Too Jealous

Yesterday, I took all three girls out to do a little Christmas shopping after Lucia had finished her daily allotment of school work.  The timing worked out perfectly: Lucia had just finished when Alexa awoke from her morning nap, so we packed a lunch for baby and headed out.  Our mission was to find something the girls could give to Papa for Christmas, and then I had told them they could each find something for each other in the range of about $5. 
Our first mission was quickly accomplished, so we then went to a store that might have something the girls would be interested in.  Alexa was very patient while Lucia and Rhea took their sweet time exploring all the toys.  They got all excited and kept showing me their discoveries.  It was a major challenge, though, to keep them focused not on themSELVES, but on sister.  Lucia kept showing me things, saying, "I wish Rhea would pick THIS for me!"  And Rhea kept telling me, "Mama, I want to bring this home."  After repeatedly reminding them of their budget ($5 doesn't buy much anymore these days :-( ), and trying to get them to focus not on themselves, Lucia finally found something that was age appropriate for Rhea and that she would very much enjoy.  It was a reuseable sticker pad (something like this http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12704274).  Lucia kept looking at it and thinking about it, and then told me: "No, Mama, if she gets this for Christmas, I would just be too jealous.  It has SO MANY stickers!"  I tried to explain to her that since it had so many stickers, Rhea might be willing to share some of them with her.  After contemplating it a little more, she asked: "Couldn't we find one with FEWER stickers?  This just has too many, and it would make me too jealous."  So... she decided she wasn't going to get this for Rhea. 
(Very interesting concept... I'm still thinking about this.) 

After I helped Rhea pick something for Lucia (and, no, I didn't just get the sticker pad ;-) ), I hid both items in the cart so that the girls couldn't see them, and we proceeded to check out. Rhea REALLY struggled with not being able to tell Lucia what she picked out for her.  She kept telling me, "Mama, I'll tell her JUST ONCE!"  I kept insisting that, no, she couldn't tell her even once because then the surprise would be ruined. "But I WANT TO tell Lucia!!!!"  I was finally able to somehow sufficiently distract her, and after paying, we all went out for a treat lunch at Taco Bell.  Alexa did a good job eating the baby jar I had packed for her, and the girls had tacos.  It was a little "busy" with three little ones, as you may be able to imagine (potty breaks, gesturing with a taco in hand, resulting in half the filling flying out in several directions, etc.), but we all had a good time.  And, as a special treat for me, a lady stopped by our table on her way out and remarked how well behaved the girls were and how impressed she was with how they had been doing the whole time she was watching.  She asked: "Do you stay at home with them?  I think you do, because it really makes a difference."  That was such an encouragement for me to hear, and a good reminder for me to encourage other moms as I see the opportunity.  The girls WERE doing well yesterday, and I told them that.  And on our way out of the restaurant, I told them I had learned something that day:  That we could go out again sometime for lunch, because they had listened well and used good store and restaurant manners, and that Mama had fun with all three of them.  What a great day!  And on the way home, Rhea said, "Mama, that was a great meal at Taco Bell.  Thanks for taking us there!"  How much sweeter does life get?! :-)

Girls vs. Boys

This past weekend, David unfortunately had to work A LOT to make some deadlines.  So the girls and I tried to give him as much space and quiet as we possibly could.  Sunday afternoon, I took them to the park since it was beautiful (about 77 degrees) and that way he could get some more work done.
When we got to the park, I was surprised to see a group of cub scouts having their weekly meeting there.  I've never observed a group of scouts, so it was a cultural learning event for me. 
Lucia was also rather intrigued.  She would play for a little, and then come back and stand at a small distance and watch and listen to what was going on.  After a while, their formal instructions were over and the group of about 12-15 boys started doing what boys do... they started throwing a football, playing tag, and horsing around the play structures.  Lucia watched the groups throwing the football for a while and told me she was going to ask if she could play too.  She ended up staying on the sidelines, watching (which didn't surprise me).
After a while, the scout leader joined in the game of tag and it got a little crazy, with a boy falling (but not hurt) and a general increase in noise.
Lucia watched another five minutes of this, and then very decidedly walked up to the scout leader and said something I couldn't hear.  He responded to her: "Well, hello there.  And who are you?"  Then she turned around and came back to me. 
I said, "Lucia, what did you say to him?"
Lucia *authoritatively*: "I said, 'Stop that craziness or someone could get hurt again!' "

That's Lucia for ya.  Always concerned, always responsible.  Glad she has the guts to confront an unknown adult, now we just need to work on the manner and situational appropriateness of her confrontations. :)

Not Cute Enough...

