Dodging Storms

For the better part of the day on Friday it stormed here like crazy.  It rained buckets, the sky became very dark, it began to hail, and then the sirens went off.  Luckily the scary tornado-like weather passed pretty quickly but it definitely got me motivated to become more prepared for emergencies.  I'm grateful that we only had a tornado watch because there was a HUGE tornado only 2 hours south of us that did extensive damage.

However, not all storms passed us by.  There were some clouds covering Summer's usual sunny disposition, so to speak.  Summer is officially 18 months old, which means she's old enough to attend our church's nursery program on Sundays.  Today was her first day and Josh and I thought it would be such a breeze for her because she's so social and outgoing.  Dropping her off was fine, but within 20 minutes the nursery leader had to call us in because Summer was inconsolable.  Once I got there she did great and I think she'll be fine once she becomes more familiar with routines, people, etc.  She did look cute though :)

 

 It's a different story for Kylie.  She LOVES attending primary each week.  Her teacher is fantastic and Kylie really enjoys going to class with her friends.

Last week she was chosen to be the "Superhero of the Week."  Every week a child is spotlighted and they are recognized for making good choices that week.  A primary leader read clues (I emailed her earlier in the week of 3 good choices Kylie made) and the other kids guessed who was being spotlighted.  Then she got to wear a cape and she got a cool sucker that was decorated like a superhero.  

Do you think she liked it???

I'm feeling grateful today that I have places where I can go to dodge life's storms.  I have no desire to be in an apartment forever, but right now it is my haven and the place that I call home.  Church is another haven for me, in a different sense, and I'm so glad that we get to attend as a family.  I love that my kids are already learning about their worth and their important role in our family.  I'm glad that we have the resources we need to be safe, strong, and happy.

Comic Relief

One thing I love about Summer is her ability to make everyone laugh.  Here are some examples from the past couple of days:

#1: I was trying to get Summer changed and dressed for the day but she just kept running away.  (Trust me, this is not always funny, but for some reason it was that day).  She would head toward me, making me think that she was finally going to cooperate, when she would twist her body to dodge me and head the opposite direction again.  Then she would give me this little smile.  Stinker.

#2: The other evening, Josh and I had just had it.  We both had stressful days and we were exhausted by dinnertime.  Of course, that was the evening that Kylie chose to fight us on eating her dinner.  But we soon were cracking up because Summer was just in a silly mood.  Here's a sample conversation:

Kylie: I don't want to eat my dinner!  It's yucky!

Josh: Kylie, this is what we're having for dinner.  You need to eat.

Kylie: No!

Summer: Daddy?  Daaaaadddy??  Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddy?  Daddy?

Josh (exasperated): What, Summer?

Summer (tongue sticking out): lalalalalalalalala

#3: Because of our struggle at dinnertime with Kylie the other night, we promised her last night that she could have a cookie if she ate all of her dinner without complaining.  She did, so she got her cookie.  But we couldn't give Kylie one without giving Summer one too, and after about 5 seconds it had disappeared.  This picture says it all: "What cookie?"

Stir Crazy

This is the time of year that we all get a little stir crazy.  Luckily, we have had an unusually warm (and sunny) winter this year and have had plenty of opportunities to get outside and enjoy the fresh air.  But, of course, that's not the norm so we have to get a little creative the rest of the time so we're not going crazy being indoors 24/7.  We do all sorts of fun things at home, but here are some things we do when we venture out.

Pet Store.  A couple weeks ago I took the kids to the pet store and they loved it.  We were there for over an hour just looking at the different animals.  Summer couldn't get enough of the cats.  She kept trying to stick her fingers in and pet them.

 Kylie was more partial to the gerbils and hamsters.  She got a kick out of them running on their exercise wheels.

Shopping.  We go to the grocery store every week but when we do, I'm usually all business.  Sometimes it's nice to go and just hang out.  I'll browse, we'll hang out in the toy aisles, and we always end up at the horse.  We definitely hit up plenty of other stores too, but it's nice to know the kids don't tire of the grocery store.

The Children's Museum.  Shortly after arriving in IN, we purchased a family membership for the children's museum in downtown Indy.  It is the largest children's museum in the world and I'm always amazed at how much there is to do.  The girls love the second floor, which has the playscape.  The kids play at water tables, sand tables, slides, and jungle gyms.  That family pass was such a great investment.

I'm just glad we have these resources because they add a little sunshine to my winter!

