Madeline's Grand Experiment

2008-09-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

New (and Last) Blog

We're moving to a new address to pull them all together. Click here.

2008-09-12T17:43:00.000-07:00

Fantasy Football time again. I took Brady in the first round. Torn ACL in the first quarter. Super.
Constant email and phone jabs from "friends" at me for my poor luck.

Vikes should be OK this year. Great running game, improving receivers, great O line and RB. Big ? at QB. Didn't look good in game one vs the Packers. We run a west coast offense so you need to be able to complete a high percentage of short passes. Not happening. Who knows though 9-7 could win the division.

Bears beat the Colts somehow but Manning didn't have any pre-season games this year so he's working his kinks out. Lions have some really good receivers and the most experienced QB but there isn't much there.

Twins are one game behind the Sox and way out of the wild card so really need to win the division. Who knows? Last six games are three vs the Sox and three vs the Royals.

The kids and I have really enjoyed the few times when we see a doe and a couple of fawns bullying a turkey around sunflower seeds from our front window.

Job's going well. We're adding another banker position at our branch so that should ease up on our workload. I'm getting more confident with the little Arabic I know and that helps with our customers.

2008-09-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

Our Baby's in Kindergarten!

Yesterday was Olivia's first day of kindergarten. For the first day, they have the kids come in for half a day with their parents. So we spent the afternoon in kindergarten. Scott and I did pretty well with reviewing letters and numbers! Anyway, Olivia did pretty well overall; a lot shy, but I think it helped her out that we were all there together. We got to eat lunch at the cafeteria, and all I can say is that Scott said Oh Lord as we were waiting in line and my thought was Oh my gosh! This takes me back! The food smells the same, and tastes the same! And it made us realize that it's been a really long time since we had a school lunch.

At kindergarten they had us all wear nametags. Olivia quickly pointed out to me that I had misspelled my name. I looked at her and said huh? And she told me that my name is spelled M-O-M. It was really hard not to laugh, and I explained to her that other people call me Elena, not Mom. So she concluded that Little girls call you Mom and big girls call you Elena! That's right honey. I thought it was cute.

Finally at the end of the day, much to Scott's and my surprise, Olivia really wanted to ride the school bus home all by myself! So we let her: heck, if she wants to, we don't want to discourage that! So she rode the bus home and I met her at the drop-off spot near our house, and it turns out she loved the bus and told me that she even made a friend!

First day of kindergarten

Olivia felt it very important to show off her backpack!

So today is the first full day of school for Olivia. When she asked me this morning if I was going to go to school with her, I thought for sure she'd be upset, but when I told her no, she just said okay, and went about eating some breakfast. Bright and early at 7am she got onto the bus; I got to wait with her at 7am - yippee! And she was so excited to get on the bus and go to kindergarten! No tears or anything - this is such a relief to us. So we'll find out when she gets home around 4:00 this afternoon how today went for her. More later.

2008-09-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

The First Day of School

I used to be little, but not any more.
Tomorrow I'll get up and walk out the door.
I'm going to school - it's the first time for me.
It's great to be big, but I'm scared as can be.

My tummy's in knots. Do you want to know why?
I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, I'll cry!
When Dad leaves the school and I'm there all alone,
I'm thinking that maybe I'll want to go home.

But wait - Mommy said I'll play lots of new games,
And meet lots of friends - I can learn all their names.
The first day of school, oh there's so much to do!
There's painting and books and a big playground, too.

I used to be little, but not any more.
Tomorrow I'll get up and walk out the door.
I'm going to school - it's my first day, you see.
It's great to be big! I'm so glad that I'm me!

~ Author unknown ~

2008-08-31T15:24:00.000-07:00

Livi and Zach taking a little break from playing.

They look so precious.

2008-08-31T15:23:00.000-07:00

Maddie: getting all gussied up in Livi's shoes

Look at my pretty shoes! Oh, wait, I'm thirsty!

Our girls

2008-08-31T15:22:00.000-07:00

Daddy reading a story to Livi and Zach. Zach lost interest somewhere around page 2.

Ta-da! Livi was so proud of her castle!

Close-up of Livi's castle - impressive

2008-08-15T15:52:00.000-07:00

Dunning's Spring

I met up with one of my best friends from high school the other day. She lives in Idaho now and hadn't been to town for quite a long time, and I hadn't been to some of these Decorah places in ages, so we decided to check out the places. First we went to The Cut, which is actually a big drainage culvert, but we always liked walking in there. So as we went down the steep incline and proceeded to walk reeeeaaaallllyyyy slowly (we didn't want to fall and break a hip ;-) , well, we were reminded that we just aren't 17 years old anymore. There were a couple of high school kids there practically running laps around us as we only walked part way once. But we had a great time! After that we headed to the Whippy Dip for a little bit of the best ice cream in Iowa. Then decided to head to Dunning's Spring. It's one of my favorite places - I just love going there. We were the only ones there, so we got to enjoy the quiet and take in all the quiet and peaceful surroundings:

Tara dipping her toes in. We just had to find out first-hand if the water was still as cold as when we were in high school. Yep, still cold!

2008-08-15T15:51:00.000-07:00

Before the park service put up barriers to get in the water, we used to crawl into this area: over rocks and then back towards the cave area. It was loud from the rushing water, but so relaxing and peaceful.

A view of Dunning's from the trail up above.

The woods area by Dunning's - I remember when I took this I thought: Oh how beautiful! I really don't think the camera quite captured what I saw.

Tara and I didn't stay at Dunning's for long, but it's the only place that we took any pictures. We spent the whole day and half the night together, just talking and catching up and laughing and crying and reminiscing. Oh, it was great! I can't wait to see her again!!!

2008-07-31T12:51:00.000-07:00

Eating Raspberries

Went out on the trail last night with the kids and picked a ton of raspberries for them! They just cannot get enough of those! So I took a cup out and filled it up, then brought it to the deck where they could share them. I thought it was a pretty good idea...

However, moments after this picture Madeline decided the deck looked pretty bland, stood up and stomped on some of the raspberries. The kids were upset about the raspberries being ruined, Scott for the deck getting stained a little (but he managed to wash the color out). So much for my great idea! Well maybe for a short while anyway...

2008-07-31T12:50:00.000-07:00

Zach really liked the raspberries!

And so did Maddie!

Livi's just a bit neater about inhaling them.

2008-07-30T15:45:00.000-07:00

Had a pretty quiet day today. Decided to go to one of the parks this morning since it was such a beautiful day. Maddie loved crawling all over the play equipment!

Olivia is obsessed with Nordic Fest! This is a picture of "my family and friends and they're in the parade!" I think she had a great time!

2008-07-30T15:43:00.000-07:00

Nordic Fest - July 24-26, 2008

One of our favorite activities at Nordic Fest is the

Footnotes street dance on Saturday evening:

2008-07-30T15:34:00.000-07:00

Dancing with a couple of girls at the Footnotes street dance:

2008-07-30T15:32:00.001-07:00

2008-07-30T15:32:00.000-07:00

Hunter loves all the toys!

Livi and Cousin Hunter

This is the only way to get a picture of all 4 kids.

Zach got a new Thomas the Train hat.

They are inseparable.

2008-07-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

Pokey Pete:

A very popular activity for Livi and Zach

All Nordic Fest-ed out:

Maddie and Cousin Hunter played so nicely together:

2008-07-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

Maddie giving her teddy bear a little lovin'

2008-07-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

New Glasses

So Scott FINALLY got new glasses yesterday! We have been together (dating and married) for nearly 13 years, and the glasses that he had been using until yesterday were already a couple years old when we started dating! The guy in LensCrafters was like: "Whoa, whoa, whoa! 13 YEARS???!!!???"

So when I asked Scott for a picture of his glasses, he took them off and handed them to me (thanks, smart-a**). So here's the picture of just the glasses:

And one of Scott actually wearing the glasses:

And to complete the photo sessions with me from earlier:

One of us together:

And me at the end of a typical busy day!

2008-07-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

Trying to Keep Maddie Happy

This morning Maddie was being a bit fussy and the camera was handy, so I decided to try and see if the camera (flash) would keep her somewhat happy and distracted. It turned out to be a hit! Here's a sampling:

Say "cheese!"

