Done with the cubbies

We need to attach the brown backing wth nails, screw on 4 more double hooks on the inside of each one, and find some carpet to go in front. Maybe add names.  Dave has longer term plans to build benches the kids can sit on but we'll save that one for later when he is more able to use his hand.

(updated post: The pic here are shown almost finished)

These are completed!  They are all attached now (not 4 separate pieces anymore), the backing has been stapled down, side hooks added (Calvin's lower than Violet's, and Vanessa and baby boy's even lower so they can reach), and a strip of carpet in front of 2 of them..we'll get a longer piece of carpet probably later.

Violet was given the task of putting everybody's things where they go, she did a great job.  Anything that seemed too small for her or Calvin got moved to Vanessa or baby boy's locker.  Our closet in the house can breathe now!

So, out with the old:

and in with the new!

Sister bonding time

Violet rarely gets alone time with Vanessa.  She got about 2 hours last night with Calvin removed from the picture.  Dave brought Calvin along on a shopping trip somewhere.  He was going to take both older kids but I asked if Violet could stay.  She was simply amazing.  She tended to Vanessa in a way I've never seen her do so before.  She propped her up on the table with crayons and paper and the two of them colored together (well, Vanessa scribbled and ate some crayons) while I prepared supper.  When coloring was over, they got down on the floor and played around endlessly, coming up with goofy things to make each other laugh.  I loved seeing the two of them interact.  I wish I had taken more pictures.  They rolled a ball around, hooked themselves together with her jump rope somehow, played hide and seek under blankets, and read books together.  Vanessa was loving the undivided attention Violet was giving her. :)

Vanessa, learning to use a spoon

This stage is probably my least favorite of the toddler-forming years.  The mess is what I don't like dealing with, so I've been lazy and fed her for so long.  By this time V and C were both self feeding but Vanessa is just average with a spoon.  I let her go to town on her oatmeal the other morning and she did decent.  I know this is just a stage, she'll get there.  Maybe by the time baby arrives she will be neatly feeding herself, completely potty trained, and obedient.  Just kidding!

Violet's Awana Grand Prix race car

Dave and Violet worked on creating a car that she wanted for "race night" at Awana's Grand Prix pinewood derby night.  She's seen a couple races in the past (only 1 per year) and couldn't wait for the chance to build her own car, but she knew she had to be in Sparks to do that.  With Dave's broken casted hand, he was able to do most of the work (I helped here and there) with Violet to cut/paint/design her car.  She drew out the shape of the car she wanted, chose purple for the color (of course), and really, really wanted the number 90,000 on the car.  She said, "I want 90 thousand! Is that even a number!?" and when we said yes, she confirmed yes, definitely, that was the number she wanted on it.  They spent a couple days and going to a store to get some supplies for construction and speed...and this was the result.

At the races on Sunday night the 19th, her car won the first race, but got second on the second race.  She won third place for design among those in her Sparks group and got to go up at the end of the races to accept her third place trophy in front, and made her night!  Her friend Ivy created the cutest high heeled shoe designed race car and took first place.  All the cars were super cute, very creative, and seeing the cars was half the fun of the night. 

Valentine's Day 2012

We didn't do anything official for Valentine's Day, other than going along with their school celebrations, and handing out valentines for each of their classmates.  We did bake a big heart shaped cookie and decorate it, which the kids really enjoyed.  They received Valentine cards in the mail with gum in the cards too from Grandma Jo and Great Grandma Rowena.

I got to slip away and join Calvin at his preschool Valentine party on Feb 14th for an hour.  I played heart bingo with the kids for an hour, and was able to take a few pictures of him at school.  He really seems to enjoy it, and even with his spunky personality, seems to obey the teachers very well from what I observed.  I was watching him for about 15 minutes before he realized I had walked into the room.

In "circle time" at school, he's wearing the orange/brown striped shirt.

Snuggling up with some other kids and Mrs. A for story time.

A valentine version of "pin the tail on the donkey" ~ this was put a heart on the frog with a blindfold on.

Progress on "cubbies" - almost done!

