Christmas Pageant

On Wednesday night the kids were rehearsing for the pageant. I heard this beautiful little voice singing, looked up to realize it was Sydney.

Today the weather has been horrible. Winds, blowing snow, we got stuck in our driveway trying to pull out to go to the pageant (I was able to rock out of it), but it was all worth it! There is something about hearing the story from the mouths of these sweet children that is just magical.

So here is Sydney singing about seeing the star.

Knight or Night???

When we were home for Thanksgiving my mom took Sydney, Hayley, and me to see a local production of Amal and the Night Visitors. It's a great Christmas story of the 3 Wise Men who stop at the home of a Widow and her son, Amal.

Well, the girls have been practicing for their Christmas Pageant at church and Hayley informs me that she is going to be Knight. I figured maybe there was some special production going on or something until she said, "Remember. Like the knights in Amal." ;)

NIGHT visitors, but Hayley in her world of princesses and queens and kings, she thought they were KNIGHT visitors.

At what point ??

At what point do kids recognize themselves in pictures or the mirror? Addy just looked at the picture below of her and Sydney and said, "Baby has my telephone!"

No matter how many times I remind her that that is HER, she still says baby. In the Halloween pictures, I pointed to Syd, she says, "Sydney!" I point to Hayley, she says, "Hayley!" I point to her and she says "Baby!"

She must wonder why we have so many pictures of that baby!

December 6, 2008

Well, daily posts aren't working out. The end of the week was too busy.

But I promised pictures from Sydney's concert, so here they are...

Since Jeremy got the lights on the tree and I didn't get a good picture of Sydney taken back when I got the woods pictures ( like the one above. ) It's a long story, it involves Addy and a pile of dog poop. I'll leave it at that, anyway, I snapped some pictures of Sydney before the concert. I'll save the best one for later.


Sydney always stands in the back row at her concerts. Being another child who stood in the back row always, I feel for her. But luckily some of her best friends are tall too, so they stand back there with her.

And while they are all 2nd graders, oh there were some great moments! But her teacher (waving in the left corner) did a great job with all 100 7 &8 year olds!

After the concert we snapped some pictures of her and one of her best friends.

Today was this friend's birthday (Happy Birthday!!!)

And a picture of Sydney with her WONDERFUL teacher!

The rest of the week was busy with other activities (I wish we had so much more room for all of our activities!)

Wednesday night was church. The girls are preparing for the Christmas Pageant. I go with Addy to the preschooler's part of the Wednesday night program. This week they were having these sweet 3 & 4 year olds practicing saying "Glory to God in the highest." They are all such angels!!! So sweet.

Thursday night I went to my MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers). We had a cookie exchange. I made Almond Bars. YUMMY! Here is the recipe for you.



Last night was our town Christmas Tree lighting. Why do I still get all teary eyed with it every year. It is something about hearing all of those tiny voices singing "You'd better watch out. You'd better not cry. You'd better not pout, I'm telling you why!" Gets me every time.

We came home, had hot chocolate and popcorn and watched "The Grinch." Such a fun movie!

We've decided we may not see Sydney again for a full weekend. She was at a slumber party last night, and then while I was out picking her up another friend of hers called to see if she could go to the free movie in town today.

On Saturdays in town the local movie theater runs some older kids movies for free admission. Today's movie was Alvin and the Chipmunks. She had a great time.

Hayley also had a birthday party to go to today.

While the girls were gone, and Addy was sleeping (3 hour nap. OH, and she slept ALL night in her bed last night!) I got some gifts wrapped.

Addy just went under the tree and pulled one up to try to open it. This will be a battle to keep her out of them.

December 2, 2008

HA! The lights were found. OF COURSE they were in the smoothie maker box behind the water heater. Where else would they be?

Jeremy put the lights on the tree while I got Sydney ready for her Winter Program.

I promise to add pictures tomorrow.

The 2nd graders did great. A few of them had a hard time standing still. One little girl in the front row was really bothered by her tights and was itching at them, and eventually pulled her dress up to pull them up. Too funny!

Sydney had one part in the concert where she and some girls from her class got up and did a little kick line wearing Snickerdoodle cookies on their heads. Sydney's fell off and she was a little embarrassed, but she kept right on going.

I am always amazed at how well the music teacher can keep all 100+ 2nd graders all on stage performing so nicely! AMAZING!

We didn't get to read tonight because the concert went pretty late.

December 1, 2008

Today was busy getting back into the swing of our routine.

