Friday Morning Breakfast

This is from Friday at breakfast time before school.

Hannah being silly the minute the camera is turned on her is a common occurrence around here.

Genna's bedhead! She has quite the curly mane in the morning now that her hair is getting so long.

This is actually what made me grab my camera. You're thinking Isaac is sleepy, but really he is trying to see around me as I feed him his breakfast because Blue's Clues is on. He has a natural affinity for the TV, like Hannah always has. TV at our house is a privilege, certainly not a given. There are so few movies or shows that I see fit these days anyway.

Here is his big bald head and his big eyes!

My, how my little Aggies have grown!

Remember this picture from about 7 months ago! Well, they've all out grown their outfits and passed them down. Hannah, sadly, does not have one that fits her anymore. But Genna fits in Hannah's old one (a 3T) and Isaac, at a mere 9 1/2 months of age, fits in Genna's old one (a 2T!) Several of Genna's white undershirts have moved straight from her drawers to his, actually. Check it out!

It got a little warmer as the day went on, and he had collected cracker crumbs in his pockets from when we were at the grocery store. So I took off the jacket after getting one good shot in it. Look at his gut and his soft chubby baby arms! Softest skin ever! I bet you all are wanting to squeeze him right now!

This next one is his, "Man, I love my sister, Hannah" smile!

A Funny Question

"Mom, how can you walk and carry stuff at the same time?" Can you guess who asked that?

Hannah's Bathroom Song

Wednesday Genna had to go to the bathroom as soon as we got to school. While we were in there waiting on her, Hannah told me she often thinks about me when she has to come in there while she sits on the potty. This made me smile. I could just picture a quiet moment away from all the kids, her sitting on the toilet thinking of me. Then she said she would sing a song about me during these times. How cute! Here's the song. I requested a redo at home so I could remember it forever.

Wordless Wednesday

My Three Little Pigs

I have been so busy these days that I am really falling behind on the blog. I think of things I want to post, but I forget them before the day is over and I have a moment of peace. I just have too much going on in my head, I guess. So here is a mini update on each of the little ones with some pictures I have taken lately.

Hannah

Hannah's been learning to cut out shapes at school. She brought home a perfect heart today which she plans to decorate and send to her daddy. Her teacher today said that her Deutch is improving. Yea! She continues to progress in her reading, and is starting to get more confident. We still have a lot of "exception to the rule" problems so far, but we are still a ways from finishing her lesson book. She is so great with Isaac! She panics if there is anything left on the floor that is too small for him. She loves to play with him, make him laugh, and clean up/organize his toys. She enjoys "babysitting" him, as she calls it, while I cook or help Genna with something. She continues to amaze me with her cleanliness.

Isaac

See his super chubby legs! He can only go backwards in this walker so far. He is trying to say "Up" , but it sounds like "Uh." (The girls said it like "Puh" instead.) I recently noticed that he looks when and where I tell him to. For example if I point to something and say "Look, Isaac" he will look at the thing I am pointing to. Or if I say to him, "Isaac, look at Mommy" he will do that too. I don't know exactly when this started though. He is starting to enjoy me reading books to him now. He really didn't before. I always read him a story before nap and bed time, but he used to just try to take the book away or close it. However, now he listens and touches the "touch and feel" pictures or helps me with the flaps. He enjoys the "touch and feel" books more than the girls did. He definitely has a shorter attention span for books than they did too. His favorite games right now are playing ball or tickling. We are working on "Blanket time" right now and the ever present battle to teach obedience!

Genevieve

She has been having some trouble lately due to her sudden decline in sleep. She has always been my late sleeper (9am or later) and is suddenly up at 6:30 or 7am most days. She also is not napping everyday anymore either. So all together this is about 4 hours less sleep that she is getting, and I have no way to make her sleep later or force her to sleep during her rest time. (Sometimes a book on CD works.) SO I get to deal with an overly tired, cranky 3 year old with a (usually rare) fiery temper. Not a good combo! On the more positive side, she is doing much better in Mass again (closer to how she used to act-pre-daddy leaving!) I hope that continues because it is hard enough having three fairly good behaving kids under the age of 5 all by myself. I don't need a troublemaker in the mix! :) Also, Genna is learning letters and sounds. She is super proud this week of her latest accomplishment, buckling all the car seat buckles by herself, and unbuckling the top part only, something Hannah only recently learned. This is a huge help to me. So "Yea!" She is very sweet to Isaac and takes care of him too! She talks really cute to him. She gets very excited when she can make him laugh! Her main "job" with Isaac is to keep him awake in the car if I need her to. Although I am trying to think of other ways she can help out with him because she recently expressed to me a desire to help more, like Hannah does. She actually asked me (after I had just asked Hannah to get me something,) "Why don't you ever ask me to do anything?" This, of course, is an exaggeration (she's a big exaggerater, where does she get that from?) but made me notice how much more I ask of Hannah because she is faster, not necessarily because Genna can't do something. So I am working on that! Genna is back on track at school too. I am not having to stay in the mornings anymore. I have to give her "three hugs and three kisses because I'm three," she says, and then wave to her at the window and make funny faces. (I bet some of you'd pay to see this crazy American mom!) Then I have been having something small for her to look forward to if she is good after school, a juice box or a popcycle or something like that. (For all of you Hannah advocates out there to keep me fair, she gets one too, of course.) I am picking them up earlier too at least until I think she is really adjusted, but possibly through the summer since it is nice to have them around to have time to go do summer fun stuff.

