I didn't like St. Patrick's Day growing up. I thought it silly to wear green and I certainly didn't like people pinching me. I was in a bind every St. Patrick's Day. Now that I am a mom and get to watch kids get excited over virtually anything, I am all about St. Patrick's Day. I confess I had to look up what it was about. All I could remember was leprechauns, 4 leaf clover, and rainbows. I learned that St. Patrick's Day is a religious holiday (wouldn't have guessed that one) and that it celebrates when Christianity came to Ireland. I figured I could get on board with celebrating that.
So we had a visit from a sneaky leprechaun who used our toilet during the night. How do we know there was a leprechaun in our house since we didn't actually see him? Easy. He didn't flush the toilet after he was done. It was green. Emma loved it! She reasoned that he didn't flush because he didn't was because he didn't want to wake us up in the middle of the night. It was a very considerate and sneaky leprechaun.
Emma got dressed in regular clothes and then pointed out to me that she didn't have grean on and could get pinched. So I appropriately chased her around the house until I caught her and pinched her. I must say, she is fast. Like super fast. I actually didn't stand a chance of catching her while she was going in circles around the kitchen. It wasn't until she ran into my room and stopped on my bed that I caught her and pinched her little cheeks. After that she was dressed in green. It was so important to her that she have green on that she wore a hair clip with a tiny amount of green on it to ballet.
Emma wanted to call Aaron at work to see if he was wearing green that day. To her delight, he wasn't. So immediately she and I started plotting how we would ambush Aaron and pinch him when he got home. She asked me wear I was going to pinch Aaron. I told her I would go for the bottom. I asked her wear she wanted to pinch him and she said the arm. I found it funny that she thought about that level of detail.
For dinner we had corn beef and cabbage, potatoes, carrots, Irish soda bread, sunshine salad, and then we had mint chocolate chip and brownie milk shakes. This dinner was a combination of inspiration from Russell and Anderson families. The dinner was inspired by Grandma Marsha. She happens to to be the most festive person I know. The milk shakes were from Anderson family tradition. When I was little, my parents would take us out for Shamrock shakes at McDonald's. It was all authentic and stuff. The kids loved it. It has been a while since I have seen John eat as much as he did. Of course the milk shakes went over quite well.
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Miss Ginny
John has a stuffed animal/blanket combo that is a blue dog. It is essentially a dog head with a blanket sewn on to its neck. John has recently named it Miss Ginny. He snuggles her. He calls her cute and is very excited to see her.
The director at Emma's preschool is named Miss Ginny. We don't have many conversations about her. In fact, I can't think of more than about a handful of times we have mentioned her name over the past 7 months. However, this was a name that John apparently took to.
The director at Emma's preschool is named Miss Ginny. We don't have many conversations about her. In fact, I can't think of more than about a handful of times we have mentioned her name over the past 7 months. However, this was a name that John apparently took to.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
In Charge
Emma: Daddy, are you in charge?
Aaron: Yes, Mommy and I are in charge.
Emma: Well, really Heavenly Father is in charge. [putting Aaron and I in our place]
Aaron: Yes, good point.
Emma: I am in charge of my class. [putting Emma in her place]
Aaron: Yes, Mommy and I are in charge.
Emma: Well, really Heavenly Father is in charge. [putting Aaron and I in our place]
Aaron: Yes, good point.
Emma: I am in charge of my class. [putting Emma in her place]
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Personalities
There are a few things I want to remember about Emma's and John's personalities right now.
1. Books. They love, love, love, love to read books. John more so than Emma but I didn't think it was possible. John will hold a book up to the shower with the page open so I could read to him while I shower. He will hold up books for me to read while I drive, wash my hands, cook, etc. You name it, he will ask me to read to him during whatever I am doing. Lest you think this kid doesn't get enough reading time, we read when he wakes up, before naps, after naps and just about any time he is awake. We can easily pass an hour reading together. He has a long attention span for reading.
Emma will ask me to read a book to her 5 times in a row. There is a method to her madness. She is memorizing the book. She memorizes the book so she can read it to herself and to John. She will sit down with John and read to him when I cannot. Emma is branching out to a variety of topics. Right now she loves Hansel and Gretel and the Gingerbread Man. John likes truck book or a book that has a picture of a truck somewhere in it. He also likes books that you sing. For instance there is a book that has different words to the "12 Days of Christmas."
2. Bikes. Bikes are another story for John's attention span. Emma could ride a bike until her legs drop off. John will go 3 feet and then look at a truck near by or the moon or the sun or the airplane in the sky. This will go on forever and then will tell me that it is taking too long to get to where ever we are going. Emma loves to ride up and down hills, speed as fast as she can, ride backwards on her bike, do anything to get more joy out of riding a bike.
