Son number One

It's not my birthday, or my oldest kids birthday that makes me start thinking about how much time has gone by. It's always Kid Number Two. Not this year so much, even though he turned 15.
Yep, Fifteen.

On January 10th.

Because his birthday is right after Christmas, it sort of sneaks up on us. We plan his gifts when we plan Christmas presents, but it really is difficult to ever do a party.
It's still during Break, so that was difficult when he was little....

This year, he wanted to movie hop with his friend all day - and the rest of us had plans, so we sang in the morning and gave him his Crazy Chocolate Cake I made. It was 4 layers of a 6" cake with mini chips on the side. Twix Bars and Milky Way Bars chopped up on top and then a Hershey Bar melted on top of the whole thing.

He didn't have to share.

He did a little happy dance when he saw it.

DJ at fifteen.

Well he isn't homeschooling it anymore. He wanted to go to High School with his sister. Well, he wanted to go to the same high school that his dad went to (never mind that I went there too, I don't count)
He's trying new things. Even if I have to force him at first. He's still doing well in school. We have had a couple of things come up. With kids. Now with a teacher. It's okay. He has to learn how to get along.

He hated Cross Country at first, now he loves it and is also joining the Track Team

It's funny, he and I argue - but I think it's because he reminds me of my brother at that age and I go into the Big Sister Your Annoying Me mode. I didn't realize it for a while, and I was just furious with him, like All The Time! Then I heard, HEARD my brother's voice come out of his mouth, and I went...ohhhh. So I don't get into it with him as much anymore.
And he's taller than me.

Mikey ADORES him right now. DJ tries really hard to be a good Big Brother to him.

He is a really great kid. He's kind. And thinks the world should be fair to everyone. He gets super excited over the wildest things. He wants to be funny, but he's not...BUT he finally-FINALLY is getting other people's humor OR playing it off until we can explain it. I think Fifteen is going to be a fun year for him!

april fools

My brother's birthday is April Fools Day and this year he turns 40!

I am just Lovin' these pictures -- I am using the ones from
my sister in law Cyndi

Kinda crazy that we are the same age now...

Happy Birthday Dave!

{love}

comforting her brother

 a teenager's 'look'

smile's for The Mama

interviews

I read a cute interview on productjunkiemama today and it inspired me to interview my own kids.
I did them all separately and they were very thrilled about the whole thing. Well, DJ and Kelly were. DJ even wanted more questions. Paige seemed nervous and was a little edited and Eddie Haskell...
And then, Kelly! When did my independent Kelly turn into a pink loving girl? Last year she wanted to be a vulcanologist, six months ago an astronaut, three months ago -- a teacher who teaches about volcanoes in outer space!
Hmmm.
Maybe I will ask them all the same questions in six months.

At least they all want to go to Legoland.

brothers and sisters

When I was pregnant with DJ, even though I really wanted another baby, I was extremely worried that I was ruining Paige's life by giving her a sibling. How were either of us going to be able to handle my attention being not solely on her? What if she was jealous? What would I do?
I don't care what all the books tell you, not every child is upset by a new baby. Paige was never upset -- not once. DJ was born and he was ours! He was smiling and laughing out loud for her when he was a week old ~
He followed her everywhere and did everything she said, played every game the way she wanted him to and he was super happy to do it!
(DJ has always been super happy)
Paige was 8 and DJ just turned 6 when Kelly was born. This time, I was concerned that they were so much older they wouldn't get along.
I don't know why I worry about these things. They adored her!

They read to her and sang to her and gladly gave up their "choking hazard" toys.





As Paige grew a little older, she no longer wanted to play with DJ as much, and fortunately by that time, Kelly was old enough to do things with him.

DJ was bossed around his whole life by one sister -- the other one just took over!

I can't tell you how many times DJ has come to us upset because "Kelly said" he couldn't do x, y or z. Our answer is always, "You know, you don't always have to listen to the 2 year old" (or the 3 year old, or the 4 year old) "tell her you won't play with her if she isn't nice".

(hrumph... when Kelly was 3, her pediatrician suggested we find another Alpha Female for her to play with....)

Lately, either DJ has finally found his voice with her, or Kelly has learned to back off, (yeah -- right) but those two are inseparable! You could see it happening, but I have really noticed it more over this school break.

She tells him all the time, "DJ, you are my favorite boy!" and they are singing goofy made up songs and building castles out of blocks and DJ is helping her read.

I for one, am enjoying it all --
Maybe they will all start arguing when they are teenagers. Paige at 13 is pretty mean to the rest of them. Not so much Mikey, she likes him (he LOVES her!) but you can tell that even he is starting to get on her nerves.
And just where will Mikey fit in with all of them? Paige will be off to college when he starts Kindergarten (yikes!) and I don't see him putting up with Kelly's bossy ways!

I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Kelly Anne

Since I was 35 when I was pregnant with Kelly, I had many more ultra sounds than I did with Paige and DJ. Every single one, the tech told us she was a girl -- Mike refused to believe it every single time. He was wrong! LOL

The night before my scheduled c-section, I was having contractions. This is not an unusual occurrence for me, but these were pretty intense. I, however, choose to stay in my comfy bed and go to the hospital in the morning as planned. In the early morning of the 22nd, Mike and I left for the hospital on the picturesque road from Hidden Valley Lake to St. Helena. It was even snowing on our way there! Robyn and Vic were getting the kids ready and bringing them a little later.

We check in and get ready. And wait. For a while. They rest of our little family shows up. The doctors were so nice, they were letting Robyn come into the OR with us, so Vic was in a family waiting area with Paige and DJ. Now we are just waiting for the OR to be available.
I was walking around the room and I got back up on the bed and feel a rush of water -- ! I look at Mike and tell him that I think my water broke... Yes, I have had two babies before, but I have had 2 scheduled c-sections before, so this is a whole new thing for me! Sure enough, she was picking the day for her birthday no matter what --

We get to the OR and Robyn and Mike get all suited up. The staff are bantering back and forth saying how rare it was to have a "dry birth". Oh, haha. I hate the hot pillow thing they put on me, but they won't take it off. Can we do this now?

I will tell you that Mike took some GREAT pictures of Kelly being born. I am not sure why they came out as good as they did, because he wasn't looking at all while he took the pictures, but they look professional. In fact, I put them together in a coffee table book. They may not be to every one's taste (you can see her half in half out) so I won't post them here.

They finally pull her out and you hear a collective "oh, wow". The doctor asks Mike to take a picture -- of her cord. It is tied in a "true knot". Thankfully, my babies have extra veins in their cords and they are unusually thick. (Kelly has THE cutest bellybutton)

They clean her up and measure her: 9 lbs 14 1/2 oz and 22 inches @10:35 am My big girl! Mike gets to hold her -- and then Robyn gets to hold her ~

As they are wheeling us back into our room, Vic makes them stop in the hall so he can take pictures --


 Her brother and sister are so excited to hold her!

She is such a good baby -- and like her big sister, she is picking up her head and looking around!

Today, my sweet Kelly girl is 5!

blog name

Flat out stole our blog name from my sister in law. We loved it immediately! La Familia Henderickson Seriously funny that my brother says it is the way Mexican drug cartels identify themselves. Have no idea if it's true or not, but Hahaha! It's a cute name and now we match ~