The Rockin Ricks: August 2008

Monday, August 25, 2008

First Day of Kindergarten

Today I sent my baby off to kindergarten. I couldn't decide whether to cry or giggle uncontrollably - so I just stared blankly at the school doors after walking her inside. What did I do with my four hours of complete, independent freedom? First things first, I went to lunch at the Paradise Bakery with my mom. (I must say that their crumbly blue cheese salad IS paradise!) Then it was off to Costco with no children in tow, and after putting away the groceries I took a nap. Yes, let me repeat that, I TOOK A NAP!! I did all of that while Kaitlyn was in kindergarten. No wonder I wanted to giggle uncontrollably - it's been 10 years since I've had that kind of freedom. I woke up from my nap as the bus was driving around the neighborhood dropping off children from school. I ran to the front porch and waited anxiously for Kaitlyn. I saw her come around the corner holding hands with her big sister in that cute little uniform, and what did I do? I started to cry.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Enough with the Chaos already!

School starts this week. I'm torn because I love being with my kids during the summer. NOTHING beats the combination of sunshine, laziness & giggling. But I can only handle the chaos summer brings for so long. Do you know what I mean? I started out the summer so organized with chore charts, summer homework and clipboards. About 3 weeks into it is when I feel myself submitting to the craziness - telling myself to just enjoy these summer moments and to go with the flow. For the "Type A" person that I am, it takes enormous mental effort to just go with the flow. Pretty sad, but still true. So by the end of the summer when absolutely everything that can possible be messy and cluttered in my house is now messy and cluttered I begin to worry a tad bit about my sanity. Seriously, I can barely make my way through my kids rooms, the playroom, and the garage. So I'm doing my best to not be running around like a crazy woman shouting, "enough with the chaos already!" I keep reminding myself that in a few weeks I will have the time to clean, organize, and straighten, and it honestly isn't going to kill me if I just let it go for now. Sometimes I just have a hard time believing. So I'm going to take a deep breath and keep trying to go with the flow.

Friday, August 15, 2008

The Most Miserable Joy

Okay, so Kassidy turned 10 years old this week and will be going into 5th grade. This is really freaking me out!!! I VIVIDLY remember 5th grade - I honestly thought that I was so old, and now that's how old my little girl is. Yesterday she came to me with tears in her eyes and she said, "Mom, I just feel so sad today and I don't know why." I almost said, welcome to the emotions of womanhood honey. But instead I just hugged her and we talked about it.

To celebrate her birthday, Kassidy and I took a special trip to Chicago. Yes, I'm a little crazy with the birthday thing, but I so wanted to take her to the American Girl Place and I knew that her interest in American Girl dolls wasn't going to last forever. So I spent 4 days just hanging out with my little Kassidy. We shopped (boy did we ever shop), we got room service, we ate tons of pancakes and pizza, and yes - we spent countless hours in the American Doll Place. She's my first, the one that taught me how amazing motherhood could be. Also, the one who offered me her unconditional love as I figured out what type of mother I wanted to be. I never knew that I would love being a mom this much, that I would love these three little people in a way that I could never have imagined. As I watch Kassidy grow (and Caleb & Kaitlyn), I feel like my heart is going to burst with pride, love, and sadness because it is going so quickly. As my mom says, it's, "the most miserable joy". It truly is.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Why the Rockin Ricks?

My cute children love to name things: their stuffed animals, paper towels (no kidding), and our cars. So I thought it was pretty cute when one day this summer, Caleb decided that we should be called the rockin ricks. All three kids agreed that was the perfect name for our family and I just had to grin. After all, I always holler "rock -n- roll, let's go!" when it's time for the kids to hop into the lovely family minivan (which is named "Princess" by the way). We listen to "We Will Rock You" at the start of any family adventure, such a trip to the lake or a museum. And ultimately, they've been subjected to many fine musical artitists such as ABBA, Queen, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, and yes even some AC/DC since birth. In fact, when Kaitlyn was 2 years old, she and I were driving around town and I turned on a country radio station. She immediately hollered, "No Mommy! I want Rock -n- Roll!" That's my girl! So the rockin ricks has stuck, for the summer at least. I hope it's here to stay, because it will always remind me of their sweet innocence!

Cute things my kids say & do

Kaitlyn and her best friend had an "Olympics Day" at gymnastics. They all received cute medals on ribbons at the end of class. While we were driving home Kaitlyn's friend looked at the back of the medal and asked in a frustrated voice, "Why is EVERYTHING made in China?". Kaitlyn quickly replied, "We weren't. We were made by Jesus!"