I just got another box of clothes out for Rhea, since she's rapidly outgrowing 3T and needs more and more size 4T.  There was a pair of pajamas that she hadn't seen before, and since it says "Big Sister" on it, and her current favorite shirt also says "Big Sister," I figured I had found a new pair of favorite pajamas.  After baths, I showed her the "new" PJ's with hearts on the pants and a little girl on the shirt and excitedly announced, "it says 'Big Sister' on it!!" 
Rhea: "I don't want those.  I wanna pick my own pajamas.  I'll show you which ones I want to wear."  So she climbed the chair in her room to reach the pajama drawer of her dresser and pulled out yellow ones with pink ladybugs.  "I wanna wear these!"
I asked if she could explain to me why she wanted to wear those rather than the Big Sister pair. 
R: "I don't know, I just like these better."
M: "Yes, but why?  Don't you like these hearts, and the little girl on the shirt?"
R: "No, I don't like all those.  They're just not cute enough."

Right.  Thankfully, you ARE cute enough! :-)

Isn't It Weird?

Lucia asked me to help her with her Christmas list, when all of a sudden she looked up at me and said, "Mama, I have to ask you something.  Isn't it WEIRD that even though Santa brings the presents, WE wrap them?!"
We've never promoted the whole Santa thing at Christmas time.  We've carried on the tradition of St. Nicholas Day, when the kids put out a boot on the eve of December 6th and find some goodies in it from "Nikolaus" the next morning.  But we try not to distract from the true meaning of Christmas on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  So all the kids "know" about Santa they have learned from other kids and read in books.  So it's interesting to me to have these types of conversations with Lucia.  I try not to lead her on, but I also don't want to simply burst her childhood bubble. 
The conversation continued. 
L: "Mama, I think when we put our our shoe, this time we should leave Santa some cookies and milk." ... *after a thoughtful pause* "I've heard other people leave out cookies and cheese, but I think cookies and milk would be better." (Cheese?!?)  "What else could we do for Santa?  How about we could leave HIM a present?!  Mama, what do you think Santa would like? ... Mama, he has glasses, right?"
M: "What do you think?"
L: "Well, I think we could give him his first mug.  Let's find one for him and wrap it and leave it outside for him."  (where she also left her Christmas list, as follows:

BARBIE COMPUDR
CHRISTMASS TREE (I helped her spell "Christmas", the letters of which were somewhat surprising to her. She said: "They should change the spelling!  Take out the T and change the A to an I." :-) )
B. CASLEE (Barbie castle)
ANGNLE COSTOME (angel costume)
STAR WAND
A DOG
A CAT
A BALL
A BIKE
A BARBIE
A HAIE STÜLL (we're not sure, but think "a high stool" maybe for the counter in the kitchen?!?!)
A NEW WTRE BOTTLE
A DOLL
A WAND

(Then the pre-printed Christmas wishlist template was out of lines, which is probably a good thing.  Gotta fill up all those lines!  :-) )

Then she also wanted to know if Santa came on the night before Christmas, or on Christmas.  I said, "neither," but that he came on the night of December 5.  So now we're eagerly counting the days. :-)  And on Christmas, we can keep the focus on Jesus.

I was just working with Lucia on her Christmas wishlists (which will be a separate post) when Rhea came running into the room, grabbed my hand, and exclaimed: "Hey Dorothy, hey Dorothy!  I just cleaned the mirror!  Come look!"  (?!?)  I took her hand and followed her and she demonstrated how she climbed the bathroom stool, wet her hands, wiped up and down the mirror, and then took the hand towel and polished it dry. She was SO proud of herself!  After a minute I asked, "But why did you call me Dorothy?" 
Rhea: "Because Mama's not a good name."

