December 11 (2016)-January 29

I used to be so on top of blog updates...  Ah well, life happens.  Sound bite and pictures are the most important things to me right now, so I try to get those up once a month or so.  I would also like to periodically note things the girls are doing, though.

If you didn't get a Christmas letter yet, it's coming.  My blog is not the only place I'm behind.  :)  The letter is written, addressed, and (hopefully, by the time this post goes live) stamped and mailed.

Here are some long overdue updates.

Kaitlyn:
-She talks all the time now.  All of what she says is understood by her.  75% of it is understood by me.  25-50% is understood by others, depending on their toddler-speak skills.
-Words worth noting: bless you, you're welcome, hey! (always in an offended what-do-you-think-you're-doing tone), I want to!, hold you, my turn
-She runs and plays and interacts with the big girls.  She whines and tattles like one twice her age.
-She dislikes being told "no," and will preemptively tell me to "go play!" when she thinks I'm going to stop her from doing something fun.
-If I can catch her in the right mood, she'll make faces with me, one of us mirroring the expressions of the other one.
-She's very interested in the potty.  She sits probably five times a day, but so far hasn't performed.  Any attempts to catch her in the act in order to put her on the potty just result in her freezing up and then filling a diaper past capacity twenty minutes later.  :/

Gretchen:
-She has two pairs of sunglasses that she likes to wear.  One pair is her seeing glasses, the other is her sunglasses.  Often both pairs are worn together.
-She enjoys her alone time.  At least once a day I find her playing happily by herself, despite her sisters' best efforts to draw her into their games.
-She's very interested in knowing the proper names for things.  Olivia will just describe things (the thing that I got for Christmas, that game where our humans run and punch), but Gretchen learns the names (iPad and Raskulls, for the above examples) and uses them.

Olivia:
-She's getting pretty good at games.  She knows several card games and recently learned a real live video game in which she can almost beat her mother.
-She discovered legos.  She got two lego building sets for Christmas and put them together all by herself.  Bryan is very happy/proud and a little bit teary/sentimental.
-I made a number line on the floor out of masking tape and she can add using the line.  We're working on subtracting, but she doesn't quite have the terminology yet.
-She is very frustrated by Gretchen's solo play.  When Sophia is here it doesn't matter as much, because Sophia and Olivia can play together.  At other times, though, if Gretchen isn't willing to play then I have to deal with Olivia whining about how no one will play with her.

What we've been up to:
-The cookie walk happened.  I think I even mentioned it.  We baked a lot of cookies, we sold a lot of cookies, we're done until next year.  :)
-Orchestra took over my life for a little while there.  I had four concerts in December and just finished up a January one.  Now I'm back to the usual one a month.
-Christmas was busy.  The whole family (plus Zach) came for a week and our house was delightfully full.  The normal number of people for dinner was 18, although it fluctuated due to extra visitors that stopped by to visit everyone.  One night mom and I made a quadruple batch of Mexican Chicken to feed 28 mouths.
-Sarah, Elesha, and I got together one Sunday afternoon to prep crockpot freezer meals.  Each of us now has 20 crockpot meals in the freezer waiting to be used.  Well, less than twenty, because we've been using them.  :)  It went really well, and only took us 5 hours from arrival to departure, including clean-up, dinner, and three minutes of a football game.  That comes out to 15 minutes per meal, which isn't bad at all, especially considering that this was our first try.  We already have ideas for improving our efficiency.  We're hoping to find some lent-friendly recipes for next time.

Miscellaneous other stuff:
-We borrowed a scale to weigh boxes of books for dad, and the girls love it.  Olivia is 44 pounds, and she's very disappointed that it's always the same.  Gretchen weighs 35 pounds, but the scale almost always registers 33 and then 35, so she proudly proclaims that she's 3-3-5!  Kaitlyn weighs 27 pounds.

Pictures:

Bonus Post: Sound Bites 16

Olivia: Last night I had a dream that I picked Kaitlyn up by her feet and dropped her and then her face turned into paper.  Sometimes I dream when I am awake.  When I am awake and I dream that there is a spider then it goes into my heart, but when I am asleep it is just a dream.

