Back To School Night.

Landon and Kadence had a little "back to school" night to visit their school and meet their teachers.  They were both very excited and I was excited to see what each of them would think of their new school.  There are 36 preschooler's age 3-5 in the Monday-Wednesday-Friday class total.  Then they are split into 3 groups of 12 by age, each with a teacher and an aide.  Kadence is in the youngest class which meets upstairs and Landon is in one of the downstairs classrooms.  I think they will do some things all together which will be kind of neat for them (not so much when they get older).  Because Landon has a late fall birthday, they will actually only be one grade apart in school.  I hope this is a good thing.

Landon
Landon's teacher's name is Mrs. Petersen.  He was very excited to meet her and even insisted on saying goodbye to her before we left.  He loved his room and jumped right in playing with the legos.  He cried because he wanted to stay at school and play.  I think he is ready for school this year and I'm not worried about his drop-off at all.

Kadence
Kadence's teacher's name is Ms. Heather.  Kadence would not even look at her teacher and for sure was not going to talk to her.  She was very shy and hung pretty close to Ryan and I.  Kadence thought her room was very nice and played with the "Mr. Potatoe Heads" the whole time.  I am not quite sure how she will do when I have to leave her there next Wednesday.  I am thinking there will be plenty of tears and it will break my heart again-just like with Landon.  I hope she will find comfort in knowing her big brother is right downstairs and that, "Mama will always come back for you."  We have read, "LLamma, llama misses Mama" several times in preparation for school.

I can't believe I have two preschoolers.  I am not quite sure what I will do with the time and I think baby sister is going to be very bored.  With that said, I am so excited for Landon and Kadence and I can't wait to hear about their school days!

Dancing Princess

My little dancing girl.  Kadence had her very first dance class today and was so excited.  Kadence has been dancing around for the last 2 years of her life.  I was excited to start her in an activity that seems to suit her so well.  We bought her dance shoes today at the mall and happened to meet another little girl that was going to be in her class.  She insisted on carrying her shoes through the entire mall and was ecstatic.  I can honestly say I have never seen her so excited about anything.  She napped in her tights and leotard and was ready to go when she woke up.  We actually went at looked at 4 houses with our realtor before dance class and she wore her dance outfit and carried her dance shoes for the showings.  Then it was finally time for dance class.  I was a little worried because she is very good at talking the talk but doesn't always walk the walk.  I knew she'd be going to a room without me and wasn't sure how she'd feel about that.  She was so excited, she ran right in with all the other cute little dancing girls.  My eyes filled up with tears as I watched her prance away with so much excitement.  My baby girl is growing up and I'm not sure if I like it.  The girls all came out halfway through class to put their tap shoes on and I wish I would have had a video camera.  She came running over to me with the biggest smile I have ever seen and was ready to go back for more.  I just love her.  I was in dance class from age 4-10 and hope Kadence will continue dance class for at least a few years.  

Once we returned home from dance. Kadence immediately put on her dancing shoes and danced around the house until supper.  She was showing us some of the things she had learned and was so so so excited!

Oh-At bedtime I said, "goodnight my dancing queen."  Kadence quickly replied, "Mom, I'm not a dancing queen, I am a dancing princess!!"

9 Months Old!

This sweet, fun little baby girl is 9 months old already.  It is hard to believe they can grow so fast.  She is a busy busy baby who never sits still and gets in to everything!  Some things about baby K.

~Kenzie's eyes are blue, green, hazel, or brown-just depends on the day.

~She has the biggest, brightest smile.

~She has 2 teeth on the bottom and is working on the top four-all at once.  Not fair.

~She is getting more and more hair and it is looking like it's going to be light.

~She refuses to eat pureed food but will eat bite sized food.  She loves toast and bananas.

~She does not sit still.

~She crawls all over, pulls herself up on things, and walks around furniture.

~She has an odd obsession of paper and shoes.  She loves to eat both of them. Yuck.

~She still loves her big brother and sister more than anything.

~She has become desensitized to the car and hates the idea of it, but is fine once she gets over it.  For example, when you are next to our car and open her door she starts to scream but once she is buckled in and has a toy, she is fine.

~She has the loudest high-pitched scream of all of our babies.  Yikes.

~She does a lot of baby babble-mama, dada, ah, hay, hi.

~She still does not sleep through the night.

~Her favorite thing to do right now is clap.  So cute.

~With that said, when you tell her 'no' she gets the biggest smile on her face and then starts clapping.

~She loves going for walks in the stroller.

~She makes kissing sounds, which is adorable.

