Ky's Education & First Valentine's Day

Where do I begin.  Well, good thing I have all these pics to help me remember what the kids have been up to.  The first pic is of Alaina with Bears dog collar aorund her neck.  Yeah--I am not too happy about this.  She figured out how to take off Bear's collar and put it around ehr own.  Hmmm..Can we say choking hazard? 

I have a lot of pics of Ky and his schoolwork in this blog.  He works so hard at his projects and learning things, I just don't want to forget these moements.  Also, it makes me feel a little better when I have to toss alot of the theing  he has worked on.  I can't keep them all! 

February was a rough month.  Ky got sick the first Sunday night, so we ended up taking care of him all day Monday.  A little side note to this.  He woke up in the middle of the night (on his own) and ran to the bathroom and puked in the toilet-BY himself!  and it is not often this little guy gets sick.  Rob and I actually woke up to the sound of him puking.  What a BIG KID!  (However this trend did not last...)

Then the following Sunday Rob got sick, then that night Ky got sick and then that morning I got sick.  We were quite the hosuehold.  None of us had gotten sleep except Alaina who was rearing to go.  AND on top of all that they were working on the house so it was constant banging.  It was a rough day for all of us.  BLEH!  Then shortly after that we found out Alaina had RSV...but I will get to all those fun details soon enough. 

Ky attended his first official Valentine's party.  We bought dinosaur V cards and everything.  He had lots of fun signing his name on them all (though we could only sign it "KY" because the cards were so small.)  I also had him write his friends' names on the cards.  It was great writing practice for him as well as figuring out what letters went in each name.  I was very proud at how well my boy did.   BTW--did you know that valentine cards no longer come with envelopes?  I thought they were missing when I brought home the box.  But nope--I guess that is the thing of the old days.  Perhaps we are trying to save paper, or maybe the companies are cheaper? 

The Valentine's party was at Chuck E Cheese.  What better place to have it!  Ky had a blast, and Alaina enjoyed herself too.  I had called the doctor that morning for Alaina though--the last couple of nights she had woken up trembling.  And it just seemed like she was having a hard time breathing.  I thought she might have illness induced asthma (my friend's kids has that) since she was dealing with a cold.  She was very tired at Chuck E (you can see from the pics), but I also just figured it was from being up at night.  The doctor couldn't get me in until after the V day party, so I figured we would just go and then go to the doctor after that.  Well turns out my poor girl had RSV--which is pretty serious and contagious.  It is a respiratory illness which can be very dangerous for children under 2 since their lungs aren't fully developed (tubes aren't as big.)  I guess older people will get it, but it will just be a cold.  Anyway, the doc sent us home with a nebulizer and we had to fight with her four times a day giving her breathing treatments.  Poor girl!  It was rough.

Back to Chuck E....My kids were so funny when Chuck E came out.  Alaina just stared at him.  She did not want to get too close, but she wanted to keep an eye on him.  Maybe she was making sure he didn't come too close to her.  Ky kind of just stood there.  He eventually did wave to Chuck E, but that was it.  Very cute.

You will notice that I have the kids "working" in some of my pics.  I have been really trying hard to come up with things that Kylan can do to help around the house.  Responsibilities just for him.  A couple of his responsibilities include helping to empty the dishwasher.  He does silverware (and Alaina likes to help hand him the silverware) and tupperware--two things I don't have to worry about him breaking.  He also is in charge of laying out Alaina's diapers for me so I can easily put in the liners and fold.  I have tried to get him to help fold the laundry--but right now he just makes even more of a mess for me to redo.  He will match socks and help put away his and Alaina's clothes.  He is doing a really nice job with these new chores--AND I have yet to hear him complain.  I have let him know that these are his special jobs, and they are ways for him to help out in the house, and he has PROUDLY owned them.  Let's just hope things stay this way! :)

The Wednesday after we ALL got sick, Ky was invited to a birthday party for the neighbor boy.  He was very excited, and had been acting fine for the 24 hours prior, so we let him go.  I gave him the presents and he happily walked to the neighbors house by himself (3 houses away.)  It was a party that no parents were needed.  This was a VERY big moment for me, watching my little man walk by himself to a party.  Yeah--you see the pics I took.  What's even worse is that during this sappy mom moment, I managed to shut poor Alaina's fingers in the door, but instead of quickly running her to the faucet, I kept snapping pics of Kylan and watching to make sure he made it to the neighbors house.  (Now--I'm not that terrible, I was holding Alaina and apologizing the whole time.  And I made sure they weren't bleeding or anything...She was fine....I ran water over her fingers after that and she forgot about the whole thing.)  Sorry Laina!  Love you!  You will understand someday when you have kids of your own.

So Ky went bowling at this party--and daddy actually ended up joining them late to help out.  It turns out, Ky started feeling sick at the party and didn't tell anyone.  I got this worried call from my neighbor because she thought he was going to puke.  By then Dad got there and Ky pulled it back together.  In fact he pulled it back together so well that he waited until 10PM that night to vomit all over his bed and the floor.  UGH!  I think he just ate the yummy birthday food too quick.  We had been having a pretty bland diet until that party.  Poor kid.  He was fine the next day though...However, I will say my laundry pile has never been higher OR stinkier!  I am so glad we have several extra sheets and stuff.  Not to mention a carpet cleaner!  YUK!

I have started to let Alaina play with play-doh.  She does pretty well--Even better when I give her a nuk--then she doesn't normally eat any.  She has been doing a lot of things lately showing how much she is growing.  She loves to play with her baby dolls.  One of her favorite things to do with them is snag some rags/towels from the kitchen and then cover the babies and tell them "night night". 

She has become a big fan of reading certain books.  "Don't cry big bird' (used to be one of Ky's favorites) is now her favorite book and she wants it read to her every night.  She also likes "Marvin K. Mooney will you please go now" (also used to be one of Ky's favorites.)  She is really funny because she will point out the book and then grab your hand and put it on the book if you are not fast enough. 

She loves singing "ABC's, Twinkle, Twinkle, and Over, Under"  I gotta get her on tape soon and post it.  Too cute! 

In my last blog, I told the story about Alaina stealing an apple off the dining room table. Well that has become a regular occurrence. So of course I have some lovely pics of her with her apple. You can just see in her eyes how proud she is of herself. I also have pics of her trying to get on the computer. The little booger! She works hard to get what she wants.

She also has started dressing herself. (I am serious).  She can put on her socks and as of the other day, she put on a pair of pants--but just didn't get them pulled up all the way.  It was funny, she walked in the room with these pants up to her knees.  She was so proud of herself.  She also can partly put on her coat and can easily put on her hat.  I have some pics of her in Ky's coat and hat and boots--she did that herself and was telling us "bye bye".  I guess she had plans to be somewhere.

Ky has really been working hard on learning.  We have done opposites--which he did GREAT at, shapes, a brief overview on plants (notice the celery in red water), and weather (this of course has been my FAVORITE theme.)  We had a lot of fun doing various experiments with weather.  His word recognition is really coming along and he can spell some simple words--Mom, dad, cat, train, etc..  I think I mentioned in my last blog that we have stepped back from reading with the BOB books--though the boy is so close that I it is hard for me to contain myself.  He will sound out words--but if it is more than a couple--he is done.

