January Park Day

We needed some fresh air and exercise today, so we went to the park. Sophie and Ellie made some new friends and played for a long time, but forgot to ask what the other kids' names were. Anna decided to take herself to the potty and wandered off looking for one, luckily I found her not too far away. Mostly it was a great day, although I do wish sometimes that Anna wasn't such a go-getter. Keeping up with her is more than I can take most days.

New Baby Chicks

We ordered four new chicks for this year. They are "easter eggers" which means they will lay very pretty blue-green eggs. As an added bonus, they have very cute puffy cheek feathers. They came in the mail four weeks ago, so this is a bit late, but here they are:

This is what they looked like when they came out of the box


This was last Wednesday, when they were 3.5 weeks old, and we took them outside for the first time


they aren't little puff balls anymore, but they're still really cute


they let the girls handle them


the girls named this one Turtle, she's the sweetest


this one is Sunshine, we think she will be white


and this is Bean


and Ivy


Anna with Turtle on her lap


The big chickens are spending most of their time in the pen we built them these days because they like to tear up the garden beds and we have seedlings in them now. :)


We are busy working on plans for a new improved coop so they will be more comfortable when they are all outside full-time.

Thursday Update

Things have been a bit hectic, not much time for blogging. Right now I'm listening to Maggie barking at Margaret outside, Sophia screaming at me from her room, and Anna getting into the knives on the kitchen counter...better make this short!

A few gratuitous pictures:

Crazy Ellie and Anna (Sophie took this one)

Bedhead Anna


Anna just started the dishwasher again, so I'm off...

What I got done today

I haven't been getting very much done lately. I'm still recovering from sickness and I'm definitely not on top of things yet. I just cant seem to organize my thoughts and figure out what needs to be done.
Earlier this afternoon I was trying to decide what to do with the day and the little girls were fighting and whining and everything was going downhill fast. So I sent everyone to bed. They all cried for about 30 minutes and then it got suspiciously quiet. I wasn't feeling like doing housework so I decided to do something that would make me feel a little bit domestic. So the little girls all got a nap and Margaret and I made cupcakes. They are all still asleep, and I'm hoping that when they wake up we'll all have a cupcake and a much less whiny evening.






Update:
Margaret's working on a friendship bracelet

and Sophie and Anna woke up happy and are enjoying the cupcakes:


:)

Thursday Update

So Wednesday, I (Margaret) auditioned for the play Best Christmas Pageant Ever at our local children's theatre. I was invited to the callbacks earlier tonight. I still don't know what part I will get, but I have that wish (that all kids get) to have the BIG part.

Sophie and Ellie are rejoicing in the large amount of toy catalogs arriving in the mail for the holiday season. They have cut out hundreds of the little pictures of toys out of the catalogs and have been playing with them for hours at the table. As usual, Anna climbs onto the table and tries to play too, making them scream as she crumples the cutouts up.

Right now, everyone is exhausted. Mom has been breaking up fights, and Dad has been juggling family life, work, and church. Sophie and Ellie are throwing fits randomly. Now Dad is reading to them 'The poetical works of Spenser'. I think they are asleep. Anna is sobbing because Mom set her down to do the dishes.

Bedtime Checklist

1. Dishes washed...check.

2. Baby removed from kitchen sink, dried off and diapered...check.

3. Eleanor's teeth brushed 4 times (one for each year)...check.

4. Eleanor's toothpaste-covered dress in the laundry, exchanged for pajamas...check.

5. Sophia in bed with Lile on her pillow and throw-up bowl handy (just in case)...check.

6. Sparkey located under sofa and returned to his cage for the night...check.

7. Mom and Dad ready to collapse...pending.

Goodnight all.


*edited to add: Sophia isn't really sick, sometimes she just needs a little extra tlc at bedtime ;)

Thursday Update

Currently, Sophia and Eleanor are busily making pictures and doing worksheets at the crafting table while Anna is hanging out under the table trying to steal their papers and causing Sophia to shriek at regular intervals.



Last night the towel-clad littles, fresh from the bath, came to visit me in the kitchen while I was making dinner

Earlier this week Anna fed the chickens some leftover stir-fry,

Eleanor came outside to let me know that she was NOT happy (I can't remember why)

and the chickens considered coming inside to explore the kitchen, but decided at the last minute to run away instead.

Overheard from the bathroom...

at dinner this evening, from Eleanor, who left the table to go potty,

"Alas, I peed on the floor by accident!"

What a kid. Questionable potty skills but extensive vocabulary. Oh well, I guess the one will catch up with the other eventually.

Toddlerville

We have entered the world of the screaming protests of toddlerhood. Anna is 19 months old now, and she has discovered her voice. Anything that is not to her liking is met with screaming and foot stamping, and just the other day she sat down and started banging her head on the floor. So much anguish for such a little person.

We're still at the stage where it's cute to see her expressing herself like that, but when she started getting loud at the store yesterday, and the nice little old lady in front of us in line started giving us looks that could kill, I began wondering for how long I will be amused by it. I think we will have to start planning our shopping for times when she can stay home for now. I love to bring the kids with me, but when we reach the point of having to forget half the list and just get out before they kick us out I guess we have to come up with a new plan. :) (That's me, still smiling.)

Kids

Eleanor's new skill. I've always said she was part monkey.


Anna really wanted to do it too but she needed some help.


Anna's yogurt mustache and beard.


That's it.

Why we had to separate Sophie and Ellie in the van

I hesitate to post this, it's pretty ugly. This happened on the 4th of July as we were driving to the lake. We thought it was funny, but that's probably because we're fairly desensitized to this sort of violence due to living with four kids.

So you've been warned, please use viewer discretion when watching this video, it's not for the faint of heart. These are children behaving very badly.

Oh, and another disclaimer, please don't assume that Sophie is as innocent as this clip makes it appear. I didn't get the camera out until after she had finished pushing Ellie over the edge.



We switched Sophie and Margaret for the ride home, and they will sit that way from now on.

Four at Last

Ellie is now four years old. Her birthday (today) was quite an affair. We progressed from happy surprise as she woke up this morning ("You mean I'm four right now?") to telling everyone what to do because she was the birthday girl ("Sophie you can't wear that today because it's my birthday") and on to shrieking meltdown whenever anything happened that wasn't to her liking ("She cutted in front of me, I was walking there!") and using the threat of no cake to try and manipulate ("That's it, Sophie isn't getting any of my cake.")
By this evening she was a complete mess. All of my attempts to get her to take a nap had failed. Her birthday dress was filthy, her hair was falling out of her crooked birthday pony tails, and she was oscillating between a melt down state and a whiny repetition of "When do I get to eat the cake? When are we opening my presents?"

We had a nice dinner in spite of it all (just the 6 of us) and ate some of the cake (with sprinkles and blueberries, according to Ellie's specifications) and opened presents and everyone was happy for a few minutes. When Anna saw the cake she said "Yeah! Coo-kie!"

the cake:


the three littles:


Ellie with her new shirt, necklace, and doll:


We took a short walk after dinner and when we got home Ellie was so exhausted that she collapsed onto the floor in her anguish, yelling "I'm not going to bed! I'm not tired! You go to bed! I'm not going to bed!"

Five minutes after this tirade I found her asleep on the floor. Maybe she'll be a bit calmer tomorrow. (sigh) Four is supposed to be easier than three, isn't it?