Eyes on the heavens

We had the best time this past week watching the space shuttle and space station fly by.  Doug brought home the appropriate times for our area.  We packed the family up, drove up the hill, parked, climbed up a hill and then sat and watited.  The lights were super easy to find and were fun to watch as they made their way across the sky.  Each light became brighter and brighter as they rose until they finally descended into darkness again.  It all occurred within a two minute time period but it left me feeling like we had been a part of something bigger.  On Friday, we gathered around to watch the space shuttle land so the girls could see up close what had just recenlty been so far away.  They really enjoyed it and hopefully, we inspired a future astronaut...or two.  I just don't know if a ninja mask or tiara would fit inside the required space helmet.

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

I know it's been a while since I've posted one of these. I'm sorry I've been remiss about updating but we've been busy with daily life as well as attempting to purchase curtains for our first floor.
Anna was eating lima beans at dinner and said, "I like these green things." I said, "Honey, they're called lima beans." Anna responded, "I'd prefer to stick with green things."

I asked everyone at the Thanksgiving table what they were most thankful for. In a sweet voice, Anna said, "Native Americans and our veterans."

Lauren was watching a movie preview on TV and asked Anna, "Was that in a movie or here on Earth?"

Lauren has been giving Anna the dickens recently. I walked by their room and noticed Anna had posted a sign on the door to the room they share that read, "No Laurens Allowed!" It even had a small picture of Lauren with an "X" through it.

Anna has been having fun this week drawing with stencils. When I asked her how she drew so neatly, she replied, "I used these utensils."

Both of the girls were busy the other day drawing Thanksgiving turkeys using body parts. When I finally got to see the finished product,  Anna had traced her hand and added an eye, a beak, and a waddle.  At the bottom of the page, it said, "Happy Thanksgiving!  Goble Goble!"  Lauren had trouble tracing her hand so instead she traced both of her feet!  They were the funniest and cutest turkeys I think I've ever seen.

Lauren has been learning Christmas songs for her school's winter musical.  It's always a challenge to figure out the mystery words that she's unsure of in the song.  There are some words, however, that are pretty easy to catch.  My favorite "Laurenization" of a song has been about Mary and Joseph trying to find a place in "Bef-a-ham" to stay for the night.  As Lauren sings it, "Knock-knock, knock Jofes and his wife..."

I was trying to get a Christmas wish list together for the kids to share with the grandparents and asked each girl what they most wanted for Christmas.  Lauren gave me the standard reply: puppy, guns, swords, dinosaurs, and any and all toys $100 or more (she inherited her mommy's crazy gene that allows her to pick out THE most expensive item in the store).  Anna, however, thought for a moment and said, I really want to fly."  So there you go, grandparents.  Good luck.  I'm not sure how you'll wrap that one up.

Every day the kids take an afternoon nap.  Every day they complain about it.  Every day they make excuses and find reasons why they should not have to take said nap.  My all time favorite came this past week.  I said, "Nap time!"  Anna yelled, "NOOOOO!  I asked her why she was so opposed to the idea.  She told me in no uncertain terms, "If I take a nap, I'll grow.  If I grow, I'll get clumsy.  If I get clumsy, I'll fall and hurt myself.  If I get a scratch it will hurt when I take a bath.  So, I cannot take a nap."

I asked Anna what she thought the tooth fairy did with all of the teeth she collected.  Without missing a beat, she said, "I bet she has a collection of teeth big and small, short and tall.

Jacob is learning to say a few words.   He says "Bath" quite often and has started calling "Ann-na".  He loves to "throw things away" as in the telephone into the garbage, his socks into the tub, and his spoon out of his high chair.  He also has learned that the toilet paper will unroll on the floor...he really enjoys this one.  He is finally crawling on all fours, as opposed to his normal marine crawl.  He's crazy fast and loves climbing up the stairs.  Unfortunately, however, he also seems determined to throw himself down the stairs.  He's a sweetheart though and adores his sisters.  They keep him in stitches!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you're all having a wonderful day. Our entire family is pleasantly sated and napping except for me. I felt the need to take a moment to post how thankful I am for our many blessings, including our wonderful family and friends. Best wishes to you all! You all know I can't post without a picture or two, so here are a few shots from Tuesday afternoon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What is a Dad?

