Update: Kenna, Lucan, Zaden

KENNA:
We had an ice-skating birthday party for Kenna at the end of February when she turned 9, a fun celebration with friends and cousins. While many remark about how much Kenna looks like Charis did at this age, their personalities are very different. Kenna is definitely a girly tomboy: you are likely to find her outside digging up and collecting worms for her dirt-filled birdhouse container, with toenail polish on the nails of her muddy feet. She loves to dress up but hates to shower (although a good long soak in the tub is always a treat). She plays hard and works capably, although her bedroom is more likely to be a disaster zone than to reflect the organizational skills of her big sister. She loves, loves, LOVES to read, and it doesn't bother her in the least to do schoolwork "later" when she'd rather finish the current book in her hands. Her math skills are coming along nicely after some struggles, and while she knows/feels she is "behind" (finishing up the Beta book instead of Gamma this year), she works steadily and is understanding the concepts well. Her sloppy handwriting is something she has a desire to change, so she is working more in earnest on learning cursive and practicing on various pieces of scrap paper. While the language arts writing assignments have never been her favorite, she has discovered that typing out a creative story can actually be fun...so last week's assignment is still a work in progress as she adds a little each day to her Story Starter. Kenna is a social being, thriving when she gets to play with friends or attend anything remotely social. She loves her siblings fiercely and carries Rhema around like a pro. Her current career choice is to be a missionary in Fiji...and I wouldn't put it past her to make that happen!

LUCAN:
Having received a number of art supplies for his recent 7th birthday (celebrated fireman style!), Lucan describes himself very seriously as an ARTIST. Some days it is an effort to pry him from the table and convince him that he really would enjoy going outside to run around! He has always loved working on his own little projects at the table by himself (yet with a constant stream of chatter about what he is creating to anyone who will even pretend to listen), and since he is not a typical rough-and-tumble boy, he usually responds to my requests for outside play time with reluctance...until he comes up with a creative play scenario that has him narrating his actions and traversing the yard in his own neverland. He and Zaden are--usually--best buddies in these scenarios. Lucan is very passionate about Jesus and wants to tell others about God's love for us. Almost every day he says something that reflects his tender heart, whether talking about being a missionary or praying for our sponsored kids in Africa. His prayers are wide-sweeping as he asks the Lord for there to be no more fighting or wars (before playing good-guys-fighting-bad-guys, lol). This post I left on Facebook awhile ago still makes me laugh:

Lucan has been showing such a tender heart to share the good news of salvation through Jesus with others. This sweetness does, however, end in a good giggle at times, as this conversation shows...you'll have to imagine my responses for brevity's sake.

"Mommy, when I grow up, I want to tell people in South America about Jesus. When I am 19, I will tell people in Peru. After I walk to all the cities, then I will go to Brazil. I will be 20 then. And then I will go to Argentina. I think I will be 24 then. And then I will tell people in Chile about Jesus when I am 25."

After listening to Lucan tell about his planned route, I ask him if he will learn Spanish.

"Spanish?!"

"Yes. Most people in South America speak Spanish. And most people in Brazil speak Portuguese."

Pause. "Um, never mind."

Quiet...

"Mommy, do people in Canada speak English?"

ZADEN:
While he loves to run around with his siblings and friends, Zaden is still a cuddler and usually prefers to sit on Ted's or my lap in church instead of joining the kids when they leave for their class. Though we are trying to remind him that sucking his thumb means it's (nap) bedtime, he still pops his thumb in his mouth when he's tired or feeling shy. I'm trying not to make a huge deal out of it; simply making him aware that big boys don't suck their thumbs (and if he's sucking his thumb, then it clearly means he needs a nap!) seems at least a step in the right direction. I'm enjoying this last year of not having to do much of anything "school-ish" with Zaden, although he sometimes REALLY wants to work on some kind of workbook, anything to make him feel like he's doing school also. We are lazily learning to write letters and finishing up random workbooks when we feel like it, and he sometimes listens in on Kenna's reading and almost always listens in on Lucan's reading. He is an AWANA Cubbies graduate now--hard to believe he will be a Sparkie next year! He is a passionate little boy, and by "passionate" I mean "still prone to insanely ridiculous temper tantrums." (He had a meltdown Sunday morning because Ted gave him the plate he asked for. Sigh.) He is also an excellent tattle-tale, which may or may not be helpful, depending on which sibling he feels the need to report about. I am trying to capitalize on his desire to help in the kitchen, even though having one little helper usually means I end up with 4 or 6 extra hands to keep gainfully occupied.  As cute as he is, Zaden probably often feels overlooked, with two cute baby sibs that need a lot of supervision and all his older sibs engaged in schoolwork that Mom needs to oversee. There are times when lesson plans need to rest awhile so I can snuggle and read with my thumb-sucking boy!

