Thanksgiving week

Monday started out as they usually do around here, a mix of school and child labor as we try to get the house in order after the weekend.  The difference was that last weekend I had done a lot of thinking about homeschool and made a few decisions.  First of all I decided that our cramped little school corner wouldn't do anymore and so we rearranged the living room.

 Tuesday was a half day of school for Tyler and when he came we decided to brave the snowstorm and make an Ikea/ Costco/ Cracker Barrel run.  We didn't want to get snowed in and I HAD to have a school table for the kids before I attempted another day of homeschool.  So off we went and Tyler let us listen to Christmas music the entire drive!  Unfortunately we didn't make it to Costco for food and such, but we did get the girls Christmas dolls from Cracker Barrel and came home with a tabletop and legs from Ikea for a steal that Tyler cut and assembled to make our awesome and amazing table!!!  I don't know how I did without it.

 To make matters even more amazing, Tyler took us to the Kids Museum on Wednesday!  We were going on 12 solid hours of Tyler time by this point and were drunk with excitement from so much of his uninterrupted attention! Or maybe it was just me.

 The kids ran crazy and we painted and silkscreened and paper-wove to our hearts content while the wind blew and the snow fell outside.

 Quinn was on the verge of popping another tooth and was in that tired, angry, sad, sick, slightly amused mood as we strolled her around the museum.

 And I was trying to plan out the next 24 hours and figure out what needed to be put in the oven when and if we had enough refrigerator/ oven space and time for everything.

 Tyler had invited a few friends over from school, and the girls were pretty excited about Thanksgiving.

 Heidi came to my purse to steal my keys so she could drive the smart car.  She then insisted on leaving the keys with the car and hid them.  Luckily I was able to find them after she ran off to pursue some other activity.

 Alex was a big help Thursday.  She assembled the cracker try, the veggie platter and scooped the cranberry sauce into the cup.

 Tyler did all the yucky turkey handling AND whipped up a pecan pie Thursday morning!  It was beyond delicious and I probably ate half.

 It was a fun mix of friends and the kids only misbehaved mostly.  The food was good and the company was great, the next best thing to having someone else do the cooking and spending it with family.

 I think my favorite part was the cow we got.  The girls and I found it at the store last week and together we decided that we NEEDED it!  Tyler thought (still thinks) I'm crazy for buying a cow gravy (or milk) boat, but the fact that the girls were just as excited about it as I was, pretty much made my life!  It's nice to outnumber Tyler 3 to 1 with my crazy schemes and purchases.

 I decided I had better try to capture this cute little mouth before it explodes with teeth.  Tyler suggested I wipe her face, I thought it was too much work at that moment.  He was right.

 Friday I got to take Alex and Heidi on a date to see the new movie "Frozen".  We LOVED it, my new favorite Disney film.  It was so much fun taking the girls to the movie and getting popcorn and a soda.  They loved it and so did I!  This is also the 'before' picture of my hair.  I had about 10 inches chopped off that night.  It is wonderful.  After the movie we went to get tights from Old Navy.  Heidi cried when we walked in the store and then ran away twice. I lost Alex once.  Doesn't look like we will try Black Friday shopping again for another 10 years.

 Sunday one of Tyler's teachers invited us over to his house to see Santa!  The whole place was decked out in decorations and there was a magical table filled with cookies of every kind!  It was amazing!  Alex even braved up enough to ask Santa where the deer were and he let her ring the bells to call them.  She then insisted we look around the backyard for them and when Tyler informed her that flying deer don't exist, she was full of questions.  I've told her the truth about 10 times, but she refuses to believe, so I've decided to be honest but vague and let her believe what she wants to at this point.

 Quinn believes.

We came home and decorated the house and set up the tree.  Alex is more into decorations and activities than I am for the first time and it's so fun.  It seems that in the past it's been me dragging the family along on traditions and such, but this year Alex has taken the lead and is pulling the rest of us along.  It looks to be a fun and eventful holiday season!

Anniversary and Zoo class

I have every intention of doing an Anniversary post.  But in case I don't, Tyler and I went on a date for our 7th anniversary.  It was fun. I love him. Yay!

 Our 7th anniversary also marked the last day of Alex's Zoo class.  I think It was also the last nice semi-warm day of the year.

 Heidi had declared it shark day, so our first stop after dropping Alex off at class was the aquarium.

