“Dat funny?”–Part 5

November 4th

The girls were playing hide and seek.  Boo had finally started to do better with her hiding, and she actually was hidden pretty well, but when K came into the room she yelled, “K! I’m under here!  Come find me!”

November 7th

I had gotten our big bin of Christmas lights out of the basement and was in the breezeway testing them to see if they still worked.  Boo came in and got all excited, “Are dose Cwiss-mas yights?!?  It’ Cwiss-mas in da bweeze-way!?!?”

November 15th

We had such a beautiful fall it hadn’t been that cold.  The days were starting to get chilly and have that crispness in the air.  Every time we would walk outside she would say, “It smwells wike Cwiss-mas!”

November 23rd

When we were at Noni and Papa’s for Thanksgiving the girls and Noni and Grandma went downstairs so K could play the piano.  They all came up laughing and told us that Boo had been singing, Jolly Old St. Nicholas, except her version was “Jelly Old St. Necklace.”

November 30th

K got a cankersore and for some reason could not remember what we told her it was called.  She must have asked at least a dozen times, “What’s my owie called again?” I think all of us were getting fed up with her asking because one of the times Boo, exasperated, yelled, “It’s called a KANGEROO-SORT, remember?!?”

December 1st

Boo has certain numbers that she gets fixated on and uses for everything.  One of those was 5100.  We were talking one day and Bug was saying something about driving.  Boo pipes up, “You can drive when you get older.  Yeah.  Wike 5100.” She turns to me, “Wike you Ma-ma”.

December 3rd

We were explaining angel tree to the girls since that was our advent for the day.  Boo listened carefully as we told her how we were going to go pick a name off the tree, “Maybe I can buy a pwesent!!!” she jumped up and down, clapping her hands.  “Yes!” I told her, “That’s exactly what you do!” with the same level of excitement she yelled, “And then we can EAT TIC TACS!”

The “Hoood”

We’ve noticed that Boo Bear is starting to correct some of her “baby” pronunciations.  Of course that needs to happen so she doesn’t sound like a baby forever, but it always makes me a little sad when she starts saying a word correctly. 

The day we bought the truck she said the correct pronunciation of the word, hood.  She always says it “hooo-d” like food.  I got this video of her and she says it both ways so you can see the difference.

Boo is just our little ray of sunshine.  She is very into saying, “I love you” and giving hugs and kisses all day long.  She will be playing and stop and look up to quietly say, “I wuv you Ma-ma.” She does it with all of us, multiple times a day.  So sweet. 

She also does this thing where she wants people to stay within arms reach.  Every time we sit down to eat she will say, “Can you reach me?” and stretch out her little hand to make sure we can touch her from where we are sitting.

She is my big little helper and follows me around all day wanting to do whatever I am doing.  Such a sweet little girl.  She truly is our little sunshine, bringing light and joy to every day!

Wordless Wednesday

Golfin’ with Daddy

A couple of weeks ago T was able to take off work a little early and wanted to go golfing. He decided to take Buggy with him.  This was her first time actually playing, and not just staying on the driving range so we weren’t sure how she would do. 

They took off while the little ones were sleeping and I honestly expected them to return quickly, thinking that her attention span wouldn’t last very long, but to my surprise she made it the entire 9 holes! It helped that they got a cart…love this picture of their clubs in the back. :)

T said she was very meticulous and followed his instructions.

Setting up.

The hit!

The follow through.

The proud girl. :)

He said she actually did really well, and kept at it, hitting the ball down the green.

What a great father-daughter activity for them to do together!  Hopefully they’ll be able to get out there on the course again soon!

Busy Girl

Our little Peanut is a busy busy girl these days!  She is getting faster at crawling and is motoring around the house constantly looking for anything she can get into!  She crawls very well on carpet, but the hardwoods are slippery and she does this half crawl/half scoot thing.  I had to get a video of it.  Funny girl. :)

Fireplace

I just realized I never put up pictures of our spring project!  I have long wanted a new mantle on our fireplace and we ripped off the old mantle soon after we moved in and subsequently had crumbly old mortar for a fireplace top for the past 4 years. 

All that changed when T created an amazing mantle/entertainment center in March!

Here is a true before!  This was taken just days after we moved in! Those old wooden windows…so drafty! Those were one of the first things to go. 

The lath and plaster walls were covered with sheetrock in our 2nd year here. They had layers upon layers.  The lath and plaster had been painted, wall papered, and painted again, multiple times.  Even the ceiling had painted-over wallpaper on it!

