Our Busy Little World

Jun. 28, 2008 - Giggles

I know it seems forever (again) since I've written anything here! We're sort of having a 'vacation' in our own home. We've had just over two wonderful weeks of different family visiting, and spent such sweet times together! In the process we've discovered many great things to do in our own hometown - we've been enjoying horseback riding, swimming, a kids' horse museum, shooting, cooking and eating, playing tennis, and all manner of other fun things! I have so many photos to post, but I have to warn you all I might eventually look at switching over to google blogger or something else, as apparently shutterfly is not wanting me to post my pictures on the blog. We'll see - as I get it figured out, there will be plenty of pictures - I'm only a few hundred behind now! But today I had to try and preserve some funny memories by posting a couple more stories from my little ones. I'm sure they won't do justice to the actual funniness involved, but it's worth a try! (as always, I type the words as best I remember them!)

Hannah was wearing a *new* dress which a friend passed onto us. It is the sort that buttons up and has many pockets - front and back pockets like jeans, as well as two pockets on the bodice. My girls tend to enjoy pockets, so as I was telling Hannah how pretty she looked, I asked her if she had seen all of her pockets. She eagerly let me show her each one, and had to put her little hands in them as we found them. A pocket here for your right hand, one here for your left. Then a pocket in the back for this hand, and one for that hand. As we finished the lower pockets she put her hand into one of the bodice pockets, and a look of wonder crossed her face. Pulling her hand out with a giddy smile, as if she'd found some secret treasure, she excitedly showed me a dried, orange noodle and said, "look mommy, there's a macaroni in my pocket!" "Oh," I said, "we'd better throw that away, since it's old and hard and yucky." At that, she looked at me with the deer-in-the-headlights look, and sheepishly said, "Oh, heh, heh, I already ate it."

The other night we had let all of the older girls skip their nap to go swimming and play tennis (or whatever variation of tennis my three little ones managed to create!) with mommy and Grandma Karen. In the evening they were pretty exhausted, so they all went to bed when baby Alyssa did, leaving Miss Juliette to stay up late with us. After a good forty minutes, we put her to bed also - all of her big sisters were completely out! Sometimes little "Jooey" can be a stinker in bed, so we weren't overly surprised when we heard her little talkings and whisperings. I went in and told her to lay quietly and go to sleep.  A bit later I heard Hannah mumbling something in a stressed voice, and crying, apparently in her sleep. I opened the door to investigate, and saw little miss Juli turn and run at full speed from Hannah's bed back to her own. I went in to, ahem, rebuke her, for not being in her bed when I noticed a tiny object in her hand which explained the whole scenario. She had managed to find a bobby-pin in or around her bed. I suppose in her little mental gymnastics she remembered that Hannah had been wearing "Victorian twists" in her hair that day, secured by bobby pins. Apparently she felt the need to replace Hannah's bobby pin while she was peacefully sleeping, so she toddled over and began her work on Hannah's hair. I must have walked in just in time to save Hannah from being mercilessly stabbed by a two year old with a bobby pin! And of course, with the combination of Juli's little body flying across the room to her own bed, and figuring all of this out, I was trying so hard not to laugh that I'm pretty sure I didn't discipline her very effectively. After telling her in no uncertain terms to stay in bed and go to sleep, she indignantly grabbed her blanket, grabbed her horsey, and grabbed her book, all the while pinning me with a rather perturbed look which I'm pretty sure meant: "how dare you interrupt me from styling Hannah's hair?!"

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May. 11, 2008 - Flowers For Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mothers and grandmas! We hope you all enjoy a lovely day of rest with those you love. And a very special "Happy!" to our own beloved moms and grandmas: Grandma Karen, Grandma Anna, Grandma Pat and Grandma Berneta! We love you so much, and are so thankful to God for you all!

Now for some Mother's Day 'flowers' from the girls:

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May. 2, 2008 - Belle's Movies

I shall let Belle be a blog star on mommy's blog today. Sorry for any repeat, but I think I finally figured out how to get these videos to work and keep working. Here's a fun "last year and this year" of reading, as well as what Isabelle described as her "beautiful moment": her very first little dance recital. We were so proud of her, because daddy and I each gave her a particular piece of advice about a part of her dance, and she worked so hard to remember them both! And she smiled the whole time - she's third from the right.

PS. Please do be cautious about clicking on any video links that may pop up at the end of the videos - these are hosted on youtube and I have no control over what other videos they may have one their site!

