Daddy Daughter Dance

Kyle took the girls to the Daddy Daughter Dance at the Festival of Trees this year. They were SO excited to go with dad to the "ball". This was the first year that Kaylee got to go and she was thrilled. There were some other neighbor girls that went so they had a wonderful time. It's so exciting that it's this time of year already! I think I'm already getting more excited for Christmas than they are. Although, they've looked through the ads that have come and want nearly EVERYTHING. I've had to explain that Santa can't bring all that they want so we'll see how they react.

We got corsages for the girls and they thought it was so cool!

So gorgeous!
And the nails done to match.
On another note, looks like Kira will be having to have surgery to get tubes in her ears and her adnoids out. They did a standard hearing test at her school and she didn't pass. After more tests and a visit with the ENT, he said that she's got fluid and they want to try this surgery to see if it helps. It's just been such a shock because she has never had ear infections or had any indication she had trouble hearing. We have a history of hearing issues both on Kyle's and my side so it could be hereditary and we are just hoping that this surgery will help the issue and it's not something else. So, we also have Kaylee scheduled for tests in a couple weeks so that if she has problems too, we can catch it sooner.

We have been so lucky to have such normally healthy kids so I suppose it's just a hurdle to get past and hope it improves from there.

Otherwise, I'm doing really good after my surgery and healing up. We're looking forward to Thanksgiving next week then getting together in WI with my family the first of Dec. I LOVE this time of year!!

Getting older stinks - part 2

Well, here we go again. I'm going in for surgery on Friday for my gallbladder this time. I swear since I turned 40 this year, I feel like I'm falling apart. I've not been feeling good for awhile but it finally dawned on me what it might be so I went in and had some tests done. They said it's kind of an optional surgery at this point but I figured since I've already had one done this year and pretty much met my insurance deductible, I may as well get it done. Hopefully it will help me feel better and I can get back on the exercise and get in better shape.

We found out the car will take 2-3 weeks to get fixed but they're not going to total it. They almost may as well because they're replacing so much all along the passenger side. At least we've got a rental and everyone is fine so all is good. I think that van has just been bad luck since we got it. Broken into, transmission replaced, accident.... hopefully that's it!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Halloween 2009

We went to Curtis Orchard again this year to pick out our pumpkins. We usually just get some from up front but it seemed like they didn't have a great selection so we decided to make the walk back to the pumpkin patch to see if there was any more to choose from.

Not too much. They were pretty picked over and most that were left were bruised but we did find some good ones out of the bunch to bring home.

Kira had her preschool Halloween party on Weds. She was sad that Kaylee didn't get to stay for the party this year like we did last year but I think they had a great time.
It's time to carve the pumpkins! The girls were so excited to starts doing it. Last year Kaylee wouldn't hardly touch them but this year she dug right in and was so helpful getting all the seeds out. For the first time, I tried getting all the seeds out and roasting them. I did a batch with cinnamon and sugar and another one that was salty. They both were so yummy!




Kyle and I went to an adults only party again this year at a friend's house. The kids liked seeing our costumes this year. We had a really fun time at the party.

On Halloween, we took the kids tailgating before the Illinois game (I didn't go to the game so I could do all the Halloween stuff). It was pretty cold so most of the kids sat in our friend's van and watched a movie. It was fun hanging out with everyone.

We got the kids dressed up and went to Grandpa and Grandma's house to show them their costumes. Kira said "Kaylee, look at this"
"No, I don't want to!"
Who is that??
Silly Grandpa!!
We went to a party at a neighbor's house and all the kids went trick-or-treating together from there. We ran into Santa in front of a house. They thought that was so cool! Kaylee kept saying "I like Santa because he is so cute".

We had such a fun and busy Halloween. The only drawback was that the day before, I got hit in the van while driving home. A teenage boy ran through a stop sign (he said he brakes weren't working - yeah, right). Thankfully, we were all ok but now it's just the inconvenience of having to get the van fixed and all that.

Hope all our family and friends enjoyed the holiday too! Now, on to Thanksgiving and Christmas already. Wow...

Disneyworld Oct. 2009

Wow! I can't believe we're back from our wonderful trip. We had such a great time!! We got there late afternoon on Saturday and decided to try out the pool first thing. The kids thought it was so cool to be able to swim after it started getting dark but it was still warm. We tried to get to bed early that night so we could get up and going the next morning. We had a family suite so Kaylee, Kira and I slept in one part while Kyle was in the bedroom. Poor Kaylee had other ideas. She woke up at 3 a.m. and would not go back to sleep! Thankfully, Kira didn't wake up. At about 5 a.m., Kyle got up and I took Kaylee into that room to try and sleep more. She still didn't fall to sleep till about 6 a.m. so after that, we did sleep in for awhile. We got up and went to Hollywood Studios the first day. It was soooooo HOT! It was about upper 80's/low 90's (very unusual for this time of year). We were all dripping and the kids weren't too happy about it. They both kept saying they wanted to go back "home" to swim and cool off. We saw a few shows and did a few rides then decided to go back to nap and rest and wait for Kay to arrive.

That evening, we all headed to Magic Kingdom to watch the Spectralight Parade and fireworks show. They were amazing!! The kids were tired so we headed back for the night and got to bed.

