Radio Station Tour

Uncle Ben took us all on a radio station tour.  He does a radio show in the mornings and took some time to show us around.  We met his producer and saw the rooms where they record.

Molly was a little upset that they weren't putting her chatter on "live."  She kept asking if the "cars" could hear her talk.  (On the way to the station we put the radio on in the car as we were explaining what we were doing.)

 

We even got to make a recording (I will try to figure out how to download and embed).  Grady has a great line at the end which they might use for a clip on the show!

Thanks Uncle Ben!!!

Getting rid of Ellery....

Grady seems to think that he only needs two sisters; Briley first, then Molly.  He says we can get rid of Ellery.  His next thought is we keep them all, then have 2 more boys.  Twin.  We are going to name them Finn and Lightening.  (Lightening after Lightening McQueen, of course!) 

Honestly, if we could guarantee a boy, we'd probably have another.  Statistically though, the odds are not in our favor.  I'm not a betting girl, but historically we've proven a 25% chance of having a boy.  Not the best odds! :)

Ellery stopped sucking her thumb!!!

We finally got Ellery to stop sucking her thumb.  HUGE accomplishment!!!  We put a glove on her hand each night before bed.  Surprisingly it stayed on.  She's been an avid thumb sucker since birth.  I didn't think it would be this easy....so she was obviously ready.  The first day I caught her during the day, and then a few days later I noticed that I hadn't seen her with her thumb in her mouth lately.  Then after a week or so, we took the glove off and she hasn't needed her thumb since!  YAY!!!  I hope its that easy with Briley when then time comes....

Sisters???

Any chance these two are related?

Any chance at all?

Just checking, because I wasn't quite sure.

OK.  I guess that answers it.

Thoughts from E

The kids are happily (or so I thought) playing upstairs while B naps.  I walk out in the living room and hear E yelling at Molly:

NOBODY CALLS ME A LIAR EXCEPT FOR MOM!

Hmmm....think we've had a bit of a fibbing problem at our house lately???

Another Ellery-ism

Molly is studying for her "Patriot Test" in school and we're talking about the Declaration of Independence. Among other questions, the study questions ask about some of the men who were involved in writing it, one of which was an ancestor of mine.  Well, I then had to explain what an ancestor is.

Later, on the way to school, Ellery asks, "who else is our Aunt's Sister?"

Thoughts from E

Poppy walked Ellery to the bathroom (why does he always get potty duty???).  When she came out, they headed back to the pool.  Ellery says, "that's weird.  We wash and dry our hands....then we get right back in the water."

Thoughts from E

We are vacationing in Cabo with my parents.  The girls are playing "Mermaid" in the water with Poppy (grandpa) supervising (in his bathing suit).  Ellery says to him, "you can be the daddy mermaid.  You are just perfect because daddy mermaids don't have to wear shirts."

Thoughts from E

We are watching "The Chronicles of Narnia" and there is a scene where the fireplace is on.  E and G are commenting on the fire and Ellery says...

"And it stays on.  All the time.  You see Grady, some people don't have switches for their fireplaces to turn them on and off."

First day of school....first day of school....first day of school!

Finding Nemo anyone?  (Could not get that out of my head today! :)  Well...the time has come to send #2 off to Kindergarten.  I am split on this one.  She'd be the easy one to home school.  She's a mama's girl.  Always with me, by choice.  She's a homebody.  Which is why I was so surprised that she didn't want me to walk her in (I still did) and when I went to kiss her goodbye at her new desk, I got the mom-you-are-embarrassing-me-please-leave-now look.  I sooo expected that from #1 (who was clingy and wanted me to home school her for the first 6 weeks of school) but not from E.

After we dropped her off, G, B and I stayed rather busy.  It really felt like a preschool day, but I know that next week when she's gone everyday, instead of only 2, it'll really hit me that she's a "big girl."  Check back next week to see if I'm in tears...

Edited: she LOVED school.  But then 30 mns after she was home she said, "Mom, I think I want to try home schooling tomorrow."  (Love her!)

