Gretchen and Elmo at the library:
Aunt Jacque helps William, Olivia, and Gretchen play basketball:
27 September 2017
Bonus Post: Boston (2015) Pictures
Pictures from our trip to Boston in September/October 2015.
Gretchen and Elmo at the library:
Aunt Jacque helps William, Olivia, and Gretchen play basketball:
Gretchen and Elmo at the library:
Aunt Jacque helps William, Olivia, and Gretchen play basketball:
24 September 2017
September 17-24
...And the words from my last post.
Some updates:
Matthias went through a phase where he wore socks on his hands when I put him to bed. Bryan would always cover Matthias's hands with a blanket, having noticed that Matthias seemed happier when his hands were covered. Unfortunately, baby flailing led to the blanket often ending up over Matthias's face. The solution? Bedtime socks.
And speaking of Matthias sleeping, he did the 11 hour nights thing for just under two weeks before slipping in a once a night nursing session. Just about the time that I finally resigned myself to being up at 4 am each day, he phased it back out. He's now sleeping all the way through the night again.
I love Halo sleep sack swaddles. I don't know how we got all the way to our fourth baby before I realized they existed. The hospital had one that they gave us (apparently this is normal; they must have been out when Kaitlyn was born), and I decided to give it a try one night when all my swaddle blankets were dirty. I have since purchased another one in a bigger size.
Matthias is well on his way to 6-9 month clothes. I moved him up to 3-6 months just before Jacque's wedding (more on that later), but most of them are too short in the torso, especially with his giant cloth diapered bum. The long skinny onesies fit, but the rest don't snap very well. This past week I began looking through the next box for clothes that might fit more comfortably.
Although not as prolific a smiler as his similarly aged cousins (one on each side), Matthias does have quite a happy smile when he's in the right mood. I had a post a couple of weeks ago when I managed to catch some of the early smiles on camera. His favorite person to smile at is that cute baby in the mirror that is attached to the seat in the car. :)
Kaitlyn woke up at the beginning of this month, took her nighttime disposable diaper off, threw it in the trash, and put on underwear. Despite the fact that she had never successfully used the toilet, I decided to keep her in undies and see what happened. I did not remember to inform Bryan of this fact, so he was quite surprised when she made a mess while I was out shopping over his lunch break. :/ She wore underwear for two days, not really making any noticeable progress, before we put her back in diapers for our trip to Cleveland. Earlier this week, she put herself in underwear again, so I guess we're in full potty-training mode. I am pleased to report that on Thursday she went potty in the potty THREE TIMES. She did not inform me that she had to go for any of them, and the diaper that she had on under her underwear (because we were at the zoo and she is not, in fact, potty trained) was slightly wet. However. This is a vast improvement over the puddles that graced the beginning of the month.
Kaitlyn generally answers the question "How are you?" with "My four!" The other girls used to answer similarly when asked the same question, but at least they gave their actual ages!
Gretchen is learning that she has to knock on closed doors before entering. Instead of waiting patiently for the occupant to emerge, however, she puts her face as close to the edge of the door as possible (usually the edge opposite the doorknob) and yells her question or request as loud as she can. Well, maybe not quite as loud as she can... Gretchen has a healthy set of vocal cords and may not have reached her full volume yet.
Gretchen has been pioneering a new hairstyle lately. It started as a small side ponytail (I think), but has now evolved into one pigtail. The rest of her hair is down. She is a lopsided vision.
