Look

at those eyelashes. It doesn't seem quite fair; mine don't even look like that after three coats of mascara.

Last soccer game :(

Annika had her last soccer game today. We had so much fun watching her play this season. Her team did really well. I think they won all but one game...but shhhh! We are not supposed to keep score.

Here she is pre-game:



During the game:



And here is her cheerleader:




I need to do some research on taking action shots. I took several of her playing and they didn't really turn out. I think I need a bigger lens first off and then to figure out the lighting. Oh well, there is always next year.

So unfair...

Life has been unfair for Annika. Her friend Kira invited her over to spend the night. The mother and I never spoke about it, it was just the two seven year olds arranging this over the phone. Annika told me that Kira would either be at the skating rink or Chuck E. Cheese, so could we please just drive to both and look for her? That got a big no. This did not make Annika happy. Finally a few hours later Kira called and wanted to know where Annika was. I talked with her mom and cleared that it was okay and took Annika over there. When I picked Annika up today she was mad. Why? Because Alexandria told her we went to the park while she was gone. How dare we go somewhere without her!

Fun in the garden

See what we did today? Barry was nice enough to come over and make us a little garden area. The kids were so excited to plant their seeds. We planted corn, lettuce, carrots and green beans. We are growing tomatoes inside that we will put out there once it is a little warmer.

Easter Pictures

Annika is cute

I am so happy that the kids are all loving church so much. Last week Annika actually gave her own dollar for the offering without any prompting. And this week at school she made an Easter card and this is what it said:

don't eat to much candy or y'll have a stumik egg (with a drawing of an egg.)

But the other side of the card had a drawing of a cross and said:

God is inportant! He helps you! God is speshle. He has Good reasons on bing good!


How cute is that? And that was at school, not at Sunday school so she totally came up with that on her own. I wish I could scan it but the scanner and I are not getting along. It says it is out of ink so it can't scan. Color me confused because I didn't know scanning required any ink? Anyway...I am off to play Littlest Pet Shop. I don't think playing a board game with a volatile four year old is going to do a thing for my pounding headache but oh well.

All drama, all the time

It has come to my attention that perhaps I am a little dramatic. I noticed that everything that goes on around here seems to be an Event. Me taking all the kids by myself anywhere is an Event. Housetraining the dog is an Event. Giving up naps is an Event. I don't recall hearing other people go into such great detail and dramatics over their events. Which I won't capitalize, because clearly they are not as eventful as my Events.
My latest Event was taking all the kids to get their pictures taken. I ironed the girls' fancy sleeveless floor length dresses, got Ian dressed in his suit, curled the girls' hair, tried to flatten Ian's hair down with a variety of hair product. We ended up carrying the girls' dresses with us so they wouldn't get smooshed in the car. I figured they could change in the bathroom once we got there. Out of the stall comes Alexandria with tattoos on both arms. We forgot about said tattoos because she has been wearing long sleeves. Said tattoos did not go very well with fancy satiny floor length dress. We scrubbed as best we could, I think the end result will be that her arms look a little dirty in the pictures, that is all. When we got in the studio Elizabeth was not impressed. She wanted no part of being photographed and kept crying and bolting for the door. So we basically had to stick her in the spot and the photographer took the picture as fast as she could before Elizabeth took off. Which would have been okay but we had three other people who needed to look presentable as well. Annika had some earring issue and her ear was sore so she kept grabbing on to it and cocking her head to one side. Alexandria was getting all dramatic and doing jazz hands and whatnot. And Ian was...a four year old. Actually he did pretty well. All that being said, I think we got one good picture out of the bunch so I was happy. And even more happy that I won't feel obligated to do that again for awhile.
See, I can create drama out of anything. It is a gift.

Bad Mommy is on a roll

Yesterday I thought I would be nice and go get the kids donuts for breakfast, we sometimes do this as a treat on Saturdays. We were in a rush (as always) so I told Annika to eat her donut so she could get ready for soccer. Her response? "Mommy, could I have something healthy to eat instead? I think that would be better since I have a game." I hung my head in shame and made her some oatmeal.

Silly Girls

Reading time pictures...just because

My favorite time of day...reading time. Annika loves to photo bomb which always cracks me up.

Annika's Slide Show

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

So I am finally finished. We didn't get a digital camera until Annika turned one, so I don't have any pictures on the computer for that first year. I used some more upbeat music- it needed to be something sunny and happy for the girl who would live in tank tops and flip flops if she could. Just click on the arrow if you want to watch

And one for the birthday girl...

Today is Annika's seventh birthday. She and I have a date to go to Coco Key soon but for tonight we just celebrated at home. We had, per her request, tacos and cheesecake and she opened some presents. Look how excited she was over everything:






My mom has requested a birthday slideshow. I started working on it but I had so many pictures of Annika it is going to be a big project.I have too many to weed through! So it is coming, but I don't know how long it will take me.

Edited to add: I just noticed Ian in one of the pictures (in just his underwear.) I need to convince him to stay dressed, but with the way the last few days have been, I am trying to pick my battles.

Screaming gulls and other nighttime woes

There has been all sorts of nonsense going on around here after I put the kids to bed. There is yelling, fighting, thumping, doors slamming, etc. As far as I can tell the problem is Ian wants the girls to play with him when they are all supposed to be sleeping. They won't and he gets mad, then they get mad, then I get mad. He came to me a while ago to tattle:

Ian: The gulls are going to yell at me and they are going to wake up Elizabeth!!

Me: What are you going to do to the girls that would make them yell?

