She's so polite

While I was eating lunch, Amelia came up and asked,
"Can I have some of your Cheetos?"
I replied like every good mom, "What do you say?" Hoping for a 'please.'
After a moment of thought, she says, "Give me some?"
"Ah, no. What do you say?"
"Give me some!"
She didn't ever get it. I had to coach her to ask, "May I please have some."

Hairdo

Amelia woke up with this hairdo the other morning. I'm not really sure how this happened, usually her hair looks pretty normal in the morning. It's completely inappropriate, but I can't get the scene from Something About Mary out of my head.

Amelia gets burned

At the beginning of the month, I started running on my treadmill regularly, so I've been leaving it out. I always flip the switch to turn it off, and sometimes even unplug it. The kids have not known where the switch was -- and so I've felt pretty safe leaving it out. They have been told over, and over that it's not a jungle-gym, it's not a toy -- even though they insist on making it a rocket ship, race car, or something else everyday.

Between Lilah and Ellie and Jack, they managed to plug it in, flip the switch, and put the key in. Of course, it's the little kid standing by that gets hurt. Amelia ended up with a small 2nd degree burn on the top of her hand. She favored it a bit today, but didn't ever really complain. So I guess it just looks worse than it feels.

Hopefully the big kids learned a valuable lesson last night ... mom makes rules for a reason!

Videos of Evelyn Crawling

If you didn't know, you can trip while crawling. This is what it looks like. But like a champ, she gets right back up again!



If they had a crawl sprint contest around here, I think she'd win!

Jack's "emergency"

On the Monday after Christmas, we were in Arkansas visiting Billy's dad and family, and Jack decided to give us a little bit of a scare. He and the girls were be-bopping around Grandma Marie's house and Jack fell. I didn't know it because there was no crying or anything. They come into the kitchen and tell me that Jack is bleeding. Thinking it was nothing much, I take him into the bathroom to get a band aid and instead I see quite a bit of blood. And blood in Amelia's hair ... that's when I had to ask Billy to step in. I was starting to get a little light headed. (yeah, yeah ... I'm a wimp)

After a quick look, he decides that stitches might be needed. We pack up quick and head to town. Luckily, there was a walk-in clinic still open so we didn't have to go to the ER. The nurse decided stitches probably weren't necessary ... so she glued and bandaged him up and we were on our way in less than 10 minutes. Free of charge and he even got a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut for being so brave. Which he did earn, because he didn't shed a single tear or whine a bit. Tough kid. We went and got him some ibuprofen and the pizza and headed back.

This is a picture taken 4 days after -- the bandage fell off. Looks pretty good, but I'm sure there will still be a scar. Amazing that you can split your skin that bad by just falling on the floor.

Photos from Christmas '09

Merry Christmas from all of us!

Ellie didn't get her High School Musical Alarm clock for her birthday, but Santa came thru!
She was very patient ... and then very excited! Yeah, we'll see about that on Tuesday morning.

Jack asked Santa for some Star Wars gear.

Santa brought the little girls a fun musical toy. Kind of like karaoke for toddlers. Hmmm... I wonder who picked that out?

My crew on Christmas Eve. This was our second year enjoying our Christmas Eve with Tony & Jana. We went to church together at 5pm -- I asked Santa to be his first stop and he arrived while we were gone. After church all ate dinner together at our house -- seafood and pasta! Then opened gifts together. It's such a blessing to be able to spend Christmas Eve together as a family! The kids will cherish it always.

Princess Amelia got LOTS of dress up clothes this year. Which she will enjoy for many years to come. They are all a little big right now, but I know she'll still have fun putting them on and taking them off.

Sir Jack! Jack is so easy to buy for. I think because he's the only boy, and also he just loves to do everything. Legos, dress up, army men, guns, swords, action figures. You name it -- this kid is into it. And he plays with them all! They don't just sit and collect dust. He's so fun to buy stuff for.

Billy and Evelyn. This is like one of the best pictures of Evelyn. She's so hard to capture on camera!

Grandma Barb with Amelia - she is the one that made us all wear silly hats to open gifts.

Papa Denny with his new Bobber Cooler for the pond.

Evelyn Laughing

I guess the room was darker than I thought -- so it's not very easy to see. But you can hear her laugh and it's so great! She also has the hiccups, so it's not the sound going out in your computer!

Merry Christmas!

Just getting this started -- our Christmas letter will be posted here soon.

A Princess

If you ask Amelia, "Who are you?" She'll say, "I'm a princess." Ask her, "Who is Evelyn?" She'll respond, "She's a crabby." Ellie is a princess, Jack is a boy, and sometimes I'm a princess too . She's very much into the Disney Princesses right now. She'll play dress up quite a bit, and she's asking for princess music to be played too. The video is a night that Billy put some princess music on for her to dance.


Also, the other night she saw that I was putting my coat on and she asked me where I was going and before I could answer, she said, "Are you going crazy?" Sometimes when the kids ask where I'm going, or what I'm doing, I'll say I'm going crazy. It was funny to hear her say it.

Birthday Party

Billy and I gave Ellie a bean bag for her birthday. The box was so big that I wasn't going to wrap it - and it won't go thru a door frame. So I thought the best way to give it to her was with a scavenger hunt. Here is the last clue (of 4) and her finding it. It was a hit! The girls all loved being able to do the hunt thru the house.

The party was a big success. Supper, presents, scavenger hunt, cake, spa treatments, decorating dipped pretzels, and movie. She invited her two besties, Cousin Lilah and Neighbor Ali to sleep over. Old neighbor Lauren came over to help with the spa treatments. I think this was much more manageable than an afternoon with a bigger group of 7-yr olds!

Evelyn 9 months

Evelyn making a zerbert on the ottoman. I could not stop laughing!



Evelyn started clapping yesterday. Here is some video feed of her just being so silly today. Clapping, shaking her head, and I'm not sure where the "raise the roof" came from. Probably Kindermusik!

Ellie Turns 7

Can you believe it - my firstborn is turning 7?! Gabrielle "Ellie" Nicole has grown into quite the little smarty pants. And I mean that in both the nice way, and the not so nice way! First grade is going very well for her so far this year. She's excelling in all of her work; earning an O "Outstanding" in Spelling and S+ "Satisfactory" in Social Studies, Science, and Math. She's also made huge improvements over last year in her behavior and following rules. Overall, her teacher's conference was very positive! We are very proud of her.

At home, on the other hand, Ellie's behavior is like the Iowa weather. It changes very drastically from day to day. She has her "helper" days - where she loves to help me pick up (rearranging closets & organizing drawers), plays with her little sisters, and overall listens very well. Then she has her "attitude" days - where everything has a comeback ("i know!" "i told you so!" "ah - yeah"). Last, and my least favorite, her "wild" days - where she increases the energy level of all the kids in the house to crazy. She doesn't listen, she wrestles, she runs, she's nuts! And this gets the others going too and it's just mass chaos here.

I've known since this child could crawl that she would have a spirit that would want to fly -- and I've tried my hardest to not squelch it. But giving it direction can be very challenging some days! She's an awesome kid with a thoughtful heart, and I pray that God continues to help me lead all her enthusiasm and energy in the right direction!

Happy Birthday, Ellie! Mommy loves you, your beautiful blue eyes, and your toothless smile.

Fall Family Pictures

We weren't successful getting one of all 6 of us -- but individually, they all look great!

Amelia continues to be funny

Parent journal, so I don't forget the sweet, funny stuff!

The other day Amelia was naming some body parts on her head. She went thru the whole list; nose, ears, hair, etc. When she finished, I pointed to my eyebrows and asked her what they were. She thought for a moment ... smiled ... thought some more. Then finally she grinned and said, "Rainbows!" What a thoughtful, observant response!

Amelia was pretty sick last week with a high fever. She didn't have many symptoms except for the fever for three days. She didn't eat much and was pretty down and out. We didn't push her to eat or anything telling her it was okay because she was sick. Now that she's all better when we try to get her to finish her food or do something she doesn't want to she says, "I'm sick."

We also got rid of her pacifier this week. We were down to just naps and nights, but with her being sick, she had it most of the day for 2 days last week. By the weekend, I was fed up! She would wake up in the night crying, "Popeye, I can't find my popeye!" We were getting up 3-4 times a night to help her find that stinkin' thing! So Sunday, we threw it away!

I told her, "I threw it in the garbage, and it's gone. You're a big girl now, with big girl panties and you don't need a pacifier anymore. Evelyn is the baby, with diapers and pacifiers and bottles. You are the big girl, right?!" She agreed, but has asked for it each time she lays down, but has NOT gotten up in the night crying for it. Awesome!

Comparison

Evelyn - Sept 2009 - 7 months

Ellie - June 2003 - 7 months

I'm SO excited - I found a disc with all the old pictures I thought I lost. Doesn't that just make your day! I thought I was missing the first two years of Ellie's life! I really wanted to look at some pictures from when she was the same age as Evelyn. I think they share some features -- what do you think?

He's going to kill me for posting this!

My husband can totally take you!

A couple of potty mouths

So ... I feel pretty confident that this bad language wasn't from listening to me or Billy. We are very diligent about not swearing in front of the kids. We only get in trouble for saying "stupid" sometimes. I suppose between school, friends and tv - they are bound to pick up some naughty words. Part of life, I guess.

A couple of funny stories -- that Billy witnessed - but I missed firsthand. He said it was hard to control his laughter on the first one. The kids were both corrected and told that these were not nice words and to not use them again. We'll see ...

Billy took all the kids down to Sportsman's Warehouse last Friday while I was at work. He needed to get a few supplies before taking Jack out in the boat the next day. Somewhere inside, at some point - they passed a large, mounted fish. Jack shouts out, "Holy shit, Daddy, that's a big fish!"

Then, two days later on Sunday morning, as they were getting out of the van for church, Ellie told Jack to leave his jacket in the van because otherwise he'd forget it inside. Billy said, "Well, you have your jacket on. Why don't you leave yours in the car too?" She replied, "No, I'm wearing mine because it's freezing damn cold out here!"

Oh my --

Remember this?

This is what our view looked like when we moved in!

Now we are getting to see bulldozers, dirt movers, and excavators!

This is a full shot today of one dirt hill. Such a wonderful sound that occupies my ears all day long! Actually, it is fun to see the work done, and it will be neat to watch how it all changes over the next two years. The new high school is due to open Fall of 2011.

And another one's gone ...

Top tooth #2 fell out during school yesterday. And uh-oh - the tooth fairy didn't come last night! Ellie said she tried to wait up to see if it would come and then she fell asleep. But she still didn't come. I told her that that was why. Because 1. she tried to stay up to see her, and 2. she didn't have the tooth in a container for the tooth fairy to put any money in.

Always, always have a back up plan!

Later note: the Tooth Fairy did make it. She paid extra and left a nice note.

Evelyn biffed it

Evelyn is getting very close to crawling! She's going from the sitting position to moving forward to being on all fours. It won't be long. Yipes! I've got to baby proof the new house - which includes the new stairwell.

The other day I had her sitting by the front door - so she could play with her toys and look outside. She decided she wanted to get closer to the door, and fell on her face on the threshold. This was the mark it left. Oops! A couple days later it's all gone - no harm done.