Kiera Through the Years

My baby will be thirteen tomorrow, January 11th. I cannot believe it! Who the heck gave her permission to turn thirteen? I think I'm gonna have to have some words with someone! :o)

In the meantime, in honor of her turning into an actual TEENager...
some pictures of Kiera from the beginning :o)

My momma took me to the hospital around 1130P on January 10th, 1999, and after about 19 hours of labor, my baby girl was born. I know she is destined for great things because when she was born she wasn't breathing and her heart had stopped, but not even 12 hours later they were having to put a hep-lock in her HEAD because she kept kicking it off her foot! :o) I have never seen what she looked like at that moment... only my doctor, the nurses and my momma saw her. Before taking Kiera to the NICU, the nurse brought Kiera to me and had me kiss her... twice. Once for hello, and once for good-bye. I only found that out later. My momma threw out the disposable camera that she took pictures with, she didn't want us to have those memories.

I love to show Kiera this picture to let her see how wiped out I was after giving birth to her LOL I was 19 years old and so completely lost... thank God for my momma and Greg!!

Kiera is 3 days old here. I LOVE this picture of her!

Me and Kiera at about 3 or 4 months old.... I just want to squish those cheeks!

There is NOTHING like the sight of a sleeping baby, especially your own :o)

Kiera used to make this awesome face when she was happy...
she'd snuffle through her squooshed up nose :o)

Kiera's ears were my favorite when she was a baby :o) I couldn't tell you why, but I loved them!

Kiera, about 18 months, hanging out with her Uncle Jon at her grandma's Post Office.

Rick, me and Kiera... she's about 18 months.

At SLO creek, not quite 2

2 years, 11 months :o)

Kiera's 3rd birthday (hi, mom!!!)

2004, Kindergarten school picture

Christmas 2006... such a proud big sister (with her sassy Emmie & floppy Abi LOL)

7 years old... already looking so much bigger!

Christmas 2007 ... she's almost 9 years old!

9 years old... I love this girl!

Skipping a few years (can't find the pictures!!)

February 2011... 12 years old

My rocker... she LOVED going to the EMP/SFM... it was so her thing!

So, now she'll be thirteen. I absolutely LOVE who she is becoming! She has her own individual style, the funkier the better seems to be her theory. She has developed her own taste in music, taking a little of mine, a little of Rick's and quite a bit of her own. She likes R&B and pop, but you'll find her singing along with Queen, Brian Setzer, Zac Brown Band or Bob Seger. (oh yeah, I'm a proud momma!) She's an avid reader of fantasy. Harry Potter? Percy Jackson? She's read all those series... three times! And now, she's reading Michael Crichton. (yup, prouder still!) And she LOVES to help out with cooking and cleaning (seriously!!!).

Yup, she's destined for amazing things...
and God has given me the blessing to be a witness to them all!

Happy birthday, Kiera!!!

Been a while...

I've had it pointed out to me that its been a while :o) Lots has happened in the last two months, most of it not wonderful, but all of it strengthening our faith!

Rick got laid off from his job on October 23rd... and while we knew it was coming, it hasn't been easy. It took his employer three WEEKS to finally send his severance package, which was taxed like it was a bonus... so almost 25% taken! Ugh. But it came, and we're thankful... it will help us pay one more month of rent. :o)

Since Rick has been home, its been pretty nice... personally, I LOVE being around my husband 24/7 (and no, I'm not being facetious!) He's been helping me with the girls' schooling and we've been getting little projects done around the house! Last weekend, we took the spray paint we used on the ceiling fan and we painted our kitchen chandelier... it just looks very cohesive now! And pretty! :o) He's also been helping with laundry and dishes... THAT is so awesome! There is no downside to him being home, but there is a downside to the layoff... NO ONE is hiring! We're waiting on unemployment to kick in, 4 - 6 week they say... hopefully 4, we need it to pay our space rent/mortgage! :o)

A good thing that has happened is we have joined a small group at our church, not quite a Bible study, just a group. :o) We've met some really wonderful couples, and they all have kids! That kid part is wonderful, so often we meet people and they just can't handle kids or kids aren't invited or whatever... now the girls come with us and all the kids hang out together! LOVE IT! :o) Its been wonderful having people pray for us, and being able to pray for them... we've had a lot to pray about! :o) We're working on an idea for serving our community as a group, with our kids, too... I can't wait!

We've also had quite a bit of snow over the last month... very fun! We got something like 18 inches a few days before Halloween! It was mostly gone BY Halloween, but some was hanging around... it was funny to see the jack-'o-lanterns amidst the snow piles :o)

Almost done (check out the snow! LOL)

Our house & our pumpkins!

