Sleepover

A few of Emily's friends have been having sleepovers. We are always afraid to let Emily spend the night at someones house. She's a night owl and I'm afraid our friends won't be our friends when she's misbehaving at 2 AM. Although, she'd probably be an angel when she's not in our house.

Yesterday, Emily said she wished her friend, Alanah, could spend the night. I thought why not? So, we called Alanah and made arrangements. This would be Emily's first sleepover. It was good her first one was at our house.

They played Wii games.

And chased each other through the house.

I let them stay up late and then they went to bed.

There was no craziness or problems in the middle of the night. Alanah was the perfect friend to have our first sleepover.

I see a lot more of these in our future.

Sealed With A Kiss

If you have a kid in Kindergarten, they have to be signed out every day. Which means, waiting in a line outside the entrance to Kindergarten with 25 other parents. Over the course of a year, you become friendly with these people. You know when one is having a bad day and listen when another tells you about their knee surgery. You hear about great restaurants in town or some fun hiking trails for kids.

When Emily was in Kindergarten, these parents saw me stand in line with a 4 pound premature baby and Ben dressed in a costume. They all thought Ben was a riot and loved watching Noah grow up throughout the year. It's just 10 minutes a day, but over a year, a bond is formed with these kinder parents.

The other day we were talking about the school lunches. One Mom just finished her student teaching at the school and said how gross most of it is. The salad bar is good, but most kids don't go for the salad bar when they can get pizza every day. I'd be totally excited if my kids would eat school lunch, but they won't touch it. And why would they when I pack their lunch every day.

It takes a good 20 minutes. Of course, I'm telling them to get dressed and making them breakfast while making their lunches. They are very different, so they get different things.

Ben - peanut butter and jelly with the crust cut off, crackers or chips, fruit and some little treat, a Hershey's Kiss or this week it's a Reese's peanut butter cup. Ben's favorite. The only other thing Ben will have is Salami, Boars Head Genoa Salami sliced thin fresh from the deli. Ben gets a juice box instead of Capri Sun as he can't stick the straw in the pouch yet on his own. The box is easier to put the straw in. Ben is predictable and easy.

Emily - she's all over the place. These week, she is loving ham sandwiches with extra mustard. She eats her crust. She also loves soup, which I heat and put in a thermos. She also gets crackers or chips, fruit and a little treat. Emily is actually easier because she doesn't care what I pack. But, I can guarantee she's the only second grader who gets excited when I pack her pea soup.

Then, I write a note on their napkin. Something simple, but just so they know I love them.

My earliest memories of eating lunch at school was in high school. I have a bad memory though. But chances are my kids will never remember that I cut off their crust and wrote them a love note every day. But, I don't do it so that they will remember the gesture 20 years from now.

I do it because I imagine they look around the table and see their friends eating "chicken" with "potatoes" and "gravy" from the school cafeteria. No special treats. No love notes. And I hope they enjoy their extra dose of love in their lunch box.

Emily.

David woke up at 5:30 this morning. He found a very lively Emily sitting at the foot of Ben's bed having a conversation with a very tired Ben. This is Emily. Every night is an adventure for her, and ultimately for us sometimes. I woke up last night and swore that someone was watching me in bed. Turns out, it was her. Totally freaked me out. After I tuck her in at night, I tell her, "don't come out of this room unless the house is on fire". She still comes out every night.

She said she couldn't sleep last night. I told her to turn on her light and read a book instead of waking up her brother who never has a problem sleeping all night in his own bed. She was all surprised. I can do that? Um, why not? You do whatever you want anyways. Oh there will be some form of punishment, and then she'll behave for a week. And then we are back to the same thing.

She is actually always really good waking up and getting ready for school. Truly I could care less what she does at night, watch TV, eat cereal, read a book, just don't wake anybody else up.

While she gets about half the sleep that I do, she still manages to be a great student. Today was the school assembly and she received Student of the Month.

Here she is walking in to the gym. She didn't notice me, but I had a camera covering most my face.

I went over and took a picture with her class. I'm sure in a few years this will embarrass her.

She got called on stage to receive her award.

"Emily, look at Mommy so I can get a good picture"....

She finally sees me.

And smiles.

Here's the video.

She's an awesome kid. I'm glad she's mine. But, if I catch her watching me again in my sleep, I'm going to have to buy her a TV for her room.

New Things

Have all my posts been about Noah lately?