3. Imaginary Friends. Emma still has imaginary friends. Scratch that. Imaginary family. Chip and Avrin are family. The other day John turned to me and told me he loved Chip. He loves Emma's imaginary framily. Mostly I think that John just loves Emma. He loves what Emma loves. He is sad when Emma goes to preschool. He says he wants to go to preschool as he watches Emma go but he wouldn't like it given his love of nursery. Emma also has an imaginary class. She teaches this class and is in total control of the class. This has been her dream for about 4.5 years now. Total control.
1. Books. They love, love, love, love to read books. John more so than Emma but I didn't think it was possible. John will hold a book up to the shower with the page open so I could read to him while I shower. He will hold up books for me to read while I drive, wash my hands, cook, etc. You name it, he will ask me to read to him during whatever I am doing. Lest you think this kid doesn't get enough reading time, we read when he wakes up, before naps, after naps and just about any time he is awake. We can easily pass an hour reading together. He has a long attention span for reading.
Emma will ask me to read a book to her 5 times in a row. There is a method to her madness. She is memorizing the book. She memorizes the book so she can read it to herself and to John. She will sit down with John and read to him when I cannot. Emma is branching out to a variety of topics. Right now she loves Hansel and Gretel and the Gingerbread Man. John likes truck book or a book that has a picture of a truck somewhere in it. He also likes books that you sing. For instance there is a book that has different words to the "12 Days of Christmas."
2. Bikes. Bikes are another story for John's attention span. Emma could ride a bike until her legs drop off. John will go 3 feet and then look at a truck near by or the moon or the sun or the airplane in the sky. This will go on forever and then will tell me that it is taking too long to get to where ever we are going. Emma loves to ride up and down hills, speed as fast as she can, ride backwards on her bike, do anything to get more joy out of riding a bike.
3. Imaginary Friends. Emma still has imaginary friends. Scratch that. Imaginary family. Chip and Avrin are family. The other day John turned to me and told me he loved Chip. He loves Emma's imaginary framily. Mostly I think that John just loves Emma. He loves what Emma loves. He is sad when Emma goes to preschool. He says he wants to go to preschool as he watches Emma go but he wouldn't like it given his love of nursery. Emma also has an imaginary class. She teaches this class and is in total control of the class. This has been her dream for about 4.5 years now. Total control.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Aunt Mary and Uncle Brian Came to Visit
Aunt Mary and Uncle Brian came to visit. They are good sports to come visit our house. They leave the comfort of their quiet house and come visit our chaos and early bed times. Emma and John live for it though.
Mary sneaks John Oreo cookies. Brian taunts Emma by telling he is going to touch the decorations in her room. Mary hold candy classes with Emma to teach her about cookies and candy. My favorite was that Mary made salted caramel butter bars. These things have enough calories in them that by definition they are wonderful. Emma looked at it, tasted it, scrunched up her nose and handed it back to Mary like it was a piece of poop. Mary made vanilla pudding and Emma tasted a bit and never asked for more. Mary even asked Emma if she thought it would be a good idea if Emma kept candy under her bed. At this point one might wonder if Mary should be left alone with children who live in a state where there are roaches. Here is how Emma responded, "No, because my mom would find it and ask me where I got it and then she would take it away." Emma speaks the truth. Pretty much, Emma didn't show too much interest in the cookies and candy. So it is safe for Mary to be around Emma.
John was another matter. Every time I turned around, he had a cookie in his mouth. After a while she stopped giving them to him and put the bag of cookies in her purse. A short time later, he had Oreos again. I looked at Mary to place blame with her but she didn't do it. He turned around in the shopping cart, and fished around in Mary's purse for the bag until he found it. He also found a candy bag in her purse several times. Even after Mary left, he found the same bag of candy somewhere in the house and was attempting to open more candy. Mary might need close supervision when she is with John.
While Mary and Brian where here, we cooked steaks. By "we," I mean Aaron. I have no interest in cooking steaks. I love to cook, but have no desire to learn about steaks. Aaron was kind enough to take on grilling steaks for me. He did a good job. In fact John, who only eats bread and crackers, said, "I like it!" John ate a bunch of steak. If he is a steak and potatoes kind of guys, he was born to the wrong family.
Aaron and Brian we shooting guns. Mary and I picked out paint colors for my bathroom. Seemed like an appropriate way to divide our time.
Emma and John loved spending time with Brian and Mary. One day Mary and Brian took a nap. Emma sat quietly on their bed the entire time. Granted she was playing on their iPad, but she just wanted to be by them. John followed Brian around like a puppy dog, begging to be read to. He also watched Brian shave. The first thing John would ask for in the morning was "Brian." The kids would come downstairs in the morning, very excitedly waiting for Mary and Brian to come down and make an appearance.
