Random Days- Three's company, John's Eating, Ella's Sorting, and Peter's in a TuTu

Ok, I could not get these pictures to work for me today in the right order no matter how much I cut and pasted, so oh well. Here they are "in random order" our days recently. I have been trying to take as many pictures of John as I did with the other kids and so far I'm pretty sure I've succeeded in this area. Especially now that I have a new camera and I love using it during the day to practice on the kids, and just to document our days. My Ella and Peter are nuts. I will just go on record saying that no matter how much I try and get them to just sit quietly with their hands folded so that I can get cleaning, breakfast, lunch, dinner, or maybe even a phone call in, it just DOESN'T HAPPEN. You show me a mom who can do that with 2 toddlers in the house and I will give her some kind of award. Like maybe a knit hat or something. So, I do all of those things with them running around me, attempting to help, fighting over who gets to stand on a chair the closest to me, or going right behind me messing the room up again. Then there's John who usually sits and plays in his jumper or chair, rolls around on the floor dodging balls and trains, and smiles contently amidst all the nuttery. (Is that a word?) Our house is filled with it, even if it isn't a word, but you know, at the end of the day, when all is done and they are sleeping, I sorta look forward to what the next day may bring.

I got a package filled with these packing peanuts. I put them in their play pen and they went crazy. Here they are all sorted and put in containers because Ella is "going to work, and this is lunch." I was specifically instructed not to put them away while she was napping. Each container is filled with them and she was so proud of herself.

The other picture was after she woke up and decided she would sort all of her farm animals by color on the plates and in the pots behind her. She's getting really good at this and I am really proud of her. She' even teaching Peter colors and how to sort them.

Kasey came to see us for the weekend. The kids sure love when she's here. I do too.

Little John Lewis starting eating solids back in March. I have been bad about posting stuff like that, but he was 5 months old exactly and it was time for him to learn a little about eating. (Not that his rolls would indicate he didn't ALREADY know a lot about eating), but real food is another story. He was unsure at first, but he did a great job and still likes his food very much. He made some funny faces just like the other kids.

Peter is wearing this get up because Ella wanted hers on. Peter wants to do everything like his sister and while he's 2, that is probably OK. They were playing ring around the rosy and Peter is helping Ella of the ground since "they all fell down."

I think this picture shows well how much John has been looking and watching Peter lately. After naps John will see Peter and just smile and smile even if he was just crying. I love how much Ella and Peter look out for him and want to help with everything. He makes a spitting noise and Peter tells me, "John is talking like a Elephant!" They are fun even if they're nuts.

Peter is 2!

Well, here you have it, my crazy Peter is 2 now! Time has flown by this past year and I am amazed at how much he has changed. He talks up a storm, way more than most other kids his age (all he does all day is mimick Ella), and he has more energy than I can channel in a 13+ hour time frame. The boy loves to be held and read to, play outside, and his new thing: trains. He knows all the names of the 10 engines we have so far and this is why I made his "brownie track" instead of a cake. (Not to mention, I was not in the mood for cake). We had a party for him the weekend before his birthday because Andrew wasn't working then. The kids all had a lot of fun and Ella was a big "help" opening Peter's gifts. Just wait, this year he will try and "help" her. We will see how that goes over. I made a birthday banner this month and Peter got to be the first to start the banner tradition. We left it up the whole week and when we took it down, Ella said, "He where did you put that 'fing' that was hanging there?" I told her the birthday week was over and when it's Daddy's birthday in July, we'll bring it back out. "Yeah, and for mine in October!" was her reply. Yup. She already can't wait. Peter cried when he was sang to. I guess my kids do not like to be sung to. Not sure what that's all about, but to cry over your burning candle is not safe, not to mention makes others sad. I am going to try and keep teaching them this. Peter was a good host, he said, "Fank Yum" (thank you) for all his gifts and did the same to thank everyone who came to his party. He ended the night by putting the mixing bowl on his head and running around. This sums him up perfectly right now. Silly silly little man.

Easter 2010

Easter Time! (A month late).

This is our family Easter picture outside the church. The funny thing about that morning, was that we were late to the breakfast and all the food was already gone. We were hungry, so we went to McDonalds. Ella and Peter went in the playland and came out and asked, "Why are there no kids in here, where are all the kids?" I laughed and said, "Probably at church." We did go back for the service, but we just may make this an Easter tradition because at least McDonalds won't run out of food.

The Resident's auxiliary does an egg hunt for the kids at the Ronald McDonald house every year. This is us that day. There weren't actually any kids staying there over Easter weekend, so our own kids had fun anyway. Peter and Ella are now obsessed with egg hunts.

We had some friends over for Easter dinner. I made a ham and a raspberry cheesecake. The rest of the food was great too and we had a nice time. It's funny how holidays just aren't the same without family, but we have made some great friends who are also orphans for the holidays to spend them with.

