ice, ice baby

I know, I am a dork, but I couldn't resist.

Well we thought our January snow day in Georgia was sooooo novel, and then Mother Nature got some sort of silly idea she would send us an ice storm to follow up in February.  Not as fun.  First of all,  our power went out for 24 hours, then was on for a day, then back out for 8 hours (through the night at least, which is simpler.)  Next, you can't go out and "play" in the ice and slush that followed. And finally, the kids ended up missing an entire week of school because of the power outages!  Here are a few snapshots of us passing the time.

While we had power, this is where we'd find Toby... with his two newest best buddies Mario and Luigi.  Interesting development: our sweet, kind, gentle little man is AWFUL at playing video games with others.  He left Charlotte behind so many times (which caused her guy to die,) and snagged all of the goodies that would pop up, so she stopped playing with him.  Total surprise alter ego.

I found a mix & match monster pattern online and printed it out.  Charlotte made this felt monster almost entirely on her own during her week off, and everything is sewn (not glued.) I tied knots, helped stuff him, and gave instructions.  He turned out really cute! Now she is working on different ones for Toby and Jake.

When the power was out, the kids enjoyed sitting by the gas fireplace, using flashlights, playing board games, and just generally being homebodies.  They got along surprisingly well.  We had plenty of food on hand with leftovers, sandwiches, and salads and were able to move fridge items to the garage to keep cold so we didn't lose any food.  Also, since we are on city water and have a gas water heater we even had hot and cold running water!  So nice.

Everything outside was coated in thick ice.

It was very beautiful, so we had to take some pictures before it melted.

Trees with leaves on them were most likely to have limbs break and that is what caused such extensive power outages.  On Saturday after the storm, Rob had the opportunity to go out with a "Mormon Helping Hands" clean-up crew.  They cut up fallen trees and limbs at homes of the elderly and disabled and dragged them to the curb for the county to collect.  He loved being out of the house and doing something to help others... and manning a chainsaw for the day was a fun perk too.

I loved the quiet, dark, stillness of the ice storm.  No sound at night, no street lights, no cars driving by. Finally, just when things seemed they were getting back to normal, we had a 4.1 earthquake!  Rob and I were sitting on the couch watching a movie when the house rumbled loudly and shook.  Neither of us had ever been in an earthquake before and it was so surreal that we just sat there through it... and then laughed and ran to check facebook to confirm our suspicion.  What a nutty world we live in. 

And here is a question for our science-nerdy friends... this is the grill of Rob's truck.  On the top two bars the icicles hung down, but on the bottom bar they stuck straight out.  How is that possible?  So strange.  

Georgia snow day 2014!

In our third winter in Georgia, we have finally had our first snowfall! It snowed during the night last night, and Charlotte, Toby, and Jake were out by 7:45 this morning!

They are sitting on their legs, not waist deep in snow.  All told, we got about an inch and a half.  Which was enough to close schools today AND tomorrow!  I already got the automated phone call from the school.  Rob also had the day off today as there is just no snow clearing equipment around here.

By some miracle, I was able to dig up snow pants for all three big kids (that fit even!) And we had hats and coats, but we were lacking some good gloves and any sort of boots.  Jake came in a few times this morning with bright red hands because he kept taking off the little knit mittens we put on him. He didn't seem to mind too much.

This is Charlotte and Toby's 6 inch tall snowman.

Two of our neighbor boys came over to sled down the very slight hill in our backyard and throw some snowballs with Toby. (The sledding worked once Rob got a "track" packed down for them., and Toby has been dreaming of snowball fights all winter, so he was overjoyed.)  And yes, that is Charlotte belly down, eating snow off the ground.  Lovely.

In between outdoor play times, our kids came in for hot cocoa and muffins for breakfast, and chili cheese nachos for lunch while clothes were thrown in the dryer- which brings us up to now.  I have set the kids the task of drawing me pictures of their favorite thing about this snow day and Jakey will be going down to nap this afternoon.  Which is my favorite part of a snow day.

Amelie agrees with me.

Amelie at 4 months

Our sweet baby girl turned 4 months old nearly 2 weeks ago!

