Kindergarten Kronicles

So, Miles started kindergarten yesterday! 

He was so sure that kindergarten would be just so BORING and you would do is work all day long.  Luckily, the school held a kindercamp 2 weeks ago. It was for 3 hours a day each day and only for kindergarteners.  This allowed the kids to get used to the school, teachers, lunch room, etc.  This was awesome!  He was very scared and nervous to go the first day, but held his own and did awesome.  So, while he said he was scared yesterday, he didn't act like it at all.  Over the weekend, he got a hair cut and we organized all his school supplies, filling his pencil cases with freshly sharpened pencils, writing his name on his folders, notebooks, scissors and backpack and then fitting everything into his bags.  He was ready! 

Sunday night, he picked out his outfit consisting of a yellow polo and khaki shorts.  (His uniform consists of blue, white and yellow.)  After he picked his outfit, he asked if I didn't think others would think he was a girl!  I told him no...the next morning he had the same concern, but proceeded on with the chosen outfit.  He didn't mention anyone thinking he was a girl last night!  :) 

He was still sure kindergarten would be boring and he was just going to write all day, not having any fun.  I tasked him with giving me 3 things that were fun from his day when I got home from work. 

When I came in the door after work, he was full of jabber and exclaimed, not 3, but 4 things he had done that were fun-coloring, going outside, eating chicken nuggets for lunch and having cake for snack.  He claimed they didn't do any work.  I'm so proud of Miles!  I just know that he's going to do awesome in school.  Everyone asked me if I cried, and I have to admit that I didn't.  However, I did after the open house last week.  Yesterday, I was just so excited for him and proud of him!  He's my big kid now!

Hailey also started her new day care, AKA big girl school, yesterday.  She went a half day last Friday as a test run, but this was her first official day.  She did very well!  She was excited to go and let me put her down without crying in the morning. 

The room was full of little girls and looked like a good time.  It's a little unnerving to think of her there all by herself without her big brother to watch over her, but I think she will do well!  I'm proud of her venturing on her own!

Yes, it's been forever since I posted!

I know it's been forever since I posted and I keep kicking myself for not doing it.  It's been a different sort of year that completely threw me off track.  I have excuse after excuse for not posting, but in the end, I just didn't do it.  Every time I thought about the little moments I was missing and not documenting for the kids, I would hate it. 

