The Nielsons

Snow & Stories

2012-01-20T18:28:00.000-08:00

Today I took my littlest girlies to a snow and story time at a local ice rink (by local, I mean Woodbridge).

The ice was roughed up so the kids could walk without slipping and there was a pile of snow for them to play in.

Sand toys in the snow! What a great idea. It's so simple that I feel silly for not thinking of it before.

Ellie wasn't much for the snow pile, she liked the push toys best.

Can one-year-olds roll their eyes? Because it sure looks like that's what she's doing.

Ellie wouldn't keep her actual gloves on and you can see from the previous pictures how cold/red her little hands were so we resorted to socks for at least a little warmth/protection.After their ice time the kids had cookies and hot chocolate while they listened to a story.

Then we watched the Zamboni demolish/clean up their play space.

It was pretty fun. I think we'll do it again next month.

Blast off for babies!

2012-01-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

Ellie is loving the rec center class I put her in (at the last minute/out of guilt). I'm so glad that we have a little time just the two of us every week (well for the next eight at least).

She's took to the balls and slides and parachute much quicker than her sisters did which is kind of nice.

I showed her how to slide down head first on the first day of class.

She liked it.

Lincoln's cottage and soldier's home

2012-01-09T09:09:00.000-08:00

Last week we visited President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldier's Home (cause I had a Groupon that was about to expire). It was interesting and I think that even Andrew, who didn't want to go in the first place, enjoyed himself. I learned a lot. For example, I learned that the Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in states in open rebellion meaning that four states remained where slavery was legal (two outlawed it themselves later, and it officially became illegal in the remaining two and any future states through a constitutional amendment).

There wasn't much to keep Lainey and Elli entertained, but they did alright. Alaina enjoyed comparing the pictures of President Lincoln to his image on the penny. Ellie just tried to run away every chance she got. I swear she's harder to manage than her sisters were (or maybe I'm just older and more tired in general)./

Alaina was convinced that Lincoln's gloves where actually a map and she wanted it.

New Years Eve

2012-01-07T10:29:00.000-08:00

We spent December 31rst at Liberty Mountain's second annual New Year's Eve Party. The kids loved it. A hotel room, a magic show, balloon artist, games, and dancing--they appreciated it all. Plus, this year we had our friends, the Pomeroys, join us which made it even more fun.

I have a no-jumping-on-the-beds-or-couches rule at home. I always tell my kids "we only jump on beds at hotels." So, pretty much as soon as we entered our room the Liz was asking to jump, saying "mommy, you said we're only allowed to jump on beds at hotels so can I jump?" It was a little embarrassing for me that she was said this in front of the front desk clerk that was delivering our porta crib.

We jumped and watched t.v. till Drew finished off his shift, then we headed to the party. The next picture is from the magic show (same guy and act as last year, but the girls still loved it).

I think Lainey liked petting the magician's bunny (named Prop) more than the show itself.

Andrew just loved this game.

My friend, Sharon.

I caught Liz mid "whoo-hoo" in the dance train.

All the girls loved dancing. The magic show that we watch ended at 10 p.m. Lainey and Ellie were sleepily lolling in our arms, but as soon as the music came Ellie jumped up to dance (notice Lainey pouting in the background because I'm filming Gabrielle instead of holding Alaina).

Holiday Break

2012-01-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

So far the first week back to real life (meaning the girlies are back in school) has gone well enough. Still, I miss the fun and laid-back schedule of last week. We had fun:

We spent an evening viewing the temple lights. It was crazy busy and although we planned on getting there around 5, we actually arrived well after 7. The line for the creche exhibit was longer than I've ever seen it so we skipped 'em. Skipped the show too. Next year I'll actually follow Sarah B's sage advice and show up at 5 p.m. and then head over the Brookville Gardens.

I couldn't find Ellie's gloves, so she wore mine. She was mystified by them and kept staring at her hands. O course I spotted Elle's gloves peeking out from under my seat when we returned to the car.

We ate Ikea's free kid's meals two different times, and all I can say about those meatballs is, yuck and I'm shocked I craved them for so many years

We nursed colds, I finally finished putting together the basement (after having dismantled it Christmas Eve), and we spent whole days in our pajamas, even venturing outside to play with coats over our night clothes.

I packed up all the Christmas gear (now I just need Andrew to help me take down the darn tree).

This angel is one of our recent casualties. Alaina decapitated it a couple weeks ago and the super glue I used to attach her head makes it look like it has a gushing neck wound. It made me a little sad because this is from a nativity set we received our first Christmas in DC from Andrew's brother. It survived one cross-country and three local moves, but it couldn't survive kids.

Liz had a mani-pedi at spa-riffic with her friend. Liz enjoyed it, but my advice is do not take your daughters there because it is a waste of money even with Groupon. Lizzie also had a cooking class with another friend which she loved (and which was worth the price we paid).

We played at home. We also ventured out to the cheapie movies to see Puss in Boots. Liz and Laines loved it and behaved well. Ellie, on the other hand, was too young to sit still. In all it was fun and I was soooo glad I went to first showing when I left the theater and saw the awful line waiting to get in. Glad I missed that.

Played Uno.

Homemade Christmas

2012-01-02T19:32:00.000-08:00

I've tried to make homemade gifts for my family (particularly my girls) each year and I'm loving the tradition. Santa brings the store-bought stuff. From Mom, the girlies get stuff painstakingly created.

This years I decided that, instead of giving the girls money and hauling them to the dollar store or scouting out cheap, non-junk gifts for them on my own, I'd give them two options: earn their own money for a store-bought gift or make one with supplies provided by me. They chose the second option and it was fun.

Lizzie made treats for her friends (and delivered them with a sparkly store-bought ornament).

Alaina made treats for her friends too (lollipops between two stapled together gingerbread man cut-outs).

Lizzie made a "massage shirt" for her dad. We used it for the first time tonight and it seemed to work fine. As a sidenote, when Andrew first saw it he commented that it was funny that the bottom of the shirt (the southern most parking lot) look like a bum. It was not intentional (and unnoticed till Drew pointed it out).

Alaina made worry balls for her sisters out of rice and balloons.

I let her make one for herself too because I worried that she wouldn't be able to give up the others without it.

Lizzie made t-shirts for her sisters (we printed her drawings onto iron-transfer paper).

I had nine things on my "homemade to do" list. I ended up finishing four of them (with lots of help from Andrew, of course): the nativity costumes, a set of beanbags, the playhouse frame, and a wardrobe for the dress-ups. The wardrobe was a Restore find. Only $6 for an ikea cupboard and $1.50 for a set of four castors. Andrew attached the castors, I spray painted the cupboard, and then Andrew re-sprayed it (he'd say "fixed"). When Drew saw my initial work he noticed all the drip marks and said, "What happened? Didn't you read the instructions before you started painting?" My response was, "Of course I didn't read the instructions. Isn't spray paint pretty much self-explanatory?" Anywho, the girlies love their cabinet and I suppose it's good that I'm learning on play furniture and not the girl's actual bedroom furniture (which is next on our repaint list).

Christmas Day

2011-12-31T09:30:00.000-08:00

The stockings: They were full of exciting things like hair clips, rubber bands, toothbrushes, and toothpaste. Oh, and some candy and glow sticks.

I wanted to wait until after church (started at 11 a.m.) to open presents. Andrew (and everyone else I talked to) said that was mean and unrealistic. My mom reminded me that when I was little we once had to go to all three hours of church before opening our presents. I reasoned that since I didn't even remember that Christmas it clearly wasn't that big of deal. But, in the end we had enough time to open gifts and get to church pretty much on time.

Liz unwrapped her gifts pretty quickly. Then, she unwrapped all of Ellie's gifts because Elle just wasn't interested in doing it herself. Finally she unwrapped Alaina's last few presents--at Alaina's request--because Laines was more interested in the presents she had already opened. I guess Santa didn't need to stress about the two older girls having similar amounts of gifts to open after all.

The girls wanted their toys removed from the packaging pretty much immediately--quite possibly the least pleasant part of Christmas for me (those things are so secure!).

Ellie's favorite gift was probably her baby doll from Nana & Papa--I knew she'd like because I watched her trying to pull one from the bottom of a stack at Costco (total movie moment, the stack started to fall on her, but I caught it just in time). Gabrielle also got a set of crib sheets, a pair of shoes, some large toddler legos, and a tea set.

Lainey's favorite gift is a toss up between her Disney nightgowns, her "Rapunzel and her prince" dolls, and her "American Doll" (a knock-off). She also got a couple play food sets and an American Girl doll pet.

Lizzie's favorite Christmas gift was her Mulan barbie (or barbie-ish doll). She also got a bike, a horse (knock-off) and couple pets for her American girl doll, and a couple Lego Creator sets. The Creator series is my favorite Lego series because kids can make three things from the pieces in each box. They kept Liz busy building and rebuilding all the following week.

Once the kids had opened all their presents, we moved them from the living room to the "nook" so we could open our own gifts in relative peace. I gave Drew ski and barbecue stuff. He gave me clothes, a Harvey bag, and an iPad (along with the "boring" stuff I requested: garments, a salad spinner, and cancel-the-internet-on-my-phone).

Tired parent pictures by Liz:

Holiday Garb:

I told Liz to crouch down so I could get a tighter shot of the girls, not expecting Alaina to do the same thing--funny result though.

After church Ellie and I napped, the older kids played and Drew did a fabulous job cooking for our annual Christmas dinner with the Pomeroys. We had our traditional ribs, fancy mac'n cheese (this year it had bacon), rolls, and such. It was a lovely day.

The Elves at Work

2011-12-30T13:23:00.000-08:00

We wrapped all the presents days before Christmas so all we had to do was stuff the stockings and set everything out (still was a late night though).

Santa didn't have enough labels for his presents (and he didn't want buy any more) so he wrapped all the girls gifts in different paper. The knew which pile was theirs because each girl woke up to a present in her bed (book) with the same paper. Their in-bed presents had tags instructing them to "open immediately." The idea is they'll read in bed for a little bit and allow their parents to sleep longer. It worked, but we were still up earlier than I wanted to be. Next time I'm going to tell them that they have to stay in their rooms till 8 a.m.

See how happy Drew is in his sexy candy cane jammies? He doesn't look too happy, right? Well, he's a little tired, but mostly he's upset about . . .

This. I decided to reorganize the basement to better accommodate the girl's new playhouse and dress-up wardrobe. Problem is I decided to do this at about 11 p.m. (reasoning that I could complete it in about an hour--I couldn't). This is what it looked like around midnight when Drew went to bed without me.

About 1:30 a.m. Liz came down to the basement with her wrapped box in hand and said, "Guess what! Snta got me a new bike!" I bundled her off to bed (after a picture of course) and went to sleep myself (agonizing that by being up I had somehow given away the whole Santa thing and spoiled Christmas for her).

Oh, and that bike she was so excited about was very unpopular Monday afternoon when I she tried to ride it (maybe we should have gone with training wheels but this model was super cheap).