After a little while Maddie really became quite the little ham!

2008-07-03T11:33:00.000-07:00

Photo Session with Mom

So my idea to distract Maddie caught on with the older two, and of course, everybody needed to have their own picture with Mommy!

Zach's trying to do the posed smile here.

2008-07-03T11:32:00.000-07:00

Group Pictures

So Scott's at work today, so he's not in any of these.

But we (you) all know what he looks like already anyway! ;-)

Take 1: Olivia turned to talk to Maddie just as the camera flashed; Zachary's not too sure about all this picture business; Maddie's smiling!

Take 2: Livi's smiling; Zach's telling us something; Maddie's smiling.

Take 3: Livi's smiling; Zach's kind of smiling; Maddie's sucking her thumb (but she's smiling)!

It is much too difficult to get all three of them happy and posed and smiling at the same time! Ah, 2 out of 3 is considered a success at this stage! And it was only a success because I was with them in the pictures and there wasn't anybody behind the camera. But at any rate, we had an entertaining time with taking pictures! And it really kept the kids busy - we had to look at every single picture right after we took it, so it did take a little while.

2008-07-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

We have this book called I Love You As Much. It's a great story for little kids. The other day Olivia was working and concentrating so hard at the table. I assumed she was drawing a picture. A little while later she came up to me and said, "Here Mom. It says I. Love. You. I wrote it all by myself!" My baby had copied the title of the book. Needless to say, I was both impressed and touched.

2008-07-01T16:53:00.000-07:00

More Today Pictures:

Zach loves Thomas the Train. Mommy had to put together the tracks for him. I knew that Scott wouldn't believe that I could do a decent job of it so I took a couple of pictures.

Close-up of train tracks designed and constructed by Mommy.

You know what? Scott was impressed!

As if there was a doubt that I could do it!!!

Playing with Play-Doh

Zach and Livi play with the Play-Doh. Maddie likes to just stack the

jars in the container, then dump them out, then stack them up again...

2008-07-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

Just a Quiet Day

Livi's been coloring all morning. I found this Halloween-themed coloring pad, and with Halloween being her absolute favorite holiday, she got right to work!

Maddie is helping with the coloring. One of her favorite activities is trying to put clothes on. As you can see, she has a little jumper around her neck. She's so proud that she can put clothes on all by herself! So what if it's not the right way?

Zach's being a little camera-shy... Again

2008-07-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

More Artwork by Olivia

Cat

Self - Portrait

2008-06-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

The Lone Turkey

I went to the kitchen to make some lunch, and looked out the window:

It stayed in the front yard for about 10 minutes. Livi and Zach just LOVED

looking at it from the window! Not the best picture - taken

through a screen window - it was much cooler to see in person.

2008-06-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

Happy 7th Anniversary!

Scott and I decided that we desperately needed some time away to try and reconnect as a couple, so what better time than our anniversary? So we left the kids with Grandma Nadine and Grandpa & Grandma Watson, and headed up to the Twin Cities for the weekend.

We went to a casino on Friday night and lost about $20 on the slots.

And then Saturday we went to Valleyfair. I had a blast - Scott had a great time too, but he just doesn't get as excited about amusement parks as I do! I'm like a little ADHD kid hopped up on coke at those places! The faster, twirlier, wilder, and wetter the rides are the better! Scott doesn't quite share my enthusiasm, so he begrudgingly went on the water rides with me (poor guy), but loved the roller coasters and most of the thrill rides, but after 5 hours decided that he could not keep up with me because he didn't feel well by then, so I went on two rides by myself and then we left. Oh, it was soooo much fun; can't wait to go again.

And then Sunday we had to return to reality...

2008-06-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

Summertime in Minnesota!!!

Zach and Livi

Olivia - loves doing "tricks;" this means that she can swim underwater

across the length of the pool.

Zachary - loves splashing, but does not like his face or head getting wet.

Madeline - does not like swimming: the water's too cold!!!

2008-06-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

So the kids decided they wanted to go on a road trip. Zach promptly jumped to the driver's seat and told the girls to come on along! Mama was not invited this time...

Unfortunately, there just weren't enough seats, so Livi decided that she would sit on the floor instead. Surely that's a safe option.

Let's go! Um, where are the keys?

Livi's reading the vehicle owner's manual: Wait a minute, guys! I think we may be doing something wrong!

2008-06-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

Bye Mom! Gimme a kiss!

So cute and sweet:

Okay, I'm all buckled up and ready to go, Zach!

Bye, Mama! See you later! Mwah!

2008-06-09T13:42:00.000-07:00

I found a Thomas the Train website that has free little kid games on them. They were a hit and gave me a little free time while Maddie was sleeping!

2008-06-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

More Olivia Art: A Picture of Mama:

Close-Up of Mama:

Speckles enjoys these warmer days too!

Close-Up of Speckles:

2008-06-09T13:36:00.000-07:00

Playing outside. I actually got one picture of all three of them. A split-second earlier or later this wouldn't have been possible.

Maddie drawing on herself with the chalk:

Zach riding his bike:

Livi:

2008-06-09T13:32:00.000-07:00

Madeline has decided that there needs to be some organization these days. It's so neat how I have seen all three kids do exactly this - lining things up just perfectly - and they have done this without being told or seeing anyone else do it.

2008-06-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

We Do Not Play With Snakes!

Olivia and Zachary were playing outside last Thursday, had gone to the garden to smell the beautiful flowers. All of a sudden I hear Olivia start crying, you know, a painful-quickly-moving-on-to-hysterical-panicked cry. So I started going out to our deck when I heard Zach start to cry too. My first thought was that they must have somehow upset a wasp nest, and then I thought, but it's too chilly for those yet. So I run out to the deck and see Olivia standing there screaming, and then out of the corner of my eye I see a little snake quickly moving under our picnic table. Olivia had gotten bitten on her finger by the snake, Zachary no bites; both were scared out of their wits. Thankfully, we knew it was a Northern water snake and not poisonous, but still called the nurse hotline to see if we should go in to the ER or not. We decided not to, and she was fine, just shook up quite a bit. Here's the amazing part: Olivia found the snake in the garden, somehow managed to catch it, and was carrying it up to our house to show us her new find! And once she got onto the deck it bit her!!! Oh my! We're just happy that nobody was seriously hurt and that an important lesson was learned.

Scott managed to catch the snake in a huge box:

Close-up of snake:

We decided not to kill it, so we set him free in the woods:

Bye-bye Snake!

2008-05-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

Not Much New

Our camera has been acting up a bit lately, so don't really have any photos to add this time :-(

Not too much new happening around here these days. It is finally springtime here in Minnesota! And we have LOVED getting outside a lot! The kids could live outside I think. We play in the sandbox, walk on the trail, run up and down the driveway and take long walks through our development. Oh yes, and going to the park. It's been mostly just beautiful here.

Olivia finished preschool last week, and now onto kindergarten this fall. I cannot believe it! It just doesn't seem quite possible. And after some nervous thoughts about kindergarten, she has come around and is extremely excited to go in the fall and ride the school bus "all by myself." Which is kind of scary to me, but I don't let on. I'm just happy that she's looking so forward to it!

Zachary finished up his community class that he started taking last fall for his speech delay. That also ended last week. He just loved going to that class, and I think he'll miss it. His language has exploded over the last few months, it's just incredible how much he has learned! He really wants to go to preschool, so we decided to enroll him for this fall, and he is soooo excited! I think he wants to start right now!

Madeline has been talking a lot more these days too. She knows maybe 25 words, but whether we understand what she's trying to say, we usually get the message! She is one sassy little girl with a mind of her own. Wonder who she gets that from?!? And she's walking all over the place, but just hasn't quite figured out running. I think that she's afraid of falling and getting hurt, but she really gives it her all to keep up with the older two!

2008-05-03T17:56:00.000-07:00

Olivia Art

I am so proud of this picture! This is a picture that she drew of her "kitty" blanket! She really did quite well - as you can see there are kitties and of course she included the fringe on the outer edges of the blanket. The small one at the bottom is her "square blanket" she told me.

