Its all about the youngest- oh and the oldest!

I know my posts have been a bit "Suzie-heavy" lately but I just can't help it cause she is just too funny these days. But if you stick with me I will reward you with a Finn story too- cause i know that is just the kind of reward you want!

I have posted before about the weird snacks my children tend to snack on because I don't keep a whole lot of snack food in my house. This is an example. Well yesterday I opened up the trash can and found this:

I bought a 12 oz. container of raspberries at Costco on Friday. I didn't buy them for any particular reason- just to have on hand. So I was surprised to find the completely empty container in the trash the next day when I had never even opened it yet. I pulled it out and asked Eric who ate all the raspberries- assuming it was him because only he would have a big enough appetite to eat 12 oz. of raspberries in one sitting. So imagine my shock when he said, "Suzie." I said, "Well she probably ate some but this was a brand new container so who ate the rest?" He replied, "No really Suzie ate the whole thing. She brought down the empty container and she said just couldn't help herself because she just likes raspberries so much." Well I guess so!

Pre-raspberry binging Suzie had been sipping from one of these little espresso cups that my kids love to drink hot chocolate from.

As she was drinking she casually remarks, "You know what grieves me?" I should have replied- "No, do tell milady what does grieve you?" But instead I just stared at her dumbfounded for using the word "grieve." She answered her own question by saying "My daughter. She died." Then she proceeded to take a sip of her hot chocolate. I then asked her, "Suzie, where did you get that from? Did you hear it on a TV show?" She gave me a sideways glance as she lifted her cup back up to her mouth and said, "A lady never talks while drinking." Well that seals the deal- Suzie really did live another life in England. (See previous post.) Or maybe we watch too many British comedies on PBS.

Anyone who has been around Suzie for the past four years knows she has a beloved blanket that she carries around with her. She actually has had about 4 of them but she has loved them into oblivion. When she turned 5 back in January Eric told her she had to throw away her current blanket obsession because "5 year olds don't carry around blankets." I wanted to take a kinder, gentler approach to weaning Suzie off her blanket cause sometimes Eric's mouth writes checks his butt can't cash when it comes to parental decisions.-meaning it is sounds all fine and good to have Suzie throw away her blanket but then he isn't having to deal with a whiny Suzie all day who isn't getting her blankie fix. So this was our compromise.

My mom took Suzie's blanket and made it into a teddy bear for Suzie to have. Then it she took a part of the blanket and made it into a small hankie/blankie for the bear. Suzie carries this hankie around like her old blankie. It is her nicotine patch, so to speak. Well a few of the seams had come undone on the bear. I noticed this and was planning on fixing them, but hadn't gotten around to it. One day I found that they had been hastily and haphazardly fixed with some non-matching red thread. This really puzzled me because I had no idea who would go to the trouble to patch the seams. As I was studying it, Finn-who has been taking sewing in his CTE class at junior high- walked in the room, saw me looking at the seam and said,"Oh yea- i saw that the bear needed to be fixed so I got out a needle and thread and fixed it. Pretty good, huh!?!" And even though his stitches wouldn't have lasted for more than a couple days of Suzie-loving, it was pretty good for him to take the initiative to fix it. I've heard it said that the definition of an adult is someone who walks into a room and can see and do what needs to be done. I would say Finn is well on his way to becoming an adult!

Reincarnation might not be all that far-fetched!

If I didn't have a firm belief about where we came from and where we are going, I might be persuaded to believe in reincarnation. The reason why is because sometimes my kids do and say things that I have no idea where they got them from. For example when Katie was just a baby and still nursing, she would wake up from her naps and say "nay, nay". I thought this was just the cute, endearing babble of a baby. But then I was telling this story to my friend Julie- who at the time had just come back from living in Taiwan for three years- and she told me "nay, nay" was chinese for boob! So maybe Katie had lived in China during another lifetime and was asking for a feeding in her native tongue!
Then tonight we were sitting down for dinner. We were sitting at our kitchen table, which we haven't sat down at in awhile- we usually just sit at the counter. As we were all gathering at the table, Suzie remarks, "Well we haven't had a proper sit in a long time."
Proper sit?- Really, who says that? Especially a 5 year old! I asked Suzie where she got that from and she said, "From my head!" So maybe Suzie's previous life was across the pond!

Being taken out of context

Since the campaign season is upon us and being taken out of context seems to be the presidential thing to do- you know how Mitt Romney likes firing people and hates the poor- I thought I would share the latest comment in our house that makes no sense taken out of context. Often I hear myself and others in my house make comments that I think if someone heard them without being in the situation they would wonder what the heck does that mean. One such time was when Eric was loading the girls in the car to go to dance and I overheard him say, "Get in the car and no you don't need a tennis racket." One might think, "Wait, what? I thought they were going to dance, why did he say anything about a tennis racket?" But I, living with those girls, knew exactly what he was talking about. As you walk out of our house into our garage you go down three steps. To the right of those steps is a filing cabinet and in between those steps and that filing cabinet there is a small space where we keep a couple tennis rackets. So I can guarantee as the girls were going down the stairs they picked up those tennis rackets and tried to take them with them for no apparent reason. Hence the need for a "No tennis rackets" rule when going to dance.