Acting Out the Nativity

2011-12-29T20:24:00.000-08:00

This was our first year acting out a nativity (a tradition from Drew's family that I have been wanting to carry on with my own girls). I assembled some costumes for us (the slip is Lainey's addition).

Alaina was excited about being the angel.

She was also excited about acting out the story, she just didn't want me to take any pictures.

I was Mary (I thought for sure Liz and Laines would fight over this role, but no, they left it for me). I didn't have that babydoll for long. As soon as I put it in the manager (a baby stroller), Ellie took off with it.

Drew was Joseph. He also played King Herod.

Since Ellie refused to put anything on, Lizzie got to have costume changes. She was our shepherd and our wiseman.

I'm pretty excited about the couple of sheep pillows I made for my shepherd to carry. I got the design from this blog.

The following shots are by Liz.

I finally figured out how to post videos again. Here are some clips of our nativity play:

Christmas Eve

2011-12-29T09:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve morning the kids woke up to this:

Andrew and I had assembled the frame as part of our "homemade Christmas gifts" using this tutorial. Aunt Carrie (Drew's sister) made the amazing cover.

The girls loved it! And it inspired Liz to learn her address.

So while the girls played, Drew ran one last errand and I finished up the nativity costumes.

In the evening we went to a friend's house for a dinner of appetizers (very nice), then back home for holiday routine: jammies and reading the nativity (this time we acted it out).

Alaina wasn't sure about her jammies (she prefers nightgowns). Liz loved hers.

So, looking at this picture I now have some idea why Lainey makes such weird faces in her pictures. Monkey see, monkey do.

The Stockings

2011-12-28T21:23:00.000-08:00

I really want these Christmas stocking holders from Pottery Barn, but they're $30 a pop so this year I decided to go a different route: generic holders and simple DIY labels (b/c our non-individualized socks require labels).

We went with Santa beard pictures for the labels. My family didn't exactly understand the need for a theme, but they went along with it anyway.

Even Andrew.

The littlest girls had trouble positioning their beards properly (or cooperating at all) . . .

So one day, after Ellie had happily fed herself yogurt for lunch, I decided to do an impromptu Santa shot.

Unfortunately she didn't like the hat.

But eventually I got a usable shot.

I improvised Alaina's shot as well.

I really liked the way are pictures looked on the stockings.

longwood

2011-12-24T07:42:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago I enjoyed a day off at Longwood Gardens.

I went with my good friend, Jessica.

I was so fun to wander all around the festive grounds with Jess because she knows a lot more about plants than I do and she helped me appreciate them more. I didn't even know what paper whites were, but now I'm totally going to grow some next Christmas.

I was amazed by all the details. Every room in the conservatory had holiday details.

There were Christmas trees galore inside.

I especially liked the one composed of cacti and silver plants . . .

The parsley tree (parsley!!!) . . .

and the giant herbal wreath (so fragrant).

The decor continued outside. My favs were the natural decor tree (loved the dried oranges because it reminded me of a tree my mom did when I was a little kid) . . .

the giant gourd tree . . .

The pinecone tree (in one of the tree houses--they were all decorated).

And since I was kid-free that day I was able to explore parts of the grounds that I never been to such as this back field. Lovely, just lovely.

I loved the green grass path cutting through a big brown field.

More Christmas Activities

2011-12-23T22:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday after Liz finished up with school the girls and I went downtown to the the United States Botanic Garden (which I had been referring to as the "Botanical Gardens" like a dope for at least the last 10 years).

The kids loved seeing the holiday display: lots of trains, a large decorated tree, and my favorite, buildings constructed from plant material.

In the past we've encountered a lot of crowds, but this year it wasn't bad at all. I think a weekday afternoon was the perfect time to go (on Thursdays they stay open till 8 p.m. because they offer free concerts in the atrium). Next shot: porcupine palace.

Liz is trying to turn upside to read the upside down placard for the possum's upside down home.

Alaina was pretty excited to see the castle (neuschwanstein) that appears every year.

They had also created replicas of the presidents homes. Below are Monticello & Mt. Vernon.

As always we had to stop by the hands-on room (my kids call it "the smelling room"). Oh, and yeah, Laines is wearing a leotard. She slept in it the night before, last night, and wore it all day today as well. We finally forced her to take it off tonight and bawled and bawled.

After we left the Botanic Garden we walked over to see the Capitol Christmas see, something I had yet to do in my ten years in DC.

We lingered at a reflecting pool on the way back to the van.

Liz announced, "if we were homeless this is where I would sleep."

At home, we had more mini helicopter flying.

Today we mostly hung out together. We started our day at the 9:20 a.m. showing of Arthur Christmas (so cute). Then after lunch, there was a disastrous attempt to make everyone nap. Ugh. In the evening the girls helped me make some homemade hot chocolate mix and we cut out some ornaments for our felt tree.

Tiny Tots & Tiny Helicopters

2011-12-21T22:15:00.000-08:00

We spent the morning at a tiny tots holiday concert at a local high school (orchestra playing holiday and Disney music while costumed kids danced around in the aisles and on stage). Alaina and her buddies loved it. They were attentive and well-behaved.

Ellie was pretty tired by the end of the show, but still not too bad.

In the evening Drew broke out a birthday gift from coworkers, a mini helicopter. It was a great way to cheer the girls up after I had threatened to take Christmas away by giving all the presents Santa left them to other, better-behaved children (we made up later and hopefully they aren't damaged too much).

The girls LOVED it.

After the kids went to bed, I got to try my hand at flying it. I crashed it a lot--sometimes into Drew--but he was pretty nice about it.

Also after the kids went to bed, Drew and I wrapped all the kid's Christmas presents (well, everything but the stuff I need to pick up and finish up tomorrow). Knowing that most everything is wrapped (I did Drew's the day before) has relieved a lot of stress.

National tree & Nativity

2011-12-20T20:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to see the NATIONAL TREE and SANTA! It was a great time to go (4 p.m. on a weeknight). Decent weather, virtually no line at Santa's toy shop, I easily found parking, and I was able to meet up with a couple friends and their families.

First stop: Santa's toy shop.

Liz & Elle where fine with Santa, but Alaina was was strangely scared (though she was fine with him a couple weeks ago).

The tree itself was a little sad looking this year: short and lopsided. It's new, the previous one having been badly damaged by wind last winter.

Notice Alaina's outfit. She's wearing her nightgown (the one she wore the previous night) over her clothes. She's such a funny kid. Tonight when I went to check on her I saw that she was sleeping on the floor and using the rug as a blanket.

The kids really enjoyed the visit.

Alaina enjoyed herself so much that she didn't want to leave. When I asked what was her favorite--the tree, the trains, the nativity, the Santa, or the blazing yule log (the menorah hadn't been lit up yet)--she said she liked it all. Liz chimed in that she liked it all too and Lainey started yelling that no, only she could like it ("Only one person can like it! It's only for one person!").

I know it's blurry, but it's the only group shot I have.

Ellie checking out the nativity..

Tonight we chilled at home and made a little nativity set with a print out and toilet paper tubes. I think it's pretty obvious which ones Laines colored (think pink).

Some recent holiday activities:

2011-12-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

We purchased (and donated) Jacob's gifts. This year we selected traditional boy toys. I picked a Tonka truck because it just seemed like what I'd be buying him if he lived. Every little boy needs a Tonka truck.

Lainey's Joy School class performed a nativity. Apparently Laines was really into it when they rehearsed, but when it came time to do it for the parents she pouted in the corner (because she wanted to be the only Mary and she wanted to wear blue).

Since Lainey wouldn't put on her Mary costume, Ellie wore it.

We decorated sugar cookies with friends, which was very nice, and skipped two cookie exchanges thank goodness--I kind of hate those.

Lizzie made applesauce cinnamon ornaments with the Activity Day girls and this was her expression when she realized that Ellie had taken bites out of every one. Andrew was a little surprised too and worried about the glue she may have ingested. Surprisingly, Liz recovered very quickly (laughed when she saw the carnage and agreed to let me break up the remaining ornaments so they could become potpourri).

We've continued with that darn elf on the shelf.

We made some progress on our Christmas shopping list (but I still have a surprising amount to do).

We took Santa beard pictures--or at least we tried to. The girls had trouble positioning them appropriately. I want to use the pictures to label our stockings.

We went to some holiday parties--neighborhood, ugly sweater, stay-at-home-moms, work, dinner club, all of which were very nice. We enjoyed time together.

And, like a complete fool, I took the girls to the outlet mall last Saturday afternoon to look for holiday dresses. My friend, Jessica, describes Costco on a Saturday as soul-sucking. I think she'd say the same about Potomac Mills two days ago and she'd be absolutely right. At least I figured out that I ordered the wrong Disney prince and princess for Lainey. Of course, that means I have to go back now. Ugh. And still we have no dresses. . . .

Favorites from the weekend

2011-12-18T23:11:00.000-08:00

Sending Liz and Alaina to their room for a joint time out and later finding a note Lizzie slipped under her bedroom door asking me why I was so mean and why I locked them in their room.

Hearing Lainey talk about people that live at vagina (I assume she meant Virginia).

Making Liz play dolls with Alaina for another time out and getting scolded by Andrew for reinforcing the idea for Lizzie that playing with her sister is punishment.

Drew's birthday

2011-12-18T19:49:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately it fell on a weekday this year so he still had to go to work. Lame. We tried to make it nice for him though. Before he left in the morning he opened his gift: a new ski carrier case. In the evening we went to dinner with our old friends, the Davises, and they surprised us by treating. The next morning the girls "took" Andrew to Krispie Kreme for breakfast.

Father's Day Finalized

2011-12-16T15:40:00.000-08:00

I finally finished up Andrew's father's day present a couple weeks ago (and managed to present it to him last week). I actually interviewed the girls on time, but Alaina refused to answer most questions in the initial go round and I didn't get around to interviewing her again till the fall. Anyway, the following shots are my attempt to get a picture of them myself (instead of using a professional as in other years).

My favorite interview answers from Lizzie:

My dad always tells me: I love you more than anything in the whole entire world.

The best thing he does is: be funny.

When he shops, my dad likes to buy: pizza, the things he wants, and things for a party with his friends that he has every night.

My dad likes to play (sports): soccer with me.

My dad looks like: daddy has brown hair, blue eyes, and a beard and I think a mustaches. He wears jeans a lot and sometimes a tuxedo. (Um, by tuxedo she probably means suit).

My dad is special because he's my daddy.

This was Alaina's first year being interviewed. My favorite answers from her:

I really love it when my dad: Daddy shakes her booty, booty. Daddy shakes her booty bum (& Laina demonstrated). In the fall her answer was, "tickles me."

My dad always tells me: Come back here!

My dad loves to relax by: dump Lizzie in the water so her can get a little bit wet and her my sister.

When my dad shops he likes to buy: Food. Noodles and gnilp (milk) and groieries and you know what kind another groceries are? There a leader and cheetah and a fairy out in there. And that what I want to do. A dance party.

My dad's favorite household chore is: him bring garbage can around the house and make money.

