What a Mess!

My little Kalli has always been a pretty good eater. But just recently she's gone from being a Great eater to still a good eater BUT a very messy one. This girl will eat and then just play in her food making the biggest mess! She'll tip her water cup over trying to shake as many drops of water out before she's caught and I take her cup away. Or if she's eating her veggies she'll just dip both of her hands in the ranch and just smear it EVERYWHERE! The other night she was eating chicken nuggets and had tore the last two nuggets into little pieces and were smearing them all in the ketchup and all over her plate, pouring water in her plate and also piling her nugget pieces all on her cup. I told her I was taking her plate away b/c she was playing and not eating and she yelled saying "I still eatin'!" So I let her have her plate for another minute and of course she didn't eat anything she just went right back to playing. So I took it away again and dumped the remainder of it in the trash. Well Kalli lost it and was screaming "I NOT done eatin'!!" I thought she'd calm down once I offered her some grapes but not a chance so just cleaned her up put her down. She went on with her tantrum for some time screaming in her room and while I was talking to Joe's parents. I was still on the phone and she snuck into the kitchen and started digging in the trash for her food! Joe found her, fussed at her and the screaming started again "I still eatin!!". Now it seems we can't have a meal without her making such a mess and if you try to take her plate away she flips outs. Today I just had to take a picture of her greasy ranch hands and face and soggy sandwich. Tonight no different except when I went to give her back her plate I told her she better take a bite right then and she did but then went right back to playing. Joe was about to take her plate again so I grabbed the camera hoping to get her fit on tape but she was actually done b/c she stacked everything up and said "yup all done". This little girl just has me laughing all the time. Hopefully I can get a video of her "I not done eatin" fit soon.

Daddy's Princess

Joe came home on Friday with a surprise for Kalli, a little pearl bracelet. He was at work walking back from a meeting with a supervisor when they passed someone selling homemade jewelry. His supervisor stopped to buy something and Joe saw a little bracelet that he thought would fit Kalli and had just the amount of money. I was probably more excited that he bought her jewelry than Kalli was but she still loved it. That's something my dad NEVER did was buy us girls jewelry. Given it would probably get rather expensive if he tried to buy 4 girls jewelry but I just think its so sweet and thoughtful and wondered if Joe would do ti for our girls. (If he didn't I would either make him or buy it myself and have him give to our daughter(s).) So needless to say I thought it was so sweet and tried to get a picture of the 2 of them together while Kalli was wearing it but Joe thought I was a dork and said no. So Kalli posed for me by herself to show off her pretty pearls.

Nothing Like a Saxon Bonfire

For any of you who have been to my parents house know my dad builds a serious bonfire. Yes that's right I said 'build'. My dad puts so much time making his bonfires that they're usually over 12 feet high. This one was no exception. Because of the hurricane many trees fell down in the woods behind my parents house. My dad has slowly but surely been cutting them up and preparing for a big bonfire. He usually invites our ward and anyone else who wants to come and enjoy the big fire, and that's what we did-enjoy. Burgers were provided by church and we had some yummy chips and drinks to go along with them. My dad builds a smaller fire off to the side for roasting marshmallow and has some hot coals with racks over them for the cooking. It's a pretty nice set up if you ask me. The weather was perfect, not too chilly or too hot, just comfortable. I only took a few pictures b/c Joe and I were pretty busy running after our kids to make sure they didn't try and cook themselves!

Some of the YM excited to play with fire

Is that not HUGE???

Those flames were so high and the little embers were falling all around like snow (but not something you'd want to catch on your tongue)

Fun at the Park

Last Thursday and Friday were just beautiful so me and the kids took full advantage of it and went to the park both days. Holly meet up with us on Friday and we had a great time. The kids enjoyed getting a lot of their built up energy out since we've been stuck inside with the cold weather. Thursday they had just turned the sand so it was so thick and hard to walk in (your fee just sunk into it). It also had a dark reddish tent to it which made the kids feet an orangish-red when we left but luckily it didn't stain their clothes or feet :). I was surprised at how compact it had become just in a day. We also remembered to bring our sand toys on Friday which was a big hit for all the kids at the park. I just love fun days at the park especially when nap time quickly follows!

