Excitement is in the Air....

It was a big day around here today -- BIG. Abby was so excited she was up at 6:20am, unable to sleep any later. Barbie as Mariposa, the Butterfly Fairy movie came out today, and I promised to take her to Target to get it after breakfast. 8am couldn't get here fast enough for her this morning. But it finally got here, and we loaded everyone in the car; we were just about the first people in the door. It's not everyday that you are one of only a few shoppers at Target - the place was practically empty. Good thing, as Abby was going full speed ahead to the movie section, and wasn't going to slow down for anyone!

She watached it a couple of times this morning, and she is now having "movie night" with Dad, as they do almost every night when I am putting H&G down for bed. She loves it....and it will be her favorite until another Barbie movie comes out!

Griff had a great day of naps - he actually took 2 for me today - so I took advantage of the time with Hannah and snapped some pictures of her. Enjoy!!

Griff found Abby's little stool, and decided it would be a good idea to stand on it and peek over the counter. He thought he was being very sneaky.

Date with Dad....and Fun in the Snow

Well, the weather finally broke a bit over the weekend and it was nice enough to go outside and get some fresh air. After getting everyone bundled up, which is no small feat, everyone enjoyed sled rides and falling down in the snow.

Saturday afternoon Mike took Abby to the Target Center in Minneapolis to see Playhouse Disney LIVE. All her favorites were there...Little Einsteins, Pooh, Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse....both Mike and she said it was a good time. I was sad I wasn't able to go...but Abby said she wanted to go with Dad, so I got the fun job of grocery shopping with Hannah and Griffin, AKA screamer 1 and screamer 2. I finally opened up the graham crackers to get them to quiet down. They are in quite a stage, let me tell you....hopefully it will be short lived.

Enjoy the pictures......

Is it Wrong.....

to snap a few pictures of your children while they are fighting? I probably should have broken things up, but it was just so comical I had to get some pictures. They were fighting - literally pushing, pulling, hitting, scratching, screaming - to sit on an upside down plastic bin we use for some of their toys. They were friends again within 5 minutes, but the whole exchange made me snicker a bit......and showed me what I have in store in the future! And if you are keeping score, Hannah won. She never got off that bin!!

Hey, can I try to sit on the bin?

No, you can't.......

I Said NO...get AWAY from me.....

I'm gonna PULL you off it.......by your FACE

LET ME ON THE BIN!!!

Hannah, our gracious winner.....

Sad, so sad, Griff

And our always smiling Abby

Volcanic Explosions and Mud Slides

By popular demand, Mike is writing this blog entry. Since last Thursday, everyone in this house, with the exception of the dog (though he needs surgery on his left knee - who knew dogs had knees?), has suffered with some sort of super bug. We're all immunized against the flu. Or so we thought. It all started innocently enough - with Hannah covered in her stomach contents on Friday morning. Probably a reaction from her shots at the doc on Thursday, so no worries. Nothing bad happened Friday, in fact, Abby had a great day at gymnastics. I came home to her still dressed in her gym-tard and running around wildly. Everyone else seems fine. What's a little puke among family members?

Then, Saturday came. Pam wakes up and feels like someone's run her over with a truck. Of course, I think she's faking and merely trying to get me to take over and teach the kids some life lessons. No problem. After that, she announces she feels so bad she needs a nap. My vison blurred, and I got woozy - she's leaving me alone with the kids and sleeping. Something is wrong; very wrong. She proceeds to sleep a little and puke a lot. But after a couple of hours, she announces she feels better. The other two kiddies are fine and me too. We're in the clear.

Not so fast. I proceed to see Griffy, sitting on his mother's lap, burp and then chew. He does it again. That's strange. Then it hits me. I get up and run for the kitch and retreive the biggest plastic bucket we own from the kitchen. I return to the couch and tell Pam to put it under his mouth. She looks at me and says "what's this for"? I announce that he's going to puke. Right on schedule, he proceeds to to fill up. Twice. Within 10 minutes Abby stands up, gets a funny look on her face, and does the best impression I've ever seen of the girl under the tent from the Sixth Sense, and proceeds to cover herself in puke. Over the next few hours, she repeats this feat 8-10 times, but each time, proving her aim is true, fills the bucket to which she's been assigned. With one exception. She was sitting on the couch, after eating some strawberries her MOTHER gave her because she felt better, and sprayed Kona's right side, from ear to hind leg, with a nice pink spray. I shooed him outside, where he rolled around in the snow to clean himself up. (Don't worry, I shampooed him in the mud room to get the rest out.) We don't have a photo of that one, but should have. Someone didn't have the new camera handy for some reason - it comes with a neck strap after all! Abby continues with the dry heaves, which last through the night followed by screams of "I WANT THIS TO STOP RIGHT NOW, STOMACH!!"

