A Blogging Evolution

Hello, readers!  I can't believe it's been more than 2 months since I last wrote a blog post. Honestly, there's been plenty to write about, but over the past year, I've started wondering if anyone still reads my ramblings? 

Then I got a sweet, concerned email from a long-time follower (thanks DeeAnna!) wondering if I'm doing ok. YES! I'm still alive and well. I've just been reflecting a little. 

My blog began in 2007 as a one-stop-shop for my family and friends to get caught up on pictures of my growing kids and to see a glimpse of our daily life. Back then, I was known as Three Blondes and a Redhead...Kaylin was an infant and Ryan was only 2 years old. Within a year, I had dozens of followers. As an overwhelmed stay-at-home-mom, I didn't realize I needed to be heard...to have a voice. I appreciated that others understood my exhaustion. I loved sharing recipe ideas and organization tips with strangers all over the globe. Friendships developed with people I would never meet in parts of the world I may never visit.

A few months before Jason was born, I evolved into Intentionally Katie, my page got a facelift, and things got big-time. Dozens of readers became hundreds of readers. I actually met people around town who recognized me from my blog...it was a trip!

Then when I began homeschooling in 2011, I lost some people. I've always written about our daily life, which was soon consumed with all things homeschooling, and many couldn't relate. I had less time to compose and publish blogs posts (oh, but I started so many...!) and people got sick of checking in, only to find nothing new.

Looking back over 2015, my single-digit, monthly post numbers are truly pathetic. If nothing else, I love journaling about our life! And I hardly have anything to look back upon.

Blogs don't seem to be nearly as widespread as they were when I began writing nearly 9 years ago. Sure, there are certainly plenty of blogs to read, but with other social media outlets to stay connected and get ideas, I have noticed my followers have dwindled, comments are scarce, and I tend to wonder if anyone has the desire to read about my relatively mundane world...?

I also wonder how safe it is to post pictures of my kids. I don't want to sound paranoid, but this world is going downhill at warp speed and there are some crazies out there! I've strongly considered making this blog private, since it's turned into less "struggling moms, you're not alone" and more about a personal memoir of my kids and our family moments. 

But those decisions are for another day. What have we been up to these past few months? 

In October, just as my body was finally recovering from a miscarriage, Mike and I headed to Los Cabos, Mexico for an all-expenses-paid FREE vacation. This trip was earned by the top 19 people at Tastefully Simple and I was one of them!!! It was fantastic. We snorkeled, went horseback riding on the beach, relaxed, relaxed and relaxed some more. We needed this getaway! Badly. We came home and I got back to work, trying to earn the top trip to Italy next year!

In November, Ryan finished up his first season of tackle football and Jason ended his 2nd soccer season. Weekly practices for both boys, tumbling for Kaylin and games all weekend long kept us very. busy. After 12 years unmedicated, I decided to go to the doctor and get back on my ADD medicine. It was a decision I'd wrestled with and finally just threw in the towel and did it. Things are so much clearer in my head! Later in the month, our house was invaded by workers as we got the house and cabinets painted and finishing Kaylin's "tween" room. November is a blur.

In December, it was all about Christmas: Baking, Christmas movies, holiday parties, the whole sha-bang. We had a more mellow holiday season this year...I wrapped our gifts just days before Christmas and we didn't even visit Santa until Christmas Eve! But it was stress-free. The month/year ended with the sad news that my favorite grandmother passed away. She was sick for a very long time, but it was still a sad time for my family.

In January, we celebrated the New Year up north and went sledding, had our family pictures taken professionally (FINALLY...it's been years!), I went to Atlanta for a leadership conference, and Kaylin got braces. Mike and I also jumped into our 2nd complete round of Whole30. And I've been working out like crazy to get my pre-pregnancy, pre-Dallas-move-stress-eating body back. Yoga, lifting weights, kickboxing, cycle, I take about 6-8 classes each week and I'm finally feeling comfortable in my own skin again.

That brings us to February. Earlier this month, I contemplated ending our homeschool journey. I was burned out, the kids were sick of it, and I was sick of THEM (just being real). I felt trapped in a life that I'd chosen. After reading about others with this same experience, I made the drastic decision to pull the plug on academics. We go to the library 1-2 times a week, pull 30-40 books about any and all topics of interest, and we read. A lot. We read together, we read alone, we talk about what we read, the kids do presentations for the rest of the family about what they've learned each day, it is very different and giving us all the break we need. The kids still do math every day, plus a creative journal I bought them each for Christmas, but learning and school is finally becoming fun again. For all of us. 

