Can I have a Parrot?

My brother Alex and sister Samarah were in town last week. The kids all loved having them around and Alex made Pantera's life complete by taking her to an amusement park. She rode all sorts of huge coasters and even went on this bungee contraption with Alex and Sami! I guess the others in line were pretty much in awe that an 8 year old would do this, I'm really going to have to watch the peer pressure with this kid. That's all she talked about for the rest of the week and her face still lights up if you bring it up.

Cleo playing nurse while Pantera was sick a few weeks ago...

 ZEKE Bluestar our cat has been wetting the bed recently. Zeke woke up on Saturday and he was wet. He informed me, after stripping down naked that "Bluestar came into my bed in the night and peed on my underwear, pants, and shirt. So I need new ones." I hate it when that happens.

We went to Cori's graduation party a few weeks back. Cori is Zeke's much older girlfriend. When we walked in and saw Cori, Zeke wouldn't look at her when he was talking and got really quiet. When I told him he needed to look at her when he talked he started crying...poor guy! So she took him over to look at some pictures and we left soon after. As we walked out of the building he gets this hilarious spring in his step like "yep, nailed it!" quite the ladies man.

 Today Amari came downstairs dressed like this and informed me she was an "agent." She then proceeded to do her version of karate. I was very intimidated, so was the end table that she ran into.

 The other day Papa and I caught her "teaching" Bluestar. She was telling the cat to call her "Ms. Hammond."

My kids love the fruit from our local farmers market...wait so do I!!! The current favorite is pears, we go through those like crazy. We love when Amari asks for one because she says "Can I have a parrot? I'm really hungry!"

 Katurah loves this little camera and goes around the house saying "Cheese!"

 She also loves playing blocks...

 She is ALWAYS happy, look at that sweet little face...

 Except when you don't let her smother your electronics in chocolate chip cookies...

Kitchen

It has been quite a week at our house. Each child has gotten sick youngest to oldest, fever, throw up, and diarrhea for some. Last night Pantera came down with this 36 hour bug and I thought I was going to lose it. After a week of this and few nights of decent sleep my patience I fear is wearing thin. So I thought I would recount a wonderful blessing that happened last year to lift my spirits, plus I've been meaning to post this FOREVER!!!

 

The night before Sandy was supposed to hit, I opened one of my kitchen cupboards to find it full of water. Now I had already been stressed trying to prepare for this huge storm that never made it to us (thank goodness), then to find a disaster in the kitchen was not the happiest surprise. We had hoped to remodel the kitchen the following spring using our tax return money to help the project along, but with the extent of the damage it could not wait. I put in a call to my Dad as soon as I saw the water and he being the awesome superhero type that he is, he already knew what he wanted to do the kitchen. He made a quick layout (seriously, who can just do that?!?) and we put in a HUGE order to Lowe's.

 

That weekend Jess and my Dad ripped out the old kitchen to find a pipe had burst in the wall. I had to take the kids somewhere else because it was so nasty, the menfolk were barely keeping there lunches down. Here is the before:

 First tender mercy was of course this happening after my parents moved near us. My dad does AMAZING work that I can't even imagine what I would pay full price for. Second was paying for it all, I stress so bad about money. I hate big unexpected purchases and get sick to my stomach at even the thought of one, so forking out several thousand dollars for a new kitchen out of the blue was difficult to say the least. Jess' parents came to visit near the completion of the project and his dad happened to mention that a friend had something similar happen and the insurance company paid for it. I had never even thought about that, insurance doesn't actually pay for things right?

I decided to make a call to nationwide that day and they sent someone out shortly thereafter. He looked at the damage, took some measurements, then wrote me a check that covered the ENTIRE kitchen cost! The nationwide guy was probably a bit overwhelmed as I stood and cried in front of him, but I was so shocked and so very grateful. Here is the after pic:

Doesn't even look like the same space does it? I love my new kitchen and love the feelings of gratitude for the Father's in my life that it is a constant reminder of. I am truly blessed, there I think I can go back and face the crabby munchkins now:)

Good morning Doctor!

