It's time to move on.

It looks like I have filled up this blog and have no more storage. So I have created a new one. It's still private, so I don't know who reads this blog still so if you are having trouble getting to the new site let me know!

this explains my life right now:

daveandkristiandthreecrazykids.blogspot.com

Siena is growing up

Siena surprises me in a lot of ways. Sometimes I think she is so small and love that she still loves her princesses. I think she should be past that stage. Then sometimes she takes charge and gets breakfast ready for Ben and Claire and helps them with things that they need. She reads them a book that they want or she helps Ben with his writing. It seems like I never know what I am going to get out of her. I think I need to just give her more credit and allow her to do more things because she really is big and good at taking charge of things. One Saturday everyone wanted mac n cheese so she got all the stuff and prepared it. She didn't even need a lot of help. I was a little nervous having her around the stove but she did just fine. She is getting really confident and big.

 Siena can be really shy. If she doesn't want to talk about something. She won't. She will just go to bed, go to another room... whatever she has to do to ignore the situation. It makes me a little nervous for her teenage years.
The day after our wards trunk o treat I notice Siena has lost a tooth. I was so surprised. I didn't know it was that loose and she hadn't complained about it at all. I don't know when she actually lost it but that was the first time I noticed. I asked her about it and she got all shy. She wouldn't show me her tooth or her smile or that the tooth was gone. I figured she was embarrased about it so I just let it be. I was really sad that I didn't get to see it because she wouldn't tell me where it was. Then a couple days ago she lost the second bottom tooth. I only noticed because there were tissues all over her room with blood on them. Poor girl had been wiggling it loose at night. So that night I looked for the tooth because again she wouldn't tell me where it was. I talked about how she was getting to be a big girl with big girl teeth and how she would get money when she lost her teeth. She seemed to perk up a little bit but still wouldn't tell me about the tooth. I went downstairs and made this pillow for her. I put it up in her room when she was asleep. I didn't tell her about the tooth fairy I just told her it was from us. She got a dollar for both her teeth. I don't know what the going rate is for first teeth. Yesterday she woke up and didn't say anything about the pillow but she was happy. Dave mentioned that Siena didn't say anything to him about any of this. I guess she was either embarrased about it, or maybe just scared. I can't tell. So today, I go up to her room to find the pillow and it is in the bottom of her nightstand drawer. The pillow is face down with the money still in it and the two little tiny baby teeth!!!!!! she kept them! she had them all along! I don't know where she had stashed them. So now they are nice and safe in her pillow. I am so glad she has the pillow to keep them safe in. She is such a funny duck. I am so happy that I got to see them. Now I really don't know what to do with them. Can she just keep them in the pillow forever?

 I had to bribe her, but I got a picture of the bottom front teeth missing!

Halloween- Preschool party

 I volunteered to help in the preschool Halloween party. 15 4 yr olds are crazy! We went through all our games and had to make more up as we went. There was a lot of energy in that class. I think they had fun. We decorated sugar cookies, read Halloween stories, played pass the pumpkin and pumkin relay. They made a halloween counting puzzle. It was a lot of fun and Ben was happy I could come in and spend time just with him! It was fun to see him interact with his friends.

my homemade Captain America costume. For a long time Ben kept saying that he wanted to be Spider man...again. We were totally ok with it and had everything we needed. Then he came home with a new idea. Dave said we shouldn't buy costumes this year because we have a ton. Which is true we do have a ton. So Siena's costume was just regular clothes and Claires costume was a fairy that we had in the dress up box. Amazingly, I had all this fabric in my sewing room. We made this costume and it cost nothing! He already had the shield and the hat is a winter beanie that I put an A on. It works. Ben was happy with it.

Halloween- Trick o treat

We carved pumpkins Tuesday when we were stuck at home from Hurricane Sandy

 some did Mr. Potato head pieces...

 and some decided to carve them. Ben decided to do both.
Siena's princess

Ben's ghosts

waiting for daddy to arrive home so we could go trick o treating

So just in Siena fashion, she decided to change costumes and be a princess... again. I think she has been a princess for the last 3 years. We had fun trick o treating. Claire caught on quickly and tried to keep up with Siena and Ben. She made it to about every other house. She walked two streets before she was done and sat in the stroller and ate candy. We tried to get it on camera but it was too dark, Claire would squeal at each house after they gave her candy. She was so excited about it.

