Emma's On The Loose

She's Two!




She's Fast!




And she doesn't wear diapers!

Move out of her way!

I took Christopher and Emma to the park this morning and she insisted that she wanted to ride her bike. GREAT! I took the wagon along thinking I'd be hauling her and her bike halfway into this expedition.

Well, no wagon was needed. She proved me wrong. She pedaled at a fast walking pace and never slowed up once. We played for an hour and then she said to me, "poopy come." We high-tailed it out of that park and I insisted that we use the wagon on the return trip. She would have nothing to do with that idea.

I'm happy to say that we all made it home... IN TIME!

We're On Our Way...

We're on our way to being DIAPER FREE... Pampers, Huggies and Luvs will most likely see a decline in their profits. Our home has been purchasing these products for the last 9 years! Has any one figured the price out on this... let's just say you go through 6 diapers a day and they are each .25 (Costco warehouse price). That's $1.50 a day... which is $547 a year... which is nearly $5,000 for the past 9 years! This calculation did NOT include the months when we had two kids in diapers...

BUT - I need to say that I never once complained about changing a disposable diaper. (Neither has Glenn.) You see, we came from the era where cloth diapers were the norm and landfills were a much cleaner place! What can we say... we've done our part - almost 20,000 diapers!

FORTY - two days later

I LOVE BEING 40!

You get all kinds of wonderful things... after your big day! Cati, my girlfriend in California, realized that I was celebrating my 40th... what a delicious surprise! Cati, you can be late ANY DAY! (Talk about some excited kids too!)

FORTY!

I am happy to report that age 40 feels the same as age 30, and age 35 and age 37... nothing different to report!

I had a wonderful day with family and friends and I even received 40 presents! See's candies accounted for 23 individually wrapped presents. And today I am trying "to contain" myself but isn't it a bit RUDE that my husband bought me this lovely box of my favorite assorted truffles - THEN HE LEAVES TOWN FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK! Who am I to share (the calories) with? Melissa come over quick before they're gone!

There was an assortment of 12 petite candles (with various scents)... a bag of assorted sizes of chip clips... a gift card to Sports Authority (new running shoes to work off those candy mentioned earlier)... a few kitchen gadgets...

ALL -IN - ALL... it was a wonderful day! 40 is not bad!

Parenting Woes

There was an earlier post (Eldon's) about parenting skills, the idyllic family, etc etc.

Well, we are trying to be pretty good parents. We hold regular Family Nights, we wash the van occassionally TOGETHER (like on the videos), we go to the park AS A FAMILY...

Monday's Family Night lesson was a simple one - let's just be kind to one another. We shared some scriptures, wrote out nice comments about each member of our family and played a little guessing game with the comments, had graham crackers and frosting... a real nice night! There was just one catch - during the week you need to try your best to be nice to someone, everyone - just do something nice!

All the boys were in bed tonight (Thurs) and I asked the question, "Hey boys, how's our Family Night Challenge going?"

Nick (5) responds - Well, I never really had an opportunity (very sincere voice).

Zach (7) responds - Well Mom, there was this boy on the playground who doesn't have any friends "story" the kind of story that goes on and on and on. Thanks Zach.

Ben (9) responds - Well, today at breakfast Mom. What? Yeah, you made cracked wheat for us to eat and I sure don't like it, but I didn't complain.

Well, I do know that sometimes lessons need to be repeated... this may be just one of those lessons!

Change

Since blogging for me is writing about our day-to-day activities - life is going well. The boys and I went to see Happy Feet yesterday (Civil Rights Holiday) at the theatres. Emma stayed home to take a nap. It's wonderful to have Glenn at home. He does let me go (without having to pluck Emma from her naptime) so much! He runs to pick-up boys that I have forgotten somewhere. He tries to be so flexible - yet much of the time he works late into the night or is up at 3 working with those abroad.

Yesterday they "let go" about 1/2 the workforce (once again ) from his company... is he worried? Yes. But he tries to hide it well! Will there be more lay-offs? If so, they will most likely shut the company down. I'm thankful for my husband (who is currently employed still). And if they "let go" more... we will handle it well (as before).

Having A Little Girl Around!

It's GREAT having a little girl around the house. Each night when I go to bed, I place my clothes in the hamper which is in our closet... and this is what I find:




What in the WORLD you are thinking... these are boxes of shoes (and I don't have many) that Emma has searched through looking for the perfect match to her outfit for the day!


