Daniel came home from Sunday school last Sunday very happy to be making a little Christmas card of the holy family. His was for Grandpa and Grandma. It took him forever to write 'Grandpa Glen' and 'Grandma Dorothy.' Then, I asked him who Mary and Joseph were. He dropped his head into his hand in exasperation.
"Mom! We have been over this already. I don't know! I think they took care of Jesus once."
So, daycare can teach about Hanukkah, and he soaks it up. Sunday School teaches about the Holy Family, and he completely misses it.
Later in the week I was creating a holiday party game for the IIBA meeting. You stuff a stocking with different holiday items and seal the stocking. Then, people feel through the stocking and guess the contents. I wanted to add a dreidel and gelt, and actually found a Judaica shop which was on my way home from work. Let me correct that, Nathan located it. And (hopefully jokingly) said, "pick up a menorah for Daniel." Now, I foster creativity and curiousity, but I don't know if I could start lighting a menorah. I did find a cute little menorah wooden puzzle though, so I figured it would be cute and he could take it to school. I also gave him a dreidel of his very own. His eyes lit up like you wouldn't believe.
Next thing you know, when asked what he wants to be when he grows, his response will be "a rabbi."
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Never thought I'd hear...
Last night, as I started to clean off the fireplace mantle to begin our holiday decorating, Daniel approached me with eyes wide, hands clasped in anticipation.
"Mommy, do we have a menorah?"
"No, honey, we don't."
Disappointed (and a bit urgently) "We need to go get one right away, tonight is the first night of Hanukkah."
"Oh really?"
(more urgently, a bit distressed) "Maybe we can find some candles. We need eight, plus the shamash. It's the candle in the middle we use to light all of the other candles."
What made this so funny to me - 1) we're not Jewish. 2) I was cleaning off the mantle because that's where I put the nativity every year. 3) The kid never pays attention to anything in school - and it's the Hanukkah lesson that sticks. Seriously?
At dinner, he continued to tell us about the candles and the menorah, and his excitement to play dreidel at school today.
Sure enough, all he could talk about this morning was playing dreidel and winning chocolate coins. It's the most competitive I've ever seen him. At dinner tonight, he was a little disappointed that he didn't win at dreidel, but he got chocolate coins anyway.
"Mommy, do we have a menorah?"
"No, honey, we don't."
Disappointed (and a bit urgently) "We need to go get one right away, tonight is the first night of Hanukkah."
"Oh really?"
(more urgently, a bit distressed) "Maybe we can find some candles. We need eight, plus the shamash. It's the candle in the middle we use to light all of the other candles."
What made this so funny to me - 1) we're not Jewish. 2) I was cleaning off the mantle because that's where I put the nativity every year. 3) The kid never pays attention to anything in school - and it's the Hanukkah lesson that sticks. Seriously?
At dinner, he continued to tell us about the candles and the menorah, and his excitement to play dreidel at school today.
Sure enough, all he could talk about this morning was playing dreidel and winning chocolate coins. It's the most competitive I've ever seen him. At dinner tonight, he was a little disappointed that he didn't win at dreidel, but he got chocolate coins anyway.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Citizen of the Month
Abby was named Citizen of the Month at her elementary school. They had the "Eagle Celebration" today where, in addition to other random announcements and celebratory type things (some Phy Ed awards and such) they name all of the kids (one for each class) who are Citizen of the Month. To wrap it up they all sing the school song and the CotM get to shake little shakers and the older kids get to hold up signs to spell the name of the school.
Today, since it's only 2 days till school is out the whole school got to do the "Cha Cha Slide" which is a bit of a riot. Abby did somereally crazy knees. Apparenlty I have been out of the loop and was not aware of this little craze.
Here's the video - not of Abby, but the song.
Today, since it's only 2 days till school is out the whole school got to do the "Cha Cha Slide" which is a bit of a riot. Abby did somereally crazy knees. Apparenlty I have been out of the loop and was not aware of this little craze.
Here's the video - not of Abby, but the song.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Caught me!
Every month I take photos of Ben in the rocking chair in his room. I've also always include the Disney Bear I bought for him when I was in Orlando on business while pregnant, so we have another 'constant' other than the chair.
How cute is this little 7 month old?! (Yikes, time flies!)
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Well, it's been a while...
and I'm procrastinating, so I'll post a quick update and fill in additional posts as I have some more time.
March has been insane! Luckily, it has also been beautiful weather-wise and lots o' fun.
Nicholas got sick (ear infection) then got better. Freaked me out spiking a 104 fever and getting the shakes again. Apparently he gets the shakes when he starts to hit a high fever. He sings his ABC's and is just an all around cutie. Oh - and he even says his dinner prayer before he pretends to eat pretend food. 'Fah-tah...un... oh-ly...peer-it...man. now eat. num num num num."
