Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Gingerbread Shacks

We did a SMALL gingerbread house project yesterday to get in the holiday spirit. I helped the kids put their "shacks" together using gingerbread flavored graham crackers, and then they decorated them. I ended up hot-glueing Maggie's house together, finding that MUCH easier than using the frosting. I figured they weren't going to eat them anyway.
I figured wrong. Ben ate every piece of candy from his the moment he finished his house. This is truly unlike Ben as he's the kid who tries to save his Halloween and Christmas stocking candy, doling it out piece by piece. Maggie usually dives right in. You can see by Ben's house that he didn't leave a piece of candy uneaten! Maybe Maggie just ate so much as she was pulling it from the bags that she was able to restrain herself when it came to pulling it from her creation. Ben's poor house looks like it was hit by a tornado!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving 2010





Ben and Maggie both had Thanksgiving celebrations at school today. Ben came home dressed like a little Native American. He decorated the shirt, filled with symbols, himself. He and his classmates ate lunch in the hallway at school (really gourmet, huh?), feasting on chicken legs, carrots and celery, applesauce, and corn muffins (all the standards eaten by the pilgrims and natives). Maggie had a Grandparents Day feast at preschool. Since none of her grandparents could be there, Daddy was her "special friend" who came for lunch. They served pizza and a communal fruit salad. She and Daddy made this cute turkey together.


Monday, November 22, 2010

Who can resist a sleeing baby?

I wish these pictures weren't so dark, but I didn't want to wake the babies using the flash. I couldn't resist taking their pictures this morning before I left for work. Bree (in the dots) almost always sleeps with her little hands behind her head. So funny! Betsy (in the stripes) likes to have something next to her face for cuddling, even if it's her own sleeve.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Grumpy Gorilla

Ben has this giant gorilla. All the kids love it. Great place for taking twin-pictures!
(Betsy on the left, Bree on the right)

Heavy Cheeks

Betsy was having a ball jumping in the "Jumparoo" yesterday afternoon. We looked away from her for a minute, and when we came back to her, she was sound asleep, snoring and everything. I think she got too tired of holding up those cheeks!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Does she really look 30?


Maggie's teachers tell me that she dresses like a 30-year-old woman. I suppose I dress her like I dress myself. I just love the look of a polished little three year old. Grandma Karen is to blame for this sweater. I wish it came in my size!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Ben, my BIG Diddle!



Ben's school picture finally came in. It seems to me that most kindergarteners smile without showing their teeth. Not my kid! He smiled just like I coached him to do! Now that I can compare Ben and Maggie's school pictures, I think Ben looks even more like me than Maggie does. Ben, my "Diddle-Bug" looks bigger and more mature than ever before!

Saturday, November 06, 2010

They Bleed Black & Gold

Even though Mommy is a Butler grad (and Butler pharmacists were taught a healthy distaste for Purdue pharmacists), I must admit that Purdue is a great school. I'll be thrilled if any of our children decide to follow in their daddy's footsteps and head off to Purdue. We're fairly certain already that Ben is engineering-bound. He has the same personality as his dad, his Uncle Scott, and his Grandpa Mike.
It's difficult to see, but all four kids are wearing their Purdue shirts.

Thank you, Aunt Janet, for the shirts for the twins.

(trying on the new snow hats, just for fun!)

Why can't I do hair like that?!

Sarah has always had this amazing talent for braiding hair. She's completely self-taught. For the life of me, I just can't figure out how she does it, especially with hair as fine and silky as Maggie's. I tried re-doing Maggie's hair this morning, and it looked awful! I think it only took Sarah about 5 minutes to finish this style yesterday. I had to promise to take Maggie out to lunch to get her to sit still long enough. She looked so pretty, so I took her to Daddy's office, and the three of us had a special lunch-date together while Sarah stayed at home with the twins. (We made Maggie promise not to tell Ben that she got to go on a date with Mommy & Daddy while he was at school!) It was so nice to have some special one-on-one time with Maggie. I think she thoroughly enjoyed it too.


First Cereal x2

We couldn't believe it when the pediatrician told us to start practicing with cereal when we went for Bree and Betsy's 4-month check-up. She said she wanted them to be well-practiced so they would be fully ready to eat by the time they turn 6 months old. I thought, "There's no way these girls are going to take anything from a spoon yet!" Nonetheless, I bought some new spoons and a box of rice cereal, and we decided to attempt it last night.
Bree took to it like a fish to water. Ate a decent amount of cereal and even tried doing it herself.
Betsy wasn't so sure. It was difficult to get her even to open her mouth. We'll give it a week or so before we try again.

Thursday, November 04, 2010

Maggie, my BIG girl!


I'm sure this counts as some kind of copyright infringement, but I just have to add these photos to my blog so they're permanently recorded in our family history. This is Maggie's pre-school picture, taken at the beginning of October. I think Maggie looks so much more mature here than she ever has before. What happened to our little girl?! Thank goodness that we have two more to follow her! Just for the sake of comparison, I added my kindergarten picture. It's the only picture I have of myself that's close in age to this one of Maggie. We certainly have the same hair, nose, and mouth, but I think she has her daddy's eyes.

Monday, November 01, 2010

All Hallows' Eve, 2010


Umteen yards of fleece in various colors: $100
50 feet of lawn irrigation tubing to make the hoops: $20
Hours in front of the sewing machine instead of doing a million other
chores that should have been attended to: Too Many To Count!
Time spent trick-or-treating as a family in the costumes: THIRTY MINUTES!!!
Family Photo: PRICELESS

After a brief trial run around the neighborhood, we had to come home and put second layers on everyone. The babies just cried and cried, not liking the wind in their faces. In this picture above, Bree (in blue) is asleep. Betsy's eyes are just closed mid-scream. We probably made it to five houses with the babies before I had to turn around and take them home.

This is how they looked when I got them home and took their costumes off. I think it looks like Betsy is saying, "FINALLY. Thanks for getting me out of that stuff!"
Ben, Maggie, Brian, & Java returned about 30 minutes after we got home. They were too cold too. I was glad to see them so soon. It meant a LOT less candy to deal with and much less exhaustion on Monday morning. Ben and Maggs each chose 6 pieces of candy to leave on the kitchen table for the Halloween Witch. She came in the night and took the candy, leaving two DVDs in its place. I think Ben and Maggie felt it was a fair exchange.