Friday, October 26, 2012

7 Quick Takes

1. I haven't posted in a couple of weeks because we have been busy busy around here having FUN! Shane has been taking a course at work for three weeks, which has meant him getting off at 3 (!!!) some days and yesterday having the WHOLE day off! Last weekend we went on a date, took the kids to the art gallery, had friends over for wine and cheese, and went to a pumpkin patch/corn maze. Yesterday we went skating, which was SO much fun! There were maybe 5 other people on the ice for the entire time! In a former life I was an avid figure skater, so I spun and jumped to my hearts content...

2. I am also busy sewing Halloween costumes! I had to wait until my pattern came on sale (I was NOT going to pay $12 just for the pattern for a costume! ) so I feel like I am a little late in starting but hopefully it won't take me tooo long.

3. Speaking of Halloween, I have never been incredibly into the whole thing, since growing up I never even went trick or treating once. Instead we had All Saint's Day parties.

4. My children have in previous years been terrified of anything remotely scary...going into any stores at this time involved screaming and clingy children burying their heads and trying not to hear or see anything. THIS year, Maria was determined that she was NOT scared, and so she begged to be taken into this Halloween store down the road. We took one step inside the door and both children ran screaming out. It was pretty funny....and actually pretty scary! We will see how they do with trick or treating....last year we had to skip houses because of their scary decorations...and Maria didn't want to see any other kids in case they had masks on.....

5. The girls play these days involves a combination of Anne of Green Gables, Little House on the Prairie, and Halloween. So I'll hear them shouting things like "Laura come over here or else the scary monster will eat you!" "But if I come then Gilbert will call me carrots!!" Or yesterday Maria, with blonde hair comes to me and says, "Gilbert called me lemon!"

6. It is frigid around here but I am resisting turning the heat on until November....at night I will be all warm under my covers, but my freaking nose is so cold!! We'll see if I can resist Shane's pleas to at least put our fire place on........

7. And now I need to go get another cup of coffee and start my sewing, so go see Jen for more Quick Takes!!

Friday, October 12, 2012

7 Quick Takes Friday!

1. Fall has arrived this week. Last week I was still wearing shorts, but then Thanksgiving came, and it is now time to switch out the summer clothes for the winter clothes.

2. Felicity told Shane the other day "I love you better than Mommy, but I still love Mommy." But then the next day she told me "I was just kidding when I said I love Daddy better. I love you better, but I don't think Daddy will be sad." Haha....clearly she knows how to play both sides.

3. William has always been a great sleeper at night, but for some reason he is a lousy napper and I don't know what to do about it. Most times he wakes  up after half an hour, and only once in a while will have a 1 or 2 hour nap. I know I shouldn't complain because he is an angel child in every other way, but it doesn't give me much of a break during the day.

4. I can't believe how much Maria has learned in these first few weeks of school! She made a huge jump in her reading, so that now she is reading everything around her. I can imagine how different the world must be to her now that she looks around and sees words, rather than just random letters. So much fun!

5. We are reading Little House on the Prairie and my children are obsessed. Can you guess what they want to be for Halloween?

6. I started writing this post when the house was nice and quiet and I could think. Now it has changed, since my baby woke up from his twenty minute nap. So I can't think of anything interesting to say.

7. We went apple picking twice, so we are overflowing with apples. I've already made apple pie, apple crisp, apple muffins, apple granola, apple chips, apple sauce, baked apples, apple pancakes...so what should I make today? I'm thinking apple leather.

Go see Jen for some great Quick Takes!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Stuck on Repeat

Things stuck on repeat in our house today:

" I was talking to you!!"
   Screamed 100+ times by Felicity, because I dared to close the door while she was talking to me (or rather yelling at me about how she didn't want to have a time out for hitting her baby brother). She hit William, her sweet baby brother who is not even capable of contemplating doing anything to harm her,  because she was mad at me, and so I was of course in no mood to listen to her.

"I want you to help me get dressed!"
 Again, screamed 100 + times by Felicity. I refused to help her because 1) she is three and can dress herself, 2) I might have helped her had she listened to me when I told her to get dressed the first time, instead of the zillionth time. However, this kid is so stubborn. I can be stubborn too, but I'm pretty sure 9 times out of 10 I end up giving in in some way. Today I reasoned to myself, after I was nearly going crazy from hearing her repeat this over and over and over and over and over again, that the poor little girl just needs some help, hey, she's only 3 and pretty soon she won't want my help with anything....I'll just go help her a little. So I helped her pick out some clothes ( I had already picked out some clothes but they of course weren't to her liking...however she won't just pick out some other ones, she wants me to pick out some other ones and of course she says no to most of them and sometimes I just get tired of going through her whole wardrobe every time and just throw some at her and tell her to put them on......) and told her to get dressed, going downstairs to serve my two other children some breakfast......which of course led to .....

"I want you stay upstairs with me!!!!"
  I think this one was screamed about 1000 times..........and I was determined not to give in, not because I am a heartless mother, but because I would have stayed upstairs if it hadn't taken her about an hour full of fits  to listen and get dressed, and because I know that she is only doing this to be stubborn and not because she has some kind of fear of being left upstairs by herself. And I so I did not give in and she finally emerged fully clothed.....

and I think that was the end of her fits, at least so far.... The other things have been slightly more pleasant, but still kind of annoying:

" I'm not Felicity, I'm Laura", or "I'm not Maria, I'm Mary"
I'm happy to play along with the whole Little House thing most of the time, but when its repeated over and over again, and when I'm trying to ask them what they want for lunch so I can quickly get it for them because the baby is crying and needs to be fed, I can't seem to remember to call them by their play names, and it gets a little frustrating. The scene goes something like this:
"Maria, what do you want for lunch?"
"I'm not Maria, I'm Mary!"
"Ok, Mary, what do you want for lunch?"
"A sandwich."
"Maria what do you want in your sandwich?"
"I'm not Maria, I'm Mary!"
"Ahh! Ok, Mary what do you want in your sandwich?"
"Um cheese, tomatoes, and lettuce.."
"On this kind of bread, Maria?"
"I'm not Maria, I'm Mary!!!"
"AHHHHHHHH!!!! Maria, just answer me please!"
"But I'm not Maria!!!"
"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
and after I finally get through it with Maria, I have to go through it all over again with Felicity.

I am glad that I haven't gone completely crazy yet....I think the fact that my youngest two are now peacefully napping while my oldest is reading quietly to herself is a definite sanity saver. So we'll see if I can hold out until my husband returns around 10 this evening....just 8 more hours......


Friday, October 5, 2012

7 Quick Takes Friday!

1. I love that its Friday and a long weekend! We are heading to my parent's after work tonight for some Thanksgiving family fun!
2. So that means today I am busy packing like crazy - its amazing how much work it is to pack for three days when three little children are running around and being especially bad, of course.
3. Plus it is wonderful timing that I am sick. I never get sick, except when I have something to do, or a trip to take. So that means I will be extra patient with my children, of course, since my voice is gone and they can't even hear me above their screams. Lovely.
4. Yesterday was the big day on which the bar exam results were released! And HE PASSED!!!!!! Big surprise there. He was seriously worried though...and has been stressed for days about it...so huge relief on that front.
5. This little guys has started eating real food. And is loving it!
6. Time to go do a Thanksgiving craft with the kids! I don't do crafts nearly enough with them, even though they LOVE them. Sorry girls.
7. And that's all I can think of! Have a lovely weekend everyone!
 Go see Jen for more quick takes!