A robot

Ellie and Amelia were playing just now behind me here in the basement, as I work at my desk. I hear them starting to argue - Ellie wants Amelia to wear this certain dress, but Amelia is crying that she wants it off because it's "itchy." Finally, Ellie gives up and kind of rips it off her and hits her. Amelia comes crying to me...

Mom: Ellie, you didn't need to hit her.
Ellie: But I wanted her to wear that dress.
M: I understand, but you can't make her wear the dress. And you shouldn't hit her. You need to apologize.
E: And she won't stop crying.
M: I know. It's annoying when she whines and cries, but hitting her doesn't help. When you get frustrated, you just have to walk away.
E: Ok. But I wanted her to wear that dress. I wish she was a robot, so that she did whatever I wanted her to do.

Oh, Ellie -- if only all our kids were robots so we could get them to do what we wanted them to do!

Kids Dancing

If you haven't set up an account on Pandora.com yet - it's a great free site to create your own radio station. Billy recently set up a "dance music" station for the kids. Here are some highlights. I wish I had a program so I could cut and edit the best parts. (yes, I know, I need a Mac). And you'll notice that Jack is more into picking on Ellie than actually dancing. Oh, those little brothers!

A couple of tricks

Here are a few highlights of some things that Evelyn is doing. Blowing kisses, saying "all done" "bye-bye"

Princess Amelia

Amelia was dancing to Disney Princess music today - and I got these shots of her sitting in the window. It was fun to play with the image to get the cool coloring. #1 - i need a better program to do more, and #2 - i need more time to do it.

Not to be left out

Amelia didn't want to be left out of getting her picture taken too.

Many faces of Evelyn

Billy took this series of pictures of her the other night. Certainly some keepers!

Always a gun ... or a sword

True to his species, Jack never fails to make a gun or a sword out of anything. Here is the latest gun that was made out of some lego-type blocks.

Ellie's Ouch!

We diverted a trip to the ER this week by trying out the Mercy Urgent Care clinic in Ankeny. On Wednesday evening, Ellie was at our former neighbor's house playing with their daughter, Lauren. The two girls took the dog for a walk. Lulu decided to take off, Ellie decided to not let go of the leash and tripped. The retractable leash swung back and hit her in the forehead, splitting it open.

After consulting with our new neighbor, an ER nurse, we decided to take her in to see if it needed stitches. A scar on a boy = cool! A scar on a girl = more makeup. Five years from now, I didn't want to regret not taking her. So, instead of possibly waiting hours at Mary Greeley in Ames, we checked out the clinic south of us. It went well! Very clean, very quick, and very nice staff - not to mention, much cheaper.

She ended up with glue instead of stitches. Which means two of my kids have been glued in the past couple months -- good thing for the invention of that stuff! It should heal nicely -- we'll see a year from now how the scar does.

Going Crazy

We have a saying here at our house ... "going crazy!" Go figure. Here is the context. I'm dressed in something other than grungy clothes, my hair is done, and I look like I'm headed somewhere. A child will ask, "Mom, where you going?" If I happen to not be going somewhere, I usually respond, "Crazy."

Last night, we didn't have any plans - just supper with the two little girls because the big kids were at Tony's. Amelia asked, "Mommy, where are we going?" I responded, "Crazy." Because we weren't actually going anywhere and I was feeling a little crazy with my busy day.

About an hour later, at supper, Amelia was falling asleep in her food. I asked if she was tired and she said yes. Billy picked her up take her to bed and she cries out, "No, I don't want to go to bed, I want to go crazy!" I thought Billy and I were going to pee our pants. It was so funny. And then she kept saying it. "I want to go crazy. I want to go crazy." She thought crazy was a place, and that I was going there -- and she wanted to come too." Oh, sweetheart, you go crazy with me everyday!

Jack's Growth

About six months ago, we were a little concerned about Jack's learning - specifically his letters and numbers. The kids knows every superhero and Transformer name, but to recognize a letter in his own name was nearly impossible! We worked with him at home, we even looked into getting him a tutor. The kid could just not retain the information he was learning.

Luckily, in just the past few weeks, he's starting to get it! I'm so relieved! He excels at every other "subject" at preschool, and I didn't want this one hiccup to hold him back. He still struggles to say the name of the letter, but visually he knows it and can associate it with something. Like "J" - "That's in my name!" So we just have to ask what his name starts with ... he thinks about it and then figures it out. "J! It's a J!"

He's also really starting to do well coloring and drawing pictures. He drew a really cute one of Gma Barb and Papa Denny sitting together outside on a bench. The one above is a picture of me -- in case you couldn't tell. I believe the top reads "mom" or my name possibly.

Also, a fun little blurb I had posted on Facebook. Jack and Evelyn have become quite the little duo. She is always thrilled when he comes home. And he does a wonderful job of playing with her and trying to keep her occupied. The other day when I picked Jack up from school, he asked, "Mom, where is Evelyn." I replied, "We are going to go get her." He said, "That's good, because she's my sweetheart." Awe. What a nice big brother. We'll see how long it lasts!

The Feud

There is a nearly constant feud going on in my house between Amelia and Jack. They want to play together, but somehow manage to rarely get along. (Here is one of those rare occasions when they built a "ship" together.) Amelia knows every button to push of Jack's, and the exact time to push them. Billy says that that is a girl thing. They are both at the age of struggling to share, so that too plays a large role. And she loves copying him. Both with what he says and does (watch the video). He hates it when she is "coughy-ing" him.

Amelia has not napped since Thanksgiving, so they are both up in the afternoon playing together. But unfortunately, there is always fighting and making messes on their end, and punishing the kids on my end. I certainly miss my quiet afternoons of nap times!

Evelyn's 1st Birthday

"What is that?!" We made sure she didn't touch the flame.

"Anyone want to share?"

"This is delicious!"

She's no longer a baby, right? I hope not! Because I love all her cuddles. Evelyn Bernice turned 1 on Sunday, February 7th. Her well-check appointment the next day went okay -- except that we found a double ear infection. Her first. She weighed 18 lbs. 10 oz and was 28 inches long. Which is the same as Jack and Amelia were at their 12 month checks.

We had her birthday party on Saturday -- most of my family was able to be here along with her sitter. She did a great job destroying a creme-filled cupcake.

She is was not walking at the time of her birthday ... and still isn't. Billy claims that she took two steps yesterday. I'll believe it when I see it. Any day I try, she's not at all interested. She does walk along things, crawls like a champ, and maneuvers up and down the stairs. But she's too scared to stand alone!

Let's see what else.... she is still a mama's girl. If I have busy days that I am not able to spend much time with her, she gets pretty whiny. She loves to scream -- usually for joy, but sometimes for attention. She also is pretty keen on her big brother.

Her favorite pastime is getting into the cupboard under the sink, or playing the toilet. Two places we are always trying to keep her out of. But it never fails, the kitchen is unmanned, or the bathroom door gets left open.

No really words yet. She'll say "ba-ba" for a bottle, but we are nearly done with those. "ma-ma" and "da-da." I think it's fun that she blows her nose and drinks out of a straw.