The Cooker

March 25, 2010, 9:16 pm

Lily and I made banana bread for our big trip to the Grand Canyon. She was so excited to help me, and I basically had her do it all. Lily loves to cook and has been baking with me since she was 2. She cracked all of the eggs perfectly and then declared, "I'm really good at this! I have finally decided what I'm going to be when I'm big. A cooker!"

She then proceeded to hum and cluck (signs that she is most content) while she mixed up the batter. Then she asked to make something herself, so I let her go to work with flour, sugar, and other ingredients.



While waiting for the bus this morning (a Thursday morning), Lily smiled at me and told me she was so happy I was picking her up today. I told her that I had to work today so that I could have 11 days off with her over spring break. She asked me to explain why, so I told her how I was helping a new dietitian learn the ropes so that she could then cover me next week. Lily asked, "Do cookers have to work as hard as you do?"

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A Sassy Writer

March 23, 2010, 8:38 am

Lily loves to write. As she learns more and more words in Kindergarten, I find more and more messages around the house. She writes on her shoes, chalkboards, dry erase boards, notebooks. She just wrote a long letter to the Easter Bunny informing her that we will not be in Illinois on Easter but she can find us in Kansas. I am constantly asked, "Mom, how to you spell...?" (And I can vividly remember asking my Mom the same question endless times.)

I took the camera around the house and took some pictures of Lily's writings:

There should be no question who owns these boots:



This is an example of Lily being nice to Noah. It says "Noah your birthday is soon" Noah gave Lily a hug when he read it because he knows that Lily prefers only to focus on her own birthday.



My personal favorite message in her journal (which was open on her desk): "Boys drool but Papa Girls Rule." Oh Papa, you're the best!



Sassy author after dressing herself for school and unwilling to smile for camera:

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St. Patrick's Day Excitement

March 17, 2010, 9:02 pm

Lily was so excited for St. Patrick's Day this year. As I said in the last blog she wanted me to buy her a leprechaun suit. She counted down the days until March 17th, set out her special green dress, and even asked to take a bath the night before. She checked out the book "Twas the Night before St. Patrick's Day" from the school library and has us read it to her every night for a week. Frankly she got me excited about St. Patrick's Day.

Here are Noah and Lily before school in their green (Noah perhaps 1/10th as excited as Lily):



Lily actually wanted to find a leprechaun when she woke up which was a reminder of Noah when he was 3 and frightened of the leprechaun at preschool. He looks a little more excited about being in green 5 years ago:

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A Few Reasons Why I Love Noah and Lily...

March 14, 2010, 9:41 pm

Noah:

Noah has a great record at school for not getting in trouble. He never gets notes sent home about his conduct, and his teachers always comment that he’s respectful. He came home from school one day last month and went right to his room. I knew right away that something was up as Noah never goes to his room. He sat on his floor looking through his backpack. Then he came up to me holding his folder with the calendar on it that has behavior issues written on it (it is usually blank). He had his entire arm covering the calendar and asked me to sign at the bottom (I have never had to sign one before). I giggled to myself and told him he would have to move his arm before I sign. On his calendar his teacher wrote that he did not bring home a book to read one day. I signed the sheet and told Noah, “You know, you need to bring your homework home each day, ok?” He told me yes and skipped out of the room. Then I heard him humming happily in his room.

Noah participated in Jump Rope for heart and raised over $200. I picked him up from school the day he received a box full of prizes for the money he raised. He had the biggest smile on his face as he pulled out a foam rocket, jump rope, t-shirt, crazy ball, and other toys. Then he declared, “Wow! All of this stuff is so worth $200!”



Lily:

Lily has been texting her Uncle Jason since he visited last month. She sends him little notes about how much she loves him, and then she holds the phone waiting for his response (he always responds). However, Uncle Jason spelled Lily’s name with an extra L, and she took notice. She stewed about it for a while, and then last night she asked for my phone to text Jason. The only word she asked me how to spell was “name.” I looked at my sent messages and found the following: My name is not Lilly it is Lily

Lily is so excited for St. Patrick’s Day. Last year when she was in preschool, her teachers talked on and on about the leprechaun that would come to the classroom the night before St. Patrick’s Day and make mischief in the room but then leave pots of chocolate candy. Lily missed that day of school as we were in Kansas for Spring break. So this year she is soooo excited to be at school for St. Patrick’s Day. She keeps asking me what day it is and says, “Make sure we don’t go on a trip that day!” We went to Walgreens and Lily saw a display of St. Patrick’s Day stuff. She sat on the floor and looked everything over and tried on all of the green hats and declared, “I wish there was a whole store of St. Patrick’s Day stuff!” But my favorite part is when she asked me last week if I would buy her a leprechaun suit for St. Patrick’s Day. I can’t get that image out of my head…Lily the Leprechaun.

