The May Facebook Edition

May Facebook Status:

It's a bad thing that I keep calling the girl's camp store the "mile high" store instead of the "extra mile" store.

Happy that I won't have to have the "schoolday alarm" in use on my phone for three months! This is a good thing.

Kamy is chasing Kimble throughout the house while making creepy monkey screeches and howls. Yeah. I'd be running from her too. She sounds amazingly realistic. She has a future job with the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz.

Found Kimble in the kitchen making himself a peanut butter and honey sandwich. "uh honey, momma!" he said, when I found him. Despite being covered in stickiness, it was a proud moment.

I made pudding for the kids after school today. Kolby said "eh" and went outside instead of having it for snack. I think he got cloned at school. The real Kolby would never have passed that up.

The Husband offered me a back massage. So did my 8 year old, Kolby. I think I'll take my chances with The Husband.

Kamy just informed me that she is doing service for me. I'm most impressed with what she picked to serve me, meaning the six baskets of laundry that I've had mocking me all week. Kamy is sorting and folding them all. Go Go Go!

Whose kid brought bullets and shell casings to school for show and tell today? Oh...mine was the only one? Go figure.

A peanut butter sandwich with caramel icecream topping substituted for honey. My kids didn't know what hit them. Hope the "wow..I love you mom. Thank you so much" comments make for happy attitudes during the difficult after-school times.

how can sonic be out of ice? wouldn't that be the very definition of inconceivable?

Kimble just learned how to open doors. I'm seriously devastated.

Continuing with his recent habit of stealing food off the counter (last night it was bacon), Kimble reached up and snagged some red onion slices off the cutting board. "You don't want to eat that" I said to him, but he just looked at me like all my children do (probably thinking "I'm smarter than you, mom") and took a big bite. As the chewing commenced, the smile lessened. He looked up at me, said "Yuck!", spit out the chewed up onion, put the remaining onion back on the counter, and silently turned and walked away. "Told ya" I said, lovingly.

It was a hard morning to get moving...especially since I was dreaming that I was dancing in a bathroom with big-curly-Beyonce-hair.

Mr. Kimble's two year old ways overrided his judgement. He had fun drizzling honey all over himself and the carpet...that is before I caught him.

As I gave Kimble his daily dose of chewable aspirin this morning, I had to open a new package. I cut the tablet in half (per his dose) and gave it to him, which he obediently chewed up as always...but then he made some grimaces, coughed a little, and said "Yucky". Oops. I accidentally bought the regular aspirin, and not the flavored chewables. Sorry buddy! Yes. Yucky would be the correct term.

The April Facebook Edition

April Facebook Status:

Keaton went through our first aid kit, to see what he wanted to include in his own little first aid kit he needed for scouts. Among the emergency flare, tweezers, bug spray and other odd assortments, he included "some little dabbers so you can dab the medicine around". Should I tell him the little dabbers are ob tampons?

I found the secret to getting Kimble to walk to the door (instead of run out into the street) when my hands are full of groceries. I give him the keys to the front door. He runs right up and tries to unlock the door. It's amazing. I'm a genius.

I just turned on Backyardigans for Kimble. When he heard it, he came running in from the other room and immediately "fist bumped" me with excitement.

Favorite time of day: The calm and peaceful quiet I get for two hours a day when Kimble naps and the other kids are at school. Heaven.

The Husband is playing/wrestling with the kids. From the other room, it sounds like he is torturing them. However, they must be having fun because they keep coming back for more.

New rule enlisted: No lunch until you show me your church clothes hung up on a hanger.

Everyone's clothes are hung up! Miracle.

Keaton told me when he grows up, he only wants two kids. "I just don't think I can handle five kids, mom." I told him he was welcome to have as many or few as he wanted to.

Kimble is at the age where he wants to keep his beloved and most treasured items within reach, in his pants pockets. This week's assortment includes an oversized button, a scrabble tile, and a drill bit (which he was most unhappy when I confiscated said item).

Keaton's school field trip today has him riding the bus two hours each way. He brought a second book for his best friend, so that his friend could "read amazing stories" instead of playing with his electronic toys. I'm so glad Keaton finally understands that, instead of feeling deprived of all the fun stuff, which is how Kolby feels

I had Keaton create our menu this week, for a scout requirement. He did pretty good! Spaghetti, meatloaf, pancakes, soup, tacos, Parmesan chicken, lettuce wraps and turkey sliders.

Making cookies for the kids, to celebrate friday. Maybe they will like me for the rest of the day.

Unbeknownst to me, both the boys and my girls switched around their bedrooms today by moving their beds to a new wall. They have officially become My Children.

I'm going to miss Keaton's sweet soprano voice when he goes through puberty.

"Mom, I took out the garbage!" Kolby said with a smile. That's when I knew something was up. He had thrown away his homework for today. No homework to do means more time to play...right? WRONG.

Keaton and Kolby have been battling since they got home from school. They were sent to clean their bedroom, and haven't been kind to each other. I went down there to check things out and found Keaton lying halfway under his bed. I thought he was cleaning out under his bed, so I said "Keaton, what's under there?" His dramatic reply: "Nothing...nothing but a sad kid who got hurt by his brother!"

I love how Kimble gives me random kisses throughout the day. Just now, I received a sweet little kiss on my elbow.

Kamy brought her scriptures to school, to read between schoolwork. As she was reading, one of her teachers said to her "You know what's so great about that, Kamy? Not only do you read them, but you live it too!" What a great example she is being.

I think I just broke three toes by stubbing them into my office chair. I seriously had to do 'labor' breathing for five minutes, it hurt so bad!

"Big Baby" from Toy Story 3 completely freaks Kimble out. I had to calm him down and turn off the movie after Big Baby and Lotso showed their true colors.

The March Facebook Edition

March Facebook Status:

Overheard a judgemental lady at Walmart say, after glaring across the way at another mom struggling to manage her crying toddler, "I just cannot handle screaming kids. Ugh." I had two remarks enter my head. 1. You must not be a mother. Screaming happens....and 2. If you don't want to hear screaming kids, then you shouldn't be at Walmart.

When the kids and I were driving around today, they decided to play the license plate game. Kolby was shouting out states right and left. "License plate California! License plate Nevada! Licence plate Mississippi!" Since nobody could prove that he didn't see those state plates (to prove it, he'd say "it was the car that just passed us...too bad you missed it") he won the game by default.

Keaton just told me that in his opinion, I am "The best mom in the world" and about an hour ago, Kamy said "Mom, you are such a nice mom and the best cook ever". Boy, having older kids who say things like that make it much easier to get through the harder moments that the younger kids present.

Kennedy, commenting post-dinner: "I am stuffed! I ate like a pig. (pause) no, I ate a pig! haha" (we had pork).

According to Kennedy, my voice is "crooked".

Keaton wishes his name was Peter.

Kamy peeled 12 potatoes for dinner. I came into the kitchen to dice them, only to have them nowhere to be found....Kimble threw them all in the trash.

It's after 10pm and I'm still waiting on Kolby to get his homework done. Procrastination is really biting him in the butt tonight.

Flipping through Kennedy's school work, I came across a paper she wrote. It reads: "I will tell you about three products that come from a cow. First, milk comes from a cow. Second, meat comes from a cow. Second, meat comes from a cow. Second, meat comes from a cow." Guess she ran out of steam towards the end...

The high chair is gone. Kimble will only eat at the table. He either stands up on the chair, or he will sit down and be too low for the table, but he won't let me prop him up with a phone book, no matter how fancy and new it is. For what other reason do they distribute phone books anymore?

Kimble is lying on his tummy, generously licking powdered sugar off the kitchen floor. Anyone want mothering advice from me?

"No problem. I'm, like, a professional at reading." Keaton said in reply to Kennedy, when she asked him to read something to her.

The February Facebook Edition

February Facebook Status:

"So what are you gonna do today, Napoleon?" I ask The Husband, as he's getting ready for work. It is even made more accurate by the fact that he has a work friend named Pedro.

