Children Museum

We went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum, yesterday, with some friends and had a great time. We were there for four hours and the kids didn't want to leave. Here's several pictures from our day:

(They had a robot exhibit that was Indi's favorite place. She loved playing with this pink, girl, robot!)

(The kids rode on the carousel with all their other friends that we went with. Indi waved or did a "thumps up" every time she past me.)


(Even our little Kaia loved the carousel!)


(Kaia hasn't gone down a slide since the summer and she didn't know what to think. The first time she seemed scared and even yelp a little but the second time she laughed hard when she got the bottom. I know, most moms would have stopped after the first reaction the slide but I didn't!)


(We visited the Dinosaur Exhibit and the kids were taught how to dig for dino bones. They had to wear goggles and use brushes to brush away the rocks and dirt from the bones. They all found a bone and were thrilled with themselves.)


(At another part of the Dino Exhibit the kids were encouraged to be artists. Here is Jaed and Thayne making a dinosaur out of clay.)



(Here is Josie sitting down to draw the dinosaur skeleton head in front of her. Unfortunately, she didn't even look up once to study the head and when she handed me the picture she said, "Here momma, this is you!". )


(When Jaed was behind these bars I said to Thayne, "Is this the way were going to see him in 15 years?" and then I laughed. Sometimes I wonder because he can be quite a stinker! But other times I think he'll be a very successful man with the way he interacts with others and with how smart he is! Time will only tell.)


(The museum had these little houses made for kids and we found Kai in one of them sitting in this cute little chair just her size!)


(Here's Kai trying to poop in the middle of play area. There were quite a few snickers when she stopped playing, bent over a bit, grunted and her face turned red!)


(We had a great time as a family! I love it when we do things like this together.)

Our Car

I am starting to worry that our car is not going to make it until Thayne gets a job. Here's a list of things wrong:

• The automatic unlock/lock door button only works for two doors
• The back windows won't open
• The air conditioner doesn't work
• The transmission gets stuck in second gear so we have to put the car in neutral, turn the car off, turn the car back on, and put it back in drive.
• The automatic window button didn't work on the driver's side. It worked to get the window down but it wouldn't roll it back up and we were having a winter storm. (We did get this fixed.....it cost a lot!).
• Oil leak

I think that's it but it seems everyday a new thing comes up. I know that Thayne and I say silent prayers every time we get in to drive. The worst part about it is that we're suppose to drive it to Utah after graduation....hmm......it's a good thing we have a cell phone cuz we might be calling one of you to come and rescue us :).

Funny Josie

We were talking about Jesus today and all of the things he did/does for us and Josie spoke right up and said, "When I grow up I want to be a girl Jesus!".

Boys!!

Jaed did something to his sisters that brought back memories of when I was a child. My brothers teased me all the time (they're denying it while they read this but they did!). I think the worst thing that they ever did was hold me down and *toot* (my mom doesn't like the word 'fart' so I'm not going to use it!) on my head. Can you believe that? It wasn't just a one time thing. It happened a LOT! It scarred me for life :). Well Jaed hasn't been that bad but I'm sure he's going to get there. The other morning the girls were playing with their doll strollers and Jaed grabbed the stroller and said, "Look at this, girls!" and shoved the stroller down the stairs. The doll went flying out as the stroller tumbled down the stairs. Josie was devastated. She was yelling, "My baby, my baby!", and Jaed was laughing. I looked over and Thayne and he was trying to control himself from laughing. I tried to explain to Thayne that Josie really was hurt that Jaed did that but he just laughed and said, "Jaed's just being a boy!".
Well, it didn't stop there. They kids were playing in the living room and Jaed was trying to get the girls to play like he wanted but they weren't cooperating so he grabbed their doll, put it under his foot while his foot was in the air and said, "You better do what I say or your doll gets it!". Josie started screaming and Indi was trying to get the doll away from Jaed while yelling, "Don't hurt our baby!". What was Thayne doing? LAUGHING! The whole scene took me back to my childhood when my brothers would grab my dolls and start punching their faces. I remember being traumatized and really feeling like they were hurting 'my baby'. Ok....I'm chuckling while I write this post but it wasn't funny at the moment and I'm sure Josie and Indi won't be laughing about it until they are much older!

Things that Motherhood makes me do!

