The cutest party ever.

One of Kyra's best little buddies had a "Ariel Party" tonight. It was the cutest thing! All of her friends came over and got dressed in princess outfits. Then the mom explained that a mean witch stole of all Ariels tresures. But luckily they found a treasure map that lead to the loot. So they had to find clues around the house and in the backyard. The map eventually lead them to the sandbox, where they had to use shoveles to dig the jewels up. It was so stinkin CUTE!!! Kyra digging away. They found seashells, starfish, diamonds, and various other jewels! Kyle helping in the quest!After the stolen jewels had been recovered we enjoyed an dinner of pizza, salad, soda, popcorn and cupcakes. (All of Kyra's absolute favorites!) The daddy had set up their family size tent in the backyard, and hooked up a TV and DVD player. All the kiddos then got a treasure box full of candy and they watched "Little Mermaid 3" inside the tent, sitting on pillows and blankets. Kyra LOVED every minute of it. It was such a fun, cute evening!!!

Vanilla Joy Giveaway

There is a website called Vanilla Joy has some really cool crafty giveaways right now!

Not only does she have crafty stuff but she also has information on various family fun ideas like creative date ideas, kids face painting, and discipline for children. Right now she is a giving away a Cricut Machine!!! Check it out!

Vaccinate (in my opinion)!

This is an article about the dangers that we are facing as more and more parents are refusing to get their children vaccinated. The article talks about a town where 30% of their kindergartens are not vaccinated!!! They go on to say that because so many people are not getting their kids vaccinated, they are allowing the possibility of a epidemic in their community, even putting the kids who were vaccinated at risk. A recent report states that the number of measel cases in the U.S. is at it highest in over a decade, with nearly half the cases involving children whose parents object to immunizations! I understand that first hand when we recently had an large outbreak here in Tucson. One mother who is anti vaccines says that she has created her childrens own immunities by breastfeeding until they were 4, eating healthy and exercising. I have a HARD time with that theory. Anyway, take a look at the article, and let me know what you think!!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26291109?GT1=43001

Kung Fu Panda (for the second time), popcorn, her own soda, and a date with daddy!

This all it took to get Kyra to listen to the teacher at ballet. Last week I told her that if she listened to the teacher, and at least tried everything the teacher asked her to do we could go see Kung Fu Panda (still playing at the cheap theater). She was onery again. So we didn't go see the movie...I think she thought I was going to cave, and take her to see it anyway. Well this week she asked if she could go see Kung Fu Panda again, and made her the same deal for a second time. She was wonderful in Ballet! But she wanted to go on a date just with Daddy. She came home and took a bath, and then asked me to do her hair and makeup, and use some of my "Smelly good stuff". She was so excited! It was really cute! Here they are cheesing it up! She was a little scared at certain parts the first time she saw the movie, and we even saw it at the drive-in so the effect wasn't as great. So I was worried about her reaction in an actual theater. Karl said that during the intense scenes Kyra would get a little scared, and start laughing a high pitched hysterical laugh (if you have been around Kyra very much you know exactly the laugh I'm talking about) loud enough for the whole theater to hear. Then everyone in the theater would laugh at her laughing, which just made her laugh some more. She had a great date with Daddy!

I'm unconvinced.

I put Kyra down for a nap the other day, and about 15 minutes later she came running out, stretched, and said "Good Morning Mommy, that was a good nap" and looking like this:

Is anyone else as unconvinced as I am that she took a nap?!?!?

Journals

The other night I came home from a friends house with a notebook and flower pens, which she showed me how to make. Kyra wanted a pretty notebook and a "Fancy Nancy" pen too. (Fancy Nancy is a little girls book about a girl that loves to dress up, and accesorize everything). So we went to the store today and she picked out the flowers, and the paper, and the button that she liked. I was just going to get a simple composition notebook, but came across this kids notebook that has a spot at the top to draw a picture and then lines on the bottom. My thought was that it would be starting to get her in the habit of keeping a journal, and every night just before bed I would write what she did that day, and she could draw a picture of it. Kyra had other plans. She wanted to write stories. She is always making up quick little stories, that we have to act out. Whether running away from crocodiles, or from Stinky Pants Kyle, or pretending to let down her long hair so her prince can climb up the couch to rescue her. So this afternoon we decorated the notebooks, and then she just kept making up stories one right after the other. I would write the story down, (to her exact dictation or else!) and she would draw a picture about the story. She wanted us to help her draw the pictures for her at the beginning, but started doing it herself after the first couple pages. For bed tonight she wanted to read the stories she wrote today. It was a fun, inexpesive (Under $2, but I did have a couple of the needed items) activity for the day, that got her imagination going.

