My Two Boyfriends...

I'm hoping that some of you will comment on this post or send me an e-mail. Is it normal for a Kindergartner to talk about having boyfriends already? Perhaps it's the influence of a favorite series of books--Junie B. Jones--that I'm sure a lot of you with Kindergarten age kids have been reading also. Who knows. Mikayla says she has TWO boyfriends. I will not name their names for her privacy sake. Curious, I asked her, "Why are they your boyfriends?" As usual, Mikayla has the best answers, "Because they look like they'd be good ones (boyfriends)." I haven't gotten her to answer my question, "Do they know they are your boyfriends?" I'd love to ask, "How do they like sharing you as their girlfriend?!" Wow, I'm not ready for all of this kind of stuff. Although Nate and I both remember the names of our "significant other" in Kindergarten. That alone assures me that this is normal. At least she's liking Kindergarten more now. Tomorrow I get to go to her school and help her make a gingerbread house. We're both excited. Elyana has been so tantrumy lately that we both are ready for a little break away from her.

Mikayla was making gingerbread men out of construction paper today and put little stickers all over them. She explained that they were gingerbread men that earned merit badges from Santa for doing good things. Wow, where did that idea come from? I have always loved her imagination.

By the way, this is my 100th post! I can't wait for this year to end so I can go to
http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook to make all of my 2008 entries into a bound keepsake book. I have a feeling it all won't fit and will be a few different books.

Oh yeah, and I went to my second WW meeting tonight (a few days early since I'm heading out of town on my weigh in day). I'm happy to say I've lost 1.2 pounds since Saturday. I was hoping for a whooping 5 pounds from all my exercise this week, but I'll take what I can get!

A Better Week?

Well, no head wounds this week! That's a bonus. Here are the highlights of our week to catch you up:

• I officially joined Weight Watchers and went to my first meeting on Saturday. I'm a good 10 pounds over a healthy weight and I can't seem to get there on my own. It's almost our 10 year anniversary and I want to be a healthy weight and size by then!
  

• We sold our old camcorder on Craigslist since we bought an awesome mini DVD recorder/camcorder at Sam's on Black Friday. While I was selling the camcorder on Craigslist, I also noticed an ad for a huge collection of a Talking Dora House for sale. It came with the pool, the figures, the furniture, the van, etc. Awesome Christmas suprise for the girls!
  

• We got sick of Charter Cable jerking us around and just switched to Direct Satalite TV through Qwest. Our internet will be through Qwest too.

• We've been staying up pretty late the last several nights to get ready for Christmas and our upcoming visit to Nate's family this weekend. Last minute gifts to buy, presents to wrap, things to start packing all along with our usual stuff. Tuesday night I worked out at the DAHLC, did some more Christmas shopping, and around 10:30 started our big grocery shopping. I got home at midnight and decided only to put away the freezer/fridge items.

• Tonight after my WW meeting, we're going to take the girls to Savers to pick out gifts for each other. Kayla already make wrapping paper to wrap whatever she'll find in. For some reason, when I told her she can buy her sister a present, she got huge eyes and said, "I think we should get her an huge electronic submarine!" Wow, good luck finding a tiny version of what's in her head at Savers!

Anyway, in the chaos of the season, it's still important to take some time to remember the real reason for the season. I was listening to the radio in the car last night and the speaker said, "If we don't remember Jesus around Christmastime, then chances are, we're not going to remember Him the rest of the year either."

Here's the last picture I took of the girls. I e-mailed it to some of you. They are snuggling in our bed while watching a movie and I was getting some ironing done...

Just Call Me Head Wound Ellie!