Okie dokie then. :-)

A little while later we were getting ready for bed, and Rhea announced to me that my name was Dorothy, hers was Dorothy too, and her baby's name was ... surprise, surprise ... also Dorothy.  So then I said: "But then how will we know who were talking about when we all have the same name?  If I say, 'Dorothy has to go to bed,' do you have to go to bed, or your baby?"
Rhea: "My baby."
Mama: "But what if I say, 'Dorothy can have a cookie.'  Is the cookie for you or for your baby?"
Rhea, without missing a beat: "For me." 

(I love 3-yr-old logic. :-) )

First Day of School

More catch-up.  Lucia officially started Kindergarten on August 27.  We do a mad dash out the door in the mornings.  The routine includes getting as much ready as possible the night before (snacks, lay out clothes, pack bags, etc.).  Lucia gets dressed before she comes down for breakfast, I shower before any of the (big) kids are up, and then we have 45 minutes to eat and get out the door.  It's intense, but we haven't been late yet!  I must say, I'm amazed myself. :)

I remembered to take a "first day of school" picture of the girls that morning, but haven't posted it anywhere yet.  We have several takes; a few at home, and then some at school.

Here's one excited Lucia!!  Can't wait to go to school!

Rhea was happy that she got to take Finn along for show-and-tell.

 At the doors!  Still excited!

 

 

Then... the "official" picture, taken by someone other than Mama.  This is the second take, when Lucia was trying to give her best smile.  Haha.  It still makes me laugh! :) 

 

And then... diving right in!  Here she's filling out a science work sheet on the different parts of a sprouting bean.

 

Happy learning, everyone! :)



Sweet Moments

This is a somewhat random post.  Nothing newsworthy (that I know of right now), but rather little moments that are sweet and make our days memorable and fun.

 

Orange Blossom getting a cuddle with Rhea's buzzies.  This is serious stuff, people, and a true privilege.  Whenever I ask to share Rhea's buzzies, I am either told: "No, it's MY buzzies, you don't NEED a buzzies!!!"  Or I get to have a 3 second long turn and then have to give it back.  So Orange Blossom is very fortunate indeed.

Big sister feeding baby sister.  This is wonderful for all three of us.

Rhea intently and intensely "coloring" (wait, gray is a color, so I guess it's legitimate coloring) a picture of Strawberry Shortcake.  She went through a phase when she wouldn't color with anything but pencil.  She will now occasionally consider other colors. But she's still as meticulous and has a very long attention span.  And you had better not interrupt her before she's officially done. ;-)

The big girls like to go in and greet Alexa when she wakes up from her naps.  She's usually very happy to see her sisters!  (As long as they don't crowd her too much in her bed ... which happens.)

Some fun out and about.  Shopping is fun!! :-)

And some rain right in our living room. :-)  Maybe I should call the roofers?!

 

And this is only a glimpse into our day-to-day happenings.  We have fun (and sometimes get a few things done, too. ;-) )!

 

Next Stop: More Friends!

After the wedding, the girls and I stayed in Jacksonville a couple days longer to see one of my roommates and her little family.  It was fun to meet her little boy, Blaise, and see where she lives!  We had a great time with them, too, and even got to go to the beach.  Let me tell you:  The beach with several small children is not as enjoyable as it is without several small children.  But we still had fun! :-)

 

Lucia always clung to an adult's arm/leg/swim suit

 

 Alexa taking in her first beach experience and trying to decide if she liked it or not.

Yay for vacations!  We were gone for about 5 weeks, which was long, but so worth it.  Nice to have a change of scenery and routine, and wonderful to get to reconnect with so many people.  Thanks again for all who hosted and (quite literally) entertained us!

I even survived the flight home alone with three kids and a lay-over.  It wasn't the best part of the trip, but somewhat memorable. :)  I was exhausted at the end of the day, but the girls did great.  They helped pull their own luggage (Lucia at times pulling both hers and Rhea's because little sister was getting tired and whiny), entertained themselves well, and had a good attention span for following instructions.  (The only glitch was that we had to give up all of our carry-on luggage on the second part of the trip, which meant that Rhea's buzzies was not available when she "needed" it, about 5 seconds into the flight.  So that resulted in 45 minutes of tears.  But hey... it was the last part of the trip, and Papa was waiting for us when we landed, and so was the buzzies.  So we were ok.)