Kaitlyn: I want Let It Go!
Me: I'm coming.
Kaitlyn: I need Let It Go!
Me: This IS Let It Go.  Be quiet and don't mess up your jam!
Gretchen: Jam?!
Olivia: What is jam?
Me: In this case it's music, but normally it's jelly.
Bryan: English is stupid.
Me: It could also be a traffic blockage!

Olivia: The snow got tired of standing, so it decided to lay down and fell on the ground.

Toddler/Preschool Questions that I stole from Justine:
~What is your name?
O: Olivia
G: Gretchen
~How old are you?
O: 5
G: 3 (free)
~When is your birthday?
O: Um, I don't remember, mommy.  I keep forgetting my birthday.
Me: Do you know what month?
O: August?
Me: It is August.  Do you know what number?
O: 12?
Me: 3.
G: Three.
~How old is Mommy?
G: 5? 9?  I don't know.
O: 9.
Me: 9?!
G: 28.
O: 30.
G: Twentythirty.
O: No, 30!
G: Mommy, you are twentythirty, right?
Me: No, I'm just 30.
O: I was right!
G: Oh, yeah.
~How old is Daddy?
O: 30!
G: 30!
~How old is Kaitlyn?
G: 1
O: 1
~What is your favorite color?
G: Blue
O: Pink
G: All the colors!  My favorite color is blue, pink, red...
O: Wait, *singing* Red, pink, yellow, orange, blue...  *speaking* That's a good song.
~What is your favorite food?
O: Macaroni and cheese.
G: Macaroni and cheese.
~Who is your best friend?
O: Eva and Sophia
G: Sophia
~What is your favorite movie?
O: I do not know what my favorite movie is yet.  I will tell you when I know.
G: My favorite movie is Cinderella.
O: My favorite movie is Sleeping Beauty.
G: Mine, too!
O: You said Cinderella.
G: No, I have a favorite movie that is Cinderella AND Sleeping Beauty.
~What is your favorite song?
O: *sings the Ariel song* Ah ah aah, ah ah aah...  Ariel's!
G: *imitates Olivia*
~What is your favorite animal?
O: I don't know.
G: Giraffe.  And my favorite animal is camel!
O: Bird.
Me: A particular kind of bird, or just any bird?
O: Just any bird.
~What makes you happy?
O: Don't know.
G: A camel would make me happy and excited.
Me: Anything else?
G: ...And a giraffe would make me happy and excited.
O: Going to grandma and grandpa's house.
G: What else would make you happy.
O: Only one thing makes me happy.
G: Everything makes me happy.
~Where is your favorite place to go?
O: Don't know.
G: Grandma and Grandpa's!
O: Going to the zoo.
G: Olivia likes grandma and grandpa's.
O: I like both.
~What do you want to be when you grow up?
O: For Halloween?
Me: No, when you are a big person like mommy and daddy.
G: Um, I want to be a giraffe for Halloween.
O: I want to be a ballet teacher.  Gretchen, you actually have to pick what you're going to be when you grow up, not for Halloween.
G: A giraffe for Halloween!
O: That wasn't what she was talking about!
Me: Gretchen, what do you want to be when you're big like mommy and daddy?
G: A lion.
O: Ugh!  You could be a doctor.
G: No, a lion.
O: It's not supposed to be an animal.  You're supposed to be something like a teacher, or a ballet teacher, or a doctor, or a store guy.
G: Don't tell me what I can be!
O: I'm just trying to give you ideas.
G: *covers her ears*
O: Actually, I'm not going to be that.  Uh, I'm going to be a store guy instead.
~What is the meaning of love?
G: *laughing* I don't know.
O: I don't know what that means.
Me: What do you think love means?
O: I don't know!  You have to find a prince you love.  Is that what it means?
Me: Hmm, what does it mean that mommy loves you?
O: I don't know.  That you would keep me?
Me: I would keep you.  That's not really what it means, though.
O: This is a hard question.
Me: How do you know that mommy and daddy love you?
O: I don't know.
G: Because... I know!  Daddy told me that he loves me and that you love me.
Me: Do you love mommy and daddy and your sisters?
O: Yes.
G: Yup.
Me: How do you know?
O: 'Cause I just do!
Me: How do you show it?
O: 'Cause I just do!