Kamy came home from school demonstrating a mixture if wonder and awe. She comes up to me with big eyes and says "mom, a friend at school gave me something amazing." Then, with reverence, she pulls forth from her pocket a can of 7-up. "It's called soda!"

My washing machine sounds like its a belching sea monster.

Kimble has turned into a screaming maniac. He has also decided to throw his metal trains with full force, at church. I'm so glad nobody got hit. Must've been some good defensive angels guarding the congregation today.

Seriously the most idiotic people in the world are those who think it's fine to stop in a traffic line over the railroad tracks. So stupid, especially in our train-ridden little town!

My cashier at Walmart asked me what I was getting/doing for Valentine's Day. I told her "Just staying in with my family." She looked at me with sympathy and said "oh, you are single." I said I was married. Then she said "Oh, so you aren't getting anything?" I said "I don't need anything. I have my family." Then she stopped talking.

No school for the kids tomorrow (Parent/teacher conferences). You know what this means? It means that Kimble will be up at 5:30am

I'm solving my always-cold-symptom by wearing my fleece robe over my clothes. Hmmm. Much warmer now. Anyone need me to run errands for them? I'm all dressed up for walmart.

Kids get home in seven minutes. Guess it's too late for a nap.

The January Facebook Edition

In years past, when I've made my blog books for every year that I've written a blog, I have included all of the facebook posts I have written, as an addition in the back of the blog book.  Last year, when I tried to do the same thing, facebook wouldn't let me use the same feature to copy/paste  all my status updates (I used a year in status program, and when it got to the part where you are supposed to click on the specific statuses that you wanted included in your 'year of status', I just copied all of them, pasted it into a word document, and then edited it...then copied it into my blog book format before I printed it.)  Anyway, when I tried to do that again, it wouldn't do it.

So because I get quite a chuckle out of some of my facebook posts, and because there is a lot of statements I make on facebook that never make it into a blog post, I decided not to wait the entire year before I try to copy/paste the status updates into my blog book.  Thus, we begin the monthly facebook edition of status updates.  (Not all status updates are included.  I've made it a personal choice to be very limited with my facebook friends, so I've copied only the posts that I would feel comfortable making a blog post about.)  This is more for my record-keeping benefit, but I think you'll enjoy it too.

January Facebook Status Updates:

It's a sad day when all the kids get grounded for two months.

Today, Keaton decided his is narrating his own book. So at dinner, he said: "Could you pass more sauce please", Keaton said hungrily.

Just got done with the DMV in less than three minutes. That's got to be a record.

I was just on the phone with the customer service subscription lady for my newspaper, trying to figure out why my papers aren't getting delivered. I guess I had too many questions, because before I could ask another one, she interrupted me and said "Thank you for calling. Have a great day. Goodbye." and then she hung up.

I think I should take dancing lessons from the Backyardigans.

Why do people in windowless vans always look like they are up to no good?

Frustrated by the fact that we should have ikea plastic cups bursting from our cupboards, and yet, there aren't any to be seen, I sent my kids on a scavenger hunt around our priorly-believed-to-be-clean-h​ouse. All the prepositions were covered (in, around, under, beside...). The kids brought me 37 items (24 of which were ikea cups), and most of which were found in and around their bedrooms and bathroom.

Mr. Kimble closes his eyes real tight and squinty, when he is doing something he knows he shouldn't. Unfortunately, as he's making his getaway, he often will run into the wall...because his eyes are squinty shut!

I took my itouch away from Mr. Kimble, and put it in my robe pocket. I don't know how, but he managed to pick pocket me without me knowing, and is now listening to "Mercy" in the other room.

Is it inherent in boys to grab a metal fork, and then walk over to the outlet and try to shove the prongs in the holes? Kimble just did that. How would he ever get that idea? Seriously? Nobody goes around shoving forks into outlets in our house.

Kennedy and her neighbor friend are filling cups of water to quench their thirst. It's just a bit inconvenient when they have to leave their source of water (puddles in the middle of the road) when a car drives by.

Kimble figured out that if he pushes a kitchen chair over to the counter, he can get anything he wants. Ohhh boy.

