Snow day prep

With temperatures in the 40's we had to take the opportunity to get outside before the next round of bad weather comes through tomorrow (predictions call for freezing rain, ice followed by 6-10 inches of snow). I figured we needed to get some more cold weather playing practice while we can!

Pictured are the slowly shrinking snow cave (previously built snow tunnel and snow house have all disappeared) and William's special snowman friend!! The snowman was quite the job as it took about all the remaining snow in the front yard to build.

Sunday afternoon instruction

This week's topic: bones are important

Sunday morning trains

Will

Remind me to come back and tell you about William's preference regarding his name.

I went today to pick William up from preschool and the teacher motioned me over. She finished up her conversation with another parent and then turned to me. She directed my attention to the art hanging on the classroom door. The bottom half of the door was filled with white construction paper pages. The pages had a black line running across it and every child in the class had attempted writing their names with varying degrees of success. She pointed at one and said: "Here's William's!" The paper was scrawled with the recognizable letters W I L L.

Apparently during instruction, William decided he was only going to write "Will" on his paper (he is very capable of writing all the letters). The teacher talked it over with his and discovered when he writes his name, he wants to only write Will. He still wants everyone to call him William. If someone else is writing out his name, he wants them to write WILLIAM. But, if he has to do it? He's only going to write Will.

Pajama day

1/27 was pajama day at William's preschool. It took a lot of convincing to get him into some clean pajamas to wear to school. I finally had to dress Amelia in her jammies also. Then, he finally got his pjs on with a lot of grumbling. He was further confused about why I wasn't wearing pjs to school ( I was working).

Snow play

We so rarely get any amount of snow - we have to get out and play in it when opportunity knocks! This was 1/19 or 1/20. Again, Amelia wasn't very interested and William just couldn't get enough.

Angel?

Kind of looks like it here, doesn't it?

My Baby is Four

The long awaited day is finally here and gone. We have been anxiously awaiting the Big Birthday and counting down the days since just after Christmas.

We celebrated all day long - I think largely due to some Mama guilt. I had to work tonight and felt terrible about having to miss some of the birthday celebration. This morning, we woke up with singing some Happy Birthday songs. We followed this up with some cinnamon rolls for breakfast (a HUGE treat!). We met Daddy at the mall for lunch and enjoyed their indoor playground (it was FILTHY. SO. DISGUSTING). Not that it slowed William down for even one minute. After lunch, Mama took Amelia home for a nap and William had some special Daddy time. They hung out at the mall for awhile longer, browsing at the toy store and taking a ride on the train. When the boys got home, we opened presents and cards. William was VERY lucky birthday boy this year! After a special dinner of pancakes, we enjoyed a chocolate cupcake cake before Mama had to leave for work.

The birthday boy after some good morning singing - blurry pic, but I just love this face!
The birthday breakfast

Great Grandma Nona sings Happy Birthday over the phone. Several family members called to wish him a Happy Birthday - each and every call delighted him! He doesn't get many calls!
Debuting the new shirt. Several weeks ago, William reminded me on his birthday he would "need a new number shirt. with dinosaurs" I was on the fence about making one because even though it is something I enjoy, I don't want to waste my time if HE doesn't enjoy it.William's train ride with Daddy. He was so excited to stay "just with Daddy" while I took Amelia home for a nap.

We had our 4 year visit with our doctor today - somehow I didn't think this totally through. What a Happy Birthday present: FOUR immunizations. Poorly planned, mama.

Also, William weighed 39 pounds, which puts him in the 50-75 percentile for other kids his age. His height continues to impress, he is a whopping 42 inches tall which puts him at the top of the growth curve. All other areas continue to be normal, although I won't bore you with all the details.


It just seems like it is either midnight before I am able to get the computer anymore for all of this blogging. But, I still would like to get down some of the fourness that is William these days.

Here is a snapshot of William at four.

This boy does not have the time or desire to sit still for pictures. Nope.The cupcake cake - this is a normal sized dinner plate, for reference
The cupcake cakeThe singing and blowing out the candlesThe big birthday boy

He loves books and being read to. He especially loves nonfiction books about vehicles. Library day is a day of great joy as he returns his old set and gets to pick out a whole new pile. I can always count on at least an hour of solid quiet time from him on library days as he is very content to sit and page through the books by himself. He still loves being read to and takes any and every opportunity. Any time I am sitting down for more than a few moments at a time, William (or Amelia) will come, book in hand. Because of this, I strongly suspect there are words that he is starting to recognize and able to read on his own. We aren't pushing this at all, but he has recently started playing some spelling games with his letter puzzles that make me think he knows more than he is showing me.

William loves Lightening McQueen and racing cars. Although he has seen the movie twice now, he still is very creative with his play. I love that he isn't boxed in by the storyline of the movie and that he is able to invent his own plots to imagine out. Thomas the Train also holds a very dear place in my little boy's heart. I'll admit that Thomas isn't my favorite guy and I went to great lengths to avoid the commercial side of the trains. We don't watch the show and have only read the books - but the wooden track and engines have provided many hours of happy play. Thomas is one of the only activities the two kids will play happily together for any length of time (although it isn't guaranteed).


