Dresses on everyone!

Indi had a playdate at a friends house last week and they played "dress up". Even her little friend who was a boy put a dress on and twirled around with everyone else. He really felt like one of the gals. I'm actually surprised that Indi didn't say, "Dress up is for girls!" because she says that to her brother. Instead, they held hands and twirled a couple of times and went off like little princesses (and prince, of course!).


I think her (boy) friend looks dang cute in that dress!
















Indi's little friend (to the right of Indi) is dancin' away while Indi and her other friend are posing like pros!

No Learning!!

Josie has this idea that the word "learning" is linked to no fun at all. Every time we would take her to school, me or Thayne would say, "Learn lots, Josie" and she would yell back, "I DON'T LEARN!" and walk off in a huff. When she would get in the car after school we would ask her what she learned that day and we would get the same response as before, "I DON'T LEARN".
Last week, after I picked her up, I asked her what she learned and she yelled, "I DON'T LEARN, I JUST PLAY!!" and then she started to cry. I asked her what she was crying for and she said, "You make me cry, Mommy. I don't want to learn, I just want to have fun!". I tried to tell her that learning was fun but she wanted nothing to do with the word "learn". I comforted her a bit and then let it drop. When Thayne got home we laughed about it but decided we better help her understand that learning can be fun.
That evening I was snuggling her in bed and we talked about things she does at school and everytime she said she did things that were new I told her that she was learning new stuff. At first she resisted but then she decided that learning was okay. The next morning I told Thayne to ask her what she learns at school and when he did she started to smile and said, "I learn to write my name and paint!!" YIPPPEEEE, it worked. She is ready to learn now!

Lunch Maker

Jaed loves taking lunch to school. He tells me what he wants in it and then stands by me as I make it and put it in his bag that I have written his name on. Well, this weekend (Saturday) we headed downstairs for breakfast and there was a bulky lunch bag sitting on the table. I looked closer and I saw that Jaed had written his name on the bag and as I investigated the inside I found a triple bread sandwich, pudding, crackers, banana, fruit snack, juice, and cookies. I questioned Jaed about it and he said he got up early this morning to make his own lunch. He was so proud that he made a triple bread sandwich like his dad makes and that he filled his lunch bag with other great stuff. I explained to him that it was Saturday so he wouldn't be going to school and he had a huge frown on his face until I told him he could eat his own lunch at lunchtime. I did tell him that we needed to take a few things out because it was too much food, so he ended up with his sandwich, banana, crackers and cookies for his lunch and told his sisters a couple of different times that he made it all by himself.

Getting Ready to Move!!

Kaia is doing so many new things lately. I feel bad that I haven't talked about her much. She's interacting with her siblings more, she's eating food, getting quite a little attitude and she is very much a momma's girl. Kaia and I go everywhere together, pretty much and when I'm not with her I miss her so much. She truly is a delight in our family. She's the first one the kids ask for when they get up in the morning and she's the last one they hug and kiss at night. Here's some things she's doing already at 6 1/2 months old:

Kaia has been sitting up really well for almost a month now. She can't quite get in a sitting position on her own but she'll stay sitting up forever as long as there are toys in front of her.





















Kaia has been getting on her hands and knees for several weeks and does a lot of rocking while she's up there. One of these days she's going to lunge forward and see that she can get somewhere.















Kaia has learned to pull herself up on her knees when she's seating up in her bed. Several mornings now I've set her up and then tried to catch a few more minutes of sleep but I always hear her talking and it sounds like she is right in my face so I open my eyes and sure enough, her she's on her knees, leaning over trying to grab my face.

