2020-21 School Year: Hybrid learning w/the Soup Girls

Well Hello there!

It's been a long time! Yes, lots of things have changed, including how BIG my beautiful babies are getting!  

We are starting our school year with the Hybrid model: In person 2 days a week and distance learning the other 3 days.

Yesterday AM, we took our yearly pictures! WOW! So big!
K1 is going into 8th grade and her final year of Middle School and K2 is going into her FIRST year of middle school as a 6th grader! 

 

Kyla sings!

Surprise, surprise, our 2nd girl sings!!  She blew us out of the water with her singing abilities....I never even KNEW she could sing this many verses, or so "off key!" LOL

Enjoy her "This is Me" version!

Wordless Wednesday: Oh, K2. You are so funny!

A little note our little miss wrote to her new preschool teacher, after only 1 day of school. She dictated it to me on the envelope, after she drew a picture and sealed it up inside.

 

K2 finishes "Three School"

Kyla started "Three School" this year with my friend and coworker, Ms. Jeni (and of course, Ms. Val!)

She ADORED IT!

Here is a picture of her on her very first day, lining up for parent pick up!

And....here is our big girl entering school on her VERY last day of the year! Honestly- the time FLEW BY! My BABY - my baby girl is now 4 years old and has one year of preschool under her belt!

The class did a presentation and OH MY, was our girl a little dolly! So animated, and she sang all the songs and did all the actions! I was so impressed!

In front of her locker!

I have seen my K2 girl grow in confidence and of course, smarts!!She is one amazing little girl!! Apparently, her pretend play skills are out-of-this-world, and she was a really sweet and kind leader to her peers, who (most of them) aren't as "advanced" in her play skills as she is! 

Well, when you have an older sissy and friends in the neighborhood, I'm sure that doe help!

I was actually tearing up at the class presentation, I didn't think I WOULD, but I did. It's hard to argue with time - it goes too fast!

Our last move into a BIG GIRL BED!

Yep, I said that really loud! This past January, we took the TOP bunk off of Keifer's unused bunk bed (the top bunk is, at least) and moved it across the hall to sissy's room! Kyla was a little excited, to say the least! She seemed so big in her toddler bed, but now she seems so little in the twin size bed! *sigh* My baby is getting so big!
 

And yes, that is a cradle next to her bed, for her babies. My little K2 is quite the little mama!

K2's First Day!

So bad mommy moment number ?:  I forgot the camera when we brought Kyla to HER very first day of "Three School" in September. So I asked another mommy, who was snapping pictures with her Iphone, to please please please take a few of my littlest girl standing in line.   And this is what I've got for ya: My little Kyla, dressed in her blue dress, lining up like a very good listener with Ms. Val in the background.

 

 

She LOVES school. Like, LOVES IT.  She goes 2 days a week, in the AM only. CJ drops her off and I had her go to a preschool in the district that I teach in; I run over and pick her up when it's done, and in a flash, drop her at daycare at Elaine's and then back to work I go.

She has a phenomenal teacher, Ms Jeni, whom I wanted to teach at least one of my girls in their preschool years!

Next year, we've got her signed up for our own school district's amazing program, and she couldn't be more excited! Our baby girl is not such a baby anymore!

How to Make French Toast:

According to Kyla, age 3:

 

 

"Start by getting it out,

use the rolling pin to get

crumbs off the table.

Then you eat it until it is gone."

 

 

Kyla's first Hair Cut!

Lunch at Target, what could be better? Oh, I'll tell you: Kyla won't take off that leotard that I got at a consignment sale for $2! Best  $2 ever spent! 

Nana had JUST bought the girls new sunglasses at Fleet Farm, and although it was raining outside, movie star K2 wouldn't take hers off inside!

Since K1 was getting a hair trim, we thought maybe K2 could have HER first hair cut! It was doing that long, wispy, comb-over thing!

Suprisingly (or not, if you know her), K2 had no qualms about getting into the chair, popping a sucker into her mouth, and letting the stylist work on her head.

Look at ALL THE CURLS! OH MY HEART!

Small smiles at Mama's gushing!

Movie star is all ready for her close up!

And here is big sissy, after getting her hair cleaned up. We've decided to keep it short and stacked- because she likes it better short, and her hair is SO thick in the back, that the under layers are kinky with curl.  It's not an ideal hair texture for growing out long, so why fight it? Plus, as you can see, she is pretty darn adorable with this style! DRAMA girl! :)

K2 - late summer CATCH UP

The following will be a bunch of post that I've had in DRAFT form since last summer. Whoa. It has been some time! No excuses, but all excuses! LOL. Working full time has pushed me into a NO BLOGGING corner and Im' paying for it mentally- I have "blog talk" build-up in my mind!

This was Kyla girl this August, prior to a visit to the store. Yes, back in the summer she had a mind and WILL of her own when it comes to dressing. So I let her wear her swim suit - in fact, she wore it out in public for one long weekend :)

Over heard being said by Kyla, during pretend play, back in the late Summer:

"That my 'tend purse"

Overheard by her while sitting on the potty, as pictured below:
"Mama, mama: come get me. I poopy, Mama. Mama, come get me: chop chop!"

Kyla went through about about a month (October) where all she wanted to do was be a "big girl" and use the potty- we actually had her in panties for a long weekend. When we did Disney in October, she stayed in Pull-ups the whole time! However, we'd have a relapse, and we're back in the diapers. We're not sure WHY, but we're not PUSH PUSH PUSHING her (yet). :) She knows "I wear big girl panties 'go school!"

Here she is on the potty in the late summer, laughing that I would take her picture while she sits. Wow, look at how light her hair was back in the summer!

