Crafts with Kira

I have made it a goal to try and do crafts and things with Kira at least once a week. Preschool seems to be out of the question for us (way too much money to go private) and we don't qualify for public so I want to try to take some time out of each week and work on some things with her. With Easter coming up I thought it would be fun to do an Egg Mobile. So I went on-line and typed in Easter Color pages and eggs and came out with 3 different sizes.

She colored them in on both sides and I cut them out for her.

I made this ring out of some extra cardboard I had (from other scrapbook purchases) by using 2 plates of different sizes. I punched holes in it and added the eggs to the holes with some left over yarn I had from yet another scrap-book project.

FINAL RESULT:

She was so excited to show her daddy. We hung it up in her room and she loves pointing it out to me. Definitely going to repeat this one with other holidays!

Don't you love how she did the whole thing in her princess dress?!
Thanks for stopping by,

My Sweet Kira

So, our plans for the second half of March went bust. Kira got some sort of a head-cold and so our trip to California was postponed.

SO, instead of writing about something that hasn't happened yet, I thought I would write about my sweet Kira.

Kira is 2 ... 1/2... and she is really exploring the limits of what she can and cannot get away with. She can be super frustrating and hard to reason with but she can also be as sweet as sugar and really lovable! The cuddling the unsolicited hugs and kisses and the smiles really make up for the frustrating stuff.

Likes: Curious George,Backyardians, Elmo, Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake (or Strawberry Cake as Kira calls her),Yogurt, her blankie, Dogs, Going to the Park, Nursery, Dressing up, talking on the phone to her Daddy or grandmas, her babies, singing songs, dancing and being independent.

Dislikes: Baths, Being told no and most vegetables.

We are hoping to get her into a dance class starting mid April, I'm sure she'll love it! Not buying the shoes until I know she's in. But we are all looking forward to the fun that will be had there.

She is such a blessing! We are so blessed to have her in our home.

March ... so far

For those of you who know me well please excuse this next little bit while I give some history...

When I was a kid, my family moved a lot ... and when I say a lot I mean A LOT(16 moves in 18 years)!!! My Dad was NOT in the army but sometimes it seemed so. I lived in some pretty cool places and some not so cool places. One of the cool places I live was in England. We moved to England in March 1994 when I was 14. After we lived in a hotel for a month while looking for a house we moved to a little town called Light Water, which put us in the Bracknell Ward, which is where I met Jo.

Because of all the moving,Jo is my oldest friend, not in actual age, but in the length of time we have been friends. We haven't always been in really close contact, before the Internet and facebook we didn't keep in constant touch but it didn't matter how long it had been since we last talked, we just picked right up like there was never a gap. Since moving back to the United States in October of 1994 I have seen her 5 or so times. One of those times was this past week.

Jo landed on Tuesday night and stayed until Wednesday morning. She brought her oh so funny husband and we had a great time together! We shopped, ate lots of food, walked A LOT!, shopped some more, saw the tigers, dolphins and lions at the Secret Garden, the lions at the MGM, the fish at the Silverton, shopped some more,saw the river in the Venetian, the chocolate fountain in the Bellagio, and then did some more shopping!

Here are some pictures!

On Wednesday we took it easy. We hit the outlet mall and Town Square where we did a little shopping and had CPK for lunch (mmm)
On Thursday we hit the strip! We had every intention of going to the dolphin habitat on Thursday, but we stated at the Mandalay Bay, took the tram to the Excalibur and walked across to see the Lions. After the Lions we hit the M&M store, the Coca-Cola Store and had lunch. After lunch we hit Caesars Palace, and the Bellagio... then it was time to go home for dinner, so we didn't quite make it to the Mirage.

Jo has a weird fascination with License Plates, here we are sitting on a bench made out of them

A great shot of New York, New York

M&M Store

One of the Lions at the MGM......

Here is the sample trays of 16 popular sodas from around the world. My favorite was the Mango one from South Africa, my least favorite is the one from Italy... TOTALLY GROSS!!

Jo and Adam with the Cola-Bear at the Coke Store.

The Largest Chocolate Fountain in the World, in the Bellagio.

On Friday, we started out at Treasure Island, or now known just "TI" and went straight to the Secret Garden. The cost wasn't too much. We had fun watching the Dolphins do tricks. They don't do a formal show, they just have employees "play" with them all day. (What a hard job huh?) There were also the White Lions, White Tigers and some other misc. animals.

On Saturday I had to turn Jo and Ad'z over to Sara and Aaron (Jo's sister) who had driven down from Utah. So Kira and I both got NAPS!!!

On Sunday we went to the Silverton after church. They have a mermaid show on Thursday thru Sundays. A mermaid comes down into their big tank and swims with them and interacts with the guests. Kira thought it was great that she got to see Ariel. She was so excited!

Monday, Jo and Adz went back to the strip to do some things they hadn't gotten to and so Kira and I headed home for naps. We got all settled and there was a knock at the door. Jacob went to go get it but couldn't see who was there because someone's finger was over the hole. So Jacob opened the door and out popped my brother Brett and his friend Amy.

They didn't stay long but it was good to see him all the same and Kira LOVES her Uncle Butt!

Tuesday consisted of last minutes stops to the church book store, Target and Jacob took us all to probably his favorite casino, the Hard Rock. We also ate some really good frozen custard in a scary part of the strip but oooohhh was it good.

It was so great to see Jo again, I can't believe how quickly the time flies! It's amazing all the stuff we fit into a week and it just flew by!
I don't know when I'll get to see Jo again, but when I do, I know what things will pick up where we have left them off and until then, I have all these great memories to think back on.
Adam, thanks for bringing her out here to see me. Hopefully we'll get to go see you soon!

Update coming soon

I know I need to post a new blog entry but we still have friends in town and still got lots to do... so I'll give you a little preview instead. We have had friends in town from England so we have done lots and lots this week.....

Can't really tell in this picture but it snowed/hailed last Tuesday

We went to see the White Tigers as the Mirage

One of the white Tigers



Kira had her map with her at ALL times... just like George

Tried to go see the conservatory at the Bellagio but saw this instead

Had fun at the M&M store

Kira got to drive a dump truck on Wednesday at the mall

And finally, on Saturday, Jacob took Kira to meet Frank Mir at the Harley Davidson store.....

It's been a great week and we'll post more pictures later!