In other news...after many years of wondering, we went through the process to see if Ryan has ADHD like his mama. He asked a lot of questions after I went back on my meds and when I described my symptoms, he said, "It sounds like you're explaining what's in my head." 

He was officially diagnosed a couple of weeks ago and we're seeing huge improvements with his new medication. More than anything, his confidence is skyrocketing. He no longer wonders why he struggles with simple tasks, makes silly mistakes in his schoolwork, forgets basic instructions, and a million other things. I have tried battling this issue with homeschooling, nutritional changes, everything I could think of...I wanted medicine to be the last resort, but it was officially time to nip this issue in the bud.

I think that's it!  You're finally caught up on everything within our walls. If you've made it this far, feel free to leave a comment if you'd like me to keep my blog public. Don't be shy! An anonymous comment will do, as long as you're not a psycho stalker. You can be a normal stalker, just not a psycho stalker, because no one has time for that kind of drama. Especially me!

Tea Party

My sweet baby girl is officially six years old. Months ago, I suggested a mother/daughter tea for her birthday party and she blew me off. Then suddenly, a tea party was her birthday wish. Somehow, the moms were pushed out of the picture, but I got to plan and throw my little her little tea party regardless. (*insert snickering here*)

Yesterday, we spent the {rare} cloudy summer day baking a plethora of teatime treats. Don't the kids look like they had fun in the picture below? Yeah, that didn't last long. Mommy had a perfectionistic anxiety attack mid-day and sucked the joy out of the process for everyone involved. As I relented to having a drink (yes, a real one) at 4:30, I texted Mike and begged him to come home before I ruined Kaylin's birthday altogether. 

Thankfully, my mom came over last night and stayed after the kids went to bed to help me get as much done as possible so I wouldn't have another breakdown today.  Today was delightful...not sure what my problem was yesterday, but I will tell you that a babysitter will be hired for Destructo-boy during the preparation of all future birthday parties. Not blaming him for my attitude yesterday, but he was a major contributor to me taking one step forward and two steps back. (*sigh*)

Moving on, the pictures above were of the kids and I making large round sugar cookies that I topped with the first initial of each child's name as their party favor. I placed them in the adorable little peek-a-boo boxes that I got with most of the paper products from Oriental Trading Company, then wrapped them in cellophane bags and tied a teapot shaped lollipop on the front. They were crazy cute, if I do say so myself. (you can make your own Tea and Cookies Party Favor Boxes, if you have that kind of time and motivation)

Here's some of the food we served and the pink, purple and green decor, rose petals, feather boas, flowers and all of that fun stuff...

Date Nut Bars (top plate) and Mini Banana Bread Muffins (bottom plate)

Tea Sandwiches (read: strawberry jelly sandwiches shaped like flowers)

Purple Yogurt Pretzels, cubed Almond Pound Cake and Mini Chocolate Brownies

Berries, Petit Fours and mock macaroons (Nilla Wafers sandwiched with pink frosting)

Each place was set with a place card and a personalized letter cookie (albeit small) - all except the cookies were from Oriental Trading Co.

Pink cupcakes were the birthday girl's "cake" of choice.

This was the favor table. A huge jar full of "pearl" necklaces and the party favor boxes.

A closer look at the party favor boxes. 

I planned on a few other details that I ran out of time to do: I wanted to throw together some cucumber sandwiches, because what kind of tea party doesn't have cucumber sandwiches?!?!?  Well, apparently, mine didn't. 

I also had these Lace Cookies on my list, but didn't get around to baking them.

I baked sugar cookies shaped like the number 6, but ran out of time to frost them or even plate the unfrosted cookies.  We'll snack on those this weekend. 

I also wanted to cut out these Handmade Heart Doilies, which Kaylin and I practiced making weeks ago and they were SO cute and easy!

All of this was well worth the effort because my sweet girl felt honored and special during her "huge play date" today. Happy birthday, Kaylin!!!

Third cast in less than a year

Kaylin is embarrassed by her newest accessory. I think her striped cast is cool!