At her four month check-up she weighed 15 lbs. 11 oz. and was 26 inches long.  (That is in the 75-90th percentile.)  We have many, many nicknames for Amelie right now.  The most frequent are Miss Pinkness, Pinkie Pie, Smiley, and Ameloo (rhymes with vindaloo.) She also gets called Ami, Stinkie Pie,  Ameluska, and Alarm-alie - particularly at 4:30 am.

Eyelashes, cheeks, lips, chubby fists... LOVE.

I'm not sure what it is, but these two kiddos seem to have a particularly special bond.  And yeah, my photo is sideways, whoops.

We started Amelie on rice cereal this past week.  As with all of our kids, it was not love at first bite.  She is warming up to the stuff though as we give her a few spoonfuls at dinnertime each evening.

Amelie has a cowlick right in the front of her hairline and it has recently reminded me of a nursery rhyme my mom used to tell me...

There was a little girl

who had a little curl

right in the middle of her forehead.

And when she was good

she was very, very good,

but when she was bad,

she was horrid.

This could not be more true of our Smiley girl!  She is the quickest to smile and coo and bestow her joy on all around her... when she is happy.  However, when she is not happy; for instance, in her carseat or put down pretty much anywhere alone, she SCREAMS at an ear piercing frequency that we have never experienced before. As soon as we rescue her, she smiles again and all is well with the world.  

Happy four months Miss Pinkness!

Happy New Year 2014!

I thought I would sit down and record how we rang in the New Year... and immediately realized that I have no actual memories of New Year's Eve this year.  I do remember about four trips to the pediatrician between Christmas and now for Jake's ear infection and bronchitis and Amelie's RSV followed immediately by croup.  And I also remember many, many nights when I was up at midnight giving breathing treatments to little ones- hey! maybe one of those happened to be New Year's Eve?!!?  At any rate, we did not go out and celebrate this year, we stayed home and hibernated instead.  (As we have done most- maybe all- years since we got married.  Rob and I agree it is highly preferable to the late night parties we went to as singletons.)

At any rate, here we are in 2014, which promises to be another busy year for us!  But more on that in coming months.  (No, I am not pregnant.)  We talked about goal setting with the kiddos and made some New Year's resolutions individually over dinner and that was fun.  I tried to keep it simple this year for my personal goals:

1. Obviously, try to get back to pre-baby weight.  Is this ever not my goal in years when I am not pregnant?  Well, I have done it three times before, and I will do it again. 

2. Memorize all 100 scripture mastery scriptures.  In high school, Mormon kids go to Seminary which is a daily scripture study class.  Each year there are 25 scriptures to memorize as part of the coursework.  I only went to Seminary my Junior and Senior year- to what is called Early Morning Seminary where we met each day around 6 am for an hour before going to school.  So I only ever memorized 50 of these passages, which I have mostly forgotten in the 18 years since then.  I think this will be a good spiritual, as well as mental, goal for me.

3. Teach my children more life skills.  I think this is important.  I want independent children.  I want capable children who are confident when they contribute in our home AND when they finally leave our home... which I realize will be all too soon.  The kiddos set their own goals which fit nicely with this goal of mine, so I am hopeful that we will all learn a lot together this year.

And that's it!  Three goals this year.  I should be able to manage that, right?  And anyway, even IF(when?) I fall short, I figure I will have progressed beyond where I am now- and personal progress is a good thing.  I have already gotten started this week on all of my goals in fact...

 

Miss Pinkness is 3 and 1/2 months old now and actually likes sitting in the exersaucer.  Unlike the bouncy seat, or the boppy, or the bumbo.  I think she is happy to be upright and in a position to squeal her orders at everyone in the room or give smiles when she is pleased with her minions.  She has BIG plans for 2014.

 

Toby and Jake volunteered to wash the dishes last night. They say "many hands make light work," and I hope that someday they will, but teaching those hands what to do is a whole lot of work for the mom.

 

Charlotte very much wants to learn to cook.  So last night she peeled the potatoes for our potato soup and helped put together a simple salad.  I truly enjoyed having her happily help me in the kitchen.  It is fun to see what the kids are capable of when given an opportunity to help.

merry & bright

Well, our Christmas may not have been white, but we have made our days merry and bright!

