Girl's in their Christmas Dresses

I took a couple pictures of the girls at the house before Maddie's program. Maddie has been so excited to wear that dress ever since I got it for her. Every night this week, she has come home from school and put it on.

Maddie's Christmas Program

Tuesday night was Maddie's school Christmas program and she did soooo great!! Her teachers had been telling me what a great job she has been doing during practice for it and how she stands up there by her friends like a big girl and doesn't cry or anything. Before they went up on stage, all the kids meet in the basement to rehearse and so I stayed down there with her until it was time for them to go up. As they were going up, she got teary and I wasn't sure what to expect. As the kids were walking onto the stage, I did not see her and I was getting worried that she wasn't going to come out. Right before they started singing, I spotted my short little girl in the very back row, grrr! I filmed a little of one song but it is really hard to see her since she was in the very back. I did get to see her face though and she was singing her heart out and even saw me and smiled and waved! The video is cute, there is one little boy that decided to be cute in the microphone as the song is starting. See if you can spot Maddie.

Maddie and her friends before they went on stage

Where's Maddie??

Weekend

I took the girls to Matt's basketball league tournament on Saturday in Topeka. We cheered hard, but they lost to finish in 4th place. After the game, Matt rode home with us and we ate and did a little shopping before coming back to Emporia.

That night was our turn to watch the Lake kids for the monthly date night. I decided to take the older girls to the ballet, The Nutcracker and Matt stayed home with Kynzie and Gavin and played playstation games all night. The girls and I had a great time. The ballet was put on by Maddie's dance workshop so I was telling her that she could be doing that someday. She wasn't too sure about getting up on stage but she did have a great time watching it. After the intermission, I could tell the girls were starting to get a little antsy so I told them that if they were good we would go out for ice cream after it was over. So of course, they were and we did. When we got home, the girls wanted to dance all over the living room showing off everything they had just watched. It was really cute. Now if only Maddie would be able to do that on stage. Her first recital is this Spring and they are doing "My Little Pony." I wasn't planning on putting Maddie in it because I figured she would be waaay too shy. After she saw the costumes that they get to wear, she got really excited and said she wanted to do it. So we'll see.

Sunday was church all morning and then we didn't leave the house the rest of the day :) Kind of nice to just stay home.

Kynzie's night wandering

Last Friday night, we stayed in with the girls and Matt and I rented a movie for after they went to sleep. We were downstairs watching the movie and Kynzie kept getting out of bed and coming down. I had to keep getting up and putting her back in bed. However, the last time I heard her upstairs walking around, I was too lazy to get up and figured she would just find her way back to her room. Well.....after the movie, Matt and I went upstairs and I was brushing my teeth and Matt went in the computer room to turn the lamp off and I hear, "Adraina, get in here hurry" so I go in there and there was little Kynzie fast asleep on the floor. Kiki in hand, water by her side and pants inside out! Gotta love it! Of course I had to take a picture!

Weekend

Friday night we got to go the the high school boys basketball game WITHOUT the girls. It was nice to not have to get up at every quarter and run to the bathroom or worry about pop spilling in the stands or who gets what snacks. ;) After the game, we went to Bruff's for dinner with friends. The girls had fun at home with a babysitter.

Saturday morning I took Maddie to a gymnastics meet so she could watch the older girls and get an idea of what goes on. I think she had a good time and it was fun to watch them do the flips on the trampoline. Maddie's eyes were pretty big watching those girls flip around. After the meet, we decided to go with my mom to KC to see Drew at KU Med. Center. Mom stayed at the hospital with him that night and we got a hotel. We ended up staying at the hotel the whole night and swimming with the girls. They of course had a blast. Kynzie had an "AH HA" moment when she had to get out of the pool to go poop. I took her back to the room and she actually wanted to sit on the toilet to go poop. She jumped up there and that was that...she went! She has been pooping in the toilet ever since! Whoo hoo! I was worried that she was going to take a while to get trained on that.

