Hooray!

Mark finished his last class/last final on Wednesday, and is now officially done with school! Hooray! He graduates next Friday, April 29th...same day as the Royal Wedding. Which should I watch...decisions decisions... JK. It is so nice to be done. Mark got to go out and play in some MBA games today (football, ultimate frisbee, basketball, etc) to celebrate the end of the year, and it was fun to go watch. Normal life, here we come!

Dreams Come True!

Before Kaylie came along, I dreamt that motherhood was all about staying home and making cookies with your kids. I don't know why, but that's the picture I always envisioned when I thought about my future family. When I call and talk to my sister, Diana, she often asks me if I am "living the dream" (usually in jest after I am done whining about how hard it can be to be a mom sometimes). I have decided that Kaylie is old enough now, though, to help me start living my dream, so here we go. Kaylie is now my assistant in the kitchen (assistant = taste tester and buddy to talk to), and she is a super cute one.

Reading break...when will the cookies be done??

St. Patty's Day

I am a little late posting about St. Patty's Day, but better late than never. It has been a pretty gray, cold, long winter this year, but I kept holding out hope that it would be sunny and warm enough to go to the park like we did last year on St. Patrick's Day. And it actually happened! It has since been cold and cloudy again, but on St. Patty's (and the day before and after), it was sunny and warm. I was so grateful! I really needed some sun! I think I had more energy and excitement in those few days than I have had all winter.

Anyway, we decided to celebrate by having a few kiddo's over for some green fun. We made green necklaces, decorated shamrocks with Lucky Charms and M&M's, and colored some St. Patty's pictures. We also went to the park - which was great! Then, we had a super yummy lunch - green pasta alfredo, green grapes, and peanut butter celery sticks. And of course, a green dessert: cupcakes! It was a great day!

Total girl!

Winter Update

It seems like I don't post much during the winter, probably cause there's not much going on. We had a few days of warmer weather last week (40's), which was awesome! All the snow had melted, and I was hoping that the worst was over. But, I should have known better...we had another storm today and now everything is covered in snow...AGAIN! Oh well.

Here are a few cute pics of Kaylie over the last month. She has been doing a little bit better the last two weeks being around other people, and actually went to nursery for the whole time today. First time ever! I have been bribing her all week that if she could be a happy girl (no crying) in nursery, she would get a sucker. Maybe that was the trick! :)

Just a quick update (more for me so I can remember what she's doing nowadays): Kaylie is learning to draw pictures and write a few things. She can draw a sun the best, and can also write a lower case "i", and the numbers 1 and 10. She also tries to draw a flower, a stick figure person, and circles. Kaylie is pretty good at recognizing words now too. She can tell me what the following words are when I write them: Kaylie, Mom, Dad, hi, bye, no, yes, up, down, cow, cat, and pig. And she can sometimes count to 40, but not always. :)

A few things she has started saying recently:

-When it is time to go anywhere, I ask Kaylie if she is ready to go, and she says, "Not yet, I'm too little."

-When she doesn't want to do something, she says "Kaylie's sad", and starts pouting on the floor.

-To Mark: "It's nice to see you" haha

Kaylie: "I LOVE this stuff!" (the guacamole)

Snow, Snow, and More Snow!

What's the weather like in your neck of the woods? Around here, it's just been snow, snow, and more snow. We were hit with a big storm last night that continued through most of the day today. I was so scared to drive or go anywhere, so Kaylie and I stayed in for a snow day. We did go outside for just a few minutes for Kaylie to see the snow and get some pictures, but we weren't out long cause it was freezing!

Pouty Face

Ha ha! My friend, Liz, took this picture of Kaylie today at her house, and I love it so much I had to share. :) Kaylie's going through a funny phase right now. She is great at our house, and has been so fun and cute to play with. But she just wants to stay at home. When I ask her what she wants to do, or if we should go play with friends, she says, "Just stay home with Mommy". We tried to go play with her friend Eva today, and she was sad and crying and wanted to go home from the moment we got there. So I invited them to come to our house instead, and Kaylie perked right up. She was a totally different person once she got home, giggling and dancing around the house. She drives me crazy, but cracks me up at the same time. :)