Caught a bug

Addie came home sick on Wednesday and has been in pretty bad shape ever since. Fever, chills, achiness, vomiting, all that good stuff... Last night she slept in three places - my bed, the office bed, and the sofa, and this morning she was in pretty bad shape. Right now she's full of motrin and jello and she was determined to go outside. I think she's been feeling cooped up. She was desperate to go to school today saying, "but I love to go to school! I won't give anyone my germ." Hopefully she's through the worst of it and she'll continue to feel as well as she seems to right now. Here she is all bundled up a few minutes ago for a bike ride. The huge dark circles under her eyes seem to have faded. Kellen got his new CASL soccer ball for tomorrow, so they are all out there now getting some fresh air. Kellen has his first practice/game tomorrow, so there is sure to be a post about that. He is BESIDE himself with excitement about soccer and has been counting down the days all week.

How to Avoid Baby Gates

I sooooooo do not want to install baby gates on our stairs. We don't have standard walls around our stairs and it will require someone handy to figure out how to do it. I'm envisioning extra boards, lots of drilling, drywall repair - yuck! But today Ellary climbed 2 stairs. That's what I get for trying to sit high on the stairs and take her picture while she played in the foyer. She will do whatever it takes to get to her mommy!

Party Planner

Addie has been in a really good mood today and she and Kellen have been getting along really well. After dinner she marched over to him and said that he was not going to be invited to her birthday party because it was just for girls but that was ok because she would bring him a piece of cake. He was not happy about that, but she started going into detail all about what she envisions for her party and why it would not be a good idea for him to come. So I grabbed pen and paper and had Addie come over to me and tell me all about it. Here's what she said:
A: "It's just for girls. I want some chicken and cake and princesses. Did you write chicken? And some balloons. We can color and do stickers. It's a princess party at the mall where the tables are. The girls will wear princess costumes. Kellen can't come because he's a boy and it's just for girls, but that's ok because I can bring him a piece of cake."
Then Addie decided to get her own paper and write down everything for the party so she could give it to me.
A: "And Mom, after I write down all the stuff for the party, I will hide and you can make me a present."
Me: What do you want me to make you?
A: Well you can't make a present. You need to go to Target.
Me: I could make you some hair bows.
A: No, you can't make that because you just told me that and I already know about it (in other words, you blew it by telling me). Can you and Kellen just go to Target and get me a present and I will stay with Dad?"
Oh, and her birthday is not until June!

Extended Family

This weekend we went to Williamsburg, and on the way home Sunday we stopped by my brother's place in Franklin, Va, to visit him and his 36 kids. It was a particularly good time to go because he just had triplets last week. And of course I'm talking about goats! :) He raises meat goats with my uncle out on my dad's family property, and the whole operation was very impressive. Kellen and Addie were so excited to be there. They both jumped right over the fences into the goat pastures, and Kellen did not want to leave Uncle Ben's side. He was so taken with the goats and all the equipment. It was a chilly day, so Ben built a bonfire so we could take breaks and warm up. One of the newest goats was so tiny - smaller than Ellary - and K&A had fun carrying her around. I scooped her up and was rubbing her tiny little face and said, "you are so cute I could just eat you up." Geof laughed when we realized I had said that to a meat goat... :( Circle of life I guess (though I have no intention to eat goat and neither does my brother). Anyway, we had a lot of fun visiting and it was nice to get to see my grandmother who met Ellary for the first time.

Making friends with one of the new baby goats

Even Ellary got some goat smooches

This little one was taken with Addie -
kept trying to eat her shoes and pants


Kellen takes a wild ride on Ben's tire swing and visiting with great-grandma

Eclipse

OK, so remember the post about the candle? That class I didn't get much out of... I take it back. When I got home from orchestra I remembered that there was a lunar eclipse, so I quickly set up the tripod to try to get some pictures. While I wasn't overly thrilled with the best results, I was able to put some of the skills I learned to use and got a couple decent shots. I'm sure without the class I would have been firing away using the "night portrait" mode on the camera with disastrous results. It was fairly cloudy when I started shooting, so the moon kept disappearing as large clouds swept across the sky. Also, I didn't have the best vantage point to take pictures from. Just as I wanted to get some pictures, an ambulance and fire truck showed up at the house across the street with red lights flashing and lots of commotion. I didn't think setting up a camera right across the street would be appropriate, so I stuck to the back deck. Anyway, it was gorgeous to look at. Hope you got to go out and see it. If not, check the sky again in 2 1/2 years.

