Jump Rope Addict

February 27, 2008, 9:24 am

Noah is addicted to jump roping. He received a jump rope from school and in gym the activity this week is jump roping. In an attempt to perfect his jump roping skills, Noah jump ropes all the time.

Last weekend he jumped rope most of Sunday. Monday morning he woke up limping and barely able to walk. I informed him that perhaps his jump roping is excessive. He managed to make it through school and came home ready to jump rope again.

Here he is at school jump roping during recess:



Noah likes me to watch him jump rope and count how many times he can jump in a row. His goal is always at least 20.

Last night we were lying on the couch together, and Noah reached back and grabbed some fat on my stomach. I said, "Woa there, don't grab my stomach fat. Makes me feel like I need to work out."

Noah said, "You should consider my workout. It's called...jump roping!"

Touché.

(p.s. I've never typed jump rope or jump roping so many times and frankly it's a strange word)

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Dance Party QCA

February 27, 2008, 9:16 am

Is there anything funnier than kids dancing on a ledge?

Click to see Emily, Kevin, Noah, and Lily bust a move

Emily and Noah require much encouragement, but Kevin and Lily are always game...

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Fun with Friends in February

February 24, 2008, 2:05 pm

The kids have gotten creative, as the snow and cold weather are not going away. My favorite activity is making snow castles. The kids sit in the snow like it's a huge sand box and make impressive white castles.

Tyler and Noah making snow castles:



Emma and Lily:



Noah and Cade's fort:



Alexia helping Lily "bowl":



Goofs Carter and Noah:

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Little Comedians

February 22, 2008, 12:08 pm

Noah and Lily are very funny these days. Noah is into joke books. Every week he picks out a joke book from the school library. Then he spends time reading them to me and Nathan. I told him he should be a comedian.

Noah: Yeah, I should be a joke-teller
Mama: You should start writing your own jokes. Make some up.
Noah: No, I'll just keep checking out joke books and read those.

I like the image of Noah as a grown man standing on a stage reading jokes to an audience.

Yesterday Noah came home with yet another joke book. This one made me laugh to the point of tears. It was entitled "The book of underpants jokes." So, as you can imagine, we've been hearing lots of underwear jokes. What could be funnier than that?!

Lily made me laugh pretty hard on the way to her babysitter's house this morning. She was going on and on about swimming in the Kruse pool last summer and how there were worms and how she might have swallowed a worm and it would tickle her tummy and isn't that funny? Then she paused and said, "Mama, you could not eat worms. You're a vegetarian!"

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Happy Un-Birthday To You!

February 20, 2008, 9:47 am

Yesterday was Lily's Un-Birthday at preschool. For children with summer birthdays, they celebrate at their 6-month birthday. Lily was so excited for her special day. She picked out a pretty dress to wear to school and asked me to brush her hair (unheard of!) When she got to school, she looked for her name up at circle time indicating it was "her day."

Lily got to paint at the easel, which is her favorite activity. She handed out Dora fruit snacks for snack time along with heart sugar cookies. The kids sang Happy Birthday to her while she wore a pink birthday crown (her favorite color of course). She picked out a little chalkboard from the treasure chest, which she couldn't wait to draw on after school:



And here's a picture of Lily as Super-Bunny: (one of her aliases and simply one of my favorite pictures)

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Noah and Emily

February 20, 2008, 9:41 am

Noah and Emily are starting to prefer playing with same gender friends, but they still enjoy playing together as well. They are both pokemon fanatics. Last weekend Emily spent a few days with us, and the kids had fun taking down wallpaper in the bathroom together. It's amazing how well they can work together when they really want to.

Noah and Emily are the most competitive duo I've ever been around. Here are just a few things they argued over last weekend:

-Who pulled off the longest strip of wallpaper
-Who knows the most Dixie Chick lyrics (which they sang at top volume)
-Who drank their milkshake the fastest
-Who can hop on one foot across the pool the fastest

(Emily won all of these by the way)

Here they are in the huge bed they made on the floor:

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Tiger Badge

February 20, 2008, 9:36 am

Noah's last task for his Cub Scout Tiger badge was a field trip to a T.V. station. I took Noah, Emily, and Lily to Channel 8 studios. The kids had a great time and learned a lot about the news and weather reports. Noah liked standing by the green screen with a green cloth on him (making him appear invisible just like Harry Potter). Lily still thinks people are actually in the television.

Den #1:



Weather reporting:



At the news desk:

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Hi Sammy!

February 18, 2008, 10:00 am



I pass this painting every day at work. It's my favorite. I always say, "Hi Sammy!"

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3 1/2 years old

February 17, 2008, 8:39 am

When Lily woke up yesterday, I told her it was her 3 1/2 year birthday. Lily took this very seriously and insisted on celebration and singing the entire day.

Lily had $11 from Valentines Day, so we went to Target and she picked out a pink mermaid Barbie (she refers to babies as "her princesses.") She kept saying, "Oh, this is a wonderful 3 1/2 year birthday present, isn't it?"

We had cupcakes left over from Valentines Day, and Lily found 3 candles and broke a 4th candle in half and had me light them and sing Happy Birthday to her (approximately 4 times throughout the day). She also requested that I take pictures and then said, "Thank you for singing to me on my 3 1/2 birthday!"

Lily started every sentence with "Now that I'm 3 1/2 I sure am _________________"

insert: tall, smart, big, strong

She convinced herself that now that she's 3 1/2 she can read. She "read" to me many of her favorite (and clearly memorized) books with a look of excitement on her face and then exclaimed, "I'm 3 1/2! I can read!"

