Double Digits

Today is Double Digits Day for my youngest child. The big 1-0. Yep, she's 10. She was so excited about this that she woke up at 4:15 this morning. But then, a downer because she wasn't actually born until 4:59 am so she wasn't really 10 yet. Fortunately, she was able to fall back to sleep and wake up at 6:45 fully and officially 10 years old. Whew!

How I love my Katie Lois. She was the only one of my 5 children that we didn't find out was a boy or a girl before she was born. I wanted a surprise, so we could hear the words, "It's a girl!" and laugh with joy at the wonder of life and the fact that WE HAD FOUR GIRLS!

Katie is an individual. She has definite opinions about the when and where and why of life. She has a flair for the dramatic, and keeps us chuckling with her observations of life. She loves to laugh, and when she gets to giggling, she inevitably ends up with the hiccups (she had the hiccups the whole time I was pregnant with her). Her heart is tender, filled with compassion for babies and children and animals and suffering. At her young age, she understands what it means to mourn with those who mourn.

It can be a tough gig being the youngest. Lots of people telling you what to do or not to do, ratting you out to Mom and Dad, and you always get stuck in the back seat because you're the smallest. But then, there are the perks: you're still small enough for Mom to snuggle and smooch, you still want and get toys for Christmas and birthdays, and you can still order off the kids menu at restaurants where the macaroni and cheese is plentiful and comes with a drink (Sprite) and a dessert.

I love you, Katie! Welcome to double digits! I'm so glad you picked us as your family!

1st picture: the shirt Josh sent her from his mission.

2nd picture: Laughing at the card Grandpa Gresko sent her; it sings "Shake It Up, Baby Now!"

Adam and Eve

I was driving Katie and Alissa to school yesterday morning when this question came from Katie who was in the back seat putting on her shoes.

"Mom, what would have happened if Adam and Eve had never left the Garden of Eden?"

"Well....they wouldn't have had any kids."

"That stinks."

"Yep."

Gotta wonder what's running through their heads!

You go, girl

Right in the middle of cleaning my house today, I was suddenly struck with a longing for my Katie. She's only been off to school for a few hours, but I missed her.

She is my baby, but not really, because being the youngest, she is constantly striving to catch up to where the others are at. Only occasionally will she climb into my arms and let me snuggle her.

Katie is full of little "Katie-isms" that keep my chuckling. I do love to laugh, especially with my kids. Yesterday, we went to the dollar store to get a gift for a party and Katie used her tooth fairy money to buy a small tub of Noisy Putty. When we got in the car, she gave it a good squeeze and it let out a sound just like a fart. She laughed her head off.

In church, she was mad at Jenna for something and they were writing back and forth to each other about it. Jenna made a point which Katie had to concede to and she wrote "well (sigh)"...yes, she wrote the sigh in.

For Halloween, she wanted to be something scary. Originally, it was a vampire witch. I was hoping for a fairy. Then she moved to a chocolate chip cookie. Couldn't figure that one out. We settled on Astrid from How To Train Your Dragon, which ended up being perfect. She is spunky and sassy and gets to be tough and girlie at the same time. Her favorite parts of her costume: the double-bladed axe and the headband.

That's my girl.

My Little Yogi

My Katie is a yogi - not the bear - a person who practices yoga.

She has been doing yoga at school on at least a weekly basis since she was three years old thanks to the talents of a great friend of mine named Kim Lynn. Kim is the most amazing yoga instructor ever. For about 6 months, I traveled up to her studio in Salt Lake to take her power yoga class. It completely killed me (I was not made to take my leg and wrap it three times around my waist) but was worth it for the glorious moments of shavasana and the head massage Kim gave me while I was lying in corpse pose (looking very corpse like).

Katie is a big fan of yoga...and she's very good at it. She can do all sorts of poses and can sing 3 of the sanskrit chants. She is also very good at the head massage thing. If I'm lying on the couch, she'll come and massage my head and sing me the chants and it is almost like Kim (even better because I don't have to get all sweaty and stand on my head before I've earned my massage).

The other day I asked Katie what specialists she'd gone to that day and she said yoga.

"How was it?"

"It was so good, Mom. I love yoga because when I get so furious, I can go to yoga and it relaxes me."

"What were you furious about?" I asked, wondering what could prompt an 8-year-old to need to use the word furious.

"Oh, I wasn't furious. I'm just saying that yoga helps me to be calm and happy."

Good, I thought. We can all use a little more "calm and happy."

And I'm glad my little yogi already has the tools she needs to achieve it.