We are getting ready for our summer vacation 'back' east. Our oldest daughter, H., was thinking of the airplane trip and remembering the last one she took with RW a few months ago. She said he had bought her a bottle of 7-up just before they had to go through security. She had only taken one sip when the security workers took the bottle and threw it in the trash. Then they asked her if she had any other bottles.
She asked, "Why do they have to do that, Mom? I mean, why can't they just make sure the caps are screwed on really, really tight?"
Monday, May 26, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Moving to Sesame Street
Ok, today A. had the chance to become a star and probably won't because of me. Let me explain. The teacher at A.'s preschool has a reality show about her family on cable. The camera crew practically lives at her house and films the day-to-day life she leads with her husband and 4 kids on their farm. We don't have cable, so that's about all I know about it, but she's fairly well-known as the show has been on for about 4 years now.
So last week, she gave all of the parents a waiver to sign about having our child on t.v., since the camera crew wanted to film her at her day job as a preschool teacher. I signed the waiver, excited that A. might be on t.v.(!) yet also unaffected since I knew we would probably never see her since we don't have cable.
The day of the filming came (today), and I called a friend who is in the morning class to tell me what happened, since we are in the afternoon class. She said that they were not going to be filming during preschool after all because all the waivers weren't signed, but that they would film on the end-of-year party at the teacher's house.
Frankly, I was relieved because A. always gets herself dressed, combs her own hair, and keeps her face clean. And she does it HER way.
You can imagine that what this results in: a 5yo girl who rarely (if ever??) matches, has wild hair (to her defense, it's so thick that it's wild even when it is combed), and usually has some sort of remnants of the latest meal or snack on her face and/or shirt. And I'm the kind of mom who picks my battles and as long the kids have bathed relatively recently and don't have a wad of gum stuck in their hair, I'm feeling pretty good. I guess that's what having 4 kids can do to you.
OK, so when I found out they weren't filming, I was happy to check out A.'s outfit but not have to go there. Not really matching, but not totally clashing. Only a few remnants of lunch on her shirt...face clean. No gum in the hair. Good to go!
Yes, you know where I'm going with this. We arrive at preschool to CAMERAS, CAMERA MEN, and children dressed to the nines. Fancy dresses, fancy shoes, fancy hairdos (even the boys), and along comes A. (didn't you know we were filming today??) Luckily I seemed to care way more than A.-she didn't even realize the situation and I wasn't going to tell her. I was too consumed with trying to remember the last time I saw a kid on Sesame Street with Cheetos stains on her shirt. Oh yeah....never.
Don't worry A., you just wait til the end-of-year party. We will make it on that show...in fact, you will steal the show with your perfect hair, beautifully coordinated outfit, and clean cheeks. And then you will be discovered. You still have a chance of fulfilling my childhood dream of being on Romper Room.....
So last week, she gave all of the parents a waiver to sign about having our child on t.v., since the camera crew wanted to film her at her day job as a preschool teacher. I signed the waiver, excited that A. might be on t.v.(!) yet also unaffected since I knew we would probably never see her since we don't have cable.
The day of the filming came (today), and I called a friend who is in the morning class to tell me what happened, since we are in the afternoon class. She said that they were not going to be filming during preschool after all because all the waivers weren't signed, but that they would film on the end-of-year party at the teacher's house.
Frankly, I was relieved because A. always gets herself dressed, combs her own hair, and keeps her face clean. And she does it HER way.
You can imagine that what this results in: a 5yo girl who rarely (if ever??) matches, has wild hair (to her defense, it's so thick that it's wild even when it is combed), and usually has some sort of remnants of the latest meal or snack on her face and/or shirt. And I'm the kind of mom who picks my battles and as long the kids have bathed relatively recently and don't have a wad of gum stuck in their hair, I'm feeling pretty good. I guess that's what having 4 kids can do to you.
OK, so when I found out they weren't filming, I was happy to check out A.'s outfit but not have to go there. Not really matching, but not totally clashing. Only a few remnants of lunch on her shirt...face clean. No gum in the hair. Good to go!
Yes, you know where I'm going with this. We arrive at preschool to CAMERAS, CAMERA MEN, and children dressed to the nines. Fancy dresses, fancy shoes, fancy hairdos (even the boys), and along comes A. (didn't you know we were filming today??) Luckily I seemed to care way more than A.-she didn't even realize the situation and I wasn't going to tell her. I was too consumed with trying to remember the last time I saw a kid on Sesame Street with Cheetos stains on her shirt. Oh yeah....never.
