Seven and so Responsible

Tryn has been wanting to get her ears pierced for such a long time. Years. Which is saying something because she is only seven.

Steve and I were never opposed to ear piercing, we just...I don't know, wanted it to be special for the girls. Not just a, "Hey! It's Friday. That seems like a good enough reason to do something big like pierce your ears!" Haha!!

We have some good friends who use a rock/jar system for encouraging good behavior. You have one jar filled with rocks, in our case 34 (not sure why it was such a random number), and one empty jar. We told Tryn that each day that her stuff was cleaned up in her room she could take one rock from the full jar and move it to the empty jar. If she didn't clean her room that day then one rock would be taken out of the goal jar and put back into the first jar.

We thought it would take her 6-8 weeks or more to get her ears pierced. It took her 34 days. Not once did we have to put a rock back into the first jar.

This girl was serious about wanting her ears pierced.

I am so proud of her. I don't think she gets her dedication from me. I definitely would have skipped a few days. :)

Of course, I had to take pictures. Although Steve took this picture of the pre-piercing excitement and I am not sure what Kye is doing here...using Superman as a microphone? Haha! It makes me laugh though. 

Picking out the earrings!!

 The boys watching ever so carefully.

Getting a little nervous, although there is just ear cleaning going on here. There are no pictures of the actual piercing moments. I was doing mom things, making concentrated eye contact, and making sure we weren't going to have a meltdown. She did great though. She didn't even cry! 

First look at the new earrings!!

 Learning how to take care of everything with some help from daddy.

 And what was Berlin doing this whole time? Exploring every item in the entire store and staying away from Tryn because watching made her nervous. :)

I am so proud of you Trynie!!

The Belated Man Child Update

Kyeson is one lucky dude, everybody loves him. Adores him actually. Even his big sisters. Tryn and Berlin are constantly saying, "Oh, he's so cute! Kye is the cutest boy in the whole world. Don't you just think he is the cutest?!"

Well, yes, I do think he is the cutest boy in the world.

What's new with Kyeson? Hm. Well, instead of just existing as a member of this family, I would say that Kye is now old enough and developing enough to be adding his own personality and dynamics to The Haines Family unit. He has his own opinions, he is starting to like and dislike certain things. Things that Kyeson loves are trucks, emergency vehicles (especially the noise of the sirens), watching the helicopter land at the hospital across the way, playing outside, the moon, Superman, animals, the Zoo, reading books, Curious George, going on walks, the park, the beach, playing with his sisters, singing, 4-wheelers, loading up his pockets with rocks, playing instruments, and his dad. He loves his dad a lot. Favorite foods include Greek yogurt with honey, berries, toast, peanut butter sandwiches, Oatmeal Squares cereal, and sausage. Although he will eat other things, those are the main foods he will eat on a regular basis. Everything else is eaten based on whether or not he is the mood, which he is not a lot of the time. 

Things that Kyeson dislikes are things like feeling left out, vegetables in general, dinnertime (not kidding, he rarely ever eats dinner), being sick (my worst sicky for sure), and loud noises. If you are too loud he will put his little finger up to his lips and tell you, "Shhh." The 4th of July was classic. He sat in my lap during the fireworks and wouldn't let me take my hands off of his ears, not even to scratch my nose. He almost fell asleep watching the fireworks with my hands pressed up against his ears. He did then fall asleep in his carseat with his own hands pressed to his ears...while there were no fireworks going anymore. Haha!

Kye doesn't talk much yet, though he seems to get his point/wishes/desires across when he needs to. He has gone from having just Mr. Monkey, who he has now named OoAh (monkey sound), and has adopted a Pound Puppy and Kitty that my mom saved from my childhood. He loves animals so much that as soon as he saw this 20 year old little kitty he promptly claimed it as his own and called her Meow Meow. The Puppy doesn't have a name yet.

Something that Kyeson is famous for in our family is expressing his excitement over things. This is what happens: We will be playing outside and suddenly Kyeson will notice the moon. Or hear a siren. Or...whatever. Then it's, "MA!!!! AHHHHH!!!" [Insert loudest and highest pitch scream you can imagine a two year old little boy making.] This is how he expresses excitement about everything. Like we will be in Target and he sees a toy that he recognizes, so in the middle of Target, "AAHHHHHHH!! Ma, Ma, AHHHH!!!!" Or we see a monkey at the zoo, "AAAHHH!!!! OoAH!! Da, DA, DADA!! ZOO!" Totally embarrassing sometimes but one of my most favorite things ever.  Because he doesn't talk much he especially loves if he feels like he is having a conversation with you - which, because he still doesn't like people that he doesn't know well, only happens usually with me and Steve - but he gets so serious and earnest if he feels like he is communicating at our level. So cute. 

