Standing tall

Baby K has started to figure out that she can climb on things now to get higher up. The other day she managed to climb on a kid-sized rocking chair we have that was right in front of the T.V. and then last night while I was loading the dishwasher she managed to climb up on the door to help out!Look at that concentration on her face as she tries to get her balance on a chair that rocks!

Spring bulbs

I love springtime when I get to see all of my bulbs come up in the yard and all of the pretty colors! Here are a couple of shots of some of my tulips & daffodils:I'm not sure how I've ended up with all pink tulips in front of the porch - there used to be pink and yellow ones...And notice how green the lawn is because of all the rain/snow we have been getting this spring so far! We are enjoying the green while it lasts because soon we will be into the really hot months where you have to water the lawn like crazy to keep it green...

Bobcat

Luke earned his Bobcat and received the patch at his last pack meeting. He was supposed to get it last month but someone goofed and he didn't receive the award until this month. He was pretty disappointed that someone forgot about him last month and he was very excited to finally get it this week! Now he can officially start working on his Wolf advancement.

Lyrics

Sometimes it's kind of scary how much kids are aware of what is going on around them. Last week I had the radio on while I was getting lunch ready for Blondie, Kitty and myself. The song that came on was, "I Want to Know What Love Is" by Foreigner. So we were listening to the song in the background and I handed Blondie's plate to her with a sandwich on it and the next thing I heard was Blondie saying, "I already know what love is. Kitty, do you know what love is?"

I thought that it was pretty amazing that Blondie was paying enough attention to the song that she knew what it was saying and then I thought her response to the words was hilarious...

Kitty turns 4!

Last Friday was Kitty's fourth birthday! She was very cute and excited all day long. We had to go to school in the morning for Blondie's VIP day in her class and then she had to wait until her Dad came home to open presents and have cake and ice cream. Grandma and Grandpa S and Marilee & Roger came over for dinner and then Kitty opened her presents. Marilee and Roger brought her some balloons and she LOVED them! It was fun watching Kitty open her presents because she was SOO excited for all of them - it was really cute. I made her a My Little Pony cake this year again which she loved.

So many possibilities!!

Baby K can't understand why I won't let her play in here:

Just look at all those fun toys!!

More cute pictures

Baby K has always been fascinated with her dad's ties. Whenever he is wearing one she likes to grab at it. The other day one of his ties was left out on the floor and Baby K couldn't resist picking it up and putting it around her neck! :)
Baby K has never been a pacifier sucker and every once in a while she comes across one mixed in with her toys and thinks it's fun to stick in her mouth. Yesterday I was doing some laundry and heard her sucking away on something. When I looked over this is what I saw:

Upside-down
And right side up

Easter 2009

The Saturday before Easter we decorated eggs:
On Easter morning the kids searched for their baskets and the girls were all dying to get into their Easter outfits that I had made them. I found some really cute skirt patterns for the older 3 girls and then found some cute fabric at the store to make them out of. The thing I liked about the fabric is that each of the girls could then pick a different color shirt to go with the skirt. I think they all turned out pretty cute. I even made the shirts for the older girls. M&M's shirt ended up being too short (even though I measured her and made it 2 sizes longer than the size she was measured at) so I ended up finding some lace at the fabric store and sewing on an extra piece of fabric with the lace over top. I think it turned out well - I don't think most people realized that I had made the shirts. Blondie and Kitty wore curlers to bed the night before and then I curled M&M's hair with a flat iron before church. After church we went over to my parents' house for dinner and an Easter egg hunt in their backyard! It was a fun day!

I love this grin!!

Doing some walking

Baby K is our first baby to not be walking by the age of one - in fact all of the girls were walking around 10-11 months and Luke was walking at 8 1/2 months. Right now Baby K loves to walk if someone is holding her hands and a few days ago I got out our baby walker for her to use. At first she wasn't sure what to do with it and just wanted to play with the toys on the front. Then she figured out that she could move it back and forth while standing in one spot. That is until she moved a little too far in front of her and had to move her feet to get closer to it - then she realized that it could be used as a tool for helping her walk. It was pretty fun watching her try and figure it out on her own. :)

New clothes

Here is Baby K modeling one of her new outfits she got for her birthday:
Baby K loves playing in her brother's room because he always leaves out such fun toys for her to play with!! (She's waving at the camera backwards...)

