Celebrating Kendall

We had Kendall's Tangled themed birthday party today. Luckily we had our party photographer handy to take lots of pictures. We had hoped to have the party outside but this nonstop rain kept us indoors

Guests were directed to a "photo booth" where they could choose from a variety of props and take a picture with the birthday girl (who choose the tiara every.single.time).

Some of the guests preferred to have their picture taken alone.

We decorated princess crowns and swords while we waited for the everyone to arrive.

Next we had a yummy lunch of grilled hot dogs, veggies, fruit salad, and chips. The kids were so incredibly cute sitting at the table chatting about various things--primarily Tangled related things.

Next we tried to play a funny little game. Last night we spent far too much time blowing up sooo many balloons, we also attached rubber bands to each one and at the party we put one on each of the kids legs. They were supposed to pop each others balloons while keeping their own intact. My fear was that they would all be too timid to pop a balloon. However I was wrong, the kids jumped in without a problem and attacked each others balloons with gusto. The lesson is that next time I will buy really cheap balloons because we just could not pop the things!! The game went on far longer then I had planned until I deemed that there were multiple winners!

We had better luck finding a winner in the next game: Pin the nose on Flynn Rider. If you haven't seen the movie then this makes no sense to you. This was a game we decided on at about 11pm last night so I drew this Wanted poster and created various noses for the kids to pin on. We actually had three winners! Luckily I had purchased extra "prizes."

We finished up with opening presents. 

Then we had to immediately open some of the presents of course.

The kids left shortly after. The girls with their bubbles and pansy flowers and the boys with bubbles and swords. Uncle Jeff, Pat and Great Gram stuck around and we were able to visit with them.

They were subjected to the photo booth too :)

Finally Kendall and Kate spent a little bit of time outside on Kendall's new bike.

What a fun day!

Book Love

We love going to the library. Something about all those books stacked together and they’re all FREE! Every time I check out I feel like I need to pull out my wallet. After the girls make their selections they settle in at the craft table while I continue to browse. Jack enjoys the smells and sounds of the library too.

Today our library basket held:

Bringing up Girls by James Dobson  

Healthy Family Meals by the American Heart Association—always looking for new recipe ideas

This Book Made Me Do It by DK Publishing—planning activities for our days

Ed Emberley’s Great Thumbprint Book –not the first time this one has come home with us.

Each of the girls pick out four books and one movie. Kendall found a cute one called Scuba Bunnies

 and Kate chose Little Ballerina Dancing Book.

 I usually go around and pick out a children’s book or two as well. I like to pick from the award winners, the list of 100 best picture books or, most commonly, based on the illustrations.  As much as I love a good story, or the cadence of a well written book I think the illustrations are what help a child to loose themselves in that different world. It never hurts if the pictures will inspire a project at home.

The best part of going to the library is seeing books strewn all over the family room, seeing my girls looking at them, and anticipating time with my own stack.

Amazon Wish List

I wanted to take a quick minute to share with you one more thing that makes life flow a little more smoothly. In the past I have faced a holiday or a birthday with absolutely no idea what to get my kids and no idea what I wanted either.  I know that throughout the year there are things that we come across and want but when it comes time to get them I can't remember! Recently I started using Amazon.com's wish list. I downloaded the little button for my tool bar (see below on the top left of the screen shot it says "wish list") and now when I come across a cool gadget or toy I can just click that button and it adds  to our wish list.  Now when I face a birthday I can browse through the items that I marked through the year and either load up my Amazon cart or make a list to carry to the worlds most fun place...Target.

Fun things you would find on our list would include:

Pottery Barn Daily System

See the picture, the sun is shining down on it and the angels are singing, can't you hear them? 

Even I could be convinced to drink milk if I could have it out of this glass:

Anything that would make grocery shopping easier:

I'm curious, what's on your current wish list?

Pass the Meatballs

So we're a little mixed up on our crafty days but today we painted with spaghetti. The girls LOVED it and I loved the results. We may cut these up to use as our artist trading cards.

