Art and Soul

Patrick enjoys his art class, his Christmas gift from my parents, and has been bringing home some nice pieces for me to display on our magnetic board (just some sheet metal actually intended for use in building HVAC ductwork, screwed up to the wall - like a fridge only BIGGER and things don't fly off when you open the door to get milk). Last week they worked on blending watercolors. Very nice flower!

For his birthday my Kari and Jonathan got him this art kit, it has paints and oil pastels and instructions (they say inspirations) on how to create your own masterpiece. Ta-Da! What would happen if van Gogh had painted when he was 6 and smiley faces were all the rage.

One afternoon at home he busted out a very detailed picture for me NOT to display, he created it specifically to put in his memory book so he could remember what a great artist he was when he was 6 (hence the 6 in the middle of the sky). I have had to ask him multiple times to let me keep it up so I can enjoy (giggle at) it, like the details of trees smashed into the footprints and tiny stick people running away from burning buildings.

Finally, he spent a quick 10 minutes on his backup iPad, the Etch-a-Sketch (currently grounded from the real one since he becomes the world's biggest pain in the neck when it comes to sharing said device) and created a DRAGON. Look carefully, the entire thing is covered in SCALES. His etching skills are not to be believed, we will soon have a show-down with the real-live Etch from Toy Story.

Gift giving: the experience

Both sets of grandparents were very sporting in our Christmas wish of toning down the toys, and gifted accordingly.  As I mentioned, we got lots of games from Joe's parents, and last night we had our first official Friday Night Game Night! It went GREAT, the last time we really tried to play games as a family was probably a year ago, and we gave it up for a year because it went so poorly. Now, of course, the kids are a year older and Caroline participated more cooperatively on my team (still not ready to play on her own), and Eli was KILLING it! He really grasped the rules of each game and followed along - he even grasped a competitive streak and declared, "Bonky bonk bonky! Bonk bonk bonk!" whenever he would knock someone back to home in Trouble. We are looking forward to making Friday Night Game Night a long-term tradition, since games are one of the best ways to connect with ornery teens.

My parents gifted "experiences" for each child - they picked a class that each child would enjoy and made a small certificate saying what class, plus some token item to go along with it.  Patrick got art lessons last year and LOVED them, so he got art lessons again this year; his token was a wooden airplane that he could paint and assemble. Eli and Caroline each got gymnastics lessons with an outfit that they could wear to go to them. Caroline has taken this gymnastics thing to heart and will only take off her gymnastics outfit to put on pajamas, to put on a church dress (though that's even a struggle), or to put on a swimsuit as a replacement because her gymnastics leotard is dirty. She told me, "I bewong in gymnastics." Not, "I go to," or "I like," but "I belong" - it sounded like she was declaring her destiny to me! Too bad she has some height in her genes, I seriously doubt a girl destined for 5'8" or above is also destined for gymnastics. Not only does she want to WEAR "her gymnastics" (leotard) every day, she wants to go to class EVERY DAY. When her whining reaches a fever pitch I am forced to get creative, so we have put together some twirlers so she can practice rhythmic gymnastics, and cobbled together a balance beam from books and a 2x4.

I have videos of the kids twirling and balancing, but not pictures - sadly, blogger doesn't feel like uploading any of my videos today. Instead, here is a preview of some actual gymnasts doing rhythmic gymnastics. Very fun to watch :)

Hopefully in the summer I can get the kids excited about synchronized swimming through some clever Youtube video selections!

Christmas 2013

Let's begin 366 days prior to Christmas.

