Mickey Mouse + Snow

Sunday, Disney Live! Mickey's Musical, was at the United Wireless Arena in Dodge City.  We met my cousin's family for lunch at McDonalds, then headed to the show.  The kids had a blast!  

Kade LOVES big cousin, Gunnar!

Kade, Gunnar, Breckyn, and Marleigh all ready for
the show!

Daddy went out at intermission for cotton candy
and Mickey ears!

So much fun!

We kept trying to pry Kade's eyes off the stage
for a picture, but that just didn't happen!

It really was a great show!

Worn out on the ride home.  

Pretty girl was all smiles, all day.  

~~~

Yesterday, we got some more snow.  The kids were begging to play in it, so we spent 20 minutes getting all bundled up, but it was COLD!  I made them come in after only 15 minutes.

We now have many snow angels all over our yard!

This little guy decided that playing in the snow is
pretty fun.  Last year he wanted nothing to do with it.

Marleigh thinks her snow boots are so cool!  She insisted
on posing for a picture so she could, "showcase her boots!"

Kade came running out last night and wanted to "play
football".  So we did!  :)

Marleigh is 5!

Miss Marleigh-

Five years have passed so quickly!  You are growing up into a beautiful little girl, and Daddy and I couldn't be more proud of you!

The last several months you have blossomed.  Our shy little girl has gained confidence and you will now engage almost anyone in conversation.  You still like to have us close by, but we are for sure gaining ground!

Starting dance this past fall has helped your coordination and confidence as well.  You really enjoy going to dance every week, and love that you get to pick out dance outfits.  Rebecca always finds some cute way to do your hair on dance days.  You are always eager to show your dance moves to anyone who will watch.  We are so proud of you!

Stepping Stones Preschool has been so amazing!  You really like to learn and seem to pick up on things so quickly.  Daddy and I can no longer spell around you, because you have started sounding out words.  I can't believe that Pre-K is half way over and you will be off to Kindergarten next year!

You still wow us with some of the things that you say.  Your vocabulary and thought process seems to be so mature for your age.  Just the other day, we were talking about Kade's shoes.  You had mentioned that his shoes were blue and white, and had velcro.  You then paused, turned to me, and said, "Speaking of which, Mom, when is Kade going to get shoes that have shoelaces and tie?"

I know I mention it every time, but I love your compassionate heart.  Your brother had some sort of allergic reaction a couple of times last week.  The night of your birthday, we were saying your bed time prayers, and you said, "God, please don't let my brother get anymore red spots.  I don't want him to have to go to the doctor."  You were also concerned that he had to get his checkup yesterday.  You inquired as to whether he was going to have to get shots.  Because if he did, you might need to go with him to take care of him.

Marleigh, you are an incredible big sister!  Kade can be a bit pesky, as all little brothers can, but you generally are so patient and kind with him.  You play very well with him, and are always willing to help him if he needs it.

I never would have dreamed that you would be such a girlie girl, but you are, and I love it.  You adore anything that sparkles or is pink.  You would wear a dress every day if I would let you.  At the age of 5, you already have a much better sense of fashion than I do.  Sometimes, you will critique what I'm wearing and tell me to go get a different pair of shoes.  Just last week, you were picking out finger nail polish, and grabbed some and said, "Mom!  This would look great on you!  You have to buy it!!!"  I haven't worn fingernail polish in over 20 years, but I saw the joy in your face.  We painted my nails that night, and I admit, I got many compliments on them!

Marleigh, you have taught me so much in your 5 short years of life and brought so much joy to our family.  I am blown away by all that you have accomplished already.  We love you so much!

Love-
Mom

Birthday questions!

Little Miss Marleigh turned the big 5 yesterday!  I'll get her blog post soon, but decided to start a new tradition of asking her the same questions every year.  Here are the questions and her answers.

How old are you? 5!

Who is your best friend? Jillian