Sunday we got up and ate breakfast and went swimming again before we did a little shopping and back to the hospital to get mom. Sunday night, Maddie decided that she wanted to watch old home videos of her when she was 2 and Kynzie was a baby. That was pretty funny to watch and we realized how much Kynzie looks and acts like Maddie at that age. Wow!

Hoomaide - Kynzie

Kynzie saying Old Maid

I wash my haaaaands - Kynzie

Kynzella Strikes Again

So, last night at 10:00 pm ........(an hour after I had put Kynzie to bed)........I heard a bunch of noise coming from her room so I finally decided to go up there and see what was going on. This is what I walked into. She had gotten into two of the girls keepsakes boxes along with various other things. She was just having a grand old time. Notice her shoes on her feet, she sleeps in her shoes.

Kynzie's early Christmas!

So I finally got a few presents wrapped and put under the tree.......then little Miss Kynzie decided to help me unwrap them! In a matter of 15 seconds, Kynzie had one of Hunter's presents shredded! GRRRR, she is KYNZELLA! Well at least it wasn't one of her own that she opened.

4th Day of Thanksgiving Break

Saturday at the Holopirek's consisted of eating, eating, and more eating. Oh yeah, there was some napping, football and kid's playing in there too. I managed to get a good picture of Coco and his girls!




After eating all day, we had to head back to Emporia! It was a pretty easy ride home with the girls taking turns sleeping. We got back about 11:00 pm and it was straight to bed!

3rd Day of Thanksgiving Break

Well, this day started out unusually early. 1:50 am to be EXACT. Well, for Amber it never actually ended from the night before. We had decided that mom, Amber and I would do the Black Friday shopping in Hays this year. The leave time kept getting pushed up and we finally settled on leaving Kinsley at 3:00 am. Long story short, we ended up leaving at 3:30 am and getting to Hays about 4:40 am. We started the morning off at crazy Wal Mart. We all scattered our separate ways and I was able to get almost everything I wanted. After Wal Mart was the Mall and then various other stores. We made it back to Kinsley around 2 pm.....just in time for naptime :) After naps, we went over to see Grandma and Grandpa Castaneda. Then it was on to Burdett to be with the Coco and Grandma Brenda. We all kind of got a second wind when we got there, snacking on food, playing the wii, making smores, and decorating a ginger bread train.


Kynzie had more fun eating the icing from the plastic


Maddie doing it right!


Finished Product

2nd Day of Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving Day was a nice and relaxing day. We got up slowly and then ate a yummy dinner at Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Joe's house. After lunch was naptime for the kids. After naps, Grandma Alice and Katie, Tyson and Kali came over to the house. I managed to get a pretty good picture of the 3 girls with Grandma Alice.

Kynzie was able to get a taste of holding a baby.......and she "liked it." So Matt let her sit on the couch with him and hold Kali some more. It was so sweet to see Kynzie being this soft because she is NEVER this affectionate to anyone, not even Matt or I. She was even giving her kisses.

I thought it would be cute to get a picture of the girls with ALL of their cousins since this probably won't happen a lot. The picture's not the greatest, their not all looking at the camera, but hey it's a picture and they're all in it!

After Grandma Alice and Tyson, Katie and Kali left, we just sat around ate more and had fun watching the kids play. Maddie was all about Hooper and Kynzie and Hunter played together really well. They were like a little old lady and old man walking around the house together going "shopping." I finally snapped a couple pictures of them.

1st Day of Thanksgiving Break

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break. Matt and I didn't have to work on Wednesday so we helped out at Maddie's school in the morning. After lunch, we headed for Kinsley. Wednesday evening we got to see Nicole, Blake and Jaxon. It took the kids a little warming up, but they eventually played together. Jaxon is about 2 months younger than Maddie.

coloring at the table

trying to get them to sit by each other for just one picture

Catching Up

Well it's been a while since I last updated the blog. It's been busy between Matt's basketball and then Thanksgiving. The week before Thanksgiving, Matt had games 3 out of the 5 weeknights and then an all day Saturday tournament. Then on Sunday Jamie and Amber came up with the boys so we could take family pictures for Christmas. I think they turned out pretty good but haven't got them back yet. The kids did as well as could be expected for 4 kids under the age of 5.