Halloween- trunk o treat

 Izzy (jake and the neverland pirate), fairy, and Captain America

Friday night trunk o treat at the church. The kids were way excited about this and we had a good time. I love two year old trick o treaters. It was the first year Claire understood what was going on. Dave took the kids around while I handed out the candy but Claire caught on quickly and eventhough she doesn't talk yet she sure gave some good smiles and waves. She probably got extra candy for it :)

Hurricane Sandy

We Survived Hurricane Sandy

We were attached to the weather channel leading up to hurricane Sandy. I started hearing about it over Facebook with people saying it was going to come and ruin Halloween. So we started watching the weather channel and discovered that they are out of control dooms day. It was a bad storm but really they need to take it down a notch. I realize N.Y and N.J. did get hit really badly and we did have high winds and lots of rain so I am glad this is the only damage that we had.
We prepared Sunday making lots of ice bags and filling our freezer with them. I went to the store with all the rest of Northern Virginia and got my milk and bread and water and non perishable snacks. I even bought disposable diapers just in case I couldn't do laundry. I cleaned my house and did all the laundry. It was nice to have that all done. So we were ready to lose electricity.
Sunday night we all slept in the basement to stay together and to stay away from the tall trees we have in our yard. The big trees are what really scares me. The kids were so excited to have a big sleepover. All Sunday night we watched t.v. waiting to lose electricity. It flickered a couple of times but always came back on. We went to bed Sunday thinking we were going to wake up in the dark. We thought we were good when we woke up with our electricity. I come upstairs and find this tree out our back window. It is so scary. Where the root came up is filled with muddy water. Dave said he couldn't tell how deep it was because there was so much water. We realize we are so lucky that it didn't fall in a different direction because it would have fallen on the kitchen and we were sleeping in the basement right under that. Thank goodness.
I drove around on Tuesday and it seemed like we had the only tree down in the whole area. It was amazing how well this area did. There were only a couple of neighborhoods that lost power. Finally! They cancelled school Monday and Tuesday for the high winds. I guess it was the right decision but now we only have one snow day for the rest of the winter before we have to make up days in the summer.
So we fared a lot better than people more north of us but are thankful that it is over. We got to celebrate Halloween as normal but I have to say that I hate hurricanes. They have ruined two trips to the beach and one threatened our wedding reception.

Fun Fair/ Haunted House

We went to a fun fair at Sienas school Saturday. It was a lot of fun and was a good fundraiser for the PTA. I love her school they don't ever have the kids sell things to raise money. It is a big relief off me and Dave as we would have to solicate the stuff for it.
The fun fair/ haunted house is a big deal. We got there early because Ben really wanted to go through the haunted house. For the first hour they have the lights on for the little kids. I wasn't sure he would like it. Apparently he didn't really like it. Dave said he held him for most of the time but he wanted to do it and did. He did join us in bed at 2 am saying he had a bad dream that night. Ben is a cuddler and ends up in our beg a lot. I don't mind for a little while but I need my space at night.
Siena immediately found her best new friend and they were off for the night with their tickets. I love her little friend Katrina. She and Siena are so cute together. They played all the games together while Ben and Claire munched on their cotton candy.
We ended the night with a cake walk and Siena neared the end and then got kicked off. She was really sad about it. Katrina ended up winning which I don't know if that made Siena even more mad. We bought a cupcake and all was well. It was a lot of fun and I think a fun new fall tradition to support our school.

this week-update

Claire has started nursery at church. She doesn't love it if I'm not there but I am hoping to sneak out a little more and have her be ok with it. Dave and I both have a lot to do with our callings on Sunday so it's hard to stay with her. We talked to the nursery leaders and they say they are ok with her crying. It's hard when I am just right outside the door with my primary calling and can hear her screaming.

 Claire loves playdough. She will carry the carry-case around with her all day like her purse. I am glad she can't open it by herself yet or we would have playdough all over the house. She also loves climbing up on tables. I don't know what is so fun about that. Dave came home the other day and she was standing on the edge of the dining room table. It was kinda scary.

