October 4-11

Olivia and Gretchen have a barbie named "Bad Girl" (as in evil, not disobedient).  She's actually a beautiful collector's barbie dressed as a bride.  She does, however, have a pretty heavy layer of makeup on her face.  When I asked Olivia why she was called Bad Girl, she responded, "Look at her eyes!"

A remembered story that illustrates the difference between girls and boys: When we visited Boston, all of the children were playing happily in the living room.  Olivia and Gretchen began playing together while their cousins ignored them.  I believe Edward was playing with trucks and William was reading a book.  Olivia convinced Gretchen to play Cinderella with her, and they danced around for a little while before Olivia ran away saying, "I'm running away!  Chase me, prince!"  Gretchen complied, and they ran a lap around the room before starting over.  They repeated this a few more times before William noticed what was happening.  As soon as he did notice, however, he immediately dropped his book and jumped up.  With a gleeful "Chase Olivia!", he took off running around the corner and tackled her onto a chair.

Gretchen is officially diaper free.  She spent the whole week in Boston wearing a diaper only at bedtime.  While there, she noticed that potty-training William got to wear underwear to bed and asked if she could, too, but we didn't want to deal with the hassle.  Once we got home, though, she woke up dry several mornings and got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night once, so we gave her the option one night and she chose to do without the diaper.  So far, so good.

Kaitlyn has started sitting up.  She doesn't get a lot of practice because of things like hardwood floors and overly enthusiastic sisters, but she does a pretty good job when given the chance.  She's also been rocking on hands and knees with increasing regularity, which is tremendously exciting to Olivia especially.  I am curious to see how wonderful Olivia and Gretchen think Kaitlyn's crawling is once she starts going for their toys...

Kaitlyn has also started solid foods.  At lunch on Saturday, she sat on my lap (as she often does) and tried to grab my Chipotle burrito out of my hand.  She was quite irate when I wouldn't share, so I pacified her with grains of rice until Bryan could take her and I could finish my meal without losing it all over the table.  On Sunday I mentioned to a friend at church that I was going to have to make baby food and she gave me some leftover rice cereal and a few cubes of vegetable puree the her recently-graduated-to-table-food one-year-old wasn't going to eat.  We started with that and I picked up some vegetables on Monday night and spent a few days steaming and pureeing.  So far Kaitlyn has had squash, spinach, and applesauce and seems quite content.

Yesterday was the first orchestra concert of the season, which means that this last week I had rehearsals every night.  Bryan and Jacque put the girls to bed all week and Kaitlyn's new puree obsession meant that they didn't even have to worry about her too much.  What good timing.  :)  Orchestra was great, and I once again appreciated the fact that once a month I have a commitment that requires me to pick up and play my viola.

Jacque is living with us!  She came with us from Boston and is staying here until she moves to Chicago sometime in the nearish future.  We set up her queen bed (box spring and mattress only) in the middle of my workroom and squeezed her things in around the edges.  She was exceedingly helpful in the babysitting department last week when Bryan had to be in Springfield several days and I had orchestra.  Although I suspect she's still getting her fill of small children, the girls appear to have accepted her as one of the family and thus tend to ignore her rather than resorting to constant performance mode.

Did you know that you can check artwork out of libraries?  Our old library had this option and I always wondered what the point was.  While we were driving to and from Boston, however, I was listening to various podcasts and one talked about having artwork around for your kids to look at.  I had the brilliant idea of letting the girls check out masterpieces from the library and on Monday morning we all marched over to the little visited section of framed art.  Olivia and Gretchen happily picked out pictures (shown below; Olivia liked the princesses and Gretchen likes that there are three) and we hung them up in the playroom where they can admire them.  In two months, we'll take them back and get new ones.  :)  While we were picking out paintings, Jacque found a Renoir that she liked, so I went back on Friday and got that for her to hang in her bedroom.

Tuesday was a trip to the Fort Wayne zoo (because we have a membership!).  We conquered Australia and the Indiana farm before heading home.  The most exciting part was probably the peacock that joined us for lunch before we even got through the front gates, although we also enjoyed the sea lions, the stingrays, and the goats.  We were allowed to pet the goats and help brush them, and Olivia made sure to touch each one exactly once.  Aunt Jacque bought some stuffed animals at the zoo store on the way out, and the girls played happily with their new lion and tiger all the way home.

I've been reading chapter books out loud before quiet time, and we just finished another one.  We've now done Charlotte's Web, Winnie the Pooh, and Beezus and Ramona.  After we read Ramona the Pest, I think we're going to move on to a couple of the Little House books and then maybe Heidi. Secret Garden, or A Little Princess.  Any suggestions would be gladly accepted.  I'm looking at you, reader that is getting a master's in library science and has a job in the children's department of the library.  :)

Pictures and Videos:
Video password: BarhorstBrewed
Let It Go
Kaitlyn Eats

We went to a pirate themed birthday party on Sunday:

And a Go, Dog, Go! themed party on Saturday (wear a silly party hat):

Josef's picture of Dad's screenshot of a Skype call with all the grandchildren.  William was there, too, but kept slipping off camera:

Pictures from the zoo:

Letting toenail paint dry:

Someone's been trying to crawl:

...And steal real food and drinks:

Olivia and Gretchen with their chosen works of art: