Ants and Music

We drew pictures of ants with fingerprints. We colored a finger with washable marker, made 3 prints touching each other, and then used a pen to draw tiny legs, antennae and eyes. Next we drew an anthill by drawing a large A. I love seeing how their pictures turn out. This was with Olivia and Grace and a friend Maddy who is Grace's age.

We also pretended to be ants invading a picnic. Crawling, we took things out of a picnic basket and tried to carry them on our back to our pretend ant hill. The items kept falling off and we laughed and tried again. This was lots of fun for everyone.

Just a little bit of planning yesterday payed off today! I love pretending to be a preschool teacher. I think that would be my dream job. Hey, it fits right in with the job I already have. Lucky me!

This week I worked hard with Annabelle and Jonah everyday, helping them practice piano and guitar. Annabelle takes piano lesson and Jonah takes guitar lessons. Usually I let them practice on their own, I just make sure they do it. But I've noticed bad habits forming, like not good hand position or not getting the beat right, and I felt like they weren't learning the songs as well as they should. So the last week or two I've been sitting down with them and making them stop and repeat over and over. Oh, how they hate this! They complain and they pout and they cry! But I stay firm and make them keep at it. I promise rewards, I threaten, I explain repeatedly why it's important to slow down and pay attention to the detail. You can see this was not a fun week for music practice - not fun for them or for me! But they both went to lesson today and their teachers praised their playing! Yeah! This will be worth it in the end. And it should get better, right?, now that we understand each other's expectations. Every new song, though, brings another, "I can't play this, it's too hard!" Oh, goodness.

A week to relax, sick, 1st tooth!

We've enjoyed just relaxing this week. Ezra has the week off to catch up on sleep and try to shift back to sleeping at night and being awake during the day. The switch always takes a full week.

I got to run outside a few times since someone was around to watch kids. Feels good! I've tried to keep up running just three times a week, only 2 miles or 3 on the treadmill. So it was nice to be out again.

We've enjoyed watching the birds come back as spring slowly comes out.
Yesterday Olivia was sick throwing up all day. She kept begging for food and water, poor thing, but every time we gave in and let her have a bite, it came up again 20 minutes later. Even popsicles wouldn't stay down. She slept well last night and is regaining strength today. She was just telling me, "One throw-up was purple, one red, and two white." (From colored popsicles.)

Friday was pajama day at school. And tonight we are having a sleepover in the living room! We watched a movie and the kids are all in the living room, almost asleep.
Oh! Jonah lost his tooth today at school! He was super duper excited to run home and tell us all! A friend waving a hand accidentally whacked Jonah in the mouth and I think it just fell out. He found it and brought it home. Jonah is the very last one in his class to lose a tooth, so he is extra happy one finally came out. He has a few questions about the tooth fairy, like how the tooth fairy can carry money if she is so small.
Ezra gave Jonah his own email address today. It is jonahhallam@mediacombb.net if anyone wants to send him a special email. Annabelle's is annabellecarol@mchsi.com.

St Patricks Day

We packed up Wednesday morning. We took our time and cleaned up, too. As we were finally heading out I told all the kids to go to the bathroom. We drove to the gas station first. Then had to stop at the next gas station to let Jonah go to the bathroom. Noticed he didn't have shoes, so we drove back to the house to get shoes and let someone else go to the bathroom. The van door was left open and Izzy jumped out and ran away. So we had to chase Izzy down. It's a good thing we didn't have a set time for leaving. No pressure. So why was I still stressed and annoyed? It's all part of the adventure, right?

Okay, on to Grandma's house! 2 hour drive. Only 2 hours and I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. A couple phone calls helped. Thanks, family!

We were greeted by presents laid out for us. Yeah! Just for fun, unexpected presents. Then we ran outside to play. They have the coolest backyard, thanks to Grandpa Arne, Uncle Justus, and Aunt Emmeline. There is a mini house for pretend play and perfect for tea parties. A sand pit with digging toys. A tree swing. A zip line. and a camp fire pit, though we didn't use that this time. We spent a lot of time outside the few days we were there!

We played "Sams Club" as my kids call it. We pretended we were at the grocery store giving out samples of food products. Everyone chose a snack and divided it among small cups. We even wore hair nets and gloves. Everyone took a turn going around to visit the various sample stations, and ended up with lots of different snacks! Thanks for the great idea, Lizz!

We even fit in an outing to the park. What a fun-filled day!

On St Patrick's Day Jonah and Annabelle made traps to try to catch a leprechaun. Jonah's was a jar with a craft stick taped to it as a climbing ramp. inside was marshmallows to lure it and honey to get stuck in.
Annabelle's was a box with popsicle sticks glued to it as a ladder, on top was cut a whole, and marshmallows inside and syrup. They kept checking their traps to see if a leprechaun had come yet. while the kids were gone on a walk a leprechaun came. The traps disappeared and candy was left instead!

The next morning we found out a leprechaun had come during the night. He left a trail of clues leading to some treasure! Yeah, more presents and candy! We sure are spoiled at Grandma's house. Thanks, leprechaun!

We had a wonderful time. We managed to fit in some more play before heading home. That was a great way to spend Spring Break. So nice that the weather warmed up for us, too. Oh, we didn't get to our research reports. We'll see if we get to work on that this week. Or not.

Since being back home we had a day or so of crankiness, but I that is to be expected after trips. I think we are back to normal now. But tomorrow we have to get up early again for school. Time to get back into a normal routine.

