Too Long...

Yes, it's been too long since I posted last.  Over a month and everyone keeps asking me to post pictures of my kids especially the grandparents and aunties:)  So here you go...pictures and also an update of what has been going on around our house these days.

 Kayzee is FINALLY getting her two top teeth.  Do you know how hard it is to feed a 1 year old who wants to eat everything but can't because she only has two bottom teeth?  So hard and now that she is teething again her shirts are always slobbery and she is cranky.  But she is full of drama and loves attention and loves playing with her older brother.  I love this picture of her with the glasses and her cute adorable smile:)

 Kayzee and Memphis are finally playing together instead of just in the same room.  I love seeing their brother sister relationship.  Memphis is a great older brother.  He is not too rough with her but has a hard time sharing his toys.  He loves to tickle her and when she cries he always tries to help take care of her.  If she has something she should not have he always says, "No, no Kayzee"  and then takes it away and gives it to me.  Also when we get home and I get him out of his car seat he runs around the car to Kayzee's door and says, "Momma, get Kayzee out now!"  Kayzee loves to wrestle with Memphis and is learning to stick up for herself and not let her brother boss her around.  Her facial expressions and actions are always so dramatic.  Such a girl!

 Kayzee has also finally been sleeping through the night (12 hours) without waking up anymore.  It is so nice and at first my body wasn't use to it and I would still wake up a couple of times in the night but now I am finally getting 7-10 hours of sleep at night.  It is wonderful!

 So it has been a fight between Memphis and I whether he would take an afternoon nap or not.  His naps were either too long and he would not go to sleep till midnight or he would not nap at all driving me crazy but he would go to sleep earlier.  So I finally decided that he didn't need a nap anymore so that he would get more sleep at night.  He is so much happier and better behaved when he gets more sleep at night instead of forcing a nap on him.  I definitely miss my alone time after work with both kids taking a nap but life goes on.  So no more nap for Memphis and he goes to bed at 7:30.  Actually both kids go to bed at 7:30 or 8pm and don't wake up till 8am!!!  It is so wonderful and I have time to myself after they go to bed to get things done and time to be with Danny if he is home until I go to bed at 10:30.  Here are my kids all ready for bed!

 Every September the school I teach at has Picture Day.  As a teacher I get one free package so they let me use my free package for one of my kids and then I pay for the other and their prices are not to bad.  So I get my kids pictures done every year and it's fun to see them change each year.  This year Memphis screamed just like last year and they had to crop me out because I had to hold him down so his picture is of him crying/laughing at the chicken the photographer was throwing around.  His face is a little red and he needs his hair cut but he is still so cute.  Sorry I just took a picture of their picture in the frame.  Grandma's and aunties---I will be sending you a copy of each of theirs!

 It was really hot that day and Danny brought the kids in his car that doesn't have air conditioning so Kayzee broke out in a heat rash so her face is all red from that but she just sat there and smiled for the camera.  Wish I had more time to do something with her hair but the company wasn't at my school for very long and I had to wait till I was done teaching but oh well, still cute:)

So I have been getting ready for winter and figuring out what I needed as far as clothes go for my kids.  I thought that since they were wearing summer clothes that were the same size as their last year winter clothes I would just get those out.  NOPE.  I couldn't squeeze any of their pants on.  So I had to go to the next size and buy new clothes for winter for both kids.  My sister's and mom spoil my kids and they sent a lot of cute clothes so that helped.  The only problem with moving on to the next size is that they seem to be longer and my kids legs are so short so all their pants fit in the waist but the length is too long.  I have to roll up their pants like 4 times!!!  Maybe I should learn to hem?  So now Memphis is in size 4T and he is only 2 and Kayzee is in size 2T and she is only 1.  They have the longest torso's but the shortest legs.  That would be the Royer side.  Thanks Daddy!

I felt like Memphis wasn't progressing like he should verbally but he has come a long way.  He is talking like crazy now.  It is really nice because it helps him obey more because he understands more.  I actually can take him out in public now and he will stay right by me.  If he doesn't know a word for something we will tell him and he repeats it right back.  He can count to 12 and actually knows basic shapes and colors.  One funny thing he says a lot is,  "Watch chew-oh, whoa-whoa?"  He kept saying that I and it took me a few days of trying different movies till I figured out that it meant Chew and Swallow!  He loves the movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs."  He actually watched it enough times he can act it out and can say a few lines with the characters and sing the song at the end.  Too funny:)

So I had fall break this week and guess what?  We were all sick.  So not how I wanted to enjoy my break and I missed a couple days of school.  Oh well.  We are all doing better.

