Halloween

Too tired to eat...very rare moment for Alaina

Coloring, Ky's obsession

I love my shoes!

A typical laundry day. The scary thing is--the other half is still downstairs waiting to be washed...

Working together.

A very excited Ky...opening a gift from U. Adam & A. Liz

CANDY!!!! He was ecstatic!


A coloring book with tattoos! Does life get any better??

First trip to the dentist

Ky was Bob the Builder for Halloween

Alaina was a pumpkin

The playgroup...or most of the playgroup

From back left to right: Josiah, Ray, Taryn, Ky, Cora, Lana

Front: Alaina, Bryson

Missing:Alia, Evan, Laura, Teyla, Danny, Zack

Rocking like a SUPER STAR!

Trying to hit the pinata

Collecting candy

Loving Nana

Alaina likes to throw her food out of her high chair and then eat it on the floor. Perhaps it tastes better with floor lint?


This was the first halloween Ky dressed up. And honestly, all he did was go to a small party with my fellow mom's club. We (I) didn't feel the need to traipse him around the neighborhood for candy we didn't really want him to eat--not to mention candy we (Rob & I ) would end up eating :). Ky still doesn't know everything that goes on with Halloween so we decided just to leave it at that. I told him he was going to dress up for a party. He has been really obsessed with Bob the Builder, so it was easy to make him a homemade costume using a small tool belt we had, his overalls and a play fire hat that I put a Bob the Builder sticker on.

Alaina was my little pumpkin. I put her in her orange pj's and cut a little leaf "hat" out of felt and stuck her pony tail through it. It worked very well. And hey--she is cute in everything--so it worked!

I like the idea of home made costumes...and may instate that as a rule in the future. No store bought costumes, you have to be creative and make your own!

On Halloween morning, Ky and I had dentist appointments. It was Ky's first. And honestly his total time in the chair was about 5 minutes where they counted his teeth and brushed them. I really hope they didn't' charge a full check-up for him. Especially since they didn't take x-rays or anything. He did very well there.

After that we were off to our Mom's Halloween party. Ky had a blast playing with all his friends. Our entire playgroup was there. We meet every Thursday. And Ky has been playing with/growing up with these kids for the last 2 years. It was fun to try to get all the kids in the pic above. Us mom's in this group have become very close and I look forward to the many years in the future with our kids growing up together and *hopefully* maintaining some of these close friendships--but we all know how kids are....I have a feeling us ladies will stay close, I just don't know how the kids will be.

At the party they had a pinata and Ky had a blast hitting it. I am pretty sure he had no idea there was candy inside. So once the candy started falling--and it took a lot of work to break open that pinata--the excitement in Ky's eyes was exploding. He kept yelling--"Look Mom! Candy!" Nothing better than candy all over the floor for anyone to grab!

On to other things...

I know I have emphasized before Alaina's obsession for shoes--but it really is a serious obsession. I got her a new (used) pair of Mary Jane's and put them on her. She was so excited to clomp around the house in her new shoes. She also enjoys putting on everyone else's shoes as well.

We have been really struggling to get good professional pics of Alaina. She just doesn't want to sit still. She will also start crying. I had to take her twice before I got a decent picture of her at 1 year. The same thing happened with Christmas pics with Ky. An Australian guy came to take her picture and she just started screaming in terror. I think she was honestly scared of him. They brought in another photographer, but by then the damage was done. So I had to bring the kids back a second time to get the pics done. AND WHAT A CHORE IT IS! It is hard wrangling these kids into nice clothes, lugging them there, keeping them clean and nice looking and happy all for 1 decent picture. Not an easy job!UGH! I will have more info on xmas pics in another blog.

We have also discovered that Alaina is terrified of cats. We went to a friends' house for lunch and their cat came around the corner and she started screaming in sheer terror. Every time the cat came out she would scream and cry and run to me. It was TOO funny! Poor girl. Yet so weird! She is such a feisty and brave girl and yet cats and Australian men are too much for her.

So you probably think it is odd that i took a picture of our laundry, but I really just felt I needed to emphasize how much laundry I do. I do laundry once a week. Fly lady says "A load a day keeps chaos away", but I beg to differ. I only want to fold and put laundry away once a week, so I am going to just pick a day and do it all. I never imagined SO much laundry! And yes, I want to re-emphasize that that was only half of the laundry I did that day. AMAZING! And I will also say that I and Rob will rewear clothes twice. The kids---well-- often they end up in 2 outfits a day, so that never happens.