We had a bit of an exciting almost breakthrough a few weeks ago. Jacob was visiting, and as a result was sleeping in our guest room. Bryan had already left for work, but the girls (and Jacob) were still sleeping and we needed milk for breakfast. I decided to leave a note for Olivia. My biggest problem (I thought) would be getting her to notice the note and decide to read it. As I located a bright orange piece of paper and a pen, Kaitlyn came out of her room. My note read as follows:
I got Matthias out of his bed and changed his diaper. Gretchen wandered in, so I gave her the same message verbally, but decided to still leave the note for Olivia, as well as for any adults who might be wondering what happened. When I went to get Kaitlyn's shoes, Olivia was awake, so she also got a verbal message. Kaitlyn decided she was going to play nicely with the morning stations I had set out the night before. Determined to still leave a note (and also not trusting Kaitlyn to be completely well behaved while I was gone), I turned the paper over and started again:
Limited reading skills are a delightful challenge. Now, where to put my note so she would see it? On the television, with a movie already set up in case they got bored! I triumphantly taped my note to the tv and went to put Matthias in his seat. Olivia came in, wondering about the list on the tv. And also, can we watch a movie? *sigh* I told her the list was a note for her. She went to get it, and, as I feared, I had to prompt her to read it. She sounded out all the words.
Olivia: So can we watch a movie?
Me: What does your note say?
Olivia: I don't know.
Me: Read it!
Olivia: I did.
Me: What did it say?
Olivia: That mommy loves us very much.
Me: ... Read it again.
Olivia: I did read it! It says that... mommy loves everyone in the world?
Me: ... Remind me what the first line says.
I took her through the note line by line, making her tell me what each part meant. At the end, she gave a synopsis: Mommy is at the store. Matthias is going, too, to get milk. We can watch a movie. Uncle Jacob is here in case something bad happens. Mommy loves us. Forty minutes after my first brilliant idea, I finally made it out the door to the store. But! Now she knows that notes are a real thing and she might be more inclined to read them. I did have to tell her to read them out loud to Gretchen so that someone is listening to the sentences.
Recent happenings:
We've been to the zoo twice since I last wrote. This is my favorite time of year to go to the zoo because school has started. We have the whole place pretty much to ourselves, and we can meander along at whatever pace we want without me having to worry about losing anyone in the crowds. The cooler weather as summer wanes is just an added bonus. We went with the Creightons at the end of August, and Elias introduced Olivia to the wonder of maps. She loves the idea of having a map that can tell us where things are, even if she is pretty bad at knowing where WE are on the map. Because of the excitement of the maps (and the allure of certain things on the map), we ended up visiting parts of all three sections of the zoo, rather than our usual one and done. Sarah and I decided that rather than walking through Australia we would take the log boat ride around it, and the girls were beside themselves. Gretchen could say nothing for five minutes except, "This is the best day EVER!", and Olivia punctuated every sentence with, "This is so awesome." On our next trip to the zoo, we had to have a talk about how sometimes we do special things and we shouldn't expect to do something special every time we go. That lesson was immediately forgotten due to the fact that the zoo had mailed me coupons, so we were able to redeem a free carousel ride. Oh well. Next week we're using another coupon to ride the train. :)
We went to Cleveland over labor day weekend. August was getting baptized on Sunday, so we drove up Saturday morning. As an added bonus, Bryan got to attend his fantasy football draft in person (inasmuch as three members of the twelve person league gathered in one space to conference call together constitutes "in person"), and we got to see Phil (Bryan's best man) who we haven't seen for quite some time due to his relocation to Mississippi. Bryan's parents took the girls back to the hotel around dinner time, leaving us free to go out to dinner and stay up too late playing board games. We left shortly after the baptism the next afternoon, in order to be home before guests arrived.
Our annual Fun Run (five years running, no pun intended!) was bright and early on Monday morning. Every year we think about moving back the 9:00 start time, and every year we reject that idea due to anticipated high temperatures. This year followed suit, and sticking to our original time remained a good decision. I was more organized with my signs: two different colors of cardstock for the two races, nice full arrows (rather than last year's stick drawings), and little printed maps of the route with you-are-here stars. They were even laminated. One sign did get removed from the 5k, presumably by a group of teenagers playing football near that corner. It was retrieved much later in the day, after at least two extensive searches. We added a somewhat impromptu kids' race for the ten and under crowd. Eva Klein was the star runner, besting all challengers until she finally reached her limit about three quarters of the way through her thirteenth race. Our group is getting more diverse as well, with two new families joining us for the race and subsequent party. Jacque and I also ran into Olivia and Gretchen's dance teacher, Miss Lyn, while setting up signs and would have had three more runners if they hadn't needed to finish their workout in time to be somewhere by 10.