This is her first non-stick-person picture, and am so impressed by how well she did on it!

2008-05-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

A Beautiful Saturday

Scott needed a weekend off from being a responsible adult, so it was his turn to take some time off. He's been so sweet to give me a few weekends this past winter, so he's needing a break. Anyway, so it's just the kids and me. Aside from Maddie having a cold and not sleeping very well or much, it's really been a pretty good weekend! Went out today and Zach and Livi rode their bike and trike. Maddie is now mastering the skill of climbing down stairs (about gives me a heart attack to watch or think about it) and likes to climb on the toys.

I cannot believe they are old enough to

be riding a bike and tricycle!

Maddie wanted to try out some more

sophisticated wheels...

So proud of climbing up into the van

all by herself

But this is really more her speed

2008-05-03T17:54:00.000-07:00

Maddie really likes the truck.

Zachary does not like to share his precious truck,

but this option seemed to work out well for both kids.

A very proud bike rider.

She LOVES to practice riding her bicycle

up and down our driveway.

She really does quite well.

Zach pushing his truck down the driveway.

2008-05-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

Maddie got stuck in the tall weeds -

Olivia's being a wonderful big sister

and helping her out!

2008-05-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

Cousin Hunter's Birthday Party

1 Year Old!!!

Maddie enjoying some cake! Yummy!

Olivia really liked trying out this cool toy.

Zach decided that he would give the
new motorcycle a test drive to
make sure it was safe enough for Hunter.

Maddie's major task was proving over
and again that she can get into the bumbo
chair ALL BY HERSELF

2008-04-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

Des Moines Visit

We decided about six months ago to go to Des Moines for a visit to Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Watson. On a side note, we sit around the house most weekends with nothing to do, no one calling us, no place to go, etc. And I've been having a lot of trouble picking up hours at work lately too, low census or over-staffed, so I've been almost begging co-workers to hire me or let me pick up a few hours for them (pretty sad really, I mean who ever begs to go to work?!?). But without telling anybody that we were planning to go out of town, we turned out to be missed quite a bit! A couple of friends called to go out, and I had offers from FIVE co-workers to pick up shifts at work over the weekend! Isn't it funny how that always works out that way?

Anyway, back to Des Moines. We enjoyed a nice visit with Jack and Lois, and Bob and Linda came with us too - they ended up spoiling us by taking Maddie for the weekend and keeping her with them at the apartment while Zach and Livi and Scott and I went back to the hotel for swimming and sleeping. It was a lot less stressful for me anyway, making the weekend a lot more enjoyable! We spent a lot of time playing at the Wesley Acres playground - all 3 kids LOVED this! And there were lots of toys to run around with from the daycare center that runs there during the week. Another fun outing was going to the science center - Zach and Livi had a blast there! There were so many activities for the kids, I think we could have spent the whole weekend there! Lots of time to spend with Jack and Lois and visit with them, too!

The best part for Livi and Zach was the swimming pool at the hotel. Livi was incorrigible about reminding us on an almost constant basis about the swimming pool and her need to go there! We heard from her at least 30 times during dinner Saturday evening, "We need to go to the hotel, to 1-1-2, and then to the swimming pool!" Yes, we stayed in room 112, which she named "one one two." I think that she was mad at us on Sunday when we left and came home. She was ready to permanently move into 1-1-2.

It's so funny how things work out though. On Thursday morning I had to take Olivia to a doctor's appointment at the WFMC (World Famous Mayo Clinic), and we saw a developmental/behavioral specialist, which has followed her from the NICU. Anyway, I was so angry with him when we left - he irritates me about half the times we see him anyway - but after hearing from preschool teachers and our observations, we had decided to send her to kindergarten this fall. After a lot of stress, we got into the school that we wanted to, then see this doctor who tells us that he doesn't think that she's ready for kindergarten and that she's too anxious and won't function well in school. I was furious, and getting more so as time passes. I could rant about this for pages and pages, but we'll leave it at that. So then at the swimming pool there were a couple of girls about 6 years old I'd guess, playing in the water. Olivia got brave and decided that she could "bounce" in the water without holding onto us. Then she spotted these two little girls, and asked if she could talk to "the girls." So I told her that she could, but that she'd have to go over there (about 3 feet away). So she did! Scott and I were shocked! Three times Olivia approached the girls: Hi! I'm Olivia! I was so excited and proud! And in the back of my mind, I know that this child will be fine for kindergarten this fall. Maybe there is a little anxiety with a big change (new school, school bus), but I think that she'll be fine - and besides it's like 5 months away yet.

2008-04-09T14:08:00.000-07:00

Shoe Shopping

With the seasons threatening to make a permanent change to spring-like weather, I decided the kids were really needing some new shoes. Well, that and for practical reasons like their shoes were getting well-worn holes in them and feet were growing faster than the shoes.

So I was feeling brave a couple of weeks ago and decided to venture out with the three kids in search of shoes.

Olivia is pretty easy to buy shoes for - or so I thought. I packed up the three kids and we headed to Wal-Mart. To the shoe section we went. Olivia was VERY excited! We first saw the nice Disney princess sandals that Olivia believed she would die without! But I kept looking - quickly - Maddie was starting to get impatient with the "slow" shoppers (which means we had stopped moving for a period of longer than 2 seconds). After a few minutes and several try-ons Olivia and I settled on 2 pairs of sandals: one pretty dainty white sandals with little heels on them and another more practical pair that are lavendar and have butterflies and flowers on them. So I put them in the cart and Olivia decided that was the time to really get into shoe shopping! She ran down the aisle and started grabbing at other sandals: Mommy, I need to try these on too! I want these! Clearly, I am going to have to have an Olivia-shoe-account someday sooner rather than later!

Then the next day the kids and I headed to StrideRite for Zach's new shoes. We have to buy his shoes there, probably always will, because his feet are so wide. So we went in and - they have great service - we were met with someone helping us out right away! Just tell them what you want, and they measure the feet and bring out 5 or 6 pairs of shoes to try! Well, they brought the shoes out and I helped Zach pick out a pair to try first, and those were the ones he fell in love with! Of course, having "tractors" (dump trucks) on them didn't hurt much either!

So since then, Zachary has maybe worn his shoes once because I won't let him wear them in the sandbox or run through the mud in them yet, and of course, he is a creature of habit and really prefers the old ones yet! And Olivia has worn her white sandals every single day since then! The purple ones not so much yet. This morning I woke up and found the brand-new white sandals in the garbage. So I asked her about it, fully expecting that it had been the work of the "very helpful" Madeline, when Livi tells me that she threw them out and that she needs new white sandals because those were "dirty." Looking at them, I think I found a spec of dirt on the sole of one of the shoes...

Maddie got to tag along on the shoe-shopping adventures, but no "new" shoes for her. She gets to wear Olivia's old shoes and sandals for now. Sorry, Maddie, but they're so cute! We just had to "shop" for new shoes in our basement, and luckily I found a pair that fit pretty well. And she really likes them - they're comfortable!

2008-03-20T14:55:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-12T07:23:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-12T07:21:00.002-07:00

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

2008-03-12T07:20:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-12T07:19:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-12T07:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-12T07:14:00.000-07:00

Zachary

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

posted by Elena

2008-03-12T07:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-12T07:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-02-24T22:18:00.000-08:00

Latest Zach News:

- Talking a lot!!! We can carry on conversations with him and understand a lot of what he says. This is such a wonderful thing for all of us.

- Doing more pretend play with toys other than trucks. He likes playing with dolls, kitchen toys and stuffed animals, but only for about 5 minutes a day. The rest of the time is still devoted to trucks/trains/cars.

- Really, really wants to go to school, so he might be going to preschool this fall. He just wants to play with the other kids!

- Becoming a good helper around the house: picking up things, cleaning up little spills and messes, helping make dinner.

posted by Elena

2008-02-24T22:13:00.000-08:00

Zachary

On Saturday Zach and I decided to go outside and hang up some new bird feeders - the squirrels pretty much destroyed the ones we had up - and play for a bit. It was pretty nice outside: the sun was shining and it wasn't very windy and maybe in the 20's or even 30's, I'm not sure. Anyway, Zachary pushed his toy trucks up the driveway and back down the driveway and back and forth repeatedly. Then he played in the snow for a little bit. Then down on the ground to check out the wheels of his toy trucks. Then running up and down the drive again. This went on for about 45 minutes, and then he was ready to come inside. About 15 minutes after we got in, Scott and I noticed he was awfully quiet, and there he was, asleep on the chair. He slept so soundly that I don't think he even moved the entire time! What a good workout!

Zachary has a strong aversion to having his picture taken,
so this one is indeed a very rare one:

He would only look my general direction
because there was a movie on behind me and
I asked him about the characters in it!

Today I tried to get a picture of him, and he started screaming NO!!! and crying as though he was being attacked. And then he ran and hid under his blankets. I'm not sure what the problem is, but no pictures of Zach today...

posted by Elena

2008-02-24T22:00:00.000-08:00

Latest Madeline Happenings

- Walking across an entire room!

- Talking more and more and lots of babbling

- Recently got through a nasty bout of teething. One month ago she had 6 total teeth (4 top, 2 bottom). Now she has all her molars and all the middle teeth. She's only missing like 6 or so that I can tell. It was sure a tough time for her... Much happier now!

- Finally heavy enough to officially be in the "big girl" car seat, which is a forward-facing toddler seat. Today was the first day of this arrangement, and she really liked facing forward, but thought that if anyone looked at her, then they should hand her a cookie (no kidding).

posted by Elena

2008-02-24T21:57:00.000-08:00

Madeline

This weekend we decided that since it's just starting to warm up to the 20's, we'd venture out for a bit. Run the kids out so they sleep a lot (especially at night). We couldn't find Olivia's old hat, and I refused to buy another one, so I wrapped my hat/scarf combo around her, and it did the trick. I just thought it was so precious around her cute little round face!

-----------------------------------------------------

She has started walking more and more this week.

Now she's getting so that she'll walk across an entire room!
What's really cute is that we'll clap for her and then she'll start laughing and clapping and become so distracted by the celebrating that she ends up falling down! It's so cute!!!

posted by Elena

2008-02-24T21:46:00.000-08:00

Latest Olivia Quote:

On being asked on whether she was planning to have babies someday when she is older:

No, I'm going to have medium kids. Like me!!!

posted by Elena

2008-02-24T21:44:00.000-08:00

"Princess" Olivia

Olivia went down to Grandma's house this weekend. She put in her request to play dress-up and Grandma thought and thought and then remembered that she had a dress that was worn by Aunt Erin when she was a flower girl in a wedding. Olivia saw this dress and just absolutely fell in love! I'm going to guess that she wore it all weekend long - she just loved it that much! Livi was not too happy that we had to leave it at Grandma's house. But what she doesn't know is that hanging in her closet are 3 flower girl dresses that her own mama wore as a flower girl in weddings, one of them matches this dress! Maybe she'll get an opportunity to play with them someday...

Twirling

posted by Elena

2008-02-24T21:20:00.000-08:00

Scott and Elena Updates:

Scott has been busy working at the bank these days. Then he gets to come home to his loving family and straight after dinner he gives the kids a bath. He has found that he enjoys bathtime because the kids just play in there and he can sit and read in the bathroom while they're bathing. So he's read through several of his Dilbert books and just recently started reading The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. He says it's a pretty good book and is already about halfway through it!

Elena: I hurt my back at work in October and was off for a month, returned to work and then re-injured my back in December! So off for another month - this actually is quite stressful as my position is not benefit-eligible, including sick-pay. So now I've been working a ton of hours to try to make up a bit from those missed months. In my spare time I've been doing a lot of reading. I recently finished The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, both by Khaled Hosseini. These two books were excellent! They were both insightful and haunting stories about life in Afghanistan. I just cannot say enough about how much I really enjoyed these books! I highly recommend them if you get the chance.

posted by Elena

2008-02-18T06:41:00.000-08:00

'Bout Time We Put Up Some Pictures!

Maddie loves her Dance, Monkey, Dance toy!
Now this is entertainment!!!

Shocking picture:
Zach playing with a truck!
I can't believe how fast he can run
bent over the truck like this!

You can see that she's had a haircut.
Yes, that's right, we went and sought the services of...
Olivia!!!
So she cut one side of her hair with kid scissors
(and now I know why those really aren't
appropriate in a beauty shop!).
And then to even it out I was forced to cut the other side...
It's actually not that bad; just doesn't look quite right.

posted by Elena

2008-02-18T06:34:00.000-08:00

Zach, smile for the camera!

Finally caught him!

Here they are dancing.
And yes, it really is winter in Minnesota -
like below zero wind-chills and tons of snow outside.
But here are our children wearing practically nothing!

Maddie isn't having so much fun,
and decides that she needs to leave the toy room!
She is NOT a happy little girl here.

posted by Elena

2008-02-18T06:29:00.000-08:00

Maddie really likes to read books!
So she just crawls up onto the futon and looks
through any book that's sitting up there!
Here it was Richard Scarry!

Here you can see Livi smiling her pretty smile,
and there's Maddie reading on the futon behind her!

posted by Elena

2008-02-18T06:23:00.000-08:00

Maddie has decided that she absolutely will not eat if someone offers to help her! She has to do it by herself. This is one of the first feedings with this arrangement. She quickly learned to not flip the spoon over to get it into her mouth! But a lot ended up on her bib anyway. She's gotten much neater in this area too! What a big girl!!!

Eating sweet potatoes:

Sometimes it is just quicker to pick
up the jar and just "drink" your dinner!

posted by Elena

2008-02-18T06:14:00.000-08:00

These pictures were taken about a month ago. Livi and Zach were dying to go outside and Maddie cooperated and took a nap so they could get out for a bit. It was also warm enough to be out for a bit. This winter has been just too cold to be out for long, and the kids cannot wait until springtime! Since these pictures we have gotten more snow, too...

Zach was desperate to get into his truck
and play for a bit. Too bad he couldn't actually go
anywhere! But he had a blast anyway!

Olivia hopped into her sled and then said:
"Okay guys, I'm ready for a sled ride!"
expecting us to just pull her around the yard!

posted by Elena

2008-02-18T06:06:00.000-08:00

Olivia LOVES wearing clothes that she has gotten
from Grandma Watson! Here she is wearing a
collection of her favorites from Grandpa and Grandma!

Livi has discovered that she LOVES glue
when working on art projuects!

"Playing" the recorder

Maddie really likes to crawl into this small little
space between our computer and entertainment system,
and then sits on this little box between the two.

posted by Elena

2008-02-12T16:32:00.000-08:00

A Busy Day

Today turned out to be kind of a busy day. First thing this morning the girls had a doctor's appointment for their well-child checks. Zach decided to come along for the fun, too. We got there and got right in, which is a bit unusual, but way nice! Then the girls were weighed and measured. Zachary, not wanting to be left out, was also weighed and temperature taken. Here's today's stats:

Olivia: 38 pounds
Zachary: 34 pounds
Madeline: 19 pounds, 13 ounces

So, they're all getting big and growing up so fast!!!
And then the girls needed some shots too. Not such a fun time. Maddie was brave, though, and went first. Two shots for her, and she cried for about 1 minute, then went into her stroller and ate some baby cookies. Then it was Olivia's turn: 4 shots; poor thing. But she did pretty good. Of course, she cried quite loudly and fussed and whined ALL THE WAY to the parking lot! Oh, the drama. And she kept repeating, "I don't like shots." Well, who does? Anyway, we got into the van and she was settling down, and I decided that really, we needed a little change of pace.

So we went to The French Fry House (aka McDonald's) for lunch. And I decided to go to the one with the Play Place. Well, we got out of the van, and I'm carrying Maddie, and Olivia is walking on her tiptoes/limping, saying, "I can't walk, Mama. My legs hurt so much! I can't walk" over and over again. So we order lunch and eat. The Play Place is all but abandoned. It was so weird; there was nobody there! Maybe it's too cold to venture out these days. So the kids played on the jungle gym for about an hour, pretty much having the whole thing to themselves! It was great!

