1/31/2007

SNOW

Well we finally got a significant amount of snow! We got some on Sunday, then a few more inches yesterday. I figure there’s about 4-5 inches out there right now. I had the kids out in it on Sunday even though the wind chill was below freezing. Afterward we enjoyed a mug of hot chocolate and a fire in the fireplace. It was wonderful… Yesterday we had to go into town because the girls had their 3 yo check up. My mom didn’t have school because of the weather, so we spent most of the day hangin around, shopping, and just enjoying her snow day. So here we are, freezing our patooties off, having a great time… (yes I realize they're blurry, didI mentioned the below freezing windchill?)

1/26/2007

Conversations with my little boy

Mom, I don’t want to grow up, can I be a kid forever?
Me: You bet kiddo.

1/25/2007

Because…



Because I just took some cute ones of the girls (that whole counting jellybeans thing)
Because Shelly gave me this huge roll of plain white paper that made a great background
Because the photographers on
  • this
  • site totally kicked my butt.
    Because I had a super productive day yesterday, and by golly I feel like playing today
    Because Michael Buble’s got fever.
    Is that a good enough reason?

    1/22/2007

    Birthday happenings

    Saturday was the girls 3rd bday, so we had a very fun birthday weekend. We took the kids for a rousing trip to McDonalds in the morning (so we could have apple pies and they could play on the playland) and a trip to Meijers to ride in the buggies. (Still a favorite past time by the way.) We spent the afternoon hanging out with Cathy, who had come to town for the girls’ party. She did a great job keeping the kids out from under my feet while I did last minute party things.
    For our birthday celebration we had a small family dinner with my mom, brother, and Cathy at Bob Evans, then back to our house for cupcakes (decorated by mom and the girls) and ice cream. So yummy. The girls got way too many gifts, which they (and Alex) are rather enjoying at the moment (read that: leaving mommy alone).
    Another word about snow. We were supposed to get 3 inches overnight, with freezing rain on top - a great big exciting storm, heading in from Chicago. Which in reality split in half and went right around us. The news says we got two, but I’m not buying it. My porch looks like maybe an inch. Still not enough to cover the grass. Sigh. I just want enough snow to justify getting out the snow pants and the sleds. So glad we invested in snow pants this year. If you haven't figured it out, I’m bound and determined to have photos of my children in their new snow garb. Hence all the complaining about the lack of snow.

    1/18/2007

    My bad

    I’ve been corrected. Apparently the pic I posted of the girls yesterday (the one where Annie has her sister in a headlock) was not Jory’s favorite. The one where Annie is on the receiving end of a headlock was the better of that series of pictures. So sorry.
    So that leads us to my favorite of the bday pics. The top one cracks me up. Sweet adorable photogenic Annie, and Louisa is pouting. But it’s even funnier when you see the next pic of Annie pouting and Louisa with a huge grin. I swear I don’t plan these things.

    1/17/2007

    3 years old

    Ok, well discussing it with Jory last night, we couldn't agree on a favorite pic, so I'm posting them both. One today, one tomorrow. So this one is jory's favorite. Cute, if you ignore the fact that Annie has her sister in a headlock.

    1/16/2007

    New fav pic

    Ok, I was taking pics of the girls for their 3rd bday, and this one just about killed me! I couldn't wait to post it. This is Miss Annie, my photogenic child. I got some good ones of both of them share, but you'll have to wait...

    Rambling

    Nothing critical to talk about today, but I feel like babbling a little. So hang tight.
    First some general observances about my kids. I think I got a handle on Alex’s fear of failure. I gave him shapes with really wide lines to trace and cut. Now he’s at least willing to do his work, but he gets upset about the littlest mistakes. I’d show you a sample “mistake” but they get thrown out pretty quick. I’ll try to save one next time.
    Annie. Bless her heart. She’s just a sweet kid. When I need a hug, I go to her first. She’s always got one for me, especially when the others would rather play than get squishies from mom. Love that about her.
    Louisa: she just makes me laugh. Tucking her in to bed at night, this is what I get:
    Me: Good night Louisa
    Louisa: Good night birdie birdie
    Me: I’m not a birdie, I’m mom!
    L: (giggling) Goodnight mommy birdie.
    Goofball.
    Speaking of the girls, did I mention that their birthday is on Saturday? Have I done a single thing to prepare? Nope. No presents, no cake, no balloons. Nada. Can we say BAD MOM! I don’t even have any excuses, I don’t have any class prep stuff to work on. I’m just a bad mom. Next year I’m buying them extra presents at Cmas, and stashing them in the closet until their birthday. Why it’s taken me 3 years to figure that one out is beyond me.
    Still no snow! Weatherman is predicting some possible accumulations around Monday. We’ll see about that. I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that we’re going to get all of our snow at once. All 48 inches, or how ever much is normal for one winter in these parts. It’s going to fall in one week. The last week of March.
    Oh yea, one last thing. I made a cobbler yesterday. Set it on the stove to cool. (Conveniently forgetting about the peanut butter cake episode from last May) went back and sat at my desk to organize some thoughts. I swear I was only there for 10 minutes before Louisa came running in with berries all over her face. She tried to convince me that Annie was the one who had eaten the top layer off the cobbler. In her defense, Annie was licking something remarkably berry colored off her fingers when I found her, but she wasn’t up to her eyeballs in berries like Louisa was. I should know better, really I should.

    1/11/2007

    Wednesday

    Yesterday was one of those days. I have to share. You can chuckle at my misfortune. So we were invited over to a friend’s house for the afternoon. Miss Patti, she’s the sweetest woman alive. We made our own pizzas, and decorated cupcakes, and tried not to destroy her house too much. The kids did pretty well, despite the fact that they had way too much sugar, no nap, and there was a limited number of things they could actually play with.
    So here comes the unfortunate part. When it was time to leave, we decided to make an appearance at Jory’s office, to kill a little time so we could eat dinner in town. Oh my word. They pretty much wreaked havoc upon the entire office. My sweet, wonderful, generally well-behaved children were apparently done being good. They ran in 3 different directions, fought over the spare computer in Jory’s cubicle, pushed the buttons on the alarm system (eek!) and possibly broke the water fountain (double eek). One of Jory’s co-workers said of Alex: He’s talked more in the last half hour than Jory has since he started working here (which translates: your kid is a jabber-mouth) but sadly is very true. Oy.
    Anyway, we decided to skip dinner and brought the kids home. Gave them all a stern lecture, and threw them in bed 45 minutes early. (That’ll show em!) Then we consoled our selves with pizza and bread sticks. But it wasn’t as good as Applebee’s. *sigh*
    Ps. Just noticed – this is my 300th post. Yahoo.

    1/08/2007

    Kid funny and other news

    Alex: Mom, I need a brother.
    Me: what do you think I should name him?
    A: Dumbo.

    So we’re getting to the middle of January, and we have still not had a significant amount of snow this year. When I say significant, I mean more than half an inch at a time. I think our total snowfall for December was about an inch (last year it was 20 inches). The weatherman said last night that we could expect 1-2 inches overnight. I was so excited. Until I woke up. Another half an inch. Bummer.
    I got to go to a scrapbooking party on Saturday. I got to catch up with some of my scrapping buddies, and work on my own stuff for a change. I’m determined to get caught up by April. I’ve been making pretty good progress lately, since I don’t have class stuff to work on. The bad news is that I sliced my finger open with a paper cutter. (Don’t ask)

    1/05/2007

    School stuff

    So I have to chuckle at my son. This last week we’ve been doing seatwork regularly, and he clearly suffers from perfectionistic tendencies / fear of failure. Lovely. He doesn’t want to do anything that has a specified result. He doesn’t want to trace letters, because his lines aren’t strait. He doesn’t want to cut out basic shapes because he’s afraid that he’ll accidentally cut over one of the lines, and there goes the shape. On the other hand, if it’s an open activity, with no specific product, he’s happy as a clam. He’ll happily draw me a very detailed picture of whatever I ask for, and he’ll happily cut for hours on paper scraps (to make confetti) it’s hard to mess up confetti. But no following lines. So I think I’m back to square one. I have a few ideas about how to get the kid to make specific shapes/letters/numbers without actually having to follow a specific line. We’ll see how it goes. Wish me luck.

    1/04/2007

    Resolutions

    So now that I’ve had a few days to mull it over, I’m ready to declare my intentions for the New Year. Not that I’ll actually do them, but you never know.
    1. Cut the clutter. I already cut half the kid clutter in this house (it still feels reallllllllly good) But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the stuff in my life that just doesn’t matter. It’s not part of my life mission – so it goes. Cutting the “working mom” mentality out of my life feels so good. There will be plenty of time for “working mom” when the kids are gone. Since working mom went buh-bye, I’m now spending a lot more time on school related stuff - which needed to be buffed up a little anyway. Killing two birds… Plus I have time for “fun” stuff, like reading and taking pics. Oh and cleaning (working on that too). I’m really very happy with my decision.
    2. My other resolution is to just be more disciplined. I know, I know I made this one last year. Was I more disciplined during 2006. Nope. Which is why I chuckled when I read through last years resolutions. You know what, that’s ok. I’ll do better this year.

    1/02/2007

    Announcement

    I’m making a public announcement. Not that it matters to anyone reading this, but these thoughts have been swirling around in my head all week, it’s time to put them out there.
    So here goes. I am retiring as a scrapbook teacher. When I knew that my store was in trouble I made a plan to take my class to the other stores in town. I had everything lined up, even called a store to talk to the owner (who wasn’t available to answer my call). As much as I enjoyed teaching, the class had become somewhat of a burden. The whole “working mom” attitude doesn’t mesh well with the “homeschooling mom” attitude. I knew it had to be one or the other. Since public school is just not an option for my children, they win by default.
    So as much as it pains me, I give in. I know some people in my circle won’t understand. That’s fine. My life mission is not to be a professional scrapbooker, with an established position in the industry. I know it is for some, and that’s fine. But the mission that God has given ME is to raise my kids in the best darned way that I can, and I can’t do that if I’m cutting paper for 3 hours a day.
    That’s all I have to say about that.

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