Happy Birthday Karis!

Karis's birthday celebration started a day early with a sleepover on Friday night. Her friend Jeri arrived around 4:00 and they enjoyed playing until dinner. After eating, Karis opened presents, including a new bike! The kids all got in their pajamas then and settled in to watch Mariposa. When the ice cream cake was finally ready, we paused the movie to sing "Happy Birthday" and eat a very yummy brownie-filled ice cream cake. The girls woke the next morning, ready to play and ride bikes. Around 10:00, though, Jeri began to feel sick to her stomach and lost her breakfast shortly after. Fortunately, she felt totally fine afterwards, and was ready to play and enjoy the rest of the day. The kids really kept themselves nicely entertained all day and had a good time.

Our Littlest Scholar

Corban and Karis were off at Options school today, so Kaela and I started her homeschooling. She was very excited when I suggested we do school work. She colored, colored, cut, colored, drew pictures, named letters, and colored. She said, "I didn't know school could be so much fun" and "I want to do this every day!" She did 20 some pages out of her little workbook and saved them all in a folder to show them off to Daddy.

Portrait of Karis

No, I'm not going to attempt a drawing of Karis. You're glad to hear that, I know. I've just been wanting to write some things down about Karis, giving a small glimpse into what life with her is like. It's interesting. Her personality confuses me and I still have a lot to learn about how to manage/control/train/mold her. I am open to suggestions. Anyway, here's a brief portrait, in words, of Karis.

I try to work with the kids on polite interaction with adults....stuff like speaking loud enough to be heard and looking at the person speaking to you. Today, an adult spoke to Karis and she messed up both of those goals. I pointed it out to her later and shortly after that, she had the chance to try again. Another adult asked her a question and she spoke loudly enough and looked at the person. Great improvement! When the adult was gone, I complimented Karis and she says, quite sarcastically, "Dooo I geeeet a cerrrrtificaaaate?" Where oh where does she get this attitude?

Karis, lacking any girl friends in our neighborhood, is lucky to have a brother who lets her play with him and his friends. Several evenings ago, Karis comes running into the house and asks, "Can I fight in the street with the boys?" This totally cracked up Rho and me and I wondered how many mothers have to answer a question like that from their daughters! We really need to find some girls around here! (The boys were play fighting, by the way.)

During Corban's last visit to the dentist, we were waiting for the dentist to come in after the hygienist had finished cleaning his teeth. Through a small window, we could see the room next to the one we were in. Karis saw movement through the window and commented, "Here she comes." Karis continued watching the window and says, "Oh, she got stuck." I say, "What do you mean by stuck?" Karis explains, "She got stuck talking just like mommies do. That's why mommies have kids....to help them stop talking so much." That's an interesting viewpoint and may explain why I get interrupted so much! She thinks it's her JOB!

Today, after swimming lessons, I'm combing out Kaela's hair. Karis was waiting for me to comb her hair and says, "It's not all about Kaela, ya know. It's about me too." Middle child syndrome, perhaps?

Karis needed to be disciplined one evening just before dinner. She was off in the other room, crying, when Rho called the kids to the table. He asked if they had all washed their hands and Karis dramatically says, "I washed my hands with my tears."

Birthday Girl

Kaela has been counting down the days to her birthday for more than a week now, so she woke up excited yesterday. She walked sleepily into my bathroom, wrapped in her Pooh blankie, to announce that "today is my birthday!" When she came downstairs she found balloons tied to the back of her chair and several cards to open. She asked me at some point to call her "Birthday Girl" instead of Kaela, so I did, as often as I could remember. Funny kid. Later, she got a Happy Birthday phone call from Daddy, which made her feel very special. Since I hadn't wrapped her gifts yet, I had to get that done. I told her that I'd be in my room for a few minutes and for her to play until I got done. (Quick sidenote: I had hidden the gifts and could not remember where I'd put them. It probably took me 10 minutes to find them! Kaela's not the only one getting older!) Anyway, she could barely stand the waiting and instead of playing, sat right outside my bedroom door, frequently asking if I was almost done and could she come in yet. Finally, I let her in and she was happy to help choose the bows and ribbons to decorate the packages. We had to go over the expected course of events many times that day to help her understand WHEN she was going to get to open those presents. Rho was able to come home early and we went to dinner at Cinzetti's, an Italian place. As soon as Kaela was done eating, she was ready to get home. The drive home was close to 20 minutes, plus we had to stop for gas, so her patience was really tested. Lucky for her, Grandma and Grandaddy called, so she was nicely distracted from her waiting. Once home, she opened her gifts and played until it was quite a bit past bedtime. Since we had eaten a big dinner and had dessert at the restaurant, we skipped the cake last night and will finish our celebrating tonight!

