A rare quiet moment today on a "snow day" - aka: school cancelled

After a busy morning of pancakes, books, playdoh, the kids playing an interesting game of horsie (I have heard my quota of squeaky child-produced "neighing" for the day), watching some old Mister Rogers "how things are made" videos, snow ice cream cones, the day for me has come to a nice calm halt.  For how long, I do not know.  Vanessa and Eli are taking naps at the same time as I type.  Violet and Calvin decided to venture outside in the plentiful amounts of snow and have been occupied for hours!!  I must say...I thought this day would never come.  Having children old enough to put on their own snow gear (ok, ok, they still need help sometimes) ~ and go out in the snow on their own and play with out needing an adult to accompany them ~ is really wonderful.  I love watching them play in the snow.  They're so imaginative.
I can actually hear myself type and the ticking of the clock in the other room.  Very weird.  I'm watching the snow falling (we're up to about 7 or 8 inches) and I'm wondering what to do with myself.  I brought three huge baskets full of laundry downstairs, sorted them into three piles of whites, colors, and darks.  White load is in.  Maybe I should get supper started?

eta: Calvin and Violet were done with the snow about 3 hours into their play.  They played "Where's My Water" on my kindle for awhile.  Vanessa woke up and wanted to color.  Eli slept a long time, almost 4pm.  Violet asked me if she could work with dough so (and my long quiet break today must have inspired me) I decided to make some white bread from scratch.  I used my kitchenaid mixer to form the dough and I let Violet knead it.  We watched it rise once, punch it down, rise twice, and its currently baking in the oven.  Should be delicious with the chicken and rice soup I made for supper.  It smells yummy in my house!

Calvin's funny sayings

2-5-2013

"Anything that is upside down on something will fall.  Unless its glue.  Or ice." 

2-7-2013

"God made cutting and drawing kinda funny.  Cuz when people try to cut out a circle or draw something they stick their tongues out and make faces (mimicking a goofy face)."

2-25-2013

"What if the world was made of xxx (insert milk, chocolate, etc...)?"

Awana Grand Prix - 2013 (pink train car)

Dave has been so busy with putting together the last minute details of the coffee nook at BBC that he's had little extra time to help Violet make her pinewood derby car.  Violet really wanted a pink sparkly train.  He took off work for a couple days last week (one for Valentine's Day, one just because), so he had some time to work on it.  She helped him draw the shape of the train and shop for paint/supplies, and he cut it out...and it turned out pretty good.  First he spray painted the whole thing black and then taped off the sections to keep black and spray painted pink (many layers!) over the black.  He spray painted some random items black from the garage and attached them to look like smokestacks.

Her car ended up winning for speed in the Sparks group.  She was pretty excited!  Her friend Ivy won first place in design for her car shaped and painted like a #2 pencil.

 

Violet sitting next to Kari Jo (holding Eli)

 

 Ivy and her sister Sylvie

 Violet and Ivy

 

Tried taking a pic of all 4 kids together

this is how it turned out...yeah.

Eli - 8 months old

I remember things to blog about when I put the most recent pictures from the camera on my computer.  Eli is continuing to grow up right before me ~ he's crawling much faster, pulls up to stand on anything tall he can get his hands on (my legs, the coffee table, a step stool, a chair leg...).  He enjoys more food now, easily taking bites of almost anything.  He doesn't really take the food out of his mouth and inspect it first.  The other night he ate some pieces of cooked carrot and seemed to really love them.  He still is nursing a few times a day.  His favorite times seem to be in the morning and after he wakes up from his naps.  During the day when he'd rather be watching the other kids run around he isn't as interested.

He feels big, sturdy and thick when I hold him.  He's very wiggly and doesn't like sitting on laps much anymore.  He'd much rather be crawling around exploring things.  He's still very smiley and laughs easily.

The older kids always seem enamored with him.  Calvin tells me constantly that he doesn't want Eli to grow up because he's so cute.  Violet likes to help out bathing Eli by holding him and can't seem to get enough squeezing his little chubby slippery body in the tub.

He still likes his pacis and muslin blankets to sleep with.  He's also still a semi-flexible sleeper...if we're around running errands and he misses a nap, he'll still fall asleep in the car seat or in my arms.  If he's super exhausted and doesn't want to deal with fussing it out first, he'll simply drop his head right on my chest and fall asleep if I'm holding him and he feels tired.  Its like "lights out"...he falls asleep about as quick as his daddy does at times. :)

Vanessa learning letters

Vanessa wrote the letter A on the white board yesterday, it seems the older kids teaching her some things are sticking. :)

Family Fun Night on Valentine's Day 2013

Valentine's Day this year was celebrated as a family this year.  Dave took the day off work (the best present ever!) and we spent many hours at the coffee nook working on last minute details (installing water filters, cabinet locks, etc...).  The kids played in the gym and ran around while we worked.  We surprised them after our work day with Arby's (their favorite "fast food") and bowling.  They were so excited and happy.  It was a super fun night with everyone, and they all seemed to enjoy it.  Vanessa liked rolling the ball down the crocodile (or whatever that thing was) and a lesson that she learned was taking turns.  Dave and I enjoyed higher bowling scores with the advantage of the bumpers being up in our lane.  He still beat me though. :D

Day of errands!