(Stepped out for a few minutes...)

Just put Alaina down...*SIGH* She is getting SO big. She is in that, not quite a toddler, no longer a baby, phase now. I try to do extra snuggles with her now before she goes to bed. And on the rare occasion she falls asleep in my arms, I just sit there and let her sleep. I enjoy her beautiful face and relaxed body. So precious are these moments as they are getting fewer and fewer. I sing to her now every time before I put her to sleep. I put her on my shoulder and often she will take both arms and hug my neck and lay her face against my face. It's almost like she is trying to absorb everything from the song-the vibrations, the facial motions. Sometimes she sings with me. I cherish these moments as I know she is no longer that tiny infant that would snuggle in my arms and long to be next to my warm body. She prefers to sleep on her own now. If Rob and I put her in bed with us, she crawls out. There is just too much for her to see and explore. And explore she does. She tears everything apart. Cleaning is impossible. Most of the child locks have broken on our cabinets and we haven't bothered to replace them--too much work to do, for them just to break again. So instead I just let her explore--which isn't' necessarily a good thing.

Alaina tries to say all sorts of words--though they aren't very clear. She says "mama" when she wants to be held--yes she tells Rob "Mama" when she wants to be picked up. This is probably my fault. I tried to teach her to say "Up Please". Instead she said "mama" and I thought it was so cute and picked her up. And now I still think it is cute and pick her up. She will learn soon enough...why rush things?

I was looking through some old pics of Ky from last year and I am also amazed by how much he has grown. I don't notice as much with him since the changes now are slower--and Alaina goes through much more drastic changes in a short time. He has really matured so much and is such a good and responsible boy. Very dependable as well. Tantrums--particularly in public--are rare with him. We have been dealing with some talking back, but we are working to nip that in the bud--and he has been improving.

He is sounding out words. He is starting to play games (educational) on the computer. His coloring is amazing! I am astounded by how well he does for 3 years old. (I have to scan some pics in--and I have a new scanner so I will do that soon!) He tries to use big words--and will often use them correctly! He has really started to do more independent play. He spends hours tracing letters and writing them on his own. He has begun subtraction. He can tell you all the days of the week. He can count by 10s to 100. He loves pointing out deciduous vs. conifers (tree types)--I know--kind of geeky--but hey the boy loves trees! He absorbs everything--which makes me all the more mindful of what I should and shouldn't expose him to.

I have started a new preschool curriculum with him that I am very excited about and he is enjoying. Right now we are learning about our body--and he loves the book I got from the library that talks about the different body systems. He knows his right from his left--I was MUCH older before I could figure that out! We go to the library twice a week. We are getting so much out of the library system with books and his beginning to read and our new curriculum. Every day with him is just such a joy. I really have been blessed with such a remarkable boy.

He is also very sensitive to me as well. He wants to know how I feel about things. (What a great husband/daddy he will make some day!) If I am having a rough day he will want to know what he can do to make it better. He is quick to apologize and give me a kiss. And he never holds back an "I love you!"--though for some reason they often come at awkward times (i.e. in the bathroom, trying to tie his shoes---by the way which right now he is currently trying to figure out.)

Well I probably have gushed on enough about my kids...but it was long overdue. I wouldn't trade them for anything. They really are the best kids in the world--for me anyway :) MOre updates to come (I know...I am behind again!)

Visit with the Herbst's and Autumn Leaves

Kylan loves playing in the leaves....

Alaina...well...

not so much!

She was so angry that this leaf was on her head.

more leaves...really mom...I don't like this.

I'd much rather mow the driveway...

What's wrong with this bike?

A. Janice with Ky...I think she was trying to persuade him to eat...a constant battle at the dinner table.

Ky with A. Janice & A. Linda. He was sad they were leaving.

Alaina likes the boys. She really enjoyed hanging out with U. Tom

And what family get together doesn't have DANCING!

Alaina demonstrating to U. Tom and A. Sue how you hold a baby.

October seemed like a month that just dragged and dragged. It rained WAY too much! In fact we struggled to get outdoor stuff done--but thankfully by the end of October all the leaves were raked, the garden turned over, and the wood in the sun porch was painted (We get new siding in 2 months!) I think the kids actually got outside to play a total of twice--and of course the pics are from those 2 occasions.

