Mannheim Cheerleaders Game Two

Hailey cheered for her second game on Saturday. I didn't take too many pictures because Leevi is out of town and I had keep my eye on Kailee. She was telling me to take a picture of Hailey, not her.

The new cheers from this week...I editted out the ones already seen in the previous video and Hailey was kind of out of it for a few of the halftime cheers so I also left those out and maybe she'll do better in those next week. The girls have learned 8 cheers already and we've already gotten the cheer list for this week 4 with more! Hard core! :)

Kailee the Artist

Kailee's scribbles have turned into people! She's been on a "make a circle" kick for quite sometime but all of a sudden last week those circles got arms, legs, and a face all on her own. We hadn't intentionally practiced people yet...usually her coloring is in books not plain paper. By the time she finishes though the person tends to have many arms, legs, eyes and noses! :)

And a video...it's not very exciting but very sweet...when she finished her picture she asked me if I thought Daddy would be proud of her! Awww...I grabbed the camera and then she continued to name others...

Jump Inn and Happy Kids

Tina and I took our kids plus Charlotte to the Jump Inn toddler time on Tuesday. It was huge and put Leaping Lizards in Hawaii to shame. The main difference was that not only did it have jumping things and slides but it also had a ridiculous amount of other fun activities. We will definitely be back!!!!! I wish I could have gotten more pics...I did bring my small camera to keep in my pocket but it was still hard keeping track of 5 little ones going in different directions much less taking a picture!

(Click to enlarge!)

On Friday Hailey didn't have school so we checked out a different jumpy place...it was slightly smaller but significantly cheaper. It had most of the same things but the one thing she couldn't stop talking about was this crocodile pictured below. It was an inflatable slide and it's mouth would open so you could climb up and then it would close and "eat" you as you went down the slide. She found a bunch of girls her age and played on it practically the entire time! I brought my camera but forgot the battery that was charging so these pics are from my iphone..mostly everything was the same except for the croc!

Lots of ride-on toys and bikes

And a few video snippets...

Never Gets Old....

I know this is the millionth time you've seen a picture of the girls sleeping like this but I just LOVE it when I go back in to check on them and they are snuggled so close having intentionally fallen asleep that way...L-O-V-E

Will Work for Food

Kailee asked me for a juice and I told her she had to sing me a song first...this is what I got! :)

After her juice she turned into a Flower Fairy thing-a-ma-jig and was out looking for giants! :)

Cheerleading!

Hailey cheered for her first game on Saturday. They are the cheerleaders for the Mannheim Pee-Wee basketball team. This was the first time we've ever had to travel for a sport...our game was in Heidelberg. The girls did great and of course were adorable! They do sideline cheers and have a halftime "routine"! :) Her coach is great and she has two high school cheerleaders helping out. (We should probably take Hailey to a high school basketball game!) We've got new cheers to learn this week so there will be updates to come!

And my favorite part: Hailey says after the game, "Mom, do you know what my favorite part of the game was?! That the black team won!" Me: "Um, Hailey we are the red team" Hahahaha!!!! But for her sake it was confusing that we played against a black team and our cheer uniforms are black! :) They don't even keep score at this level so at least she was paying attention and realized that the Spurs scored more than the Bulls! :)

And of course the video!!!!! (That's not me saying the cheers...it's the coach and her two assistants)

Praying

Kailee's bedtime prayers....
"Dear God,
Please help me to be a good girl, to listen to my parents, and keep my family and friends safe" She looks adorable as she concentrates on keeping her eyes closes all the while her eyelashes are fluttering. At the end she usually adds a prayer about the boo boo on her "finga" (which was a tiny cut that healed weeks ago) :)

Hailey went next and likes to create her own...she prayed for similar things and always adds something about how she can't wait to see God in heaven and give him a big hug and kiss!

After Hailey finished Kailee said it was my turn. Before I could start Hailey chimed in and said, "Are you going to thank God for your wonderful girls?" :) You bet, baby girl! I thank Him everyday! :)

And speaking of prayers...please pray that we find renters for our Hawaii house. It will be available for rent April 1st!

