5 years old!!!

Our Little Christmas Present - 5 Years Old

I am going to stop after this one tonight. I can't believe that tomorrow is K's 5th birthday! She is growing up so fast. This is her last year to be at home with me during the week. (She does go to preschool 2 days a week, but the "freedom" of being able to do things in the middle of the week will be over in about 9 months when she starts kindergarten).

This has been an exciting year for little miss K - she goes to preschool twice a week where she has learned all kinds of things - Spanish, sign language, how to write, letters and sounds, numbers, patterns, rhyming, how to spell some words, and lots of songs. I love to pick her up from school and hear about all of the fun things she learned how to do. She also still loves taking dance lessons. She does Ballet and Tap and had her 3rd recital last week (more pictures will be posted soon). Over the summer she learned how to swim and had lots of opportunity to practice. She has started "playing golf" with Matt and I when we go practice at the driving range. K has really grown in many ways this year. She is starting to become more independent - although she still enjoys a little snuggling from time to time. It is fun because we can do so many more things, and she can help out a little, too. However, I would be lying if I didn't say that it is a little sad for me too.

Here is a picture from yesterday - I think that this is one I am going to have to frame - I love the little look she has on her face. It gives a little insight into her personality.

Waiting for the music to start for her ballet dance.

Malikilikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaian Christmas day!! That's the island greeting that we send to you from the land where palm trees sway...

Goofing off before dance class one day.

Merry Christmas Everybody!

God speaks to little ears...

One day not too long ago I was preparing for one of my students to arrive. As I was getting things out, K informed me that she was starving and needed a snack. I went to the kitchen and got her some goldfish or something and then she asked for some cheetos. I was in a hurry, so I just handed her 3 and went on my way. She stopped me and said, "Uh, Mom - I think I need 4 cheetos today because I AM 4 years old, you know." I responded with a quick, "not right now K - I have to work and you already have goldfish." Her closing argument was what kind of made me think that I am going to have to start getting more crafty with my responses.

"Uh, Mom - I just talked to God in my bedroom and he informed me that I should have 4 cheetos since I am 4. Soon it will be 5."

Well, since God said then I had better give in, right? That was what she was hoping for, but not what she got. I told her that next time she talked to God she needed to tell him to let me in on these things, too.

Working on our LLLLL's

Most people hear B talk and comment on how well he talks. He really does well. His vocabulary is rather large for a three year old. In fact, sometimes we catch him using words just because he likes the way they sound. A few weeks ago his word was "certainly." He used "certainly" as often as he could for a few days. Tonight he invented a word. His word was "side-wards." He was trying to describe how he was jumping - I guess a combination of backwards and sideways??? Hmmm...

There is one thing that B will have to overcome over the next few years - that is pronouncing his L's. He tends to make a "w" or "y" sound instead of "l" sound. I think it is cute, and it is very common, so I don't get onto him for it - he has plenty of time to work on that stuff. I get a kick out of hearing him say stuff like, "Mom, it's reawwwy (really), reawwy, reawwy cold outside today, huh?"

Last week I was going in to his room to tell him good night, sing him a song and then give him a good night kiss when he stopped me. Out of nowhere he asked, "Mom, why won't you kiss me on the 'yips' ? Do you think I might 'yick' ya or something?" I just laughed and then gave him a kiss on the cheek. While I was doing that, he turned and licked me across the cheek. Now, where he thought of such a thing I have no idea - maybe the dog gave him an idea, or maybe his daddy did. Who knows??? He is such a little goof ball at times.

Ouch!

Well, December is half over already! As I sat with the kids tonight and watched a bit of Mary Poppins, I realized that the last 3 or 4 weeks have just flown by. No, actually the last year has flown by. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were watching the "25 days of Christmas" on ABC Family and the gingerbread man cell phone commercial was playing. Crazy, huh?

I haven't written lately because I guess we have been completely consumed with all of the events that take place during the holiday season. I'll try to fill in as many stories as I can tonight, and then hopefully get back to it soon and finish up.