Saturday night, less than an hour after returning from our homeschool convention, Mike sat down to read the Bible to the kids before bed and Kaylin came tumbling off the bunk bed ladder. She only fell about three feet, but the doctor suspects that she hyper-extended her arm to brace the fall. It didn't seem that big of a deal until I laid beside her in bed to calm her down and noticed that her elbow looked funny. X-rays revealed that it's broken.

She's been in pretty good spirits about it since the pain started going away on Monday. She's gotten used to eating with her left hand, going to the bathroom with only one arm, even coloring with her non-writing hand. But we're officially taking a break from tumbling and she will not be swimming anytime soon. (*sigh*) 

We were very thankful that she didn't need surgery, since that was a concern at the Urgent Care after the accident. Plus, they're able take the cast off before her birthday on the 15th, which was her biggest fear: She longed to be cast-free before her birthday party. (which I can now officially plan now that we've scheduled the removal date)

Our clumsy little family is obviously going to need a preferred client frequency card with the Orthopedic Surgeon. Because seriously, I'd like to get our next cast free, please!  We're still paying off Ryan's cast from October when Mike was in between jobs for two weeks. 

October 2011 - Ryan's broken arm (fell off his bike)

February 2012 - Jason's recovering thumb (slammed it in the front door and it required surgery)

July 2011 - Kaylin's last attempt at injury (fell in new shoes in the grocery store parking lot) - her wrist was slightly fractured, so they just put her in a sling until it healed.

I'm seeing a great scrapbook layout theme here. Is that wrong? I need to find humor in here somewhere, because we're out of money in our HSA and every penny of this accident is coming out of savings. Here's hoping that money tree in the backyard starts growing ASAP!!!

Our "You're Being Crazy and Need a Time Out" Signal

A few months ago, a dear friend from Kansas City came to visit her mom, and stopped by for a day to catch up.  She was my high school Bible study leader and has been such a mentor to me for the last two decades. I hadn't seen her in years, but we picked right up where we left off.

Since she's 10 years my senior with three a.maz.ing. older kids, I picked her wise brain apart for her thoughts on marriage, parenting, and life.  One of her tips has been particularly helpful this week and I don't think I've shared it with you yet.

She and I have very similar personalities, so she knew she was preaching to the choir on particular issues.  Like when we discussed perfectionism and the false image we have in our heads of the type of person we should be.  I feel like I've come so, so far in this area in recent years, but I do still struggle. 

For example, we laughed about how ridiculous we can get before we entertain or have people over: my tendency is to become a whirlwind (she used the term "tornado" which is right on) - I get very task-oriented, am sometimes short with people around me and I become overly focused on things looking the way I've predetermined they should be.

In moments like these, my friend's family created a non-verbal signal that they do to remind each other to either calm down and take a deep breath or take a time out and remove themselves from the situation.  After throwing around some ideas of which signal to use, her daughter came up with interlocked thumbs with waving fingers...like an eagle.  They call it the "fly away."

That night at dinner, I talked to my own family about creating a similar signal, explaining that the kids have permission to use it when Mommy or Daddy gets out of control and need to cool off.  Ryan liked the idea of  a time-out signal, like in sports.  Kaylin suggested making a cross with two fingers.  Somehow, we settled on making an X with two fingers. 

At first, it didn't work.  The kids flashed the signal to me and Mike in the heat of the moment and they ended up getting in trouble for it.  They quickly learned not to trust that they were allowed to hold us accountable for being calm.  We've tried it on and off since February, but it's never really stuck.

Then this week, Mommy started getting a little bit snippy.  Cranky.  Short tempered.  Impatient.  I blame it on lack of sleep because of some hip pain I have, but really, there's no excuse. I felt horrible for snapping at the kids so often and found myself apologizing to them...a lot.

I reminded Ryan of the magic X signal and he's been using it appropriately.  When he does the X, it's my cue to either walk away and take a few deep breaths or remove myself completely and take a Mommy time out.

Today was a tough day.  (Ryan used the magic X a lot, reminding me to tell my blog friends about it.) I didn't sleep well last night and the kids were fighting like cats and dogs.  I lost it today.  Repeatedly.  No one's winning any "Mom of the Year" awards in our house, that's for sure. 

