Kay talk

Yesterday I got mad at Kay about something and she came up to me a few minutes later and was making a face and feeling her mouth with her fingers.  I asked what she was doing and she said, "My mouth is down. Because you almost made me sad..."  (She was apparently feeling her lips to make sure that they were really in a sad/turned down at the corners position.)  Kay does not like to be chastised about anything and gets quite upset if someone is yelling - even if it is not at her.

This afternoon I was doing some cleaning/organizing in my bedroom and came across something that Kay had made in church several months ago.  When she saw it she said, "Hey Mom, you found it! I was so worried!"

MJ talk

This conversation took place today:

MJ:  "Where's Kay?"
Me:  "She's upstairs."
MJ:  "Okay, let's go get her.  Come on Mom!  Let's go!  Come on!  Mom, I'm leaving you!"  (she almost sings out to me)  Then she says, "No, don't worry, I'm not leaving you."


Lately MJ has picked up the phrase, 'one sec' or 'just a sec'.  I will ask her to do something and she'll reply with, "One sec!"

Family Pictures

Friday, November 23

We have been talking the last couple of months about getting our family pictures taken again.  I think it has been about a year and a half since our last ones.  With all of our crazy schedules I decided that Thanksgiving weekend might be a good time to get them done since everyone would be home from school and work.  I talked with my husband about it and then called the portrait studio to see what times they had available for the day after Thanksgiving.  The person I talked to at the studio suggested that it might be best if we come in for the first appointment of the day - 9:00 a.m.  I thought that might be a little early for us to get everyone ready - especially with so many girls - but in the end decided to set our appointment for that time.  The funny thing is that it wasn't until several days afterwards that I realized that I had set that appointment for Black Friday.

After I made the appointment I set about finding coordinating colors/clothes for all of us to wear - and amazingly I didn't have to buy any clothes at all.  Then the morning of we got everyone up and fed and dressed and made it to our appointment on time.  Unfortunately MJ was not in a very good mood...  We had an excellent photographer who did a good job keeping the kids' attention and getting them to smile, but when we tried getting some pictures of just the kids, MJ didn't want anything to do with it.  We ended up getting several good family pictures - mostly because I was holding MJ in my arms the whole time (and tickling her to get her to smile).  The rest of the kids did great and cooperated very well.  The only other problem was Luke's glasses.  There were a couple of cute shots of the kids that we did manage to get but Luke's head wasn't turned quite right and the flash reflected right off of his glasses and did not look good at all.

And even though the experience was quite tiring for all of us - especially us parents - we ended up with a really cute picture for our wall!  And we got a smaller funny one of the kids with MJ screaming while M&M is trying to hold her on her lap and the photographer had the rest of the kids do sad/pouty faces.  It turned out pretty funny - even Kay has a great sad face!

Snow!!!

Friday, November 9

We got our first significant snowfall of the season.  It was a really wet, heavy snow so it was perfect for snowballs and for making snowmen!  (I've been waiting to post this until I got some more pictures off of DH's camera but he is taking too long.  I will possibly post more snow pictures later.)

The snow didn't stick around too long though and we were back to warm weather the following week.

MJ and Blondie

Kay with Kitty running in the background

Blondie and M&M with their snowman.

Christmas countdown

On Friday, November 30, Blondie made a Christmas countdown for her Activity Day Girls' activity.  It was just like ones the ones that Grandma N has made for our family before so I decided to buy some candy at the store and let the other kids make their own.  So on Saturday while M&M and I were making some fudge, the other girls helped make these Christmas countdowns for the rest of the family.  The kids especially love them and look forward to eating their piece of chocolate each day!  I just tied them to a metal hanger and then hung the hanger on our door in the kitchen that leads out to our garage.  They are very easy to make - just plastic wrap, ribbon and candy (or whatever you want to put in it).  I had some red and green plastic wrap that I bought a few years ago for something else so I let everyone pick what color they wanted for theirs.

Woodpecker

Thursday, December 6

The little girls and I had finished eating lunch when I looked outside and saw this woodpecker sitting on our trampoline.  There were a few puddles around the edge of the trampoline and it was getting a drink from the puddles and then sat there for a time preening its feathers.  When MJ saw it she said, "See the birdie?  He wants to bounce on the tramp!"

Kay then pulled a kitchen chair up to the window and both of the girls climbed in the chair and sat there watching the bird out the window for several minutes.

Principal's Pride - Kitty

Thursday, December 6

Kitty received the Principal's Pride award for her great typing and cool rubbing.  And thankfully we got there on time (unlike Blondie's back at the end of August).

Sleeping woes

These pictures have all been taken over the last month.  Ever since we moved MJ out of her crib, she has had a hard time taking naps.  Usually after lunch I will try and lay down with her or put a movie on and try and get her to fall asleep in my lap on the couch, but unfortunately no matter how much effort I put into it, it usually does not work.  She is usually still bouncing off of the walls and will not sit still.  So quite often by late afternoon/evening time she has hit her limit and will fall asleep wherever her head hits.  And we usually don't notice that it has happened until we find her somewhere asleep.  MJ is also having a hard time at bedtime and feels the need to "cuddle" with someone until she falls asleep.  Sometimes I will take the time to lay down with her until her constant moving around drives me crazy and I leave the room (or she actually does manage to fall asleep).  Other times when I don't lay down with her sometimes she will climb in the top bunk with Blondie - and usually Blondie doesn't mind.  Sometimes Blondie will read books to MJ until she falls asleep.  Other times we have found them both asleep in the bed and will move MJ down to the lower bunk so she doesn't fall off (or push Blondie off).  There have also been several times where I have been gone in the evening and MJ will climb up on her dad's lap and fall asleep there.  Some nights when DH and I go up to bed we will find her asleep in her doorway - with her pillow and a blanket wrapped around her.  Hopefully one of these days she will actually have a normal sleep schedule!!

This is one of my favorites - asleep on the hard kitchen tile with a hat, two different mittens and a blanket wrapped around her.  This was one of the Saturdays where I was gone for part of the day and DH came upstairs from his office and found her like this!

Marching Band Wrap-up

Thursday, November 15

The marching band had their end-of-the-season pinning this day.  They had it right after school so I had to take MJ and Kay with me.  They gave the students pins for marching the whole season and then they gave out homemade cinnamon rolls and juice and we watched a slideshow that the band photographer had put together for the season.  MJ is sad that the season has come to an end, but she is already excited and looking forward to marching next year!  We also had to take her uniform and hat home so that we could take it to the dry cleaners and then return it back to the school.  M&M took the opportunity to snap a few photos of her uniform with her piccolo.  The Arabian Nights shirt was the official shirt that they had to wear all the time to games and competitions.  Arabian Nights was the name of their show.  I will see if I can find a YouTube link to one of them marching one of their shows so everyone can see and hear it if they are interested.

Kay and MJ standing next to the school mascot.

Decorating for Christmas!

Wednesday, November 21

DH was really excited to get the tree up early this year and so on Wednesday after he came home from work he got out the tree and had the kids help him with it.  I told him that that was fine if he wanted to, but I wouldn't be able to get the decorations out until after Thanksgiving (since I was busy making some pies and jello for Thanksgiving dinner).  MJ was really excited to help and as she handed the tree branches to her dad she would say, "Merry Christmas!"

Then on Thanksgiving morning we got out the Christmas lights and put them up on the house.  It was really nice weather for it.

Then the following week I went over to my parents' house and got up on the roof for my dad to help him hang his lights!  I was quite nervous at first but it ended up not being too bad and I was glad to help them out.