Menu for the Week

A couple of Sundays ago I came home from church with a migraine and went straight to bed. Nate was a sweetheart and took care of the kids and got dinner on so I could sleep. When I got up the next morning, I found these posted on the fridge . . .

(In case you need help with her spelling, she's listed:
Dinner for this week / Corn bread / Mashed potatoes / Grilled cheese and tomato soup / peas / fruit (fruit coctail, apricots, pears / Cheeseburgers
and the second page:
Desserts for this week / Plain Cheesecake / Cherry Cheesecake / Brownies / Cupcakes / Cake / Candy)

I'm always asking the kids and Nate what they'd like for dinner. I don't mind doing the grocery shopping (especially since it ends up being REALLY expensive when I send Nate!), I don't mind preparing, but some days I just can't decide what to make! But I can't say that I have ever asked them for a list of desserts they'd like in one week - but I can tell what Kiersten likes!

My Special Mother by: Kiersten

For Mother's day each person in her class wrote about their mother. This is what she had to say about me:

In case you can't read it, between the pencil and her spelling it is kind of hard to read, it says," My mom is the most wonderful mom in the whole world! She's as pretty as a princess. She weighs 60 and is 32 feet tall. Her favorite food is pork chops. In the days when Mom was little, she used to go to church. I think Mom looks funny when she runs around the house and puts on her make-up. I know she is mad when she hears me say a bad word. I wish mom would put me to bed everyday with me everyday. I wouldn't trade my mom for anything! I think my mom is cute! I love her very much!"

And, just to clarify a few things . . . I do like pork chops, especially when Nate grills them with a dill marinade, but of all the yummy things in the world, pork chops certainly aren't my favorite. We must have had them the night before she filled out this page! Just in case you are wondering, I didn't stop going to church now that I've grown up - I still go. I'm not sure what to say about the "runs around the house and puts on her makeup comment." I think I'll just leave that one to your imagination! And, I'm pretty sure that the bad words she's referring to are words like, "stupid" and "ugly" because she comes home talking about people on the bus who say bad words and we always talk about how it isn't good to say bad words. I think I traumatized the poor girl when I called something stupid the other day!

Oh la la! Kiersten is 6!

Once again far more time has gone by than I intended since my last post. Even though I haven't been blogging, I have been scrapbooking, so I thought I'd just post some pictures of scrapbook pages I've done to help me along!

Kiersten turned 6 on April 8th and wanted a Fancy Nancy birthday party. If I were completely honest, I would probably have to admit that I had a lot to do with it! I suggested that she have one, and then told her all the fun things we could do with the theme. And then any time she would say she wanted some other sort of birthday party I would ask, "Don't you want a Fancy Nancy one, where we . . . ?" And she would always remember "Oh yeah, that's what I want!"

I think my mom and I had as much fun getting ready for the party as the girls had at the party! Nate and I timed our trip to Hong Kong so that it was just perfect for picking up fancy party supplies! And all the shopping we did there didn't feel like we were spending real money (in part because of the exchange rate, and partly because the money looks different than ours!), so I probably spent more than I normally would have on a birthday party. We picked up paper fans (from the Ladies Market), and sparkle bracelets (from the Jade Market), and . . .my mom came up with the best find of all - the biggest, fanciest, foo-foo-i-est headbands I have ever seen!

What could be better for a Fancy Nancy party?!?! She found them in her favorite market in (mainland) China - the shopkeepers recognize her and now whenever they see her they tell her , "I have headbands for you! I give you a good deal because I like you!" I guess that's what happens when you buy 14 headbands in 1 trip!

The girls had lots of fun at the party - we started out with a fancy breakfast (we ended up doing a morning party because that Saturday was really busy!), which was more difficult than I thought it would be. Kiersten knew right off that she wanted fruit and pastries, and I felt that we needed some sort of protein to round it out. But I could not come up with anything that I thought little girls would like. Finally the night before the party we were in the frozen food isle at the grocery store and I read Kiersten her options and told her to choose. She chose sausage on a stick, wrapped in pancakes (a breakfast version of corndog on a stick!). As we were walking up to pay I started having second thoughts - did they really go with a fancy breakfast? She looks at me, completely exasperated and says, "Mom, not everything has to be fancy. This is what I want." Well, that settles that! So then I had to laugh when one of the girls said, "Wow! This is such a fancy breakfast!" I don't think it was the sausage on a stick that inspired that comment, but maybe the clear plastic goblets (I found at the dollar store!) that I'd glued a rose and a bow to that the girls thought were from a wedding!

