Backyardigans Lives

We took the children to see Backyardigans Live. It was on a Sunday and I had the girls dressed in pretty little dresses just for the fun of it. Daddy dropped Bella and I off at the Midland Theatre so that we could pick up our tickets at will call. He and Taylor met us and we found our awesome seats. Of course we had to take a picture in front of the stage.
We arrived early so Bella had to try out her seat to see how it would feel.

And of course Taylor had to amuse herself by squeezing Bella's cheeks.
This was so much fun that she ended up hysterically laughing. I think she thought that squeezing Bella's cheeks was more fun than the show.
Bella got really restless during the show so we had to break out the snacks. The kids knocked off a bag of teddy grahams, goldfish, 2 fruit snack bags, and a box of juice. However, the snack bag got us through the show relatively quietly. Bella danced and Taylor participated every time the characters asked the audience to say or do something. They had a ball!

We were ready for dinner after the show so Daddy walked hand in hand with his little ladies as we headed down to the Power & Light district to get some food.
We decided to eat at Lucky Strike. However, since it is a bowling alley Daddy and Taylor went in to check it out before Bella and I followed them. Bella got tired of waiting and found a seat that was just her size to watch the traffic go by.

Dinner was good at the bowling alley and by the time we were ready to go home both kids were completely exhausted!

Liberty Fall Festival Parade

We took Bella to the Liberty Fall Festival Parade to see Taylor ride the float with her dance studio (Studio 10). Bella had never been to a parade so she didn't know what to expect. We put her on her leash so that she could sit on the curb by our feet without us being afraid of her running out into the parade. She did very well...however the parade started with a fire engine and an ambulance that were blowing their horns. It scared the hooey out of her.







Taylor rode the float with Kaylee and Kaylee's mom Kristin. It ended up being pretty hot in the sun though...so she wasn't in the best of moods when the parade actually got on the road. She asked Kristin "what's that running down my back?" and when Kristin looked she told her "honey, that's called sweat."

When we picked Taylor up after the parade we asked her if she had fun and she told us "no, and I don't want to do it again."

Air Bella

Bella is an adrenaline junky. She LOVES to rough house with her daddy. To be more specific...she likes for him to throw her around. I think she's going to be our roller coaster buddy when she gets older. She giggled so wonderfully loud when he was throwing her in the air and kept doing the baby sign for more. She adores her daddy!

Taylor's Sharing Day

Taylor goes to preschool at Small Saints Learning Center. In her class each student has a day that she has the "share bag" that includes a teddy bear named "Ted" and the child is to bring her favorite toy from home to share with the class. Taylor forgot "Ted" at school (she's my daughter) so the teacher called me at home to let me know that Taylor needed to bring her favorite toy. Naturally she chose to take Kiki to school.

When Taylor came home she was telling me about her day at school. She told us that she passed Kiki to all of the kids at school and they all "squished" her. She showed us and apparently all of the kids hugged Kiki.

She was also the "line leader". She said she did a good job, but when I asked her where she lead her friends and she told me that she didn't know. I tried to suppress my laugh...but I was unsuccessful. It's funny to watch her leading the line of kids and not know where she's going!

Bella & the Merry-Go-Round

We had a family outing to Worlds of Fun this weekend. Bella is now big enough to ride the rides at Camp Snoopy. After having the fun visiting the first aid booth (I sprained my ankle) we waddled back to the merry-go-round. I rode with Bella on the stationary bench for her first ride. She LOVED it. She liked it so much that she wanted to try a horse next. She kept pointing to them. So Jay took Taylor and Bella on for their next ride. Bella was so funny, she didn't like that the horse went up and down. She clinged to her daddy and was practically climbing up his chest. We didn't get to try anything else because of my ankle's swelling...but I'm sure she'll enjoy trying some other rides when we go back.

Kinsey says "hi" to Daddy!

Jay FINALLY got to feel Kinsey kicking around. We were watching Heroes last night and he laid there with his hands on my tummy and she decided it was finally time to say hello. She's been strong enough to feel from the outside for a few weeks but he just hasn't been able to catch her poking around until just now. It was pretty neat for him to be able to connect with her like I've been doing for weeks now.

And the name of O'Brien #3 is...

