Awww!!!  Sugar and spice and everything nice.  Thats what little Jessie’s are made of!

Ha Ha!!  Gotcha Claire!!!  See???  Even you have to admit that you look adorable in this picture!!!  Of course you are obviously trying to flash us all….  hahahaa….

Cute Zachariah!

Welcome home Kathryn!

Aunt Huong and Phoebe

Elisabeth

Jessie and baby Eli

Caleb is swimming on his own!!!!!!!  UNDERWATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Caleb, Noah, Zach, and Ethan

Titus

Kathryn, Caleb, and Phoebe

Ethan jumps to his mommy!

Sally and Ethan

This one is for Granddaddy King—

We were talking just before bedtime last night and Kathryn says…”You know what, my Granddaddy King tells me stories about a girl who talks to much…that’s all she does is talk and talk and never shuts up.”  And she pauses for a moment like she is thinking about the stories he has told her and then she says, “And I don’t even know who that girl is…”

Haha!  I wonder!

 

And this might be news for you….  She came up to me and says, “Aunt Beth, did you know that I can sit in the car for 1 hour and not talk at all.” 

 

She evidently told mom this again the day after she told me….

 

Talk to you later—I am going to go take a nap!

Kathryn says…”Aunt Beth, Have you ever cut your nails?”

I look at my hands and say…well sometimes I do.

She says, “Well, why don’t you cut your nails?”

I don’t really have an answer so I tell her because I just let them grow instead. 

She says, “Well, I think you should cut all your nails off and just get fake nails…..like Elisabeth…she just cuts her nails and gets fake nails and takes the glue and just glues them on like that (she is demonstrating how to put on fake nails) and she then has nails like that (now pointing at my hands). 

I say…No…I would rather just keep the nails I have.

She shrugs her shoulders and continues on to another conversation. 

 

Kathryn, Mariah and I are sitting on my bed and I am helping Mariah plan the breakfast menu for next week.  Mariah fills in the days and puts “oatmeal” down in one of the slots. 

Kathryn says, “I am not going to eat oatmeal unless you fix it exactly how I like it.” 

I say—Hasn’t your dad or mom ever told you about the starving children in Africa. 

That evidently interested her and she looked at me serious and said… ”what starving children…what are you talking about?”

So I told her the starving children story and I think scared her???  She said she didn’t know children didn’t get to eat.  I told her that is why we should be thankful for any food that our mom or dad give us because it is a blessing—some children don’t get to eat everyday like we do. 

So she says, “WHY???  Does their mom eat all the food?”

I say…”No..because they are so poor they don’t have food or a house or a car to drive.  They live in a shack like yall made yesterday or worse—made out of cardboard and old rags and are all dirty and live with flies and are hungry…etc…etc..”

By now she is seriously aghast!

She said, “I didn’t know that.”

So at lunch time, she pipes up at the table and says, “Paterson, did you know that there are starving children that don’t get to eat food every day.”

 

Yesterday they build a little “fort” shack of a house out of left over wood and nails.  They worked on it all afternoon.  I was watching out the window and heard Kathryn say, “OWWWW, That cat scratched me!” 

No one responded…so she said it louder… “OWWWW, That cat scratched me!” 

Still no one responded—the boys kept at what they were doing and didn’t pay her the time of day. 

So she says it louder…”“OWWWW, That cat scratched me!”  and finally walks off. 

At supper, she tells me, that cat out there scratched me right here (and pointed to her hand of which I didn’t see a thing). 

I said, “OHHH…”

She said, “And no one cares except two kids…Peyton and Mariah.”

HAHA!!! And still no one offered any sympathy except Paul when he says…”well, maybe you won’t end up with cat scratch fever.”

She sits there for a while pondering before asking, “scratch fever…well..what’s that..”— as Paul continues to explain the disease to her. 

She says, “It didn’t really scratch me that bad anyway.”

 

The first night she was here after supper she says, “There’s no dessert!!!!???”

(haha!!  Now I know you all don’t have dessert every night do you!!!!!!)

 

 

Standing in line for a shower and no dessert and hearing “Watch out for snakes” as she heads outside to play—she might have some bad stories to tell about us when she gets home!!!

