A Sneak Peak

Halloween merchandise has hit the stores and the first wave of sales has begun. Knowing that Matthew's costume of choice will most likely be the choice of about a million other little boys means that I planned to get it early so he won't be all emotionally mooshed in October when I can't find it. He was so freakin' excited that he let me take his picture...and a video. This costume is definitely good stuff!

 

And by the way, the "arc rejector" in the middle of his chest lights up.Once he had his costume on he kept thrusting his chest out and staring at his reflection in the piano. It made me giggle.

Baby Buffet

Matthew accidentally spilled the box of Kix while he was having a snack after school earlier today. He came and told me that he made a mess and asked (very nicely, might I add) if I would help him clean it up, then got his broom and my broom and helped me sweep. As many of you may know, Kix are round so when they spill they have a tendency to roll everywhere. Matthew called it an “avalanche of Kix.” Malia called it lunch.

It was a bit hard to get it swept up since Malia kept snacking from the floor…and the dustpan (yuck!). But she was pretty pleased about the whole thing. And Matthew had to call Kev once we got it cleaned up to tell him all about the picture we took of the avalanche. I love that I have a kindergartener who knows the word "avalanche" and who helps clean up the messes he makes. I don't mind cleaning up the daily avalanches, floods, and other natural disasters quite as much if the maker of the mess happily helps in the aftermath.

Tall and Thin…Which She Does Not Get From Me

The past year has gone by far too quickly and in spite of my wishing that she would stay a baby for awhile longer, Malia is growing like a little weed. She had her 12 month well child check this morning. She is 29 ½ inches tall (64%) and weighs 19 lbs. 15 oz. (30%). She is advanced in verbal skills and small motor skills and lags a bit in gross motor skills. We are not too concerned about the lag because the doctor says she still falls in the normal range and I figure she lags because she has three doting older brothers who willingly do everything for her. In addition, she seems to be afraid of falling and therefore is more cautious about pulling to stand up and taking steps. But she still seems to be doing everything she should, just at her own pace.

In addition to saying “bath,” Malia has about a dozen other words that we can understand. She is beginning to tell us “wet” when she needs a diaper change and will say “no” and shake her head when she is in opposition to her current situation (like when we clip her nails-she will shake her head and say “no” over and over). She is a social laugher and will laugh whenever anyone else laughs. She is a bit of a finicky eater, but is slowly expanding her food repertoire. She is just beginning to pull to standing, but is very cautious about the whole thing. She prefers to be barefoot because she uses her feet to hold toys so she can use her hands to play with them. She doesn't cry to let us know she is awake in the morning; she laughs. She definitely makes our lives a lot of fun!

A Premier Birthday

Malia’s first birthday was last week. As is typical at our house, we had several birthday celebrations. Last Sunday we celebrated with my family. I had tons of fun making her cupcakes. Over the years I’ve made planes, trains, cars, spaceships, dinosaurs, etc. But this was the first time that I was able to make flowers!

Malia was mesmerized by the flickering candle, reaching out and trying to grab the flames as we sang to her.

When she got her cupcake, the first thing she did was pick off and discard the flower and ladybug. Once that was done, she was not shy about digging in to the frosting. Only when the frosting was mostly gone did she nibble on the cake. And she was mightily pleased (and pretty sugar-hyped) about the whole thing.

Last night we celebrated at home with Kev’s parents. I went a lot less fancy and decorated a simple bundt cake with some of the leftover flowers and bugs. I turned out pretty cute and I think Malia liked the cinnamon cake even better than the cupcake.

For her birthday, we got Malia some new bath toys. She loves to play in the tub (she says “bap” over and over when she wants to take a bath) and since many of our bath toys have been around since Daniel and Nathan were little, it was time to chuck them and get new (less moldy) ones.

The past year has flown by! I can hardly believe Malia is one already!

How the Pre-walking Set Carry Their Purses

 Malia really likes the cute red purse that Kev’s mom got her for her birthday. She already has excellent taste.

The Correlation between Marshmallow Fondant and Snakes

This afternoon I was preparing fondant cake decorations for Malia’s upcoming birthday celebration. Matthew was helping me. Not only was he making his own set of fondant ladybugs, but he was snacking on the scraps of fondant as well. I certainly didn’t mind that as I’m one of those moms that believes sneaking cookie dough and licking the cake batter out of the bowl is a right (and joy) of childhood.  But I had a lot of decorations to make and he was obviously prepared to eat all the scraps, so after awhile I told him he had better not eat all of the scraps because it is basically colored sugar. He readily agreed (he’s a really good kid) and then informed me of the following: “Sugar makes you viper. That means you move really fast.”

Laughing…in my head…lots of laughing…

Living the Good Life

In the past week I’ve heard from several friends that are having problems. Epic, potentially life changing problems.  As I’ve talked with them, thought about them, prayed for them, it has made me think about my own problems. Sure there have been times when my troubles were pretty big. But for the most part the things that cause me stress, the things that seem hard, like having a sticky floor, a messy house, children that are constantly bickering, too much to do and not enough time, are actually just the side effects of having it all. I have a sticky floor because we have enough to eat. Having a messy house means I have an amazing place to live. The fact that my children are constantly bickering means that they are strong enough and healthy enough to have some fight in them. And the reason I have so much to do is because I have the supreme blessing of getting to take care of the people I love. So really, my day to day difficulties are just a reminder that I’m living the good life. I really do have the best there is to have.

It’s Burning Again

The mountains around our home are on fire again. But it is farther away than the one nearly two years ago so Kev and I are not terribly concerned. This particular fire has actually been burning for several days, but it jumped the fire lines today and spread rapidly. When Daniel and Nathan got out of school and saw the huge plume of black smoke coming from the hills behind our house, they ran all the way home. They got home a good fifteen or twenty minutes earlier than usual, flying in the door in a bit of a panic. We looked up the news to put their minds at ease, but they still kept pretty close tabs on the situation all evening. Matthew got out his firefighter hat and wore it until bedtime. He kept running outside to see how much smoke there was and then running downstairs to tell Kev (he was doing an online class) how everything was going. Poor kids are obviously pretty traumatized where fire is concerned. Of course, I still remember clearly the fire scare I got when I was about four, so I figure they are probably just going to be scarred for life. Unfortunately for us, due to where we live this is probably not going to be our last fire scare.