Easter 2013

We had a great Easter. Joe and I were both off from work so we were able to spend three full days off with Kylie. Our Easter weekend started on Saturday morning with the Easter celebration and egg hunt at church. Kylie had a great time hunting eggs and making a magnet during craft time.



Kylie with her eggs she found at the church egg hunt

After the egg hunt Kylie practiced for her mini-cantata that she was going to be in on Easter Sunday during the Sunday School hour. After practice we had lunch and then went on a drive around town. We ended up at the grocery store and bought groceries for dinner and eggs to dye. Kylie had a great time coloring the eggs and was proud to show them off.

Kylie and her eggs

Sunday morning we woke up and Kylie checked out her Easter basket.

After checking out her basket, we went to church as a family. It is very very rare for us to go to church together. Joe works midnights and I work the early shift on Sundays so normally Kylie goes to church with my mom. She was very excited to know that we were all going together. After the service it was time for Kylie's performance with the other nursery kids. The mini-cantata went well, but Kylie did not sing. She knows all of the words because she has listened to the cd in my numerous times. She stood there for a little bit with her hands over her eyes. She then made funny looking faces and walked around in front of the rest of the group singing. She then lifted up her dress and once she put her finger up her nose. She was quite an act to watch. At least she was cute and didn't cry. Maybe next year will be her year to start actually singing.

Daddy and Kylie ready for church

Mommy and Kylie ready for church

After church we went home for a little bit before heading out to celebrate Easter with the Dutschmann side of the family. Kylie and Joe enjoyed a nice little nap and then mom came over after singing at church. The four of us loaded up the car and drove out to my uncle and aunt's house. We had a delicious lunch and dessert and then enjoyed time hanging out. Then it was time for the egg hunt. Normally all of the little cousins are there for the hunt, but this year it was just Kylie and Autumn. It was a different egg hunt since the only ones that participated were three years old and nine months old. I told Kylie she better enjoy this year because next year all of the little cousins (nine or ten of them) will be there. Kylie made quite the haul of eggs and even helped Autumn fill up her basket. After the hunt we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon hanging out with the family.

Ready to leave for Easter lunch

Hunting eggs

She made a friend

Kylie and her eggs

We had a great Easter weekend and were so thankful to be together as a family.

Three and a Half

Kylie is 3 and a half years old. In less than five months she will be four years old.

Some facts about Kylie at 3 and a half:

• Knows her birthday and how to spell her name
• Knows her colors in English and Spanish
• Can count to ten in Spanish
• Can count by tens to one hundred. Knows her numbers and loves to point out any number she sees.
• Likes to trace number and letters with the erasable marker in her writing book.
• Loves to be Mommy, Daddy, and YaYa's helper. She likes to sweep and fold clothes (hopefully she still does when she is older)
• She has a great memory. She can tell you things you forgot about from months ago. For example: She remembers what she wore with her Daddy to the "tire store" and that was almost six months ago. Every time she passes the tire store she talks about it. Some of the things she remembers amazes me because I will have forgotten about them.
• She is very tall for her age. When people ask her how old she is and she says three, they are surprised. She is about a head taller than other kids her age.
• She loves to play with mommy and daddy's cellphones. She has games on both phones and knows how to unlock the phone and play them. She has even posted a few things to my Facebook page. She is very smart when it comes to technology. She also loves to play games on the computer and her new tablet she got from Santa for Christmas.
• Some of her favorites places to go: YaYa's house, PaPa's house, Mommy and Daddy's work, church, U-Swirl, HEB, Walmart, Home Depot, Michaels craft store, Hobby Lobby, and any restaurant that serves enchiladas with rice and beans (one of her favorites)
• Favorite foods (some of them): macaroni and cheese with broccoli, strawberry jelly sandwiches, carrots or spinach with ranch dressing, yogurt, tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken nuggets, frozen yogurt with toppings, and Enchilada with rice and beans (as mentioned above)
• Least favorite food: She will not eat scrambled eggs. I don't know why, but she won't. She has tried it several times and never likes it.
• Loves babies. Especially her little cousins Autumn and Drew, or as she calls them "Baby Autumn" and "Baby Drew". She likes to make Autumn smile and laugh. Any baby she sees, she always says "Aww, that baby is so cute".
• Loves dogs. There is a dog that lives at the end of our street and she always points him out and says "hi". My brother and his wife have a giant dog named Bubba and she loves him. She loved playing with him when we helped them move earlier this month. She loves to talk about playing with Bubba and just like with babies she says "Aww he is so cute".

