tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66842723856416759402024-03-13T12:37:40.429-07:00Blueberries and Pickleshttp://i54.tinypic.com/j8d2t5Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.comBlogger481125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-65444617366516343542017-04-28T12:31:00.001-07:002017-04-28T12:32:07.561-07:00Dandelion PhotosThe dandelions seemed to be out earlier than normal this year, due to our exceptionally lovely April weather. I took the kids to the strip of grass outside the girls' school that was entirely covered with dandelions, and I told them that if they posed for photos quickly and smiled nicely and were good listeners, they could play at the park afterwards. It was a beautiful day, they cooperated well, and we were done with photos in about 3 minutes. So much different than last year!<br />
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I swear my girls brushed their hair in the car on the drive there, but it was pretty windy that day. Or at least that's my excuse. <br />
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And finally, one of all three kids together where everyone is looking at the camera and nobody has a goofy face. <br />
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This is the sixth year I've taken dandelion photos in Wisconsin, and
it's fun to look back and see how the kids have grown up. Here's <a href="http://blueberriesandpickles.blogspot.com/2016/05/dandelion-photos.html">late April 2016</a>, <a href="http://blueberriesandpickles.blogspot.com/2015/05/wisconsin-wildflower-photos.html">May 4, 2015</a>, <a href="http://blueberriesandpickles.blogspot.com/2014/05/beautiful-wildflower-photos.html">May 21, 2014</a>, <a href="http://blueberriesandpickles.blogspot.com/2013/05/amidst-dandelions.html">May 13, 2013</a>, and <a href="http://blueberriesandpickles.blogspot.com/2012/04/amidst-dandelions.html">April 14, 2012</a>. I took these photos on April 25th, so spring is definitely a little early this year.<br />
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And a few of Nathaniel's outtakes:<br />
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The girls didn't act goofy, so I don't have any silly photos of them this year, just a whole bunch with their eyes closed.<br />
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<br />Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-57578624150983509462016-12-19T08:33:00.001-08:002016-12-20T08:52:50.387-08:00Christmas LetterFor those who are interested in learning what we've been up to in 2016, here's a much longer Christmas letter with lots of photos.<br />
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Megan has enjoyed her Daisy Girl Scout troop this year. Both of her leaders are amazing women that I know from church, and her large troop of 17 girls is full of energy. Megan likes that she often gets to do craft projects during her meeting times and that she gets to see some of her friends from church and preschool. I like that her troop exposes her to all kinds of different things during the year. Last February, the troop went snow shoeing at a nearby nature center. I was able to bring Amelia along, and the girls had a great time. I was proud that they were able to answer a lot of the nature questions that the guide asked. They got so warm snow shoeing that they took their coats off.<br />
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I served as the cookie coordinator for Megan's Girl Scout troop, and boy howdy is that a lot of work! The sale went very well, but I was kept busy for the month of February. Thanks to everyone who bought cookies from the girls!<br />
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Also in February, the girls participated in their first science fair. They picked their topics completely on their own, even though I tried to influence them to pick things I was interested in! Amelia chose to study paper airplanes and what type of paper would result in a plane that flew the farthest. Megan wanted to do a project titled "Sink or Float", so we made hypotheses about whether certain types of materials would sink or float, and then had fun finding exceptions to those general rules. Grandpa brought a pumice stone to our house so that Megan could have a rock that would float, at least temporarily. Grandpa and Grandma were at our house for the science fair, so they helped finish up the displays. Our school district does an elementary school wide science fair every other year, so we will have to wait until 2018 for our next science fair.<br />
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In March, we were thoroughly sick of the cold weather, so we found a great deal on airfare to Atlanta and decided to take a spring break trip. We spent a few days in Savannah, GA, and then drove to Hilton Head, SC. It was so lovely to be someplace warm and not have to wear coats! The kids loved the beach; although Nathaniel wasn't too interested in going in the water, he enjoyed collecting shells and playing in the sand.<br />
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I also found a National Park to take them to - Fort Pulaski, near Tybee Island, Georgia. It was a really cool old fort, and the girls had a good time earning their Junior Ranger badges. For Nathaniel, we found a railway museum that featured an old rountable and included a (very short) ride on a real train. He loved it!<br />
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Ben, Amelia, Megan and Nathaniel had never been in South Carolina before, so I made Ben pull off the road when we entered the state to get this photo. Everyone except Megan thinks it is hilarious that the slogan says "Smiling Faces, Beautiful Places" and Megan is looking so grouchy. She was mad because I made her put her book down and get out of the car. It reminds me of road trips when I was a kid, how we often wanted to stay in the car reading our books instead of getting out to look at Native American burial mounds or Civil War battlefields.<br />
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Amelia celebrated her First Communion in May, and we were thankful that Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Becky's family were able to come up to attend the ceremony and have a little party at our house afterwards.<br />
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Both of the girls played soccer in the spring, but neither one seems to have a hugely competitive nature. Amelia loved running up and down the field, and she did score a few goals in the season, but she didn't like having to steal the ball away from other players. Unfortunately, Megan got elbowed in the face in the first few minutes of her first game (and got a black eye because of it), and was nervous about getting in the fray the rest of the season. She said she had a good time, but wasn't sure she wanted to play soccer again. That's Megan in the first photo in the red shirt, and Amelia in the second photo in the yellow shirt and the white hat - it's cold in Wisconsin in April and May!<br />
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Amelia turned 8 in June and Megan turned 6 in July. I convinced them that they could have a joint birthday party, so they each invited a few friends to come to our house for lunch, cake and a treasure hunt, and then we took everybody to the movie theater to see "Finding Dory". Thankfully Grandma Jane and Grandpa Jeff were in town to help with the party, and to sit with Nathaniel during the movie.<br />
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At the end of June, we left for a road trip to Colorado. Ben had a lot of vacation this year, so we left a few days early and decided to meander our way south on our way to Colorado. We stopped at the train museum just east of Des Moines, IA, so that Nathaniel could see all the model trains. This is a really cool little place that we spent almost two hours at; we highly recommend it if you are ever near Des Moines and looking for something to do.<br />
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We discovered that there are lots of really interesting things to do in Kansas, including Moon Marble Company and the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, the Rolling Hills Zoo in Salina, and the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays. They had an animatronic dinosaur that would periodically roar and move it's head. The kids were startled at first, but then they embraced it and took turns pretending to run away from the scary T. Rex. I would highly recommend stopping at these places if you are ever driving across Kansas.<br />
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Once in Colorado, we drove over to Four Corners, where the kids had a blast going to a different state all by themselves. <br />
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Then we met up with Grandpa and Grandma Dueber and the Weidner Family at Mesa Verde. The kids LOVED climbing up the ladders and going through the small spaces on the guided tours of the dwellings, and they learned a lot about Native American culture, too.<br />
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We spent the 4th of July in Mesa Verde and watched the fireworks at a community park in Cortez, with the mountains in the background.<br />
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I am guessing that Kim and Amy are the only ones who will read this far (so if you are reading this, please comment), so I will include these photos of us trying to play King Elephant before the fireworks started. The kids COULD NOT get the hang of it (and neither could the adults, it was truly hilarious) and Brian decided that he was going to be a walrus. Because, you know "I am the Walrus."<br />
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From there we went to the Great Sand Dunes, where the bigger kids spent most of their time engineering a dam.<br />
