The BFFs

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Friday was Katelyn's last day of preschool. She is passing the preschool torch on to Kennedy because Kennedy will attend "playgroup" on Fridays there next year.

It was a bittersweet goodbye for Katelyn because she is in a group of four BFFs. They became friends the first week of school last year, and have been best friends for the past two years. Sadly, the girls will go to three different schools in two different districts next year. Three of them will meet up again when they reach middle school (please tell me that it really will be a long, long time from now. I don't want to blink my eyes and feel like it was just yesterday that I was writing this post and boom there we are in middle school).

Please excuse Katelyn's baggy pants with that cute little t-shirt. She had poison ivy on her leg and insisted on wearing pants so that she wouldn't give it to anyone else. We told her that she wasn't contagious,

but she was worried.

On another note...Katelyn lost her second tooth before her last day. She didn't swallow it this time:) So, two teeth as a preschooler! As she loves to tell everyone, "I'm an early one!"

One more thing... Katelyn is now writing little books and stories. Her books have several pages, with about one sentence and a picture per page. She even leaves spaces between her words. The stories are readable by any kindergarten or 1st grade teacher as her phonetic spelling is really good. She represents beginning, medial and final consonants along with vowels in her invented spellings. She started sounding out words to spell last spring right after turning four. She started by making animal books with a label for each animal that she drew. Over the last year, her writing has just continued to progress, and without the help of her mother. Katelyn does not let me teach her anything. We actually do absolutely nothing academic together, except for read books together a few times a week (not even every day, shhh, I am embarrassed to admit that I am a teacher and I do not read to my children every day). The fact that Katelyn doesn't let me work with her at all came as quite a surprise to her preschool teachers since I am a teacher and because little Katelyn is extremely bright (their words, not mine). So, being the teacher that I am and having a child that won't let me work with her, I am so excited with her writing!

Whoo-Hoo...It's Summer Break!

Oh yeah...summer vacation! I just had to post a picture of the best first grade class I have ever had! There are always so many great kids in my classes, but this class was different. They were so self-motivated and had a thirst for learning. They have grown and learned so much. We truly were a family and I do love these kids! They will always hold a special place in my heart as I am pretty sure they will always be my favorite class. Thanks for a great year kiddos!

Then and Now

Sisters...then...now...forever!

These next pictures were taken at our golf course in May of 2007.

Katelyn was 4 and Kennedy was 14 months old.

Look at those cheeks...ooh I could just eat her up!

Same girls...same location... one year later...May 2008

Katelyn is now 5 (and missing her 1st tooth) and Kennedy is 2!

She is growing up so fast...doesn't even resemble a baby,toddler, or preschooler anymore!

She sure is a beautiful little girl with a fun-loving and crazy sense of humor.

The fun and innocence of childhood...

barefeet in the grass...

and the love of sisters!

Mother's Day 2008

Thank you God for blessing me with these two little girls.

They sure make Mother's Day extra special!

I love you Katelyn and Kennedy!

A Girl's Gotta Have Something To Wear

Katelyn and Kennedy LOVE to dress-up. Actually, I don't know of any little girls their age who don't have a passion for getting all prettied up. Somehow, our dress-up clothes and accessories have grown to an outrageous amount! But, I have to say, that they do play with every bit of it.

One corner of the playroom is dedicated to dress-up fun. Here are their dress-up drawers...filled with princess outfits, purses, magic wands, butterfly wings, every type and size tiara you can imagine, and various accessories.

Santa brought this adorable vanity to help keep their jewelry, hair dryer, brushes, and pretend make-up neatly stored. It is a fun place for the girls to sit and primp.



Check out this shoe collection!


And now,a look into their dress-up closet! Dresses for every Disney Princess, a wedding gown and veil, tutus galore, and many other fun dress-up clothes.



Hey, they're only young once. I am going to cherish it while I can!

KenBear As She Is

Kennedy is in the midst of the twos! I wouldn't necessarily call it the terrible twos, but perhaps the trying of mama's patience twos. The biggest challenge that we have is that she wants to be EXACTLY like Katelyn. It doesn't matter what Katelyn is eating, wearing, or playing with; we are sure to quickly hear, "Me too, me too!" Katelyn can ask for seconds for dinner and Kennedy immediately begins asking for more, even though she has an entire plate full of food. This is a challenge that must be unique to younger siblings since the older child doesn't have anyone to look up to (except for mommy and daddy of course).

