My favorite things

1. I am watching Parenthood right now and am not sure words can express how much I love this show! The kid in the show, Max, totally reminds me of Kael. Speaking of Kael, today I volunteered in his classroom and his real teacher had to step out of the room for a few minutes so I was reading a book to all the kids. Kael raised his hand and said, "Mom wouldn't it be cool if you were really my teacher sometime?" Aww.

2. My slipper booties. I get a pair or two for Christmas every year and I love, love, LOVE them so much. A freezing cold day like today makes me love them even more! I live in them.

3. The Pampered Chef Mix and Chop. This tool is seriously amazing and I wish I would have had one years ago! Literally grounds hamburger in minutes.

4. This snowman that Kael and Kylee built on Monday. Kael practically did all the rolling and constructing himself and Kylee added the face and hat. The wet snow made for a perfect snowman!

5. We visited Kevin this past weekend and saw his Lo-Ma girls basketball team beat Riverside! The kids had so much fun- Kevin had asked if the kids would stand on the floor with him during the National Anthem and I wasn't sure if they were going to do it but they did! The Jordans on their feet are courtesy of Uncle Kevin and Uncle Kyle. The fact that Kevin and Kyle give the kids Jordans for every birthday and Christmas absolutely lands on my favorite things list. Kylee wanted me to cuff her skinny jeans to showcase the shoes a little bit better.

I'm back!

I promised myself that when I started blogging a couple years ago I would not become one of those millions of people out there who have abandoned their blogs. People have been giving me a hard time about updating it, assuming I have gotten too busy or forgotten about it.

One of my last posts was that we were happy to announce we were expecting our third child. The following sentence has evidently taken me over a year to put together and publish: we lost the baby February 1. My heart goes out to anyone who has ever gone through a miscarriage because not a day goes by that I don't think about it.


Moving forward...

I'm not usually a resolution person. I can't remember the last time I even made a New Year's resolution but this year I have made an honest effort to be more, um, techie? Is that how you even spell it? We got a new laptop; Kent surprised me at Christmas with a new camera; and I, get ready for it, have even FINALLY joined the Facebook revolution. So, I figured if I'm going to be all technology-savvy I might as well update the blog.

Here's a quick update on the fam. (Let's get real- it's probably not going to be quick so if you're out there looking to kill time at work today, it's your lucky day! I'll fill your time with stories of the kids....)

Kent started working downtown with Ruan last March as their Liability Claims Adjuster. He really has loved this change and has also been studying for his Associate in Claims certification which is a series of four tests and he has already passed the first one!

Kael is in kindergartgen. Even as I type those words they seem unreal. Not only is he in kindergarten but he's halfway done! Ahh! He continues to amaze me every day with things he has learned and maybe just as amazing are some of the phrases he has picked up from some kids on the playground. Kindergarten boy humor is not always mom-approved.

Kylee is in preschool and continues to be a big helper to me around the house during the day. She could totally run the show if I wasn't here. She has really taken hold of an "I'm always right" attitude but the truth is that more often than not, she is. :) The world needs leaders I guess!
Currently she is doing a tumbling class that is so fun. We did a dance class a couple months ago that she seemed to also enjoy but I think tumbling is much more her pace.

I continue my fourth year of babysitting and can't believe how grown up all my kids are getting. Just the other day one of the girls I watch asked me if I wanted her cell phone number because "Miss Laura I have your number in my cell so you might as well have mine, right?" I love it. I absolutely love it.

Kent and I are headed to the Florida Keys later this week. We are really looking forward to an adult getaway and the kids are equally excited about sleepovers at Grandmas and Grandpas houses!

In other news, my sister Mandy is expecting (a girl!) and is due in early May. I am so excited to be an aunt!

Most of the recent pictures I have are of Christmas so I'll post just one picture from today. All the rain made for perfect snowman weather!

