India

DSC02678, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

every history lesson is pretending you are traveling to a different country. its really fun and i've, i mean the girls, have learned a lot! after the lesson, they have a craft. this was use Indian spices to decorate your pictures. they are still hanging up....for a few days it smelt like our favorite indian resturant. of course, we had to go out to indian food for history's sake.

when i started the lesson, i said to halle, what is different about my cooking then indian food (answer i was hoping for was the spices)...halle's answer, "indian food is so good i can't stop eating it"

kiki cooking

DSC02675, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

"mama, take a picture of me cooking. i'm doing a really good job."

(one of kiki's classic outfits!)

pepper

DSC02461, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

halle has been begging me to take a picture of them with pepper and frame and hang it up in the house. wow, for not being a dog person, i've sure done some things i'm embarrassed about....not to mention the pink shirt pepper had to wear to halle's birthday party so she would match the pink and black color scheme of the party.....

as christmas approaches, the girls talk a few times a day of what we are going to get pepper for christmas. they are going to freak out when i actually fill a stocking up for her and they find it on xmas morning. i'm excited to see how happy that will make them! well, i agreed that they could get pepper a sweater for xmas. they are trying to talk me into getting her boots. i dont' know if i can go that far.....

pepper's birthday is jan. 2nd. as the days get closer to her party, it becomes more and more involved and detailed. halle can really fixate on a topic and talk and talk and talk to me and lynn and cashiers and anyone else who will listen to her plans for pepper's party. so far, we need to send out invitations to other friends that have dogs and pepper's neighborhood dog friends. we need to get dog treats and plates and a cat pinata, ect , ect....i'm sure i'm forgetting things....but stay tuned for pictures from pepper's party in a couple months, because of course, i am going to throw pepper an amazing party. not because i've grown AT ALL attached to pepper or that i yell at her any less or that she drives me any less crazy, but because i know that halle and kiki are totally counting on it and will FREAK out when it actually happens!

primary program!

DSC02499, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

last sunday was the primary program for church. the kids got to do all the speaking and singing for the church meeting. pretty much the best sunday of the year! this was kiki's first year to be in it. she (and halle, of course) were soooo excited to get to talk into the microphone in front of everyone! we practiced their parts till they memorized them. i need to get a video of it because it was just so cute.
kiki got to go first, she did a scripture from the book of mormon:
2nd Nephi, chapter firty (30) - two, verse free (3) says, feast upon the words of Christ, for behold ...will tell you all things that ye should do.
she left a couple words out, but was so proud of herself!

halle's part:
i know the scriptures are true, and in the scriptures we learn that God commanded his people to build temples. the pioneers worked hard and sacrificed to build temples. there are now 135 operating temples and 11 under construction.

halle felt really good about herself for memorizing that and has been wanting to memorize poems and stuff ever since.

i planned a treasure hunt for the kids to do for sharing time after the program. the treasure was a big box of candy! then we stuck feathers taped to tooth picks in a pumpkin with a turkey head. came out cute and all the kids had to say something they were thankful for.

hello kitty bday

DSC02476, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

coolest cake ever!
halle designed this cake. she described every last detail of it to lynn. "i want a road, and grass, with sprinkles in the grass and on the side. flowers, purple and pink, ect, ect, ect.....
new details kept coming up day after day, till finally i told halle, lynn is going to do your cake the best she can, but dont' be disappointed if it isnt' everything you have in your head, cuz she can't read your mind.
when halle saw the cake she was totally freaking out...."its exactly what i wanted!!!" down to every last detail! thanks, lynn! this was one awesome and totally unique cake!

utah trip!

DSC02347, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

this is from the church history museum in salt lake. we spent a lot of time dancing! this was really fun, i danced quite a bit too. look at tom in his little vest, always knew there was a little latin in him somewhere.

yestarday at the good will kiki found a brand new mini backpack, hello kitty and asked if we could get it for halle for xmas. we did, very sweet.

i told kiki a while ago i wanted slippers for xmas. yestarday at the goodwill i found some and put them in the cart. kiki said , mom, can those be from me? i'll get them for you for xmas!

yestarday halle told me she had $5 left from her birthday money. then she said, i need to get something for you, daddy and kiki, so how much can spend on each of you? really sweet. she has some things hidding in her room that she bought at a neighbors yardsale for kiki and lucy. don't know how they got so sweet sometimes!

