Celebrations

We have had a very exciting last couple of weeks- Easter, Kael's birthday, my birthday were all within a week of each other this year. So we've been keeping busy with all of that. Easter was so fun- this was one of the first years that Kael has really gotten the idea of the Easter Bunny thing so naturally that made Kylee excited, too. We went to the mall and saw the Easter Bunny, went to the Ankeny Easter Egg Hunt, and the Easter Bunny came to our house. The kids were so excited about the Easter Bunny coming to our house they opened the first egg they found and started eating the candy out of it. Kent and I were like, "But there are more eggs! Go pick them up and put them in your baskets!!!". No deal. They were insistent on eating the candy as they found it. I later asked them what their favorite thing the Easter Bunny brought was and out of all the toys, books, and candy, Kael's favorite was a red starburst and Kylee's was a bouncy ball. Ahhh if they could only be this easy to please forever!

The day after Easter was Kael's birthday. 4 years old, can you believe it? I sure can't. I feel like I blinked and he grew up. Kael and Kylee are so sweet and still so innocent; I wish I could just freeze time. I know there are so many great moments ahead of us but if these years could just last a little bit longer I wouldn't complain at all. Anyways, we had a great time celebrating his birthday. 4 is a fun age. They're old enough to get really excited about their birthday, but not old enough that they only want to hang out with friends. We are so lucky to have grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, and uncles who live close and who want to celebrate the kids birthdays. So we did quite a few little family celebrations. Here's Kael with his requested chocolate strawberry birthday cake. (I actually didn't burn it or anything!!! Even Kent was marginally impressed.) I think Kael's favorite part of his birthday was when eveyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

Above is Kael enjoying (simultaneously) some of his birthday presents. When Kael opened up his rollerskates, Kylee looked me right in the eyes and said, "Mom, where are pink rollerskates for me?" Ahh that's my Kylee.

After all the birthday craziness, we decided on one last celebration at Adventureland Inn. Kent used to work there so we got quite a discount. And it was really nice because there is a pool with zero depth entry so Kylee really had fun playing too. Kael absolutely loved all the waterslides and was so proud of himself when he realized he's tall enough to jump in the pool all by himself and reach the bottom! We had so much fun.

Each year I get less and less excited about my birthday. And not because I'm getting older; it's just so much more fun to play a child's birthday party than my own! But I was not forgotten. My favorite part was when the kids and Kent took me out breakfast. Actually, Kylee had gotten up early so Kent let me stay in bed and was just going to take her with him to pick breakfast up but Kael woke up while they were getting ready to go. So Kael wanted to go along. Then Kael looks at me and said, "Mom aren't you going to come?" so we all ended up at Daylight Donuts in our jammies. Such fun memories. I got lots of wonderful presents- here is a picture of me in my new Italian apron. Yes, I said Italian. As in, straight from Italy! Mom, Dad and Tam picked that up for me when they were there. If you can't tell, I'm super excited!

Clearly I should do this blogging thing more often because this one has gotten way too long! I will close with a couple more pictures of the kids. First if of Kylee in her little pigtails trying to ride a scooter. She also is growing up way too fast. She looks so grown up in this picture! Next is of Kael on a preschool field trip to the farm where he got to ride a horse. Yes all 24 kids in his class took turns riding a horse and every last one of them loved it. Including Kael, as you can see by his huge smile.

Spring Break

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything new; our computer has been having some issues and I've just been busy enjoying some free time with the kids! I have the best job in the world...

What's not to love about Spring Break? Warmer weather, a week off from watching all my extra kiddos, and basically just free time to lounge around home! This time change has been awesome for the kids- and that in combination with hours of fresh air and playing outside, Kael and Kylee have been sleeping so much. We're talking 12+ hours a night. Which means I get to sleep in! Over Spring Break we went to Chuck E. Cheese (wow- I would post some pictures of this but we are talking major sensory overload for me and the kids. Remind me again why we loved this place so much when we were little?!), The Recess, library, Grandmas' houses, etc. Kent also got me some new wheels for my rollerblades so we spent a lot of time walking/blading/biking to parks around our house. I'm so thankful he fixed them for me- Kael is getting way too fast on his bike for me to keep up with him by just walking!

