photos

I was itching to take some pictures today and believe it or not, the kids have actually been bugging me to get the backdrop out for the past few weeks.
With a possible haircut coming up I decided this was a great time.
Here are some of my favs from the day.

Silly sadness

Long wavy hair blowing in the wind and falling gracefully over her shoulders is just not in the cards for my Kayla. At least not while she is little.
We have made several attempts at growing out her hair, this last attempt being her most serious dedicated attempt.
But it always ends up the same way... the more her hair grows, the more the cork screw curls act like Velcro and pull all the longer hairs right in.
So not only does it NEVER look long, but it is a mass of tangles and knots.
We deep condition and do leave in conditioners and it does not help enough.
Finally it just becomes to painful for her to bear, so here we go again with a super short haircut.
I absolutely LOVE short hair on Kayla, but for some reason I am really sad to cut her hair this time. I think it's because it's a final realization that hair past her shoulders is just not going to happen and we need to give up!
Silly silly thing to be sad about with all the things that are happening in the world, but I can't help it. I am sad....

Projects

Collin's barn picture and Kayla's Amelia Earhart project.

Kitty Hoedown

Be sure to scroll down to pause the music at the bottom of the page before watching:

souvenirs

Tim is so sweet. He always remembers to bring the kids souvenirs after every business trip. Mexican jumping beans, t-shirts, toys... usually whatever he gets at the convention he is at. :)

Most recently Tim brought these cute pink lollipops home for the kids.



Look a little closer

Thanks Tim... I sure appreciated the moment when Collin ran up to me in his excitement and told me he'd licked enough that the scorpion's claw was sticking through.

Secret Messenger

Kayla has been meeting weekly with a writing and math enrichment tutor.
Mrs. K is fabulous and it's amazing what she has accomplished with Kayla.
I see her math weekly, but have not seen the writing because they have been working on a secret writing project for 6 weeks.
Kayla has been begging us to check the mail for the past few days.
On Wednesday, we received the below letter in the mail.
It came in an envelope with "urgent matter" written on the envelope and "from an accredited children's organization"
We read the letter with Kayla giggling and jumping up and down in the background.
Mrs. K told me yesterday that Kayla wrote this letter all by herself. The game was that Kayla would be writing as if she were someone writing on behalf of Kayla.
Mrs. K has been teaching her thought organization, persuasive writing skills and best of all she had Kayla using a thesaurus. She is teaching her how to make ordinary sentences sound more "WOW".
We were so excited for Kayla's accomplishment! Although, this letter is from a "secret messenger" not Kayla. ;)
You can click on the letter to see a bigger version.

Preschool

Collin started preschool today and he loved it.
His teacher is one of the sweetest women I have ever met.
She called this evening to tell us some things that she saw
Collin doing that made her proud and then she got on the phone
with Collin to tell him how much she missed him already and how
great he did today.
It was a very special first day. We had a special dinner to celebrate
and picked up some Pirate Cupcakes for dessert.

Audition

The economy has affected pretty much everything in this country, including commercial production. Kayla's audtion calls pretty much came to a screeching halt for a while.
So I was very excited when we got an audition call today.
SOOOOO Kayla will be auditioning for the role of a serial killer's 7 year old sister.
Funniest part of it... Collin is jealous.

JuneBug kitty

JuneBug is quickly turning in to a CAT. Her fuzzy white hair has turned in to sleek, soft creamy hair. Her little white face has changed in to a darker face with racoon markings around her eyes, which thankfully, have remained a brilliant blue.


Just so pretty


Hanging out with her buddies


Lounging in a lap

Juicer Fun

Mmmmmm.... Carrot Raisin muffins made from the pulp after juicing carrots.

Here is the recipe: http://www.sunmaid.com/en/recipes/recipe/Carrot_Raisin_Muffins.html

Why I love age 7

Of course I love my kids at every age and stage, but there are always those years kids seem particularly cute or sweet.
I really loved my newborn Collin and I really enjoyed two year old Kayla.
My next favorite age for Kayla is 7. This has been such a fun year with her and this morning just tops it off.

We still have our little girl who wants to be cuddled and read to and wants nothing more than to hang out with her Mom and Dad.
Yet she is also all about being a "big girl" and loves getting her nails done, talking about rock stars and helping out with Collin.
She gets excited about the book series she is in to, has her special TV show with Dad and loves girls' days.

I've had a horrible time falling asleep the past few days and last night was no exception. So when the kids woke up at 7:30 I was exhausted and asked them to let me lay there a little longer. When I finally came out at 8:00 Kayla had already made them their breakfasts and let the dogs out. She was so pleased to take on Mom duties. I love age 7!!!

A year gone by

I can't believe how fast a year flys by.
As we get ready for our annual family photos I decided to go through last year's pictures for fun. I find that my favorite pictures from a shoot are always different after time passes. It's the moments that become the most important and not how everyone's hair looked or if a shirt is tucked in or pulled out.
Here are some of my favorite caught moments from last years shoots.