I have needed a root canal since my tooth became infected in 2007.  I was out of the state so the dentist could only give me an antibiotic and pain killers.  I came home and the dentist said it would cost $1,000 up front out of pocket and I did not have the money so he said I could wait till it started hurting again.  Well, I got married, started having kids and didn't think anything of it till it started hurting again a couple weeks ago.  My husband is related to a dentist by us and I am now on my husband's dental insurance so a root canal and crown is a lot cheaper.  And the dentist is really nice and let's us make payments.  Probably because he knows he can track us down;)  So I finally went in to get the root canal taken care of.  While he went in to do it he decided the tooth next to it needed one too.  I was laying there with my mouth open for almost two hours.  I was fine that night and the next day but once 24 hours past I was in so much pain I laid on the couch shaking and crying.  Pain killers were barely touching the pain and I was so dizzy.  Memphis gave me lots of kisses and brought me lots of tissues.  I don't even really remember the next few days of teaching but by Saturday morning I was fine.  Monday I got temporary crowns and I will get the final ones in a couple of weeks.

I was having constant headaches and finally figured out it was because my hair was too long and I always had my hair up because I hate having long hair.  So I finally got it cut and my friend Stephanie (she is amazing) cut off about 6 inches and layered it and thinned it out.  I have so much hair.  It looks and feels so much better and I actually wear it down if I have time to do anything with it.  I have also been struggling with losing weight.  I have no self-control when it comes to chocolate and soda and have excuses for not working out.  I have tried many different things but a lot of people have told me that maybe I have some underlying issues that are causing me to constantly eat and not work out and that I  need to build up my self-esteem.  Maybe figuring out the deep down emotional or mental issues will help me improve my self-image and seeing problems that I might have will help.  So I am going to weigh loss counseling on Tue to help me figure this all out.  I am excited because I know I need to get healthy!

I have been taking Memphis on walks every evening before the weather gets too cold and mainly just to wear him out.  He has a little plastic tricycle he loves to walk.  I mean walk because his legs are too short to reach the pedals so he just sits on it and walks along.  We usually go on a mile route through our neighborhood but some nights Memphis likea to take me for walks and it turns into two miles!

Danny has been hunting that last few weekends so I feel like I never see him but he is done with softball which was two nights a week so that has helped.  Hopefully he gets an elk before the season is over so we can have meat for the coming year.

Life is good and we are excited for the the fun holidays coming up.  Can't believe 2011 is almost over!

Happy 1st Birthday Kayzee Lynn!

My sweet baby girl is 1!!!  We love her so much and she is sleeping so much better.  I waited to post this for so long because I wanted to wait for her 1 year well-baby check-up.  The first thing the pediatrician said when he walked in and saw her running around was, "Wow Aleena, you make some highly developed babies!"  YES my kids are early runners.  Memphis started running at 9 months and Kayzee at 11.  The pediatrician prescribed a laxative for her tummy troubles so hopefully that helps.  No more formula (YAY!) so whole milk and we got rid of the infant car-seat that she was definitely too big for.  We put her in her new car-seat and her first car-ride she screamed the whole way.  I guess rear-facing to front-facing is a big change for a our little girl who is afraid of everything.  The 2nd car-ride she laughed and pointed out the window the whole time.

She seriously loves to wrestle with her brother and she is always the one to start it.  She will just run over and throw herself onto Memphis and Memphis just doesn't know what to do.  It's actually quite hilarious to watch.  She is off and running and can go up and down stairs all by herself so I lose track of her sometimes she is so fast.  She can say "what's that?" "book" "uh-oh""momma" "dad" "nana" (banana) and she loves to wave, give high-fives, and get into EVERYTHING!  What one-year old doesn't get into everything???

Comparing her to her older brother, she is just definitely a GIRL!  Memphis is fearless which is the total opposite of Kayzee.  She does not like to be thrown around by dad.  She even gets scared watching Daddy throw around Memphis.  And she doesn't like the swings at the park!  Memphis just stuffs his food in his mouth as fast as he can and Kayzee takes one tiny bite at a time.  Kayzee is 2 lbs lighter and 2 inches shorter than Memphis was at his 1 year check-up.  But she is wearing 1 size bigger clothes and diaper than he was so I don't know if it is just the way she is proportioned (Memphis has shorter legs) or if girl clothes are sized differently than boy clothes.

