A Boy and His Cars!!

To say that Kyle is obsessed with Cars would be a huge understatement lol!! He loves everything cars..he can spot cars from a mile away in a store and you wont usually see him without a few in his hands. Johns grandma started collecting hot wheels for him months ago and everyone else has also started giving them to him for every occasion. Back before his birthday Mammie got him a big box to hold all his hot wheels and decided we would try to get it filled up and give it to him for Christmas (it holds 100 hot wheels). So we filled it up and the look on his face when he opened it was PRICELESS!! He loves to sit in the floor and play with all his cars. I dont let him have full access to them whenever he wants (because I dont want 100 little hot wheels all over the house) So he enjoys when I let him dump them all out and we get in the floor and play with him!!

Four Wheelers

Johns dad got the kids 4-wheelers for Christmas. They both love riding on his mini-bikes and go-carts so he thought they would really enjoy having something of their own that they could ride. He was right..they love them :) He decided to give them to them on Christmas Eve day so they would have time to enjoy them some before all the business of Christmas. He covered them with a blanket since they were really big to be wrapped and the kids went out to the garage and pulled the blanket off..it was so cute. Kaylee just started smiling and hopped on but Kyle couldnt believe his eyes..he kept saying "oooh, wooow". Kaylee was really good at driving hers and it wasnt long before she decided that she only likes riding on the fastest speed (which I have to walk/jog to keep up with). It took Kyle a few minutes to figure out how to push the pedal and make it go, but once he learned he really enjoyed it!! He doesnt have the steering part down yet but Im sure he will have it figured out in no time :) These were definetly a big hit...Kaylee constantly asks me when she can go out and ride her "big fast bike" lol

Christmas

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year. It was so much fun this year because the kids actually understood it all and were so excited!! I am both sad and happy its over. I feel like it went by so fast and now we have to wait another whole year until we get to do it again :) But I am glad to get all the decorations down and get my house back to normal!! We started our Christmas festivities on Christmas eve with Johns parents and grandparents!! Kaylee was thrilled when she woke up Christmas eve day and we told her that she would be able to open presents that night. The only hard part was keeping her entertained until late afternoon :) Rene' cooked a wonderful dinner and we all exchanged gifts!! The kids had a blast and were really spolied with gifts!!

On Christmas day we woke up early and the 4 of us did our family celebration!! Kaylee was excited to find that "Santa" came and filled up the stockings and ate all his cookies she left him. Then we got ready and had Christmas breakfast at Johns parents.

At noon we headed to Nanas to celebrate with my side of the family. Growing up we always went to my Nanas on Christmas day and I love that we continue that tradition. She cooked a delicious lunch and the kids got to play and we all exchanged MORE presents.

On Christmas night we went to my cousin Farryns new house to celebrate with my moms side of the family. We had coffee and made smores and it was so nice for us all us cousins and families to be together!!

We are so blessed and thankful for everything everyone did for our family for Christmas!! Now on to getting the house in order and finding room for all this new stuff :)

We are ready!!

For Christmas that it :) Our shopping is done, our presents are wrapped and now we are just patiently waiting...well not all of us are so patient haha!! Kaylee asks me at least 25 times a day if it is Christmas yet or if she can open her presents!! She checks every day to see if the big socks, aka stockings have anything in them yet (I am waiting until Christmas eve to fill them because I know she will not be able to stay out of them). I am constantly finding her sitting by the tree just looking at all the presents. She loves for me to tell her which ones belong to who!! We have never made a big deal about Santa but this year she is all about Santa so we have kind of gone along with it. She informed me the other day that we will need to make cookies for Santa on Christmas eve lol..not sure where she learned about that..but she is really looking forward to it!!

I thought I was going to have a hard time keeping Kyle away from the tree this year but he really doesnt mess with it. Once he learned that the ornaments were not balls he has pretty much lost interest. He is also excited about Santa!! Of course he doesnt really understand the whole thing but he knows that Kaylee gets very excited when talking about Santa so now every time he sees Santa at the store or on TV he screams "SAMPA"!!

