"It's not fair to me, Mom."

I have done blog posts focused on three of the kids in the past month, and I can't leave out my little Bear. I hear "It's not fair to me, Mom" at least once a day from this guy lately.  We even had a family night lesson and discussion about what "fairness" means.*  He wants so very, very much to keep up with Charlotte and Toby and he does not understand that being 2 1/2 is not the same as being 5 or 7.  It doesn't help that people who meet Jakey for the first time assume he is at least 4 years old.  He speaks very clearly and has a HUGE vocabulary for such a young person, and he is the size of many 4 year olds.  But there is only so much a little guy can do.

Jacob has been trying to give up his afternoon nap.  The result is that he is now falling asleep wherever he is when he reaches the point of exhaustion.  Of course, he makes himself as comfortable as possible first.

Sometimes he just can't fight any longer though, and we have to keep a much closer eye on him during bath time these days.

I try to do things with Jakey one-on-one when Toby and Charlotte are at school and Amelie is napping.  Sometimes we play a game or play catch or read books. One day last week I taught him how to paint with watercolors and this was his very first painting.  He did a great job!

I hope that Jake knows what an important part of our family he is and I hope he doesn't rush to grow up too fast!  He doesn't even like me to call him my little bear right now... he corrects me and says, "I not bear, I big brother now." I love Jake's determination and his gentleness with smaller children and babies.  He is tender-hearted and tough at the same time.  I predict he'll be a champion for fairness and sticking up for the little guy whenever he gets the chance.  

But he will always be my little bear.

*For those who are curious, we illustrated the principle this way... I asked if I filled identical sized baskets with toys for each kid, would that be fair?  They said yes.  So I filled one for Charlotte with all of her Barbies and their gear, and one for Amelie with one stuffed animal.  The kids said it wasn't fair.  Charlotte had lots and Amelie had one.  

So I took everything out of Charlotte's basket except one Barbie shoe.  (Exaggeration helps in these lessons.) Now was it fair?  They each have one.  They about had a cow then, yelling "no! that's not fair!" 

"What if they each have only a Barbie?"  "Amelie is too little to play Barbies!" 

The point?  Fairness does NOT mean that everyone has the same. Every person is unique and has unique needs and desires.  Fairness, in regards to our family anyway, means that everyone has what they need and that their wants are provided for as thoughtfully and equitably as possible within our means.

ballet angel

This past week was all about the Columbia County Ballet's production of The Roar of Love!  You may remember that Charlotte was a Pony in this production (that tells the story of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) last year.  This year she was an Angel.  The Angels and Stars come on stage to celebrate after Aslan comes back to life.

We had two rehearsals downtown in Augusta this week and then the BIG SHOW was this afternoon.  Charlotte, of course, did fantastic.  I am also proud of myself for conquering my fear of the "ballet bun" and for volunteering as a stage mom and helping to get the Stars and Angels dressed, on stage, off stage, and undressed today.  35 little girls!!!  Whoo, it was loud in that dressing room, and I am tuckered out!  Now here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

Outside the theatre, just before spacing rehearsal.

Dress rehearsal. Check out that extension! 

(And notice the bun is staying put as well.)

Charlotte was at the front of a line of girls and was worried about remembering all of the cues and hitting the marks on the stage, but she did really well in the performance.

So sweet... and serious.

Happy ballerina after the performance!

With her best ballet buddies, Adair and Skyler.  

These three girls have been in the same ballet class for three years now and get along so great.

take me out to the ballgame

Today was the opening day of T-ball for Toby. I have never been much of a baseball fan, (huge understatement,) but something magical happened today when Toby suited up in his Braves uniform for the first time and now I am LOVING baseball, small town America, and apple pie!

He warmed up with a game of catch before the teams paraded onto the field at 9 am, listened to a speech from the mayor, had a prayer, and sang the national anthem.  I am telling ya, opening day of baseball in a small town is pretty awesome.

After the opening ceremony we had some time to kill with group and individual photos before his first game against the Cardinals.  I got him a hot dog from the concession stand and we visited the bounce houses.  Then Rob arrived with the three other kiddos just in time for game time at noon.

Bench talk is serious stuff.

Next up to bat for the Party Box Braves is #10 Tooooooby Anderson!  By the way, I asked Toby if I could call him "Smalls" like the main character in The Sandlot. (Toby's favorite movie.) He replied that I could call him "Medium" because he is not very small.  I also spent most of the morning calling him "Party Box," because of the shirt, and because I think it would be a rad nickname.

Rounding the bases!

For some reason, he felt the need to hold onto his batting helmet as he rounded the bases.  Those little circles make great handles.

And in the field.  

Toby played left field and short stop today, but will try out all of the positions over the course of the season. Toby was very serious the whole day... he is not fooling around out there.   

I am so proud of my little baller!  

Amelie at 6 months

My sweet baby is growing up!

Amelie is now 6 months old! She had her check-up yesterday and is a very healthy happy girl.  She weighed in at 17 lbs. 10 oz. and was 26 and 3/4 inches long.  She was in the 85th percentile for height and weight and even head circumference. She has chunky thighs, bright eyes, and a smile that literally stops people in their tracks.  Everywhere we go, she turns strangers into friends... that kinda reminds me of my mom.