James had a birthday. There was caramel apple pie with 30 candles. Yeah, we had a fire extinguisher at the ready. The kids thought it was hilarious.
Abby had a birthday. There was cake and 6 candles. We now have a zhu zhu hamster - Jilly. And she gets mad when the boys play with it. She loved roller skating today on her field trip, but still doesn't think she'll be able to ride a bike without training wheels this this year.
Daniel failed a hearing test at school. More to come on that one-need to follow up with our doc. He is a maniac on a big wheel, but stops often. He has a bike, but can't get the mechanics of pedaling down, although he has big wheel pedaling down.
Ben can sit up and started on rice cereal. He is a cereal eating FOOL. He loves it. He has had so many coughs and wheezes I just don't know what to do. He gets nebbed regularly. He tolerates it well and is such a happy little ham!
Jack hurt is knee this Saturday and is on restricted activity. If he's not improving by end of week, he could need surgery - poor puppy!
Nathan got a bike and we got a trailer for Ben and Nicholas. They like it OK so far, but it has been a little chilly still. I need a new bike. Coming soon I guess. I am supposed to be updating my speech for the Area 4 Toastmasters contest this Wednesday. Best get to it...
March has been insane! Luckily, it has also been beautiful weather-wise and lots o' fun.
Nicholas got sick (ear infection) then got better. Freaked me out spiking a 104 fever and getting the shakes again. Apparently he gets the shakes when he starts to hit a high fever. He sings his ABC's and is just an all around cutie. Oh - and he even says his dinner prayer before he pretends to eat pretend food. 'Fah-tah...un... oh-ly...peer-it...man.
James had a birthday. There was caramel apple pie with 30 candles. Yeah, we had a fire extinguisher at the ready. The kids thought it was hilarious.
Abby had a birthday. There was cake and 6 candles. We now have a zhu zhu hamster - Jilly. And she gets mad when the boys play with it. She loved roller skating today on her field trip, but still doesn't think she'll be able to ride a bike without training wheels this this year.
Daniel failed a hearing test at school. More to come on that one-need to follow up with our doc. He is a maniac on a big wheel, but stops often. He has a bike, but can't get the mechanics of pedaling down, although he has big wheel pedaling down.
Ben can sit up and started on rice cereal. He is a cereal eating FOOL. He loves it. He has had so many coughs and wheezes I just don't know what to do. He gets nebbed regularly. He tolerates it well and is such a happy little ham!
Jack hurt is knee this Saturday and is on restricted activity. If he's not improving by end of week, he could need surgery - poor puppy!
Nathan got a bike and we got a trailer for Ben and Nicholas. They like it OK so far, but it has been a little chilly still. I need a new bike. Coming soon I guess. I am supposed to be updating my speech for the Area 4 Toastmasters contest this Wednesday. Best get to it...
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Grab the fire extinguisher!
To celebrate uncle James's birthday I picked up a Caramel Apple pie from Village Inn. (In this case, sleep won over baking a cake - and he's my brother, not my kid, so he had all of the 'crazy cakes' growing up (no, I'm not feeling guilty at all!)).
Abby decided that he needed all 30 candles.
Happy Birthday baby brother!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Stuck in my head
After weeks of singing the ladybug song, I was thinking about another 'classic' Sesame Street song. The one where the turtles call the grocery store and order a bunch of food. A couple of weeks ago I found it and played it for the kids, and it's been stuck (partially) in my head ever since. (However - those are not rutabagas. They look a bit like parsnips. But eggplants - over easy... ha ha ha!)
But this one was stuck in Nathan's head. I didn't remember it and just found it while trying to find the turtles again:
But this one was stuck in Nathan's head. I didn't remember it and just found it while trying to find the turtles again:
Toothbrushing
My mom had a 'trick' to getting us to brush our teeth. She's count to 10 while scrubbing each quadrant of our mouths, but she'd make 'nine' stretch out to 'niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine' (scrubbing all the way).
When I started to do this, my kids caught on. So, I started singing one of the classic Sesame Street songs. It doesn't go for the whole 2 minutes you are supposed to brush, but 1) I don't sing it this fast and 2)It's longer than they'd brush on their own.
When I started to do this, my kids caught on. So, I started singing one of the classic Sesame Street songs. It doesn't go for the whole 2 minutes you are supposed to brush, but 1) I don't sing it this fast and 2)It's longer than they'd brush on their own.
Sick of Sick
Have I posted this before?
I am sick of winter.
I am sick of the flu.
I am sick of runny noses. Mine and everyone else's.
At the end of January Ben was scheduled for his 4mo checkup. I thought the doc was actually going to see him healthy. No. He got sick the night before.
The next weekend, James and Nathan came down with stomach flu.
The next night, Nicholas woke up from nap with a 101.4 fever (including shakes - which freaked me out) which spiked to 104.1 by the time we were at urgent care.
