growing, growing, grown???

So I was going through the photos I have taken most recently of my little beauties. My they have grown a lot. Too much for my liking... I know most parents probably go through the whoas of their children growing from infant to toddler to preschooler to...well you get the idea. I loved my babies as babies then I loved them as toddlers each growing stage has been interesting and exciting. It has been frustrating and trying all at the same time but I loved loved loved every minute of it. Lately though, I have had a hard time with them "growing". I have found myself mourning the loss of my "little" bits.
Kaitlyn is getting ready to go to preschool not the daycare kind but for realz preschool. She speaks like a teenager and acts like she runs the show, when did this happen?? What happened to my big brown eyed baby girl? This is what I see now when I walk into a room.


Karsyn on the other hand goes in and out of the toddler phase, one minute she is curled up on her mama's lap content as a little lamb the next minute she is out the door with not a second thought on her dear ol'mama. We took some time over spring break to work on potty training since our last attempt was unsuccessful, I was not hopeful. She took off like a race horse!! She was potty trained within a week. I couldn't believe it. Although, she still needs some lessons on TP use!! This is what I confiscated from the munchkin. LOL

She is such a big girl now and doesn't hesitate to tell me so. She follows right along on the shirt tails of her older sister, before long she will be off to school too. I just want to hold on to them for a few more moments.

I have been perusing the internet for FREE activities that I can do with the kids while we have been out of school. My neighbor told me about the weekend story time at Barnes & Noble so I went the site and checked it out. While there I found several books online, read by the author, which I love (now I will know how it was MEANT to be read). Anyway, I thought I would give it a shot with the little bits. Here's a few shots of what I observed.








We tried some of the other titles listed but they really just wanted to watch the cupcake one:)

Epic Fail...

I know that there are many milestones in a child's life that as parents we hold our breath waiting for them to occur. Potty training is one of them. This was supposed to be the BIG weekend. The BIG transition. It went fab.u.lous.ly with my oldest child, everyone said about my youngest, "she'll pick it up so quickly after watching her sister". and "She's sure to do it early". Well today was an EPIC FAIL, no point in beating around the bush. I failed. She is NOT ready to do this potty thing. We started off ok and went down the "crapper" literally. (sorry had to throw it in there) There was a timer and big girl pants and M&M's and stickers and...well you get the picture. We had all the right ingredients but the oven wasn't ready:( She cried, I lost my patience. All in all, it is not time for my little miss to be out of her diapers just yet. I have to say that, although I am eager to stop spending money on them, I am not ready for her to be that BIG just yet.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

We arrived in Watertown on Sunday, there was snow but not as much as I had hoped for. The kids were ecstatic. They couldn't wait to get out in it. First we had to get some snow pants and boots for Kaitlyn. So Sunday we trekked to every Wal-mart and even to the mall (yes with two toddlers, I know crazy right). We were semi successful. We found pants for Kait but not Kars. We also stumbled upon the cutest (yet still warm and a waterproof) boots for Kaitee.
Monday we headed to my Grandparents house to play in all that the little snow we had.

The NEW pool at Papa's house that brought us such summer enjoyment now doubled as an ice skating rink for about 10 minutes. Then mommy was getting a little nervous and made the little bits get out.

Kaitlyn's millionth and one snow angel since arriving in NY. She doesn't need the snow for people to know she is an angel.

Karsyn was not too sure about the snow at first but soon learned that throwing snow at someone is barrels of fun!!!!

Kaitlyn was showing off with her "snowball". She's too much of a princess to make her own, she would just look for boulders already made.

HEY!! What happened to the trampoline?? You mean your supposed to store those for the winter?? Note to self--Do Not take any more pictures of your trampoline out in winter.

Oklahoma Christmas

JOY TO THE WORLD!

Our Christmas tree, we received some WONDERFUL gifts this year from some generous friends. I don't know how Christmas would have happened without them.

The"LOOT"

Karsyn received her first Barbie dolls, a Dora pillow and blanket, clothes, and some learning games. She loved them all!
Kaitlyn received her leapfrog scribble and write, some puzzles, a Belle pillow and blanket, and some clothes. She cannot wait to get home and play with everything again. Mommy can't wait to get home and organize everything and purge what we do not need, lol.

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).