A Day in the Life of Kaylee

Kaylee was such a peaceful baby in the womb. She was quite content to sit there and chill. She continued this after she was born too. In fact, she pretty much slept for the first six months of her life. And then wouldn't you know it... she became a whirlwind of energy. Here is a small sampling of the activities that Kaylee occupied herself with today:

Cooking!!: I did not get dinner on the table fast enough for her. Hmmm, that WAS two brand new bottles of sprinkles with garlic powder mixed in (yuck!)
After-dinner snack: Yes, that is a whole block of cheese that she helped herself too and nibbled bites on before I caught her!Beauty Treatment: NO that is not lotion!! She found a tube of hemorrhoid cream and was using it as lotion. I don't think I need to contact poison control. I don't believe she ingested it!Beauty Sleep: Wow! I think she tired herself out. She crawled into my bed and fell asleep right after the beauty treatment was washed off of her. Well, actually she did try to make a phone call on the home phone first.

(PS: All of this happened in a short span of five hours. I did not chronicle the earlier parts of her very active day.)

Another Milestone....

Yesterday Naomi was eating a slice of pizza when she said Mommy my mouth hurts. I had her come over and show me her mouth. And much to my surprise she had her first loose tooth. We were all very excited. Another little surprise is that her permanment tooth was already coming in too!!! I was crossing my fingers that she was not like her mother and her baby tooth would fall out soon. (Mine had trouble coming out even though my big teeth were already there!)
Then a few hours later, while eating her corn dog... She said mommy I think my tooth came out. And sure enough she had lost her first tooth. Man that was quick. I just hope her other one comes out pretty soon. It's replacement is getting ready to break through her gums any day now.

What a cute smile?!? Her missing tooth is front and center in the bottom.

David needs a son!!!

David wanted to watch the Celtics christmas game yesterday with the girls. He had this great idea for the girls to wear his Celtics shirts while he wore his brand new jacket. Kaylee was okay with it but Naomi DID NOT want to wear the shirt. Poor David!! The girls wore the shirts long enough for me to take the picture and that was it. At least, Naomi did cheer for the right team. Kaylee was cheering for the white team (the Orlando Magic) during the whole game. As you can see, David would really like a son to do guy stuff with him.

A Good Christmas

We had a nice Christmas this year. Even if it was a little different without my parents here. Each of us received some wonderful gifts this year. Naomi commented that she must have been extra good this year because Santa brought her a lot of presents. Santa was very kind to Mommy and Daddy and brought the girls a lot of matching presents. Thanks Santa!!! Then Jenny, Shane, and Aurora came over in the afternoon to share Christmas dinner with us. This is the first holiday dinner that I made on my own. It turned out really good if I do say so myself.

The tree and stockings before the girls came down

The girls opening some presents. (With help from mom they opened the matching gifts at the same time.)

David with his favorite present

Our Big Christmas Present

Both girls really wanted a fish tank for Christmas this year. (The apple does not fall far from the tree!!!) I have been looking around on the internet for a used tank. I was thinking of getting the girls a small 10g or 20g tank. And then I remembered that I had this 55g tank that used to be my brother's in my classroom at school. My parents had inherited it from my brother and when they moved they donated it to me for use in my classroom. However, I have so many tanks in my room I did not have any room to set up this year so it has been hanging out in my back storage room. Since it belonged to me not the school, I decided why not bring it home and give it to the girls for Christmas. Our biggest problem was how to get it home. Thanks to Jenny's PT cruiser and two trips to my school we brought the tank home and left it in our garage. Then I went shopping for decorations for the tank. I had a blast if you couldn't tell from the picture. And then after the girls went to bed Christmas Eve, David and I cleaned up and set up the tank. The girls absolutely love it. All we have to do is buy new aerators for it. We did not realize the aerators have lost their go juice.

Another Christmas Eve Tradition

Even though this is not the greatest picture, another tradition of ours is to go and experience the light show at the Cottage Charm in downtown Katy. It is a wonderful experience. They have decorated the cottage with a plethora of lights and every 15 minutes or so the lights blink on and off to music that is aired on 89.9FM. We throughly enjoy seeing this every year. This year there was a family that was bringing around free hot chocolate to all of the cars. What a nice gesture!

A Christmas Eve Tradition

In David's family growing up, they always opened one gift on Christmas Eve. In my family, we opened one gift but that gift was our Christmas PJ's. Getting new pj's on Christmas Eve was always a highlight for me and I wanted to continue the tradition with my own family. Here is David and the girls in their new Christmas PJ's.

David and the girls

Here is a better picture of Naomi's pj's showing her cool eye mask. (She loves it!!!)

