Halloween Ketchup

Here are some photos from Halloween this year:

Burleigh Elementary had their Annual Halloween Party on October 23rd. The girls had lots of fun playing games and dancing to the DJ-ed music in the cafeteria.

Lari dancing through the decorations

Kyrie and her kindergarten friend, Amy.

Friends

Oooh, poor Lari - she looks SO tired! Too much dancing, I think.




Our friend Allie and her sons "ghosted" us this year. One of the things we received was a "Boo" onesie for Declan. Here are Declan and Allie's son, Desmond, wearing their onesies together (and Calvin and Lariska).


We got to celebrate Hudson Rose's 5th birthday with him on Halloween.

Brooklyn Becker, Hudson Rose, Lariska, and Kyrie

Randomness

So, I was thinking about this in the shower and wanted to write it down before I forgot:

I sometimes wonder if our children are the way they are because of something we did or that happened to them or if it is because they are just, plain and simple, who God made them to be.

Well...in regards to Kyrie - I will never forget when I was somewhere around 36 weeks pregnant with her and Matt dropped a book very loudly on the floor. She jumped so huge in my tummy that I thought we were going to have a problem. After she was born she almost always got fussy when it was too loud and she to this day has a huge fear of sharp, loud noises or sustained hisses. Weird, hey?

Lariska - Lariska was a roller when I was pregnant. I was always amazed at how often she turned and tumbled in my tummy. My most distinct memory of this was, again, probably around 36 weeks when I know she did a 180 in the womb. It was so uncomfortable. I was at the library with Kyrie at the time and I actually sat on the edge of my seat and thought very hard about calling for help before it stopped and everything was fine. A few days later it happened again when I was standing in our bedroom and I had to lean on the bed for support. Again, it sent my imagination running and I thought we were going to be heading in to the doctor's, but then it stopped and all was well. I now realize she flipped in there and went back to head down (thank God). But, after Lariska joined us she is still a "roller". She attempted to do a summersault on our family room floor when she was like 10 months old. It makes me wonder what kind of rolling she will do in the future.

Declan - Declan was a pusher and a kicker in the womb. In fact, by the end of my pregnancy I was exhausted just from dealing with his constant battle with my insides. I felt bruised and battered and again was often at the edge of my seat in the middle of the day dealing with the power of his limbs. He is now just five months old and so strong still, but we will have to see how he shapes to be. I hope he will not be a pusher and kicker of people, but I have to wonder if he will be good at sports...guess we'll just wait and find out. I am in no hurry!

Five Month Ketchup

Can you believe that Declan turned five months old on October 25th and I didn't even document it?! Argh. So of course, now I can't remember what he was doing at that point...I know he was sitting up pretty well, though I had to be on-hand to catch him when he occasionally fell backward. He was rolling very well, but preferred to be on his back doing crunches. Other than that, I can't remember. Check the 6-month post for better details!

First Stage Ketchup

For Mother's Day for the past two years we have given both of our mother's tickets for First Stage plays. This year, we all got to go and see "Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business". It was a very good play (although, I could have done without the kindergarten sass) about a 5-year old whose mother is having a baby, but she thinks it is a baby monkey and gets into lots of trouble telling her friends about it. Kyrie has been acting the part of Junie B. ever since.

Critical Mass

A critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. (Wikipedia)

In our case, critical mass is the smallest amount of chunk need to sustain an injury in Mommy's back.

Whatever mass that may be, Declan has reached it.

The Letter Q

Oh, so many funny things happening in this house. This is the first time that Kyrie's starting to read may have caused us some trouble.

We have letters on our fridge. Fridge magnets, you know? Doesn't everyone with small children??? Well, Kyrie and Lari were briefly playing around with them this afternoon. Kyrie took the nearest three letters to her hands and spelled F-U-P, "Fuhp" she says. Lariska, in response, says, "But, Kyrie, fuhp is not a word." So, Kyrie grabs another letter and substitutes the P with a Q. (Anyone? Anyone? Buehler.) Thank goodness that the phonetic pronounciation of the letter Q is not the letter name, but rather the kwuh sound, resulting in "Fuhkwuh". Still...I had to walk away for fear of the laughter bubbling up in my throat. I was not prepared to answer the questions my chuckling would have incited.

