NEVA!!!

Sometimes I feeling like I'm living in the ghetto with Lauren - why you ask?  Well, we all know she has her speech issues, but lately, I think things have really started to improve.  Uncle Mike is no longer "Uncle Dike."  And "milk" is no longer "dilk" - so we are making progress in some areas, but apparently not with the "er" sound.  And boy does it drive Trav crazy!!  He thinks she just talks too fast and doesn't take the time to make the proper sounds.  Maybe he is right, but until she gets it figured out, I'm enjoying her saying things such as, "neva brotha" when she is mad at Ryan, or "she is my sista" when referring to Ellie.  She sounds like she is straight from the hood and I thoroughly enjoy listening to it - you go girl!

Leave me alone!

Just to prove that our little sweetheart does have some built up rage in her little body . . . here is a clip of Ellie riding her horse (there is no rage in the video, that comes after).  The pictures afterwards (although a little blurry) catch the rage when her two older siblings try to stop her rocking.  And the final picture is the calm after the storm (Ryan and Lauren are no longer touching her precious horse) so Ellie is good again.

The sad (or funny depending how you look at it) thing about these pictures, is that I told the kids to mess with Ellie.  Somehow in my sick mind, I think it is funny when she gets mad, clenches her teeth, and screams - god, I'm a horrible mom!

On the move

Our little girl is finally moving (I'm excited about it, but also not so much).  This means no more leaving her in the middle of the room and coming back to find her in the exact same spot - that was so easy!  Ellie has figured out how to move her arms and legs in order to do a slow, but steady crawl to get to where she needs to go.  Check her out in action this morning.
In addition to the crawling, she has also sprouted two new teeth and loves to grind them - so incredibly annoying!  I can't think of a worst sound then hearing two little tooth nubs being rubbed against each other - just the thought of it makes me cringe!  The little girl can also say, "momma" (only when she wants to of course as evidenced by her lack of response in the video), and wave bye-bye, clap hands, and break out a crazy dance move with her head (I have tried and failed to video this numerous times - hoping to get it once before she moves onto another talent) at a moment's notice.  She is growing and changing like crazy and we are loving every minute of it!  Our final baby is officially 10 months old today - the days are going way to fast!

Onto Lauren . . . this little girl received a very special gift last week from her Auntie out in California.  What could it be . . .an over the top tu-tu custom made just for a special little girl who loves to dance - she couldn't be happier - thanks again Auntie for your time and energy in making this special gift!

The tu-tu, complete with leg warmers, and a body suit (I'm not sure what the technical name is) are broke out at least once a day so we can all sit back and watch Lauren in action.  She has already requested a second tu-tu from Auntie (this one is to be purple - her favorite color at the moment), and a pair of ballerina shoes to complete the outfit.  The shoes will probably happen, the tu-tu is completely up to Auntie.  I am again left to wonder how I got the daughter who loves everything pink, purple, and super girly!

And finally, the boy.  He had another birthday party this past weekend.  It seems like he attends at least one a month now-a-days.  Anyway, this party was different in that it was a sleepover - that mom had to be borderline crazy.  Seven 5 and 6 year old boys sleeping over at one time - what was she thinking?  Considering the fact that I had never met these people, I was a little skeptical about letting Ryan spend the night.  That, and the fact that he is only 5 and has never slept at any one's house other than relatives, led me to the conclusion that this would not be his first sleepover.  He did attend the party, but when 8:15pm rolled around and some of the other boys were getting into their jammies, Trav was picking Ryan up to bring him home.  Surprisingly, he wasn't too upset.  We had told him before the party that he wouldn't be sleeping over, and one of his good buddies also was picked up so that helped.  It is crazy to think Ryan is getting old enough (by some people's standards) to even be invited to a sleepover.  It is just a matter of time before this becomes the norm - wow is all I can say to that!

Another snow day

So, what do you do on a day full of snow and no school? You hang out and watch cartoons in Mom and Dad's bed - check out the crew this morning.

They are all patiently waiting for their morning "coffees" - the two older kids like some warm cocoa while Ellie prefers a warm bottle - before they settle in and watch their favorite morning cartoons (a real big deal in Ryan's book considering he never gets to watch cartoons on school mornings).

After a full day of lounging around and staying warm, the kids were more than happy to help Daddy out with the never ending task of shoveling snow - I have to ask myself again, how did this happen?  I thought the long, dark days of winter were over when we had that glimpse of Spring last week - guess I was wrong.

For anyone that has read previous posts on this blog (and for those who have a very good memory), you'll notice Lauren is wearing new snow pants in these pictures compared to past ones.  Why you ask?  Well, in true Lauren style, she has already (in about 3 months) outgrown her snow pants.  At the beginning of the winter, she was cute and stylish in her matching Columbia snow outfit.  Now, she gets whatever is big enough to fit her - in this case, it is Ryan's old snow pants (the pair he just outgrew last year - they are a size 6), and a second pair of his size 12 boots (I forgot to mention she outgrew her boots as well, and now is wearing the same size Ryan wears.  It should be noted though that they are a little big, but with a couple of pair of socks, they fit just fine).  I'm planning on looking for some new snow gear for next year (which is on clearance now), the only problem I'm having is deciding if I buy a size 7 or 8 (for the snow pants).  I already bought some size 13 boots for her - now I'm starting to wonder if those will even be too small! 