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In Colorado Springs, we went to the Olympic Training Center and the Garden of the Gods, where Nathaniel announced that he was a little mountain goat because he loved climbing the rocks.<br />
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Then onto Denver for my cousin Angela's wedding, where it was fun to get to visit with a lot of my aunts, uncles and cousins, and finally the long drive home.<br />
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We had barely arrived home when I took the kids on another road trip to visit family. We started at Grandma and Grandpa Dueber's house, where Grandma and I took the girls downtown to the Art Institute, the Bean, and the American Girl store.<br />
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The girls spent a few days with Grandma Jane and Grandpa Jeff, while Nathaniel and I hung out in Glenview with Mom and Dad. Nathaniel enjoyed getting to eat ALL the blueberries he wanted, going to see the trains at the Botanic Gardens, and playing in the sprinkler (it was very hot).<br />
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Then we all spent a few days at Jeff and Jane's house, where we ate shaved ice, played at the splash pad with all the Johnson cousins (it was still very hot), and visited Great Grandma Marion.<br />
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Finally, we drove across southern Indiana (hilly, who knew?) to get to David's house in Lexington, KY. Nathaniel and Jonathan enjoyed seeing the model trains at the children's garden and playing trains together. In the first photo, they are even wearing matching construction vehicle shirts.<br />
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I think the highlight of the girls' time in Kentucky was getting to take two EXTREMELY bubbly baths with Abigail. I do not know how David and Julie ever got the bubbles out of their tub.<br />
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In August, we went back to Becky and Brian's house to participate in the Games of the 2nd Weidner Olympiad. The kids had a marvelous time competing in events like fencing, javelin, pole vaulting, and synchronized swimming.<br />
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In the fall, Amelia joined a group called Girls on the Run, which teaches girls about their limitless potential and enables them to boldly pursue their dreams (paraphrased from their website). They do all this while training to run a 5k - turns out Amelia LOVES to run! She is already anxiously waiting until spring when she can start running with GOTR again.<br />
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Amelia also started taking piano lessons in the summer, and she loves it. She practices enthusiastically most days, and has even started composing her own pieces. Her teacher finds fun books for her to play from that have accompaniment parts, so I enjoy getting to play with her (when she lets me). We played "Silent Night" together at her recital this past weekend; she played perfectly, but alas, I did not. Amelia has perfectionist tendencies, so it is good for her to see other people making mistakes. This photo was taken by Megan, didn't she do a nice job?<br />
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Megan asked if she could take gymnastics this fall, so she is in a once a week class with a few of her Girl Scout friends. She loves it, especially her fearless jumping on the tumble track. Here she is demonstrating something on the bar, but I am not a gymnast so I don't know what it is called.<br />
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On the second day of school this fall, I had surgery for a severely herniated disk that had pinched a nerve so badly that I was having numbness in my leg, tingling and numbness in my foot, drop foot, and pain down my entire leg. I was able to hobble around, but kept tripping and twisting my ankle any time I tried to walk on uneven surfaces like grass. It was not a happy time. After the surgery, I was unable to lift or bend for 6 weeks, meaning I was unable to take care of Nathaniel. We are so thankful that Mom and Dad and Jeff and Jane were able to take turns staying with us for almost the entire six weeks. The kids LOVED having all that extra time with their grandparents, and I enjoyed having people take care of my kids and my house and me! My foot has improved so that I can walk mostly normally now, and the pain in my leg is almost gone (although that may be due to the medicine I am taking). I am doing physical therapy, and the doctors say that they are hopeful that my nerve will recover in a year. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for my recovery; if it is not too much to ask, please continue to pray that my nerve keeps recovering so that my walking will continue to improve (and that I might even be able to stand on tip toe or take a few running steps again), that the pain will keep decreasing, and that I will stop falling and twisting my ankle.<br />
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I didn't take many photos during that time (because I wasn't doing anything), but I love this one of Megan snuggling with me:<br />
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And before we knew it, Nathaniel was turning three! When I asked him what he wanted to eat for his birthday dinner, he said "Cake!" When I told him he had to pick a real dinner food, the only other thing he would say was "Boogers!" so I decided on my own to make him pancakes and sausage. He changed his mind several times about exactly what kind of cake he wanted, but surprisingly settle on a green dinosaur. Jeff and Jane came up to help us celebrate his birthday. <br />
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We have traveled a few more times this fall and winter; to Glen Carbon for cousin Abby's 4th birthday and cousin Tony's baptism. Then to Glenview for Thanksgiving, and again to see Aunt Becky's nativity scene display and make gingerbread houses.<br />
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It snowed while we were there, so I took the girls sledding at the nearby hill that I grew up sledding on. They LOVED it. We have always sledded down our neighbor's backyard in Madison, and they have been content with that little hill up until now. But now that they have experienced a real sledding hill, I don't think they'll settle for our neighborhood one again. As Megan came down the hill the first time, I could hear her screaming "This is totally amazing!" At least she didn't say totes amazeballs. <br />
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Amelia loves to read; she will read just about anything she can get her hands on, but particularly loves mysteries. Noah recently got her hooked on the "I Survived" series of historical fiction stories about boys surviving terrible disasters like the sinking of the Titanic; she has read all of them in the last month. She can often be found reading in very interesting positions. Good thing she always wears shorts underneath her dresses.<br />
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Megan has discovered the camera on my phone, and loves taking photos with it. It is so fun to see her perspective on the world. She also enjoys editing photos after she has taken them. I just downloaded a few free photo editing apps with crazy animal faces and other fancy things, but up until now she mostly liked to tweak the colors to make them very bright. The first is a selfie, the second is on a hike at Gibraltar Rock, where she and Amelia were posing like they were Washington crossing the Delaware (why, I do not know.)<br />
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As I mentioned in my short letter, Nathaniel still loves vehicles of all kinds. I don't know if you noticed, but I mentioned taking him to see trains several times in this letter. I decided to count all the times we took him to see trains (model or real) this year and I ended up with 9.<br />
March - Savannah, GA - Georgia State Railroad Museum<br />
May - Wilmette, IL - outdoor model trains at Chicago Botanic Gardens<br />
May - Glenview, IL - Grandpa took Nathaniel to the Glenview Metra/Amtrak station at rush hour, saw 9 trains<br />
June - Des Moines, IA - Trainland USA<br />
July - Wilmette, IL - outdoor model trains at Chicago Botanic Gardens<br />
July - Lexington, KY - outdoor model trains at Kentucky Children's Garden at the Arboretum<br />
November - Wilmette, IL - indoor holiday trains at Chicago Botanic Gardens<br />
December - Madison, WI - indoor model train under the Christmas tree at the capitol building <br />
December - Madison, WI - indoor model trains at Olbrich Botanic Gardens<br />
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Oh, and we are taking him to see the trains at the St. Louis Botanic Gardens in a few days, so that will be 10 times this year that we have taken him to see trains. <br />
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<br />Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-34567855559969394812016-10-25T19:12:00.002-07:002016-10-25T19:12:23.775-07:00Choosing PumpkinsAfter school today -- I know, right? I'm actually doing a post on something that happened TODAY, instead of something that happened a few months ago! Anyway....<br />
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After school today, I took the kids to pick out pumpkins. <br />
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We ended up at the same farm we went to <a href="http://blueberriesandpickles.blogspot.com/2013/10/choosing-pumpkins.html">three years ago</a>, but thankfully it was a lot warmer today, just over 50 degrees, and not snowing. Of course, I went to get Nathaniel out of the carseat and realized that he was wearing his slippers instead of his shoes. So he couldn't walk around to pick out his pumpkin. Instead, we found a wagon to pull him around in. He is wearing a Lightning McQueen shirt, socks and slippers.<br />
