Starting the year as a slacker

These days Katurah is big into making sure everyone is pronouncing her name correctly. "Say KAT-urah, like cat meow." I always figured we would end up calling her Kat, but so far her nickname has mostly been Katurah-bug. She still loves Rudolph, but has somewhat developed feeling for a new character. The kids have all been into Mario lately and Katurah loves the character Lemy. What?!? You don't know who that is?!? Last night she randomly grabbed my face and said "You lucky dog!" She insists on sitting in the front during Primary because she thinks she is really big and is one of the teachers. Luckily her primary teacher is amazing and just humors her.

 Seneca is just as crazy as ever. She sneaks into our bed several nights a week and falls asleep before we get down there. She was barely awake yesterday morning when she threw her sippy cup across the room. Then she said to me "I need a dink." It was like a go fetch type of deal. She had a cup with the avengers on it and she started to sniff the inside of it. She said "It mells, it mells, wike Ironman!" then proceeded to stomp off with her arms folded in disgust saying "Never again! Never again!"

 Pantera is doing pretty great. This year at school has been so good for her. She has a best friend who I absolutely love. She is playing basketball in a really fun league. She made 2 baskets on Thursday night! She has never really played before so being one of the beginner players was kind of frustrating for her, but she has stuck with it. I have been calling her "four points Hammond" and she just kind of rolls her eyes. I'm surprised she doesn't get dizzy with all the eye roll she does at me:)

 Amari is still loving her class and especially her teacher. She is so proud whenever I talk about how wonderful her teacher is. She has been picking fights like no other around the house. I love this little girl to pieces but some days she really pushes it with me. She is such a mini Jess. She does have such  good heart and is very helpful. She thinks Seneca is just the cutest thing. Several times a day she comes up to me and tells me something adorable Seneca said or did. She also talks to both Seneca and Katurah like they are babies most of the time. Now that she is in school she is so big.

 This is the face Seneca makes whenever she knows she is being cute...

Zeke avoids the camera like the plague. I will go out of my way to capture him by next post. He went to a birthday party yesterday. It was so interesting to see him interact (or not) with his peers. He seems to be happy to just kind of observe from a distance and laugh at their antics. He is not nearly as rough and wild as the other boys his age. He has been playing more with his sisters, especially at night when they are supposed to be sleeping. He loves to read to me still his favorite books are still character guides, encyclopedias, and he loves bad kitty books.

Wow, how fast did Christmas come and go this year? I was ready for it, shopping was done long before the big day came this year. We had some other fun things going on in December as well. First off, Katurah discovered Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, life may never be the same. She now introduces herself as "I'm Katurah, and I like Rudolph, and his girlfriend."

I got a sweet projector for shadow puppets.

There is a little girl who comes over to play every now and then. As soon as she comes in she asks for "Lipstick, white eyeshadow, and wedding nail polish." This little girl is 3 and LOVES to be a princess. When she came over the last time Katurah asked for lipstick for her "red nose" so we had a princess and a couple of reindeer. And don't you even mess up the lyrics to the song...you will be in for the deathiest of death glares from a 4 year old who thinks she is 5.

 Seneca does whatever her sisters do, but just a little (a lot) rougher. She is such a sweet little thing will run full force into your arms and say "I wuv you mom." Then she will squeeze my cheeks and proceed to climb all over me. For a while there her favorite phrase was "No way!" and she said it so funny. She also loves "Be right back." Jess was watching them jump on the trampoline through the window the other day and said he just saw Seneca take Amari to the mat, then put her in a perfect headlock all while grinning from ear to ear. I used to always tell them to be gentle with her, now she is the one I have to remind...like all the time.

Amari is doing great in her studies. She absolutely loves her teacher, and so do I. She told us she has 2 boyfriends "Dad and Carter." Carter is a boy in her class. I am not ready for another boy crazy little girl, but I got to go to her class for a Christmas party and meet this Carter kid. He is so stinkin' CUTE!!! Pantera was sad that I said that about the boy Amari has a crush on, but never say it about any boys she likes, I just told her Amari has better taste.

 My dad came out to visit for a week and a half. He and I are trying our hands at flipping furniture. I had so much fun while he was here, just doing project after project after project. The kids loved having him around and gave him the best greeting when he first got here. It was like he was a superstar and they were all his biggest fans. Ok I guess that is not to far away from reality.

 Seneca is just so flippin cute.

 Jess went back to school....

 So not really but if he did I bet this would be his first day outfit.

This was Katurah's reaction to seeing Santa Claus on a firetruck...

Zeke had a big month with his Read a thon. He called all of the family and gave this amazing pitch about sponsoring his reading. He set a goal of 1400 minutes which he easily achieved. Then he called and thanked all of his loving sponsers. His speech is so mechanical it is just adorable. He ended up winning first place for the 1st grade at his school. He got a trophy and a bowling/pizza party. He was so darn proud when he got home, just beaming! Way to go Zeke! He had his first sleep over this week with his buddy Wyatt. Jess took them to see the new Star wars movie, they had so much fun.