New Word Fixation

Isaac just learned a new word and is saying it all the time now. I actually wasn't paying attention when he started saying this. I had just finished feeding him lunch and was chatting with a friend when she pointed out that he was saying "All done" after I had said it to him. He was saying it over and over again. And he still is a few days later extremely fixated on his new word. Yesterday he was practicing all his words, focusing on the new one, saying "Mama" and "Hannah" and then "All done." He was saying "Dada" for a while, but hasn't said it lately. He has attempted "Hi" and "Ball" a few times, but isn't very consistent in repeating those for me. He also signs "All done" and he claps when he wants me to pick him up. He learned this from me because I always clap when I ask him if he wants up. I want him to learn to say "Up," but so far I haven't had much luck with that one. He usually just says "Mama" when he wants me to pick him up.

Here's a demo of his new word for you!



He learned "All done" before "More" because he is not a good eater, contrary to what you might think by looking at him. He's just not that interested in food. And he is still gagging and choking (and unfortunately usually puking) if I put any kind of "chunk" in his food. At nine months the child should be able to eat a mashed banana! I mean, come on!

Getting her own style

I don't know if I mentioned Genna's nap boycott or not. Well, she is starting to take her nap again most days, if I put on a story CD (of which we have a million because they love to listen to them in the car). However, one day when I thought she was sleeping because it was so quiet, it turns out she was changing clothes and playing in her room. When I went to get her and asked what happen to her clothes, she replied with, "I like these clothes better, Mom. Gigem Aggie Maggie!" What a silly girl! Notice the winter slipper socks. It was making me hot just watching her play in them.

Such Sweet Rewards

Let's be honest, three kids 4 years and under is not easy, especially when one's husband is away for a year! However, there are the moments when they just make you smile or laugh that make it easier, if only for a short time. One of the things that warms my heart (and I am sure all mothers of multiple kids would agree) is when they are playing together and having fun.

Yesterday, I videotaped them all three playing in Isaac's play yard. There is a zipper entry on the side that can be locked if needed. Isaac is just in his diaper because he threw up his dinner all over himself (he's not sick, but it is a complicated story) and I had not gone upstairs to get his jammies yet.



Here's a couple more pictures of Isaac from yesterday.

I can't believe this boy is still bald!

Chicken!

I have a new favorite chicken dish that I just have to share! Genna really liked this one (which is exciting , but Hannah kept saying, "I like the pink chicken better." The "pink chicken" is not undercooked chicken, as you might think, just chicken that I marinate in Raspberry Vinaigrette and bake in a foil pouch. Not my personal favorite, but it is easy. Anyway, here is the recipe for the Tarragon Chicken that I got out of a Cooking Light cookbook.

Chicken breast, already thinly sliced (or you can pound the regular stuff)
2 Tbs Olive Oil
1 1/2 tsp Tarragon
2 Tbs Lemon juice (and 1 tsp zest if you have it)
Garlic (1 clove chopped fresh, or a little crushed from a can)
salt and black pepper

I just put the last 5 ingredients into the pan and sauted the chicken in it for 2 mins on each side and then a couple more until it was cooked through. It takes 15 minutes total tops! I served it with Garlic Couscous which complimented it very nicely. Let me know if you try it out! I am a huge tarragon fan!

I can't help but want to kiss this cute chubster!

It's true even though, I have to say, he has been a stinker lately! He is getting very clingy to me and very screechy. He'll just start to screech/cry out of the blue in the middle of the grocery store or my hair cut or wherever! He's being very challenging these days!

