The kids are feeling a lot better today. Aden still seems to be a little out of it, but Keira seems to be doing a lot better. I think a day (Sunday) of just being home and resting helped a lot.

Keira had school today and got to wear her costume. She was so excited. "Mom, do you think Seth will like my costume?" Then we came home (the kids wore their costumes the rest of the day), ate supper and went trick-or-treating about 6:30. It was such a nice night. Keira asked Siri what the weather was and it said 64 degrees.

Kids' Halloween costumes.....

Spiderman Aden

 Lady bug Taygen

Ladybug, Belle, and Spiderman

The kids were supposed to dress up in their Halloween costumes for Church this morning but Keira and Aden were up all night throwing up. Aden threw up 6 times last night and Keira threw up 3 times last night. The kids are still sick this morning, Aden has gotten sick 2 times and Keira has gotten sick 1 time today. Aden seems to be the worst. Keira seems to be doing better, I gave them Tylenol earlier and it seemed to make their fevers go away. It all started with Taygen getting sick before she went to bed then she was okay, no fever and just running around.

The kids were pretty disappointed that they didn't get to wear their costumes but Keira gets to dress up for school tomorrow (Monday), so that made her feel better. I am planning on letting Aden wear his costume tomorrow also, he doesn't understand why Keira gets to wear it and he doesn't.

We don't carve pumpkins, never have. That's just not something we do. The first year we decided to have pumpkins for them, Keira and Aden just drew on them with permanent markers. This year I got some stickers from Oriental Trading to stick on their pumpkins and make faces. Here are some pictures of them working on them.

Each of their pumpkins already had paint on them from art class, they just put the faces over the paint (dry).

Aden 

 Aden's bat 

Aden's very scary face :)

 Keira's cat

Keira's bat (she wanted it to be a ghost)

Actually really not sure if it is a ghost or a bat

 Keira's silly face

Didn't really have a best day this week. Nothing out of the ordinary happened this week. If I did have to pick a day, I would probably pick Thursday, October 27th. The kids were so good again! They just relaxed all day and got along great.

Here are a few pictures of them...

Thursday, October 27th.

Aden and Keira had their art classes today and Taygen and I just sat out and waited. Taygen decided that she wanted to throw up every where. Nice! She threw up all over her shirt and all over her blanky that she had with her. Luckily, I thought it was chilly enough for the kids to wear their jackets this morning because that's all she had to wear the half hour that we had left to wait. Her blanky and shirt were super messy, so I wrapped her shirt inside her blanky and put it in the diaper bag. Of course, she wanted her blanky, so I took it out and ran it under the faucet to clean it up a little and gave it back to her wet.

She was fine after she threw up, not sure why she did. She may be getting teeth. She usually gets a fever and really super sick when she is getting teeth. I should have known something was wrong when she was asleep by 8:30 p.m last night and not up until 9:45 a.m today, I had to wake her up because we had to go, I'm sure she would have slept later if I would have let her.

We have picked a kindergarten for Keira. We have her registered at Norris Public Schools. It is out of our district but we filled out an option enrollment form that qualifies her to go to school out of our district. We will find out the middle of March is she is accepted or not.

We were debating between Lincoln Lutheran, Lincoln Christian or Norris for schools. We picked Norris because they are one of the best schools and Dan's friend said her daughter went their and had nothing but nice things to say about that school.

We had to do the option enrollment because we do not live in the school district, which means they can tell us no if they choose (goes before a board and they decide based on a first come first serve bases). The only reason they can tell us no is if that grade fills up. The superintendent said that since she has been there (9 years) they have not turned anybody down for option enrollment. This year they were actually low in numbers for kindergarten enrollment. The siblings are supposed to be grandfathered in, but there is no guarantee for option kids, you have to be there for 2 years before option enrollment siblings are grandfathered in.

Our plan is to move closer, maybe build in the Hickman area. We were thinking about building in The Bridges area or Fallbrook area, but we want to be closer to the school so we don't have to worry about the kids getting into a school.

