Final Blog Entry of the Year

I know, I know, my title is less than exciting. I figured it was more important to get a post updated. Random funny things to remember I haven't mentioned yet:

• Reading Junie B. Jones books with Emma.
• watching Kayla go foraging for snacks in the pantry once we moved crackers to the bottom shelf (and yes, I do feed her. . .)
• hearing Abri talk about how she gets to go to her "little preschool" (when I don't forget to take her)
• Emma's excitement over getting an ipod (well, not a real ipod, but an MP3 player)
• Kayla's head nods when you figure out what she's asking for with her screechs
• Abri is still wearing her pink cowboy boots for the 2nd winter in a row, almost every day, regardless of the outfit--she loves them that much. She was actually given two different sizes so the smaller pair fit last winter and the bigger pair this winter. (Thanks Aunt Sherry!)
• Abri always wants to wear "princess" dresses--we're not talking Disney dresses here, just your average Sunday dress or play dresses. She really doesn't like pants. I just don't understand this.
• Kayla's fascination with tooth brushes. None of my other girls had such a fit when brushing teeth was over and they had to put it away
• I may actually have an ambidextrous daughter, lefty (Abri) and righty (Emma). A few weeks ago Kayla had two spoons at the breakfast table, took a spoon in each hand, and proceeded to start eating her cereal one bite at a time, alternating hands. She hasn't started favoring one or the other yet.

Smile for the Camera

December candid shots of Abrianna and Kayla. Don't they just make you want to smile back?

Our "Sweet" Girls--Halloween Style

We had lots of fun with the costumes for the girls this year. Todd's sister was gracious to lend us a red M&M costume (appropriate for Emma this year since she had an M&M birthday party), and from there, we thought of the Hershey's kiss for Abri and Sweet Tooth for Kayla to make them a coordinating trio that even fits the candy-giving tradition of the holiday.

Kayla was the funniest baby-almost-toddler I think I've ever seen trick or treating. On the 30th, we went to our ward Trunk or Treat. At the first car she didn't know what to do, but two cars later she was a pro: reaching out her hand for a treat and placing her precious cargo delicately into her ghost bag. The trick was convincing her to move to the next car because she would just want to stand there and keep getting a treat to put in her bag over and over again. I'm not sure you can be proud of a child who becomes so quickly experienced at acquiring candy, but it was definitely amusing.

Pumpkin Patch

Thursday we took our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch, a common fall tradition around this area. (We don't have trees that reflect the season's colors so we have to pretend we can enjoy the fall colors in other ways.) It's definitely not something for the faint of heart parent.

Imagine 100 sets of parents with cameras around their necks and 200 kids running around, the air accentuated with calls of "Look at Mommy!" "Smile" "Stand right here" "No, don't move!" or "Don't eat the pumpkin!" (In our case with Kayla.) The scrapbooker in me was cringing at the thought of all the cute shots I wasn't getting after my painstaking efforts to match the girls so that my scrapbook layout colors would work out. All that to have almost no pics that I really wanted to scrapbook. For example, it took at least 10 trys to get Abri to stand for a "This Fall I am this Tall" pic, and when I finally did there was a kid that walked by in the photo. *Sigh*

The funniest and most stressful part of the day was when I was there alone with the girls and needed to take Abri to the port-o-potty. She didn't want to go (a usual experience during out last 3 months of potty training) but hadn't in a long while, so I picked her up to carry her myself. I passed Kayla off to Emma and prayed the two of them would be ok while I tried to convince Abri to cooperate, knowing the portlet wouldn't be big enough for them anyways.

When I returned back to Kayla and Emma where I had left them 15 yards away, some pumpkins were out of their orderly rows. Instead of their normal distance of 2 ft apart, Emma had surrounded Kayla with about 8 huge pumpkins in a circle, with the simple explanation: "Kayla would crawl away if I didn't put the pumpkins around her." I was impressed at her problem solving. (I had given up on getting photos by this time and Todd had put the camera in the car when he left much earlier, so I missed yet another opportunity. Incidentally, a former stake President of ours, Pres Riding, was also at the pumpkin patch that day with his family and I had spoken with him earlier in the afternoon. He mentioned to me later before I left the patch that he noticed when I left Kayla and Emma and kept an eye on them while I was gone, and Emma did a good job of being responsible and not an abandoned child to arouse attention.)