Pantera has had what seems like a bazillion sleepovers this year. She had her friend Victoria over Monday night and I took them to a trampoline park. They are so goofy around each other.  This girl is my favorite one of Pantera's friends by far, no drama just silly fun. Reminds me of my friend Charity, staying up late and laughing. Pantera also confessed a love of One Direction (a boy band) this week. She has dishonored our family;)

Merry Christmas!!!!

 

 

Katurah is 5

 My cutie pie Katurah turned "5" last month. You may be asking yourself, didn't we miss a year? Well you may just be right, she did not want to be 4 and would show me on her hands over and over again saying "I am 5 see...1,2,3,4,5." Then I would count again asking her what comes after 3 and she would quickly say "4,5" so there you have it. She was so insistent upon her new age that I just decided to go with it and she got a 5 candle on her cupcake.  Of course Amari was not too thrilled with Katurah claiming they were the same age, oh well.

I love having the one on one time with her during the day while the older kids are at school. She is so fun to hang out with. She can still do a killer cucumber hop, but is currently obsessed with Rudolph. I really don't know why she decided she needed to see the old Rudolph movie but I found a copy for her and she watched it several nights last week. Then I found  a mini singing Rudolph toy and she has been carrying with her everywhere for the past week. Now it is "You have to say, Is that a red nose?"

 She had a friend over last week who always wants to dress up like a princess. She asks me for lipstick and eyeshadow and a dress EVERYTIME she comes over. Well this particular day Katurah saw the red lipstick and decided she should have a red nose. Then we found some pipe cleaners and fashioned some antlers. So we had the princess and the red nosed reindeer, a classic tale indeed.

She is such a fun helper, any time we make anything she is right there wanting to participate. She loves to read books with me. She loves to play piano with me and I think she might be the one who actually wants to play down the road (no pressure, but that would be awesome!!!). She is a great negotiator especially when she wants a snack "I want 5 choices" when I originally give her 2. One of the choices that she names is always "Swissarolls."

Katurah, I love you so much. You make me so happy. I love your big brown eyes and your happy smile. I love how much you love to participate in Primary. You are a wonderful young lady!!!
Love,
Mom

11

 Pantera turned 11 at the beginning of the month. It is so crazy how fast the time has gone by. It seems like just yesterday she was yelling at people in the post office for not listening to Jesus. Good news is she is still just as bossy as ever...hahaha.

 So Pantera is only a few inches shorter then I am. Her feet are only one size smaller then mine. So she borrows my clothes and that is really strange. Although she does not like it when I borrow her clothes and dance around singing the "look at my jeans" song...I don't know why. She is over wanting to dress like everyone else at school. Heck most days she is just over everyone else at school. She has done a very great job of standing up for others, I am very proud of how little fear she has. She has had quite a few incidents this year standing up for a new student that is always being picked on. Even reading texts from some of her "friends" I am amazed at how well she handles these situations. The one girl told her that the girl who is being bullied "deserves it" you should have seen Pantera hulk out, not on her watch!!! Yes, she is the 5th grade polite police.

She is also the best pretend teacher you will ever meet, although keeping a disruptive child in a box is kind of questionable.

Pantera, you are a strong girl. You are brave, you are funny. You say and do things that many people would cower from. I hope you always remember who you are, and always rise above the negativity in the world. I also hope you remember how very smart you are, do not give up when things don't come as easily as you would like. Your siblings all look up to you, no pressure but you better set a good example for like ever.

Love you kiddo,

Happy Birthday

 

Trunk or treat

Anna and Elsa:

Our ward's trunk or treat was last week. Everyone dressed up but Jess. After over 11 years of marriage I think I finally get it-Jess actually likes dressing up, he also likes pretending he hates dressing up. This has mad it rather confusing to me, but now that I know I will plan him a costume from here on out.

 

Pantera wanted to be Aphrodite the Greek goddess. After getting her all dressed up and taking a step back I had to try hard not to get all emotional on her. She is so grown up!!! And I don't think it is just my mom goggles seeing that she is absolutely gorgeous! With a feisty and funny personality not to mention brains, ok now I might just be bragging but seriously look what I made:

 Yes I am taking full credit for my child. When she saw a rather tight fitting costume on a teenager she whispered to me "I would NEVER let my daughter wear that!" Ok Pantera it has been documented, we will all remember this if you ever want to wear something I think is "skankalicious."

 Amari wanted to be Elsa for Halloween. I really think just to cause problems for me. You see Seneca is OBSESSED with Elsa and she is the only one who can be "Let it go." I ordered an Elsa and an Anna costume hoping Seneca would wear the Anna one. Lucky me when they came in the mail the Elsa one fit Seneca and Anna fit Amari. And even luckier Amari was alright with it...phew crisis averted.
Amari was telling us about her sleep study the other morning. She said "When we were driving home before it wasn't even morning it was so dark, and there were lots of lights. It looked just like Tokyo, wait what does Tokyo look like?" Then tonight she was being goofy and put her head through the arm hole of one of Jess' t-shirts. Jess said she looked like E.T. she got huffy and said "I don't look like a T or a E!" I guess she didn't get that 20 something year old movie reference.

