Toyland

Oh here are bits of Jonah's Christmas program on my phone. One of those trumpet players is him. I think. I'm really proud of him for sticking with the trumpet.



and

Technical Difficulties

Our little angelic looking girls are actually tornadoes of destruction, probably like most children. I've lost count of how many Christmas ornaments they have broken, plus two snow globes, plus my camera, plus our laptop in just the past couple of weeks. The ornaments can be replaced and luckily we will be able to repair our laptop, but my camera is toast. And at the worst time! Kate's birthday and the holidays. Fortunately my mom became the hero of the season by getting me a new camera for Christmas. I didn't get it however until after Kate's birthday and the girls' Christmas program at school so I've had to use my phone.

Our laptop...


Kate's class dressed like angels for the program. I have no idea how they got 12 two year olds to keep those costumes on.


Kate and her class.


My phone was not able to take very good pics at all during the show. It was too dark and far away. I thought I should have asked Phil to borrow his camera. Luckily David got it all on video.

Caroline passing by our pew on the way to the stage.


Kate's class on the stage performing. All the angels came out looking like a blinding white light.


Caroline and Kate in their Christmas dresses given by their Great-Aunt Deb after the program.


The show was so adorable! The teachers and kids did such a great job. I've learned my lesson though. From now on I'm guarding our electronics like Ft. Knox.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Two Years Ago Today on Her Due Date...

Happy Birthday
Kate Noelle!!!!!!!
Our Christmas Angel.

104 Days

A couple of months ago I was driving home when I passed this little Dora kitchen on the curb that someone had tossed. What?! I slammed on the breaks, backed up, and hauled it in. I had thought for a long time that the girls would have a blast with a little plastic kitchen in the backyard for cooking their dirt masterpieces. David and I did give it a good scrubbing to sanitize if from "other people" germs before putting it in the backyard for the girls. Of course they loved it immediately. Now they have an official mud pie and stone soup kitchen. Kids having a great time playing in the backyard is a very, very good thing. How many days until Spring?

Wordless Wednesday

Picky Picky

Jonah and Caroline have been horribly picky eaters. I thought I was doing something wrong until Kate came along. She'll pretty much try anything and loves fruits and vegetables. Jonah was the worst but has gotten somewhat better since entering puberty. I've looked on all kinds of parenting magazines, websites, and books on how to get your picky eater to eat and try more foods. I've tried sneaking fruits and veggies into other food, like mixing a little veggie baby food with marinara sauce. I swear my kids know. It gets really frustrating.

Awhile ago I came across these chopsticks for kids and thought they looked like fun. I always loved eating with chopsticks when I was a kid and still love Asian food. The other night I made fried rice with broccoli and carrots and got out the chopsticks for Caroline and Kate. They both loved them which I expected. What I didn't expect was that Caroline even ate the broccoli and carrots. Score!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Even Kate can do it!

Artsy Fartsy

I love, love, love, when my kids start going to preschool/daycare and bringing home artwork. When Jonah was small I put a bulletin board up in his room to pin up a lot of his art and class work, besides putting it up on the fridge and everywhere else. So now I've done the same thing for the girls. They puff up so proud when I pin up their work and tell them how awesome it is. It's so cute. To me these are masterpieces.

Caroline's & Kate's

T-Day Luncheon

The girls' daycare had a family Thanksgiving lunch today. Jonah's elementary school, Clays Mill, used to also. The food was so much better at the girls' school. Luckily today was David's day off and he was able to go, so I sat with Kate and her class and David sat with Caroline and her class. Kate's teacher told me that they have to seat Kate so that she can see Caroline or she gets really upset, since they have lunch at the same time. Awwwwwww!

Kate and her friend Madison.

Daddy and Caroline.

Caroline and her friends Jordan, Beatrice, and Ava.
We had a wonderful lunch with the girls, even though they got upset when we had to leave.

Wordless Wednesday

Two for One

The girls had a good time trick or treating Sunday. Here's our annual photo of kids in costumes on the front porch with jack o lanterns.I swear Caroline needs an agent.

Jonah passed out candy with his buddies. Too big to trick or treat. I think he may have regretted his decision after he realized he has no candy stash to last him until Christmas.
Earlier that day we had a good-bye pookie ceremony. Caroline has always loved her pacifier, which David nicknamed pookie when she was still a newborn. With Jonah I was a "good" mommy and got rid of the pacifier when he was 18 months. But when Caroline was 18 months, I was expecting Kate and said forget it. Let her have it. So she has. We tried to get rid of it when she turned three but it didn't work out. So we decided to try again on Halloween. I figured she'd be too worn out from the day's activities to miss it much at bed time. It's been three days now and I think this time is for good. Good-bye pookie! And good job Caroline! She's growing up. (Ouch! Small pain in heart of mommy.)

