November Birthday Girls

With Heidi and Genevieve's birthday four days apart and Thanksgiving weekend right in the midst, we had a little gift giving on Saturday for Heidi and a party for Genevieve on Sunday.

Fiona helped Lula make a card for this gift for Heidi.  When Lula found out it was Genevieve's birthday too, she erased Heidi and wrote her big sister's name instead!

Heidi was happy with a hand me down doll from Fiona...

A hand me down pony from Genna...

And Pua and Heihei! I love how she wrinkles her nose when she is super happy.  She also got useful things like shoes, socks, and warm pajamas.

Genevieve invited a few friends she knows from activities that aren't vaulting and their brothers (one for Daniel to play with and one for Shane to hang out with).

Twelve candles for Genevieve...

...and four for Heidi (do I see a little brother trying to blow her candles out?)

The kids all colored cheap mugs from the dollar store with markers that I baked to make the marker permanent.  What a fun craft!  And what a great group of girls! (I met a mom who was new to MOPS last weekend and she asked the socialization question.  I told her my daughter had so many friends, she wasn't allowed to invite them all to her birthday party. That shut her up...temporarily)

A Parrot?

This morning Heidi came bouncing into the boys' room and asked if she could have a parrot.

Pictures of Heidi taken while waiting at orchestra

Me: A Parrot?
Heidi: Yes!
Me: As a pet?
Heidi: No!
Me: A parrot like a bird?
Heidi: No! Not a bird! A Parrot!
Me: Hm. Why?
Heidi: To eat!

She spent an hour running into the parking lot. She was told she had no brain.

Me: To eat????  Do you mean...a carrot?
Heidi: No! A PARROT!
Me: ... do you mean maybe a PEAR?
Heidi: YES!

Because anyone with a brain wouldn't try to get run over.

We don't have any pears. Sorry. And no, we are not going to get a parrot either!

Farm KIT

AKA Farm Kid in Training.

Feeding time at the Farm is crazy.  What used to be a morning chore has turned into a twice a day, at least two people job.  Mark and Genna usually do it all with Lula's help running the hose, but Jason has become quite... tyrannical with his desire to help.

Tonight he wanted to help and was willing to break down fences to get there.  Luckily we had a small flock of turkeys that needed to be chased up the hill and back to their gate...

Our little sheepdog got every last one up to the right yard! (It helped that the turkeys know their food is in there)

Mark has been taking Lula, Heidi, and Jason in to help with the chickens too...

 ...feeding the chickens....and gathering eggs...

They break about two eggs a night.  Mark calls it..... Gander-garten.  Kindergarten? Gander-garten? Get it?

Water Babies

Water fun abounds this time of year.  So much for schooling year round.  We can't even think during the summer, so I'll just keep heading down to the pond or to the porch to be the lifeguard.

Ian and Shane: The Pirates that Don't Do Anything...But Annoy their Siblings

Ian added a new rope swing down at the pond and the older kids have been testing it out.  Maybe someday I'll get around to adding video links so you can see Daniel's first few go's on the swing...he looks like he just falls out of the tree and belly flops in the water. But...

Daniel has improved greatly!

I've come up with new rules for paddle boards, based on Lula's experience falling off in shallow water and freaking out.  Anyone who wants to go on a paddle board must be able to float in their life jacket without screaming or whining.  Lula and Heidi have been working, first in our wading pool, then in the pond, for the right to sit on a paddle board.

Jason came up with the back floating idea

They haven't made much progress...

Like Cats in Water

Is she 11? Or 16?

The patience this girl shows with her younger siblings and the love on her face as she gently propels her baby brother through the water simply melts my heart.  She has almost never ending grace even for Daniel and is very good at telling him spiritual truths about treating people kindly and forgiving those who trespass against you.  

Surprisingly, Heidi, the one that cries if a single drop of water is splashed on her, was the only one to remain calm enough in the water to SIT on the paddle board.  She can't go anywhere yet, but with the weather forecast being what it is this week, I'm sure they all will have a lot more practice.

Twinsies

We took a quick trip to the beach this afternoon, all ten of us!  Lula and Heidi looked especially like twins...in fact, a lady asked me if they were!

I did take some other pictures, but not too many...

Ian: The Greek Statue

Fiona: The Middle Child Who Won't Swim

A Cool Creature

Heidi Turns 3!

