Our Busy Little World

Dec. 9, 2008 - Happy Advent!

Happy Advent, everyone! This is our favorite season, and we girls especially are having so much fun enjoying the candles and decorations and music and readings! I took a few pictures of the girls that I wanted to post, but I shall have to stick with that for today, as I need to go wake them up for the day!


Juliette likes to collect a stack of books and a couple of toys, sit next to or on top of them in the flower chair, and read the books. Oddly enough, she calls this "swimming" (or wimming, as she says it)


Naomi and Juliette like to play together, so Naomi has lately been joining Juli in "wimming"

My Bella reading James Herriots children's stories.



My Penny being silly . . . which is pretty normal! She had us all confused this week running around talking about some sickness called HenPos - took us awhile to figure out she meant Chicken Pox, and had translated the chicken to hen!


Ok, I'm totally perpetuating her being a stinker by taking a picture of this, but it was really funny  to walk back in with a washcloth expecting to find her still waiting in her highchair and find this . . . .

Some impromptu Christmassy pictures


Pretty little Lys!

Miss Juliette

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Oct. 10, 2008 - Walkin' and Talkin'

I apologize for the sideways video - didn't remember that it would do that until after I downloaded it! Nonetheless, I had fun making a little movie of Alyssa, who can now walk and talk . . . sort of.

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Oct. 9, 2008 - Conversations and Strange Happenings

Conversation in the car:
Juliette: "I want to marry daddy."
Me, chuckling: "Oh, I don't think you can marry daddy - he's already married to me."
Juliette: "Mommy, I want to marry daddy at Walmart."
Naomi, laughing uproariously: "Oh, ha, ha, ha, no, no no."
Juliette: "Mommy, I will go to Walmart tomorrow and marry daddy."
Naomi: "No, ha, ha."
Juliette: "Yes, I will (sounds like wiw), I will marry daddy.
Naomi, still laughing uproariously: "No, you can't!"
Juliette, with a grumpy look on her face, after pondering this for a moment: "Mommy, Naomi mean!"
 
Later at dinner
Juliette: "Daddy, I want to marry you."
Daddy, with a very amused smile: "Oh honey, I can't marry you."
Juliette: "Yup, you can (sounds like tan). I wanna have go and marry you."
Daddy: "You're my little girl so I can't marry you, but I can love you lots and lots."
Juliette whimpers and sniffles rather pathetically . . .  
 
Today in the store we had a bit of a crisis. I saw Naomi briefly stick her finger up her nose, so I told her to take it out and not pick her nose. She started crying and insisted she had to because something was in her nose. I said we would take care of it in the car, but she remained quite distressed. I unfortunately forgot about it in the car, and she didn't mention it again till we were at home. She was very upset and said there was a shoe in her nose. Not being good at thinking outside the box, I thought for a minute, then asked if her sister had kicked her nose (shoe?). She said no. I asked if she needed a kiss or a tissue, and she asked for a kissue. Assuming she meant a tissue, I brought her one, and she blew enthusiastically. And out popped the last thing I expected, but exactly what she had been trying to tell me: a princess doll's shoe! Perhaps the trauma will convince her not to do that one again.

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Oct. 7, 2008 - Bows And Arrows

Matt's just finished building a fence in the backyard, and Isabelle is very excited that she can go out and practice archery by herself now.  Her little "range" is in the perfect spot for me to watch her while I cook, and she and Hannah can take a few minutes to practice on their own. When Matt was showing Isabelle some archery tips, he made sure to caution her to keep her arrow aimed low, for the target, because if it went high up in the air it might come down and hurt someone. She sagely replied: "Yes, it shall soar down like a raven's wing . . . but it would be a good thing if it hit a burglar." Spoken like a knight's daughter, I suppose, but I'm glad she manages to keep it to the target! Here are a couple of pictures through the kitchen window - the cloak adds nicely to the elfin effect, I think.

 
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Aug. 1, 2008 - Observation

Tonight I find myself amused at the pronunciation differences of my three smallest girls. They can say the same thing in such different little ways:

Example: Mommy asks, "Would you like a drink?"

Alyssa: "bla, maa maa mi, bla, goo, goo" (or some variation of this - you get the idea)

Naomi: "Yah, I nee a wink of my wawer"

Juliette: "Ooh, yet (how she says yes), I need a beek of my beek!"

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Jul. 31, 2008 - Idiosyncrasies

It's amazing that even on baby number five, all of my girls have been so different. Alyssa is her own little person, and she has her own idiosyncrasies. Here are pictures of a few of them:
I don't know why, but she prefers to eat with one foot on the tray/table. Dreadful, I know, but I've made more messes trying to get that foot down than when I just left it there while feeding her. I know taking this picture probably made a bad habit all that much worse, but I couldn't resist memorializing her obsession with a foot on the table!
She also manages to crawl off and find herself in some odd predicaments.  When it's quiet, we have to go hunting for her to figure out where she's "hiding". Thankfully we've never found her splashing in the toilet (though she's rather proud that she's figured how to flush it!), but here she managed to get herself rather stuck. We're still not sure how she got there by herself, but she sure enjoyed her new vantage point, until she realized that she couldn't get out.
"Wow, what a cool spot I've found - I can stand up all day!"
"Wait a minute, I seem to be rather enclosed here"
"Dear me, what shall I do????"
"Well, guess I'll just have to sit here and play with my tongue till someone finds me"
As mommy walks past, "Oh, hee, hee, hi mom . . . I'm stuck!" I love this sheepish/impish look on her face!
 
 Now for some more almost-one-year-old pictures of our little blondie:
"Mmmm. leaves and grass, what could be yummier?"
Going on a stroller ride:
I've got my mommy! 
 
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Jul. 11, 2008 - Some July Pictures

I think I've given up trying to post all of my pictures from June. I suppose I'll sneak them in here and there . . . . But here are a few from July:
Four little bathin' beauties!
Naomi Bear
Who's that handsome fella with all those little girls?
The big girls showing how we "tweaked" their church dresses to give them longer life. And silly me, I didn't extend the picture far enough down to see! Well, if you look in the previous picture, you can see a calico pink band of fabric at the bottom of Naomi's dress, and in this picture you can see the matching band across the empire waist. I'd gotten the idea from a dress I saw in the store, and my wonderful mother-and-sister-in-law helped me pull it off while they were here! Many thanks - we LOVE these dresses and are so happy to enjoy them a bit longer!
That's all for today - I'm off to get some breakfast before I wake the girlies!
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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 . . .

Be my guest,
I smell fresh,
put my odor to the test.
I am cleaner than a whistle
'Cause I'm washed with good milk thistle,
and some honey,
bet some money
that my odor isn't funny.
Yes, I know you don't believe me
let thy nostrils not deceive thee.
With the power of a shower
I smell nicer than May flowers.
Yes it seems a contradiction
but it's certainly not fiction. . .

 

 

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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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