I've been thinking about things I do that I normally wouldn't do but because of Motherhood I am doing them. Does that make sense? Here are a few things that I can think of:

• I'm dying of thirst and the only thing available is a sippy cup. Yes, I grab it, drink it and don't even care of other people see me. Or, if it's one of my older kids it's a water bottle that has several floaties but I'm desperate so I close my eyes and drink and say a little prayer that I won't throw up!
  

• My kids are arguing, crying or just being loud in the car and I can't handle it so I put my country music CD on and sing at the top of my lungs. After about 2 or 3 songs I turn the music off, look in the rear view mirror and see Josie covering her ears, Jaed with a disgusted look on his face, Indi smiling and Kaia looking at me like I am crazy but it's quiet and peaceful (for about 2 or 3 minutes and then I turn the music back on).

• I call Thayne's friends "naughty" or "potty mouths" with out even thinking and get very strange looks in return. Especially when I say "naughty" because most of them are trying to decide if I meant it in a sexual way. Yeah, it's happened! EMBARRASSING!
  

• I have been known to schedule my errands around when I think Indi is going to poop. Thank goodness she is pretty predictable! She is the worst to take to public bathrooms. We always have to have a discussion about poop, butts, girl parts, etc.. These conversations are not quiet and the more I tell her to stop talking about it the more she does and I can't ignore her because she just repeats the question (and it gets louder and louder) until I answer it.
  

• I answer the phone in the middle of yelling at one of my kids and finish yelling at them before I say hello. Isn't that great? Thank goodness, this has only happened a couple of times (I know, once to many).
  

• I give my kids more baths/showers a week than myself. How embarrassing is that? VERY!

Ok, so my list could go on but I think I've embarrassed myself enough for now. I think the word "embarrassing" goes hand in hand with "Motherhood"......at least for me it does.

Crazy Hair Day

Jaed's school has been having a theme day everyday this week and today was 'Crazy Hair Day'. He was feelin' cool when he got out of the car to run to school! When he got home, he said that as soon as he got into class all the kids were playing with it.

What to write about?

This afternoon and early evening I'd been thinking about what to post about because today has been a bit dull. Well, after dinner Josie and Indi decided to jump on the bed and Josie fell off and hit her head on the dresser. I picked her up and held her but scolded her at the same time for jumping on the bed. She just kept crying and crying. She has a very high tolerance of pain so I knew she must be pretty hurt if she was still crying. I asked her what her and she pointed to the back of her head. I lifted her up and my arm and her head was covered in blood. I didn't even look to see how bad it was because the amount of blood was enough for me to throw her in the car and take her to the emergency room. She was treated like a queen at the hospital. She was given a stuffed bear, coloring crayons and coloring book, the remote to the t.v. and basically anything else she asked for. She was smiling and giggling before the Dr. even got in to see her.

After they cleaned the back of her head off you could see a huge gash about an inch long. They had to give her a shot in the back of the head and then they stapled the cut three times. I had to hold her down while she screamed in my ear. I felt so bad for her. But, once it was over she was smiling and giggling again. She's such a trooper!


(You're probably thinking, "This picture wasn't necessary!", but I wanted to get a shot of it for her to see in the future! If this was Indi I'd say no to staples because she would do whatever she could to pick them out. Josie is only a nose picker!)


(She has to have her head wrapped for 24 hours so that the wound stays clean. We'll see how long it actually stays on!)

Turning 5

My beautiful Josie turned 5 years old today. It was a very emotional day for me, and I'm not exactly sure why. I think it's because I feel a little bit guilty for not taking advantage of the time I had with her as a baby. When I got pregnant with Indi all I wanted was for her to grow up so that she could do things for herself so I could lay down to avoid throwing up. I told her, today, that when she was born I prayed to God and thanked him for sending me such a beautiful girl. She got a huge grin on her face and hugged me. I was so excited when I found I was going to have a girl and even more excited when she was born healthy without complications! She has always been a mommies girl and I hope it stays like that forever. Thayne and I talked about how protective we are of her. I don't know exactly why that is but we want to protect her from everything!

Here are some pictures of her special day!

