Park Love

One day last week it was not very hot (or so it seemed to me from my air-conditioned house) so we ventured out for a walk.  Now that I've settled into keeping five, only one has to actually walk, and my kids are there to take turns holding hands too so it makes it really easy. 

Usually Alice walks.  Duchess and O'Malley like walking with her, until they get tired of answering all her questions.  Then she helps me push the stroller and tells me things for a few minutes while their ears rest.  :)

I still am not entirely sure why I love pictures of kids walking so much, but I continue to take a ton of them and they make my heart squish every time.

We walked around the block and my kids were bugging to go home.  I had the brilliant idea to stop at the park instead.  The Merrybabies stayed in the stroller and I alternated between pushing it up and down the sidewalk in the shade while pushing the swings a few times.  It was a nice change of pace.

The blue swing, OF COURSE.  Alice's love of all things blue borders on obsession at the moment.  Duchess loves that about her- makes them kindred spirits.

Remy, serious and pondering as usual.  He's such a quiet little guy most of the time.  "Are you having a good time?" I ask with a big smile.  "Yes." he tells me very emphatically but with no smile.

Duchess and Perdita working through the mechanics of the big girl swing.  Didn't last very long but it was cute.

We only stayed about ten minutes and then we all were very hot and tired.  I walked back home pushing the quad stroller and herding Alice, who was dragging behind and wanting to sit down.  Finally I put her on my shoulders so I could walk faster.  I'm sure I looked like a crazy person, pushing the huge stroller and holding on to Alice with my other hand.  She didn't trust me a bit and was quite sure I was going to let her fall.  She kept putting her hands over my eyes so I had to stop and adjust.  We made it almost a block before she begged to get down.  So I put her in the stroller and gave Perdita a chance to run.  Girl can book it with the promise of ice water and Mickey Mouse.

It was so fun!!  But I don't think we'll do it again until October or so.  The back yard is about all we can handle these days in the heat.  :)

Show Off Day

Ms Mimmie did a show off day this week for the parents to come and see what we've been doing in class.  Predictably, some of them were reluctant to show off and spent the time huddled in mom or dad's lap.  I took a bunch of video and pictures today during class to try to get a more accurate representation of the day.  They all love it- it's really fun to see them marching around and blasting off. 

You can tell the minute Remy sees me filming him.  All moving stops immediately and he just stares at me suspiciously.

Some more fun blasting off shots.  This whole month they've been grooving to the space music from an old Mother Goose Time theme.  It's actually one of my old CDs.  I ripped them all to my iTunes and gave them to her so she could use them in her classes.  The kids are somewhat familiar with the songs since they hear them when we play music during meals and it's been fun to keep the same theme going all month.

Merryweather wanted so badly to be dancing with the big kids.  She was singing and kicking so much that Mimmie decided to give her a turn with the log roll.

SUCH CUTENESS I CANNOT STAND IT.

Catching Up

All the tutorials about blogging always say that you should never start out a post with an apology for how long it's been since your last one.  So I won't apologize.  But I'm thinking about it.  It's been a month!  I haven't even done Friday Focus or anything.  Oh well... real life is happening, and I guess that's more important than documenting it.

My Merrybabies are getting so big.  They're sassy and fat and happy and oh my I love them.  Merida is actually shaping up to be a possible redhead, I think, although it could certainly change.  She doesn't have a ton of hair yet and it's still in that state where it could go either way.  She's gotten super smiley lately and is a joy to be around.  She's rolling and scootching a pretty good amount these days too and sometimes is five feet away from where I laid her down in a pretty short time.  Pretty great for four months old!  Her grip is amazing too.  I can't find the post, but I know I've talked before about how if you take something from a firstborn, they may cry, but they give it up easily.  A second child knows from day one that the older sibling will try to take stuff away and they hold on TIGHT.  We refer to it as the second child grip, and pretty much every second child really does have it.  Well.  Miss Merida is a third child.  The other day I went to pick her up out of the exersaucer and she lifted it off the floor with her.  The girl is serious. 