Baby K turns 1!!!

On Monday, April 6th, my baby turned 1!! I can't believe that a year has gone by already! They definitely grow up way too fast! Unfortunately a few days before her birthday Baby K came down with a really bad cold and was sneezing, coughing and had a runny nose. She was a little bit better on her birthday, but still not 100%. This is how she felt most of the day:
She did manage a few smiles though:
Baby K wasn't sure what to do with the presents so I ended up opening most of them. She did like her new sandals though (I finally found some that will fit her chubby feet) and her books that had things to feel on them.


Now the birthday cake was an interesting experience for her. Baby K is still struggling to eat more solid foods. I try and give her finger foods at most meals and she usually just plays with them and throws them on the floor. Whenever I try to put food into her mouth she closes her mouth and turns her head away. If I try and force it in, sometimes she will manage to eat it and other times she will just spit it out. Well, with the birthday cake she picked up the plate that I had given her a piece on and tried to throw it off the side of her tray. So we tried again and she stuck her fingers in the cake and then promptly tried to wipe it off her hands. At one point she threw the cake again and everyone started laughing and she burst out in tears and hid her face in the side of her high chair. I think it was a combination of being tired and not feeling well, but it was definitely a unique reaction that none of our other kids have had. I think in the end she managed to eat a little bit of the cake but on the whole she just played with it and wasn't sure what to think.

Whether she enjoyed the experience or not I'm not sure, but the rest of the family had plenty of laughs. Unfortunately, being baby #5 she has lots of spectators!

And even more fun...

Baby K has recently discovered that toilet paper rolls are a great source of fun! Here she is trying to leave the scene of the crime before she is caught. Check out that guilty look on her face...

Family visits

My oldest brother and his family came down to Utah from Idaho to spend some time at my parents' house a few weeks ago. They were supposed to drive down for Christmas but because of a week of snowstorms weren't able to make it. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins and my brother and his wife enjoyed playing with the younger kids. Kitty and Baby K have a hard time warming up to people sometimes so it was fun to see them interacting.We also had birthday cake for my mom a couple of days early so they could be there for it.

Three years and counting...

Today marks three years and just over 550 posts since I posted my first blog entry! I can't believe that it has actually been that long and that I am still blogging! It has been a great experience for me so far and I love being able to look back at some of the things that my family has done over the last three years - a great tool for family journaling. Thanks to my sister-in-law, Chez, and her sisters for introducing me to blogging!! Here's to three more great years!! :)

P.S. - I have quite a few entries that I need to post but they will have to wait until I finish the Easter outfits for my girls! :)

Following the prophet

This morning I made coffee cake for breakfast.

When Blondie heard what the name of it was, she said, "Mom, we can't eat coffee cake because it's made with coffee."

I was a little curious as to where she remembers hearing this counsel so I asked, "Why?"

Blondie: "We can't eat or drink coffee."

Me: "Who says we can't have coffee?"

Blondie: "Me and the prophet!!"

Mom Survey

Here are my kids' answers to a survey about me. I asked each one the questions while the others weren't around and wrote down their answers. The red comments are mine.

1. What is something your mom always says to you?
   M&M: Clean your room.
   Luke: Clean your room.
   Blondie: Clean your room.
   Kitty: Sometimes you tell us to go to our room.
   **Do I see a pattern?


2. What makes your mom happy?
   M&M: When our house is clean.
   Luke: When the house is clean and she doesn't have to yell at us.
   Blondie: If you clean the whole house.
   Kitty: Doing stuff that she says.
   **Another pattern?


3. What makes your mom sad?
   M&M: When we don't do what she says or when dad gets mad at her for something.
   Luke: When I get bad grades.
   Blondie: The house not cleaned.
   Kitty: If you don't do what your mom says.


4. How does your mom make you laugh?
   M&M: When Luke says something and she makes a good comeback.
   Luke: By telling me a joke.
   Blondie: Cause I'm ticklish.
   Kitty: The stuff that Daddy does.


5. What was your mom like as a child?
   M&M: Like us
   Luke: She was like a kid.
   Blondie: She was good.
   Kitty: Playing


6. How old is your mom?
   M&M: 32
   Luke: Aren't you in the 30s?
   Blondie: I don't know... 91?
   Kitty: I don't know, um... 3?
   **I just turned 33 a day or two before I asked the kids these questions...


