Happy Birthday, Girlies!

If I was a good mom, I would probably make separate posts for each girl's birthday. However, I am combining them into one to save time.

Emma turned 8 on March 26th. Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday, or maybe the day before, that she was a toddler. Now she's 8 going on 18. She wanted Carraba's for her birthday dinner - yum! Here she is with her birthday sundae:



Abbie turned 7 on March 28th. It's amazing to me that she's so grown up! She can read and write and sing. She's so good at gymnastics, for her first time out. Abbie decided on Chinese food at home for her birthday dinner. She's a girl after my own heart.



Our friends Ian an Tonna came for both girls' birthday dinners. Isaac loves Tonna. She comes and hangs out with us on Tuesdays and Wednesdays - she is our nanny in name, but we think of her as family. And Ian too since they're married. :)



Ian very kindly assisted Todd in assembling all the Playmobil the girls got for their birthdays. Apparently there are many, many little stickers involved in Playmobil. I'm so glad it was my job to buy it, not put it together!



Isaac wasn't too sure what was going on, but he loved Grandpa's pocket watch! All the babies in our family love that watch. Emma used to say, "Grandpa, is-a you watch in-a you pocket?" Oh, it was so cute. But, I digress. Between the pocket watch and his cut-off thumb (long story involving a table saw), he is a favorite with the grandkids, especially while they are teething.



Webkinz are the hot thing at our house right now, and the girls received several. Here is their birthday collection:




The really fun thing we did for the girls' birthdays this year was mining for emeralds! We went to the Emerald Hollow Mine at Hiddenite, NC. My dad heard about it on the National Geographic Channel. He, Abbie and I all love rocks. (Do you have a special rock? If not, you need to read this book.)

Anyhoo, this mine is the only emerald mine in North America open to the public. We thought since we were going on a Friday, it wouldn't be that busy. Boy, were we wrong! There was a huge line of people waiting to get in when we got there, because you have to pay for and fill out permits to be able to prospect for gems. By the time we got up to the check-in place, they were out of equipment for digging and panning, so our only option left was sluicing - you take your buckets o' dirt and sit in front of troughs with running water, and wash through your dirt to see what rocks you might find.

We started out with $5 buckets, and found some tiny emeralds and some other interesting things. Then, my dad decided we needed to have better rocks so he got a bigger bucket called a "Gem Cutter's Dream" or something like that. That was fun - we found some hugh quartz crystals, and a really cool cluster of amethyst crystals. That made Abbie's day! She loves amethyst. After that, we got a couple of "Ruby and Star Sapphire" buckets. We found quite a few rocks that looked like they might be worth something.

Here is Isaac in the backpack (a steal from a consignment shop for $43 - woo hoo!):



He was such a good boy! He even took a nap while Grandma wore him:



Here we have Abbie and Grandma sluicing:



And Emma and Grandma working hard:



When we got the "Gem Cutter" bucket, we were all finally sitting next to each other, sharing the dirt. I would send my little screen down for more dirt, and as they were putting it in, the girls would pick out the big rocks. "Look what I found!" they would shriek. I finally had to make them PUT THE DIRT IN MY SCREEN and let me have it. I don't mind them taking rocks, but come on! At least let me have the fun of playing in the dirt!

We brought home everything we found, and my dad got himself a rock book and a magnifier, and had a grand time sorting through all the rocks, identifying what he could and sorting them. He took them back to Michigan with him, so that he could take them to a geologist/gemologist at a jeweler's he trusts. We had sapphires, rubies, emeralds, citronite, something blue I can't recall just now, quartz, and amethyst. I know there was other stuff too, but those are the main ones.

Come to find out, everything we found is "specimen grade," which means it's fun to play with and great to study, but we won't be making any money from our rocks. That's just as well, because the girls love to play with them. He left the larger quartz crystals here, along with Abbie's amethyst. He has a rock saw, a tumbler and a polisher up north, so this summer when we go, the girls can see the rocks he's cut. He even has some of my grandfather's old findings so they can make some jewelry from the rocks. I'd really like to see them each get a necklace, at least, with the small emeralds we found. They might not be precious in anyone else's eyes, but I know they will treasure them.

