Kaya Turned Six

And she loved every minute of her birthday weekend. From Cupcake Decorating in her class to her small but FUN party at the "trampoline place", we really had fun celebrating the baby of our family turning 6. Here are a few of the hundreds of pictures I took over the past few days:

Clean Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Sauce

I found this on a flier in a pack of vitamins I bought and tried it. It was great.
Here is the recipe:
Spicy Red Pepper Pasta Sauce
1 tbsp. olive oil
5 cups chopped sweet red peppers
2 cups chopped onions
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 small serrano chili, deseeded and finely chopped (I skipped this)

Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add all ingredients except serrano chili and cook until peppers are very tender (about 25 minutes).
Stir frequently while cooking.
Spoon mixture into a blender, add serrano chili, and blend until smooth.
Add a few teaspoons of water if necessary (I had to add water to get it to blend in my blender).

Serves 6.

Calories: 80.5
Fat: 2g
Sat. Fat: 0
Fiber: 3g
Carbs: 14g
Protein: 1.5g

I love my Fit Book!

I wanted to post a few pictures of what I use to keep track of everything I eat and all of my workouts. I use the awesome Fit Book (which has space for 12 weeks of food and fitness info). I have used this faithfully for about the past 16 months. I write down EVERYTHING in it and carry it with me everywhere. I take an hour and personalize it every 12 weeks so it makes me happy every time I pull it out of my purse. My Kindergarteners even recognize it and when they find it around the classroom they say "Miss Kristi, I just found your food book!" I love that they know I write it all down to keep track." Sometimes they ask me to get it so they can see if I ran or lifted that morning. :) Here are a few pictures:

Kaya is about to turn 6.

I cannot believe it. My baby - the youngest Sikora grandkid is soon turning 6. Hardly seems possible. But, it is totally going to happen so we might as well put on our CAMO clothes and celebrate. Here are some pictures I took today of her in her full camo outfit. Man, I love this child so much it hurts my heart.

five years ago today....

This is what I put in the local paper for Busia. I know my Mom would think it was insane to do this, but it means a lot to Busia. I hate today. I hate thinking all day about going to their house and being a part of everything that was connected to the accident. I hate the way thinking about it makes me feel inside. I hate that families lose people they love every day for random reasons and they have to live with that sick feeling for the rest of their lives.

Missing you on your 5th Anniversary in Heaven

Sheila Ann Sikora
Five years ago today everything changed. We could never express how much we miss your light and your laughter. It still seems like this all never could have happened to our wonderful family. Like a mistake was made, and everything will somehow be OK again. All of us miss you so much it hurts to think about. We pray every day that you are watching over us and that you are able to look over your grandbabies as they grow up. You will always be the best daughter, mom, wife, Nana and friend that ever was. We have missed you for five long years and we will all love you forever and ever.
With all the love our hearts can hold,
Your Mom, Kids, Husband, and Grandkids

Surrounded by blessings...

Christmas is different without my Mom. It is very hard to not constantly think "Five years ago today, I had no idea it would be the last Christmas with her." And to go over and over in my head what it would be like if she were still here. I try not to do that to myself, but it seems my mind cannot stop doing that to myself. I am trying this year to just accept that as part of what goes on with me for the holidays. I close my eyes and try to remember how simply happy we all were on Christmas 2005 - 5 days before she died. I think about the presents she got the girls and how much fun it was to just be around her. I think about how much she would LOVE to be here with us this Christmas and how stunned she would be at how big and funny my daughters are. I try hard to focus on all the incredible blessing that still surround me every single day and I try to let go of the sheer sadness at what my girls are missing. It is hard though. It is hard to accept that neither one of them will remember their wonderful Nana. It is harder to imagine how many more years I have on earth without the love my Mom. I keep wishing for one more regular Christmas full of love and laughter at her house. The way I kind of always thought it would be. I am so grateful for the blessings that are still here.

Kaya Won Fire Prevention!!

And I was lucky to be there because her teacher had let me know! She was stunned, Kalli was stunned, and it was just an amazing life moment. She was the first kid up there in front of the ENTIRE SCHOOL. It was so cool and I felt so proud of her. I always wanted to win the fire prevention contest and I never did.... it was MUCH better watching your child win than winning myself would have been. What a great day! If you look carefully at the TOP of the bottom picture, you can see Kalli's stunned face. I loved that picture!! We were so proud of her. Way to go Kaya. And, I shot this ALL without flash because I got to take Karen Russel's photography class. She rocks.

Halloween Totally Rocked!

Neil always lets the girls paint his face and do his hair and they LOVE IT! We had a great time trick or treating in our neighborhood and going to Kaya's Kindergarten teacher's house for a little party, too.

We ran into Kaya's cute little boyfriend, Griffin, while trick-or-treating. They are such cute little friends.

The glasses made Kalli's entire outfit.

Cake Pops

I am not even sure why I thought it would be smart to try this.... but I saw a video on line and the girls and I attempted to make CAKE POPS today. It was a lot harder than the video, but it was a whole lot of fun, too. We loved it. The girls thought it was great. They want to go to the local book signing for this lady's book to ask her how she got this idea and how she made it look so easy. It took an hour to clean the kitchen, but the memories were totally worth it.

Project for Class

I am taking classes at Taylor University in their Transistion to Teaching department. This should allow me to move from private to public which would give me more money AND I hope to get in the same district as the girls so we will have the same academic schedule. I had to do a bulletin board project for my Children's Lit class. I loved it. I am so excited to bring it to school tomorrow to use with my class.