Ian: NO!! I am not trying to tell you about me I'm trying to tell you about the gulls! They are going to wake Elizabeth up!!

Me(wearily): Please just go to bed and leave the girls alone

In other news, our upstairs bathroom is about to become closed to the general public. The layout of our house is such that all four kids are upstairs with a bathroom for themselves, Karl and my bedroom is downstairs. This would all be well and good if the children would go to bed and stay in bed. But no, they are up until 10 pm getting into all sorts of shenanigans up there, many involving that bathroom. Here are some things I have discovered them doing:

Annika and Ian carrying buckets of water in his room and dumping them on his hardwood floor so they could play 'swimming pool'

Someone put a roll of toilet paper in the sink and got it wet, then tore off little wet pieces to create a sort of paper mache effect all over the toilet, sink, floor.


Smearing toothpaste everywhere (I already blogged about this one)


Pouring water on themselves and each other


Due to all this activity, I have decided that henceforth that bathroom will be closed. Karl is purchasing a lock and it will be installed as soon as possible.

Oh the drama...again...

Annika came to me crying because Ian told her she is "the boringest girl he has ever seen."

Updates

Annika had to write an essay for school on someone in the community (non-relative) who is the 'kindest Kansas Citian.' I think it is a contest the local news station is running and her teacher just made it into a homework assignment. Annika picked her P.E. teacher. Why? Because she lets Annika play 'Hot Foot.'

Elizabeth is still sick. I now have the hurting tongue and it is accompanied by the pounding head and the stuffy nose.

Ian threw his Leapster video game out his bedroom window (2nd story) and it landed in the backyard. He also threw some clothes out the window and they got stuck on the roof. Daddy was not pleased.

Edited to add: The window is now secured in such a way he will not be able to open it (we hope.) Because my thought is, if he is throwing toys and clothes out the window now, what will he try next? Yikes!!!!

She likes to party party...

Annika went to her first ever 'friend' birthday party today. It was at a gym and there were all kinds of fun things to do: a slide, a foam pit, a rope to swing on, etc. She had a very good time.

Something random: Look how long Annika's torso looks in the first picture. It is just the shirt she is wearing, she doesn't look like that in real life but I think it is funny.

Something else: My camera is really bothering me. All my pictures come out grainy and/or blurry. My dad keeps asking if I have read the manual. Ummm, no. I am unable to read instruction manuals. (It is not my fault, remember my brain cannot process information that is too technical or boring.) I am, however, able to give my instruction manual to other people, have them read it and then give me the Cliff's notes version. So I will see if I can talk Karl into that. Until then, I am afraid you will have to put up with my bad pictures.

Sick day: Take two

Remember Annika's 'sick' day Wednesday? Well this morning she woke up and said she didn't feel well. I thought to myself, 'I am not falling for that again'. So I sent her off to school with instructions to tell her teacher if she started feeling worse. Well guess who called me at noon? The school nurse...Annika had a fever and needed to be picked up right away. Barry ran and fetched her for me. I set her up on the couch with a blanket and pillow. She was sick for approximately 30 minutes. She has been fine ever since. She practiced dribbling with Ian's basketball, once again turned the living room into a skating rink, played computer, colored...she was a busy girl. It was a little funny during that small window of sickness when I asked her if she would like a drink. She told me "No, I tried one of those at school and it didn't work." Huh?????

Annika ruined her perfect attendance for this?

Does this child look sick to you? She claimed she was feeling much too ill for school and I believed her. We have had a little bit of sickness going around so I thought she was catching what everyone else has had. It turns out that although she was feeling too poorly to sit at her desk at school, she was able to muster up the strength to do the following while home 'ill':

Play volleyball
Skate around the house in her Heelys
Play basketball
Play hide and seek.

Alexandria was home sick as well but she had the good sense to at least act puny all day.

The one with the pen pal letters

Alexandria and Annika each have a pen pal. They wrote their first letters tonight. They gave me permission to share. Here is Annika's:

Dear eve,
My name is Annika. I have a Dog. His name is Max. my school is called ****** elementre school. I'm creeativ. Y'll like me.

Sendserle,
Annika

Alexandria's included the following family description:

"I have a brother, Ian aka Dude. Dude gets in troubel!... Oh I forgot 3 people. 1st, Mom -31 years old very intteligent. Dad -31 years old worcks with computers and my dog Max is 8 months old he is a mess!"

Ok, where did she come up with the description of intelligent for me of all people? She asks me approximately 1,423,298 questions in any given week and I can generally answer 2 or 3 correctly. The rest I give a vague 'hmmm, that's a good question' or 'you should ask your dad'. Oh well, I'll enjoy it while it lasts. I've probably got a few years left of her thinking I know anything about anything.

Ready for spring

It is currently 8 degrees outside. I cannot bear it. One thing that cheers me up: it is time for Annika's soccer registration! That means spring is coming right? Right? Okay maybe not, but it makes me feel better.

I am toying with the idea of signing her up for softball too (don't tell Karl.) It starts right after soccer ends so they wouldn't overlap. I noticed she is pretty good at batting when we were playing in the yard one day so I think she would like it.

One problem with softball: I foresee meltdowns if she should happen to get a strike. She may burst into tears right there at the plate. Annika loves sports but gets frustrated pretty easily if she doesn't perform up to her own standards. For example she started crying on the tennis courts because she hit the ball into the net. And this was just the two of us volleying, no pressure or anything. She also got a little angry at soccer last year because the other team had the nerve to score goals. So she is a little competitive. I have no idea where she gets this trait from...