Quinn is voracious and so we decided to stop at the picnic tables and enjoy some Kix, Pommelos and oranges. 

 Heidi loves to peel oranges.  She takes her time and gets all the pith off, takes one bite and 9 times out of 10 exclaims "Yuck, too sour!" I roll my eyes, this coming from the little girl who sucks on limes for fun. Having free orange peeling labor works out well for me though.

 Quinn will eat anything.  She gets a thrill from catching and consuming her prey and so far Kix hold the biggest challenge and thus, reward.  She gets so intense about it.  It's hilarious.

 Being a fairly windy and chilly day at the Zoo we had the place to ourselves so we spent some quality time with the sharks.

 I have a pretty irrational fear of sharks, so I like to linger in the shark tunnel and study them in hopes of overcoming said fear.

 Heidi is the best lingerer ever.

 This day we focused on the teeth and eyes.  It totally creeped me out.

 Heidi insisted I document how tall she was.  And then had me stand on the scale to see how tall I was.

 Our friend bear may be pregnant.  They have sent some of her poop to a beagle in Kansas who will smell it and then tell whether she is or not!  So there you go, learn something new everyday.

 The Zoo used to have these massive sting rays that you could pet.  Then one day they were gone and there were just a bunch of tiny ones.  Heidi inevitably soaks her sleeve every time trying to touch one.

 Here is the little princess picking her nose inside the sting ray tunnel.

 We spent a lot of time observing the fish that day.  We got lucky and happened to be in the right place at the right time to see some feedings.  Watching the Piranhas eat was crazy fascinating!

 I think next time we go I'm going to document the Zoo from Heidi's perspective.  It's a lot different than mine.  We were in the elevator at the aquarium (instead of taking the ramp down because Heidi begged to ride the elevator) I told Heidi not to wake up Quinn who was sleeping in the stroller or I'd tickle her until she turned blue.  At that moment Quinn woke up on her own.  Heidi looked at me and teasingly I said "You'd better run!"

 Well the elevator doors opened and she did run.  All the way across the building and then up the ramp to the second floor again.  Somehow that was the moment that everyone at the Zoo was in that building and she was able to gain quit the lead.  She had nearly escaped the building when I finally caught her just as she was trying to follow a lady into a secure staff only room.
   I'm embarrassed to say this was the second time she had evaded me that day and also the second time I had been told of her location by the same lady, with 3 small kids.  I can only imagine her thinking "Lady, if you can't keep control over that one and a baby in a stroller, you better quit now!"  Heidi and I had a long talk in which we concluded that I would never tickle her again, and she wouldn't ever run away or break her promise.
  That marked the time to go back and get Alex and on the way we discovered the WORST job at the Zoo.

 Shark feeder.  I can now add it to my list of jobs to rattle off to Alex when she complains about school "If you don't learn how to read then you will have to be a ___________"  Garbage man, box lifter, shark feeder.

 It must have been feeding time because we got to see the polar bear, sharks, sea lion and fish being fed. Awesome!

 Alex on the other hand got to pet a macaroni penguin.  Bit of jealously on our part.

 After class we looped back to Kids Kingdom to freeze ourselves and play a bit more.

 Heidi got to see the Kangaroo jump.  This was very exciting.  We had just watched a Wild Kratts on Kangaroos and Heidi was spouting off facts.  Alex LOVES the Wild Kratts show.  She told me that she had prayed that they would come visit her at our house, which prompted me to suggest we write to them (she had so much faith that God would tell them where we lived and that they would come.  I figured we should put in a little food work just in case.)  So she drew this great picture and we wrote a letter and then I couldn't find their address anywhere.  So I wrote to their company and got an e-mail back with the address!  I was really excited.  I also wrote the Zoo and told them to hire the Kratts for a event.  These guys have gotten Alex off of princesses and now she wants to be a Biologist instead of a cashier when she grows up!!!!!

 The day ended with the most glorious sight!  Our dear friend cutsy pie who has NEVER been awake during one of our visits was pacing around.  We were thrilled.

 Alex is in Girl Scouts and just got her vest and first patch!  She sold some magazines and earned another one that she is really excited about.  Thanks to all those who helped out!

 We decided to do a homemade Christmas this year, and Alex wanted to make Quinn a mermaid.  So we worked on it together for a week and here it is! I am a very proud Mom!

