We spent a few days in Michigan visiting my parents. Dad left for the airport on Tuesday. After he left, Justine and I put the backseat of my van into her van, packed up the six kids, and headed to Lima a bit ahead of the rush. Bryan finished working in Jacob's computer room and then came down with James. Mom and Joseph followed the next morning.
We bought Olivia and Gretchen bikes on Tuesday night and promptly removed the training wheels and pedals so that they wouldn't know that their bikes were supposed to have training wheels and pedals. They picked out helmets on Wednesday but since then haven't been much interested in riding their new bikes. All the little boys we've had visiting lately have enjoyed them, though, so at least they're getting used.
The cousins stayed to visit for a day and a half before leaving after lunch on Thursday. We'll see them again at Aufdy camp in a few months.
Mom and James stayed until Saturday morning and plan to be back next week. Before leaving, Mom made new construction paper crowns for Olivia and Gretchen. The crowns were laminated in an attempt to give them a longer life than is typical for crowns in our house. Olivia wears her crown constantly (including to bed). Gretchen is less attached during the day, but has come out of her room two nights in a row looking for her Oma crown to take to bed with her.
Pictures (not in chronological order) and a video:
29 May 2016
22 May 2016
May 8-22
It seems I have a lot of Gretchen updates this week. They will make up for the fact that I generally have little to report about our poor, neglected middle child. To begin, she had a checkup recently so I know that she weighs 34 pounds and is 38 inches tall. She was willing to follow all the doctor's directions and was relieved to learn that she would not be receiving a shot.
You know the part in The Little Mermaid where Ariel has to sing for Ursula as she trades her voice for legs? Somehow that scene made such a big impression that the "wah wah wah" song is now background music for every change that Gretchen's dolls make. Anna turns into Elsa, Sofia becomes a mermaid, Rapunzel changes her clothes... Gretchen holds the character up in the air and sings "wah wah wah, wah wah wah, wah wah wah, wah wah wah..." Judging from the amount of time she spends singing, we've decided that some changes are more difficult than others. Gretchen's sense of pitch isn't particularly well developed yet, so the resulting incantation is quite exciting. She does let her pitch rise somewhat incrementally, but when she hits the top of her range she just continuessinging yelling a monotone "wah wah wah."
Gretchen cannot stand still. She is constantly fidgeting, even walking in large circles around the living room while she and Olivia discuss who is going to play which part in their games. She does moderately better at sitting still, but even then is prone to constant readjustments.
Gretchen has a method for choosing things: When asked to make a choice, she says, "um, whichever one I touch." Then she wobbles back and forth between her decisions saying, "I touch... I touch..." before finally picking something.
"Powers" are a physically visible thing in our house. This is a result of two barbies that we have who came with accessories meant to represent their superpowers. Elsa has an ice clump that shoots from her hand and a superhero has a splash of purple magic. Now when Olivia and Gretchen play, they say things like "I take my powers off. I give my powers to you."
Kaitlyn has a few things she says, but the most common ones recently are "no", "stop it", and "don't do that". The last one is admittedly a stretch, but that's what her babbling sounds like and the meaning is clear. This must be what it's like to grow up with two older sisters. Sorry, Jacque. :)
The biggest house news this week is our new driveway. We had a company come out and cover our loose stones with asphalt. Our driveway is now wonderfully paved and smooth so that the girls can ride bikes and cars won't get stuck in the winter.
My snapkins got mentioned in an online article recently, which was pretty exciting.
This weekend we are in Michigan to attend Jillian's graduation and visit with family.
Pictures and Videos
You know the part in The Little Mermaid where Ariel has to sing for Ursula as she trades her voice for legs? Somehow that scene made such a big impression that the "wah wah wah" song is now background music for every change that Gretchen's dolls make. Anna turns into Elsa, Sofia becomes a mermaid, Rapunzel changes her clothes... Gretchen holds the character up in the air and sings "wah wah wah, wah wah wah, wah wah wah, wah wah wah..." Judging from the amount of time she spends singing, we've decided that some changes are more difficult than others. Gretchen's sense of pitch isn't particularly well developed yet, so the resulting incantation is quite exciting. She does let her pitch rise somewhat incrementally, but when she hits the top of her range she just continues
Gretchen cannot stand still. She is constantly fidgeting, even walking in large circles around the living room while she and Olivia discuss who is going to play which part in their games. She does moderately better at sitting still, but even then is prone to constant readjustments.
Gretchen has a method for choosing things: When asked to make a choice, she says, "um, whichever one I touch." Then she wobbles back and forth between her decisions saying, "I touch... I touch..." before finally picking something.