Here is Kael riding his John Deere tractor around the neighborhood. This was far and away the best gift we've ever given him. I bet he has put a thousand miles on that thing! The way he can maneuver it (in forward and reverse) simply boggles the mind. And you guessed it. He's rockin' the Spidey sunglasses.

If you ask Kylee what her name is she says, "Kylee Kay Kay!!!" with a huge smile. She continues to impress everyone with not only her ability to speak, but far more important and impressive, her ability to speak her mind.

This one's for Andrea. Here is how I get through most days. A good couple cups of strong, black coffee. Usually enjoyed while sitting outside watching the kids play. OK, who am I kidding, I need no help getting through the day. But I really love coffee.

Kent and Kael have been so anxious to go fishing but so far it has just been too windy or cold. But we were at my parents' house the other day and my dad hooked up a rubber duck to a fishing pole and let Kael catch it. Kael thought this was great- stomping around in Grandpa's creek catching things and getting all muddy. Such simple pleasures for a 3 year old.

And, as you guessed, Kylee is not going to be left out of any fun. Naturally she's dressed nearly head-to-toe in pink and hardly a bit of mud on her. My little girly-girl for sure. She continues to be scared of both ladybugs and squirrels. So much so that if we see a squirrel while we're on a walk we actually have to turn around and go the other way. Kylee says, "Squirrel too fast; I scared!"

Kael's 4th birthday is coming up soon so I'm sure I will be posting pictures of that. Hope everyone is enjoying the warmer weather!

Winter fun

One of our favorite ways to pass the time during these long winter months is to have a dance party so I thought I'd share some photos. Kael absolutely loves it. His current favorite songs are "Just Dance" and "Eye of the Tiger". Yeah, we're introducing him to some real classics. For those of you who know how well Kent and I dance will be glad to hear that Kael is acutally pretty good! He has a specific move he calls the "Funkadilly". I couldn't capture that one on film but here they are dancing.

Kent and Kael after a pretty intense dance session.

Kael's sharing some ice cream with me- what a sweetie!

Since it was so nice out on Saturday, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take the kids sledding! They had so much fun- Kael went down the hill quite a few times, then we pulled both of them around on the ice. We were out for quite awhile until Kael finally said, "Mom my hands are cold! I need hot chocolate!" Kylee just loved being pulled in the sled and anytime we stopped she just looked up at us, smiled and said, "Again!". Kael and Kylee are really starting to have fun playing together. Kylee loves to do whatever Kael is doing and he tolerates that pretty well.

My little pink marshmallow, Kylee! And yes, those are Disney princess boots.

Even though the groundhog saw his shadow today, we are anxiously awaiting spring! Every day we drive by the pool and Kael says, "Mom I can't wait until it's warm out so we can..." and Kylee immediately chimes in, "Swimmin'!!! Swimmin'!!!"

The Blogging Begins

I've been going back and forth about the whole blogging thing. I have plenty of cute pictures and stories of the kids, but not much free time to write/post them. Also, I am not so capable with technological things, but with Tammy in Spain, I figured if I'm ever going to start one, now would be the time! So...our story begins...

Here are the top 3 things I am happy about right now:

1- Kylee's first real ponytail! Today I successfully put her hair in the cutest ponytail, complete with pink clippy- and an even bigger success was that she left it in most of the day! She also wanted me to paint her fingernails and toenails- sparkly pink, of course. Then later she was walking around in her pink Barbie sunglasses. Too cute. Every mother should have the joy of having a daughter.
2- Sledding in the backyard with Kael. We have a little bit of a slope in our backyard today and since a heat wave of 40 degrees hit Central Iowa today, we were not going to pass up the opportunity to be outside to sled down it! He is just so happy when he can be outside. He also wanted to go down the slide of his swingset- his snowpants were all wet and the slide itself was a little bit icy...I have never seen a little kid go down a slide faster than he did today!
3- Dollar Spaghetti Night at Hy-Vee. See Tam, don't you wish you were in Iowa?! Just kidding. But the kids LOVE spaghetti, so it was a good excuse to get out of the house. (although when I made it the other day at home, Kylee insisted on feeding it to herself, and also insisted on ripping her bib off, and sitting in a "big girl" chair which means there was no child tray to catch all the stuff she dropped. She was such a mess- I found a spaghetti trail all around the house for the rest of the afternoon!)

Here is a picture of the Barbie glasses I was talking about!