It's a Marshmellow World

This year we have been doing an advent calendar that suggests things to do each day leading up to Christmas. The other day the calendar said to draw a nativity. Well, we took that suggestion to a whole new level and made a nativity out of tooth picks, kabob sticks and marshmellows. It was a different but truly unique art form. I think it turned out really cute and we had a lot of fun creating it. Here is marshmellow Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus and some kind of animals. Don't they look so happy?

Close-up of Mary, Joseph and the baby. The manger was created by Sammy.

Here is the stable complete with star on top. (Sammy added a chimney later but I guess I didn't get a picture of that - too bad, it was good.)

And here are the artists, Sammy and her friend Kevin. Good job guys!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We recently discovered how fun it is to play with shaving cream. We just squirt a bunch on the counter and let the girls go crazy! They drew pictures in it and we even had a spelling test where they wrote the words in the cream. I think I may keep a spare can of shaving cream around the house all the time to bring out when they are looking for something to do.

We got our first snow this past weekend and the girls were so excited to build a snowman. We used potatoes for his eyes, a baby carrot (I didn't have any big carrots) for the nose and a bent stick for the mouth. Now when they look out the window they comment that the snowman is probably lonely so it looks like the next snow storm we get, we'll be out making him a family.

Alex wanted to go out so bad but she had a cold. Poor girl!

Catching snowflakes on the tongue; apparently snow tastes like sugar... who knew!

Hippy Chicks and Leaf Jumping

Abby and Sammy realized one night that the baby's chain links make great earrings. They wore them for days. They felt very grown up with their earrings, pajamas, sunglasses and my high heels. You never know what these two will come up with. In fact, today they tied multiple pajama pant bottoms around their chests and waists as fashionable outfits. They are creative, I will give them that much...

Don't mess with us!

Grrrrrrrrr!

Charles raked up the leaves in the front yard and put them out by the curb. The girls were so excited to jump in them that they didn't even care they were partly in the road. I guess we are lucky we live in a cul de sac. Alexandra even had to join in the fun. She tries to do EVERYTHING Abby and Sammy do these days and she gets very frustrated when she can't. I am sure it will only get worse. I was the third girl after all, so I understand how she feels.

Oh, this is the life! Can I sleep here tonight Mom?

Here is Abby just after school pickup. She hadn't even gone in the house yet. She just insisted on playing in the leaves for an hour.

Leaf swimming is quite a competitive sport around here. I must say, we have certainly enjoyed fall this year. The weather has been absolutely perfect. I wish it could stay like this all year. However, I eat way too much this time of year because I crave pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies and anything else that reminds me of fall. Of course, let's not forget all the Halloween candy that is lying around the house. I NEVER crave candy bars unless I know those little fun size bars are on top of the fridge in the pumpkin bucket, then for some reason I can't stay away! Anyway, I guess there is no point in worrying about it now because Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here in no time and I will be horking down all that junk too. Oh well, life is too short!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

"What Kind of a Mom Am I?"

Today I got a call from the nurse at Abby's school. She said that Abby had been in to the office several times complaining of a stomach ache. The nurse had seen her at lunch time and took her temperature but she did not have a fever so she sent her back to class. She now had come back to the nurse once again (it was ten minutes to three o'clock - school gets out at 3:35pm). The nurse asked what I wanted to do. I told her I would leave immediately and come pick her up. I scooped up the baby and got her and Sammy in the car. We drove over to the school and walked in to the office announcing that I was there to pick up Abby. A girl came out rather hesitantly and looked at me. I told the secretary that the girl was not my child. She looked a bit confused and looked for another child. The nurse came out and wondered what the problem was. Why was this little sick girl being rejected. We all realized that I had been called by mistake. The nurse had called me thinking I was the girl's mother. The girl's name was also Abby but somehow they called me instead of the girl's mother. No big deal. However, since I had just made the trip to the school I asked if I could just take MY Abby out a little early and take her home. Of course was the reply after many apologies. They called Abby out of class and we sat waiting in the office for her.

While we were waiting, Alexandra kept crawling into the Principal's office where he seemed to be on an important phone call. So I picked her up and held her in my arms, just then the Librarian entered the office. She took one look at Alex and said,"is that Abby F.'s sister?" Wow! I couldn't believe this Librarian who sees hundreds of school kids a day, connected this random baby to Abby in less than a minute. (I guess they really do look alike.)

Anyway, after a few minutes Abby appeared. I told her how there was a mistake and we thought she was sick. She immediately replied that she wasn't coughing very much. She felt fine. "I know," I said. "We are just going to take you home since we are here." She could not believe it. How could I come and pull her out of school. She was in music class and they weren't done! She protested that she liked school and wanted to finish the day. I tried to explain to her that there was only twenty minutes left of the day anyway. We walked out of the building and there in the parking lot the tears came along with a tantrum! How could I do such a thing! She wanted to finish school. She liked school, she cried. She refused to get in the car and started walking back to the school. I couldn't possibly let her go back in now. I would have to move my car because I could not park there after 3:15pm. I would basically have to drive home and then WALK all the way back to get her. It was also quite a cold day. That seemed a bit insane. So I bribed her! I told her I would give her hot cocoa and Halloween candy if she would come home with me right then. What kind of a mom am I, I thought to myself. Here I am, not only taking my child out of school early against her will but BRIBING her to do it! Poor Abby. She finally got in the car but she cried all the way home and was so upset for quite a while. I guess I am grateful that she loves school so much and that we don't have the opposite problem. I am still in a bit of shock though that she wouldn't be thrilled to death to ditch school early and get called out of class. I would have killed for my mom to do that but it NEVER happened to me! That's my Abby!

The World's Best Kept Secret...

