put me in the zoo, zoo, zoo

Since Grandpa was going to the zoo with Isaiah (and his class) on Monday, we decided to go too!

And I am so glad we did because it was such a FUN day. I almost didn't write about it because everything went perfectly. There really isn't much to share besides pictures (and I have tons of those!). Seriously everything went as planned or better. We got there EARLY, found free street parking easily, met Isaiah's class at the designated time and place (to drop off Grandpa) and then the girls, my mom, and I meandered around the zoo happily for a few hours.

the most beautiful holiday

 

The other day while I was trimming Isaiah's hair he was making faces at himself in the mirror. At one point he showed me his bunny face. Immediately I said, "Like the Easter Bunny!" To which Isaiah responded "Who?! The Easter who?" I started to explain and then I stopped myself because I am okay with my kids not knowing who the Easter Bunny is. I like that they know that Easter is about Jesus dying on the cross for their sins. And THAT is why we celebrate. Because our Savior loves us and took our punishment for us on the cross. He shed his blood and gave his life for us.

And then we brought Charlotte to dance class on Saturday morning...

story of my life

30 minutes before we need to pick up Isaiah from school....

 



 She finally fell asleep - tucked away in her princess tent - in her undies:)

Uh Oh

Hannah is 20 months old and acting every bit her age. She thinks she is a big kid and therefore wants to do everything by herself. And she is very opinionated these days. And stubborn. Its quite the combo. Unfortunately most of the time she is unable to do what she wants independently and/or unable to communicate her opinions/needs effectively.

 

Like the whole potty thing. I am in no way, shape or form ready to potty train her. In fact I am determined to keep her in diapers for as long as possible (because cloth diapers rock and they are cheap...once you own them of course). She on the other hand wants to use the toilet. In fact she strips herself down and gets on the toilet daily (with some assistance from big sister)! And much to my chagrin she is successful when she tries. Darn stubborn and determined child. 

Her opinions are vast and unwavering. 

She likes to wear her polka dot shoes. 

Or her rain boots. And she must put them on herself!

And her brown jacket. Again put on by her. 

And her monkey pajamas. 

She wants her 'Number' book read to her multiple times per day but she only likes the ball and cat pages. 

She needs a napkin with every meal. 

She wants to go on multiple walks each day. 

And she wants to choose her mode of transportation - tricycle or stroller - for each walk. 

Pretty much she wants to do everything for herself.

 

 

All this to say, as of recently her screaming has made an unwelcome reappearance as her favored form of communication. To assert herself. Two steps forward. One step back. Or is it one step forward and two steps back?!? 

To quote her speech therapist, "she's smart and could talk if she wanted to but she's just too stubborn to try". That's my girl. Just like her mother. 

It seems crazy. But we are actually trying really hard to teach her the words NO. ME. And MINE. She needs these words. So far no luck. Instead she has added the words HOT. FLOWER. and DONE to her limited vocabulary. Not quite as useful. But words are words. We'll take what we can get. 

Speaking of speech. As she sloooowly becomes more verbal, she tends to overgeneralize her new words. For example when she started using the word "bye" she used it to mean goodbye, done, and finished. She said bye at the end of every page as we read stories. And she said bye to her empty plate when she finished her meal. She is constantly pointing out "balls" everywhere. Stoplights and rocks and polka dots are all balls in Hannah's world. So the other day as we were walking out to the van in the morning and Hannah was trailing behind saying "uh oh" over and over again, I didn't give it much thought. In fact I didn't look back until I was done loading the other kids in the van.  When I finally looked at her I found her trying to toddle to the van with her skirt around her ankles! Uh oh indeed. 

Sometimes her speech is completely appropriate. It's her mother that is the problem!

Sorry. I don't have a picture of the skirt incident. Instead I will end with the pictures I took this morning. This fine SPRING morning in Illinois.

 

Isaiah kept exclaiming excitedly "I have never seen snow on April 15th before!!!"

 

But looking on the bright side because when don't I? ((Ha. Don't answer that question!)) The sun is shining and the snow is already melting. A high of 36 is expected today! PLUS thanks to Charlotte's potty accident right in front of our toilet (shortly after these pictures were taken) our bathroom floors are shiny and clean. AND more importantly I discovered a dried booger on the side of our toilet bowl and cleaned it off.  Good thing too because if not for being on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor who knows how long that would have gone undiscovered!?!  Days? Weeks? Months? And due to a last minute change of plans the kids and I are NOT going out of town for Easter. My parents are coming here instead. And that booger situation could have been terribly embarrassing if it hadn't been taken care of! Now if only I could get the booger picker to stop leaving them in random locations. Now that would be a good day. 

