Today she had to stay home from school, even though she didn’t want to. She watched some tv and played on the computer. She also read books to Paul for 63 minutes. She was so proud of herself. She stopped reading at one point to ask me how long it had been, I said it was 50 mintues. She thought about it and then decided she wanted to read for at least 60 minutes because that would be over an hour and she would impress herself and her teacher.

I am taking her into the doctor after the other kids are out of school. I suspect an ear infection or something to be the cause of the high fevers and pain.

*Update: She has strep throat. She will need to stay home tomorrow from school as well. Hoping nobody else gets it.

Just last week Kimberly put on makeup before school and somehow thought Bill and I wouldn’t notice. It is pretty hard to not notice blue eyeshadow on your 6 year old. I don’t mind them having makeup when they are at home and playing dress up but she was trying to sneak out of the house with it on. Isn’t she supposed to wait until she is a teenager to try this kind of stunt.

Over the weekend Annie got down her nail polish and got out water bottles. She proceeded to paint the water bottles with nail polish. At no point in their lives have they been able to #1 use nail polish without asking, #2 paint anything with any type of paint without permission. It was so disappointing to see her making these choices.

I know that they are going to make bad choices along the way. Bill and I both made plenty as we were growing up. It is the way one learns, but it is just so hard to see them going through it. What made it even more hard to take was the fact that when we questioned each one of them they knew it was wrong but they still did it.

Parenting is one tough job.

One of the biggest changes is that I actually get about an hour a day all by myself. I haven’t had that kind of time to myself in a long time. I have always had one kid awake while the other is napping. Right now I am just using the time to rest and just enjoy the quiet. I know in time I will use this time much more productively. For right now I just want to be lazy.

The older Girls are adjusting to their new schedule and demands. Yesterday was gymnastics night and it proved to be a very long day. It even included a meltdown from Annie which is pretty much unheard of. Annie and Kimberly love their new teacher and are excited about learning.

Madeline is adjusting to Kindergarten. She is EXHAUSTED when she comes home. She has had many tantrums and outbursts this week, which I think are due to her exhaustion. She even yelled at her Grammy yesterday, something she never does. It is a hard adjustment. She really enjoys her alone time and she now has to figure out how to spend 6 hours a day surrounded by people and stimulation. (You would have thought our busy house would do that, but she goes off on her own and ignores us a lot.) She is excited for her learning and can’t wait to read chapter books. I told her she won’t learn this in Kindergarten but she says she will and honestly she is probably right. Mimi loves to push the envelope.

We are all trying to find our new normal. Soon, very soon we will be back to “normal”.

Today as I dropped Annie and Kimberly off they rushed off onto the playground. I had to call them back to give me a hug and kiss. (*I had the camera with me and was tempted to pull it out to snap a picture of them running off, but I knew it was a moment I would not forget.)

Madeline ran off and played on the playground. When it was time to line up I had to remind her to give Paul and I a hug and kiss good-bye.

They are growing up. It is happening and I am not sure I am ready. I need them more than they need me. Hopefully the pitty party will be over soon and I can be more excited about them growing up again.

Madeline had her first day in Kindergarten.

We celebrated the day with First Day cakes.

It was a nice day. The kids all enjoyed their classes, except for the fact that Annie and Kimberly said recess was way to short.

The kids really took their time in the bath tonight making sure they would be clean enough for school. We reviewed their morning checklist. They laid out their sassy outfits to wear in the morning. I snuggled each one individually and we talked about their thoughts about the upcoming school year.

When I was talking to Annie she changed the subject and started telling me how to take care of Paul. She was telling me that he likes to play trains, and that I will have to help him make the track. She gave me many pointers on his care. I didn’t say anything to her but inside I was busting up laughing. Who does she think taught her how to play with him? Who took care of her when she was a baby? We certainly didn’t have a 6 year old around to tell me how to do it. How did I manage? I told her that I knew how to play with Paul and that he would be okay while she was off at school. It is always interesting to me how her anxiety is manifested.

We read The Kissing Hand and I drew hearts on their hands. This year they asked if they could draw a heart on my hand. Each girl drew a heart on my hand so that I would have their love while they were away.

Unfortunately we could not find our copy of Owl Babies to read. We had to go without this year.

Then I kissed them goodnight and I went off to make their First Day of School Celebration cakes. This is a new tradition for us. I am excited to see how the kids react to their individual cakes. It is clear that my cake decorating skills need quite a bit of work. Maybe by the time they are in college I will have it right. At least I have star candles to adorn them with and that should make up for the lack of pipping skills I have.

While waiting for the cakes to cook and cool Bill and I created their first day lunch.

They are all so excited. I know this is going to be a great year for them.

Since it is the end of summer and we needed to place the Girls in their next class the coaches did little evaluations on them.

Madeline was evaluated and they found out that she is very talented in the area of gymnastics. Not only that she is super flexible. She can do a full splits and a backbend kickover with ease. They wanted to place her in the Superstars class, which is by invitation only. I am glad she has found something that she excels at. I cannot wait to see how much more she matures this year.

Kimberly was evaluated and found that she can do enough stuff to warrant her being placed in the Level 2 class. She has really been concentrating at home on perfecting her handstand. She will work on it for at least a half hour daily. She can now do it easily. It is amazing to watch her become such a driven and determined girl.

Annie was evaluated and will be going into Level 1. It is obvious that her strength is the balance beam. She can hop along the high beam like a rabbit and never lose her balance. This is saying a lot because Annie tends to be less coordinated like her father. She loves doing gymnastics but doesn’t enjoy perfecting a move as much as the other girls do. It is fun and stimulating for her and honestly that is all Annie needs.

Paul will be going back into gymnastics at the end of the month. He is excited for the day that it is his turn to go. Everytime the Girls go to class he asks me if it is his turn.

So if you need me on Wednesday afternoons you can find me at the gym. I’ll be the one wearing the pink button.

Annie was at Grammy’s house spending the night and unfortunately the storm missed them. It has been typical monsoon weather ever since. I love the storms but cannot stand the humidity.

Swim lessons are going very well. The kids are all learning so much and gaining new skills. (This is very helpful since swim is one of the major things we do.)

What little down time I have been enjoying I have been working on some sewing projects. I actually have chunks of time to do things rather than during the school year when I just have snippets of time before I have to dash off to do something else.

Also, comments on the blog have been down and while I write the blog for myself it is still nice to hear from the people who are reading daily. I know that there is a chunk of people reading daily, but they don’t comment. It has been making me feel more self-conscious about having a public blog. Maybe I am just feeling like because there have been so many very raw posts on the blog lately, not sure. (Most likely the case.) Either way, I will continue to blog to preserve the memories of my family.

Kimberly is getting so much more into reading and really enjoying the Fun Day Fairiesbook. She loves the fantasy world that they create.

Annie is really enjoying Junie B. Jones books. She loves how spunky Junie is. The stories captivate her and make her laugh.

Madeline is becoming a very good reader as well. She can pick up any Bob book and read it with ease. She cannot wait until the day she can read a chapter book. She already tries often.

Life continues to go on as it always will. Today is three months since my life was changed forever. I am still trying to find peace. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss my Father, but I know that I must move forward. I know that he would expect me to.

We have started shopping for school supplies and gearing up for the new school year. Madeline is most excited to begin. She counts down the day each day.

I am going to continue to soak up the days, write when I can and focus on all the little things that make my life worth living. I am blessed beyond measure and busy beyond belief.

There is Annie, often off on her own but playing right by everyone. She wants to be the animal and goes in and out of the imaginary play that is going on. She wants the kids to respond to her from time to to but for the most part she is in her own world.

Then there is Kimberly. Her mouth is ALWAYS going, telling everyone what they should be doing. She is the director of the experience. She takes their interests and tells them what part they can play. The only time this goes awry is when Madeline tries to change the directors orders.

Madeline is Kimberly’s arch nemesis. She would love to be in control of the situation but to keep things harmonious there can only be one director. She is always there taking Kimberly’s orders, and interjecting her ideas when possible. She is in constant training for the day when Kimberly is not up to her duties.

Paul just follows along. He does what the girls want him to do. He will either come to hate controlling people or come to enjoy it. Currently he would much rather play with Kimberly or Mimi because they give him clear direction. With Annie he feels like he is not as involved.

It is interesting to watch this, to ponder who they may become or what all of this means. They are amazing kids.

We had the nut panel done on her. The good news is she is not allergic to other nuts. She is only allergic to peanuts. The bad news is that it is a more serious allergy than we had previously thought.

We had known she was allergic since she was 21 months old. In the time that has passed since then she has only been exposed to peanuts once. It was last summer when we made peanut butter bird feeders. She didn’t ingest any peanut butter but she got some on her skin and broke out in hives.

The allergist rated Kimberly’s allergy as severe. This diagnosis wasn’t surprising but it is serious. Peanuts are pretty easy to avoid since they have such a pungent smell. A smell that until now I loved. This is one of those diagnosis that are hard. If she ever gets peanuts it could be fatal. A passing moment could lead to a devastating result. Scary!

We will continue to be ever vigilant. Kimberly has always known about her allergy and is very conscientious about it. I have confidence that we have given her enough information to prevent a life altering accident. Besides she really doesn’t want to ever have to use her Epipen since it is a shot.

Once there Bill set up our camp area and we started playing. Grammy brought a bag of toys and taught the kids how to play horseshoes. They all had fun. They spent a lot of time in the umbrella/windbreaker until the sun started shining.

Bill had wanted to body board the first day but he forgot the boards, but he remembered them today. He went out and tried his hand at it. He isn’t as young as he thinks he is . . . that is all I am going to say. Poor thing is pretty bumped up. Of course that didn’t keep him from going back again and again.

While Bill was out in the ocean he found a dead fish. It was huge but I knew the kids would want to see it. Bill pushed it out of the ocean with the boogie board. The seagulls were sure glad he fished it out of the ocean for them to eat.

Madeline wanted to try the boogie board but she soon got tired of it. She didn’t like how unstable it was. I thought it best for her to get out of the ocean anyhow.

We watched Bill for a while and then went up to the shade/wind shield of our umbrella. Kimberly opened up a cake shop inside and made each of us some special cakes.

We went back to the house and got all cleaned up, took a nap and got dressed for pictures. We were meeting our friend, the amazingly talented, Cindy Minear and have our photos taken at Huntington Beach. They came out gorgeous. You can see a sneak peak here. If you are ever in Orange County I would highly recommend her for photographs.

After pictures we headed home and got some much needed rest. Mom and I played cards for a while and Bill joined in on the last couple hands before we called it a night. It was a good, but cold day. Hoping tomorrow will be warmer.

With all our gear in hand we headed out. The beach was so nice and quiet when we arrived. I am sure most people were still sleeping in on a Sunday morning, but since Paul had woken us up at 6:45 we were ready to have fun. We set up our spot, got lotion on, set up the umbrella, and the kids started running around playing.

It wasn’t long until we took all the kids in the ocean to have fun.

Annie and Madeline cannot get enough of the ocean, no matter how many times they get bombarded with waves, they still want more. Paul still is very afraid of it and doesn’t want anything to do with it. Kimberly likes it but only getting wet up to her thighs, otherwise she enjoys the sand and frolicking along the shoreline.

Madeline asked me to make her into a mermaid, so I did. She remembered it from the July Vacation to San Diego, three years ago. Grammy helped pack the dirt and shape the fin. After Mimi Kimberly wanted to be done too!

Annie and Bill dug a little pool and Paul made sandcastles and destroyed them. Everyone was having fun. Then we started digging for mole crabs. Grammy and I were helping the kids dig and catch them before they burrowed back into the sand. I cannot post the pics of us digging for them because Bill was the photographer and he only took a couple of shots and they are of my Mother and I in bad positions. The kids had a great time doing this and we found a couple that were quite large. The kids had a fun time playing with them the rest of the day.