And an amazing thing happened there. I don't know if it was the burgers or the fries or whatever, but Olivia was "miraculously" healed! And has been since!

This afternoon Livi and Zach and I made bread-in-a-bag. It was pretty fun! They each had their bag, and I added the ingredients and then they mixed them all up in their bags! And it just finished baking, so it smells really yummy! Haven't tasted it yet, though!

posted by Elena

2008-02-12T14:24:00.000-08:00

Maddie's Walking!!!

The other day, she was standing in the middle of the room holding onto her blankie. I had just said to Olivia, "Oh, look at what a BIG GIRL Maddie is, standing all by herself!" To which Maddie just shoved her thumb in her mouth, held onto her blankie, and decided to go. She took about 10 steps, going about 1 foot across the floor! And we clapped and praised her. She was beaming, she was so proud of herself!

She doesn't seem to be as thrilled about the walking as we all were. She's maybe walked once since then. Crawling is still the preferred method of travel; it's just so much quicker and definitely more efficient!

posted by Elena

2008-02-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

Random Olivia Quotes:

I'm a magical dream come true.
Yes, that's right, Olivia, you are... Nothing wrong with her ego! Oh, we are so definitely in the "princess" stage!

I'm so beautiful!

I am NOT a princess right now. I'm wearing jammies!
Apparently one can only be a princess when wearing the appropriate clothing!

I am NOT a princess; I am the KING of the princesses!
This was said one afternoon when she decided that since being a princess didn't prevent her from rest-time (nap), then she'd up the ante. Needless to say, it didn't quite have the effect that she'd hoped for.

Oh, this hat is broken! There is a big hole in it. We need to throw it away; this hat is BROKEN!!!
This was actually said early this winter when she was helping Daddy put his winter hat away, and it actually made it into the trash before I caught it. It's one of those hats that go over the whole face with just a hole for the face.

I'm my own best friend...
Quote from Spaceballs - yes, it was on TV and the kids fell in love with this movie about space! Also from this movie:
Smoke if you got 'em.
Scott and I burst into laughter when she came up with this one! Kind of embarrassing. And thanks to this movie, a new phrase Olivia has also learned is:
We do not say naughty words!
So we do not watch this movie very much here anymore, even though it is hilarious! When I first heard a naughty word, the second thing I thought was, gosh I hope she doesn't say this in preschool! I would just die! I did not remember, prior to having kids, that there were so many naughty words in this movie. It was just on TV one night and I hadn't seen it in ages, so we watched it (the clean version). And then the kids loved it, and we own the VHS, so we put it on one day and got an earful... Note to selves: we need to screen movies BEFORE letting the kids watch!!!

And I know there are more gems coming out of this kid's mouth; I just need to write them down when she says them!

posted by Elena

2008-01-24T15:32:00.000-08:00

It Is So Cold In Minnesota!!!

We've managed to keep ourselves warm here in the cold of late - today at 12noon it was -8 (and I think we're in the warm part of the state). I don't know if it ever got any warmer than that or not, and we didn't venture out to feel. But I suspect it probably stayed right around there. It was such a pretty sunshine-y day too! The kids and the adults in this house are starting to get cabin fever - we're all pretty much driving each other crazy these days! I was just commenting last night how I was really wanting some snow for Thanksgiving - a mere 2 months ago - and now I can't wait for no snow and some warmer weather (not over 80 degrees though).

So we had a birthday party for Olivia and Zachary on Saturday. We'll have to post some pictures that other people took because in the excitement of it all Scott and I never remember to take any pictures! Someday we'll wish we had. Lucky for us, Grandpa and Grandma LOVE to take a lot of pictures! The kids had a blast at their party. Lots of kids as usual, and lots of noise and running and playing. Maddie had a pretty tough day though - thanks to teething! So a fun time wasn't had by her! It ended with her having a full melt-down and finally screaming herself to sleep after everybody left. Poor baby - we hate to make them cry to sleep, but we just didn't know what else to do for her by that point!

Maddie's had a not-so-fun couple of months. Just before Christmas she got sick - then recovered, but decided that she needed to maintain that "Mommy needs to hold me all the time" closeness. So that's been kind of tough. And then all the kids got the stomach flu right after New Year's, so not fun. And then sometime during then she started teething again too. So if not a sore bottom, then extremely fussy, or crying if Mama's not holding her, or crying about every little thing, and after a little while nothing makes it any better. I discovered that she's cut a couple of bottom middle teeth and then some of the molars came through. Painful times. The good news about this is she's been feeling better starting Tuesday! Yea!!! So now I am not required to carry her at all times (although a lot still), but she has also developed this wonderful and fun personality, which is a great reward for putting up with all the teething. So we've been giggling and playing and she loves it when I chase her around the house and catch her or tickle her. It's been a good time - I'm hoping this "phase" will last a long time, if it is even a phase...

posted by Elena

2008-01-16T12:40:00.000-08:00

Mid-December Pictures

Yes, I know these are a bit late, but gotta include a few Christmas pictures in here!

We called my mom over one afternoon to take our family Christmas picture for the card. All was fine until my mom got ready to snap the pictures. Olivia would NOT cooperate for anything! It was so frustrating! She would hide her face and whine every time we tried. So we gave up for that day. It was then that Livi decided that maybe we could go ahead and take the picture, but Scott and I were frustrated enough by that point that we were like, forget it. So we didn't do pictures that day. This is what we got that day:

It's really pretty funny looking at it now!
Don't we all look so happy and festive?!?
Like, yea, Merry Christmas (grumble)...

So then the next day, Scott's parents were coming up to celebrate Scott's birthday, and we asked them if they wouldn't mind helping us out a bit. Just how many adults does it take to get three children to cooperate for a simple little picture? But Olivia was much better behaved this time around, and Zach and Maddie did pretty well, even though they were both tired and nearing nap-time. So we took a few pictures and chose this one:

Our Christmas tree

The tree looked like this the day before Thanksgiving. By Christmas, it looked very different. The beads and lights looked like they could maybe fall off if touched just so. And the ornaments kept moving from branch to branch. Strangely enough, the decorations near the top of the tree never shifted or moved even once. Wonder what happened to the bottom half of the tree? Thankfully, the tree never fell down, which was something that we worried about from time to time. One good tug is all it would have taken. The kids were sad when we put the decorations away, but such is life. Until next year.

posted by Elena

2008-01-16T12:20:00.000-08:00

Random Pictures

These two were just playing so good and having so much fun!!!

A couple of years ago, Olivia was given this little rocking chair. Maddie has decided that it's the greatest thing in the world! She loves to climb into it, but can't get out of it yet! It's so funny to see her crawl into there, sit down and rock for a bit, and then when she's done screams and fusses until somebody helps her out.

Notice all the beads that she has to wear most of the time when she's playing.

Even Olivia can carry her out of the chair to "safety."
Maddie doesn't always appreciate the help.

posted by Elena

2008-01-16T12:05:00.000-08:00

Kitchen Makeover

So, another "little project" that I worked on was our kitchen. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that bad, but I just didn't particularly care for it! As you can see below, the walls were all white with a pink flower border (I am NOT a pink-flower-border-type of person) and the ceiling had wallpaper of little pink and blue flowers. My idea was to scrape all that off and then repaint my kitchen a darker yellow with sunflowers for a theme. So in late August I started scraping off the border. I discovered something with this: wallpaper installed by professionals does not come off as easily as the pre-pasted borders that I typically use. So it took me weeks of working here and there to get the border off. It really got to a point where come hell or high water it was going to get done! I was on a mission. So I finally got the border off. Then the ceiling, which turned out to be contact paper that had been glued over a textured ceiling. Why anybody decided to do this is beyond me, but that's what it was. So it took me a few weeks of scraping that off, then sanding the ceiling. What a dusty mess that turned out to be! I was about to throw in the towel then! But I got it done. And we also had to replace the kitchen light because I got a little carried away with the sanding and the sand-block flew out of my hand and shattered the light! Oops!