Grandpa and Uncle Ry came at the end of February for a train show.  Ky had a blast--an afternoon with the boys and trains--what could be better?!  Dad forgot the camera so I have no pics :(  However I did get pics of Grandpa's tea party with Alaina!  Too cute! 

Alaina and I were blessed to have a girl's day so what did we do?  SHOPPING!!!!  Okay--so here is my quick spiel on my latest shopping adventures.  I have discovered a new website called pocketyourdollars.com (listen up Wisconsin and Minnesota residents.)  This lady has the ulitmate way to SHOP!  She has your local grocery store fliers ( and department stores) and then she lists the great deals and hyperlinks coupons so you can print them out and SAVE money...So I have been tinkering with this site since the end of January and I have been saving LOTS of money.  I have a pic listed of a Target run....one of my first ventures using her site...I got all the clothes on clearance racks (so they were a majority of my $8.85 purchase).  I had a coupon for the eggs to get them free and then the crackers were less than $1 each, and the tuna was free with a coupon.  OH YEAH!  This site is awesome.  Now whenever I know I have to run to Walmart or Target, I just simply look on her site and see what the good deals are and print out coupons.  After this post I will post my new experience with Walgreen's, my other money making/saving adventure.  I have also started buying my groceries at the local store instead of Aldi.  (Though I still purchase a majority of our produce at Aldi.)  I am getting so much for free that it is worth it (in my next blog with pictures I will show you the 18--yes 18 boxes of cereal I got for $1.50---yes you heard me right $1.50  and those 18 boxes of cereal got me 3 free gallons of milk and 3 free dozen eggs!)  Thank you Pocketyourdollars--you are really saving us money and changing our spending for the better!

And since I am telling you all my money savings...I should just reiterate SWAGBUCKS one more time.  Rob and I have now made $50 in gift cards to Amazon.com in about 3 1/2 months.  I have bought a book, a magazine subscription, and Rob will be purchasing a DVD player (ours broke) with this money.  I can't believe how nice it is just to simply do my google searches on their site and then be rewarded with "swagbucks" that accummulate.  I then can redeem those swagbucks for gift cards at many different stores.  (Rob and I like Amazon since it has EVERYTHING and many different sellers to choose from.)  Anyway here is my promo code--sign up under me and we will both get extra swagbucks.  I love this site!  http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Ravenjet  or you can click on the banner below.



Well, I am going to end this blog here...I gotta get working on March!  YEAH SPRING!  It has been TOOOOO long! 

January....oh yes...January

In the words of Daddy, "We just got our little tax credits to bed." --Yeah he just got done filing taxes.


Life at the Schnake household has pretty much halted in the last few months. I am getting almost NOTHING done--this includes housework. By the time I get the wee lass down for a nap, I am exhausted and am taking a mental break to prepare myself for the next round until Daddy gets home. She just doesn' t quit. From getting up in the morning, she is constantly climbing on stuff and prying things open. EVERYTHING has become a step stool for her. She pulls down gates and runs when she knows she is in trouble. Let me give you an example of this little girl's tenacity.

Day 1--The computer and printer are on the desk in the living room--where they have always been. Well, Alaina has learned how to crawl up chairs, so now she climbs up on the desk chair and BANGS on the computer. (I apologize if you have received any emails from me with random garble in it--you can assume it was from Alaina.) So--as a parent--simple solution--push the chair in.

Day 2--Alaina has figured out how to pull chairs out. Now the computer is her favorite toy again. I take her down, push the chair in, turn around and discover Miss Alaina seated at the dining room table (did I mention she is FAST!) meaning she pulled the chair out there, and munching on an apple. (I keep a bowl of fruit on the table.) The optomist in me is saying--well at least she is sitting at the table and isn't ON TOP OF IT--like I have often found her. And hey--an apple is healthy. I set her in her high chair to finish her apple.

Day 3--I moved the dining room chair with arms to the computer desk. My thought on this was--she would have to pull the chair WAY out in order to get into it. This is very hard for her. She ususally only pulls chairs out 4-5 inches and shimmies her way into them. Well--I was right, it was too much for her to move--HOWEVER--She uses one of her toys as a step stool to get up onto the couch, next to the computer. From there she climbs up the arm of the couch and somehow careens herself on top of the desk--COOL! Now she can bang on the computer with her whole body. *SIGH*

Day 4--I move the couch some to make things a little more difficult for her. Miss Monkey moves her little Tykes table toy over to the desk chair. She uses it as a ladder (yes a ladder) to climb up and over the arm of the desk chair.

Day 5 --Please pray for me and my sanity. As of now, I put her on a time out every time I find her banging on the computer. There have been MANY MANY MANY time outs. I honestly don't know what more to do other than cover all the walls with mattresses and remove all furniture and breakables--but even then I am SURE she would find something to get into.

I need some warm weather.  Can you tell?  Alaina is everywhere all the time.  I go to bed exhausted, the house is a mess.  I clean up one thing that she has gotten into/destroyed and I turn around and I find her in something new.   It is an ENDLESS cycle.  I go to bed exhausted feeling like I did nothing all day (because the house looks the same as when we woke up) and yet all I did was pick stuff up. 

It is funny too--because she seeks out my mistakes, like leaving a chair pulled out or if Ky leaves the bathroom door open--then she runs in there.  The best way to get her to the bathroom if you need to change her diaper is to simply leave the door open.  Within 60 seconds she will discover it and run in there.  On the other hand if I call her and tell her to come so I can change her diaper, she will run the other way. 

The weekend of MLK we went up to Shawano on a get away.  It was a nice time.  We forgot something--of course--which just happened to be Alaina's booster chair.  She actually did really well though without it.  We were really concerned that since she wasn't strapped in she was going to be all over and tossing food, but amazingly I think she enjoyed being a big kid so much that she acted the role.  (Though of course once we got home she went right back to the high chair.)  When she can eat with a plate in front of her (and not toss it on the floor) then she can sit at the table with us. 

Ky had a blast at Grandpa & Grandma's cottage because there were trains in the basement.  He spent hours down there watching them and starting and stopping them.  On Sunday we took the kids sledding at a big hill.  It was a really neat hill--actually it was two hills with a valley in between.  We all had a lot of fun.  Alaina was very non-chalant about the whole sledding adventure.  I am sure my little dare devil wanted us to take her on the more steep side of the hill, but I was not going to chance a wipeout with her.  It was so funny watching her face as she came down.  She was just taking it all in--no smile, no nothing.  Ky had a good time as well, though eventually all he wanted to do was eat the snow, so then we decided to call it quits.  We went back for Hot chocolate and lunch.  It was funny, I put the hot chocolate in front of Ky and said "Don't drink it yet, it's too hot" and of course what did he do--chug-a-lug--and then spit--EVERYWHERE--and then he cried.  Lesson learned.  I love those natural lessons where you can just sit back and watch.  Kylan--this is why it is important to listen to Mom & Dad.

So the theme of January was shapes and opposites.  I took a picture of Ky making his fruit pizza because he was SO excited.  We made it using a simple sugar dough and then cream cheese for the cream and on top of that we cut fruit into triangles.  And finally we cut it into triangles.  What a great way to celebrate the shape. 