My dad looks like: a boy.

My dad is special because: Daddy make trains.

The following shots are from the barbeque meal we treated Andrew to way back in June. Notice the finger (lizzie's) approaching Drew's ear. Happy Father's Day Dad! You get a wet willie. Aren't you glad you taught your kids about that?

Tea Party

2011-12-14T13:48:00.000-08:00

One of Lizzie's classmates hosted an American Girl Doll Christmas tea party. So cute. Liz loved it and I loved that she got to have such a fun experience with almost zero effort on my part--Andrew and another mom did the driving while I chilled at Longwood Gardens with a friend.

Tantrum under the tree (and recovery)

2011-12-12T21:00:00.000-08:00

Holiday Traditions

2011-12-11T18:49:00.000-08:00

LAST WEEKEND instead of unwrapping our usual holiday book, the girls unwrapped their very own ELF ON THE SHELF. I think it's a cute tradition, Andrew thinks it's creepy, and we both agree that the elf could look better. Still, Lizzie was so excited. She'd heard about the elf from friends last year and was so excited to have one of her very own. She named it Noonie (probably inspired by her cousin's toy, Mooney). As far as the creep factor goes, Liz refused to use the toilet in her bathroom when the elf was stationed there. When I asked her what the big deal was she was like, "Mom, he's a boy."

Andrew seemed a little surprised when he realized that we had to move that darn thing every night for a whole month. I thought he was being silly, but we've only had it one week and I've forgotten to move it three times already. Twice I was able to correct my mistake before Liz realized it, but the other time I remembered when she came in our room and sadly announced that Noonie was in the same spot as yesterday. Argh! I told her it was probably because mommy and daddy stayed up too late so he wasn't able to sneak out. Thankfully, it seemed entirely plausible to her.

We've pulled out HOLIDAY GARB from years past (yes, Lizzie's clothes from last year still fit her tiny frame). For this shot poor Ellie was a little tired (and Lainey was too ornery to cooperate). I should have taken the pix right before church instead of right before nap time.

We have a couple HOLIDAY CRAFTS on the agenda. Liz made these mini trees out of spray painted pinecones. On a neighbor's tip I baked them in the oven for a bit before painting so we could kill any lurking bugs. Still to come: a nativity made with printed coloring pages and toilet paper rolls.

We FINISHED WITH THE DECOR,finally. This year I decided to start phasing out breakables. I've already broken one of the glass balls (because I was fussily rearranging things) and today Alaina decapitated an angel from one of our nativity sets (a clay one I thought I had put safely out of reach).

This year I added framed photos to the tree (of past Christmases). I plan to add one each year which will work perfectly because, while I want my tree to look nice, I also want it to mean something to the family.

THIS WEEKEND we've knocked out a few holiday favorites: the free nutcracker (well, scenes of it anyway) at the National Theater, the ward party (where we saw Santa and a nativity play), and the Christmas on the Potomac fireside (Drew took the older girls, I volunteered for Ellie duty).

I thought for sure one of our kids would cry when they met Santa, but everything went smoothly. Alaina was happily serene (not screaming and crying like last year).

Ellie didn't seem to mind Santa at all. It may have helped that she saw Lainey go first (and if Lainey is getting attention then Gabrielle usually wants a piece of the action too).

Liz didn't want to visit Santa (I suppose since she knows he isn't the real one), but I made her pose for a pic with her sisters anyway.

Of course Santa handed out candy canes. I don't like 'em. Too messy.

The rest of the party was nice. Good food. It was a taco bar and even more surprisingly for us, it was really, really tasty. We went for seconds even though we had already had similar food at Cafe Rio earlier in the day.

For some reason whenever Ellie realized I was about to take a picture of her, she would crouch down. Her version of posing perhaps?

Lizzie enjoyed the craft table and running around with a gang of girls. Lainey was a little clingy and wanted to be held a lot. Ellie spent her time running and crawling around and under the tables (but at least she didn't crawl on top of them).

When Gabrielle was on Drew's shoulders she seemed to be chanting, "mine, mine, mine" while she patted and hugged his face.

I was so, so glad that our ward did a nativity play/skit. Just as we hoped it was completely adorable and a little hilarious too. One of my favorite moments was during practice when the director told the lambs they could each baa once, and only once, for the entire play. I also thought it was pretty funny when the primary prez had to sneak on stage and break up a little lamb fight.

Lizzie chose to be an angel (the kids got to choose, so nice).

Whenever Ellie saw Liz lingering off stage or performing on stage she would get excited and point.

STILL ON THE AGENDA FOR THIS SEASON: national tree, temple lights, botanical gardens, letters to Santa, paint holiday nails, campout under the Christmas tree . . .

Another Lainey update

2011-12-07T10:22:00.000-08:00

Here's some more stuff I want to remember about Alaina, age 3:

She uses terms/phrases like "blah, blah, blah" and "thinger"--which greatly amuses her parents--as in, "you know that jumping thinger?" (trampoline).

Lainey needs naps, but she fights them so much that I gave up in the last few months. Now she's so grumpy and naughty in the afternoon that we're trying to reinstate them. We're hoping with more sleep, she'll tantrum less.

Speaking of tantrums and sleep, Laina fights bedtime like her older sister fights mealtime, hollering things like "It's wake up time! It's wake up time!" when she sees the sky darken or her jammies in mommy's hand.

Alaina loves to dance and sing, often performing both for us simultaneously. She also leads her family in what I can only describe as cheers, instructing us to clap our hands or pump them in the air while we repeat chants with her.

She likes to color and to cut things with her scissors or my paper cutter. Fortunately we haven't had any issues with her cutting clothes or hair (whew).

Lainey had her first hair cut a couple months ago on Lizzie's birthday (not counting the time I trimmed a bit of her hair with cooking shears while she was in the bath). She was scared, but seeing Drew and Liz get trims seemed to help a little. Sitting on her daddy's lap while the beautician worked helped the most.

She recognizes that certain words designate numbers and letters, but does not yet have the ability to recite them in proper order to to match the name with the actual number or letter. Laina also refers to the alphabet as the "l m n o p" (as opposed to the "a b c's"). Color-wise she's improved a lot and seems to know most of them. Favorite color: pink, not too surprising.

She animates her food now. While we have to encourage Lizzie eat because she is so picky, we have to encourage Alaina to eat because she is so distracted by play.

Lainers is way into prince and princesses right now. When we have dance time she only wants to dance to "princess music" (her definition of which is still a little vague to me) and she usually wants someone to be the prince for her. Alaina doesn't have any boy dolls so she designated my old Cabbage Patch doll as the prince (and another one of my childhood dolls as the princess).

Laina loves nursery and Joy School (she fights going, but she also fights me when it's time to leave). She answers back to the t.v. and jumps around when the cartoon characters tell her to (Liz didn't so this is new for me). She loves t.v. and would watch it all day long if I let her.

Alternates between wanting to be a big kid and a little kid as it suite her needs. She insists that sippy cups are for babies, yet she refuses to toilet train. Argh.

Ellie Update!

2011-12-05T21:56:00.000-08:00

Ellie hit her 18 month mark a couple days after Thanksgiving and started nursery yesterday. She did just fine (yeah!).

She's a sweetie. She likes to cuddle, hold dolls, sit at the table (instead of her highchair), brush her teeth, copy her sisters, pull out her hair bows and rubber bands (that she actually needs now that her bangs hang in her eyes), dance,suck on her binki, and wear shoes (maybe she's obsessed with them because she only has one pair). She can also be naughty. She often hits, pushes, and even bites her sisters (mostly Lainey), climbs on top of the table, and she still regularly throws her food, sippy, and utensils on the ground/floor when she tires of/finishes with them.

Gabrielle's 18 month check up was last week. Her stats: head 18.5 (64%), height 32" (62%), weight 25 lbs 8.6 oz ( 69%). So, we're thinking that she'll probably catch up to teeny tiny Lainey pretty soon. She's developing normal and picking up new words on a regular basis. Frequently heard: good job, thank you, no, please, belly button, book, binki, shoes, dog, bye bye, teeth. For yes, she says "nah" which we think is more likely her version of yeah than yes. She growls lots. She can quack and bark, but normally she just growls when we ask her what sounds different animals make.

Holiday Traditions

2011-12-02T19:31:00.001-08:00

Today we started unwrapping our Christmas books. My plan was to have the girls take turns and only open one each day, but it didn't quite go down that way. Some of the books are ours, some come from the library. In a couple weeks I'll have to re-wrap them all or grab another pile from the library.

So cute. I love seeing Liz read to her little sisters.

She even had them act out parts of the story.

Before the story ended, Ellie brought Lizzie her recorder and pretty much requested a song. Also cute.

Again, more sensory boxes. I think swapping out the play pieces will become another holiday tradition.

It's been hard to keep Ellie away from her first Christmas tree ever. In the shot below she's saying no, no, no because she knows she's not supposed to be touching them. The ornament she's holding is the one Drew's sister, Cindy, gave us to remember Jacob.

Holiday Sensory Boxes

2011-11-30T17:51:00.001-08:00

I put holiday-related items our bean and rice boxes. It kept the little girlies busy while I made dinner/cleaned and Liz did her homework. Of course I did have to sweep up lots of rainbow rice and beans from the floor afterwards.

It was Ellie's first time with a sensory box and she did pretty well (once I convinced her to stop spooning rice onto the floor). Of course she also unwrapped all the fake presents in her box and even started taking bites out of the styrofoam inside (she spit it all onto the floor).

Thanksgiving Part II

2011-11-29T21:58:00.000-08:00

Having tired ourselves out at Longwood Gardens the day before (with six kids in tow there was always at least one misbehaving or pouting or whining or in some other way being unpleasant), we spent Friday mostly at my brother's house (we did have a several hours break at Chick-Fil-A). We napped, lounged, and whatnot while the children played and even put on a fashion show for us.

On Sunday we went to Sacrament meeting then drove home, arriving in time to unpack, linger over lunch, and go on a walk during day light which was so pleasant because usually we return from weekend trips really late at night.

Lainey's "noodle fingers"

Family walk

In the evening we played games. It was Lizzie's first time playing Yahtze and with typical beginners luck she (and her teammate, Drew) beat me with well over 100 points. Below she is celebrating her Yahtze.

We also played Headbanz.

Thanksgiving Part I

2011-11-28T22:20:00.001-08:00

We went to Pennsylvania to stay with my brother and celebrate the holiday with his family. Dinner was delicious (though as usual my kids filled up on rolls) and the company was fabulous, as always.

This weird fake smile is a recent development. Ugh.

Somehow this is the only picture I got of Willa and Lainey. Oh well, better luck next time.

We spent Black Friday at Longwood Gardens. It was crowded, but very nice, and really the weather couldn't have been better. We enjoyed seeing the trains, fountain show, decorated trees, gingerbread replicas of Longwood buildings, various tree houses, and traditional Christmas plants.

I loved seeing all the Christmas decor made of plant material.

