A princess in training

KYLIE



So the next spotlight in our family is Kylie who is 3 years old. When you think of Kylie you have to think that she is 100% all girl. She would wear a dress or a skirt every single day if I let her. She wants to wear a dress so it will twirl when she dances. She is very proper and always holds her manuerisms so prim and proper if you watch her when she doesn't know you are wathching. She is into everything girlie...teacups, barbie, princesses, everything pink, dressup, babydolls...but at the same time can hold her own with the boys...she knows the Pokemon song and can name everything Spongebob and Avatar. I guess that's what having two older brothers are for. She knows how to get her way too. She hates going outside because she is scared of bugs. She loves to read books and loves to watch Barbie movies. She refers to her brothers as "my boys." I am glad to have my girl in my life and don't know what I would do with my little bundle of pink who is definitely the little spitfire in our family.

Here are the answers to the questions Kylie gave when I asked her (which I'm sure some of them would be different answers if I asked them to her today but a lot of them would not).

Favorite food: Hot dog, sandwich, cereal
Favorite dessert: Ice cream
Favorite color: Pink
Favorite TV shows: Dora, Diego, Bubble Guppies, Oomie Zoomie
Favorite movies: Harry Potter, Barbie Rapunzel, Barbie Diamond Castle, Barbie Fairytopia, Barbie Fashion Fairytale
Favorite music: Kris Allen, Keep Bleeding Love (Leona Lewis), the Barbie Diamond Castle song
Favorite Books: Dora books, Chica Chica Boom Boom, Backyardigans
Favorite vacation: Fishing
Vacation you want to go on: Disneyland
Favorite thing to do: Playing, dancing, play with barbies, play hide and seek with my boys
Favorite sports: Basketball, football
Things I don't like: Bugs or bees (just like butterflies), getting hurt, kicking stuff (just like kicking balls)
Things I love: Go outside and play (whatever we have to drag her), watching TV, flapping like a bird and a butterfly (what kind of answer is that?)
Favorite animal: Kitty cat, birds and butterfly (she is obsessed with butterflies lately)
Friends: Grandma, grandpa, Keatyn, Brenna, Abby, Maddie, Olivia, Logan, Addy, Jackson, Ian, Miranda, Shaylee

Garrett the River Bandit

My next spotlight of our family is my oldest son Garrett. He is 8 years old but is only 2 months away from being 9. How time does fly. Garrett is my sports kid. If it's a sport he wants to play it. Right now he is playing on a baseball team called the River Bandits. He is having fun but is a little bummed because his birthday is so late in the year he had to play a year lower so most of his team are 2nd graders but he still has fun. He loves to play soccer and basketball too. He really gets into video games a lot. He could play for hours on end if I let him. He also goes in spurts on what he loves at the moment. He had a passion for Star Wars and then it changed to Mario, then to Sonic, then to Avatar the Airbender, then to Bakugan and now the latest is Pokemon....everything Pokemon. I just can't keep up with him and I can't buy Christmas early because likely his new thing will change and who knows what it will be next. Garrett has always done things early in his life. He talked extremely early. He was full blown talking at 12 months old. He was reading at 4 years old and walked at 9 months and has always been doing things extremely early in school and is a smart kid. He is definitely my smart reader though. He reads at an extremely high grade level for his age. Just wish I could get him to like it more :)

Well here are the answers Garrett gave me when I asked what his favorite things are:

Favorite foods: Noodles, hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza
Favorite desserts: Cookies, cake
Favorite color: Red
Favorite TV shows: Pokemon, Spongebob
Favorite movies: Narnia Voyage of the Dawn Treador, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter
Favorite Books: Percy Jackson, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Pokemon Hand Book
Favorite Vacation: Disneyland
Vacation you want to go on: Nickelodean cruise
Favorite things to do: Play with my friends, video games, play with my family
Favorite sport: Basketball
Things I don't like: Getting hurt
Things I love: My family
Favorite animals: Bear, tiger, lion
Friends: Cale, Brooks, Efron, Chris, Kasen, Kyler, Nathan, Morris, John, Ethan, Jayden, Mason, Carter, James, Ryan, Preston, Adam, Harrison.