Don't worry A., you just wait til the end-of-year party. We will make it on that show...in fact, you will steal the show with your perfect hair, beautifully coordinated outfit, and clean cheeks. And then you will be discovered. You still have a chance of fulfilling my childhood dream of being on Romper Room.....
Friday, April 25, 2008
Spring in name only
Yes, it is spring here, but it still feels like winter. Last night we were at RT's ball game, and a lot of us moms were wearing winter jackets and mittens...and we were still cold. Luckily, our kids must have that Wisconsin blood from RW and don't seem to get cold, even though they have very little body fat to warm them (except B, who still has the 'toddler belly').
Nothing much new but here are a few randoms:
B is almost all potty trained and loves 'flushing'. Yesterday, A was at preschool and B was flushing the toilet when she pointed in the potty and said, (with 2yo enunciation skills) "A is in there" I said, "In the potty?? A is in the potty?" She looked at me very seriously and said, matter-of-factly, "Yes. I flushed her down. I flushed A down." Then she just walked out...
A has been asking a lot of questions lately. Some of her favorites, she asks over and over, since the answers are never satisfying enough. Such as, Is God a person? What color hair does Jesus have? How can God be up in Heaven if he's down here with us? And a book of questions about angels...
But I prefer those questions to the ones where she's scrutinizing my person. For example, the other day I was saying something as I was raising my eyebrows..and she looked at me and said, "Mom, why do you have a rainbow on your face?" I asked her what she was talking about. She replied, "On your forehead...a rainbow!" I looked in the mirror (we were in the car), thinking I had some beautiful reflection of a rainbow on my face, when I realized she meant A RAINBOW OF WRINKLES.
Then I asked her to raise HER eyebrows, and, sure enough....no rainbow.
Nothing much new but here are a few randoms:
B is almost all potty trained and loves 'flushing'. Yesterday, A was at preschool and B was flushing the toilet when she pointed in the potty and said, (with 2yo enunciation skills) "A is in there" I said, "In the potty?? A is in the potty?" She looked at me very seriously and said, matter-of-factly, "Yes. I flushed her down. I flushed A down." Then she just walked out...
A has been asking a lot of questions lately. Some of her favorites, she asks over and over, since the answers are never satisfying enough. Such as, Is God a person? What color hair does Jesus have? How can God be up in Heaven if he's down here with us? And a book of questions about angels...
But I prefer those questions to the ones where she's scrutinizing my person. For example, the other day I was saying something as I was raising my eyebrows..and she looked at me and said, "Mom, why do you have a rainbow on your face?" I asked her what she was talking about. She replied, "On your forehead...a rainbow!" I looked in the mirror (we were in the car), thinking I had some beautiful reflection of a rainbow on my face, when I realized she meant A RAINBOW OF WRINKLES.
Then I asked her to raise HER eyebrows, and, sure enough....no rainbow.
Monday, April 21, 2008
OKAY ALREADY!!
Ok,
It's been brought to my attention that my ENTIRE blog ends in exclamation points! Thank you, Sister C!!! Seriously...I'm trying to get my blog going with some enthusiasm here...ok??!! The exclamation points are just a way to say, without using additional words, that MY LIFE IS EXTREMELY EXCITING!!!!!!!!!
...now please excuse me while I transfer the wet clothes From the washer To the dryer....BE BACK SOON!!!!
It's been brought to my attention that my ENTIRE blog ends in exclamation points! Thank you, Sister C!!! Seriously...I'm trying to get my blog going with some enthusiasm here...ok??!! The exclamation points are just a way to say, without using additional words, that MY LIFE IS EXTREMELY EXCITING!!!!!!!!!
...now please excuse me while I transfer the wet clothes From the washer To the dryer....BE BACK SOON!!!!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Spring in the PNW
It's been a while since I've posted but we've been very busy. A jaunt to the beach, A started tball, which she LOVES! RT is into another baseball season, H is finished with swimming and basketball commitments and has some time to play more (and do more homework!) and little B got potty trained!
I was expecting another long, drawn out affair of pull-ups, thick training pants, accidents, being housebound, etc. etc., but no. The first day we put underwear on her, she had accidents ALL day long, but after that she just got the hang of it right away! I guess it helps having 3 older siblings....
So now she truly is not a BABY anymore! But of course she will always be OUR baby!
We are also planning out our month long vacation to the east coast to visit grandma & grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins...lots of cousins! Just before we leave, RW's brother, Uncle J, is coming to live with us as he did last summer, to work on projects around the house...new windows, new fences, landscaping....to name a few. He is in college and a lot of fun to have around.....MOST of the time! Not sure why he wants to come back after last summer....kids hanging on him and big brother bossing him....but anyway, I got a new kitchen out of it so if he wants to come back that's fine with me!