Wow, two posts in one day! Sometime after lunch, Ellie was playing on the little slide we borrowed from my sister. It was a tad too close to our coffee table and she managed to somehow fall off the slide and onto the coffee table corner. I didn't actually see how she fell and wasn't too worried at first. I cuddled her for a few minutes and she stopped crying. I thought it was weird how long she wanted to keep snuggling with me and even opened my big mouth to Nate on the phone saying, "Wow, it took a fall off the slide to settle her down finally! She's like a different kid!" Half and hour later is when I noticed about a quarter sized area of dried blood on the back of her head. I tenderly moved her hair aside and noticed the gash. I was pretty upset since I have a blood phobia. I called our doctors nurse and went over all the routine questions. The first one was typical, "Is there any abuse in the home." The second one was odd, "Are you concerned about how the scar will look as she grows up." My kid has a head wound and I'm wondering how to handle the situation, I could care less if the back of her head gets a bad scar! Eventually, the nurse and I decided that Elyana would be okay and I would bathe her head and get some cream on the wound.

Let me tell you, that was huge for me to do. I had to stop a lot, take deep breaths to avoid passing out. Ellie didn't even seem to notice my drama as she kept playing with her new bathtub crayons (side note here, bathtub crayons make a big mess, don't buy them!). I got her all cleaned up and treated. Proud of myself, I laid her carefully down to get her diaper on and dressed. Laying her down caused the thing to reopen and bleed all over again. Feeling emotionally drained by this point, I called my friend, Karin who came over. Thank you, thank you, Karin. My favorite moments when you came over are:

1) When Ellie did this upside down thing on her little chair, "Watch this Karin!" Great, that made the stupid wound bleed again, and on the chair. . .

2) When I was on the phone with the nurse again because of the reopening, you decided to speed up the clotting process by spinning Ellie around and around while blowing on her head. That was hilarious!

The nurse decided we should just bring Ellie in and make sure she was okay. Thanks again to Karin who watched Mikayla for me! I was a bit late for the appointment because I was smart to pick up Nate from work on the way there. The doctor gave me way too much information about head wounds and when he showed me how the wound would look healed if we used the human tissue glue and how it might be oozy for a day or so, I felt myself passing out slowly. He shoved some antibacterial cream samples in Nate's hand and grabbed me a pillow. I felt pretty dumb, but I had warned him I was squeamish.

We got home and I had a couple hours to clean blood off some furniture and make an appetizer for our cul de sac Christmas party. We decided to not get a sitter this year since we never stay too long anyway. I'm glad we didn't as I wanted to keep an eye on Ellie anyway. I felt a little weird since it was typically an adults only party. Oh well. I just got Ellie down for the night and am slowly unwinding, trying to find the positives of the day. I decided that a bone break would be way more horrific to deal with than a head wound. I pray tomorrow will be an easier day. I'm going to make Nate bathe Head Wound Ellie tomorrow.

Dreams

Elyana continues to be very challenging. Last night at bedtime I asked Kayla why she thought Ellie was being so naughty lately. Her reply, "I don't know mom. The only way you'll find the answer to that one is to go to heaven and ask God. I don't want you to go there, so we'll just have to never know the answer, okay?" She's really concerned with me getting old and dying lately. Must be a phase. Still struggling to loose the post "I'm no longer training for a triathlon" weight, I suggested to her that mommy might live longer and stay younger longer if I exercise a lot and eat healthy. It actually is helping, every time she catches me eating a sweet she tells me to eat some vegetables! Not a bad idea I guess.

Mikayla came to me this morning with a huge sigh. She asked me, "Why do I always have to be in my own dreams?!" Tough question to answer!

Speaking of dreams. I had a doozy last night. I have such unusual vivid dreams that Nate said I should start blogging them. You may have heard of the movie out now called Twilight. It originated with a mom who had a nightmare and started to write it down during her son's swimming lessons. She kept writing and writing and it developed into her first book. The book became a series and the series soon became a movie. So, I'll tell you about my dream last night, but it's not book or movie material. Just strange, funny, and yet deep.

