Updates on the Chickens

Ok, I know I owe you some pictures, but I haven't taken any lately. I will, I promise. In the meantime, I haven't given you an update on the chickens lately, so here we go. All things Abby, Hannah, and Griff:

ABBY
** Will scooter for what seems like hours around and around our kitchen island…and watch out if you are in her way, she is FAST!
** Is practicing reading on her own, and likes to now read to Mike and me before she goes to bed, instead of us reading to her
** Loves ice skating, and we go out onto the pond a few times every weekend to practice
** Loves to play Uno and Solitaire with Mike in the evenings.
** The Narnia movies are her favorite right now. We are also reading the Narnia book series, and she loves it.

HANNAH
** Wears her Cupcake backpack and acts like she’s going to school, like Abby
** Is still the feistiest of the bunch, and will instigate trouble when at all possible
** Has stopped saying “no” to everything, and instead says, “ok, mama” to almost every request
** Will grab out of Griff’s hands whatever his is playing with and run away, loving the fact that he gets upset and screams. She then will walk back to him and calmly hand him whatever it was she took and say, “here you go, Griffy”, like she is helping him out by giving him back his toy
** Likes to sit and read to herself out loud
** “I do it” is her favorite thing to say. She likes to take off and put on her own clothes, which means it takes at least twice as long to dress her in the morning….
** Loves to give hugs and kisses

GRIFFIN
** Loves the words boogers and toot (go figure)
** Thinks it funny to stick both his pointer fingers in his nose and walk around the house
** Still loves his cars, and likes to line them up across he floor
** Wears his Cars backpack and acts like he’s going to school, like Abby
** Loves to help me do laundry. He will hand me the clothes, one at a time, each time saying to me, “here you go, mommy”
** Loves to gives hugs and kisses

HANNAH & GRIFFIN
** If one gets sent to the corner for a time-out, the other will stand in the family room, watching and waiting for the time-out to end. They will “talk” to each other in their little secret language so Mike and I don’t know what they are saying to each other. It’s obvious they feel badly for the one who is in the corner.
** Will find each other’s paci’s and blankets and give them to the other if they think the other is upset or crying
** Are getting really good with their colors. They know blue (or blue-one, as Griff says), yellow, orange, green, white and black. They get red and purple half the time.
** Love to count. They count to 5 reliably, and then start going all over the board, “one, two, three, four, five, eight, six, nine, ten”. 10 is always shouted, they are so pleased with themselves!
** Both have a bit of a temper, esp when it comes to food. Watch out if they don't get their snack on time, or it's not exactly what they wanted

SPLASH! Waterpark Fun!

Mike and I took the kids to a waterpark Saturday and Sunday, in hopes to escape the winter blahs that we've been feeling. I think we succeeded. Abby especially had a great time, and couldn't get enough of the different waterslides and lazy river. Hannah & Griff had fun splashing in the little toddler area, and finally agreed to try the lazy river Sunday morning. For whatever reason, they all seemed just as excited about staying in a hotel for the night. It was hard to keep H&G half-way quiet, they were so excited they were screaming just about everything they said, and couldn't stop jumping up and down and running throughout our suite.

Speaking of the suite, we staying in a "family suite", which was great. It had separate bedrooms and a pull-out sleeper sofa in the "family room". After looking at the bunk beds in the kids room, we thought it would be best for H&G to sleep on the pull-out sofa together, as the arms of the sofa would keep them half-way contained. They were good for about 2 minutes. They then proceeded to laugh and giggle for TWO HOURS before falling asleep. Finally, around 10pm, they were silent. Once, when they were starting to settle down, I peeked in on them to see if they were finally asleep. They weren't, but they were snuggled in close together, holding hands, and kinda mumbling to each other. Very sweet.

I'll let Abby tell you the story about how Mike let her go down the scariest of the waterslides by herself within 2 minutes of being at the park Saturday afternoon......it was dark...it was fast....there was a 10 foot drop.....a weird dr. seuss inspired spin around a huge bowl.....and finally a huge splash into a pool, BACKWARDS. It didn't deter her, as she did it a million times after that, but she did say it was a bit scary at first :-)

I got no pictures of the kids playing in the water, but trust me when I say they all had huge smiles on their faces. Tonight at dinner all three of them kept asking when we could go back. So, when we go back (!), I promise to take pictures.

Everyone was very tired tonight, and went to bed early. I'm hoping for a quiet night and well-rested kids tomorrow :-)

Pure Silliness

Seriously? -24 degrees? That's NEGATIVE 24 degees, for those of you who may have missed the minus sign infront of the number 24. That's the actual temperature. I have no idea how insanely cold it is with the windchill. It's so cold that Abby's school was cancelled. You can feel the cold air seaping in through the walls. Craziness.

Since it's been so cold, we've been hunkering down indoors, trying to fill the hours with fun-filled activities. Yesterday we brought out the paints (pictures below......and am I the only one who thinks that Hannah paints a bit, ahem, strangley for a 2 year old??) and today we played school. This afternoon Abby is having a play date, as she told me at about 9 this morning that she was already bored.

They say it's supposed to warm up beginning this weekend. I sure hope so. Enjoy the pictures


The Painters:

Hannah hard at work:

And her masterpiece....odd, no?

Griff, much more interested in playing with the "blue one" water:

His, um, masterpiece :-)Miss Abby playing school with me this morning; Hannah the ham, always wanting in the picture, too:

Ice Castles

Well, it wasn't very warm out this afternoon, but Mike and I are trying really hard to embrace the "I LOVE winter sports" mentality that is everywhere up here in good 'ol Minnesota :-) We took the kids out ice skating on the pond across the street from us this afternoon. Our neighbors met us out there, and I have to admit, we all had a great time. I hadn't been on skates in probably 20 years (yikes), but I found it's kinda like riding a bike....you don't forget how. And Abby! Wow, was I impressed. She skated without the chair and did fantastic. A couple of falls, but she got right back up. Hannah & Griff wore their boots, and Griff ended up on his bottom a couple of times, mostly b/c he was trying to RUN across the ice. At dinner he kept reminding us that he, "fell on ice....on back....cried". Enjoy the pictures below!

Little Helper

Hannah is always wanting to do everything herself, and help anyone who needs it. This is especially true with Griff. She will help him with his coat, shoes, pjs, whatever. It's cute to watch her "mother" him. Yesterday we were getting ready to take Abby to school, and I asked everyone to go to the mud room and get their boots on. Hannah came back into the family room with her boots on, and Griff's in her hands. She sat Griff down and proceeded to try to get his boots on his feet. It was so cute, I had to take a picture!

Ice Skating

Abby had her first ice skating lesson on Saturday. She wasn't feeling the greatest. She caught the flu that we all had, and she was feeling pretty tired Saturday morning, but said she wanted to give it a go. She did great once she figured out how to keep her balance on the skates. They use chairs to help teach the kids on the ice, and it was quite funny to see a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds "skating" around the rink, pushing chairs! Most of the pictures are taken through glass, so they are not that great, but wanted to post them so you could see her skate.

Abby, Brynn and Lindsey, before class started
Lindsey giving Abby some tips!
Looking a bit apprehensive!

In other news, Hannah and Griff are obsessed with "undies". They talk about the potty and wearing undies all day, so I think I'm going to go buy them some and perhaps (so not looking forward to this!) get the potties out and start the process. Hannah has already told me she wants princess undies and Griff wants Thomas.

Mike and I went to dinner last night, which was nice. We've been feeling cooped up, and I called our sitter to see if she was available, and she was, so we took advantage and got out of the house for a couple of hours. We had a great "adult" meal and enjoyed a kid-free couple of hours.

Abby is back to school tomorrow, Monday, and I know she is looking forward to going back. She misses her teacher and her friends. I'm looking forward to being back to some sort of routine.

That's all for now. I need to get back to the kids - they are playing with play-dough, and it seems there is more on the floor than on the table!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to All. We are finally back among the living. Griff is back to being his charming self, after taking 120 hours to beat the 48 hour flu. Woke up happy and hungry today, so all is well at the Newman home.

Let's see, what have we been up to the last few days, besides catering to Griff's every whim since he looks so sad when he's sick.....

* went to the American Girl store on Monday, with sick Griff in tow. Mike was along, so he kept the twins entertained while I walked around the store with Abby. Seriously, the store is out of control. Too many moms and girls, and way too much stuff to choose from, and of course there is the bistro in case you want to grab lunch while you are there (seriously, out of control). Abby walked away with a new outfit and shoes for her doll, and she couldn't have been more thrilled.

* upon coming home from the American Girl store, I came down with the flu. I took a nap when the twins did Monday afternoon, and didn't make another appearance until Tuesday morning at 9am. Felt much better, and took over kid duty from Mike. Thankfully, he was off work this week although I'm sure he feels differently :-)

* cancelled NYE plans with our neighbors, as we didn't want to infect anyone with the flu; instead stayed in and played cards with Abby all night (well, until her 8pm bedtime, which was pushed back to 8:15 - it was NYE afterall)

* took the kids to Macy's today (New Years Day) and hit a million sales. Mike stayed home and watched the Hawks win their bowl game, so we were all happy!

Pictures below from this afternoon. Here's to a happy, blessed and all around good 2009!