Liz and Iris

The kids were upset that we wouldn't let them go to the indoor children's garden (because we didn't want to deal with soggy children), but they seemed to recover when we let them roll down a small hill.

My attempt at getting a shot of Ollie & Ellie together:

November Catch Up

2011-11-26T06:04:00.000-08:00

I've been a lazy blogger/family record keeper lately and this is my attempt to catch up. Here's some of the things we've been up to this past month (as far as I remember):

We had crazy warm weather. It was warm enough that I had my heater off for nearly a week and my home got warm enough to turn on the AC. I didn't turn it on of course, I just opened the windows because I just couldn't stomach paying for AC in November. At any rate, aside from open windows we also enjoyed some outside time. The pictures below are from an outing to Huntley Meadows.

(Elli couldn't quite figure out how to use our magnifying glass.)

We enjoyed our first overnight babysitting swap. The kids enjoyed a couple sleepovers, we tried our hand at caring for six kids (and succeeded!), and we earned a blissful 24-hour kid-free break. I can't wait to do it again (I swiped this picture from Sarah's blog).

Lizzie finished off her soccer and basketball classes (whew!). She also enjoyed helping out when our ward served thanksgiving dinner to a local assisted living center, though she got her feelings hurt when one of the residents said she looked like she was wearing lipstick. Hard life when one of your problems is that your lips are naturally dark.

Alaina continued to enjoy "Joy School," though you wouldn't know it the way she cries and kicks and otherwise carries on when I drop her off. She continues to love all things princess, daily requesting to "be a princess" when she wakes up (meaning she wants to wear a puffy skirt or her raggedy dora nightgown all day). She also developed a love for the show, Phineas and Ferb this month (she calls it "Can and Ferb"). Now she regularly talks about Jeremy Candice, pretends to be Hinz Duffenshmurtz (showing us her "----inator"), and asks "Watcha doin?"

We bought a digital piano. The kids are loving it. I love laying on the couch, reading while Andrew practices a song. I need to find a teacher for him and Lizzie.

The whole family attended Lizzie's Thanksgiving luncheon at school. It was the first time Andrew has ever had Veteran's Day off and it was wonderful. Okay, the food was just typical gross school lunch fare but it I was able to volunteer without having to worry about Lainey and Ellie and that was very nice.

I made comforter covers for Liz and Laines--nothin fancy, but for me a big accomplishment.

The older girls have spent the month decorating their new cardboard playhouse (I could have sworn I had a picture of the whole thing, but no. Sorry Mom). They love it. The only problem is Ellie loves it too and she still doesn't understand that it can't support her weight.

We finally did a couple Thanksgiving/fall crafts. We repeated our gratitude turkey from last year with the standard things we're grateful for written on the feathers (Lainey's only entry was: dinosaurs). The girls also painted fall leaves on a bare tree printout (thank you pinterest). Liz used a cotton swab for her leaves, but Alaina insisted on using a paintbrush and when she was finished I couldn't even see the tree anymore.

The beach

2011-11-16T09:07:00.001-08:00

While visiting the Murphys we enjoyed an afternoon at beach. The weather was gorgeous, it was uncrowded, and the kids loved it. It was especially nice when Ellie stopped chasing animals (dogs, birds) and running into the waves and just settled down to play in the sand. While there Gabrielle learned to say dog and bark. A couple days earlier she started to walk up and down the stairs instead of crawl (well, she tried at least).

Trampoline

2011-11-15T16:23:00.000-08:00

All the girls loved jumping on their friend's trampoline. Alaina and Ellie especially liked it when the big girls went to a book fair and they had the tramp all to themselves.

Virginia Beach

2011-11-14T20:58:00.001-08:00

A couple weeks ago I took a little weekend trip to visit some friends in Virginia Beach. So fun. The girls loved playing with the Murphy girls and I loved visiting with their mom. Favorites: all the girlies sleeping together, jumping on the trampoline, and hanging out at the beach. Meanwhile back at the ranch: Andrew enjoyed some time alone and managed to lock himself out of the house (luckily he was able to break in through a basement window I inadvertently left unlocked).

Princesses

2011-11-10T14:38:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Alaina and I made crowns out of pieces of Little People fences and such. It was completely her idea--I love how creative kids are.

Belly Button Love

2011-11-07T19:08:00.000-08:00

Family Visits

2011-11-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

It was a lucky week for us. On Wednesday I got to see a couple cousins during a last minute zoo visit. It was so fun and it was lucky that we found each other because, as usual, my phone didn't work.We also tried to get pictures of our kids together, but it didn't work so well--mostly because Lainey was screaming her head off and the little ones wouldn't stay put.Then, on Friday Drew and I got to visit with his brother Dan. We treated ourselves to a delicious dinner at Arcadiana (upscale Creole) and interesting conversation. So nice.

Meanwhile, the kiddos spent the night at our friend's house. It was so nice to sleep-in the next morning, lay around the house for a bit, and enjoy a musuem (that wouldn't be appropriate to visit with kids--Crime and Punishment) on our own.

Halloween!

2011-11-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

We kicked off the day's festivities by attending a little carnival put on by Lizzie's Brownie troop where the kids decorated mini pumpkins, . . . ate donuts off a string . . .played ghost in the graveyard (skinny little Liz had to keep tugging up those pants) . . . won cupcakes at the cake walk . . . and just chilled in our costumes.Undoubtably influenced by Lizzie's witch costume, Alaina wanted to be a "scary toothfairy" and asked for eye makeup. The eyeshadow and mascera didn't even make it to the party since Laines cried herself silly on the way over (b/c I insisted she wear a seatbelt and not just "hold on tight").In the evening we went trick-or-treating. It was fun and we are really happy to live in an actual neighborhood now where we can do this classic childhood things.We tagged along with the other families ont he block (the kids didn't look at me once, darn it).Half-way through Drew turned back with the little ones, while Liz and I soldiered on. We didn't even go to every house and we ended up with SO much candy (too much candy). Before we left Alaina insisted on wearing a witch hat (she wanted to be a "scary toothfairy witch") so eventually we ended up carrying around two hats full to the brim with candy in addition to the girl's treat buckets.

The Weekend

2011-10-31T19:21:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night Liz had her Brownie campout. And loved it--despite the cold, despite the rain, despite her late night homesickness. (The following camp pix are from Marco V).Most the girls had a parent spend the night, but Drew and I couldn't because he had ski patrol training early the next morning.He did however spend the evening at the campsite teaching the girls first aid (and showing them his freaky nose trick when Liz brought it up--it's a great party trick). Also over the weekend I survived taking all the girls to a visiting teaching appointment and to stake conference on my own. I also managed to finally remove all the flowers from Lainey's birthday party last month, but not before I got some pix of her in lady bug suit.

Jake's cupcakes

2011-10-31T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday . . .

2011-10-26T23:53:00.000-07:00

was Jacob's birthday and it was life as normal. No tears, but I thought of him often. I had quiet moments to myself to contemplate him--when I made his birthday cupcakes, when I pulled the baby blanket I made him out of storage and examined it--but even with the craziness of chasing after my little girls (yes Lainey wore her jammies and a dress-up "kirt" all day) I thought of him. Mostly I contemplated what could have been, what will be, my regret at not bringing Lizzie to the hospital to see her dead brother, and ways I can be a parent to him even now. I also thought about how far we've come as a family and as individuals, emotionally speaking. I remember the paralysing grief and guilt of much of the first year and how hard it was to go to sleep at night because then I was alone with my awful thoughts. . . . I remember people trying to comfort me and telling me that I had a baby and in my head I thought, no, I had a corpse. Even from the begining I knew I could survive it, that we woud "make it through" our loss, but I dreaded the "going through" part. Now, here I am with two more little girls and sometimes what happened with Jacob feels like just bad dream. . . . Usually it feels very real though. It just doesn't hurt like it used to. Yesterday, a friend realized what day it was and asked if I was okay. I told her I was and I really, truly was. While I felt some saddness and regret and frustration, I mostly felt at peace with what is. And it felt good to think of my son and honor his memory with those thoughts and to strive to make him known to (and remembered by) his sisters.

Jacob would have turned four this year. That's how old Liz was when we lost him so she was old enough to remember it. Naturally, Jake isn't even on Ellie's radar. All she knows is we sang a fun song after dinner last night and she got a cupcake. Alaina is still pretty confused. A few days ago Liz tried to explain about their dead brother. She seemed to try to soften the blow by telling Lainey that Jacob is with their other Nana and Papa in Heaven, a wonderful, happy place. But comprehending the existence of dead family members and understanding what heaven means is still beyond Laines. She was confused and a little upset, even crying occasionally. She spent the rest of the day telling me that she didn't want to die, one time saying, "I don't want to be dead in the water."I mentioned that Alaina wore jammies all day, well I let Elle indulge her crazy fashion whims as well. She wore a mismatched pair of Lizzie's socks (pilfered while I was folding laundry), one of Lainey's church shoes and one of her (Ellie's) own. Her already wobbly walk was comically exaggerated and she kept losing the black show in the library because it slipped off her foot so easily. She cracks me up and thank goodness for these girls who did not replace their brother, but certainly dampened the sting of his loss.

Yesterday vs. Today

2011-10-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

Today wasn't really a bad day. It just wasn't really good. I waited around for a piano delivery that I later discovered was actually scheduled for Thursday, went to the doctor, and spent a lot of time driving around/killing time in the van. One of the fun moments was Alaina at the doc's office. She was very talkative and wanted to tell the doctor all about what happens when she visits her "kid doctor." Other interesting moments/experiences from today: trying to explain uteruses and the need to wear a bra to Liz.Yesterday things went smoother (or at least they seem that way looking back a day later). The little girls and I enjoyed a trip to the zoo, we picked up Liz at school, ran errands, and had FHE.When Alaina saw this statue she said, "Mama! Take a picture of me on that!" And of course, she posed.Ellie's in the monkey-see-monkey-do stage so she ran to be in the picture too. Of course she posed a little differently. . . . We spent some time in the praire dog tunnel play area.Ellie was too scared to go in the tunnels so . . . I helped her play on top.In the evening, after I put Ellie to bed, the other girls and I tried out our new air popper for FHE (it's national popcorn month--I think). The girls loved it.I neglected to put any seasoning on the popcorn ahead of time so once popped, we painted it with a concoction of food coloring and sweetened condensed milk. The girls loved it.

Trunk or Treat

2011-10-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was our ward's trunk-or-treat. Lizzie and Lainey picked their own costumes. Liz went as a witch. Alaina was the tooth fairy.Makeup-wise Liz requested black all around her eyes and "fire red" lipstick.Alaina wore last-year's fairy costume. To accomodate her desire to be the tooth fairy, I made a few teeth out of felt and bean bag pillow filling.

