Sunday afternoon craft--with a black eye

Ok, first I'll tell about the black eye. After we got home from Grandma Sindy's on Saturday I was trying to get Sekoya to help me fold towels. That is one of her responsibilities around the house. She had other ideas. She wanted to play freeze tag with Katera. They were actually in the other room when I heard- "I said freeze!" followed by a whack and Katera screaming. I don't think Sekoya really meant to hurt Katera. She had my exercise tension bands that have handles on either end in her hands and I think when she went to tag Katera again the handle swung around and hit her eye. It was all I could do to keep my calm with Sekoya. We have been scolding her a lot lately for hitting and pushing her sister. She just doesn't seem to get it through her head that she CAN'T hit! I tell her I don't hit her so she has no reason to hit either. I sent her straight to her room before I lost it. I finally got Katera calmed down (and myself) and went down to talk to Sekoya. Hopefully she will get it this time. She was really upset that she hurt Katera so bad and was yelling "I'm a bad girl, I'm a bad girl" over and over.

After church on Sundays is one of my hardest times. Jason and I just want to veg on the couch and do nothing while the girls are totally bored and get really ornery. Sekoya is always wanting to do a craft, but it seems like we never have time to do it on the weekdays. There is always something that we have to do and not enough time to make a big mess and clean it up. Sunday I gave in and got the paints out. Both girls love to paint- I just don't love cleaning it up. I have found out the hard way that acrylic paint does not come out of clothes no matter how well you spot it. So I make them strip down to their undies and diaper. And it's a good thing because they ended up painting each other half way through. I even took the time to paint with them. It was a nice change of pace. They loved it and their attention even lasted for about 45 minutes. Then they were much happier girls after that. I guess it pays to give your kids the attention they crave!

Thanksgiving

Whew!!! Am I glad this weekend is over!! I know I sound like a total grump, but I dread holidays! Don't get me wrong..... I like spending time with family. Especially the extended family that we don't see very often. But four straight days of it is more than enough for me. I am so glad that tomorrow I get to go back to my normal every day routine. Ah ha.... I just realized that is why I don't like holidays........ it throws my routines and schedules all of out of whack. And yes that is really stupid, but that is the way my mind works and I don't know how to change it.

With that said.. we did have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving day with the Rappleyes. We had tons of yummy food and pies then everyone separated for their afternoon naps. We had all the teenage cousins at our house in the afternoon for Guitar Hero and the adults later that night for progressive rummy. All the kids played well together and were nice which makes it nice for the mommies and daddies. Friday morning I got up a little early-7:30 and went shopping for the Black Friday deals. I went at 5 AM last year. I can say that I have done that and I NEVER need to do that again! I am not one that would fight over an item or act like an idiot trying to get something so why go that early with all the crazies? There really wasn't even anything in the ads that I needed. Jason went and played raquetball with all the Rappleye guys. Too bad he got his butt kicked and lost my cherry pie in a bet!! I made the mistake of driving down main street where my kids saw Santa at his post. I had to stop and let them sit on his lap. I wasn't prepared for that though- no coats in the cold November chill. This is the first year that Sekoya hasn't been completely scared to death of Santa. She walked right up and told him just what she wanted- Martian Matter. Katera didn't even fuss about sitting on his lap. So I got a cute picture this year with no screaming or crying. We went out to Pizza Hut on Friday night.... I was turkeyd out. Saturday my mom made a Thanksgiving dinner. We were short quite a few people in our family, but we still had a good time. After dinner we played progressive rummy again and then went home to call it a night.

Musical Beds

Katera has been having a really hard time going to bed and sleeping at night. I don't know if she is scared or is just being a stinker. Well, some nights I know she is scared because she cries out and sobs while she is completely asleep. We have resorted to playing musical beds. She starts out in her bed and then cries to sleep with sissy. After we think she has gone to sleep she comes upstairs and won't go back to her bed. So we put her to sleep in the extra bed. When that doesn't even work we let her fall asleep in our bed and then move her to the spare bed when we go to sleep. So....... I have four beds to make in the mornings! The craziest part is she never does this when Jason is gone- only when he is home. Does anybody have a psychological answer for me? I guess we will just keep doing whatever gets her to sleep at nights and hope this passes-soon!

I can afford to fill my gas tank!

Yay!!!! I am so excited that I can actually afford a tank of gas these days. This is what my total came to after filling my Yukon yesterday. It has been costing me over $100. Since I didn't go broke feeding my car I bought treats for everyone!!