And isn't it appropriate that as I was typing this post Kaylin brought me a note.  The boys were in the play room and Kaylin asked to be alone in her room (after I'd yelled at her for being snotty to Ryan by not taking the markers upstairs like he asked, resulting in Jason coloring on the stairs) so I decided to open the laptop in the kitchen and begin writing this post. 

Kaylin, at not even five years old, has never sounded out so many words in her life.  And she's never written a note to me that wasn't accompanied by a picture.

Anyway, this was her note. It reads: "Kaylin. Sorry, I want Dad. I want to be by myself. (she spelled it "bimisaf") Nobody in my room except Dad." 

I was so saddened at her desire to shut me out of her personal space that I barely had time to be proud of the fact that I could actually read and figure out what was on the note for the first time ever.

I feel like a schmuck.

The good news is that this loud parenting style was my primary method of communication a few years ago.  But now, it is very rare.  I have made a conscious decision to stop yelling and to create a more peaceful household for my family.  So now, the fact that my voice is slightly hoarse is beyond just a little embarrassing.  I'm ashamed of how I acted today, regardless of my circumstances and regardless of whether the kids were behaving or not.

I need a "redo" button.  Or maybe a giant X in front of my face all the time!

...because the stomach flu and chicken pox weren't exciting enough.

This week has been exhausting.  We have spent more time in waiting rooms than we've spent in the last year!  And let me tell you...Jason is so over it.  I can almost see it in his eyes: "Look, lady - I was well behaved on Tuesday, I was charming on Wednesday, but this is Thursday.  And I am officially done with doctor's offices."

Let me back up.  On Friday, I got a knock on the door at 4pm.  A sweet neighbor came by to tell me that our grocery store had purchased too many packages of chicken breasts and they were on sale for $.39 a pound.  So I told everyone to put on flip flops and jump in the van, but Kaylin asked if she could wear her new clogs.  I should have said, "no."

On the way out of the store, as we crossed the parking lot, Kaylin tripped and fell flat on her face. Well, not her face...she braced the fall with her hand, but you get the picture.  My little drama queen began screaming like a banshee.  I scooped her up and rushed her home, all while she continued to wail in pain.

I thought enough to glance at the clock; it was 4:45 and the pediatrician had just closed.  So I took matters into my own hands: I iced her wrist, gave her Tylenol and tried to make her comfortable.  I assumed she was bruised and would heal over the weekend without a trip to the ER.

Saturday and Sunday, she was still complaining and barely using her arm.  She ate with her left hand and moaned when she had to go to the bathroom or get dressed.

By Monday, I realized that I should finally call the doctor.

They got us in for an appointment on Tuesday and recommended that she get x-rays...stat.  It was very official and very urgent.  The order even said, "Stat" on it in huge letters...I felt very important. Thankfully, the walk-in radiologist was empty when we arrived, so my rowdy bunch didn't disrupt the masses. 

We waited all day to find out that the films were hard to read and that she needed more pictures taken.    "Can you go back for more x-rays?  It will be free of charge."  (*sigh*) "Sure," I thought, "But the office is 30 minutes away and I have a two-hour hair appointment tomorrow where all of my kids were taken care of, not to mention I have to drop Ryan off and pick him up from Vacation Bible School."   The hair girl, babysitter, radiologist and VBS were in a zillion different directions from each other.  This was all becoming very inconvenient...

I decided to be selfish and take the big kids to VBS in the morning and bring Jason to the babysitter while I went to get my hair done.  Seriously, though...you know how hard it is to reschedule hair appointments and have all of your kids cared for in the middle of summer, right?  Besides, it was only a few hours.  Hey, don't judge me...I have put everyone else first for weeks since the arrival of our first chicken pock!

(Wow, defensive much...?)

Anyway, after I was all prettied up, I picked the kids up from VBS early, grabbed Jason from the sitter and hauled us all down to the radiologist.  Again.  The waiting room was PACKED, but they took us right back for more pictures of Kaylin's arm. After Jason went around to all of the elderly patients, saying, "Hi!" and asking for high fives, of course.  He was being a crack up and was the hit of the office.  The process still took 45 minutes and Jason didn't go down for his 12:00 nap until almost 2pm.  But he was a trooper.