 

I am sure there are more stories…but that is all I can think of now…

 

Talk to you soon…love, beth

 

I have some good pictures…we will have to send you once I get them on my computer—She told me she really liked playing outside and building the fort with the boys yesterday

They are there to help around the house with Aunt Bethany and to visit.  Here is an email I just received after our little Kathryn has been there for only one day.  This email is from Bethany.

Ok…I am thinking about starting a Kathryn quote email for you each day…just so You and Aaron can be close to your daughter even though she is far away in Tennessee…

 

Today’s offerings,

 

Aunt Beth just had her 8^th baby and Kathryn walks up to me and says, “Do you ever clean up your house all the way?”

Hmm…not sure what that means, but she was kinda concerned….

 

She and Patrick are painting and she says, “Why don’t we play something else?”  Patrick says…”What” and she says, “Let’s play Egypt?”  Patrick says, “How do you play Egypt?”  Kathryn says, “Me and my brother always play Egypt…It’s where you are the slave and I tell you everything to do.”  Patrick looks at her a second and says, “Well, I am going to go play with Pierce instead.”

 

Talk to you later…

Beth

https://www.askdrsears.com/html/6/t063900.asp

Had I been asked about this topic even a year ago I would have had a different opinion.  Currently I believe parenting is correctly lived by modeling the correct behaviour.  In other words, behaving Christ-like.  I started out thinking when there is a wrong behaviour I discipline it, mostly by spanking.  Now I realize when they are younger you remove them from the situation or change the circumstances.  As they get older you begin to talk with them and explain as much as your patience can handle.  Hopefully your patience levels are growing.  :)  Also, you “find their currency.”  Use what is important to them as a tool to accomplish your discipline goals.  I am starting to become firmly convinced that spanking should only be used in extreme situations where the child openly and willfully defies you by screaming at you or striking at you, the parent.  Other than that there are so many other tools to use.  Children will grow up loving and respecting you and continue this on out of the house if you will respect them as they grow.  Mind you this is extremely difficult here but I am addressing what I believe to be the standard, not necessarily what I actually attain to.  I was talking to my brother-in-law and he said there were two things that really made a difference to him.  1.) Living their faith in God, openly and working each day toward Christ-like character and 2.) Asking for forgiveness when they were wrong.  Don’t hesitate to ask for forgiveness in the same way you would ask your spouse or another adult.  I have had to correct them on receiving an apology but this is a very minor problem in comparison with the need to humble yourself when you are wrong.  Anyway, this article does a very thorough job of outlining all the many common child problems and many great ways to correct.

 

• Kenneth Martin King
  1916 - 2008
  Kenneth Martin King, 91, went home to be with the Lord Friday evening, May 23, 2008. Funeral: 2 p.m. Wednesday at Ridglea Presbyterian Church. Burial: private in Greenwood Memorial Park. Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Greenwood Funeral Home. Memorials: Ridglea Presbyterian Church, Alzheimer’s Association or charity of choice. Kenneth Martin King was born Aug. 21, 1916, in Thornton to Burnice L. and Lotta Payne King. He grew up in Lamesa, where he was an Eagle Scout. Following his education in Lamesa, he attended Southern Methodist University and graduated from the University of North Texas. In 1937 Kenneth met Jessie, the love of his life, at the plaza in Taos, N.M. Three years later, on April 20, he married Jessie Evers of Denton, and they were married for 68 years. Kenneth was a World War II veteran and served in the European theater as a military policeman. He was employed with Sheaffer Pen Company for 33 years, and after many years of traveling he took an early retirement. Kenneth was a longtime member of Ridglea Presbyterian Church, where he served as a deacon. His hobby was his family, and his greatest joy was spending time with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Kenneth was greatly loved and respected by his family and friends. Survivors: Loving wife, Jessie King; daughter, Shirley Godby and husband, Dub of Fort Worth; son, Richard King and his wife, Carol of Fort Worth; daughter, Janice Compton and husband, Greg of Euless; grandchildren, Kirk Godby, Angela Bowers, Kelly Elliott, David King, Sarah Hall, Matthew Cox, Jamie Ramos and Laura Cox; and 14 great-grandchildren. Published in the Star-Telegram from 5/26/2008 - 5/27/2008.

