My Big Boy

Kaiden also went for his 2 year check up on monday. Yes, I was 3 months behind but in all fairness I have had a new baby and a husband that is MIA at the present time. Frankly, I'm impressed that I got him in at all! He weighed 30 pounds so he is a hefty little guy. He is finally starting to show a little bit on an interest in potty training so I have my fingers crossed that he will want to start that soon. It seems like I have always had 2 kids in diapers so getting him out of them would be a nice change.

He is starting to turn back into a mommy's boy and always wants to cuddle now. He comes up to me and tells me to "put Maddie away so Kaiden can have cuddles". How can I resist that? I seem to spend a good portion of my day holding Maddie in one arm and having Kaiden cuddled in the other.

Maddie's Checkup

I had to post this picture because it shows just how small my little Maddison was only 3 1/2 months ago. I cannot believe how fast she is growing. We took her in for her 2 month check up a little late, long story. Anyways, at 3 months and a week she weighed 11 pounds even and she is 23 inches tall. She is just a little squirt and I am not used to my babies staying small. It seems like they come small but expand at a rapid rate and turn out to be chubby little ones. Maddie is in the 25th percentile for weight and 35th percentile for height. I don't mind at all and kind of like the fact that she is staying a little smaller. I was a little surprised when I picked her up out of her crib yesterday and she had rolled over on her back. I guess my days of laying her down on the couch so Kaiden cannot attack her as easily are done. Poor little thing is going to have to be able to fend for herself on the floor from now on.

And she loses another!

Kaitlyn lost a second tooth. She had been eating a cookie and came in crying that she had lost her tooth. I checked it out and sure enough it was gone. It was at this time that she explained that she had literally lost her tooth. Just to recap...she literally lost the first tooth somewhere in the upstairs hallway and it has never been found. It kind of grosses me out to think that it is lurking somewhere. Kaiden will probably be the one to find it.

Anways, back to the story...Well, she was just hysterical so the hunt began. I crawled on the kitchen floor searching every last nook and cranny. Then I pulled out the broom in hopes of sweeping it up. No luck! I asked her to tell me in detail where she was when she lost it and what she did with it. Turns out that she was eating the cookie and didn't even see the tooth fall out. She never actually held it in her hands. Yup, she swallowed it.

I had spent 30 minutes crawling around on the very hard floor searching for a tooth that she swallowed. She was horrified when I told her that all evidence pointed to the fact that her tooth was sitting happily in her tummy and you should have seen her eyes when I answered her question of how the tooth will eventually come out!

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!

It is hard to believe that Kaitlyn is now 6 years old. She wasn't supposed to grow up so fast. It is days like this that really make you look back and remember all the little moments you have had with your kids. Kaitlyn is such a sweet child. She is always wanting to make everyone happy and is such a big helper. She is willing to help with things that many kids would drag their feet with. Kaitlyn loves to cuddle up on the couch and read stories to her brother and sister. She is always willing to hold Maddie on her lap and listen to her scream so I can do simple things like start dinner or just run to the bathroom. I couldn't ask for a better child.

She had a good birthday but decided that she wanted to wait for Daddy to come home before really celebrating her birthday. So, she opened only 2 gifts and had a cupcake that we made yesterday. It is amazing to me that she doesn't want to open her presents yet. Heck, I'm 28 and I don't know if I would be willing to wait to open my own gifts for another week or so after my birthday! We met Jenn, Dave, and their kids for a quick dinner kid style and she was able to go and buy herself some princess makeup with the money from Grandma and Grandpa Kirby.

Making Cupcakes

I feel like I have been quite the little baker in the last week. First we had the sugar cookies and now we made cupcakes for Kaitlyn to take into school for her birthday. Let's just hope that the cupcakes don't turn out exactly like the cookies did. I cannot handle another mess like that. (If you are reading this and have no clue what I am talking about just keep on scrolling down and you will read all about Kaiden's little adventure last friday.)

Maybe it was payback but I took some frosting and stuck it on Kaiden's nose. He had a complete fit and wouldn't stop crying. The girls were laughing so hard they were crying. I guess it was one of those things that you had to be there for. He howled until I finally wiped it off and then he flinched everytime I iced a cupcake from that point on. At least Kaitlyn and Kenzie had a good time frosting and decorating them. I may have to give myself a break before trying it again. Who knew that frosting could be so messy!?!?

Naughty or Nice?

We all know that Kaiden has a bit too much of Jason in him and finds himself in trouble quite often. Yesterday he hit the mother load of all trouble. It snowed here and left 5 to 6 inches of snow in my driveway. I decided that rather than use the snow blower, I would shovel it by hand and get in a good workout. I was outside for about an hour and came in the back door to Kaiden running up to me holding one of the sugar cookies I made thursday. He was so proud of himself that he had managed to find the cookies and get himself one.