Bullies

Jaedon has finished his first real week of Kindergarten and seems to really love it. He has made lots of friends but talks about two particular boys in his class. Last night, we were talking about his school and we asked him if he plays with these two boys at recess. He told us that one of them tries to push him down and kick him. I was so sad and mad at the same time. Thayne asked him what he does when they do that and he said he doesn't do anything. Now this time last year, we would have been told that Jaed was hitting another child but something has changed in him. A part of me almost wants him to be that same Jaed that fights back, but I know that's not the appropriate response to teach him. We told him to tell the boy to not push or kick him but who knows if that will get him anywhere. I did decided that if it happens again I will be sending a note to his teacher explaining what Jaed has told us and let her know that we are concerned.
It's amazing to me that a child can survive school with any kind of self esteem at all. I want to shelter my children from this kind of hatefulness but I can't. They have to go through and survive on top of the hill but have to do it without being hateful themselves. I don't even know how to teach them that without making a wimp out of them. Man, sometimes parenthood is harder than I want it to be.
The sad thing about this is that it doesn't just stop when they're kids. Even as adults you run into bullies and cliques. As my son deals with a bully, I"m dealing with cliques. I never thought that at my age I would have to deal with the feelings of "not fitting in" or not being "picked" to join a group of friends going somewhere. It hurts my heart to think that these feelings and actions are not out grown, and that my kids will have to deal with them when they're grown as well. Fortunately for Jaed, I think the female gender is ten times worse when it comes to cliques. My poor daughters.....I see a lot of tears in my future (theirs and mine!).
I hope that as I continue to mature (it's a long process for me) that I can always remember how I felt when I was left out and not invited to things so that I don't do that to others. It's mean, uncalled for and ruthless. The saying "why can't we all get along" isn't so funny right now. Where is the Christ-like attitude we should all be striving for? I know I need to find it at times!

Who's feeding who?

We have a rule in our house that when you turn 4 you have to feed yourself. It's not like we feed them all the time but before they are four, if they ask for help, we're obliged to help them. Well, last night, Indi was saying, over and over, "I need help! I need help!". I was feeding Kaia and Thayne was getting drinks for the all the kids so no one was rushing to her side to help her.......except Josie. I don't know if it was because she was tired of Indi repeating herself or if she wanted to be the "big sister" and help out, but whatever it was, she came to Indi's rescue. Josie fed her until there was nothing on her plate and Indi gobbled it all down without a word. Maybe we should let her do it more often :).


I know you're all wondering if my kids ever wear clothes and I'll admit, when we're at home clothes come off (except panties and underwear). Once we are in the house and the door closes, the clothes come off. Usually it's Indi who has her clothes off first. At least. I never have to worry about them spilling anything on their clothes at dinner time :).















I have decided to make my own baby food this time and so far so good. Last night, Kaia had carrots and loved them. She takes after her sister, Indi, and seems to enjoy anything we put in front of her.

Matching

I think the bets part about having girls is being able to do their hair and dress them up. It's like having my own live dolls. I LOVE IT!! The last time my sister came to visit us she brought these matching dresses that the girls are wearing. I love them!

Could they get any cuter? Time will tell!!!




















Handsome Jaed stands in his snazzy suit (Thayne said it looks like his pajamas) in the middle of three beautiful princesses!

Cleaning.....hate it!!!

So Thayne has been home a week now and the house has gone down the drain. I love having him home but my routine gets thrown out the window. I would much rather play games, rest and have fun with him then clean and do laundry. Well, the house got so bad that we had to spend most of our Saturday cleaning the kids were not happy with it. We got tons of new complaints that we haven't heard from them before. I should say, Jaed and Josie did all the complaining. Indi was our little 'happy helper' the entire time. Sometimes she started to play with the stuff we were going to clean but we just had to reminder her what her job was and she got back on track.
Here are some complaints we heard threw out the day:

Jaed: (dragging himself around with his shoulders forward and head down most of the day. He was miserable.)

"This is going to take all day" (with arms thrown up in the air)
"We can't have fun if we clean" (about to cry)
"I think I"ll go stay in my room the whole day" (he was quickly told this was a family activity)
"Let's just do this room and then do the rest later" (I'm sure he heard that from his dad)
"Can't we just be done now!" (as he falls to the floor)
"The girls aren't helping so I'm not going to help!"

Josie:

"I'm just a little girl!" (after she was told she was a big girl and could help)
"This is so boring"
"Don't put those toys away, I"m playing with them!" (she was playing with them the day before)
"This is too much for me!"
"I need to rest"
"This doesn't make me happy!"

Indi: (she sang a lot while she helped.)

"I a good helper"
"I doing my job!"
"We almost done!"
"Put the toys in there right buckets, don't just throw them in there!" (she was telling Josie this while we were cleaning her room)
"I helping, I get a treat!" (no treat was ever mentioned)
"This is fun!"

