Catching Up

Have you noticed what a blog slacker I've become? It's just so nice and warm outside, I cannot help myself.

Here are a few highlights from the past couple weeks...

I was planning on having another wild birthday party with 30 kids and a bouncer this year. I was pleasantly surprised when the kids decided they each wanted to invite a friend to Build-a-Bear instead.

They loved it - and so did I!

No clean up for Mommy :)

The kids both asked for new, bigger bikes for their birthdays. Kylie picked the pinkest one we could find.

Kylie also had her first tooth pulled. Yikes, I was nervous. The dentist gave her some laughing gas though, and she did not feel a thing. She was giggling and said she was floating. She kept grabbing the little mask and saying, "honk honk." I am wondering why I have never been given laughing gas at the dentist before?

Matthew gets so excited over cake & ice cream. We had a 2nd little birthday party with Cameron & Eamon. Their birthdays are in the same week as Kylie's & Matthew's. They are all exactly a year apart and have tons of fun together. Kinda cool, especially considering Cara & I both had trouble getting pregnant and didn't plan it that way.

Cameron, who is one of the sweetest 8-year-old boys ever by the way, smashed his face in his cupcake, then started laughing so hard he was crying. Of course the other 3 had to join in.

Last week, I had the pleasure of being a chaperone for the kindergarten zoo trip. I was assigned 3 cute little blonde, blue-eyed boys. I think I had the wildest group, but since Matthew is one of the wildest, I was up for the challenge.

They kept me on my toes. Much different than Kylie's mellow group last year.

A year ago, I swore I would never buy another fish - ever. Meet Finn II. It should be Finn XII, but what the kids don't know won't hurt them right? He's been around for a couple weeks now. I just cannot say no to my kids' sweet faces. I may need help.

Six

My baby is six today. And he could not possibly be more excited. Walking to class this morning, he was jumping up and down and shouting to every person we walked by, "it's my birthday and I'm 6!"

So, just like Kylie's birthday post (because if you have 2 kids so close in age then you know things have to be absolutely equal, right?) let's remember a few of Matthew's nicknames.

There are the typical boy nicknames like bud, buddy, my boy, little man.

Then of course there's Mattie, which we call him all the time, but he is starting not to like it since he knows so many girls named Mattie.

Matthew's first nickname was Pip. It is John's nickname for Matthew. Matthew was a preemie, and we were a little shocked at how tiny he looked, no cute little rolls like Kylie had. From the start John called him pip-squeak. I didn't like it, so it was shortened to Pip and Pipper, which John still calls him daily.

My sister Autumn started his second nickname. She called him Machew, and it just stuck. It turned into Mr. Chew, and then when he was learning sign-language it was also Choo-choo(like a train). He uses the train sign as his name sign. We still call him Mr. Chew all the time.

If you know Matthew well, you know he is super silly, which earned him the nickname goose.

A couple random nicknames are bubbers and turkey-bo-burkey. Both are because he used to get into a lot of trouble - he was a very destructive 3 year-old once upon a time. I called him Bubba when I'd find one of his disasters because it sounded like a criminal's name to me. It turned into Bubbers because it sounded less harsh.

OK, the last one I'll share is probably the most common nickname, but it is my favorite. I call him sweetheart. He says he is "mommy's sweetheart" all the time. In fact, one of our neighbors was over once and as she was leaving she said "goodbye sweetheart" to Matthew. Matthew got really mad, put his hands on his hips, and yelled, "I am not your sweetheart! I am her sweetheart!" and pointed at me. My neighbor and I started laughing because he was still young enough that it was cute.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart Matthew! We love you and all the happiness you add to our family!

Seven

It seems like I just blinked, and my precious baby is now a sweet little girl. I love the little girl she has become, but I tell her she will always be my baby.

After opening her presents this morning, Kylie started to cry. I couldn't believe it, I thought she was upset about her presents and wanted more. I was trying really hard not to get upset because my kids are seriously spoiled and get almost everything they ever want. So, I sat down and hugged her and asked why she was crying. She said, "I miss being 6." I cannot imagine how she's going to handle 30 if 7 is hard.

For her birthday post, I thought it would be fun to remember a few of the nicknames she's had over the years.

There are the basics of course: princess, baby girl, my girl, sweetie that just come naturally when you have a girl.

Then there are the name variations: Ky, ky-ky, ky-kee, ky-ky-korrina, Miss Kylie.

Kylie's very first nickname was Cricket. The day Kylie was born, we noticed she would rub her feet together really fast to undo her swaddling. She continued to rub her feet together like that until she was about 2 years-old, and she still cannot stand to have her feet covered with blankets. The name Cricket eventually became Bug, then Miss Bug, and we still call her Kylie-Bug.

The nickname we use the most is Penelope. I secretly wanted to name her Penelope, so when she was born I called her Penelope. I call her Penelope so much that just last year when someone asked her what her middle name was, she answered "Penelope."

Penelope led to her longest nickname: Princess Petunia Penelope Peepers. We call her Princess P for short.

Kylie's 2 favorite nicknames (sticking with the P theme) are Pumpkin and Sweet Pea.

OK, is that too many nicknames for one little girl?

Happy Birthday Kylie! We are so blessed to have you in our family!