Prayer-er in Training

I came up with this idea (although I'm sure it's not original) to help teach Kaylin the importance of praying for others. I made a list of all the kids in her class. Every night when it's time to say her bedtime prayer we pick a name off the list and pray for that kid. When we're done we put a check by that name. After we've prayed for all the kids (and the teacher) then we'll begin again. We've just started this exercise and I think she's into it. I know she doesn't fully understand what praying for them does but I know she will eventually. My hope it that praying for other people will become 2nd nature to her. It will just be something she's always done.

Alarm Clocks Make Me Tired

It may be sad to say - but I haven't used my alarm clock for several years. Instead, either the sunlight, my cats, my husband or my daughter have fulfilled that role for me. Sadly, my gradual awakenings are now a thing of the past. Now that Kaylin is in kindergarten I have to wake up at the crack of dawn. And in order for me to do that - I have to set my alarm. Every morning it goes off. Every morning it rudely interrupts my slumber. And every morning I'm tired. So I have concluded that my alarm clock makes me tired.

A Year of Success

A year ago I started a new prayer "program". I make a list of people I know (family, friends, and/or acquaintances) and I pray for them daily for 40 days. When the 40 days is over, I make a new list and start over. Earlier this month I discovered that I have successfully done this program for a year. This means something to me because I've tried many different ways over the years to get myself dedicated to prayer. This method works for me. I have found myself committed. I truly believe I'm making a difference in the people's lives I'm praying for. I know they are being blessed and it feels great being a part of God's blessings.

I'm Six!!

Monday was my birthday and it was a holiday. Mommy says it won't always be a holiday. Not sure I understand. Oh well. I'm six now. On Sunday I was still five and now I'm six. Cool, huh?

Mommy, Daddy and Grandma took me to the park. I love the park. I wanted to wear my white dress with the purple butterflies but Mommy wouldn't let me. She said I had to wear shorts. She said there was a reason and to trust her. We had a picnic. Yummy! Then I ran over to play on the swings because they are my favorite. When I went back to the table Mommy and Daddy surprised me with a new bike. My old was was broken. And now I have a new one. It's pink and blue with flowers on it and it's bigger than my old one.

It's pretty. I got to ride all around the park. I fell three times but that's okay. It was still fun. Thanks Mom and Dad for the bike.

Later we went over to Grandma and Granddad's house to have dinner. I wanted to know when we were going to open presents but Mommy said we'd have to wait until after we ate. Ughhh! I could hardly wait. I ate my food really fast. But not as fast as Granddad. He must have been more excited than me. After dinner we got to eat cake. Mommy made me a castle. She's the best. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me and then I blew out my candles. That's always fun!

The cake was yummy Mom. And it was pink. Thanks.

Finally it was time to OPEN PRESENTS! Here I go!

OH! Are you kidding me? I got a camera. WAY COOL! I love taking pictures. I'm so excited! Mommy and Daddy got me a picture book to put my pictures in and a whole bunch of fishy puzzles. I love fish. I love everything in the water - fish, dolphins, whales, starfish, seahorses, sharks. Well maybe not sharks. They scare me a little. Unless they're behind glass then they're okay. Thanks for my presents! I gotta go take some pictures now. Say CHEESE!

Let's Face It

I may not be the first to jump into something new but ultimately I do believe it's a good idea to try out a new skill (within reason - I mean I'm not going to jump out of an airplane). Well - as you know I have this precious little daughter. She turned six on Monday and I wanted to make her a special cake. Flashback to when she turned three. I attempted to make a butterfly cake for her before giving up and placing cupcakes in the shape of the number three. (Incredibly creative I know.) But as any good mom would do I decided to try again. After all it's been three years. I was sure I'd magically gained some cake decorating talent in the interim. I looked on the Internet and decided to attempt a castle cake. Seemed easy enough. I was going to do a two layered strawberry cake (because it's pink), frost it white and use pink frosting for the piping. The turrets would be ice cream cones dipped in white baking chocolate (aka almond bark) and topped with some marshmallows to finish off the effect. Ahhh! It was so simple in my mind. I had visions of a perfectly cute princess castle. And then I started.

UURRCH! (Crash noise.)

What happens when the cake does not cooperate? Yes...I blame the cake. First, I couldn't get the cake out of the pan. The bottom layer was somewhat mangled. That's okay...I'll just fill in the holes with frosting and other goop. Second layer on. Now we're going somewhere. Or maybe not. I cut out some corner notches so the turret cones could fit notched into the cake while resting on the bottom layer. More crumbling. Would frosting be my saving grace? It's a magic cover up isn't it? UURRCH!! Frosting became my nightmare. The cake crumbled at every move of my knife. I even chilled the cake like I read to do. Didn't help. To make matters worse my magic cover up was almost all gone. I still had over half a naked cake. OH....the PAIN. My poor little girl. What would she do when she saw IT? Scream in fear? Wouldn't you? It's time to face it....a cake decorator I'm not. I'm actually okay with that. I mean I feel bad for Kaylin but there are worse things in life than not having a shaped cake. So...how did I recover from this disaster? I went to the store and bought another cake mix. This time I left it in the pan. I put the turrets in the corners to give it some semblance of being a castle (which, by the way, she recognized right away), frosted the cake and added some sprinkles. TA-DA!!!!

It may not have been a thing of beauty but she loved the turrets and she loved the cake. Well - let's be honest she was really more interested in the presents anyway.

So - to make a long story even longer - I think I vindicated myself somewhat the next day. I took treats to Kaylin's kindergarten class. They were Rice Krispy treats cut into the shape of butterflies. Layered on top was some more of the white chocolate, licorice strings for the antennae, and more sprinkles to decorate the wings. Even though they looked a little messy they came out really cute. One little girl even told me that I was the "bestest decorator ever". Gotta love 5 year olds!!! And Kaylin thanked me over and over again for her butterflies.

I think the moral of the story, at least for me, is to stick with what I know....or....practice weeks in advance!!

Rainbow Dragons

My soccer player husband is so excited! Kaylin has reached the age where she can join him in his soccer dreams so we signed her up in the local soccer league. Her team is called the "Rainbow Dragons". Very cute. (Albeit - maybe more cute to the girls on the team than the boys.) She had her first practice Thursday night and yesterday we traveled to a nearby town for her first game. There are only five kids on her team so she gets a lot of play time which is nice. They play three on three with no goalie. Kaylin loves to run so this game is a good outlet for her. Here are some shots from yesterday's game.

Really can't beat the smile on her face!

This is Kaylin starting a play with a "kick off".

Ready - Set - Goal!

Daddy went to get Kaylin some shoes for the season. Cute huh!?

They even have pink cleats.

First Day of School - Kindergarten

This morning James and I took Kaylin to school for her first day of Kindergarten. Although she is used to going to pre-school this will be her first time in full-day school. She was excited to go. And true to form - I mostly retained my composure until I walked out the door--and then I got choked up. It will be a weird experience for me to have her gone for so many hours. I know the time apart will be good for us. We will both grow in many ways. But - I'm still sad those pre-kindergarten days are now gone. Here are some pictures we took this morning.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL CHECKLIST

1 - Pose for pictures

2 - Show you are prepared with backpack

3 - Pose for picture at school with teacher in background 4 - Drop off backpack

5 - Let go of Mommy (sniff sniff)

and 6 - HAVE A BLAST

WE LOVE YOU BABYCAKES!!