 

Christmas is an excellent excuse for cooking and baking decadent treats!  And ya know I love a good treat.  The girls and I made some sugar cookies one afternoon and then we decorated them all together that evening. This year we also baked molasses cookies, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter kiss cookies, and peanut butter nutella cookies. And I made english toffee and fudge.

 

We went to Lights of the South for the third year in a row and visited with Santa there.  I LOVE that he greeted the kiddos with a big "Ho, ho, ho!" and "Look how much you've grown!" Jake and Amelie had no problem being set on the well-worn lap of this legendary fellow. If Jake looks under dressed compared with the other kids, it is because he was. He lost his coat somewhere the day before we went here.  We layered his shirts up, but he was still a little chilly. Going coatless in Georgia isn't exactly a crisis in my book though.

 

He recovered nicely with a hot cup of cocoa and roasted marshmallows around the fire.

 

Christmas morning was so joyous and fun with a houseful of littles this year.  Every gift brought exclamations of "oh WOW!" from Jakey.  You wish you had straw glasses too, huh?

Our artist extraordinaire received so many new art supplies!  She set up at the kitchen table and got right to work writing a new book. Yesterday we moved all of her stuff to her room and set up a corner studio space.

 

My dad sent us their old Wii game system, accessories, and games.  Rob and Toby spent HOURS playing together on Christmas day! Toby was killing everyone at Swordplay.  It was hilarious to watch... except Jake didn't think so.  He doesn't appreciate being the little brother at moments like these.  I was really enjoying my new camera from Rob. This photo, taken with my old camera, would have been one big blur.

 

Let's not forget Miss Pinkness.

Smiley didn't have the best first Christmas ever I'm afraid.  In the past 10 days, we have been to the pediatrician three times- once for Jake who had bronchitis and an ear infection and twice with Amelie who had (and still has) the dreaded RSV. Charlotte had this as a baby and spent a week in the hospital because of it. So far, we have been able to avoid the hospital by giving breathing treatments at home every four hours and nursing lots.  Hopefully, she will improve soon and not get any worse. She remains a super happy, well tempered baby... though not as great of a sleeper these past two weeks, and more demanding of being held and cuddled, and Rob and I are feeling pretty worn down. 

 

That said, it has still been a very Merry Christmas around here.  We are so thankful for our many blessings, and family and friends are at the top of our list of those!  We hope that Santa was good to you this year, and that you also felt the warmth and joy that accompanies the Spirit of Christ during this season.  We'll see you in 2014!



with a thankful heart

We love our extended families, but since living some distance from them for many years now, we have enjoyed beginning our own family traditions and celebrations. (And staying in our pajamas all day and not driving anywhere too.)

 

The Thankful Tree was back this year!

In the past, we have tried to have everyone say something different that we are thankful for each night in November.  That didn't quite happen this year; with 5 of us participating we would have needed like 150 leaves!  We did put things up many nights though, and there were some new ones this year- breath and brains from Toby, firetrucks and every other vehicle you can name from Jake, band-aids and art supplies from Charlotte, to name a few.

 

Random photo of Amelie sleeping.

I didn't want her to feel left out.

 

One more sleeping Amelie photo. This is how she sleeps now. We put her in a sleep sack and she moves one hand to her mouth and the other to the back of her head where she rubs her hair. I love it!  I can tell now when she is getting sleepy while nursing as that one hand reaches for the back of her head.

 

Anyway, moving on.

 

We waited for a week after Thanksgiving to go to a local tree farm and pick out a tree.  Once we got there, it occurred to Rob that they might only take cash.  We asked, and such was the case.  We tried to explain to the kids that we needed to go to an ATM, but they did not want to leave without a tree.  We examined our wallets and found we had just enough cash for a tree in the 5 foot tall range.  The children rejoiced, and we picked out the littlest tree we have ever had.  I don't think a tree needs to be large to be special though, and with the lights and ornaments on, this tree is just as lovely as any other we have ever had.

