Ode to Owen

Yesterday was Karsten's best buddy Owen's birthday. Owen and Karsten have been friends since they met when Karsten was just 10 months old (which is the exact age that Sierra was when she met her very best friend Adri!). They've been troublemakers ever since. I love these two boys together! They have the perfect blend of personalities. Owen is older and smarter so he comes up with the schemes but needs Karsten's fearlessness to put the plan in motion. They are both obsessed with trains and cars. They love their "fast shoes" and sippy cups and when they get in trouble they immediately blame the other. "It was Karsten's idea." "Owen did it." I am so happy that Karsten has learned what true friendship is at such a young age. So thanks Owen for putting up with Karsten's messy face (this drives Owen crazy!) and being such a good friend.


So Happy Birthday to Karsten's partner in crime...

Owen

Weird Week

This has been a weird week.

First off I lost my wallet. Was it stolen? Did I drop it? I didn't know until the next day when someone called me and said she found it in a shopping cart. She didn't turn it in to the store because she saw my name and she has the same maiden name as I do so wanted to give it to me in person. Crazy.

Next crazy thing is Aspen was playing on the deck and I noticed these bird were swooping down at her. Then I looked at what Aspen was playing with. It was a baby bird! We quickly saved it and it hopped away with it's swooping parents. That was the happy part. Well, the girls found the baby bird again and made a little nest for it and this time it didn't fare so well... So this morning Karsten came in the house holding the bird in his bare hands informing me that "This is dead." Ewwww...

Do you want more crazy? How about I opened my mailbox to find it full of grass, rocks, and dirt. Thanks Karsten. How about our contractor came this morning, the day before I'm having a baby shower here, to fix a leak in the bathroom that I've been calling him about for two months...

AND I just took Karsten in for a haircut. I told them to leave it long, just trim it. So they left it long all right. Only in the back though so now he has an official mullet. I need this week to end...

Just call me Molly Mormon

I just baked a cake (for Sunday dinner with the missionaries), some cookies (to take to my 87 year-old neighbor Pete, and for me too of course), and a dessert (for the baby shower tomorrow) all while folding laundry. I think I need a Dr. Pepper.

Daily Dose of Music

Lately I have been clicking on people's blogs just to listen to the music. It's so fun and such great music! The other day I had my friend Laura's blog going and "YMCA" came on. Hilarious! Folding laundry is a whole lot funner if "YMCA" is playing! I love hearing what everyone loves and I get a better sense of that person. I'm so glad so many of you are old school like me. It takes me back to a place int ime when I wasn't home folding laundry... Anyway, thanks for the music!

Give this kid a haircut!

And for an even funnier laugh, click this link my friend just sent me after seeing this picture... Please don't let this be an indicator of things to be... http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/nolte1.html?link=eaf

Sketcher

A new skill that Skyla must have learned at school is sketching. She'll get her notepad out and draw a picture or just list the things that she sees. She's just observing the world around her. She sat on David's lap and sketched Yoda. She came in from playing outside and gave me a list of what she had observed Karsten doing. The list said, "hitting, playing, jumping, waving stick, crying, playing in water, teasing Aspen." Another day her list for Sierra said "standing, playing with Aspen, holding a broom, talking, sweeping" and she drew a picture of Sierra sweeping. She got in trouble the other night and David sent her to her room. A few minutes later a note was pushed under our door saying, "Mom, come here now!" When I didn't come, a few minutes later another note appeared. This one said, "Mom come now!" It was accompanied with a note that said "I'm so sad." and a dozen frowny faces. This one was too much and David melted and went and talked to her.

If Skyla is the sketcher, Karsten is the questioner. Karsten has traded in asking "Why" to "What happens if..." He asks me this constantly, and no, it doesn't always make sense. And he always calls me Mama before asking the question even though he usually calls me Mom. Here are some examples:
"Hey mama, what happens if we didn't have doors?"
"Hey mama, what happens if we didn't eat food?"
"Hey mama, what happens if we didn't have trees?"
"Hey mama, what happens if our teeth fall out?"
"Hey mama, what happens if we didn't have blood?"

So if Skyla is the sketcher, and Karsten is the questioner, then Sierra has become the mother. I went up to my room to find a "chart" taped to my bedroom door. It's a chart for me to practise the piano and if I practise all week, I get a sticker. I hadn't done it for two days so then there was a little note written at the top, "Get back on track mom!" She is doing a great job mothering Aspen. She gives him baths, walks, and takes care of him just like a little mother. Because Aspen is not yet fully immunized she's not suppose to be around other dogs. If another dog approaches Sierra will always ask if they've been immunized before she lets Aspen go near.

Did you know...

that if you forget you are boiling eggs and leave them on the stove too long that they will explode all over your entire kitchen? And into the dining room and living room as well. They explode far...

