Gretchen: Daddy is the best of you. But I like both of you. But Daddy is the best one.
Olivia, making book characters talk: My real name is Shoes William Barhorst. My real name is Necklace Daphne Velma.
Gretchen: *singing* Snow White goes on the mountain tonight...
(That's the beginning of "Let It Go." The actual phrase is "Snow blows white on the mountain tonight," but that didn't make sense to Gretchen so she changed it.)
Gretchen generally uses "old" as an all purpose unit of measurement. This conversation took place while we were seeing how far we could jump.
Gretchen: Daddy, how old are you?
Bryan, pointing to where his feet landed: This old.
Gretchen: No, how OLD are you? Lay down. (She then proceeded to draw a chalk outline around him.)
(Our friend) Josh, to Kaitlyn: Hi, honey!
Gretchen: No, we are not calling her honey. We are calling her Kaitlyn.
Olivia: Why did we stop?
Me: We had to wait for another car to go through.
Olivia: No, that was a truck.
Me: I'm sorry, we had to wait for another truck to go through.
Olivia: This is a van.
Bryan: So, Johannah and I just decided we're going out to eat for dinner tonight. This is, at minimum, a 3 hour ordeal, only half of which will be spent at the restaurant. It will also cost us, at minimum, $50, and 60% of the food we buy not only won't get eaten, but will be complained about. I will get to watch none of the baseball game, will have only one beer, and will probably spend more time with my kids in the bathroom than I will at the table.
Gretchen: I am running out of quietly.
Olivia, pointing at the guardrails on a bridge: Are those to keep us from falling?
Me: Yes.
Olivia: So we didn't have to start over to get there?
Me: ...Yes?
Gretchen: I cannot find my undies when I am done going potty.
*Note: Her undies (which she had on when she entered the bathroom) were nowhere to be found.
Olivia: Grandma, I need to put my princess crown on to be a princess because I wasn't born a princess. I was born naked.
26 October 2016
23 October 2016
12 October 2016
October 2 - Leslie Julian Barhorst
We recently lost another baby to miscarriage. We named this baby Leslie Julian. The confirmation for this loss took about five days due to the various tests the doctor ordered, so Bryan and I had several days to prepare ourselves before sharing the news with others. I've ordered icons for the oratory and beads for my bracelet. Grandpa is going to carve another cross for our wall. We're doing better than expected, perhaps because we've done this before. Thank you everyone for the prayers.
02 October 2016
September 18-October 2
I've decided to start taking viola lessons again! I found a teacher at BGSU who is willing to give me a lesson every two or three weeks. I'm hoping this will motivate me to practice more as well as giving me a chance to learn new repertoire. My first lesson is tomorrow was last Monday and went very well. :)
We announced baby news last Sunday, beating the Bossards and causing a minor upset to betting pools across the country. The new addition is expected in late May.
Kaitlyn started saying "please." At this point she just sprinkles it into her speech indiscriminately, even if she doesn't necessarily want something.
The girls and I have officially finished one month of school! We crossed of (almost) everything on our list to accomplish this month and several extra things as well. I'm having lots of fun, and it seems that the girls are, too. How much they've learned so far remains to be seen, although when given primary colored paints, Olivia did notice that "two of the colors made purple!" She has no idea which two. In other visible learning, neither girl looks like she might lose a finger while using scissors anymore. This was a real concern at the beginning of the month. :)
I don't think I mentioned earlier that Bryan and I decided to have "No Fight September" as our dinner inspiration for the month. We chose only meals that we knew the girls already liked and had a wonderfully conflict free month of dinners. We did get incredibly tired of spaghetti by the end, though, since that's one of only two vegan meals we thought had a chance for all the Wednesdays and Fridays. We are now gearing up to tough out "All the Fights October," where-in we will once again eat less popular meals.
Pictures:
We announced baby news last Sunday, beating the Bossards and causing a minor upset to betting pools across the country. The new addition is expected in late May.
Kaitlyn started saying "please." At this point she just sprinkles it into her speech indiscriminately, even if she doesn't necessarily want something.
