Legoland, Ike, Homemade takeout

Legoland, Ike, Homemade takeout

1. LegoLand. I think the girl’s favorite activities are doing anything with dad. Bryan saved all of his legos from when he was a kid. We occasionally get them out of the massive popcorn tin we have lugged around for years and the kids (and Bryan) get creative. I wish I were more creative with the kids. It is no secret at our house that the girls enjoy playing with their dad more than me. I think it is because I am always telling them "in a minute". They must think that a minute is an infinite amount of time, because sometimes that minute never ends. I wish I were better at letting my house fall by the wayside and playing with my kids. You know, it is falling to shambles and I'm not doing a lot of playing, so I should just forget trying right? Easier said than done... dishes still need to be washed, clothes cleaned, and dead bugs vacuumed off the floor (a task I don't do enough). I told Bryan the other day on the way home from church that we are not very fun parents. What is our deal? I told him we need to not be so anal about everything and just have fun with them. I read some of your blogs and think, wow... I wish I were a cool mom like that. We are trying harder! Thanks for all the good ideas you all post!

Here is our LEgoLanD....

2. Ike. It's always good to be prepared for natural disasters.... well... our tree wasn't prepared for the storm. I kept watching this tree to see if it would actually stay standing. It did. Not the prettiest tree anyway, but we didn't really want to lose it.

3. Homemade Takeout. A couple of weeks ago, Bryan and I went and had Pei Wei for dinner. The man working there asked if I would like a to go box. Yes. (Didn't end up needing it.) The family sitting next to us had these really cool things on their kid's chopsticks that held them together. In an effort to be more FuN, I thought it would be a good idea to get some to go boxes chopsticks, bridges for the chopsticks, and some fortune cookies. My kids love sweet and sour chicken. Who doesn't like a good fried piece of breaded chicken... I made a big batch of chicken, some yummy Japanese rice, and some sweet and sour sauce. We enjoyed some homemade takeout at our table. And, I might add, there wasn't rice all over the place like there usually is afterwards. YEAH!

The Stevens Bunch

The last time my in-laws were in town we got a babysitter and we all went out for a night on the town. For some reason we decided to take a trip down memory lane.... via singing. Here is the clan with their not so complete version of an oldy but a goody! You can't see much, it was dark and we were driving.... just listen and laugh.

My favorite song that night was the theme song from Green Acres. We were all surprised how much of that song our chaufeur knew.

After a great game of miniature golf here is how the men entertained themselves:

If you can't tell, they are juggling the golf clubs on their faces.

Little Man, First Day, Anniversary, Prodigy

1. Little Man. It has been a very tiresome 6 weeks. My "little man" as I like to call him has been quite a handful. Despite having reflux and a possible allergy to milk (or who knows what- my "cow-free" diet didn't seem to change his mucusy stools at all), he is totally thriving... 12 pounds 2 ounces on Monday. Needless to say, I couldn't take it any longer (no dairy) and we are trying formula again. We'll see if that helps. He has started to smile and coo. I love that! They are so sweet. Here are some photos from the last month.

Oops, his head slipped in the water and he took a drink... didn't like it.

Isn't he handsome? His first trip to church.

5. First day. I can't believe I have two kids in school. Rachael cried when I had to leave her. It was all I could do to not cry myself. Emma didn't even care if we walked her to her room. She was too experienced for that. We were really excited that Emma has the same teacher as last year.

All ready to go!

Rach, Emma and their cousin Ethan (also in K)

Rach loved the idea of riding a bus!

The chalkboard cake (thanks Leslie for the idea).

3. Anniversary. I can't believe it has been ten years! Thanks Bryan for being such an awesome husband and father. You are my best friend and my love. Happy Anniversary!

4. Prodigy. All who know my husband know of his love for music, particularly classical music. Well, he is trying his darndest to get the kids to love it as well. So far Madeline has shown the most interest. She is constantly asking to turn music on. She also likes to pick out the cd. She always chooses a pink case. It doesn't matter what the cd is of course. It turns out that the most popular pink cd is a jazz cd. Not my favorite. Anyway. Bryan also subscribes to a magazine called Stereophile. Here she is...

Classic Madeline.. naked with bunny by her side!

July 29th

Here he is...

Jacob Paul Stevens

Born 7/29/08

8 pounds 13 oz. 21 1/2 inches long

A day early! One thing I have learned since having kids is that making plans is useless.. they have their own. Well, that is just what happened this week. We were not prepared for him to come one day early. I hadn't even packed a bag.. why? I was going in the next day for a c-section. It was sure a blessing in disguise. I went in to the hospital for a labor check and when they finally got around to checking me I was at 6 cm... why go through labor and a c-section? I had already told myself if I went into labor on my own, I would try a vbac. After a lot of debate we decided to try for a vbac. Everything went fine, no c-section! Hurray! We have a beautiful baby boy. I can't hardly believe it.

A BOY!

We haven't really experienced four yet because Bryan's mom, Angela, was here with the girls. She kept them very busy. Thanks to Tori, Julie and Kayla for all that you did to help!!!!! I can't thank you enough. We are glad to have my mom here for the next week. What a relief. Thank heaven for mothers!

Fancy Nancy, the Fourth (or the Third), Shower, and Birthdays

1. Fancy Nancy...

Here she is. Madeline loves to read Fancy Nancy books. When I was out shopping one day I found a fabulous deal on this dress-up. The second she saw it, Madeline called it her "Fancy Nancy Dress." Check out this get up! She loves to put her glasses on top of her head. She broke her pair of sunglasses a couple of weeks ago and was devastated. I need to find a new pair for her so that she can have glasses like "mommy and daddy" she says.

2. The Fourth of July, or the Third

Here in small town USA, the Fourth of July is celebrated a day early so there are enough fireman to go around on the fourth. So, with the entire Stevens family we headed to the local park to enjoy the festivities, eat some yummy pie, and enjoy some fireworks. I didn't realize how frightened Emma would be. She asked me before the fireworks show started if we could go home and watch them. I told her we probably could, but they wouldn't look as neat. I soon found out the reason for her question. She was extremely disturbed by the noise. She sat on Bryan's lap with her hands over her ears then moved to my lap. The festivities were fun. They had lots of activities for the kids and vendors selling food. Here are a few pics from the fourth. At one point the kids thought it would be fun to capture some of the moments themselves. I love this country and love to watch fireworks.

Emma, Ethan, Emily and Rachael

A picture taken by one of the kids of Grandpa and Madeline

3. Shower
Thanks to Tori, Angela, and Julie for throwing me a wonderful shower. Thanks to all who attended. I had a great time. Thanks to all of you, this baby will have some clothes to wear, and blankets to keep him warm.

Okay girls, I know I am looking quite rotund, but come on.... most everyone guessed at least 10 inches too long.

Ahh, something other than pink. So refreshing.

4. Birthdays

Rachael and I both celebrated birthdays a couple of weeks ago. There wasn't much time to do anything for my birthday because Rachael's party was the next day (not that I minded). I was greeted by three wonderful girls wishing me a happy birthday. Madeline was so cute. She just kept saying "Happy Birthday Mom". I'm not sure she really understood what that meant other than presents and cake (though we didn't even have cake for my birthday), etc.. but it was so adorable. The girls gave me their gifts while I was in bed. I got Ghiradelli chocolate squares with caramel from all of them, and they all got me a pair of earrings. I have since taken back the pair Madeline grabbed without Bryan seeing (he couldn't tell her no, of course). Here is a conversation Emma and I had that morning.

Emma: Mom do you like white earrings?

Mom: Well, I don't know. It depends.
Emma: Do you like big earrings?
Mom: Well, I don't usually wear very big earrings, but I have a couple pair. Why?
Emma: Well, I wanted to buy you a pair of white earrings but dad said you wouldn't like them.
Mom: I am glad you got me the ones you did, I like them a lot.

Can you imagine the ones she is talking about? The kind worn when we were in grade school if we had our ears pierced. Yikes. I can't believe those are back in. Not to offend any out there reading this who currently wear them.

Bryan and I went out that night for dinner and furniture shopping. We ate at the Grand Lux Cafe, and had our favorite desert, chocolate molten cake... to die for there. Then we went to look at bedroom furniture. Didn't find anything... no surprise.

After I got back from taking the babysitter home I got to decorate Rachael's cake here is the decorating stage...

She wanted a Barbie cake. I decided I was too cheap to buy one, so I made one... boy were my feet swollen after this weekend.

Of course, we didn't take a picture of the final product. All I have is video of us trying to light candles at Rachael's party.

Rachael had a good birthday. I can't believe she is five and will be starting kindergarten. Crazy.

If I could figure out how to do a slideshow I would post a whole bunch of pictures from her birthday, but here are a few anyway.

She informed Bryan that you have to hold out your hand like that becuase that is how the princesses do it.

Oh, my! She loves her webkinz!
Happy Birthday Rach!

Conversations, water, and light switches

I so rarely have a chance to sit down and update this, so, I am going to follow the lead of a fellow blogger....

1. Conversations

Some of my fondest memories of my childhood are at the dinner table with my family. Among other things we try to do as a family we try to have dinner together. This doesn't always happen because Bryan occasionally doesn't make it home before we are all starving. Last night was one of those nights. It was still quite enjoyable with blueberry muffins and eggs to boot. These three converations happened last night at the dinner table.

Mom: How old will I be on my birthday?
Emma: 31.
Mom: How old was I when I had you?
Emma: I don't know.
Mom: Well, you are six and I am 30. (Trying to get her to do a little math.)
Emma: (After quite a while of thinking about it). 25.
Mom: Close, but I was 24.
Emma: And how old were you when you had Rachael?
Mom: 26, by only one day.
Emma: And Madeline?
Mom: 28.
Emma: And this one?
Mom: 31.
Emma: And the next one?
Mom: I'm pretty sure this is the last one.
Emma: (After a look of disappointment, points her finger at me and says) You'll see.
___________________________________________________________
Madeline: That a ring? (Pointing to my wedding ring.)
Mom: Yes.
Madeline: I have a ring upstairs.
Rachael: I will have a ring like that someday when Ethan gives me one.
Mom: Rachael, Ethan can't give you one. You can't marry your cousin.
Rachael: Then I will marry Thomas.
(Thomas is a co-worker of Bryans).
Emma: He will be like a grandpa before you get married.
____________________________________________________________
Madeline: (With her head bent in a most serious tone.) These are my beautiful Ariel jammies.
Mom: Yes they are so beautiful.
Madeline: Daddy love my beautiful Ariel jammies. (They were new and she was so excited to show them off to him.
____________________________________________________________
This conversation happened this morning in my bathroom:
Rachael: I want to live with mom forever.
Emma: I'm not going to.
Rachael: Well, I'll live with my sister forever.
Emma: We can live across the street from each other.
Rachael: And we can talk and our kids can play.
Emma: Yeah, but we don't have any kids.
Rachael. Yeah, we are the kids right now.

Thank goodness they realize they are kids! Emma asked me the other day when she could be pregnant. I told her after she was married. I'm glad that is all the further explanation she needs right now.

2. Water
I don't usually let my children play with water in the bathrooms unless they are supervised. Well, one particularly restful day of mine (which have been more frequent these days) I heard the water running upstairs. I don't think they realize how much can be heard downstairs when they are upstairs. I asked them what they were doing. To which they responded: "washing our dishes". Do you ever feel like you should just say yes because it really is harmless. Because I usually stop these activities very quickly, I decided for once to let it slide (especially since I knew Madeline wasn't involved!). Later when I went to get Madeline up from her nap I discovered the strong aroma of the newly purchased bottle of kids shampoo. I asked them why the bottle was an eigth of the way gone (I'm not usually this ridiculous about things as cheap as shampoo, but is was literally just bought and put upstairs hours before this happened).
Emma and Rachael: "We didn't wash our dishes with shampoo."
Mom: Then why has some of this been used.
Rachael: We washed our hair with it.
Mom: Oh... well, let's save that job for mommy during our baths ok?
Girls: Ok.
That explained a lot. Rachael's hair could've been washed several times with as much junk as they put in it. Of course it was only the hair around her face though. I had to leave the room so I could chuckle under my breath. It could've been worse!

More water...
Emma and Rachael had swimming lessons in June. They loved every minute of them and wished we could do them every day all summer. Not me, it was starting to get really hot. Rachael made some strides! She got to go to the secret seat, in the deep end. We have been taking from a lady that teaches in her backyard. She is a miracle worker. Rachael and Emma were in the same class. Emma got to go to the "secret seat" every day and Rachael really wanted to join her. She was so proud when she finally got to go. Emma jumped off the diving board and swam to the other end of the pool. I wish she had the same confidence in her swimming when we go to our community pool. Maybe she didn't have confidence at Ms. Carol's it was survival mode. Hmmm...

still more water...
Madeline has discovered that she can get her own drinks in the upstairs bathroom. She carefully stands on the toilet leans on the counter and turns the water on filling whatever she has with water. Only trouble is she can only reach the hot water. Thankfully, it takes a while to get hot. Yikes, I hope after the timeout she had that she doesn't do that anymore.

3. Light switches.
Madeline was supposed to be napping and I kept hearing her call for me. I figured eventually she would fall asleep. She did. When I went to get her up, I discovered she turned her light on. What? That night when she was supposed to be asleep again, Bryan hollers to me, "Madeline's light is on." When Bryan came back upstairs he discovered Madeline not only turned her light on, but she took her diaper off and threw it on the floor. Thank goodness it wasn't poopy!

Sadly, I don't have many pictures from swim lessons, or any of these other occassions. I do have some I would like to post, soon! not right now anyway.

July 30th

Well, it's official... unless of course by some stroke of luck the baby decides to come earlier... We are set for the 30th of July for our baby boy to come! We are so excited about the baby, not so excited for another c-section. Oh, well. I would rather start out knowing I will be under the knife than end up in the same situation as we were with Madeline.
The girls are so excited. Emma made a countdown. She wrote out every number from 1-52, which is how many days we had left when she made it. When she went to mark off a day she started at one. We haven't decided on a name yet. We rarely talk about it. We have list of ten names or so. I suppose the night before we will get the list out again and cross off names we aren't totally in love with. It's hard to believe we are having a boy. YEAH! He will have to work really hard to turn his world from princesses to planes, trains and automobiles. Bryan already has a stash of legos he is excited to pull out in full force.

Big Day!

Today (June 3rd... yes it has taken me awhile!) was preschool graduation for Rachael. It was a lot of fun. Her teachers did a good job at teaching them some songs to perform for all of us parents who are sad to see their little ones grow up. They decided to share with us what they thought they might be when they grow up, instead of the typical "best eyes" or "best smile" award. Guess what they thought Rachael would be... an attorney. I asked her teachers why afterwards. I'm not sure if this was the best choice for her based on their reasoning. They told me she is very good at delegating... blame that is. Is that really delegating or just pointing fingers? Not sure that is what lawyers would like to be labeled as, at least the one in our house. Anyway. I thought that was kind of humorous.

Rachael in her cute little cap.

Rachael's wonderful teachers! Thanks!

Emma had her kindergarten awards assembly this morning. At first I thought we were going to be there all day because they had each child come up individually and they announced what awards each child was receiving. They received things like outstanding citizenship, their kindergarten diplomas, certificates for reading so many take home readers, etc. Despite my worry, they were done fairly quickly. Emma received her classroom award for the most teeth lost this year-six! She is still working on growing some of those teeth back. She also got an award for creative drawings. She loves to draw and would spend all day at the table writing something or drawing a picture.

Emma and her teacher Mrs. Nester

caught up.

PS. I have plenty to post about, but will get caught up later! Stay tuned...

AHHHH!

This afternoon as Madeline was napping and Emma and Rachael were coloring I decided to try and work on my lesson for Sunday. I went into the study to read. While I was in there, Emma came in and started a card for Bryan (for Father's Day). Rachael, of course, followed within a couple of minutes. I don't know what it is with her, but Rachael will not stop trying to sit on my lap, or trying to get in between my arms when I am at the computer. Both of which make it really hard to concentrate and get anything done let alone reach the computer. There is no room on my lap for Madeline let alone Rachael. It frustrates me so much that she is constantly trying to get on my lap! After several tries to get her to stop she starts throwing a tantrum and yelling and screaming at me. If this had been the first time this happened today I probably would've been able to keep my cool a little better. But, alas, I didn't. After a lot of raised voices, Rachael was sent to her room. I had to ask Emma to leave the study so that I could have a breakdown without her seeing. Well, I thought she wasn't seeing. This is the note she brought to my bed after a few minutes of me having a good cry over what I was supposed to do about Rachael and I butting heads.

This made me cry even more. What a sweetheart. I called her into my room and just held her while I cried some more. When I finally got a hold of myself I had her go get some books and read to me. That was very therapeutic. When Rachael finally came down I had some words for her about making a happy home, she apologized, then told me I needed to apologize, which I did, and we kissed and made up. I love all my girls so much, but why do they have to be so trying at times. Thank goodness for Emma this afternoon.