This is the stretch Dodge limo truck that we [all seventeen of us!] rode in to and from the airport.  Pretty awesome!!!  Thanks to Uncle Andrew, Uncle Tony and my sweet husband.  What a fun surprise!!  In this group photo clockwise from left are Elisabeth, Miriam, Anna, Kathryn, Jessie and Phoebe.

Here are most of the younger kids waiting to load up on the Disney Express transportation bus after landing in Orlando, Florida.  I just thought the moment of them all holding hands [only semi-prompted] was too adorable!  From left Phoebe, Noah, Matt, Jessie, Caleb and Kathryn.

This is the Disney time-share place where we stayed.  By our rooms they had tons of Gardenia bushes and we smelled the most wonderful fragrance every time we came home to our rooms and when we left in the morning.  Not to be silly, but it really was magical.

Here are the kids watching cartoons and playing with balloon swords while we were checking in.  See???  I told you it was magical!

Jessie wearing Mickey ears in the on-property gift shop.

Here are Kathryn and Elisabeth with their color pages from the on-property restaurant, Olivias.  Even the restaurant was magical.  They had already on the table little containers for colors and color sheets for all the kids.  To top it off, the dessert for the children was a do it yourself sundae.  They got little tiny bowls, one with sprinkles, one with m&m’s, and a couple of other toppings.  Too cute!

Waiting for the little golf cart to take us to our rooms.  Heaven forbid we have to walk all that way!  Seriously though, the property was MASSIVE.  Half of the time it took us to get to Disney [the individual parks] was making all the little stops within the Old Key West property.  From left clockwise:  Kathryn, Noah and Zach.

Ah!  The little golf transportation cart has arrived!

A shot of the side of our building.  Too cute!

Here was our room.  We were on the first floor [thank goodness!!!!].  The rest of our family [Halls and Haygoods] were in a double room just two doors down.  Truly, magical.

Here is Benjamin, introducing the Magic Kingdom.  Jessie was crying in the stroller on the way in and there was this kindly older gentleman who said, “This is a happy place” to her and Benjamin found it hilarious.  So did I after hearing him say it. 

Can you hear the Magical music drawing us into the Magic Kingdom?  …or maybe its Joshua.

These little balloon clusters were everywhere!

A close up of the musical that was going on the stage at Cinderella’s castle when we first arrived.

The girls after the musical was over.  None of the children were interested in smiling for pictures until it was over?  What was up with that??  lol.

Self couple portrait.  We were in line with the kids for the magic carpet ride.  It was their FAVORITE!!!  Needless to say, we rode it many many times.

The cool thing about this ride is that the person in the front can control going up and down and if you are down at the wrong time there is a camel that spits water on you.  This was a source of great hilarity.  This photo is of Kathryn controlling the up and down lever and how much fun it was!

Another magic carpet ride.

I just thought all our children in line to get a drink of water with Miriam helping them all was funny.

Another favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear ride.  You sit in these little pods with the ability to turn yourself in a 360 if need be to shoot the little targets with the mounted guns.  At the end you get your score in front of you and check the chart on the wall to see your rank.

Very cool Buzz with holographic face.

The kids after their first Buzz ride [many more to come after that!].  Are you loving Kathryn’s “pose” as much as I am?  This happened in many photos….  :)  From left:  Jessie, Noah, Zach, Caleb and sassy Kathryn.

Okay here we are headed into the best 3-D movie ever.  I don’t remember the name but it was the first one we went on and the kids reactions were hysterical!  Jessie was reaching out trying to grab the jewels that Ariel spilled.  At one point Joshua said that Caleb leaped out his seat, slightly hitting the one in front of him trying to grab something.  Worth every penny.  Have I mentioned yet that it was magical?

A cute family picture just outside of our room.  They keep the grounds beautifully.

On our way out of the Magic Kingdom the first night.  Totally awesome.  I love Disney World!!!!!

Complete exhaustion at the end of every day.  I thought Kathryn was adorable sleeping with her Belle doll.

At the bus stop the next morning on the way to MGM studios.  Day two.

Me and Aaron.

The MGM entrance.

Mickey’s sorcerer hat.  Very cool.