Then I had to take a break for a few weeks once I had it all bare white. After spending weeks up on a ladder working above my head, my rotator cuff said, "enough," so needed to rest that up a bit. Who'd have thought? But, it was driving me crazy and I had this uncontrollable urge to get the job finished. So I painted the ceiling first. That actually was a very easy thing to do, and only took me a couple of hours to prime and paint. Then I waited almost a week and decided to tackle the walls. So I put up this special tape that says you can put it on newly painted surfaces and painted the walls. That took a bit longer, but it got completed. Then time to take off the tape, and with the tape came off part of the newly painted ceiling. So after a minor meltdown and a few days break, I re-primed and re-painted the ceiling, this time not taping the walls or anything. Then I got the sunflower border up, cleaned up, and FINALLY was finished with this small project at the end of October! HAL-LE-LU-JAH!!!

BEFORE PICTURES

AFTER PICTURES

I was pretty pleased with the final result. Though I have to admit, if I had known up front just how much time and energy and trouble it would be, I think I would have learned to love what was already up when we moved in. But I am just so glad that it's finished!

Summer 2008: I'm going to try to finish up my entryway
and paint the living room and dining room!
Can't wait to get those done!

posted by Elena

2008-01-16T11:44:00.000-08:00

Children's Room Makeovers

When we moved into our house 2 years ago, every single wall in our house (except the bathrooms) were painted white. On the to-do list was painting and adding some color and character to some of the rooms. But then life happens and those projects go on the back burner. So this past August I decided to finally get around to it.

Zach's room was done first: he didn't have a lot of input into the color and design, but he was so excited with the finished product:

I painted and picked out and put up the border and wall decorations, Scott picked out and installed the carpeting. Zach was really one happy little boy.

Then Olivia's room: I actually asked her for some input. She decided that she wanted purple and then helped me pick out the butterfly theme for the border and decorations. So I painted the room. Her reply? "I don't like this; I want pink!" Well, too late now, kiddo! Then a couple days later the border and decor went up on the walls, and true to Olivia-fashion: "I don't like butterflies!" Arghh!!! Guess next time we do this project in like 10 years or so, she can do it!

The color turned out just a little darker than I had anticipated, but I still liked it. But still, Olivia does not particularly care for it... Just the other day, I was cleaning out some of the boxes in our basement and packing things up to give away. Well, she found a couple of little knick-knacks to add to her shelves, so I let her have them and put them up in her room. And then I overheard her saying, with awe in her voice:
"Oh, look at my room! It's soooo... PURPLE!"
It was absolutely hilarious!

Summer 2008: Madeline's room

posted by Elena

2008-01-05T10:49:00.000-08:00

"Olivia, nap time," says Elena to Olivia in a different room.
pause
"Olivia, nap time," she repeats.
pause
"I'm a princess," comes back from the other room.

"OK, all princesses need to take naps now."

"I don't want to be a princess anymore."

We've had some bad cases of the throw up bug. All over everything. Zach is pretty much over it and to his credit has gotten really good about recognizing the symptoms and making it to the trash. Olivia and Maddie, not so much.

2007-11-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

It's Birthday Party Time!

We celebrated Madeline's first birthday with lots of friends and family. Everybody had a blast! There were kids everywhere, running and jumping and making lots of noise, just having a great time! And in the middle of all the chaos was Madeline sitting and playing on the floor, just enjoying the festivities! What a great way to celebrate a big first birthday!

Playing in the middle of the toy room with all her friends.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Trying to eat cake and ice cream

Adam couldn't stand it. Here, Maddie, let me show you how to get it into your mouth!

posted by Elena

2007-11-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

Today is Madeline's 1st Birthday!!!

Can't hardly believe how quickly it's gone by, and then think that I've been waiting for her to get older for a year now. Kind of a bittersweet moment when you realize your baby just isn't quite a baby anymore. One year. Wow. Gonna have a birthday party this weekend; Maddie doesn't seem to care, but Olivia just can't wait!!! She keeps thinking that it's a party for herself, not her baby sister. Won't really matter, as I'm sure she'll be plenty of help with playing with others and opening any presents (this is the highlight of the day, of course).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Rest of the Halloween Day:

We had such a busy day!

Yesterday morning I had an appointment so I took Maddie and Zach to daycare. Then after that, Livi and I had half an hour before preschool, so we stopped by "the french fry house" (translation: McDonald's) for a quick bite.

Then I volunteered at preschool for their library day. So 4 parents helped 5 classrooms of kids check out library books for the week. It was kind of fun, and a good work-out too! I just got a kick out of some of the kids there! Such personalities!

Preschool got out, and Livi and I headed to Ana's Daycare to get pick up the little ones and get into our costumes. Then Daddy had a special request to stop by US Bank, so that's where we headed next! Went there to show off our costumes, and then decided to head over to Charter House (assisted-living at Mayo) because they were having a Halloween party and we got our pictures taken with the Pumpkin Queen! It was really a pretty fun deal! Then off to catch a quick bite for supper. At this point Daddy decided that he was a bit "Halloween-ed out," so he volunteered to take Maddie home so that Livi, Zach and I could go trick-or-treating. And that's what we did.

Since we live a ways out of town, the trick-or-treating scene is a bit scarce here. So we drove through a couple of neighborhoods in town, found one with lots of lights on, and went around one block. It was so cute, the kids with their little bags, running from door-to-door to get candy. Livi was so excited she would go up to the closed doors, knock and immediately say sweetly, "Trick-or-treat!" Usually this was before they even had a chance to answer the doors! Very funny. And then Zach would run a bit behind her, holding his bag, shouting, "Ti-Tee!" and then wouldn't say anything once he got to the door, just looked suspiciously at the people all trying to reach for his candy! All they wanted to do was put candy in his bag. It was so cute, really! And then he'd turn around and say, "Ankoo! (Thank you)." One lady did a double-take when he said that, she was so surprised by the polite little fireman at her door.

After one block, we decided we were tired and ready to go home, so we hopped in the car, buckled in the kids and the candy. Got home around 7:15pm (that's really all the later it was!) and I was beat! Ready for bed, but the kids decided that they needed to run off some steam, so they had a blast here at the house!

posted by Elena

2007-10-31T09:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!!!

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Oh, Mother... I CANNOT believe you actually
expect me to wear this ridiculous cow hat!

Ahhh, now we're talkin'

Very shy

A fireman and a Care Bear

The cutest little fireman

Olivia LOVES this costume

One mustn't forget to show off
the heart on one's butt...

Check out the tail!

We' re havin' a good time!

posted by Elena

2007-10-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

A Quiet Saturday at the House

Just a Happy Girl

Being Silly

Any Guesses What I Had for Supper?

Playing with Trucks and Trains

Reading Pat the Bunny

posted by Elena

2007-10-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

Just Another Monday?

Have you ever had one of those days where you wake up and feel like you actually got enough sleep for once, and you feel pretty good and think to yourself, Man, this is gonna be a great day! ? Well, I have to come to the conclusion that either this is: a) a cruel joke from up above at my expense or b) somebody up above thought that I needed to feel good first to put up with the day that today has become...

So, this morning Zach had speech class from 9:15-11:00. So get out of bed and proceed to argue with Olivia the entire morning about going to school, because she has decided that she doesn't want to go. Between getting myself and the kids ready, I quickly get behind and don't leave the house until 9:15am. So we're only 15 minutes late; oh, man. We get to school , get the girls dropped off at sibling care, Zach into his class and then I'm off to parent's class (no comment), and everything is going well. About a half hour later, I get pulled out of class because Maddie has had an explosion, and I do mean that quite literally: she had icky stuff from her diaper running down her pants legs and even into her shoes! Oh, gross. Apparently that's too gross for the sitters to change too so I got the job (one of the perks of parenting, I'm told). And then back to parent class where now I can smell that icky smell on me (those with medical backgrounds, think C.dif), even though I don't have any on me.

