11 Months

Wow! The last month has FLOWN by! I feel like I just wrote this post.

Here is Daphne at 11 months:

Not exactly what I want to remember, but thankfully she has recovered quickly!

Daphne was 16 lbs, 1 oz last week at the doctor. Sometimes she does great with her bottle, sometimes she has NO interest. She was doing great with her finger food, but after not eating for a couple of days, she has gotten a little lazy. She prefers to have us hold her bottle and spoon feed her. We were basically done with baby food - until she got sick. Oh, well. She is not a big fan of the sippy cup. Daphne usually takes a drink and throws it and since we don't do no-spill sippies, this is getting quite messy.

Daphne's newest skill is standing without holding on. She hasn't taken any steps yet, but she can stand for several minutes all by herself! She continues to cruise on all of the furniture.

Daphne prefers to be with her sisters. If they are downstairs and she is upstairs, she will crawl to the basement door and bang on it and cry.

We are working on some Baby Sign with Daphne. Right now she just smiles when I sign and then sign hand-over-hand with her.

Just like Norah and Lucy, Daphne is a GREAT sleeper. She sleeps about 12+ hours a night and she takes 2 good naps a day. We are thankful for 3 great sleepers!!

We are excited about Daphne's first Christmas, although, I don't think it will mean much to her!!

I know the next month with fly by and I will be posting birthday pictures!! Agh!!

What a Week!

I have been a little out of touch over the last week because life has been crazy - some planned events and some unexpected activities! I think the best way to review the week is with bullet points.

• Monday - We hosted a Christmas cookies exchange with some mom's and their little girls (one little brother tagged along because his dad had to work late - he didn't seem to mind being the only boy). We ended up with about 8 different kinds of Christmas cookies - that is the way to make the perfect plate of Christmas cookies without having to bake them all!!
• Tuesday - We had a wonderful, lengthy playdate with a friend who is the sister of our babysitters. She is in 4th grade and the girls had a BLAST playing with her and I really enjoyed my visit with her mom who is a dear friend of mine. Tuesday night, Kevin had a client event so he had to work extremely late. The girls and I had an early dinner and the girls hit the sack by 7.
• Wednesday (here is where we took a detour in our plans) - We were going to have an easy day at home getting school work done and playing, but little Daphne Jane had other plans. She woke up with a fever. . . AGAIN. . . and I took her to the doctor just thinking her ears were not clearing up from the previous ear infection. By the time we got to the doctor, her fever was 103.3. The doctor checked her ears - while she thought they looked clear, she didn't seem totally confident. She kept saying, "I think they look okay." They did a flu culture, strep culture, and took a urine sample, but of which came back negative. The doctor asked another doctor to come in to look in Daphne's ears to confirm and that doctor also said, "the right one looks great and I think the left one is okay." They were concerned, though, that she had such a high fever when she was still on her antibiotic from the earlier ear infection. They sent us to the hospital to get some blood work done. About an hour later, the doctor's office called telling me to take Daphne to the hospital immediately - her white blood cell count was really high. I dropped the girls off at my friend, Cherie's house (thank you Cherie - you are a God-send!) and drove Daphne to the ER at Progress West. Kevin met me there (my sister came later to check in and then picked up the girls to take them home and put them in bed). After attempting 4 times to get her blood, the nurses finally got a sample to send away for a blood culture. They gave her a 24 hour antibiotic and sent us home about 6 hours later. She still had a high fever - 104.4, but the doctor thought we could manage the fever ourselves with motrin. No one slept much that night - Daphne was awake and crying about every hour and a half.
• Thursday - I already had plans to take Norah and Lucy to see the Nutcracker performed by the St. Louis Ballet. Kevin really thought we should go ahead and go and he would take Daphne back to the doctor (they wanted to see her first thing in the morning). The girls had a blast at the Nutcracker - although, Lucy started to get antsy after about an hour. It was an excellent production! Daphne ended up having another ear infection - not sure if it was missed but the 3 doctors the day before or if it just came on all of the sudden. She is now on a new antibiotic - hopefully this one works. My sister and I took my mom and grandma to see White Christmas at the Fox. We went to dinner first and then to the show - it was wonderful and we had a great time. We didn't get home until almost midnight and then Daphne was awake again. . .A LOT, so we didn't get much sleep that night either.
• Friday - We hung out with my grandma and mom in the morning. They headed out after lunch and we cleaned and cooked like crazy (well, I did. The girls just played and rested). We had our new pastor and his family over for dinner. We had a really great time. They have 3 girls, too, right around our girls' ages!
• Saturday - Kevin and Lucy did some Christmas shopping then Norah and I did some. I baked and wrapped presents then we headed out to another Christmas party with the Goods, the Bohlmanns, and the Biggers.
• Today - Church, of course. The girls' classes had birthday parties for Jesus - complete with cupcakes! We are headed to yet another Christmas party this evening.

Whew! I'm exhausted after reliving all of that! I should add - Daphne woke up from her nap on Friday a totally different baby. She was happy and playful and HUNGRY!!

Now we are prepping for another crazy week!

Are you ready for Christmas?

TFT: Santa

This idea was spurred on by a discussion with some friends last week:

Do your kids believe in Santa? Why or why not?

Do you talk about Santa coming into your house and delivering presents or that Santa has a list of good little girls and boys?

If not, have you actually sat them down and told them that Santa is not real?

Just curious!!

More Sickness

I was hoping to post about all the great things that I got accomplished over the weekend because Kevin took Norah and Lucy to Indy to see his parents. However, my plans changed drastically when Daphne needed to go the the ER in the middle of the night on Friday night. She was barking/coughing and gasping for air - all of this came on very suddenly because she was totally fine during the day on Friday. As it turns out she has croup. Blah. I spent most of the weekend snuggling and rocking a very unhappy baby. I actually thought she was starting to feel better yesterday, but then she started rubbing her ear so I just knew something else was going on.

I took Daphne back to the doctor today and she has an ear infection, too. Lovely. She has been fussier today than all weekend!! Hopefully after 24 hours on the meds she will start feeling better!! I have a feeling this is only the beginning, though. It seems to be a Swinigan trait - the ear infections. Norah and Lucy both have tubes (Norah had 2 sets) and my niece and nephew also had tubes.

