In the zone

I've started on my Christmas projects. I almost have one finished and another one started, but I've also added another one. So I have about 7 to go! Yikes. But it is fun if not tiring, since I have to pretty much wait for the kids to bed down before getting to them. I still haven't uploaded pics from thanksgiving, but here are some from the last month.

Ivan masquerading as R2D2 in our old computer.

The kids having a rare moment of affection with our cat.

Ivan, Dominique and Logan in the lockers at the YMCA. That made me a bit nervous. But none of the doors jammed up ;)

Giving thanks with our friend Trinity.

we're back

To my loyal addicts, thanks for the laugh! Hope you weren't overly disappointed on the day when there was really no post.

We made it back home this evening. While Emora didn't take her first step, she learned a new sound to make by twisting her lips up and making smacking popping sounds. I'll need to catch that on video. Ivan was becoming quite the little monster while we were in Houston, so we have some work to do. He was getting more and more demanding as the days went by. This morning he told me "I want to go snuggle with Nana NOW!" (she was already gone to work hours earlier). Tonight he told me, "I want you to read my story NOW!" Ewwwie, he got a swat and tongue lashing after that. Dominique understands that we do not live in Houston and do have to go home eventually. Ivan was not of the same opinion. Dominique was being very patient in explaining the situation. "Ivan, we do not live here. so, we have to go home. We will come back for Christmas".
The kids did travel really well. They watched a couple of videos. The girls and I napped. Ivan watched the scenery when I said that he couldn't watch videos non-stop. We had a picnic lunch swatting bees who terrorized us despite the brisk wind.

Once home, the pets went off the wall hysterical and the girls were overjoyed to be back. Ivan was glad too and loved to help with the unpacking and putting everything away.

Dominique said the funniest thing tonight. "It is taking so long for me to grow up and to become a mommy". She's 3.

Now I need to start on my xmas projects. Here are some old pics. from a visit to a park with our neighbor Valerie and her son Logan. I'll upload thanksgiving pics another day.

Ok, I lied

I am getting another post in before you leave. These pics are from my friend's fancy camera. We went to the park one day and played, the kids with chalk and sand, Valerie with the camera!

I should be eating turkey or sleeping it off as you read this. For all you addicts who came back and checked when I said I was not going to post again until next week, hat's off to you!

Ok, really, I'm not going to post again until next week, so chill out and happy thanksgiving.

Dominique, you are unique

Ever since she was a baby, we could tell that she would be our jokester. She would laugh and do things to make us laugh over and over as long as she was getting a reaction. She has continued that trend, keeping us in stitches, even when she doesn't intend to.

Brian was working on the old computer (it was not worth it to fix), so he took out the hard drive with the info on it, destroyed it and recycled the rest. To take the hard drive out, he had to disassemble it. Of course, helpers were aplenty. The kids were under and in between his feet the whole time. But Dominique dressed herself for the occasion. Here she is our computer worker with flair and some other things.

I was trying to get a picture with her and her knockers (she likes to wear them and knock on them). So I came with the camera. Do you think she would cooperate? Of course, how could you strike a serious pose wearing this getup? I title this series- princess poses with screwdriver. I don't think you'll see anything like it anywhere else, so aren't you glad you stopped by here today?

As this posts, we are on the road to Houston for thanksgiving- so may you all have a wonderful weekend. I'll be back posting next week. I am always and forever thankful for this wacky family the Lover gave me and for providing for us in a million ways.

Emora!

Emora is so close to walking, I wouldn't doubt it if she takes her first step while we are in Houston for thanksgiving.

I have been sorting Ivan's clothes, sending the ones two small on to a friend and getting other clothes passed on to us out of the shed, washed and put up. It's so nice to have it all organized again.

I have also been trying to pack the kids stuff. They have been "great" helps. Good thing there is a parent to set a limit. Dominique wanted to pack kleenex in case we have to blow our nose. Actually, now that I think of it, I should put one in the van. Ivan wanted to pack every toy he has to show Nana, including ones she's already seen. I did let them pack their own books and toys for on the way. That could be interesting. There are two bags by the door and I don't know what's in them- I like to live with adventure!!

I guess we are well enough to travel. I called Nana to see if she still wanted us to come if we may be infectious and apparently seeing us is greater reward than the fear of getting sick. Yeah, there is no way I would have been able to whip up a meal this late in the game- and I have no energy. I'm hoping tomorrow, I will get a nice long nap in the van.

