Gotta Love this Face!!!

8/2006

1/2008

Toothless or not...I can't get over these pictures! I might be biased, but really, how can you not smile when you see these?? When she did this the other day it reminded me of the beach pic so I just had to post it for all to see:)!

First Class Project!

On Monday Cailey brought home a paper saying that their 100th day of school was on Wednesday so they needed to do a project with 100 objects. It's a cute concept that we didn't do when I was in school (a LONG LONG time ago) and is a great way to work on math skills. This week has been busy for me so I was concerned with what we were going to do....I thought about Skittles, M&M's, and pennies but remembered candy does NOT do well glued on poster board-SO my friend (and boss, Sheree) suggested we use do-a-dots! I thought it was a brilliant idea...and free, which really made me happy! So today when Cailey got home she decided she wanted to make a rainbow using 100 dots. It was a cute idea and she did a great job! I must say that I am not a fan of these last minute projects though!

Little Mama

Kinsey has turned into quite the little mama lately! She's always been into jewelry, shoes, and babies...another words, she's girly:)! Last time Laura came she wanted to hold Isaac-how cute is that?? She only held him for a minute before getting down and walking away. At first we were confused but then she came back...with a book! She wanted to read him a story!!! I just thought it was so precious to watch:). She's also very "helpful" with Hannah and Samuel and likes to help them drink their bottles, find their pacifiers and bring them toys.

A Day with Daddy

Yesterday the Sunday school men took the kids out for a day of bowling. Cailey chose to go to a birthday party instead and I also had Kinsey so Brian was able to have some boy time with Braden. He bowled one game then decided that bowling was not for him...so he watched everyone else play the rest of the time:). I'm sure the heavy 6 lb ball had something to do with it!! Afterwards they went to get haircuts and then came home. On the way home he told Brian that it was fun to do things with just the boys:). I was impressed that Brian brought the camera but wish he had gotten a picture of them together...baby steps:)!!

Little Faces of FnF

Sarah Meredith.............................Ellary

Cailey and Kellen.....................Kinsey and Sarah


Addie................................................ Caroline

Caden............................................. Jack

Last night we had our first "Friday night Fellowship" with friends from our Sunday school class. Brian and I decided to make our house available on Friday nights so the kids can play together and the adults can have some fellowship time. We had a great time hanging out and catching up! The kids did great playing together and can't wait until next Friday night (neither can Brian or I:). I didn't get pics of all the kids...but here's what I have.

Belly's, Armpits and Hair??

GUESS WHO?

DEEP IN THOUGHT

YOU GUESSED IT, THE 'HAIR'

It's been pretty cloudy here the past couple days but I was still trying to get some pictures for a photography class I've been taking with my friend, Laura. These did NOT turn out the way I wanted them to...and the lack of light didn't help either. When I took a picture of the bicycle up close Cailey said, "Mommy, why are you taking a picture of my bike's hair?

Oh...and tonight I gave Cailey "The Cat In the Hat" to read for a few minutes before she had to go to sleep. She whined and said, "Mommy, I don't want this book because it doesn't have detailed colorful pictures." Wow... rejecting Dr.Seuss is pretty serious:)!

Caden and Braden

Since I am now only working Tuesday and Thursday mornings (YAY!!!) I have more time to get together with friends and set up playdates for Braden and Kinsey. This week Braden played with Rebecca on Monday and Caden on Wednesday. He's going to play with him tomorrow too:). They had a blast playing upstairs with the trains and playing outside in the backyard. I am really loving this small workload and I know the kids are too!

All about Me by Braden

My name is Braden. I am 3 and a half years old. I like gum. I like playing games with mommy. My favorite game is Hi Ho Cherry-O. I like to read lots of books. I like to play tickle with daddy.

Lap tart?

Tuckered out after a jam session at Kellen's party


Having a snack in the sun during nap time

Cailey had a big weekend full of parties and lots of playing outside with the neighbor kids. At one point on Sunday I asked Cailey what Brian was doing and she said, "He's on his lap tart again." I didn't know what she meant at first but quickly figured out she meant to say lap top:) So cute!!

Gotta Love Public School

I've struggled with what to do about the schooling option for a long time but finally decided to send Cailey to a public school. There's been ups and downs...I can see that's she's grown in some areas (fine motor) but many of the things they do are way below her skill set. I'm still debating pulling her out next year and homeschooling her...or maybe switching schools-who knows what will happen. We are trying to get her into a great charter school but the chances are slim to none that she'll get in. Anyway, for some background on this story, Cailey's been out of school for Christmas break and just went back this past Wednesday. Let me just say that this week was useless! She had a blast and loves it (and I know that's very important and agree that she needs to have fun) but educationally there wasn't much meat. She came home on Friday with this on her head. When I asked her what she did she told me her friend Suzy had a birthday party and they had a clown, got tattoos, ate cupcakes and ice cream sandwiches watched a movie and had free centers. Really, I mean why did I send her away for seven hours when she basically partied all day? The whole week before they got out for Christmas was the same way...those of you who are doing the public school thing feel free to send the encouraging words. I just keep telling myself that Brian and I went to public school and turned out ok!