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All the kids picked out their pumpkins pretty quickly, even though the girls had told me in the car that they were going to look at every pumpkin until they found the perfect one. The girls picked out traditional pumpkins, but Nathaniel chose a warty one. I love his pumpkin! Megan claimed hers was too heavy to carry, which is why she's making a whiny face.<br />
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They had a cute little photo spot all decked out with pumpkins and other fall stuff, just like they did three years ago. The girls each wanted to pose with their pumpkins. They chose their own poses.<br />
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<br />Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-24420358918218584772016-10-24T13:05:00.005-07:002016-10-24T13:05:45.905-07:00Last Day of SchoolI'm going to be like Becky and start catching up on some of the posts I missed this year. Because this is a daunting task, I'm going to start with a post that will be short and sweet with very few photos (for me, at least.)<br />
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The girls loved school last year (kindergarten and 2nd grade), and they were so sad on the last day. I took a few photos in the morning before school, because I love to try to get photos of the two girls together.<br />
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I asked them if they were going to be sad when school was over, and if they could show me their sad faces. Megan refused to participate, and gave me a fairly natural smile, while Amelia overcompensated with a sad pouty face.</div>
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When I picked them up from school in the cafeteria at lunch time, Amelia was already crying, and Megan was feeling very sad indeed. I got a photo of each of them with their teacher; Amelia had Mrs. Lutz and Megan had Ms. McKeith (who I absolutely loved).<br />
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Because I love to torture them, I took another photo of their sad faces before we drove home to start our fun-filled summer vacation:<br />
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And Nathaniel (still in his jammies, people!) photobombed the photo near the school sign: <br />
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Even though you may not think it based on their attitudes, we had an awesomely fun summer! And they did cheer up once they had lunch, a little bit of quiet time, and some outside play time. But I'm sure the same thing will happen again next year...Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-3829506967149329492016-10-24T12:56:00.003-07:002016-10-24T12:56:42.117-07:00Olympics - Medal CeremonyFinally we got to have a medal ceremony. I believe we gave out the medals thusly:<br />
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Amelia - marathon, high jump</div>
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Megan - rhythmic gymnastics, fencing</div>
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Natalie - cycling, swimming</div>
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Noah - shooting, discus</div>
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We played and sang the National Anthem (and I am proud to say that no one refused to participate, even though no one knew the words)<br />
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Emotions ranged from giddy to jubilant to stoic to exhausted: <br />
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And one final photo of all the participants:<br />
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The girls are already asking if we can have another Olympics next time! We had such a great time, thanks for hosting and planning and feeding us all, Becky and Brian!<br />
<br />Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-76782674198867998262016-10-24T09:38:00.001-07:002016-10-24T12:30:53.405-07:00Olympics - Field EventsAfter everyone showered and had lunch, we moved on to field events. First came the long jump. I think we tried the standing long jump first and then the running long jump (I believe I have the photos in the right order). It took the kids awhile to get the hang of running and then jumping. I like to see all their different techniques.<br />
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Then came the high jump. Taller kids clearly had an advantage over shorter kids, but they all had fun jumping. I love the motion shots with the hair flying!<br />
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Even Brian gave it a try:<br />
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Then they revisited fencing for the third time.<br />
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Dad fenced with Noah and let Noah mortally wound him. Everyone thought his dramatic death scene was very funny. <br />
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Then we moved outside for shotput. The kids mostly threw the ball in the right direction, and nobody got clocked on the head (although there were a few close calls)<br />
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Then we tried discus, using a hula hoop. Noah's first shot landed in the neighbor's yard, so he was the clear winner.<br />
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And finally, the kids attempted pole vaulting. Noah had a hard time getting the hang of how to use the pole, probably because we demonstrated it in a right-handed way. It was funny to watch:<br />
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Everyone else had fun pole vaulting, too:<br />
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<br />
Ok, I found some more photos, so I'm updating this post. The kids also tried javelin:<br />
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And who could forget about the marathon! We had no idea how long to make the marathon, so we sa... --- WAIT! I have to take a break so that I can try to by Cubs World Series tickets for Becky!!! ---- I HAVE SUCCEEDED! Becky and Brian are going to the World Series!<br />
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Okay, sorry, back to your regularly scheduled program....<br />
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We said the kids had to run ten laps around the house, which turned out to be nowhere near enough. So we made Amelia (and maybe Noah) run a couple more laps, which they thought was unfair.<br />
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Their favorite part of the marathon was the water table. I think they stopped almost every lap to get a drink or throw water on their heads. Natalie especially loved getting wet.<br />
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They also loved getting to throw their cups away as they ran.<br />
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Here is a photo of the tired marathon runners:<br />
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And then they went back to riflery. Thank goodness they were only using water guns!<br />
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Wait, where's Natalie? Haha, here she is! <br />
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I think that was the last of the Olympic events. It was a busy couple of days! We did the following events:<br />
4 x 1/4 lap around the house<br />
1 lap around the house sprint<br />
cycling<br />
disc golf<br />
fencing<br />
rhythmic gymnastics<br />
equestrian<br />
hurdles<br />
shooting<br />
kayaking<br />
swimming<br />
diving<br />
synchronized diving<br />
synchronized swimming<br />
long jump<br />
high jump<br />
shotput<br />
discus<br />
pole vault<br />
javelin<br />
marathon Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-80791571860030791102016-10-21T13:10:00.002-07:002016-10-24T08:55:03.126-07:00Olympics - Aquatic EventsThe kids all woke up early in the morning, and when I came downstairs with Nathaniel, Amelia and Noah were snuggled up on the couch reading a book, and Megan and Natalie were coloring together at the table. It was so cute how they were paired up and playing so nicely.<br />
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Once Mom and Dad were almost to the house, we went down to the nearby beach for aquatic events. Brian took his kayak, and taught my girls how to paddle. They learned pretty quickly and were able to paddle around the shallow part of the lake by themselves, including turning around without colliding with any of boats or buoys or docks. <br />
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As soon as Megan got in the kayak, she insisted that she knew how to paddle all by herself and didn't need any instruction. You could tell Uncle Brian is a teacher because he was very patient while insisting that she needed to learn basic paddling techniques. <br />
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Uncle Brian even took Nathaniel out in the kayak. He seemed okay with it, although Brian said he was a little squirmy and he had to work to keep the kayak balanced. I tried kayaking, too, and I loved it, but no one took a picture of me. (edited to add that Becky took some photos of me, but I haven't seen them yet because they are still on her camera.) <br />
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We moved on to swimming events, but Noah was pouting about something and Megan declined to participate even though the water was only about two feet deep, so we only had two competitors. They jumped in from the pier, no diving was allowed, obviously, since the water was so shallow and they don't know how to dive anyway. The first two races were the front crawl. Natalie won, but it was a closer race than I thought it would be. I love the photo of Amelia gasping for air, seeming like she's struggling even though she could easily stand up (and I think Natalie was standing there).<br />
