Family Portrait

Our family as illustrated by Kyla.

Mason's found a new love ...

Over spring break, Mason's team had a baseball game and because most of the players were out of town,  they asked Mason to play catcher.  He was super-nervous about it and didn't want to but did it anyway (which earned him an Attitude Patch from his Coach).  He did a great job and has been talking about how much fun it was since.  He's played catcher for a few innings during each of the games since and even made a great play getting a runner out at home.  He often says, "I"m the best catcher they have, Mom."  I love his confidence.

It was 90 degrees outside and he played catcher the entire game.  He was a sweaty mess when the game was over but LOVED every minute of it.

Awe, he looks so grown up in this photo. 

Frustration ...

Lately I've been feeling like Mason takes everything we do for him for granted.  He doesn't say "Thank You" as much as he should and isn't very appreciative.  I just feel like it's never enough.  Well, Kyla wanted to spend her birthday money so after school we went to Target.  Mason also had a $20 gift card that Grammy and Grandpa gave him.  On our way into the parking lot, we saw a homeless man standing with a sign.  A few minutes later, someone drove by and gave him In-N-Out.  Well, I pointed it out to the kids and said that we needed to do things like that more often.  I also explained that he probably doesn't even have other clothes to change into and that he may even have children that don't have anything as well.

Ok, so we get to the toy section at Target and Kyla immediately finds what she can get and afford but Mason wants a $40 Lego set instead of the $25 he can get with his own money.  I explained that his birthday was in 3 weeks and he may get that Lego set then or at least money to buy it.  He wouldn't let up, he whined and complained and questioned me on how much money I spent on Kyla.  I told him it wasn't happening.  He could get the smaller set or nothing.  He put the smaller set in the cart with a scowl on his face and proceeded to grumble about it and start conflict with Kyla while I was trying to shop.  Finally, I'd had enough so I stopped, got down to his level and told him that he should be ashamed of himself, that he was lucky to get any set at all and that I was frustrated with his lack of appreciation for all that we do and buy for him.  I asked him to think about the poor man outside with no food, no clothing, no home and nothing to his name and said that if one more word came out of his mouth about it, I would take the $20 and given it to him.  Oh, was I mad.  I'm not kidding, if it wouldn't have been a gift from his grandparents, I would have.

Now that I'm home, I've thought about things and realized that I should have done it.  I also need to give my kids actual chores to do.  They do help out around the house but I them to start being responsible for their jobs without having to nag them about it.  It may give them a sense of pride as well.  I'm drafting up chore charts as we speak and we'll see how it goes.

On to happier news.  Kyla used her birthday money to buy a 700 piece Friends Lego Set.  Until now, she's only done a few smaller sets with the exception of yesterday when she did a set with 300 pieces.  Well, she started putting it together at 3:00 pm and hasn't stopped except to eat a quick dinner.  She's obsessed and absolutely loves it.  This set is geared towards 6-12 year olds and she's whipping it out, no problem.  I'm so proud of her.

Mason has been chosen to be a Conflict Manager at school during the lunch recess.  He's such a good for at school.  His teachers absolutely love him.

I did a little crafty project today for Kyla's room.  I love that stuff.

Who would have thought that Mason would like one for his room.  He said he wants one for boys so I'll have to think about what I can do.  I have baseball and soccer brads so I'm thinking those would be cute on it.

Daddy time

Looks like some tired kiddos here.  They love reading time with Daddy ... such a special time for them.

Obsessed with bunny ears. 

Most of the time when Daddy got the kids ready for bed,  he'd get them riled up with big-time-wrestling.  I love Kyla's huge laugh in this photo.  Priceless. 

Uh-oh, Kyla is getting raspberries ... Mason to the rescue. 

Body slams.  They loved every minute of it. 

Hanging out with Jack

We love having Jack over to stay the night.  He and Mason get along very well and he is great with Kyla too.  Doesn't usually gripe about her getting in there and playing with them.  We'll definitely do our best to keep in touch with Jack even though we're moving about 45 minutes farther away.  The nice part is that Jack's mom reciprocates and has Mason over often.  

Mustache!

Pretending they are old men here, makes me laugh. 

I don't think she was much of a fan. 

Sky High - now we're going to live 10 minutes from here. 

Sneaky Kyla doing bunny ears. 

These boys don't have nothin' on Kyla.  She's tough, that one. 

Yay, a good one of the boys. 

At home

We enjoy hanging out at home.  Here are some photos of us being silly at home.  

Hello Kitty Underpants .... hmmm, I wonder whose those are? 

She wants PINK!

Kyla wanted to pitch in and help paint her bedroom (she didn't last long though).  Of course, she wants a PINK room!  It's going to be very cute.

Bubble Bath

I'm posting all of the these because I just can't decide while ones I love the most ... I love them all!

This one is super cute ... wish he was smiling.

Sweet.

This is them pretty much all the time ... horsing around and laughing (except when their fighting, lol). 

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE but why does he have to do the crazy eyes? 

Where'd she go? 

My boy ... 