Ballet/Irish Dance Recital

Reading St. George Last week (we LOVE this book - this was the day it came in the mail!)

Reading a Bob Book around a year or so ago

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Apr. 23, 2008 - Doggie Homeschool and Rent A Dog

Recently we had another one of those days at the park. I'm sure we all have a different definition of those days, but for us it meant that I took all the girls to a park and there happened to be a dog there. No matter if the dog was on a leash and not really that close to us. You should have heard the wailing that ensued! If I've failed to mention this, I had three little girls who were terrified of dogs, one big girl who loves them (interestingly the only one of our girls who was around when we had a dog) and a baby who doesn't think much more of them than perhaps, "hmm, that's a gooey sort of kiss". Hannah at least has pretty good reason for her fear, and even if she didn't she's good at inventing reasons. Naomi and Juliette just have fear! After trying to console, calm, bribe, and threaten, and finally plopping the wailers on a park bench (whatever it took to stop the hysterics!), I came home and told Matt I was quite certain we needed a dog! I didn't really care if I wanted a dog (although many days I think I do),  I didn't try to remind myself we may not have the time for a dog around here (pish, posh), and didn't think at all about doggy potty on the floor (our dog would be perfect!). All I could think was "I must be able to take my girls to the park, where there is ALWAYS a dog!" And the fact that I wouldn't have to vaccuum under the lunch table was nice, too. 

Well, as my husband wisely reminded me, until we actually have a fence around our property we can't get a dog. So I invented doggie-homeschool. We have some friends who happen to teach a dog handling class by a park near our home. So with their kind permission, every Wednesday evening we put dinner in to cook late, and we head to the park for just a few minutes. Then it's on to doggie school. Oh, this has been such a delight! I made the rule that no matter how afraid anyone felt, no one was allowed to cry! They can stick by me like glue, clutching my hand, but they can't wail! Then we asked if the class minded us dropping in each week for fifteen minutes. Thankfully, as we are trying to train our children not to be terrified of dogs (wise, yes, but not terrified), many of these people are trying to train their dogs not to be afraid of little children, so it works quite nicely. I'm happy to report that a month into it, I officially have two big girls who LOVE dogs (Hannah being one of them!), two small girls who tolerate dogs, and one baby who still thinks no more than "hmm, that's gooey". Daddy got to come today and see Hannah and Isabelle "train" their favorite dog. The dog's kind owner lets the girls lead her around on leash, feed her, and tell her to sit. These dogs really tower over the girls, so it's pretty funny to see Hannah saying "Kalina, sit, noooooo, sit, noooooo SIT, hmmm, oh, you laid down, good girl . . . . Mommy, I TRAINED her!"

Today this wonderful lady managed more than I thought was possible and had Naomi leading the dog on leash. Nao kept dropping the leash, and the lady would say "Pick it up, or she'll run off" - all I could think was "I'm sure that's what she's hoping for!" But she did it, she was so brave! And Juliette wanted to try, but without help (this is the girl who says little more nowadays than "I do it myself"), so she stood there, looked this dog in the eye and said (in a cute and stern voice) "Doggie, walk! No, no, walk doggie! Doggie walk!" We finally convinced her she'd have better luck if she started walking!

Our next step is borrowing a dog for a week. We're really looking forward to seeing how that goes, but hopefully by the end we shall have no trouble visiting any park we'd like to! Isn't homeschooling great? Who ever heard of doggie school electives otherwise!

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Apr. 10, 2008 - Pictures Galore

Here's your warning: this post will probably have a ton of pictures, because I took about a million over the past week! Next time I'll actually write a post using words . . . for now it will just be captions! Warning number two: many of these pictures are probably similar to one another, but I can't help it: I'm a sucker for each little unique facial expression my girls make!

We took the girls to a horse show to celebrate Hannah's birthday . . .

Naomi has so *perfected* the art of the cheesy smile, that I get really excited to have a picture like this: her lovely real smile!

The "fence horse"

This is Gandalf, one of the horses I take lessons on - isn't he a handsome fella?  Note the very suspicious look upon Naomi's face upon being this close to an animal!

 A few steps away and she's all smiles!

Ok, this isn't my kids obviously, but I thought it was the goofiest horse smile!

Hannah, proudly riding Gandalf - no fear for that girl - she LOVED it!

Note the entrance of dark clouds - the wind kicked up and the temperature plummeted! Thank the Lord for Walmart, clearance sweatshirts and bobby-sock mittens! They saved the day!