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Then the girls tried the backstroke. Amelia was the winner of that event, although they both kicked furiously.</div>
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Finally it was time for diving. We did individual diving first. The girls love to look at the photos of Natalie doing crazy poses during her dives.</div>
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Then we moved on to synchronized diving, which was hilarious! The girls couldn't get the
hang of counting and jumping at the same time, but they sure had a lot
of fun!</div>
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Here they are posing before their dive:</div>
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Then Noah joined in and the kids did a synchronized swimming routine, which they practiced for about 15 minutes before their performance. Mom helped them figure out some fun moves to do. I missed the entire thing because that's when I took the kayak out; I didn't know they were going to perform then. (edited to add that Becky took photos of this, too, but they are still on her camera.) They probably could have stayed in the water for another couple hours, but the rest of us were getting tired of the beach (and I think it was lunch time) so we moved on to beach volleyball. Oh my goodness, the kids are terrible at volleyball! They could get the ball over the net once, but then the other team could never return the ball. So basically they just served over and over again.</div>
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Becky and Brian finally joined in to try and get the ball going back and forth a little better, but it didn't help much.</div>
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Megan got bored:</div>
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I would say beach volleyball wasn't the biggest success, but the kids had fun hitting the ball around anyway, and that's what matters.</div>
Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-90730154063242753492016-10-14T21:13:00.001-07:002016-10-14T21:13:33.613-07:00The Olympics - Equestrian, Shooting, and Fencing (revisited)Next up with Equestrian, where the kids all rode their "horses" over some "hurdles". This wasn't a timed event like in the Olympics, but was rather a follow-the-leader type race around the house. Natalie got to ride the horse first, since she is the biggest horse aficianado in the family.<br />
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Natalie was going to pass the horse onto the other cousins when one lap was done, but everyone else was happy to just drop the horses and move onto hurdling. So the next event was a competition between one horseback rider and three hurdlers. It seems like it would be a little unfair to the poor runners, but they ended up running at about the same pace. I love Megan's hurdling form!<br />
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Air rifle was up next. There are two different types of rifles being used in this event, both with about the same degree of accuracy. The kids were shooting towards chalk bullseyes drawn on the fence - I wonder if they are still there? It took a bit of practice before the kids could hit the bullseyes!<br />
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Even Nathaniel got to take a turn, although he needed some help from his big sister. <br />
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I love how serious Noah looks in his close-up shots, and how he clearly has the best form. <br />
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Megan has an unusual technique! She told me later that she was having a hard time squirting the water shooter while holding it the normal way. I thought this showed good ingenuity on her part. <br />
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I love Natalie's face! <br />
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We went back inside and the kids wanted to do more fencing. Even Megan gave it a try, although she said it was her least favorite event.<br />
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And that was it for day one of the Olympics - can you believe we did all that in one day? Yeah, neither can we! I am tired just thinking about it. We put the kids to bed a little early, gave them some talking time, and turned on the Olympics on tv. It was a relaxing evening.Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-87770032448547102442016-08-29T19:53:00.003-07:002016-08-29T19:53:39.058-07:00The Olympics: Fencing and Rhythmic GymnasticsI think it is awesome that the kids were fencing with lightsabers! My kids were at a disadvantage because they hadn't watched any fencing yet, but they eventually figured out what fencing is supposed to be about.<br />
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Even Becky and Brian got in on the fencing action:<br />
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Becky ended up being such an energetic fencer that she tripped on the shoe pile and fell over. Before I could even get up to see if she was alright, the three older kids ran over to treat her:<br />
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They declared themselves the medics for the rest of the indoor events. <br />
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In fact, it got so that the competitors would fall over during their events specifically so that they could receive medical attention. Even Uncle Brian got in on the act: <br />
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Okay, so on to rhythmic gymnastics..... Becky found her ribbon sticks from the last Olympics, and the kids used those to dance to Brian's extremely eclectic mix of dance music (he said that he put his ipod on random). It was really fun to watch the kids dance to the Imperial March. Megan was a big fan of the ribbon dancing; she was able to get the ribbon to do all kinds of interesting things. She even invented dual ribbon dancing!<br />
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Here's the only picture I have of Natalie competing in rhythmic gymnastics. She's getting carted off by the medics because she has a broken leg (those are splints piled around her leg.)<br />
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Here's Noah doing rhythmic gymnastics:<br />
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Amelia chose to compete using hoops instead of ribbons:<br />
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And of course they had a team rhythmic gymnastics event. It's difficult to get a photo of all four kids in motion.<br />
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<br />Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-20646922390717234302016-08-28T20:35:00.003-07:002016-08-28T20:35:44.131-07:00The Olympics - Cycling and Disc GolfThis year, the kids were old enough for a real bicycle race, so we took them over to a bike trail at a nearby park. Brian rode with the kids, but it would have been better if I could have ridden too, because there was definitely a fast group and a slow group. Here they all are at the starting line:<br />
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And they're off! Natalie took an early lead. I am impressed that she can ride while standing up on the pedals! I also thought it was cute that they made numbers to go on the back of their shirts.<br />
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Megan was a good sport about riding, even though she was much much slower than everyone else:<br />
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Becky and I walked down the path with Nathaniel and waited for the kids to come back. Natalie and Amelia were the first to head back, with Natalie far in the lead. She was going by so fast that I couldn't get a good photo of her:<br />
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We were wondering what was keeping Noah, but it turned out that both Noah and Megan had crashed their bikes trying to go down a hill and around a corner too fast. They both had scrapes on their knees and elbows, but got up and kept cycling.<br />
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Megan even kept pedaling most of the way up this hill, which she did (unusually) with no complaining.<br />
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Natalie won the bike race quite handily, and then it was time to move on to disc golf. They took a few practice shots at the first hole.<br />
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Then it was time to walk over to the shady holes.<br />
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It was really fun to watch them play. They basically threw the disc, ran to where it had landed, and threw it again immediately. We figured out about halfway through that they thought it was a race to see who could get the disc in the basket the fastest, not who took the fewest number of throws to get in the basket. So that explained a lot.<br />
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Amelia is celebrating getting the disc in the basket after about six throws.<br />
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I had brought two of Ben's real discs, and they threw a lot straighter and more accurately than the cheap free frisbies that the Weidners had. We took turns using the good discs so that everyone would have a chance with them. <br />
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Nathaniel had his own method of getting the disc in the basket:<br />
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I tortured the kids by making them line up so I could take a group photo. They were thrilled to cooperate, as always.<br />
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So I let them do some funny poses afterwards:<br />
