Christmas Fun!

 Merry Christmas Everyone!! I hope you had a great christmas. Our family has had a very nice Christmas at home this year, and it even included SNOW! The kids are excited about getting to play in the snow when they get to later! They all seemed to be very grateful for what they received this year.

The girls have enjoyed being on Christmas break, although Kylie has already asked if its time to go back yet. Gabryle has seemed to enjoy having the girls home to play with. He goes up to them and hollers "Sisters come on!" to get them to come and play with him. It's cute!

I've posted a few pictures from today for you! I hope you enjoy them. If I don't write again before the end of the year, have a happy New Year!

 Till Next Time!!!

Mackenzie's Christmas card she made Jerrod and I at school.

Mackenzie's Christmas gift she made Jerrod and I in class.

Kylie's Christmas gift she made for Jerrod and I in class. 

Trick-or-Treat!!

 Well the kids had a blast today while we went to trick or treat. Gabryle was absolutely adorable in his robot costume and received lots of comments from people.  We went this year to the mall's trick or treat event and then went to a local neighborhood close to the girls school and trick or treated there also. The kids were so polite it made me proud! They said "Thank you" to all the people handing out candy and patiently waited their turn in the line at the mall.

Every time someone would put a package of M&M's into Gabryle's pail he got so excited he thanked them 2 or 3 times. It was just so cute! After we were through with all of the trick or treating the girls compared what was in each others buckets. Not sure of the purpose of that since they knew that all the candy would be combined into a communal bag to be put up in a spot only Mommy and Daddy could reach after being inspected so no one had more candy than the other.

 The girls also had a party in their classrooms during school today in the afternoon. Mackenzie said hers was a blast and they got to play a few games also during the party. Kylie said hers was fun because they also got to celebrate one of her friends birthdays during the Halloween Party. She also got to go trick-or-treating at the local Veterans center this morning with her class.

All in all the kids had a great day. They all fell asleep rather quickly tonight and I'm sure they were exhausted!

Till Next Time!!!

HELLO MOLLY!

Hello Molly! As of yesterday we are now the adopted family of Molly, an eight week old kitten. She is a sweetie!!

Her first day here she was very shy of course. She found a place under Gabryle's bed for a few hours to hide when she first got to our home. Gabryle offered her peace offerings to get her to come out but his attempts were not accepted. He offered some army men, his mower, some big balls, his shovel and rake and a few other toys to see if she would come out. All were a fail.

After Gabryle fell asleep at night last night she came out and played with the girls a little till they go a little too excited. After all the kids went to bed Molly came out and played with Jerrod and I for a while till we went to bed. She cried a little bit before we fell asleep but after that we never heard her. She found some place in the living room to sleep and seemed to  sleep just fine.

Today she has come out and played with us a lot more. She has let Gabryle walk up to her and pet her  which I think is the biggest step for her. If she can let Gabryle pet her I think she will be perfectly fine with us.  She has a sweet temper and is so playful. She loves a toy we picked out for her that has some feathers on it that is attached to a string attached to a pole for us to play with her. She also loves to play with little balls. Kenzie let her have one of her practice golf balls to play with and she will bat at it for quite a while.

At the moment she is sitting beside Jerrod curled up in a ball sleeping. Gabryle came up and I asked him to leave her alone and he looked at me all sad and asked to give her kisses (Or in Gabryle language is a big kiss sound). He was not happy I asked him to wait so she can sleep.

She still has a little getting used to the kids but she made a lot of progress today. She will be a great addition to our family!! I'll of course keep updated on her as well as the rest of us.

Here is a picture I got of Gabryle playing with her earlier. He was just tickled that he could play with her and she didn't run from him.

Till Next Time!!!!

FATHERS DAY!!

Top of the picture frame cube.

 Fathers Day!!! The kids have waited so patiently for this day to come. They have waited to be able to give Jerrod his Father's Day gift we made. This year yes we made him a gift. Makes the gift all that much more special!!

Jerrod this year received a box picture frame that is on a little turn table that holds 4 photos. All three kids have a side with their name on it, and one for family pictures. The top of the box we plastered 2 photos to the top that will not change. The inside of course can be used for whatever Jerrod wants to use it for. I know he sometimes has a hard time finding a picture frame for multiple photos for his desk at work and we saw this and figured it would be a perfect choice! Heck, he could even put photos inside the frame if he wants.

For his card, each one of the kids traced their hand on a piece of scrapbook paper that we got from Hobby Lobby. They each picked out their favorite design and we used it. We cut two hands out and they wrote I love you on the front and on the inside we folded a strip of paper and wrote this much on it and glued it inside.

The kids seemed to enjoy picking out the colors for the frame and the stickers to use. I even let them pick out which photo will be used on their side. I picked the ones for the family side and what went on top.  Enjoy the photos!

Till Next Time!!!

Basketball

Kylie after she fell asleep during the game.

 The kids and I actually watched part of a basketball game last night. Most of you that know me know I am not that into sports. I can watch baseball all day, but besides that I am not that into watching sports. Basketball is not bad. I don't mind watching it.  The kids however, it depends on which kid you are talking about.

Mackenzie enjoyed watching the game last night. She was rooting of course for the OKC Thunder. She really got into watching last night. Every time "her" team scored a basket she cheered for them, which ultimately got Gabryle to do the same exact thing anytime either team made a basket. He didn't care who had the ball and even started to when they did not make a basket yell "no!"  I never realized that watching a game would be as much fun for little kids.  Plus the nice thing about it last night is I didn't have to keep explaining what was going on to the girls.

Watching some basketball.

 Kylie however, apparently found the game a little boring. The first half of the game we flipped back and forth between the games last night and Hell's Kitchen and Masterchef, two of my favorite shows. We watched the game during the commercials of the other two shows. Once both were over we just flipped to the basketball game and kept it on that. Once I kept it on the game, Kylie crawled up on the couch and laid down beside me. Within five minutes she was asleep. I guess basketball is really not her cup of tea.

I have a feeling if we watch the next game on TV Kylie will find something else to do than watch the game with us. I'll probably find her crawled up in her bed looking through a book or playing with Kenzie's Nintendo DS, while Kenzie and Gabryle sit and cheer on the players  with us.

Till Next Time!!!

Counting down the days!

Yep, it's summer almost!  The girls are in their last 2 weeks of school and they are ready for a break!! Kenzie starts her end of year tests today, or at least that is what she has told me. Kylie will get to visit the kindergarten classrooms in the next week or so and every day it seems as if something is going on that is related to school.

The last week of school will be the busiest. That Monday we have Kylie's awards assembly/pre-k graduation. Tuesday Kenzie's class gets to go on a field trip to play laser tag for the day, then on Wednesday her class has their awards assembly/1st grade graduation.  Then Thursday is the magical day that Kenzie is counting down towards. The last day of school!!!!

I think Gabryle will enjoy having the girls home for a few months to play with him all day every day. He enjoys getting to play with them after school. I think it's his favorite part of the day besides meal times and when we go outside to play. He has become fascinated with chalk while we are outside. He loves the fact that he can draw on the sidewalks and the porch and not get in trouble for coloring on it. I also think he enjoys it because he knows once it gets to where there is no more room to draw I wash it off with the water and we let it dry. Of course in this process he always finds a way to manage to get wet while I Wash the chalk off the ground.

I'll make sure to get pictures while we are at the awards assemblies for the kids and the other things we attend and get them posted as soon as I can. And if you don't hear from me for a while, just remember I shall e back with a post as soon as I can with all the craziness of the end of the year!!

Till Next Time!!!!

Close your eyes, make a wish and blow!

 One of Kylie's favorite things about spring and summer is the overwhelming amount of blowie flowers, also known as dandelions. Ever since she was little she has called them blowie flowers. It's one of her favorite things to go around the yard, and our neighbors yard picking dandelions and blowing them to make them go away and watch them blow in the wind.

