Sweet Girls

This afternoon, the girls were playing after their naps. It got very quiet so I went to investigate. They were both in Keeley's room reading. Each was reading her own book and they were facing each other. As I walked in, I heard Keeley say "You want a hug, Kayden" and watched Kayden dive into Keeley's arms. I love my girls.

Big Orange Pumpkin Farm

Sunday, despite the cold and mud, we headed up to Celina to meet up with the Martinez family at the Big Orange Pumpkin Farm. We went last year too, but the girls had SO much more fun this year.Here we are, all ready to go. Notice Keeley even let me put not one but TWO bows in her hair!

Kayden wanting a bit of the camera action with her ever ready "cheese!!"

The girls checking out the animals:

Keeley was a little less afraid than last year, but not by much.

Kayden checking them out with the big kids. I swear she forgets she's not even 1.5 years old!

The girls "riding" the tractor.

On our first hay ride. They both enjoyed it more than I thought they would.

This, however, was the highlight of the trip. They had a bounce house and a giant bounce slide. I paid $1 for Keeley to "bounce" in the bounce house for about 15 seconds before deciding there were too many big kids. Upon getting out, she ran over to the slide and I was sure the scene would repeat or that she would be scared. They both LOVED it though! It was too funny to watch how excited they were. I had to go with them because I was scared they would fall and I thought the slide was scary. The girls did not!



Covered in cheetos!


As we were leaving, Keeley was sitting on these pumpkins.

When I told her we needed to leave. She said "I need to sit on my pumpkins some more". Sometimes being more vocal isn't necessarily a good thing!!

Play on TV

When Keeley woke up from her nap, Kelly was watching the football game. Keeley commented that she would play on the TV when she was grown up. I asked if she would play football or hockey since those are the two sports Kelly watches on TV. She said football. She then said that she needed a helmet to play football.

Something tells me Keeley is not the one of my two kiddos that will be playing contact sports when she grows up! I mean, really, she eats cotton candy wrapped in a wipe because it is sticky.

Grandma Trip

This past weekend, we took our first family trip since Kayden was born. We decided to go to some cabins up in Oklahoma so we could have a vacation but also have it be as low stress as possible since it was our first trip with both girls. After thinking about it a little more, we decided to have it be a grandma trip so Oma and Grandma both came with us. Uncle Brent even flew in town to surprise Grandma for her birthday. We had so much fun!

The weekend got off to a little bit of a shaky start as Keeley fell while dancing for Brent before we even left. Her face broke her fall and her eye was pretty much swollen shut when we headed out. The girls did great on the car ride (even though they napped for no where near long enough) and we had tons of fun the first day there.

Both girls were initially fascinated with all the rocks and bugs around the cabin.

Kayden loved this bear on the front porch and gave it lots of big bear hugs.

They also were excited about their "cabin beds" - even though Kayden refused to sleep in hers (up every hour the first night and from 12-2am screaming the second) and Keeley escaped. Keeley came out of the room saying "I bounced away Mommy". She had bounced her bed to our bed and then thrown her leg up there and climbed out.

We went to ride a little train through the forest and saw some deer. Keeley requested to sit next to Uncle Brent her "best friend" and Kayden squirmed until she was able to pick her own seat, several rows away from everyone else - but closer to the horses.

She still didn't sit still on the train ride and I had a tough time corraling her as everytime I put my hand on her, she would furrow her brow, move my hand, and say "no". Independent much?

Uncle Brent's train ticket won us some free cotton candy which the girls both enjoyed.

You can see Keeley was a bit concerned about her hands getting dirty so she wrapped the cotton candy in a baby wipe to keep her hands sticky free. Does anyone else's 2 year old do that?!?
The second day was pretty rainy all day so we weren't able to do much. The girls didn't seem to mind though. I really think that if they could have played in muddy puddles all weekend they would have been happy!!

Hopefully, we'll be able to make this a yearly event. The girls loved getting to spend so much time with Grandma and Oma...and of course Uncle Brent!

Too big

Keeley is growing up entirely too fast. She does things that I remember doing when I was in elementary school - like telling Kayden "don't say hi to me" and "don't say cookie with me". These just make me laugh.

Sometimes, however, her growing independence and self awareness makes me sad. This afternoon she fell and really scraped up her knee when we were outside. I got up to go help her and she looked up, held her hand out to stop me, and said "No kisses. It will be okay in a minute."

NO KISSES?!! She's not even 3 yet!

Sensory Overload

Kayden has always been a child to want to experience life. It is not enough for us to warn her or for her to tell her to stop, she needs to physically get hurt before she'll stop - and even then, it is only for a minute. She has also always been very interested in knowing how things feel and taste. Already, we can tell that she is a very tactile learner.

This morning, the girls were outside playing while I got my breakfast ready. I could see them out the window and they were both happy and weren't climbing on anything too dangerous. All of the sudden, Keeley's sweet face appeared at the door. She opened it smiling and said "Kayden has dog poop on her hands. And I do too."

I glanced at her hands and didn't see anything, and then Kayden rounded the corner. Kayden didn't just have dog poop on her hands, she clearly had spent some time exploring its squishy properties. It looked as though she had been playing with play-doh. It was all over her hands. Keeley, upon closer inspection, did have a little on her hands. I told Keeley not to touch anything and grabbed both Kayden's hands as we all walked to the tub. She started to touch her face with her hand and I said "dog poop is yucky Kayden". Instead of putting her hand on her cheek, she decided she needed to see if it was really yucky so she put it in her mouth. Lovely.

Science Place

One rainy Sunday, we headed off to the Children's Museum at the Museum of Science and Nature. The girls had tons of fun, even though the best rooms were closed because they apparently flood every time it rains (BOO!). Anyway, here are some pictures of the little ones.

Kayden "cheese"ing for the camera.

Keeley in full fire fighter gear.

Trying on hats in the insect room.

Looking at the spiders.

Off to uncover dinosaur bones.

On a mission in the vegetable "fields"

I need a hot air balloon in my house. This is the longest Kayden has ever stayed still. She was mesmerized!

All in all, a fun day. However, I have to note that I was paranoid for a week that the kids would get lice from all the dress up gear. Becoming a mom has made me substantially less a germaphobe than I ever was before, but trying on all those hats and then traipsing through that sand just about did me in!!