Things I Say

As they are getting older, I am truly realizing how vastly different raising a boy and a girl is.

Things I have never said to McKenna but have said (or often say) to Zachey:

- Please don't eat your boogers
- Please don't play with your pee pee
- Rylee is not a horse
- You have to wear clothes to go outside
- Please don't put your (toothbrush, spiderman, spoon, etc.) in your (nose, ear, armpit, etc.)
- Don't throw that
- Don't sit on that
- The sofa is not a trampoline
- Please don't play with your pee pee
- How did you get mud/dirt/sand (in your underwear, in your hair, in your ears, etc.)
- What is in your hair?
- Please don't play with your pee pee
- Zachey, Zachey, Zachey, hello...Zachey....(Zachary: "what?")
- How much sand did you eat?
- Please don't pee on (your leg, the wall, the floor, your socks, the sink, rylee's bowl, the garbage can, etc.)
- Yes, superman goes poop in the toilet
- ...because boys don't need bras
- We do not eat (mud, sand, grass, things out of the garbage, dogfood, etc.)
- Where are your shoes?
- How did you get (up there, down there, in there?)
- Don't jump on that
- Please don't climb on the nice grandma lady
- Please do not run through McKenna's karate class screaming
- Grayson is not a toy
- Please don't drink the soapy bath water
- Please don't play with your pee pee

I love you Zachey...never a dull moment!

Things for McKenna to Know

When I was substitute teaching, and being exposed to many young girls...I realized that there are some things I really want McKenna to know now that she is 6.....less little girl, more young lady! So excited to spend the whole day doing girly things tomorrow! Getting our nails done, eating snow cones, and going on bike rides!!

Been meaning to write this for some time - things for you to know my sweet girl:

I love my kids so much. There isn’t one thing in this world I will not do for them. I will kiss their boo boo’s and wipe their tears. I will help them get dressed, teach them to do their chores, and feed them healthy foods. Lay with them at night, read to them, and sing silly songs. I will protect them and fight for them and give up my life for them. As they grow, I know it will only get harder to keep them inside my cozy little rainbow-filled bubble of happiness. Since McKenna graduated from kindergarten this year I can already feel her slipping outside my bubble, I’ve put together a list of things I want her to know as she begins her journey to independence:

1. Enjoy the innocence of your childhood.

In a world full of superficial values, peer pressure, and bullying, as well as a pop culture that pushes materialism and consumerism – you are being leapfrogged through your childhood. There is a constant pressure for you to grow up way too fast. I mean, when did 5 become the new 10, anyway?

Grow slowly.

2. Smart is the new cool.

Never be ashamed of being smart or nerdy, having freckles or glasses, or loving science and math. Smart never goes out of style, it stays with you as you grow, and it will lead you down the most successful paths.

3. No matter how many times you hear it, “Diamonds are NOT a girl’s best friend.” Friends are invaluable. They are trusting and loyal. They stick with you through good times and bad, happy or sad. Some will come and go, but your true friends will be with you always.

Friends forever, through whatever.

4. Go for it, get dirty! It’s good for you.

Besides the fact that getting dirty actually does help support your immunity, it’s also a great way to express creativity! Sculpt, draw, and stomp. Better yet, go “classic” and make some mud pies.

5. Beat the boys at their own games.

Football, baseball, hockey or golf, never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something because you’re a girl. So go ahead, build the tallest tower of legos, kick butt on Wii, and karate chop them away. Flippin’ awesome.

6.  See the world.

Experience new cultures, people, and places. Open your heart and mind to the tremendous benefits of studying and visiting domestic and foreign lands.

7. Choose your role models carefully.

Even though you are only 6, I am so glad that right now you have absolutely no idea who Hannah Montanna is.

8. Read something everyday.

From the Cat in the Hat and Dr. Seuss to Junie B Jones, reading is exercise for your brain. It expands knowledge and vocabulary- and lets your imagination run wild.

9. When it comes to wearing make-up, there’s a general rule of thumb that applies-LESS is MORE.

10. When it comes to fashion, shorter does not always equal better. Fashion trends come and go and not all of it is fabulous. Half tops and mini skirts are great for an 85 degree day at the beach or if you’re a Miami Dolphins cheerleader, but not for your high school yearbook photo.

