Big Man on Campus

Well, the big day has finally arrived... Kody's first day of preschool! We've been waiting anxiously all summer for this blessed day, and now it has come and gone.His teachers, Marifran (pictured here) and Desiree, are great! I can tell this is going to be a fun class. I have to admit, part of me was looking forward to a few tears (from Kody, not me) and lots of hugs, but as soon as we got to the classroom he was gone in a flash.

You'll notice that some of the pictures are a bit blurry, because I couldn't get him to hold still long enough to focus.

Here is our conversation in the car on the way over:

"Mommy, are you going to talk a long time today?"
"Why, do you want me to just drop you off and leave?"
"Yeah."
"Don't you want me to stay for a little while?"
"Uh-uh.

I got a little choked up, and I might have been the only mom there with a camera but at least he's still too little to be too embarrassed by my overprotectivness!! (is that even a word?)

Mollie was sad that she couldn't stay and go to school too,but she cheered up when we came home and she got to ride her little red trike all afternoon and go for a walk with Mommy! (I only had to bribe her a little.)

Camp Photos

I was finally able to sit down and get the pictures organized from our camping trip. We had such a great time, I'm really glad we did it! The kids were such happy campers, and we had lots of adventures. We took a few short hikes to see some waterfalls, of course a few lighthouses and some fun at the beach! We even got to take in a little art, at this place called Lakenenland. It's this drive through sculpture forest, created by Tom Lakenen. Our last night up there, the skies opened up and we actually had a river going right under our tent! The water eventually started leaking through the roof of the tent, but Brett and I were able to keep the kids dry while we packed everything up in the early hours of the morning and they slept through the whole thing!

Mud Pie

I'm working on a slideshow from our camping trip, but in the meantime I thought you might enjoy this video of Mollie one evening at camp.

Hilarious!

I've come across a few blogs that I think you might get a chuckle or two from reading. To give credit where it's due, Emily told me about this one where you can see some pretty funny and also disturbing cakes; and Trisha told me about this one that was featured all over the news in Utah and is just a funny spoof on all the mormon bloggers!

PS I'll post some of our awesome camping pictures as soon as I get around to it!

Love, Kim

Mischief and Silliness

We're leaving in the morning for a 5-day (if we last that long) camping trip to Pictured Rocks National Park, but I thought I'd leave you with this little gem. While I was upstairs feeding Madi the other day, Mollie comes up and throws out her arms saying "I'm Batman!" and when I looked at her, I saw her costume: she'd taken a sharpie to her arms and face. I hate to admit it, but I yelled a little too loud and sent her to her room while I finished up with the baby. Then I went in to have a little chat. I wanted to take pictures without her thinking I was entertained by the mischief (even though I was) so I told her I was going to send them to Daddy at school and show him what she'd done. Kody had done a little decorating as well, but you'll see that his was not quite as extensive. Have a great week!

Kissin' Cousins

Okay, there wasn't much cousin kissing going on, but the kids had a great time with their cousins last week, and I loved hanging out with my sisters. We stayed up late being silly every night, just like old times! We tried to pack a lot of fun in to just a few days, without tiring out the kids (there's nothing worse than grumpy kids). We went to the lake, the Hands-On Museum, Hell for ice cream and hung out at home. We even broke out the bounce house! Here are a few pictures to document all the fun:

Look Who I Met in Hell

I took my sisters to Hell today, and look who I met! I was so excited, it's embarrassing.For anyone who doesn't know who this is, I feel sorry for you! Just kidding, it's Erik from Survivor: Micronesia. He was great, so down-to-earth, and we chatted for a few minutes about the show and his experiences. He even scooped our *ice cream!
*sorry, I wanted to take a picture of him doing that but my kids were scared to death of the ice cream shop and wouldn't let go of me

Screams in the Night

I have to document the night we 2 nights ago. It started around 2:00am, when Kody came into my room saying that the scary animals were coming to get him. I reassured him that we had locked all the doors and windows so there was no possible way any animals were going to come in the house. Brett took him back to his bed, tucked him in and turned on some lullabies. I had just drifted back to sleep when I heard this scream and there was Kody in my doorway. Of course, I was half asleep so I let out this loud scream and start freaking out which makes him even more upset. He ran faster than I've ever seen him run, over to the bed and jumps in with me. He was shaking and whimpering and I felt so bad! We both got calmed down, I apologized and told him that I was just startled and there was nothing to be afraid of and the I took him back to his room again and tucked him in again. By this point Mollie is awake, laying in her bed so quiet I thought she was sleeping, but she had her hands up over her face and freaked out when I tried to move them. She said she was hiding from the scary animals. They were both up and down a few more times, so by 4:00 I just gave up and they both slept with Brett while I went into Madi's room and slept on the futon. The next day I was so tired and grumpy, and of course the kids woke up early and never took a nap. I hope this doesn't happen again anytime soon.

Better Late than Never....

Life is just going way too fast! I've been trying to get on here to update the blog, but there always seems to be so many other things that need my attention more. You know, the kids, the cleanliness (or lack there of) of my house, meal preparation - silly things like this! I mean really, shouldn't the blog be numero uno on my list every day?