~She thinks it's a very fun game to throw her nuk's out of her crib so they are between the wall and crib.  I don't think it is a fun game when I am moving her crib in the middle of the night to find a nuk.  By the way, there's usually 2 or 3 there.

~She loves her blankets and when she finds them on the floor snuggles her face right into them.

~She still has a plugged tear duct in her left eye.  I am still patiently waiting for that to correct itself so the poor thing doesn't have to have surgery.

~She loves the stairs, rocks, and Emma's dog dishes.

~She has won my heart.  Love her to pieces.

Num Num.

This was Kenzie's face after her first very big taste of dirt.  I was just across the room in the kitchen and she found my plant in just a second.  I heard a cough and turned to see her with a mouth and face full of dirt.  With the reaction she gave, she must have been disappointed in the taste.  I have since then covered the dirt with rocks (large enough she wont choke if she does get one) and am trying to teach her to stay out of it.  Why are kids so attracted to dirt and rocks?  This lesson may take awhile.  I am thankful for a very helpful big brother who has already busted her grabbing for rocks and intervened.  He sure watches out for his littlest sister!

Omaha.

We took a trip to Omaha this past weekend to visit Aunty Arin and bring her kitty Roxy.  We left Thursday afternoon and traveled in some bad weather (yes, again) but made it safely a little before midnight.  I will say I felt like we were a touring circus family on the road with 3 children 4 and under, a dog, and a kitten, but we managed.

The kids were so excited to give Roxy to Aunty they could hardly wait.  She loved Arin right away and started following her around and snuggling her.

Friday we headed to the Omaha zoo for the afternoon.  The Omaha zoo is so fun and we had absolutely gorgeous weather.  Despite being exhausted from the late night before, the kids had an absolute blast.

Even Kenzie enjoyed herself.  She was very curious about all the animals and enjoyed cruising around in her stroller.  She even napped in it and never was crabby!  We miss the Sioux Falls zoo so much, this was a great substitute this summer!

We had a great visit in Omaha.  It went by far too fast, as usual.  We just love the time we get to spend with our family-even if we have to travel around the country!

It was our first trek through Sioux Falls since we moved and I was sort of sad as we drove by some of our favorite spots.  I don't think I realized how much I enjoyed Sioux Falls and all it had to offer until we moved away.  On the way back home to Fargo, we stopped in Sioux Falls and visited with the O'Connors.  We had a great (but too short) visit and the kids seemed to pick up where they left off.

Grass!

We have been waiting a very very VERY long time for grass in our yard.  We have been supposed to be getting it since May and let me tell you, it has been a very long 3 months at our house.  We have watched many catipillars level and re-level our yard without seeing any grass.  So needless to say, the day they finally laid our sod, it was a celebration!  I think I was more excited then the kids, but they were very excited, too.  I will say not having grass has motivated us to start our house hunt a little earlier than we first anticipated.  Until we move (yet again) we will be enjoying our large, blanket soft, green, grassy backyard.

 When the kids first went outside they ran around like crazy.  It was hilarious.

Kenzie loved crawling around in the soft grass.

Love this shot of baby K feeling the grass between her fingers.

And...of course it didn't take long for her to crawl over to the rocks and taste them.

Even Emma was enjoying the grass.  She laid down immediately and sun-bathed.

I think we will appreciate our grass so much the rest of the summer!  Wahoo!!

Foxy Roxy

We were fortunate enough to be able to pick up Aunty's new kitty for her and keep her at our house for 5 days.  The kids were ecstatic as you can imagine and it was so fun to have a kitty to play with...and then give away.  I am not the biggest cat person in the world but this little cutie won over my heart pretty easily, she is so adorable!  Kadence wanted to name her Roxanne Ritchi (from Megamind) so we started calling her Roxy.  I am not sure that Roxy will miss our kiddos when we bring her to Aunty, but I know that Landon and Kadence are going miss her a TON!

This day Landon decided he should make a fort for him and Roxy to snuggle in.  He literally wanted to snuggle her ALL day long.

This day Landon decided he didn't feel well but a little snuggle time with the kitty made him magically all better!

Kadence also loved to snuggle Roxy. She just had a harder time remembering not to squish her.  I think my kids would love a kitty!  They had so much fun playing with her!

And really, how cute is she?!

Little Explorer

This little baby has sure taken off in the past week.  Since she has mastered crawling, her little world has broadened to an endless exploration of new things.  She can get to the toys of big brother and sister that she didn't use to get to, she follows me around at my feet, and explores explores explores.  Two favorites so far are Emma's dog dish (that's a given) and the stairs.  She loves to stand on the stairs and play and I know that it will only be a matter of time before she starts climbing them.

