Just for Daddy

At the ballet....









At Ballet/Kinder Music




















My little man playing with the barn frige magnet - he loves it




A special gift for the kids after the Christmas fair

Santa Clause is coming to town

We had a unit Christmas party today. It was great, but the best part of the party is Santa/Father Christmas came!!!! It was the most exciting thing in a little girls life that you could ever imagine?
Here is how the event happend...


A little girl waited so patiently (or as she says, 'patience - relax and wait')



and waited...


and waited...


and then...

HE CAME!!!!!!!
The excitement was blinding! My mom and got so excited watching Kai's reactions we both burst into tears! (her more than me of course)


When it came sitting on Santa's lap only Devin was keen! Kai was too busy hiding in a corner.


I tried to talk her into it, but it was a no go!


But Santa brough gifts for all the kids and they both got one,


Devin needed some help to open his. He got a very nice turtle toy that sings and moves, and she got a trac suit and a full play dough set, for a really big girl (boy this Santa knows what they like!)


And then he left...


Kailey had some concerns after he left:

1) Was this the only time Santa would bring her presents? See he brought the wrong one - she was at first a bit disapointed about the gift she got, thinking she did not get what she wanted !!!! She so wants a castle for Christmas.

2) She did not tell Santa about wanting a castle for Christmas - I assured her I spoke to him before he left and told him she wanted a castle for Christmas and that Devin wanted a train set. I then let her know that he wrote it down in his book so he would not forget!
At the end she was satisfied that she was on the good list.

Now she is 2 hours over bed time and little missy here is still hyped up that she saw Santa!
What a day for a little girl!

Devin 1st Birthday

Sorry about the music - I could not get it off - so just turn it off in the left upper corner of the slide show!

Kinder Music/ Ballet Class

Kai started ‘ballet’ today - well that’s what I told her it was. It’s actually like Kinder music. But because it’s at the ballet school all the little girls come dressed in their ballet out fits. Sooo cute!!!

It’s to introduce kids to music and you use instruments and props. Devin joined in, since he was there and loved it. They got sticks to bang on the floor, egg shakers, ribbons, and sing along. Kai almost fell over when the teacher played some music from Sound of Music.

The teacher is amazing. She is South African and is very good friends with an Artistic Director I danced for in South Africa. Small world!!!
Here are some pics……


Her ballet outfit we bought today


All ready to go to the car



Her ballet bag



Bonus pics - I think they look so much like brother and sister here!


..... and my big boy - not sure how he got so big so soon????

Miss Lazy is back!!!!

I have not written in a while, the only reason is I have been very lazy lately. I get the kids to sleep and I clean up, then I do nothing! I embrace the silence most of the time but the rest of the time I got to bed and read for hours! I have been engrossed in the Twilight series of books, and I can’t put them down. (highly recommended)

Deric has been gone now for 6 weeks and it’s gone really quickly. Tish came for 10 days in September and that was amazing. We totally reconnected and it felt as if I had seen her the week before. When she left I was so rejuvenated and felt like my old self again. I am so grateful she took the time to visit us!

When Deric left Kailey was very confused, and all over the place. I had to make sure her boundaries were firmly in place so she would feel secure. That took a while …. But now we have very few issues. She knows the schedule and the drill and we run like clockwork. But we try have fun everyday.

We are also making new friends and spending time with our friends who moved here from Kansas. I am trying to find good friends for Kai as she is so social. She now makes wishes and her wish everyday is ‘I wish all my friends come to see me’ Breaks my heart!

She is awesome and has me laughing every day. The night Deric left I let her stay up with me and the Sound of Music was on TV so we watched it all cuddled on the couch. She fell in love with the music and now sings Do a deer, So long farewell and the puppet song all day long. I got the CD and that’s all she wants to listen to.

Here are a few moments I just have to share:

• She is convinced that the princes in the fairytales are the princesses’ daddy’s (since they save the princesses they have to be right?)
• When at the shop the other day she lost her hat. When we went back to look for it a shop assistant said to her ‘aren’t you a cutie’ her answer was: ‘I know I am, but I lost my hat so I am very busy, busy, busy, I am so sorry I have to get it’
• Every morning she has to put on her sleeping beauty dress, then all day she says ‘this is how a princess sits’ or ‘this is how a princess walks up the stairs’
• If I sing a song badly, she says ‘no mommy like this’ and directs me on how to sing it the right way
• When we collect Devin from the daycare on a Saturday she runs in the room and says to the lady, ‘I Kailey I need my brodder Debin he is a cutie cutie pie – oh there is he, hey buddy it’s me your sister Kailey, I missed you’ and usually pushes him over with a big hug
• When she wants chocolate or sweets she will sit on the floor close her eyes and tell me that she is ready for a surprise!

The list goes on but she is a laugh a minute!

Devin is also so wonderful – he is still not crawling the conventional way, he leopard crawls or army crawls everywhere. He can stand on his own without support and the doctors said there is a possibility he won’t crawl the normal way and that he will just walk…. I’m not holding my breath!

The difference in personality is so amazing to see, Kai is all over the place, she has imaginary friends. A baby Jaguar a bird and 2 mice. They go everywhere with us!!!! She loves her dolls and is always ‘Kailey mommy’ Her attention is always scattered and always has been.
Then Devin is a watcher, he figures things out before moving forward. He is very picky with who he invites into his circle. He is also very focused, once he has set his mind to something that is it, you can’t distract him from what he has seen or wants to do.

As for me, I have also started teaching on a Saturday at an amazing school. I teach contemporary dance and its going so well. What I love even more is the people who work there and the owners are fantastic. The school is joined to a dance company and they do great work. All ballet classes have accompanist. That is unheard of! Accompanists are usually only found in universities and professional ballet companies. The professionalism of this place just makes me even more proud to be a teacher there.

So as you see we are fine, still figuring out our new environment and trying to become familiar with everything. Our next week will be fun since we have Halloween parties, Halloween events and play dates planned.

We do miss Deric everyday but are very proud of what he is doing!

To start off with here are pictures of Deric’s farewell ceremony that was held on post. I did not take any photo’s of the soldiers in formation but just of Kai and Daddy. It was much cuter!




I cannot believe Deric left two weeks ago!! I have hardly taken a picture or posted one thing on the blog!!!

So he left last Sunday and is doing well, busy but well. Not much for me to report, he basically works 16 hour days, seven days a week!

We on the home front are fine. We feel a gap in our lives but our new systems will soon kick in and we can set ourselves up for the next year. Kailey asks where her Daddy is every day, and I just say he went to work too far away. What really helps her is that her friends Daddy’s are also deployed so she does not feel alone. She will often say, ‘Sidney Daddy to far away, Maddy Daddy to far away, Katie Daddy to far away and my Daddy far away too’

In true Deric spirit though he sent the kid’s balloons and me some flowers. Kai can’t believe she got a balloon in the mail!

But otherwise we are all good. I am teaching now on a Saturday and it’s going very well – I feel alive again. It’s part of the old me!

Tish (Tiziana) my best friend from South Africa will be coming tomorrow to stay with us for 10 days. I have not seen her since our wedding. I am next to myself with excitement and have been getting everything ready for her arrival. It’s been such a nice distraction.
So next time I blog will be on the Tish visit!!!!!

FINALLY!!

I had to do a slide show - too much has happend to download each one.....

On this slide show you can control the speed and drag your curser over the picture to see the caption.

Stay Tuned!

We are still here – every night I say I have to update tonight and every night something comes up…….
So I am going to blog soon, so stay close! We have our holiday to update, Great Wolf Lodge, the new additions to the house and visitors to tell you all about!
I’ll get on to it!

Loads to report!!!!

So much to report....

Last weekend Kai and I went to get some flowers and planted them in our big pot. Now everyday she waters her flowers and speaks to them. She has taken such pride in her flowers. She now also wants to weed the garden everyday!



I just caught her standing like this and I stole the picture, wonder what was going through her mind?







Kailey is talking up a storm. She has learnt the phrase - 'whats that?'
*If you ask her something like, 'why did you do that' she will answer 'I can't know'
*Her best think in the world to do is to cook dinner in her kitchen
*She loves her brother and if he cries she says ' Mummy, Debin crying - he need dummy (passifier)' or she will tell me 'he need eat' She is very concerned about him.
*She holds a pad of paper and tells me that she is going to draw my picture then shows me some oval with squiggles with so much pride that she just drew me.
*Her clothes are a big deal too, I better suggest the correct outfits in the morning and oh boy the shoes are a big deal too!!!
*She insists on wearing purfume - I have to pretend spriz her!
*She plays her imagination games all day long for example, when we go to the gym there are bushes, she will say 'mummy I stuck - help' then I have to pretend I have a rope, throw it to her and pull her out. This happends in two bushes, everday - I have now scheduled time for this!
The list goes on, but she just cracks me up all day long!

She has also taken to showers like mommy, she has to do most things like mommy lately, and how she wears her towls is just one of them.


Deric's mom came out to see us around 4th July week, here is her reading to Kai.


Kai and Grandma at the 4th July celebrations


Grandma meeting Devin for the first time


Ethan and Kai at 4th July riding pony's


I made Kai an outfit with the paper from the move, which she then had to ......


Dress her brother up (again)


Last weekend we went to Pikes place in Seattle it was great! Kailey loved the throwing of the fish, for me I was happy to find an H&M and went shopping!!!


And then there is my little boy, he is such a 'coodie pie' as Kai says. He now has 4 teeth and is such a light in our lives. Over the past few weeks it's like he has just woken up and the world is the most interesting amazing place. He is so reactive to everything around him. I love his reactions and his continuous arm flapping.







I love this picture!!


Kai loves to dress her brother up - here she insisted he was a fairy and must come fly with her. It went something like this....
'come brader, come fwi (fly)'
'I pretty fairy, I fwi'


And that's all I have for now - we are having Kai's half birthday this weekend with Aunt Chanele and Ethan. It will be nice for four reasons, 1. with her birthday in winter she misses out on summer gifts 2. Cool for Deric to have a birthday with her, 3. a year is a long time for a little girl, 4. Mommy and Daddy just love an excuse to spoil her.
Devin had one too on his 6 month birtday - we call them HAP BIR'S