I dreamed that I finally had time to go shopping for myself to buy some new clothes. I came upon this beautiful chandelier lit store where clothes were on 90% clearance or something. I was finding some beautiful outfits for like $3.00! I had a pile of clothes and asked the sales lady if I could try them on. She directs me out the door, across this barren landscape to this poverty stricken neighborhood. She sends this guide with me to assist me. So, I'm sent to this poor home where I can try on the clothes in this tiny bathroom. The door won't close all the way and the bathroom starts to flood right when I have my pants around my ankles. Next thing I know, I come crashing through the door and land in this room with these poor people staring wide eyed at me. I try to zip up my pants and some little kid points out, "Hey, those are way too small for you!"

So, this dream reveals what I'd like for Christmas.... drum roll please ....

a break from the kids and some new clothes

Crazy Day

Ever since we got back from our Thanksgiving travels, Elyana has been impossible. I'm assuming she's just tired, but still...I timed her tantrum today lasting 1 hour 30 minutes! Again, assuming she was so tired and since the tantrum lasted well into her normal nap time, I just let her sleep as long as she needed for nap time today. That may have been a bad idea as she is dancing and jumping as I'm blogging this. Note the time--9:48! There goes any couple time or me time.

The other thing I wanted to note happened in Awana at church tonight. Mikayla worked ahead on the next section in her book and she was required to write or draw a picture of her favorite thing that God created. My child wrote, the Nintendo Wii. Too much of Nate in her! It was pretty funny how sincere she was about it too.

Apron Idea

Have you ever pictured something in your head that drove you into doing a project you didn't have time for? It started for me when I discovered that Elyana won't always "willingly" wear a bib when she's eating something messy. However, she's thrilled to wear this little kids apron anytime. I pictured Mikayla, Elyana, and my niece, Sophia wearing matching aprons and helping us with our Thanksgiving cooking. I've never really sown something that has turned out normal unless my expert sewing friend, Karin is helping me. I'm trying to meet an article deadline with Rochester Women, but decided to throw this project into the crazyness. Here is how it turned out, not bad for my first attempt!

Personal Achievement Award

Yesterday Mikayla received a personal achievement award for her class at their school spirit assembly. I picked Nate up at work and we went to surprise her. Her teacher kept it a surprise who was getting the award. We were pretty proud. She received it because of how much she's grown so far this year. From clinging to my leg outside the school for the first 3-4 weeks to blossoming in class, learning to read and write, and make lots of friends. Here are a few pictures that Nate took of her receiving her award. On a side note that you will find very funny. Mikayla has said several times now that Santa is NOT bringing Elyana anything for Christmas because she is so naughty. "Not even sure why she needs to sit on his lap and tell him what she wants." Poor Kayla. I wish I had a video of how "terrible" her terrible twos were.

Christmas Presents for the Girls

When my mom visited this weekend, we make some no-sewing required baby and barbie beds for the girls. It's just storage containers. I like that it's a bed, but you can also store the doll/barbie clothes and dolls inside. Great for traveling! We got the idea when we went to Warrens, WI Cranberry Festival Craft Fair in October. Here's a picture of them:

First Snowfall of 2008

Friday, November 7th brings the first snowflakes of winter. It wasn't 8:00 yet and the kids were eager to play in it. Even though our noses were still running and we still have a touch of a cough, we all bundled up and the kids didn't even have snow boots that fit them. We built our first 2008 snowman, got out the sled, and had a snowball fight. It's funny, Mikayla didn't have school today and I was concerned we'd be bored. Now, it's 9:00 and we're all tuckered out and I still have several errands to run and our coats and shoes are all wet. So, we're bundled up and are watching Frosty the snowman for the first time this winter. Here are some pictures of our snow adventures this morning:

Mikayla the Teacher

I've been wondering if Mikayla would ever start to play school like I used to. I used to have all of my stuffed animals spread out over my room and I was their teacher. I liked to play library too and make little cards for each "student" and had a date stamper for their books. So, Mikayla has been playing school for the first time these last few weeks. For some odd reason, Elyana's potty chair is their school headquarters. The bookcase in Ellie's room is their library. Here's a picture of a possible future teacher...