This past Saturday was rainy so we stayed inside and watched the musical, Oliver. Afterwards, we decided to have some hot cocoa and watch the rain. As Sammy sat stirring her cocoa she noticed that when she didn't stir it, the color was light brown. But when she did stir it, it was dark brown. She proudly announced her discovery and then exclaimed, "it must be the world's best kept secret!" Oh, to be a kid again...

Randomness

I have been painting like crazy around our house. I have done a lot but still have A LOT more to do. I was very happy though how my chairs turned out. They went from boring old wood...

To an awesome jalapeno green - Thanks Pottery Barn! I just painted the table brown as well but I have no pictures of that. I love painting while listening to books on tape. I could go all night!

This is just some random picture that Sammy wanted me to take of her and Alex.


Alex loves to sit in her toy basket with her diaper basket on her head playing "peek-a-boo."

OH so cuddly and sweet....

Alex gets so excited in the bath tub. It is probably because everytime she takes a bath she is basically on-stage. Abby and Sammy never miss bath time for Alex. They have to watch and help and Alex loves it. I must say, it gets a little crowded and difficult to move with all three of us hunched over the bathtub.

Sammy sleeping on the bottom shelf of the book case! Crazy girl...
At least she is out of the way.

Abby was "Star of the Day" in her first grade class not long ago and boy was she excited. She loves all the attention. She meticulously colored the whole poster so it would look extra nice.

Alex LOVES our horse. We have renamed him "Bob." (He is named after a horse that pulled the cart we rode in an Amish village - I will post pictures soon.) Abby always picks her up and puts her on Bob for a ride. She can't get enough. Now when you walk in the room with her, she kicks her legs and gestures to Bob for a ride.

I think we got ourselves a rock n' roll star. Her rock n' roll hair goes well with her electric guitar! We need to work on the outfit though. Let's rock n' roll Girlfriend...

Book Recommendation

The Book: Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased Down the World's Most Notorious Nazi by Neal Bascomb.

This is my latest obsession! I can't put this book down even though it has a well-known ending. I think about it day and night. I am always scheming ways to blow everyone off to be alone with my book and read. I am transported into another world when I read it. All of a sudden, I am the Nazi hunter and all I want is Eichmann! He must answer and pay for the genocide he helped create. It is absolutely fascinating. If you want a thriller and a great detective story that will grip and intrigue you AND teach you some history, go no further. The following is a short summary of the book. I highly recommend it, if you can't tell...

Adolf Eichmann is known as the mastermind or architect of the Holocaust. The man behind the "Final Solution" (concentration camps and extermination for Jews). Eichmann shed his SS uniform and vanished as the Allies stormed Berlin in the last days of the Third Reich. The pursuit and capture of Eichmann required a harrowing fifteen-year chase stretching from war-ravaged Europe to the shores of Argentina.

Alternating from a criminal on the run to his pursuers closing in on his trail, Hunting Eichmann follows the Nazi as he escapes two American POW camps, hides in the mountains, slips out of Europe, and builds an anonymous life in Buenos Aires. Meanwhile, a persistent search for Eichmann gradually evolves into an international manhunt that includes a bulldog West German prosecutor, a blind Argentinean Jew and his beautiful daughter, and a budding, ragtag spy agency called the Mossad, whose operatives have their own scores to settle. Presented in a pulse-pounding, hour-by-hour account, the capture of Eichmann and the efforts by Israeli agents to secret him out of Argentina and fly him to Israel to stand trial bring the narrative to a stunning conclusion.

Update

It has been quite a while since I last posted an update on us. The summer flew by and now the school year is upon us again. I am grateful for the school year because it makes me feel like I have a new start as well even though I am not going to school. My "new year" resolutions are to workout at least three times a week (which I have been doing faithfully thus far), finish the book (called Standing Alone: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam) that I have been reading ALL SUMMER because I was too busy entertaining kids and lastly, continue my painting projects around the house.

Alex is getting so big. She will be one year at the end of September. She is still just rolling but occasionally gets up on all fours as if she will crawl but then decides against it. She is not putting any weight on her little legs yet. I am not worried at all and am in no hurry for her to progress. She is perfectly welcome to do it completely at her own pace. But don't think for a minute that she doesn't get into things. She can roll faster than you'd think. She loves to get into the cupboards where our CDs and DVDs are stored and pull up all the heat vents.

Sammy is now reading simple books. She is learning Phonics Part II with the double consonants and is always amazed at how many more words she can sound out because of it. I love to hear her slowly sound out each word and then get excited when she cracks the code and figures out the word. She is trying so hard to be just like Abby.

We had the pleasure of hosting our friends who lived in England with us a few weeks ago. Abby and their oldest daughter were born a week or two apart. The girls had a great time dancing and having a "pajama party."

We took our friends to the truck and safety show. The girls had fun climbing all over the various trucks.

PAJAMA PARTY!! Strike a pose and then dance your heart out (and never go to sleep)!

Sammy and a neighbor friend

Abby's first day of school. Here she is in line with her class going into the building.

She knew EXACTLY what she was going to wear on her first day and EXACTLY how her hair would be. This hairstyle is called "nifty knots."

I love the squinty eyes!

Extreme baby close-up

We went swimming a lot this summer. The girls could not get enough of the pool. Here is a shot of Sammy and her flippers.

Smiley baby at the park

Helping Sammy with her shoe at the park. The girls played so much over the summer together that Sammy has been somewhat lost without her sister since Abby started school.

I can't get over how old they are looking... We went out of town over Labor Day and left the girls with some friends. When we got back, Charles and I couldn't stop talking about how old they both seem and look.

messy face

We babysat some gerbils in August and one of them actually died! FYI, don't leave your pets with us if you are going out of town....