The last 2 of the kids pics that I'm posting are in this post, can you guess which ones?

our healthiest family member

We have had better weekends. All 5 of us are sick right now. Just a miserable head cold with tons of congestion, but we are all a bit cranky and miserable. Brian keeps running out to the store to buy another "it's not working!" product. My friend did give us some children's musinex that seems to be helping the kids. Ivan is doing the best of us. He has some congestion too, but is not laid out miserable. He still has a bundle of energy so I let him clean two rooms today, help with supper, make Emora laugh with games, pick pecans and water the garden. Yes, he did all of that today and didn't take a nap either. Do you see why I am exhausted at the end of the day? And that's just one child. Add the other two in and it's a real circus, but usually a fabulously fun circus, except right now.

The good thing is that we did manage to get pictures archived and in albums. Brian dusted half of our room and I finished with the rest of the house cleaning. Tonight I made turkey soup, in the hopes that it is going to make us all sleep well tonight. At first I thought to make fresh bread (with the bread maker). Then I thought I'd toast and garlic some store bought bread. By the time I'd finished with the soup, I threw a package of saltines on the table and was done with it. Not that the two big kids ate any of it. They rarely eat supper these days. The stinkers! Emora eats 10 times more at supper than they do and I don't let them snack in the afternoon or evening either!

The absolute worst thing this weekend was when Emora fell out of the cart at the store! Yep, about 4 feet up onto the hard floor. A friend had taken us and she put one of those cart covers on it, which is ironic since Emora was snotty. I usually strap her in, but didn't know how to with the cover and didn't really think about it, until I heard a thud and saw her on her back, on the floor! She cried a bunch is acted fine after. That's the second time she's had a serious falling incident like that! I'm so thankful that she's ok.

How was your weekend?

the garage

Here are the pics of Dominique, my feverish child last week, with her wood project from Lowes. She had so much fun making it, then decorating it with pink and purple marker. Poor girl has such an impossible name. She was trying to write her name on it, but ran out of room, so she scribbled over it in another color. She has a journal we made in "pretend school" and when she tried to write her name in it, she ran out of space after DOMINI, so she started on the next line with her Q then got lost in what letter was next.... so she started writing it over again on the next line and got out DOMINI before running out of space again and giving up. She would have had room if she had started at the edge, but I thought we'd let her rest with all that for a while.

Emora has been congested some, but on other days she is like this, or wildly clinging to my leg. She is quite attached to me.

Tomorrow, the kids are going to make another wood project. Brian is going to take them this time, so that Emora and I can go to a store to buy some things the older kids shouldn't see. I really hate shopping, but I'll try to survive it. It's not so bad when I know what I'm getting and where to find it, which is the case here, so it will actually be a nice outing with just one darling child as opposed to the circus trio. Tighe and I keep laughing at ourselves, because when we had one baby we thought it was so encompassing and hard, but now that we have more than one, we realize we had no clue what a cinch ONLY one was compared to 2, or now 3!

some things I'm loving

I'm sort of kinda homeschooling Ivan in kindergarten this year. We are hating it and loving it. Today, neither of us felt like doing it, so we read some of our new library books instead. In short order the girls woke up from naps anyways and so we all went outside to paint pictures on the fence. Our fence sucks. It's many different mismatched pieces, toppling over and patches multiple times. The plan is to replace it in the new year and since one of my questions for Ivan in "pretend school" as he calls it, was "what is your favorite activity?" and his answer was "painting". I thought we could paint the fence outside. It has been so pretty in the afternoons and we have lots of cheap paint. Ivan had a blast.
Dominique enjoyed it for a while, but easily bores with painting the same thing over and over. Since I had given her strict instructions to only paint the fence and not herself, her siblings, toys, furniture, the porch, tree, swing set, her clothes or the pets, she ran out of options and interest after a while. Our worst moment was when I was trying to get more water for Ivan, he left his paint out and when we turned around Emora's mouth was completely black. A picture would have been awesome, because she looked so hilarious, but I was a bit anxious about scooping/ washing/scrubbing as much out as quickly as possible, it thought it would be a wee bit irresponsible to take time out to get the camera. Moments later, Saba decided that she needed a drink from our rinse cup, filled with paint infused water. All of that to say that I hope tempora paint isn't overly toxic.

Ivan was bragging to his dad that our activity was inspired by his response to my question. I love how I can discover more about him from the school activities and questions. It's wonderful to be surprised by his answers and to know how his mind and emotions work.

