Week in St Geezy

For seven years when I was a kid, my mom taught Safety Town, which is a two week program for 5-6 year olds that focuses on all types of safety. Obviously. I went when I was five (before my mom started teaching) and learning to STOP DROP AND ROLL saved my life a few months later. 

(For posterity, here is that story: My mom was hosting a dinner at our house and was using her oven to cook a main dish of some type. Let's pretend it was a turkey. I honestly have no idea. She was also using the oven at the neighbor's house to bake potatoes. The neighbor wasn't home. At the last minute, she got thinking that she probably needed a couple more potatoes and sent me up with two to "toss" in the oven. I went in, opened the oven, and recoiled, imagining that if I tossed the potatoes in, they would probably knock some of the other potatoes out. So I grabbed a towel that was hanging on the oven door and used it to slide the rack of potatoes out. I set the other two potatoes on, slid it back in, and closed the door. 

Little did I know that the towel had touched the heating element on the bottom of the oven and was burning. I also didn't know that the fringe on my cutoffs had caught fire as well.When I looked down and saw my leg glowing, I dropped the towel in the middle of the kitchen, booked it over to the family room and performed the STOP DROP AND ROLL. The fire was quickly extinguished from my leg, but the towel was still burning. And I was alone in the neighbor's house.

I ran to the phone and called my mom, telling her,"The towel's on fire!" I'll never forget looking out the back window and watching my mom sprint up the street to me. She quickly got the fire put out, and we then had to deal with the aftermath (replacing the linoleum that had burned and the healing of my left thigh. I still have a scar).

For years after, my mom (the new Safety Town teacher) had me come talk to the kids on Fire Safety Day to tell them about my experience. So you can imagine I have a soft spot in my heart for Safety Town).

I tried to find Safety Town here in Orem so Allie could attend last year, but there is not one. So when it came time to sign Kyla up, I decided it would be a great opportunity for her to spend some time with Grandma Karen in St. George and attend with her cousins.

We left Kyla after the family reunion and came back a week later, when Damon and Allie got out of school. The program lasts two weeks. Here are some of the fun things we did!

The "Girls Car" plus McKay. 

The "Boys Car" driven by Tara. No matter where we went, this is how the kids liked to travel. Boys together in one car, girls together in the other. 

One night we went to a dinner hosted by my parents' electric company at the convention center. In addition to a yummy dinner and ice cream bar, they also had a couple of bounce houses for the kids as well as face painting. 

Damon and the twins spent a lot of time working on their fort. Damon came up with a way to keep the place lit with some cans and flashlights. My mom thought it was genius. 

Here's a funny pic of McKay eating a corn dog. It was too hot, so he kept licking it and showing me that he couldn't eat it.

Here are the Safety Town graduates. I know they had a lot of fun and learned a lot. We just wish Kyla was better about wearing her seatbelt (something she does not like to do).

It was a fun week, and the kids were all sad to come back home. 

Family Reunion

The McKnight Family (my mom's fam) had a reunion over Memorial Day. It was a great time. See for yourself...

Fun carousel rides...

Kimmy and flowers

Big group pics

Four Wheeler fun

Marshmallows

 Splitting wood

Sister Wives with French braids (we were only miles from Colorado City. It was fitting)

Cute t-shirts and LOTS of food!!

Kyla

Kyla turned five on May 24th. And all she really wanted was a party EXACTLY like Allie had. But since Kyla's friends already experienced that makeover extravaganza, I talked her into something different. I did, however, make her a pink Skittles cake. There was no compromise with that request.

Sadly, I only took two pictures of the party. It was a little hectic without Jeff here. Kyla LOVES Barbies. And I don't think she was the least bit disappointed that she pretty much only got Barbies. 

I had a Groupon for Color Me Mine, a place where you go and paint ceramics and then they fire them for you. She invited three friends and Allie and after presents, games, cake and ice cream, I took the five girls there. When we got there, I quickly realized how expensive the party could turn. The girls all wanted to paint something that cost $15-20! I had to step in and find some cute, SMALLER things ($3 each) to suffice.

Four of the girls were cooperative and happily picked two small things to paint. Allie, on the other hand, was having none of it. She wanted to paint something big. And I can't say that I blamed her. But she started off pouting and huffing around the store. I ignored her and helped the other girls get their paints and get started. The pouting soon turned into crying, and escalated into hysterics. She was NOT going to be satisfied with the dumb baby stuff. She wanted something bigger and better. We finally (after much crying and fighting) decided on one $6 item that was acceptable to her. But don't think the battle ended there. Oh no.

Everything was going wrong. The water was too dirty. The paints were all ugly. The paintbrushes were not the right kind. She complained and cried and sobbed about everything and anything, drawing many a curious glance from the painters at other tables. It was completely ridiculous. I wanted to take her out to the car and let her sit in there while the other girls painted. But obviously I couldn't do that. And after another 20 minutes or so of crying, she finally got her cupcake painted.

We left Color Me Mine and walked back to the van. Allie was the last one in and the only seat left was Kyla's booster, with the back. No one wanted to sit there. But especially not Allie. Because nothing was going to satisfy her that day. So she refused to get in her seat, and just stood next to me, wailing. I was driving out of the parking lot (slowly) and hit my brakes. I wanted her to get startled and realize that being in a seatbelt was pretty dang important. I did not want her to go flying into the dashboard headfirst. But that's what happened.

Her nose started bleeding and she started screaming, "You broke my nose! I can't believe you did that!" The whole way home, we got to listen to her scream, "Take me to the hospital!" and other such phrases. The girls had their fingers in their ears, and at one point one of them said, "I wish Allie hadn't come, do you?" I know I sure did.

We got home and I was relieved to find that her nose was not broken. She calmed down to when we determined that she was fine, and I could finally reason with her. But not before she ruined Kyla's birthday. At least for me. Kyla couldn't have cared less (at least she didn't act like she cared). All she wanted to do was play with her Barbies.

Here are a few pics of Kyla's last day of preschool. She sure had a great year and cried on the last day because she missed it already.

Miss Kirstie, Miss Chelsie and Miss Jenna

Claire, one of her friends

I sure do love Kyla. She sure is easy to love. And happy and fun and mischievous and playful. And doesn't like to eat dinner. And our family wouldn't be the same without her.

Girls Night

Back in April, Allie, Kyla and I went to a youth theater production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I knew they'd love it. They decided they wanted to wear their dresses from Mexico and wear their hair up in a sock bun. I probably should clarify that that is what ALLIE decided and Kyla likes to do what Allie does.

The show was great and we all had a good time. I love doing things with my girls.

Kyla's hair is still pretty short, and so we had to use one of the boys' socks for her bun. It barely stayed in, but she didn't seem to care. Typical KyKy.

We also took advantage of the girls' birthday money/Mother's Day and went and got spa pedicures. It was delightful. We want to make it a tradition every year (Mother's Day happens to be right between Allie and Kyla's birthdays. Perfect).

As far as Allie's counseling goes, it seems to be going well. She has gone three times now and has had far fewer problems. She still has some anxiety attacks (including one at school where she thought she couldn't breathe and got a bit hysterical), but has been able to get under control much more quickly. I hope it is helping.

I have found that I have spent so much time and energy worrying about her (having anxiety of my own, wondering if something traumatic has happened that she hasn't told anyone about (side note, her counselor asked her about this and she said no, and nothing else in her behavior leads me to believe that she is lying, so I have have tried not to let my imagination run wild)), and have also spent many hours in fervent prayer in her behalf. I feel closer to her than I ever have. I feel more empathy for what she is going through. I feel more love and patience for her when she is struggling. So even if the counseling is not helping that much (which I think it is), there are so many good things coming out of the situation. 

For now, I'm extremely grateful that she seems to be doing well. Except for a few instances I'd rather forget (including Kyla's birthday party), she seems much happier. Maybe that has something to do with the increased love and patience I have had for her. I hope so. I hope I can make her life a little better. And in turn, she can make mine a little better, too.