Helping Mommy dispatch at the Police Department on Sunday mornings
(before YaYa picks her up for church)



Looking cute before running errands for the day

Wearing Daddy's Red Sox hat.

Helping Uncle Ryan and Aunt Elyse pack up and move to Katy, Texas

Smiles



Kylie and the the Christmas tree




Kylie giving a toy to Toys for Tots. She was so excited to give the toy.



Halloween 2012

Kylie has been counting down the days until it was time for trick or treating. She couldn't wait to wear her costume and go trick or treating with her friend Cameron.
At first Kylie said she wanted to be Cinderella, but after seeing the Tinkerbell costume she quickly changed her mind. Joe and I were both able to take off from work so we could both go with her. Halloween night we loaded up the car and went to my cousin's neighborhood to trick or treat. The neighborhood is very kid friendly with almost every house giving out candy. It is a very popular neighborhood. As soon as we got out of the car, Kylie knew what to do. She knew that the houses with the porch lights on were the places to go. She loved going door to door and saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You". After she got candy from each house, she would come down the sidewalk and say "We going to another house mommy?". She had a blast. There were a few house with some scary things, but it didn't really scare her. She was on a mission to get candy. After walking the block, our neighbors decided to call it a night and head home. We decided to go a few streets down and visit with my cousins at their house. My Grammy, aunts, uncles, and other cousins were there passing out candy and having a little party. Kylie got more candy and thanks to cousin Chase, her pumpkin was filled to the top. She had fun hanging out with the family. Other than getting to eat lots of yummy treats, I think her favorite thing was holding her cousin Autumn (or 'Baby Autumn' as Kylie calls her). We had a great time and then headed home to try to get Kylie to go to bed.



Tinkerbell ready to Trick or Treat



My pretty girl



Kylie and Autumn



My Girl

Kylie's First Haircut (Trim)

Kylie has never had her hair cut. She was born with almost no hair so I waited for it to grow long enough for a bow. She finally got enough hair for a ponytail and bow on top of her head. I can even get it in pigtails and a bigger ponytail if I have enough time (and she stays really still which doesn't happen often). I didn't want to get it cut for a while because it took so long to grow to the length it is now. Her hair has natural curl so it looks shorter when it is really curly. We decided to finally get her hair cut (trimmed) this past weekend. She was so excited to go the "haircut store". We picked a place that does only kid's cuts because we figured she would do better. The place we went has cars for the kids to sit in and the child gets to pick a movie to watch while they get their hair cut. Kylie picked a pink Barbie jeep to "drive" and Toy Story to watch. She says it was Toy Story 3 (her favorite movie) so we let her think that. She only got a little trim. I didn't want to cut to much. After her haircut she got to pick a cute little bow for her hair, a balloon, sucker, and a bear tattoo. She did great at the "haircut store". It was a little pricier than a regular hair cutting place, but it was kind of worth it because she was distracted long enough to get her hair trimmed.

Before (the "horns" on top are from taking out her ponytail)

Getting her hair cut like a big girl.

After

 

Our Weekend

Some of the blogs I read do a weekend recap so I thought I would too.