Kenna Turns 8!

Another highlight from February was Kenna's 8th birthday! She wanted a Frozen birthday party (not surprising), so we obliged with a gorgeous cake by our friend Titti and games like "Pin the carrot nose on Olaf" and "Make your own Olaf" (racing to unroll a roll of toilet paper around a volunteer "snowman"). Kenna enjoyed having a number of her friends attend the party at our house, and later that evening we had our family gift-giving time, with her present from Mom and Dad being a dirndl from Germany that we had purchased when we were there earlier in the month. We got it a little big, so hopefully she can wear it for a few years, at least!

Beautiful, silly, fun friends!

Happy birthday to our girl!!

Crocheted mermaid doll from Charis

Loom knitting book from the brothers

She loved the dirndl that Charis and our friend Shauna picked out in Garmisch!

Sir Lucan & the Princess

Charis helped Kenna and Lucan make this stinkin' cute video yesterday while I was running some errands. Lucan the Knight saves Princess Kenna by cutting off the head of a dragon.  He then shyly asks, "Will you marry me?" and they ride off into the sunset!

Cute Cut

A few weeks ago we had a mobile hairstylist come to our house to do our hair!  I met Danny on the "Living Abroad in Naples" Facebook page, and after reading his profile and recommendations from others, decided it would be SO worth it to have him come to our house rather than trying to figure out how to schedule appointments for the girls and myself, all of whom were in desperate need of a cut!

Charis and I kept most of our length, but Danny gave us some great layers--love the new cuts!  I don't have pictures of our hair specifically, but if you're looking for that sort of thing, you can probably tell just by seeing our pics from Capri.

I did take pictures of Kenna's new 'do, though, since she got a more drastic change.  During the summer (before our move), she had allowed Lucan to cut her hair...sigh.  The result was what looked like longish bangs and actually wasn't so bad as to require immediate intervention.  In the busyness of the move, hair care got pushed waaaaaaay aside.  We talked about getting her hair cut to the length of the shorter layers, and she was excited to do so.  We are pleased with the results!

Kenna's Decision

Over the last few weeks I've been thinking and praying about Kenna's awareness about her need for a Savior.  With Easter coming and going, we had opportunities to talk about WHY Jesus died on the cross.  And Charis had even commented that Kenna was older than Charis herself was when she prayed to ask Jesus into her heart.  Charis recently completed a Child Evangelism Fellowship training course and had asked if she could sometime go through the wordless book presentation with Kenna to see if she was ready.  Of course I told her that was a wonderful idea!

Well, tonight when I was tucking Kenna into bed, I asked her what she learned in Sunday school.  We usually try to discuss that around our lunch table, but today's lunch was pretty chaotic with getting leftovers heated for everyone and whisking Charis out the door for call time for her show, then the rest of the crew out to SEE the show while the little boys and I stayed home to nap.

Anyway, it worked well that we hadn't had that discussion yet!  Kenna told me that she learned about the woman who wiped Jesus' feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.  Our conversation then went something like this:

"Why did she do that, Kenna?"

"Because she loved Jesus so much."

"That's right.  We can't wash Jesus' feet now because He's in heaven, but we can still show Him that we love Him by loving and serving other people."

"How can we give Jesus stuff?"