I promised Hayley's teacher that I would make Gingerbread Playdoh for her class.

Here is the recipe for anyone who is interested:

Gingerbread Playdoh

2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Salt
1 Tablespoon Ground Ginger
1 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
1 Tablespoon Ground All Spice
1 Tablespoon Ground Clove
2 Tablespoons of Vegetable Oil
1 Cup Water

Mix it all together until it forms a dough. The recipe said to refrigerate it, but I hope that wasn't necessary. I double the recipe, but used the 1 Tablespoon of each of the spices and it still smelled WONDERFUL!

I didn't take any pictures of this activity because my camera cord is lost and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get them off of my camera. Thanks to my BFF otherwise known as Super Bibby, I now have an extra cord and you can look forward to pictures from Sydney's concert tomorrow!

We got the Christmas Tree put up, but couldn't find the lights ANYWHERE. We searched and searched and searched. All of this losing stuff is driving me crazy!

Tonight we read "Auntie Claus and the Key to Christmas" by Elise Primavera

Holiday Memories

I am realizing how fast time is going. After having a few drinks with two of Jeremy's aunts (thanks for the fun Laurie & Joan) whose children are grown up, I realize that I need to really enjoy the holidays as much as I can while our girls are young.

This is the time of year that when ANYTHING that is remotely cool is advertised on TV we hear shouts of "I want that" followed by, "NO, I want that!" Soon enough they will want money for Christmas to buy their own clothes and gifts rather than toys.

So that I can relive this year for many years to come I am going to TRY to blog about every day of December this year. (TRY being the key word!)

So, we'll start with the night of November 30th. We got home from our Thanksgiving trip to Des Moines (happy birthday, Dad!). And we started our annual tradition of reading a Christmas book every night before bed. I've been buying the girls each a Christmas book every year since Sydney was born. So, do the math.. that's 8 books so far for Sydney, plus 5 for Hayley, and 2 for Addy. So we have 15 between the 3 of them. (Well, somehow we always end up with WAY more. Darn Scholastic pulls me in every time.)

So tonight we started with "T'was the Night Before Christmas" illustrated by Mary Engelbreit. I just love her illustrations! We all curled up on our new Cozy Sack (an early Christmas gift from Daddy) in our cozy jammies and pointed out all of the cool things in the illustrations.

Ok, so really it was just me and Addy. Hayley was pouting because SHE didn't get to pick the book. Sydney was reading a chapter book because these "baby" books aren't cool. See it's already happening! But Addy and I (read mostly I) really enjoyed it!

Trick or Treat

These girls are too funny. Before we went Trick or Treating I was able to get them to take a couple of pictures.

Hayley had to try SO hard not to pose in this picture.
She couldn't hold it back any longer. Do you see Addy getting an idea?

Addy just had to pose too. Sydney is just SO embarrassed.

Then they all strike a pose.

My baby is growing up!

My baby is growing up! We took down her crib today. Took the crib down for the LAST TIME in our house. I'm feeling a little emotional about it. I mean, she's my baby.

But she won't stay IN the crib, so it makes sense to take it down. She's been sleeping in her bed (well at least a few hours each night) for 2 or 3 weeks now.

But she is my baby!

But she's talking SO much. Such great sentences like, "Oh darn it! I spill my water!" (You should hear her "OH darn it!" It is so cute!)

And she is using the potty. Quite a bit at daycare and almost every time for #2 at home.

BUT she is my baby. Have I mentioned that?

BUT she will be TWO in just a few weeks. TWO! I remember Sydney turning two like it was yesterday, but that was SIX years ago. (We announced we were pregnant with Hayley at Sydney's 2nd birthday parties). And Hayley at two- she had the cutest piggy tails. (Well, Addy lacks that!)

But today, when we were out shopping, and she fell asleep in the car. She stayed asleep and I sat on a comfy couch with her asleep on my chest while Jeremy & the older 2 looked for bunk beds. I had flash backs to when she was just tiny. But instead I just took a LONG sniff of that warm baby head smell. Can I bottle that??? Then the sales guy talked about his son turning 15 today. And how he really misses these younger years.

And just look at her last year at this time over on the top right hand side of the page. She had JUST started walking, but both Sydney & Hayley had to hold on to her so tight so she wouldn't just tumble over. And look how tall she's gotten in just a year!

So, we took the crib down for the last time. But, she'll always be my baby, right???

