Baby Beethoven

At 11 months old Alyssa is now composing her first symphonies...on her tippy toes...one handed. She was so proud of herself when she pulled herself up and realized she could hold on to the piano bench and reach the ivories with her other hand. I have video of this but in the middle of Concerto #1 in A minor (ha ha, 'A minor', Nathan thought of that one) Kennedy comes up and attempts to lift Aly up onto the piano bench and so the clip ends with me admonishing Kennedy to 'put her down!!!'. I know Kenna was just trying to help her sit and have proper posture so I can't really fault her for that. In the end Alyssa just stood there plunking out a little tune pleased as punch with herself for learning her new trick.

Frying Pan Park

One of the girls in my ward organized an outing group and this month we went to Frying Pan Park. We took a 20 min tour of the equestrian park and farm on a trailer pulled by a tractor which was fun except that the guide would stop and name all of the different types of animals that you 'may' see in the woods and both Kohen and Kennedy grew more and more frustrated when the animals we 'may' see decided to be aloof. But that was soon forgotten as they explored Kidwell Farm where there were cows, chickens, roosters, peacocks, turkey, lambs, goats, and horses. Oh yeah, there were also new piglets who Kennedy declared were 'stinky'- proving once again she inherited her Papa Dixie's superhuman nose. There was fun farm equipment to check out and play structures to play on and even a picnic in the shade. At this juncture I would like to point out that the fact that we had a picnic means that I actually packed it the night before which means I was prepared and I feel like I should recieve some sort of Brownie Button or something...hmm. I will have to look into that...at least the Brownie part...

Busy Bee

Meet Alyssa AKA: Busy Bee.

(I think of the line from Monsters Inc. when Mike Wasowski says "Well someones been a busy bee!")

She thinks she can wait to learn how to sit up until she is 8 months old and then lull her parents into a false sense of security by waiting longer than her older siblings to crawl. The following is not an exaggeration. One day about a week and a half ago Alyssa decided to start crawling...and pulling herself up on things...and crawling up stairs!!! In the same day! Talk about shock and awe- we have been completely blind-sided by Aly's sudden decision to be Ms. Mobile. I cannot believe she can crawl up stairs!!! Somebody save me! Or at least pick up all of the hazardous material my 2 and 4 yr old are in the habit of leaving around on the floor! And to add to her list of impressive accomplishments; in the last month Alyssa got her first two teeth, was weaned, figured out how to drink out of a sippy cup (one she conveniently found on the floor) and is now standing for several seconds without assistance. And just like that my ' little baby' is gone.

Kodak Moment

Moments like this between Kohen and Alyssa are rare. They usually consist of him leaving her crying in his wake because he was too rough with her or knocked her down as he goes roaring by. So when I saw him sit down next to her and gently pull her up onto his lap I grabbed the camera to catch a true Kodak moment!

Monkey see Monkey Do

~Monkey See - Monkey Do~

An exchange

The scene: Our family is sitting around the dinner table eating homemade pizza whose wheat flour I ground up in our vitamix blender.
Kennedy: I know where you make pizza.
Dad: Oh yeah? Where?
Kennedy: In the thunder.
(mom and dad exchange a questioning glance)
Mom: What do you mean?
Kennedy: (with sincerity) I don't know.........
Kennedy: You know, where you make smoothies and pancakes?
Mom: Ohhh, you mean the blender?
Kennedy: Yeah! The blender!!!

