Baby It's Cold Outside!

We have had unusually cold weather for this time of year in our city. It usually doesn't get really cold here until January and February. So we have been wrapping up the kids really tight! Below is Layla enjoying some outside time in her stroller.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had an awesome Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. All our friends came over for lunch around 11:30 and stayed the whole day. We enjoyed stuffing our faces with some great American food. We went back for seconds or thirds for some people at dinner. John and I ended our Thanksgiving night by cleaning up throw up. Kayleigh got sick and I was up half the night with her. I am pretty sure I have had one Thanksgiving with kids that someone was not sick. However, the food and fellowship out weighed the sickness. 

9 Months

Dare I say strong willed? This little girl is going to be something else. She definitely has an opinion and is starting to express it. She is crawling more and more and when she gets into something she shouldn't she gets pretty frustrated when you take her away. She loves to play and actually wrestle especially with her daddy. She has added a tooth since last month. I just caught her pulling up on something the other day! Layla you are a mess and we love you dearly. 

All Aboard!

A lot of Kayleigh and Zeb's pretend play has to do with travel. They often pretend that my bed is an airplane and they pack up to go to Thailand or America. When I stop to think about it that seems crazy! Crazy that my 5 and 3 year old would play pretend travel and their destinations are another country! When I was their age if I ever pretended to travel anywhere it was probably to the beach or mountains in the same state I lived in! A little over a year ago one of Kayleigh's good friends moved to another city. She still thinks that her friend lives in another country! She often asks me how long the flight would be to get there or how many airplanes does it take to get to Julianna. I didn't even fly in an airplane until I was 21 years old! Anyways, this particular pretend time was with a train. As you can see I was the conductor and they were the passengers. We all took turns driving the train. It wasn't going anywhere in particular just through a bunch of tunnels and down lots of hills. I love to watch their imaginations work as they play.

I put this sweater and hat on Layla today and Kayleigh could not stop laughing. I told her that she also wore this outfit when she was little. I just wanted to share a cute picture of Layla.

Beauty and The Beast

When I found out that the local international school here in our city was putting on the musical production Beauty and The Beast I immediately thought that I needed to take Kayleigh to go see it. So I rounded up other moms that had little girls and we all went to see it last night. It was wonderful! I must say I was highly impressed at how well the performers did. It was really entertaining. All of Kayleigh's little friends dressed up like princesses for the show. My friend Danielle had seen an earlier show and had warned me that Kayleigh may be a little scared of the Beast. I talked to her about it before we left. During the middle of the show she kept leaning over to tell me that she wasn't scared. Kayleigh loved every minute of it. I hope that I can take her to another musical in the future. 

This is a picture of all them after the show. They were all very tired because it did not end till 9:30.

Happy Halloween!

8 Months

Layla has decided just sitting and eating toys on her blanket is much too boring. She is now learning to crawl! Well for now her crawl resembles more like an army crawl or a wounded soldier but she gets where she wants to go. Kayleigh basically never crawled and Zeb did the army crawl at almost a year old so movement at this age is all new for me. I am trying to teach Zeb that not all of his toys are safe to be left lying around now that Layla is on the move. She has also started to babble a little saying "baba". She will sometimes do it on command if you get her in the right mood. She still adores Kayleigh.  I think it is safe to say Kayleigh is her favorite person even above her own mother. 

A Little Get Away

We just got back from a little get away with some of our American neighbors. We decided to pack up 100 pounds of stuff we somehow need for the kids and head 30 minutes down the road to a local resort that has hot springs. Kayleigh and Zeb thought it was wonderful that they were able to swim in October. Our room had a giant bathtub that more or less resembled a small kids pool and I would just fill that up and let them have the time of their lives. We also swam outside in one of the hot springs. We decided to go down the road to a local park and play Frisbee and throw the football around. We had a lot of fun until I busted Zeb's lip with the Frisbee. Let's just say I threw it right to him but he didn't quite catch it. It was so nice to get away even if it was only 30 minutes down the road. 

I promise these pictures are of Zeb in mid-throw. Quite impressive don't you think?

He had the throwing down just not the catching!

K and Z walking at the edge of the pool. They were dying to get in but this pool was not heated!

Kayleigh's First Dance Class

This past winter when we were in the States having Layla, John and I realized how much extracurricular activities there were to offer in America for little kids. It made us sad in a way that Kayleigh was missing out on those opportunities especially since she LOVES music and dancing. So when we heard that some local friends of ours with ballet experience were offering dance classes from age 5 and up we were thrilled. What a huge blessing from the Lord. Today was Kayleigh's first dance class and I think she really liked it. I am looking forward to seeing her learn and enjoy her ballet class. 

Kayleigh with her friends Lydia and Lily.