The days following the fun run were spent preparing for Jacque and Will's wedding. Jacque and I made cakes and pasta salads, cleaned labels off of wine bottles, and composed rhymes for the reception signs. Matthias's tiny charcoal suit was completed with almost 23 hours to spare. Family (other than Jacque) began arriving on Thursday, and on Friday Matthias and I and some others went to Fort Wayne to help set up the hall. Bryan and the girls were left with Joseph and the boys to fend for themselves. I did leave them pizza for dinner and muffins for breakfast, and they were all at church in nice clothes before the ceremony began. The wedding itself was lovely, and I did not catch Jacque's veil on fire during Isaiah's Dance, although apparently that was a slight concern. Neither Jacque nor I noticed how close a call it allegedly was. Matthias slept happily through the whole thing in Katya's arms, so at least I did not have to juggle a baby as well as a candle, a dress train, and a slippery shawl. Pictures were quick and painless, and the one of the whole Fenton family turned out wonderfully. The reception was pleasant (early weddings for the win!). My half composed speech came together well enough to make Justine cry, so I guess that's good. Jacque and Dad danced like they used to as Mr. Blue Sky played, and Mom, Justine, and I passed around a box of kleenex while Jillian watched our streaming tears with confusion. I guess the Mr. Blue Sky memories are before her time. Even with hall clean-up, Justine and I (and the babies) were back home by seven, just in time to help put all the other kids to bed. People didn't stick around long, and we had our house back to just us by Monday afternoon.
I took the week to regroup (and start cleaning the house, which I have decided I'm letting go to seed this year), and school started in earnest this past Monday. We've been doing things on and off all summer, so there wasn't a lot of adjusting to do, but I tried to make an obvious start of it anyway. Olivia remembers everything as far as I can tell, which means we're not reviewing before moving forward. She did mixed addition and subtraction this week, and we've finished long vowels in reading. In the past two weeks she's gotten increasingly confident in her reading abilities, and is eager to sound out new words. She happily reads books to anyone who will listen. I've been sneaking her reading in during car rides and bath time and dinner prep, leaving the less busy hours open for phonics work. We've added Rainbow Reading to our days, which refers to the colored bins that I have holding our five day loop of religion, science, social studies, and literature books. We also have a fun book that we're reading during that time -- currently B is for Betsy.
I'm trying to still put out morning stations as well as incorporating preschool activities for Gretchen. The idea behind the preschool curriculum I have is "invitations to play." Unfortunately for me, I'm not very good at putting something out and waiting three days for them to discover it. I try not to direct the girls' attention to the new activities, and I try harder not to say, "Do you want me to show you how to do it?" The goal is for them to discover things on their own, even if it does mean they end up building with the Jenga blocks. If they ask, I'll provide guidance, but I'm working on not interrupting the process otherwise.
Dance has started for both Olivia and Gretchen (despite Gretchen's insistence that she was done dancing after the last recital). They're in different classes this year, but I kept them on the same day. I'd rather sacrifice most of Friday to dance than lose half of both Tuesday and Friday. Enrichment programs have started back up at the parks department, so we went to Nature Pals and learned about bees. Nature pals is a once a month event for all the kids. Olivia is also in a homeschool enrichment program, so once a month she goes to a class by herself and learns sciencey nature things. Her first class was the day I was in Fort Wayne, so Elesha took her. She seemed to enjoy it.
That's all I can think of for now. No doubt I'll remember more after posting this, but then forget it before I write my next post. Pictures below!
Pictures:
Some updates:
Matthias went through a phase where he wore socks on his hands when I put him to bed. Bryan would always cover Matthias's hands with a blanket, having noticed that Matthias seemed happier when his hands were covered. Unfortunately, baby flailing led to the blanket often ending up over Matthias's face. The solution? Bedtime socks.
And speaking of Matthias sleeping, he did the 11 hour nights thing for just under two weeks before slipping in a once a night nursing session. Just about the time that I finally resigned myself to being up at 4 am each day, he phased it back out. He's now sleeping all the way through the night again.