(Josie and her yummy ice cream cake! )


(Josie asked for the new Barbie movie. The movie came with nylon wings that she could wear. About ten minutes after she put them on she said, "Momma, I can't get my wings to fly!". She was very serious about this. I told her that she needed to flap her arms like a bird, so she started flapping them really fast. Then I said, "Josie, I think it's working....you're starting to fly!". She looked down at her feet and saw that she was still on the ground. She was mad and responded, "NO I'M NOT!".)


(Josie also asked for a talking doll and we found a talking Dora which she loved! Indi got her another Dora doll that sings a song. She was in heaven!)


(Thayne's parent's neighbor, whom we have never met, wanted to get Josie something so she sent this really soft and squishy pillow. Josie carried it everywhere that night and didn't want anyone to touch it. She also got a mermaid Barbie that she's been asking for since Christmas!)


(Indi and Jaed gave Josie a birthday kiss!)



(Indi couldn't resist giving Josie a birthday body slam! Can you see Josie's face? She was not happy about this body slam.)


(Here's Dad, Mom and the Birthday girl getting ready for bed.)


I think Indi was just as excited about Josie's new toys as Josie was. Anytime Josie put her Dora dolls down, Indi would grab them, hug them, and go into another room to play with them!)



(Kaia stayed for the party as long as she could. She finally got so cranky that we had to put her to bed!)

Plans in the making

Thayne and I thought a lot, over the weekend, about what we will do after graduation. We have decided that if he doesn't have any job offers by the time graduation comes we will pack our things the week following graduation and head back to Utah. We'll stay with my mom while Thayne studies for the Bar and then start applying for jobs again. We thought Thayne would take the Utah Bar but now we don't feel like that's the right thing to do. We're still pondering and praying (of course) about where we should be taking the Bar and looking for a job. Thayne's parents will be putting the house on the market by the middle of May so we have to be out by then. Sometimes I wish we could just fast forward our lives and be out of the decision ditch that we're in. Sometimes I'd like to get on the floor and throw a tantrum in front of God and see if it gets me anywhere. Hehehe, wouldn't that be a funny site. Next time one of my kids do that I think I'll join them and see what happens. Hahaha!! Being an adult is hard stuff!

So the other day, Josie got upset that about not being able to do something that Jaed got to do. I told her that she could do it next time and her response was, "I'm so sad I won't be able to sleep tonight!". I think she's a little young for that kind of manipulation.

Yesterday when we got home from church, Josie started to cry because Indi hit her with a toy, then Indi started to cry because I sent her to her room, and then Kai started to cry because Thayne moved her out of the way of getting into stuff. I looked at Thayne and smiled. He didn't smile back. I think his next sentence was, "No more girls, please!". I wanted to yell, "GIRL POWER!!!" but I kept myself under control. I don't think he would have thought that was funny. One thing about girls is that they don't stop crying without some kind of attention (usually). So Thayne picked up Kai and hugged her until her face was dry, I snuggled with Josie and kissed her boo-boo, and then Indi came searching for her attention (still crying, of course). It wouldn't shock me if Thayne went and got the "no more kids" surgery without telling me :).

All gone

Thayne's parents left today. It's nice to have them come visit and the kids love the attention they get. Grandpa and Grandma are big board/card game players so my kids are in heaven! Thayne's parents never seem to tire of playing games with the kids, even when Grandpa catches Jaed cheating all the time. They certainly have more patience than I do. It's torture for me to have to play games with them. I don't know why, because I love to play games but it's more work than pleasure to play them with little kids, I think. Even though I feel this way, Thayne and I are going to start a new tradition and have a game night once a week. This will give us some nice family time (and a chance for me to practice patience :> ).
We have a Dora Memory Matching game and it has two matches that are pictures of Dora as a princess. Well, when Indi plays she tells you right from the beginning that she will be the one that gets the princess matches (or else). One time Grandma got the princess match (she picked two cards up at the same time) and Indi started to cry and put her head down on the table. It was the funniest thing ever! It seriously hurt her feelings. Grandma had to put the match back down on the table so that Indi could pick the match on her turn.
Josie couldn't finish one game at a time. She would start out playing a game with Grandpa but then she saw how much fun Indi was having playing the game with Grandma so she would come over and want to play. I had to help her understand that she has to finish one game before she plays the next but she did this little "game hopping" frequently.
And then there's Jaed......man he's a big cheater. Thayne swears that the cheater gene comes from me only because my brothers have told Thayne that I cheated all the time as a child, but I don't believe it. Well, I believe that I cheated all the time because I remember doing it but I don't believe Jaed got it from me!

