Sinny and Binny

I realize I post lots about Claire. I think this is for two reasons:

1. We are home, just the two of us, all day.
   
2. She is full of it.

So I thought I would do a post about our other two girls. We have two other girls, if any of you have forgotten. Here is what Syd and Brynn have been up to lately:

• Syd just took, and passed her yellow belt test for Tae Kwon Do. In case you are curious the order of belts go white, yellow, green, purple, brown(2 lvls), black (7 lvls). So we are really proud of her. She can "Ki-yah" with the best of them.
• She just finished the first Fablehaven book. I came across her reading the last chapter and her eyes were as big as saucers. I asked her if shed liked her book and she said, "This is the BEST book I've ever read!" She is now reading the second book and likes to walk to the bus stop and read at them same time. I surprised she hasn't ran into anyone or anything yet.
• She has a spelling test today. One of her words is "delicious". Aunt Katie, please send good vibes her way. We know how you love that word!

• Brynn told me a story this morning that she heard in school yesterday. "Did you know that Teddy Roosevelt's daughter fell asleep in church one time and that the people put it in the newspaper and that she felt really bad and didn't want her dad to be president anymore but kids from all over the country sent her letters and made her feel better wasn't that nice of them and I have more stories about presidents' kids can I tell them to you or should I finish eating my breakfast first?"
• Brynn had an ear infection last week. She was one sick little girl, but really didn't want to miss the teddy bear party they were having at school. So she and I went together to school for an hour. Her teacher gave the whole class a lecture on how they had to be very careful around Brynn because she didn't feel well and they had better be gentle with her.
• Brynny wore jeans to school 4 days in a row. For those of you who know my skirt-loving girl, this was a pretty big deal at my house. But today is casual Friday so she wore a skirt.

See, I do pay attention to all my kids. Are you proud? Now it is your turn to tell me a story or two. I will wait in anticipation.

If you're going to eat like an animal

The other night I was making dinner. We were having baked potatoes so I was cutting up some ham to put on the potatoes. Claire came wandering into the kitchen, saw what I was doing and sidled up to me and said "Mommy?". So I gave her a piece of ham and she went on her merry way. Just then Bobbi also wandered in. She came up to me and saw what I was doing and meowed what I can only guess was "Mommy?". I felt sorry for the poor starving thing, so I cut up a little ham and put it in a bowl and set it on the floor for her to munch on.
I turned my back and started doing my thing again when I heard Claire saying "Kitty, no no! No! No kitty!" Apparently Claire did not like the idea of sharing her dinner with the cat. So she got right down on the floor and fought for her fair share. Meow!


Don't worry, we didn't let the whole thing go on for long. Just until it started to gross me out. I was a little surprised the cat didn't fight Claire more than she did. I still think the cat ended up with more ham in the end. We did feed Claire a real dinner in her high chair like a proper baby. She actually ate better when she had to fight for it. Maybe we should just start throwing food on the floor and letting her and Bobbi scrap for it.

A Self-Serving Post

Today is my birthday. What? You say it is self-serving to do a post about your own birthday? Not at all. I only say it is my birthday so I can show you the cool things my family gave me. So without delay, here is a birthday card for me crafted by Syd:


Yeah, that didn't make me feel old at all. I thought it was hilarious, the little lady in a wheelchair.

And here is my freaking fantastic gift from Shawn. It is a hand-made bookplate stamp. Yes, he MADE this stamp for me. Created the picture in Photoshop, transferred it onto the rubber, then carved the picture out of the rubber. I was pretty blown away by this. And the cat sitting on the books, it is just perfect. I am a little in love right now. With the stamp and with my husband.



That's all, just had to tell you how cool my family is. The self-serving part comes on Friday when I go to get a pedicure.

Christmas Update

Do you ever get so overwhelmed with all the pictures that you don't want to ever blog again? That is how I'm feeling. Shawn got me a new camera (Canon Rebel T1i) and I took over 200 pictures over Christmas. So I tried to pick some of my favorite photos and post just those. There are a lot. Don't feel obligated to read and look at everything. This is really for my own documentation. I would suggest scrolling down to the bottom and reading in reverse order. The pictures are in reverse chronological order. Also, the captions look like they are for the photo below the words, but they are really for the photo above. Sorry, I am done. I am just trying to make this less painful for you. Good luck. I should give prizes for anyone who gets through this whole post.



We hope you all had a great Christmas break. We sure did! Love to all of you.Shawn taught the girls to play checkers. They love it!


We all looked like wet doggies by the time we went inside. Brynny making snow angels.

We kept throwing Claire in the snow. I couldn't tell if she actually liked it or not but she kept asking us to do it again, so I guess she did.
New Year's Day we all went outside in the fresh snow for an epic snowball battle.
Mom and Dad came over on New Year's Eve for pizza and cake. They went home at 8 o'clock. We are big-time partiers.

We were so happy to spend time with Grandma Julie. The girls even got to have a sleepover. Thank you Grandma!
Kitty cat.
My shoes because they are cute.
Hoarfrost on our swing set.I am loving the B&W.
Yay for telephoto lenses!
Betsy. We don't drive her much anymore but she makes a great model for photos.
We celebrated out 11th anniversary on Dec. 29. What does a bird have to do with that? Shawn got me a telephoto lenses for our anniversary. I went a little crazy.
We love Ian and Miles!
Snacks at Grandma Leslie's. I think drinks taste better in fancy glasses.
Hooray for coloring!
Bonnie and Kurt and their very cool gingerbread house.
Bart and Katie. We had so,so, so much fun with the two. I have a new favorite word now: Delicious.
Bec and Claire. So cute. Can't wait for my niece to get here!
Jon's self portrait. Very nice.
Kurt and Claire.
The dinner spread at Grandma Julie's house. Isn't it a beautiful thing? We literally ate for hours.
Claire helping Grandma Leslie open her presents.
Daddy opening his cheese-making kit. If you come visit use in 6-8 months we will feed you cheese. It has to age.
Bobbi with her new toy. It has catnip in it. She went crazy. Very funny.
Christmas morning. I love Syd's expression. It captures how excited we all were.
New jammies from Santa.
Santa's little helpers. I laughed so hard I peed a little.

Happy Day

Hope you all had a great Sunday.

We sure did.

Happy New Year

We hope you all had a great Holiday season!

Christmas update post coming soon.

Splish Splash

Claire loves to harass her sisters when they are in the tub. She often goes in and talks to them, drops things in the tub, and plays in the water. Last night she went to see Brynn taking a bath. Claire got a little carried away with participating in Brynn's bath. The next things we knew, this happened:Being the good mom I am, I didn't run for Claire or a towel, I ran for the camera. We all couldn't help laughing. After we stripped Claire down, she was happy to be in the tub with sister. Just another typical day with Claire.