Ice Cream with Friends

Reese and Mia came over Saturday night for some homemade ice cream and cookies! The girls had so much fun bouncing in the castle, eating WAY TOO much sugar and playing all together! They are so fun!

Wall of Pride

Kaia LOVES seeing her art on the wall. I did it because I thought it would be cute in her playroom to display but now everyone who comes over (and me and K EVERY morning) she shows them her "cwafts"!! SO CUTE!

Last Weeks FUN and learning

Monday - Letter of the Week - P (President's Day) - phonics, letters, presidents, colors (we mixed red and blue and got PURPLE), signing..activities - book - President's Day, I SPY, google search (Kaia's says, "goooooooogal").

The Funny Story - Kaia "LOVES" a lot of things these days. We thought she was just in love with her parents for a while since we get a ton of "Love Mommy" and "Love Daddy" but we soon realized that she "love cranes", and "love baskets", and "love Elmo", etc. so we don't feel that special anymore. Anyways, we made our P and discussed past Presidents. She learned "George Wash Clothes" and "George Bushes" and "Ab Linkton". She wasn't really picking up on the Obama conversation we were having so I let it rest. Of course a while later, Kristian walked in the room to check out her work and she held up her "P" and loudly announced that she "Love Obama"...I got a very dirty look and a quick departure from daddy - hehe!!




Wednesday - Shakey Ball Art - color mixing (yellow and blue make green), opposites (high/low, up/down/over/under), signing...activities - dancing, singing, pouring glitter in the carpet...ooops!




Friday - FREE ART FRIDAY - use as many tools as possible to make the biggest mess possible :) SHE LOVED IT! textures, colors, signing, FUN!

Dreaded Belly Shots

Okay, so as much as I am not a fan of the big belly, swollen feet, arms, hands, and puffy face pictures here I am with just a little over a week to go!! This is me at 38 weeks and I included a pic of me at 36 weeks with Kaia. I originally thought it was a 38 week picture but after looking at the date I was wrong so unfortunately it is hard to compare as two weeks makes a big difference at this point (at least that is the lie I keep telling myself). Anyways, enjoy the pics of marsh mellow girl now because soon I hope to be running around the neighborhood with my two monkeys getting this weight off :) :) Just a couple things to note too....I can no longer wear my wedding ring or my watch :( (I wore them both to the end with Kaia) and my feet fit in three pair of shoes right now...so sad!!

38 weeks with Baby Boy


36 weeks with Kaia

I can't even think of a title for this...

We aren't sure when, why, or even how this all began, but Kaia has become anti-pjs in the mornings. She takes them off, goes in her dresser, finds a pair of shoes to put on, finds an accessory like a hat, scarf, or sunglasses, and then dances around in just those items. She likes to say, "assessories" and "fancy nancy" while she is prancing around but I think she forgets that Fancy Nancy also wears clothes under those accessories!! It is so funny and I finally caught her in action this morning!!!!

Her "Favorite"

These days many things are Kaia's "favorite" but she never forgets to tell us that sleeping in "momma's bed" is her favorite. She RARELY gets to but sometimes on Saturday mornings we will get her up early and stick her in bed with us for her to fall back asleep for an hour or two. She gets so cozy that normally we have to wake her back up so she doesn't sleep all day!!! Most of the time, she is not happy about it and not ready to get up!
Case and point....

Helping mom in the kitchen

Kaia loves to help me cook! When I chop veggies, she has to chop too! here she is "cutting" her veggies with her Melissa and Doug cutting set!

Happy Valentine's Day

Kaia had such a great V-Day! First of all, she is ALWAYS happy when "Daddy's home". When he went to get her out of bed, she hugged him and said, "Love Daddy" and followed it up with "Daddy favorite"...she already knows how to completely butter him up (his response was, "Kaia, if you asked me right now, I would probably buy you a mercedes"...luckily she doesn't know what that means yet). We had a yummy breakfast and then Kaia got open her V-day "pesents".





Even more excitement that day...Kaia and Daddy went and met Reese and her daddy at the park for a play date and then the four of them had a special Valentine's lunch at TGI Fridays (and mommy got a 4 hour break :) ). Here she is playing with her new play-dough kit and getting ready to go to the park with daddy!

Oh boy, did she take to this...

Well, the past few weeks I have been trying something new with Kaia. Due to my increasing "mommy guilt" with new baby coming and realizing my one-on-one time with Kaia is about to be drastically cut short, I have started doing a lesson (okay very short lesson followed by a craft, and then finishing it off with a song, book, or something fun in the kitchen to tie it all together) three days a week. I figured something inside (since it is 1000 degrees here in the summer) and something that will "stick" all year round that is just for the two of us.

I knew Kaia would love the book and the song and the dancing, etc. but wasn't really sure about the craft...she likes to color but it lasts for maybe 1 minute so I was hoping this would catch her attention. AND IT DID! Now she wakes up every morning and says, "craft please mommy". She runs downstairs, goes to her art cabinet, and gets so excited when everything is already set up and she sees that we will be doing one that day!!

**Note - I take absolutely NO CREDIT for the creation of these art projects. I use several Mommy inspired websites (see sidebar) that are AMAZING and they lay everything out for you so even if you are the most non-creative person on the planet, you can do this! I have thrown in my own things here and there and modified things to work for Kaia like any mommy would do! They are so fantastic and I am still amazed these ladies do this for free.

Anyways, I have been taking pics of some of her projects and wanted to share how my little Picaso is doing. She has totally embraced this routine and is loving every minute, as am I. It is a far stretch from high school Science and NO I do not think I have a calling to teach preschool as I have just figured out how to let my own child make a mess without freaking out. I just know that this time with my little girl has been so fun for her and extremely special and rewarding for me. She finishes each project with a big hug, arms wrapped so tight around my neck, a kiss on the cheek and a big, "Love Mommy"!!!

She has also decided to LOVE play-dough. I was hesitate to introduce it to her this early as she still puts many things in her mouth but lately that has stopped and she really enjoys the play-dough. It is the perfect activity for us to do while whatever project we were working on is drying. Some of the pics below may feature the play-dough since she always has a big smile while working with it! She does make sure to tell me when I get it out, "Mommy, NO EAT play-dough". I laugh every time because she follows it up with, "Big Trouble"....hmmm, I wonder why she says that to me??

Here is some of her work!!

Project : Lumpy, Bumpy Strawberry (lesson - fruit, colors, textures, signing/craft, book, activity - strawberry smoothie)




Project : Letter of the Week - B (lesson - fruit, letter, phonics, signing/craft, books, song, activity - "I Spy")



Project : Paper Hug (lesson - Valentine's Day, Big/Small, colors, signing/craft, books, song)



Project : Crown of Hearts (lesson - V-Day, textures, colors, signing/craft, books)



Project : Heart Sun Catcher (lesson - V-Day, shapes, colors, textures, signing/craft, books, activity - V-Day cupcakes)



*You'll notice that signing is a part of every lesson. Kaia is actually teaching me the signs I don't know. She constantly signs all her colors, fruits, foods, parts of the house, shapes, etc. and she learned them from the show "Signing Time" so I never picked them up so that part of the lesson is for Mommy. She feels very proud being my teacher! Now that I am all caught up, we are integrating new signs into our lessons...yes, I had to buy a book and the internet has been helpful too :)

Stay tuned for more of our crazy fun!!!

Free give-aways from the Shopping Momma :)

My girlfriend Kate has started this RIDICULOUSLY addicting website of all the great baby finds that she searches out and finds! She is on a roll and already posted so many free give-aways! Her current give-away is from The Nook and the t-shirts are soooo adorable!!! See how to win here!
Another give-away she has is from Little Poppy Shop! These would make such adorable gifts! Check it out and enter to win here!
Here is another one from Kissing Kumquats! How cute are these skirts?? Look here!

A lot of these free give-aways end in less than a week so hurry and check them out!!!!

Baby Boy's nursery is finally ready....

Here is a little peek!! We are ready for the little guy to come home so hopefully in three and half weeks he will be here!

Dancing Queen

Kaia LOOOOOOOOVES to dance!!! She wakes up every morning and says, "momma's room". What does this have to do with dancing? She runs into our room and says, "music, dance, music, dance". We crank up the jams on itunes (she prefers country but will dance to pretty much anything) and she begins her 15-20 minute dancing parade through our bedroom, sitting area and master bath. She grabs my hair brush and swings her arms up and down and goes to town! Our favorite, when the song is over, she shouts a loud, "Yeeeeeeee Haw" and then says and signs, "more pleeeeeease". I'm not really sure how this is going to go over when we have a sleeping infant in the room in a few weeks but I guess we will all have to learn to adjust...stay tuned to see how that works out :)


Here are some pics of her being silly and dancing in the living/kitchen area!!



This video was taken over a month ago, she has added more moves to her bag of tricks these days!!!

We all scream for ice cream...

This was several weeks ago. We had such a good time but are now dealing with Kaia asking for "ice ceem" for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.....ooops!!!

Major Thiele

K pinned on Major at the beginning of Jan. and his "ceremony" was Friday in the bar! Besides Kaia throwing a fit to, "see daddy" (he was 10 feet away from her), it was very special and humorous too! His speech was very moving, in fact, I can remember it word for word...it went something like this, "I just want to thank the United States Air Force for pretty much promoting any captain to major who doesn't have a DUI on his record, thank you Sir and thank you Lesli and Kaia, now let's get drunk". Sounds pretty much like a standard Chop acceptance speech to me!!!
Congrats Babes!

We love you Besten

Kristian's grandfather passed away this past week and we have been reminiscing of all the special stories and memories we have of him. We will miss you Besten!! January 25, 2009




This was in Geilo Norway in April of last year!!