I'll save you the rest of the details, including the final, other-end flushes Griff had this evening. (It does appear he ate some or all of the jolly green giant). Everyone feels about 80% as of this evening. Solids are staying down. Thanks to Grandma Newman for the tips about what should go in so nothing would come out. Back to the normal postings with the usual author and family-friendly photos next time out.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day (we know, we're a day early). Abby had her Valentine's Day party in her class today. I took Hannah and Griff, and everyone did really great. Hannah is so social, and she was in her element. She couldn't wait to get out of the stroller and start running around. She was investigating everything....the stairs, the play kitchen, the toys, tables, chairs, and oh, all the kids!! I'm embarrassed to say I lost her once, as she was on the go the second we got there. Another mom was playing with her in the back of the room, and Hannah was as happy as a clam. Griff didn't much leave my side, which is typical. At least he didn't cry. Hannah did coax him up the stairs to the reading area once, and he seemed to be having fun until he realized I wasn't up there, too. Abby had fun at her party, and I always have fun watching her interact with her teachers and her friends. She has a couple of really good girlfriends in class, and she loves her teachers. Part of me is sad that she only has this one year before kindergarden. She really seems to love her preschool. Hopefully she'll feel the same about kindergarden. Enjoy the pictures. Didn't get as many as I would have liked, as I was chasing Hannah around most of the morning :-)

Some Pictures

Nothing going on, but some more pictures to share. Abby and I have gotten pretty good at the rag curls - we get lots of cork-screw curls now and she loves the way they bounce! She has a Valentine's Day party at school on Wednesday, and she is very excited. She has signed all her valentines for the class, and can't wait to deliver them to everyone. Parents and siblings are invited to the party, so I'm going to attempt to go with Hannah and Griff. We'll probably never be invited back :-)

Speaking of H&G, they are doing great. I think they crack themselves up, because they are always laughing about something. Of course, those laughs can quickly turn to tears when one takes something from the other, or decides to hit the other for no apparent reason. They are much "naughtier" than Abby ever was. We were out to dinner last night, and getting ready to leave. I had just taken them out of their highchairs, and they started to walk towards the table next to us. The people sitting there started to laugh and told me I should see the expressions on their faces....they said they looked like they were planning some trouble! I said I don't doubt it.
It's been bitter cold here, so we've been staying inside alot. I can't tell you how much I am anxiously awaiting spring's arrival.

Enjoy the pictures. I'll post more after the V-Day party.

BEFORE

AFTER

BABIES IN A BOX

JUST WOKE FROM NAPS

FAVORITE ACTIVITY: PULLING BAGGIES OUT OF THE BOXES...OVER AND OVER AGAIN......

Curly Sue.....or perhaps Annie?

Abby is a bit obsessed with curly hair (likely b/c her hair is stick straight). Anytime she sees someone with it, she has to point it out. One of her friends in school has curly hair, and she talks about it all the time. Last night, as I was combing her wet, newly washed hair, she says to me, "I wish I had curly hair." I told her the only way she would ever have curly hair was if she wore some rollers. Of course, then I had to explain what rollers were....Anyway, as we were talking aobut it, I remembered rag curls......not sure if my mom did this to me when I was little, or I read it somewhere and it stuck in my head, but suddenly I had to try it with Abby. We got an old shirt, cut it up, and started tying her hair in rags. She thought it was really funny, and was excited at the thought of having curls when she woke in the morning. Mike, when he came in to give her a kiss good-night, wasn't sure what was going on. He just looked at us both, shook his head, kissed Abby, and walked out! Anyway, I didn't get any pictures of Abby with her hair in rags, but I did get a couple of the result. Her hair was a bit out of control, but she loved it. And now that I know it works, we'll be doing it again!

The Rags

Out of Control Hair
More out of Control Hair...and a Still Sleepy Abby!
Ah, Ready for School....and a curly ponytail!

Art & Computer Class

Haven't been doing much lately...too cold, and too much trouble to bundle everyone up to go outside. Our days are spent inside, with my trying to come up with different activities to keep the kiddies busy. Hannah & Griff found Abby's Barbie computer the other day and were absolutely fasincated by it for a good hour. They only had problems getting it back open after accidently closing it. When that would happen, Griff would pick it up and bring it to me; I would open it and give it back, and he would toddle back over to Hannah and they would keep playing!

Today we got out the cranyons and everyone colored. H&G still like to try to eat them, but they have finally started to figure out they don't taste that great.

That's about all for now. Enjoy the pictures!