After breakfast we played Pin the jewel on the Tiara, and the girls practiced their princess/fancy walk with a banana on their heads (because bananas don't get in the way of their tiaras like a book would, duh!) while I cleared breakfast and set out the stuff so they could make their own fancy shopping bag. Once the bags were complete we headed out to the garage where they got to go "shopping" and then came inside and opened presents and had cake and ice cream.

Kiersten wanted a yellow cake with chocolate frosting this year - yummy, but how do you make that fancy? It didn't help that I completely forgot to make sure I had birthday candles, which, it turns out I didn't have! And, I didn't even start the cake until 8pm the night before! In an effort to make it a little fancier I sprinkled mini chocolate chips in the batter and then baked it as a bundt cake. I poured a chocolate glaze over the top and then let it cool. I intended to go back and try to make it fancy . . . maybe with some pearls and flowers I hadn't really decided what I was going to do, and then forgot about the cake until it was time to serve it! Maybe that's why we don't have any pictures of the cake! Oh well - it may not have been fancy, but it sure tasted good!
As far as life with a 6-year-old vs. life with a 5-year-old goes, I don't think there has been much of a difference. She did tell me that she could tell that she was taller and thinks that she grew an inch the night before her birthday. And Nate and I both agree that her 6-year-old talent of counting to 10 in VERY gringo-Spanish (all numbers are self taught!) is much more annoying than her 5-year-old talent of whistling! However, she constantly loves to share both talents with us . . . constantly!

Sadly, I can't think of any thing else. Can anyone reading this think of cute stories of 6-year-old Kiersten that I've already forgotten? If so, let me know!

LOST!

In November we went to the dentist for our semi-annual cleaning. The hygienist noticed that one of Kiersten's bottom teeth was loose and told her to expect it to fall out sometime in January. It was barely loose at that point - it was still several weeks until she could wiggle it enough for anyone to notice, but all that mattered to Kiersten was that it was loose. Apparently they keep track at school of everyone who has lost a tooth and who hasn't, and Kiersten was so excited to be able to see the day when she could move from the "hasn't" list to the "has" list!

For the last couple of weeks it was so loose it held on by just a string or two. She could push it forward until it was practically laying down flat which completely grossed me out. So I was absolutely delighted when she came home from school to tell me that it had fallen out at school. Yeah, she lost her first tooth, and I didn't have to be grossed out. Besides, I think my drama queen handled the blood much better there than she would have at home!

That night she made sure to put it under her pillow so the tooth fairy could come and get it. She even did all she could to help the tooth fairy - she only slept on one pillow that night so it wouldn't be too hard for the tooth fairy to find it. Thankfully she was willing to put the tooth in a zip lock bag under her pillow, especially when I explained that it would be easier for the tooth fairy to find the bag than just the loose tooth.

I have to admit - her tooth sure looked a lot smaller than I remember my teeth being when I was her age and my baby teeth fell out!

Letter to Santa

The other day Kiersten saw a mailbox at our community clubhouse collecting letters to Santa. She came home and sat right down and wrote the following letter . . .
(Sorry about the folds - I couldn't sneak the letter away to scan it until after she'd folded up, put it in an envelope and addressed it. Good thing she hadn't actually mailed it yet or I might be a felon!)
(To Santa; From Kiersten Merry Christmas)

(Dear Santa, I love you. My mom said not to bring a lot of candy but please do. Merry Christmas. Love Kiersten.)

Just before Kiersten saw the mailbox I'd overheard Kiersten telling Tanner how great Santa is because he brings lots of candy. I suggested that I might write to Santa this year and ask him not to bring quite so much candy. This is apparently what Kiersten thought of my plan! :)

Sometimes she cracks me up! Now I'd better get the letter back in it's envelope and reseal it so she doesn't know it's been tampered with!

I So Wasn't Ready for This!

