My Baby turns 3!

Today, after the Maple Grove field trip, we celebrated Katera's 3rd birthday. It was a busy day!!! I spent two hours while Jason and Sekoya were gone making Katera's mermaid cake. I really don't know why I take on these complicated cakes. They always look so easy until you're right in the middle of it. As I was frosting the cake it was falling apart. I was getting really frustrated and exclaimed- This cake is a disaster! Katera simply stated- It's not a disaster Mommy, it's a mermaid. That made me realize that it didn't matter if it met my expectations. Katera was thrilled that I was making the cake that she had chosen (two weeks ago). As soon as Jason and Sekoya got home we went to K-mart to eat pizza at Little Caesars. We had been in Walmart earlier in the morning when they were baking their bread. Katera said- Mommy, it smells like pizza. I want pizza! Then we went to the pool for our private swimming party. I had invited several of her friends and all the cousins. None of her friends could make it and none of the cousins showed up until half way through. It was only Jason, me, Sekoya and Katera in the water. I think they had tons of fun.

Maple Grove

Today my big girl went on the long standing traditional first grade field trip to Maple Grove. I did not go on this field trip as a kid because we didn't move here until I was in second grade. But Jason went, Kacey went, all the nieces and nephews have gone, today.... Sekoya went. She woke up ten minutes before her alarm went off, got dressed, and came upstairs to cuss me for not setting her alarm. Would you say she was a little bit excited???

Jason took advantage of the fact that he was home for this field trip. He got to be Sekoya's chaperone today. He even got to be in charge of two other kids. They had a blast learning about good/bad fires, antlers and horns, deciduous and evergreen trees, and finding some deer on their own little hike. They were the only group that found the deer. It pays to have your mighty-hunter-of-a-daddy come! I was so glad he was able to go today. He misses out on too many things in the girls' lives.

The monkey in the wall

Lately Katera has been having a bad dream. She says that she is sitting in a chair, then a monkey comes and turns her around and scares her. When I asked her where the monkey came from her reply was- the wall. She has this dream about every other night. It has made her terrified to go to sleep by herself in her room. In fact, last night she would not go to sleep until I agreed to let her sleep with me. I hope she gets over this soon because I can't stand too many more nights with her little feet kicking me in the ribs. I thought I got rid of that feeling when I got her out of the womb.

Another cute thing from Katera..... tonight we went for a walk over the the high school track where we made a few laps. It was about 7 at night so the sun had gone down, but it wasn't dark yet. She looked up and pointed out the moon like she always does when she finds it. Then she said- A piece of the moon is lost! It was a crescent moon. Too cute!

Hell Week

I am now at day 7 of 10 days without Jason. In this 7 days we have- had a trip to the principal's office, had a stomach bug (with puking), a quick trip to SLC, and survived the primary program in church.

We went to Salt Lake on Friday after I thought Sekoya was done puking. Jason was only going to be home for about 20 hours so we decided to get out of the house and go stay with him in SLC. Sekoya had been up most of the night Thursday night with a stomach bug. By noon on Friday she was running around and tormenting her sister so I thought she was over it. We quickly packed up the car with another week's worth of clothes for Jason and headed out. I took a bag just in case Sekoya got sick along the way. The kids did great and didn't have any sick problems. We met Jason at the hotel and went to get dinner at the Cracker Barrell. Right after they seated us Sekoya was crying and told me she had to throw up. So we ran through the restaurant and barely made it to the bathroom. Thank goodness we were having an early dinner so there weren't many people there. She cried all through dinner and didn't eat much. Then we got back to the hotel and mentioned the swimming pool and she miraculously recovered. We went swimming at the really fun pool complete with a big water slide and lots of fountains shooting water. We were staying in West Valley in an area that didn't have many stores so I didn't even get to get my shopping craving fixed. Saturday Jason took the girls swimming again before we left. We didn't have much time before he had to be back to the airport. Sekoya said she wanted to go to a children's museum and the Gateway was not too far away. We only got to spend about 1 1/2 hours in Discovery Gateway, but the girls absolutely loved it. There were WAY too many people for my liking, and rude people at that. There were five adults playing the musical toys for crying out loud. And they didn't move when kids came to play. Now, if I ran the place, I would only allow a certain number of people in at a time so it can be enjoyed by those who are there and the kids don't have to fight for a turn to play with everything. It didn't seem to bother the girls though. We had to kiss Jason goodbye at lunch and Sekoya was not happy about this. She really cried hard for about ten minutes. It makes me so sad when she does that. It has to be really hard for a little six year old to understand why Daddy has to leave her every week. The girls were very good and tolerated me dragging them to a few stores before we headed home. Hey, I was in Salt Lake where there was shopping. I had to take advantage of it. Too bad I wasn't in the buying mood. I went to two places where I ended up putting my stuff back on the shelves and walking out empty handed. We made it home just in time to grab a sandwich at Arby's, change clothes and grab blankets before we headed to the high school play- Footloose. Sekoya has been watching them practice at the park for months and I promised her I would take her. I was really glad she didn't hear some of the lines since they were even a little risque for high schoolers.