at the neighborhood halloween party there was a costume contest. halle and kiki got judged and lost. when they came over to me, of course i was shocked they didn't win (hello? shouldn't the cutest kids win?!?!) so i said to halle, you should have won, your costume was the best. (i was thinking halle was going to be very disappointed) but she just said to me, "can i go tell the girl who won, 'good job', she has a pretty costume?".......ok, whos kid is this?!?!?!?

halle said, how come kiki has a nickname and not me? i said, pick a nickname. she said ok, call me freckles! (halle btw, loves the few freckles she has across her nose!)

halle, "mommy, when my two front teeth fall out will they grow in bigger?"
me, "yes, much bigger."
halle, "do you think the space between my two front teetch will close up?"
me, "yeah, it probably will."
halle, "oh, no!!! i love that space. its so cute!"

kiki likes to crawl in my bed in the morning and snuggle for a little bit. then halle gets up and sees us together. halle's not a nighttime snuggler, so never cares, but out of principle one day, she got in my bed early one morning and beat kiki there. when kiki got up and found us together. she was so jealous! usually the girls are so spoiled with my attention that they dont' get jealous of one another but kiki has pushed halle off my lap since the day she was born, so she was in disbelief. about 10 min later watching cartoons i saw her having a very grumpy look on her face. whats wrong , i asked. kiki said, i'm still sad i saw halle in your bed this morning.

lynn has been halle's primary teacher all year. they got halle's class a new teacher a few sundays ago. halle cried that night. halle really loves lynn.

trip to utah

DSC02418, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

it will take me a long time to post and talk about all the pictures from our amazing trip to utah. i'll have to jsut do one now and then. we had a three week trip to utah in sept. tom came for the middle part of the trip. it was our best trip yet. always funner and funner as the girls get older. this year we went camping at the anderson's cabin. it was sooo awesome. this picture is of the kids after they had collected bullet shells and halle told everyone to collect flowers, uses the shells as vases and make a flower shop. it was so cute to see all the kids playing together, they had the best time together.


this week we started doing novemeber/thanksgving crafts for school. we are excited for the leaves to start falling so we can make some more colleges. the weather has been so nice, high of about 70, so perfect weather for playing outside. makes it hard to get too much school work done during the day. pepper is so spoiled with a walk in the morning with lynn, me, and the girls and then we all play outside after school at 4 adn then another walk after dinner. the girls love being outside and we LOVE teh weather here in GA!

yestarday kiki's training wheels broke, so i taught her how to ride a two wheeler. just gave her a push and off she went, she is sooo proud of her self and has been telling everyone she can ride a two wheeler now!

last week we were supposed to have Asian week for history. well, we didn't get anything done out of our actual books, but we did manage to make egg drop soup, fried rice, won tons, egg rolls, and egg fo young. the girls had fun helping me make it all and halle kept saying, we shoudl move to china so we can eat this everyday... cooking school, what the girls call it....is a major emphais in our homeschool curriculum...hahaha....that and a heavy focus on PE and recess!!

halloween

halloween, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

halloween weekend started on friday with free pumpkin pancakes for kids at IHOP. we went with lynn, ally's family and another family from church. you did not have to dress up, but since the girls slept in their costumes, of course we all ended up dressed up. it was great because after we needed to run to walmart , lynn went off with all the kids and being by myself in costume, i had hopes of ending up on the people of walmart.com....

after school, all the kids got dressed up and we went to stevie B's pizza, kids eat for a dollar if they are dressed up. and then we went straight to a fall festival at the park. it was so fun, bounce houses , carnival games, and even a haunted hayride that had james and adam on the floor of the hayride curled up in fetal postition.
on saturday, tom watched all the kids so me and lynn could go yardsale shopping. we got lots of cool stuff for the kids for xmas.
that evening we all got dressed up again for the church fall festival.

on monday, we made a haunted dinner and had some friends come over. i took some cute pictures..mummy dogs, cauliflower brains, monster bread, rat meatloaf and develed egg eye balls. kiki was so grossed out, she could not bring herself to eat anything but mummy dogs. then we went trick or treating. we live in a great neighborhood for trick or treating. everyone goes at the same time and its in the middle of nothing so their's no cars in the streets. the kids were so excited running from house to house. kiki kept telling me the whole time how much she loved this holiday. second only to xmas. then back to the club house for a party, back home to make some candy trades between the kids and off to bed.
it was a fun night and a dream come true to spend it with the mays. last year at this time, i was thinking , "next year, we'll be with the mays"......everything is funner with cousins!

