Multiple Times

I've decided to make a list of things that I say multiple times (at least 10 times or more) a day.

• "I can't understand you when you whine!"
• "Say you're sorry!"
• "Kaia is not a doll!"
• "Put Kaia down!"
• "Good job!"
• "Was that a good choice or bad choice?"
• "We don't hit our sister!"
• "That's too loud!"
• "Don't touch that, it's not yours!"
• "Put it down!"
• "I love you!"
• "Just a minute!"
• "I'm coming."
• "What happened?"
• "Who did it?"
• "I'm sorry that happened!"
• "That's enough!"
• "That's great!"
• "It's not snack time!"
• "Who's a stinker?"
• "Come here, please!"
• "Kaia has had enough. Please leave her alone!"
• "Let me hug you!"
• "Good try!"

So, I think my list could probably keep going but these are the phrases that I have noticed I repeat constantly through out the day. These are mostly directed at my children but some are also directed at Thayne....I'll let you guess which ones! I"ll give you a hint....."I can't understand you when you whine" is not one of them.
After I made this list, I realized that I need to add more positive phrases in my day. I don't want my kids growing up thinking that I only told them things they couldn't or shouldn't do.

Deception IS GREAT!!

From my title you're probably wondering what evil thing has taken over my mind! I have been deceiving my family for that last several weeks and I LOVE IT!!! I never thought it could be so much fun.

Ok, back to reality! I watched the Oprah show several weeks ago and Oprah was introducing a new book by Jerry Sienfield's wife called Deceptively Delicious. The book teaches you how to puree veggies and sneak them in your food so that those eating it have no idea they are having a healthy meal full of veggies. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!!?! I don't have to threaten my kids anymore about eating their veggies, I don't have to hear a whole mealtime of whining, I don't have to look at scrunch up faces as they take a bite of veggies and act like they are going to die, AND I can be deceptive and don't have to repent for it :)> !!!

So, with learning all new things there is always trial and error while striving for perfection (at least for me). Some of my meals have been fool proof and well.....others have been...hmm.....a little scary. I made Taco Soup tonight and decided to put pureed spinach in it. I guess I should have known that the color of the soup would have changed a little after I added the spinach but I was surprised how much. I was really worried that I would be hearing how "icky" it looked or that they can't eat green stuff but I had no need to worry. They ate it right up and Indi even told me several times "Tis is yummy, Mommy!". Once again, I felt proud of my deception!

Now, Thayne was not all fooled by the green Taco Soup. He scrunched up his nose several times and I almost thought he was going to refuse to eat it. After putting extra cheese on it so you could barely see the green soup, he agreed to try it. After several bites he admitted that it was good but he was having problems getting over the color. I do have to admit that every time I took a bite I had to remind myself that there was nothing wrong with it. I think next time I make the soup I'll try carrots or beets instead.

Here's a visual of the soup (I don't think the picture actually catches the real color. The soup was much greener than it appears!):















Here's the kids eating the soup:

(Jaed)



















(Josie)













(Indi)

Parent - Teacher Conference

We had our first kindergarten parent/teacher conference for Jaed this last week. I think Thayne and I were both a bit nervous to hear how Jaed was doing because in preschool his reports were.....well......let's just say that they were a bit negative. So I had tons of good qualities of Jaed in my head ready to fire back if his teacher started out telling us negative things. BUT....that's not at all what happened this time. She started out talking about how smart Jaed was and that he finishes his work first and does quality work on top of that. She said that she will even give him more work and he ends up finishing that before others finish their first assignment. So now Jaed has been assigned as the "helper" in the class room. When he's done doing his work he walks around and helps the other kids with their work. She said that Jaed is very kind when he helps others and often tell them that they did a great job. Thayne and glanced at each other in amazement. Our little Jaedon was MATURING. I think we both wanted to yell "HURRAY" but we just squeezed each others hand and kept listening to her praise our son.

After talking about his academic success she told us about his social skills. She said that all the kids liked Jaedon and he was a leader in his circle of friends. She said that she does have to remind him to have self control when asked to stop doing something and that he has been getting better at it. I told her that the other day when she sent a note home explaining that Jaed got a sad face because he repeatedly was told to stop making noises during quiet time, we questions him about it. He finally said to us, after we asked him tons of times why he didn't stop the noises, "I just couldn't get control of myself!". Thayne and I both wanted to laugh hysterically but kept our composure. It was the so funny to see him serious and concerned that he couldn't control himself. His teacher explained that she says to him, "Jaed you need to get control of yourself and listen to me.".

When Thayne and I left the conference we were both so proud of our little Jaed and were anxious to get home and hug him!

Look-alike Meter

My friend tried this Look-alike Meter and put it on her blog so I thought I would try it as well. So three out of the four kids (supposedly) look like Thayne. When I showed him the meters he was pretty proud of himself and said that he must have some strong genes. Please focus on Indi's meter. I am sure that the hair is what resembles Thayne the most!

Getting big!

Jaed had a birthday this last week. He turned six years old. I know everyone says this but, I can't believe how fast it went by. Right before he went to bed and hugged him and told him how happy I was the God sent him to me. I told him that his dad and I wanted a baby but for some reason God didn't send us one for a long time so when we found out we were going to have a baby we were SO HAPPY!! I told him that the day he was born was one of the happiest days of our lives. Of course, I cried while telling him and he just patted my back while I blubbered on. At the end, He said "Thanks for telling me that, Mom.". He seemed so grown up at that moment.
I know that I am harder on Jaed than I am on my girls and I make it a point to make sure I tell him that I love him several times a day to try and make up for it. He really is a good boy who tries very hard to please me. He is a big help with his sisters and loves to learn about religious things. I seriously couldn't ask for a better son!