This is one of MGM’s newest attractions, the stunt car show.  Undoubtedly this one of Caleb’s top five favorites.  His face stayed like this or a big smile nearly the whole show.  From left:  Miriam, Elisabeth, Aaron and Caleb.

Caleb said the red car [the good guy] was his favorite, so I got a picture for him.

Jessie, with her cute little hand on Uncle Tony’s shoulder.

Jessie with her favorite baby friend and cousin Anna.

She loves this baby!

Mickey mouse ear photo!  Next time we are all going to get a pair of these so we can be as nerdy as possible.  From left:  Jessie, Kathryn, Zach, Benjamin, Caleb, and Noah.

Caleb Jessie and Kathryn at the end of our day at MGM, ready to go swimming.  You would not BELIEVE how much time they spent begging to go swim.  And of course they are all wearing their Disney swimsuits that they picked out!  Magical… 

Zach, Noah, and Caleb in downtown Disney.  We are eating at Earl of Sandwich which is totally yummy!

Caleb and the lego shark at the Lego store in downtown Disney.

Okay, here is a series of photos of Jessie with plastic Mickey and Minnie.  What was funny about this to me was how much she loved them and was excited to be near them and then turn around and pose a smile for me.  She just didn’t care for the real ones in costume.  I imagine she loved that these didn’t move or do anything unpredictable.

Here we are meeting our first character, Buzz Lightbeer.  Pretty much with all live characters Jessie is a bit to a lot weirded out around them.  Except Piglet.  Maybe because he is small and cute and pink?

Here we are in Toontown getting ready to ride Goofy’s rollercoaster.

Matthew, whose eyes match his shirt.

Zach, Matt, Noah, Caleb and Kathryn all waiting for the Goofy rollercoaster.

Adorable Zach and Noah.  I love how younger children don’t notice details, especially boys.  Look at the rim that lines the inside of Noah’s baseball cap.  It is tucked out on his forehead.  Too cute.

Another cute picture of Kathryn and Caleb.  In this picture you can see one of Kathryn’s souvenirs, the Cinderella castle jibbitz on her croc.  I have only ever seen this one in Disney World, at least no where in Texas anyway.  The girls were pretty happy to get those, and Caleb got a Stitch jibbitz.

The front porch of Minnie’s house.  You would not believe how adorable and picturesque her and Mickey’s house are.

Kathryn on Minnie’s fireplace.

Okay, this was cool.  Minnie’s oven has a dial that you can twist to make the cake inside inflate.  Also her microwave had a similar thing with a bag of popcorn but that picture turned out blurry.

Kathryn in Minnie’s chair.

Caleb in Minnie’s other chair.

Here we are at the classic Mickey and Minnie meet and greet behind Mickey’s house.

Jessie still seems uncomfortable with the live characters…

Okay, this ride cracked me up.  It was a little booth/pod thing that moved verrrrryyy slowly around Tomorrowland but was totally cool because it went in and out of several rides including the Buzz Lightyear ride and Space Mountain.  So, just messing around with Jessie, Aaron is looking at her and raising his hands as if it were a very exciting ride.  Since she is in a good mood here, she followed suit.  Too cute.

Kathryn and Stitch.

Caleb and Stitch.

Yes, Jessie pretty much looks like that in every character picture.  I think she gets her paranoia from her dad? Although he always says its not paranoia if its true.  lol.

Hurray!  A character that she was friendly to.  She didn’t mind getting autographs from a couple [literally] of her favorites but she still wouldn’t take a picture with them without eyeballing them suspiciously.

Kathryn and her favorite vacation buddy, Aunt Huong.

Caleb wanted a picture too!

The other side of the ride Splash Mountain.  I just love pictures of children lined up looking at something.  From left:  Phoebe, Caleb, Jessie, Elisabeth and Kathryn.

Another Magic Carpet ride!

And another!!!

Wheeee!!!!!!!!!

A cool angle of Cinderella’s castle.

Cinderella’s castle just before we left, lit up pink.

Aaron wanted his picture taken at this very “picturesque” spot.  lol.

Okay, this real live safari ride was awesome.  Andrew scheduled a character breakfast first thing in the morning on the far side of the Animal Kingdom park.  So we had a yummy and fun breakfast, got some autographs and met some characters and had more fun pictures.  As if that wasn’t enough, it strategically put us right next to one of the most popular rides in the park, their live animal safari.  So, we [all those at that breakfast] got to be the first in line for this ride with no waiting.  The normal wait time is very very long.