Side note: When they weighed Daphne at the doctor today she weighed 16 lbs so she has gained almost a half a pound since her 9 month check up. Maybe she will be 17 lbs by her birthday.

I did get all the presents (that I have) wrapped and under the tree. I cleaned out my laundry room during Daphne's naps - which was a HUGE job. Seriously, it was a dangerous place. Anytime I opened the door I had to duck to make sure nothing fell on my head and whenever I had a dry load of clothes, I had to lift the basket over my head to get it out of there!!

I was hoping to get some scrapbooking done, but was unsuccessful. I have everything out on the dining room table so I am going to try to work a little bit this week. I would love to have Daphne's baby book up to date before she turns one (I have 2 pages done).

Hopefully, I will get more down (and more rest too) next weekend. I still have about 1/3 of my shopping to do.

How about you? Anyone totally done with their shopping? Anyone not even started?

School Stuff

(so, clearly I am not taking that break from blogging that I mentioned yesterday!!)

While doing school stuff today, I casually told Lucy to write her name on her paper she was coloring. I tell her this whenever she colors/draws/"writes" just for the practice. The most she has ever written was her 'L' and then she writes random symbols for the other letters. I was helping Norah with something and I randomly turned and looked at Lucy's picture and this is what I saw at the top:

I was SHOCKED! She has never even come close to writing her name, and I didn't really expect her too since she is just 3.

Norah and I talked about what an acrostic poem is and this is the poem she wrote today:

The picture she drew is a manger.

The girls have been working like crazy on pattern bead wreaths! The have completed 5 so far and are each working on 1 more.

Totally random: Lucy's new thing right now is to say, "Ha ha ha Ha ha." She says it ALL the time. If she finishes something before Norah or if she gets to do something first or if she gets to sit where Norah wanted to sit - she says it. She is sassy!

December 1?!?

So I missed posting something yesterday, but I still did 30 in the month of November. I may need to take a week off - I am out of post ideas!!!

I can't believe that it is December already. Daphne is going to be 1 in a month and a half - that is UNBELIEVABLE!!

Norah asked yesterday what we were doing to celebrate December 1. Not sure why she wants to celebrate December 1. She decided Kevin should take the day off and we shouldn't do school - neither of which are happening. They have enjoying candy canes instead.

Monopoly

A few weeks ago Kevin mentioned to me that he LOVES monopoly and can't believe that we don't have it. We have been married 9 1/2 years and I had NO idea that he loves monopoly. He went out that night and bought it. We have played a handful of times in the last few weeks. I have never been a big fan of monopoly - I am just not a risk taker. I hold onto my money - fearing that I will lose it all if I buy too many properties.

We played last night after the girls went to bed and this is what our board looked like close to the end of the game:

He has VERY little money left and has mortgaged most of his properties. I on the other had have a number of houses and a lot of money.

Kevin took one more turn and landed on a property of mine with 3 houses. He had to pay me close to $800 - but couldn't afford it. I'm now wondering if it is still one of his favorite games!! Ha!

Saturday Social

Here are a couple of new blogs that I am loving!!

1. Homeschool Creations - I love the printables that she has available and I love that she blogs about the different school lessons all the kids are doing!!

2. 1+1+1=1 - I love this blog because she had TONS of really great ideas to do with toddlers and preschoolers!! If you have toddlers or preschoolers at home, check out this blog for some new, fun activities.

3. This website is great! I love this idea of raising our kids to be "Rock Stars!" Check it out to see what I am talking about!!! If you want some ideas on how to intentionally teach your kids about Christ, this site is for you!

Accountable Kids

Has anyone heard of the Accountable Kids program?

It sounds intriguing - I could see it working here, but don't really want to spend the money since I don't know anyone who has tried it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I am thankful for my husband, my daughters, and my family. God has truly blessed me!!

The cousins had a great time playing together today!! I love it that all of our nieces and nephews are so close in age to our girls. We have 2 - 5 year olds, 2 - 3 year olds, 1 - 2 year old, 1 - 10 month old and 1 - 6 week old. So fun!!

Too Little Time

Busy cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning. Oh, and cooking, too!! We are hosting Thanksgiving this year! My family is all coming over.

Are you hosting Thanksgiving? If not, where are you going?

Our Christmas Lesson Plans

I love, love, love the Christmas season! I love that we have a month to reinforce everything we try to teach the girls throughout the whole year. There are so MANY fun things we can do together as a family! I love teaching the kids about why God sent his son and what that means for us!!

I started this post on November 8th, but I wanted to have all my plans complete before posting. So, here are our lessons for the month of December - not necessarily in order.

We are going to spend some time talking about several different Christmas symbols: advent wreath, trees, angels, the star, candy canes, and gifts (with an emphasis on giving gifts and God's "gift" to us). I hope to spend a couple of days on each symbol.

On Sunday November 29, we are going to introduce the Advent to the girls. Each Sunday as a family, we will light the appropriate candles in our Advent wreath and read the corresponding scripture.

(The following activities are in addition to several things that we do everyday, including phonics lesson, calendar time, Bible verse practice, sight word review, etc.)

Some of our crafts include:

Advent wreath - My objective for this activity is that the girls will be able to tell me what each different color candle represents.

Handprint/footprint angels - although instead of the poem that is suggested, Norah will write "Glory to God in the Highest" Luke 2:14.

Paper plate angel - Lucy loves any craft that involves cutting!

Some of our math activites include:

Paper chain - instead of using the bell and poem suggested here, we are going to use this star

Pattern bead wreath - using green and white beads on a pipe cleaner, Norah will create an AAB pattern and Lucy will copy an AB pattern

Decorate the Christmas tree - Norah will use addition facts to figure out how many ornament stickers to put on her paper tree. Lucy will identify numbers and put the corresponding number of stickers on her tree.

Compare weights of various Christmas objects.

Measure and compare different sizes of candy canes

Venn diagram with our big Christmas tree and the girls little Christmas tree.

M&M Christmas counting book for Lucy and this M&M activity for Norah - using Christmas M&M's

Bead candy canes - The girls will put 10 beads (red and white) on pipe cleaners. We will work on 10's and 1's.

