K is for Kindergarten

It's official--Lilly will be going to Kindergarten in the fall. We recently had her orientation and sign-up, though there wasn't much to do since she's currently enrolled in the school's 4K program. Her teacher told me about the screening they did at school, and Lilly's doing great! She got 50 out of 50 on her screening, which tested things like her knowledge of shapes, colors, spatial relations (above/under, before/after, etc) and basic understanding of word and letter concepts. We all expected her to do well on the screening, since she's known all of those things for months, including knowing and writing all her letters and numbers, and reading beginning words like spot, cat, that, hop...

Signing her up for Kindergarten made it all seem more real. Yes, she's been going to school 2 days a week since September. And yes, she was 5 years old in October. But Kindergarten is so official. It's that first real year of school. She's still my little girl, but she's my big little girl, now. She's reading and writing and making friends and learning basic math. We're so very proud of her!

Anonymous No More

Hey everyone. I know some of you comment anonymously here on my blog because you don't have an account with Blogger. But you know what? You don't have to have a Blogger account. You could have a google account, or an Open ID. Why am I talking about this? Because I've decided to disable anonymous commenting abilities. I hate to do it, but I'm getting a lot of SPAM comments about things I don't need and don't belong here on a family blog. Like male enhancement products, toys of the very-much-adult variety, and random links for sites I cannot verify are safe.

So please, take a moment to create an account. All you have to do is provide an e-mail address, a sign-in name (you could even make it something like Gramma P instead of a name) and a password. That's it. I literally takes seconds. I love hearing all that everyone has to say on my blog, but the SPAM is getting in the way and making it difficult. I don't want to hear what they have to say.

**I've posted a few times today, so look below!

Mikayla's Big Weekend

On Saturday, my mom, the girls and I went shopping for Easter dresses. We headed to a mall and found perfect dresses. Then we decided it was time for a certain 3-year-old to get her ears pierced.

She's been wanting them done forever, so she could be just like her big sisters. We used it as motivation to help her quit sucking her thumb. Her poor thumb was so cracked and wrinkly all the time, not to mention the simple irritation on our part to see that thumb constantly in her mouth. So we told her she could get earrings when she stopped sucking her thumb. Well, it took a few months (this was at her birthday in December) She'd find herself with her thumb in her mouth, take it out and tell herself "No!" Or we'd catch her and simply say earrings, and that thumb would fly out of her mouth. So finally, we decided this weekend was it. She could get the beloved earrings. She cried, saying the "snipper" hurt when it put in her pretties, but that was quickly forgotten with a sticker, a sucker, and a look at herself in the mirror. Then all was good. And so far, she's been good about letting me clean them, as well!

Yesterday (Sunday) was an absolutely gorgeous day. Not only was it sunny and dry for the first time in over a week, but it was 62 degrees!! We broke a record high for the date. Obviously, as soon as we got home from church we hunkered down in the house. Or not. Maybe we spent the entire afternoon outside playing basketball, riding bike, swinging and sliding on the play sets, picking up a winter's worth of dog crap from the yard...all those fun things you do on the first real nice day of the year.

Mikayla had another milestone yesterday--she figured out how to pedal her tricycle! She was really close at the end of last year, but she just couldn't get things going and figured out on her own. This year, she didn't even try. She just got on, pedaled and went sailing across the driveway. She stopped and yelled, "I did it! I rided my bike myself!!" Then she had to show everyone she could pedal like a big girl and even went so far as to say it was because of her earrings.


After spending some time on the driveway, we headed to the backyard. Mikayla hopped on the PowerWheels Gator and decided to go for a drive. She worked on her steering and I think she's finally getting the hang of it! Then she wanted to go for a horsey ride, so we did that, too. See?