Since I last posted, Miles said his first "I hate you" around the end of March.  That stung.  He graduated from pre-K in May.  He was super duper excited for my birthday in May and couldn't wait for it.  We bought a house and moved to Stone Mountain, Georgia the end of May and in to June.  We traveled to Indiana so I could run in the Mini-I did well, but not as well as last year.  Still, it was a great time seeing family and friends.  Miles is getting ready to start Kindergarten on Monday.  Kindergarten.  He's got his haircut, backpack packed and his name on everything. He's admittedly excited and scared.  He's sure it's going to be boring and 'you just work all day long.'  Miles has matured over the summer in many ways.  One of the ways I notice most is that although he is not free of tantrums and mood swings (who is?!), he will come to me a few minutes, or hours, later and tell me he is sorry for his behavior.  All on his own.  That makes me glad.  I hear Miles telling Hailey things we have told him in the past-he does hear us!  Hailey is a ham.  She is talking up a storm-strangers can't believe she is two.  She still is grasping the language and melts my heart with her language choices-"I pick you up" is my favorite.  However, I am trying to get her to walk more and break her of me holding her all the time.  Sometimes it works and she will just hold my hand.  I love her little hand in mine.  In our house, the lower part of the stairs are open into the living room; we have a hutch right near the stairs, so you can touch it when on about the 5th step.  On top of the hutch we have photos and some vases.  When walking down, both Hailey and Miles like to touch the ceiling there-it's the only place in the house they can do this.  Hailey also likes to pretend grab from the vase nearest her and pretend to pop something in her mouth and eat it.  When I ask her what she's eating, she replies with either muffins or cupcakes.  She never misses a beat in coming down the stairs while doing this.  It cracks me up!  She is also insistent about her blankets at night and loves this green, soft blanket.  She calls it her "soffer" blanket.  She is still in to this "my belly hurts" phase, something my mother told me I used to say all the time.  I kiss it and usually she moves on.  Now, in bed, she will tell me her belly hurts and then proceed to tell me that all her other parts hurt as well-whatever parts she can remember at the time-toes, elbow, leg, arm, booty, etc.  I proceed to kiss them all until she is satisfied.  She also says "my still belly hurts" instead of "my belly still hurts" and uses the same phrase with all her parts.  It's too cute.  And another phrase I love is "after later".  I believe she combined the two thoughts, "after a while (nap, lunch, etc)" and "later".  Everything is "after later" and it completely satisfies her no matter if it's to go jumpy jump (bounce houses), Chuck E Cheese, Nana's house, to the pool, etc.  Miles is a whiz outside on his scooter and is so anxious to meet all our neighbors.  Just tonight, he was evaluating which neighbors we have yet to meet and how he can't wait to meet them.  Hailey has such a say in what she wears-Miles not so much.  If he picks out his outfits, it's usually something pretty unique, but Hailey will protest an outfit while Miles goes with it if I pick it out.  She is also insistent on her shoe choice and it's usually the little heels or platform sandals.  Oh, the moments.  There are so many uncaptured moments.  The hugs, the kisses, the smiles, and even the tears.  They fill me up inside and keep me going.  I think I am feeling more settled now and feeling better about keeping this up again.  I hope so.  I miss this blog!

Laughing Ladybugs

I feel like we've been going a mile a minute lately! The holidays followed by the kids' birthdays and Nana coming to visit was busy, but great! I don't know that I ever wrote about Christmas, so I'll fill you in a bit now.

Christmas Eve

'Twas the night before Christmas...

With the time off we had in December, we headed to Indiana! We spent Christmas night at my mom's house. Monday, we headed to Indianapolis to visit with Ahmad's brother's family. His parents also came down, so we got to see everyone! We stayed in Indy until Wednesday and had an awesome time visiting with everyone. The kids had a blast all being together; it was awesome seeing them play together.

The Keyes' Klan

Wednesday, we headed back to my mom's house where we stayed until Friday. We had such a wonderful time with mom and Uncle Michael! The kids also loved seeing them and playing!

Special moments!

Mom came in for the kids' birthdays and it was great to see her again. However, she was sick and wasn't up for much while she visited. But, we did celebrate Miles and Hailey's special days! For Miles' birthday, after church, we headed to Chuck-E-Cheese, one of his favorite spots! We had pizza as well, one of his favorite foods! When Ahmad got home from work, we had cake, ice cream and presents. Tons of fun!

Birthday hugs!

For Hailey's birthday, we had cake, ice cream and presents after school before taking Nana to the airport. She loved opening everything!

Sportin' Nana's new gift and reading her funny card!

Then on Friday, we enjoyed the kids' party at Monkey Joe's, which is a bouncy house type place. We invited kids from their school and ended up with about 16 kids there. They had a blast! It was so interesting to see Miles with his school friends-he's such a little leader! And we found out that Hailey has a little boy friend too! She would not take her eyes off him and would get very upset if she lost him. He was the same with her! Later on at their school Valentine's Day party, we found out he was the only boy in the class. While he and Hailey have had a special connection for a long time, there seems to be another friend too he spends a lot of time playing with. Too funny!!!

Holy Batman!

I know I wrote about things the kids were doing recently, but I always think of more! Hailey cracks me up all day long. She constantly talks about going "jumpy jumpy", "Chuck-E-Cheese", "painting", and "playdough". Those seem to be her favorite things! She asks daily to do them and when we can't, she asks if we can do it "after later". She has combined "later" with "after a while" or "after" anything we might say (after we get home, after lunch, etc). She always asks to do things "after later" and is actually quite satisfied with that answer!

This is Hailey's new favorite face to make!

Hailey also mixes up her pronouns all the time and it cracks me up! She repeats what I say, but in the exact same way. For example, she will say to me "I sit by you?" when she wants me to sit by her. Or she will say "I help me?" when she wants to help me with something. It's too cute. I love it. Speaking of helping, she helps with everything! She loves to help do anything we are doing and is right by my side as I do household chores. She will get her "table" and help put clothes into the washer, loves taking them out and putting them in the dryer; she helps me wash dishes in the sink and puts away basic dishes from the dishwasher; she tries to help me make the beds and fold the clothes. Anything, she is there. It is precious and I love it. I was telling mom about it and she said I was the same way when I was little... :)

We spend New Year's Eve with the Klein Family and had a blast!

Hailey also is still into this skin-to-skin thing. She loves finding my bare skin and pressing her face into it. She will press her face into my neck, reach her hands down my shirt, press her face on my bare belly, etc. She also loves pressing her cheeks next to mine, especially when laying in bed. Which, by the way, she hardly ever comes into bed with us anymore. The only time I bring her in is if it's almost time to wake up. And, I'm not sleeping on the floor by her crib anymore! yay! If she does wake, I go in and hold her for a second and then lay her down and she's gone again.

Hailey has started potty training too. I just decided that she could do it. I'm not sure why, but I got that idea in my head. One day, she was sitting naked on the floor (she LOVES to be naked!) and started to pee, but stopped herself and was very upset by the tiny spot she left. So, last week, I bought her some panties and we went full force on Saturday. She had a lot of accidents, but also went on the potty once. She seemed to be getting it-at least what she wasn't supposed to be doing! Throughout the week, she did wonderful! She was dry at school all week, except I think 2 accidents. Yesterday she went poopy on the potty and then again today! She stayed dry all day today!! I'm so proud of her! And speaking of being naked and diapers, she has also started taking off her diaper at night as she's supposed to be going to sleep. Luckily, she has told us so we can put it back on. I find it so funny that she is so into being naked because Miles never was. He never took off his diapers or ran off naked. Funny how they are different....Now I'm wondering when she will move out of her crib...not quite ready for her to be that big, but I have a feeling it's getting close.

Two monkeys...

Miles is also doing fantastic! He is such a big boy these days. He "gets" things so much more than he used to and is understanding full concepts. For example, the other day when wanting a snack, he asked for some pepperoni sticks. I told him we didn't have any. He looked sad and said "oh yeah. Because last time when we were at the store and you asked me if I wanted them and I said no? Now we don't have any?" Yup! That's it! He got it! He's also getting quick-witted, which is funny now, but we'll see later! He's got some snappy comments or good insights that he throws out there every now and then. He even stops Ahmad in his tracks!

Miles started baseball and is into his second week now. It's going really well and he's enjoying it. They do practice a lot, twice a week, but it's good. Unfortunately between work and being sick, I've only been to 1 practice though. We have 2 this weekend and many many more though! It seemed like a good bunch of kids and the parents seemed friendly too. I'm hoping we can make some new friends!

What's that in your pocket?

Miles is so into his video games these days too. He loves to play this Lego Indiana Jones game. I have to admit, I just don't get it! If we let him, he'd play for hours. I like that he enjoys it, but I almost hate that he does it so much! Now, we don't let him play all day every day, but he does get to play often. He especially loves it if Ahmad or I will play with him. I can't take it for much more than about 10-15 minutes, but Ahmad will play and help him figure out the boards. I do like that this is a bonding activity for them. However, he does still love to play with Hailey. The other day, as they were absolutely cracking each other up while playing who knows what, something they invented, I was watching them and thinking about how wonderful it was that they had each other. I can't imagine Miles as an only child now. He is such a wonderful big brother to Hailey, I think he was meant to be a big brother. I'm happy they have each other and happy they get along so great. I'm sure they will have rough times as they get older, but I'm hoping this good foundation will maintain things and they will always be good to each other.

Ahmad and I have been toying with the idea of finding a house in the near future. We would LOVE to, of course! But, we have to make sure it's the right decision for us. There are a ton of extremely inexpensive homes in some good areas that we've been looking at online. Nothing serious yet, but talking about and allowing ourselves to dream about it. The other day, Miles asked why we didn't have a garage and if we could get one when we moved. He didn't want to get wet when we brought in groceries. Then I asked him if he would like to move and live in a new house and he said yes. When I asked him why, he said because then he could get a cat! HA! Ummmm, I don't think that's in the cards! I would love to get Miles a cat, actually. I think he would love it. However, I'm not a cat fan and Ahmad is even less of a cat fan! I don't think so chipmunk!




I mentioned how grown Miles has been seeming lately. I feel like there is such a struggle for him and for us right now between him being a big independent 5 year old boy and a toddler still. One minute he's hitting us with deep insight and the next he's climbing on my lap and asking for me to help him get his jammies on. I'm trying to satisfy both, but sometimes it's hard. He sees me taking care of Hailey and doing things for her, and I think he sometimes gets jealous and needs that extra attention. But, I want to see his independence grow too and be able to do things on his own. And I know he can. He can take a shower, put on lotion, get on his jammies all by himself. He can get completely ready for school all by himself. When he wants to! I'm trying to make sure he knows he's always my boy and I'm here for him and love him without babying him. It's a constant dynamic.

All these wonderful things! I had no idea I would write this much once I found time to sit down and write! I love my family!

And Then She Was 2

Hailey is 2. How did that happen? How did my little bitty baby girl just turn 2 today? I can't believe it. I like to think she's still my baby, but she's not. She's turning into such a big girl. It's such a joy to see her grow and explore and turn into the delightful little girl that she is. She melts my heart. Here are some things she's into these days:

• She adores Dora

• She also likes watching Team Umizoomi, Tinkerbell, Caillou, Mickey Mouse, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Bubble Guppies and Shrek

• Hailey is exploring and really getting into pretend play
• She loves playing with her babies, mostly feeding them, changing their diaper, or putting them down to sleep

• She also loves to cook in her kitchen; she always tell me whatever she is serving is "hot" and to "blow it"
• She loves to be naked and takes off at any chance she can get
• Hailey loves to pick out her "pretties" for her hair in the morning, deciding which bow, barrette, or hair tie to use
• Hailey likes to wear dresses and look "pretty"

• After she is dressed in a pretty outfit, she runs to go show daddy
• Hailey is a shoe diva
• Hailey is singing many different songs and counting well to 10 and fairly well to 20; she knows a lot of her colors (fav is purple!) and most of her shapes
  
• Hailey is physical as well and can climb, run and jump with the best of them!
• Hailey likes bugs and will be the first to try to touch them
• She loves art things such as painting, drawing, cutting, or playing play dough
• Hailey is going to be a lefty
• She delights in seeing herself in a photo or video or something she has made, exclaiming "I make!"
  

• She has discovered making funny faces and loves to look in the mirror when making one, asking to see "a picture"
• She weighed in and measured height in the 25th percentile for her 2 year well check
• If she can't reach something she wants, Hailey will exclaim "table!" and go get a little stool
  
• She loves her big brother and playing with him
• Hailey has begun coming into our bed again in the middle of the night (totally my fault!); while I need to break this habit asap, I do love her snuggles
  
• She loves pasta, pizza, cheese, pickles and hot dogs

• She is trying to potty train, but not getting real far
• She loves books and animals
• Hailey amazes me each and every day. She is a comedian and loves to put on a show for anyone watching. Once you laugh, she's got you and will continue her shenanigans. Hailey has so much personality and charm, I know she will go far. I hope she, too, remembers my love for her and how I am always here for her, no matter what, and will support her forever and ever with my whole my heart.

5 Years Old Already?

Miles turned 5 today! I cannot believe he's so big. Time has flown by, as much as I try to treasure every moment. I do have to say, I'm very proud of the young man he's turning into. Miles has a heart of gold and is so sensitive. These five years have had their ups and downs, but through it all, he has amazed me by his talents. He is so smart and it's fascinating to see him develop new ideas, talents, and interests. He truly holds a special place in my heart and always will. Here's some things Miles is into these days:

• He wants to be a Star Wars "guy" or a Superhero; he keeps wishing for this, but it hasn't come true yet...

• He likes to play video games on the Wii and claims there's nothing else to do if he isn't playing a game
• He still likes to pretend to be a baby kitty, or a chinchilla

• Miles loves to play with Hailey and is hurt when she doesn't want to play with him
• Miles is very adventuresome
• Miles reminisces quite often
• Miles thinks all things little are cute

• Miles doesn't like to touch bugs or get dirty
• Miles is working on reading and writing and continually improves
• He weighed in the 50th percentile and was in the 25th percentile for height at his 5 year well check
• Miles does a lot of math, without even realizing it
• Miles is starting baseball and is excited about the team

• Miles is definitely working on defining his independence, but still staying close to mom and dad
• Miles can't wait to grow up. He wants a big house, lots of animals, and a motorcycle
• He likes watching Sonic, Wordgirl, and Power Rangers

• Miles loves music and is constantly making up songs
• He loves to hear about when he was little
• He always wants to go to Monkey Joe's or Chuck E Cheese
• He loves riding his Razor scooter
• Miles loves pizza, pizza lunchables, and pickles

• He puts steak sauce on everything and also likes ketchup, hot sauce, and ranch
• He loves snacking on broccoli and ranch or eating "messy cheese", which is shredded cheese
• He doesn't eat meals well, but will snack with the best of them!
• Miles is more of a homebody and prefers to come home and eat or hang out rather than run all day
• Miles is a ham and loves putting on a show for anyone and everyone

• He loves books and story time at night

• He still asks me to "bug bug" with him at night and he listens to music to go to sleep
• Miles is definitely on the verge of leaving toddler hood and moving towards a big boy. It's fun and exciting, but sad too. I couldn't wish he stay little because it's such a joy to see him grow and learn. It's so exciting to see what's next. He's always going to be my little boy anyway! I know Miles is going to go far. He's going to be able to accomplish anything he wants. He is a fantastic big brother and son. I could not have wished for any better son than Miles. I treasure every moment with him and just hope he doesn't grow up too fast. I hope he always knows how much I love him and that I'm here for him, always, no matter what, forever and forever.

Batter Up!

Miles is going to do t-ball/baseball this spring! Here is his tryout:

Christmas Wasn't Hard

Christmas was not as hard as I thought it would be without dad. I missed him, but I felt him, and that made it much easier. And the kids were so excited, it was easy to get caught up in their excitement. No, Christmas wasn't hard. Church is hard. Singing Christmas hymns was hard. Sunsets are hard. Taking down the Christmas decorations was hard. New Years was hard. Starting a new year without him is hard. Talking to good friends who always ask how I am is hard. Very hard. Answering where Grampie is to my 23 month old daughter when she's looking to say hello and goodnight to him is hard. Hugging my mom on my parent's 40th anniversary was hard. Hugging dear friends is hard. Catching myself referring to both parents is hard. Catching myself thinking I need to call dad is hard. Wanting to share with him is hard. Wondering if I did all I could've done with and for him is hard. Being alone is hard. Not having time alone is hard. Seeing mom grieve is hard. Thinking about how much life has changed in the last 6 months is hard. Wondering about the future is hard. There are a lot of things that are hard, but no, Christmas wasn't hard.