Today was Kaydee's last day of preschool.  It was a VERY sad day.  Many many tears were shed.  (And not just by Kaydee....)  She loves school and she ADORES Miss Lisa (I think the feeling is mutual).  They had such a fun school year.  Kaydee learned so much and truly blossomed.  I don't know who was more sad, me or Kaydee.  We were so impressed with Winder FUMC Preschool.  Abby will definitley be attending soon.  And hopefully Miss Lisa will still be teaching because she is AWESOME!!!!!  Thank you for a great year---we love  you! :-)

See the May 2009 Media Gallery for all the pictures....

I am going to copy Dana and have a 3-in-1 post.

1.  It's been super hot here and the pool didn't open until Saturday, so we got the sprinklers out last week and the girls had a blast playing in the water.  Abby is much more brave about getting wet and having water in her face than Kaydee is. I had to keep my eye on Abby, though.  She kept sneaking up to the house and turning the water on high and then I would get wet.  Little stinker.

2.  Kaydee had her last preschool field trip today to Fort Yargo.  She had a great time running and playing with all of her friends.  Of course, I thought it was a little lame that all they did was play on the playground.... But the kids had a great time.  I took a bazillion pictures of Kaydee and her friends---they were so funny posing and wanting their pictures taken.

3.  Today was KINDERGARTEN Registration!!  I can't believe KD is old enough to go to Kindergarten next year!!  I laughed at her "screening"--they asked her to count to 10 (she can count to 100), she had to recognize 8 colors & 5 shapes, recognize numbers 1-5 (seriously???) and recognize at least 10 letters.  One of the questions they asked was, "Do you like to pretend to read books?"  She said, "No, I like to read them myself." Ha ha!!  I hope she's not bored in Kindergarten.....

There are lots of pictures in the May Media Gallery :)

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms I know!! Especially MY MOMMY and MOMMY 2 (mother in law).  I LOVE YOU!!!!!

I must start this blog by saying how much I LOVE my girls---Kaydee and Abby are truly my greatest blessings.  I am so happy that I'm a mom!!

For Mother's Day Shane took us all out to dinner (Sat night) to Chili's'---Abby ate (and loved) the jalepenos.  Crazy kid.  Kaydee bought my gift at the Tractor Supply Store.....I was a little worried until I opened it and found a NEW PURSE!  It's even pink with suede handles and I L*O*V*E it!!!  She knows me so well.  She also bought me a stuffed dog:  Kaydee has a "Lovey Bunny"--it's a small stuffed bunny that I "fill up" with hugs and kisses every night, so when Kaydee gets scared or lonely during the night she can get some of Mommy's "lovies" from the bunny.  Well, Kaydee thought that I  needed a "lovey doggy"---so she got me a stuffed dog that she "filled up" with hugs and kisses so I can sleep with it and have "Kaydee lovies" all night long.  Rather sweet, I thought.  She also made me two hand-print pictures---one from school & one from church.

I also got a bouquet of flowers from Abby (she picked a bunch of dandelions at church today) and Shane got me a Mrs Fields cookie recipe book and a book by Dr Laura Schlessinger called "In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms". 

On a side note everything we planted in our garden has shot up with all the rain we've gotten!! Kaydee was excited to see the beans and corn she'd planted.  YAY!! :-)

We've just returned from a whirlwind trip to the north.....Now we need a vacation from our vacation!!  We spent four days in the car but got to see lots of family, so it was worth it.  We drove to WV on Wednesday, then to Ohio to visit Gammie & Grandma Sara on Thursday.  The best part of the trip was meeting up with Chantele, Addie, and Isaac for a picnic in Rocky Gap State Park in Maryland on Friday.  We had a picnic lunch and the kids played....it was fun!  The day started out cold and rainy, but the sun came out and it turned out to be a beautiful day.

I think Abby's favorite day was Saturday when she didn't have to ride in the car (except for a five minute ride to Big Lots....and she got a new ball & a Barbie out of the deal so I guess it was worth it).

Kaydee got to play with MeeMa's Wii---she is quite the Wii bowling pro.  (And she didn't hesitate to tell you how good she was either!) 

 There are a LOT of pictures (and I didn't even upload half of them!!).  Pictures are in the April 2009 album. :-)

Our biggest news is that we have a new (extended) family member---baby Isaac was born on Friday the 13th to Aunt Chantele & Uncle Jeff.  Kaydee & Abby are excited to have a new cousin. (Well, Kaydee is....Abby really doesn't get it.)  Now Kaydee wants to know when WE are going to have a little boy.  Ha ha ha ha ha.....sorry...I'm still laughing about that one.  I told her she could get her fill of "little boy" when we go visit them.   She is counting down the days until Spring Break---when we're planning on going up for a visit.