Now don't get me wrong, the other girls were about, too. Lilly was steadily practicing with her bike, trying to get the hang of no training wheels. She didn't master it yesterday, but she's getting closer. She's set herself a goal of no training wheels or help by summertime. It's so cute to see her lose her balance and catch herself, straighten her shoulders and say, "Let's try again." I have no doubt she'll be riding along in no time! Alayna was zooming around on her bike, sometimes trying to show Lilly what to do and other times just riding past her. She also helped Daddy move some things around with the aid of the lawn-mower, expertly driving and pulling downed trees and brush into the burn pile. All in all, it was a great weekend!

New Ride

For the girls' Christmas when they were 3 (or were about to turn 3), Andy's parents have bought them each a PowerWheels. Alayna got a 2-passenger Gator like the one on their farm, and Lilly got a lawn-mower like our big mowers we go camping with. This year was Mikayla's 3-year-old Christmas (technically it wasn't, but she turned 3 only days after) so it was her turn. They bought her a Ford truck that will hold 2 people and has a small box in the back to carry her heavy loads. With the driveway almost clear of snow and ice, we were finally able to take it out for her first test drive! She was so excited!

Daddy's first time rescuing her from being stuck

Lilly had to help her steer a couple of times

Lilly gets a try at driving the truck

I'm sure it won't be long and Mikayla will be a pro at driving the truck all over the place. Then we'll have a real caravan through our trails of Alayna's lawn-mower (she's outgrown her Gator and has her own lawn-mower now--minus the deck of course) Lilly's PowerWheels Mower and Mikayla's truck.

2010 Family Winter Olympics

We've been meaning to do our family Olympics for the last month. Since there just isn't enough time to do it on a weekday after school and work, we had to plan it for a weekend. Well, the first two weekends of the actual Olympics were just too cold, and the final weekend I was gone. So we had to do them this weekend if we were going to do them at all. So we did our family Olympics--in 47 degree, snow-melting weather. It made for a challenge, but also pleasant conditions to be outside!

Event #1: Snow Angel Contest. This event was judged on style, performance and overall appearance. Alayna's angel is the first one shown. She received a score of 17.9. Mommy marked her down a few points because of the obvious butt print.

Mikayla's angel scored a total of 17.3 points. She had great form and a wonderful giggle while executing her performance, but the legs span lacked a little bit.


Lilly's angel scored a 17.9 as well, tying her for gold with Alayna. Her angel didn't have the obvious butt-print, but did lack a little in the leg span.

Final Snow Angel standings: Gold-Lilly and Alayna Silver-Mikayla

The next event was the target portion of the Biathlon. The girls threw 3 ice cubes at a target drawn in the snow with food coloring; a cube in the blue was worth 2 pts, green was worth 1 pt. I forgot to take pictures of this entire event, but did catch a picture of Mikayla throwing her ice cube (which if you look closely is against Lilly's snow pants in the picture below) She eventually got it in the green circle for 1 pt.

Below is the final target shot--1 ice cube in blue, worth 2 pts for Lilly; 1 ice cube in green, worth 1 pt for Mikayla.

Final standing in the Ice Cube Throw event: Gold-Lilly Silver-Mikayla Bronze-Alayna

The next event was the sled race. Daddy made a snow track with the snowmobile, and the girls pulled the sled around the track in a timed event. Alayna pulled Lilly and Mikayla, Lilly pulled Mikayla and Mikayla pulled an empty sled.

(The horses liked spectating at this event)

Final Sled Race Standings: Gold-Alayna Silver-Lilly Bronze-Mikayla

The final event of the games was a Hockey skills test. Each of the girls had 5 chances to make as many goals as they could. Alayna had to stay back 12 feet, Lilly 9 and Mikayla 6.

Final Hockey Skills Event standings: Gold-Lilly Silver-Mikayla Bronze-Alayna

The total medal count for the day was 4 medals for each of the girls! They were all great sports and wonderfully skilled athletes. Until we meet again in 2012...

