Tuesday, December 13

I spent the night with Evelyn.  I don't like being awoken to a crying baby but I do so love the quiet night time cuddling.  We slept well together.

Pancakes for breakfast and lots of, 'Aren't these the best pancakes?' from Joshua.  He was using fabulous manners this morning.  Gotta love that!

The children are continuing to love tea time.  We're ready for Britain! Our tea time is such a nice time to slow down and I remind the kids of their 'tea time manners' so we practice sitting still, enjoying our food and being polite in just a little kid sized amount of time.

I took the girls for LOTS of errands.  They did well staying close and picked a treat of dark chocolate covered dried plums :-) for their reward.  They received lollipops at the bank and balloons at the florist.  Happy girls all around!

When Josh came home we regrouped (tea time again!) and he shared about his day then we went outside to play and run around.  Josh was my helper when it was dinner time he volunteered to vacuum and wash dishes and the girls played.  Even though dinner was different than usual, wilted collard greens with black eyed peas & bacon, Mira and Josh ate it all up and had extra bacon and corn bread to go with it.  Popeye would be proud.  After dinner we cleaned up and made dog treats for Jack.  He was on our list of gifts we could give that we could make ourselves.

We read stories all together piled in Evelyn's bed.  I've been enjoying reading Christmas books to the kids at nap and bed time.  I only bring them out in December.   When it was time to go to sleep Josh and Mira were out first and then Evie but they were all tired and went to bed easily.

Photos are on my cell phone and probably downloaded to the network drive but for some reason it is not showing up for me to connect to.  So, I'll have to share them tomorrow.

 Tonight's blog will be photo intensive.  We have done wonderful things with the kids over the weekend and lots of great memories were made while making crafts and gifts, attending church, reading and learning numbers... but it is late and I know photos are appreciated so here they are...

Who needs LifeTouch? Handsome Boy

Enduring the love - This may be one of my favorite photos ever

Evie and her sass

Grumpier Old..?

Bright Shining Smile

Profile Picture

Painting Ornaments

Silhouette

Contemplation

Josh took care of three chores this morning.  He is making progress.  I love when they happen without complaining.

Although I do not like the kids waking up at 6am, which they did this morning, I do love their little snuggly bodies in bed with me, in the dark, listening to the rain.  I just want to capture and savor those moments forever.

Evelyn had her first dentist appointment this morning and she was a star!  She was excited to get a balloon and showed no hesitation at getting up in the chair, opening her mouth and having her teeth cleaned.  What a relief.  She was really proud of herself, too!

Evie is my big hugger when it comes to friends but Mira today gave her classmate a wonderful hug goodbye and it was such a sweet moment.

Our advent reading tonight was about the little drummer boy. The bible verse was, 'It is better to give than to receive.'  So, the children made a list of friends and family they wanted to give gifts, too.  I was so pleased with the list they came up with.  Next, they came up with gifts we could make for our recipients.  It was touching how thoughtful they were and we are all looking forward to our gift making before Christmas!

I brought out the box of Christmas books and movies tonight.  The girls just dug in and  started reading.  Evie used the box as a bed once the books were emptied out.   Tonight's movie was, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

Joshua read from the book, "Curious George Makes Pancakes" tonight.  He is looking forward to our reading time now and is sad if he misses it.

I just wrote a LONG post that was lost.  I am sorry but it is time for bed now :-(  We'll try again tomorrow.

I know that Evie has been doing this for a little while now but I think it is just great that she is fully potty trained.  It makes life so easy to not have to worry about diapers or washing diapers or anything related to that anymore.

Joshua has lots of chores to do this week.  But he showed initiative, a characteristic we are working on, and offered to help with peeling the potatoes for dinner and washing the dishes.  It was nice not having a dish pile up after cooking and he really did a good job.