girls night

DSC01932, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

can't remember if i ever posted pics from the last couple girls pj parties we've had. they have been tons of fun. the girls are begging for another one, so i'm sure i'll do it soon. check out the makeup on the girls!!!

sweet things i saw halle do this week:
when i was cutting kiki's hair she picked some hair off the ground and put it in a little jewelry box on kiki's shelf and showed kiki later how she saved some of her hair.
while the girls were sitting in the bath, while it was filling, kiki was sitting furthest from the faucet and was sooo cold. halle was filling a bucket with the warm faucet water and dumping it on her legs over and over, saying, i'll warm you up, i'll warm you up.
at the neighborhood yardsale, the day after halle's bd party where she had gotten some money. she told kiki , lucy and lily to pick something out at the neighbor's sale that they wanted and she would buy it for them, which she did.

she got two sets of earrings in her grandma's bd package. without even a hesitation, she told kiki, you can have a pair. i told her that was something only Jesus would do and very few people. i could tell it made her feel very good inside.

she got a few boxes of candy for her birthday and every time she takes some out i know she pours a handful of it in kiki's hand, even if i'm far off and not even paying attention, she is more generous then i would ever ask of her.

quick stories

two funny things happened yestarday. i want to start writing down the funny day to day things the girls say so i don't forget. i got one from each.
at the store i told halle to think of something she wanted for me to make for dinner this week. halle describes the perfect dinner, enough to make me drool.....chicken , stuffing, mashed potatoes, and GRAVY (last thanksgiving was the first and last time halle had gravy and she fell in love, to put it mildly, she was drinking it like it was soup, saying whats this called again. oh, gravy, i love it soooo much)....so i buy all the ingreidents, she holds the gravy packets the whole time at the store and in the car.....we make the dinner, it takes like an hour, when its all ready i say, what do you want on your plate..."just gravy, in a bowl"....i explain why you can't just eat gravy. ok, so she eats it on mashed potatoes and asks for more gravy a couple times....kiera just had chicken, dipped in bbq sauce.....so i had to ask, "halle, why did you pick this dinner and then not even really eat it." halle, "i really just wanted the gravy and i don't really even like stuffing, but wanted to shove it up the chicken's butt"...yeah, thats a quote.....

a few days ago i switched all the girls' summer clothes out for their winter stuff. kiera looked through the boxes of hand me downs and took all the size 4 shirts and most of the size 5 stuff, so in the end, her drawers were full. this morning they went to get dressed and i hear kiki crying in her room saying she has nothing to wear. i keep saying, just find something, i know you have clothes, but she keeps on crying. i go in to see what the problem was. "kiki, you have tons of clothes, what are you talking about?" kiki says, "i can't wear this stuff, i need dresses!".....so i go get her a fancy winter church dress to wear today. but i don't really have winter play dresses, the way i have little summer play dresses that she wore everyday since spring. so i look at tom and say, you know what i'm going to end up doing for her.....pulling back out her summer dresses and letting her wear them with leggings and shirts underneath.....i can't stand the thought of her not feeling feminine and like a beauty queen everyday, so, thats exactly what i did, and she was sooo happy to have all her summer dresses back......and while out walking pepper this evening, a random neighbor said to me, don't you think its too cold out for her to be wearing that?......well, since i went through this dresses only phase with halle, i know i am going to be hearing that ALOT this winter!

mexican resturant

DSC01999, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

i put out chips and salsa for the kids with their dinner. they were so happy that it was like a mexican returant. everything is funner with the mays! halle had to get out a paper pad to take orders and helped me get everyone's plate just how they wanted it and handed them out. halle loves anything pretend!

today is halle's birthday! she is 6. in my head that number means they go from toddler to child. she is defenitly not a toddler anymore. she is so helpful and sweet i couldn't imagine not being able to spend all day with her.
tom didn't have to go to work till 4 today so it worked out perfect that he got to spend the day with us. we got up early and went to IHOP, halle's favorite resturant...i was a little dissappointed about her selection, not my favorite place, but oh well, they got their free balloons, so it made it all worth it. then, in tradition, we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins. then i saw they were tripple the price of the grocery store and said for them each to pick out a "baby" pumpkin. they were happy to get a little baby and then we went to to the store to get some big mamas. then we took halle to the shoe store where we got her heels last year for xmas to pick out new heels since she grew out of the xmas ones. then we came home and carved the pumpkins, cooked the seeds, made cinnamon rolls and had them for lunch along with the seeds. then we watched annie, one of halle's favorite movies. tom asked if this was what it was like to be a stay home at mom. i said, yeah, its awesome, isn't it? he said yeah. and was really jealous. it was a good day, everyday is pretty good though....then we did an hour of school work till the boys got home form school. then played with them the rest of the day.
halle had a very happy birthday! pictures from her party are coming!

so happy!