He seems to enjoy banging his head on things. If he accidentally bumps it on the wall behind him, he continues to do it over and over again on purpose, not too hard but not too gentle either. He can turn a girl toy into a boy toy in just a matter of seconds. For example, take the doll stroller and flip it over and spin the wheels for hours of fun! I guess that Y chromosome is stronger than I thought. I thought that him being stuck in a house full of girls for the first part of his life without Daddy around to counter it would have him acting like a girl. Boys will be boys no matter what!

He also gets such a kick out of the girls! He just cracks up at them and is starting to join in the fun sometimes too!

Hannah and Isaac playing

Put your back into it!

This is a regular thing for me to witness lately. I taught Hannah how to open the back door by using her hip, and so Genna has been practicing this too. It just cracks me up to watch her try to do it! She seems so serious and calculating, but does not typically use enough power to get it done. She has done it, but usually this is how it goes...



I hope it gave you a good laugh too!

Another quick funny story about Genna that happened at dinner tonight when she decided that she no longer wanted to grow up to be a balloon (this has been what she says lately, don't know where she came up with it.) She says, "Mom, I don't want to be a balloon anymore. I want to be a cake!" I ask why she doesn't want to be a balloon anymore, just half listening at this point. She responds, "Because I don't want to pop." Smiling, I tell her that makes sense, and Hannah chimes in, "But then you'll be eaten! People eat cakes!" Genna replies that she would enjoy be eaten, but not popping. What a weirdo! Clever thinking though...I guess.

Spring Cleaning

Since we have been so sick and house-bound, I have been spring cleaning lately and, therefore, not had as much blogging time as I would like. I am not finished with my list yet, because the remaining items on my list are hard to do with Isaac around. And since he is the "Worst Napper in the World" these things will take a long time to accomplish. Anyway, I thought it might make me feel better to see show off some of the major things I have accomplished!

1. I reorganized my entire craft area on the third floor, labels and all.


2. I sorted through all the baby clothes in all rooms and reorganized them all into plastic bins, labeled, of course!

3. I moved out Genna's toddler bed and moved in one of the extra twin beds from Isaac's room. It is the trundle bed that pops down to make this transition easier.

Genna's room

Isaac's room, where the bed used to be...

The remaining trundle bed in Isaac's room...

4. Redid my living room picture frames to include Isaac.


5. Scrubbed the kitchen table like I never have before! I mean scrubbed it all, even the legs!

6. Reorganized and deep cleaned pantry/laundry room.

I also did various other deep cleaning that are too numerous to mention. I still have my room and the girls' rooms to finish up on, as well as the upstairs bathroom.

A Perfect Princess Tea

Genna's party was fantastic yesterday! She was exhausted, but she had a great time! Here's how it went!

The Invitation

The Tea Pot Cake
I made this based on this cake and this cake that I found online. The handle and spout are made with wire ribbon and some skewers to hold them in place. It was remarkably easy since it was small. I always have so much left over cake and this time, I had just enough to give away the last couple of pieces to my wonderful friend, Jill, who took Isaac for the party. That turned out to be a huge blessing since doing the birthday party without Brian was harder than I thought. He's always my picture and video guy, and it is hard to run the show and get it on film too all by yourself. Luckily all my friends were super generous and helpful!

The Birthday Girl
Everyone dressed up like princesses and knights for the party. Genna and Hannah sported their princess gowns from Aunt Cindy and Uncle Frank (for Christmas gifts). They looked beautiful as did everyone else! We also had a talented nail artist, babysitter, and friend of ours, Hadlee, do all the girls' nails with beautiful flowers on them. The knights scoffed at this so we did face paint for them!

The Tea
We made some nice sun tea with some loose German fruit tea (decaf, of course) that I had. The boys didn't like it, but the girls all seemed to enjoy it. My girls love sun tea. It's one of our summer traditions.

The Pinata
This was handmade by an American that lives around here. She did such an excellent job! It is Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast. And I almost forgot to take a picture of it before it was demolished! I couldn't believe it! So we paused the beating of the pinata to snap this photo (her side is already dented). We didn't blindfold them because it would have been dangerous, frankly! LOL The little ones had some difficulty busting it open, so the big kids finished it off after we had two rounds of turns for the little ones.

The Food
We had sandwiches, fruit, veggies, and dips (artichoke dip, french onion dip, and caramel dip) for the kids. I had some left overs from my social function earlier in the day that I served the adults in addition to this spread.

