Kitty Boots

Kelly and Tressa got Kaia these kitty boots for her birthday this year.

They are a popular item around our house. Often, she wants to wear them places and we always get comments from strangers. I don't mind, they make me smile, especially when she wears them backwards. My only issue with them is that they're pretty big yet, so Kaia is extra pokey when she's wearing them and sometimes they fall off when I lift her into the car. Of course, that also means they'll fit for a long time. Thanks Tressa.

Home Building Week 2

The foundation is in. When I went to the house today, they were working on back-filling already. Diggers and dump trucks galore! I took my pictures quick and got out of the way before I got run over.

It's Baaaack!

The snowsuit is back. This snowsuit was probably the CUTEST thing Kaia wore as a baby, and now I get to bring it back out for Halle. Now, here's the question, one of these pictures is Kaia two years ago, and one is Halle, can you tell them apart??? (Without looking at the background of the picture)

Edinborough Park

On Saturday, we met Asher, Isak, and Ezekiel at Edinborough Park, a big indoor playground. It was VERY cool. All kinds of tunnels, and slides, and things to climb through. Kaia had fun exploring, and I even got a kick out of the slides - they were fast. Most of the spaces are small, and I spent so much time crawling around that my knees are bruised today. Oh well, it was worth it. Halle relaxed in her carseat, such a patient little thing.

Merry Christmas To Me!

Well, Mike came home this week with my Christmas present - a new camera. I was so jealous of the nice pictures Kelly kept getting, and I thought it would be fun to try my hand at the hobby of photography. I've only had the camera for a few days, and already, it's worth the investment. It takes great photos and takes them FAST, a necessity when children are your main subject. I already have so many pictures, I don't know what to do with them...a plus for you fans of the blog! These are just a few quick pics.

Red Wing Rendezvous

On Friday, we were missin our Winona friends, so we arranged an improptu meeting in Red Wing with the Kelners. Kaia and Tyler were SO excited to see each other! They ran around playing and hugging the whole time we were waiting for a table. A good time was had by all. Red Wing is a good halfway point, only 45 minutes to an hour each way. Any other Winona residents want to rendezvous?

Little Cuties

"What are you doin with my toys!"

High Five!

Here's my little girls just being sisters. I'm cherishing the days when they still like each other. Halle smiles BIG at Kaia and loves her attention. Kaia says "Hi Halle!" in her sweetest voice when she sees her. And with no suggestion from us, Kaia takes Halle's hand, pries open her fingers and gives her High 5.

Men Have No Fashion Sense!

I am so thankful that Mike enjoys taking care of the kids, and helps out as much as he can. However, he should not be responsible for picking out clothing and dressing the children. As you can see here, he put poor Halle's pants on backwards. If you click on the picture, you can see a full size version of it, and notice how obvious the front and backside of these pants are. This is not the first time. And she is wearing one sock, the other fell off because he managed to pick out a pair of socks that although very pretty do not stay on baby feet. As you can see, Halle is not happy either... Kriss Kross will make ya, jump, jump...

OK, I have a confession...shortly after taking these pictures and giving Mike a REALLY hard time, I looked in the mirror and noticed I had put my own shirt on backwards that morning. How's that for irony!? In my defense, it was one of those tagless shirts with no details defining front or back. Still pathetic.

Groundbreaking

Our new house is officially started, the builder broke ground today! I tried to catch the crew in action, but they were working during nap time. So we caught a picture afterwards. The big hole on the right is our house, and, on the left, is "Daddy's digger" as Kaia refers to it. I'm excited already. They said it takes approximately 63 working days to finish. That puts us into February. I can't wait! We'll keep you posted on the progress.

Who Knew Juggling Could Be So Entertaining?

On Tuesday, Mike and I went out to dinner and to a comedy club with some of Mike's new coworkers. We saw a comedy duo and one of the guys, Chris Bliss, does this cool juggling routine. I thought it was pretty impressive. Click here for a YouTube video of it. Once again, you can find anything on YouTube...

Mommy Kaia

Kaia has become quite the little mother to her babies. I catch her copying the things I do with Halle. She holds them the same and says things like "It's ok, honey" and "Come here sweetheart". She even does diapers. She diapered this baby all by herself.

Check out Kylie's tongue! Talk about an action shot!

And some shots of Halle for good measure. She is getting so big and so cute. She's also been "talking" a lot and making all kinds of cute baby noises.

A Snowy Day

This is the scene we woke up to this morning. It was a surprise to me, I guess I don't pay attention to the news. Kaia thought it was very cool! We had to go out to play! She was wary of the snow at first and insisited on staying on the sidewalk, but after a while she warmed up to the snow. But as soon as she was back on the sidewalk, there she was, brushing the snow off her pretty boots. Where does she get that from??? Kylie had a blast running around and chasing the snowballs I threw. We even made a snowman. However, moments after taking his picture, he fell over! I guess I learned nothing from my dad's excellent snowman making skills! Winter is on it's way!

My Little Gymnast

Last week we went to a gymnastics center for an open gym for preschoolers. It was so fun!! The kids got to use all the equipment, balance beams, the bar, the trampolines, the big foam pit, and there's big foam shape things to climb on. One of the instructors taught Kaia how to do a somersault. Wow did she think that was cool. A little while later, she was trying to do them on her own and just ended up rolling around on the mat like a fish out of water. It was funny. After some practice at home, though, she had them down pat.

On a side note, is it pathetic that I had to google somersault to figure out how to spell it??? My original guess was "summersault". I learned the Summersault is a website development company...interesting. I also googled gymnast just to make sure it was correct.

IJKLM Loos Visit

IJKLM (Ian, Jared, Katrina, Laura, and Matt) came to visit us this weekend. The main purpose of the visit was to bring Ian to Lego Land. But we had a lot of fun doing more things too. They stayed at a hotel with a waterpark, so we went there on Saturday. Halle swam and slept. Mike tried out the waterslides which were apparently pretty scary. Kaia took awhile to warm up to the idea of water splashing on her, but hanging out with Katrina helped her relax. She wasn't into the waterslides, but she loved the lazy river and swimming in the deep pool.

On Sunday Mike, Matt, and Ian went to a Packer Bar to watch the game since we don't get Packer games when the Vikings are playing (another reason why I don't like the Vikings). After the game, we went to the Mall of America for Lego Land and dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Kaia had to sit in someone's lap at Rainforest Cafe for fear that the fake Gorillas would come get her. The gorillas dance and grunt and look a little scary to a two year old. I can't blame her, I used to cry over the big singing Gorilla at Chuck E Cheese, although back then it was Show Biz Pizza. And again, Halle slept. She's been a really relaxed baby lately.

This is Kaia throwing a tantrum in Lego Land. She wanted to wander all over the place and we were being mean and making her stay in the Lego Land area. She was screaming so loud and drooling so much that a staff member came over and offered her a napkin. Gotta love daylight savings...

Happy Halloween!!

What a great Halloween we had! On Thursday we went to a party at Oracle. We got to see Mike's office and meet some of his coworkers. On Friday, we went to the Hemmila's for dinner and Trick or Treating. Kaia was a really good girl. She was way into the candy of course. She loved wearing her costume. The first time I put it on her she looked in the mirror, laughed, and pointed to the head and said, "It's like a bear!" Halle had a good time too. She laid around, slept, and ate. You know, baby stuff. We were missing partying with our friends in Winona this year. I better see some blog postings soon!!!