Here we are waiting for the parade in the Animal Kingdom.  This mini lagoon was right behind where we were waiting and a wonderful way for the children to entertain themselves instead of fighting and crying. 

The parade is about to start… !

A couple of characters we found along the way.

Definitely a moment that needed to be captured on film… 

 Here is a photo of the reason every minute and dollar spent at Disney was THE BEST!!!  Andrew and Huong with their cute children Noah and Zach.

The adorable Haygoods.  From left:  Joshua, Benjamin, Phoebe, Matt, Miriam, Anna, Elisabeth and Tony.

Piglet and Kathryn.

Our family photo with the only character that Jessie wanted to get the autograph from by herself.

Awww….  Pooh and Joshua.

This was the most adorable thing.  Sometimes it was totally frustrating that we didn’t have a camera and a video camera going at the same time.  Jessie got all excited when it was time to meet Piglet and for the first and only time ran and asked Aaron for her autograph book and got his autograph all by herself.  She is so adorable and sweet in this photo!

Epcot day!  We are wearing our new souvenir shirts that Aaron bought last night from Downtown Disney.  I love mine!!!!  What a sweet surprise!  And magical!

My awesome and hot husband with the Spaceship Earth ride behind him.

Without a doubt Soarin was my favorite ride there!  I could have gone on this ride many many many many more times and not gotten tired of it.  It was so beautiful and real and I LOVED the scents.  I recommend to all riders, try to be in lane #1 so you don’t have to see anyone else’s shoes and/or feet.  Not a problem at all, just takes a tiny bit away from the real-ism.

Caleb and Benjamin, getting ready to go on Soarin’.

Another attempt at a cute family photo.  Actually I like this one quite a bit. 

This is the whole gang except for Tony who is taking the picture.  By the way, he took all the totally awesome castle pictures too.  We were both using the Nikon coolpix P50 which is SOOOOO awesome on every single point.  Image quality is totally great, I just had to scale them way back so that lag time on the blog wouldn’t be ridiculous.  Since there are 17 of us, I will just mention that Aaron and I are in the top right hand side with the children in our laps or next to us.

Here starts the princess lunch which was great fun for us all, especially Kathryn.  When you first get inside as it is your turn you step into this little side foyer and take a nice picture with Belle.  We didn’t know it but they give you a print and several 4×6 copies for *free!  [free, meaning like the nice bag full of goodies that you get at the hospital for "free."]  And for those of you who haven’t had children yet, that means it was wonderfully and magically built into the cost.

Princess Aurora, Jessie [who is unsure about her getting that close] and Kathryn.

Kathryn, Alice and Caleb.  Alice was HILARIOUS!!!!  She was so funny talking to Kathryn and challenging everything that Kathryn said.  Kathryn didn’t know what to make of it, after how all the princess’s come and sweet talk with you and agree with everything you say.  It was too funny.

Kathryn and Snow White.  This woman’s face was so white and her outfit so saturated my poor little point and shoot couldn’t meter read properly to save its life.

Caleb, Mulan and Kathryn.  Lets just say Caleb didn’t want a picture with any princess’s and his expression made me laugh.  Mulan was really nice and fun to talk to.  The weird part was as she left, I thought, “huh.  She and I could maybe be friends.”  Yeah, I know.  That was sad and a little neurotic.

Miriam and Anna.  Anna has lip prints from all the princess’s kissing her bald little head.  Very cute!

Here is Aaron, FINALLY admitting between the three choices of coffee cheesecake, rice pudding and princess cake, which one is his favorite.  This was after I had already taken five other video clips where he denied it.

Jessie, Aaron and Kathryn all sitting in a very royal looking chair that was in the entry foyer.  Jessie is being silly, but at least she is smiling.  Seriously, she was on her fifth day with no official naptime.  I was very impressed with how wonderful my children were during the whole trip.

