My, how time flies
Birthday season has arrived in the Sinkler household again. Because money is tight and time together is scarce, we decided to do a small combined birthday party on Sunday at Jarid’s parents’ house.
I think my children have been talking about their birthdays for six months. No lie. ”We’re gonna have birthday presents and candles and birthday cake!” (Said only as my sweet little Kaiya can say it.)
Miraculously, we were able to get them both to take naps (we really struggle with sleep when Benjamin is “off”) so we could decorate. Nothing fancy, just a few balloons and streamers. Of course, I had to wrap presents and finish the cake, too.
As expected, when they woke up and were ushered into the dining room, their eyes were huge with excitement. Kaiya had a perma-grin and Ben zeroed in on a big present.
I apologize for the picture quality. Apparently the red-eye reduction was off and some of the pictures are super bright. But, pictures nonetheless!
-
- Post-nap, pre-party.
-
- He’s 5!!!
-
- She’s 3!!!
-
- I don’t think they want cake…
-
- Blowing out candles.
-
- That’s how we do it here: all in one bite!
-
- This is probably the only picture you’ll get of me.
-
- Caught Grandma Mary coveting Benjamin’s cake!!
-
- Now she’s coveting Kaiya’s!!!
-
- The first presents.
-
- A girl’s gotta have her Tonka trucks.
-
- Checking out the coloring books.
-
- He’s so handsome.
-
- What a punk! Now I know where Jarid gets it!!!!
-
- Lovin’ the new backpack, the one that’s almost as big as she is.
-
- Seriously, she loves it.
-
- Whose toy is it?
-
- I think she’s going to sleep with her backpack tonight.
-
- Putting puzzles together with Auntie Tara.
-
- Um……
My Little Liberal
Fox News has been all day (literally!) as we’ve watched the coverage on Hurricane Ike. Of course, they have sprinkled some political discussion throughout the coverage.
But imagine my surprise when Kaiya looked up, and said with a giggle, “Are you a Mirock O Mama?”
I guess we need to work on teaching her that we like Red.
Fishies
Jarid bought an underwater camera so we could show off our little fishies. Benjamin, in particular, is amazing in the water. Since the middle of May, his swimming abilities have left us speechless. Gone is the little boy who timidly entered the water, holding his nose when he went under. Gone.
Instead, I stand at the other end of the pool and watch as Michael Phelps Benjamin easily swims to me, dives under to retrieve his diving rings, all with the ease of an experienced swimmer. No lessons, either! It is no coincidence that we started the diet at the beginning of May. Trust me.
Of course, Kaiya is awesome, too. 
Oh, Kaiya.
It’s been a rough evening. Neither child wants to settle down. I’ve made a few trips upstairs for some well-deserved discipline. Mostly for a certain little girl. After one such trip, I had just gotten comfortable on the couch so I could continue listening to this on my ipod, when I heard a massive thump, followed by wailing. So I drag myself upstairs again and find Kaiya laying in bed, under the covers, just slightly disheveled.
Me (as sternly as possible): What happened?
Kaiya (between sobs): The wall hit me!!!
Me (holding back laughter and trying unsuccessfully to conceal a smile): The wall hit you?
Kaiya (holding her arms out for a hug): Mmmm hmmmmm!
Oh, Kaiya.
Progress, Basketball, and Sweat
So, we’ve been doing the gluten/casein free thing for about 5-6 weeks now. I think? I really don’t think I can put into words how much of a difference it has made for all of us. Though Jarid, Kaiya, and myself aren’t strictly gfcf, I cook all of our meals that way because it’s too exhausting to even think about cooking two separate dishes for each meal. Anyway, for Benjamin, he has so much more clarity of mind, he’s much more confident, he is able to make fewer rash decisions, his behavior has improved immensely, and his comprehension level has shot through the roof. Suddenly, I have a child who can write his name with almost no help. He even tried to write the word tornado the other day. I have a child who went from not wanting to jump into the pool when daddy is right there, to a child who will run and do a cannon ball without his ”floatie”!?!?! Without having seen the “before”, you can’t even begin to understand what a huge success this is! Remember, when someone has a gluten/casein intolerance, ingesting those foods is like being on drugs. There are days where it’s almost like you can literally see the fog clear. It brings tears to my eyes.
Not only has Benjamin improved, but I can tell you with certainty, that Kaiya’s behavior has improved as a result. Not because of the gluten/casein, but because of Benjamin’s improvement. All of that leads to a less stressed mommy.
And, I continue to feel better as I make this change in my life. (I’m still waiting for the clarity of mind, though!) If I cheat and have some cheese or a piece of bread, etc…, I will pay for it the next day. My stomach turns very sour and I get really bad heartburn. REALLY bad. I won’t push the topic, but if you have some sort of ailment that has hounded you for a while, you might try going gluten free. Just try it. It won’t hurt.
So, we are almost half way through the summer basketball season. What that really means is we are half way through the tryouts. Aka: job interviews. Right now, Jarid is attending a camp where he is vying for a job opening in the JUCO (junior college) league. This is a really important stepping stone. All of the camps are important, because this is where he’ll get exposure. NCAA and NBA officials will be watching. Assignors for Division I conferences will be watching.
