Pre-Christmas Vacation

We were so blessed to be able to spend a vacation with all of my side of the family in Kauai. It was paradise! Since John and I had gone to Hawaii last year we decided to make this trip all about the kids and very relaxed. We were there for 8 days and swam, saw a lot of waterfalls, saw the "grand canyon of the pacific," saw a blow hole, went on a "jungle hike," tasted fresh coconut (which they decided they'd never do again), visited a Hindu monastery (okay, so that wasn't kid-centered but how often do you get to do that!), climbed a really big tree, ate shave ice, got family pictures (thanks April!), and everything was more fun because we were with family! My parents made this possible and so THANK YOU again!

(Pictures in no particular order)

Ashley and Savanna at a Hindu statue thing (cool tree behind it too)

After John, we buried Lexi and then Kaytlin

Lunchtime at the beach=happy baby. My job was to keep her from eating the sand. Crazy kid!

100% Dad

I just thought this was pretty

Pretty much watch out or you die on this trail

Right. Hot tub in Hawaii, that makes total sense. :) The pools there were awesome by the way. Check out the waterfall into the pool in the background


More pictures added on facebook

Thoughtful gift

We were talking about ideas for making Christmas more about Christ and about the idea of giving a gift back to Christ.

Kaytlin piped up and said:

"I know what present to get for Jesus - bandaids!"

Me: "Why bandaids?"

"To put on the owies on his hands."

Isn't that so sweet?

I love desserts!

I found the best pie dough recipe! I had to test it out so one night I made two mini pies with my usual recipe and the new one. The new one was easier to handle and tasted better. What? Extra ingredients? How about some mini pies to be frozen and baked another day? Heck yeah! Thank you pinterest!

Recital

We had our Christmas Piano recital the end of November. (Yeah, a little early, but it was the only time us and all the parents would be in town before Christmas Eve.) The kids did great! I teach 5 beginners, John teaches 2 early-advanced students, so between us we had a good little group. We did it in the Primary room at the church and had treats afterwards. This sweet girl and I did a duet, everyone else did a solo, then we had a brother/sister duet and a mother/son duet too. I had fun getting ready for this and am already planning on what to do for a Spring Recital.Saw both of these ideas on Pinterest (I'm obsessed - I'll admit it!)

I had to sneak a picture of the edible keyboard before the kids finished it off.
John helped me make these for each of the students. They turned out pretty good too.

Yay for music!

Pictures from July

When the girls and I were on vacation this summer my sister took some pictures. I was uploading pictures onto shutterfly and couldn't believe I never shared these. My camera doesn't take good pictures when there's movement going on so it's nice to have some happy pictures of Addie that aren't all blurry. Enjoy!

Some of these haven't been edited so hopefully you don't mind April!

To check out my sister's photography go to:

aprylmayphotography.com

Yes, I know I look terrible here and no, I'm not biting her. This is how I got her to laugh.

Costume Party!

Our friend had a carnival-themed party last night that was super fun! We've been looking forward to this for a while. My friend Jaylyn put it all together for her husband's (the clown) birthday and then kept it up today so we could have our kids come play. Jeremy (the clown) even dressed back up for the kids. We ordered John's costume and I made mine. The pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy!

What? November already?

Time is going by so fast! I can't believe October is already over! Here's some pictures from last month.

I had a birthday and John completely surprised me - he built us a bed! I don't know which is a bigger deal, him building it from scratch or keeping it a secret until my birthday. :)

(Apparently my surprise face is pretty dorky-looking...)
Ta-da! He wanted me to pick the paint/stain, so I'll post when it's completely done.


Kaytlin still fit in the duck costume she wore last year and really wanted to wear it again. I was definitely okay with that! And if you can't tell, Lexi's a witch (On clearance last year for less than $1) and Addie wore the same costume the other girls did at that age. Oh, and John is super husband/daddy as always! :)

The runt :)

This picture seems random but it's the most recent one I have of her.

I can’t believe how much Addison has grown up! She’s pretty much sitting up on her own now. Her two bottom teeth have come in too. We’re still waiting for her to figure out rolling though. She loves being on her tummy and has rolled both ways, but I don’t think she knows how to do it on purpose. She has an appointment later this month so I don’t think I’m going to worry until I talk to her doctor. I'm calling her the runt because she's so small for her age - 6 months and 12 lbs 7 oz, which is below the charts!

Addie has definitely found her voice – holy cow can that girl make noise! She’ll sometimes babble, but what she loves is this squawking squealing sound. It’s hilarious! We’ll be sitting at church and randomly she’ll squeal all long and loud. During piano lessons (if she’s not napping) she likes to “sing along.” Thankfully my students have several siblings and are used to noise in the background.

Even though she hasn’t rolled she can get around. She scoots backwards and rotates around when on the ground. I’ll leave the room for a minute and come back to find her under the love seat (just her head poking out) or on the hard floor in the dining room.

Love that kid!

ps-I have a post lower of Lexi too

Katy-linny

(Old jeans turned racetrack, idea stolen from pinterest.)

Kaytlin has been really interested in the days of the week. Usually the first thing she says every morning is "What day is it today?" followed by "What day is it tomorrow?" and so on. She's also wanting to learn how to write letters and her name so we work on that.

She has an active imagination – she can create whole scenes and sticks with them for days. Lately her favorite thing to play at home is “beach.” She gets her favorite animals dressed in swimming suits, packs a bag, we drive there together (and we can’t forget to buckle up), shower, get pretend swimming suits and goggles, sometimes change into mermaids, etc etc.

She's my good little helper who always seems to have a happy attitude.

Hair cuts

I got a haircut and then gave one to John. I thought it turned out pretty good and decided to ride that confidence and gave Lexi a haircut. Kaytlin was feeling left out so I cut her hair (only like 2 real snips but she doesn't know that) and while I was at it I cut 4 super long hairs of Addies' that were sticking up.One of these days I'll update our family picture at the top of the blog......

Lexi-lou

Lexi was talking with Kaytlin the other day and I overheard her talking about her "boyfriend" at school. ?!?! And so it begins....

She loves to chase him around at recess and joke around with him in class. I'm just glad I know him and his mom and Lexi's (barely) willing to talk about it with me. She now knows and agrees that she shouldn't kiss until she's 16, although the boys at school tease her that that's was too old.

Lexi is loving kindergarten! She has a fantastic teacher and is learning a ton! I'm still a little shocked that kindergarteners have homework everyday, but thankfully it' s not anything difficult or time consuming (examples: "name 10 things in your classroom" or "say the sounds for the letters A-M" or a paper that she practices writing a number or letter).

We call Lexi the baby charmer. She can just walk by and Addie will suddenly smile. If Lexi talks or smiles at her she can hardly contain herself.

I caught the girls creating a TP tower when they were supposed to be doing their Saturday jobs (Kaytlin's job is refilling the extra TP in the bathrooms).

It got me thinking - can you imagine how fun it would be to make a wall or house out of toilet paper? And knocking it over? Unfortunately I'm not that fun of a mom and couldn't handle the mess of it, but it does sound fun...

Sweet potatoes and more

Gummy smile!

Goofy before school. A very rainy day (Hence the raincoat). She's official - all day kindergarten! She's loving it! Only downside in her mind is that she has to leave her baby sister at home. :)

I've been making homemade baby food. Sweet potatoes cooked, mashed and frozen in ice trays. 2 cubes makes a serving.
Addie had an allergic reaction to Gerber baby food bananas (I think) on Saturday. The sides of her head and face suddenly got really red and her eyes got all puffy. Twenty minutes after I stopped feeding her it all went away thankfully.