Basketball triplets!

Every Saturday morning I get to dress my three oldest in matching outfits! I LOVE IT!!! They all have the same basketball jerseys so I bought them all matching shorts. I don't know if Jaed just didn't realize that he was wearing the same outfit as his sisters or if he just didn't want it pointed out but when I told them to stand next to each other so I could take a picture of my "matching" kids he was NOT happy. He did not want to be apart of that picture but I made him like a mean mom.


(Um...can you pick the child that is not happy in this photo? He looks like he is in serious pain!)



(At this moment, Josie and Indi are best friends. About 5 minutes later, while we were getting into the car, Josie was crying and saying that Indi said she didn't want to be her friend anymore. This is a ongoing thing at our house. They're best friends one minute and enemies the next!)

Visit from Parents

Thayne's parents are coming to visit tomorrow, which means a THOROUGH house cleaning. We spent a couple of hours this afternoon cleaning. The kids hated every minute of it as much as Thayne and I did. I love the feeling I get when I walk around in a clean house but I absolutely hate it and procrastinate doing it for as long as I can. I think the main reason I hate it is because it doesn't stay clean for very long. An hour after we cleaned the girls room it looked like a tornado hit it; a couple hours after sweeping and mopping the floor it looked like the kids brushed all their dinner on the floor without eating a bit of it; and the bathroom that I scrubbed has pee on the seat and floor. So now, I have to wake up early and pick up, wipe off, and sweep what messes have occurred since we cleaned last. Now do you understand why I hate cleaning? AHHHHHH!!

Anyways, Thayne's parents are coming into town to celebrate Josie's 5th Birthday. She is so excited that they are coming AND that they are bringing her presents. My dad sent Josie a card in the mail today (with a $10 bill) and she carried that card with her the rest of the day. She insisted on putting it under her pillow while she slept. She put it down for a moment and Kaia grabbed it and ripped it. I thought Josie was going to die! She was so upset until Thayne promised he could fix it. He got his glue out and put it back together. That card did not leave her sight for the rest of the night.

Trash

I wanted to try a new hairstyle on the girls. I found some material and cut them in strips to do rag curls in their hair. While I was starting on Indi's hair, Josie came up and said, "Stop Mom, don't put trash in Indi's hair!". She obviously thought that the cloth strips were trash. When I explained to her that the rags were going to make curls in Indi's hair, Josie had a huge smile on her face and said, "Oh, I want that trash in my hair, too!".

The Kindergarten Lies!

I really think there should be a new diagnosis for most kindergarteners called "The Kindergarten Lies". My sister told me that all her boys went through a stage of lying during kindergarten and Jaed has contracted this disease as well. It's not just that he lies but he lies for the stupidest reasons. Here's an example:

Thayne went to pick Jaed up from school and Jaed had this round sore on his forehead. Thayne asked him what happened and Jaed started this huge story about some kid who pushed him down in P.E. and he got into big trouble and had to got to the Principal's office and they had to call his parents....blah blah blah. Thayne thought it sounded a bit much for just pushing Jaed down but didn't question it until he pulled out the daily progress sheet from Jaed's teacher. On the sheet, Jaed's teacher wrote that Jaed was rubbing his forehead on the carpet and got a rug burn! WHAT!?! She said that she explained to Jaed that the sore is from the carpet and that he probably shouldn't keep doing it. Can you believe that? So there was no kid that pushed him at P.E., not kid that had to go to the office, and no kid that had to be picked up from his parents! Thayne and I just shook our heads in complete confusion on why the lie was told in the first place. We did have a talk with him and tried our best to explain that lying is wrong, but who knows if it sank in. This is just one example of many stories we've heard since he's started kindergarten. I really hope it is a stage!

On another note, Jaed came home from school last week with a tooth missing. He said that he lost it at lunch but he couldn't find it. Jaed told us that he had the lunch ladies sweep but they still couldn't find it. We told him that he could write a letter to the Tooth Fairy explaining what happened and hope that she believes him! So here is the note that he wrote:

(Here's what it says in case you can't read it: "I lost my toth in the cafeteri. I sre (sorry)." The Tooth Fairy did believe him and left a dollar under his pillow.)

