Things I often wonder about

1. Why do dresses they make for five year old girls look like they are for women in their twenties? Who really wants their five year old to look like she is twenty? I don't.

2. Why is it so difficult to grow grass in the shaded parts of my yard? We've bought the shade seed. It just doesn't grow.

3. Will education ever be valued the way it ought to be by people in society that are not in the field of education? For that matter, will those people ever really understand education?

4. Would it make more sense for me to stop following my kids around every moment and start picking up everything they get out after they go to bed? On that note, is it even possible to have a clean house when you have children?

5. Why do there have to be natural disasters? I really hate tornadoes...and the threat of tornadoes..and that there is something labeled "tornado season." Because in my mind I know it's not at all going to be like in The Wizard of Oz where your house is just spinning around. It's devastating.

6. Is there tornado insurance? Or is that just automatic with home owners insurance?

7. Why do people eat gross things? Like pickles. And pork rinds. I watched two episodes of "How Things are Made" on the history channel about those two things. If you like either of those things, don't watch those two episodes.

8. Space. I bet it's really cold out there. And lonely. And quiet.

9. Why are children so free to express themselves when they are younger but not as they get older? Who, or what, is responsible for stifling their creative expressions?

10. How does Disney find so many kids that are the triple threat-act, sing, and dance? These kids are just crawling out of the wood work. Maybe Kaitlyn is the next big thing...

Summer fun for kids

Here is a fun list of things that we like to do during the summer to keep our kids entertained and busy.  These are very inexpensive activities and so much fun!  We have gotten to most of these this summer.  I'm sure by the end of the summer we will have done them all!

1.  Go bowling.  Check out www.kidsblowfree.com to find the free bowling program in your state.  We participated in this last year too.  You get two free bowling games per child every day!

2.  Splash park.  There are tons of splash parks around our area that are free and the kids love.

3.  YMCA.  Check our your local YMCA for kids programs and outdoor fun.  Our YMCA has two amazing outdoor pools and splash park area that we enjoy almost daily.

4.  Make crayons.  We bought this Crayola crayon maker at Target for $15.  It is a lot of fun for the kids to create and mix colors to make their own crayons.  It is so simple and safe!

5.  Paint.  I bought a pack of ten colors of paint for the girls.  They create lots of pictures to hang on the refrigerator.  Kinsey even has one framed and hanging in their room!

6.  IMAX $1 movie.  The IMAX theater near our house plays $1 movies during the morning/afternoon.  The kids love going and seeing a movie at the theater.   I'm pretty sure that most theaters offer $1 or free movies for kids during the day.

7. Play-Doh.  So easy and keeps them entertained for a long time!  My kids could sit and play for an hour with this.  

                                                        

8.  Play outside.  Kids definitely love to be outside during the summer.  We picked up this pool for $15.  Can't beat that and they love it!  We throw all of their bathtub toys in it and let them go!

                                                    

9.  Library.  Our kids love new books.  The libraries, and Barns and Noble, always do free story time.  Here they have unlimited access to all of their favorites.  

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer as much as we are!

I promised I wouldn't photo shop him naked

I have spent the past three days at a workshop with some pretty fabulous people.  The workshop was all about Reading Workshop with Frank Serafini.  If you don't know Frank, basically all you need to know is that he is amazing.  Aside from keeping us entertained from 8:30-3:30 three days in a row, which is an extremely long time when you are sitting and listening, he had so many practical teaching methods to offer.  I highly recommend if you teach reading workshop to check out his site www.frankserafini.com to find great book lists, lessons, and books written by him.  Truly, it was one of the best workshops I have ever been to!

Of course, it wouldn't be a Kacina post if something embarrassing or out of the ordinary didn't happen.  So I won't disappoint all of you.  On the last day of the workshop, I told Julie how much I wanted to get a picture with Frank.  I mean he is a famous author of children's books and professional books and has lots of articles published about children's literature.   Who the heck wouldn't want their picture with him? 

