Brenna Love

I was due with Brenna on February 15th. I told Dave if she was born on Valentine's Day, we would have to name her Brenna Love, it would just have to happen. He was not buying it. Well, she didn't wait to the holiday and arrived days earlier, and due to her father's adamant feelings against it, the middle name never stuck. However, she has filled our home with lots and lots of love. Now, some of you may be shaking your heads and saying, "is this the girl that Kara has constantly used not so flattering and kind descriptions of?" Yes, yes it is. I may, a time or two, used some adjectives to relay her mischievous side, but most of the time, while she is a little imp, we can't get enough of her. Brenna is our latest talker and part of it is most likely due to the fact that she constructed her own language. For instance, she-she means she wants to color. Clear as a bell, right? Exactly. She has recently become more coherent in her speech, but we find ourselves nodding and humoring her, which mostly results in frustration on both sides. Brenna adores all the Disney princesses and carries the little polly pocket dolls around all day. Her very favorite thing to do is turn on "A Pa-Pa song" (Rapunzel song from Tangled) and grab a "preeby" (pretty dress) and "dass" (dance). She runs and twirls in circles non stop. Dave may or may not want to hit his head against the wall when the Tangled soundtrack comes on for the 45th time that day ;). Brenna had a puppy cake, got a princess hideout tent, Ariel and Tiana dolls for her birthday, and it was the greatest day of her life. She was the happiest little 2 year old in town. My dad said now that she's two, she has license to enter the 'terrible twos.' Not surprisingly, Brenna made a fake id a good year ago and has been attempting to pass as a terror for quite some time, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Lucky 7

Grant just turned 7! Katelee tells me everyday that she just can't believe he is seven and she forgets he is that old, and I am with her on that! Grant decided to have a Harry Potter themed birthday party with friends and this mom almost shed a tear of joy over that. Even Brenna was excited to wear her Harry Potter glasses! We had games all planned, wands to paint, spells to cast, and then the day arrived. The kids painted wands, they tasted Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean, cracking up and raising their fists in triumph as one of their friends ate a nasty one (booger, vomit, soap, sausage, dirt, earthworm...just to name a few). Each boy was sorted to their house. I had a phone on speaker under a hat announcing to each child their rhyme. We did the mummy wrap game. Any mother with some foresight would know it would end up like this: Potions were made, brownies eaten, kids ran wild, left and then I popped some Tylenol, collapsed on the couch while Dave exclaimed we wouldn't be doing that again! Grant, on the other hand, loved it. So, I guess you could classify that as a success?! The next day we had presents, cake and ice cream, (he is big into legos right now) and relaxed. Grant is seriously a great kid. I may be biased, but I have had that fact confirmed by people not even in our family as they have said he will be one of the few allowed to date their daughters. As a parent, I am all about arranged marriages for my kids, so that works for me. Grant is incredibly imaginative, creating worlds and games that last for hours. He is very opportunistic, striking deals and negotiations with us and everyone he knows. (Hello, he is obviously his father's child!) He even tried to make a trade with the tooth fairy last week. I found a note with a tiny battery on it. The note said: Dear Tooth Fere (fairy): Ples (Please) trade this batre (battery) for gold. Love, Grant

Some of his propositions are not very fair. I frequently find Katelee doing his chores he has tricked her into, or playing games she gets trapped or hurt in; secretly she loves it, though. I feel lucky to have had Grant in my life the last 7 years and we all adore him!

January

The last couple of years, our family has chosen a theme or goal to work on. This year, it was decided the McArthurs could use some work on our attitudes. So, we adopted the verse, 'let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power,' and we started off our year. Then, came January. Because it is the month of my birth, I feel like I have to defend January. While everyone finds it bleak and boring, I time after time find myself sticking up for these 31 cold days. But this year...bleh...it seemed to be bitter and long! So, I am gonna have to recharge the "do all things cheerfully" motto. Sometimes I feel like its just do all things...period...just get them done or survive them. (ie strep, croup, flu) Of course, this month did have some good times. I celebrated yet another year of life, and the festivities were fun! I mean, relatively speaking-a girl can't jump out of an airplane every year! The kids and Dave made me breakfast and dinner, bought me Just Dance 3(which we have all jammed to), and Dave and I had a night out to dinner and Brian Regan. That guy is hilarious and wild. We witnessed some valet parking attendants slam into cars, it was a memorable evening. I told Dave that one thing I don't love about my birthday is I get pampered and then have to wait 365 days for it to happen again. His smooth reply was, "You may not be pampered everyday, but you are treasured!" Cha-ching, that was a money answer! We are desperately missing snow this winter, but have managed to still keep busy with indoor entertainment. There has been hide and seek (a favorite when it is time to run out the door for church, weird how that timing is never favorable). Computer and any electronics time is a must with

these kiddos...its the time limits we struggle with! Just Dance has been great and Katelee has some really good interpretive dance moves that are inspiring. And, of course, galactic battles between princesses and Sith Lords (you star wars fans are familiar with that) and then there are many days were we lounge around and throw all cares (and hairstyles) out the window. On to the month of love, see ya next year January!

