My Light Weights

Well most of you know my kids are small - like they don't register on growth charts because they are that far below average. In contrast my sister Val's kids have always been well above average. For sometime we have been wondering if her 2 year old outweighed my 6 year old. So The other day we were all at Val's house and finally satisfied out curiosity and weighed each of our kids. Here are the results in order heaviest to lightest.

Natali (8)-----------46 lbs.
Abby (4)------------38 lbs.
Mack (6 1/2)-------37 lbs.
Luke (2)------------34 lbs.
Andrew (5)---------32 lbs.
Kate (3)----------- -24 lbs.

We had a good laugh at the extremes of both of our kids and I decided to post it so that someday they too can look back and laugh.

The Adventures of a Girl Named Kate

Kate has suddenly come into her own- personality that is. She has transformed from my easy going, quiet, joyful child, to the kid that makes me want to pull my hair out (or hers). The role of biggest boss has been transferred to Kate as each of the other kids give into her every whim rather that listen to the screaming. After a few talks with the other kids they are starting to defend themselves by actually telling her no. Which means she now spends a lot of time in her room screaming to herself, or on the porch screaming for the neighbors to hear (but at least I can't). With the baby coming soon I think she is just testing the boundaries and sadly I really don't want to rise to that occasion (because I don't like getting up at all) but I am trying to nip this in the bud before the baby comes. For the sake of all who plan to watch Kate when I have this baby I hope she gets over this adventure quickly.

The adventure of potty training has also begun. I read the Potty Training in a Day book that has been such a success with my sisters kids and was determined that I would do this by the letter and thus have overnight potty training success. I'd like to say I am joking, but I really thought that Kate would have this all figured out within three days. Well she did great the first day - only 2 accidents. Then we hit the bump- she stopped using the potty. The next three days were a discouraging blur of wet undies and wet eyes. I was ready to return to diapers, but then suddenly she started using the potty again and had 2 days with no accidents, followed by one a day for the last three days. Maybe it worked; I'm not holding my breath.

However, not all of her adventures have made me cry. We can't help but laugh at some of her latest interests. She learned about Harry Potter from Natali and has taken to calling herself 'Miney' like Hermine Granger. I probably call her Miney as much as Kate - she insists. She also refers to me as 'Lily', Andrew has become 'Potter', Mack is 'Ron', Greg is 'Potter's Dad', and Natali is either 'Buckbeak' or 'Miney's Cat'. It cracks me up that my 2 year old has embraced the Harry Potter world so entirely. She has even named the baby in her tummy Miney (you did remember she was pregnant, right?).

Kate has also taken it upon herself to name our baby. She has been sure the baby is a girl for the entire pregnancy but in the last month she has started to call the baby Pananunu. I have no idea where this name came from but she consistently refers to the baby as Pananunu. I hope she isn't too disappointed if this baby is a boy or if we don't choose Pananunu (Greg hasn't rejected it yet...trying to find a name for this baby is another story).

She is still my bouncy, fun, little blondy, but she's got a little more sass and we are all adjusting to the change. This post is an effort to convince myself that this is part of the adventure not just torture.

Pink Hair

Kate is pretty good recognizing most of her colors and like most 2 year old girls, has a special affinity for pink. Recently, when she was asked, 'What color is your hair?' she answered pink. I thought this was pretty funny. However, over the last month I have realized that she will also consistently tell you that Mack, Andrew, and Cinderella have pink hair. She says that Natali and I have brown hair. So it appears that Kate thinks blonds have pink hair - lucky for them.

My Favorite Reads from 2009

In the back of my journal I keep a log of all the books I read each year. This year I even rated each book to help me remember how much I liked them. I was killing time the other night and was going over my reading lists from the last few years. Each title reminded me of my circumstances while reading that book and the different things I learned. I love books. I love the way they look on bookshelves. I love the way it feels when you see how far you have progressed through a 600 page book. I love getting wrapped up in a good story or being amazed at the skill of writers who can make economics fascinating. I love watching my Natali stay up way too late reading Harry Potter because she just can't wait to find out what happens. I love learning about places and people far away. I can go on and on but instead I will just post my favorite reads of 2009.

