Saturday, September 22, 2012

Crazy Love

A friend of mine who has never met Annabelle recently asked me if she is a spitfire.  My answer was, "Yes...the sweetest spitfire you could imagine."  These pictures I took of her in a super cute dress her Gigi made, perfectly capture my sweet spitfire. 

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Notice that she is wearing shoes and not boots! I know they don't match but they are the only shoes I can get her to wear, despite the fact that I think they might be rubbing her ankle. She loves them...maybe because we told her they are Minnie Mouse shoes.  She came in while I had the picture up of her kissing Aggie and she pointed and said, "Aww.  Aggie!  Minnie Shoes!"

Crazy Love
I can hear her heart beat for a thousand miles
And the heavens open every time she smiles
And when I come to her that's where I belong
Yet Im running to her like a rivers song

Chorus:
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
Shes got a fine sense of humor when Im feeling low down
And when I come to her when the sun goes down
Take away my trouble, take away my grief
Take away my heartache, in the night like a thief

Chorus:
Yes I need her in the daytime
Yes I need her in the night
Yes I want to throw my arms around her
Kiss her hug her kiss her hug her tight

And when Im returning from so far away
She gives me some sweet lovin brighten up my day
Yes it makes me righteous, yes it makes me feel whole
Yes it makes me mellow down in to my soul

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Happy Birthday, Kyle

Dear Kyle,
Happy sixth birthday, buddy Kyle! You some how manage to get a year older every single year! What an amazing person you are. Some days I think you are determined to learn every rule the hard way, but recently you’ve really been blowing me away with your good choices, gratitude and maturity. I am so happy I get to be your mommy. I get you, kid. I “get” you. You are an amazing person. You are funny, intelligent, authentic, and loving. You challenge me and I know God gave you to me as a gift to shape me into a better person.

I just got home from having lunch with you at school. You saw me and you got so excited you knocked and waved from the window between us. I LOVE that you are happy to see me! You started Kindergarten this year and you have a great teacher, Ms. Norris, who tells me that you two have great conversations. It’s been a month since school started and each day is an adventure. You are learning the rules and teaching your friends how to read. Some days when you come home and I ask you what you learned today, you say things like, “I learned that I’m not allowed to run in the halls at school.” I suppose that’s part of what school is about…learning to follow rules. Another day you came home and said you learned that you should not play under your desk. I asked if maybe you already knew that rule and you said, “Yes, but I forgot to remember. I’ll try to remember it tomorrow.” Yoda said, (Yes, I am quoting Yoda, I KNOW!) “Do, or do not. There is no try.” You are a sweet, smart kid and you can do anything you set your mind to. Today at lunch you told me that 3 times 4 equals 12. This was not something you had memorized, I watched you figure it out somehow with your fingers. You can also multiply single digit numbers by 9, 10 and 11…in kindergarten! You want to know when I learned multiplication? Third grade! You blow me away, kid!

Kyle, you are such a sweet, sensitive, caring person. Everyday I see more and more to that side of you. The other day in the car, out of the blue you told me you didn’t want to go to college because going to college would mean you’d have to move away from me. You were crying and then I was too. It was really sweet…it took all of my inner strength not to pull the car over, hop out, hug you and tell you that you can live with me forever (I didn’t and you can’t)...but it was a really sweet moment. At night, when I tuck you in bed, I wrap my arms around you and squeeze and say, “I know you just want to go to sleep, but I want to lay here and hug you ALL NIGHT.” Every time I say that I expect you to push me away, but you say, “Okay, me too!” You love fishing with your Daddy and treasure one on one time with him. You often talk about the things you'd like to do when you have a son. It's amazing that you already dream of being a father. It just goes to show how big your heart is!

Right now, you REALLY love Star Wars and want to become a Jedi. You are already reading your Star Wars books and know ALL the characters. You even know stuff that your Daddy doesn't know and that is saying something! You like to dress in costumes and run around the house pretending with your brother. When you dress yourself you make eccentric choices to say the least… from mixing stripes and plaid to just wearing a belt and nothing else! I have to say it's hard keeping clothes on you, you like to go "au natural" as Papa likes to say.

As I mentioned, you are already reading and you are doing it at a higher level than your peers. The other night you cruised through "There is No Place Like Space" by Dr. Seuss while Daddy stared in amazement. After we put you to bed you like to sit in under the covers and read your books. I love it that you enjoy reading as it will expand your horizons as far as you can dream! You teach Annabelle new words everyday and thanks to you she knows how to count backwards from 5. You are great at math too and can put together Lego sets made for ten year olds with the greatest of ease. Kyle, it is clear that you are intelligent and I want nothing more than for you to take advantage of your God given talents. 

At age 5 you developed your first crush, Avery Nowak, who shares your birthday and was born just a few hours after you! You call each other goofy names and tell us that you are going to marry her one day. So cute, but I have to tell you it's a scary proposition as your personalities are virtually identical. With your smarts, charm, and good looks, Mommy and Daddy know the girls are going to flock to you…someday in the very distant future.
I have never met another kid with such a strong sense of self. You know what you like and don’t like, you know who you are and you don’t pretend to be anything you are not. That is being authentic. It takes a strong person to be authentic and this is something that will carry you far in life. You are the kind of kid who blazes his own trail. You just started playing soccer, it's the first time you've played a sport and not been on your brother's team. It's clear you want to be your own person, and though you love and look up to your brother, you don't sit in his shadow. If you work hard, play hard and dream big, you will do great things!