We got happy meals for dinner last night, and Lily believed her cup said "Happy Birthday Lily" on it and that the toy inside was yet another gift.

Oh Lily (miniature Jeni), Happy Birthday!

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A wiggly tooth

February 17, 2008, 8:31 am

We have breaking news this weekend. Noah is very excited to announce that he has his first wiggly tooth. He discovered the moveable tooth last night and danced around the house in excitement. Noah is the last First Grader to have all of his baby teeth, and he isn't very happy about that. He desperately wants to have gaping holes in his mouth and look just like his (awkward) friends.

Noah got his first tooth when he was 11 months old. Our dentist informed me that Noah would probably be the last kid to lose his first tooth. He also told me this is really good because losing teeth later means they have time to get stronger. I've told Noah this theory many times, but he doesn't seem to buy into it.

I asked Noah about the tooth fairy and what he will get for his teeth. He informed me that a tooth is worth anywhere from a dollar to ninety dollars. Ninety dollars? Good lands! Also he wants to keep his teeth, so he plans to put his teeth in a baggie with a note to the tooth fairy to please leave the teeth and the money.

So here's Noah showing me his wiggly tooth:



And of course I had to reminisce:


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3-year-old In Charge

February 15, 2008, 9:45 am

We watched Emily and Kevin last night while Dawn and Matt went out for their anniversary. I told Lily a few days ago that Kevin was coming over Thursday night, and she immediately started to freak out about Kevin touching "her stuff" and going into her room.

So I tried a new approach and told Lily that she was Kevin's babysitter and in charge of him. Boy did this angle work well with 'ol Lily. She was sweet to Kevin the whole night. She took him into her room and shared her books with him. She got his cup for him and found his binky when he wanted it. She held his hand and walked around with him. She even told me to get her old booster seat out, and they sat by each other and ate dinner and a cookie together.

Brilliant, I say!


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Valentines Day Fun

February 15, 2008, 9:37 am

I enjoyed Valentines Day parties a lot as a little girl. I have vivid memories of looking at my valentines at home and keeping them for a long time. So I attended both Lily and Noah's Valentines Day parties. Lily handed out Dora cards and was confused as to why she didn't have one for herself (and cried a little over that). Noah handed out snowboarding cards. Each kid in his class yelled, "Thanks Noah! Cool card!" and he kind of dazed back at them until I informed him he needed to say, "You're welcome!"

So I'm still working on making Valentines Day parties as their favorite. I feel Lily is on her way though...

Lily making a handprint on a heart:




Lily and her friend "Taylor R." (She is also good friends with Taylor Z.)




Noah's Valentines and desk:

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BOYS

February 15, 2008, 9:30 am

My house has been overrun with loud, aggressive, mask-wearing boys.



Noah and Tyler



Noah and Kale playing hockey in my home:

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The Snow

February 10, 2008, 7:42 pm

Have I mentioned the snow? It seems to snow every other day around here. The kids enjoy playing in it, but I think we're all ready for spring. Why is it we live in the Midwest again??



Noah even rides his bike in the snow:



We're in hibernation most of the time (like all day today):

[ 1 comment ] ( 17 views )

Love

February 7, 2008, 6:07 pm

Lily asks everyone, "What's your favorite color?" Lily's favorite color is pink. Her 3 favorite colors are pink, purple, and red. My favorite color is green. Papa's favorite color is blue, and Noah's favorite color is gold.

If someone says that they like all the colors, Lily will keep working on them until they pick a color. She knows that Patrick's favorite color is orange. She gets a little upset if someone has the same favorite color as someone else.

At preschool, Lily colors a picture for us each day. Usually she has her teacher write on the picture "Mommy, Daddy, Noah, Jackie." This week she came home with a heart picture that said love on it. The picture was colored pink, green, blue, and yellow (or gold), and I knew exactly what Lily was thinking when she picked her family's favorite colors.

I like how the colors overlap with a large part gold and the green and blue connected. Maybe I'm reading too much into 3-year-old art:

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An Introduction to Politics

February 6, 2008, 11:44 am

I love this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZHou18Cdk

This morning I showed the video to Noah and explained who Barack Obama is and what he means to me. Noah loved the video and watched it three times in a row and started singing along. He loved the part about a child in the public schools having the same hopes as a child on the streets of LA.

Then he said, "Obama may not be president this year, but I think he'll be president some day."

I thought...wow, such wise words from my 6-year-old son.

Then he said, "I think I'll be a football player instead of a democrat."

[ 4 comments ] ( 43 views )

Baby Owen

February 5, 2008, 5:52 pm

When my friend Stephanie was pregnant, I took some time at a party to show Lily her tummy and explain that a baby was in her belly. Lily even felt the baby kick. She sat right next to Stephanie for the rest of the evening. Then when Stephanie had her baby, I told her that the baby was born and named Owen. Lily saw Owen soon after he was born. Now Owen is 4 months old and came over with his Mom for a visit. Lily has been talking all weekend about holding baby Owen. She couldn't wait.

I don't recommend telling a very verbal and observant 3-year-old about the whole baby in the tummy phenomenon. Lily has asked two non-pregnant women if they had babies in their tummies, which resulted in me turning bright red and apologizing. Lily also asked a woman who was a few days away from her due date, thank goodness. So we have been discussing the fact that not all big tummies have babies in them (of course Lily has a baby named Linda in her belly).

Lily and Owen:



Melissa and I had to take turns holding Owen:

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Mrs. Personality

February 5, 2008, 5:47 pm

She's never boring...

[ 3 comments ] ( 23 views )