That was a really fun trip. My folks had wanted to take the girls on an adventure, rather than just bringing more stuff, and it was wonderful. Last year we went to the beach, and that was cool - the first time we'd ever been to the beach in NC, after living here 9 years! I hope we will come up with another adventure for next year, too.

Check this out!

I am a bit of a language/linguistics freak. I need to mention that before I post this link.

I was looking for a way to do a schwa in HTML, so I could describe the sounds Schmooey is making. I found this site and was so excited! It's the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in HTML! Whee!!!!!!!!

I majored in linguistics in college, and phonetics was my favorite area of study. What's really cool about the IPA is that you can transcribe any word, in any language, and know how to pronounce it. It doesn't matter what their alphabet looks like or if you have a clue how to speak it, if you know the IPA. Nifty, cool stuff, that.

So, lest I keep you in suspense - I know you're dying to hear what Isaac's been saying - he likes to say /bəf/ a lot, preferrably with a fair amount of spit involved on the /f/. He has also started saying "wahwah" when he's not terribly pleased with a situation, and his favorite seems to be "vavavavavavava" as many times in a row as he can do it. He sounds a little annoyed when he talks, actually, but I think he is just vocalizing loudly to make himself heard above the din of his sisters.

He is such a boy. He loves to lean over and shake the magnifier arm on my Ott Light. He has discovered that it's really cool to shake a bottle of water and watch the water slosh around. And, he can roll places to get things he wants now, so he's technically mobile - thankfully we keep his stuff pretty close and he's easily entertained so he hasn't gotten into much yet.

Also, he is nearly sitting up! He does really well if we set him up like a little tripod, until he gets excited and reaches for something. Then there is a distinct list.

I don't think I'm ready for all these new developments. Emma keeps telling me he's growing up to quickly. She has no idea.

Ack (Otherwise known as "What's on YOUR Desk?" Meme)

"What's on YOUR desk?

You can tell a lot about a person by the state of their desk and what they keep on it. So, share what's on your desk. You can take pictures, take an inventory, or do both. Don't have a desk? That's okay, just give us a glimpse into the space where you pay bills, write letters, grade papers, study, or work on the computer.

When you've finished your photos or inventory, post it on your blog and tag five more people to do the same. Don't forget to share the rules with those you tag and ask them to share their posts with you when they are done."

Audrey tagged me again, and while I think it's really fun to be tagged for memes, I am terribly embarrassed by this one! I have to post a picture of what my desk looks like. I'd like to say that this has been an abnormal couple of weeks with the baby having the flu and all... but I'd be lying. My desk always looks like this, except for when I get a wild hair and clean it all up. Then it looks really good for a day or two. Then it looks like this picture again.



On the left you can see the printer and scanner. My camera case is over there (sans camera) and a stapler. I have a stack of CDs, mostly Classical Kids that I'm trying to load into iTunes. There are a few Mary Kay samples and a business card case. There are papers everywhere. The ones on top were intended for valentines that never got made. I have Todd's little photo album that needs new pictures. I have very annoying baby keys that need to GO AWAY. I have a calligraphy marker. I have a little hand towel with Abbie's hand print from 2005 that she made me in preschool for Mother's Day. I see a mechanical pencil and a recipe card, and the Epson PictureMate printer (which I love, BTW). Then, extending on to the back of the couch, I have some MK labels, my Franklin Planner hole punch, and some empty print cartridges from the above-mentioned PictureMate.

There you have it! Thanks Audrey! I don't know what this says about me and I probably don't want to know...

I'm tagging:

1. Jessica at Trivium Academy
2. Stacey
3. Susan at JAM & Cheese
4. Mom2legomaniacs
5. Aubrey

Have fun!

Here is the original meme-er.

