Pics & Videos of my Little Chicks

SCARY DREAMS

McKenna had a nightmare a few nights ago. She woke up crying hysterically, so loudly that both Erick and I bolted out of bed to run to her. We held her and calmed her down and she asked if I would pray that the scary dreams would go away. So we prayed for God to keep His angels around her and to keep her safe and to keep the scary dreams away. As I was walking out of the room she said in a serious and quiet voice "Mommy, why aren't angels real?" I said "Baby girl, they are real. They have wings and they're strong and beautiful. They work for God and it's their job to stay close to you to keep you safe." She was quiet for a second and then she said "Mommy, I want to go to church again." We had missed the past few weeks with morning sickness and the trip to Vegas. But I just find it so interesting how spiritually intuitive some kids are at this age. She already finds comfort in being in God's house.

When she went to bed the next night, we said our prayers and she told me that if she had a scary dream, she wanted me to come back in to pray with her. I told her "Well I will. But you know, if you wake up at night from a scary dream, all you have to do is pray to Jesus and ask him to make your scary dreams go away. And they will! Just like that!" I still expected her to call for me in the night because, well, she's only 3 1/2 and nightmares are frightening and it's an excuse to get out of bed in the middle of the night. But no, I didn't hear a peep from her the whole night. When she woke up this morning I asked her "Did you have good dreams?" She said "Yes, I dreamed about Neverland and the baby in your tummy." I said "Did you have any scary dreams?" She said "Yes, but I just prayed to Jesus to make them go all away and they did." That's my girl....discovering the power of prayer already.

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EAR PIERCING

(Note: This story is kind of long but I wanted to journal the whole story. So if you don't wanna read it all, just skim down to find out how it turned out).

I got my ears pierced when I was 3. From what I'm told, it was something I begged and pleaded for until my Dad finally gave in. I was apparently pretty brave and didn't cry. So I fully expected McKenna to follow suit and beg to have her ears pierced as well once she turned 3. All year I'd casually mention it to her whenever we'd go to Claire's Boutique. "If you ever want to get your ears pierced, this is where we would get it done." And she'd always say "I don't want to get my ears pierced." I certainly wasn't gonna force her. Erick and I have always thought of ear-piercing as something a kid should choose, not something you do to your 6-month old baby (no offense to anyone who has pierced their baby's ears. We just think of piercings like we do tattoos.....a decorative option and not a necessity. Something a person should choose.)

So months go by, still no interest. Not even a smidge of an interest.

Until yesterday we were at the mall and we stopped at Claire's to pick out some treats for her.(Long story short, Cool Cuts 4 Kids had a deal that included a homemade lipgloss for her and the deal fell through so we were going to pick out a lipgloss for her. Note to all the Mommies of little girls....starting next week they have a deal for $22 that includes a wash, cut, princess hair style and their choice of a homemade liploss or lotion that they make themselves!) So we picked out a lipgloss and a little eyeshadow (calm down Gramps. It's all pale colors. I didn't let her get "hussy" makeup.), some bracelets and a necklace, etc. On our way out I saw a little girl was getting her ears pierced. I asked McKenna if she wanted to stay and watch and she said yes. I hoped and prayed this was a brave kid who wouldn't cry and make a big fuss. She was about 5 or 6 years old. Well, she did make a pretty big fuss but didn't cry. So we left and I was explaining to McKenna that it really only hurts for a second and if you're really brave, it doesn't hurt for even that long. No dice. She wasn't interested. No big deal. I wasn't gonna push it.

Then out of the blue she wanders into my room later that evening and says "Mom, I wanna be brave and get my ears pierced." I could not have been more thrilled. I think my voice went up 10 octaves as I squealed "REALLY??" So for the rest of the night we talked about what it would feel like, how she could pick out any earrings she wanted, and how if she was really brave she could also pick out some candy as a treat, just like I got when I was little and had my ears pierced.

The next morning, she was obviously less enthused but still said she wanted to go. I could sense her apprehension and tried to talk up the positive parts - picking out her own earrings, getting candy. The girl knows how to drive a bargain....she reasoned that she should get one BILLION candies for this. Erick agreed to her terms.

We got to the mall and she said "I don't want to." *sigh* Great. Now we're stuck at the mall for no reason. So I said "Well let's just go look at the earrings before we decide." She picked out a beautiful aquamarine pair (Mommy's birthstone) AND a ruby pair (her birthstone) for when she's allowed to change them. But when the girl came over, McKenna clutched Erick's leg and said she didn't want to. So I asked her "Do you want to go to lunch first and think about it some more?" She said yes.

Off to lunch we went. At this point, I'm thinking this is just like her dance recitals. The anticipation and nerves leading up to it are killing her but I can tell she really DOES want to do it. I'm struggling with myself wondering "Do I do what I did for the recital....give her a reasonable 'out' time and then once we get to a certain point, no turning back? Or do I let her keep up this 'I want to. No, I don't want to.' routine like a yo-yo?" I remembered that article about the sensitive child who needs time to adjust to new ideas and surroundings but also needs the occasional parental push to prevent them from missing out on wonderful life experiences. But is ear-piercing a wonderful life experience?

So we get through lunch and Erick asks her for her final decision what she wants to do. She decides to get her ears pierced. I told her "Ok, but once we get there you can't change your mind." She seems ok with it and says that she wants to sit in Daddy's lap while they do it. So back to Claire's we go.

Before the girl gets to us, McKenna said she changed her mind. I told her it was too late. She didn't argue or look sad or upset in the least. She just accepted that she'd missed her out and now was the time. She sat in Erick's lap and once the girls came over to her, she was little miss cool. She didn't seem a bit nervous, answered their questions, acted polite. They gave her the "Claire Bear" to hug and she liked that. They rubbed the antiseptic on and she liked that too. They did the piercing both ears at once so she'd only have to experience the pinch once. She flinched. She looked at me with a little bit of a surprised look on her face. I think she was looking at me for my reaction. So I quickly cheered and said "Oh my gosh, you're so brave! You didn't even cry or anything!" A big smile spread across her face. Erick asked her if it hurt and she said "NO!" She loooooved the way they looked and said she was so happy that she did it! Yay!

So I went to pay and Erick took the girls to Sweet Factory to pick out "one billion candies" (LOL don't worry....I think they just "estimated"). I bought her a little tiara with blue feathers (her favorite color) to celebrate. The second we got home she ran right to her Ariel mirror to see her new earrings:




A close-up of her earrings:



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READY TO DANCE

Kyla is ready to join a dance class. Well, skills-wise she probably isn't. But enthusiasm, she's all over that!! There is a local class for 2 year olds but I just can't see her following along through an entire class. Plus I really like Miss Valerie and I want to stick with her as long as we're living where we are. So I'm gonna wait until she's 3 (then she and Kenna can be in the same class! How cute that will be!) But until then, check out how excited this kid is to be a little dancer.

She came up to me holding McKenna's recital outfit and saying "Dat? Pwee?" ("That? Please?") I said "You wanna dress up like sissy in her dance recital?" She nodded and said "yeah!"

So we dressed her up:



And then turned on McKenna's rehearsal dvd and watched her go:

Kyla the "Mini Lion"

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PART OF YOUR WORLD

This video was taken about 6 months ago. McKenna sits with her little discman and listens to the Little Mermaid soundtrack and sings along. Oh man, it CRACKS US UP!! Her faces and how serious she is about the song - it's hysterical. Nowadays she can sing the entire song perfectly, word-for-word. This video is older so she's kinda making up her own words as she goes along but I had to share it since Erick downloaded and sized it for me:

McKenna Sings The Little Mermaid

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MCKENNA-ISMS

A few things this kid says lately that make me laugh:

* "Are you SERIOUS??"

* "That's hilarious!"

* "What the HECK?!?"

* "Mommy, Daddy married you because you like sour candies."

* (To Kyla) "Aw, you're such an angel."

* (To Kyla) "Hey! Hey! Come here kid!"

* (About Kyla) "Aw, she's so adorable!"

* (Looking at a picture of Luke) "Aw, Lukey. He's such a sweet boy."

* (When she wants me to pay attention to her) "Mommy, can you mind me?"

* (Her frequently asked question, even though we've given her a very good answer) "Mommy, do ducks get cold in the water?"

* The other day she saw a picture of a girl (just some random girl on a website) and said "Aw, she's cute. Is she your maniac friend?" LOL! I have no idea to whom she is referring but apparently she thinks one of my friends is a maniac.