The children were asked to clear and set the table tonight while I was cooking dinner.  I let them know that dinner would be served as soon as this was done.  But playing was too much fun and they just didn't want to stop.  When it was clear they were not going to take care of the task I went ahead and cleared the table, wiped it down and set it with my bowl, plate and silverware.  Then I served myself.  I felt a lot like the little red hen.  When the food was on the table the kids came scrambling over.  "Where's our food!"  "We're hungry!" They said.  I told them I would serve them when I was all finished eating my food.  They sat at the table, enthralled, following every bite of soup, crumb of cornbread and smear of butter.  I am surprised I didn't see drool dripping down their chins.  I wish I had a video camera taping the scene because I don't think I have ever seen them so interested in any meal before.  But they did wait and quietly, too.  Mira jumped the gun once and said, "Mommy you're done."  But Josh corrected her, 'No, she has one more bite to take."  And I did take it, chewed it and enjoyed my whole meal.  Then I served them and they ate and had seconds.  It actually turned out to be a good meal.  I hope they learned their lesson but probably not.   Still I laughed through the meal at their incredulous faces.

Josh read to me tonight, "Fox in Socks."  I love that snuggle reading time with him.  He wrote a funny sentence on his homework, too.  "Here, there and everywhere."

Evie Dec 2010

Josh Dec 2010

Stephanie & Mira Dec 2010

I love going back and remembering and reflecting on how much the children have changed.  It is amazing how long 365 days is to a child. In Evelyn's case it was almost half her life! 

Yesterday, I specifically did not write.  I have reserved this blog to reflect only on the positive moments with the children.  Yesterday I certainly had some amazing moments which I will share but I also had one terrible, potentially life changing moment, never to be relived moment that clouded my ability to write about all the rest.  Everyone is alive and healthy and the issue is being handled but it was scary and today has been a sad one knowing what could have happened and understanding the disappointing choice my child made.

This is the 2nd Sunday we made it to church.  The girls both went to Sunday School and participated.  They were happy to go and didn't fuss when I returned to the sanctuary with Josh for the sermon.  Joshua asked to return to the church and sit with me in the service.  He was a star!  We took communion and he also partook for the first time.  I am so thankful to have shared that moment with Josh and to have had the opportunity to begin explaining communion to him.  It was a special moment.

Josh was also my helper when it came time to run errands yesterday.  He was a good listener and errands went well with his help.  We went to Cyndi & Howard's for pizza dinner and the kids enjoyed the Polar Express.  They love going there and miss it if we don't make it over for our weekly dinner.

Today, Mira and Josh had school.  Mira was so sweet.  She arrived and her buddy Owen had not yet made it to school yet.  You could see she was disappointed.  But then, just as I was leaving in Owen walked.  Mira's face lit up.  She loves playing with her friend Owen.

The girls have plowed through the yogurt we made together the other day.  Looks like we'll be making another batch this week.  I am appreciating lunches that do not consist of pb&j.  So, today we had yogurt with blueberries & waffles.  Dinner went well tonight, too since the kids love meatballs and we had a noodle & meat ball dinner.  They even asked for seconds (not cookies) after we returned from the store.

We had to pick up new shoes for Josh whose shoes were literally falling apart.  He was very thoughtful in the store and contemplated all his choices.  He made comments like, "This is a tough choice."  "I want to pick ones that are cool."  It was cute to see him mulling over just the right shoes.  In the end, he picked ones that were black with orange and had lights on the bottom.  I praised him on his good choice and you could see he was proud.

Evelyn is continuing in her signing career. Mostly with... 'Sing with me! A .. B... C...D.'  She loves to sing especially with company!  The kids all played outside with Stephanie this evening until it was too dark to be outside anymore.  Evie didn't want to come in.  She was having too much fun playing outside, I love that attitude!

Mira explained to Evelyn that the figure she was holding was a princESS not a prince (as Evelyn was calling it) because, "Princesses have eyelashes. Princess wear handsome clothes.  Princesses wear beautiful dresses."  Sorry boys, no eyelashes for you!