"Jesus doesn't need any of our stuff!  He already has everything--but what we CAN give Jesus is our heart!  Someday when you're ready, you can pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart."

"I want to pray now!"

We went back downstairs and told Grandma and Grandpa K, who are here visiting, what was going on, and Charis, who was reading on the couch, went and got her wordless book.  We sat together while Charis went through the pages and made sure Kenna understood everything.  We (Kenna and I) recently had a conversation about the gospel message...in fact, we've had a few of these conversations lately!  Now that I think about it, there was a touching parenting moment recently that I believe God used to prepare Kenna's heart for tonight's decision...I'll write about that in a moment.

Kenna listened to Charis (being just a bit silly now and then, but mostly I think because she was in a hurry to just go ahead and pray!), and then we prayed together.  What a joy to share this moment with her AND her big sister AND her grandparents!  I'm still in awe over how it all came together!

So about a week or so ago I discovered Kenna eating out of Lucan's box of Easter jelly beans.
1.  She did not have permission to be eating candy.
2.  She stole Lucan's candy.
3.  She then lied about eating Lucan's candy, even though the evidence was CLEARLY hard to mistake!

I took her up to her room, and we had a very precious time of conversation.  I felt God impressing on me that this was NOT the time to punish her, even though her actions clearly deserved punishment.  She knew she had done wrong!  She was very tearful and repentant (probably more sorry she got caught, but still, I believe she was indeed sad about her sin!).  I told her that because she had sinned, she deserved to be punished...and the Spirit led me to tell her the good news about how God reaches down with grace and mercy on all of us, who deserve eternal punishment, and instead gave us Jesus, who bore our sins on the cross.  I made it clear that USUALLY, in our house, anyone who disobeyed, stole, and lied would have been disciplined!  But to show her a picture of what God did for us through Jesus, I chose NOT to give Kenna that punishment.

Thankfully, I am pleased to report that she has, to date, refrained from repeating said sinful behavior, and I would like to think that our little talk made an impact on her that helped lead her to tonight's decision.  What a joy and a blessing to lead our little ones to Christ!  Another child joins the kingdom of heaven, and the angels are partying tonight!

Kenna Says

Kenna, practicing her AWANA section for tonight with Daddy:  "When they saw the star, they were over-cheerful."

Kenna Says

After dinner tonight, Kenna said, "Mommy, I'm excused.  May I please be full?"

Growing Up

Who took my baby girl and replaced her with such a sweet little young lady?!  Notice her hair is in ONE ponytail again--FINALLY!!

Kenna is truly growing up!  I can't get over how responsible and mature she has become.  (Don't get me wrong--we still have those Kenna moments, but they are NOTHING like her toddler years!)  She is very polite; I think she says, "Yes, ma'am" even more than Charis does, and that's saying something!  She is also a tremendous helper.  Because she is tall, she is often mistaken for a kindergartener (or at least a 5-year-old), so it makes me even more proud of her understanding and listening skills.  She is going to be a great help with the new baby and can't wait for him to arrive.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

...lurks a big sister with a face-painting kit!

Another Kenna Funny

Me: "Kenna, please tell the kids to come quietly to the dinner table."
Kenna, whispering: "It's time for dinner!"

Kenna's Comments

Kenna has such a cute way of wording things and constantly makes me smile with her words.  I don't write them down often enough, so while I'm thinking about it, here are a couple of things she has said recently that I wanted to remember.

This morning, while helping me make fruit and yogurt parfaits for breakfast, she ran to get her stool and headed for the sink to wash the berries, saying, "This will be hopefully fun!"

Last night, when I was cuddling her and talking with her, I was telling her that God made her special and knew her even before she was in my belly like her baby brother.  I said, "Kenna, God has a special plan for you!"  She looked at me with her eyes sparkling and lowered her voice conspiratorially and said, "What is it?!"  As if I could tell her!  Don't we ALL want that question answered RIGHT NOW, LOL!

