Good ol' days

There's a quote out there that goes something like,
I wish there was a way to know you're in the good ol' days 
Before you've actually left them.

Wow, such a heavy feeling of regret contained within those words. So many precious moments that were allowed to casually slip into darkness. How sad if we let those words be true in our lives.

Not here! I know we're living the good ol' days! I breathe it and live it every day. I have my youth, my health, my energy. I have a job I love, a wonderful husband and father to my girls, and the memories of today. These are all things that are not promised to us tomorrow.

These are the good ol' days. 

Because I have two little girls that,
Love to be around me
Like to hold my hand
Want me to kiss their boo-boo's
Like lots of hugs and kisses when we say good-bye
Want to sit on my lap
Love lots of long cuddles in bed
Want help with their shoes. Their shirts. Their bath. Their coats. Their drinks. Their toys.
Want to be like me.

These are the good ol' days. 

Because these are the days when,
The day's toughest problem is losing a pet fish
A drink of water can take away the tears
Turning everything into a song is standard and being silly is expected
Playing chase in the house is all we need to end up piled on the floor laughing
A penny ride on the Meijer horse is bribery enough for good behavior
Birthday and Christmas shopping are easy, and cheap
Bath time with your sister is fun
Babysitters are cool, and so are Grandpa and Grandma

These are the good ol' days.

I can hold you on my lap on the floor, rocking back and forth, stroking your hair and humming a song and the world's problems melt away, for both of us.

These are the good ol' days and I'm holding on to them tightly! I don't want them to slip through my fingers! So today I play harder, laugh more, hug tighter, gaze deeper, sing louder, run faster, skip higher, spin faster, cuddle longer, love deeper.

These are the good ol' days. Tonight. Tomorrow. The day after. And the day after that. I will not let these good ol' days go.

55 days

We're 55 days into the school year, or something close to that, according to Kayla. This week was parent-teacher conferences and report card week at school which meant four half-days of school - for all of us! We had a fun week with lots of friend play dates, putting up Christmas decorations, attending conferences... In Kayla's words, and I quote, "This is such a special day for me!"

 Kayla gets herself up and out of bed, dressed, bed made, and hair done ALL BY HERSELF every morning!

 A room full of 6 year olds is just too cute

 I got to spend a day in Kayla's classroom helping 25 kids make red and yellow hand prints on the front and back of their field trip t-shirts. They turned out so cute, and we ALL had fun! 

(Although, as it turns out, standing hunched over a table for four hours really hurts your back, which you won't really notice until 8 hours later which, at that time, you won't be able to move)

 We love Mrs. Raymo! A person who spends their day with 25 non-stop moving, talking, energetic, inquisitive 6 and 7 year olds is AMAZING! AND and and she's a full-time working mom of FIVE kids AND has an air cast on now too!

 One of our play dates - we invited Madison, Marisa and Addison over for the afternoon! 

 We ate lunch, made a Thanksgiving Day owl craft, watched a movie (actually two), played outside, made cookies and had hot chocolate and popcorn. They had a great time! I think Madison and Marisa are happy to be around only girls for once and not their three older brothers. They also LOVE Khloe which I figured out is because it's (finally!) someone smaller than them that they can easily love on and shower with attention!

Kayla is thriving and excelling in school. It's a blessing to have a child that not only does well in school, but loves school. She never complains about school, homework, her teacher or classes.

In first grade there are only two subjects for which kids progress is tracked - reading/writing and math. Kayla excels in math and has passed all of her math tests with 100%. But where Kayla truly excels is reading. When Kayla tested into first grade she was already at the end of a first grade reading level. Now, just 55 days later, she is testing at the end of a 2nd grade level!  It's amazing to hear her read chapter books and difficult books so fluently! She passed level 7 of 9 levels of spelling words (most kids in her class are at level 4) and once she passes level 9 Mrs Raymo will move her into 2nd grade spelling word lists. We are quite proud, but not as surprised. Kayla is a very focused, driven, independent girl who loves to give her best to everything she does.

Well, after a great conference, the reward for all this hard work was a trip to Chuck E. Cheese! Kayla was SOOOOOO excited for this and Khloe jumped right on that bandwagon. Khloe was excited for "Chuck E Cheezit's" too! We had a great family night spending 50 tokens playing every game!

 Haha! Wrong way!

The evening's Person of Honor

Thanks for taking us all to Chuck E Cheese Kayla! It was a great night celebrating your achievements! 

Kohlee happenings

Pretty bath girl!

Kohlee is our fun-loving, sweet, super silly, spark plug of the family! She has lots of spontaneous chants she busts out with while she constantly marches and runs around the house. all. day. long. The latest is "Kohlee Kohlee Kohlee Faust!" but her more standard chant is "Tikky bird, Tikky bird, Tikky bird, Go State!"

This week we started potty boot camp complete with new underwear, princess pull-ups, a basket of books, movies and a bowl of suckers for bribery. I think we've got it all covered! Wish us luck!

Full fun weekend

We invited one of Kayla's closest friends, Abby, over to spend the day with us on Saturday and to spend the night. This was Abby's first "friend" sleepover! They are two peas in a pod and just don't stop being silly or laughing the entire time their together. They have a unique and special friendship that I hope lasts a very long time!

First we went to the Pine River Nature Center to watch the Bat Conservation's "nocturnal animal" program. We got to see a flying squirrel, a big brown bat and a fruit bat and a great horned owl. Then we played outside for hours jumping in piles of leaves that Daddy was making, did 'make your own taco' night, had hot cocoa and watched a movie with popcorn..... whew!

Kayla got to go up front because she guessed the presenter's "camouflage" question right

 Big brown bat, Michigan's largest bat

Fruit bat, not native to Michigan

There aren't too many girls more silly than them, and don't you think they kind of look like sisters?!

Then on Sunday, Kayla performed in her first Flicker Talent gymnastics show at Flames. It was a 1.5 hour show watching Kayla's latest skills on the floor, bars, beam and vault that Kayla's grandparents got to experience too! Thanks for coming to support Kayla!

 One handed cartwheel

 Roundoff

 Backbend into a bridge

 Handstand

Roundoff dismount off the beam

Two teeth gone and a medal. WAY TO GO Kayla!

419

So excited to share our family photos with everyone! We had a wonderful time with a new photographer/friend/neighbor who spent an hour with us in our backyard woods. I thought the weather was going to be more miserable than it was, but it turned out not so bad. And doesn't the blanket just make the photos?! I'm so excited about how the photos came out with it! I came across that blanket by accident in my mom's garage the day before our photos. I screamed when I saw it, I need this! My mom reminded me that my Grandma made it which makes it even that more special for our photos.

http://419photography.myfotojournal.com

The name of Colleen's photography business is fournineteen, which also happens to be Khloe's birthday. She has a unique and touching story to share that brought me to tears the first time I read it; I encourage you to read it too.

http://419photography.com/index2.php?v=v1

Sweetie

Khloe lined up all her animals on the chair, covered herself and them up with a blanket and said "Mama, take my picture!"

Other Khloe-isms:

- Kayla's in my spot! 

- Hmmmmm, let me see here.

- No worries, be happy!

- I'm really really really cold. Or I'm really really scared. Or, the best one yet I'm really really really really really starvin'. 

- That's not fair! complete with a "humpfff", folded arms and a pout-y bottom lip.

- Nanny nanny boo boo! Too slow! If we can't pick up on what she's saying.

- Mama, what you dream about?

- Whatcha doin, Kayla? 

- I do jimmy-nack-nack. (Gymnastics)

- Lately she enjoys telling us what her favorite things are, like Dada, those green ones are my favorite or My new bunny is my favorite. 

-Go green, go white!

- And our favorite, I luff you Mama and I luff you Dada.

- And just to throw in something from Kayla too: Are there thieves in our land?

Another one bites the dust

Less than one week later!

The tooth goes in this pillow, Sheri's tooth fairy pillow from when she was little. The pillow goes either under her pillow on her nightstand beside her.

 And then the tooth fairy brings her cash, another $3!

My, this new look makes her seem like she's growing up so fast.

And just because this never happens, falling asleep in the car in the middle of the day, I had to snap this picture. She might not like me much for this one day.