Practice counting money - Christmas shopping - I am going to set up the shelves in the basement with toys and books so the girls can pretend they are going Christmas shopping.

Some of our copywork will include:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given. Isaiah 9:6

She gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. Luke 2:7

O star of wonder, star of night, Star with royal beauty bright, Westward leading, still proceeding, Guide us to thy perfect Light. (We Three Kings)

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalm 34:8

Other language arts activities include:

Acrostic - Christmas

Dictate a Christmas story using some of these prompts.

Sequence Christmas events - After listening to a story, Norah will put sentence strips in the order they happened in the story.

12 Days of Christmas - After listening to the song, the girls will make their own version.

For science we are going to try to make our own candy canes!! We'll see how that goes!!

Much of our read aloud time will come from The Adventure of Christmas. We will also read a different Christmas book every night at bedtime.

We also hope to spend a significant amount of time teaching the girls the importance of helping those in need. We filled a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child (funny thing: I thought Norah would want to fill a box for a little girl in the 4-6 age bracket. Oh no, she wanted to fill a box for a 14 year old girl. I explained the age bracket is 10-14. She wanted to circle the number 14 where it said 10-14. Let me just tell you that I have NO idea what to buy a 14 year old girl. We managed, though, and ended up filling our box rather quickly) and we will send cards and goodies to the girls we sponsor through Compassion.

Obviously, all our plans are subject to change and I always like to have plenty of things to choose from - even if we don't get to them all!!

And the Winner is. . . . .

And the winner of my giveaway is. . . . .Misti! Congrats, Misti!!

My favorite Christmas picture book is The Legend of the Candy Cane! I love the illustrations in this particular book and the story is a very sweet inspirational story. Norah has liked this book from early on - she wants me to read it over and over!!

Random

• One more day to enter my giveaway! Check it out!!

• My friend, Andrea, who is Mrs. America competed in the Mrs. World Pageant in Vietnam and came in as 1st runner-up! Congrats Andrea!!!

• We have had INCREDIBLE weather this weekend!! After a week of rain - we are soaking up the warmer weather!! The girls helped Kevin put up Christmas lights outside yesterday! Kevin likes to take advantage of the nice weather to get the lights up!! We just do white lights on the house and some pre-lit garland on the porch. Simple. Lucy commented on the way to church that another house looks prettier than ours. This house had TONS of "toys" in the yard. Santa, reindeer, snowmen, angels, etc.

• After 7 months, our new pastor finally received his visa! We are so excited to see how God works through him over the coming year!!

• We are having Thanksgiving at our house and I am so excited to have everyone here!! The girls are excited to play with their cousins.

• I sold a couple of aprons last weekend and had a custom request so I am working on that today.

A Couple of Funnies

Norah: "Our neighbors on the West get all the way on the top roof of their house to put up Christmas lights."

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(If Lucy wants to do something or make us believe something, she always tells us someone else told her to)

Lucy: Belle (my parents' dog) sleeps in his room.

Me: Belle is a girl.

Lucy: No, he's not. He's boy. Grandpa told me.

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Lucy: Can I have some gum, too?

Me: No, when you are 5 you can have gum.

Lucy: Jackson (her 6 year old cousin) told me I could. (At this point she had not seen Jackson for a couple of months and if she does, she doesn't really talk to him.)

Friday Flashback

Here is my flashback for this week.

Lucy was about 17 months at this point. Sadly, I think Daphne will be climbing like this much sooner than Lucy!

TFT: Christmas Trees

Just curious to know:

When do you set up your Christmas tree each year?

What traditions are involved in setting up your tree?

When do you take your tree down?

10 Months

Each month seems to go by more and more quickly. . . . .and I'm not very happy about that. It seems like it has only been a few weeks since I went into labor in the middle of the night and we called my friend, Cherie, to come over while we went to the hospital. It wasn't just a few weeks ago - it was 10 months ago. The crazy thing is that she doesn't look much like a baby. I think it is because she has so much hair and it is long for a 10 month old, but she looks like a little girl!!!

Daphne is growing, changing, and learning so much now!

Some of the big changes are:

She officially waves bye-bye and sometimes repeats the 2 syllable sound in bye-bye.

She is cruising along all of the furniture and occasionally lets go to balance for a couple of seconds.

She is eating mostly finger foods with the exception of breakfast when she still has rice cereal with fruit mixed into it. She seems to love cheese, pasta, and any kind of fruit. She will eat corn, peas, carrots and green beans. She also seems to like cottage cheese and yogurt.

She is FINALLY taking her bottles better. She willingly drinks about 20 ounces a day - sometimes a little more.

She is working on her 8th tooth. Daphne isn't really grumpy when she is teething, but she doesn't nap well.

We have all been trying to teach Daphne to clap - with little success. The funny thing is that, for whatever reason, whenever we clap in front of Daphne, I always clap and say, "Yaaaaaay." So now when we clap, Daphne will clasp her hands together, hold them tightly, and says, "AAAAAAAY."

I don't think I have mentioned this before, but Daphne LOVES bathtime which is a HUGE thing for us. Norah and Lucy hated baths! In fact Norah cried for EVERY bath until she was about 4 and Lucy cried every bath until Norah stopped crying! We tried all kinds of fun toys - but nothing worked. Daphne is the total opposite! She squeals when she hears the bath water. Whenever she is in the bathroom, she hikes a leg up like she is going to climb in herself. She doesn't sit still in the tub, either. She is a crazy girl - splashing and crawling. She is seriously a little fish. I literally have to keep a hand on her because she even tries to put her face under and comes up laughing!

Norah and Lucy are LOVING that she interacts with them. She is such a fun, happy baby!!

-pictures to come-

Oops

Just realized that I never posted yesterday! We had a little bit of a crazy day. It seems like I am having a hard time keeping the house in order so when we have company coming, I have to run around, cleaning like a mad woman!!

Today, my niece has been here all day, so with 4 little girls running around, I haven't had time for much of anything!!

Hopefully, I will have more to post tomorrow. . . hopefully!

Quote of the Day

Today's quote of the day comes from Norah.

"Mom, are you pregnant?"

Ummm, no. But thanks for asking - now I am going to the gym.