The girls and I have officially finished one month of school! We crossed of (almost) everything on our list to accomplish this month and several extra things as well. I'm having lots of fun, and it seems that the girls are, too. How much they've learned so far remains to be seen, although when given primary colored paints, Olivia did notice that "two of the colors made purple!" She has no idea which two. In other visible learning, neither girl looks like she might lose a finger while using scissors anymore. This was a real concern at the beginning of the month. :)
I don't think I mentioned earlier that Bryan and I decided to have "No Fight September" as our dinner inspiration for the month. We chose only meals that we knew the girls already liked and had a wonderfully conflict free month of dinners. We did get incredibly tired of spaghetti by the end, though, since that's one of only two vegan meals we thought had a chance for all the Wednesdays and Fridays. We are now gearing up to tough out "All the Fights October," where-in we will once again eat less popular meals.
Pictures:
28 September 2016
Bonus Post: Tell Me a Story
Stories from September 13, 2016
Gretchen's Story:
It's the one with when we get back I'm going to pretend that we buyed ice cream and we go outside and it's melting. And I get all sticky and I go in the bathtub and wash it all off.
Olivia's Story: {sung}
Once there was the sun shining everybody. This is a singing story. This is the singing story. There is trees growing outside. And there is a car. And driving, driving today. There is all kinds of cars driving away. And there is a house with four peoples in it. Gretchen and Mommy and Kaitlyn, Gretchen and Mommy and Kaitlyn and Olivia. Those are the people. First there was the bink.* There came the moon then they went to sleep and then they woke up and there was snow outside. And then they ate their breakfast and then their lunch and then -- !** ...That's the end.
*Me: The what?
Olivia: The bink!
Me: The bink?
Olivia: Yes.
**I read the story back to her and she said, "What about dinner?" "You didn't say dinner," I replied. "Oh. And the dinner."
Gretchen's Second Story: {sung}
Once. Once there was. A. Car with peoples in it. They were driving at church. And then! Jesus came and said, "I'll make sure the monsters don't come. But if they do come, I'll stay here and be with you. If the monsters came then you would be with Me. Everybody is so perfect." Once there was a green car. Somebody broke* into it with us in it. Then it was green and yellow. And old. It was our old car. And then there was Olivia and Gretchen and Mommy and Daddy and Kaitlyn. And then they got a new car. They got in it. And then somebody thought the old car was theirs. They got in it and drived away.** And then there was the wind. It was blowing my coloring paper. I catched it. I drived away. My mother drived away. Everybody was so happy la la la la la la la. They went to sleep. And then a bracelet was glowing. And then the strong wind blowed it. I catched it and put it on me. I watched my mother drive away. We went to sleep. We waked up. There was snow outside. We runned back inside and got our things. And then! Everybody was happy!
*Olivia said this word was "bumped," and Gretchen agreed after the fact, but I heard "broke."
**Olivia: The end!
Me: Yes, the end!
Gretchen: No, not the end!
Gretchen's Story:
It's the one with when we get back I'm going to pretend that we buyed ice cream and we go outside and it's melting. And I get all sticky and I go in the bathtub and wash it all off.
Olivia's Story: {sung}
Once there was the sun shining everybody. This is a singing story. This is the singing story. There is trees growing outside. And there is a car. And driving, driving today. There is all kinds of cars driving away. And there is a house with four peoples in it. Gretchen and Mommy and Kaitlyn, Gretchen and Mommy and Kaitlyn and Olivia. Those are the people. First there was the bink.* There came the moon then they went to sleep and then they woke up and there was snow outside. And then they ate their breakfast and then their lunch and then -- !** ...That's the end.
*Me: The what?
Olivia: The bink!
Me: The bink?
Olivia: Yes.
**I read the story back to her and she said, "What about dinner?" "You didn't say dinner," I replied. "Oh. And the dinner."
Gretchen's Second Story: {sung}
Once. Once there was. A. Car with peoples in it. They were driving at church. And then! Jesus came and said, "I'll make sure the monsters don't come. But if they do come, I'll stay here and be with you. If the monsters came then you would be with Me. Everybody is so perfect." Once there was a green car. Somebody broke* into it with us in it. Then it was green and yellow. And old. It was our old car. And then there was Olivia and Gretchen and Mommy and Daddy and Kaitlyn. And then they got a new car. They got in it. And then somebody thought the old car was theirs. They got in it and drived away.** And then there was the wind. It was blowing my coloring paper. I catched it. I drived away. My mother drived away. Everybody was so happy la la la la la la la. They went to sleep. And then a bracelet was glowing. And then the strong wind blowed it. I catched it and put it on me. I watched my mother drive away. We went to sleep. We waked up. There was snow outside. We runned back inside and got our things. And then! Everybody was happy!