Here's Isabelle riding Dreamer, my instructor's horse. She was so sweet to share her horses with the girls! Belle was a bit more cautious, but loved it just the same!

Naomi and Juli say "no thanks for riding horses!" Actually, Juli wanted to ride (mostly, in my opinion, because she wanted to wear "that pink hat", but it took her about three seconds of sitting up there to politely request to come down. She then firmly stated "Jooey no more ride horsey".

Missed Isabelle's head, but go the smile!

Have I mentioned how much I love this man? Yes . . . the one sticking his tongue out at me! And that cute little baby, too . . .

We took care of some excess energy with some races in an empty field. I don't think that smile left Hannah's face all weekend - she loved her birthday celebration!

The progress of a good roll in the grass:

Later came the inevitable presents . . .

One thing I love about our "multi-generational" church (we don't have Sunday School for the kids- we just all worship together as families) is that when I asked Hannah who she'd like to have over for her birthday dinner, she wanted some friends her age:

And some friends our age just as much. In fact, here's the lovely lady that Hannah wanted to sit by for dinner:

It was good fun! We all laughed a ton - I'll have to find some pictures of the kiddos. They disappeared, and as Hannah said: "we were busy watching pink panther cartoons!"

And here are some odds and ends:

sleepy (or perhaps grumpy) Naomi . . .

I'm so happy to see Naomi enjoying books more lately. And I enjoyed twisting her hair again -it's been awhile!

Whew - that was a lot of pictures, wasn't it? Well, you can't say I didn't warn you!

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Apr. 7, 2008 - Little Penny, Not So Small

Well, my little Hannah turned four yesterday - such a big girl! We took her (and all the girls) to a horse show this weekend to celebrate. They just loved it - especially because my kind riding instructor let the girls ride both of her horses! I'll get some pictures up soon, but lately Alyssa has been sleeping in the room with my normal computer and pictures! Anyway, it was all good fun, and Hannah loved her weekend of celebration. In honor of her cuteness, here's yet another conversation (as best as I remember it) with her which made me laugh:

Hannah, crying: Mommy, I was trying to cut out my coloring page pretty, but I ripped it! (a huge trauma to my currently-obsessed-with-coloring-pages girl!)

Mommy: Oh dear, well maybe we can fix it. I'll cut it into an oval. See . . . now it looks like a vignette, those are very pretty.

Hannah, with a serious look of pondering on her face: What's a vignette?

Mommy: Well, a vignette is a kind of faded picture which looks lovely, and it's often shaped like an oval.

Hannah, yet more pondersome (is that a word?): Hmmm, is a vignette like a cognac?

Mommy: Huh? No, honey, I don't think it's like a cognac.

Hannah: I think it is.

Mommy: Well, they both are spelled with a gn (nya) sound, is that what you mean?

Hannah: Umm, yes, that's what I mean.

Mommy: Ok, then yes, a vignette is sort of like a cognac.

Hannah, after pondering for yet another moment and now with a look of epiphany upon her face:

Oh, so then it's like a car wash. . . . .

And out of the room she scooted, holding her vignette/cognac/car wash coloring page!

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Apr. 1, 2008 - Pretty Girls And Pretty Coloring Pages

In our ongoing effort to make Sunday the favorite day of the week, we now have some special toys, games and coloring books which we save for Sunday afternoons. Isabelle and Hannah (and mommy and daddy) are really enjoying our new "for Sabbath only" stained glass coloring books  - these look really pretty hung up in windows:

 

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Mar. 23, 2008 - Happy Resurrection Day!

Here's a fun little Easter poem we love, and some Easter pictures (you'll have to forgive the ton of baby pictures - however high maintenance that sweet little girl might be, she sure takes a lovely picture!)

Happy Easter to you, my friend.

This day's light shall have no end.

For Christ did rise

in the golden morn,

and by His life are we reborn.

Happy Easter to one and all!

The night is over, the sun is tall.

The day did break with a tiny beam

and flooded life with Light supreme.

-Holly Pond Hill, A Child's Book Of Easter

So many pictures in one day! Here are the girls hunting for some Easter eggs:

And a cute little baby I know, who learned to sit up - she does play so much more happily now!

More egg hunting - in the rather chilly weather, I might add!Here's Naomi playing with one of their Easter presents - a mini doll which came with bottles, spoons to feed, etc - quite possibly the best $5 I've ever spent as far as keeping my two littler ones busy and happy at the table!Miss Isabelle, in one of the lovely Easter dresses they were blessed with!Penny Bear - silly as always!

And Miss Juliette with some good post-nap hair going on!

Our Easter plans changed last minute so we enjoyed a lovely Easter at home. For our Easter Feast, we went with the not-so-traditional meal that daddy's been asking me to try making - sushi! He was thrilled!

And I've saved the baby for last, as I just couldn't decide between all her cute little facial expressions, so I decided to post them all! Here's Alyssa in her almost-eight-month old cuteness:

 

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Mar. 13, 2008 - Drippy Days

Today is a drippy sort of day. The sky is dripping - in a refreshing spring way. The eyes of my girls have been dripping, in a not-so-refresing, but much more emotional way. There was enough fussiness today that I actually started taking temperatures, almost hoping to find fevers that would explain it!  It's been a long week with Matt out of town for work. It's actually gone quite well, but I definitely miss his company and time with the girls! Alyssa's won the prize for fussiest baby, but this morning as she chomped on my finger I think I figured out why - there was a little tooth in there! Her very first one at seven months! Believe it or not, that's really early for one of my girls to get teeth. I guess that explains at least some of her fussiness, but I don't know where the other girls got theirs. And I can't say I've been a chipper chicken myself. Though there have been quite a few lovely moments today, there have also been plenty of stressful ones! We got a late start on school (the little school that we did) , as with the outdoor (and "indoor") weather the way it was, I decided to start with a rousing, if not so educational, game of hide and seek. That was fun, and the girls LOVED it. I have to admit I'm terrible at playing with my kids - great at reading, terrible at playing! So this was good fun for all of them. After this a big package of diapers happened to arrive, which provided two big boxes and a whole bunch of butcher paper to play with. It's funny, these girls have a playhouse, but it's so much more exciting to them to pretend a big box is a house! Then just as we all snuggled up to read on the couch,Alyssa playing on the floor with toys, two rather dreadful things happened. One was that Alyssa began to wail her discomfort and annoyance to the world, and refused to be comforted. The other was that I got the hiccups. I don't know if you've ever tried to read a story about a magical three-legged stool over the sound of a baby crying and interspersed with your own incessant hiccups, but I quickly decided it was just not worth it, much to Isabelle's disappointment.

I decided the day needed a fresh turn. So into the tea room we went. I set Naomi at the table with a fun magnet flower garden toy, Juli at the table with a flower garden peg stacker, Hannah at the bar with her playmobil farm, and Isabelle at the bar with a draw write now page. Alyssa went into the bumbo with some cheerios - her favorite companion lately. On went the NIV  Kids Club, a movie of kids singing Bible verses, and I made some peanut butter sandwiches (on white bread - mmm, they think it's such a rare treat!) After lunch, and after a generous helping of my cookies (I almost prefer giving cookies over any other snack when they're made with freshly ground flower and natural sugars!) I tried an experiment that worked perfectly, and is now my recommendation for creating smiles on rainy days. I put my broiler on high, lined a cookie sheet with foil, and filled it with marshmallows. Three minutes on each side later, we had some perfectly roasted marshmallows, with no bbq necessary! Oh, they were grand! We even stuck little pretzel sticks in them to make "trees". I'm sure that was the highlight of the day! It definitely cheered everyone up. Not that it made the day perfect or anything. After lunch, I ended up rocking two fussy little girls - one teething, one just plain pooped two year old. After a couple of lullabies, they were so happy, and gladly went to sleep. I came downstairs, hoping I hadn't caused the three older ones to fuss with eachother by being gone so long. It was totally quiet (not usually a good sing!) and I had to hunt through the whole downstairs before I found them in a rather odd spot! One girl was using the bathroom, and the other two were standing in the bathtub reading the "learn to poopy book" aloud to her! But they were happy, and so was I.  Now, of course, instead of napping while they did like I probably ought to have, I've been blogging. Silly me - this is why I don't blog very often anymore (a bit of sleep usually sounds more necessary!)  I'll just make a cup of coffee - ooh, would you like one more "recipe"? I think I've settled on how I like making my coffee: one shot of espresso (one ounce), one shot of pure maple syrup (again, one ounce), and 8 ounces of steamed, frothed milk -  yummy (and the caffeine doesn't hurt this tired mommy)! Well, now I've officially chronicled our day, and here are some photos to finish it off - the outside ones were from the other day.