My weekend is not Saturday/Sunday because I work Sundays. My weekend starts Friday mornings. This weekend Joe and I decided to do something last minute. Baylor football season starts next Sunday so Joe is going to be very busy working overtime. We wanted to make a quick trip to the beach, but the weather channel showed rain for Friday and Saturday. We were a little bummed about not being able to go to the beach, but knew we wanted to get out of town even if it was just for the day.
We decided to go to lunch at the Salt Lick in Round Rock and then head down to the San Marcos Outlets. We got to the Salt Lick right after they opened so it was not busy. I ordered the sausage plate and Joe had a combo plate with sliced brisket and sausage. Normally we order Kylie her own meal, but when the waitress told me how much came on my plate I figured there would probably be enough for her to share with me. I was right! The plate was full of sausage, beans, potato salad, and cole slaw. There was enough food for Kylie and me to eat, and even give Joe what we couldn't eat. We were all stuffed when we left. After lunch we drove down to San Marcos. On the way to the outlets, Kylie told us she wanted to walk in the stores instead of riding in her stroller. I told her as long as she held one of our hands she could walk. When we got there we decided to bring the stroller just in case. For the most part, she did a good job at walking and holding our hands. There were a few times she said she wanted to go by herself, but once we told her she would have to ride if she didn't obey she grabbed our hand and we continued shopping. One of our first stops was the Disney Store. Kylie loved it and probably would have stayed the rest of the day if we let her. She liked walking around and pointing out all of the characters she knows. The store was selling three cups for $10 so we couldn't pass up the great deal. We let Kylie pick out her favorites. She got a Minnie Mouse cup with a twirly straw, a Toy Story cup with a spinning part on the bottom, and a TinkerBell cup with glitter. While walking around we saw the trailer for 'Hey Cupcake'. We were thirsty and tired so we knew we better stop for a quick sugar rush and water. Joe got the double dose (chocolate buttercream frosting and chocolate cake) and Kylie and I shared the Cherry Sublime (keylime cake with buttercream frosting). They were delicious!!! After our treat we stopped at more stores, but only bought Joe a shirt. After walking all over the outlet mall we were ready to head home. I knew once we got in the car to head home Kylie would be go to sleep. I think she was asleep within ten minutes. On the way home we decided to make a stop at Garden Ridge. We bought a much needed new trash can for our kitchen and a mug tree for our coffee cups. By the time we left the store it was already 7pm. We were all hungry and craving some pasta from Baris in Waco. We didn't get to the restaurant until 9pm. Kylie never eats that late but we figured it would be okay just this one time. It was her weekend too, so the rules can be broken right?? She ate her spaghetti and meatballs and enjoyed their delicious rolls. We ate until we were full and still had leftovers for all three of us. Joe had to get a cannoli before we left ( I got one too). It is his new favorite dessert since we got back from Boston. Once we got home we were wide awake. We let Kylie stay up a little bit and then put her to bed. Joe and I stayed up and rearranged things on the counter so we could use our new mug tree. After cleaning (at midnight!), we enjoyed our cannolis and watched a little bit of television. We didn't go to sleep until 1:30am.
Saturday morning Joe went to his parent's house to visit. My mom came over and we went to HEB, Michaels, and Target. After shopping we grabbed some lunch to go and ate at home. After lunch, Kylie took a nap and mom and I lounged around. We then looked up some craft ideas online. After Mom went home, Joe went to sleep for a little while before he headed in for work. Kylie played, ate dinner, played some more, and then I gave her a bath. Then it was time for bed. I watched a little bit of tv and then went to sleep. I normally don't have any trouble getting up for my early shift on Sundays ( I have to be at work at 6:45am), but I guess I turned off my alarm (twice). Thankfully Joe called me a few minutes before 6 and I was able to get ready, get Kylie ready and head out at our normal time. Once we got in the car, I realized I needed to get gas. Thankfully there is a gas station close to our house that is open at 6:30am on Sundays. Kylie and I got to work at 6:44am! Kylie ate her breakfast and then mom came to pick her up for church. I worked until 2:45p and then went to mom's to pick up Kylie. When I pulled up to the house, I noticed my brother's fiance's vehicle was in front of the house and Joe's truck was in the driveway. As soon as I saw that I knew they were inside to celebrate my birthday. I walked in and they yelled "Happy Birthday!". My mom had made me a birthday cake using twinkies shaped into a flower. My brother and his fiance got me a pair of cute rainboots. My mom is going to get me a haircut like I do every year. She also got me a birthday balloon (picked out by my brother). It is huge!!! Kylie thinks it is her balloon and loves playing with it. After cake and ice cream we headed home to clean up. We then went over to Joe's aunt's house for quesadillas. After dinner and visiting a little while, we came home so Joe could take a little nap before going to work. Kylie and I played outside because it was actually cool (or cooler than it has been). We played with bubbles, took a bike ride, and Kylie took a ride around the block in her wagon. Then it was time for baths.
Joe and I work opposite shifts the entire week so it is nice to be able to spend Friday and Saturday morning/afternoon together as a family of three. We love our family time!!