I guess I can start with little man, B. . . He has given us a few excuses to laugh this past month. I mentioned earlier that we have gotten back into playing golf, and that the kids go with us to practice at the driving range. Well, a few weeks ago we took both kids and of course there was only one small club for them to share. We tried to lay down some "rules," but apparently were not that effective. The biggest rule is that they are not to walk up to anyone while they have a club in hand, and they are not allowed to swing a club anywhere but in between the ropes (while we are supervising, of course). Somehow the rule of not swinging a club escaped little K's mind for a short moment, and she decided she was going to "work on her swing." As she pulled the club back, her little brother ran right into the head of the club. Luckily she doesn't have the strength to swing that hard now, and he wasn't running too fast. Nonetheless, he ended up in tears and she felt very bad. Matt was concerned, but also a little embarrassed that something had happened, so I took B to try and calm him down while he spoke with K. The calming down took a while, and finally I was able to get him to explain to me what happened. His explanation was priceless...

"I was walking around and Kay Kay hit me in the head with a golf club... And I'm not even a golf ball!!!"

I tried really hard not to laugh at the moment and just remember the story for later so that I could share it with Matt.

We ended up having Christmas a few weeks early with Matt's parents and Grandma since we will all be in different places over Christmas and wouldn't see each other for a while. K and B's gift from Matt's parents will hopefully solve some of the fights over the one golf club, and give them both something to do while at the range... Here are a few pics...

Two birthdays and lots of fun!

Matt's birthday is the 1st of November, and he had to work on his birthday this year. So, we went and had a "birthday lunch" the day before at a really fun restaurant where they cooked our food right in front of us. The kids thought it was pretty cool and still talk about it alot.


B is now "officially" three as of November 11th. He is such a big kid now - so he thinks. His favorite thing to say to me is, "Maybe we can go to the park today, Mom." (Of course he has lots of other things that he says - that is just the most frequent saying).

I've posted a few pictures of him as a "big kid."



Even though the three year old fits can be pretty intense, he has a super sweet side to him, too.



If you look really close, you can see that his right eye looks like he has eye shadow on. No, he didn't get into my make up drawer. He had a rough week the week of his birthday. It is still healing - two weeks later! One day, he jumped on to the couch that his sister happened to be laying on. She greeted him with a swift kick to the face. Princess dress up shoes tend to leave a pretty good size black mark on the cheek bone. Then, a few days later we took him to shop for his birthday present from us. He pulled a toy off of a shelf at Toys R Us to get a better look at it, but he failed to realize that there was something on top of that toy. That something came tumbling down and hit him right on top of his eye. So, one of his birthday party presents has come in quite handy. (No, we don't let him hit any people with these - just protect his face). :)


Matt and I have gotten back into playing Golf over the past 6 months or so. We have also taken the kids with us to practice at the driving range a few times. (We figured that it is never too early for them to start, right?) Last week, I took B with me while Matt was on a trip and K was at school. After hitting a large bucket of balls, B decided he wanted to go practice on the "short grass" (the putting green). I told him I was out of balls and we needed to go anyways. A few minutes later, I was cleaning my clubs off and B went to take the empty basket back. As I looked up, I noticed he was coming back with a brand new bucket of balls. He said, "Here you go Mom - I got some more balls for you." I had to meet him in the middle, grab the bucket from him and pick up all of the balls that fell out on the way as I explained to him that we have to give them money before we pick up those buckets of balls. The people inside thought it was too funny and gave him 6 balls to go play with on the putting green. How's that for problem solving? We practiced putting for a few minutes - until B got bored and found something else to do. I looked up at him again and found that he had picked up one of the mini flags that was on the putting green and held it high above his head. Soon, I heard him reciting the pledge of allegiance loud and clear. That's when we called it a day and went to go get K from school. (Whenever I figure out how to post videos from our video camera I will have to add a video of him saying the pledge, because it is too funny).

