Our boy can DANCE!

Our church was having a Christmas party and we decided to go. They had a Christmas program and part of it included letting the children go in the back of the gym and dance while some guys played Christmas music on their violin and guitar. Thayne and I were shocked at how outgoing Jaed was on the dance floor. He had all these moves we didn't even know. I decided to grab my camera and take some pictures of him in action:

Look how much he's concentrating oh the next move he's going to make:



















He can break dance!! We have know idea where he learned this:



















He even grabbed Josie and swung her around a couple of times:



















Indi was apsolutely thrilled to be dancing with Jaed but it didn't last long. Indi wasn't going for the swing type dance:

Gingerbread Houses

Since this is our first year staying home for Christmas I decided to test out some traditions. I saw some gingerbread house kits at the store the other day and decided to get them. The thought of making the house by myself seemed a bit overwhelming but when I saw the kit, I knew it could be done! I bought two kits, one for the boys and one for the girls. It was funny to watch Thayne work on the house with Jaed. Thayne, obviously, had a picture in his mind of what he wanted the house to look like. Jaed didn't seem to care that his dad was telling him where to put everything but I think in a few years we will have to buy Jaed his own kit! Me and the girls.....well...I just decided to let them go where they wanted to go. If our house looks like it has any order at all it's because I did help decorate some and that's probably where it looks the best :). The whole time we were sitting at the table decorating the houses, Kai was in her high chair watching every move. She was darting her eyes from one group to the next and must have been concentrating a lot because we didn't see many smiles. I definitely thing this will be an event we do every year. The kids had a great time and Thayne and I even thought it was amusing!

Here are Jaed and Dad showing off their great gingerbread house:



















Here are the girls and I showing off our house:













And here is Kai in her highchair surrounded by her talented siblings:

Is that a Gingerbread man or woman?

When Jaed came home from school today he dug in his backpack and pulled out this great Gingerbread man. He was so excited to show it to us. I asked him if it was a man or a woman and he said, "Mama, gingerbread mans are boys!". Hmmm.........I then asked him what the circles were on his chest and he started to laugh. That was the end of our conversation!

(Click on the picture below to see a close up of the gingerbread man!)

Sweet Revenge

This last weekend the kids were allowed to stay up late and watch a Christmas movie (Frosty the Snowman). Indi didn't make it through the whole movie and she fell asleep on the floor. Well, we let Kai down to roam around the room and she went right for Indi. I think she was saying...."Oh my, she's asleep so nows my chance to bug her!". Thayne and were laughing......is that bad?

Kaia is ready to go at it:




















Kaia found a bottle close by, went right over to get it and crawled right back to her spot:



















I think Kaia was going to give up but then decided to try and sit on her for one last jab:

Relaxation

Thayne loves to cuddle with Kai, especially if she is drinking a bottle or ready to take a nap. It's like that gives Thayne permission to close his eyes and get a 5 minute nap or something. If they other kids are around and they see Thayne with his eyes closed, they immediately start yelling, "WAKE UP, DADDY!". It doesn't stop until Thayne opens his eyes and acts like he is awake or until I tell them to leave Thayne alone (which doesn't happen very often, hehehe).

When I took this picture, I think Thayne was the only completely clothed.....as a matter of fact.....he's usually the only one clothed when we hangin' at home:

Bath Time

We put all three girls in the tub the other night and they seemed to love every minute of it. Thank goodness there was no dunking going on! Thayne and I were a little worried that Josie and Indi might want to see if Kaia can swim or something but they pretty much left her alone unless she had a toy they wanted.

Josie has some great hair here, and Kai looks like she has no hair:












Josie never had eczema until we moved here. We get it cleared up but with a couple of days or a week it's back:

Beautiful Dress

I was shopping at a second hand store and ran across the most beautiful old fashion dress. It's obviously hand made but looked brand new. It's the kind of dress my mom LOVES. I knew that if she was with me she would have grabbed it off the rack immediately. So what did I do.......THE SAME THING!! I was so anxious to get it home and try it on Kaia. I when I did, Thayne was chuckling at me. I'm sure he was thinking...."Ally and her dolls!". When she was completely dressed, Josie came in the room and said, "Oh mommy, I want to hug her!". Then Indi came in next and said, "Mommy, Kaia looks like wonderland!". It was a great girl (chic) moment and I was glad to be able to experience it with my daughters :). Jaed did look up from the T.V. and said,"Yeah, she does look beautiful", but then he went right on watching t.v..

So here she is:

My little Elfs!

I saw this funny elf thing on a friend's blog and I thought I'd do it for my kids. Here's a quick snapshot of my little elfs:











And if you click on the link below you can watch them dance!
Dancing Elves

No More FOOD!

Feeding Kaia is a quite a chore. She takes a couple of bites and then decides that she doesn't want anymore. But, then we get up to do something else and she acts like she wants more so we sit down to feed her and she takes another bite. Then it starts all over again with not wanting any more. Here's some pictures of Kaia trying to tell us she doesn't want anymore:


First it usually starts with her just putting her head down:



















Then she goes for the fingers in the mouth so no food can get in:



















Then she puts her hands straight out and does the "stop" sign:



















She even tries to bury her face:



















And finally she goes for closing her eyes and swatting the air in front of her:

Jaed playing basketball

We signed Jaed up to play basketball with some hesitation. He played basketball a couple of years ago and absolutely hated it. He threw himself on the floor and refused to do anything. I remember Thayne and I being so frustrated and saying that we would never sign him up for basketball again. Well, a couple of months ago he asked me to sign him up. I explained what happened the last time we signed him up and told him I was afraid it would happen again but he reassured me that he would like it and would participate. So, we signed him up......and he LOVES IT! I think the hardest thing for him to remember is that it is not a full contact sport. At first, he was grabbing and tackling. It was quite funny but something that we had to talk to him about. He was a great rebounder even if it was tackling his own teammate for the ball when it was shot. I do have to say that in the several weeks that he's been playing, every week he is improving.

