The Kelloggs Take the 29 Day Challenge

So I saw this on my sister in laws blog and stole it! STOLEN! It looks fun and a good way to give snapshot about us. It is meant for an individual, but I thought it would be fun to do it as a family. (Some questions may have to be adapted for our littles, but here they are)

29 Days about each Kellogg!

Day 1 – a recent photo of you

Day 2 – your favorite song

Day 3 – your favorite movie

Day 4 – a photo of you as a child

Day 5 – your favorite television program

Day 6 – your favorite book

Day 7 – a picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

Day 8 – your favorite quote

Day 9 – your dream house (description or photo!)

Day 10 – a photo that makes you happy

Day 11 – a photo that makes you angry/sad

Day 12 – something you are OCD about

Day 13 – a description of what's currently in your handbag/purse/diaper bag!

Day 14 – a photo of a person you’d love to trade places with for a day

Day 15 – a photo of yourself and a new friend you met this year

Day 16 – a song that makes you cry

Day 17 – your favorite website

Day 18 – a photo of your favorite memory

Day 19 – a picture of somewhere you’d like to travel

Day 20 – a talent of yours

Day 21 – a hobby of yours

Day 22 – a photo of your wedding/future wedding plans

Day 23 – a photo of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently

Day 24 – a recipe

Day 25 – your worst habit

Day 26 – a photo of where you live

Day 27 – a photo of someone you could never imagine your life without

Day 28 – your hopes, dreams, plans for the next 365 days

Day 29 – a picture of something you want to do before you die

Here are the girls waiting for their dates. Soooo adorable. They were so excited for the daddy daughter dance. "Where's My Date?" I loved it!



Below are some fun pictures comparing last year and this year's daddy daughter dance. I thought it was fun to see. Kate has really grown up. (Last year is on the left with the purple dress. )

Here is her hair dos from both years














Here is Kate and
Daddy both years.

Daddy Daughter Dance 2011

It's that time of year again......this year, we thought we could let us pass us by.
The Daddy Daughter Dance!
Since it was on our 10th anniversary this year, we thought we would just not mention it to Kate and let is slide on by. However, she had other plans. A MONTH in advance she started asking AT LEAST once a day (frequently more) if daddy would take her to the "daddy dj dance". Then she would wander around the house and pick out dresses and accessories while singing "Daddy DJ Take me to the Party". When she looked at Christopher with her baby blues and asked him if he was going to take her to the dance with the balloons and the cookies "remember daddy? can we go?" I totally caved and told Christopher to take her. We would celebrate our anniversary a day early.
Daddy Daughter Dance is like mini prom for Kate. She agonized over the dress and the hairdo. She wanted to make sure her date showed up with the right stuff (a flower and a heart lollipop) and that she was in the right group (with Maddie and Uncle Willie) It was soooo fun to get her all ready and see her get more and more excited the closer it got.
She talked me into letting her wear the dress I had been holding for her for the past 2 years....it was going to be her Easter dress this year, but we decided this was a special occasion. We bought her new white dress shoes and did her hair really special. REALLY.....REALLY SPECIAL! In case you can't tell....it is a heart that I laced with little pearls and white ribbon roses. It took about 40 min to do and Kate was very still and patient through the whole thing. She had been asking me to do this hairdo for a solid month afterall. I was super proud of how it turned out and took lots of pictures. I even left it in for the whole weekend! Yay! She just let me take it down tonight. Nana even helped curl the ponytail when we were done. I have never curled Kate's hair before. It is hard since it is so fine, but it turned out really cute. Here are both girls from the back.
This year she was fortunate to go with her cousin Madison. When we walked out and saw Madison, I just laughed. The girls were TWINS! It was completely by accident but we had dressed them almost exactly alike. They were totally adorable and both looked like little bitty princesses. Those girls were sooooo excited to go together. There was a lot of hugging and giggling and jumping and some squealing. I am really glad they are close and enjoy each other so much.
We took lots of pictures of the girls and their daddies before they left. Beautiful Madison RoseMy Little Princess, Kate AliviaTwin PrincessesThis one is one of my favorite. Cute little baby besties. So happy.Kate and her daddy Group ShotFinally, it was time for the girls to come inside and wait to be "picked up" by their dates. Here they are waitingand waitingand waitingand waiting some more. The daddies went outside and got their "flowers" ready. It probably took 2 minutes, but the girls thought it was an eternity. They could barely sit still and kept asking "Where's my date?" When the guys knocked, Kate answered the door. She was so happy to get the flower she asked for (and the lollipops). Bonus since the flower was also chocolate.
Then they all went out(some skipped more than others...lol), the boys strapped the princesses in the carriage and away they went. They had a wonderful time. The girls talked about it all weekend. They danced and ate and danced some more. The girls felt so special. I am grateful that Kate has a daddy who shows her how special she is and how she should be treated. She is really his little princess.