I love this girl. She is so crazy, wild, and fun.  She is loud, sensitive, and bossy.  She doesn't like dresses, but she does love pink and purple and sparkly shoes. 

And she screams. Oh man, can she scream.  She absolutely cannot stand having the dogs downstairs by the fire, so she screams at them to get upstairs.  Sometimes she just tosses them out the front door.  When I tell her to leave the dogs in, she cries that they're stinky.  I wonder where she picked that up from?

Heidi: First thing in the morning: Crazy Hair!

I am just as thankful that Heidi is #7 just as Daniel is #5.  There is just something about these Longbranch babies that make us go hmmmm....

I cannot WAIT to see if she stops cutting her hair this year.

So Happiest of Birthdays to my Super Spunky Little Girl!

Little Preschool

My Little Tornadoes drive me crazy, but gosh, I sure love doing the preschool thing with them.  Having them underfoot during homeschool hours is nothing like having Daniel underfoot and you all remember what he was like, don't you???

I don't think I've pulled Mighty Mind out of my school cupboard for years and years... Most of the magnets have fallen off, but all the pieces are there.  Lula was able to complete about half the cards before the shapes got too hard and Heidi did about ten of them.  I was mostly working on politely-waiting and asking-for-help-without-shouting skills with the girls and teaching Jason to not touch (and stay off the table).... like that will ever happen.

Recess is essential.  Can you believe this mild weather? I have kids running around in SHORTS with the windows open.  We are halfway through November and have only had three fires in the wood stove- and they were mostly for ambience. My big plan to keep my sanity is to take the kids outside more this winter.  I'm shedding the coats and boots that don't meet the rainy day requirements for our family and hopefully replacing them with USEFUL rain gear for their Christmas present (shhhhh! Don't tell!)  I'm tired of being home; I want adventure!

How do you know your preschooler is ready for fun hands-on crafts?  When they sneak off with scissors and do this:

Own it, mamas.  I hear the snip snip, thank God it's not their hair (again), and get going with the printer.  I used to try not to print because it uses so much ink, but  you should see how much Lula loves her binder of schoolwork!  She pulls it off the shelf several times a day to look at the pages she created.  She is writing the words Lula, Mom, Dad, and Cat.

I love Lula's intense concentration!

This project was perfect for her.  She knows the numbers from 1 to 10, so she was just working on her cutting skills and her asking-nicely-for-a-turn-with-the-glue-stick skills.  Heidi needed more help with the numbers and cutting, but she was thrilled to glue all by herself!

Nice haircut, Heidi

Target

These things may happen if you take both Heidi and Jason to Target at the same time:

• One will strip to her underpants while the other is climbing out of the cart
• One will throw hairbands and hair clips in the cart while the other is screaming at the top of his lungs
• One will refuse to put her new toothbrush on the conveyor belt to be scanned while the other throws all the keys and money on the floor while screaming that he doesn't have a new toothbrush which is why I didn't notice the extra hairbands and hair clips that I bought.

And why did I drag these monsters into the store at dinner time just to buy toothbrushes? Lula scrubbed the toilet with them, that's why.

Wildflowers

I've started calling Lula and Heidi my Wildflowers (instead of Wild Things or Thing 1 and Thing 2).  These two are a force to be reckoned with.  I don't know if it's their genes or their close age or gender or what, but wow.

This is what happened the other day:
Lula lined three Lincoln Logs up. Heidi kicked them over.  Lula got upset, understandably, and got in Heidi's face, but didn't actually touch her.  Heidi slapped Lula's arm.  Lula started to cry because Heidi hit her.

Lula (crying): Mom! Heidi hit me!
Me: Lula, you were in her face. I saw you!
Lula (crying stopped, glaring at Heidi): Heidi, I don't like you anymore!
Heidi stares at Lula for a second with a straight face and then bursts out with noisy fake sobs.
We all laugh.
Lula (screaming): Stop teasing me!
Heidi (screaming): Stop screaming!
We all laugh more
Lula (screaming): Stop teasing me!
Heidi (screaming): Stop screaming!
We all laugh harder.
Lula (screaming): Stop teasing me!
Heidi (screaming): Stop screaming!
We all laugh until we are crying
Lula (screaming): Stop teasing me!
Heidi (screaming): Stop screaming!
Me (tears running down my face): Oh, Lula, come here sweetie
Lula: NO! (runs to her room screaming at the top of her lungs)
Heidi runs to me instead.

