House Update

I've had a few comments about the house that Mike built. I'll tell ya it just takes hot glue and cardboard. he made it out of boxes (bike boxes of course) and a hot glue gun!

Hiking Adventures

The beginning of the hike at natural bride in the Red River Gorge.


The way we kept Kenna from jumping off of the side bridge.


On top of the world- according to Morgan.


The end of the day.

Late Birthday post

Morgan Jo is officially 4 - not that my readers didn't know that already since the other blogs out there already have pictures of her birthday. :) She's wearing the tutu as I type. She slept in the leotard last night. I think it might have been worth it.


And a picture in her Halloween costume because we couldn't get a good one any of the times she dressed up for Halloween.

Some Favorite Christmas Photos

After a Christmas eve celebration with Mike's family, we came home and read bedtime stories. The kids went right to bed. Kenna went right to sleep, but Morgan was a bit anxious and took a while to go to sleep. We finished putting the doll house together, and putting gifts out.

In the morning, Morgan completely forgot that it was Christmas, so we had a relaxing snooze in bed. Then we got up and started cooking breakfast. Morgan happened into the living room and saw this:


Which she has kinda specifically asked Santa to bring. She asked for "a big red box big enough for Kenna and me to play inside." So, her dad provided that in aces. The missing red paint was not missed.

She immediately came to the kitchen to show us what she found in the living room. Then she, turned around and found other presents around the tree. Here is her response to seeing them, and my response (in the background) to her lack of realizing that there would be other stuff.



We managed to get them to wait until after breakfast before digging into the other gifts. They played in the house and with the doll house (Kenna mostly with the doll house, which you can barely see above) and Morgan mostly in the house, until it was time to open the other gifts. Morgan read the name tags and passed them out.

Kenna's reaction to getting a stroller:

Here's my favorite photo from Christmas morning.



How Morgan ended Christmas...sleeping in the house her dad built.

Morgan is reading

About a week ago, Morgan realized that she could put all of those letter sounds to work for her to read some words. We have a pre-school boggle game that has pictures with words under it. I covered the pictures and she read the words. Once she realized she could do that, she decided she wanted books to read.

Here is the first book she read completely on her own: Mat

She is up to book 5 in this series, which is titled Mag and Mit, and is not nearly as repetitive as the first couple of books.

I'm impressed!

Quick Review

Here's what we've been up to lately:

The kids Enjoying the day with their Abbey (aka sitter). This is why I love her. She doesn't mind letting them paint.




Kenna's Birthday Party

Lots of wild kids jumping all over the house - an this was before the pizza, cake or ice cream.




Kenna has blowing out candles figured out.



Halloween

Mine are the two penguins in the middle of the KISS flashback.



Fall Break

Over fall break, we went camping at Otter Creek Park near Louisville, KY. It was a treat. It had a very nice campground, even if it seemed to be the weekend home to most of the people there over that weekend. There were Projection TVs and all of the other comforts of home right in the campground! Next time we'll camp in the "no hook-ups" area, but it was a clean and pretty good place to stay.

There were plenty of trails for mountain biking, hiking and horseback riding. We went on one of the trails to see Morgan's Cave - unfortunately we couldn't go into the cave because of an endangered species of bats, but it was cool nonetheless.



Another great thing about the campground is that it is only about 30 minutes from the Louisville Zoo. It was a perfect day at the zoo. The weather was perfect, it was a Monday; so, hardly anyone there (except one school group that walked faster than us; so, no big deal).

Our favorite memory was of the lions. Morgan decided before we even arrived, heck what am I saying, she decided several days before we left that she really wanted to see the lions at the zoo. So, first stop Giraffes (cuz they're on the way to the lions). Then on to the lions. The Louisville Zoo has two females and one male on display frequently. The display that day was even more exciting than the usually watching them snoozing in the sun.




To which Morgan said: Momma he is making a baby. They are mating like you and daddy!

Ahh, from the mouths of babes. I'll tell you the school kids were quick to say "yuck!" and their teachers were quick to say "come on let's go see the elephant" or "Do you want to get your lunch now?" It was about 10:15 AM!

Happy Birthday Kenna!

Today is Kenna's second birthday celebration (well in addition to the one when she was actually born). I'll post pictures of her party at some point (or you can check out this blog to see some early).

I would post pictures of her today, but this is where I am right now:

Spelling it out doesn't keep secrets

Conversation at our house today:

Kimberly: Should we go get some i-c-e- c-r-e-a-m?

Mike: Yep

Morgan: That spells ice cream!

Enough is enough!

I'm sure you're wondering if we staged this shot. Ummm...the really sad thing is no, this is what her hair looks like frequently after getting out of bed. We manage to tame it somewhat before letting her out the front door on most days.

And the following picture, highlights the half-mullet that Morgan gave Kenna recently, with the scraggly rat-tail (if only we'd braid it) in back.





Here is a great shot of the happy girls when they were told they were headed to the barber shop.











The girls were brave. They had just seen the fun of haircuts a few days prior in the same shop when I was sitting in the chair; so, they did great. Kenna got first treatment.






That's one cute girl!

And then Morgan got her turn. You can tell she really hated it. She'd actually been asking for a haircut for since she saw the new little shop open.




I'd say that is much better, wouldn't you?

Back to work

Can you tell that since Michael's birthday (Aug. 17) the semester started? No? You mean you didn't notice that I haven't posted anything in almost a full month?