Two new products to try

I've joined a General Mills Product testing group. Right now they are focusing on 2 new products. If you would like a coupon to try one of these products, please leave a comment below and I'll have one e-mailed to you.

*WARNING* Stupid Wal-mart does not take internet coupons. Serioulsy, how stupid are they? DO NOT SHOP AT WAL-MART!!!! But if you want to use the coupons you have to use them anywhere else. Which is great because Wal-mart is HORRIBLE!!!

We went to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend on a beautiful day. And a bunch of the girls' friends were there too. (I love living in a small town- even when you drive 30 miles away to the nearest pumpkin patch- your friends are there too!)

Some of the cutest kids anywhere!!!

That goofy grin!

Pumpkin Muffins

Image by Effie of allrecipes.com

So I read this great blog www.thepioneerwoman.com. She was talking recently about making your own pumpkin puree. I saw some nice small sugar pumpkins at the grocery store and picked up a couple.

I knocked the stem off, cut them in half, scooped the seeds out (which I will roast tomorrow) then cut into quarters and baked at 305 degrees for 45 minutes. Then I pureed them in my food processor. (NO REALLY. I did this! Crazy huh?!?!)

So then I was dying to try them baked in something and found a recipe for Pumpkin Muffins on allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

2 cups pureed pumpkin (doesn't have to be home done pumpkin- canned will work fine)

3 cups all purpose flour (I subbed 2 c. whole wheat flour and 1 c. oatmeal(

2 cups white sugar

2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. baking powder

2 t. ground cloves

2 t. ground cinnamon

2 t. ground nutmeg

1 t. ground allspice

1 t. salt

2/3 cup vegetable oil (I subbed 2/3 c. applesauce)

3 eggs (I think I might have only used 2 on accident)

Directions

• In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt. In a separate bowl mix together pumpkin, vegetable oil and eggs. Stir pumpkin mixture into flour mixture until smooth. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups 
• Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick comes out of the center of a muffin comes out clean.

This made 24 normal sized muffins plus 9 mini muffins.

YUMMY!!!!! And the smell- Double YUMMY!

Sorry I haven't posted

We got some internet filtering software at work, so I can't log onto our blog to post pictures. And my internet connection at home is a royal pain (I need to find about 3 hours to sit on the phone with customer support. Does anyone know where I can find 3 hours of quiet to be on the phone??? Anyone?? Buhler???)

So in the mean time you may just have to settle for some stories. 

Sydney is loving school still. She finished up the soccer season which she really enjoyed again. She is reading wonderfully. She is learning "times" which I have to remind her is also called multiplication. 

Hayley is learning some sight words and this week is working on the letters A and S. 

Addy has hit the terrible two's a little early. She is climbing out of her crib, so we need to take it down. She won't stay in her crib. It's been a rough couple of weeks. She just does not give up. As I'm typing this she's sitting next to me, "Mom- my candy. Mom, my candy! Mom- COOKIE! Mom!!!!"

We had a great time at the D-days parade last weekend. I wish I could share some pictures with you. Maybe I'll figure it out soon.

So, there is a quick update.

Congrats to Jason & Kristi with the arrival of Izabella Rose. 

Testing Windows Live Writer

So I've been doing this blog now for nearly 2 years and I hate the format of blogger. But I love that it is free.

So today on another blog I saw some information about Windows Live Writer. It is supposed to make it easier to add photos and post to the blog. So I'm trying it out.

In blogger if you add a photo it automatically pops up to the top of the post, which drives me crazy, especially when I have a bunch of photos to add.  With Windows Live Writer I am supposed to be able to put the photos anywhere. And I can post offline, which is great too.

So here is my test!

Great it works. And the great thing is I can rotate my photos in Live Writer, you can add effects too! YAY!!!!

Eight is GREAT!

Eight years ago a baby was born, and so was a mother (and a father, and grandparents, and aunts and uncles)! It is hard to imagine life now without these three precious girls in our lives. Each one of them is so different from the others, but also holds a special place in their dad & my heart!

Happy Eighth Birthday, Sydney!!!

Do you have a favorite Sydney memory? Post it in the comments. Sydney will LOVE to read all of the stories about her.

One of my favorite Sydney moments was when I was pregnant with Hayley. Jeremy use to puff up his belly to pretend he was pregnant too. One night when he did it Sydney looked at him and said, "WOW Daddy, that's ONE BIG BABY!"