World Famous Equestrian Games

Has anyone heard any word on the success of the Equestrian Games? It seemed like a bunch of overrated hoopla to me. We did see people, or tourists, taking pictures of things like the castle on Versailles Road. But nothing else really. I love Lexington and think it's a great city, so I hope it faired well with the visitors.

Jonah's class was lucky enough to be able to attend the games, like many of the local schools I think. He borrowed my camera for the occasion. I found the pictures he took rather interesting.

An SUV in the middle of a lake. Neat!

A cool car. I guess.

A helicopter!

Oh okay. Here's a horse. Jonah really did go to the Equestrian Games.

Happy Halloween!

This is the first year we didn't make it to an orchard to pick out our pumpkins. It just never worked out. We've had other fun holiday happenings to attend though.

We went trick or treating at the Louisville Zoo with the girls' cuzin' Henry. Caroline decided to be Snow White this year. Kate didn't have her "official" costume yet.The girls pose with Henry in a yellow submarine. I don't know what a submarine has to do with Halloween.

Caroline got to pose with a few of the princesses. Who needs Disney World?!

Move it Supergirl!
On Friday the girls' school had a costume parade and trick or treating. Thankfully I was able to leave clinicals to make it just in the nick of time.

Caroline and her class.
Kate. She loves to wear her big brother's old cowboy boots so she's a cowgirl this year.
The girls together. Jonah's getting too "old" to participate in the Halloween activities this year. I did take him and his best friend to see Devil at the movies. This year he's going to pass out candy instead of trick or treating.

Lemonade Out of Lemons

One of my big concerns about going to nursing school and the girls starting daycare full time has been that they will be sick a lot and I'll have to miss class. My clinical time I really can't miss I have to make it up, and I have no idea when I could make it up with my already crazy schedule. Well Caroline has promised to deliver. Our good friend Jennifer has already come to my rescue twice and has sit with a sick Caroline so I could attend class, including this past Tuesday. Caroline was fine by Wednesday morning so I got her and Kate ready and shuttled them to school. But the daycare informed me that Caroline was not able to attend until she was fever free for at least 24 hrs. Grrrrrrrrrr! So Kate stayed and Caroline and I left.

At first I was going to take Caroline with me to class. But then I just imagined Caroline trying to sit still for 75 minutes. Not going to happen. Luckily I only have one class on Wednesdays, so I decided to skip it. I haven't missed a single class yet, and I can get the notes from one of my nursing friends. We were going to spend some bonding time together. Mommy and Caroline Day! Where should we go? Hmmmmm. Well to the mall of course!

We had lunch and sat at the high lunch counter.

Caroline loved these mannequins with purple hair and insisted I take her picture with them.
We had to hit the Disney store and picked up new shirts for Caroline and Kate.
After the mall we stopped by Barnes and Noble where they were having a scarecrow display. Caroline wasn't crying. I think the sun was in here eyes.
I hated missing class but I really enjoyed my day with Caroline. I tried to talk her into getting her ears pierced and came really close. Maybe next Mommy and Caroline Day.

Groovin'

Sometimes I think Caroline steals the show around here. Well Kate's personality is really starting to come out more and more, as you can see in the following video. Please ignore my annoying laugh. I just think it's so hilarious that she takes it all the way to the floor. Where did she learn that?! I don't remember that episode of Dora.

Wordless Wednesday

Timone

Caroline's preschool class has a pet monkey named Timone. Every weekend one of the students get's a turn to take Timone home. The student and his/her parents fill out a page of Timone's journal sharing with the class of how Timone spent his weekend. They can also include pictures. Here are some snapshots of Timone and our weekend together.

Shopping for shoes at Target.

Reading books with Daddy.

Bedtime snuggles with Caroline.
We can't wait to see you again Timone!

Wordless Wednesday

Last Week

David's birthday was this past Monday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID!!!! Can you believe next year he'll be celebrating the big 4-0?


Our five year anniversary was yesterday. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!!! Wow time flies!

I can't even begin to put into words how much I love and appreciate my amazing husband. I know, I know. I complain about little things like how much sports he watches or leaving little hairs in the sink or leaving his dirty socks in the middle of the floor but I am very aware that these are LITTLE things. David is a wonderful father and an amazing husband. I am extremely fortunate to have him in my life.

Wordless Wednesday