All in all, part of me wants to try again before the season is over, but not sure I'm actually up for it, even for the sake of scrapbook pages. Some things are better not remembered.

Abrianna: A book lover after Leanne's heart

I love books, always have, always will. I loved working at a bookstore, and would love to buy books all the time, but the realization that they take up too much space keeps me going to the library regularly instead. So, its such a fun thing to see at least one of my daughters enjoying them almost as much as me.

It's not uncommon that on some afternoons I'll be downstairs and realize that I haven't heard or seen Abrianna in too long. With worried thoughts of more Crayola masterpieces on the walls, I'll find her up in her bedroom--sitting in front of the bookcase. She'll have a stack of 5 or 6 books that she's already looked at beside her, just flipping pages and looking at the pictures. "Hi Mommy, " she says so sweetly while I then feel guilty that I suspected the worst when she's actually constructively busy.

In addition, Abrianna has a habit each night of getting a book off their bookshelf and taking it to bed with her before we do bedtime routine. Last night she got was still looking at it as we tried to turn out lights and say goodnight.

Todd: Abrianna, it's time to go to bed. You need to lay down.
Abrianna (with an exasperated sigh): But then I can't see the book.

Chances are she'll be like me in later years: holed up reading late at night in her closet with the door closed, or reading by flashlight under the sheets. I can only hope, right?

Kayla: Following Emma's music lead

I love listening and watching her when we sing. She joins in with her soft "ba, da" sounds. For instance, a month ago during the Young Womens' combined lesson, the teacher played a song about Honesty on a CD to get the class's attention. Accompanying the song was Kayla's voice, "ba-daing" along. A number of heads had turned back to look at us where we sat at the back of the room. I felt a bit uncomfortable at the attention since the focus was supposed to be on the words of the song, and instead Kayla had diverted it to her version of the song. Nevertheless, it was the sweetest thing hearing her voice singing along.

This morning we went to a restaurant with a beach theme. Picture Kayla, sitting in a wicker patio chair, bopping along to the Beach Boys: "Baby, why don't we go, down to Florida Keys."

She sings. She dances. Here we come Baby Idol. (Perish the thought.)

Abrianna--already feeling affects of middle child syndrome

I realized the other day that I've had a number of entries focused on Kayla and Emma, excluding Abrianna to some extent. I'm hardly being fair. I asked myself why that would be. My conclusion: Her temper tantrums stretch my patience to an extent that it leaves limited room for amusement, or brain cells to remember the amusement at least. (She's one of those kids where the terrible twos has gone right on into the threes.) So, I tried to make a concerted effort to try and take note of her funnyisms.


Some one liners I appreciated:
I want brown hot dog, not black. (i.e. don't get those grilled hot dogs anywhere near my plate again.)
I'm Hi Ho. Call me Hi Ho (and she hadn't even seen Snow White recently).

Emma's Chorister skills: I am a Child of God

Each night we sing a Primary song and say a prayer at bedtime. The other night we chose "I am a Child of God." Emma wanted to conduct. (Her method of conducting is swinging her both arms in the 180 degree arc, together, then apart, back and forth.) I decided to sing in French, and a few words into it, Emma grimaced at me (since she hates when we speak anything but English), but continued conducting.

After about 5 measures, Todd began singing in Spanish. Emma made the cutoff motion with her hands, closing her fists and stopping the arcs. She did this 4 times, before she indignantly cried, "In English!! Why didn't you watch my conducting??"

I Love You this much

Sometimes at bedtime saying goodnight Emma will tell me how much she loves me so I can tell her back. Tonight she told me she loved me "all the way there and back, to Walmart, and back, etc." [Honestly, this time I couldn't tell exactly where she was saying.]
Me: I love you all the way to China and back.
Emma: That's a long way. But mine's longer.
Me: Actually, mine is. China is on the other side of the world and back.
Emma: Wow, that is longer than mine. [Then with that tone of realization. . .] We wouldn't ever move to China because we don't speak their language. We wouldn't have any friends!