*Olivia said this word was "bumped," and Gretchen agreed after the fact, but I heard "broke."
**Olivia: The end!
Me: Yes, the end!
Gretchen: No, not the end!
18 September 2016
September 11-18
A bonus post happened this past week, so hop on over and look at that if you haven't seen it already.
Keshia and Rudy came to visit one afternoon, so we made sure we got a cousins picture. Other than that it was same old same old at the Barhorst house this week. Olivia (and Gretchen) are enjoying school so far. Kaitlyn is enjoying getting into things while the older girls are working on them. Really, there's not much to report. Maybe this next week will be more interesting. :)
I do have videos, though!
Pictures and Videos:
Keshia and Rudy came to visit one afternoon, so we made sure we got a cousins picture. Other than that it was same old same old at the Barhorst house this week. Olivia (and Gretchen) are enjoying school so far. Kaitlyn is enjoying getting into things while the older girls are working on them. Really, there's not much to report. Maybe this next week will be more interesting. :)
I do have videos, though!
Pictures and Videos:
14 September 2016
Bonus Post: Sound Bites 13
Bryan: Will you always be my little Gretchen?
Gretchen: Yeah. When I say I'm not your little Gretchen then I'm silly.
Olivia: Three and three spells six.
Gretchen: Daddy, I thought you were a monster because I saw a big head.
*After a trip to the grocery store*
Olivia: Why did we not get any food from those people?
Me: We did get food.
Olivia: No, why did we not ask for food that we could eat?
Me: Oh, a sample?
Olivia: A human.
(She did want a sample, she just didn't realize that's what it was called.)
Gretchen: Daddy, if you were my daddy I would take you a bath. And I would let you watch a lot of movies if you were my daughter.
Olivia: Last night when we waked up on the next day.
(I'm not really bringing points back, but sometimes a reward is necessary... 15 points to the first person who can tell me what time Olivia was referencing in this comment.)
Olivia: I could not remember what you telled me to say to grandma, so I telled her something else.
Gretchen: Let's play with the meerkats!
Me: Meerkats? Can you show me the meerkats?
Gretchen: The meerkats are in your room!
Gretchen goes into my bedroom and comes back with the board game Blokus.
Me: There's New Hampshire and New Jersey and way down New Mexico, then New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, OHIO! Can you sing Ohio with me?
Gretchen: Yeah.
Me: There's New Hampshire and New Jersey and way down New Mexico, then New York, North Carolina, North Dakota... *points at Gretchen*
Gretchen: I-HO-OH!
Gretchen: Yeah. When I say I'm not your little Gretchen then I'm silly.
Olivia: Three and three spells six.
Gretchen: Daddy, I thought you were a monster because I saw a big head.
*After a trip to the grocery store*
Olivia: Why did we not get any food from those people?
Me: We did get food.
Olivia: No, why did we not ask for food that we could eat?
Me: Oh, a sample?
Olivia: A human.
(She did want a sample, she just didn't realize that's what it was called.)
Gretchen: Daddy, if you were my daddy I would take you a bath. And I would let you watch a lot of movies if you were my daughter.
Olivia: Last night when we waked up on the next day.
(I'm not really bringing points back, but sometimes a reward is necessary... 15 points to the first person who can tell me what time Olivia was referencing in this comment.)
Olivia: I could not remember what you telled me to say to grandma, so I telled her something else.
Gretchen: Let's play with the meerkats!
Me: Meerkats? Can you show me the meerkats?
Gretchen: The meerkats are in your room!
Gretchen goes into my bedroom and comes back with the board game Blokus.
Me: There's New Hampshire and New Jersey and way down New Mexico, then New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, OHIO! Can you sing Ohio with me?
Gretchen: Yeah.
Me: There's New Hampshire and New Jersey and way down New Mexico, then New York, North Carolina, North Dakota... *points at Gretchen*
Gretchen: I-HO-OH!
11 September 2016
August 28-September 11
A few posts ago I wrote about the Indianapolis Symphony and their viola openings. Since then I've found their repertoire list and discovered that I don't know about a third of it, including the concerto. So I shall not be auditioning for Indianapolis this time around. :-P Around the same time, I decided not to audition for Springfield either. One of my 30 Before 30 goals was to play with two professional symphonies, but at this point playing with Springfield would be more trouble than it's worth. I play with Lima, and I get paid to supplement college groups, and that's good enough for me. Auditioning for a very similar symphony an hour and a half away is not a priority right now. I have started investigating the possibility of taking the occasional lesson, though, in an effort to learn more repertoire (including that concerto). We'll see if that goes anywhere.
Olivia doesn't use the words "people" or "person." Instead, she uses "humans." It's a weird quirk that makes her sound like she's constantly on the lookout for aliens. In actuality, we think she uses humans because all the movies and books she likes have to differentiate between monsters and humans or mermaids and fairies and humans. They don't use the word "people," so neither does Olivia.
Gretchen is going to be a better mother than I can ever hope to be. Her nurturing instincts are strong, a fact I've noticed even more now that we have an extra one-year-old running around the house several days a week.
Kaitlyn can carry a tune pretty well. One day she sang a perfect arpeggio in the car ("I don't care" from "Let it Go"). Her words for that part are pretty clear, too. Other words she's learned: outside, dessert, brrm, chugga, honk (these last three from her favorite car book).
Kaitlyn loves to go! She'll stand on one side of the room, yell "go!" and run as fast as she can to the other side of the room. She also does this on the enclosed trampoline, which is hilarious to watch because the unsteady surface makes her rather ungainly. She is easily persuaded to do things if enough excitement is added to a "ready, set, go!" command. By far the best incarnation of this delight, however, is found in the car, where she yells "go!" and then kicks her feet as fast as she can while breathing heavily. I'd take a video, but it always happens when I'm driving.
Olivia started dance class this week. It's a ballet/tap combo class and I wasn't sure how she would do with being dropped off. We've been talking it up for a few weeks now and last week she and I went shopping for her shoes and leotard, which I think helped a lot. I introduced her to her dance teacher, pushed her into the room, and left. She seems to have done fine and Gretchen, Kaitlyn, and I got to see her dance a little at the end when we picked her up. Gretchen was very excited and stood in front of Olivia mimicking her moves as she danced.
We started school on September 1. I'm doing preschool at home with the girls and it's going well so far. Gretchen is participating more than I'd planned because the older of the two little girls I babysit is participating at the request of her parents and Gretchen is the same age. All three of the schoolers seem to be enjoying the activities.
The electrician finally came. We now have baseboard heat and independent lights in the two rooms Bryan built in the basement. There are a few ceiling tiles to put in yet, and then trim, carpeting, and furnishings. Bryan is excited to have an office (with heat!) for this winter.
Because of Olivia's dance class, we knew we would probably need a second vehicle soon. It seems ridiculous since Bryan works from home and I stay at home, but if he ever needs to be in the office on a day when Olivia has class then we're in trouble. Bryan's been wanting a truck for a while now anyway, so he took his opportunity and ran with it. He is now the proud owner of a Dodge pickup truck that is approximately twice as big as the one he set out to buy.
We went to the zoo at the end of last month, meeting Kara there on one of her days off. Let me tell you what, August 31st is the day to go to the zoo. School has started so the zoo is wonderfully empty. We wandered around at our own pace and stayed at each exhibit as long as we wanted to. We even got to go on the giraffe observation deck to see the giraffes up close and personal -- and one was very close, pushing his 250 lb head right through the opening to see if any of us had lettuce leaves for him. We also compared tongues, and Olivia and Gretchen decided that the giraffe's tongue was the longest of anyone's. We're headed back to the zoo at the end of this month to visit one more time before they close for the season. :)
The Fourth Annual Barhorst Fun Run happened on Labor Day. People came and had a good time. Only one of our 5k runners ran an actual 5k, despite vastly superior signage compared to last year's sticks with yarn on them. Everyone else missed a loop and only ran 2.5 miles. To be fair, Alison and Hector went out after finishing and ran an extra 0.6 miles. Bryan ran his annual mile, running the whole thing this year and finishing in a respectable 8:34. I was not able to run since someone had to do times and watch kids (we missed you, mom and dad!), but after a couple of the milers finished I relinquished my clipboard in order to prove to Bryan that I could run a mile faster than he could. He claims that had we been running together he could have beaten my 8:07. I guess we'll have to find out next year.