I walked into the kitchen to find sugar cookies and green frosting everywhere, and I mean everywhere. He had obviously spent a great deal of time in there squishing each and every last cookie and then decorated my floor by finger painting with the frosting. I noticed that the path of crumbs led out of the kitchen and into the livingroom. Lucky me! He had not contained his party to the kitchen! In the hour that I was outside he managed to not only destroy all the cookies and cover my kitchen floor, he also was able to smear green frosting into our brand new suede leather couch. He was very proud of the artwork that I spent the next 4 hours cleaning up.

Moral of the story...Do not under any circumstances leave Kaiden alone for more than 2 minutes if you don't want a disaster on your hands!

Oh, and in case you are wondering about the gouge between his eyes, Kaiden managed to run his face into my fingernail this morning while I was on the phone with Mom. He didn't even cry. I guess I need to quit scheduling pictures because it never fails that I make an appointment and then I have to cancel it because of a scratch or a bruise.

Ugh, cold and flu season

We have all been sick this last week. Let me first say that 5 hours in urgent care with 4 children is no fun. Kenzie was in on Monday with a horrilbe ear infection and both Kaitlyn and Kaiden were there on Friday for the same reason. I'm starting to feel like a frequent flyer at urgent care. You know when they recognize you that you have been there one too many times. At least they don't know me by name yet!

Little push-ups

Maddie has mastered the art of little push-ups and I can finally get her to entertain herself for a few minutes at a time. She doesn't like tummy time too much but she will usually lay on her back and kick her little feet long enough for me to start dinner. I absolutely love the newborn stage but I am finding that having a baby who can entertain herself for a few minutes is a must when your hubby is gone.

Look Mom, No Teeth!

After much wiggling on Kaitlyn's part, she has lost her first tooth and has a second one that will be gone any day now. Her kindergarten class has a lost tooth chart in their room and Kaitlyn felt a little left out that her name was not on it so she decided to take matters into her own hands. Lets just say that her tooth which was tightly in place only a few weeks ago, is now gone. I was ready to kick her in the pants but what can you do? At least now she has her name on that tooth chart so this trend should not continue.

Santa has upgraded

Now either Santa has upgraded from his sleigh to a jet or Jason as gotten some extra holiday spirit this year. Jason just sent these pictures to me this week and I thought they were pretty funny. I guess that the guys in the back of the jet have been wearing santa hats for a couple of weeks and decided that the pilots needed to join in on the fun.

Daddy's At Work?

I thought I would post a picture of Jason doing his job. He is hooked up to a KC-135 to refuel his plane. Not only are the pictures kinda cool, but who doesn't want an excuse to look at how handsome he is? I have to be honest and say that when he first sent me these pictures I was a little freaked out that he was flying that close to another plane. Something about that just doesn't seem right. I guess it's a good thing that I am not the pilot in the family.

Kaiden seems to be a little confused as to where exactly Jason is. Every morning he says, "Daddy's at work?". Once Jason gets back I am sure he will panic every time Jason leaves for work. The poor little guy will probably think that his dad will be taking off for another 2 months each time.

I am very proud of Jason and I miss him very much. It's amazing how quiet the house can get when he's not here despite the fact that there are 4 screaming children living in it! We have started the count down to him returning and can't wait. This deployment has actually gone by faster than the first so that is the good news.

Oh Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree!

Well, we got our first snow on wednesday and I just couldn't help but immediately put up my tree. Afterall, I am a Kirby so you know I have been itching to put it up since July! We didn't get much snow but it was enough for me to put it up right then and there and not wait until friday to put it up like I had originally planned. It wasn't a small task by any means because I figured out rather quickly that in order to put it in front of the window, I would have to move all the couches from the living room to the great room and the ones in the great room to the living room. I put the kids down for naps and re-arranged my whole house. I don't think Jason was too thrilled when I told him over the phone what I had done. My guess is that he is picturing him having to move it back when we take the tree down. Oh well! Notice Mackenzie's slippers. When she cannot find a complete set, she wears whatever she can find. She has been wearing two different slippers all weekend. The picture of the snow is taken off our front porch. You can see the neighborhood is fairly new so there are still quite a few empty lots. I am secretly hoping they stay open for a while so I don't loose my view.

What's up with the pants?