Emma's amorous suitor

Friday the 5th, Emma came from school. Her entrance was heralded by a cry hinting at some great drama. Worrying that Logan had made faces at her again as has been the case for several other days in our daily Tales of a First Grade Nothing, I asked curiously what happened.

Emma: Will gave me a hug in Gym today!!!
Me: Really? Why are you so upset?
Emma: Because he's not supposed to!!
Me: What exactly happened? Could you tell me about it?
Emma: He came up to me after class, gave me a hug, and then told me he loves me.
Me: What did you say?
Emma: Um, nothing. He left to go with his class after that.

And there you have it. I thought the kiss on the cheek from her friend Austin at age 4 while enroute to preschool was funny, and even now I'm pretty amused by the incident with Will at age 6, but the dread is very real for what lies ahead in the years to come.

Never too young to call 911

This morning Kayla got a hold of the phone and started pushing buttons. I took the phone away as quick as I could amid her indignant screechs. A minute later the phone rings and a man asks me if we had called 911. Caller ID says he is from the City of [S].



Me:No, sorry, my daughter had the phone and started dialing before I could get it away from her.

911: Everything is all right then? No one is hurt? (I'm sure this was prompted by Abri crying hysterically in the background because she wanted the blanket that Emma was using.)

Me: Yes, I'm really sorry about that.

911: Are you in the city of [X] or [S]?

Me: No, we're actually outside of [X] in [J]

911: Oh. What's your name?

Me: Leanne [H]

911: Okay. Have a good day.

Me: Thanks again. Bye.



Few concerns here:

1. The guy probably thought I was lying since Abri was screaming. How much time do you take to explain that your toddler is just having a fit so he knows you're actually an honest person?

2. The guy was probably thinking I wasn't being open about our location since we have a VOIP line that is linked to another city and we were already warned when signing up for it that 911 calls become a bit problematic because they can't pin point your physical location from the VOIP, only calls from physical phone lines.

3. Am I going to get on a list somewhere of suspected child abusers because my 1 yr old can now make phone calls and my three yr old still has temper tantrums????



Oh well.

Life is Hard as a First Grader

Wednesday class lists were posted at the elementary school for the forthcoming school year. Yesterday I took the girls up there to see, hoping to alleviate some of Emma's anxiety about who her teacher is and who will be in her class. She had informed me on Tuesday of this week that there were two kids she really hoped wouldn't be in her class--Elijah and Juli because they were so mean last year. We started going down the list and came to Elijah. She emitted a large sigh and said dejectedly, "I have to have him in my class again??!!" Then, further down the list, we read Juli's name. With that her patience ran out and she screamed a bit schrilly, "AAGGHH! Life is so hard."

Sadly, the only two kids from her kindergarten class are the two that she didn't want to have in her 1st grade class. You would think that with 120 1st graders and 20 from her kindergarten class, she would have better odds of getting a couple of good friends in the class with her, go figure. Thankfully, she hasn't been too preoccupied with the disappointment over classmates since the initial reading of the list. She still has the excitement of meeting her teacher this evening to look forward to.

Speaking of a girl named Skyler that will now be in her class, she remarked, "She was in Olivia's class. Some people think she's funny but she isn't my kind of funny." I asked her what she meant. She said, "they think she's funny but I don't." Hmm. I guess even 6 yr olds have their own developed sense of humor.

Emma's Choir aspirations

Emma loves to sing. Throughout the day I hear her singing random songs. Sometimes it's primary songs, other times it's songs from movies like High School Musical. Lately she's been singing the song "What I like about You" which she picked up when I was watching the syndicated show on CW a while ago.

Unfortunately, she doesn't always get the right words with funny results. She was singing "What I like about You" and said "you really know how to dance, when you go up down, jump around, talk about your old man" (instead of the "true romance" it uses at the end.) She sang this one afternoon and Abri, listening, indignantly said, "I'm not an old man!!" I couldn't contain a smile at that one.