The Princess Par-Tea

Whew!  Kenna's birthday party was yesterday--a long-anticipated event, I might add!  She got to the point Saturday where she was asking how many minutes until her "girls" came!  It was a wild success, for the most part.  I was a little shocked that every single little girl we invited showed up, aside from one who was planning to come but unfortunately got the flu.  So there were a total of 8 little princesses running around, plus parents and siblings.  Kenna was in heaven!

We invited the girls to dress up in their favorite princess costume, so of course I seized the opportunity to wear my Renaissance Fair dress! 

We started with craft time at the table.  I printed out princess coloring sheets for the girls to color while we waited for everyone to arrive.  Then the princesses decorated crowns (kits from the dollar store) with stickers and jewels.  Finally, we made "Royal Play Dough," which was homemade play dough that we sprinkled fine glitter on and had the girls work into the dough so that it was sparkly.  Charis helped make the dough the day before--this is the BEST homemade play dough recipe!  Even the boys were playing with it, despite its pink color!  We put the balls in ziplocks for the girls to take home.

Then it was time for the princesses to find their "lost" slippers!  Charis had hidden one of each of their shoes while they worked on crafts.  She hid a piece of homemade candy in each one, so they enjoyed a peanut-butter treat when they found their slippers again.

What's a kid's birthday party without a Pin the ____ on the _____ game?!  Charis drew the Cinderella poster herself and cut out clip art crowns for the girls to tape up.  Did I mention Charis was my Party Helper?!  She was AMAZING!  From food preparations to decorating the party room, I could not have pulled this off without her.  Having her help allowed me to have FUN instead of being stressed!

We had a "Royal Ball," during which we played some classical music and had the princesses dance around.  We gave them pink strips of decorating paper to twirl around.  They were to freeze in place when the music stopped.  It was so much fun to watch them!  Then Charis led them in a game of "The Queen Says" (i.e. Simon Says) while I finished putting food on the table for the "tea party."

You can't see it really well in the picture, but we did a Fruit Rainbow, which was a fantastic idea I stole from my college friend Lisa, as well as a veggie tray, deviled eggs, mini pumpkin muffins, and orange cookies.  (As an aside, everything we served was GAPS-approved!)  Due to the sheer number of bodies in the house (8 princesses, 9 adults, and 5 siblings), we opted to forgo actually having tea.  (We served sparkling flavored mineral water from Trader Joe's as drinks...and ended up getting plain water when some little princesses didn't like the mineral water!)

Then it was time for presents.  We had Kenna sit on a cute princess chair that our neighbors had given us the week before--perfect!  The little girls crowded around and oohed and aahed over her gifts. 

Here are the 8 princesses on the couch!  Four of them are AWANA Cubbies friends who sit at Kenna's table, 1 is a neighbor friend, and 2 are friends from our monthly family community. 

I spent so much time making a homemade cake that fit our current dietary guidelines that there was really no time leftover to spend on making it look fancy, so I borrowed a tiara from Charis to plop on there!

Kenna had trouble blowing out the flames!  I'm not sure what she was (or wasn't) doing, but it was funny to watch her try!  The two girls on either side of her ended up helping blow them out.

So, I have to be honest, the cake itself was somewhat disappointing.  Our family, and Sidra and her little girl (in other words, those of us doing the GAPS diet), liked it (well, Kenna only ate the frosting), but let's just say there were a lot of partially-eaten pieces left on plates after the party!  I made a HUGE mistake in speaking to the parents and saying something about there not being sugar in the cake, but of course the girls overheard, and I think that really tainted their opinion of the cake!  Lesson learned...keep your mouth closed until AFTER they sample, LOL!  It's good to eat, but it's more of a sweetbread kind of taste rather than a birthday cake kind of taste.  I can definitely see why they wouldn't care for it as much.  I think it does go to show how much our family's taste buds have changed!  Using honey and stevia as our only sweeteners has helped break the sugar addiction I know we all struggled with.  (It was a happy, ignorant struggle, to be sure, but trust me, we were sugar addicts who thought we were a healthy family!)