DSC02110, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

so happy about her birthday party! i love this picture, she was soooo excited!!!

doggie tricks

DSC02123, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

lynn did doggy tricks with the kids. tell them to do something, sit, shake, and give them a dog bone shaped cookie! it was so cute! the kids loved it!

the cake

DSC02125, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

better shot of the cake!!! it was awesome! lynn's amazing!

weird face

DSC02127, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

i guess when your sooo happy , your face can actually start to look like its in pain.....
check out the sparklers on the cake!
lynn made the cake, it was amazing! kiki loved it and loved this moment of being the center of attention!!!

pepper

DSC02130, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

what would a pet party be without our pepper. everyone took their turns torturing pepper and lily of course took the longest most torturing turn!

look at this girl!

DSC02131, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

she is so stinkin' cute! i can't believe she is 4. i'm glad she still acts like my baby!

party pics

DSC02133, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

celebrating birthday's with the may's has made this a year we'll never forget! check out those cat ears. its amazing what you can do with felt and hot glue!

kiki's party

DSC02136, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

more pics from the party! we had dinner and junk food! then cake and ice cream!

littlest pet shop!

DSC02138, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

kiki had a great party. i'm glad she picked littlest pet shop. so cute to play all animal games!

dance party

DSC02142, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

whats a party without dancing!

4 years old!

DSC02143, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

shreya gave her that shirt for her bday. kiki of course had to rip off the shirt she had on and put this on!

kiki's birthday

DSC02148, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

we did the fishing pole game. for prizes. all animal related games....to go with the pet shop theme. notice the animal ears

work horse

DSC02151, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

will tom ever say no to them....not likely....

first day

DSC02152, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

first day going to the park! you can see how excited all the kid were!!! thats our hotel in the background and the boat taking us to the park! if you stay at universal's hotels you get fast passes for all the rides. we really made the most of our trip not having to wait in any lines. it was awesome! only the best for our hero, jeff!

lucy missed her daddy

DSC02155, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

lucy was so excited to have her daddy with us!
kiki's hair........yikes
i was trying to lean out of the picture....now i just look odd.
on the boat ride to universal!

kiki's birthday

kiki got to celebrate her birthday at universal studios. what a cool birthday! i brought her presents there to open that morning. she was so happy!

its pictures like this that are deceiving about kiki's hair. somehow it looks so soft and flowing.....scroll down to see what it looks like more often.

universal studios

DSC02164, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

this is adam's birthday. he got the costume that morning. of course, everyone at the park called him harry, someone even asked if they could take a picture with him. thrilling!!! he really does look the park and act it!
universal studios with the may family was amazing! in march we took the boys with us, so they had fun telling their dad what they had done before!
they sell those hair wraps at the park for $3 an inch. i did them for the girls before we left. they were so cute!
it was a very hot trip, we wore our bathing suits and cover ups the whole time and stoped at the water areas to keep cool! the curious george water area is sooo fun!

dolphins

DSC02167, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

more from sea world....
this is a good picture of kiki's hair in its natural state. a big ratty mess. this is why when she asked me to cut it a couple months ago, i nearly got emotional. finally the day had arrived when i would never have to deal with her rats nests again! pictures to come, its so cute in a bob!

summer of fun

DSC02180, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

we had the best summer. oh course the highlight was jeff being home. this is our trip to sea world! the kids had the best time! we had to go in aug. though and it was sooo hot.

tampa

DSC02184, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

while jeff was here we took a trip to the beach. off of tampa. it was awesome. got a hotel so close to the beach! we had the best time.

no weight limit

DSC02192, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

yup, once again, the only two adults on the ride....that and lazer tag....

go karts

DSC02197, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

tom loved having jeff around before he left and for the couple weeks he was here. another adult sized kid. i wish he could have been here this year!

the biggest kids

DSC02198, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

tom and jeff both had to get the unlimited wristbands at johnny Gs. they did the go karts about 20 times taking turns with all the kids, till they were sick and couldn't do it anymore.

posers

DSC02204, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

this is way back from when jeff got to come home for a couple weeks. of course we went to our favorite fun center, johnny G's. the girls love to dance on the random table that is there. i love how they have taught lucy to pose this year.