Last night we sat outside around seven thirty with the kids playing in the yard and Gabryle started picking them. He would pick one, run back to where Jerrod and I were sitting in the yard and blow on it then putting it up to Jerrod's mouth so he would blow all the seeds off of the dandelion. He thought this was the most fun thing to do.
He ran back and forth between us and the patch of dandelions he was picking from. The last one he picked he brought it back to where we were and showed it to us. Then he went to blow it and instead had most of the dandelion end up all over his lips. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen watching him try and pick the seeds off of his mouth.

Kylie now realizes that she has competition for making sure to get the dandelions out of the yard. I don't think she realized that Gabryle would catch onto what she does with them. She found one of the dandelions the other day that was still the yellow flower and picked it. She showed it to me and I told her that if she had let it stay where she found it, it would eventually turn into a blowie flower. Now we will see if she actually stops picking the yellow ones before they turn into the white seeds that you can blow.

Till Next Time!

January can't be over yet!!!

Seems like January has just flown by! The girls have been busy with school, and Gabryle has been busy being his normal busy self. Kenzie is working to get onto the schools Superintendent Honor Roll, Kylie has started to learn to read in her class, and Gabryle is still picking up some sign language. Gabryle has also figured out that he can get in the fridge to get himself something to eat. Tonight alone, he decided he wanted to get some tea. The pitcher of tea was full, and went all over the floor. He is a handful!!!!

As the new year has been going by fairly quickly, Kylie has been concerned lately because her birthday is next in our house.  Yes it's not till April 5, and yes it is early to think about it. I have mentioned it to her and Jerrod has also mentioned it to her, but it still hasn't sunk in to her yet, that she has 2 more months to go before it arrives.

With her birthday we always have to keep in mind that it usually always falls around Easter. Some years it doesn't but usually it does. This year it will be the Thursday before Easter Sunday.  It got me curious as to when her birthday will fall on Easter Sunday, and it turns out her birthday will fall on Easter in 2015. (Her 8th Birthday)

Earlier this evening Kylie came up to me with the most serious face she can have and says:
"Mom, I want you to make a cake for me for my birthday. I cake, a cake cake, a real cake, an actual cake." As I sit and process this I ask
 "So you want me to make your cake?"

"Yes." She replied. "A real cake, an actual cake."

I never realized I have not made her an actual cake for her birthday. Last year yes we did a store bought cake, but that is the only time she has had a store bought cake for her birthday. I was already planning on making her cake this year. I reassured her that I will make her a cake that will be what she wants, but I won't make it until right before her birthday. She'll also get cupcakes sent to her class on her actual birthday. I might even make some little goody bags to take also for her friends in her class. She doesn't know I will do that yet.

Till Next Time!!

Christmas

 Hope you all had a great Christmas. We had a very nice Christmas here at home this year. The kids had a last tearing open presents, and spending the day lounging around the house this year. Jamie and Amaurie came over for a visit and to exchange gifts and Jerrod and I fixed us a nice Christmas dinner with chicken, stuffing and all the fixings.

The kids seemed to have a good Christmas. Kenzie got some science experiments (a make a volcano kit, dig a gem, and grow your own crystal kits), and a moon, some games and I think her favorite, a new charm bracelet, along with 2 new charms. She has already got all of her gems dug out of the little sand block that had them hidden in it. Her volcano is setting up and as soon as it is finished hardening we will explode it! She is excited about it. Her crystals we will start this afternoon. We all played one of her games last night before bed, trouble, and had a blast. Kylie was even able to play it and did good about not being a sore loser since she didn't win. (Gabryle played my last turn which won me the game! He will be on my team from now on!)

Kylie got some new Disney Princess toys, Barbies, a camera, and she got a charm bracelet also with 2 charms. She was thrilled about the Bracelet! Kylie has been wanting a charm bracelet for a while now because Mommy and Sister have one. We got her 2 charms, one that says Mommy's girl, and one that says Little Sister. She thinks she should get some more today with some of the money she got from Christmas, but we shall see. She also got a set of Disney Princess dolls that she didn't have yet. It came with Aurora, Snow White, Tiana and I believe Ariel. The Ariel doll is made to use in the water, Aurora is made to sleep with (her body is very soft), and the other two are just normal dolls like barbies.