I'm not really missing

I don't mean to take so long between posts. Really, I don't. I have all these grand plans, you see, that involve taking pictures and actually loading them, and then the posts just don't happen! I decided to come and post a quick update, even though I don't have the pics just yet.

Last week was less than fun. Isaac had the flu - real, live, tested-positive-in-the-nose influenza. I don't know which kind, and I can't remember if the doctor told me. It doesn't matter that much, anyway - the baby was sick. He seemed fine Monday morning, but by the time he got up from his first nap he had a fever, which shot up to over 102. Off to the doctor we went, and he ended up having the flu. This caused me to panic quietly, as I have not had such a small baby be that sick before, but the pediatrician was wonderful. He prescribed Tamiflu for the rest of us (Schmooey being too young) and told me to keep the wee boy hydrated. He was clearly concerned, too, that such a young little guy would have the flu.

The good news? It really wasn't horrible. Zacky was definitely sick, but his fever stayed pretty low after that first day. That was a good thing, because he gagged and yakked all over me every time I tried to give him any Tylenol or Motrin. I got Tylenol in a couple of times, but only by sheer luck. He was able to keep nursing with no trouble, which was great. And now, he's really mostly better. I'm even thinking that we might still be able to go see my sister this weekend, even though I have basically canceled the trip in the interest of not exposing her 5 week old twins to the flu. (Everyone else there has had the flu shot. It's not that we don't give a hang about the rest of her family.)

So, last week the girlies spent a great deal of time watching TV and playing with their Webkinz. Emma was the next most ill, but she only had a fever for one night and after that was mostly fine, just a little tired. Abbie never got sick. Todd and I had a cough, and I was really tired, but whether that was flu or sleep deprivation is anyone's guess.

This week we are all much better, anyway. Tonna, my good friend and nanny, is on vacation. This is the third week without her. She usually does the laundry, among other things. I have been desperately trying to keep up with it, but somehow it's just never done. I think it's been breeding. It knows that she's not here and I can't keep it under control, so it's flaunting its ability to over run the house. Well, I have news for it - she's coming back next week! Ha!

The girlies and I have started our Birds lapbook from Hands of a Child. I'm going to have to see if I can get into lapbooking. I love the idea, but in reality, I'm not so good with longer term projects. I would like to do a lapbook in one day and have it be done. However, it's a very nice Charlotte-Masony project, in that you learn small chunks of information at a time and then do short activities for the lapbook. There are only 19 activities in this one. I just can't see this going on for 19 days, but what the heck. We have a great selection of birds at our feeders, and lots of books to read about birds. We can go outside in our yard and listen to all kinds of different bird songs. We really like birds around here. I suppose we can like them intentionally for 19 days. You think?

One of the cool things we did for science recently was to put an earthworm in a jar. We found a half-dead worm (nearly dehydrated after seeking respite from drowning on the sidewalk after a rain storm), took it home, and put it in the jar according to the directions in the MFW 1st grade teacher's manual. Well, mostly according to the diections - I didn't have any sand, so we used vermiculite. So, we covered the jar and tried not to peek too many times, but that worm never did anything. I told the girls to let it go, thinking that either one worm was just not going to show up in our jar (even though it was a small jar) or it had gone from half dead to all dead and we were out of luck.

So today, I looked at our jar, and there were TONS of worm tunnels. We even saw the worm on the side of the jar, digging merrily away. I was so excited! I showed the girls, so proud of our first-aid efforts to rescue the worm..... and then they informed me that they'd put a new worm in the jar. Humph. Well, it was still cool. Todd took a picture for me and I will try to post it soon... heh.

