Swan Lake

I took Kai to Swan Lake, we had such a great time.
She cried at the end and threw herself on the floor kicking and screaming. When everyone had stepped over her I asked her why she was so upset. She said she did not want it to end.

I took her back stage and she got to see the dancers. One gave her a rose and she almost burst! She now wants to be a swan!

I love girly time!

(This was the best photo I could get - in all the rest she was spelling her name so they all have her mouth in a K - A - I - L - E or Y)

Tractors

Devin is OBSESSED with tractors. They are building a whole neighborhood next door to us at the moment, and I honestly thought I would hate it – but it has been full time entertainment for Devin.

He wakes up and stands at the window.
He likes to go outside when the tractors are at the fence line to see up close. Then he comes in and again sits at the window.

Nini got him the whole caterpillar tractor set. He now has 4 tractors, the hard hat and the tools. He loves them. When we drive in the car and he sees tractors, he gets so excited!!!! Boys – they are really not girls!

Preschool…… lovely preschool

I’ll start by saying – I LOVE KAILEYS PRESCHOOL!!!!!

At Kai’s preschool they have themed weeks (sometimes for two weeks) and this week they are doing planets. When I heard the theme for ages 3-5 I just thought ‘oh well, cute they will at least play with the idea maybe just open their minds to the concept’ so imagine my surprise today when during Kailey’s bath she starts speaking about the planets. It went something like this:

Kai: Mummy Pluto too small to be a planet!
Me: What?
Kai: It’s just a teeny weeny rock and not a planet – it’s too small
Me: What?
Kai: There are 8 planets not 9!
Me: What?
Kai: ….. and Mars is our neighbor, its red and it talks (not sure about that, I assume the teacher makes the planets speak to teach them)
Me: What about the sun?
Kai: Nooo mummy, the sun is not a planet, it’s just for morning time!
Me: and the moon?
Kai: The moon for sleep time!
Kai: then the rocks that fly are there too (I assume asteroids)

I was so proud you have no idea.

I asked the teacher the other day who decides on the themes and she said she did. She is about 22 years old and has completely blown me away! She said she does and then she tries to see how far she can go with the theme……

They have done the body – that was Kai’s favorite. They learned all about muscles and bones, the heart and the brain. They then worked on what food does for each of these parts. They also did food and where it comes from, they planted veggies and had to look after them to see them grow … and the list goes on. I am so happy she is there!!!!

And here is my mother’s day card…. She did not write this (she is only 3) but her teacher Miss Ashley held her hand and helped her. Break my heart!!!!!

The Tutu Saga.....

Kailey wants a tutu so badly – no I am talking a classical tutu not a romantic tutu.
Classical ones stand out - and romantic curve done (although Grandma sent a romantic tutu that she has to wear everywhere - gym, shops, friends the only place she has not worn it is school)


So added to that she does not eat ANY vegetables. NOT ONE. So I told her that little girls only get tutu’s when they eat all their vegetables. I read a Angelina Ballerina book to her and it’s about how she started ballet. I changed it to how she got her tutu by eating all her vegetables.

I then made this chart and she started eating her vegetables – no fighting, no nagging, nothing. If she does not want to eat them that night she does not get a ‘ticket’ and that upsets her (not me). She is so excited she tells me before dinner what vegetables we need to cook.


The great thing is she has decided that carrots are her favorite. Funnily enough, she only eats them raw and if I don’t have any on her plate she tells me that she needs her carrots!
We saw a little girl at the shops a few days ago – she was wearing a tutu and Kai started clapping for her and saying, ‘good job you did it, you ate all your vegetables’.
I told her ballet teacher what we are doing and she is also playing along, every week Kailey gives her an update on her tutu. I am hoping she finishes this week so she can get it on the weekend and then wear it to ballet on Monday.
I will let you know when she has her tutu!!!!!
I’m not sure who is having more fun with this - me or her?

Best Job In The World!!!

I have the best job in the world. We are in such a great place at the moment. Our routine runs like clockwork and everything is just going well. Of course it would be the cherry on top to have Deric here with us (and he will be soon) but I refuse to mope around and stop my life while he is away.
Kai is L-O-V-I-N-G school. When she wakes up and I tell her its school today she runs around saying ‘lets go, I’ll go wake Debin we need to get his milk’ then she gets herself dressed and sits at the table and waits for breakfast.
She is obsessed with anything ballet lately and now insists I refer to her as Ballet Princess Kailey. So much so that if I say ‘Kai dinner’ she comes in the room and directs me how to call her. Then she runs out the room again and I say ‘Ballet Princess Kailey dinner time’ and she runs in does a twirl, bows and gets up on her chair. It’s so funny!
She says today that she is going to teach Daddy some ballet, then she stops and thinks about it and says ‘oh no Mommy, prince’s can’t dance – but daddy is such a good boy he will just have to watch me’
And so my day goes by with these thoughts coming through her … I love it!

Devin is a dream baby again. We did go through a bit of a rough patch but from December he just became an angel and stayed that way.
He naps everyday AT 9:30 to 11:20 and then from 2pm to 3:20. He is so scheduled! He babbles and tries to talk all day long. He LOVES his sister and bugs her all day long.
They are building a road outside our house and there are diggers and tractors outside the house every day. He will stand at the windows for hours watching them. I got him a caterpillar tractor with blocks in it and he pushes that around most of the day.
As for me I am still teaching on Saturdays. It’s going really well and I have re-lit the dance fire in myself again. I am starting a new piece now so that will be exciting.
Here are some pictures ….




Devin is crazy about teddy bears, he just kisses them and hugs them all the time.


This is Devin's attempt to dress up...


The next 3 pictures is Kai giving some lovin to her brother... he likes it for a bit then tries to get me to help out.






I like these of Kailey. I wish I could however get her with neat hair...






We baked cookies and here I had two kids sitting at once! Does not happen often.


Little man shopping

Over 30"s

I took this from an email that was sent to me... thought it was worth a read and a laugh......



If you are 30, or older, you might think this is hilarious!
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways… yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got
it! But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!
And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car.. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy
signal, that's it!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOD !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We
didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that! And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores! And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were luckily, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place! See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980's or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd
(Send this to someone you'd like to make smile)

North West Trek

At Home

Kailey's Birthday Party

DADDY'S HOME......

We went to get Deric at the airport ... here is Kai waiting and looking for Daddy



Here is when she saw him, she just ran into his arms.....

Kailey is 3

Kai is 3!!!!!
Today she went to school and I came back later with cake for the class. Deric got to watch in on the schools internet video cameras, so that was nice for him. Here are some pic’s.
We are having a party for her at the end of February when Deric is back on leave. Then going to Great Wolf Lodge….. what fun awaits.

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz sleep my baby girl.......

I have added another ‘Never’ to my list of ‘I will never….’

I always said Kailey will never let her sleep in my bed. I had seen too many Super Nanny’s and did not want the problems that I see on that show….

And now as I sit here and write, Kai is in my bed fast asleep.

I could fight it, and I could cause a stir about it, but when I get in at night she holds my hand and hugs me all night. I just feel that maybe it’s something she needs now and I have decided to deal with it later. When I think of what that little one in my bed has been through – or rather what we have put her through in the last three years, I just have to bend on this.

In 3 years she has lived in 2 countries, 3 states, 4 houses and seen her dad deploy twice for a year each time.

In the past year she has welcomed a baby brother, said goodbye to her friends again, moved state and got another house and area to get to know. She has given up her dummies, said goodbye to her daddy, let go of her beloved crib, potty trained, got a new play school, and started preschool. Each thing we throw at her she handles so well. So if she needs to know mommy is just at arm’s reach – so be it!

Hi Everyone,
I am taking the time to update the blog, this time with some actual news and not just pictures.

Just got the kids to bed, we have been so crazy this past week and I like to have one day a week just at home where they can really chill and play what they want all day. So now the house is picked up and they are sleeping…..

Kailey started preschool this week. I just felt that she needed something else. She is like a sponge and sometimes she does not want me to teach her. Also she is having trouble taking direction and listening to anyone but me. I found a school one mile from our house that is very good. Her teacher is very nice and Kai took an instant liking to her. She goes 3 days a week for 3 hours a day. I thought it would be great to spend some time with Devin, but he goes to sleep 30 minutes after we get home from dropping her off and then I have to wake him before we leave to get her. I know this will change but I finally feel what empty nest syndrome is !!


Devin is so gorgeous. He is really coming into his own. He is very focused and once he has decided what he wants you can’t change his mind. Lately he just wants to help with everything. He will help with the dishes, putting on the washer and dryer, and if I give him a brush he will scrub the whole floor. At dinner time he bangs on the oven and shouts at me…. He wants to help and watch me cook. I have to give him a spoon, or let him do something – he just loves that. He is also in charge of operating the microwave oven, a job he takes very seriously and if he sees you doing it, he will shout at you (seriously)


Besides for Kai’s school she is too funny. I went to a neighbor’s house that had a baby a few weeks ago, we went inside to see the baby and as we went in Kai says ‘oh my goodness, look at this mess!’ I almost died. Then yesterday we went to the curry shop for dinner and as we got out the car there was a woman in the car next to us – with her door open a bit (of course) Kai shouts out ‘Mummy this car is dirty, dirty, dirty – they need to wash it’ . She is also all into the fact that she lived in my tummy. Yesterday she says ‘Mommy I liked it in your tummy – it snowed in there and I played and played in the snow – it was fun!’
So never a dull moment!

Deric is well – he comes home for R&R around his birthday. We are just staying at home and going to Great Wolf Lodge. I think he is going to need the rest and lots of mornings to lie in bed …… ohhh but he now has a 3 year old …so that’s out, sorry love!!!!


I have started up teaching again after 4 weeks break, and today I can hardly breath let alone walk, bend down or pick Devin up. My class now has 25 students and just keeps growing. I love teaching it, I feel like my old self when I do.

I am also choreographing a piece for the Northwest Ballet . That is now adding an extra day and night to my teaching, but it will only be for January and some of February. It’s so nice to meet these like minded people and everyone has been so nice and kind. I am very happy to be there.

Going back a bit, my mom was here from Thanksgiving to New Year – It went so fast I can’t begin to tell you. We had a wonderful time, were busy but also took time to just stop and chill with the kids around Christmas.
Kailey was totally into Christmas this year and I can’t imagine how much fun next year is going to be.

It was also very cold – one week was -13 centigrade/6 Fahrenheit. Apparently that is not normal for these parts. On one morning I woke to find our pipes had frozen. I called the water company and they told me to put a hairdryer to the pipe that goes into the house. So I stood outside found a pipe and stood there in the freezing -13 with a hairdryer.

Next thing my neighbor came home and said to me I am drying the gas pipe!!!! He felt the need to take over and next thing, his wife, and son were sorting out my whole house. They even went to home depot to get things to prevent it from happening again. I was beyond grateful since I still had little ones inside who needed me.

I spoke to a friend that day whose pipes had frozen and then burst….. Her whole house was inches in water. I realized then how much they actually helped me.

Anyway I think that’s enough for now !!! Thee pic’s above I had taken for Deric’s Christmas present. He got a calendar with the family pictures to count down his time till he is home……..