More egg hunt fun in our backyard with our friends. Below is the picture of the kids and Andrew after their naps when they got their baskets. Peter's mouth is full of a tootsie roll and Ella displayed her first Bible she got from us.

These pictures are just a few of the random ones I have taken recently.

Some friends watched the kids for a bit while Andrew and I went out for the first time in a while.

Ella and Peter love playing with playdoh, they call the yellow thing the "shasher." (smasher)

This is a picture of Ella using the bench as a prop for her dolly. I use this bench a lot in my photography and here she is checking her pictures of her dolly. I love the crossed legs.

I still just love holding my little man when he sleeps. I don't get a lot of chances to do this, so when I can, I soak it up.

John is liking the jumper, just like the other 2 did.

I was testing the light for a photo session and thought John Lewis would be a great subject. He proved it so, and I got a great picture of him.

Bathtime!

Sweet Brothers

I can't get enough of these monkeys.

Baking with the Kids is hard to do...but it's fun.

I like to bake. The thing is, I can only bake things that are sweet when I'm either having people over, or taking them somewhere to be shared. I have a slight lack of self control when it comes to sweet baked goods. This is a problem I have unfortunately passed on to my children who also love sweets and don't know when to stop. Anyway, something we like to do together is make things to eat. The kids pull up their chairs to the island and stand next to me and "help" with whatever they can. Here we are making banana muffins with mini chocolate chips in them. I love these, and since bananas tend to brown in our house before they're all eaten, it makes good use of them. Peter and Ella pour all the "eggrediants" into the bowl and stir only after I have made sure there is no loose flour. This, I learned the hard way. Peter grabbed the spoon once before the flour was in and it ended up everywhere. Here he is stirring the batter. Ella was being silly with the camera, so I took her picture on her chair. The last picture is of them, showing their dolls the muffins baking in the oven. I could not believe how precise they were describing what we had done and telling the dollies, "You have to watch out, this is very hot. Peter burned his hand on the stove and had an owie, make sure you don't get too close." As you can see, Peter's dolly is much closer than Ella's. Maybe he didn't learn his lesson quite yet. They make me laugh and I'm glad we can do this together and have a fun snack to share, even if it's messy and takes twice as long with their "help."

Just For Fun

I know it's a little silly, but there have been some poses of each of the kids that have turned out very similar and I wanted to compare their looks all about the same age. These are all pictures of the kids about 4 1/2 months. It seems to me that John and Ella share some of the same features, especially in their nose and mouth. Although I get asked all the time if Ella and Peter are twins, so it will be interesting to see as John changes how they all look alike.

Un-Cribbed Peter and Premature Toddler Beds

Well, on March 18th, a day after coming back from California, Peter asked to sleep out of his crib. I thought, well, when Ella did this, it meant she was ready and we gave her a chance...things went smoothly. Peter has proven that this may take a few more tries than one. The first day was well, probably because it was new and exciting. Ella said, "Good job Peter, you slept on the floor next to me!" Next night, he kept getting up and playing, so I told him he would have to go back in his crib if he got up again. So, even though I didn't want to do it, I put him back in his crib. He was not happy. We'll try again tomorrow. Naptime went well, as pictured, he was fast asleep and cute as ever, but that night was rough again. I figured, he's on the floor, maybe we should just get him a toddler bed and settle this, so he can feel like he's a big boy and has a bed like Ella. I'm pretty sure he realized quickly that a toddler bed is not a twin bed. However, we can't fit 2 twin beds and a crib in their room. Even Ella calls Peter's bed, "the little tiny bed." Oh well, he's going to have to deal for a while.
So, Andrew's family was here visiting on the 19th-21st and during one of their naps, Ella had to go potty. I was at the store and Andrew had gone outside quickly thinking they were asleep. They were not. I came home from the store and Andrew's not so quick outdoor venture to find Ella on the toilet with a tube of chapstick in her hand and streaks of it all over her legs. Peter, decided to follow her in his un-cribbed freedom and make a huge mess of q-tips. Here they are pictured with Peter hoping to bust a childproof cap on a bottle of 400mg capsules of Ibuprofen. Geez!! I went outside and got Andrew without telling him why to SHOW him what HIS children had been up to while he thought they were sleeping. Then, I got the camera.
Back to the story...another chance for Peter...for about 2 weeks now, every afternoon I have had to go back up more than once and even sleep on Ella's bed (she sleeps in the gust room for naps to avoid playing too much) to get Peter to go to sleep. Note*I put all the kids down at the same time to save my sanity*
It's now April 10th (I'm writing this in retrospect) and Peter is in his crib tonight. Oh, the other thing he started doing is deciding that messing his diaper right after we put him down to sleep is another way to insure company shortly after being left alone. So, Peter boy, you are a little wild man and your Dad and I think we may have made a premature decision to be excited about your toddler bed. It may be a few days before we try this again, depending on how things go between now and then, weeks. You're too smart and tricky.