Spring Pictures

Swimming Fun

We spent Saturday night at a hotel with grandma. The hotel is only about a half-hour from our house, but it has a swimming pool that is both indoor and outdoor. You can swim from the inside to outdoors. Since there is snow on the ground outside, it was fun for the kids to be outside swimming surrouded by cold and snow. The hotel also had lots of free kid-friendly snacks (popcorn, nachos, hotdogs, etc.) that the kids enjoyed on their swimming breaks.

And the animals are moving in also...

Ever since Morgan got out of the hospital, she has had some minor sleep problems. She got used to the 24 hour a day hospital activity, and she still has a little trouble going to sleep and staying asleep. She normally falls asleep in Mom and Dad's bed. Tonight, she must have decided to move in her animal friends as well. When Mom and Dad went into their room, they found Morgan sleeping in the bed and her animals arranged in a bed she made in the floor for them. She had obviously been up a while getting them situated.

Controversy

Seth and Morgan got into a heated argument before school this morning.

Morgan woke up this morning and said she had to look pretty for school. She made a big deal of picking out her clothes (mom vetoed the dress she really wanted because of the cold,) her hair bow, and her hair style. She walked around the house asking everyone if she looked pretty :-)

Seth quickly got annoyed by her. He told her that she doesn't have to look pretty for school. He said all she has to do is wear clothes. She insisted that he was wrong and she had to look pretty. Lydia took her side as well.

(She fell off a chair into a table a couple days ago which caused her swollen, scratched nose.)

Eatin' Cheerios From Her Sister's Shoe AKA Reason #1001 Why Mom Can't Shower

Sydney must have gotten hungry when Mom showered this morning. She went to the kitchen, pulled a stool up to the island, got the box of cheerios, got a plate from the table, got her sister's shoe from the closet, and made herself a snack :-)

Ballet Class

Lydia and Morgan's Ballet school recently had a day where parents could watch the classes.

8 Gloves, 4 Hats, 4 Coats, 3 Backpacks, 1 Diaper Bag, 1 Sippy Cup, & Lots of Books, Folders, and Homework Assignments

All schoolday mornings are busy around our house, but Tuesdays are especially so. Mom volunteers at Seth's school on Tuesday mornings. As a result, two kids go to elmentary school, one to preschool, and one to a babysitter. Since Mom is not a morning person, she prefers to have everyone organized the night before. It's a crazy amount of stuff to gather! It is much easier on warm days when finding lost gloves and hats isn't a concern.

Snow Fort

More snow is on the way...

We have a lot of snow, and we have more on the way. This year none of our snows have been huge for where we live, but we have gotten one after another with none melting. This first picture shows how deep it is all over compared to Sydney.
This picture shows the kids in the igloo they built.

Sydney enjoys being pulled around on a sled.

This picture is Lydia and a friend in a tunnel they dug.

She worked hard shoveling our driveway :-)

First Bowl of Chili

When Morgan was in the hospital after part of her intestines was removed and the rest sewn back together, the children's hospital staff wanted her to make choices concerning what she ate. (This was after she was off the liquid diet.) They said that she would eat better if she could choose whatever she wanted. Morgan's two favorite foods are chili and sausage (not served together.) Mom had a serious discussion with the hospital dietician about the appropriateness of this type of diet after intestinal surgery :-) Morgan and the dietician prevailed and Morgan got her sausage with almost every meal at the hospital and came home to frequent bowls of chili.

Mom makes pots of chili and freezes in small containers so Morgan can have for lunch a lot. However, Mom hadn't had the heart to give Sydney a bowl before today because of the mess that she knew would follow. Today Morgan convinced her that Sydney really needed to start eating chili for lunch like her. Sydney seemed to agree!

Riding Snowmobiles

A couple of the kids' friends invited them to go snowmobiling in the field behind our house last night. They had a great time! They had never ridden snowmobiles before.