weekend recap

Friday night we went to our church's family fusion event. This event was 'The Colors of Easter'. The kids and I met Joe there. But the only color I was seeing when I drove up to church was RED. Fiery hot ANGRY (and frustrated) red! It started earlier in the afternoon at the library when I told the kids it was time to go. The girls were (mostly) cooperative with our departure. Isaiah on the other hand responded with a whiney "No. No. No. No. No. No. No." And tried to refuse to leave until he had finished coloring two more sections of his umbrella. I was going to let him finish one section...until he threw a fit. Out the door we went, unfinished art work in hand. On the walk home a very sulky Isaiah declared life unfair because Charlotte found the perfect stick and he did not. The injustice! Once home he broke Charlotte's stick. And with the snap of that twig I lost it! My patience was instantly non-existent and I had NO desire to fuse with certain small members of my family. After (harshly) expressing my disappointment in him we loaded up and drove to church. To have fun. And learn about Jesus! And enjoy our family!! Oh the irony. Honestly I was this close to dropping the kids off (with Joe) and leaving. But I didn't. I stayed.

Of course in the end I am glad I went (and stayed). It was a great evening of remembering the true meaning of Easter through the use of colors. 

Red...the blood of Jesus

White...He made us clean

Green...growth and living with God 

Gold...the promise of heaven

 

Hannah was there too...not fusing with her family. She hung with the babies in the nursery. 

Grandma Cyndy flew in late Friday night to spend the weekend with us. Mostly to help me with the kids (and their assorted activities) while Joe gallivanted around the city...

...errr...I mean attend an all day conference on his day off. That's fun too. If you are into that kind of thing. Clearly he is/was. 

My Saturday morning started with forcing Isaiah into jeans and a polo. As in I physically had to wrestle him into the clothes. He acted as though I was asking him to wear barbed wire woven with poison ivy. The reason for the "dressy" outfit? He had his first ALL DAY chess tournament. I didn't know if there was a dress code or not for such an event but I certainly didn't want him under dressed. Dress for success and all that...

Turns out sweat pants and a t-shirt would have been completely acceptable as that is what the majority of the kids were wearing. There was one other child in a polo....paired with sweatpants. Oops. I may have won that battle but I am not sure it was worth it and certainly not necessary. 

After dropping Grandma & Isaiah off at chess, the girls and I headed to Charlotte's dance class. It was a very exciting week...Miss Kim handed out their recital costumes AND allowed the parents in the studio to video them performing their recital piece. Big stuff. 

Speaking of big stuff, Hannah thinks she is a big girl and insists on using the potty like a big girl. Occasionally she is successful. This time she was only successful in touching every surface in the public restroom which is always fun as a parent. 

Once dance was done the girls and I made a pit stop at home to make lunch for our little chess master and chess watcher. We had a fast and furious hail storm come through during lunch prep. The girls were fascinated. Charlotte was especially excited because she has "hail green eyes"! 

 

 

She insisted on eating her cheese with the wrapper ON.

 

After lunch Grandma and I swapped roles. She became the little girl wrangler (at home) and I took over as the chess cheerleader. It's kind of embarrassing to admit but I was really nervous for Isaiah. He really wanted to win a trophy in his division - as in he spent most of his time in between matches oogling the trophies. Unfortunately despite his strong start he quickly fell from 3rd place to 7th place. The top 6 places received trophies. So close yet not quite.

 

 

He took the loss better than I expected. I was sad and proud of him all at once. He left determined to perform better at the year-end tournament in a few weeks.

The rest of Saturday was spent at the playground and eating dinner and more playing and bathing the children. Just regular life stuff. But better because Grandma was here! And the 70 degree weather helped too:)

[Joe watched the dance video and immediately declared the $5/recital ticket a waste of money. And while I agree with him that there is a 90% chance of Charlotte doing absolutely nothing during the recital besides standing on stage smiling. I disagree on the waste of money. Because man she is going to look cute in her costume...on stage!]

 

 

On Sunday the kids participated in the Palm Sunday service. They wore their new Easter outfits that Grandma Cyndy brought for them (in her backpack...along with all her belongings for the weekend!). Just call her Mary. Mary Poppins that is.

 

 

We foolishly attempted a family picture after church...

 

Because dangnabut I had showered and put on a dress and looked decent! Too bad my children did not get the memo that this was supposed to be a nice family photo...

 

This next one was as good as it got. Which I would rate as decent. Nothing extraordinary. None of our children look particularly happy to be in the picture. Good enough. Lucky for them there will not be a Easter family picture session since we are ditching daddy and heading out of town (again). But they will be forced to take sibling pictures. Win some. Lose some.

 

And this is where my camera battery died... so I will call it quits with the recap. Because oh my goodness this is getting loooong (and let's be honest) a little boring. 

That's a wrap folks. One of the busiest weekends we have had in awhile. And overall a pretty good one too.