Fun in the Sun Reunion: Long time Friends

A few weeks ago, our good friends (who moved to Fargo in the Fall) were home for a weekend of whirlwind visits.

We've been friends with Brandt and his family since he and Keifer were babies at daycare together! Amazing! AND....Keifer and Mazzy met long ago at Baby Ballroom, eventually ended up at daycare together and today, MY girls consider HER girls among their "best" friends :)

I told CJ after we had our visit last week, we sure are LUCKY- lucky to be blessed with some amazing friends/families in our lives.

 

Here is Keifer and Mazzy, smothering Brandt with love and kisses. Yes, they miss him!

Lined up! Brandt, Alyse (she looked so old already!), Keifer, Gabby, Mazzy holding her baby brother and Kyla

Silly face time!

Memories (cue the music......)

Keifer is in the Red Outfit and Brandt has his back to us. AMAZING they were this little once!

 Some random memories of Daycare with their friends!

 Keifer and Mazzy, a few years ago!

 K1 and Mazzy in April of THIS year

 And same dress for Keifer, but fitting a bit different in May! :)

Keifer and Brandt in December, 2009 - with Papa Joel and Elaine!

 Love birds even back then!

Keifer wanted to add this picture of her and her sissy, in 2009! Aww!!

Recent pictures of our friends Brandt and Alyse- we visited an Apple Orchard with them in September, right before they moved to Fargo

Keifer and Alyse, chomping on some apples!

 the crew

 On the bridge

 B, K1 and K2

 Love this!!!!  Can't wait to show them this at their grad  parties! :)



She talks, I talk, everybody talks......

Oh, how I love to watch Kyla talk. And talk. And make those silly faces with her mouth/lips as she really enunciates her words. Here is from the other day, when I learned she was playing Power Girl and Power Boy at daycare.  

To say she is a Drama Girl is truly an understatement.

Kyla's 3rd SWIM party!

The SAME DAY as the below mentioned Family, Fitness and Fun Fair, it was Kyla's 3rd birthday! Yes, folks, THREE YEARS OLD! I know, I know, where in the heck did three years go? I wish I knew. In my mind, she's still my little, tiny baby girl, who is not old enough to be told "you need to pee and poop in the potty!"   (*and yes, it was quite the busy day, with the Fair in the morning, but we tried to nap the best we could, and of course, Mama is the only one who managed to nap! LOL. We had the party at 4:30, which gave us SOME TIME to prep!*)

The girl had been pumped up about her birthday for about a month, as her older sissy's birthday was in April. Ever since we finished K1's birthday party, Kyla has been talking non-stop at home about HER upcoming swim party. And boy, was she excited.

Earlier in the week, to prepare for the party, I took my girl to the store to pick out her cake for the party:

She initially wanted an Aerial (Little Mermaid) cake, but once she saw the Princess cake, her mind was made up: it was the below cake for her. And when given the taste choices, the minute "Marble" was said, she piped up, "MARBLE! MARBLE! I want a marble cake!".  I will say, it was delicious! And I insist on ONLY ordering whipped cream frosting! It doesn't hurt my teeth as much! LOL

For our 3 year old's guest list, she invited her daycare friends, and a few friends from our old and new neighborhoods, along with her family (of course!)

I'll let you in on a secret: that "3" candle? I saved it from when K1 was 3, and it was intact until K1 carried it INTO the hotel for the party, and snap. It broke. So we taped it up. Nothing wrong with it then, right! 

Older sissy was quite excited for K2!

And yes, Mama did splurge on another swim suit for K2. As if they don't have enough. Can I HELP IT if I adore girls' swim suits? They are just too cute! And she has a matching hat for this suit, just sayin'...

Kyla and her good friend, since birth!, Little Goat! Taking turns on the slippery slide! This was done about a hundred or so times!
And yes, my girl loves her tattoos!

K1 and her good friend from our new neighborhood

I can't tell you HOW SWEET it was to see K2,K1, and ALL their little friends sitting around the table, quietly (yes, no sounds!) eating pizza, fruit and veggies, as the parents stood or sat and monitored!

What awesome friends my girls have!

After eating, K2 and Little Goat was not quiet in their attempts to communicate what they wanted: INTO THE POOL AREA!

Let us in, let us in!

The next day, Kyla was quite the QUIET girl, playing with her 2 new Barbie dolls, and then napping for 4 (yes, I said 4) hours straight! She was so exhausted from running, splashing and sliding for a solid 4 hours Saturday night and then an hour on Sunday morning. Keifer actually CRIED when we left the hotel for home! 

What an amazing birthday party our girl had. We couldn't have asked for a better turn out and so much fun was had by all the kids! Another amazing party, and Mama is still sad at how fast it seemed to go by!

Ice cream social- 2011

Every year, at the end of the school year, and as a kick-off to summer, our daycare, Elaine, has an "ice cream social" for parents to come and enjoy some ice cream treats w/their children, and get to socialize with the other parents. This year, the girls were part of the singing brave, and showed us how they learned a song in sign language! Keifer was VERY proud to demonstrate her signing knowledge! Kyla knew some of the words and signs, and as you can see in the video at the end, she also is very good at "rolling" her arms/hands for the song, too !:)

Keifer and her buddy, Brandt, playing chase

Friends Mazzy & Mia enjoying ice cream w/K1

Smiley Swinger!

K1 enjoying Eddie...

as well as her friend, Maz!

Enjoy!

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!

Snow fort fun

Yesterday, I picked the girls up after work. I stripped Kyla out of the snow suit she was tromping around outside it. She got in the car, and picked up her favorite (of the moment) book: Mr.Brown Can Moo, Can You?. The girl loves cows.

So why Kyla was mooing to herself and pointing at pictures.....

I waited a few more minutes to let Keifer finally enjoy the fresh air outside in the snow fort she helped Elaine and her friends make at Daycare.

Sliding down the wall. Apparently she was rolling around in the snow and told Elaine, "I'm having so much fun outside!"

That is so good to hear. Unfortunately, we've had such cold weather, the kids haven't been able to get out to burn some energy off!

Elaine with some of her kids. Baby Goat (Luther Liz's son), Keifer hamming it up, and Mazzy

Afterwards, I told Mazzy's mom I should've left Kyla in her suit and got her pics in there with the group. Then, we could've sent Hanna Andersson a picture of our girls, as all 3 are modeling different snow suits from them!