Random Pics

Wow! Was that a whiny post yesterday or what? Bleh! Sorry - totally over it now!

These first two pictures are right out of Daphne's Adventures in Wonderland. Have you not heard of it? Well, in one part Daphne becomes a giant in a little house. Check it out.

Enjoying the beautiful weather we have had over the last couple of weeks.

We attempted to get some pictures of the girls for Christmas cards. I think we have a couple of decent ones to choose from but here are some of the ones that are NOT options.

I think Daphne is trying to decide whether to smile or cry.

Okay, leave it to her sisters to really make her cry.

Umm. . .not sure what Norah is doing. Daphne is trying to escape!

Seriously?!

I feel like I have posted so much since Nov. 1 that I don't have much to say today! Except that I have only had 4 people respond to my giveaway. I have to say that is a little depressing. Okay, so "depressing" may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I'm pretty sure more than 4 people read my blog - and most of them have children. I thought giving away a Christmas picture book would be fun, but clearly no one else thinks so. I certainly don't mind picking out of 4 people - but seriously, 4 people?!

Any suggestions for getting more responses?

I'm not picking a winner until November 23 - so you still have time to enter!

Thankful Thursday by Lucy

Here are some things Lucy said she is thankful for!

1. Mommy

2. my baby sister

3. Norah

4. Daddy

5. a couch

6. a magazine

7. a nice house

8. friends

A Few Funnies

Yesterday, Norah came up to me and said, "Can you give me $3000?"

I told Norah that I don't have that kind of money. She responded with, "Then can I have $40?"

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Clearly in need of money, Norah wrote a note to Savannah that said, "Dear Savannah, Can you please give me $0.93?"

When I asked her why she needs $0.93 she told me she has $0.07 and she wants to make $1.

(I didn't let her mail the note by the way.)

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Earlier in the week we had tortellini for dinner. Lucy ate all of her and said, "Can I have more of this stuff?"

I said, "the tortellini?"

She said, "Yes, can I have more chinnalanna?" (I have no idea how to actually spell what she said.)

After she had her second helping, she said, "Can I have more chinnalanna?"

I corrected her again and she said, "That's what I said, chinnalanna."

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Today, Norah said, "I wish we lived in a barn."

I said, "Do you mean you wish we lived on a farm?"

"No, Mom, I wish we lived in a barn - you know, where the animals live and there is hay and stuff."

That's a far cry from this statement.

Dinner Flopped!

I had high hopes for our dinner tonight. I mean, how can you go wrong with pumpkin, mascarpone cheese and pine nuts (three of my favorite ingredients)? Seriously! Well, it didn't go as expected!

This is what I made. . . . .I mean, attempted to make.

Making the filling was easy. I use pie pumpkins regularly now during the fall season. Once you make a pumpkin pie with a pie pumpkin instead of canned pumpkin, you may never go back! It is incredible! (For those of you who don't know, I LOVE pumpkin - almost anything pumpkin. Growing up in the the "Pumpkin Capital of the World," how can I not? Right?) I already had some pumpkin that I had roasted, pureed and froze.

The hard part was making the pasta. I have only ever made homemade noodles for chicken noodle soup, but have wanted to try ravioli. First of all, I rolled and rolled and rolled the dough until I didn't think I could roll it any thinner. In the end, after they cooked in the boiling water, they were WAY too thick. Also, there was A LOT of filling and not nearly enough pasta dough - I actually made 2 batches of the dough. About half of the ravioli didn't seal so the filling came out in the boiling water. The pasta was just bland. . . blah! The filling was decent, I think, but it was hard to tell under all that thick, bland pasta!!

Everyone tried some, but the girls filled up on bread and applesauce and Kevin and I are considering ordering a pizza.

The worst part about making a meal that doesn't turn out - especially one that is challenging to make - is that you still have to clean up the mess! Ick!

Tuesday To-Do List

1. Finish 4 aprons

2. Clean out the refrigerator!

3. Finish some file folder games

4. Get file folder games laminated

5. Straighten up kitchen and wipe down counters

6. Work on December lesson plans

Not so bad unless you add the fact that I have to do all the normal things: cook meals, laundry, school, change diapers, etc

Monday Madness

First - those of you fellow blogspot bloggers, is there a way to make a post stay at the top of your page? My friend, Nicole, is doing a giveaway (which you should totally check out!) and her post describing it is a "sticky" post. It will remain at the top of her blog. She has a wordpress blog, though and I can't figure out how to do the same thing here.

If I don't figure it out - don't forget to check out my giveaway!!

Since we had another beautiful day today, we had school outside. Lucy usually sits with us while we read, but while Norah works on her phonics and math, Lucy does her own thing. We went on a bug hunt and my girls were literally digging in the mud looking for bugs. We found tons of worms, a few crickets, a bee, a spider, ladybugs and a bug that is unknown to me.

We played outside ALL. DAY. LONG. and we ate lunch outside. I mentioned to Kevin that Daphne tried to eat everything she could get her hands on - grass, leaves, bark, chalk, etc. Wow - she wears me out!!

I have been making some children's aprons for a home art sale at a friend's house. If you live in the St. Louis/St. Charles area and are interested in buying homemade items for Christmas, let me know and I will get you the information. There will be jewelry, aprons, bibs, burp rags, pottery, paintings, etc. It should be really fun. Let me know if you would like to purchase a child's apron and I can totally hook you up! Here is a picture of one of my aprons.

Survey and Give-Away

As mentioned yesterday, I am working on our lesson plans for December. Last year we borrowed this idea and we wrapped up 25 Christmas books. The girls opened one every night and we read that book at bedtime. They LOVED it!!

We intend on doing that again, but as I have been looking through our Christmas books, I started wondering what other books are out there that I don't know about. I know there are tons of Christmas picture books so I want to know what your favorites are!

Leave a comment and let me know what your favorite Christmas picture book is. I will give you until Monday, November 23rd to comment and then I will pick a winner and send that person a copy of my favorite Christmas picture book.

Spectacular Sunday

For those of you in the St. Louis area (or the Midwest, for that matter), hasn't this weekend's weather been INCREDIBLE?

