On snow

William: mom! Mom! Come see! There is snow on the deck!

Mom: just a minute, I'm combing Amelia's hair.

William: mom! It's so exciting! But why is there only a little bit?

Mom: I don't know William. I'm almost done helping your sister.

William: oh. Nevermind. I think it just a bunch of white bird poop.

Mom: oh. Well....

This snow stuff is so confusing to these Missouri kids that only see snow 1-2 times a year. They can't tell the difference between snow and bird poop.

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Science center

We broke down this weekend after close to a month of begging and brought William to his beloved science center. This is a challenge because most of the activities here ar eh geared towards upper elementary. William is just now starting to understand and enjoy some of the exhibits. Amelia is happy to tag along, but Gemma? The poor girl is confined to her stroller or a backpack. Not much fun.

Happy

Do pieces of paper make you happy? Do they make you dance? If you answered no, I think you are doing it wrong.

Thankful

We decorated the house for thanksgiving/ fall a few weeks ago and found this turkey craft William made several years ago. We were all admiring it, when William dashed out of the room. Moments later, he came sprinting back with a black marker in his hands*.

Marker in hand, he climbed up in a stool and added an "s" to the last feather. When he made the turkey, he only had one sister. Now that he has two sisters, he had to change the turkey to reflect his thankfulness.


*Gemma has developed a fondness for markers. She love to uncap them, suck on them and leave a colorful trail behind her. We have taken to hiding the markers up high AND in another room to prevent her from getting into them. She still manages, somehow.

Piggy tails

The cute. It is killing me. So far she is leaving them alone. The big kids' reactions were adorable. They both shrieked and told me Gemma was cute like a fairy (William) and a princess (Amelia).

The hard questions

Amelia: mom? Is that the town square?

Mom: huh? What? (In my defense, I'm also making a left turn)

Amelia: that place over there, is it a town square?

Mom: oh. No. It is a memorial. A log time ago there was a war. A lot of people died and that is a memorial where people can go to remember what happened.

Amelia: why do people fight?

Mom: that is a good question Amelia. Why do you fight with William?

Amelia: I do NOT fight with William. He fights with me.

Mom: well, why does that happen? Remember this morning? You both couldn't agree on how to share a blanket or who got to use the bathroom first for tooth brushing or who got to sit by Gemma at breakfast or what library books to return to the library.

Amelia: does God make war?

Mom: hmm...that is a hard question.

Amelia: oh! Is it a daddy question. He will know the answer to that question*.

Mom: no. I don't think daddy even has a good reason for that one. I'm not sure, but I think war makes God sad. He wants us to love everyone and get along.

I think it makes him sad when we fight- even with your brother. We need to find a way to talk about the problems without fighting. Maybe you can think about the next time you are fighting with your brother?

Amelia: mooooom! I told you! I don't fight with my brother! He fights with me!

*there are some subjects that John is the clear family expert on (ie: how things work, airplanes, cars, trains, wars, etc). Conversely, there are other areas that I am the expert (what happened on the days the kids were born, every occasion I was right, random kids facts, and family history).

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Amelia

Supercauliflowerexpealodocipus!

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