Ok, on a little negative side....... do fellow bloggers not know that there is a spell check option at the top of the compose box? It makes me laugh to see how people spell things. That is something that I notice right off the bat. It totally floors me when people that I know are teachers misspell things! I am not saying that I am a genius or anything or have never misspelled anything, but when there is a spell check button why not use it?

High School Tag

1. Did you date someone in high school? a few too many, only a couple seriously
2. What kind of car did you drive? a light blue Mazda 2whl drive pick-up without a stereo until I rolled it and totalled it. Then I drove my mom's red Mercur or Jason's green 79 Chevy truck
3. Did you pass your driver's license test the first time? Yes
4. Were you a party animal? Yes, but not proud of it
5. Were you considered a flirt? Yes
6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Not hardly- wasn't my style
7. Were you a nerd? no
8. Were you on any varsity teams? Softball, Volleyball
9. Did you ever get suspended or expelled? No, but not for lack of trying
10. Can you still sing your fight song? No, never knew it even when I was in school
11. Who were your favorite teachers?
12. Where did you sit at lunch? In the parking lot, hall, or fast food joint
13. School mascot: Wildcats
14. School colors: Red and Blue
15. Did you go to homecoming and who with? Yes, only one year before I was even 16
16. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Yes, I would love to be care free again, but I would do a lot of thing differently
17. What do you remember most about graduation?
18. Where did you go on Senior Skip Day? didn't have a senior year so didn't do senior skip day
19. Were you in any clubs? are you kidding me?
20. Have you gained weight since then? Um, yes unfortunately. Not a ton though
21. Who was your prom date? my sweet husband who took me when he was 21 since nobody would ask me (we were actually engaged)
22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? just had it this summer- everything was still the same old high school stuff
23. Did you have a job while in high school? if cleaning my mom's beauty shop counts
24. Worst class?
25. Favorite class?

Look alike?

Recently I have been told that I resemble Reese Witherspoon and also Julia Stiles. I take either of those as a very nice compliment. What do you think?

ER and the OR

Yes, I am looking up Katera's nose. We were just hanging out waiting for bedtime when she came to me and said- "Nose. Funny. Get it out." She had been eating craisins. . . . . . . . . .

And stuck one up her nose! So after a few minutes of debating and trying to get it on our own we headed to the emergency room. It so frustrates me that we don't have an Insta care clinic for weekends- starting Thursday at noon!!! The ONLY option you have is the ER even when it really isn't an emergency! I guess that's part of living in a small town- one that I don't like.

So we dropped Sekoya off with Grandma Maridon.... she would have been more traumatized than Katera over this- she has a very tender heart for her family. Katera thought it was all fun and games until we actually got into the emergency room. She was all grins in the waiting room.......

Then she started to get a little worried when we set her on the bed. It didn't help that there was a girl next to us that was getting stitches and was crying and whimpering quite a bit. The doctor came and talked to us and told us what he was going to do. He was kind-of talking to us like we were first time parents. He told us that we could leave when they restrained her because she would freak out. Are you kidding? I was not about to leave my baby while they restrained her and let her worry that I left her. I asked him if he would rather have us leave and he hesitated and then asked what number child Katera was for us. Ha!! I reassured him that she was not the first child and that my older one had done this as well so I knew all about the restraints and freaking out. He just didn't want a mommy freaking out and causing more stress for the baby.

So he got out the tools and let Katera look at them while he prepared. She was ok when he was just looking with the little flashlight tool. Then we wrapped her up in a sheet nice and tight like a burrito. She wasn't too cool with that,but still only whined a little bit. She was even ok when he started with the tweezers. Then I think it got a little deep in her nose and might have hurt a little bit. She started screaming and crying and moving her head. He had to stop and looked again to see that it had gone farther in her nasal passage. He said we had two options- try to suck it out with a little vacuum hose or try to push it all the way through down her throat. The vacuum seemed like the least invasive for her, but their suction in the ER wasn't enough. So we loaded up and went to the OR to use the GOOD suction. I told them I just didn't want to get charged for an OR!! We wrapped her up again and stuck the suction up her nose. She was arching her back and kicking her legs. I got to put pressure on her body while Jason held her legs. Finally the suction got it and pulled it out. I told her she was all done and she immediately stopped crying. She was such a brave little girl. I asked her as we were leaving if she was going to stick things in her nose anymore and she wagged her finger at me and said No, No, No.

The funniest part about this is that Sekoya did the exact same thing with a raisin when she was about this same age. I just wish I had a blog back then and I could go back and remember exactly how old she was. I am really glad that our ER trip was just for a craisin up the nose. We have been so blessed with healthy kids that don't have a lot of accidents either.

This is the little green dragon that they gave Katera for being such a good patient.

Goofy

Moms and Muffins

I almost forgot to put this in! Thanks for reminding me with your post about lunch Heather.

Last Friday our elementary school had a Moms and Muffins day. You get to go to school with your child and spend abou 1/2 hour reading with them. Then they served muffins. We tended Preslie in the morning so Melissa could go with Hayden. Preslie is finally getting big enough to play with the kids. I am so excited for when Preslie, Aubrei, and Katera get about five years old. I think they will be such good little friends.

Anyway... back to Moms and Muffins..... I was able to go with Sekoya while Jason stayed home with Katera. She was so happy to have me there. It was some good one on one time with my big girl. Katera takes so much attention sometimes I think Sekoya feels neglected. I was very happy to be able to go with her. I was watching to make sure that all the other kids had a mom or grandma to read with. I felt bad that a couple of them didn't have anybody there. I am so blessed to be able to stay home and be the mommy for my girls. I have a great husband that works hard (if you can call his job work) to make sure he provides all the financial stability so I can do that. It was really nice not to have to worry about taking a day off of work or working around a lunch break to go share this day with Sekoya. It was fun to see who each kid belongs to since I have been working with them once a week. When it was time to go all of the kids got a little clingy and didn't want their moms to leave- including Sekoya.

We also took the girls to see Madagascar 2 Friday night. It was a cute movie, still not as good as the first. Katera actually sat through the whole thing without running around. I think that is the first time she has done that. It was fun to be able to go to the movie all together instead of one of us staying home with Katera.

Service

Sekoya's primary lesson this last Sunday was on service. Her teacher told them to do secret acts of service this week. So we keep finding little red hearts by our clean closet, perfectly made beds, etc. She has been so excited to do this too. Her primary teacher is so cute and relates to these girls so well. I am so thankful for such a great new ward. They have welcomed us with open arms. But isn't that what Latter Day Saints are all about? Making anyone feel welcome wherever they go.

Yesterday I went and got Katera a new perm. Her hair has been such a mess lately. Sekoya cut it a while back so she has several different lengths. That makes it hard to get to stay in ponytails. So, as the slacking mother I am, I just don't do it usually. I figured if she at least had curls it would look cute even when I don't do it. She was a really good girl for most of the time. She didn't like getting the curlers in because it pulled. That was the worst part. Now I have a cute little curly cue!

This was pretty much her demeanor all day long.

This was her attempt to smile and look happy.

She also got her fingernails painted so that was something to be happy about.

Jinxed!

Okay, I guess I asked for it with my last post. I stated that I wasn't going to worry too much about Sekoya and the kids at school unless I got a phone call from an upset mother. Well, I got a worse phone call....

from her TEACHER!!!

She called me yesterday and asked if there was something going on at home that would cause her to act out. I told her no, there isn't anything new or out of the ordinary going on at home. She then told me how she is spitting and pushing kids and not listening to the teacher/aides when they tell her to do something. I can't say I was surprised. Sekoya definitely dances to the beat of her own drum. I am a little frustrated with her though. GRRRRRR! Every day when she comes home I ask how school was, if she got along with all the kids, and if she got in trouble. She answers me with quick one word answers- fine, yes, no. So yesterday when she got home we had a little bit longer discussion about school. She kept trying to tell me nothing was going on and the kids are just tattling on her. I told her the teacher called me and told me she saw Sekoya push a kid. I finally broke through her wall and she sat on my lap and cried for about ten minutes. Come to find out this all stems from her friend next door not wanting to play with her much these days. She is always bringing home the girl that used to live in our house to play with her and leaving Sekoya out. I guess this happens at recess too. So Sekoya is feeling sad/mad and takes it out on everybody else. I hate to admit, but I cried too. I felt so bad for my little girl. I know how she feels and I remember how mean girls can be at times. I also know that this is just a first of many times like this. I hate being the mom! I want to just make it all better, but I can't. This is something Sekoya has to learn from and work out on her own. I hope I can help her through this and teach her how to deal with it the next time it happens. Girls are just so mean! If you have seen the movie 'Mean Girls' it is all true!!

Kids.....

Well, first it was baby powder next is sugar....

