Wrong or Right?

Jake says the way I hold a pen / pencil is wrong.

He says you should hold it with your thumb and your first two fingers.

I like using my ring finger to guide and my whole hand to grip.

Is there really a right or wrong way?

I also noticed last week that both of the girls write the same way.

It made me smile.

mind gasping

It never fails to amaze me what other kids will say to your child. Much less how much information they know at a very young age. Kirsten and McKay came home yesterday and as any normal, typical parent does, I fixed them a treat to last them til dinner. A favorite in our family is cut apples and cheese. McKay had chosen yogurt instead. Afterwards Kirsten went to the fridge and asked

"Mom, how many calories does yogurt have?"

I was shocked. What first grader should ever have to worry about this. It's already such a problem in junior high schools that I never thought it would be in elementary at such a young age. Much less how does one of such age understand calories and how the body works?

I sat Kirsten down and asked her where she heard this and what brought it up. She said a friend told her that her chocolate milk had more calories than white milk and that wasn't good. Things like this I want to shield my kids from. It makes me so frustrated. Kirsten is not big in ANY way. It shouldn't be an issue.

Although, like I noted in my other post, Kirsten isn't much of a follower. So I told her that we all needed calories to live. That calories make us grow and gives us energy so we can run and jump and play. I told her that everybody needs them and that if it's brought up again for her to tell her friend this and not to worry about it.

I thought growing up was hard in my life. My heart goes out for all the kids now. I only hope that I can raise my kids with them knowing that they can be confident in who they are.

kirsten

Kirsten has a smile and a laugh that can cheer anyone up. She will lift your spirits and make you forget all your troubles. She also loves to tell anyone any story so if you have something you want on the down low.....

All thru her pictures she was making fun of the photographer and when he asked her to say "something" to make her smile, what she came up with had him rolling on the floor. I think her eyes show her smile even better. (If that makes any sense.) I love how Kirsten speaks her mind. She also has a lot of Jake and me in her....independence and determined (stubborn). My oh my, I can only wait until she gets older.
Also in sepia....although Jake doesn't like sepia.... I had a lot of favorites on this one. For me it was a huge toss up between one and two. Although her "sass" on four is priceless.

School bells are ringing

Last night as I was getting the kids ready for bed, Kirsten was "very" worried she wouldn't hear the alarm. As I tucked her in she said, "Mom, us Kerksiek's can sleep thru everything. Are you sure I will wake up?" I wonder where she got that from?Morning came. It's only the first day of school and it's already cold and windy. Our high was 78 today. I don't even want to think about what is coming or how fast it will be here.It's a good feeling to know that I only have two at home during the day. It gives me some time to work with them and do some one on one. That is if my schedule will slow down just a little.....or if my long lost other half ever makes it back. After the last two days, and how crazy they were, I didn't even get out of my pajamas (basketball shorts and a t-shirt) today. It felt nice to just be "slow" for a day.

Kirsten turns 6

Kirsten turned six today. She is my happy, energetic First grader! Our family would be rather dull without her.

I still remember the day Kirsten was born. There was a few things you learn about having the second child. I woke up at 2:30 in the morning in severe pain and on the floor from contractions. I woke Jake, told him to call my mom to come watch McKay and proceeded to the bathroom. Lesson #1 - Do your hair and makeup. I spent 20 minutes getting ready. I was not going to look terrible in the pictures....again. Well worth the time. Lesson #2 - Labor and contractions went much faster. By the time I got to the hospital she was born an hour and a half later. We didn't have a name picked out. Once born, we both looked at each other and knew it was Kirsten. I had ousted this name months earlier but it was meant for her. Lesson #3 Bring clothes that fit when leaving the hospital. With McKay, no one told me that your body wouldn't be back to normal. So I packed clothes that I wore before getting pregnant. Sadly, I went home with what I wore in.....maternity clothes.

Enough reminiscing in the past....into the present.....For her sixth birthday, Kirsten wanted an mp3 player / ipod like her sister. She also got a few new pet shops to add to her collection. (Shhhh, don't mention the pet shops. I know my kids enough as Jake would say.) Since Jake was home last weekend we celebrated her birthday early on Sunday. Who could complain.....two birthdays parties. For today we went out to lunch with some friends and played at the place of her choosing. Now, it's off to bed early as school starts tomorrow.
This is a miracle. My brother has been up to Idaho Falls on three different occasions. One of them even driving by my house and not stopping to say hi. Hooray for Haley for setting him straight and making him say "Hi." They came up last weekend and even stayed the night. (How sad is it when you have a car that only has 8700 miles and it's two years old. Then you add 500 on one trip making it the longest "trip" it's had. Sometimes I wonder if we are related?) We enjoyed their company and staying up late and talking with them. Newlyweds aren't used to staying up so late.

Question of the day?

CRUZ: Mom, Anya's poopy. Really.

(I find a diaper, wipes, and start changing her.)

CRUZ: See mom, I told you. It's brown poop. WHAT'S BROWN POOP CALLED?

