Ethan's Christmas Performance

Last night was Ethan's third grade Christmas performance.  The entire third grade had memorized a one page, single spaced narrative (wow!) along with a number of songs.  At the end, Ethan and two other people had a special musical number on xylophones.  (The girl is Jacey, one of my piano students, and Thomas is the name of the third person.)  I took pictures and Christian took video.  However, we seem to be having a problem figuring out how to get video from Christian's iPhone to upload and work.  So here are some pictures!

 Ethan's awesome teacher, Mrs. Riesen.

Consequence of a Tantrum

Kaitlyn was playing in the boys' bedroom, near their bunk bed.  She picked up a couple of rocks and started banging them together.  Aidan took them away from her, and she had an immediate meltdown.  Unfortunately, she was so close to the bunk bed frame that she hit her nose on the way down.  Which, of course, turned into a real cry because she was hurt.  It looked like she might have a black eye too, but thankfully, it didn't actually happen.

Giant Box

We purchased an item that came with a huge box.  The boys turned it into a bus and had hours of fun riding in the bus.  For some reason, one of the boys stood the box up, and Kaitlyn took the opportunity to have a little fun with the box herself.

Three Piggy Opera

Last night was Aidan's Three Piggy Opera, which the entire first grade performed.  He did a great job!

 Aidan with Mrs. Comstock, his teacher. 

Kaitlyn and Gum

Kaitlyn found my wallet and pulled my pack of gum out of it.  She opened the wrapper, threw it in the garbage, and proceeded to suck on the piece of gum for a while.  (Until I distracted her and threw it away.)  This was the first time she had ever tried gum, and I'm sure it's not the last.

More Pictures

Pictures

I found some great sweaters on sale at The Children's Place online, and figured they would be the perfect accoutrements for my kids to wear for pictures.  (See how I sneaked a French word into the previous sentence?  I even say it with a French accent in my head.  Accoutrement.  Sigh.)

Anyway, we have never had professional pictures taken of Kaitlyn, and I wanted to try to get a picture with all three of my children looking at the camera AND smiling.  I quickly realized that taking them to a studio would be a nightmare - Kaitlyn is bashful and/or leery of anyone she doesn't know.  But Christian has a great knack for photographing people, so I borrowed a camera from my friend Melissa and got my kids all dressed up and ready for pictures.  I figured we would just start with all three kids and graduate to each one individually, and we were bound to get some great photos.  Right?

Well, it depends on your definition of "great."  We didn't get a photo where all three children were looking at the camera and smiling.  It quickly became battle of the wills, and Kaitlyn was determined to win that "game." 

 We call this one "spiritual experience" because they are all looking in three different directions.  This one makes us laugh every time.

This is the best one we got. 

I have cute kids.  I just have to remember to lower my expectations when it comes to taking their pictures!

The Bib Story

On Saturday night, we had spaghetti for dinner.  Kaitlyn was wearing a light colored shirt, so I put a bib on her.  She hasn't worn a bib in months, because for the most part she is a careful eater (or more truthfully, most food I give her is light-colored and not staining).  She was VERY upset about the bib, and threw a fit.  I told her she needed to keep it on, and eventually she calmed down.

We sat down to eat, and Kaitlyn was agitated, whiny, and sad.  She was taking a bite of garlic bread and started crying and pointing to her mouth.  We decided that she was teething (her canines are coming in), and we were trying to be calm with her. 

After a few more minutes of her acting like this, it finally hit me - she was still throwing a fit about the bib!  I took it off, and she was immediately all smiles and happily ate her food.

About an hour later, Christian picked up a baby doll that had been in her stuffed animal holder and gave it to Kaitlyn.  She hugged it and loved on it for a minute.  Then Christian pointed out that the baby doll is wearing a bib, and she looks happy to be wearing it.  (The bib is sewn on to the doll, and can't be removed.)  Kaitlyn pulled the doll back, noticed the bib, and got the same agitated look on her face.  She threw the baby doll down and has refused to touch it or even look at it ever since.

Kaitlyn is a spitfire.

Here's my beautiful lattice-topped apple pie Christian helped me make for my birthday.  I used this recipe (using apples from mom's apple trees).  It was sooo good.

Spork

 Kaitlyn can now open the silverware drawer and reach whatever silverware she wants.  She found this spork, and for some reason decided it had something to do with her foot.  Maybe clipping her toenails?  She only used the fork side, and it was always her big toe, but she did this for quite a while.

We got our first snowfall of the season last night (well, the first snowfall that stuck - three inches, which is already quickly melting).  We went through all of our snowclothes this morning to take inventory of what was needed.  Ethan needed boots, so Christian took him to get some, but all of Aidan's stuff fits.  He was so excited to go outside and build a snowman.