Q&A

saw on a friends blog. so i copied.

interview with kiki

what is your fav food: pizza
what do you want to be when you grow up: a rock star
what is your favorite movie: snow white
what is your favorite book: tom thumb
who is your best friend: lucy
what makes you happy: you (meaning me, of course!)
what makes you sad: when lily hit me.
what if your favorite animal: pepper
what is your favorite song: everybody dance now
favorite vacation: going to UT
what are you excite about: going to grandma's house
favorite thing to do: "play with you"
what are you good at: doing school

interview with halle:

favorite food: ice cream
favorite song: on top of old smokey (the crude, i shot my poor teacher version)
what are you good at: playing nice
best friend: "you" (me again!
what makes you sad: when anybody's being mean to me
what makes you happy: "you" (best mom ever, i guess)
favorite vacation: universal studios
favorite book: blame game, berstein bears
favorite movie: annie
favorite thing to do: play with pepper, can we please stop. (typical halle and her 2 min attention span)

Fall

this is the earliest fall has come to GA. and by fall, i mean it cools down a little at night and in the mornings (the days are still pretty hot), but today its clouded over and breezy and nice. we've had the windows open all day. today the girls have played outside in the backyard since 10am, and from 9-10 we went for a bike ride. so now its 4:30....i'm thinking its time to say come in but i mentioned it a while ago and the girls looked like they were shocked and disappointed....really 8 hours isn't long enough. luckily the neighbor kids are homeschooled too, so they have been outside all day. set up an adoption center wtih all their baby dolls, pretty fun day. i've been cleaning up inside and getting ready for our trip, got a lot done. not a typical day for us. we usually wait till 4 when the cousins get home from school and play outside till evening.

we've been in somewhat of a scheduale....which is different for us. we get up, eat, and do school stuff for one hour. then when lynn gets done dropping the boys off at 9am, we all go for a walk/run and then excercise in lynn's drive way. kiera and halle ride their bikes or halle rides in the power wheels car. then we come back to the house and do more school work. take a break, do more work, take a break , do more work, and then we just hang out.

homeschool so far has been so fun. it hasn't really changed my life or days very much. i am used to spending the day with the girls playing, reading and doing crafts. that is pretty much kindergarten in a nutshell....we got a free curiuclum from the online program k12. they sent us 3 huge boxes of books, counting blocks, science stuff, globes, cds, ect. the subjects are really fun. the history book is just full of fun stuff... "visiting" each country. coloring flags, watching stories online from that country. listening to music form that country, reading story books....the girls love it. language arts is reading a story, usually a classic, then they sent a book of crafts to go along with the story and then act it out. . science is fun, lots of activities. tom is doing that with them. and then of course, math, phonics, handwritting. social studies, health, i think thats it. no one complains , they both love it. kiera is doing the first half of the math and phonics books. it was stuff me and halle have already done. kiki loves feeling like a big girl. she also does puzzles at the table when i need to do something with just halle, halle is in awe everyday at how that could be at all fun to do, but kiki loves it.

we are in a homeschool group. it is like brownies, but called keepers. like brownies with religion (gotta love the south, everything gots a little bible mixed in). the girls love it. there are about 50 young girls (age 5-12) in the group. they meet every other week. and do crafts , a skill and learn a value.

the girls started gymnastics this month too. they love it. kiki keeps telling me, "its so much funner then ballet" i think the girls are too active to do ballet and don't like being told how to dance. they do that every day their own hip hop style.

i need to do another post about how our summer was. maybe tonight. it was a great summer, the funnest i've ever had, so i want to write it all down so i don't forget it.

baby pepper

DSC02221, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

we just can't get enough of pepper. okay, i can, but the girls can't. she makes me crazy on a daily basis. i actually had to get rid of the other puppy, dezzy. the two dogs together was too much for me. and no one really liked dezzy anyways. but pepper is just the sweetest thing ever and the girls love to baby her!

hair wraps

DSC02211, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

i put hair wraps in the girls hair before our trip to universal studios. its 3 bucks an inch there, so cheap mom saves the day again. the girls loved them, got tons of compliments on them which made them love them even more. they were cute, with charms hanging off them too!

save me!

DSC02222, originally uploaded by Our Little One.

poor pepper. she just get so much love! playing "going to the vet" is old favorite of the girls.