  What is your favorite thing to do? I love to color!

What is your favorite color?  Blue

What is your favorite food? Pancakes!

What do you like to do with your family? I like to eat lunch together.

What is your favorite toy? My dress up clothes!

What do you want to be when you grow up? A doctor

What makes you happy? Playing with my little brother

What makes you sad? Being left out

What is your favorite movie? Cinderella

What is your favorite book? Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

What do you think about before you fall asleep? My dreams

If you could have any name in the world, what would it be? I like my name

 Where is your favorite place to go? Papa and Gigi's house

What is your favorite memory? Playing at the lake

What was the best part of your birthday? Eating cupcakes 

 What is your favorite animal? Cat

  What is your favorite part of school? Playing with my friends

 What is your favorite sport? Basketball

.  What is your favorite team? K-S-U, Wildcats, K, S, U, WILDCATS!!!

~~

If I would have been thinking I would have taped our little interview.  For sure for next year!  :) 

My Baby is 2 1/2!

Kade Robert-

Wow!  You are half way to being three!  Time just keeps going faster and faster.  I love being your Mommy and watching you grow up!

The past two to three months have been awesome! About six months ago, I admit I was a little frazzled.  It seemed you needed constant correction, but I am so proud of how you have progressed.  You listen fairly well (I mean, you still are a two year old), and follow directions.  You have learned that if it isn't yours, then you don't need to touch it.  That was a hard concept for you because you are such an inquisitive little guy!

I love your independence and strong will.  Granted, it makes my job as your mama a little harder, but I wouldn't change it one bit.  You like calling the shots, so I've found it easier to give you choices.  Instead of just telling you that you have to eat your dinner, I give you a choice.  I tell you that can either choose to eat your dinner, or if you don't, then you go to time out an lose a toy.  I can not believe how much more effective it is to give you choices!  99% of the time, you make the right choice.  There still are a few things that I don't give you a choice on, but I've found you obey much easier now that everything isn't a battle.  

That strong will of yours has made potty training a challenge.  I would sit you on the potty for thirty minutes, and nothing.  As soon as you would get up, you'd run and potty.  We tried cold turkey into big boy undies.  You liked all of your undies, and wanted to wear them all, so you would potty just a bit, run and get a new pair, and say, "I pottied, so I want these now!" Ugh...  Then last week you were in the bath tub.  You told me in a slight panic, "Mama, I need potty in big boy potty!"  Shocked, I asked if you really needed to.  You replied, "Yes.  No potty in bath.  That's gross!"  I got you out, and you promptly pottied, then returned to your bath.  There has never been a question about IF you were ready to potty train, you were just being stubborn.  The end of last week, we just decided to try big boy undies again.  You have done great!  There have only been a few accidents, and you now will tell me when you need to go!

Your verbal skills have really taken off, as well.  Just the other morning as we were getting your underwear on, you said, "I better not potty on Mickey cause he wouldn't like that."  Daddy and I couldn't believe you strung together such a long sentence.  Your speech is getting clearer.  Hot dogs are not "gog gogs" anymore.  :(  Daddy likes to call you his little stud.  But whenever he does, or if I call you sweetie, you tell us very seriously, "I not stud.  I Kade Robert Johnson!"  

You and your sister play together so well.  Most of the time it is farming, Bubble Guppies, or dolls.  It is fun to watch you narrate and make noises as you play with all your farm equipment and animals. 

Kade, you are so full of energy.  I don't think you ever walk anywhere.  You are constantly running, hopping, climbing, or jumping off of something.   No matter when or where we are, if you are going down steps you ALWAYS jump off the last one. 