So for his birthday, we let him go to the store and pick out several presents that he wanted. He was in heaven. Every time he picked something up and asked if he could have it, our response was "Yes, if that's what you want!" (He didn't know that Thayne won a gift certificate to the store, which we used to buy his gifts ). The next day took him to the grocery store and let him pick out his ice cream cake (one of our family traditions is to have an ice cream cake on birthdays). He picked out a very yummy chocolate cookie football cake. He also wanted pizza for his birthday dinner so we went and got pizza and celebrated it all at home. We didn't have a friend party for him this year and he seemed to be okay with it.

A couple of days before his birthday I told him that he wouldn't have to do any chores on his birthday and he was so excited he did a little happy dance. He then asked if he could pick someone to do his chores for him but I told him that Thayne already volunteered to do them. I am sure that he would have picked one of his sisters.

Jaed and his cake! We were all so excited to get a piece that we forgot to take a picture of it before it was cut.















Jaed and his "best buddy". It's amazing how much they are alike!












The girls sang "Happy Birthday" all day and Jaed loved every minute of it!












Me and my baby boy!

Funny words!

I really try to make a quick note on a piece of paper when the kids say something quite humorous. Well, my post-it note is full so I thought I'd share them with you so I can throw it away.

Jaed:

We were driving in the car, the other day, and I was telling Thayne that I can't make these YUMMY granola bars and leave them around because I"ll eat them all. Well, Jaed decided to add his two cents and said, "Mom, that's when you need to put something over your mouth so you can't eat them!". Thayne was quick to tell Jaed that this was not a conversation that he needed to add anything to.

Jaed asked me to make him a lunch to take to school yesterday so I did. When we picked him up from school I asked him how he liked his lunch and he said, "I loved the pizza, Mom!". Hmmm.....I didn't pack any pizza for him. So I questioned him some more and found out that after he eats the lunch I pack him he goes and gets the school lunch and yesterday it was pizza day. I swear that kid is going to be as big as a house by the time he's done with Kindergarten. I informed him that I would not be packing him any more lunches from now on.

Josie:

We were taking Josie to school and Indi and her were arguing non-stop. Finally, Josie yelled "Indi, stop acting like Mom!". I'm not sure if I should take that as I yell too much or that I argue too much. I'll have to think about that one some more.

We were driving home today, from the store, and we saw a policeman who had just pulled someone over. Jaed asked what I thought the policeman was doing so I explained that the guy probably was driving to fast and the policeman had pulled him over to tell him to slow down. Josie asked if that guy was naughty and I said that he was a little naughty for driving to fast so she said, "Mom tell that guy that Jesus is sad because he is being naughty!".

Indi:

The kids watched Scooby-Doo the other day and on the show the bad guy was turning people in to stone. Well, this morning, Indi saw a picture of a statue of Jesus and said. "Oh no, who turned Jesus into stone!". After a quick chuckle and seeing that she was serious, Thayne explained to her that it was a statue and Jesus wasn't really in it.

Kaia is into throwing her toys off her high chair now and I'm always calling Indi in to pick them up and give them to Kai (because I'm usually in the middle of cooking or cleaning the kitchen) and I guess Indi had had enough. She gave the toy to Kai and said, "Naughty babies don't get there toys back!" and she stormed off.

Is she a doll?

The one sentence I say about a hundred times a day is "Kaia is NOT a doll so put her down!". Each one of my other kids can help but pick her up when they see her and then the drag her off like some rag doll. She thinks it's fun until the trip and fall with her, or drop her. Then she's screaming and needs to be rescued.

Here is the typical scene at our house:

She seems less irritated when Jaed picks her up and carries her places:




















I think Kaia's face tells it ALL! Even when she's screaming Josie doesn't let go.



















Kaia might look happy now but with in seconds she'll be screaming. Indi is so proud of herself that she can lift Kaia and carry her a few steps, usually until she falls. (Yes, Kaia is very tall for her age and Indi is quite short for her age.)

Visit from family

Several weeks ago, Thayne's brother came to visit with his wife and son. Thayne's brother becomes one of the kids when he's around. He gets down on the floor with them, plays hide-n-seek (over and over) with them, reads to them, plays games with them, and anything else you can think of. His wife is right beside him doing it all as well. I'm sure my kids wear him out but you would never be able to tell. Here's some pictures of their visit:

Josie, Auntie, Benji (cousin), Indi, Uncle, Kaia and Jaed













Here's all the grandkids on the Thayne's side of the family:











The only two grandsons!















Here's the babies of the group!

Wounds of a victim

Our little Indi has been through a lot these last couple of days. She was the true victim in each of the events this week which is almost never the case. Most of time, she's the instigator but not this time.

A couple of days ago, Jaed through a car at her and it left a gash on her nose. She cried and cried and kept saying, "Jaed hurt me, mommy. He really really hurt me!". I guess Jaed was throwing the cars in the air and one came down right on her nose.

Then this morning, Josie and Indi were playing around and Josie gave Indi a huge shove. Indi went flying towards the TV stand and split her lip open. It was scary for her and for us. We had to take her to the emergency room and they glued it back together. When we were waiting for the Dr she said, "It really really hurts, mommy!" and then she would cry again. She is quite a Daddy's girl because she wanted "Daddy" with her so she could sit on his lap. When Thayne finally came I saw Indi smile which she wasn't doing at all before he got there. Then once Thayne took her she hugged him and started to cry saying, "Daddy, the Dr. hurt me!".

Here's a picture of Indi's wounds. The marks under her lower lip are from eating a cookie that Thayne gave her after we left the hospital!