rainy day fun

It is a damp, rainy day (it should be snow) so we were relaxing at home this morning. The kids watched some of "Charlotte's Web" and we had fun taking pictures before lunch and school.

Hannah has marks all over from falling and a scratch I gave her on her head in the bath last night.Yes, that is slobber and some boogies...

Aren't they just the cutest..Crayola Window Markers are great for days like this (premess all over school clothes!!)
Oh, Mom's not watching, I'll try to escape.

I have had to move the gate so that Hannah cannot move it and try to get down the stairs to the basement. She had figured out how to get around it where it was before.

parent teacher conference

Lizzie's First Day of Preschool

I had Lizzie's conference last Wednesday, February 20th. As a Kindergarten teacher, I hated this event. I was always nervous talking to parents about their most precious children. I always thought about how the parents are nervous right along with me. I went in on Wednesday, remembering that Lizzie's teachers were probably a little nervous too. I still felt like I was going to the Principal's Office.

So I went in, bracing for the worst. Lizzie had a rough start to the year. I had a few days at pick-up with whispered discussions at the door with her teacher about not following directions, not sharing, speaking out of turn. I have to say I left very proud of my little Lizzie and confident she is ready for the challenge of (sniff, sniff) Kindergarten!!

Her teachers began saying how much she has matured and has gotten into the routine and now knows what behaviors are appropriate for school. They had recorded some events that show how she is in school.

• She loves to play dress-ups and always wants to get married, but their is only ever one boy who will go through the ceremony, Pierce (who by the way Lizzie has a crush on). She has a great imagination they said.
  
• One day she had accidentally hit a boy in her class with a fishing pole. He began crying and Lizzie asked, "Are you okay, Evan?" to which Evan replied, "No, you really hurt me, but I forgive you." Lizzie continued by asking, "OK, but are you alright." Her teachers said they didn't even need to intervene because they worked it out on their own.
  
• Then, they told me that at Christmastime they asked what Christmas was all about and Lizzie was the only one who said, "It is Jesus' Birthday!"
• She knew 21 of 26 letters, counted from 1-28 (and then said 100), knew numbers randomly pointed to by her teacher and was able to use her scissors to cut out Valentine Hearts (an important skill for Kindergarten).
  

So, I am the mom and I am allowed these bragging rights, especially after how the year started. I am bracing for registration for school in 2 weeks and now have to prepare myself for her to be in the grade I once taught which is very strange for me.

Quote of the day: "I am ironing because I am married now." --Lizzie said to her teachers as she played in the house area after one of her weddings with Pierce.

happy hearts day.

Valentine's Day...quickly turning into another busy holiday!! My day...actually lets start with yesterday afternoon. Speaking of hearts, I felt my heart in my throat when my external hard drive stopped working and all of my pictures, backups, iTunes were all on there and not able to be retrieved. I took it to church and was able to have it work there so I knew I could get everything off on that computer if need be. I came home, plugged it back in and it showed up with a warning to quickly back up and reformat (erase) the hard drive. ERASE :( Anyway, 1:30 AM it was backed up, reformatted and reloaded and is working fine. Phew!!

To today--I had my meeting at church that ran a little late and then we got home and had 15 minutes to eat before Lizzie had to be at school. I was quickly putting her signed valentine's with the candy when I realized we were 5 short, ugg (too much snacking)!! We ran to Giant, which was the most crowded I've ever seen with tons of people buying balloons and roses, and got more candy. Lizzie was late and I came home to clean-up half eaten lunch and get Hannah and Jackson to nap. I got 15 minutes to sit down after laundry, dishes, work.

Tonight was nice because Joe made dinner AND cleaned up. He's great. We made cupcakes and ate the left over batter and icing. It ended very relaxed and I am exhausted tonight.

Here are a few Happy Valentine's Day Pics. You can see my frustration with trying to get a picture of all 3 kids.

snow kids

Today we finally had some snow. It started out slow, but by 4:00 or so was coming down heavy and laying. Joe came home from work (tired, cold and sick) and took Lizzie and Jackson out with him to start shoveling the driveway. (Isn't he the best dad in the world!!) They had fun getting buried and making snow angels. Hannah and I watched from the warmth of inside through the window.

Lizzie quickly got changed, she likes to wear my "warm socks."

Hannah was very sad she couldn't go outside.

Quote of the day: "Mommy, I love you so much!"-Jackson says at random times throughout the day, can a mommy ever get tired of this phrase?

valentine's "crafts"

This weekend, Mom-mom gave the kids some goodies for Valentine's Day. They got their valentine cards (Disney Cars and Princesses) and she gave them sugar cookie mix, icing, cupcake mix, and stuff to decorate both. Lizzie, since Sunday before church, has been asking to do the "valentine crafts."

Yesterday, after their nap, we worked on the cards and the cookies. Lizzie wrote all her own cards out from a list of her class and signed her name--she was very tired at the end. The kids had fun decorating their cookies after they cooled.
Hannah was busy playing and didn't really want to be involved in the cookie decorating. She preferred walking around.
Quote of the day: "Dear Jesus, Thank you for my whole entire family and thank you for my family in Heaven like my Great Grandpops and Gracie and Irv's dog Holly and Murphy..."--Lizzie has prayed this same prayer at dinner and bedtime for the last few weeks.

a day in the life...

Just hanging out before Lizzie went to school Tuesday. The kids had pulled out the rocker from the "library" in Jackson's room to color at the coffee table. Here are some shots of them all enjoying the chair. Thanks Gran!!

Yeah, she is posing...

They can't deny they are sisters.Sisterly love.I promise he was smiling right before this.Hannah had some cream cheese and crackers today.

Quote of the day... "Dad, chill!"-Jackson said after Joe was talking to him about eating his dinner. Of course this was a moment where he should have been sent to his room, but of course laughter prevailed and that was the end of that.

walking video.

Just a few snippits of Hannah as she is getting braver and choosing to walk more frequently. Here it is and make sure the volume is up, because I figured out how to add music and edit it. It's a good one! I left our voices for effect.

happy 10 months, hannah!!

Today Hannah is 10 months old. I really cannot believe how quickly this has gone by. Knowing she is my last baby, it is a little bitter-sweet. Well, I finally captured her walking several steps and I will post a movie later. She is actually choosing to walk. It is funny, she goes over to something to stand up so she can walk.

Her new favorite toy is the letter magnets I got for Jackson at Christmas. They sing the ABCs and tell you the letter name and sound. She loves to dance to the music, it's cute.

Here are some tributes to Hannah (what she does when the kids are asleep and she is waiting for her "ba-ba")...
She is playing with a toilet from the doll house. She loves this thing and the real thing. I think she may go into plumbing like her papa because if I ever can't find her, she is in the bathroom trying to play in the toilet.

Quotes of the Week:
I told Jackson "No way, Jose." the other day and he yelled back at me "I am Jackson, not Jose!"

"Ab-so-nute-ly not!" Jackson said to Lizzie as she tried to help him with a puzzle.