Karis loses a tooth

Karis lost her first tooth yesterday at school. When I arrived to pick her up, she ran to me with a big grin to display the hole. She thinks the hole is a great way to "scratch your tongue." She was very excited about it and of course, put it under her pillow for the "Tooth Fairy." Starting school and now losing a tooth....it's just too much growing up for a Mom to handle! More growing up coming your way as Kaela turns 4 in my next blog. Sigh.

The Green children go to school?!?

We experienced a big "first" in our family today. Corban and Karis both WENT TO SCHOOL! We have joined a homeschooling program called Options where kids are homeschooled 4 days a week and attend a homeschooler's school one day a week. The program is run by Aurora Public Schools and meets in many locations. We are attending one that meets in a church building in Boulder. Both kids had a really great first day. Corban's excitement and anticipation woke him up early this morning, ready to go. Karis, I think, was feeling a little hesitant, but appeared totally fine when we arrived at school. I managed to hold it together, mostly, until I got back to the van. Surprisingly, the day went quickly and Kaela and I were picking the kids up at 3:30. They both reported fun, successful days. Corban is taking History, Science, PE, Beginning Orchestra, and Electronics/Robotics. Karis gets a little of everything....Language Arts, Math, Art, PE, Music, and even Spanish. They're both already looking forward to next Tuesday!

Can we say.....

In our home, it seems we're often talking about what is and isn't appropriate language. The kids will hear a word like "crappy" and ask if they're allowed to use it. (The answer is no, by the way). Well, Kaela has had some funny requests that I thought I'd share.

"Mommy, can we say......"
1. Cornelius?
2. Flibbert?
3. Hopeless Loser? (Gotta watch out for Garfield movies)

Elitch's

With Corban feeling better, we went to Elitch's on Labor Day. Surprisingly, it wasn't very crowded, the weather was nice and lines were short.....perfect amusement park conditions. And, as we were standing in line to buy tickets, a family in front of us offered us a coupon that saved us some money! We started off by riding the Ferris Wheel, which I typically wouldn't have done, but the gondolas on this Ferris Wheel were kind of enclosed with bars, as you can see in the pictures, so it wasn't too bad. After that, we split up with Rho going to the kiddie rides with the girls and me going to a couple of big rides with Corban. After the first roller coaster, I wasn't sure how I'd make it through any more rides. I've totally gotten wimpy! I kept my eyes closed the entire ride and was shaking at the end of it. Pathetic. For Corban's sake though, I had to go on. The spinning rides that stay close to the ground are fine for me, but I just clenched my teeth and survived the others. Corban kept saying, "Oh Mom, come on!" Later, we switched kids and I got to recuperate while watching the girls on kiddie rides. Rho went on several rides with Corban then and returned pretty sick. I had to brave a few last rides with Corban before we called it a day. We stood in line for a ride that I really didn't want to do and listened to a Fleetwood Mac song where the final lyrics say "Fallin' Fallin' Fallin'" over and over again. They should screen those songs! I wanted Corban to ride it without me, but he begged, and I gave in. I shut my eyes tight and tried to relax while Corban chatted at me the entire ride!?! HE apparently keeps his eyes open and wanted me to know when we were facing the sky or the ground.

Kaela clings to Rho on the terrifying Ferris Wheel ride.


Corban, Karis and Kristen enjoy the sights from up high on the Wheel.


Karis and Kaela were brave enough to do the kiddie roller coaster, which really jerked them around. Karis liked to act like it was all baby stuff, though we could see the fear in her eyes. SO funny!


Corban poses in front of a wall of water created by a ride he just got off of.


The kids are completely soaked after riding Disaster Canyon. Kaela says, "I don't wanna do any more water rides."

This past Saturday we had planned on going to Elitch's (an amusement park) in Denver. Corban had earned a free pass with the summer reading program. Unfortunately, just before we were about to leave, Corban told us that he really wasn't feeling well enough to go. He had been struggling with a very drippy nose for a couple of days and just wasn't feeling that great. So, with Elitch's cancelled, we had to come up with a plan B. We already had our lunch made and everyone was sunscreened! So we headed towards Boulder, but ended up at a nice playground just over in Lafayette. The kids enjoyed some interesting equipment that we've never seen before and then we ate lunch by the lake. Corban was pretty wiped out and really wanted to go home, so after a couple of errands, we came home and he headed straight for the couch where he took a big nap. He pretty much stayed there the rest of the day and barely made it upstairs for bedtime before he threw up. Rho stayed home with him on Sunday morning, though he was really feeling much better.