He built the entire thing by himself!  It was so cute watching him work outside.

 We didn't have a carrot, so this snowman has a celery nose.

I'm pretty sure much of this snow will be melted by evening, but I'm glad he had such a fun time!

Just to Show the Difference Between Our Kids' Personalities...

When watching Baby Mozart, there is a part where the dragon says, "BLAH!!" while sticking his tongue out.  Ethan was terrified of this.  He loved the rest of the dvd, but during this part we would have to mute it and shield his eyes.  (He was also scared when the spider drops down from the ceiling during another part.) 

Aidan wasn't affected by this either way.  He just watched it.  He was, however, terrified of the lion in the shapes dvd.  So scared that he couldn't watch it for years.  We put it in for fun when he was five, and he thought it was hilarious.

Kaitlyn loves the lion.  And just now, she was watching Baby Mozart, and the dragon came on.  She was standing as close to the tv as she could (with her stomach pressing up against the tv stand), and when the dragon stuck out his tongue and said BLAH, she leaned up and kissed the tv screen.

She loves giving kisses.  And the only thing she is scared of is loud noises (particularly in public bathrooms when you use the hand-dryer.  At Costco yesterday I thought she would crawl out of my arms when someone else turned the hand-dryer on.)

Halloween

Ethan was a vampire of sorts for Halloween, and Aidan was a racecar driver.  They got to bring their costumes to school and dress up after lunch for a Halloween party.  Then, yesterday evening, we went to the trunk-or-treat at our church.  Ethan was very excited to use face paint and to slick his hair back.  Aidan couldn't be bothered to use his face mask.  But they had lots of fun, going car to car and collecting candy.

 I couldn't get Kaitlyn to stay still long enough for a photo.  Here she is, running by me while I tried to take a picture of her face.

 And here is a picture of her butterfly wings, taken as she ran away from me.  She walked/ran everywhere, the entire time.  It was exhausting.  And cute.

After the trunk or treat, we went to a neighbor's house who specifically asked the boys to come visit them (Miss Diane, Aidan's old preschool teacher), and then we went to DaNean and Debbie's houses, women Christian work with.  Then we came home to divvy out the loot. 

My kids are so cute!  I am so lucky to be their mom!

Logan

We went to the Pumpkin Walk while we were in Logan.

 Hi Yoda!

 Hi again, Yoda!  (With rabbit ears this time.)

 Then, we went to a park near my parents' house, where a dead snake on the slide caused quite a stir.  The next 1/2 hour was spent snake hunting in and around the small pond and grass at the playground.

 Up high!

 Kaitlyn loved the slide.  She had no fear.

 Cute pic of the older cousins!

Cousins after putting on a "performance" for all of us.

Cousins sitting on the stairs.

Kaitlyn's First Sucker

She loved it.

In this video, Kaitlyn randomly decided to start spinning and make herself as dizzy as possible...

The boys made up a game that Kaitlyn loved.  In fact, she laughed so hard that she fell down.  Unfortunately, she didn't do that while I was taping.  But this video is cute too.

Cereal

Kaitlyn has a new way of eating her cereal every morning.

She starts by pulling every single piece out of the milk and putting it on the counter.

Then she drinks the milk.

Next, she eats the cereal.

Smiling at Daddy.

Love Letters

Every day, the members of Aidan's class choose one person to write a note to.  Everyone chooses someone else, so each person goes home with a note.  This one was so adorable I had to share.

 

I read this a couple of times, and couldn't figure out what Gracie was trying to say.  Then, I finally figured it out.  It says, "Dear Aidan.  You are nice and fun and awesome, so awesome.  From, Gracie."  (Don't you love the star dotting her i?)

Cute Little Stinker

This morning, I bit off a little more than I could chew.  I was: making cinnamon rolls because it is a conference tradition, making bread because we had been out for days, making Cafe Rio knock-off for lunch because I had a friend coming to visit and eat with us, attempting to clean the house for the same reason, and then Kaitlyn reminded me that she was hungry.  I hurriedly gave her a yogurt and a spoon, erroneously thinking she would carefully eat it.

I was wrong.

I had to give her a bath when she finished.

Thursday night was Pack Meeting. (Christian is the Cub Master.) It was a special day for Ethan - he got his Wolf Badge! (Every year the boys are eligible to receive a new badge, and they have to do numerous things to earn it. He won't be able to start working toward his Bear until he turns nine.) Ethan is really excited to be earning so many badges, belt loops, and beads!