The next morning, I got the stomach flu.
Just last week I came down with some random cold/sinus thing. My voice is completely gone. You should hear me. Someone called me James Earl Jones at an IIBA meeting.
Oh. And Ben has a new cough.
Really? I am so done with germs. I want to hire some cleaning company to scrub down the whole flippin' house so I know the germs are gone. But then, we'll go out to the world and get new germs. I can't win!
I'm going to go take some NyQuil and go to bed!
I am sick of winter.
I am sick of the flu.
I am sick of runny noses. Mine and everyone else's.
At the end of January Ben was scheduled for his 4mo checkup. I thought the doc was actually going to see him healthy. No. He got sick the night before.
The next weekend, James and Nathan came down with stomach flu.
The next night, Nicholas woke up from nap with a 101.4 fever (including shakes - which freaked me out) which spiked to 104.1 by the time we were at urgent care.
The next morning, I got the stomach flu.
Just last week I came down with some random cold/sinus thing. My voice is completely gone. You should hear me. Someone called me James Earl Jones at an IIBA meeting.
Oh. And Ben has a new cough.
Really? I am so done with germs. I want to hire some cleaning company to scrub down the whole flippin' house so I know the germs are gone. But then, we'll go out to the world and get new germs. I can't win!
I'm going to go take some NyQuil and go to bed!
Grapes? What Grapes? I'm innocent
Nicholas discovered the bowl of freshly washed grapes. Being a short little 2 year old, he promptly ran to the bathroom to grab the stool so he could help himself. At least it's fruit and not candy right?
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Too funny
I can't help it. This is just the cutest thing. (Not the cutest thing ever, as this isn't one of my kids or one of my pets.)
Yes. I'm a dork.
Yes. I'm a dork.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Better than Christmas?
The weekend of Nicholas's birthday we spent purchasing and assembling bunk beds. (This is the set we purchased, but in natural and without the drawer unit. It looks awesome in the 'blue room' and matches the dresser and night stand really well). We did remember to purchase mattresses and mattress pad/protectors, but waited on buying sheets. We had seen a sale online and figured we'd try for a deal. Ever the procrastinators, we waited and missed out on the original sale we had seen, but we did find some great bargains on Target.com. We purchased several sets, so we'd have backups when the inevitable accidents occur.
The sheets arrived yesterday while Nathan and I were both working from home, so we decided to just go ahead and make the bottom bunk up for the boys. We didn't make Abby's upper bunk because we weren't sure which sheet set she'd like best.
After dinner, Nathan was teaching a class, and the kids hadn't been up to their room yet. I figured, better get the sillies out early, right? So around 7:15 I recommended they get their PJs on, but they could come back downstairs and we'd watch a show. Yeah, that backfired. They went bonkers. Daniel's face lit up as bright as it had on Christmas morning when he saw Lightening McQueen sheets on his bed. Nicholas started shouting "mah-keen! mah-keen!" There was also a lot of jumping. Abby couldn't see the two sets we got her, so she had to climb into her bunk and decide which set to put on first. She sat there for several minutes hugging a set of sheets to her chest. She actually even said "Mommy, you're the best person ever." Seriously, for sheets. Had I known this would be the reaction, I would've purchased "cool" sheets ages ago!
Little do they know we also have a set of Spiderman sheets and a set of Tinker Bell sheets stashed for birthday time!
The sheets arrived yesterday while Nathan and I were both working from home, so we decided to just go ahead and make the bottom bunk up for the boys. We didn't make Abby's upper bunk because we weren't sure which sheet set she'd like best.
After dinner, Nathan was teaching a class, and the kids hadn't been up to their room yet. I figured, better get the sillies out early, right? So around 7:15 I recommended they get their PJs on, but they could come back downstairs and we'd watch a show. Yeah, that backfired. They went bonkers. Daniel's face lit up as bright as it had on Christmas morning when he saw Lightening McQueen sheets on his bed. Nicholas started shouting "mah-keen! mah-keen!" There was also a lot of jumping. Abby couldn't see the two sets we got her, so she had to climb into her bunk and decide which set to put on first. She sat there for several minutes hugging a set of sheets to her chest. She actually even said "Mommy, you're the best person ever." Seriously, for sheets. Had I known this would be the reaction, I would've purchased "cool" sheets ages ago!
Little do they know we also have a set of Spiderman sheets and a set of Tinker Bell sheets stashed for birthday time!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Check up time!
Nicholas and Ben went to the doctor today for "well child" visits. Ben came down with something over the weekend and into Monday though, so he wasn't actually a well child.
Ben is nice and average. He's nearly 14 pounds, and I can't remember the height - the sheet is in the car and it's cold out there. Nicholas is tall and lean - his height is above average and his weight is average.
