Chatty Kenley

Kenley is getting so big so fast. She seriously thinks she's Wyatt's age. After we workout and the kids get out to play she heads straight toward the playground. She loves the slide. She also loves the sandbox. She's totally into anything she can get into lately, too. She's super curious and wants to check out everything. One of my favorite things is how much she's been "talking." She will babble and make her voice known all day long, but she's learning more and more words. All of a sudden she'll say something. Here are the names she says:

Mama, Mommy (MomMY), Dada, Daddy (also DadDY with lots of emphasis on the ending, especially when she wants something), Papa, Mammy, which is Grammy

Her favorite game is to bring Papa (my grandpa) whatever she finds. When we are at my mom's house it doesn't matter where Papa is sitting, Kenley will go find something (usually snacks) and bring them to Papa. He will take it and she will go get more to bring him. It will be anything - dog toys, her toys, snacks, whatever she finds. It's so sweet. The other night Papa was in the kitchen and Kenley would bring him one of Wyatt's cars at a time. We told him to go in the living room and sure enough she found him in there and still brought him cars.

Here's miss priss painting today after nap with her bed head. Time sure does fly when you're having fun.


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Blog Makeover {Part 2}

Oh. My. Gosh. It's almost midnight and I've been trying to figure out this blog header thing off and on, between children, and grocery shopping, and everything else all day. I. Am. In. LOVE with my blog. I feel like I can say that because I've been trying to figure this out for years (ok, so I'm not the greatest with all this computer stuff, but seriously I could not figure it out). After finding a great blog that explained it (see yesterday's post) and being able to make a simple header yesterday I spent today trying to figure out how to make it work with the program I have and know. I messed with sizing most of the day and finally here it is.Oh and searching for the paper kit that I wanted to use probably took half of my time today. Notice that the "jeans" is kinda denim-looking. Yup, that was on purpose.  Have I mentioned how extremely excited I am?! Now I've got to figure out how to add all the cute stuff on the sides, but for now I'm just going to go look at this header some more. :)

Here's what yesterday's attempt looked like. Cute but simple. And I felt like I was copying the one from the blog that taught me how. I wanted it to me my own.

Blog Makeover

Kenley is over a year old and our blog still said "Chris, AmyJo, and Wyatt." How sad! But here's my excuse - I have been trying to figure out for.ev.er how to makeover my blog on my own. I knew that I had the tools I needed. I have Storybook Creator 3.0, which is the program I use to digi scrap and make invitations. When I originally bought that I had no idea what I was doing and could not find instructions anywhere. So I just played around and figured it out. But I had no idea even the sizing for blog headers and all that. I have several digi scrap elements and papers, but had no idea how to use them for the blog. I have since figured out that I think most people use photoshop (maybe?!), but the thought of figuring out another program totally freaks me out so I'm sticking with Storybook.

Well, today I found an awesome blog (http://makincuteblogs.com/2011/02/make-a-cute-blog-monday-simply-splendid/) that walked me through step by step and I was so excited. Then so frustrated. Then so excited. After a few mistakes and lots of playing around I now have a very simple, but nonetheless made-by-me blog. Super exciting. I used the design program that was mentioned on this blog so I wasn't familiar with all the buttons and decided to keep it simple. But I think I know what I'm doing now and I'm looking forward to playing with Storybook Creator and maybe getting a little more creative.

I hope you enjoy the new look.

Us lately...

I haven't been so great at taking pics lately and we've been having some pretty low key days during this awful flu season. I'm usually not paranoid, but it's been such a bad year for the flu and after I had horrible strep in November we are just playing it as safe as possible. Here's a few not-so-great pics that show what we've been up to.

My friend, Jody, got Wyatt this little coloring pad that came with a water pen. You fill the pen with water and "color" the page and it turns colors. So fun and a total hit for both the kids. They will play with this forever. I've even been to Kohl's to get another one for Kenley. Kenley also loves her Aquadoodle from Santa. My kids love anything that has to do with water. And it's a bonus that it's mess free for me.

Kenley is 100% in the stage where everything seems to be calling her to open it, tear it up, climb on it, etc. She does not sit still very often at all. But one night when Wyatt was watching some TV before bed I set her next to him and she stayed for quite awhile. Almost 10 minutes. That's a long time for her. He wanted her to come back when she got up. He loves to have her right next to him.

 



We got tons and tons of toys for Christmas and the kids' birthdays. Tons. And what do we usually play with... yep, the cars. I really think I could get rid of every other toy and my kids would be happy. I'm sure Kenley will get into dolls and such, but for now she would rather "zoom" (as Wyatt calls it) the cars around that he's been playing with.

 



Wyatt has been getting creative with the cars.

We are in all out bow training and it's NOT going well. Little miss pulls her bows out every chance she gets and then tries to pull the ponytail out. It drives me crazy! Even Wyatt knows it makes me crazy! He will yell from the back seat of the car "Mooooommmmmyyy, Kenley pulled her bow out again!" So by the end (sometimes the beginning) of the day Kenley is looking like this. One cute, adorable mess. This is after nap, which is why she's sporting the pantless knee sock look. 