Nine year old milestone

Nine year olds don't hit many milestones. They already know how to walk and are potty trained. They've been baptized and can read and ride a bike without training wheels. So when my oldest daughter was hanging out in our cottage by herself one night, I thought that was odd, but didn't think much beyond that. (A little background - our house came with this little cottage outside. It's a perfect play house and when the kids have friends over they love to play in it. My kids will never play out there by themselves though as they still always seem to be in the same area of the house that I'm in. If' I'm upstairs, they're upstairs. If I'm downstairs they are downstairs.) And then it hit me like a ton of bricks - she's ok by herself. She's entered her stage of independence. She doesn't have to be near me all the time. She can think differently and have different opinions than I do. She doesn't necessarily want to be just like me anymore! She's really growing up and I have to admit it's breaking my heart! She's my baby that made me a mother. She slept under my desk when I went back to work after she was born. I sobbed her first day of kindergarten. It just makes me realize how quickly each stage ends. One minute she was my princess in pink and with two girls I thought we'd never be out of the princess world. Before I knew what was happening, she was a tom-girl climbing trees. No more princess dress-ups. She was my toddler that was afraid of the mosquitos sucking her blood and now she's my girl who will save the spiders in the house before I smash them. Why can't they stay little forever! I love my little girl so much and it's so unreal to me that my baby is 9 years old. It makes me wonder what I'm going to look back on these next nine years that will bring tears to my eyes. Who would've thought Sierra reading in the cottage by herself would spur such emotions. I'm definitely mourning the past, but it's also very exciting to see the type of person she's turning out to be and I truly am so proud of my strong and independent little girl.

GNR

For those of you who don't know, that stands for Grand National Rodeo baby! Yee haw! We had the pleasure of spending our Wednesday night at the Cow Palace in San Francisco with some real live cowboys and girls! We saw so many bucking broncos and beautiful horses. It was awesome. And yes, we saw the bulls. I cannot for the life of me understand what possesses a man to sit on top of a steaming mad bull, but it sure was thrilling to see!

On another note, I just started a digital photography class which is great but I wish I would have had some of my new knowledge BEFORE we went to the rodeo because those bulls turned out to be just blurry images... Dang it!

Looking for my keys again...

Lost since Tuesday... Augh!

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls...

Or so the song says, but I couldn't help it! We're so close to Yosemite National Park AND it's waterfall season AND the girls just started spring break. So Marianna and I and six kids packed up and had a sleepover in Yosemite. We stayed at an old-fashioned hotel called the Wawoma (we rented the last available room!) that was so cute. It had no bathroom, tv, or phone. The kids were quite baffled at that but it just added to our adventure when they had to go out the door and down two flights of stairs to go potty in the freezing cold morning. (See, sometimes having a non-potty trained child isn't so bad...)
Yosemite is truly one of the most beautiful places. My whole perspective on life is better after being there. We had fun hiking to a couple of waterfalls and riding the bus around the park. Karsten was in "stick" heaven and I'm so glad that Owen's eyes are still intact. The girls were contantly climbing rocks and trees and running and playing and just getting down right dirty! They made a fort and found some oak tree seeds they brought home to plant. We all saw a bobcat on one of our hikes which was very exciting. There was even some snow we got to play on.

Thank you Marianna for being my adventure buddy! I'm so glad we have these Yosemite memories!!!

Tooth Tale

Skyla lost her first top tooth! I picked her up from school today and I could see her big smile with the gaping hole from clear down the block. It is the cutest thing ever and my absolute favorite when those top teeth are missing. How exciting to lose her tooth at school! She was standing in line coming in from recess and she just pulled it out! She's never lost a tooth at home yet. Her first tooth she lost camping, her second tooth she lost visiting Grandma and Grandpa, and now this one at school. What a perfect way to start spring break...

Karsten's Favorite Day

Wednesday is trash day. The garbage comes around and collects from an array of green, gray, and brown trash cans that are just teeming with exciting trash. Karsten's fascination with garbage trucks which started at a very early age has now spilled over into a fascination of trash in general.

He loves to look inside each and every trash can we pass. He comments on how much is inside, how it smells, etc. He knows the difference between recyclable trash, organic trash, and plain old trash.

The climax of the day is when he looks at our trash can that was stuffed full to see that it is now empty and truly the garbage man exists. (He usually misses seeing the garbage man that gets the brown trash can because it happens while he's napping...) He'll pull the garbage cans back against our house and start counting down the days until next week...

(That is after he goes and looks in all the neighbor's trash cans to make sure the garbage man didn't forget to pick up their trash too.)

**Karsten's other favorite thing is "tags" which he likes to constantly play with in his shirts and pants (and towels, blankets, and pillowcases, but that's a whole other story...). Unfortunately when he's playing with the one in his pants, it looks a little bit improper as you can see in some of these pictures.

I'm constantly trying to explain to people, " It's just his tag..."