The bright spot on the lower left is the planet Saturn

Sad Ad

Sometimes I wonder what in the world makes it so hard to be Addie. There are days when the tears flow from the time she wakes up til the time she goes to bed - like yesterday. And she has been that way from the very beginning. Can it be so devastating not to find the right combination of pants, shirt and hairbow? that her favorite breakfast spoon is dirty? that her socks have little bumps at the toe? that it just won't do to share her pink pail with a friend? that she has to wait her turn to swing? that her mittons don't match? that she needs to eat just one baby carrot? that she couldn't find the right hiding place for hide and seek? that the football sticker Kellen gave her just IS NOT as good as the other football sticker on his paper (that looks exactly the same to me)? The poor girl just has days... But I know God made her this way for a reason and we roll with the tears, because despite having some grumpy days now and then, Addie sure can turn on the charm and be a lot of fun! Now if I can just figure out how to keep her 3 forever so that I don't have to deal with teenage Addie... ;)

Little Green Balls

When Kellen was a little guy he ate whatever I gave him, and he really liked peas. He would clean his tray and say "mo wittle gween bawws!" I've been offering Ellary more and more table food, and today for lunch she had a tray full of "little green balls." She immediately went after them, probably because they are an interesting color. She seemed to like them, but she still preferred the mashed up veggie baby food that I gave her once she started slowing down on the peas.

She had had enough of little green balls,

and this little pea rolled around her mouth for quite a while!

EB has something to say:

uh-oh!

This is Ellary's new word (well, only word).
She says it when she drops something or when she's working on her "craft project" (this is Kellen's term for making a dirty diaper, which he says is the only thing she knows how to make... too cute!).

Awwww

They are Valentines!

Lollipop

Ellary's Valentine package had a lollipop in it, so while the boys were at gymnastics Ellary got to have her treat! She LOVED it! She was a big sticky mess, but Addie suggested I put her in the tub with her during Addie's bathtime, and it was a success! Ellary was so excited to be in the tub with Addie. Very cute. :)

I've Got Spirit, How 'Bout You?

This week was spirit week for Kellen's preschool class and there was lots going on! He usually goes to school three days a week, but his teacher invited him to come for the whole week so he could participate in their 100th Day of School and Valentine's Day celebrations. So I got a tiny glimpse of what it will be like to be without him for part of the day every day of the week! Anyway, for spirit week the kids had to dress differently each day - class color day, team sport day, mixed up clothing day, red for Valentine's Day, and today was crazy hair day. It has been a bit of a struggle to convince Kellen to participate in some of these, especially mixed up clothing day and crazy hair day. He wasn't too excited about looking different and heading off to school. For mixed up day he conceded to wear two different socks, and he said he was mixed up but it was a secret. He agreed to do the crazy hair thing only if I would let him spray it red and silver. I totally forgot to get the colored hair spray, so he was sad about that this morning. I convinced him to let me put lots of product in his hair and give him a little mohawk instead. He agreed it was cool since it made him look like a real drummer... ;) I think it's cute! Would have been cuter with red and silver spikes...

Be My Valentine

So I usually have the kids do finger painting for Valentine's Day and we dip chocolate strawberries. I've just been so frazzled lately that I'm not doing it. Crayons and paper and some paper doilies from the cabinet are the best I can do this year. So here are some pictures from Valentine's past, when life did not feel quite so crazy and I was willing to let my kids coat themselves in paint. Maybe next year I'll be in a place where we can do more creative things again.

Hope you have a
Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day 2003

2004

2005

2006
2007 -Pictures lost due to hard drive crash...

