Trail of Lights with Sydney & Kiley

Kiley and Sydney at Grans Christmas Party

Disney World memories

Disney  2012

Snuggles from Tig

On the Disney Express...

Someone is going to Disney World with her Gran

Halloween was fun

For dance class she dressed as a princess fairy, a goldfish for her friend's party and for school and Halloween night she dressed as a puppy dog. She's like a regular princess Amidala. The princess part anyway.

Sydney was cat in the hat and Jake was the color blue. He's such a teenager. :)

Halloween is such a great opportunity to get out and meet and visit with neighbors. We went to one of Sydney's friend's house for pre-candy gathering. We had a costume contest where all the kiddos walked away with an award and a really silly murder mystery game that the kids and parents had fun doing.

Thank you to the Marshall's for hosting the fun times and for sharing the time in the neighborhood.

Dance Class

Such a busy schedule for our four year old. She is really enjoying doing tap and ballet. It would be really cool to see her on stage someday. :)

Kiley turns Four!!

We're very excited that our littlest angel is now four.

Favorite character: Dora the explorer
Favorite animated show: octonauts
Favorite treat: orange leaf
Favorite bedtime story: walls of Jericho
Activities: gymnastics, ballet/dance, impromtu singing

Parents day at Crenshaw gymnastics

Sydney with a Great Friend

I'm really enjoying Sydney and her playfulness. Today she was playing with a friend from down the street. They still enjoy a great game of hop scotch!

Play date!

Kiley had her very first play date away from the parents today. It's with a very good friend of ours and hers. We weren't sure how it would go but were encouraged by her enthusiasm.

I think it was more a milestone for me than anyone else.

Kiley is writing her name

Kiley began to write her name often and decided that it would also be good to have an out line of her hand as part of the signature. It's very cute an she is so excited about it.

Yesterday she told Courtney that we needed to celebrate the newly discovered skill by going to Orange Leaf. Only she called it the ice cream parlor. I don't think that we've ever called it that. We thought that she may have gotten it from a Dora episode. So this afternoon she found our frequent customer card and herded us out the door.

She had me place her collection of signatures in a notebook on three hole punched paper with tabs. She's so organized. :)

Courtney was thrilled that her highlighters, with the sticky tabs built onto the markers, we're used so thoughtfully.

A Time to Treasure

There are so very few of these left for us, that I want to remember this always... When a piece of clothing is turned inside out, Kiley can never remember the right way to say it, so she says 'Mom, can you help? This is soaked in, soaked out." Today she said "inside out" for the first time, and I realized that this era is coming to an end.
The thing that Sydney mis-spoke that I let her say incorrectly for way longer than I should have (because I thought she was my last baby at the time) was, 'Can you window the window down?' That really makes way more sense to a child these days than rolling the window down, and I just thought it was cute.
It's nice to have these sweet memories to think about when the children are bigger and more challenging!

Boo!!

With the exception of Kiley I've known Boo fewer years than everyone else in our home.  In spite of that, everything I know about her seems exceptional to me.  She was a "rescue" that has been loyal for many years.  When Courtney first found her she was maybe a year or two old but already pregnant.  Courtney told me a very cute story about when she was nursing her little ones and just couldn't give any more.  To help keep the pups corralled they were put in a small kiddie pool.  Sometimes Boo would nurse them in the pool and when she was done she would leave the pool with some of them still latched on until they reached the edge and they would plop off one at a time.  I still laugh at what that must have looked like.

Eventually all her puppies were given a good home, one of which stayed in the family.  That was Magoo, who was put to sleep last year.  As the kids grew up Boo let them climb all over her just like she did her puppies.  They sometimes used her as a stepping stool to climb on the couch or bed.  She never seemed to mind.

She looked after our family too.  There were very few times that she felt as if the kids were being threatened by someone she may have been meeting for the first time.  It was during those times that she let out a fierce bark that was definitely unlike her under normal circumstances.  And of course, once we reassured her that everything was okay she let down her guard.  She was such an excellent protector.

I will remember her for her gentleness, her loyalty (especially to Courtney), her sweet disposition and kindness to the children even when they were pretty rough with her (Kiley), her playfulness and her strength.  She very often kept up with the two younger boys who can be very rough.

We love you Boo and we'll miss you!!!

I Am by Jake

I am logical and smart

I wonder how we were created

I hear the theories

I see pictures from long ago

I want the knowledge of many

I am rational and intelligent

I pretend I have all the answers

I feel the presence of my ancestors

I touch the leaves of my family tree   

I worry my search is in vain

I cry out of frustration

I am logical and smart

I understand that something created us

I say that there is an answer

I dream that God is watching over me

I try not to get discouraged  

I hope someday to stumble across the answer to all my questions

I am logical and smart