more kidstuff

ok, so my blog is quickly becoming a kid stuff blog. But, then again, that is my life these days. As you know daylight saving time ended this past weekend, so I had explained it to Elise and told her how it would get dark earlier in the day and so on. A day or so after I talked to her about it, she said a prayer and said, “and we’re so thankful for daylights savings. We’re so thankful that Jesus created daylights savings for us to have.” It was so sweet. She made it sound like daylight saving time was our greatest blessing. And she was so sweet and sincere, which made it even cuter.
She’s also started reading. She’s been right on the verge as she’s been sounding out words and realizing how letters sounds next to one another and how it all fits together. You could almost see the puzzle coming together for her. But she’s really getting the hang of it now and its so fun to watch. She always likes to read us stories and then turn the book around and show us the pictures like they do at school. I always tease her because she shows the pictures at warp speed. I can barely get a glimpse of the picture before she’s spun it back around. =)
Our primary sacrament meeting program was yesterday and I was so proud to see Elise up there. She was so great. She had learned her songs so well, even the second verses on most of them and sang out is such a strong voice. She said her part perfectly and I thought I would cry. It was just great. it was funny, too, because her cousin, Emmy, was sitting beside her and they made me smile so much. I wasn’t sure if they would be able to sing the words to the songs because they were so busy waving at all their adoring fans. =) but somehow they managed to do both. One of the funniest things was the closing hymn which was “Dearest Children, God is Near You.” They sang the first verse in English and then again in Spanish. When they started singing the Spanish verse, Elise and Emmy looked at each other like, “what in the world is this?” and Elise just shrugged her shoulders. They just kept looking at each other and at the director, like, “I have no idea what these people are singing.” Its hard to describe, but just imagining it make me laugh out loud. Girls are so sweet.

kids are cool

elise learned to tie her shoes yesterday. i'm so proud of her. i'm ashamed to admit that i had never before even talked to her about tying them, much less actually showed her how. but yesterday we got her her first pair of "real" tennis shoes. so, literally, in five minutes time, she had figured it out. i was really impressed that she caught on so quickly.

ian calls noodles "noo-nulls", which is what he ate for lunch. it was a campbell's chicken noodle soup packet and the noodles were small and quite numerous. as he scarfed them down he turned to me and goes, "the noo-nulls are falling down my mouth. they're going all the way to my legs." he's so cute. when he ate his first helping, i brought the now-cooled down pot over to the table to give him some more. he stuck his tummy out until it touched the pot and said, "see mommy. i can touch it. i brave of this pot!" he makes me smile.

merry grace is in to everything, but is still pretty mild. her favorite form of destruction is max's dogfood and water. when she's in the kitchen with me when i'm cooking, she crawls right over to the dogfood & gets handfuls of it out, until its all scattered around her. then she tried to eat a piece or two. after i've pulled her away a time or two, she likes to move on to the water dish and splash around and get her clothes soaked and the floor a mess. we are using a high chair we've had since elise & it no longer has buckles in it. this hasn't been a problem until now. now she has mastered the art of twisting around and grabbing onto the back of the seat and pulling up to a standing position. handy. this morning she was sitting in it while we were all there eating breakfast. i had a few toys on the tray that i thought would entertain her, one of them being elise's lunchbox. somehow she managed to open it and get out a partially eaten bag of gummies from elise's lunch yesterday and get one in her mouth. she totally got choked on it. when i realized she was choking and on what i began pounding her on her back. i was just before doing the heimlich when she got it down and seemed okay again. whew. i was a nervous wreck. kids can do that to you.

but aren't they cool?

kindergarden drama

elise has a friend in her class named jordan, and in recent weeks we have heard lots of drama about her. the first time elise told us a story about her, her face so sad and her demeanor completely melancholy, as she recounted how her mother and brother had moved to florida when she was two and left her all alone. now she didn't have anyone and was a foster child. and she didn't even have a bed to sleep in. i wasn't sure what to make of it. i was pretty sure it wasn't just some pretend game elise was playing, because i didn't think she knew the word "foster child".

the next time we heard about jordan, she lived with poor people and slept in hay because she didn't have a bed. she used to live in the desert and slept in a tent and now she slept in a barn with animals and hay. when i suggested that jordan might be joking with her about some of this stuff, elise insisted that it was 100% true and was devastated for jordan and the life she was living. she wanted to know if we could have jordan live with us, since she didn't have a family.

the next jordan installment came when elise asked me what a robber was. i explained it to her and she said, "well, that is what happened to jordan. robbers came and stole all her money and all her things and that is why she lives with poor people." the last straw came when elise told us how she had met jordan's mom in the office one time when she had to walk up there with jordan. cory & i said, "elise, i thought jordan didn't have a mom." she thought for a minute and said, "well, it was actually her grandma and then she died the very next day." it was all i could not to burst out laughing. who knew there was this much drama in kindergarden?

miscommunication

we were in the car yesterday driving up the highway to visit my parents for the weekend and the kids were talking in the backseat. the actual topic of conversation escapes me, but whatever it was that ian was talking about, elise was unimpressed. so it went like this:

elise: i don't believe you.
ian: yeah! i am.
elise: no!!! you're lying!!!
ian: yeah. i'm a lion. (holds hands up in attack position) ROARRRRR!
elise: (laughing)

its so funny to listen to kids when they talk to each other. how quickly the conversation can turn & us grown ups are just left shaking our heads and smiling.

newly groomed max

max got groomed earlier in the week and looks so handsome!

how cute is he just sitting here?

and here is a picture taken by elise...

max loves giving sugar and it makes the kids laugh. =) 

heroes

cory and i don't watch a lot of tv shows, mainly house, without a trace or a law and order when we have a little down time. but we saw a preview for a new show on NBC called "Heroes", that looked really interesting. the first episode had already come on, so we recorded the second one. saturday night we decided we'd give it a try and see if we liked it. it was one of the worst shows i've ever seen. the preview was very deceptive. the show was dark and violent and quite graphic. we actually didn't even finish watching it because it was so bad. maybe it was redeeming at the end, but from what i saw, it was horrible and not even worth finding out if there were something better somewhere in it. we were both just disgusted with it. needless to say, we will not be watching that one again.

our evening walk

The weather this week has been phenomonal, especially in the evening. the humidity is down, and the temperatures are perfect. so it makes a stroll around the neighborhood wonderful!!!

here the kids are booking it down the street.

here is spiderman and his magnificent bicycle.

merry grace enjoyed her stroll too.

we're quite the troop, but we have a great time.

