The past 4 months summerized in pictures

I finally emptied my camera and so here is a snapshot of life since February.



Kenna turned 3.  Here she is changing her new baby's diaper.  She didn't have a friend party because she refused (and still refuses) to use the potty.

Rhyan and Katie competed at the USA Cheerleading Junior Nationals at the California Adventure.  We took a girls trip with Nana and spent a couple of days prior to the competition at the Disneyland parks.



The competition started out rough.  Both parks were closed for a bomb threat and so the first session started over an hour behind schedule.  The girls competed in session 3.  It meant a lot of sitting around waiting because we no longer had a difinitive start time.

At the competition, Katie's team took first in their category.

Way to go Katie!



Rhyan's team took first in their category and Grand National Champions which means they had the highest score for all the teams in all the sessions for the whole day!

Grand Champs!


 


Look at my medal!

Katie and her coaches







 



   





 

 

At the end of February, the youngest 4's birth mom had a new baby... Baby C.  She was placed with another family. (see told you we were really done having kids)!  We went to Baby C's baby shower and got to love on her.



Our sister from another mother!

Here is Baby C with her awesome Momma A!  (Baby C's older brother "B" looks so much like Seth that they look more related then Seth and Baby C do)! 

Katie turned 7.  Her birthday falls at the end of March and in the middle of tax season so her friend party didn't acutally occur until April after the tax deadline.

Finally she got to have her party.  The weeks between her actual birthday and the party were full of a lot of  "when can we go to Chuck E. Cheese!"

Levi turned 13.  He didn't get to have a friend party either because he also chose not to do the things he had to do in order to have one.

The girls' team got recognized by the Las Vegas City Council.  I think its because we are currently the only recreation team in the Las Vegas area but I'm not sure.  The girls didn't care, they got to miss a half day of school.

 

Most of my kids were born without the shyness gene.  I think that's why it was so shocking that at Isabelle's graduation from preschool she was so embarassed she wouldn't even look at us. 

Maybe if I don't look at them they won't know its' me!

Finally, after the ceremony she loosened up a little bit!

Isabelle turned 5.  She had a massive super hero themed birthday party with all of her "best" friends, (all 20 or them)!

Baby C all superheroed out!

  

One of Isabelle's presents.  Does Momma A get her or what?!



Rhyan graduated from elementary school and is now a middle-schooler!  She was so excited because she got six certificates and she told me she never gets more that one.  She got a promotion (graduation) certificate, one for Honor Choir, one for Student Council, one for citizenship, one for the GREAT (Gang Resisitance Education and Training) program, and the Awesome Gladiator award for all her hard work in becoming the most improved in her class.   I am really proud that she got the Awesome Gladiator award.  She has worked hard to overcome all her learning issues and has not let them hold her back!

Family Pictures

We recently had our family pictures taken.  Our local FSA is putting together books on adoption as part of the goal to promote awareness of the option of adoption.  A wonderful local photographer Marissa of Marissa D Photography volunteered her services and we now have some fabulous pictures.

So what do you think?  Pretty great, right!?

Isabelle's Easter Dress

As you might have guessed, Isabelle isn't at all girly. In fact she decided to not to get a new Easter dress this year in favor of a new "Avengers" t-shirt.












But have no fear, Nana to the Rescue! After one 2-day sewing marathon, Isabelle now has a brand new Spiderman Easter dress. Do you think she loves it? Thanks Nana...you rock!

Kenna is insanely jealous and already telling me about the "Dora" dress Nana is making for her. Sorry Nana, but a superheroes work is never done!

First Day of Preschool.

Here is Isabelle and her preschool teacher Miss Tina. Isabelle was in Miss Tina's class last year so she was very uninterested in having her picture taken. She just wanted to go get started with school. She had a very 'been there, done this' attitude this morning.

Back to School 2011

First Day of School had so many plusses and minuses.

Quiet Naptimes - Plus.
Alone time - Plus.
Less T.V. - Plus.
No More Kindergarten for Katie - Plus.
Less messes - Plus & Plus.
Less fighting - Plus, Plus & Plus.

Rhyan's Last Year of Elementary School - Minus.
Levi's second Year of Middle School - Minus.
Getting Up Early - Minus & Minus.
I'm Getting Older (along with my kids) - Minus, Minus & Minus.

Another Parenting Milestone

Last night Steve and I performed MacGyver-style nasal surgery using only a flaslight and a pair of tweezers. What makes kids think...hmmm, my life will never be complete unless I shove a piece of corn up my nose. Then listening to Kenna scream her head off as we went (literally) fishing for gold, Isabelle wanted to make sure she didn't miss any of the excitement and SHE stuffed corn up her nose. At least last night's antics didn't include a trip to the ER. I suppose that's all you can ask for since you apparently can't ask for common sense in children.