A few things that've happened since the last update (in random order as they come to me):

1. Kenna got her first real haircut. Unfortunately it was her sister who decided to cut one side of her hair to look like a mullet.

2. Muscle memory for a sticking out belly is pretty fantastic. I'm just over 11 weeks and the only "regular" clothes I can wear are skirts and pants I bought upon returning to work after Kenna was born. Shirts are just not quite long enough and my other clothes just won't even pretend to fit around this belly. Why can't that same muscle memory remember what my belly was like at some way distant past point when it was flat?

3. Morgan went back to Burrier preschool this year. She's going 2 afternoons a week instead of 4 mornings and she's thrilled to be back at school.

4. Our new garage construction is finally finished - except the paint and the hard part of moving stuff into it.

5. Our child care provider - sounds too simple to say "sitter" considering what she does for us and with our kids -- is great! Kenna regularly asks for her to sing songs at bed time and nap time - this is really only a problem on the 5 days a week that she asks and Abbey is not here. Morgan had absolutely no problems adjusting to her being here. From the first moment acted like she'd be coming to our house for dinner daily or something.

6. Speaking of Abbey. She is a woman after our own hearts and rides her bike places. She got hit by a car while riding her bike near campus. She has recovered, but just a reminder of why this darn town needs some serious education about how traffic should act around bikes.

7. I'm tired - always tired. I've even taken a Thermarest camping mat to my office to nap. Ahhh, the joys of having my own private office. Even if it is barely big enough for me to lay down.

Happy 40th Birthday Michael!

The birthday boy could, of course, plan his day as he saw fit. So, we - read that only Michael and Kimberly- headed to the river.

Ahh, the bliss of a day on the river without children climbing all over us while we're trying to paddle. Without children reaching over the side with their hands in the water creating a crazy amount of drag.

I feel pretty honored that he didn't just leave me home too!

Morgan's first bike race

Morgan competed in her very first bicycle race today. She pedaled all the way around the course (with Momma and Daddy holding on to her arms - hopefully someone has a good picture of that).

She was pretty excited when she was all done.

"I'm the winner Momma!"

Of course she was.

Everyone knows the purpose of a garage.

We'll get to the garage-bit in a minute. We borrowed Mike's parents' car so we could drive to the aquarium today. It's the size of a pea, but gets about twice - literally- the gas mileage that my van gets.

Mike's dad brought the car over yesterday. This is the conversation we had while waiting for him to arrive.

Me: Hey Patrick. How are you?

Patrick (Mike's brother): Fine.

Me: You can just pull the van up there so your dad can park in the driveway. Or, hey he can park it in the new garage!

Morgan: Oh Momma, that's so silly. Cars don't go in garages. Garages are not for cars! Bicycles go in garages!

How can I argue with that when even with our old garage we never put any motorized vehicle in there. We don't plan on putting our van or truck in the new garage either; it's for bikes, gear (biking, camping, boating, etc.) and tools. Err...that should be it's for tools, bikes, and storage. Right!

Knock, Knock joke

Morgan made this joke up all on her own. It was several months ago, but she was able to share it with her doctor the other day, which pleased them both.

Morgan: Knock, Knock

Dr. Palley: Who's there?

Morgan: Pumpkin

Dr. Palley: Pumpkin who?

Morgan: Pumpkin Dr. Palley! (giggling like crazy)

Dr. Palley: Well that is a very good joke Morgan.

Sheetah

Morgan: Mom, when the baby comes out I will call her Sheetah - like cheetah, but with a "sh."

Me: What if it is a boy, Morgan?

Morgan: Baby.

This name doesn't fit into our naming scheme we've got in the family; so, I don't think it is a keeper for the official birth certificate, but Morgan may not give it up easily.

I really don't understand...

why boobs have to be sore during the early stages of pregnancy. let's face it you won't actually need the milk until..., well, for sure not this early. And, why the heck would it need to be sore, when you're still making milk for the toddler? It's not like they have to prepare and figure out the milk making process again - it's still doing it - which is probably why the sore is so darn annoying.

April 1, 2009 - no fooling!

PS: Deborah, I wasn't exactly honest last MNO.

"A Christmas Story" moment

You know the classic scene in the movie...the one where the kids dare each other to lick the flag pole, then one poor sole does it and finds out just how bad it can be?

Here's our family's version.

We were at the grocery store, trying to get just a few things before biking back home. Michael, was looking over the ice cream selections trying to make a decision, while I went across the aisle to find frozen orange juice.

I was holding Kenna while searching for juice. We found it and she asked to hold it. I knew if I didn't give it to her she'd just keep asking. What harm could come from her holding the orange juice? Sure she may drop it, but that isn't so bad, it's frozen. So, I of course obliged her; I handed it over, and headed back to Michael.

About 3 seconds later, Kenna let out a yowl. When I looked at her, I couldn't figure out whether to be alarmed or only amused. She had licked the metal lid of the frozen orange juice. She was pulling it away from her mouth with all of her might! I can tell you that human tongues are very elastic. Hers stretched much beyond what I could have imagined.

Trying to convince her that putting it closer to her mouth would make it better, was not the easiest thing to do. We did eventually pry her tongue off of the lid.

Lesson learned: Maybe handing over the orange juice is not the safest idea.

In response

to my friend Gretchen, whose garden is better than mine in many ways - just not this one.

River rats

Contentment

I hear giggles of two girls in running through the house playing with their daddy. I love that sound.