Moohaha Gonna Kick Shlink

Seneca LOVES baby dolls. She is constantly carrying one around or pushing one in the stroller. I almost feel as though she is hinting at me. Sorry kiddo, you are the last. She also loves Bubble Guppies. She does some amazing dances to the songs from the show and even carries around a huge Molly doll that I bought her for Christmas and she found. It is the coveted toy of our house and whenever anyone else has it she will walk over to them and rip it out of there arms. See Seneca, being the youngest has its  perks!

 Amari girl is the perpetual mother hen. The other day Katurah wasn't listening and Amari said "Mom, let me handle this." She proceeded to scold her sister and send her to time out. Then last night Katurah wasn't eating (what's new?) and I tried spoon feeding her unsuccessfully. She again stepped in and took over and guess what? Katurah ate. Of course Amari didn't eat her food, but beggars can't be choosers now can they?

 Zeke has been invited to so many birthday parties over the past few weeks. One was a bowling party and he discovered that he absolutely loves to bowl. Although it was a little frustrating when the other kids weren't as focused as he was, but he was pretty patient considering. He loved it so much that we decided to take all of the kids bowling again last week...so fun. When he and Amari were making cards for one of the parties he helped her spell the words for her card. It was one of the sweetest things I have ever seen the way he encouraged her "You got it Amari now a Y." He did the santa workshop at school and was so happy to give us all our presents. He got Jess a pen but informed him "That is not what I wanted to get you. I wanted to get you a Golf Character Encyclopedia. But they didn't have one." That would have been perfect seeing as Jess doesn't even have one yet. Poor dude hasn't been to school yet this week due to feeling like garbage. Oh I hope this passes soon!

 Pantera is just plugging along through fourth grade. She is quite the devoted class mayor, she refused to stay home sick for fear her classroom would be left in the hands of her vice mayor. She was chosen as one of 5 kids from her school to participate in an English festival, this is quite an honor. They will have to read 4 novels and write questions about them, then participate in events and competition in May. They get to meet one of the authors of the books they read. Way to go Pantera!!!

 Katurah is 3....

 See.....

 That face says it all huh? She loves to scowl for the camera little stinker. She constantly pretends to be someone other then herself. Mostly Marshall from Paw Patrol or Slink from Toy Story. She will correct you if you call her by her name and not the one she is pretending to be. We have a long standing tradition with the girls in my little family playing what I mournfully call "you have to say." Pantera started it and would ask me to play with her, ok great, then control the entire game until I wondered why I was even there. "You have to say 'look at the cat over there'" oh and if I go off of the mental script which I am not given a copy of I get yelled at. Sounds fun eh? Well Katurah wanted me to be a super villain and she was super Slink (but she can't say s so it is Shlink). What is the meanest thing a sheltered kid could come up with for a super villain to do to our games hero? "Have to say Mooohaha, gonna kick Shlink!"

Jess took the girls on a date last week. Amari takes her dates with dad very seriously but was ok with Katurah being the third wheel. You girls are just lucky I am willing to share. Love that guy.

Arm Wrestles

We had such a nice Thanksgiving! Jess got a nice 4 day weekend, I love it when he gets to be home with us.

Amari has said some pretty great things over the past few weeks. We were at the post office and there is a door that says "Post Master" on it. She asked what it said and after I told her she pretended to shiver and said "Post Master, nobody wants to mess with him!" When we say our prayers often the phrase "please bless that no harm or accident will befall us" is used. I guess this entire time Amari was hearing something completely different. When she said the prayer she said "Please bless no arm wrestles will fall on us." Then today Zeke told me "Mom, I arm wrestled at church one time. Can you forgive me?" He was so worried. For the record, we have nothing against arm wrestling.

And happy day Amari has found a cure for head lice! You see I have been terrified of them since I was about 12 and all of my kids know this. We have yet to face this in our home (although I am sure it will happen at some point) but never fear we will now be prepared. Amari asked me "Mom, are you scared of tarantulas? No, that's good because if you ever get those bugs in your hair just put a tarantula on your head and BAM no more bugs!" Excellent, we are going to be millionaires I tell you!

Zeke had 50's day at school a few weeks ago and they dressed up as greasers and did all things 50's like. He brought home a paper that said "If I could have 50 of anything I would want 50 __________." And it had a space for a picture. He picked 50 socks. Way to shoot for the stars Zeke.

Seneca is still obsessed with dancing. This might be my favorite thing she does, just swings her one arm and turns in a circle. Then if she sees me she lifts those chubby arms up and says "Da" for dance. She also barks whenever she sees a dog. She is so big and funny. I need to go put these crazies in bed.

3

This happy little girl just turned 3!!!

 She is at that age of professional quality pouting, she is quite amazing at it. She spends the majority of her days pretending to be a dog, sometimes it's Clifford, sometimes it's Bubble Puppy, other times it's Slinky, or perhaps a Chihuahua. On her birthday she was "Birthday Chihuahua" and if you called her Katurah she would quickly correct you. She also has different barks for each type of dog, our favorite is Clifford because she sounds like a dog who has smoked for a good portion of his puppyhood.

She requested a Bubble Puppy cake and was pleased with the results. She got a lot of Toy Story toys (yes, yes the same ones I donated to goodwill a few years ago...ugh) and was so thrilled. Her Bullseye toy is her prized possession now. She has lost said doll like 100 times since she opened him, I love to be the one to find him as her reaction is amazing and sweet every time.

She has quite the attitude these days because she can. The other day she wanted to get in bed with us and we told her there was not enough room. She got so mad and said "I SUGGLE MAMA, HMMMM!!!!" And she climbed right up and forced me to snuggle her. She is still hooked on the pacifier or lala as she lovingly calls them. She steals Seneca's but gets so mad if Seneca takes hers. Katurah is currently sleeping on the couch and Seneca walked over and took one right out of Katurah's mouth as she is sleeping. Payback sister!

We sure love this crazy 3 year old.

10

Pantera turned 10 a few weeks ago! DOUBLE DIGETS!!! We had a pretty darn low profile b-day bash with our little family for her this year. She got an Ipad and has been obnoxiously texting her extended family every day since.

 She ran for class "Mayor" something she has talked about for the past year or so. Right before the campaigns began some of her guy "friends" told her if she ran they would not be her friend anymore. I knew something was up when all of the sudden she informed me that she was going to run for secretary and help Nick with his mayor campaign. OOOO, some of these kids just tick me off so bad, but I just try to remain neutral and encourage her to try regardless of what they say. So my brave girl did. She came up with her own poster idea that I thought was so fun...

And guess what? SHE WON!!! She is now the Mayor of Barkeyburgh. Regardless of the outcome I am just glad she tried. A few days after she won she got a threatening note in her desk that said "If you don't resign, I will hate you." She said "Mom, the problem is that it was signed anonymous so I don't know if I should care or not!" I'm telling you these kids can be rotten. She has taken her post so very seriously and has vowed to end bullying within the classroom.

For school picture day I curled her hair up real cute and when she got her proof she said "I knew I looked good that day, but I didn't know I looked THAT good!"

 

I hope you always stay you Pantera, you are so awesome.

Halloween

 I keep finding new projects to do instead of blogging ever. A lot is getting done, but I really need to catch up here! Halloween was so fun, we were all Star Wars characters except for Pantera, she was Black Widow from the Avengers.

 We all got to dress up for our ward's trunk or treat, but Jess had to work for our neighborhood trick or treat. So I took all 5 kids by myself and it was kind of chaotic. We went out for maybe an hour, but Katurah was SO SLOW that I couldn't handle much more. After the first 3 houses Zeke said "I think I have enough candy." He wanted to go home and read.

 Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, R2-D2...

After trick or treating Katurah crashed on the couch, all that hard work takes it out of a girl!

Unfortunately the candy takes its toll on our house as well. She and Seneca are obsessed with the big bowl of Halloween goodies I keep up on top of the fridge. Seneca will point and babble at it until I get it down and Katurah just says "I hab it? Is really good." Pantera on the other hand I guess has started to learn she said "My stomach is telling me 'more' but my small intestine says to 'stop.'" Crazy kids!

