The Morning Comedian

Emmy was on one again this morning.  We were talking about her upcoming playdate today that she and Ally have with some friends when Jeremy came into the room to say goodbye to everyone.  Emmy said to Jeremy:

"Have fun at work, Daddy!  Have fun with all your boyfriends!  They won't disappoint you!"


***********


Three year olds crack me up!  Yes, I think the Theatrical Threes are much worse to deal with than the Terrible Twos but each of my girls (though full of whining and defiance) have had something they did all the time at age three that just made me smile. 

Sami's was dicka-dicka.  She was a little know-it-all and when we would ask her something she didn't know the answer to, she refused to say "I don't know."  Instead she said, "Dicka-dicka."  Jeremy and I would get a good giggle out of it every time.  Eventually we would just ask her things (like math questions) so we could hear her say dicka-dicka!  As she got nearer to four, she also started saying "silly me! silly me!"  It was so stinkin' cute.

Ally's was whahahahah.  She had this super low and funny voice she would use to do witch cackles and say 'dark words' like "blooooood" or "meeeeeean."  She would use her imagination and obsession with scary things to crack us up constantly.  Ally had such a sweet, high pitched voice, but when she wanted to, she would pull out the low, gravely voice and get all majestic.  So silly and darling!

Emmy's has become Forever?  When I tell her it's time for bed she says, "Forever?"  When I have her get dressed: "Forever?"  When I have to run an errand:  "Forever?"  I tell her the name of something:  "Forever?"  You get the point.  Every conversation has the word forever in it.  I need to tape her saying it, too, because of the accent and high pitch she uses.  It sound more like, "Fo-ev-uh?!"  It's so obnoxious and endearing all at the same time!  I love it!

Snow Days and Trapped!

The snow was crazy here in January and February!  We even got our first snow day in YEARS!  I'm sorry to say that my pictures below were taken in between storms and just didn't do all the feet of snow justice.  One morning, right after our last big storm came through, I decided to leave the house for the first time in three days and run to the store and I was shocked at the mountains of snow I saw everywhere.  The snow wasn't the only problem, though.  It was freezing cold!  We had lows in the negatives.  Buildings were losing their rain gutters all over the place because of the weight of the ice hanging off of them.  When we finally got the feet of snow off of our deck, we had several inches of ice coating everything.   It reminded me so much of living in Ithaca, NY--only this time my car was parked in a garage, thank goodness! 

One day we had freezing rain.  I hadn't seen freezing rain since we drove through Ohio in the winter of '06.  I drove carpool that morning and it was insane!  I also picked up Kindergarten carpool that day--skating across a parking lot with six kindergartners hanging to you is not recommended.  They started school late the next day because the roads were just too dangerous.

 And through it all, if we didn't have someplace we needed to be, we were stuck inside.  We had to get creative with things to do.  I mean, you can only watch so many movies and read so many books before the cabin fever starts to set in.  We cleared out the playroom and turned it into a roller skating rink.  Sami had her Rollerblades, Ally her skates and small bike, and Emmy her tricycle. 

We did Ally's hair for crazy hair day!  (It looked much neater than this when I sent her to school.  She had a whole day of messing it up before I pulled out the camera to take a picture of her purple tongue... apparently eating a whole bag of Trader Joe's freeze-dried blueberries in one sitting will do that...)

 We built lots of forts out of blankets--the pics below show one that Sami and her friend, Rylee, made during one playdate

We made Pinkalicious cupcakes!

 

We celebrated Emmy and Allys' half birthdays... for breakfast.

 Emmy was having a hard time blowing out her candle, so she spit on it.

 

And, of course, Emmy found her own ways of entertaining herself.  Yes, on a very chilly, early February morning, I walked in and found her bathing in the tiny sink in our powder room.  (Having flooded the bathroom for the second time this year.)

 Finally, near the end of February, it started to warm up--the high 20's--and we were able to go outside for a little while.  We had to raise up the swings so we could use them but Kassi laid her head back while I was swinging with her and got a huge grin on her face as the sun glowed on her.  I hope I never forget the darling look on her face: eyes closed, huge, toothless grin, face illuminated by the brilliance of the sun reflecting off her and the bright snow behind her. 

Emmy came out for a little while but decided it was too cold still.  Ally played on the slide and doodled in the snow.  Sami decided to dig a hole in the snow and see if she could find the grass.  It took her over 30 minutes but she did finally find some dormant blades of grass.  I sat Kassi down in the hole and it was way taller than she was.

 

not quite ourselves

 Crazy as it is Kassi, Emmy, Ally, and I ALL tested Positive for Strep Throat this week.  Yuck.  It's made things a little undone here.  I was reminded of the exhaustion (that purely drained feeling) and the headaches that come with the sore throat.  The first time I felt it in my adult life was last October.  I think Kassi is the carrier of our family.  I went 25 years without Strep until Kassi came along...  :)

 Emmy was HILARIOUS this morning!

 

Daddy comes into the bedroom wearing his biking clothes which includes a neon green biking shirt.

Emmy:  Dad, you look awful!  You can't go outside like that!

Dad:  Why not?

Emmy:  You will scare people.  Your shirt is ugly!

 

Emmy has been wearing that Rapunzel dress almost every day for the last two weeks.

Say Cheese

On March 3, we were sitting in sacrament meeting as always and feeding our kids various snacks.  Kassi was going through a cheese liking stage so I was feeding her a cheese stick.   I didn't realize that she had grabbed one of Sami's Bible Hero playing cards and put it in her mouth until it was too late.  The card came out of her mouth with chewed up cheese all over one end of it.  I tried to grab it from her to prevent a mess but my reaching for the card caused her to jerk it away from me.  Cheese went flying!!  All over our pew and all over the poor couple sitting on the pew behind us in their designer suite and dress.... oops.  Needless to say, they haven't sat near us again since.  The man was thoroughly disgusted.  Oh well!

 

These were taken that same morning:

 

A little bit of this and that

My Little helpers...

 Emmy has become my super helper!  She still loves to get into mischief but she is also great at helping me make dinner, clean, and set the table.  Kassi...not so much.  She just likes to make messes.  :)  She army crawls around the house--yes, STILL won't pick that tummy up off the floor!--and gets into as much as she can.

Beautiful.  Even when pouting.

Ally's become our story-teller (even if it's not her story!).  She always has something to talk about and has really turned into a chatter-box!  She shares stories that she heard at school, she tells me stories about her teachers or friends that Sami just finished telling me about hers, and she tells me about her day in general.  She's a doll! 

Oh!  And Ally has a loose tooth.  It's been very loose for almost a week but she won't let me pull it out.  Silly girl.

Kassi's absolute favorite thing to do is laugh at people!  Sami is great at making her laugh.  And Kassi enjoys teasing--especially Emmy.  Emmy doesn't find it funny, but Kassi sure does!  One day the two girls were riding in a double stroller and Kassi kept poking at Emmy.  It was obvious that Emmy didn't appreciate being poked at but Kassi kept going and laughed her head off every time Emmy complained.

***********

 

The New Do!

Sami recently got her hair cut and I think it made her look way too old!  She came walking away from the stylist and I was shocked at how grown-up she'd become in just 20 minutes.  She's turning ten soon...it makes me sad.

I'm very proud of the young woman she is becoming.  Her school had a Science and Math Olympiad the other day.  Sami took first in Barge Building but gave up her spot and the chance to go to the District competition because her friend (second place) was sad about not being able to go.  She is so concerned for the happiness of others, she would rather they get the reward.  I have to admit, she's a better person than I am.  But I've known that from the moment she was born.  I felt the wisdom of her spirit just looking in her eyes.

 

Funny Emmy One-Liners of Late

 

After helping me put her clothes away:

"I am an excellent child!"

 

When running the circle in the house and squeezing past me while I was trying to grab something from the fridge:

"Excuse me Lady!"

 

While scribbling on a piece of paper as I handed her breakfast and said in exasperation:

"Mom, your bugging me!  I have to concentrate on my homework!"

 

Just for the record, we do not allow this kind of talk in our home--my actual homework doers have never said this to me--and Emmy was immediately reminded of the correct way to speak to her mother, but I got a really good laugh out of it as soon as I walked away.

 

 

 

 



TEN MONTHS!!

Kassi turned TEN months already!  Whahhhhhh!!!  It makes me so sad to see my little baby growing up so fast!  Kassi is incredible, though!  In the last month, Kassi learned how to clap and she got her second tooth, took two road trips, and learned how to drink out of a straw.  Coming home from one road trip, she went 12 hours in the car with only two short breaks!!  She was so good.  She won't pick up her pot-belly off the floor so she's still army crawling, but she is starting to figure out standing next to things.  I'm beginning to think we may skip crawling all together.  She loves to laugh and give kisses and splash and sleep and hold her binki.  She loves smiling and flirting with people, but from a distance.  Don't try to take this kid out of her mommy's arms unless you are Daddy or Sami or you will see her wrath.  :)  I just adore her so much.