lil' stinker.

Well, I thought I'd be a safety-conscious mom and install a baby gate at the bottom of our stairs, because at 8-months of age, Meg can climb to the top of the stairs if we let her. And now that the gate is up, she's still insisting on getting up on those stairs. See exhibits A and B above (on two separate occasions). And once she's kneeling on there, she yells up the staircase as if to say, "who put this here? I once was able to explore these parts freely..."

Also, when someone leaves that gate open, she's quick as anything to get over there and begin her ascent. To top that, Meg is also walking along the couch and anything she can support herself on. So I'm thinking she'll be taking some steps by herself very, very soon.

a heathen no more.

Just a quick update from this past weekend. Meg received the Sacrament of Baptism at our church on Saturday. Ray and Danielle made the trip out to be present as her godparents (even when their flight was cancelled at the last minute they figured out a way to get here, which involved driving from Chicago! ugh.) Also visiting the newly baptized babe were Gran, Poppa, Freddie, Mya, Grandpa, Amy, Brett, Brittany and Bev. (so, we had a full house)

Little miss Meg was all in white, and was quite attentive and mesmerized when Father Vu spoke to her in a gentle voice as he performed the Baptism. No crying at all, which was surprising since she fussed with all the new faces in our house to see her. Although Meg did enjoy tasting her uncle's beer (she tried to share her bottle with him too) and she warmed up to Danielle with some peek-a-boo. We all played a lot of board games with the kids, and ate a lot of food... so overall it was a great weekend.

And on a side note: Poppa bought Henry his first car. Henry is now revving around the front yard like its a golf course, driving the dog insane. Just replace the divets Hen.

Kirby vs. nature

As the dog in the family, Kirby has it in his mind that he is king of the beasts. Ruler of all the smaller, lesser creatures in his electrical-fence kingdom. Typically, he'll sense a bunny/squirrel/large bird/mole/toad, and bark to be let out, to chase it out of the yard or under the deck. He'll bark at it some more, warning them to never return or fear his wrath. (I don't think he's ever actually killed anything, but I have seen him toss a toad once...) This is what he does. He's a dog.

But today, nature came over to laugh in his furry face. (see photo) He couldn't even muster a growl. All he could do was quiver and look at me, as if to say, "This isn't right. Why must I face this humiliation? You could let me out the front door and he'll never know what hit him..."

Ahh, Kirby. So close. Yet so far.

up with the gates!

hoppy easter.

well, we had a busy and fun-filled weekend. Maddie and I saw High School Musical on Ice, it was pretty cool. We made a bunny cake and Hot Cross Buns for Easter Day. Henry had a great time coloring eggs and decorating them in his own way. Meg even had some fun crawling into the Easter baskets whenever she got the chance.



egg decorating... so artsy.



Henry's 3-eyed "monster egg"

Here's Meg tearing-up the Easter basket.

I even made Hot Cross Buns. It only took a mere 4 hours to complete, but they were pretty darn good. (It inspired Greg to play the song on his recorder, if he still had it)

mmmm. bunny cake.

Mom, I'm coming to get you.

Yeah. There really is no stopping her now.

Stuff about moms.

This was sent to me, and I almost peed my pants. (although Greg did not find them as funny... probably because he's not a mom.) I could almost hear Henry say some of these zingers...

Why God Made Moms
Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you Your mother & not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my Mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did Mom need to know about Dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your Mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because Dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than Dad.

What's the difference between Moms & Dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home & dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but Moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your Mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your Mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my Mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

Amen to that! -CR

Cutie-Patootie.

At 6 months, Meg is a very busy baby:
- Rolling herself into corners, and getting stuck
- Rocking on her knees
- Doing the army-crawl around the living room
- Sitting up in her high-chair
- Eating mushy fruits and veggies
- Eating her toes
- Singing to her blanket
- Flirting with the baby in the mirror
- Wrestling her toy-turtle
- Practicing her super, Kung-foo grip on our necks
- Making goo-goo eyes at Daddy
- Smiling at her big sister and brother

February update.

