Artwork

The kids and I were very excited when Daddy hung up our new frames. These frames are specifically for their artwork. One frame per artist. Drew doesn't get one just yet since he doesn't qualify as an artist at 6 months of age.

The frames open like a door and hold up to 50 pieces of art each.

These are turned sideways, but they are tiger lilies that we drew from our Drawing with Children lesson this week. Genna's is on the top, and Hannah's is on the bottom. Mine is the one that is cut off. I think both of the girls' pictures turned out well, but Genna had a major pity party, tears and all, in the middle of the project because she decided it wasn't turning out like she wanted and she wished she had used pink. Brian was home from work when we were doing this and he tried to convince her to perservere and that it was nice, but the tears kept on flowing. Eventually she just started drawing again and got over it. I am not sure how I should be handling this with her because this happens a lot during these art projects.

Here is Isaac's attempt at tiger lilies. I like it. The squares are the leaves, and I am not sure about those, but I would never tell him because he is a big time easily frustrated perfectionist. How did we end up with so many of those in this family? Couldn't be the fact that mom and dad are perfectionists too, right?

This is Genna's rough draft for the Doodle for Google contest. I highly doubt that they finish the final draft of these since they don't seem to like to put in that much effort after their initial draft. Anyway the theme is "If I could travel in time, I'd visit..." Genna clearly chose NYC. Since she was born in New York and yet doesn't recall living there, she always talks about wanting to go back. I don't think she realizes that from upstate NY , you can't see the Statue of Liberty. Anyway, she did an awesome job of drawing Lady Liberty and I am going to keep this one forever even if it doesn't get finished. The plan was to make the Statue of Liberty be the "l" in "Google."

28 weeks and his 6 month check up too!

My Captain Adorable!

Drew weighed in at 20.5 pounds and measured 28 inches long which, from what I gather, is about the 90th percentile. Definitely smaller than Isaac who was still off the charts at this age, weighing 24 lbs.

Drew still has a stuffy nose, but is handling it well, other than the nose wiping which he can't stand. His shots did not give him a fever, but he was a bit cranky for the evening and following day. He also threw up twice in the following 24 hours after the shots. Once when I gave him the last bit of the dose of Tylenol and once when he had just nursed. I am not sure if this is related to the shots, the stuffy nose (choking on his mucus), or the dye-free Tylenol (Genna used to throw it up everytime until I switched to the regular stuff.)


His new discovery this week is the Tupperware cabinet. He is sitting well, but I still put a pillow behind him in case he loses his balance which happens from time to time. He also loves the fridge magnets.

He figured out how to pull the drawer out pretty quickly and how to make a good mess!


Still no teeth or crawling, just scooting! His new foods were butternut squash, oatmeal, and prunes this week. Prunes were not his favorite, but he still ate some of them. The squash is a big hit.

Braids on Sunday

Due to Drew's nap schedule lately we have been going to a later Sunday mass. This gives us extra time in the morning to get ready. So this Sunday I tried my hand at some complicated braiding. I got my ideas from this blog and this website. I didn't follow the directions exactly, but I think I got the gist of it. The girls love it!

Hannah had a crown braid which took a long, long time to do.

Genna had a headband braid which wasn't too labor intensive.

If you remember, Genna gave up vanity for Lent. (Side story: The other day she asked how much longer Lent would be, and then said, "I can't wait to have vanity again when Lent is over." Umm, missing the point?)The girls have been memorizing 1 Peter 3:3-4 which talks about beauty not coming from braided hair and jewelry, but from the inside. Since it was Sunday though, I thought I could indulge them in just a little gussying up for Jesus. Not to mention that I equate a fancy, challenging hairdo to a work of art, and I love creating pretty things.

Look, Mom! No training wheels!

for Hannah or Genna!