I recently came across this poem:
Everything Dad
A little girl needs her daddy
To love her with manly charm,
To soothe her when she’s hurt,
And keep her safe from harm.

A girl needs her dad
To show her a man who’s good,
To help her make right choices,
As only a father could.

A woman needs her father
Just to be aware,
He’ll always be there for her
To sustain her and to care.

You are all these things, Dad.
I hope that you can see
How much I treasure you;
You mean everything to me.
~By Joanna Fuchs

At the end, I realized they had forgotten one line.  It should read something like this:  A girl needs a father to help make her dreams come true even when Mother Nature refuses to cooperate with you.  The girls have been dying to have enough leaves fall from our tree to make a leaf pile big enough to jump in.  Jacob and I went to the antique fair in Sacramento this morning.  When I got home, this is what I found:

What lucky little girls to have a daddy who is willing to do whatever it takes to get them their leaf pile.  You can just see the joy on their faces.

Does anyone have a chicken I could borrow?

No, there is no punchline. I seriously need to borrow a chicken for a project I'm working on. Anybody know anyone with a few hens in the local area?

It's been a productive day...for Jacob. I put laundry away. He rearranged Daddy's sock drawer. Note the intense concentration. You've heard the lyrics "Whistle while you work", well, sticking your tongue out works just as well.

I straightened the girls' room. He ate a few crayons.

Lastly, Jacob has really been looking for ways to bond with Daddy. He thought maybe he could talk race cars with his Dad later this evening. For some hands-on experience he made a few laps around the upstairs in his laundry racer with the help of a big sister.

All in a day's work for a busy baby.

October recap

I'm trying to play catch-up and begin November with a clean blogging slate. :) I thought the easiest way to just get it all out there would be a collage or in this case, collages. So, here's a quick rundown of October in pictures. (To see the kids' costumes, scroll down to the next two posts.)

The kids had field trips and art shows.

We made many trips to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm with family and friends.

We celebrated Halloween with huge pumpkin carvings, shrunken heads, monster meat, snakes' tongues, and dish of brains. We also managed to bring home LOTS of candy that I'm still trying to talk the girls out of eating. When I mentioned a "buy-back" program to Anna (where she picks out 5 pieces or so and we buy the rest from her), she shrieked, grabbed her candy, and ran upstairs yelling, "NO, NO, NO!"

Farewell to Chameleon Earhart

We had a lot of of fun this year picking out costumes. Originally Jacob was going to be a spider (I would be the web), Anna was going to be a bee girl (Doug would be the beekeeper) and Lauren was going to be Amelia Earhart (or according to her: Chameleon Earhart). She must have asked me 10,000 times, "What's her name again, Mommy?" It all fell apart though when Anna decided she did not want to wear a yellow turtleneck; Lauren decided she didn't like her goggles and leather jacket; and I saw the owl costume pattern for Jacob in a magazine. We switched gears and bought Lauren another pirate costume (Elizabeth Swan) but it turned out to be a tad tight. When Doug went back to the store to exchange it for a larger size, they were out. So, Daddy came home with a ninja costume and a sword that was as big as Lauren. Of course, she fell for it. Although it wasn't exactly a mother's dream costume for her little girl, it suited Lauren to a tee. We had to take it away though as she was going to wear it out before Halloween even arrived. Anna fell in love with the fortune teller costume. As soon as we pulled it out of the box, she started reading people's futures. She even set up shop with a crystal ball and charged 5 cents a palm reading. As for Jacob, he was definitely the cutest little owl baby that I've ever seen...although I may be a bit biased.

Happy Belated Hall"owl"een

Hi all,

Sorry we've been absent for most of the month. It's been a bit tumultuous around here as of late. Hopefully, things are back on track in our home and I'll be able to update more often. I'm working on a recap of October that I'll try to post tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a shot of our baby owl on his first Halloween. I was so excited about his costume. It's one of the few things I've attempted to make that actually turned out! Hope you had lots of treats and not too many tricks!