Peace Offering

Last week, Jenny took me out for awhile. Naomi was a little distressed that Mommy was leaving without her. So Jenny promised Naomi that if she was a good girl for Daddy that she would buy her something special. Naomi was excellent for David. Therefore Aunt Jenny gave Naomi a gift (play make-up). The only problem was that Kaylee did not get any make-up. Any mother with two girls close to the same age knows that this creates a problem. Oh yes, we had fights. Kaylee was upset because Naomi was not sharing. And Naomi was upset anytime Kaylee found it and started using it. After two days of fights, I broke down and retrieved from the Christmas stash the make-up that I had bought for each of the girls. And then peace again reigned in the Brown household. PS: Daddy has had at least 3 make-overs from Kaylee already.

Kaylee showing off her fake nails

Pepperoni and Mushrooms?????

Last night, David order pizza for our dinner. I was asleep when he ordered it. When I woke up, he told me that he had ordered a cheese pizza and a pepperoni and mushroom pizza. I got grossed out when he told me about the pepperoni and mushroom one. So very kindly I told him thanks for ordering the pizza with mushrooms but I prefer sausage with them. He then told me he only ordered what I told him to. What?!?! I didn't tell him to order that. He told me yes I did while I was resting on the couch. Hmm, I didn't remember telling him that. So I guess, I was sleep talking. YUCK!!! Oh well, I ate the pizza anyways. And I made sure that David knows that for now on I like sausage and mushroom. NOT pepperoni!!!
PS: For the record, I do like pepperoni. In fact, I love supreme pizzas. I just don't like the combination of pepperoni and mushroom.

Teacher Mini-Album

Tomorrow (actually more like in a couple of hours) is the last day of school before Christmas Break. Therefore, Naomi wanted to give her teacher a Christmas gift. Since I am a crafty person and have lots of stuff, here is what I came up with for her to give to her teacher. It is a miniature 3-ring binder made into a mini-album. There are five dividers in the album each for a different thing they have done so far this year. What do you think?

Front of binder
First divider

Second divider

Third Divider

Fourth Divider

Fifth Divider

What a section looks like

View of the back

PS All materials, stamps, etc are from Close to My Heart

Shhhh, it's a secret

Today when David and Kaylee picked me up from school, I asked Kaylee if she wanted to go get a Christmas present for Naomi. Kaylee told me that she and Daddy already got a Tinkerbell wand for Naomi. And then she said, Mommy and we got a present for you too. We got you a Christmas Bear. Poor David, he was trying to tell Kaylee to keep it a secret but she kept telling me about my bear. I decided to allow Kaylee to get another present for Naomi besides the wand. It was so cute to see her trying to get the perfect gift for her sister. (She sure has expensive taste.) Kaylee finally settled on a Barbie with a dog for Naomi. All the way home, we kept coaching Kaylee not to tell Naomi what her Christmas present was. Well, wouldn't you know as soon as Naomi came home from school, Kaylee told Naomi, "Guess what I got you Christmas presents. I got you a wand and a Barbie." Poor Naomi was trying to plug her ears and sing and the top of her lungs. But Kaylee kept telling Naomi all about the Barbie that she bought her for Christmas. The moral of the story: If you want to keep a secret, don't tell Kaylee.

My Hair Cut

Back in October, I got my hair cut in an inverted bob style and highlighted it. It turned out really cute. I love my new beautician!! However, I forgot to take pictures. This past Saturday I went in for a trim. So here is my new look.

PS: Funny Story!! Today one of my male students asked me if hair stops growing once you get it cut in a bob. I looked at him kind of strangely and wasn't sure if he was serious. However, he was totally serious. So I told him that I just cut my hair again on Saturday. And he said oh that makes sense because he was wondering why my hair was staying short :o) Kids got to love them. (By the way, this student is a Senior!! Are you worried about your future?)

Mommy Can We Have One

Going to Utah means spending time with the girls favorite person, baby Emmalee. They both love their cousin soooo much. They would love a baby in our home. (Sorry girls, not anytime soon.) Since Emmalee is a little older now, she interacts with them more. Emmalee especially loves Naomi. Both girls can make Emmalee laugh and smile. Here are some pictures of the girls and Emmalee.

Naomi and Emmalee
Kaylee and Emmalee

Naomi playing with Emmalee

The little momma's

You hold, I 'll feed

The three girls

Naomi and Emmalee

Snow in Houston!!!

