T G I F

I love Fridays!...because most Fridays I get to go on date night with Matt. I can endure many things during the week with the kids because I know I have date night to look forward to. A night of no children interrupting Matt and I when we're trying to have a conversation at the dinner table, I get a peaceful ride in the car without listening to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and the many other songs on the CD, I get to watch what I want to watch when we go see a movie, I get a night off from getting the children ready for bed, yay!
This evening we went to our little movie theater, which we love, and watched "Failure to Launch". It was fun to listen to the music and talk before the movie, and then we enjoyed the movie.

Flying made easy

I'm not sure how we got on the subject this morning of airplane travel, but here is Emily's outlook on flying..."We can go to the airport and tell them we want to fly to Utah for Christmas. Then we can get on the plane and find a seat-an empty seat-Then when we're hungry, they'll give us something to eat and drink." So there you have it, it's as easy as that!

I went on a field trip today with Zoe's 1st grade class to the planetarium and Farm Museum. Zoe brought home a paper last Friday telling us about the field trip and asking for parent volunteers to help. I signed myself up after my mom agreed to take a day off from work to watch Emily, Eleanor, and Zach (bless her heart!). Zoe brought home a paper yesterday letting the parents who had volunteered know there would be a $4.00 charge for them to attend. Hmmm...how clever to wait until after we had already signed up, and told our children we were going, to lay a fee on us. Shouldn't they be paying ME to keep track of 2 children all day, and to tolerate A LOT of noise on the LONG bus ride??? I thought so, but I paid, and had a fun day with Zoe. I enjoyed the guy in charge of the presentation at the planetarium. He was very kid-friendly and the children enjoyed listening to him. My only disappointment during the presentation was when it was time to talk about the planet earth, we got a "keep mother earth pollution free" lecture instead of learning facts about earth. Zoe liked Franklin, the machine that made the stars and planets appear in the "sky". It was a beautiful, sunny spring day, so the kids were able to play at a park before going back to the school. When I asked Zoe what she liked best about the field trip, she said everything. While Zoe and I were having our fun, my mom was at home discovering that Zach LOVES to eat, and he does it all.day.long!

Observations

While I was doing the dishes yesterday, Emily and Zach ventured into the bathroom. When I realized they were in there I went to see what was going on. The front of Zach's shirt was soaked with water. Emily said he wanted a drink, so she helped him get a drink from the cup in the bathroom. As I was changing Zach's shirt and Zach was trying to get away from me Emily said, "It's hard to get a baby dressed." About 10 seconds passed and she said, "It's REALLY hard to get a baby dressed." I finally achieved the victory and got Zach dressed again!

Storytime

My mom knows that if she comes over to our house, she's going to be showered with love...and one of the kids will always be touching her!

Good Morning

Zach must have a pink cup in the morning because he knows the girls have chocolate milk in those pink cups and it's yummy! I put regular milk in a pink cup after one of the girls is done and Zach is happy.

Go figure...Zoe bounces out of bed before 6am when she doesn't have school, but on a morning she needs to get up at 6am for school, I have to wake her up and then it takes her awhile to fully wake up.

We have a lot of robins on our lawn this morning :-) Emily wants to go catch one.

Forgot to mention

This morning in my post I didn't mention as the kids and I were leaving Matt's office, there was a car nearby stopped at a red light with the music blaring (I guess you can call it music) where every word spoken was a swear word. Niiiiiiice! I hurried the girls back to our car.