Miss Katurah woke up with a fever this morning, poor little girl. I hate it when she is sick, but she does let me hold her a little more then usual and at this point I take what I can get. She is babbling a ton still, I think maybe she picked up on the language from some ancient indigenous tribe and when she does finally speak English I will maintain that she is bilingual. She loves to play duck, duck, goose. If anyone is sitting on the floor she will hit them on the head with a "Duh!" Maybe she just loves to hit and has found a way to get away with it...that child is a genius I tell you!

 If Zeke is looking strangely older to you, it may be because he lost his front teeth. The ladies in Kindergarten are going to go nuts over him, so mature. If you look back on my blog long ago, I documented Zeke getting his 4 top front teeth crowned. About 9 months ago one got knocked off while he was goofing around with his siblings. I took him to the dentist right away and was told not to worry about it. I had him in 3 more times since then and kept telling the dentist I really didn't like the way it was looking, the tooth was completely gone! Again he was not worried. He bit into something 2 Sundays ago and said "Oww!" First thing Monday morning I am on the phone with the dentist, sure enough that tooth and another one are infected...GRRRRR!!!!! Onto antibiotics and Dr.Doof says we have to remove 3 of the 4 teeth they crowned and they have to put him under the following Wednesday to do so. I keep going back and forth between being happy it's over and he's not in pain to just plain pissed that he didn't do something to begin with and now my kid has no front teeth for a couple of years. The downfall of where we live, no other options.

I explained what was going to happen to Zeke several times before the procedure. At one point trying to sound upbeat and happy about the whole thing I told him he would "have Pumpkin teeth!" I then heard him explaining to Amari "The Dentist is going to make me sleep, then take out my teeth that hurt and put in Pumpkin teeth!" Ooops!

He was such a trooper about the whole thing this go round. He has been put under 2 other times and is usually a bear when he wakes up. This time he woke up and said "Good morning Doctor!" All the staff was cracking up, they said they have never heard anyone wake up like that before. You are such a brave boy Zekie!

 Amari is currently obsessed with things being dead. We will play with her toy animals and she knocks them ALL down and says "Pretend they are dead." It is a really fun game. It's interesting how they process things that happen through play, our cat caught a baby bunny a couple weeks back and hurt it really bad. I heard the cries of the bunny and took it from the cat, hoping it would be alright. I put it in a popsicle box (the only thing I could find) with a blanket and set it next to Jess and I as we watched our shows for the night. Well Amari gets out of bed and asks for a popsicle, to which I reply "There are no more popsicles, please go to bed." She's a nebby little one and asks to see what's in the box. I said "no." So she just opens the box and is thrilled to see a new pet bunny! Here we go!!! I explain that it is likely going to die and it does the next morning. We bury it in the back yard and Amari helps put the dirt over it. About 5 minutes later Amari asks "Where is my bunny?" "It's dead Amari, you just helped us bury it." "Oh, can I get it?" Then I overhear her telling people at a BBQ that she has a pet bunny...a dead pet bunny.

The other day she said "Mom, my butt hurts." Zeke replies "It's probably just dingleberries Amari."

 Pantera performed "Reflection" from Mulan on Saturday at our ward talent show, she sang amazingly. She still has to wait a few years to do choir in school, I hope she still has the desire when she is old enough. The other day she was eating something and said "I love American comfort food...sometimes." Alright Captain Random. Jess has been teasing her about boys lately so she and I came up with a good plan to get him back. I told her to set up a fake person in his spot of the bed and it will scare him when goes to sleep. She was so excited, but has some work ahead of her if she ever wants to be a serious prankster. She came downstairs after it was all set up and gave me a thumbs up and a wink! Rookie mistake, but it cracked me up! For the record, Dad was TERRIFIED, you nailed it!

 Amari was teaching Zeke how to blow bubbles today.

 "No just a little bit softer." Zeke and gentle don't really go together.

 Finally after about 20 minutes he got it and she was pretty happy for him!

 I finally redid my kitchen table, it was really bad. Before:

 After:

I only kept the legs the rest built myself. Ok, so I couldn't have done it without my Jessiboy, thanks for the help cutie!

No More......