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I asked Nathaniel to name all the people in this picture, and he could say everyone's names until he got to Natalie. He looked at her, grunted, and stuck his thumb in his mouth. I think he doesn't know how to say Natalie's name. Nathaniel had a great time hanging out with Brian; he really warmed up to Brian quickly and was happy to hold his hand and let Brian carry him around. Nathaniel doesn't usually warm up to other people very quickly at all, so it was really sweet to see how much he liked Uncle Brian. <br />
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<br />Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-66970603759505732422016-08-28T19:58:00.001-07:002016-08-28T19:58:52.775-07:00The Olympics: Opening Ceremonies and SprintingI took the kids to Becky and Brian's house the second week of August so that we could participate in the Games of the Second Weidner/Johnson Summer Olympiad. Warning: this is going to be a very long post with lots of photos.<br />
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The kids spent the morning making flags for the march of nations, but then they all decided that they wanted to be part of the United States. So the flags are supposedly flags for different states within the United States. Amelia's was called AmeliaLand and was shaped like the letter A. Noah was in a mood about something and declined to participate in the parade.<br />
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Then we had the torch relay, which the kids ran awfully quickly.<br />
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Next up was the torch lighting ceremony, where Brian actually lit a small fire in the grill:<br />
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The first real event was the relay race. We had to do it four times so that every kid got a chance to start it off and end it. It was interesting to see how each kid had a different starting position.<br />
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The handoffs were really fun to watch. Usually the running child would come to a complete stop and hand the baton to the next child very very carefully. I really liked how Natalie handed the baton off to Megan and then kept running with her.<br />
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Next up was the run-around-the-house race. The kids all took their starting positions facing the right direction this time - Natalie's starting position in the <a href="http://blueberriesandpickles.blogspot.com/2012/08/track-field-sprinting-and-discus.html">Games of the First Weidner/Johnson Olympiad</a> still makes me laugh!<br />
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We had a little false start, when Amelia and Noah didn't realize that Brian's gun-sounding-noise meant that they were supposed to start running. <br />
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So we lined everyone up again and restarted the race: <br />
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Amelia was the fastest, which since she's the oldest and the tallest, wasn't much of a surprise.<br />
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Nathaniel wasn't interested in participating in most events, but he did chase after the big kids when they ran around the house. I love how he is carrying a sword while he runs. He's ready for anything!<br />
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<br />Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-40490370149086258502016-05-26T11:33:00.002-07:002016-05-26T11:33:36.900-07:00Words of WisdomThese aren't MY words of wisdom, sadly... <br />
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Megan was asked by her kindergarten teacher if she would be willing to read the Words of Wisdom at Jumpstart (the all school morning assembly), and Megan said she would love to. In fact, Megan came home from school that day and declared it the "BEST DAY EVER!" because she was so excited about getting to read in front of the whole school. Well, today was her day to read and she did an excellent job.<br />
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I didn't take a video of Megan reading during the assembly because the kids in the audience were being extremely loud, but I did take one of her practicing in the morning.<br />
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<br />Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-61889298101098087382016-05-15T08:03:00.000-07:002016-05-15T08:03:05.420-07:00Spring Break in GlenviewHaha, I just found this post that I had written over a year ago about last year's spring break, but I guess I forgot to hit publish. So here's a recap of spring break 2015 a year later! This was the first time the girls had been to the Thorne rooms; Amelia tells all her friends who are going to Chicago that they should go to the Art Institute so that they can see the Thorne rooms. It's her favorite thing to do in Chicago, I think. In fact, she was just talking about it with her friend Kiersten yesterday in the car. <br />
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Our spring break didn't go exactly as planned due to all the kids being sick, but we managed to have some fun anyway. We were planning to head down to Glenview on Tuesday, but had to delay our trip until Wednesday because Megan and Nathaniel were sick over the weekend. On Thursday, Mom took the girls and I downtown to the Art Institute, while Dad watched Nathaniel. Mom had given Amelia a chapter book about the Thorne Rooms called <i>The 68 Rooms</i>, and Amelia enjoyed it so much that she was really excited about going to see them. We went to see the Thorne rooms first thing, and both girls were enamored with them. We spent at least an hour looking at all of them, then went back and looked at our favorites again. Here were Amelia's favorites:<br />
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I'm sure she could tell you all about them, but I don't remember exactly which rooms they were, so you will just have to look at the picture. Just like the main character Ruthie in the book she read, Amelia was hoping that she would find a magic key that she could use to shrink down and get inside the rooms. Dad gave her a magic pill to take before she went to see the rooms, too, and she believed that it would make her shrink down. She was so excited! Sadly, the pill didn't work, and she didn't find a magic key, but she enjoyed looking at the rooms anyway. Megan did too, although she wasn't quite as obsessed as Amelia. I believe Megan liked the Eiffel tower room best:<br />
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The girls had a map that listed a few of the highlights of the museum, so we went looking for some of them. We saw the Chagall windows (Amelia is dancing in front of the window representing dance):<br />
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I liked this Klee, and thought it was something that we could try doing at home over the summer:<br />
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Amelia thought this piece was funny, and she decided that she could make something like it at home. It was titled something like "Wood with Number 1"<br />
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We spent a while in the Modern Art wing, and the girls looked at this painting for a while:<br />
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Amelia said she thought the painting made more sense upside down. We all saw different things in it, it was quite interesting. We walked quickly through the Impressionist wing, because the girls were getting really tired of looking at art. They did like seeing Monet's haystacks, and Amelia noticed that she had done a waterlily bridge picture in art class, just like this Monet:<br />
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Then we went outside and walked over to the Bean. The girls loved it!<br />
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What else did we do in Glenview? The girls dyed Easter eggs with Grandma:<br />
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We got to watch the house next door getting demolished, which the kids thought was really exciting. Nathaniel was thrilled to get to see big trucks working:<br />
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And we celebrated Easter with the Weidners, the Hayes, and Grace.<br />
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Easter was lovely until Amelia threw up at the dinner table. She made it home without throwing up again, thankfully. She wrote in her spring break journal that she threw up because she ate too much, but I'm pretty sure it was just the same virus that Megan and Nathaniel had had the weekend before.Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-18689961572140100672016-05-14T14:04:00.000-07:002016-05-14T14:04:01.246-07:00Miscellaneous HappeningsThe girls' school had a few fun spirit days last month. Here are Amelia and Megan on Dress as Your Favorite Animal day. They had a fight the night before over who got to wear the leopard print leotard, and Amelia won, as she usually does. Megan was happy enough to be an all black cat with a black tail, though.<br />
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And here they are on Crazy Mismatch Day:<br />
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Megan is trying to look cross-eyed in the last photo; she's just learned how to do it, and she delights in showing off to me. The girls spent quite a while the night before picking out the perfect things that didn't match in any way. They are each wearing two different shoes and socks, too. It reminds me of some of the outfits that Amelia used to pick out in preschool, thinking that her outfit actually did go together.<br />