With Lucy still not feeling well, we didn't want to take her to the park to infect others around us, so we have spent the entire afternoon in the backyard. We borrowed the Morrison's play yard when we went camping and we have neglected to give it back (we will return it, Heather, I promise). Since we still have it, we put it in the backyard with a tarp underneath so Daphne could play outside without eating the grass or leaves. Norah and Lucy played and ran around and I worked on lesson plans for the girls for the month of December. I am going to post our Christmas lesson plans for anyone wanting a few extra things to do this holiday season. Stay tuned!

It looks like the next few days are supposed to be nice too - not quite as warm, but still nice! I am hoping to spend a significant amount of time outside!!

Sick Saturday

I know I missed posting yesterday - but following Nicole's lead, I will post 2 today!!

Lucy woke up extra early yesterday morning. When I picked her up to put her back in bed, she was burning up! We had heard her coughing a couple of times in the night, but nothing else seemed to be going on.

On Saturday morning, we debated whether or not to take her to the doctor. Of course, I have felt a little paranoid about my kids getting H1N1. We did end up getting the vaccine - we finally decided that we couldn't keep ourselves holed up in our house all winter long. If my kids were over all healthier kids, we wouldn't have done it. The fact of the matter is that my kids seem to get sick very easily. I was totally stressing myself out every time we needed to go somewhere.

Anyway, Kevin - who was gone for awhile in the morning - ended up getting home in time to take Lucy to the doctor. I really didn't want to take all 3 to the germ infested doctor's office. Lucy, thankfully, doesn't have H1N1, but she has walking pneumonia. She is on an antibiotic and will hopefully be on the mend soon. You can tell just by looking at her that she feels miserable. What boggles my mind is that she was totally fine on Friday and then woke up really sick on Saturday. Strange.

Flashback Friday

This is a favorite of mine!!

Three on Thursday

Just wanted to share 3 websites/blogs that I recently found that I LOVE! I have gotten some really great ideas for school stuff for the girls!!

1. Deep Space Sparkle Art Lessons

This blog is divided up by grade level and then lists a bunch of art lessons for that level!! We are going to do this lesson today.

2. Early Bird Homeschool

Even if you don't homeschool, she has some really great ideas that you can do at home!! If you have a beginning reader, try this!

3. Free File Folder Games

I love file folder games! I love that you have a whole lesson in one file folder that you can take anywhere! The games are divided by subject. Here are some Thanksgiving file folder games!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Top 10 Tuesday

Heather's Nablopomo schedule includes Top 10 Tuesday. I thought I would participate with this one!!

10 things I LOVE about homeschooling:

1. Having school in our jammies

2. Having school with 2 princess - crowns, feather boas and all!

3. Doing all of our school work outside on beautiful days

4. Field trips together as a family and with our friends!

5. Being able to go out of town during the week - and still getting our school work finished!

6. Watching the girls learn/explore together!

7. Totally changing our lesson plans to explore an new found interest

8. Getting excited with the girls when we discover something new

9. Doing our science lessons with daddy while camping or hiking

10. Snuggling with my girls while reading a good book in the middle of the day

A Palace and a Few Other Funnies

Today Norah said, "When we move (again not in the plans - she is just dreaming), I really want a house that looks like a palace in the front."

Lucy responds, "Oooh! Me too!"

This is cracking me up because a week ago, Norah wanted to live on the top floor of a skyscraper in New York City.

As we were shopping for a present for Sawyer's birthday, Lucy said, "Sawyer is my best buddy!"

As heard over breakfast, "Norah is never going to be my sister again!"

NaBloPoMo

I am going to attempt to join the NaBloPoMo train and blog everyday in the month of November. Instead of totally following Heather's schedule, though, I am going to post something specific about what the girls (maybe not all 3 in each post) are doing.

Today - Daphne is sleeping. She woke up at 6:15 (due to the time change) this morning and was back to bed by 8 a.m. The poor girl is EXHAUSTED. The girls were up a little late because we were at the Aberle's last night. Daphne is still asleep! I would love it if she would sleep until 11 - we'll see. Hopefully, it won't take her too long to adjust to the time change - not sure that I want her day to start at 6 a.m. everyday!!

Oh, and today is our second day of sunshine in a row!! Amazing and beautiful!! We are certainly going to spend some time outside!!

Party Time

Last night we had a Halloween party with some of our friends who also homeschool. The kids all came in costumes and looked adorable. We played some games, read a story, did a craft and ate LOTS of food!

For those of you who know me, I am not a fan of Halloween but as long as it doesn't involve trick or treating - I will compromise so the girls can join the fun of dressing up. There were 12 kids 6 and under - it was crazy and fun all at the same time!! The kids get along remarkably well!

I didn't take many pictures - oops. Luckily, our friend (and one of the dads), Will, is a photographer so he took tons of great pictures!

Here are a couple of cute ones that I took:

I made Daphne's tutu yesterday. It was so fun and easy - Norah and Lucy may need tutus, too!!

Daphne is seriously thinking, "WHAT am I wearing?"

Our little friend, Jack. He is so sweet with the babies!

A Sweet Baby

The girls and I headed to Morton on Sunday to meet my new little nephew. It was a very last minute trip and we really didn't tell many people we were going. It ended up being a really nice visit - we weren't running around trying to see people, we just hung out with my parents, Denise, Contessa and Alex. Wow, he is a doll!!

While we were there I ended up teaching one of Denise's art classes. The gal who is teaching art this semester couldn't be there on Tuesday afternoon and Denise really didn't want to cancel the class. She was considering teaching it herself, but given she just had a c-section 2 weeks ago she asked me to do it. It was REALLY fun. I had a great group of kids who were all about Norah's age, so she came with me!!

Here are a few pics of little Alex!! He was totally loved on the whole time we were there!

It is hard to tell in the picture but Alex totally has a cleft chin!! I love it!!

I made sure to get school in both Monday and Tuesday mornings. I am quite proud of myself for actually getting it down. It would be so easy to say, "Forget it. We are out of town" but I know that I need to be consistent with our schooling. (I also do NOT like to miss something we have planned. It totally messes up my plan book if I have to switch days. The OCD in me doesn't do well with that!) Much of what I planned was appropriate in some way for Lucy and Contessa too. Norah LOVED having school with Contessa!!