Merryweather is a champion sitter and loves to play the piano.  She doesn't care much about rolling just yet- she might do it once if she feels like it, but at this point she would rather use her newfound loud and shrieky voice to see if I will bring her things instead of working on getting them herself.  Can't say I blame her much on that count.  It gets quick attention and it's easier.  :)  My current favorite thing about her is her fierce love.  When you pick her up, she lunges at you with both arms, wraps around your neck and hugs you tight, all while trying to kiss your face ferociously with her wide open drooly mouth.  It's sometimes a tiny bit startling, but it is very awesome.

Only two weeks left before Mater and Lady go off to their new school.  It's definitely going to be different.  I've already started rearranging the playroom a little and trying to figure out the best toys and space for my new crew.  Well, not new, because I don't have any new ones starting right away, but it makes it feel all new whenever I add or subtract anybody from my mix.  I got a new braided rug for the playroom and Mater spent a lot of time diving onto it and rolling around today.  It was pretty cute.  I'm glad they are enjoying it- I love it.  Makes it seem much more cozy and we spent most of the morning all lying on it and playing.



Remy has learned to take off his pants.  He takes them off sometimes during his nap, and most days I can tell they've been off because they're a little twisted, but it's not too bad.  The other day though, he was magnificent in his inability to fix his drawers.  It made me laugh a whole lot and then he got his feelings a little hurt.  Lots of pant-fixing and hugging after this shot.  :)



Ms Mimmie is still coming every Friday and the kids are really enjoying tumbling time with her.  I think she wants to do a showoff day soon so all the parents can come watch.  Should be fun.

 They're doing pretty well at sitting in a line and waiting for their turn.  Sometimes they wander, but they're getting the hang of it.

And not to be left out or undone, Alice and Perdita love my Viking hats.  They call themselves "Fakings" and they run around wearing hats.  Perdita usually makes me sing songs about it too.  And when I took this picture I may possibly have been wearing the tall pink hat from Duchess's Mad Hatter costume.  Maybe.

Playtime

There's not been anything especially new or exciting the past couple weeks- but every day is fun.  We've been working with Mr. Potato Head more lately- they are all enjoying it a lot, even Merryweather, who can sit up on her own for a couple minutes now.  She's been thinking she's one of the big kids now that I have Merida.  It's really amazing how fast kids get skills.  She loves to sit in the living room with a bucket of toys to practice her grabbing and sitting.

And really, Mr. Potato Head just never gets old.  We spent a large portion of the morning discussing body parts and making real faces and silly ones.




Alice is convinced that she is Doc McStuffins. It pleases her greatly. She wore that stethoscope all morning.



Merryweather watches the boys with wide-eyed interest.  They move too fast to even take a clear picture.

I also was able to take them out a couple days last week in the new stroller.  I love the view both looking down and looking out.  :)  My kids are teaching the walking ones what to do.  (I used to call my big kids the walkers, but after the Walking Dead I just can't do it.)  Only as far as the next mailbox if a big kid is running with you, otherwise stay with the stroller.  Freeze your feet when a car comes.  Don't touch dogs.  All that good stuff....

Alice, on her way back to give me a high five.  Mater and O'Malley stomping acorns up ahead.  All is right with the world.

Baby toes!  Best thing ever.

And as previously mentioned, here's Merryweather hanging out in the living room with her own personal toys.  She's getting pretty good at the sitting thing.

One of the most fun things about Mr. Potato Head is trying to wear the glasses on your own head.  It never works well, but it continues to be super cool to try.

Painting Fun

I bought pink paint last night!  This is reason for rejoicing.  I also bought blue, which made Alice super happy and she tried really hard to talk me into using that this morning instead.  Girl loves her some blue.  However, our paintings go with our book, and we're supposed to use the color they recommend to connect thoughts to what is happening in the story.  "I" longed for strawberry ice cream.  Not for berry blue.  Pink it is.

Remy was the last painter today, which made him sad.  He watched the other three paint with his one eye, while he buried his head in my lap and heaved big sighs.  When it was finally his turn, he was very pleased.  He also got a cheerleading section and some backseat driving.

Perdita kept running commentary the ENTIRE time he held the paintbrush.  "REMY!!  REMY PAIN!  REMY PAIN!!! PAIN AH-KEEM!!  AH-KEEM REMY!!"  I think she just wanted some sort of acknowledgement from him, but he was focused on his task and ignored her completely.  That meant, of course, that she had to keep yelling.

Mater just needed to touch base and make sure it was the same paint he'd used.  Also point out spots that needed touch up.

And then he touched a little too closely.

And he was perturbed by the pink paint on his fingertip, and I nearly got an eyeball-ful of it.

Happy Thursday!!

Caterpillar Wrapup

Today we are finishing up our Very Hungry Caterpillar unit.  It's stretched out for six weeks or so and everybody has really enjoyed it.  Tomorrow we'll begin some Dr. Seuss things and then next week will be full-on Seuss week.

I've tried to record our wall reading of the book before and usually somebody starts yelling about other stuff or falls off the couch or what have you.  I was pleased that today I finally got the whole thing on tape, so to speak.  It's 3 minutes so I don't know if it will even upload, but this is what we do every day.  I read the actual book during circle time while they're sitting, and then some days they like me to use the pointer for the wall pictures so that they can retell the story.  As you can see, they all have it memorized, even though some are more verbal than others.  :)  I'm looking at you, Miss Alice who isn't even two yet!!  You have to turn the volume to hear her, but she lists off ALL the foods that the caterpillar ate on Saturday when he got a tummyache.  It's kind of impressive.

Then for lunch I served as many of the foods from the book as I could find in my kitchen.  We had apple, strawberry, orange, tiny piece of chocolate cake and a smidge of ice cream, pickle, swiss cheese, and salami.  I really, really enjoyed watching Perdita's face while she ate her pickle.  She ended up spitting it out and I couldn't catch the twisted expressions.  She looks way too normal here.

All the gang, ready to eat!

 Digging in amidst discussion.

 Lady inspecting the cheese.

Here's a closeup of the plate.  I didn't allow seconds of the chocolate, even though it really was tiny bites.  They don't need it.  A couple of them didn't even touch it anyway.  I think only Alice and Mater ate it.  They all loved the fruit, of course, and several of them really liked the salami and cheese.  Alice and Mater chowed down on thirds and fourths of pickles too.

It's kind of an unorthodox lunch, but they all had a wonderful time and it initiated lots of fun lunch discussion.  I like that.

Sending home copies of the caterpillar book today for those few who don't already own it.  Green eggs and ham for breakfast tomorrow!!!

Feast Preparations

I had such a good time with the kids yesterday, getting ready for our Thanksgiving feast today.  Alice, Lady, and Mater got to be the big kids for the first time and they SO enjoyed it.  It took all morning to do just a couple things, but I really loved having them help. 

The first thing we did was wash the potatoes.  Everybody wanted a turn with the stool and the water.  Very exciting.

 Mater takes his job seriously.

 All nice and clean.

 And into the pot they go.

Once we had them cooking, the next task was to smash gluten free graham crackers so we could make our pie crust.  I put them in a bag and told Alice to jump on them.

 I'm sorry, you want me to do WHAT?

 Clearly you have lost your mind- we don't jump on food.

Mater had no such concerns.  He leaped in with both feet.

 Then Lady decided it was okay so the two of them jumped.

 Alice is still not really sure why I'm asking them to break the food.  It just doesn't seem right to her.

After the crust was done, we started in with the apples for the filling.  None of them could really get the hang of turning the corer, but the girls both wanted a turn up close to it to watch.  Mater got bored of cooking and went to play trains.  I think he was pleased to have the playroom to himself for awhile. 

Then we sauteed the apples with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  They were thrilled to be able to actually stir real food on the real stove.  And nobody got burned, which is especially nice in my opinion.  :)

Later on after the potatoes were done, I mixed them and then had beaters of mashed potatoes up for grabs.  I offered one to Lady.  I'm pretty sure she was expecting frosting.  Potatoes throw your wheels off real bad when you want frosting, it turns out.

 She told me very seriously, "NO.  Don't like it."

And then after that nobody else would even try it.  They ran from the beaters like I was offering poison.

 Remy doesn't usually talk to me, but he yelled NO! at me today.

And Perdita barely licked it and then scurried backwards with her mouth open, wishing she could scrape her tongue.  She looks like she's happy here, but really she's drooling and trying not to taste the potatoes in her mouth.

Silly children.  Mashed potatoes are so good!

Last night I made jello salad, there's pumpkin pie in the oven now, and we'll have the rest of the sides done by noon.  Excited to see everyone!!

Recent Funny Things

• I drink a lot of diet coke most days.  Sometimes I burp.  Usually I blame it on my kids.  When they aren't around I try to restrain it but the other day a big one surprised me.  So I blamed it on Girl Friday.  "GF!?  Did you burp?"  She looked at me with a look I've sometimes seen on my husband's face when I ask him something stupid like do these pants make me look fat, the look that acknowledges there is no right answer to this question.  Polite girl has obviously been taught not to contradict her teacher, but she knows she didn't do it.  Mental quandary.  Finally she tells me, "Yes.  I did.  BUT YOU DID TOO!!!"
• During our ABC work we talked about the letter that Hercules's last name starts with.  I mentioned it, and he was correcting me with the initial of his first name, so we talked through how he has several names and they start with different letters.  Then he tells me triumphantly, "Yes!  I am Hercules Middle Name Last Name, and I live in my car!!"
• I was standing at the counter making breakfast and I see this little hand sneaking up to grab something.  I thought it was Lady because she had been standing behind me just a second ago, so I said, "Lady, what are you doing?"  And then this little pat on my bum, and Alice says in a tiny sweet voice, "Hi.  Alice."  Love the correction.  So gentle.
• We had a lively discussion about wings, and how boys and girls do not have wings, but bats do, and birds.  Girl Friday told me, "I DO have wings!  I fly!"  And I said, "you do?  That's so silly!  Where do you keep your wings?"  And she tells me, "on the airplane!"
• We sometimes refer to Perdita as Smalls, because a) she is, and it's funny to see how nimble she is at such a tiny size, and b) her monkey-climbing tactics lead us to say "you're killing me, smalls!"  The other day she took something from Tigger and ran, and he yelled "you're killing me, smalls" at her. 
• Roo was talking about wanting to buy something and Kanga asked her if she had any money.  "Yes," says, "in your wallet!"
• I put the picture right before this one on facebook, where Remy was completely full of oatmeal and needed serious grooming.  In the comments we discussed his need to return to factory settings.  I got him pretty clean, all things considered, but I had to take this picture during the process because it made me laugh a lot.

Piggies!

No matter who we've got, the kids always love to make headbands.  It's one of my favorite days of any curriculum when we get to break out the stapler and the long strips of paper and color some hats.  They're so much fun to watch.

Today we did piggy headbands.  "In the big red barn, by the great green field, there was a PINK PIG!  who was learning to squeal..."  they know oink for the pig, and now they know squeal too, which is really cute.  Most of them will always oink when you ask what the piggy says, but if you quote the book and leave a blank, they'll all squeeeeeeal.  Love it.

Remy did more of his own work today, which means it's not very colored and is ripped in four places.  His first grade sisters busted me on doing his woolly lamb for him the other day.  :)

This was the ten seconds he wore the hat.  I had to hold his hand while Kanga took the picture to get him to keep it on for even that long.

Then it was a necklace for awhile until he ripped it off the rest of the way.

Hercules and Tigger were very excited about coloring and stapling and wearing it properly.  There was re-stapling when it wasn't "just so".  When they were finished wearing it, they had a discussion about where it should be put.  "I done wearing piggy hat.  I take it off.  I keep it safe."

Yes, I still need to have another garage sale.  Ignore the background junk.  Hopefully it will be gone soon.  He's talking to Kanga here- "Mama!  I piggy!"

 I love the satisfied look here.  I have a feeling he'll still make this face as an adult, after successfully brokering some big money deal.  See me?  I rock.

And of course Mr. Hercules, always excited to have his picture taken.

Alice and Perdita were more excited about sitting at the table and coloring than they were about the actual finished product.  Alice was happy to wear her hat for awhile though.  Perdita was the Amazing Dancing Piggy, big surprise, and kept pushing it up on top of her head and messing with it so it was hard to get a shot.

This is the only good one we got, and it's because she thought we were still taking pictures of Remy.  When we were calling her name to get her to look, she laughed and ran and jumped and yanked the piggy off her head.

 I am taking my job as piggy hat wearer very seriously.  This is a job which must be done right and requires my thought and attention.

However, I will bet money that she'll wear it at the dinner table tonight.

Mater liked this activity much more, as we have established that he is not a fan of glue.  He was pretty laid back through the whole thing, wore his hat for awhile, and then pitched it away.  We had trouble getting a picture because he kept wanting to get behind the camera and see the picture before it was even taken.  verycloseupshots there.