1st and 10

Cy requested an ice cream cake this year.  Thank you Dairy Queen!!

We celebrated two birthdays this past November.  Cy turned the big 1-0 before Thanksgiving and Eli turned the big 1 after Thanksgiving. Here are a few stats about Cy:

1. He LOVES science.  He loves reading about science, watching science programs, and thinking about science!

2.  He is a very tender-hearted kid.  He's pretty sensitive to the people around him.  I love that he still holds my hand and gives me hugs!!

3.  Cy loves his sweatpants/basketball pants.  (Yes, that's a bit random, but true)  If I would let him, he would wear them every day.  I've had to hide many a pair of sweatpants when they get a hole in them or it's 100 degrees outside.

4.  Cy loves to eat seafood.  Whenever we go out he always chooses seafood.  It doesn't matter if we are eating at a steak and potatoes place, he wants some good ol' tilapia or salmon.

5.  Cy could really do without writing things out by hand and math.  Handwriting and math are definitely two subjects he could do without. (The aversion to math I don't blame him for!)

6.  Cy is incredibly creative.  He likes to write stories (as long as their not a handwriting assignment!).

7.  Cy is just a little shy.  He's come out of his shell a lot more the last couple of years but still gets nervous in new situations.

8.  Cy is really smart.  He's always telling me some new fact that I didn't know.  His teacher said that sometimes when he's talking to her about something she has no clue what he's trying to explain because it's way over her head.

9.  Cy is very strong willed.  Which can be good and bad.  (Let's leave it at that!)

10.  Cy is a great big brother and a very good son.   We are so blessed to have him in our family!!!

 

 

He thoroughly enjoyed his first taste of chocolate frosting!!! 

Eli opening up one of his birthday cards.  Did I forget to mention he drools?  a lot!!!!

Eli's birthday was also awesome to celebrate.  My baby turning one is pretty momentous!!  Eli is crawling and pulling himself up on furniture and almost cruising (walking holding onto furniture).  He says "dada" quite emphatically.  I think I've also heard him say "hi" and "yay" (which sounds like "ay").  He loves to play peekaboo and loves clapping his hands.  He also loves all the attention from his siblings (as long as it's not Kate trying to sit on him!!).  He still doesn't have any teeth which kind of prohibits his food to stuff he can suck on (like bread and crackers) and is still eating some baby food (he's got to get his fruits and veggies somehow!).  Eli is for the most part pretty easygoing and has no problem finding ways to entertain himself (ie.  getting all the plastic and metal dishes out of the kitchen cabinets!!).  He's very sweet too.  He loves cuddling, mostly just quick hugs and cuddles before he goes off exploring!  I can't believe how much he has grown. 

The best thing about having kids at such totally different ages and stages is that it gives you a glimpse into the past and the future.  Watching Eli turn one reminds me of when Cy was that age and how cute he was and how much he has grown and changed into his own personality.  Watching Cy turning 10 reminds me that Eli will not be little very long and to cherish the time when he is still young.  It also reminds me that Eli will very soon become his own little person.     

Halloween '11

This (like many of my posts) is a toot my own horn kind of post. I figure if you can't brag about yourself on your own blog where can you? Every year I have this insane desire to make the kids' costumes.  I am admittedly a Martha Stewart wannabe.  This year I finally got on it.  I made two and a half of the costumes. (All five would have killed me).  Lucy said at the end of August (yes, that's when I start asking) that she wanted to be a mermaid.  I wasn't quite sure how to pursue that one so I used my favorite new site Pinterest  to give me some inspiration.  At first her costume consisted of just the skirt and top.  I actually made another top with some satin-ny material but it was an epic sewing failure.  When I finished it, it ended up looking like my dear little five year old had developed some voluptuous assets.  Needless to say that was promptly put in the scrap pile!!! Anyways, we went to a trick-or-treating event at our local zoo and everyone kept calling her a princess.  It didn't bug her, but it bugged me so I whipped up her mermaid tail to make things a little more clear Although I'm still not entirely pleased with how it came out, it got the point across. 