And a sad note, RW's aunt passed away last month after a short bout with cancer. She was a very kind and funny person and she will be dearly missed by everyone who had the pleasure to know her. She was definitely a 'glass is half-full' type of person, even after her diagnosis. We will never forget her.
I was expecting another long, drawn out affair of pull-ups, thick training pants, accidents, being housebound, etc. etc., but no. The first day we put underwear on her, she had accidents ALL day long, but after that she just got the hang of it right away! I guess it helps having 3 older siblings....
So now she truly is not a BABY anymore! But of course she will always be OUR baby!
We are also planning out our month long vacation to the east coast to visit grandma & grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins...lots of cousins! Just before we leave, RW's brother, Uncle J, is coming to live with us as he did last summer, to work on projects around the house...new windows, new fences, landscaping....to name a few. He is in college and a lot of fun to have around.....MOST of the time! Not sure why he wants to come back after last summer....kids hanging on him and big brother bossing him....but anyway, I got a new kitchen out of it so if he wants to come back that's fine with me!
And a sad note, RW's aunt passed away last month after a short bout with cancer. She was a very kind and funny person and she will be dearly missed by everyone who had the pleasure to know her. She was definitely a 'glass is half-full' type of person, even after her diagnosis. We will never forget her.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Happy Easter!
Well, we had our 7th (?) annual Easter Brunch on this early Easter (March 23rd this year!).
Two families join us every year, the V's and the H's, and this year we had a new family, the G's. We had 12 kids! We have a big egg hunt in the backyard for the kids (the V's always bring almost 200 filled eggs) and this year we were able to add a new tradition-basketball! The weather turned out to be perfect and people stuck around into the early evening.
It was so fun to watch them all scurry around trying to find as many candy-filled eggs as possible, but we had to keep an eye on BBH, who was eating the chocolate eggs with the wrappers ON. Earlier that morning, the Easter Bunny had left a trail of candy from their bedrooms all the way down to the Easter baskets in the kitchen. When BBH woke up, she immediately started stuffing each and every candy she found into her mouth. When her mouth filled up, she stored the rest in her hands. We were already downstairs when she rounded the corner into the kitchen, mouth FULL of candies, both hands struggling to hold on to the wads of candy in them. The other kids were not much different...they just try to hide it a little better.
Two families join us every year, the V's and the H's, and this year we had a new family, the G's. We had 12 kids! We have a big egg hunt in the backyard for the kids (the V's always bring almost 200 filled eggs) and this year we were able to add a new tradition-basketball! The weather turned out to be perfect and people stuck around into the early evening.
It was so fun to watch them all scurry around trying to find as many candy-filled eggs as possible, but we had to keep an eye on BBH, who was eating the chocolate eggs with the wrappers ON. Earlier that morning, the Easter Bunny had left a trail of candy from their bedrooms all the way down to the Easter baskets in the kitchen. When BBH woke up, she immediately started stuffing each and every candy she found into her mouth. When her mouth filled up, she stored the rest in her hands. We were already downstairs when she rounded the corner into the kitchen, mouth FULL of candies, both hands struggling to hold on to the wads of candy in them. The other kids were not much different...they just try to hide it a little better.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Bike Rides and Basketball
This past week was a milestone for us. After adding cement to our driveway to widen it, RWH finally installed the sports-court sized basketball hoop out front! It's awesome. It has a crank to adjust the height, and a large, plexiglass backboard. Believe it or not, this is something RWH has been dreaming about since we moved into the house 10 years ago! Our front yard was already the neighborhood hangout....kids playing 'wall ball' against our garage doors for hours since our garage doors are the only ones on the block that are beat up enough to where one can't make them any worse with wall ball. Also, we have the only boy on the block (RTH) who is willing and able to play wall ball for, oh, 8 hours at a time without tiring. So now the kids have switched to something better...and we may even paint our garage doors!
Another exciting happening is that our 4yo (almost 5!), ANH, learned how to ride a two-wheeler! The first several attempts were painful....her screaming, me (or RWH) asking her to take a little break, her pushing on! She is a persistant little bugger. She kept wanting to practice day and night until she mastered it...which didn't take that long! So now she tools around like a circus monkey....at least she keeps her helmet on!
Another exciting happening is that our 4yo (almost 5!), ANH, learned how to ride a two-wheeler! The first several attempts were painful....her screaming, me (or RWH) asking her to take a little break, her pushing on! She is a persistant little bugger. She kept wanting to practice day and night until she mastered it...which didn't take that long! So now she tools around like a circus monkey....at least she keeps her helmet on!
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