We are ready and excited!! Only 6 days til CHRISTmas!!

SICK :(

Every Christmas since we have had kids one of them has been sick for Christmas :( This year I was really hoping to break that tradition but as of now we are ALL sick. Kaylee started it last week and then passed it to me a few days ago. Of course it didnt stop there, now John and Kyle are sick too. There is less than a week until Christmas but I am holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, we will all be better by then :)

Working on our Listening Skills

You would never believe that this beautiful little girl has developed a listening problem. It has gotten worse over time and it is something that we are working very hard to correct. On a few different occassions over the last few weeks we have noticed that when we ask her to do something, or not to do something, she will do the complete opposite. We are working hard to break this and I think she is starting to realize that we mean business. It is so hard to be consistent but it is what she needs...she is very strong willed and will start running the show very quickly if your not careful. Actually as I type she is in her room in time out because she was standing in the chair that we constantly tell her not to stand in..I told her to please sit down and she said "no I just want to stand up" I calmy said to her "Kaylee you are not obeying, I asked you to sit down, remember If I say it..you obey it" She looked at me for a second and said "no I want to stand" so off to timeout she went!! After a few minutes I called her to come to me and she said "no Im just going to stay in my bed" my goodness when will she learn. I went and got her and told her when I call she needs to come..after we talked I sent her off to her bed again for not listening....when will she learn??? I sure hope this phase passes soon!!

Weight Loss Adventures

About 3 1/2 weeks ago John and I decided to go on a pretty hardcore diet. I have been talking about dieting and tried a couple of times especially within the last year and a half but just couldnt stick with it. After really talking about it we decided that losing weight was something that was very important to both of us and we were gonna do it together :) It has been much easier this time since we are both doing it!! We have both seen big results and that has made it easier for us to stick with it. I have lost 15 pounds since I started and he has lost the same or maybe even more (he isnt keeping track as closely as I am lol) We are basically just trying to eat a reasonable about of calories and work out as many days of the week as we can. When we first started we looked up the nutritional values for the resturants we usually eat at and we were SHOCKED to learn how many calories we were eating just at one meal. Since we really enjoy eating out, we made a list of places that we can go and still get a good low calorie meal. The first few times we went out it was VERY hard to stay away from the rolls and breads that places usually bring out before your meal..but we have stayed strong :) I have also completly cut out sweet tea and any soda...basically I only drink water now. I drink a lot anyways and without even realizing it I would drink a whole gallon of tea every day and not think twice about it. I thought it would be much harder to stick to it that it has been. I guess we both really want it this time :) I would like to lose about 35-40 more pounds so hopefully it will fall off fast :)

My Crazy 2 Year Old

So my 2 year old has this new obsession with sticking things up his nose. It happaned first a few weeks ago the night we got back from Disney World. We were sitting around and Kyle came to me pointing at his nose saying uh-oh...he had this funny look on his face but I didnt think much of it..I thought maybe he was coming down with a cold and his nose was stopped up. He kept saying uh-oh and pointing at his nose so i got him and looked up his nose and sure enough there was something up there but I couldnt tell what it was!! I was so glad John was home or I may have panicked lol. He layed him in his lap and I hold his head while John pulled a BEAD from his nose. He got into trouble and we didnt think we would have this issue anymore!! WRONG!!