So, now we are just waiting until March to see whether or not Keira goes to kindergarten at Norris. Talk about a long wait!

Well, it's Wednesday and nothing too exciting has happened this week. Don't really have anything to write about for the kids. A very uneventful week here, don't know if that is a good thing of a bad thing :) I would have to say that is has been nice not having a "bad day of the week" yet :).

Although, Taygen did decide to take her pullup off downstairs while watching T.V. and walk around naked. It is so hard not to laugh at her though, she looks at you with those big blue eyes and you can't help but smile.

Last Friday, October 14th, Keira went on a field trip with her school to Roca Berry Farm Pumpkin Patch. She was pretty excited because she got to spend the day with Seth and his mom. This was her second year going with her class, so I didn't go with her this time (went with her the first year).

Seth's mom went, so I wasn't too worried about Keira (even though I still cried when I buckled her in the van). It's always hard to let your child go on an outing with other students and not worry about them, they could get lost, hurt, or someone could snatch them.

Keira came home after school and told me how her day was. "Mom, I got to see Seth's mom, Seth Jr (Seth's brother), and Sethette (Seth's brother's twin sister).

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures because I didn't go with her, but Seth's mom said she had some pictures of the two of them, so when I get the pictures from her I will post them.

Today we had a friend's sister do our family photos. She is a personal photographer. Today was a perfect day, perfect weather for the kids, not too windy. The kids were great and had a blast.

The kids had so much fun. IT was a long day for them though, we had Sunday School this morning and the kids had to get up at 7:30 a.m and have been going all day.

Will post pictures when they are perfected :)

Wednesday, October 19th
It is weird for me to say that Wednesday is one of my best days of the week because Wednesday is usually my longest and busiest days of the week, but today went pretty smoothly. The kids didn't watch T.V. at all this morning (since we lounged around Monday, we didn't need to watch anymore T.V).  Instead, the kids colored together and ran around and played.

Disclaimer: Usually, everyday is like this, but I couldn't find any specific day that something good happened out of the ordinary, so I picked this day since it is my longest day.

Monday, October 17th

Yet again, another Monday.

Taygen was napping, went in to her room to get her and found her wipes all over her floor. Apparently, I didn't move them out of her way.

Still Monday, October 17th

I was getting Aden dressed from his bath when Taygen walked into Aden's room with a can of pop I had on my night stand. As you can imagine, it was all over her and all over the carpet. Cherry Dr. Pepper, out of all the pops she could spill on the carpet. I have a really good carpet cleaner, so I got it all up. 

Tuesday, October 18th

Okay, so I fibbed before, I guess I can't go more than one day a week without something happening. Again, it was Taygen.

Taygen was supposed to be napping, when I heard her talking, I went into her room and found her room a mess. She had escaped from her bed (which I didn't know/think she could). I found this when I walked in....

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.  

Taygen has been doing great with potty training! This weekend (October 14th &15th) was not a good weekend for her. She had several accidents but has had NO accidents since Sunday, October 16th.

She no longer has a sippy cup and is drinking out of a big girl cup. She's so proud of herself when she drinks out of it.

We all have routines that can get pretty rigorous, but sometimes you have to make it fun for your self and for your kids.

Our night time (bedtime) routines include: snack time about 8:30 (usually yogurt, pudding, or crackers), put pajamas on. Then the fun part is reading to the kids, yes, that is the fun bedtime routine...I know, I know you probably thought I was talking about jumping on beds or pillow fights, but I actually enjoy reading to my kids. I love watching them interact with the stories and love how the younger kids understand the meaning of the words and stories. I love watching Keira read books that she has never seen or heard before. They each get to pick out one book to read.

After we read we all go up stairs, brush teeth, floss and rinse with mouthwash, go potty, wash hands, then get tucked into bed and sings songs (this is also my favorite part of our routine).