Our little peek-a-boo girl.  Hard to believe K was this small when we first moved in!  I still remember her on her tippy-toes trying her darndest to see out the kitchen windows. :)

This is what the wall has looked like for the past 4 years.  Lovely.  It was one of those projects that got put on hold because of the MILLION other projects we’ve done around here.  It definitely wasn’t a priority.  This winter T finally found a fireplace gas insert that would work.  The hole was an irregular size and it was hard to find. 

We would have loved to have kept the fireplace but it would have cost something like $5,000 to repair it enough to get it in working condition.  The flashing had been incorrectly installed and T and his dad had to repair this entire wall due to water coming in and rotting the wood over the years.

I looked on Pinterest and designed what I wanted and T went to work.  He never fails to amaze me with his skills!  It turned out exactly like I wanted!

Yes, it’s bright, but I wanted something fun and eye catching!  I think I got what I was looking for. :) I’m still debating about doors to hide the toys…it looked so pretty when it was all finished that I didn’t like the thought of doors, but with all the toys in there is does seem a little messy.  I’m open to suggestions. :)

P.S. You can also see our Christmas present to each other (TV) and T’s birthday present (soundbar) were nicely accommodated and featured in the building. :)

Goodbye and Hello

We have a new member of our family!  Of the auto persuasion that is. :)

48 hours ago we said goodbye to our daily companion the big ole’ red pick up and said hello to a shiny blue one. 

We bought the pickup when I was 4 months pregnant with K. Going from a little VW Jetta to a extended cab pickup made it feel HUGE and roomy! 

Now, three kids later, it feels like we are in a clown car! Peanut had to ride up front b/c the short bench seat doesn’t hold an infant seat.  We turned the airbags off of course, but it still is always safer for them to ride in the back.

T has been on the lookout for a newer pickup since Peanut was born and on Sunday night he found a “deal”.

He found the exact one we’ve been looking for at a sale price, AND talked his way into an extra $1000 for our trade-in making the total cost of our red pickup balance out to $2300 for 6.5 years which is only $30 a month. Yes, accountants love to run the numbers. :)  I thought that was pretty good!  This little pickup has served us well!

We said a nostalgic goodbye to our old friend (and it’s 9 miles to the gallon-the catalytic converters were out apparently).

And a big Hello to our newest family member!  Can you tell who is the most excited?!?

Haha, this will be the first time T is not driving a red vehicle!  But I think he’ll be ok. :)

While we were test driving it K said, “Are we going to buy this new pickup?”

T joked, “We have to convince Mommy first!”

So K started begging, “Please, Mommy??  Please please please!”

S held up her little hand, “STOP!  If you pwest-er we can’t get it!”

Haha :)  They stopped pestering so we were able to get it.

So much nice room!  Peanut is now in the back, much safer, and there is so much room between the front and back seat that I didn’t even have to scoot my seat forward to get her infant seat in!  T has so much leg room…I think even more than the Pilot! So nice!

My favorite thing is that it is SO much easier to drive!  The other pickup felt like I was driving a huge boat, and this one drives more like the Pilot, just a little larger.

My second favorite thing is the 4 doors!  SO nice to not have to open to front door so we can swing open the little back door and shove the kids in! It feels SO much newer too!  We gained almost 10 years.  The red pickup was a 97’ and this one is an 06’. 

I think we’ll all get along just fine!

Welcome to the family Navy Blue!

6 Years and 9 Months

Bug and Peanut had their check up appointments for 6 years and 9 months respectively and they went really well! 

Peanut didn’t have to have shots which I was pleasantly surprised about.  She’s due at 12 months. The Dr. said both girls look like they’re doing great.

Bug’s stats are:

Weight: 47lbs. – 50%

Height: 46in. – 50%

That seems strange since she is so tall!  They also had this other chart that combines height and weight and gives you an average and on that one she was in the 3-5% which I didn’t really understand if she’s in the 50% for both.

We got her shot records figured out and have officially been accepted to a K12 online school for next year!  It’s “free online public homeschool”.  She will have a teacher and a class of other students.  I will be her “learning coach” and guide her through her work each day. 

At this age they said she will spend about 20 hours a week doing her work and 20-25% of that time on the computer.  They send you all the materials you need including workbooks, textbooks, and Science kits - right down to bags of dirt for experimenting!  We are very excited to give it a try!!!

Peanut stats are:

Weight: 17.5lbs – 50%

Height: 28in. – 50%

Her combined chart puts her in the 10%. I think they just round up to even numbers.  It looks like she is actually about 35-40% for both height and weight, but the closest percent on the chart is 50. The Dr. was impressed with her 6 teeth. She might be walking by the time we go in again!

We are very blessed with our happy, healthy, growing, girls!

Wordless Wednesday

The Fi-fiopian

This was the response when we asked Boo Bear what she learned at Awana one day. I love the way she says Ethiopian and explain. :)

You can also see her latest talent…gum chewing! She has finally figured out how to keep herself from swallowing it!  Now to work on keeping her mouth closed and not smacking. :)

Workin’ Weekend

We had a busy yard weekend around here. It started last Tuesday when T began leveling out some of the backyard beds.  I continued his work and we hauled two pickup loads of HEAVY dirt out to Noni and Papa’s. Noni actually hauled one load (thanks Noni!) and she also helped me lay down landscaping cloth in the back so we could prepare for the pea gravel. 

Since that went smoothly I kept going and leveled out the front beds on Friday, and started laying the landscaping cloth there too.  Saturday we went to town twice for bark which ended up being about four hours of driving.  Thankfully we were able to drop Bug and Boo off at Noni and Papa’s to spend the night and not have to drive around with us. Much nicer for all parties concerned. :)

After picking up the second load we decided that Italian sounded good.  We went to a place we’d never been to before to try it out and who should walk in but Grandma and Grandpa!  What a fun and funny surprise!  We got to eat dinner and chat for a bit before Peanut had a meltdown from her long day and demanded we leave. :P

Our projects aren’t complete yet, but I’ll put up some before and afters when they are.  Last night the girls found the gravel pile while we were working and had fun pretending to be birds(?) building their nests in the top.

Nothing better than a good ole’ rock pile!

d

“Tweet tweet!”

“Scoop it! Scoop it!”

Happy girl!

A few more naptime sessions this week and it should be finished!

We still have lots more projects to do around the house, but the bulk of the “hard” stuff is done!  Yippee!

Helper

Boo Bear is my big helper!  She loves to help me do things, especially cook.  Lately she wants to wash dishes so I let her use the scrub brush and stand on the stool and wash.

She will often say, “What can I do for you, Mommy?” or she will pick something up and move it (usually something I don’t wish to be moved) and say, “I did a chore for you Mommy!  Say ‘Thank you’!” :)

The other morning she asked it she could help me feed Peanut.  I figured it would be pretty messy but she actually did a great job!

Then she insisted that she take some pictures too.  She took at least a dozen, and said “Can you post-a dese to da blog, Mommy?”

So here are the non-blurry ones for your enjoyment. :)

Oatmeal and butternut squash!  Yum.

That’s my good little helper! :)

9 Months!

Our little Peanut turned 9 months on Wednesday! These last few weeks have brought our biggest changes yet!  She is now quite mobile (although not very fast yet) and can get anywhere she wants to go.  She is pulling up on the couch and anything else she can get ahold of.  She can go from laying to sitting, to her tummy (but she seems to forget that when napping and just flops face first into her mattress while still sitting) and anything else she wants to do.  This makes her quite pleased with herself. :)

She has also started talking a lot more but her only identifiable words are “Mom-Mom, Ma-ma, and Hi”.  At least it sounds like “hi” and we’re pretty sure we heard a “Da-da” in there too. :)

Her hair is growing even though it doesn’t really look like it from these pictures.  She now has enough hair in back to get “messed up” after baths. Her bald spot has completely filled in.

She is almost ready to give up that late evening 45 minute nap…but not quite.

She is starting to get quite opinionated and will let us know if she doesn’t want to do something.  She often stiffens when we are trying to put her in the highchair and it’s really hard to get her to bend enough to get in it. :P

She is eating her oatmeal mixed with veggies really well now, but she LOVES finger foods.  She has tried bananas, grapes, yellow cheese (a favorite), white cheese, tortillas, cheese quesadillas, peas (another favorite), carrots, potatoes, bread, rice, Cheerios, and the Gerber Puffs. She eats the oatmeal mixture at breakfast and then has a finger food during lunch and dinner with the family.

I just put all the 6 month clothes away and even some of the 9 month.  She is now in the 9-12 month bin.  That’s one great thing about having all girls, when it’s time for new clothes I just go pull the bin out of the basement and re-stock! 

I’ve actually had to go through and get rid of the clothes that are not my absolute favorites because our bins couldn’t hold them all.  I guess that’s what happens by the time you are on your third child of the same gender!

One funny thing is that since it’s been warmer and she has been barefoot more she will suck on her big toe, like a baby would normally suck it’s thumb.  Very humorous, and gross when I have to dig toe jam out of her mouth! :)

She adores her sisters, and loves to be near them.

Although she is getting quite good at LOUDLY making her protests known when she is a little too close to them. :)

We go in to the doctor next Tuesday for her 9 month checkup so we’ll post her “stats” then!