Kennedy is also quite a little chatterbox. She seems to talk a lot more at this age than Katelyn did. I recall that Katelyn could says just as many words and was also speaking in sentences at this age, but the overall amount of talking Katelyn did at this age was not nearly as much as Kennedy (although Katelyn talks nonstop now). I have to admit that both of the girls get their talking from me. I come from a family of talkers and my girls have both inherited the genes.

She does get some of her character traits from Kevin. First of all, she is a morning person...most definitely not inherited from me! Secondly, she is such a creature of routine. She has her exact same bedtime routine every night. She has her bath and bedtime snack. Then Kevin brushes her teeth while she lies across the ottoman. Then I go upstairs and crawl into bed with her. We read a couple of books and then do her blessing and prayers. After that, I turn on her closet light, turn off her bedroom light, and kiss her goodnight. As long as her routine is the same, she goes right to sleep without any problems. Her routine in the morning is to wake up, get a cup of milk, and eat one blueberry waffle and one blueberry pancake for breakfast. One would think that she would like a little variety, but no, she is perfectly happy with her little breakfast routine.

Kennedy is also our little organizer...which I love! She finds things that are in the wrong place and immediately puts them where they belong, even if they do not belong to her. She throws away anything that she thinks is trash. She always says, "Uh-oh Mama, mess!" when something is out of place, even at other people's houses. The girl will not take a nap unless all of the toys in her bedroom are put away. Another organized thing she does is that she puts her bib away immediately after each meal, which is not something we have taught her to do. It is terribly funny when she tells Kevin that he has left a cabinet door open, and of course demands that he close it right away. I love that I have a partner to help me keep this house in order...especially since Kevin and Katelyn are both spreader-outers who do not like when things are put away. I think things will be interesting around here with two girls and two parents who think so very differently.

KenBear, I love everything about you and...I love you just the way you are!

FYI...We started calling Kennedy "KenBear" as a nickname last year on Mother's Day. We had taken a family outing to the Cincinnati Zoo and she made a bear sound for every animal that we saw. Once we were back home, she started growling like a bear whenever she was frustrated, angry, or even happy! She just became a little KenBear that weekend and it stuck!

Well...It Happened!

My fear of Katelyn turning 5 and growing up too fast...it happened. Katelyn had a dental check-up on April 8. The dentist informed us that Katelyn's two bottom teeth were loose. Katelyn had been telling me for a couple of weeks that her teeth were loose, but I just blew her off. I never imagined that she could really have loose teeth already...guess I was wrong. Her dental appt. happened to be scheduled on the same day as her kindergarten screening. So, as excited as I was about her having loose teeth and getting ready for the big kindergarten screening, I was just hit with two major milestones that will propel my child out of her preschool years and into the world of a big kid! Katelyn was nothing but excited. She kept singing, "My teeth are loose, I'm five years old, and I'm going to kindergarten!" She must have sung it the rest of the week!

On May 1, Kevin called me at school while I was teaching...which he never does. I asked him if everything was okay and he said that I needed to talk to Katelyn. Once on the phone, she told me that she lost her tooth. I was so excited for her! But then she started to cry, she added, "But I swallowed it!" I could have cried myself. I was so sad for her. Here she lost her very first tooth and couldn't even show it to us.

Of course I wanted to hear the entire story as to how the tooth fell out and how she swallowed it. Kevin said that Katelyn and the little boy next door had been out trying to catch a rabbit all day. They had carrots that they were using to try to lure the rabbit their way. However, Katelyn and Tommy were also eating the carrots. Well, this is how she lost the tooth. She swallowed it with her carrot. Katelyn was extremely worried about whether or not the Tooth Fairy would still come. I assured her that we would write the Tooth Fairy a note explaining what had happened and that she would still come...and she did. The Tooth Fairy left two dollar coins and a pack of sugarless gum. Katelyn was elated!

This was a big week for Katelyn. She started taking showers instead of baths...she showers 100% on her own! She also learned to ride a two wheeler this week. Check out the video below of our (little) big girl.