Sydney's birthday party 2008

We had seven of Sydney's friends over for our first slumber party on Saturday night. It was a blast. The girls were all SO well behaved. The first ones (including the birthday girl) fell asleep around 9:30. The last one was just falling asleep when I went to bed at 11:30.

Here are some pictures:

Sydney requested the nail polish game again. The girls all sit in a circle and pass around 3 pots of nail polish to some music. When the music stops whoever has the nail polish gets to paint one finger nail or toe nail. I'm not sure why it worked out this way, but the same 3 girls kept getting all of the nail polish. they must have been holding on to it longer or something. Anyway I think it got passed around about 4 times and then they were bored with the game and just decided to paint their nails instead.

Shortly after the nail polish game I noticed how wonderful the light was so I had the girls pose for a picture.

I made pillow cases again for the girls to decorate:

After dark we had a camp fire going and gave the girls glow necklaces and played "Ghost in the Graveyard." It was fun. The girls were all running around outside in the dark playing tag. We also found some left over sparklers and let them do those too.

We had music going the entire time, and at one point the girls all sang along.

First Day of School 2008

Today was Hayley's first day of Kindergarten!

And Sydney's first day of 2nd grade
And don't forget about Addyson who also had to wear a backpack for her picture today!

We had Sydney's open house on Monday night. She is so excited that 2 of her very good friends are in her class, including one little girl who has been in her class all 3 years. Which is very rare. She had a great first day. They did some sort of Olympic thing. Sydney's class was "New Zeland" I'll have to find more out about it another less stressful night (which could be a whole other post.)

At Sydney's open house Addy was so funny. She pulled up a chair to a desk near Sydney's and watch Sydney and did everything Sydney did. Put the books inside the desk, looked around it, got the same color chair. Then when Sydney went to hang up her backpack, Addy tried to hang hers up too. (I wish I had had my camera)
Hayley's first day was just 1 1/2 hours long. We met with her teacher and her class. Did some "Centers" and read a couple of books.
Wednesday will be her first full day. Instead of going to school with mom and dad she gets to go with her teddy bear.
When I dropped Sydney off I fully expected to walk her in to her school and drop her off at her classroom. But she had a different idea.

Me: "Syd, do you want me to walk you in?"

Sydney:"No mom, I'll be fine. I'll do it myself!"

Me: "Are you sure? I kind of want to walk you in."

Sydney: "NO mom. I'll be fine. Just go, please!!!"

So with that, please keep Hayley in your thoughts Wednesday as I leave you with this:

I Trust You'll Treat Her Well (edited a little to fit Hayley)


By Victor Buono –

Dear World: I bequeath to you today one little girl...in a crispy dress...with two hazel eyes...and a happy laugh that ripples all day long...and a flash of red hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs. I trust you will treat her well.

She's slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning...and skipping off down the street to her first day of school. And never again will she be completely mine. Prim and proud she'll wave her young and independent hand this morning and say "Goodbye" and walk with little lady steps to the schoolhouse.

Now she'll learn to stand in lines...and wait by the alphabet for her name to be called. She'll learn to tune her ears for the sounds of school-bells...and deadlines...and she'll learn to giggle...and gossip...and look at the ceiling in a disinterested way when the little boy across the aisle sticks out his tongue at her. And, now she'll learn to be jealous. And now she'll learn how it is to feel hurt inside. And now she'll learn how not to cry.

No longer will she have time to sit on the front porch steps on a summer day and watch an ant scurry across the crack in the sidewalk. Nor will she have time to pop out of bed with the dawn to kiss lilac blossoms in the morning dew. No, now she will worry about the important things...like grades and which dress to wear and who's best friend is whose. And the magic of books and learning will replace the magic of her blocks and dolls. And she'll find new heroes.

For five full years now I've been her sage and Santa Claus and pal and playmate and mother and friend. Now she'll learn to share her worship with her teachers...which is only right. But, no longer will I be the smartest, greatest woman in the whole world. Today when that school bell rings for the first time...she'll learn what it means to be a member of the group...with all its privileges and its disadvantages too.

She'll learn in time that proper young ladies do not laugh out loud...or kiss dogs...or keep frogs in pickle jars in bedrooms...or even watch ants scurry across cracks in sidewalks in the summer.

Today she'll learn for the first time that all who smile at her are not her friends. And I'll stand on the front porch and watch her start out on the long, lonely journey to becoming a woman.