Halloween Part 4 - The Final Chapter for 2008 - Light up the Night

Are you sick of pumpkins yet? We are worn out now. This past month was crazy! We made lots of memories, and had lots of fun, but now it's time to take a few days off before we start getting into the "holiday season." Here are the last few pictures of the kids in their costumes from Halloween.

Here they are on the steps of the church. They weren't willing to stay still long enough for me to get them together. I told you they'd be sick of pictures after this month. :)

Playing a few games to get some more candy

Here they are socializing with a few of their good friends - all kids of our friends from Sunday School. I didn't even attempt to get all of the kids together for a group picture. Maybe we can do that some other time.

K and her buddy.

Can you say, exhausted?

Halloween Part 3 - Pumpkin Patch

We have tried to take the kids to a pumpkin patch each year. This year, we had to squeeze it in 2 days before Halloween. (It was a busy month). Here are a few pictures from this trip...

This is after the 1st time in the hay maze. They came out together this time. The 2nd time, K left her brother wandering and just told us he was lost at a dead end. We sent her back in to find him and finally they both came out. Needless to say he was not a happy camper. We weren't allowed to go in and help because the rules say, no adults allowed... I think we'll wait until they are a bit older to try this again.

Of course, we found the tractor that he could climb on.

They both love puppy dogs!

Here they are on the hay ride! Can you say instant asthma attack! Oh well, that's part of it.

Now, it's time to take a quick trip through the bounce house maze and down the slide.

Time for a quick picture with some of our new favorite characters!

"How much do you think I could get the tractor cut out for? I haven't seen one of these in the stores. I can get a pumpkin at Wal-mart..."

"I'll take this one, If I can just get it off the ground!"

"Maybe this one is more my size!"

"So many to look at. How will I ever choose? Oh, Dad got one for me. It's time to go!"

We didn't want to get in trouble for putting B in the big bucket of pumpkins this year, so I just took a picture of the bucket to compare to the previous few years.

Here's one from 2007

And here is 2006

Last, here is K in 2005 - 2 weeks before she became a big sister.

Halloween Part 2 - Monster Mile

This is the 5th year we have taken the kids to the Monster Mile in Lantana. We always meet at Nana and Daddy D's, change into costumes and then make our way to see all of the characters and get some candy. At the end of this post I included a few pictures from the previous years to show how much the kids have changed.

On the doorstep of Nana and Daddy D's house - ready to go. (K - almost 5, and B - almost 3)

Over the past 5 years it has gotten much more crowded. The first year was when K was not even one - they were dumping candy in her bag and she wasn't even old enough to eat it. Hmmm, I wonder who ate it all? This year, there was a constant line of people to see each character. The kids didn't mind though. B was actually very excited to go up and hug or high-5 each one. K only cared to say hi to the princesses.

"If I give hugs, they give me candy. What a great concept. I wonder if this will work with Mom and Dad when we get home? Hmmm, probably not. I'll just have to figure out where they hide it all and get some then."

"He looks kind of like me, only his head is bigger and he's green. Hmmm... He's got candy, though. Yea!"

"Candy is yummy! I better eat this all up before Mom takes me to the dentist next month."

Finally, a princess for K to go and see. She didn't talk to anyone else, but she did make sure to get a few pieces of candy from the characters' helpers.

Now, here's a few from the past few years...

Princess Belle, a Monkey and Spiderman!

On the porch ready to go. Notice the passifier is still part of the costume. We got rid of that this year!

Making the trip to the "mile."

Taking a little break for a photo op.

Princess Belle (Almost 4)

Monster Mile 2006 - Buzz Lightyear, Cinderella, and a Lion that was not even walking yet!

Cinderella - Almost 3

ROOOOAAAARRR!!! (B - almost 1)

This is where we stop - I forgot my camera in 2005, and didn't have digital pics of 2004. Maybe I will be able to scan them in someday.