And, if you promise not to tell.... we've been playing a lot of Webkinz games! Even Todd and I are into this. I am now the proud owner of 4 pets: Imogen the LilKinz Googols, Millicent the LilKinz Horse, Eilonwy the Cow and Jenny Linsky, the black cat. I also have Hen Wen, my LilKinz pig to adopt on Saturday when it's really March - she will be the pet of the month so we will get all kinds of extra cash and prizes. Woo hoo! Todd and I are decorating Medieval rooms. Eilonwy is sleeping in mine. I also have a ballet room for Imogen, a country room for Millicent, and a royal cat room for Jenny Linsky. I have a garden for food and a yard for playing. I have an atrium that I'm starting to decorate. I am collecting a few other things for trade or possible future rooms. If that doesn't tell you that I've spent WAY too much time on the Webkinz site, then you're probably playing more than I am and we need to enter a recovery program together. The girls and I have made a deal that we won't log on until after 4pm when there are extra "events," but you know, yesterday my favorite game was the game of the day so I could earn lots of extra money and today there will be a hot air balloon on sale in the Curio Shop so..... maybe the post-4pm plan can start tomorrow.

All right, I'm just rambling. My boy is hungry and we haven't yet started school. It's lunch time, for goodness's sake! I will be back, I hope, with pictures soon.

Breaking News: Copywork brings major crisis for 7-year-old

This morning, we started school with math. That went over pretty well, especially since they only had to do one page with a whopping three problems. I got out their mini-offices that we used last year, since Emma tends to wait until Abbie completes her problems and copy the answers.

Then, Abbie went on to do her MFW phonics, and Emma was supposed to do her copywork. I don't ask a lot; she writes the date, her name, and one or two sentences from Farmer Boy, since that's what we're reading right now.

First, she wrote the date in deplorable handwriting and asked me if it was all right. I told her she'd have to redo it. This brought on tears.

Then, the pictures of letters and digraphs in her mini-office proved to be too distracting to allow her to complete her copywork, so I removed hers. More tears.

I told her we had to do school, whether she thought it was fun or not. I offered to let her work on her addition facts lapbook and then come back to the copywork. She informed me, through her pitiable weeping, that she did not wish to do either one.

I had her go to her room and lay on her bed with her blankie and bear until she feels better. That was approximately 45 minutes ago, and I've seen no signs of her coming out. I wonder if she's asleep?

I think that's a large part of the problem. I came to the conclusion last week that the girls are going to have to give up naps, because they don't sleep very long anyway and this way I can put them to bed earlier. Apparently earlier isn't early enough - we will have to work on that. I knew the transition into no naps would be rough, and that's why we haven't done it before. I can't take the whining.

Ah - I see my Bean in the doorway. I hope she's decided that we can complete school now. I wanted to go get some knitting needles today, but school has to get done first. Here's hoping we get to go later!

Book Meme

Look, look! Audrey tagged me for a book meme! I have never been tagged with a meme before, and I'm very excited.

Book Meme Rules:
Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
Open the book to page 123
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the next three sentences.
Tag five people.

My nearest book is Midnight Folk by John Masefield.

'Piney,' he said, 'my liver's like a shifting backstay. It takes me across the brisket instead of supporting my vital organs.'

"He was a broken man on his return, my Pa. ..."

Now I'm off to find 5 lucky people who haven't been tagged with this meme yet. Heh heh heh.

Grammar Police

I have a confession to make.

I am a card-carrying member of the Grammar and Spelling Police.

It drives me bonkers to read a blog (or anything else) with spelling mistakes and poor grammar. It takes all my self-control not to post corrections. I can't stand it. I even sit in church (shhhh!) and wish that the pastor would have had me do some editing before he got up to speak in church, most Sundays. (I know this means I have some serious attitude adjustment to do. God and I are working on this, I promise.)

Phew! I feel better, having that off my chest. I was just reading a blog in which the author used "except" instead of "accept" several times and couldn't take it anymore. I had to fess up.

I think I need to read Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation again. It will do my spirit good.

Look At These Babies!

When my parents were here for Christmas, my dad picked up a picture of Abbie (dressed in pink and flowers), and said, "Wow, Isaac really looks like Todd!" I said, "Yes, he does, Dad, but that is a picture of Abbie." He said, "Wow, Isaac really looks like Abbie!"

