Miss Independant

Here's my little independant girl getting ready to head out the door for her first day of kindergarten this morning. Excited would be an understatement.















Do you think she was sad or nervous about anything? Hardly. While I waited with her before school started, she told me to leave about ten times and that she was fine there by herself. As I was turning to go, I glanced back to see two other little girls come and sit down by Kendle at her table and start talking to her. I stood outside the door for a moment and she looked up and caught my eye; I could see a twinkle there. Then she waved, and I was forgotten as she resumed her conversation. As I walked to the car I wasn't sad, but comforted knowing I did my job preparing her for this day. She has grown up so fast. All I want to hear when she comes home, is that she had a great day. And maybe, just maybe, that she missed me a tiny bit.

It's about that time!!!

They're almost here. They're getting close. They get your adrenaline pumping. For some they have already started. Do you know what I'm talking about? Fall sports of course!


Do any of you love volleyball? I know Nancie does. It's one of my favorite sports to watch and play, boy do I miss those days. But I get to re-live my glory days vicariously through my little sister who will be playing her last year of volleyball this year. There's nothing like watching a perfect pass, to a perfect set, to a monster kill. Where will I get my fix next year after she's graduated? I'm hoping to make it to almost everyone of her games this year.



Kendle starts soccer soon as well, this will be her first year of team play. My husband Riley will be coaching their little group and it should be interesting to say the least. Soccer is not my favorite, but after watching Riley's high school team play in the spring I have to say it's growing on me. Kendle is looking forward to meeting her teammates and scoring some goals. I'll probably be seeing a lot of you other soccer moms down at the field.



And let's not forget football. High school and college, not particularly professional football. There is something so exciting about being at a game and smelling the smells, hearing the cheers, and feeling the excitement all around you. I love to watch college football, particularly Oregon State, and I'm slowly morphing into a WSU fan as well. I know Kristen and her family will be traveling to Corvallis to watch the Beavers play this week, as well as my brother and sister-in-law (check out Debbie's post about the upcoming season) and I have to say I am more than a wee bit jealous. I come from a family of serious football fans, you better really love it where I come from.

I'm thinking about doing a little sports update post once a week, since that's what will be consuming my life for the next three months or so. Hey ladies, you never know. You could surprise your hubby with a wealth of sporting knowledge,....or not. Happy game-going/watching.

Year 4

This last year was a year of firsts for Kendle.

First year of pre-school and pre-school graduation-



















First year of dance and first dance recital-




















(That's Kim M.'s Ally next to Kendle)

First crush-(Sorry Dylan, you're just too cute)



















First year of swimming lessons where she could really swim-



















First real hair cut-
First pedicure with mom-

First time becoming a big sister-













First time riding a big girl bike-
First funeral- (My great-grandmother, as they wheeled the casket out and the family started to follow, Kendle was giving everyone the thumbs up sign. Why, I have no idea.)

First camping trip-(Kendle and Sydnee)














First puppy-(And probably the last)




















First princessy (is that a word?) Halloween costume-

Happy 5th Birthday Kendle. I can't wait to see what this year brings. I love you tons, don't ever change!

Year 3

When Kendle was three, she fell in love....with ....SpongeBob. He could be heard all through out the house, and she loved to say "SpongBob-isms" like when she'd drop something she'd say "oh barnacles", or "oh tarter sauce". She also started to get really attached to her stuffed animals, especially her bears. I made her a bear cake for her birthday.

We moved into our new house a couple of weeks after her third birthday and this is what she loved to do day in and day out until we put grass in.












She would get her farm boots on (rain boots) and spend all the live long day getting dirty and digging to her hearts content.
Then she helped with the sod.





















Kendle couldn't wait to go to school. Every day the bus would come and pick up the other kids on our street and she would stare longingly out the window asking when it would be her turn. We did "school" at home together and she kept me on my toes with her ambition of learning new things. She was already counting down the days until she could go to pre-school the following year. I was too.





She loved to play with her cousins and looked forward to their visits. She loved to go stay with her grandma and grandpa who loved to spoil her and give her lots of treats. My mom started making her "crabby patties", which were just peanut butter and jam sandwiches cut out with a big round cookie cutter.

















When she got to be a Sunbeam at church it was like she had won the lottery. She had amazing teachers who had such fun lessons prepared and she looked forward to her class every week. She thought she was pretty big stuff going in the big primary room. Her part in the primary program was to say "I can pay my tithing", but she has a hard time with the th sound and says a v sound instead. I worked with her and worked with her but she still said ti-ving, with an emphasis on the ving, in the program and it was so cute.

There were definitely some hard times in the 3's. Tantrums, yelling, slammed doors, time-outs. Kendle is just one stubborn little girl (I don't know where she gets that from) and we started to really butt heads, I would find myself arguing with a 3 year-old. But in my defense she usually could carry on a pretty good arguement. I finally had to resign to the fact that she is just one of those individuals who has to make their own way in this world and that's that. But at the same time I admired her iron will and hoped it would be an assett for her in the future.



(The many faces of Kendle)




We started a bed-time ritual of a story, prayers, tuck-in, she kisses my cheek, I kiss her cheek, and then as I'm walking out the door I'd blow her a kiss and she'd catch it and put it under her pillow so she would have good dreams. I'd look at her little face on her pillow and wonder how I of all people was sent such a wildflower of a little girl.
















Check back tomorrow for year 4

Kendle's Birthday Week Continued, Year 2

Two little legs running through the house. Two little teeth munching on a cookie. Two little eyes shining with excitement to wake me up in the morning. Two little hands that manage to get into anything and everything. Two little ears that begin to hear a scolding for no-no's. Don't you love 2 year-old's?




