More, more, more to say!

Books have been read to talk about. I've seen many awesome movies (and some not so awesome) I want to talk about.

Kyla turned 18 months! Yay! Not only is she 18 months, she is a talker, a walker and a great helper and cleaner-upper! We have her stats and many more pictures to share....and her rate at daycare went down! Yes!

Keifer qualified for Sensory Integration therapy. She is a brilliant child, but she has some "issues" that make her more erratic and unpredictable at times that we don't need her freaking out about. Like, nonstop talking, a hard time with transitions out of the routine, etc. etc. etc. More on this, soon.

We did Thanksgiving up in Grand Forks with CJ's parents and had an amazing 3 full days of family and winter wonderland.

CJ and I celebrated out 7 year anniversary! Seriously: 7 years? Gone in a flash! I can't believe it's already been that long.

I'm loving Glee and Parenthood (best show EVER!), as usual, and Keifer has developed a love for Glee's musical numbers. In fact, I accidentally let her see the season finale from last year, the Quinn birth scene, and she loves to watch "the baby come from her mommy's tummy" (and no, there is no visual of that). She just loves the "Extreme drama" of the scene plus Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody being sung at the same time. Drama/sensory girl! She now wants to be 1) a teacher like Mama and 2) a nurse to help ladies have babies come out of the tummies!

Keifer also told me yesterday that she has a husband, named "Tee dee" or something to that effect.

And she is sleeping in our bed, every night, to our dismay. BUT, it helps her go to sleep and we're dealing with it.

Kyla has fluid in her ears and I"m sure she's on her way to her 8th ear infection. She has an appointment with the ENT on December 30. I'm pretty sure her hearing is not up to par. She seems to hear us, but her speech is "garbled" - there isn't really much articulation to it, it's like she underwater talking. And when I told Keifer to "look in the mirror", Kyla grabbed her EARS (get it? Mirror and EARS?).

More soon -pictures and stories, I have lists of things to tell you all about.......

And we are so excited that Santa is coming!

Keifer wants to tell him she wants a cash register, a guitar and a microphone. Oh, and a cash register for Kyla, too, so she doesn't bug Keifer when she has HER new one. So thoughtful, huh?

Don't get any grass in your hair!

Reading "Daddy is a Doodlebug" to herself before leaving for daycare for the day. Our girl's latest accomplishment is reading out loud to herself many times a day. It is so heartwarming.

Keifer Lynn told me today, while brushing and combing her Barbie's hair, that it was all tangled and full of grass.
I asked her if her Barbie had slept outside and had a camp-out.
"no, she has to sleep outside because she doesn't have a house", she told me and continued combing the tangled hair.
Well, do you think maybe Mom and Dad should be generous and get their girls' a house big enough for their Barbie dolls?
And sweetly enough, Keifer has never requested anything from us for a gift- she doesn't really "get" that you can wish for a present, or ask Santa for one, so her innocent and matter-of-fact delivery to me of Barbie's homelessness was just so cute to me.

Oh, how the bear gets me talking!

OMG, is all I can say about this video !! If you want to laugh, and giggle, and just plain old have FUN, watch this video.Kyla has NEVER in her life talked to us this much. EVER. The girl went just plain NUTSO last Sunday, when we showed her the movie "Corduroy" - based on the book of the same name. We know she enjoys bears, but if you could've seen the expression on her face in the first few seconds of this movie, your heart would've melted!!!Enjoy- and enjoy big sissy so in tune with her baby sis. She just is so proud of her as well!If you want to see more of the chatter, we have 2 more clips to show you HERE. ENJOY!


OM
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First snow

This past weekend, it snowed here in MN! SNOW! GLORIOUS SNOW!!! Keifer was beyond excited! She looked out the window first thing that AM, and practically peed her pants with joy! (No, not really, but to say she was excited is an understatement).

That AM, we had a dentist appointment (#2 for Keifer! YAY FOR MY BIG GIRL!). Mama fought the nasty weather and awful roads to get to her appointment, luckily in one piece. After that, K1 had her weekly AB3's dance class, and on the way home from that, I promised her once we got home and ate lunch, she could FINALLY go outside to play!

And play she did! Her daddy got bundled up with her, and took her out to explore the WET, deep snow!

Our girl was a bit nervous on the BIG hills near our house, so they stuck to sliding on the "little" hill

Walking in a winter wonderland

Sick sissy and the fur siblings watch with jealousy

Making their very first snow man together!

Or, I should say, Daddy made the snowman!

