Amelia at 4

Amelia in her own words:

Favorite:

Animal? baby penguins

Toy? Mumble the penguin chick & My Little Ponies

Show? My Little Ponies, Busy Town & Life (the documentary)

Book? books about eggs

Food? Taco Salad & pancakes

Drink? juice

Song? Girls Just Want to Have Fun- Cyndi Lauper (I'm going to add Someone That I Used to Know- by Gotye & Home- by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros) She requests them daily.

Thing to do? paint

Color? pink

Number? 4

Letter? A

Clothes? dresses

Candy? cookies

Sesame Street character? Zoe

Thing to do on the playground? monkey bars

CD? Curious George (soundtrack- Jack Johnson)

Thing to play with Dad? play games

Thing to play with Mom? play games

Thing to play with Oliver & Eloise? play

Amelia in my words:

Amelia turned 4 exactly a month ago and no she wasn't kidding that her favorite books are about eggs. Amelia currently lives for eggs and birds (mostly penguins, chicks, and parrots). We have spent many hours watching youtube videos of baby chicks hatching. This also has segued into reproduction in general. Where do babies come from? Well, she can tell you. She can't get enough and doesn't seem to be phased by anything I tell her. I think she's going to go into the sciences like her dad. Although, with that being said she is also quite the nurturer. Her fantasy play is saving baby chicks and caring for them. She saw Rio a while back and has since been waiting to find her hurt Macaw that she can nurse back to health. I'm really curious where she's going to go with this fascination.

Beside the egg/bird obsession Amelia is quite the artist. Her current favorite is watercolors and glitter glue. I love how she gets right into it. She gets paint all over herself and doesn't ever mind. She also loves when I read books to her. We could do that all day (except when we're watching you tube). Oh wait, she also likes to watch tv and play on the computer too. She is definitely my screen kid, but will read books, do art, and play when I make her turn the aforementioned things off.

Amelia is very laid back, except when Oliver is around. He seems to turn her into a whine monster. He taunts her and she whines. So he taunts her again and she whines. It's something we're working on with her, because it drives me crazy. They do play well together sometimes. Hide and seek and horsey (both kids hold onto a 3 foot rope and they take turns dragging each other around). Ameila is starting to play with Eloise more and more. I think that's just because Eloise is starting to understand and play more with her. I hope they become great friends.

Amelia is wonderful little girl. She is very smart, kind and has a smile that melts my heart everyday. I am very proud to be her mama hen.

Wisconsin Dells

Tim and I decided that is was finally time for a vacation. Since Oliver is in a year round school that let us with a nice off season break. We went Wednesday through Friday and it was perfect. We stayed at the Wilderness Resort and it was very affordable. They have three indoor water

parks and an indoor playground. Perfect.

I didn't get any water park pictures since I had my hands full with my kids and I didn't want to worry about my camera. All of the kids loved the water. Oliver's favorite was the big watersides. He was tall enough to go on any two or more person water slide. They were pitch black and kind of scary, but he loved them. Amelia was able to go on one and she liked it okay, but her favorite was the lazy river and the wave pool. Eloise liked the kiddie pools. I think she liked the ability to just roam around. There was a huge bucket of water that slowly filled up above the kiddie pool and every few minutes it dumped thousands of gallons of water over the kiddie area. This caused a lot of anxiety for Eloise. It bothered me too because every time the warning bell went off I had to scramble to find Eloise to make sure she wasn't anywhere under it. Every few minutes. There were only a few fleeting moments of relaxing near the water. One nice thing is that they were able to have their water jackets on, except for on the water slides. My favorite part was taking the kids on a tube to the deep end of the wave pool. It was a work out, but the waves were very exciting for everyone (except Eloise). She very much disliked the waves.

Here is a picture of the kids passed out on the first night.

We also spent a lot of time in the Timberland Playhouse. They all had a blast. The only problem is that there were exits three different sides and an arcade right next to it. We lost track of Eloise a few times and lost her (to the panic point) twice. She is just so stinking independent and thinks she's older than she is.

