Halloween Week!

Halloween week was super busy for us! The kids main costumes were Tinkerbell and Peter pan, but they also wore Dorothy and the Lion, which Kiley looked so cute with her hair in pick tails (I failed to get a picture before they fell out!), and Dalmatian and Ballerina. I had so many costumes different people had given me, I let them wear them all to different things! Sunday we went to Old Baker Farm pumpkin patch and had a great time. Papa came with us and the kids got to run through a corn maze and a hay maze, watch and hear folk musicians, pick cotton out of a field, jump in a trailer full of cotton, pet and see animals, watch black smiths, meet Indians and watch them dance, and take a tractor hay ride out to the pumpkin patch where we got to pick out our own pumpkins! It was such a fun day, mostly to see and hear their laughter and excitement! Worth every penny!

Monday we had a party at the library during our "together with twos" story time, read stories about nice monsters then watched a play and decorated pumpkin cookies. Tuesday they had their party at school, we all went to the local pumpkin patch and met back at the school for a pizza party. All the kids were very well behaved, even with all the cookies! Tuesday night we tried to take the kids treat or treating at the library, but as soon as we got there the tornado sirens went off and they made everyone leave! Wednesday night we had the big "trunk or treat" at Hunter Street church, it was extremely crowded! Kiley was a little shy and held back with us, but Cason ran right up to each station and put his pumpkin right on the table yelling "trick or treat", was so cute and the opposite of last year! They got to get on an ambulance and I was very glad we were not riding in it this time!

Thursday am we had playgroup party at our house and got to dress up once again! We made pumpkin crafts and had a great time playing with their friends! Thursday night we had NiNi, Papa, and Gigi over for dinner and pumpkin carving. What fun it was to watch them dig into the pumpkins and then their excitement when Papa put a candle in the carved pumpkin and turned the lights out! Such memories! So glad GiGi could join us in all the festivities!
Friday night we had another big party at our friends Blake and Laura, all the kids looked so cute dressed up and Paul and I also dressed up to match the theme of the kids! Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Pirate and "Mrs Pan". We enjoyed chili and another hayride through the neighborhood!

Sat am we took the kids to a fun festival at Spain Park, they got to make crafts and jump on jumpies, their favorite thing right now, especially Kiley! I think they both jumped for over an hour. That night we had friends over for the game and all walked down to the cul da sac party, with bon fire and more jumpies! Sunday we took them to the zoo, which was decorated for Boo at the Zoo and they kids loved haunted train ride! Sunday night we had early dinner at NiNi and Papa's and took them trick or treating around the neighborhood. It was so funny to watch them run so fast to every door, ringing the bell and peeking through the windows, holding their pumpkin out and saying "trick or treat and thank you" Cason was thrilled to get to ring about 15 different doorbells! We were told several times "that scare me" from both of the kids throughout the week!!

Conversations with a 2 yr old

Kiley started crying after I put her to bed, so I went up there and she said "I wet" (which she does almost every night for attention) While I was changing her she said "daddy take big poppies" which I said "what" and she said "daddy take big poppies, downstairs" and I said "great" and she said "Cason flushed it" which I said "great" and she said "I watched" and I said "great story"

Put her back in bed and she said "where KiKi's pacie" and I said "I can't find them, they are lost and you have to go to sleep without pacie" and she said "pacie back there" pointing behind her crib, so I pulled the crib out and got her pacie and she looked at it and said "pink pacie, where purple pacie" and I said "pink pacie is the only pacie left so you better hold onto it b/c I am not buying you any more" and she said "go to grocery store and buy purple pacie too"

walked out of room laughing....

September Fun

I am not creative at all, so finger painting is about as extensive of "arts and crafts" as we do at our house! It lasts about 5-10 minutes but the clean up is much longer but worth seeing how much fun they have!

Good picture- late summer visit with Greg's family. We enjoyed the first trip to Nashville with the kids last weekend, the kids loved seeing "Hadden and Spencer's house" and had lots of fun running around with them all weekend! They traveled much better on this shorter trip and slept good, although Kiley refused to go to bed until we did. She was sleeping in our room on her Dora air mattress and think she was afraid she was missing some of the party downstairs!

They are really starting to copy one another doing silly things to make me laugh all day! I have the best (and yes sometimes hardest) job!


This is the first real time the kids have been split up! Cason is going to MDO on Tuesdays and Kiley on Thursdays so I can have some much needed one on one time with each of them. This is the third week and so far it has been going pretty well! Kiley was very mad at me the first week and tried all things to get me not to leave her crying "my tummy hurts don't leave me mommy" and when I picked her up she would not look or talk to me until we got to the car. She then looked me in the eyes and said "you leaved me mommy" Last week the teacher told me Cason started asking "when mommy coming" and she would answer "after you eat your lunch" so finally he went and got his bag, took his lunch out and said "ready to eat lunch" and the teacher told him it was only 10:30! Smart guy thinking- ok, if mommy is coming after I eat, I will just eat now! Funny kids

Talking

Well we always said when Kiley starts talking, she isn't going to stop, and she sure runs that mouth all the time and is very loud!! Sometimes hard to tell exactly what she is saying but she does like to talk and boss us/mostly Cason around! Today I was telling Cason no to something, and she came up and said to him "big no no Cason" which is what I say to certain things! She has also started asking "why" to everything! Yesterday she asked "why" so much I finally said to her "because I am the mom and I said so, that's why" and started laughing thinking how I promised myself I was never going to say that as a mom!! She also freaks out if Cason is "touching" her, another thing I can remember yelling to my parents as a child! (mom Greg is touching/looking at me). My parents witnessed Kiley saying this Sunday night and I thought my dad was going to spit out his food from laughing so hard!

