Ally's "Life Dream"

Our little town in Wisconsin is home to the Rock Aqua Jays, an excellent water ski team.  On Sunday evenings in the summer months, they perform their show for the Janesville community.  Going and watching the show has become a regular event for us since moving to Janesville.

Last night, we were watching the first show of the season and as the "Ballet Skiers" were gracefully skiing past, Allyson looked at us and said, "It is my life dream to be one of those girls."

I have been looking for a justification to buy a boat!  Now I have one....if only I had the cash.  

Anyone want to donate to the Fox Family Life Dream Boat Fund?

Spelling the Inglish langwij.

Have you ever noticed how difficult the English language is when it comes to spelling?

I minored in Spanish and although verb conjugations aren't terribly easy, spelling in Spanish is fabulous.  Every letter makes one sound, all the time.  To spell a word, you just write it the way it sounds.  Simple.

Not so with English.

One of my favorite things about teaching was watching the kids spell words themselves.  They are so excited when they've written a word or a sentence, or even a story.  And it just kills me to tell them that things are spelled incorrectly.  In kindergarten, I usually didn't tell them because they were learning so much simply by trying.  But when I taught 2nd grade, I drew a prison cell on the chalkboard and we were constantly putting words in there that just didn't follow the rules.  Now you know why America has a problem with overcrowding in the prison system.

As fun as it was to watch my students, it is 10 times more fun to watch Ally write.  She loves writing stories and notes.

So here is your test.  How many of these actual English words do you know based on Ally's phonetic spelling?

"B you Dfl"
"Budrfli"
"Tha"
"Grat"
"Grase"
"Modrsikl"
"Mune"
"Stroberee"
"Iscrem"

How did you do? 

Keeping the Fairy in Business

A couple of weeks ago Ally lost her 3rd tooth...AT SCHOOL!  Oh the pure joy.  She had been hoping, probably even praying, that she'd lose her tooth at school.  Why, you ask?  Because when you lose a tooth at school, you get to bring it home in a little tooth-shaped box on a necklace, that's why!

Here's is our sweet six-year-old, showing off the third hole in her mouth AND the precious necklace.

(You can almost make out the hole, just to the right of the center on the bottom.)

And if THAT weren't enough, Ally bounded out of school today wearing ANOTHER toothy necklace!  Yep, you've got it, the girl lost her fourth tooth.  At school.  During gym.  Oh my sweet stars.  (Seriously, you would have thought she had been given an endless supply of Polly Pockets, she was so thrilled.)  This time the tooth is just to the left of the center teeth on the bottom.

She wrote a letter to the Tooth Fairy.

Let me interpret the picture for you.  That's the fairy in the center.  The kinda-creepy-looking head is Allyson sleeping on a deflated-balloon-looking pillow.  And yes, that's $5 under the pillow.  Uh, can you say wishful thinking?  For the record, the fairy that services our neighborhood does not have that kind of dough.

Happy Birthday David!

It is my sweet husband's birthday. He's thirty-something. Just like me.

Can I just take a moment to tell you how much I like him? Usually we talk about our kids. It might even get a little obnoxious for those of you who wish to read about something other than our three offspring.

But today I'll talk about him. I like him so much. Do you know what I'm saying? He's my husband, I love him more every day, but I really like him.

I like being around him.

He makes me laugh.

He calls me during the day for no reason at all.

He makes me roll my eyes (a lot).

He has an insanely accurate memory for annoying movie lines.

He makes me think.

He has earned (and works to keep) my utmost respect.

He eats every meal I serve, even if it really stinks (literally).

He started a whole new career at 33, putting himself through school all over again, working 16-18 hour days.

He remained strong and faithful during a gut-wrenching battle in his previous career.

He longs to raise children that serve God.

He thinks I'm pretty.

I just really adore him.

And I had to tell him.

Happy Birthday honey. I really like you.

Barney....Maybe We Need to Reconsider

Kristen and I have had a long-standing "No Barney" rule in our house. There are a lot of annoying children's shows that we have endured over the last 6 years of parenthood, but none has driven us more crazy than that annoying purple dinosaur.

In a moment of weakness, I fired up a Barney show from Netflix on Demand for Natalie this morning. She was peacefully engaged in the show until just a few minutes ago when I looked over and noticed she was peacefully napping on the couch! Our Natalie does not usually let sleep catch up with her outside of nap time, but apparently Barney had the right effect!

It is 9:00 a.m. and Natalie is peacefully napping on the couch. Can we credit Barney with that? Or, perhaps it is the fact that she wakes up at the crack of dawn everyday! Yesterday she was up a 4:30 a.m. and would not let herself fall back to sleep. Whatever the cause, we are enjoying a peaceful Saturday morning as she pays back some of her "sleep debt"!

Have a great weekend.

Smash it Baby!

Christopher is drawn like a magnet to cords.  Especially my computer AC adapter cord.

Now my laptop is down for the count.  Apparently the point of connection between the cord and computer is rather sensitive and the right pull can damage the connection.  And, we've read it's a bit tricky to repair (read: not worth the cost). 

So, David bought a new little toy for himself.  And he parted with his laptop and handed it off to me.

