Tissue Time

The older kids were out in the car getting buckled up so we could go to Church. I went back into the house to get Harmonie and this is what I found.... 

She was just pulling those tissues out as fast as she could and thought it was the coolest thing ever... there was always another tissue to be pulled! She gave me a big, cheesy grin because she's just that cute. I had gotten a new box out because we needed one in the living room. I used one to wipe her nose, and then I took some stuff out to the car. I guess I left the box within reach and she really enjoyed the treasure! I grabbed several of the loose tissues and took them to Church with me because I knew we would need them. I thought about getting made at her but made a better choice! Hooray for both of us!

Happy Valentine's Day

The kids and I enjoyed a breakfast of yummy pink, heart shaped pancakes, 

which Marissa helped make.

They were thrilled to receive boxes of candy hearts AND little boxes of chocolates!

I also gave them the Valentine's cards that my Visiting Teachers (from Church)

brought for them, which had a chewy heart candy in it.

After breakfast they went to work on making my Valentine's cards.

This one is from Ben. Here's the front...

Here's the inside. I don't know why blogger put it sideways.

He worked really hard on the pop-up for the inside!

This is what Emily made me - to hold all my cards!

These are what were inside - even a heart from Domonique 

(it has lots of circles and doodles).

I certainly have a sweet bunch of kids!

Thanks for all the love notes!

Things will get better

You know you're not progressing in the potty training arena when the trainee freely admits, "I like to poop in my underwear." Then again, she has also admitted that it's not scary to poop on the toilet so that's got to be a good thing. It has been less than two weeks so I just need to eat my ice cream and relax. Things will get better.

Little Climber

I was eating my lunch when I noticed Harmonie looking out the window. Then I realized she was taller than I remembered her being. I got up to look and, sure enough, she was standing on the baseboard. I had to take some pictures. She can certainly see more when she stands up a little higher. It can't be very easy because the ledge really isn't that big, but she was really enjoying it.

A bit more snow!

We finally got a goodly amount of snow to fall all at one time, so the kids were very excited to go out and play in it after school yesterday. I went out to shovel a few deep drifts in the driveway, and I had some helpers. We put the snow into piles which turned out to start the fort building. It was so fun to watch them but I had to run in and grab the camera before I had to call them in for dinner.

Here's Emily working on her fort, which ended up having a wall almost all the way around it.

Here's Kemiah working on hers - smaller but with a complete wall as well.

Marissa with walls on two sides for the most protection. You can see the sun is getting low so dinner was certainly late.

Marissa in her fort, well protected.

She even dug out some of the snow from the wall.

Here's Ben working on his second fort. The first one was in a neighbor's yard on the pond the kids like to slide on.

Trying to protect himself on two sides. Unfortunately, we didn't build it far enough over so some of it got run over when Dad came home.

Where did Xiomara go?

Oh, there she is! This was the only other place left with any amount of snow so she built a shelter for herself.

 Two on the right side of the driveway, and two on the left side. The neighbor kids came over and had some fun, too.

She wanted me to take a picture of her tossing up snow.

Domonique was out having a good time but she was tired, hungry, and starting to get cold. I took this picture even though she was crying and saying, "Don't take my picture."

Just thought I'd share our fun times - it's the best way to remember them! I'm so glad this wasn't the blizzard everyone said it was going to be - 18 inches or more is what they were predicting. It was just enough to be fun and that's what we had!

Art Project - Luminaries

We did an art project IN school! I had read a bit of the lesson and knew it was coming and knew exactly what I would do, but didn't get any of the stuff ready so it was still kind of crazy. The kids were so excited to do a project and had a lot of fun with it. We used baby food jars, tissue paper and watered down glue. They even wanted to put their pictures on them, so I quickly took a picture of each child, printed it out and they cut them out and there you have it! We even let Domonique join us and she did great - "I do it by myself!" I have to mention that the lesson said you could use them for place markers for your Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, that's how far behind we are! Oh well. We even let the kids light them during dinner and they thought that was just great! It was a fun craft... Now I just have to figure out what to do with them.

Another milestone!

We finally started potty training Domonique (and by 'we' I mean 'I'). She did quite well on her first day... and I won't go into any details. I did have to adjust her new underwear because she is so tiny and the underwear is so big. It is working and that is what counts. She is enjoying it so far, and really likes getting candy after using the potty. I'm hoping it will continue to go smoothly because she's older, but we shall see. We sing the same song that I have always sung when it's potty time, and most of the kids get into it as well. Maybe it brings back memories for them. They all cheer her on and congratulate her when she stays dry. I certainly won't update you every day but just thought I'd make a note of when we started! Hooray for Domonique!

Look who turned 7!

She decided on chocolate ice cream to go with her pancakes for breakfast. She helped make the pancakes - which seems to be a new favorite thing with all the kids on their birthdays. I made her the heart pancake on her plate. She just had lots of fun.

She chose to make her cake with me this year. After discussing many different options she ended up choosing a chocolate pie (a recipe we got from Grandpa Nichols, so she could have asked him to make it but we had fun making it together). It is such an easy pie to make, and I did it the right way this time so it turned out perfectly, and she was delighted to help so much. She had a bit of trouble blowing out the candles.

The card from my parents came after breakfast so she just opened it with presents.

When I asked her for a list of gift ideas for Grandma and Grandpa Nichols she came up with some random stuff. I let them know that she just pulled it off the top of her head and she'd really be happy with whatever. They got her some marbles, with a shooter marble, which was one of the things she asked for. They also got her a Friends Lego set. It will go nicely with the tub of Legos we gave her.

Domonique wanted more presents.

We found Emily's watch that we lost and already replaced so Emily decided to give the old one to Xiomara. She loves it. I attached new velcro and adjusted the strap so it fits her arm better. She finds all sorts of reasons to time herself.

In all she received: Magic Tree House #26 & 28 (the store didn't have 27); washable markers; paint your own piggy bank; Herbie movies; The Work and the Glory #6 (Kevin reads those to the kids); bucket of Legos; yellow and maroon scarf from Kevin; colored pictures from Kemiah; watch from Emily; clay bowl and necklace from Marissa (Ben helped make the wrapping for it); marbles and Friends Legos from Grandpa and Grandma Nichols, as well as $7 in the card they gave her. I'd say she made out big time!