Do you notice anything wrong with this picture? Yes, his pants are on backwards. Kaiden has started into a phase where he doesn't want to keep the same pair of pants on for more than an hour or so. He goes up in his room and changes his pants all the time. Then he stands at the top of the stairs and gives me that grin. You know, the one he gives when he knows he shouldn't be doing something but he knows he is being too cute to get into real trouble. I call it the Brady Sharp smile. The only downside to this little habit besides the obvious one of him making a mess out of his drawers is that he hides his pants all through the house and I have to go find them.

We have happy and then we have sad....

I was taking tons of pictures of Maddie today trying to get her to smile instead of scowl at the camera. I don't think she likes the flash. I managed to get a few with smiles and then I must have really ticked her off because she was so upset. At least she is cute when she cries. She is really starting to get her arms going when she "talks" as you can see in the picture. She takes after the Kirby's in another way I guess. Heaven only knows that we use our hands when we talk. She is really starting to get a cute little personality and it is so fun to watch her be her own little person.

Distractions Can Be Difficult

Sometimes the kids glue themselves to the tv and it is almost impossible for them to look away for more than 2 seconds. When we force them to look at us you sometimes get a cute little smile and sometimes you get, well, I'm not sure what you would call that look!

First Day of School

Here are the girls on their first day of school. Kaitlyn started into Kindergarten and Kenzie goes to Preschool. Kenzie was so excited that she couldn't hardly contain herself. They are both doing very well at school. Kenzie is coming out of her shell and becoming much more social. Kaitlyn's teacher tells me that she talks pretty much non stop all day long. I wonder where she gets that from???

Say Cheese....

I'm curious what the picture Lisa took looks like. Hmmm....

Kenzie and Maddie

Kenzie is absolutely amazed by Maddie. She will spend hours just sitting there talking to her. She loves it when her efforts to entertain Maddie are rewarded with a big smile or a few coo's.

Dinner Time!

Dinner is full of all sorts of emotions at our house. Kaiden is happy as long as he can rub his hands in his dinner and then deposit it in his hair. Needless to say, we don't have spaghetti on any night that is not a bath night.

Smile!

Maddison is full of smiles but she starts to scowl as soon as I pull out the camera. The little turkey! I did manage to capture this one.

Happy Halloween!

The kids had so much fun on Halloween this year. Both Kenzie and Kaitlyn had parties at school that day so they were all fired up to get going when they got home. We went over to Jenn and Dave's so I wouldn't have to take them trick-or-treating by myself. Dave was brave and took my girls along with his 2 boys trick-or-treating while Jenn and I stayed at the house with the babies and handed out treats. We also went to the Trunk or Treat that our ward did. Katilyn was Jasmine, Kenzie was Tinker Bell, Kaiden was Spiderman, and Maddie was a duck. I was sweating bullets that Kaiden was going to want to be a princess because the girls were so excited about being them but he managed to choose a more manly costume.

The Pumpkin Patch

Jason's squadron hosted a day at The Pumpkin Patch. He had left the week before so I was on my own with all four kids. Talk about an adventure!!! We met up with Jenn and Dave and their kids there and had a ton of fun. The kids road the train and went down the tube slide. They even jumped on this huge bouncy thing filled with air. Poor Kenzie had a hard time getting up on it and staying there. Their favorite part was when I took them on the peddle carts. No matter how fast I peddled, they kept squealing for me to go faster. Good thing the course wasn't too long or I would have been exhausted by the time we finished.

My First Bath

Maddison had her first real bath and as you can see, she just loved it. I worried that the neighbors were going to think that I was torturing her because she was screaming so loud. Needless to say, it was a quick bath. The good news is that she is starting to adjust to her baths a little more and doesn't get so worked up each time.

Maddison's Blessing

We blessed Maddison earlier this month. Grandma, Grandpa, and Lisa were able to come for the blessing. We had to bless her a little earlier than what we wanted so Jason would be able to do it before he deployed. It was a special day for our family and having Grandma, Grandpa, and Lisa there made it even more special.

Grandma, Grandpa, and Lisa

We were so excited to have Grandma, Grandpa, and Lisa out for a few days to visit and be here for Maddison's blessing. It was nice to see some familiar faces from home. The kids loved spending time with them and we were all very sad to see them go. While they were here we went to the zoo. I don't think the girls have ever had so much fun there. There favorite part was touching the Rays and Horseshoe Crabs. They are still talking about it!

Happy Birthday to me...

Kaiden just had his second birthday. He loves Spiderman so he was thrilled to have a Spiderman cake. This was a fun birthday because he realized what presents were and had a blast tearing into them.

It's A Girl!!!!

Maddison Joyce was born on September 3rd. We didn't find out what we were having ahead of time so it was fun waiting to see if she was a girl or a boy. She seems to grow more and more each day. We feel so blessed to have her as a new addition to our family.