With Kiersten starting Kindergarten this year, there were a lot of things I was psyching myself up for . . . when it came down to it, those weren't the things that ended up causing me the most stress!

I usually ask Kiersten about her day as we walk home from the bus stop or drive home (if it's a day I've picked her up from school). A couple of weeks into the school year she starts telling me about a boy in her class that she and her friends call "Kissing Alex" because he tries to kiss the girls all the time. That sets me into a panic - she's in Kindergarten, for crying out loud! I did learn that he doesn't necessarily try to kiss them on the lips , usually it was on the arm or even their backpack - just whatever he could reach!

She also told me that when he would chase them around the playground at recess she and her friends would try and hide from him (good girl!). But she also admitted that if he wasn't chasing her around the playground that they would go looking for him, and sometimes, she admitted, she "peeked" in the boys bathroom. WHOA!!! We immediately had a big discussion about how that is not appropriate and how she needed to stop doing that right away. I also emailed the teacher and let her know what was going on and asked her to let me know if the peeking continued. ( How did the aids miss that?) I realize it was purely innocent on her part, and she and I had never had a discussion about how that's not an ok thing to do (it had never been an issue before), but I wanted it to stop right then! Thankfully I haven't heard anything about it since, so I think we're good there.

Anyway, a week or so later when I was asking about Alex (he's become one of my daily questions!) and if he was still trying to kiss her she gave me this look that said, "Mom, don't you know anything?" and said, "No, he's my boy-friend!" I'm not sure if this revelation was worse than the "peeking" in the boys bathroom one, but another one that completely blindsided me! After several clarifying questions, and more looks that said, "What a dumb question. Don't you know anything?" I learned that he "became" her boyfriend because she gave him a hug (or maybe it was that she hugged him back when he hugged her), and now that he's her boyfriend he doesn't try to kiss her anymore, but he still tries to kiss all the other girls. In that case, I asked if all the boys in her class could be her boyfriends. She just laughed - I don't think she thought I was serous!

Sadly (?) that relationship didn't last too long, and within a week or so she told me that she'd "lost" him as her boyfriend, but she might "get him back," as if it was the same thing as saying, "I haven't exactly decided what I'm going to do - I might go run errands today."

One of the girls in Kiersten's primary class recently told her mom, "Mom, Kiersten isn't shy any more." Apparently she's come out of her shell as school, because she still is pretty shy when I'm around, but I'm convinced it's all an act!

All I know is that I can't wait for her to discover that boys have cooties, and I hope it lasts until she's 21 at least!

Kiersten's First Day of School

Yesterday was Kiersten's first day of kindergarten, and I'm not sure who was more excited - me or her! Since the bus picks her up at 6:50 am, we'd spent the week before school started practicing getting up at 6:00. Well, she'd gotten up every morning about 6, and I usually rolled out of bed at 6:30 to the lovely sounds of her and Tanner fighting over something! So I think she was a little worried that I wouldn't be up to get her off to school on time that first morning. Such little faith in her mom!

She's had a closet full of school clothes all summer long that she's been dying to wear. She was always disappointed when I told her she had to wait, so yesterday morning was like Christmas, a closet full of brand new clothes that she could choose from! (Of all her clothes, this was not what I expected her to pick. Oh well, she never fails to amaze me.)

We decided that first morning I would take her and then after that she'd ride the bus. At first she wanted to ride the bus that first morning, then she decided that me taking her and just dropping her off would be good, then it was take her and park and help her find the kindergarten playground and then go, then it was park and help her find the playground and then wait until she was settled in her class. I was getting a little worried with how shy and clingy she can be great. (We were later leaving than I had planned on or I would have tried for better pictures in front of the house!) By the time we got to the school (I hadn't planned on quite so many other parents taking their kids to school too!) her teacher, Ms. Guerrero, had already brought everyone in from the playground and was getting everyone settled. Kiersten walked in, found her seat, smiled for this picture and then started coloring and didn't look back at me. So Tanner and I left. It was much easier than I was expecting! Tanner and I spent the day grocery shopping, doing the laundry, cleaning house and getting dinner made. Even though Tanner missed Kiersten, I think he enjoyed not having her there to boss him around! At 2:30 (yes, we have all day kindergarten here, and I think I'm going to love it!) we headed out to meet her buss. She was SO excited to be able to ride the school bus. Ever since she was 2 1/2 or 3 she's been asking how much longer before she was a big kid that got to ride the school bus to school every day. And now her dream had finally came true! She told me how nice and cool and comfortable the buss is because there are 2 fans going (maybe so, but there is no air conditioning, so I certainly wouldn't want to be on them in this 100 degree heat!). She had a wonderful day and couldn't stop talking about all the fun things that she did that day, and all the things that she would start doing, and how she's now ready to ride the bus to and from school every day. She can't wait to go back tomorrow, and I am absolutely delighted that she's so excited about it! Especially, since I can't wait for her to go back tomorrow!

