A Visit from Katie and John Deere Tractors

'Here Evan let me help you!' 

Maddox skinned up her knee pretty badly last week!! Warranted a big band aid which she was thrilled about. 

'Hey Dad, Mom wants to take a picture of me!!' ( check out KTK's feet....crossed at the ankles as usual....his favorite position to sit in)

'If I lean forward a bit more I might just be able to reach out and touch Dad taking the picture'

Just reminding everyone I'm going to be THREE.....

....but I"m still TWO! 

Cashed out after a long day with the tractors.....belly full of ice cream!

It is MONDAY, my normal day to update and today is a special day because I had an extra set of hands to help me out around the home and to do some FUN STUFF! Thank you Eric.  We had a great weekend.  Saturday morning one of my best friends from college came with her family. Evan is almost 4 and didn't let me get too many pictures of him. Mackenzie is about 18 months and gave me some great smiles. We played in the backyard with bubbles, chalk and on the swing set Saturday afternoon and then Sunday morning all the kiddos woke up early ( compliments of our resident early riser named KENNON) so we headed to the Y to the indoor pool. We had a great time. It was nice to see the kids interact. Mackenzie definitely has a mind of her own while Evan is quiet and with an attention span that goes a MILE. Maddox did fairly well sharing her toys although luckily there were enough adults on point to break up the little squabbles. Boy, I sure am glad we don't have 4 kids!!  It was nice to see the Cwikla's.  We appreciate them making the trip over.  THANK YOU CWIKLA'S. Today we decided to do something special.  Ed, Katie's husband had mentioned going to the John Deere Pavilion while they were here. Unfortunately I didn't think ahead enough on that project and the Pavilion hours didn't match up with the time that we had available.  So,  Eric and I decided to take the kids this afternoon. We will definitely have the Cwikla's back to go with us again sometime. It was a BLAST!!  They recently re-did the pavilion for John Deere's 175th birthday so they have lots of great interacting exhibits as well as the HUGE tractors to climb up in. Maddox ran from tractor to tractor.  Kennon sported his John Deere tractor shirt compliments of Becky Nightingale, my good friend from Orion...!! Thanks Becky! He just watched the people and got pretty upset when I wouldn't let him get down and crawl around on the hard marble floor!! Not the most crawler friendly place but just wait a few weeks and he'll be upright and walking I do believe.  After the tractors we walked over to the big Mississippi ( Maddox is able to say that word with no PROBLEM....I am amazed at her vocabulary most days). We saw a few boats and then headed for ice cream!  Kennon devoured what seemed like a ton and then cashed out in the car seat on the way home, still tired enough to let me transfer him to the crib for his 2nd nap.  The little stinker continues to get quicker, more sneaky, and smarter. We had to finally put up a third baby gate this past week. He is like LIGHTENING on the steps and as quiet as a mouse.  He can get up to the landing in no time and has this great ability to be able to sense when someone accidentally leaves the gate open!! Last week he went back to devouring table food but then this weekend has been liking baby food more than table food again.  He always keeps us on our toes.  He is still an early riser as I mentioned above.  We have been giving him a bottle when he wakes up at 4.30 or 5am and then putting him back down but he is not really sleeping much after that. He will be solely on whole milk by the end of the week! He and Maddox have been fighting a bit ( or should I say bothering each other and getting into each other's space).  Only this week Kennon is much more annoyed by Maddox. He sort of just tries to get into her stuff but when Maddox takes a toy he has he definitely lets her know he isn't happy about it and waves his arms out at her in disgust. It is really funny right now but not so sure that will be the case in the coming months. This week at school starts Kindercare's summer programs. Maddox has this special calendar  where they are doing different activities each day of the week that are special for the summer. Every Tuesday is going to be WATER DAY where they bring their swimsuit and do water activities. Then one day the Niabi zoo brings animals, another day they go to DQ for a treat etc. So I"m excited for her to experience all the cool summer  activities. Kennon is LOVING his teachers at Kindercare.  When I pick him up I often just stand at the door and watch him interact with the ladies. They adore him and it is evident he loves them.  Not sure what they have in store for the infant room for the summer but I am literally amazed at all the cool activities he has already gotten to experience ( the soil table, the water table, finger painting, painting with feathers etc). We continue to be happy with Kindercare. Let's see what else. We tried to get Kennon's hair cut today as it is really getting scraggly and a little mullety in the back but all the places were closed. But stay tuned for the new and cool headed Kennon in next week's update. Today I was talking to Maddox about FLYING to Uncle Tyler's this summer in Colorado. She said ' And to Aunt Brooke's and Carter's?'  I said 'yes'. She said ' I like Carter, Carter is my friend'!!! How sweet. I can't wait till the Knowles' move back a bit closer.  

