Monday

It was a good weekend. It seems like I didn't get to sleep much, but that happens every now and then. Sat night, Eily called me in her room around 3am.

"Eily, what do you need?"
"I need help getting my panties back on."

*slight pause*

"Why are your panties not on you already?"
"Well, I had a dream that I had a crown on and and I needed to take it off but then I woke up and I had taken my panties off instead."

And that's pretty much the way the weekend went; funny things happened, strange things happened, regular things happened. Claire and Eily have their ballet recital this evening and Eily woke up twice last night sobbing because she was so nervous and she didn't want to do it. But then this morning, she came bouncing in so excited that today is recital day. She's a hard one to figure out sometimes.

Kathryn and I have enjoyed a delicious cherry/kale/avocado/flax/caco/honey/chia smoothie this morning and are about to get the day rolling. There's a lot to do to get two little ballerinas ready!

Friday Finals

It's the weekend. What are your plans? We have a full calendar for the rest of the month. Tomorrow we are going to the farmer's market in Fayetville and then Aunt Kat comes in late tomorrow night. Then on Sunday we have church and the dress rehearsal for the girls' dance recital. Then on Monday, we jump into the activities lined up for next week. Here's a few photos to get you through the weekend and I'll see you back here on Monday!

Pee Wee and Brown Bear (as the scarf)

This guy. He's dead. Very, very dead.

In a word? Michael. :) And yes, I changed my pass code but only because the girls figured it out, too.

"Oh! You mean eyeshadow is only for eyelids?"

Blakeley and Claire, having a blast.

Ryan and Nora, having a blast.

This much dirt on her face can only mean it was a great day.

Elaina= Best big sister an Eily could ask for.

It's 9:23pm (And if Jason were here, he'd say, "Happy Birthday!"because my birthday is September 23rd.)

Sometimes, when he's away, I'll get emails or texts that just say, Happy Birthday. Or sometimes he calls just to say it. And I kind of love it. When he see's it on the clock, he does something about it. :)

It's funny how I'm learning to chill about the mess in the house, and yet the house isn't really any messier than it was before. I think keeping a clean room is really starting to become a habit for the older three girls. The schoolroom becomes a jumble of paper, scissors, glue and stickers every day, but around supper time they clean it all up and the house looks pretty good. As long as I do regular deep cleaning and keep the laundry caught up, it's all ok. And I'm learning to let the schoolroom stay a mess for most of the day, which is also a good thing.

Aunt Kat's coming in this weekend. That's always the most exciting thing ever.
She's coming to see Claire and Eily's ballet recital. You should come too!

Nora seems to have resigned herself to the fact that when I put her down for a nap or at bedtime, she has to stay in her toddler bed and go to sleep. And while it took her a pretty good while to realize this, she was nothing compared to Claire. My goodness, that child was stubborn.


We tried a little potty training today. Nora sat on the potty for about an hour, playing on my phone. Then it was lunch time so she ate lunch and afterwards I told her we should try to go pee pee again. Then Jason called so I got distracted and five minutes later she had gone all over the floor. It seems to always work that way. We are so close and yet miss it every time. Someday...

My oldest nephew turns 15 on Saturday. I remember babysitting him and watching him do his signature dance move in his diaper. And I would like to let the world know that I was his very first date. We watched Monster's Inc. at the theater and I let him get the special kid box which was popcorn, candy and a drink in a Monster's Inc. cup. Now he's taller than I am and driving.

   

But he still has dimples to die for.

Happy Birthday, Michael!

                                              

Who will they be?

I think when a child truly loves something, she'll naturally do it all the time. Therefore, Elaina draws picture lists. She writes books and then draws the illustrations. She designs clothing on paper. I think Elaina loves to draw. Claire twirls everywhere she goes. She prances and jumps. She walks around on her tippy-toes. I think Claire loves to dance. Eily--- hahaha I just thought of a good one for Eily because she likes to bump, but I'll just move on...  Eily reads. And reads. And reads. I think Eily likes to lose herself in a good book. Nora walks around with Khaki bear. She sings. She rocks. She bounces. She pretends to feed. I think Nora likes to nurture.

Except when she's mad and then she tries to tear you apart, limb from limb. Gotta love the two's.

It will be interesting to see what they are doing a year, five years from now.

ACME craft- March

I'm a bit late posting our March ACME craft and I haven't even had the girls make the April craft yet. Maybe that will be on tap for tomorrow.

As always, it was very pleasingly wrapped and included detailed instructions.

We started by cutting the fabric into long strips. We had to take turns using the good scissors because the kid scissors just weren't cutting it. (Get it?)

Once we had all the fabric cut,

I tied the ends of the rope into loops and we started assembling the garland.

I laid the rope across the fabric strip (which was folded in half),

and then pulled the ends through the loop, making sure to catch the rope.

It kind of looked like a tie knot, but inside out.

The girls got a little bored helping by holding the rope while I looped the fabric strips, but eventually we got them all put on and then Claire and I picked out a spot in her room to hang the festive garland.

It looks really good and I'm pretty sure this is one decoration that will stay in the family for many years to come. It feels very durable.

This day

Today was a busy but nice day.
It had its ups - like sitting on the couch with the girls and watching a movie before bed, making supper with Elaina, watching Nora's obsession with her new shoes (I found her in bed a few minutes ago, still wearing them), getting in some good exercise
It had its downs - Grocery shopping with all four children in the late afternoon, having Nora try to deface me with her fingernails as I'm trying to pay for those groceries, missing Jason

But the biggest up, the best blessing of today, was having my brand new nephew, David, make it through a surgery where they had to remove part of his intestine and then attach the rest to his rectum. He's only nine days old and his parents have amazed me with how well they have handled the whole situation.
www.sunshinesacran.com

Thank you, Lord for such a merciful day.

Two less

Eily's had a wiggly tooth for quite a while and tonight, we decided,  just had to be the night it came out.
She was very excited and very brave (as they all have been with the first one) and even though she couldn't wait to get to it, she let me snap a before picture.

Can someone please explain to me how she looks fourteen here?

She cried a tiny bit once the tooth was out but her tears were from how strange it felt instead of from pain. We distracted her with a Skype call to Bebe. There's nothing like a "Surprise! I'm down one tooth!" call to the grandparents to get a kid grinning again.
Bebe responded appropriately, and Eily and I nonchalantly left the living room and had Claire entertain Bebe for a minute.

Minus one tooth!

We quickly ran to the bathroom, she opened her mouth, I popped another one out, and we ran back to the living room. 
"Bebe, I think you need to look at the space where the tooth used to be. I think your first look wasn't quite sufficient."
Bebe responded appropriately. It was such a fun trick. :)

Minus two teeth!