Down at the park

A couple of weeks ago the kids had a day off from school, so we took them down to a local park. As usual, hilarity ensued.


Getting out of the car.

Sydney: It’s so bright, I can’t see my eyes!

Heh. Hey, wait a minute—I can’t see my eyes either!



Bored.

McKenzie: Things are always more fun when you’re little. I wish things were still fun.

Sigh. Me too.



Pre-teen insecurities.

Tyler: Does this swing make my butt look big?

It kind of did.


On the way home.

Me: So did you have fun at the park, Elise?

Elise: Yeah.

Me: What was your favorite part?

Elise: I don’t know. I think maybe the fat kid swing.*

My kids are so not PC, but they say these things guilelessly.




*While I do not encourage the use of such phrases, in Elise’s defense, it was a rather large bucket seat swing and we were at an elementary school playground, so in her mind 2+2=fat kid swing. I’m thinking perhaps it was a special swing for children with disabilities as it had a seatbelt as well.

McKenzie is nine

McKenzie turned 9 on October 2, 2008. Nine isn't really a big milestone birthday, but for McKenzie, finally catching up to her two best friends (who are both 7 months older than her and a grade ahead) was worth celebrating (in addition to that whole birthday thing).

We just had a family party on her birthday. Luckily, Nate made it back from his business trip in time for the family party. Two years before he was in Italy for McKenzie's birthday, and she's never let him forget it. She still brings it up at random times, saying "Remember that time you missed my birthday, Dad?" When his boss asked him to go to Charleston the week of Kenzie's birthday, Nate told him he would only go if he could be back in time to celebrate with the family. Good thinking, Dad.

Kenzie opening presents:

With all her loot:

Happy Birthday, dear McKenzie:

The whole gang together:

Notice the sling on her arm? About two weeks before, she had fallen off a balance beam during an open gym session at the local gymnastics center. After ten days, when the arm still didn't seem to be acting quite right, I took her to the doctor. The doctor moved her arm every which way during the examination with almost no complaint from Kenzie. She decided to do an x-ray just in case, and the x-ray revealed it was a broken shoulder. Mother of the year--right here. I think it was almost more traumatic for me than for her. The doctor assured me that with how little McKenzie had complained there was no way I could have known, and McKenzie, like always, was quick to forgive. Still.


A few after her birthday, Kenzie took a couple of friends out to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Tres Hermanos, and to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua (I know what you're thinking, but it was actually pretty funny). Everyone had a great time.

The birthday girl in her birthday sombrero with BFFs Lauren and Lily:

And this is what I wrote on the day McKenzie turned nine:

My not so little bundle of joy

McKenzie is nine today. And with every birthday of every child of every year, I find myself wondering where the time has gone. The seems like just yesterdays are always on the tip of my tongue, yet when I think about all that has happened, all that we’ve been through, and how much she has grown, I realize that of course this much time has passed.

At 6 pounds 14 ounces, she was my smallest little bundle of joy. Over the past almost decade, she has become my not so little bundle of joy and also my bundle of contradictions. She is my silliest and most serious. My toughest and most fragile. My first to forgive and last to forget. My most popular and most lonely. My most affectionate and most distant. My happiest and most melancholy.

She sometimes laments being the outsider among her sisters—the only brown-eyed brunette in a family of blue-eyed blonde women. I tell her I love that she is different because she brings me the best of both worlds. She sometimes wishes she wasn’t the oldest sister with all of the extra responsibilities and expectations. I tell her that being my first daughter will always make her extra special. She sometimes complains that I am quicker to praise her younger, more emotionally needy sister. I tell her that nothing and no one brings me greater joy than her. And it’s true. I hope deep down (or not so very deep down) she believes it or that at least someday she will.

McKenzie is a blessing to our family. She is helpful, kind, full of gratitude and a crack-up just like her brother. She is sensitive, but forgiving and makes us smile everyday.

Funny as heck, remember?

So you should know that when I say "I'll post tomorrow", tomorrow means anywhere from 3-300 days. This time it meant three, which I am counting as a total success. Since I'm already on this Tyler subject, I thought I'd include some of his most recent random conversations as the "something new".

Tyler's got the music in him.

Me, holding up his Sunday shirt: It just came right out of the dryer, but it’s still kind of wrinkly. Is it very noticeable?

Tyler, singing to Eye of the Tiger: It came… right out of the dryer, but it’s still wrinkle-ly. I WONder if anyone will no-ho-tice.

Tyler, helping McKenzie out of the back of the van: Ooooh, we’re halfway there. Woah-oh, livin’ on a prayer. Take my hand (takes her hand), we’ll make it I swear.

Sydney: Can I have some more cheese?

Tyler, to Safety Dance: You can have cheese if you want to. Or you can leave your cheese behind.

