Merry Christmas

I hate it when I miss a few day of posting and then get totally out of the blogging groove. Then I don't know where to start because I have too much to say. So, I will just catch you up as quickly as possible. Alexandria recovered from the strep quickly, Annika and I never got it (false alarm for both of us.) Annika got an award for self-control at assembly at school on their last day before break. Alex got one for cooperation last month. We had a lovely Christmas. We went to my dad and Claudia's for Christmas Eve and enjoyed spending time with them, Erin and Chad. We had a great dinner but our afternoon was cut slightly short due to the snow/sleet. Christmas morning the kids let us sleep until 7 which was nice. They loved their gifts. The three big kids got a Wii from Santa. Elizabeth got a kitchen and highchair for her baby doll. After we opened presents we went to Karl's parents' house and ate, played games and visited. It was nice Ben, Liz and Ellie are back in town so we got to see them too. Ellie is such a sweet baby and I think she and Elizabeth will have so much fun together as they get bigger. So that was our Christmas. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family! I hope you all had a great Christmas as well.

Ian says:

"Mommy, I like your li...did you just put on lipstick?"

Me: No.

Ian:" Oh. Well I love you."

Sick yet again

Alexandria has strep throat, Annika might have strep throat, I am feeling ill (but I am known to adopt the symptoms of the people around me so we will see.)

Max was sick but he is better now. Did you know his given name is Maxie? Doesn't that sound kind of feminine? We shorten it to Max because it sounds tougher (although it was also my grandma Maxine's nickname so that is a little weird.) Elizabeth calls him Mackie or Woof Woof. Anyway, Woof Woof (I think that is how I will refer to him for the rest of this post) had some gastrointestinal problems over the weekend. I called the vet Monday and they said to bring him right in. They did an x-ray of his stomach in case he swallowed something. And don't you know I was just waiting for the vet to hold up the film with a crystal clear outline of a Polly Pocket or a Christmas ornament or a Barbie boot or some such. But no, there was just a little speck, that could be of concern or could be nothing. Vet gave Woof Woof an anti-vomiting shot and an antibiotic shot with instructions that if he got sick one more time to bring him in for surgery. Well thank heavens we didn't need to do that and he is better and enjoying his cheese-wrapped antibiotics twice a day.

However, I was amazed at the concern and service he received over his stomach problems. Does my doctor care if I have the stomach flu? Big N - O. I get that my doctor probably doesn't have the same level of worry that I am ingesting toys and knick-knacks, but still! That anti-vomiting shot? I would pay big money to have a few vials of that lined up in my medicine cabinet. When I get the flu, it is always very severe and dramatic. Last time I was so miserable I thought I was going to die. I couldn't sleep, couldn't read, couldn't watch tv, just laid there feeling wretched. And Karl? He says to me "Well the problem is you need to just go to sleep. You will feel much better after you get some sleep." Really? As if I am just laying awake ALL NIGHT long in pure misery for the fun of it. If I could go to sleep, obviously I would. Did I mention I get a little dramatic when I am ill? He can sleep off the stomach flu, which I just think is really weird. I can't sleep when I have the stomach flu because I am too busy having the stomach flu. Karl is very sweet about making late night trips to the store for Sprite and popsicles so I can't complain to much though.

So recap- Alex is sick, Annika might be, I am probably not, and Woof Woof is recuperating quite nicely.

Smart girls

I found this really cool website where you can send your child a video from Santa. It is totally personalized with their picture, name, gift request, etc. This child:

Not falling for that at all. Not only did she and Annika immediately know that I sent it, Alexandria figured out from the email the website I used to create it. She then began creating her own video to send to Uncle Welcome.

Hmmph...well at least Ian was completely in awe of his video. Check it out here:

http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/374748a4b08ed4e81f50437e3cdec6a8

And this little girl:

passed her multiplication test and now has moved on to the divison group.

*These pictures of the girls are so good...so you know I didn't take them! They were taken by Diane at church.

Gull Scouts Christmas and a gift for me!

We just got home from Girl Scouts (or Gull Scouts, as Ian calls it), where they had a Christmas exchange, greed style. You know, where you pick a present and open it, then you can keep it or take someone else's present? First of all, major props to Annika's scout leader for being brave enough to attempt this with a bunch of 7 year olds. Annika unwrapped the coveted gift of the evening- a Bratz doll. That thing got stolen so many times. But Annika? Did not want. She traded it right away for the arsty set of dot pens (the gift that we brought.) Then she hid that gift behind her back so no one else would see it and want to steal it from her. Some of the kids were not so much understanding the concept of greed. One girl unwrapped a gift that contained about three items. She wanted to trade one of the items for someone else's gift (and keep the other two.) But they all had fun and surprisingly handled the gift stealing better than I thought they would. The best part of the night? Finding out that there are no more meetings until January 11th. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I am all for the kids being involved in activities, but a month-long break from schlepping four kids around in the freezing cold...with the coats, hats, mittens, carseats...well that is the best Christmas present ever.