Wedding!

Back to my catch-up posts!

As I have mentioned before, we got to travel to Florida for a family reunion and David's cousin Laura's wedding. 
Here are some of the pictures. Lucia got to be the flower girl, which was exciting and somewhat intimidating to her at the same time.  We all enjoyed getting to see lots of family, and, as usual, it was too short.  It was fun to see Laura getting hitched!

At the airport.  The adults were SLIGHTLY outnumbered! :)

 The kids did great, though, and Grandpa's leg made for a good pillow for Rhea's nap.

Alexa passed out quickly, too, so what COULD have been stressful and unenjoyable was actually not all that bad. :)

Fun at the fellowship hall / hangout area.

Lucia helping the big cousins-once-removed mash up avocadoes for Super Nachos. :)

Dutch Blitz Action

Sisterly fun at the hotel. (This picture reminds me of how blessed I am. Three happy, healthy girls.)

 They really do love each other. :)

Then came the main event!  The wedding!
Lucia was very glad to have Hayley and Westen there to lean on for reassurance and safety. :-)

 

 

 

A Giant's Eyes

Literally EVERY time I get Rhea out of bed, she tells me about a giant.  Either about dreaming of one, or that one was in her room, and frequently she points to the window.  So today I took the time to try and see what she sees.  She tells me she can see his eyes, and that they are mean eyes.  So I figured maybe she meant the flowers on her curtains... I guess they sort of look like two rectangular red eyes with dark pupils?!  I asked her if the flowers on the curtains looked like eyes.  But she told me that that wasn't what she meant.  The eyes she sees are on the ceiling, and they are "mean eyes" -- I'm guessing the triangles of light in the corners of the ceiling?!  I guess they could look like mean eyes?!  Regardless, we always open up the curtains right away and ...

... she HOPS out of bed! :-)

What I Learned Today...

This might be a new occasional series.

Today I will post two lessons.

Yesterday, I learned that it is not a good idea to let your baby play with Lansinoh breastmilk storage bags.  The hard way.  Here is how my lesson unfolded.
After Alexa woke up from her nap, I decided to pump since I had skipped a feeding that morning and wanted to catch up for her.  I usually avoid pumping with her awake because it's rather complicated trying to entertain a baby and pump and keep her from climbing all over me, pulling on the tubes, etc.  So I was happy when she discovered the milk storage bags and was happily entertained for about a minute and a half.
When I was ready to store my milk in one of those bags, I opened it up and poured an entire bottle into one.  To my surprise and dismay, milk started POURING out of two or three holes that Alexa had poked into the bag with her sharp little teeth!  Since my little one is at the stage of pulling up and wanting to hold a hand to walk all the time, I one-handedly closed the ziploc zipper at the top and quickly turned the bag on its head to avoid more spillage, while rotating my other hand and arm trying to keep Alexa balanced.  I then had the brilliant idea of cutting off a corner of the bag to be able to pour the contents into a new (hopefully unadulterated) bag, but in order to get at my nail scissors (since all this was happening in our bathroom), I had to open the make-up drawer.  Little hands can reach all of the contents in this drawer, so I opened it as fast as I could.  I meant to also close it that fast, but in the meantime, a little hand had already grabbed my make-up bottle and was threatening to drop it on the tile floor in the sweet little empty-everything-of-all-its-contents-by-taking-one-thing-out-at-a-time-and-dropping-it-immediately-way that 10-month olds are so good at. So I had to steer her away with one hand, put down the injured bag full of milk, remove the make-up and put it back with the other hand, and then shut the drawer.  Then... cut off corner, test new bag by blowing into it to ensure no holes present, and... pour milk back into a bottle and then into the new bag (since one-handed pouring from one bag into another is pretty much impossible).  Moral: Don't let baby play with milk storage bags. 

Today I learned that apple picking in Texas means something totally different than apple picking in Wisconsin.

