First day of school - the aftermath

When we picked up Kaylee and Erin they were all smiles and said they enjoyed school. Kaylee said some other kids in her class cried, but she didn't. She told us she played with toys and play-doh, painted, went to the playground, read books and saw a turtle, plus ate her snack and lunch. We asked if it was a toy or real turtle and she said a real one - she said it ate leaves and water and was in a box, so it sounds like it was a real one. I didn't know they had a turtle at the school, but she has talked about that 3 times (so far), so I think she liked it! Sounds like school is a success so far...let's hope it lasts throughout the year!!

First day of preschool!

Kaylee's been saying she's excited to start preschool and today is her big first day! She'll be going 3 days/week (T, Th, F). She did great this morning! She was so excited and had fun riding to school with her friend Erin, who's in a different class, but with whom we're carpooling. The girls were very cute in the car. We unbuckled them in the carpool line so the teacher could take them out of the car and as soon as those buckles were off they were ready to jump down and leave, even though we still had a minute or two to wait. Once the teacher had them both out, they walked off without even a look back! I'm looking forward to picking them up today and hearing all the stories they'll have to share.

Last baby tooth

Kaylee's 20th, and final, baby tooth popped through while we were on vacation last week! Her top left 2nd year molar. I noticed it on Wed as I was helping brush her teeth. Now we wait for those to grow and then start falling out in a few years. :)

More beach

Yesterday Stephen went snorkeling and brought some snails back for the kids. Kaylee thought it was funny that she got to hold one. She keeps talking about how slimy it was.


We went to Pompano Joe's for dinner and the kids loved the fish tank. Some photos from after dinner:



After dinner we went to The Track, where there are go karts for adults, putt putt, a kids' area and more. The kids had fun on the rides; Kaylee really enjoyed pushing the buttons in the control seat of her airplane.



Other funny things...rather than bringing her pack & play, we rented a crib for the week. Before we left home we told Kaylee she'd have a special bed at the beach, and she is so excited about it. Every day she's excitedly told at least one person about her "special bed" and sometimes brings them into her room to show them. She also has been calling Stephen, Stephanie, Jason & Kimberly "the mommies and the daddies" and the first thing she asks when we go in to get her in the mornings is, "where are the mommies and the daddies?"

At the beach!

So we made it to the beach with Kaylee before she turned 2.5. She often doesn't like getting her hands dirty, so I wasn't sure how she'd react to the sand, but she loves it! Luckily, as we're here all week. We're here with my cousin Stephen, wife Stephanie, kids Ethan and Brennan and my cousin Jason, wife Kimberly and son Ryker. Here are a few photos of our first beach outing...Ethan and Brennan are in one of the photos with Kaylee.

Fire Truck Party

Kaylee had two 2nd birthday parties on Saturday! And they overlapped. The first was our neighbor, Caroline's, and Kaylee had fun playing with Caroline's baby stroller and baby dolls, as well as various other toys (she was still talking this morning about the baby Stella doll with the magnetic pacifier and bottle :) ). She played a couple games - stick the nose on the clown and Simon Says, but we had to go after the games. After leaving Caroline's party early, we arrived at Nate's party a little late, but just in time for the fire truck and 3 firemen to show up! The birthday boy was so excited to see the truck - he ran out there saying, "fire truck! Oh my gosh! Holy moly! Fire truck!" Then he got about 5 feet from the truck and did not want to get any closer. It was very cute. Here are some pictures from that party. (I forgot to take the camera to Caroline's! :( )




Kaylee was the first one to sit in the fire truck and the last one to sit in it. Not saying that other kids didn't get in, she just got to take two turns because she was so excited about it. Maybe we'll have to see about having a fire truck come for her next birthday??




And here is Uncle Jerry (aka Grampa) with Nate's sister Emily!

Dressed Up Cutie

A neighbor was going to donate a bunch of outgrown toys, but let us and another neighbor look through and bring some home for our kids. Free goodies for us and less for them to haul to goodwill! :) So Kaylee now has a bunch of dress up dresses, a new doll stroller and a shopping cart with some food. Yesterday she spent quite a bit of the day in various dresses, and the way she was tearing through the house with her shopping cart I thought maybe she was practicing to be on the gameshow "Supermaket Sweep."




Here she decided she needed to wear a second dress as a wrap:


This was from this morning, when she got ready to go to the pool, "all by myself!"

Cake!

Grampa's birthday was a couple weeks ago, but we didn't get to celebrate with him until this past weekend. Grampa, Gramma, Uncle Mike, Aunt Sharon, Memaw & PawPaw came over on Saturday for a birthday lunch and cake. Kaylee helped decorate the cake with sprinkles, and enjoyed helping blow out the candles and eat the cake! Happy birthday, Grampa!

Play!

Last Wednesday Kaylee and I met some friends at Play - an indoor play place for kids. They had fun playing at the rice table (sand table, but filled with rice instead) and with some other toys, but once we went into the gym area it was running and jumping galore!

Kaylee was at least a foot above the blue air mat when I took this picture. It's hard to tell at first, but if you look at her reflection in the mirror, you can see she was pretty high up! She was jumping up, then sticking her legs out in front of her to "plop" down on the mat.


More jumping - with Lane, and on a trampoline. In both of these pictures, I managed to catch her looking like she was about to fall...but she didn't - she's just a crazy jumper! :)


She loved the "squishy blocks" (as she calls them). She couldn't get out of the pit on her own, so I'd pull her out, then she'd want me to toss her back in. Repeat, repeat, repeat!


One worn out kid on our way home!

19 & Counting...

I noticed earlier today that Kaylee's 19th tooth (top right 2nd year molar) has popped through her gums a little. Just the top left one to go and she'll have all her baby teeth!

Lake Chatuge

A couple weeks ago we went to Lake Chatuge for the day to celebrate Poppy's birthday. They rented a pontoon boat and we went out on the lake for an hour and a half or so. Kaylee had been on a boat a couple times, but it was a year before at my aunt/uncle's house in Maine.

Out on the dock:


Fun on the boat:


Kaylee tried to skip her nap, but it caught up with her on the boat - she was zonked for 45 minutes while my arm fell asleep under her!


Happy to help drive, then refueling after all that work:


Happy birthday, Poppy!