Here are her 1 year stats:
Weight: 22 lbs.  71%
Height: 30 in.  69%

Now on to her party.  I always see my friends throwing these huge fancy birthday parties with lots of "stuff" for their kids, fancy cakes, fancy decorations, lots of people, and yes I might be a little jealous but at the same time I think I would much rather save the money and just have the wonderful memories that we share because that's all that really matters.  We had her party on Sunday, September 4th...her actual birthday.  Bad weekend to invite people but we just had family over and it was the best.  I hate that we live so far away from both sets of grandparents but I was so excited to find out that Danny's family could come and stay with us for the long weekend.  We had fun and I am glad we got to share it with them.  We went bowling (I BEAT DANNY!!!!  Shocking I know:) golfing, tackled our overgrown backyard, and just enjoyed the company.  Thanks grandma and grandpa and aunties for coming and visiting.  We all love you.

Grandpa!

Auntie Mary, Nita, and Emily

BIRTHDAY PARTY PICTURES

Hi Memphis!

 Daddy!

 Memphis being impatient 

 Fixing the cake after Memphis stuck his finger in it

 Me and my Kayzee girl

 Auntie Nita

 Our attempt at getting a family picture

 This one is my favorite (below)

 Kayzee just wanted to touch the flame

 Kayzee is trying to blow the candle out and Memphis is being the nice older brother and helping her out:)

 Memphis clapping because he is so proud of himself and his blowing candles out skills

 (In the background) Danny's cousin Amber and her hubby Dan and their baby boy Jessie came to the party!

 Kayzee deciding which cake to eat.  We made two.  A white cake with white icing for Danny and a chocolate cake with chocolate icing for me.  

 She chose chocolate.  Momma's girl!

 One finger licking at a time!  No stuffing the face and smearing it all over.  Such a girl:)

Happy 1st Birthday Kayzee Lynn...WE LOVE YOU!

One last post before...

...Kayzee turns 1.  That's right, Kayzee will be 1 on Sunday, September 4.  I cannot believe a year has gone by so fast and that a year ago I was teaching, 9 months pregnant, wondering if she was going to arrive earlier than planned and how Memphis was going to handle having a new baby sister.  It all worked out and a year later we are a happy family of four and I can't imagine anything different.

This post is just going to be some random updates of things going on and of course some pictures of my adorable kids.  I seriously LOVE my children and can't get enough of them.  It is really hard to leave them every school day.  I love them even when Kayzee is up all night screaming and Memphis is throwing one of his screaming, hitting, biting, attitude bearing tantrums.  Their kisses and hugs, and smiles make it all worth it:)

 Here is a pic of Kayzee's one and only tooth!

CONCUSSION UPDATE
A lot of you were wondering how Memphis was doing after his mild concussion.  If you don't know what happened you can read about it in my last post.  Memphis is just fine and back to his usual, crazy, self.  It actually has helped our shopping trips because when he starts to stand up in a cart or go crazy I just have to remind him of his "owie" and he sits right down and behaves.

He is communicating a lot better and has started copying everything we say.  He recognizes and can point out colors, numbers, and letters.  He knows opposites like singing high and low.  I noticed that we must say "you're welcome" a lot in our house because Memphis says it after everything.  His favorite food is pizza or "peetzee" according to him.

He is a night owl (like his mommy) which is bad because then I have to wake him up to go to Day Care and he would probably be better if he got more sleep and woke up on his own.  He can reach the light switch in his room so I have to wait till he is asleep and then go turn it off.  We put him in his room and he stays up reading books till he falls asleep.  Seriously just like his mommy.  He loves to have books read to him which I love.  The older he gets the worse his tantrums get.  And he loves to color, play sports (especially baseball), fly a plane on the wii, and he LOVES bubbles.

BACK TO SCHOOL
It is bittersweet when summer is over and a new school year begins.  Summer was great this year especially since I was not 8 months pregnant and miserable.  As proof, our utility bill was $50 less a month this summer than it was last summer when I was pregnant.

This summer I got to play with my children and spend every minute with them.  I was glad Kayzee started walking before school started because I got to witness her first steps and watch her grow and get the hang of walking.  On a side note I tried uploading videos of Kayzee walking and I can't get them to work.  Any suggestions???

Now on to school.  This is my 7th year of teaching (crazy!) and my 5th year teaching PE.  I decided to change how I do the core curriculum this year so I don't get bored doing the same thing every day for a week with every class and I learned a ton of new games so I am excited for this school year.  I have had the 6th graders since they were in 1st grade so basically every grade level has had me since they were in 1st.  They all know me and my rules and they are great kids.  I have over 1,000 students and I see them once a week.  I know all of their names except the first graders and the new kids.  So far I have had a BLAST every day and have had so much fun with the kids.  It really helps having a job I love because I think it would be even harder to leave my kids if I hated it.  It is already hard as it is.