Pictures:
Olivia doesn't use the words "people" or "person." Instead, she uses "humans." It's a weird quirk that makes her sound like she's constantly on the lookout for aliens. In actuality, we think she uses humans because all the movies and books she likes have to differentiate between monsters and humans or mermaids and fairies and humans. They don't use the word "people," so neither does Olivia.
Gretchen is going to be a better mother than I can ever hope to be. Her nurturing instincts are strong, a fact I've noticed even more now that we have an extra one-year-old running around the house several days a week.
Kaitlyn can carry a tune pretty well. One day she sang a perfect arpeggio in the car ("I don't care" from "Let it Go"). Her words for that part are pretty clear, too. Other words she's learned: outside, dessert, brrm, chugga, honk (these last three from her favorite car book).
Kaitlyn loves to go! She'll stand on one side of the room, yell "go!" and run as fast as she can to the other side of the room. She also does this on the enclosed trampoline, which is hilarious to watch because the unsteady surface makes her rather ungainly. She is easily persuaded to do things if enough excitement is added to a "ready, set, go!" command. By far the best incarnation of this delight, however, is found in the car, where she yells "go!" and then kicks her feet as fast as she can while breathing heavily. I'd take a video, but it always happens when I'm driving.
Olivia started dance class this week. It's a ballet/tap combo class and I wasn't sure how she would do with being dropped off. We've been talking it up for a few weeks now and last week she and I went shopping for her shoes and leotard, which I think helped a lot. I introduced her to her dance teacher, pushed her into the room, and left. She seems to have done fine and Gretchen, Kaitlyn, and I got to see her dance a little at the end when we picked her up. Gretchen was very excited and stood in front of Olivia mimicking her moves as she danced.
We started school on September 1. I'm doing preschool at home with the girls and it's going well so far. Gretchen is participating more than I'd planned because the older of the two little girls I babysit is participating at the request of her parents and Gretchen is the same age. All three of the schoolers seem to be enjoying the activities.
The electrician finally came. We now have baseboard heat and independent lights in the two rooms Bryan built in the basement. There are a few ceiling tiles to put in yet, and then trim, carpeting, and furnishings. Bryan is excited to have an office (with heat!) for this winter.
Because of Olivia's dance class, we knew we would probably need a second vehicle soon. It seems ridiculous since Bryan works from home and I stay at home, but if he ever needs to be in the office on a day when Olivia has class then we're in trouble. Bryan's been wanting a truck for a while now anyway, so he took his opportunity and ran with it. He is now the proud owner of a Dodge pickup truck that is approximately twice as big as the one he set out to buy.
We went to the zoo at the end of last month, meeting Kara there on one of her days off. Let me tell you what, August 31st is the day to go to the zoo. School has started so the zoo is wonderfully empty. We wandered around at our own pace and stayed at each exhibit as long as we wanted to. We even got to go on the giraffe observation deck to see the giraffes up close and personal -- and one was very close, pushing his 250 lb head right through the opening to see if any of us had lettuce leaves for him. We also compared tongues, and Olivia and Gretchen decided that the giraffe's tongue was the longest of anyone's. We're headed back to the zoo at the end of this month to visit one more time before they close for the season. :)
The Fourth Annual Barhorst Fun Run happened on Labor Day. People came and had a good time. Only one of our 5k runners ran an actual 5k, despite vastly superior signage compared to last year's sticks with yarn on them. Everyone else missed a loop and only ran 2.5 miles. To be fair, Alison and Hector went out after finishing and ran an extra 0.6 miles. Bryan ran his annual mile, running the whole thing this year and finishing in a respectable 8:34. I was not able to run since someone had to do times and watch kids (we missed you, mom and dad!), but after a couple of the milers finished I relinquished my clipboard in order to prove to Bryan that I could run a mile faster than he could. He claims that had we been running together he could have beaten my 8:07. I guess we'll have to find out next year.
Pictures:
28 August 2016
August 14-28
Kaitlyn walks into the oratory and immediately starts singing and crossing herself. I would guess that she's trying to do the Beatitudes since that's what we sing every morning.