We were sitting at our table during a break and he was just hanging out at the front.  Julie told me to go up and ask him but I wouldn't because I thought that would sound like a really weird request (obviously I prefer taking pictures of people when they don't know I'm taking one of them like my lawn mowing guy because that is much less weird).  I kind of put the idea out of my head as we began to talk about something unrelated.  Within about five minutes Frank was back around our table talking to the Barns and Noble representative behind us.  I turned and looked and accidentally made direct eye contact, basically inviting him over to chat.  I froze like a deer in headlights and my mind went completely blank.  I saw him say hi and move toward us like he was going to engage in conversation with us and everything professional that I would have talked to him about left my brain.  Instead, after a few seconds of awkward silence, I blurted out that I wanted my picture with him.  I felt the need to explain why and began babbling about blogging.  

He was so nice and told me he would oblige as long as I didn't photo shop him naked.  I promised I wouldn't do that, mostly because I don't have photo shop and don't know how.  Then he told me to send him my blog and he would TWEET it out.  That's right.  He wants to tweet my blog.  I'm pretty sure that qualifies as being somewhat famous.  Thank you Dr. Frank Serafini, thank you.  

A crafty thank you

After Kinsey's party yesterday, I decided that I was going to be on top of the thank you's and get them done right away.  Since I had all day today, that is what I worked on.  I originally started creating something on regular printer paper and quickly realized that was not going to be good enough for me.  I needed a full on craft project and printer paper does not suffice as a craft project.

I found this box that had a bunch of wedding invitation kits and ribbon that I've had for about four years now waiting for me to be creative with.  In the box were a heck of a lot of small blank cards and envelopes.  Perfect for a project!  With a quick trip into Microsoft Word, a hole punch, and some ribbon...the thank yous are done!   

Disclaimer:  By looking at these pictures you are possibly ruining your chances of being surprised if you ever get a thank you from the Pfeiffer family.  Because I had so much fun making these, I will probably be thanking a lot of people from now on, not that I didn't before.  Plus, I have four wedding kits of cards to use up (about 400 cards)!  

Just a bunch of old women

This weekend was busy, to say the least.  On Saturday I went to a baby shower for a good friend of mine from college.  I quickly realized how much I was out of the baby loop when we played a game of scrambled baby words and I didn't know any of them!  I had to cheat off Emma's paper.  It got even worse when Megan started opening gifts and I had to ask Emma what some of those things were.  Have baby essentials really changed that much in four and a half years?
Of course we had to have the quintessential photo of friends from Manchester.  We took about 30 pictures before finally getting this one.  The 29 previous ones Emily, the one peeking out on the side, told us we looked like a bunch of old women posing for a picture.  It was a great shower and I had so much fun spending time with everyone!  I can't wait until baby Luckey arrives!  Congratulations again Megan and Joel!  

Then on Sunday we had Kinsey's birthday party in Fort Wayne.  I can't believe that she is 6!  It was so nice to see all of our family and friends.  Thank you everyone who was able to come and celebrate with us!  We had a blast jumping in the bounce place, slipping on the slip-n-slide, having a cookout, and playing in the pool!  Thank you so much to my dad and Dede for letting us over run their house with kids for the day! And thank you to my mom, dad, and Dede for helping us get everything prepared and set up. You guys are the best! It was wonderful.  Happy 6th birthday Kinsey!

Packing for vacation

Last night I packed the girls suitcase.  I did such a great job laying out six outfits, jammies, underwear, and all other necessities...or so I thought.  I got everything packed neatly into their bag and went to bed.  This morning Kaitlyn came in and woke me up to ask if she could put her giraffe in the suitcase too.  Of course I said yes.  I told her to just put it on top of the suitcase because I could see her pulling out every last piece of clothing that I carefully packed to find just the right resting place for her giraffe in there.  Shortly after that Kinsey entered and asked if she could pack her blanket and elephant.  I of course said yes as these are things they normally take with them on trips.  I gave her the same instructions to just put it on top of the suitcase.  However, when I went in the room I found a little more than a giraffe, blanket, and an elephant.  I found all of this

I guess it's a good thing I told them to put it on top of the suitcase because all of that would have never fit inside.  My guess is that they really would have taken out all of the clothes to make all of this stuff fit.  Priorities of kids!  