Yesterday moning I was washing dishes and he came to me pointing at his nose saying uh-oh...I said "Son, there better not be anything up your nose" I got a flashlight and layed him on the bed and sure enough there was something up there. I couldnt tell what it was but it was pretty far up there and I didnt think I was going to be able to get it on my own without someone helping me hold him. I contemplated calling John at work but figured I would try to get it out myself first. Of course he wouldnt be still so I called over to my inlaws house (they live next door) and my brother in law was home so we headed over there so he could help me hold him down. Once I layed him down and started messing with his nose he started to sneeze..after a few sneezes he blew a balled up sticker out of his nose..WHEW!! I disciplined him and am really hoping we are not going to have this problem anymore. Everytime he sniffles the wrong way I immediately start thinking he has something else up there haha.. This boy sure keeps me on my toes lol

Craft Fair

Last Saturday I participated in my first craft fair and had a blast. Pretty Please Designs has taken off and I am loving every minute of it. This was my first craft fair so I wasnt sure exactly how things would go but it turned out great. I am looking forward to all the other craft fairs I have signed up for and continuing to get my name out there!!! Here is a Turkey Bow I made last week that has been a big hit. Check out my facebook page for more of my cute accessories...www.facebook.com/prettypleasedesignslk

Fall Festivals

We have really been enjoying getting out in the nice weather and taking the kids to as many fall festivals as we can find!! A few weeks ago we went to one at a church on the Southside that the kids really loved. It was a small festival but that was nice for the kids because they got to do more without being run over by big kids. We also decided we would take them to a festival on Halloween night instead of going trick-or-treating. Kaylee of course fell asleep on the way to the festival so she was in one of those moods when we got there...she was bring a grouch and didnt want to get any candy in her bucket so we let Kyle get it all and she was really regretting that for a few days after that lol. Kyle of course had a blast. We enjoyed all the Halloween festivities but I am glad its over so we can more onto Thanksgiving and CHRISTMAS!!!

Meet Spot

So we decided to get another puppy..actually, Kaylee and I decided and John finally agreed. We havent had the best luck with past dogs for one reason or another but we decided to try again. The type of dogs John and I wanted were completly opposite so we have been tring to compromise for a while. I wanted (and still do) a big dog and he wanted no dog but was willing to settle for a small dog. I like small dogs but I think they are harder to train and also worry about the kids hurting them, but I figured for now a small dog was better than no dog!! So John found someone on craigslist giving away a little rat terrier/boston terrier mix and he thought it was adorable..he showed me and of course I agreed we should get him. So a week and a half ago we brought home Spot.

Spot was a few days shy of 7 weeks when we brought him home (he is 8 weeks today). Most puppies do not leave their mom until they are at lesat 8 weeks but Spots had to be seperated from his mom because she was trying to attack the puppies. We brought him home and he has really been doing great. I have been reading a lot about the correct ways to train a puppy and have found some really useful things on the internet.

Spot is doing great with his housetraining. He has only had 1 accident in the house since we got him..that is because he is only allowed to walk around the house when he has just went to the bathroom and I am still watching him like a hawk. We have decided to train him to go potty on puppy pads on the porch instead of going outside because it is getting cold and I am not a big fan of going outside in the middle of the night. He is doing great going pee on the puppy pad but will go poop anywhere on the porch he pleases (at least its on the porch and easy to clean up and not in the house)

I have read about how important it is to make your dog understand that you are the leader and he will learn what it is that you expect from him. Spot has already learned at his young age to sit, and stay until I tell him to come. He has also learned that he has to sit at the door and wait until I tell him he can come in from the porch.

Today i took Spot outside for the first time. I have been reading that it doesnt matter how much you play and exercise the dog that nothing will compare to the amount of physical and mental exercise the dog gets when going for a walk. I learned that the dog must learn to walk beside or behind you, never in front and never pulling on the leash. We went for 2 walks today and on the second walk Spot had no problem with walking behind me. I have noticed a big difference in Spot since he got to go out and walk today. He has been much calmer in the house and didnt whine at all when he had to go into his crate.

When its to cold for Spot to go be on the porch and I can't watch him closely in the house he goes into his crate. He also goes into his crate when we leave the house. He whined at first in the crate but each day he gets better and better with being it in. Tonight is the first night he is sleeping in the crate. I have been sleeping on the couch with him since we got him because I was afraid he would whine and wake the kids but I decided since he is doing better in his crate we will try it out tonight and see how he does. So far so good!