Halloween

We had a really nice Halloween night. It was the first Halloween I can recall so far here in MN where we could go trick or treating without jackets! It's usually so cold that we just go to 3 houses tops and come back home. It's also the first Halloween where we didn't get to go trick or treating at Nate's office. Here's a few pictures of the girls. Mikayla was Ariel and Elyana was Tinkerbell.



We went to several neighbors houses for treats and then we headed to church. I have much praise for the awesome job our church did last night. They had transformed the church parking lot into a fun place to be on Halloween with a petting zoo, bounce houses, a craft area, and several "trunks" of cars decorated with people in costumes handing out candy. After the girls jumped till their cheeks were flushed, Ellie started to point to the petting zoo saying, "see McDonalds farm."

After it started to get dark and cold, we headed over to Chipolte. Nate said they were giving out free burritos that night. We showed up to discover everyone there was decked out in aluminum foil. Some were full foil costumes of human burritos, some just made jewelry of aluminum. I stopped a lady on her way out with free burritos to ask her what was up. She very generously gave us their foil jewelry and a party hat covered in foil. Kayla wore the foil hat, Nate and I made foil wrist bands, and we connected Ellie's pig tails with a foil band. Nate and I had awesome free burritos while the kids ate more of their candy and played with foil. We were all full and worn out when we got home. Here's an awesome picture of Ellie, totally zoned out with a full belly:

Books The Girls Are Into

After a recent trip to the library, we've discovered the Magic School Bus books. They go on a different adventure each time. Mikayla's favorite is the Human Body one. Ellie discovered the 5 Little Monkey's books. She makes her lovy puppet monkey get excited when I read her the Five Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed book.

I'd love to know what books your kids are into right now so we can check them out on our next library trip.

My Raised Garden Bed

I've been wanting to start a garden for a long time. I have tried and failed many times. Nate finally finished my raised garden bed for me. He made it out of cedar so it is very sturdy. When spring comes he'll make me one to match it to go on the right side of the garage window. I told him I was going to go outside and take some pictures of it for my blog. He grinned and said, "Take a picture of the level!" Here's some pictures of it:

Here's a close up of the level for Nate.






Our pumpkins awaiting Halloween!

Halloween Picture

One of Mikayla's homework assignments was to draw a pumpkin, a bat, the moon, and herself in her costume. I'm glad I was sitting beside her as she drew so I could hear her explanation of things as she colored. The pumpkin is wearing an Ariel wig to go with Mikayla's Ariel costume. The, um, anchor looking thing between her legs is her Ariel mermaid fin. I don't know why I didn't think of scanning in her pictures for the blog before. Here is her 2008 Halloween Picture:

MEA Weekend

What to do on a chilly rainy long weekend with two little girls sick with colds and coughs? First we went to the library to get movies and books. Then we played with playdough, set up our indoor play-tent and tunnel, and then played dress up. This picture is of Ellie dressed as superman, Tinkerbell, and a witch. She prefers to have her face covered with the witch hat every time for some reason.



Then, we worked on Mikayla's homework chart. She's pretty much caught up through October now! We even did number and letter flashcards. When I did the letter flashcards, Ellie would name the letter and Mikayla would give me the sound it makes. That's so crazy! Ellie will be reading for sure before Kindergarten.

Then, to tire them out, I moved the vehicles out of the garage and they are playing tennis, chalk, blowing bubbles, riding bikes in circles, etc. Thanks to Nate's hard work last year insulating the garage, we can play in there without freezing.



I'd like to add that I just fed the kids after all of that. My goodness they ate a lot. Ellie ate one whole orange, two boiled eggs, mac and cheese, one vienna sausage, and one 100 cal. pack of hostess creme cakes. Kayla ate well too, but can never match what Ellie eats (I can't either!).

Another FYI and a Medium Mikayla

Last night I was heading to they gym after the kids were in the tub and bathed. I layed out their toothbrushes and clothes. With Ellie's clothes and diaper, I set out a tube of Vicks vapor cream for her chest as she is fighting a cold. When I got home later, I was informed that the tube was mistaken for diaper rash cream! Oops! So, FYI, mention to your husband your intentions of why you set out certain things before leaving...