Mid-January they began residing our house.  If you remember before I mentioned that we got hit with some golfball sized hail last July.  We had some pretty nice dings in our siding so the insurance company was kind enough to pay to replace it.  We had aluminum before, and through a friend we were introduced to a company that does seamless steel--which is a step above aluminum.  Well the owner was a nice guy and offered to do our house for the price of aluminum!  YEAH!  And to add to it he said he would also side our sunporch (which was not sided) for no extra cost.  We signed on the dotted line pretty quickly.  We decided on our colors in October--a cream with red shutters.  We did a lot of research and found that the lighter the color of siding, the bigger your house appears (thinking resale).  Also we found that lighter colored houses tend to sell quicker.  We chose red shutters because it went with our brick walkway and it also reflects the colors inside our house.  In October I even painted part of the sunporch to match the eventual new siding.  We were pretty excited. 

Like I said, in January they began the work.  It took a long time though.  They make each piece of siding on site (that is why it is seamless) and they make sure it is perfect.  Our neighbor had her house redone in vinyl and they did it in 2 days.  You could really tell how thoughtful our company was since it took them so long.  They would also ask us questions before they did things and warn us/fix othere things that were not right.  We definitely will go with them again in the future if we need anything.  The workers were so nice.  You will see the finished house revealed in the next blog.  It is FABULOUS!  and looks QUALITY!  I really feel bad for my neighbor next door who did vinyl, even she is wishing she hadn't.  It just doesn't look as nice and you can see all the seams in her vinyl--and even more so next to our house which has none.  It's funny--I was really upset with all the damage the hail caused to my garden in the summer--but God had some good blessings up his sleeve--that loss was worth the new siding 50 times over.

You will also notice some pics of Ky with some kids outside.  We went on a little exploration trip at a nature preserve.  The kids had a nature kit and we explored the nature area.  It was a chilly time.  And since we had trouble even finding the paths we were wandering into really deep snow drifts.  It was okay--but I think next time we will wait for things to thaw out a bit.  It looks like a cool nature reserve--just not as much fun in the winter.

At the end of the month Rob and I had a mini get away.  I am so thankful to have a husband that thinks about these things and plans them.  He heard of a marriage seminar in town called "Laugh your way to a better marriage."  So he bought us tix to that and then booked a room for us at a B & B down the street.  He also arranged to have Nana & G'ma Jan stay the night and watch the kids.  It was  a great time.  We stayed at "The Speckled Hen B& B" which is just a few miles down the road from us.  The owners have lots of property and actually built the B&B separate from their house.  If we do a B & B eventually we will also do the same (we don't want to live with constant visitors.)  The house was wonderful.  They even had their own wine cellar.  Very cool! 

The next morning we went to our seminar.  It was very funny and so true!  Definitely worth the money, if this seminar comes to your area.  We were laughing the WHOLE time.  We also learned some new things about ourselves and each other.  After the seminar we went to a tapas restaurant and had a nice relaxing dinner.  Thank you Rob so MUCH for investing in our relationship.  I had a wonderful time!

A couple of stories from the past month.  Since I have had kids I have been in the men's restroom more times than I ever thought I would.  First of all, Alaina is magnetically drawn to the men's restroom--and if the door is open--she will run.  Secondly, when Ky has got to go--he has to go--and I am not going to wait in line in the ladies restroom when the men's room is vacant.  I bring this up because we were at the library last week and Ky had to go.  There were three ladies/children in line for the restroom, yet the men's was empty.  I had KY walk in and verify it was empty and then accompanied him in.  When we walked out, we got some dirty looks.  OH WELL!  GET OVER IT!

And finally to wrap up this blog entry...kid updates...
Funny story with Kylan---

All the siding had just been ripped off the house and we were coming home.  I exclaimed "The house is naked" and Kylan said "WHAT?!"  He didn't understand my metaphor.  So I explained to him that the siding was like the house's clothes and since they took that off it's like the house is in it's underwear. We got out of the van and went inside.  A few minutes later I noticed Ky wasn't with me.  I went looking for him and finally found him outside.  I asked him what he was doing and he said "I'm looking for the house's underwear!"  HA HA!

Ky was sitting on time out crying and I told him I was not starting the timer for his timeout until he stopped crying.  He then screamed "I'm never going to stop crying!"  Yeah--it was a very long time out.

Ky words of wisdom "When a book doesn't open, you can not read it."  A wise kid indeed!

Kylan was eating lunch one day when he turned to me and said, "Mom, I want to munch your head off."  Hmmm...still debating if this is a good thing or a bad thing...

I have accomplished convincing Kylan that Rob wipes his butt better than I do.  It took some work, but it has all paid off.  I mean who enjoys wiping their kid's butt?  So each time I would do it, I would say "Man--I am just no good at doing this.  Daddy is so much better."  The payoff--Ky now only wants Daddy to do it when Daddy is home!  YEAH ME!  Mommies--take note!

We have stepped back from reading for now with Ky, but he is continuing to recognize words and sound them out. I stepped back because he was getting annoyed with trying to read some of the beginner books. I think it is just a bit too much for him right now. Sentences can be awfully intimidating at his age. I continue to write words on his hand almost every day though--and that has really helped with his word recognition.

Alaina says shoes, socks, duck, dog, peep peep (chick), woof woof (dog), all done, clean up, hi, by, mommy, daddy, kylan--but it does not sound like Kylan---it usually takes me a few minutes to figure out what she is saying, sorry (wawa), please, excuse me (meme).  Excuse me is too cute!  Whenever she burps she says "meme" in a little embarassed voice.  I am sure there is more, but I can't remember...oh well!  That is it for January...soon to come..,.FEBRUARY! 

Ky vs. Dinner

Getting Ky to even taste dinner has been a constant battle.  Watch these videos and then the last one.  The last one was recorded after the first two...Ahhhh...Children...they always leave you laughing...

Ky vs. Dinner Part 1


Ky vs. Dinner Part 2


Ky likes mommy's food?

Using the blog for good...

I received an email the today from a local radio station Z104 Madison/ 97.3 BREW CREW Milwaukee.  They invited me to enter their contest "DITCH MY DUD".  You simply write a 100 word essay on why you have the worst spouse. They will then "air" the top letters. The one with the highest vote gets their divorce paid for. Here is a link to their contest: http://radiobase1.clearchannel.com/front/OpenContest.asp?Action=Login&SurveyID=57432&zx=530



I am pretty appalled.  Thus, I am asking anyone in the Madison/Milwaukee area who wants to keep families together to write to the radio station.   I attached my letter to them below and here are some email addresses if you would also like to send a letter.

email addresses:

connieandfish@clearchannel.com, laurasteele@clearchannel.com, nathantonarelli@clearchannel.com, kerrywolfe@clearchannel.com, enidparkinson@clearchannel.com, christinaking2@clearchannel.com

Hi,

I would like to start this email by saying I have neversent an email like this before. This is my first. I am a teacher, a parent, and a wife and was shocked to find an email in my inbox offering to PAY for me to ditch my husband. Not only that, asking me to write a letter against him which can be shared with the rest of your listening audience. I understand your desire to promote your radio station, but this contest is going too far. 
I am a teacher. I have worked with hundreds of students from torn apart families every day. These
students listen to your radio station. How great do you think it would be for them to hear their mom's letter on the radio saying nothing but TERRIBLE things about their Dad? And even if they didn't hear it on the radio--you know these kids will HEAR it later from word of mouth, podcasts, etc...

