Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Karaia is 10!

Karaia turned 10 Dec. 18th! She was so excited for this birthday and would spontaneously break out into giggles and crazy faces and body movements when her brain reminded her of the upcoming event.

We decided to have her friend party on Dec. 14th. She wanted a pajama party with manicure, pedicures, and facials. I thought that was a great idea. The one problem was I had a deadline for my designs. I worked on my designs all throughout the week and my plan was to plan and shop for the party the morning of the 14th. It would have worked out fine except I woke up with the flu and even blinking my eyes sent dangerous waves to my stomach.

I called my mom who graciously went shopping for gift bags and fun spa things to do. My friend Jo'elle came and grabbed the two younger boys so I could sleep. And Kevin took a half day off of work, picked up the boys and then started cleaning the house. I kept trying to get up and help, but it was no use. I was down. We talked about rescheduling it, but with the holidays looming we quickly realized it had to be that day or some day in January. My mom found the most perfect things for the party and put everything all together. I gave Kevin some last minute instruction and then crossed my fingers and toes...as slowly as possible...and said a thousand prayers and nine 9 and 10 year olds began to arrive for the party.

Kevin was amazing. I could hear the girls laughing. Karaia kept running in my room to show me the present she opened. I love that she was trying to include me. Such a sweetheart! After it was all said and done one of the little girls looked and Kevin and said, "This was a pretty good party, even if it was run by a boy!" Success!

Seriously. I married an amazing guy. He even showed them how to do mud masks!











Her actual birthday was on Tuesday. She got some new clothes and Lego Friends.









They are a big hit and I am reminded how much I love legos.  We also had our family party that night. We love that we live so close to family and that they are willing to add something else to their holiday season if they haven't got anything else that evening. It would be so easy to say no, this is our one night with nothing to do. Thank you! And thank you to everyone who was there in spirit or celebrated earlier with us!

Between her party and her birthday Karaia had a dance/choir recital. She sang a solo. I had tried to get her to practice before hand, but she struggled to get herself to sing in front of me. Finally I suggested getting in a dry shower with the door shut and I would just be in the room, but she wouldn't have to see me. Still struggling after that, I said, "Karaia, this might be a problem. How are you going to be able to sing in front of a lot of people if you can't sing in front of me?"

"Mom. I have this weird thing. I can't sing in front of my family, but I can sing in front of other people."

"Well, that's not fair! I helped make that voice. I should be able to hear it."

"I said I was weird, not awesome."

After that little exchange she managed to make a few noises that vaguely resembled her part. I thought, well, she'll do just fine. At least she's not scared.

 





At the performance, I was frazzled because Sanders did. not. want. to. sit. still. Holidays are hard for 3 year olds. There are a lot of places to be and a lot of people trying to entertain you while you be still. Then Karaia started singing. She was amazing! I had no idea she had such a voice! She wasn't nervous and her tone was pure and lovely. I was grateful she had that opportunity. It was such a treat that it was a surprise to me and I got to hear it for the first time along with everyone else. I learned my lesson. Weird is way better than awesome some times ;)



Karaia has been so fun this last year. We've started shifting the paradime of our relationship. While I will always be more her mother than her friend while she is growing up we've begun to have a lot more friend moments.

She has become so responsible as well. We have made her our go to babysitter for short outings. She takes it seriously and tries her best to learn from the challenges of the previous time.

She enjoys all of her brothers, but her and Sanders have a special bond. It's darling to watch.

She is an excellent friend and can't stand when one friend is mean to another. She just doesn't understand it. Which I am grateful for.

We are so happy she is a part of our family!

Thursday, December 6, 2012

A whole month, Elf-like, and Theievery

What the what? How can it have possibly been a whole month since the last post? Wow.

I have been keeping busy converting files over to the correct form in anticipation of strike offs later this month. This is so very exciting and very scary. I can't wait for the company's launch so I can really see where this path is going.

In other news, my mom is awesome! You know when you are SUPER busy with...life. Whether it's kids, work, kids, laundry, meals, being a good friend, fulfilling your calling, or whatever and you think to yourself, "If ONLY I had two of me to take care of the laundry and upkeep of the house!" Well, that is what my mom has been giving me.

I always apologize to her because I tend to get zoned into the design/work world trying to hurry and get things finished and then she makes a small noise and I realize there is another human being...in my home..with me (this happens when all the children are at school. Clearly, it would be impossible for such silence if they were home). But she LOVES it. She likes that I forget about her while she is being like this secret little elf making my life, so, so, SOOOOOO much easier.

The other thing is my mom is a super organizer. I did not get that gene. It's always so wonderful to walk into a space mom has worked her magic on!

Thank you, Mom. It has made all the difference this past week!

Also, Sunday night we accidentally left the garage door open all night long and someone robbed us. They took a GPS, car phone chargers, some pocket change, MY chap stick (I'm totally mad about that one), Kevin's business cards (Weird), a drill, something that goes with the drill, a handful of papers from one of the glove boxes, Keys to places other than our house, and a check book. The check book is the one that hurts. We've had to convert all our accounts and pay rolls and everything else about our life. ANNOYING!

Kevin thought he found our GPS on KSL classifies, but the guy sold it before we could check it out to see if it had the same serial number as our stolen one. Bummer!

The good news is they kept their thievery to the garage. They easily could have entered our home and I am just so very grateful they didn't!