In my mom's club, my friend Ann had this great idea to start an annual "Leaf-apalooza". This means we take the kids to a park with lots of leaves. We rake them up in a pile and have them jump in. Well it was a hit--for everyone except Alaina, who clearly does not appreciate being in leaves. I think my friends thought I was a little mean when I put her in the pile and then snapped pics of her when she started to cry--Silly girl! Hopefully next year we can try again and she will appreciate them.

During one of the later October weekends we were blessed to have the Herbst's come and share a day with us in Madison. It actually turned out to be a pretty nice day. It was chilly, but sunny. We took them to the Farmer's market and they really enjoyed seeing/tasting the variety of vegetables and cheeses. I stocked up on green peppers--at 25 cents each, you can't go wrong. They work great if you freeze them and then use them as needed when cooking (and you don't have to blanch them!)

After the Farmer's Market, we returned home and had a big meal. While waiting for things to finish cooking, Ky lured A. Janice and A. Linda in the family room for some dancing. Isn't it amazing what you will do for kids? He gets me to dance with him at least once every day--and it is especially cute to see Alaina try to dance as she bounces up and down just by bending her knees.

We had a wonderful time all together, and I have really enjoyed the continued blessings of knowing and becoming closer with my relatives. It makes me especially happy to see the close bond Ky is forming with them. (He was very sad when they left.) I know Grandma Herbst wanted us to all be closer, so I can only imagine that she is smiling down on us when we are together.

So my blogging is still behind. One of these days I will catch up. But to keep the updates going, I have repainted the family room (you can see the new colors in the last pic). Before it was dark wood paneling, and I painted it green. I have to say I really like it--except I don't like how it looks in pictures. For some reason in pictures it looks a lot more yellowy...Hmmm....Anyway, we are very happy with it and it really lightens the room up. As winter gets here, I will start my sewing and then sew curtains for the room as well (I already have my fabric bought! I am excited!)

We have also since redone the downstairs bathroom. In one of these blogs I will have to do before and after pics of our house....Anyway, the bathroom had green wallpaper and a green sink. BLEH! I painted it a dark red and cream. Unfortunately I had to paint over the wallpaper, because they GLUED the wood trim to the wall, and when I tried to remove the wood trim, it put a hole in the wall. I hate when people don't use proper methods! We also put another big hole in the wall by the sink because the old owners GLUED the backsplash to the wall. Okay....seriously people...what were you thinking!?

Anyways we put a really nice new sink in. We found a quartz sink top on sale with an undermount sink. It is really beautiful. We were just going to reuse the old faucet, but since Quartz is a thicker countertop, we had to buy a new faucet. We got one to match the kitchen faucet (oil rubbed bronze.) It looks really nice. Like I said I will have to post pics soon. Anyway...let's get to the good stuff. Kid funnies, milestones, and memories...

Kylan loves to lead the dinner prayer and he does a wonderful job with it. But this is the first prayer that I have ever laughed in....Here was Ky's prayer one night.

"Thank you God for the beautiful day. Thank you God for the whole world. Thank you God for the food. Thank you God for giving us our sins. And thank you god for Jesus dying on the cross. "

And if you read that too fast...relook at the second to last sentence. TOO FUNNY!

Kylan has been obsessed with 101 Dalmatians. He has the book on tape. At the end is the song "Dalmatian Plantation." Anyways I got him a book from the library on cooperation. We really talked through the book and what it means to cooperate. Later that night when Dad came home, Ky told him "Daddy, I learned that Plantation is working together."

Since Ky loved the book so much, we rented the video and had a family picnic night in the family room. We spread out a blanket and ate dinner on the floor while we watched the movie. It was kind of disappointing. Ky just didn't seem to like it as much as we had hoped.

I was rubbing Ky's head the other day--in an endearing manner, you know mother loving her son. Ky grabbed my hand and said "Don't mess up my hair!" Wow! He went from 3 to 15 real quick!

I was explaining to Ky one day how you have to plug your nose when you go under water. He then laughed at me and said "You don't have a plug for your nose!"

Ky informed some family friends that Alaina's last name was not Schnake, it was "Baina". (Rob and I will call her Alaina Baina sometimes for fun.)