Love this little lady to pieces!

She's Crawling!

Kenzie girl is officially on the move.  She is crawling all around the place and nothing is safe from her anymore.  We have re-introduced baby gates into our home and have to have a constant watch on Emma's dog dishes.  Kenzie is so proud of herself as she crawls around trying to keep up with big brother and sister.  She is able to entertain herself for longer periods of time which is nice-as long as she is not getting into trouble.  I still can't get enough of this little girls toothy wide open mouth smile!

Enjoy this short clip!

Thank Heaven For Little Girls.

"Little girls dance their way into your heart, whirling on the tips of angels wings, scattering gold dust and kisses in our paths."

These two little girls are so special.  They already have a special bond and I am sure it will continue to grow.  There is something amazing about the relationship between sisters; even though it is often times a love-hate relationship.  I know that sometimes with a lot of work and sometimes with no work at all sisters can be the best of friends.  I pray everyday that these two will have that special bond.  

In the mean time I will just keep loving these two little girls like crazy.  The more hair Kenzie gets, the blonder it is.  The more sun Kadence's hair gets, the blonder it is.  I see a lot of similarities in their looks and wonder if Kenzie will look more like her big sister as she grows.  

A side note...This is one of only 2 matching dress outfits my girls own.  I said I would never be one of those mom's who dressed their children alike.  There is just something absolutely adorable about a baby girl who matches her 3 year old big sister...

The Skowlund's Visit.

Kadence (3) Landon (4) Kenzie (8 months) Annabelle (4) AJ (3)

My sister and her family came and stayed with us for a few days and we had a great time.  It is always chaotic when we are all together due to the fact there are 5 children under 5 residing under one roof for a few days.  The kids had fun together playing and us adults had a great time catching up.

Annabelle loved playing with Kenzie and was so excited to feed her a bottle.  Cutest.Picture.Ever.

I absolutely loved how Landon snuggled up with Uncle Curt (usually closer than shown in this photo) to watch him play one of his computer games.  Then he'd excitedly talk to me about it later.  I think there's a very good possibility he could be a gamer just like Uncle Curt.

I love catching these four on camera in the tub together.  It was quite crowded this year although no one minded and I had to force each one of them to get out!

What's a visit with so many little ones without visiting the Cheese?  Annabelle had been to Chuck E. Cheese with us one other time in Sioux Falls and was deathly afraid.  She was just fine this time and all the kids had an absolute blast playing the games.

Even Kenzie was having fun and loved all the stimulation!

It only took me over 3 years, but I finally was able to catch a picture of these four all looking at the camera and smiling.  They were having fun in the pool!

Another great visit gone by too quickly.  It is very fun to get together so the kids can have some fun cousin time!  I remember how fun it was growing up to spend time with my cousins who were close in age.  Hopefully even though these guys live further apart they will have a chance to develop great relationships.  The visit was pretty much perfect aside from Curt getting kidney stones and spending Wednesday in the ER before they left.  I did learn in the time Jill and Curt were at the hospital if I had two sets of twins my older kids' ages plus Kenzie, I would definitely be checked in to a nuthouse!  Love the Skowlunds!

The final rose...

One of the things I absolutely love about being back in Fargo is the time I get to spend with my cousin Christina.  She is such a sweet girl, so easy to have around, and is absolutely adored by my children.  There are 7 years between her and I and although we may not be close in age, we are close at heart.  Christina comes over every Monday night and we have dinner, watch some great Monday night tv, and enjoy some wonderful conversation.  We share a love (or maybe slight addiction) for "The Bachelor(ette)."  We religiously watch the show and there may or may not even be some bio researching done on the side.  We only missed a couple episodes of "The Bachelorette" this entire season and on both occasions Fargo was plagued with terrible storms.  Christina and I also share a deep fear of storms and bad weather.  Therefore, we decided this was a sign that we should spend every possible Monday together especially if there is an episode of "The Bachelorette" on.

We were very excited for the final rose ceremony and even purchased a "final rose" of our own in celebration of the season.  It is so fun to share a passion for bad reality tv.  I only hope that we will continue watching: Bachelor Pad, DWTS, The Bachelor, and The Bachelorette for many Monday nights to come!

We even were able to celebrate the last rose with my sister as she was visiting and Holly came over for the last half as well!

Good times.  Much love to Ashley and JP.  Although on the first episode he donned a creepy trench coat, he was our top pick from the beginning!  The big question is, who will be the next Bachelor?  <3