We met up with our school friends (after a half-hour-turned-into-an-hour's drive due to poor directions and lack of signs) at Henrietta Creek Orchard.  Since we were a little late, I was worried that we would be missing out on a good part of the apple picking part, but to all of our relief, when we joined our friends among the apple trees, they told us that they had JUST gone out to the orchard.  The tour began with a good half hour talk about bees and butterflies and other fruit and orchard facts.  We missed out on that, but I wasn't too disappointed.  I was surprised to notice that no one had any bags or wagons or baskets, except for the tourguide/teacher, who had one small basket (a tad bigger than Easter egg hunt sized).  This is when she said, "We're trying to pick this area clean.  Everyone gets to pick ONE apple.  The adults, too!"  (Like that was a bonus.)  (If one accidentally fell while you were trying to pick yours, then you could take that one too and give it to her.)  I assumed we'd start with this particular kind of apple and then move on to other trees, but no, one apple is all we got to pick this morning.  (Per person.  So that makes three. :-) )  Oh, and for the apple-picking experience we paid $6 per person.  $18 for three apples, if you'll allow me to do the math for you.  Count the gas to get there and back, and those are some expensive apples!  It may be cheaper to fly to Germany and pick my parents' apples for free! ;-)

Summer Vacation Highlights

Before the weather turns any cooler and fall establishes itself, I want to remember some more of the highlights of our 5-week-long summer vacation that took us to Illinois, Wisconsin, and Florida (in the next post)!

Not sure if I already posted these pictures, but Alexa figured out how to pull up on things and get her hands onto all sorts of new stuff!  So proud of herself! Yay for another milestone, and a tear for another phase left behind.

Grandma and Grandpa took us all to the County Fair!  Lucia and Rhea were delighted to get to go on the carousel.

The girls tried their hands at rope-making.  Rhea needed a little help turning the crank, but they both got to take their own ropes home!

 

 

The girls obviously enjoyed the animals. :-)

Alexa was captivated by the balloon given to her by the Republican table.

Rhea and the chickens exchanged a few secrets.  (She would make her Tante Esther proud! :-) )

Spending some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa. :)

Cranking out some feed corn...

... which Rhea promptly taste-tested after it was ground into meal.

Jaida was a happy little squirt and enjoyed all the sights and sounds along with the big kids.

Alexa chillaxed in the stroller.  Must be nice to get the baby treatment, don't you think? :-)

The girls got to go on a few bike rides

We stopped for a little treat at Suzette's Crêpes in Wheaton

Alexa enjoying some Grandpa time.

Lucia and Jaida looking at some pictures and sharing a little cuddle on the couch.

Yay for having big cousins with whom to enjoy some girlie time!

Grandpa's lap was almost always full!  So fun to watch. :-)

Another fun activity Aunt Julie had in store was making pretzels!

Rhea got to sprinkle the salt on the top!

Our next destination was good ol' Wisconsin!!!  More or less as soon as we crossed the border, this was the weather greeting us "home". :)

The girls were SOO excited to see their old friends, and generally having a ball in the back seat.  That was such a fun drive, even though I had all three girls by myself!

First stop: The Lutz' -- Evan was so kind to let Rhea and Lucia sleep in his big bed while he and Mason slept on the floor in his parents' room.  Here we had story time before bed.  Rhea was SO tired (since she had gone without a nap on our travel day) and was asleep within seconds of finishing the last page.

She made good friends with Basker, er... Baxter.  (She had trouble saying his name correctly at first, much to Mason's dismay, who tirelessly corrected her by monotonously retorting "It's-not-Basker-it's-Baxter," everytime he heard her mispronounce his name.) :-)

Lucia and Miss Amanda coloring

Kiddos having silly fun!

Carrot-chopping action. :-) (I miss my friend.)

After our stay at the Lutz' (unfortunately, I didn't get any picture of Papa Marc), we visited our other friends for 3 or 4 days, but, to my dismay, my camera battery died and I wasn't able to get any pictures at their house!!  We had fun there, too, and went on a Children's parade together.  Visiting our friends was so much fun, refreshing to my soul (and the girls'), and provided some great conversation time.  Thanks again, friends, for having us!! :-)