Week in Review

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

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)

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

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

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.