My shoe calculations for Lauren are concerning . . . at age 3 she is wearing a size 12, by the age of 15, she should be in a size 60 - now where in the world am I going to find that!?!?

What happened?

So Ryan and I were standing at the window and looking outside this morning . . . Ryan: "What happened to Spring?"  Me: "I have no idea buddy, no idea."  Ryan:  "And it was supposed to be an early one too" (shrugs his shoulders and walks away).  Here is what we were looking at . . .

Another good one from Ryan . . . I'm just drying off Lauren in the bathroom.  Ryan comes running in and says, "Mom, it's your lucky day."  I ask, "Why?"  He says, "I've got to take a poop."  The kid knows what makes his momma happy - a poop a day for everyone!

And here are a couple of pictures from tonight.  Playing on the kitchen floor is what the girls do for fun when there is nothing else to do - thank god simple things make them happy.

School conference

I had Ryan's school conference last night and according to his teacher, he is doing just great (I'm sure she says that to all the parents, but it is still nice to hear).  He knows his numbers, letters, sight words, and is even reading at the level at which she wants all the students in her class to be reading at by the end of the year (so he is a little ahead in that area) - yay for him!  We went through the usual stuff . . . social/emotional development, fine motor skills, and academic skills, then we sat back and just chatted for a while.  His teacher is a Gustavus grad so we talked about anyone and everyone we both may know, and even compared all of our kids (she has 2 boys and a girl roughly the same ages as our kids) - so nice to be able to have a normal conversation with his teacher and know that at anytime, she is willing to help with anything - love her!

Anyway, back to the conference. As part of the conference, she shows me some work Ryan has been doing in class. Here is my favorites from "writer's workshop" (that is basically when the kids draw a picture about anything they want, then write a story to go with it).

 This is a picture of him surfing on a wave in Florida.  The story goes like this . . . "I went surfing and a big wave and it came at me and I surfed on it.  I got on the sand and I was done and was going" - and then he ran out of room.  It is so neat to see how Ryan thinks and to watch him progressing more and more as he learns about reading and writing.  And I thought Kindergarten was all fun and games - guess I was wrong!

Below is another favorite of mine.  Ryan made this for me for Valentine's Day.

It reads, " To Mom, I love you because you taught me how to make macaroni and cheese.  Love, Ryan."  Either he had some help with the macaroni and cheese part, or we have a genius on our hands who can spell long words correctly, but not short, simple ones!

I hate . . .

The phrase, "I hate . . . " has become Lauren's new thing.  She hates it when babies pull her hair, when she has to go to bed, and when she is really angry, she'll even pull it out and say, "I hate you Mom, Dad, or whomever has messed with her.  Obviously I am not a big fan of this so she has been told more than once if she says she hates someone again, she will go to timeout because it's not a nice thing to say. 

So other morning we dropped Ryan off at the bus stop and as we are pulling away, Lauren says out of the blue, "I hate Jacob Niemi."  I asked her to repeat herself because I wasn't sure if I heard her correctly and she said, "I hate Jacob Niemi" again, clear as day.  When I told her we don't say that, she said, "but Jacob Niemi is mean to my brother."  (Here is a little back story on Jacob Niemi - he is a kid in Ryan's class who pretty much since school started, Ryan has not liked.  Apparently the kid is naughty, doesn't raise his hand, and is just plain mean sometimes).  Well, sitting there and thinking back on it, Ryan probably has said more than once that he hates Jacob, so I guess I wasn't too surprised that Lauren repeated it, but what was surprising, is what she said next.  I said, it is okay to not like someone, but you shouldn't say hate.  Her reply, "but I hate Jacob Niemi, I will punch him."  Of course she will.  What else would a nice little 3 year old girl do, but punch the kid that is mean to her older brother. 

Then, yesterday, we went out to the Y.  The kids were playing in the "play zone" when I got there so I had to stand and wait a minute until they came out.  And when they did, Ryan was looking pretty sad.  I asked him what was wrong, and the lady at the front said, "oh yeah, there was a little incident with Ryan and another boy in the play zone."  The story (told by the Y lady) basically went like this . . . Ryan and this boy (his name is Charlie) were playing catch with a ball.  Ryan threw the ball to Charlie, but it bounced off the wall and came right back to him.  Well, Charlie went after the ball, knocked Ryan down, and tried to grab the ball, but instead might have gotten Ryan's neck.  This whole time Ryan is intently listening to what the lady says, and the minute she stops talking, he is waving his arm in her face, and shaking his head saying, "no, that's not what happened."  So Ryan gave us his version  . . .  "Charlie choked me."  We talked briefly about it, decided he was okay, and went to the van.  On the drive home, I took the opportunity to tell Ryan that if someone is on top of you and choking you and you don't like it, you should push that person off.  He responds with, "yeah, but I didn't want to hurt anyone."  Lauren chimes in with, "yeah, I will punch Charlie for you."  Of course she will!

So I guess this means Lauren is officially Ryan's bodyguard whether he likes it or not.  This reminds me off a time when Aaron was getting picked on on our school bus.  Apparently I didn't like what I was seeing so to get back at the kid who was picking on my brother, I ran up behind him, grabbed his hat (or mittens, I can't be sure) and threw them down the sewer grate.  Now maybe that was a bit harsh (and I know my mom was less than thrilled when she received a phone call from the boy's mother telling her what I had done), but a girl has to do what a girl has to do to protect the ones she loves.