I was able to go watch one of his games yesterday and it was so much fun to see how he has improved just since the season ended in March. His physical stature has changed since the beginning of the season (he’s put on almost 30 pounds of muscle!!!!), but the biggest change is his confidence. I have no doubt that he will do extremely well this year….there shouldn’t be any problem getting a few JUCO games. And who knows what else may come his way.
And finally, it’s hot. I went running this morning at 5:50 and it was already hot enough that I was sweating just from the heat, not the exercise! It is actually kind of annoying that I couldn’t gauge the intensity of my workout from how hard I was sweating. I would guess that it was already 75-80 degrees out. I think I heard that it is supposed to reach 110 today.
Blech.
But praise the Lord for progress and basketball, yeah?
Tidbits from Kaiya
I haven’t written much about my sweet little girl since switching over to this site, so this is long overdue. It’s not much, but things she says……..wow.
Tonight, we had already eaten dinner and were having a small bite of (gluten/casein free!) yummy brownies, when Kaiya decided it was her turn to pray. She dutifully bowed her head and folded her hands, insisting that Benjamin do the same. She started mumbling something and when I told her I couldn’t hear her, she said,
“Oh, I’m just telling God not to stink.”
What?!?! And then I remembered that they had just watched Stanley the Stinkbug (Hermie and Friends). But still……I wasn’t aware that God stinks. Imagine how stinky we are to Him, though, eh?
And then tonight. She insisted on reading to me while I combed her hair. She wanted to read Dr. Seuss’ One Fish, Two Fish. So she sat on my lap, with the book upside down, reading from back to front.
“One day, the three little pigs left home to see the world.”
Wait. What?!?! Oh right. They also love The Storybook Factory by Leapfrog.
Do my kids watch too much television?? 
And then there was this morning, when she found one of my Christmas socks. You know, the kind with the little bells on top, red and white striped with green toes? Yeah. She wore that one sock around all day.
My precious little girl.
First Camping Trip of ‘08
Jarid and I actually had a day and a half off together, so we decided to take the kiddos camping. We went last year, in July, and had a pretty good time. This trip is our second time with the kids. Last time, there were fire restrictions. This time, we made it before the restrictions kicked in (today!).
We left Sunday morning, with the intent of finding a church in Payson. As you can imagine, nothing went according to plan and we ended up starting the trip with breakfast at IHOP (yeesh). The kids LOVED the boysenberry syrup…go figure…if you can actually call it syrup! My deepest apologies to those who love IHOP. Nonetheless, it was fun. Especially with “Big John” as our server. Ben and Kaiya loved calling him Big John. Yikes.
Off to Payson, where the next stop was Wal*Mart. Probably not the best idea on a Sunday, in a little mountain community….I think the entire town was there. Plus tourists. I think that, what should have been a 20 minute trip, took 90 minutes. I’m sure 80 of those minutes were spent in the checkout line. You know how Wal*Mart has 20 lanes, but only 2 open? Yeah. Like that.
Poorer and more frazzled, we crammed our stuff into the Honda and headed for Tonto Creek. Found the campground, then drove to the fish hatchery a few miles up the road. The kids loved seeing the big fish. So did Ben and Kaiya!
After feeding the fish, we headed back to set up our tents. Yep, plural. Tents. This is a big step for a girl who was terrified of camping growing up. Click here to find out why. (It starts in the second paragraph, and should be noted that this happened about 30 miles from where I grew up. It should also be noted that, if I am correct, my dad dated Sandra way back in the day….sorry, dad, if I’m not right.)
Anyway, the tents.
The kiddos got pretty dirty while we set up the tents, so we walked down to Tonto Creek to play around a bit. Ben had a blast throwing rocks in and Kaiya, well, she went for a swim! Nothing too crazy, but she and Daddy had LOTS of fun!
After that, it was dinner time. We roasted hot dogs and chicken/apple brat thingies. And marshmallows. I’ve been informed that you CANNOT go camping without marshmallows. Kiddos got dirty again.
Then it was time for bed. Cute, cute
Once they were asleep, it was finally time for dad and mom to relax. It was so nice for Jarid and I to just sit and talk. And look up at the stars. And miss Colorado. And miss Montana.
Once we climbed into our tent, we realized that we had failed to properly prepare for this trip. It was cold during the night. Being the momma that I am, I got a little nervous in the middle of the night and decided to climb in with the kiddos to make sure they were warm enough. Apparently, Jarid got a little colder after I moved.
Needless to say, he was the first one up in the morning and got a nice roaring fire going for us. We had fruit and cereal for breakfast before packing up and heading home.
All in all, it was fun. We made a list of the things we’ll need to get for next time…and we’ll probably make a master list so we don’t forget anything.
I don’t think I ever would have imagined myself doing this. Guess I was wrong!
Easter Cuties
It’s no secret that I’m not very good about posting pictures…or sending them. So, I figured I should probably get some Easter pictures up sometime before Christmas….
These are probably some of the best pictures we’ve gotten of our kiddos. Enjoy!