 Saturday we had Tyler to ourselves for the WHOLE DAY!!!!!  It was the first time in a long time and so we did a bit of spontaneousness and celebrating.  First was the library (after 2 hours spent looking for an overdue video that was eventually found in an underwear drawer. Seriously kids?!), then the girls were reminiscing over Utah and brought up how we used to always go get doughnuts and take them to the shop.  So we tried to track down a bakery.  An hour and a few forays through scary neighborhoods and we found a Dunkin Doughnuts.  We each had a few bites of each one and for some reason the box full of bitten doughnuts and dough scraps made me really happy.  We got home just in time for a temperature drop and some snow!

The girls were very excited and ran outside.  I took a picture and then made them return for coats and mittens.
   It's cold here.  Right now I think it's  17 degrees, but it feels like -20 and our room is the coldest in the house.  Luckily the kids is the warmest and they don't seem to be bothered by it.  I don't plan on leaving the house until spring.  I wasn't planning on buying curtains, but if there is any chance they can help keep out the cold then YES.  That or I'll just cover every window and door with a blanket.
   I remember this summer when the electricity went out, I thought I was going to die- it was so hot and miserable.  I thought "I can see how people could die in this humid heat."  Now it's cold, and I can totally see how people could die if the electricity went out.  I hear February is the worst.  Believe it or not, I wore socks around the house for perhaps the first time in 5 years today.  It's that bad.

November

Heidi loves school.  She loves having my undivided attention while we learn something together, especially when I'm in the middle of teaching Alex something complicated, administering a test, or feeding the baby.  The other day I kept putting her off with promises that I would do her school in a few minutes after Alex finished a test.

Heidi wandered off and I assumed she was playing contently.  Awhile later I spotted her walking slowly down the hall, head down, arms behind her back.  This is Heidi's tell.  These days she could get away with pretty much anything and I wouldn't know, but when she does something she knows is bad, the quiet head droop slow walk hiding arms tells me something is up.

She admitted to drawing on the walls.  I was mad until I saw that she had actually drawn things!  Beautiful little Heidi people and snowmen!  I had to hide my smile while informing her of her punishment to clean them all up.  We discovered that her art wasn't limited to the walls, but spread to the doll house, and cubbies as well.  It was adorable.

The next day it snowed!  I make hot coco and pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and we listened to Christmas music while we ate.

Alex got dressed and put on shoes before running outside. Heidi found some socks and gloves and ran out in the Cinderella dress she had worn the previous day, and also slept in.  The first thing Heidi did was grab a handful of snow and throw it at Alex.

This probably didn't help our image as "that crazy homeschool family" next door.

EVERY time we use the red cups (weekly) Alex makes sure I know that these are HER tea cups from Aunt Kate, and that she is letting us use them out of the kindness of her heart.

Last week was also day 70 of school.  It also marked the day I think we may have finally figured out a homeschool routine that works for us.  

That routine is basically this:
    Don't try to get anything important or organized done while Quinn is awake.  When Quinn naps, distract Heidi with coloring and try to get Math and Phonics done. Spend Quinn's awake hours doing sister school (Alex teaching Heidi or vice versa) and topics that can be taught while holding or feeding or chasing a baby.

Quinn can almost crawl.  She rolls and scoots and can get her legs crawling around- her arms don't quite corporate yet, but she can get around!  She has those baby eagle eyes and LOVES to shove tiny dangerous things in her mouth.  All of the tiny toys have been confiscated.  In fact about 90% of the toys have been confiscated and relocated to bags in the dungeon.  The kids have yet to notice- It's sort of wonderful and unbelievable all at once.  The toy room is never a mess and the kids are content.

Saturday I tried a freezer meal soup day with a friend and we pumped out 6 large batches of soup a piece!  My freezer is full and it's nice having those healthy meals in a snap. One batch lasted us 3 days!

And lastly, Ben- I love all the comments you leave.  Thank you for always posting some hilarious comment that makes me homesick for you guys and glad for the internet and angry that you and Kate are so terrible at blogging.  Then I realize that Ben and Kate are beating EVERYONE ELSE under the table with their once every 4 month posts (ahhhmmm, Kara, Danielle/ Michael, Natalie and the rest of you who abandoned social media so I have NO IDEA what you guys are up to. )  So thank you Ben, they are the best part of blogging.