Going out to appreciate staying in

The kids and I ventured out to the big city of Bangor yesterday to see Matt's new office. It was an experience that made me appreciate living in the quiet woods of Maine. I'm just not a city girl. When we got to the parking garage, Emily and Eleanor were fascinated with the pigeons (or as Eleanor calls them...eagles). It took me a few minutes to convince them that we didn't need to stand in the parking garage all day to see pigeons, I was sure there would be more along the way. The walk from the parking garage to Matt's office required walking past a lot of people standing around. Eleanor was freaked out, whining for me to hold her, but I was holding Zach so I led her along by the hand. Zoe and Emily were enjoying the experience as they walked and looked at the wonders around them. I was keeping a close eye on them. We found the door to Matt's office, walked up the stairs, had the receptionist point us in the right direction, and waited while Matt talked on the phone. We were quiet and doing good...until Eleanor saw some more eagles and started hollering to them. I ushered the kids out to the waiting area and waited. The couch in the waiting area is in front of a window...great for adults, but for a 2 year old, it's an invitation to climb up on the back and talk loudly to the eagles. When Matt was done on the phone, we got a look at his office, met some of the people he works with, and left. We had made plans to go to lunch with my mom, so we drove to Orono to pick her up. Lunch went pretty smoothly, except for the fact that Eleanor decided to go poop...a major event for Eleanor who poops about once a week. I was thankful no one was sitting near us to listen to Eleanor whine and to enjoy the stink. Our last stop was Target to hit the $1 spot. Zoe had some birthday money to spend. Zoe had just enough time to find a few things to buy before Zach started to cry. It was time to head home.

It's the thought that counts

Eleanor tried to be helpful yesterday morning by getting her coat on by herself.

Rain Chant

I found Zoe's umbrella yesterday while cleaning out part of the closet in the girls' room. Last night Eleanor was carrying it around singing "Come on rain...come on rain...come on rain..." We didn't get rain last night, but there was a little bit of snow on the ground this morning.
Eleanor enjoyed some Robin eggs this evening as well.

Tradition

It was dry and warm enough yesterday afternoon to go outside and play! I was pushing Eleanor on the swing, while Zoe and Emily were swinging on their own. Emily starts talking about Easter, she loves Easter! As Zoe and Emily got talking about Easter, it made me realize that we have an Easter tradition that they've grown accustomed to. They talked about hunting for eggs on Easter morning that the Easter Bunny leaves for them, and sometimes they get surprises like a game or toy. They laughed about the egg that got left in Mommy's shoe one year. They talked about the Easter dresses they get to unwrap in the morning to wear to church that day. Then there's the picture that a friend takes for us with her digital camera before church...it's the perfect time to get a picture since everyone is already dressed up! I'm glad that they have this Easter tradition to look forward to. It was such a delight for me to hear them talk about it so excitedly.

Addicted

This is where Eleanor would be all day long if I let her! The day I took this picture, she was dutifully entertaining a sick Emily by playing nickjr games and videos...a day of computer, yay!

It's finally Spring!

Emily has been asking me all winter long..."When is it going to be Spring?"..."Is it Spring today?"..."Will it be Spring tomorrow?"..."How many more days until Spring?" When I told Emily it would be Spring today, she was so happy! She said, "Yay, now tomorrow it will be warm and there will be leaves on the trees!"... I wish that were true!!


Zoe had a horse themed birthday party on Saturday. The party included our family, my parents, 7 girls, 2 toddlers, and 5 parents, which equaled lots of fun!! Zoe was so happy to have lots of people to share her birthday with her. The kids had fun playing together, the adults had fun talking, Zoe opened her presents, the kids did the activity side of their placemats~doing a word search, coloring a picture, and then we ate the yummy cake. The crayon candles were a big hit! Enjoy being 7, Zoe!

Happy Birthday Zoe!

And Happy Mother's Day to me. 7 years ago I became a mother after the doctor yanked Zoe out feet first during my scheduled c-section. Life has been interesting ever since...interesting in a good way of course. Zoe is in first grade and she loves school! She is quickly and eagerly catching on to reading and writing. She has recenly discovered the fun of playing Phase 10 with me and her grammie, which is lots of fun! She is a good sister to her younger siblings...most of the time. She is helpful around the house when it is expected of her. She wants to learn how to cook. She enjoys playing outside. She likes having Emily around to play with, and the same goes for Emily. Zoe enjoys being around people, which is why she has invited many friends to join her at her party...I better go prepare!

Forbidden no more

Zach likes to press the keys on the keyboard when someone is on the computer, so when I couldn't get onto my blog this morning I thought for sure he was to blame. I'm glad to find out it wasn't him afterall, it was just a computer-thing...denying everyone access. Why? I don't know, but I'm glad the separation is over and we're back again.

