Picture Outtakes

Keeping with the tradition of birthday pictures, we did Selah's two year old pictures this evening. (She doesn't turn two until Thursday, but the forecast is calling for rain and maybe snow, so I wanted to get them out of the way instead of delay them) While I won't share the favorites in this post, I will share a few of the outtakes. Her personality definitely shines in these photos...you can see that she is quite the little rascal.

Side note: Shelby and Lauren...I thought of you all evening as I chased this two year old around hoping for at least one good picture while battling the wills of a two year old. :) It happens to all of us!

With some crazy faces, here is my Selah.

Selah

I love this picture of Selah.

I took the picture on my phone last week. She was in a chipper mood and I was enjoying the few minutes I had alone with her while the older girls were playing together. 

Selah turns two this week. WOW! I have definitely noticed the change from "baby" to toddler... She talks, she is quirky and funny, and has developed a very outgoing personality.

Love her!

They sure are cute when they are sleeping, huh?



Rewind 2 hours before this and she wasn't so cute. After finishing up school this morning we ran a couple of errands. I had do drop off a photo CD and we also went by a camera store before having lunch with a friend. In the camera store, the older girls were okay for a while, until they started fighting over the stroller that Selah was no longer in, punching and hitting each other while Selah was in my arms. Screaming, I might add. I had to politely tell the gentleman I was talking to that we would have to come back another time, and I apologized and left. 

When we got to the car, I was pretty mad. I expect more out of my older girls. They know better. Don't get me wrong, they fight, punch, and hit all of the time. But they know how to act, and especially in a public place. 

I called Matt and told him what happened and asked for his advice on a proper punishment. He gave me a couple of options...but, I almost drove the girls back to the store to make them go in and apologize for disrupting their business. 

Fast forward to lunch with our friend Lauren and chaos continues. The girls have to go to the bathroom in the middle of lunch, which is fine. It was a small place; we were the only ones in there, so I told them to take themselves to the bathroom. Then, get this...Selah "has to go potty". Untrained Selah needs to go to the bathroom. Right. "Potty mommy. Mon! Mon!" (that's how she says, "come on".  I told her no, which resulted in a fit and more screams, much like the screams in the camera store.

I suppose the best thing to do in these times is look at them as teachable moments. Many times, days like this are a reminder to why we don't go anywhere...it's just not the easiest thing to get out with 3 little ones. But, they also need to learn how they are supposed to act, and today was a good opportunity for that. The older girls lost privileges and hopefully it's painful enough that they will remember next time. If not, we do it again, right? Oh, for the record, Audie wanted to go back to the store and apologize for her behavior, and keep her privileges. Too bad "mommy powers" don't include knowing your kids' brain to know what they are thinking.

In other news, all has been good. This last weekend we had a nice family day, out to lunch together and to go look at some trees to plant in the backyard. I still am glad the kitchen is done, and we have moved on to other projects! I have some fabric ready to start another quilt, and Matt ordered a couple books last night to start reading. Matt's birthday is this weekend, and Selah's next week. And, mine the week after that! 

Until next time...

Saying Goodbye to the Pacifier

It was time to say goodbye to the paci. I decided to use the helium balloons again since it worked so well with Audie. (See Audie's pacifier balloon launch here)
Even though Selah and Audie were approximately the same age when we got rid of the pacifiers, I felt like Audie was so much more aware of what was going on than Selah was in the process. As you can see from Audie's pacifier launch, she waved goodbye, and paid attention to what was going on. I had a harder time with Selah, making sure she really knew and paid attention to her pacifiers sailing away. I wanted her to have the memory so when she asked about a paci she remembered that she watched her pacifiers fly into the sky.

So Thursday we went to the store and picked up some balloons. Then, came home and gathered all of the pacifiers to tie them to the balloons.

She sucked on them to the last minute...even with the balloon ribbon attached.

