Kaia

Thank you for being the best last baby a mom and dad could wish for!



Almost...

Almost time for summer!  16 more school hours and the three month Packer Party begins.  I can't wait!  I love having all of my kids home and two days a week just isn't enough.  Last year Senorita Summer payed us a visit.  The girls think she looked a little like me, but said it was some crazy lady all dressed up - sombrero, sunglasses, flower lei, funky accent and all.  She just showed up at the door, the girls let her in and then she and the girls made a list of summer rules and planned a list of fun summer things to do.  I wasn't around to see it.  I was "resting" in the other room.  The girls wondered if she was coming again this year, not sure she'll be available, but I'll check.  Either way for this summer I want to make a SAND PAIL LIST with the kids, ya know kinda like a bucket list, but more short term. 

Can't wait!!

Kaia's Furry Find

Kaia found an amazing discovery this past week... under the slide lay four baby kitties all curled up.  I immediately thought about finding the perfect little bed for their new nest as we mothered them into successful kittenhood.  I called the Humane Society to grab a few tricks for kitten rearing.  Feed every two hours, keep warm, keep safe... done that four times with my own crew and according to my baby delivery schedule I'd be due for another baby about now anyhow. 

But where could the real mama be??   I was certain it couldn't be the skinny little feral kitten that we had been feeding, she was only a few months old herself, there was no room in her itty bitty body to hold babies.  Hmmm, maybe the mouse we saw skinny kitty carrying a few days prior wasn't actually a mouse.  What if skinny kitty was the mama... I couldn't imagine taking her babies away.  Yet I knew if the baby kittens were left alone and didn't have a mama they were sure to be a midnight kitty cookie for the crazy raccoons.

The kids wanted to bring them in, they too feared they wouldn't make it through the night.  So we prayed, prayed to feel guided on how to best handle our new furry friends.  We came to the conclusion that we needed to leave them, after all they had made it without intervention the first few days of their little lives.  And we had to trust nature to do what nature does.  Soon after our group decision I saw skinny kitty laying down with her babies.  We all felt better. 

So each day we check on the kittens, I'm solo on the night watch.  I take the flash light out a couple times in the wee hours and make sure mama is with the babies.  It's been four days since Kaia's find and they seem to be doing great.  Along with skinny kitty, we co-parent Cub, Midnight, Shadow and Kailana {of course we had to name them}, and help her where we can.  Once they are ready to leave mama's side we'll find them homes.  Until then we are enjoying this sneak peek into nature.

Sleepover!

And he's never frozen my bra or put marshmallows in my nose while I was sleeping. 

LOVE H.I.M.

 

8 is GREAT!

HAPPY birthday M.E.K.E.N.A!!!

And you actually get to celebrate your birthday on your birthday!  Happy Leap Year Birthday!!!

Oh, you have grown so quickly!! 

You are magnificent and brilliant!! 

I love to just sit and talk with you, your depth of understanding has always been amazing to me.

You are a deep soul with so many capabilities. 

I'm excited for you to be a young lady!

Give me a c... C Give me a h...H Give me an e... E Give me another e... E Give me a r... R

What's that spell??  Yup, CHEER.  And that's our new favorite activity, I should say sport.  Here's the story - two years ago Mekena and Kirra went to a cheer camp for a week during summer.  I figured it would be fun, give them a little outing and that would be it.  They LOVED it, learned more in a few days than they had after taking two years of dance and begged to join the competitive team.  I was about to have a baby and the commitment was just not something I was willing to sign up for.  They continued to talk about it over the year following.  So last June I decided that if the idea of competitive cheerleading was still on their mind almost an entire year later than we should check it out.  Fast forward 9 months and you will not see a day go by without stunts and tumbling and dancing - if the girls aren't at practice they are cheerin' it up at home.  Who knew you would hand a kid a burrito and up it would go in a stunt, that you couldn't go anywhere without asking them to not do cartwheels and back walkovers, that you'd look outside to see they've rounded up the neighbors to help toss them up and that every piece of furniture would turn into a trampoline - even though there's one in the backyard.  The baby has caught the spirit and does somersaults wherever she can and there is so much counting going on around here that little Reef has forgotten that after you count to 8 you should say 9, 10 but instead starts over and counts to 8 again (dance counts end at 8 and start over and over and over again).  It's really quite cute and fun to see their passion, not to mention they are buffed and can do some serious push ups.  Competitive cheer is not for the meek and fragile.  These kids don't mess around. 

Three competitions down, two to go!  Kirra's team is truly unbelievable, these tiny tiny little things getting on stage in front of thousands and they perform almost perfectly - huge smiles and incredible execution of a complicated routine.  They've taken first twice and second once (lost first by .34 of a point).  Mekena's team is young in experience for her category but they are improving quickly.  They've taken second, fourth and then second again with their best performance ever last weekend... against some pretty tough competition I should add.

Most important they really like it!  It took Mekena some time, I don't think she expected it to be so hard but she plans to do it again next season.  Took me some time too... getting use to the short tops and make up, oh my! 

A quote I love...

"Everyday of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children"

I do think of this quote often, I have it up in my home, a daily reminder that I have four little sets of eyes watching me, learning all of the good and all of the not so good that I put out there without even knowing.  And then like an unfond mirror image I see myself acted out by a 5 year old and think "oops".  Children watch everything!  I guess I've made a few "withdrawals" instead of deposits.   

Sometimes I envision my life without children, itty bitty young children at that... I see a very clean house, incredible organization, serious muscle tone, pressed clothes... maybe even a quiet moment reading.  Sounds very nice.  Truth of it is I wouldn't be complete.  I wouldn't be me.  I am a wife and I am a mom.  And there is nothing more important than those two incredible opportunities.  I can't imagine a more magnificent responsibility and reward.  Every day is not easy, but every day is worth it!!