Emily and I had an interesting conversation in the car today. It went something like this...
Emily: "What is that"
Me: "The hospital"
Emily: "Who's in the hospital?"
Me: "People who are sick or people who have something that needs to be fixed like a broken bone, someone might be having a baby right now"
Emily: (lightbulb moment) "Hey, that's where Zachary was born and we came to visit. That's where Magnus will be born...and we'll go to the doctor to see Magnus...when Magnus is in your tummy (I knew it was coming)...How DOES Magnus get into your tummy?
Emily has gone down this path of curiosity before so I believe my simple answer will cure the curiosity...
Me: "Magnus will be planted in my tummy, like a flower or garden is planted.
Emily: "When will Magnus be planted?"...Phew, she's happy with the G-rated answer.Me: "Hopefully around your birthday in May."
That makes Emily very happy...and I'm happy the conversation is over.


This where I found Zach all day yesterday.

It's a choice

We have beds, we really do, but our children prefer to fall asleep everywhere else.

Sorry Zach...

...but you have 3 older sisters. Get used to it!

Makes Sense

I asked Emily yesterday what comes from cows. She said "milk". Then I asked her what color cows are and she said, "Well, white milk comes from white cows with brown spots, and chocolate milk comes from brown cows with brown spots."

Write it down

I managed to remember everything I had to do for church yesterday by writing it down on the calendar. I was so happy with myself that I remembered to make a crockpot dish for the New Beginnings program after church, I remembered that Emily was giving a talk in Primary so I put together a talk at her request and even remembered to bring it, and I remembered that I was asked to bring a snack into nursery for Eleanor's class. Now I can sit back and enjoy the fact that I don't have to remember anything for next week!

Why bother?

I'm sure many of you have heard this quote "Cleaning house while kids are growing is like shoveling snow while it's still snowing" -Author unknown. Lately I have been discouraged about TRYING to keep our house clean because 5 minutes after I clean something it looks exactly the way it did before I cleaned it...so why bother? If I put a toy away... Eleanor notices and takes it back out, when I clean the bathroom...I admire it for a minute and then someone needs to go to the bathroom...and gets soap all over the sink and counter, I finish up the laundry and then Zach has a blowout or someone throws up all over their sheets, the list goes on and on! I think I'm more sensitive about this today because it is Saturday and the house is always the messiest on Saturday because everyone is home. I know that one day my house will be clean again...when Matt and I are empty nesters...and I will wish that my house was full of kids again along with the messes they create, won't I? It just would be nice to have one day where my house is clean...and stays clean! I must say that I am learning to function in chaos and I'm not so uptight about messes anymore. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff...and it's too exhausting!

Tis Not the Season

While driving home last night in the dark and snow with the kids, with an occasional comment like "Are we lost?"...Why are we going so slow?"...we passed a tree in a yard that was lit with Christmas lights. Although Eleanor was delighted to see it and yelled, "Christmas lights!"...I was less enthused to see it. Yes, we still have our white Christmas lights up around the outside of our house, but that is different...we use them for our outside light and no one can see the lights from the road. So, would you be so kind and take your out of season lights down...please!

Oh Boy

Zach discovered some new fun yesterday, and kept up with his old fun.
He loves to try to type when we're on the computer and he recently started opening the cover to the catridge on the printer.
He came out of the bathroom yesterday with a little bowl that I was using to catch the water from our dripping toilet. Of course the water was dumped on the floor and some on him.
He can lift the cover to the heat vent out of the floor, which he did repeatedly yesterday. Then he tries to get a snack at the bottom of the vent...old fruitsnacks, cheerios, dirt.
Then there's the usual trying to get to Eleanor's cereal when she's in her chair eating.
He cannot be trusted anymore...I must know where he is all the time now!

Birthday Fun

Zach's birthday party brought back memories of when Eleanor turned one and her older sisters took over the unwrapping.


The same thing happened to Zach. It started with Zoe taking over the card.


When he opened his new toy firetruck his sisters came to help...and then took the toy away to play with it when they saw how fun it looked...and Zach was left with a piece of wrapping paper.
He did get to unwrap his toy hammer by himself...with a little help.