This is why I hate mowing the grass

Since I am off for the summer with nothing to do extremely busy at home with the girls, which is a full time job, I picked up most all of the house hold chores. Including mowing. Yes, me! The one who hates being outside unless it involves the pool. I am doing all of the mowing at the Pfeiffer residence. And, well frankly, it stinks.
Of course we had to buy a mower that bags the grass because it looks so much nicer, which I totally appreciate when I am done and the girls are playing in the water and don't have grass all over them, tracking it in the house. That I like. Bagging it though, stinks too. I am sure that my neighbors get a real kick out of me when I mow the grass. I practically have to wrangle the lawn bag and the grass bagger to get the grass in there so it doesn't go all over, which it usually does anyway despite my valiant efforts.
Yesterday I really gave my viewers a show while I was mowing. As I was mowing along the side of the house, I moved the thing that catches water. I saw something move but I thought it was a frog so I was really careful not to run over it. A few seconds later I see something dart across in front of the mower and into my neighbors yard. As I turned my head I realized that it most certainly was not a frog. It was a mouse! A small, gross, black mouse! It dug a little hole in their yard and disappeared. I screamed so loud that the I'm sure everyone heard me. I let go of the mower and when I released the handle it stopped the motor. Instead of gathering myself in an adult way, I jumped in circles, waving my hands in a motion that looked like jazz hands, and screaming for about three minutes. I'm not quite sure what I thought that would accomplish other than me looking like a total idiot because anyone watching me would not have seen the mouse but just that I totally spazzed out for no apparent reason.
I would like to tell you that this behavior is not typical when I mow the grass but it is. Especially when I see bees. I always think they are going to get so mad at me when I mow over them, so I spaz out in the same manner when they fly close to me. So mowing the grass...really stinks for me.
I really want one of those industrial mowers that are huge and mow like five rows to my one. Kind of like this one that I took a picture of while the men were mowing around the pond beyond our yard line. I think I know I looked like a real creeper trying to take a picture from my sliding glass door at the person outside. I was trying to be sly but he saw me take a picture of him. I bet I'll hear from the association for stalking or something. I really didn't want him in the picture, just his nice mower.  I wonder if he spazzes out when he mows sometimes?

Allergic to mosquitoes?

I don't know that I've ever shared the exciting adventures Kinsey has with allergies before. She has horrible skin allergies and we think she is allergic to almost everything she touches. She will randomly break out in hives, often breaks out in small red bumps, breaks out in small whitish bumps sometimes, but the worst is when she gets bitten by bugs.
Last summer when she was playing on the slip-n-slide at my moms, she broke out in blisters. I thought she had chicken pox! She can't try on clothes that have not been washed first or she will break out, if she sits in grass or dirt she will break out, all kinds of rules and precautions we are learning we have to take with her.
This past weekend she went to a graduation party that was outside and got bitten by mosquitoes on her arms and back. When I first noticed them, they just looked like regular bites. The next day they were swollen, blistered, and huge! I put some cortisone cream on them hoping it would take them down but of course it didn't. I called the doctor today (probably sounded like one of those hysterical mothers who thinks everything is wrong with their child) and asked if it is possible to be allergic to mosquitoes (I felt like this was a ridiculous question when I asked it). I described what they looked like and she told me to bring her in right away. Of course, one of the bites was infected and the size of a half dollar. The others all had blisters on them and had popped. Very gross!
Sure enough, the doctor said she thinks she is allergic to the saliva a mosquito injects when they bite. She told us we need to take her to the allergist to get allergy testing done because she has so many break outs that we can't always pin point to anything in particular.
She is on an antibiotic for the infections and an antihistamine. Hopefully this will bring her some relief! Now I can't wait to get her to the allergist to see what in the heck she is so allergic to that causes her to break out all the time!

Dirty little secret

Did you know that you can read about how to wash just about anything? I found a site, while I was searching for the proper way to wash bathing suits, that tells you how to wash your clothes.

As I scrolled through the list of hundreds of things I have never even heard of, I clicked on the link "How to wash clothes." There it was. Plain as day. Rebecca, who I can only assume is an expert clothes washer, stated that you have to sort all of your clothes into darks, whites, reds, towels, special fabrics, colors, and wash them all separately.

I think I might email Rebecca and ask her what qualifies her to post directions for washing clothes. She didn't even give any other options (like my way) on how to do it. Given that I've had no color catastrophes, I think that qualifies me to tell people how to wash clothes in a much easier, simpler way.

I know it must be shocking to those of you who know me as a compulsively organized person to learn that I have a dirty little secret. But it's true, I do not color sort my clothes to wash them. That's right. No color sorting what so ever. Darks with lights, whites with colors, reds with whatever. What's the big deal? Our clothes are always clean and smell wonderful. Why do I need to take the time to sort them? I would like Rebecca from www.howtocleanstuff.net to answer why it is imperative that the clothes be sorted? In all my years of doing my own laundry I have never had a problem (maybe one time) but if you figured the ratio of mishaps to non-catastrophic loads, I'm sure it's pretty amazing!

The girls room is done ... almost

I know that the pictures that follow don't look like a lot of work, but let me tell you...it was. I finally hung the shelves above the dresser that have the three books that were my color inspiration for the girls' room. The shelves...a pain in the neck to hang. I'm sure it could have gone smoother but I didn't like the materials that came with them to hang. After I found the anchors and screws that I liked best for the project, it was still a hassle because I didn't line them up right. But it finally came together.


Next were the girls' names. I was really debating whether or not to do this because I know that everyone is doing this but Kinsey and Kaitlyn really wanted them up. I bought the letters and painted them pink. Painting them was a fun project...really easy too.



I had this really cool shelf in the girls room before we moved but it was a dark stain that didn't really go with their room. I asked my mom if she wanted it and she told me to use it but just paint it white. So then came another painting task. This one not so fun. Painting this shelf was horrible and I hated every minute of it. I was so glad when I finally finished. We went to Hobby Lobby (easily one of my favorite places on Earth) to pick up some finishing touches for the shelf decor. My favorite is the jar of ribbons :)


I really like the idea of adding kids art to their room. The pieces of art that I added came from Kinsey (middle) and two of my students. And yes, these are Picasso pieces. On the last day of school when I was passing them back, I asked if anyone would be willing to donate their Picasso's to my interior decorating and all of them did so I had lots to choose from. I still have about 20 Picasso paintings left!


The last things left for this room is paint (light purple) and their beds. I know what you are thinking...why would you put everything up before painting? That has an easy answer-I am impatient. We are not painting until the first of next year after we have our 11 month inspection to fix all of areas where the house has settled and we don't want to repaint everything after they do that.

Happy Saturday!

The tooth fairy pays her first visit

Last night when Kinsey was getting ready for bed, she put her tooth in a baggie and put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy. We explained that she would probably leave a special coin in its place.
After we get everyone settled down and in bed, Kaitlyn starts crying. A lot of crying. She came out of her bedroom and told us, through lots of tears and sobs, that she wanted to leave a tooth under her pillow so she could get a special coin too. Jason asked if she wanted him to pull one out for her. She stood momentarily, as if contemplating his offer, and then continued to cry some more.
Jason and I reassured her that when she is a little bit older, she will lose teeth and be visited by the tooth fairy. Unfortunately, that wasn't what she wanted to hear. We sent her back to bed and hear Kinsey console her with this, "Kaitlyn, if you keep crying, you will probably scare the tooth fairy away and none of us will get a special coin."
She stopped crying after that bit of advice.

(The tooth fairy left Kinsey a special $1.00 gold coin)

And it's gone

Kinsey lost her first tooth today. The dentist told us it was loose, but we really haven't been paying much attention to it. Kinsey never even mentioned that she noticed it being loose. Today while she was playing, it just fell out. She is so pumped!

The one right next to it is loose too. Maybe we will pay more attention to that one! Does anyone know the going rate that the tooth fairy is leaving now days?

This is what we do between rain clouds

blow bubbles in the back yard...








Enjoy your rainy days!