Snuggly

Kaia has been quite the snuggler lately. She mostly just comes over to you, wants a quick snuggle, and then she wants down to play again. I took a picture of her getting a quick little snuggle from Thayne. One of my friends asked me if all of our kids tend to want one of us more than the other and after thinking about it, I think Josie is the only one. She tends to want me more but she still loves her Dad, of course. Well, I guess Jaed has always wanted Thayne but I wonder if that's because they're the only boys :). Indi and Kaia are pretty content with either of us, which is nice.

T.V.

Is t.v. bad for kids? That's the burning question. Every other Mom would probably scream "YES" but me....hmm........I just don't know if I agree. Well, my actions would say that I completely don't agree, I think, but I'm still on the fence. I allowed my girls to participate in a hearing and speech research project where they tested they ability to hear and say certain things. While we were there Indi was coloring on a piece of paper while the professor was trying to talk to her. Indi didn't say much at first but then blurted out "Catapillars turn in to butterflies!". I was amazed that she knew that and the professor must have been too. She asked Indi if her mom taught her that and Indi replied, "No, I learned it on Wonder Pets (a children's t.v. show)". I started laughing! I wanted to yell "Yippee for Wonder Pets", but I controlled myself and just laughed.

Yes, my kids watch t.v. a lot. I do have to admit that when I had my oldest child and he was getting to the age of wanting to watch t.v. I tried to limit it and only allow 30 minute a day. WELL...that stopped as soon as I was pregnant with my third child. I was sick and would rest on the couch while they other two watched movies and it never went back after that. Do I feel guilty about it? NOPE!! Not at all. I control what my kids watch and that's what counts for me. I even try to emphasis the good messages of the show when it's appropriate. Do I think other Moms are bad for limiting t.v.? Not at all! More power to them! I think that every mother has to make a decision on what's best for their family and we're not all going to make the same choice which is okay. We are all just trying to do our best and sometimes we're just trying to survive another day! I found a "All Dogs go to Heaven" movie at the second hand store and the kids have watched it a couple of times now and love it. Well, the other day Josie said something about all of us going to heaven when we die and Indi spoke right up and said, "No, Josie, only doggies go to heaven not people!". After laughing and hugging Indi, we had a little talk about heaven and who goes there.

Challenge!!

I have been slacking way to much on my family blog and am feeling a little bit guilty about it. I want my kids to be able to look at these years and get as much information, laughs, etc. as possible but if I'm not blogging then that won't happen. So.....I have decided to make a challenge for myself. I will post everyday for a month!!! I did this with a friend about a year ago and hated blogging by the end of it but I'm going to do it anyway. Anyone up for th challenge with me? It's a lot more fun to do when you do it someone else!

Ok, so much has been happening! Thayne and I put Josie and Indi in basketball. They are on the same team and have really enjoyed it so far. The first practice was quite hilarious. When Josie met her couch for the first time she gave him a big hug. He looked a little shocked but went with it. The girls held hands a lot during the practice and when they were in a line, they had to be next to each other. One time a boy got between them and Indi stood in front of him and wiggle her butt right back behind Josie.

The girls had trouble making baskets and dribbling but didn't seem to get frustrated. Every time they did make a basket they looked over at us immediately. Indi would follow the look up with two thumbs up which meant we were suppose to do it back to her, which we did.

(Indi loved to try and dribble. Most of the time she would get one or two dribbles and then be chasing the ball.)




(Here's Indi making a great shot! Two thumbs up for her!!!)



(If there could be an art for diving for a run away ball, I think Josie would get it. She was chasing her ball everywhere and as soon as she would get close to it she flew in the air and dove right on it. After getting the ball she would look right at us and smile.)






(Here the girls are shooting their balls in the basket. It's so funny to see how much taller Josie is than Indi. I think Josie is the tallest on the team!)

Dinner Attire

I called the family down for dinner the other night and this is what Josie showed up wearing. I tried to get her to take the sunglasses off but she wasn't having it. The outfit was all together or none at all. She even ate her food as dainty as possible while pushing her sunglasses up and flinging her hair. It was quite a site!

