Wordless Wednesday: She was SO sad Haley had to go home :(

Keifer broke our heart last week watching the American Idol "go home "night. She was in love with Haley and sobbed for about 10 minutes when she learned she was the one eliminated that night.

Kyla's 2nd Bday: The Day of (and some stats!)

Last Thursday morning, I woke up Kyla in her crib. She had her foot up on the side (she's a lounger) and she covered her eyes and WOULD NOT make a happy face for the camera! She peeked, but no posing! Wake up, sleepy head! Happy BIRTHDAY, to my baby girl! Two years old!

We got her dressed, all cute, and she put on her own sunhat, albeit a bit tight on her Soupy melon head. She was NOT into posing, as you can see.

I took the girls to daycare, and they had a fantastic day! Kyla was "Child of the Day", so she not only had a "happy birthday' sticker on her back, but she got the "child of the day" one, as well. Big hot shot! They had a great day, and then it was time for cookies (yum) and singing to her. I missed the singing by about 2 minutes,but was there to enjoy cookies and ice cream cones (mini-ones!) with my girls and their friends! That night, we just hung out and did a family walk. Kyla had no idea what was going on, so it was OK to start cleaning the house for the family that was about to descend upon our house on Friday!

Elaine had her birthday stickers up in the window upon our arrival!

My girl, with her Elaine Birthday Crown, enjoying her time in the spot light!

Some of her daycare friends (and sissy across from her!)

Enjoying her balloon from Papa Joel (Elaine's hubby)

Taking her time and enjoying each and every gift from Elaine and the card that Jack & his mom made her! :)

Big sissy was pretty excited for her baby sis!

Friday AM, Keifer and I took Kyla to Dr. J for her 2 year check up! She is doing well, despite having had 2 ear infections since her tubes in January. So far, the ears are cleared up again, and she "seems" to be doing well! Her language has certainly exploded! She's telling us stories all the time, in her slow, methodical way. She takes little breaths (or pauses) between words, to generate the words, but is able to communicate very effectively! I especially love when she tells me what is going on at home (ie: narrates, such as "Keifer, cry" or "Daddy, pull, Keifer, off!".

She is in the 75%ile all around for HEIGHT, WEIGHT and head circumference. Hard to believe that 2 years ago my baby was a little peanut preemie. Now she's growing so fast!

Stats:

29 lbs -- 75%ile

34 1/2 inches long - 75%ile

Head is 19 cm - 75%ile

We had a wonderful birthday party on Saturday with family and some friends. Kyla was in heaven all afternoon with her friends and toys around her, and I'll post pictures this week!

Happy 2nd birthday to my littlest rock star!

It's Kyla's 2nd birthday today! My little angel baby will be 2 at 11:00 PM on the dot tonight! To say Mama is in disbelief, is an understatement!
We love you SO Much, angel girl #2! You're the sweetest little clown we know!

More to come later!

Wordless Wednesday: Strollin' with Papa & Nana Soups!

My future's so bright........

Shades in the house- inside the fort that Keifer made all on her own. Babies, purses, cash registers and sunglasses. Nothing better.

Kyla would NOT take the sunglasses off for quite some time upon arrival at Auntie and Uncle's house last weekend.

She also (surprise, surprise), refused to take her shoes off. Fashion diva!

They Match!

Can someone please tell me where my baby girls went? I now have a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old. I look at these, and first off, my heart melts when I see how much love my girls have for each other (95% of the time this is true!). Secondly, when did Keifer stop looking like a toddler and looking like a big girl? *sniff* She is just so beautiful. CJ and I often find ourselves watching her sleep and admiring her beauty. *sniff sniff*. And Kyla, *swoon*. Love this tiny dancer. At least she's getting a bit more hair! LOL
This week, they discovered the stack of Little Golden books we have on their bedroom bookshelf (in their closet). We have books galore in this house, and it is always fun when they get on a "kick" with some of the books for a week or so.
You would NOT believe some of the stories K1 has been telling me lately. She will (literally) sit on the floor next to me, with no book or anything, and make up the wildest stories. I can't keep up- I need to write them down, but I just savor the imagination she is displaying these days!
Nana Di bought the girls these matching outfits at the end of last summer. We are lucky they both still fit! How adorable! Kyla was proud as punch to walk out of the bedroom wearing the same thing as "sissy'.

Cute hat!

Nothing to say in here other than look at how darn cute my baby girl is. She's going to be 2 in less than 4 days. *sob* Where did the time go?
She loves to try on people's hats! She thinks she is pretty darn funny doing it. I think she's darn adorable.

Trying on big sissy's hat.

Trying on Mama's hat!

"You're so big!" "I know, I always wanted to be big!"

The title of this post is actually an exchange I had with Keifer not too long ago. She is pretty sure of herself these days (most days). She's also our little goofball, and loves to be silly. Especially if anyone is giving Kyla ANY sort of attention: then the funny girl come out, because then you can't NOT look at her as well!
I picked up this super cool (in her eye) Big Wheel at a consignment sale for next to nothing. I also got K2 a Radio Flyer trike for her riding pleasure, but she (K2) just wants to throw balls around, for now. Keifer, however, loves the Big Wheel. It gives her something to exchange with her Dora bike (that she is quickly outgrowing! Gasp!) and her Princess Scooter, below. Don't you love how everything you try to buy for a child has to have a character on it? I mean, I'm not OPPOSED to Princess scooter or something with a character if K1 or K2 doesn't care, but for once, why can't I just choose between purple or pink instead of Sponge Bob or Dora?

Home with Daddy on this day. She had the norovirus for a week, that was good times (NOT). And yes, she picked her own clothes out here.