Instead of having a contest to tear apart families and marriages, why don't you have a contest to put families back together. What kind of "INVESTMENT" do you think you are making to America's future by offering to pay for a family to be torn apart--not to mention have many other families get trashed on the air.

How about a contest to see what families are willing to do to STAY together--to MAKE things work? How about offering counseling or get away time to some of these stressed and overworked husbands and wives who have just lost each other in the busyness of life. This is the type of investment you should consider making for these couples and more importantly the children of these couples--HOPE that it can be worked out.
I would really love to see you guys take on the challenge and respond to this email. I know you most likely
won't, but please just take a few minutes to think about it. Let's rebuild families NOT tear them apart.

Jessica Schnake

LuLu Responds!

Amazingly, 2 days after I sent that email and posted to my blog as well as some things on Facebook, Lulu contacted me.

They apologized for sending me incorrect calendars and told me they were sending me corrected ones immediately.  Days later (after the email), I received the calendars for the correct year. 

First of all I would like to thank Lulu.com for responding and correcting the error quickly.  At the same time, I am still annoyed that I had to wait so long for them to respond.  Why does the "angry" customer finally get the company's attention?  And only after posting negative reviews about them on 3 different sites? 

I just wanted to update my blog and let people know that I was given a response from the company and they corrected their error.  If you choose to use Lulu.com in the future, I would do so with caution.

Do NOT order Products from LULU.com

We ordered a series of calendars online from a website called lulu.com.  We ordered them mid-December.  We received the calendars in record time, however we quickly discovered they were 2009 calendars.  *Interesting*.  So we ordered calendars in December of 2009 and they sent us 2009 calendars...hmmm..how does that happen. 
Anyway we emailed the company asking them to please correct the problem.  They never emailed us back or even addressed our complaint. At this point we are very angry--having spent a significant amount of money on these calendars.  Here is where you have to LOVE modern technology.  To all my blog readers---NEVER purchase anything from LULU.com.  You do not know what you will be sent and if you get sent something incorrect, they will NOT follow up with you.  Please pass this  info along to your friends.   Stay away from LULU self publishing MY LULU and of course LULU.com.  (I am trying to put their name in here lots of different ways in case anyone googles them --they can see what this company is all about.)  And finally--I would like to enclose my last email to the company.

Problem:  LULU website


Describe the problem:   We emailed over a month ago with a complaint on the calendars you sent us. You NEVER emailed back or even ACKNOWLEDGED our complaint. We are very angry with your company and its procedures for having NO CUSTOMER SERVICE. For the record, I would like you to know that I will NEVER be purchasing anything from your company again--and I will be sure to let my friends and fellow employees know about your indifference towards your customers and their purchases. I will also be sharing this info on my blog and Facebook. You have to LOVE modern technology.
Your Ignored Former Customer,
Jessica Schnake

A typical meal for Alaina

She began eating with us.  The rest of us finished, yet she kept eating and eating.  We had to keep feeding her as she was asking for more.  It is always incredible how much babies can eat.  Enjoy!

How Alaina says "Pick me up Please"

For the last 4 months Alaina has said "Mama" for Up please! It is probably my fault--I tried to teach her one day and instead she said "mama" and I couldn't resist that cute little face calling to me--so I picked her up. Ever since she has walked up to people and said "mama" to be picked up.
This video is from last month. She now says "UPEEEE!" But it was good while it lasted. This was our best attempt to tape her saying it.

New Years

For New Years we were still feeling under the weather, but managed to make it out.  US Bank sponsors some family friendly events for $10 per family, so we decided to try that out this year.  We went to the location at Olbrich gardens that had the train display.  I had planned on taking Ky to see the trains prior to Christmas and then everyone got sick, so this worked out well.  It's a really neat display with lots of poinsettas and handmade gingerbread houses from local bakers.  We really enjoy it every year--that is for about the first 20 minutes.  Then when Ky just wants to sit and stare, we get bored and a little antsy.  Ky must have spent well over an hour looking at those trains--and we literally had to bribe him with "well come back to see the trains" in order to get him to see the other stuff.  And even when it was time to leave he was near tears.  He LOVES his trains.

They had a reptile man there who was showing off all sorts of lizardy critters.  He was bringing them out of their cages and letting the kids hold and pet them.  That was pretty neat.  They also had face painting and a station where they could make crowns or sun catchers, as well as basketball, walking through the conservancy and video games.  It was fun.  I think next year we will do it again and go to one of the locations that has bounce houses as well.  New Year's Eve night Rob and I watched a movie, I fell asleep 10 minutes before midnight and Rob woke me up shortly after--we both actually missed the whole countdown.  Oh well--there is always next year. 

The next day, we had Christmas with Nana and Grandma Jan.  We actually ended up postponing the original date due to the sickness.  We went over to their house and enjoyed a nice lunch and dinner.  The kids played and Alaina especially enjoyed Grandma Jan's slippers.  Seriously--she is SO OBSESSED with shoes.  I remember Ky liking them at her age--but never to her extreme.  We opened some gifts--Ky was excited to get a Sesame Street video--and it was the old school Sesame Street that we grew up with.  He also received a leapfrog word whammer--which helps teach him to spell and put together words.  It is really cool.  Today he wrote "Mom" and I know it is because he learned it from the word whammer.    Alaina got some shoes--but of course!--and a giant stuff animal snail.  It's really cute and you can just see her rolling around with it.

By the end of the night, Alaina was conked.  She fell asleep with G'ma Jan and I know she relished the snuggling opportunity--not to mention it gave us all a break from having to watch her and make sure she wasn't getting into anything.   

I wish I could add more to this blog--but honestly with all of us just feeling run down and tired we kept pretty low.  Next blog I will have more fun adventures to write about as well as milestones.

Christmas 2009

Despite feeling under the weather, we all managed to celebrate Jesus' birth.  Christmas Eve night we went to  church and enjoyed Christmas Eve service.  Then afterwards we drove through the lights at Olin Park.  We have done for the last 2 yers, so we were happy we were able to keep the Christmas tradition despite our sickness. 

Prior to church, we let Kylan and Alaina each pick out a gift to open.  Ky picked a gift from Aunt Janice and Linda so we gave Alaina her gift from them as well.  Ky really enjoyed his singing bear with lights.    And Alaina who has a love for any baby or animals was pretty ecstatic as she gave hers a kiss and hug and then proceeded to dance as the bear sang.  It was very cute---and even funny, because the Bear coincidentally had a Christmas plaid skirt on that was almost identical to Alaina's dress.  I didn't get a very good picture of that, but it was funny.  Thanks Aunt Linda and Aunt Janice for the wonderful presents.

So there are a couple of hodge podge pics in there.  This Christmas we did very little baking :(  I only got 2 different cookies made before I also fell under the weather.  However, we did have other plans for homemade gifts.  I dried out a bunch of my herbs from the summer and then put them into baby food jars I had saved.  I then decorated the jars and VOILA--dried organic herbs as gifts!  I have to say the coolest jar decorating was rolling the jars in melted crayons---these were crayons I had saved of Kylan that were broken pieces.  They came out so neat looking!  I also made Mint Tea for my mother in law using mint I had dried from the garden and some black tea that a friend brought me from her visit to China.  It came out really good!  Enough of my homemade stuff...back to the kids....