All new Josie

Josie started preschool last week and she was so excited. The morning of the first day she came running into our room at about 6:00 and yelled "I going to school today". Both Thayne and I told her it was going to happen right then so she needed to go back to her room because we were still sleeping and it wasn't time to get up. She didn't argue, she just hopped back to her room and played (I guess :) ). After we dropped Jaed off at school we all went into Josie's school to wish her a great day. She has the same exact teacher she had last year and when Josie saw her she went right over to her and hugged her. It was nice not to have to worry about Josie getting use to her new class and teacher, because they were the same as year before. There are even kids in her class that were there last year as well. It's just so nice not to have to worry about her.....well...until she starts her other preschool after Labor Day. Two days a week she'll be attending her speech therapy preschool and two days a week she'll be in a normal preschool. I wanted her to be in a normal preschool so she could work on more academic stuff and socialize more. I really hope it works.
So, back to her first day.....I was holding Kaia so I handed Thayne the camera and asked him to take a couple of pictures of Josie and this is what he came up with:


Here's Josie with her arm to the side, but we don't know why. I think she thought it was a pose....




















I wouldn't call this a 'first day of school' picture but oh well....




















I told Thayne that next time I hand him the camera to take some pictures of the kids, he's suppose to tell me that I don't like the kind of pictures he takes :).

Oh, we got Josie's haircut a couple of days before school started. She loves it. She was not a big fan of her long hair. She would get mad if her hair was in her face and whine to me to put it up so it wouldn't be in her face. Now she won't have that problem, but I sure miss it!

School begins!

Jaed was chosen to be apart of a program, called Jump Start, at his school where he was able to start Kindergarten two weeks before the normal date. He was accepted in the full day kindergarten but for the first two weeks of this program he went for only half a day only. I think he was chosen because I told one of the kindergarten teachers that he could be a challenge and I was worried how he would do in a new school. WELL...to our wonderful surprise the two weeks went wonderful. The teachers told me that he did what he was told and listened perfectly. The only minor complaint was that he got a little crazy when he was excited. Thayne and I are so happy and proud of Jaed. We were constantly praising him for his great behavior and attitude at school. Now he has a couple of days off and then he starts the "real" kindergarten.


Here's Jaed in front of his new school. I thought I might be sad to see him go because this means he's growing up but I was actually very excited for him.



















Jaed went right to his seat and sat down when we got to his room. He was thrilled to show me everything in his classroom and even told him some of the rules.



















Here is a picture of Jaed taken last year at about this time. Notice how much he has changed. He's gotten taller and his face has thinned out so much. He's not our little chunky boy anymore.

Kaia's sunday best

I found the cutest outfit for Kaia and I thought I would share it with ya'll. She is growing up so fast. Can you believe she's six months old already? The older she gets the more interaction her siblings want to have with her. Josie and Indi get their hair pulled by Kaia quite often if they get to close to her. They start whining , "Mommy, Kaia is pulling my hair", and I always say, "Kaia, we don't pull hair. That's not making a good choice." while and untangle her fingers out of their hair. On time Josie responded, "Yeah, Kaia...we have to make good choices so Jesus is happy!".


Kaia and Daddy right before we head out the door for church.

Is she a monkey?

We were all grocery shopping and Kaia was crying for food, so I gave her a bottle and she instantly grabbed on to it with her hands. After picking out somethings to put in the cart I checked on her again and this is what I saw:




















She stayed like that until her bottle was done. We had several on lookers as we went throughout the store.

Family Golfing

Thayne and I decided to take the kids golfing a couple of weekends ago. They were so excited even know Jaed was the only one that had an idea what golfing was. Jaed tried to explain it to the girls but all he had to say was that you hit a ball with a stick and the girls were jumping and screaming with excitement. It was a VERY hot day but they still ended with smiles on their faces while Thayne and I were thinking, "Thank goodness it's over and let's get these kids in the car where they're strapped down!" It was a little hard to keep them all on the same hole most of the time. Josie always liked the hole that was across the way and Indi liked to hang out at the hole we just finished. Jaed did everything he could to get his ball in the hole first (taking turn hitting our golf balls was not an option for him). To Jaed, it was the first person to get their ball in the hole that won. I do have to say that I don't think I ever saw him pick up his ball and put it in the hole like his sisters did. He always made sure he used his golf club even if it took him 20 hits.