Ellie was a dragon and Drew was the dragon keeper. Andrew had a pooper scooper, poop bags, and hot mitts for his fire-breathing baby. I was Medusa. I tried to talk Liz into a Medusa costume, but she was set on being a witch. So, I just made a Medusa hat/hair for myself.After dinner the girls enjoyed some games (and prizes).They also participated in the costume parade.Ellie did not participate. She laid on the floor and threw a fit.She did the same thing outside when it was time to trunk-or-treat.Ellie just had a really hard time with the candy going in her basket instead of her hand.So, after visiting a few cars I left Gabrielle to pass out treats at the van with Daddy.At home, Alaina was surprised to find her candy bucket empty. She had worn it as a hat on the way home so not-surprisingly I found her candy in her carset.Ellie enjoyed "scaring" Liz (and Liz was a very good sport).She's saying "Boo!"We let the kids gobble up their Halloween candy as soon as we got home. Ellie's pile was gone pretty quick (she didn't have much because she went to only a few cars). So Ellie attacked Lizzie and tried to take her candy.

Week in Review

2011-10-23T12:43:00.000-07:00

SUNDAY - Sick Drew stayed home with the two little girls, while Liz and I went to church to practice for the upcoming primary program. After church Liz and I made popsicle stick puzzles and hair bows while everyone else napped.MONDAY - In the morning I taught Music Makers for the first time. In the afternoon I went to Coscto with just Ellie thanks to a playdate for Liz and Laines. It was surprisingly relaxing to be there with just one kid. Another first, Liz taught FHE (and did a fabulous job despite her initial nerves). After her lesson we made rainbow rice which the girls LOVED. I think Andrew was a bit warey (he's thinking of all the rice we'll have to sweep up later on).TUESDAY - Alaina started Joy School at another mother's house. Hooray! After that we went on a walk around Kingstowne lake with some friends. During the walk we stopped briefly at a playground. Turns out it was just long enough for Ellie to fall off the equipment. From about five feet up, she fell flat on her back (and the back of her head) on mulch, thankfully. She seemed alright, but I called Drew for some first aid pointers anyway.As always, Tuesday was a busy day. Still, in between Lizzie's after-school chess club/class and her evening soccer practice, we found time to put together and play with our new "rice box." The girls fought so much over the "bean box" that I decided to make another sensory box so they could each have one to play with. Nope. Now they fight over the rice and ignore the beans.I didn't trust Ellie withe whole bean box so I just gave her a couple bowls and a handful of beans to transfer back and forth.WEDNESDAY - The little girls and I went to Hidden Pond Nature Center with friends. It was a nice visit. Alaina declared that she liked "nakes and turtles." Of course when a worker pulled out a tiny snake for the kids to see up close, Laines declared that she did not "like nakes." At home we played with pipe cleaners and colanders (thanks for the idea Pinterest) and had a contentious dinner (cuz the girls resisted eating my delicious pot roast and Drew's delicious gravy). iz, play with pipe cleaners, food fight over dinner. Then, I whisked Liz off to the outlet mall for some shoe shopping (thanks Nana!).THURSDAY - Another busy day between Lizzie's after school girls basketball and evening soccer practice. It was business as usual during the day. Alaina had so much fun at Joy School that when I went to pick her up she tried to hide from me. Of course, she's three so she only hid her head under the pillow. At one the little ones "painted" the furniture with basting brushes. FRIDAY - It was Drew's day off, which was nice, though slightly dampened by the fact that we were both sick (we were sick all week actually). We finally got around to buying a piano. We went with digital. In the evening we to the Fall Fiesta at Lizzie's school. In the pix below we are eating our pre-dinner Halloween-themed cake pops. Yum.SATURDAY - Andrew was gone most of the day at ski patrol and we survived. The girls and I worked on our Halloween costumes and went to Lizzie's soccer game. In the evening we attended our ward's chili cookoff and trunk-or-treat (a million pix to follow later).

SUNDAY - Primary Program! Liz did fabulous and I survived three hours with my primary class. During the program, one of my kids was especially/comically hard to control. He just couldn't sit still. At one point we flung his arms out to the side and hit the girl next to him in the eye (and she cried). After the meeting the boy's mother commented that she will never again give her son his inhaler right before a primary program.

Great Wolf Lodge Part 3

2011-10-22T18:46:00.000-07:00

Along with swimming and water sliding, we napped/relaxed:We jumped on the beds (the kids aren't allowed to do this at home, but I say it's part of the hotel experience):We played Magi Quest:I got a wand for Lainey because I felt bad that she was lefted out. She didn't understand the game, but she sure liked making animals talk with a wave of her wand.We enjoyed time with our friends.We enjoyed good food:

Great Wolf Lodge, Part 2 (Trick or Treating)

2011-10-22T06:06:00.000-07:00

The girls experienced their first trick-or-treating of the season at Great Wolf. I had Liz and Laines wear the same thing they wore last year: their skeleton jammies (luckily they still fit).Ellie wore Lainey's old ballerina costume. She doesn't understand trick-or-treating, but she does understand candy and she tried to help herself at every candy station.Back at our room, we let the kids break into their candy bags.Once they were all sugared up, the dancing started.

Great Wolf Lodge Part 1

2011-10-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

We went last weekend. We loved it.We loved the slides. It took a while to get Lizzie to try them. Andrew and I almost agreed to the pedicure she been asking for just to get her on one of them. Thank goodness we didn't because it turns out they are $50! I think that's completely crazy and I must say I never saw kid in the spa. Anyway, I pretty much forced Lizzie to try a slide with me on a double tube. She loved it and I was pretty happy that she soon wanted to ride on her own and even ride backwards.

Lizzie update

2011-10-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

Lizzie is eight years old now. I can't believe my baby is so big. Well, really she's not that big. At her annual checkup I learned that she is 25% for height and 30% for weight, so she's a small fry. Not surprising since she can still fit into some of her size six clothes and most size eight's are too big. We went shoe shopping yesterday and I was surprised to find that she fits into size 13 and 1.Lizzie loves to read. Right now she's excited about the Geronimo and Thea Stilton series (though she sometimes also reads the Little House on the Praire and A Series of Unfortunate Events series). Toy-wise she likes Legos, American Girls Dolls, My Little Pony, and Polly Pocket (she claims she likes Barbies, but almost never plays with hers). I'm really glad Liz still feels young enough to play with toys. I want her transition to tween and teenager to be postponed and gradual.Elizabeth still mispronounces lots of words (which I find this charming because it reminds me of how young she still is): decisioned, haded, lie-berry (library). She knows about the tooth fairy, but still believes in Santa and the Easter Bunny which I hope lasts through at least one more holiday season. She is starting to learn about more grown up topics. During a recent trip to Costco she noticed and asked about the packages of tampons and pads. I did my best to explain menstration whilst grocery shopping and wrangling the two little ones. I thought I did alright, but later, as we had pizza dinner at Costco Liz announced that she didn't want to be a teenager. I asked Lizzie why not and she said, "well, you know that thing where you bleed out your butt?" So, I explained it all over again and tried to address her concerns. Lizzie recently started attending Activity Day girls. She has gone to one activity so far and when I asked her how it was, she said, "wonderful." She made a cute fringed fleece scarf that she proudly showed all her school teachers the next day. Liz is also involved in Brownie Girl Scouts, chess club, girls basketball, and soccer. The last three will end in the next month or so and then we'll give her a break from activities and classes (well, a break until we buy a piano and start those lessons).The other night, Alaina was being especially loud and Andrew was especially fed up with her bedtime antics. He told Laines if she made another noise he was going to take away her stuffed pig. When I checked on the girls a few minutes later, Lainey was quiet and Liz was crying. She said that she couldn't fall asleep without the noise her little sister usually made and complained of feeling "all alone."

Liz remains sweet, inquisitive, and sensitive. She has been asking a lot of religious questions lately (Who created God? What is the spirit world like?). I occasionally find her crying (particularly late at night) about her stillborn brother and deceased paternal grandparents, saying that she really wants to see them all, but she doesn't want to die yet. She also worries (and sometimes cries) about non-member friends and wants to know where they will go when they die. Yesterday I talked to Lizzie about diversity and tried to explain how we usually use the term in regards to variety amongst races, religions, cultures, and so on. Somehow that led to me telling her about crazy white supremists. This really upset her and she talked at length about how wrong they were and about how smart and pretty her friend Kayla is.

A day at the Smithsonian with house guests

2011-10-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

Before all our house guests left town we had a little fun together. My parent's stay was the shortest, but while they were in town they played with the kids, went to Cafe Rio with us, and Papa walked around the lake with the grandkids. Before they left Liz told him it was a short walk, then when they'd been walking for awhile and he asked how much longer, she said, "Oh a long time. It's far."We had another day with Scott and Codi after Nana and Papa left and we spent it downtown at the Smithsonians. We visited the Air & Space and the Natural History museums. After the latter one the girls bravely held (or at least touched) insects in the bug section.Bug tunnel for the kiddos:We also spent some time relaxing by the sculpture garden's fountain before heading to one of Andrew's favorite DC barbecue joints.The girls especially liked dangling their feet in the fountain.

Elizabeth's Baptism & Confirmation

2011-10-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

Lizzie was baptised by her father on Saturday, October 8th at the Mt Vernon Stake Center.She really wanted to wear a dress. For a few days I harbored some delusions about my ability to make one for her. Then, I found one at the online Distribution center (phew). I figure all three girls can wear it. I was a little surprised when Liz took a size large. Those dresses must run small because Lizzie doesn't wear size large in anything. I love those braids. Lizzie usually never lets me braid her hair because she hates the way it looks when she unbraids it.Liz was really excited that her good friend Jordan was baptised the same day. So cute.Darin & Jordan Maney, Andrew & Lizzie Nielson. I thought Andrew's flip flops looked kind of cute/funny. I'm just not used to seeing him in flip flops and a tie, especially in the chapel (though church shoes would have looked very weird). During the first meeting Andrew said the opening prayer and my mother gave a fabulous talk on baptism. Then, the kids were sent back to the baptismal font in shifts. We were in the first group (3 of the 5). The stake leader joked that the kids were having a "pioneer baptism" because the water heater wasn't working. Poor Liz had to be dunked twice because her foot popped up too soon (Uncle Scott & Papa where her witnesses). After the baptism we adjourned to another room for a talk on confirmation and the confirmations themselves.I was so excited and proud and am still amazed that I have an eight-year-old daughter. Alaina was also pretty excited. I was impressed at how well she behaved during the various meetings.We were very grateful that Nana and Papa made the trek from Texas for Lizzie's baptism, especially since my mother has just had back surgery less than a week before. She was still sore from her surgery and had to wear an uncomfortable brace. To make things worse she realized Friday night, after taking a pain pill (makes her groggy), that she had left her carry-on bag with her talk at the airport.Scott and his family drove in from Pennsylvania for the weekend and we really appreciated their company and support (below: brother Scott and my father).We had a full house with my parents sleeping in the spare bedroom in the basement, Scott's fam in the girls room, and Lizzie and Lainey in our bed, but we were so glad to have the company and so grateful that we finally live somewhere that can accomodate houseguests (below: SIL Codi).Lizzie and Jordan seemed to have a really nice time on their big day.We were also grateful for the local friend that showed up to support us. Lizzie is pictured below with Jordan and their friend, Karly, from school (picture borrowed from Wendi's blog).

