January 21-28

Matthias had a checkup: 17 lbs, 7 oz, 27.25 inches.  His various rashes are also looking much better after being on antibiotics for a week.

Bryan and I did an Iron Chef challenge.  For those who don't know what that is (like we didn't), we had to pick a "secret ingredient" and both make a dish with it.  The winner was supposed to be judged using several factors, including budget, time taken, and tastiness of dish.  We just went to a random aisle in Walmart, asked a stranger to help us pick an ingredient (soba noodles), and fed the prepared food to our kids.  The verdict?  We both lost.  :/  Actually, both dishes turned out well, but the kids didn't like them.  Bryan made Asian snot cups (a regular snot cup being a gross looking but allegedly tasty meal that his mom made when he was a kid).  He stuffed bread in muffin tins and then filled it with the noodles, chicken, and broccoli.  I made a basic stir fry, but  added sesame seed oil, which Bryan said was cheating.  He conceded that my dish was better, though, because his noodles got a little crispy while he was toasting the bread cups.

Pictures:

Bonus Post: Sound Bites 28

Jacque: Hi Kaitlyn!

Kaitlyn: Who are you?

Jacque: You know who I am!

Kaitlyn: No, who are you?

Jacque: You know!

Kaitlyn: WHO ARE YOU?

Jacque: I'm Aunt Jacque.

Kaitlyn: Well, where's Uncle Will?

Olivia: We can ask God to do it.
Gretchen: God doesn't always do what we ask.  Remember when I asked God to make my life better so I could be good at listening and he didn't do it?

Me: Kaitlyn, what are you doing on the counter?
Kaitlyn: Well, I just making fire.

Me, dishing out enchiladas: Kaitlyn, do you want a plain one or one with sauce?
Kaitlyn: Um, no.
Me: ...
Kaitlyn: I mean yes.

Olivia: Here is why I think we should play Forbidden Island: I did not do very much school today.
Bryan: You think we should play Forbidden Island because you did NOT do very much school today?
Olivia: Yes.
Bryan: Forbidden Island is not school.
Olivia: No, no, I would do some school while you get it ready.

Kaitlyn to Aunt Jacque when additional Elsa videos were denied : I'm going to go home because you won't let me be happy.

Olivia: When are the Wills coming?

Olivia, squeezing behind me to get through the door: Excuse me, Aunt Jacque.
Me: I'm not Aunt Jacque!
Olivia: Oh, well, excuse me, whoever you are.
Me: I'm mom, you goofy face!
Olivia: ...I think I knew that.

Gretchen, at the doctor's office: We're at the nursery!

Gretchen: Do you know what I want?
Me: What?
Gretchen: What I want is, well, what I really want is...
Me: Tell me Gretchen.  Tell me what you want, what you really, really want.

January 14-21

We spent most of the week in Sidney visiting Bryan's parents.  He had to work in Springfield several days in a row, so the kids and I hung out at grandma and grandpa's house.

Olivia's school self regulation is not improving.  She can whip through her work very quickly when she sets her mind to it, but she is uninterested in taking that initiative.  She also does not want to relinquish her new freedom to choose.  Bryan is frustrated by her since he sees more of her unwillingness to cooperate, but I find myself much less irritated during the day, so I guess that's progress.  :/  On the plus side, she has proved to grandma that she can indeed read, write, and do math, so I get bonus points for successfully providing an education.  :)

Kaitlyn likes to play games where she assigns roles to people.  Some favorites are Kaitlyn is the Elsa, Mommy is the Anna and Kaitlyn is the Mommy, Mommy is the Kaitlyn.  Once she has distributed the parts, breaking character is strictly prohibited.

Poor Matthias has been one big bundle of chapped baby these last few weeks.  Between teething, thumb-sucking, and a diaper rash he's sore and red all over.  I was treating him for a yeast infection, but when that didn't go away and he got red bumps all over his whole upper body, I ended up taking him in to the doctor.  It turns out that he had strep (but not in his throat).  Now a few days in to an antibiotic, he's looking much more comfortable.