Gretchen and Olivia can both say The Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary unassisted. They still fake it through the occasional difficult phrase, so we're working on enunciating.
Surprising words that the older girls use (correctly, for the most part):
Surely
Precisely
I rest my case
Perfect
Words that are still pronounced incorrectly: aziting (exciting), packpack
Kaitlyn's newest words: son, spirit, amen, marks, set, go, up, yeah, yes ("yeah...ssss" or "yeaaaaaas"), bye ("daa" while waving), nose, belly ("baa" while smacking someone's belly), down, can't
Kaitlyn has a favorite book: Toot Toot Beep Beep. She brings it to bed at night, reads it in the car, and requests it often throughout the day. I think part of it is that she doesn't have as much access to the other board books as Olivia and Gretchen did. Even when she has other books available, though, this book is still her first choice.
I made salsa using a small number of my tomatoes and a somewhat larger number of CSA tomatoes. I had planned to make only one batch of six pints, but I had many more tomatoes left than anticipated, so I ended up making 5 quarts each of two different kinds of salsa. The good news is that they are delicious. Next time I have tomatoes I'm making some pasta sauce.
I started babysitting two little girls last week. Monday through Thursday we have a three-year-old and a one-year-old come stay with us during the day. All the kids are used to each other now and things have been going pretty smoothly thus far.
We got the rice sensory bin out again. Another mess was made, and my initial reaction was to never, ever do rice again. BUT. All three girls played in it and sprinkled it around and danced in it and generally amused themselves for such a long time... And when it came time to clean up the rice, Kaitlyn was genuinely upset that I wouldn't let her rescatter the neatly swept pile. So I guess maybe I'll buy a bag of rice periodically and let them spread it all over my living room. Sweeping up rice is rather therapeutic...
We have a caterpillar. I rescued him off our driveway and put him in a jar. Since he was on the driveway rather than on a plant, I stuffed his jar with an assortment of leaves in order to find a variety he likes. There is a type he prefers, so now I just have to hunt for that particular plant in my yard in order to keep him fed. Periodically I stick something new in to see if he takes to that as well. No luck so far. Olivia is very excited to check on him every morning to see if he's a butterfly yet.
Pictures:
Gretchen and Olivia can both say The Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary unassisted. They still fake it through the occasional difficult phrase, so we're working on enunciating.
Surprising words that the older girls use (correctly, for the most part):
Surely
Precisely
I rest my case
Perfect
Words that are still pronounced incorrectly: aziting (exciting), packpack
Kaitlyn's newest words: son, spirit, amen, marks, set, go, up, yeah, yes ("yeah...ssss" or "yeaaaaaas"), bye ("daa" while waving), nose, belly ("baa" while smacking someone's belly), down, can't
Kaitlyn has a favorite book: Toot Toot Beep Beep. She brings it to bed at night, reads it in the car, and requests it often throughout the day. I think part of it is that she doesn't have as much access to the other board books as Olivia and Gretchen did. Even when she has other books available, though, this book is still her first choice.
I made salsa using a small number of my tomatoes and a somewhat larger number of CSA tomatoes. I had planned to make only one batch of six pints, but I had many more tomatoes left than anticipated, so I ended up making 5 quarts each of two different kinds of salsa. The good news is that they are delicious. Next time I have tomatoes I'm making some pasta sauce.
I started babysitting two little girls last week. Monday through Thursday we have a three-year-old and a one-year-old come stay with us during the day. All the kids are used to each other now and things have been going pretty smoothly thus far.
We got the rice sensory bin out again. Another mess was made, and my initial reaction was to never, ever do rice again. BUT. All three girls played in it and sprinkled it around and danced in it and generally amused themselves for such a long time... And when it came time to clean up the rice, Kaitlyn was genuinely upset that I wouldn't let her rescatter the neatly swept pile. So I guess maybe I'll buy a bag of rice periodically and let them spread it all over my living room. Sweeping up rice is rather therapeutic...
We have a caterpillar. I rescued him off our driveway and put him in a jar. Since he was on the driveway rather than on a plant, I stuffed his jar with an assortment of leaves in order to find a variety he likes. There is a type he prefers, so now I just have to hunt for that particular plant in my yard in order to keep him fed. Periodically I stick something new in to see if he takes to that as well. No luck so far. Olivia is very excited to check on him every morning to see if he's a butterfly yet.
Pictures:
14 August 2016
July 24-August 14
A lot has happened over here. I guess that's to be expected when the blog writer neglects her duties for three weeks. :/ Let's see what I can remember...
Olivia turned 5! She was very excited and now proudly proclaims to everyone that she is 5. This is usually followed by the person she's talking to asking about school, and then we have to explain that she missed the cutoff by two days. She's doing preschool at home this year and has to wait until next year for kindergarten.
Olivia's party had to be moved to her baptism birthday. It was originally scheduled for her actual birthday, but then most of her friends couldn't make it. This solved a problem for me, though, because Olivia knew that Gretchen's party had been on Gretchen's baptism birthday, so Olivia was definitely expecting baptism birthday presents. She was also a little confused about whether she was already six or not... I think we got that all straightened out. :)
Since she turned five, Olivia had to have a checkup. She's 41.6 pounds and 43.75 inches tall. We decided to get her "school shots" this year even though she's not going because she and I had already discussed them after one of Kaitlyn's many appointments. She did very well with the shots, helped, I'm sure, by the promise of a movie later in the day. She did less well with answering questions posed by the doctor (the only one she answered was "What do you want to be when you grow up?" The answer was "a ballerina.") and following directions. We'll have to work on the crippling shyness. We also need to work on her tendency to hoard toys in an effort to keep her sisters from using them. Her sharing game is terrible, at best, and her chosen corner of the playroom often resembles Smaug's lair.
Speaking of Kaitlyn's many appointments, she had a 15 month checkup about a month ago. She is (or was at that time) 23 pounds, 3 ounces and 31.75 inches tall.
Kaitlyn sings "Let It Go" all the time now. It's the only song she sings, in fact. The family sings "Happy Birthday" and Kaitlyn follows it with "Let It Go." There's music in the car and Kaitlyn sings "Let It Go." You get the picture. There was a video a few posts ago of her first foray into the world of music, but she's improved since then.
In other Kaitlyn news, she leaves a clear trail of where she's been if you know what to look for: she almost always trades an item for the new one that she picks up. For example: Kaitlyn is in the bedroom. She finds a barrette, and tries to stick it to her head with sheer force of will. Failing that, she carries her prize clenched in her fist to the playroom, where she discovers a barbie. She drops the barrette, picks up the barbie, and wanders into the kitchen. As she passes the cupboards, she opens doors and peers inside. What's this? A bowl?! Excellent. The barbie goes in the cupboard and the bowl comes out. She tries it on like a hat. Such a trendsetter. When she gets to the TV room, the bowl finally wobbles off her head. She reaches to pick it up, but it landed right next to dad's shoe. The bowl is forgotten and the shoe is placed on one small foot. Clomping happily with every other step, Kaitlyn makes her way to mom and dad's bedroom. Dad always keeps fun things on his bedside table. The shoe is left on the table, and Kaitlyn is the proud possessor of a set of motorcycle keys. Into the oratory she goes, dropping the keys in front of the icons she can reach and grabbing St. Catherine off the wall. Kissing the icon repeatedly, Kaitlyn weaves her way back to the playroom, stopping at the kitchen table to trade St. Catherine for a sippy cup. And so on, and so forth. Only some parts of this story were made up. :)
Gretchen helps me in the kitchen. That's what I was trying to remember in my last post. She is always asking if she can "make" with me. She likes to stir and measure ingredients, but she is wary of the big knife after she cut herself (not badly) getting it out of the dishwasher about a month ago. Anytime I'm doing something in the kitchen, Gretchen is there helping.
Gretchen is also incredibly sweet, always giving hugs and kisses. She shares everything she has with her sisters. Gretchen seems happiest when others are happy, so she is very generous with her food and toys. Gretchen also likes to talk -- no shyness here! The doctor did learn the answers (and then some) to all the questions she asked Olivia, but Gretchen was the one giving them. Gretchen also jumped on one foot and took deep breaths for the doctor. :) Check out the video below for a sample of how Gretchen might answer a question that is asked.