Powerpoint

I took pictures of the kiddos out on my newly remodeled front porch. They were all surprisingly cooperative, probably because they were all excited to sit on the hay bale. Zeke has changed his mind and does not want to be a chaperone anymore instead he wants to be a pilot when he grows up. Every morning while we wait for the school bus, he squishes his face against the glass on the door and says over and over "THE BUS...isn't here yet. THE BUS....isn't here yet." It's pretty funny living with the boy who cried bus. He informed me yesterday that "There is a new Elizabeth in my class!" He talks so fondly of all of his school friends and really seems to thriving at school.

 Pantera had her school pictures last week so we did her hair up in curls. I figured they would fall before the pictures were actually taken and the school pictures usually turn out not so good, so I was especially glad when she humored me and let me get a few good ones. She looks so old!!! She will be 10 next week and keeps informing everyone she is "going to be a decade." She is so into school and they have been doing a lot of different computer stuff. I finally broke down and bought Microsoft office for our home computer so she could put together a powerpoint. "Mom, this is like an early Christmas present!" She was so excited and she just kept making presentations. Doesn't every kid want Microsoft office, hot item Christmas 2014 you have been warned.

 Katurah is down to her last 2 sessions with Mrs. Kristy. The day she turns 3 she has to start with a new therapist, I am not to crazy about this. I keep praying she will just magically start speaking clearly. She has learned how to get Jess to let her stay up later then usual. She just casually walks into the room he is in and asks "Wanna watch football?" How can he say no to that?

 Amari was missing a toy the other night. I told her to go to bed and in the morning I promised "We will have a search party and find it." She got so excited and said "Really? Can we do freeze dance?" Note to the public, do not let Amari become Sheriff...EVER.

 Seneca is walking like a pro now. She is also crying like a pro as well. She is scared of EVERYTHING!!! I changed the shower curtain in the bathroom from cars to angry birds star wars, every time she goes past the bathroom now, she cries. Amari got a ride on one of those quarter horse rides at the store and this was so scary for Seneca that she screamed the entire time Amari was on the horse. She is terrified of the incredible hulk mask that lives in the laundry room but only if it is facing her, so she will turn it over and start to cry. She is so crazy.

We the people

Amari insisted on posing in front of the piano for a picture because "My sucker it teal just like the piano!" I love the color teal, and now so do my kids. When we were at the doctors office the other day the doctor who we see said "I like your shirt, that's a pretty color of blue." Amari very condescendingly replied "My shirt is teal, teal is NOT blue." Burn. I guess she was helping Katurah with something and she was over it, I heard her say "Katurah, I already solved your problem, I DON'T want to solve it again." I have no idea where she gets her attitude from...cough...Jess...cough.

 

 Pantera has been busy writing and amending constitutions for the games she plays with her friends at recess. She literally typed  up an entire page stating the laws and rules for their game, and had each member of her classroom sign it. I asked her what would happen if they didn't like the rules and she said "Then we will make amendments, the other kids probably won't know what that means so it will be a good teaching moment." It's a good thing they have you Pantera!!! She has been so stressed about which political party she wants to join and has brought me a lot of information on both the republican and democrat party. Great quote "I'm so excited for school!!! We get to take a science test today!!!" And she was serious.

 Seneca is walking across rooms! She still looks like she had a bit too much to drink or perhaps she just got off the teacups at Disneyland, but she is walking. I can't believe how much she understands already. When we were getting ready to leave for the store I told the girls to grab their shoes, she scooted herself over to the box where we keep the shoes and started pulling them out. Her favorite book is called "Goodnight" we read it over and over again. If I say a line from the book, she will go over to the bookshelf and pull out all the books until she finds it and brings it to me to read. Pretty much she's a genius.

 Zeke has a doctors appointment for his 6 year check up this week. Unfortunately it is scheduled during the school day. He informed me "I do not like to not be at school when there is school." Luckily it is on picture day and not the next day which Zeke described as "A special event! The fire truck will come to our school and we will get to sit in it." The last "special event" was fingerprinting for there records. I love the way he talks!!! Today he was mad at me and threatened to "unplug my kindle and never let it charge!" Ouch. He and Seneca are such good buddies, she loves to tackle him if he is anywhere near her level.

 Amari wanted to be a puppy who was scared.

 I told her I only adopt puppies who are not scared.

 Katurah is obsessed with Toy Story. I happened to find Zeke's old Woody pajamas and she LOVES them. Just like the old Mike Wazowski costume, trying to pry these babies off of her body when I need to wash them is ridiculous. I wish you could see the strut in her step when she puts the pajamas on, then she makes us all be a character (Pantera usually has to be stinky Pete, haha) and plays the hero.

 Seneca was thinking about starting a fitness blog, I mean seriously she's only a year out of the womb and look at her!!! Eat your heart out fitness mom.

The Chaperone

 

All of the kids have picked their Halloween costumes except Katurah. She changes her mind over and over. She usually just wants to be whatever Amari is going to be. This may prove to be a challenge. She is currently obsessed with band aids. We go through several boxes a week. If someone so much as looks at her cross-eyed she needs a band aid. Her favorite ones are Bubble Guppies, because they make absolutely everything all better. And when anyone else gets hurt she quickly runs to the bathroom saying "I get buyul guckies!"

 

 Amari and I were going over the alphabet a few weeks ago. I would ask her whose name starts with each letter such as "A is for Amari" or "K is for Katurah" when we got to S I asked "Whose name starts with the letter S?" She sat and thought for a moment then happily and oh so sweetly exclaimed "S is for Satan!" She loves to play make believe ALL THE TIME, one of her favorite character names is "Hornica" so glad she wont be naming any of my grandchildren in the near future. She and Jess went out on a date two weeks ago. She was so excited for time alone with her dad. She picked out her Easter dress and insisted I style her hair so beautiful. As they pulled out of the driveway she sighed and speaking of the rest of the family that stayed home "I miss them already." She has talked about there "fancy" dinner everyday since but can never remember the name  "What's the name of the fancy place dad taked me to? Oh yeah, Denny's."

 Seneca loves to reach out for whatever she wants. She just holds her cute little hand out and babbles until you give her something. All the kids fight over who says the prayer at night. She has decided to join in. Right after I announced it was prayer time she folded her chubby little arms shouted what sounded something like "Say it" and started to say a prayer which no one understood except for when she said "Did it" and clapped at the end.

Zeke came home from school with a paper that said "When I grow up I want to be ____________." Any guesses what he might choose? He had someone write "a chaperone." Yes, he dreams of being a chaperone when he grows up, but don't worry he has already started practicing. Like when Amari is in a bad mood, he follows her around to annoy her and refuses to leave her side claiming he is "chaperoning" her.

Pantera got a venus fly trap and is just over the moon with joy. Apparently a love for carnivorous plants runs deep in our genes. She  is so excited to show it to her science teacher whom she absolutely adores. Its still hard to tell which stories are 100% true from school as she has always enjoyed weaving tales. But she seems to really be loving school.

This awkward moment brought to you by..

A few weeks ago I went into the bathroom to grab a feminine hygiene supply. Apparently Pantera saw me and she decided she needed to discuss this with me. "Mom, are you menstruating?" Uncomfortable pause from me, "Yes, yes I am." Pantera replies "I thought you stopped after you were done having babies." "No Pantera that's called menopause, I am still too young for menopause." "Oh, ok. I am glad we talked about this, I wasn't sure how to bring it up."

Yesterday as I was getting everyone ready for church I slipped and fell on my butt. I automatically felt sick and woozy. About 5 minutes later I passed out. When I came to my vision was crazy blurry and I couldn't think straight. I got to go the ER instead of church. I broke my tailbone and passed out due to pain (most likely). So yeah, I broke my butt.

Zeke is 6

 My cutie Zeke turned 6 on Friday!!! He had a Star Wars birthday complete with Master Yoda cake and our sweet neighbors who he invited because they collect star wars stuff and have let him borrow their movies. We have such great neighbors. He wanted mostly "character encyclopedias" and did get 4 of those as well as some other awesome gifts.

He loves to sit and read these over and over again, or jump around in between pages. He is doing so great in kindergarten, adjusting so well to a whole new schedule. He is very quiet with most people, but such a goofball when you get to know him. I can't believe how fast the past 6 years have flown by. I am so lucky to be a mom to these wonderful kids!!!

Seneca's 1!!!