Kayla's Communication methods

Is anyone else as amazed as me about how kids communicate, especially ones as young as Kayla at 1 yr? There have been so many times this past month that we've said something and I am almost positive she's repeating what I've said or replying to what I've said.

Case in point: Last night Todd gave Emma and Abrianna baths. (Kayla loves baths. She will dive right in, clothes, diaper, and all--has on two different occasions. . .) She decided she had to be part of the fun, but since Todd was using our large garden tub/whirlpool she couldn't get over the side like she can with their bathroom tub. She took all the bath products I keep on the ledge and started throwing them into the water.

When I got home later that night, they were recounting the incident to me. I asked Kayla: "Did you help the big girls take baths?" She got this huge grin on her face, started kicking her legs and pushing up her body (since I was holding her against my hip) and said, "ye." No joke. I asked a second time to see if she was consistent, and sure enough, I got the same excited and happy reaction, as if to say, "I'm so proud of my accomplishment."

Last Friday I asked Kayla if she was stinky and if I don't mistake, I sure heard "stee."

The shot above is characteristic of her funny grin with those big blue eyes smiling.

Sun talk--Emma's funny phrases #3

We were applying sunscreen the other day in preparation for water fun last week. Emma said how she hates the feel of sunscreen. I told her we have to be grateful for it since it keeps us from getting sunburned. Her reply:"I think the sun says, 'Oh boy, you must not have sunscreen on so you can be sunburned.'"

Confessions of an HGTV-holic

Designer's Challenge, Curb Appeal, Designed to Sell--A few months ago I discovered HGTV and its shows (mostly after I realized no other shows were on other channels) and I have to control just how long I watch it on the days I do turn the TV on. Not only is it enthralling for me, but Emma now asks, "Can we watch the Home shows?" (Bye bye Little Bear and Witch, her previous fav shows--here comes Designer Emma.) She loves giving her opinion of the designs and changes made to the houses and what she wants in our house.

That being said, we've lived in our house for three yrs and still have the same offwhite walls that the builders painted it originally, except for the lovely Crayola masterpieces that Abri has made in multiple areas. The cost of paint and time commitment have deterred us from making any changes, a decision that isn't ok with Emma.

Today, she emphatically informed me, "I--am ready--to be rid--of the white," with pauses to make sure I got the idea. Then, she revealed her plan for her bedroom. "I want one wall pink, one wall purple, one wall pink, one wall purple, [alternating walls] and the ceiling blue like the sky. We need to add flowers so it will be like a garden." I was floored. Not only that, but the flowers were supposed to be about 3 inches each in diameter on the walls, gauged by the hand gestures she made to show me.

We talked about the fact that usually on the shows they paint a room one color, sometimes one wall a different color than the rest, but not usually two different colors that alternate. She conceded to that a bit reluctantly. It was quite the shocker for me to see just how much she's embraced the idea of home decorating.

So, now its certain--I need to figure out a way to decorate her room as a Christmas present. Hopefully she'll give me the present of no longer comparing our house's shortcomings in decor with all the others on shows she sees.

Baywatch here we come

Just after school let out, the girls and I headed to Houston for a 6 day trip to see my parents and other friends that still live there. We took a day trip to Galveston and the girls had a very fun afternoon playing in the sand and water. They didn't need the pristine blue waters or white sands of the Carribbean to have a great time.

Abri would run into the waves as the water receded, then turn around and run back to shore as the tide came back in, and laughed with abandon as she called, "water tickles!" At one point, I walked with Emma and Abri into the water until the water got up to Abri's shoulders. A wave came in and about toppled her over, filling her mouth and she sputtered a bit in shock but I was impressed when she recovered very quickly and didn't get frightened by the experience.

Emma loved sharing the sand castle toys another little girl had brought, and the feel of the water. She didn't like the algae that occasionally caught against her limbs, but it didn't stop her from getting in the water, which I worried might happen since she hates sand at the playground here at home.