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 I missed last night so I am going back in time to catch up on some of the special moments from the last couple of days.  I'll start with today though.  I ran errands with Mira this morning.  She was my little buddy. One of the shops we stopped at was, "Everything Goes! Consignments & More."  There was a very small ring that fit on Mira's thumb and I bought it for her.  She loved it! She were it all day and kept it safe.   She really was a good girl walking around with me.  It was nice to have the company.  Later, I took all the kids to the Stepping Stone Museum for their Open House.  The kids ran from place to place.  It was a pretty day to be outside enjoying the cool weather.

 Evie has been loving swinging and will sometimes go out back, by herself just to swing for a minute and come back in.  It makes me feel so good when the kids go outside all together and play.  That has been happening more and more frequently, in spite of the temperatures dropping.

 We dropped Josh's bike off today for repairs.  It was fixed quickly and he was able to take it around for a few laps after lunch.  He is so sad when he misses a day to ride his bike.

 We have a tradition of going downtown to Havre de Grace for the annual Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting.  Santa comes into town on a firetruck and then the kids can see him and tell him their wishes.  Last night was the parade and it was great!  I get excited for the kids to see Santa and I hope they will remember this time when they are older.  We had a long line to wait in for our turn but the kids were good and we were in line with our friends, the Andreens.  When it was our turn Evelyn sat on Santa's lap.  Just look at her face in the photo below.  She is so excited to see him!  Mira was the only one that didn't get close but they all told Santa their Christmas wish and when we left I heard, 'Mommy, that parade was great!  This was the best!' 

Even though it was already bedtime we enjoyed hot chocolate together to warm up and also had the candy canes from Santa.  I love treats with my babies and special traditions like this one to look forward to every year.

Daddy with two monkeys clinging to him

Evelyn thrilled to see Santa

Sitting on Santa's lap

Josh picked up 'Fox in Socks' tonight for his reading time and did a great job of reading using sight words, clues from the illustrations and sounding out the tricky words.  He is starting to get more comfortable and will sound out words when we are out and about.

Evie is a little snuggle muffin and a giggle monster.  I took her potty after she had been laid down for bed tonight.  Every time she tooted she laughed her little head off.  It was hilarious!

We had a quiet snuggle moment after she woke up from her nap.  She just tucked her little head in under my ear and rested there.  I could have stayed wrapped in her arms forever.

Mira 11/30/11, fell asleep 10 min before we needed to leave

Sweet, funny, happy moment just enjoying Mira's dimples today.  We were playing with her dolls as we usually do at naptime.  Batman is now part of the princess mix and I usually have the honor of playing him.  In any case, Batman did something that was not part of Mira's 'story' that she had in her head and Mira said something to the effect of, "Mom, Batman doesn't do.." So, I had Batman reply, "I do to do..., Mira." and she looked at me with this silly grin, as if to say, "Mom, Batman just talked to me!" It was hilarious to watch the line of how her toys function get crossed in her brain.

I work in the morning sometimes and today was one of those days trying to catch up from not being home yesterday evening and this morning.  But after the work time I had an hour of just one on one time with my girls.  So, instead of just doing my chores I had the girls help me because they LOVE to help. So in that hour we made yogurt and coleslaw.  It was great.  They were so excited to make yogurt and even ate a bowl of coleslaw when we were done just because they had made it.  Mira and Evelyn both said the coleslaw tasted great but I am not sure if I believe them :-)

I hope when the kids are grown they will remember cooking with mommy and how fun it was.

Today when Josh got off the bus he was moving slow.  Not his usual run like a madman for the house routine.  I imagine he was exhausted from a long day of school after a late night last night and early morning with car ride today.  But he looked up, saw me on the porch waiting, got a big goofy grin and ran like a madman home.

Even though the weather was cool today Evie, Mira and Josh all wanted to go outside and play.  Evie loves to swing.  Josh and Mira swung on the tire swing together and at times they all three were running around the yard screaming like banshees.  But they were outside and loving it.

 Serving up cuteness!  We started the day with my little helpers making jello (from fruit juice & gelatin) and blueberry oat muffins.  Great lessons in sharing and taking turns.  We also practiced counting, letters & letter sounds.  After the cooking we built puzzles that spelled words.  It was a learning morning.