This is were we found her after one of those panic moments.

They had little foam balls that you could shoot, throw, slingshot, suck up and send them exploding out of a volcano. The kids, who am I kidding, we all had fun shooting them at each other.

The hotel had a refrigerator and microwave so we ate breakfast and lunch in the room and went out for dinner. We had cereal, oatmeal, bp & j sandwiches, easy mac, leftover Moose Jaw pizza, fruit, and various snacks.

The plan for Friday, the day we left, was to play at the playhouse, check out, go tour down town, eat lunch somewhere outside and then head home. The first part went flawlessly until we went on our downtown tour. The only thing open was the candy store, which I was planning on making the grand finale, but that's all there was to do. So we hit the candy store and guess what the kids picked out?

Yep, they all wanted the biggest sucker they could find and no the girls did not pick out suckers to match their outfits. That was just a funny coincidence.

Guess who was the last one to finish their sucker? Eloise took her sweet time. We weren't really in a hurry, but it was cold out. Also, while we were eating our treats (Tim and I picked out some saltwater taffy) it started snowing. Hard. Guess where lunch was served?

If you guessed in the van, then you're right. And even that was going just fine until I knelt on a gogurt that was in the passenger seat. It shot directly at the drivers seat and on the dash. Luckily, Tim was still outside with Eloise or he would have been covered in yogurt. We all had a great laugh about it. We finished our lunch and headed home.

We all had a great time. We were on our own schedule and went where the wind took us. I think we ALL needed this mini vacation. It was so nice to spend some quality time with my family. I think we'll be making the Dells an annual winter adventure.

Little Chef

If Eloise comes to me in 15 years saying she wants to go to culinary school I will say, "I knew it!" This little girl has had the desire to cook and bake since before she could walk. Either I let her help or she will push the chair to the stove and do it herself. She wants to stir, add, measure, even chop (which I draw the line at). She also loves tasting everything. She is currently learning that white cookie ingredient does not always mean it's sugar and just because mom lets you stick you finger in for a taste that it will not always taste good (lemon juice). She is such a great helper that it has made cooking and baking 100% more stressful. I have to sneak around when trying to make dinner and no matter how quiet she usually finds me. I know in time this is something we can bond over, but until she understands that too much salt makes for bad cookies, stoves can burn you and knives can cut you I'm not feeling the warm fuzzies.

The World

Today I was given the world.

That's my boy

Oliver got off the bus this afternoon very concerned that Drew had left his hat behind. He was extra concerned that it was not their normal bus and therefore it would not be there for Drew to find tomorrow. So he thought fast (Drew is the stop before his) and grabbed it to give to him in the morning. This may seem like something little but for me it was a huge validation that we are doing something right as parents. He was being a good person, a good friend.

My first kindergartener.

Yesterday was Oliver's first day of kindergarten. The way his school is set up his classroom has pre-k (half-day friends) and kindergarten (all day friends) in the same class. So he has the same teacher (although his teacher is currently on bed rest and soon to be maternity leave) and some of the same kids in his class as last year.

He was so excited to ride the bus this year. He did ride the bus last year but only on the way home. It was a bus just for the 4 year olds and it dropped him off in front of our house.

He reported that he had a great first day. When I asked him what his favorite part of the day was he said it was going to gym class because he got to watch them open and close the gym dividers. Who would have thought.

He had the same bus driver to and from school. She seems really nice and like she's taking good care of him. Eloise was so excited to see her big brother. It may not look like it, but that is a picture of Oliver giving her a really big hug.

He's getting so big and turning out to be a great kid. I'm so proud of him.

Our Labor Day Adventure

Today we went to Minnehaha Falls. The weather was perfect 68 degrees and the sunny.

Here is a picture of falls

Here is Oliver, Amelia and Eloise walking down the wooded path

They loved wading in the water. Eloise especially needed it. Look at how dirty she was!

