And then there were six

We are thrilled to announce that we will be adding one more kid to the clan.  This baby is expected to arrive in February and we are all very much looking forward to it.  My anatomy ultrasound just happened during my mom's recent visit and she was able to see this very active baby on screen.  We decided to surprise Tony and the girls with the gender using cookies with mixed up letters of either "brother" or "sister".  Here's their reaction...

Barbage

William is now two years old.  I can hardly believe it.  We were lucky enough to have my folks visiting for his actual birthday so we got to have cake with lots of people.  William's new favorite song, unsurprisingly, is Happy Birthday.  He mimes blowing out the candles each time we sing.  

When thinking about the things he likes right now, it's a tough call between playing with his big sisters, taking care of his baby (especially changing diapers), and all things garbage.  Throwing the baby diapers in the garbage, helping us take the garbage out, wheeling the garbage can to the curb, and the almighty garbage truck.  He is just fixated.  It's hilarious.  

So, we decided to make him his own garbage truck this year for his birthday present.  It's really just three old diaper boxes spraypainted green with a bit of green duct tape.  Tony had the genius idea to make the back part dump.  There's a small garbage can with a yellow top (looks like our recycling can sort of), and he has been getting lots of play time with it.  Good stuff.

Here's the link to a little video of him playing so you can hear how he says "garbage", it's precious and I know it's one of those words I'll think back on with adorable memories as he gets older.  Love this little guy.

https://youtu.be/QuM0Ut93a6M

Fruit on my own terms

Fruit is nature's convenience food.  And I definitely need convenienence!  It's so easy to grab some grapes, apples, blueberries, whatever and head out the door knowing the kids will eat and not have total junk.  I've been lucky to have two kids who would happily eat fruit whenever offered and in fact, Emma would happily eat fruit to the exclusion of everything else!

This is a video of her chomping on raspberries last summer.  At the end she proclaims, "Thanks bees!" I am in love.  

http://youtu.be/QOIoQ1jiCJw

Then there is William.  He tends to have a bit of a texture issue with most fruit unless it's cooked (taking the convience factor out), so this morning I was delighted when he wanted a banana!  I think it was just because big sister had one and the thrill of cutting up his own was too good to pass up.  

He had so much fun and I'm just happy he ate a banana!

Happy Fourth of July!

This morning we hosted a little impromptu party for a couple of kids the girls go to school with.  Loads of people are traveling now, which meant it was a very manageable-sized group!  ;)  We did a few games that we got from Pinterest.  Yes, the girls will look at it with me and help choose things to do- pretty fun.  

Here's what we did:

Necklaces made from beads and cut paper straws.

Made little Flag paddles with paper plates and bounced baloons around with them.  They were used in other playing too.

Made USA themed shakers using paper plates and dried beans.

Painting.  Because painting.

Attempted a relay race using small american flags propped in sand.  We tried having the kids line up and relay but they really just wanted to make mudpies at that moment.  Oh well.

Then the kids just played and had treats that were mostly red,white, and blue and it was great fun for all.

Hope you all have a Happy and safe Fourth!   Happy Birthday, America!

Embracing Summer

It's been a busy year and overall I'm not sure I'll be able to keep this blog up going forward but right now in the trows of minimal scheduling, I thought I would add a little update.  We are enjoying the beautiful weather of Minnesota in June and looking forward to just spending time together this summer.

A few little highlights of the week.

William is a total love.  Totally.  He is so sweet with his sisters and immediately runs over with concerned voice, tilted head, hugs and taps if they are upset.  He adores our new cat Lucy and she is very patient with him.

Artwork is a daily activity over here and  takes many forms.  

We have been encouraging milkweed to grow in our side garden.  We had a few plants last year and this year have a whole patch.  We added some other pollinator plants too and are waiting for them to bloom.  To our delight, we discovered several monarch caterpillars on the milkweed and Ada decided to draw one.

She came in and went to one of the insect identification books to write it's name, on her own.  Love it. The little circle above the caterpillar in her picture is a hole where it had nibbled.  

We are only a week into summer and already the girls have created a "school".  They busily set up the roof and equipment they needed including a table, books, and writing supplies.  Ada came and got a bike bell and attached it to the rope with a screwdriver (with minimal assistance;), and they labeled the school with the ages allowed to attend.  "4 to 36"  Their form of payment is a hug per day and the name of the school  is "Learning Day".  I just love it.

They decided to eat lunch together as if they were teachers and packed up a lunch and ate up top.  The kids eat down below I'm told ;)  I plan to bring my payment to the school soon in order to see what I can learn!

And the mud.  Yes the kids love to play with mud.  I like to think of it as an outdoor version of dress up, and if you have ever been to our house you know how popular that is around here!  

First thing this morning.  Ada wanted to be a butterfly and made some antennae.  I'm pretty sure Emma is a queen, as usual.  

Happy Summer everyone!  Hope to add more updates....but don't hold me to it!

Study date

Ada just turned 6.  Yes.  SIX.  ADA IS SIX YEARS OLD.  It's still sinking in for me here.  Here are a few photos from her Master Chef Junior inspired party.  At Ada's party her friends made some pizza and salad and we played a few games.  We did a version of "pin the tail on..." by doing Pin the Pepperoni on the Pizza and each kid had to try to get their pepperoni on the slice with their name on it.  They were super sweet and helped each other by using "hot" and "cold" until everyone had gotten it.  They also did a blind taste test that was really fun.  Instead of goodie bags we had a bag full of little prizes and when they completed a game they got to pick a prize from a bag and trade it in if they didn't like it.  I ran out of time to do a punch box so this worked out pretty well.  The best part was that Gramma Deb was able to arrange her visit to be here for the party which made it so special for Ada.

The aprons for the little chefs to wear.

Pin the pepperoni on the pizza

 Taste test

The Cake

Now that Ada is older, there are certainly new and more complicated challenges of parenting.  The nice thing though is that she can entertain herself more and more on her own.  We had the chance this week to go out just the two of us and decided to go swimming at the health club and have a dinner/ study date afterwards.  It was glorious.

She wrote out her thank you notes for her party friends.

 And played with her birthday present.

She is a stellar study partner.

Love this kid.  She made me a mama.  She is one of the most sensitive, kind and creative people I know.  Happy Birthday Ada.