 

And as a bonus, it is small enough that once I put the lights on it, the kids could enjoy doing the rest of the decorating duties while Rob, Amelie, and I watched and took a few pictures.

 

Jake was very happy to be fully participating this year.

 

We also hung our stockings (I got Amelie's finished, but they could all use an ironing,) and began our advent calendar.  I wanted to continue with the idea of giving thanks daily with the kids and move from just thoughts into actions, so this year each day of our advent calendar has a "giving activity" to be performed that day.  A few examples so far:

Select a few non-perishable food items to donate to a local food bank.

Play with a friend at recess who is alone.

Select a toy to donate to a child in need.

Pack your own lunch for school so Mommy can have a break. (They LOVED this one.)

Pick up a piece of trash you see outside at home or school and throw it away. (Remember to wash your hands afterward.)

Do something nice for your brother or sister without being asked.

 

I am excited to see the kids enjoying this advent calendar.  I truly believe serving others makes us feel happier and I hope that they are learning that fact a little bit more this month. We have so very many blessings! It is a joy to recognize them and share them with others.

Amelie at 2 months

Ohhhhh, we just love this girl.

She wins the award for best baby sleeper in our house! She usually sleeps from 8 or 9 pm until 2 or 3 am!!! Then she eats and sleeps again until between 5 and 7 am. This is unheard of! I love it. I think that because I am actually getting some sleep at night, I am enjoying dressing Amelie up in cute outfits more than I did with the other kiddos. Plus, she doesn't spit up much and she only has dirty diapers like every 5-6 days. So I know if I dress her cutely, there is a good chance the outfit will last more than an hour or two.

 

At 2 months old, Amelie has become much more interactive.  She gives awesome smiles.  She is now 23 inches long and weighs 12 lbs., 15 oz.  And her eyes are still blue-gray.  Rob and I think my dad gives this look.

 

Last week she had a fever and cough, so I took her to the pediatrician.  Because she is so young, he ordered a chest x-ray and many, many other tests which we had to go to the emergency room for.  It was not a fun evening for her, or for me, but in the end she was declared healthy enough to go home.  I felt much more peace of mind knowing that she was breathing okay, and it was not RSV, or pneumonia, or croup, etc. and she recovered in just a few days time.

 

Amelie has very strong opinions, and does not hesitate to express them. She LOVES bath time and diaper changes. She HATES the car seat, and being put down in general.  (This may be a lifelong battle, being the youngest of four children.)  To illustrate this point, the following three frames were taken in under 5 seconds...

 

"I see you."

 

"We made eye contact, and you didn't pick me up?"

 

"We made eye contact!!!!  And you didn't pick me up?!?!"

 

One final note about Amelie.  I noticed that she is tongue-tied.  You can see in the photo above that she cannot stick her tongue out.  Apparently this runs in my family. Who knew?!  So being tongue-tied (ankyloglossia) means that the tip of her tongue is connected to the bottom of her mouth by a thin piece of skin (called the lingual frenulum.)  Amelie's is about 1/4 inch from the tip of her tongue (so not actually a "true" tongue tie.)  So far it hasn't affected her eating at all.  We will wait a few years and see if it affects her speech or if it will loosen on its own, if not the doctor will simply "clip" the tongue tie (a procedure called a frenotomy.)  Honestly, we may just have it clipped in a few years either way.

 

We just love this girl.  I can't wait to see what she does tomorrow!



trick or treat

I did my very best to keep Halloween simple this year! We were still very sleep deprived, and in new baby land, and figuring out how to juggle four children.

 

Originally Toby wanted to be a Bad Piggy (like in the Angry Birds game.)  But as he began to see the costumes in the stores he changed his mind to wanting to be a bat.  Not Batman.  Not a vampire.  Just a bat.  Let me just tell you, there are no bat costumes at Walmart.  In the end I made him these bat wings out of black fleece and wooden dowels and he wore all black.  I also made him bat ears on a headband AND we bought a Batman mask as a back-up in case he didn't like my ears.  He wore the ones I made to our church party and the Batman mask on Halloween.  EVERY person asked him if he was Batman, and he would say, "No, I am a bat." 