Daycare Days

So...I realize I have not blogged in a while. There have been those who have accused me of not blogging since JULY!! OK people...yes, it is bad but my last blog was in fact in NOVEMBER about an event which occured in OCTOBER so not quite THAT bad. ;) However, in an effort to better document my awesome family and our adventures I will try to improve. I find myself busier and busier so my goal is to try and get 2 posts a week up. Yep...2. Yay me!
I realize that many are not aware that in October of last year I started my own lil home daycare. It started with one lil part time 4 year old girl--whom I ADORE, and it has sprouted into 3 regular kiddos plus my two. Most days I have 5 children for at least a few hours. Days when I only have 4...or 3...it feels like playing house. In answer to the popular questions: YES, it is busy. YES, I am tired. YES, 5 little ones is a lot. And ACTUALLY, I am having a wonderful time. My kids have playmates constantly and we go and do and don't miss a beat. If anything it has forced me to be more organized, more productive, and more creative. The kiddos are all very well behaved, and we do preschool, field trips, playgroups, and are almost always painting something. I must say I am VERY attached to them all and I feel very blessed to have such great kiddos in my care and to be working with such good parents. It also makes me value the time I have with my own children EVEN more (if that is possible.)

Here are some pictures of a typical week for us. Aren't we cute!?Dressing up and dancing around like crazy people is a MUST! Lately, we have REALLY enjoyed playing Pretty Pretty Princess while waiting for parent pickups. We are an equal opportunity group so the boys totally play too. Yes....there are LOTS of pictures. I think they love playing this game more than the girls. Oh...embarrassment...I await your arrival in the teen years! Muah ha ha! Dallin wants to be the Pretty Pretty Princess SOOOOO bad. He hasn't won yet. I am going to get him on video saying "I REALLY want to be the Pretty Princess, Mom!" The little guy on the right though won....TWICE! Yep, he totally gloated. Boy did he ever rock those earrings. And here we are at the park. If the weather is good, we try to go there once a week. Kate is ALWAYS the damsel in distress. I think she has magic powers since she is so cute. She can be completely onery and she always gets her own way and everyone loves her. How is this possible? And how can I do that?
Isn't he just the cutest little guy? Here they are riding away from the bad guy. Kate looks over and says "Look at Me! I'm fast!!" Don't worry, I quickly added that she wasn't easy. Ha ha! On Fridays we go on a field trip. Here we are last Friday on our field trip to the post office. We spent all week talking about what happens to letters when we mail them. We even wrote letters and mailed them there. They are all so well behaved on their field trips. I am amazed at how well they stay together and pay attention! Here they are mailing their letters. By the way, taking pictures in the post office is NOT ALLOWED. Note the lady in the red looking freaked and the lady behind the counter frantically waving. I'm surprised they let me leave with my camera.
Most weeks we also hit library storytime and spend a lot of time on art work and preschool. That is the week in a nutshell. Partay!

Flash Back-Halloween Happenings - Fall Festival at Old Settlers Park

Every year, the city of Round Rock hosts a big fall festival for preschoolers and their parents. They hold it in the morning while the "big kids" are at school. It is REALLY REALLY big (plus it is free :) There are lots of lil Halloween games, a hayride, and photo ops...plus yummy snacks and prizes. I have always heard how cool it is and this year I decided I definitely wanted to go give it a try. I will say it did NOT disappoint.
This year I took Dallin and Kate as well as our lil friend, Tessa. I also got to bring my niece, Madison. Fortunately, my mom went to help with kiddo wrangling or we wouldn't have been able to manage it. We got there a little while into it, but still with an hour to enjoy the setup. I had never been and though I heard it was crowded, I thought....it is a pre-k carnival...how crowded can it be? Surely you can get through everything in an hour. I thought WRONG! This thing was HUGE. Old Settlers park is ginormous and this was one SPRAWLING carnival with kids EVERYWHERE. Parking was crazy. After we got parked we treked over to the carnival.
The kids just gasped when they saw it all laid out. The theme this year was Old McDonalds Farm and each kiddo got a FREE goodie bag stuffed with treats and a NICE hardcover Lil Golden Book of "Old McDonald". The treat bag really came in handy because everything they did gave out a candy or prize of some sort.
First, we took pictures at Old McDonalds Farm. Some with the dog....some with Old McDonald. Surprisingly, Madison (who is obsessed with farms and Old McDonald would not get anywhere NEAR the dog or Old McDonald). We also tried to do a group shot at the beginning, but the kids were too excited and it was an epic fail.
We went to several of the games (there were sooooo many games AND kids there). They had cute little games like put the dog bone in the dog bowl and throw the Bat into the cave (which I was totally amused seeing Dallin/Batman do). They also had Tic Tac Toe beanbags. You got a prize for each game no matter what. There were lines for everything and they moved fairly quickly. The kids didn't really mind the lines because it gave them a chance to check out everyone's costumes.
We decided after a few games that we definitely DIDN'T want to miss the hayride (pulled by a real tractor) so we headed over and got in line. The kids were soooo excited for this! I am definitely glad we made a point of getting it in. They will likely forget the little games but they will long remember the hayride and the tractor. They kept saying "Wheee!!"
After the hayride we had time for a couple of games more and then it was time for pictures and heading home. Overall, I thought it was very well done, very organized and next year I DEFINITELY want to get there at the beginning! It really made our Halloween!