She's Graduated!

Kiersten has done a co-op preschool for the last 2 years (well, really Kiersten and I have done a co-op preschool!), and just last month she graduated. She'll start kindergarten on August 3rd, and I'm not sure who is more excited - Kiersten or mom!

Here she is with the other 2 girls in the group,
Hailey Walton and Macy Husted.


Here is Kiersten receiving her diploma. She graduated "with honors" (as did all of the kids!).
(With at least 3 moms in the group who are avid scrapbookers, you would think that one of us would think to close the shades behind the kids so we could get decent pictures, but unfortunately none of us did!)

Kiersten's graduating class included:
(back row) Kiersten, Carter Burns, Macy Husted,
(front row) Jonah Carlson, Hailey Walton, Wyatt Burns.


One of the other moms was in charge of graduation. She played Pomp & Circumstance as each child marched down the stairs, carrying a rose for their mom/teacher. Another mom read a poem to you, and had a small gift for you. Then I read “I Knew You Could” and had a candy train for each of you. After that Sister Walton presented each of you with your diplomas, and then we ended with lunch. All too soon it was time to go home and preschool was officially over. And now it is off to kindergarten for you!
18 May 2010

Our Little Princess is 5!

It's hard to believe that Kiersten is finally 5. We've been talking about this day, and counting down for (what feels like) months, and it is finally here! She started out her birthday morning by putting decorations on her cupcakes she was taking to preschool for show-and-tell. (A friend in preschool brought cupcakes for show and tell on her birthday, so that's what Kiersten figured she should do to.) She was very proud of herself - she even helped me make the "flowers" we put in the middle - her job was to stick on the "5" in the center. She did a great job!


Since we did a big party for Kiersten last year, that's what she figured we'd do again this year (even down to playing some of the same games!). I spent several weeks explaining to her that Daddy and I had decided we would do big parties every other year, and that on the years we didn't do a party she could choose a friend and go do something fun. She decided to invite her friends Hailey and Macy and go have lunch at Chick-fil-A and play at their play place. (She picked Chick-fil-A not for the food, but because of the play place!) So I picked up the girls from preschool and we headed out to lunch. Here they are waiting (not so patiently) for their food so they can get eating over with and get playing!
When they had had all the fun Mom could handle we loaded up and came back home. Earlier I had asked Kiersten what she wanted for her birthday dinner. I fully expected her to choose Sweet and Sour Meatballs, because that is what she usually chooses when ask her what she wants for dinner. I was completely surprised when she choose Velveta Shells and Cheese. So, that's what she and Tanner had (Nate had class that night so he came home later and I made something else for dinner for he and I). I told her she had to choose a vegetable and a fruit to go with it, so she chose carrots and ranch dressing (another surprise - I thought she'd choose corn) and cantaloupe (although, the cantaloupe I had in the fridge was moldy, so they had canned fruit cocktail, her second choice). Not what I would have chosen, but I wasn't complaining because it was a super easy meal to make and she and Tanner were happy and ate it. (Of course, it probably didn't hurt that they were starving - I realized later that she was so excited to get playing that she only ate a couple of french fries for lunch.)
After dinner I got them bathed and ready for bed and then Daddy got home. Kiersten got to open presents (her favorite part of birthdays she informed me). She was delighted with the Barbie set from Grandma and Grandpa Berrett (when she opened it she said, "This is just what I was hoping I'd get for Christmas!) and the princesses and stationary from Grandpa and Grandma Larsen (she thought it was amazing that Grandma Larsen happened to send the two princesses she didn't have).
After presents we finished the evening with cake and ice cream. She surprised me here too - she wanted carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for her cake and the cupcakes for preschool. This cake was the other half of the cake mix we used to make the cupcakes. I was not about to make up 2 cake mixes, because I didn't want that much cake around the house!

Sadly, by the time we finished cake and ice cream it was well past her bed time, so she had to go to bed without getting to play with her new toys. (We used the excuse that it would take a long time to get the presents out of the packages, so they wouldn't be ready to play with until morning anyway.) But the poor thing was so excited that she had a hard time getting to sleep that night. I think she was still awake when Nate and I went to bed that night at 10:30. But she was in heaven when I let her get up the next morning and play with princesses and her new Barbies before she had to get dressed or even eat breakfast!

Now that we've survived this birthday, she's already planning her next birthday . . . only 352 (or something like that) more days to go . . .!

Easter Pics

I finally got a picture of the kids in their Easter clothes - yeah!!! I had hoped to do it the week after Easter, but Kiersten was very adamant that she was not going to wear her Easter dress that week, but she was going to wear what she wanted to wear. Thankfully Grandma asked her to send her a picture of Kiersten wearing her Easter dress. So Kiersten was a little more workable the next week! (We've even figured out how to do sponge rollers in her hair for Saturday night so she's really easy to get ready - we do 3 pony tails - one on top, that stays in on Sunday, we just add a bow, and then one above each ear - that way the curlers don't get in the way while she's sleeping. Nate can even do her hair on Sundays if he needed to, although he looked a little green when I told him that!) Thankfully Tanner isn't nearly so picky - he'll wear whatever you put him in. He did think it was pretty neat to have a tie like Daddy has. He walked around all day saying, "tie" and holding up his tie for us to see.

Planting our Garden

I don't think that planting our garden is all that exciting, especially since we haven't yet figured out how to grow things in Arizona and most everything dies before the end of the summer, but I just had to share since everyone else seems to be buried in snow and cold weather!

Yesterday we planted the flowers in the front yard and today we planted some vegetables in the back yard. (I start small, and once those are in the ground I can go back and get more. I've had too many plants die before I can even get them in the ground because I bit off more than I can chew!) Tanner loved his "vo-vel" and he liked to scoop dirt out of the flower bed and onto the sidewalk. Once he missed the sidewalk, and poured a shovelfull of dirt right down my pants! Kiersten quickly lost interest in digging and planting, but she loved to water the plants once they were in.

My hope with planting earlier this year than we have in years past is that they'll survive longer - they may only make it until June this year, like they usually do, but that gives us 4 moths to enjoy them instead of the usual 2 1/2!

Daddy Daughter Dinner and Dance

Every year Rancho Sahuarita (the community where we live) has a Daddy Daughter Dance around Valentine's Day. Usually it is on Sunday, so Nate can't take Kiersten. This year, however, it was on a Saturday, so he signed them up. Kiersten was so excited that she picked out her dress and accessories weeks in advance (including a veil, all the jewelry she owns, and an old black purse of mine). She got quite upset with me when I tried to hang her dress in the closet, because she was afraid that if I put it away she wouldn't be able to get ready! She also told me that she was going to be very brave when it was her and daddy's turn to dance. I tried to explain to her that everyone got to dance at the same time and that it wouldn't be like dancing on the stage. I don't thing she really understood until she got to the actual dance.

Here they are, ready to leave for their Daddy-Daughter-Dinner-Dance-Date (say that one ten times fast!)
A self-portrait while they waited in line. Nate commented on how many dads were wearing pink ties. I think he was impressed, or scared, I'm not completely sure which!
The clubhouse went all out for dinner - macaroni and cheese, pigs in a blanket, chicken, fruit, Capri Suns and cupcakes for dessert, and served on the finest china with the nicest silverware they could find! :)
One of the highlights of the evening for Kiersten was getting to choose a corsage (they had several colors and styles to choose from). She was so excited that they had flowers for her. So excited, in fact, that she wore it to church the next day. When Kiersten came home that night she told me that she'd been a "crazy dancer, but Daddy didn't dance crazy." Come on, Dad! What were you thinking! :) Kiersten and Nate had so much fun. It would be so nice if we could make this a tradition . . . if only the clubhouse will continue to hold it on Saturday nights!