Here's Jaed getting ready to hit his ball in his ball in the hole. He was not happy that I made him stop for a picture. He was pretty nervous that his sisters might get their ball in first.



















Josie was caught in the act. Here she is getting ready to drop her ball in the hole. She completely ignored her brother yelling at her that she had to hit the ball in not pick it up.




















Indi did a mixture of hitting her ball in the hole and picking it up. If she didn't get it in with the golf club before me or Thayne got are ball in she was fine but if Thayne and I were getting close to getting our ball in the hole she would hurry and grab her ball and drop in the hole, yelling, "I DID IT, I DID IT!"




















Kaia was along for the ride and didn't seem to mind it at all. It was a little hard for me to hit the ball with her hanging in front of me but we did okay.



















There was no casual golfing for Thayne. He was the only one who counted how many times he hit the ball at every hole and cheered for himself if he got par. Here he is aiming very carefully, with his golfing face on, and ready to get a hole in one (funny thing is, is that I was the one that got the hole in one. He said he did at a later hole, but I never saw it :) ).



















Notice the red faces and the tired looks on everyone's face. After we were all done, I asked them if they had a good time and it was a unanimous "YEAH!".

Conversation with Jaed

Jaed: "Momma, I want to talk about Halloween."
Me: "Okay, what would you like to talk about?"
Jaed: "Who was the first kid to be in Halloween?"
Me: "I'm not sure, Jaed. That's a good question for Daddy!"
Jaed: "I"m sure it was Jesus!"
Me: (trying not to laugh) "No, Jaed, Jesus wasn't here on earth when Halloween started."

- - - - - - - - - - - -


Background: We just bought Jaed a new backpack for school and were returning home. Jaed tried to hand me his backpack to carry in the house.

Jaed: "Here, Momma, can you take my backpack in?"
Me: (a little irritated) "No, Jaed, I'm not responsible for your crap."
Jaed: "Momma, this is not CRAP, this is my new CRAP!"

Wart

Jaed got a blister on his foot several months ago and after the blister went a way, a wart started to appear. He has been complaining about it hurting for the last several weeks and I noticed it getting a little black so I called and got him in to see the doctor. She said that it was infected and they needed to freeze it off. I knew that meant I was going to have to hold Jaed down and I wasn't thrilled about it. I made the girls each get a book and sit down on the chairs that were in the room and Jaed was on the patient's table looking a little worried. I tried to explain to him what they were going to do but the more I talked about it the bigger his eyes got and the more fearful he seemed.
I first tried the get him to just sit still without me having to hold him down but that didn't work. The nurse finally said that I would have to hold him down or it wasn't going to work. I was hoping I could just hold his leg down but then he was hitting me, telling me let go of him. So I had to go to drastic measures. I had to hold his whole body down, arms legs, head, etc.. It was quite traumatic for everyone......but Josie, I guess. Jaed was screaming VERY loud, Indi was crying hysterically, Kaia was crying, but Josie.....well she was sitting in her seat reading her book as if nothing was going on around her. It made me chuckle. I don't know how she was even able to concentrate with Indi crying beside her and Jaed screaming at the top of his lungs laying two feet away from her.
When we were finally done, and I got off of Jaed, he stopped screaming and Indi was tapering her cry down. I was hugging Jaed when Josie said, "What's wrong with Jaed, Mom?". I just laughed and told Josie that he was fine now.

The Chics!

I had a great time hanging out with my mom and sister. I wish we all lived closer so that we could get together more often. Even though we all so different than one another we can hang out and still have fun.


It's amazing to think that my sister and I are ten years apart because she truly is my best friend.

Becki, Me and my mom!

