Kassidy's 4th Birthday

Oh Kassidy... It's so strange to think that she's 4 now when she still acts so much younger than her sisters did at the same age.  However, once in a while we see a glimpse of an older Kassidy who can be helpful.  Regardless, she is so fun and loving and creative.  She tells the most outrageous and creative stories, and we can't even wrap our minds around how much she has grown emotionally and socially in the last 6-8 months.  Here was our big girl on her birthday.

 Oh the mischief in that face... So very Kassidy.  I was asking her if she was excited to be 4 while she ate a Reese's Peanut Butter cup she got from the Bishopric the day before at church.  She was excited for a few minutes, and at other times she has cried and complained that it isn't her birthday.  So... pretty typical Kass.

We had her birthday party on Saturday, May 5th.  Kassidy has been into bugs and butterflies lately, so we got her some live caterpillars that will become butterflies and they arrived this last week.  She calls them "Slimey" (from Sesame Street).  Kassidy also loves the pigeon from the book Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!  So, that's what we decided to make for her cake.

Honestly, that pigeon constantly tries to finagle its way into doing things it isn't supposed to and is both rational and crazy at times, so it's a pretty dang good fit for our ginger.  Kassidy wanted pink cake, but vanilla flavored, and chocolate filling, so that's what we did.  I have to say, chocolate ganache is easy and dangerously delicious!

 For Kassidy's birthday we ended up watching The Greatest Showman on the movie screen - she loves the songs.  Then we ate tacos and fajitas for dinner.  Whenever we asked Kassidy what she wanted for dinner she just kept naming another books she likes - Dragons Love Tacos - and eventually she said she actually would want tacos for dinner.  We also had watermelon, which Gavin enjoyed, though I'm not sure I'll ever save that shirt....

Then came presents.  Kassidy can tear through a gift with the best of them.  She opened this dinosaur mountain from Aunt Julie first and was so excited when she saw it, shouting "Chocolate Chippy!"

You can tell the dinosaurs were a big hit.  She was handing them out to people telling us what dinosaurs we wanted, all the while holding on to at least one while she continued to open gifts.

Gavin gleefully snatched dinosaurs and ran too.  He fits the typical little brother stereotypes.

After gifts we did cake and ice cream quick.  Kassidy loved her pigeon cake.  I had her hair in cute french brain pigtails and then she tore one out right before her party started - of course.

Sunday morning Kassidy came out of her room fully dressed before we even knew she was awake in one of her new shirts and spent the rest of the day when she wasn't in church being a butterfly with her new wings and pulling her helium balloons around the house.  I'd say she had a pretty good birthday.

Happy fourth to our wild child!

Mg's First Lost Tooth

Mckayla has had a loose tooth for MONTHS!  But the tooth was barely loose.  Lately it started to actually move some, and then this last Tuesday we noticed that she suddenly had a shark tooth coming up behind it!  Just like Ellie's first tooth...  I wiggled it every day a few times as she whimpered

and whined at me, and we ended up making an appointment to get it pulled by the dentist so the adult tooth could come up into its proper place.  We figured it probably had too much root to pull, but it was fairly loose, so I kept trying.  Thursday night at bedtime I realized the shark tooth was now securing the baby tooth in place more, tightening things up instead of the tooth getting looser.  Mckayla didn't react to my pushing on the tooth that night, so I pushed hard to one side and then to the other only to hear a distinct tear sound as the tooth loosened and came forward quite a bit.  At that point she started to bleed - and cry, but we knew we needed to get the tooth out once it was that loose.  After a few tries it came out!  At which point I felt like a bully since half of the tooth was still root and it was probably in there pretty securely. 

But, it was out!  She had a bit of a hole left, but of course the adult tooth is already coming forward and she just looks like any other kid with a gap now.  That's so strange to me though, where she isn't even in school yet and that gap is such a big kid look to me...

Now, just a few days later, I'm not even going to bother canceling her dentist appointment.  The other bottom, front tooth right next to it is coming through behind the baby tooth too!  This tooth is barely loose, and now having teeth all around it on three sides, I have little hope of getting it out before the 21st. (The dentist was booked a few weeks out for non-emergencies.)  We'll keep on it, but one way or another, in the next couple of weeks MG will have no bottom front teeth.