Roscoe Dog

I'm trying to catch up on my blog from 2012 so it's actually June 2014 and I found these pictures of Roscoe with the kids.  It's strange how a photo can make you feel happy and sad all at the same time.  It makes me incredibly happy to see how much we loved Roscoe and how much of a family member he was too us but makes me so sad not to have that old lazy dog around anymore.  What I wouldn't give to have him for just another week.  I'd let him sleep on the bed and get him In & Out burgers to eat (have done that before).  Lots of love.  Funny how you only remember the good parts, right.  He was a complete jerk for the first 5 years of his life.  He stomped around our room in the middle of the night and when you'd let him out, he'd wait until you just get back in bed to grumble to get back in!  We couldn't keep anything on the counters or the table.  He was always looking for a snack (didn't have to sweep the floor after the kids ate though).  We have Trixie now, don't get me wrong ... she's a great dog but in no way a replacement for Roscoe.  We all miss you boy ... love you lots.

Me and My Guy Dance

The Girl Scouts put on a Me and My Guy Dance and Kyla's Daisy Troop attended.  Kyla got a new party dress and Brian got dressed up in a nice shirt and tie and they were set to go.  Brian snuck out while she was getting ready to get his date some flowers.  

I couldn't wait to take pictures of them outside before the dance.

I LOVE this one.  They look so cute together and this will be such a great memory for her.  I wish I would have gotten to do something like this with my dad when I was young.

I would do anything to have skin like this again ...

All on her own.  My baby is growing up too quickly.

The girls met up at one of the Daisy Leaders house for corsages and more photos.

Such a great group of girls.

A great shot with their Daddy's.

Our first trip to the ER

Kyla started complaining of a tummy ache on Saturday night.  We didn't think too much about it because says her it hurts often and forgets about it.  Well, Sunday we celebrated her birthday and she said it hurt once but had a great time, ate and looked fine.  Monday the school nurse called saying Kyla had a tummy ache and I didn't hear my phone ring but by the time I called back she was already back in class.  I went about my day and the nurse called again to say she was back in there and I went to pick her up.  When she got into the car, I could tell she wasn't feeling well at all - I tried the ol' wanna snack trick and she didn't fall for it.  By the time we got home she said she wanted to go to the Dr's.  I told her she was probably going to get blood drawn and she still wanted to go.  Then I knew for sure that she didn't feel well.  I was upstairs getting changed to go and she was yelling up to me, "Why haven't we gone to the doctor's yet?"  She was miserable.  Of course, I called ahead and talked to my bestie, Astreaa.  She hand picked the doctor we wanted her to see and held a spot for us.  My jobs got to have some perks, right?

We got into a room, and Dr. Jeremy came in to see Kyla.  She was the perfect little patient and historian.  He thought it best to order labs, urine and an ultrasound.  The blood draw was pretty traumatizing for her (Astreaa did it for me) and during the draw she was holding on to me and yelling, "I wish this was a dream!"  She wouldn't move her arm for the rest of the day.  The ultrasound came back ok ... they couldn't visualize the appendix which usually means it's OK.  The urine was fine but the blood work came back very slightly abnormal.  He said we could do a CT Scan (to definitively rule out appendicitis) or just watch her closely for the next 24 hours.  I didn't want her to get any radiation unless absolutely necessary so I agreed to take her home and watch her.

It was a rough night, I even called Dr. Jeremy back to see if we should bring her back in.  She moaned and groaned and slept on Brian for most of the night.  The next morning, we took Mason to school and she came right in and wanted to build her Lego set.  200+ pieces.  She was a bit puny but ate a full lunch and played at Mason's baseball game so I knew she'd be fine.  What a relief that was.  My poor little thing ... she was such a brave little girl.  She cried but never moved during her blood draw.  I think she was the favorite patient of the day.

She fell asleep in the car on the way home - which she never does.  She insisted on keeping her "blood draw" on until she got to show her friends at school (2 days later).

Kyla's Birthday with Friends

Instead of trying to catch up on my blog I've decided to try to stay current and catch up on the older ones when I get time.  It's more difficult to remember and to write about things that happened 3 months ago.  So be sure to scroll down often if you're interested in anything from February and March.  I have a love-hate relationship with my blog lately.  I love looking back on my older posts and how wonderful the blog books turned out but it has been feeling like homework that's always there ... hanging over my head lately.  Maybe it's because I got so behind ... whatever ... I'm not going to let that happen again.  Ok, now on to Kyla's birthday.  Instead of a big party with the entire class, Kyla chose to have a few friends go with us to Sky High Sports (a trampoline place) and The Old Spaghetti Factory.  She had 3 of her friends from her class and one of our neighbor friends go with us.  It was fun, easy and the kids had a great time.  I think Kyla felt very special which is always my goal.

We made cupcakes to take along to The Old Spaghetti Factory.  She chose vanilla rainbow chip cupcakes with pink vanilla frosting.  Yummy.

The birthday girl.

Wow, was she excited to open presents.  Wait until you see these pictures.

She got so many wonderful gifts.  Her favorite's were Lego's, Zoobles, Bratz Dolls, anything Barbie and of course, money.  She took her money and immediately went out and bought a huge Lego set.  She loves them and is so good at it.