(I picked a really nice place to take this picture. I'm sure you don't even notice Josie first, you notice my stack of dishes to the left of her! Welcome to my home!)

1st Birthday

Last Saturday was Kai's first birthday. It was so strange and almost a bit disappointing to see my baby get older. Kai was a completely different baby then my last three but I think I am the one that made it different. When you have three kids as close as I had mine you put yourself in "survival" mode and just try make sure all of their necessary needs are met and keep above water as much as possible. I make it sound really bad but it really wasn't bad, it was just tough. I adore my older three children but I'm sad to say that I don't remember some of their baby moments. I did my best when they were little and I feel like they are good kids so far but I wish I would have done more to remember their baby months! Kai, is a completely different story. I have enjoyed and relished every moment with her. We have grown so close as a family since she has been born and that has been such a great feeling. It's almost as if she made our family more complete! Here are some pictures of her birthday:

I had a bow in her hair but she pulled it out every time I put it in. I finally gave up! She does this funny thing with her mouth where she moves her jaw to one side. It's almost a smirk.


We were trying to get her to hold still but her hands arms were flying everywhere!


Even when she's not smiling she's so dang cute!
Kai started walking about two weeks before her birthday. She is EVERYWHERE now!
The girls were dancing in front of her and I think she wanted to join them but she couldn't get her body to move like theirs!


I think I've mentioned before that Kai is not a girl that likes to give kisses or even receive them unless she chooses the time and place. The kids wanted to give her a birthday kiss and this is how she received it. There were no tears but definitely NO smiles!


She fought this one but still no tears! Thank goodness she puts up with our kisses.....well kinda!
I made cupcakes for her birthday, so that she could have her very own. She didn't know what the heck we were doing when we stuck it in front of her and started singing. When we were done singing I told her to blow the candle out and before I could even try to show her how, the other three kids pushed their way over and blew (more like spit) out the candle.



She certainly wasn't shy about eating her cupcake!

That tongue of hers was circling her lips constantly to get as much frosting off as possible!



This was just the beginning of mess she made on herself, her tray, and the floor.


After her cupcake was smeared all over her body I decided just to stick her in the sink for a quick rinse down. She thought it was GREAT!! (I had to cover up her stuff!)



I think the Kai's siblings were tons more excited about this day then she was :). We let them each pick out a toy for her at a second hand store and couldn't wait to give them to her. Her is Kai surrounded by her presents. Thayne and I got her a new car seat (she's forward facing now!) and two new sippy cups!


Indi wanted to get Kai a princess but we had to explain to her several times that Kai was to young for that kind of stuff. Indi's response was, "But Mommy, she's a girl and girls like princesses!". We finally convinced her to get this push toy that went around in circles when you pushed down on the top. I think Indi plays with it more than Kai does. I keep finding it in Indi's room!



Josie knew that she wanted to get Kai something that made noise, so she found this little Elmo guitar that was seemed like a good idea at the store. BUT, it has become quite loud and obnoxious since we got it home! It's especially annoying when we wake up to it at 6:30 a.m.. Josie carries it around pushing the same button over and over and over!


I'm going to have to say that Jaed's present was the best! He picked it out just for her and doesn't seem to play with more than her ;). The kids wanted Kai to sleep with her new toys so we piled them in her bed but by morning Jaed's present was the only one still in there. Josie and Indi had gotten the other ones out and were playing with them!

Update....

I feel like I've been failing at posting about the family. I've been so busy with life that posting hasn't really been a priority, unfortunately. I decided to give a little update about each child so you all know how we're doing!

Jaed

Jaed is doing so well in school! If very rarely comes home with negative marks and his teacher is always letting us know that he is a quite a helper in the class. He has homework every week and Thayne use to sit down with him and explain what to do, but now Jaed wants to do it on his own. If Thayne tries to explain, Jaed will say, "I know Dad, I KNOW!" and then do it. Jaed can now clean his room without any help.....YIPPEEE!!....and he actually does a great job. If I have taught my kids one thing about cleaning it's that there is a place for everything. They all have buckets in their room and each bucket is assigned a certain toy and that's where it goes. When Thayne tries to help them clean their room and he doesn't put the toy in the right bucket, he is reminded immediately and shown which bucket it goes in. His response is a roll of the eyes and a shake of the head, but I'm proud of them!
Jaed is growing into quite the mini-parent. If the girls are doing something that he doesn't want them to do, he'll say.."Josie, you can either play with me or go to your room and go to sleep!". He got this from me because I always give them choices and if I want them to do one thing then I make the other choice so bad that they won't choose it. He obviously caught on to my strategy because he's using it as well. Sometimes his "other" choice isn't bad enough and the girls will choose it, so then he says, "No, I didn't mean to say that one. Your choice is play with me or....." and then he makes up another one. It's so funny to me the way the girls will do what he says. At some point I see them catching on and saying, "You're not in charge of me!", but for now they are his followers!


