Kate's Soiree

Kate tuned 7 years old yesterday! Where has the time gone? She loves Fancy Nancy books and with the persuasion of my Mom and I, we convinced her to have a Fancy Nancy birthday party. She originally wanted a fairy or butterfly party, but this was much more fun to do and she loves dressing up so it was a success. 

The cake...I had to hunt all around for this tiara and then pull the purple fuzzy stuff off her broken one and glue it on the new one. When I went to get a purple tiara from the dollar store they were all out, so was the other one and the other one I went too. ugh. Who knew it was so hard to find a tiara?! But Kate wanted a purple cake with 2 layers and the tiara on top. She was happy with it. I did it in fondant and then used a cheap necklace to go around the layers. 

Kate will tell you she got a 20" bike for her birthday, not just a bike, a 20" bike. haha! She was SO excited to get this for her birthday. She had outgrown her other one so it was time. 

My Mom and Sara drove over for the day to help out and spend the day with Kate. It was SO nice having their help. They were my little assistants. They helped me hang the tissue puffs and with an ever growing belly and super weird numbing/tingling/pain in my legs and arms (I'm a hot mess right now! lol) it was nice to have them do it. Plus, Sara stayed late and highlighted and cut my hair which was so nice of her.

Kate's teacher is Mrs. Pederesen and she is super nice. Kate loves her and tells her WAY too much stuff! haha! Sara came with me to help out and Mrs. Pedersen already knew that Sara was pregnant and where she lived! Sara and I were cracking up. Kate chose to give hostess cupcakes and capri suns for her treat. 

The Part-ay!!! Getting fancy 

L-R: Dallas, Lanae, Kate, Elsa and Alyssa

Looking exquisite! That's fancy for beautiful. :)
We played pass the posh puppy, "plain or fancy" memory, made a butterfly magnet, read a Fancy Nancy story and did the limbo with a feather boa. 

They had parfaits (that's fancy for ice cream sundaes), cake, chocolate dipped strawberries and raspberry lemonade.

Happy Birthday Kate!

I'm glad you had such a fun time. I'm glad you are in our family. You make everything so much fun with your enthusiasm for life! We ended the night with homemade chicken pot pies in mini ramekins, fruit kabobs and more cake. :)

Book then Bed

Preston had sat down to read a book and Lindsey grabbed a book and sat super close to him. It was cute. I have to get pictures of when they are good and not just fighting. Lindsey likes to tease him and run away with his toys. What's funny is Preston really likes this strawberry shortcake book (and notice he's wearing Kate's snap bracelet from the dentist!) and Lindsey will grab the tractor book. haha!

We moved Lindsey into her big girl bed on Thursday night. We got the bunk beds all set up and the room arranged for the girl's room. (I just need to hang up pictures.) She looks so small in the big bed. I was nervous to move her from her crib because I didn't know how she'd do. She woke up super early, 6 am, for the first 2 nights and finally slept until 6:44am the next night. During nap time she will get out and I can hear her playing so I'll go up and put her back in bed. She'll usually then fall asleep. I'm hoping it stays like that and she's not teasing us. It's kind of sad to see her growing up so fast. She's still my baby... for the next 3-4 weeks at least. 

Last Week

Last week, we went to Touch-a-Truck in Mukilteo. We got a flyer about it from Kate's school. It is an event where they had big trucks that kids could climb up and sit in. They also had some crafts they could do, free popcorn and candy. Kate was most excited about the double decker bus. Preston loved all the trucks and still talks about it as we drive past the area. It wasn't that busy so it was a nice little outing. Darbi and her kids went so we met up with them. 

The event was held at a community center and they have this big grassy area that overlooks the Mukilteo Ferry and water. It was a beautiful day so we were taking in the nice view. If only I could build my house on this grassy area. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

I got breakfast in bed (cocoa puff cereal and peanut butter toast) with a card, snickers bar, subway gift card (craving lately) and new turquoise nail polish. Kate picked it out and told Kyle she was good at picking out colors for me. I'm grateful to be a Mom and love my kids!

More Please?

When I was in Mr. Weberling's 5th Grade class some friends and I asked him for MORE homework! What were we thinking? We actually thought homework was fun and finished the assigned stuff really fast so we wanted more to do. Nerds! haha! Then as we got into High School we laughed about how we asked for MORE homework because we wished we had LESS homework then. My favorite subject in 5th grade was spelling. Loved it. I remember doing the extra lessons at the end of the book. I also participated in spelling bees and did really well. I remember one time I got out because I didn't know how to spell the word 'ego'. I had never heard of the word! I thought they kept saying 'eagle' so that's what I spelled. I was sad to find out later what 'ego' was and how easy it was to spell.