Kate's pink owl costume was influenced by me and Pinterest (again).  I kept seeing these cute little bird and owl costumes and decided it would be a great costume for her.  Her costume I constructed by using some tutorials online to make the lined (yes, lined!!) hooded cape.  I stayed up till two in the morning one night finishing up her costume, but it was so worth it.  I was soooo happy with how it turned out!! 

By the time I got to Eli I was running out of time so I just whipped up a little bat cape and sewed some ears on a black wool hat that we had laying around.  I had to keep telling people what he was, but he's not even one yet so I figured it wouldn't matter too much.  (Eli, if you're reading this as an adult, sorry!!!  I do love you!!! ha ha) 

Cy wanted to be a Vietnam veteran.  He's really into learning about history and wars right now.  Kaleb created his costume (Thank goodness for a creative husband!) out of a t-shirt and pants that Cy already had in his closet.  Kaleb rolled up his sleeves and drew on the tattoo and marks on his face.  He also found a belt in Cy's closet and strapped it on like an ammo belt.  Then he topped the costume with a beret we had in our halloween stuff.

Abe is getting a little older so he donned an old black trench coat of Kaleb's and a hockey mask.  I know. Lovely.  The peaceable mother in me cringed.  Thankfully I don't think he has a clue of what character(s) his costume references.  The highest rated movie he's ever seen is the last installment of Harry Potter. (He was helping at an orchestra sponsored kids carnival when I took pictures so I didn't get a picture.)

All the kids came home with their buckets full of candy and smiles on their faces, ready to get on the sugar roller coaster, so I suppose it was a successful Halloween.

Miss Kate turned three!!

Kate's birth day.  So adorable and tiny.



Not so in love with Santa!



Sister love!



Always moving



Happy girl



Loves her daddy!



What a helper!



As promised, a whole post dedicated to my Katie, since she celebrated her third birthday at the beginning of last month. So here are a few fun things about Kate.  Right now she is really into coloring.  At the beginning of the school year I probably bought about forty notebooks because she could spend all day just drawing in them.  She has experimented with a little body art, drawing with pen and marker on herself and her clothes, but for the most part keeps it to paper. 
Kate is a bright ray of sunshine in our family.  She is incredibly smart and talkative for her age (of course, I am in no way biased being her mother!).  She really speaks as well as most five year olds.  She is also very affectionate, and I think has never met a grandma she didn't like (of course she prefers her own, but will go to almost any older woman) We were at one of the boy's basketball games earlier this year and an older lady said "hi" to Kate.  Well to her that was just an invitation.  She went right up to her and wanted to sit on her lap.   Kate also likes to get into things explore.  If it's quiet and she's awake that means there is a mess being created somewhere.
 She also likes to help me in the kitchen a lot.  Her favorite spot is sitting on the counter next to where I am making something good to eat.  Kate loves her brothers and sister too.  Lucy and her get along pretty well most of the time.  In the future I am sure that Eli will get some bossing around helpful advice while playing.  Kate does have a humorous strong aversion to anything/anyone that is in costume or animated toys, like the talking Elmo or the toy elephant that moves and makes noises that we got her for Christmas last year.   She says, "It is scary to me", or my favorite "It's creepy!!".  Another Kate characteristic is her beautiful curly hair.  Her poor hair has taken forever to grow.  Now that it is growing though it has come in pretty curly so it still looks kind of short.  I almost always have to wet it down first before I fix it because it just looks like a frizzy 'fro if I don't.  But when it's wet down and she has defined curls it looks so cute!! 
Kate is a joy to be around and is almost always happy, though, and full of boundless energy.   

What we've been up to and some pictures (of course!)



Big man Abe in all his football glory!!

   

Cutie patootie Mr. Eli



Cy and Lucy on the first day of school.  Lulu's first day of kindergarten and Cy's first day of FOURTH!! grade.

 

Kate hitching a ride on Kaleb's back at the Missouri State Fair.



My girls in their Sunday dresses.  Kate wanted to wear her cowgirl boots and they actually matched so I said, "why not?"

This is definitely going to be one of my favorite pictures of my sunny little baby boy!

 This past couple of months has been pretty busy.  I use to think that when school started that's when things "slowed down", but now I know better.  Abe begged us to play football this year, his first in jr. high, so we decided to let him try it (I was very reluctant).  He has loved it, but it means practices for two hours after school, and then combined with homework, Young Men's on Wednesdays, games on Thursdays it has made him a busy boy.  His team is 0-4 for the season so far, but he doesn't seem to care too much, he just loves to play!  I'm just glad he hasn't gotten hurt (knock on wood). 

Cy has been enjoying  getting through fourth grade.  We've already had a visit to our home from his teacher (that was a first!), but I think things are starting to get better.  Hopefully?!  School has never really been "his thing" even though he loves learning and is getting mostly A's in his classes.  He still has an intense interest in science and history, and loves to read books about those subjects.  He loves going to Cub Scouts though, especially since they got new Cubmasters.  They have some field trips planned, including a trip to an old military fort, that he is really excited about.

Lucy is loving kindergarten.  She is learning to read.  She practices every night when we read scriptures.  She knows some of the basic words like "to", "from", "the", "be", and a few others.  She's learning how to sound out words too.  She says her favorite part of school, though, is recess!  She and Cy seem to get along pretty great most of the time so going to the same school has been really nice.  Although, I think that his interests are rubbing off on her.  A couple of weeks ago I reached into her backpack and pulled out a library book with a snake about to strike on the cover.  (Snakes are not my favorites, to say in the least!) I thought, "Great, just what every 5-year old little girl loves to read about!"  It turns out that Cy was encouraging her to get animal books and then reading them to her on the bus ride home.  I thought that was pretty thoughtful of him, although I've suggested to her to pick something she likes to read too.

Kate is Kate.  She's about to turn three next week and is still a bundle of fun.  She's still getting into everything, but I figure that just goes with the age.  I'll blog more about her (hopefully) closer to her birthday.

Eli is getting big too.  He has figured out how to roll everywhere.  I would bet that he's probably faster at rolling than most babies are at crawling.  He is such a sweet content baby most of the time.  He loves going outside and gets really excited whenever we go close to the front door.  He also likes sitting in the grass (as you can tell from the pictures).  He is still not sleeping through the night, which is normal for all my kids.  (It must be something I am doing!!!)  He usually wakes up about three times a night.  I am really looking forward to getting a full night's rest, but for now three times a night has become my "normal". 

As for me I'm just trying to keep up!  I'm still running a few times a week.  I try to run four times a week, but most weeks am happy with just three.  I completed my first 10k on my birthday with a time of 62 minutes.  I was just happy that I finished it and that I ran  the whole thing (albeit slowly).  It was a small race and I finished last (complete with a police car following me most of the way), but I just told myself that finishing was all that counted.   Last week I was in my third 5k and finally achieved my goal of finishing under 30 minutes (I finished in 29:43) by running probably the fastest I have ever run in my adult life!!  This Saturday I have one more race planned, another 10k, so I'm just trying to keep my nerves from getting the best of me.  I always get horrible butterflies just thinking about a race.  I would like to do one more 10k for the year and then call it good (at least for this year).

Kaleb is also about the same ol', same  ol'.   He just hit his 7th anniversary of working at his job.  He's also trying to stay in shape by running.  He could probably outrun me (when it comes to speed) on most days.  I'm trying to convince him to run the 10k with me this Saturday, but he's balking a little.  I don't know why? ha ha

What we did this summer!!

This summer has been a really fun one.  I think I finally lowered my expectations of what my kids should be doing, ie. schoolwork and chores, and just let them be kids!!  Hopefully, it won't backfire when school starts next week and they've forgotten everything.  Cy went to a zoo ed-venture daycamp and LOVED it!!  I'm really kicking myself for not having enrolled him in it earlier.  The first week they learned survival techniques that animals used in nature, and at the end of the week they got to use them all in a mini-survival camp.   The second week the theme was "All systems go" where they learned about the different body systems that keep us alive, like the nervous system, the skeletal system, etc...  That was the week when they dissected a sheep eyeball and heart, and he brought home a mouse skeleton that they dissected from an owl pellet.  I really tried not to be too squeamish but I had to draw the line with the mouse skeleton.  Just talking about it made me want to vomit!!!     

We also visited the Liberal Air Museum when Kaleb's mom came to visit us earlier in summer. 

 

Here in our part of Kansas they redo the roads by pouring asphalt and then dumping gravel onto it.  Our street was on schedule this year.  The kids were captivated by it.

We also threw Lucy a "half birthday party".  I figured there was a slim to none chance that she would actually get a "friend" birthday party with her birthday falling in between Christmas and New Year's so I decided to throw one during the summer!  We invited a few girls and had a rainbow and unicorn themed party.  This cake was awesome looking!!  (If I do say so myself!)  I totally lived out my own childhood dreams throwing this party!!  (Long live Rainbow Brite!!!)

My little baby boy Eli has also done some growing this summer!!  With all that growing he needs a nap! And after many attempts at starting him on solids and many gagging sessions he finally started eating them!  YAY!

 Katie also got asked to be a flower girl in a family friend's wedding.  Here she is, my miss cutie patootie!

Abe went to boy scout camp for the first time this year.  Kaleb was able to go with him too.  They went up to a camp outside of Topeka and joined Abe's cousin's troop for some scouting fun!!  Abe also turned 12 this year!!  Holy cow!  Boys in our church, when they reach the age of 12 are able to recieve the priesthood, so that was another huge happening for us.  Having the priesthood gives him an opportunity to serve God and others around him.   We are so proud of him and hope he continues to grow stronger in his faith and testimony of God! All in all it's been a pretty good summer.  We're going to top it off this weekend by our yearly pilgrammage to Kaleb's family reunion in Missouri.  Then school will start a couple days after we get back and a new chapter will begin with Abe starting middle school, Cy in fourth grade, and Lucy in kindergarten!! 

Random pictures (very random!)

Kate, whom I've now nicknamed, my "little tornado", decided to take it upon herself to sprinkle nacho cheese popcorn seasoning all over the floor.  The can is spray oil that I also left on the counter.  She actually has done it twice and then I learned that it's a really good idea to not leave anything on the counter.

Cy "wrestling" an alligator at our zoo park in May.

The infamous fox hole at the zoo.  This is our kids' favorite spot to hang out in at our zoo.  There is a skylight above Cy that you can supposedly see the foxes in, but I think I've only seen them once in the last four years they've had it. 

Our trip to Elitch Gardens in Denver over Memorial Day Weekend.  Lucy and Kate riding in the boats.  We met my mom in Denver for her birthday, saw a lot of sights, and had a blast!

Eli at Elitch Garden.  It was kind of cold that day!

Kate wishing she could drive already.  Heaven help me when she actually can!!

A family pic at Red Rocks outside of Denver.  My mom took this shot.  I thought the shirtless man in the background was a little weird?

I'm still here

I've hit the blog wall.  Have you noticed that when people first start a blog they post on everything, their baby's first tooth, their views on world politics, the sandwich they had for lunch, their ingrown toenail.  And for a lot of people they keep blogging religiously for a few weeks or months sharing the personal details of their lives.  Then they skip a week and then apologize for the absence.  And a few more posts ensue.  Then you notice that they are blogging at fewer and fewer intervals until suddenly you come to a realization that you haven't heard about how their ingrown toenail is bothering them in quite a while.  In fact, you're wondering if they are still alive or perhaps they've contracted a peculiar illness that keeps them from their computer.  They (and most embarrasinly, I) have hit the blog wall. 
I often visit my own blog to check the progress of other bloggers links, and every time I do I have to look at my own last blog post from (gulp) three months ago taunting me like an abandoned pet.  But sometimes it just feels like so much work to download the pictures, put them in the right order, and then write about them.  And then when you miss, say, three months, the job becomes even more daunting because now instead of just blogging about the last day of school, you now have to blog about the last month of school, the last day of school, the beginning of summer vacation, your mother-in-law's visit (yikes!), your kid's reading habits, their crazy sayings, the zoo camp your son went to, and scout camp.  Now you know why I haven't even attempted!!  So from now on I may just post anonymous pictures and, heck, if you're really lucky you may hear about my ingrown toenail every now and then.  So stay tuned? or not