 Ben and Siena sleeping. I went to go say goodnight when I was going to bed and found this. They were in Siena's room together on the floor and Ben had his foot up in Siena's face. They were both sound asleep. Funny kids. Sometimes I wonder why they don't just share a room.

 I have been trying to be out and enjoy the nice weather with Ben when he is home. We have gone to the zoo and many many parks. He refuses to take naps anymore in his room but has fallen asleep in the kiss n ride line at school a lot.

 Claire and I enjoyed Nalls produce stand one day while the kids were at school.

 I take Siena to school then drop Ben off at school then come home. Sometimes it is a busy morning... especially for Claire. I was doing the morning dishes when I found her like this. Poor girl she was so tired and I guess I wasn't paying enough attention to her. She has this awful habit that I can't seem to break of not eating a big dinner and so she is starving when she wakes up. She would sleep longer if she would eat more dinner.

 here she is having an apple core for dinner!

Siena is fabulous. I don't have many pictures of her as she is gone all day! She loves school. She started a gymnastics class that she loves. Her friend from school is in it too. She tells me everyday that she played gymnastics at school and kept asking me when she could start on a team. I love the place that she goes to and she is having a lot of fun with it.

 Siena starts piano lessons this Wed. She is excited and seems ready to give it a try. We will see how the practicing goes.

I am volunteering in her class on Monday mornings. It is so much fun. I get to read with all the kids. It is amazing at all the different reading levels in each class. It is fun to meet all her other classmates too. I get a little glimpse of what 1st grade is like.

Homestead Farms

We went with the Earnests out to Homestead farm. It was a perfect fall day and we were glad we could show Nana one of our most favorite places for apple and pumpkin picking.

Claire just wanted to sit on all the pumkins. She went around the whole patch siting on them. She thought she was so funny.

 Going back with our pumpkins

 Grant and Claire enjoying the good life. The rode in the wheelbarrow the whole time while we picked apples. They were very content in there.

 The big pile of hay. I don't see why this is so much fun for kids but they all love it.

 See ya next year!

Nana visits

Nana came to visit us. We had so much fun and tried to pack in everything we wanted to do in a short amount of time. She brought lots of fun games and crafts and the kids had a great time with her.  I don't know how she knew but Ben loves these rocket launchers. They were launched up into the front trees many times. We got them to go really far. Ben would do all different ways to launch it. He would jump up and then sit on it. It looked like it hurt him but he was fine. They love it.

We have lived in this house for two years and we still haven't bought furniture for the front room. We have shopped but never bought anything. I decided that I wanted to make a reading nook in the bay window. The kids are constantly there reading. I got fabric to make a seat and some pillows. It was fun to sew and create it with my mom. I probably would have never finished it if I had taken on the project by myself. We also have curtains there now so the kids can hide away in there. They have really enjoyed it. I love it. Now I have to find furniture that goes along with my window seat. That may be a little more difficult.

 We took some much needed family pictures. We had fun one morning at Hidden Pond Nature Center. It was a lot colder than we thought it was and didn't last really long.

The first full day my mom was here we went to the outlet mall and went shopping. It was fun and nice. My mom took Ben in to the Lego store while I went to a few stores by myself. Claire was asleep so they just played there. Up until now Ben didn't know that you could buy stuff at the Lego store. He came home with 3 Lego men that he created and he hasn't put them down since. He LOVES them.

It was a wonderful visit and we miss Nana already.

iphone dump

Claire loving dinner.

 Claire exhausted after throwing a temper tantrum. She fell asleep right there.

 I love early release Mondays. We spent the afternoon with some friends after school walking around Del Ray.

 Claire loves to eat.

 Claire is eating cream cheese. She picked it right out of the fridge and decided to eat it. Apparently it looked good. She thought it tasted pretty good too.

 Siena and Ben went to Kennedy's 5 bday party at a gym. They loved it! Siena loved it so much she keeps asking me to take her back for classes. At back to school night she drew a picture that said she wants to be a gymnast. I am excited for gymnastics. I think it would be something she is good at.

 Siena is always so excited to hear all about Bens day at preschool. I think she just thinks she is so big and has already done all that stuff. She wants to talk all about it with Ben. Ben got this visor from school and Siena went and got hers so they could be twins. Cuties.