Oh wait, you can't see those beautiful pictures because I forgot the camera at home! I was so upset when I realized my error. There was sure to be some priceless pictures.

I took a deep breath and quickly remembered a blog my dear friend just wrote about being present with your children. I instantly felt better. I would live this outing in the moment and not behind the camera lens. I did it and man was it worth it. We all had a great time. I will surely remember it as one of the best Labor Day outings ever, no pictures necessary.

My kids obviously needed a break

Oliver, Amelia and Eloise stayed at my parent's house last night. They actually "went camping" in their backyard. While we were saying our goodbyes Oliver tells me, "have fun in the quiet house and have fun not having anyone to boss around." Oh Oliver you hit the nail on the head more than your 5 year old brain could ever know.

Pretty Pretty Princess

We found the game Pretty Pretty Princess at our local thrift store.

Everyone has had a great time playing it....

until Oliver landed on the crown which was the last piece he needed to win. It also meant that Amelia had to give it up. Which she obviously didn't want to do.

Oliver the Pretty Princess.

Amelia the not so gracious loser.

And to add insult to injury Eloise's attempt to comfort her was to smack her on the head.

And what do I do this whole time...take pictures of it.

(I did step in right after this last picture and we had a great lesson in how to be a good winner and loser)

Where did my baby go?

Eloise can:

walk, run, play peek-a-boo and ring around the rosie, chase her brother and sister, do chores, sing the clean up song while cleaning up, brings me her shoes without prompting when it's time to go, climb up slides, blow kisses, hold her own against her brother

Eloise loves:

to whine, Florence and the Machine, baby dolls, shoes, tomato soup and noodles, moving things from one room to another, being held, copying Oliver and Amelia, to investigate, pushing babies/dolls in the stroller, hide things, Blue Hat Green Hat, dancing, being tickled, doing anything we're doing.

Eloise says:

mama, dada, Oliver, thirsty, ball, peek-a-boo, all done, bye, poop, puppy, two, banana, more, cheese, baby.

Eloise is:

smart, so kissable, always dirty, nonstop, the worlds best hugger, a daredevil, very independent, strong willed, my sweetheart, Eloise is and always will be my baby.

Eloise is walking!

Eloise has been cruising the furniture and walls for quite some time now. She has finally gained the self confidence and is now walking more than crawling. She is walking from room to room just for the fun of it. Outside is a different story. She still prefers crawling, especially through the mud. I should have taken some muddy pictures of her this weekend, but for some reason I think I'll get another chance tomorrow.

That's Amelia

Amelia: I spy with my little eye something that's green

Mom: is it the towel?

Amelia: no

Mom: is it the rug?

Amelia: no

Mom: is it your dress?

Amelia: no

Mom: is it the tiles

Amelia: no

Mom: Honey I give up. I've guessed everything that's green in the bathroom

Amelia: it was the wall

Mom: Amelia the wall is blue

Amelia: well, I'm pretending it's green

Camping 2011

Packing the van was a work of art.

There was a playground not too far from our camp site.

Amelia passed out at the beach

The water was freezing. That's all the further Eloise went in.

We found a mama turtle laying her eggs at our campsite. That was really cool and a good hour of entertainment.

The kids eating banana muffins in our tent at 6 am.

Amelia flying on the parachute.

Oliver's turn

Eloise playing in Grace's tent while we packed up ours.

We went camping at Rice Creek Chain of Lakes park in Centerville. It was a short drive, but it still felt like we were in the wilderness. There were 9 couples and 10 kids total. Oliver and Amelia loved playing with the other kids and Tim and I got a chance to hang out with our friends. My parents bought their boat on Saturday so we got a chance to watch a few brave soles wakeboard and water ski- the water was freezing. It was an exhausting weekend but well worth it. Thanks friends and family. There were a lot of great memories created in those few short days. Till next year.