Check out Lucy's outfit! Although they were playing dress up, this was her outfit for the day (and night, actually! I forgot jammies and didn't realize it until bedtime!! Lucy Lu got new jammies out of this trip!). There is a dress that goes over the shirt - not sure why it is so short, though - but Lucy didn't want to wear the dress. Ha!

My little niece, Contessa!! The girls had a BLAST together - running and squealing for hours on end!! So fun!

Seriously, Lucy looks so grown up holding Alex!!

In case you didn't know, Norah is an expert with babies now!

9 Months!

Daphne turned 9 months on October 17th - I know, I'm a little late. . . .again!

She had a doctor's appt. last Friday and she weighs 15 pounds, 10 ounces. I know, she is a little thing. That puts her in about the 8th percentile. Her length is about 75 percentile and her head is the 40th - both of those have stayed consistent. I mentioned to the doctor that Daphne is a horrible bottle drinker. We are lucky to get 20 ounces of formula in her in a day - the doctor would prefer 24, but she isn't too concerned yet. We are supposed to be feeding her high fat foods - cheeses, yogurt, and egg yolks. She also said to add butter to anything we can - never thought I would be forced to give any of my kids butter! Ha!

Daphne is still babbling like crazy! She has now figured out how to be louder than her sisters - it's lovely, really (note the sarcasm). She screeches and squeals frequently! Norah and Lucy will be running in a big circle on the main level of the house and Daphne tries to follow them, crawling as fast as she can. All 3 girls will be screeching and squealing at the same time - I don't think Kevin realized little girl voices to be so high and loud at the same time.

Daphne is cruising of furniture and climbing on EVERYTHING!! Nothing safe anymore - Norah and Lucy get very frustrated when Daphne gets into their toys.

Daphne seems to be a little drama queen already (really, can I handle another one?). She had just started doing this pouty face thing several minutes before she cries. Her bottom lip comes out and her chin gets all wrinkled. She looks like maybe she is trying not to cry and then all of the sudden she wails and buries her head. It is pitiful. When she first started it, we were at my mom's and my mom and I thought something was wrong. Now, I really think she has figured out how to get attention. If I act like I am not looking, she doesn't even cry. If she catches my eye, the pouty face begins!!

Rain

I love this blog and now her new one too! One suggestion recently was to have your child write a list poem. My friend, Sarah, had her daughter write one today and Norah wrote hers today, too!

Probably Not Gonna Happen

As heard by Norah during lunch today, "I know what I want for Christmas. I want my own room, but I know Santa can't give me that. I can have my own room when we move."

Just for the record, we are not moving in the foreseeable future!

A Camping We Will Go . . . Again?

Alright, if you have been reading my blog for awhile or you know me well, you know that I don't love to camp. I do it occasionally because Kevin likes it so much. We went camping about a year ago (well, actually, Lucy and I slept at home - I was 7 months pregnant and was not about to sleep in a tent). Then we went camping again this summer for Father's Day.

In early August, Kevin started talking about camping again . . . this year! Ummm, I don't think so. Daphne struggled with her sleeping and I just didn't want to do that again. Once she was asleep, she was fine, but she had a hard time falling asleep and I just didn't want to go through the stress of her waking everyone else up in the campground! Kevin asked me if I would consider going if we stayed in a cabin. I think my response was something like, "I guess I could consider it." Well, that was all the okay Kevin needed. He made reservations that day for last weekend!

His parents are big campers so we invited them to go with us - the cabin sleeps 8. We went last weekend to Klondike Park. The cabin was really nice - but it would have been even nicer with a kitchen and a bathroom - ha! The weekend ended up being pretty cool - especially once the sun went down. Daphne REALLY struggled while we were there. She didn't take ANY normal naps. She slept occasionally in the the little hiking backpack thing, but really didn't want to sleep in the pack n play in the cabin. Friday night we put her to bed - lots of rocking, swaying, singing, but about 9:30 she woke up screaming. I calmed her down and put her back in bed. More screaming. I tried putting her in bed with me - she was fine for a little while, but not sleeping. Then she started crying and she cried and cried. Kevin and I finally decided I should take her home - we really didn't want to risk keeping the big girls up ALL night. We were just about 30 minutes from home so I drove her home - slept in my bed in my nice warm house!!

Daphne and I headed back first thing Saturday morning. Norah and Lucy seemed to sleep well and we excited to eat pumpkin pancakes for breakfast! We were busy all day hiking, playing, and running around. If you live in the St. Louis area and you have never been to Klondike Park, you should go. It is really nice! The trails are nice and they also have paved paths - we took the girls bikes so these paths were perfect! The girls totally wore grandma and grandpa out with all their walking and running and bike riding. Seriously, Norah could hike FOREVER!!

I took Daphne home again Saturday night and Kevin, his parents, and the girls headed home mid-morning on Sunday.

And the Drama Continues!

My lunchtime conversation with Lucy:

(Background info. I had just asked Norah if she wants juice or milk. She said juice.)

Lucy: I want juice.

Me: Lucy, you don't like juice.

Lucy: Yes I do, I want juice.

Me: Lucy, you NEVER drink your juice. Why don't you have milk? (I know, I should not have asked a question, but just told her what she was having)

Lucy: No, I want juice. I will really drink it this time.

Me: Fine. You can have juice, but you have to drink it. You will not get anything else to drink until you drink your juice. (I realize that if she decides she wants milk or water, that would be better for her than juice. Just trying to make a point: Tell me what you want the first time.)

I give Lucy the juice (barely a half a glass) and instantly, "I don't want juice! I want milk!"

Me: Lucy, I told you to drink your juice first.

Lucy: But I don't like juice!

Me: If you want milk, drink your juice first.

Lucy: (through tears) I'm drinking my juice. Now can I have milk?

Me: Sure! (pour her milk and pour Norah more juice - which happened to be the rest of the bottle)

Lucy: (in a WHINY voice) but I wanted more juice!

Oh, Lucy

We have had an interesting day with Lucy today. She still isn't feeling well and isn't napping (due to not finger sucking) - not a good combination!