We always tell the kids not to answer the door, unless we say it's ok first. Kennedy heard the doorbell ring, and we told her that she couldn't answer it. (Half the family is sick, and for the other half, the prospects don't look good.)  Kennedy went to the door, discovered it was the missionaries, and said "My dad said said to just go away."

Worth The Balance

Last night, Kennedy finally got her balance right, as she learned to ride her two-wheel bike.  After begging and begging for her daddy to take her training wheels off, he finally obliged last week.  She still relied heavily on the training wheels, riding with major side-tippage.  We told her she had to balance right in the middle, if she was going to stay upright on her bike.

After a bit of practice, she got it!  She had so much fun with it, that even after it was time to be inside for the night, she got special permission to go in our backyard and practice making short little balancing trips back and forth along our little cement area.

Today, after the last day of school, she practiced more but going up and down the street, and then finally, taking the big plunge: a ride around the block with big brother Keaton.

Riding on two wheels is a big deal. Congrats little Kennedy!

Another First Day/Last Day comparison

Today is the last day of school for the summer break.  I think my kids were excited.  It was hard to tell between the "I can't find my shoes!" and the "It's cold outside today!" and the "I hate cleaning the kitchen!" complaints I heard all morning.

As per tradition, we took a "last day" photo, to go with our "first day" photo.  To give a refresher, here is what my little school-angles looked like on the first day last fall.

Here is what they looked like this morning.

I also took some individual pictures, which they posed for before 7am, because they leave for school at 7:03am every morning.  We have Kennedy, who finished Kindergarten, Kamy finished 6th grade, Keaton finished 4th grade and Kolby finished 2nd grade.

Each of the kids took a dwarf jade tree that I've been growing from little starters for a few months, to give to their teacher.  Plants are good gifts, right?  I like plants...

Kindergarten Graduation

My little Georgie graduated from Kindergarten today!!  I can't believe that she is old enough to be a whole "grade" in school.  I lucked out when I arrived in the school gym before the graduation began.  I had a friend watching Kimble (because I wanted Kennedy to have my attention...and it was during Kimble's nap time) so I had my hands free to take pictures and clap for all the excited graduates! However, the reason I lucked out is because I got a front row seat (since it was just me, I wedged myself between two families into the extra seat separating them) and it happened to be right in front of where Georgie Kennedy ended up sitting.  Sweet!

Her teacher's name is Mrs. Havens and she is an idol in Kennedy's eyes.  Many a time I was called "Mrs. Havens" at home, by accident. I only wonder how many times Mrs. Havens got called "momma" at school.  Anyway, we love her and will miss her being our Kindergarten teacher.

Officially graduated!!  Whahooo!  She couldn't contain her excitement, it was so adorable.  After the ceremony, where they sang us songs and took turns getting their diplomas, they were free to get their report card, have a popsicle, and then leave school 30 minutes early!  She came home with me (after we picked up Kimble) and she went outside to try to ride her bike without training wheels....because she is such a big girl now.

In just a few short months, she'll be starting first grade.  Congratulations Kennedy!

School Plays

Both Kamy and Kennedy had school plays on the same day.  Kamy's was first.  She had many lines, and her character seemed to be in the middle of clash between two groups of people.  The entire play was spoken in rhyme, and Kamy had many lines. She did a great job.

After her play, we headed to Kennedy's  play.  It's wonderful that we live right next to the grade school...it was a beautiful walk in which Kimble happily rode on my shoulders.

The next picture is Kennedy saying her line "I am an old woman.  I live in a shoe. I have so many children, I don't know what to do!"  She had a few more lines throughout her little play, and lots of songs that her and her fellow classmates sang with fervor.  It was adorable.

Her little outfit the costume designer made, had little children all over it.

It was a fun afternoon for me to see my sweet daughters performing, but very difficult to hold a squirmy two year old who missed his nap!

Feeling Wicked!

Two and a half years ago, as I was in the hospital with my brand new baby Kimble, I heard many people talking about the play Wicked.  I had heard about it before, but not with detail.  It was on tour in Denver, and everybody had either gone or were planning on going.