For Halloween, Kiera was a pumpkin spice princess (basically a go-go dancer with an orange wig!), Emmie was Mickey Mouse (made for her by her Aunt Kathy) and Abigael was Little Red Riding Hood... all very cute costumes! We went trick-or-treating by ourselves this year, it was different, but still fun. A good time was had by all, and the kids got LOTS of candy! :o)

Emmie as Mickey Mouse

Kiera as a pumpkin spice princess :o)

Abi as Little Red Riding Hood

Just before Halloween, Abigael celebrated her THIRD birthday! I can't believe my baby is 3!! We had Rick's parents over for a dinner of lasagna and then her Auntie Manda, Uncle Richard and baby cousin, Gianna joined us for cake and presents. Her Aunt Kathy & family couldn't make it because the kiddos had H1N1 (but all are well now, praise God!). :o( I made Abi's cake this year, mostly :o) I took an angel food cake and then filled it with a cannoli filling and topped it with a whipped cream 'frosting'... YUM! :o) Abi got some cool presents, too! It was a very happy day! :o)

Our church band decided it was time to make a Christmas CD, so we got to go to an early Christmas concert... very fun! We go to Crossroads Church (north campus), its about 5 minutes away... and we love it! We found our church the weekend we got here and we have never left! We are blessed to have Billy Sprague as our worship leader, and he is just amazing. The whole worship team is amazing! I enjoy watching them play/sing... you can just tell how happy they are to be up there, it just makes my day to watch them! Every Sunday is like a mini rock concert with some amazing worship songs! Love it! We are so spoiled :o) They sing this song, Beauty & Awesome. Rick and I love it and I want to share it with you... enjoy! :o)

And my dad came to visit!!! That was SUPER COOL! We hadn't seen my dad for so long... it was so neat that he came for a weekend :o) We took him into Denver & Boulder, but mostly we hung out and enjoyed his company! The girls absolutely ADORED him! Abigael was happy to cuddle with him, as were the big girls... I was just happy to have my dada around! :o) I didn't realize just how much I missed him. And on a selfish note, he brought me a TON of pictures from him & his siblings growing up... THAT was super cool, too! My dada was one good-looking kiddo :o)

Me & my dada

My dada , Emmie & Kiera in Boulder

Abigael & Grandpa

Grandpa with Emmie & Kiera

So that is pretty much how we've been... we've had good and bad days, with mostly good winning :o) And for that I'm most thankful!

Only Kiera...

My girl has the oddest luck. To the point where the phrase, "Only Kiera" comes out of our mouths at LEAST once a week! Seriously. She hates it. "Why do these things always happen to ME?" she wants to know. I just don't know!

Yesterday, she was standing next to the breakfast bar, not doing anything. In a flash, there is a loud bang/bump sound and she is crying... what the heck just happened?! I think she must have gone to lean over something, but she smacked her forehead into the corner of the cabinets that hang over the breakfast bar!

So.

Rick and I have been going through boxes and putting them in our newly constructed storage shed (WOOHOO!). In one of the boxes, Rick found a folded up piece of paper that he set aside to look at later. I found it first. :o) It was a story Kiera had written from 2nd grade. Now keep in mind that this is a TRUE story, and this is EXACTLY, down to the spelling, what she wrote...

Seagull Attak

It was lunch. I was putting down the lunch buket. I left the bucket down then I walked away then turned around and a seagull had my sandwich. I ran then it flied away. Ms. Brown saw me running after the seagull. Then she walked over to me and said, "Was that your sand which." I said, "yes, and that was all I had for lunch. She giggled then took me to the cafaterea. Then she said, "A seagull took her sandwhich." "ok." Said the cafaterea lady. SO I had hot lunch for lunch. It was bean chulupa. I will never forget that day.

The End

Seriously. It happened! LOL I remember that day so well. I went to pick her up and she was getting in the car and she said, "A seagull took my sandwich today." **insert double-take here**
Me: "A WHAT did WHAT today?" LOL
Kiera: "A seagull took my sandwich. And I ran after it, yelling for it to drop my sandwich and give it back to me."
Me: "Did it drop it?"
Kiera: "No, it flew away."
Me: "What did you do about lunch?"
Kiera: "Ms. Brown saw me running after the seagull and she took me to get hot lunch in the cafeteria."
Me: "Was it a good lunch at least?"
Kiera: "YES! It was a bean chalupa!"
Me: "Well, at least you got to eat lunch. Maybe you should keep your sandwich in your lunch bag when you put away the bucket."
Kiera: "Yeah. Stupid seagull"

LOL She is such a funny girl. I've got more 'only Kiera' stories... I'll share another soon. :o)

Sometimes he just gets my ire up...

he being Kiera's biological.

