Kate the Great Turns 4

Kate insisted on a "Tiana" (Princess And The Frog) birthday party this year. We kept it pretty low-key, but she was THRILLED. That is one of my favorite things about Kate the Great... she gets so excited about little things and is so expressive! The Ethingtons came up and we had a great southern meal to go with the whole New Orleans-y theme. Mitch and Matt served their missions in the South so it was right up their alley. We had jambalaya, baked mac and cheese, and biscuits. Of course Kate wanted cupcakes. She was so cute about her party and presents. I cannot believe she is already 4! Love my little spunky girl!

 

First Things First

I haven't posted for awhile because I got a new phone and I pretty much do anything online on that now. It is inconvenient to text an entire blog post so I have been putting it off. That is my excuse. I have several things to catch up on, including my batch of seriously yummy sugar cookies (hooray!), but I need to start with my own journaling. I need to do a Year In Review type post for my kids. These are the posts I look back on and think, "How did I forget that Marin used to say that?" But I forget so much. Here is what I don't want to forget:

Marin:
* Loving school, loving reading, loving math, loving her darling teacher Ms. Nielson (who also has red hair)
* Tries to use the vocab words she learns in school in everyday conversation. Like the other day when I was loading the dishwasher she snuck up behind me and yelled "Boo!" Then she said, "Mom, that was sure sly, wasn't it?" "Sly" being the new vocab word they learned that day ha ha. 
* Also likes to use big words. The other day she said she couldn't keep doing her homework because "her hands were just desecrated." 
* Started piano lessons and is plugging along, enjoying it so far, LOVES her teacher (so do I)
* Still can't stand lotion or chapstick, or other people's runny noses, or toothpaste, or messiness in general
* Still gets excited over small things
* Had a blast with our Christmas Elf on the Shelf
* Loves to leave notes for family members under our pillows
* After I bore my testimony in church one Sunday she passed me a note that said, "Good job on your tok"
* Loves school lunch. I get a play by play of her meal as part of our after school low-down chat.
* Has lost EIGHT teeth.
* Takes care of Andrew and is so sweet to him all the time
* Is a great little skier 
* Learned to swim without floaties this year and spent lots of time swimming in the lake this summer
* Playing quite well with Kate and Andrew most of the time
* Is growing up to be polite, sweet, kind, considerate, and we love her lots!

Kate:
* When anyone asks what her name is she says, "Kate-a-great"
* Loves to play pretend, especially make "cookies" for everyone with her pretend kitchen
* Loves to make real cookies and brownies with me and LOVES to lick the beaters and bowls
* Her obsession with all things Toy Story is finally starting to die down. But she just got some Jessie red glitter boots and a hat from my parents for Christmas and has worn them non-stop since.
* She still will not wear clothes indoors. When we get home she promptly strips down to her panties.
* She still loves her blankie and to snuggle
* She loves to dance and has some sweet moves that have been well-documented on camera (ha ha, just wait until she's a teenager, I will have some major leverage)
* Her cousin Spencer is her best friend
* She says great prayers, and tells everyone else what to say while they are praying
* We went to the Brigham City Temple open house and for month after that she made everyone say "Thanks for the temple" in our prayers
* She will be a Sunbeam this week in primary
* She is surprisingly well-behaved in her various classes
* Started gymnastics this year and loves it! She compliments her teacher quite often on her "pretty hair, pretty necklace" etc.
* When I put her to sleep at night she says, "Mom, I love you the great most"
* Took swimming lessons this year and is a little fish. It helps to have no fear of anything!
* Spent lots of time at the local pool and the lake swimming. She absolutely LOVES the water!
* Went skiing for the first time with Mitch and loved it. She calls skis "Ski days" and says she loves to go "ski day with daddy" which means "skiing with daddy"
* She announced at dinner the other night, "Santa Claus thinks mom's bum is going to get bigger!"
* She makes up little songs and sings throughout the day to herself
* She often calls me "Your Highness"
* Loves to use the words "actually" and "possibly" 
* She really is growing up quite a bit. She might seem a little wild sometimes, but she is very sensitive and sweet and loves to be hugged. I enjoy my little Kate the Great SO MUCH!

