Loop de Loop

One day when I had a lot of work to do I asked Cailey to play by herself while Braden and Kinsey were sleeping. Usually she doesn't like to, but when I gave her the links she was occupied for a long time. She started pulling her links into the living room (where I was working) and I couldn't believe how long she had made it! She ended up making the links wrap around the entire downstairs and then went back and made a 'necklace' to go around the kitchen island. I was very impressed because she spent so much time on her activity and was very creative!!

From eventually to embarrased...

I know I keep doing posts on Cailey's funny verbal mistakes...but I just had to do another one:). She was stuck on using the word 'eventually' ALL the time in the wrong context and finally stopped a few weeks ago. Ex. "Eventually put something away right now." I could go on and on but she just said the funniest phrases with that word! Her new favorite word to use is embarrassed. Just now she said, "It's embarrased that the blanket is not fixed because I'm cold". Very cute:)!!! Another thing she says constantly is "Are you serious?" ***Flashback pic from Oct 2003***

Christmas has begun!

We have a tradition of decorating the Christmas tree after the parade (which may sound weird to many of you because it's so early) so it will be done when we come home from Thanksgiving. I LOVE the Christmas season and want it to last as long as possible:). So the kiddos helped decorate the tree and Kinsey put the angel on the top! I also love making tons of Christmas crafts and ornaments with the kids too so I thought I'd share some of the photos of the finished products. One important thing I learned was to only do crafts when Kinsey is sleeping (unless there is another adult present to help). She gets too wild with the markers, paint and spills beads everywhere...but she loves joining in when she sees everyone else.

Cailey and Braden really enjoyed
decorating the tree!

The kids always 'make' their wrapping paper
by painting, coloring, using do a dots, and stickers on white
paper.

Snowflake ornaments for everyone this year! Oh....and
Cailey and I have been able to make quite a few things while
she's been tracked out:)

This was HARD with Kinsey!!! Do you like the new door
art? We had the whole family participate with this one...
even Daddy did his hand prints!!

The Potty Diaries...final entry

I thought I'd do a final entry on the potty training and post this adorable picture of Kinsey reading a book...that's right, she actually sat still long enough to look at a book (It was a very cute moment to see her sitting there on the bean bag like a big girl). Kinsey is doing great with potty training at home both at naptime and night time. She continues to do well with long road trips, mall outings and while I'm at work too! The last thing we had to overcome was getting her to come out of her room and tell us when she had to go. For so long we taught her she had to stay in her bed but now we have been telling her to come out if she needs to go potty. FINALLY at 9:00 last night she came out and told us...it was a very proud moment. I feel like I can take a deep breath and say that currently there are NO MORE diapers in the Barbour house...something that hasn't happened in five years.

Farewell to 'Lello'

I have always cherished the 'baby' words that the kids say (since they don't say that many) and this weekend Cailey said yellow for the first time. It may seem silly but for some reason I was sad to see the last baby word go...even though I knew it was time. She has always said 'lello' and I never corrected it until lately. We played LOTS of Candy Land at Nonny and Poppy's which gave her plenty of opportunities to say yellow. My baby is growing up:(.

Oh..and on a side note...last week Marsie watched Cailey for me and yesterday Cailey said, "Another word for dog is smooth." I said, "What? Why are you saying that?" She said, "Because Ms. Marsie kept saying smooth instead of dog." I laughed...what I think she meant to say is MOVE instead of smooth...Marsie must have been telling Riley (the dog) to MOVE a lot:)

More Turkey Day Memories 2007

Braden found a pile of yellow leaves-
his favorite!

Peek a boo with a silly wig

Getting creative with only a few
toys and games...Jenga on Mommy's
head!


One of their favorite games was to try and take Poppy's slippers
and socks off so they could tickle him!


We went on a walk around the block and
halfway through Braden asked where the brick was...
he thought I said we were going on a walk to look
for brick instead of around the block-Oh brother!

Baking Thanksgiving Goodies

While Kinsey and Braden were napping Cailey helped Nonny make cinnamon bread and two pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. She 'tried' to crack eggs...a skill we clearly need to work on and stirred, mixed, and poured the ingredients. Cailey loves to help in the kitchen but has a fascination with smelling and touching everything too...it was quite funny to see her smelling flour and touching all the ingredients-which was driving Nonny bonkers! The pies and bread turned out great of course and Cailey was proud to have helped bake them.

A Great Tree for Climbing

The trees turned colors late this year at Nonny and Poppy's so we were able to see beautiful colors and play in the leaves! I even found a tree with a branch low enough to sit the kids in and hang from...they thought it was hilarious. (We don't have very many trees near our house, and certainly none that are good for climbing). Since the weather was warm they were able to play outside all morning and were joined by Poppy, who played ring around the rosie with Kinsey and Daddy who chased them all around:)

Giggling Girls

We drove North to see my parents for Thanksgiving Tuesday night and the trip went great! We have discovered that night time traveling is the best way to go...less whining and stopping for potty breaks. Kinsey did great (accident free) and they pretty much slept for two of the five hours. When we got to their house the girls decided they wanted to sleep together and were very silly! It was a cute moment to see them bonding...I really want them to be close as they get older. We didn't end up letting them sleep together because they were too wild (and it was 11:00 pm) but they had a fun time playing and goofing off:).

Book Worms

(Sorry Mom, I know you are going to
kill me for this pic)

They went through this WHOLE book
together...and it was very long:)

We went to see Laura again today and the kids had a great time...especially reading and playing outside. I took LOTS of pictures of their kids (check out Laura's blog for the outcome) which was so much fun! It was impossible to get all three babies to smile but I think we got some cute ones. I didn't take nearly as many pics when the kids were smaller, but I cherish the ones I do have and love posting flashbacks!