Katera got into the pantry where I had about 1/3 of a bag of sugar in there. She dumped it on the floor and proceded to lick it up. I was in my bathroom doing my hair when I came out to find her face and shirt covered in sugar. I asked her what she got into and she proudly declared- Sugar! I'll show you! There's her cute grin that squishes up her whole face. I love it! She makes me laugh sometimes.

Man, life at our house is never dull!!! I could use a dull day once in a while.

Sekoya is officially reading!! I am so proud of her. I bought some beginner readers from her book order last month. Jason sat down with her one day and she sounded out and read the entire book to him. She got through all of those and was just reciting them from memory so I bought her some more from Hooked on Phonics. She is already to book 5 in that set. The books that her teacher is sending home each week are too easy for her now. I am glad that she is doing so well with reading. I think if they can catch on to reading the rest will come. I am helping in her class every Tuesday now. She is definitely one of the smarter ones in the class. It is really fun and interesting to see the kids interact with each other. I have also learned that Sekoya is not very nice sometimes- from some tattling from the other kids. I am not worrying too much about it because I think all 5 year olds can be a little mean sometimes.... I just hope I don't get a phone call from a mother.

I am helping with our Christmas enrichment night tomorrow. I was volunteered to be on the decorating comittee without even knowing it. I don't know if that is their way of making me feel welcome, but I really wish they wouldn't. I don't mind helping-don't get me wrong, but I wish I would have been asked if I would help and not told. I was in charge of putting together a little bag with all the symbols of Christmas. It didn't take that long and they turned out cute. Then we have to decorate tomorrow. Most of the ladies on the committee don't have small kids at home so they don't understand that I can't decorate at 11:00. That is when I am getting Sekoya fed and ready to go to school. So I will just get there when I can and if I am lucky they will have it all done ;)!

When Mommy is away.......the kids make a MESS!

OK, So it has been a while since I have posted anything....well this is not exactly how I wanted to get back to posting.

Well, Ashley decide that she wanted a weekend away and headed to St. George this morning to enjoy a weekend at the Scrapbook Expo. I dont really think she went for that as she hardly scrapbooks anymore. I think she just needed a night or two away.....which is GREAT and I am glad that she can.

Sooooooo I finish up bathing the kids tonight and get them in their PJs and walk upstairs to do a few things and Sekoya comes running up screaming that Katera had just made a HUGE mess. So, being the good Dad that I am and following my wifes lead.....I grab the camera and head downstairs. :)

When I get down the stairs I see this HAZE all the way down the hallway. I walk into Kateras room and I can not even breathe as the BABY POWDER was so thick in the air. She had climbed up and emptied an entire bottle of Baby Powder in her room. IT IS EVERYWHERE! I attempted to vaccum and to clean, but it is in every crevice in the entire basement!!!!! I put Katera back in the TUB to try and get her clean. But as you can see from the pictures, she is quite proud of the mess that she has made!!!!

So, Ash............if you check the blog while you are down in St. George........I LOVE YOU......I LOVE YOU.....and I will clean this up before you get home!!!! ahahahah








How can you just not LOVE LOVE LOVE a face like this?????

A little more anonymous?

I am going to change our blog address so it does not include any part of our name. I will email everyone that I know your email address the new address. If I don't have your address please leave me a comment.

I know this is as much of a pain as going private, so why don't I just do that? I still want friends to be able to blog surf and find me from other's links. I am hoping that I am making my blog a little more anonymous without having to go private.

Katera's two year old stats

We went to the doctor today for her two year old well check and shots. I hate shots. I hate that I have to be the mean one to hold her down and let people hurt her. She is so tough. She cried for only a few minutes and by the time we walked out of the doctor's office she was fine. I didn't get pictures because after the doctor we had to rush home and get Sekoya to dance and then fix dinner.

Weight 24.8 lbs 25%

Height 34 in 50%

She is so small compared to Sekoya. Sekoya was always in the 75-90% and still is.