7. How tall is your mom?
   M&M: 5' 10"
   Luke: 80 yds
   Blondie: I don't know, ummmm... 31!
   KItty: This many (holding up both hands)
   **5' 5"


8. What is her favorite thing to do?
   M&M: Play the flute
   Luke: Sleep
   Blondie: Play with Baby K
   Kitty: Doing the stuff that she wants to do.
   **At about this point Kitty started getting tired of the questions so she started answering the same thing, saying "I don't know", or just making something up. A few of the questions I came back to and asked her again later.


9. What does your mom do when you’re not around?
   M&M: Clean
   Luke: Cleans the house, goes to the store
   Blondie: Do laundry
   Kitty: Do the stuff that you want to do.


10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
    M&M: Making CDs of her playing songs on the flute.
    Luke: Computer science
    **My husband started laughing when he heard Luke's response. Computer science is what I got my BS in at college, but since I've stayed home with the kids I haven't been keeping up to date with it at all.


11. What is your mom really good at?
    M&M: Soccer, flute and piano
    Luke: Keeping Baby K happy
    Blondie: Laundry
    Kitty: I don't know. Ring-around-the-rosies?


12. What is your mom not very good at?
    M&M: Reading my mind **Too true!!
    Luke: Video games
    Blondie: Something on the computer
    Kitty: I don't know. Hide and seek?


13. What does your mom do for a job?
    M&M: I didn't know you had a job. A house mom
    Luke: Watches the house and Kitty and Baby K
    Blondie: Computer, laundry, ironing, sewing
    Kitty: Work in the house


14. What is your mom’s favorite food?
    M&M: The stuff that dad doesn't like: Hamburger stroganoff
    Luke: Chinese food
    Blondie: Those things that we had last night, spaghetti?
    Kitty: Pasta
    **Very good Luke - he remembered from my birthday dinner. M&M's was a good guess too.


15. What makes you proud of your mom?
    M&M: She's good at playing the flute.
    Luke: The way she works around the house.
    Blondie: Cleaning the house.


16. What do you and your mom do together?
    M&M: Make cookies
    Luke: Homework
    Blondie: Go to Disneyland
    Kitty: Eat lunch


17. How are you and your mom the same?
    M&M: Hair color
    Luke: We have the same color hair
    Blondie: We're not... our socks are the same.
    Kitty: We both have brown hair.


18. How are you and your mom different?
    M&M: She stays at home all day, I go to school.
    Luke: I like to play video games and she doesn't.
    Blondie: Cause we don't have the same hair.
    Kitty: Mom has short hair, I have long hair.


19. How do you know your mom loves you?
    M&M: Because she helps with homework, cleaning, flute and a lot of other stuff... and she sends me to my room.
    Luke: She takes care of the house and helps with homework.
    Blondie: She makes me lunch.
    Kitty: Because she loves me.


20. What does your mom like most about your dad?
    M&M: His personality
    Luke: He helps her a lot.
    Blondie: He hugs you a lot.
    Kitty: Because he loves me and he loves me so much.


21. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go?
    M&M: Swimming pool
    Luke: The Chinese Restaurant
    Blondie: Disneyland!!
    Kitty: In the family room
    **Blondie was on a Disneyland kick by the end of the survey! The kids still love talking about that trip!

And the trouble begins...

Up to this point, Baby K has shown absolutely no interest in climbing things. Even if I am right at the top of the stairs and she really wants me and she can climb them, she would rather just sit at the bottom and cry for me. When my husband goes over to her to help encourage her up the stairs she acts like we are torturing her and cries the whole way up (and the staircases in our house are only 7 steps each). Well, yesterday I think she realized that she can really do it. She climbed the stairs for the first time without someone right next to her prodding her the whole way and then once when I was sitting at the computer she managed to climb on a file storage box that was right next to me (with some help from a blanket that was on the floor next to it).

Then this morning I was upstairs getting some dirty clothes out of the hamper in the hallway and unbeknownst to me she started climbing up the stairs and made it the whole way up!! Now we just need to teach her how to go down without falling... :) And she is finally showing an interest in walking. She loves it when someone holds her hands and walks her around the room and she is starting to walk along the edge of the furniture. :)

Every time she heard the camera make a noise she had to turn around and look... :)