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The Masterpiece

Addi finished her (2nd) mountain easily enough. She even added a waterfall! We decided to turn it in "soft" and unpainted. But, the snow adds a nice touch, don't you think?!

pretend it's monday - photo 72

This week, while flying by, is not going as smoothly as I'd hoped. We have a lot on our plates and I thought I could get it all done. Addi has a school project due tomorrow. She almost finished her mountain, complete with cave and hibernating bear, this weekend. The clay just needed to harden so she could paint her bear and add snow to the mountain. This morning I noticed the clay was still super soft, so I thought I could put it in the oven on a low temp for a while. I checked it after about 30 minutes and found a catastrophe! (see pic below)

Yep! I melted her school project. That's due TOMORROW!! We have small group tonight and (I found out Today!) Bryan and I are teaching the kids, so we can't skip. Hello! Wednesday nights are already a little hairy without the addition of an angry 7 year old trying to quickly sculpt a masterpiece. I'll take a pic of the results, but, for now, I've got a lesson to plan.

photo 71 and a little Levi business

This is a first! Never, before yesterday, had one of my babies fallen asleep at the table. I've heard tales of this phenomenon and even witnessed it from other children on occasion. Of course, it happened at the most inconvenient time. I gave Levi a snack and began fixing our lunch. (Mothering 101 taught me that when I wait too long to start a meal, I must quiet my screaming child with a snack!) The next thing I knew, he's slumped over with his chubby hand still grasping for dried pineapple. About 90 seconds later he was snoring.
He's made himself a little more comfortable here. Do you see the glistening drool? It was all down the side of his seat. :) We needed to leave right after we ate to pick Libby up from preschool, so I couldn't take him to bed and let him sleep out his nap. So, I woke him, stuffed him and threw him in the car, hoping he would take a decent nap once we got back home. Good news! It worked!

If you haven't noticed, Levi got a haircut. I just couldn't stand his 90210 sideburns any longer. I also cringe everytime I have to pay $15+ for his 5 minute haircuts. So, I took matters into my own hands. He and I got into the bathtub and away I went with the clippers. I used the longest guard, but it took A LOT off. Once I started I had to finish and we ended up with a much shorter look than I was going for. It's a bit uneven and patchy and Bryan thinks I need to take him somewhere to have it fixed, but I think it's fine. What do you think?

Last thing: You know that kids are born with the ability to know the minute their moms get on the phone or walk into the bathroom, right? Well, I snuck to the potty this morning and no sooner had I lifted the lid than Levi started twisting the doorknob. He hasn't quite mastered as much rotation as is needed to successfully open a door, yet. I remained as quiet as possible wondering if he would get bored and leave, but he began knocking after a few failed attempts at opening the door. I said, "Oh, someone's at the door! Who is it?" Levi's answer, "Idnnoo!" [translation: I don't know] He makes me laugh. :)

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How about these?...Do you know which babies these are?

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Do you know who this is? Ten bucks Bryan won't know. :)

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We've been enjoying bike riding weather!

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Addi's taken to shutting her door while she's at school. She's also added handwritten signs requesting "No boys except Daddy! And especially no baby boys!" I bet you can guess why. So, I was quite surprised to be greeted by the one and only Hannah Montana the other day when I walked in her room to deliver clean clothes. :)

photo 66

Levi loves hats. Any kind of hat. He found one of my hats and has begged to wear it around the house, especially during naptime, ever since. This is the last picture I'll post for a while that he'll want to kill me for later. :)

photo 65

I mentioned this here. Addi has been teaching Libby all kinds of new tricks. :)

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The Saga of the Cartwheel

Addi had the hardest time learning to cartwheel. She started gymnastics at the end of last school-year and worked diligently all summer on her cartwheeling skills. At one point, she even had my mom over here working with her since Grammy used to be a gymnast in high school.

I could show her my cartwheels and explain to her what I was doing, trying to slow down my movements, but I couldn't do it for her. Her "coach" said one day it just clicks and a girl goes from attempting cartwheels to cartwheeling across the backyard. It finally clicked for Addi. She's been cartwheeling around our living room for months now. :)

She did about 30 in a row for me. I could not capture even 1 good shot. The above picture is would have been great if Levi could have stayed out of the way. (Pay no attention to the way my children are dressed. Our living room is an arctic tundra...could be the openess, could be the extremely high ceilings, OR it could be that huge vent to the outside world masquerading as a fireplace!) (And, yes, those are leg warmers (Listen, I didn't discover BabyLegs when I had baby girls, so my son had to wear them with his cute little chubby thighs all last winter. He'll be fine. Probably won't even remember it. I hope.) on Levi's arms. All his long-sleeved pajama shirts were in the wash!)

But, the point is, she did it. She worked hard and it paid off. Things come easily for Addison, but when something is the least bit challenging, she tends to want to quit. She didn't quit and I hope the cartwheel saga will be a good reminder when one of those great big ol' challenges pops up in her life.

How much cuter could those pictures have been had I:

1. gotten some decent shots.
2. locked my other kids in their rooms, so they wouldn't keep appearing. (I didn't post the ones of Libby begging me to take her picture doing a handstand!)
3. shut the tv cabinet doors.

The idea was so cute in my head. :)

photo 63

They're back!

It's been so cold lately and Libby's been on such restrictions that the kids haven't had any trampoline time in quite a while. Well, even though Libby was supposed to stay off the trampoline until tomorrow, I sent them out doors today after Addi got home. They have had so much energy lately that just about the time I start to cook supper, they start to drive me crazy! (Just being honest here!) So, I'm off to cook, hopefully in peace. :)

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Ever seen Chopped on The Food Network? We happen to watch it every once in a while. I guess Addi saw it one time and decided she'd stage her own version. If you haven't ever seen it, the show has several chefs and they have to cook a meal with a secret ingredient in a certain amount of time and then the judges kick one off for each course, they get chopped. Well, Addi's version only had 2 chefs, Libby and Addi, and 2 courses, a meal and a dessert. I didn't get pics of the desserts though. I'm being completely honest when I tell you, as a judge, they were a treat!

Ritz crackers, celery, dried cranberries, corn muffins, plain yogurt, PEPPER, and (not pictured) Smokehouse almonds

Her finished plate and the verdict? There was a lot of pepper and we've had those almonds a long time (they were one of my cravings when I was pregnant with Levi...I don't crave them so much anymore), but the plating was very nice. :) Oh, and I think my kids would devour the celery filled with yogurt and cranberries. They love it filled with cream cheese and raisins, but the yogurt wasn't bad and much healthier.

Smokehouse almonds, plain yogurt, Dora (sugar!) cereal, corn muffins, cold (but homemade) mac and cheese, and a banana

True to form, Libby's method was completely opposite of her sisters. Addi=precise, Libby=dump! The nice thing about Libby's entree was you could pick out your perfect bite and not have to have a taste of everything.

As for the winner, we couldn't pick just one, so we told them both they were the real winner when they were by themselves. :)

I probably won't be back until Monday. My expectations of blogging every day was off, so I'm thinking I'll take the weekends off. Maybe that way I won't burn out again too soon!

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Addison's devotion to her sister knew no bounds on the day Libby had surgery. She stayed by her side, only leaving at Libby's request of something not found in my room, like refilling her "canteen" (as Libs dubbed the thermos Grammy brought her). I even caught her feeding Libby : ) *Libby kept complaining of her legs sweating. (Maybe a side effect of the anesthesia??) If you live in her world that's the prefect reason to take off your top. You can't see, but she did keep her pants and socks on.

The Catch-Up Post

UPDATE: I got my wish, sort of. My sweet husband always leaves for work a while before I need to get out of bed, so he always sets his alarm clock for me (even though I have my own alarm clock that I never set) and kisses me goodbye before he feeds Zoe and heads to work. Not long after he left this morning our ringing phone woke me. It was Bryan telling me Addison's school was closed today, which means Libby's school is also closed. I couldn't help but smile as I switch the alarm to OFF. I wasn't smiling 5 minutes later listening to muffled cries come over the baby monitor. After a few minutes of that I decided to get up and feed Levi breakfast before he woke his sisters. Precious Addi was already awake. She'd made her bed, brushed her teeth and was about to get dressed to surprise me! I'd talked her into crawling back into my bed when Libby walked down the stairs ready to eat. So, by the time we'd normally need to wake up, we were eating oatmeal. But, at least I don't have to go out in the cold. :)
Happy 2010! [I feel so old!] I had BIG plans for a Christmas post, a New Year's post, an update on Libby's ear post, a Happy Birthday post for my mom, and posts resuming my picture every day deal. Oh, well! I think I'll still do a Christmas post, at least. Not today though. :)

I've got pictures on my camera and I'd love to show them to you, but that would require me getting off my comfy, warm chair. Maybe I'll post them tomorrow. :)

We are getting back to normal around here with Addison's return to school Monday and Libby returning to preschool tomorrow. MOPS was this morning and we have small group tonight. The weather is supposed to turn Super-Cold tomorrow. Cold enough that I'm trying to come up with excuses not to take the girls to school. I know, I know I'm a cold-weather wimp. Every year around August 1, I vow to never complain about the cold again. I even desire a little cold. But, really, when push comes to shove, I dislike being cold more than being hot. (I think.) Actually, I'd be happy if the temps only ranged from 55 to 75 - Perfection!

Libs had a little bathtub accident on Saturday. Since we were warned to "avoid water at all costs", we decided to give her washcloth baths until she saw the doctor again. The other two needed a bath, so we threw them in the tub and, of course Libby wanted to be in the bathroom with her siblings. While Bryan was bathing Levi, Libby fell in the tub, head first. Fabulous. Apparently no damage was done. I took her to the doctor Tuesday and everything is healing up nicely.

That's pretty much our exciting news. Stay warm and hopefully I'll post something new tomorrow.