Nana's Birthday Weekend

This weekend the kids had a great time helping Nana celebrate her upcoming birthday! We spent the weekend in Louisville, Kentucky. The kids enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool, munching on Nana's oreo birthday cake, and recommending and teaching her how to use apps such as Angry Birds for her new iPad :-) They also liked a trip to the park. We are expecting a very major snow and ice storm this week, and it will be awhile before they see another park.

Morgan's Big Accomplishment at School

Morgan had a big day at school today! At her school, the kids bring home a metal ring with six new letters a week. The kids have to memorize them. This is a big challenge for the kids. Morgan was able to do her entire ring today. She got to pick a prize for being able to read all her letters. She chose sunglasses to wear on a snowy day :-)

It's a really big deal at her school to the kids because now she gets another ring. She'll do sight words each week. She'll also get to bring home a beginning reader each week. Since her best friends are older and have been bringing home readers most of the year, she's been asking her teacher for this for a while.

Mom and Dad also promised her a trip to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner to celebrate.

Happy Face

On Tuesday, Morgan asked Mom to come see her happy face... Mom got the camera and said she'd take a picture of it. Morgan said she had her happy face because she was going to gymnastics after she finished her homework. (She was disappointed to find out she actually had to wait a couple more hours.)

Seth's Basketball Debut!

Seth played in his first ever basketball game today. He hit his first basket ever... unfortunately, it was before the game began... He had a good time.

Lydia's Cheerleading Camp

Lydia participated in the school's cheerleading camp for little girls this week. The girls cheered at a basketball game Friday night. She did a good job.

MLK Day

Seth is in kindergarten this year, and when a child is in kindergarten, all holidays come with a lot of anticipation. Seth spent last week learning about Martin Luther King, and he asked mom this morning how our family spends Martin Luther King day. A good response would have probably been reading books or visiting a museum. However, Mom explained that our family spends it at the dentist office. Our dentist office makes MLK day kids day. They have only kids all day long so kids don't have to miss school for appointments. The kids wear their PJ's, do crafts, get bags of treats, and of course get their teeth cleaned. Kids in our town will always associate MLK day with clean teeth!

Sledding

Mom has taken the kids and a friend sledding after school for the past couple days. The kids love it. It was really cold today though. Morgan and Sydney only lasted a few minutes then watched from the warm van.

Homework and the Future

We have reached the point where 3/4 of our kids have homework. It's a busy time around our house in the evenings. Tonight we asked the kids what they were going to be when they grew up. Lydia said a chef. She loves to cook. She cooked a pasta and sauce recipe herself tonight with a fruit salad. Her being a chef wouldn't suprise anyone. Seth wants to be a kindergarten teacher. He said he knows a lot about kindergarteners and it would be a lot of fun. He said he wants a big class because he thinks it's more fun with more kids and fewer teachers. Morgan first said she was going to be a princess. Our geography kid Seth then informed her that that was a bad idea because princesses have to live in England and she wouldn't want to move that far away. She decided instead that she would be a person who dresses up like a princess at Disney :-)

Peering Through the Windows

When Mom goes out to get the mail in the mornings and it's too cold for Sydney and Morgan to go along, they watch through the windows beside the front door.

Sleepovers

Lydia headed out this afternoon for a sleepover at a friend's house. Last night she had a friend stay at the house. Nine year-old girls seem to love to pack up their dolls, video games, art stuff, etc. and hang out with friends.

The way parenting tips usually work out...

Seth is stuck in a picky eating rut. Mom has been trying to get him to enjoy more and different foods with little luck. She often hears that the way to get kids to enjoy new foods is to let them have choices in what to prepare and let them help make it. She decided to give it a try. She gave both Seth and Lydia a stack of cooking magazines with pictures and asked the kids to pick out a couple meals they would like to make and eat. Lydia came up with a list of fruit salads, pasta dishes, and smoothies. Seth on the other hand only found one item... an advertisement for pizza rolls... Mom will have to keep trying.