After our big snow storm, the weather has gotten nice again and we have been playing outside more and have gotten started on our yard work for the year.  We planted 2 apple trees and 4 blueberry bushes.  Shane tore out some of the ugly shubbery that was in the front so now I can plant more pretty flowers there.  We're trying to figure out where in our wooded back yard to put our vegetable garden......if you have any ideas please let me know!

Kaydee is still loving school--she is starting to read and gets to bring books home from school every night to read to us.  It amazes me how much she learns---her class has memorized the entire 23rd Psalm (plus about a dozen other scripture verses).  She's having fun playing soccer when the team doesn't get rained out. 

Abby is constantly running to keep up with Kaydee.  Her vocabulary has made quite a jump.  Thanks to Kaydee she's attempting to tell "Knock Knock" jokes...but hasn't gotten any further than the "knock knock" part.  She's quite spunky---one of her favorite phrases is "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"  But she's very sweet giving hugs and kisses and she's become a HUGE help to Mommy.  She loves to help sort laundry, dust, and put things away.  She almost puts as many things away as she gets out.  Almost. :)

We've had BEAUTIFUL weather for the past few days.  This evening Kaydee decided it was time that Abby learned how to play soccer.  So they spent about an hour playing---Kaydee was the coach and Abby was the student.  It was pretty funny---and Abby actually learned some skills!!  Kaydee taught her how to dribble the ball and how to stop it with her foot.  (Granted, the ball isn't really rolling when Abby puts her foot on it.....).  They wore themselves out running up and down their "field."

There are pictures (and video) in the March Media Gallery

This was in the Sunday paper this week---and it fairly accurately depicts the relationship between Abby and Mollie.

To give proper credit, it's a Dog Eat Doug comic by Brian Anderson, you can check out is site at www.DOGeatDOUG.com

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Since I'm sure many of you are dying to know where this hot commodity originates, I am pleased to inform you that Kaydee, my resident expert on practically everything, granted me a brief interview this morning on wood.  (We were building with blocks).  The transcript of this interview follows:

KAYDEE:  "I know how to make wood."

ME:  "Really?  How?"

KD: "Well, first you get some cotton [she pronounced it "Caw-TON"] and put it in a big pot.  Then you add some water and heat it up.  If you want pink wood you stir in some yogurt.  (That makes it pink.)  Then you put it in the oven and cook it for a reeaaalllllyyy long time."

ME:  "That's how you make wood?"

KD: "YUP!"

ME:  "Kaydee.  Where does wood come from?"

KD: "HOME DEPOT, silly!"

(This is where I jumped on a teaching moment and told her wood comes from TREES.  Like the ones in the back yard.  It was funny to see the light go on in her little head!)

....The sky is blue....... Happy Valentine's Day to YOU!

We've been celebrating Valentine's Day since yesterday when we got the package from Meema......thank you so much for the singing lions.  They certainly sound much better as a duet. :)

Kaydee's class had their Valentine party today.  G's mom did an AWESOME job---the tables were decorated, she made roses out of fruit roll ups for the tops of the cup cakes, there were heart shaped watermelon slices....it was fabulous.  

Hope everyone survives Friday the 13th and has a fun Valentine's Day!!

  For the pictures see the Media Gallery

First of all, everyone is finally healthy again at our house.  (For now!)  The yucky stomach bug hit everyone--and we are glad it has moved on!!! 

Now for the Doctors & Goals:

Doctors:  Kaydee had her first hard candy yesterday (I'm not freaky paranoid or anything---we just don't consume a lot of hard candy at our house).  She got Life Savers from the Primary activity.  In the car on the way home she asked if she could have one.  After my "Yes" she popped one in her mouth.  Well, of course Abby saw that Kaydee was eating something and wanted one too.  So Kaydee told her, (And this is a direct quote---I wrote it down when I got home) "Listen, Abs.  I'm not eating this because I like it.  I need to know what it tastes like and how to eat it so when I'm a doctor I can tell people how to eat them.  I'm going to make medicine that are like these so they taste good."

Goals:  At church today the Stake Primary Presidency had the kids write down (or draw pictures of) 3 things their family did well together.  Then they were to write/draw one thing their family could improve on.  We gained so much insight from this activity.  We learned that as a family, we play well together (especially soccer), she loves holding hands with her Daddy, and she loves sharing balloons with Abby.  And then there's the one goal for our family to work on.  It seems that, according to Kaydee we need to stop fishing in ponds that people have thrown-up in.  She drew quite the picture of a pond, a fishing pole, Mommy (who had apparently thrown up in the pond) and Daddy (crying because he could no longer fish in the pond). 

So---I'll let you know how our family is doing on this goal later in the year......