Big Kid Day {Perot Museum}

Every year we do something fun for Wyatt's friend, Cooper's birthday. This year we decided to go to the Perot Museum. We hadn't been and I've been wanting to go. Kenley went to Grammy's for a Grammy-Kenley day (I knew there would be field trips there and I didn't want to take both kids since I'd never been and was not sure how it would be). So Wyatt got to go on a Big Kid Day.

If you have not been to the museum, you totally should. It's awesome! The building in itself is worth seeing. The fun started before we even got inside. There was a little music area outside and the kids could play on huge xylophones and drop rocks into this one thing that made neat noises (no pictures).

Posing before we go inside.

After we got our tickets we walked downstairs to the children's area. The stairs played music like a piano and every step had a sound. How cool is that?! We could have explored the children's area all day! Here they are playing in the water table, but they also played in the fake food farmer's market (which had a play truck to get in, of course), the playground with conveyor belts and construction outfits and blocks, and the camping area (which had some glass cages with live spiders -eew and snakes and lizards), several other areas. Kenley will love it, so I think she will get to go next time.





We then toured the other exhibit rooms. There were lots of middle school kiddos there (I ran into 2 teachers I know!) so we mostly looked around, but found some areas to play in that weren't too busy. Wyatt found a car and was in love.


And my little engineer melted my heart in this section. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to watch this sweet boy engaged and learning. He concentrated and played with these building magnets for awhile and would have done it for hours.


Then we found this K'Nex building area and after a super nice guy showed Wyatt how to attach them he started building away. I'm so buying some of these, because his little face (and his little lip that gets a little point when he concentrates) could entertain me for hours, not to mention how much fun he has with them.


See that lip?! I got a video and it might just be my favorite video ever. He just explored and figured out mistakes, went back and fixed them, and explored some more.


Then got up on a stool to see if he could make it even taller. I'd say it was a success based on this picture.


After the museum we went to Christina's for some good Mexican food. All day, Wyatt had been telling me that Cooper NEEDED a cake since it was her birthday party. All. Day. I told the waiter that it was Cooper's birthday and he took care of the rest. Here they are being silly! As a side note, we got Cooper nail polish and lip glosses for her birthday. When, did these kids get so big?!


Kenley didn't seem sad one bit when we picked her up at Grammy's. She was playing silly putty (squashing Grammy's creations) when I got there and had already been to Ihop for breakfast and Walgreens for some shopping (yes! my mom's favorite store is Walgreens), and she got a ducky water toy that kicks it's feet when you pull the string. As Wyatt told her all about his day in the car she was squealing and kicking and laughing - I'm sure talking about her day.

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"Kenley's pinching me!"

Look at these sweet sweet kids. They look completely innocent, don't they? Well, one of them is not and I'll bet you'll be surprised which one.





Miss Kenley has a little habit she's been doing ONLY when we are in the car and I'm not looking. She reaches over and puts her hand on Wyatt's arm or lap and acts so innocent and then pinches. She is super sneaky about it, too. She has never pinched other than in the car and stops when I look, but Chris has actually videoed it. She saw me trying to take a picture and started saying "cheeeeese" and this smart girl wasn't about to misbehave for the camera. Poor Wyatt, is always telling me, "Mooooommmmy, Kenley's pinching me." Silly girl. I guess it's a good thing she can hold her own. It cracks me up. And yes she gets "in trouble" for it.


