Today's Pics: Bubbles, Bugs, and A Bad Attitude

Get the bubbles, Kyle!

There are bubbles on my head!

Playing with pill bugs

She's the only one not afraid to touch them.

My car!

Don't touch my car!

Today's Pics

Karis didn't take a nap today (I wish she did because both girls are now congested). Derek decided she needed to be punished for not napping so he took her outside to rake leaves. Poor girl had no fun at all. That'll teach her not to nap...

Today's Pics

It's been hard for me to get out of the house with all three kids.  I don't like to wake up Kyle from a nap unless I have to (like for church and gymnastics class), so there isn't much time during the day when one of the three kids isn't sleeping.  I am also limited as to where I feel comfortable in taking all three of them.  I don't usually take them to a big park or any grocery store where I can't fit all three of them in the shopping cart (thank goodness for Costco!).  

Kyle decided not to nap this morning and I was feeling pretty decent energy-wise so I decided to take the kids out.  We went to a craft store to buy some paint and brushes.  It was a quick in-and-out trip since I knew exactly what I was going to get, but we barely made it through the check-out line -- Karis and Makena had to show me every single kind of candy that was on the shelves. 

We then went to get frozen yogurt. It was lunch time, but I broke the rule and let them have a treat before eating their lunch.  They loved having their own cup that was filled with strawberry yogurt and mini-M&Ms.  

Poor Kyle didn't get any yogurt... he just got his plastic pacifier.  

After naps, I brought out the paint and they had a great time painting for the first time.  

One of Karis' picture she and I painted together.  

Today's Pics

I don't make it downstairs to breakfast every day.  Since Kyle was born, I've been trying to sleep in as long as possible.  Derek has been getting up with the girls, making their breakfast and doing the dishes before going to work.  It's been really nice!

I love eating breakfast with my family, starting each day anew with lots of smiles and yummy food.

    

On a separate note, Makena can now hold up her two fingers!  When you ask her how old she is, she used to say "two" but hold up five fingers.

Today's Pics

It's 5:30 pm.  Dinner is ready.  The dishes are clean and the toys are put away.  Makena is downstairs looking at books.  Karis is upstairs drawing pictures.  And I'm at the computer blogging  We're waiting for Daddy to come home to eat.  We've been eating together as a family with all four of us at the big table.

Wow.  How different things are now compared to about two years ago.  Derek used to come home to an exhausted and cranky wife and a less than peaceful home.  The days have been a lot easier since the girls are older and a little more independent with longer attention spans.  But as I think about how nice things are now, I can't help but to think about how everything will change in about two months.

I wonder if adjusting from two to three will be as hard as it was to adjust from one to two.  I'm hoping it'll be easier!  Makena will be 26 months old so she'll definitely be a different kind of big sister than Karis was at 15 months.  Karis will be almost be 3 1/2 years old so she'll be pretty helpful and an old pro as to how to welcome a little one into our home.

I'm excited for our little boy's arrival.  This pregnancy has felt drawn out.   The extra weight has made daily activities exhausting.  My most feared words to hear are, "Mommy hold me!"  It has been a lot harder to get my gestational diabetes under control this time around which has added more stress.  I have more appointments each week than I care for.  But aside from all that, I'm just excited to meet our little boy ... to see what he looks like ... to have a baby again that will let me hold and smother him (Makena is so over that!).  Today I'm at 32 weeks.  Eight more weeks to go!!

This morning I took the girls to a bounce house place.  Our playdate got canceled and since it rained a lot yesterday I didn't want to take them to a park.  I thought the bounce house was the perfect way to spend the morning hours.

Today's Pics

Derek joined a softball league with his co-workers.  Every Monday night he gets some exercise, hangs out with friends and meets new ones from the community.  The games are usually pretty late, but last night his game was a little earlier at 7:40 pm.  We tagged along so the girls could watch him play.

The best part was when Karis was yelling at Derek, "Run, Daddy, Run!" ... while he was playing 2nd base.  The not so fun part was when the umpire stopped the game to tell the girls to stay behind the fence.  Oops!  Mama wasn't paying attention.  We left shortly afterwards...

Today's Pics

A sweet Sunday afternoon

Today's Pics

Today Karis flew a kite for the first time.

We have a Winnie the Pooh book that shows Christopher flying a kite.  For awhile now, we've been talking about getting a kite so Karis can fly one too.  The other day, we saw a family flying a kite at the park.  Karis was so excited to see it.  She ran out into the field directly under the kite and started jumping up and down in excitement.

So today I took the girls to Toys R Us and we bought a kite.  We then went to Derek's office to show Daddy the kite.  We asked him to come home early from work so that we could fly it.  He of course obliged.

 

Today's Pics

We had a couple of really nice summer-like days this past week.  Despite runny noses and coughs, we spent a lot of time outside.

I ran out to Toys R Us before the "heat wave" to buy a water table for the girls.  It was something I've been waiting to buy and with the oncoming warm weather, I thought it was the perfect time to get one.  Plus, I had $15 worth of coupons!

Here are a few pics of the girls enjoying the table.

Look how happy Makena is!  When both girls were playing together, Makena didn't appreciate getting splashed or having water dumped on her by big sis.  Karis went up to take a nap and Makena and I came back out to play.  She loved having the table to herself!

Grandma came to visit for almost two weeks.  In that time, Karis was able to go to the park a lot.  When grandma left, it warmed up so we continued to go to the park.  Now, all day long, Karis ask, "Park, now?" or "Bye-bye, now?"

The other day we dropped by a friend's local park for a few minutes.  When Derek came home from work later that day, he took Karis to the park before having to go back out to work.  When Derek left, Karis asked to go to the park AGAIN.  I told her, "Karis, we went to the park two times today."  To which she answered, "Three?" I guess in her mind, there is no limit as to how many times we can go to the park in one day!

Today's Pics

We took the girls to Mochilato after lunch.  Mochilato is a Japanese dessert place just down the street.  It was of course Derek's idea, as it is one of his favorite places to go.  

We ordered up the usual:  a large bowl of gelato in the center with flavored shaved ice on top and fresh fruit.  This was Karis' first time eating it.  Derek gave her a little cup of it and she of course loved it.  As she was finishing her cup, she was eyeing the large bowl...

While Derek looked the other way, she took the opportunity to help herself to a second serving. 

She did a pretty good job.

She was on such a sugar high, she couldn't sit still long enough to finish her second helping.