A few quotes from her today:

Last night before supper, Lucy said, "If daddy isn't home, then I'm not eating!"

Last night Lucy bit a hole in one glove. This morning she said, "I'm sorry I broke the glove."

At rest time, I was laying with her to try to get her to fall asleep. She kept saying, "I'm ignoring you!" When I wouldn't respond she would shout "Mom, I'm ignoring you! Did you hear me? I'm ignoring you!"

After being sent to her room SEVERAL times today, Lucy yells, "Ahhh! I'm stuck in my room!"

I cleaned ALL. DAY. today. While in the middle of cleaning the bathroom, Lucy climbed into the bathtub, threw her hands in the air and shouted, "I can do anything I want to!"

Another funny. "Your (pointing to me) house isn't funner than the Diehl's house. Their house is much more funner!"

After rest time (okay, I guess I can't really call it rest time since there was ABSOLUTELY. NO. RESTING!), Lucy said, "Can I have a donut?" When I responded no, Lucy says, "You are not in charge. Daddy is the boss, you are not the boss."

Also, while cleaning Lucy says, "Did you clean this shelf and these candles?" I said no and she said, "Well you should. It is really, really, really, really, really, (she actually went on and on - but you get the idea!) dirty."

Wow! What a day!

My New Nephew

I have a new little nephew, Alex Ignacio. He is 7 pounds 7 ounces and 19 inches long.

As with my c-sections, Denise's wasn't the typical planned c-section. She was scheduled to have him on Friday, but she started having contractions last night so she went to the hospital today and he came a little early.

Can't wait to meet him!!!!

Little Peanut

When Daphne was weighed at the doctors office today she weighed 15 1/2 pounds (she will be 9 months this week)! I seriously thought she would be close to 17 or maybe even 18 pounds! She is actually smaller than Norah was at 9 months by about 1 1/2 pound and Lucy by 2 1/2 pounds. Hmmm. We go next week for her 9 month check - I'll be curious to see if the doctor has anything to say about her weight!!

Sick Again

We went camping over the weekend, so I have a lot of pictures to post, but right now I have 2 sickos - yet again. I know it is only October - it is going to be a LONG winter. Daphne and Lucy both have bad colds - the type where you are wiping their noses every 2 minutes. I wish I was kidding - it is disgusting! They both have coughs - Lucy's is croupy sounding, but our doctor doesn't like us to give any kind of cough medicine. We steamed up the bathroom and she and I sat in their for awhile tonight. You can tell they both feel miserable and Daphne is not sleeping well. I took Daphne to the doctor today - thinking she had an ear infection, but her ears were fine, thankfully!

We were supposed to head to the zoo tomorrow with the Diehl's, but I don't want to risk getting the boys sick and it is probably going to be too cool for the girls to be out with bad colds. Norah is not happy that I cancelled - neither am I actually. I am really praying that the sick season doesn't get any worse than this!!!

Let's hope the rest of us don't get it - Norah especially! She is so not wanting more breathing treatments again so soon!!

Homeschool - Our Way

After the torrential downpour we have experienced the WHOLE day, I decided for our science today we would talk about weather. We used the Usborne Children's Internet Linked Encyclopedia. We read the pages on weather and then used Usborne Quicklinks. Norah and Lucy looked at a variety of activities and websites related to the weather. I usually try to follow Norah's lead with what she wants to learn more about - today it was snowflakes. I'm thinking rain, thunder - you know, things that we are actually seeing today. No, Norah wants to learn about snowflakes. Okay, so we looked at a variety of snowflakes and talked about how no two snowflakes are the same. We learned how to fold a square piece of paper and then to cut it out to look like a snowflake. One more thing that I LOVE about homeschooling is that we can go off in a direction totally different than we had planned. We still go our math, reading, science and art in today! So fun!!

My God and I

I am doing a Bible study at church called Live a Praying Life by Jennifer Kennedy Dean. For someone who grew up in the church, there is a lot that I don't know about prayer. So far this has been an excellent study!

One thing that stood out to me a couple of weeks ago is that God is a "Yes" God. 2 Cor. 1:18-20 says But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No." For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No," but in him it has always been "Yes." For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.

What stuck out to me about these verses is that it says God is not a God of 'yes' and 'no' but he is a 'Yes' God. I heard somewhere that God answers our prayers with a yes, no or wait. This didn't necessarily fit with what I knew of God. God always answers our prayers with a "yes!" - but it is His yes, not our yes. God obviously doesn't always answer our prayers the way we want, instead He always answers them in the best possible way - in a way that is more than we could ever imagine! Ephesians 3:20-21 says, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

My facilitator took it a little further and said that, knowing that we need bread, God isn't going to give us a stone. Sometimes God's answer to a prayer may seem like a stone, but later on we may (or may not) realize that God was giving us bread.

A friend in my study led worship yesterday and she sang a song called, "My God and I." She said that it is an old hymn that she rewrote the music for and added a new chorus. The song is beautiful. Click here and then scroll down just a little until you see the play, stop, etc. with a song list underneath (this is all on the left hand side). Scroll down through the list of songs and click on "My God and I" and listen to the beautiful words. I love that it gives the picture that God is SO powerful that He watches over the whole world and yet He cares about me and my "little" life. AMAZING!

(And while you are on Kiersten's website, check out some of the other songs!!)

Little of This and a Little of That

Kevin and I spent the weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks with our small group from our church. We had a great time! We shopped, hiked, ate, and played games. The kids stayed with my parents so it was a nice weekend away, but I am always glad to get home to the girls!!!

Daphne has 2 more teeth that just popped through - making it a total of 6 teeth. We knew we should see them any day - the way she was drooling!!

We went to the park yesterday when we finished school. I took the jogging stroller and the girls' bikes. I walked/jogged while Norah and Lucy rode bikes. Then they played on the playground while Daphne crawled around. She discovered fallen leaves -yum! She would crawl away from me and shove some leaves in her mouth as fast as she could. I dug them out and she would crawl away again as fast as she could and shove more leaves in her mouth while laughing and squealing! Wow - she has such a personality already!!!

Norah and Lucy watched Little Rascals over the weekend - more than once. Lucy has several parts memorized - she is totally cracking us up as she quotes the movie!! She told my mom over the weekend, "I have an Alfalfa in my class at church. I really do, I promise, I'm not lying." Not true - but so funny!

