How to Deal with a Midwestern Winter

Sometimes it's the only way...  Happy January!

Kayla-isms

I am putting a family/temple slideshow together for our ward Christmas party and Kayla walks in as I'm getting pictures of the temples downloaded.
She points to the picture on the screen and asks, "what's that?"
I reply, "that's the Logan, Utah temple."
"Oh, where's the Kayla, Utah temple?"

Mom: "Kayla, I think you need to go potty before we leave for the store."
Kayla: "No thanks!"

During the Sacrament prayers at church Kayla whispers to me, "Mom, do you hear Jesus?"

A Real Pumpkin Patch

Not one of those commercial ones with the big slides or hay rides.  There were no mazes or kettle corn. Just pumpkins and other gourds.  It was great.  Not that I don't like all the rides and mazes, and I love kettle corn, but we wanted to get some pumpkins and had already done the commercial pumpkin patch thing this year.  So we tried out Christ Orchard.  It was great.  When we got there the girls working  there told us we could get a little wagon for the kids/pumpkins to ride in and the pumpkins in the field were 50 cents each.  Sweet!  We passed some turkeys and other farm animals on the way to a HUGE patch and had a great time picking out some perfect pumpkins.

Off to the patch!

Pumpkin-riding!

Showing us the pumpkin she picked.

Kayla insisted on riding in the wagon even though there was clearly not enough room for all the pumpkins and two children.

After we got home there was a little time for decorating the pumpkins.  Sadly, the paint took too long to dry and Kayla never actually got to paint a face on the pumpkin she turned pink.  There were many tears over that...  Hopefully next year we can be more organized!  (We did this just a couple of days before Halloween.)

Halloween 2012

Kayla, Logan, and I went to two Halloween parties this year - one at the church and one at a friend's place.  We didn't get a lot of pictures because I was busy juggling two kids by myself.  Kayla really got into the trick-or-treating this year.  After she got candy at one house I asked her if she had said "thank you".  "No" was her response.  I reminded her that she needed to say thank you, but I don't think it stuck with her.  Oh dear.  Here are some pictures of the adventures:

Kayla taught Logan what Halloween was all about.

Happy little monster!

Strawberry princess doing a curtsey.

"All mine!" 

I went to the Halloween party as a dead explosives technician.  (I was told to dress up, but when I showed up there weren't many other adults in costume.  At least I was a bunny! ;) )

Trick-or-treating craziness!  Can you find Kayla?

Good thing her jacket from 2 years ago matches her dress!

Kayla was a little worn out from all the running around.

He survived his first year!

On his original birthday.

Logan celebrated his first birthday on October 5th.  He keeps us very busy with all his walking, singing, teething (he already has 8 teeth and is getting all four 1st-year molars right now!), climbing, and general "getting into things"-ness.  Logan LOVES Kayla so much that when he wakes up before she does, he makes lots of noise until she wakes up in the morning so they can play together.  Sadly for him, he is stuck in his crib and she usually just leaves the room after he wakes her up.

Logan started his birthday with allergy-free pancakes and blueberries.  Most of the rest of his day was just his regular routine.  However, Braden took the day off work so he could spend the day with L-man and we could have a celebration together with some of our friends in the evening.  I made Logan a chocolate cake - allergy-free of course! - that wasn't a huge hit.  Luckily for everyone there I also made a turtle cheesecake, and we had ice cream.  Some of the party attendees included Braden's MIT classmates that came out to Peoria/CAT with us, the Williams family, and part of the Wood family.  Thanks to our friends for coming and celebrating our sweet little Logan with us!

LOVES his bottle!

His cake, new truck from Daddy and Mommy, and cheesecake.

Big sister helping blow out the candle.

"Hmmmm...what do I do with this thing?"

"I think I get it now..."

The look he gives as he is about to drop his food on the floor.  Naughty boy!

Thanks Mary for helping with clean-up!

Kayla got a present too! (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Wolf!)

Happy birthday buddy!  We love you!

And his one-year stats:

Height: 29.5 in.

Weight: 23 lbs. 3.5 oz.

Head circumference: 19 in. (which is the same as Kayla's, by the way)

Mean Girls

Kayla loves preschool and is always very excited to go.  When I pick her up she tells me about her friends, Maiwen, Johanna, and Genevieve (deciphering those names was nothing short of a miracle for me and I had to check out the names on the backpack hooks at the preschool to figure out Maiwen).
Today Braden and I picked her up from school and she promptly told us about how she got to play on the playground - her favorite activity in the world.  We asked her what she did on the playground and she said, "Mary Jane said 'I'm not your friend.'  Then I was sad and went..." and she mad a very sad face.  Um, what?!  How can a three-year-old say that?  It just about broke my heart.  What do I do?  I wanted to go back there and ask the teachers if they knew there was a mean girl in their class.  I want to look up that girl's phone number and talk to her mother about what kinds of things she is teaching her daughter and needs to teach her to be kind.  I want to protect my daughter from the sting of mean girls.  Realistically, I know this will not be the last time someone is mean to her.  It breaks my heart that she is being forced to learn that some people aren't very nice at such a young age.  We asked her what she did when this little girl wasn't very nice and she just answered that she was sad and made another sad face.  How I wish I could shield her from these hurts.  I know she isn't perfect and I'm sure that sometimes she hurts other kids' feelings too, but "I'm not your friend"?  Ouch.
We went and played on a playground with some friends this evening.  I think that helped end the day on a good note.  Hopefully she won't dwell too much on this mean girl (because all mothers know that I am dwelling on it enough for the both of us!).  But mostly, I hope that she can learn that it is important to be nice to everybody, even the mean girls (but maybe stay away from the mean girls if being nice isn't working).

Today was a Very Big Day!

This morning Kayla woke up dry for the very first time!  Hooray!  We are on the way to being pull-up free!

Also of great importance, today was Kayla's first day of preschool!  She was so excited and picked out her outfit last night.  Braden was able to meet us at the preschool to drop her off.  Kayla walked right in and started playing with toys.  No tears, no whining.  She is growing up so much and is such an independent little girl.  It made us proud to watch her walk into a new situation without any trepidation. 

Of course after school it was time for a snack - blueberry muffin with a cup of milk!


Also today, Braden started working second shift in East Peoria.  He gets to be home with us during the day until about 1:30 then he heads to work until about 11:30pm.

Here comes a brand-new schedule for everyone.  We're excited to have Daddy home for two meals a day now.  Wish me luck on doing bedtime solo five days a week!