The next morning we were up around 8.  We convinced Ky to crawl in bed with us for a little while until Alaina woke--and that didn't take long.  We got up and put our baked french toast in the oven--another Christmas tradition of ours--which reminds me I need to add that to our recipes--SOOOO GOOOOOOD! (We only eat it once a year!)  Then we let Ky--who was SUPER ecstatic tear into some of his gifts.  The first thing he opened was a bowling set.  The boy loves to bowl--so he was pretty darn happy to get that.  Alaina opened up a bin of playfood.  And then she began eating.  If you look at the pics--that is pretty much all she did that day--was eat her play food--and even today that is pretty much her favorite thing to do.  Empty the play food bin and taste every piece.  In fact--we had difficulty getting her to open any other gifts because she just wanted to eat the play food.  I guess the food was a good choice for our little beauty!

Ky also received a couple of boxes of candy canes from us.  All he talked about the last few weeks was candy cane this and candy cane that.  He was obsessed with candy canes and very happy to eat them--though we have not let him eat all of them.  He got a Play-Doh set from Grandpa & Grandma Vander Heyden--and to this day he goes around saying "I have 20 different kinds of Play Doh"--pretty funny!  He got Thomas underwear--which he was not too excited about, (I thought this was the age where kids were still excited to get characters on their underwear??), a Brewer shirt, a Curious George game from U. Adam and A. Liz---he loves doing "the wave" with this game.  They also got him a book, and a soccer ball ornament--a neat way to remember his 3rd year--playing soccer.  And last of all we got him another Thomas train set.  I found this set for $5 at Savers--what a great deal!  He loved that the set worked with his other set and this one had a tunnel AND a bridge, not to mention it came with Annie, Clarabelle, a troublesome truck and Thomas.  He spent a lot of time making different track layouts and playing.  Thanks so much for the gifts Vander Heydens & Folkerts!

Alaina, as I mentioned before, was not too into opening anything else.  So we had to help her.  She got a Fisher Price little people set from U. Adam and A. Liz.  She likes taking the people out of their little house and then putting them back in.  She got her FIRST cabbage Patch doll from Grandpa and Grandma Vander Heyden.  This baby's name is Kiana Donna.  Alaina LOVES babies, so she was a pretty happy girl.  We tried to get her to say the adoption oath--but she just wasn't taking it seriously :)  Maybe next year.  She also got a playset of dishes.  So now her kitchen is stocked and hopefully she will stop playing with my stuff--yeah you know that didn't happen. 

Christmas afternoon, we dressed the kids up and were off to Grandpa and Grandma Schnake's.  We had a nice time with everyone.  Kylan and cousin Dominic are really getting along well now and playing so good together.  It is fun to watch the boys.  The kids got a lot more presents there from all the relatives.  The present that really stood out was the fire truck Grandma got for Alaina. She loves this thing.  And of course one of the first uses for it--A STOOL with wheels.  Yeah---she wheels that sucker around with its crazy song, puts it in front of something she shouldn't (like the oven) and uses it to stand on so she can reach all sorts of baby no-no stuff.  You can see from the one picture, that she figured she could stand on it right away.  CRAZY girl.  She really keeps me busy.  Seriously---you have not seen this girl....

She fell asleep in Daddy's arms that night.  Very cute.  She was EXHAUSTED.  She hardly slept at nap--and then on the way home she cried most of the way.  We were all feeling pretty lousy.  It was nice that the next day we just lounged around the house and tried to get better. 

The day after Christmas we also decorated the cookies I had baked (but never decorated because we weren't feeling up to it.)  Chai Spice Cookies--YUM--check it out in my recipes--so much better than traditional gingerbread.  Dad let Ky decorate a few and did not monitor his sprinkles--so yes those cookies covered in colored sugar are Ky's and he enjoyed eating them. Whew...one more blog done--and many more to come....

Ky's Math

I tried to upload this video many times and it did not work.  Youtube has become my friend.  This is from mid September.  Ky is 3years and 3 months.  It all started out with "Thumbelina" and then simple addition suddenly clicked and he understood.

Green Eggs and Ham

This is from our "Green Day" at Jessica's Preschool of LOVE!  We made Green Eggs and Ham together.



Ky was busy reciting the book as he was starting to munch on his green eggs and ham.  Of course, once I got out the camera he clammed up and I ended up reciting the book without his help--however you can still see how giddy he was with the fun meal.  Every kid should eat Green Eggs and Ham at least once in their life!

December 2009

Of course I am behind on my blog again.  But I think the plague is over....Yes the whole family was sick (except Ky who narrowly escaped) for 3 weeks.  And of course that fell over Christmas and New Years.  Things are looking up for us now though--sadly our neighbor and her family seems to be hit by something similar.  UGh!  Our prayers are with them.  The other reason I am behind is because with the new computer I updated my blogger to the cool new and better blogger...Yeah I am not sure I agree.  There is no spell check and there is no fun picture uploader like before.  So now I have had to search for a website that I trust with my pictures and have blogger access them in order to post pictures.  WHOO! Too complicated!  And all in the name of progress???

So where to start.  The first pics are of the kids ringing the bells for the salvation army.  This was actually the only time we rang bells.  We had signed up for other shifts, but then the plague hit us and it just didn't happen.  The kids made a bundle of money as usual.  Ky even sang for a few minutes.  Kids & Bell ringing = lots of money!  I was especially proud of Ky who was very polite and greeted people as they walked in the store.  He was such a little man.

Daddy was not feeling so well, so I put the lights on the tree.  It was a really sorry sight, since I wasn't really feeling into it with all the Christmas sickness.  Blech!  But hey---the kids didn't care!  We set the tree up behind the couches in order to keep Alaina from the tree.  However, the little angel then taught herself to climb onto the couch, so she was still able to reach some branches.  Hopefully, the tree will be a little more fun to have next year.  This year it just seemed like a burden when we had to rearrange the furniture and she still was able to tear stuff off the tree.  (She likes the lights--she really wanted to eat the lights.)

Anyways in the "putting up the tree" Ky was a total klutz.  First, he broke the tree---Literally he broke the bottom of the tree.  I don't know how he did it, but he did.  We now have to use the real christmas tree stand for the fake tree in order to keep it standing.  Then Ky broke Alaina's 1st Christmas ornament---yeah, it's kind of hard to replace those.  Then he broke one of Daddy's ornmanents from when he was a kid.  Then he broke another ornament.  And they were all on accident.  Nothing purposeful....Ugh...Like I said, just not the best Christmas for us.

So I gotta comment on Alaina with the baby in the pot.  That was all her.  She got out the pot and lid.  I noticed her shoving the baby in the pot so naturally I handed her the spoon.  It was too funny.  Have I mentioned how attached she is to that baby doll?  She LOVES that thing.  Drags it around everywhere.  She almost went to sleep with it and then changed her mind at the last minute "ERE MAMA" she said to me as she handed me the baby.  And yes, she has definitely mastered being able to say "Baby."  Maybe that is why she is so attached? 

Ky helped make some Christmas presents this year.  I was very proud of him.  He painted some picture frames that I bought.  He did a really good job.  He also helped me decorate some spice jars.  I will have pics of that in the next blog.  Sadly, we did little Christmas baking this year.  But there is always next year!

We had another nice day and so I took the kids out with plans to make a snowman.  Ky gave up early in the game when the snow was not "rolling" into a ball.  So the snowman ended up being a "packed" snowman.  It was fun and he did have fun decorating his face.  We made him so that he faced the living room window.   Ky had a lot of fun looking out at him--and then we had a melt and our poor snowman lost his head.  It was too funny.  The head was literally laying on the ground. 

The last few pics are of Alaina in her Christmas dress and then her wearing Daddy's shoes.  EVERY DAY--she will put on one of our shoes and clomp around the house.  This girl LOVES shoes.  It is too funny.  I know I have stated this before in my blog--but I am serious--she is obsessed.  Dolls and shoes....you would think she is a girly girl--but definitely not.  She keeps up with Ky and doesn't let anything stop her.  She is a little monkey, always crawling on top of things and moving things.  I am seriously having problems keeping up with her. 

I also have some pics of the sick ones.  I use my camera to help me remember what to blog (Can you tell?)  Alaina literally just kind of fell to floor that night.  That was when we knew she had been hit by the sickness too.  I ended up taking her to the doctor because her eye started swelling.  They quarantined us with all these sick swine flu people.  I had Ky with me, who was perfectly healthy and I sent him to the other room and watched him through the partition.  I also held Alaina, there was no way I wanted her to get down with all these sick people.  The doc told me that Alaina had swine flu.  She said that it is the only sickness in Wisconsin.  (What a joke!)  They didn't do any tests or anything.  She also said that Alaina had pink eye --which I knew she didn't, her eyeball was fine. The outside was swollen like she had an infection.  This was not our regular doc.  Alaina's eye cleared up without meds--definitely was not pink eye.  And swine flu--no--she had a fever but that was about it.  And it wasn't a high one.  The sickness that we had could have been swine flu, but I really doubt it.  We did not have alot of the symptoms.  Anyway, we are all better now, it just made it hard to enjoy the holidays. 

So that is a wrap.  I will get the Christmas blog up next and maybe a few video clips if this new blogger will cooperate.  Until then!

Colors Unit

Apparently blogger isn't allowing me to backdate my blogs anymore.  Normally, I just backdated these and then put the link on the side of my blog...Well if you have kids and are interested in teaching them stuff, I am putting together my lesson plans on what I have done with Ky.  (I figure it would be good for me to have these for later on with Alaina.)  So you will be seeing these unit entries from time to time...Hopefully some of my friends with kids might also be able to get some use out of this.  BTW--I am not spell checking these, the new blogger won't let me-BLAH!

This is a rundown of the unit I did with Kylan on Colors.  Each day was a new color and I had him (and everyone else) wear that color for the day.  If he did not have that color clothing (i.e. pink), I had him wear the 2 colors that make up that color--red and white.  I would also write the word on his hand in that color of marker.  I would ask him periodicially if he knew how to spell the word, or if he knew what the last letter was--this would help him refer to the word often.  Then when we were reading a story about that color-I would also have him find the word on the page.  I also would try to have a meal that was the color of the day--some foods I would simply use a little dye in.  I would also have Ky "Paint" the color word in that color  (write the word in pencil and have them trace using paint).  Then I would put it up on the wall and hang other color related projects under it.  Most books I got from Pinney or Hawthorne library.  A few I used the library hold system for.

Start with the primary colors.

Red

Make a list of things you see that are red.  Write them down using a red marker
Ask them how red makes them feel.  Why they think their cheeks turn red?  Or why fire is red.

Read "The little Red Hen" and Why are animals red?

Say the "Little Red Apple" Poem

Pasta, apples, strawberries, red peppers, red jello are good food options

Make a red collage using, string, ribbon, construction paper, paint, red glitter glue, red fruit loops, piipe cleaner, markers, crayon, stickers..etc...

Blue

Gather together blue items and have your child sort them from lightest to darkest.

Count the number of items you found

Discuss the phrase "I feel blue", ask them how blue makes them feel.  Talk about the calmness/coolness of blue water.

Play Blues music and talk to them about how it makes them feel.

Read Blueberries for Sal and The Blue House and Why are animals blue?

Sing & Dance to Blue Suede Shoes

Have kids paint a blue picture

For a blue meal have blue totilla chips, blueberries, blue milk


Yellow

Ask kids to find 5 yellow things in the room. 

Ask them what things are yellow outside

Talk about the sun and fire.  How does yellow make you feel--happy/sad, tired/energized, Cold/hot?

Read Yellow School bus and Why are animals yellow

Have Macaroni and cheese with pineapple and yellow peppers or squash. 

Have them cut out a big yellow circle with 6 small triangles and make the sun (glue to a piece of paper).

Have them make lemonade from scratch to have with their yellow meal.

Examine the lemon peels with a magnifying glass.

Green

Sit in the grass if you can.
Sing "The Green Grass Grew all Around"
Ask kids to point out things that are green.
Have them go barefoot and talk about how the grass feels undert their feet
Pick leaves from various trees and have kids find which tree goes to which leaf.

Read Green Eggs and Ham and Why are animals green?

Have them help prepare lunch--green eggs and ham (add green dye to eggs, dip ham in eggs and fry.)
serve with broccoli, green apples/grapes, green yogurt

Play Red light/Green Light
Sing "Five Little Speckled Frogs"

On wax paper or finger paint paper--On each side put a mound of shaving cream.    Then on one mound put blue paint, on the other yellow.  Have kids mix each mound and then combine to see what color they make.  Talk about how the primary colors (red, yellow, blue) make the other colors. 

Purple

Have a race to find as many purple things as you can in 1 minute.  Count the items. 

Recite the poem "I never saw a Purple Cow"

How does the color purple make you feel.  Who wears purple (Kings)

Read Harold and the Purple Crayon, Purple Snake eating Lunch

locate a copy of the Purple People Eater

Have grapes, grape juice, yogurt, for a meal

Put shaving cream in a baggy and then add red and blue dye.  Have kid mush bag to see what new color they get.  Cut off a corner and have them "Squeeze" a design on their paper.

Make a bunch of purple grapes.  Make a grape branch with brown marker.  Then have child put thumb in purple paint to make the bunches of grapes. 

Make purple cow shakes--grape juice, ice cream and milk.

Orange

Begin by eating an orange.

Talk about how the color is the same name as the fruit. 

Make a list of things that have orange flavoring

Play "I Spy" with the color orange

Read My New Socks and Why are animals Orange

Have an orange meal--orange juice, carrots, peach yogurt, gold fish crackers

Give them yellow construction paper and a red marker.  Have them draw a picture.  What color does their picture end up being. 

Black

Sing "Two Little Black Birds"

Talk about phrases "black as night, black cats are bad luck"  How do we perceive black?
Then talk about black beauty, black orchids, blackberries to show black is not always bad.

