Happy Spring!

So after working a 12-hour night shift and then only getting about 3 hours of sleep after that (and no sleep the day before), I was rather tired last night. Almost overtired, but thankfully I fell asleep maybe about 15 minutes after settling in and didn't move for about 9 hours! I told Scott as I fell asleep that if the kids woke up I might not hear them. Well, this morning I wake up and the baby monitor is turned off!!! Guess we both slept well; hope the kids did, too! Oops! At any rate, the kids are all doing fine! So I got up and turned on the monitor, crawled back into the nice warm bed, and minutes later hear Maddie very calmly saying: Hep me, hep me, hep me! It was just too cute to hear her requests to get out of the crib and get on with the day. And made me a little proud because I've been trying to get her to say that rather than crying/screaming.

Went to speech this morning for Zach. He really did well today. Only 2 more weeks, and then he graduates from the program! We're so excited and happy for this accomplishment! After that the kids and I went to Oxbow Park & Zoo; the kids really enjoyed it, and it was a great way to burn off some energy. I think we were the only non-working people there, so we had the place to ourselves - pretty nice. Then we had some lunch and came home and played outside for a while. It's so nice out. In the 40's and sunny beautiful weather! Happy 1st day of spring!!! But they're threatening us with up to 8 inches of snow! Unbelievable!!! I just got all the ice off the driveway too... I'm really hoping that the snow is just going to go up north and skip us all together!

Another Olivia quote:
Whenever something goes missing in the house and we're (and by "we're" I mean me and/or Scott) looking for it, Olivia says:
Well, it must be somewhere!
Oh, what a help...

posted by Elena

Latest Quotes:

Madeline:
Mo (this means more in her language, especially useful word when eating)

Zachary:
Wibby, are you? (Livi, where are you? - It's funny that he leaves out the 'where' just like Olivia used to)

Olivia:
1) Has gotten a little sassy as of late, and so we're trying to teach her to curb it. So one night, after a little comment from her I told her that she should not talk back. Her reply:
We do not talk back; we talk forwards!
And I must add that she was being absolutely serious! No smart little comeback intended... So funny.

2) And then driving in town the other day, a taxi with one of those big pointed signs on the roof passed us. From the backseat I hear:
Oh, that car is sooo silly! It's wearing a party hat!
followed by her giggling at the hilariousness of that car, and I just busted out laughing.


Oh, it's so fun how I am gaining new perspective on this world through my kids!

posted by Elena

It was Maddie's turn to do the dishes and clean up the kitchen. It didn't work out so well; maybe we should wait a few more years? She emptied out the corner cupboard, pulled a couple of toys into the kitchen, looked in the dishwasher and then closed the door. It's a tough job...

After we finished cleaning up the kitchen and putting away the clean dishes, Maddie decided she was pretty tired and ready to settle down for the day. But we have a routine: bath-time first!

We decided to take advantage of the older kids running around outside to let Maddie take a big bath all by herself! We have discovered that our mild-mannered little girl has quite the jealous streak! That's right, no attention for anybody else but Maddie, or else. I mean ALL THE TIME, and we're having so much fun with this one. If Zach or Livi get "owies" or need some loving, Attention Police, Attention Police - Maddie reporting for duty! This does NOT fly, and she lets us know! Too bad for her...

Anyway, bath-time is fine if she's by herself, but if ANYbody else gets in the tub, it is generally one long tantrum (thank you, Maddie). Last night I discovered something else: I cannot read while she's in the tub because if she looks up at me and I'm not looking at her, then there will be hell to pay! Because I clearly was not paying attention to HER!

Oh, Mother! Another picture? Of me naked?!?
To which I reply: Hey, you wanted my attention!

Love that round little face!

posted by Elena

Running Outside

We have really missed being able to play outside A LOT!!! The kids grabbed their toys and started one of their favorite activities: pushing their toys up and down the driveway:

A good shot of them racing down the drive:

posted by Elena

Our Flooded Driveway

We had a lot of snow and then some of it melted. Hard to believe that three days ago it was -4 and then yesterday was 46 degrees ABOVE zero!!! Love the heat! But we didn't snow-blow the sides of the drive, so as it melts, it pools at the bottom of the driveway. The kids like it for about 25 seconds: they run through it making a big splash, and then cry and complain about their feet being all wet:

It's okay to ride the tricycle through though because then your feet don't get wet and you still get the thrill of playing in the BIG puddle!

Zach snagging his opportunity to ride the tricycle
(I think Olivia went inside to find different shoes/boots).

posted by Elena

So Scott and I thought about what we could do to get rid of the excess water. The biggest problem is that when the temps go below freezing in the next couple of days the big puddle of water becomes a big patch of ice up to 4 inches thick at the bottom of the drive! Not good. So we decided to suck all that water out with the shop vac. Scott figures he pulled up around 200 gallons of water.
Olivia was rather excited about the waterless driveway because she'd gone through all her dry shoes and boots by this point, and had only her pretty dress shoes left to wear.

posted by Elena

My Gardening Skills

Anybody who knows me well knows that I cannot keep plants alive, unless they are of the extremely hardy variety, and even then there are NO guarantees! I do tend to be able to keep cacti and those peace lilies (only because they start to wilt, you water them, and they perk right up again!). Any other plants/flowers that live for any length of time are either outside and need only the natural Minnesota weather, are plastic, or are weeds.

So a couple of years ago my in-laws gave me this amaryllis. Basically it bloomed once, then kept its leaves for ages. Then those fell off, and I kind of forgot about it. Then last spring there it was sprouting in the garage! Maybe it'll be okay? So it sat on our front stoop all summer, just pretty leaves. No blooms, but hey, it was alive!!! Then my father-in-law gave me some tips on how to get them to bloom. Now I had every good intention of doing it, but time got away from me, and I didn't get it in before the first freeze. Bye bye leaves. But eventually it made it inside, under another pot just set on top of it. And then about six weeks later, I decided to clean up those pots, and there was my amaryllis sprouting again! So I watered it lightly and set it out, and it has now finally bloomed!

We have to keep it up on top of the piano, otherwise Maddie decides to taste the dirt. Haven't given her the opportunity to taste the pretty red leaves, though. Livi HAD to smell the flower of course. In her nose went into the bell of the flower, and came out full of yellow pollen! It was so funny! Zach could care less about the flower.

posted by Elena

Madeline was briefly trying to read here:

But then she found shoes and
was distracted by the laces instead:

Zachary likes living dangerously:
here, you can see that he is drinking some hot cocoa,
and at the bottom left you can see that
Olivia has just noticed whose mug he is drinking from:

posted by Elena

Zachary


I just LOVE this picture!!!
For once, that camera snapped at a good time...

posted by Elena

Random Olivia Pictures

In order to feel like a true beautiful princess, it is important to look the part. Just ask Olivia...

She had an old winter hat with the fur trim on backwards, which was holding in place a lei that she made in preschool. Then was dressed in one of her "princess" dresses. Here she's twirling:

A close-up of the ensemble:

And as I soon discovered, not just one, but TWO sundresses!
Sometimes it's just too hard to narrow it down and decide what to wear...

posted by Elena

Playing the Piano

Last week we were all home enjoying each other's company, and suddenly Olivia asked: "Can I play the piano and sing at the same time?" Nobody napping, so hit it... It was too much for Zachary and Madeline to not participate, so before long they'd all found chairs and were playing and "dancing" on the chairs by bouncing as they played and sang. And yes, it was VERY noisy!!!

posted by Elena