Being given her Ariel crown was a big highlight for Kathryn.  The only thing she wanted on the entire trip was to meet Ariel.  Well, Andrew had wonderfully scheduled all these great character meals and so I thought, great!  It’s in the bag!!!  She’ll see Ariel, no problem.  So toward the end of the princess lunch I found someone and asked and apparantly Ariel was at Magic Kingdom or something?  Okaaaaayyy….  ?  So, there is only “one?”  Well, whatever.  Kathryn had her sweetest moment of the whole trip when I broke the news to her.  She looked downcast but said in a nice voice, “It’s okay, I saw her in the parade.”  She repeated this several times to us and to herself in an ‘encouraging herself’ kind of way.  When we walked outside and there was a cart selling Ariel crowns I knew it was the best solution we would find.  Children being what they are, we bought Jessie one five minutes later and bought Caleb a sword.   Stupid Ariel.  Lol.  Just kidding!  Hey!  Lighten up! 

By the way, Kathryn’s crown is still worn almost every day.  And princess Jessie wouldn’t and hasn’t worn hers since about a half hour after being given it even though she was very sincerely excited to get it.  Two year olds… 

 This is just outside the Nemo rides and exhibit at Epcot.  Behind them are the seagulls that say, “Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!”  And there is a wave splash every other minute and it triggers the birds to start saying it again.  The kids loved it.  I love how Caleb’s stickers are on Mickey’s ears.

One of the very last photos of the very last day in front of a very cool water fountain.  Kind of bittersweet [my feet hurt BAD].  Note the lack of crown on Jessie’s head.  Yeah, we didn’t even make it out of the park with her wearing it.  Thankfully not a big surprise though.  I love my matching girls!!!!  Could they be more adorable!?!?

Epcot with pink-ish lighting.  I thought it looked pretty.

Benjamin and Snow White in the airport.  He gets all the women.  Alabaster skin… raven hair…

Elisabeth and Phoebe sat behind us on the way home.  This was lots of fun until Jessie [in front of Phoebe] fell asleep and then later Phoebe decided to play with her balloon by squeaking her fingers all over it.  Thank God it quietly popped not long after that.

Getting in our limo to head home.  Apparantly Caleb had seriously gotten used to the five star treatment by this time and was overheard to say in a slightly demanding voice, “Where’s my limo?!” a few minutes before the limo arrived.

Tony, Miriam and Aaron getting in.  By the way, we almost weren’t allowed to leave because the company failed to register their limos with airport security.  The bicycle cop said he was only letting us leave in it b/c we were already loaded up, 17 people, luggage and all.  Eeek!  That was a close one.  Good thing we were all tired and hungry and moved quickly.

Last shot of vacation.  Here is the tired hungry group returning home.  We put on some kind of dinosaur cartoon that was a bit gory for the trip home.  Its good for the kids.  Toughens ‘em up I say.

 

EDIT **  HAHAHAHHAHAHHAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have loaded them ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have defeated the evil that is the wordpress photo editing software!!!!!!!!!  HAHAHAHHAHAHAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EDIT #2 **These 106 carefully selected, edited and labled photos were narrowed down from a grand total of 1,366 photos taken between myself and Tony.  He beat me though with his 720 vs. my 646 photos.

This poor child has been put into this horrible situation.  I cannot believe that her parents could not protect her better than this.  Some are defending these photos and I can’t even imagine why.  She is not 18 yet and won’t be for ANOTHER THREE YEARS!  Come on parents of America, this is NOT okay.  Protect your children from themselves and others.  Modesty is important.  Shame on all those involved for allowing this to happen.  She is only 15.  Hollywood is obviously no place for role models as almost every single one is turning toward inappropriate behaviour.  I had actually thought maybe this girl would be someone who would be popular and stay mostly clean.  I am only partially shocked that her parents and her Disney reps would allow this.  Yes, I am aware that they have issued an “apology.”  Wouldn’t you if you thought your billion dollar child was about to flush her career and young fans down the toilet?  I had no idea that it would happen this young.   So much for the innocence of youth.

**Edit, photo not inserted b/c I do think it is offensive**

Mind you, this photo is being written about because of her public “clean girl” image and her very young age.  I have nothing against tasteful artistic photos.  However, something that is very nearly child [insert p--n word in reference to inappropriate photos b/c I don't want my blog to come up in a google search] is ENTIRELY and always will be inexcuseably wrong.