Everybody needs a Connor

CONNOR

The second spotlight in our family is my middle child Connor who is 6 years old. This first picture of Connor sums up his personality to a tee. I have very few pictures of Connor where he is not pulling some sort of face like this. In fact yesterday we went to a street carnival at the library here in Fillmore and a guy was drawing faces of the kids for free. He was doing this straight for 4+ hours, doing hundreds of kids. We went over and he did Kylie and Garrett and then did Connor and Connor stuck out his tongue for his picture and the guy laughed and drew his picture that way and said that was the first time a kid had ever done that for him. Of course Connor would be the first kid to not sit and smile for his picture but stick out his tongue. Connor is a very unique kid. One minute you want to strangle him because he will reason you to death and one minute he is the most loving enjoyable cooky kid you have ever met. My mother in law once told me that everybody needs a Connor and I totally believe that. How would we get by in life without him and his way of life. He has the best memory of anybody I have ever met. He is also a math genius for his age (which is something he definitely did not get from me). Well here are the answers he gave me when I asked him for his favorite things:

Favorite foods: Taco soup, pizza, tortillas, chicken enchiladas, tomato soup, hamburgers
Favorite desserts: Cookies, cake.
Favorite color: Red, blue.
Favorite TV shows: Spongebob, pokemon, Icarly, Sonic X, Tuff puppy.
Favorite movies: Winnie the Pooh, Harry Potter, Spongebob Squarepants movie.
Favorite music: Dynomite.
Favorite books: All of them.
Favorite vacations: Yellowstone, disneyland.
Vacation you want to go on: Nikelodean cruise.
Favorite thing to do: Play with my family, play Wizards 101 on the computer.
Favorite sports: Karate, soccer.
Things I don't like: Spiders and getting hurt.
Things I love: My family.
Favorite animals: Shark, blue wale, lion, tiger, cheetah.
Friends: Will, Danny, Cooper, Spencer, Ty, Forrest, Cody, Jesse and Brandt.

Thirty, flirty and thriving

I've decided to kind of do a spotlight on each member of our family and why not start with me because well..it is my 30th birthday today. Yikes-the big 3-0. I asked Connor yesterday if 30 was old and he said "yes...but mom's are supposed to be old." I guess when I was 6 I thought my mom was old too. I don't think that any more.

So a few things about me....

Favorite food: Lasagna, pizza, rolls, soups.
Favorite dessert: Chocolate cake, doughnuts.
Favorite color: Red.
Favorite TV shows: One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, American Idol, Grey's Anatomy and Glee.
Favorite Movies: Harry Potter (all of them), Pride and Prejudice, Mamma Mia, Phantom of the Opera, The Holiday.
Favorite Music: Kris Allen, Paramore, SecondHand Serenade, Plain White Ts, Kelly Clarkson.
Favorite Books: Harry Potter, The Mortal Instruments, Twilight, Hunger Games, Percy Jackson and Fablehaven.
Favorite places I've traveled: Rio de Janeiro, Maui, Yellowstone, Disneyland.
Places I want to travel: Alaska cruise, Disneyworld, well..anywhere really.
Favorite past-time: Reading, watching movies, camping, 4-wheeling, spending time with my family, traveling.
Favorite sport: Basketball.
Things I don't like: Spiders, Pain (I have fibromyalgia so basically have pain every day of my life), kids being hurt, allergies, ironing.
Things I love: Sleeping in, roller coasters, making lists, playing board games, my family!!!!

I can't believe how fast 30 years has gone by. I have been married for 10 years now. It will be interesting to look back in 10 years from now to see how much has changed from this list. Hopefully the list of places I've traveled has gotten bigger!!! Hopefully my 30s truly will be a fun age to go through. No more diapers so that already is a fun start (way to be positive right?)