This was my day....
1. After getting Violet ready for school, take Calvin to preschool.
2. Drive thru at bank
3. Starbucks (I had to, someone gave me a gift card!)
4. Make trip to Honda for van to get oil change.
5. Music store to get new piano lesson books for Violet
6. Pick up Calvin from school, fold load of diapers.
7. Lunch for kids, clean, organize shipment of tea and tea organizer for BBC coffee nook.
8. Vanessa nap, eat lunch myself
9. Pick up Violet from school
10. Go to Lowes to pick up a metal mounting bracket that was missing from a water filter box we got for the church. (I despise extra trips for stuff like this...)
11. Go to Sears and return a dishwasher hose we did not need.
12. Go to Probuild and pick up some little clips to put on cabinets at coffee nook at BBC to prevent them from opening past 90 degrees.
13. Stop at Mauer Eye Center to pick up and try on my new glasses.
14. Go home, break up a few kid fights, start supper.
15. Eat supper. Calvin isn't hungry which is odd.  He starts crying because his ear hurts. We think he is crying wolf because he often has random ailments that magically fix themselves within minutes.  Well...his crying was real and the minutes ticked on and he ended up pitifully snuggling up on the couch with his blankie and grabbing the side of his head.  He had a cold for a couple days so I suspected an ear infection.  Dave finished cleaning up supper and I took Calvin to urgent care a mile away. 
The doc took one look in his ear and saw the redness immediately.  On my way home I got his Rx of amoxicillon.  This marks Calvin's first ear infection that I knew of.

Moved the crib out of Vanessa's room into the guest room for Eli

Yesterday was the first moment I had to myself for a little less than 2 hours while I tackled moving the crib from one room to another.  I really wanted to just sit down for awhile and have some coffee and read a book.  But I didn't.  Moving the crib was something that really needed to get done.  Mostly for Eli's comfort while sleeping at night, the pack and play probably wasn't cutting it anymore.  He's a heavy boy and the crib mattress is so much bigger and cozier.  Vanessa is consistently doing well in her big bed too.
This meant disassembling it (partially) to get it through doorways.  Violet and Calvin finally had school at the same time.  Eli took his morning nap in the pack and play in my room, and Vanessa was tuned into Dora the Explorer snuggled under her Dora blanket.  I dug out the allen wrenches from the garage and took off all the girly bedding and got out the "boy" bedding.  This consists of a little car/truck themed crib bumper and matching sheets.  I took apart the crib enough to get it through the doorway of Vanessa's current room and into the guest room corner.  I reassembled it...hopefully the same way it was put back together.  It felt sturdy.  I tackled some random tasks while putting the crib back together too.  The wire mesh under the mattress had one part where it was missing a metal ring that held the mesh together in one place to provide support for the mattress.  Even though Vanessa slept on it with out that metal ring for a long time and probably didn't notice, I felt like the picky one wanting that hole "closed".  I grabbed a plastic zip tie from Dave's electronic "stuff" in the garage and zip tied the hole together.  The crib bumper was also missing a few fabric ties to hold it firmly in place while in the crib, so I took it down to the basement and used fabric scraps in the same length/shape of the existing ties and sewed on some of my own homemade ties to make it fit better.  I just used blue flannel scraps.  It worked like a charm.  The bedding went on the bed and looked pretty good.  The guest bedroom furniture was arranged in such a way that I couldn't slide in the drawer underneath the crib but that didn't matter much.  This crib was given to us from Josh and Carrie about a year or so ago, it went through their 3 kids and the drawer isn't in the best shape.
The guest bedroom is now the "baby" room.  If people stay with us I bring the pack and play and put it in our room.  The guest bedroom is still what I would consider a disaster.  The bed is comfy, but that's about it.  We would love to "decorate" it ~ which in my mind, is re-painting it a more pleasing color than the light green on the walls and putting up some nice-looking window coverings that block the light in place of the very thrown-together-look which consists of dark blankets and sheets tacked over the windows.   Oh well...in time.  We still need to paint our bedroom.

So I'm glad the crib project is done.  Eli slept really great last night. I got up to feed him at 6 am and put him back in bed, and its 9:44 am and he's still sleeping peacefully.  I think he likes it!

By the fourth kid...

With my first baby crawling around, plain cheerios was a good snack of choice for Violet around the age of 8 months.  Any and all snacks were given in a very clean high chair with a bib.  Anything fallen on the ground was quickly discarded.

I just noticed Eli crawling around on the floor and saw him heading toward a few honey nut cheerios on the floor and thought "oh good, he will be occupied for a little while!"

A note from Violet's piano teacher

In case that isn't readable, the note says "I see a natural ability in Violet.  She learns quickly - is bright and eager and will do very well if she has time to keep practicing as the years and busy schedules go and grow!"  She's been taking piano lessons since October 2012. 

Practicing at home is sometimes a challenge.  She has a hard time focusing, and gets really silly sometimes, which is frustrating for whoever is helping her.  But once she gets her wiggles out and focuses, she picks up on what she's learning very quickly.  She ranges in emotions from elated to frustrated and crying every 20 minute session.  She's a perfectionist and if she's trying to play a song through with out making a mistake, one wrong key, and she's a mess.  But she gets through it, plays the song correctly, and does a happy dance through the tears.  I remember practicing piano when I was younger.  At times it felt like drugery, at times it was super fun.  I'm glad I was "forced" to practice, even through all my grumbling (thanks mom and dad!)

Weird freezing cold week and school cancelations

It is -11 as I type right now.  Brrr!!!!

This has been an odd week.  Saturday night the 26th there was forecasted freezing rain.  Sunday morning the 27th, freezing rain hit hard.  Church was called off for the whole day....so we hung out in the house ALL DAY.  It was a fun pajama day.  They went outside to slide down the driveway wearing boots.  Monday, school was called off because the ice was still slick.  Monday evening was lightning and thunderstorms, warmer temps, and down pouring rain.  This melted all the ice, so Tuesday was the only full day of school from 8-3.  Temps fell again and got very cold and 4 inches of snow fell Tuesday night, so Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were all 2 hr delays starting school because of the excess snow and frigid temps.  Thursday morning we had women's Bible study, and we couldn't get into the church parking lot since it hadn't been plowed yet, so we met at Trisha's house a mile away.

There have been a lot of "I have major cabin fever" moments.  But the time to just stay put and not run around places was a nice break too.  

Violet had inspiration from a Backyardigans episode she saw that involved a jungle with a pizza shop it it, so I helped her create a "backdrop" for a play they wanted to put on for us.  We drew and colored for hours one day and they dressed up in their halloween costumes and danced around to music infront of the backdrop one night.  It was pretty funny!

Calvin hasn't had preschool all week, all 3 days (M, W, and F) were canceled.  He has been enjoying the snow so much though!!

This post has me wondering how to officially spell "cancelled".  Is it "cancelled" or "canceled"?

Dave took Calvin and Violet out to Cup of Joe for jazz night on Thursday.  It started at 8pm.  They went to get cookies and play games.  They think its pretty awesome to go with dad there.  Dave texted me a couple pictures of them and I showed the pics to Vanessa.  She wanted to show them the book she was currently reading.  Dave said the pic of Vanessa made V and C laugh a lot.  About as much as they get upset with her for wrecking what they're doing, they also are enamored with her "cuteness" at times and fall into fits of giggles over things she says. 

Last night at dinner, we were all eating a baked ziti dish with meatballs and broccoli.  Vanessa had already snacked on some trail mix an hour before supper so wasn't all that hungry, Dave said, "Vanessa, you eat like a bird!" and Vanessa immediately brought both arms up and started flapping like a little bird.  I think Violet and Calvin laughed for 5 minutes.

Another fun part of these late mornings is Violet being able to play with Eli.  He is most cheerful in the mornings.  I had gotten up with him a couple times in the night and brought him downstairs this morning at 6:45 am to change his diaper - and Violet came down the stairs and saw just myself and Eli downstairs.  She cuddled up to him and snuggled him - then when he had had enough of that - she brought him to the floor and played with him.  She said she didn't want anybody else to wake up, she must have been enjoying playing with her baby brother.  She thinks he's the cutest thing ever and laughs when she makes him do his little gruntle-laugh.  She was excited to see him crawl on his own and notice he could pull up to standing position on the bounce and spin zebra.  She even grabbed the camera and snapped a few pics of him.

Violet told me Thursday morning before she left for school (Teresa took her) that she almost cried saying goodbye to me, she wanted to stay.  I think she's a quality time kind of girl.  Her "love tank" is all filled up when she's home.  And to have a late start to her school day and be the only kid to leave was kind of hard, even Thursday morning.  I told her when I dropped her off that we would go home, have lunch in a little bit, put Vanessa down for a nap, and come get her.  The "shortness" of all that seemed to help her.

Tomorrow morning Dave is heading to Florida for a night.  A long-time co-worker of his died suddenly at the age of 54 from a massive heart attack.  The man who died was a believer, so knowing that is something to take comfort in.  This man who died was an important part of Calix and a very well respected father-figure to one of the guys on Dave's work team, so Dave felt it was important to make the effort to go to the funeral.  It is tomorrow afternoon.  He leaves early Sat morning and comes back Sunday around 1pm.  He was able to redeem frequent flier miles, hotel points, and a reward from car rentals to make our out-of-cost expense a whole $19 for his trip down there.  A blessing to redeem those since we don't have any travel $ in the budget right now.