That's my girl!

This morning was Anna's dance class. I usually stay to watch because it is far enough away to not be worth coming home. She has been doing better and better as she gets older. This morning, though, was a different story. Her teacher told all the students to find their spot for their dance. All the girls rushed to their spots. Anna rushed, weaving in and out of all the other students from one end of the room to the other until she got to her spot. And then she started again. Then she stayed on her spot, but was on the floor doing tricks instead of her dance. Her teacher if extremely patient and understanding. (She has a daughter with a very similar personality.) I usually sit back and let the teacher do her thing. But today I had to interfere (just a little) to correct Anna. Then, on the way home, I was talking to her about how she should behave in dance. She interrupted me and said, "When we get home can I go play with Jared?" Jared is her 2-year-old cousin. It might be an unusual pair to most, but to me-- I just say, "That's my girl!"

Planetarium

Well, I'm doing well so far to update more often. Here is post #2 since I made the goal.

We just got back from the Planetarium. We went for co-op with Lisa and Megan. It is a fascinating place, even if you don't see the movies. I was most impressed with Tyler. He and Sarah found a computerized test to take about the planets. I have to say, he knew most of the answers without any prompting. Like, "Which planet is tipped on its side?" Do you know the answer? I had learned it (even within the last couple of months) and forgotten. But he and Sarah knew that it is Uranus. We have been studying the Solar System as part of co-op this year. It always makes me feel good when I have evidence that they are actually learning something.

I guess one thing I'll have to get used to if I post more often, is that the posts will be shorter. It almost seems like a waste to just post this. But, here it goes. . .

It is time!

That is, I have some time. So I might as well get around to that update I promised you all. I think I'll skip over Christmas, since it was over a month ago. (Although I do have some cards to mail, still. Maybe I'll get that done today, too.) Suffice it to say that we had a good time, ate some good food, and spent time in good company. Now, on to January. The new year started off great! Josh and I went to Disneyland for our 10 year anniversary. We had so much fun! When our sister-in-law, Tarra, dropped us off at the park, she said we looked like two happy newlyweds, holding hands as we walked into the happiest place on earth. I used to get annoyed with that stereotype. I've never liked stereotypes, really, and this was no exception. But when she told us that, I couldn't help but be happy that I'm still as in love with Josh today as I was 10 years ago. Actually, even more so. Happy anniversary to us!

The rest of January was kind-of blah after that. The kids are up to their normal shenanigans. Sophie is walking everywhere and actually starting to get a little stubborn. She doesn't have very many words, but that doesn't stop her from communicating. She was even scolding me the other day for suggesting something she didn't want to do. She got her little finger in my face and told me how it was going to be. What a stinker! She's a cute little stinker, though.

Ryan is finally having some success with the potty. He also likes to argue with us. The other day, Josh told Emma that she had "made a good point." Ryan looked at Josh and said, "Actually, Dad, it's not a good point," and then went about his business. He sings (mostly songs about dinosaurs) and chases the preschool girls into corners, making them scream. He insists it's a game. They have told me they don't like the game. No more free time during preschool, I guess.

Anna is funny as ever. We told her many months ago that if she stopped sucking her thumb we would buy her a doll. With other things going on, that challenge was put on the back burner. She recently reminded us of this, however. We keep reminding her that she has to actually quit sucking her thumb, which she doesn't want to do. She told me, "Just buy me a doll anyway." Now, she's decided to use her own money to buy a doll. That's fine. But her idea is that she will get paid for not sucking her thumb, and every time she realized she's not sucking her thumb, she wants payment. Every 5 minutes or so she is back asking for more money.

Tyler loves to imagine things. He has whole movies he's planned. Or sometimes it's just scenarios involving himself or his friends. He has to imagine with something in his hands, and it has to wiggle (like a string, or a jump rope). In fact we bought him a slinky for Christmas so he could have something new to help him imagine. He's also really into Harry Potter and the Narnia series. We just finished The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and he loved it. Now he and Anna have a new game to play; what secret world they can find in their closets and what adventures await them.

Emma is clever and witty. Her latest love is to bake. She loves to try cookie and brownie recipes the most. She does an excellent job. After Josh cut his finger trying to get one of her brownies out of the pan, she said she doesn't dare to make brownies anymore. Hopefully she'll get over that if I promise her I will do all the cutting from now on. She's also an excellent reader. She's almost done with the final Harry Potter. She's read the entire series in 8 or 9 months. That's a lot of reading to do. (Of course I finished the whole series in less than 3 weeks. But that's all I did for those weeks. And I'm not really trying to compete with my 8-year-old. I'm just funny.)

Now, my goal is to update more often. My kids are really quite funny, but if I don't immediately write it down, I forget what they have said or done. We'll see if I can stick to it. But, that's all for now.

Pockets

Last night we had waffles for dinner. Needless to say, Ryan's clothes got pretty sticky. He doesn't like being sticky, so he asked me to change his clothes. He got down from his seat and started to empty his pockets. The first thing he pulled out was a Little People figure. Then he pulled out 2 medium-sized bouncy balls, and one small one. Then it was some legos, a chess piece, a little barrette, some rocks and some toy food. Then he proceeded to the next pocket. Out of the next one he pulled 2 more large balls, more chess pieces, more rocks, dice, and one of Sophie's socks. We just had to laugh and laugh as he continued to pull things out. He didn't seem to think there was anything out of the ordinary.