Baptism Prep

2011-10-17T23:37:00.000-07:00

Last spring my sister, Julie, embroidered Lizzie's name on a towel to use when she came out of the font (Jules also made one for Jordan). I did the towels way early. I did the new set of engraved scriptures way late, racing up to Maryland to buy them just days before Lizzie's baptism.I planned to make a cute sugar cookie bouquet for the post baptism refreshment table, but my attempts to make cookies in the shape of the number eight where unsuccessful (as in they were crazy uneven and almost all fell apart on the skewers). The girls enjoyed eating the cookie rejects from my trial run. Andrew said they didn't taste like sugar cookies at all because they had too much flour. What ev. When it came down to it I did simple foods: bottled water, piggies in the blanket from Costco, and tasty chicken salad sandwiches on croissants (made by Drew). I had initially planned on doing more details and decorations for Lizzie's post baptism get-together like cupcake toppers, ribbon topiaries, and decorated water bottles. In the end it was probably better than I didn't get around to doing those things because as soon as we headed to our scheduled refreshment room, some guy from another ward came and booted us, saying he had scheduled it before us and needed to set up for his post baptism luncheon. Not cool, but we rolled with punches and quickly moved to the cultural hall.I did get around to making a giant photographic eight for Liz. I thought it was pretty cool, but wasn't sure what she thought of it until Ellie tried to take one of the pictures off the wall. Lizzie got upset and told Gabrielle to leave them alone because I needed to save them so I could make a nine for her next year (something I hadn't planned on doing until she mentioned it).

8 years old photo shoot

2011-10-17T17:41:00.000-07:00

Nearly a month ago I had some pictures taken of Liz to celebrate turning eight and her upcoming baptism and confirmation. She seemed to have fun and we got some good shots of her despite her maddening tendency to do a weird fake smile whenever she sees a camera.Lizzie's friend Jordan shared the photo shoot. She was also baptised and confirmed the same day as Elizabeth. It took us three tries to get a proper confirmation dress for Liz. The first looked like it was cap-sleeved and white online. When it arrived it was sleeveless and cream-colored (my mistake). The second dress was borrowed from a friend of a friend. I didn't think it was modest enough and Liz said it itched. Finally, the third dress arrived with just days to spare. Lizzie liked it and it fit. Thank goodness.We had the photos taken at the George Washington Masonic Memorial. The girls loved running up and down these stairs.
Pictures taken by Danelle Empey.

Joy School

2011-10-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

My first stint teaching Joy School ended today. I only have five kids (years ago my mom had had double digits in my little brother's class) and it's only two hours a day, two days a week. It was fun, but tiring and I'm looking forward to a few months when all I have to do is drop Alaina off. My unit was on the "joy of the earth." We took a nature walk, made bird feeders, did crayon rubbings of leaves, planted basil, picked up trash, and made applesauce, amongst other things.Today we took a field trip to Nalls nursery which was a fun way to end the unit (and meant I only had to teach for an hour).

Busy, busy

2011-10-03T21:07:00.000-07:00

Usually I like to go sight-seeing or on family activities on weekends, but since we've moved I been surprised to discover that just as often, I enjoy staying home. Last weekend I intended to go to Art on the Avenue in Del Ray, but decided instead to stay home and unpack some or our last few moving boxes. It was nice. Also, last weekend we watched conference, visited with friends, and Andrew and the girls slept in a tent on the deck.The girls loved their campout. Drew was sweet about it, but I know he didn't sleep well. In the following shot, Drew just paused their movie, and Liz jumped up so she can come inside and eat the take-out I brought home, so they weren't exactly "roughing it." Originally Liz and Drew were going to go to the ward camp out Friday night, but Drew was tired and it was about to rain so instead he offered to take Liz out to eat. Lizzie started crying so Andrew suggested sleeping on the deck. Liz immediately perked up and asked if she could invite Alaina.During our unpacking we found an old digital camera for Liz to use. Here are a couple of her shots: Alaina wore a her "tooth fairy" costume on Sunday.As usual Ellie climbed on the table.The weekend was nice and now I'm back to a crazy stressful week. It feel like everything is happening right now, like in just one week things will slow down. Already I'm done with the girls birthdays (well, Liz still needs to finish her thank you notes) and tomorrow I'll be halfway done with my current Joy school unit.Today was packed: I tried to make fancy cookies on a stick for Lizzie girl scout meeting, they fell apart so I scrambled to make mini cupcakes instead, then music makers, left the kids at a friends house, raced to a doctor's office, raced back to get the little kids and cupcakes in time to pick up Liz and her friends at school . . . At kiss 'n ride I talked to another mom about PTA crap while my carpool kids piled in and didn't notice till I left the parking lot that I was missing one. I raced back. The kid wasn't there. My phone didn't work. Argh! Turns out it was all misscommunication--I did not lose some one else's kid--but stressful all the same. So, then the little girls and I hung out at the church while Liz was at her Brownie meeting--not easy with Ellie.After Brownies, we headed to Walmart to pick up supplies for tomorrow's Joy School. Some lessons require more prep than others. This one had a lot of visual aids to photo copy, cut, and color. I'm also supposed to make a sock puppet (no thanks, I'll use one I already have) and cook some apples so the kids can make applesauce tomorrow (along with planting seeds and making seed art).After Walmart, it was homework, dinner, baths, pedicures, FHE, Lizzie's thank you notes, the regular slew of bedtime stories, and finally bed for the kids so I could move onto to my PTA and Joy School responsibilities. I can't wait for a nap this weekend.

Cleaning is futile.

2011-09-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

She did this literally right after I washed the front of the dishwasher.She's saying "no, no, no!" She hears it a lot lately.

Lizzie's 8th Birthday celebration(s)

2011-09-29T05:46:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we held Lizzie's party at the Little Gym (cuz she won one in a drawing over the summer--hooray!). I loved it. The workers did everything. It was the first time we had ever had a party like that and while, the "free" party actually ended up costing what we normally spend (what with charges for extra kids, pizza, cake, and party favors), it was well worth it. We gave party hula hoops for party favors and as we handed them out two different moms told me that they almost gave Liz one for a birthday present. Andrew's really excited about getting his picture taken. You can tell because he's giving me the figga. He says it's the Russian version of sticking out your tongue. It just better not be their way of flipping someone off.At the gym the kids started with a warm up song. The workers really wore these kids out. I was surprised Liz had enough energy to participate since she had pretty much come straight to her party from her friend Catherine's swimming party. Poor Lainey was tired and a little overwhelmed by all the big kids, many of whom wanted to hug and help her. She was pretty much glued to Andrew's side.We had a pretty good turnout. Liz invited kids from church, school, her Brownie troop, and the neighborhood. She only invited one boy and he was a good sport about it.The kids got to try out the different gym equipment (even Ellie, in the background with helpers).It's funny that a month ago Liz wanted to change her party from Little Gym to a movie in our basement. I'm glad I didn't let her because she loved the gym (and because we would never be able to pay for the gym party outright).I'm so glad Alaina was able to participate and have fun as well.We got to request some activities/games. Having never been to a Little Gym party I just went with what they suggested. "Slap the Cheese" was a big hit. It consisted of the kids running full speed at this upheld mat and knocking it over/falling on top of it.Then, more time on the gym equipment.The second activity was an inflatable, bouncing, thing.The kids got to ride on it as it inflated.Then, they ran down it, two by two.Or just one at a time.This one looked like a lot of fun. I kind of wish I could have tried it.Happily, even though Alaina was afraid to "ride" on it as it inflated, she took her turn running and jumping.Afterwards the kids got to "ride" it down as it deflated. Naturally there was a mad dash for a spot.And the kids loved their deflation "ride."That air walk/run thing was the end of the gym. The kids formed a train and chanted a happy birthday song to Liz as they chugga chugged into the party room.The party room was great. We didn't have to do any set up. All I did was carry in a box of cake pops and hula hoops (as soon as the workers saw the latter they asked if they could attached balloons to them--yes, please).I love that Lizzie joined in singing Happy Birthay to herself.The cake pops were delicious and less messy than cupcakes (plus the kids ate the whole thing instead of just the tops like with cupcakes), but we could only fit three of Lizzie's eight candles on them. Liz didn't seem to mind.We opened Lizzie's presents at home. As with other years we didn't give her one and she didn't seem to notice (thanks to the pile from the party goers). The next morning (on her actual birthday) we made German pancakes as per Lizzie's request.Check out that dress. It's another from my childhood. Liz loved it and wore it to church. Andrew said she looked like a pioneer.After church we did an official family birthday cake.

Alaina update

2011-09-27T07:24:00.000-07:00

I was about to do Lizzie's update and then I realized that I hadn't done Alaina's. Poor middle child. So anyway, here's the stats: height 10% (but I forgot the actual inches), weight 30 lbs, 44%. At her last appointment the doctor referred to her as a "peanut" (cuz she's tiny) so much that Lainey asked me to draw pictures of peanuts.She's still a bug magnet. I think I'll have to dip her in insect repellent next year to keep her limbs welt free. What makes it worse is that she scratches her bites till they bleed and form scabs. Ugh. One time when I went to get her from her "nap" there was blood smeared on the wall above her bed. She had laid on her back and kicked the wall in protest (nap time is a real challenge now). The kicking opened up one of her wounds and, well, it was gross.
She loves to sit on our feet when we walk around. She also like tickles, wrestling, and dancing. Always, she loves dancing, but lately she wants to dance to "princess music" (classical or Disney princesses singing) and insists on wearing a skirt which she pronounces "kirt" (and means dress or skirt). She also likes to wear "bows," which usually means flowers, in her hair.She is still crazy loud, especially for such a little person. In the van, we have moved her carseat to the back corner seat, a.k.a. as far as she can possibly be from the driver, because of the noise. Still, her noise is usually sweet natured. She is constantly singing during our drives (and now Ellie tries to accompany her). Also, since she is little and loud and spunky and likes to chant while clapping (stuff like, "go mommy, go!") we joke that she should be a cheerleader someday.Alaina loves Joy School. Alaina gets really excited about it and often cries that she has to wait for an hour after we drop Liz off to be dropped off herself. Cutest thing about it? She insists on bringing a back pack with her (almost always empty). She also loves going to nursery at church.She loves oranges. Other favorite foods: bread, scrambled eggs, "gummy gummies" (fruit snacks), pizza, mac 'n cheese, and chippies (chips). Other favorites: puffy skirts, her mini travel pillow, and a blow-up Barney doll. Grrrr. I was about to consign Lizzie's old Barney toy (tucked away in storage until just last week), but Lainey discovered it and became very attached even though she had never seen his show before.
She sometimes picks funky hairstyles, requesting three "piggies" instead of the regular two pigtails. She also likes to have a side pony tail with ribbons that hang down the side of her face. She is scared of dogs. She tells us she has a tummy ache by saying that her belly button hurts.Lainey usually wants to dance "with a boy." She prefers her dad, but if he's not around she'll "magic, magic" me into a boy. She also likes to "magic, magic" (saying that, while waving arms around) me into random things like an animal, but always changes me back to mama in the end. Speaking of boys, she knows she and Lizzie are girls, but she insists that Ellie's a boy.In July we finally weaned her of her binki. I'm so glad that's over. Now we just need to toilet train her. So far she's not interested and I can't figure out how to entice her. Maybe daddy will be able to talk her into it. He's by far her favorite. As in, I say I love you and she shouts back, "No! I love daddy!" Once, when I sang, "Mommy loves you" to her, she sang back, "I don't love you. I love Daddy." She seems to have it all worked out that Liz and Ellie can share me and she'll have Drew to herself. Sometimes it's cute and sometimes it actually works to my advantage as when daddy's around she only wants him to help her do anything (change her diaper, read her stories, do her hair, get her food, carry her down the stairs and so on).
She likes to sommer sault through her ladder, or just hang there. She sometimes asks me to read her bedtime stories while she's upside down. Speaking of, bedtime has become absolutely awful. She used to be so, so easy to put to bed and now Andrew and I both dread it. She yells and cries and carries on for almost an hour many nights (but at least she stays in bed). I feel bad for Lizzie because she's just one bunk away for Laines, but somehow Liz manages to fall asleep despite the noise.Favorite books: a month ago it was Glad Monster, Sad Monster and Go Away Big Green Monster. She wanted us to read them to her nightly and I got so sick of them that I was about to hide them, when Lainey suddently switched to Fancy Nancy (she calls them "Fancy Fancy"). She's excerting her independence more and more. She wants to put on her own shoes, buckle her own seatbelt, and dress herself. Of course she also insists on using a "baby spoon" and insists that she's "a little kid/girl" as often as she calls herself "big."She reminds us of the character, Gilly, from SNL. She hits and pushes her sisters, then smiles and says sorry in a way that is not even remotely believable.