Well last night I overheard this comment coming from my bathroom.

"Oh no, my toenails are too long. I can't bite them anymore."

Yea- that wasn't a typo- I said toenail, not fingernail. I don't think I have mentioned this before but Suzie likes to trim her toenails a la her teeth. I have even caught this with my camera once so you can have a visual!

I have no idea where she learned this technique but I also have no idea where she learned to tell me, "No can do, sis" when I ask her to get ready for church. Sometimes its just better not to know.

Anyway- I suppose that last night she went to go do the deed and found that her toenails would require more that just her pearly whites to trim them down. She would need something with a bit more "bite" like fingernail clippers!

Good Deeds Chain

About a month ago I had had it with all the whining and tattling. Not a uncommon sentiment for a mother of 4 youngish children. So for a FHE we talked about recognizing the good in each other rather than focusing on the bad. To practice this behavior I had cut up some green and red strips of paper and told the kids they were suppose to write on the papers either something good they saw another family member doing or an act of service they would perform for another family member. Then we would staple them in a circle and make a paper chain to decorate a smaller Christmas tree we had downstairs. Well I recently took down the tree and those paper chains. Instead of throwing them away I pulled it apart and read them. I thought that after the first week the kids didn't really do it so I was surprised by the number of things the kids wrote. I'm still going to throw the chain away but I wanted to record the "good deeds" we saw/did during the month of December:
Annie shared her soda cans.
Today my dad helped me eat my dinner.
Dad shared his chocolates.
Tomorrow I am going to read Suzie a bedtime story.
Dad drove Annie home from dance.
Katie waited for Annie to do crossing duty.
Mom shared her perfume.
I'm going to rake leaves.
Finn did the dishes.
Tomorrow I will make my bed when I get up.
Katie shared her gum.
I will help Katie clean her room.
Suzie helped Hannah clean up the pillows.
Dad set up the Wii.
Mom helped me with homework.
Annie shraed her drink.
Katie shared her headband.
Suzie LICKED the blueberries and said she was sorry.- think maybe that one started out as a tattle but then the author remembered the point of the activity!
Mom read to Suzie.
Dad will take the girls to school.
Finn let me use the IPAD.
Suzie helped clean up at pre-school.
Tomorrow I will let Suzie play with me and my friend.
Annie wiped off the counters when she was asked.
Suzie organized my shoes.
Annie and Suzie set the table.
Dad emptied the dishwasher.
Finn farted and said he was sorry! :)
Tomorrow I will not cry or whine when I'm getting ready for school. (All the ones that begin "Tomorrow" were written by a certain 7 year old red-head!)
Suzie took my dishes upstairs.
Katie shared her headband.
Finn picked up Katie.
Suzie helped Hannah clean up diapers.
Finn set up lights in our room.
Annie will help pass out papers in her class.
Annie didn't get mad when Katie made her late for school.
Finn walked Suzie and Hannah home from preschool.
Dad picked up Annie from Sister Brantly's house.
Annie got her coat for Katie.

Merry Christmas, Ugly New Traditions and Happy New Year

Every year since Eric and I got married we have taken a picture in front of a Christmas tree on Christmas day. Usually it is in front of my mom's Christmas tree but every once in awhile I take it in front of my own. With Christmas being on a Sunday this year I decided since we all had our Christmas Sunday clothes on I would take it at our house after church before everyone changed back into their pjs for the day. I have a self-timer on my camera but it doesn't make a noise so you don't know when the picture is taken. This picture is about our 6th attempt at a picture because some one would look away or start walking away cause they thought the picture had been taken. It still isn't even that great of a picture- Suzie is looking down, Finn is done with all the pictures and Eric is in the middle of saying "cheese." But when Eric inspected this photo he said, "Good enough" and went to go get Christmas morning brunch started. We had 9 am church on Christmas morning and even though we got all our presents opened in time to make it to church we didn't get breakfast eaten and delaying Christmas breakfast to a 37 year old man is just about as painful as delaying opening presents is to his 4 children 12 and under. But choices had to be made and breakfast got postponed therefore our Christmas picture did not turn out as well as I might have liked. But it does tell a story- which I always like!
A new Christmas tradition got started in Eric's family. Our brother in-law, Curtis, suggested we have an ugly sweater contest on Christmas Eve with each person participating putting $5 into a pot for the winner. With a $70 prize on the line the competition was stiff!