We found that it works better to drizzle paint over the cooked noodles instead of dipping the noodles in the paint. The spaghetti noodles were fun to fling around on the paper or roll under our hands. Next time we may try penne or other curly cue kinds.

Here are the finished masterpieces.

Cheap Cheep Chicks

Monday's grump deterring activity was a success. The girls had fun, they were able to do all steps on their own, it was fairly quick and managed to transition them into solo play without the usual post preschool grumpiness.

I think I may have shown this before but here is a closer look at how I use Google calendar for meal and activity planning. In Google you can create different "calendars" that all show in your main page (shown in different colors). I have one for each: general (appointments, school events...), activity, meal, and Brian's travel schedule. You can create reminders that either pop up on your screen or email to your account--could be used to send a reminder to yourself a few days before a birthday so you get a card in the mail on time (I get a great big FAIL for this). Every month the preschool sends home an outline with important dates, I input show-and-tell dates with reminders that morning.

So there you go. Tomorrow we get to go to Kindergarten screening for Kendall, she is SO excited! 

Planning on Fun

The girls have a hard time transitioning from school to home, they are tired, grumpy and quick to argue. I've found the best solution is to have a little activity planned each afternoon during that first hour home. After that they are more likely to go off on their own playing (and getting along) which allows me to work on dinner. In order to prepare I spend a little bit of time on the weekend planning and then putting it on my Google calendar. In Google you can set up email or pop-up reminders for earlier in the day so you can get any supplies that are necessary.


Tangent- I also use a Google Calendar to keep my dinner plan, I have it set up to send an email reminder for preparing--an early in the morning email for a dinner that goes in the crock-pot or late afternoon reminder for something that requires less time. This way at 5:00 when the kids are starting to get hungry I'm not surprised by a meal that requires a two hour cook time.

Here is our activity plan for the week.
Monday: We're working on our artist trading cards (see below post).

Tuesday: These cute Spring Chicks, idea from this blog.

Wednesday: Fancy hats from newspaper
Thursday: We're supposed to have some warmer weather so we're planning to make a chalk drawn city on the driveway.
Friday: No school for us on Friday's so I try to plan the messy, bigger projects then. This Friday we are going to paint with cooked spaghetti and maybe some other shaped noodles.

Do you have any fun activities planned this week? Do you have a good planning system that works for you?

Our Favorite Game

This was one of the games we played at Kate's birthday party. The girls have been playing it a lot lately. It's just five little pails we found in the Target $1 section and tiny beanie babies that Aunt Lorie gave us a long time ago. Before the party we just used some of our old tupperware as the buckets.

Brian and Kate have gone to get their hair cut. I've authorized a big chop for Kate and can't wait to see it!

Kid's Artist Trading Card Swap

You know we never turn down an opportunity to make art. This year we're participating in a kid's artist trading card swap sponsored by the blog Eddie and Abbie. The girls will have an excuse to get messy with paints, they'll get mail (which they are always happy about) and we'll get to see the artwork of other kids their age. Seems like a win win win situation! The deadline isn't until April 4th so there is plenty of time to sign your own kids up at the link above.

Happy Birthday Sissy

Our sweet girl is four, I can not believe it. At four you have the worlds most expressive face, sometimes I can tell you are thinking about a conversation in your head because you are making the facial expressions as you think, sometimes you even shrug your shoulders and lift your hands as if to say, "I don't know." I love it.

At bedtime we read a book, sing two songs, say our prayers, have some kisses and then after I have left the room I can hear you singing and talking to yourself. 

You are such an independent, laid back girl. You are happy to play with other kids but equally happy to do your own thing. You usually don't let things bother you but when someone does you have absolutely no problem sticking up for yourself.

You don't know what the word "vegetarian" means but you eat as though you are one. We have a hard time getting you to eat any meat...unless it comes from Chick-fil-A.

Sometimes I tease you and act like I'm crying, you do not like it one bit. You laugh about it but you can not resist kissing me to make me feel better. I don't even think you realize you are doing it.

Lately you've been a bit of a daddy's girl. Always telling me that you don't want him to go to work or that you miss him. Most often you want him after you've gotten into trouble with Mommy.