That conversation inspired me to get out my baby books of the girlies and see who I thought he looked most like. Truly, their hospital pictures are hard to tell apart. If I look at them now, I can see them each in there, but eit was hard to tell who was who, except for the backgrounds in the photos, particularly right after we had Abbie.

I thought, just for fun, I'd post pics of all three of my angel babies so you can judge for yourself. Please indulge my little stroll down memory lane. Something about Schmooey has made me quite nostalgic.

Here is a picture of Emma at around 3 months:



Here is a picture of Abbie around that age:



And here is Zacky-doodle, as he is fondly known, at close to the same age too:



I think he looks like a nearly perfect blend of the two girls, but when I look at lots of baby Emma pictures, I think he looks more like her now. Who knows what I will think in a few more months? They were all so cute, I can hardly stand it. And, no, I am NOT biased; my babies were the cutest ever. So there.

And here, because I am determinedly taking you with me on this little journey, is a gratuitous picture of Emma reading a book with her daddy.




Doesn't that just melt your heart?

Adventures with Chocolate

This is chocolate.




This is your bed and clothing after you've fallen asleep with chocolate in your back pocket.



Chocolate which you weren't supposed to have anyway, and which caused your mother a great deal of work to get it all out.

Sigh. Let's at least hope the child is thankful not to have big brown stains on her "princess quilt."

Look at Schmooey Go!

Schmooey went to the doctor last week for his 4-month checkup, and he is doing very well. He was 27 inches long (from 25" at 2 months), 18 lbs 9 oz (from 14 lbs something), and his head is 45 cm around (up from 42 cm). He's in 9 month clothes now, and looks huge to me. I thought, since he is most likely my last baby, that God would allow him to grow up a little more slowly. Not so, as it turns out.

Last week, in addition to going to the doctor, he found his toes, and showed us that in spite of doing very little "tummy time," he can flip over just fine from his stomach to his back, thankyouverymuch. When Grandma and Grandpa were here for Christmas, they got to see him roll from his back to his tummy, but he has not done it again - he really doesn't care for being on his stomach at all. He will go approximately 2/3 the way over, then stick his leg out to stop himself. He wants to see what's going on, but not from his tummy.

Mom put me on my tummy, and I am NOT pleased.



Why must she do this? Can she not see that I am tired and naked, for goodness' sake?



Little does she know that I've figured this whole thing out. She is no longer able to torture me this way.



Oh, look! Toes!



(I do have better pictures of him grabbing his toes, but they were a little more... revealing, shall we say. :-)

This would go perfectly in my kitchen.....

And since my mixer has stopped working, it would be poetic justice if I won, don't you think?

A Cowboy’s Wife is having a contest on her food blog! You can win a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer and she’ll ship anywhere so everyone is eligible!

The Prize:

Hamilton Beach 4.5-qt. Eclectrics Stand Mixer, Pineapple Yellow

The winner will receive a brand new
Hamilton Beach 4.5-qt. Eclectrics Stand Mixer, Pineapple Yellow!!

About the mixer:

From Hamilton Beach’s “Eclectrics” line, this all-metal stand mixer comes with a host of accessories - a Flat Beater for cakes and cookies, a Dough Hook for bread and a Wire Whisk for whipped cream or pudding. The 4.5-qt. stainless steel bowl comes with a Pouring Shield that helps prevent splattering while in operation. The pouring shield has a built-in chute for adding ingredients. Powered by 400 watts, the stand mixer has a two-way mixing action to ensure all ingredients are incorporated into the mix. The quick-release, tilt-up head assists when removing the bowl. 9 x 14 x 14-in. When you’re ready for a kitchen re-do, don’t call in the carpenters! Instead, “counterscape” your kitchen with Hamilton Beach’s retro-designed, affordably priced electrics in happy, sun-saturated colors. Their “Eclectrics” line includes updates to those classic appliances from the 1950s. All of their “Eclectrics” are available in six colors: Apple Green, Moroccan Red, Pineapple Yellow, Intrigue Blue, Sugar White and Licorice Black.