Tool man Gabryle
Ready to fix things

Gabryle got some Sesame Street toys and a tool set, and a train whistle. He absolutely loves his new cookie monster toy he got. He comes with 3 cookies and you feed them to him and he will count them as you feed them to him and talk to you. The cookies fall down into a backpack on his back and you can get them out that way. It's really cute. He also absolutely LOVES his new tool set. He walked around all day yesterday with a drill or screwdriver in his hand tyring to fix things. It even has a tool belt that he can wear and another hard hat.

 This week we'll just relax around the house and let the last week of the girls break be low key, and a lot of relaxing.  I kind of think Kenzie is ready to start back to school. She's worked hard over the break learning her spelling words and is ready to go back to school to pass her spelling test. Hope you have a wonderful New Year!!!

Kylie's New Barbie

Till Next Time!!!!!

Kenzie, Kylie and Amaurie

Kids playing with their new things

Kenzie's new board games

It's Christmas Eve!!!!

It's Christmas Eve, and the kids were up early and excited. Kylie was worried at first when we woke up this morning due to the fact that Santa had not come yet to give her a present. I quickly assured her that it was only Christmas Eve and that he would in fact visit her, but not until tonight. This quickly satisfied her and we started fixing breakfast.
Every Christmas Eve we have some things that we have started as some holiday traditions. While Jerrod works, periodically throughout the day the kids and I check the NORAD Santa Tracker online. The girls find it fascinating to see the places that Santa has already been to. I kind of find it interesting too honestly. The girls were up early this morning and as we checked it for the first time around 7:30, and he was in New Zealand.
Tonight, after dinner and before the kids go to bed we will all sit in the living room and read The Night Before Christmas. The girls love the story, and they have been looking forward to it for a few days now. Kenzie has already told me that she plans on going to bed way early tonight so Christmas Day will come even quicker. Before bed the girls will set out the cookies and milk for Santa, and they have already started debating on whether they will put out ones that Kenzie decorated or the ones Kylie decorated. I made it a point to tell them that no matter who decorated them, Santa will love them.
Kylie is also excited about all the presents and everything with Christmas. Her biggest concern though, is how will Santa get into the house since we have no fireplace. I assured her that Santa has a master key that works for all houses that have no fireplace, so he can get in and out with out having to wake someone up to get in the house. We started that explanation with Mackenzie, and it has stuck with explaining how Santa gets in without a fireplace and it works.

Have a Merry Christmas Everyone!!!
Till Next Time!!!

Busy busy busy....

Christmas is fast approaching along with Mackenzie's birthday. Things are busy with the girls at school, and I am busy at home starting to get things ready for Mackenzie's birthday party, and also things ready for Christmas, like Keeping Gabryle from pulling the Christmas tree over on top of him.

Kylie's class has started decorating their room for Christmas and they have cute decorations hanging on the wall outside of their class. She was thrilled to show me her Gingerbread kid we decorated hanging with all of the other kids decorations. It was neat seeing we were not the only ones who used something like cappuccino mix or cinnamon to decorate the gingerbread kid. She was thrilled that hers is on the bottom row so its easier for her to see when they are walking past the display.

Mackenzie's class has been busy working on a present for each family. She has been so careful at not letting it slip to what they are making and that has made her so proud. Her class will also be building gingerbread houses. Each student has to bring 1 supply so there are enough for each student. Mackenzie was asked to bring 2" miniature candy canes. I saw that and figured, okay that would be easy to find. How wrong was I about that!