More Picnik Fun

Hailey saw me working on Picnik so I told her when I had finished she could come over and make a creation! Here is her masterpiece...It's hard to see the wording but it says, "Hailey made this. Daddy is special in my heart" We also had a good laugh with these mustaches but she wouldn't let me keep them for the final :)

Sunshine = Oxiclean

We've had two gorgeous weekends in the 50's and have made the most of the sunshine and fresh air! This past weekend was perfect and so sunny! But with the warm (I can't believe I'm now considering 50's warm!) dry weather comes the dirt! It's so hard to resist and how can I not let a kid be a kid and dig around! Once they went out though we didn't come back in until almost dinner time and took baths first (including Leila who was digging in the flowerbeds!) I made the girls strip down at the door and immediately got the clothes in the wash...I swear by oxiclean (the spray AND the powder!) Kailee's pants were a little long so the bottoms of them were covered where they dragged and Hailey had some pretty suspicious finger wipes all around the bottom of her dress! FYI...a soft baby hair brush is PERFECT for getting those grubby fingernails clean!It's so hard to have to wait your turn to swing! Obviously she could play somewhere else in the yard while Hailey swings, but she always chooses to sit on the stoop right by the swing to wait it out! :)

Keeping Up With the Jones'

I told my friends about a fun photo editting site called http://www.picnik.com/ where you can enhance your pictures and they've taken it a step above and beyond. I was usually just using it to create collages so I didn't have so many individual photos on my blog, but apparently I need to keep up! I don't know how they have time for this nonsense (I mean, fun) where as most of them have children younger than mine and are working full-time! :) (You can click on each photo to enlarge it) The collages below were ones I had created awhile ago to add to the girls' baby books so now I went back and uploaded my original college and added some words. I love this font (Tuna and Hot Dogs is the name...it's very girly with lots of flowers!)

Favorites of Hailey's year 1,2,3

Kailee Mya

I've been trying to create a post about Kailee and her recent funny antics but we've had gorgeous weather and are trying to spend our days out in the sunshine (as much as we are lovin the snow it's nice to have a break and soak up some Vitamin D even though it's only in the 5o's)Crazy that this was the scene for the past month!

Sleeping Beauty (she even coordinated the correct dress-up shoes)

The girls have been on a hair styling kick (Hailey is getting a Barbie Styling Head for her birthday!) These clippies and hair bands work perfect on stuffed animals...these are Kailee's creations while Hailey was at school. The girls have done wonderfully going to bed without a snuggling parent! Leevi and Hailey had a date night to see MegaMind so I wasn't so sure how Kailee would do going to bed by herself, but she did great! When I went back upstairs to check on her I couldn't find her...she had buried herself under pillows and blankets and stuffed animals and fallen asleep.

You'll see more about this in the video below She'll do/play anything Hailey creates...here they are underwear superheros!Hailey took off a layer of underwear (I think there were 4!) and threw it and it landed up on the corner of a picture frame. The main reason that this was funny was because for a second Hailey thought that our elf, Snowy, had returned! :) Here are a few of Kailee's tidbits...

*When Hailey was two and finished a book she would say, "Amen"...when Kailee finishes reading a book she says, "The Done"

*She knows all of her family members first and last names but she pronounces it "WacDonald"

*If one of us calls her a name (a term of endearment!) she'll say, "I'm not a cupcake, I'm a WacDonald" And then when we laugh at her because she's so cute she'll say, "That's not funny!" which in turns makes us laugh more! :)

*She is quite polite and will say, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to" all in one breath

*She has developed quite the New York accent (I've been told I talked like that also when I was two)....here is hera; downstairs is downstairas and so on!

Random Video Clips of Kailee...

Tidbits and Random Photos/Videos

My favorite recent Hailey tidbit:
I had asked Kailee to clean up her Little People because it was time for a bath and she immediately melted down! Hailey observed all of this while she was coloring and got down from her seat and said, "Mom, let me handle this." Hahahaha! She walked over to comfort Kailee and offered to help her pick up.

Kailee was rushing to get ready and go outback with Leevi while he grilled...she was in only her underwear so she quickly grabbed her coat and shoes (who needs pants) but somehow her coat ended on upside down and her shoes on the wrong feet!

Hailey's scooter finally arrived (it was ordered back at the end of November!) but the box it came in was just as fun!

Leila being a good sport!

Snow White getting her babies ready for a nap

Leila turned 7 last week! We celebrated with canned dog food as a special treat and the girls sang Happy Birthday to her.

I redid the collage I had upstairs of pictures of Hailey's first year. I couldn't find a company that would print as many photos as I had for Hailey so I could do one for Kailee so I decided to redo it and combine photos of them together....14 pics each from their first years.

And some video clips....

Had I not been in direct eye-sight of the girls I would have thought too much silence could only mean trouble...they were coloring and stickering while I was making dinner and were in their own little quiet worlds for soooo long! :)


Random video clips...

