ICE at the National Harbor

 We went last Monday for FHE.  The kids loved it, well Liz did.  Alaina was initially excited about it, but midway through (the relatively short exhibit) she started saying, "I want to leave the freezing place!" and one time actually slipped out the exit with a group of strangers and had to be retrieved.  In all, I thought it was a nice way to start off our holidays.

 

 

Thanksgiving

The only pictures I took the entire holiday were of Drew and his beloved bacon-wrapped turkey.  It was a first for us and it was delicious.  Incidentally this was only the second time we have ever hosted Thanksgiving.  The last time was 2001 and we had two guests, only one of which spent the night.  This time around we had a family of seven. 

 That's right, seven. 

I was a little nervous to have such a large family staying with us, in part because I didn't really know them.  It was a cousin that Drew was close to growing up, but I had only met a handful of times.  Actually the last time I saw him and his wife was five years ago.  I needn't have worried though, we all got along well, the kids were well behaved, and things generally went smoothly (expect for one painful lunch spent arguing politics). 

Along with a delicious Thanksgiving dinner and pleasant company, over the holidays we also enjoyed a visit to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum (along with a million other people) and The Rise of the Guardians.  And, as I had hoped, we finished off the long weekend by putting up our Christmas tree and decorations.  Hooray Christmas! 

Lizzie Update

We had a nice Thanksgiving and have already started our Christmas festivities, but before I get all that, I want to finally do little update on Lizzie (only two months behind schedule).

 

Liz is delightful.  She is exuberant and sensitive and so kind.  She is also very helpful.  I'm always aware of just how much she helps when she's at school and I have to buckle her sisters into the van myself.  I also appreciate Sunday mornings when she she gets her sisters breakfast and turns on a cartoon for them all so Drew and I can sleep in a bit.  

Liz doesn't like to smile with her with her teeth showing.  Below is a lucky shot.

Liz is a busy girl.  She goes to Activity Days at church, Girl Scouts, and piano lessons.  Mercifully soccer has ended (she loved it, but the schedule started to wear on me), and we have just one day left of pottery (till it all starts up again in January).

STATS:  Height - 4'2"/22%, Weight - 55 lbs/19% (those percentages are from the doc, when I put the numbers into an online calculator Lizzie's percentages were 15% for height and 18% for weight).

Liz still loves to play with toys and I'm really glad that her My Little Ponies and Polly Pockets are still interesting to her.  I'm also glad that she'll regularly play with her little sisters (Lainey mainly). Right now her favorite toys are Legos, Lego Friends to be exact.

Lizzie also loves to read (to herself and her sisters) and is still excited about having Drew and I read books to her which I love.  She and I just finished Island of the Blue Dolphins.  I enjoyed reading it as a child and was happy that she liked it as well.  I was also pretty pleased when Liz used all the "mother's helper" money she earned last spring at the school book fair last month instead of the toy store.

Like her sisters, Liz is a total daddy's girl.  My favorite fill-in-the-blank answers from Liz about her dad:

My dad always tells me .  .  .  You're the best kid ever.
The best thing he does is .  .  .  make me laugh.
My favorite thing to do with dad is  .  .  .  just being together.
How strong is daddy  .  .  .  strong enough to pick up me.

My dad is special because  .  .  .  he's different from all the other dads and I think he's the best.

Random stuff Elizabeth has recently said to me:

"I don't like it when grown-ups do cartwheels.  It's creepy."

"That's why they invented friends, so that kids won't get bored or annoyed with their parents." 

Favorite dinner - chicken baked in yogurt, butter, Parmesan cheese, and crushed Ritz crackers.

Favorite television show - Monster High

Favorite color - purple

Favorite dessert/treat - Oreo milkshake

What she wants to be when she grows up - Artist
She likes her long wavy hair and thinks it's cool that she can roll her tongue like her dad.

Lainey Update

I'm a little behind in my annual kid updates seeing as Lainey's birthday was over two months ago, but better late than not at all.  Also, in Lainey's mind her birthday is about the happen again at any moment.  Whenever we have dessert and do something fun she states that it's for her birthday, and, when I asked her last night what she wants for Christmas she said "No Mom, for my birthday."

 Lainey's itty bitty (Height -38"/16%,Weight -33 lbs/33%).

She is more willing to try new foods than her sisters.  Some of her favorites include: hummus, strawberries, pink lemonade, yogurt and nutella dip, and cheesy noodles.  She is very good at sharing, definitely the best sharer in our family, and has already offered to let Liz play with her Christmas presents.  Her favorite colors are pink and purple, she likes hair braids, and she wants to wear her church dresses every day.

Alaina's developing a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks which she's pretty proud of ("Like Daddy!").  She's also pretty excited that her hair is turning brown ("Mommy!  My hair is turning brown!  Just like Daddy!").  She absolutely loves going to dance class, playing "family," and being with her sister Liz (she goes back and forth on Ellie because Elle hits, pushes, and yells at her so much).

 She has a loud voice and still erupts into loud, dramatic tantrums.  Yesterday I checked on her in between church classes, only to find her screaming in her classroom because her teacher "didn't spell (her) name right."  The teacher had written, "Lainey" which is what Alaina normally goes by, but she was all bent out of shape because she didn't see an A at the front ("she didn't put my letter there!").