Christmas Parade

On Saturday we went to the annual Christmas parade downtown and the kids loved it! At first it was hard finding a place for them to stand and be able to see so Brian got a little creative and held the older two. After a few minutes we found a place that was perfect and everyone was able to see the whole parade. Cailey loved the cheerleaders (I have NO idea where she gets that from) and Braden was so excited about the marching bands. He has decided he would like to play the drums and I have decided to set up a playdate with Kellen so he can play them at their house:). Overall everyone had a great time and can't wait to go again next year!

Hair Chip

Now that Cailey's hair is long she is constantly getting food, etc. in it. I keep it pulled back most of the time but in the morning she goes right down to eat and is with Brian while I'm upstairs getting ready. I asked Brian to be sure and pull it back when she eats so it won't get sticky and be so hard to comb out (hence ripping, hence crying) and this is what I found the other day. Huh....well, I guess he DID pull it back....but notice the chip clip in her hair. Yes, I did say chip clip. Brian didn't want to go up and get an elastic so I guess it was very resourceful of him! I did however decide that it was NOT a good idea to do again:)>

Excerpts of Everyday Life

Braden: "Mommy, won't the trees be cold if all the leaves fall off?"

Cailey: "Braden, I'm so pressed that you can blow up that balloon by yourself! That's so pressive" (impressed)

Kinsey: She doesn't talk very much, but she did something cute the other day. Brian and I were rearranging furniture and had moved all the toys out of the way. AS SOON as we were done she took it upon herself to put everything back! We all watched her in awe...it was a sweet moment.

Cailey: "Can we have apple Snider to drink?" (Her teacher's name is Mrs. Snider)

Cailey: "I can't wait to see the boats at the parade" (floats)

Finally

I haven't been able to visit my friend Laura since she left the hospital with Isaac because Cailey's been in school and they live an hour away. Now that Cailey is tracked out we will be able to see them every week for the next three weeks-YAY!! The kids had been wanting to meet Isaac and missed their dear friend Rebecca (and Samuel and Hannah of course:)) so Wednesday we were finally able to go. It's amazing how it can still manage to be chaotic with lots of hands to help, but with 7 children 5 and under I guess it's pretty typical. The older kids got to play outside in leaf piles for a long time since the weather was so gorgeous! They have the most beautiful tree in their yard, I just had to take a picture. I was able to cut Laura's hair ( one of my hidden talents) and help calm crying babies...but most of all I was able to talk to my good friend! Oh...and for those of you wondering, Kinsey stayed dry ALL day including the long car rides:).

Cailey finally got to hold Isaac and
Kinsey sure wanted to!

Kinsey took Hannah's pacifier out of
her mouth and decided to feed her!

Enjoying the great fall weather

Vote For the Best!

I took the kids out the other day to take Christmas letter pictures. I took SO many pictures and these are the two that I think turned out the best but I can't decide which one to use. Please help us decide which one we should use for our card! Thanks in advance:)

Cuteness

Braden looked like Peter Pan when he wore
the hat he made at Sunday School! He gets
so excited to show us what he makes:)

Kinsey loves everything about
baby dolls....especially pushing them
in the stroller!

Granny got this coat and hat for
Cailey last year...words don't do it
justice! Such cuteness:)

Morning Fun

While I was at work the other morning Brian got creative with the kids. They had trolley races, played with play doh and built some great Lego creations! Cailey and Kinsey helped him make a robot while Braden made a tall tower. They were so excited to show me when I got home and I was very impressed:).

The Potty Diaries

Everyone has been asking me about the potty training so I thought I'd post an update. Brian did great with the potty training on Saturday...she only had two accidents in the morning and was dry for her nap! The rest of the day went great and she told us several times that she had to go. Sunday went well too and was the first day she had panties and pants on. There were NO accidents and I didn't even set the timer-I relied on her to tell me when she had to go. Today we went to her 2 year check up and she got 4 shots and two finger sticks yet didn't even have an accident with all that screaming! Afterwards we went out for lunch and ran errands and she was dry again today...oh....minus one accident in the morning while she was playing. Overall I think it's going awesome but tomorrow is the real test. Sheree and Steve will be watching her while I teach and I'm SO nervous that she'll regress! Hopefully it will be fine but I am definitely worried about it because I've always been home at least a week when I potty trained the others. Lift up the prayers!

Holiday Craft Shows

The kids enjoyed looking at all the handmade items

I am a big fan of Holiday craft shows and Christmas in general so I was excited to go with the family to our first one of the year:). We didn't find anything but it was still a fun time together. Cailey and Braden kept wanting to sample all the food and Kinsey was wanting to touch everything....what great memories!

Tangrams Galore!

We have all different kinds of tangrams (magnetic, regular, 3D, wooden, etc.) The other day while I was cooking Braden took out the flat magnetic ones and made this great train!! I was very impressed:).

The Training has Begun

So I had a three day weekend and decided to take advantage of it so I can finally potty train Kinsey. I am an all or nothing person (VERY type A) so when I potty train we throw out all the diapers and go with underwear all the time. The first day was as expected...lots of accidents in the morning but it got better as the day went on. Kinsey even went through the LONG carpool line with no accident! She woke up dry from her nap and in the morning from sleeping all night. My big concern is that she still can't say potty or tell us she needs to go so I'm relying on constantly asking her (she can say yes and no) and the timer. Pray for Brian tomorrow because I have to work and REALLY don't want her progress to stop. Hopefully they'll have a great day...I'll keep you posted:).