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Alligator and Friends Park

Yesterday was a L-O-N-G but fun day. Chris drove a U-haul to Louisiana for his aunt and instead of her having to drive him all the way back we decided that we would pick him up. Since I never know when I'll get a migraine, my mom didn't let me drive alone (I still listen to my mom!). Then I figured there had to be something fun to do in Shreveport (Chris and Aunt Connie went 3 hours farther away and she drove him to Shreveport to shorten our trip). Sure enough there was so me, my mom, and the kiddos piled into the car for a road trip. Wyatt was sooo excited. He didn't sleep at all til the ride home (he was on a mission not to sleep and enjoy every second). Our 3 hour drive was a little longer since of course the antibiotics Kenley's been on for her ear infections made my normally constipated little girl have major blowouts THREE times. I know, way too much information, but you have to understand the full excitement of this trip. :/ No mama wants to deal with this and especially while pregnant with a nose that can smell 5 miles away. Anyways, we made lemonade with lemons, shared lots of laughs and with a little (or a lot) of teamwork made it to Shreveport and to this neat little place called Alligators and Friends. It was a small little zoo-type place (the small places are always the best because check out how close we were to these animals). 

 

Looking at gators. LOTS and LOTS of gators. They look like stone until one will decide to snap or plop into the water. I could have watched the ones gliding in the water all day long. It was so neat.

 

Due to our little pit stops Chris actually made it in time to look at animals with us and it was perfect because he was able to tell us about all the deer and other animals.

Across the water, all those lumpy things are gators. They were everywhere. There's some swimming below Wyatt and we'd watch them go under the bridge we were standing on and come out the other side. 

Kenley was mesmerized, too. She's watching one on the grass opening and shutting his mouth. Probably looking at her... eeek!

 



This is not zoomed in! They were so close. And I kept my kids close, but there was a fence and metal mesh stuff, but still it was kinda creepy and kinda neat. 

They each got one ride and a prize from the store. Wyatt got a squeaky alligator toy and a bag of plastic gators for his sandbox and Kenley got a pink sheep stuffed animal that is a purse. 

After this we found a little place to have a crawfish dinner and then we were back on the rode again. We got home around 11 pm, but it was worth it for a little adventure. I used to go on adventures like this all the time with my mom (she is so not a planner). She'd wake us up and say we were going on a rode trip somewhere and to get ready. We loved it. But I'm such a planner that I have to remind myself to do stuff like this every now and then. Wyatt loved it! And I think Kenley did, too! Thanks for coming with us Grammy, we hope you had fun, too.


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It's a....

GIRL!!! We are going to have 1 big brother and 2 girls. Kenley doesn't understand what's going on, but Wyatt has been convinced that it was a girl all along. He's told us several times that he would not be happy if it was a boy. Why you might wonder, wouldn't he want a brother? Well, it all started with the Disney movie Tangled when he saw the cute baby Rapunzle in her crib. He LOVES her! And he wants a baby just like her. I've asked him if Kenley is like her and he says she was but she keeps growing up. :)

I went to the sono appointment with Chris, my mom, and Kenley after I dropped Wyatt off at school. When I picked him up I had a box of pink cookies for him to open and we did that at Chris' office. I videoed him opening, but I can't seem to figure out getting videos on here (and I give up for today). It was super cute and very sweet, but he was more excited about the cookies and he wasn't as surprised because he was already convinced and it wasn't really news to him. Kids are so funny!

I never have any idea what I'm having but Chris just lost his 100% streak. :) He even had me convinced this was a boy because of how sick I have been, which is more similar to my pregnancy with Wyatt than Kenley. Either way our prayers have been for a healthy baby and we are so excited. Chris is overjoyed to have 2 Daddy's girls.

Life Lately (And 18 week pregnancy update)

This is what I look like anytime my kids are sleeping or Chris is being superdad. I've had the worst migraines ever for 18 weeks now. I had them pretty bad with Wyatt, not as bad with Kenley, but none have lasted this long and sometimes it's just depressing. Don't get me wrong, I'm counting my blessings daily that I'm pregnant and that Baby is healthy and growing, I just wish I could be much more productive than I have been lately. I've tried a chiropractor, but it wasn't instant relief and even with insurance it was pretty expensive for the amount of times I needed to go per week. This past weekend I got a massage and she really worked on trigger points and I've had a few decent days so I'm hoping this is helping a little. Several people mentioned eating honey. I don't love honey or hate it, so I've been trying to add some in here and there. As far as dealing with the headaches and migraines I'm getting pretty good and I'm convinced I could make a few things for people that suffer from migraines. Lately, ice packs have felt good and seem to help. I have one that goes around my head and covers my eyes and it works well, too. I like to pull my blankets up to cover my ears to make it even more quiet in the room. Chris has been such a blessing - on top of working lots, he goes way above and beyond every chance he gets. The best part about Chris taking over and doing things I should have done or didn't get to is that he NEVER makes me feel bad about it. Of course, it's hard as a mom and wife to not get the house completely cleaned, or have dinner made, or whatever, but he never makes me feel that way.

