Kenzie helps me write my grocery lists. It's good that she goes shopping with me, because it sometimes takes two of us to decode it.

First we have OJ, limes, garlic, lemon):


Then we see a bit more of a challenge with:

(white pepper, oil, sprinkles, cupcake holders.)

Last week we went back to our downtown Seattle church to attend the very last service in the 100 year old sanctuary. The church is moving to a temporary spot in the Children's Theater at the Seattle Center while they build a new church at the base of the Space Needle. The beautiful old sanctuary was almost destroyed in the 2001 earthquake and just is too expensive for the church to maintain. We've been trying to explain this to the kids, but I think they just know that the church is going to be demolished. (In reality, the sanctuary will remain, but the 1950's office building will make way for a new high rise.)

The place was packed with over 600 people, including reporters. (I swiped this picture off of the Seattle PI's website.) It was so great to see our friends, but tough too. Since our move to the East side, we've not been attending regularly. We miss our friends and our church of six years. The kids are confused as to why we don't go there anymore, and it's tough to explain.

We are lucky to have found a new church that's on this side of the pond. It fits us well, at least for now. It's progressive and welcoming. They love the kids and we love the encouragement to think for ourselves. They're growing and doing some exercises on what we want the church to be. The pastor asked Kenzie, "what are your three wishes for the church?" He stood with his pen to paper as she thought, then carefully wrote her answers:

1. That I have fun
2. That it doesn't fall down (!!!)
3. That I feel good when I leave

You can't see it well in this picture, but it was absolutely pouring rain for our egg hunt today! But alas, except for one little tiny slug that found his way into one of the 250+ eggs that Cindy hid, the rain had no real ill-effects. All eggs were safely recovered (well, probably not), the children were sufficiently hyped up on sugar, and there's just a wee bit of that green plastic grass lurking in the corners of the house.



Mia and Kenzie show off their basketball eggs.

As I was preparing for tomorrow's dinner, Mason was "helping" me by rinsing the dishes. I'm not sure, but I don't think that all of them (perhaps the chocolate spoon) made it directly to the rinse cycle.



Kenzie decorated the chocolate Easter eggs and showed off her favorite (as well as her matching face.)

Guess who woke up with dry pants today?

It's been a really long time. He was dry through the night for a short stint and then had a near two-year return to the land of pull-ups. I'm hoping this is the start of a new, much longer, trend.

Jordan is such a sweet dog. She was with us before any of our current cats and before the kids. She's 12 now and certainly deserves more respect than she gets, especially from the kittens who indignantly chase her tail, and then cuddle up in it.

One day Izzy and George were playing...uh...or were they? George bit Izzy on the back of the neck and we thought, "um, it might be time to get them fixed." The next thought was, "we should separate them until that can happen." So, into the spare room Izzy went. And she wasn't happy about it. For four days. Four very long days.

The more time passed, the more questions the self-proclaimed "Curious Kenzie" fabricated. Ei, yi, yi. That's really all I can say. I did not think I would have to have "that conversation" with a 5-1/2 year old. The more vague I tried to be, the more perceptive she became. I suddenly became challenged with my own personal philosophy: always answer her directly and honestly. In the back of my head I visualized her on the playground sharing her new-found information, and the subsequent calls from other parents questioning my personal philosophy.

So, I tried to be honest but not so direct. After several rounds, she tried one more pass at it, asking, "why do Izzy and George need to be in separate rooms?" I said, "well, it's possible that Izzy would have kittens and we don't want that to happen." "Ewh!!," she said, "why would George want to fertilize his own sister?!" I still can't quite figure out how that A plus L equaled C. We discussed it, even looked at her book of the egg growing into an embryo, then into a baby.

Next night at the dinner table, amidst a friendly conversation of something safe and age-appropriate, Kenzie asked, "Mom, how do the boy kitties get the sperm into the girl kitties?" Seriously, I feel this is barely appropriate to post on the blog, imagine how I felt at the dinner table! That's when my personal philosophy took a hiatus and I said, "Kenzie, they just know. And I'm not going into any more details until you're a little older." Not my best response, but the one that rushed out in a desperate attempt to buy a year or two. She seemed to accept it, only asking, "ok, how old do I have to be?"

Turns out the cat wasn't in heat.

We've started attending a little tiny church closer to our home. They meet in a community center and have been very nice and welcoming to us. Twice now Kenzie has led the interactive reading, today being her second time. I love the opportunity for her to speak in front of a group, and she loves all the praise she gets. She led the processional, lit the candle, and proudly stood at the front, letting her little voice project through the whole room. At the break people are so nice to her, asking if it's really possible that she's just in kindergarten. She beams, blushes, and asks if she can read next week too. Dave, the pastor, had to explain to her that a few other kids might like the chance too, but she monitors the schedule to make sure she's not being overlooked.

Mason loves the fact that there are hardwood floors that amplify his steps, particularly when everyone else is silent. He's so noisy and he thinks it's so funny to make me give him that "look" - the one where I start with "please hush, please, please...just be quiet" and then escalate to "wait until we're far enough away that these people can't hear you scream." He's not deterred, stomp, stomp, stomping to hear the thuds echo throughout the service.

So, we're sitting there, he settles down, then decides he needs to use the restroom. Without asking, he bolts right in front of Dave because the men's room, awkwardly, is at the beginning of the hall...at the FRONT OF THE CHURCH. I could see it all unfold from where I was sitting. "It's okay, I told myself," trying to not make more of a scene, and hoping it would end quickly. Who would have thought he would forget to close the bathroom door?!? And, boy, he must have had a lot of juice for breakfast because the sounds reverberated as much as his footsteps had a few seconds earlier. Dave was kind enough to pretend that we didn't all hear the tinkle, tinkle, but, oddly enough, this time Mason did remember to flush and that was much more difficult to ignore. At that point I put my hands over my face and doubled-over onto my own lap.

Sandy took the kids to the beach yesterday. First I got a text saying that Kenzie is Fearless. Then an email describing the whole scene:

The fearless sister flipping over barnacle covered rocks at low tide not only to discover scattering crabs and slimy squiggly eels.....but wanted to hold them. Mason and Nathan standing a safe distance in awe of her with nervous smiles pointing to the next rock that "she" should tip.

Now that I leave the video camera out, it's so easily accessible...to capture those moments where we have a slight lapse of judgment.

For some these times are the exception, for others the rule. I admit this was funny at the time, but I do think we need to set a hard and fast rule against indoor batting. Soon.

Each person in Kenzie's class gets to take Sammy The Shark home for a weekend. He's about 2 feet long, fuzzy purple, and comes with a book called, "Sammy, don't eat the teacher." The lucky student has to write a story about Sammy, put it in the notebook, and come to class to tell the story of Sammy's adventures with him/her. Here is Kenzie's:

I was the first to
take Sammy home.
Olivia came over.
Sammy slept with
me.
On Saturday
I played with
Sammy. that night
My brother
and I played at
Olivia's house.
On Sunday, I am
Taking Sammy to my
Grammy and Grampy's
house. we are going
to a birthday
party. Sammy has
been great!
from MacKenzie

We sent the kids down to celebrate Sary-Jo's 50th birthday. Randy emailed this picture without any explanation. Notice the grandfather in the background and the monkey picture being held by red finger tips. Surely there's a message here, other than that my children may not be left in the hands of "adults" when they're with my family.

I still struggle to get Kenzie to share her school day with me. I value the snippets that I get, typically when we go to coffee on Saturdays or when I go into her room late at night. Other than that, I typically hear crickets when I ask for details about her day. Today I happened to be sitting near the camera, turned it on, and asked her about the ceramics class she's taking. Voila! This is the edited version...

Renewed plea! Love the comments so far, we would really appreciate more input...funny/light or serious or quirky, whatever. We thought it would be fun to have the people who care enough about our kids to watch our blog help us build our thought wall. We're looking for quotes that we can print and put on wall for the kids to see as they play and grow.

Comments are enabled on this post, so please help us! Share a quote! Thanks for your help!

Friends of my folks gave the kids a new keyboard. The love it...it is the source of many hours of entertainment, even though they enjoy it "differently." (Watch the kitten bolt when Mason takes over.)

Mason loves his computer games. His favorite is Leapster, but he also is endeared to Elmo. For anyone with kids, check out sesameworkshop.org. Both kids have learned how to mouse with Elmo. Mason can pull up different games and entertain himself as long as we'll allow. Anybody else see parental controls in our future?