Call me a skeptic but when the weather forecasters were calling for snow today I did not believe them. But alas, I was wrong. Right around 7am it started to snow very very lightly but by noon there were definite flurries. Our school district decided at 9:30 today to close the secondary campuses at 12:35 and the elementary campuses at 1:40. Talk about a madhouse today at school. Oh well, at least I got to go home early and spend more time with the girls. The girls are in heaven by the way. They saw snow last week in Utah for Thanksgiving and they were in love with it. Here are some pictures so far of the girls and the snow. I am sure we will have more.

Our bush out front
Kaylee and her snowball

Naomi and her snowball

Kaylee catching snowflakes on her tongue

The girls throwing snowballs at the car?!? Hey at least it is not me

The girls getting snow for their snowballs

Look at the snow on our roof

Let's Switch

Tonight Kaylee informed me that she did not want to go to her babysitter tomorrow she wanted to go to school. I told her she was not old enough for school. Then she asked if Naomi could go with her to the babysitter tomorrow. I told her no that Naomi had to go to school to Kindergarten. Then she said let's switch kids. She will go to school and Naomi can go to the babysitter. How funny is that? Even David got a chuckle out of it. I think this kid is going to be a lawyer when she grows up. She already has great debating skills.

Last Night I Cried

Five and a half years ago, I took a job here in Texas to be close to my family. It was a hard thing for David and I to do because we were leaving great friends and my husbands parents. However, we knew that this was what the Lord wanted us to do. And I truly missed living close to my parents. These past five years has brought a lot of challenges and changes for us as a family. We bought our first house and Kaylee was born. And then for the last couple years, my parents and for awhile my sister and niece actually lived in our home with us. Right before Thanksgiving my parents packed up all their belongings and moved to Illinois. Even though it was a challenge for all of us to live together for that long, we were truly blessed by their presence in our home. Our home has been truly empty without them here. However, the full ramifications of them moving did not fully hit until last night as we were driving home from our Thanksgiving trip to Utah. I had called my dad as we were driving thru Ft. Worth to let him know our progress. When I got off the phone with him, I realized that unlike any of the other road trips I have taken these past few years with the girls this time when I arrived home my parents would not be here. Oh how I truly missed them right then. My parents have been truly a support to us these past few years and I miss them so much. Mom and Dad thanks for these past two and a half years. Your presence will be missed in our home. And the girls miss their grandparents very much!!

Young Romeo

Naomi got off the bus today and informed David and I that Adrian (a boy from her class) gave her a card. I asked her why did he give her the card and she said I don't know. The card was very simple. There was a boy and a girl stick figure on the front of the card holding hands. On the inside was a boy and girl stick figure in a field of flowers. The boy was holding a bouquet of flowers (see above). And on the back was a heart. I am glad Naomi is clueless as to why she got the card. But still isn't Kindergarten a little young for my daughter to be receiveing love letters!!!

How Cute!!!

Tonight at the dinner table my parents were talking about how they wanted to go the Renaissance Festival this Saturday as a family. Naomi perked up and said that Saturday was her day off. And since it was her day off she is free to go to the festival. How cute is that!?!

Exasperated/Annoyed or Entertained

While putting the girls to bed tonight, Kaylee grabbed their portable nightlight and started telling ghost stories. After I took it away from her for about the 100th time, she decided to make shadows (her word) on the ceiling. She told me that she was the puppet master. Even though I was exasperated and just wanted her to go to sleep, I also thought it was kind of cute. Heavenly Father truly knew what he was doing when he sent her to me. She truly makes me smile even when I have had a bad day.

Just One of those Days

Have you ever had one of those days?? Today was one of those days for me. I have been fighting getting sick since Sunday. My voice sounds like I swallowed a frog. I would love to take a day and try to recuperate but my dept. chair has said that I have been absent too much hence I have been going into work and croaking to my students as I teach. Today I lectured all day which was not good for my throat. My students were not that cooperative at being quiet for me which made me really sound like a frog by the end of the day. My school computer decided to not like me today. So I spent my entire planning period dealing with computer problems. Yuck. No lesson planning done for me today. Arghh. After school I was still dealing with computer issues. Hence still no lesson planning done. Naomi got off the bus and was extremely emotional and clingy. (She fell at school and scraped her elbow and leg really bad.) After Naomi finished her homework, we headed home. I looked over my stuff for cub scouts and then decided to leave early to pick up some supplies. Naomi was still emotional so I decided to bring her with me. We headed out the door around 5:30 to get the supplies I needed. Traffic was horrendous and I ended up being about 5 minutes late to scouts. Naomi and I had missed dinner so we stopped to get something at the drive-thru on the way home. Naomi spilled her apple juice all over herself. More melt-down ensued. We finally got home and Naomi broke down into tears because she still has trouble remembering her phone number and address and she is the only one in class that has not gotten a sticker for learning them. (Kaylee was still wide awake. She had at least 2 naps today.) Naomi finally finished her meal and off to bed we went. Naomi wanted me to fix her scrapes and more waterworks commenced because the spray hurt she said. While I was tending Naomi, Kaylee spilled water all over their bedroom floor. Finally got Naomi all bandaged up and left for a minute to go to the restroom. Naomi started crying again because she thought people would make fun of her scrapes. And yes, Kaylee was still bouncing off the walls. CALGON PLEASE TAKE ME AWAY!!!! (All I want to do is soak in a hot tub and go to sleep.)