The Entertainment
In addition to the nail and face painting, the pinata, and the tea party, we had a game that we learned at a German birthday party. You put a piece of candy under a bowl and blindfold a child. Give them a spatula and have them crawl around tapping thee floor to find the bowl and get the candy. You direct them with Hot and Cold which was a little difficult for this bunch. We ended up having them follow my voice for the most part.

Here's a slide show with more pictures!

Gotta love this girl!

Hannah is the best 4 year old helper in the world! I was doing dishes while the kids finished up their dinner and I looked around for my dish towel. Realizing I left it at the kitchen table when I had helped Genna get more mustard (for her corn- she's a weirdo!) I said something to myself about leaving it all the way over there. Hannah immediately chimes in, "Mom, what do you need? I'll get it!" I told her what I left and where and she hops up to bring it to me. What an angel to offer to help me when I didn't even ask! She has been all about cleaning up without me asking lately too. She takes serious pride in keeping her room clean! She always cleans it up after she plays in there, again without being asked. I can't tell you how many times I have turned around to find the whole living room and toy corner picked up after I clean up the kitchen.

I have been doing some major spring cleaning lately. I was going through Isaac's room while the kids were playing in there. I sat down to organize his book shelf and pulled all the books off. Hannah jumps up and with an amazing amount of enthusiasm says, "Organizing! I love organizing!" Oh, my little clone! She helped me do it all! I love her, love her, love her!

Sweet Bribery

Genna has done better the last two days with no fits/temper tantrums, but still with some crying. I stay for about half an hour to get her interested in something. Then I tell her where I will be going and that I will come right back with a bribe. Wednesday it was ice cream, Thursday it was walking home and feeding the chickens and geese, and today it was a box of chocolate milk. Everyday when I pick her up she tells me how much fun she had and her teachers are saying there have been no more problems. I guess this is good, but it is still hard for me to take her when she is crying.

Tomorrow is her tea party. I finished the 3D tea pot cake today and I am so excited about it! I can't wait to post pictures of it all! Genna is pumped!

A Fiery Temper

Genevieve is mostly a super sweet-natured little girl, but out of no where a fiery temper tantrum can arise! It is a little scary actually that such a sweetie can turn so mean on a dime. Granted it isn't very often, but still! She went back to school today after being home sick for several days. She decided when we got there that she no longer wanted to go. She started crying. I tried to get her to play and get interested in something, but some kids were disrupting my efforts. When the teacher said to go ahead and go (that it would only be a minute until she was okay,) I left. From the car I saw the fit starting and hung around outside a bit to see if they would come to get me. I finally decide to just go, and they called me the minute I walked in the door at home. So I returned and stayed with her for a while to try to get her to play and have fun. She did pretty quickly go off and play. I spoke with the teachers and the Sister that runs the school, and we decided I could go for a short while and then come get them early. So I walked down to the grocery store and got ice cream (a reward for her letting me leave) and other things. When I came back they met me at the door to tell me to go a little longer because she was happy and not asking for me yet. So I ended up picking them up in time for lunch. The Sister said that Hannah would cry, but be content if you held her for a while (back when she was having trouble), but that Genna is fiesty and has such a temper. This was, of course, what I got out of the conversation with my pitiful German and some hand motions, but I think that's the gist of it. So, tomorrow I have to stay again and then leave them for a tiny bit longer.

They kept asking me what happened and what was different today since she was so great last week. All I could think of was that we chatted with Daddy this morning on the webcam before we left. She really misses him. Tomorrow she wants to take her "Daddy Record" with her to school. It is a little box that plays a message he recorded for her when you push the button. Today she was talking back to it saying, "I love you and I miss you. And I can't wait to see you too, Daddy." How sweet! I wish I could make this easier for them! If I could do that, I guess I'd make it easier for me too. Parenting is much easier with two.

My Pack o' Kids

Genna is so sweet! She has been great today when the medicine keeps her fever below 102, but when it wears off she is a mess. Bless her heart! She's been such a trooper about postponing her party!

Hannah is more upset than Genna about the postponement, possibly because she is older or possibly because she feels like partying and Genna doesn't. Hannah learned to start a zipper all by herself, by the way!

Here she's blowing her daddy a kiss! Catch, Daddy!

Isaac said his third word today, "Hannah!" It was in both of the girls' first dozen words too because it is so easy to say for babies. I even got him to say it on the phone to my mom. He doesn't often "perform" so I was excited about that. Hannah always did "perform," but not my other two.