I cannot stress enough how important family time is. That's why every other night Dan and I take turns laying the kids down. We help each other get the snacks ready and help each other get jammies on then the one who is not laying the kids down reads the books, give kisses and off they go to their routine.

Today is a lazy day for the kids. Usually, we would be running around taking Keira to school and picking her up, but she doesn't have school today because of Fall break. It is 54 degrees outside, so being outside today is out of the question, so the kids are just lounging around watching shows and playing with the iPad.

Usually when we are inside all day, Keira and Aden will color, we will clean the house together, the kids will do crafts, we read to each other, etc.

The kids do not get to "lounge" around very often. They only get to watch about an hour of T.V a day. We are usually pretty busy during the week with their schools and activities. I don't let the kids watch too much T.V. Keira says, "too much T.V. will make your bottom mushy and you will not have any energy." Very true!

Keira and Aden have swimming lessons tonight at 6 p.m., so it looks like that is the only time we will leave the house today. Not looking forward to this cold weather that we are going to have this week....mid 60's to lower 50's for highs.

What fun morning routines do you have with your children?

My morning routine with my kids consists of getting them breakfast, brush teeth, baths, dressed then something fun they like to do is updating the calendar. They take turns updating the day, date, and the weather.

It gives the younger kids a chance to work with numbers, learn the days of the week, months of the year and understand the weather. It gives them a chance to do something they think is "important." It also gives us a chance to learn together. Got this calendar from Oriental Trading.

Best Day of the Week
Monday, October 10th

I posted earlier that Keira has a new "boy"friend in school. Well, she made him a little heart, cut it out and colored it for him. She brought it to school on Monday and gave it to him. His mom just melted, she thought it was sooo cute. She handed it to him and walked away fast, mostly because she was embarrassed. She came over to stand by me and a few seconds later he came back and started talking to her. He said, thank you, this is really nice.

I got to talking to his mom in the parking lot after school and I guess the feeling is mutual between the two kids. I guess he talks about Keira to his grandparents and sometime during the weekend they were talking about buying Keira something.

Even though she will be crushed when she starts kindergarten and he is not there, the joy on her face to see that someone "special" everyday is worth it right now.

Bad Day of the Week
Friday, October 7th, Saturday, October 8th, Wednesday, October 13th

Like I said before, there is no such thing as a bad day without at least 2 things going wrong.

Friday, October 7th

This time it was daddy's turn :).  We laid the kids down for bedtime on their regular bedtime schedule (9p.m). Taygen usually goes to bed pretty good, but Friday night she woke up crying hard. We knew something was wrong so Dan rushed into her room and found that she threw up all over her blankets and jammies. He asked me to help, so I took her clothes off and gave her a bath and changed her sheets really quick. After that she was fine. We think she had too much root beer floats at grandma's :)

Saturday, October 8th

Still daddy's turn. Aden had been sleeping (napping) and woke up to go poopy, Dan took his pants down by then Aden had pooped in his pants (Diarrhea), Dan went to wipe him off and clean everything up, but when Dan wiped his bottom he started going again, all over Aden's legs, I'm sure you can imagine. I know TMI, but deal with it! Come to find out Aden was also sick and threw up (and was running a fever) Saturday evening, luckily I got him to the toilet in time, he got about a quarter size amount on the carpet, but we got it cleaned up.

My kids are not sick very often, but when they are it only seems to be a 24 hour bug and it seems to happen to all the kids. Keira has not gotten whatever Aden and Taygen had (knock on wood!)

Thursday, October 13th
Aden has his art class Thursday mornings from 10:30-11:20, I usually just come straight home and make lunch, I usually don't pick anything up for lunch (getting the kids in the habit of eating healthy). Well, today I planned on just running to Burger King, which was about 2 blocks out of my way, but was kind of on the way home (does that make any sense?) Anyway, I go through the drive thru and ordered, got up to the window and realized I left my credit/debit card at home on my dresser. I don't have any cash with me (only a few dollars), I pull up to the window to pay and ask them if they accept checks, of course, he says no. I said "ok then, I guess I have to cancel my order." Nice!