The Book Thief - Juvenile Fiction about a girl living in Germany during WW2 and how books influenced her life. Captivating. Wonderful insight into the power of words.

Screwtape Letters- A fictional account of how devils tempt their assigned people. C. S. Lewis is amazing. This was a quick reread for me filled with reminders of how I can be more aware of Satan's attempts on me.

Long Walk to Freedom - The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela. Very long and slow at parts but considering 27 years of his life were spent in jail it was fascinating. His self mastery and commitment were inspiring.

Outliers - Non-Fiction. A statistical study showing patterns in the lives of people that succeed. Sounds boring, but if you haven't read anything by Gladwell give it a try. You'll be surprised at how interesting numbers can be.

Other good reads from the year: David Copperfield, The House At Sugar Beach, Hot, Flat and Crowded, A Room with A View, Confessions of an Economic Hitman

The Boy and His Hat

If any of you have seen Mack lately you may have noticed the permanent new addition to his wardrobe. I knitted this hat in high school. It was an experiment that didn't turn out well because is was too big for mostly everybody. When we pulled out the winter clothes this year Mack's old hat had disappeared and he claimed this one as the replacement. I figured it wouldn't last long because it really is huge. Not only does he wear this hat whenever he goes outside but he wears it all the time - seriously - he even wears it to bed. I hope his teacher makes him take it off in the class room, but other than that possibility he only takes it off when he prays, bathes, and goes to church. Who would have guessed that he would love it so.

Adventures with the 'Family' Photo

My kind cousin-in-law has taken our pictures every year since we moved to Idaho. She is wonderful with the kids and does a fabulous job. But this year I was a little slow to schedule so I agreed to one of the last warmish days left that she had available. When I finally let Greg know when we were doing the pictures he told me he would be out of town. So we decided to just do kid pictures - they're the ones everyone wants to see anyway - right? The plan and would have worked great but Kate got sick the week before the pictures and was still in that less-than-pleasant mood. I had to force her outfit on (a pink dress I assumed she would love, but she still refuses to wear it) and stand in every picture with her or she would just walk away screaming. Even the candy didn't really help (at least it stopped the screaming). But we have some fabulous pictures of the three oldest kids. So much for the 'family' photo this year.

This is the only picture we have of all four kids without me in it - and Kate was trying to exit as quickly as possible.This face is almost happy thanks to M & M's.

Some of you might not have seen Natali in her new specs. She got the glasses the day before the pictures. She was so excited to get glasses that for a while I was worried she would fake her test just to get them, but I sat in on her exam and I'm pretty sure she needs them. I let her pick out the frames - she did pretty good huh?

Now just to contrast Kate, all of Mack's pictures look like he is straight out of an Old Navy ad.
Andrew loves cheese and you can't help but smile back.

Cristi managed to steal this brief smile at the very end of our photo shoot. But don't be deceived into thinking Kate was actually smiling of her own accord - I was holding her while I hid behind a tree and tickled her.

I am so blessed to have these crazy kids.

Pirates have green teeth - when they have any teeth at all!

Every year before Halloween the elementary school has their Halloween Parade. All the kids dress up and walk around the school showing each other their costumes. It is such a fun tradition and parents are invited to come watch. Well this year when Mack's teacher saw me she said, "Mack is really taking this pirate thing seriously." Then pirate Mack smiled to reveal a missing tooth. He was just beaming. Then when Natali walked by she freaked out telling me Mack lost his first tooth...I love that she was so excited for him.

Anyway, for the rest of the day he called anyone he could think of to tell them about his tooth. He felt like he had something stuck in his tooth and basically just pulled the tooth out thinking it was a popcorn kernel.
The best part about losing your tooth at school is the fancy necklace you get to put it in!