• Meg likes the snow, as long as she is bundled up.
• Greg does not like the snow.
• We bought a snowblower.
• I went to the 3-D Hanna Montana movie with Maddie and her friend. No chance of an Oscar there.
• Henry and Greg road-tripped to Notre Dame, and Henry saw his first fencing meet.
• Maddie's team won their first basketball game... she scored 10 points, with her Hoosier side showing through.
• Henry discovered Valentine's Day, he didn't remember it from last year. "It's my first one Mom!"
• Michigan broke its record with 90+ inches of snow for this season (and winter isn't over yet)
• Henry is Star of the Week at school, he took in his "Jack Sparrow" pirate book to share.
• Meg got 2 teeth.
• Maddie went inner-tubing with her brownie troop.
• Kirby was groomed, then rolled in all the fresh snow.
• Henry completed his soccer class, now he's starting another session of the "sports sampler".
• I went to the dentist.
• Greg went into a ditch. (His car has been at the shop for almost 4 weeks.)
• Meg went to the doctor and got 4 shots.
• We signed Henry up for our church preschool starting in the fall.
• Girl Scout cookies have arrived.
• Greg and I went to Fort Lauderdale for 4 days.
• Gran, Poppa and Freddie came to watch the farm while we were away in Florida. THANK YOU!!!!





the end.

she's thinking about it...

Meg is rolling around the house, scooting backwards on her back and just may be thinking about crawling. Some day in the near future.

sisters.

Meg just thought it was way, too cool to hang-out with her big sister under the blanket.
They chatted for quite a while.

Arrrrrgg, parents beware!

Here is Captain Henry and his crew of surly men.

So, Henry had his first big-kid party with his friends from school... the fellow pirates were: William, Jack, Calvin, Sterling, Logan, Garrett and Nicholas. (there are 2 kids missing from this photo..) I was a bit surprised to see so many kids show up, since only 5 called in their RSVP (that would be the rudeness of the parents, not the boys). Doesn't RSVP mean anything anymore??? Now I feel old for some reason. Greg had to take Maddie to her basketball game during the party (and Meg too), thank GOD that my neighbor/friend/saviour Amy came over to help me with the madness. She was so great cleaning up the kitchen and taking pictures... yea Amy!

Actually, the boys were very well behaved as much as 3-4 year-olds could be. The boys wore their bandanas, brandished their balloon swords, ran wild and played with Henry's myriad of Playmobile toys instead of having organized games. For lunch they had mac-n-cheese, chicken nuggets and fruit salad... all of Henry's favorite things. (He actually doesn't like pizza, because that would make things way too easy.) And of course he was thrilled to have a pirate birthday cake to share with his buddies. He was very gracious opening his presents, inflicting the appropriate "Awesome", "Coool" and "Oh My GOSH!" for every one of his gifts. Henry is very easy to please.

When it was over, he asked if they could all come over again tomorrow. Um, no buddy... let's wait for mom to recover.

5 month Meg.

Here's our little miss smiley, round eyes, drooler, toe-pointer, gets stuck in the corner while rolling, baby sissy.

Henry turns 4.

Well, Henry turned 4 this week... and he's taking it all in stride. He was so excited all day to have cupcakes, get "happy birthday" sung to him, and open presents. He was singing "happy birthday to me" all day long. After opening his presents, he happily combined them all in instant play wearing his pirate eye-patch, a Doctor's smock, holding a pirate sword and carrying a toy pager... all while zipping around the house on his new Spider-man scooter.

Birthday party with his friends is on Saturday. (Theme = pirates!) We'll see how that one goes.

p.s. I've been meaning to do a Christmas recap... but it seems so long ago now. Perhaps I will anyways.

Let the countdown begin.

Here we are, less than one week till Christmas... and just about everything is ready.

All the shopping, wrapping, and baking is done. I do have to say that Henry has been quite the little helper. He peeled the tape off the roll when we wrapped presents. He decorated the cookies by shaking all the sugar toppings everywhere. He stuck the return address lables on the envelopes for the Christmas cards. And he was instrumental in picking out what went on the gingerbread house this year. Everything is "I"ll help you Mom!"... which has been nice. (Maddie was a big help too, her job was to watch Meg and kept her smiling.)

This afternoon we have Henry's class sing-along and tonight we have Maddie's school concert.

Tomorrow I need to pack, clean and check all my lists twice before we leave for Wisconsin.

visiting the Big Guy.