Josie

Josie will be five in a month! The time has completely flew by. She loves going to school and is really bugged if it is a day where there is no school. We found out that Josie will be able to go into mainstream kindergarten next year but still may have to have some speech therapy at the school. I was so worried that she wouldn't be able to attend regular kindergarten but now the worry is over! She is the compromiser in our family. She's the first one to help the person who is crying get what they want and if it is something that she has, she'll give it up most of the time. I have started to take toys away from the girls that they are fighting over and tell them that they can't have it until the work something out. Josie is always the one that comes back and says, "Mommy, Indi can have it first then me.". Sometimes I step in and say, "No, I think Josie should have it first and then Indi can have it in two minutes.". Indi isn't thrilled with this idea but I make it clear that she will not have a turn if she cries and whines and most of the time she'll stop and wait her turn.
Josie is our negotiator as well. If we say "no" about something she always comes back with another idea, such as "How about I have it and then I won't have anymore" or "I just want one and then that's it!". We use to give in to her negotiations because she is so dang cute but we've seen that it has gotten out of hand, hehehe.
Josie is not thrilled to go to church these days. Every Sunday it's a battle to help her understand that she has to go. And every Sunday she says, "Momma, I told you that I only wanted to go one time, not lots of times!". I try to explain to her that Jesus wants us to go to church, and it works for a few minutes, but then she's back to trying to get out of it. I know it's because she got a new Sunday School teacher and Josie really has a hard time with changes. This new Sunday routine makes Thayne and I laugh, though!

Indi

Oh, Indi....what a dang cutie! She's a thrill to hang out with while the other two are in school. She keeps me company and helps me with Kai. I am constantly reminding myself that she is only three. To me, she has some facial expressions and gestures of a young lady. The way she flutters her eyes when you ask her questions about herself, or the way she is asks questions that are above and beyond a three year old (in my opinion). She also is a schedule keeper. Every morning we have the same conversation, "Mom, what are we doing this morning?" and then I have to give her run down of how the day goes. If we are going to stay home I can't just say that. I have to think of what we will be doing at home and some of it better be to her liking. If I can't think of anything fun (that I want to do) then I just say, "We're staying home and you can watch a princess movie" and that immediately puts a grin on her face and she's off to pick the movie.
Indi loves to have "jobs". If you send her to do a task, she'll always return and say, "What's my next job, Mom?". She does tend to get distracted when we're cleaning though. It's like we find tons of new (to them) toys when we clean and she just can't wait to play with them. I have found her, a couple of times, in her closet, out in the hall or somewhere else playing with a toy she was so excited to find.

Kai

Well the one year old attitude has shown up again! She's not even one yet but she sure knows what she wants and what she doesn't want. The snuggles are out the window and the "Move out of my way" has come to stay. She is walking everywhere and absolutely hates to be picked up by her siblings. She'll look over my way as she screams in protest to see if I'm going to help her. She does not give kisses freely so I just end up grabbing her face and kissing her. She doesn't ever cry or get mad but you can tell that she's a bit bugged if I do it more than once. Even though she has a bit of an attitude her smile will melt your heart and her sense of humor will keep you smiling. She is truly a joy to have in our family!!

Good Ole' Dad

I was looking through my pictures and realized that I haven't taken any of Thayne and the kids lately. So, before church I made them all sit down and I took a picture. I think it turned out pretty dang good. I have the best little family!!!


Right before this picture was taken, Josie was complaining about going to church and said, "We got to church too much. I only want to go once!". I really hope this isn't a peek into the future. I explained to her that Jesus wants us to go to church so that we learn new things about him and her only response was, "Oh!". We'll see what she says next Sunday when we're getting ready for church.