Loco legs

Well it's been a pretty boring week for us, nothing too exciting going on.  In the last week we've had our basement waterproofed and our front stairs mud jacked (where they raise them up so they are level aka where they are supposed to be!).  We used a company called Todd's Mud jacking and Basement Services and I would definitely recommend them to anyone!  They worked with us on price, the workers were all very courteous and professional, and they left everything a LOT cleaner than they found it! But all that aside, if you heard that loud sobbing a few days ago, it was me when we wrote the check to the company...even though they do great work, it still stinks to pay all that money for something you can't even see!  But it's worth it to no longer have a wet, smelly basement and the "death stairs" are now a little easier to climb!  Plus that brings us one step closer to finishing the basement and eventually moving into a new house!

We are busy preparing for out road trip on Sunday to the action-packed exciting city of Branson, Missouri.  I kid, I kid...while it might not be the most exciting place ever, it will be nice to get away and spend some time with the family (ask me if I still feel the same way next Friday!).  Brian isn't able to come with us because he has work he can't get out of (that's his story and he's sticking to it!) so I will be the one doing all the driving...YIKES!  We will be driving down with my mom and my Aunt Connie, hopefully I'm not jinxing myself here, but the kids are pretty good on long car rides so hopefully everything goes smoothly.  This will be our first road trip since Kelsey's been potty trained, so hopefully we won't be stopping every half hour for potty breaks, although I'm sure my mom is relieved she can now use Kelsey as an excuse to stop!  The drive is supposed to take 8 hours so we'll see how long it actually takes us!  Once down in Branson we will be meeting up with my Aunt Sara, Uncle Bill and their 3 kids, my Uncle Paul and Aunt Kirsten, and my grandparents.  While down there my grandpa will be celebrating his 80th birthday, so we'll be partyin!  Well as much as you can party with a 5 month old and a 3 year old!!

We've been working lately on letting Kelsey dress herself, it's so much easier and faster for us to do it for her, but obviously she needs to learn how to do it herself!  I still haven't let her pick out her outfits, I'm not sure if I can be one of those moms who lets their kid leaving the house looking all crazy because they dressed themselves!  Although the few times she has picked something out, she really doesn't do too bad...sometimes I think she does a better job than Brian!!  Here's what happened when she put her jammies on the other night...sadly she didn't even notice that anything was wrong with her pants for longer than I would care to admit, she only noticed once she started walking!  She thought it was the funniest thing ever and wouldn't fix them for the longest time and kept trying to walk around.  She kept saying she had "loco legs" (which is a song from one of her shows she watches).


What do you mean my pants aren't on right?



I've got loco legs!

 

Our first trip to the library!

Lately Kelsey has been talking nonstop about the library, she pretends to go to the library, takes books to the library, puts books away at the library...it only took me about two weeks to figure out that (DUH!) I should take her to the library!  I told her yesterday that we were going today and that's all she could talk about all last night and all day today "Mommy I love the library!"  "But you've never been there, how do you know if you love it?"  "I just love it!"  We discussed library etiquette and she took it all very seriously telling Brian later "Daddy you have to be quiet in the library cuz people are tryin to learn!"  The library was definitely a hit, she's been carrying around her books all night and can't wait to go back!



Are you listening Brady?



Do you like Curious George?



So serious!



This must be her thinking pose

Of course the t.v. junkie only wanted to read books featuring characters from her favorite shows and wouldn't look twice at any books I suggested!  Oh well, I tried!!

Brady loves sucking his thumb when he gets sleepy, because of the thumb sucking he tends to always keep his head turned in the same direction while sleeping so he's becoming quite the Flatty McFlathead (yes that is the technical term) on his right side.  He is not a fan of being on his tummy but I keep telling him he'll thank me when he has a lovely round perfect head!  Brady's doctor was quick to inform me that no one's head is perfectly shaped or symmetrical but what does she know right??  Usually he holds his head up well for about 10 minutes and then lays face down, trying to shove all his fingers in his mouth while Mommy and Kelsey call his name and shake toys to try to get him to lift his head again...poor Brady! 



Seriously?  This is supposed to be fun?!?!



And...I'm done!!

 



Kelsey-isms

We all know the things that come out of toddler's mouths are hilarious and Kelsey is definitely no exception!  Most of the time I have no idea where she comes up with the things she says!  She calles Brian's belt his seatbelt "Daddy, you forgot to put your seatbelt on your pants!"  I overheard a conversation she was having with her Grinch stuffed animal the other day after putting him down for a pretend nap and just had to laugh.  It started out with her stomping back into her room and saying "UGH!!!  THE GRINCH!!! (for whatever reason she never calls him Grinch, it's always the Grinch)  WHY DID YOU POOP IN MY BED?!?!?!  There's poop EVERYWHERE now you have to go to timeout and my dad will be so sad that you pooped in my bed!"  I must say, I get her frustration, I mean I heard her take him to the potty SEVERAL times before she laid him down for his nap.  She must have been having "war flashbacks" from when she was being potty trained...I might have mentioned once or twice that her Daddy was going to be sad when he heard about her potty accidents, but I was desperate!  She never seemed to care if I was sad that she had an accident!

And while we're on the subject of that fun task of potty training, can I just say...thank goodness we are officially potty trained!  Once it clicked for her she's been amazing with it!  The only drawback now is that she is constantly running around with no pants on!  When I see this, our conversations sound a little something like this:  "Kelsey, why are your pants off?"  "Ummm...because...I...want to be...ummm..." and then she just turns around and walks away.  But oh well, it's not like her walking around without pants is hurting anything, but if you notice some of my pictures of her look a bit weird it might be because I'm trying to hide the fact that she has no pants on!

By far, the cutest thing she does lately is read her favorite book "My Lucky Day!"  Brian and I've probably read her this book probably twice a day for about 3 or 4 months, it got to be where if we would skip a word she would notice and yell at us!  A few weeks ago she wanted me to read it to her, I was doing laundry so I told her it would have to wait...the next thing I know she's reading the entire book out loud to Brady, apparently Brian and I weren't the only ones who had the book memorized!  She now reads it to anyone who will listen and it is too funny, she gets almost every word right and she traces her finger along the page like she's actually reading the words, SO CUTE!

Are you listening doggie?



This must be my lucky day!

For the record, she's wearing a nightgown in this picture so I didn't have to hide her not wearing pants...except maybe I should've hid the fact that, by the light in the picture, it looks like it might be a little too late for her to still be in her jammies!! 

Brady Boy is 5 months!

My baby is five months old already!  He's definitely growing out of that tiny baby phase and, in my opinion, is a lot more fun!  He's always smiling and his smiles light up his whole face.  Much to Kelsey's delight Brady has started talking to her...she finds this to be the funniest thing she's ever heard and laughs and tells me "Brady is so much funny Mommy!"  Brady definitely likes the sounds of his voice (hmmmm, that doesn't sound like anyone I know...) and lately he's been trying to find out how loud he can be...he's got nothing on Kelsey but he's working on it!  He was a willing participant (kind of) for a quick photo shoot yesterday in his favorite place...on his changing table with no clothes on!



5 months baby!



Oh I get it...yeah that's funny...



Wait...what??



Oh, I get it now!!  That IS funny!




Heeyyyyy ladies!




Perfection

Do we make some darn cute babies or what???

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!