The girls really play well and love on each other during the day.  It is great to see.

helping to hang lights

 On the way to the bus stop this morning Mira took a moment to stop and wave to Santa (sitting on our neighbor's porch with a choir surrounding him).  Her excitement and sweetness shone through.

Josh was up out of bed at 10pm tonight for some unknown reason.  I told him he needed to go to bed and that this was my time to have some private, quiet time.  He asked me, 'Then why don't you just go to sleep!'  Good question, point taken.

Evelyn was a trooper at the dr's office today.  She had to endure having her thumb checkout out after falling down two stairs and landing awkwardly on her hand/thumb.  It was swollen and hot but thankfully not broken.

Discussing the horse

Jason on the roof hanging lights

I love listening to what the kids come up with to talk to Daddy about.  Mira explains how Josh went to school but she didn't and uses all sorts of hand gestures while speaking.  Evelyn tried desperately to show Daddy her thumb but didn't understand the concept of the camera. 

Josh is super excited for the start of after school basketball but I believe it doesn't start until next week.  He is working on his American symbols for the Patriot Program and doing very well. 


Our golden nugget characteristic this week is 'Show Initiative'.  Josh was off to a good start after we discussed that it meant to do something without being asked.  This may be a good week for him!

I should make this quick.  It is the end of a long but mostly beautiful day.  The weather was almost 70 and it was refreshing to get back to our routine.  Although, Daddy leaving this morning was certainly a bummer for everyone.  We all miss him!

Mira had a fantastic day at school and came home with her school photos.  Evelyn and I ran errands and did some chores at home.  She watching Sesame Street for about 15 min while I worked and when it was time to go get Mira the response I got was, "No, I am sleeping."  Well, my dear you must be talking in your sleep then!

Mira and Evie both took naps, and I took a 30 min one myself!  When the girls woke, they watched Fineas and Ferb.  Just hearing Mira say the name of the show makes letting her watch it totally worthwhile! 

When Josh came home we went to the playground for a while.  Evelyn said, "I just need to swing," while she was in the baby swing and I asked her if she wanted to get down and play with Josh and Mira.

Mira was a member of the 'clean plate club' tonight and ate her dinner without a fuss.  Josh ate his dinner, too.  Evelyn is addicted to the goldfish I bought yesterday.

They are all in bed and sleeping soundly.  I love them!

A few days off

I am sorry for the break in posts these last few days.  We have had a wonderful run of family days and evenings starting with Thanksgiving.    Jason goes back to school tomorrow which will be a hard transition given how long he has been home.

Josh, Mira and Evelyn were SO excited to have their cousins over for Thanksgiving and then to stay the night.  It was a giggle fest at bedtime.  Evelyn slept in her bed, as usual, and Mira, Noella, Stephanie and Josh slept in Josh & Mira's room.  Mira was the first out then Stephanie and Noella.  Josh had to be moved to our room until he fell asleep and then we put him back in the other room.  On Friday the cousins stayed until after lunch and then headed home.  There were lots of sad faces when it was time to go but they all had a great time crafting, playing and running together. 

Friday afternoon we took a family nap, except Josh, and it was great to rejuvenate.  Saturday's family time consistent of raking leaves together.  Josh was a great helper, the girls were sleeping. He raked leaves, piled them into bags and occasionally jumped in the piles.  The smile on his face was the best. Today, we put up our outside Christmas lights.  Jason and I did most of the decorating even though the kids wanted to help.  It's a good thing they all have helmets because while they weren't helping they were rolling their carts down our driveway at breakneck speed and loving every moment.

The blessings these past few days have come in the common (or not so common in our household) moments when the children were all just playing nicely together at a game that we did not have to participate in.  Or, sneaking downstairs in the morning to watch cartoons and let Jason and I sleep or even plowing through a meal, eating 2-3 helpings and telling us how delicious the food was.

We finally made it to church today.  With the start of the Advent season I wanted to make a point of getting there and then returning every Sunday.  When it was time for the children to go down to Sunday School they all went willingly and without any fuss.  I don't know when the last sermon was that I sat through and could absorb without interruption.  Truly a highlight of my day.