She floats and He is ready for Disneyland!

*Warning - These are slightly long videos to the average reader, placed here to keep the grandparents happy!

She Floats!!!
Lately Kyra has been terrified of water, even with floaties on. So a friend let us use her pool, and we've been going pretty frequently. Well she finally was brave enough to let go of my neck, and she floated!!! She was so excited. Then within about 2 minutes, she said she was ready to jump in!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

He is ready for Disneyland!!!
We were in the store the other day, and Kyle was being a little fussy, and the man behind us in line started talking like Donald Duck, to help entertain him. Kyle instantly copied him!!! It was really funny.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Kyra's Hobbies

Reading: Kyra has always enjoyed reading books together, but lately she has really liked to just read by herself as well. Unfortunately most of this type of reading takes place, for about an hour, in her room, AFTER we put her to bed, using just this little night light to see.

Kyra and Kyle are only 19 months apart. Kyra hasn't always been very amused by Kyle. But in the past 2 weeks something has just changed completely. She is SO much more patient, and they play so well together. But one thing she loves to do is read Kyle the books she has memorized.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Hobby #2: Singing

Kyra has suddenly started singing non stop. She sings every disney song there is, all of the classic little kid songs, she makes up songs, she sings church songs, and then she loves to be silly and mix lines of different songs together, and throw in a couple lyrics from various songs from preschool. For example "I have often seen, in a far off place (from Hercules), popcorn popping on the apricot tree, and there was a spider climbing up the tree, and down came the rain and washed the spider out, and if your mommy's name is Kitty get ready to go. And then she laughs and laughs. Her favorite thing to do is teach Kyle songs, but she knows that she will get a rise out of me, if she teaches him the wrong words. For example, they will do the wheels on the bus, but will teach him "The wheels on the bus goes beep beep beep", or "the wipers on the bus or shhhh, shhh, shhh." And then laughs and laughs when Kyle does the wrong hand movements. I'm think Grandpa G. and Daddy have been teaching her these little things behind my back!

But the funniest things is that usually when Kyra sings, 9 times out of 10 Kyle is doing this:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

(Don't ask why she is wearing panties on her head...they are clean though...)

She is such a funny, vibrant, happy little girl. We love our little muchkin moo moo!

So thats the kind of day its going to be...

If the little guy didn't have an ear infection, and this wasn't the happiest he has been in a couple days I might of been a little more frustrated.

For all the animal lovers out there!

I need your creative help!

We have a self reliance/being prepared enrichment activity coming up soon. We have decided to do a movie type theme. We want to rename the classes that we are offering, with movie titles. For example, if we were doing a class on Budgeting, we could call it "Cents and Sensibilty"...some kind of play on words. I can't think of anything for these classes, so any ideas would be GREAT!!! Thanks!!!
The classes are:
"Living Wills"
"Container Gardening"
"Meal Planning"
Thanks again!!!

This is why everyone LOVES the Olympics

This is the mens 4x100 meter relay, last night. France was supposed to kill everyone, and one French athlete on the team said that they will "crush" the Americans. Here is the race. (sorry for the title of the video, I didn't choose it). America is in Lane 4, and France in lane 5.

New things!

Kyra's preschool teacher had an open house on Tuesday, so the parents could come ask questions. I think Kyra was a little bit nervous, then just before we left to go, Grandma called and wished Kyra a good first day! I think it finally set in, and she was so excited. Karl took the morning off to stay with Kyle, so in case Kyra didn't want me to go. (She was okay with me leaving :( Karl introduced Kyle into the world of "Toystory", while I was gone, and now he is hooked. The next day was the first offical class. She LOOOOOVED it! She talks about "Mrs. Jo-Anne" constantly. I asked her what she did at school. She said "I love Mrs. Jo-Anne. She lets me eat pizza and ice cream. And there was a bug in the potty and this little boy came running into the preschool TOTALLY FREAKING OUT. And all the kids ran to see the bug. I couldn't see the bug, I was to short. And the little boy was totally freaking out. And then the bug flew out of the potty. And all of us started to scream! And....that's it." She is so excited to go back. I was a little worried about this being to much, and she would be super cranky. She came home so happy! And has been so happy the rest of the week! Jo-Anne has a chalkboard table, that Kyra really enjoyed.

Kyra also went to her second ballet class today. She LOVED it as well! The teacher said that she did great! She was so excited and proud, that she listened to the teacher.

This is Kyra and Kyle's new favorite things to do. Helping with the dishes. Karl has so much more patience then I do. I get so easily frustated, just wanting to get it done. Karl simply stands there and goes at their pace.

