Twinkle toes and The Ball Drop

I took gymnastics for 7 years as a child and have dreamed of the day I could share that with my own daughters. Last year I put Kaitlyn in a gymnastics class that for all intents and purposes did not qualify as gymnastics in way whatsoever!! I was a little leery when a friend said that her daughter went to a ballet/tap class for 3-4 year olds. I just hate giving up so much money (they we don't have right now) for Kaitee to run around in tights and stomp her feet in some tap shoes. With much thought, I decided to give it a shot.
I couldn't be happier. Kaitee started coming home and showing me things that she learned in class (parents are not allowed in during class time). She knew the first few tap steps but seemed more interested in what she was learning in ballet. I have to admit she is soooo stinking cute in her dance clothes. She is so cute when she asks me where her dance clothes, bag, or shoes are...*SNIFF* she is getting so big.
Back to the topic at hand. A few weeks ago her class had an observation night for parents, it was to view the last 20 minutes of class. It was packed! I loved every 18.75 minutes of it! Yes I was late, if you know me, this was early:P I am (trying to) posting a small video of dear sweet Kaitlyn in class. Someone help her, the poor thing CANNOT skip! I know as an early childhood educator that this is a developmental skill but my child is GIFTED!! RIGHT?? I just learned that she has yet to open that gift.

These are just a few still shots I took of her. She comes home a tells me what is going on and she makes sense. I love it!!!

Yo Gabba Gabba

In November we (the daddy and I) took the kiddos to see Yo Gabba Gabba. Kaitlyn loved this show about a year ago and Karsyn is really into it now. The daddy bought tickets over the summer while we were in NY and told me about them later. (where was this surprise gift giver two years ago when we were still married, oops I digress) What a thoughtful gift I said, through gritted teeth. I wasn't sure Karsyn was ready for an outing of this caliber and like I said Kaitlyn was into it ohhhh about a year ago. Well this is our first (mis)adventure to a concert type show.

Everyone received DJ Lance glasses when they came in. Karsyn wanted nothing to do with them but Kaitlyn loved them.

The show hadn't even begun and Karsyn was a party animal!! Yelling and singing.

The live performance was definitely a win for parents. The kids were captivated:)

Karsyn didn't want to dance at first. She was acting so shy. Kaitlyn started jumping up and down dancing. I guess she saw that it was ok to act like a wild banshee in public with out recourse so she joined in. All was well in the end. We went home with some toys and a ton of balloons (which I hate after about one day).

I'm sorry I have neglected my duty

This is just a buffer post!!! I have neglected my duty as a blogger!! I. AM. SORRY. A LOT has gone on the past few months people LOTS!!! I am going to try and put it all on tonight so you will have only 4 or 5 postings to read!! You have a few hours to kill right? No, you don't stay up at the wee hours of the morn reading others blogs?? That's just me??? Seriously?? Oh no, I better get to a meeting. Right after I post all of this information. I still do not know how to put more than five pictures on here at a time so I am trying to pick the ones that best show the events. I mean it took me a week to figure out how to change the background on here!! Don't laugh, It was confusing...

summertime blues

I just loaded all of my pictures from the summer onto my computer and it made me miss the summer fun. I miss my family. I wish I could take each day for grated when I am with them but thankful that I don't. I could only load a few of the MANY that I took. I would like to share some of my best parts with you. I long for the lazy days of SUMMER...

Best Memory number 1) Spending time with my family
My cousin Jeralee graduated from High School. Here I am with my grandma and papa. He is like my dad. I don't think I could love these two anymore than if they were my ACTUAL parents. No two people (aside from my mother, who is in NOT ONE picture b/c she refuses to get hers taken) could have taken better care of me growing up.

Best Memory Number 2) Thompson Park
Jeralee and I took the girls to the park on a very cool and blustery afternoon. The kids had so much fun playing. Karsyn could have stayed on the swings or played in the rocks all day long. All of the things there are made of natural or recycled materials which is sooo cool on its own. I do remember playing on these same structures as a kid and I was able to share that with my daughters. Makes my heart smile and long for home.

Best Memory Number 3) Building the bonds of cousins
Blood is thicker than water...Nothing is as strong as a family bond. You may have best friends but it doesn't hold a candle to a friendship inside your family. Here is Kaitlyn and Karsyn watching a movie with their cousin Maddison. We spent the whole summer with Maddison, Haylee, and Emmie. We laughed, we cried, we pulled each others hair and we laughed some more. I also love this picture because you can see how sun-kissed everyone's skin is. We spent the summer swimming in my grandparents salt water pool, Kaitlyn learned to swim and Karsyn learned to count to 10.

Best Memory Number 4)Oldest and dearest friends
Here I am with one of my very best friends, Nikki. We graduated high school together. We had a cook out and got together with a few of our other friends. We had a great time. We could have spent the entire night together laughing and talking if we hadn't been forced out by the hoards of mosquitoes. MONSTER MOSQUITOES!!! I love you Nik and miss you!