 

when she talks, you'd better listen!

this week while the weather has been so glorious, we've all been playing outside after supper. several evenings ago the kids were playing on the swingset, when maria (the jungle cat) climbed up the poplar tree and launched herself onto the canopy over the slide landing. it tore a little bit, but she didn't seem to mind and just settled into to her little nest. cory wasn't happy about her being up there, especially since she'd messed it up a little. so he reached up underneath the canopy and semi-gently prodded her to move. elise, our animal lover through and through, goes, "daddy (in her most authoratative tone)! don't you know that she is a living creature?" she never fails to crack us up.

my year in review--yes, its a survey ;)

What did you do in 2006?
JANUARY
1. Did you go out for New Years? i don't think so...
2. Who kissed you at midnight? cory would have, but i'm not sure if we made it to midnight. you know, january was a long time ago!
3. Does it snow where you live? Not as much as I'd like!!!
4. Do you like hot chocolate? oh yeah.
5. Have you ever been to Times Square to watch the ball drop? No and i don't think that's something i'd like to experience. the crowds and the chaos is just not my thing. (and neither is being up late.)

FEBRUARY
1. Who was your valentine? cory
2. When you were little, did you buy valentines for your whole class? Yes. that was so fun.
3. Do you care if the groundhog sees its shadow or not? yes. and usually i'm ready for spring...unless it will mean six more weeks of SNOW!

MARCH
1. Are you Irish? no
2. Do you wear green on St. Patty's Day? yeah. and i make sure everyone in my family does too. i'm a holiday nut.
3. What did you do for St. Patty's Day in 2006? i fixed green shamrock pancakes for breakfast.
4. Are you happy when winter is pretty much over? i like snow, but usually i'm ready for the warm weather and more sunshine.

APRIL
1. Do you like the rain? I do when I can stay at home and snuggle up with a good book or movie or if its warm enough to go outside and play in it and splash in puddles.
2. Did you play an April fool's joke on anyone this year? no. i always feel bad if i really trick someone.
3. Do you get tons of candy on easter? yes. if you count leftovers from the kids hunts & baskets. cory always gets me my fair share, too. did you read the part about me loving chocolate.
4. Do you celebrate 4-20? I would tell you if I new what happened on 4-20.

MAY
1. What's your favorite kind of flower? I love most flowers--but i'm partial to bulb flowers (tulips, lilies, gladiolas, etc), roses, lilacs, & peonies
2. Do you like the spring? Yes!
3. Finish the phrase "April showers"... "Bring May flowers".
4. What is the first color you think of when you think of Spring? "spring" green

JUNE
1.What day was the best in June? one of my favorite things was our camping vacation. but it was a whole week...
2. Did you go on any vacations last June? i can't remember back to '05, but yes in '06.
3. Did you realize nothing special happens in June? Who said nothing happens in June? What happened to Father's Day??? what about birthdays?

JULY
1. What did you do on the 4th of July? a picnic in the park & a cookout w/ family
2. Did you go on any vacations during this month? yes. to myrtle beach
3. Do you blast the A/C all day? no blasting, but keeping us cool.

AUGUST
1. Did you do anything special at the end of your summer? just a couple of day trips to the beach
2. What was your favorite summer memory of '06? I don't think I have on favorite, to many good things happened.
3. Did you get a sunburn? a little bit one time when i didn't get good sunblock coverage on my back.
4. Did you go to the beach a lot? not as much as some summers, but we made several trips.

SEPTEMBER
1. Did you attend school/college in '06? just the school of life.
2. Who is/was your favorite teacher? i loved my piano teachers, mrs. robertson & dottie. i also loved my sunbeam teacher. i loved my aide in first grade, mrs. clarke. i liked mrs. taylor in the seventh grade, my young women leaders, and mrs. eanes & mr. bretz in high school. (and last, but not least, my mom.)

OCTOBER
1. What is your favorite halloween costume? i liked when i went as a jar of jellybeans.
2. What's your favorite candy? Snickers, reese's, twix...
3. What will/did you dress up like this year? i probably will not dress up. it's usually enough work to get three children dressed up! but i might put on some fake eyelashes and a witches hat or something, just to be festive.

NOVEMBER
1. Whose house did/will you go to for thanksgiving? probably cory's mom or grandma. they usually do a big thanksgiving. but sometimes we go to my folks too.
2. Do you love stuffing? it's okay.
3. What are you thankful for? Everything, the gospel, my testimony, family, friends, life in general

DECEMBER
1. Do you celebrate Christmas? Absolutely. i can't emphasize the importance enough.
2. If not, what would you celebrate? N/A.
3. Have you ever been kissed under mistletoe? Yes. we hang mistletoe in our house every year. i try to get caught there often. ;)
4. Get anything special last year? i get special things every year.
5. What do you want this year? i don't know. it takes me a while to think of something.
6. Do you like cold weather? yes. i even like it when a cold wind is blowing if i'm bundled up. and i love snow. i don't like to FEEL cold, so i just have to bundle up.