I love Halo sleep sack swaddles. I don't know how we got all the way to our fourth baby before I realized they existed. The hospital had one that they gave us (apparently this is normal; they must have been out when Kaitlyn was born), and I decided to give it a try one night when all my swaddle blankets were dirty. I have since purchased another one in a bigger size.
Matthias is well on his way to 6-9 month clothes. I moved him up to 3-6 months just before Jacque's wedding (more on that later), but most of them are too short in the torso, especially with his giant cloth diapered bum. The long skinny onesies fit, but the rest don't snap very well. This past week I began looking through the next box for clothes that might fit more comfortably.
Although not as prolific a smiler as his similarly aged cousins (one on each side), Matthias does have quite a happy smile when he's in the right mood. I had a post a couple of weeks ago when I managed to catch some of the early smiles on camera. His favorite person to smile at is that cute baby in the mirror that is attached to the seat in the car. :)
Kaitlyn woke up at the beginning of this month, took her nighttime disposable diaper off, threw it in the trash, and put on underwear. Despite the fact that she had never successfully used the toilet, I decided to keep her in undies and see what happened. I did not remember to inform Bryan of this fact, so he was quite surprised when she made a mess while I was out shopping over his lunch break. :/ She wore underwear for two days, not really making any noticeable progress, before we put her back in diapers for our trip to Cleveland. Earlier this week, she put herself in underwear again, so I guess we're in full potty-training mode. I am pleased to report that on Thursday she went potty in the potty THREE TIMES. She did not inform me that she had to go for any of them, and the diaper that she had on under her underwear (because we were at the zoo and she is not, in fact, potty trained) was slightly wet. However. This is a vast improvement over the puddles that graced the beginning of the month.
Kaitlyn generally answers the question "How are you?" with "My four!" The other girls used to answer similarly when asked the same question, but at least they gave their actual ages!
Gretchen is learning that she has to knock on closed doors before entering. Instead of waiting patiently for the occupant to emerge, however, she puts her face as close to the edge of the door as possible (usually the edge opposite the doorknob) and yells her question or request as loud as she can. Well, maybe not quite as loud as she can... Gretchen has a healthy set of vocal cords and may not have reached her full volume yet.
Gretchen has been pioneering a new hairstyle lately. It started as a small side ponytail (I think), but has now evolved into one pigtail. The rest of her hair is down. She is a lopsided vision.
We had a bit of an exciting almost breakthrough a few weeks ago. Jacob was visiting, and as a result was sleeping in our guest room. Bryan had already left for work, but the girls (and Jacob) were still sleeping and we needed milk for breakfast. I decided to leave a note for Olivia. My biggest problem (I thought) would be getting her to notice the note and decide to read it. As I located a bright orange piece of paper and a pen, Kaitlyn came out of her room. My note read as follows:
Dear Olivia, I am at the store to get milk. Kaitlyn is with me. Matthias is with me. Uncle Jacob is here. Love, Mom.
I got Matthias out of his bed and changed his diaper. Gretchen wandered in, so I gave her the same message verbally, but decided to still leave the note for Olivia, as well as for any adults who might be wondering what happened. When I went to get Kaitlyn's shoes, Olivia was awake, so she also got a verbal message. Kaitlyn decided she was going to play nicely with the morning stations I had set out the night before. Determined to still leave a note (and also not trusting Kaitlyn to be completely well behaved while I was gone), I turned the paper over and started again:
Dear Olivia, I am at the store to get milk. Matthias is with me. Olivia and Gretchen and Kaitlyn can see a show. Uncle Jacob is here. Love, Mom.
Limited reading skills are a delightful challenge. Now, where to put my note so she would see it? On the television, with a movie already set up in case they got bored! I triumphantly taped my note to the tv and went to put Matthias in his seat. Olivia came in, wondering about the list on the tv. And also, can we watch a movie? *sigh* I told her the list was a note for her. She went to get it, and, as I feared, I had to prompt her to read it. She sounded out all the words.