11. Please, please, please do not allow yourself to become someone else’s property. Why this is trendy, I will never figure out. If you want to make a statement about yourself on clothing, at least let it describe an aspect of who YOU are.

12. Speaking of trends, I hope that by the time you are allowed to date, guys don’t wear their pants hanging half way down their ass like they do now. I really feel like this has been pretty popular for quite some time and I am praying that it finally goes away by 2022. Also, I will flip my lid if you become this guy’s property! (see #11)

13. Since you’re growing up in the technological age of iPad, iPod, iPhone, and texting, I have to address the horrendous lack of writing skills being used by today’s youth. This phenomenon of truant letters may very well be the Death of English (LOL). Bottom line, don’t use text lingo in your thesis.

14. Speaking of text lingo, verbal slang is just as unprofessional. Reminds me of Alicia Silverstone from Clueless. OMG, ROFL, BFF, TMI, FYI, IDK….As If.

15. Don’t let pop culture define you.

I don’t know why, but today we let pop culture manipulate our youth and it’s killing them emotionally and intellectually. From the early on fascination with princesses, to the ‘need’ for a boyfriend and big boobs, popularity, teen moms, and all the other garbage being thrown in their face – be confident going against the grain.

16. Accept yourself for who you are.

You’re one-of-a-kind and that’s what makes you beautiful. Tall, short, big, small, blonde, brunette, redhead, white, brown, blue, pink, yellow – we are all DIFFERENT.

17. Mainstream your health.

It’s life’s greatest asset. A positive approach to health encompasses physical, mental, social, and emotional well being. Healthy lifestyle choices in your youth will help lay a strong foundation for continued wellness throughout your adult life. Diet, exercise, stress management, self motivation, positiveness, and meditation, as well as a number of other approaches are guaranteed to make a huge impact on your quality of life, health, and happiness.

18. Have confidence in yourself.

A positive self image assures power, strength, ability, and value. It will enable you to conquer your goals and allow you to fearlessly pursue your biggest dreams.

19. Be a sister. Be a friend. Be a protector.

20. Love with all your heart.

For where there is love there is life. Love is universal and felt by all living things. So strong is the feeling of love that it is said it makes the world go round.

21. Never be afraid to laugh at yourself. Laughter is humbling. It inspires and motivates.

22. Wherever you are in life, you can come home. I will be here – always.

Sure this list will expand as you grow..but really good list that expresses how I am thinking about you right now!

Last Day of School

I really cannot believe it. I knew it would come when I walked a very timid, shy kindergartner to her room the first day of school - the last day of school. I bring home a confident, fluent reader and writer who has made friends, discovered her personality, learned social standards, and who I could not be more proud of. She excelled in all of her coursework meeting expectations in every measurable and exceeding expectations in PE. While she still struggles with not talking while the teacher is talking, she is getting better :)

I got to eat lunch with her before I left on my Las Vegas trip. I am going to post an interview of her both as sort of a last day of school and just turned 6 questionnaire. I cannot believe how fast this year flew by. I am so excited for the summer!

Karate Birthday

I was in Las Vegas until late Friday night the day before Kenna's birthday on the 19th. And to make matters worse, I found out that the twins in Kenna's class were having their party at the same time on the same day! So I was really worried that none of the kids Kenna wanted to come to her party would be there. But I did hear from a lot of Kenna's non-school friends, so I knew a few would come!

I promised McKenna that I would make her a butterfly cake, half strawberry, half chocolate. It actually wasn't too bad once I got going! I LOVE Wilton's melts!!

Final Cake turned out well if I do say so myself! I almost ran out of room for the writing...will have to get better at that...(I hate writing!)

Her party was at Dojos and it was really fun. Almost everyone she wanted to come, came and I really had nothing to worry about!!

They did an obsticle course, learned a karate lesson, and some of the karate moves that Kenna learns in class. She got to lead the class which I think was her favorite part ;)

The kids LOVED watching Kenna cut the cake with a real samari sword, and she opened her presents. Then I gave them some karate headbands and they practiced their moves one time.