More catching up

2011-09-22T09:14:00.000-07:00

More catching up/updates:I saved a few church dresses from my childhood, dresses that my mother made. Last weekend I pulled them out for Liz to see and she was very excited about them. She asked if she and her playdate, Kayla, could wear them and "pretend to be pioneers." I'm not that old kid! She also wore the dress to church the next day.At church Elizabeth met with the Bishop for her pre-baptism interview. I went with her because she refused to go alone. Right before we went in, she nervously asked, "Baptism means rebirth, right?" I kept reassuring that the Bishop wouldn't be quizzing her. Still, she seemed proud when he asked her what baptism was and she was ready to answer. Also on Sunday, Liz was assigned a talk for this coming Sunday (also her birthday). She was upset and wanted to know why this was happening to her. I explained that I had specifically asked the primary president the Sunday before to assign Liz a talk before the ward primary program (which so far Lizzie's refusing to participate in) so that Liz would get some more practice before she had to get up in front of the entire ward. Elizabeth was furious with me. She seemed to feel betrayed. It was all, You did this?!?! And on my birthday?!?! Though to be fair, I didn't expect it to happen on her birthday. We wrote a talk that night and so far I've had her read to us at least once a day. I think she'll do fine if she can just keep her nerves at bay. I had 5 inches cut off my hair (and layers added). I had Drew take a "before picture," but later realized that I didn't have a memory card in the camera. When I pointed out my haircut to Liz she said, "It looks exactly the same." Happily Andrew noticed a difference.I went to Lizzie's back to school night and was surprised that they only have 15 minutes of recess each day. 15 minutes! Doesn't seem like enough time. Otherwise things seem fine. I'm glad the school still has PE and art and music classes and Lizzie's teachers seem nice.I'm getting more involved in the kid's activities. I've volunteered to be the PTA person in charge after school activities at Lizzie's school, I'm the treat mom for Lizzie's soccer team, I'm taking a carpool shift for Lizzie's Girl Scout troop (last year I was blissfully excempt because I had two napping babies), and next week I'll start teaching my first unit of Joy School for Lainey and her friends. I also offered to assist the troop leader (if I ever get around to doing the on-line training and if I figure out what to do with my little ones during the meetings).I'm desperate to get my house all put together before company arrives next month (and Joy School moves to my house next week). I'm very worried that it won't happen (or I won't survive the process). So far we've hung pictures, some stars in Ellie's room, and I've almost finishing revamping the children's bedding. I folded their twin top sheets in half and sewed around edges so that they are half the size and fit much easier on the bunk beds. I'm also cutting Lizzie's feather blanket in half so that she and Lainey will both have one and it will fit better on their beds.After church last Sunday Lainey spent some time dancing on the porch. She had fun on her own, but was really excited when her sisters joined her. Like any siblings my girls have daily fights and daily love fests which I love. I also love that Lizzie can be so helpful with her sisters. Last Sunday, after she was ready and Drew and I were still in bed, Liz got Lainey ready for church (even did Alaina's hair and had her bush her teeth). Nice.Um, Ellie is topless in the following pictures because I she drooled her bright blue sucker all over her light pink dress at church and I took it off the pre-spray it. I had given all the lollipops right before Andrew and I were set apart for our callings so the girlies would keep quiet. It worked. Current callings: Primary Teacher (me) and Sunday School presidency (Drew). Last Sunday I actually got to skip primary because only one of my kids showed up and the primary pres just combined him with another class. It was SO nice to go to Sunday School and Relief Society. I probably paid more attention to those lessons than I used to because it felt like such a treat to be listening to them.Drew's started up volleyball again and I've joined a couple more book clubs (so that's three total, but I'm not sure I'll stick with all of them). Between our activities and Lizzie's twice-a-week soccer practices our evenings are pretty crazy. Things are about to get a little crazier though because I just signed up Liz for after-school chess club (her decision) and girls basketball (our choice and Liz is very upset about it).Ellie updates: call's Drew "Da," loves to feed herself yogurt (and rub it in her hair of course), tries to jump and dance with her sisters, say "no" for no and "naeh" for yes (or yeah?), and is really good about getting her face wet. Yesterday I actually had to pull her out of the stream of water so I could start washing her.Part of our basement flooded during the awful rain storms. As near as I can tell we cleaned up the water appropriately and I almost have the room put back together.Alaina found a Barney toy that I was in my consigning pile and has become very attached to it. Ugh. She has never even seen an episode of Barney, but she loves that big dumb dinosaur and carries to everywhere with her now. I hate it when the kids find toys or clothes that I'm about to get rid of and they fall in love with the junk all over again. Lizzie did the same thing with a nightgown. Removed the consignment tag, put it on, and cried when I explained that it was too small and we were getting ride of it.

It's Pinterest's Fault!

2011-09-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

The last couple weeks have been busy what with our September birthdays, Lizzie starting third grade, Lainey starting Joy School, me finally volunteering at Lizzie's school, me finally getting involved in Lizzie's extracurricular activities, tagging items for local consignment sale, and preparations for Lizzie's upcoming baptism.

Still, the main reason I haven't been blogging is Pinterest. I recently joined and I LOVE it. I already have numerous idea files with downloaded images, now I can do that online instead (and have already run across a lot of ideas from the files I already have). That said, Nana needs an update (and I want a family record). Here are some of the things we've been up to this last little while:

Ellie's cut a another tooth. She has her right front one and two more are breaking through (left front and a molar). She's a climber. I regularly find her on top of the table (like, several times a day). Still throws her food and sippy to the floor when she's done with it (which is beyond frustrating--we need to work on that). We have been playing with sheets of bubble wrap. I still have a large box of this. I swear it will last us through the winter--unless of course I find a way to incorporate it into Joy School next week (or summon the energy to repack all my Christmas ornaments).In preparation for colder temperatures and this weekend's consignment sale, I sorted through the girls clothing bins (stuff they've grown out of, stuff for them to grow into, and of course, the Halloween costumes). Lainey's convinced that this dragon costume fits her. I originally planned to have all the girls dressed as insects for Halloween (butterfly, bee, and ladybug) and Drew dressed as a flower. But, seeing as Ellie already has a pile of non-bug costumes to choose from and Andrew is about as excited about being a flower as he was about being a fairy last year I think we'll skip the family costume yet again. Incidently last year I told Drew he could be a "bad a##" fairy and bought tattoo sleeves to go with his wings, but he pointed out that rose tattoos weren't "bad a##." This year I tried to entice him with big thorns for stem. No dice.I went to the Sound of Music Sing-a-Long at Wolf Trap. So fun! I loved it! Next time I'll bring Liz. I dressed up as "whiskers on kittens." Of course there were lots of Austrian and nun costumes, but I also saw "brown paper packages tied up with string" and "tea with jam and bread." We went to Silver Diner. Again. I don't love their food, but it's cheap and the kids LOVE the family night activities. I almost wish we could go weekly, but tomorrow Lizzie's soccer practices start (ugh, practices twice a week and games nearly ever weekend, what have I gotten us into?). . . . Lainey got an angel (she has yet to have anything painted on her face.Knowing they'd have to wash off any face paint before school the next day, Lizzie and her friend, Jordan, had fire-breathing dragons painted on their upper arms (and Lizzie's lingered for days, even after a bath). I told them to give me tough faces (to go with their tough-looking arms tatts) and this is what I got.The little girls and I have done some short "field trips." We've gone to Mt. Vernon and the bounce house in Woodbridge. Still on our list: the airplane park, zoo, Hidden Pond, a Smithsonian, a playground, Barnes and Noble (for the train table) and maybe even a fall festival.We spent almost all of our Mt. Vernon time in the kid's playroom where Lainey alternated between trying on dresses and playing with the dollhouse (a replica of George's place). Ellie was all over the place, but she did enjoy a little tea party.Ellie especially loved this fake ham. She kept licking it and tried to run out the door with it at least once.

Third Birthday

2011-09-07T14:20:00.000-07:00

Lainey's third birthday was last Saturday (she turned three on the third) so we celebrated with her first official friend party (as opposed to her party last year where we invited one friend and the friend's whole family).