Sometime in here we managed to get our Christmas tree up but no presents under it yet. This is always fun to do with the girls. We let Maddie hang some of the balls on the tree and I had to laugh when I saw where she put them all........at the bottom where she could reach :)

Kynzie's Potty Training Experience

Well, I had last week all planned out one way but Kynzie had plans of her own. On Tuesday evening, the girls and I were supposed to go back home for a couple of days. I had Wednesday off because of Veteran's Day and I had taken a vacation day on Thursday. Unfortunately Kyzie decided to get sick right before we were ready to leave. This changed our plans for the rest of the week but it actually ended up being a good thing. I got to stay home with both girls on Wednesday and lounge around the house. That evening I got the brave idea that I would start potty training Kynzie since I was planning on staying home with her on Thursday without any other distractions in the house. So......Thursday morning came and we took Kynzie's soggy diaper off for the last time and waved bye bye to it. Took Maddie to school and came back home and got into major potty training mode. Basically for the next 4 days, we ate, slept and breathed potty training. I am SOOO happy to report by Sunday evening, she was accident free, telling us everytime she needed to go and had even pooped in the potty. On Saturday I finally got brave and ventured out of the house with her to Matt's basketball tournament. She did awesome. I had to take her to the bathroom at every halftime and in between games but she stayed dry the entire time. Saturday night, Matt and I had a date night and some of our friends came over to watch the girls. I was a little nervous about leaving her with someone else because I didn't know if she would tell them when she had to go or not. But, she did really well and stayed dry all evening just having one incident right before bed but I think that was because she had on a pullup and not her big girl panties. She still has to wear pullups at night and naptime but during the day, she is only in big girl panties and she loves it! I think that that was the one thing that really seemed to help her because she HATES to be wet and she could actually feel her potty with the big girl panties on. The pullups and diapers would just soak it up and it didn't seem to bother her.



The one thing that had me a little worried was that since we had started the whole potty training business, she had not pooped. I would catch her trying to go a couple of times and run her to the potty but then she would never go. It had been about 6 days since she went poop. I was afraid she was going to make herself really constipated so on Saturday I started giving her some miralax. Sunday evening, it finally kicked in. I knew she had to go so I took her and set her on the small potty and we started reading books, I told her I was going to leave the room to go get some more books and while I was gone, she POOPED!!! She was sooo proud of herself and she just kept staring at it saying "BIIIIG POOP!"



Monday was her first day back to daycare and her first day in big girl panties at daycare. I was a little nervous not knowing if she would do as good for Rita as she had been doing for me. I gave her a pep talk before I left and told her that she must tell Rita when she needs to go potty. She said okay and said, "I big girl." About 3 pm, the curiousity had gotten the best of me and I had to call Rita and ask how she was doing. Rita said, so far so good! She ended up staying dry all day. When I picked her up at the end of the day, she was still in the same big girl panties as that morning. I am so proud of her......and myself, ha ha!!

Maddie's Gymnastics

Last Monday Maddie got a certificate at gymnastics for completing Level 1 Trampoline. She is doing so well. It is a lot of fun to watch her get better every week. The first gymnastics meet is coming up on December 5th but we decided not to enter her because we know that she would be too shy to get out in front of all those people. We are still going to go and watch the other kids compete and maybe that will get her used to the meets and she will try the next one.

Maddie's Thanksgiving Dinner

Last Tuesday was Maddie's schools Thanksgiving Dinner. I got to go eat a yummy dinner with her and then her class went on stage to sing two songs. Of course Maddie was extremely shy and stood at the very edge of the stage as close as she could to wear I was. I tried to take a video and picture of her but she was not happy about that. Whoa, if looks could kill!!

Kynzie POOPED!!

She did it!!!!! I finally got that girl to poop in the potty. You'll never guess what did the trick............. Pepsi!! She really is my daughter. Now if I can just teach her that she has to wipe before she gets off the potty. Ha ha!