Olivia: So can we watch a movie?
Me: What does your note say?
Olivia: I don't know.
Me: Read it!
Olivia: I did.
Me: What did it say?
Olivia: That mommy loves us very much.
Me: ... Read it again.
Olivia: I did read it! It says that... mommy loves everyone in the world?
Me: ... Remind me what the first line says.
I took her through the note line by line, making her tell me what each part meant. At the end, she gave a synopsis: Mommy is at the store. Matthias is going, too, to get milk. We can watch a movie. Uncle Jacob is here in case something bad happens. Mommy loves us. Forty minutes after my first brilliant idea, I finally made it out the door to the store. But! Now she knows that notes are a real thing and she might be more inclined to read them. I did have to tell her to read them out loud to Gretchen so that someone is listening to the sentences.
Recent happenings:
We've been to the zoo twice since I last wrote. This is my favorite time of year to go to the zoo because school has started. We have the whole place pretty much to ourselves, and we can meander along at whatever pace we want without me having to worry about losing anyone in the crowds. The cooler weather as summer wanes is just an added bonus. We went with the Creightons at the end of August, and Elias introduced Olivia to the wonder of maps. She loves the idea of having a map that can tell us where things are, even if she is pretty bad at knowing where WE are on the map. Because of the excitement of the maps (and the allure of certain things on the map), we ended up visiting parts of all three sections of the zoo, rather than our usual one and done. Sarah and I decided that rather than walking through Australia we would take the log boat ride around it, and the girls were beside themselves. Gretchen could say nothing for five minutes except, "This is the best day EVER!", and Olivia punctuated every sentence with, "This is so awesome." On our next trip to the zoo, we had to have a talk about how sometimes we do special things and we shouldn't expect to do something special every time we go. That lesson was immediately forgotten due to the fact that the zoo had mailed me coupons, so we were able to redeem a free carousel ride. Oh well. Next week we're using another coupon to ride the train. :)
We went to Cleveland over labor day weekend. August was getting baptized on Sunday, so we drove up Saturday morning. As an added bonus, Bryan got to attend his fantasy football draft in person (inasmuch as three members of the twelve person league gathered in one space to conference call together constitutes "in person"), and we got to see Phil (Bryan's best man) who we haven't seen for quite some time due to his relocation to Mississippi. Bryan's parents took the girls back to the hotel around dinner time, leaving us free to go out to dinner and stay up too late playing board games. We left shortly after the baptism the next afternoon, in order to be home before guests arrived.
Our annual Fun Run (five years running, no pun intended!) was bright and early on Monday morning. Every year we think about moving back the 9:00 start time, and every year we reject that idea due to anticipated high temperatures. This year followed suit, and sticking to our original time remained a good decision. I was more organized with my signs: two different colors of cardstock for the two races, nice full arrows (rather than last year's stick drawings), and little printed maps of the route with you-are-here stars. They were even laminated. One sign did get removed from the 5k, presumably by a group of teenagers playing football near that corner. It was retrieved much later in the day, after at least two extensive searches. We added a somewhat impromptu kids' race for the ten and under crowd. Eva Klein was the star runner, besting all challengers until she finally reached her limit about three quarters of the way through her thirteenth race. Our group is getting more diverse as well, with two new families joining us for the race and subsequent party. Jacque and I also ran into Olivia and Gretchen's dance teacher, Miss Lyn, while setting up signs and would have had three more runners if they hadn't needed to finish their workout in time to be somewhere by 10.