This morning Mikayla asked me the strangest question, "Mom, am I medium?" "What do you mean?" I asked. "Well, I'm someone whose a little big but still has little parts." "Yep, I guess that makes you medium," I said. I love how they think!

FYI

If you're teaching your child to learn to blow their nose, make sure that you also teach them what to do with the dirty Kleenex. I taught Ellie today to blow her nose since she is too old now for me to suction it (she let me suction her lovey Monkey's nose though). I walked into the room to catch her blowing her nose once on several Kleenex and then stuffing them back into the box! GROSS!

The Human Body

Mikayla has had a book for a few years now, Usborne First Encyclopedia of the Human Body. She's always been fascinated by it. Lately I've had a hard time getting her to use the bathroom. I have to force her to go before school in the morning, in the afternoon, and before bed. I have no idea how she can hold it that long. Anyway, out of frustration, I grabbed this book from her room and explained what urine is and why it isn't good to sit around inside your body. This is when I discovered that this is an Internet-linked book. You go to their website, type in the page number you're reading about in the book and there is interactive stuff. How did I not discover this sooner?! After all, the specific link on body elimination is soooo great (hear the hint of sarcasm?) Check it out yourself:

http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/_bfs_USmoviesource.html

There's another one that we actually learned a little from today. I'm not sure why they had to use an Arnold Schwarzineger type figure who says something like, "Help, my body is all floppy, help me find my skeletal system!" It is neat as he requests each system one by one and you have to click and drag each part to his empty body.

http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/systems.html

Knock Knock

Elyana has been trying hard to perfect the "knock knock" joke. For days now I've had to hear her say "knock knock" and then name a random object. Then, she laughs and there is never a punch line. This morning while the girls were eating, Ellie said, "Knock knock" We answered "Who's there?" She replied, "bah bah (this is what she calls her sippy cup of milk)" When we said, "bah bah who?" she accidentally let out a huge belch. She was so surprised by it that she laughed and said, "Ellie burpie!" Even though it was crude humor, it was hilarious because she finally told her first decent joke. I still think back to each time I was pregnant and Nate and I would worry, "What if this child doesn't have a since of humor and we drive them crazy?" Very funny. They have both kept the laughter constant in this house!

On a side note, the nice pumpkin paintings in the last post are looking sad. I used the wrong kind of paint and the downpour yesterday ruined them. Kayla's sad, but wants to paint them again. I don't want to use permanent paints because of the mess they would make. Kayla wants to use the same paints, but keep the pumpkin inside. I don't think it would last inside either. She also doesn't want to carve it (okay with me, such a mess, but fun). Any thoughts out there?

My Messy Ellie!

I've started to watch my friends baby, Hannah. I had the girls painting their pumpkins yesterday. Soon after, Hannah woke up from her nap and wanted a bottle. After I got her situated, I checked on the girls and found this disaster...



The other thing, is Elyana has been sticking things up her nose lately. When I picked her up from our PAIIR class today, she had obviously stuck a light green marker up her nostril. I took a picture because it looked so funny. There is of course the evidence of a recent snack on her face too. Oh yeah, the other thing is she has insisted on wearing her sunglasses a lot.


After the pumpkin finally dried, Ely has been taking it for walks in her stroller.

Fall Is Here

This weekend we played in the few leaves we managed to rake together. Sunday after Mikayla's swimming lesson, we all went to Northwoods Orchard. Their tiny Chesnut apples are ready to pick and are easy for the kids to munch on running errands. I discovered that Nate had never been to an orchard before so it was neat for him. Ellie loved to feed the little goats blades of grass and pet their baby bunnies. We even got to go on a wagon ride, just the four of us. Nice family weekend. I'm going to finish off this weekend by heading to the Mayo Fitness Center (I just joined last week) for a swim and a long sit in the hot tub and steam room. Anyway, here's some pictures of the girls I took of them playing in leaves. I try to take pictures of them the very first time each fall.

MP3 Players Don't Belong In Teeth!

After an hour of struggling with Ellie to get her to nap, I put in a movie for Mikayla and layed down. 10 minutes later, I'm wake up to hysterical crying. I bound down the stairs and find Mikayla sitting there with my MP3 player hanging out of her mouth. There's a little claw clasp at the end of the cord where you can attach headphones that go with it. That part was stuck good between her bottom two front teeth. "Why on earth did you stick it there?!" Her response was, "I wanted to listen to music!" "You don't listen to music with your teeth!" The more we pulled, the more I was afraid of a tooth busting or chipping and the more she screamed. Geez. So, what do I do? I call up Nate (like he would know what to do or something!!!) Here's his description of the conversation:

Phone call from Suzanne: "I have a situation and I don't know what to do… (crying in the background) Kayla got my MP3 player stuck in between her teeth!"

Crying, wailing, and gnashing of teeth/mp3 player and then later, Suzanne finally managed to pull it out. So then I overhear this through the phone:

"Mikayla don't ever put anything in between your teeth again!"
Kayla's response: "Why?"

Lessons learned, indeed.

Photos From Photoshoot

Here are a few of our favorite pictures that our friends Scott and Jen took to launch their new photography studio.

Raccoon

I had the urge to wonder through Walmart late last night and unwind. I got home around 11ish and as I pulled into the driveway, my headlights caught a raccoon crossing through our yard. Weird. A few months ago, we saw a fox. Anyway, I told Mikayla that I saw a raccoon last night in our yard and she dryly said, "Yeah, raccoons are nocturnal." Nate was as stunned as I was by her response and asked her if she knew what nocturnal means. She correctly defined it. Such a smarty!

First Day of Kindergarten!

She was excited until we got to the school and then was pretty clingy. I gave her a kiss on her left hand, Nate gave her one on her right. She "put" our kisses in her pocket to keep all day. Here's some pictures of this big event. When Kayla got in her line up, Elyana wanted to stand by Mikayla as you can see in the last picture.

Fall is in the Air

Even though school starts next week (yikes) and some trees have started dropping their leaves it doesn't feel like Fall yet as it is 86 degrees out and the kids have been playing in their swimsuits all day.

Here's a few pictures of what static electricity does to Elyana's hair when she's on a trampoline:




What's New Since My Last Post?
Ely has wanted to try to potty. I still haven't gone hard core yet with her and put on the underwear, making her go every certain amount of minutes. Perhaps when Mikayla goes to school. I don't have that drive in me yet and she is only sort of interested.

I've started a cleaning/organizing job on weekends for a friend. I'm having a blast at it too and earning some good money in the process. Once I get her house complete, I'll be up to doing someone else's if you know of anyone here in Rochester...

At the end of September, I'll begin a daycare type job where I'll be watching a friend's new baby a few days a week. I'm excited, yet nervous as I know this is a huge responsibility.

You Tube Video of My Triathlons!

My training partner and dear friend, Jen made this video for me. I will be forever thankful. I tear up each time I watch it.

Crazy Weekend Continued

We drove to Tomah, WI for Nate's nephew's wedding. We got to the wedding and I let Elyana wonder up the aisle for awhile before it started. It was about to start and I lifted her up to discover she had taken her diaper off before we left Nate's parent's home. Yikes. It was hilarious though to see her barecheecked in this beautiful custom made dress (Thanks, Shirley for giving it to us). There was a pretty garden at the church I took a few pictures of the girls.



On the way home, we stopped to take this cute picture of two fawns.


After a brief nap, we left for the wedding reception. The girls had fun dancing. On the way home, we received a phone call that my sister and her family were in a serious car accident. The car was totaled and they had to use the jaws of life to get my sister out. It was a tough hour waiting for a phone call on her status. Thank you God that she's okay, just sore and bruised. I finally got to sleep that night to have Elyana wide awake and ready to play at 3:00 AM! She never went to sleep again until lunchtime for a 2 hour nap. I am so happy to just now be home and that this weekend is behind us.