~~Another day, Keifer woke up from her nap and came walking downstairs. She asked me with awe in her voice: "Did you clean the carpets? The hallway looks FANTASTIC! It's so clean!!"

LOL. Oh girl, I wish we had the carpets cleaned! LOL

~~ My favorite K1 funny of late: "Mom, I know when we're going to California Disney (we are ! In October!). OCTOBER (she was right!)."
I asked her how she remembered that! Her response: "I have good minds. Wanna see some of my good minds?" She then stopped, looked at me, then had her eyes look to the right, blinked her eyes super fast a lot of times, and made a silly face. "See my minds? I have LOTS of mind!"

Wordless Wednesday: Daddy's Jumpy girls

The eggy time of year: Easter!

Above, you will see a yard full of Easter eggs- full of fruit snacks and chewy candies, just waiting for kids to find them! Some were easy to find, some weren't so easy to find. This was at my friend (and co-worker) Leanne's house. She had her grandchildren over - 2 of them, plus her niece Eli, so I drug my kids up north to her house to partake in the Easter Egg hunt! :) It was a cold, rainy, dreary day, but the girls had a blast! They had previously done their first (memorable to them) egg hunt at Elaine's (daycare) the day prior to this, so they were fresh into looking for as many eggs as possible!

Look, K1, it's in a tree!

Hunting eggs

Under the bushes!

The girls had a blast tearing their eggs apart inside the house and finding all the candy treats. We had lunch at Leanne's and then stayed for awhile to play. Both girls had such a blast playing with new friends, and getting to know my friends a bit better, too.

We got home, did our naps, and FINALLY dug into our OWN Easter Egg coloring that night! Keifer had been begging to color eggs for days, and we finally boiled up 2 dozen eggs and were able to explore all the colors Friday night. We made it into a production- Daddy was in charge of buying the egg coloring systems, and he went hog wild buying quite a few 'gadgets' , if you will. All Keifer cared about was making sure each and every egg was dipped into EVERY COLOR POSSIBLE. Yeah, there was no PLAN to her egg dying, other than making sure they had touched each bowl of color.

Finding out what the next color makes for this particular egg. Mama was in charge of writing on the eggs prior to the dipping into colors.

K2 didn't care so much about any of it. She was busy playing with her apron and trying to crack the eggs!

Mama showing a really interested K2 the egg she had started to color. Yeah, she's really impressed. LOL.

This is the only picture we got Easter morning prior to leaving for Church. Yeah, sorry, Daddy, but I left you in charge (Dad) of taking a picture of the girls in their MATCHING blue shirts with a matching skirt. SO adorable, they were. But this is what we have to show for it. Oh well, how adorable are they? So in love with each other (most of the time) and so excited to leave for CHURCH!!!!

A few days later, I remembered we never got a picture of our eggs! Here is a sampling of what we colored on Friday night. Notice the amazing words on them? Nana, Papa, Treble, Sage, hearts and stars, and I LOVE YOU. So much fun! These poor eggs recently hit the garbage, so we all said "bye bye, eggs" a few nights ago!

I hope you all had an enjoyable Easter this year! Yes, I'm behind, but it was not forgotten! :)

Being a MAMA: Mother's Day, 2011

For years, I ached to be a mother. I ached to hold a baby or two, and to be honored on a day especially for Moms everywhere. I have a memory of being at a house where there were mom's celebrating their "Mom hood" on Mother's Day, and I was devastated to be in that same house. I can still recall the tears and how my heart was so hurt.

Well, yesterday, I was proud as a peacock to hold the title of "Mama". I am a mama to 2 beautiful girls, and 2 adorable fur kids. My heart is bursting at the seams with love for my 4 year old drama-filled Keifer and my *(almost)* 2 year old loving clown, Kyla. Treble and Sage are my cuddle partners, and I can't imagine my life without any of these beings. The fact that my belly has a little extra bulge that doesn't want to move is my testimonial to the joy I experienced as they rolled around and grew inside my body.

Me and my shadow, Keifer, prior to our church singing experience last month

Mama and Kyla, sharing a play moment on the stairs, where she directed me very strictly to "sit, sit", while she hoarded toys and her lovies on the step behind us.

I was lucky enough to be able to sleep in yesterday on Mother's Day. I had a headache so the sleep was not as enjoyable as it should've been. However, once the rain started pouring a few hours later, my headache was confirmed ( I swear I can predict weather with my headaches and knee pain!). After lounging around with the girls and Papa and Nana (who were visiting), we enjoyed a lunch that Daddy picked up. Keifer and he had been to Urgent Care, where she was diagnosed (Again) with a double ear infection. ENT - here we come?

After lunch, Daddy and the grandparents took the girls to the Dollar Store for some fun toys, and Mama spent a blissful afternoon doing errands, and looking at open houses: all ALONE. BLISS Is right. I had also enjoyed an hour alone on Saturday getting a pedicure- my first for the spring/summer season! Ahhh, joys in the simple things.

After the errands, I arrived home to pick up the family and we all looked at some open houses - "just because". Who knows what our future will hold. Then we picked up some Chinese - Keifer's request, but Mama concurred that that sounded delicious. We had a low key evening, and Mama got to catch up on some DVR'ed shows: alone! ALONE ALONE!

I used to be so sad about being alone, now I treasure my few moments alone so that I can re-charge my batteries and renew my spirit.

Walking into the grosh a few weeks ago with a smiley Kyla

Here comes big Sissy

And last, but not least, MY MAMA! I love you, Nana DI!!!!!!!!!!!!! My mom: she is the best!