Kyra's Knock Knock Joke

K: Knock knock

C: Who's there?

K: Kyra

C: Kyra who?

K: Kyra who loves her family!

Update

Kyra's culture came back negative so we are going to take the wait and see approach. If she continues complaining we'll take her back in.

Mason has an endoscopy scheduled for January 6th. He will be checked for H. Pylori, celiac disease, acid reflux, and food allergy, along with a couple of other things. The doctor said 12 out of 13 times he finds something, the other 1 time it's a pain that is unexplained.

Valynn is at a sleep over tonight. It's a bittersweet one as Allie is moving the end of January so it'll be her last one at Allie's. Kyleigh is busy being Kyleigh and having fun with her new "trick", turning the TV on and off.

Mark has been home in the afternoons all week. Kids and I are enjoying him being home. Work is going good and we see and end in sight for the semester. We are ready for Christmas, the kids can't wait to open their gifts (I'm excited about mine as well).

We wish every one a Merry Christmas!

Kyra's first day of preschool

I can now officially say I have three kids in school. Wow, where has the time gone? Kyra had a great first day. She was so excited that after they let her out she ran across the grass to get to me instead of following the line of students on the sidewalk. She assures me that she'll stay on the sidewalk next time.

We've been busy here so I haven't had time to post about our weekend. We went to the Johnson's for supper on Friday night. We played bean bags and the kids ran around the house countless times. On Saturday we worked around the house, I cleaned up the kitchen after making spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, and salsa on Friday. We took care of the potatoes and squash from the garden and Mark worked in the garage. We also went uptown for ice cream for the kids' birthdays with money from Grandma and Grandpa Rinkel. On Sunday we went to church and then for supper we met the Bowdoins at a local state park where they were camping for supper. We had grilled hamburgers, YUM, and the kids rode their bikes around the campground. Kyra learned how to ride her tricycle and she's so proud of herself. The kids also went toad hunting, but they didn't find any. On Labor Day we picked apples, sliced a few and froze them and then made applesauce out of the rest. Yesterday I canned 29 pints of applesauce in addition to the 8 quarts we froze.

Kyleigh is starting to talk. She can say hi and bye. The heart melter is when she says "ug" (hug). She'll say "ug" and then come up for a hug.

Kyra's Party

Sorry it's late but here are some pictures from Kyra's Birthday party. Everyone had fun and she got some great gifts. She loved her cake. Kids enjoyed playing outside and running around. We held the party in the new garage so there was plenty of room. That is lasagna on Kyra's face. How do you like the way she blew out her candles?

Saturday Mark and I went vehicle shopping. Sunday we had the Lutheran church picnic. As always the food was fabulous. Monday was spent looking and negotiating on a couple of vehicles. Tuesday Kyra started gymnastics, which she LOVED!! She did a very good job listening, I was a little nervous since it was a new teacher. Mason and Kyleigh had shots after gymnastics. We took Mason back to school, stopped at home for a quick lunch, and then took Kyleigh to the ENT. We are happy to say at this time she doesn't need tubes in her ears. The pressure was normal and her hearing was excellent. He is hoping we are nearing the end of the infections. We follow up in 6 weeks. Keep your fingers crossed. We also found a suburban that we are going to purchase.

Hope all is well, it's a whirlwind of activity here.

Happy Birthday Princess

Princess Kyra is three today. She is having her party tonight, here's her cake!

I also included a picture of the carrots from our garden. The one on the top is the size that you get from the store.
Kyleigh also has another ear infection and is being referred to an ENT. We'll find out the date today.

I think she missed the point

Kyra: I want milk
Mom: How do we ask?
Mason: Milk please?
Kyra: milk please, milk please, milk please, etc? She says this as I'm pouring Mason and myself some milk. She finally stops when I pour her some. Then...
Mom: Valynn would you like some milk?
Valynn: Yes.
Kyra: You have to say MILK PLEASE a lot.

Remember When?

The two of you loved each other so much that you would sleep next to each other? I'm sure I'll be pulling this picture out in the future. They both ended up in our bed this morning and I couldn't resist taking a picture. I was going to take a better one but didn't want to risk waking them.

I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend. Tomorrow Valynn has basketball in the morning. Mark is going to help some friends cut down a tree and then we'll have some wood to burn next winter. I am going on a "Girls Day Out" with the neighbor ladies. Somehow Mark gets out of watching the kids again (the first time we did this the kids were in ND). The neighbor dad is going to watch my four on top of his three. He's a brave brave man, but he volunteered, he's watched the older three before and they were no problem so the only one that could cause any trouble would be Kyleigh.

Have a good weekend all.

I Spy

Why you have trouble playing I spy with a 2 year old

Kyra: Mom let's play I spy.
Mom: OK
K: I spy something orange.
M: Is it the needles on the dashboard?
K: Yeah, I think so, your turn.
M: I spy something green.
K: I spy something black.
M: Is it the road?
K: Yeah, I think so, your turn.
M: I spy something green.
K: I spy something white.

I never did get my turn.

Just when you need...

someplace to put Kyleigh. That spot is already taken.

Kyra's Birthday Party

Kyra had a great time at her party last night. She had a lady bug cake designed and decorated by daddy. The kids played outside and had fun running around. Kyra got a lot of nice gifts from everyone and even this morning can't decide what to play with. All the kids liked the tent/tunnel system.

Valynn had a good first week of school. She likes her teacher and classmates. Unfortunately all three kids picked up colds this week so they aren't feeling 100%.