I ran home (didn't actually run, just drove) and got my card, now Burger King is out of the way, so, I just went to McDonald's (don't like that place, but promised the kids chicken nuggets from somewhere). Have my card in hand and went to McDonald's, all is good now. 

When you are a little kid it is so hard to decide what you want to be for Halloween. You have all these options, for girls it is princesses, butterflies, bees, cute little kittens, etc. For boys, it's Super Troopers, Cars, Spider Man, Elmo, etc.


Aden knew right away that he wanted to be Spider Man (that's his favorite show).  Taygen is going to be a lady bug, she didn't get to decide this year, but next year she will definitely be interested in deciding. Now, Keira was the difficult one when choosing which costume to wear. She wanted to be a princess, then we saw her costume from last year (good witch, of course :) ) and she wanted to be that again. Then we saw a butterfly costume at the store and she wanted to be that for a couple minutes then changed her mind back to princess, I think a princess was in the back of her mind all along, she was just keeping her options open. She finally made up her mind and we came home with a "Belle" princess costume.

Pictures to follow after Halloween! 

Oh! The joys of having girls!

At school, Keira sits by a boy named Seth. She said they always talk. He bumped into her a couple times, but it was okay because he said he was sorry. She loves school, but she gets so excited when she knows she is going to see Seth.. He was gone for a couple days because he was sick and she was just so sad ;(.

One day after school, Keira and Seth were playing around and Seth bumped into her head, she started crying. Her teacher wanted to know why she was crying, Keira told her what happened. Ms. Kelly just looked at me and said, "Seth is Keira's boyfriend!" Hmmmmm

This Friday after school, the kids and I went to the "W" store (Westfield Mall) and had some Cherry on Top frozen yogurt (the kids' favorite). We were on our way home and Keira says, "Oh mom, I just had such a great day." I said, "I'm so glad you had a great day, you did great at school, you had ice cream, and you get to go see grandma later tonight." She says, "no mom, I had a great day because I got to see Seth." Uh oh!

She just can't stop talking about him. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I'm glad she has made a good friend. It's her only "boy" friend at school, all the rest are girls. I drop her off at school every day, we usually get there about 5 minutes early, we usually have to wait outside the door with all the other kids until the door opens, while we are waiting she usually has about 5-7 girls circling around her talking to her. It's so cute to see her talking 5 year old talk.

Wednesday, October 5th

A couple of things to tell you today. I guess I can't have a day without more than one bad thing happening.

It was about 9 a.m. and I was getting in to the shower. Keira and Aden were sitting at the kitchen table coloring and Taygen was still sleeping. I get into the shower, wash my hair, put conditioner in my hair and Keira runs into the bathroom, "mom, I spilled my drink." (She must have hit it with her coloring book or something.)  I get out of the shower, soaked, my hair still has conditioner in it, cold...with only a towel on, run down stairs clean up her mess, make sure the kids are settled back to coloring, run up stairs and get back in the shower.

I was so tired and I was laying on the couch with Keira and Aden. Taygen was up playing and running around. She got ahold of a green, glass flower vase, I asked her to bring it to me...well, she did. When she tried to give it to me she knocked me in the face (by my eye) with it. Not going to lie...it hurt!

This is the first year the kids have done Halloween crafts. I am not a Halloween person, so I really don't decorate the house or do any thing special for it but this year I got some crafts for the kids to do from Oriental Trading. They really enjoyed them. The one on the left (without a roof) is Aden's. The one on the right is Keira's. The top picture is Magic Color Scratch Halloween Shapes. Really fun! The kids are not really into Halloween either, but when it comes to crafts they love doing them. 

Monday- October 3rd

Yes, another Monday, at least it is a good day this time.