Then late yesterday afternoon, we got the news that yes, Kaylin does have a fracture in the radial head.  (read: elbow area)  I called  to make an appointment at Phoenix Children's Hospital to go see an Orthopedist about whether she'd need a cast.  The monotone man on the other end of the phone tried telling me that the first available appointment was Tuesday.  Six days away???  After explaining Kaylin's pain and that the accident happened on Friday and begging to be put on a cancellation list, somehow Eeyore found an 8:30am appointment for today.  Yes, much better.  Thank you.

(this story is getting much to long...I'm even boring myself...)

After meeting with the Orthopedist this morning, she obviously wanted to take more x-rays to properly determine how to help the fracture heal.  Since all of this expense is going toward the $10,000 deductible on our catastrophe-plan insurance, I begged her not to.  (there seems to be a lot of begging going on at this point in the story)  "The Radiologist didn't give you the x-rays?"  Um no, he did not.  The alternative to taking new x-rays was to drive back down to the Radiologist...AGAIN...to ask them for the films.  Back into the car everyone went, back to the radiology office we went, then back to Phoenix Children's...again.  I felt like I was on a wild goose chase.

Through all of this today, Jason was being horrible.  HORR. I. BLE.  Screaming fits, arched back, spitting, throwing, pulling my hair, running down the hall...he was such a joy. I was proud. People looked at me like I was the laziest mother ever.  When just yesterday, he was the star of the show.  Whatever.

Finally, FINALLY, we got the big news: Kaylin's fracture could heal with a sling and didn't need to be casted.  WOO HOO!  Kaylin was crushed, because she had talked herself into a cool pink, sparkly cast that everyone would sign and SHE would be the star, just as she likes it.  But we all know she's going to be happier in the pool for the next six weeks than she would be with a bulky cast on her arm.

After dropping her off at VBS, late, I fully intended to go to the gym...something that hasn't happened all week.  But with cranky pants as my sidekick, I decided we needed to go home so he could take a nap.

So here I sit, fully dressed in my workout gear, eating a delicious pan of piece of Cinnamon Blueberry Coffee Cake.  Because who really needs exercise, right?  What I need, after a week like this, is to stress eat. 

Barring any other major illnesses, injuries or emergencies, I plan to go to the gym tomorrow.  Maybe.

Middle Child Syndrome

Things have been rough since Ryan's been home from school. There has been a lot of whining, a lot of complaining, a lot of tattling and a lot of time spent in separate rooms. My motto of "if you can't get along, you can't play together" is repeated over and over.

At first, both Ryan and Kaylin were getting in trouble when things erupted. The new dynamic of having Ryan home was very difficult for both kids, but I wrongfully assumed that he was more to blame because bad habits had followed him home from school.

After a few days, I realized that Ryan wasn't really doing anything wrong. He wasn't being perfect, but it was obvious that when he was punished, he was correcting his behavior and his attitude improved. But Kaylin was not. My sweet, helper-girl, mini-mama had turned into a tiny terror overnight.

It's like Ryan is suddenly the enemy. She races to beat him everywhere, runs to grab a diaper when I ask Ryan to get one for me, yanks things out of his hands, sits in Ryan's chair when he gets up from the table to get a drink, screams when something is clearly an accident, bursts into tears at the slightest injustice...the drama has been out of control.

Then a light bulb went off: Kaylin is jealous. And probably feeling unimportant.

My middle child was becoming a textbook middle child right in front of my eyes. She was competing with Ryan to reclaim her rank as the older, responsible child (which she was while he was at school during the days just a few weeks ago).

The first thing I did (once this finally dawned on me) was sat Ryan down and talked to him. I asked him to step up. To be the "bigger man" in each situation. To let her scramble into the van before him, for him to pick a different seat when she sits in his chair at breakfast, to show her that "winning" isn't that big of a deal. I didn't use this verbiage, but I wanted him to "kill her with kindness." I suggested that we try this for a whole day to see if it made a difference with Kaylin's attitude.

I tweaked my approach, too. I gave her more opportunities to be a big girl, I divided out responsibilities for both kids so it would seem more fair to her, I wasn't as quick to reward Ryan for compliance when Kaylin wasn't behaving, I tried not to be so hard on her for being over emotional about every. little. thing.

It took until later in the morning, but eventually her confidence started coming back and she stopped clawing her way back into her rightful place in the pecking order. She slowly dropped the attitude and began enjoying her big brother again. It's been a much more peaceful household.