So when I heard that the company was back in town, I desperately wanted tickets!  Back in early February, we bought two tickets.  One for me, and one for The Husband. Since it is something we normally don't have the extra money for, it was intended to be my Valentine's/Mother's Day/Anniversary/Birthday gift.  I was excited.

We planned the day to be with our two friends, Tim and Marci.  We bought our tickets at the same time, so we could sit with eachother. Although Tim and Marci are theater experts, it was the first time for The Husband and I to see anything like this.

We felt super special, with our tickets in hand, as we went to find our seats.  Overall we liked the play very much, and liked the experience of the theater.  We would love to expand our now-cultured-selves to see more musicals in the future.  Very fun!

Afterwards, since we were in Denver, we went to eat at a place that Heath saw on the Food Network, on the show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate..."  Featured was  this local dive called the Cherry Cricket.  Even though in my honest opinion, it didn't seem that special to me, we enjoyed experiencing something out of our ordinary regime.

It was a great day all around, and I can't wait to go to the theater again.

The Italian Digression

Last week the kids were excited about a carnival that would be happening after school one day.  In order to promote enthusiasm and support for the planned carnival, the teachers announced to their students that they could dress up if they wanted.

Still pining for the curly Q hairy chest and the artfully applied mustaches from our Italian night a few weeks ago, both the boys wanted to wear their pseudo facial and chest hair to school on Carnival day.  I was happy to oblige, especially since in their excitement, they did their morning chores quickly and with good attitudes, so they could have time to get it drawn on.

They left for school looking quite dapper, both of them having slicked back their hair as well as put on button down shirts that seemed worthy of Italian style.

They had a great day, which I asked them about as soon as they walked in the door after school, but left to their own devices at school, having found out that eyebrow pencil wipes off too easily, they used lead from some thick art pencils to recreate the effect.

So apparently instead of my boys looking Italian suave, they had a bit of a digression, but that didn't stop them from enjoying their day with an extra boost of manliness.

T is for Topic Sentence

Kennedy came up to me last night, after being sent to bed, with paper in hand.  "My teacher just loooooves topic sentences momma.  I came up with a good one, and wrote about butterflies because we've learned all about them in class."  Then she showed me her paper that she wrote all by herself.  I'm very proud of my little kindergartener, for having such desire to practice her writing, and to take what she learns in school and use it at home.

I'll translate her writing for you.

Kennedy

T=budrflise4 (Topic sentence: Butterflies.  4 sentences)

I will tel you three ideus uddot budrflise.  (I will tell you three ideas about butterflies.)

First budrflise flie.  (First, butterflies fly.)

Next budrflise eet with ther tuns I meen thar feet. (Next, butterflies eat with their tounges, I mean their feet.)

Thrd, budrflise hach in eggs entena theay hach.  (Third, butterflies hatch in eggs, antenna they hatch.)

Foorth budrflise hach. (Fourth, butterflies hatch.)

She couldn't wait to get out the door this morning, to give her topic sentence to her teacher.  I'm proud of her.

Lumpy Neck

Keaton is generally so well tempered.  He is thoughtful and kind and concerned about others.  In fact, during school, there was another student who sat by Keaton.  She accused him of stealing her pencil, which he didn't.  He was very adamant that he did not take her pencil, but if she wanted it he would give it to her.  She caused such drama, during school, and Keaton felt so attacked, that they had a talk with their teacher after school one day, and Keaton got to move his desk away from her.

He is very much like me, in the fact that even though he knew he had done nothing wrong, he still felt terrible about the fact that someone could accuse him of wrongdoing.  He is simply a really good kid, and I'm amazed at how responsible and well-intentioned he is.

A few weeks  ago, Keaton told me that his throat was hurting.  I thought he meant that the inside of his throat hurt, and told him that was normal, especially in the morning, when you wake up and your throat is dry.  He said "No mom, the pain isn't on the inside.  It's on the outside, on this big lump on my neck."  So I palpated his neck, and there was a really good size lump for sure.  It was tender to the touch, and also bothered him if he strained his neck one way or another.  He said he'd had it for about two months and it seemed to be getting bigger.

