Little tidbits

Updates on us:
Kai knows that you throw a ball, shoes and socks go on your feet, a remote control gets pointed at the TV, you put a phone up to your ear and how to say "more" in sign language, although he'd rather whine for his food! He is still taking 2 naps a day, has 3 teeth, is using a sippy cup with the exception of his night time bottle (he could probably give that up, but we put cereal in with his milk). When he eats, he shovels the food into his mouth by the handfuls like Madelyn used to do. He loves to rough-house with daddy. His favorite pasttime continues to be grabbing two items such as two socks or two beer coozies (no kidding) and walking around the house, looking for trouble. He's a helpful lad who likes to close doors--if there's an open door, he will close it.



Since Rylie is reading on her own now, Madelyn likes to think she can do the same. Often, instead of reading to her, she wants to do it herself and gets mad if you try to help her with the words. Of course, she isn't reading, she's going by memory, but it's a start. She knows that her name starts with M, recognizes M and can draw M; not any other letters though. She and her best friend, Joey, go to preschool two mornings a week at a church daycare. It is so sweet to hear the Bible verses she is learning and see the artwork created after listening to the stories of Ruth, Joseph or Moses. She is obsessed with the books "Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses" and "If You Give A Pig A Pancake". One day, our friends were following us to church and Madelyn was worried that they didn't know the way. We said, "No, they know the way." Then she said, "Oh yes, they know the way...step, step, twirl!" That's from Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses! Before dinner Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, she had the honor of saying the prayer; this is how it went "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for my new black dress and headband that mommy gave me. Amen." Of course He blesses our food, why ask??!!

Rylie just got her report card and did great! The common theme she needs to work on is concentration. She has a tendency to daydream (specifically stated), but she is reading above level and has good social skills. None of this info is new--I think her main challenge throughout school will be to focus on the task at hand and keep moving through the assignments without getting distracted. My little dreamer, just like her daddy! She is getting so big and her face and body has changed so much in the last year that she now looks like a "kid" to me, no longer a baby.

Did I tell you about how I flooded our brand new house, for the second time? The first time was when Kai was about a month old and it was very minor; I have an excuse since I was sleep deprived. This time, I started the girls' bath, went downstairs to get Kai's bottle, got distracted and ended up overflowing the tub to such a degree that when Eric poked the garage ceiling with a screwdriver water was POURING down from the upstairs into the garage. We didn't think it was that bad, until we noticed the next morning that Madelyn's carpet in her bedroom was wet (her bedroom is next to the bathroom). We had to have a professional come out and dry out the walls and floor from the inside out. Thankfully, he's a friend of ours, so we got a deal. I NEED TO SLOW DOWN!

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my loving God and His faithfulness, my family, my friends, my job that provides, chips and salsa, McAlister's Deli sweet tea, Desperate Housewives on Sunday evenings with my friend Kirsten, the awesome book that I recently finished called "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society", yoga and The Big Ten Network!

Pumpkins and Happy Halloween!

Every year, we head to the same pumpkin patch—it has been fun to look back over photos and see how the girls have changed.  Kai was in a sling last year and this year he was toddling around like crazy!  Madelyn wanted a pumpkin with bumps.  That’s the kind I always pick out because I feel sorry for them since it seems everyone else picks the perfectly round and smooth ones.  She usually doesn’t like to have her picture taken, but was surprisingly smiley this photo session.

Halloween night yielded strong rains right as we started putting our costumes on.  Thankfully, it cleared up in time for us to trick-or-treat; then rained as soon as we finished!  Kai slept while we were getting ready so when we got back from trick-or-treating he didn’t recognize us in our face paint and didn’t want a thing to do with us!

Happy Halloween everyone!  The first picture shows Kai’s first skinned knee.