Yes. This really happened. Yes, insanity is the best remedy for dealing with children.

Photo Updates

Last week Wednesday (Oct. 14th, Lariska went on her first-ever field trip. She was so excited to go to the pumpkin farm and because Mommy has a tough time getting away for extended periods of time from Declan, and siblings are not invited, Nana got to go to the Pumpkin Farm with Lariska. Lari said it was lots of fun - especially jumping in the ball pit, riding on the bus, and seeing the scary things on the hay ride (but she wasn't scared). Nana said that Lari was the first off of the hay wagon and got to lead the entire group through the corn maze. Fun! I was very sad I did not get to go. And, alas, Kyrie had her K5 Pumpkin Farm field trip yesterday and again I could not go to that one either. Kyrie went sans family and carried a huge pumpkin home on the bus all by herself (in a pillowcase). She was very excited about it, but I really wish I could've been there. Sigh.

Stats

I was supposed to blog this on October 1st right after our appt. Yikes! Here are Declan's four-month stats:

Weight: 17 lbs. 10 oz. (90th percentile)
Length: 26.5 inches (95-97th percentile)

Our Ped. said he looks great and she couldn't find anything wrong with him. How funny, I guess that is her job - to find things wrong with people. I am glad she couldn't find anything because we think just about everything is right with him.

Funny Things

Lariska and Ellie Lawson

For starters, here are some funny things Lariska has said recently:

"My teacher went off today." (She meant, "My teacher was off today" as in, not there, on vacation, etc.)

"I'm catching up with a cold."

Me: Lariska, why do you want to wear pants with snowflakes on them when it's not that cold outside?
Lari: That's just how I roll.

Beth playing with Declan


Now, I have to add a short tale of woe. My best friend, Beth, was in town this weekend from California and came to visit me today. After lunch we, of course, decided we needed some chocolate. I brought out the Doves. Beth got some lovely saying about appreciating beauty or some such ridiculousness. Me, I got (and I quote), "Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can." Are you kidding, Dove?! Seriously? Really? That might just be how I define everyday of my life as of late. And, you want me to do even more?! Ummm...yeah...I am contemplating sending them a letter to tell them how much they have stressed me out. I am not sure the point of this life is to do more than we can...I would rather enjoy my time and give more than I thought I could or share more than I thought I could, but DO more than I thought I could....no thank you. Doing for the sake of doing is not on my agenda. Not today anyway.

Another funny thing - Kyrie thinks she is dressed like Jasmine and insists we take a photo. Ummm, Kyrie, I think you are dressed a bit more like Aladdin, my darling.

Denial

It ain't just a river in Egypt.

I have decided that I am in mourning...mourning for the loss of my old life. The life where I had an hour-and-a-half naptime everyday to do with what I wanted. The life where 7 out of 10 nights I slept through the night. The life where I watched Netflix movies three evenings a week and the others caught up on good TV or read my book. The life where I actually could read more than two pages of a book at a sitting. So the stages of mourning are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Oh crap. I thought denial was the last one before acceptance. Oh boy. I am in trouble.

Here is how my current days look beginning at about midnight, but without time stamps:

Feed baby. Feed baby. Feed baby. Kyrie wakes up. Lariska wakes up. Mommy "wakes up". Get in shower with Kyrie. Get in shower with Lari. Rush through my own shower. Holy sh!t is that the time? Get Kyrie dressed. (Stop whining, Kyrie.) Get Lari dressed. Get Mommy dressed. (Stop whining, Mommy.) Go downstairs. Waffles in toaster. Turn on TV. Come here, Kyrie, I have to do your hair...10 minutes later, come HERE Kyrie, I have to do your hair. Eat waffles. Pack backpack (if it's a green day put in library books, if it's a Monday or Thursday put in take-home book, if it's a Thursday put in Homelinks project, if it's an orange day put in gym shoes, if it's a Monday make sure to pack Friday Folder and Daily Folder, if it's a Wednesday on a Lit. Circle week put in Lit. Circle book). Talk about lunch options. Holy sh!t is that the time? Brush teeth. Ignore Declan starting to crab. Put on shoes. Put on shoes. Put on shoes....for the love of all that is holy could you put on your shoes?! Put on coat. Put on backpack. Go outside. Freeze butts off. Wait. Kiss hands. Hug. Walk to end of driveway. Give a little push and get on the bus. Pick heart up off the driveway. Go back inside. Lari, finish your waffle. Do Lariska's hair. Change Declan's diaper. Lari, finish your waffle. Pack Lariska's snack and water. Declan in carseat. Lariska in shoes. Lariska in coat. Bring Lariska's waffle. Drive to preschool. Unload Lari (waffle in tummy, finally). Unload Declan (ummmm...out of carrier - he's way too heavy). Up preschool stairs. Hang up coat. Snack bag in box. Kiss Lariska goodbye. Check to see if heart is still intact. Load Declan in car. Drive home. Calm down, baby. Unload Declan. Upstairs. Feed baby. Baby in crib. Downstairs. Check e-mail. Look for something to eat. Declan's crying. Upstairs. Go to sleep, baby. Rub tummy. Feed baby. Answer e-mails. Answer phone. Look for something to eat. Baby's crying. Change diaper. Change clothes. Load Declan in car. Pick up Lariska. Go home. Eat lunch. Feed baby. Put baby in crib. Lari in bathroom. Read book. Sing song. Kiss Lari. Kiss Lari. Hug Lari. Kiss Lari. Hug Lari. Hug Lari. Kiss Lari. Lari, go to bed. Baby's crying. Rub tummy. Breathe. Go downstairs. Work on PIC stuff. Answer phone. Send e-mail. Baby's crying. Feed baby. Back in crib. Go downstairs. Lari calls. Go upstairs. Good afternoon, Sunshine. Let's get dressed. Let's get dressed. Let's. Get. Dressed. Go downstairs. Get snack. Stop whining, Lariska. Baby's crying. Turn on TV. Go upstairs. Good afternoon, Sunshine. Change diaper. Go downstairs. What should we have for dinner? Kyrie arrives (the chaos begins). Get Kyrie snack. Get Kyrie another snack. Away from the baby, Kyrie. Read take-home book or do homework. Hmmm...what are we having for dinner? Call Matt. Make dinner while holding baby. Answer phone. Answer phone. Stop calling me at dinnertime! Eat dinner. ("I don't like this, Mommy!") Up the stairs. Girls in bathroom. Feed baby. Baby down. Kyrie reads book. Read book to girls. Kyrie in bed. Kiss Kyrie. Blow kiss to Kyrie. Sing to Lari. Kiss Lari. Hug Lari. Kiss Lari. Hug, kiss, hug, kiss, kiss, hug. GOODNIGHT LARI! On Monday and Wednesday - Change clothes. Grab wallet, phone, water, anything else??? Go to Y. Breathe. Smile. On Tues. and Thursday - Open computer. E-mail K5 moms about volunteering duties. Call unresponsive parents. Respond to e-mail responses. Every night - Holy sh!t is that the time? Go to bed. Do it all over again.

Total denial.

Best and Baddest

Kyrie received a pumpkin notebook from our friend, Allie, and her sons as a part of a "ghosting" that they did on us. Kyrie immediately began writing a story in her book calling it her "Halloween Book" even though she wrote all about her family in it.

Well...she came home from school the next day very upset because she did not get a sticker for using the bathroom (yes, my daughter gets a sticker for using the school potty...you gotta do what you gotta do). So, I told her I would give her one and that I had some halloween ones somewhere that she could have. But, by bedtime I hadn't found them and told her I would look after putting her to bed. In the morning, she of course asked about them and I told her that I forgot to look, but would go do that as soon as I could. A few minutes later she asked me again and I told her quite firmly that it would have to wait as I was getting Lari dressed or nursing a baby or one of the myriad things I do in the morning. She stomped off and came back saying, "Mommy, I erased you from my book." I was very distracted, but could tell she was upset so I ignored her. She tried again, "Mommy, it used to say 'The best Mommy is Kelly' but I erased it." Yeah, I heard that. So, I told her that it hurt my feelings but that I would always love her. A little later she brought the notebook to me and showed me. Now I was feeling like I ought to be hurt so I fake-cried a little and then she felt bad about it. We talked about how she could fix her notebook and eventually I got back to "best Mommy" status.