You're Stupid, Fat and Poo-poo

We've recently had problems with Isabelle calling people fat. She will say things like "Mom, that man is fat." She also points out who in the family is fat. Steve and I can't figure out where this obsession came from. We purposely don't talk about weight at home having one extremely thin daughter and one curvy daughter. I worry the correlation between saying things like "I look so fat" to causing eating disorders in girls. So we've tried to tell Isabelle that it's rude. (Which it is). We've tried to tell her that it hurts people's feelings. (Which it does). Nothing has worked, and finally we told her that it's a BAD word. Which is why now when she's mad and insults us she has added "fat" to her repertoire of her old favorites "stupid & poo-poo"

I know...I know

It's been way too long since my last post. I have decided I am waaay too old to be having another baby. Seth has really kicked my butt. So some things have had to go by the wayside. Mostly I am too tired to think up blog posts. Seth is getting older now so I hope to post more often. I make no promises though. So here is the year so far in pictures.

More Pictures of Seth & My Daughter the B-Boy

I wanted to post some new pictures of Seth and also a few video clips of Isabelle. Isabelle has some mad skillz as a b-boy. (For all you un-hip peeples b-boys are break dancers). Enjoy.

Now Kenna joins in...

And now the big finish, in which Kenna is bored and wanders away...

The bee-baa woop is combing!

About a week ago, Isabelle came running in to tell me bee-baa woop combing. Of course because her speech is difficult to understand, it took me a while to figure out what she was talking about. Finally I figured out she was saying that the Big Bad Wolf was gonna get her. Since then I have had to hear about the big bad Wolf several times as she super glues herself to my side and won't leave. While I don't mind having her around it gets hard to have the same unintelligible conversation over and over about the big bad wolf.

Today I finally figured out why the conversation keeps happening. It has been very windy here lately and I guess in here mind that means the wolf is trying to blow the house down. I had just gotten out of the shower and wanted to dry my hair and avoid the repetitious conversation so I told her that she was safe because wolves weren't allowed in the house. That sparked a conversation about what was allowed in the house, (I think). For your info, dogs=yes, kids=yes, pigs=no, wolves=no, Dora=yes, Boots=yes, Neeky Box (Swiper)=no. Finally, I desperately told her that even if the wolf got in the house the dog Spack would save her thinking it would end the conversation. (Poor stupid sad naive me). The conversation then became a shout out to all the people in her life that she loves and adores who would "see me" (save her) from the big bad wolf; Mommy, Daddy, Nana, Papa, Grandma, Rhyan, Katie, Levi, Stacey, Darla, Paula, Hondo, Marena and the dogs Emma, Spack & Gidget. (Noticeably missing is her baby sister who she feels is always mean to her. Of course Kenna is really mean to her. I have never seen a child so young get so much enjoyment out of the torture of a sibling). As I type this Isabelle is hiding under the desk. I hate the wind.

Another Milestone

Today Kenna passed another milestone on her way to mobility. Rhyan started yelling at me to look at Kenna. She was standing there eating a cracker. I snapped a picture from my cell phone, which is why its a crummy picture and it also looks like she is holding onto Isabelle's boot. I promise she isn't!

On another related subject (well its only related because it concerns milestones), Isabelle is 90% potty trained. I say 90% because she could be 100% if I was more on the ball and reminded her more frequently!

Isabelle's Shoes

Isabelle needed new tennis shoes and so while the other kids were at school we headed to the store to get them. At the store she saw these pink sandals and refused to try on anything but the sandals. Everytime I tried to put on a pair of tennis shoes she would scream and kick her legs trying to keep me from putting them on. She was in a shopping cart that put my face at foot level. After a few kicks to the head, we left the store with a brand new pair of tennis shoes........and the pink sandals.

Later that afternoon, when we picked up her sisters and brother, she had to show off her sandals. I was holding her on my hip talking to Rhyan while I waited for Levi the exit the school and Isabelle thrust her foot in Rhyan's face so that she could admire her sandals. She did the same thing to Katie and to Levi and to the girls we carpool with. When her dad got home she had to race to the door and she kept picking up her foot saying "Shoes" so Steve could also admire them. I think I'm raising Imelda Marcos.

Ma!

Dizzie is a stinker.

She can and will say everyone's name, Dada, Levi, Rhyan, Katie. She can even say the dog's name Gidget and our friend's name Marena. She won't say Mama. I didn't mind at first because at night when she wakes up she calls for Da not Mama because that's all she can say. But as time goes on and she uses everyone else's name its begun to bug me. I've used bribery and every other method I can think of to no avail.

Yesterday, when I dropped Katie and Rhyan off at school, my friend carried her so I could take Katie to her preschool class before the bell rang. (She goes to preschool at the elementary school). My friend said that Dizzie had been calling me the whole way. When we tried to get her to say my name, she just smiled her 'butter won't melt in my mouth' smile and wouldn't do it. I still have never heard her say my name.