Andrew
* Copies everything Kate does
* Is starting to say lots of words and string words together. His famous sentences are "No, I NOT!" and "I nice!"
* He likes to get rocked to sleep with his blankie and 2 binkies. One for his mouth, and one to rub on his face.
* He is super smiley and sweet natured.
* He is a total daddy's boy.
* He knows how to hold his own thanks to his sister Kate
* He loves food! He's pretty small so you might now know it, but he really appreciates his food.
* He loves Cheetos or "chos" the most
* When he has a messy diaper he comes and tells me "I stinky"
* He gives kisses if you ask--even when we asked him to kiss Uncle Matt
* He likes to go through all of our family and repeat their names
* He loves to dance. For awhile he would just turn in circles over and over with a very serious look on his face
* He folds his arms for prayers and get a very serious, almost pained look on his face. We call it his "prayer face" and it's so funny!
* He is so different from his sisters in the way he plays with his toys. He throws everything and pounds everything 
* Loves his sisters and gets plenty of attention from both of them

I can't believe how fast time is flying and how fast my kids are growing up. The days are long, but the weeks just seem to fly by. How can that be?

So that is my kiddos' 2012 Year in Review. I wonder what 2013 will bring...

Halloween 2012

Mitch and me as vikings!

Friend Halloween Party at our house. Ethingtons, Nelsons, and a special guest appearance by the Batemans!

Lots of creepy-looking food, as well as the classic Dinner in a Pumpkin

And lots of creepy-sounding candy

Belle, a mermaid, and a monster

And several attempts at a decent family photo

The weather cooperated, the costumes cooperated, the neighbors made scones and hot chocolate, the parties were a blast-- Halloween 2012: Success!

Quest for the Cookie

Tonight folks, I have crashed and burned yet again. Now I consider myself a pretty decent baker. I can make a dang good pie crust, pretty good cinnamon rolls, bake bread, cookies, pastries, etc. (it helps when you love to eat your product as much as I do)... So.... WHY CAN I NOT MAKE A GOOD SUGAR COOKIE????? I just want a fluffy, soft sugar cookie. Is that so much to ask? Neighbors bring them and my in-laws bake them so I know it can be done-- so far just not by me. Tonight I used an American Test Kitchen recipe. If you don't know what this is, they make a bunch of the same thing (like a sugar cookie) and have a panel judge until they get the perfect recipe. That is where I got my amazing chocolate cake recipe. Pretty much everything I make from them is awesome. So I had high hopes tonight. I followed the recipe perfectly. I measured impeccably. I mixed the dry ingredients, I creamed the butter and sugar for 3 minutes until it was light and fluffy. I sat and watched the dang things while they baked in my oven. And this is what I got. The worst part is that despite the exact same dough, oven temperature, and amount of dough on the pan each batch got progressively worse. What?!

Pan #1

Pan #2

Pan #3

And the inside of all of them full of these big holes!

Even the first batch that looked prettiest were crunchy with these weird holes inside them. I should be able to figure this out. I had to take an entire college class called "Experimental Foods" where we purposely screwed baked goods up like this and then discussed why it went wrong (and how to make it right). So, I'm appealing to all of you, my readers. Bring me some nice soft sugar cookies, and PLEEEEEASE send me a fail-proof recipe! This streak must be broken!!

The Lost Christmas Letter

I was going through our computer today and organizing files, folders, etc. and I came across this little gem. I didn't actually post it or send it during Christmas 2011 (when I originally wrote it) because I didn't want anyone to think I was making fun of them. I absolutely LOVE getting Christmas cards and letters which is why I go to the trouble and expense to send ours out...BUT, I'm always at a loss of what to write on the "how we are doing" letter. So I started this one as a joke and my sister Avree contributed some ideas. I thought she (and maybe some of you) might get a laugh out of it:

Merry Merry Christmas from the Moncurs! We just feel like this year we would be very ungrateful if we didn’t tell all our friends and family about all of our blessings, since we have SO MANY. The most appropriate way to do this would be to split our family up and list all of our many accomplishments by person. So here you go:

Andrew (8 months): He is such a little bundle of joy. He has never cried, he slept through the night when he was just one week old, and he has never been sick! His mom really feels this can be attributed to her amazing mothering (and memorizing Baby Wise of course). He has learned most of his letters and sounds, but to our dismay, still mixes up his “b’s” and “d’s.” We are confident he will be reading by age 1. He also can throw a football about 50 yards, his dad is so proud!

Kate (2 years): Oh Kate, Kate, Kate. We are so pleased that she is reading at a 4^th grade reading level. We just started chapter books and she LOVES them! She is so well-behaved and sweet (again, her mom attributes this to her superb mothering skills). She never raises her voice and always has a kind word to give to her siblings. In fact, we’ll just say here that none of our kids EVER fight or are cross with one another. What a blessing, we know. Kate also played soccer with the 10 year olds and scored every goal. She may have been a little ball hog, but since we’ve had Olympic Soccer Team scouts at our house we let it slide.

Marin (5 years): Marin just skipped 5 grades and is now in middle school. We just couldn’t stand to hold her back since she was reading on a college level. Her knowledge of quantum physics still astounds us! She started gymnastics and after learning how to do a triple back-handspring on the first day, has now mastered a triple back-flip on the balance beam! We couldn’t be prouder! Summer Olympics 2012 here we come! She has so many friends at school because she is so popular. We’ve also had some modeling agencies contact us, but she’s just so busy with her academics, sports, and music that we had to pass.

Cara (29 years): Even though Cara is actually typing this, Cara is going to speak of herself in the 3^rd person. Cara was extra busy this year being the Relief Society President, the Young Women’s President, and the Primary President—all at the same time! She didn’t let having a baby in April slow her down, and lost all of her baby weight in just 3 days! Cara has already mentioned her superb mothering skills twice, but people often remark to her what a “super-mom” she is. She’s very humble about it though. Cara also runs several successful side businesses including photography and hairbow-making (she’s so lucky her husband is such a big-shot tax CPA). In her spare time she knits bandages for lepers.

Mitch (32 years): Besides being the Bishop and both counselors himself, Mitch is the owner of an EXTREMELY successful online winter sports business, Teton Wasatch Sports. Next year it is going to be publicly traded, since it grossed over $2 million (shhh, don’t tell him I said that, he’d be so embarrassed), in case you’d like to buy stock. Besides keeping himself in excellent physical shape by doing P90X twice each morning, he still finds time to be the BEST husband and father in the whole world (when I say “best,” I mean better than yours).  

We hope you all find yourselves almost as blessed as we are this holiday season!

Love,

Mitch, Cara, Marin, Kate, & Andrew Moncur

 

School Lunch Love

Whoa time! Seriously slow down. I know every mother says this over and over but my goodness my little girl cannot really be in first grade. I dropped her off to school on the first day with a bit of a heavy heart. She was so excited she was literally bouncing off the walls in our house. That made it a little easier for me. My sister and I discussed this. It's not that we're not excited for our children to grow up and have new experiences and learn and mature--just that it is hard to imagine they are really old enough to do things like eat school lunch. It makes me want to snuggle Andrew and enjoy that his knuckles and elbows are still dimples and that Kate still says "basketti" for "spaghetti" because soon she will be able to pronounce it correctly, and I'll miss "basketti." Well, enough rambling, I'll get to what I wanted to document in this post and that is Marin's school lunch quotes. She LOVES school lunch. It is hilarious! She is totally her dad's daughter (he was also a lover of school lunch) and she loves P.E., recess, and school lunch the most (although my--or I should say my mom's--genes may have surfaced somewhere because she really likes Art too). She has been to three days of school so far and when I pick her up and ask her about her day, the FIRST comment she makes has been about school lunch.
Day 1: "Mom, I loved school lunch so much! There was even cheese to put on my hamburger!"
Day 2: "Mom, the nachos were so yummy!" -- a few minutes later -- "Mmm, mom, I can still smell those nachos." (Side note: Marin and Mitch have decided that on nacho days Mitch will come eat school lunch with her)
Day 3: "Mom, my corn dog was the best one I've ever tasted! Also the chocolate chip cookie was the best one I've ever tasted!"


Today is sliced ham or something so I sent a lunch with her. We'll see if she is like my nephew and starts crying when his mom sent him a lunch from home because he wanted school lunch so much. I'm so grateful she loves school so much. She has a wonderful teacher this year (with red hair just like her!), and I'm excited for her to learn and grow in school. I love my little red-head so much!

P.S. Do you think I should be a professional photographer? My use of shadows to completely hide facial features and expression is superb. Also, having my subjects look directly into the sun really gives them a nice stressed-out look in the photos.

We're back!

I took a little break from blogging over the past few months. It was one of those things that I'm so behind on, I didn't even want to start. We've had so much going on and I have just LOVED this summer! I don't think I'm going to try and catch up today (or maybe ever), but I had to post these lovely pictures that my cute sis-in-law Callie took of our family.... right before she and my brother moved to Spokane, Washington for him to attend law school for THREE YEARS. Man, we are going to miss them around here. Kate has already been asking where "Ca-wie" and "Je-win" are. Anyway, back to the pictures. Pretty sure the ones of my kids will be hanging on my wall forever :)

Life is good!