She's so excited, she just can't wait!

With the new year, one of the things I've been looking forward to is changing the time we go to church. Last year we went from 2-5 and I absolutely dreaded it. But this year we've got the 8 spot. It's a little early to be out the door in the mornings, but being home by 11:30 is WONDERFUL!

So, we've been talking a lot with Kiersten, letting her know that she's going to have to get up early (for the past few weeks she and Tanner have been sleeping until at least 7:30, if not later - it's been wonderful) and get ready quickly for church. Kiersten has been very excited to wear this dress to church that Aunt Angie sent her. So was so excited, in fact, that she came out Saturday night wearing the dress, and then pulled her pajamas on over it. That way, when she wakes up in the morning all she'll have to do is take off her pajamas and she'll be ready to go to church. Nate and I laughed so hard - she looks like she had a pretty large growth around her middle! (And Angie, you were worried about the wrinkles from shipping it. That was nothing compared to being bunched up in her pajamas!) We finally managed to convince her that there would be plenty of time to get dressed in the morning and that she didn't need to sleep in her dress.

Then the next morning when the alarm went off at 6 I noticed that Kiersten's light was on. I figured it was left on from one of her many gettings up in the night and didn't think much about it. As I was doing Kiersten's hair she told me that she woke up really early (it would have still been dark out), and thought it was time to get dressed, so she got up, turned on her light and put her dress on. Then she decided she was still tired, so she climbed back into bed and fell back asleep.

Maybe next time we should just let her wear her dress to bed!

Santa borrows our wrapping paper

WARNING: Don't read this with children who still believe in Santa!

I had hid a role of wrapping paper in our closet a few months ago, planning to wrap all of the presents from Santa with it. I had done really well keeping it hidden from the kids up until Christmas Eve day. That afternoon Nate had taken the kids out to do something and while they were gone I pulled out a present for Kiersten from my parents that I'd hidden in the back of my closet. In the process of getting the present out, I had to move the "Santa" wrapping paper. I fully intended to put it back in it's hiding place before they got home. However, I got busy and forgot.

After Nate and the kids got home, I assigned Kiersten the job of wiping down all the door handles with a Clorox wipe (we really didn't want to spread Kiersten's pink eye!). The first door she heads off to do is my closet door, and right away she spots the "Santa" wrapping paper. Not knowing why I would have wrapping paper in my closet, she says, "Mom you have pretty snowflake wrapping paper in your room." I try not to make a big deal out of it and agree with her. As soon as she leaves my room I go in and hide the paper, but the damage is already done.

Nate and I try to decide what to do. It's too late to go buy another role of paper and re-wrap all the presents from Santa (I'm too cheap and lazy!), so we figure we'll just hope for the best.

Christmas day arrives, and she doesn't say a thing. But, the day after Christmas she and I are headed to Wal-Mart to pick up a couple of things, and out of the blue she asks me, "Mom, do you think Santa borrowed our wrapping paper?" "Yes I do" is my answer - that was a better solution than I had come up with. To that she says, "Wow! He must have been really quiet when he was wrapping presents, because he didn't wake me up at all!" I told her he didn't wake me up either, so he must have been really quiet!

Christmas Eve

This is the first year we've celebrated Christmas by ourselves. There are several things we've really enjoyed about it, but we have also really missed being with our family. However, thanks to technology, we've been able to participate with our families - my mom read her favorite Christmas story to us over web cams, and we got to watch Nate's family perform the traditional Nativity story via a live broadcast over the Internet. In between those events, we've had our own family things too . . .

Kiersten decided that for an "activity" we were going to act out the Nativity (she used to confuse "activity" and "nativity", but I think by now she usually gets it right!).

Here she is pulling out all the things she's collected over the last couple of days to use for the "activity" or Nativity or whatever it was we were doing!

Tanner was far more interested in giving Daddy (and everyone else!) kisses than getting for his role as the lone Wiseman!

Our Nativity telling started with the Angel Gabriel appearing to a very pregnant Mary and telling her that she was going to have a baby and that she should call his name Jesus.
" And she brought forth her first-born son . . . " (I didn't mean to time the picture just so, it just happened, and it's the only one Tanner was in, so I had to use it!)