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Nathaniel recently showed some interest in coloring, but not with crayons, markers or colored pencils. No, that would be too washable. Instead, he wanted to color with my brand-new (from a garage sale) package of multicolored Sharpies. He picked out red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, and told me that he colored a rainbow. I hung his picture on the magnet display board, and he is very proud of it; he'll point it out and say "Color rainbow!" He did all the coloring with his left hand, although he usually uses his right hand for eating, so I don't know if that means anything.<br />
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Nathaniel likes to ask the girls if they will read him books at bedtime. He will ask "Mia read books?" or "Megan read books?" I think he has figured out that he gets more books that way, because each girl will read him a few books, and then usually I will read him one last book. He likes to ask Amelia the most, but Megan is the most excited about reading to him.<br />
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We have had a few lovely days this spring, and the kids have played outside as much as possible. Nathaniel especially loves finding ants. One day there was a huge pile of ants on our sidewalk, and he and Megan spent quite a while watching the ants. Nathaniel also tried to pick them up on his finger, but I think he ended up "pushing" most of them.<br />
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The girls were playing "hair salon" and decorating my hair one night when Nathaniel asked if they would put a barrette in his hair, too. So they did a hair salon for him, too. He was excited about it, both because of all the bows and because of all the attention his sisters paid him.<br />
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The girls had a sleepover a few weeks ago; each girl had one friend spend the night. It worked out nicely that way, because then Amelia wasn't being too bossy to the little girls, and Megan wasn't tagging along and being annoying to the bigger girls. They played outside for a while, then made pizza for dinner, then started watching the movie Isabelle the American Girl.<br />
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Amelia's friend got a little lonesome for her family (it was her first non-family sleepover) and so we turned the movie off and played hide-and-seek for over an hour. They had a blast, especially when I played with them. They found some very creative hiding places including inside the laundry hamper and underneath the guest bed. Amelia and her friend slept on the floor of the living room, and Megan and her friend slept on the floor in the girls' room. It took them a loooooong time to fall asleep, and they were up early. Everyone seemed happy, though, and I made them shaped chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Then Megan's friend announced that she wanted to go home, so I called her mom to come pick her up. But it turned out she only wanted to go home to use her own bathroom, and then she wanted to come back, so they got to play hide-and-seek again while my friend and I ate our own pancakes. It was fun. :)<br />
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I am trying to teach Megan how to ride a bike with no training wheels. It is not going well.<br />
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Right before I took this picture, she threw her bike down and kicked it because she was so mad at having to try to ride it. I've even been really nice and held on the entire time so she hasn't crashed or anything. She just has a bad attitude about it. <br />
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I'd wait another year, except that it would be really nice to be able to ride our bikes this year, since Nathaniel still fits in the little front seat that I have for him. <br />
<br />Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-7339768403050131772016-05-13T08:00:00.002-07:002016-05-13T08:01:06.582-07:00Hootie HustleThe girls' school had their fun run on Wednesday, called the Hootie Hustle. Thankfully, the schedule had second grade and kindergarten running back to back, so Nathaniel and I went for two hours to watch both of the girls run. Amelia had run 27 laps last year, and so she set her goal as 30 laps this year. She ended up running 33 laps, so she was very proud of herself.<br />
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The organizers made sure to take a class photo after the race, so I snuck over and took one, too. That's the principal, Mr. Briggs, in the pink shirt behind the class, and Amelia's teacher, Mrs. Lutz, in the black shirt on the right side.<br />
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Here's Amelia with her good friend Kiersten after the race:<br />
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I was a little concerned about Megan running laps, because her allergies have been bothering her since she was in Glen Carbon last weekend, and she's been coughing more than normal. We've been giving her Zyrtec every day, and I brought her inhaler along just in case. I suspected that she would run a few laps, start coughing, and then give up, but she surprised me. I was helping mark laps for all the kids, and after nine laps, Megan came up to me coughing, saying that she was having a hard time. So I pulled her aside, gave her her albuterol inhaler, and let her rest for a minute. After that, she wanted to get back to running, so she took off and didn't stop until they called time. She ended up running 29 laps! She had wanted to get 30 laps, and was very disappointed that she was so close, but I told her that having to stop for her inhaler cost her a lap, so really, she would have had 30. I think that made her feel a little better.<br />
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I did see Megan walking a couple times, especially after she stopped to get a drink of water. One time I got this photo of her walking and chatting with one of her friends. It was cute.<br />
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Megan's teacher had all the kids sign each other's shirts in Sharpie, which I thought was a fun idea. Here's Megan and her best friend Maddie after the race:<br />
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And they took a class photo of Megan's class, too, with Mr. Briggs and their teacher, Ms. McKeith.<br />
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Thanks to both sets of grandparents who pledged money to the girls for their school! Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-34040676901135528512016-05-12T08:36:00.000-07:002016-05-12T08:36:00.548-07:00Dandelion PhotosMom asked if I was going to get photos of my kids in the dandelions this year, and I definitely wanted to. This year was harder than normal because the girls are going through a bad attitude stage and they made picture taking very challenging.<br />
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I took Nathaniel for a bike ride while the girls were in school two weeks ago, and we stopped at this patch of dandelions near the girls' school to get a few photos. Nathaniel liked picking the flowers, but then he got mad that we couldn't play at the school park where the first graders were having recess.<br />
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I got these two photos of Megan after school one day, but then she ran off to talk to a teacher who was walking to his car, and she flat out refused to come back to take any more pictures. The second photo pretty accurately reflects Megan's general attitude nowadays.<br />
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And Amelia was crying because she didn't want to take pictures either. I completely snapped and sent them outside to play when we got home, telling them I didn't want to see them until dinner time. Amelia wrote me this apology note in chalk on the driveway:<br />
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We tried to go to the park the next day, but Megan had a crying temper tantrum about riding her scooter, so we turned around and went home instead. The two girls had a few fairly major consequences, and because of all these behavior issues, Megan is going to bed at 7pm every night for the rest of the school year, while Amelia gets to stay up later for quiet reading time. It has made a positive difference in her morning routine (plus, I bribe her with ipad time once she has done all her morning jobs) and her general attitude throughout the day has been better this week.<br />
I managed to get a few photos of Amelia during Megan's soccer practice last week; we talked about it in advance and I explained to her why these photos were important to me, and she cooperated nicely. Once she decided to cooperate, I took a whole bunch of photos in under two minutes, and then I let her go play at the park. <br />
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I don't ask my kids to pose for photos very often (anymore), and I wish they would realize that it's much easier to just smile nicely for one minute and then run off and play. Here are some outtakes:<br />
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This is the fifth year I've taken dandelion photos in Wisconsin, and
it's fun to look back and see how the kids have grown up. Here's <a href="http://blueberriesandpickles.blogspot.com/2015/05/wisconsin-wildflower-photos.html">May 4, 2015</a>, <a href="http://blueberriesandpickles.blogspot.com/2014/05/beautiful-wildflower-photos.html">May 21, 2014</a>, <a href="http://blueberriesandpickles.blogspot.com/2013/05/amidst-dandelions.html">May 13, 2013</a>, and <a href="http://blueberriesandpickles.blogspot.com/2012/04/amidst-dandelions.html">April 14, 2012</a>. This year, I'd say peak dandelion season was April 24th through May 1st, so spring is definitely earlier than normal. Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-25475473342778164152016-05-11T09:28:00.000-07:002016-05-11T09:28:02.461-07:00Amelia's hair cutAmelia has been asking for months if she can get her hair cut short. I told her that she certainly could, but she had to think about it for a few months to make sure she really wanted to. Two of her good friends have had their hair cut short recently, so I think that's why she wanted to do it. Plus, she doesn't like to brush her hair because of all the tangles with her curls, and I suspect she figured short hair would be a lot easier to brush. One of the moms in Megan's Girl Scout troop works at the nice salon in Sun Prairie, and when I asked if I could bring Amelia to her salon, she volunteered to come over to our house instead. What a great deal for me! She brought her kids over to play with Megan and Nathaniel, and she cut Amelia's hair in our kitchen. Amelia got nervous at the very last minute, but decided that she still wanted to go through with it. Amelia did not like the fact that I had to wash her hair in the sink beforehand, and she wasn't really a fan of the hair dryer:<br />