Edited again:  Day #3.  Mom's thoughts, can she please just stay there all day?  She came home quite the pill and immediately got sent to her room.  A few minutes later it was silent.  I went to check.  Out like a light! :0)  A bit tired are we???

Edited yet again: After Day #4, she decides every night that she wants me to home school her tomorrow.  Every morning she forget though and is excited to go to school.

Last edit, I promise:  She cried today at rest time.  Cried for mama.  Breaks my heart. I miss her too.  Luckily I have 2 more at home that distract me from missing E.  But what a mess I'll be when they all go off.  Whatever will I do with all my free time?  I have 5 more years to worry about that though.  Maybe we'll just keep having babies so I can stay busy?  (Kidding mom!!!  We're still done.)

Thoughts from E

She was rubbing her eye and then accidentally pulled out an eyelash.  She looks at me and says, "I'm ok.  There's no need for a doctor or the emergency room."

Dressing up

My 4 year old (girl) is helping my 2 year old (boy) dress up in her dress up clothes.  I think its hilarious since it was the little boy's idea.  (My hubby doesn't think its as funny.)  Seeing him walking around in a tutu cracks me up.  Boy do I wish I wasn't so lazy and would go get my had my camera with me!

A Christmas Tidbit from Ellery

Els is chatting with my mom on the phone today and mom was asking her about Christmas.  After answering some questions, she paused and said, "Nanna, how did you know it was Christmas here?"  Nana says, "it's Christmas, too. It's Christmas all over the world."  Another pause from E.  "It is" she says?  "I didn't know that."  Nana says, "Yes, everywhere. Call Goggy and ask him if he is having Christmas there, too."  Ellery says, "huh? It's Christmas in Anchorage too?"

Visit with Santa

Today is Christmas Eve and the busy neglectful mom that I've been lately has put off our annual Santa picture to the last minute...so...off to the mall we go.  On the way there we were prepping G that we were going to see Santa and that he was going to ask what the kids wanted for Christmas.  I was hoping that this would be the first year without a screaming kid (no such luck) and was trying to preemptively calm the fears of our 2 year old.  We get to the mall and the girls go right up to Santa, give him a hug and hop on his lap.  Hesitantly Grady looks over at him, checks him out, then runs up, gives him a quick hug, takes a few steps back and yells at him "Nanas" then runs away.  (Nanas = Thomas the Tank Engine).  Needless to say, the next few minutes were spent forcing G to sit on Santa's lap so we could snap a quick picture (which we did end up getting...its not good, but we have it!)

Oh, and...I overheard the girls telling Santa that they wanted magic wands.  Not sure where Santa is going to come up with those, but while he's making them, I'd like one too!

The Nutcracker Ballet

In keeping with the season and trying to be a good parent that exposed her children to culture (well, as much as I'm going to be able to in this small town) I thought I would take my girls to go see the Nutcracker. Not. My. Best. Idea. I think it would have been a little easier if I wasn't 7 1/2 months pregnant and of course the fact that its TWO AND A HALF HOURS long, so for a 4 and 6 year old that's like 3 weeks. Anyway....the house lights finally went down after 15 minutes of this conversation:

Child: "When is it going to start Mom? When?"

Me: "5 minutes, sweetpea."

Child: "That's what you said last time" (which actually happened to be 5 minutes earlier and and would have been correct if they had started on time.)

Me: "I know punkin, but that when it was supposed to start."

Don't these people know that there are antsy children (and a lot of them from what I saw) sitting in the audience???

Here is just a tiny snippet of the conversations that were interrupting everyone around us (poor, poor people who thought they were coming for a nice afternoon of cultural entertainment)

Act I: the party -- these are just a few of the questions I got

M: "is this supposed to be a party?"

M: "what are they doing?"

E: "Can I sit on your lap?" (mind you...belly out to here, no lap available anymore.)

M: "why isn't anyone talking?"

M: "is this all it is??? Just music??"

E: "I feel like I want to take my shoes off, can I?" (sure, why not, we're going to be here for awhile.)