The children are generally in good spirits when they wake up.  I love the morning snuggles when they fold into me.  I think Josh was having fun when he put up this cereal barricade to peer through at Mira.

The girls were well behaved as I drove them all over, again, running errands today.  They have an amazing ability to calm themselves when a lollipop is at stake.  I always get wonderful smiles at my Snow White and Rose Red when we are out and an inevitable, "Are they twins?"

We had tea again this afternoon when Josh came home from school.  We had to run out.  Life was truly hectic at that moment but we stopped, ate a snack and talked about the day for 15 minutes before rushing off again. It set the stage for a much more pleasant evening and Mira looked forward to it all day. 

On the way home from picking up our turkey, which the kids handled very well, Josh and Mira fell asleep in the car.  Evelyn was chattering away.  I hated to wake them but neither had dinner in their belly and normal bedtime was still an hour and a half away.

There are many things we 'got right' in our new kitchen and a place to cook with the kids' help was one of them.  We made pancakes tonight with everyone's help and then enjoyed them at our new table. Everyone ate a great dinner.  Afterwards we cleaned up and had a short dance party.  The weather was awful today and the kids needed to move! Mira's choice of music was Star Wars. Then it was up for a bit of bedroom clean up in preparation for guests on Thursday.   

Off to bed and we will do it again tomorrow!

Giving Thanks

Danielle reading to Mira

Today, Joshua had photo retakes and Mira was feasting for Thanksgiving at her school.  So, we were all busy looking our best this morning.

Before we even left for school I took a moment to catch a quick picture.  Josh was reluctant but Mira and Evelyn were happy to pose in their pretty dresses.  They really do love each other!

The Thanksgiving feast was fun and I enjoyed watching Mira sing and craft and eat.  She was great!  We had a surprise visitor when the kids babysitter, Danielle, showed up.  Once the girls saw her, she had to join in the fun.  Mira snuggled right up to Danielle and spent the rest of the party with her.

Sisters

Thanksgiving digs

The next highlight of the day came when I made tea for the kids as their afternoon snack.  We set out 'fancy' tea cups (a glass set that I have) and made tea in their own small pot.  I cut up bananas, apples and cashews to have for our food and we all sat around the table practising our manners and talking about the day.  It was really quite nice.  I would love that ritual to greet Josh every day after school but I am not ready to make promises it will happen consistently.

To end the evening, the kids helped clean up the playroom.  It was one of the tasks we decided needed to get done before Thanksgiving.  The children picked which room we would clean when.  Josh was a star and cleaning up.  I set a contest and said that whomever earned the most 'golden nuggets' while cleaning up would get a Girl Scout Cookie.  Josh loved that idea!  We had a scavenger hunt.  The first thing we hunted for was balls and we got them all tucked away then started looking for the next thing.  After everything was cleaned up they picked out several toys they were ready to pass along to other boys and girls that have less.  I was impressed with how readily Josh was able to give.  Mira was attached to everything.  I didn't even ask Evie.  Unfortunately, we only cleared enough room for our existing toys to fit in the playroom!  But, we'll do it once more before Christmas.   When even had time to play for a few minutes before heading back upstairs. They all earned cookies and Josh earned two. 

Dinner Blessings

Having Jason home is amazing.  We get through the week ok but we are a family and we are meant to all be together so having our missing piece home on the weekends just makes everything go better.  The case in point tonight was dinner.  I was working on getting dinner on the table and had made apple crisp and ice cream as dessert because it was just that kind of a day.  The kids were excited but rambunctious because they had not had enough time outside to play.  Daddy came swooping in and intervened and provided the consistency in parenting that was truly needed.  What resulted was three very well behaved children at dinner, a meal that was enjoyed by everyone and pleasant dinner conversation.  It was a blessing for sure! 