Yes, girls are a lot different than boys! (And I LOVE IT!)

Can't Say Much

Ben received a microscope for his birthday (in December). He has been looking at some of the pre-made slides that came with the kit. All is well. We keep talking about getting some dirty canal water to view... or some water from Grandma's fish pond. Cool!

Talk is cheap! The other day while I was making supper, Ben came to me and said, "Come look at what I'm viewing. It's hair Mom." He skipped back to the table and I followed. I put my eye in the eyepiece and said, "Wow. This is neat." As I was looking at the hair I commented, "Where did you get this?" Then the terrible thoughts came GUSHING into my head... YOUR HAIR - I screamed. Glenn came running from his office, thinking I had cut my hand off or something. There it was - an inch and a half of bangs lying on the slide, table and some pitched out the back door.

Good thing hair grows! (We paid a visit to Joe's Barber Shop the next day.)

Extra-Curric Activities #7

With the coming of a New Year, it was nice to see Ben's soccer team and Nick's soccer team - come to a close. It was also nice to see Zach's swim team take the winter off to gear up for the summer.

To me, this means - I CAN ACTUALLY NOW BE A stay-at-home MOM! I do not have to farm the boys out. I do not have to "pluck"Emma from her naptime. I do not have to fill up the van each week. I do not have to remember EVERYONE'S schedule for the moment! I do not have to remember which boy I left wherever it was he was suppose to go - and then pick him up! :)

This week we entered into a new sport! BASKETBALL! We have never done this one before, but Zachary is going to show us how it's done! He had his first game on Saturday and he did GREAT! The season is short (8 weeks) with games on Saturday and practice only once during the week.

Did I fail to mention that I signed Ben, Zach and Nick up for Little League which starts next month. How we will do this one - I'm not sure yet FOR they all will be on different teams because of their ages. (Good thing Chris is NOT eligible this year!)

Tickle Your Funny Bone

The other night at Family Night we gathered to write down our "2007 New Year's Revolutions" as per Zachary.

And just the other night as the dishes were being cleared, all were jumping around, crashing into each other and just acting crazy before bed... Ben was still finishing up his supper when he commented, "Mom, do you think we stress discipline enough in our family..." How would YOU respond to that???

VAKE UP!

Vake Up! is heard around our house quite often. It's also heard at full lung capacity at church when anyone by eyesight is caught nodding the head. It's heard as Emma peeks into Glenn's office at 10am or 4pm - VAKE UP! It's her favorite phrase to say!

Kindergarten

This is Nicholas and his K teacher Mrs. Pinnt after the Christmas Program and Party. Nick loves school and just loves to learn. Mrs. Pinnt has expressed with us that if she could clone any one child in her class, it would be Nick. He is always willing to help and is always listening!

Christmas 2006

The kids slept in till after 8am... that was the BEST Christmas present EVER!


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Still, it seemed as if we had JUST gotten to bed... Zachary got hit by the stomach-flu bug around 2am which put a twist into the night. BUT - before he went to bed that night he commented that his stomach didn't feel quite right. He took a bowl with him to bed and I am proud to say "HE HIT THE BOWL!" Not a SPOT on the sheets. Yes, that was the BEST Christmas present a Mother could ask for.

Some cute pics of the morning... finally, a dollhouse!

I will protect you all...



And if he can't protect you, then I will!



I will NOT protect you... but you may fall asleep listening to my voice!

Extra-Curric Activities #6

Of all the activities we are involved in around our home, the most rewarding for Mom is the piano. I remember taking lessons each week from Mrs. Widowson in David City NE. She charged $1.50 per half-hour lesson. (This was expensive too.) My Mom would drop my two older brothers off with me and we'd all take lessons. We'd have to wait for each other. We'd do our homework and stuff while we waited. Mom went to do the weekly grocery shopping.

Now, Ben is getting into it. He just performed the "Hallejulah Chorus" for his Christmas program. It had a lot of chords and lots of "stretching of fingers" and he did just wonderful! I had to stay home with sick children, but Glenn videotaped it. If only I could figure out how to get it onto this blog... that Apple is looking better all the time. (Hope Glenn doesn't read this.)

This is a wonderful talent that Benjamin is developing. I hope he continues to love it! Zach is patiently waiting till he's eight - then he wants to start.