Read Baa Baa Black Sheep, and a book on penguins

Color different colors on a paper and then color black over all of it.  Then give child a coin or toothpick to etch in a design.

Cut out different shapes in black and then give them a white piece of paper to make a design (glue on).

Do something with Dark Chocolate!

Have kids add varying amounts of black paint to color paint to see how it changes the color.

White

Talk about what is white.  How does it make you feel (clean/cold)?

Talk about connotations to white "White as snow, white glove test"

Sing Frosty the Snowman

Read, Frosty the Snowman, It looked like Spilt Milk, book on Polar Bears

Use a large white sheet and play some parachute games

Fold paper into fans and dance (or cool off!)

Cut Snowflakes and hang them

Make a snowman gluing cotton balls on construction paper.  they can also make clouds with them.  The have them "decorate" their snowman.

Provide a bunch of white items and have them guess if they will sink or float (and then try it out).

Make Gak.

Make a game of trying to throw cottonballs into a bowl

Have popcorn and milk for a snack. (cheese, yogurt, ice cream.)

Have kids add varying amounts of white paint to color paint to see how it changes the color.

(Have them combine white and black to see what new color they get!)


Pink

Play "I Spy" with pink

Talk about how when babies are born birth announcements are pink or blue--and how that follows boys and girls through life

What does it mean to be "tickled pink"

Read The pink Refrigerator, book on flamingos

add some red food coloring to milk with pink extract for peppermint milk!

Make a pink pig mask http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Mask.shtml

Brown

Look on themselves or others for things that are brown

Read brown bear brown bear what do you see. 

Sing "We are going on a Bear Hunt"

Have them watch goldilocks and the three bears.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories-goldilocks.htm

Print the activity and cut out and have them order the pictures in the correct order (glue into a book) and retell the story to you.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories-goldilocks-activity.pdf

Go on nature hike in search of brown things

provide all paint colors and have them mix them together.  What do they get?  Have them paint their book.

Make Peanut Butter Play Doh

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Peanut-Butter-Playdough/Detail.aspx


Gray

I wasn't originally going to do gray, but Ky insisted, so I kind of did a short lesson on the whim.

Pull out nickels, dimes, and quarters.  Have child sort and count them.  Discuss money and what they are.  Have child make rubbings of the money.  (put under paper and color)  Use these printouts to help child sort money.  Can also color. 
http://www.moneyinstructor.com/wsp/pages.asp


Mix black and white paint to show how it makes gray.  Then they can paint some of the activities below.
(I didn't have any prepared books for this so we "read"  the mouse and elephant story online).

http://www.rif.org/kids/leadingtoreading/en/preschoolers/read.htm

Make an elephant and learn about elephants
www.first-school.ws/t/craft/eselephant1bw.html

http://www.rif.org/kids/leadingtoreading/en/preschoolers/explore/elephant.htm


Recite the donkey poem and color

www.niteowl.org/kids/donkey2.html

We didn't do a gray meal, but that could include oatmeal.

A book Review: Rick Warren's "The Purpose of Christmas"

https://thepurposeofchristmas.com/

Christmas is a time for Celebration, Salvation, and Reconciliation. These are the three main points to Rick Warren's book "The Purpose of Christmas".“First, he (the angel) said ‘I bring you good news of great joy.’ It’s a time for celebration,” explains Warren. “And then he says, ‘for on this day is born to you a savior, who is Christ the Lord.’ It’s a time for salvation. And then he says ‘Peace on earth; goodwill toward men.’ It’s a time for reconciliation."

This book I read as a part of my church group.  We read it over four weeks with intention to discuss the book each week.  Sadly, the plague, hit our group and we actually only met one week for discussion.  Anyway,  the book's intended audience is non-believers.   But as a current believer I can say that I got a lot from this book.  Rick Warren had some witty acronyms that made we rethink words.  For example, GRACE is God's Riches At Christ's Expense.  WOW!  What a remarkable way to rethink God's grace.

I had to return the book to the library, so I will do the best I can to sum up this book without it as a reference. 

First of all we NEED to celebrate Christmas.  This is a time to rejoice for all of God's good works and gifts that have been given to us through Jesus.  God WANTS us to enjoy life.  Why else do you think Jesus' first miracle was to turn water into wine at a wedding?  He wants us to rejoice in our many blessings of life and fellowship with others--share God's blessings. 

Secondly, we need to recognize how, without the birth of Jesus, we would not have salvation.  Jesus came to save all of us--and we ALL need to be saved.  No one is better than anyone else, we all have sinned and we all need to make that right with God.  And honestly, how much easier is life when you recognize that you are NOT perfect and that someone LOVES you no matter what you do and is ALWAYS waiting for you to return to him.  Even our human parents don't fulfill all those unconditional requirements (though they can get close.) 

Finally--and this point stood out the most to me--we need to reconcile any relationships we have cut off or torn apart.  I think the biggest mix-up with the word reconciliation is people assume that to reconcile you must resolve the problem that you had.  Rick Warren says you don't.  To reconcile means to fix the relationship and that doesn't necessarily mean fixing the problem.  Jesus said "Blessed are the Peacemakers."  We are here to share and have peace with everyone.  Most people believe that means we must all be on the same wavelength and in agreement with everything, but it is possible to have a peaceable relationship without always being in agreement.  Not to mention, how are we supposed to share Jesus with someone we have cut off ourselves from.  It is not our job to judge others-it is God's.  Our job is to show God's love and acceptance to all--just like he showed us. 

For us as christians, we need to ALWAYS keep the door open to everyone--meaning maintaining a relationship with all. 

(I have to interject into this last part really quick.  Rick Warren words this last chapter "Reconciliation" so much better than I am summing it up.  If you read any part of this book--read this last part.  It is a quick and easy read--maybe 15 minutes or so. Not to mention the whole book is a pretty quick read.)

Many people believe that to achieve peace we need to educate.  Rick Warren points out that these educated countries are having more wars than ever.  In fact education has only led to more high tech ways of attack, destruction, and murder.  The only true was to peace is for us all to be like Jesus and be peacemakers.  It is okay to agree to disagree.  God will have the ultimate answer in the end.  In the meantime, we should spend our time praying and focusing on God to perhaps reveal the solution, or resolve the problem in our lifetime. 

To sum this book up, I was really touched by Warren's emphasis on the need to reconcile.  I am as guilty as anyone else for cutting off relationships.  This coming year - 2010 - I resolve to keep relationships with all and to fix any that I have lost.  I want to be one of those "Blessed Peacemakers."  And I can only imagine how much more peaceful my life will be when I let God work through me to reveal himself to others. 

First lil' & BIG snow + Rick & Dominic's B'days

Reading, reading...

I received this dress from a friend.  It had one of those giant square boat collars that really outdated the dress.  So I turned the Collar in, and sewed on some lace I had laying around the house--and voila!  A beautiful Christmas dress that cost me NOTHING!  (Alaina is modeling the dress in the pic above.)










This pretty much sums up how our picture taking experience went.  I had to take the kids back the next week to finally get a decent pic of the 2 of them.

Posing with some wildlife at Daddy's Christmas breakfast

Gotta get a pic of Ky with a train!

My Boy!

The kid who poses well for pics....

With the girl that has to be held down for pics...