In general:
the eating has been better (vegetables! going! in! the! mouth!).
the sharing/kindness towards his sister is a source of much frustration
he LOVES school
he loves playing outside in the snow - what a wonderful discovery this winter!
he is much more willing to color and draw lately, which has been a lot of fun
he loves races: getting dressed, getting ready and picking up toys - I wonder how much longer that trick will work for me?
Loves oatmeal, bananas, raisins, feta cheese and pancakes (and cookies!)
Can be very helpful when he wants to be!
Questions, questions, questions. This boy has questions



PS These were too cute not to share. William was NOT cooperating, but Ms Amelia had plenty of smiles for her Mama!

Maybe?

Turns out we are having some real winter this year! School is called off - we'll see if we get mail today. We got half as much snow a few years ago and the mail didn't deliver. Which, I find funny in light of the Postal Motto. Which is something about rain and snow and high water not delaying the delivery of the mail. And I mean funny hahaha, not funny/angry letter writing postal customer.

The other maybe is if this will post. Because technology has not been my friend lately. Everything works perfectly when John is home. The minute he walks out the door, the printer won't print, the Internet goes down and every error code known to man occurs. I am considering offering my services in the technology sector, marketing myself as either a Bug Detector or Problem Finder (solutions? That would have to be someone elses job). I would go to work every day and use their stuff and show them all the lame ways it can find to not work. Although with enough technology people around, it probably wouldn't do it. Just like when John walks back through the door, the house's gadgets straighten up and start working. Without him lifting a finger.

2010, a year in review

I like to do a year end review in pictures. Because...I like to sum the year up and spend a few minutes of my time reflecting on where our family has been this year. Usually, I try to narrow it down to one picture for each month. You'll find I was not at all successful with that this year.

JANUARY

Can you believe this baby turned THREE?

Craft of the month: Happy Birthday Banner!






February

In February, William stopped napping. Making blogging, cleaning, cooking and all other work related tasks much more difficult. It also required us to take his picture anytime he fell asleep during daytime hours.

Our peanut started to walk!

Crafty project: bowtie onesie/shirt for a new baby and his big brother

MARCHAmelia discovered she loves chocolate cake when we celebrated her first birthday with family and friends in Minnesota.
She also found spaghetti delicious
And then she turned ONE. With attitude.
And immediately starting attempting stunts that made my heart stop. (After this I put down the camera she crawled onto the counter top. To better admire herself in the mirror)
Not surprisingly, Amelia also sustained her first of MANY head wounds.We also hunted outside for Easter eggs. In our winter jackets.

APRIL

Grandpa Heidt came to visit and we went to look at TRAINS (and boats)!

I attempted to take a spring picture of the kids together with tulips at the zoo
Version 1
Version 2
Version 3Version 4
Version 5
Version 6 (and final attempt)
Goats tried to eat GrandmaFinally, Amelia discovered she LOVES accessories. Seen here: block bracelets and link necklace.

MAY

We found time to remember Grandma Heidt
This is her tree planted in our front yard


We also celebrated Mother's DayA smile from the boy? Amazing gift!
The best one of all three of us
We spent Memorial Day weekend in Iowa with our cousins!

JUNE
I tried for another shot of the two together. I was also in the way of the TV.
We had Father's Day (and a crabby Amelia)

Daddy's boyOnly this guy can juggle these two so beautifully.

A much better picture after a nap for everyone!
We tried to go to our first parade

Success at our first breakfast on the farm!
Played and played and played with the cousins at MANY parks!

Met up with some friend's from the past and their kids

Attended VBSWilliam (and John) slept during daylight hours
Amelia had her first pigtails (for about 2 minutes)
Crafty Moment: I craftied up some patriotic T shirts for the cousins to wear at a family reunion


JULY
One day in June, I dragged everyone to this historic area nearby to try and get a picture of the kids together. Here is William's best shot.

Most of Amelia's pictures look a lot like this. Blur.
The best one of the kids together - almost made the Christmas card...
My handsome boy with the rainbow on his cheek.
William started writing his name!

JULY
During our summer trip to Grand Forks, Amelia experienced her first La Capana!

Sometime you just want to get away from it all. Or see if your whole body will fit inside a pillowcase.

We attended a family reunion in Fargo on the 4th of July. There are SEVEN of my crafty creations in this picture!

William saw his very first firework show. He was impressed!

AUGUST

The kids kind of liked each otherWilliam bowled for the first time
Amelia bowled for the first timeWilliam was silly
Amelia took swimming lessons
William took swimming lessonsWe played dress up (I am so saving this picture as blackmail for the teen years)I made a T shirt for someone's sixth birthday
William fell asleep with his head in a bucket and rolled up inside this rug. When I opened the door, he rolled over and unrolled himself before I could get the picture.

**Not pictured is that I interviewed and was hired to work part time at the local community college teaching GED courses. This is when the blog train slooooowwwed way down. Which is why there are many pictures here I never had time to share.

SEPTEMBER

William started preschool in SeptemberWe went apple picking and camping for a weekend with our church
William drew his first person (9/21/10)

Mama spent her first night away from Amelia in 18 months for an overnight work conference. We were so glad to see each other!Amelia turned 1 1/2 years oldWith a giant bruise on her faceSometimes getting the right backdrop means making a big mess (and chasing a baby out from under the crib multiple times)


OCTOBER
In October, we went to the pumpkin patch and William got a fake smile
Cana and her family also came to visit in October

Amelia was a dalmation
William was a firemanTogether they were cute!

NOVEMBER
(I guess we didn't take pictures in November?)

We learned one way to contain Amelia

We also played out in the leaves


DECEMBER

At Christmas 2010