We were headed to Keira and Aden's swimming lessons when I saw a butterfly sitting on the front porch and I noticed it wasn't moving when I got closer. I called Keira over because she loves butterflies and always tries to catch them and hold them. Her face lit up when she picked it up and it didn't fly away. It was something out of the ordinary and I love seeing the kids' faces light up when something unexpected happens. One of it's wings was broken. Keira held it for a little bit and it flew from her fingers, she got so excited because she thought she "healed" it by holding it.

It is getting a little easier. It has been a busy couple weeks for us with the Keira's school and the kids' swimming, dance, and art classes. When we are at home it is much easier to potty train Taygen. When we go out in public it is a little harder. She is doing amazing. She has only had 2 accidents this week. One was at the Church day care, which was out of our control and the other was while we were driving, also out of our control. Other than that, she only wears diapers at bed time and at nap time. I will give her a couple more weeks in Pullups and by the end of October, beginning of November she will be in big girl panties!

My routine for potty training Taygen when we leave the house....

1. Take her potty before we leave the house then pack her potty
2. Take her potty as soon as we get to the place (restaurant, school, dance, swimming, etc)
3. Take her potty every 10-15 minutes (depends on how long we are there)
4. Take her potty right before we leave the place
5. Repeat if going somewhere else (Take her potty when we get there and take her potty right before we leave)

Saturday October 1st, we decided to go to Sunken Gardens. It was fun. It was a very nice day, a comfortable 73 outside and not too windy!

The kids loved it! They love to be outside. There were a lot of bees around and Keira seemed to be worried about them stinging us, so she didn't want to go near the flowers that had bees.

Here are a couple pictures from our family adventure. Aden is not a camera person so I had to sneak a couple of him.. Taygen loves getting her picture taken so she just sits still. Keira loves to pose like a "princess."

Keira took this picture!

I'm going to start a weekly post called 'Best Day of the week.' It will be a post about 1 (or many) good things that happen during the week. Since every day with my kids is the best day, I will pick something out of the ordinary that happens.

Sunday, September 25
My pastor (woman) told me that I looked beautiful. My pastor: "Well, you look beautiful today!" Me: "Thanks! As apposed to any other day?" (just joking around). She says, "Well, (kind of speechless) I don't know, today you just look sexy." Made me feel pretty good since I was up at 7:30 a.m and didn't shower, just combed out my hair and got dressed...(When you have 3 kids to get ready before 8:20, then you tend to forget about yourself sometimes.)

I will start a couple new weekly posts. One will be called 'Bad Day of the Week.' And the other will be called 'Best Day of the Week.' I will post these on Saturday mornings, so be watching for them ;).

I will start off by saying that 'the worst day of the week' is not necessarily the worst day, it could be something funny, bad, or just plain sad that happened during that week.

This week, I happen to have 2 things that happened on Monday. Yes, it had to be on Monday. Happy Monday to me, I guess.

Monday-
I was giving Aden and Keira a bath. Aden was in their bathtub, while Keira was in our bathtub. I was in my room doing laundry, so there was laundry sitting on the edge of my bed. I went into the other room to check on Aden. I hear Keira yelling, "mommy", so I walk in to the bathroom (that Keira was taking a bath in) and I see clothes in the bathtub. Taygen had taken some clothes that were on the edge of my bed and threw them in the bathtub with Keira. I just laughed. What else are you supposed to do? I just took the clothes out and rewashed them.

Also Monday...
Taygen is potty training... She had a marker in her hand, I took her up to her potty, sat her down and left the bathroom, not thinking anything about the marker in her hand. I opened the door to get her and she had taken the cap off the marker and written all over her mouth, face, legs, hands, & arms (green, of all colors..why couldn't it have been purple? ) :) Put her back in the bath tub (had a bath earlier that day, before she threw the clothes in the bathtub with Keira).

If this is the worst thing that happens to me during the week, I am grateful!