Some of my favorite Kyeson words:
Guitar - Gee
Tryn - TT
Berlin - B
Kyeson - KyeKye
Love - Sus (not sure how that came to be, but that's how he says it)
I love you - Eye-eye-oo.
Thank you - Taint too
Oh, and if you ask him who Superman is he puts his little fists up in the air and sings the first few notes of the Superman theme song, "Da, da, daaaa, da, dadadaDA!" I taught him that. He will actually try to sing and hum tunes more than he will try to say new words. 

He still uses signs as a regular part of his communication too, which is so helpful. Kye is also super interested in all things bathroom right now too, so we are thinking about potty training. However, I am not sure if I am ready for that yet because I don't think it is going to be an easy process. We might wait awhile...can't decide.  :)

Dear Kyeson,
I know this is a little late, but Happy Birthday my dear sweet boy. I can't believe that my baby is two and I really don't have a baby anymore! You are getting to be such a big boy. I am so glad that you are a part of our family, you bring so much joy and life to our household and I can't imagine life without you. You are my special boy and I love experiencing the world through your eyes, it's a pretty great world from your view. You are my best boy and I am so thankful for you. I can't wait to see how you grow and change over this next year.

Love, Mama

Pictures of the Birthday Boy

 Okay, so this is a lot of pictures from Kye's birthday. But it's only a few out of the 150 that I took, so at least I didn't post 150. You're welcome.

 Kyeson was having a hard time getting his presents open, wrapping paper is confusing you know. So he started ripping the wrapping paper apart with his teeth. Cute? Oh, so cute.

 Kyeson's room is Superman themed with vintage Superman comic books in frames, but this was his first Superman action figure. When I ask Kye what Superman says he puts one of his little fists in the air and starts singing the theme song, "Da, da-da-daaaaa!"

 My creative Trynie made Kyeson an alligator out of his present refuse for this birthday.

 Superman cake, of course.

 "I'm embarassed! Don't look at me!"

 Cheese face! :)

 Of course, the best way to eat cake is with your hands. Surprised you didn't know that.

I think now that Kye is two I officially don't have a baby in my house anymore, which is so bittersweet. Two is such a great age though. One of my favorite ages. I'm definitely looking forward to this next year and all the changes that Kye will make during it. Of course, Kye will also probably have to tell me to stop treating him like my baby when he is 30 years old, but...bye-bye little baby. :)

The Little Man Child Turned Two!

Yup. Kye turned 2 almost a whole month ago. In June I gave myself a deadline of the end of June to blog about his birthday. Now it's July 11th and at the end of June I gave myself a deadline of July 12th (exactly one month after the birthday) to get this blog done. Barely made it. Whoops! 

Okay, but let's be honest, summer is FINALLY here and who wants to sit around typing on a computer more than we have to when we can finally be outside!!!!! Kyeson and I don't, that's for sure. We love to be outside right now.

Kyeson's birthday was really fun and relaxed. Steve and I decided not to have a party for him because he doesn't like people. Haha!! I'm only kind of kidding. Kye still doesn't really like to feel "out of his comfort zone" and lots of people bigger than him wandering around his house for no apparent reason makes him feel uncomfortable. When he is uncomfortable there is lots of crying and whining. And who wants to make a boy cry unnecessarily on his birthday? Not these parents.

It took Kye almost two hours to open his presents because he was so intent on playing with each one as he opened it. He especially loved his new matchbox cars and Superman action figure (which Steve insisted that Kye must have, and since Kye lives with Superman, ahem, Steve, who can argue with that?)

Then we just played with birthday presents and played outside all day and ate Kye's favorite, sausage pizza from Papa John's, for dinner. We even got out the kiddy pool, even though it was technically not hot on June 12th. I'm pretty sure he thought it was a fantabulous birthday. Yes, fantabulous is a word, I promise. :)

I have just these few iPhone pictures right now, but update on the boy and more pictures to follow!

Happy Birthday Trynica!

Trynie!!

Oh my. You are SEVEN! My first baby turned 7, I can hardly believe it!

I love having you in my life! You are such a good kid. I guess you are like daddy when he was little, you like to follow the rules and don't like to get in trouble. But you are also like me, we both like to write and do artistic and crafty things. In fact, that's what you spend the majority of your free time doing. You don't color, you write books. You tell stories. We have stacks and stacks of books that you have written and illustrated yourself - and you always tell such creative stories. You even make books for other people, you are so sweet and thoughtful.

