First Day of School

Kiley went to school today. She was actually scheduled to go on Monday but her sleep schedule got a little crazy after Family Reunion in Blanco this past weekend.

She is so cute with her little backpack and pig tails. It was funny because since she had never worn a backpack before and she had a little difficulty keeping her balance. Sydney and Mom helped her make her way inside.

She was remarkably comfortable and went straight for the kitchen which is her latest fun thing to do at home. Courtney got her all set up and she loves pulling anyone she can over to that part of the play area so she can make them a cake. All the other kids were outside so we had a chance to meet her new teacher and get her stuff put away without too many distractions.

Here are a few pictures....

Arrived at Rising Stars

Getting her balance with a little help from momma and Syd

Heading into school

Sydney walking Kiley to class
(this is the same outfit that Sydney wore on her first day of school)

She went straight for the kitchen

Kiley is reading

Okay not really reading but she is repeating her favorite lines in her favorite books. Here are some of the more popular titles with her these days:

the foot book
walpole
the teeny tiny woman ....it's a bit of a creepy story, but she calls for it often, "teeny tiny, teeny tiny"
from head to toe ...we absolutely love this book.
the very hungry caterpillar
the grouchy ladybug
itsy bitsy spider
curious george's abc book
my first ABC book

Some of her past favorites are:
good night moon ...and i can still get away with reading it sometimes.
angelina ballerina books
guess how much i love you

...and just a few other favorite things while i'm thinking about them:
butterflies, airplanes, helicopters, going on runs, playing in the park on the swings and on the slides. She absolutely loves puppies which is a good thing with three of them running around her pretty much all the time. She has a webkinz dalmation that Sydney gave her. She carries that one around the house and on our runs.

favorite foods:
spinach balls
strawberries
beans
green beans
broccoli
she is loving her happy day day food aka, roasted peppers and tomatoes
smoothies
go go go papa (when we are on a run or just want to take a drive)

She pretty much talks all the time, when she isn't singing. Our favorite words by far are "i lub ew". "happy day day" is a close second. :)

If your are on FB you've already seen this video but if not here it is...

i lub ew - Peanut Butter snack

And one more of Kiley singing...

Happy Day Day with moo-thie

Kiley in Crate and Barrel

Kiley at Crate and Barrel

Kiley was really cute while we were shopping around. She insisted on having her umbrella stroller. Not to ride in but to push around. She was adamant about doing it all by herself.

This is a short clip of her running around the store making all the sales people nervous. ha!!

I love her happy little walk.

Kiley stirring

It's very late for Kiley....but i've been listening to her on the monitor...she humming and singing and rocking back and forth.  i think she's really happy cause she's singing happy day day to you.... :)  I can't express in words how cute she is.

Summer is quickly approaching

Jake and Sydney are both very excited that school is about over.  Many of their field trips for the year were delayed until these last two weeks.  They love not having homework and not having reading logs to turn in.  They continue to read the books that we picked up at the last book fair which is really cool.

Mostly I think Jake is very focused on a trip to Jamaica with his father and step mom.  I think in his mind he's already checked out of school and is on his way there.  Sydney has it on her mind but she's more anxious about having all this free time to play tether ball with us and her friends.  Yesterday she went to a friends house to swim and really wanted to stay longer.  I told her that she would have more time after school was done to do lots and lots and lots of swimming.

Kiley's newest words

There are so many new words that Kiley is using these days.  I'm surprised everyday on what new thing she has learned and love seeing that process in our little angel.  Some words she is now using pretty consistently....

up the stairs
boom boom (trampoline)
blanket
paci
apple juice
milk
water
stoller / run / park (all of which mean lets head to the park)
strawberry
beans (sometimes meaning green beans, black beans)

star (as in twinkle twinkle, which she also sings)
snack
tortilla
taco (comes out taa-ko)

mommy mommy mommy mommy mommy!  is pretty common too.

She's started singing more too.  one of her favorite tunes these days is to the tune of happy birthday.  We all like her version better.

happy day day to you, happy day day to you, happy day day to kiley.....  it is so incredibly precious.  Sometimes she'll sit and bang on the piano while she sings (I have to find that video and post it).....so so sooooo cute!!!

Yesterday I was surprised that she could put all the shapes into the little red/blue ball that has circles, squares, stars, triangles....etc. 

Goings on....

So much has happened since I last posted.  I'm sure Courtney feels the same way....we often think of posting something but finding the time, even for a few minutes, is sometimes difficult.  So I'm going to try to catching up little by little.  I know I've forgotten so much so the next few postings will definitely be a hodge podge.  I'm going to do the really big stuff first, 'cause, there have been some important things.

We had a couple of losses recently.  My last grandparent died last Sunday and we lost Magoo as well.  Magoo was a puppy that Courtney has had for longer than any of the kiddos.  She was really part of our family.  We put her to sleep.  She couldn't walk and was eating and drinking very little.  It was time.  It's very hard to talk about either so I'm just going to post some pictures.

Magoo, Courtney, Boo (Magoo's mom), Martin

 Our little Magoo was Boo's puppy.  Courtney rescued Boo and found out she was pregnant.  Out of all the others she decided to keep Magoo 'cause she was so spunky.

Kiley when she was much younger with her Great Grandma.