After the beach we went back to the house for lunch and to get showers. The Navy base was allowing people to go on the boat so we walked down to check it out. Unfortunately, by the time we got there they were no longer allowing people to go in. When walking back to the beach house we passed some trees and the kids couldn’t help but climb them.

Bill and I had planned one surprise for the Girls on this trip. Today was the day we decided to do it. We loaded everyone up in the van and headed up to Beverly Hills to go to the American Girl Store. They were so excited when we got there. Unfortunately Kimberly and Annie did not pack their dolls, but we had Bitty baby and Baby Paul along for the adventure.

Each girl got to pick out a special outfit from the store. It took them forever to walk around and around choosing the perfect outfit for their dolls. Once they finally made their selections we paid and they each got their own bag to carry home.

It was a fun day and we all had a great time.

I told her to read the recipe to me so we could see if we had all the things we needed. (That and the fact that I was still washing dishes and needed to buy myself some time. ) She read it all and I told her we had all those things. She asked if this dish had gluten in it. I told her it did and she then told me how thankful she was that there was one more test for Paul. (Nothing makes you appreciate all you could lose more than trying to live without it.)

She got to work measuring out all the ingredients. She whisked the dry ingredients together and then mixed the wet ones in a separate bowl. I helped her mix the two together.

We got the sticky, gooey dough out onto the counter and pressed it down to 1/2 inch thick.

We cut the dough into squares with the pizza cutter. Since there was a fryer involved I did the entire next step of placing the dough in the fryer and flipping it. Once removed Kimberly dusted them with a healthy dose of powdered sugar.

She had such a great time making the dish. Madeline and Annie are now itching for their chance to create a dish. I can see I am going to have a lot of help in the kitchen these days. It was such a nice time with just Kimberly and I working side by side. She is growing and maturing. She is able to do so much more for herself. I love watching her grow.

It is not just the fact that we have to be gluten free now it is also the fact that we already were peanut free for Kimberly and corn free for Bill. Though peanuts and corn are pretty easy to keep separate from the other foods. The kids and I still enjoy corn products as long as they can be served on the side. Bill, Annie and I still enjoy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from time to time without any harm coming to Kimberly.

I am working hard to balance all of the six browns needs. I have created a new category on the blog for gluten free meals for the everyday cook. While researching recipes I have found so many that are really quite involved. I am a fairly decent cook but spending that much time on preparing a meal is not always something I can fit into my schedule. I am sure that there are plenty of other family cooks out there dealing with this same thing since 1 in 133 people in the US have celiac disease. Some, like the meal I posted today, have always been gluten free.

Paul’s experience with the waffles was not great. He only ate 1/3 of the waffle. Hopefully he will get more used to it. Only time will tell. Otherwise I will have to make gluten free waffles from scratch and freeze them and hope he will eat those. Certainly going to be some time before I feel like we really have a handle on all of this.

and look at them now! There is nothing these two little ladies can’t conquer.

We had a lovely year. They adored their teacher.

Only 3 hours until summer starts!

Here is what they came up with:

It is a collection container for Phoenix Children’s Hospital. They had great hopes of placing the container outside with a note saying to not pick up the container because it was money for the Children’s Hospital. Bill and I had to explain to them why this was not a good idea.

I think it was so gracious and sweet of them to think of the children at the hospital. Because of Madeline’s issues they know how hard it can be to have your sister at the hospital. I loved that they were thinking of others and that they wanted to make a difference. Of course they got Mom and Dad to donate and got all Grammy’s change when she stopped by. They are such beautiful children. I am so glad they are mine.

After the bears we went to the co-leaders home to give out the badges and incentives for selling cookies. We had a wonderful gathering.

This year we focused on learning the Girl Scout Law and doing crafts. I hope that next year we can do more field trips and get the girls more personally involved in the journey. Hopefully we can get together with some of the girls over the summer. They really were a pleasure to lead.