KAYZEE LYNN
Kayzee will not crawl anymore if she can help it and if we try to help her walk or hold her hand she gets mad.  She can say "what's that?" and puppy.  She gives high fives and open mouth kisses;)  She loves to laugh and LOVES her brother.  She is spunky and gets into EVERYTHING.  I forgot about that stage from when Memphis was that age and how frustrating it is cleaning up the same things every day that she should not be getting into.

Kayzee and her sleeping???  Seriously this has been the most sleep deprived year for me.  Kayzee still does not sleep all night.  Some nights she wakes up screaming for HOURS in the middle of the night or she just will not go to bed at all and just screams.  She has tummy and bowel problems and we are going to the dr. about it in a few weeks.  I can count on one hand the number of times she has slept at least 7 hours straight without waking up.  The rest of the nights this year it has only been 4-5 hours.  EXCEPT the past 3 nights she has slept better and I hope she keeps it up.  And by better I mean...
8pm-11pm sleep
11pm-1am scream
1am-7am sleep
At least I get the majority of my sleep before I have to wake up instead of her screaming from 4-6am like she use to.  But I LOVE her and I love having a girl to dress up.

IN-HOME PERSONAL TRAINER
So I have been trying out way too many workout programs and diets and not sticking with them because of too many excuses...too boring, not hard enough, too hard, starving, no self-control, wanting something different, no one to help me, I am addicted to caffeine and chocolate, etc.  We finally got a wii, and I bought yet another workout video but this one is actually a lot different than all the other work-out DVDs I have.

I use to go to Gold's gym and I had a personal trainer and I LOVED it.  That was before I got pregnant and started having kids, back when I was in shape and running half marathons.  I am trying to lose my baby fat so I knew I needed the motivation like my trainer was.  I was failing at all the other DVDs because they were the same things over and over and I got bored and they were easy to skip and just not do them.  I just didn't want to pay for an expensive trainer and gym membership so I found "The Biggest Loser Challenge" for the wii.

You put in your measurements and take a fitness evaluation so the program knows what kind of shape you are in.  It then takes that and creates different workout routines that are DIFFERENT every day and lets you decide the time limit you can accomplish that day.  Most days I can work out 30-60 min while my kids nap after school.  Because the routines are different every day I actually want to see what I am going to be working out and it works my whole body so it feels great and I am not bored.  The trainer yells at you and tries to get positive suggestions in your head when you start slacking (the wii remote tracks your movements) so I actually love the kick in the butt motivation.  And yes, sometimes it is easy to come home from school and just want to sit and watch TV or read but I make Danny call me and make sure I start working out and since the program tracks your workout and how well you did I know Danny will come home and make sure I did my workout for the day so I actually feel accountable.

As far as dieting I would say I am not going on a crash diet completely avoiding bad foods, I am just eating BETTER than I was and eating LESS.  I do count calories because DUH you have to eat less than you burn off to be able to lose weight so that is a motivation to watch what I eat.  I eat less junk food because I don't think I would be able to completely stop without pigging out one day.  I have started drinking diet soda because I still crave the bubbles but at least I am not drinking a ton of calories and diet isn't the best tasting so I am letting it help me get off soda completely because I am drinking less!  The biggest loser helps you figure out the number of calories to eat based on how much you work out and it has yummy healthy recipes.  I lost 4 pounds in 3 days so I think I have found a winner and here's to getting down to my pre-wedding weight!  I CAN DO IT:)  

COUPONING and WASHING DISHES
So a few months back I mentioned I was going to try the world of couponing and see how it went.  Well, I have been trying it for 2 months now and I have saved us over $100 a month on our normal grocery budget.  And since I was able to stock up on laundry, cleaning, and health and beauty supplies, I won't have to buy that kind of stuff for over 2 years saving us even more throughout the year.  I am hooked especially when I can get a lot of stuff for free or under a dollar and here is my best shopping trip to date that I saved the most money on...
6 packages of Huggies diapers (worth $60)
10 cans of soup (worth $10)
10 boxes of cereal (worth $25)
2 stainless steel waterbottles (worth $10)
4 cans of almonds (worth $10)
6 boxes of ziploc bags (worth $15)
6 boxes of Kleenex (worth $10)
So a grand total of $140 and guess what my out-of pocket expensive was...drumroll please...$24!!! Seriously I only paid $24 for all of that!

All of this was purchased at Walgreens using register rewards, in-store coupons, and manufacture coupons.  SWEET DEALS!