So after class we head home to make a quick lunch because in an hour it's time to take Livi to preschool. So I pull into the garage and hear this major leaking sound and of course, the tire is quickly deflating - and the hits just keep on coming, but then quickly think, At least we made it home and we didn't have a blow-out on the highway! So I run into the house to call Scott and... (drumroll please)... our phone line is dead! So to get any phone help I am to call this 800 number, but the phone doesn't work!!! And this concept is lost on the company as I have now been told via chat mail (with the company rep, no less) that you need to phone in for telephone support; you can't get help online. Really thought that through, didn't they?!? And we don't get cell phone service out here in the "sticks." And guess I can't drive into town so I can get to a phone. Guess I could go meet the neighbors a bit more...

You know, this is stuff that you just can't make up!!! I can't even read through this post without laughing...

Although, on a more serious note, it really makes one think about how vulnerable this leaves any of us. I mean, we live out here about 5 miles from town and most of our neighbors are at work and/or school right now. What if something happens? So I can't call for help, and now can't drive (safely, at least) to get that help. It really makes one stop to think about getting a back-up plan...

So, we're now enjoying a quieter afternoon here at home. This is a good thing right now; maybe this is all part of some master plan, even though it's kind of irritating, although funny too!

posted by Elena

2007-10-13T09:29:00.001-07:00

Frere Jacques

Olivia loves to sing. She usually doesn't like to participate in group singing; she's really more of a solo act, except when she's with Grandma Watson. Then they sing together. Livi's learned many songs from Grandma. This morning Olivia was out swinging on her swing and singing her little heart out. It was so precious! She was trying to sing Frere Jacques, and this is what came out:

Where is Zach-a? Where is Zach-a?
Darling Boo. Darling Boo.
Sa may eenee dee na. Sa may eenee dee na.
Ding ding dong. Ding dong dong.

Over and over again she sang this. Very sweet...

posted by Elena

2007-10-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

Post-Wapsi Pictures

I didn't get ANY pictures from the Wapsi this year; had the camera in my bag the whole weekend, though. Good place for it, huh? Anyway, left Wapsi country Sunday morning and drove to Grandpa and Grandma's house to chill out for a few hours. The kids had a blast playing in their front yard full of leaves:

And then later reading a story to Mouse:

posted by Elena

2007-10-07T18:09:00.000-07:00

Went to Des Moines this weekend to see the Grandparents. Maddie and I went down early to Decorah and Elena and the other two went on later straight to DM. We didn't want the kids to miss out on too much of their schooling. It was nice that my parents could go too to help out with watching the kids.

We had a good time down there. The kids really enjoyed the pool and running the long hallway to get to their apartment. We went to the zoo with my Dad and then to Chinese Buffet. Both were a hit with the kids.

I've been doing Fantasy Football for the first time this year. There are eight guys in our league and it has been really fun. Right now I'm 3-1 and probably going to win this week so I should be tied for first. Ben, who is not a football fan, has been calling me about twice a week to talk about our teams and what has been going on. He is really into number and enjoys figuring out matchups based on the players numbers. He has made the most trade/pickups among us. He is 2-2.

2007-10-04T18:53:00.000-07:00

Been watching the first few episodes of Dirty Sexy Money. I like it so far. We've been a fan of Peter Krause since we watched him in Six Feet Under. I'm glad that they picked up Donald Sutherland to give it a more well known actor to give it some weight. Elena tells me that Jill Clayburgh has done a lot of things too so that is good.

Moles are still invading our lawn. Gophers, not as much now. Not so good.

The kids are opening up quite a bit. Today when we dropped them off at daycare, Olivia ran right off to play with the other kids. I had never seen her do that. Zach has a bit of separation anxiety now but not so bad. Maddie just wants somebody to carry her around. She is however getting very good at crawling around when she needs something.

2007-10-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

On my first week of vacation from my new job at US Bank. I started there this January 2nd and it has been going really well. Eight to five is fitting well on me.

Just watched "Stranger than Fiction" with Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman. It was a good time. I'm a minor fan of Emma and she does a great job. I'm not sure if someone else could have done the main character better but Will was fine.

Last weekend we went to the Wapsi. Lots of mosquitoes. Next year a few weeks later should be better. We shot the .22 at matches and did fairly well at picking them off. The fishing wasn't so hot for us but our neighbor caught a striped bass that the kids had fun playing with. We had stir fry chicken and spaghetti for suppers along with Elena's 7-layer bars. We had a good time with Timm, Aaron and Jen. I'm not sure how outdoorsy everyone was but we all seemed to have a good time at the camp.

This week on my vacation Elena scheduled for me an appointment with the dentist and the doctor. Everything checked out OK but I did get a tetanus shot. The nurse was awesome at giving shots but the juice in the thing is making my arm sore.

Olivia has been having a great time in pre-school. She goes three times a week. The school has a large play area for the kids and a fence-divided playground so the different ages don't mix. Today the teachers said that she was very interactive by talking and laughing with the other kids. Something that she hasn't been doing.

Zach has loads of fun pointing out the moon up in the sky to everyone on a continual basis. His language is getting much better over the past month. He goes to school once a week and to a speech specialist once a week. I'm not exactly sure how much those are helping but it gives him a different teacher besides his parents and Olivia.

Maddie is getting to be a great crawler but still likes to be carried around quite a bit. She has six teeth and really likes to eat cherrio-s.

2007-09-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

We have a fairly simple night-time routine in our household, and the kids seem to have responded quite well. One of our activities is brushing teeth and then going to bed. So tonight we did just this and as I was tucking Olivia into bed the following conversation ensued:

Livi: I want some hot cocoa.
Mom: No, Olivia, not after we brush our teeth for bedtime.

(Repeat above lines at least one more time, just to be sure she really can't have anything)

So she's tucked into bed. She declines bedtime prayers and no kisses or hugs for Mama tonight, either. Then I hear:

Livi (very forlorn-sounding): Mama, I'm firsty. My tummy is sad. She's empty and wants some hot cocoa.

So I chuckle to myself and again tell her she can't have any, come out into our living room and laughing about it, start telling Scott, when I hear this dialogue that Olivia has with her tummy:

Tummy (very sad): I'm so sad. I need hot cocoa because I'm so firsty (sigh)...
Livi (very matter-of-factly): Oh, I'm so sorry, My Tummy, but we can't have hot cocoa tonight...

And I know there was more, but I was laughing so hard I didn't hear it. I could hardly tell Scott what I'd heard I was nearly crying and talking so unintelligibly. It was just so funny! What a riot! Oh, after a stressful (although fun too) weekend of traveling that was just the relief I needed!

posted by Elena

2007-09-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

September Pictures

Twirling in her "princess dress"

Driving his cars along the deck railing

Relaxin' in her jammies

Zach is NOT in the mood for a group photo

posted by Elena

2007-09-23T17:45:00.001-07:00

Mid-July 2007

We went to the Milwaukee area this summer for Cousin Jenny's wedding. Before the ceremony, several relatives met for a little lunch and then playing in the park:

Uncle Mark having fun on the rocking duck...

... and the slide

Hey, I want to slide too!

Having fun with Grandpa

Push me higher, Grandpa!

Climbing up, up, up... (I think I can, I think I can)

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Our own little piece of heaven in our front yard:

posted by Elena

2007-06-29T16:04:00.001-07:00

Olivia really likes to read!!!

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~Playing Outside~

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Visiting Cousin Hunter

Hunter and Madeline

Hunter: stop pulling my hair out,
you bald-ish girl!!!

posted by Elena

2007-06-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

Livi and Zach sharing blueberries

Eating blueberries - yum!

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Wapsi Pictures - May 5-6, 2007

posted by Elena

2007-06-08T16:05:00.000-07:00

It's Been Awhile...

So, it's been a bit over a month now. Don't know what's been keeping us so busy...

Livi just says and does the funniest things. A couple weeks ago she and Daddy and Zach were playing in the toy room while I was in the kitchen cleaning up. All of a sudden Livi comes running into the kitchen on a mission. She's looking for something, but I'm having a hard time understanding "ductayfomouf." So she's searching through our tool/junk drawer, obviously not finding what ever it is. So I ask her again what she's looking for. Finally, after about 5 times of her repeating it, I figure it out: "duck tape for mouth." Hmmm... Clearly, she's heard somebody (Daddy) tell her (in a not so nice way) that she's talking too much, and her, being 4 years old, took it literally. It was kind of funny, though. Poor kid, at least she didn't understand what he meant.

