Christmas Tree 2009

This past weekend we ventured back to the mountains to cut down our Christmas tree again, and it was the perfect time to go because IT SNOWED!!!! It was so beautiful, and the farm that we chose this year had a nice warm building with popcorn and hot chocolate and a GREAT selection of trees. Unfortunately, after about 10 minutes of browsing said trees, Danny was left alone to do the final choosing because Miss Kloe was NOT enjoying the cold! Although she was bundled up like Ralphie's little brother, she wasn't happy!! (Or maybe the bundling is why she wasn't happy....hmmmmm....)

At any rate, Danny did a FANTASTIC job and chose what has to be our best tree EVER!!!!!! I am so excited because it looks amazing and it is the perfect size for the family room! And even though decorating the tree isn't my favorite task...I know, very Scrooge-y of me...I do love to see all of our special ornaments and tell Kalee the stories behind them. And we only had one minor mishap with a break, which was easily repaired!

So we are really in the Christmas spirit here...Danny put up the lights outside while the girls and I were in MD for Thanksgiving and they were soooooooo excited to see them when we pulled in the driveway after our agonizing 10 hour drive! Kloe loves to stand in the window and yell "YIGHTS" at the top of her lungs when we turn them on every night! And Kalee is hooked on the movie Elf, which is absolutely hilarious! Also, she finally watch Christmas Vacation and really liked that, too. She is definitely her mother's daughter though, because she spouts off lines from the movies constantly!!!! She even asked Danny if he had a saw on the way to the Christmas tree farm!!!

So here are some pictures of this weekend's adventures......

Thanksgiving Feast Day!!!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Feast day for all of the Kindergarten classes at Caleb's Creek. The classes each made their own "Stone Soup" and then feasted together in the hallway...it was a blast! The kids had so much fun, and so did I!!!! I just love the kids in Kalee's class. They are so sweet and loving, and all of their hugs when I go in to help out actually make me miss being in the classroom a little!!!

And they all love Kloe, too! She escaped from the stroller shortly after we arrived but she was really good. She just wandered around the room, checking out all the kids and all their cool "toys." She especially liked writing on the chalkboard and sitting on Mrs. Lofton's spinning stool! Then she thoroughly enjoyed the after-lunch dance party! I think she will be more than ready for school when the time comes!

Kalee was excited that I was there, which I just love!!! Sometimes she is way "beyond" her age but luckily I'm not a total embarrassment yet (only in the cafeteria, apparently, if you read my previous post!!!). We made dessert with the kids (Oreo Cookie Turkeys) and helped get them all situated at their tables to enjoy their lunch with all of the other classes. They dressed as Pilgrims and Indians, and they were sooooo cute!!!! Kalee was a Pilgrim yesterday because she had been an Indian last week for the cafeteria Thanksgiving dinner!

Kalee's First Game

Today was the first game of the season for cheerleading and the girls did a FANTASTIC job, especially considering that they only had 2 practices prior to today!! And most of them have never cheered before. They even had a halftime show which is adorable! Unfortunately I didn't get any video because of where they were cheering, but next time I will get some no matter what! But here are some pics, at least!!!

Kalee's First Report Card

Today when I dropped Kalee off at school, I picked up her first quarter report card and was soooooooo pleased!!!! They don't get "graded" on too many academic items in first quarter. It is more conduct and work habits that are addressed, although they did include a summary of the assessments that have been done throughout this quarter. Her marks were all "O's" (outstanding) except for one "S" (satisfactory) which was in the category titled "Works Neatly." (**I found this quite amusing because I have said for a very long time that she has the handwriting of a serial killer!! She does not take her time and her brain always seems to be moving faster than her pencil!!!!)

