One is Silver and the Other's Gold

Yesterday we had a great opportunity to meet with a new friend from our Sunday school class. Friday is really my only day off and we've been trying to get together for a while...so I was happy when we were able to meet today. Cailey was in school, so Braden, Kinsey and I met Beth and Jackson at the mall to play and have lunch. (Her older son, Harrison, was in school also). Even though the play area was kinda crazy we still had plenty of time to talk! We laughed about the fact that we feel like we already know each other well because of our blogs:). The kids had fun...and even enjoyed some outside time in the 'cooler' air. We had a great time and can't wait to play again!

Kinsey wanted to be with the boys :)

'THAT' House

So I've always said that I wanted us to have the 'IT' house for kids in the neighborhood to come and hang out at. The other day I had a glimpse of that when Cailey wanted to go out and play. We had been out in the heat all day and I didn't want to go out again, but Cailey wanted to play outside in the front yard. Barbour rule says that you can't play in the front yard by yourself (sorry guys, I'm a bit paranoid). There were lots of kids playing down the street and I told her that if she could find someone to play with at our house then she could play in the driveway or front yard. She walked down the street and asked all the kids if they wanted to come over and play at her house. From the picture you can see that many of them were older than her, so I really expected them to say no, but all of the sudden everyone rode their bikes over and came to play! I was so excited for Cailey and Braden because we don't usually get to play with the neighbor kids due to them not being home because of day care, school, our kids bedtime, etc. They got along SO well and the older ones were really sweet to Braden and Cailey. They had relay races, played hot potato and played with all the yard toys. I brought them drinks and snacks...and overall I think the kids had a blast! Hopefully this will continue and the kids will enjoy hanging out over here (where I can watch everyone:)).

relay races and hot potato

Cailey learned some new and 'interesting' ways to
play on her swing set

Fake Smiles and Tattoos

Cailey was so excited when she came home from school and said she had two exciting things happen today. The first was that she was the line leader again.....and apparently it's the most exciting job you can have in Kindergarten! As a teacher, I know how happy kids are in any grade when they get to be the first person in line. The second thing was much bigger, and a first. At her school the kids have an opportunity to earn 'Eagle Bucks' from adults who are not their own teacher. You get them by behaving in the halls, carpool lines, cafeteria, etc. Once you earn 10 Eagle Bucks you get to buy something with them at the school store. Cailey has been talking about wanting a necklace or maybe a book when she had enough bucks. Well, she got in the car and told me she had earned all 10 bucks and I couldn't wait to see her new treasure. Can you guess what she got? Yep, a good ole tattoo. I thought...why didn't she get a necklace or book (something that lasts longer than bath time). When I asked her about it she said, "Granny, Uncle Matt, Aunt Michelle, and Aunt Laura have tattoos and they said I had to be old to get one. I wanted to get one today instead." (Great role models huh? Love you guys:)) Lord, PLEASE let this child stick to temporary tattoos! Another thing....anybody notice the 'fake smile' she's developed? It's so hard to get her to show me a real smile for the camera now. I almost have to get someone to tickle her for it to be real.

Normalcy

So several friends have made fun of me from time to time saying that I've had it easy with Cailey and Braden because they were not "normal" in the misbehavior category. I must admit, they were both very well behaved toddlers..we had our problems, but NOTHING compared to what we are going through with Kinsey! As the kids get older, it seems like their behavior is getting worse instead of better. Lately our 'easy' boy has changed...and is forming some negative behaviors. His favorite phrase is, "I don't want to." It's becoming more frustrating as the days go on because he's getting more and more adamant about saying it, and just not wanting to do anything. Now...we're not asking him to do anything unusual...even fun things like playing or going somewhere fun have him saying, "I don't want to" followed by throwing a fit and flapping his arms around. I was fed up a couple days ago and MADE him do some fun things...he was smiling and laughing the whole time whenever I ignored his complaints, so I guess I'll have to just ignore the whining, because nothing else is working. He's a great little guy and we love him so much! Hopefully he'll grow out of this VERY soon! If any of you have experienced this I'd love some advice:).

All For A Great Cause

Singing on Stage: check

Storybook Safari booth for stories and games: check

crafts: check

Digging for dinosaurs: check

Getting hair painted green and blue: check

Making a boys dream come true (firetrucks
and race cars): check

Saturday afternoon we went to a Juvenile diabetes fundraiser event. The kids had a blast visiting each booth...above are pictures of what they loved the most. Hopefully next year it won't be 98 degrees though...it was SO hot that we ended the day at Chick fil A for air conditioning and a yummy late lunch.

Calzonie?

Cailey started ice skating lessons two weeks ago and has already come a long way! Last week they learned how to fall down...she was really good at that:). This week they were working on getting back up. Cailey did awesome!! We were so proud of her! She got up so many times and 'skated' for the majority of the lesson this week. It's very interesting because there are a lot of kids in her class, so the teacher really has her hands full. The biggest problem is that when she sees all the kids falling down, she thinks she is supposed to fall down also.
Before her lesson this week, the Zamboni came out on the ice and the kids were fascinated by it. After a while Cailey said, "When is the Calzonie going to be finished?"

Just the girls...well almost

Friday evening I took JUST Cailey to a play date with a friend who we've been trying to get together with all summer. We were finally able to make it and Cailey had a blast! It was really nice that she could spend time with Mary Claire and Elle...and they belong to a great pool! Even better....Bennett grilled out burgers and dogs for us too. Cailey did some awesome swimming under water and really had fun being silly with Mary Claire. By 7:00 we were all freezing and ready to go home. Thanks so much for the dinner and pool time Bennett and Jen!

