Archive for November 2011
Happy Birthday Baby Girl
Keira Jade, you are turning 5 today
Hip, Hip Horray!
I can't believe how much you have grown
I just want you to stay little and my own
You make us so proud everyday
I hope you have a great birthday
Since the kids are getting bigger and can help a lot more, we have made a couple of family traditions for the Holidays.
Christmas Tree
- The first one is putting up the Christmas tree. We put the Christmas tree up the Friday after Thanksgiving. Keira doesn't have school on that Friday, daddy doesn't work on Friday's (normally), we have nothing to do that Friday, so that is a great time to sit as a family and decorate the tree.
Christmas Tree Ornaments
- We let the kids pick out 2 ornaments every year and they get to put them on the tree themselves (along with the normal ornaments that belong on the tree).
Christmas Cooking/Baking
- I like to make the cake balls and cake suckers. I also like to make sugar cookies dipped in chocolate.
- I will let the kids dip the cookies or cake balls in the chocolate.
- Last year was the first year I actually baked stuff for Christmas. I really didn't think I could do it or had time, but if you make time and see the results after it is done then it is worth it.
Christmas Crafts
- Ornaments
- Stockings
- Cards
Christmas Morning
- Wake kids up (if they are not awake already ;) )
- Usually set the kids in a circle (so they can all see each other)
- Pass out presents
- Watch the glow on their faces when they open their presents....priceless
- After all the wrapping paper is cleaned up, we have breakfast (last year, homemade biscuits & gravy).
- We get the kids ready to go to my mom's (nana's)
- Depends on when grandma (Dan's mom) wants to do Christmas (if it is on Christmas, then we usually cut our time short at my mom's and go to his mom's) Sometimes it is on the day after or a couple days after.
Today was the day to put the Christmas tree up. We are starting to make it a tradition to put it up the day after Thanksgiving.
Here are a few pics of the kiddos putting ornaments on the tree.....
Keira and Aden decorating
Keira putting her 'K' on the tree
Aden putting his 'A' on the tree
Taygen putting her 'T' on the tree
Finished tree and stockings
This is the last year we will have a small tree :(. I kind of like my small tree, but the kids are getting big enough that they understand what Christmas is all about and they are ready for a big tree.
While I reflect on Thanksgiving and spending time with family and friends, I realize all that I am thankful for.
I am thankful for my loving, supportive husband. I don't know where I would be without him. He has stuck with/by me at a very difficult time in my life and has always been there for me since. He has blessed me with 3 beautiful, wonderful, gorgeous kids and I could not ask for more.
Keira- She is the oldest. I am so thankful for every thing she does for me. When I am sick or not feeling well, headach, or tummy ache she is always there with a blanky, drink and pillow helping me to feel better. She always brightens my day by showing/teaching me something new every day.
Aden- Aden is my only boy and the middle. He is the most handsome little boy that I have ever seen! He just brightens my day with the littlest things...He will come up and give me a hug for no reason. He says the darndest things.
Taygen- She is my youngest little girl and angel (of course). She is learning so much and impresses me every day with her vocabulary and every thing that she can do already (20 months). She has taught me that you can't and shouldn't take any single day for granted. She is growing up so fast!
This year we are letting the kids decide what they want to do for their birthdays. Aden wanted to go golfing with daddy and grandpa. That worked out good and Aden had fun!
When we asked Keira what she wanted to do for her birthday, she knew right away that she wanted to go to a movie theatre like she did for her birthday last year (saw Tangled). But she went to her friend's birthday party last weekend and said she wanted to invite friends like Ezven did. I said, "Do you want a birthday party like this or do you want your movie?" She said, "I want my movie, but I want to invite friends." I told her that her friends might not like the movie and that she could invite Seth (friend from school) if she wanted. So, she got super excited about that. Seth's mom and I have become really good friends and she said it was okay. I'm not sure which (kid) movie will be out when they go, or when they are going, but I think they will have fun.
My Best Day of the Week
Saturday, November 19th
One of my really good friends had her baby shower today! It was fun. I decided to take Keira. She had a blast (just us girls). She got to see my bestie, (Brandi), so she was super excited.
She didn't tell anybody the sex of the baby until she cut the cake. I thought it was going to be a boy all along. She is having a baby girl!