Rock stars don't sit in timeout

Kael has been really into playing his guitar(s) lately. We'll turn some music videos on and he loves to watch himself rock out in the mirror. Out of the blue the other day he said to me, "Hey Mom, I can't live without you." And I'm thinking, "Aww, I can't live without you either buddy". Then he proceeds, "Maybe it's truuuueee, I can't live without yoooouuuu, I'm thinking twoooo is better than one....." So maybe we've been hitting the Boys Like Girls videos a little hard. :)

Last night Kael and Kylee were arguing about the pronunciation of the word volleyball. Kylee says "bolleyball" (even though she knows that's not right- in true second child style, she just says it to upset Kael, which usually works). Kael keeps correcting her saying, "Kylee it's "VOLLEYball". She refuses to give in so finally Kael bonks her on the head. Of course, he gets sent to a timeout. After a minute or two Kael peeks his head around the corner, clearly annoyed at the whole situation and says, "Dad, rock stars don't sit in timeout!"

Happy New Year!

We hope 2010 finds all of you happy and healthy. We had a good Thanksgiving, a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year! We are very blessed to have so much family that lives so close and this year we celebrated 7 different Christmases! It sounds crazy and busy I know, but it was so much fun. However, I will pass on the lengthy play-by-play on all 7 of them and let the photos show what a wonderful time we had!


Kael was excited to see Santa this year. Kylee was a little unsure but once Santa asked her about her pretty shoes she realized that this guy must be at least somewhat knowledgable and she agreed to sit on his lap. (I couldn't get a good picture of that though...)

Ankeny has an event uptown every year where you can go see Mrs. Claus, go on a treasure hunt and ride the horse-drawn carriage. We waited in line quite awhile in the chilly weather so Kent and Kael headed home but Kylee and I stuck around for the carriage ride. She loved it!

Kylee has the Christmas spirit in the picture!

Kael too. :) He had a pajama day at preschool and he wore his Santa jammies and a Santa hat the whole time. When I went to pick him up they had just gotten out of the gym and Kael ran up to me and said, "Mom, I'm sweaty!!!" Turns out he had even kept his Santa hat on during gym time- no wonder he was so hot!


Kael's preschool has a really cute Christmas program every year and I was so happy with how he did. It never ceases to amaze me how those teachers get nearly twenty 4-year olds to stand up in front of a crowd, and not only sing but remember all the words and actions all the while keeping hands to themselves and smiles on their faces!

After the program Santa always comes. Kael was very concerned about where Santa had parked his sleigh as the parking lot was quite full from all the extra visitors who had come to watch the program. Kids are so innocent. Kylee wanted nothing to do with this Santa so when we finally got to the front of the line Santa told me just to sit down too. And I did.



This is a picture from Christmas at my Grandma's house. Kylee opens her presents so slowly, so patiently. Kael, however, was so excited about presents this year I don't think he even saw what was in half of them before he had moved onto opening the next present!



This is a picture of the kids all dressed up for Christmas church.

Kael was so excited about the drums Santa brought him!!! And Kylee was equally excited about her Disney Princess vanity/piano set. (She might also be equally excited about the apple she found in her stocking. :)





Kael was such a good helper passing out presents this year. And yes he's wearing his new crocodile slippers from Santa.



At my grandma and grandpa's house there were a couple new babies there this year. Kylee was so sweet with Clara and just wanted to lay beside her and watch her.

My kids usually don't love taking pictures and it is quite a feat to get them to look at the camera and nearly impossible to get them to smile and keep their eyes open at the same time, so you can imagine how pleased I am with this picture of all of us on my side of the family.

Here's Kylee in her new pink Jordans which she got from Kent's brothers. Later she referred to them as her "dancing shoes". :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. We are very excited to share that we will be welcoming a new addition to our family in August of this year! The due date is August 7 and Kylee's birthday is August 9 so they will be almost exactly 3 years apart. Happy 2010!

