Happy Halloween 2007!!!

Look at these cuties! Kinsey was a very cute cheerleader, Cailey was a bug (she decided at the last minute that she'd rather be a bug than a princess this year) and Braden was our own little Nemo! We have a Halloween tradition of going to the mall for dinner and trick or treating, then off to the church for a fall festival, and then home to trick or treat at a few neighbors houses. So in true bug fashion when we were at the mall Cailey ran SMACK into a glass wall. It was so surreal I couldn't believe that she did it! She was knocked down and has a knot on her head but was mostly just embarrassed because it happened in front of a lot of people. Miss Kinsey was a big girl and instead of riding in the stroller at the mall she decided she wanted to walk beside it and hold on like Cailey and Braden do. Braden LOVED the bouncy slide at church. He flipped over at the bottom of the slide and was giggling so much! Cailey and Braden played games at church but Kinsey only played them when the adult who was 'manning' the station didn't have a costume on. She was really scared of the costumes. She even saw her good friend Elena (who she was with all morning) and wouldn't go up to her at first because she had a Minnie Mouse costume on! The kids rode ponies, which again Kinsey did NOT like. When she was waiting in line she was fascinated by them and pointed and said "dog" but when it came time to ride she was a sad girl. We ended the night with trick or treating and I realized how big they are! Cailey and Braden held hands and went to the houses while I waited at the mailboxes...wow....my babies are growing up!

Playing games

Done with the slide...pony time

Look at these big kids!

deja vu!!

So along with Braden, Kinsey has now joined the sleeping on the floor club. Why is it that my two Asians sleep on the floor? Maybe it's because they did it for the first six months of their lives...or in Kinsey's case, I think she just enjoys getting out of bed in the middle of the night to play and then falls asleep on the floor. I'm just thinking that we could have saved a lot of money by not buying new beds:)! Hopefully this won't cause back problems when she's older and we can keep her in the bed on the BRAND NEW mattress!

Hanbok Shoot

Every time it's Braden or Kinsey's birthday we have a mini photo shoot with their Korean outfits (Hanboks). When they came over from Korea as babies we were sent traditional dress outfits, Korean flags, books on Korea, and a few other trinkets. It's been so fun keeping up the tradition and dressing them up every birthday! I'll be sad when they finally grow out of them though. This time Cailey said she wished she had one so I decided to try Kinsey's on her. It actually fit with room to grow so we took her picture too:)

A Beary Fun Time

After the party Cailey, Anne and I went to the mall together. Cailey did really great even though we didn't go to play. We shopped, had girl time and walked around. Anne ended up buying her and Braden pj's and slippers for their Build-A-Bear stuffed animals and they were SO excited! Cailey got Hello Kitty jammies and we picked out Spider Man for Braden:). After Kinsey saw Braden and Cailey's bears she decided she wanted one too...so I guess Auntie Anne will have to schedule a playdate with her to make an animal!

Kinsey's 2nd Birthday

So her official birthday is Monday (the 29th) but we celebrated Kinsey's big day today. As mentioned before it was a circus themed party complete with a ball tent, an animal center, making popcorn bags, and face painting. The kids especially loved making the popcorn bags (with do a dots) and getting their faces painted. We had lots of balloons, clown noses and wigs which were a hit too. It's so hard to believe that my BABY is two! I am having a hard time with that because by the time my others were two I already had a younger one.

my clowns:).......................face painting


making popcorn bags and eating popcorn


Yummy clown cake!

Presents.............Look at these twins!

playing in the ball tent and cute Elena:)

Clowning Around With Auntie Anne!

Today Auntie Anne came to visit for Kinsey's birthday. The kids were so excited to see her and even Kinsey remembered her from last time:)! Anne is the sister I never had and most people who don't know us ask if we're sisters. She fits in our family so well....and I've been trying to get her to move here for years to help with the kids and hang out:)!!! Wishful thinking on my part...anyway....before she came I had the kids trying on some wigs and clown noses for Kinsey's party tomorrow. We are having a circus themed party and everyone is excited about it (even though they have never been to the circus!) Stay tuned for party pics and enjoy the previews below!

The clown noses fell off Braden and Kinsey because their noses are
so much flatter! Something I didn't think about when I bought them.

Tent Play

My dad built this AWESOME piece of furniture that houses all of our manipulatives. I have a ton of great things from when I taught like unifix cubes, magnetic tangrams, lacing beads, peg boards, color sorting objects, connectagons, etc. They have been in a cabinet and accessible to the kids but it's one of those things that was out of sight out of mind. Since dad made the furniture the kids have been able to see everything and have been playing with it all a lot more. Yesterday Cailey asked about a play tent that we used to have out. Cailey BEGGED us to buy her this tent and then never really cared that much about it. I tried so much to get her interested in it, then put it away. I took it out last year but again they didn't really play with it much. I don't know what made her think of it, but I'm glad she did because they all get a kick out of playing in the tent together all the time now and usually have some sort of manipulative, or learning toy in there. Cailey made a 'Halloween' pattern yesterday with the cubes and we were able to measure how long each of them was and how many it took to reach their heads.

YAY!!! We Made IT!