I blame/thank Rock Band. Though, I’m not sure where Safety Dance came from.

---

Getting ready to leave for school this morning.

Me, noticing Tyler's shirt, pants, jacket ensemble: You’re like Little Boy Blue today. Little Boy Blue come blow your horn. The sheep’s in the meadow the cow’s in the corn.

Tyler: Your face is in the corn.

Touche.

---

Potty-training.

Me: Syd, you went potty on the toilet again! Good job!

Tyler: Why don’t you ever say good job when I go to the bathroom? I feel under-rewarded.

Um…sorry?

---

In the kitchen.

Tyler: The ceiling tastes just like the wall. That’s stupid. It should taste different.

Sometimes I wonder about that boy.

---

Tomorrow: McKenzie's birthday and the girls' PTA Reflections awards

Tyler turns twelve

So here's my first go at the something old, something new strategy.

Tyler's birthday was five months ago, but we certainly cannot not mention that he turned 12 in 2008. Twelve! I am the mother of a deacon, which means I am old enough to have a son passing the sacrament, which means I am old. Sigh.

This past year his birthday happened to fall on the first day of school. He was extra thrilled about that--a birthday wish come true, I'm sure. But I think he somehow still managed to have some fun.

Opening presents, ever the goofball:

2008 was the year Tyler discovered the joy of Chuck Norris:

His birthday card, custom-made by yours truly:

All the loot, obviously still excited about Chuck Norris:

With his adoring little sisters:

One of the goals I had last year was to try to write down all of the funny things our kids say and to journal something about them on their birthdays. I wish I had done this years ago, but better late than never, right?

This is what I wrote on Tyler's twelfth birthday, September 3, 2008:

In the blink of an eye

Tyler is twelve today. Twelve?! He’s fast approaching the point of no return, leaving childhood behind and marching straight into adolescence. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around that idea. (Who coined that phrase anyway? There’s nothing “wrappable” about a head—it’s just bad imagery, as far as I’m concerned. And still I use it for lack of better words.)

I have four babies, but he was my first, which makes him special. Yes, they’re all special, but each one is specialer in his or her own ways, and this is one of his (one of many). All of my first experiences with motherhood came from him, and we’ve been through a lot together. We’ve made each other laugh and cry and scream and pout and laugh some more.

He also has the special distinction of being our guinea pig, I suppose. If he’s a typical firstborn he will spend the rest of his days talking about how he never had what his younger siblings had or how he never would have gotten away with the things they got away with. He may even think that we could have been better parents than we have been. I know we will. That’s what we do as parents, right? Always worry and wonder about our mistakes, what we could have done differently, if it would have made any difference. I’m hoping he’ll at least be able to say, “It could have been worse.”

For now, I’m just grateful that at the end of every day I still get an “I love you, Mom.” I wonder how long I dare hope that lasts.

Tyler blesses our family in more ways than I'm sure even we will ever know. He's helpful, he's responsible, he's a good example for his younger sisters (mostly), he has a desire to do right and he's funny as heck. A keeper, for sure.

I think I remember something about a blog

OK, so it's been three months since I last posted. Three months? Really? Why did I think it was a good idea to start a blog again?

I've been connecting with a lot of old friends on Facebook, which has been really fun. A lot of these old friends have blogs, blogs that they actually post on and update on a regular basis. Frequently, I am asked if our family has a blog, to which I reply yes, but always with the "but I'm not very good about keeping it updated" addendum. That's just wrong, right? I mean, there really is no point of having one at all if you're not going to post on it.

So here I am again trying to rededicate myself to the task of running a family blog. But not just any family blog---a family blog with things like current events and posts about children who haven't already graduated from college when you're writing about their 7th birthday.

I think I had decided around Halloween time last year that I'd better not wait until I catch up on all of the year's previous events before posting about Halloween otherwise I would be unlikely to get the Halloween post up before the next Halloween. I'm thinking that's still a good strategy. So I'm going to post something new along with something old (I've made a list of a dozen or so "old" posts that are kind of necessary to complete our 2008 year if I'm going to continue pretending that this blog is acting as our family's personal history). It will probably take me several weeks to catch up. You should prepare yourselves for the possibility that I might even be posting about Christmas 2009 and 2008 concurrently, but that's OK. As long as it's done, right?

And, of course, this is all going to start tomorrow because rededicating myself to something and also writing about it is just about all I can manage for one day.

More random kid speak

Fairy Elisemother

Elise, waving her wand in my direction: Bibbidy-bobbidy-boo! Turn you into a mom that’s beautiful!
Me: Hey!
Elise: I said beautiful.
Me: So you’re saying I’m not already beautiful?
Elise: No, I’m pretending you’re an animal.
Me: Like in Cinderella when the fairy godmother turns the mice into coachmen?
Elise: Yeah.
Me: What kind of animal am I?
Elise: An elephant.