Our party favors also came from the dollar store...my goal was to find some "useful" objects and definitely not include candy, LOL.  We found chunky princess crayons, 50-piece princess puzzles, and adorable ice cream cone bubble containers.  All 3 items fit very nicely in the party favor bags.  I was pleased--a nice, inexpensive way to thank the guests for coming!  Kenna was happy there was a puzzle left over for her. :-)

All in all, it was a very fun event.  Kenna hasn't had her very own birthday party with guests since she turned one, and it was fun letting her be the star for the day.  Being one of the younger kids, she often just gets lumped in with what the older kids are doing, and I felt it was important for her to have her very own party, even though we don't typically do this all the time.  We're supposed to be having a family celebration with gifts and cake this evening, but she is currently sacked out on the couch!  I think she is still recovering from being sick on Wednesday.  She had a raging fever that day, and while that was the only day she had the fever, she spent a lot of time Thursday and Friday sleeping on the couch.  Saturday she was pretty lively, but for obvious reasons!  And today she was wiped out again.  Poor li'l princess!  We'll see how she feels when she wakes up, and I'll have to post more pictures of family gifts later.

Kid Update

We're halfway finished with our Sonlight curriculum for the year, which means it's a perfect time for a little update on all the short people in our house.

CHARIS
An obsession with historical fiction keeps us trekking to the library frequently to keep Charis in books.  She has progressed far beyond the American Girl series and now reads all kinds of diaries/journals (fictionalized, but based on real people and events).  Her favorite authors are Kathryn Lasky, Andrew Clements, and Beverly Cleary.  When she's not curled up with a book, Charis is either playing the piano, working on a self-imposed writing assignment, or holed up in the craft room, making a mess on my stamp room floor as she creates gifts for loved ones.  (Latest project: two dolls in a box crib for Kenna's birthday present.  You can see one of her projects in the picture of Kenna below--she made "mice" and "cages" for her and her siblings to have as pets.  Such detail in the boxes!)  She is a HUGE help to me in the kitchen as well as entertaining the little ones, and I am so thankful that she is such a natural homemaker-in-training!  I truly enjoy working in the kitchen with her, and it's a delight to both Ted and me to watch her with her younger siblings.

TOBIN
Having found a new literature series to read (The Lightning Thief), Tobin also frequently escapes to spend some quality time with library books.  He will begin piano lessons on March 1, so we will have two piano students in the house!  Our piano teacher is thrilled to have another student, and I was thrilled that Tobin finally agreed to start lessons, LOL.  It's quite convenient, as she drives here and does the lessons in our dining room with the kids while I work on lunch or do what needs to be done with the other children.  Tobin also continues to fulfill his role as Ted's "Mini-Me," cracking jokes and puns at the drop of a hat.  He's getting more dependable with household tasks, and I find myself calling for him to do things for more and relying less on Charis in some respects, so that is definitely a good thing!

ARDEN
Although Arden is not as big of a reading fanatic as his older siblings, he does enjoy comic books!  He has read tons of classic Peanuts books as well as others that we let him check out from the library.  But given a choice, he would much rather be playing something:  Legos, chess, Wii, computer games, anything that involves running with a pointed object, and so on.  He and Tobin often disappear for hours on end to build and play with their Legos.  Arden is excelling in math, doing double-digit multiplication and nearly catching up to the book that Tobin is currently in.  I've decided to stop trying to slow him down!  Only this past week did he finally seem to "struggle" with a new concept, which he quickly mastered after a little one-on-one time with me.  He adores his little siblings and is such a gentle-hearted boy.

KENNA
Eagerly anticipating her upcoming princess "par-tea," Kenna is still the happy, joyful girl she's always been.  I love how she comes downstairs in the morning with her hair sticking out in every direction wearing a huge smile.  That girl is just so HAPPY!  Her exuberance for life always lifts my spirits--one can't help but smile when she's around...assuming she's in a good mood, that is!  Watch out if she is crossed!  Kenna is quite tall (big, even!) for her age.  She turns 4 on Sunday, but her 4T clothes are nearly too small already!  I'm glad spring is close by so we don't have to worry about her ankles hanging out of her pants, LOL.  Kenna loves singing, being chased and tickled, and bossing Lucan around.  She loves thinking she is a big kid, listening in on our Sonlight reading and helping set the table every morning for breakfast.  She really is becoming quite a good little helper, sometimes even being more dependable than Arden, who is easily distracted!