Katurah is Larryboy AKA Larry the Cucumber for Halloween. Surprisingly enough she was the only one at the trunk or treat. She makes me play this game with her constantly and I always have to be Bob the Tomato. It usually goes something like this "You have to say, Who is that Pickle?" I repeat "Who is that Pickle?" she replies "I am not a pickle, I am a cucumber! And I am a superhero. You have to say What is your name?" And this can go on for hours. My favorite is the way she moves while pretending to be said cucumber, she hops with her arms straight down by her sides, it looks amazing. She is getting a boatload of Veggie Tales toys and books for her birthday. When one of the packages arrived I opened it in what I thought was a sly manner and she must have seen something because she asked "Is there something cucumber in there?"

If your kid wants to be Larry the Cucumber, you better be ready to be Bob the Tomato:

Zeke was torn between a police officer and Darth Vader this year. He makes a pretty cute cop, I wouldn't mind getting a ticket from that sweet face. He found his first tooth that he lost in a little tooth chest thing. When one of the girls went to open it he said "Be careful, it 's a shark tooth in there!" He really thought it was a shark tooth. He has been invited to all sorts of birthday parties over the past few weeks. On our way home from one yesterday he said "I have so many best friends, like everyone just wants me to come to their parties!" Kind of overwhelmed like. And he was greeted so happily yesterday, all of these little boys were so happy to see each other outside of school.

He's already got his good cop down:

Or his bad cop if he needs it:

 

We carved pumpkins for FHE this past week. I loved watching Zeke's face as he cleaned his pumpkin out, he was absolutely disgusted! The girls on the other hand relished in the feeling of the pumpkin goo, go figure. This could be part of the reason he is like never dirty and I am constantly chasing my little girls around the house with baby wipes.

 Jess didn't really help, he mostly just posed for us the entire time. Lookin' good babe!

Pantera has been having a pretty great few weeks at school. She has really seemed to find some friends who she doesn't have much drama with and she is a lot happier. She is working on a fundraiser for Make a Wish right now. She has a big idea to throw this huge carnival to earn enough for at least one wish. We are starting by selling necklaces to earn money to put the carnival on. This will be this coming summer. I have a feeling that if this all works out as planned, this will be the first of many fundraisers this kid wants to plan.

 Zeke is still supercharged about superchargers. He carries his official game guide with him everywhere he goes. This is nothing new, I can't remember a time in the past 4 years that he has not had a book that he needed to read and reread constantly. I just need to push him towards law books, or perhaps medical dictionaries. Yes, yes, Zeke is the anatomy of a Skylander, now memorize it:)

 Seneca is still just as joyful and dreadful as always. Jess has been making fun of me because I look at her so often and can hardly contain myself because she is so cute. She is our last one, last 2 year old and whether  I am mocked or not, I will enjoy every ounce of her cute chubbiness until she can't stand it. Luckily she is pretty obsessed with me to so it works out. She has been so fond of the phrase "No way!" lately. "Do you want to give me a kiss?" "No way!" or today "Do you want to go to  nursery?" "No way!" And she didn't go, because I am back in primary and nursery is just ridiculous without me.

 In super HUGE news.....Katurah is FINALLY POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!!!!!! After weeks of listening to her yell at me every time I asked her to try, she in going on her own and having very few accidents. It took so much pushing on my part, I really think she would have been content to stay in diapers for the rest of her life if I let her. But last night Amari accidentally said something about Katurah's diaper and she was so offended "It's called UNDIES Amari!" Duh, she hasn't worn diapers in like weeks.

 Amari has a pretty bad case of "dramatitus" she has insisted on wearing a bandage wrapped all the way around her hand for the past 4 days for attention. She just loved it when people asked her what happened to her "I bent my fingers, so hard." She still loves school so much and gets really disappointed for the weekend. I would love to be a fly on the wall in her classroom, she is such a random kid.

Zeke is 7

Holy moly, where has the time gone?!? My little boy turned 7 last week!

 When I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, I really thought he would ask for a party. I would have been happy to throw him a party. Instead he asked to have his friend Colby come over. Easy enough buddy. Colby's little sister is Amari's age so they all just played together. At one point Zeke got upset and Colby stomped off right behind Zeke and said "If Zeke's not playing, I'm not playing either! You guys are being mean to my friend!" I am glad Zeke has Colby in his class again this year.

Zeke got the new Skylanders game for his birthday and even more exciting the new "official guide" to said game. He has carried this book around with him everywhere he has gone for the past 8 days. He is so funny reading Jess and I all of the stats of the characters with such excitement. He is an excellent and enthusiastic reader. He is so fun to listen to when he reads a book that he finds amusing. He just cracks himself up as he reads. He has the best laugh!

Zeke, you are such a special young man. You look up to your father and I know you are going to be just as wonderful as he is. You love your family and your Heavenly Father with all of your heart. You are not shy about speaking about the Savior and letting your friends know that you know Him. I am so very proud of the person you are. I am also so grateful that you are feeling good again. I can't even begin to tell you how much I missed you while you were sick and just not your happy, bouncy self. I love to hear your super loud runs and jumps from upstairs at night, as I know this means you are happy. I am so glad I get to be your mom, you were the answer to so many prayers. I love you Zekie!!