Christmas Eve 2012 was bad and rough and all my fault. In order to escape that this year I wanted to make sure we focused on keeping Christmas simple and focused on things OTHER than ourselves. To get things kicked off right I made a countdown - an advent of sorts, to keep us busy each day and ALSO to get the kids thinking more than "gimme gimme gimme!" We started the first week with Service Week, where we made gift bags for people who serve US in our lives, filled with some fruit, some treats, and a hand-written card. We delivered them to our mailman, trash men, Patrick's teacher, his doctor, the fire fighters, and someone else who serves us but I can't even remember who right now. The fire fighters were really cool - they let the family come into the fire station and the kids got to sit in the fire truck and talk into the radio. Needless to say, it was their favorite Service Gift Bag delivery! The second week of the countdown was Experiencing Christmas - the generic and fun stuff of Christmas! Have a hot chocolate tea party (in Caroline's tea set), make salt-dough Christmas ornaments, watch the Muppet's Christmas Carol as a family, cut out snowflakes, bake cookies... like I said, the fun stuff! The third week was supposed to be focusing on The Reason for Christmas, but by the third week I had run out of steam and kept forgetting to fill the envelopes with activities! Patrick would retrieve an envelope before I was properly awake, so in my groggy state I would proclaim, "of COURSE it's empty, we still haven't finished... cutting out snowflakes!" Happily he accepted that answer at LEAST 5 times. Once I told him it was because dad was in a bad mood and the activity had involved dad, so now it was no longer do-able. THANKS, Mr. Grinch-dad (and whoops, forgetful and finger-pointing mom!).

By Christmas Eve, though, we'd done lots of very fun and thoughtful and giving things, so I was very excited at the way things were shaking out this year! I even had presents wrapped and set out (and up, away from Ethan) AND a special gift for Christmas Eve. A TYPICAL gift, but special to the kids because it came wrapped in shiny paper. About 2 weeks prior Kari alerted me that Wal-Mart had some smoking' deals on pajama sets so I got new PJs for each of the kids - they were $2 apiece! - plus a set for myself. They were so thrilled that they to to wear their PJs on our drive around to look at lights on Christmas Eve, I thought it was a "win," even if it was pretty generic.

Cutest dude ever.

Spiderman, meet Cutest Dude Ever.

Skylanders, meet Spiderman and Cutest Dude.

Throw Hello Kitty into the mix, and you've got a party!

Our after-Christmas gift was haircuts for these boys! Looking pretty shaggy here.

Christmas morning. My one picture, all super-fuzzy - wah-wah. Notice the light coming in the windows - we did not encourage anyone to get up early, and they obliged by sleeping until 7:30.

I meant to replace our stockings but didn't get around to it, and then couldn't remember WHY I meant to replace out stockings until Santa had a very difficult time stuffing oranges into them. It was such a tight squeeze the kids about got orange juice instead! Here's Eli wrestling his out. Good thing he loves wrestling.

Patrick originally asked for a Colossal Squid toy - he really likes the documentary on them and has watched it a number of times - so I bought this highly-rated posable squid MONTHS ago. Then he changed his mind and wanted a remote control dinosaur (which doesn't exist), and I also had on hand an electronic dragon, so he got both. I was very pleased that upon opening the squid he remembered he had asked for it, and he was SO EXCITED that Santa had remembered, too! That jolly old fellow doesn't miss a beat, does he?

All those toys were Santa's fault, I'll have you know. I wanted us to use our talents as gifts for each other this year, take the focus off toys and money and really GIVE, so I made each of the kids a personalized "corny" -  a small pillow filled with corn that they can heat up in the microwave. Sounds random, but I have a corny of my own and they would constantly fight over it when really I wanted it for myself! Now we are all satisfied. Caroline's is Hello Kitty (like her new pajamas, which she isn't wearing in these pictures - she prefers footed pjs. But hey, they were $2), Eli's is blue with construction machines on it, Patrick's is black with neat red flames all over it, and Ethan got the shaft and didn't get one. Caro and Eli made good use of their cornies by providing comfortable beds for horny toads and crocodiles.

While Joe and I stuck mostly to our homemade gifts, this was an exception: a dinosaur game! You have to sneak eggs out from under a leaf and hope the big dinosaur doesn't attack! Good times.

We ended up getting MANY awesome games, it was a challenge trying to try them all out in one day! We've decided we need to declare every Friday night an official Game Night so we can enjoy all these games, and each others company, for year to come. And THAT is a good Christmas gift!

All the kids received awesome play-doh accessories (which is great, we are HUGE play-doh fans around here), and Patrick immediately got to work making Mr. Bill.

"Ohhhhh Nooooooo! He's gonna be mean to me!"