So who hates washing dishes???  I HATE it.  When we moved into our house we got a home warranty and I am glad we did because after using the dishwasher two times it just stopped working.  Our dishes would come out exactly the same way we put them in and sometimes worse covered in water spots.  So Danny tried a few things like cleaning the drain out but it didn't help so we called the warranty.  They sent a guy out and he replaced the pump.  That still did not help so we called again (I didn't want to pay to get a new one since we had the warranty) so they said a different guy would come look at it.  Well he never showed up, or cancelled, or would not call us back so we tried the warranty place again and they sent a 3rd referral guy to come out.  Meanwhile it's been months of dishes stacking up and Danny and I fighting over who was going to wash them all.

Well, this guy took one look, fixed one thing that was out of place and told me to add 1/4 cup vinegar (because of our hard water) to the water at the beginning of the cycle and POOF it magically cleans our dishes.  It cleans like the dishwasher is brand new.  I don't rinse a single dish, put them in dirty right after we eat, some of the dishes even sit in the dishwasher for days before we fill the washer up and run it and seriously they come out sparkling clean.  No water spots, no stuck on food, the dishes look better than when I bought them.  Isn't it amazing what a little vinegar can do.  And of course I had coupons for vinegar so I stocked up on bottles of vinegar for 12 cents each!!!  Even better.

WOW...long post!  Definitely time to go get ready for bed and hope that Kayzee stays asleep...

Scary Day

My last day of summer vacation was yesterday.  I thought we had had a great summer with not too many crazy things going on.  Well, what a great way to end my summer vacation than with a scary moment with my son.

For those of you who know my son, he DOES NOT sit still.  So shopping is always crazy with him.  I put him in the main part of the shopping cart because Kayzee sits in the seat part.  Well I went to a store I have never been to before and the main part of the cart was not as deep as my usual store.  I was outside shopping the clearance racks, the cart started to roll away so my reaction was to catch the cart.  Well that motion caused my son who was standing up to fall out and land on the back of his head on the concrete.  He immediately started screaming and I grabbed him and hugged him.  I checked his eyes (a trick I had been taught) and felt the back of his head but didn't notice anything alarming.  I immediately called Danny and got in the car.  Memphis just sat in his car seat holding his head saying "OWIE MOMMY!" and crying.  I felt so bad and was so scared so I started crying too.  I called our pediatrician but was told the nurse would call me back.  I didn't want to overreact by going straight to the emergency room but I was also nervous because it involved a head injury.  Then Memphis started throwing up.

That scared me even more so I called our pediatrician back and they said bring him right in.  DON'T HESITATE.  So I picked up Danny who works on the way there and we got Memphis looked at.  Memphis could react and answer the Dr. and he kept saying "YUCK MOMMY!" when we were trying to clean him up and he knew who we all were so the Dr. said he didn't need any CT scans and there was actually no bump or anything on his head.  What a relief:)  The Dr. told us the warning signs to watch for and when to call him back if needed.  We had to slowly start with clear liquids and easy digestible foods too make sure he kept them down and he had to be woken up every 1/2 during his naps but once pain killers kicked in he seemed back to normal.  We got home and he just laid on the couch and sang along with his favorite shows and that made me feel better.  After his nap he was back to  running around the house and wrestling with his sister:)

What a crazy day but it turned out great and I loved relaxing with my children the rest of the day before I had to go back to work.  A lot of prayers were answered and I thank all those who expressed their concern and offered their help.  What an experience I will never forget!  Ahh...the life of being a mom.
 

Finally...

I am FINALLY posting pictures of Memphis with his new hair cut and videos of Kayzee starting to walk.  YES Kayzee is walking now:)  Life is crazy.  I am trying to finish deep cleaning my kitchen and I have to go back to school on Fri the 19th so trying to get ready for that too.  But life is great and we are FINALLY all doing better after having colds for the past two weeks.  Here are the pictures and videos.  ENJOY!

BEFORE long red beautiful curls I hated to cut but they were definitely too long.

AFTER I didn't like it at first but it's growing on me, the hair is off his neck, and he looks so much older

I had to post the following picture.  Memphis loves placing anything in a line and I found this the other day and he drove his cars across all the books.

My kids watching Mickey Mouse.  I had to dress them both in yellow and blue and Danny just shook his head at me HA HA

KAYZEE is now walking and talking.  So crazy how fast she is growing up.  Here are a couple pictures of her standing up and then a few videos of her walking and climbing stairs.  She can go up but not down so I have to constantly watch her.  She also FINALLY has her first tooth.  

OK so my videos are taking too long to load so I will just post Kayzee's walking videos in a later post.