Another Night

Last night the kids both kept coming out of their rooms. The last time they did Kyri was crying and told me it was because Graysen had climbed into her bed and she did not want him to this time! I put them both back to bed (in their own beds) and when we checked on them later this is what we found:

Apparently he was looking outside, as you can see the blinds still slightly open. Once he was tired of looking into the blackness of the night he just crashed, I guess.

It seems like he thinks the floor is better than his bed at this point because the last couple days for naps Gray has been sleeping on the floor RIGHT next to his door. It breaks my heart, but I don't know what to do to make him learn to stay in his room when it's time to sleep...

Precious Moments

Remember how in a recent post I mentioned that Graysen was in a big boy bed? Well, he was doing SO awesome! He went down great for naps and just as great at bedtime. The only problem we had was every once in a while Kyri would decide to come out of their room and Gray would ALWAYS be about 2 feet behind, dragging his blanket. As upset as it would make me I will have to admit that it really was pretty cute! Then I would have to get after Kyri and tell her that Gray wouldn't come out if it wasn't for her because he can't open the doors yet. And then they would both go to sleep. Nice, right? Well, a couple days ago Graysen learned how to open doors! And we have had a bit of a nightmare on our hands ever since! When Kyri was at this stage we simply put a door knob cover on the INSIDE of her door so she couldn't get out. She quickly learned and after a couple days at naps and bedtime she wouldn't even try to open the door. Well, at this house our door knobs are oblong so the covers don't fit on them. I have been at a loss for what to do to keep Graysen in his room! (any suggestions would be helpful) To add to my frustrations, Kyri has been waking up between 5am and 6am for about a week now...and it is killing me!!

Anyway, the other day was quite a terrible day in the life of the Allen household. Both kids (and mama) were beyond exhausted from lack of sleep. Any of you who know us know that my kids sleep A LOT...and when they don't get that sleep, it's torture. Well, guess where they got that from? Yep, yours truly. So, by the time bedtime came around I was MORE than ready for the kids to go to bed. And because they were so exhausted I was hopeful that they would fall asleep instantly. Boy was I wrong. Graysen would NOT stay in his room! Finally, I just stood outside their room and held their door shut. I'm such a good mom, I know! Graysen tried opening the door several times and was screaming all the while. I think Kyri got sick of listening to him because after about 10 minutes she tried opening the door. Then Gray stopped crying and I heard them open their blinds and look out the window. I never heard then say anything to each other, but it was quiet after that, so I let go of the door and hoped for the best. No one came out the rest of the night.

A few hours later, before going to bed, I decided to go check on my kiddos.

This is what I found:

My heart melted. Gray was crying and SO sad and his sister let him sleep in her bed!!

This was a perfect ending to a no good day!

Last night Graysen came out of his room and Kyri was already asleep. I put him back in bed and held the door closed. He tried to open the door once and then I didn't hear anything. When I checked on the kids later, this is what I found:

(remember, Kyri was already asleep. Yep, he climbed over her!)

Precious moments, indeed!!

Jazz Night

* I should have switched the order of my 2 posts...don't miss the next post about our kids :) *

Jazz Night at the Sky Club 2011

Our yearly date

Gary and I started this tradition back when we were dating in 2006.

Our night starts out with FREE dance lessons (and trust me, we can use ALL the help we can get in this department)

Then we enjoy a fabulous dinner while listening to live Jazz music

And we end the evening by dancing the night away to more live Jazz music

Here we are at my sister's house just before the big night!

(Thanks again, Tawn, for watching our kids!)

Not much to see, but here we are after eating our delicious dinner

My friend, Ann Marie and her brother, Wade

Ann Marie started this event back in 2005 and has only made it bigger and better every year..

We sit with her every year. It is so fun to see her and catch up (since sometimes it's the ONLY time we see her all year!)

I know it's a blurry picture, but I HAD to post a picture of us dancing the night away....7 months pregnant and all!

We LOVE this tradition and look forward to it EVERY year. And since it's always right around Valentine's Day it takes the stress out of finding a gift :)

Thanks, Gary, for another fabulous time at Jazz Night!!

I'm a Big Kid Now

Kyri and Graysen are growing so fast! They have both recently reached some major milestones and I have not been very good about posting it. So, here it goes!

Graysen thinks he's as big as his sister. So, why not wear her panties and boots?

I'm pretty sure he'll start a new fashion statement with this outfit!

Here's Gray sleeping in his crib (Yep, still with Kyri's panties on....and with her babies!)

And here's Graysen sleeping in his big boy bed!! (Sort of) We just put his mattress on the floor. We wanted him to get used to not being in the crib before the baby came. We found him in this position often, at first, and even completely off the bed. But he's getting much better at keeping his WHOLE body on the bed. (As far as we know)

We are SO proud of Kyri!! She has been potty trained pretty much since her 2nd birthday, but not night trained. So, she's been wearing pull-ups for over a year!! (thank goodness I finally started finding them cheaper with coupons :) ) We always figured we would have to night "train" her to get her out of her pull-ups. So, sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas we made a BIG deal about staying dry at night. We took her out of the pull-ups and into her panties. She stayed dry the very first night!! We were so excited and thought, "oh, this will be easier than we thought!" We had a chart she could put stickers on, I bought her a special surprise at the store for staying dry and we really had high hopes. However, that was the ONLY night she stayed dry for the entire week. We didn't know what else to do. I was tired of washing sheets and blankets EVERY single day. So, we put her back into the pull-ups (sigh). Then a few weeks after Christmas Kyri was waking up with DRY pull-ups! We didn't want to get our hopes up too high, so we still had her sleep in pull-ups every night. After one week there was only one night she didn't stay dry. And that night she even woke up in the middle of the night to tell me she had a wet pull-up and she wanted to change it. When I was putting her back to bed she said, "I'm sorry I had a wet pull-up. I should have tried to keep it dry!!" OH! Of course I wasn't at all mad at her. SHe was doing SO great and I was just happy for the progress we WERE making. So, after a week we let her sleep in panties again and she has never had to go back to pull-ups again!! YEA!! She has only had a couple accidents and they were both when she was sick and I was having her drink as much juice as she wanted. Other than that, we have had a serious BIG GIRL on our hands....and we are SO proud :)

Here's our big girl sleeping in nothing but her panties. Apparently she got too hot in her jammies.

In the tub

Kyri was SO mad this day, but we really wanted to get a picture of her crazy hair! (She had buns in) We kept telling her to smile and this is the best we got!

One day Kyri got really sad about something (she was probably in trouble). She laid on the bean bag and said, "I want Gray!!"

So, he came a runnin'! And that was just what she needed to cheer her up.

We are SO grateful these 2 love each other SO much and play so well together!

Playing in the closet....a favorite of theirs

Decorating (or eating?) Valentine cupcakes

Kyri's and Gray's....not too shabby! Although, Gray didn't have too many hearts to put on his cupcakes because he kept eating his!! Haha

Chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting....delicious!