We got to celebrate John's birthday. We sang Happy Birthday and John liked that. However the blowing out the candles part was beyond him. We even had Emma demonstrate and he was totally lost as to what he was supposed to do. He was not lost on the concept of a cupcake. Again, he said, "I like it!" This kid never met a sweet he didn't like. Mary and Brian were kind enough to get him Thomas the Train books and backpack. Those books have become staples of our everyday reading.
We had a great time visiting with Mary and Brian. Some day we will bring our chaos to their house... something I am sure they dream of.
Mary sneaks John Oreo cookies. Brian taunts Emma by telling he is going to touch the decorations in her room. Mary hold candy classes with Emma to teach her about cookies and candy. My favorite was that Mary made salted caramel butter bars. These things have enough calories in them that by definition they are wonderful. Emma looked at it, tasted it, scrunched up her nose and handed it back to Mary like it was a piece of poop. Mary made vanilla pudding and Emma tasted a bit and never asked for more. Mary even asked Emma if she thought it would be a good idea if Emma kept candy under her bed. At this point one might wonder if Mary should be left alone with children who live in a state where there are roaches. Here is how Emma responded, "No, because my mom would find it and ask me where I got it and then she would take it away." Emma speaks the truth. Pretty much, Emma didn't show too much interest in the cookies and candy. So it is safe for Mary to be around Emma.
John was another matter. Every time I turned around, he had a cookie in his mouth. After a while she stopped giving them to him and put the bag of cookies in her purse. A short time later, he had Oreos again. I looked at Mary to place blame with her but she didn't do it. He turned around in the shopping cart, and fished around in Mary's purse for the bag until he found it. He also found a candy bag in her purse several times. Even after Mary left, he found the same bag of candy somewhere in the house and was attempting to open more candy. Mary might need close supervision when she is with John.
While Mary and Brian where here, we cooked steaks. By "we," I mean Aaron. I have no interest in cooking steaks. I love to cook, but have no desire to learn about steaks. Aaron was kind enough to take on grilling steaks for me. He did a good job. In fact John, who only eats bread and crackers, said, "I like it!" John ate a bunch of steak. If he is a steak and potatoes kind of guys, he was born to the wrong family.
Aaron and Brian we shooting guns. Mary and I picked out paint colors for my bathroom. Seemed like an appropriate way to divide our time.
Emma and John loved spending time with Brian and Mary. One day Mary and Brian took a nap. Emma sat quietly on their bed the entire time. Granted she was playing on their iPad, but she just wanted to be by them. John followed Brian around like a puppy dog, begging to be read to. He also watched Brian shave. The first thing John would ask for in the morning was "Brian." The kids would come downstairs in the morning, very excitedly waiting for Mary and Brian to come down and make an appearance.
We got to celebrate John's birthday. We sang Happy Birthday and John liked that. However the blowing out the candles part was beyond him. We even had Emma demonstrate and he was totally lost as to what he was supposed to do. He was not lost on the concept of a cupcake. Again, he said, "I like it!" This kid never met a sweet he didn't like. Mary and Brian were kind enough to get him Thomas the Train books and backpack. Those books have become staples of our everyday reading.
We had a great time visiting with Mary and Brian. Some day we will bring our chaos to their house... something I am sure they dream of.
Butterflies and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Emma turned to me the other day and asked if butterflies eat butter. So we walked through the logic. I asked her were butterflies live. "The Forest." Do you see butter in the forest? Nope. Do you think butterflies eat butter? Nope.
John lately tells us that he is tired... a lot. If I didn't know better, he could be diagnosed as having chronic fatigue syndrome. How do I know he doesn't have it? Among other reasons, Aaron asked him if he could hear the birds singing. He replied, "No, I tired!" He uses the phrase to explain his grumpiness and anything he doesn't want to do so I am not sure what he thinks the phrase means. All I know is I hear it a lot.
John lately tells us that he is tired... a lot. If I didn't know better, he could be diagnosed as having chronic fatigue syndrome. How do I know he doesn't have it? Among other reasons, Aaron asked him if he could hear the birds singing. He replied, "No, I tired!" He uses the phrase to explain his grumpiness and anything he doesn't want to do so I am not sure what he thinks the phrase means. All I know is I hear it a lot.
Prayers
We are trying to teach John to pray. We are attempting, without much success to have him repeat after us as we pray. He does not want to do this however. Instead he would rather tell us what to say. His typical list includes: Grandpa, Katie [John's word for Grandma], and Amanda. Then John lists off every truck he can think of. He is grateful for combines, monster trucks, front loaders, ni no nis [fire trucks] and the list goes on and on. Typically we have to cut him off because he could go on forever.
Also, sometimes when John isn't saying the prayer he will interject "Jesus. Amen." I think this usually happens when he feels the prayer has lasted long enough.
Also, sometimes when John isn't saying the prayer he will interject "Jesus. Amen." I think this usually happens when he feels the prayer has lasted long enough.
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