4th of July

We had a Fourth of July party at my brother's house. First, we went and had breakfast at his church, then we went swimming at my Dad's house, and then we had a barbaque and fireworks at my brother, Doug's house. It was a lot of fun to be all together. Thayne flew in the night before it was great to have him with our little family. The kids all fought over who was going to stand, sit, and be next to "daddy" every minute of the day. I think Josie missed him the most. I know it touched Thayne's heart because he is always saying, "I don't think Josie likes me.", which is not true at all. She's just more of a 'momma's girl' then the others but when she saw Thayne at the airport she screamed and clapped her hands and didn't leave his side for several days.
Thayne and I were able to gone a date and overnighter while my sister and mom watched our kids but we ended up taking Josie to dinner with us because she was so upset that we were leaving for the night. So, we took her with us to dinner and she was a delight. She talked tons and smiled the entire time. When we took her back to my mom's house she was okay with the idea of Thayne and I leaving for the rest of the night. It was a great experience to spend some one on one time with her and got us thinking about doing that more often with each of our kids.

Here's the kids in their patriotic outfits! Aren't they so dang cute!!!































................Jaed .............................Kaia...........

Slumber Party

I'm still working on posting all of our pictures from our trip. I don't want to just post them without doing a little bit of explaining so that's why it's taking me so long.


While we were at my mom's house the girls had a slumber party with several of their other cousins. They were so excited to sleep next to each other but unfortunately it didn't last until morning. Josie ended up in my mom's bed and Indi ended up sleeping with my sister, but the cousins all slept through the night.










Here is a picture of 15 out of the 19 (and a half) grandchildren on my side of the family. Can you find Waldo in the picture? Yes, I"m talking about our little Indiya. You really have to click on the picture so you can see Indi better. She's quite a hoot with those classes. The funny thing is, is that I didn't even realize she had the classes on until I was done taking the pictures, the kids dispersed, and I was showing the pictures to my sister.

Professional Pictures

On our last day of vacation in Utah we got professional pictures of our kids. They did a great job capturing the best picture of each of the kids.


What a handsome boy Jaed is turning in to:




















Our little Josie is growing up and is delicate and dainty as ever:



















When I showed these pictures of Indi to one of my friends she said, "Oh...look how sweet she look" but we both new that Indi has another side to her that we see more often. The feisty, independent side is the one we're use to. The scabby knees is what gives that side of her away.






































Can you believe that Kaia is only 5 months old in this picture? I don't think you can get a cuter picture than this:



















And here they are all together. Everytime I look at this picture, my heart fills up with gratitude and pride. I'm grateful to my God for giving me such precious little children and I'm so proud of myself for how dang cute they look in their "outfits" (hehehehe).

Overheard.....

Jaed: "Hey Daddy, did you know that monsters don't have bums?"
Thayne: "Well then how do they poop?"
Jaed: "Out of their mouths.....oh wait...they don't poop, Dad!"
Thayne: "Then what happens to the people they eat?"
Jaed: "The people stay in the monster's tummy until someone cuts them out."

-------------------------------------

Josie and Indi were picking on Jaed yesterday and Jaed tried to retaliate and went after Indi until Josie got in his way and yelled, "DON'T HURT MY SISTER!". Poor Jaed was crying and holding his arm where one of the girls scratched him and Josie spoke up again and said, "Jaed you don't have a brother to protect you!"

I felt so bad for Jaed. He didn't react to what she said but I went over and hugged him and got after the girls for picking on Jaed.

Gateway Fun

While we were in Utah, we went and visited the huge fountain at Gateway mall (downtown Salt Lake City). It's filled with kids and adults running through the water having a great time. We stayed there for a couple of hours and enjoyed the shade while the kids were running in and out of the water.

Here's Jaed with his cousins Brayden and Eric. Brayden is eight and Eric is five. We know that we have a big boy and we LOVE it!!



















Here is Indi and Josie with their 5 year old cousin Kassi. She could definitely part of our family with her red hair. Josie and Indi were always fighting about who got to sit, stand, and sleep by her. I know that Kassi felt like a queen with the way my girls were fighting over her.



















Every thirty minutes the fountain plays a song and shoots up water really high. Everyone is suppose to stay out of the fountain while the show is on and while we were waiting, Josie and Indi decided to dance. We were cheering them on and laughing inside!

Indiya's Bday

We were in Utah for Indi's birthday. The morning of her birthday she woke up and said, "It's party day!". And then she continued to remind us through the day that it was "her" day. One time Jaed was trying to boss her around and she yelled at him, "It's MY SPECIAL DAY!". She asked for presents all morning even after I told her that she couldn't have any presents until her party. My sister and I made a princess hat for her and I bought her a princess cape that she wore during her party as well. This was the best birthday party ever because I didn't have to send out any invitations and I didn't have to stress about no one showing. All her cousins (who were in town) were so excited that she was having a party none of them would have missed it for anything. I know she felt very special and loved that whole day. She especially got lots of attention from her Grandpa during our stay in Utah. He thought she was the cutest ever and she LOVED the cuddles, hugs, tickles and attention he gave her.

Here was our little Birthday Princess ready to open her presents:



















Here is Indi hugging some of her presents. If it wasn't something with princesses then it was polly pocket dolls:






































We had yummy cupcakes and ice cream for her birthday. Here she is about to blow he candle out:



















What a group of kids!! Here is Indi with all her party attendees (her cousins) eating cake and ice cream outside:

Relaxing at the river

While visiting my sister in Washington we went to her families secret swimming spot. The kids had blast.

Believe it or not, Indi did start out in a swimming suit but she had a poop accident so she put her panties on and she seemed completely content:



















Indi and Jaed played together a lot that day. Here's Jaed with one of his many poses:



















Josie was splashing water everywhere. I caught her in action in this picture:



















Here's Indi (munching on chips) with her cousin Eric (5 yrs old) and Brett (10 yrs old):



















Jaed decided to sit down and take a snack break as well. You can see his two cousins in the background trying to lift the log off the big rock. Jaed wanted to go help them but I wouldn't let him so he decided to just watch:















The boys found some sticks and the sword fighting began. The girls wanted to play but the closest they got to the boys was during this picture:

Pool day

When the kid woke up this morning I told them that we would be going to the pool and having a picnic there. They were so excited and put their suits on right away even though we weren't leaving for another couple of hours. When we finally got there, I put suntan lotion on and off they went. They didn't interact with one another for the entire two hours we were there. Everytime I did a head they were at oppposite sides of the pool. They each had their own agenda and playing with one another was not on it. I even saw Josie and Indi bumped into each other one time but neither of them looked at each other, they just got their balance and kept going.

After we had a little picnic the kids ran back in the pool and started to play again. Shortly after they all got back in the life guard blew his whistle and told everyone to get out. I guess a little kid threw up in the pool. Josie was crying and Jaed was very bugged that they had to get out. When I told them that a little boy threw up Jaed said, "His momma shouldn't let him get in if he's sick!" and then Josie piped up and said, "He's naughty Mommy!". It's a good thing we didn't know who the kid was or my kids would have yelled something about being "naughty" at him.

Home Sweet Home

We are back home now and I think we were all a little anxious to get here. I had a wonderful and non-stop time at my sister's house but by the time I got to my Mom's house, I was missing my hubby, my routine and my home. The kids had a great time playing with all of their cousins and I enjoyed hanging out with family members where we caught up on each other's daily lives. I had big hopes that I would be able to call some friends and get together with them while I was visiting my mom but unfortunately I didn't get that chance (Sorry...Laura, Jami, Lori, Cathy, and everyone else!). Thayne flew in July 3rd, just in time to celebrate the holiday with us. The kids were so excited to see him. They wouldn't leave his side for the first couple of days he was there. Of course, Thayne thought that Kai had grown so big since he last saw her. She is rolling around and smiling continously now. She is already grabbing everything in sight as well.

We rented a van and drove back this weekend. It took us two days of driving but we made it safe and without complications. Thank goodness we have a DVD player for the kids. A couple of times we turned it off but that lasted about 10 minutes and then Thayne or I were turning it on again to have some peace. Jaed sat next to Kaia the whole time so he could give her the pacifier when she needed it and play with her when she got fussy. He did a great job and was a huge help for us.

When we walked in the house the girls ran right up their rooms. Josie was dragging things out of her room saying, "Daddy, do you remember my blanket.......my dolls.....my chair?". I think she was the most excited to be home and back in her familiar environment.

I am excited to get them back in a daily routine and be the Queen Bee of my house again. We'll be going to the community pool almost everyday while we still can. I'll put pictures up of our vacation as I get them downloaded on my computer.