 These days Katurah loves to spend alot of time on her own, sometimes she reads, sometimes she finds a leappad, but she always ends up on Zeke's bed relaxing. This is only funny because his is the only bed in the house that is constantly covered in very hard cars toys, uncomfy is the new comfy. She must be teething again because she has started waking during the night out of nowhere. She is super cute but kind of creepy at 3 am, just when you think she is asleep she will randomly stand straight up in bed and just stare right at you. Her favorite books at this moment are the How does a Dinosaur series and Brown Bear, just like Zeke when he was her age.

 Amari has HUGE news for all the world...please be seated if you aren't all ready as this will knock your socks off and likely throw you off balance in the process putting you at risk for a terrible fall *we are not liable for any bodily injury occurring during the reading of this post* Amari no longer uses a...wait for it...LALA!!! Yes that's right after over 3 years being completely hooked on her pacifier she gave it up cold turkey this past Tuesday. How did she do it? I'm still a little confused myself on that one, but it involved a sticker chart, maybe she will put out a self help video. Two days after she quit she said "Remember when I was a baby and used lalas? Now I am big and cool." She has entered the "Why?" phase that most kids go through. It is really annoying Pantera, which is really making me laugh...payback.

 Zeke is "doing good." At least that's what he will tell you if you were to ask him. He has been playing more with his siblings, but still makes plenty of time for his cars and collectors guides. He loves the game "What time is it Mr. Fox?" And is so fun to play with. I love to drag it out and lick my lips and rub my belly when they get close, he gets so nervous it's hilarious. He came up to me the other day and said "I would like to buy my cars carrying case from Toys for us. I will do many chores, then you will buy it for me." His speech is so cute and mechanical! So taking his suggestion, we started a chore sticker chart for him, how could you say no to that?

 In my last post Pantera was sick and was going to miss her school track and field day. She had a fever through Monday night and the big day was Tuesday. She was so sad, but kept saying "Maybe it will rain and they will have to delay it." I was trying to make sure she wasn't giving herself false hope, as we didn't see any rain in the forecast and told her she needed to be prepared to accept that they will likely be doing the Olympics without her. "I am going to pray that it will rain." Tuesday morning at 8 am I get a phone call that the field day is delayed until Friday due to rain! It poured from 8 am to around the time the bus would drop her off for the day. She was so thrilled and was able to participate on Friday. Pantera, never forget that Heavenly Father loves you and listens to your prayers, even if it is for elementary school track and field day, if it's important to you it's important to Him.

 Summer vacation has already had a few rainy days, so we have been trying to stay busy. One day we made cupcakes. Amari piles the sprinkles on, while Zeke is a minimalist, and Pantera is somewhere in between. They are so great!

Husks

 Katurah's favorite pastime is a little something I like to call "Doing crazy dangerous things to slowly drive Mom to a nervous breakdown."  In the pictures above she is standing on the arm of the couch and diving into Jess over and over again. It is a little frustrating when you can't stop them anymore. She has also started coloring on EVERYTHING. I must admit she has a good eye for color though, when she tagged the new trim in the family room she used a beautiful combo of lavender, pastel blue, and a greenish color. You know you have been dealing with toddlers for a while when your only reaction is to admire the color scheme they chose.
                                                      
Here she is adding to the book Hop on Pop, Dr. Suess missed some important information she needed to fill in.

 Amari and Pantera were playing Vet. Here Amari is presented with her baby poodle that Pantera so kindly healed in her office. They play the cutest games and Amari keeps up with Pantera so well. Amari has decided our friend Buck is her latest "Smoochie boy." When asked what she is going to do about his wife Chanie, she said "I will marry him, not Chanie then I will fooch him." She knows what she wants.

Pantera has her big school track and field day tomorrow. Last night she came down with a fever and has had one all day today. I had to tell her that she likely wouldn't be going to school tomorrow and she is just devastated. I feel so bad "But Mom I've been training so hard for this!" And she has, I think she has worn through every pillow case we own practicing her potato sack race. After taking some medicine last night she was feeling better and she told Jess "See my immune system is AMAZING!" So is Tylenol.

