swimming lessons!

the kids are taking swimming lessons for the next 2 months, weekly. they had their first class last week and loved it! hallie & kai are in the same class, and their friend keith joined them too! this is really the first time for lessons... well for kai at least. hallie took some as a baby, and then tried unparented lessons at age 3 but only went once or twice and was traumatized. this time went much smoother -- i'm so happy they can be in the same class!

the babes, viewing the lessons... on the other side of the glass... what's funny about this one is little erin in the background was totally all smiles for the camera!

the little swimmers!

waiting for the lesson to start...

cute...

i am one of the horrible moms who allows her kids to listen to nickelback... and hinder... and other stuff like that... not always, but sometimes when i am no longer wanting to hear the kids music..... and my little hallie has her mind made up that she is having hinder's "lips of an angel" song for her wedding song! haha!!! if she only knew what the song was about...

then the conversation went into how she is marrying kai... oh boy.... we have a lot to sort out here!

quirky 'lil emmy!

quite the face she's making...

at the restaurant - we went this week with my parents, my sister, my aunt and uncle, and my grandma. it was a great visit and the kids had fun too!

skating again!

sunday kipp took the kids skating again! i walked over with emerson in her sled too, for some pictures of course!

i also peeked inside our new house and our cabinets are in! they look awesme -- they are totally going to be destroyed by the kids, i already know it :( i also noticed our house is painted inside... and i really don't like the color *I* picked. oops :( i hope it looks ok once the rest of the house stuff is in (flooring, furniture, etc.)

random pics

my emerson!

this picture is funny... hallie wrote everyone's names normally, but her own name completely mirrored. she said there was no room to write it the other way because she did the "H" too close to the side. interesting!

erin's shoot!

pics are posted here because there are a ton! http://new.photos.yahoo.com/halliekai/#page1 (there are 2 pages... for some reason my least fav ones are first... oh well)

i took some pics of my good friend's babe today! what a perfect little model, couldn't have asked for a happier little girl! some of my favorite pics below...

some pics....

i love this shot of dominic!

a ncie shot of kai...

the posee... i love this shot
hallie & her friend izabella

izabella, hallie, and dominic
hallie on our walk

emerson!

hallie beauty
a chilly emerson


coloring time... last wednesday i had 7 kids here!

play-doh time!
close up of emerson


pigtails!

haircuts - after pics!

haircuts - before pics

grrr...

i've been trying all day and i can't upload even just one picture to blogger. anyone else?? the kids got haircuts last night so i wanted to post the before and after pics!

today was a busy day. i had 7 kids here today - yikes! 3 of my own, my FT dayhome girl, and then my friend's 2 kids + another kid who had never come before (long story) but it went well..... just BUSY! we did playdoh, play foam, a walk outside, more playing outside (kids getting soaked since it was so warm!), coloring, playing with toys... lunch... it was non-stop!

tonight i had a dayhome interview for kids who need FT summer care and then before/after school care next fall. i need to figure out my plan for hallie for the fall. which school i'm sending her to... and then once i choose that, i need to figure out AM or PM kindergarten.... and now i'm having these thoughts about homeschooling since the school choosing is stressing me out so much! aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! man i just don't know?!??

tonight i asked hallie if she wanted to go to school or have mommy teach her at home? i told her i could teach her how to read and stuff and we could still go places and she wouldn't be at school all day.... and she picked school. she said otherwise she would miss her friends.... !

thoughts?!??

chocolate milk update

for those who have asked, i mostly followed through with the "no party" punishment last night. they were just in tears (mostly just hallie, and i felt bad beacuse i think kai did most of the mess!) for their shower and all evening... right before bed i let them have a brownie and some doritos at the table. nice bedtime snack. but nothing else. no special movie with us, no games, nothing else....

then today they woke up asking if the party could be tonight. they don't "get it" but oh well. so far, no one cares that the toys are gone. including me. really, they got way too much stuff for christmas so maybe it's better that a bunch of it is put away for a while.

so more disney developments... trying to choose a hotel. last i heard from my mom she has booked 3, yes 3, hotels for us... we have to choose the one we want. one has a suite type of room with 2 bedrooms + separate living room, 2 bathrooms, sounds nice and big but it's got an indoor pool. something about california and indoor pools -- i think pools should be outside! but i guess it's only a minor issue! LOL

and we're trying to figure out what we'll do each day we are there. i love planning so this is right up my alley. kipp wants to go to universal studios because last time we had to leave early (he was sick) -- however it's not overly great for the kids... so not sure if it's worth the $$. decisions decisions!

my sister is there right now, as a "nanny" with my cousins and their kids... she is helping out. they drove down! she bought the kids some new vans so i can't wait to see them!

today was new year's day... kipp took the kids sledding, i took emerson shopping. it kinda sucked because nothing at south common was open except walmart, superstore, and old navy! not really the stores i was hoping to check out!

happy new year everyone!!

p.s. both kids, yes BOTH, spilled their milk tonight at supper time. maybe there's something in the milk... all of these milk incidents...