All my best updates are Matthias recently.  He grabs things well enough to be dangerous, pulling bowls off tables and knocking mugs of hot liquid away from lips.  He rolls with some purpose, but still not tremendously accurately.  He is quite interested in solid food, and has so far enjoyed sweet potatoes and applesauce.  He has not enjoyed carrots.

Pictures:

January 7-14

Olivia has a new school responsibility system.  Tired of fighting the school battle, I told her that each day I will put out the work that she needs to do and she can choose when to do it.  If it's not done by the time we eat dinner, then she has to miss whatever Bryan does with them for bed to finish it.  So far she's been putting it off as long as possible, but at least we're not arguing about it all day.

Matthias can sit up well enough to be attended by nothing more than a circle of pillows.  He has found his toes, at least while lying down.  He has hilariously bad depth perception, and I often catch him staring intently while trying to grab something across the room.

We saw a guy hamming it up on a cardboard guitar with a picture of a pizza on it outside Little Caesar's and now Gretchen has found her life's ambition.  She's talking about how she can make a guitar just like it, complete with glued on pizza fabric, so that she can practice tricks in case they give her that job.

Reasons Gretchen wouldn't go outside the one day it was 60 degrees this week:
1. Poison ivy.
2. Bees.
3. Thunderstorms.

We found out this week that Cordelia the Cat is actually a boy, so we're searching for a new name.  The current front runner is... Matthias.

Kaitlyn likes to use my skirt as a blanket.  I have a habit of standing over the vent (see story below) and Kaitlyn enjoys lying on the floor and sticking her feet under my skirt.  She pulls the hem up to her shoulders and if I move she starts exclaiming, "My blanket, my blanket!"

When a stuffed animal got left at our house by a visiting child, Gretchen found it and placed it on the heating vent at the end of the counter saying, "Daddy, I will put Simmy's lizard here so that Mommy will see it when she comes home and give it back to him."  The heater is my home base, apparently.

My Christmas letter went out!  There were two versions of the picture, so check below to see if you got the regular one or the photobombed one.  :)

Pictures:

December 31-January 7

Mom and James were here all week.  We enjoyed seeing them without all the craziness of Christmas mixed in.  Matthias and I left the girls with the Weys and drove Mom and James to the airport on Friday.

Olivia and Gretchen love playing legos with Uncle James.  Unfortunately, they do not play the same way he does.  There were many lamentations of too many weddings and not enough wars.  :)  While the children were occupied with lego nuptials, Mom and I affixed some hooks to boards and hung them in the coat space near the back door.  We also put Bryan and Josef to work hanging some new shelves in my laundry room.  They look fabulous (the shelves, that is).

The annual Messiah party was Thursday night.  Mom and James were excited to be able to come sing.  Bryan watched kids, as is his custom.  The kids ate pizza and watched movies, as is their custom.  :)  I played viola and then got to sing Christmas carols.

We have a new cat. Some friends had a relative who was giving away a spare barn cat and now that barn cat is our garage cat.  It looks quite similar to our old cat, and is already out of the kitten stage.  The girls have named it Cordelia.

Olivia lost her first tooth yesterday.  It's been getting progressively looser, and she had me check it in the morning.  I told her it was loose enough that she could yank it out if she wanted to, but she decided to wait instead.  An hour later, Matthias kicked her in the mouth while they were playing and her tooth came out.

Kaitlyn's name, in her own words, is Kaitlyn Elaine Bah-hohs.

Here's Gretchen's original paragraph from this year's Christmas letter.  I can post it even though you haven't received your letter yet because after I wrote it Bryan decided (and I agreed) that it was too negative so I scrapped it and started over.  Negative is unnecessary for the once-a-year Christmas letter, but perfectly acceptable in my blog!  Future Gretchen, this was for posterity:

Gretchen, 4, is our most opinionated child.  That’s not to say that the others aren’t opinionated, it’s just that Gretchen takes it to a whole new level.  She has a particular way that she wants things done and it falls to her less-than-perfectionist parents to try to adequately realize the visions she has in her mind.  Needless to say, she’s often disappointed with our efforts.  She’s learning to handle her disappointment appropriately, though, and is becoming more independent as she takes matters into her own hands.  She’s very deliberate (in a flighty way) in everything she does, which is interesting to watch as she “does school” with Olivia.  She is still enjoying dance class although she often needs to be reminded that it’s worth interrupting playing to attend.  Sweet as ever, Gretchen “loves everyone and everything” and goes out of her way to make sure that her sisters are happy.