Naomi finally named her dolly, after months of insisting that her name is Dolly. She named her Annie, which I love since it was her name when we adopted her! 

One of the aforementioned boxes - still not sure how Isabelle managed to bring Alyssa in there with her!

Hello Kitty!

Fun with friends, picking non edible berries to play with.

Hannah very much wanted me to take her picture, so she forced a smile

boxes are such fun!

Golden marshmallows - although they had deflated a bit before I decided to get the camera;

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Mar. 4, 2008 - Little Bunnies. . .

So today I was lying on the couch, "resting my eyes", as my dad used to say. I was awake, listening to Isabelle read aloud. Hannah was getting ready for nap, and I had just sent Naomi to potty before bed. And I was tired . . . very tired! So I closed my eyes for a moment or two. Then, out of nowhere, I felt the oddest sensation and had to think very hard to decide if I was dreaming. It felt like a bunny rabbit had softly put its little nose on my lips and was sniffing determinedly. It stopped, then a few seconds later it happened again. No dream, I was relatively certain by now that a little soft nose was indeed gently lodging itself between my closed lips. So I reluctantly opened my eyes to figure out why such a thing had occured. Leave it to Hannah . . . there she was with a sheepish little smile on her face. "What are you doing, Hannah," I asked. 

"Well, I thought I smelled some gum, and I wanted to know if you had it in your mouth."

"Yes, dear, I have some minty gum."

"Oh, I wanted to smell it, and see it."

So if you ever come to my house, perhaps chewing minty gum, do beware that if you choose to rest your eyes, someone might sneak up to investigate the source of minty gum smell with their nose!

I know I haven't posted in awhile, so here are a bunch of photos to make up for it:

Potty training a unicorn . . .

Daddy has way too much fun with this new pacifier!

Still sleepy . . . with bedtime horsey and blanket, of course . . .

Beautiful smiley girl!Isn't that better with no Billy-Bob paci?Isabelle looking lovely and growing so fast! I had no idea five year olds could read Narnia books to me!

Hannah thinking very hard . . .

Hannah, being goofy of course . . .

More goofy Penny!

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Feb. 26, 2008 - Unexpected Conversations and Songs

I have such a great husband, for many reasons, but one of my favorites is that he makes me laugh. Here are a couple of his recent funnies:

Overheard, from Matt to his mother:

"But you really are cool, mom. You're like the Fonz of moms!"

Another thing I love is when Matt "narrates" our babies. I laugh so hard when he (in a goofy baby voice, of course) says the things he imagines our infants might be thinking. He makes up songs, too. Here's his recent song for Alyssa (who gets a bit odiferous if she's not bathed!) His inspiration was the girls watching Beauty and The Beast in the background, so you have to imagine him singing this to Alyssa, in the tune of "Be Our Guest":

  He's had a few endings to this song, I'll have to post if he ever settles on one . . .

 

 

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Feb. 21, 2008 - Little Tidbits

What a week! I feel like I'm spending it in the bathroom with a baby and a "big girl" baby. This is due to the two main events of the week: feeding Alyssa baby food (and simultaneously being astonished at the mess she can make) and trying to potty train Juliette (oh the dandy stage of potty training!) Between bathing Alyssa and sitting by Juli as she uses the big girl potty, I've seen little else than my bathroom. Though I did manage to get out with the girls to play and enjoy some gorgeous fifty degree weather! You can see some pictures below.

Care for any potty training stories? Don't they always abound! Isabelle took about two weeks, Hannah took a week, and Naomi took the cake for amazing quickness in one day! Juliette, however, takes the cake for goofiness and just having to figure out a different way to do the whole thing! The first day she pottied and poopied in the toilet quite a few times - hooray, lots of praise and candy, etc! The next day she decided she'd had enough of that and was now quite stressed about using the toilet, so she proved her nearly impeccable bladder control by just holding it - for a looooooong time! That is, until her bladder could take it no longer and she flowed forth freely upon our dining room chair, or in bed! Now for day three: she got to the point that she would still hold it as long as toddler-ly possible, then wet a tiny bit and say she had to go to the potty. So I'd take her quite happily, and she'd squirt two drops in the toilet and proudly proclaim that she's done! How DO you get them to empty their whole bladder??? You'd think I'd remember . . . She's really been quite chipper today, just trying to avoid the toilet. We disovered a whole range of words we didn't even know she could pronounce. Here were her excuses:

Mommy: "Juliette, can you show mommy where you go potty now?"