She also has one of her top front teeth loose, and is getting two molars on the bottom.  Once our kids start getting teeth, they don't stop for a while.  The Tooth Fairy is going to know our house well in the coming weeks and months...

Halloween 2017

I was really sick up until just a few days before Halloween, so we ended up buying random costumes the kids liked just 4 days before Halloween.

Ellie was a tiger.

Mckayla was "an Egyptian Queen."  She was so excited about wearing make-up, and loved her "wings."  (Also, hearing Kassidy say "a-dyp-shin" always sounds bad... but funny.)

Kassidy was a pink leopard - the perfect costume for her.

Gavin was the only one who didn't get a new costume.  Each of our kids has worn this blue monster costume on their second Halloween, so he continued the tradition.

And all the kids together.  The second picture is to show a perfect example of taking pictures of our kids right now...  With Kassidy - the blur.

After Ellie got home from school on Tuesday we got all the kids together quickly and then grabbed a treat and a book at the local library.  We then went trick-or-treating at our local hospital in the assisted living wing.  Then we headed to our ward trunk-or-treat.  The kids had a blast and enjoyed chili and hot dogs once they had collected their candy.  It was getting pretty cold by that point.

Lastly, we visited a family friend and then saw Grandma and Grandpa Bennett before bringing the kids home for a snack and hot chocolate and then getting them to bed.

Oh, and that night this is How Kassidy put on her pajamas.

The next morning I heard her bedroom door open and she literally ran out.  A few minutes later she showed up looking very similar to this picture.  And weeks later, she is still completely in love with her leopard costume.  We are finally getting to the point where she isn't have melt downs when we don't let her wear it or she has to take it off to go somewhere.  Oh Kassidy...

We didn't end up doing any real trick-or-treating this year, but we still ran plenty and the kids made out like bandits and had a great night.  We had a great Halloween!

MG's Birthday

Mckayla wanted to have a family birthday party, but none of the cousins were with our side of the family around MG's birthday, so her party got pushed back till November.  She was really good about waiting and being patient.  We had planned to do treats and a couple of gifts right around her birthday, but then I was really sick for several days before her birthday and a few days after.  

We finally got ice cream a few days after her birthday and then let Mckayla open a couple of gifts later that week when I didn't have work.  She was so excited to open a few gifts.  We gave her a couple of small gifts from us and her gift from Grandma and Papa Rose and Aunt Julie.

Then, on November 4th we had Mckayla's family birthday party.  Mckayla wanted a DJ Suki cake from Trolls.  I thought it turned out really cute!

 Mckayla wanted to watch The Lego Movie, so when family arrived all the kids watched the movie down in the movie room while the adults chatted.  MG had chosen hot dogs and hamburgers as her birthday menu, so Steve made deer and/or beef burgers and hot dogs for everyone.  After dinner Mckayla was so excited to finally get to open her gifts!

 This girl seriously gives the BEST reactions to gifts.  The best part of the whole party was watching and listening to her react as she opened her presents.

 After gifts was cake time.  Mckayla loved her Trolls cake, which made getting in the zone and accidentally staying up till 2 AM working on her cake the night before totally worth it.

 We had so much fun with almost the entire side of the Bennett Family at her birthday celebrating this big girl.  Mckayla is so much fun.  She is continuing to progress in her reading and loves doing math on Khan Acadamy online.  She is goofy and mischievous but also so very caring.  She LOVES preschool this year and can't wait for school next year.  She is very creative and so quick witted it is scary.  She can tell the most amazing stories because of her amazing imagination and quick wit.  We sure love our spunky 5 year old!

Family Pictures

On October 6th we went to Green Canyon with a local photographer out of Logan and had updated family pictures taken.  Getting pictures of the kids individually, together, just Steve and I, and our whole family each year has become so important to me.  Yes, it always stresses me out, and Steve kind of hates it, but this process also gives me some of my favorite pictures to look back on over time.

Our photographer wanted us to meet her there about 5:00, which meant leaving our house by about 4:15 - which is still nap time.  So, Kassidy was.... uncooperative.  She was Kassidy.  However, we still got some cute pictures of her fun little mischievous personality.  So, here are some of the best photos we got.

Ellie:

Mckayla:

Kassidy:

Lots of pictures trying to get decent ones of Kassidy - of course...

Gavin:

Kids:

Steve and I:

Our family: