Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Four and a Half






















Our sweet sweet babes turn 4 1/2 today. Yikes. The downhill slide to the big five. Thank goodness they are not starting kindergarten. We missed the cut-off by five days. My sister is registering our precious Cousin Avery for kindergarten and it hurts my heart. It can't be true.

I think we are doing what all 4 1/2 year old do: whine, dance, sing, build, color, whine, change clothes, read, whine, build puzzles. The girls both love art and their baby dolls. Elliott loves his little lego sets and is getting quite good at them. He also loves puzzles. Mazie says she wants to be a collector. She loves arranging all her little trinkets.

In our four and a half years, we've had several trips to the emergency room. Busted chins and cut thumbs. Elliott grabbed a knife and thought he'd cut him a slice of cheese. He cut his thumb instead. We got it glued shut. His sweet NanaLin mailed him a cheese slicer so he never finds himself in that predicament again. Lucia had to go to the emergency for a busted chin. She is a serious dancer and one evening she met the floor with too much force. The sweet nurse, who Lucia still talks about, taped it together and it has healed nicely. Mazie busted her chin open. H was driving her to the hospital when she saw the paramedics outside the drug store working on a Christmas parade float. She pulled in and they butterflied it.

Here are some of the things they've said over the past few months that H and I have loved.

One of our favorites is something Elliott has said several times in various forms. He loves to eat the tuna packets as a snack. He was at the table one night before bed eating tuna out of a bowl. Lucia asked him what he was eating. He told her, "It is chicken but some people call it petunia."

All three of them will say things like--Does C start with car? and H starts with house.

After I talked to Elliott about not pouring his milk down the drain he said, "I promise I'll do that not again."

Mazie calls her pigtails Pinktails. And Lucia calls freckles nickels. Elliott sometimes calls freckles ankles.

Lucia said she wanted to get a haircut. I asked her when she wanted to go. She said, "March 13th the sepril of April."

Elliott said one day when we lost a helium balloon, "I can't even see a wink of that balloon."

When we were cleaning up, Lucia said, "Only the left thing is I've got to throw these in the mistook."

One thing Elliott loves to do is get a hammer and bam stumps. He also loves to blow out candles. One day he hit his finger with the hammer.  I got a batman band-aid for him, kissed it, and put the band-aid on his hurt finger. I told him "I love Batman but he doesn't hold a candle to you." He said "No, Batman doesn't blow out candles."

Lucia also talk me one day that we need to take Aunt Tiff and Garrett his zippy cup so that we could "business" with them.

When we went to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D, Mazie said, "The glassess make the movie come out."

After Elliott hurt his toe, he said, "I didn't want it to happen to that toe."

Afraid we might have swept a missing puzzle piece up, Elliott said, "We might have swope it up."

Lucia told me one evening when Mazie was being mean to her, "Mazie is being tramatic ugly." I think she meant dramatic but it was also traumatic for Lucia.

We have one pair of little high heeled dress up shoes that the girls play with some times. Lucia was telling me she wanted to wear them and couldn't find them. I was having a brain freeze and couldn't think of what she was talking about. She said, "You know. My uphill shoes."

I have heard Lucia say the following, but I've also heard the other two say similar things. Maybe I should say I've evenly heard the others say it : "He helped her evenly" for He even helped her. Lucia loves to find deer prints when we walk in the woods. To say that she'd found another one, she said, "I found one evenly."

Elliott cracks us up when he says strangerous. It means strange to him. He has used his word on many occasion. He told Grandpa, "Lucia doesn't like butter. Isn't that strangerous?"

One night we were eating shrimp and Lucia turned to me and said, "Mama, thanks for not putting any bones in it."

We ate more tangerines this winter than you could shake a stick at. All three of the children called them Tamberines.

You know you have two daughters when you hear one tell the other, "Yours is sparkly and mine is glittery."

When Lucia found her doll naked, she brought her to me and said, "She has her bottom on." All three of them will still ask us if they can wear their feet when they want to go barefooted.

They all call the remote the commode or the cammote. It is funny to hear Mazie say, "No Elliott, I have the commode."

When Lucia stuck her pants in the wrong pant leg she said, "I was the matter with it."

Elliott has told us that God lives at Disneyland. He has also suggested that we "ask God if this is fingerpaint or brush paint."

Our son will also ask us "How do you think?" when showing us a painting he just did.

They all say "lose" for "use." But sometimes they say use for lose.

One night at supper I served Jello with fruit in it. Some thing the children had never seen before. Mazie looked at it and said, "Oh gahhhwd, What in the world tarnation?"

Instead of Dadgummit. They all three will say, "Awh dummick."

Lucia has said, "I wanted some candy and I was thoughting I wanted bubblegum."

Lucia was excited that she hit a balloon all the way up to the ceiling. She said, "Elliott, I have certain news to tell you."

After Halloween time, Elliott was wearing a plastic pumpkin ring. I asked him if he was wearing a ring, he said, "I asked it is it candy. He said no it's fruit."

Lucia, "If it was 89 100% to go past bedtime that would be right now."

Lucia told me one evening, "Bee is gonna come home in a few whiles."

Lucia also likes to exclaim thanksgiving in her own way. She has said, "Goodness sake we got the toys in before the big bad rain comes." Also, "Goodness we got to the icee house before the closed."

Mazie says, "It's no matter," instead of It doesn't matter.

Lucia told Elliott, "You better stop be roughing."

Here is a conversation H had with Mazie:
Mazie: "Did you know I used to be a dentist?"
H: "No, were you a dentist when you were three?"
Mazie: "No, I was a dentist when I was Lordy, Lordy, Mazie's 40."

Our cats have to stay outside at night. Lucia said to me one night, "When the dark isn't up we can go get the kitty."

Elliott and Lucia do not like butter. At breakfast one morning he asked me, "Is there just bread in my biscuit?"

We often here them say things like what Mazie told us when we told her it was about time to get out of the bathtub, "I want to stay in here a few whiles."

Lucia came to me crying, saying, "She was aggravating with us and we were being so mad."

One morning, we were painting rocks that we'd collected on a walk. Elliott asked me if I had anymore rocks for him to paint. I didn't. He said, "You are grossing me out." I ignored him, thinking he was talking to one of the rocks or to himself. He said it again. "You are grossing me out." I asked him if he was talking to me. He said, "Yes." I asked why he was saying that. He said, "Because you don't have anymore rocks for me to paint."

They all say things like "watch an eye out for it."

Elliott: "I asked her twice times."

Mazie, talking about bagels: "We didn't have these last morning the other day. So can we have then later ofter?"

Elliott told me: "Good for not losing the lid, Mama."

After spilling water out of the tub, Elliott said to his sisters, "Let's do eennie meenie miney mo to see who did it."

When Brandi Carlile's song "Dreams" came on, Lucia said to me, "Mama, this one rocks out."

Mazie realized "headache is kinda like you don't need a loud voice."

Mazie will also say, "Look, they are taller than each other."

Lucia says "goodness" instead of "thank goodness." As in, "Goodness we didn't lose your bracelet, Mazie."

Elliott has recently had a phase of not wanting his hair washed because he doesn't want the shampoo to burn his eyes. Who knows why, we've always used Johnson and Johnson. When I went to put shampoo in his hair one evening, he freaked out. "Does it say yes tears?" he asked me, instead of No More tears.

One night at the supper table, Lucia burped and I got onto her. She replied with, "Our bodies just don't think they're at the table and they burp it out."

We went to Christmas Eve service with my dad. Cousin Avery got to carry the Baby Jesus up to the front during the service. It was a plain wooden doll. The next day, Avery, Lucia, and Mazie were talking. One of my girls said, "Don't say a bad word or baby Jesus will spank you. Avery said, "Baby Jesus won't spank you because she's wooden."

Elliott's favorite number is fifty-eighty. He usually has fifty-eighty of something and whatever is about to happen usually happens in fifty-eighty minutes.







Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Room for New

We have been some busy little bees. The children have needed children's rooms. We switched houses almost two years ago and we'd done nothing to their rooms. So, we decided to undertake the project. Each child got to choose their wall color and their theme. Mazie chose Pink Raspberry and mermaids.
I must say the color Mazie chose made me throw up a little in the beginning. It is very bright and very pink. But now that the room is done, I love it. I think the girl's got vision and style. It is such a happy color and the room suits her great. And our little girl loves mermaids more than anything, and has for a while. She'll often put her feet together and tuck them behind her saying, "Mama, this is how a mermaid sits."
She is now the proud owner of a desk that H's dad build. She loves keeping her stuff in it. We hope Mazie has many hours of delight and relaxation in her bedroom.
Lucia was wavering too much in her (lack of) decisions, so we are giving her a little more time to decide on her room details. She has committed to light pink walls and lots of polka dots. She just can't seem to decide among princesses, ballerinas, fairies, princess ballerinas, polka dot fairies, or pink and purple fairy ballerinas. We will let you know what she goes with.
Elliott picked a fantastic blue for his walls and he wanted super heroes. I love how his room turned out.
I tried to make a lot of the elements of their rooms. Pinterest was a tremendous help. How did we function before Pinterest?

The posters over the bed have batman sitting on the left building and spider man swinging toward the right building.

My dad gave us this chalkboard several years ago. It came out of his office. For the past two years it has been on the back porch/play room. They didn't use it much because there was always junk in front of it. All three love playing with it. They love to draw with chalk and they love to get a paint brush and water and paint (or clean) it.
We hope Elliott has many hours of enjoyment in his new bedroom. He is our super hero.