Now Christopher has to complete his work under close supervision,

with his morning mug of hot milk close by.

For those interested, Christopher is working on BabySmash, a free program that is downloaded to your computer with just a few clicks.  After it is installed, you can open the program for your baby/toddler/child at any time.  Every key pressed elicits a visible and audible response, whether it is a voice saying the letter name or a musical chime or the name of a shape or color.  Chris even had it playing music somehow, but I haven't been able to reproduce it.  Ahem.  Yes, I was just sitting here BabySmashing....for research.  For you.  Go check it out! www.babysmash.com.

Happy Mother's Day!

We'd like to wish a very happy day to the special mommies in our lives.

To remind them (and us) of those early days of mothering, and the days that shaped us, here are some classic photos of our moms and us as little ones.  

Daniel, David, and their mom (1978; Danny is about 8 months old and David is 2 1/2)

Kristen, Jeff, and our mom (not sure of date...1982-ish?) 

Happy Mother's Day!  We love you!

Food Issues

Food and kids.

Picky.  Picky.  Picky.

I know some think that a picky eater is created by parents.  I'll take some blame for the issue, yes.  I am not innocent in the matter.  I offered processed food far before they should have discovered the addictive powers of partially hydrogenated oils.  To make things "easy" I made Ally her own meals for the first 4 years of her life because I was sure she wouldn't like the adult meal I was preparing.

But we did a few things right, too.  We offered vegetable baby foods before fruits so as not to develop a sweet tooth in our little ones too early.  We've followed the rules on offering foods slowly to watch for allergies or intolerances.  I now make only one meal every night, with only slight modifications on quantity of sauce or lack of bun.

Regardless of the blame, we are stuck with two picky eaters.  (And one more that may become a picky eater someday.)  I read this post by MckMama and wished I could start all over again.  Then maybe they'd eat more than chicken nuggets and mac n' cheese.  (I'm still a bit doubtful, but again, I will accept some responsibility here.)

In the spirit of trying, I am vowing to offer more things to my kids.  Even if they blatantly refuse, I will continue to offer.  Just today I was cutting up raw celery.  Celery is not, nor has it ever been, a go-to snack for me.  The thought of raw celery entering my mouth makes my taste buds cringe in fear.  When we don't like things ourselves, it's much less likely that we will offer these things to our children.  But I thought, "Why not? What do I have to lose?"  So I asked Ally, "Wanna try some celery?"  When she agreed, I nearly fell over.

This is what happened in the following minute and a half.

0:10  Ally: "Mmmm.  Pretty good."  (I try to stifle my smile.)
0:22  Ally: "Hmmm.  I don't think I actually like it."   (I'm thinking, "DITTO!")
0:24  Me:  "How about some peanut butter?   A lot of people like peanut butter with their celery."
0:26  Ally:  "Okay, I'll try it."
0:48  Ally tries it.
1:06  Ally:  "I like it with peanut butter.  But I don't like it by itself."
1:08  Ally continues to eat two sticks of celery, then sits in silence for about 10 seconds.

1:34  Ally:  "I decided I don't like it."

So that's what we're dealing with.  I'm happy she tried it; that's a lot more than I can say about Natalie.  Nothing naturally green has passed her lips in I-don't-know-how-long.  And I really don't know what to do about that.

So, until they decide to try a few more green things, and even after, they'll get a good multi-vitamin and I'll keep offering.  And I'll really try not to feel guilty about it.  

Let's Say it Together....Aaaaah

I was making banana bread today and Ally entered the kitchen as I was mixing the ingredients.  She commented that she knew I was making banana bread.  I asked how she knew and if she could smell it.  She replied that she couldn't smell anything, she just knew.

Later, when the bread was baking, the heavenly scent filled the area and Ally proclaimed, "Now I can smell it!"

I asked, "What does it smell like?  Cinnamon?  Banana?"

She quickly responded, "Smells like mama's love."

(Yes, she received a long and tight hug.)

Pollies

Ally got three gift cards for her birthday. She spent two of the three on Polly Pockets and various accessories. It's her current fave.

Believe it or not, two-year-old Natalie has also fallen in love with the pint-size girls, calling them "Pockey Babies." In fact, our girls spent at least an hour with them just today.  (A whole, peaceful 60 minutes...aaaaaah.)

And, not to be outdone, our third child has also become particularly fond of the little ones, although he "plays" with them a bit differently.

Now that I think about it, I have a similar shot of Natalie at about the same age doing something similar:

 (09/08)

Older...and cuter...kids

Why is it that haircuts always make your kids look older?

Christopher was a shaggy mess...(I'm not a fan of shaggy boys, no offense if you have one).  And Ally is headed into a spring and summer full of swimming, playing in the sandy park, and washing hair every day.  Her long, beautiful hair is so difficult to maintain under these conditions.  So, we made a decision.  It was time.  And she was totally on board.

Before:

(As you can see, one child was not cooperating for the "before" picture.  The other will cooperate for nearly any kind of picture.  In fact, it is sometimes difficult to get a genuine picture of her!)

After:

Ally has had a few moments of regret, but overall she likes her hair and has even let me curl it a few times. But as I look at these pictures of her long hair, I kinda miss it too.  She looks too grown up.