 

Charlotte wanted to be a witch.  We got a pointy hat, a broom, and some stripey tights, and voila!  Witch.  I also got her a green witchy nose (at her request) which she then refused to wear because "it's not very cute."

 

Jakey was Tigger.  Until he saw Toby's Batman mask.  Then we had a serious problem.  So we had Bat-Tigger at our church party as a compromise, and Jakey actually refused to go trick or treating this year when he saw the first kid who came to our door dressed as a zombie.  He stayed home and handed out candy with Dad and Amelie instead.

 

 

 

Amelie dressed in her glow-in-the-dark skeleton jammies that Aunt Melissa sent.  She slept through the Halloween party, and then screamed while handing out candy to trick-or-treaters with Daddy and Jake.

 

 

We hit the pumpkin patch a little late this year and our only options were enormous or teeny-weeny. 

We went with teeny-weeny.  We picked out 6 pumpkins and let the kids draw faces on them and use stickers to decorate them.  I seem to be the only person in this house who likes to carve Jack-o-lanterns, and I was fine with taking the year off this once.  Maybe by next year one of the kids will be willing to help scrape out the pumpkins.

 

In addition to our church party/trunk-or-treat and regular trick-or-treating, Toby had a party at preschool, and Charlotte had a party at ballet.  There is so much candy!  Even with just the 2 big kids going basically around the block (we were out for just over 30 minutes) we received more Halloween candy than in any year past!  What is up with that?  Isn't there a recession or something?  I was totally blown away by the extent our neighbors went to for this holiday.  One house even had LIVE BATS flying around.  No joke, fruit bats that they keep in their garage, were flying around outside their house.  It was very cool.  Also, I won second place in the chili cook-off at church.  I got a two-inch tall trophy and everything! lol.  So it ended up being a very fun Halloween for our family this year.

Charlotte's tea party

A few weeks ago we celebrated Charlotte's 7th birthday! She wanted to have some girlfriends over for a tea party this year, so Rob took the boys and the baby out for the afternoon and we girls had a girly fun time. 

 

Charlotte hand wrote her invitations and had very specific menu requirements.  This is not traditional tea party fare, but we had peanut butter & jelly sandwiches (no crusts of course,) egg salad on pita triangles, petit fours, raspberries, red grapes, lemonade, and pomegranate herbal tea. 

 

We ate cupcakes after singing happy birthday and the girls each decorated a small tote bag to take home with stickers, lollipops, and bracelets in them.

 

Charlotte is for sure our little social butterfly. She loved having her girlfriends (Adelyn, Eliza, Stori, and Raegan) over and having the focus of the day be on her.  They all played so well together, and I was glad my friend Emily decided to stick around and hang out with me while they partied. For dinner we had Chicken Pasta Primavera (Charlotte's favorite) and sang again and ate more cupcakes with Daddy, Toby, Jake, and Amelie. 

 

Charlotte is growing to be a thoughtful and kind girl.  She is still stubborn, and at times can be very bossy to her little brothers, but I think part of that is being the oldest child and learning early how to be in charge and delegate.  Ha!  Charlotte still loves to draw and now also writes stories.  She is so incredibly creative and we all enjoy reading her books.  Just before Halloween she won a drawing contest at school for "drug free" week.  She was so proud to receive a prize from the Principal and have her picture displayed in the hallway.  (Now she holds "drawing contests" at home- Rob won the last one which is why that is her favorite thing to do with Dad.)

 

I am thankful for Charlotte every day! I love seeing her develop her talents and appreciate her desire to be a help to me with her new baby sister.  She is her own person, and we love her and her originality.

 

Charlotte's birthday interview

What's your favorite color? Pink

What's your favorite movie? Rise of the Guardians

What's your favorite song? Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

What's your favorite food? Candy- is candy a food?

What's your favorite thing to do with Toby? build with his Legos

What's your favorite thing to do with Jacob? Cuddle

What's your favorite thing to do with Mom? Cuddle too

What's your favorite thing to do with Dad? a drawing contest

What’s your favorite part of the school day? Recess!

What do you want to be when you grow up? A mom!

What makes you feel happy? Candy!