One of the presents Kaelin received for her birthday was a crocheting kit.  Kaelin’s a little young to really get crochet, but that didn’t stop her from pulling out the glue and tape and using the kit to make her own original art.

She had stuck about 15 pom-poms to the blue piece and was rather disappointed to learn that glue sticks are pretty ineffective for making pom-poms stick to plastic.

He came.  He saw.  He devoured.

“Am I going to get in trouble for taking my plum into Daddo’s office?”

“Ha ha, did it anyway!”

“Kaelin, you got your Daddo’s dimples.”
“I did NOT get my Daddo’s dimples.  My Daddo still has his dimples.”

Ok, guys.  I’ve given you a few things to chew on for a couple of days so you can stop nagging me about updating this site.

Instead, you can start nagging me about finishing Koren’s Halloween costume, which has to be done by, let’s see, oh yes, SATURDAY.  And which I have yet to start.  So if all the Halloween pictures are of Kaelin, you’ll know why.

But now it’s after 10pm, so I’m outta here!

Several people have reminded me that I’m a little behind on this site… so I’m trying to catch up.  Things have been a little, um, crazy around here lately.

We had Kaelin’s birthday party at the Wiggly Play Center this year.  It’s the first time I’ve ever outsourced a birthday party.  For the most part I was pleased, though I will note that WPC’s idea of a “Party Host” is not the same as MY idea of a Party Host.

That said, it was great to be able to show up to the party without having to prepare anything ahead of time.  And Kaelin had a great time playing around with her friends, eating cake, and totally ignoring her pizza.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t in the highest spirits because she started coming down with whatever illness Koren had brought home most recently and passed around the family.  I was still recovering from it and had very little voice, so I kept having to use Jens as my loudspeaker.  Kaelin’s voice started to fail her almost immediately and by later in the day she had a fever.  Pretty crummy deal to get sick on your birthday.  Still, she had as good a time as could be expected under the circumstances.

We had 12 kids in attendance, which was more than we were expecting, but the WPC only charged us for 10 kids, which was nice.  Kaelin was thrilled to see all her good friends from school, church and the neighborhood.  And Koren had the time of his life being the busiest little busy-pants in the world.  He came home and slept for 3 hours, which – in his world – is virtually unheard of.

And now, for the pictures*, which you have to log in to see because of the whole “putting pictures of other people’s kids on the internet” thing:

* Disclaimer: the batteries in my flash died and my camera was refusing to focus.  So apologies that they’re not great shots.

On September 26th (yes, a MONTH AGO), we took the kids to a neighboring city’s Western Day.  It’s kind of like a small version of the State Fair.  The kids had a great time and, if memory serves, Koren napped really well that afternoon.

Kaelin took cookie decorating very seriously.

And she took eating the cookie just as seriously, though she was a little overwhelmed with all the icing and just ended up nibbling around the edges.

Our little Texans:

Both kids had fun in the bounce house:

Kaelin was thrilled to get the chance to ride a real pony.

…And pet the animals in the petting pen.

By that time Koren was too worn out to do anything more than watch the animals.

(more…)

You’d think I’d have time to get used to this idea, but I’m still in shock that my little munchkin is a big girl now.  Gone are the chubby cheeks and partial-toothed, open-mouthed grins.  Gone are the times of curly pigtails, burying her face in the cat, and getting her to say whatever we want just for fun.

Yes, someone stole my baby and replaced her with this:

Tell me, who is this grown up little girl who likes to play Candy Land and Tent and Dollhouse?  Where did this little lady come from, and who taught her to write her name, do first aid on an owie, roller skate, and kick my butt at Uno 6 times in a row?

Kaelin, you never cease to amaze us.

Here’s to the memories:

You’ve come a long way, girl.  I look forward to your future with a little bit of trepidation, a little bit of nostalgia, and a whole lot of pride.

Love,
Mama

Well, Jens is on a business trip again, which means that it’s time for Koren to come down with his mandatory illness that surfaces EACH. and EVERY. TIME I’m solo-parenting.

This time we’ve got a fever, cough and sore throat.  Yippee.

And in a poor display of sibling rivalry, Kaelin had 3 episodes of diarrhea today. 

On the bright side, Koren napped for a total of 3.5 hours today, which far exceeds his personal record.  And Kaelin’s upset tummy doesn’t actually seem to be affecting her mood.  She was very sweet today.

But I still find myself wishing I could just skip this week and go straight to the weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, Kaelin’s birthday is Saturday and she’s very excited.  I hope she’s not disappointed with her gifts.  See, Kaelin is very good at asking for reasonable and even simple birthday presents…but with an extra feature that make them slightly more difficult.

For instance, she really really really wants a scooter.  That is, a scooter like the one Penny rides in the movie Bolt, which can go super fast and has a button that shoots out a rope so her dog can pull her.

The latest addition to the birthday wish list is a cardboard box.  That is, a magic cardboard box that flies.

She’s also really into Snow White and wants to see the movie.  Now THAT, I can do.  Thank you, Disney, for bringing it out of The Vault just in time.

“Gee, one of our biggest demographics is really into this book series about vampires and werewolves that live in the woods.  The first film made $70 million in 3 days and the second movie is due out next month.  Hmmm… I bet if we put our heads together, we can figure out a way to cash in on this franchise.”

So, Koren is teething.  Apparently, teething to my son is like a full moon to Remus Lupin.

I think Genesis 3:16 has been mistranslated.  I think it probably should read:

To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childrearing; with pain and wailing your son will bring forth teeth. Your desire will be for sleep and quiet, but his never-ceasing screaming will rule over you.”

Oh Orajel/teething tablets/teething ring/popsicle/wet washcloths/Tylenol/frozen fruit – why must you mock me with unfulfilled promises?