HALLOWEEN

Hello All:

It has been awhile. I lost the cord to the camera to download pics and that has been my main delay. So, here I am with a lot of pics to share. I will share a little at a time since I want to focus on each special event in Kiki's life. The pics I am sharing today are from Halloween. Kiki was the cutest little butterfly. She loved her costume so much that it has now been added to her dress up clothes. Last year was her first Halloween and she was not a fan of the whole dress up idea. This year it took all my energy to not let her go to daycare in her costume every day before Halloween. She could not wait to wear the costume in front of all of her friends. I had to hide the costume from her so she would stop asking to put it on each day. She is so funny.

She also loved trick or treating. We worked all week on what to say and she had it down. When we got to the doors she went completely mute, but she had no problem grabbing her candy out of the candy bowl, throwing it in her bag, grabbing her daddy's hand (without saying thank you first) and heading to the next door. Once we got home she ran to the couch and emptied her bag to check out her loot. We were cracking up. Lollipops were her favorites this year. She also loved giving candy out to the trick or treaters. We each had our own baskets for the kids to choose from and she loved that idea. She likes to feel like she is part of the whole thing. I have to say Halloween was a complete success for us this year.

Here are her pics.








Kiki getting ready to go trick or treating.







Kiki playing in the playground after her school's parade.






Kiki pulling her MehMeh out the door to go trick or treating. She was ready to go with bag and all. =)

Best Smile!

In my opinion, Kiki has a smile that lights up a room. It really is the best smile. When she is sad if you ask for smile she will stop her crying to give you the biggest, cheesiest smile and it really just lights up the whole room. I love this kids' smile. Of course I am bias since she is my little princess, but I am sure you will all agree that her smile is the best. I got this smile below because she was so happy to be eating an orange. Look at that great BIG smile. SO CHEESY AND SO CUTE!!! I LOVE IT!!!!

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October Already!

The weeks feel like they are going by slow, but the months are flying by. Does that even make sense? I just cannot believe it is October already. Kiki, Z, and I have been so busy with life and getting things in order of our life that we did not even realize that October appeared. We haven't even gotten our Halloween decorations out yet. I just bought Kiki's Halloween costume last week. She is going to be a butterfly. She LOVES the costume. I will post pics after Halloween.

I must say I do love this time of year. I liked it better when it was cooler out; this hot weather is annoying me. Regardless, I do love the fall. The leaves on the trees are beautiful. The ones on my grass however are annoying. What can you do, it comes with the month. Our neighborhood is full of trees (minus the one that fell on our house this summer) and so the leaves are abundant this time of year. My neighbors and I have sat out and complained about it together while we are spending our free time cleaning them all up. The good thing is that Kiki has her own rake and she loves to rake leaves. She doesn't get much, but she has a lot of fun.

Well those are my thoughts on October.

DINNERS

The hardest thing about going back to work is getting on a schedule and getting dinner made. We keep saying we are going to stop ordering out, but dinner time comes and nothing is ready to be cooked. So, we end up ordering out. We try to plan, but that is useless as well. WE HAVE TO GET BETTER AT THIS!!!! It is something we struggled with last school year and again are struggling with it. In the summer this was not a problem. I was on such a good schedule. KiKi and I would play all day and by 4 I would begin prepping dinner while she played. Now I get home at 4 and need to settle in before I can even think about prepping. I know I should be planning the night before, but by the time Kiki gets to bed I am exhausted and still have papers to grade. So what do I do? I grade for a little bit and go to bed to get up the next morning and start all over again. It is CRAZY. So my weekend work is to figure out a way to get better organized during the school year. I need to get better at this.

Swim Lessons Again

Well Kiki and I stared swim lessons again, but now we are taking them on Saturdays. The good thing about that is now her daddy can come with us. I think she really enjoys having both of us with her in the pool. She likes being handed off from one to the other during different activities. She is so cute. When she woke up this morning we mentioned the swim lessons and she was so excited. After breakfast we got her ready and she did the Kiki happy dance (clapping, squealing, and turning around). By the time we got to the pool she was ecstatic. The class is only 30 minutes, but that is long enough in the pool at her age. I am enjoying the classes as much as her. What a great family activity.

The Job

Thanks everyone who commented about the job situation. I am still adjusting. It has been harder than I ever anticipated. I know eventually it will all work out, but right now I am still stressed out about the whole situation. I am also still second guessing the whole thing, but now I am stuck. As of right now I am still on a mission to stay at home while Kiki is growing up. I would like to return to teaching once Kiki and any other children we may have are in school themselves. At that point I think I will be ready to teach again and be able to focus. Who knows.

Crazy Hair Day

Kiki's daycare had crazy hair day on Thursday, 8/28/08. When I went to pick her up her hair was fantastically crazy. She looked like a WHO. I was cracking up. The amazing thing is that when I put something in her hair she takes it out right away. For them she kept her crazy hair in all day. As soon as we got in the car she tried to take out all of the hair bands. I convinced her to keep them in until we got home and I got some pictures of her. She cooperated with me, and I was so happy. As soon I got finished taking the pics she pulled them all out.

Here are the pics!




Doesn't she look SO CUTE?!?!?!