Cason still can have the quickest temper about things, but most of the time it is b/c we cannot figure out what he is saying or trying to tell us, he gets so frustrated! It also can be when he is hungry, very much like his daddy! We also see more and more similarities to his Pops with certain things, working and concentrating hard on a project and not giving up until it is done just right! He is such a sweet boy and loves telling us "please/thank you" all the time and also will come up and say "I uve (love) you mommy!" Paul puts him to bed and night and he sometimes will say "I uve you daddy" over and over again to try and get Paul to stay!

Cribs

So last week was a terrible week with Cason sleeping, he was staying up until 10-11 screaming then waking up in the middle of the night for several hours. He is great during the day, otherwise I would have taken him into the doctor thinking something was wrong, but kind-of leaned my lesson with Kiley! On Friday I put him down for a nap and went downstairs to the basement, and a few minutes later heard footsteps. I looked up the stairs and saw him standing there! I was shocked, and said "Cason what are you doing" and he said "hi mommy, no nap" then took me upstairs and showed me how he climbed out of his crib, turned off his sound machine, took one of his tall toys to stand on to turn on his bedroom light, looked at me again and said "no nap". I thought well, I guess he doesn't want to take a nap today!!

By Saturday we were exhausted and desperate, called my parents and told them their grand twins were coming over to give us a much needed break, which turned into Paul taking Cason's crib front off making it into a daybed. We both commented how quite the house was with just us in it! We could actually have an adult conversation without interruptions!

It is now Tuesday night, 3rd night of "big boy bed" and he is doing much better! He is not throwing tantrums anymore at bedtime (PTL!) and enjoys his 1 on 1 time with daddy in his bedroom at night playing with quite toys and reading books. Hopefully this will continue! He also misplaced "la" over the weekend and has not asked for it once, which is amazing for how attached he was to it!

As for KiKi...her crib went back up last week and she is doing better although she is queen at stalling and still clings to me when I try and put her in bed at night, she has even told me she has poppie! I tried to give her her pacie back last week when they were both screaming still at 10, she threw it at me so I guess she is over that trick!

One on One

Today I took Kiley to a friend's house and Cason spent the day with me running errands and going to a drs appointment. It was so much fun to have one on one time with him. He was a perfect little boy and didn't whine or complain once the whole day, even in the drs quite waiting room. He laid down on his stomach on the bench and colored and after awhile sat up, looked at me and said "all done mommy," and went to looked out the window until we were called back. I had many people comment to me what a cute and good little boy he is. It is amazing how different they are one on one and not having to compete with each other for everything! I took him to get a cookie/ice cream when we were finished, he was so much fun!!! I am looking forward to one on one time with them when school starts!

Pacie update

So 2 weeks ago, after all our summer travels were over and Kiley had slept in a big bed each trip, I got the great idea to convert her crib to a "big girl bed" (aka toddler day bed) in hopes of making it a reward for giving up her pacie at night. We made a big deal out of it telling her many times "you have a big girl bed now and big girls don't have pacies" Well the first night didn't go so well, as she started telling us "me KiKi baby, KiKi no like big girl bed" and Paul ended up giving her pacie to her- way to be strong daddy.

She loves her big girl bed at all times except when it is time to go to sleep. But I stuck to my guns and after the first or second night, I didn't give into her. It has been 2 weeks now and still not going well! It usually takes about 45 min-1hr of her crying and throwing a tantrum to get her to sleep rather it be nap time or bedtime. I have tried rocking, singing, reading, rubbing her back, spanking, threatening her, letting her pick out anything to sleep with, and anything else I can think of to get her to go to sleep. The only thing that has worked is daddy, for some reason when he goes in there he can get her to sleep! Guess he has the magic touch, which doesn't help me much for nap time! I even took her into the pediatrician's office on Friday thinking for sure she had an ear infection that that was why she didn't want to sleep, especially after asking her if her ears hurt and her saying "yes mommy ear huts". After explaining the situation and looking in her ears, he asked me if I was going to be mad if he told me her ears were completely clear!

After a friends advice, we took her to pick out "anything she wanted for her big girl bed and for giving up her pacie". Again, making a very big deal out of it. She picked out a Barbie pillow and carried it around all day, very excited about it, until nap time came. When we told her it was time to go up to her big girl bed with her new Barbie pillow, she threw it down, kicked it, and said "no like Barbie pillow, me no night night"........needless to say Cason is still in his crib!