So a few weeks ago, we were lucky enough to have my parents come visit us for a week! We had such a great time with them, and miss them terribly now that they're gone. My dad brought his Uncle Remus storybook, and we borrowed a guitar from a neighbor so bedtime was very entertaining every night! We even had some fun adventures! We went to the Toledo Zoo, Frankenmuth, hung out by the pool, got haircuts and went to a pirate party. I didn't use my camera much because of trying to wrestle 3 kids but here is a slideshow of what I did capture

What a Week!

Whew, we just had a great week! Brett had the week of the 4th off, so we took full advantage. We left Monday, and headed out to Interlochen, which is a few hours north west of us, near Traverse City. We were lucky enough (thanks to some generous classmates) to stay at this great cabin right on the lake for 4 days! The drive getting there was a little rough, as we discovered that sweet Madi detests being in her carseat for long periods of time and our directions were a little off, but once we got there it was perfect! We spent Tuesday at the lake, Brett paddled the kids around in a kayak while Madi and I soaked up the sun (completely in the shade of course), and we found a fun little playground too. It rained all day Wednesday, but we didn't let that stop us from doing a little sight-seeing. We drove out to Old Mission Lighthouse on the 45th parrallel, let the kids play in the playland at the mall and had a great dinner at Culver's and yummy homemade ice cream at Moomers. Thursday we braved the highway again to head home just in time to pick up Auntie B at the airport. The rest of the weekend was spent celebrating, Brett even said yesterday that he'd had way too much meat this weekend with all the BBQ's and picnics. We even took a little trip to Hell! I've put together a little scrapbook with pictures from this past week, I hope you enjoy looking at all the fun we had - wish you could have joined us!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Kids Say the Darndest Things

I have some ideas for new posts, but I'm not feeling like searching for matching pictures and witty explanations. So for now, this will have to do:

Mollie has been going through a "hold me Mom" phase and I just can't do it all the time. One morning when she was whining to be carried I said to her, "you have 2 perfectly good legs to stand on..." Kody was just playing nearby, and I had no idea he was paying attention until he said this:
"if you only had one leg you would have to hop, hop, hop all the day."


upon receiving a postcard of a castle in the mail from Gma/Gpa B, Mollie said this:
"When I was a princess I will live in that castle"

Kody: "Mommy, where was you are?"
Mollie: "When I was a boy I will play in the bounce house."
Kody: "We are supposed to be a family forever Mom, we are sealed."
Mollie: "I will comb Kody's hair. I will be gentoly." (gently)

Oh, Mollie

How do you solve a problem like Mollie? She is the sweetest little girl, so full of excitement and love. But there are times when she just snaps and throws these huge tantrums, and these times are getting more and more frequent lately. We never know what is going to set her off, and when it does we don't know how to get her calmed down. She has even been waking up at night and throwing tantrums. The other morning she screamed for 2 hours, I'm pretty sure because she wanted her milk in a different cup.

This video was after the pencil she was coloring with wasn't working the way she wanted it to, and it was a pretty mild one. We were starting to see a little improvement with her temper before the baby came, but in the past few weeks it has just gotten worse and worse. I've tried everything I can think of, but she just doesn't calm down until she decides she's ready. I usually just ignore her until she's done, but I feel like I need to help her control this anger now before it gets worse. Especially since Mollie's screams scare Madi and make her cry and I can't console both of them at the same time. I know that spending more one on one time with Mollie will help a little, and I've been trying to do little things with her when I can. I just hope we can get this taken care of soon, so that our relationship doesn't suffer down the road.

Tiny Blessing

Brett blessed little Madi last week (June 1) and I am finally posting pictures now. She was so beautiful in the dress that was made by our bishop's wife in San Francisco for Mollie, I'm glad I got to use it again! Brett gave Madi such a nice blessing, even though she cried through the whole thing! I am so grateful to have a husband with such a strong testimony of the gospel. He is always willing to give blessings when we are sick, nervous or just in need of a little extra comfort. Thanks Babe, for your faith - you've held me up more times than you even realize!

The Long and Short of it

It's about that time again. My hair has gotten pretty long, and it is going to start falling out in clumps any day now. I've enjoyed having it long (let's face it, there's nothing simpler than a ponytail), but I really hate dealing with all that hair once it starts falling out. So my question is, what should I do with it? I found a few styles I like on the internet, narrowed them down to these two, and now I'm open to any suggestions or polite criticsm. So, what do you think?Should I chop it all off and go short again?

Or keep it long and just get my layers re-defined and maybe add bangs?

Birthday Boy

Happy birthday Kody! Our little boy is growing up way too fast. He is 4 years old today!Kody has really grown up a lot in the past few weeks, and he is such a good helper with his sisters. We had a Pirate party for him on Monday afternoon, with a rockin' treasure hunt and costumes. We got him his first bike, and he is loving it! I'll try to post pictures and maybe even a video a little later. Right now, the baby is crying and Kody is bugging me to look up "Panda Master" on the internet. Aah, the joys of motherhood!

My Baby

My friend Leslie wanted to practice her newborn photography, so we had a little photo shoot for Madi. It was so much fun to hang out and pose the baby, thanks Leslie! Here are a few of my favorite shots:

Home Sweet Home

Well, our ceiling is now fixed and life is almost back to order. We have moved back home, but for now it's just me and little Madi. But where did everyone go? The 2 older cubbies have gone to visit Auntie B for some much needed R & R after the chaos we've had the past couple of weeks. Here's the short version of the past few days: We took my Mom to the airport Wednesday morning (we miss you already Mom) and on the way home Mollie kept saying that we forgot Grandma. That afternoon we took baby to the Dr. to get her belly button cauterized (I guess it wasn't closing on its own), and that evening we stopped at our apartment to pack the kids for their big trip.

Thursday morning we got up, scrambled to get everything packed up and ready to vacate the temporary apartment and set off for our big trip to Pittsburgh where we met up with Auntie B for the big hand-off.The kids are now having the time of their lives and getting spoiled like crazy, did you expect anything less?! Click here to see pictures of their adventures.

Friday morning we were able to sleep in a little before heading back out on the road to take Brett and his classmates to the airport for a conference this weekend. Now it's just me and the little one, and I have to say it's a little too quiet around here. I've just been doing laundry and catching up on my sleep (I didn't get up till 10 this morning!). It's been nice to spend some one on one time with my baby, I might even take some cute pictures of her tomorrow.

Pardon Our Dust

It all started last week. I was up feeding Madi in the middle of the night (I know, don't you wish you were me!) when I heard a little critter of some sort scratching away in our ceiling. Of course, I called housing and they sent over a pest control guy who basically told me to give it a few days and the mouse (or whatever it was) would find its way back outside and we'd never see it. Gee, thanks for the help. Fortunately (I think) for us, the pest guy did notice a crack in our bedroom ceiling. Later that afternoon 2 guys showed up from housing and said the pest guy had called and told them about the crack. I was in the middle of my nap so I have to admit I was a little annoyed that he'd made such a big deal of it. I mean, I had noticed the same crack like 6 months ago and chalked it up to a bad paint job - this is student housing after all! Anyway, these guys took a look and could actually lift the whole ceiling up (that's not supposed to happen). They immediately called to get someone in to put up supports until the contractor could come and fix it. They also told me that we had to vacate our bedroom right away and not even sleep in it. With my mom visiting, there really was no room at the inn so we ended up sleeping on our mattress in the living room all weekend, and Madi slept on the couch. First thing Monday morning the contractor came and got to work. At first they said that it was just a couple of loose nails and maybe one bad spot that they would re-do. As it turns out, when they opened up the ceiling to take out the bad part, the whole thing basically came tumbling down, insulation and all! So, we were moved to a temporary apartment while they finish the ceiling. Whew, I don't know how much more excitement we can take!!

** PS, if you need to reach us for some reason you have to do it via email because we are just otherwise unreachable!

What's in a Name?

For anyone who doesn't know about our strange naming habits, little Madi's middle name may have come as a shock that you still haven't figured out. Even if you do know, but are unaware of what the reference has to do with Michigan, I will try to shed a little light on the subject! First, for anyone completely in the dark:

To make a long story short, we decided when naming our children that we would give them names that have a special meaning to us.It started with Kody - since we met in Alaska and were finally able to get pregnant our last summer there, it only made sense that his name would be something Alaskan. So rather than look in a baby name book we pulled out the map and came up with Kodiak. It's actually his middle name, so there have been a few people who thought we actually named him Kody Kodiak - we're not that strange people!

When baby #2 came along I just really loved the name Mollie, so we took out the map again for her middle name (we were living just south of Marin county when she was born).

Have you figured it out yet? The map of Michigan wasn't very helpful, unless we wanted to name her Kalamazoo, Petoskey or Ypsilanti. Ann was an option, but we have too many friends with the name Ann or some derivative.

Brett had mentioned the name Madeline, and we had joked about naming her Maizy for this reason and then when it came down to it we put the two together and really liked it!

That's the story for our crazy naming habits, and we're sticking to it!

p.s. Be assured that even though Papa Bear has adopted the wolverines and his youngest has a middle name of maize he still bleeds blue, royal blue that is; although the cougars are no longer royal blue papa bear grew up with royal blue and that is still in his blood. GO COUGS, and Wolverines!!!

The Moment You've all Been Waiting For...

As you know, the newest cub in the Bear Family has arrived. So without further ado, let me introduce you to Madeline Maize...The stats: born April 23 at 12:45pm, weighing 8 lbs. 1.5 oz. and measuring 20 1/2 inches.The vote is in, and we all adore her!Kody and Mollie took to tiny Madi immediately, with lots of hugs and kisses . They both wanted to hold her, and they couldn't wait to open up the burrito blanket to see her little toes. Mollie kept saying, "I want to see she toes" until we finally agreed to unwrap her.