Garage Sale!!

So it has taken me almost 2 years but I finally figured out how to make the pictures BIG on the blog!!  Pretty darn easy. Hopefully now you won't need your bifocals to see them. The big event for this past weekend around the Kies house was the GARAGE sale!!  I took some items down to Jody, Hannah and Charlie's house Wednesday for the big sale to start on Thursday.  I took Friday off to help out and then Maddox came down to see what a SALE is all about on Saturday.  Hannah and Maddox manned the  'Cookies for Sale' table while Jody and I entertained the customers.  Unfortunately Saturday was VERY SLOW. Most of the buyers came by on Thursday and Friday.  Maddox and Hannah played in the backyard with chalk, squirt bottles, in Hannah's sand box and then gave 'Dora' a car wash!!  I managed to get a few good pictures, although getting 2    2 1/2 year olds to smile and look at the camera at the same time is easier 'typed' than done. I thought I made a lot of money. $180 at the sale itself. Then I took some stuff that didn't sell to the second hand kids shop and made another $30. AND I'm waiting for a guy to come look at the curio cabinet in the basement that we're selling. I've got $100 on that. So if he happens to buy that later tonight I"ll be up over $300!!! which I'd be ecstatic with.  The main point of the garage sale was to get stuff out of the house of course and we definitely did that. Other than that we didn't do too much.  Eric decided the yard was too dry to mow which freed up some time.  We set up the turtle sprinkler yesterday for Maddox but once we got both kids lathered up with sunscreen and got the hose in just the right spot she decided she didn't want to 'splash' in the water as she had been requesting to do all weekend since we had the sprinkler out watering the yard.  Kennon is still getting up at the crack of dawn, today at 5AM I think. I am starting to transition him to whole milk this week so I"m crossing my fingers that will help him sleep a bit longer.  Just as soon as I posted the blog last week that he was eating EVERY TABLE FOOD in sight and NOT wanting baby food he about quit eating all together. He became so finicky with table food I had to get back out the baby food just to keep something in his stomach.  But, it seems we are back to table food again this weekend.  He is loving being on his feet walking behind the walker and the giraffe. He is a mama's boy wanting to be in my arms anytime I happen to be in the room with him.  I"m wondering if he is going to get teeth or something as he has been pretty needy the last week.  His gums aren't swollen but he is sure finicky.  Maybe that's why he isn't sleeping either. Who knows??  Maddox has always been EXTREMELY predictable.  Kennon is exactly the opposite.  He keeps us on our toes. I have to tell you about one of Maddox and I's conversations we had last night.  I said to her as we were getting her PJs on for bed 'Maddox I love you as big as the ocean' and she said 'I love you too Mommy'.  I said 'How much do love me Maddox?'  There was like at 5 second pause as her little brain ticked and then she said 'THREE' with a big smile on her face and held up her fingers giving me the 'THREE sign' just like Grammy had taught her a couple of weeks ago!! How darn cute was that?? It just melted my heart. She is starting to initiate saying she loves both Eric and I now without us saying it to her first. And she is saying Mommy now instead of MaMa. She is growing up so fast!!  Sorry no Kennon pictures this week. He has been a bit of a fussy little guy always wanting to be held which makes camera shots a bit difficult. I"ll try to get some this weekend. We are so excited my college friend Katie and her family are coming to visit this weekend. Katie and Ed have Evan who is almost 4 and Mackenzie who is about 2 1/2. With our kids it will be quite the fun weekend. We are going to try to go to the zoo!!  We can't wait to see them. Take care.