Tuesday, November 15th
I am not sure why this day was my bad day because I have my pool leagues and my one night out a week on this day.
The morning started off great! The kids slept in until 9, so mommy got to sleep in. Got up, did our daily routine then decided to take the kids swimming at the Y.
Before we leave and I know I have all shoes on and jackets on (if needed), I ask them to go down stairs (by the garage door, this is also the family room area, so they usually find something to play with for a couple minutes until I am ready) and wait, so I know whoever is down stairs is ready to go. When they are all waiting by the door, this usually gives me time to get my shoes on, my purse, diaper bag and whatever else I need for the outing.
I went to grab my purse (in the kitchen) and Keira is running upstairs (after I told her to go down stairs), I ask her what she is doing, she says, "getting my lip stuff." Taygen hears her and starts running up stairs saying and crying for lipstuff. I'm trying to get Keira down stairs so Taygen will stop crying and so we can go. Keira is crying because she wants her lipstuff (which she wound up taking with us) and Taygen is crying and jumping out of my arms because she also wants lipstuff. Aden is not listening and running up and down the stairs. I finally had enough and said, "I am leaving now, if anybody wants to come" and walked out the door. It worked!
Then we are heading out of the Y after swimming to go home. Keira wants a snack (out of the vending machine), I tell her "no, we are going home to eat lunch then we will have ice cream or something special at home." She starts whining and crying. Keira and Aden run ahead of me and push the automatic door button. Well, apparently, Aden wanted to push the first one, but Keira did, so Aden is crying, he is walking sideways because he is telling me what Keira did and hits his head on the metal door. He starts crying (hard). Keira is walking backwards whining about what Aden did, she hits the back of her head on the door because the automatic door ran out of time and closed on her. So, she is crying hard. I kiss both of their heads and tell them it is going to be okay. They are both still crying on the walk to the car. I carried Taygen and just kept walking with the two older ones lagging behind.
My kids never act like this! They are very well mannered and usually do as they are told, but for some reason they were all just having a bad day.
This Sunday, Keira went to a friend's birthday party. It was the first one she had ever been invited to (besides family, cousins). She had a blast. Of course, her 'boyfriend' Seth was there, so she was super excited about that as well. They went swimming at the Y, then had cake and got to play.
She has never been to a birthday party before, so I didn't know if I was supposed to just drop her off and find something to do for 2 hours or just stay and watch. I decided to stay and watch because the pool was packed and I just didn't feel comfortable putting her care in someone else's hands when they had plenty of other kids to watch. What would you have done?
Taygen is doing great! She is growing up too fast! She reminds me of when Keira was that little.
She is saying more and more now. Which, I don't know if that is a good thing or not. Her favorite words lately are "stop it" and "nope." Not no, but nope. Yes, it sounds super cute, but it is not!
She has been doing great at potty training. She probably has about 3 accidents a week. Which is okay, because she is still learning :) She is getting to where she says "potty" then starts walking up stairs.
It won't be long until I start talking about her turning 5! *Crying* the kids are getting old too fast!
I have never shopped there, but I looked around and found a couple things that I would buy for the kids.
This is Domino Race. My kids would love this because they are always wanting to build something.
This is the
Lil' Davinci Store & Display Art Cabinet Frame
My kids would love this because they love to color, but always want me to hang it on the wall for everyone to see. This would be a nice organized way to show off their art work.
Keira went on another field trip with her school. This time it was bowling. I didn't go with her again. She said she had a blast! We asked her what her score was and she said 10. I will have to talk to her teacher and see how she did.
Keira is going to her first (friends) birthday party on Sunday. One of her class mates turns 5 on Sunday and he is going to have a swimming birthday party and invited the class.
Bad Day of the Week
Thursday, November 10th
Today is Keira and Aden's art class at the Y. Taygen has been going out of the house in panties and has not had any accidents. So I put her in panties today when we left the house. Taygen and I were waiting for the kids when a lady walks by and says "Oh, it looks like you have a puddle." I look down at Taygen and she is standing in a puddle. She pottied her pants!
Talk about embarrassing! Luckily, I packed another pair of pants and panties for her. We just went into the bathroom, I changed her, cleaned up the floor and we were all good!
I guess that's what I get for bragging! :)
Well, today is 11/11/11!
