A friend of mine wanted to have a play date with her kids and ours. So, we decided to go roller skating with all the kiddos Saturday morning. They have kids skating 10 and under at our local roller skating rink. The kids have never been roller skating before, but they all did great. Keira and Taygen were with mommy and Aden was with daddy. Taygen wanted to do it by herself. Aden skated all by himself, he didn't want to hold anybody's hand. Keira fell on her bottom a couple of times, and got right back up and had fun. She got to skate with her best friend, so she was super excited.

In my S.A.H.M blog, I mentioned that I was going to enroll Keira in a Cheer class and take her out of the Y dancing. She loves dancing and the YMCA is great, but it's the same thing every time she dances. I can tell she is getting bored with it and wants to do more.

I am enrolling her at an actual dance/cheer studio. Her classes are called 'mini cheer' for ages 5-8. They are Thursdays 5:30-6:30. I talked to the director and she was encouraging us to come this week to get Keira signed up and start. I might not have her cheer with the team this week, maybe just watch them and introduce her to the class and wait until after the performance (on Sunday) to start a new routine. The cheer team has a performance at Pius X this Sunday, but Keira will not perform. The team has another performance for Spring in April that she will cheer at. I am planning on taking Keira to the performance so she can see what the team does and how cheer works.

I asked her the other day if she would like to do cheerleading. She didn't know what it was, so dad sat down and showed her some YouTube videos of her dance studio performing. In the last 2 years they have won over 30 National Champions.

I will have another post with pictures as soon as Keira gets started and the performance weekend it over.

Taygen had her first hair cut today. It is not super long or anything, but it was getting long on the sides and the front, so I just wanted to have it layered and trimmed up a little bit to make it thicker and make it grow faster.

She did very good and sat still. She kept saying, "I'm done." But sat still the whole time. She loves her hair played with though.

All the kids and I at 9 months...
                                                                                                   

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Keira and mommy had a girl's day out. We went to Church this morning as a family, came home and ate lunch together as a family. Keira and I left the house about 1:30 and got back to the house a little after 4:30.

We started at the South Pointe mall and went to Gymboree for the kids. Got some really cute Spring clothes for them. Was going to go to Von Maur, but I'm going to wait until my girl friend can go with me and help me pick out more dresses (for the vow renewal).

Got what I needed at Gymboree then went clear across town to West Field Mall. Keira and I took a time out (didn't even start shopping yet ;) ) and had some pretzel sticks (like a soft pretzel but in stick form) and cheese. Then we went to some of mommy's stores.

After we went to a couple of my stores, I let Keira play in the play area. Then we were off shopping again ;)

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I recently had a comment on my post about the kids' dentist checkup. I realized that I didn't put the results from Taygen's check up on. She didn't have any cavities either. Her teeth are perfect as well! The kids have another check up at the end of February.

I have had many people ask me how the kids' teeth are in such good shape and what are my routines to keep them cavity free....

1. I brush their teeth then they rinse with their Listerine in the morning after they eat breakfast.
2. Before they go to bed, I brush their teeth, floss, then rinse with their Listerine again. 

So, they rinse two times a day and floss once every day. I have stopped giving them "sticky" treats and started giving them just m&m's or some kind of chocolate. They do not get fruit snacks anymore (accept from grandma ;) ) 

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That time of year again. Valentine's Day is getting closer. One of the kids' favorite activities to do are crafts. I ordered a bunch of crafts from Oriental Trading for the kids to do.

This is one of the crafts we did today as a family....

These flowers could also be made for Mother's Day, May Day, Spring, Valentine's Day or just because. They are super easy!

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I realized that I do a lot of updating on Keira and not enough updates on the other kids. I think the reason for this is that Keira is the oldest and is more involved in activities, in school, has more responsibilities and I expect a lot more out of her.

So, with that said, here is a couple of updates on Aden, my 3 year old baby boy.

• He started whistling when he turned 3 (September). He's better than me, I can't whistle at all. 
• He can stand on his head and balance (without the help of the wall). He stands on his head for a good 20 seconds. 
• He's developing his own personality as he's getting older. He is becoming more independent and wants to do stuff on his own at his own rate ;)

He is going to start preschool in August (2012). A little sad about that! He is supposed to be my baby boy. My favorite thing that he does is he will look at me, smile, wink, gives me a thumbs up, then clicks his tongue. He did it to great grandma and she just fell in love ;) 

The other night when I was laying him down he said, "Mom, I need a kiss. Can you just lay down beside me and put your arm around me and give me a hug while I sleep?" Even though I still had tons of stuff to do before 'mommy time' I said, "Yes, buddy, I will." So, I laid beside him until he fell asleep and I think I cried the whole time I laid by him.  

This post is about some of the 'Sweetest Moments' and the reason why I love being a S.A.H.M.

Wednesday, January 4th

• Aden and Taygen were napping (Aden was sick, he normally doesn't get a nap), Keira was sitting at the table doing her 'workbook' and I was sitting on the couch watching my soaps. Keira says, "Mom, I just love you so!" I said, "Oh, Keira, I love you so too!" and walked over and gave her a big hug. She said, "Mom, I didn't say I love you so, I said I love your show." Silly, silly girl! 

• Aden was laying in his bed talking, it was way past his bedtime. I went in to see what was wrong.  He says, "Mom, I was talking to Bandit (the kitty), I'm just laying here petting him and talking to him." I said, "Okay Aden, but you need to get some rest. I love you see you in the morning." I gave him a kiss on his forehead. He said, "You should give Bandit a kiss too and pet him and tell him goodnight." So, I did. I almost started crying because he is growing up so fast and it makes me smile that he has so much love in his heart. 

Have you ever had your child tell you that they have the hiccups? You tell your child, "ok, what do you want me to do about it?" I love how kids let you know stuff that you can't help them with at that very moment.

Here are a couple of examples of what my children tell me...
~ "Mom, I have a booger."
     Me- "Ok, what do you want me to do about it? I'm driving."
           - This is usually when I have no kleenexes in the car and I have no way of turning around and getting the booger from them. So, I usually just tell to hold on to it until. What else am I supposed to tell them, flick it on the floor...gross!

~ "Mom, I have the hiccups."
    Me- "Take a drink, hold your breath and count to 10." Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't.
          -This is usually when the hiccups last for more than 20 minutes and they get frustrated and start whining. There is nothing I can do about it.

~ "I have to go potty."
     Me- "Then go up stairs and go potty."
           -This is usually when we are at home and they can do it themselves. Not sure why they let me know this, but every time they have to tell me. Maybe so I know where they are? I can understand when we are out in public, because they can't just run upstairs and go.

~"I have to go poopy."
   Me- "Then go."
          - This is also when we are home and they can just run upstairs. When they tell me when we are in public (which I encourage ;) ) it is usually in a loud voice.

~"May I have a drink?"
   Me- "You can go get it, it is sitting on the table."
       

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