Canceled

We had to cancel Genna's tea party scheduled for tomorrow because this afternoon she developed the same high fever sore throat combo that Isaac had last week. I am so sad because I had already made the dips and the cake (un-iced though, luckily it will freeze better this way!) AND got her a handmade pinata in the form of Mrs. Potts, the tea pot in Beauty and the Beast. It is so amazing too! I will post a picture of it soon with Genna next to it to show you just how big it is.

So we will reschedule the party as soon as we're well again! Most of the kids were sick and called to cancel anyway, so maybe more people will be able to come if we reschedule it. Poor baby! She was so pitiful this evening. I hope it is not as long lasting as Isaac's was! Please, God! Times like these make me really miss my husband even more, if that is possible!

It's my birthday, and I can cry if I want to!

Unfortunately, she did have a teary birthday today. The girls both had to stay home from school since they had tummy troubles this morning (but nothing after the early morning, so hopefully tomorrow they can go). The problem was a combination of lack of sleep (she woke up early with a bad tummy ache) and her sister having issues with all her new stuff. I never thought of the benefits to having your kids' birthdays close together until today. Hannah was super sad about Genna getting gifts when she didn't get much. Her dad is sending them both something in the mail, but it isn't here quite yet and the promise for the future just didn't cut it with this 4 year old. So we had lots and lots and lots of fights over the new toys today. Genna was more than willing to share, but Hannah only seemed interested in the toy Genna was playing with at that moment. We don't usually have this sort of problem because we set the timer on normal days, but since it was her birthday I hated to do that today with her brand new toys. However, I did make her share the ones she was not using. Anyway, just lots of tears! Tomorrow will be better! I did give the girls a dessert sampling of Apfel Kuchen, ice cream "cake" with whipped cream topping and a candle, and some jello I had made for their upset tummies. It was a feast. I promised them if all tummies were settled tomorrow, we would hit the Backerei before school in the morning and I would order a pizza for dinner to continue the celebration that sort of got foiled today.

On a brighter note, Isaac was much better today! he was playing happily and all smiles and giggles most of the day which really made me feel a lot better. It just breaks my heart when the kids are so sick they are not themselves. Plus, we escaped the dreaded blood tests if he didn't improve and drop that nasty fever by today. Praise God!

Here's my 3 year old!

Here is Hannah trying to "direct" Genna in her coloring of her gift from Aunt Leah and Uncle Kent. There was only one page to color, and Hannah was going to get to finish it for Genna. Genna has a short attention span for coloring these days. However, Hannah couldn't stand it and tried manipulating Genna into letting her color by saying she was "splattering," otherwise known as scribbling, and that Hannah could do it better. When that failed (thanks to Mommy) she tried "directing" her on what to color and how to do it.

Here's Genna's gift from us! A Hello Kitty trike. It even has a place for her doll in the back. She loved, but so did Hannah. Hannah has a Red trike that is smaller and without all the extras. I told her she can get a new one for her birthday if she wanted.

Here's the dessert! We sang to her and she blew out the candle. She wished for "ice cream cake" so she got her wish! Oh, the days when we wished for such simple things. I never get my wishes, like a baby who sleeps great! What's up with that!

Last years pictures are here if you want to compare.

What did Genna say about her first day of German kindergarten?

"Mom, I didn't learn German yet."

She had a great day, and the teacher said she did fine. Hannah gave her the royal tour when we arrived which was absolutely adorable! She guided Genna through the rules and where everything goes with her dramatic flare. "You can not wear your shoes in here, Genna!" "Here is the bathroom, and that is the boy's side. You can NOT go on that side!" "If you want to color, here is the paper, Genna." And so it went, on and on! Genna barely waved bye to me because the play kitchen was calling her name.

It was so quiet with only Isaac here today. He's still terribly sick and so we are off to the doctor tomorrow (the soonest they could squeeze us in.) He has stopped nursing as well now. So I am pumping and he occasionally takes a bottle. Hopefully, they can help him feel better, but probably it is going to have to run its course.

The sisters before school

Hannah wanted a solo pic too!

Spring Planting

Well, last year we planted more stuff, but this year my resources (time, energy, motivation,

etc.) are somewhat limited with Hubby being away. So, we are only planting a few little sunflowers . They planted them last week at this festival for kids in cups. This weekend they were all ready to be planted in the ground. So, when Isaac's fever took a break this morning we went out to plant. It didn't take long (Genna thought it did though!) and Isaac was content to hang outside for a bit. So. I grabbed my camera and 70 something pictures later...

This is just to show Isaac's first tooth. Two more have broken through,

but just barely, and another one is almost through.