Out with the Old, in with the '2'

I heard that was the theme for the New Years Eve party this year...we are just going to go with it. I'm not sure how good we are at the 'out with the old' part- things seem to accumulate here...bad habits...extra pounds...more toys. Although after only a few days with a polly pocket princess set, Katelee has lost the doll, and the other princess dolls we have as well. I asked her where it went and she told me she had been keeping an eye on all of it, but it just "tip-toed away." When someone discovers the actual Island of Misfit toys, please send ours back and tell them they aren't misfits, we just don't keep track of things very well. We had a great Christmas, with the exception of a nasty stomach bug that I tried to blame on the Training Table, until it showed up within my extended family as well. We saw Santa, made gluten free sugar cookie, (Katelee was so happy she could decorate them AND eat them! It got to be pretty messy!We saw lights and read lots of Christmas stories. The kids all saw Santa flying Christmas Eve on our way home and were anxious to fall asleep. Grant was up by 5:45, so we had plenty of time to open gifts before our 9am church. I actually love Christmas falling on a Sunday, it puts things in perspective and it always makes for a special day. Best Christmas suprise ever: (cue angelic Ahhhs) Dave shocked me and replaced our piano with this beauty. I cried the ugly choke sob when I saw it. Now my darling piano students (as seen here at their first recital...which they did amazingly, by the way) can enjoy touching every key and having a melodic sound come out. Brenna destroyed so much of our decorations that made it through the other two children, and yet I was never suprised as she would walk up to me, broken pieces in hand, and exclaim, "HO HO HO." Merry Christmas indeed. We ushered in the New Year playing games and eating junk. We had told the kids they got to stay up til midnight (not Brenna, of course, that would be misery for all involved). They were so excited, and Grant even negotiated a later time he thought would be even better-12:07. After he proposed that, we cheered our sparkling cider cups and found ourselves in 2012. I recently wrote a check for 2005, so how I am going to remember its 2012, I have no idea. While I believe all year we are trying to better our lives, a new year is a great time for me to reflect on the past and go forward with new resolve. Resolve to be better in my little circle of influence. It's a small little circle that I live in, truthfully, but it is a special one! We finished up the year tired, (this pic is not staged, Katelee just found her favorite Christmas gift-the umbrella-and naturally became her own sleeping princess) but now have the energy to make 2012 a great one!

Disney Delights

Warning! The following post contains an excessive amount of pictures...view at your own discretion.

We just returned from our Disney World holiday vacation. Ahh, 80 degrees, the happiest place on earth, not much could compare. Well, except for Harry Potter world, that is! All aboard the Hogwarts Express! We first visited Universal Studios so I could fulfill my dream in becoming a certified witch, some of you may argue, I accomplished that long ago. But, we are talking about Muggles and Witchcraft and Wizardy here, people. I'm not gonna lie, I got a little choked up. Hogwarts and the entire Hogsmeade village were magical. We stayed at a fancy pants hotel and thanks to my smooth talking hubby, the kids had a child suite-their own room with murals fitting of our royal descendants! The rest of the week we explored as much of Mickey's home as we could. I had heard Disney World was huge, but I had no idea the magnitude! Each park required at least one day. I loved Magic Kingdom for the traditional Disney delights, Hollywood Studios was fabulous for the shows and rides like Tower of Terror (Tower of TEAR as my kids called it, and yes Katelee and Grant rode it). I was really suprised by how much I loved Epcot. Dave actually did like this place for the food from around the world ;). Animal Kingdom had my favorite shows and a few other fun things. The older kids helped out with our navigating, and really they had the stroller more than the babykins. Dave not being a big amusement park, Disney dude, (believe me or not, this is not genuine enthusiasm being displayed below!) had a great attitude and was along for the ride. He happily accepted Brenna duty when she needed a nap and sat out for a lot of rides she couldn't go on. When Katelee was the same age Brenna is now, we took her and Grant to Disneyland. It went smoothly and she was quite easy for a nearly two year old. When we scheduled this trip, we assumed Brenna would be as cooperative. As the trip grew closer we realized Brenna is not the same type of child as Katelee. Lets just say she staged protests against her stroller, or being confined in any way. She wanted to "walk" but that would either consist of her running away or grabbing your hand and dropping to her belly so she would be dragged across the ground. She frequently used the pleading phrase, "MOMMA, MOMMA," whenever she needed a change. LUCKILY, we weren't on our own this trip. We had fabulous travel companions who assisted in our Brenna containment. My lovely sisters helped and one babysat while Dave and I went out to Cirque de Soliel...and what can I say about that?! Mind blowing, fascinating, fantastic, and yet somewhat disturbing at the same time! The kids really loved being with their cousins. These guys are awesome and entertained the little ones for hours. Love all the red heads! Grandma and Grandpa also helped a bunch too. We saw characters, magical lights and parades, animals wandering up to our tour vehicle snowfall, shows worthy of broadway, and princesses. Grant refused to be in pics of the feminine kind, until Ariel specifially requested one with him. Katelee, of course, ate it up. And Brenna, she was very taken with the princesses. She would wave, giggle as they walked by, act bashful, snuggle up to them as they approached, and even went in for a few kisses. Snow White returned the sentiments with a kiss on Brenna's forehead. Disney is so magical and I loved every minute, well nearly every minute. I could have done without the traveling (ie Brenna's flying experiences, the bus transportation...again, due to Brenna, and the night of 2 hour sleep before we came home. But, we can blame that on Delta for canceling our flight and then pushing back our flight to LA 5 1/2 hours.). We wanted to experience the holiday feeling and at first it was difficult for me. I'm not used to a shorts and sweat Christmas! But, I found the seasonal sights transporting. And, it's really the feeling of the spirit of Christmas that makes it special, not the snow, I suppose. I also believe it's taking a moment to pause and slow down and soak it in. I loved being able to do that with my family. Hopefully more Christmas posts to come. Someday I may be a blog rock star like some of you and post more often, print it into a book and call myself a blogger extraordinaire, for now, this will have to do!