After Kylee found her big bed surprise, we all started getting ready for church. While Steve and I were in our bathroom, Kylee came in and said she felt taller. Steve told her that since she was bigger now we better get some new pictures of her. Surprisingly, she seemed to be OK with that.
After church was over and Kylee had opened her presents, Steve mentioned the picture-taking idea again and she didn't seem as interested this time. She was enjoying her presents by then. I told her we didn't have any pictures of her as a six-year old and Steve said he wanted to take her picture in her favorite cardigan (that she wears every Sunday). Happily, she agreed to let Steve take some photos. She also agreed to help Livy smile for some pictures too.
Steve and I decided to make a new bedroom as a birthday surprise for Kylee. We called the secret plans "Project 61" (6 as in June and 1 as in the first) so that the kids wouldn't know what we were talking about. Every once in awhile Cody would say, "I keep hearing Project 61 this and Project 61 that. What in the world are you guys talking about?"
All of Steve's "spare time" during the three weeks leading up to her birthday was spent working on building her a bed and painting it. He had never made a bed before and he did an amazing job.
The basement was off-limits for all three kids. Kylee would see Steve come home from Lowe's and haul lumber down the stairs; she could hear saws, hammers, and sanders; and she saw Steve come upstairs with paint-covered hands and clothes. Every day she would ask, "what could he be making out of wood?"
The night before Kylee's birthday the kids had a birthday sleepover in the other room. Once the kids were asleep, Steve hauled the headboard, footboard, and frame up the stairs and put it together (this thing weighs at least 150-200 pounds). We also bought her a new mattress and a duvet and I made some fun pillows to make the bed feel extra special for her (although I hate to cover up the beautiful headboard).
We thought it might be fun to put her in the bed while she was sleeping so that she would wake up in it, but I was worried about her falling off since she's used to sleeping a lot lower to the ground. Concussions don't make very good birthday surprises. So, instead we just closed the door and waited until she woke up. Cody was the first one to wake and he saw the bed when he went in the room to get his scriptures. He came into our room wide-eyed and whispered, "I accidentally saw the surprise." It was a good thing Cody didn't know about it any sooner because he had ants in his pants waiting for the girls to wake up.
Here is a video of Kylee seeing the bed for the first time. I think it's funny that she's trying not to smile and then she asks, "what is it?"
There are a few more fun changes coming up for the girls' room that we will hopefully finish in time for Livy's birthday next week. It was kind of one big present to both of them to make a fun room.
My sister, Brooke, is a talented graphic designer and has a fun style. When she found out about Project 61 she offered to help make some custom art for their room. What a perfect present!!
The second we got home from church Kylee was ready to open the rest of her presents.
FROZEN on Blu-ray from Grandma Tammy and Grandpa Airplane. It was the first movie Kylee saw in theaters (with Grandma Tammy) and both Livy and Kylee LOVE this movie. They are always pretending to be Elsa and Anna.
Fashion notebook also from Grandma Tammy and Grandpa Airplane.
Livy was excited too and tried to "help" Kylee open her presents. Kylee wasn't a fan of that at all. Luckily, Liv doesn't have to wait very long to have her own day.
Grandpa Dean and Grandma Ellen gave Kylee a playdough ice cream machine. The kids spent the next two hours playing with it while Steve and I finished decorating the cake.
Livy caught on really fast after the first nibble that this wasn't real ice cream. Love that face.
We invited the Ladle family over for cake and ice cream and we were grateful they were willing to help us eat it up. This is the first cake of the birthday season and we have to pace ourselves.
Kylee wanted a Frozen cake (as in the movie) so we invented the blue velvet cheesecake cake. That's right. It was blue velvet, not red (basically red velvet with blue coloring instead of red). So there was a layer of blue velvet, then cheesecake, then another layer of cake. It turned out pretty good!
The very best part of the day was when Kylee was skyping with Grandma Tammy and grandma said, "Happy birthday, Kylee. I hope you feel special today."
Today I’m talking about how families are blessed when they
follow the prophet. This is a story about when my dad was three years old:
One day my dad asked his mom why
their family wasn’t reading the scriptures every day if the prophet had asked
them to. From then on they read the scriptures together every day. Their family
was, and continues to be, blessed for their obedience to the Lord.
Some of the things that families can do to follow the
prophet are: reading scriptures together, having FHE, praying, and being kind
and helpful. In the April 2014 General Conference Pres. Monson said:
“Some of our greatest opportunities
to demonstrate our love will be within the walls of our own homes.”
Two of my ancestors, John Chapman Duncan and his wife, Teresa Farrell, were
Mormon pioneers that traveled west. The prophet asked them to settle a new area
in Utah and they went obediently. When they first arrived they had to live in a
dugout until they could build a home. The dugout had a dirt floor, dirt ceiling,
and dirt walls. Once their house was built, they were able to move in. On their
firstnight in their new house there was a huge rainstorm. In the
morning they realized that the rain had caused the nearby creek to rise and the
dugout had caved in and washed away. Because they were obedient and doing what
was right the Lord was able to bless and protect their family.
I know that as we follow the prophet we become spiritually
and physically safe and we are greatly blessed.
On one of their days off, the kids gathered sticks from the forest behind our house and made a campsite. They pretended they were cooking ribs on their teepee campfire while I did yard work.
The kids earned an ice cream party by filling this jar with 300 pom poms. In order to put a pom pom in the jar they had to say, "I'd love to!" any time we asked them to do something. It only took them one week to do it and they finished on Mother's Day! That was an awesome present!
On Mother's Day I got up, took a shower, and came back to my room to find this fun surprise. A "poster" from Cody and Kylee (made with a donation bag from the recycle bin and junk mail envelopes they had collected). They had taped it on my wall above my bed. The envelopes say "Happy - Mother's - Day - From Cody and Kylee and the little blue sticky note says "Happy Mother's Day We wish you a good time xoxo".
Kylee made a poem at school for me...
My Mom Is...
My mom is awesome at cooking
My mom is great at helping me
My mom is very good at making me happy
But best of all, I like her the best
My mom is the greatest of all
Love, Kylee
And Cody made this for me at school. It's two hands that stretch out and in the middle it says "I love you this much x infinity". It was supposed to say "I love you this much" but he told me that that wasn't enough so he added the "times infinity"
Each finger has something he is grateful for about me: Being helpful to our family, letting me do things on my own, being awesome, helping me when I'm sick, loving me.
The other hand says: giving me water, buying me clothes, providing me with food, helping me with my homework, giving me shelter.
At the end of May the kids had Field Day at school where they get to spend the whole day outside doing relays and games. I volunteered at one of the stations with a friend. The kids ran non-stop and had a blast. I was glad that Livy could play at her friend, Henry's, house so that I could have fun with them too.
One Sunday we grilled burgers. Steve put the girls on the railing between our deck and Miss Barbara's and they had a good time talking to her while Steve and I prepared dinner.
These girls love our neighbor and love to talk to her any chance they get.
This weekend we're taking a quick trip to Kirtland and then birthday season officially begins at our house. Better go so I can get ready!
