The impossible dream

It really was an impossible dream to get one fantastic picture of five people (3 under the age of 4 1/2).  Amanda came pretty close.  My favorite pictures she took however, are the ones with our stage of life clearly in evidence... (meaning the tears, runaways, or other shenanigans)  Thank you so much Tibbe Denson Photography!

probably one of my favorites!

favorite of Elizabeth-- the runaway!

Favorite of David and another favorite of the family, below...(so captured the mood!)

Sweet, sweet Abigail!

a week (or two (or three)) of birthdays

My birthday was the 13th of November.  The festivities began the preceding Wednesday as I took advantage of my free pastry at La Madeleine's.  I also grabbed a quick spinach salad-to-go for lunch.  Yum!

We first celebrated my birthday jointly by going out to one of our favorite restaurants on that preceding Friday (parent's night out at the church so no kids!)  Perry's Steakhouse is fantastic and never disappoints (as long as you are prepared for the hefty bill).  The food and service couldn't be better... 

Saturday night we had a coupon for some discount to Carrabba's so we decided to venture out to an early dinner with the kids this time.  It was unusually enjoyable.  We got to sit outside (beautiful evening!) at our own little table tucked into a nook under their "front porch."  It is the only table there and with the threat of rain outside, we were the only ones outside at all.  We had the waiter to ourselves and could spread out (table for 8) and not worry about kiddos noise level or food all over the floor. 

We skipped Sunday (although we had lots of other options). 

Monday evening we went out to Red Robin--actually for Veteran's Day.  A slept the whole time and cannot believe how much E and D ate.  Both are such picky eaters and D ate two bowls of macaroni (and asked for more) and E ate ALL her dinner! 

Somewhere in there, I got my free ice cream cone from Baskin Robbins.

Wednesday lunchtime, I grabbed my free sandwich from Jason's Deli. 

Later that weekend or following week we went to IHOP for my free entree--coincidentally for dinner with the kids and apparently, kids eat free in the evenings.  What a cheap and filling dinner!

The celebrations officially came to an end last night as my mom watched the kids and allowed Michael and I to go to the pistol range and then out to Hasta la Pasta for dinner (again redeeming another free entree coupon).

One of the best gifts M gives me is meals out/carried in.  While I love to cook, three little munchkins make it much less enjoyable than otherwise.  And NO CLEANUP!!!  :)

Thanks for the month of meals!

A helping hand

Today I was complaining (oops) about not having enough hands to feed the baby, Bizbeth and myself all at the same time. David said, "You could be an octopus!" If only I could, little one...

the thumbsucker's manual

There are three versions of the thumbsuck (keep in mind your little one may discover a fourth or fifth way). 

 

The most common (even among four year old boys) is the thumb in the mouth.  See figure 1.1.  This often is a sign of tiredness. 

Figure 1.1

Then there is the second method that I have heard is quite common.  Place the two middle fingers in the mouth and spread the others wherever they fall naturally on either side as displayed in figure 1.2.  This "thumb-sucking" method is often soothing and a sign of resignation to the great hardships one must undergo all day long.

Figure 1.2

The last method is the least common among children, but has been known to occur (especially among the most amiable of the bunch).  Take the first two fingers (disregarding the thumb) and chew on them.  See figure 1.3.  Some consider this a good indication of teething.

 

Figure 1.3

 

 

Amazing how such different personalities and preferences are portrayed even among siblings.

Dead as a doornail...or turtle

"Yep. Still dead."

The other day while getting children in and out of the car, out of the corner of my eye I saw David kick our turtle boot scraper and then flip it over. A minute later I hear in a very concerned voice, "Mommy, the turtle is dead!" :) I chuckled for a long while over that one...

For those who have never heard the story behind this creature...
I registered for this when michael and I got married. We were moving up north to the land of snow and ice. It was cute and functional. That was that. I did not receive it as part of our lavish abundance of gifts. Michael came home on our one month anniversary with it. Of course I was pleased that he even cared to memorialize one month of marriage... And then I heard the rest of the story. Apparently, when I sent Michael the link to view/ add to our registry before we were married, he had seen this boot scraper. He thought it was so ridiculous that he deleted it from the registry. One month later, he felt so bad about that, he brought it home to be a permanent fixture at our house!

Acrobat 1.9, gen. ii

(First, this should be titled Acrobat 2.0, but I started this post when E was only 19 months old and I liked the sound of the old title better. )

About a month ago, I came into Elizabeth's room to find a singular occurrence. She was running around her room playing. I had thought that she learned her climbing skill from her brother who was also running around her room playing. (This is why he sleeps with a lock on his door at night still). I knew it was only a matter of time before she discovered how to climb out of her crib. It is pushed up next to a queen footboard which could be used as a stepstool to climb out. Unfortunately, there is no other real place for the crib in the room. I was hoping this new achievement would be a one-time occurrence. It was...for several weeks. I came in again last week after naptime to find E running around her room again- this time on her own. Then, she even had the brashness to try and climb out of her crib a third time with me standing there. I was rather duly impressed (pretended not to be). Instead of using the natural bed "footstool," she shimmied up the side of the crib in the corner and threw her leg over the side before I could stop her. I have to admit I am less concerned about her hurting herself (she is quite an agile monkey), but the thought of her running around her very un-babyproofed room (an entire wall of 3000+ books in 4 bolted-into-the-wall bookcases) instills a deep fear in me and brings back many memories of David at the same age. He is the original acrobat. Fortunately, she has not been destructive thus far and after a warning and then discipline, E has not tried this trick again...yet...

Elizabeth is also carrying on the name of "Why-ler." Presumably picked up from her brother, she is now asking "why?" It is so funny to hear since, although she is adding to her vocabulary and often starting to talk in complete sentences, she is still often only half intelligible. After a chiding for getting out of her chair during a meal, my little headstrong girl touched my heart so unexpectedly by saying, "sorry, Mama."

Speaking of meals, she has been promoted to a big girl booster seat so that A can sit in the high chair. I don't often strap her in ( but I may have to soon- see previous post), but she does sit still much better and eat much more properly than big brother at this age. After much prayer by me over the issue, E is finally eating a tiny (very tiny) bit better than before. She has eaten scrambled eggs twice this week! She also finally ate two little slices of turkey in her lunchables yesterday.

There seem to have been a lot more restless nights waking up at 4 or 5 crying but according to my mom, that may not be new; I may just be hearing her now that I am often up with little sister at that same time.

 

This wonderful little girl definitely has her moments (remember the girl with one little curl right in the center of her forehead?), but she can also be so spontaneously affectionate and full of sweet desire to help!

I love my big girl!