Spring Break

This is spring break for us. Yesterday we went to the Iowa City Library. It is a bit of a drive for us, but well worth it. We checked out books on Mozart, Beethoven, and musical instruments! The library has great play spots to entertain the little kids, I love it. Just outside the library is a playground where we met friends and ate lunch. When we got home we started a movie right away to keep things quiet. We watched Nanny McPhee Returns. Then we headed outside to play. It is fun to visit with neighbors again. I feel like we haven't seen each other all winter.

After dinner the kids decided it was time to start running sprints in the backyard. So we did that. I have to really run hard to keep up with Annabelle.

Finn is transitioning to one nap a day. Did I already tell you that? It makes a big difference in opening up more time for outings. We still have to be home for a few hours starting after lunch, but that's better than 9:30 -10:30 and 1:30 to 3. Grace and Olivia are transitioning to no nap. I don't push the nap anymore unless one or both are obviously not handling things well. Whenever we do lay down for a nap they fall asleep easily, without much fuss. But when they do nap, they stay awake until 9 or 10 at night. So I decided I like the no nap. We can get a lot more done during the day with no nap! I have always napped with my kids. And I suppose I still could while Finn naps, but I guess I am transitioning along with Grace and Olivia. All the sudden I have an extra hour in my day! It is kind of exciting for me.

Today when Ezra was getting off work in the morning (still working night shift), he called us and invited us to go out to breakfast with him! So we went to IHOP. Yummy food. Fun to do something out of the ordinary.

After chores, the kids played with neighborhood kids. Everyone was outside yesterday and today, enjoying the beautiful weather.

Tuesday afternoon and evening is our piano lesson, then home for a quick dinner, then off to guitar lesson. Of course, for these we all load up in the van and wait together for the lesson to finish. During piano we have errands to run. During guitar we can go in and sit down and watch/listen. We bring the portable DVD player and the girls all watch something quietly while I keep Finn from touching things. Today it was warm enough and light enough that Finn and I got to walk around outside during guitar. That kept Finn happy.

Tomorrow we are planning to go over to Ames to Grandma Susan's house for a couple days. We are excited!

Finn in nursery! -a bit early

Finn is transitioning to one nap a day. This makes church tricky since our meetings this year are from 11:30-2:30. Right in prime nap time. I tried to get Finn a nap before church, but he never went to sleep.

So, since I was teaching sunbeams again, and knowing how hands-on I need to be with these sunbeams, and knowing Finn hadn’t napped and would be difficult, I went ahead and took Finn to nursery a week early! The nursery leaders didn’t seem to mind much. I’m so glad I did that. It was hard enough. The nursery leaders said Finn did fine. I didn't get a chance to ask more detail on his first experience there. Certainly no problem dropping him off and leaving them there. He found a seat right away like all the other kids doing puzzles at the table. The leader was holding Finn when I picked him up. He looked very tired.

Grace volunteered to do the Article of Faith in opening exercises. Jonah did it in Sr Primary (it is the 4th Article of Faith this month. One child recites it first, then the whole primary says it together). Also, Annabelle gave a talk in primary on prophets. She said it went fine. She checked out pictures from the library to go with her talk. She wrote her talk herself. She talked about the things prophets have asked us to do, like read scriptures, have FHE, write in journal... when we do these things we are really obeying God. She also mentioned how meeting Elder Nelson a few months ago was a neat experience for her.

Finn and Olivia both fell asleep on the way home, of course, and stayed asleep bringing them in the house. I was able to nap a little. We watched a Planet Earth segment. Love those. I love the broad perspective it gives.

Annabelle and Grace made up a dance routine to "I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." Jonah enjoyed trying to trip them up.

Our 3-year old is having potty training regression, meaning she was potty trained, but now is not making it to the toilet on time. While she was in the tub and I was cleaning the floor downstairs, she cried out for mom to come quick! She had pooped again in the tub.

I had a meeting at our house tonight for RS planning meeting. So we got the kids all ready for bed, then set up a short movie for them together in Jonah's room. I gave them very strict instructions that after the movie was over they had to go to their own beds without disrupting us in the living room. Our meeting was mostly distraction free.

Our Day Last Sunday

Went to Stake Conference last Sunday to watch the broadcast for all of the midwest. We sat in the primary room so we could let the kids sprawl out a bit and do some reverent church activities (mostly activities cut from the Friend magazine). I asked the kids on the way home what they remembered hearing. Jonah and Annabelle remembered hearing about the living waters. Grace remembered the story about the coat that was stollen then paid for 40 years later. They told me a couple other things. I guess they actually listened to some!

We played tag in the backyard. I was "it" for a long time, trying hard to tag those kids (they make it hard by establishing several time-out spots). Well I guess I was so focused on tagging kids that I didn't realize Finn had wandered off to the front and nearly into the street. A neighbor brought him to me. Woops!

Frozen Veggies

I learned tonight that my kids prefer their mixed veggies frozen, straight from the freezer bag, rather than cooked. I just put a small handful on Finn's tray to give him something to snack on while waiting for me to finish cooking. He gobbled them up! I gave him more, and he ate more! That's the most veggies I've seem him eat at one time. Olivia stole some. I put some in a bowl on the table and everyone ate them like they were candy! So we had frozen veggies tonight with our french bread pizza. Easiest meal EVER!

Annabelle and Jonah discovered that they could peel the frozen green bean pod away from the tiny beans inside. That's normal, similar to opening a pea pod and taking out the peas. But when they took out the tiny beans, the beans weren't touching, but were held together by a strip of ice.