Halloween

As promised, here are some pictures of the in their Halloween costumes. Even though Kael had mentioned he wanted to be a pumpkin, he seemed to like his Viking football costume just fine. Kylee's cheerleading costume was a little short (she has such long legs for a two year old!) and Kent told me several times that in the future our daughter will not be allowed to leave the house in a skirt that short. Can't wait for the teenage years, ha!

Last Sunday we took the kids up to the Ledges in Boone. I was so impressed by how much they wanted to "hike". They were just climbing all over- of course, Kylee wanted to do it "all by herself". Kael wanted to make his own path so he and Kent climbed up pretty high. I only watched long enough to snap a picture- it definitely made me nervous seeing them up that high! We had taken Kent's car up to the Ledges instead of our van, so now the kids call Kent's car the "adventure car" and anytime they want to go somewhere fun they insist on taking Kent's car.

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

It seems that I start every blog with these words but it's so true! Time has been absolutely flying by lately and I can't believe it's been nearly two months since I've posted anything! Maybe my New Year's resolution can be to blog more often...

Kael started preschool in September at the same school he went to last year and seems to be enjoying it. He goes there 3 days a week and last week he started a new school 2 days a week so now he is gone at school every day from 12:00-2:30. It's crazy to me that I have a preschooler- especially one that is gone every day! He is so grown up. Funny story about when he started school- when I picked him up the first days of school I would ask him if he'd met some new friends and asked who he played with and several times he responded, "Mom, I played with no one at school." Naturally, as a mother my heart just broke. But I thought, it's ok, surely he is playing with someone, right? So I'd ask him again and he'd say, "Today I played with no one." I was nearly in tears when I finally asked the teacher one day if Kael ever played with any of the kids and she said, "Oh yeah, especially Nolen- they play trucks together every day!" Turns out Kael had been playing with "No-len" not "no-one". He honestly thought this kid's name was No one. It is adorable how innocently funny little kids are. However, I'm almost ashamed to admit just how very excited I was to hear that Kael did, in fact, have friends at school.

Kylee has been doing great too. We moved her into a big girl bed a couple weeks ago which she seems to like. She transitioned much easier than I thought because she looooved her crib but (besides having a little cold) has been sleeping all night in her big bed! What else can I say about Kylee? She truly leaves me speechless sometimes which I suppose is good because with as much as she talks I wouldn't have time to say anything anyways! One of the boys I babysit who is almost 3 can't quite say Kylee (it is quite a mouthful for little kids...) and it comes out sounding like Dotty. Without a moment's hesitation she declares, "It's KY-LEE, not Dotty!" She's not trying to be mean, just honest.

Kent and I went to St. Louis a couple weekends ago so the kids had an extended sleepover at my parents- 3 nights! I know it doesn't sound like that long but I'm pretty sure it was the longest we've left them anywhere without us! They had so much fun and we did too. Kent's cousin Ben works with the St. Louis Rams so we went to the game. There was so much going on in St. Louis that weekend- the Cardinals were in town, Rams (obviously) had a home game and there was a big Oktoberfest thing going on. Kent and I had so much fun living the big city life for a weekend but after a few days away from the kids and plenty of time spent in traffic and parking ramps we were happy to come back home sweet home. We also had fun this last weekend celebrating birthdays- my sister, Kent's dad and brother. For Mandy's we went out to Bass Pro shop which was so much fun and for Kent's family they came here to watch the Hawkeye game on Saturday night. Everyone was so nervous all game but when the Hawks finally pulled it off you would not believe the uproar at our house! I couldn't believe the kids slept through it. Kent is truly in heaven- his Hawks off to an 8-0 start! He couldn't be happier.