And one morning just before walking out the door for Stroller Strides Kenley fell over into the edge of the wall and hit her head. She got the biggest bump either of my kids have ever had on her forehead. So sad. I couldn't get a good picture until she was in the car with a snack.

We've done a lot of playing around the house. I love to watch these 2 play together. Shortly after this picture Kenley knocked down this masterpiece and Wyatt was not so happy. But then they went back to playing together.

 



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4th Birthday Interview {Wyatt}

I got this idea from a blog I stalk and thought it was such a neat idea. Wyatt was sitting on the couch with me one night and I asked him to tell me his favorites as I went through this list. He didn't pause for a second. He knows what he likes!

food: chicken and fries

restaurant: mcdonalds (in my defense we go to McD's for playdates often and he loves the playland... well... and the food)

dessert: chocolate

toy: red car

place: mcdonalds

friend: aidan

teacher: miss tammy

clothes: lightning mcqueen

drink: chocolate milk

snack: cheese like grammy has

game: gulpy gulpy gators (that's what doc mcstuffins calls hungry hungry hippos)

animal: lions

school activity: play cars

movie: the lion king

song: ocean song (from VBS)

book: lightning mcqueen book

thing to do with mommy: play with puzzles

thing to do with daddy: play gulpy gulpy gators and the fishing game, too

4 Years {Wyatt}

We have been celebrating Wyatt's birthday for days and it's been so much fun. I feel so blessed to be "Mommy" to this sweet boy. He has a huge heart, a curious mind, and a daring personality. He loves to laugh and make others laugh. He's the BEST big brother ever. And he's made the last 4 years the greatest ones ever.

We celebrated at Frisco Fire Station 5 with friends. It was such a fun party. The firemen were awesome and really got the kids involved answering questions and checking out the station. While we were setting up a call came in and they let us go out in the garage and watch them take off. It was so neat! They made it back in time to give us a tour, teach us some fire safety, and put on all their gear to show us what they look like all suited up. I didn't want to try and figure out how to get pizza to a 10-12 party when pizza places open at 11 so I got Lunchables for the kids and cupcakes with red icing and yellow sprinkles. It worked out perfect. And my kids think Lunchables are a treat because we never buy them. I left my phone at home and Chris was my photographer so there aren't very many pictures, especially of the "details," like the cute cupcakes.



So there's a huge fire truck with a bell to ring, seats to sit in, and lots of buttons to look at and I wanted all these kids to pose for a picture. Here's the best we got.

 



Wyatt has his birthday planned out and was super excited. He told me all week that he was going to drive the fire truck. I secretly prayed that he was going to get to get into the truck and sure enough they did. Then one of the firemen came up to me and asked if the birthday boy wanted to get into the driver's seat. Yes! His day was complete! Well.... after he got his cupcake with RED icing. Silly kid - he knows what he wants.

Miss Kenley was busy running around all morning. She wasn't even scared of the fireman in his gear. Towards the end she was pooped and ready for a nap. She liked the firemen's chairs. They have a ton of these in the TV room. 

Firegirl Kenley.

The next night was celebrated with family at my mom's house for dinner. And more presents. I don't think there is anything this boy needs for a long long time. My mom made ribs and fixings, but since it was Wyatt's bday he got to choose what he wanted and so we had chicken nuggets, too. And a chocolate cake with Lightning McQueen on it that had real wheels so Wyatt could take it off and play with it (can you tell I had a specific request for the cake, too). As everyone was showing up Wyatt would grab their hand and take them to show them his cake. I didn't get a single picture at this party.

Wyatt's actual birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, which was perfect because he's in school on Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday morning we got up, got my mom, and headed to the mall to celebrate some more. Another request... he wanted to go to the mall on his birthday day and eat lunch and ride horses.

 

The biggest treat of the day was getting to ride in this...

 



Wyatt got some money for his birthday so we went to Build-A-Bear. He picked out a puppy. Here he is rubbing the heart on his muscles to make his bear strong. (Yes, my child had shoes. It was pouring rain and the shoes were wet and while he was riding in the cart the shoes were at the bottom of the storage thing under a ton of stuff. But we did put them on eventually.)

 



Washing and brushing his puppy.

He picked out a "Woody" costume for the puppy. Complete with boots and spurs.

 

After lunch we had Auntie Anne's pretzels (I think we've had enough cake!). And then rode the carousel. And my friend Ashley met us for lunch and took Wyatt to the Disney Store (his absolute favorite store) and let him pick out some goodies. He got 2 Cars cars and a Cars t-shirt. Let me just say that he has been playing with those cars non stop and they are now in his bed with him. Where's Woody puppy? Not sure. But I heard him tell Kenley she could have him earlier. :) He loves his cars! 

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