Afterwards, Keifer told both sets of Papa's and Nana's that she made them ALL a snowman! How sweet is that! Poor snowman, though, his baby carrot nose fell off and got gobbled up by Sager and Treble has done his pee pee business on there more than once. What a snowy life!

All dressed up, but......

Nowhere to go! We had our first major snowfall of the MN winter season this past weekend. CJ found our big bin of hats, mittens, scarves, etc., and drug it upstairs. Keifer pounced on it, so excited to be going out into the wet white stuff! She wanted to go outside first thing that morning, when she woke up and we pulled the shades up to look outside!

But poor Kyla. Kyla spent the night before throwing up for 2 hours in the middle of the night (for the first time in her 17 1/2 months), blah. Although my girl was not feeling well, in typical Kyla fashion she found time to smile (as usual) and dance to her musical toys. When she saw Keifer getting dressed to go outside, she naturally thought SHE should be getting dressed to go out as well. She brought me this hat to put on her small, practically-hairless head, and insisted on trying to pull her own mittens on.

Then, in (again) typical Kyla fashion, my little sweet pea brought Keifer her socks from the couch and tried her hardest to put them on her big sissy's feet! *my heart* She kept saying, "socks, socks" in her little voice, and I finally had to intervene and help instead of her.
We had to then break little Kyla's heart, when sissy went out into the snow with Daddy and Mama and Kyla had to stay inside to watch. Alas, Mama didn't mind!

Wordless Wednesday: Body of Art

Hair today; gone tomorrow!

This was Keifer, a few weeks ago, right before we left for a birthday party where she got to dress up like a puppy in her Halloween costume. She let me (I say "let" because it's an unknown each day whether she will let me touch her head of hair or not) put in pony tails- they were her 'puppy ears' for under her hood.

Keifer has the most gorgeous color hair in person- pictures don't do it justice. It's this beautiful mix of auburn, blond, and brown. I adore it. You couldn't pay enough to get hair that color. And when it's clean, and just combed, and fresh - it hangs so beautifully, you just want to sit and admire it; well, I do, as her mom. I love it so much.

I always loved playing with hair. My Barbie dolls had many hairdos before I took scissors to the majority of them, as well as markers, and made them into funky, punk rock Barbies. Having 2 girls made me excited to be able to buy clips,and pony holders, and be able to play with hair, weaving braids and combing it into ponies, and clipping back bangs.


Wouldn't you know it? My Keifer Lynn has a very hard time with us fixing her hair. It's a struggle each and every morning to let us comb her hair, which always looks like a bomb went off (or as it's commonly called: Bed Head (hair)). I usually end up chasing her, screaming and bribing, to let mommy run a comb through it. We debate each morning on one pony or two, because we have to have a pony or a barrette each day, as her bangs would start at the back of her head if we didn't let the top part try to grow longer to eventually flip over to the side.

Usually, a pony is put in, but by the end of the day, she has ripped the pony out, and she looks like a rag-a-muffin. Remember that word? LOL.

So I had an appointment for K1 and I to get our hair cut. Lately, her hair cuts have been my stylist Betsy simply thinning her hair out. Just thinning this girl's thick head of hair, leaves so much hair on the ground, it's unbelievable. Mommy is jealous (being of the fine-haired majority). But this time,Keifer told me she wanted to cut her hair short. She insisted she wanted short hair and told everyone about her upcoming haircut, and that she was going to cut it short (as if they were interested? LOL). So she did. Cut it short.

In the chair, halfway through the hair cut that cost us 10 dum dum suckers just to get it done. My girl has issues with her hair getting cut.

Yep, blue tongue from the blueberry sucker.

Letting Betsy try to hurry and finish the cut before another meltdown ensues.

The finished product: A cute, short bob that suits my girl's sassy personality. Short and sassy.

It is very KEIFER -this hair cut. And we love it on her. It frames her adorable moon-shaped face.

More soon on my girl's sensory issues. She has "issues"with hair cutting, brushing teeth, nail cutting, loud noises, movie theaters, and just regulating her body in general. More soon!

Wordless Wednesday: Girls in Hats

Dr. Spider Girl

Mama took out some more bins and found this Spider T-shirt, a hand-me-down from Keifer, for Kyla to wear. AFTER Halloween, of course. Because that's how this mama works.

Let's pose Kyla on the common background: the stairs!

A flash back to Keifer- same age (just about) with lots of hair and the same cute Tshirt!

She did the same thing Kyla did: "See, a spider!"

Man, was she cute!

Kyla decided she liked the floor better to pose- and giggle!