As for all of her other assessments, she knew all of her letters, sounds, and numbers, and she appears to be doing really well overall! I am so proud of her for making the adjustment to being gone all day and really maturing over the past three months! Her reading skills are really coming along, too...it seems like everyday she picks up another random book and can read more and more of it! I have several kindergarten readers from my old classroom and she can buzz through those like an old pro! She is also writing ALOT, and this is so much fun for me to watch. It was always one of my favorite parts of teaching kindergarten to watch the kids start sounding out words and spelling them without asking, and I love to see Kalee's attempts...she is usually pretty accurate! (Hopefully she will be a spelling psycho like her mama!!!)

So now we have to figure out what her reward will be for this her latest achievement, since we just went to Build a Bear yesterday for a "Daddy loves to spoil Kalee" trip! I would love to hear what you all do for your kiddos to reward an awesome report card!!

Love my Babies....

This morning I had one of those moments that make me so so happy to be a mommy to my two little princesses!!! Kalee is sick today, unfortunately...she started coughing yesterday, then developed a fever, and had a very hard time resting last night. Much to her dismay, she had to miss school today due to these "issues," and we made a trip to the doctor's office to figure out what we were dealing with exactly. (***I say "issues" because I was not allowed to say that she was sick, only that she had a cough, fever, and headache, but she is NOT sick.***)

While we were there, the poor little thing was looking so wiped out and pitiful, but yet she sat on the table next to Kloe and entertained her the WHOLE time. She made faces, clapped, acted silly....whatever it took to make Kloe giggle. And I mean GIGGLE...Kalee really has a way with Kloe and she gets the biggest, craziest belly laughs out of her! Then Kalee sat there and told me how much she loved Kloe and that she was the cutest baby ever....just being really sweet in spite of the fact that she could barely get her words out without a coughing fit.

Just thought I'd share...it was a bright spot in what has otherwise been a SUPER CRAPPY start to my week!! I also want to mention that I am really thankful for my amazing husband and my wonderful friends who have been so sweet and supportive...I am a very lucky lady!!!

A Busy Upcoming Week....

I was just thinking about what we have on our plate this week, and I came to realize that it is starting....I am becoming a "soccer mom" but without the soccer!!!! For those of you who didn't know, Kalee has joined the Girl Scouts this year as a Daisy. She is official now, as they had their Investiture Ceremony a few weeks back. I am DELIGHTED that she has chosen this path as it is so wonderful to see the girls learning about their place in the big, big world out there...and learning about how they can make it a better place for everyone! And we couldn't ask for kinder troop leaders and sweeter fellow Daisies! It is such a great group of little girls!

So on Tuesday night we have a regular Daisy meeting, at which I believe the girls who participated in a Goodwill service project in October will receive their first Daisy badges, "A Good Turn for Goodwill." KK is very excited to begin amassing badges for her cute little blue tunic!

THEN....on Friday night she has her first cheerleading practice!!! We are both beyond excited for this to begin. She has wanted to be a cheerleader for quite a while and she is finally old enough! I spoke with her coach on the phone earlier and she seems very sweet and enthusiastic!

In addition, I will be organizing the Thanksgiving Feast for her class! I can't wait to start on this. I just love being able to help out and be involved in her class. Again, we have been so blessed that Kalee ended up with AMAZING teachers who she absolutely adores, and a great group of classmates.

Kalee's Birthday....a few months later....

I was just thinking of what other momentous occasions weren't shared due to my lack of dedication to my blog, and....whaddya know...Kalee's 5th Birthday came to mind!!!!!!

We had a grand celebration, as usual, complete with 12 story waterslide (LOL) and 4 days straight of partying it up!!! Grandma, Grandpa, Sherry, Pauline, Jean, Brad, and Chris were all here from MD to share in the fun with us, which was definitely the best part!!!

On Friday, KK was treated to a mani/pedi to begin her reign as the Birthday Princess, Saturday was the grand luau, and on Sunday she got to have the waterslide all to herself for the day with just a few friends (and Pauline...). Then on Monday (her actual birthday) she was taken shopping, went to Build a Bear whereupon she drained Pauline and Jean of their retirement funds, and out to dinner at her fave pizza place! BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!!!

