Prayer.

I had posted this already, and it somehow was erased...frustrating.  Well here it is again.

Ryan and I had baptism orientation in preparation for Kenzie's upcoming baptism.  At first I thought the idea was somewhat silly, but actually the class was very informational.  It also happened to be a great reminder to incorporate Jesus into your child's life even if you think they are too young to "get" it.

We usually say bedtime prayers at night and have been adding to them.  We have been asking Jesus to help us with the things we are struggling with during the day, i.e: fighting, whining, not sharing.

Today Landon was sent to time out in his room.  I set the timer like I normally do and expected to hear him crying the entire time.  Instead, after just a few seconds, he stopped crying.  I waited until the timer went off and went upstairs to talk with him.  He was sitting in his chair with his hands folded and this is what he said to me,

"Mom, I cried for a little bit, then I prayed to Jesus to help me be a good boy.  I'm sorry, Mommy.  I love you, Mommy"

Wow.  I guess they do "get" it even though they are young.

Getting so big.

Sweet baby Kenzie is growing so fast.  She will already be 6 months in just a couple weeks and I can hardly believe it.  I thought perhaps the time wouldn't seem to go so fast once our life slowed down a bit, but unfortunately that's not really how it works.  With that said, this is probably my most favorite baby age. Over the past month, Kenzie has seemed to change a great deal and really is growing into her own little person.

My favorite thing about Kenzie right now is her big, bright open mouth smile.  It shows so much happiness and love.  It also shows her little tooth that is coming up more and more.  She smiles so much. She has developed a special love for her big brother.  He is such a good helper and when asked to entertain his littlest sister for a minute so I can get something done, does so willingly.  She can be fussing and cranky and the minute he goes by her and talks to her she is happy and smiling (until he walks away).   I even often catch her gazing at him and just smiling when he's not even looking at her.  Kenzie has also developed a fascination with Emma.  Since she has a lot of drool and occasionally puke, the feelings are mutual.

Kenzie spends quite a bit of time in her Baby Einstein exersaucer and enjoys being able to look around and see what is going on.  Her favorite toys right now are anything she can chew on, she loves the toothbrush (new) her daddy gave her and the wipe package the most.  She is also quite mobile when laying on the floor she will roll all around.

Kenzie has also been sitting up on her own quite a bit now.  I usually stick a pillow behind her so that if she flops back she wont bang her head on the floor.  But, she usually goes from sitting to her tummy and rolling because she wants to get to something and doesn't enjoy sitting still for too long.

Lil' K has also been spending a great deal of time in the jogger stroller.  She hasn't quite decided if she likes this idea or not.  I think it must remind her of riding in the car.  She is okay for a little bit but then decides she's ready to be done and starts screaming.  She doesn't like the sun in her face or if it is too windy.  This, like the car, is something she is just going to have to get used to.  I love being outside in the summer with the kids and we all love going for walks, especially walks to the park.  I am hoping she will get over it...soon.

My least favorite thing about sweet little Kenzie right now is the blood curdling scream she has started to do when she does not get her way or just because.  I know it is bad to discourage this "exploration" stage, but it is very loud.  She is starting to sleep just a little better and I'm hoping this will continue to improve.

Growing up so fast and nothing but more love for this sweet baby.  I am trying to stop and take the time to enjoy this sweet age as it passes by so so quickly-easier said than done with a 3 and 4 year old as well.  Hard to believe she is almost 6 months and will have her first tastes of food before long.  Love her.

Kadence's first haircut.

No...the title was not a typo.  This was in fact Kadence's very first haircut.  It was so hard for me to get her hair cut since she doesn't have a ton and it has taken forever to grow.  I decided to take her and Landon to lil' Whipper Snippers.  Lil' Whipper Snippers is a salon for kids only and actually where Landon had his first haircut 3 1/2 years ago when he was just 1 year old!  Kadence was reluctant at first, but did just fine.  It helps that each station has individual TV's to watch.  She sat perfectly still and watched Curious George.

Wow!  I can not believe how much better her hair looked after the little trim!  She took about 2 inches off of the longest part (or what the stylist called-her tail) and it just made her hair look so much thicker.  According to Kadence, the best part was when the stylist sprayed "farkles" (sparkles) in her hair.  She was SO excited!

Let's not forget Landon.  He has had many haircuts and was good like usual.  He was very excited when the stylist asked if he wanted his hair spiked.  As soon as we got home he wanted Kadence and I to run to the mirror with him to look at his hair.  Too funny!

On a side note, Kadence informed me that, "next time when I'm a boy and Landon is a girl, I will get "fikey"  (spikey) hair like Landon and he will get "farkles" like me."  I'm not sure how that is going to work?

Happy Mother's Day!

"God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers."

Happy Mother's Day to the two greatest mothers and grandmothers in this world!  Love you!

Frog Friday.

Happy Friday!  I love waking up on Friday morning knowing that it is finally the weekend.  When we don't have any traveling planned it is the start to a weekend of family fun.  The best part is waking up 2 mornings in a row with Daddy here with us.

I had to post this adorable froggy photo of Kadence.  She loves frogs!  We were shopping at Target yesterday (which she loves to do) and found a $3 rubber frog.  She was the most excited I have seen her in a long time!  She was walking around the store and in her quiet voice kept shouting, "if I squeeze it too hard, it pees and poops.  When I was at grandma's house, I made my frogs dead like this" -then she would stick out her tongue.  I was sure getting some looks.  I am not all about the prissy little girl thing anyway, so I'm glad she is well balanced!  If she could just bring her voice down a little...  

Not Again.

We have hit the one month mark at our new home here in Fargo.  It has been an interesting month to say the least.  We are finally getting used to a new routine and a new place.  What I am not getting used to is having sick kids!  We have had the nasty viral cold plague our home (and sweet baby) for almost 3 weeks.  We finally got rid of that bug and then Kenzie started getting teeth.  And now....we have been granted yet another illness.  Landon woke up yesterday with a 102 temp.  He has been very pale-green and lethargic.  I am betting it wont be long before all 3 have it.  I seriously think that we have been sick more here in the past month than the past 2 years in Sioux Falls.  Not fun.  For a glimpse of what this means for me, between Landon and Kenzie, I was up at 12, 2, 4, 5:30, and then we were all up by 6:30. Yikes.  So enough of my complaining.  Here's to good health and nice weather (pretty please).

On Top Of The World.

Or the giant dirt pile in our back yard.  We are (in)patiently waiting for the giant pile of dirt in our back yard to be removed and replaced with soft, green, beautiful, sod.  The ground has dried out a great deal in the past week so I am hoping this event will happen sooner rather than later.  We actually have a pretty good sized yard, much bigger than I had expected.  The kids want to play out there so badly and I have given in.  But as you can imagine, it is a giant mess!  We are fortunate in that we have a giant field next to our townhome.  It is a giant area of grass and our kids have so much room to run around.  Truthfully, we have a park (without the swings) in our back yard-amazing.  There is a good sized grassy hill that we climb every day to check on the birds.  There are a ton of Killdeer birds and we have found 2 of their (dirt) nests with eggs in them.  There are also jackrabbits that keep us entertained.  I have seen as many as 4 at the same time.  They even hop on top of our dirt pile which is quite entertaining to watch.  So, with dirt coated shoes, very dirty hands, and the need to continually sweep my floor we have remained entertained even without our grass!