Katera is so fun these days- and also really hard to deal with sometimes too. She is definitely in the "terrible two's". She can go from laughing one minute to screaming and throwing a fit the next minute. She gives the best dirty looks ever. I am told that they are a mirror image of mine. She has decided she really likes TV now. I can hardly tear her a away from Max and Ruby, Dora, or any of the Barbie movies. She is a great eater and only fusses about food after she watches Sekoya say it is yucky. She is a big tag along and follows Sekoya and her friends everywhere they will let her. She also loves our cat- Jasmine. She will go outside and call for her "Here Key, Key, Key" (kitty, kitty, kitty) She is really starting to talk. It is so funny to hear full sentences come out of her mouth. The latest one is "I told you to go to bed." It just floored me to hear her say that many words at one time. She also says - I'll show you, Mommy where are you?, I sure love you, I did it. She says a lot of single words, but those are her most used phrases. We are starting the potty training process with her this week. It is not going so well. She knows that she needs to tell me when she needs to potty, but she waits until it is too late. Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated. I guess we'll just keep working on it and cleaning up the messes. Thank goodness my house is mostly tile!
Some things I love about Katera right now are-

• when she says thank you at just the right time
• her cute grin that squishes up her whole face
• that she always worries about her sister -where she is, if she's sad
• her long luvs- closest thing to cuddling for her
• she loves to help with anything I am doing
• how her face lights up when she sees her Daddy
• she goes to sleep so easy still- for naps and bedtime
• her independence- most of the time
• when she tells me I love you before I say it to her
• she asks to go home after being out and about for a while

I love you Care Bear!!!

Voting by a 5 year old

Sekoya came home from school today with a voting sticker on her shirt.
She exclaimed-I voted for NaCain.
When I asked her why she voted for him and not the other one her reply was- Well it's almost Christmas time and NaCain sounds like candy cane.
I told her that is who I would have voted for too. She said-Yeah if only you were five. But you're LOTS older than five.

If only voting were that simple.

Time Change

It is 6:45 AM and both my girls are awake. This time change is really messing up my days. Usually I can get up at this time and have about an hour to myself to get some things done before by beautiful little angels wake up. I really dislike time changes. I don't really care which one we are on, I just wish it would stay the same all year long. Now I will have a 5 year old getting cranky around four or five o'clock tonight and my two year old ready for her nap before we've even had lunch.

Sigh.

And we have a well child Dr. appointment and dance class today.

Big sigh.

It is going to be one of those days.

No tricks, just tons of treats

Halloween is a crazy night. We have so many family members to see that it takes up quite a bit of our trick or treat time. Not to mention how hard it is getting the kids in and out, in and out of the car in their costumes. Sekoya was Rapunzel this year and Katera was a Care Bear. Since that is her nick name I figured it would be fun to have her be that while she is young enough not to have a say in her costume choice. Yes, Sekoya should have a long BLONDE braid for Rapunzel, but she wanted real hair and brown was what Grandma Sindy had for us to borrow. Katera was funny about her costume. She did NOT want to wear the head for her costume on her head until I took her in the bathroom to see it. I told her how cute it was and she agreed. Then she didn't want it off. Sekoya started trick or treating at 2:30 in the afternoon. She went with our neighbors and friends to Walmart and Lins to their trunk or treats. Then we got Katera ready and met them at our ward carnival. I was completely surprised at how much fun Katera had. She wanted to do all the activities-except the cake walk. She just wanted the cupcake to eat. It was really cute how they had it set up. They had a scripture name/reference for each activity-Pin the nose on Nephi, Daniel and the Lions bean bag toss, Malachi's tithing toss, and more. After the carnival we made all our family visits then back to the church for their trunk or treat. There weren't very many kids so they went through the line of cars two and three times. We could have been all done when we left there. Katera couldn't even lift her bag. But we HAD to go to the Halloween House. There is a house in town that goes all out with their decorations. I mean ALLLLL OUT. Sekoya insisted that we had to go there. I was worried about what Katera would think, but she was amazed. She didn't want to leave. She just stood and stared at all the stuff. I took Katera home and got her in the bath while Jason took Sekoya to some houses. You can't call it trick or treating unless you go ring the doorbells and wait for the door to be answered. When they got home I hurried and got Sekoya bathed and both girls to bed by 8:30. I let her sort her candy the next morning. My kids aren't really big candy eaters. Sekoya took her bag and sorted by the things she liked and things she didn't like. By the time she was done she only had about half the amount she started with. Mom and Dad get to eat all the things she doesn't like. I got up early Saturday morning and went to Walmart to get some of the costumes at a discount for dress ups and for next year.......I'm glad it only comes once a year.At the Halloween House
Ward Trunk or Treat- heavy bag

Katera dragging her full bag

Katera growling like a bear

Reward from the cake walk

Cake walk

Bean bag toss

Tithing toss

Digging for treasure

Ready to go trick or treating

Isn't she the cutest Care Bear ever?