Okay...so, I was not 100% there while all of this was going down. I mean, I have a zillion things to do in the morning before getting Kyrie on the bus and Lari to preschool, so I just fake it sometimes. Later on, I saw her notebook lying around. Seriously, I burst out laughing. It was unbelievably funny. What I saw was, "The best Momy is Kelly" in pen. Over that in purple crayon is written, "The badist Momy is Kelly". (Spelling hers.) Oh my gosh. As if that wasn't enough, there is a picture on the page above it of her and I....I am now a big purple blob...erased as it were. I nearly fell over laughing. See below:

Awesome Day!

It's not often that I can say, "what an awesome day!" Sure, Kyrie was a bit of a beast before naptime, and yeah Lariska is still talking in her bed as we speak, but...gee willikers, the rest of it was pretty grand. Kyrie had soccer this morning and...wait for it...she actually scored a goal!!! I wasn't there to see it because Declan was busy taking a 2-hour nap!!! While I am sad I didn't get to witness Kyrie not only touching the soccer ball with her feet (a rare occurrence since the start of the soccer season), but also doing something she was supposed to do with it, I was happy that Declan was being such a good boy taking a wonderful nap. Matt says that Kyrie's face lit up when she scored the goal and she wanted to come off the field to get a hug, but unfortunately could not, because there was more soccer to be played. What a cutie! The kids went down for their naps fairly early and while they were sleeping I discovered that Toy Story 1 & 2 were playing as a Double Feature in 3D at The Majestic! At a time that worked! It was the sweetest discovery ever! We loaded all three kids up, got to the theatre just in time to get the last four seats together, ordered up some popcorn and pizza, and settled in for a classic. Kyrie had her 3D glasses on for a short while and said, "wow, that was cool!" when something jumped out at her. Lariska and I, however didn't get to wear our glasses much - Lariska because her head is just too darn small and me because...yeah, my head is too darn small as well when I am trying to pass popcorn, balance a baby and hold hands as needed. They just wouldn't stay on. But, Declan was such a good boy. He actually literally watched most of the movie, taking two breaks for some milk and an attempt at taking a nap before giving up in favor of watching more of the movie. But, not a tear was had from him. I decided not to push him and left after the first movie, but Matt and the girls stayed for Toy Story 2 and had a very nice time. Both Matt and I were smiling when he got home - we actually got to watch a movie (two, in his case)! It was so cool! And, they were good movies, too! Funny and cute and mostly appropriate! Loved it!!! Awesome, awesome day!

Added Captions

I finally added captions to the photos below (specifically, the 09/24 photos). So, if you are curious about any of them, check them out again now.

Homework

Kyrie has homework that she is assigned every Monday that is due every Friday. They call these "homelinks" and generally involve making Mommy or Daddy do some kind of fun-ish thing with the child that involves some kind of math thinking (also known as "everyday math"). Last week's assignment involved counting the number of steps between the sidewalk and the front door and then counting again taking giant steps or baby steps. This week's homework required Kyrie to play with water. She was deeply disappointed - not. We had to get all kinds of different containers and then see which was the largest, smallest, etc. by which held more water or less water (a.k.a. "volume"). We had fun counting how many small cups would fit into the larger cup and then how many larger cups it would take to fill the largest bowl. This truly seemed more like playing than homework!

This was Kyrie's guess as to the order of largest to smallest. She lined these up herself.

Filling the rectangular container.

Filling the circular cup.

Lari got in on the fun.

Surprise! This is the actual order of the containers from largest to smallest. Even Mommy was surprised to learn the rectangular container was larger than the blue cup. Wild.