One is stormy and emotional (and lazy) and the other is competitive and divisive and high-energy.  If my experience and assumptions are correct, I am in for the ride of a lifetime with these two...

(but in their defense, Lula is so creative in her play and very imaginative and Heidi is so full of life and exuberance.  They both are so loving and snuggly although one must wear teeth and groin guards while snuggling twitchy Heidi)

Swinging

...so much fun when you have a sister to hold your hand!

The Day the Babies Crawled Away

Subtitled: The Day I Should Have Just Bought Myself a Latte Instead of Saving $4 by Bringing My Own Coffee

Today was art day.  A local art alliance has been offering free art classes for the KP Homeschoolers this year.  Fiona and Genevieve have really loved going.  I spend their class time wrangling little ones in our tiny children's section of the library. The children's section isn't any bigger than my living room and the whole library is smaller than my house.  When we are at the library, all the patrons know.

As the subtitle suggests, I left a little late because I decided to make a quick cup of coffee to bring with me instead of driving over to the latte stand after dropping the girls off.  I feel ripped off when I spend $4 on coffee.  Buuuuuut..... our pothole-y driveway plus an open beverage cup equals coffee splashed all over my cream-colored capris.  Nice.  It looked like a baby pooped on me, but I was late enough.  No one would care if I showed up to the library with six kids and coffee stained pants.  Everyone would understand.

The girls went to their class and I went to the children's section with Daniel, Lula, Heidi, and Jason.  Daniel and Lula each made a beeline straight to two of the four computers to play games.  Heidi ripped a pair of headphones out of a third computer and walked around pretending she was listening to something and grinning at me when I frowned.  But I was stuck with Jason, who couldn't be distracted with blocks when he could do this:

The title of the black books says it all

I took the picture above and quickly posted it to Facebook after picking up the books. I went to show the librarian because the title of the book was just too funny.  This is when the story turns bad.  This is when Heidi starts walking around whispering "ouch" and holding her bum.  I ask, "Heidi, do you have to go potty?" No.  We color a picture together.  She says ouch again and reaches back.  I ask her again if she has to go potty and again she says no.  I could have dragged her to the bathroom, but I couldn't just leave the other kids yet I couldn't bring them all without making a huge scene either...

(Did you know that Heidi is scared of the sound of bathroom fans? And did you know that the library's bathroom has a very loud fan that turns on with the light? And did you also know that the last few times we've used the bathroom at the library, Heidi screamed at the top of her lungs while sitting on the toilet and everyone could hear her all through the entire library?)

Jason starts crawling away again, so I follow him around making sure he can't pull more books off the shelves.  I see Heidi heading over to Lula's computer holding her backside again, so I decide to check and see if she had a scratch or something on her back that was causing her to say ouch.  Because she usually doesn't say ouch about anything.  Never if she has to go potty.  She just tells everyone she has to go potty.  But instead of seeing anything, I smelled something. Something awful.

So, to make a gross story short, the whole library could hear Heidi screaming in the bathroom as I cleaned her up with wet paper towels.  She screamed while I washed her purple boots.  She screamed when I washed her feet.  She screamed when I wrapped her undies in paper towels and threw them in the garbage. And as soon as I turned off the light in the bathroom, she stopped screaming.  Darn fan.

If I would have just left on time, dropped the girls off, and bought myself a latte to drink in the van in the parking lot, I could have had a different afternoon. Next time.

Want!

Jason wants toys! He reaches for them! (Sometimes he falls on his face and a few times we've caught him in an almost crawling position-loudly protesting)

Jason wants food! He squeals and grunts when he sees others with spoons! (He is eating rice cereal mixed with pears or squash and loves it) I need to feed him with two spoons because he keeps grabbing the spoon from my hand.

He does not want a bath when he is done eating though! He hates the water!

And then.... there is....... The Time Machine. Eight kids and still functioning....

AND since little Heidi didn't have her very own time machine post, just like...well, the rest of them except Fiona and Lula, here is Heidi's Time Machine Picture:

(And if you follow the link above to Lula and Daniel's pictures, you will also see a link to the older four kids from 2008)