He left her 2 months ago, and we haven't heard from him since.... so being the nice person that I am, I send an email to make sure he is okay...

---
My email: "just checking in... in her whole 10 years, the only time you've not called regularly was when you were in jail. Not there again are ya? :o) Let us know that you're alive & well and not incarcerated :o) (Please hear that I AM joking... Rick gave me a 'look' like I was being bad!)"
---

Short and sweet, right? :o) And bitchy, but still... I guess I should be nice though, his wages are being garnished like clockwork! :o)

---
His response: "No, not incarcerated, just a bit down. I have been thinking about calling for weeks now, but I don't for some reason. I don't want to sadden her by my bad attitude. Work has us on 20% pay reduction pretty much permanently and my finances are now a mess so I am distracted. (... insert boring crap here...) So, I'll call now that I'm busted, so to speak. Or, if you want to make my year, have her call me. I know hearing her voice will cheer me up, even with the world going somewhere in a handbasket fast."
---

Really, he wrote that. Now maybe I should feel bad, a 20% reduction is pretty big... but he makes $60K (or more!) a year! So they took $1000 a month from him and he is still bringing home $4000 a month (just him and his girlfriend). Rick got a pay cut, too... we bring home $1600... for the 5 of us! (sob sob sob LOL talk about full disclosure!) :o) I'm okay with it honestly, we're doing fine... though sort of regretting our iPhones (which we're now in contract with! Grrr).

So Kiera called tonight, after her telling me that she didn't want to and why should she have to. (I'm such a proud mommy! LOL) No clue what went on in the conversation, but here is what she said when she got off the phone

---
Kiera: "Wow! We were on the phone for 8 minutes and 5 seconds!"
Me: "He didn't want to talk to me?"
Kiera: "No, he said he had to go, the Lakers were on and they might win."
---

Yup, he got off the phone with his daughter (who he says he misses and please have her call me to cheer me up) so he could watch the Lakers game. And before I could stop myself, I shot off a quick email...

---
My email: "Should have seen the eye roll when I suggested she call LOL She's got quite an attitude on her.

I tried to feel sorry for your work issues, but you still make more than we do... nearly 3 times as much since they cut Rick's pay. :o) See I can sob story, too :o)

Hope the Lakers won."
---

Oh yeah, I'm a bitch. Rick said I shouldn't have sent it, but I don't think it will do me much harm. He said in his email he wanted to talk to her, and then he chose not to.

I'm over it... but I totally had to vent. Sometimes he just upsets me so much. And in the end, I don't even know why... Kiera has many times asked why she has to have 2 dads when she is happy with the one she has. Why can't I just let it go....

Interviewing Kiera...

Kiera's turn... I'm hoping she'll have nicer answers LOL

1. What is something mom always says to you?
"can you please help me"

2. What makes mom happy?
"flowers"

3. What makes mom sad?
"cutting your hand" (I guess, it happened the other night... I didn't really like it)

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
"by doing a silly dance *does goofy 70's dance*"

5. What was your mom like as a child?
"you were happy"

6. How old is your mom?
"30" (to which Emmie says "holy mackerel... that would be an old person!" LOL)

7. How tall is your mom?
"well, you are 6ft because I'm 5ft and I'm almost as tall as you, so 6ft and a half" (holy cow, I'm tall!) :o)

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
"your favorite thing to do... is to... watch the movie Cars"

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
"you read a book" (oh yeah!!!)

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
"for singing" (how sweet!)

11. What is your mom really good at?
"you're very good at cooking" (right on!!! Love it!)

12. What is your mom not very good at?
"uh, you're not very good at doing the splits" LOL (she says shes trying not to hurt me LOL)

13. What does your mom do for a job?
"your job is to home school us, and feed us. and take care of us. those are the best things you are good at." (have I ever mentioned that my oldest is a suck up? LOL)

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
"your favorite food? pork! Do you like pork?" LOL

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
"uh... helping me understand my homework"

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
"you would be.... the magical baby Smurf" (okay.) Now she's saying Smurfette LOL

17. What do you and your mom do together?
"we, uh, we have fun together"

18. How are you and your mom the same?
"uh, well, we both like the Jonas Brothers"

19. How are you and your mom different?
"we're different by you like dancing 'back then' and I like dancing 'right now' Because 'back then' you did old dances and 'right now' we do NEW dances." (okay. I'm only 30... what is she talking about BACK THEN?! LOL)

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
"you get me stuff that you really shouldn't get me?"

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
"oh easy peesy lemon squeezy... you like to go to the zoo and see new animals."