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But she loves her new short haircut, and she loves that it takes two second to brush in the morning. It doesn't curl under perfectly when it is air dried, and I'm not that great at using a hair dryer and a brush to get it to curl under, but it looks really cute anyway!<br />
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She asked me not to post any photos until she got to surprise Grandma Jane last weekend. And she facetimed with Mom and Dad so that they could be surprised by her short hair, too. So now I guess I can post a few photos. :)Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-70885396648560473692016-05-10T08:33:00.005-07:002016-05-10T08:33:58.125-07:00Amelia's First CommunionI was reading back through some of my very old blog posts, looking for summer Olympics activities for kids, and I realized that I really love looking back at old photos, reading about what the kids were up to, and remembering all the funny things they said and did. So even though I get tired of journaling our activities, I'm going to try to keep up with it a little better than I have been. I imagine that in four more years, I'll be grateful that I did.<br />
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Amelia celebrated her First Communion on May 1st at St. Albert the Great Catholic church in Sun Prairie. They had a retreat for the kids the day before, where they practiced what would happen during the mass, and they had a chance to taste a non-consecrated host and wine. Amelia was reluctant to try the wine, but the youth leader said that all the kids had to try it. Here is her reaction:<br />
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They had a conversation afterwards about whether the kids had to drink the wine during the First Communion mass. Because of the way everything was arranged, there really was no way to skip the wine, but the youth leader said that as long as the kids were respectful about taking the cup and raising it to their lips, they didn't actually have to open their lips and swallow any wine. Amelia said that the host tasted like cardboard (which I think is exactly what I said about it when I was in second grade) and that the wine tasted "really yucky, like rotten grape juice". In fact, she wanted to know why anyone would ever want to drink it for fun. Hope she continues to feel like that about alcohol as she grows up!<br />
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Mom and Dad came up for the weekend, and Becky and Brian drove up with their kids just for the day. It was nice to have some our family here to celebrate Amelia's special day. Thanks for making the trip, everyone! I made them all hang around after the mass so that we could get a picture of everyone together. It took a while because lots of families were trying to take photos all over the church, but everyone waited very patiently and smiled very nicely when told to. And we didn't even have to bribe them with candy. It's getting a little easier to get a nice photo of our kids together!<br />
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Amelia and I had to show up early so that the kids could practice one last time before mass started. They were told to walk very slowly down the center aisle, and Amelia was worried that her partner would walk too fast (her partner was a boy, and he did walk too fast). She takes instructions very seriously and was a little nervous that she would mess up, but you can see that she was excited:<br />
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They took a few group photos before mass, too. Amelia didn't know any of the boys, but a few of her friends from Girl Scouts are in the photo below. A couple of her other friends from school had done First Communion the previous weekend. It's really nice that some of her friends from school also go to our church. <br />
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We had a row reserved for our family on the side of church, so it was a little difficult to see the kids processing into church, but Ben did get a few photos (sometimes being tall has its advantages):<br />
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Father Terry called the kids up to the altar during mass to renew their baptismal vows, and also to introduce them to the congregation. I thought it was nice that they had the kids respond to the baptismal vows.<br />
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Amelia was very excited to receive First Communion, and she is looking forward to the next time we go to church so that she can go up and have communion with all the grownups. They went to Jeff and Jane's church last weekend, and I forgot to ask if they had communion during that service.<br />
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She wore the silver cross necklace that Mom and Dad had given her for her baptism, and Father Terry blessed it after mass. Becky and I bought the dress together, hoping that Natalie could wear it next year, and Megan the year after. I made Amelia's flower wreath at the last minute, and we had to add a white shrug because it was really cold outside and all First Communion dresses are sleeveless. Along with her "praying hands", Amelia is wearing a very serious smile, befitting this very important occasion.<br />
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After mass and picture taking, we went home and had a little celebratory luncheon with brats, hot dogs, watermelon, corn on the cob, and pesto pasta salad. I picked up a chocolate cake with white frosting, and Amelia wanted Mom to write "Happy First Communion, Amelia" on it in purple frosting, so that's what Mom did. The kids had fun playing downstairs and making a gigantic mess, because, as Amelia said "Natalie and Noah make everything funner." I didn't take a single photo the rest of the day, even though I had meant to get a cousin lineup.<br />
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Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-24245505421326848782016-01-15T12:12:00.002-08:002016-01-15T12:12:20.473-08:00Finally... some snow!I was reading Amy's blog yesterday and thought it was so funny when she said it finally got cold in Texas. Her boys were wearing windbreakers. I guess they've adjusted to Texas temperatures already! We've had a pretty cold week here; the windchill was below zero all day Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, so the girls had inside recess. Yesterday, it finally warmed up to 33 degrees, so I sent the girls outside to play after school. Megan asked if she had to wear her coat. When I said "Yes, of course!" Amelia responded with, "Well, I took my coat off at recess because it was so warm out, and I was perfectly fine." That's right, now 33 degrees is "so warm out." It's supposed to get even colder this weekend; the high on Sunday is supposed to be -4. Yay.<br />
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Anyway, that got me thinking about my kids playing out in the snow. We've only had two decent snowfalls this winter; the first was on Nathaniel's birthday, where I got the following photos of the girls. I didn't make Nathaniel go play out in the snow because it was his birthday, and I thought that would be unfair.<br />
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We got another decent snow over Christmas break, and the girls immediately went outside to play. That first morning, I think they were outside for about two hours before they came in saying they were cold. I asked Nathaniel if he wanted to go out, and he said yes, so I bundled him up and took him out. Isn't he so cute?<br />
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He didn't like the snow at first, and he HATED riding in the sled while I pulled him down the sidewalk. Sorry for the light in these photos, my camera was set strangely and I didn't notice until I downloaded the photos.<br />
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But I kept him out a little while so that I could help the girls sled down our front walkway. The girls LOVE sledding this year, and it is so convenient that they can sled in our yard and our neighbors' yards; next time it snows, I should take them to a real sledding hill. Our front hill isn't that long or that steep, but if conditions are right, the girls have to bail before the sled hits the snowpiles lining the street.<br />
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I was just about to take Nathaniel inside when our neighbor came out with her two little girls. My girls played in the snow with their friend, and I sat Nathaniel in the snow with her almost one-year-old little girl. And then, I had a brainstorm and I brought out Nathaniel's sand trucks. What a turnaround in his attitude - he loved the snow when he could pile it in the dump truck or the loader.<br />
