Party Prep

The kids and I spent some time down at my mom's today getting ready for Kylie's Frozen birthday party tomorrow.  Kylie had fun helping us with her cupcakes (obviously from the pictures she had fun with her make-up first), and Brandt was good to entertain himself with things like exercising, taking selfies, taking the 4-wheeler for a spin (who needs permission?) and conducting his own science experiment with ingredients such as pepper that he helped himself to in grandma's storage room.  Never a dull moment!

PTO Family Movie Night

As a PTO we decided to have a family movie night.  At first we thought it could be a fundraiser to help pay for our safety fence around the playground, but we couldn't charge admission due to copy right laws.  We showed Big Hero 6 in the gym and the sing-along Frozen in the library.  Kylie and Cozy both dressed up for Frozen and were good to let Clover sit with them.  We had concessions with homemade goodies-my mom's homemade suckers were among the most popular treats.  It was a fun night with families in our community!

Aden's Birthday

We have spent a lot of time with Aden and my kids have come to think of him like a brother.  So, of course we wouldn't miss out on the chance to spend some time with him for his birthday party.  He had a little party at Arctic Circle and they had a great time together! 

Priorities

Brandt was zoning out watching Pokemon, and I had a choice to make-attempt to clean up the house a little or spend some quality time with my kids.  Imagine the look of shock on his face when I said, "Hey, buddy, turn off Pokemon, let's play the Wii."

It was my first time really playing Mario Kart, and I was terrible to say the least. Buddy finished in last place every round because he was worried about if I was understanding how to play and forgot completely about his own guy in an effort to help me.  Kylie was my greatest cheerleader and would jump and move with me as I tried to make my silly car drive and maneuver the way I wanted it to.  At one point when I went off the edge of the road and fell to the water below, she patted me on the arm and said, "it's ok, sweet mama, I know you can do it!"


Then it was on to Just Dance on the Wii-something that I'm surprisingly much better at than Mario Kart.  About that time Bryce came home and even took a few minutes to dance with us.  What a difference this fun time together made in our home tonight!  So, the dishes and laundry are still piled up, our bedrooms are a mess, the table is stacked high with clutter, and I'm sure the bathroom needs a good cleaning, but for tonight, my children know that they are my #1 priority, and that's better than a spotless house any day!

Garden Flashback

One of the things I miss the most about summer is being able to get fresh veggies out of the garden.  Even more than that, I miss the fun that the kids and I have working together and the feeling of accomplishment I have when we enjoy the fruits of those labors.

Snowball Dance 2015-Escape to the Tropics

This year's hospital fundraiser Snowball Dance wasn't as packed as usual, but my kids had just as much fun.  Actually, it was probably better for Brandt that there weren't as many people there.  He had so much fun dancing when he let himself relax.  Unfortunately, he was really preoccupied and stressed out by his loose tooth and worrying about if he had won a door prize or not for part of the time, but I was proud of him for being able to work through that and enjoy himself again.  He was so busy dancing and having fun that he wouldn't hold still for even a second so I could get a picture of him.  He ended up winning a gift bag with a couple dish towels, dish scrubbies, and a veggie peeler-he couldn't have been happier! Bryce planned on going with us but had a bad headache so he ended up staying home at the last minute.  Tavis and Krya Ward were able to come with us and that added to the excitement and fun for my kids.  They especially enjoyed some of the fun dances like the giant Hoky Poky.  I loved watching Brandt when he danced with Kylie and was leading her and teaching her the swing dance moves that he knows.  He danced with me right before we left and he wanted to lead me and twirl me this year instead of letting me lead and twirl him the whole time like other years.  He's growing up so much!  At one point he wanted me to slide down under him and was a little sad when I didn't trust him to hold me up.  Then he decided he was going to slide under me like we've done in the past-I didn't know what he was doing and let go of one of his hands so he hit the floor pretty hard.  I felt so bad for dropping him!  I was thankful that he was quick to forgive me.

Brandt says, "I had the best time ever!  My favorite part was winning something. I danced with my sister and it was so much fun but sometimes she was a little cranky. (insert here Kylie saying, 'I was cranky because I didn't want to dance with you anymore I just wanted to dance with Krya')  I had fun playing with Tavis."

Kylie says, "I had fun playing with Krya and dancing with Krya.  My favorite part was all of the songs."

This afternoon Kylie told us that she wants to go to another snow dance RIGHT NOW and I think Brandt and I would both be game for that.  Sadly, we have to wait for next year's dance.

Burning Hearts and Married Cake

 It seems that my little girl is growing up entirely too fast.  Sometimes she says things that are mature beyond her 4 years and sometimes she asks questions that I'm pretty sure are mature beyond my "mom" years.  Like the other day, for example, when out of the blue she said, "now mom, tell me again how it is that moms and dads get together to make a baby."

Last night I was talking to her after the boys in the house went to sleep, and we had some "deep" conversations.  She took a little sip of my Pero after I had warned her it was hot and then quickly grabbed her chest and throat and emphatically declared, "whoa, that gives me heart burn!!" She also told me a bit about her little love life explaining that she thinks she is in love with Nash (a cute little boy in her preschool class).  We talked a little bit about how you know if you're in love with someone and what qualities to look for in a boyfriend.  Soon she was talking about how "Sammy and Ty love each other and when they get married they are going to have 21 children (says Tyler lol) and they are going to have married cake.  And Sammy's going to shove the  married cake into Ty's mouth and then all over his face like this (imagine Kylie acting this part out of course)."  Then she told me that "when Mariah and Max get married they will have 4 children all at once and Max will take care of the 2 boys and Mariah will take care of the 2 girls and then they will have 10 children."

Today at my mom's Kylie was saying again that she is in love with Nash and how he chases her around and tries to kiss her as well as possibly touch her inappropriately, but that she doesn't let him do that.  As my mom and I were trying to explain to her that she should never let boys touch her there and should tell her teacher if they do, Brandt piped in with fist raised saying, "I'm going to find him at school next week and give him a good reason not to do that ever again!"

While I really don't want my almost 8 year old second grader to beat up on a preschooler, it's nice to know that he feels that part of his role as an older brother is to protect the virtue of his little sister.  I hope she will value that protection as she gets older-it's something that I always wished I had growing up.