Mira thanked me for making her food and sat pleasantly for most of the time.  Josh asked to say prayers before eating and cleaned his plate and asked for more.  Evie, was up and down through dinner.  Her great behaviour came before dinner when Daddy was able to reason with her, she is probably the most reasonable person in the family at this point, and explained that unless she played quietly I wouldn't be able to make the dinner she wanted to eat.  She must have understood because she sat and played quietly from that point 'til dinner!

Earlier today I cut the kids' hair while they enjoyed X-Men the cartoon.  They all love having their hair cut so it is fun time.  After lunch I took Josh and Mira on a whirlwind of errands while Evie napped.  In the car, inspired by the farm we were driving too "Sunny Hill", we came up with names for the farm we could own.  Sunny Farm, Sunny Tree, Furry Hill and some other silly names resulted. 


At the farm, Josh and Mira clambered to the playset before spotting a little orange cat.  He was meowing for their attention.  When they got off the playset to pet the kitty two other cats joined the throng and they had fun petting and playing with all the kitties.   They didn't want to leave.  I think it had something to being around cats that were happy to be around them.

It was a beautiful fall day today and any other day like this I would have taken the kids outside to play.  Joshua was begging for it.  But, we've been making all sorts of efforts to have our kitchen remodel finished by Thanksgiving and we are so close!  Jason and I spent the day working together to tile the kitchen.  I think my favorite days of my life are those that we spending working or doing something together and today was no exception. 

The children were unexpectedly well behaved today.  They got up this morning and went downstairs to play quietly on their own.  We were able to sleep in until 7:45am!  Absolutely amazing.  Then they played nicely with each other all morning while we worked, Josh even made himself a pb&j sandwich for lunch.  Evelyn napped and we did our afternoon naptime routine.  Joshua opted to clean the living room up and then watch tv instead of laying down for a rest.  He did a fantastic job.  Mira didn't stay upstairs for her nap, she snuck down to be with Josh but they played well again.  After Evie woke up it wasn't too long before we finished things and headed to the Carpenters for pizza dinner.

After dinner at our neighbor's I brought the kids home and put them to bed.  Mira and Josh took turns brushing my hair.

It was truly refreshing today to have the children play without even asking for tv for the majority of the day.  I loved their pampering at bedtime.  It was sad to have to say no but I appreciated Josh wanting to go outside to play and that Mira wanted a snuggle buddy while watching tv.  Just about any other moment I would have said yes.  I don't usually put things off but TOMORROW we will play outside, snuggle & read; and do those things that the kids wanted to do today.

I started blogging again as a daily exercise to remember all the good and special moments that happen throughout the day.  I find sometimes that it is hard to relate just one special moment with Evie.  She is always with me and generally in good spirits.  She says the most amazing things for her little 2 year old self.  Today in the car while running errands she started a game saying, "Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe..." When she finished she would say, "Mama, It's your turn." and I would say a round.  Each time I changed the 'If he _____, let him go' and then she would copy me.  She thought my verses were SO silly :-)

She recognizes Chick-Fil-A without fail.  She saw it from the Target parking lot this morning and got very excited, "There's Chick-Fil-A!"  and "There IT is, Mama!" and "I see it, over dare!"  She wanted to go in and play on the play set but we needed to get back to Mira so she settled for a lunch of chicken nuggets and fries.  When we got home we had applesauce :-)

And if it is not too inappropriate, I have to say I just LOVE her little baby tongue.  It is little and pink and pointy and So Cute!  She had it sticking out the side of her mouth  tonight when doing something, I don't remember what.

It wasn't 'one moment' today for Josh and Mira either.  They played so well this afternoon while I was wrapping things up from work.  They were playing a pretend game building ships with the legos and using the doll house and dolls.  I don't quite remember the gist but I do remember we didn't turn the tv all day. 

Jason let me out of the house for a little 'girl's night out' to watch Breaking Dawn.  The kids took the idea we had a few days ago and did it with Jason and that was to get all ready for bed then snuggle up with Daddy and watch a movie in our bed.  I hoped they would fall asleep but that was wishful thinking.  It does sound like they had lots of good cuddle time though.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel Let Down Your Long Hair...

