she IS mine

Hi there! I am still here. It's been a while. I've been on a crazy-long, unintentional blogging hiatus that comes from having 4 kiddos, work, and school. There have been nights when I knew that writing would be freeing, or at least a helpful way to hold on to some of these moments that happen while raising children and navigating life. But sleep or kid-free time with my husband always won out. Not like anyone was just itching for me to post something :)

Right now, my husband and Tyler are fishing, as I woke slowly with Evie cuddled next to me, while Kaiti and Jack ate breakfast (it's awesome having a child that can poor cereal!) and watched Mr. Popper's Penguins. When I finally dragged my rear out of bed, I went downstairs to clean up some. Kaiti interrupted my vacuuming because she came to an important decision.


So the back story- Tyler and Kaiti both had all A's with one B+ each on their 3rd quarter report card- they were both bummed out that they got A/B honor roll and missed all A's by a plus. They were both student's of the month, but were still pouty because they didn't get all A's. Jeremiah and I told them that all A's and a B+ was great, especially since they moved to a new school in the middle of the term and worked hard to learn quickly.
That didn't help. They'd both had always gotten only A's in the past and they were bumming pretty heavily.




I told them that if they worked really hard and made any improvements on the next report card (their final report card for the year), we'd take them out on a sibling-free date to celebrate their hard work. I didn't promise a toy or money- I just said that if they worked even harder we would let them choose something to do where they didn't have to take into account their younger brother and sister. I said it one time, and neither Tyler or Kaiti ever mentioned that little promise again.

Until yesterday. They both did it- both pushed themselves a little harder and made all A's on their report cards. So, as I am vacuuming, Kaiti says "please mom. turn that off. this is important. I made my decision." (I had zero idea what she was talking about and I was somewhat prepared for her to tell me she was moving to Kansas by herself-- which, to be fair, I would have understood. ;)

Eyes wide as saucers, Kaiti laid it out."Okay I decided what I want to do for my special date for my hard work- I want to get my nails done, have soup at Panera, shop some at Target, listen to fun music in the car, get to hold Mr. Tray and Miss Rachel's baby, and then have a hippity-hop race with you in the park."


Depsite her light colored-straight hair, blue eyes, skinny-mininess,  and tall body, this conclusively proves that the girl is indeed mine. Also, I really should have been more specific when I said "special date".