No rain, no baby, pumpkin patch, here we come! It was pretty cloudy at times but I was really hoping it wouldn't rain so we could go to the pumpkin patch on Monday and sure enough it was a success. It wasn't crowded at all (there we maybe 4 other families on the whole farm) and we just had a really great time together. We went on a hay ride, picked out pumpkins, went down a massive tunnel slide, looked at animals, visited a teepee and fort, went through a maze, searched for fish in a pond, went in a bounce house, played on a playground and sandbox, and took our sweet time! We were even able to make it educational and teach the kids some facts about pumpkins, chickens, cows and apples. I have to say it was so relaxing and fun I didn't think anything could go wrong.....or could it? I told the kids they could go in the bounce house one more time before we left to go home and eat. We did the whole "last one there is a rotten egg" thing and Cailey and I were racing. I turn around and see Brian carrying Kinsey and Braden to race with us also. Next thing I know we're a foot away and Brian falls with them kinda up a little hill. Kinsey cried so I picked her up...she was fine. I turn around and Braden has blood dripping from his head ALL OVER! I run inside to get paper towels and then find out that Brian's tooth collided with Braden's head. Brian was fine but my poor boy was bleeding and really upset. The cut was deep and we headed to the emergency room....but not before stopping to get him Chick fil A:). After spending two hours at the ER they ended up leaving the cut open (oh joy) because they didn't want the natural bacteria from Brian's tooth to cause an infection inside Braden's wound. Supposedly it's going to continue bleeding over the next few days (oh joy again) but with antibiotics and time it will heal. Even with everything that happened, the pumpkin patch was so fun and we'll definitely go at the same time next year....just without the racing.

Plan C...The Miracle

On Sunday morning at 2:00 am our phone rang. I knew it could only mean one thing...Laura had FINALLY gone into labor! I put on my clothes and raced to the hospital in a nearby city. After getting lost and nearly having a panic attack I finally arrived and could help them out in the hospital room. I had been looking forward to this because I am not having anymore babies (unless God knows something that I don't) and it's Laura's last baby and she allowed me to be a part of it with Dennis and her mom. When I got there she was already 5 cm and three hours later she was at 8 cm. According to that timing I figured she'd be having him around 8:30 am, and I'd stay until 9:30. Then I thought I'd run home, take a short nap and still be able to head on our way to the pumpkin patch like we had planned. HA HA HA! Check out Laura's blog for all the details but I can assure you it didn't go that way. As soon as I came back (5:30 pm) the kids were at Awana and I had to go do lesson plans with Sheree. When I finally got home (9:30) I fell into bed and boy I am still missing out on sleep! It was SO worth it to be there even if I am a little, tiny bit disappointed in the outcome (a c-section). My great friend, Stef was with me at Cailey's birth and I will never forget it! It was so special that she supported us and I was truly honored to be able to be there for Laura. So....hopefully we'll be making it to the pumpkin patch soon! The kids were really great about it but I don't think they'll be happy if something else happens to keep us from going there!

Date Night

'big kids'...............bigger kids:)

Our Sunday school class at church does this great thing once a month called date night. Two or three couples help watch all the children so the other couples can get away for a date for four hours. It's been very successful and I don't think Brian and I would ever get out without it! This past Saturday night it was our turn to help with watching the kids. Our class has grown so fast because everyone keeps having babies:). We watched 22 kids ranging in age of 3 months to 8. We played outside until dark, fed them pizza, (big kids on one side, bigger kids on the other) and then they came in to either do art work or play in the playroom. Overall it went great and was not at all stressful:)

Another Friend turns 30!

Today we went to a birthday party for Geof who has now joined the 30 club. I think the kids are expecting to go to 'grown up' birthday parties all the time now because we've been to so many the last couple of years. I tried to explain that we would probably not go to anymore grown up parties until everyone turns 40 and Cailey said, "Well that's not fair if you don't get a party just because you are old"...thanks Cailey:). Oh, and she was quick to inform Geof today that his cake had A LOT of candles on it. The guys played frisbee golf in the morning and the women and children joined them for a picnic lunch at noon. Once again it was a new park to me...and one that actually has shade-YAY! The kids loved the playground equipment and I love the shade, so that's one I'm sure we'll see a lot of:)

Plan B

So Thursday Brian took off work to stay with Kinsey while I taught because our other childcare was out of town. We decided to make a fun day out of it after picking Cailey up from school. The fabulous plan was to go to the pumpkin patch and stay until time for ice skating. (Cailey had to make up a class). I even got Marsie to work for me in the evening so I didn't have to come back and teach! (Thanks again Mars!) Well, our plan failed miserably when it decided to downpour as we arrived at the farm. We tried to wait it out but the storm didn't stop, and even if it had everything would be all wet. SO I put on my mommy thinking cap while Cailey was crying about not getting out of the van and decided we should all go paint pottery:). Cailey and Braden have both painted plates before but Braden dropped his a couple months ago (which devestated me of course because it had his sweet little handprint on it) and it broke. So we went and he painted another plate and Cailey chose a bowl. Kinsey did great for about 20 minutes to sit and play with sponges but then she realized she wasn't painting and wanted to 'fix' that. We managed to get it done and keep the acyrlic paint out of her mouth 98% of the time so that's success right? Afterwards we headed to ice skating and then home. Hopefully we'll get to try the pumpkin patch again on Sunday!