The girls learned on the same day to ride their bikes without training wheels (on the 8th of March during our Spring Break). They needed a little encouragement to try this, so I instituted an incentive. If they could learn to ride their bike a given distance (our driveway down to the cul-de-sac, around, and back to our driveway) without stopping completely on their own with no training wheels before the 6th of June then I would take them to a movie at the theater. Brian took the pedals and wheels off for a while to learn the balance part. I talked my mom into teaching them to ride a bike. They were willing, so I screwed the pedals back on. In no time, Genna was off and riding, and my competitive Hannah wasn't far behind. The differences between the girls was evident in their journey to master the two wheeled bike. Genna was the daredevil, and Hannah was super cautious.

I guess I owe them a movie! Hope I can find a G rated mom approved one in the not too distant future. If all else fails, we'll wait until Earth Day and see the Chimpanzee movie that I am dying to see anyway.

One of these days I hope to get a picture of them in action on their bikes.

Spring Break Project...Done.

I have been waiting to do this since Christmas when we decided that the girls' room was getting too crowded. I planned for the week of Spring Break to include a massive overhaul of their bedroom to include painting and stacking the beds. I also redecorated a bit and am still working on the finishing touches, but the big stuff is complete. I added picture shelves from Ikea for each bed to store their special things, the books they are reading, their clocks and sleep masks. Things we were always looking for in the "old" room. This is one of my favorite parts of the whole room. We also added clip on reading lights and fans for each bed.

On Genna's bed, you can see this bar at the top of the bed. Brian drilled holes and installed that for me to put some home-sewn curtains on. It is a birthday present for Genna that I am hoping to give to her early if I an get it done soon.


Then in light of going vertical to give them more floor space, I got this bookshelf from Ikea. It was cheaper and faster than having my poor overworked husband building another one. It holds their chapter books, special dolls, and bins of doll clothes, craft supplies, and My Little Ponies. I hung up both of the Ikea stuffed animal holders, but they are overflowing. Another issue with the "old" room was that the girls didn't like the stuffed animal piles on their beds because it made it to hard to keep the beds nice. This is solution part 1. As you can see, it is too full and has already fallen down. So that is a project I am currently working on in the sewing room. I'll leave it as a surprise for later.

I hung up shelves that we already had in the previous room, but in a fresh configuration. Then the Doll house is here and doll stuff is in the animal print boxes on either side of the house.

I guess I didn't get a very good picture of this, but next to the bed is their mirror with an initial (H and G) hook on either side that is currently holding dress up clothes, but eventually will hold PJs or clothes for the day. A future project that I tasked said overworked husband is to make a mini coat rack type holder for dress up clothes. At the moment, the dress up clothes is in a trunk in Isaac's room.

Over by the window, we moved up a craft table from the basement school room because 1. we have too many desks down there, and 2. Hannah lost her crafting space when we stacked the beds (it was under her unusually high bed) and I was afraid the whole room might turn into Craft Central if I didn't carve a place for it specifically.

The only other thing left to do is hang the butterflies up from the ceiling in front of the window. The photos do not show the new color very well. It is a very light lavender with a bit of gray in it. In the last picture, you can kind of tell if you look where it meets the white closet door.

I owe my mom and dad for helping me paint, organize, and watch the kids and baby. Thanks a million!

Dioramas

The girls made these Red Sea dioramas. It was a history project from our Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt unit. How do you like the Army men for the Israelites? Genna's is the smaller one since she works slower than Hannah. You probably can't tell but there are rocks glued to the bottom. They enjoyed it and could do most of it themselves. Isaac worked on a sticker sheet while the girls did this project. This was a couple of weeks ago. The Story of the World Activity book has so many great project ideas, I am sad that we don't have the time to do more of them. I am hoping to make pita bread this week for the unit on the Phoenicians. Of course, I never got around to making the fig bread from the Ancient West Africa unit.

My Protecting I's

These are my protecting I's that Isaac made me for my night stand. He adds a new one every so often to protect me while I sleep.

27 Weeks

Drew is moving a bit more this week. He is rolling easily now and is able to move in a circle on his belly using his arms/hands. He is sitting better, but still tips over when he tries to reach for a toy that has fallen too far away. Speaking of toys, his favorite is the mini Mater pillow that I sewed for him when I was pregnant. I sewed crinkly tissue paper inside it. He chews on it until it is so soaked that it no longer makes noise.