Abri's funniness: Stubborn Girl

Abri is both a trial and blessing for her stubborness. She cracked me and Todd up the other day. We were talking together when Abri came up with a much repeated request, this time directed at Todd.
A: Daddy, will you open gate for me? (The baby safety gate on the stairs that she can never get open.)
T: Abri, you can be a big girl and learn how to open up the gate. You put your hands on it (demonstrating for her), lift up, and pull towards you.

Abri got this very thoughtful look on her face and rolled her eyes up to look at the ceiling. She paused for a full 5 seconds and we were surprised she didn't get upset at a denial of her request and she turned away, but went around the two feet to where I was sitting.
A: Mommy, will you open gate for me? (No grin, all seriousness. . .I couldn't believe it.)

She's continued the trend the past few days with other requests. I'm sure other kids have perfected the art of persistancy in this: If at first you don't succeed, try the other parent, but, well, it was funny in the timing and proximity that she would even make the attempt.

Emma's Funny sayings #2: Cleanup Wishes

I was loading dishes into the dishwasher the other day when Emma came up to me. She said, "Don't you wish you had a robot that went around cleaning the whole house? It would make it much easier to clean." I couldn't agree more.

Kindergartener drinking beer?

NISD allows parents to visit the school and eat lunch with the kids. I often went to the school with Abri and Kayla in tow to see Emma. Up to two classmates are allowed to sit with the parents and their child. One afternoon in April, Emma's friend Hannah Strong, from another kindergarten class, sat with us. Hannah made a startling comment that I couldn't help but remember and worry about.

Hannah:I drink beer.
Emma: My family doesn't drink beer.
Hannah: My mom lets me take a sip of it sometimes and it is so good. She lets me drink some of her coffee in the morning too.
Emma: No response.

Something else came up, probably discussing what they were eating for lunch or some such thing, but I was too busy making a mental note: "If Emma ever, ever has a friend named Hannah Strong and wants to go to a party at her house, she is not going. . .for that matter, be friends with her if I have a say in it. . ."

If a 5 yr old already drinks beer and likes the taste of it, how much more likely is she going to be to drink it and become addicted when she gets older and her parents aren't around to control how much she gets of it? Odds are, her liking of it won't diminish as time goes by, and it sets her up for problems later on. Its amazing the things parents may think are ok for their kids that could have lasting affects. . .

As for Emma's response, I was grateful that we had just had a conversation about the Word of Wisdom just a few weeks earlier and she remembered what our family's standard is and was able to voice it to her friend, even if it was in such a small way. One can only hope that trend gets stronger as she grows older.

Her name is not Fred: Abri's Funny Sayings #2

Last year, Oct-Nov time frame, when Kayla was 2 to 3 mos old, we noticed that Abri would refer to Kayla as Fred. We were never quite certain just how she associated Kayla with Fred, but she persistently called her that. The only other name association she has with it is her Grandma and Grandpa H's dog Fred that she sees on her visits to their farm. Regardless of why she started calling Kayla Fred, she sure definitely enjoyed the attention that her use of the name garnered. One night at the dinner table Emma decided on her own to tackle the problem head on. Here is a transcript of the conversation:
E: "Abri, say Kay"
A: "Kay"
E: "say la"
A: "la"
E: "say Kayla"
A: "Fred", she replied with an innocent face, not even a grin.
How's that for an amateur comedian?
We're happy to say that she no longer calls her Fred, and Kayla unquestionably knows her name despite the confusion of earlier times.

Potato Talk: Abri's Funny sayings #1

Random conversation at dinner on Monday night over our meal of roasted potatoes and sloppy joes:
Grandpa: "Abri, what does a chicken say?"
Abri: Baak
Gr: what does a cow say?
Abri: Moo
Gr: what does a cat say?
A: Meow
A--Brandishing her potato triumphantly, grinning: Potato say Ketchup!!

Note: Abri's known animals sounds for a long time, so it wasn't that she needed any practice with them but it sure was entertaining hearing what a potato would say. Mind you, this is the girl who takes her finger and licks ketchup off the plate without anything else, or sees it on the pantry shelf and asks for it as a snack. Is there such a thing as an addiction to Ketchup???