Mackinsey "Kinsey" Rae O'Brien

21 weeks, 19 to go...

You asked for a belly picture, so here it is! Jay and I went out on a date to the Ameristar casino on Friday night when our outdoor drama got rained (or better yet tornadoed) out. So Kaitlin, our babysitter, came over and watched the kids while we went and gorged ourselves at the buffet. We also went into the casino because we'd just watched the movie "21" and we really wanted to see if a deal actually says "winner, winner, chicken dinner" when a blackjack is dealt. They don't. I only saw one while we were watching but the lady surely did not say it. What a bummer.

"Aladdin" by Taylor

This may not seem like a big deal to most people...but for a 3 1/2 year old this is REALLY good artwork. They are supposed to be attempting lines and geometric shapes. At this age they are supposed to be able to tell you what they are drawing, but you aren't supposed to recognize it. Truthfully, I'm proud as a peach that she's got her Daddy's artistic gene!!!

It's a GIRL!!!

We went for our 20 week ultrasound today and were praising the Lord that our baby is healthy baby girl so far! She was VERY active during the ultrasound so we got to see just about every side of her that we could ever want to see. She enjoyed stretching her legs out and showing us just how long her legs are. She also curled her body up so we could see her put her feet up by her head. She was very interested in sucking her thumb as well. We also had the pleasure of watching her empty her bladder. I guess she was so excited to make her debut that she just couldn't hold it anymore! Anyways...enjoy the photos!

She is showing us her profile here:


Now she is showing us some leg!


Taylor was so excited because she could actually make out the baby on the screen and Bella just kept saying "baby". It was too cute! I love my awesome little family!

Open Gym @ The Edge

The gym where Taylor takes gymnastics holds an open gym for preschoolers on Friday mornings. We haven't been in a while because Bella just hasn't been big enough to really do anything there. I decided I was going to be brave and try it. Man oh man did the kids have fun. Bella found another baby to play with...the one in the mirror.



Taylor busied herself going down the inflatable slide...



Walking across the high beam...



Climbing the rope...



and just generally making friends and playing.

So what did Bella & I do other than play with the mirror??? Bella discovered the tumbling track (aka a very long and narrow trampoline). She found that it is much fun to run up and down this track and to make some good attempts at learning how to jump.



She also experimented with hoola hoops...



Finally both of the kids ran out of steam (yay for mama)! There is a little rainbow that the kids use to do back walk overs on in class that we had flipped over and the kids were rocking together to end the day.

Taylor's First Vacation Bible School

Taylor was able to attend the preschool class at Desperation Church's Vacation Bible School since I worked the snack bar. She has a GREAT time! The first Bible story she learned about was Jesus healing the blind man by spitting in the mud, rubbing it on the man's eyes, and telling him to go wash his face. When she came home she told me that she learned about Jesus and the "mighty mud". The rest of the week she told me that she learned about "Jesus and da' sick people". I guess the "mighty mud" is the one that really stuck for her. She did very well at the ending ceremony and LOVED being on stage in her church. Enjoy the photos!!!

The American Idol Concert

Everyone knows that Taylor is a HUGE American Idol fan...so we've made it a yearly tradition to go see the concert when it comes to KC. Last year it wasn't a big deal because Bella was only a few weeks old and all she wanted to do was nurse and sleep. This year she is quite a bit bigger and requires a bit more maintenance. Daddy carried Bella in on a pouch on his back rather than toting her in on his arm. She's gotten very heavy these days.



Both of the kids did VERY WELL for the first hour. I was smart and smuggled in some chicken nuggets, goldfish, and teddy grahams for the kids along with juice pouches. Things got a little dicey once the food ran out.


We bought about 30 minutes of time by allowing the kids to sit together in the same seat. They both thought that this was totally fun. Then the turf war began with whose seat they were actually sitting in. Eventually neither one of them wanted to sit down and preferred to be up...but not in one spot. We couldn't let the kids run around so the next hour was pretty difficult. The pictures below should tell the whole story.





Eventually the usher took pity on me and gave Bella and I seats in the handicapped section which was much cooler and had much more elbow room. Both of the kids managed to stay awake (barely) to the end of the concert. They were GONE by the time we got home! We'll have to have a better plan for next year.