Annika on stage

Here are some pictures from Annika's school program last night. She had the part of Elf #1 and did a great job. It is kind of hard to see, but she is on the front row, far left:

Max

Have I mentioned this dog is a little hyper? He likes to jump and nip (not a mean nip, but a playful puppy nip.) He particularly has it in for Ian. Ian, of course, does not appreciate this. He told me "Max makes bad choices that God wouldn't like. I think it is because he doesn't have God in his heart."

And who needs his eyebrows trimmed in a bad way? Maybe I could just barrette them back.

I know what this looks like

It looks like Ian got into the markers doesn't it? I thought so too, but he assured me that this was not the case. It turns out, as he told me, that he has come down with a case of the "blue chicken pox."



I think it is pretty serious. Look, it has spread to his back:

Pearl Harbor...according to Annika

Annika wrote this in school:

I think Peal Harbor is about when we hade less people in the war than the japines did so we lost the war and the war hite the city and lots of people who wert in the war but in the city got hurt and thair homes got desteroyd.

She says she is writing a whole book on Pearl Harbor next, so stay tuned.

Crackin' up for Down Syndrome

Just doing a little advertising for my brother's event that is coming up in January. It is for a great cause!

Ian's artwork

Ian has been drawing some interesting pictures lately. He draws on one side of the paper and then flips it over and draws the scene from the back. Like he drew Elizabeth in her crib and then on the back of the paper he drew the back side of her crib. Kind of interesting.


Here is a picture of the girls locked in their room.

The front of the paper (their door):

The back of the paper (the girls in their room):


I wonder who would ever want to lock those girls in their room? And see how mad they are? They have on their grouchy eyebrows.

If only he could read...

Mom had a meeting last night and offered to take Ian with her. I packed him a bag with some crayons and books and told him he needed to be quiet during the meeting. He said, "Could you please write 'Be quiet' on a piece of paper and put it in my bag because otherwise my brain won't be able to remember."

Ian and the doctor

I had to take all the kids to the doctor on Monday so they could get their seasonal flu/H1N1 shots. I knew Alexandria and Annika would be okay with it and Elizabeth of course is really too little to know what is going on and can be calmed down fairly easily afterwards, but Ian...I knew there would be drama. As I saw it there were a few choices in how to handle it. I could tell him beforehand that he would be going to the dr. and getting shots. This, however, would have resulted in relentless whining and griping until the appointment. It also would give him extra time to get good and worked up over it. The other choice was to not say anything, and just take him in and let him find out there. This would probably make future dr. appointments horrible because he would be suspicious that I was going to trick him again. So I chose a compromise, which was to tell him on the way there. He completely flipped out and I had to literally drag him out of the elevator and over to the check in window. The whole time he is crying and screaming "I DON'T WANT A SHOT!" Once we got in the room it took THREE adults to hold him down so the nurse could give him the shots. So embarrassing.

Sweet girls

Annika's new look

Annika has a new haircut and new glasses:



She still has a hard time keeping those eyes open when the flash goes off.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth is still working the bag lady couture look. Hair not fixed, her sister's size 10 sweatshirt, rain boots and carrying a lid to a toy pan. I try not to interfere with her selections unless we are going someplace where it is important to me that she look presentable. So yes, she sure did wear that to pick Ian up at preschool. If only I could get her to carry a sign that says "I dressed myself" so I am not blamed for her wardrobe choices...



She is in love with these rain boots. They are pretty cute though:

We're still in negotiations...

The other morning Ian came and got in bed with me. He was very snuggly and slurping on his fingers. I was enjoying him being so cuddly and asked, "Could you just stay little forever?" He thought for a minute and then said, "Fine, I'll stay little...IF you give me some money."

Sick again!

I will be back to blogging soon! We have had a long week. Karl and I were sick and then Elizabeth got sick. Now poor Alexandria is not feeling well.



The only good thing about a sick baby? Karl was enjoying her being all snuggly:

Mommy says:

"I told you to sit down. No running around, no trying to break the vaccum cleaner, no throwing cheese. Sit down!!"

Yay Annika!

Guest post from Annika:

I tryed to pass the test. but,i never did until 11/12/09. then I past the test. I got a fake medle.




*****Annika passed her subtraction test. She took it yesterday and came home and told me "I have a really good feeling about it!" (She got the graded test back today.) They have a test every week and once the student can do 30 problems in 2 minutes she can move on to the next level. Annika has been working hard on her subtraction from 20 these last few weeks and it paid off. She got all 30 problems right and is now on to multiplication. She was very excited to tell me when she came home from school. This is really big news at our house :)

The one where Annika gets a singing telegram

I believe I mentioned that Alexandria is on the singing telegram team at school? They sing at special events and also give singing telegrams to teachers and students who have been voted to get one. It turns out back in September Alexandria nominated Annika to receive one for being brave during her hernia surgery. Well Annika ended up getting surprised with a singing telegram during class today. Too bad Alexandria was home sick with an ear infection and didn't get to sing to her sister but I did get a picture of them together along with Annika's certificate. I don't think Alex is feeling very well here, but I thought it was sweet nonetheless.

Ian says:

"I loved that big doctor's office we went to when Uncle Ethan broke his head."

Alexandria

I love these pictures of Alexandria playing in the leaves. Just had to share:

The word he's looking for is "yesterday"

Ian: I remember when Elizabeth took Daddy's glasses. It was the day after this one...I mean the day on the back of this one.

More pictures

Trick or treat

This is my last Halloween related post, I promise! The kids enjoyed their day yesterday. Grandma and GopGop came by and then we headed to the mall to trick or treat. Elizabeth was getting bored with the candy she was getting and started fussing about going down to the food court. Forget about Tootsie Rolls and suckers, that girl wanted some real food. We then headed to the church where Ian attends pre-school and they had a festival with lots of games for the kids- cookie decorating, bike rides, basketball...all kinds of fun things. One interesting thing- both Alex and Annika are left-handed but apparently they throw right-handed. Just the opposite of Grandma Goody. Oops sorry, that is probably one of those things that nobody but the mom cares about, right? Anyway, the church had nachos which made Elizabeth a very happy baby. She sat on her daddy's lap and enjoyed chowing down while the big kids got their faces painted. After that we headed to Grammy Goody's and then trick or treated at five or six houses. Then...home to bed. Today we headed over to Papa and Nana's after church and enjoyed having dinner and getting to see the family.


I made a little slideshow documenting my attempts to get a picture with all four kids. You will soon understand why I have so few pictures of them all together:

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

P.S. Sorry some of the pictures are hard to see because they are so dark. I still haven't taken my camera in to be fixed...What if something happens and I need to be able to take a picture and don't have a camera?

And last but not least...

My favorite little scarecrow:







Barry made this one and he did such a great job. I think maybe he should go in to business making costumes.

She represents the Lullaby League...

Ian's pictures

Ian got his preschool pictures back today and he was not very pleased. He told me "Don't you dare order these!" (Clearly being respectful is something we are still working on.)

"What? Why don't you want me to order these?" I asked.

"I look all creeped out. I don't like them. I look like a blockhead."

So let's not tell him I shared them with you, okay?

School pictures

Alexandria got her school pictures back today so I thought I would post them so all the Grammy's and Grandpas could see them. Please excuse the quality as the technology here is severely lacking and I had to use the poor man's scanner (otherwise known as taking a picture of a picture.) Annika should get hers back tomorrow.

Annika is smart. Mommy.... not so much.

Annika has been working on a project for school and has been famous people in history. She had to pick three and then after she researches them will choose one to dress as and she will give a speech as that character. She has chosen Amelia Earhart, Pablo Picasso and Georgia O'Keefe. To preface this little story, let me first say that I am not knowledgable about art in any way. My last art class was in elementary school and I don't think I paid that much attention even then. Anyway...

To encourage her evident interest in art,I decided to show her some artwork on the computer. We looked at some of VanGogh's work and then O'Keefes. I then pulled up some of Picasso's so she could see them.


I thought a 7 year old might find some of them a little strange or funny since they aren't all your typical portraits. I said "Annika,some of these are really different, huh?"
Her response?
"Actually Mommy, Picasso was a Cubist. That means he takes parts of the image and puts them in different places. That is why they look like that."

Oh. I knew that. Really.

Cooking, cleaning and Elf #1

Big news around here- everyone is well! We have been cooped up too long so this is really exciting. I did notice though it is amazing what you can get done when you don't leave the house. This weekend I made cookies, barbecued chicken for sandwiches for Karl, made bread, worked on the girls' costumes, wrote a paper, knitted and made unprecedented strides in my battle against the laundry. I also made a pot of beans, and discovered everyone in my family hates beans. Even Elizabeth, who will eat anything, did a full-body shiver after she took a bite and refused to eat any more.

I also got some cleaning done, and if I can brag on Annika for a minute I have to tell you how helpful she was. While I was picking up, I glanced over and noticed that Annika was cleaning right along beside me. Without even being asked she picked up toys and books, straightend the bookshelves, dusted, put shoes in the basket, etc. It was so sweet. She got so exasperated though because Elizabeth was messing up her hard work. She told me "Mommy, I just straightened those books on the bookshelf and look! Elizabeth just pulled them all off again." Poor thing, I know just how that feels!

Oh, and I have to tell Annika's big news. She got a part in the Christmas musical...oh pardon me the WINTER musical. She is going to be Elf #1 and I think she will make a perfect little elf. She has been working hard on her lines and I can't wait to see her on stage.

Halloween pictures

This is just our first batch,there will be more of the younger two later. Alexandria and Annika had their Girl Scouts Halloween party so they got to dress up tonight.





I think this is my new favorite picture: