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!!

Can we rewind please?

What a day yesterday! Our day here started out normal, but turned out to be a little scary. Jerrod took the kids off to school so they could eat breakfast as they have been and he headed to work. I fed Gabryle and started on some dishes and then the phone rang....
The school called and said that our daughter was in the office and was hyperventilating and collapsed at school and was in the nurses office and we needed to come get her. I immediately called Jerrod and he headed up to get her. when he got there she tried talking but she couldn't get any words out and he could tell she wasn't doing to well. She couldn't use her right arm or leg and actually collapsed at school coming out of the bathroom before heading to the nurses office. He rushed her up to the ER and they got her back right away. They ran their blood tests and when they came back normal did a ct scan which came back normal. Needless to say she started getting better and the ER pretty much came to the conclusion that she just had a stomach bug. Jerrod and I however thought of it to be a migraine. She had all of the symptoms Jerrod has when he has a migraine. She was released and we went home. She slept the rest of the afternoon and woke up around dinner time and ate dinner. She had a headache the rest of the evening and it eventually wore off.
We took her today to her regular physician and explained to him what went on. All in all he did not concur that it was a stomach bug and has decided if she has another episode like what she had yesterday we are to get her to the er and while in the process of doing that call HIM so he can get an MRI and another Brain Imaging Scan done while she is still having her symptoms so we can see if anything shows up on the scans.
All in all yesterday was very un-nerving. I did talk with her teacher and ultimately she was not feeling well through breakfast either. One of the lunch ladies noticed she wasn't using her hand as she normally did. When Kenzie got to class shew as crying and her eyes red and told her she just did not feel right, so Mrs. Rayburn said she can go to the bathroom and then head to the nurse's office. She got to the nurses office but had to be taken by the janitor who happened to be at the right place at the right time. She was right by the bathroom as Mackenzie came out and just collapsed. I'm in a way glad Kenzie doesn't remember all that what happened, but it kind of makes it more scary that she can't remember everything.
To top that off one of her good friends was in a car accident and ended up passing in the middle of the night last night. The school called and mentioned to me what happened so we could let Mackenzie know. She is sad about it and made a card for the girl's family. We've talked about it and she knows there are people at school she can talk to and of course, she can always talk to either of us or anyone in the family.
Ultimately, if I had a rewind button I would have pressed it already and gone back and maybe kept Kenzie home or something. Of course how were we to know she was going to end up collapsing and everything? Might have never known.....

Till Next Time!

Gribble and his games.

Gabryle loves finding out new things. A few weeks ago he figured out how fun it is to take a roll of scotch tape and just keep pulling it out and having this sticky stuff to put onto his toys. I think he is so amused by it due to the girls using it to put pictures up on their walls every now and then, plus I use it when the girls have a really good paper from school up on the fridge. (I know I should use more magnets but they block the paper!)
Today he figured out that it is fun to take some pieces of tape that i gave him to firstly, but together pieces of junk mail I gave him to make one big paper collage. He first positioned the papers to where he wanted them to be then I gave him a few small pieces of tape and he put them on the papers. Not all were on the seams, but he was having fun. Surprisingly also he was able to pull a few of them off without ripping the paper or getting the paper stuck to the tape. This made him so excited!

He then came up to me and tried putting the tape on my arms, and then pulled it off. Needless to say that it didn't feel to great when he pulled it off. It still had quite a bit of the stickiness to it.
After this he decided it was time for us to play our "hi" game.  He crawls up in my lap smiles and says "Hi" in his normal voice. I respond with a smile back and say "hi."Then we repeat this over and over however sometimes we whisper and sometimes we are loud. We'll do this back and forth for a good five minutes or so. Today we had to get waving involved with it also. So along with saying hi, we also got to wave back and forth to each other. He may not talk much, but he sure does know how to make you smile.
He has also gotten to love telling people to "shh." It's to the point now that he puts his finger up to his lips and says "Shh" then grins and sometimes giggles at you for it. If you do it back to him he gets a serious look on his face and tells you "shh" again. Sometimes its "hush" I think. What I love most about him saying it, is that when the girls are arguing he will go up to them and get in the middle of them or at least go up to them and go "SSSHHHH" and then walk off, never breaking a smile. He always usually keeps the straightest face telling him that until he sees me or Jerrod and then smiles and laughs.
Yesterday evening as we played outside, Mackenzie started catching grasshoppers, which to Kylie is just "gross!!" Kenz would catch one and Kylie would walk over to her and then brother ran up to them and slapped at Kenzie's hand which made the grasshopper jump, and it jumped towards Kylie. She ran and screamed as loud as I have ever heard her scream. Of course, this made Gabryle laugh and jump around. So when Kenzie found another grasshopper and Kylie walked towards her Gabryle was back slapping the bug and again Kylie ran screaming. Needless to say this happened a few more times, and Kylie finally figured out to stay away when a grasshopper was in hand.
I can't wait till he gets older to play more with the girls. Who knows what type of bugs and what not he will find to chase Kylie after with. Only time will tell!

Till Next Time!!

Just an opinion

So, this morning I was playing on the computer and went to The learning channels website and the Discovery Channels website, and while on TLC's website glanced across the picture of Toddlers and Tiara's. I hate that show. The whole concept of the show to me is stupid and not to mention I have never been one to promote putting children in beauty pageants. (So if you are reading this and love putting your children in the pageants, I am sorry if I upset by this blog post!)
I have never put our girls in beauty pageants. I think it is stupid to spend so much money, on one event, that just parades little girls around trying to get them so conscious about their appearance. Little kids are cute to begin with and if they have to be told they are by getting trophies and tiaras then I think they have a problem. Honestly, how many of those kids honestly enjoy having to sit for a few hours to get makeup on and their hair done by hair and makeup teams? Why would a parent want to spend so much money on a dress they will be able to wear a few times due to the child growing up so fast?
I am pretty sure I am not the only parent who feels this way about children's beauty pageants. Course I know that there are many parents out there that live on putting their child in pageant after pageant. I could just not do that. I would go CRAZY seeing all the parents who are way to into putting their child in a pageant. Paying for a makeup team, and hair stylist and spending so much money on a couple of dresses is just outrageous! It's a waste of money. Why not put that money you are forking out towards something that will last, like a college fund or books for the child or donate it to an organization or school that needs help with funding?
Some of the prices they pay for those dresses are ridiculous. $300+ for a dress they can only wear to pageants is CRAZY!!! I think the most we have ever spent on a dress for either of the girls is $40. Heck, Mackenzie even barely wears dresses. She prefers a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and her boots. Kylie will wear dresses, but I never force her to wear a dress. She just likes them so she wears them. I usually always let the kids wear what they want to as long as it is appropriate and weather friendly. Every now and then I will tell them they need to change but that does not happen often.
Now I have done my little rant on beauty pageants and I'm done with it. Hopefully I did not offend anyone. Just remember if I did that this is just my opinion.

Till Next Time!!

Play

Watching the girls play outside is quite entertaining. As I write at the moment I am watching Mackenzie and Kylie play out in the yard since it is nice outside. I have Gabryle laying on the sofa for a nap, and Jerrod is at work. The nice thing about our neighborhood is we don't have a lot of heavy traffic to worry about, and in our yard, there is no road by it. The area we play in is surrounded by the other homes in our neighborhood. They get to play in the middle, and so do a few of the other kids from the area.

Both of the girls try and be the boss while they play. It doesn't always work out that they both try to, and most of the time end up causing fights, but so far today, it is good with the two of them. Mackenzie loves to be outdoors. If she could spend all the time outside she would. She doesn't mind getting dirt on her and plays in the mud when she can. She loves all sorts of sports and plans on playing as many as she can. Kylie however does not like to get dirty. She will play outside but doesn't like to get all muddy and dirty. She said she wants to try tball next summer so we will let her try. Never hurts to let her try something new, and a sport I think would be great for her to try. I can see her doing it for one season but that is it. I don't think she will be as into the sports like baseball and soccer. Now I can see her enjoying something like gymnastics or ballet.

I do love watching the two of them play together. Even though they don't always get along they can come up with some of the most interesting games to play. I have listened to them play aliens, vampires, chipmunks, and of course school and beauty place. Some of the games Mackenzie and her friends from school came up with during their recess last year in kindergarten.  Whats even more entertaining is when they are playing and Gabryle joins in the fun by running in at them then telling them to "shh" and run back out giggling. He can get those two laughing so hard its funny. Course they can get him to laughing really hard also. A few nights ago Kylie and Gabryle were in the Girls room playing and Mackenzie would run to the door look in at them and growl and Gabryle would just start laughing as hard as he could. Nothing better then hearing the kids laugh!

Till Next Time!

Cake Decorations

As October 1 approaches fast, its hard to believe Gabryle will be 2! Since lately he has been into the Toy Story trilogy really big, his birthday will be decorated with Toy Story decorations. I this year have decided as I usually do, to make his Birthday cake. I also have decided to try something new. Make some of the cake decorations out of Royal Icing. I love decorating cakes. When I can I try to make sure to do all the kids birthday cakes, and Jerrod's so I can decorate them. I think it's fun. It's a fun way to be artistic.

 Royal Icing is used to make the tiny decorations you see out of sugar, that are hard, like the happy birthday letters you can find at your local grocery store. Yes it takes a little bit to pipe out all the stars and letters and numbers I need, but in the end I think its worth it. Since we're doing Toy Story I haven't found any letters that I think will go with the cake I will make. (Yes the little yellow blobs in the picture are stars. From this picture they don't look like it to well, but they are stars.) If I can find them, I'll also put a few small figurines from the movie on the cake also as toppers.

The letters are not done yet. I'll add some yellow to them also to tie them in with the number 2 that is finished. I now will just wait to let them dry. It'll take anywhere from overnight to 48 hours for them to completely dry. It all depends on the humidity and temperature and all that wonderful weather. I will also try and make the Toy Story logo as best as I can. (Course not the keyword TRY). I am not keeping my hopes up on that one. The letters, stars, #2 and clouds turned out pretty well I think. When I get the cake finished before his birthday I will make sure and post pictures for you all!!

Till Next Time!!!!

The Girls

This week for the girls, they had another 4 day school week. Last week they had Labor Day on Monday, and this week was Parent-Teacher Conferences Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. I always find it interesting to see what the teachers have to say on how they are doing in class.

Kylie's conference was pretty quick. She's doing great in her class and loves to help her teachers do things and gets along great with the other kids. She does try and tattle a bit on other students but besides that she is doing well. She loves to play at centers and doesn't talk as nearly as much as Mackenzie did in pre-k. (she has the same pre-k teacher Mackenzie had when she was in pre-k). Her test her teacher gives all the students to see what letters, numbers, shapes and colors she knows was real good. She already knows the majority of the alphabet and a lot of the numbers from 1-10 and of course she knows all her colors. Nothing shocking from her report.

Mackenzie's teacher said she is doing really well also. Many papers and test results came back from her conference. At the girls school once they get into kindergarten they do "MAP" tests.(Measuring Academic Performance) It's taken 3 times a year so their progress can be tracked throughout the year. They started it at the end of last year so not a lot of tracking is available yet. When they test in January again to see their progress from the beginning of the year. Mackenzie tested in the reading/English and math right where she is supposed to test for her grade level. Some areas she did a little better on than others, but we're not concerned. She's doing great in learning to read and her teacher has no concerns over her learning how to read and how she is doing in class. She helps as much as she can and gets involved with projects all the time. She also goes to the library almost every day. She would prefer her last recess spent picking out new books. Her 5 week progress report was all "A's" and is off to a great start this year!

The next conferences will be after Christmas. I'm sure they will be good reports also. 

Till Next Time!