Weekly Report

This week was our first week back at school since before Christmas. We were not terribly consistent before then, so now that the baby is a little older, I'm hoping to get back into a more regular routine.

This week, we started our My Father's World 1st grade curriculum. This involves phonics for Abbie, along with Bible, science and art. Up to now, we've been reading a chapter from Genesis and Proverbs each day, which we will continue - the Bible in MFW is history, and projects.

We also started using Professor B math this week. I purchased it last year when I was struggling to teach Emma with MFW 1 math, and then completely forgot about it. I pulled it out and set the girls to work on the computer CD. We're starting from the very beginning so that we understand the methodology, but I expect to push through the first parts rather quickly. We're also going to add in Singapore Math 1B, but I have to order that still. We were using Rod & Staff 1st grade math, but the girls really didn't care for it. I've been meaning to make the switch for a while. The new year seemed as good a time as any.

We did our second week of WriteShop Primary, as we are a test family and we've only completed 1 week to date. This week, the topic was "I Am Special." We made sentences talking about things we like to do, wear, and eat using our pocket chart, and discussed how the sentences formed complete thoughts (as well as how they didn't, before we added the object nouns). We also read Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie for our non-fiction book about a famous person. (Okay, perhaps not the world's most famous person, but it's what I had in the house. I was not up for a trip to the library with all 3 children this week.)

We completed four lessons in First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind this week, and learned about proper names for aunts, uncles and cousins. That was fun as the girls enjoy talking about family. We used our relatives' names for our copywork.

We've also been reading Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It's the third in the Little House series, and the girlies are enjoying the books tremendously. Emma got the The Little House Cookbook for Christmas, and has asked to make exciting things like fresh tomatoes with sugar and cream. Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

We were supposed to start Drawing with Children, but I must confess that I have been unable to locate the book. I will execute a search this weekend and start it on Monday. I purchased some sketch books on sale at A.C. Moore this week to use in our nature walks, which we will begin now that we're officially starting science with MFW. I'm hoping the girls will enjoy seeing their art skills improve and be able to utilize them in their sketch books.

For his part, Isaac showed us he can turn over from his tummy to his back, and discovered his toes. He also seems to be rebelling against sleeping, which is a bummer for Mommy. He had his 4 month checkup this week, and weighed in at 18 lbs 9 oz., measured 27 inches long and has a head circumference of 45 cm - 95th percentile all the way! We don't make them small around here, that's for sure.

That's about all the excitement for this week. I'm going to try to add some pictures in later.

Random Things

Yesterday, my friend Tonna and the girls gave Zacky his very first bottle! He took it like a champ. The only issue was that I'd only pumped 2 oz, because I wasn't sure he'd take it, and he would have liked more. What a good boy! Abbie would never take a bottle, so I just haven't been pumping for Isaac - I must have had to pitch 2 gallons of milk when Abbie was a baby. I'm excited by this because it means my mom and I can go shopping without the baby when she's here next week.

Here is Abbie giving Isaac part of the bottle:



And here he is with Emma:



They do love to take care of their baby brother. It's very sweet - except when they fight over him. Then it's just annoying.

Today, I found a picture of Abbie as a baby that looks exactly like Isaac. I had Abbie come over to look at it, and when I asked her who it was, she told me it was Zacky! LOL! Emma brought Zacky over so she could see, too, and Zacky was smiling and laughing at that cute baby on my computer screen.

We raked a big pile of leaves for jumping this morning - away from the part of the yard that the dog visits. Heh. Check out the fun we had!

The first big leap:



Whee!



Let's make the baby play in the leaves too (and, of course, NOT post the very next picture in which he rebelled and cried a lot):



I found some great cross-stitch sites this morning. I learned of a new designer (also a homeschooler!), My Mark Designs, when reading my new issue of Just Cross Stitch. When I looked at her blog, I found links to lots of stitching blogs! I am so excited! I don't get to stitch much right now, but I have lots of projects that I should be working on, and am looking forward to getting back to it someday soon. I would like to participate in the Fair and Square project. I shall have to ponder whether I can really make this happen.