So, world, I bequeath to you one little girl...in a crispy dress...with two hazel eyes...and a happy laugh that ripples all day long...and a flash of red hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs. I trust you'll treat her well.

Olympic moments

• Sydney told me she was glad she was born during the Australia Olympics rather than this year. She said she would NOT want to be named Beijing
• Hayley: Mom, these Olympics are in China, right?

         Me: Yes, they are in China.

Hayley: Not BUTT China (what she thinks the female parts are called)

• Hayley and I were watching some of the swimming races. Hayley looks at me dead serious and says, "Mom, DO NOT sign me up for that!!! I am NOT that fast!!!" (I guess it's time to cut down on the activities!)

Stella (In my best Rocky voice)

After the Science Center on Friday we met my Aunt, Uncle and 2 of my cousin's children for lunch at Stella's Blue Sky Diner http://stellasblueskydiner.com/

The girls ordered a bubble gum milk shake and the waitress asked if she could pour it on their heads. The girls caught ever last drop. She then asked Hayley if she could try to pour one drop IN to her mouth. Hayley thought that was REALLY cool.

Sydney was a little more bashful about the whole ordeal. She was happy to hold the glass, but would NOT let her pour it into her mouth. Syd has hit that stage that if she thinks maybe it isn't "cool" she won't do it.

Science Center of Iowa

We had a great time last Friday at the Science Center of Iowa. http://www.sciowa.org/ It has so many great hands on exhibits. Addy even enjoyed all of it.
























I think I need a new camera. I don't think it is the kids movement that I can't keep up with anymore.




















One of the local tv stations has a weather center at the Science Center. The girls had a BALL watching themselves on tv and trying to point to the right thing on the green screen.



















Addy couldn't figure out how the girls got ON the TV.













































Addy dug for dinosaur bones too.






(Sorry about how spaced out these are. I HATE Blogger's editing. If anyone knows how to work in blogger and make it LOOK right, I'd LOVE to know!)

Monster Baby

Addy found Hayley's Dora Jeep this evening and decided first to push it around the house, but then realized it was much more fun to RIDE around the house.

The Salon

Sydney & Hayley were due for haircuts this week.

As Hayley was getting her trim, I looked over to see this sight...

Upside down magazine, no less. But she was just flipping through those pages looking at all of the LONG hair styles. I jokingly asked her WHICH long hairstyle she wanted done with HER long hair.

Then it was time. Time for a little trim. You're wondering WHAT POSSIBLY we could trim on Addy's follicley (is that a word) challenged head?

Well, her piggy tails were starting to get a little fuzzy in the back. And there was ONE hair on the top of her head a little too long.

It does seem like as soon as we do the first little fuzzy haircut that the girls' hair has seemed to start growing like crazy. Wishful thinking in this case too.

A Knot of Toads

Did you know a group of toads is called a knot? Well, we have a KNOT of toads by our house. Wholy KNOT! (I count 40, 40 tiny toads. Mwahahahahaha!)

And yesterday, the neighbor kids came over and brought a Knot of toads from by their houses too. So we had a Knot of Knots.

I guess toads are a good thing to have around. They can eat thousands of insects (so with 40 toads in our yard, that's 40,000 fewer insects!!! (They can eat up to 3 times their weight in insects and slugs EVERY day! Bring on those toads!)

Some people recommend putting in toad houses. But these toads seem to enjoy living under our step on our patio. (Note to self, this fall find out how to move that thing to clean under it. I'm sure there is some toad droppings to clean out).

The toads especially like to climb around Jeremy's new rock wall in the back of the yard too.

Small Town Days

It was the BIG celebration in the little hometown of the man of the house last weekend. We happened to be in town for another BIG celebration (Happy belated Birthday, Aunt Joan & Good luck in the BIG city!)


The girls had a blast at the parade!
Can you see those whispy piggy tails on Addy? Her mullet just keeps on growing in the back. SOME day I'll HAVE to take her in for a haircut. But the piggies are just TOO cute!


Sydney & Hayley had a blast collecting candy from the parade. If there is a shortage on tootsie rolls around the country this week, I think they were all at this parade!

Somehow Hayley got ahold of a water balloon. That is her papa sitting in the front of the golf cart. Completely unaware that Hayley's balloon has his name written all over it. (She chickened out before throwing it though.)

This adorable little pony cart was in the parade. We chased it down on the golf cart so Hayley could have a ride. The pony didn't quite want to stop, so this boy had to stop it so Hayley could get on. She thought it was pretty cool!