Cheating

I have been in a such a funk since Mark, Susan, Andrew, and Thomas left. We had such a great visit and when reality hit Thursday morning I wasn't quite prepared. I think today the light is beginning to shine again. I'm sure my husband and all near me will be grateful! When we went to my parent's house last night for dinner, Luke walked back to the bedrooms (that are cleaned of all Henderson visit evidence) putting out his hands, palms up, as if to ask, "Where'd they go?"

Yes I am feeling less crummy but, I am still going to cheat and provide a link to the best recap of our time spent together. I will add that I am so touched by the immediate connection my kids have with Andrew and Thomas every time we see them. It broke my heart to see Zac cry upon saying good bye. Claire is just wondering when we are going to move to Kansas and have a house with stairs. Oh and she wants to see the dog that licks a lot! Maybe someday, although Andrew told us we really shouldn't move to Kansas because there is "way more to do in California!"



Griffith Park is still way fun when it's closed!

Can't Wait

I am skipping ahead here but this is too good not to share immediately. Mark, Susan, Andrew, and Thomas are here. The fun has begun!

Free Entertainment

Ours neighbors across the street are adding on to their house. We are on week two of construction with the street lined with trucks and lots of workers milling around, not to mention the Porto potty in the front yard that Zac finds quite amusing. Rather than a nuisance, this has worked in our favor. It has provided my children with hours of free entertainment.


I finally got sick of standing in the doorway with Luke when the front loader was digging and dumping and thought I should just get him a chair. He sat there for at least 30 minutes.




Here they are today before school watching Claire's favorite choice of truck, the mixer.

My only irritation to this is that Luke now periodically goes to the front door with a toy truck in hand crying "Out!" All. Day.

But I do feel this is better than what he has been trying to bring in the house lately.

Funny

For two weeks we are studying penguins in my first grade classroom. On Friday I had a few minutes before the kids went home so I thought it would be great to show them some of the movie The March of the Penguins. (If you haven't seen it, you should. Although admittedly I only made it to the part where the father's are huddled together freezing. Sometimes nature can be a bit too hard for me to handle.) My kids are gathered on the carpet mesmerized. We got to the part where the march begins and you see hundreds of penguins in a line, waddling on the ice. Then of course they have to show you the one penguin in the back, struggling, that isn't going to make it. I begin to see looks of panic and concern on my students' faces.

Me - That penguin isn't going to make it with the rest of the group. He is going to die.

Girl - Why?

Me - Well it's just like people. Some people live to be very old, and some people don't.

Silence.

A different girl - Just like Michael Jackson.

Silence

Boy - Yeah. Because of those pills.

Snow?

Californians have been quite anxious this past week looking toward Saturday (yesterday) when we would actually have snowfall. All of us with fancy droid phones thought it was pretty neat to see the snowflakes falling across the screen adding to our anticipation. Well yesterday came and it was COLD. But it was also beautiful. Where there weren't clouds there was crystal blue sky. At about 9 a.m. we could see a very dark cloud coming our way. My dad called and said it was hailing at his house and sure enough it started hailing while on the phone together. Sara and Zac ran out to feel the ice that we so rarely get, Claire was content watching from the window, and I battled to keep Luke in my arms. It was cool. Not snow, but still cool!

Unfortunately for Sara, it snowed in Burbank where she lives. She got off the phone with her mom and was in tears. Apparently it snowed enough that it stayed on the ground and dusted everything white. And Sara missed it. Damn. Not what you want to happen when she is already not visiting regularly and our weekend happened to be pretty dull.

Dull except for Claire's party finally happening!! Here is a quick recap of the fun illustrated in pictures.



Here I am. Solo parenting since Eric was in Washington D.C. for work. Claire is wearing the present I bought her not really as a bribe but something to sweeten the fact that a gymnastics party was NOT the original plan.



The kids got to hula hoop, jump rope, jump on the trampoline, do obstacle courses, a pinata and more.



This is how Zac and Sara looked the entire weekend. They were a little too cool for the five year old gymnastics, but they were still helpful.



Here is the amazing Barbie cake that Oma made! Wow!



Here is Claire with the Barbie after all of the cake was eaten off around her. Thanks to the help from my wonderful family, we pulled it off!

Where was Luke? I'm sure my mom will blog about that soon. :)

My Helper

This is what happens when you ask your 7 year old to "organize" the doll house.


When I began rolling on the floor with laughter he seemed genuinely confused. When I told him what I was laughing at he asked, "What? She's bathing and you can't have your pants up on the toilet!" Then he started to laugh too. He is home on day 2 with a low fever and headache. It has been really nice to have him around!

Claire Bear

Tomorrow Claire turns 5! I am starting to panic a little because I still call her baby and, I hate to admit, I treat her much younger than I remember treating Zac at 5. I worry a bit that I am being sexist and I am doing permanent damage to Claire. But I also realize that birth order truly impacts parenting and leaves a lasting effect on kids, not necessarily damage. I have no real research to back up this statement other than personal experience. When I am with my parents and brother, I immediately regress into my little sister/baby status. I think the best way to describe Claire is put best by my mother. She is very self possessed!

Things I love about Claire:

She has to wear a "poofy" dress and if it isn't "poofy." Then we have to wear the "poofy" skirt underneath the dress to make it, well, "poofy."

She puts a "y" at the end of every word. i.e. Uppy, milky, huggy... (Something I plan to remedy before Kindergarten but remains a little cute right now.)

The more sparkles, the happier she is.

When I tell her she's smart and beautiful she says, "I know."

When she is hungry she can eat more than anybody in the house but can easily stop in the middle of a dessert if she's not.

She giggles and laughs a lot!

She loves music and loves to dance. Her latest favorite is (it's hard to announce publicly) Justin Bieber. Yep. Nothing can be done.

She loves her friends!

I can take her anywhere and she wouldn't mind if I left her there. (Can be concerning as well!)

She climbs trees and keeps up with the boys even in her "poofy" dress!

Things I love not so much but must be noted:

Claire has a glare where she drops her head but looks up at you with her eyes and pouts out her enormous lips.

Every injury requires a dramatic episode and a limp even if it was her arm.

She cries at the doctor and dentist as if she is being tortured.

When she is tired she cries quite a bit and insists that we all don't like her. (Which in turn makes us laugh so she cries harder. Sorry Claire.)

We planned an outdoor birthday celebration yesterday with a princess castle bounce house/slide combination. Usually a safe choice since this is California. But it rained and it was really cold. So we postponed the party and hope to do it next weekend. When we told Claire I was prepared for tears or at least some sadness. She could have cared less! Love that girl! :)