Side by Side

Last night Cailey came in our room to sleep because of an accident. This morning when Kinsey came in I wanted to give her a hug, but she walked right past me and pointed to Cailey! She missed her sister being in the same room and wanted to give Cailey a hug instead. When we were at the beach I had the girls sharing a room and sleeping in two twin beds since they were used to it. At one point it wasn't working out so we tried to have Cailey in a different room. After Kinsey was put to bed and we were putting Braden and Cailey down, we turned around to see Kinsey in our room with her pillow, blankie, and bunny that she DRAGGED all the way from the other room! She truly missed Cailey and wanted to sleep with her. Hopefully this will last for many years:)

Pay???

Brian was meeting with people from work to draft fantasy football players so I decided to meet my friend Marsie and her son Braeden for dinner at the mall. After we ate and the kids played for a while Braeden and Cailey decided they wanted to go on the 'rides' at the mall. I usually say no because I don't want to pay 75 cents for a ride that lasts 20 seconds. Marsie said, "what?, pay? Why would you pay?" I told her Cailey would expect the ride to move and she informed me that Braeden had fun just sitting on the rides even if they don't move. Fortunately Marsie 'shook' the rides and made them move for Cailey:) Thanks Mars!! Overall we had a great time with Marsie and Braeden, and are so blessed to have their friendship.

My Poor Baby Boy

Yesterday afternoon I was in my room doing lesson plans with the TV on for background noise. Cailey was at a Reading Games class and Kinsey and Braden were napping. I heard a heart-wrenching scream and ran to see what had happened. I walked in Braden's room and this is what I saw. My poor boy! As soon as I picked him up he stopped crying (he's really strong and never complains about pain). He told me that his bed hit his head and the train table hit his eye. Our best estimation is that he was getting down and somehow banged his head on the iron bed and hit the train table on his way down. I was FREAKING out!!! I don't deal well with blood coming from the eye...or anywhere, really. I immediately put ice on it and called the doctor. They reassured me that he'd be fine-but blood in the eye...gimme a break! I had to go in. Ends up he's fine, but the doctor says he'll look a lot worse before he looks better. He has said a couple times that his eye hurts (which means it must REALLY hurt) but for the most part he just continues playing with no problem. He was very talkative after it happened and while at the doctor, was most concerned about missing Barney and dinnertime. Of course I HAD to let him watch Barney when he came home..and give him chocolate milk with dinner...and let him sleep with me:). My boy is better today..but informed me that when he gets really hurt he can come out of his nap and get chocolate milk and hugs:)

Road Trip

Cailey was so happy to see Jamison!

Who's the baby? Kinsey loved getting
in Emily's swing!

Introducing..Emily Jane! Kinsey LOVES babies...she
can sometimes be a little rough, but only because
she wants to hug them:) Braden was so sweet with her!

They played well together...for the most part.
It's amazing how much they enjoyed playing
with baby toys though.

This weekend we took a family road trip to meet Adele and Jamie's new baby, Emily Jane. She was born August 21, 2007. It was so fun catching up and seeing how big Jamison (2 1/2) has gotten. We had a very relaxing day with them catching up, reminiscing and building new memories.

Nicolas was holding onto Braden

Again with the baby toys...but they
loved them!

On the way home from Adele and Jamie's, we stopped at Matt and Leigh's to eat dinner. (My brother and sister in law). It was a great chance for the kids to see their cousin Nicholas and hang out. It was a quick visit, but fun and I'm so glad we got a chance to see them:) Thanks guys!

Go Heels!

Cailey and Braden on 4/6/05

Cailey on 9/9/04 Kinsey on 9/2/07

Today we broke out the Tarheel Cheerleading outfit to see if it fit Kinsey. Brian was really excited to see that it did, so I decided to let her wear it today. He brought out the basketball, which Kinsey loves and the kids played it for a while before we went out of town.
Cute Memory: When Cailey was 2, Brian taught her to say, "Go Heels, beat Duke!"

A Day at the Museum

inside the "little red caboose"

tunnel of love:)

playin' around

making beautiful music

row, row, row your boat

Friday was a continuation of our fun week when we went to the Museum of Life and Science with the our friends. We went early enough so it wouldn't be to hot when the kids were playing outside and it really wasn't that bad. The kids had a great time and it gave Laura and I time to catch up and chat. Hopefully we'll still be able to figure out how the kids can hang out when preschool, kindergarten and my new job assignments kick in!

Two cute things said by Cailey: 1. Are they with the raccoons? (This was in the butterfly house and she meany cocoons) 2. Let's do the tomato (she was talking about the tornado simulation).

A Great Week!

This week was really the first week in a long time that I wasn't working a ton and Cailey was tracked out, so we did lots of fun things together! On Monday I did teach a couple classes and afterwards we went to the mall to meet with friends and play. Tuesday we went to the see Rebecca in Henderson- and that's always a blast. I actually got a pic with all six kids...can't wait to get one with all eight:) Wednesday we met church friends for lunch and then more friends for dinner-there was plenty of time for the playground too:)

Thursday we helped celebrate Marsie's birthday at Raleighwood Cinema. I wasn't sure how Kinsey would do at the movies and have avoided it all summer, but now I'm regretting that decision because she did awesome! She just ate popcorn the whole time. Happy birthday Marsie:)

Boyfriend???

We were caught in a rainstorm at Broadway at the Beach and had to take cover in a store. The sales ladies were fascinated with the make-up of our family and kept talking to Braden and asking us about Kinsey. They finally started talking to Cailey and asking her how old she was, etc. Then, they asked her if she had a boyfriend. I, of course, thought that was ridiculous but waited to hear what Cailey had to say. She said, "yes." I asked her who (not really wanting to hear the answer...one never knows what they learn in school) and she got really shy and said, "Kellen". Oh...I'm okay with that!