Kelsey Grace Vickers: Future DMV Employee

Apparently when Brian and I weren't paying attention Kelsey went out, took driver's ed and got her driver's license...well that's what she would like us to believe!  This afternoon I heard "Slow down!  Slow down Mommy!  You're going way too fast!" and might I add that I was NOT going too fast, I believe I was only going 5 over and everyone knows that is an acceptable speed!  What can I say, the minivan really has some get up and go!!  Most of this time I hear an angry voice from the backseat grumbling "Ugh, go Mommy!!" or "Hurry up!"  She was getting upset when we were stopped at red lights, wanting us to get moving, so we taught her that red lights mean stop and green lights mean go.  This has helped a little bit, but when she really wants to get somewhere she just finds a green light and, even though it's not our green light, gets mad that we're not moving.  I have no idea where she might have gotten those backseat driving skills...nope, none at all...  So I guess she's found her calling and will be working at the magical place that is the DMV.

And now on to the super exciting news, for me at least!  I got a new camera!! 

Isn't it beautiful??

 I've been wanting a camera like this for years but held back because I told myself I didn't take that many pictures, or it was too much money, or I just didn't really need it.  I was so tired of my dumb camera missing out on all these great moments because the pictures were out of focus or it was taking too long to take the actual picture!  So I finally bugged nagged complained whined sweetly asked Brian enough that he agreed we should get one too!  And I'm in love!  I've only taken a handful of pictures so far but they are already tons better than that other thing I was calling a camera!  Unfortunately my model couldn't tear herself away from the TV to give me a smile or anything so I didn't really have much to work with, but she's still a cutie!!

Yeah yeah, just take the picture!



Ok, I'll turn to face you, but I won't stop watching!



Dancing Queen

Kelsey is in LOVE with going to dance class!  It doesn't matter what she's doing on Thursday afternoons, if I tell her she has to take a nap so she can go to dance class I usually don't get too many arguments.  She has class every Thursday night from 5:15 to 5:45, her teacher is Miss Lizette.  Lizette is Dale's (Kelsey's sitter) daughter and she is wonderful!  She is so great with the girls and has SO much patience!  I think there are about 5-6 girls in her class, Kelsey is the only 3 year old, the other girls are all 4 (I tell myself that's the reason she's not exactly the best listener!).  She has ballet slippers and tap shoes for class, and of course her favorite classes are the ones where they wear the tap shoes!  It's so fun to watch their classes and also a bit embarrassing to see her lack of listening skills!  She's definitely not the only one who doesn't pay attention, I think they all get distracted watching themselves in the wall of mirrors!  The class is now working on their recital dance routine so the curtains are over the two-way mirrors that we could watch through so their routine is gong to be a surprise!  I also got to see a picture of her recital dress and it is SO CUTE!  Can't wait!  I snapped a couple pictures last night of Kelsey and some of her friends waiting for their class to start and watching the big girls do their dance.



Wow, what are they doing??




Hey they're good!




Mom!  Do NOT embarrass me right now!!


And of course we've got to have some pictures of Brady!  He is definitely diggin' his excersaucer lately!

I make this look good!



No photos please!



Just kidding, you can take my picture!



I'm a big boy!

The kids are spending the night at Grandma Moe Moe and Papa's house tonight and this is what I'll be working on while they're gone (I can't believe I took a picture of this!)


YIKES!!!!!!

This would be Kelsey's room.  Since our house is so small we have no playroom so all of her toys need to go in her room.  I did however buy her a few toy organizers (which by the looks of this picture are completely empty!) and showed her how to put her toys in them when she's done playing.  Yesterday I noticed that a LOT of her toys had made their way out of her room into our bedroom, the living room, kitchen and even Brady's room.  So I told her that if she picked up all her toys and put them in her room she could have cookies (mother of the year bribing her kid with junk).  Of course she was all over that!  After what seemed like a pretty short time she told me she was done...I looked around and didn't see any of her toys and she happily accepted her cookies.  A little while later I walked by her room and this is what I found.  I guess I should be happy her toys are at least all in her room...  

A puppet show and a new 'do!