Ben's seemingly constant battles with wheezing and coughing this winter have bought him his very own "Wheezing Plan." The form they used to outline this for us is an asthma plan, but Dr. Laco doesn't think he has asthma. Her bet is that he's just going to get wheezy when he gets colds this winter. Hopefully he will out grow it and next winter won't be so bad. So Ben is getting a vial of Budesinide every day (via the nebulizer), plus he'll get Albuterol whenever he seems sick, especially if he has a cough.
This does work well for us, as Nathan and I were just deciding that Ben needs to start a bedtime routine. I have been burning the candle at all ends trying to get training materials completed for a project at work (and yes, that is what I should be doing right now, but I needed a break) and Ben is just not sleeping in the crib in his 'own room' very well. Ben's bedtime routine is diaper - pajamas - bottle/nurse - nebulizer. This gives him the chance to get out any last burps, and the white noise of the neb sort of lulls him to sleep. Last night, between the immunizations and his cold, he slept through the whole night in his own bed. YAY!
Ben is nice and average. He's nearly 14 pounds, and I can't remember the height - the sheet is in the car and it's cold out there. Nicholas is tall and lean - his height is above average and his weight is average.
Ben's seemingly constant battles with wheezing and coughing this winter have bought him his very own "Wheezing Plan." The form they used to outline this for us is an asthma plan, but Dr. Laco doesn't think he has asthma. Her bet is that he's just going to get wheezy when he gets colds this winter. Hopefully he will out grow it and next winter won't be so bad. So Ben is getting a vial of Budesinide every day (via the nebulizer), plus he'll get Albuterol whenever he seems sick, especially if he has a cough.
This does work well for us, as Nathan and I were just deciding that Ben needs to start a bedtime routine. I have been burning the candle at all ends trying to get training materials completed for a project at work (and yes, that is what I should be doing right now, but I needed a break) and Ben is just not sleeping in the crib in his 'own room' very well. Ben's bedtime routine is diaper - pajamas - bottle/nurse - nebulizer. This gives him the chance to get out any last burps, and the white noise of the neb sort of lulls him to sleep. Last night, between the immunizations and his cold, he slept through the whole night in his own bed. YAY!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Happy Birthday Pickle!
Nicholas started his 2nd birthday by waking up Mommy and demanding attention. Pretty much like his actual day-of-birth. In this case, he was up before 7 a.m. and wanted breakfast. So Mommy and Nicholas spent some quality time together making a special breakfast treat - Monkey Bread!
The whole family spent a big portion of the day shopping for bunk beds for the 3 'big kids,' so the birthday celebration was delayed a bit. Here are photos from the celebration.
Elmo and his merry monster band. happen to think it's just wrong to stick a candle in Elmo's head, so I make some extra cakes. (Not to mention it allows me the opportunity to practice my cake decorating techniques. I'm quite the pro at stars now, hence the "2 layer" candle cake so I could work on my border skills.
Nicholas, ready for cake! He was really excited to see Elmo. I don't think he really understood it was a cake until later.
It took him two tries, but he did really blow out his own candle. What a cutie!
Interestingly enough, Nicholas had no interest in opening his present. Once he got it open and saw "a guy!" he was much more interested. He proceeded to play castle for quite a while. I was happy that he liked his present.
The age old "how tall are you" tradition is a bit different for us. Instead of using a growth chart or a door jamb we have a special measuring 2x2 that has each of the kids' names painted on the top. Nicholas tried to crane his little neck up and up to look taller, it was pretty cute. Nicholas at age 2 is approximately 2 inches shorter than Daniel was at his 3rd birthday. This could be the year that Nicholas surpasses Daniel in height.
The whole family spent a big portion of the day shopping for bunk beds for the 3 'big kids,' so the birthday celebration was delayed a bit. Here are photos from the celebration.
Elmo and his merry monster band. happen to think it's just wrong to stick a candle in Elmo's head, so I make some extra cakes. (Not to mention it allows me the opportunity to practice my cake decorating techniques. I'm quite the pro at stars now, hence the "2 layer" candle cake so I could work on my border skills.
Nicholas, ready for cake! He was really excited to see Elmo. I don't think he really understood it was a cake until later.
It took him two tries, but he did really blow out his own candle. What a cutie!
Interestingly enough, Nicholas had no interest in opening his present. Once he got it open and saw "a guy!" he was much more interested. He proceeded to play castle for quite a while. I was happy that he liked his present.
The age old "how tall are you" tradition is a bit different for us. Instead of using a growth chart or a door jamb we have a special measuring 2x2 that has each of the kids' names painted on the top. Nicholas tried to crane his little neck up and up to look taller, it was pretty cute. Nicholas at age 2 is approximately 2 inches shorter than Daniel was at his 3rd birthday. This could be the year that Nicholas surpasses Daniel in height.