The Man saves The Princess from The Dragon

Kennedy had a friend over to play the other day and they were playing dress up. When Kohen brought me one of Kennedy's princess dresses to put on him I knew that I could wait no longer to find this kid some dress ups of his own...preferably ones that weren't made of pink tule. So we found this Knight Armor for $10 and thought it would work. Heretofore I have been against buying my children weapons not wanting to encourage violence. But over time I have discovered that boys in particular don't need you to buy them weapons. They make them out of anything and everything from a piece of wood to a stack of blocks- if swung at your sister while saying "yahhh!" it will have the exact same effect as a store bought sword. Anyway, this is video of Kohen with his armor on...he just keeps repeating "MAN!" over and over...is this only funny to Nathan and I?...
Click on this Link to see the next clip.
Pretty soon Kohen the 'Man' was saving Kennedy the 'Princess' from Nathan the 'Dragon'. You can hear Kohen saying 'dragon!' and 'dungeon!' trying to will the Dragon there. Pretty soon the Man is overcome with testoterone as he makes his first Dragon 'kill' -and Erin the 'Mom' is already regretting getting her son a sword so she calls a cease fire to have a talk about pretend fighting vs. real fighting. The Mom suspects the Man's helmet prevented the information from reaching it's desired destination. I may have lost this battle but I will win the war.

Nice Save

Check out Kennedy's nice save - I was about one foot away and I moved to help (as you will see, sorry) but turns out there was no need. And in case you are wondering, Kohen is the one that calls out - bless his little heart. Had Kennedy not caught Alyssa the water was not deep enough to cover her face, but I am glad she didn't have to find that out through experience. Though I do think this is a good example of why you can never walk away even for a second. Nice reflexes Kennedy!

Gwen Stefani Concert

This was an awesome concert! It was way high energy. Nathan and I had no idea our seats were so close, we were only about 20 rows away- AMAZING! I took these pictures with my camera ...usually pictures I take at concerts, the performer looks about the size of an ant so this is a nice change. We remembered our binoculars this time- found our seats and felt like idiots using them so close so we took them up to the Bells who were up in the 'nose bleeds' (where did that name come from?) back where that first pic was taken. Anyway, the concert was so good it just flew by. I couldn't believe it was already over when they wrapped it up. Gwen Stefani put on a rockin show- I will even admit when she said, "What's up D.C.!???" I might have wooped it up a little- which to an onlooker might have appeared like I was claiming D.C.- well, maybe for the moment I was...

Say Cheese!

This is Alyssa's new favorite look. If she sees the camera she scrunches up her face into the cheesiest smile you have ever seen. The bottom pictures are only 3 of about 10 I took one morning trying to get just one good shot. She just kept chees'n it up and the less amused I was the more it seemed to egg her on. I think it shows how her little personality is coming out these days and she definitely has some goof ball in her!

Mother's Day 2007

To my Mother, Mother-in-law, friends and family who are or someday will be Mother's...HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! And if you are in the 'someday' category trust me when I tell you to start celebrating now...while you can enjoy it without any children interrupting you! No, this has been a wonderful Mother's day because of my kids. These are the projects they made me at church and yeah, I am going to gush over them as if anyone other than me would appreciate them. The bottom picture is Kohen's hands and I love how you can see how chubby they are. When he handed it to me he was so proud and he said "my..hands!...two a 'dem'!!!" (In case I haven't mentioned, in Kohen's world right now everything is all about the two. His favorite thing is to find 2 of something and comment "two a dem!" Fitting, seeing as he is two). And then Kennedy's card with the package of seeds on the front. They are called 'Aster' and that made me smile because that is how Kennedy still pronounces 'after'. On the inside there were questions that Kennedy had answered about me:

• My mom is 6 inches tall. (close enough)
• My mom is ? years old. (good girl, remember that.)
• My mom's favorite food is waffles. (actually that is more her favorite.)
• My mom's favorite thing to do is vacuum the floor. (really? You'd think I'd do it more often then)
• My mom helps me clean the floor. (man I sound like a slave driver!)
• I love it when my mom and I drive to the airport. (I think this is more cuz she likes who we are picking up then because it is quality time with me...)
• My mom is the best mom because she is nice. (Well, I don't know if I am but I have been before :)

Sunday School

This is Kennedy on Mother's day. She was very excited to wear this new dress and she insisted on having her toes and nails painted red to match. In church they had all of the Sunday School children go up to the front and sing a song to the mothers' and Kennedy, as proud as ever, marched right up there with the crush of children. Fairly quickly I lost sight of her though she is very short even for her age so it isn't too surprising. They usually do a pretty good job of getting all of the little ones up to the front so you can see them but the song started and there was no sign of her. Finally I spotted her little red and white hair bows...I have no idea why she was facing backwards, but at least I knew she was back there. As the second verse winded down all of a sudden through the crush of little bodies I see Kennedy straining. Though I could only see part of her little face I could tell she was up on her tippy toes. The two girls in front of her weren't budging and I see her push her little head between their sides and she only can hold that position for a moment as she searches to find where we are sitting. Right as she was getting squeezed back out again our eyes met and she broke into a big ol' smile. Then she was gone. The whole thing was actually really funny and I was laughing so hard I had tears coming down my face. To see her struggling back there but determined to make sure I saw her up there was truly priceless.

Issues

This is what Alyssa looked like this morning. And though she has been a bit fussy and clingy over the last day or so, I attributed it to the 'Sunday Hangover'- a term we use for how our children act Sunday afternoon, evening and usually most of Monday after they miss naps on Sunday while we go to church. Anyway, shortly after this picture her nose started streaming green like someone had turned on a faucet...sorry that was a bit overly descriptive. So this afternoon we were driving down the road and I heard Aly sneeze. Uh-oh. I pulled over and reached back to wipe her nose and then as I pull back onto the road Kennedy chimes in with this gem: "Mom, Aly's nose just keeps running and she can't 'snuck' it up...(sympathetic sigh) She has issues." What?! I laughed so hard- because it was funny, and because it was true! And I suppose that could be said about most of us, really :)

Ballet Shoes

Kennedy has been working hard for over a month now to earn a pair of real ballet shoes. She had to fill up a whole page with small stamps by helping mom and obeying etc. She was so excited to finally put them on and start twirling around, it was so fun for me to watch. I have been very careful not to push her in any direction with sports and activities because I really want her to find what she loves. But she has gravitated towards dance and performing and if I am being honest I am tickled that she loves what I loved. And I am impressed with her natural ability to observe something and reproduce it without any instruction (but I am her mom so of course I'm impressed). So now the temptation is strong to put her in a little dance class though I am sure it is disproportionately expensive here like everything else. I won't be paying college-like tuition for someone to show Kennedy how to point her toes...she's already figured that out anyway...

Howdy Lil' Lady

Kohen found the cowboy hats that my Grandpa Bob gave me for the kids and as soon as he put it on his head he morphed into the role of the gruff talkin, rough riding cowboy. It's a shame you couldn't all see him strutt'in around- I have no idea how he knew to tip his hat like that- it seems to have come very naturally for him. Then he pulled out the piano bench, and mounted up on his horse. Pretty soon Kennedy joined in the fun (though you'll notice she relied on the horse power of her Dora 'Vamanos Van' to pull them...interesting) and they were testing the sturdiness of our piano bench! The hat certainly brought out the cowboy in Kohen...I had no idea it was even in him...though I suppose I might have guessed.

Thank You!

I feel like I am giving a speech for some award, but I still want to say it anyway. Thank you to Taylor and Nathan for making this trip happen for Kysa and I!!! Especially Taylor for taking work off and being a stay-at-home dad for the long weekend. We had such a wonderful time just staying up late and talking. When you are suddenly without your barnacle-like children it is suddenly the most fun to be able to just go shopping. And to go out to eat and not have to get up and get something for someone else is a rare treat. Heck, to eat uninterrupted is unprecedented at this point in our lives! I know that over the last month with all of the visitors we have had (and enjoyed every minute of having!) the theme of the many pictures has become 'same places/different faces' but that is the nature of living someplace like D.C. I could NOT believe how much Kysa and I packed in to our one sight-seeing day. On the Segway tour we saw (all up close) The Capitol, The Supreme Court, The Library of Congress, The White House, and much more. After, we went to the Museum of Natural History and then walked clear over to the Holocaust Museum (hadn't been there yet, in a word: sobering) then we walked down the National Mall and saw The Washington Monument, WWII Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. OUR LEGS AND FEET WERE KILLING US! But nothing that some Tylenol washed down with Ben and Jerry's couldn't fix! Thank you so much husbands!!!! We love you!!!!!

Segs in the City

Kysa and I took a tour of D.C. on a Segway this Saturday...it was SO much fun!!! At least 75% of the fun was getting to ride one of these things! The Segway moves forward when you lean forward and back when you lean back, etc. There are several groups that give tours on the Segway downtown and we were lucky to get in last minute. The company that we went with is called 'Segs in the City' (a play off of 'Sex in the City' that I naively didn't connect until Kysa pointed it out walking to the place) which I have to admit is kind of clever. When others didn't show we ended up getting a tour just the two of us with our guide and off we went zipping around D.C.. It was a blast! We were able to see so many sights in such a short amount of time which was awesome. We were a spectacle everywhere we went. The Segway seems like something a bit ahead of it's time, and though they were so much fun to ride, we both would laugh every time we saw our reflection in building windows as we went by. Kysa said we looked like we were in the category 'special needs' and I couldn't argue with that. It looks so funny with your legs straight, leaning forward- every time we would get going all I could hear was that music from the Wizard of Oz! We answered lot's of people's questions along the way and at one point as we went by this guy in a truck shouts at me, "Where did you rent those from?" Wanting to be a good customer I eagerly shout back, "SEGS IN THE CITY!" as soon as the words left my mouth I felt like such a moron shouting that phrase....from the look on the man's face I think there was some confusion on his end too but I don't know what else I would have said I guess. Anyway, our tour was 2 1/2 hours and before we went we thought we hadn't gotten the best deal because many other tours are 4 hours for about the same price. About an hour into it and both Kysa and I's legs started killing. Standing for so long in one position- man, we were SO grateful our tour was the shorter one. We would have died 3/4 the way through a longer tour! But otherwise the experience was a fantastic one. Our guide Bill was an older gent from Australia and he would quiz us on all of the historical facts and pretty soon Kysa and I started feeling like we shouldn't have passed high school history! Bill didn't seem to mind though, and when we asked him if we were the worst ever his response was, "hardly." I watch Jay Walking, so I believe him... Anyway, if you ever get the chance to tour on a Segway, do it!!!

Segway fun!

Okay, this is right after we received a short lesson on how to ride a Segway and we were still testing things out and laughing...a lot. So you will have to excuse my obnoxious intake of breath while I am laughing so hard at Kysa but in my defense, she was trying to crack me up! Hope it does the same for you!

Amen sister!

The other morning Kysa and I were sitting down to breakfast with the children and we went to fold our arms to bless the food when out of the corner of my eye I see Aly move her arms. Kysa was convinced (though I was a bit incredulous) that Alyssa had folded her arms too. We decided to grab the camara and see if it had been a coincidence...when I asked everyone to fold their arms once more- right on cue- Aly folded her sweet little arms. I can't believe I got a picture of it! Next (of course) we had to try to get it on video and though we were successful, you have to watch carefully because she complies quickly and then is off onto other things...like maybe the breakfast that she thinks has been blessed 3 + times! You can tell she is so over it when I ask her to fold her arms again...can't blame the girl for that. Anyway, hope you enjoy it as much as we did :)

Flying Planes on the Mall

While we were on the Mall my dad brought out some little wooden airplanes for Kennedy and Kohen to fly. The planes were a big hit...literally, there was a lot of planes hitting the ground as the children tried to master throwing them and making them fly as well as Papa John could do it. How herky-jerky does Kohen look in that bottom picture as he hurtles the plane straight into the ground? He looks like he has taken some dance lessons from Elaine on Seinfeld! Actually he is just trying to get used to throwing again since he got his cast off and he is making progress. We had a great time watching Kennedy and Kohen run along in the grass making their planes 'fly'. Thankfully both of the planes were able to avoid a watery grave in the Reflecting Pool- truly a modern day miracle!