The kids











The family

Rock Band

Be sure to scroll down and pause blog music before watching...
I leave the house for a few hours and Tim starts a band. Apparently Tim and the kids decided that they should purchase Guitar Hero Rock Band as soon as possible because of a sale going on. I've been carrying my Flip Video Camera in my purse lately so this is literally me taping them after I walked in the door. I am not in the band but I am a back-up drummer when the real drummer needs a break.

Brain Day

Our Homeschool Science Club is hosted by a very cool woman named Liz.
Liz also hosts geography days and so far, at her house, we have enjoyed things like:
extracting DNA from onions, making butter, learning about Africa and most recently:
making brains!
She taught us the anatomy of brains and the kids got to learn about some of the brain's many different functions. They played Brain charades and had to act out different Voluntary and Involuntary Brain functions like hearing, touching, heartbeat, sleeping, etc...
It was my favorite event yet at Liz's.
They made clay brains and used the colored clays to represent the hypothalamus, brain stem, etc...
Good job guys!

Buddies

Since poor Lucy was spayed last week, JuneBug has had to seek company elsewhere.
Abby is much more comfortable with kitty cuddling then she was a month ago.

Evening fun

We love having the kids' friends over for pizza and movie night every so often.
The kids get pretty wild with lots of running and wrestling.
"Make your own sundae" bar always tops off the night.

Omega 2005 Nutrition Center

My juicer arrived! Yippee!
I have been planning and contemplating healthy and tasty juice combos in my mind for weeks, and finally I was able to put it to use!
I've got Tim on board for wheatgrass shots and carrots and greens juices, and the kids are excited about fresh apple and orange juice.
We made apple juice the other day and it was so sooooo good. The kids can do the juicing part so that was super helpful because I would rinse and cut the apples and they fed them through.
Today we juiced oranges and it was delightful.
The kids really work as a team and have such a good system down.
It's also been fun to talk about the different nutritional benefits of the fruits and veggies we are using.
Next I will be learning to use the leftover pulps for muffins, breads and soups and I hope to begin composting what we don't use.
What a fun lifestyle change this is becoming!

Visions of animals dance in my head

There are a lot of animals here right now in our tiny 1700 sq foot house.
In fact I have a couple of candles lit at the moment to freshen the not so fresh air.
I look forward to a spacier home soon to accommodate the animals, who at this point, even outnumber our children.
But I must say that I so appreciate Abby's loving gaze and her sweet ways.
I love that Lucy thinks the kitten is her pup and she takes care of her, bathing her, protecting her and even scolding her.
Most of all, I am in absolute adoration with the kitten. She is the sweetest little kitty and lives to be held and snuggle under my chin. I love that there isn't the love hate relationship that seems to exist between people and their dogs.
There is just love because cats are just not capable of annoyance.
I am laughing as I type this because I just know that come December, when JuneBug rips ornaments off our tree or is found hanging from a stocking I might change my tune! :)

Also, I have a social commentary on self-righteous pet rescuers.
And, by the way, this message is coming from a girl who rescued the mice in her
Colorado home in the winter in an aquarium, feeding them peanut butter and crackers until it was warm enough to let them free because she couldn't bear to poison them, so I am not callous about animals!
Rescuing a pet from the pound or humane society is an absolute noble awesome thing, and I have witnessed many great family pets coming from that exact scenario.
Tim and I have always been faithful donaters to the ASPCA and I'm sure we'll rescue one day too.
However, there is nothing and I repeat NOTHING wrong with purchasing an animal from a responsible breeder.
Just because there are irresponsible pet owners out there who neglect their pets or allow uncontrolled breeding to occur does not mean that we should all be forced to take home the products of these uncontrolled breedings when we go looking for a new pet.
Many people have special requirements they have to consider as well, such as allergies, or perhaps they are searching for a particular temperment due to a bad experience with a certain breed.

Furthermore, I ask you, if it is so selfish to purchase a pet "when there are just so many out there to adopt" then isn't it selfish to have your own child when there are sooo many starving orphans out there in the world to adopt?
One might say that the adoption fees for animals are minuscule compared to those of children, but really? If the adoption fees were significantly less for a child, would you forgo having your own because it was far more socially responsible to adopt?
Lastly, those of us who take the time to research the type of pet we'd like to spend the next 10 to 20 years with and are willing to pay the price tag for that particular pet are FAR MORE likely to keep that pet till death do us part then those who pick one up at the pound.
After all, many of the pets at the pound right now are ones who have been adopted out and returned.

I thank God that there are people walking through the humane societies every weekend in search of their new best friend and believe me, before JuneBug I was one of those people. But I am also thankful for the breeders out there who are searching for and ensuring the best temperaments and health in their animals and who charge the prices they do to ensure their babies find forever homes.
Amen.

Girly Girlz

Kayla and Bailey had a special Girly Girlz day yesterday and enjoyed a diva day spa and girls lunch after.
Besides one short moment where Kayla got a little sad thinking about Emmy, she truly had a great time! She chose the cowgirl theme and Bailey chose the princess theme.
They each got matching friendship necklaces to take home.
So fun!