I put gel in Caleb's hair before school to make it all spikey. When I was all done I told him, "You look nice dude." Kaitlyn was sitting right next to him, so she looked over at him and exclaimed, "Yeah! You look freakin nice!". It was the first time I'd ever heard my 5 year old use the word "freakin".

We had just finished reading together and were getting ready to have family prayer on Sunday night. Caleb was stretched out on the ground when Mike asked him to say the prayer. Caleb sat right up and said, "I didn't see that one comin'!" but immediately began to pray. Mike and I couldn't stop laughing, I mean how many 7 year old's actually say that?

Forgive me, but this one is about the mom not the kids. It was my turn to drive carpool tonight to acting class. I planned to hit the grocery store while the girls were acting their little hearts out. I got out of the car to go into Albertson's and just happened to look down at my feet. I was wearing my slippers! Not even cute little ones either, but my BIG, HUGE, FUZZY, BRIGHT BLUE slippers. Needless to say, I got lots of stares.

Today in church our whole family was sitting quietly (imagine that!) while they passed the sacrament. Caleb leaned over to Mike and asked, "What if I get called to Beijing?" meaning called on a mission. (It totally cracks me up when my kids spit out words like Beijing & Mesopotamia). Mike replied, "That would be cool son." Then Caleb leaned over to ask Mike another question. "In the Princess Bride, why do they call them Rodents of Unusual Size?" is what he asked. I looked at Mike at almost burst out laughing. From a mission in Beijing to ROUSes in 2 seconds flat. The kid cracks me up.

Kassidy came in from working in the garage with her dad to grab a pair of scissors. I asked her what they were for. She explained that all of their kites had really tangled strings so they were going to cut out the tangled part, and then reattach them to the kites. She headed back to the garage but then turned around to face me, put her hands out to emphasize the importance of her next comment, and said, "but don't tell the kids okay mom." The kids? Isn't she one of the kids? What in the world made her think she could grow up so darn fast without asking for my permission?

I was driving Kaitlyn home from dance today and we were listening to the radio. A commercial came on that ended with the song, "It takes two baby". Kaitlyn listened and then didn't miss a beat as she said with TOTAL Kaitlyn attitude, "no it doesn't, it just takes one". She's my real go-getter - so true to form she thinks she can do everything on her own.

The other day, Kassidy was eating a scone with honey butter on it. Caleb asked her "What is honey butter". Kassidy explained that it is honey mixed into butter. Caleb then fell down and exclaimed, "I think I'm in heaven! Honey & Butter at the same time!"

We have sayings in our house about the things that "Rickses do", such as, "Rickses keep their word" and "Rickses watch out for each other". The other day Kaitlyn didn't want to carry her laundry basket upstairs and put her clothes away in her drawers because she thought it was too hard. I looked at her and said, "Kaitlyn, Rickses can do hard things." She immediately yelled back at me, "NO THEY CAN'T!!!"

We were practicing the primary songs and the kids speaking parts for their primary program this coming Sunday. We were singing along to a CD with all of the songs on it. When the song "Called to Serve" came on I said "Ok, everyone stand up because this is one of mommy's favorites!" We were all standing and singing when I turned to look at Kassidy to see how she was doing with the words. She was singing the words perfectly as she did the "Macarana" dance to the "Called to Serve" music. It was quite hilarious!

I unlocked our bathroom door while Mike was showering, to get stuff to do Kaitlyn's hair. I told her to wait outside the bathroom in our room and give her daddy some privacy, 'cause little girls shouldn't see their daddies naked. After I had shut the bathroom door, she hollered at me from the other side in her cute squeaky voice, "But why do you get to see daddy naked mommy?"

I opened the door to welcome home the kids from school. I was wearing a t-shirt that I got from a Journey concert a few years ago with the words "Don't stop believing" written acrossed it. Kassidy read my shirt aloud and then looked at me with a sly grin and said, "That's just wonderful mom - don't you stop believing".

While watching the opening ceremonies to the 2008 Olympics
Caleb: Grandma, why are those men wearing dresses?
Grandma: 'cause it's the culture & custom of the country.
Caleb: Do you think they feel ridiculous?

Kaitlyn: Is there a bug on my back? (said to anyone around, about 20 times a day.)

Grandma: Caleb do you want a hamburger or chicken nuggets?
Caleb: Hamburger, 'cause some people call their private parts nuggets.

The Rockin Ricks