 Zeke learned how to dip a chocolate chip cookie. This was disgusting to him until last week. He randomly tells me he loves me several times a day usually like this "Mom, I love you. And I like Cars. The King has race damage!" Or some other wonderful car factoid. He carries two small books with him everywhere, but don't you call them books! They are his "Collectors guides." I had to buy new copies of each of them and laminate them due to the excessive amount of tape being utilized and meltdowns occurring from ripped pages.

 The kids all helped husk corn tonight and thought it was the funnest activity ever...maybe I need to get them out more...

 Who wouldn't want to be her "foochie boy?!?"

This was 22 weeks pic, almost 2 weeks ago. This pregnancy is flying by, but not quickly enough for this little girl's eager older siblings. Zeke and Amari are especially excited to have another baby in the house. Although Amari did ask "What if she is mean?" and did a fake shiver. I told her the baby will be so nice and will love her "Then I will hold her?" Yes, yes you will. Zeke expects the baby to kick him every time he touches my belly and talks to her, he says "Baby Pinga!" and I have to flex my stomach so he thinks its her moving. He loves it, he's like a fetus whisperer.

Watermelon

Most girls Pantera's age have Justin Bieber or One Direction backpacks, not Pantera she's rockin' the Lost World. She has been majorly into dinosaurs and dinosaur facts, so much that it can get under one's skin from time to time. Like last night when she interrupted scriptures to ask about what prehistoric creatures may have been under the water that Jesus was walking on. Or how about an entire meal spent debating bird vs. dinosaur with Zeke. The other night Pantera stated "Birds are the closest living relatives to the dinosaur, so Cleo is a dinosaur." Zeke quickly replied "That is not correct!!! Cleo is a bird. Birds are not dinosaurs." This went on and on with Zeke getting more upset by the minute I finally said "Stop you two, birds are birds and are related to dinosaurs, now eat." To which Zeke turned to Pantera and said "Stop you ONE! I am correct!"

 

We bought a pig (to have butchered) and when I told Pantera she got a little excited "A live one?" "No silly, it will be dead when we get it." Somehow she was a little disappointed by my answer. Yay ham!

 Katurah was reintroduced to watermelon a couple of nights ago. She liked it last year, but her face upon biting into it this time was PRICELESS! She went crosseyed looking down at it and I don't think she stopped for air once while she demolished the slice I gave her. She even tried to eat the rind and cried and cried when I threw it away.

 She and Amari really like Doc Mcstuffins and love to play doctor with me. After looking me over Amari will say "I have a dianosis!" Lucky for me we have doctors so close because I am kind of clumsy and Amari knows this. I was reaching to get something up high a few days ago when Amari starts yelling "Don't get up there, you will get broken!" And who will have to fix me then huh? Plastic stethoscopes don't just grow on trees lady! We went to the park on Monday and as we were leaving Amari said "Thanks for taking us on the swings and to the parking lot!"
                                                 
 We finally got our pool filled in!!! Here's Jess planting some grass in the now empty space...oooh yeah plant it baby!!! Oh yeah Jess, no one plants a vacant lot like you...

Sorry I felt a little Candaceish while taking this picture without his knowledge through the back door, he is my Jeremy.

I need to dedicate an entire post to the house and will do that soon, we have remodeled pretty much the entire thing (and by we I mean my dad).

Preschool graduation

 Today Zeke had his big preschool graduation. As you can see he was all smiles and so very happy to be there. He was awarded "most improved student" for the year which made me laugh a little. He really has come such a long way, he participates, looks forward to going, and even occasionally interacts with the other kids. Here they are doing a stirring rendition of "Itsty Bitsy Spider"...

 And here's "I'm a little tea pot." The way he sings this is so darn cute! I didn't even know he knew this song until today. He also knows the pledge of allegiance...go figure.

 The other kids looking at him like "Why the heck are you so happy?"

 Zeke walking up to get his diploma.

 Last but certainly not least, Zeke and Cori! This is "the handsome girl" the one he says he is going to marry. She is a cutie and really sweet, I hope his taste doesn't change to much over the years.

Zeke I am so proud of you for opening up a little and trying something new. It was such a wonderful experience for you and I loved every LITTLE bit that you shared with me. I sure am glad you have another year before kindergarten little man, today was hard enough. Congrats Grad!!!