The days following the fun run were spent preparing for Jacque and Will's wedding. Jacque and I made cakes and pasta salads, cleaned labels off of wine bottles, and composed rhymes for the reception signs. Matthias's tiny charcoal suit was completed with almost 23 hours to spare. Family (other than Jacque) began arriving on Thursday, and on Friday Matthias and I and some others went to Fort Wayne to help set up the hall. Bryan and the girls were left with Joseph and the boys to fend for themselves. I did leave them pizza for dinner and muffins for breakfast, and they were all at church in nice clothes before the ceremony began. The wedding itself was lovely, and I did not catch Jacque's veil on fire during Isaiah's Dance, although apparently that was a slight concern. Neither Jacque nor I noticed how close a call it allegedly was. Matthias slept happily through the whole thing in Katya's arms, so at least I did not have to juggle a baby as well as a candle, a dress train, and a slippery shawl. Pictures were quick and painless, and the one of the whole Fenton family turned out wonderfully. The reception was pleasant (early weddings for the win!). My half composed speech came together well enough to make Justine cry, so I guess that's good. Jacque and Dad danced like they used to as Mr. Blue Sky played, and Mom, Justine, and I passed around a box of kleenex while Jillian watched our streaming tears with confusion. I guess the Mr. Blue Sky memories are before her time. Even with hall clean-up, Justine and I (and the babies) were back home by seven, just in time to help put all the other kids to bed. People didn't stick around long, and we had our house back to just us by Monday afternoon.
I took the week to regroup (and start cleaning the house, which I have decided I'm letting go to seed this year), and school started in earnest this past Monday. We've been doing things on and off all summer, so there wasn't a lot of adjusting to do, but I tried to make an obvious start of it anyway. Olivia remembers everything as far as I can tell, which means we're not reviewing before moving forward. She did mixed addition and subtraction this week, and we've finished long vowels in reading. In the past two weeks she's gotten increasingly confident in her reading abilities, and is eager to sound out new words. She happily reads books to anyone who will listen. I've been sneaking her reading in during car rides and bath time and dinner prep, leaving the less busy hours open for phonics work. We've added Rainbow Reading to our days, which refers to the colored bins that I have holding our five day loop of religion, science, social studies, and literature books. We also have a fun book that we're reading during that time -- currently B is for Betsy.
I'm trying to still put out morning stations as well as incorporating preschool activities for Gretchen. The idea behind the preschool curriculum I have is "invitations to play." Unfortunately for me, I'm not very good at putting something out and waiting three days for them to discover it. I try not to direct the girls' attention to the new activities, and I try harder not to say, "Do you want me to show you how to do it?" The goal is for them to discover things on their own, even if it does mean they end up building with the Jenga blocks. If they ask, I'll provide guidance, but I'm working on not interrupting the process otherwise.
Dance has started for both Olivia and Gretchen (despite Gretchen's insistence that she was done dancing after the last recital). They're in different classes this year, but I kept them on the same day. I'd rather sacrifice most of Friday to dance than lose half of both Tuesday and Friday. Enrichment programs have started back up at the parks department, so we went to Nature Pals and learned about bees. Nature pals is a once a month event for all the kids. Olivia is also in a homeschool enrichment program, so once a month she goes to a class by herself and learns sciencey nature things. Her first class was the day I was in Fort Wayne, so Elesha took her. She seemed to enjoy it.
That's all I can think of for now. No doubt I'll remember more after posting this, but then forget it before I write my next post. Pictures below!
Pictures:
20 September 2017
Bonus Post: Sound Bites 24
Me: Where's Kaitlyn?
Gretchen: I don't know.
Olivia: Totally not outside.
Kaitlyn, from another room: I just making mess.
Gretchen: I like styling.
Me: Is that when you have a headband with a ponytail?
Gretchen: Yep. And I am styling with a white bracelet and a necklace. And a dress. And underwear. But my dress is over my underwear.
*Matthias is crying in the car when we are five minutes from home. He cries are getting more frantic.*
Bryan: Listen to that panic. As far as he knows, he's starving to death. This is his last ditch survival instinct. If he can't get mom's attention right away, this is the end of Matthias.
Kaitlyn: Who my?
Me: Who are you?
Kaitlyn: My four!
Me: You're not four, you're two.
Kaitlyn: No, my four. Gretchen not four, Olivia not four, my four.
Me: How old is Gretchen?
Kaitlyn: Four!
Me: How old is Olivia?
Kaitlyn: Four!
Me: How old is Kaitlyn?
Kaitlyn: Six! Oh! My six!
Me: You're six?
Kaitlyn: Yes!
Me: You're two.
Kaitlyn: It's alright, my four.
*There was a tupperware container of German chocolate frosting on the counter and a covered Aunt Dorothea cake on the stove. It was discovered that Kaitlyn had been in the frosting.*
Kaitlyn: My sticky.
Me: Yes, you're sticky. It's like you ate frosting with your fingers.
Kaitlyn: No, brownies.
Me: Brownies?
Kaitlyn: Yes. Coffee brownies.
Justine: Coffee brownies? The cake!
Me: I don't think she knows what coffee tastes like.
Justine: There are definitely finger trails in the coffee brownies.
Bryan: How are you so pretty?
Gretchen: That's because I put a part in my hair.
Gretchen: Mommy doesn't spend so much money, Daddy does.
Bryan: Have you ever been lying down and Kaitlyn decided you needed a drink of water?
Me: No. Are you wet now?
Bryan: Very.
Bryan, to Kaitlyn: Nice boys belly.
Kaitlyn: No, my Kaitlyn. Daddy is daddy. Olivia is Olivia. Gretchen is Gretchen. Kaitlyn is Kaitlyn. Mommy is nice boys belly.
Bryan, to me: I think "nice boys belly" means pregnant.
*I tried to voice text a conversation to myself since I was driving at the time. I was also talking to kids and there was music on. This is what my phone transcribed as a message for Justine, Jacque, and Alison.*
Me: Yeah I hear you warm it up enough to rhyme why does the light cameras why does the lights turned red well it when it is ready for us it is green for someone else but how does it work with an electrical signal and some sort of code like the doors it open by itself them selves yeah oh I thought there were little people up there and Isabel thanks for setting the bike invisible things pressing the button sorry for the craziness I'm trying to record a sound bites well I Drive my kids may be golfing see it
Me: Sorry guys there's a few no they're is a secret message there for you
And here is the actual conversation:
Gretchen: Why does the light turn red?
Me: Well, when it is red for us it is green for someone else.
Gretchen: But how does it work?
Me: With an electrical signal and some sort of code.
Gretchen: Like doors that open by themselves?
Me: Yes.
Gretchen: Oh, I thought there were little people up there on invisible things pressing buttons.
Gretchen: I don't know.
Olivia: Totally not outside.
Kaitlyn, from another room: I just making mess.
Gretchen: I like styling.
Me: Is that when you have a headband with a ponytail?
Gretchen: Yep. And I am styling with a white bracelet and a necklace. And a dress. And underwear. But my dress is over my underwear.
*Matthias is crying in the car when we are five minutes from home. He cries are getting more frantic.*
Bryan: Listen to that panic. As far as he knows, he's starving to death. This is his last ditch survival instinct. If he can't get mom's attention right away, this is the end of Matthias.
Kaitlyn: Who my?
Me: Who are you?
Kaitlyn: My four!
Me: You're not four, you're two.
Kaitlyn: No, my four. Gretchen not four, Olivia not four, my four.
Me: How old is Gretchen?
Kaitlyn: Four!
Me: How old is Olivia?
Kaitlyn: Four!
Me: How old is Kaitlyn?
Kaitlyn: Six! Oh! My six!
Me: You're six?
Kaitlyn: Yes!
Me: You're two.
Kaitlyn: It's alright, my four.
*There was a tupperware container of German chocolate frosting on the counter and a covered Aunt Dorothea cake on the stove. It was discovered that Kaitlyn had been in the frosting.*
Kaitlyn: My sticky.
Me: Yes, you're sticky. It's like you ate frosting with your fingers.
Kaitlyn: No, brownies.
Me: Brownies?
Kaitlyn: Yes. Coffee brownies.
Justine: Coffee brownies? The cake!
Me: I don't think she knows what coffee tastes like.
Justine: There are definitely finger trails in the coffee brownies.
Bryan: How are you so pretty?
Gretchen: That's because I put a part in my hair.
Gretchen: Mommy doesn't spend so much money, Daddy does.
Bryan: Have you ever been lying down and Kaitlyn decided you needed a drink of water?
Me: No. Are you wet now?
Bryan: Very.
Bryan, to Kaitlyn: Nice boys belly.
Kaitlyn: No, my Kaitlyn. Daddy is daddy. Olivia is Olivia. Gretchen is Gretchen. Kaitlyn is Kaitlyn. Mommy is nice boys belly.
Bryan, to me: I think "nice boys belly" means pregnant.
*I tried to voice text a conversation to myself since I was driving at the time. I was also talking to kids and there was music on. This is what my phone transcribed as a message for Justine, Jacque, and Alison.*
Me: Yeah I hear you warm it up enough to rhyme why does the light cameras why does the lights turned red well it when it is ready for us it is green for someone else but how does it work with an electrical signal and some sort of code like the doors it open by itself them selves yeah oh I thought there were little people up there and Isabel thanks for setting the bike invisible things pressing the button sorry for the craziness I'm trying to record a sound bites well I Drive my kids may be golfing see it
Me: Sorry guys there's a few no they're is a secret message there for you
And here is the actual conversation:
Gretchen: Why does the light turn red?
Me: Well, when it is red for us it is green for someone else.
Gretchen: But how does it work?
Me: With an electrical signal and some sort of code.
Gretchen: Like doors that open by themselves?
Me: Yes.
Gretchen: Oh, I thought there were little people up there on invisible things pressing buttons.
17 September 2017
August 27-September 17
A picture post.
Decorating updates -- The thankful tree, an updated growth chart, our dining room table and light, my baby stats picture frames:
Kaitlyn loves to talk on my bluetooth. This was taken while she talked to Oma:
Kaitlyn "helped" again. She can get into the (babyproofed) kitchen cabinet and decided to load the dishwasher with detergent:
Three girls (and one cat) check the mail:
Pictures for Oma on her birthday. I think Kaitlyn was in the process of getting pajamas:
At the zoo with the Creightons:
A school activity with the Weys. We read about hot air balloons in our balloon baskets:
Matthias has smiles again, this time for Olivia. He doesn't keep them long enough for a picture, though:
Olivia and Gretchen, snuggled up in a hotel bed:
This is Matthias's usual look -- worried:
Matthias and Dorothea supervise wedding setup:
I exist! I was already holding the two babies, so they built the above line-up around me:
Olivia gathered most of the younger cousins in the pack and play and read Bob books to her "babies." It looks like she also took a turn in the pack and play:
Bryan gives Matthias a bottle -- we're practicing for babysitting purposes and Grandma's peace of mind:
Matthias making faces at Oma:
Decorating updates -- The thankful tree, an updated growth chart, our dining room table and light, my baby stats picture frames:
Matthias kind of smiling. I think he looks like a plastic doll in the second one:
Kaitlyn loves to talk on my bluetooth. This was taken while she talked to Oma:
A little bit of tummy time:
Kaitlyn "helped" again. She can get into the (babyproofed) kitchen cabinet and decided to load the dishwasher with detergent:
Three girls (and one cat) check the mail:
Pictures for Oma on her birthday. I think Kaitlyn was in the process of getting pajamas:
At the zoo with the Creightons:
A school activity with the Weys. We read about hot air balloons in our balloon baskets:
Grandma holds Matthias and August:
Matthias has smiles again, this time for Olivia. He doesn't keep them long enough for a picture, though:
Olivia and Gretchen, snuggled up in a hotel bed:
Uncle Joseph with Matthias and Dorothea:
This is Matthias's usual look -- worried:
Matthias and Dorothea supervise wedding setup:
Cousin line-ups! Olivia, William, Gretchen, Edward, Kaitlyn, Walter, Dorothea, Matthias:
I exist! I was already holding the two babies, so they built the above line-up around me:
Olivia gathered most of the younger cousins in the pack and play and read Bob books to her "babies." It looks like she also took a turn in the pack and play:
Bryan gives Matthias a bottle -- we're practicing for babysitting purposes and Grandma's peace of mind:
Matthias making faces at Oma:
The whole family at Jacque and Will's wedding:
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