LOVE

Happy Valentine's Day!  Kylie is now old enough to get excited about holidays such as V-day.  She was SO excited to find a package in the mail with her name on it.  As you can see from the picture below, she could hardly contain her excitement long enough for a picture!

 A homemade card for Kylie from Grandma

 And another homemade card for Summer

 They both got these adorable packages of m&m's too.

 Kylie received a little foam bear that came with sticker decorations.  She loved putting all of the stickers in their appropriate spots! 

 Summer received these cute little bead necklaces, which she wore for hours.  She would have eaten the entire pack of m&m's too if I hadn't stopped her...

Sorry about the blurry pictures.  Someday I'll own a nice camera.

In case pictures don't quite do it for you...

 

I know this day is intended for people who want to celebrate their love with a significant other, but I can't stop thinking about my family.  I just LOVE them to pieces and feel so blessed to have them!

In Case You're Bored...

We haven't been up to anything special lately, so hopefully this post isn't too boring :)

Kylie

Kylie has been all about the play-doh lately.  Grandma and Grandpa Steorts got her this awesome cake making set for her birthday, which she absolutely LOVES (in case you could tell from the pictures...)

 I happen to love this snapshot that Kylie took.  It captures so well how things typically go at our house: I turn my attention away from Summer for 2 seconds and some kind of problem arises.  Stinker.  She put a big blob of blue play-doh in her mouth and I had to literally pry her mouth open to get it out.  Typical.

Kylie has been my little helper lately.  She is always willing to help me dust, sweep, put dishes in the dishwasher, sort/switch laundry, feed Summer, etc.  It's very convenient for me but I must confess that I had nothing to do with her interest in helping out-- she just enjoys some independence.

She has also taken an interest in dressing herself and brushing hair-- both hers and Summer's.  She does a fantastic job, but I'm secretly happy that she still lets me pick out her clothes and style her hair.

Summer

I've been having a great time dressing Summer up.  She's at that age where she's just this cute little person that follows you around everywhere.  She has become very interested in drawing/writing, but if her interest piques during a time when I'm feeling a little worn out, the magna-doodle does the trick.

Summer... wears me out!  In a good way.  But she is my own little Energizer Bunny and seriously follows me everywhere.  If she isn't following me around, then I can be absolutely sure that she is up to something: playing with my phone, emptying the fridge, climbing on a chair, etc.  She definitely keeps me on my toes!

Yes, that is a Q-Tip in her ear.  They have been super gross lately so we're constantly cleaning them.  She found the box of Q-Tips, selected one, and cleaned her own ear while raiding the refrigerator.

 

But she really is a sweetheart.  She insists on giving everybody kisses before bed, sits quietly during prayers, and enjoys talking to family members on the phone.

I think what I love most about her right now is how observant she is!  As a second child I expected her to really take her time developing because she has an older sister who can do things for her.  Instead, she watches everything Kylie does and picks up on things.  She says over 50 words (the average for someone her age is 6), brushes her own teeth, and even recognizes Josh's work building.  She understands how the potty works and has even taken a little interest in it!  (No, she hasn't used it, but I'm just happy that she gets it).

 I just love when the girls go through new phases.  It keeps things fun and exciting.

Random note: I'm seriously considering getting family portraits done.  We're making progress!

When Life Gives You Lemons...

I have to set the stage for this one.  After picking up Josh from work this evening we decided to swing by the optometrist office to pick up his contacts.  Upon arriving, I was proud of myself for two reasons: 1) I knew where the office was, which is a small feat in a new town, and 2) we made it there safely despite the freshly fallen snow. 

As we pulled into the parking lot, the following conversation ensued:

K: I'll just park over here so you can run in real quick.

J: Actually, I usually go in over there.

K: (not seeing a place to pull the car around) Where??

J: Right there. Whoa, watch out!

 CURB.

 During this conversation I was looking in the direction Josh was pointing, confused as to where I was supposed to pull the car around so he could go in the front door of the building.  He was pointing at the door itself, thinking I would just park on the side of the building.  Obviously, this conversation happened really quickly, which is why I completely overlooked the curb and ran right over it.  Actually, we jumped the curb and pretty much sat on top of it... and I had to back up in order to get off.  Lame.

Now here is where the story gets interesting.  Hopping the curb immediately gave us a flat tire.  Since we had 2 hungry girls with us and the tire store was just around the corner, we decided to just drive there.  Super slow.