Help from Grammy and Mother's Day

So we have had a fantastic couple of weeks since I updated.  Eric was gone for a week in Phoenix AZ for a financial planning conference so Grammy came to PLAY! ( well really to help me out but it seemed like play to Maddox and Kennon).  So the big highlights of the week, related to learning and development, were that Grammy taught Maddox how to do the number THREE with her fingers. She has always had trouble with this, not being able to get it just right, but with a little extra training from Grammy she got it. You can see in the pictures below she is showing off her new skill.  The other highlight is that Kennon is now basically refusing to eat baby food. He starts fussing if you even pop a jar open in front of him. ( smart kid eh....who would like to eat baby food when you could eat big kid food). He still only has 2 teeth but is managing to eat pretty much anything we give him. He has had hamburgers, grilled chicken,  pork chop, sweet potato, carrots, green beans, blueberries, turkey taco meat, watermelon, bread, pasta, pancakes, oranges, bananas.....plus a whole bunch of stuff at school. He eats what the big kids have a school now and they say he really does well. It was well AFTER a year before Maddox ate that much table food. She TOO was slow to get teeth and didn't fair very well with real food but not the case with Kennon.  I will say he does go on streaks like she does.  He loved mandarin oranges last week but will not touch them today and has figured out how to spit things out he doesn't like on his tray!!  Maddox does the same streaky sort of food liking too. Human nature I suppose.  Let's see what else.  Grammy watched Kennon one afternoon so I could take Maddox to her first movie at the theater. We saw Disney's Chimpanzee movie. It was fabulous and Maddox did really well sitting and tolerating the 1hour 20 minute movie.  I didn't have to break out the Junior Mints for a distraction until like half way through. It was such an educational, great movie. Highly recommended.  Then Monday we went to the zoo and met Hannah, Charlie and Jody. Despite the rainy weather in the AM, the PM turned out beautiful and it was nice to tootle around the very empty zoo!!  Maddox even rode a pony ( something we don't normally do but we had a little extra time ) all by herself!!  She did really well. His name was Doughboy and she kept calling him 'gray'.  I guess 'blonde' is probably a confusing color to a 2 1/2 year old ;)  We played outside with Grammy, doing chalk, and bubbles and going for walks and just plain having fun all week.  I even managed to make it to the Y a couple of times while she was here!!  We were so happy to have her come and help. I literally couldn't have done it without her.  THANK YOU GRAMMY!! I think she went back to Aurora happy but tired!!  The kids were happy to have Eric home although Maddox kept asking for Grammy the first couple of days she was gone.  The kids went back to sleeping a bit better although both have been on VERY EARLY streaks lately.  Kennon has been getting up at 4.30 or 5 and Maddox isn't too far behind that. It is getting light out so early so maybe that is the problem. Although it has been better since Eric got home. I have basically resigned to Kennon just not being a good sleeper.( just a heads up to all those joining us in Breckenridge in August...sorry in advance for the sleepless nights!!)   Maddox still is taking 2 naps and some days will actually sleep more than Kennon ( how is that possible....??)  We had a great Mother's day weekend and actually went back to the zoo ( and yes, Maddox does happen to have on exactly the same clothes for both zoo trips....you aren't seeing things....she is out growing her clothes and the pickin's are slim.  I ventured to Kohl's yesterday to pick her up a few new 3Ts).   Maddox was absolutely hysterical at the zoo on Saturday. It was like she was our comical tour guide. She ran from exhibit to exhibit shouting out in excitement at all the animals and waving furiously at the train as it went by. It was almost like she was thinking 'hey, I was just here so now I'm going to be the zoo tour guide'.  She was so animated, I wish I could have gotten some on video. It was Genesis day at the zoo on Saturday so we got free pulled pork and hot dog lunches.  Maddox loved her hot dog and proceeded to tell everybody her favorite part of the zoo that day were the HOT DOGS  ( never mind the fantastically roaring lions!!).  She loves the zoo. I'm so happy we live close enough for a quick trip.  It is just the perfect size for her.  Kennon looks pretty down and out in the zoo pictures!! We have been giving him a dose of benadryl before we got outside to help the kid with his poor environmental allergies.  I'm really hoping he outgrows them. He doesn't fall asleep with the benadryl but kinda goes into a drug coma.  Poor guy!! Lots of shout outs and congrats are in order for our family this week.  Congrats to Jaci Thode for graduating from Creighton this past weekend. Congrats to Alex Thode for graduating from Washington High School. Congrats to Kelby Kies for making it to the High School Track and Field state competition in the long jump.  And congrats to my good friend Megan Wentland (Nash and Nolan's mom) for getting her Doctorate in Physical therapy!!  Way to go Megan!!! Hugs to all from the Bettendorf Kies family. Take care for now.