Gary, Eric's brother is the usual winner of any contest we have that involves creativity. He and his wife Camille made these sweaters for their whole family. Not seen is a stocking attached to their backs that made a handy spot for my brother-in-law, Scott and I to dispose of our shrimp tails throughout the evening. Sadly they did not win. I'm not sure if the shrimp tails had anything to do with this or not!

Cami, Scott and Tailyn made this a family affair with Cami sporting a poinsetta as big as her head and Scott sporting a lady's sweater with the tag still attached. Pretty sure that made a return trip to Wal-Mart after the holidays!

As much as Jessica deserves to win cause she is wearing moose overalls- the big prize went to her husband Jeff. I personally voted for him. And it wasn't the $4 DI tag still attached to his too short pants that did it for me. It was the Christmas dickey semi-hidden by the Christmas sweater tied in a prep school knot. So regal yet so ugly.

Eric and I donning our own Christmas apparel- matching, handmade Christmas nativity vests. These were lovingly made by my mom and aunt- not just for this occasion but for any chilly Christmas evening really!

Here is Curtis, the creator of all this mayhem as Eddie from Christmas Vacation with Becca as Eddie's wife. Curtis doesn't usually have man-boobs- it is just the pucker in the middle of the sweater that gives that allusion! Don't know if this was intentional or not!

This is Eric's cousin- Mindy with her husband- Matt. If you look closely at her sweater you can tell that it is an actual reenactment of the cat being fried scene in the Christmas Vacation movie. Very clever!

Here we all are in all our glory. You can see how it was a hard decision to decide who won! But again the Christmas dickey over the snowman turtleneck with the white socks and short blue dress pants was just too much for me! Way to go Jeff!

Now onto New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve has always been a hard holiday for me since we've had kids. You can't leave your kids with a babysitter cause all the babysitters have plans and you don't want your little kids staying up past midnight. Eric and I both have no desire whatsoever to go to those downtown parties the city puts on yet I want to do something fun and different for the holiday. Eric came up with this idea two years ago and I think it will be our new New Year's Eve tradition for the time being. We have a Wii tournament that all the family can participate in. We create a bracket system and choose different Wii games from boxing to Just Dance. The games are written on a piece of paper and put into a bowl. Then when two people face off in each bracket they first have to choose a game from the bowl. They play the event 3 times and the winner of 2 out of 3 times moves onto the next round. The loser gets put into the Losers Bracket. So we have the winner of the Winner's bracket and the Winner of the Loser's Bracket. Everyone gets to play about 3 times. It turns out to be a really fun night that everyone enjoys. Here is this year's playoff standings:

We were at the cabin for the holiday and brought our nephew, Michael along with us. Also Steve, Eric's brother and his girlfriend- Chelsea were there too. Steve was the overall winner and Finn was the lower bracket winner.Eric playing golf.

Annie and Suzie dancing it up!

Suzie boxing.

Finn and Katie playing tennis.

Michael and Finn getting jiggy wit' it!

There were even cool prizes like star wars fans/candy dispensers. (This picture may or may not have been a self-photo!:)

HAPPY 2012!

I'll let you connect the dots

Dot 1- Suzie's aforementioned affinity for choosing a word and then finding all the words she can that rhyme with it.

Dot 2- Suzie finding words to rhyme with one of the words in this sentence she recently heard from Ice Age 2- "Never disagree with Buck."

Dot 3- Suzie having some serious conversations about some serious never to be said again words!

Apparently making sure your 4 year old has good phonemic awareness by encouraging rhyming can have some down sides too!

Another Day in the Life...

It seems like the only posting I have time for these days is just quick stories about funny things my kids say or do. But it is what it is and here's the latest:
A few weeks ago we had our 2nd annual Grandma Talent Show. My mom's birthday is in November and instead of presents, she requests that all the grandkids perform in a family talent show. We have only done it twice but it is already turning into a tradition that everyone enjoys. I must say that the highlight the past two years has been Finn playing his tuba. What makes is so entertaining is the tuba is not really a solo instrument, but Finn plays it with such pride, gusto and heart that he makes it seem like it should be in the spotlight of any orchestra performance. This year, before the talent show began, Finn was practicing in my sister's living room with some cousins listening in. The rest of us were finishing up dinner in the kitchen. When Finn was done he came into the kitchen and my mom remarked, "Finn, I really enjoyed your practicing." To which he proudly replied with a smile on his face, "I wasn't practicing. I was changing lives!"
Suzie has a little friend in her preschool whose name is Claire McDonough. Claire's mom is a high school friend of my sister, Natalie. We were visiting my mom one day and Suzie started talking about her friend, Claire. My mom, wanting to know if the Claire Suzie was talking about was the same one she knew, asked, "What is Claire's last name?" Suzie replied, "Claire Old McDonald."
Yep! That's the one she knows!