Birthdays and Bath time

For Caroline's 3rd birthday she wanted a mermaid - her cousins had gotten some mermaids from the dollar store which, though cheap, were a HUGE hit. Unfortunately, because they were cheap, they fell apart quickly so I knew we'd have to find her mermaid at a slightly nicer location. It so happened that Joe and I took an excursion one morning while the kids were at school and/or Mother Goose Time, Kari generously offered to watch Ethan, and we headed to Toys R Us in Colorado Springs.  We found lots of Christmas stuff and THE PERFECT mermaid. So awesome! Slightly larger than  a Barbie, real hair, silicone flipper that's very realistic (you know, if mermaids were real), and it swims when you put her in water! It takes batteries, which baffles me a bit that someone thought batteries in a water toy would work out, but they claim the battery case is completely waterproof, so we'll see. IF NOTHING ELSE, she has a silicone flipper and real hair and that's dang cool. 

Can you see in Amelia's eyes that she's in love? Caroline couldn't take her eyes away from her new doll long enough for a picture. 

I may have caused problems, though, since then Amelia has been asking for a mermaid for Christmas and Caroline wants a BLONDE mermaid for Christmas… they do sell one, and seen swimming so photoshoppedly here… We may just have a girls-day excursion to the Springs after the holidays :)

Like most kids, our kids love baths - not to get clean, just to play around in. I thought Kellan (the mermaid) would be PERFECT to extend bath time - after all, she's made for the water! Caroline disagrees, though, and she doesn't like to get her doll's hair wet. Oh well, she still takes 30+ minute baths, and by the time she gets out she's all prune-y. She told me "My fingers are all crumpled." I thought that was a good descriptions! "That's because the bath is crumply." …well, maybe not the best explanation, but hey, she's a 3-year-old…. 

Who dresses herself ADORABLY…sometimes. Infrequently enough that I take pictures of it, I guess!

You're getting' so big! *tear!*

.

PS Remember her first haircut I didn't like so much? I figured rather than sped $10 or $15 to get  haircut I don't like I could give her a perfectly bad haircut at home… but turns out I love it! I think she looks adorable with layers. 

This will not tell you anything about last month.

I've been awful about posting, but it's not because things are awful - quite the opposite. I've been having such a good time being a lazy bum I haven't even had time to feel guilty about being an awful blogger! The truth is, I've been pretty bad about just about EVERYTHING… except watching Scandal and The Office on Netflix with Joe, and I am REALLY good at doing that. It's gone from being a guilty pleasure, trying to sneak in an episode or two after kids go to bed, to an all-out date-night where we purposely put to kids to bed early, pop some popcorn and scoop some ice cream and snuggle under the blankets… And THAT is good.

Instead of catching up about Thanksgiving and such, I'll take my scrapbooking advice and start with NOW.

We went out to see Frozen, and the clip of Elsa singing "Let it Go" is on youtube, so we watch that every day, multiple times a day. Patrick cracks me up because he tries to make himself sound really awesome when he sings by sliding his voice from high notes to low - "let it GOooooooooeeeeew, let it GOooooooooeeeew, can't hold it back any-Mooooooaaar" You just can't pimp out a Disney princess singing, but it's funny to hear him try.

Patrick got some boxing practice gloves - one set of gloves, one set of pads to hit that another person wears. Instead of hitting the pads the kids just act like it's two sets of gloves, though, so he and Eli were boxing with those. Patrick was coming after Eli and instead of fighting back Eli just ran away. Patrick stopped him and said, "Don't run away, just box me. That's the thing about boxing: remembering to box."

Eli gives great hugs. MAN, that kid can hug. He didn't snuggle much as a baby so even 4 years later I'm still taken off guard when he goes in for a hug and doesn't let go. I've heard when a kid hugs you, you should let them let go first because you never know how much they might need that hug. Well, if that's the case, I'm still giving Eli his bedtime hug from last night.