They were both seriously laughing hysterically until I got the camera out and once I put it back they were back to laughing. I was so annoyed b/c I wanted to get their sweet little expressions!

Monkey See Monkey Do

They were so cute holding hands on the bridge but we just couldn't get our cameras out fast enough.

Day 2 as a 4 year old

I realized the morning after Kaiden's birthday that I forgot to let him open his Birthday cards. So he had fun tearing into those and even carried them around days before it was his birthday. He was super excited that Great Grandma Liz and Aunt Linda and Uncle Greg sent him money. We decided we would have a fun day at Monkey Bizz with some of this money and the other money (a check) he would give it to Wal-Mart. So we got dressed and spent the afternoon at Monkey Bizz. We had never been and weren't sure what to expect but we had a lot of fun. Both kids loved running around through all of the tunnels and sliding. Since I decided against the joint birthday party we'll be going there again this Friday around 10:30 ish for a fun day with friends. I'm not worrying about cake we just want to go and have fun so if you'd like to join us we'd love to have ya! Just know there is a $4 plus change admission for kids 1 and older. Here are a few pictures from our fun afternoon there. We stayed and played so long it was nearly impossible to keep Kalli awake on the way home. She fell asleep the last few minutes and was completely out that she didn't move when I took off her shoes, and piggy tails. I just love doing fun things with the kids and seeing their adorable smiles!

He was concentrating so hard while opening the cards. I'm also curious why he was sent a pink envelope but he does say one of his favorite colors is pink so he was pretty excited.He was so excited that this card had the #4 o it. Notice the money falling out of the second picture. Once he realized he had his own money he was Mr Big Shot!

Enjoying the ball pit as any kid would

Going down the roller slide thingy. They loved this and I even went down a few times. Let's just say its not so comfortable and the heavier you are the faster you go!

Kalli was so drawn to this horse wagon. I told both of them upfront that I was not paying for them to ride rides we were there to slide. But every so often Kalli would take a break and just sit in the wagon. I gave in and let her ride it a few times. She was in heaven!Luckily this ride was broken and free...doesn't seem broken to me!One last ride on the horsies

Kaiden's Birthday Night

After school and nap time Joe was home and we enjoyed hanging out as a family. Joe's Dad put together a cute little birthday card for Kaiden on Power Point and Kaiden LOVED hitting 'enter' to see what would happen next. He did that over and over until Grandma and Grandpa called and we were able to talk to them on the phone and then even chat a little through webcam. After that my family started showing up and we headed outside to have a little bonfire as part of Kaiden's big day. The kids had fun but boy was it cold! We roasted marshmallows for a little while and then headed inside to open presents. Kaiden was so excited to open presents (it's been a long few weeks since Christmas!) He was also nice enough to let Kalli help him with a few. In all we had a great day and its still a little unbelievable that my little boy is 4 years old!

Spirit Shirt, Nugget and Birthday Day

Like I said earlier I went to Kaiden's school to bring cupcakes for his Birthday. I think I was more excited than he was. I really want to be a part of his school and help out when I can but I never exactly know how to tell the teacher that without being too pushy or whatever. Well a birthday is a great excuse to pop in! His regular teacher wasn't there b/c her mother had just passed away but the school's assistant, Mrs Liz, had been subbing for the last 2 weeks and she's great! (Not that Mrs Shawn isn't) Well when I got there the kids were enjoying their nuggets and watching a short movie to celebrate Nugget Day since they were learning about the letter 'N'. The kids were so cute singing Happy Birthday to Kaiden and were especially excited to get cupcakes. Afterwards while we were waiting for a US Marine to come talk to the class (something that was suppose to happen during 'M' week but was postponed) the kids sang their song that they had learned that week to help them remember the letter 'N'. it was really cute even though most of the kids didn't remember all of it. In all it was a really fun day to spend with Kaiden at school and see how he interacts with his teacher and all of his little friends.

Kaiden wanted to take a picture of me and Mrs Liz. He's the Birthday Boy so we agreed!