One of Ky's favorite song is "Happy and your Nose" (aka If you're Happy and You Know It)

Kylan still calls blankets "blanquits".

Shortly before Alaina turned 13 months, I was getting her ready for a bath. I tossed her clothes in the hallway and then turned my attention to getting the water in the tub. Suddenly I heard a door closing. I looked out in the hallway to find Alaina putting all of her clothes down the laundry chute! WOW! Since then, we will now ask her to put things down the laundry chute and she will. Of course we also find other things from time to time at the bottom of the chute....like toys and books and nuks....but it is SO CUTE to see her being responsible!

Alaina has a fear of hair dryers. She will run when I turn one on. Very funny! I don't know which is worse hair dryers or leaves.

To wrap things up, Ky is continuing to progress in his math. He now adds numbers larger than 5. I bought him a first grade Addition Math Workbook and he can do almost all of it. We have just started working on subtraction. Once again I do worry that my boy may be bored when he gets to school. Time will tell. We are still moving very close to reading. I have been getting him Rebus books at the library--these are books with pictures inserted in the sentences for some of the words. It really helps him follow along--and he is very excited when he gets to help read. Ky is a very bright boy and loves any opportunity to learn. I am a very blessed mother.

A trip to Indy

The Folkerts!



Me & My buddy!

Ky showing Aunt Liz his math

On the hayride to get pumpkins

Happy Pumpkin Day!

What happened to this pumpkin?

Mission: Find THE pumpkin!

Now Alaina...The rule is you must be able to carry your pumpkin!

Searching for the perfect pumpkin

Found it!

What do you think?

Yup...not good enough. Off to find another pumpkin...

Here it is!

Carrying them back to the wagon!

Alaina's Pumpkin

Riding back with our pumpkins!

Super happy about the perfect pumpkin choice!

The bounce house

Going down the giant slide

It's cold out here Aunt Liz!

Driving the tractor!

The corn maze

And a child will lead them...

Driving the Bulldozer

How do I steer this thing?

The pumpkin eating dinosaur?

Feeding the Doats!

Riding bikes

Painting pumpkins

Ky & his painted pumpkin

Alaina's handprinted pumpkin

In mid October we were off to visit the Folkerts. We had tried several times to get together with them earlier, but due to illness and conflicting schedules things just weren't working out. We actually agreed to this weekend only a day or two before we left because we were unable to agree on any other date until the new year. WOW! But we did it.

Of course we were off to a late start as usual--this time not because of the kids though--this time because of a flat tire. It appears I ran over another nail! UGH! So Rob took the tire off and patched it up. We were still a little nervous to drive 6 hours on a freshly patched tire so we decided to take the Camry. Wow! That car feels SO SMALL after driving the family in a van. The kids were loud, we were getting kicked. Basically the drive sucked!

On the way there we stopped at DJ's Dent & Bent and bought ourselves some goodies to help us make it on the road, as well as stocked up on some food for cheap. The kids then slept a while. Yeah! And we eventually ended up stopping at a pretty shady looking Wendy's just inside the Indiana border. We had been looking for food for a little while, but the exits were offering very little. In fact I believe Wendy's was the only restaurant at this exit. The floors were nasty, (carpet in a fast food restaurant is really disgusting!), the toilets were nasty, and well the food just wasn't all that good either.

Our new walker of course wanted to run around and explore. We kept pretty tight reigns on her so that she didn't touch anything too gross. Seriously, there should be stricter upkeep rules about the general cleanliness of restaurants and bathrooms. I will not eat there again.

We then climbed back in the car. We had about one more hour until we reached the promise land. Alaina cried for about 40 minutes of that. We plugged Ky into Bob the Builder (thank goodness we purchased that portable DVD player this past summer.) We were very happy to get there.

We all walked into the Folkerts and greeted them. We were just so happy to be out of the tiny car. We ended up handing Alaina over to Liz while we got the rest of our stuff out of the van. I think we ended up traumatizing poor Alaina. She screamed and screamed. She must have thought we were leaving her or something. When we brought everything in, I took her back, but then she just clung to me for the longest time. And I have to say, she just hasn't been quite the same since. In fact we (Rob) took her to the Doc and they believe she is suffering from delayed separation anxiety. The last month she just has not been sleeping well. She cries until we lay her back down in her bed. It has been harder leaving her at the gym so we can work out. Even when I am working at Child Watch she will sometimes cling to me. She wants to be held often. I don't mind. She is my baby so I enjoy that she still wants to be close to me, but the whole night time stuff is starting to wear on me.