Summer is Here--Emma's funny phrases post #1

Last weekend we went to a water birthday party for one of Abrianna's friends, complete with slip 'n slide, small wading pool, and sprinkler for the kids to have fun. I didn't use enough sunblock on the girls and missed a couple of spots. Emma did herself and forgot her shoulders, so they got mildly burned, but enough to make it uncomfortable for her. That night as we were going to bed, Emma said she didn't know how she was going to lie down because of the pain in her shoulders. Todd told her to lie down on her back instead of her side. She said, "I can't lie down on my back. I don't know how princesses lay still like that."

Emma's First Year of School

Emma and Todd: Emma pointing to her District Art Show Entry

Today I watched as approx. 120 kindergarteners walked across the stage to give their teachers hugs, and it was a strange moment. In typical fashion, I had arrived late to the graduation as all the kindergarteners were marching in, but unfortunately, I had to enter thru the same door as them. So, some parent, in trying to get a shot of their child entering, got an image of me carrying Abrianna, a very distressed 30 lb 2 yr old, and 20 lb 9 mo. old Kayla in each arm, struggling to keep my balance and trying to quickly make my way from the front of the cafeteria to the back where there was standing room only. (If you manage to get a visual of this perhaps you'll have some clue how stressed out I was that my 2 yr old would decide to throw a temper tantrum and decide that she didn't want to come to Emma's school after all and there was absolutely no way she was entering the building. . .)

As if Abri's attitude wasn't enough, Kayla had made a very smelly present for me in her diaper just a few mins earlier than our arrival at the school, and there's no fun place to change an infant in an elemenary school. So, I didn't even have the luxury of finding one of my friends to pass Kayla off to, since I doubted they wanted to share in Kayla's gift, in order to try and appease Abrianna. What's a mom to do? Luckily, after finding a spot at the back, Abri saw enough to peak her interest and calmed down (sparing me further embarrasment), but continued her clinginess, so I was still juggling the two of them, not wanting to put Kayla down on the who-knew-when-it-was-last-mopped cafeteria floor to crawl.

As Emma was among the last to walk the stage, I reluctantly put Kayla down on the floor so I could take a pic of Emma hugging Mrs. Logan (who she wants to stay with forever, she informed me on Tues.), all the while thinking that I couldn't believe that the year was over.

In retrospect, I'm proud of her, making me of course unique among the other parents.
She had an entry in the district art show in April. (Kindergarten-4th weren't judged, just on display.) She was a coloring contest winner in October among kindergarteners. She achieved a passing level of reading proficiency, something I was worried about given her frequent complaining about the need for practicing. She woke up almost every morning without prodding or complaint and got ready. She "pulled her clip" only once, for tickling a classmate in the hallway when she wasn't supposed to. She likes flossing her teeth after a science unit demonstrated the benefits of brushing. She loved art the best out of her subjects.

Challenges she had this year: She often came home distraught over comments from classmates. There was one boy in gym who called her stupid a few times and pushed her. Or, there was the girl who told her she didn't like her hair one day during recess. She is just so sensitive to things, so we talked about how important it is to remind ourselves that Jesus loves us no matter what others may say or do to us.

One year down, only 12 more to go for her. :)

Why I started a blog

It's funny how we've incorporated the internet into almost everything we do: shopping, bill paying, communicating, researching, etc. Instead of just couch potatoes, now we have internet potatoes. You can sit in front of the screen for hours reading up on things. I'm guilty of it when it comes to the news, friends' blogs, or sometimes looking at different store websites. And now, I've finally decided to start making use of it to keep track of what's been going on in our little patch of the planet. So, even if no one else reads it, I wanted to start a blog to keep track of things that the girls do, instead of starting more random word files that are saved haphazardly on my computer that I never read again. I always enjoy reading other friends' blogs and hearing their success stories and the funny things their kids do, and figure why not start one. Of course, there's no telling how consistent I'll be at updating it, but for the moment I wanted to give it a go.

Fair warning to anyone reading this: I'm very wordy and pretty long winded in my writing style so it will probably be a challenge if you don't like to read much.