We went to camp two weeks ago and saw lots of family. Olivia and Gretchen are getting old enough that they remember faces, so they're more comfortable with the people. I don't remember many details about camp, but we did have fun and there are some pictures on facebook that I should steal for the blog. :)
Pictures and Video:
Olivia turned 5! She was very excited and now proudly proclaims to everyone that she is 5. This is usually followed by the person she's talking to asking about school, and then we have to explain that she missed the cutoff by two days. She's doing preschool at home this year and has to wait until next year for kindergarten.
Olivia's party had to be moved to her baptism birthday. It was originally scheduled for her actual birthday, but then most of her friends couldn't make it. This solved a problem for me, though, because Olivia knew that Gretchen's party had been on Gretchen's baptism birthday, so Olivia was definitely expecting baptism birthday presents. She was also a little confused about whether she was already six or not... I think we got that all straightened out. :)
Since she turned five, Olivia had to have a checkup. She's 41.6 pounds and 43.75 inches tall. We decided to get her "school shots" this year even though she's not going because she and I had already discussed them after one of Kaitlyn's many appointments. She did very well with the shots, helped, I'm sure, by the promise of a movie later in the day. She did less well with answering questions posed by the doctor (the only one she answered was "What do you want to be when you grow up?" The answer was "a ballerina.") and following directions. We'll have to work on the crippling shyness. We also need to work on her tendency to hoard toys in an effort to keep her sisters from using them. Her sharing game is terrible, at best, and her chosen corner of the playroom often resembles Smaug's lair.
Speaking of Kaitlyn's many appointments, she had a 15 month checkup about a month ago. She is (or was at that time) 23 pounds, 3 ounces and 31.75 inches tall.
Kaitlyn sings "Let It Go" all the time now. It's the only song she sings, in fact. The family sings "Happy Birthday" and Kaitlyn follows it with "Let It Go." There's music in the car and Kaitlyn sings "Let It Go." You get the picture. There was a video a few posts ago of her first foray into the world of music, but she's improved since then.
In other Kaitlyn news, she leaves a clear trail of where she's been if you know what to look for: she almost always trades an item for the new one that she picks up. For example: Kaitlyn is in the bedroom. She finds a barrette, and tries to stick it to her head with sheer force of will. Failing that, she carries her prize clenched in her fist to the playroom, where she discovers a barbie. She drops the barrette, picks up the barbie, and wanders into the kitchen. As she passes the cupboards, she opens doors and peers inside. What's this? A bowl?! Excellent. The barbie goes in the cupboard and the bowl comes out. She tries it on like a hat. Such a trendsetter. When she gets to the TV room, the bowl finally wobbles off her head. She reaches to pick it up, but it landed right next to dad's shoe. The bowl is forgotten and the shoe is placed on one small foot. Clomping happily with every other step, Kaitlyn makes her way to mom and dad's bedroom. Dad always keeps fun things on his bedside table. The shoe is left on the table, and Kaitlyn is the proud possessor of a set of motorcycle keys. Into the oratory she goes, dropping the keys in front of the icons she can reach and grabbing St. Catherine off the wall. Kissing the icon repeatedly, Kaitlyn weaves her way back to the playroom, stopping at the kitchen table to trade St. Catherine for a sippy cup. And so on, and so forth. Only some parts of this story were made up. :)
Gretchen helps me in the kitchen. That's what I was trying to remember in my last post. She is always asking if she can "make" with me. She likes to stir and measure ingredients, but she is wary of the big knife after she cut herself (not badly) getting it out of the dishwasher about a month ago. Anytime I'm doing something in the kitchen, Gretchen is there helping.
Gretchen is also incredibly sweet, always giving hugs and kisses. She shares everything she has with her sisters. Gretchen seems happiest when others are happy, so she is very generous with her food and toys. Gretchen also likes to talk -- no shyness here! The doctor did learn the answers (and then some) to all the questions she asked Olivia, but Gretchen was the one giving them. Gretchen also jumped on one foot and took deep breaths for the doctor. :) Check out the video below for a sample of how Gretchen might answer a question that is asked.
We went to camp two weeks ago and saw lots of family. Olivia and Gretchen are getting old enough that they remember faces, so they're more comfortable with the people. I don't remember many details about camp, but we did have fun and there are some pictures on facebook that I should steal for the blog. :)
Pictures and Video:
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