Long, Long, Long Return Home

The traffic was a nightmare for the trip home today. We spent hours on the interstate in stopped traffic. Our normally nine hour trip took twelve. The kids were great, but it was a long day for us all!

Going on a Trainride

Papa took Seth for a ride on a real train. He even got to honk the horn!

First Place Ohio State Patrol School Bus Safety Coloring Contest

Lydia found out today that she won first place out of 283 Ohio first graders in the bus safety coloring contest. She's excited about all the cool prizes.

The Days of Spontaneity are Gone at Our House

Mom has a theory on traveling with 3 small children. She says it takes as much time to pack and recover from a trip as we spend on a trip. Therefore, she expects to spend 2 days preparing for our Tennessee Thanksgiving trip and 2 days unpacking and getting things back to normal. She did laundry and packed the kid suitcases today. We're taking Christmas gifts when we go so she's wrapping gifts tonight. She's also doing some housework which is always needed with us around. Tomorrow she's packing herself, the food and drink supply for the trip, and the endless supply of electronic and old fashioned entertainment so we don't annoy her to much on the nine hour drive. She's also working ahead on her job tomorrow so she doesn't have to work too much on vacation.

What about Dad you ask? He has a big project of his own. (Other than his 8-5 job) he's working on painting the house this week. He started last night. If you look behind the suitcases, you can see the new color. It's much better than the flat white paint that has black spots all over it from me and big brother putting our sticky fingers all over the walls.

The Christmas Lists

Mom asked the big kids today what they want on their Christmas lists this year. It's always funny to hear what they want.

Lydia- She said she wants dry erase markers. Mom suggested that since she had her birthday and Christmas were together, she could also think of more- maybe something a little more expensive. She decided that a webkinz is really expensive and that's what she wants. She got a webkinz last year, but the internet access is only good for a year. She got notice today that her access would end soon which was upsetting to her. Mom heard rumor that Gma may be helping her out with this :-) She also heard that there are littlest pet shop toys animals with web codes around the neck that would be neat.

Seth- He wants a little toy robot and a Lighting McQueen (from the move Cars) toy that goes really fast.

A Day in the Life of a Preschooler

Mom went to preschool today for parent day. She watched all the activities. Today among other things Seth played a game with some friends and his teacher:

sorted on the sorting chart:

played in the touch station with artificial snow and toy animals:

worked on coordination on the sit and spin:

and appeared to be preparing for an armed services career :-) doing the army crawl across the mats.

The Eater

I tend to run in the 4-8th percentile weightwise, and as a result, no one would suspect from looking at me that I'm the kid who loves to eat in the family. Mom made a chicken casserole tonight. While big brother gagged at the sight of it and big sister picked a little off the edges, I wiped out my first plate. Dad came home from work late tonight, and I insisted on having another bowlful and another roll. While big brother prefers food that belongs between two slices of bread or comes out of the microwave, I love to eat home-cooked meals.

Lookin' Like Grandpa

Seth decided that he looks like Grandpa today!

Carriage Rides to Bed

Lydia gives Morgan carriage (AKA red firetruck) rides to bed. Morgan loves it.

First Grade and Preschool Pictures

Seriously, Mom has 3 kids and should have known better...

I'm exhausted. I had to miss my nap this morning. I've had a minor rash for a couple weeks. Mom and Dad first thought it was diaper rash. Then it was on my thighs, and they thought my clothes were rubbing on my legs or something. Well, this morning the back of my legs was red and puffy. It appeared to Mom to be a bad case of something???
Mom immediately called the Pediatrician. She could have taken me to the Physician Assistant at the clinic a mile from our house, but she decided I needed to see a Pediatrician for my ailment. She drove 50 miles roundtrip, spent $25 on the copay, and put aside everything else she needed to be doing like cleaning the toilets or e-mailing notes of encouragement to her slacking students.
The diagnosis....... dry skin. Yep, I have dry skin. The prescription... lotion. The doctor said she could put a little cortizone cream on it also so it doesn't itch. Well, I'm finally getting my nap. I hope to be better soon.

Cool New Sponge Bob Square Pants PJs

Roughhousing with Dad

Seth and Morgan like to play tackle and rough games with Dad. No one has told Morgan though that Halloween is over. She loves to wear her princess dress even to play tackle.

3.5 Year Old Style

When Lydia was about 3.5, she only wanted to wear pink clothes. She thought she looked nice in pink and insisted on wearing it every day. If she had to wear any other color, she was very upset. As a result, Mom and Dad tended to buy pink to avoid a fight, and she had almost all pink clothes in preschool. Luckily, she outgrew this stage a long time ago. Now she prefers to wear something with Hannah Montana's face on the front, but other than that, she doesn't care at all what she wears.

Seth has now entered the age of style. He has decided that he looks best in collared shirts that button up the front. Mom picked mostly long sleeved T's and sweatshirts with things like fire trucks and Spiderman on the front for his preschool wardrobe, but Seth has decided he wants to wear one of his two collared shirts every day. He also prefers to wear his brown casual shoes instead of his Spiderman shoes. We're hoping this passes quickly or he follows dad into a career in nursing home administration :-) He seems to like the clothes for it.

Our Coloring Champ

Lydia has won a couple of coloring contests in the last couple weeks. She got a first place ribbon for one picture and a second place ribbon on the other. She's hoping for third place in her next contest :-)

Laptop Kids

Lydia borrowed Steve's laptop to play with her Webkinz pet pig. Of course, Seth then wanted to play. Mom let him play on starfall.com on her laptop. Then Morgan had to join. Although her laptop looks real, it's actually a V-tech nitro toy laptop.