I call him "Tough Guy" for two reasons. One he rarely cries when his head gets bumped or one of the kids drop him (just kidding about that part-no dropping has occured.) Two because he is so rough. He doesn't have control of his hands when he gets excited and you go in for a kiss and WHAM! Plus he grabs hold of your face or arm or whatever and squeezes so hard that I have these mini bruises to show for it. Don't even try to let him "teeth" on your finger. You aren't getting it back in one piece. Tough Guy. Looks innocent enough though, doesn't he?

Other news, he is now preferring to lay on me facing me after we read his book for bed times. He used to chill facing out and I rubbed his tummy, but now he is twisting around the minute the book is closed for his prayer and song. I can't say I prefer this way yet since he is wiggly and burrows into me covering my shirt with drool and snot (Yes, he has a runny nose this week,) but I think once we both get used to this new arrangement it will be fine.

His new foods for this past week were avocados and peas. I think I am going to scratch the idea of making my own rice cereal and go with the easy stuff. I had a failed attempt at it and was busy enough stocking the fridge with his home-made veggies not to want to try again. He really likes to eat and has loved everything I have offered him. He is also up to 2 meals a day, breakfast and dinner (after evening nap.) I need to get some foods in him that will make his guts move a little more. On the other hand, it is nice not to have so many poopy diapers to change, not to mention hardly any blowouts which was at least a daily thing for him.

Schedule is about normal. Three naps a day. The first two are 1 1/2 to 2 hours long most days and the last one is 45 minutes. He was going to bed between 7:30 and 8pm and was waking between 5:30 and 6:30am this past week.

His 6 month check up is next week.

Bethany Beach, DE

We had our spring break this week while the grandparents were in town. We went with my uncle and cousins to Bethany Beach to stay at my uncle's friend's house. Here's a new beach picture like last year's, but with Drew in it this time.

The weather was beautiful the first two days. The water was freezing, of course, but the sand was plenty of entertainment for my crew.

Hannah and I did a little Ancient Egypt project in the sand. We built pyramids and a Sphinx too. Too bad we don't live on the beach! We could do so many lessons in the sand. I guess we would probably get a little distracted though.


This little guy's first beach experience started out like this...Mommy's thinking, "Maybe this Bumbo seat is more useful than I thought."

It didn't take long to morph into this...Drew's thinking, "Hmm, maybe I can get a fistful in my mouth."

Then it was crying because mommy wouldn't let him eat the sand. I even tried letting him, you know, learn the hard way, but babies are slow learners when it comes to this stuff. He just kept trying to shove more sand in his mouth. Instead of continuing the battle of wills, Drew got some lap time.

Hannah dug this hole all by herself. She was a digging machine!

Isaac also enjoyed digging!

I played around with the camera a bit.

Since Drewsy didn't mix well with the sand and he took lots of naps, Papa Boat was his beach buddy and took care of him in the house a lot for me.

The house was AMAZING! House feels like a complete misnomer. I mean truly a 6 bedroom three story mansion a stone's throw from the beach full of amenities that I wouldn't even think to desire including, eight bathrooms, an elevator, heated floors in the bathrooms, flat screen TVs everywhere(including in the bathrooms,) a nearly industrial kitchen. There were porches and balconies everywhere you turned. Brian, the kids, and I had the entire top floor to ourselves. Here are some pictures of the group (minus the photographer.) We are on the second story of the mansion in this picture and you can see in the background some of the other giant beach homes around.

We had a great time and the frugal side of me has to mention that one of the best parts was how cheap this trip was for us. Traveling with a growing family is very rarely cheap even when visiting family since they are all so far away. It was also relaxing. My uncle did all of the cooking and everyone helped out with the kids. Relaxing is another thing that traveling with a growing family is usually not, at least for the mom, but this time it was. The only thing that could have made this trip better is if my aunt could have been there too.