A couple of weeks ago when Lucy was in Morton for the P-fest, my mom asked Lucy what she thought they should do that evening. Lucy says, "We could go to Starbucks or something." It is hard for me to give the full effect of Lucy talking because she talks SO fast. Words just FLY out of her mouth and often we can't understand her.

Lucy is doing a little better wearing the gloves to bed. She still cries about 5 minutes at bedtime - whether we lay with her or not. It breaks my heart because she is such a happy girl and usually talked or sang herself to sleep. She literally is asleep within 5 - 10 minutes every night. She is exhausted because she isn't napping now that she isn't sucking fingers. Every once in awhile she gets her gloves off in the early morning and puts her fingers in her mouth. It is going to be a LONG process.

Daphne's New Favorite Spot

I should probably add that Daphne was wearing a little Notre Dame outfit - for Kevin. For those of you who know me, my girls usually look very girly, but we thought ND needed a little help from Daphne (the little outfit does have a little pink on the front)!

God's Promise

We saw this rainbow in our neighborhood first thing this morning!

Waking up to a vivid picture of one of God's promises - that's a GREAT way to start our day!

Tooth #2

It has only been 5 days since Norah lost her first tooth, but tooth #2 came out too! She was even more traumatized this time. I thought she would be excited to get more money from the tooth fairy. Go figure.

Not Sure It Is Worth It!

The gloves at bedtime for Lucy - NOT going well! We are 4 nights in and Lucy has SCREAMED every night and naptime! She hasn't had a nap all week and she is exhausted! Our normally happy child, who never gets mad or angry or grumpy has been a grump all week! She is in her room right now crying and yawning and crying! I'm not sure what to do at this point because breaking Norah's habit was not this rough! We have even tried laying with her, but she tosses and turns and cries.

I am about to give up. I was hoping by day 3 or 4 things would be going better - but that is NOT the case! Ugh.

Mrs. America

If anyone is interested, the Mrs. America pageant in on right now - online. My friend, Andrea won!

First Tooth

I know I just posted a couple of days ago that Norah had a loose tooth, but it came out ALREADY!! She was incredibly traumatized by it. She was in the basement playing and came up crying hysterically! I just knew that her tooth came out!

It is now under her pillow. We'll see how much money the tooth fairy can scrounge up. What's the going rate these days?

Totally forgot to take a picture - I will do that tomorrow!

Remember This?

Remember this? We didn't have much luck with Lucy last year - she screamed and would sleep or nap. We decided that she was too little to give up naps so we stopped putting gloves on her after a couple of day. We decided to try it again with Lucy. My main reason for doing it now is that the girls get sick much more often than some of their friends because they always have (had - in Norah's case) their fingers in their mouth. Okay, ALWAYS is probably an extreme, but Lucy does suck her fingers a lot!! I am a little obsessive about hand washing - I even make them wash hands every time they touch a library book.

The process didn't go as smoothly with Norah as a few people had told us, but after about 6 months of off and on wearing gloves, Norah now has not sucked her fingers for about 6 months. However, Norah didn't really cry about wearing the gloves. She just sort of seemed to accept it and was okay with it. She never tried to get the tape off and at one point we stopped taping the gloves - she just left them on.

Lucy is just a little ornerier so I told Kevin that the process might be worse. I had a feeling she would cry and carry on, but since they have already been sick (Lucy got it first) - I am READY to break Lucy's habit!!

We put the gloves on her last night and Lucy kept saying, "I don't want to wear gloves!" and she started picking at the tape right away. We knew that as soon as the lights were out, she wouldn't be able to find the end of the tape. I also had a feeling that Lucy would cry - and I was right . We ended up putting Lucy in our bed - so she wouldn't bother Norah. I also laid with her for about 30 minutes - she was not asleep, but was totally quiet when I left the room. Kevin moved her to her own bed around 9 - we didn't hear anything from her until 6:30 this morning. We let her get in bed with us for a little while. Overall, I think Lucy did fine - except she has been cranky this morning. Lucy is now like Norah was - anything silky triggers the finger sucking so we have to put her blanket up during the day. She is NOT happy about that!

Naptime will be interesting. I have a feeling Lucy will be done with naps because of this. As long as she has some quiet time in her room - I am okay with that. Maybe she will go to sleep better at night without an afternoon nap.

I totally forgot to take a picture of her last night - I will do that tonight!!

We Are There in Spirit

Kevin and Lucy are at the Pumpkin Festival. Daphne, Norah and I are not - we are all sick. I have been pretty miserable since Thursday and Daphne and Norah have been miserable since yesterday morning (EARLY morning for Norah). We have all had coughs, green snotty noses, fevers, etc. Bleh - no fun at all. After 18 months of no breathing treatments for Norah, we are now doing them every 4 hours.

Lucy was actually the first one to get sick and the first one to get over it. Actually, she still has a little cold, but that may hang on for a while. My mom was in town for a couple of days this week, so on Thursday Mom took Lucy home with her - assuming we would all be coming up on Friday. Kevin had signed up to run in the Pumpkin Festival 10k, so he decided to go up last night, run this morning, take Lucy to the parade and then head home after lunch.

Let me just say that Norah has sobbed over the fact that she didn't get to go. To people like me, the P-fest is a HUGE deal. I mean if you are from Morton, the pumpkin capital of the world - it is a part of who you are! I think I have missed twice - that's it. This makes the third. It is not as big of a deal to Kevin - since he didn't grow up in Morton. However, after 9 years of marriage - I think he is learning. It is a HUGE deal to Norah. She has been talking about and couldn't wait to go! My mom bought shirts for the girls to wear while we were there.

So even though, the Norah and Daphne are still in St. Louis, they are there in spirit (and yes, I fixed their hair even though they are sick. They had pumpkin bows to match - I couldn't resist):

Norah seems like she is starting to feel better. We will keep up the treatments until the cough goes away, but poor Daphne seems sort of miserable today. She slept well last night, thankfully, but her nose is running, her eyes are puffy, and she is just sort of fussy.

Kevin emailed me this picture of Lucy at the parade: