Kelsey

Each week, one of the kids in Kailani's class gets to bring home a backpack with Kelsey inside. Kelsey is the KinderCare mascot; a stuffed bear or maybe a lion. When I picked Kailani up from school yesterday she was so excited because it was finally her turn to bring Kelsey home! She is supposed to take Kelsey with her to special places during the week and then return her to school on Monday. We'll have to return her on Friday since we won't be at school next week.

Tonight Kelsey went to Chick-fil-A with us and we took a picture to send to school when she returns. There is a bulletin board at school where pictures of the kids with Kelsey are hanging. Kailani also wrote in the journal that was included in the backpack. She drew a picture and wrote that we took Kelsey to Chick-fil-A tonight. I wonder what other adventures Kelsey will go on this week?!

Meeting Kat Von D

Today was a long day! After work we headed up to Borders to meet Kat Von D. She was there signing copies of her new book. I decided to get a book signed for Jason as a surprise, but I couldn't keep it a secret:) There were over 500 people there so it was pretty crazy, but Becky had gone to Borders earlier in the day to pick up a wrist band for us. We were in the third group of 50 called to line up. She was so nice and talked to everyone. She asked the kids' names and said to say "hi" to daddy since he wasn't able to be there.

Meeting Janell Cannon

This morning we had a birthday party to go to at Chick-fil-A. It was different being there on a day other than Tuesday. All of the kids got a kids meal and an ice cream. The cow came out and said hi to everyone. We've been to a lot of birthday parties lately...I'm already starting to think about what we can do for Zachary and Kailani next year.

After the party we headed over to the zoo. Janell Cannon, author of "Stellaluna," was there signing copies of her books. We had to wait a while, but finally got her autograph. We even got her to autograph a book for Makenzi and Jaylynn and another for a little girl from our playgroup. It looked like a lot of people had her sign 4-5 books. By the time it was our turn, the kids were not really into being there anymore. Kailani wouldn't pose for a picture while the author was signing her book. The kids did pose for a picture outside the zoo:)

While we were waiting in line for the autograph, a guy came by with a container of ladybugs. He was going to release them and asked if any of the kids wanted to hold one first. Kailani and Zachary were both able to hold a ladybug. Kailani really enjoyed that. She walked around looking for more ladybugs for a while. I think you can raise ladybugs like you can butterflies...I'll have to look into it for Christmas.

Enjoying our time off

We have enjoyed our two days off so far. I am so glad we decided to add the Friday as a day off when we created the school calendar for this year. Only one week back and then a week off for Thanksgiving!
Yesterday we met the meetup group at My Kids Clubhouse. The kids had a great time playing together. Afterwards, we went to Souplantation for lunch; Kailani's choice. She wanted to go there since someone else (Becky and the kids) was with us. We can't go to Souplantation often because it's a buffet and the kids can't be left at the table alone while I go up for food. She's looking forward to being able to go more often once Jason comes home.
Makenzi and Jaylynn came over to play for a while after lunch and then headed home so Makenzi could get to cheerleading.
This morning we did a little shopping for all of the birthdays tomorrow. Unfortunately, one of the birthday parties tomorrow has been cancelled. The son of one of my good friends has Tay Sachs disease and had to have emergency surgery yesterday. He'll be in the hospital for a few days...including over his birthday:( My friend is having a bowling fundraiser next weekend to raise money for the Tay Sachs foundation. They are raising money for experimental treatment that will be available in 2012...they need 3 million dollars and it's not guaranteed that her son will be picked (only 6 kids will be chosen). I hope he's well enough for the fundraiser. We plan to go since this one is kid-friendly. They plan to reschedule the birthday party once he has fully recovered. Check out the Hope for Gavin website...http://hopeforgavin.com/
Kailani had art this afternoon and she made a unique Christmas tree. She had to tie lots of fabric in knots. Needless to say she got a little frustrated. There was some yelling and some tears, but now she knows how to tie a knot! She's halfway to tying her shoes now:) After art, we headed to dinner with Becky and Jaylynn. They kept Zachary while Kailani and I were in her art class. They fed the ducks for the entire hour.
The girls had ballet tonight. They're getting closer and closer to the Nutcracker performance. I'm excited to see what they've been learning. Parents are no longer allowed in the room to watch because it is distracting to the kids. We're trying to decide what Kailani might want to sign up for during the winter class session at the rec center. She does not want to sign up for ballet anymore. I guess she didn't like it as much as she thought she was going to.