We feel so lucky to be your parents and we love you more than words can express…
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
 
 
Right now you are into:
Star Wars
Legos
Xbox
Soccer
barbeque sauce
fishing
reading
space and planets
puzzles
chocolate
bday
Kyle first thing in the morning on his sixth birthday.

kyle bday in bed
Kyle first thing in the morning on his second birthday.


Kyle's Birthday Missions:

1. Mail someone a piece of toast
2. Everytime you need to say the word no, say "No-bi-won-kenobi" instead
3. Let someone pour a big cup of ice down your shirt bdaymissions2 bdaymissions

Monday, September 17, 2012

Kyle's Star Wars Birthday Party

If you know Kyle, you know he loves Star Wars and he is quite the expert. I took him along on one of Annabelle's play dates once and before I knew it, he had given another poor mom an earful of useless Star Wars information that she never wanted to know. I sometimes wonder if he thinks he really can grow up to be a Jedi. So, I didn't really have a choice, he had to have a Star Wars birthday party, despite my reluctance and ignorance about Star Wars.

My mom made awesome Jedi tunics for the kids (thanks, mom!) and each kid also got a foam lightsaber which I made by cutting pool noodles in half. We had a game where each kid used The Force to move an object. Then they used The Force to whack a Darth Vader Pinata with a lightsaber blindfolded. (I'm not sure, but I think that's kind of how somebody taught Luke Skywalker or something...Cody or Kyle will correct me if I'm wrong) I made the Death Star cake and I should probably admit that up until Kyle started asking for the $400 Lego Death Star for Christmas last year (yeah, right...needless to say he didn't get it), I had no clue what it was. Even in making this cake, I learned that there are 2 different Death Stars (Don't ask me which one the cake is...I don't know). And then when Kyle saw the cake he said he wanted it to be shooting and laser out of it. I had to google that, but that's why there's a green candle sticking out of the concave part.

Making this cake was almost the death of me!  The first attempt met it's fate in the trashcan when I tried to dye the icing grey and it turned out purple. You would think adding black food coloring to white icing would yield grey, but no. For my second attempt, I tried to use a gluten-free cake mix which didn't rise at all...bye bye cake again. For my third attempt, I used 2 GF cake mixes which did the trick. I decorated the ball to look like the Death Star or some simplified version of it. Then I placed it on the bottom round cake and went to pick up the boys from school. When I returned the bottom cake had collapsed and the Death Star had rolled off. Luckily, the Death Star was salvageable, but I needed a new bottom layer to set it on so I got an already made cake at the store. With structural support inside the bottom cake, I added the Death Star to the top just before the party started. It was starting to sink by the time the candles were being blown out but it made it. whew!

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Thursday, September 6, 2012

Annabelle's first day of school ever


a school01 a school02 a school03 Today was a big day...Annabelle's first day of school. I woke up early this morning with panic running through my veins. I felt like I was not prepared or ready for her first day of preschool. Since I coudn't sleep, I got up and checked to see if I had signed all the forms and paperwork for her admission. I had. Her blankie and sippie cup were in her backpack. Her lunch was made, her clothes clean and ironed (Yes, I own an iron), teachers' gifts were made,  and my camera was ready to go. I had done everything I needed to do to prepare her for today. Then I realized that it was me who was not ready.  I had a list a mile long of things I could do on my one kid-free day a week, but I hadn't actually thought about what it would feel like not having my little sidekick with me. 

We arrived at the preschool with armloads of stuff. I set her down and she immediately went to the baby dolls.  Then she saw a Minnie Mouse stuffed toy just like hers at home and went for it.  Unfortunately, it was another little girl's lovie.  There was discussion that went something like this:
Annabelle: My Minnie
Other girl: My Minnie
Annabelle: My Minnie
Other girl: No, Mine!
Good two year old stuff!  They used their words which is the best you can hope for with 2 year olds.  I was able to distract her from the Minnie tug of war by leading her to the kitchen where I took a quick picture and said goodbye.  She cried.  for about two minutes.  I know because when I passed her room after I dropped off her paperwork in the office, she had stopped.
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Big ideas about my "Day Off" and all I did today was take a shower and go to lunch with my mom.  Still, all day long, I felt like part of me was missing, kind of like the way it feels when I forget my phone or purse at home.

I picked her up and she had had a great day! I knew she would.  Her sweet teacher wrote a note about her first day. Even though I missed hugging and kissing on her while she was at school today, I feel like she was loved by her teachers. 

Here's what her teacher wrote, "What a fabulous first day of preschool Annabelle had!  She was so busy during center time exploring the room! She didn't want to stop for storytime but she did move closer as I read while holding her toys.  She took very good care of our dolls, feeding them and patting their backs.  She sat back and observed during most of music. That is, until the props came out! She LOVED singing and dancing to Tu Ti Ta while waving scarves! What fun! I am so happy to have Annabelle this year!
Love, Ms. Miller"




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