Not really one to go to the doctor that often (except for Kimble), we made an appointment with our pediatrician for the following week, during the school day.  Previously, Keaton had been super excited about the fact that he was in the running to get a new bike from the school. All the kids who hadn't missed any days of school would be entered into a drawing on the last day of school, to win a bike.  One bike for a girl, and one bike for a boy.  Keaton has been talking about the fact that his dad won't need to fix his current bike, because he was going to win a new bike.

I was worried about having his doctor's appointment during school, because that might mean that he wouldn't be in the running for a new bike anymore.  When I suggested this to Keaton, he said "Mom, bikes don't matter.  What really matters is being healthy." Such a sweet kid.

So when the day came for his appointment, he was already at school.  I checked him out, and said I'd check him in again when his appointment was over, so he wouldn't have to miss a day of school and he could still possibly win the bike.  We went to the appointment, and the doctor was very curious about the lump, the size of the lump, how long it had been there, and why it was there without previous sickness to give reason for the inflammation.

Curious about a lot of things, but not feeling that it was as serious as we dreaded, he sent Keaton for bloodwork, and started him on antibiotics 3x a day for 10 days, just in case it was an infected lymph node.

Keaton was nervous about the bloodwork, but handled it well.  After a few days, the bloodwork came back normal.  Keaton took his medicine three times a day (and he did it himself everyday...so nice to have a child responsible enough to take charge of that themselves!).  It took almost the entire 10 days before we noticed that the size of the lump was starting to decrease.  Thank goodness!

I'm sure glad Keaton is part of our family. He is an amazing boy!

Faceplant

Mr. Kimble and Kennedy have both recently done a nose-dive to the cement ground.  It happened to Kennedy on the way home from school one day. She must have tripped, going too fast for her little feet, and slid her face along the sidewalk as she fell.  Kimble's happened last last weekend, as he was stepping down our back door stairs.  He lost his footing and went face first to the next step.  Ouch!

Gardening

We've been spending most of our free time tending to our garden.  After we made the garden beds, we dumped two truckloads of cow manure/farming soil in our backyard that we got from a friend's property, and began the process of making good gardening soil for our planter beds.

We had the kids shovel and shovel and shovel the manure into our wheel barrel, and then transfer it to the planter beds.  Most of the kids were happy to do it. Kolby hated it and complained the entire time.  After all, it takes a lot of loads to fill each of the six-foot planter beds.  Kennedy helped smooth out the layers, as we filled it with soil, manure, pete moss, and more manure.

We even found some pots of different sizes so that Kamy could have her own little garden to grow and take care of, as part of her young woman personal progress that she works on for church.  She made sure to fill her pots with soil/manure and get it prepped for the seed starters that were growing.

After a few weeks, we were ready to plant our starters, which we had been acclimating outside for about a week.  As The Husband and I began the process of planting all of the little plants into the big garden beds, in nice orderly rows and clearly marked with our popsicle stick markers, Kamy chose about a dozen plants for her little garden, including jalapenos, tomatoes, pumpkin, zucchini, sunflowers, and bell peppers.

Now our plants are officially growing outside. We hope they produce lots of veggies.  The zucchini and squash plants were the best looking, so we have  high hopes for them.  Growing a family garden is so exciting!!

About Mother's Day

Yesterday morning I was in sorta a bad mood.  Once again, I let my kid's tendency to be kids, reflect upon my attitude.  They didn't get themselves dressed in appropriate clothing for church (Kolby came up in jeans with holes in them instead of his church pants) and the house was a mess and no matter how many times I told Kennedy to brush her teeth, we got to church and saw that she had ignored every said request.  The everyday battle wears on me.  As much as I tell myself to not get grumpy in the mornings even if the kids are slow-moving-ignore-every-request-spend-30-minutes-staring-at-the-wall-instead-of-do-what-I've-asked-them-to-do type of kids, I am beyond grateful that I have them in my life.