Amelie is VERY strong-willed and determined.  She wants to feed herself, and she does not like any of the baby foods that she has tried over the past month.  She likes to be held upright, never lying down, and she prefers the one who is holding her to stand.  Sitting down will likely cause an Alarmelie to sound.  She has gotten better about riding in the car, and seems to resign herself to being strapped into the carseat now, which is a huge improvement.

I can't decide whether she is right or left-handed, but I suspect she is another lefty.  That would mean 3 of our 4 kiddos are lefties.  Rob and I are both right-handed, as is Toby.  I think being a southpaw is cool!  Globally, roughly 12% of men and 10% of women are lefties.

Amelie likes to sleep on her tummy.  I generally nurse her before bedtime, but if she is very tired and already well-fed, we will just lie her down and turn on her seahorse which lights up and plays music for a little while and she will usually zonk out without too much fuss.  We have found with our kids, that it helps us to have portable bedtime routines and sleep cues so that when we travel we can still help the kids feel comfortable and "at home" in strange places.  She got this seahorse from Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas and hopefully this will work for our Ami too.

 

Finally, our girl is plowing through milestones so fast it is hard to keep track.  She can roll tummy to back and back to tummy.  She is cutting her first two teeth right now.  She can sit up mostly by herself.  She is eating baby cereals and first foods and joins us for all meals in her high chair at the table. She has recently started "blowing raspberries" and experimenting with sounds her tongue makes.  (This involves an immense amount of slobber.) She can pick up small objects with her fingers and pass them from one hand to the other.  And sometimes, when she is really upset about not being picked up, she says "mmmamamama."

Sometimes I jokingly ask, "Whose idea was it to have all of these kids?!?"  But baby girl, there is no way our family would be the same without your sweet smiles and giggles. 

Happy Half Birthday Ameluska!

Calhoun, GA and Savannah's baptism

A few weeks ago we took a mini-road trip around Georgia.  Rob took us to Calhoun, GA where he attended high school and showed us the sights.  Behold!  The sights!  Just teasing... Calhoun is a small town.  Much like the one I grew up in waaaaay up north.  Ha!  We even went to church there on Sunday morning and visited a small branch of our church, where Rob seemed to be a bit of a celebrity.  This part is no joke.  I have never in my life been personally welcomed to church over the lectern and had everyone in the chapel turn to stare and smile at me. And this was no brief greeting!  It went on and on.  And where was Rob while this was happening?  In the foyer with the baby!!! Holy heart attack Batman, I was very overwhelmed, but very welcomed.

We also took the kids to New Echota. I had never heard of it before, but it was at one time the capitol of the Cherokee Nation.  (Before the Trail of Tears.)  There is a museum there now and historical park to explore.  It was a perfect outing for our own little tribe to get some wiggles out and learn about a different way of life.

Our best group shot... sun in the eyes and all. Sidenote: I cannot imagine living in a home that size with four kids. But so many people did just that, back in the day, with many, many more kids.  The handwoven baskets inside were gorgeous though.  I would happily take those home with me.

We spent the night in a hotel near the highway and took our bathing beauty for her first swim in the hotel pool.  (Check out those rolls!  I love 'em.)  Amelie did pretty well in the hotel room overnight.  Jake is still our most restless sleeper and luckily Rob shared a bed with him! Every time I looked over there Jake was in a different position and he even fell out of the bed once. (That didn't wake him up though.)

We also ate THE WORST Chinese food in the history of takeout.  Initially we wanted hoagies because I forgot that we were in rural Georgia... and there was not a single place to get a hoagie, (not even a Subway,) in the whole town!  So Rob improvised and brought back THE WORST Chinese food.  Seriously, I actually gagged and ate a granola bar I found in my purse for dinner instead. (Rob concurred that his food was bad, but mine was truly inedible.)

And finally, we ended our road trip on a fabulously happy note.  We drove up to visit Rob's sister and attend the baptism of our niece Savannah.  (Dressed in white in the center.)  Our kids love getting a chance to play with their cousins and we are so glad we got to share this special day with Savannah.  Jake had no nap and was feeling pretty anti-social by this point unfortunately.  I bribed him to be good by telling him there would be cake after the baptism.  SO of course the moment Savannah came up out of the water Jake declared, "Now we eat tate!" Love that goofy little Bear. 

Dr. Seuss week

'Twas the week of Theodor Seuss Geisel's birth, 

and the kids came home from school with looks full of mirth. 

 "I'm to dress as my favorite, I'll be Cat in the Hat!"

 "Me too, I'm Fancy Nancy or something like that!" 

 Their teachers were devilish and missed not a trick, 

they added crazy hair day, crazy sock day, yeah... they laid it on thick. 

 I went straight to work with sewing machine and hairspray. 

The can I've had for two years? Almost used in one day. 

 I whipped up a tall stripey hat and bow tie, 

 my cute little Toby... perhaps I did cry.

The hair and socks were no biggie, they were quickly done.

I'm more stressed about the upcoming required 'ballet bun.'

And last but not least, the accessory stash barfed-

Beads, jewelry, curls, heels, bows- topped with a real Parisian scarf!

I made their fantasies real! I created their looks!

I love Dr. Seuss and his inspirational books!

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.