We looked at Wal-Mart cause I assumed they would have it. Why not they had some last year. Boy was I wrong! The kids and I spent 40 minutes searching the entire store for them and they did not have them. Next we went to Dollar Tree, which was a no go either. After that we got Jerrod from work and then went home and had dinner. After we finished watching Mars Needs Moms, Kenzie and I ran to the mall to see if we could find some. We looked at Big Lots and they didn't have them so I decided that we would look next door at Hobby Lobby and bingo! We found then finally! They had 2 boxes left, one that had been opened and one that wasn't so we grabbed that box quickly and then went and looked around at some other things before heading home.  Never thought it would be so hard to find. I assumed when I read the note that Kenzie had that it would be easier to find especially since a lot of places had started setting out Christmas decorations before Halloween. Next year I will know to look at Hobby Lobby first!

Hard to believe Kenzie's birthday is almost a week away. She is so excited about it this year! She has heard from at least 4 of her friends in class that they will be coming to her party, plus lots of family has said they would come too. As we were looking through Big Lots last night she kept showing me things that she would like for her birthday. Little does she know we have already bought her gift and its sitting in the top of the towel closet. We think she will love getting a little Ipod Shuffle to listen to her music. Plus we downloaded her the new Justin Bieber Christmas album and the Kids Bop 20 album. She will love it!

Once I get some of the cake decorations made today and tomorrow I'll post pictures of them. Have to figure out how to make a guitar......Not sure how well it will turn out, but I will try my hardest. It's what she would like!

Till Next Time!!!

Hand print ornaments (The finished project)

Kylie's in the process of being made.
Plus a few of the Stockings and Candy Canes we made.

 So, we finished our ornaments last night and I think they turned out great! The girls wanted theirs to be red, so I added the red color to the water before adding it to the flour/salt mixture, and I think it turned out great doing it that way instead of painting the color on like I did on Gabryle's. Gabryle's still turned out great even though I painted the green on with watered down food coloring. 

Mackenzie's in the process of being made. 

Gabryle's ornaments in the process of being made.

 We had quite a bit of extra dough so as the girls hand prints were starting to dry I used some cookie cutters and made some stockings and candy canes. Mackenzie thought that was a great idea. We baked them in the oven for a shorter time than I did Gabryle's and they did not puff up any like a couple of Gabryle's did, which I am thrilled about. I was also afraid that after  they dried a little the color would turn more pink than red but they haven't. They have still kept their red coloring without fading. (whether they fade over a long period of time we shall see!) 

After they cooled to the touch and had set for a few hours I pulled the paint out and started painting the small little ornaments how I wanted, just to make sure the metallic Gold color looked all right with the red color of the dough. Kylie thought I Was crazy for painting them at first! As those dried I separated the girls hand prints and wrote their names and the year on them with a gold permanent marker then painted the hands. 

I haven't had to touch up the paint on the hand prints, which I'm glad about. By the time I was through painting the hands the stockings and candy canes were dry and I was able to check them out better. I think they turned out just as cute as the hand prints. 

This morning the hand prints are still a little damp on the back, but I imagine they will dry fairly quickly and be ready for hanging on the tree. I'll recheck the paint in a little bit just to make sure 

The completed Ornaments 

I didn't miss any spots on the hands and that all  of

the red is covered in the hand area.  

I enjoyed doing this with the kids. It was easy and quick to do, and it uses every day things that most people have in their house to begin with.   Once we get our tree up and the ornaments up on the tree I will post pictures so you can see them hanging with all of our other family ornaments. 

Till Next Time!!!

Cool Fall Day!

It was a cold fall day here yesterday, so the kids and I while Jerrod was at work had a lazy day watching movies all day. We rented some movies from one of the Redbox machines in town and had fun just sitting around. We don't do that too often, but the girls seemed to enjoy it!
We started off watching Rio, which was pretty cute. The girls loved it! Of course what kid wouldn't love singing birds? Then we watched Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer. It was definitely a kids movie! Kenzie loved it and Kylie thought it was okay. That movie was right on for what Kenzie likes, so maybe we should get her some of the books that the movie is based off of. I didn't realize till it started that the actor who played Urkle is in it!
After that it was time for Pirates of the Caribbean 4, On Stranger Tides! I LOVE the Pirates of the Caribbean movies! Kenzie sat and watched the entire movie with me and loved it too. Kylie however, as soon as Gabryle woke up from his nap went and played with him in the bedroom. (I love that Kenzie will sit and watch the Pirates of the Caribbean movies with me! She loves them just as much as I do.)
By the time the last movie ended it was time for Jerrod to be home and we had dinner. It was a good day. We don't all that often just sit and watch movies all day on Sundays but it was fun to just sit and do nothing with the kiddo's for a bit! It was a nice way to start the week of Thanksgiving!

Till Next Time!!

Music and the Kids

One of the favorite things lately for the girls is to have me put some music on and let them sing and dance around the living room. We turn the TV off, and I start the music on my computer and they go to town! Gabryle even has lately gotten in on dancing in the middle of the two girls and trying to imitate both of the girls at the same time. That parts get pretty darn funny!
Tonight is no difference. I turned the TV off while they were in their room playing and started some music and in they ran to start dancing. First came Gabryle running into the living room, and not to long after here came the girls. Kylie was thrilled cause after they came in I started one of her most favorite songs that I can think of, 'Kiss a Girl' by Keith Urban. She has most of the song memorized and every now and then when she takes her bath I'll hear her singing it while she is in the tub. Kenzie's favorite consists of Justin Bieber of course, and 'The Climb' by Hannah Montana. All three of the kiddo's love Avril Lavigne's 'Alice' song from the Alice in Wonderland movie.
I on the other hand have so many favorite songs I would probably run out of room in one blog post to put them all in. With the music between Jerrod and I, the kids get quite a selection of music. They hear everything from Country to rock to classical to soundtracks. I love getting the soundtracks to some movies just for the instrumental tracks. I'll sit and listen to the music over and over. I have noticed with the girls, they each have started getting their own favorite types of music. Used to be they both just loved Hannah Montana but now they have branched off to different things. Kylie seems to favor country music and Kenzie seems to lean a lot more towards rock music (however she has mentioned she does not like rap!)
I hope when they are old enough they try choir out. As much as they love singing right now by the time they get old enough for it, I think they will be great!
With as much music that runs in the family besides just me and Jerrod I'm sure they will be involved in one way or the other hopefully. They have aunts, uncles, and grandparents who were all involved in either vocal music, instrumental music or both. Maybe one of these days I can catch them on video of while they are singing and get it posted!

Till Next Time!!

Halloween Fun

Well Halloween this year was a good one for the kiddo's. Mackenzie was a "bad" vampire, Kylie was Ariel, and Gabryle was a cowboy. I think Gabryle ended up getting the most people liking his outfit out of the three kiddo's. Mackenzie and Kylie wore their costumes to school and each had a party in their class. Kylie's was a pizza party and got to eat lunch in her classroom. She had cheese pizza and ate it all gone she said.
Around 12:30 Gabryle and I headed up to the school and helped get Mackenzie's room ready for their class party. She was so thrilled to see Gabryle and I when she and her class came back from their special class of the day. She helped me pass out the drinks that I brought and then went with her class to do what her teacher needed them too do. Gabryle had a blast up at the school. He sat quietly at the reading table that was in the room and took sips out of his capri-sun he had. He would get up a few times, push his chair in, walk to another adult then turn around and pull his chair out and sit back down. When he saw Kenzie he squealed and went and stood by her. Kenzie helped pull a chair up for him and they sat together eating the goodies that were provided. By the end of the party, Gabryle had Kenzie over in the bean bag reading center trying to get her to read him a book. It was cute!
After school at five we went and did the mall's trick-or-treating that they do every year. Once Gabryle figured out that you show the bucket to the people, they give  you candy he was grinning from ear to ear. He was really enjoying himself I think. We finished there, came home ate dinner, and then headed to a neighborhood closer to the school. Boy did they hit the jackpot! Gabryle loved going up and getting candy from people. Some would mention how cute he was and he would just grin at them.
All in all the kids really had fun today! Each girl had fun at their school parties, plus they got the "BOO BAG" we bought for them. They also had a good time trick-or-treating and I would say they got at least a good 5 pounds of candy this year. Next year will most likely be even more fun since Gabryle has the whole thing figured out I believe.

Till Next Time!

Carving Pumpkins

Kylie getting the insides
of her pumpkin out.

One of the kids favorite parts of the Halloween time is the carving of the pumpkins. This year Gabryle watched and was just all curious as to why Kenzie and Kylie were sticking their hands inside the pumpkin and pulling stuff out of it.

Mackenzie getting the
insides of her pumpkin out.

We drew the designs on the pumpkins a few days ago so I would know how each pumpkin was to be carved. Mackenzie decided to have hers with a funky mouth so we did bunches of "ups and downs" for her mouth. Kylie's wanted hers to be the maddest of all three pumpkins. On Gabryle's we just all three put our own ideas into the pumpkin and came up with what it is now.
Now the girls can not wait till Monday! Kylie will  get to go trick-or-treating at school along with having her Halloween Party and Pizza Party. Mackenzie's class will have a Halloween party also, which Gabryle and I will go and help at. They also don't know but we ordered each of them a "boo bag" from the PE department at school. For a fundraiser they were selling treat bags that will be distributed during class Monday. They each will get a bag that has candy, vampire teeth, tattoos, and a few other little treats in it. Then Monday evening we will go to the Mall's trick-or-treat event and trick-or-treat at the stores there then head over to a neighborhood or two for trick-or-treating. Kylie's teacher sent a note home that if any of her students stop by her house for trick-or-treating they will get a special trick from her teacher and her family so we plan on stopping by her house. Busy this year for Halloween but it will be fun!!!

the final product!

Till Next Time!!!

Party Weekend!!!

This weekend Mackenzie got to go to her first Slumber Birthday Party for one of her friends. She got home from School on Friday and finished packing her bag, signed her friends birthday card and was ready to go. It didn't start till 6:30 so we had three hours left till it started. I believe the time just went extremely slow for her. She asked almost every 10 minutes if it was time to go, or checked the clock to see the time. 6:15 finally came and we left to head to her friends house. We got there the same time one of the other girls and her mother showed up and we all went in together. I stayed and chatted for a few minutes, then told Mackenzie bye and Kylie Gabryle and I left. As we started towards the car, Gabryle started crying and yelling and pointing at the house. He fought to get his buckles in his car seat buckled and soon we were leaving. He pointed behind us out the back window and cried till we were halfway home. He did not like leaving his sister at someones house. I finally got him settled down by saying we were going to Wal-Mart and so we went and looked around for a little bit then went home and watched a movie.
We later picked Jerrod up from work and he took us to Braums and we got a little deal of ice cream for Gabryle and Kylie and let them stay up late and we had our own little party. The next morning, Saturday, I picked up Mackenzie around 8:30 and headed home. She had a great time at the party! They had a pillow fight, ate pizza and cake, watched Hannah Montana and stayed up late. Her friends mom told me that the girls stayed up till around 1 and then Kenzie was up along with a few of the other girls around 7. We have heard lots about the party since then and we're glad she had such a great time. After a long week for her she deserved having a good time with her friends just having fun.
Saturday we stayed at home and got things ready for Gabryle's birthday party, then Sunday had his party! Hard to believe he is 2 now. Seems like it has just flown by! He seemed to have a great time at his party. We grilled some hot dogs since that is one of his favorite foods and ate lunch. After letting lunch settle we let Gabryle open his presents. He had a blast opening presents!! We got him a few of the Toy Story Characters and a pair of boots which he Loved! Jerrod also got him a Tonka Dump truck, one of the good metal ones, not a cheap plastic one. He also got a lot of outdoor toys that he has had a  blast with!
We then had some cake and then sat around talking while the kids played in the bedrooms and a little in the living room. Everyone started leaving around 230, 300 and then we relaxed the rest of the day. we tried getting Gabryle to sit still to take a nap but he wouldn't. We ate our dinner and then around 7 Gabryle started getting extremely cranky. Jerrod picked him up and laid down on the sofa with him and Gabryle was out fast! He was passed out asleep before 7:30 and stayed asleep till he came in our room around 3 this morning before falling back asleep beside me in our bed.
All in all it was a good weekend for us! Mackenzie had a great end to a bad week, and we all got to celebrate Gabryle turning 2.

Till Next Time!!

Similarities

I have noticed over the past 4 years, how much younger siblings pick up from their older siblings. Myself growing up the third child of four assume I learned a lot from my older brothers. I can sit and watch Kylie, and see many of Mackenzie's characteristics in how she does certain things, and I know its just from watching Mackenzie do it, or having Mackenzie show her.
similarities
The past few weeks Mackenzie has had to memorize a poem for class for a grade. Her teacher will have them do this all year, so the kids at an early age will get more confident standing in front of a group and speaking, and to also work on memorization. I think it's great that she is starting it so early. We have worked on the poem in the evenings and Mackenzie had it memorized fairly quickly. I did not realize how much Kylie was paying attention to what we were doing. Yesterday, Wednesday, Kylie started reciting the poem that Mackenzie has had to memorize, and said it word for word, including the title and author where they were to be spoken. She was so proud of herself and she should be. She even went and said it to her teacher today.

I have even started noticing Gabryle pick up little things from the girls. He will go to their room and then come out with a barbie, or one of the girls ponies and a hairbrush and climb up on the sofa and sit and brush their hair, or if one of the girls brings a book and sits in the living room he will do that same. He'll even bring books and look at them when they don't. Even though they do a lot of things alike, they still are three completely different personalities. It will be interesting to see how much more they grow as individuals as they get older.

Till Next Time!!

Imagination!

Mackenzie and Jerrod watching the US Open

Kylie playing with buckets

Weekends in our house are usually pretty quiet. We don't plan a lot of big activities to do with the kids, and don't keep them so busy they can't do what they want to do around the house. This weekend was no different. We stayed at home, let the kids play around the house and not have to worry about doing a lot of extra stuff.

Gabryle "cleaning"

 The fun thing about just letting them do what they want during the weekend, is watching them come up with new games to play or new ways to entertain themselves while playing in their bedrooms. The girls usually play school, or work, and 95% of the time Mackenzie is the teacher. Kylie is most always the student, and every now and then Gabryle gets to play school with them too, until he decides he wants to start tearing up the papers or trying to eat the crayons. The girls also love to play their radio and dance around their room. It's usually always to Justin Beiber, but occasionally they grab one of my old Cd's and listen to it.

Mackenzie Reading while Kylie
fixes her horses hair.

 One nice thing that we have gotten the kids to know, is that they don't have to have us find them something to do. They can go find a simple toy in their room and have fun with it. they also love to sit and look at books and sit and color. Most of the time also they would rather play than watch television. I love that about them. Yes they have their favorite shows they like watching, but usually after that they find something do do else ware and keep themselves busy. Sometimes Gabryle can even get the girls to go with him into his room and play trucks with him. It usually starts out as trucks but ends up being some weird game that Mackenzie or Kylie has come up with, but brother doesn't care as long as he still has them playing with him.

Kylie trying to do a handstand
in her princess and Tinkerbell
boxes

I love listening to them play. I love that they play so well together also. I think a lot of kids today don't play as much as they should. They rely on cartoons and movies to keep them busy and video games. Yes our kids watch TV and play video games, but for the most part, I limit their games and usually with the TV I don't have to limit it. They get bored with it. The shows that they do watch on TV are nine times out of ten on our local PBS station, so I don't mind them watching the shows on there. Mackenzie's favorite is Word Girl, Kylie's favorite and Word World and Gabryle loves watching Super Why. That's probably why they have such great imaginations and able to play so well without being told to.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures I have posted randomly throughout this blog post.  These were taken this past weekend while the kids played.

Till Next Time!