A few weeks ago, as we were preparing to go to a Farmer's Market Kick-off Party, I let the market person know how many of us to expect.  I told her 2 adults and 5 kids, which doesn't seem that unordinary to me.  She gasped.  "5 kids!  Seriously!  You birthed 5 kids!?!"  Uh, yeah.  Big deal, right?

Then I started to think:  Yes. It is a big deal. This especially hit home today, as I looked around the church congregation and saw that one of my close friends wasn't present.  She is older than me, and due to the cards dealt her, she has never been able to have children of her own.  She has a few step-sons, but I know that isn't the same, when you long to carry a child.  So here I am, complaining about my kids, and I think I even said something to my kids along the lines of "Don't talk to me" as we were driving to church.  Yeah.  I should be slapped.  Totally ungrateful.

I looked around some more at church, and saw many wives whose husbands were deployed, and yet they are at church with their kids, trying to teach them good things and are doing it alone.

I thought about the friends I have who have lost a child in their life, and they no longer get to see their sweet children grow up and discover new things.  I'm sure their arms ache all the time, but today especially.

I thought about what my life would be like next  year at this time. Will Kimble survive his next surgery? Will something happen to one of my other kids? This is a very sensitive subject for me, and I have no right to be so annoyed at being a mother, today of all days, when I have so many blessings in front of me.

My attitude needs to be changed, and I'm the only one who can do it.  I really am so grateful for my family, and each one of my children that God blessed me with.  I will be a better mother, so I can deserve them.

This weekend, the kids and The Husband presented me with my Mother's Day gift.  They each made a card for me, and wherever you see words, they glued on flower seeds.  All I have to do is "plant" the papers where I want them, and the seeds will grow in the shape of the words.  I also got a package of bulb flowers, to plant in our front yard.  Very fun!  I can't wait to see how they grow!  (Side  note: Kolby likes to look as displeased as possible, in pictures now....his choice.  oh well.)

After church today, my three primary-age kids gave me cards that they filled out during primary.  The answers were interesting and funny, so I thought I would share some.

Question: My favorite thing to do with my mom is: Throw balloons (Kolby), help her (Kennedy), spend time with her (Keaton).

Question:  My mom doesn't like: Dogs (Kolby), Drama (Kennedy), Shopping (Keaton).

Question: What is her favorite  hobby?  Sewing (Keaton and Kolby), Traveling (Kennedy).

Question:  My mom helps me: Bike ride (Kolby), learn to be safe (Kennedy), Choose the right (Keaton).

Question:  My favorite memory about my mom is: When she made me a doll that looked exactly like me (Keaton).

Question: Describe your mom: My mom has brown hair, she is 15 years old, she loves the color pink and she likes to eat (Kennedy).  My mom's name is Shaina, she is 35 years old and 60 inches tall.  She has red hair and she likes to sew (Kolby).  My mom is 35 and she has brown hair (Keaton).


Keaton also gave me a handwritten note that he worked long and hard on.  It reads:
Dear Mom,
You are so special to me, I wouldn't live without you.  You cook dinner for us and I say Whoo Whoo! I feel so safe and happy because you hug me so lovingly that I love you too.  I would like to help you so much that I can't help enough.  You help me so that I love you too.
Love forever,
Keaton


I'm very thankful for my kids; each one of them.  Even when I struggle to get them to understand all the things I try to teach them, I love each one of them and am so happy they have blessed my life.

I'm also so thankful for my mother, and her selfless desires to teach me and my siblings. For the time and effort she always put forth, in preparing us for all the things life throws our way.  I'm thankful for all the women who have been wonderful examples of motherhood to me. I hope I can be like you all someday.

Officially 2.5

Kimble is two-and-a-half now.  He is so full of energy we sometimes don't know what to do with him!  He loves to borrow other people's bikes, scooters, and any form of transportation he can get on.  He loves to play outside, whether on the grass, running downhills, or on the playground equipment.  He also looks forward to his daily stroller ride that Keaton takes him on after school.  Basically, he just loves to be outside.

Kimble is also content to play with cars, trucks, trains and all other "vrooms" and is known to harass his friend Clark at church by taking his toy bus and not giving it back. (I need to find a toy bus for him to have for his own!)  We keep magnet trains and a few cars in his diaper bag, so he's happy no matter where we are, even if we are waiting at the doctor's office (we don't let Kimble play with office toys...too many germs).

Kimble so desperately wants to be outside, that he just figured out how to open doors. I'm seriously devastated by this new development.  He's already been known to escape when we weren't watching him.  We feel really good about the fact that our backyard now has two working gates, to keep Kimble in.  At least we know he can't go far!  As a side note to this next picture of Kimble gazing out the window, he rarely keeps his pants on, and his diaper somehow gets twisted to show half his bum.

He and Kennedy like to play together.  She teaches him fun words, like "nummy" and "oh-sye" (meaning yummy and outside).  He is getting to where he will repeat more and more things, and hearing him say words, with is sweet high voice, is practically irresistible.

Other accomplishments:  Kimble will now climb the pantry shelves, to get to the good stuff that we keep up high...like honey and chips.  Kimble stays awake now, in the car, instead of falling asleep if it is close to nap time.  He will be my helper, when I'm doing laundry, by pushing the clothes into the dryer as I'm dumping them over from the washing machine. 

Kimble can now reach his cup up to the water dispenser on our fridge door, and he fills up his own cup of water.  We realized he could do this when we noticed lots of water spills awaiting us everytime we went into the kitchen.

Kimble enjoys having his teeth brushed now.  Huge success!

Instead of running out the door and into the street everytime we leave the house, he now runs to the van and waits until I open the door, so he can climb into his seat.  Likewise, when we arrive home after errands, I get him out of the van, give him my house keys, and he runs up to the door (instead of to the street like he use to do) and tries to open the door. This gives me a chance to gather bags and other stuff from the van, and bring it inside without having to drop it to run after Kimble.  I feel brilliant about this idea I had.  Works marvelously.

Kimble tells me when he's stinky, and he intentionally toots when I'm changing his diaper, and giggles at his accomplishment.  He's not ready to be potty trained, but we are making progress with understanding what "stinky" is.

Kimble is very opinionated. He knows when he's being ornery.  He throws a few temper tantrums.  He says "sorry" when he needs to.  He is still a sweet boy, but he sure does have  his moments of showing us that he is two years old!

A Gate Built By Two

For as long as we've lived here, there has been no side gate to our backyard.  It was just a big ugly opening.  It bugged us.  So, we finally decided to do something about it, or rather, The Husband decided to do something about it.

He built a door frame, screwed in boards to the brick wall, then screwed the frame to the wood beams.  Keaton helped him the entire time, and I did a little bit too, by sealing the wood with an all-weather sealant.

Once the frame was on and secure, they attached the posts.  It looks so great!

Now we have privacy. Hallelujah!

We liked the new gate so much, that we made another one on the other side of the house, where the existing gate was almost in pieces.  This time, Keaton got to help drill everything, and he loved it.  (The cubscout neckerchief was to help protect his neck from the hot rays of the sun!)

Gate number two: Done. You can see the old gate, propped up next to them (Kimble liked to think he helped too.)  The old wood posts on the old gate were taken off and attached to our property fence, replacing some gaps that we had.  We feel so productive!

Smores

There's a first time for everything, right?  Kimble had his first smores a few weeks ago, at our cubscout backyard outdoor campfire activity.  Of course, it poured rain the first half of the evening, and we only just managed to have the storm clear out right when it was time to serve up the smores.  Perfect timing, eh?

He thought they were very tasty.

So did the boys, although they don't look that excited. Perhaps it was because I interrupted their eating by taking a picture.

Keaton was responsible for making a fire starter. He got a toilet paper roll, loosely stuffed it with dryer lint so the air could still get through (lesson learned from Tom Hanks in Castaway!) and then found a few dry twigs to shove all around. It worked perfectly.

Kennedy was just happy to play on the swingset.  Not pictured, but still in attendance, were The Husband, myself, and Kamy.