So what's your favorite activity?

another writer on our hands?

Emora loves to play with the big kid's pens, markers, pencils, chalk, paintbrushes... I think she's a natural at it too. This day I watched her make scribbles on the page and clap for herself.

Ivan has other opinions of writing as seen here. Mostly because he is a perfectionist and his letters are "bumpy", which he doesn't like. But they are coming along well and I think we may sway his idea of it.

Dominique is our real clown. She hates to pose for picks now. The other day, she had a screwdriver and was helping daddy work on the old computer. I wanted to take her pick. First she ran away and screamed "no, no, no". Then she agreed to the photo shoot. First she stuck the screwdriver in her nose, then under her nose like a mustache, then sticking out her ear. What a goof.

How do you feel about writing? Is there a kind of writing you like to do, if so, what is it?

I obviously enjoy writing about my kids. It's fun to reflect on the moments I've had with them throughout the day and to also think about who they are, or what they've done that would bring a smile to the face of friends or family. As for real writing with a pen, I've always hated my handwriting. It's horribly messy. So maybe that is where Ivan get's it from ;)

figuring out family

Ivan asked me the other day:

"do grandpa Ian and grandma Ruth have kids?" I said yes. Then he specified, "Not GRANDkids, but do they have kids?" "Yes", I replied again. "They have 3 and I'm one of them" Ivan's eyes got big. "Who are the other two?" "Guess" I said. "Auntie Jenn?" "Yes, and uncle...?" He thought... "uncle John?" "no uncle Andrew". "oh!" I could tell that he was disappointed that grandpa and grandma don't have any "real" kids.
I took out an album to show him pictures of us as a family when I was younger. He was very excited to figure out which one I was. Of course he recognized grandma and grandpa, but the three kids were not as easily discernible.
These amazing portraits of the kids were off the kid's camera, which is why I had to sift through the nearly 1000 shots. Either Ivan or Dominique took these.

We made marionettes for fun. The kids are not very creative when naming their figurines or toys. Ivan named his "Ivan". Dominique named hers "baby", to add to her collection which include "naked baby" and "pink baby". The world revolves around them at this point. Every book they read or movie they see, they pick the main characters to represent them. Then they say "Ivan did this" or "Dominique did that" as was seen in the video or book. If there are adults, they are mom and dad and any baby is Emora.

A few of our friends

Dominique's fever finally broke! She's been running about 100 all day, which is good compared to what it has been steadily since Tues. Then this evening before bed, she finally had a fever free reading. I'm going to take it again before I hit the sack, just to be sure it's not creeping back up while she's snuggled down in her comforter. Could this mean a return to real life? To leaving the house? To seeing friends? shudder of excitement!! Brian offered to get the groceries for me Fri. night and I about snapped his head off. We've been house bound a week! And it's been so pretty out. Today it started off cool, so I put on jeans, but was sweating by lunch time and had to put shorts on! In Canada, I used to put up summer clothes once winter set in, but not here.

Ivan and I went to a kid's building workshop at Lowes today. He built a garage. I was sad that Dominique couldn't come with us, as originally planned. But they let me bring the materials home to her and she was glad to hammer and create. They made garages and got aprons, goggles and a badge. I think we may become Lowes nerds. Some kids had about 20 badges of all the projects they did. They had so much fun, got to use their brains following instructions, bring home a great craft they made and it was free! Gotta like that.

These last two picks were harvested off the kid's camera. Which means they were taken by Ivan and Dominique. I think they are very creative shots. Speaking of harvesting, we are gathering up pecans- yum, yum and just in time, we used up our last shelled pecans a few weeks ago. Our garden is still going a bit. The okra and green peppers are still holding out a bit. We ate a volunteer cantaloupe. It was small, but surprisingly delicious. We are also getting squash from a plant we didn't plant. That is one of the great things about composting, we never know what plants will start growing all on their own and then we are surprised to get to benefit from something we didn't purpose to create.

I can't wait for Emora to walk. She screams like all let out when I set her down. I don't remember the other two being like this.

Have you gone to any crafty/creating/building workshops? What kind?

incriminating evidence

Ivan is taking the pictures here. Dominique knows she is not supposed to be on the couch.







But she jumps nonetheless.








Teaching her little sister her tricks.








Oh no, she knocks over Emora!








Lots of kisses, please don't cry and have mom come find out what we are doing.







Wipe off that kiss and get back to leaps. All is well, and mommy needn't ever know! Ivan, hey, what are you doing with that camera?