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Huck's Fantastic 5th Birthday

March 13, 2010, 7:02 pm

This year Lily was especially unhappy about my trip to NYC to visit Huck, JJ, and Troy. She really wanted to go with me. So did Noah. We need to have a family trip to visit the Schremmers. But March is Aunt Jeni’s chance for one-on-one lovin’ with Huck, and boy did I get it! I was never disappointed by the attention and affection from my fantastic nephew. We had a wonderful time reading about optical illusions, performing magic tricks, reading books, visiting museums, skipping, and eating rolos and spray cheese (as is our tradition).

I brought a special birthday present for JJ’s 40th birthday, two light blue feather fans and the lyrics to White Christmas’ song “Sisters.” JJ and I had a great time learning the dance and words to the song. Huck enjoyed watching us, and he even learned the lyrics himself. Troy recorded all of our rehearsals, and we performed the song for John and Shana on the night of the Oscars. Memories of the performance will forever make me giggle.

I always feel heartache when I leave the Schremmers. But what great memories!

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Siblings

March 3, 2010, 7:15 am

Noah and Lily have very little in common (besides the obvious like the same parents and the blue eyes and blonde hair). Noah is all about sports and goes from one season to the next. Lily goes along to his games but plays with her girlfriends and doesn't actually watch any of his games. Lily is all about dancing and art, and Noah doesn't always want to attend her dance recitals. Noah likes camouflage and guns, and Lily loves pink and frills. See what I'm working with here?

At home the two often disagree. A few days ago Lily proclaimed, "I just don't know how to be nice to you, Noah!"

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I pick the kids up from school. Lily loves being picked up, and Noah usually has basketball practice. Now that basketball is over, I decided to take the kids to the park yesterday after school. Lily was so excited, and Noah only complained a little.

They ended up having a great time together:




In elementary school, third graders are paired with Kindergarteners as reading buddies. The 3rd grader picks out a book to read to the Kindergartener every other week. Noah's class was paired with Lily's class this year, and Noah picked Lily. Lily is soooo proud to have her brother as her reading buddy. At dinner last week, I told Lily that I heard about her reading buddy and then went on and on with compliments about Noah. Noah smiled really big and said, "Hey, that's me!" Then I told Noah I had heard about his reading buddy and went on and on with compliments about Lily. Lily grinned and said, "That's me!"

Last night at dinner Lily told us that she wishes her reading buddy could come to her class every day. Hey Lily, I think you figured it out. You're being nice to Noah!

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It's Not a Hard Knock Life for Lily

March 2, 2010, 6:33 pm

During one of Lily's dance classes the girls started a dance by cleaning the floors and the walls. As a big Annie fan from way back, I immediately identified their new dance to "It's a Hard Knock Life."

Lily came home singing the song and practicing her dance moves. She often yells out, "Santa Clause...who's that? What's he?" which cracks me up.

When I went to Texas in January, Nathan ordered Annie off of Netflix and he watched it over and over again with Lily. Lily declared during "It's a Hard Knock Life," "This is just like Mama when she was a little girl!" Lily explained that I had 2 sisters so of course my life was like Annie in the orphanage.

When I came home from Texas, I had a great time watching Annie with Lily and I even went into the crawl space to find my old Annie doll from oh so long ago. Lily repeated her comment on how my life was like Annie's. I asked her to explain that and she said, "Because you had a mean person like Miss Hanagan." She was of course referring to my mean sister Janelle (who I of course adore now and was never even close to that mean to me!).

Last week Lily performed her dance to "It's A Hard Knock Life." I was so excited and proud!




Here she is on video (such a fancy-dressed orphan!)

Lily's Hard Knock Life

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