Almost daily someone tells me how beautiful you are, how well behaved you are, or just what a good kid you are. Love you sweet girl.

Best Days

As I went about my day today birthday planning, cleaning, running errands... the words of this blog post swirled through my head. It was a good post in my head but now that I sit down to write it the words just wont come.

I realized today that there is a phrase that is repeated often in our house, "Stop growing" (almost as often as "leave your sister alone"). Why is it that I want to freeze this stage so badly? I think it's out of fear, I fear that these are my best days, life can't really get any better can it? I fear that as my kids grow I'll look back on these days with longing, wishing I could go back.
I don't want to forget how the words "Peek-a-boo" can send this kid into such a fit of giggles.

And how if you hand him anything the first thing he does is shake shake shake it.

As much I would like to sleep in I also am afraid of the day when the little snugglers crawl into my bed and demand that I lift my arm up so that they can get right against me.

Even though I love this stage and want so much to savor each memory and live in each moment, I also rejoice in every accomplishment and look so forward to them learning something new. I can't wait until Jack can experience sitting on his own, or sitting at the dinner table with us and picking up little pieces of whatever we're eating.

I can't wait for Kendall to start Kindergarten and have a school/teacher/friends of her very own, or to get up enough courage to ride that bike without training wheels. 

The girls love to cut coupons out of the paper and make their own grocery lists.

I love seeing Kate's expression when she learns to do something on her own. She always watches Kendall do things and her coordination is not where her older sister's is. When she finally gets to the point that she can do a roll or hop on one foot (or whatever) like her older sister she is just so proud of herself!

So even though I do LOVE this stage of our lives I also realize that there are so many things to look forward in the years to come. We will have school dances, team sports, sleepovers, and endless other memories to make. We will have new "best days."

Sweet Sweet Sound In Your Ear

Translation:
I love you Lord and I lift my voice,
To worship You.
Oh my soul rejoice.
Take joy my King,
In what you hear.
May it be a sweet sweet sound in Your ear.

I have another blog post in mind so check back later tonight.

He

He will grab my face and pull it to him for a big, wet kiss.

He will play on his own for a LONG time.

He is endlessly entertained by the silly noises his sisters make.

He rolls around like a little puppy.

A little hair trim is going to happen soon since he has a little alfalfa action on top.

Sometimes I catch him and his dad hanging out and watching Purdue basketball together.

He hasn't met a food he didn't like.

I haven't found a food he doesn't spit up on me later.

Six months is the BEST age.

Thigh rolls are delicious.

His giggles are one of my favorite sounds.

I'm constantly sticking my fingers in his mouth waiting on those bottom teeth to pop through.

How can I keep him like this forever?

She

She would much prefer to be home with me then go to school.

She is very performance driven. Give her a sticker chart and she can accomplish anything.

She can read...although I'm still trying to convince HER that she can (she is always surprised when she finishes a book).

She loves to sing and dance.

I love that she loves art, drawing and doing crafts.

I love that she has such a clear sense of right and wrong.

I love that her maternal instinct is so strong at such a little girl age.

I love to see her brain working numbers like her dad.

She can worry with the best of the worriers. Lately she has been fear free though.
She has been known to organize her dresser drawers without being asked.
I can tell that she will never grow out of wanting to be snuggled.
But there are days when she doesn't want to hold my hand in the parking lot already.
It's happening too fast.

She

She has a mind of her own.

She is a bit of an instigator.

She has no problem playing away from the pack, doing her own thing.

She has the most animated face.

I love tucking her in at night, the way she asks for hugs and holds my neck so tight.

I love the way she has memorized the Three Little Pigs book and will fill in words when I pause during the story.

I love the way her guard is so completely down around me and she'll break out in a dance complete with bootie wiggle. Being a mom is the greatest.

I love how she is so laid back.

Cleaning up is not one of her strengths.

She loves to go to school.

When she was sick last week she also loved that she got to stay home, "Just Mommy and me...and Baby Jack!"