I'm home with him everyday, and he's doing so many new things. This weekend we had a big event. Noah ate cereal. Well, he always eats cereal, but never with milk...at the table. It was quite an event.

He has some great motor skills. He only dropped one Fruit Loop on the floor. Is he flipping me off?

Noah and Ben are actually playing together. It's fun to watch. Today Ben was finishing his breakfast, Noah pulled on his shirt and said, "come on Ben". Off they went to dress up like Captain America. We were watching the movie.

David commented that it seems Noah is going to be as into Superheros as Ben. Which I'm sure David is thrilled about because he enjoys the movies and books himself.

Our boys aren't really into trucks or tractors or dinosaurs.

It's all about Superheros in this house.

Epic Failure?

Nothing quite makes me happier than clearing out the fridge. Eating leftovers, watching empty containers go in the sink. It makes me happy. Does it make you happy too? Anyone? Anyone?

I had 1 cup of pumpkin leftover from last weeks final Christmas celebration. I decided to whip together a loaf of pumpkin bread. I used this recipe because I stalk this ladies blog and she always makes such pretty desserts and serves them up on white pie plates. It's her Aunt Lucille's recipe. I don't know Aunt Lucille, but I imagine she serves up a pretty mean pumpkin bread. I halved the recipe because we only had 1 cup of pumpkin to get rid of.

I made 2 mini loves because they cook faster. The timer beeped. They looked good. I was supposed to meet my friend to walk in 3 minutes. I pull the loaves out, do the toothpick test, which came out clean, and went walking. No excuses, remember?

When I came back, my pumpkin loaves looked like a volcano with a giant hole in the middle. Bummer. I tasted an end and Aunt Lucille is spot on. My Mom convinced me to cut them open and bake them longer. After another 15 minutes, they are cooked. Behold - the twice baked pumpkin loaf!

We kept cutting off ends to test to see if they were done.

The bad news is they look awful.

The good news is they still taste pretty good. Extra crispy, but good.

Imagine how great they will taste when I cook them long enough next time.

On another note, I haven't had a manicure since sometime in 2010. Noah gave it a whirl today.

I think he's as good of a manicurist as I am as a baker. I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon.

No Excuses

The motto this season on The Biggest Loser is "No Excuses". Sure, I'm not 100 pounds overweight, but there are a lot of things I want to be doing that I make a lot of excuses for.

Exercise. I got on a kick a few months back that lasted one day. Then, I broke up with my treadmill again and I came this close to selling it on Craigslist. I don't even care if I lose weight (although, that would be nice), but I just want to move. Some days the only exercise I get is walking from the computer to the kitchen. But, I've learned that I really just don't like to exercise. It has to be fun and not feel like exercise or I won't do it. So my friend and I have started walking. 30 minutes, Monday through Friday. No excuses.

Church. We talk about going all the time. David is very picky and can't find any church that he loves. I don't care so much, let's just go. The last 2 years, it was out of the question with Noah due to his health. But, he hasn't had an ear infection in a long time and he would hopefully let us leave him in the nursery at Church.

When David's Mom was visiting, Emily slept in our bed with us. When my Dad and Suzy came for the night, Ben slept with us too. It was me, Ben and Emily in bed. David on the sofa at the foot of the bed. It's the most comfortable sofa ever, so he really had the best spot. In any case, we started talking about church with the kids and God. We asked what Jesus looked like.
Emily said, "He has brown hair and a beard".
And Ben said, "And he wears a hoodie!"
A hoodie. Really? How about a robe Ben? In any case, we need to go to church. No excuses.

And for my father-in-law, here's a picture of the kids after a shower. He checks everyday for pictures. Ben was trying, not very successfully, to cover his chest.

A Chill New Year

The last few days of 2011 were spent busily running around putting up Christmas decorations and cleaning the house. I just wanted to start the new year without a long "to do" list.

One of those chores that needed to be done was haircuts. Ben's was getting long and when faced with the option of me combing it every morning or getting it cut, he chose getting it cut. So, David was first, then Ben. We've tried to cut Noah's, but it never really did much. This time, I tried it and got a nice chunk of hair. So, it was time for his first official haircut.

He was a little apprehensive.

He was moving all over the place.

Next time, I'll put a movie on. But, it came out pretty good.

Then, he yelled at me for missing a spot and left without leaving a tip.

Whatever.

David took his Mom to the airport this morning. The house is kind of quiet and it's a low key day. The kids go back to school tomorrow. We spent the day relaxing.

I'm liking 2012 already.