Past Tense Problems

Brian asked me a couple weeks ago when Braden would learn how to use past tense words correctly. I didn't really know what he was talking about so I started paying attention more closely. Braden said, "I putted the bowl away" right after that. OH...I get it. So I told Brian it was cute and he'd get it eventually as long as we modeled the correct way to say things. Two weeks later it's driving me BONKERS!!!! Everything he says is in the wrong form! I really don't remember Cailey doing this and neither does Brian. So samples of Braden's past tense problems are: goed, putted, getted, stopded, swimmed, singed, takeded, rided, losed, seeed, catched, sitted, eated, gotted, founded, fixeded, takeded, swinged...really I could go on and on and on! I wish now that Brian didn't point it out because apparently I was oblivious before and it didn't bother me!! I know in the future this will be a cute memory....one that I'm sure I'll wish I could get back:) My favorite parenting quote (and I have no idea who said it first) "The days are long but the years are short" So true!

Young and Old Together

I remember when I was younger we went to a nursing home with the girl scouts. We had an 'adopted' grandparent that we would go back and visit every time. Mine was a sweet lady..whose name I don't remember but I do remember enjoying the time I spent there. Several people from our Sunday school class have been going to a local nursing home the first Friday of every month for a while but we weren't able to go until today. We went and the kids made a craft and talked to the elderly. Braden latched on to a man named Jack and talked and high fived him a lot! After the craft we went into another room for the kids to run around and play...with balloons:). I really enjoyed the time and the kids did too! Hopefully we'll be able to do it again next month.

Hide and Seek...and Chili

On Tuesday I took Braden and Cailey to Laura's and Brian hung out with Kinsey (while watching football) at home. It was a beautiful day and not too cold so the kiddos spent most of the day playing outside. It was a bit muddy from all the rain on Sunday but they didn't mind at all:). Their favorite thing to play is hide and seek so I tried to grab some pics in between the hiding.

When I got home we had our traditional New Year's Day meal of Chili and Kinsey was a riot with it! She kept saying, "mmmmmmm" the whole time and wanted to get every last bit...then wanted more..and even a third bowl! She was a mess afterwards, but she sure did enjoy herself! And for those of you wondering, yes, we do encourage eating with utensils...she ate most of it with a spoon but wanted every last bit!

Meet Ha Eun!

Ha Eun (pronounced Ha Yoon) aka Hiney (according to Braden) or Ah You (according to Cailey) is Kinsey's new Asian baby doll. I really wanted her to have one and thought it was silly that all of our babies were either white or black when most of the kids in our family are Asian. Nonny and Poppy sent her one in the mail and she was so excited to get it. (We do realize that she probably doesn't notice it being Asian, but it's still so cute!) It's HER baby doll...which is new...no hand me downs or one of Cailey's old dolls...we clearly explained that it was only for Kinsey. Don't get me wrong, we promote sharing but in this case I want her to have something that's only hers. She was so cute with Ha Eun, (who we've started calling Euny) she took care of her all day. She immediately said "juice" and ran to get a cup for Euny. After that she found her a pacifier, and a book to read to her. She's even taken out Euny's hair bow and put some of her own hair barrettes in her hair. I think she is copying our behaviors with Laura's babies because she sees them so often and constantly wants to 'help' take care of them. Oh...and for those of you wondering why we named her that, it was Kinsey's name when she was in Korea. It was kinda neat because Cailey and Braden were asking about the name (which was obviously hard for them to pronounce) and we talked about both Kinsey and Braden's birth names (his was Hyun Bin). After explaining and then some more explaining Cailey got really quiet for a minute before asking, "Mommy, what was my name when we lived in Massachusetts?" VERY CUTE!!! She also asks when her 'gotcha day' is and of course we say August 22nd:).

Happy New Year 2008!!!

My friend Beth told me that they have a 'first night' celebration for kids downtown so we decided to check it out this year. It was really neat...and the kids had a blast! We got there around 4:30 and had plenty of time to listen to kid's music, play instruments, dance, make party hats, shakers, and even necklaces! The kids didn't really understand what New Year's Eve was about so we talked about it on the way there and they were excited about counting down and screaming "Happy New Year!" We met up with Kelly and Brandon (whose children are Caden/3 and Caroline/7mo) and Beth and Anthony (whose children are Harrison/5, Jackson2, and baby GIRL!!!) Once all the crafts, etc were done we got to walk in a parade...which Cailey was SO excited about! There was a HUGE banner in the front and everyone else just followed behind on the street. At one point Cailey said, "Mommy everyone is looking at us and they are so excited because we get to be in the parade...and even waved to people!" It was really neat to see all the families out spending time together! The one major disappointment for Cailey was that they didn't count down, they just dropped the acorn with no warning. However, the fireworks display that followed afterwards made up for it:). We had a great time hanging out with our friends too and can't wait to do it again next year...and we'll have even more babies to join us then!

Check out their hats and shakers!

Braden made a necklace for Kinsey because it
was too hard for her...she was so excited! How
sweet is he??

I'm so thankful for old and new friendships!

All the kiddos minus Caroline who
was sleeping soundly in the stroller