When given limitless options of movies she'll pick Barney nearly every time.

I mourn the day she wont want to wear her Elmo undies anymore.

One day she'll walk calmly instead of skip, gallop and dance her way around. 

Where is the pause button?

What Else Could I Want?

It's funny how your birthday changes. I'm not at the stage that I'm embarrassed by my age (31) but I am at the stage that birthday's aren't that big of a deal to me. However, I'm also at the stage that there are little kids in my house that are very excited by the fact that today is my birthday. I was attacked from a dead sleep this morning, the light was flipped on and I was literally showered by cards and colored pages, as well as hugs and kisses. Kendall had our day all planned. Initially she was hoping to skip school, when that request was denied she was hoping that I would come to her preschool so that they could sing and dance around me. We are going out to dinner and then she insists that we stop at the mall to get the biggest and best "something." I have figured out the something. At one point, while walking in the mall, I may have eyed the cookie cakes and she knows that today should be the day. Unfortunately she thinks I need the huge rectangle one and she wants it covered in green icing since that is my favorite color (eww). I'm hoping to convince her that we should get a slice and share it (hold the icing). I also briefly considered running into the mall during the day to get said slice to save us all the trip out after dinner but I don't have the heart to deny her that experience. That is what memories are made of.

Not to shoot rainbows around in an annoying manner but honestly there is NOTHING that I could ask for. I am so incredibly blessed. I came across this quote today:

"Wealth consists not in having great possessions but in having few wants." —Esther de Waal

I feel it's really accurate, there is nothing I want. I don't want to minimize the physical things that I have because Brian works really hard and is a wonderful provider. I have a house, car and all the best toys I could ask for. But again, there is nothing I want. I have the best job in the world, a fantastic husband and kids that I can't get enough of.

While waiting for a prescription to be filled today I wandered around my favorite store (Target) armed with a recently acquired gift card. It's funny how what I 'treat' myself with has changed as I've gotten older. I went directly to the cleaning supply aisle to get Mrs. Meyer's Clean House supplies, something I've been wanting for a while--good scent + good packaging = my kind of product. I also grabbed some Burt's Bees Hand Salve. While I placed it in the cart I mentally arranged my bedside table in a pleasing way that included setting the salve out (dork, I know). Not pictured is the Ferrero Rocher yummies. They're not pictured because they were devoured as soon as my buns hit my perfectly heated car seat!


I'm home now and I've mopped my kitchen floor, made my bed, straightened my bedside table and now sit here wondering which restaurant to go to tonight and thinking about the mall cookie. What else could I want?

Sometimes You Feel Like Dancing

It's 6:25 in the morning, it's below freezing outside and I'm in the world's most comfortable bed piled under  a pile of snugly blankets. I hear the little man start to fuss. I quietly make my way into his room, noticing that Kate's light is on, she is quietly playing in her room. I pick up the little ball of fleecy, sweet smelling baby and settle him into my arms, he starts to nurse while I use my iPhone to catch up on the night's news and Facebook status updates. Suddenly the sound of crazed, stampeding water buffalo comes from Kate's room along with the sound of her singing, at the TOP of her lungs. I'm temporarily frozen. I can't take Jack with me, the noise combined with her bedroom light will surely wake him up for the day and I had big plans that involved my cozy bed and soft pillow after feeding him. I lay him on the floor (now crying) and hurry out of his room, throw open Kate's door and for the second time in just a few seconds I'm stunned to the point of immobility. She has her back to me, doing some kind of complicated dance move in only her purple Tinkerbell panties. Her little buns are a wiggling and her arms are above her head but the noise it keeps a coming. Her pjs and the clothes she has picked out of the day are strewn across the floor. Evidently somewhere in the middle of the process of getting dressed she was inspired to do some kind of sing and dance show. Suddenly she twirls and she too is stunned and still. Her mouth is open wide (due to the singing at the top of her lungs) and her eyes are wide too. We look at each other, her stunned silence allows me to hear Jack crying and hungry in the other room.  I somehow manage a stern look and the words, "Ex-cuse me!" Then I shut the door and hurry back into Jack's room before the smile breaks across my face.