I was a little nervous about this week considering how Monday morning started, but we ended up have a pretty good time!

Happy Mail!

I got the tickets for the "So You Think you can Dance" tour date in Phoenix. A group of friends and I are going to drive up, get some dinner, go to the concert, and then drive home that night. I know...what am I....12? I'm so stinkin' excited! I so thankful for my hubby, who is going to stay home with the kiddos, so I can have a girls night out!

Puzzle Activity

I came across this idea, and thought we would try it. Kyra LOVED it. First I just printed off a picture on the internet for her to color. This one is Little Einsteins. Then we cut the colored picture into the 8 squares, numbering the back 1-8. I got a second sheet of paper (the same size as the puzzle), and wrote the numbers 1-8 on it.
The Kyra simply picked a puzzle piece, identified the number, and glued it on the matching number! She actually did a second one, right after the first, and she's asked to do one each day since! It was super easy, and fun.

Not so Marvelous Monday

Well last night I didn't fall asleep until after 2 AM, then Karl woke me up at 5:30 to tell me that his car had been broken into! The smashed his front passenger window, and tried to pull out the stereo, and ended up just taking the face plate. Two of our neighbors cars were hit as well. Their windows were broken, and they just took the stereos. It took FOREVER for the police to come. They dusted for prints, and none were found, thus they were wearing gloves. So finally at 9 Karl just took the van to work. I'm getting the window fixed this afternoon, and we will probably not worry about the stereo, just because we have to meet the deductible. So it probably isn't worth it. Of course our useless dogs, usually bark for 5 min if a leaf falls from a tree three houses down, but didn't make a peep last night. Kyra is so animated about the situation. We just got a book from the library a coupel days ago, Berstein Bear Detectives. In the book a pumpkin was stolen, and they take the case. So when Kyra found out that Daddy's radio was stolen, she was all over it. She was running around the house saying "Check for clues"..."We will catch those bad guys, and then we will PUT THEM IN TIME OUT!" She has keeps trying to get me to take her to look at the car over and over, so she can look at the clues. So not the best start to a week. The worst part for me, is that even though it wasn't a that bad of a situation, it still makes you feel violated. Grrrr.

Testimonies

Today was Fast Sunday, thus Sacrament Meeting. We have never really talked about bearing testimonies with Kyra before. In church, one of Kyra friends went up and bore her testimony. As soon as she got done Kyra got off my lap, and started walking up the aisle. I thought it was to say hi to her friend. So I grabbed her hand, and put her back in my lap. She threw the biggest fit. She started sobbing. So I quickly picked her up and took her out. She continued to sob out in the hall. I tried to tell her that she can say hi to her friend after sacrament meeting. Finally she calmed down enough for me to understand her. In between breaths she said "No mommy, I wanted to bear my testimony." And started sobbing again. I had no idea. I asked her "Well, baby, do you want to talk about it at FHE tomorrow, and you can do it next time?" She said "No I want to do it now." I asked "Well what would you say". This is what she said "I'm thankful for Jesus." I try to be nice to my brother. He's the only brother I have. Thank you for the Holy Ghost, for helping me not be scared." I said "Oh okay!!" So I took her up. She froze when she got up there, but I was so proud that she wanted to go up, and how much she WANTED to say!

A Free Spirit!

Here is a video from Kyra's first ballet class.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A while back someone (after babysitting) said that Kyra was just a "Free Spirit". And it really does perfectly describe her! For instance, as you are walking in a store. She doesn't want to hold your hand, which is fine because usually she will stay right by you, but she will be twirlling as she walks. She is so imaginative. Its really great. Especially when we are waiting for some reason, I can pull out a pretend bowl and spoon, and all the ingredients for a great blueberry pie, and she LOVES it. And she is a little kid that eptimizes the need for the song "Shake your wigglies out". Even though she is the cutest kid on the planet, and incredibly smart and compassionate, when she is in a ballet class and the teacher tells her to hop and she decides to spin, it a little bit frustrating. Or when she is supposed to be standing up and pointing her toe, she is lying on her belly, spinning in circles, like a break dancer. The class didn't go BADLY...it just didn't go great. I think she was a little distracted by me being there, so we are going to try me just dropping her off next time. The teacher was great. She always tried to bring Kyra back in. I just...I don't know....she is such an energetic kid, that wants to go out and do things, and I feel like she really does enjoy different activites, but also worry that she's not ready.
Just a mom.....like every other mom...worrying that she isn't doing the right things....to make their kids happy.....just a mom....worrying about her little baby girl.