Here's Mary and Joseph admiring their baby Jesus who is laying the the manger (which is really the stable to a Nativity my mom bought for the kids in the Phillipeans!). (Keep in mind Kiersten chose everyone - including Joseph's - costume!)

Our telling of the birth of Christ ended with the visit of the shepherds (my shepherd costume consisted of a Christmas hair bow and the white sheep on my lap) because our wiseman had moved on to bigger and better things!

After our re-enactment of the Nativity ended, we had my Grandma's bread pudding - I didn't expect Kiersten or Tanner to like it (I remember not liking it as a kid, but now I love it!). I was right on one count - Kiersten was interested in it only long enough to determine that she didn't have the nut and win the prize. Tanner on the other hand couldn't get enough of it; I think he ate as much of it as I did!

Kiersten and I ended our Christmas eve festivities by putting together a plate of cookies for Santa. (We even had fun decorating the plate together, although it did get a little stressful when she and I had VERY different ideas about which font we should use to say "Cookies for Santa." Thankfully, in the end, she saw the light, and I prevailed!
We've had a wonderful Christmas Eve, and look forward to more family time tomorrow, and I'm off to bed so Santa can come visit our house!

Safe From Little Hands

On Sunday Kiersten was "helping" me set up my Nativity set, which just makes me cringe. Last year when she "helped" me she broke Joseph's staff off because she thought it should come off like the shepherd's does. But, I get in trouble if I try to do any sort of decorating without her help because she loves to decorate everything and anything! (I'm raising a decorating monster, in case you didn't know, and I blame it all on my Relief Society calling!) Anyway, she asked where we were going to put it, and I told her on top of the entertainment center so "it would be safe from little hands." She jumped right on that, and immediately wanted me to help her find a place to put her special nativities so that they would be "safe from little hands." When I suggested putting them on the piano, she told me no, because Tanner can climb up and reach on the piano. If she put it on the piano, she explained to me, it wouldn't be safe from little hands. And ever since then, she'll find something she thinks Tanner shouldn't touch, and she'll tell me that we need to keep it safe from little hands."

While Tanner's are 2 of the 4 little hands I want to keep my Nativity set safe from, it makes me laugh that she never even considered that hers might also be little hands I need to watch out for!

Picking Pumpkins

Our clubhouse had pumpkins for the kids to choose. Since Kiersten had chosen "her pumpkin" the day before on our fieldtrip to a farm with a pumpkin patch, I told her that the pumpkin we chose this time would be Tanners. Since it was going to be Tanner's, Kiersten was very insistent that we choose a smaller one than she chose the day before! And since we'd walked to the clubhouse with the kids in a stroller, I was only willing to cart home one pumpkin.

She was pretty funny that morning - she wanted to pose on all the different pumpkins. Tanner, on the other hand, didn't want his picture taken at all, and was only happy when we left him alone to do his own thing.

A Brave Girl

We've been taking Kiersten to the dentist with us since she was about 1 year old. When she was 2 she let the hygenist look at her teeth (from the safety of mom's arms, of course), when she was 2 1/2, she sat in the chair and got as far as letting the hygienist put the "necklace" around her (the napkin on a chain) neck before she was done. At 3 she let the hygienist take some x-rays of her front teeth (she'd done a face plant on the tile not too long before that!) with no "necklace!" At 3 1/2 she let the hygienist polish 4 teeth before she was done. And finally a few weeks ago she let the hygienist scrape the plaque off all of her teeth, but no polishing, while sitting on mom's lap in the dentist's chair. We were so proud of her and how brave she was.

Of course, it helped that we'd gone to the store that morning and she'd spent (what felt like) hours going up and down the isles trying to choose the perfect "reward" (not a bribe, a reward!) for being brave at the dentist's office. She finally settled on a Snow White doll with several dresses and shoes to change. When she got scared and was ready to be done, we talked about how we would have to take the Snow White doll back to the store, but if she could just be brave for a few minutes more she's be able to open the doll and play with it on the way home. Thankfully it worked, and a very patient, wonderful hygienist managed to clean all Kiersten's teeth. Thanks, Ms. Valerie!

(Oh, and just in case you're wondering, Kiersten added the headband after I'd done her hair and hairbows!)