Hey!


Family togetherness

Kids overhear Nate and I discussing an article from the paper about a man beating his wife to death. (I know, terrible!)

Elise: I’m never going to beat up my husband. Dad, would you beat up Mom?
Dad: No, she beats me up.
Me: No, I don’t! When have I ever beat you up?
McKenzie: Do you beat him up with your words?
Tyler, snickering: Mom verbally abuses Dad.
Me: What?!

What?!


More family togetherness

Tyler: You can roast beef, but you can’t pea soup.
Elise: Tyler is the grossest person in this family.
McKenzie: He was adopted.
Tyler: Yeah, you were adopted.
Me: He wants to be adopted.
Nate: He’s from a hobo family.
Me: They dropped him off on our doorstep.
Nate: That’s why he’s obsessed with hobos.
Me: It’s in his blood.
Tyler: Yeah, it’s in my blood. Hobo instincts.

That’s my boy.


Bedtime.

Sydney, rubbing my arm: You have skin, Mom.
Me: Mm-hmm.
Sydney, pulling up her sleeve: Look, I have skin, too. See?
Me: Yep. Do you like skin?
Sydney: Yeah, I like skin. And chocolate milk.

Me too. I wouldn’t put them in my top 5 or anything, but hey.


Watching the playback of her Singstar session.

Elise: How is my voice that cute?

It is pretty cute.


McKenzie, belching in close proximity to my face.

Me: McKenzie!
McKenzie: It’s your fault. You borned me.

Oh yeah? Well, how’d ya like to be unborned?


Debating with Tyler.

Me: There’s no way you could ever get an entire fish taco lodged in your brain. How could you inhale a fish taco whole?
Tyler: Hey, I haven’t hit my growth spurt yet. Maybe I’ll have some kind of nostril disorder.

It’s my fault. I borned him.

Halloween 2008

So another Halloween has come and gone. I wasn't going to post about Halloween until I had at least caught up with our summer trip to Seaside back in August and Tyler's birthday in September and McKenzie's birthday in October. But let's face it, if I don't post anything new until all the old stuff is done, pretty soon it will all be old stuff. So here I am posting out of order (gasp!). Deal with it. I have.


For some reason, this year my kids have all developed this strange affection for all things hobo. So naturally, the plan for Halloween costumes revolved around the hobo. Originally, Tyler and McKenzie were going to both be hobos, but when McKenzie started referring to them as the "Hobo Bros", Tyler decided he didn't want to be part of a set. He wanted to express his individuality with this:




In case you're unsure, he's a garden gnome. A garden gnome with style.

It was his vision entirely. I have no idea where he comes up with this stuff, but I think he looks great.

McKenzie decided to stick with the hobo plan.

She got a lot of compliments on her costume. When she went trick-or-treating, a guy at one of the houses cracked up and said it was the best costume he had seen all night. I think the sign makes the ensemble.

Elise's original plan was to be Cinderella. She was Cinderella a couple of years ago and I was pretty sure the dress would still fit. Mom loves the recycling of the costumes. Saves money and effort. But once Elise heard all of the hobo talk from her older siblings, she was conflicted. Nate very helpfully suggested she be hobo Cinderella. Although, his idea for achieving this look involved the tearing to shreds of the original Cinderella princess dress. That idea did not so much appeal to me.

Instead we came up with this:

The pre-princess Cinderella, or as Elise likes to say "Hobo Cinderella". It turned out great, and the best part was we already had all of the clothes in the girls' closet. I only had to make the apron, head scarf and mice. The bestest part was Elise was tickled to have been granted her Hobo Cinderella wish.

Sydney had been set on her costume for quite awhile now. She told me several weeks ago that she wanted to be a pig, quickly adding that she did not want to be all muddy. We did the pig sans mud.

Again, we already had the clothes and the hat. I just turned the hat inside out and added the ears, eyes and snout. And, of course, what's a piggy without a little curly tail?



Syd liked to draw attention to hers with a little booty shakin'.

It was really difficult getting Syd to stand still long enough for a group shot, and naturally the best one turned out kind of blurry. But you get the picture. (No pun intended.)



Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the jack-o-lanterns.

That's Syd's on the far left, drawn by Elise according to Syd's specifications, and carved by Elise and Nate. Tyler's has the big, toothy grin, which fits his personality completely. McKenzie did the ghost, designed and carved almost exclusively by her. Elise chose the stencil on the end--Mom got to do the carving honors.

I don't usually look forward to the carving of the pumpkins with the mess and the cleaning and all that other gunk it entails, but it's tradition, and I'm always pleased with the results.

Another fun Halloween. Hope you all enjoyed yours!