I'll spare you all of the details, but basically everything turned out OK.  (In fact, this is all very funny to me now).  A quaint little Mexican restaurant was right next door to the tire store, so we just went there for dinner.  It was amazing food and now I can cross "try a new restaurant" off my 2012 bucket list.  The girls were well-behaved and didn't even realize that we were flying by the seat of our pants.

After finishing all of her food, Summer colored...

...and Kylie played "Angry Birds" for the first time on Josh's new work phone.  

*Side note: As we were getting the girls ready for bed tonight, Kylie asked to play Angry Birds.  We told her that it was time for bed but maybe she could play more tomorrow.  After a short pause, she said to Josh, "Maybe you could take your other phone to work and I can play Angry Birds."  Clever.

Anyway, I'm counting my blessings tonight.  1) Josh wasn't ticked at me for making such a dumb mistake.  2) The girls did incredibly well, even with our change of plans.  3) We got to enjoy a new restaurant as a family.  4) We only had to pay for a new tire-- no dented rim or anything like that.  

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!"

Four

Kylie celebrated her FOURTH birthday over the weekend.  About a month ago Kylie spotted a Rapunzel cake at the grocery store and has been talking about it ever since.  That inspired me to throw her a "Tangled" themed birthday party.  I got most of my ideas from here if you're interested in the details, but I modified them a little to keep things simple.  Kylie invited some of her closest friends over to join in the fun and she was very excited!

There were a lot of purple and yellow decorations in our house since those are the main colors in the movie.

I made Pascal party blowers (super easy) and decorated plain yellow party hats with stickers.  When the kids arrived, they got to choose their own hat and party blower. 

 The party blowers were definitely a big hit!

 Parents were invited to stay since the party was only an hour and a half.  While we waited for all of the kids to arrive, the parents got to enjoy some munchies.  I'm glad I didn't put a whole lot of effort into the spread because I had WAY too much food!  Some of it was inspired by the movie: blue kool-aid to represent Rapunzel's boat ride to the kingdom, apples (Max), and a frying pan (Eugene).

 Once everyone arrived we started off by playing "pin the frying pan on Flynn Rider." 

 The kids were way too good at that game.  Note to self: use a much larger poster and put it up higher... 
 

Kylie also had her heart set on having a pinata...which had nothing at all to do with the movie.  BUT, I did make a super long braid to hang the pinata from, so that has to count for something!  After about 10 seconds we decided to ditch the blindfold and just let the kids swing.

 Here's a better shot of the braid.

We had a few setbacks with the pinata. 1) It's pretty tough for 4-year-olds to break open.  I totally knew that going into it, but Kylie really wanted a horse pinata. So we just let them take their time. 2) Kylie was excited for her to hit the pinata and nobody else.  There were a few tears shed each time she had to hand over the bat to let someone else have a turn.

 It didn't take long before the kids started their own cheering section.  They all gathered together, held hands, and screamed for the person hitting the pinata.  Sorry for the totally blurry picture, but trust me, it was cute!

 After each child had a turn, we took the pinata down and just let them hit, kick, and stomp on the thing to break it open.  That was so much more fun!

 There we go!!!  There was plenty of candy to go around!

 Immediately following the pinata, Kylie opened her gifts (really fast).

 And here is the cake.  What four-year-old girl wouldn't want that cake???  Someday I might actually make a birthday cake for my kids.

 The moment she had been waiting for...

 Kylie wasn't the only one who loved the cake!  It was definitely a big hit.  Every single one of the kids wanted a piece of cake that had "Rapunzel hair" on it (the swirly yellow frosting).  Eventually all that was left was the center of the cake with the birthday message on it.

 The party was tons of fun but MAN OH MAN was it a lot of work!  Luckily the kids played well together and enjoyed the theme of the party, but our apartment felt just a little too small with that many bodies (SIX four-year-olds, plus parents).

The following day, Sunday, was Kylie's actual birthday.  I woke her up that morning by saying "Happy birthday, Kylie!" and she responded, "Again?"  It was still special because she got to open gifts from her grandparents and even skype with them for the first time :)  She wore her new dress to church that her great-grandma Jefferson got for her.  In primary the kids sang a birthday song to her and she got to pick out a bracelet.

All in all, it was busy, crazy, chaotic... and fun.  I really enjoyed watching Kylie's excitement during all of the festivities over the weekend.  She's such a sweet little girl and we're so blessed to have her in our family.