One of my favorite things about you is that you like to make people laugh, and that you love to laugh too. Recently you are really into trying out new jokes and funny lines, it's hilarious. I also love that you are such a sweet and helpful big sister. Kyeson, who calls you T-t, totally adores you and loves to play with you, so I think that is pretty good evidence of how great of a big sister you are.You are quiet and sensitive, but strong and very brave too. If you decide you want to do something you will try and try until you make it happen, which I guess is also something you get from me. You love making good friends, and love having friends. You love to play with friends, but you also like to just be by yourself because you just like to have alone time. You are a wonderful person and I am so thankful to have you as my daughter.

For your birthday this year we went camping! Daddy and I tucked away all your presents into the van and so you were really surprised when you woke up on your birthday that you still got to have your presents even though we were camping. What is awesome about you is that we had told you that we might not have room to bring your presents with us and you were fine with it! I thought that was very mature of you. I think your favorite present was your new bike. You rode it all over the campground, you even went out of sight from us, which made you seem like such a big girl. Your new thing that you are talking about is that you want to get your ears pierced now that you are 7 because you remember the one time last year that daddy told you that you could get your ears pierced some time after you turned seven. You have a very good memory. :)

You are treasured and love ever so dearly by Daddy and me.

Love,
Mom


The questions we asked you.

Favorite color: Red

Favorite food: Strawberries

Favorite dessert: Chocolate cake

Favorite thing to do: Play with Lili

Favorite game: Brave video game

Favorite toy: Sophie (stuffed dog)

Favorite movie: Brave

Favorite song: Any song by Taylor Swift

Growing Up

Tryn is turning 7 next week. Oh my goodness. Most days I feel like I am not old enough to have a 7 year old. I mean, really, it's easy to have babies who don't have many serious thoughts for themselves. They don't ask questions like, "How can Jesus be in every persons heart when he is only one person?" WELL. How am I supposed to explain the Trinity to a 7 year old when I don't fully understand it myself?!

Often I get nervous about my kids getting older. I don't know how to have older kids, and thinking about them being older and the things that I might have to deal with...well, then I just want them to stay the age they are right now and never grow up.

And then I realize other things about them getting older. Like a friend recently posted on Facebook about going on a 12 mile run with her son and I thought that it will be so much fun if I can go on runs with my kids someday. I can't wait for that...but they will need to be older first. And, honestly, I am excited about having girls and the possibilities of mother/daughter trips and going shopping for the perfect outfit together. But they need to get older first.

Then there are moments like church the other night. Tryn's program was canceled and so she was with me the entire service. Steve, of course, was leading worship and he had picked a song that we listen to regularly around here. It's called I Am Set Free by All Sons and Daughters.

I Am Set Free

You broke my chains of sin and shame and you covered me with grace.
You mend my life with your holy fire
You cover me with grace.
You are the hand that reaches out to save

I am set free oh oh oh oh
It is for freedom that i am set free.

And yes Lord, we are grateful for Your Grace and for Your Love.

You are the hand that reaches out to save.

I am set free oh oh oh oh
It is for freedom that i am set free

It was a newer song for most everyone at church and so people were not singing out, but Tryn and I listen to this song a lot. As a hush settled over the sanctuary because of the unfamiliar song I noticed Tryn standing next to me. I was holding her hand but her eyes were straight forward and hers was the only other voice I could hear besides mine. Just her and me singing along with the musicians, "I am set free oh oh oh oh..." She was singing with all her heart in a strong, pure, clear voice. It was beautiful. Because she is older we were able to stand and sing to Jesus together in a way that we never have before.

And I realized I am thankful and excited that she is growing up because she is becoming beautiful in a whole new way. I can't wait for what will come next. Bring on boys, crushes, dating, and the teenage years if it means we also get to have more moments like we did Sunday night, because times like that...those are priceless.

Pictures of the Kids!

I was realizing lately that I haven't posted pictures of my kids on my blog for an embarrassingly long amount of time. Whoops. I didn't actually even take these, I came across them on my camera tonight while I was editing for a client. They are hilarious. These next three are even blurry, but you'll understand why I posted them...and they are action shots after all. :)

And then there is Kye, playing with the girls. Story of his life. He needs some more little guy friends. Haha!

So, that's all. Just wanted to post some kiddo pictures for the mom's and grandma's. And me. :)