Feeling of accomplishment

Today, I've tackled a few challenges. I must say it feels quite good right now so I think I might share. NUMBER ONE....Our driver's last day was Friday. Jake still has one more week in Salt Lake. It's going to be my job to hold down the biz. I can drive a dumptruck but I have avoided learning to drive and operate this beast. After learning today how to load the truck I still have the same opinion. I don't like it. Hopefully I don't wreck anything.

Now the big one. NUMBER TWO....

Is it possible to make a healthy dinner mixed with dessert? Katanya finally ate dinner with us. (She has a food adversion issue we have been dealing with for a long time. I can count the things she eats on less than two hands. Most of it being cereal, homemade breads, and waffles and pancake items.) Today....Chicken alfredo! She started with it being mixed with chocolate cake and by the end she was eating it by itself. Yay! You may wonder why such a little thing could make me so happy. It's just something you have to know for yourself. Tomorrow we will try something new, same technique.

runway

This past weekend we we down to Utah to see my dad before surgery, fix the girls hair, and to see a long lost husband. We got to celebrate Hannah's birthday on Thursday with her. All the kids love her. Friday after getting home (to Hannah's), the girls put on a runway show. In about 5 minutes Hannah's (and Maddy's) closet were emptied.For some reason, Kirsten can really pull the faces. She also loved the arm in the air thing.I love how she is playing the part and acting like she needs to hold the dress up for some reason. McKay put on one outfit compared to Kirsten's five.
But the shoes were the selling point.

We stayed at Hannah's apartment Friday thru Sunday. It was fun to see Jake and Hannah "live" together. I won't incriminate Jace but I praise and thank Hannah for putting up with him. Hang in there, the dish drain isn't all that bad.

P.S. Never again will I personally color hair! It's all left to my hairdresser. Did you notice how well their colors are matched? It could have been disaster!

cruz

For anyone that knows Cruz, knows what a sweet, happy, gentle, easy going boy he is. Whenever he gets in trouble I ALWAYS have a hard time disciplining him. If you raise your voice his eyes look like you have just crushed him. He doesn't really get in trouble all that much to tell you the truth. For some reason my girls can take care of that. :)

A couple of weeks ago, Cruz said he wanted a haircut like his dads. "Fuzzy" is the word he used to described it. So my days of trying to grow it longer were dimmed as he persisted more and more.

My favorite were any of the top three. It was a tough time choosing. Although, Jake has still yet to tell me his. (Because of our separate locations.)

realization

For the past two weeks I watch "Baby Thomas" (as my kids called him). Jake's cousin went out of the country for two weeks and I glady accepted the offer of watching him. I had the easy job of only watching the baby, as Tommy's grandparents had the other six children. Tommy is only four months old. He was a sweet, easy, happy, and mild baby. He slept between 9-10 hours a night. He was happy just playing in his walker, swing, or on a blanket as long as you talked and smiled at him. All you had to do was look in his eyes and he was all smiles. However, I did realize a few things......

• How much I stayed at home and didn't want to go anythere with four kids five years old and under (almost six years old). I went to Wal-Mart once. The rest of the time I got my bread and milk from the gas station several miles up the highway.
• When I finally did venture out in public, how many strange looks or "wowed" looks I got from people when they saw all of us troop in.
• How much Katanya didn't like having her space invaded. This was a challenge in itself to keep her happy with the baby.
• When the baby gets sick, how little of sleep you get. I had forgotten this one already.
• That you need to carry a diaper bag again for the bottles, and binkies, and diapers, and bibs, etc, etc, etc..... I hate diaper bags.
• How hard it is (still) being a single parent with one more kid (baby) as Jake is still working out of town.

But most importantly......

HOW GLAD WE (JAKE AGREEING) ARE TO BE (ALMOST) OUT OF THE BABY STAGE.

Although the funny part was I had a couple people ask me how I lost all the baby weight so fast. :)

The joys of Grandparents

This year has been really fun as many family members have come up to Idaho. Grandpa and Grandma were the victims the past week.It didn't take the kids long to warm up and play games. Kirsten wanted to be like Grandma so she found her "Target Special" hat. Katanya would play ring-around-the-roses for hours if you let her. We went out to dinner and then walked around the greenbelt down by the temple. Although, McKay is in Utah, I have still had four kids this past two weeks because I have been watching cousin Tommy. Four that are five and under....that's another post.
We had to do the classic temple shot.
Alice mentioned that the grandparent stage is nice and that she wouldn't want to go back. It looks like they have had a lot of practice pushing strollers.

They stayed the night and went to church with us the next morning. It's always great when you can enjoy and embrace the love of family!

P.S. For all of those who are wondering, yes the cats are still getting loved. Cruz takes great care of Max.

Katanya

I fell behind last year and didn't get the kids' pictures taken (at a studio, I've got thousands of them from everyday life). So, here are Katanya's. As always, Jake and I disagree on which ones to choose. Lucky for me, I'm am the one that takes them. I choose #2 and #1. I like #3 because that is Katanya's trouble side. Jake liked #4.