Kyce Meets Grandpa and Grandma Villarreal

Kyce was just hamming it up!
Grandma made him this hat, but all he could think about was lunch!

After he ate he was much happier!

Sometimes I feel like..

I am not doing the best I could at being a mother, especially when I am yelling at my girls to get out the door in the morning so they don't miss the bus. Often I tell myself and I pray that I can muster up as much patience as possible in the morning, so that it doesn't go down the same way day after day. Actually in truth it is more like every other day, when Karsyn has Kindergarten. We use to think Kaydree was slow at getting ready, but Karsyn is even slower. She often gets distracted which I know is typical for her age, but sometimes it gets so frustrating. So the other morning, Karsyn hadn't put her school stuff where it belonged and it was spread all over the house. Some of it was out in the car, some of it was downstairs and some of it was upstairs. I could almost here my own mother saying, "You should have it all ready, the night before!" I don't know how she manages to do this? When this happens she walks around looking into space as she pretends to be looking for it. I could feel that frustration beginning to break, so I sent Kaydree out to get her coat from the car while I was feeding Kyce. Then Karsyn started crying. She didn't want to wear a cold coat, so I told her to wear her old black one, so she cried even harder as she informed me that she doesn't like her old coat. At this point she says, "I hate going to school. I hate having to get ready in the morning." What could I say? I don't like the mornings like this either. So the lack of me checking the night before has led to this little girl in tears. I do think that she can claim some of the responsibility, however I don't know at the age of 5 how fair it is to put the entire blame on her.
I use to call Benjy after the girls got on the bus after a stressful morning, but since Kyce has joined our family, it seems like every morning is somewhat crazy, so I stopped venting to him. So now he occasionally asks, "How were the girls for you this morning." He happened to come home for lunch after this horrendous morning and he asked me how it went. I informed him that Karsyn was disorganized and in tears. He responded, "Oh, no, she can't leave for school crying. That just breaks my heart. When she gets home, give her a big hug from me and tell her I can't wait to see her." Of course this made me have a reality check of instead of being frustrated it immediately made me feel guilty for not being as sympathetic and loving as I should have been. So again, I vowed to hug that little peanut super tight when she got home. When they got home, Kyce was eating so I called her over and hugged her and she told me all about her day. As I started to get dinner ready, Kaydree asked if she could hold Kyce, which comes in handy at this time of day. She took him and as I went to call them for dinner...this is what I found.

Oh...the tender mercies of our Heavenly Father. It was as if the entire stress of the morning had completely melted away and I was left with these three perfect little angels! It brought tears to my eyes and made me realize I have to do better and be better for these beautiful and impressionable little spirits!

I had just finished, "The Lovely Bones," so I had plans to go see the movie that night. As I jumped into the shower, Karsyn knocked on the door, which is another one of my frustration buttons, that I can't even be in the bathroom without someone needing to get in, even though we have another bathroom? So vowing to have patience I tell her that she can come in and get what she needed. When I got out of the shower there was a message from Karsyn on the mirror.

Again, another button...I just cleaned that mirror and now there are streaks... and yet all I could think of was how undeserving I am to have the unconditional love of my children! It was a very humbling day for me..

Tickle Me Elmo? NO....

tickle me...Kyce!

Kyce destroyed his pants and leaked all the way up his back. As Benjy was changing him and tickling his neck, Kyce let out his first full out giggles. A moment to remember!

Her Grand Finale

Last year Kaydree didn't get a Birthday Party with her friends because we had a lot of planning and activities for her baptism. She had a celebration last year with her cousins and both sets of Grandparents, so this year I wanted to let her celebrate with her friends also. I have to admit that I am not very good at enjoying Birthday celebrations that I am in charge of...but seeing how happy she was, made it all worth it!

My parents came up to help with the party and watch Kyce. Kaydree asked Grandma to make her Red Velvet cupcakes. Kaydree wanted to do a craft so my friend JoDell came through with her vinyl letters with less than 24 hours notice. check out her blog: http://parkerjaneboutique.blogspot.com/

As my parents were packing to come up here, I quick called them and my dad cut these boards out of some scrap wood that he had. I think that the girls did a great job decorating them. They turned out really cute!

Then we went over to Lifetime Fitness for Gym and Swim Time.
Kaydree was so nice to allow Karsyn to join in on the fun. Karsyn loved being taken care of by all of Kaydree's friends. She definitely plays the little sister role very well.
Even Kaydree was very good at including Karsyn. We are still a little taken back when we realize that our little baby girl is now 9 years old. She likes to remind us that her time living in our house is 1/2 up. It makes us feel the importance of making the most out of our time with our beautiful little girl before she grows up, too fast!

This is the last of Kaydree's Birthday posts for this year.

Grandpa and Grandma's Birthday Gift

For Christmas Grandpa and Grandma Koch gave Kaydree, Felicity, an American Girl doll. I really didn't think Kaydree would be into them, however it was really the only thing she asked for. Five of her friends have them and her Kansas Koch cousins, so she is really into them now! I thought she was getting too old however just the other day on Family Feud the number one answer for, "What age do girls stop playing with dolls?" was 12. So I guess I was wrong.

For her Birthday, Grandpa and Grandma brought her to the American Girl Doll store in the Mall of America to pick out some things for Felicity.

She chose to have Felicity's ears pierced and her hair done. She also got a hair kit for her.

Benjy and My Dad were floored by the huge store, the prices and the services. They are thinking they should have developed the business! Grandpa was very impressed with the quality of the merchandise. Grandma just loved that Kaydree smiled the entire time!
Karsyn was pretty sad that she doesn't have an American Girl doll yet. Even though it was Kaydree's Birthday trip, we got her some little stick on earings for her Generation Doll and then as you can see, she was pretty happy. It ended up being a night of fun for all of us and the girls are already planning their next trip!

Does His Hair Resemble?

Have you ever read the book, Hair, Hair by Dr. Seuss? Hair, Hair it's Everywhere! So many people compliment/comment on Kyce's hair. I have to admit it, I have cut it 3 times and sometimes I just don't know what to do with it. With the girls I could do bows and a little pony tail on the top, but with Kyce I wonder if I can start putting hair gel in it yet or cut it high and tight? So Benjy and I had fun playing around with it!

Does his hair resemble this?
Or does it...

resemble this?

but then again,

it does look close to this, again...

It does get fuzzy like this sometimes....

and then Daddy decided to try his own hairdo on Kyce. Pushed forward and popped up in the front!
We love our little Monkey... but we decided he resemebles his Daddy the most! At what age can I send Kyce with Benjy to get a hair cut?

OH DEER!

When the doctor asked my dad what he did for work, my dad said, "I am retired. I feed the deer and pheasants." We all kind of laughed, but it is true. My dad has been retired for almost 1o years and he is right, feeding the deer, pheasants, turkeys, chickens, cat, birds and whatever other animal that comes around has become his hobby. When we got to my parents from the hospital we were greeted by a total of 16 deer. There is always something so neat about the wildlife we see at their house.

We could sit for hours watching it out the windows. We told them they should start naming the deer because they know exactly the time that they always show up!