7 already!!!

7 years ago today I was having contractions all day long. I was 5 days past my due date and thought I may never go into labor! Lucky for me, I happened upon the movie Kazaam starring Shaq late that night. I'm pretty sure the crazy good acting sent me into labor. Ok, so the acting wasn't that good and the nurse took pitty on me and broke my water. Pantera was born the next day. What a wonderful blessing she has been in our lives.

I love how funny she is, we found this headstone with her Aunt Hannah's maiden name on it so she asked to pose in front of it like she is crying...
She was semi cooperative in letting me take her 7 year old pics...but getting her to sit still is such a challenge!

Pantera is such a good friend to all the kids around her. No wonder 25 kids showed up to her party! She is currently helping to tutor a girl who is struggling in her class, even though it means giving up some play time. I'm pretty sure her teacher asked her to, but knowing Pantera she might have started her own program. Just like she used to offer to give people voice lessons lol!

Pantera has memorized 11 of the 13 articles of faith this year. I am super proud of her accomplishment here.

She is such a special girl, she makes an impression on everyone she meets. I don't know how I got so lucky to be her mom, but I am grateful everyday.

Happy Birthday Pantera!!!

Wookin Good!

Pantera as Taylor Swift in Love Story. She looked so stinkin' cute. I found her dress at Salvation Army for $3!

Pantera had dress like a rockstar day on tuesday, she was Hannah Montana.

Trunk or treat was tonight and the kids had a blast. Zeke was so happy to be Luigi. Amari wore her monkey outfit for about an hour, then she was done.

P-A-R-T-Y

The party was great! I think we ended up with over 25 kids, running around like maniacs. It was a Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog themed party, so I planned games accordingly. We had "Pin the M on Mario," "Defeat Dr. Robotnik" where the kids threw marshmallows at him; "Keep the Ba-bomb off the ground" a basic balloon toss game, and "Mario Kart Weee!" I made a track out of tape and they pushed eachother in boxes. Thank goodness for Pantera's best friend Kris (who is 15 lol!), my friend Leah, and my Dad! They were so helpful with everything.

I have to brag a little about the pinata I made...it withstood 25 turns with a nightstick! I was expecting it to break with the first whack, looks like I found my new calling in life...as for why we used a nightstick that's another story.

There is a picture of some of the presents Pantera brought home, they were scattered around the house by the little 2 before I could get them all. She basically spent all day today opening packages of toys. I told her she will probably never get this many toys at the same time ever again. She just said "Do my friends know me, or do they know me?!?" The best were the homemade cards, like one that said "Happy birthday Pantera. I hope you have a great birthday. Moon." With a drawing of the moon, pretty much made my day.

Hawoween

Last week we carved a couple of pumpkins for Halloween. Amari and Pantera really got into it, although I think Amari mainly liked getting dirty. Zeke didn't participate much, but was thrilled once they were out on the porch. He has loved all the Halloween decor this year. Unfortunately for him, I am lame and don't do much decorating for the holidays, but I did buy him some spooky window clings that he put up over and over again. As we pulled out of the driveway that morning he looked at the window he worked so diligently on and said "Hawoween, wookin' good!"

Amari thinks she is scary and very funny when she puts 2 "lala's" (pacifiers) in her mouth. She also thinks she is sneaky and very funny when she tells me things bite her (yes we have moved on since the cat) such as: her diaper, a book, a picture, several stuffed animals, her toothbrush, her highchair, ME, and pretty much every other thing she has come in contact with! We are going to have a worn spot in the wood on the time out step. She also thinks she can talk like Donald Duck, she does the cutest gibberish whisper...love it!

Ms. Pantera talked me into throwing her a birthday party. As of right now we have had 23 kids RSVP. Lucky for me I thought ahead and booked the gym at our church. She also got glasses this week, I promise to post a pic next time. She does look great in them though.

Dud Muffin

I love that Pantera feels comfortable enough to talk my ear off after school everyday. There is so much going on in 1st grade, it's unreal! Already she has told me of some innapropriate conversations (she has overheard and tried to stop), which led to "the talk" and a mildly grossed out Pantera. I hope she can continue to be a good influence and wonder how many times I will have to tattle tale to the teacher this year.
On Sunday after church I asked Zeke if he was ready for a nap, his reply "No, now Zeke watch Steelers." And he headed downstairs to watch the game.

When asked who is in this picture he says "Dud-muffin" Love it.

Ms. Amari is 18 months. She was also very uncooperative for pics and I don't have the energy or mobility to fight her on it so her you go...

She loves to have her toenails painted and brings me nailpolish whenever she can get her little hands on it.

Another interesting tidbit, now that she is officially in nursery she has no desire to be in there. Little stinker!

For those of you without girls...

While my sister was in town, we stopped at a playplace for lunch. I was helping Jess get food and Meredith was with all the kids. Some lady approached Meredith about getting Amari involved in a toddler pageant. According to this woman "She's got it." Yes and her talent will be hitting the other contestants. I guess it was a nice compliment, but no thank you.

Tonight while I was saying the family prayer, Amari decided to try to pick the cat up. He has started sticking up for himself and nipped her. She quickly interrupts the prayer loudly saying "Bite! Bite!" over and over again. I tried to tell her to hold on, but had to end the prayer quickly to put the cat in "time out." It's only fair, when she bites it's time out right away, we're not doing the whole double standard thing in our house.

Ezekiel's speech is improving constantly. I love to hear what is going through his head after wondering for so long. The other day I had given him some pretzels, he pounds his hand on the table and said "M&M's right here." He knows what he wants and now so do I!

This is the "baby egg" given to us while I was prego with Zeke by my friend Katie. Once a week we get to flip the page and see how big the baby is getting. I usually hold it to my belly and ask the kids if it looks about right. This week Zeke beat me to it...Pantera has been a little upset over a girl named Rainy. First of all, Rainy is in Ms. K's kindergarten class (that was her old class). Next, she stole Pantera's "man" (Pantera just likes him as a friend but hates that he likes another girl). And then, get this...shows up to school wearing the exact same boots as her. Her teacher, her man, and her boots "I just don't know what I'm going to do. It's like she's trying to ruin everything." On the other hand, Pantera has so many boys falling for her she doesn't know what to do. "It's so weird. I don't even try to have 'the look' and they are all like 'hey are you available?'" One boy asked her if she had a boyfriend today and she told him yes (she says just so he won't bother her, uh huh) according to her he said "If you guys break up, I'm available." What the heck?!? First off, you guys are in 1st grade! Secondly, what's with the word available, do you think they even know what it means? I am in so much trouble. And then we had another long talk about not dating until we are 16...good times.

Shaving cream

It rains alot here, so we have to come up with new ways to entertain all the time. Shaving cream play is a great sensory activity, that all the kids enjoyed. I expected the arms and maybe a little bit on their faces, but they are my kids and had to take it to the extreme. Zeke even tested some in his eye and Amari tried eating a little. I guess between the 3 of them they covered all 5 senses. And then they had to shower.