Today was our primary program. It was hard enough that I have four of the rowdiest boys in the ward all in my class, but I had to have Katera on the stand with me too. One of the dads ended up on the stand helping me keep the boys quiet. I have been teaching this class for almost a year now. I am on my last bit of patience with them. They talk when I am talking, throw away my handouts, and are just plain irreverent. I have stuck it out thinking I could somehow get through to them, but I don't think it is going to happen. I have decided today that I am going to have a dad come sit in with our class each week. Once the new year starts I think I am requesting to be released. It's not fair that I use up all my patience at church and then come home and treat my family crappy because of my primary class. I really dread each Sunday.

So hopefully the next three days are a little less eventful. I really hope I don't end up with the stomach bug because I really can't be sick and be a single mommy right now. My super powers are almost used up.

World Record

Aerial view of the four wheelers lined up the CC road to the water tank and also down the dirt road along the freeway.

Tonight Katera and I went down to main street to watch history in the making! Yep, we went to watch thousands of four wheelers drive down main street. We are really starved for entertainment around here. So when the ATV Jamboree set out to break the record for number of four wheelers in a parade we just had to go. We didn't ride our four wheeler because-#1. I am in single mother mode and wouldn't have Jason to help me corral two rambunctious kids while we waited for the parade to start. #2. Our four wheeler is in the shop getting a tune up in time for the elk hunt in two weeks. I think the parade went on for about two or three hours. We were only there for 45 min. which was long enough to make us wreak like exhaust. I hate that smell!! I heard that it did break the record, but haven't heard the official number yet. Grandma Sindy and Kelsey were on Grandma's four wheeler at number 1119.

Picture from the Reaper

Sekoya didn't get to go with us because. . . . . can you guess? She was mean again to a girl at cheer. She threw a toy and hit her in the head. So she got to stay at home all by herself with no TV or friends. I don't know what I am going to do to get this kid to understand she can't be mean. We made her sit in her room all by herself for 1 1/2 hours Sunday night after she clawed Katera. Then she went right to bed. I have grounded her from friends, made her do extra chores, and yelled a whole lot. Nothing seems to get the message across. I am about to just lock her in her room until she can act like a civilized human being around others. This makes me really, really scared for the teenage years.

Playground bully???

Does this look like a child that could be the playground bully? Yep! That's my kid, but I'm not proud of it. She came home last Friday and told me she had to go to the principal's office. She told me that she had been pushing one of her friends on the playground because she didn't want her playing with her and Hadyn. So the teacher came and got her and told her the principal wanted to see her. Apparantly the other girl had gone to the office to call her mom to come get her because she said her stomach hurt. After talking to the principal and her mother they found out that she was just upset because Sekoya was being mean to her. So they called Sekoya in and talked about it to resolve it. I wondered why the principal hadn't called me so I called and talked to her to get the complete story. I made Sekoya sit in her room for a while and I talked to her about being the mean girl. I told her that I was a mean girl in school and because of that I never had many friends. I hope I made her realize that it is way better to be nice and let everybody be your friend. I am in for lots of drama with this girl!!!

Shower Cap

Katera wanted to shower and I didn't want her to get her hair wet. I pulled out a bread bag from the cupboards and made a little shower cap for her. It was too cute not to take pictures of. She always hates to get out of the shower. She sits in the tub after the water has been turned off until she gets too cold. Then of course she didn't want pictures taken so I had to coax and beg her to be nice for a couple of pictures. What fun it is to be a mommy!

Preschool Orientation

Katera had her preschool orientation last Wednesday. She was so funny. She did NOT want her picture taken. Then she just wanted to go already even though it was a half hour too early. I ended up putting her in the car and going for a ride for a half hour to shut her up. She walked in and went right to the table and acted like she owned the place. She wasn't the least bit apprehensive about it. Her teachers- Miss Polly and Miss Stacey are so cute and I know she will love them. I stayed and let her play with the toys and other kids for an hour. I stayed in the other room out of her sight and she was fine. This week I get to leave her for two hours. I will have two whole hours to myself! The dilemma--- do I do chores and work or do something I want to do? Maybe I will split it. All I know is it will be so nice!

She is such a Jeckyl/Hyde kid. Go from little devil to sweet angel in two seconds flat.

Can I freeze time?

Katera is at such a cute age right now. I don't want her getting any bigger because then she won't be my baby anymore. Even though she already informs me daily that she is NOT a baby. The bigger she gets the more I wonder about having another one. I'm not so sure I want to be in the diaper/bottle phase again. Right now she is still learning how to pronounce words and not quite getting her grammar correct. It is so cute! She says 'her' a lot when she should be using 'she'. Example: Her is making a mess! (Tattling on her sister. Katera is a much cleaner kid than Sekoya) She loves to pose for the camera, but it is rarely the pose I want. She likes to do a dramatic pose or the cute shrug her shoulders pose- below.

One day she was completely bored out of her mind while Sekoya was at school. I got out some cupcakes to let her decorate and hopefully keep her occupied for at least 15 minutes. That is about all it lasted too. But she was so proud that she decorated them herself and came into the office to give me and Jason one. She asked "Do you want a pupcake?" Who could say no to that even when they are smothered in about an inch of frosting and sprinkles? Some of the other cute words she says are:

animals- ama-uls

Sekoya- sissy

orange- onange

cartoons- toons

hungry- hungee

fever- bever

school- cool

elephant- elphanant

look- yook

she calls people "human". "Mom you're a funny human."

no I'm not- no I amn't

bubble gum- bugga gum

swim- fwim