LUCAN
Our baby isn't really a baby anymore, sigh!  He also is fast outgrowing all his clothes.  We are reaching the end of the hand-me-downs we received before we left Las Vegas, so I may actually need to go buy him some clothes!  Hurry up, garage sale season!  Pretty much all his pants are too short, so we have to creatively dress him when the weather is cold, LOL.  Lucan is shaping up to be like his big brother Arden in so many ways.  I remember Arden was doing 100-piece puzzles by himself when he was 2 1/2.  Lucan will be 2 at the end of March, and while he isn't close to 100-piece puzzles yet, he is quite capable of doing 24-piece puzzles and even a 48-piece one that Kenna got for Christmas (thanks, Ski!).  A recent obsession is the Hungarian New Testament that he found off our bookshelves.  I don't know if it's the size or the bright blue color, but he LOVES that thing!  He carries it around and randomly opens it and "reads" out loud to anyone who will listen.  It's very cute to hear him babble...maybe he'll be a preacher to Hungary someday, ha!  Another likeness to Arden is his sweet, gentle spirit.  When I picked him up from the toddler room on Sunday, his teacher described him in just those words--"He has a sweet, gentle spirit!"  Reminded me of a time when a godly woman from our church in Maryland spoke similar words over a one-year-old Arden, saying she didn't know exactly what it was, but she felt in her spirit there was something special about that little boy.

BABY TBA
I am pleased to announce that I have indeed been feeling Baby J move over the last week or so, quite frequently, even.  I could tell my belly was growing (that happened starting the moment of conception, LOL), but not feeling any movement was beginning to worry me.  I'll be 13 weeks tomorrow and have my OB appointment in the morning.  I am trying hard not to FREAK OUT that I am 1/3 of the way through this pregnancy.  Oh, that Ted's deployment will go so quickly...

As much fun as it is to watch our children grow and become the people God created them to be, it's also fun to dream and imagine what they'll be like in 10, 20, and even 50+ years.  What a blessing each one of them is!

Seven on Sunday

1.  Temps are above freezing!  The ice/snow around us is melting, and it's supposed to be in the mid-50s this week.  The sun is shining.  Life is good.  I look forward to leaving our cave this week.

2.  We've been living in a sick house the past week.  Lucan started last Sunday with a fever and only yesterday began acting like his normal self.  Tobin has been miserable the last few days and in fact missed the Avs hockey game with Ted and Arden Friday night, choosing to stay home and go to bed early.  Arden has been hacking the last few days as well.  And since Charis has had a stuffy nose for going on two weeks now, that leaves Kenna, Ted, and me the only unscathed people thus far.  Here's hoping things get better so we can enjoy the good weather...

3.  A paradoxically frustrating and encouraging thing:  the boys are apparently experiencing a "healing crisis."  Both Tobin and Arden have experienced a relapse, which has included a lot of coughing, wheezing, and needing to use their inhalers.  This is normal and to be expected as their bodies have been undergoing detox.  So far my own detox symptoms only seem to involve sneezing!  Odd, but it was mentioned specifically in the document I read, and I can't explain my sneeze attacks any other way!

4.  I'll be 12 weeks along with this pregnancy on Tuesday.  Hard to believe the first trimester is almost over.  I'm trying not to be concerned about the fact that I haven't felt any movement yet.  I know it's fairly early, but I felt the last 3 babies by 11 weeks.  Ted thinks I've just been too busy...I don't know.  I'll feel a lot better after I hear the heartbeat at my next appointment, which is February 22.

5.  Last week I joined a ladies' evening Bible study for a short time.  We are studying Max Lucado's book Fearless.  I saw the announcement in the bulletin and figured it was appropriate, given all that I'm facing this year.  The study just runs 6 weeks.  The group meets on an on-going basis, but I can't really commit to a long-term evening study.  I was blessed by the first meeting I attended last week and look forward to getting to know these ladies better.

