January 22

Spiderpeople

I have fallen behind in posting this weekend, but I faithfully took pictures all weekend. Isaac had paper Spiderman masks as part of his birthday party on Monday. They have continued to be very popular all week, both with him and Amelia. He puts it on, and begs me to sing the Spiderman song while he jumps down the stairs, off the ottoman, and runs around the house.
Amelia just puts hers on and laughs and laughs.

January 16

Blankie
Whew, I got today's entry in in the nick of time!
Isaac loves his blankie. He carries it around, sleeps with it, stashes it in his pocket to go to the store. It is a cape, the sail of a boat, a picnic cloth and a parachute. He became attached to it as an infant, I noticed that he slept through the night when he was swaddled in one particular blanket. It arrived at our home as a gift from my Great-Aunt when I was pregnant with Alex. It was used occasionally by both Alex and Ethan in a large rotation of baby blankets. Neither of them seemed to care about it particularly. I pulled it out for Isaac among many others. It was another hand me down for the third boy in a row. Isaac would never believe you though if you said that the blankie was Alex's. It is his, a threadbare friend, claimed by love.

January 15

Do you like my hat?

On one of her many cabinet rampages today, Amelia came across this Tupperware bowl that fits perfectly on her head! She found it totally hilarious, and wore it for quite a while, giggling the whole time. She has such a cute little sense of humor, she cracks herself up on a regular basis.

January 13

Snack

I took 232 pictures of Amelia eating a graham cracker today. I know that is crazy. She looked so cute, and the light was nice, and she was sitting still, well, she was strapped down. Anyway, I thought I would share a couple. She is such a sweet girl, I am grateful every day to have her in our family.

January 12

Snowman
It has finally warmed up a bit this week, it was 27 today!!
Ethan lives to play in the snow. He has agonized over all of the snow, and it just being too cold to play. On the most sub-arctic of days, he would beg to play outside, and even if I let him play for 5 minutes it was better than nothing. Today it was warm enough that he could play as long as he liked after school, which was about an hour. He insists on playing in the front yard, even though we have a large, beautiful, fenced back yard, because the snowplow makes "mountains".

January 8

Babyproof

Amelia is walking exclusively now. As a new walker, she is obsessed with going, and exploring. She is particularly interested in exploring the kitchen cabinets and drawers. She loves to make sure that everything is in the same place that it was yesterday (or five minutes ago). Baggies, check. Cereal, check. Tupperware, check. Glass pie pans, check. (yikes!)
Of course, latches and locks are merely a small hindrance. They slow her down a bit, but she still manages to find plenty to do.




An extra shot of her outfit today, she insisted on wearing Ethan's soccer medal all morning, which made her look a bit like an Olympic figure skater. :)

January 7

Ethan Receives His Wolf

Ethan is turning 9 in a few weeks, and he has been working really hard on the requirements for Wolf rank in Cub Scouts. We finished the last of them over Winter Break, and he received it last night at the pack meeting. He loves scouts, and is learning a lot. Some of the things he has accomplished on the road to his Wolf are: tracking his health habits for 2 weeks, creating and sharing a collection, talking to our family about what "courage" means, making something useful, learning how to respectfully display and handle the flag, and lots more. We are very proud of all his hard work.

January 5

Cupcakes

It is still bitter cold here, the guys are back in school, Mike is back at work, and nothing remotely interesting has happened for several days. Isaac badgered me all day yesterday to make cupcakes. I told him "later", until I finally got some in the oven right before dinner. With the huge pile of dishes already looming, I just could not bring myself to make frosting last night and get them decorated. I offered Isaac an unfrosted one, and he looked at me as if I had cracked. Toddlers have no use for unfrosted cupcakes, the cupcake is merely the frosting holder. So, this morning, first thing , he was bugging me to get the cupcakes frosted. I asked him what the hurry was , and he said "we REALLY need cupcakes today mama." So, we got the frosting made, and got them frosted and sprinkled. Suddenly, the day was not so boring. Lunch turned into a party. He was right, we really needed cupcakes today.

January 4

Back to School

Winter break is over. Mike went back to work, and the big boys went back to school. Mike and Alex were totally bummed, but Ethan (8) was excited to see his friends and tell them all about his great Christmas. It is -20 with windchill today, and I offered to drive him to school so that he would not have to wait outside, but he wanted to ride the bus with his friends and talk to them. I also tried to keep him inside as long as possible, but once kids started heading out to the bus stop, he was gone.

January 3

My Princess

I prayed for a daughter. I so much wanted someone to giggle and shop with, someone to watch girly movies with, tiny curls to put bows in. But more than I wanted a baby girl, I wanted an adult daughter someday. My mom is my best friend, the person I call for cooking advice, parenting questions, and to share my day. As much as I adore my boys, I knew that as adults, they would have a different relationship with me than a daughter would. I cried with joy when I found out that Amelia was a girl. And watching her do girly-girl stuff brings me so much pleasure. Tonight, after dinner, she was putting a baby doll, pearls and a ribbon in her purse, and having a wonderful time. It was great. Score 1 for the girly-girls.

January 2, 2010

My Silly Boy



Isaac (2) is the funniest kid. He is a whirlwind of laughs, messes, dirt and noise. He can be the most charming child you have ever met, or the biggest pain in the neck. I love his spunk, and he keeps life interesting! He has a dazzling imagination, a fierce temper and the best laugh ever.

January 1, 2010

Alex Doing His Homework



Alex (11) has really enjoyed the academic aspect of middle school. The social aspect has been a little trickier, but he tries to make the best of it. He is working on memorizing a scene for his VERY demanding acting class, which he adores.