A trip to the dentist

Today the kids had a dentist appointment. In the parking lot, we listed to Star 94.1 so we could hear Kailani doing Kid Smarts. She sounded adorable! She thought it was weird to hear herself.
Both kids did great at the dentist...no cavities. The hygienist said Zachary was the best behaved baby she's ever had. He was so good. The first time he saw the dentist, she just checked to make sure his teeth were all coming in correctly. Today, he actually had his teeth cleaned; fluoride and all. Kailani had a few xrays done and got extra points on her rewards card. She picked out two little ballerinas as a prize. This was the first time she had used any points. I am so glad we got the kids started early on going to the dentist.

AJ's kids crane

Tonight after school/work we headed to the Ikea parking lot for AJ's Kids Crane. Every year the radio host goes up in a crane until a certain number of toys are donated; this year it's 102,000. We went to the crane last year and Kailani was excited to go again. The first 100 people to bring 2 toys tonight were supposed to get SeaWorld tickets. I think we got there around 5:10, and the SeaWorld tickets were already gone (the giveaway started at 5). We did get Legoland tickets, although we don't need them. We each donated 2 games for the kids at Rady Children's hospital. Kailani got a chance to walk around the toy tent and look at the 40,000+ toys that have already been collected. They were all separated by type...stuffed animals, games, toys, etc.

Kailani and Zachary looked up at AJ in the crane. I think Zachary was in awe. He kept staring up at him. He actually waved when AJ yelled down to him.

Just as we were walking away, one of the other radio hosts asked if Kailani wanted to be a part of one of the radio bits they do on a regular basis. It's called kidsmarts. They ask the kids a few questions and people who call in guess if the kids got the questions right or wrong. It was so cute! She asked Kailani all about herself and then she asked her 3 questions. Kailani was very shy at first and I wasn't sure she was actually going to go through with it. She had to talk into a little voice recorder. The bit is going to play at 7:30 tomorrow morning. If anyone wants to listed live, you can go to http://www.star941sandiego.com/main.html. If you don't get to listen live, they'll post the audio along with her picture and you can listen later:) Here's a link to where they post the audio after the show http://www.ajmornings.com/pages/kidssmarts.html?_show.

For participating, Kailani will get a gift card to Gepetto's, which is a toy store out here. I'll have to go to the radio station and pick it up at some point.

We're looking forward to hearing Kailani on the radio as we drive to the dentist tomorrow morning!

Fun-filled weekend of parties

We had a really nice weekend. Although we were really busy, I actually had time to get things done too. Friday afternoon Kailani had her weekly art class. She made a gingerbread man with a baker's hat and rolling pin. It was made out of a paver...like two other projects she's done (dog and butterfly). Now we have to figure out what to do with all of them:)

Kailani also had ballet on Friday night. While we were waiting for class to start, we hung out by the lake to watch the ducks. A few of them latched on to Zachary and followed him around. We tried giving them some animal cookies and goldfish we had with us. They at them all up; even out of his hands. Then they wouldn't leave us alone!

I went to a few days of training this week as part of clearing my administrative credential. I met another vice principal who I talked to throughout the training. It turns out that her daughter is in Kailani's ballet class, which we didn't realize until we saw each other there Friday night. Small world...

Saturday we really just got things done around the house, but we did have a birthday party in the middle of the day. The party was for one of the little girls in the playgroup. The theme of the party was Candyland. There was candy everywhere! There was a table set up with every kind of candy you can imagine. The kids each got a basket to fill with all the candy they wanted to take home. I think Kailani is still on that sugar high...she's wide awake now, even with the time change.

This morning we headed to Pigtails and Crewcuts. I had bought Kailani a "glamour girl package" a while ago when there was an online deal going on. She got her hair done in an up do, her nails painted (green), and her make up done. They even put a little crown clip in her hair. When I bought this for her, I wasn't sure when we would use it. I decided to host a royal tea party for the meetup group so Kailani could get all done up and then dress up in her Belle outfit.

We had 12 kids all together for the tea party. I set up tables with center pieces and all. The kids had finger sandwiches and cookies. They each made a wand and we played pin the crown on the princess. Kailani (and Zachary) had such a great time.