The highlight of my day was definitely watching Josh, Mira and Evelyn preform the movie, "Tangled" in our living room.  Mira had a blanket draped over her head and down her back to represent her long, long hair.  Joshua was the narrator and Flynn Rider and had a cleaning stick used for a recorder as his sword.  Evelyn was Mother Gothel.  They had been playing and acting out the scenes for a while this evening when I suggested they perform for me.  They loved that idea and Josh set up the scene which included a tower for Rapunzel that doubled as the kingdom's castle. 

Josh, of course, recited exact lines from the movie.  He has an amazing memory for those kinds of things.  Evelyn terrorized the set and Mira provided songs, of her own creation.

Today, was a really great day. The girls behaved while we took the van in for a detail and they watched the movie, "Tangled" while we waited.  Mira ate a FANTASTIC dinner and told me how delicious it was.  Evelyn ran her fingers through my hair several times and remarked how much she liked my hair.  I LOVE that!  Josh had a green day at school AND received an 'Ovation' in music class for being an outstanding music citizen.  He also sang, "America" in school today for the Patriot Program tester (his buddy Kyle's mom).  I am pretty sure he did this by himself which is a remarkable feat in and of itself.  But, he is singing it at home too and does a beautiful job. 

We are reading the book, 'Tumtum and Nutmeg' and the kids are enjoying it.  Josh read another 10 min for his BookIt program so that this week he already has 55 min of reading time logged.

Mira made this for me.  She drew it on a piece of junk mail. She wrote my name in the top right corner.  My girl knows her letters!  She loves to play starfall.com and has really progressed because of that website.  Today was a raining day and when I was walking Mira into preschool, holding her sweet little hand, she said, "Isn't the rain nice?" Why, yes Mira it is.  "The rain is beautiful.  It gives us water and makes the flowers grow."  You are correct Mira.  "God made the rain." Yes, he did.  "It is so good God gave us the rain. You know, mommy, God lives in our hearts."  So bright!  Yes, Mira, God does live in our hearts. 

Josh had another green day at school.  He helped pick the movie, "Babe: A pig in the city."  It was a little dark at times but ok.  I had a good time doing homework with Josh.  He finished his work for the week tonight and then drew pictues for his teacher on the back of his schoolwork.  He even wrote sentences that if you read them phonetically the sentences make sense.  Good job parsing your words, Joshie!

Evelyn is so my little snuggle bunny.  She has been a bit under the weather, we all are.  After name, she just curled up on my lap and stayed.  I love cuddling with my baby.

November 15, 2011

Today I visited Joshie's school for Education Week.  Memaw came along, too, to observe.  His teacher is very energetic.  I was please to see him completing all the tasks she asked for and raising his hand to participate.  He sat next to his buddy, Kyle, when they read their sight words books.  He did a great job!

Mira and Evie got to spend the morning with Grandad.  They played pretend and ate jello, yum!

Mira started my day with this fabulous statement, "I just have a cold. That why my boogers aren't going in right. Girls always have colds and sometimes they don't."  Don't you just love kid logic?

When Josh got home from school he had a snack and then Alex came over and took the kids outside to play.  I worked with a friend's son on Trig homework.  Really had to dust off those brain cells!  The kids were really great tonight and when it came time for bed, they turned off the games (Josh had earned time to play Wii) and headed right upstairs to get ready.  They were all finished by the time I got up there and so we had lots of time to talk to Daddy, read "Tumtum and Nutmeg" and snuggle.  Joshua read to me 10 minutes.  He really likes the Usborne Readers where he reads the top sentence on the page and I read the bottom.

Evie on a daily basis is pleasant, eats her food and plays nicely.  She does climb a bit too much for my liking but at age two, I kind of expect it. She sang ABC's for Memaw and Grandad and continues to ask for my to sing Lullabye to her.  I love laying on her pillow at nap and night time singing to her.  She always asks, 'Mommy, sleep?' but I can't stay.  Chores and children beckon. 

I promised the kids that one night we would get ready for bed, and snuggle up on my bed to watch a movie and fall asleep.  I can't wait for that!