Here are the sissies, playing late summer with their dollies....Kyla began to fall in love with our Princess Baby Doll Tiana back then ("nana" she calls her)

Below, the picture shows Kyla this summer pushing her Barbie/Loving Family People around the kitchen floor to the "movie theater" (a blank wall under our kitchen bar). She took out the Barbies and had them sit and watch a movie! This girl has QUITE the imagination!
And here she was painting a bird house. Best $1 ever spent is on the wood bird houses at Michael's craft store. It is more $$ just to buy paint brushes and paint for the project! Kyla spent hours just sitting and painting. Lord knows how fast it was for Keifer to do! Ha!

"hi, honey" (*mwah mwah*)

Introducing the talented Miss Kyla, who LOVE LOVE LOVES to pretend play with "people" aka Little People. She loves to take any "people", some Barbies and the infamous Annie doll (that Papa Dale got off Ebay a few years ago!) and have them talk to each other. It's quite adorable to hear this tiny little voice directing "People" around. "honey, honey", I hear and wonder if she's talking to ME or the people.

I also hear "C'mon, honey", or "Mwah mwah" sounds, as she has her people give each other smooches. Yes, melt those heartstrings!

To make things especially cute, I found the "people" in these places in the dollhouses a few nights back. One person sleeping in the crib.

And a few more people watching as the blond "people" tap dance on their dining room table! How cute! LOL

I can do it, by myself!

Well, not really. But K2 is trying so darn hard to put her own socks on! The girl pretty much insists upon always having something on her little tootsies- be it shoes or socks (or feet PJ's).

Here comes that Chef Hat again. It looks good with her new puppy PJ's that Mama scored at a consignment sale. Add in the Buddha belly, and listening to sissy's Ipod, and we've got a character of a girl on our hands! Love this child so!

A backpacking Chef

Meet Kyla's latest obsession: wearing the M&M Backpack. She adores filling it with toys -books, mostly, and some food from the pretend kitchen.

Then, she grabs her Chef Hat and she's off! Sometimes she teeters a bit, as the bag has the potential to get really heavy! But she manages. She's a strong Soupy girl - just like sissy! And yes, she was being a silly girl in the picture below!

I personally love her Buddha belly!

K2: 23 months. 'Nuff said.

A few days ago, K2 turned 23 months. My heart skipped a beat as I realized that in one month's time, she will be turning 2 years old. The same age her sister was when SHE arrived early into this world. Unimaginable to me, that K1 was this age as we prepared for K2's arrival.

Following her idol, K1, as the prepare to watch their balloons flying into the air

To us, Kyla is still "a baby". She is using lots of one word utterances and gestures and PLENTY of dramatics to communicate with us. It's sometimes hard for people to understand her "Kyla talk", so I typically will translate for her. Lately, she's been combining 2 words here and there, usually to say, "No, ___" or "clean mess". The girl cannot stand a mess- if we spill some drops of milk or she over looks the living room from upstairs (from behind the gate), she'll get agitated about the mess. Takes after her mama in that aspect! LOL
I've noticed that although she's still in 18-24 month, or 24 month, or some 2T clothing, she appears a wee bit taller to me these days. She's a full season or almost a year behind K1 in the clothing department; I was digging out things that K1 wore at 15 months for her to wear this summer! Her shoe is about a 6 1/2 or 7, and depending on the sales person, it may or may not be wide like older sis.
She adores wearing zip up sweatshirts, and insists upon wearing socks if she's barefoot at home, and has a hard time taking her shoes off. The girl loves her shoes. Shoes, shoes, shoes. I admit, her obsession and difficulty taking shoes OFF makes me a tich nervous. Like, what does that mean?

Here she is with a brand new sweat shirt from Nana Dian. She adored it; couldn't wait to put it on, zip it up and NOT take it off all night!

K1 has some crazy-good fine motor skills. She requests to "color, color" often, and will climb right up into her chair at the table. She does a VERY good job of holding the tools- she has a better grasp of markers and crayons that her sister! Here, she is showing me that she stuck the Mickey Mouse stickers each onto a glass of water. This is called 1:1 correspondence, and it's a higher level skill! Blew me away!

Last night, we were counting something (Barbies, dolls, cars?) and after CJ said "13" , Kyla said "14!" but never said it again. I think there is a lot of knowledge bumping around inside that gorgeous head of hers, and it's coming out in bits and pieces, like her sister! She understands everything we tell her, and thrives on her routine. Oh yeah, and she LOVE LOVE LOVES her sister! *sigh*

Here, she is modeling her "sticker and stamp" tattoos, that she did all on her own!

Pah-tee, Pah-tee

Potty, Potty.
Whenever K2 has a poopie in her diaper, she tells us "potty, potty" in her little Kyla language,and runs to the stairs to climb up to the bathroom! Only 21 months and off she's going.
The girl KNOWS when she goes, but catching her beforehand has been a trick. Ahh, my little baby girl is watching and taking in all the information she sees on a daily basis, and putting it somewhat to use! She will put the potty ring on the toilet all by herself (no helping this one!), and after she sits for a minute, she insists on taking toilet paper (by herself!) and "wiping" -aka throwing it into the potty, either in front or back.

We'll see how long the training lasts, but I'm so proud of my little K2!

Curly Q

One of my endless dreams and wishes has always been to have a child with curly hair. Me? I have fine, limp, dull hair that I consistently color, give body perms and gob full of "product" to make it appear lively and full.
My K1 has thick, gorgeous hair that people would pay lots of $ for. Kyla is turning into a little Curly Q, when her hair is wet! It has the ability to make me smile like a goon when I see her curls. I just hope 1)they stay and 2) they make her as happy as they make me!


Here she's telling me "baby, baby" -which in Soupy language means "Naked baby" which is our chant after bath time!