This past Saturday we went to Greg's Christmas Party for his work, this was the family party that they have every year. It was done very well, they had it at a country club and it was well-attended. There was a clown, doing balloon sculptures, an air-brush tattoo artist, a magician and a craft area. Even the buffet was for the kids with grilled cheese sandwiches, jello, pasta, chicken fingers and french fries with an ice-cream sundae bar for dessert. There was some "adult" food, but the grilled cheese won me over. There is also a firm party for the grown-ups next weekend...

Well, needless to say, all the kids were thrilled when Santa and Mrs. Claus made an apprearance, so they could give him a list of demands and nod in agreement that they'd be good for the next few weeks.


Henry was promptly in line to see the big guy. With a big grin on his face, he asked him for a Pirate Ship. And promised that he'd be good... and he was for a few minutes until I asked him to stand next to his sisters for a photo, "No Mom, I'm going to bark like a dog over here in the corner..."


Maddie asked very seriously for "The American Girl Doll 'Nellie'"... Santa said he'd look into it.


Meg asked Santa for a nap, since she just had a bottle. I'm not sure what else she'd like, but I think that Santa can read baby's minds.

Then we spent the rest of the day decorating our Christmas tree while watching movies with the kids.

Elfed.

watch the kids and Papa doing a
crazy elf-dance...

little Polish girl.

Today I went to Maddie's school for her Heritage Day Festival. Each child in her third grade class picked a country of their heritage to celebrate. Maddie chose Poland.

She made a little doll showing what a Polish peasant would wear as an immigrant from the early 1900s. Her doll is also wearing a babuska. (She even looks more Polish with her plaid school uniform pants underneath.) They also wrote a report after researching their country.


Natalie (Ireland), Maddie (Poland), Eliza (Poland, and who speaks Polish!) Margarita (Mexico)


We were treated to a few international songs and dances, and were even invited to come up and dance with them! Yes, I did it too.... it was fun!


We even had a little Thanksgiving. Each child also brought a dish that represents their country. We made Polish Tea Cakes, practically everyone asked me for the recipe. Also on the menu: Polish sausage, cabbage rolls, Irish soda bread, cheeses, German chocolate cake, potato pancakes, leek soup, shortbread cookies, pecan cookies, sauerbraten, homemade tortillas, pazzelles and many other good things I can't remember.

I'm so glad that Maddie invited me, I really enjoyed their performance and treats! This was a pretty cool project for the kids, even though it was a lot of work. I'm sure they learned more by tasting/singing/dancing and wearing their heritage, than by just reading about it.

turkey day.

So, we had our own little turkey day here in Rockford.

Gran, Poppa and Fredddie came over from Waukesha to stay for a few days and help us celebrate. They arrived on Tuesday, and helped me hunt down the right kind of sausage for the stuffing, and cook & bake all the traditional fare that were requested for our feast. We pulled-out the good china and even had namecards made by the kids and Gran. Everything was delicious (of course!) and we enjoyed our full-bellies after our three desserts. (pumkin pie, pecan pie and apple-caramel cake). We even had visitors, our neighbors Brett and Amy joined us for dessert(s).

An in a sad turn of events for the weekend, my Grandmother passed away on Saturday. My folks left early to make arrangements and I will be traveling this week for the funeral on Thursday.

helping dad.

Yesterday we finally decided to do some leaf clean-up (we weren't really putting it off, since fall came late this year.) We had an amazing amount of leaves in our yard for not having any trees actually on our property. (Blowing them back into our neighbor's yard did come to mind, but they were out raking too.)

So Greg got to use one of his favorite outdoor appliances, the leaf blower. Not only does our leaf blower "blow", it also "sucks" like a vacuum. And yesterday it really sucked because it broke, which left Greg to use his least-favorite tool, the rake. And for the short time that it was working, Henry would stand in front of it with all the blowing leaves, running through the leaf piles, hindering progress and having a whole lot of fun.

After all was done, a sense of accomplishment was reached. Then we enjoyed a family trip to the grocery store to shop for dinner which Maddie picked out of an Emeril cookbook that Greg got at the library for her. Since she's been fickle about dinner lately, we suggested that SHE choose some recipes that she would like to try and help cook them. She chose Chicken Parmesan and a Cinnamon-walnut Shortbread for dessert. Both were easy to make and were delicious. She declared that she LOVED them, even though she "doesn't like" cheese or nuts. Naturally, if I had made Chicken Parmesan, we would have heard "ick". Small victory for us, since sometimes dinner can be a battle.