2008

Ho hum

Tonight was the second of a 2-part class I've been taking on low-light photography. I'm not sure exactly what my expectations for the class were, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't this. Last week we stood in a dark field and took pictures of pretty much the only lighted object in the area - a street lamp. Tonight we sat in a dark room and took picture of this - for an hour and a half!

If anyone is dying to have a picture taken of your favorite candle in a dark room, I am totally your gal! Call me! So much fun!!!

It only gets better!

Over the past 5 years there have been SO MANY play dates. Wonderful play dates full of play dough, spilled juice, runny noses, blowing bubbles, throwing tantrums, goldfish crackers, riding slides, swinging in swings, digging in the sand, building towers, knocking down others' towers, sharing toys, stealing toys, swim diapers, baby dolls, sippy cups, hugs, bumps, tears, giggles, cookies, paint, icing, crayons... But with preschoolers you KNOW there will be squabbles. So it is so nice to see all our hard work in explaining the joys of sharing and giving and taking turns pay off. Today we had a play date, and the toy du jour was Legos. Prepared mom that I have learned to become, I had huge fat legos for Ellary, girly princess ones for Addie and regular duplos for the boys. So the boys built their "bee trap" (I have no idea...), and then they played with Ellary for a bit and built her a little tower and did not complain once that she would take apart the tower and bee trap to chew on the pieces. Then they helped Addie construct the castle she was working on, quite willingly taking instruction from her on what the design should be. It was SO nice! There was no fighting, were no tears, and they all just had fun playing together. So they HAVE been listening all along... ;)

Addie with her princess castle and the boys with their bee trap

Working together to build the castle and
dropping that last little drip of drool in just the right spot on Ellary's tower.

**In an effort of full disclosure, it should be noted that Addie did have a bit of a meltdown once the boys moved on to another activity and she "scrumbled" her castle and sulked for a bit. After all, no matter how big she gets, she's still our Addie!**

Isn't this what you would wear?

Addie NEVER plays dress up. She has the dresses, shoes, boas, crowns and wands that other little girls have, but she's just not into it. Yesterday afternoon Geof was rounding them up to go outside so I could get some things done around the house - you know, "Kellen and Addie get your shoes on if you want to go outside to play!" Addie took a while getting her shoes on, and when she appeared this is what she had decided was appropriate playwear for riding her scooter... Love the hair!

Getting Slimed

Kellen's teacher asked if one of the parents would make Gak for their class during "G" week. I happened to have the recipe, but I had never made it before. I volunteered to do it anyway. I had heard of Gak, and I was thinking it was some sort of slime - sounded like fun! Geof and I found the whole thing quite funny as we made it, though admittedly we were very tired late in the evening. Needless to say, Kellen and Addie LOVED it! We've played Gak at home almost every day for a couple weeks (I'm sure all you former teachers know about this stuff already...). Anyway, here's a picture of the interesting stuff and a little video of me making it - have the sound on! (recipe follows if you want to try it yourself).

Gak Recipe:
(make solutions A & B in two separate bowls)
Solution A
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 cups Elmers white glue (brand matters)
Food coloring
**Mix together until completely dissolved**
Solution B
4 tsp Borax
1 1/3 cups warm water
**Mix together in large bowl until completely dissolved**

**Pour Solution A INTO Solution B. DO NOT MIX. Lift Gak out and knead into shape.

**If you are going to half the recipe, use only half of Solution A and mix the whole amount of Solution B. The results will be the same. This is the only way you can half the recipe. Do not double the recipe and do not reuse Solution B (the borax and water).

Smile for the Camera!

So much for trying to get cute Valentine pictures... :)

Just Had to Post...

...a few of my favorite pictures from a session I had with a newborn this weekend. What fun!

What a Nice Day!

A welcome change from the cold weather we've been having. We went to the playground after Bible study this morning, and Kellen and Addie had a great time playing with their friends! Lots of swinging and sliding with very minimal mishap or bad behavior!! It was so nice! And I actually remembered to bring my camera!

They had fun racing down the slides on their tummies, though Kellen thought it was more fun to stand in the girls' way as they slid down the slide and then jump out of the way at the last minute. Luckily the girls found it funny rather than annoying. :)

They liked swinging super high!