It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

I had to make a new Christmas candy countdown for Josh. The 2 on the left side are ones my grandma made for me & my brother about 30 years ago!!! Today I pieced together a new one. It was time-consuming, and I'm amazed I was able to start AND finish a craft with the kids up & around!!! (We won't talk about how my kitchen looks right now as a result of "playing" and not working!) I'm pleased with the final result. The kids all watched & cheered me on as I attached pieces of candy to their candy ribbons...and also sampled a couple candies!:) Josh is confused about the candy cane at the bottom--Halloween was not too long ago & he calls the candy cane, "candy corn."



I love that we have a fireplace at our new house. It's fun to have a traditional place to hang our stockings!

Things We Can't Live With

Josh HATES that there are holes in the feet of his jammies. He'll be fine & then suddenly freak out, saying, "Toe pop! Toe pop!" These were Nathan's old pajamas. I might just cut the feet off (of the pajamas, not Josh!) and then he can wear socks. Josh is like his mom--he has to have his feet covered when he goes to bed!:)

They're Hard to Contain!

Today Kaitlyn managed to push the pack-n-play that was blocking the exit from the room, out of the way! This thing sits on carpeting, so it's not that easy to move. But she's a strong & determined girl. Before I knew it, she had dashed across the entry way, climbed all the stairs & run down to Megan's room to play with Megan & Josh!

This afternoon she's been bound & determined to play with the buttons on the TV. Toys are of no interest, but those TV buttons are the greatest. I finally resorted to sticking her IN the toy box to prevent her continual fascination with the TV.

Thanksgiving

After our Thanksgiving meal, Nathan summed it all up with this statement: "Oh boy, I think I outweighed myself!"

'Nuff said! We were ALL stuffed!

First Snow of the Season!

Everyone was out sledding, even though we have maybe 1/2" on the ground. They had lots of fun. Here are pics of the kids (and even the dog!) out enjoying the snow this morning!






HAPPY THANKSGIVING, TOO!!!

The Little Drummer Boy & the Monster

Christmas music is playing in full-force on the radio here & has been for nearly a week. Today Megan was playing with Play-dough at the table when the Little Drummer Boy song came on. Perhaps you're familiar with the version they play on the radio--a man's voice mimics the sound of a drum; the part I'm referring to is probably supposed to be a bass drum. Megan heard it & asked what it was. I told her the name of the song. Then she asked, "Is that the monster?" when she heard the deep, "brummmm, brum brum brummmmm" of the bass drum. It's not as cute in writing as it was in person, but wanted to share a 4-year-old's perspective on Christmas songs!

Trick Or Treat?!

Yesterday when I made Megan's cake & frosting, I let Megan & Joshua lick the frosting off the beaters. Josh was super excited & really liked the taste of the frosting. After handing him the beater, I prompted him with, "What do you say?" I was expecting a thank-you. Instead he took another lick & said, "Trick or treat!" :)

Let it Snow

We got our first really big snowflakes coming down today. It didn't entirely cover the grass, but there were white patches. All the kids enjoyed seeing the giant flakes swirling down. I managed to capture Megan in this moment (she seems to be the star of the show today!).

Pretty in Purple

Some more pics of my birthday girl! She had SUCH a great day--she was so happy the entire day; you can see it in this first picture. (Thank you Uncle Lee & Auntie Phyl for the adorable outfit she's wearing!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEGAN!!!

My little girl is 4 years old today!!! It's so hard to believe--it seems like just a few months ago she turned 3. 4 years ago right now I was at the hospital being induced. It even seems strange just to think that at that time we were only a one-child family. I can barely recall what life was like back then & how EASY it was raising just one, by comparison to having 4 kids now! Funny how it seemed "hard" back then!;) Megan was such a good baby & overall is a really good kid, too. She's always been an early riser and the same held true today. She was up before 6:30. Here's a picture of her with her new doll house that we got her--if the big cheesy grin on her face is any indication, I think the house is a hit!:)

A one-minute snippet of our life

No photos taken to go along with this one. But here's the set-up: it's close to breakfast time. Josh is strapped into his booster chair, Megan is at her place at the table. Nathan is still downstairs (and avoids all the chaos), and Kaitlyn should be wanting to sit at the table for breakfast. I go to set Kaitlyn in her chair & she starts having a tantrum about it. Rather than fight her about it, I put her down in the family room to play. Apparently this is not what she wants, either. She decides to continue her tantrum by tipping over & screaming. I am working on getting breakfast on the table when Megan decides to yell at Katie to stop crying. As she turns to yell, she tips over her glass of grape juice which goes spilling EVERYWHERE. I now have stains on a chair & a sticky floor. Now Katie is so worked up, she starts to gag, Megan is crying because her juice has spilled, Josh is asking where breakfast is, and I'm trying to clean things up and NOT lose my temper, which was very difficult. Ugh! I can't wait til this evening when we're taking them all in for flu shots; that'll be another fun time, I'm sure!