Kate went to the Seattle Aquarium for a class field trip. They had to choose a sea animal to do a research project on after going. She chose a sea otter. They could make a project at home for "extra" homework if they wanted to and then present it in class. And of course, Kate wanted to do the extra homework assignment. But who are we kidding, I would have too if I was her! But now I didn't want her to do it. :) But we did. It was kind of fun. We used modeling clay to make different sea creatures that the sea otter eats. The sea otter is swimming upside down (hanging from fishing line) and obviously I did most of it, but Kate helped with some of the smaller animals. She was excited to take it to school.

She wanted to do a silly face with it. And it's amazing how she can cross one eye and keep the other one straight. Talent. 

Lindsey is 21 months going on 6. She likes to undress and get dress up on or take her diaper off or put on other people's shoes. She's funny. Except on Sunday morning, when I went in to get her out of her crib and found poop everywhere! Ewww! She had taken off her diaper in the night and then had pooped and it was smeared on her feet, hands, legs, arms, chin, crib railings and crib bedding. What a mess. It wasn't as bad as Kate though...Kate ate her poop when she was a baby when she took her diaper off in her crib. So it could always be worse. ;)

Celebrate Good Times

Kyle's birthday was on Monday. Kate reminds us of how many days until our birthday and how old we will be. Lovely. I made Kyle breakfast before he left for work and we gave him his present. 

Good Morning!

All the kids were wanting their pictures taken.

 Kyle usually comes home for lunch so I got him Panda Express for lunch. Then for dinner we had hamburgers and fries. It was a chill day for him and that's how he likes it. :) I was outside with the kids after dinner and some friends, Chris and Allison, pulled up with a cake they had made so we ended up having visitors for cake and ice cream! We had cheesecake with raspberry glaze and the chocolate chip cake that Allison made. Happy Birthday Kyle!

We also had our 12th wedding anniversary on Friday the 4th. I can't believe it's been that long! It's a busy first week of May for us. We ended up getting a babysitter on Saturday and met my parent's and Marci at the Temple. Then we went to Outback for dinner. My parents came over for Kyle's birthday so it was a combo celebration. It was so nice that they came over and we had a fun time with them. 

At our wedding reception in Mattawa ~ oh the memories!

Track Time

We always like going home! We made a trip over there last weekend because Kyle had to go to Ephrata and Moses Lake for work (to check properties and meet with city people). Plus, we were able to watch Jared's track meet at home on Friday afternoon. It worked out good. Then, Jared had Prom on Saturday so I helped my Mom serve them dinner before the dance. Kyle got to visit his cousin Matt who just had surgery, work on the farm a little bit and go with my Dad to watch motorcycle hill climbs. I hung around the house with my Mom while the kids played outside in the sunshine, visited with my grandma and cousin, Sean, who I haven't seen in 18 years and I swept their shop as everyone else cleaned it out.

Jared competes in the javelin (his best), shot-put, discus and triple jump. This is his first year doing track. He used to do baseball, but switched this year and has already set records. What a stud. :)

Preston and Lindsey eating snacks to pass the time. Track meets are WAY different than normal sports I'm used to. Usually, you show up and watch a football/basketball/baseball game, but with track you wait around for the events and each person gets several tries so it took a long time. This is the first track meet I've  ever been to so it was interesting. It was very laid back. 

Kyle was discing around my Dad's fields and I brought the kids out to him to get a ride. Lindsey didn't want to get off the tractor.

Jared went to Prom with Jessica and the other couples are Alberto & Patty and Jordan & Alyssa. They surprised the girls and picked them up at 7am and brought them back to my parent's house for breakfast (my Mom made waffles/strawberries/whipped cream), then they played 'bigger or better' in the afternoon. After getting ready they came back to my parent's for dinner (bread, salad, alice springs chicken, baked potato and brownie, ice cream and hot fudge sauce).  

Preston's Results

Kyle and I had our conference last week at the CHDD at UW for Preston to hear the results from his testing. We didn't know what to expect going in. Maybe a diagnosis or maybe hearing the same thing we've been told before. I was a little nervous. We met with the psychologist, speech therapist and physical therapist (the one's who did his testing). They told us they thought Preston had High Functioning Autism. They gave us their recommendations for his IEP at school and how to proceed. They gave us lots of resources to turn to. We asked questions and discussed his strengths and weaknesses. I was kind of surprised, but then again not really because I knew something was different. I just don't want him to have that 'label' for the rest of his life. And then I think about bullying and how all these kids with autism/asperger's, etc get bullied. I try not to think about it or worry about it right now. They told us he was a difficult case to diagnose because he had a lot of strengths. They felt that he would receive the best help and care with this diagnosis. The main thing that will change is he will qualify for extended day preschool next year.

We are thankful for our family support! My Mom shared this poem with me that she had read a while ago. I thought it was so true.


Welcome to Holland
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this…


When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. 


After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." 


"Holland?!" you say. "What do you mean, Holland?" I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy. 


But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. 


The important thing is that they haven't taken you to some horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place. 


So you must go out and buy a new guidebook. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.


It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts. 


But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." 


The pain of that will never, ever, go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss. 


But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.


Written by Emily Perl Kingsley