Another blessing lately: When we decided I was going to stay home it took very careful budgeting and several cut backs. Another great thing about Chris is how he handles money (me, not so much) and how he got things paid off and all organized so that I could stay home. He loves him some Dave Ramsey! Anyways, for Kenley's pregnancy and now this one there is always a large amount of money due and so we always have to save up, budget a little differently, and take on some extra jobs here and there to have the money ready. Actually, for Wyatt we had to do the same thing because even though I was working we had to prepare for maternity leave. Anyways, my point is it gets a little stressful, but it always works out. Since Chris is the "money guy" he totally gets freaked out and panics and was convinced that he needed to get a weekend job. I felt awful. I didn't want him to have to work more on top of what he's doing. So I prayed and prayed that God would help us some how make things work where Chris didn't have to do this or feel the need to do this. Now, I did some stuff like I added babysitting to my Care.com account - I already was listed as a tutor, but never really got any jobs from the website but went ahead and added that to my profile. A few weeks ago a friend saw me on Care.com and asked me to babysit every Tuesday while Wyatt is at school (and bring Kenley) so she could get some things done. She had been nervous about getting a sitter and it worked great that I could do it and I had been needing a job. Kenley and the other little girl have so much fun playing, too. What an absolute blessing and answered prayer. This has been such a help, and I'm so so so grateful. Shortly after that another friend needed some math help for her kiddo who is getting ready to take the standardized tests and called me. She wanted me to come twice a week for a few weeks. God is good and always provides. And getting to help out with everything really makes me feel good.


Now, here's what the kids have been up to. Lots and lots of playing at home. They play together so well.

Sand art

Our new sandbox from Grammy for Easter. We like sand!

Getting ready for Summer

Kenley can play cars with the boys and Wyatt can be a great Daddy when playing house.

Wyatt is doing the diaper and Kenley is doing the bottle. This melted my heart!

 



Finishing up the year at preschool. This week we had the Spring Fling field day and I got to help out. It was so cute watching all the kids play together.

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Preschool Easter Egg Hunt

I'm getting behind on posting but I'm determined to catch up so our Easter weekend post will be coming soon. Last Thursday, Wyatt's preschool class had an Easter egg hunt and celebrated. Kenley and I stopped by for the hunt and it was too cute to watch. The kids were super excited.

 

Coming out to the playground

 

Leaping off the ledge to go get eggs

I love this little class picture. It's hard to see everyone, but the fact they they are all sitting and sort of looking is a miracle in itself. Wyatt loves his school friends and teachers. He has had so much fun and learn a lot this year. I also love how excited he gets when I come to school to see him. I'll enjoy it now and just hope he always gets excited to see me.

 



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Night Night Routine {Kenley}

Kenley is a great sleeper and now when we say it's night night time she will start to go upstairs to her room. Every time she gets to her room she gets on her rocking horse (which used to be Wyatt's, but he couldn't use it by this age because he'd rock it so hard he'd fly over the top - boys!). She LOVES it and each time she wants to stay on longer. I'll ask her if she's ready for bed and she shakes her head "no" and holds onto it as tight as she can. But as soon as she gets her sleep sack on (the loose blanket like dress things) and her binky (she still has them but only at bedtime) she lays down and she's ready for bed. I love her sweet smile and giggles.


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