Recently, we moved you to a big boy bed.  This was after one day when you were playing in your room and started yelling, "Look at me, Mama!!!"  I came in to find you had crawled into your crib.  It was time for a big boy bed for sure.  You showed us numerous times how you climb in and out.  Big Sissy tried to do it to, but is a little timid, so she couldn't.  You smiled proudly, puffed out your chest and said, "Like dis, Sissy!" I think you were thrilled that you were showing her something for once! To my surprise, you have not yet gotten out of your bed.  You wait quietly in the morning until we come in to get you up for the day.

Bubba, you bring so much laughter to our family!  You have a natural happiness that just radiates from you.  It is hard to think about you and not just smile from ear to ear.  We love you so much, sweet boy Kade Robert Johnson!  ;)

Love,

Mommy

Unplanned Hiatus

Well, hello, there!  Seems I have taken somewhat of an unplanned hiatus from my little blog.  I won't bore you with all the details of what we've been up to the past 5 weeks, but I will share some high lights with pictures.  I'll try not to let so much time go by before I post again!

Marleigh got her new glasses.  She looks so grown up now!

We had a beautiful purple fairy for Halloween!

Bubba the boxer!  He had adorable boxing gloves, but refused to keep them on.

These two have really clicked in the last month or so.  They interactively play together so well.

Of course there has been all sorts of bath time fun!

Our little ballerina is loving dance.
The improvement in her coordination is awesome!

While the little siblings were napping,
Marleigh and Luke made sugar cookies
on Thanksgiving!

They had been doing a little quality control on the cookies!

Sugar cookies were Bubba approved! 

This little guy got into some serious trouble for biting
big sister.  So far it is an isolated event.
Cross your fingers!

Marleigh is growing like crazy!  She has already outgrown
some of her winter clothes, so she got a new outfit.
She LOVED all her bling!  

Eye Doctor

Monday, was another trip to the eye doctor in Wichita.  This time, Kade had a check up as well.  Since Marleigh's condition is genetic, we wanted to be sure to keep a close eye on him.

We arrived around 1:00 for our appointments, and waited.  And waited.  After twenty minutes, they finally took us back.  They did Marleigh's vision test, which took about ten minutes, then dilated the kids' eyes.  We were sent back to the waiting area for what was supposed to be thirty minutes, but quickly turned into forty-five.  They called us back into a room where we sat and waited an additional ten minutes for the doctor to come in.  Kade was just a wreck by that point.  When he gets tired, he can't stop moving or touching things. I'm pretty sure both Marc and I's sanity was barely hanging on when the doctor came in for their exams.

We have been patching Marleigh's good eye for two hours a day for the past couple of months.  It appears that for now, this will be our maintenance level, which we will continue for a few months,.  Hopefully, we will decrease the amount of time we patch sometime within the next year.  It was also Marleigh's annual appointment to check the prescription of her glasses.  I had just figured we would need a more powerful prescription.  I was pleasantly surprised that both of her eyes had improved!  Her new glasses are going to be less powerful than her old ones!  Yay for unexpected blessings!  Granted, it might just be a fluke thing, but we'll take it!  Marleigh picked out some cute, new frames, so I'll post some pictures are soon as we get them in!

Kade's exam was last.  He actually sat and did fairly well for it.  The doctor said while he still sees some slight amblyopia, it is very minimal.  We can wait two years for another check up unless we notice any vision problems.  Woo hoo!

Great news all around!  We couldn't ask for a much more!

KSU Game

It was an absolute gorgeous day last Saturday.  Perfect for some tailgating and KSU football.  Marleigh had such a great time.  I'm sure it helped that Aunt Monica and Aunt Myra were there!  

Aunt Moni and Marleigh
(Picture by Aunt Monica)

Marleigh and Auntie Myra
(Picture by Aunt Monica)

Tailgating with Daddy.  

The KSU cheerleaders just happened to be walking by.
Marleigh was super excited to get her picture taken with
"real live cheerleaders"!  

Even though the Cats lost, we had a great day.  I love that Marleigh is getting old enough that she enjoys going to the games with us.  She was such a trooper for the entire drive there, 4 hours of tailgating, game, and drive home.  Love you, sweet girl!