Popsicles in February

Texas weather is always pretty crazy. One day it's 80 degrees and the next it's dropped down to 50. Yesterday was no exception to the craziness. We had a high of 88, and the kids were begging me to take them swimming.

We didn't go swimming, but all the kids in the neighborhood ended up in our driveway eating popsicles. They ran around in shorts, rode their bikes, played a little T-ball, and eventually migrated to our next door neighbor's backyard who kindly opened it up so the kids could play on their new swing set. I think there ended up being 13 kids back there.

It was fun while it lasted. Today's high ended up being about 59. Kooky Texas weather!

Happy Birthday Kaylee!

Today was Kaylee's fourth birthday. She woke up around 7am and chose to open presents immediately. She received lots of fun things and played with her new loot until her breakfast choice of pancakes with Cracker Barrel syrup was ready.

In the afternoon we went to church where she sang her first song in Sacrament Meeting. The primary kids sang and signed "Love One Another". It was sweet, and she was excited to sing in front of everyone. Ainsley was a great big sister and made sure she got up to the front and back safely. During primary, the kids sang a birthday song to Kaylee, which made her very happy. 

After church I went to work in the kitchen. Kaylee decided to have a Barbie Island Princess themed birthday this year, so I attempted to make her an island birthday cake. We had a small Rosella doll (the princess in the Island Princess movie) to mount on the cake but decided it might ruin her dress if we plopped her in frosting. Let me tell you, there was a sickening amount of frosting on that cake. It makes me a little queasy to think about it.

Once the island was completed, I made Kaylee's choice of birthday dinner -- lasagna and Texas Toast. I think she ate one bite of lasagna, and the middle out of a slice of Texas Toast. Oh well, what can you do?

After dinner came cake and ice cream and that was that. The day was over. We got the kids ready for bed, kissed them goodnight and cleaned up the aftermath. I asked Kaylee if she'd had a good day and was told it was her best birthday ever. Success! 

We've Had a Setback

Kaylee has been sick with strep throat since Thursday and she's not putting up with anything. She's been cranky and mad at Landon since she started feeling sick.

On Thursday she was irritated with Landon for one reason or another and demanded that Chris throw him away.

Friday morning she told me she wanted to get get rid of him and that afternoon she came to Chris and I with her plan of all plans. She'd decided it was time to sell Landon for $22.00. We asked her if we should put him up for sale on Craigslist and she decided that Kayleeslist would be a better bet. So, if anyone is looking for a cute little guy we've got one for only $22.00.

Poor Landon, if only he knew how Kaylee was talking about him. The good news is that she was feeling much better today and there wasn't any talk about getting rid of her brother. I'm thinking it was the strep that was doing all the talking. They really do like each other - most of the time.

On a better note, Landon has started saying Kaylee's name (the first name he's used besides dada and mama). It's quite cute. It sounds like "Kayki". 

The Mom

This is just too funny not to share. I was looking through some of the things I have set aside for Ainsley's scrapbook this afternoon and came across this.

As you can see Ainsley sometimes expresses her anger through artwork. This was drawn too long ago for me to remember why she was mad at me, but I must have done something awful.

I Want to Be Mario When I Grow Up

Lately Ainsley has been telling us about all the things she wants to be when she grows up. While we were in the car today she was rocking out in the back seat and belting out one of her favorite songs. After her performance she decided that when she grows up, she is going to be a rock star and that it's time for voice lessons. Kaylee piped in with "I want to be Mario when I grow up!"

Now, we are all big fans of Mario in our house. Chris and I dressed as Mario and Luigi on our second Halloween as a married couple. I was pregnant with Ainsley, so I even had a Mario belly! And, it would be cool to have a real live Mario in the family to fight off all the bad guys but once Kaylee started listing the many lessons she was going to need to prepare to become Mario (ice skating, karate, flip back jumping, regular jumping, spinning, to name a few) I sadly knew we could never afford it. Ah, the ambitions of an almost four year old.

I Think They Might Actually Like Each Other

When Landon was born Kaylee struggled. Her whole world kind of turned upside down. Ainsley left for Kindergarten in the fall and Kaylee was stuck at home with a baby who cried a lot and demanded a large amount of attention. Lately I've noticed that she is no longer trying to like Landon, she actually seems to be enjoying him. There are still moments when she gets irritated but I'm finding scenes like this more often than not these days.

January 2008

January started out with Chris and our three kiddos shooing me off to California for four days. I went kicking and screaming (could they survive without me?) and came home wishing I'd had a few more days to spend with my parents and brother. It was a nice break, and everyone was well and happy when I returned to Texas. Chris even cleaned the kitchen. What a great guy!

A couple of weeks later Ainsley celebrated her 7th birthday. Chris, Landon, Kaylee and I brought cupcakes to Ainsley's class and her friend Isabel came home with us after school. Ainsley opened her presents almost immediately and then the girls played while I decorated a Hello Kitty cake. For dinner we went to Gattiland but we didn't stay at Gattiland for games. We went to Chuck E Cheese's instead - I won't even attempt to explain how this decision came to be. After games we came home for cake and ice cream and Isabel's mom picked her up a little while after that. It was a good day! On a side note, Kaylee wanted Ainsley to open her presents before school the morning of her birthday and was quite mad at Chris for already being gone to work. How dare him!

Chris started his last semester of school in January and the schedule that I thought was going to be absolutely awful has turned out to be pretty manageable -- no worse than any other semester. We're starting the countdown to graduation, and Chris is starting to search for jobs. The job market in Texas is looking pretty good right now so it looks like we'll be sticking around.