At dinner, I asked McKynzie about pooping in the potty. Maddie was sitting at the table being so good listening to the spotlight NOT be on her. Then, she had finally had enough and watch what happens, too funny!

Weekend

On Saturday, we were all supposed to go to the K-State/KU game with our friends that have moved away. They have season tickets and asked us to go. We were so excited to go and get to see them. Unfortunately Friday night, Matt started having bad diarrhea and vomiting. He was in no shape to go to a football game on Saturday so he stayed home. The girls and I still decided to go since Matt was sick and we really wanted to see the Pekareks. Us girls decided to meet at the mall and shop and eat, then went to the park, got ice cream and back to another park. We had a great time catching up and letting the kids play.

Sunday was church all morning and enjoying the nice weather. When Matt had to teach his classes that night, I took the girls to the Rec. to go swimming again. We did this last Sunday and everyday last week Maddie asked me if it was swim day yet. Apparantly I have started something now and it looks like Sunday nights will be our swim nights. The girls love it and have so much fun. Maddie is able to swim by herself and I'm working with Kynzie on getting her to swim alone unfortunately she swims like a fish out of water in the water! ha ha

Maddie's night at the movies

Last Thursday one of my co workers asked me if she could take Maddie to a movie at the Granada Theatre. They show classic movies there on certain nights and they were showing "It's a White Christmas." I told her that I would ask Maddie if she wanted to go and then let her know. I asked Maddie and surprisingly she was very excited. I told her she could have some pop and popcorn if she was a good girl for Liz. Liz met us at Maddie's dance studio that night and when she was done with her class, her and Liz headed to the movie. At about 9:45 pm, they finally got home. Maddie was still very excited and said she had a great time. She was bouncing off the walls and then Liz told me what she ate. 1 Full Box of Popcorn, 1 1/2 Root Beers, and a Bag of Skittles!! All was well when she went to bed. However, about 1:30 am in the morning, I was awakened by the splattering sound of vomit on my bedroom carpet. This was followed by a very bad night of puking until about 5:30 am. Matt and I don't give the girls a lot of pop and other junk food and she clearly had had waaaaaay too much of it that night. After she got it all out of her tummy, she felt fine and even went to school that day.

I should note.....Liz does not have any kids!! ha ha

Halloween

Well we had an interesting Halloween. I had mapped out this big route for us to take the girls to. We were going to start at the zoo and then do the church trunk or treats and the mall and some friend's houses in between. Unfortunately that didn't all happen. I got Kynzie all ready in her costume and as I was getting Maddie ready when I heard a weird sound from Kynzie and looked over to see her getting sick all over the carpet. UGH!! After she threw up though she seemed to be better so we decided to go ahead and go out since Maddie was all dressed up and pumped to get some candy. We skipped the zoo and went to some friends house first. While we were there, Kynzie got sick again in their bathroom. We did manage to hit a few church's but called it a night pretty early. Luckily Kynzie started feeling better once we got home and then she was fine the rest of the night. Poor girl, didn't even get any candy on Halloween. Here are a few pictures of the girls in their costumes.

Kynzie before she got sick (notice the BLACK tights)

Managed a smile out of her before she got sick

Kynzie after she got sick (had to change the tights)

Maddie striking a pose

And another......

And another.....

The day before Halloween

On Friday, Maddie's class did not get to dress up in their Halloween costumes so she wore some Halloween attire. Kynzie's daycare did get to dress up and go tricker treating at a nursing home but I let her daycare lady get her dressed. This was the girls that morning before they left.


Maddie showing off her Halloween socks



Kynzie doing her classic "Cheese" look


Kynzie apparantly telling Maddie a big secret.

Black and Orange Day

On Tuesday, it was orange and black day at McKynzie's daycare. She got to wear her boo shirt.

Little Momma

One of those days that it was really cold outside, I had to break out my warm coat, scarf and boots. Maddie thought it was cute and that she needed to try it on too.

