Happy Valentine's Day, Mommy!

I almost always put my pictures on in chronological order, but as I was going through my most recently download tonight, I just had to put these on first. Partially because of the story that goes with it.

On Valentine's Day, I was looking through Maddi's closet for a dress to wear and I thought, she hasn't worn the purple/pink one she got for Christmas in a long time. That would be cute for today.
So I pulled it off the hanger and went to Kimee (who has to think about everything ahead of time, and will never do something if I want her to, only if she wants to). 

"Hey, Kimee, wouldn't it be cute if you wore these matching dresses today for Valentine's Day. They are purple and pink!" I even pulled out a short sleeve purple shirt to match the skirt, since she had previously HATED the matching long sleeve shirt.
Kimee had already picked out what she wanted to wear, and that wasn't it. 

So, without making a big deal, I gave her a sad, dejected face, and went into the hall with Audrey's matching outfit. I really didn't have the energy to try and convince Kimee today. I honestly didn't think she would change her mind and just figured it would be her loss for not matching.

Audrey happily agreed to the outfit. 

Surprisingly, within minutes Kimee not only had the outfit on, but she had on the long sleeve shirt she SO could not stand weeks before. And not only that, Kimee wanted to do pictures for me and was a SUPER good sport and a SUPER good helper throughout the entire photo shoot (not that long). Thank you so much, Kimberly! That was an awesome Valentine's Day gift. Turns out Maddi had an ear infection (not a happy camper) and Audrey had one leg up and was showing her undies in most of the pictures. Woops! I didn't even notice until we were done.

I love my girls so much. I'm glad they love each other too, at least most of the time!

for Emma

I have been scolded by my niece for not posting on my blog more often. Thank you, Emma! That lets me know that someone does read it. :) So for my first post of the weekend, and I promise there will be more, I am going to tell you a little about my week. I was just thinking about how last year I came to my wits end with enough sickness, and I even did a post about it on my blog. Well, I think it was around this same time last year. So I am just going to plan on it from now on, every year around this same time. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Sickness, Valentine's Day, More Sickness, St. Patrick's Day, Spring's Here, Hooray!

I won't list everything, because it really hasn't been that bad, but in a somewhat annoymous way I will say this has kept me busy this week:
3 doctor's appointments
2 surgeries
2 antibiotics
lots of pain medication
strep throat
double ear infection
bronchitus
runny noses
coughing and more coughing
lots of Kleenix

The other thing keeping me from posting is I am trying to put together the blog book for 2009. I'm getting there, but it is time consuming. It will be totally worth it when it's done. I can't wait.

Oh, and another thing taking up my time is planning my next year of vacations. I get this way when I haven't been anywhere for a while. I just want to plan a million vacations. I need to go somewhere soon so I can get over this!

Oh, and the Olympics. I don't know why I was watching ice dancing for over an hour tonight. . . .

Kimee's new glasses

Kimee got her new glasses and now she can see far away! 

I asked her what she thinks about her glasses so I could write about it on the blog.

She said, "I think they're great. They're cute. They make me look smart."

"I feel happy that I have glasses. Some people say I'm a nerd."

 

I don't know if you can see in this picture, but her two front teeth are extremely loose and about to fall out.

Maddilyn: 9 months

Maddilyn turned 9 months in January. That's 3/4 of a year old!

She is nice and big and strong. And super cute!

Weight: 22.5 (94%)

Height: 30.5 (99.6%)

 Maddi is crawling everywhere, eating everything, getting into everything, climbing stairs, playing with her sisters, enjoying her new toys from Christmas, staying pretty quiet, and still an awesome baby. 

She loves the toilet & toilet paper.
 Maddi can even walk while holding onto something. We discovered this one day as she was pushing a bar stool across the wood floor, and walking behind it.
(Kimee and Audrey never did this, so it was quite surprising.)

We love Maddi so much!

mom's ipod

The kids use mom's iPod more than she does. 

three cute girls and a grandpa

 

I tried to take pictures of the girls in their matching outfits they wore to church, but they didn't cooperate. I got frustrated shortly thereafter, so I just gave up trying to get a decent picture. Oh, and Kimee refused to wear the matching shirt because the sleeves bugged her. So they don't look entirely matching anyway.  But I still think they're cute!

Later that day, Grandma and Grandpa K came over for dinner. So here's Maddi with her Grandpa K.

my little sunbeam

Audrey went to her first day of Primary on Sunday, January 3. She was scared and sad to go without mom, but she was fine. Kimee was a big helper and was happy that her little sister could go with her to Primary. Audrey is already singing the songs she has learned and talking about what she learned in class.

 Here she is doing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes".

A Great Dad!

Ever since Christmas, Dave was anxious for it to snow so he could try out his new snowblower. Well, it finally snowed on Dec. 29. It was snowing so lightly, he had to wait all day for it to build up a few inches. It ended up snowing for two days, so he got to use it a couple of times. Hooray!

Kimee likes playing in the snow, and keeping Dad company.

Dave is such a great dad. Here is a plate of chicken nuggets he made up for Audrey-with ranch and BBQ sauce for dipping. How cute is that?

family party w/sledding

We had my family's Christmas party at my brother Pete's house the day after Christmas. It was so much fun. We started out by going sledding. What a blast!

Dave and Audrey

Dave, Kimee, Audrey

Grandma and Audrey

Kimee coming up the hill.

Maddi trying to stay warm.
She was so happy just watching and listening to all the excitement.

Jill and Audrey

Kimee and Sarah going down together! Final run!!

All bundled up and ready to go.
The van is running and warm,
and we've got hot chocolate in our tummies!

When we got back, the kids colored some papers for a service project.

We had pizza for dinner and then a short and sweet gift exchange. Lots of visiting and a little service project for the ladies, playing with cousins for the kids, and ping pong + shooting hoops contests for the guys. What a great night!

at Gramma's

(That is how my mom spells Grandma.)

For Christmas dinner, we headed up to my parent's house. My brother Dave and his family came too. It was nice to relax a little and not have to be in charge of the meal. The cousins played and the adults visited. We had lots of yummy food for dinner. Afterward, the guys took naps and the kids and moms decorated gingerbread houses. It was fun. Finally, we had yummy trifle for dessert. And the kids fell asleep in the car on the way home!

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great Christmas evening!