They finished the day breaking boards. A lot of the kids did really well!

 

Because I'm crazy I thought having 4 six year old girls over would be a good idea. They were pretty good, only mild drama about "she won't play with me" or "I don't want to do that" but they went to sleep on time! They watched a Barbie movie and played on the playhouse. The basement was perfect because we could just close the door! We had make your own pizzas for dinner and cinnimon rolls for breakfast!

Allie, Kenna, Peyton and Chloe

Happy birthday sweet girl, I hope it was a memorable one!! Love you!

Vegas Baby

I have started what will be a few weeks of crazy travel. We spent all last week in Vegas, next week in Kansas City, the following week in California, and the week after that in Denver or Dallas (hasn't been booked yet.) Luckily I got out of California because Josh has to be gone at the same time...and the kids aren't quite ready to stay home by themselves yet :)

Vegas was fun, but we worked 12 hour days and stayed out too late...need a week to recover! I lost $10 on slots...not too bad..some of my peers were in the hundreds! I did meet someone who had just won $24,000 and ran out to buy a brand new car, cool story! Was great to hear about the upcoming changes that the company is implementing and to catch up with some old friends!

Yellow Belt

McKenna had a busy karate day Saturday. She did her yellow belt test at 10am, and then her karate birthday party in the afternoon (post to follow.)

We brought the whole family...there were a few issues ;) But, in the end, McKenna graduated to yellow belt! We are so proud of her and just love the lessons that karate has taught her! She never says "its too hard" anymore...just "bring it on" and I think she is understanding the value of hard work. So PROUD of her :)

Cute Invites for Kenna's Karate Party!

Andersen Carnival

Chloe and Lucy have almost the same birthday (one day a part.) This year they had a joint birthday party. Tara went all out (with a little help from Pinterest) and had an awesome carnival theme! There was cake walk, bean bag toss, balloon animals, fishing pond, bouncy house, funny picture booth (dress up clothes with a little picture studio), and face painting!

The snacks were awesome!

 Rhett built this "Angry Birds" catapult game, Josh manned it most of the day :)

The face painting was the HIT of the party...she was AMAZING!!!

 The face painting princess sang disney songs, wore a princess dress and had BOOKS of designs to choose from

Kids thought it was so cool that they could eat and play games...eat without sitting at the table...what?

Birthday girls

Zachey even sat still long enough to be batman...he bawled when I washed it off that night!!

How funny is this picture?

Garden and Birthdays

Last weekend we put into play something that I suggested this winter. Tara and her family did a family garden last year, and I thought it would be an awesome way to teach the kids about planting, and to get some yummy veggies too!

These are the starts I had been working on for a few weeks 

We figured we did about 800 sq ft at Kathy and Denny's place 

Grandkid picture 

We planted basil, arugula, cauliflower, peppers, tomatoes, peas, beans, potatoes, watermelon, pumpkins, cucumbers, and kulrabi. Cannot wait to see how things are growing this weekend!

We also celebrated two birthdays, gona and Kenna! We had a great lunch and ice cream cake :) Kenna got fancy jewelry and clothes. She had this tattoo on from earlier in the week.

Gona got Kenna this tree (that's what she asked for) and Kenna got Gona this little fairy garden set. It turned ot really cute 

 Birthday Girls

Happy birthday ladies. What a fantastic day of hard working, getting dirty, wet, and spending time together!

Fazoodles

How fun are these? One weekend Kenna and I spent a good hour making our whole family out of these fazoodles. They are like giant thick pipecleaners with pieces like Mr. Potato head. Really fun!

The purple one with the skirt is kenna, I am green with purple hair, daddy is yellow with three eyes, Zachey is green with orange lips, and then Rylee and Grayson are in front.

Naked Friday

We are fed up with Zachey and his lack of wanting to go potty. I kept him home yesterday while I was working. Josh stayed here and worked from home too. I just told him he had to be naked and when he needed to go potty he needed to put it in the little potty. He did great! Not one accident all day...went to the bathroom ALL DAY! C'mon now! We did put a pull up on him at naptime. But aside from that did great all day!

We were out and about this morning and tried undies. There was a wet accident, but we will get there...there is hope!! Great job Z!