Kaylee absolutly LOVES Spot..she is constantly wanting to hold him and play with him and she hears me trying to trach him things and she wants to help me. She is very good with him but is a little rougher than I would like her to be. Sometimes she doesnt realize he is a real little puppy not a toy lol. Kyle started out scared of the dog..he would scream any time the dog would jump up on him (another thing we are working with Spot on) but not he loves the puppy too. The first thing he says when he wakes up is "dog dog" and goes looking for Spot.

Overall Spot has been a good little pup so far and I hope he will continue to do good and be a good dog so he can stick around for a while :)

The Happiest Place on Earth

We had such a wonderful time this past week at Disneyworld...it really is the happiest place on earth lol. Kaylee has been a few times before and Kyle went once when he was 3 months old but this was by far the best trip because they were old enough to really enjoy everything. They loved it ALL. Kaylee loved our "Disney House" aka hotel room lol..she couldnt believe all the Mickey stuff in there lol. We stayed at the Pop Centry resort this time and the kids enjoyed all the huge disney characters around the hotel.

Thursday night we went to "Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party" at Magic Kingdom. It was really fun. The kids dressed up as Woody and Jessie from Toy Story and the were ADORABLE!! Since the park is open only to those with the seperate party ticket it wasnt as crowded and we were able to get on some rides with minimal wait. The best part was all the candy. They give you bags when you go in the park and you can go around to different candy stations as many times as you want and get your bags filled with candy. I think we have enough candy to last us until next halloween lol.

On Friday we went to Hollywood Studios and Kyle REALLY enjoyed the stunt show with all the cars and motorcycles and even Lightning McQueen!! That evening we went to Epcot and really enjoyed the Food and Wine festival. We got to get a little taste of different foods from all around the world :) The kids loved riding Nemo and seeing all the big fish tanks. Kyle couldnt believe his eyes lol..he kept saying "WOW BISH!!"

Saturday we slept in a little then headed to Animal Kingdom. I think the kids may have enjoyed this park the most. We got to see lots of animals and even ride a train to the petting zoo!! Saturday afternoon we decided to head back to Epcot but it was sooo crowded we only stayed for a little while. Saturday night Johns parents watched the kids and we went to Downtown Disney and walked around and got to enjoy some time without the kids!!!

We all had such a great time and Kaylee is already asking when we get to go back lol. Kyle was excited to get home and he acted like he had never seen any of his toys before haha..I loved seeing them have such a good time!!

Its Finally Fall

So I am one of those people who wants it to be cold when its hot and once its hot cant wait for it to be cold again lol. We went out Friday night and it was hot and when we woke up Saturday it was cold!! It felt so good. We spent the whole day outside..we walked around St. Augustine and then went to Rivercity to get some fall decorations. October, November and December are my FAVORITE months of the year!! I love all the decorations and festivities these months bring :) Here is our fall decorations!!

The Countdown Is On

We are going to Disneyworld in a few weeks and Kaylee couldn't be more excited!! She has been a few times but the last time she went she was only about 1 1/2 and Kyle was only a couple months so neither of them remember anything!! We have been talking to Kaylee about it for a while and she asks everyday if today is the day we are going...so we created a countdown jar!! I cut up small pieces of paper and drew mickey mouse on them and we put one in the jar for everyday we have left before we go!! I told her everymorning when she gets up we can take one out and when they are all gone it will be time to go!! She got up thismorning and asked to get the jar and she took one out and then came back a few minutes later and said "Mom can I go ahead and take all of them out because I am really ready to go to Disney now" haha!! These few weeks are going to drap by for her lol

Pick Up Scheduled

I posted a while ago about a blog I am in love with called iheartorganizing.blogspot.com I havent visited the site in a while and last night I came across it again and got inspired. We have a small house and a ton of stuff so simplifying is a MUST!! I have been saying I need to call for a donation pick-up but wanted to wait until I had gone through everything before I called. I decided to go ahead and schedule it for TOMORROW so that I would have no choice but to get everything cleaned out TODAY!! The kids room was going to be my biggest task. They have so much toys and a lot of small things that are broken or have pieces missing..so we tackeled their room and got rid of 4 bags of clothes and toys that they no longer use!! WOW..they are going to have so much more room and hopefully wont have as hard of a time keeping it clean! I am now moving on to the rest of the house while they are playing with all the toys they had forgotten they had that were at the bottom of the toy box!! Hope I can keep my motivation :)

2 Years Old

I am a week behind on this post and probably would be later than that if I didnt have a 3 hour nap today and now I'm wide awake with nothing to do haha!! Our sweet boy turned two last week!! We were going to have a party for him last week but ended up postponing it until yesterday because of the weather. Last Sunday on his actual birthday John had to work so the kids and I went to church and went to lunch with my family to celebrate..that night John's parents came over and brought a cookie cake and his big birthday present from them...a bike!! It was actually pretty sad because Kaylee has been begging for a bike and we keep telling her she has to wait until Christmas!! When she saw the bike she was so excited but was quickly dissappointed when she realized that it was for Kyle and that he wasn't even going to let her near it haha!! That night she told John "Daddy I sure did want a bike too"!! It was so sad..John's parents thought she already had a bike and felt so bad so they went and got her a pink one to match the next day!! She is one happy little girl :)

Yesterday we had his little party at Sunny Acres park and it was HOT but we all had a great time! It was mostly just a family and out sweet friends the Slegers. Everyone was very generous and Kyle got lots of new toys and clothes. He LOVES and kind of cars and trucks and thats what we told everyone to get him. He was in heaven with all his new cars!! When we got home and I brought all his stuff in and took it out of the bags he started laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes haha. I guess he couldnt believe all that was for him!!

Kyle continues to be such a sweet laid back little guy! He is his daddys boy, his mommas baby and his sisters best friend :) He is perfectly happy playing by himself but he cannot be left alone for a second haha. He is in to EVERYTHING!! He will unload a cabinent or take something apart in a matter of seconds if you arent watching him haha! He is starting to finally talk more but would prefer for Kaylee to just do the talking for him! He is still a great eater and doesnt turn down much. He loves to be outside and his favorite passtime is riding with papa on his mini-bike :) We are so thankful for these last two great years with our boy and can't wait to see what is in store for his future!Chillin in Mommy and Daddys bed on his birthday morningCan you tell she is EXCITEDThis just melts my heart :)Enjoying a cupcake at his party

Some of his new stuff he got at his party!!

Pretty Please Designs

I have been making Kaylee's hairbows since she was really small and I have always thought about having a little side buisness selling them. I figured that I was going to make them for her anyhow so I might as well try to make a little money!! I never really got around to doing it until last week. I got a bunch of new ribbon just planning to make some new stuff for Kaylee and they turned out really cute. I showed them to John and he said that I really should think about making a facebook fanpage to try and get my name out there..so I can up with a name "Pretty Please Designs" and started the fanpage. Within 2 days of starting the page I had over a 100 people like the page and even had a few orders. I am so excited about this!! I know this is not something that will make me millioms ;) But its something I really enjoy doing. If your interested in seeing some of my items for sale you can check out www.facebook.com/prettypleasedesignslk

School: Week 2

So we have finished week 2 of school and Kaylee is loving it!! We worked on the letter B and Number 2 this week. The first week we did a lot of worksheets and although she enjoyed it I thought she was bored with it. So this week I got a lot of ideas from pinterest and we did much more than just worksheets, she seemed to learn more and enjoy it more also! We went to the library and got books that talked about the letter B and number 2 and also a few others she wanted. Every day we had reading time and her and Kyle both enjoyed that. I found a neat website that gives you a bible verse for each letter of the alphabet and this week was Acts 16:31 "Believe in the Lord Jeses" she can recite the verse but not the reference quite yet. We also played some games using popsicle sticks and that is really helping her learn and recognize her letters and numbers. I decided Fridays would be our funday and we would do some kind of fun craft or game and today we made homemade playdough. She loved it and it turned our great but it was such a sticky, messy process. I think we will just stick with the store bought stuff!! Next week we are working on the letter C so I got the Hungry Little Caterpillar book from the library and have planned a bunch of neat stuff to go along with that!! More on that next week :)

From Pillowcase to Accessories

Instead of doing something productive yesterday we had a craft day..while the kids did their own little crafts I decided to try out some things I had seen on pinterest and other websites. I needed old fabric scraps but the only ones I really had were Christmas ones and that wasn't what I was looking for so I decided to use an old pillowcase. I made flower bows and a headband and even rings and earrings for Kaylee and I. I couldnt believe how cute the stuff turned out and now I can't wait to get more fabric to make much more stuff!! Here is some of what we made :)

iheartorganizing.blogspot.com

I came across this blog a few days ago and I am in love with it!! She has some awesome ideas for organizing and I can't wait to get started organizing!! I have never seen a house as organized as hers...she even has everything in her fridge and freezer organized and labeled!! Now that is AWESOME. I'm not sure I will ever be that organized but hey a girl can dream right :) Stay tuned for before and after pictures..I'm going to pick one spot per day to work on until the whole house has been done (at least thats my goal anyway..may change my mind once I get started lol)!!

Schedules and School

Since I became a stay at home mom about a year and a half ago we really havent followed much of a schedule..we wake up when we want, eat when we want, clean when we want and sleep when we want!! I was getting a little frusterated with how our days were going and how the kids were acting so John suggested that getting the kids into some kind of routine may help their behavior and make me a little less stressed, so last week I wrote out a schedule that I thought may work for us and decided that we would start yesterday since it was also the first day of the new school year. I also started K-3 yesterday with Kaylee. We have been practicing "school" for a while now but never really anything that was organized, I would just print worksheets off the computer and she would do them. So I sat down and wrote out a calendar of exactly what we would work on each week from now until the end of the year and we had a successful "school day". I put a little desk and workstation for Kaylee right beside my desk and she loves that she has her own place to do her school. The kids and I had such a great day and I think that we will have much better days if we can stick to this!! Kaylees new school spot :)Computer time...we just discovered pbskids.org (thanks to my cousin Kristin) and we love the educational games they have!!Just thought I'd share with everyone just how crazy cute this little guy is..he dumped his beans out all over the table and put the bowl on his head, I walked in the kitched and said "why son" and he pointed at his head and said "hat" lol Oh and yes, of course there was bean juice still all in the bowl which got all in his hair and down his neck!!! LOVE HIM :)

Monkey Boy

This child is seriously a monkey...he climbs on everything all the time!! From the time he wakes up until the time he goes to bed he is nothing but a ball of energy lol. This is what he was up to thismorning. Oh how I love this boy :) And by the way..one month from today this boy will be 2!!!

Hairbow Frame

I saw this cute idea on Pinterest and I had to try it out for all of Kaylees bows that are always all over the place..I LOVE how it turned out and it was super. All you have to do it take everything out of an old picture frame until all thats left is the outside frame. Then hot glue pieces of ribbon from one side of the frame to the other and when its dry clip on the hairbows!!! I love things that are cute and functional :)

Johns 26th Birthday

Yesterday was Johns 26th birthday and since he has been wanting to go to Clarks Fish Camp thats where we went for dinner. It was John, Kaylee, Kyle and I and his parents and brother and Mamie and Papa. Its been a long time since we had been there and neither of the kids have ever gone. I forgot how much I love that resturant. Its a really cool place. They have just added on to the building and have added a lot more animals since I had left been there. There is also a new turtle and alligator exhibit that they are working on right now. Kaylee loves animals so she was in heaven looking at everything. The food was delicious and after we ate we all stood around on the dock for a while feeding the fish, alligators and turtles!! We all had such a great time. I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband that works so hard for me and our family. Happy Birthday Babe...WE LOVE YOU!!