Best Memory Number 5) Enchanted Forest
The wind and water against your face, so much fun in just one place. Hang on for a wild one, hang on for a coooool one. Enchanted Forest, water safari, where the fun never stops... We always take a family trip to theme park. Since my sister and I have younger children we really can't go to a place with roller coasters. We chose to go to Enchanted Forest. It has rides for all ages. We leave early in the morning, drive the 2-3 hours it takes to get there and spend the entire day then drive back. It is so much fun. The kids loved it. The water, the rides, storytown, all of it. I am so glad that we do this every year. We did this while I was growing up and the tradition continues.
This is just a small snip it of how much fun we had over the summer. I could probably fill the pages of a book with all of our adventures. I can hardly wait for summer to roll around again to make some more memories.

Trick or Treat, Smell my feet!!

We had a hard time deciding what to be for Halloween this year. Kaitlyn has wanted to be Jessie since this summer but when we went to purchase a costume they were either sold out or so cheap looking I didn't want to spend that amount of money. I had homemade costumes all my life growing up so when my mother suggested that she and my aunt make Kaitlyn's Jessie costume, I jumped at the chance. Well weeks came and went with no word about the costume. I was getting very nervous that it wouldn't be done and get here in time for Halloween. The search was on, I looked at every website on the internet. Nothing seemed right. We finally found a costume that fit Karsyn. We still couldn't find something for Kaitlyn. WE HAD TO MAKE A DECISION!!! Every costume I showed her she would say yes I love that, so I thought well this will be easy. As soon as I would get off the internet I hear, mommy I want to be Jessie... so here we were again... I needed to get a Jessie costume. I talked with my mom and she said we can do it. So here are the final results.

Karsyn wanted to ride at first but soon just wanted to run to each house, leaving us in the dust.

Here is the first house we stopped at. Karsyn was so excited that she tried to open the door before the lady even had the candy in hand. lol She was such a big girl running ahead of her older sister. She said trick or treat and thank you at every stop. Kaitlyn on the other hand just held out her bucket which was so surprising to us because she is soooo outgoing.

We chose to go to this neighborhood because it is right behind our old house and they have this really cool house on the corner. I have never seen it on Halloween however so if you have seen this house in the daylight, you haven't seen anything. It was like a mini outside haunted house. We (the adults) loved it. Karsyn was not so sure, I had to carry her through and up to get her candy. Kaitlyn wasn't scared and we even stopped out front for a quick pic in front of one of the many blowup lawn "ornaments"

Karsyn would stop and "rest" after every couple of houses. I say that with quotes because we later realized that she was stopping to snag a piece of candy out of her bag every time. If you look closely at the picture she is holding a piece in her sneaky little mitts:)

This is the end of a wonderful Halloween. We had so much fun this year and can not wait to do it again next year!!

Ready, set, read:)

Today we had a unexpected "snow day" minus the snow. Our school canceled due to a water outage. Kaitlyn has been begging for a library card so I thought what perfect day to head to the library and get this process started. I called my neighbor and piled three kids (with car seats) and two adults into the truck and off we were. We headed to the local library because that made the most sense. We were turned away for not having enough "proof" that we lived in the city limits. **Really?? Would someone seriously drive to a rinky dink town just to swindle them out of a book or outdated VCR tape??** Sorry... So we headed home to see what we could conjure up to prove that we did in fact live right down the street. We return a few minutes later to find out that she was not old enough to get a library card and also that they no longer issue "library cards", its all on the their computer and you just show your own ID. Poor Kaitlyn:( We did find some really good books though so we are home now and have already read all three books (images above) we were allowed to check out. Until October 7th we will continue to enjoy the wonderful gift of these books. I think we may have to check out our old library to see if we have anymore luck with them. Until next time Happy Reading!!

Karsyn Emiko Marie is 2 years old!!

Karsyn you are the sparkle in my day. I didn't know I had any more love to give until you came along. You filled up a space that I didn't know was vacant. You are my little shadow. You like to follow mommy around all day long which is very endearing and tiring all in one:) You have a smile that lights up the room. I love the way you smile and giggle when mommy tickles you. You love your big sister and try to mimic her every move. I love that you know what you want and DON'T want in
this world right now. I love that you are willing to try anything mommy cooks for you. Milk is your favorite drink and cheese is you favorite snack which is wonderful because the doctors thought you were allergic to milk when you were a baby. So glad that wasn't the case. You are mommy's BEAUTIFUL tomboy. You would be happy as a lark to be playing in the mud or rocks all day long. You are my
firecracker and not one day is without entertainment when you are awake. You are definitely learning to make your mark in the world!! You are so smart. You can count to 10. You can recognize a few of your shapes and colors. You love to jump on the trampoline or any unoccupied bed:) I am so proud of the sweet little girl you are.
You had a dual birthday party shared with your cousin Madison. You were born on her
birthday:) The party this year was cupcakes and ice cream sundaes. We spent the afternoon in the backyard having a blast. You loved all of your presents. Some of your favorites were Backpack from the Dora show, your musical instruments and all of the Toy Story coloring books. I love you Karsyn Marie! I can't wait to see what year two has in store for us! XXOO