Anyways the kids soon warmed up and we let them play a little bit. Alaina kept all of us on our toes by trying to grab all the things she knew she shouldn't have. ( i.e. fireplace poker, candles, coffee cups.) Ky was intrigued by the stationary bicycle which he would get on and then need help to get down.

We put the kids down shortly after that and us adults had a few drinks and chatted until was too tired to keep going....I was ready for bed---especially realizing the kids would be up soon enough. We put Ky and Alaina down to sleep in the same room, and it didn't work. We ended up having to move Alaina to our room and Ky was left to sleep in a strange room by himself. He did GREAT! We--well Ididn't think it was going to work out, but it did! YEAH KY! What a big boy you are!

Alaina slept most of the night in her bed as well, except she was in our room. We had no complaints with that.

The next morning we were off for a day of fun. We ended up going to a local Pumpkin Patch Carnival sort of thing. This was our only weekend to have a chance to take the kids pumpkin picking so we asked Adam and Liz to see if they could find a place. Well I don't think we knew what we got ourselves into. I have to say it was the cheesiest pumpkin patch I have ever been to. And it was the pumpkin eating dinosaur that put this place over the top. It was so weird and bizarre you just had to watch this backhoe dressed as a dinosaur grab these moldy pumpkins and smash it between its teeth. WEIRD!

This place also had a feed the animal section--and Ky did enjoy feeding the "doats" as usual. There was also a small track for him to ride bikes. It was too cold for us to stand around and watch him ride bikes, so I bribed him to look at the animals and play in the sand area where there were bulldozers and such.

After that we went to the corn maze. Of course, we chose the Hardest corn maze. We let Ky lead us---he got us through the maze in less than 5 minutes. (I have to say I was really bummed by this--the corn mazes in Wisconsin usually take you 45 - 60 minutes to get through--and that is when you don't let a child lead you.) There was also a "Dark" haystack maze that you have to crawl through. Ky wanted to do it, so I went with him. We got about 4 feet in and he wanted out. He was done. I was kind of bummed because it looked fun.

Then we found the inflatable slide. Ky was pretty stoked about that. Daddy and him went down first and then U. Adam went with Ky. Sadly only my pics with Daddy & Ky came out. bleh!

After that we went to the bounce house where all of us, except Ky (the bouncer) froze. Eventually we had to pull him out so we could pick our pumpkins and get going. It was just too chilly. So we hopped on the hayride out to the patch. Rob and I decided to implement the "you must be able to carry your pumpkin" rule for the kids. Though Alaina was exempted from the rule this year.

It was fun watching Ky run through the field with his Aunt and Uncle. He would pick up one pumpkin and then put it down and get another. He could not make up his mind which one he wanted. Eventually we had to step in and "help" him make up his mind. Daddy also found a cute little pumpkin for Alaina. Adam went all out and got a gigantic pumpkin. It was quite an impressive one. When we got back to the scales, Adam' s pumpkin weighed around 40 lbs! That is a LOT of pie!

After that we were in search of dinner. We tried a couple of places. One that was closed---it appears they just started new hours, but did not update their website! ARGH! and another that was packed. With 2 hungry kids we were not going to wait 45 minutes for a table. We ended up eating at 5 Guys--which we have in Madison, but have not been to. It was really good food. Next time Rob and I will remember to order the normal size burger since the large one was HUGE!

After we put the kids to bed, Rob and I were introduced to Liz & Adam's Wii. I have to say that I had a good time, though Rob became a poor sport when we started the racing game. Not my fault he sucks at MarioKart--suck it up, man! Some of us are just gifted! :)

The next morning we painted pumpkins (or squashes) together, before we hit the road. This was Liz and Adam's idea--and a good one at that. Ky still talks about painting pumpkins with them AND he thanks God for letting him paint pumpkins almost every night at the dinner prayer. TOO CUTE!

The trip back was less eventful and seemed to go much faster--yeah! I think there was less traffic overall and the kids were good sleepers. It was a very good trip though--and I am glad that we didn't put it off until next year. Thanks Adam and Liz for your hospitatlity! It was fun! And we always enjoy spending time with you!