Trying to roll away from Mama

During the Photo shoot, Big sissy decided to get in on the action and model her headband (oh, her and her headbands!) Flashdance, anyone?

Another night, Kyla was dancing with big sissy, when the doctor kit distracted her. She put on the stethoscope all by herself and kept trying to listen to my heart! I was so amused by this!

And I've told you this girl loves to figure out how things work - caps go on and off, click click. She literally sat for about 30 minutes straight, and tried (unsuccessfully) to buckle the belt on this booster chair. It was very interesting to watch her. I was just amazed she didn't get frustrated and tantrum on us!

Happy Halloween! (recap)

This Halloween, I asked Keifer a month or so in advance what she thought she might want to dress up like.

"A Puppy," she told me without any pause whatsoever. I decided to ask her multiple times throughout the week, just to make sure she didn't change her mind.

Nope, she didn't waver from her decision, so a puppy it was. My worry was that this BIG GIRL would have a hard time fitting into a toddler/small child costume, as she is a bigger girl in clothing, yet only 3 years old. I found a costume at Old Navy that was perfect for her, and luckily, the 5T fit her **whew**.

A friend of mine on my message board had a kitty cat costume from her little girl, and she volunteered to just GIVE ME THE COSTUME- bless her heart! So a new little Pet Shop was created in the Soupy household! Fun!!

Nothing like a dryer ball for the house cat to play with!

I had to sneak this in: look, my baby DOES have hair! At almost 18 months!

Look at what a LONG puppy I have!! A big one!! A 43 pounder!

Every puppy needs a bone to chew on, right?

Kyla ended up staying home instead of venturing out on her first year of potential trick-or-treating. She woke up from her nap that day sobbing, and was clingy and "not" herself for the afternoon. Because the ToTing would surpass her bed time and it was chilly out, we made the executive decision to keep her home for one more year. So we dressed her up, made her do silly poses and then stripped the costume off. She didn't know any different!

This is her, hanging out, wondering why I have that damn camera again!

K1 and I met up with her buddy Hayden, and his parents Josh & Denise. They had a BALL! I had prepped Keifer for a week on the "trick or treat" spiel, which she knew from last year ("go to house, ring doorbell, say 'trick or treat', thank you!, and Happy Halloween!"). It was awesome! My girl was SO sweet - she was so polite and friendly, and even did some puppy panting and shook her little behind (TAIL!) for people unprompted! LOL.

My joy was watching her be so polite, and looking right at people EVERY TIME to wish them a "happy Halloween!". My heart was bursting. We lasted a little over an hour with Hayden and company, and it was so much fun to watch them run from house to house, negotiate WHO would ring the doorbell, and finally, start to slow down.

We even made the trek to a nearby assisted living complex (very close to our house). The elderly people and their staff were tickled that we stopped in, and it was so heartwarming to watch the interactions Keifer had with them. I actually teared up, as the smells and sights reminded me so much of visiting my Grandma Gina and Papa, before they both passed away a few years ago. (sniff).

Towards the end, Keifer started slowing down. She was lagging behind Hayden, who was still pumped to run from house to house, and when she saw that he had already gotten his candy from one house, K1 broke out in a sprint across the driveway, shrieking, "wait, wait! Somebody coming, somebody coming!"

Hayden's parents and I had a good laugh over that one.

I'll ring this doorbell and you ring the next one, OK?

At the end of our night, Keifer could barely lift her pumpkin filled with candy - it was HEAVY! I helped carry it for her, and she informed me that the at the last 3 houses we were about to visit, she was too tired to say "trick or treat" and "thank you" too loudly.

"I have to say it very softly, Mama, because I'm so tired", she told me.

Ahhhh.

So I walked her to the doors, (we had gone our separate ways from Hayden), and true enough, as the door opened, she said in a BARELY audible whisper, "Trick or treat". LOL. My little drama Queen.

The candy has been a point of much debate this week,as I knew it would be. My girl loves treats, and I rarely allow treats like this in the house.

Last night (well, and yesterday AM), she informed me that she was "SO ANGRY" and that is why she NEEDED to have some of her Halloween candy.

So angry? LOL. Ahhh, Keifer. It's amazing what she comes up with to try and finesse us!

Wordless Wednesday: She's a Mini-Picasso!

Introducing....The Artist formerly known as Kyla. This girl is obsessed with art projects, which blows my mind as she is only 17 months old. Monkey See, Monkey Do, I guess?? She begs to be put up in her high chair and points at our art supplies in a plastic see through bin -"color color color!!!". I should say she DEMANDS it!








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