Juliette: "No, Jooey all done potty twain!"

Next time I asked:

Juliette: "No, I don't know how" (this one sounded pathetically like "I no know how, I no know how!" It was very convincing until she started trying it when I'd tell her to tidy up, give a toy back to sister, or come see mommy! hmmm. . . methinks she fooled me!)

Next tactic:

Juliette: "No, I no want to" At least this one was direct.

In all cases, she still ended up on the big potty, much to her chagrin. I think I'm finally figuring out how to work her little system. First I discovered that loose panties and tights work great. She can get them down, and they are just enough to catch all the minor "oopsies" so I have no extra cleanup. When she goes on the big potty, I have to go out of the bathroom for a few minutes (even if I just hide around the corner) for her to go. I also have to convince her that her frumpy little gumby lips won't convince me she doesn't need to try. Then I have to remind her that if she potties in her panties, we have to clean her up in the tub (the one place she's currently less fond of than the toilet). Lastly I have to make sure to show her that lovely clear jar full of candies which she may choose from upon successful completion of her mission. It's been an interesting few days figuring out how to help her decide to do all this, but she's really doing pretty well, I think. All things considered, anyway.  We even made up her own little song, which she likes to sing again, and again, and again:

I'm big Juli, and I have dry panties;

No wet panties for big Juli girl;

I go potty on the big girl toilet;

I go potty with a happy heart!

Didn't you just always hope I'd post a potty song?  Ok, enough of this! Happy potty training to all who may currently be sharing this time! Here are some almost Spring pictures:

In this one, we were "helping" the rapidly melting snow by shoveling it off of our yard!

Big girl Juli in her little potty training tights!

 

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Jan. 7, 2008 - Just Some Pictures

Well, much as I would love to write some more than this, it's a BUSY couple of weeks, and I need to get to bed. However, my collection of pictures (mostly due to Christmas, I'm sure) is growing quite enormous, so I shall post some for now.

Alyssa loves her new bumbo chair

The girls were so excited to recieve beautiful little dress coats and a play cottage for Christmas

Isabelle loving her new scarf made with love by Aunt Jenny

Matt found this gigantic icicle rather fun.

"Is daddy home yet?"

Big Hannah and little Hannah - Juli looks so much like Hannah with pigtails!

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Dec. 16, 2007 - The *Joy* Of The Unknown

Most people who know me know that I tend to be a very tidy person - both in my house and in my daily routines. Some people who know me say I'm like Monk, but I don't think I'm that obsessive! However, I really enjoy my tidy house, and I enjoy knowing what's coming next during the day. I'm not such a big fan of the unknown. But our God has such a sense of humor, and I think He's making sure that I don't make those nice, tidy routines an idol in any way.  Are you curious how He's doing this? It's quite simple - He gave me Alyssa! For the first three months of her life she seemed to be following in Juliette's footsteps (ie: easiest newborn ever). She slept through the night at 6 weeks old, and was well on her way to sleeping for those nice long twelve hour nights the other girls grew into. Then something, and I have no idea what, changed. All of a sudden that girl became the most inconsistent, unpredictable little baby I've ever had! I tried keeping track of my foods, feeding her more often, and every other thing I could think of. She's not overly fussy or colicky, she is just inconsistent. One day she'll sleep for only twenty minutes at a nap where she usually sleeps for two hours - and trust me, there'll be NO getting her back to sleep. She doesn't cry herself to sleep, she only cries herself awake! Some nights she'll randomly wake at four in the morning now, for no apparent reason, but she will not get back to sleep without eating (believe me, I've tried!). She has nap radar and school radar, meaning that she mysteriously wakes up anytime I try to start our school or take a nap - even if she just recently fell asleep! She seems to need so much less sleep than my other girls have at this age, as she'll stay awake pretty happily for a couple of hours when I would have been convinced she needed to sleep. I'm no expert or anything, but I have fairly successfully had four other little ones in nice consistent routines. But I've decided that the more children I have, the less I feel like I know about little ones! I had to laugh yesterday as I realized I just need to not stress about any of this. My girls are so little and I want to remember enjoying these days with them, not stressing because I couldn't fit everything in! But I know that I can fit in everything God has for me to do in a given day - rather, He can fit it in. Funny, isn't it? The way God brings us to these points of realizing that for all our theories we truly are only doing any of this by His grace. Well, here's to life lessons through little babies!

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Dec. 13, 2007 - Pardon Me?

Lately Matt and I have enjoyed trying out different accents while we read aloud to the girls. Depending on the book, we've tried Mexican accents, Irish brogue and most recently a British accent (with Narnia and the Beatrix Potter books). It's great fun, and Isabelle especially loves when we do this. The last few days, after reading some Beatrix Potter together, she's begged me to continue to talk in my "British" accent throughout the day. Even when I haven't complied, she's been talking in her own version of an English accent. It's not really any "accent" at all, more of a deepening of her voice and a slurring of her words - but for her it's grand fun! At dinner, when Matt was trying to figure out why she was talking the way she was, I mentioned her "British accent," for his benefit. I then turned to Matt and spelled out in a cheerful voice that "I know, it's T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E". I can only get away with spelling longer words like this one quickly, or Isabelle sounds them out. Well, in her state of glee over her fabulous accent, she looked at me with a huge grin and said (to Matt's and my abundant laughter) "did you just spell "cool"?

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Nov. 20, 2007 - Can't Resist . . .

Yet more goofy sayings of my children. Someday, when my brain begins to function normally again, I shall actually write something myself!

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We were eating dinner the other day, and Isabelle was particularly chatty. I'm not sure how she ate whilst keeping up such a running commentary on life, but she managed. She was telling us something about an elf in Lord Of The Rings, I believe, in incredibly great detail. The problem was that I had a horrible headache, and her words were all running together as one pounding sound in my head. So when I could see that Hannah wanted to say something (on the other side of the table, where perhaps it wouldn't hurt my head so much), I attempted to stop the flow of words from Miss Isabelle. After convincing her that Hannah wanted to join the conversation, we all turned expectedly to see what profound thing Hannah would utter:

"Mommy, my nose and lips can wiggle - like this" (she proceeded to demonstrate, then sat quiet and contented, having made her observation to the world).

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Hannah has recently decided that she likes to draw and color. It's very fun, of course, to see her create toddler art, and to see her concentrate so hard on it. Here's a conversation we recently had about one of her pictures:

Me: "What a pretty picture Hannah - what is it?"

Hannah: "It's a house . . .

Aaaaaactually, it's sharp teeth . . . with a tongue.

Aaaaaactually, it's a house.

No actually it's sharp teeth. . .

I don't know what it is. . . "

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One of my girls, who for privacy's sake shall remain nameless:

"Mommy, I need to go poopy. I need to go SO really bad! Mommy, I need to go TWENTY POUNDS of poopy!"

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Last, but not least, "compliments" I never thought I'd hear.

My girls can be quite sweet, and say such lovely things to mommy when they put their mind to it. But sometimes, while I'm sure their intentions are sweet, their compliments don't quite have the same effect.

Tonight at dinner I made some faux pas or another and said "Silly me." Isabelle, with a look of great concern upon her face began attempting to make me take my words back:

"Oh no, mommy don't say that; you're a perfectly wise mommy . . .

and a perfectly kind mommy . . .

and a perfectly little clumsy mommy"

I don't know about the first two, but the third one sure is true!

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Isabelle before church on Sunday: Mommy, you look so pretty - you look just like a clown. (You can bet I checked the mirror to make sure I didn't have on too much blush after that!)

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Hannah, while I was putting lotion on her little cheeks: "Mommy, your hands smell so nice, your hands smell just like an Appaloosa!" (In my defense, I do believe she meant apple lotion, and the wrong words came out . . . at least I hope that's the case!)

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My little lady

"Snow harder, snow more, snow blizzards galore!" 

Tackled in the snow. . .

Still loves her shopping cart - no snowballs for me, thanks!

Impromptu snow play in church dressies

Another little lady

My littlest lady

Love those Narnia books!

 All my silly girls!

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Nov. 15, 2007 - Contagious Diseases

Well, like her sisters before her, Alyssa seems to have contracted a slight case of the Sticker-pox. It doesn't seem to be bothering her too much . . .

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Nov. 8, 2007 - Funny, Funny

Well, I have a few more "amusing comments from little ones" stories. The capital letters are to express Hannah's very confident tone of voice :-)

We were pleased to discover that Isabelle retained quite a bit of the sermon from church this week. She's been walking around telling everyone that they aren't just their parents' children - they are God's children, as God is our great Father.  I'm not sure how clearly she understood that, as I think I overheard her telling Hannah that Matt wasn't really her daddy (don't worry, I corrected that!). Last night she started to tell all of this to Matt over dinner. She got as far as "we must remember that it's not just you that are our parents" when Hannah broke in confidently with "That's right, we are GOD's parents, too!"

Apparently at least some of what we read about Animals And Their Worlds is sticking with the girls as well - even my little three-Penny (as she likes to be called since she's three). Today I was helping Isabelle with her Frog notebook page, and trying to hint as to how frogs get their food. I asked her if she remembered what kind of animal a frog is (even though it seems funny to me!) Hannah piped up (correctly) with: "It's a predator - like a LION!" Yep, frogs and lions - two peas in a pod.

Later, when we were playing outside, our neighbor's cat came for a visit. Hannah was grabbing the cat's tail - for some reason this cat doesn't mind such things- when she started shouting excitedly "Mommy, Whimsey has a BONE in her tail - it's a BONE, mommy!!!!" Not quite as excited about this piece of information as she apparently was, I said "Oh, is it a backbone?" Hannah replied that it was actually a tailbone, but the cat had a backbone too (a few days ago we read that mammals have backbones). Once Hannah figured this out, though she didn't remember the term "mammal", she was so excited that she started crooning happily to the cat "Oh, you have a backbone, so you're a backbone animal. Did you know you're a backbone animal?"

Lastly, the funniest of all, though I'm sure I won't do this story justice no matter how many clarifications I add! We've been working with Isabelle to make sure that she answers and doesn't ignore it when someone asks her a question, especially if that someone is mommy or daddy. I was at the stove getting some food out of the oven while she was in the tearoom eating with her sisters. Suddenly she jumped up from the table and came into the kitchen (typically they must ask before they get up to get something). I had my back to her at the stove, but asked something to the effect of "Isabelle, why are you not sitting down?" A moment passed with no response except her walking back to the table, so I said "Isabelle, is there a reason you didn't answer mommy?" At this moment, Matt walked in and in a shocked and stern voice said "Isabelle!".  It took me a bit to figure out what happened, but I finally understood. We've taught the girls that if someone asks them a question while they have food in their mouth, they may hold their pointer finger up to indicate "One moment . . . " Apparently Isabelle got up from the table with her mouth full to get some ketchup, hence why she didn't answer me right away. She must have held her finger up and I didn't see it with my back to her, so when I asked again she held it higher up in the air. The punchline is that for some reason she tends to point with her middle finger instead of her pointer finger. So poor Matt walked in to hear me asking Isabelle why she had not answered me, and he glanced over to see what looked for all the world like my five year old was not only flipping me off, but doing so blatantly and high in the air!!!

PS. I must add this little disclaimer: It was definitely an inadvertent and innocent action on her part – but it did make for a funny moment, and reminded us of the need to redouble our efforts to teach her which is the pointer finger!

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Nov. 1, 2007 - Funny Stuff

If you need a laugh, you must watch this little video of a friend's baby:

The Red Sox Win

The baby is my dear friend's first little son, and her husband made this video of pictures of him. I have NO idea how, but I laughed and laughed, and thought I'd pass the fun along! Thanks Michelle, for sharing your sweet baby's face with us!

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Oct. 29, 2007 - A Story For Encouragement

A friend sent me this story recently, and I was so encouraged by it. It's a bit of a long read, but I thought it was a beautiful picture of motherhood:

I'm invisible.......
It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response,
the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the
phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, "Can't
you see I'm on the phone?"

Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or
sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner,
because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this?
Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of
hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is
it?" I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney
Channel?" I'm a car to order, "Pick me up right around 5:30, please."

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the
eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum
laude -- but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never
to be seen again.

She's going ... she's going ... she's gone!
One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return
of a friend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a
fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she
stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put
together so well.

It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked
down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find
that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and
I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was
feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully
wrapped package, and said, "I brought you this."

It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe . I wasn't exactly
sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "To
Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are
building when no one sees."

In the days ahead I would read -- no, devour -- the book. And I
would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths,
after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the
great cathedrals-- we have no record of their names. These builders gave
their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They
made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their
building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw
everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit
the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving
a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the
man, "Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a
beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it."
And the workman replied, "Because God sees."

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was
almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte.
I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you
does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no
cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over.
You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what
it will become."

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a
disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of
my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn
pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder.
As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see
finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The
writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could
ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people
willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend
he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at
4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand-bastes a
turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table."

That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just
want him to want to come home.
And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add,
"You're gonna love it there."

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if
we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the
world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty
that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

 

By Nicole Johnson

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