Happy Leap Day!

Monday, February 27, 2012

Rolling in the Ditch


Lucia singing one of everyone's favorite songs. Elliott taking a bath.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Sweet Nannie

A few weekends ago we had a birthday party for H's sweet grandmother, Nannie. She turned 93 at the end of January. We used a big empty house at the red light and invited anyone to come.
There was a wonderful turn out of love and appreciation for this remarkable lady. She is such an encouragement and blessing to all who know her.


Happy Birthday, Nannie. We love you good.
I love photos with multiple generations. The photo above shows four generations of the family.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

To Grandma Livvy's House We Go

I promised my grandma we would go see her some time in January. (On our way to her house the week before Christmas, Lucia started throwing up and we had to turn back.) So, with the end of January approaching, I loaded us up and we headed her way. Like a terrible granddaughter, I took No pictures of my children with my Grandma. We must go back soon so I can.
The three and I did go into the big city for a day and had a great time. My aunt went with us to the children's museum, Centennial park, and to get a frosted orange. We had a fantastic time.
H and I took the babes to the children's museum when they were much younger--probably at least two years ago. It was fun to take them back and notice some of the differences in their interests and skills. This trip they were not into the food area or the dress-up area like they were before.
There were some new stations that we enjoyed--like moon sand* and milking a life-size cow.



For the first hour we were there, a lot of school children were there. It was loud and busy. I really noticed a difference in my three once the commotion filed out. Elliott especially was able to concentrate on a task much better. He spent about 90 seconds at the moon sand when the museum was rocking. Once it cleared out, he sat there for 30 minutes working on building the tallest tower he could.



The painting area was new too. The Girls especially enjoyed it.

Elliott loved the crane and balls and gutters and pulleys. He spent most of his time there with my aunt.
Lucia enjoyed working in her garden.
Mazie stopped to enjoy some gears. Maybe she has a little Grandpa in her?

*We have made moon sand since we've gotten home. I had seen a recipe on the internet and tried a batch one day when we had a little friend coming over. All moon sand is is 8 cups flour to 1 cup baby oil. It feels great. We played with it outside, so I am not sure how the clean-up is on it. It doesn't stick to your hands though, or make them oily.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

What is Love?

Yesterday I asked the children what Love means. When they said, "It means 'I love you,'" I asked in a different way. "When I say 'I love you' what does that mean?" Here are their answers.

Lucia: It means 'I really love you, Lucia. You are so beautiful.'

Elliott: Much

Mazie: Heart

We hope your Valentine's Day was filled with much beautiful heart.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Mr. Foxy

We have fox squirrels where we live. We love watching them run and play and jump from tree to tree. We had a good rain yesterday and this little guy came out to play after the clouds passed.
A fox squirrel has a fluffy reddish tail and face markings that look like a bandit mask.
We call every fox squirrel we see "Mr. Foxy" and we always stop to watch them scamper and climb.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

One Expensive Cup of Coffee

I swannee on my soul I can't catch a break with this blog. I was getting back into my groove with it all when last Sunday morning I built a huge bump in my road, a mound of great proportion. Let me paint the picture for you:




I have a chair and ottoman with a small bookshelf on one side and a table on the other side. I sit here in the mornings when I get up. I drink my coffee, read, write, maybe sew a bit. My table usually houses half a dozen books, my sewing box, pens, a picture frame. I have never set my coffee cup on my knee before. I usually put it on the table, occasionally I'll put it on the arm of the chair. For some reason, last Sunday morning I set the coffee on my right knee, bent and standing up beside my computer which was resting on my left thigh. Of course in no time at all the coffee cup started to fall.

The way I grabbed for my coffee cup was the exact way I should have grabbed it if I wanted to spill the entire contents into the center of my laptop's keyboard. The computer immediately made two electrical-type noises and then shut itself down. I don't remember my response exactly, but I feel I immediately made two cussing-type noises and then freaked out.

I love my lap top. I have had it for five years this month. The month we got pregnant with LEM. It has housed my life for the last five years, the most full five years of my life. It has marker on it. The E key is broken, completely gone. I can still see breast milk on it in places. I have loved and abused, tortured and adored this thing.

We have a good friend who is a computer genius. He took pity on me and came to carry the laptop away. He felt sure he could get the hard drive recovered. He said he'd clean up the insides (he used more technical terms than that) and then after 72 hours he'd turn it on and see what happened. But, he laughed the few times I asked him if he thought it would work again. No.

Wednesday evening he brought my beloved back to me--in working order. I am having some significant internet issues, but everything else is there. And, I am hoping the internet can be worked out.

So, here I am with H's laptop, using clip art for images. It doesn't take much to set me back. I'll either get my laptop in working order or load pictures onto this laptop. Until then, I'll just do what I can, which is all I can do.

The moral of the story is ... obvious.