I haven't figured out what to call these things we are building.  Cubbies? Lockers? Shelves?  Either way...its going to bring some organization in our lives.  I made some major painting progress this past weekend while Dave was able to watch the kids for an hour or two by himself here and there.  I painted all 4 of them with 2 coats of each color.  Two triple spinning hooks were installed on the two with completely dry paint.  We are waiting on the delivery of double hooks which should be arriving tomorrow.  All that is left is screwing them all together and putting them in their place! 

let's go look for the video, mom

Calvin told me about his dream last night in clear detail - everything from being on a boat, then being thrown overboard, being eaten by a shark, then being spit out on the sandy shore, not being scared at all.  He asked me if I saw his dream, and I told him no, since the dream happened in his own head, not mine.  He said, "No, it happened in my eyes."  The the last thing he said was..."Let's go to the library and look for that movie, the one about my dream, so you can see it!"

Baby, baby, baby! Vanessa - 20 months old

Vanessa LOVES babies!  She has turned from my baby to loving to care for babies.  She steals Violet's baby doll all the time, and puts it to bed in as many places as she can figure out.  She also gets excited to turn light switches on and off herself, put on as many pairs of shoes she can find (boots, sandals, whatever), running across the length of the house with the other kids (if she doesn't get pushed down somehow), finding out what "big kid" stuff she can get into (she discovered the Tag reader makes noise on certain books), making people listen to her heartbeat with the stethascope (which actually works!), and escaping upstairs to dig into the tube of toothpaste whenever she finds the bathroom door unlocked.  She puts on shoes and waves her hand and says "bye!" and pretend to go out the garage door.  She is also very particular about which sippy cup she drinks out of.  She has learned the infamous word "no" by saying "mo".  She loves reading books but has no patience to be "read to".  She looks at what pictures she is interested in, throws the book to the side and quickly gets up to get another one.  She also hums along to when I sing her "Jesus Loves Me" before I put her to bed at night.  She has learned the art of throwing fits, too.  She is so funny and also quite a handful!

Calvin's craziness

Calvin is changing so much lately.  In his speech which is now completely understandable, to his personality, which is verging on crazy.  He is 100% boy, loves to throw and smack things.  He seems to enjoy being upside down.  He also loves playing computer games and movies...things which I turn to when I need him to be still for a few moments.  Otherwise, he loves preschool (and can't wait to be the leader and bring the snack EVERY single time he goes), being tickled, coloring, playing PuzzleBuzz magazine games/puzzles, zooming around his blue airplane, clutching and sleeping with this blue blanket and yellow race car, and enjoys playing with Violet when he gets home from school.  They stick ropes in their pants and pretend they have long tails, and pretend to be baby wolves.

He could also really benefit from a good nap in the afternoon, because towards the middle of the afternoon, he gets really whiny, and 3 out of 10 trips to pick up Violet from school result in him falling asleep in his car seat.  He'll sleep for 2 hrs if I leave him in the car.  It wrecks his bedtime, however, and he ends up bouncing off the walls and not settling down that well going to bed if he naps during the day. 

We are currently working on helping him deal with his emotions.  His default when upset is to scream at the top of his lungs very, very loudly.  He is praised for coming to us telling us about a problem with out freaking out.  And he's also testing his limits, and has been getting lots of spanking lately for being disobedient and deliberately doing things that will make Violet upset.  It amazes me how quickly he can go from one end of the spectrum of emotions to the other.  Sometimes if he is upset, I will wait 15 seconds, and if he doesn't start giggling, I know something is wrong.

I found him in a cardboard box upside down the other day, and watching a Thomas movie upside down as well.

Progress...little by little

The units have been mostly assembled.  The project got put on hold for awhile since Dave was in CA for a week and its hard for me to get anything done by myself.  I chose paint colors while he was gone, brought them home along with a gallon of primer.  We have mainly primed all the lockers.  One had to be primted with a tinted grey primer to support the bold blue color we chose, which was easy by dropping in a few drops of black dye into the white primer.  Violet helped me paint some of the primer last week, and made an enormous paint mess.  I wish I had taken an after picture of when she was done, but I couldn't think of anything else at the moment other than how in the world to clean up the mess.  It was one of the more frustrating events of last week.  Either way...she helped...a little.