Another quiet time

Another day, both girls were upstairs being very quiet and I should have known to go check on them after 5 minutes but I was busy making dinner and didn't want to. Guess I learned my lesson. I went up there and this is what I saw. Kynzie had some makeup on her face but her nails were the prettiest. Maddie had makeup caked on her face but she didn't want me to take a picture of her. After I got mad at them, I couldn't resist taking their pictures.

Kynzie in Maddie's Clothes

One day the girls were upstairs in Maddie's room for a long time being really quiet and when they came down, this is what Kynzie looked like!





These are all Maddie's clothes and shoes and the shirts on backwards. She just looked so cute and innocent, she really thought she was cool.

Grandparent's Weekend

Two weekends ago, the girls had both sets of grandparents come up. On Friday, Coco and Grandma Brenda came up and took us all out to eat Chineese. We found out the hard way that Maddie is allergic to shellfish after Matt had her touch the peel and eat shrimp that he was eating. Luckily she just swelled up but didn't have any further reactions. We had to give her some children's benadryl to help the swelling in her eyes go away. Poor girl is going to be allergic to everything. On Saturday, the grandparents got to take the girls to Boo at the Zoo in Topeka and mom and dad got to stay home. Well, mom got to stay home. Matt went to work all afternoon. It was nice to do nothing all day. I got all caught up on my tv shows, went for a run, went to the store, did a little cleaning and laundry. Makes me sad that we don't have family closer so we can do that more often. The girls had a blast at the zoo and park. I'm sure they were spoiled rotten but at least there were no tears, with the exception of Kynzie wanting to cross the street by herself.

On Sunday, grandma Debbie and grandpa Joe stopped by on their way home from the K-State game. It was a short stay but we went out to eat lunch at Coach's. When they were ready to leave, so was Kynzie. I really think she would have left with them and been totally okay with it if we would have let her. She cried to grandma Debbie and said "Me, Me" as she touched her chest which means take me take me. Maybe someday soon she can go visit the grandparents. Not sure Maddie would be up for an overnight visit though.

Maddie's Class Pumpkin Patch Trip

Last Thursday I got to go out to the Pumpkin Patch with Maddie and her class. I drove two of her friends out there as well. It was really muddy because it had rained all day on Wednesday but the class still had fun. They played on the hay, listened to the lady talk about pumpkins then they each got to pick out their own pumpkin. Before we left, the kids sat in the tent and ate a snack. I think the girls had fun. They were all talking about the movie they got to watch in the van on the way out there!


Sitting in a circle listening the the lady talk


Maddie and Dylan picking out their pumpkins


3 Little friends


One of the girls found a rolly polly and of course Maddie had to hold it.

Push ups

Maddie is always interested in what Matt and I do at our jobs. Every evening we ask her how her day was at school and she has since started asking us how our day was at work. Matt likes to mess with her and go into some long lengthy topics about what he did with his students that day and what the benefits were and so on and so on. He has talked to her about physical activity and different exercises and she likes to do them. One thing she really likes is doing push ups. Matt has taught her the proper way to do a push up and she is actually very good at them. We always joke that we hope no one is driving by our house when Matt has Maddie in our kitchen floor doing push ups. Well, on Monday night at gymnastics, Maddie finally got to put her skills to the test. The instructors were doing skills tests with the girls and the very first test was to see how many push ups each of the girls could do. Maddie got down and started doing them and the instructors looked at each other and said, "wow she knows how to do a real push up." Maddie kept going after the other girls could only do a half of one. She got to ten and kind of looked up at them as if she was bored and they said, you can stop now Maddie. I really think she would have kept going though. The next skills test was sit ups. Again, Maddie just kept doing them until the others girls were done and the instructors finally told her she could stop again. She got to 20. Then they did wall sits and she got to 32 seconds and I think she became bored and wanted to move on so she stood up. The other girls were just standing there watching her. Each week she continues to improve at gymnastics and is really loving it. They announced on Monday that there will be an in house gymnastics meet on December 5th for family to come watch. I'm not sure how she will do at a meet since she is EXTREMELY shy but I hope she will get out there and try everything.

Our Family