Brother and Sister Love

 

 

 

 

 

 

Misc. February Happenings

 

Whoa Willem is brave! We sometimes cannot believe this is our son who was so shy and quiet 2 years ago. Willem is now adventurous, strong and quite opinionated. He takes great care in the outfits he assembles and always has a reasoning behind the items he chooses. These pictures are from his friend Ben's Birthday party. I think Jason and I had as much fun as the kids did. Trampoline parks are great!

 

Ellie was quite protective of Audrey at the party. She did not like anyone else holding her and talked one guest down until they gave Audrey back to me.

We went to Henry's Birthday party another weekend at Rawhide. We'd never been there before, but had a great time. Rawhide is a mock old western town. This was my first venture to a party with 3 kids. It was messy but we made it. The party was outside and it was VERY windy that day. There was a lot of walking, 2 blowout diapers and multiple Ellie meltdowns but the kids had fun and many adults at the party helped me.

As a group we went to a gun show. Willem loved the comedy antics but Ellie didn't like the gunfire at all. Audrey slept through the whole show:) All Ellie wanted to do was go on a burro ride so after the party I took the kids to the burros. They loved their ride around the corral. No fear at all.

They had Pony Day at Ellie's preschool this month where the kids get to go on a pony ride (which was right up Ellie's alley) and get their pictures taken. I have Willem's picture of the same even and he did not enjoy it one bit. Ellie looked as though she rode horses all the time. She LOVED the whole experience.

 

Just as basketball was ending, Tball season began.

Basketball Season

Willem played basketball through the Y this year for the first time. The basketball was SO tall compared to the kids. It was amazing how much the team learned throughout the season. Willem was quite aggressive and loved going for the jump balls. He'd tell his team mates he was open and wave his arms around.
 

 

 

 

Ellie was the consummate cheerleader for Willem. She was at every practice and game cheering him on. She spent most games hanging out with her friend Belle and doting on Audrey.

 

 

Tia Julie even made it to a game. Everyone was a trooper seeing as though most of the games were at 8 am. 8 am games with 3 kids was rough! But we made it. Not that we weren't up anyway, just getting everyone loaded and dressed was a bit crazy.

 

The 1st of many seasons to come! He definitely got the basketball bug:)

A month of firsts

Willem read to us a non-Bob book for the first time this week. He's been reading to us most nights and out of the blue he picked Llama llama misses Mama. It was late and we were all worn out and I started to encourage him to pick a Bob book but he was all excited to read the book he chose. Much to our surprise, he read us half the book that night with little trouble. He sounded out the words and with a little help was able to read it quite well. Cannot believe our baby is reading. He's been able to sound out basic words for awhile now but the words he was reading were far more difficult than what he has been reading to us. We'll be driving in the car and he'll say, "why does that car say jeep on it?" or "what does that sign say"-tried explaining a bankruptcy signed today, a bit confusing. I can't wait for the world to open up to him as he is able to read more and more. He's so inquisitive and is loving to read the Magic School Bus books and Magic Tree House series. Just wish we had more time in the day to read with him. Am glad he'll be able to quench his thirst for books on his own soon so he can read as much as he desires.

Another 1st... Riding camels
We went to the zoo two weeks ago and when we got to the camel area both kids asked to ride them. Up until now they've been very scared of them and paid them little attention. Not this time. They got right onto the camel with Jason and rode around as though they'd done it many times before. Two weeks later Julie and Rachel took them to the zoo and away they rode again. They are getting so brave!

Ellie now has an affinity for high heels. I find this pretty funny because I never wear them and she doesn't have any. While I was nursing Audrey the other day, Ellie found our step stoop and brought it over to my closet door. She proceeded to climb onto it and pull out a pair of heels from my shoe rack(from my working days). Then away she went clomping around the house with her new find. I wonder how long she'd been admiring those heels. She clearly had been thinking about doing this for awhile. Since she found them she's been taking them down most days to walk around the house in.

Audrey has become a scooter. We lay her on her back on a mat and next thing we know she's on her stomach and halfway off the mat and turned a different direction. She seems to prefer her tummy (darn the back is best research). Not a fan of sitting up in the Bumbo but loves the bouncy seat still. Grandma gave her a bath with the kids the other day and she seemed to enjoy it. Just got her bath seat out and plan to try it out next week. We tried the exersaucer but she's not quite stable enough yet.

Another funny happening as of late. Yesterday riding in the car with Ellie and Audrey I hear Ellie say, "stop Audrey, too loud, you hurting my ears." I hadn't heard Audrey say a thing. So Ellie repeats herself a few minutes later and I ask her what Audrey is saying. She says, "She's making kissing noises with her lips Mommy." A bit of a stretch for being a loud noise, especially coming from our child who usually knows only one tone and it is not quiet. Ellie is still enamored by Audrey at times but rivalry has definitely kicked in. She'd like to be held most anytime I need to nurse or care for Audrey, especially in the afternoons. As long as I'm not tending to audrey she's all about nurturing her but if I'm there she wants all the attention. Totally understandable, we are all still adjusting. Dinner time is our big challenge right now as we have a rule that the kids can't sit in my lap or they would both be in my lap each night. Well Audrey usually needs to be held at that time because it's her tired/grumpy time. That is not faring well. Not sure how that's going to work on the nights when I'm alone with the three of them. 5-7 is still the roughest time of the day for everyone, hoping that gets easier when Audrey starts being in the high chair and eating solids herself. We'll see....

Friday fun

I'm blogging this for later years when my kids may forget the joy they attain from cleaning.

Haven't even made it indoors yet from school and the kids asked to clean outside. Willem told me when he grows up he wants to be a cleaner man. They did not get this gene from me!

Audrey is 3 months old!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audrey at 3 months: Happy, curious, great sleeper. She loves sucking on her arm, laying next to her siblings and being in Mommy's arms.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentinte's Day!! Willems class did a class party on Valentines Day and I was able to attend sans Audrey and help out. It was great having that one on one time with him and seeing how close of friendships he's formed this year. His class gets along so well and Willem is in his element there.
 

 

Jason worked that night but we had a family Valentines Dinner and made the kids favorite meal right now (pasta). We had fun taking pictures and they enjoyed their valentines gifts.

 

 

 

 

 

1st Solo VSSA Recital

Willem's been participating in VSSA for a year and a half now. Now that he's into the Twinkles it was time for him to give his first solo performance in front of the group. There were 5x as many people as had been in the audience at his other recitals and he was playing Twinkle. I was nervous for him. The weeks leading up to the recital we practiced and practiced.
 

Mom can be too serious at times during our home practices but Willem always brings a certain comic flare (aka can drive Mom crazy but in hindsight is quite hilarious).

One day he gave a recital to his stuffed animals and Audrey. He'd enter the room, take his bow and get into playing position and play his song. We did this over and over again for several days with his stuffed animal audience. On this particular day he walked in, got into playing position and then jumped/startled. I said, "Willem, what's wrong?" He said, "Mom, I saw Audrey and I though one of our dolls had become real."
 

Willem was the first one to perform and he handled it like a pro. He walked on stage and played in time with the piano, took his bow and sat down. He didn't make eye contact until he had sat back down in his chair. Afterwards we could tell he was proud of himself. We were sure to celebrate all his hard work and gave him lots of praise!