I've let Ryan off the hook about giving in to her tantrums, but have reminded him daily to be a better example because he's the oldest sibling. And he is stepping it up, for the most part. I have had to tell him (repeatedly) not to correct her if she pretends to know how to spell a word or acts like she's as knowledgeable as him.

I shouldn't be surprised that Kaylin fell into the birth order role of the middle child. I guess I was just hoping that because she's the only girl, that she would feel different and unique for all the right reasons.

It took seven months for this to surface. Likely because all day long, with Ryan in school, she's been the top dog since Jason arrived.

This is all new for me. As an only child, I don't "get" the whole sibling rivalry thing. Can't we all just get along???

I'm ready to consciously help Kaylin feel special and important in her own way. Any advice from moms of middles out there?

Kaylin is Mourning

My sweet girl lost her most prized possession the other day. It's actually not lost, just useless.
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Most kids have a blanket that they cherish. My child became attached to the TAG on her blanket.

She has rubbed the thing raw over the last 3 years, to the point where it was no longer a tag, but a shred of soft fabric. And Saturday, it fell off of the blanket.
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She came out of her room at 9pm heartbroken, showing me what looked like a piece of fuzz, sobbing, "My tag fell off!!!"

We tried giving her a similar, blue blanket with an identical original tag, but it wouldn't do. Hours later, we could hear her softly crying in her room, mourning her loss. This weekend, my mom sewed a new tag on and we're hoping that will suffice from now on, but we'll see. I'm just so sad for her...I just don't see how it's possible to reattach a long, thin, sentimental piece of FUZZ.

Potty Training, Part 1

I am not ready to potty train Kaylin. Ugh...anyone willing to do it for me??? I know, I know - she just turned 2. It's so early, why rush it? Glad you asked. Because, unfortunately for me, I think she might be ready. She's showing signs of readiness and I'm thinking I may have to carve out a week coming up, stay home, put her in panties and clean up a bunch of pee off the floor until she learns to hold it. Actually, it would be ideal if it were a bit cooler outside and we could spend the day playing in the yard so I wouldn't have to clean up pee. But we'll see...

My long time readers may remember last year after Christmas, when I actually got my not-yet-walking 15 month old Kaylin to pee on the potty after bathtime every night. It only lasted a few months, and I had no intention of truly potty training her at the time...I think it was a fluke.

Fast forward to this summer: I didn't use swim diapers on Kaylin in the pool, partly because I'm cheap, partly because they don't do any good, but mostly because we were in the pool 4-5 times a week for under an hour at a time. That's a lot of swim diapers.

Instead, I tried the ever so faithful technique of logic to get her not to go to the bathroom in the pool. As soon as I put her swimsuit on, I'd remind her, "Don't go potty in the pool...please tell Mommy if you need to go." You're all thinking, "Yeah right! Your pool is probably half urine and you'd never know it." Actually, I doubt it. Because Ryan was in the habit of going pee in the bushes (saved slippery, dripping kids running through the house) and Kaylin wants to do everything like him, she ended up following suit. But she has nothing to "aim," so she would walk over to the grass, pee, and come back into the pool to rinse off. Like a dog. Yes, I trained my daughter to pee in the grass like a dog.

So after we painted with pudding this morning, we decided to swim. Kaylin kept going into the grass to pee, but nothing was happening. Finally, she said, "Mommy, I pooping." NOOO! Code brown! Get in the house! I asked Mike to bring the potty chair out to the grass to see if she'd go out there. Oh yes I did. Hey - it worked with the bathroom rug after the bath idea at Christmas! But nothing happened.

Then it occurred to me that she's been very consistent about where she goes to "hide" when she goes poo lately. Our walk-in pantry. I know! Around food. Ew. But did that stop me from putting the potty seat in the pantry to see if she'd do her business?

No it did not.

She even stood up to close the door for privacy. Then proceeded to poo in my pantry.

Whatever it takes to get her used to doing the deed sitting down and on the potty chair! I hope it won't take long for me to be able to move her into the bathroom where she belongs.

300th post and learning that Ryan needs responsibility

First, this is my 300th post. Woo hoo! I realize my 200th post was just in May, so yeah, I've been a blogging fool lately. And what's crazy is that I had 10,000 hits less than a month ago and I'm just a few hundred away from already being at 15,000!!! It took me 7 months to get to 10,000 and only ONE month to get another 5,000. I must be posting something interesting...someone out there is reading what I have to say!

