathing issues since everyone we know (including US) have all had colds)

CHEESE!

One year ago today.......

One of these 5 day embryos (blasts) decided to stick around....

...and May 19, our Kyla Whitney came into our lives 4 1/2 weeks early......
At 4 1/2 months, she is another of our truest blessings....we love you so, Kyla! What a happy memory. *sigh*