A Message for Papa

Halloween early!

Kenna got her Halloween costume today and she is soooo excited. I'm not sure if it will last until Halloween though because she won't take it off, and I have to refer to her as Elsa while she wears it. She got mad she had to take her braid out for her bath and made me promise I'd do anther braid tomorrow. 

She kept saying funny little things like this:

Kenna: My mom is dead.

Me: What? No I'm not! 

Kenna: And my dad too. They sunk on a ship.

Kenna: I have a sister and she always wants to make a snow man. 

Me: Then why don't you make a snowman with her?

Kenna: I don't want to, I have to stay in my room.

Kenna: Ask me why I always wear gloves.

Me: Why do you always wear gloves?

Kenna: Because I don't want to turn anyone into ice

She will probably be one of the 30 million little girls dressed as Elsa this Halloween but I don't even mind, it's worth it to see the look on her face.

Outtakes

We recently had our family photos taken and although it is torture for the boys in this family, I'm so glad I made them do it. Here are some of the outtakes that are sometimes just as fun to see as the good ones.

We had to try to get Kenna to tone down her smile just a bit.

Getting a perfectly posed pictures of 3 kids is pretty much impossible.

After taking photos of just Lars and I, we looked around and Levi was no where in sight. Luckily we found him nearby playing in the rocks.

And I just love this one.

Outdoor adventures

Since moving here to Ephrata we have had lots of adventures in hiking, fishing and exploring the area. We are really liking it so far. I do miss the shopping and restaurant options but I'm learning to be more outdoorsy and saving money in the process, right?!

Preston

Although this kid has been driving me insane since school got out, he's still a lot of fun to have around. He's always been a man with a plan, he's full of big ideas. I've started giving him $3/week for allowance and he's decided to save up for an Xbox and TV for in his room. He says if he buys it with his own money that means he can play it whenever he wants. When I try explaining we will still have rules and limits on TV/game time he ignores me. He says even if it takes 10 years he is determined to do it. I'm a little worried.

One day after he told me his idea for a new type of car that can also go in the water, he said "And I thought of it myself, I didn't even download it off the internet!"

It cracks me up that whenever he sees me putting on make-up he says "Mom! You don't have to get all fancy!"

He has also always been really interested in animals. We were at a gas station and I was cleaning some bird poop off the windshield and he said: "Birds are just like humans except they don't use toilets, they just poop in the air. And they have wings."

But he really does know a lot of random animal facts. He teaches me a lot about animals that I had no clue about. For example, here he is explaining to me what a Gila Monster is:

Kitty

One day while we were out on a walk, a cat started following us. Kenna was so excited, she started walking backwards saying "here kitty kitty" the whole way back to our house. It was still right outside our door the next morning, and the next. Apparently we now have a pet cat. 

I know someone is pretty excited about it, she insisted on this photo shoot.

Pumpkin Patch

Kenna is doing a preschool group where the moms rotate teaching and today we did a field trip to the pumpkin patch. Preston was at school but Levi came along and I think he had the most fun of anyone!

Kenna knew there would be a big slide there and has been talking about that for a few days. She wanted to go straight to the slide but since we went as a preschool group we had a tour guide and had to do things in a certain order.  

She pouted as I made her get on the tractor ride.

This is the best smile I could get out of her as she stared off longingly at that big slide.

She did enjoy the hay bail maze. 

Then it was time for the slide but when she got to the top she changed her mind. I helped her climb back down and she said she wanted to try again. We repeated that 4 times.

Then we moved on to the farm animals which were super cute.

They had the smallest baby pig I've ever seen and it was wearing a dress. Wish I'd gotten a picture of that. 

Everyone had fun looking at the animals. 

This guy had a blast everywhere.

Front steps

I was thinking my kids looked pretty darn cute today and decided to do an impromptu photo shoot. The problem when you have multiple kids is there is always at least one who doesn't want to cooperate. Can you guess who that was today?

If you guessed this crazy guy, you are the winner! 

Kenna was even willing to sit still and pose, which is rare.

I'm going to go with this one and call it good.

A few things about Kenna

She adores her older brother. Anything Preston likes is automatically cool. While she does love princesses and pink, she also has a tough side that loves dressing as a superhero and fighting bad guys.

She also adores her little brother. Sometimes a little too much. But one cute thing she likes to do with him is hold his arm up in the air and yell "I am the king!" Sometimes she adds on "king of the babies" or "king of poopy diapers"

She is very compassionate. I don't think she's gotten through a single Disney movie without crying. 

When Lars' sister was holding Levi, Kenna heard her say she was going to take him home with her and turned to me with tears in her eyes and said "Mom! She's going to take our baby!"

Lars' grandma passed away last week. While most kids I know are scared or uncomfortable around elderly people (Preston included), Kenna is not. We were able to visit her just a few days before she passed and I told the kids she was sick and not feeling well. Kenna stood right beside her and held her hand and rubbed her arm. Such a sweetheart. 

Most of all, Kenna is just a goofball. She keeps us laughing everyday. One day during nap time I went to check on her and couldn't find her. I noticed her bed was scooted out from the wall and found her asleep like this, sunglasses and all:

She has the most infectious laugh. You know how some stores that sell CD's have a display where you can listen to clips of the songs? Well they have one at JoAnns and one of the songs was funny to Kenna so whenever Preston pressed the button she would start cracking up and everyone in the store within earshot was watching her and laughing along with her.

She also loves to sing and make up her own songs, usually about how she loves her family. I love when I overhear them as she's playing in her room. So cute. 

She's at the age where she's determined to be a big kid and do things herself. At the park she was trying to climb up the rock wall and told herself "I think I can do it." Then her foot slipped and she said "But I cannot... But I can! I am strong!" And made it to the top.

When I was pregnant with Kenna, Lars wanted to name her Bear. For real. Obviously that didn't happen, but now she has the nickname kenna-bear. One day I was at Walgreens picking up a prescription for her and when I told them her name she said "Kenna Richins?? I am Kenna Bear!"

 She uses the words "super" and "definitely" all the time. Any sentence is 10 times cuter when you throw one of those in there, like when I grab the last paper towel off the roll and she tells me "we are definitely out of paper towels"

She always says just what she's thinking. Once she told me "When I get big, I hope I have a big butt like you mom."

She likes to talk about what she'll do when she's big, but I'm not sure she understands the concept because she also likes to talk about things she'll do when she "gets little".

I love having this little girl around.