And MaraJade is 3!!

We seem to be having quite the luck this year with birthday parties. Mace's was good, Tristen's was a disaster, and now MaraJade's. We had already decided to combine her party with PJ's for family, but I hadn't really thought about friends. So in church on Sunday, PJ asked, "Aren't you having something for her birthday with her friends?" Oh, duh. So I made some awesome invites during Sacrament and handed them out after.

Cut to Tuesday morning, I'm starting to run around finishing up preparations, and I get a call from one of my friends - they won't be coming because her daughter has been throwing up. Just as we hang up, Jadey barfs on the couch. After a few minutes of debate, I decide to cancel. So I make all the calls, and she throws up again. Luckily, that's all that's happened so far today, so we're hoping it's a 24 hour thing - and that it doesn't spread to the rest of us. But if it does, we know it has a 18-24 hour incubation period, so we'll find out by Thursday morning.

Anyway, Auntie Linda stopped by with her present, as did MaraJade's buddy Mae, the boys and I finished her cupcakes and we had those for dessert. So it was still a Birthday.

And so, here are some of my favorite things about my Monster:

• She is such a girly girl - I waited through 2 wild and crazy boys to get my little princess, and boy is she!
• But she's also a little bruiser - no one is going to take advantage of this girl!
• How she takes my face in her hands and strokes it - just out of the blue
• How she leans on my shoulder and rubs my back - just out of the blue
• Watching her dance whenever there's a beat to follow - she just can't help it
• Listening to her sweet little voice as she bosses her brothers around
• Watching her organize her things - I love that one of my kids got this gene from me - I so get her!
• Her love of shoes - I swear, I did not influence her at all!
• Her ability and desire to have quiet time - the boys never just sat and colored quietly for an hour or looked at books

All said, I waited many years for this little girl, getting her here was a rough ride, but every moment has been worth it. She's a monster, she's a demon, but she's the sweetest, funniest, loviest one there ever was.

Happy Birthday, Jadey Jade!

...which leads us to our Maceism of the Day - 6/12/09

While the nurse explained everything they were seeing and checking for on the baby, Mace asked, "Does she have a butt crack?"

And Nurse Ann patiently said yes and showed Mace what he wanted to see.

Kasmira is here!

Kasmira Katherine Janice Bocek - born June 11, 2009. Approx. 7:45 pm. 6 lbs., 13 oz.; 20" long.

Well, she's finally here. Jaime was due on Monday, but just wasn't far enough along for her doctor to induce, even though her poor feet were so swollen they looked like they might pop! So she was scheduled to be induced Friday morning at 6:00 am.

By Thursday, she and Kathy suspected she really was in labor, but they went to Tiana, Tristen and Mace's school things all day. We showed up at their house around 5:30, and by 5:50 it was time to get to the hospital! I threw the kids at PJ at basketball and we got to Kaiser by about 6:15. They established she really was in labor and moved her to her room about 1/2 hour later.

Everything moved extremely quickly - Jaime really wanted some sort of pain relief, but neither 2 nurses nor the anesthesiologist could get a line in her because her hands/arms were so darn swollen. And in the end it was a moot point. She came at 7:45 with no drugs whatsoever. Jaime's a champion! Kasmira is healthy and beautiful and Jaime's doing great.

Mommy and Kas.

One very proud big sister.

Grandma Kathy & her #5.

The male Boceks checking out Kasmira

"Helping" nurse Ann check the baby over. Ann was great! (This is about as close as MaraJade wanted to get to the baby.)

End of School Year Activities

Tristen received the Courtesy award at the year-end awards assembly. Courtesy and Citizenship? Hmmm, he must be learning something somewhere from someone. :-)

Field Day! I can only imagine the 6th graders came up with this water-squirting activity. But it was by far the favorite of the day.

Tristen and his perennial partner, Andy.

At Mace's Family Fun Day for preschool. MaraJade giving me her "Stank Face". It's about all I get for pictures these days. That, or the back of her head.

Dad painted Mace's Spider-Man face. Notice the bleeding neck? Nice.

Mom painted! On a moving target!

Cornio!

Grandma Beth gave MaraJade this cute horse, to which she promptly became very attached. She immediately decided it's a unicorn and calls it her "Cornio" - since she learned from Dora that "unicorn" is pronounced "oonicornio" en Espanol. I thought it was cute - but PJ thought it sounded like something else and now has MaraJade and the boys calling it her "Cornholio" - of course, he thinks it's hilarious.

Word of the Day - illusory

SO much more beautiful than "fake". :-)

il⋅lu⋅so⋅ry  /ɪˈlusəri, -zə-/ [i-loo-suh-ree, -zuh-]–adjective
1. causing illusion; deceptive; misleading.
2. of the nature of an illusion; unreal.

Origin:
1590–1600; < LL illūsōrius, equiv. to illūd(ere) to mock, ridicule (see illusion ) + -tōrius -tory 1

Synonyms:
1. fallacious, specious, false. 2. imaginary; visionary, fancied.

Produced by, based on, or having the nature of an illusion; deceptive: "Secret activities offer presidents the alluring but often illusory promise that they can achieve foreign policy goals without the bothersome debate and open decision that are staples of democracy".

Il*lu"so*ry\, a. [Cf. F. illusore.] Deceiving, or tending of deceive; fallacious; illusive; as, illusory promises or hopes.

likely to mislead or deceive : FALSE, DECEPTIVE illusory plea bargain leading to a longer sentence than expected

based on or producing illusion : being deceptive illusory displacement of the visual field in man when the eyes are moved passively