Gallon Guy/Gallon Gal

In school, we've been studying various methods of measurement. This included not only your standard inches, feet, yards, etc. but also teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, pints, quarts, gallons...you get the idea. Well, today we made Gallon Guy/Gals. It gives a great visual for remembering just how many pints are in a quart or how many cups make up a gallon. The biggest sheet of paper is the face of the gallon. The arms/legs are quarts, the hands/feet are pints, and the fingers/toes are cups. As you can see, 16 cups make 1 gallon, just like 2 pints makes 1 quart. I wouldn't have been able to remember this without the help of...GALLON GUY/GAL! Here are some pics of the kids with their respective measuring heroes!

The best way to wake up from a nap...

In Grandma's arms!:)

When Dads Dress Kids...

It doesn't always look quite right. Last night I went to bed early with a headache. This morning when Megan came downstairs, I got quite a laugh out of what she was wearing. She had on her regular pajama top...but all I can figure is that her pajama bottoms went missing at some point yesterday, so Daddy dressed her in a pair of stretch pants. I'm sure you're wondering what the big deal about that is. Well, Megan turns 4 years old a week from today. The stretch pants she's wearing are her baby sister's...they're size 12-months!!!! Granted they were originally Megan's...3 YEARS AGO! Here's a picture for your viewing pleasure!:)

The Great Toy Swap

I love the morning following a "toy swap." I stay up late the night before, switching out the toys the kids have been playing with for the past couple of months & trade them for a bunch of other old toys that suddenly seem "new" to them. This even works if I move a certain toy from one level of the house to another. For some reason it seems to add appeal just changing the location of things. Here's a couple pictures of some of the kids from this morning, playing with their newly discovered old toys:

A New Favorite

This is Nathan's all-time favorite book series right now. I'd heard of Hank the Cowdog, so when I saw a bunch of them in the library, I checked out 3. We read through them & had to immediately go & check out some new ones. Nathan lives for reading the adventures of Hank & Drover.

And just so you all know, Nathan plans on writing more Hank the Cowdog stories when he grows up. He will have them published in 2030. ;) I guess he'll be a successful writer at the ripe old age of 29!

Look Who's Walking!

Now it's REALLY official. For the past couple of weeks she's been taking 8-10 steps here or there. Last night I watched her crawling around on her hands & feet, which was rather odd. Well, she used that method to teach herself how to stand up all on her own. After tumbling over with the first attempt, she mastered it right after that & promptly took 16 steps in a row! Nathan is currently upstairs performing the "carrot-in-front-of-the-rabbit" trick with her--he's holding out a pencil to Katie, which gets her attention & then she follows him wherever he goes, trying to catch the ever-elusive pencil. She's our earliest walker, at 10 & 1/2 months of age. The other kids didn't walk until a few days before or a few weeks after their first birthday! Go, Katie, go!

Kitchaboratory

Have you ever seen a kitchaboratory? It sounds rather exotic, no? Here's a picture of one:





Yes, it's a kitchen/science lab combo. As you can see, we have been growing bean seeds. We also created a self-watering garden that was planted inside a large pickle jar. We put--what else--bean seeds & bean plants in there. It has been quite interesting to watch them thrive; to see the cycle of the roots taking up water, the excess water coming out of the leaves & condensing against the jar, and the plant once again getting watered as the droplets roll down the inside of the jar. Carrot-tops were our experiment from last week. I made a beef stew that Monday morning & decided it would be a perfect time to utilize the ends of the carrots I'd chopped. We placed them face-down on a saucer of water & within a couple of days, the tops began to sprout. And our most recent endeavor is to try to fool some twigs into sprouting leaves from the buds meant for next year, even though it's late fall. Obviously in their natural environment, they would not be sprouting leaves for many more months.

Although I have lost some valuable counter space, it's only temporary & very worth it so that the kids can witness how things grow. Even I have found it immensely fascinating & fun!

Socks Elder Bugs

That's what my almost-4-year old calls them. We've had a warm fall & the asian beetles & box elder bugs have come out in full-force. The kids have collected about 20 of them total & put them in their bug-collecting box. Yet we continue to find more, flying around the lights in the kitchen or climbing up the wall. Josh is learning to master the technique of a gentle touch. A number of bugs have succumbed to a not-so-gentle handling by his little fingers. He's always disappointed when the bugs don't "go" anymore. And if there are any bugs on the floor, you can be sure Katie is going to find them and do what babies do with everything...so it's imperative that I keep a close eye on her or else she's going to ingest a bug or two. Not the worst thing, but not what I would choose for her.