Stay tuned. I plan to update more of what's been going on around here later today.

What's going on?

Sophie likes to walk! Well, she can't walk on her own, and doesn't even like trying to stand unassisted, but she loves to walk with help. She's very good at guiding us to where she wants to go. When we hold her hands, our arms become the reigns, and she has full control.
Sophie also likes to do school with the kids. She'll grab their pencils and start writing in their books. She's not content to draw on any paper, it has to be in one of the school books. She copies whatever we do. When I exercise, or the kids practice their dances, she'll come in and bounce with us and stick her feet in the air.

Ryan sure looks good, doesn't he? This is, of course, an "after" photo. We didn't take one with the blood gushing out. Head wounds like to bleed. There are 3 preschool kids, plus Ryan. They all like to sit on the bench when we color or have snacks. Apparently there is not enough room for 4 on the bench. Ryan was trying to scoot over to give the girls more room, and fell off the bench. He hit his head on the cupboard. It was really quite a hectic moment as we tried to get the bleeding stopped and tried to decide if he needed stitches or not. Lisa brought over a bandaid and confirmed that he indeed needed stitches. Then we just had to determine what to do with preschool. Should we call the parents and end preschool now? Or should we just wait it out? After all, he wasn't bleeding anymore, and he was still conscious. I couldn't get hold of one of the parents (the first one I called), so I decided to wait it out. I calmed down enough to finish teaching and then we took the kids to Lisa's so we could take Ryan to instacare. We had called his doctor and they said that the location of the cut might require a little sedation so we had to take him to instacare. They were fast and friendly at instacare. Ryan got nervous as I put him on the bed. He was even more nervous and upset as they started cleaning the wound. At his regular doctor he never has to leave my lap. He was confused at why he couldn't stay on my lap. They put a numbing gel on his wound and left for 20 minutes to let it get numb. He calmed down a lot and was even singing to himself, "Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, 'no more monkeys jumping on the bed!'" When the doctor and nurse came back in, Ryan said to me, "Mom, I will not cry." I put him on the bed, Josh was asked to hold his shoulders down, I held his hands and feet, and the nurse held his face. She talked to him the whole time, reassuring him and telling him how brave he was. Ryan flinched a couple of times when they gave him an additional shot for more numbing, and his chin quivered a lot since he was so nervous. But, he did not cry. He didn't even squeeze my hand. I credit the nurse for a lot of that. She was so good with him. Her name was JoAnn. Spelled just like my mom. Ryan got 3 internal stitches that will dissolve, then they used Dermabond to glue the skin together. After we left we were praising Ryan for how brave he had been. Josh told him he is as brave as Harry Potter. Ryan was almost offended and said, "No I'm not! I'm as brave as Snowball." (Snowball is the dog.) We bought ice cream and made shakes for everyone. Ryan also got Skittles which is what he actually requested. We made him have the milkshake because that's what we wanted. He was fine having both.

Well, that's what's going on for now.

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

This post is slow in being added, as Tyler's birthday was on the 11th. Better late than never, though. Tyler was in desperate need of a coat. I think he likes his new one.

We had a fun birthday party with just a couple of kids. There were more who couldn't come, but we still had a blast. We made apple and marshmallow turkeys and teepees out of ice cream cones. We also played a game of "get the football through the goalpost." It's a cute variation of pin the tail on the donkey.

Tyler had high expectations for his birthday, and some of them were dashed as he didn't get the cereal he wanted for breakfast, he had to do school, and the girls put on a movie he didn't want to watch. It reminded me of "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." It didn't help that his friend party was not until the next night and his grandparent party was a couple of days before. But, things started looking up when we opened presents, ate cake and then let him choose the restaurant he wanted for dinner. Besides, how can he complain when we'd been celebrating all week?

Tyler loves to watch cake shows on Food Network. After the shows he watches he will often go and draw cakes of his own. Most of his designs are quite elaborate with moving parts, fountains, little figures, etc. Several weeks ago he decided to design his birthday cake. It was 3 tiers with red fondant and blue and yellow rings around it. It also had cupcakes surrounding the bottom and candles on top. How did I do? He asked me for weeks about the cake and if I had bought the fondant. He was very impressed when I made it from scratch (with a lot of help from a good friend). He was more worried about the cake than he was about his presents. I think the cake was, by far, the most exciting thing about his birthday.

Halloween!

We only had to get one new costume this year! Sophie was our cute scarecrow.

Tyler considered being a scarecrow, but decided a ghost was better. I thought so, too, since we already had the costume.

Ryan insisted for weeks on being a ladybug. He had his mind made up from the very beginning and never wavered. Josh was a little unsure about it. After all, aren't ladybugs supposed to be girls? But Ryan is proof that not all ladybugs are girls because he is definitely all boy.

Emma originally wanted to be a witch, but we couldn't find a costume that she liked and that came in her size. I really didn't want to make anything this year, so she settled on being Belle again. Doesn't she look beautiful?

Anna is our lovely Snow White. Anna is content to be anything as long as it's a princess. She likes anything that makes her look fancy and pretty. Well, that's all for now. More updates to come soon, I'm sure.