Zach is continuing to be busy, but he's just growing up so fast! He is starting another speech therapy program next week, and we're hoping that will help him along a bit. Right now, he says only a few things, about 10 words maybe. He doesn't say mama; Daddy and me are both called dada. Ungrateful little... LOL. He's really liking reading Thomas the Train books and playing with Daddy - at least when he's taking a break from playing with his toy cars, which remain his absolute favorites!

Maddie has had a big month! She can now roll from her tummy to her back, but not the other way yet (although she's so close!). And a couple days later she cut her first tooth! So it's official: our kids are just getting too old too fast; they're just not babies anymore. It's bittersweet really.

Will post pictures later!

-posted by Elena

2007-04-29T21:57:00.000-07:00

Busy Weekend

On Saturday Scott had to work at the bank until 12:00 noon. Then he ran a few errands after that. By the time he got home, we decided we'd run up to the Twin Cities to see Aunt Erin and Vern and the new baby, Hunter. So it's official: I'm an aunt! The kids travelled pretty well, but it was a long day for them. Little sleep and lots of activity. So we got up to their house and got to meet baby Hunter (sorry, no pictures!). The kids just kind of looked at him like, oh, that's nice, and then went on with their playing. As we were leaving and gathering up the kids to get into the van, Olivia very politely informed me that we were NOT taking baby Hunter home with us. As if... It was kind of funny!

Then today we spent lots of time outside. It was about 90 degrees here this afternoon. Poor little Maddie did not appreciate the heat so much, so she spent a lot of the day just hanging out in her bed playing quietly. It surprised me that she was so content in there - but I think that's where she was the most comfortable! Livi and Zach played pretty hard though. Livi and I had to make a Wal-Mart run, so Zach and Daddy decided to mow the front lawn while we were shopping. By the time we got home, Zach was taking a nap - and didn't wake up for about 4 hours! After that, back outside: the kids played in the sandbox, in their playhouse, and swings and slide. A full day.

This weekend Zach discovered the movie Cars. He is just absolutely mesmerized by this movie, and it's actually pretty good. And Livi cannot get enough of Nanny McPhee, which I absolutely love watching, too! So in between playing outside and naps, we cooled down with a couple of movies.

posted by Elena

2007-04-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

A Few Pictures

Gotta love that smile!

Just relaxin' together

Hangin' out

I love my bouncer!

Fun times...

Livi and Maddie

We'd been hearing turkeys for a couple of weeks, and Scott had been looking for them for as long. Of course, he was at work one day and I happened to look outside and there were about 30 turkeys in the backyard! Livi just loved looking at them, but we haven't seen any since!!!

posted by Elena

2007-03-31T08:41:00.000-07:00

Latest Happenings

I participate in a recycling group called Freecycle, where we post things that we don't want/need anymore to give away to other folks in the Rochester area, kind of a trading thing. It's really a great idea, and I highly recommend checking it out for other local venues. Anyway, the other night I saw a posting that was a couple of weeks old for one of those playhouses for kids and noticed that it looked like it was still available. So I emailed the people about it, and they called me back a few hours later and told me we could have it! So off I went in the good old Dodge Caravan, and the guy helped me squeeze the playhouse in the van - it was pretty tight! Almost thought I'd have to drive home with the back roped shut, and that didn't sound like much fun to me. First thing the next morning Livi noticed the new playhouse, but we had to go into town for doctor appointments and all so I promised her we'd play in it after we got home. So when we got home 8 hours later, she made a beeline to the playhouse, and both her and Zach just love it!!! Nothing fancy, pretty sturdy and the price was definitely right.

So since that first day with the playhouse it has been raining constantly, which the kids aren't any too thrilled about, but what can you do? I mean it's kind of like teasing them to have those beautiful sunshiny days to play outside all day, and then take it away for the rest of the week. Although Maddie's much happier now that it's not so hot outside; she's a bit sensitive to the heat (and it was only 80 degrees in the house those days).

This morning Scott had to work his first Saturday at the bank 9 am - 12 noon. Tough schedule! Anyway, so it's me and the kids like usual. So the morning started out as usual with Maddie waking up and eating in bed while I try to wake up a bit. Then Scott got up to take a shower, which woke Livi up; so I am re-awakened by Livi crawling into bed with Maddie and me, and she's just staring at me, so I look at her and say "Good morning," and she looks at me and whispers, "Mama, I went on the big girl potty all by myself; give me five," and holds her hand out expectantly. It was kind of cute that's what she wanted. Soon Scott left for work, and the girls and I got up. Pretty soon I hear Zach talking down in his room. So I'm carrying Maddie in one arm, and walk into Zach's room and smile big at him. He smiles at me, but then he spots Maddie, and he gets this big grin on his face. And Maddie is just beaming at him, of course. Zach says, "Ma-Lyn" and then gently grabs her head and gives her the most precious delicate hug. And not just a moment or so; they hugged for 15 seconds or so, and then I pulled away to try to pick him up, but was quickly informed that he was not finished hugging his baby sister; so they hugged for a few more seconds. Oh, it was so sweet! If I'd had a camera to capture this moment. It was just one of those moments that you will hold onto forever.

posted by Elena

2007-03-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

Job's been going good. I am still glad to have made the switch to banking. My co-worker has been working with me about learning some useful Arabic phrases. I butcher them.

Recently, Forbes magazine ranked our very own Kevin McHale as the #1 GM in sports. I suppose that we Minnesotans could have lived with maybe in the top 30 or so, but number one? Zero championships, 1 playoff series win, mega-contracts to fringe players. I know that wins weren't what they were measuring (obviously) but one would think that it would have had some sort of effect. Number one. This was weeks ago and our talk radio is still all over it. Other teams have been mocking us about it. Oh well.

We put up a storm door over the weekend. That was something we should have done a long time ago. On nice days the wind whips through there cooling off the house and next winter it should help keep the house warmer.

I saw Travis and his kids today at Menard's. I was buying some parts for the garbage disposal (it was originally put in in 1990). I was sure I had plenty of drain pieces but didn't have the right ones of course. They were buying some stuff for their basement. Michelle is in Bangladesh for a few weeks teaching people some basic safety/1st aid techniques for birthing at home. Then in July they're going to China for a couple of weeks to pick up their adopted boy.

On Sunday it was just a beautiful day. Olivia stripped to her panties and ran the trail laughing like a banshee. Zach and I chased as best we could. We stopped to look at the deer footprints, deer trails and deer poop. Madeline had her first big outdoor adventure. The only other times she has been outside were to get in the van. She really enjoyed being on the trail and going into the woods a bit. We had fun finding old animal bones and strange rocks.

We've been hearing turkeys squawk at us but haven't seen any yet this spring. There was a pheasant that lived nearby for awhile. He strutted around our bird feeders and ate plenty of sunflower seeds.

Zach is so proud of himself. He climbed up the swing set ladder all by himself. He is still hesitant to slide down by himself though.

Yesterday I had the two older kids outside with me. They were dressed in their winter coats, shorts and sandals.

2007-03-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

More Pictures

This was taken March 2nd.
The snowdrifts are as tall as Livi
and the icicle is about as tall too!

Maddie meets Great-Grandma Anderegg

Visiting Great-Grandma

And the rest of these were taken today: March 26th!
Only 3 weeks after the first picture above!!!
Just unbelievable the wonderful weather
we've been having: 73 degrees today!
Spring is here!

Trying to go for a walk on the trail

Livi found a pet worm!

Time for a nap!

posted by Elena

2007-02-28T18:16:00.000-08:00

Zach surveying the scene

Speckles waiting on a pile of snow

snow hanging off the eves

2007-02-22T20:25:00.000-08:00

More Photos...

Watching TV with the kiddos

Mommy and Zach cuddling

A happy girl

Mischievous

He was smiling so good until
the camera flashed!

Great smile!

She just kills me -
She posed like this for
quite a while before I took this!

A great morning!

posted by Elena