What a handsome boy he is. All this running is really slimming him out!




















Here's Jaed and his team. As you can see, he is one of the tallest kids on the team.












Here's one of the full contact sport pictures. He elbowed one of his own players in the face.




















Jaed is the one in the middle with the red shirt ready for the ball to come down.




















There he is (red shirt) again with his arms stretched high. He got the rebound and the other boy went down to the ground!

Ewww.....

A hilarious conversation:

Thayne: "Jaed your breathe smells bad!"

Jaed: "No it doesnt, Daddy. I just farted!"

Thayne: "Oh..."

I overheard this mini conversation and have been laughing about it all day. I thought I'd share it so the rest of you could have a chuckle for the day.

Do as I say......not as I do!

It seems like the last couple of days my eyes have been open to how the saying "Do as I say...not as I do" doesn't really work. Let me give you some examples that have happened recently:

Jaed is a very loud boy and sometimes I have had about all I can handle. So instead of saying it in a normal voice, I yell "Jaed, you are tooo LOUD!". How ridiculous is that. I want him to be quiet but yet I'm yelling at him. Hmmm......

When I clean the kitchen and wipe off the counters I brush everything onto the floor because I have to sweep anyways and it seems easier to me. Well, the other day Jaed saw me do it and asked me why I was brushing it on the floor. I explained to him that I had to sweep anyways so it was easier for me to just put it all on the floor. WELL......(can you guess where I'm going with this example?), yesterday morning Jaed spilt his cereal on the table and I told him to clean it up. He proceeded to push it all on the floor. I was dying and couldn't believe he would do such a naughty thing. I asked him what he was doing and he responded "It's easier to just push it on the floor since you have to sweep anyways!". AHHHHHHHHHHH......

Thayne and I are really bad about taking off our clothes and putting them in the dirty clothes basket (mostly because our basket is usually full and spilling over), so the clothes just go on the floor in the area of the basket. Last night, Thayne told Indi to take off her clothes and get her pajamas on. Indi took her clothes off, grabbed them and threw them in different places of the room. Thayne was so bugged. He told her that she needs to put them in her dirty clothes basket, not all over the floor. She looked at him with a confused look on her face, like she never knew that was what she was suppose to do.

We have had extended conversation about how important it is that when the kids are in the car they buckle their seat belts. A couple of times the girls have pretended to buckle and lied about it. Well, I HATE wearing my seatbelt. I know all the reasons I should and try to be mature about it and wear it but sometimes I rebel. Well, since our little talk with the kids I have been put in my place. If we start to drive the car and I don't have my seat belt on, Indi starts chanting "Mommy is not being safe, Mommy is not being safe", and she won't stop until I put the dang belt on.

So the moral of this post is that Thayne and I should be better examples to our children and not expect them to do anything different than what we do. Will we change? Hmmm....I'd like to say "YES" but I might be lying!

No HAIR!!

Kaia is 9 months old today and I'm dying that she has no hair. When Josie and Indi were this age I had their hair up in pony-tails. So, I sat Kaia in front of me and put a pony-tail in her hair. She didn't like any of it and gave me this look like she couldn't believe I was doing it to her, but I succeeded. I even got a bow in it. What do you think?

Halloween

Okay, so I've been getting nasty emails from some of you viewers, wondering why I haven't updated my blog recently. My answer........I don't have one. I intend to but run out of time and think "Oh, I'll do it tomorrow" but then tomorrow comes and I do the same thing. Welcome to my life :).

I guess I'll start by telling you about Halloween. I bought the girls princess dresses (of course) and I bought Jaed a Storm Trooper (Star Wars) costume and got them all at GOODWILL!! They were brand new with tags still attached. I was so excited and so were the kids! My good friend loaned me a flower costume for Kaia which fit great.

The Law School had it's annual trick-or-treating fest the day before Halloween. They give the kids "Evidence" bags and they go trick-or-treating at all the professors offices. It was funny to see there bags when they got home because Josie had at least double the candy that the other two did. Thayne said he caught her, a couple of times, taking handfuls of candy instead of the one piece we continuously try to enforce.

We decided to go trick-or-treating with some friends, on Halloween night, which turned out to be a lot of fun. My three kids were running from one house to the next singing "More candy, more candy!". We had to constantly remind them to say 'Thank You' and several times it was a yelling 'Thank You' as they ran away from the door on their way to another house. They were so happy with their bags of candy and were excited to get home and eat it. Thayne and I give the kids a set amount of time (usually 20 minutes), after we get home, to eat as much candy as they want. The clock started and the unwrapping the candy began. I was amazed at how much candy they could each eat in a short period of time. After the time was up the candy was piled in a bowl and Thayne hid it after the kids went to bed. He brings out a piece for each of them every once in a while but as far as they know, the candy is gone and the candy they are getting is candy we have had for a while. Being SNEAKY, as a parent, IS GREAT!!


What a dang cute flower!















Indi twirled and danced like a princess when she had her costume on.



















I did buy Josie a princess costume and she wore it a couple of times but then she saw last year's costume and wanted to wear it. I said no at first but she was very sad so I let her wear it. So, two years in a row as a unicorn and she's still so cute!



















Jaed was very proud to wear his costume. He was a "bad guy Trooper"!



















One of the houses we visited had this HUGE pumpkin in its drive way and there was guy hiding behind it with a microphone. The kids thought it was the pumpkin talking to them.

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!