Ballerinas and Mermaids, Oh My

Last night, on Halloween, was our ward trunk-or-treat. Naomi wanted to be a ballerina and Kaylee wanted to be a mermaid. When Arielle (my sister) was little, my mom made her a mermaid costume. My parents still have it somewhere so we thought we would just use that for Kaylee. However, we could not find it yesterday so we decided to have her be a ballerina too. My mom made both girls beautiful fluffy tutus. However, when we woke up Kaylee from her nap to get her dressed for the trunk-or-treat she was in tears. Kaylee did not want to be a ballerina! She wanted to be a mermaid! So my wonderful mom flew into action and tried to make a really fast set of mermaid tails. By the time I was ready to go, Kaylee was feeling better about being a ballerina and we headed off to trunk-or-treat. My dad was not home and we had no room for my mom in our car so she stayed home and worked on the tail. When we got to the church, David called my mom to see if she would like for him to go back and pick her up. She said yes and he went back to get her. She furiously finished making the mermaid tail and brought them with her. When she showed up, she gave Kaylee her mermaid tail. Kaylee was ecstatic. However, she still wanted to be a ballerina. We did get one picture of her as a mermaid.

The girls as ballerinas

Kaylee as a ballerina

Naomi as a ballerina

Kaylee as a mermaid

Pumpkin Patch

Naomi's elementary school is close to soo many things that she has the opportunity to go on a lot of walking field trips. This past week Naomi's class walked to a Pumpkin Patch that was sponsored by one of the local churches in the area. Naomi's class was walking during my conference time so I went over and was one of the chaperone's. We walked a couple blocks to the pumpkin patch. While we were there at the pumpkin patch, a helper read a couple Halloween stories. Then the kids got to walk around the pumpkin patch a little bit before heading back to school. Naomi and I really enjoyed ourselves. I am grateful that Naomi's school is so close to mine and I had the opportunity to share this experience with her.

Naomi and one of her friends

Listening to a pumpkin story

Ewwww Gross

This past week, Kaylee has had a runny nose. Kaylee was in the bathroom with me and she said, "Mommy, I need to get the stuff out of my nose." and then proceeded to pick her nose. I have been trying to get her to blow her nose with a tissue. But at this stage all little kids pick their nose more often than use a tissue. However this is not the gross part, the gross part came next. In a various serious tone Kaylee informed me, "Sometimes, you just have to eat it." And she went ahead and ate it. I tried to tell her that her nose contains germs and she should not be eating her boogers. Kaylee then informed me that germs are found on the bathroom floor not in her nose and it was okay to eat her boogers. Yuck. I kept trying to tell her that there were germs in her nose. But alas, she has not grasped that concept yet. Oh well, she is a work in progress.

Sticking Out Like A Sore Thumb

Have you ever had the feeling that you didn't belong someplace? David and I went on a date Friday night. After our dinner, we decided to go to a movie. The only movie that looked realtively decent (i.e. not rated R and not violent, gory, etc.) was Amelia. Well, when we walked in I felt a little out of place. David and I were one of a select handful that did not have gray hair and over the age of about 80. There was actually a whole group of people from a local nursing home or retirement community in attendance. I felt a little like there was some fine print for the movie that I did not read and the movie was only for people over a certain age. Oh well, David and I enjoyed ourselves. And even though the movie was a little slow, I still enjoyed it. Amelia Earhart is one of my all time favorite women. (Her biography was the first biography I ever read back in 4th or 5th grade.) In fact, for a long time I had some major hero-worship and wanted to grow up and fly planes just like her.

Fun on the Farm

Today, Naomi went on a field trip with her Kindergarten class to Dewberry Farms. I was able to get a sub (thanks, sweetheart!) and go with Naomi. The day was packed with lots of fun and we had a total blast. Except for the part where another mom and I got lost and we were a tad bit late showing up at the farm! (Oh, well. At least we got there!) Here are just a few pics from her field trip.

Naomi and her pumpkin
Naomi and some of her friends

Naomi's class