Pictures and Videos:

January 1, 2018

Happy New Year!

My house is still full and my Christmas letter has yet to be written.  I do have some video links to share, as well as encouragement to check for backdated posts (possibly as far back as the end of October) this coming week.  I'm hoping to get all of 2017 posted by January 8 at the latest so that I can take advantage of a good coupon for printing my 2017 book.  If you comment before January 9, your comments will make it into the book as well.  :)

Videos (password BarhorstBrewed)
Kaitlyn Eats Corn
Halloween
Being Funny
Caramel Apples
Matthias vs. Blanket
Matthias is Talented
Hershey Kiss House
Bad Guys
More Bad Guys
Matthias is Scared
Kaitlyn Cuts Chicken

December 24-31

Merry Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas twice since St. Stephen's is currently without a priest.  The bishop gave his blessing for the Christmas liturgy to be celebrated on Sunday with the substitute priest.  We had the service, the festal potluck, and a relaxing evening of dinner and games with the Creightons.  Then on Monday we went to Catholic Mass, opened our first day's presents, and made a Christmas duck (!) for dinner.

Jacob and Jillian drove in on Monday afternoon.  This made Bryan especially happy because Mom, Dad, and James arrived late Monday night early Tuesday morning and Jacob was willing to go pick them up from the airport.  Jacque and Will came in Tuesday afternoon.  The Bossards were unfortunately detained due to sickness, but we did get to see them on Saturday.  Bishop PAUL decided to visit for the church feast day, so we had liturgy with the bishop on Wednesday morning.  Jacob and Jillian left Wednesday afternoon to go help Joe propose to Angelina on Thursday evening, after which they all came back to our house.  On Friday the Eichers and Aufdemberges came to visit and after the kids went to bed we did the secret Santa gift exchange (Justine and Joseph video called in).  Jacob left Friday night for work related reasons.  The Bossards, now free from sickness, arrived Saturday afternoon just in time to say hello-goodbye to dad before Bryan took him to the airport.  The Smiths left a few hours later.  We still have the Bossards through tomorrow, Joe, Angelina, and Jillian through Monday, and Mom and James until Friday.

We played a lot of games and ate a lot of Christmas cookies this week.  Peppermint ice cream was consumed with homemade hot fudge.  Bryan has a new video game called Super Mario Maker and he designed levels for people to play.  We played a few new board games and convinced James to play Splendor, Carcassone, and Forbidden Island with Olivia.  Jacque and Will got the girls a new game, Hullabaloo, that they enjoy playing by themselves.  The week was quite enjoyable.  :)

Matthias is in 12 month clothes, has a second tooth, and grabs his toes.  My siblings were quite impressed with his baby planks as well as with his "superman," which I'm guessing is a stretch where you put all your limbs in the air while you balance on your stomach.

Olivia thinks her godmother is a fairy godmother.  After receiving a gift from her godmother, she wanted to know if she also had a fairy godfather.  She does.  Then she wondered how else her fairy godmother might help her in her life.  Justine seemed pleased with this designation.

Pictures:

Bonus Post: A Quest for Four Smiles

December 17-24

Olivia and Gretchen had a dance recital last Sunday.  They were in The Nutcracker: All Jazzed Up.  I have a vague idea of how The Nutcracker goes, which is the only reason I could follow what was happening on stage at all.  Bryan just saw a series of disconnected dances that claimed to be part of an overarching story line.  Olivia was a wildflower and Gretchen was a lavender angel.  I need to invest in some hairspray for next time.  Their buns were fine when I left them in the dressing room, but by the time they got on stage they both had wisps of hair in their faces.  Poor Olivia was pushing hair out of her eyes after every other step.

Matthias is definitely a thumb sucker.  After fighting it for almost two months, he finally succumbed, and now he uses his thumb when he's being tired and snuggly.  It has made church easier since he can generally be convinced to suck his thumb to take his morning nap while being held, but it hasn't really affected his sleeping routine yet.  I still have to nurse him, but after I put him down his thumb goes straight into his mouth.  He favors the right thumb slightly more than the left and is becoming attached to his blanket square as a thumb sucking aid.