It was bug themed so of course we provided antenna. We had bug shakers so we could "jitter bug." I plastic eggs filled with lentils for the shakers (super glued shut of course). I used googly eyes and permanent marker to make them look like bugs--the effect was just so-so. Plus they weren't very durable. My kids managed to break a couple post-party and I stepped on one . . . So, next time we'll do our shakers differently. Our party favors were bug catching kits
(the same ones my girls enjoyed playing with last summer).Since our party-goers were "little bugs" we provided them a flower garden to eat in (made from tissue pom poms and crepe paper) and . . . Also, flowers to eat. For the record, cutting out those flowers took way too long and I wish I had planned ahead and actually bought cupcake liners or at least made chocolate (dirt-colored) cake. Instead I made funfetti cake and then had to cut out cupcake liners.Really the girls seemed more excited about the lollipops than the cupcakes, but they still ate them. Well, they ate the frosted tops anyway.Alaina wanted to dress up like a lady bug for the party so I raced out the day before and got her a costume. I also got a bee costume so she could have options. I figured she picked on and I'd return the other. Well, she was absolutely certain she wanted the bee one and didn't decide on the lady bug until after I removed the bee's tags. Clearly, she'll be a bug for Halloween. I want Andrew to be a flower so he'll be on-theme, but so far he won't agree.For activities the girls crawled around in a borrowed tunnel (like ants) and jumped in a borrowed bounce house (like bugs that jump). After that we headed down to the basement to dance (because Lainey LOVES to dance). Of course as soon as the kids saw the books and toys they went right to them and it was just Lainey dancing by herself in the middle of the room (which she didn't mind at all).Next, the kids decorated butterfly pictures with stickers and crayons (we did the same thing at Lizzie's butterfly-themed second birthday party).While the kids colored, Lizzie and I prepped their lunch.We served flower-shaped pb 'n j sandwiches and veggie straws (cuz they kind of look like grass).They also got a "ladybug" on their plate (strawberry with mini chocolate chips stuck in).Then presents, then cupcakes.Ellie napped through the entire party, waking up just in time for lunch.In the late afternoon I took Liz out to get a back-to-school haircut, but at the last minute I changed my mind and took her to the Melting Pot instead for some cheese and chocolate. Yum. Still haven't go around to that haircut though.

First Day of third grade

2011-09-06T11:24:00.000-07:00

I think the morning went pretty well considering Liz didn't wake up till a little after 8 a.m. and school started at 8:55. We were late, but only by a minute. Also, I maybe didn't dress her warm enough for a chilly, rainy day. Oh well. The other snag was I also forgot Lizzie's backpack and school forms (which I have yet to fill out).The flowers are left over from Lainey's birthday party last weekend.After we dropped Liz off the little ones and I headed to Chuck E. Cheese for a little fun. Turns out if you're the first one there in the morning you can collect gobs of tickets from the machines after the workers test them. Alaina nabbed 180 tickets and we didn't even grab everything we saw. It worked great because Laines and Ellie were pretty much just interested in the rides, but they were still able to get a piece of candy at the end.She's kissing her reflection (much like she kisses all her toys).So far the post Chuck E. Cheese day has been rocky. I struggled to get Ellie and Lainey to nap. Our numerous attempts left all of us feeling frustrated to say the least. Meal times were typical, which means Ellie threw lots of food on the floor and Alaina frequently asked me to turn on music so she could dance instead of eat. Still, I managed to get some of our weekend mess cleaned up. I swear I feel like every Monday (which is what today feels like) I spend most of my time playing catch up from the weekend.

The last of the summer waterparks

2011-09-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Pirates Cove with some friends (very fun). We also went to look at Lizzie's classroom and third grade teachers (they seem nice). It was good we did something exciting today because the last couple days were pretty basic. I intended to run errands or go to a park on Tuesday after gymnastics class, but as were we walking out of the building a kind lady told me there was something on the back of my pants. Chocolate, so it totally looked like poop. Needless to say we raced home. The funny thing is as we were walking into gymnastics to get Liz, I noticed that Lainey had fruit snack (she calls it a "gummy gummy") stuck to the seat of her white pants.Yesterday was nice. Lainey spent the afternoon at the zoo with her best bud, Meg, and I met my visiting teachers (which was fabulous). One of them had a daughter that was just a year or two younger than Liz so they enjoyed playing together. Last Sunday Liz cried about how she didn't like the ward, didn't have friends in it, and therefore would not participate in the upcoming primary program so I'm glad she's meeting some kiddos.Check out these awesome thighs. I love her fat rolls.I also love her dimpled elbows.

Mt Vernon/Last Monday of Summer

2011-08-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

Since this is our last week of summer fun we're trying to make it count. Liz started a week of gymnastics camp in the morning and in the afternoon I whisked the girls off to Mt. Vernon.We picniced outside the gates and the girls spent so much time eating their lunches and feeding the birds parts of said lunches, that I thought maybe we wouldn't make it in afterall.Gurgling her Fanta (just because).Once inside we did the mansion tour and explored the outbuildings.Lizzie completed the kids map/treasure hunt and got a smashed penny in as a prize. Alaina pretended to be a princess. She said, "Mama, I the princess. You the boy."She gathered a bouquet of dried leaves and called them her flowers.She also used her leaves as a magic wand, waving them in the air in front of me, saying "Magic, magic. You're a boy!"Once we tired of the outdoor attractions we went into the museum, spending the bulk of our time in the hands-on children section. The girls enjoyed trying on dresses like what Martha Washington wore (she wore a yellow dress at her wedding). They had a tea party, played with the baby dolls, pushed buttons to hear animal noises, and colored.They also played with the doll house. A lot.Costume change (there were several).Ellie tried to climb in it once. She also tried to eat crayons and leave the play area, by herself, with an arm load of toys.After the kids section we watched the multi-media war movie (the one where your seats rumble and "snow" falls on your head). I'd never taken Liz before because she used to be so scared of movies. Glad I waited. She LOVED it. Alaina, on the other hand kept her ears covered and kept saying, "I want to see a princess movie. Where is the princess?" For her part, Ellie kept trying to go down the stairs and interact with strangers (who were trying to watch the movie).

Irene

2011-08-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

So the hurricane turned out to be just a tropical storm by the time it reached us so all we really had to deal with were some small downed branches and a smattering of leaves. Still, I waited up till 2 a.m. Sunday morning to watch the continuous storm coverage and had the girls sleep in the basement room with a tiny window (because I was afraid of broken windows). I was a little bummed the next morning when I read the email indicating that church was still on. If I skip I feel guilty, but if it's cancelled . . . Oh well, I had to teach a primary lesson anyway. In all, the storm felt a bit anti-climatic. We had filled the tub and some coolers with water, purchased paper plates and cups, strategically placed our lantern, and kept the kids indoors and in the end, most of that was unnessessary (thank goodness).I made a huge list of things to do during the storm to keep busy and only ended up doing a few of them: mending the girls' pillow pets, catch up on blogs, make pom pom flowers for Lainey's birthday party, and so on.

More on Burke Lake

2011-08-28T21:03:00.000-07:00

We started out our visit at the train because Alaina was so excited about it. She talked about her upcoming ride all morning while we got ready and during the entire drive to the park.
Of course when her time came she was too afraid to get on the train. I made her go because I figured she'd get over it (and I'd already paid).
Liz was super cute with her little sis. She held Lainey's hand the entire time.
She also kept her arm around Laines. Side note: Alaina would not remove her sunglasses, even in the shade. She just lifted them up to see better.

Ellie liked the train just fine.

After our train ride I asked Lainey, did she liked it? No. Would she like to go again? No. And to think I almost planned Burke for her third birthday.

After the train, we ate lunch and headed to the carousel.

All the girls liked it.

Not surprisingly Laines had trouble waiting for it to begin. She kept yelling, "Go!" which is what I sometimes yell at cars in front of me. That is, I yelled that until Lainey started copying me. Now, I'm trying to be a better example.
So cute. I can't get enough of her and she's at such a fun age.After the carousel we ran into some friends and Liz joined them for another train ride.
Since Alaina was too scared to go I stayed behind with her and Ellie. We waited at the train depot which is were we felt the EARTHQUAKE. Lainey was asking when the train would be back. She missed her "sissy" and her friend, Meg. When the rumbling started my first thought was that the train was returning so I said to Laines, "Do you feel that? That means the train's coming back!" But a second later I remembered that building didn't shake the last time the train approached.
The rumbling went on for a bit, the bench below us and awning above us shaking pretty well. A nearby lady and I met eyes. I said, "Is that the train?" She said, "It can't be. They feel it over there" (indicating the carousel). I said, "It must be an earthquake." And then it was over. Within seconds someone nearby confirmed (looking at her smart phone) that it had in fact been an earthquake.
When Liz and company arrived on the train they reported that they hadn't felt the earthquake at all. My friend, Sharon, and I spent the rest of our time at Burke Lake trying to contact our husbands (only texts worked) and playing mini golf with the kids. Oh, and of course we finished it all off with a good helping of ice cream at the shop.
The oldest three children took their game pretty seriously, regularly accusing each other of cheating even though we weren't playing a proper game at all. Alaina and Meg, on the other hand, took it easy and always seemed to enjoy themselves.
While not an official participant, Ellie also had a ball that she dropped in every hole before waddling off to the next stop.
She also dropped in her sippy cup every now and then.
Earthquake-wise we had no damaged to our home and Andrew was able to come home a couple hours early because his building was evacuated. I know there were after shocks but I didn't feel any.

This Week in Review/Natural Disaster Week

2011-08-27T19:12:00.000-07:00

MONDAY - Lee Rec Center spray park in the morning and Great Waves water park in the afternoon. Yeah, it was tiring (but fun).
I pretty much only saw Lizzie when it was time to eat and time to leave. The little ones and I lingered in the kiddie pool and also the large playground.
As always, Ellie spent a lot of time in the chairs.
TUESDAY - spent the day at Burke Lake (more on that later) and the evening at Wolf Trap watching Ballet West with Lizzie and some friends. It was my first time at that outdoor theater and I really enjoyed it. Oh yeah, and we had a 5.8 earthquake. I've been in other earthquakes before, but I've never actually felt them.
Some family members called to make sure we made it through the earthquake alright. When I talked to my mom she said something about the approaching hurricane which is the first time I remember hearing of Irene.
WEDNESDAY - My friend, Sharon, watched the older girls in the morning so I could run errands. Ellie and I scoured the outlet mall for a modest white dress for Liz. We found only one with sleeves and it was $140! Needless to say, we will be ordering ours online (and purchasing Alaina's in the spring when her time comes around).
THURSDAY - I watched the Pomeroy girls in the morning which my girls loved and in the late afternoon Liz and Laines went to Talia's house for a playdate and dinner. So nice. In the evening I went to dinner the ladies. During the meal, one of my friends mentioned that Irene was a category 3. Now, I forgot that the hurricane scale is 1 to 5, not 1 to 10 like earthquakes. So, when I heard 3, I thought, well we just made it through an almost 6 earthquake and that was pretty much no big deal so I'm sure the hurricane isn't anything to worry about. Stupid, I know, and it definitely isn't my first hurricane.
FRIDAY - Ellie had her 15-month check up in the morning. She's 23 pounds and totally healthy. Other activities: Drew and I took turns running errands, we did some hurricane prep, and finally made and mailed birthday invitations for Alaina's third birthday party. In the evening we dropped Liz off at a sleepover birthday party and took the other two girls out to dinner. We planned to go to Chipotle, but Lainey begged for The Noodle Company. She kept saying "It's so comfortable!" She uses that phrase a lot to talk about eateries that she likes.SATURDAY - We pretty much hung out at home and waited for the storm to hit. We passed the time by cleaning, napping, watching movies, playing, and most of all, watching the news. Liz returned from her sleepover in the morning. She loved it. Turns out she went to bed sometime after 1:30 in the morning (when the mom gave up and went to bed) and woke up by 6:30 in the morning. Surprisingly her attitude and behavior was just fine during the day even after so little sleep.