We had made different sleeping arrangements after that first night because I didn't want Kay sleeping in with the girls and having to deal with Kaylee during the night if she woke up again so Kaylee and I slept in the bedroom and all the others had their own pull-out beds in the other room. That night I woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep. I knew we had to get up early to get ready for breakfast at Cinderella's castle so I didn't sleep well. The girls were blown away seeing all their favorite princesses. It was such good food and such a fun experience eating in the castle. They loved wearing their dresses but were ready to change shortly after because it was so hot. (You will notice my hair is in a ponytail all week - nothing else I could do with it with all the heat and humidity.) We spent all day at Magic Kingdom riding the rides and seeing everything. We saw alot of the characters and got autographs. It still seemed crowded and busy but I could tell it wasn't nearly as bad as it probably is during peak times. The girls like the Dumbo ride and the Barnstormer roller coaster. They wanted to go on this one several times. They liked Small World and one of my favorites was Mickey's Philhar Magic 4D show. Kaylee laughed and giggled through it all. There was so much to see and do, we felt like we barely did any of it. Again, it was fun but both kids were so hot and tired they wanted to go "home". We stayed out till early evening then went back so kids could get to bed fairly early.

The next morning we got up and went to Animal Kingdom. It was cool seeing all the animals on the safari ride and walking through the tours. We only stayed at Animal Kingdom for the first part of the day then we went back to the room to rest for awhile. Kaylee had a nap and we all rested because we were going to the special Halloween party that night. We got the girls dressed up again in their costumes and went to Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom for dinner with Pooh and friends. Kaylee lit up when she saw Tigger. It was good food and alot of fun to see them all come around to our tables and meet the kids. After dinner, it was raining pretty hard. We went outside and the girls got wet in their costumes so they wanted to change. I have to say that this night was one of the funnest of the whole trip for me. It wasn't so hot, it wasn't too crowded and we saw so many fun things! There was trick or treating for the kids, we went on all kinds of other rides, there were characters out in their Halloween costumes. The girls waited to see Tinker Bell and her fairy friends and they were absolutely amazed at them. We were out till about midnight that night and the kids were such troopers! They were having so much fun they didn't complain much but both were exhausted.

The next morning we all slept in late then just relaxed at the pool for awhile. We kind of changed our plans and decided to go to downtown Disney to shop and hang out. We thought we'd only be a couple hours then head to Epcot but we ended up spending all the rest of the day there. It was fun to see but it was hard with the kids because they got a little bored and it was hard to keep them out of everything in the stores. I was ready to head back to the hotel and call it a night.

The next morning we got up early again and went to Magic Kingdom for a little while then we had a late breakfast (lunch) scheduled at Chef Mickey's. The kids had fun seeing Mickey and all his friends come around to our table. From there, we rode the monorail to Epcot. We had heard there wasn't too much for little kids to do there but we had a great time! It was kind of like a big children's museum and they found plenty to do. Luckily we were inside alot of the time because there was a big downpour and our stroller got soaked! We had to use a poncho to try and cover it for the kids to sit. We rode the Test Track ride with Kira and she loved it. She really liked all the "big and fast" rides. Poor Kaylee was so tired she konked out for awhile in her stroller. We ended up spending the rest of the day there and had a blast.

The next morning was departure day but since we had gone Downtown one day, we still had park passes to use so we got up early and went back to Hollywood Studios again. Kira rode the Tower of Terror with us and still keeps talking about how fun and scary it was. Kyle and I did the Rockin' Roller Coaster and think it was our favorite of the whole trip. We had to rush through some things to get back to the hotel to catch our bus to the airport but we made it.

All in all, it was such a wonderful trip and I definitely learned things that I will do differently on our next trip (yes, we already know we want to go back sometime). Such fun!!!

Curtis Orchard redo

We had such a fun morning at Curtis Orchard again as a family. We went on a weekend this time so there were all the extra fun things for the kids to do. They have such an absolute blast doing all the bounce slides, ponies, wagon rides... And we love watching them do it all. We played for awhile then had lunch at the cafe and brought home the yummy fresh apple donuts!

Kaylee going through the bouncy house obstacle course.

This climbing wall was so high! Kira kinda helped Kaylee up the first time then the next time, Kaylee did it on her own. She is fearless and always tries to do what the big kids do.


Daddy with his sweet girls.



Such a beautiful day for such fun. Later, we had all of Kyle's family over for a BBQ at our house. It was a perfect evening with the weather and fun. Good food and good times!

Dance class starts!

It's time for dance to start up again. We did gymnastics during the summer and I gave Kira the choice of what to do in the fall and she chose dance again. It's Kaylee's first time doing dance too and she is so darn cute to watch! I bought her a new little dance dress and she kept wanting to get it out and look at it. She would hug it and say "it's so beautiful". She was so excited to wear it the first day.

Kira is in Dance I now and she really does good. Kira and Kaylee both have the same teacher and Kira goes first then Kaylee right after. They do a little ballet, jazz and tap. She's one of the younger ones in the class but she really listens to the teacher and tries to do exactly what she says. She's pretty serious about learning to dance. :)

Kaylee and a couple of our little neighbor girl friends are in the same class. Her class is for beginning 3-4 yr olds and she's not 3 till January but she's hung out with older kids all the time so she's good at listening and following directions too. She loved getting in and doing all the steps. After her class, the teacher came out and said Kaylee and her couple friends did such a good job and listened better than some of her Dance I students. Proud mama moment. :)

Another autumn at Curtis Orchard

I can't believe it's this time of year again. Ever since we moved here, we've been visiting Curtis Orchard in the fall. The kids have so much fun with it and look forward to it. This visit we went with some of our good friends. We feed the goats, play on the playsets, run around and, most importantly, drink fresh apple cider and eat apple donuts! On the weekends they have big bounce houses, slides and pony rides. We'll need to come back again to do that and pick out our pumpkins for Halloween. The weather here has been warm but really pleasant. I am loving this time of year so far. We've seemed to be so busy since preschool started for Kira but it's been alot of fun. I can't even imagine how busy we'll be with two in school and all the extra activities. Happy fall!



Kaylee didn't get a nap this afternoon and we had been running around already all day so she got a little cranky near the end but still held up pretty good, considering.