There is a quote that says "The quickest way for a parent to get a child's attention is to sit down and look comfortable" -Lane Olinhouse. When Kendle was 2, to say she was a busy body would have been an understatement. We called her the tornado. Not because she was messy or causing trouble, but because she just had so much energy ALL the time. Sleep was an afterthought, sometimes I'd get lucky and she would just pass out on the floor while she was playing.






This was a fun year though. We didn't experience the "terrible two's" (that came later on at 3 or 4). She was the happiest toddler around. She loved to sit on my lap and read books, learned what painting and drawing were (oh boy we were in trouble) and liked to watch the Wiggles and Dora the Explorer. She started becoming a pickier eater, but loved to help me make cookies and lick the bowl and spoon when we were done. Kendle soon was able to experience going out to the farm with her grandpa and riding along with him to check on things. She wanted to know how everything works and my dad was able to explain everything in a way that made it easy for her to come back and tell me exactly how things were. She has always been grandpa's girl, but that sealed the deal.







Our house in Burbank had a humongous backyard and she would run all over chasing butterflies and birds. Riley taught her from an early age that every time she saw geese to say "shoot the bird", since he goes goose hunting. We would kick a soccer ball around (Riley was positive that she would be a soccer player)and at this age she became aware of the dirt that was in the garden. While I would pull weeds and water, she would dig and dig. This is still her favorite past-time. She has never cared about being dirty and muddy for one minute. It's probably second nature to her at this point.





I was fearing the potty training stage of this age, but it went smoothly and she seemed to figure it out pretty easily and wanted to be a big girl. That experience taught me that if I just explained things well enough to her, she would understand what I wanted her to do and I'm totally not above bribery either.






I loved that her hair was finally growing longer and that I could fix it and curl it. I always swore that if I had a girl I would always have her hair done so cute. Well, that lasted a couple of years anyways, but she was very good about letting mom primp her and dress her in cute things. People would often tell her how cute she was, but I wanted to impress upon her that there are more important things in life. I'd ask her, "what's more important than being cute?" and she'd reply (as I had taught her) "being smart". She started to really be very social and outgoing and was happy to talk and visit with anyone who came along, (very opposite of me when I was little).












Kendle has always loved going to church and I began teaching her some of the Articles of Faith (she memorized the first three) and she would get excited when we would get the new Children's Friend in the mail. It was also just after her second birthday that we were sealed in the temple and she was so good and well behaved. I had been very worried about that, but she looked like a little angel and made me realize how thankful I was that she was part of our family. She had become such a good little buddy to me and we really enjoyed our time together. We have this little book called "My Shadow and I" and that was us to a T.




Stay tuned for tomorrows year 3

Kendle's Birthday Week

My daughter Kendle is turning 5 on Thursday, so I thought each day this week I would do a post about one year of her life. This first post is technically two posts in one.

Coming from a big family of mostly boys, I always wanted to have a little girl of my own. At our ultra-sound to find out what we were having, they told us they were about 80% sure it was a girl, but they couldn't be positive because her legs were crossed the entire time. And believe me, we tried to get her to move around, that was the longest my bladder has ever held a gallon of water. But typical to her nature, she didn't budge. We thought, well at least she's modest, not off to a bad start. The labor was long and painful, she took her time to say the least, but oh what a beautiful baby. 10 pounds of pure love.















Looking back I can see definite personality traits from the get go. Kendle was a happy, strong, go-getter of a baby. She figured out at a young age how to entertain people and has always had a good sense of humor. She's just one of those kids that really gets the funny things in life. She was in a walker by the time she was three or four months old and would zoom around, I would have to hop out of the way as she got older because she would come up behind me and get the back of my ankles. Ouch!

Our first year together was a tough one because Riley was working a lot and there were a lot of late nights. So me and Kendle were the dynamic duo and I took her everywhere. She went to her first sporting event at two weeks old, and has been my game buddy ever since. She started walking around 9 months and was running by 11 months. She has always loved the water and never cried ever, from getting a bath. Bath time was her personal favorite.

Her first birthday came in a hurry, I couldn't believe how fast the time went by. Kendle's first words beside the usual mama and dada were "what's that?". She would run around the house pointing at different things and yell "what's that", "what's that"! Curiosity had her wanting to know anything and everything. She loved when her daddy would lay on the floor with her and she could crawl all over him and wrestle. It wasn't hard for her to have Riley wrapped around her little finger.

It wasn't long before she was trying to sing along with me in the car. We liked to go on walks together around the neighborhood almost every day and she would wave and smile to everyone and make me stop if we saw a dog. That is another distinctive trait - that she has always loved animals, especially dogs. Even as a 1 year old, they never scared her. At 18 months when it was time for her to go to nursery at church (actually they let me bring her a couple of months early) she was delighted to go and play and for me to leave her. That was one of the most blatant times the independence dragon reared it's ugly head, and that was my first twinge of hurt that she didn't need me as much anymore.

What a fun girl she was growing into. She always had lots of smiles for her mom and dad. Stay tuned for tomorrow's year 2 post.

Cupcakes

I've had a few people ask me why I have a picture of a cupcake in my profile. I'm kind of becoming semi-obsessed with them at the moment, maybe it's because I'm trying to lose weight and they look more delectable than ever, or maybe it's how many different interesting kinds there are, I'm not sure which. Also, coincidentally that was my family nickname growing up. Anyways I have found some amazing pictures of them and they look like delicious edible art to me. Maybe there's a chance I'm going crazy, but take a gander at these delightful pictures anyways.

I totally agree with this last picture!!!!