 This pretty little lady turned 1!!!

 She is still the biggest mama's girl on the planet. She still cries whenever I put her down or if I leave the room. She is almost walking, Jess claims she took a step towards him, I think she was trying to run from him (not the mama!). She loves to pick on her siblings, if she can get a rise out of someone she is quite pleased with herself.

 She is my little sweetheart, I am so glad she is a part of our family. She always makes me feel loved.

We love you Seneca girl Happy Birthday!!!

ANW

 It's amazing that I don't have any more time with just 3 kids at home than I did with 5 at home! Amari is so much like Pantera the way she needs to be entertained ALL THE TIME. When Pantera is home they play so much together that I can do other things, it's been an adjustment.

Katurah and Pantera both got stung by bees for the first time over the past few weeks. It is so scary when you don't know if they are going to have a reaction or not. Pantera screamed WAY louder then Katurah did. Katurah told everyone "Bee bite me!" Pantera was stung right before school so I had to give  her Benadryl and she got to tell all of her teachers to take it easy on her, I think they all did too.
She is loving school still, she even got a trapper keeper type folder that she thinks is so amazing.

Katurah loves to pretend she is a dog. Some of her puppy names are "Pound Puppy, Buttshy, Baby Puppy." She makes training time with our real dog very interesting because she has to be involved. I use birthday cake oreos for training so she sits and rolls over very well. She is also into star wars, she assigns us all characters to be "Mame's Luke Skywalker, mame's Han Soyo, mame's Jabba a hut, mame's R2R2, I Watto." She always makes Pantera be Jabba the hut and she is ALWAYS Watto.

 Zeke and I watched episode V Friday night. At the part when Han kissed Leia I asked him "Are you ever going to smooch a girl like that?" He replied "Yea, you!" I also asked if he ever wished he had the force and he said no because if he tried to turn the pages to his books they would turn to fast when he lifted his hand. I made him a milkshake, because that's what we do on stay up late nights, when he was all finished he handed me his empty cup and with a sneaky grin said "Here you go you can have the rest." When I pretended to be so disappointed he happily said "Gotcha!"

Seneca is into everything all the time. I can't believe she is almost 1. I also can't believe she is still so overly attached to me. My dad came back in town to finish moving and when she saw him she just cried. And everytime he talked to her for the first day he was here she would burst into tears. She is so funny and fun with ME and her siblings, but such a pill with anyone else.

 Amari and I were playing hide n go seek and she was so proud of herself because she "Made a trap to trick you, so you will think it is me." Her trap is pictured above, a hula hoop and a koosh ball...looks just like her, boy was I fooled! She loves American Ninja Warrior and says she is going to be on the show when she is older "Mom, do only people with awesome moves go on American Ninja Warrior?" Yes, she replied "Then I will be on it." She was swinging on a swing and taking snacks from the table at the same time and she said "I am like the American Ninja Warrior, but of snacks." I think we have a new show in the works.

back to school

 This week Pantera started 4th grade and Zeke started Kindergarten. I cried myself to sleep pretty much all last week, I am such a baby! I HATE that they are growing up so fast. But as you can see from pictures, I was the only one sad for back to school time.

 There is a boy in Zeke's class with a peanut allergy so they have asked all the parents not to send in snacks with peanuts or tree nuts. While packing Zeke's lunch for the first day he came into the kitchen and asked "Is the boy who is allergic to peanuts allergic to ham and cheese?" I told him no just nuts and he replied "Then I will have a ham and cheese sandwich." He came home happy and was happy to go back the next two days.

 Pantera was right, they do pass out unicorns and unlimited candy bars instead of worksheets and homework in 4th grade!!! Ok, so  maybe that is just what you would have thought was going on with the way she came home Monday. She was SO HAPPY and talked about a mile a minute from the time she got home until she finally fell asleep. Great quote "4th grade is all about organization, this is going to be my year to shine!"

 Meanwhile home, the girls played "hot tub" with the dog. Just a little creepy.
Amari had our entire day planned out and has not given me much time to do anything but play with her. She has also decided to fill all the silence Pantera has left with her absence. She talks about everything such as "Mom, everyday I need to go to the bathroom. It's really weird."