6.  Yesterday was the AWANA Bible Quiz Team competition, hosted by our church.  Charis had been on the team last year and worked hard only to have the event canceled by bad weather, and it just couldn't be rescheduled.  So I was glad this year that both she and Tobin were able to participate.  As a whole, our (rather large) team didn't fare so well, but I think it was great that so many kids were involved.  Charis did win a "High Honor" award, and she and her teammate placed 4th for their book division.  Though Tobin was really not feeling well, he did pretty well, and I'm proud of him for participating.  (He was a bit reluctant at first!)  Next up...the AWANA games, and Arden will get to be part of that!

7.  I have a princess "par-tea" to plan.  Our little Kenna turns 4 in just two weeks!  She has requested a princess themed party, so I plan to recycle some of the activities we did for Charis's 5th birthday and make Charis my official Party Helper.  We will send the boys out for some fun and enjoy hosting a few dressed-up little girls for some games and tea time!  It will be fun and challenging to come up with treats that even our guests will enjoy, given our current menu options, but I look forward to baking something fancy and even more to helping Kenna celebrate her special day.  She has been looking forward to it literally for months. :-)

A Kenna Funny

Charis and I had locked ourselves in the stamp room, working to prepare materials for next Saturday's stamp camp.  The pitter patter of feet on the stairs indicated we would soon have company, and sure enough, next we heard Kenna's little voice through the door.

"Mommy, can I have some candy?" she asked.

"Honey, you need to ask Daddy that.  He's upstairs and can help you."

"But he said no and no and no!" was the despairing reply.

At least she's honest! 

Kenna's Future

In recent weeks and even months, Kenna has announced she will do certain things when she's a mommy.  For example, "When I'm a mommy, I'll make pizza for my family." 

"When I'm a mommy, I'll wear that, too."  ("That," in one particular instance, was deodorant, LOL.)

"When I'm a mommy, I'll feed my baby."

And so on.  It usually has to do with whatever she is watching or helping me do.

So I guess we shouldn't have been too surprised when, this afternoon while she was watching Charis work on a little sewing project, Kenna said, "When I'm Charis, I'll make a doll!"

More Cuteness

Kenna just seems to be saying so many cute things these days! This morning, while politely asking for a second helping of cereal, she explained, "I need to put lots of food in my tummy so I can grow up!"

Happiness is...

Kenna helped me make cookies this morning. As I was scooping dough onto the trays, she happily stood on the stool beside me licking her beater. She looked up at me with dabs of dough on her nose and cheeks and proclaimed, "God is happy that you're making cookies!"

The way I see it, she's right! I was spending precious time with a three-year-old who is growing up all too fast, doing something that brought joy to her little heart. My heart was full of delight in my role as a wife, mother, and homemaker (that's not always the case, I confess...), and at that moment, I know God was smiling on the scene in my kitchen.

How can YOU make God happy today?!

Kid Funnies

Have to type these out before I forget...

I was tucking Tobin in bed a few nights ago, and he was squeezing me like crazy. He said, "I could hug you forever. I could hug you and Dad forever. And eat bacon." Guess all that hugging WOULD make you kind of hungry!

*************

Kenna went digging in the basement and found a bag of 4T clothes that Charis used to wear. Most of it looks like winter clothing, but there was also a swimsuit (that I remember absolutely SAGGING on our skinny little Charis). Kenna was delighted--the suit she has now is actually a bit small, and she has a permanent wedgie every time she wears it. So we were both happy to see a better suited (ha!) option. In a burst of sweet generosity, Kenna told me, "Lucan can have my old one!" Um, yeah. Nice thought, but I think we'll buy him swim trunks when he needs them...

Update on the Hair

So, my neighbor Sidra brought over her supplies and gave Kenna a pixie-style haircut to disguise the damage she did to her own hair. To see the before and after pictures, go here! It looks very cute, but it will take some getting used to!