Next Step Photography and other updates.....

I'm finally getting around to starting my own photography blog! nextstepphotos.blogspot.com

Ryan was in the emergency room last night with an asthma attack....he thought the room he was in was "sweet" because a picture on the wall slid open to reveal the oxygen and air canisters that are used for breathing treatments.

Kessa said she doesn't feel good, she feels as bad as an octopus.

Poor Penny seems to be having problems with running, we're hoping it isn't developing into something like arthritis.

That's about it for now. I feel as bad as an eel so we're off to go to the photography shop for more paper.

When to start sex ed?

While looking through the church bulletin this weekend I saw that they were offering "Wonderfully Made" classes geared to 5th and 6th graders. That made me think about my Ryan....he's 10 now and in the fourth grade, thinks girls are gross and kissing is disgusting. I started thinking about when I stop waiting for him to ask and start teaching him about his body and what's to come. Soo....I asked him a few questions just to probe around what he knows and doesn't know and came to the conclusion that he's very book smart but that's about it in this particular area. The questions and answers came somewhat like this...

Me: Ryan do you know what puberty is?
Ryan: Yes....it's the maturing of the sexual organs in boys and girls.

Me: Do you know what sexual organs are?
Ryan: Nope.

Me: Do you know what happens to a boy in puberty?
Ryan: His voice gets deeper.

Me: How are babies made?
Ryan: The mans sperm fertilizes the womans egg and the cells divide into an embryo and then the embryo continues to grow...........(etc...)

Me: Do you know how the sperm gets from the man to the woman?
Ryan: *shrugging shoulders and looking bored with the conversation* I dunno

Me: Do you know what sex is?
Ryan: Yes.

Me: What is it?
Ryan: It's another word for gender.

Me: Okay....thanks!
Ryan: Why are you asking me this stuff?
Me: Just wanted to know how much you knew.
Ryan: Can I play the wii now?

So now I'm off to buy/checkout the book Preparing for Adolescence by Dr. Dobson. Apparently he recommends teaching right before puberty- when the child will still think sex is "gross", but old enough to have interest and understand.

If anybody else has any ideas/thoughts/recommendations I'd love to hear it :)

No time to post....

or just a lack of desire. Kids are doing fine. Kessa just won her first Cinderella preliminary as a Tot (meaning she went on stage all by herself). Ryan is about to test for his blackbelt....at least he's supposed to, he has no desire to do tkd anymore so I doubt he'll actually pass (is that terrible for me to say?). Brandon is being tested at school to find out why he has such a hard time with spelling and reading. Nathan got an excellent report card for his first quarter in Kindergarten....though the teacher is discovering how much of a handful he is. I'm doing okay, feeling really blah for the last several months, don't want to do anything, photography business isn't moving anywhere because I have no desire for it right now.....no new clients, no old clients coming back.....feeling sad about it, guess my skill or creativity isn't what I thought it was. I guess that's enough of a pity party for me...ttyl


Kylie

A Sense of humor

I'm feeling very unmotivated when it comes to karate lately....I just flat out don't want to go. So I prayed this morning about it, asking God that if I really needed to go then to give me a sign that I just couldn't ignore. Then I opened my bible.....to Jonah. Enough said....I'm getting my uniform on *sigh*.

p.s. not sure if I mentioned it before but it's official now, I'm the current 2008 Arizona State Champ for Forms and Weapons.

And the men shalt cringe...

Nathan, in all his exuberance, took to jumping this morning. He was holding onto the doorknobs on both sides of the door and jumping with all his might. Unfortunately, poor Nathan lost his footing on his last jump and landed solidly on the door, one leg on each side. I comforted him the best I could yet, being a woman, had no clear understanding of the amount of pain he was in and called daddy in for a bit more sympathy (admittedly while trying not to laugh). Nathan sobbed out "Mommy....that part I touch is cut in half!!!!!"......(that part being his scrotum). I learned that 'walking it off' doesn't make that particular injury any better as I got an incredulous look from my husband when suggesting it. It's an hour or so later now and he seems to be over the shock, hopefully that will be the last of that particular doorstop for him.

The days where I really want to know, is it worth it???