Then we let them go. Fail. Two of the three balloons got stuck in the tree. Selah ran to the tree and said,
"paci! paci!"

She has asked about the pacifiers since Thursday, but after we tell her that they went away on balloons she does seem to remember. She has been okay without them though. So far so good!

Audie says

I sat down to play the piano this afternoon, and a few minutes later Audie came around the corner and said, "Mom, this is my favorite thing of you." Then she started dancing to what I was playing. She didnt know it but she made my day!

Sent from my iPhone

"Corinne hates cursive"

We struggled with school today in the cursive department. Corinne's cursive paper had comments like, "Corinne hates cursive." And, "Zona said cursive is just scribbling", also, "can we skip cursive". We had to take a breather and re-visit it later in the day.

A letter from the President

You may know that Corinne is totally into American History and President stuff. Last fall, for school, I had her write a letter to President George W. Bush. She wrote him a letter telling him about her family, how old she was, etc. And she drew him a picture as well. We mailed it to him hoping for a quick response! That was several months ago now, and I had thoughts about giving up on a reply. I was going to have her write him again, hoping persistence would pay off. But- last Thursday, Corinne went out to check the mail and came running back in with the envelope from George W. Bush, addressed to her.

President Bush thanked her for writing, and thanked her for the picture. He said that he and Mrs. Bush were working on an exhibit to be opening this spring. He also challenged her to do good in school and work hard because the future was in her hands! 

 Very cool, and made me a proud mom! 

Here are a few pics of my 3rd quilt. I named this one "Quadrants" and gave it to one of my high school math teachers who is now a lovely friend and mentor. 

If I woke up at 6:45 am*, I would fall asleep on the couch sitting up, too. The only thing is I did wake up at 6:45 am... Because this little booger did. And naps on the couch aren't in the agenda for me today.

Practicing piano

Selah is finding out how to help herself out of the crib after her nap....

Pink hair and a conversation about toasters...

Leave it to kids to prove you wrong about things. Tonight I told the girls never to stick anything in the toaster except bread... "Don't put knives, or forks, or spatulas in the toaster because you might get shocked. So, only put bread in the toaster."

Then Audie chimes in, "what about pop tarts?"
Me: "ok, yes- pop tarts are fine. "
Corinne: "what about waffles?"
Me: "yeah, waffles are ok too"

Corinne: "so.... Not 'just' bread"

Ugh.

How do you like Audie with pink hair? I actually think it kind of suits her. I wonder though if she was 15 and asking me to dye her hair pink if I would feel the same way. Tonight was crazy hair night at AWANA. Her hair usually is crazy already, we just "pretty-fied" it with some pink spray.

A nice walk in the park on the oddly warm December days we have been having.

Indoor picnic

Typical

I don't know who took this picture- but I found it on my phone yesterday. Audie loving in the way she "loves", and Selah...well,...tolerating. Typical.

Letter to the President

If you don't already know, Corinne is enthused with Presidents and American history. I am blown away by the facts she knows-- she is always reading up about something or another! "Mom, did you know that George Washington was the only President to not live in the White House?" Or, " mom, did you know John Tyler didnt have a Vice President?"
She decided that she wanted to write President Bush a letter since he was President when she was born. Here she is right before she took the letter to the mailbox.

family pictures

We had some family pictures taken last friday in the coooooold.  Poor little Selah was shivering!
A friend's wife from high school is kinda like me- has taken up photography as a hobby- and she does a great job! I took a risk and asked her to "trade" pictures with us. (a big risk because I am assuming she would want me to take her family's pictures.) Anyway, she was up for the idea and we traded! She's like me- we have a hard time paying someone to take our picture when we know we could do it ourselves! (only we can't because we have to be in front of the camera haha.)

Anyway, here are a few of my favorites.

I can't reveal ALL of them, I have to save the best for the Christmas card. :)

Cute kid

Naughty kid

She climbs on the counter and just waits for me to come get her.

Funny kid