I feed him and make my way back to my covers. I'm there for another 15 minutes but sleep will allude me this morning, my mind is too busy now. I want to preserve this memory, this is a moment that I don't ever want to forget. These days will be gone too fast and I know that when they're teenagers and are wanting to sleep in on cold mornings such as today, I will wish to hear those sweet morning voices and to see those tiny buns in Tinkerbell panties.
I start to wish that Jack hadn't been hungry so that I could have scooped her up and danced around the room with her...only I would have stayed fully clothed and used a whisper to allow the others their sleep while we had our moment.

I sneaked down into my office to record the memory on this blog-- tomake a deposit in the savings account of my memories. I hear two little quiet girl voices in the basement now. While I was trying to go back to sleep Brian gathered both girls and scooted them downstairs to allow me more sleep. I love that man more then he knows, and I love these kids of mine. Maybe one day they'll know how much, when they have kids of their own, when I'm sleeping in and dreaming of these days and they're waking up early in the morning to feed their own kids. But for now it's my turn, these are my best days, I have a date in the basement with some sleepy smelling girls.

Bliss

The girls are at school. Jack is playing on his play mat, the sound of the dryer is running in the background, the white stuff is floating outside.
This morning was filled with the sounds of excited chattering since we're having friends over for movies in our pjs tonight. The house is picked up, my office floor is filled with gifts and gift wrap and today is the first day of the December Daily project. Perfection

The Best Day

I'm five years old, it's getting cold, I've got my big coat on
I hear your laugh and look up smiling at you, I run and run
Past the pumpkin patch and the tractor rides, look now, the sky is gold
I hug your legs and fall asleep on the way home

I don't know why all the trees change in the fall
But I know you're not scared of anything at all
Don't know if Snow White's house is near or far away
But I know I had the best day with you today

I'm thirteen now and don't know how my friends could be so mean
I come home crying and you hold me tight and grab the keys
And we drive and drive until we found a town far enough away
And we talk and window shop 'til I've forgotten all their names

I don't know who I'm gonna talk to now at school
But I know I'm laughing on the car ride home with you
Don't know how long it's gonna take to feel okay
But I know I had the best day with you today

I have an excellent father, his strength is making me stronger
God smiles on my little brother, inside and out, he's better than I am
I grew up in a pretty house and I had space to run
And I had the best days with you

There is a video I found from back when I was three
You set up a paint set in the kitchen and you're talking to me
It's the age of princesses and pirate ships and the seven dwarfs
And Daddy's smart and you're the prettiest lady in the whole wide world

And now I know why the all the trees change in the fall
I know you were on my side even when I was wrong
And I love you for giving me your eyes
For staying back and watching me shine
And I didn't know if you knew, so I'm takin' this chance to say
That I had the best day with you today

Song: Taylor Swift, The Best Day

November Goal

I've really gotten out of the habit of updating the blog, I'm hoping to update more frequently in November. I originally thought I would make a goal to update every day during this month but I think that may be a bit of a stretch. 

Jack is seriously Super Baby. I have never had a three month old that will sleep 11 straight hours at night. It's not always 11 hours but he always sleeps through the night. I feel like a new woman. 

The girls and I have been "playing school" a lot lately. Kendall has started to read a little bit and Kate can write her name now. We've even changed an area of our basement into a school room. We love having all our educational materials gathered into one area but I really hate how dark it is down there, I've considered giving up my office (or at least reconfiguring it) to be the school room. I haven't committed to that yet! Our list of school supplies that we want is growing by the day. Right now we really want a US and World map and cork boards to put them on so we can learn where everyone we love lives!

Today we gathered some leaves and stuff to practice drawing. Anytime we sit down to do a project it always grows and morphs into a different project. I love providing jumping off points for the girls and watching where their imaginations take them.

We've been making new friends at our new preschool. We had friends (twins) come for dinner and trick-or-treating last night and next weekend we are having other friends (also twins!) come for dinner. The girls are loving it, they told me so many times today that yesterday was so much fun!