"Powers" are a physically visible thing in our house. This is a result of two barbies that we have who came with accessories meant to represent their superpowers. Elsa has an ice clump that shoots from her hand and a superhero has a splash of purple magic. Now when Olivia and Gretchen play, they say things like "I take my powers off. I give my powers to you."
Kaitlyn has a few things she says, but the most common ones recently are "no", "stop it", and "don't do that". The last one is admittedly a stretch, but that's what her babbling sounds like and the meaning is clear. This must be what it's like to grow up with two older sisters. Sorry, Jacque. :)
The biggest house news this week is our new driveway. We had a company come out and cover our loose stones with asphalt. Our driveway is now wonderfully paved and smooth so that the girls can ride bikes and cars won't get stuck in the winter.
My snapkins got mentioned in an online article recently, which was pretty exciting.
This weekend we are in Michigan to attend Jillian's graduation and visit with family.
Pictures and Videos
08 May 2016
April 17-May 8
Greetings, strangers. Christ is Risen!
Things that happened:
Gretchen's birthday - Little Miss Gretchen turned 3 on April 24th. We didn't have a big party, instead choosing to celebrate alone and then have some friends over for her baptism birthday. She got a Doc McStuffins doctor kit and a box of REAL bandaids to use whenever she wished. The bandaids (all 60 of them) were gone in less than 24 hours.
Holy Week - April 24th was also Palm Sunday in the Orthodox Church, which meant that the days following it were filled with church, church, and more church. We actually had less than some (I know Justine's parish had services twice a day, but we only had evening services), but it was still a lot. We tried to keep activities to a minimum during this week so that we (read: I) would not become overwhelmed.
Pascha! - May 1 was Pascha, which meant we all got dressed up for a vigil service at 11 the night before. Olivia was too excited to sleep, so she stayed awake long enough to get dressed and dance around in her finery before falling asleep in the car on the way to church. She slept on a pew through the whole service (and the party afterwards) and then complained in the morning about how we forgot to walk around the church (we didn't). Gretchen refused to wake up, even through the transfer to and from the car, and slept on a pew in her pajamas until just before communion, when she suddenly realized that she was missing things, rubbed her eyes, and stumbled into line, bedhead and all. Kaitlyn woke up as we were getting ready to leave the house, wore her dress, and stubbornly stayed awake for the entire service and half the party. She was not cranky, just awake (and rather proud of the bell that she got to hold).
Bright week activities - The week after Pascha is called Bright Week and the people at St. Stephen's try to make it an especially festive and social week. We all went bowling one day and spent another day at a park. While bowling, we learned that our bowling alley has a program where registered kids get two free games every day during the summer, so we now have two registered kids and an accompanying family pass so that we can go bowling whenever we want. (Your local bowling alley may do it too: KidsBowlFree.com) Women's group did a paint and sip, which is an event where everyone drinks wine and paints a picture based on the a masterpiece. Carrie, one of the mothers here, was an art major in college, so she led the painting for us.
Gretchen's baptism birthday - Since Gretchen's birthday was on Palm Sunday, we moved her party to her baptism birthday on May 5. This will probably be a common occurrence. It was a kids only event featuring ice cream cake. I had a couple of games planned, but no one cared because it was a nice day and our back yard has a rockbox AND a trampoline. This was the easiest party ever.
Other items of note:
The girls helped me fill alms bags with non-perishable items and toiletries so that we can hand them out to homeless people. We keep a few in the car and restock as needed.
The bandaids were such a big hit that we put two more boxes in the Pascha basket for Olivia and Gretchen to have.
Bryan dug out the grass and added to our patio walkway so that it's the same width as the fence instead of being one off-centered line of tiles.
The Pascha dresses were done a full two hours before the service began. They would have been done sooner (Olivia's and Gretchen's were both done a few days before), but I took a break to make and eat dinner after putting Kaitlyn's zipper in. The were all wearable by 3 in the afternoon.
Kaitlyn walks all the time now. She also says "no" and means it.
Gretchen's bathroom skills have improved. Or perhaps it's her listening skills that have improved. Either way, she's not currently in a "run around in crazy circles" phase.
Olivia's screening results came back. One school suggests preschool, the other says they'd take her for kindergarten but they want her to work on 9 of the 13 core things that they look for. We have decided that she will be doing preschool at home next year. I have a curriculum and everything. It's super exciting.
The girls' calendar is a big hit. Such a big hit, in fact, that I bought them a large desk calendar and some stickers to decorate it. I also found a place where you can make custom stickers, which I will be doing shortly so that I don't have to draw the same pictures (mostly of visiting friends) over and over.
Tomatoes and banana peppers are started in my laundry room. The cloche that was over the broccoli bed has been moved to begin warming up soil in another bed. The broccoli (and accompanying weeds) looks great, and my second planting of peas (after the first batch perished during the transplant) is growing nicely.
I am hoping that it won't be another three weeks before I post again. Good thing Jacque has been stepping up her blogging game (8 posts since my last one!) to mask my failures. :)
Pictures:
Things that happened:
Gretchen's birthday - Little Miss Gretchen turned 3 on April 24th. We didn't have a big party, instead choosing to celebrate alone and then have some friends over for her baptism birthday. She got a Doc McStuffins doctor kit and a box of REAL bandaids to use whenever she wished. The bandaids (all 60 of them) were gone in less than 24 hours.
Holy Week - April 24th was also Palm Sunday in the Orthodox Church, which meant that the days following it were filled with church, church, and more church. We actually had less than some (I know Justine's parish had services twice a day, but we only had evening services), but it was still a lot. We tried to keep activities to a minimum during this week so that we (read: I) would not become overwhelmed.
Pascha! - May 1 was Pascha, which meant we all got dressed up for a vigil service at 11 the night before. Olivia was too excited to sleep, so she stayed awake long enough to get dressed and dance around in her finery before falling asleep in the car on the way to church. She slept on a pew through the whole service (and the party afterwards) and then complained in the morning about how we forgot to walk around the church (we didn't). Gretchen refused to wake up, even through the transfer to and from the car, and slept on a pew in her pajamas until just before communion, when she suddenly realized that she was missing things, rubbed her eyes, and stumbled into line, bedhead and all. Kaitlyn woke up as we were getting ready to leave the house, wore her dress, and stubbornly stayed awake for the entire service and half the party. She was not cranky, just awake (and rather proud of the bell that she got to hold).
Bright week activities - The week after Pascha is called Bright Week and the people at St. Stephen's try to make it an especially festive and social week. We all went bowling one day and spent another day at a park. While bowling, we learned that our bowling alley has a program where registered kids get two free games every day during the summer, so we now have two registered kids and an accompanying family pass so that we can go bowling whenever we want. (Your local bowling alley may do it too: KidsBowlFree.com) Women's group did a paint and sip, which is an event where everyone drinks wine and paints a picture based on the a masterpiece. Carrie, one of the mothers here, was an art major in college, so she led the painting for us.
Gretchen's baptism birthday - Since Gretchen's birthday was on Palm Sunday, we moved her party to her baptism birthday on May 5. This will probably be a common occurrence. It was a kids only event featuring ice cream cake. I had a couple of games planned, but no one cared because it was a nice day and our back yard has a rockbox AND a trampoline. This was the easiest party ever.
Other items of note:
The girls helped me fill alms bags with non-perishable items and toiletries so that we can hand them out to homeless people. We keep a few in the car and restock as needed.
The bandaids were such a big hit that we put two more boxes in the Pascha basket for Olivia and Gretchen to have.
Bryan dug out the grass and added to our patio walkway so that it's the same width as the fence instead of being one off-centered line of tiles.
The Pascha dresses were done a full two hours before the service began. They would have been done sooner (Olivia's and Gretchen's were both done a few days before), but I took a break to make and eat dinner after putting Kaitlyn's zipper in. The were all wearable by 3 in the afternoon.
Kaitlyn walks all the time now. She also says "no" and means it.
Gretchen's bathroom skills have improved. Or perhaps it's her listening skills that have improved. Either way, she's not currently in a "run around in crazy circles" phase.
Olivia's screening results came back. One school suggests preschool, the other says they'd take her for kindergarten but they want her to work on 9 of the 13 core things that they look for. We have decided that she will be doing preschool at home next year. I have a curriculum and everything. It's super exciting.
The girls' calendar is a big hit. Such a big hit, in fact, that I bought them a large desk calendar and some stickers to decorate it. I also found a place where you can make custom stickers, which I will be doing shortly so that I don't have to draw the same pictures (mostly of visiting friends) over and over.
Tomatoes and banana peppers are started in my laundry room. The cloche that was over the broccoli bed has been moved to begin warming up soil in another bed. The broccoli (and accompanying weeds) looks great, and my second planting of peas (after the first batch perished during the transplant) is growing nicely.
I am hoping that it won't be another three weeks before I post again. Good thing Jacque has been stepping up her blogging game (8 posts since my last one!) to mask my failures. :)
Pictures:
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