Bathroom etiquette

Janika has been doing really good lately at using the bathroom all by herself. We recently bought her a big step stool so she could more easily reach the sink to wash and dry her hands.

Down side: she likes to use every towel in the bathroom she can reach to dry her hands

Up side: at least she hangs them all up when she is finished!

Preschool Performance

There is nothing cuter than a bunch of 3 & 4 year olds getting up to sing in front of their parents!

I think my favorite part was when, during the 'Tom the Turkey' song, one little girl stated that she wanted to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - and so she did! Loud and proud she sang her solo right over the top of the rest of the class, and don't worry, she remembered to take a big bow when she was finished - way too cute!

Happy Halloween!!!

Well, overall I would say this year's halloween was a success!

Janika started the day with a pajama party at preschool, and they decorated the pumpkins they got on their pumpkin patch field trip last week.

Later we were off to 'Trick-or-Trucks' at the Maple Valley Community Center. Both kids had lots of fun checking out all the big trucks, getting to sit in them, and of course... getting candy!

It amazed me how quickly Keldon caught on to the whole concept. And let me tell you - I couldn't pry that candy bucket out of his little hand for anything!

After the trucks we came home for a nice healthy dinner (Here, eat more veggies, I know what's coming later!!!) and then it was off with Daddy to visit all the neighbors.

Let me just say something here --- when a cute little toddler comes up to your door, PLEASE no matter how cute they are, they really only need one tiny piece of candy! Joe and the kids only went to the end of our block and back (couldn't have been more that 15 houses total), yet Joe had to empty out Keldon's bucket into his coat pocket because Keldon couldn't carry it all. That's right, the little guy was actually dragging the bucket allong the sidewalk!

Okay, rant over :o)

After putting a very tired Keldon to bed, mommy daddy and Janika turned off the lights in her bedroom and played with the glowstick for a LONG time. Way too much fun for all of us!

You've got to be kidding me!

In the craziest case of sibling rivalry I've ever heard of, Keldon decided that if Janika had a bump on her head, then he needed one too...

Yes, one day after Janika got her goose egg, Keldon fell and got a matching goose egg!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Last Friday the kids and I had a great time visiting a local pumpkin patch as a field trip with Janika's preschool class.

We were running a little bit late (Mommy had to stop for coffee) so we were rushed right through the first stop and straight to the corn box.

Janika wasn't sure she wanted to get in at first, but after some coaxing she was tromping through the corn with everyone else.

At first Keldon didn't know what to think of this strange new experience, but soon he was playing around and trying to walk in it with the big kids!

Next stop on the tour was a climb up some hay bales, and down a slide into a hay maze.

So up Janika went climbing to the top of the stack and down into the maze.

She wandered her way through to the end - when you're 3 you don't feel obligated to stay on the ground... you can just as easily go over the bale 'walls' as around them!

The next highlight of the trip was visiting with the animals - Keldon got the first one right, it was a horse, but then everything after that was a horse too :o) Of course Janika enjoyed looking at the donkey, cows, pigs, bunnies, and kittens also.

Then we got to take a hay ride back down to the kids corral where the kids got some ice cream and got to pick out a small pumpkin to take home.

At this point the 'official' tour was over and we were free to get our lunch out of the car (which Janika had been very upset about leaving in the car when we first arrived) and sit down to eat.

After lunch we headed back up into the corral which we had had to skip earlier.

The kids had a great time riding the 'horses'

At this point disaster struck! I was showing Keldon the water pumps when I heard Janika start to cry. I headed over to see what had happened, and another mom told me that she had fallen. Okay, I've got this under control... uh-oh she also had an accident when she fell. Again, no problem, I brought a change of clothes, we just have to head back to the car to get them. At this point I try to get her to stop crying, you know, it's okay, we've got dry clothes, you don't need to cry, etc. but when I take a closer look at her - !!! OKAY go ahead and cry!!! Yikes!!! Off we go to find ice first, dry clothes second!

So, other than a nice goose egg on her head, the day was a success. We brought home 3 pumpkins, and both kids had lots of fun!

Where do they come up with this?

A couple of cute things have come out of Janika's mouth the last week or so, and I just had to share them with everyone!

After thunder and lightening the other night we woke up with no power. So I'm feeding Keldon and Janika comes in and gets in bed with me saying she wants to go downstairs and watch TV. Without even thinking I say 'Okay, I'll be down in a minute.' Next thing we hear is a little voice calling up the stairs "Mommy, the TV needs new batteries!!!"

When being naughty, I'll ask her if I need to smack her bottom. She says no, but graciously offers her hand and tells me I can smack that instead.

The morning after Keldon's first birthday party I go in to get Janika out of bed and ask her if she knows what today is. Of course she doesn't... When I tell her that it's Keldon's birthday today she responds with a very exasperated sounding 'Again???'

Okay, I'll admit it - I'm addicted to the Olympics. But I get a good laugh when watching beach vollyball. There are two players on each side, with the numbers 1 and 2. Janika refers to them as 'thing 1' and 'thing 2'.

And on the 'ohhh how sweet' side of things, I've had strep throat this past week and Janika would come up to me randomly and say "I'm sorry you no feel good mommy" awwwwww :o)

Happy Birthday Keldon!!!

So our baby boy turned one today!!! We celebrated yesterday with a party, and I'd like to think that he had a fun time. We decided on a 'bug' theme, and had a couple of really cute cakes decorated at a local bakery. They turned out really cute! And I made up a bunch of 'antenna' for guests of all ages to wear to help them get in the spirit. What I found to be the most interesting thing, was his absolute refusal of his birthday cake! We couldn't force a bite between his lips no matter how hard we tried - once he got that initial taste, he was DONE with it except to mush all the frosting between his fingers.

However towards the end of the day he was starting to feel kinda warm and not looking so well, so when I got him home I took his temperature - 104.4! Yikes! Poor little guy! So he has been pretty much sleeping all day today and just waking up every few hours to eat, fuss, and maybe play a little bit.

Janika's getting married!!??!!

So Janika tells me today that she needs to get dressed up in her princess dress because she is getting married. Curious. So I start asking questions and get the whole story. Apparently she is getting married to a Care Bear. He wants to marry her so that he can kiss her and become a King. I should note that the particular princess dress she was wearing is the one that she wears when she becomes Princess Fiona.

Happy Birthday Janika!!!

Well, Janika turned three yesterday, and we had a small party at our house to celebrate. She got to invite a few of her friends over for snacks, playing and cake. I had given her the choice of a few different 'themes' and she chose Curious George :o)

Then today we got a card in the mail from some good friends which we opened together and I read it to her. Afterwords she looked at me with a questioning look and asked "Is it my birthday again?" Too Cute!

Daddy must be proud of himself

Today Joe left early in the morning to catch a flight to Tucson. When Janika got up she asked where daddy was, and so I told her that he was in Tucson to which she replied "Daddy fly to Tucson on an airplane?". Fast forward a few hours and we're heading out to run some errands. As we're in the driveway Janika again comments that Daddy's in Tucson and he flew there on an airplane, to which I agree with her. She thought about it for a minute or two then said "Probably daddy drive to Tucson." "No, daddy flew." "Where daddy's Jeep?" So I explained to her how rather than us getting up early and driving daddy to the airport, he drove his jeep, parked it, then got on an airplane and flew. Fast forward a few more hours when we're getting home from all our running around - Janika asked if daddy was home yet... no his Jeep's not back yet... and then she says "Daddy drive himself to airport, Daddy learn how!"

So Joe's out of town again...

And I immediately get sick... Yuck!!! I guess that's part of the joy of having kids - you never know when the next cold is going to come through the family. However, I have no idea where this one came from, or even if the kids have had it yet! I know that sounds funny to not know if your kids have been sick recently but here's the story: About a week ago Keldon had a slight fever, and just wasn't feeling well. This went along with lots of drooling and a new tooth cutting through, so I figured it was just teething... Two days later Janika has a fever and just wasn't feeling well. This went along with funny looking red spots all over her arms and legs. I took her into her doctor who said it was bug bites even though they were not itching at all. Okay, whatever, at least it's not something like chicken pox!... So here we are a few days later and I'm having dizzy spells, I'm stuffed up, slight fever... and no way of knowing if the kids have already had this or not!!!