Getting Rudolph painted on

Then he went back for another.  It would be a shame to leave one cheek naked!

Alaina's turn for a tatoo

Apparently the wet sponge was the painful part.

Was it worth it? (I don't think we will ever have to worry about her getting a real one!)

So excited to meet Frosty!

Alaina picked a sock monkey for her ornament.

Boys being goofy--definite Schnake genes....

Ky with one of the birthday boys

Ry, Jordan, Uncle Jim, Uncle Rick

The 2 birthday boys- 3 & 21

Going for a ride

Hanging with U. Ry

Pops, Rick, and U. Kirk

They really do love each other!

Birthday boys take 2

First snowfall--Ky with his buddy Daniel

Mae Lin after she fell

Alaina and the first BIG snow--18" of snow

Ky is happy with the snow

Yeah--I don't think the bushes in front of our windows survived this snow storm


So came the time of year to get the kids pics done together.  Ah....Well, knowing me as the money saver I am, the best place to get their pics done for the best price possible is on the other side of town--a 25 minute drive or so.  This place will do both kids without a sitting fee and I can order one pose picture for 9.99 and get a whole slew of photos. 

The day before, I went through the kids clothes and decided Ky's unused ring bearer suit needed to get at least one more use--not to mention I still did not have one good pic of him in it.  From there I had to decide on Alaina's.  The red plaid dress looked really good with Ky's gold vest, so I picked that, but I couldn't get past the big ugly black collar it had.  Then it hit me. I flipped the collar inside the dress and the dress VASTLY improved.  Then I actually noticed the lace on the sleeves.  HEY!  I have lace.  So, I tacked the lace onto the collar and VOILA!  A very pretty dress. 

So I got the kids up early the next morning and got them dressed.  We drove the to pic place and both kids were in good spirits.  We ended up having to wait 20 minute for our appointment, but it was all good.  They had a lego table!

This Aussie photographer guy with black hair and black clothes ends up taking us to the photo room.  Then it happened.  He spoke to Alaina.  She lost it.  I don't know if it was his accent or his freaky hair or what.  There was no recovery.  They even brought in a different photographer and had him leave, but it was too late. The damage had been done.  Not even one picture taken.  So back on the road we went.  Two hours of my life that I will never get back.  Do you know how hard it is to wrestle little ones in nice clothes?  And then to keep them looking that way through a 25 minute car drive and waiting another 20 minutes.  Have I mentioned how Alaina likes to play with her hair?  It is an obsession.  Especially if she eating, drinking, sucking on her nuk, sleeping....This is why in all the pics you see of her, her hair isn't very curly looking.  The fact is, this girl has a lot of curls in her hair, but she pulls them out....UGH!
Anyway, we get home and I try to take a few of my own.  Yeah that didn't work so well either (See pic of kids on couch.) 

The next week we rescheduled and did the drive all over again. This time the drive took me 50 minutes because a car caught on fire on the highway.  At least I had left early and was only a few minutes late.  And I am glad to say the pics came out fine this time.  The Aussie was no where in sight!

That weekend (Dec 4), we had a Christmas breakfast at Rob's work.  It was a really fun time.  Everything was free! (even better!)  The breakfast was great.  They also had places where kids could get tatoos and their faces painted.  Ky got tattoos on both hands and both cheeks painted.  He was very excited and took both experiences very seriously.  He didn't move!  Rob then thought it would only be appropriate to get Alaina a tatoo.  All was going well until daddy put the sponge on her face.  Then she began to scream!  Seriously, you would think we were torturing her or something.  I don't know if we will be getting her any more tattoos anytime soon. 

At this breakfast there were some wandering Christmas characters.  Ky found Frosty and was very excited- what's even more exciting is that he didn't know who Frosty was at that time.  We actually showed him the cartoon several weeks later.  That didn't matter to him though.  He was excited.  He also ran into Mrs. Claus--but yeah--he didn't know who she was either, and nor did we explain....

Just a sidenote---Alaina makes taking pics SO difficult.  The girl does not stay still.  Speaking of staying still--life at Casa Schnake has been getting much more difficult.  I don't know what to do, other than literally make one room covered in mats and her toys.  The girl puts things together to make stools and steps.  She ends up on top of tables ALL the time...and no--not sitting--standing!  Between her and Ky most of the child locks are broke---so she is constantly emptying my cabinets.  I move things up to higher shelves so she can't reach, she builds higher stools/steps to reach them.  Kylan was NOTHING this extreme.  Have i mentioned that she has taken the gate down and gone upstairs on her own multiple times.  Babyproofing- HA! Alaina laughs at that.  I spend so much time chasing after her and fixing what she is destroying that right now very little actual house cleaning is getting done.  Not to mention decorating.  Yeah--this Christmas it just isn't going to happen. 

This year we waited until mid-december to put up the tree.  And we set it up behind our couches--using them as a barricade to keep her away.  Well--she then figured out how to crawl up on the couch and still reaches the tree....Yeah that sucker is coming down soon--too much added stress!

Okay, back to our day. So after the Christmas breakfast we went to the store and let each kid pick out their ornament.  I helped Alaina--and she really liked the sock monkey--and hey it's kid safe!  Ky picked out a sparkly blue, more adult like ornament---which kind of surprised both Rob and I.  And then Rob and I found a snowman family of four ornament that we thought well represented us.  So fun!

From there we were off to Milwaukee to celebrate Rick's and Dominic's 21st & 3rd birthday.  We had dinner at Buca's.  It was YUMMY!  Alaina was a bit tired though, not having gotten enough sleep.  I think all the Schnake boys were worked up.  There was just some sort of goofiness in the air.

The last couple of pics are of the first snowfall & second snowfall--the first which was light in Madison.  I was watching my neighbor's kids that day and we decided to stay home and have some fun in the snow.  All the kids had a really great time.  We even had a small snowball fight. 

The second snowfall happened over night.  We got around 18".  It closed the city down.  Even Rob's work was shut down.  It was such a nice time for us all to be FORCED to stay at home and just enjoy each other's company.  Shoveling took FOREVER and poor Rob ended up with most of it.  For some reason our snowblower wouldn't work.  Also, Alaina didn't really like being outside in that much snow.  She was kind of angry that she couldn't move!  We would shovel her paths, but you know her, she wants to go where she wants to go--she doesn't want anything holding her back.  So yeah, I ended up going in early with a very unhappy girl.  It looks like this snow dump actually ruined several of our bushes.  We actually had to hack away at one, because the snow had smashed it down so much that it was in front of the garage--and our car would have gotten scratched up by it.  It should be interesting to see what it looks like come spring. 

Another long blog...I gotta wrap this one up.  A few Alaina'isms...

Alaina says "E" for please,  "Ear Mama" for here Mama, "Mama" or "Up-E" for up please.  "uh-book" for book,  "air" for Bear, "Eat, Eat" for eat, or I'm hungry.  "Nigh, Nigh" for I'm tired.  --seriously she has told me on occasion when she wants to go to bed.  She likes to sing Twinkle Twinkle or Abc's.  (Yeah--gotta get that on video)

By the way, I have updated to the new blogger--and apparently it does not have spell check...I apologize for any inaccuracies, but I just don't have time to go back through!  UGH--blogger I need spell check!