The hammer was a big hit with Zach. He even showed off his walking with it.


The birthday cake is always the best part of the birthday party. Zach wasn't so sure about that at first, though.


But when it was time to eat the cake, he was all for it!


More please!

Happy Birthday Zachary

I'm 1 and Daddy and Emily are sick with the flu!

But I'll decide to be happy because I can stand up and walk across the room when I want to...which isn't very often, but I can do it!

And I have 4 teeth...better than none!

I love to think about food, and eat it too!

I'm just plain adorable, who could not be happy about that?!...

Do you think Mommy thinks I'm adorable when I make a mess while she's cleaning up Emily after Emily threw up in her bed?...of course she does!

A Talent from her Dad

Zoe drew a picture of our prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley. I told her that she is a good artist and she says to me matter of factly: "I'm a good artist because I go to art class on Tuesdays."

Girls Day Out

The girls and I went ice skating today. It has been a loooong time since I have been on ice skates and I expected to be falling on my behind a lot, but I'm proud to report that I did not fall once! Not even when Zoe and Emily were hanging on to me so they wouldn't fall, which sometimes worked and sometimes didn't.
Santa bought ice skates for Zoe and Emily for Christmas ...in 2004. Emily's skates ended up not fitting her and Santa never replaced them...shame on him! So the winter went by and we never went ice skating...I should say the girls never went ice skating since I was pregnant with Zach and had no intentions of getting on skates that I figured would make me fall.
So today being in March and Spring is on its way, I figured it was now or next winter to ice skate. Zoe tried on her skates that she got last winter and of course they didn't fit her anymore, so Emily inherited those skates and I bought Zoe a "new" pair. We went to the outdoor rink and we were all nervous about what we were about to do, but we forged ahead. We clung to the side of the rink for awhile, but Zoe was feeling brave and she started skating on her own a bit, very slowly, but unassisted which was progress. Emily and I followed her lead, although Emily still clung on to me. She skated on the sides of her blades and could barely stand up with me holding on to her. But by the end of our skating, both of the girls were skating in the middle of the rink and having a great time. They fell a lot, but they would get back up and try again. I was quite impressed with how much they improved in the hour or so that we were there. We're already planning another skating adventure next Saturday.
Eleanor walked on the ice with her boots. She thought that was lots of fun!

House full of Princesses

I put a dress on yesterday morning and when Eleanor saw me she said, "You a Princess?" I think I'll keep her around forever!

Here's my little princess falling asleep after I turned off her Dora movie...way past her bedtime.

Words come back to haunt you

This morning as the kids and I were getting our coats on to leave, I stepped back and tripped over Zach. Emily says to me: "Next time be more careful, mom! You made Zachary cry!" She reminded me a few more times to be more careful as we were leaving.

Game Time

Zoe is at an age where she's fun to play games with, like Phase 10, Attack Uno, and Yahtzee. I'm so happy about this because I love playing games, but Matt doesn't, so now I have a game buddy. I try to include Emily when Zoe and I play, but it always results in Emily getting mad about something...she gets skipped in Phase 10 so she throws her cards on the floor... she has to push the button in Attack Uno to see if she'll get any new cards so she folds her arms, scowls, and refuses to do it...she even gets mad playing Chutes and Ladders when she has to go down a slide. Honestly, she's not at the age yet where she's fun to play games with. Eleanor on the other hand is fun to play with too...playing Attack Uno she could push the button all day long, and sliding down the slides in Chutes and Ladders is much more fun than going square to square! There just aren't any rules when playing with Eleanor.

I've only been awake for an hour

Zach was practicing his standing this morning. It took me awhile to get this picture because every time I would get ready to take a picture of him, he would sit down.
...after I took this picture, I put Zach's snowsuit on him, which he didn't like. Zoe says to me, "You're torturing him!" I'm accused of being mean to someone at least once a day.

When I came back inside from bringing Zoe out to catch the schoolbus, I found Eleanor playing with the boots. She'll pretend play with just about anything. When I walked in, she looked at my boots and said, "Hi Mom and Dad!" Now she has the complete family to play with.