Kiana's Valentine Outfit

Tomorrow I am getting Kiana's picture taken - and I decided to make her an outfit to wear. The jury is still out on whether the pics will turn out or not - because sometimes she does no cooperate - but hopefully she will tomorrow!!!

This was just a plain pink t-shirt from Target - that I embellished. And I made the tutu - it has some valentine ribbons - really cute. Just ignore the hideous background of my craft room storage!!

Making Cupcakes!

Continuing along with all the cooking we have been doing lately - Kiana and I decided to bake some cupcakes when we came home early on Monday because of the weather. She loves decorating cupcakes with "sparkles".
She was more than proud to show off her work.

And willing to share with her brother!! She is such a sweet little sister.

I am getting stir crazy at home - and not getting enough work done. So tomorrow, Glenda is going to watch the kids so we can both go to work - yippee. We have had some fun - but I think we are all getting indoor fever!!

Kiana's favorite new past time!

What girl doesn't love a bubble bath?? Kiana basically refuses to take baths in her bathroom anymore. This is her favorite bath spot! Only one lonely duck is with her! She doesn't even need toys - just the bubbles and the jets!!

She is so responsible about brushing her teeth too. Every day I have to FORCE Cameron to brush his teeth (he is really good with showers and hygene - just doesn't remember to brush his teeth). Kiana has brushed her teeth 3 times today. Each child is so different!!
That reminds me, tonight at dinner Kiana got down to get a paper towel, and there was a dirty one on the floor by the trash. She stopped, picked it up, threw it in the trash, and then went on to get her one. Cameron and I both would have been 1) too oblivious or 2) too lazy to pick it up. Again proving how different 2 kids can be - even with the same parents!

Kiana LOVES to cook!

Kiana really enjoys helping out in the kitchen. Here we are making spaghetti. She was really into the stirring. And she really loved how it tasted when we were done.


I also realized when we were done and she was eating everything in it, that this could be a really good way to get her to try new things. IE she cooked it, she will eat it. I said "Kiana, if we cook something with carrots, and you help make it, will you eat them" and without hesitation "yes".

So, I am going to try and incorporate her help in as much meal preparation as possible. Lately we have been trying to eat at home (we usually eat out like 70-80% of the time) - so this is really a good step in the right direction for all of us.

Not so perfect week . . .

This week started off great! Cameron didn't have school on Monday, so I took the day off and we went to the movies together. Just a little mom and son time. We saw Paul Blart Mall Cop, which was pretty funny.

We came home and I made a big pot of chicken noodle soup. Not too many people know this, but the day my mom passed away, she had just finished making a big pot of her chicken noodle soup - and I hadn't had any like it since. Around the day of the funeral (when we still barely had appetites we were in so much shock) we ate some. That was a sacred pot of soup. So I followed her recipe - and we had some good soup that night.

However, the next morning I woke up really sick. I wasn't sure if it was stomach flu or the soup was bad. But since my family didn't get sick right off - it had to be the flu. However, I was saying that the soup must be cursed. Anyway - Tuesday was a really bad day - I was more sick than I have been in a long time!! Then Wed I was so weak that I still couldn't go to work! But today is much better - now I am just a lot behind on my work stuff. Good news - I lost 5 pounds. Way to kick of my diet, that's for sure!!

Tonight Cameron wanted to play mercy - he thinks he can beat me! Maybe in a couple more years - but not yet. Here is his face of defeat!! Enjoy!

Kiana and her cousins!

We were also lucky to have Paul and Sharon in town during the holidays, along with their sons Colin and Jacob. They were staying at Jim and Treonne's, but we were able to see them on a few occasions.

Kiana still asks about them all the time. It is hard for her to understand where they went. They are close to her age, and she isn't used to having anyone her age besides Ashton to play with.
I am glad we were able to spend some quality time with her "cousins". (this is what she says instead of saying their names)

Start a band!!

We have been playing Guitar Hero for a very long time - thanks to Cassidie turning us on to it since she works for the company that produces it.

It was only fitting that when they came out with the Guitar Hero Band that we bought it (we never went to the dark side and bought Rock Band).

We had a great opportunity to see some friends from out of town, David and Gail's son from Texas, Davy, along with his fiance Whitney. And they have been playing Rock Band - so we convinced them to play with us. Unlike me and my shy ways, Whitney had not problem playing the part of singer for the band. Cameron has become a huge fan of the drums - so that is what he played. And here, Madison and Davy are on guitar.

There is nothing like the fun of playing Guitar Hero with friends.
We also played a game of Cranium before this - which I don't really like to talk about because my team lost. If you no me at all, you know I am VERY competitive and really don't like to lose. But oh well - it does happen sometimes.

It was great to see you guys - thanks for taking the time to stop over for a visit - and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

Basketball

So far Cameron's team, the Falcons, has played 3 games, and won them all. Hopefully, this will be the first winning season we have had in basketball.



They have learned so many plays. Cameron is not a shooter, but he loves defending. It also does not bother him one bit to run up and down the court. In the second game he got to shoot to foul shots, and luckily made one - yeah one point.



I will keep you up to date as the season progresses!!

Kiana Learning

Kiana got the new fun to learn cool school toy. It hooks up to her computer (yes, she has her own, we have more computers than people in our house, along with ipods and any other tech item). She is playing it all the time. It is supposed to help her learn to write her letters along with many other basic learnings. She loves to play on it. She has learned all the lead in words when you go to each section, and repeats them with it. If you don't know, our daughter is what you may term a stubborn learner. She knows things, but she likes to pretend that she doesn't. I haven't figured this out - but I wish someone could explain it to me. Hopefully this new toy inspires her to want to learns. She also got an art studio for the computer that we haven't hooked up yet. I am sure she will love that too!!

A couple of VERY late Christmas Pics!

Here are couple of pictures from Christmas morning. I didn't get any pictures from when we were opening presents later that afternoon with dad.

If you can see in the pic below - Santa brought Cameron only clothes, shoes and new bedding. Not that he didn't get other great stuff to play with (they mostly revolved around video games).

A couple of days after Christmas we went through his closet and virtually got rid of all of this toys. He is really growing up fast!!!

Kiana really enjoyed Christmas. We had to open this cupcake maker/froster and make her a cupcake. She loves to help cook.

Of course Santa didn't leave Toby out - he got a lot of toys and treats - now if he could only figure out how to get the kids to play with him he would be set.

Hope everyone had a great holiday - we absolutely did!!

Long time, no post!!

Well - life has been busy at our house. Between the holidays and my work and school work - combined with basketball practices and games - I haven't had time for this blog in awhile.

Pathetically I didn't take any pictures at Christmas!! We had a lot of fun. We had a Christmas Eve gathering at our house with the Hill's. Paul was in with his 2 sons, Jacob and Collin, who are 5 and 7 and Kiana is still asking about them.

Christmas day we spent with dad. Since the Bushta's didn't make it over that day - we decided to go UNtraditional on Christmas dinner, so we had fried chicken and mashed potatoes. It was SO good.

Of course the kids got everything they wanted and more for Christmas. Hopefully one day they will appreciate how lucky they truly are. This year Cassidie and I took the kids shopping for needy kids instead of buying each other's kids presents. However, I don't even think Cameron understood the true meaning of that. He thinks everyone is well off!!! We are going to break him of that somehow.

Dad and Melissa came over along with the Peschel's for a New Years Night party. We played games and ate! It was fun.

All the time off work was great - however - it was hard getting back into the swing of things. Especially when work is so busy right now.

Well - I hope to post more often - but school is keeping me busy. I have a final tomorrow night - but then another class immediately starts up!!! The joy of higher education!!