Olympics

I was able to get away this weekend for some long-overdue scrapping. It was fabulous. I had a crazy week, so having 2.5 days to do as I please and not worry about much was heavenly. I got a lot done, some good girlfriend time, and lots of chatting and gossip. I give major props to Andy, who dealt with a puking Mikayla (though she only threw up once) without calling me to come home when I was only 10 mins away. He admitted he didn't want to ruin my weekend because she seemed fine and I don't get away much at all. Awwwww. When I got home yesterday, we were going to do our family Olympics but we all took super long naps and woke up when it was getting dark out. So that will have to wait for another time. Oh well.

And speaking of the Olympics, that's partly the reason for my lack of posting again lately. We all love the Olympics, especially the Winter Games. Every afternoon and evening, if we weren't running places, we were parked in front of the tv watching skiing, skating, snowboarding, curling, hockey...any and all of it. They are so great, but I'm glad they're done. They really take a lot out of me when I can't miss anything, so I go to bed much later than normal.

Anywho, this post is a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, but I felt the need to post something, anything, to get me back into the posting mood. Hopefully I'll soon have some fun pictures of our family Olympics. I have it all planned out, it's just finding the time to do it. Some day...

Every Night...

...we go out to the barn and feed our funny-farm full of animals. They always seem to know the difference between someone closing the house door to leave vs. closing the door to come out to the barn. Maybe they hear our boots, maybe they are psychic. I don't know. But the animals can tell the difference and get all lined up. So for my "city" friends, I'll give you a pictorial account of our nightly chores. *All these pics were taken the evening of Feb 15.

First off, the dogs can hardly wait to get outside and run and play in the snow while we're out feeding everyone.


When we enter the barn, we are greeted by the cats. We have 6 cats and they all come out of hiding once the barn door opens. We never know where to find them. Sometimes, they're in the rafters... (this is one of the 3 identical black cats. They are named Blackie, Midnight and Kitty, but we can't tell them apart)
...or waiting for us on the fence separating the calves and horses...(Sid, our newest addition. She's kind of an idiot, but really sweet, so we named her after Sid the Sloth from the Ice Age movies)

This is Coonie, the stray that showed up hungry and scared on our back porch this summer as a kitten. He's certainly not hungry or scared anymore and is our most friendly cat.

Another of the black cats, nestled on the stack of hay bales.

The third black cat, sitting on the other side of the barn in the rafters on top of some spare plywood. I didn't get a picture of Stormy, our gray cat who is very crabby, moody and skittish. She will let us pet her, but it's never her idea and she doesn't like it. Typical cat.

As soon as the calves notice we're in the barn, they come running. We have 12 bull calves at our house right now, so we feed them in 3 different bays of feeders. They stink and are noisy, but what can I do. I have to compromise with my husband. And like he always tells me, I'll like them in a few months once they are fed out and sold...

Once the calves are fed and the water is full, we feed the horses. This little lady is Belle. She's one of the new horses we just got a few weeks ago. Belle is a 1.5 year old Quarter Horse/Arabian cross. She's so friendly and curious for her age!

And here's Bingo. He's the other new horse, a Morgan gelding. He's also super friendly and kind of takes on the fatherly role of the horses. We're so glad that they get along with Chloe & Chief as well as they do!

And of course, Chloe and Chief are waiting for some grain, too. Alayna is anxious to start riding Chloe again this spring and I'm hoping to train Chief this summer. Wish me luck!

Chief is watching the cats come trailing behind us.

We went out to check on the round bales we have in the pastures for the horses and calves. Whenever we walk into either pasture, the cats and dogs always follow us. It's pretty funny to see a train of animals following us around. Can you find the 2 cats in our bonfire pile for next summer?

Down by the Bay

Here are the musical stylings of Miss Mikayla. She'll be signing autographs when she learns how to write her name...

I posted earlier today, too, a big update...

So this is the deal

We've been crazy busy lately. I know that we are always busy and have lots of stuff going on, but lately it seems like I meet myself coming as I'm going. I actually had a moment of panic last week because I thought it was Wednesday and we'd missed an appointment, but it was actually only Monday. Yeah, I told you so.



So here are some random picture updates of what we've been up to...

Marley isn't allowed to be on the furniture, so this is her way of compromising...
We had a belated birthday celebration for Mikayla. Since it was her 3rd b-day, she got Power-Wheels from Gramma and Grampa like her older sisters.

My sorry, last-minute attempt at a CandyLand-esque cake for the birthday girl

Mikayla gets ready for a fashion show

Sunny got cold during a snowy day inside

Mikayla settled in reading books

What these pictures don't show are all the other things that have gone on. Alayna hosted her first sleep-over with more than one friend. She also attended her first sleep-over. The second quarter at school finished up and she got all A's on her report card. We're very proud of all the hard work that she does each day in school. She also found out that she'll be able to go to 4H Horse Camp this summer, as well as sleep-over bible camp! She can hardly wait for summer and time spent playing outside, riding bike and horse, camps and camping and the fair!

Lilly has been doing great with her reading. She's always been more artistically and mathematically inclined, so we haven't pushed reading until she approached us. Personally, I think the catalyst was when I volunteered at the school the other day and one girl in her class read me a beginner's book. That night Lilly brought me a book and said, "Let's work on reading." Since then she's done really well with her beginning words and sounding out harder words. Of course, she's still always drawing and coloring and practicing her numbers. She will also randomly spout off things like, "Mom, did you know 3 plus 3 is 6?" or "Dad, what's 10 plus 5? It's 15, right?" She can't wait for summer and camping, but she also has a new goal for the summer. She says that this summer she'll learn to ride with 2 wheels like Alayna.

Mikayla is growing like a weed and keeping us all on our toes. She's always in motion, trying to be like the big girls. She "reads" stories to her friends and toys, she changes her clothes 2-3x daily if I'm not paying attention, and her outrageous imagination has me constantly thinking, "I need to remember she said/did that!" She still loves her animals so much and is often found laying on the floor, snuggled with the dogs.

Andy and I are good and busy, too. He's constantly helping this person or that with whatever they need. Then he races home to watch the kids while I try to hit the gym or go to a meeting. I was nominated vice-chair of our school's PTA-like group, and we all just completed a very successful musical fundraiser for our church. In addition to all that, we've added another cat to our menagerie and 2 more horses (post about them to follow when I find time to take pics of them)

So yeah, we've been busy. But that's life with 3 kids. Hopefully this helped fill the void for awhile and I'll be back to posting regularly soon. I miss posting, but some days it's all I can do to make a nutritious meal for the family. But that's okay, because we're all healthy and happy. That's what really matters.

I's gots me RED on

Are you wearing red today? I am. Wanna know why?

Today is National Wear Red Day. Heart disease is the #1 health threat for women, but few people recognize that and think the #1 is breast cancer or other types of cancer. The worst thing is, heart disease can often be a silent danger. The person with heart problems may not realize it until it's too late.

I lost my gramma 8 1/2 yrs ago to a massive heart attack on Sept 9, 2001. I was floored and had no idea that gramma was at risk. Maybe she didn't know herself. Looking back, she had some risk factors but nothing that put up the huge red flag. Now I wish that we'd all noticed something, some way, to help her so that wouldn't have happened. She only knew Alayna for about 9 months, and never got to meet Lilly and Mikayla. She didn't get to come to my wedding. She didn't get to see her other grandchildren graduate from high school, or her own children celebrate milestone birthdays and anniversaries. I miss her with every holiday and family gathering we have.

So please, support the National Heart Association. Please look at your own health and see ways that you can improve your life and decrease your personal risk for health disease. Be evaluated by your doctor to determine if you have any risk factors. Be proactive about your health and your life. You owe it to yourself and those that love you.