So here are some pics of the highlights.....

(Yes, I was quite comfy in my chair, too!!!!!)

Just some new pictures.......

Let me just tell you how much Kalee loves school......

So this week is the Scholastic Book Fair at Caleb's Creek and there are some fun events planned around it, one of which took place yesterday morning. It was "Breakfast with Clifford," which I thought sounded like tons of fun, so I purchased us tickets to attend. I got up extra early to get everything together, loaded up the car with Kalee, the babies, and my camera, and off we went. Well, on the way to school, Kalee was asking about whether her whole class would be at breakfast. When I explained to her that only the kids who had an adult going with them were going and that the rest of the class would stay in the room and carry on with the normal routine, SHE REFUSED TO ATTEND!!!!!!!!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????

What kid doesn't want to get out of class to go eat donuts and buy stuff at the Book Fair????????

Well, mine, apparently!!!!

Soooo, I got over the fact that Kalee was ditching me for the calendar routine and thought, "Well, at least I can still take the babies, right??" WRONG!!!!!! Kloe screamed like someone was trying to strangle her when Clifford waved to her, and Phillip was practically gnawing through the seatbelt on the wagon to get the h-e-double-hockeysticks away from that giant red dog!!!!!

It was yet another of those moments as a mom where you have such expectations and your dang kids have to go and mess it all up!!!!! (LOL....totally kidding!!!)

Anywho, I just thought that this was a perfect illustration of how in love with Kindergarten Kalee is, and how I had no reason to stress like I did for the past year over her "adjustment!!!!"

Happy Anniversary!!!!!

Although I am a few days late with this post, I wanted to wish my wonderful husband a very happy 7th anniversary!! I can't believe how quickly these 7 years have flown by, and how our life has changed!!!! But I wouldn't trade you or any part of our life together...love ya, baby!!!!!!

Smith Mountain Lake

This past weekend we had the EXTREME good fortune to spend some time at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia! The best part of all is that it was with Sherry, Kevin, Lindsey, and Bailey! They are so much fun to go away with...we had a blast!!!!!! I really love my family!

But anywho...back to the lake! The mansion, I mean house that we stayed in was A-MAZ-ING, and that is a SERIOUS understatement!! 7 bedrooms, amazing living areas, a gorgeous kitchen, decks and patios galore, the lake in the backyard, a boathouse with docks and lifts....I could seriously go on and on and on!!! It was fabulous...although VERY creepy when I was there by myself!! (By the end of the weekend, us girls were afraid to go anywhere by ourselves!!!!!)

I especially enjoyed taking over 600 pictures with my new camera....heeheehee!!!! I did manage to edit them down to 400, but it was tough! There was just so much beautiful scenery, not to mention my little princesses!! Here are some of my faves.....

10 Months Later.....

Well, here we are, almost 10 months since my last post....sigh!!! So I'm going to make a go of it again and try to keep everyone up to speed on my sweet baby girls!

Probably the biggest development of all is that Kalee has started KINDERGARTEN!!!!! She absolutely loves it and her adjustment to being gone all day wasn't nearly as ugly and horrid as I had feared! As everyone warned me, it was much harder for me than for the little scholar! She loves her teachers and her school, which is brand new and beautifully state of the art! (Seeing all the cool things that they have made me briefly miss teaching...but by briefly I mean less time than it took you to read this sentence!! ;-) I think that Kloe misses Kalee during the day but she is very busy playing with Phillip and napping, so she is surviving!!

Another major milestone is that Kloe is 1!!!! We were at the beach with Grandma, Grandpa, Sherry, Kevin, Lindsey, and Bailey for her birthday, so she had a beach party and then another soiree at home! She is quite the party girl!!! Here are some pics.....

So that is a start...I will post lots more pictures and try to share some of the fun things that we have done in the past few months!