Halloween is right around the corner and, as always, I have put off the kids costumes. Kael has been telling me he wants to be a pumpkin which sounds easy, right? It's just that my mother-in-law had gotten him a Vikings football outfit this summer and my mom had given Kylee a Vikings cheerleader costume this summer too so I was thinking that would be perfect- how cute would they be as football player and cheerleader?! And super easy since I am creatively challenged. But Kael is sticking to his guns on this pumpkin thing....stay tuned for Halloween pictures and you'll find out who wins this battle. :)

Here is Kael riding his new jeep. I remember thinking when I grew up how cool power wheels were. Then as a new parent several years ago I remember finding out how pricey they are. This one is a garage sale find but for me these things are priceless. Kael has spent countless hours on his jeep and tractor and is just so darn happy driving around our yard!

Here's Kylee who couldn't be happier about the cookie and the amount of frosting on it (that ended up all over her face)

Here we are in Pella visiting Aunt Tammy for Homecoming. Kael thinks it's pretty funny that bikes get thrown in that pond during the infamous Lemming Race. Funny unless it's your bike I guess.

I will continue posting pictures of Kylee in her Hawkeye "pretty" mostly because I think it's cute. :) I have said it before and I will say it again, every mother should have a little girl!!!

Kael loves riding Grandpa's tractor.

Kael loved his green party hat for Aunt Mandy's birthday. Kylee loved the cupcake she "helped" Aunt Mandy eat.

Have you ever seen 3 girls that look so much alike (but are all soooo different?!)

Kylee's birthday

I'm willing to bet there has never been an (almost) two year old so excited for her birthday as Kylee was. She has been telling people about her birthday pretty much since she's been able to talk. Everywhere we went she would tell people, "I'm gonna be two on my August 9!" Not only is she making sure that everyone is aware of her birthday, but she's also going to go ahead and take complete ownership of August 9. I hope I love her assertiveness as much in future years as I do now. She is so fun- developing such a personality and so capable...of anything really. From carrying on a full conversation with me to keeping all the kids around here in line she is absolutely my little helper. One of my friends commented the other day, "She's really just like a miniature teenager, isn't she?!"

When Kylee woke up on her birthday, Kent and I went into her room to get her and tell her Happy Birthday and she looked up at us, smiled so sweetly with sleepy eyes and said, "Thank you so much!" We took her downstairs where we had set up her Disney Princess tent in the playroom. She was sooo excited. She and Kael played "camping" for quite awhile and anyone who came over in the next few weeks got asked, "Wanna come downstairs and see my new birthday tent?" Kael really wanted to "help" Kylee open the rest of her presents and she was happy to let him. That afternoon all the family came over for her party. She was in such a great mood partly because she had just woken up from a nap, but mostly because she was happy to have a party dress on. Kael helped her open most of the presents (everyone has Kylee pretty well figured out- I think everything she got was either pink or sparkly!) then it was time for cake. So here's the story on the cake: Tammy and I had attempted to make this pink purse cake I had found online. Oh brother. Thank goodness Tam was around to help because I would have thrown the cake out the window. She drove all around town for me to find a giant tootsie roll for the purse handle. Then when we went to decorate it, it just kept tipping over and it was so humid that day that the frosting was literally sliding right off the cake...finally we got it figured out and I have to admit it turned out pretty good. If teaching doesn't work out Tam, I think you could definitely have a future in fancy cakes. Most importantly, Kylee seemed to really like the cake. She said, "It's got a "K" for me!"

Shortly after Kylee's birthday we went to the State Fair. Here are a couple pictures from that. The first one is of Kent and Kylee climbing in the tractors.

Wow. The following picture needs so much explanation that I'm not sure where to start. As we were leaving the fair, Kael heard music and was drawn in. He is shirtless because he'd spilled nearly a full bottle of water down his shirt much earlier in the evening. Yes, we let him walk around the fair without a shirt. He fit right in and probably added a little something to the "people-watching" element of the fair. He's so happy to be rockin' out here that he couldn't care less about his shirtlessness. Kylee, however, is not quite sure of the guy next to her who's trying to get her to clap along with him. I am in the background trying desperately not to laugh at the whole situation.

On a final note, here are a few family pictures we got taken recently (right in time for football season!). Go Hawks!