So IL Luau

Happy 8th Birthday to Kagney!

At Kagneys request, we had a luau at our house, sans roasted pig... The hula girls and boys played "Hot Pineapple", pin the coconut on the palm tree, limbo and a couple other games. In lieu of a birthday cake, we had volcano sundaes. It was a little crazy having all those 8 year olds in the house, but it was worth it to see them all have so much fun.

Kagney's "boyfriend", Ethan, has a little sister named Ava that is a couple of months older than Adam. They had a little ice cream social during the luau. Adorable....

First of many...

Leonard turns another year older March 8th and his birthday starts the domino effect of the many birthdays we celebrate in March. Next we have my Aunt on the 9th, Kagney and my mother-in-law on the 12th, Kagney's step-mom on the 14th, my father-in-law on the 16th, and a few more family and friends scattered throughout. With today being "spring forward" coupled with my husband's difficulty of "springing up," we weren't graced with his presence until noon. Since Adam is still under the weather and I'm not too far behind, we opted to stay home from church. While I agree that isn't the best decision, my sanity and well-being somewhat depended on it as Adam isn't always agreeable during church, even on his healthy days. Since technically it was still breakfast time, I performed my normal Sunday breakfast ritual, just a few hours late. In my flurry, I noticed it was unusually quiet and looked around to find Kagney and Adam having story time in the dining room. If you notice, Kagney is reading to Adam while he flips the pages of a Dean Koonce novel.

After "breakfast," Kagney noticed Leonard, affectionately called Jungle Jim, lying in the floor. This is usually the sign of a sore back. Kagney offered her services as the in-house massage therapist when half-way through, she remembered he was still in need of his birthday spankings! It took a while, but all 32 were given... I hated when my family would perform this ridiculous ritual as I was growing up and looked forward to the birthday when I was too old and mature for it. I believe my immunity has come to an end since Kagney has discovered her parents age, and she can count pretty high...

Not yet eight and full of insight

Friday was the first beautiful day of the year. Leonard and I were fortunate enough to leave work early and enjoy the afternoon with a long wagon ride, or wagon pull rather. Adam hasn't been feeling well, like the majority of Southern Illinoisans this time of year, but nothing perks him up more than playing outside. Being more of an "inside girl," I'm not certain how I ended up with three "outdoor people." Adam insisted on wearing his cowboy "hap" and then insisted on his sister wearing it, then back to him, then back to her. Since Adam has Kagney wrapped around his finger, she does this trade-off without any hesitation.

Once we returned, the kids made a bee-line for the swingset, then the frisbee, then the bouncy balls. Of course, the almost-two-Adam wanted everything his (almost) eight year-old big sister, Kagney had.

Later, I told Kagney I was proud of her for not letting the things Adam does bother her. She told me sometimes it does bother her but she doesn't say anything because he is little and doesn't know better. She also told me it was her job to be a patient big sister, even if he frustrates her sometimes. I tried to explain while I was proud of her for being so understanding, we needed to teach him respect and patience by sharing and learning to take turns. She turned to me and said, "mom, give him a break... he's just a baby."