It's been one of those days and I'm having a lot of trouble finding any humor in it. Let's start by saying I've got 54 taekwondo photo orders to fill along with two pageant photo shoots and a first birthday shoot......guess when they are all due? Well....I have a couple more days. This afternoon went pretty okay, not too much trouble except for the constant bickering, whining, fussing, crying, pinching, scratching from Nathan and Kessa (on each other of course) not to mention the constant bouncing, jumping, running, and twirling that Nathan has attached himself to the last few days. It comes time to pick up Ryan and Brandon from school so I tell the kids to head out to the car while I pee real quick.....and I do pee really fast. Got the kids in the car and go to shut the garage door....lo and behold it's comming down crooked like someone (named Nathan) decided to take it for a ride. I don't know how to get it through to him not to do that, I've done timeouts, I've done spankings, I've talked and or yelled till I'm blue in the face but I can NOT get it through to him that it is NOT okay to ride the garage door. So we bring Ryan and Brandon home....not too much trouble. We get the typical whining, fussing, and general disobedience of not doing chores or homework....we get through it as usual, not too bad but still on the cranky side. Then I go to fix dinner, an easy dinner....just tostadas. While I was making dinner the toothpaste in the bathroom proved too irresistable for Nathan and or Kessa (along with Ryan and Brandon who seemed to know about it yet did nothing to stop it) and the new tube/bottle type thing was half gone...squeezed all over the counter, the bathtub, in the cabinets covering at least 6 pair of night time pull ups (you know, the expensive ones). I make the kids their plates for dinner (saving the toothpaste for later) and 3 of them manage to drop their plates or somehow spill the contents on the floor. They all get more food....of course we have a magical kitchen where no matter how much food you waste, there is always more to replace it. Yet, they manage to leave the mess of their first course on the floor waiting for the magical clean up fairy to make it disappear.......they were wrong, it took a good 20 minutes of me yelling and generally making their lives as miserable as I felt to get it cleaned up but they did it. Then one more thing was brought to my attention was while I was cleaning up the toothpaste out of the bathroom Nathan was having even MORE fun! (Notice that again everyone knows about it but nobody stops it)... He took the giant bottle of taco seasoning (the big powder monstrosity that you buy at Costco) and proceeded to sprinkle it all over the living room. The table and chairs, the filing cabinet, the safe, the weight bench, weights, and exercise bike (our living room is our exercise area for now) were all a lovely shade of rust along with spots here and there on the carpet. I started to make him clean it up, but the mess just seemed to get bigger and bigger. I sent them all to bed. Then I cried some, and I'm really just praying.....honestly praying very hard that it has to get better. I'm having a really hard time enjoying being a mom right now, I want too......I just don't know how much more of this I can handle. Nathan has his "observation" appointment with the psychologist tomorrow.....Please pray that this doctor can help me somehow, I just honestly don't know what to do anymore. I'm just one straw away from feeling completely broken....and just in time for my birthday tomorrow...yippee (that's sarcasm btw).

Some fun things....

Well it's been a while (I don't post nearly as often as I have material for)....so here are a few updates.

Nathan turned 5!
Kessa turned 3!
so now the kids are 3,5,7, and 9 instead of 2, 4, 6, and 8.
(that was fast there huh?)

Some funny stuff:
Nathan went on his Grammy Date with my mom (aka Grammy)....she took him to Red Robin's for dinner. When she asked him if he saved room for dessert he started clearing away his plate and napkins......She asks him what he's doing that for and he says while motioning to the now cleared table in front of him "I have room for my dessert!"

Ryan was sitting in the backseat of the van with Brandon, listening to an MP3 player. I have the headphones on a splitter so they can both listen to the one player. Ryan asks Brandon to "turn the volume up one decibel please".

Kessa is a fan of Hannah Montana......I don't know how, why, or where she was introduced to HM but she likes her none the less. Now for those of you not familiar with HM it's a Nickelodeon tv show where Miley Cyrus (Billy Ray's daughter) plays herself as a normal high school teenager and has a secret life as Pop Singer Hannah Montanna (blonde wig and all). Well yesterday we were walking through WalMart and I noticed a book stand filled with HM books. I pointed to one and asked Kessa who that was and she yelled out "momma!!! Dat's Hannah Tanna!!!!" So I pointed to another book and she say's "Dat's Hannah Tanna!" So I thought I'd trick her and point to the one of her with her normal "darker" hair and Kessa looks at it and in a not so impressed voice says "Dat's Miley Cyrus". And here I thought I was fooling her.

Well, it's time to get my 2nd place in forms/2nd place in weapons at ATA Nationals tush off to Taekwondo class tonight :)

Adios!