Mammalian Marauders at the Bird Feeders

I love to feed the birds. When we lived in Michigan, we lived near some state land that was home to all kinds of beautiful birds, who would grace my bird feeders, bringing with them much joy for me and entertainment for my cats. Since moving to North Carolina, I've had to accept that my visiting bird population is different; we live in a wooded area here, as opposed to fields. That means we have a lot of insect-eating birds who don't visit the feeders as much. However, I have managed to attract a pretty fair variety and every now and then get some pretty cool birds.

As any home bird watcher knows, once you put out bird feeders, you get some other visitors that you may not have counted on. We have several squirrels who visit daily. I don't mind them so much; the cats love watching them and they're not so bad. We also have the occasional opossum. The critters I do mind, however, are the raccoons.

I have seen raccoons in the past, but was lulled into thinking they'd gone elsewhere for their nighttime snacking since I hadn't seen any in a while. However, I have recently discovered at least one fairly large one making nightly visits to my feeders. The dog won't even go out if there is a raccoon on the deck (he is quite lily-livered, since he weighs 70 lbs and the raccoons, while fat, don't come close).

The main problem is that my feeders are on my deck. Our back yard is quite a bit below our kitchen window, where we like to sit and watch birds. If the feeders were in the yard, we wouldn't be able to see them. We have the shepherd's crook poles installed and the feeders hang there. The thing is, the deck railing makes a great place for squirrels and raccoons to kick back and have a snack. I have the squirrels partially foiled with a Yankee Flipper feeder - I have seen squirrels get flipped off this thing and it's hysterically funny. There is no really good way to set things up with baffles or any other preventatives, though, because the raccoons just grab the feeder, swing the pole around and dig in.

I went searching on the internet a bit to see if there is anything to be done, and found some information on Dealing With Raccoons at the Bird Watcher's Digest site. While fun to read, it made me realize that I'm going to have to break down and bring my feeders in at night if I want to keep the coons away. Oh, well. It will be worth it if the dog will agree to go outside before bed.

Good Parent Today!

I feel like I've accomplished something today as a mom. For a few months now, Emma has been writing on a wall in our living room. I don't know why. When I asked her, she looked at me and said, "Well, we used to do it when we were little."

What?!?!? Not with impunity, they didn't!

So, today, after a few weeks of telling her she would be cleaning up her mess, I got out the Magic Erasers and set her to work.

She didn't like it at all. She whined. She said it was too hard. She complained that it was such hard work.

I suggested that perhaps she think twice next time she thinks it would be fun to write on the walls. BWA HA HAHAHAHA!! (evil mom laughter)(

In baby news, Isaac, aka Snort, aka Schmooey, voted not to nap today much. Finally I put him in his crib and after about a 30 to 45 minutes of complaining that really, naps are not at all necessary, he fell asleep. This is a good thing. I am quite wimpy about doing what I know needs to be done with this sweet boy to get him on a schedule, and I need to get a grip. Step one accomplished. :-)

Bicycle Fun For Two

It's finally happened - the day Emma said would never come! She has learned to ride a bike without training wheels! Abbie has too, of course, but in Abbie's mind, it was just a matter of time. Emma vowed that she would never, never ride a bike without training wheels. Thanks to our new friend Tonna, though, she looks like she's been riding on her own all her life.

I took them to the park on Thursday and Friday, and they had a ball. I cracked up when I heard Abbie say, "Look, Emma, I can turn left!" Apparently turning left had caused a few accidents on previous bike-riding expeditions.

Emma looks so comfortable on her bike, you'd never know she was afraid to take off the training wheels. Abbie, my little daredevil, careens around and runs into things pretty often. It's common to hear a crash, see a tangle of arms, legs, and bike, and find her little face peeking out saying "I'm okay!" when you're sure there should be something broken. In fact, I called Todd while he was up there with them yesterday, and heard her crash and say "I'm okay!" But when Todd asked her if she was sure, she said, "I think so," and started to cry. Poor sweetie. Her knees have taken quite a beating, and apparently she did a face plant yesterday too because her poor wee nose is scraped.

Todd took pictures of them yesterday with his fancy-dancy new camera lens. Enjoy!

Abbie, gleeful as always:


The near miss:


Look! Synchronized biking!


I love this picture of Emma, riding Abbie's bike with her tongue sticking out:

What's A Mom To Do?

I took Schmooey to his 2 month well visit last week, and it went very well. He weighs an ounce shy of 14 pounds, and is 25 inches long. He's grown a bit since he was born, I'd say. He has outgrown his 3-6 month clothing and looks quite handsome in his 6-9 month stuff.

The nurse asked me if he's turning over tummy-to-front yet. At two months? Would that not require me to put him on the floor? Why would I do that? I mean, he eats a lot, and would be quite happy to nurse all the time if I'd let him. Once he's done eating, his sisters argue about who gets to hold him, and after they're done, he's tired and it's time for a nap. Who has time for something as frivolous as tummy time? There is baby-head kissing to be done!

And then, when I told the pediatrician that I'm having a hard time getting him to bed before 11 pm or so, she asked me what he does during that time. Well, he nurses mostly, and snoozes occasionally. She mentioned that it might be a good idea to put him down and let him get used to being somewhat self-soothing. I was nonplussed. He has this great awake time around 10 pm when he's happy and cooing and laughing. He gets to spend time with his daddy then, and otherwise that's a pretty rare occurrence. Plus, I get extra time to stare at his beautifulness and wonder why God chose us to be so blessed with this child.

Really, he's not my first baby. I worked hard at sleep training them - they were both self-soothing pretty early on. Well, Emma was - Abbie refused to participate in the schedule concept for several months, and I confess freely that I nursed her to sleep most of the time until she quit nursing. Frankly, I was too tired to fight with her about it. But, by 6 months I did have even that stubborn baby on a schedule and she did have to cry occasionally.

This time, though... he's not my first, but he's probably my last. I didn't get much of a chance to enjoy either of my girls. I was pregnant with Abbie about 3 months after Emma was born, and quickly progressed into being really tired, counting the minutes between naps. I remember very little about Abbie as a baby since I was chasing after Emma while caring for my newborn girlie. I love(d) them both dearly and we had some great times, but my frazzled brain didn't retain very much of those first couple of years. Whenever someone wanted to hold a baby, I was only too willing to pass them off. It was a crazy, crazy time.

Enter Schmooey - the most kissable boy this mama has ever met! I can't seem to stay away from him. I have to force myself to let other people hold him, and to stay away so he will be happy for them and not want his Mama.

It's fun. I love being so in love with my baby. And, I promise, I'm working on giving him some time to himself, too. :-)

Thank Goodness for Big Sisters

Today, during Zacky's kick-and-play time, Abbie started teaching him directions. "Zacky, am I looking up, or down? Up! That's right! Thank you, Zacky!"



I believe Sir Isaac will be the best-educated two-week-old baby boy ever.

What A Wonderful World

Check out this movie - I thought it was so cool!

Grateful in spite of me....

Now, this is unrelated to the baby, but still very cool. My grandmother sent some necklaces to the girlies, and they asked my mom to help them write thank-you notes. Isn't that sweet? I'm terrible about writing thank-yous so I was so impressed that they asked to write them. My mom wrote out what Emma wanted to say, and then Abbie had a hard time copying so my mom told her which letters to write. Look how they turned out! (Of course, it was also an excuse for them to use their stamp set, which had been put away after they stamped on our new carpet a few months back, bur Grandma didn't know that, and it was time for a second chance, anyway.)

Here is Emma's:



And here is Abbie's:


I thought it was really cool that Abbie wanted her great-grandma to come for Christmas. She's been asking about that for a while, and was disappointed that she couldn't make it down when the baby was born. She and Great-Grandma haven't always seen eye to eye, so I was touched that Abbie would ask for her to come.