Moving on...I'm feeling a little nostaglic. I had "my girls" over for a play date today. Three of these five girls were among my very first friends in Phoenix and we figured out today that we've known each other almost 10 years! We started a Bible study and all of us were single (Mike and I were "just friends" at the time) and there was only one child between us, Kelsey, who was 4. She's now a freshman in high school and there are a slew of kids in the group. Over the years, a few girls came and left the Bible study, but this is our new core. Unfortunately, we live all over town and are busy with life, so now we hardly see each other. But I'll always love my girls! (This is the group, minus 4 kids who were in school):

And Sunday, you got to see me at 20, now you can see me at 2. How cute was I???

Last, a picture from this morning. We had a big storm last night, which brought in unusually cool weather, so the kids wanted to play on the swingset after breakfast. I was taking too long doing the dishes, so Ryan decided to help Kaylin put her shoes on. Notice Kaylin lounging back, watching him wait on her hand and foot. (pun intended!)

I've realized something in the last couple of days: Ryan desperately needs responsibility. When I don't give it to him, he takes on certain tasks by himself, often getting in trouble. I noticed that this morning...I was still in bed and heard Kaylin emerge from her room before 7:00. (a big no-no...she knows to wait until I come in to get her) I heard Ryan's door open, Ryan gasped, told her to go back to bed and attempted to usher her back to her room, Kaylin refused, Ryan tried picking her up and carrying her, Kaylin screamed...it was not what I wanted to wake up to. But I started seeing that, all day yesterday, Ryan was trying to "help." I'm constantly telling him that this or that is "not your job...it's Mommy and Daddy's job..." yet I've encouraged him to work things out with his sister on his own to avoid tattling.

Have I set this poor kid up for failure? "Try to work it out on your own, but if Kaylin gets mad at how you handle it and screams bloody murder, everyone gets in trouble." I hear him negotiating with her all the time, desperate to get her to comply so he gets his way, whether it's for her benefit or not.

So all day today, I asked him to help me. With everything. And I think it really worked...he felt like he was able to do big-kid things, I felt like I de-throned him from trying to be the third parent in the house to Kaylin, he felt important, Kaylin didn't get annoyed that he was doing things for her that she wants to do herself (because she is simultaneously becoming SUPER independent all of a sudden) - it was a good day.

Caterpillar craft idea

I'm trying to do more crafts with the kids as the summer comes to a close. Somewhere along the way, I got out of the habit and both of them really enjoy doing hands-on projects.

While Mike took Ryan on errands on Saturday, I let Kaylin paint at the easel for the first time. It seems like I do things with her much later than I did with Ryan because she always seems so young. But she's not...she's growing up quickly and is much more able than I give her credit for sometimes.

And yesterday, we recreated a little craft project Ryan did at VBS last week. I cut a cardboard egg carton in 1/2, let the kids go to town painting it green, poked holes to put the pipe cleaner anttenae through and glued on some leftover eyes we had and a little mouth. They're both so proud that they have them on their dressers. Too cute.

My first BLOG

I would have never thought I'd start a blog, but I'm so busy lately that I hardly ever journal anymore. SO - instead of sending tons of random update emails and attempting to track the kids' accomplishments and priceless moments in my journal, I'll blog. This may be the easiest way to go!

My kids are amazing. Kaylin is growing and changing so fast. Last month, she went from being a cute little lump to rolling over, sitting up, waving, giving kisses, holding her bottle, shaking her head "no," clicking her tongue and she got her first two teeth. In the last week, she started feeding herself Cheerios, which is both a snack and entertainment for her. She also started signing, "more" the first time we introduced it to her. Looks like we slacked off a little on kid #2 with the teachable moments!

Ryan is getting so mature all of a sudden, too. I look at him sometimes wondering where the time has gone. His most recent inquiry is, "Mommy, are you happy?" He asks that when I'm obviously frustrated or in a hurry. It's quite humbling.

Things are good in our house, just busy. I'm helping my mom with her business, which is booming right now. I committed to 10 hours a week (working during naps and on Saturdays, if needed) and I'm currently clocking 25-30 hours a week. That's in addition to being a wife, stay at home mom and church volunteer. So I basically work every minute the kids are asleep. I need to slow down or I'm going to look around and realize that Kaylin started 1st grade.