Ready for the Playoffs

One of our biggest complaints about living in Germany is missing most of the NFL games. We were REALLY spoiled in Hawaii with the time zone because football was on all day on Sunday starting at 7am! And we wouldn't have to stay up late to watch Monday night football because it was on in the early afternoon! I like having it on while doing the dishes or folding the laundry because I don't really have to pay attention or try to hear etc. But now in Germany since we are ahead of everyone we can typically only catch the first game and sometimes I can't even make it to the end. Leevi was faithful to his Cowboys and would set his alarm to get up for the 2am start time or stay awake to start the 10pm game but after the wonderful season that the Cowboys had he decided that sleep was more important!

Now that the playoffs are here we decided to use a Playoff Bracket and pick our winners! We thought it be fun to let Hailey pick (according to which mascots she likes!) and then when Hailey was choosing of course Kailee wanted in on the action. It'll be fun because all four of us ended up with different winning teams.

Leevi: Atlanta Falcons
Claudia: Philadelphia Eagles
Hailey: Indianapolis Colts
Kailee: Chicago Bears

I asked Hailey what the family winner should get and she replied that she wanted a diamond! :) Kailee asked for a Minnie Mouse. And Hailey suggested that I would want a new calendar (odd because I really do need a new pocket one) and that Leevi would want kisses from all of his girls! :) Too funny!

May the best man/woman win!!!!!!!!!

Start of a New Year

We are making big waves in the MacDonald household this new year...the girls are going to bed alone (without a parent...they still have each other) Leevi and I have always had the discussion about when to fight this last battle (Ha, if only it really were the last battle...although it seems like one of the last baby/toddler/preschool ones we have left) I supposed every parent hangs onto something...nursing, pacifiers, diapers, bottles, etc! For us it has been bedtime (mainly for Hailey). Since birth Hailey has liked to be snuggled to sleep...I have a vague memory of plopping her in her crib awake sometime around age one but I could be fooling myself. I think nighttime was easier than naptime and I do know for sure that I rocked her to sleep for naps. The big problem came when we transitioned her to a toddler bed and she all of a sudden had the "freedom" to refuse bedtime! So at 22 months we really became trapped until she went to sleep. The main reason that has enabled this to go on for soooooo long is because she typically will fall asleep within 10 minutes. Leevi and I told ourselves that she's not going to want to snuggle us forever so what is ten tiny minutes out of our busy day going to hurt? The bigger problem that finally broke the camel's back was that Leevi and I can also fall asleep in those ten tiny minutes and leave the other parent longing for some adult time downstairs! :) I felt bad because I kind of sprung it on Hailey one night and didn't give her any warning that she was going to sleep without me. She was in hysterics and clinging to me for about 5 minutes but then calmed down enough and eventually fell asleep. Kailee on the other hand could care less...I thought it's now or never...Kailee is old enough to know to stay in bed and apparently not old enough where this has become such a habit. She's never been much of a cuddle-me-to- sleep-baby...from before she was a month old as soon as she dozed off she'd start squirming to be put down. She's my baby and I wanted to hold onto her forever but she wanted nothing of it! :) We have tried this twice before with Hailey (around 3 and again around the beginning of 4) but we didn't last very long. I caved because Hailey is so strong-willed and would lay awake for hours it seemed waiting on me. I hated that "wasted" sleep time and went back to "regulating" instant sleep!

For the most part we haven't had too many issues since we started this about a week ago. They know the rules and recite them to me before I can even review them for the night :) "No talking, no getting out of bed, no tattling, no calling for us unless it's an emergency" We've taken care of all potty, water, etc excuses before the final goodnight! I usually only have to tell them once or twice to stop talking and now that school has started again our days are pretty busy and they just crash! Snuggled so close in a big bed...I find them like this often when I go back in to check on them. I suppose our next problem will be if we are going to be able to separate them eventually into their own beds...or what if they never want to and Hailey won't be able to go off to college because she can't sleep alone! :)

A funny part is that when Kailee gets up in the morning she comes to find me (between 7-8) and immediately begins apologizing for being out of bed. How do I explain to a 2 year old that she's just been asleep for the past 12 hours and it's ok to be out of bed! :) "I sorry, Mommy. I sorry, Mommy." in a long drawn out tone! :) We love those monkeys! :) Our babies are growing too fast!

New Years Eve

We took the girls bowling on New Years Eve afternoon with a few of our neighbors to close out the year. The bowling alley closed at 4:00 to prep for their New Year's party so we only had time for one game (which was perfect for the attention span of the little ones). Later that night after all of the kids went to bed we met at our neighbors using our iphones as a baby monitor (I left mine in the girls' room on speaker phone and we brought Leevi's with us and put his on speaker and mute) We rang in the New Year playing dominos and were quite impressed with the fireworks display at midnight...nothing like we expected! She insisted on wearing this Snow White bowI thought the final score was pretty funny...