Tech Savvy

I figured out how to allow people to comment directly on my blog again rather than only through face book. So comment away!!!

I was on our church website trying to find some games for the girls to play today, when a picture of Jesus Christ came up on the screen. Emilia, who was looking over my shoulder, got so excited and asked me, "Are you typing to Jesus?!?!?!"

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Today was a beautiful, warm-ish, sunny day; so I decided to put Heidi in the double stroller and walk to Emilia's pre-school to pick her up.

When I showed up she had tears in her eyes. Upon inquiry, Emilia revealed that someone else got the Peter Pan book from the book exchange and she wanted it. When she realized I wasn't going to rip it out of the other kid's hands and give it to her, she transitioned into full blown melt down.

I had to pick her up off the floor, kicking and screaming and haul her out the door. Had I driven, I could have locked her in the car and threatened her in the silence of my own vehicle. But instead I had to try and strap her in the stroller while she screamed in my face how much she hated me and this was the worst day ever...while ripping her boots off, throwing her coat on the ground and kicking Heidi in the back so she was crying as well.

Under those working conditions, I couldn't get E strapped in, so I just had to resort to running as fast as I could so she would be too scared to jump out. (I'm really fast by the way...) After about four blocks of this she was still screaming and kicking Heidi. Finally I stopped the stroller and threatened her, "If you don't stop right now, I'm going to stop the next police car that drives by and tell him to take you away." What? It worked. I'll pay for therapy later.

Fast forward two hours. Melt down is over, we made it home and E and I were in the kitchen baking Christmas cookies. I asked Emilia, "What's your favorite thing about Christmas?" She answered, "Getting presents. I'm going to get lots of presents because I'm ALWAYS good." "Really?" "Yeah, Some kids aren't good so they get on the naughty list." "Interesting...what types of things do you do to get on the naughty list?" I probed. "Hitting, yelling, going to time out...stuff like that" she answered. "Huh. What about kicking your sister, or telling your mom you hate her, or screaming and jumping out of strollers?" "No." Emilia reassured me, "None of that stuff. Santa can't see that." "I'm not so sure about that." I replied and burst into song, "You'd better watch out, you'd better not cry, you'd better not pout I'm telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town. He's sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good so you'd better be good for goodness sake!"

Emilia's expression went from shock, to fear and finally to casual disregard by the time I stopped singing. She just looked at me innocently and said, "Well, I've never heard that before." So clearly in her mind, she was off the hook and still on the "Nice" list.

A Bit of Christmas Baking

Naomi
Naomi, Leah (with a huge bow on her head), Emilia
Emilia
Dipped Pretzels
Stained-glass cookies

A shout out to my little Leah!

Two weeks before the new school year we told the girls we were moving. One day before school started, we moved into a temporary house. For a month we drove the girls 1/2 hour to and from school every day. Finally we got into a place of our own and settled with our own belongings. While this was a challenge for all of us, these transitions were especially hard on Leah.
She was really struggling in school here. After only three weeks, Leah's teachers called Lars and me in to meet with them. They expressed concern about Leah's attentiveness, unwillingness to participate, and especially her reading. They had her tested and she was scoring a full year behind. We set up a system where we could monitor and help her more at school and at home.
Last week Lars received an email from her teachers. They had just received Leah's reading score from the state standardized testing. Average was 204, Excelling was 216. Leah scored a 214! Lars was SO proud of Leah and all her hard work that when he told Leah her score, Lars got all choked up. Of course I did too...but it was quite a tender moment for our little family.
YEAH LEAH!!!!

the double bird

Today I was in the kitchen getting lunch for Emilia and Heidi. From the table, Emilia called to me, "This means all the bad words in the world." I looked over and there she was holding both of her middle fingers up to me. "Where did you learn that?!" I asked, hoping to blame pre-school for this evil influence on my child. "Leah told me" she answered casually.
Busted.

Tooth Fairy Crisis

Last week Naomi lost one of her two front teeth. That night after she had put her tooth under her pillow and went to bed, Leah approached me with a pen and a piece of paper. "I think you should write Naomi a letter from the tooth fairy pretending to be her." I told her I might. About two minutes later Leah was pestering me again to write a letter. So I asked her why this was so important to her. Then came the confession, "Well, maybe I've been telling Naomi that the tooth fairy is really you...but I still want her to believe!"

A whole DECADE!

On December 2nd, Lars and I had our tenth anniversary! It seems impossible that we've been married that long. But then upon prompting from friends on facebook, I took a brief inventory of just what has happened in the last ten years, and here's what I came up with :)

In our ten years together we have
moved 14 times
attended 6 colleges
earned 3 degrees
had four kids
3 cars
5 bikes
3 fish
numerous ugly couches off the side of the road

Shall I continue????

the Sesame Street influence

Today Heidi came up to me crying and holding her elbow. She whimpered, "Ow! My finger." I told her, "That's your elbow." So she whimpered, "Ow! My Elmo."

A couple weeks ago I took Emilia and Heidi on a walk and had the garage door opener in my pocket. When we got back I told Emilia to say the magic words, "Open Sesame" to open the garage door. She did and I pushed the button in my pocket. Both the girls were pretty impressed with my magic skillz. Heidi wanted to try it next, so I told her to say, "Open Sesame." She gave it a good try, but just couldn't manage "Sesame." So Emilia said to Heidi, "It's ok, just say 'Open Elmo' instead." A logical connection for a five year old :)

Things I never expected to hear

Emilia to me- "Birds say 'Ca Ca' and that means poop."

Me-"Heidi please come here."
Heidi-"I NOT Heidi. I She-Ra."

Me-"Naomi, come down stairs it's time for dinner."
Naomi- "Do I HAVE to? I'm reading the dictionary."

Leah-"Want to know what I want for Christmas? To NOT RIDE THE BUS!"

Me-"Did you wash your hands after you went potty?"
Emilia-"Yes. I just told the truth for the first time in my life!!!!!"

Me-"Naomi it's bedtime."
Naomi-"Can I just stay up a little longer? I'm comparing facts about the Beluga whale in my book and in the dictionary."