I have said I can now have the baby any day. We got Kyra's party out of the way and school has started so we're into a routine. The downside of putting the kids to bed early is now they are all up before 6:30, even on the weekends. Tomorrow Valynn starts catechism. Monday all three kids start gymnastics and they are excited for that. Kyra and I both have doctors appointments on Monday as well. It's going to be a busy day.

Kyra's Birthday

Happy 2nd Birthday Kyra. I'm sorry the video is sideways, I can't figure out how to get it upright, but it gives you an idea. She's excited that it's her birthday today. It's so hard to believe that she's 2, where does the time go? Now for my brags about her, she knows most of her colors and shapes. I can't believe how well she talks. She's putting together sentences of 7 words together and using pronouns and tenses correctly most of the time. She recently learned to get her feet off the ground when she jumps and to climb up the ladder on the playset instead of having to use the slide. Yesterday she asked when she gets to go to school, so cute.

We are having her party tomorrow night (if there is no baby).

Thanks Grandma

for brainwashing my one year old.

Kyra: Thank you for the toast grandma.
Valynn and Mason: (laughing) She called you grandma.
Kyra: Grandma mom

I don't know how you did it but you're getting credit for things when you're not even here.

Fun in the sun

It's been an interesting week here. Mark started school, the kids are readjusting to Valynn being home full time, they learned to ride their bikes without training wheels, and I think we have Kyra potty trained. I won't say Kyra is completely trained and I expect some regression, but she's only had two accidents since Monday and last night she slept in her big girl panties and woke up dry. She is still working on the signs for when she has to pee but if I remember to take her every couple of hours she stays dry. Unfortunately I'm bribing her when she has to go pee and the bribe works like this. "Let's go potty and get some candy" "OK mom". After peeing I give her a candy heart, which she takes to Valynn. Valynn puts it in her hand while Kyra gets down on her hands and knees and pretends to be a horse and eat the candy from Valynn's hand. I guess whatever works. Valynn has her dance rehearsal tonight and her recital tomorrow night. She is excited. I posted some pictures of her in her outfit from yesterday. I'll be posting more from the rehearsal. I've also posted pictures of the kids running in the sprinkler with the neighbor kids I watched one morning. It's finally summer here.

Safety Town

I think we are finally over all illnesses here. Today we had a play group at Safety Town. It's a bicycle course designed like roads. There is a bridge and an underpass, stop lights, and one ways. I had forgotten about this place. Mason had a great time and wants to go back. I'm sure Valynn will want to go when she sees the pictures. Kyra had fun riding her bike (tractor) as well. It also wears kids out, Mason and Kyra are napping. Tomorrow night is Valynn's bridging ceremony to Brownies. On Friday she had a field trip to Wildlife Prairie State park.

18 month stats

Here are Kyra's 18 month stats
Weight 21 pounds 6 oz. (10%)
Height 31 1/2 in. (46%)

She is on the small side but considering she hasn't been feeling the greatest for a few weeks now, the doctor isn't too concerned about her weight gain.

Kyra's 18 months

Kyra is 18 months today. Where does the time go? She communicates more everyday. She understands simple directions and likes to be my helper. She is starting to convey her desires, last night she woke up and when I went to see what was wrong she said "mom, dad, night night". I told her that she couldn't come sleep with us and she threw herself down in a tantrum in her crib. She then stood up and asked again, to which I replied no. She threw herself down again and went back to sleep. Yes, this also means she's starting the tantrum phase, which I laugh when she does it because she sticks her head on the ground and her butt in the air. I'll have her 18 months stats in a couple of weeks when she goes in for her check-up.

Uncle Vern

Mark's uncle Vern Rinkel passed away yesterday. We are waiting for details on the funeral to decide if just Mark will go to Minnesota or if we'll go as a family. He was one of Mark's godparents.

I've been meaning to write about this for awhile but kept forgetting.
Mark: "Kyra what are you doing in the tupperware drawer?"
Kyra: "Nofin (nothing)."

Yep, my youngest already knows about trying to deceive her parents. It's her answer for everything.

Kyra's stats

I forgot to include Kyra's 15 month stats.
Weight 20 pounds 2 ounces (11%) (yes cousin Ty had caught up to her in weight)
Height 31 1/2 (82%)

So mom has yet to cook this weekend.....

and supper has been in the fridge since Friday. I pulled out a frozen meal to have on Friday since I was going to be gone all day. Well Friday night we were invited at the last minute to a birthday party for a girl in Valynn's class. She's also the granddaughter of the people we bought our house from. They ordered too much KFC and invited us over to supper. On Saturday we had a housewarming party for the couple across the street and a Alex's birthday, so we got meals at both parties. Tonight we're going over to Brad and Chantel's for supper, hopefully fish that the men are out catching as I'm typing this.
Here is the link to some pictures from last nights birthday party.
I took a picture of Kyra this morning wearing a dress that was one of my favorites on Valynn. I thought it would be fun to compare them. Valynn is the top two and Kyra the bottom two.

It suddenly got very quiet, where's Kyra?

Kyra is 13 months today. This morning she disappeared on me and it got very quiet, when I went to look for her, she was asleep on Mason's bed. I also have pictures of her pushing Valynn and Mason down the hill. They all thought it was great fun. We're busy staining the house (OK, Mark is busy doing that). We had company last night for supper, Chantel and the kids came over after they got home from Tanners, they took Mason with them. We have a busy weekend, tonight is the homecoming football game so we're going to the parade and then to some friends for supper.