Baby planks are Matthias's exercise of choice.  He pushes up on his hands and feet all the time and looks very proud of himself.  Every now and again he gets one knee down, but never two.

I found a tooth all popped through the gum in Matthias's mouth last night.  Another one is on the way.

Speaking of teeth, Olivia has teeth like a shark.  Since her adult teeth are coming up behind her baby teeth, the little ones are taking longer than usual to fall out.  She has two big teeth nearly halfway in while two baby teeth just hang out in front of them.

Gretchen talks a lot about "God magic."  As far as she is concerned, God is a very real, although somewhat finicky, magician.  She will tell me that God will use His magic to help her remember something, or ask me if maybe God could use His magic to get us more milk for breakfast since we ran out.

Kaitlyn's phrase of choice recently is, "Oh, I forgot!"  It could mean that she actually forgot something, but it could also mean that she wants something ("I forgot to get cereal," generally said just before dinner) or that she's stalling ("I forgot to tell you something," used at bedtime) or that she had an idea ("I forgot to color a letter for Gretchen") or that she noticed something ("I forgot Matthias was crying"). She forgets everything.

I've been teaching the girls to play board games this week.  We played Carcassone and Splendor and Olivia played Scrabble with me.  They're not fantastic at the older games yet, but they understand the basic rules and they're very excited to play.

Jacque made a surprise visit this week.  She was coming to straighten out some car things having to do with titles and Chicago emissions requirements.  It was nice to see her, however briefly.

Pictures:

Bonus Post: Sound Bites 27

Gretchen: I don't like this cookie.
Me: You don't?  Why not?
Gretchen: It hurts my mouth.
Me: What hurts your mouth?
Gretchen: Probably the chocolate.  Chocolate is hot sometimes, like hot chocolate.  That is always hot.  Except when it gets colder and colder.

Gretchen: We are making buckEYES.  Are they called buckEYES because of the one dot that is an eye?

Gretchen: Mommy, Kaitlyn's smelly.
Me: Kaitlyn, did you poop?
Kaitlyn: Um, yes!
Me: *checking Kaitlyn* Nope, you're fine.
Kaitlyn: Oh, my fine.
Gretchen: She's fine?
Me: Yep.  She must have just farted.
Gretchen: I thought she pooped because something was stinky over here.  It was actually me who farted.

Gretchen: When I am a mother I am going to let my kids do whatever they want.

*Kaitlyn, after finishing two bowls of cereal, spots me across the room preparing my own breakfast.*
Kaitlyn: Here!  *starts moving a chair to stand on*  I will help you eat it!

Olivia: Chapter 3.
Gretchen: 4!
Olivia: No, that's a 3.
Gretchen: Sometimes threes look like fours.
Olivia: Mom, is that a three?
Me: Yes.
Olivia: See?
Gretchen: She just thinks it's a three because it looks like a three.

Me: How are you?
Kaitlyn: I Kaitlyn Elaine!
Grandma: We know who you are, we want to know HOW you are.
Kaitlyn: ...Mmhmm.

Gretchen: I never whine at grandma because I like her.  But I whine at you because I do not like you as much.  Because you always yell at me a lot.

Me: What are you doing?
Kaitlyn: I'm sweeping Daddy.  He's not being nice.

Olivia: Mine is 199.
Gretchen: Mine is *dramatic pause* 69.
Olivia: 199 is bigger.
Gretchen: I mean, mine is 78 tall and strong.
Olivia: 199 is still bigger.  199 is the biggest number I know.
Me: What comes after 199?
Olivia: 200!
Me: Now that's the biggest number you know.

Olivia: What's the biggest number?  1000?
Me: What comes after 1000?
Olivia: 1001.  1002.  1003.  Oh, mine is 1009!
Gretchen: Mine is 1010.
Olivia: Mom, is 1010 a number?
Me: Yes.
Olivia: Well what is the one where after it we start over again at one?
Me: There isn't a number like that.  You can always count to a bigger number.  That's the concept of infinity.

Olivia: Daddy is a slow poke.
Gretchen: No!  Daddy is always a fast poke.