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Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-76660820272697072912016-01-07T12:40:00.000-08:002016-01-07T12:40:06.745-08:00TubingDuring Christmas vacation, Amelia's Girls Scout troop took the girls on a field trip to nearby Cascade Mountain to go snow tubing. They went in the evening to take advantage of the half price tickets, so it was dark the entire time we were there (sorry for the lousy photos). Since Jeff and Jane were here, we decided to take Megan along, too. It was really crowded because of the holidays, so we had to wait in long lines to get up the magic carpet to the top of the hill. Megan really liked the escalator like magic carpet.<br />
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The tubing itself was a lot of fun. Megan was a little nervous each time, but would be smiling and laughing as she got down to the bottom of the hill. They had workers at the bottom of the hill to pull the inner tubes back and help the little kids get up. This is Megan at the end of one of her runs:<br />
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Amelia made a big chain with some of her friends, she is the second in this chain, although you can barely see anyone:<br />
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After that, she joined up with us again, although she never wanted to make an inner tube chain with us, she always wanted to go by herself.<br />
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Nathaniel spent some of his time running around outside in his snow gear, with Jane chasing after him, and some of his time inside eating snacks:<br />
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We had a lot of fun, and now the girls want to go back again (although we will definitely try to pick a less crowded time.)<br />
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<br />Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-48245213564412652302016-01-06T11:39:00.001-08:002016-01-06T12:50:36.650-08:00Star WarsBen and I took Nathaniel to see Star Wars on Tuesday morning while the girls were at school. The 9:15am showing was surprisingly well attended, but we were able to get seats in the back row with no one sitting directly next to us. Nathaniel was interested in the previews, but he got a little bored once the movie actually started. Here is his head blocking my view of the screen:<br />
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I had to take him out for about 15 minutes in the middle of the movie so he could run up and down the hallway, but otherwise he did pretty well playing games on my phone and eating blueberries, crackers, a lollipop and some M&Ms. I'm pretty sure he didn't disturb anybody at all in the theater (unlike the other child there, who had a few loud things to say). He really liked getting to shake Darth Vader's hand in the lobby.<br />
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The bandaid on his chin is from where he ran into the couch and bit his lip on Monday evening. He cut both the outside of his chin just under his lip and the inside of his mouth pretty badly, it was bleeding profusely. But I knew from multiple past experiences that there's nothing that needs to be done for cuts inside the mouth, and the chin cut was narrow enough that it probably didn't even need glue. So I just slapped a bandaid on it, held a cloth on his lip, gave him an ice, and put on an episode of Chuggington. Hopefully it will heal without too much of a scar.Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-34634218847856286842015-12-31T19:16:00.000-08:002015-12-31T19:16:02.082-08:00Christmasjust using this as a placeholder, more info to comeMarciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-74839112301243209972015-12-31T19:15:00.002-08:002015-12-31T19:15:40.002-08:00Going to See SantaWe took the kids to see Santa at the coffee shop by our house. The girls were super excited, but Nathaniel was not amused. Mrs. Claus was very sociable and friendly and made the girls feel at ease right away.<br />
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Amelia and Megan both asked for the same things - Legos and "a penguin stuffed animal with big sparkly eyes", meaning a Ty Beanie Boos penguin. I think their eyes are a little creepy, but the girls love them. They told Santa that Nathaniel would like anything that has to do with construction trucks, trains or tractors. They know their brother so well!Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-45877352246921653762015-12-31T19:08:00.001-08:002015-12-31T19:08:28.626-08:00Frozen Dance RecitalMegan's little friend Amelia's mom convinced me to sign the girls up for a little ballet class in the fall that culminated in a Frozen dance recital. The girls all got to be winter snowmen, dancing to the song "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" They had fun in the class, although I think Megan has realized that dance isn't what she really wants to do. It was interesting to see that Megan (who has only taken a few short dance classes through parks and rec) danced about the same as her friend (who has been taking dance classes for the last three years at the most expensive place in town.) Anyway, they all had fun dancing together, they loved their costumes, and they loved getting to watch the show from the wings.<br />
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I thought I was taking a video during the dress rehearsal, but it turned out that my phone wasn't recording, so all I have is a few photos. Amelia was the first girl in line, she got to lead the rest of the girls on and off the stage; she was very excited to have that responsibility. :) Amelia is the girl on the right, Megan is next to her, and their friend is on the left.<br />
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<br />Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6684272385641675940.post-86284566124612205912015-12-31T18:50:00.001-08:002016-01-06T12:10:02.208-08:00December funWe had a relatively low key December, but we did plan a few fun things to get us in the holiday spirit. One Saturday I announced that we were going to go out to lunch and then go see the Christmas tree at the capitol building. We ate at The Great Dane, which has delicious burgers, and Megan decided that she liked the smell of Ben's beer. She didn't want to taste it, but she thought it smelled delicious. Amelia, however, thought it smelled vile. I guess I know which child I'll have to watch out for in ten years (as if that is a surprise to anyone).<br />
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Nathaniel was thrilled to watch the train underneath the huge Christmas tree. In fact, everyone liked the train so much that I decided I ought to just take a photo of everyone's backs. The ornaments on the tree are made by school children throughout the state; this year's ornaments were sports themed. We went up to the second level to see the tree from higher up and look at all the various holiday decorations - a Nativity scene, a menorah, a Kwanzaa candle setup, and a festivus pole (the kids were so confused by that, but Ben thought it was hilarious). We decided that the tree was not quite as large as the one last year. They were setting up chairs for a Christmas brass concert, which would have been fun to listen to, but there was no way we were going to be able to wait another hour for it to start.<br />
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Amelia lost two more teeth in December, her top lateral incisors, within a three day period. The tooth fairy brought her a dollar bill for the first one, and then a handful of random change that added up to $1.96 for the second one. The poor tooth fairy had a $2 bill for the next lost tooth, but she stashed it away so well that now she can't find it. So she had to take a little break from the lessons about various denominations about money. Amelia asked for the first time why some kids in her class get $5 for each lost tooth when she gets much less.<br />
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The children's director at church organized a Christmas caroling party one evening, so I took the girls for about 45 minutes. We walked around one street right near the church and sang to a few people. Lots of people weren't home, but the people who were home seemed to enjoy it. The kids didn't get discouraged about all the empty houses, they actually really liked singing to the dogs who would come bark at the windows.<br />
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I had bought tickets to the Nutcracker for the weekend that Mom and Dad were supposed to come; since they didn't make it, we invited one of Amelia's friends to come with us. Everyone enjoyed the performance, although I think they were all getting a little bored by the middle of the second act, since there wasn't really any story line to speak of by that point. During intermission, some of the first act dancers came out and posed for pictures with the audience. Amelia was the only one who wanted her picture taken with the girl who danced Clara. Nobody wanted their picture taken with the mouse king, although I thought that would have been really cool! I loved going to see the Nutcracker again!<br />
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Ben took off the entire week of Christmas, but the girls still had to go to school Monday through Wednesday, so we took Nathaniel to see the trains at Olbrich Botanic Gardens by himself. He LOVED it. The train setup is much smaller than either the St. Louis or Chicago Botanic Gardens setups; it had two different train tracks that ran short loops with Lego scenes in the background. But Nathaniel could have watched it for hours. In fact, I think we spent about an hour just in that one small room, walking back and forth between the different trains.<br />
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He didn't want to be taken away from the trains to get his picture taken with Daddy:<br />
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And he got really mad when we had to leave to pick the girls up from school.Marciehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861296792124731941noreply@blogger.com0