Every where I look there is stuff about someone being born on this day, a birthday, a wedding or a special event. Nothing special happened to me or my family on this day, but I would love to hear other people's special occasion on this day.
My son was born on 9/9/08, he turned one on 9/9/9!
What happened to you on 11/11?
It started out as a nice day, but started raining about 2 p.m and hasn't stopped yet 9:00p.m.
Love the rain! I thought it would be a good idea today for the kids to go out and play in the rain. It wasn't too cold and the kids loved it. Didn't take any pictures though.
Keira was done early, so she went inside for a little bit while Aden and Taygen rode their bikes inside the garage. It was a fun time for them.
Best Day of the Week
I would have to say this whole weekend was the best! November 4, 5, and 6th.
Friday, November 4th
- Got a great review today at Keira's parent/teacher conference! Wasn't surprised, but still a proud mama!
- Taygen went out of the house in panties today and did not have an accident.
- Aden went 5 nights in a row in his underwear without any accidents in his bed.
Sunday, November 6th
- Relaxing day for me. Went to a meeting for an hour, tanned, napped for an hour, then went out to eat with the family, relaxed while the kids played with balloons, relaxed while daddy got snack ready and relaxed while daddy put the kids to bed.
- Hubby did the laundry for me today!
Aden has been potty trained for over 2 years now, but he was still having accidents during the night so we left him in Pullups at night. We have tried several times to put underwear on him, but he just kept having accidents. He does fine at nap time with his underwear.
One night he got his jammies on earlier than normal and when I put him to bed I forgot that he had his underwear on. In the morning, he woke up dry. Dan put him to bed the next night and left his underwear on (on purpose) and was dry again. He has been dry at night now for 5 nights in a row. He is not officially out of Pullups for bedtime.
What a great weekend! Had a couple of accomplishments!
Taygen has been doing awesome at potty training. Today, Saturday, November 5th she went out of the house with her big girl panties on and didn't have a accident!
We went out to eat at Carlos O' Kelly's and then went shopping at Hyvee, she did great. She has been wearing her panties around the house.
I'm thinking we are done with Pullups! YAY! No more diapers either! We will probably still use the diapers or pullups when she sleeps.
Saturday, October 29th
I would have to say my/the kids' bad day of the week was Saturday night. The poor kids were up all night getting sick. They didn't get any sleep and felt horrible.
Today was Keira's parent/teacher conference at her preschool. She is doing amazing! They said she could just skip kindergarten and go into 1st grade right away...they were just kidding of course, but that is how good she is doing.
They have 'skills checklist' that they check off for each student
Keira's tests were...
- Uppercase letters~ knows all
- Lowercase letters~ knows all
- Numbers~ knows all
- Colors~ knows all
- Shapes~ knows all
- Sight words~ knows all!
Keira even read a little book to them from beginning to end (they told me that she had never seen it before, it wasn't one that they use at story time).
Very proud mama!
She helps the other kids when they are struggling.
It is hard to believe but we saw our first snow today. It was beautiful. It was very weird though. It started out as a light rain then thunder, lightening, heavy rain, snow. But the weird thing was it all happened at the SAME time.
It was Taygen's first time seeing snow, that she will remember anyway. Keira just loves snow and always wants to catch the snow with her tongue. Aden just loved it, he stood at the door and watched it for a long time.
I didn't get any pictures today, was a pretty busy day. We will take snow pictures on the second snow day :)
Saturday, November 19th, 2011 is National Family Pajama Night. Pajama night is for those families who do not get a lot of time together, it is a fun filled night at home doing activities that make memories for you and your children. These days with both parents working and school activities it doesn't seem like some families get a lot of time together.
There are many different ways to enjoy the time as a family, you could
- Have a pillow fight
- Play a fun kid card game
- Play hide N Seek
- Take turns playing your child's favorite board games
- Puppet Show
See how many ideas your family can come up with. Click on National Family Pajama Night for more info.
It was a rough weekend for the kids. They were all sick at some point in the weekend. They are all doing great now and seemed to bounce back the next day or so.
Today was the first official snow of the Winter? Fall? whatever you want to call it. You gotta love Nebraska weather, one day it is sunny and 72 the next day it is raining, snowing, sleeting, thundering & lightning ALL at the same time..oh and did I mention 32 degrees for the high! Crazy! Not looking forward to this weather for the next 4 months.
