Eating With a Fork and a Bowl

April 24, 2010
Eli has really enjoyed eating with a fork lately. If I am having a hard time getting him to eat I will stab the food and hand him the fork. He will put the food in his mouth and then hand me back the fork if I ask for it. This was the first time we gave him a bowl and a fork to have fun with. He did have a lot of fun and luckily we caught the bowl before it hit the ground.

Last Week

April 19-23 Monday we went to garden at the school for FHE.

Tuesday we went to the PTA meeting so Nora could be awarded her Camp Invention scholarship that she won through the essay contest. She worked hard on her essay all through spring break and we were so proud of her. She is going to have a great time this summer.

Wednesday was "Wacky Wednesday" at Myka's school so she had fun dressing up. I think you could safely say that she was the wackiest kid there. It was my day to work so I got to dress up too. I should have gotten a picture of me, but I didn't so that is O.K. I will just say it involved a side pony with several little girl bows, several shirts, a tutu over pants, etc.

 

On Thursday, Nora and Kyla got to spend the whole day with Daniel at work. They started with breakfast and had all kinds of activities throughout the day including learning how a car is built, playing Ford bingo, and participating in pinewood derby races (Daniel was in charge of the Track), etc. They came home with quite the bag of goodies and all had a great time. Kind of funny you are supposed to take your child to work with you so they can see what you do all day (go to meeting, stare at a spreadsheet, go to another meeting, read an article, go to another meeting, etc.) instead they plan tons of events so the parents and kids just get to play all day

 

Friday, Daniel left camping with the scouts so we had a fun night at home watching a movie.

 

 

Saturday we went to the village - see next post.

Village Fun

April 24, 2010
Last weekend Daniel was gone camping with the scouts. I asked the girls on Friday night what they wanted to do. They all agreed that they wanted to go to The Village. Then I told them that Thomas the Train was at the village and they still thought that going sounded fun. We headed to the farm first (of course) and enjoyed seeing the baby calf, lambs and gathering eggs. Kyla and Myka checking out the big turkey. Nora asked if they are going to eat him for Thanksgiving.
Eli thought the chickens were pretty fun too.
I asked Nora to pose in front of this super cool chicken for me. The colors of these feather were amazing. Very cool chickens.One of the several baby lambs in the barn.
Myka found a friendly sheep in the apple orchard that thought the grass she fed it was much better than what was on her side of the fence.
Thomas the Tank Engine coming around the bend. The girls were excited even though they are too big and girly for Thomas.

Then we stopped for a snack in front of the pottery shop and Daniel joined us by then. We had fun checking out the Thomas stuff and watching a magic show. It is kind of sad, since we have seen Thomas so many times it has kind of lost it's magic. Nora says she doesn't really like Thomas anymore but she still enjoyed all the activities and of course wanted to buy trains once we got to the gift shop. We told her if she really wanted one we could look online at home.
Myka's annual drinking fountain picture to see how much she has grown. I will have to post the ones from the previous years in another post.
Eli says - I could get used to this. Mommy says-no way those things are way too much money.
Pedal car fun!
O.K. I am too small for the pedal cars but I am still having fun!

I thought this is a cute picture of Nora working so studiously on her coloring page.
Although Nora doesn't like Thomas, Emily is her favorite and she requested her picture taken with her.

We then wandered across the covered bridge checked on the turtle pond and see Thomas one more time.
and then over to Walnut Grove to see Thomas again but more importantly to roll down the hill
and the girls thought they had to climb every tree available. Luckily, we didn't get caught by any employees and they had a great time improving their tree climbing skills.
This ancient weeping willow held all four of them nicely, now if we could get them all to look at us at the same time, heaven forbid actually smile!
The girls holding up the lamppost! This lane of blossoming trees is so pretty. Daniel, Kyla, and Myka had to run back because Kyla had left something. Nora took this as a great opportunity to climb trees and have a photo shoot.


So I am not really sure why Nora was in such a photogenic mood or why I ended up taking so many picture of her generaly that day but it was fun. I guess it must have been the hat. I am usually taking all pictures of Eli and I felt bad we didn't really get a picture of him and Thomas again this year, although you can see a speck of his head in the stroller in one picture. Well maybe I still have a chance, Thomas is at the village for two more weekends. I still feel bad I didn't get one last year when he was only a month old.
They had to stop by and say hi to Thomas Edison on the way out. I could have left my wallet at home we didn't end up spending anything for a whole day of fun!

After the village we hurried home to feed them and then took them to the Ruesch's for babysitting while we went out. So I am sure you can guess how much we got done around the house! Oh well! Next weekend I guess.

CHEESE!!!

I love it when my kids have lopsided smiles whether it is when they are coming in or going out. Eli is especially good at saying cheese for the camera! This is right before his other front tooth came in Feb 1.

 

Kyla last summer, this was her smile for several weeks before the one hanging by a thread fell out and she didn't have any front teeth.

 

Late Night Party

January 30, 2010

So while Daniel was gone to Scout Klondike in January we were given some Krispy Kreme coupons that had to be used that night. The real me would have never done this, but after the kids had their jams on and were ready for bed I packed them all in the car and headed down to Krispy Kreme. We ate our doughnuts there and then brought one home for Daddy. They thought it was the best time ever.

 

They even got free balloons since it was closing soon and you gotta love the hats.

 

Eli thought the doughnuts were pretty divine and was a complete kook the entire time. It is good to know that every once in awhile I can drop everything and do something unexpected although it doesn't happen very often.

 

My Boy is ONE!!! NOOOOOO!

I am sad to say that Eli has turned one and is quickly leaving babydom. I have enjoyed him so much that I have a hard time with him growing. I guess is also stems from seeing my other kids get so grown up so fast. It just seems like they should stay smaller longer

 

His one year old measurements are 29 1/2 inches tall and 23.5 lbs. He is sleeping through the night pretty regularly and I am down to nursing on twice and sometimes once a day. He has been down to one nap for awhile since my schedule with the girls school doesn't work with a two nap schedule.

 

Eli has gotten extremely good at going down the stairs backwards and I pretty much trust him on them. I never did use the gate much. He has the most amazing smile with his four teeth sticking out and can pretty much win me over with anything.

 

Eli already loves to play cars and will crawl with one hand on the floor and one had holding his car while he scoots his bum forward (he is actually pretty fast).

 

He started folding his arms for prayer and will say something for Amen. Eli has started to really enjoy looking and pointing at books, stacking the star stacker, and play with the shapes box. But the thing he loves the best are BUTTONS! Whenever the phone rings and I pick it up he thinks he needs it. Whenever the TV gets turned on he tries his hardest to find the remote and disturb whatever we are watching. He is quite apt at finding buttons and was really excited to find some at the museum yesterday he could push. I think I am going to be in trouble when he gets older. My girls have had no interest in video games and such it has not been hard to keep it out of the house. He isn't walking yet, but I am super O.K. with that. And he isn't talking either, I am trying really hard not to compare him to the girls, knowing that boys are different and my girls weren't exactly normal with their speaking abilities. I am sure it will all come soon, he likes to tell up big babbling stories, though! I so luv my boy, if you haven't noticed. Kyla calls him - "You THING" so "Thing" might end up being his nickname. The girls have a lot of fun with him, but are scared for him to reach the age of destruction!