M: "Can I sit on your lap?" (see above)

E: After Act I ends "it that all? Is it finally over? This is taking forever" (nope, just the first act....)

At Intermission: E: "Can we go home now???"

Note to self...wait until they are older...much, much older before trying this again.

Thoughts from Ellery

Molly comes running into my office saying, "Mom, there's a problem. Mine and Ellery's toilet is plugged." Most likely someone used it and "forgot" to flush, but I went to investigate...just in case. Sure enough, no problem at all. Ellery helped me try to figure out the problem. She squatted down really low and looked under the toilet. "Mom," she says, "it doesn't looked like our toilet is unplugged."

Aahhh the mind of a 4 year old. You can plug and unplug a toiled just like a lamp!

One thing I've learned about having kids...

Don't ever open your mouth and talk about something they've done or haven't done. Let me explain. The other day I was chatting with a friend and scissors were involved (usually with me, some sort of craft is! :) Anyway...we got to talking about scissors and hair and our kids. You know where this is going. I mention (kinda of questioningly) that my kids have yet to attempt self haircuts. See...that was my mistake. Had I kept my mouth shut and never said anything, I'm sure I would not be making this post. But no...I had to go and open my big mouth.

I walk into my bathroom last night to start the bath for the kids. I looked down and what do I see? Hair. Long strands of curly blonde hair. Luckily the girls were right behind me so I didn't have to scream loud enough to wake the whole city...just the neighborhood. And then I notice one child is no longer behind me. Ellery. The child whose hair is an uncanny match to what is lying on the ground.

For the first time in my life, I did not run for the camera. Usually in any situation involving my children, I grab the camera first...then help! Not this time. I wasn't sure if I was upset, sad, angry, but man...she was scared. Especially since I told her I would have to cut her hair to "fix" it. (Just between you and me...she was going to get a haircut anyway to trim off the green ends for the swimming pool...but I didn't tell her that and let her suffer a bit.) All through the bath, she was wailing "I don't want you to cut my hair. I don't want to look like a boy. I don't want to go back to school." Over and over and over. I didn't do anything to calm her, as I wanted to make sure this would NEVER happen again! Kinda mean, but I'm hoping it worked.

After I cleaned her hair up (luckily she has a mess of curls so the damage isn't that noticeable) she was complaining (read:still crying) that she doesn't like her short hair. (It's not that short...but short for her). I haven't checked on her yet this morning, but I'm sure she remembers.

Oh and I found out what scissors she used. I was perplexed because all the scissors are out of reach. All except little plastic ones that boast about not being able to cut hair...and I've tried them...just to make sure...and even those are locked up. Anyway...she got into my bathroom cabinet, opened up my manicure toolbox, and found my manicure scissors. Good thing they have small blades, or she might have "boy hair!"

Another one from Ellery...

We have an upright electric piano in our living room, something I married into. Don't get me wrong...I took piano lessons for years as a kid, and at one point was quite good, I just don't practice anymore and it messes with my decor. Well, the kids LOVE the piano and actually know how to work it (all the demo songs and such). They'll turn it on and dance around in the living room. Quite cute!

Well, this morning, they are on it and had the volume full blast. My usual remark, "volume please." Ellery pipes back, "you never let us play adagio." (What she meant was Crescendo, but I'll forgive her 4 year old self for the mistake.) Molly turns to me and says, "that means loud, mom." Oh, right...silly me.

Have they been watching Little Einstein's???

All that stuff

We're in the car on our way to VBS this morning, and I look back at the kids in the rear view mirror. Ellery's staring at me, so I give her a goofy look and then smile. She says, "Mom, you are beautiful with all that stuff on." (Stuff being make-up). I'll keep her!

Woe is me (Ellery)

So she comes down the stairs in this terribly melodramatic sad whine and after asking her to repeat herself...

This is what I heard: "Mommy I lost something I've loved my whole life."

This is what it means: "Mommy I lost (threw it behind my bed) something (a rock I got yesterday in VBS) I've loved (which changes daily) my whole life (all 4 years)."