Laines considers herself toilet trained.  I'm not sure how I'd classify her.  We have good days and bad days, but so far we're more likely to have the latter with up to four accidents a day.  I was fed up with the whole toilet training thing before it started so now, as much as possible, I have her clean up after herself.  When I told her I wouldn't clean up after accidents anymore, she became upset and said with obviously concern, "Then you won't be our mom anymore!"  Because, apparently if you aren't sopping up pee from the floor, then you aren't a real mom. 

The mark on her cheek below is a mosquito bite, her skin does not react well to those.

Alaina doesn't seem to process the word no (or anything like unto it).  I can tell her, no you cannot have a cookie until after dinner and she'll immediately say, okay, can I have a cookie?  On the way to the beach in August she kept asking us the same inane questions over and over, seemingly for the joy of listening to her own voice (I do love her voice though--it's lower than Lizzie's, with just the hint of a lisp).   Do they have beds at the beach house?  Do they have water at the beach?  Do they have sand at the beach house?  The same questions over and over.  It reminded me of a story Drew tells from his mission of one of his English students asking "Do they have (fill in the blank with any English word he knew) in America" endlessly.  We kept telling her that is was quiet time, no more talking.  She'd say okay and then immediately ask another question.  Finally she understood that she wasn't supposed to talk anymore so she immediately asked, "Does sneezing count?"  Argh!  It was very frustrating and very amusing at the same time.

 

At night, when we tuck her in, Alaina says, "No kissing, just hugs!"  She likes to drink her skim milk with water added to it.  Yes, that's right "milk with water in it."  Delish.  She doesn't like soda because she says it's "too spicy."  Her favorite Disney princess is Tiana with Ariel as a pretty close second.  I'm just waiting for the Halloween when she asks to dress up as Tiana--probably everyone will think she's Tinkerbell.  Alaina loves to pretend to be a princess.  She assigns me to play the part of the queen, the prince, and the maid.  If Drew is around she asks him to be the king.  

Updates

While I was stuck in Texas Drew was busy with the girls.  He took Lainey on her preschool field trip to a pumpkin patch, Ellie to her dance class, Lizzie to her Girl Scout camp out, got the girls to a couple different Halloween parties, and helped coach Lizzie's soccer game.  And all that was before Hurricane Sandy hit.  

When I got back the other preschool moms marvelled at how well Drew handled everything.  They were especially impressed that he did the girls hair for the field trip ("and in pigtails!").  When I reported this to Andrew he laughed and said, yeah, they told him that too and he recalled that the ladies were really impressed with how straight his pigtail part was.

Girl Scout Camp Out:

Sleeping in the basement during Hurricane Sandy:

Since I've been back we've been as busy as usual.  We've enjoyed visits from some brothers--one of mine and one of Drew's.  Love those family visits.  It always makes me wish I lived near them.

I voted.  I also spent a big chunk of the day manning the fundraiser at Lizzie's school.  We are trying to raise money for the 4th grade field trip Jamestown this spring so we were there the entire time the polls were open selling coffee, baked goods, water, hot dogs, and pizza.  We did pretty well.

I took Alaina to get a cavity filled.  A cavity!  When I heard the news my heart sank--definitely a low mommy-moment.  I kind of feel like I failed her.  We sprung for laughing gas for her and it definitely helped the whole process.  Afterwards the dentist gave her a chocolate pudding cup.  Lainey took one bite and then refused to eat any more while she had a numb cheek.

Lizzie and Drew finished up soccer.  At the end-of-season party, the other parents on the team gave Drew and the head coach each thank you notes and gift cards.  I thought it was really nice of them--especially since this is our fourth season with Coach Bob and we've never given him any end-of-season gifts.

Some other things have finished too.  After-school soccer, guitar, and girls basketball all ended last week and I only have two weeks of pottery left!  Hooray!  I'm looking forward to having my afternoons free for a bit before all the classes all start up again in January.  Until then it's only Girl Scouts, piano, and Activity Girls for Liz and a couple more dance classes for the little ones.

 

Halloween

I was sad that I couldn't go trick-or-treating with my kids on Halloween (because I was in the process of flying home), but happy that the ward Trunk-or-Treat was postponed to Thursday (because of the storm). 

Lainey was a butterfly for trunk-or-treat and a bee for actual Halloween trick-or-treating.

 

Liz went to a Halloween party while I was gone and had to wear her old witch costume from last year because I hadn't gotten around to getting her something new.  Luckily we found something at Walmart an hour before the trunk-or-treat so she didn't have to be a witch for the third year in a row.

Ellie was a lady bug.  So cute.  She's since worn the costume to dance class and I love it.

Drew manned our vehicle and passed out candy (those decorations looked a lot better on pinterest).

I followed Ellie around.  She pretty much just wanted to dance in front of the cars playing music (and eat up candy she'd dropped on the ground--yuck).

One lady was handing out balloons and not just any balloons--balloon creations!  So cool.  Needless to say her car was very popular.

While I was gone I missed attending a few holiday parties with the girlies.  I'm really grateful that Wendi stepped in a got the girls to their parties when Andrew wasn't able..