Kelsey believes that her role as big sister is to be Entertainment Director for Brady.  She is always letting me know that Brady wants to go in his swing or his jumperoo.  She's having a really hard time with the fact that I haven't opened a lot of his toys from Christmas since he is so little and can't really play with them yet.  I bet at least once a day she is bringing something out of his closet telling me "I think Brady wants to play with this!"  Yesterday I decided to drag Kelsey's exersaucer up from the basement for Brady, he got a jumperoo for Christmas so he's just been playing with that.  I don't even want to tell you how gross it was!!  There were spiderwebs all over the bottom, I even brought a spider up in it (YIKES, Brian wasnt home so I had to kill it myself!) and probably about an inch of dust on it.  So after about 30 minutes of cleaning it (Kelsey could hardly STAND the wait) we put him in it, and he seemed to like it...for a few minutes!  Unfortunately after he waited all that time for the exersaucer to be clean (Mommy and his Entertainment Director were ignoring him, the nerve of some people!!) he wasn't in the best mood and Kelsey was quick to inform me that we needed to figure out something else for him to do.  Later that night we tried again when he was in a better mood and he LOVED it!  Kelsey decided all the toys weren't enough and she needed to give him a puppet show too!  What a good big sis!

Yeah, this is ok, I guess...



Tiana from Princess and the Frog is her new favorite toy



Now a dragon puppet show!

And now for the exciting news...Kelsey got her hair cut!  I had been thinking about what her hair would look like if it was shorter for a while now, she's got those crazy curls so I wasn't sure, but we decided to go for it!  Brian got his hair cut about a week or two ago and Kelsey's been talking about going to "the cutting store" to have her hair cut ever since!  Every time Kelsey has gotten her hair cut in the past it's been at Cookie Cutter's which is a salon for kids where the chairs are cars and they have little tvs where the kids can watch their favorite shows.  But the stylists there aren't that impressive so I decided to take her to my friend Shannon who does my hair and does an amazing job if I do say so myself! :)  She cut off about 5 inches and it looks so cute, she sat nicely like such a big girl too!  Shannon straightened it but I think it will look just as cute when it's got the curls in it too!



She loves it!

  Just had to share a sweet deal I got when I went to a kid's resale store the other day...it's a swimsuit that has a life jacket in it, I think Kelsey will be able to swim easily in it.  It's in excellent condition and, just for fun, I looked up what the cost of a brand new one is.  A new one retails for $38.99 and I paid $5.50!  Awesome!!


Strike a pose!



Brady's first modeling gig!

My very talented friend Kristin Geerts of Kristin Geerts Photography asked to borrow Brady to model some super cute hats that a friend of hers made.  In exchange for Brady's modeling we would be given copies of the pictures, of course I was all over that!  Brady was wonderful, he's not a big fan of being on his tummy, but, ever the professional model, he did great job and Kristin was able to get some wonderful shots!

I think this one might be my favorite!

While having his picture taken, Brady decided to show off for the ladies and rolled over for the first time!  Once he figured out he could roll he did it several more times, so exciting!

After a quick trip to the grocery store it was off to the sitter's house to get Kelsey.  For the last week or so Brian and I have been hard at work cleaning out the basement getting it ready to be waterproofed.  So the seats in the van, with the exception of Brady's seat, were all folded down to make room for all the junk treasures we had collected throughout the years to be taken to Goodwill.  I've seen the seats folded and unfolded several times but have never actually done it myself, but how hard could it be right??  Well it ended up being a little more difficult!  You have to kind of fold up the floor, hold the folded floor up, while also unfolding and lifting the seat out of the floor all at the same time, and the seat's not light!!  So while struggling to do that Kelsey is alternating between telling me I'm doing a great job and questioning why it's taking me so long.  My keys are also beeping because they're in my pocket and I keep bumping them, so I take my keys out and toss them up on the driver's seat.  And finally...SUCCESS I actually got it!  Now all I have to do is get the carseat in, buckle Kelsey in and we're all set!  I run around to the driver's side (did I mention it's also pretty cold out and raining?) only to realize that I have just locked my babies and my keys in the car!  While my keys were in my pocket I must have bumped the lock button!!!  Ugh, now what?? 

911 it is!  Let the dispatcher know that I had kids and keys locked in the car.  After about a 25 minute wait (25 minutes, SERIOUSLY???  I've got kids locked in the car!!) out savior showed up...it took him about 20 seconds to unlock the door, I don't think Kelsey has ever been happier to see me, she was getting a little tired of looking at me through the window!  And we were finally out of there...for the whole car ride home Kelsey talked about how she loved the nice man that unlocked the doors.

Kelsey has been really fighting taking naps lately...ever since she stopped taking a binkie to bed, it hasn't been nearly as easy as it used to be!  So of course today she told me about 40 times that she wasn't tired and that Brady and I might be tired but that she did NOT need to take a nap.  Not wanting a fight after the whole key incident I just let it go and suggested she just rest on my bed while watching a movie...now does this look like the face of a girl who doesn't need a nap??

I didn't think so either!