Eli tries to fool us that he is the smartest kid EVER. We got a Highlights seek-and-find calendar, so 12 months'-worth of hidden pictures, and every single one he'd challenge me to find things first. Not so hard, but as soon as I'd point to one he's said, "I already noticed that." So I would challenge HIM to find one and he'd say, "I already know where that is. It's…..riiiiiiight……it's……riiiiiiight……." and he'd drag his finder over the entire page looking for it. As soon as I got tired of that and pointed it out he'd say, "MO-om, I already noticed that!" I think he means he already knew that, but he would say knowed, which of course isn't a word, but "knowed" and "noticed" sound very similar and I never corrected noticed since it's not made-up. Now it's pretty common any time he tries to fool us into thinking he already knew something, to hear that he has "already noticed it."

Caroline still sings to herself, and I still love to listen in. She sings a lot of Frozen, along with my other kids, but she particularly likes to sing "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus. Can't say I approve of "crazy" as a lifestyle choice, but that girl sure has some pipes… unlike Caroline, who sings it the highest possible notes she can hit (and plenty that she can't). Maybe Caroline is a bit crazy like Miley anyway - today she waltzed out of her room in what she declared "fully dressed" - cowboy boots, tights, and a glittery shirt with a ruffled bottom - she was convinced it was a dress so she refused to wear pants, even though it covered 0% of her bum. I could see some starlet out shopping in that…

Ethan's a terror. No spot is safe in my home, even the safe spots - he'll find a way to destroy it, and try to destroy himself in the process! I swear he's a hired hit man, and the job is himself - he will find a way to do himself in, just give him some time. He escaped from my house one day, unnoticed, and was returned to me by a neighbor. I felt AWFUL!! I've never had an escaper in my mothering experience, so I was unprepared. More diligence! So it was a bigger surprise when he managed to escape over Thanksgiving when there were 4 adults in the house! My mom happened to be heading house to house and rescued him from down the sidewalk a ways. Hey, if he can escape with 4 adults, it's no wonder he got away from 1.

We tried to wean Ethan off the bottle. All the other kids have been pretty content to take whatever we give them, so long as they can get a drink, but Ethan has his own ideas.  We completely took the bottle away and had sippy cups at the ready - the first day was rough, the second day was rougher, the third day seemed like we were on the up-swing into him accepting his new life… but the third NIGHT he woke up and cried inconsolably for 1-1/2 hours, from 1 a.m. - 2:30 a.m. We finally plugged him up with a bottle, and it took him quite a while for him to forgive us enough to even LOOK at those sippy cups again. We may end up with a 2-year old who happily totes his bottles to playdates, the park, and potty-training, but I figure there are worse things in the world. I only figure that because I'm his mom; I DISTINCTLY remember judging another mother who had a toddler with a bottle at church. When the tables are turned, I am much more forgiving (you're welcome, Self)!

About the adults: Joe was working diligently on our basement bathroom until Thanksgiving break, and since then we've been diligently ignoring it. One of these days I'll get around to the Bold and the Beautiful: Part Whatever, but today is not that day. Tomorrow doesn't look good either.

Joe turned 30! It wasn't a huge celebration, though I got him a particularly awesome Honey Badger card.

So that was awesome. Joe shopped for and cooked his own delicious birthday dinner and dessert (he chose strawberry shortcake. This would never be my choice because it does not have any chocolate) and we ate with Kari & Jonathan & their kids, then the next night they babysat for us and we went out to Catching Fire. This was also my birthday celebration of sorts, since my day fell on Sunday and Joe's not home and Sundays suck… but at least we hit the movies, right?

And then you've already heard about me and popcorn and netflix, so now you know everything! I mean, noticed everything! 

My other blog (she has another blog?)

I originally started two blogs, one for my family and one for my scrapbooking, but the last time I posted on my scrapbooking blog was 5 years ago! I decided to remedy the situation and now I'm working to keep a fun log of favorite scrapbooking pages and ideas and tools and whatnot. If you're interested (or just bored out of your mind and have nothing better to do at the moment), go check it out at willscrapbookforfood.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

Muhammad-al-Eli

Eli and Caroline and Patrick really like to brush my hair, but none of them are particularly good (i.e., gentle) about it. After finishing up with a particularly painful brushing Eli asked me if it hurt when I brushed my own hair. I said, "Yeah, but not as much because I expect it. It's like when you punch yourself, you can't really do it so hard it hurts because you expect it." Eli said, "I can punch so it hurts!" and he immediately punched himself straight in the face. Well, you sure showed me, Eli!