Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Updates on Our Busy Crew

The past month has been lots of things, but I suppose the words I would use to describe it for us would be busy, busy, unpredictable, crazy, full of learning, and did I mention BUSY!?!


I'm throwing out my perfectionism and just putting this post out there... it's been sitting unfinished in my computer for weeks! I need to do better. I'm really, really going to try and post more often.


Maggie, Kate, and Sarah are all 3.5 years old and weigh in at just under 30 pounds, and they're 38 inches tall. They are constantly on the move and almost never stop talking... all at the same time.


Sarah is a little ball of fire. She is smart as a whip and yet sweet Sarah has to be one of the most generous 3 year olds I've ever met. She is always looking for ways to make others feel happy. She loves everyone, but she especially LOVES her sisters. She is often willing to give up something of her own to make a sister happy. Almost a month ago I overheard her tell my aunt Donna, "you're so beautiful... the most beautifulest....I love you forever, I love you to the moon and back, even when you die you'll stay in my heart." Sarah knows all her basics... colors, numbers, shapes, and most all upper and lower case letters. She constantly comes to me and says... "What does puh-puh-pancake (and virtually every other thing that crosses her mind) start with?" She almost always knows the answer before I tell her. Sarah has a full grasp of the power of being the baby of the family... even if she only claims that title by a about a minute, and she has a double wide stubborn streak!

Maggie is purely and simply the picture of mischief.... she always has been! She has the most precious voice and is quick to tell everyone we meet that she is "the shy one". Being second in the birth order ranks, she is very competitive with Ella. She can often be found lurking in Ella's closet trying on clothes. She likes to be able to do the things Ella does. She too knows all the basics preschool wise, and seems to have an extra special knack for math skills. She easily adds items, counts items, etc. She is also a great kitchen helper... follows instructions well and really enjoys getting her hands dirty. Maggie is usually the tomboy of the crew. She gravitates toward cars, machines, and figuring out how things work. She has a couple of girlie favorites... baby dolls and high heel shoes. She can't get enough of either of those!

One night after I had tucked the girls into bed I checked in on them and overheard the following. Kate had declared she was marrying her friend Luke C. and living in "New Werk City", Sarah planned to marry Luke G. and move to Chicago, but Maggie said, "I want to marry Daddy and live right here." Maggie used to be our most adventurous eater, but she is quickly losing that title to Kate and becoming quite picky. She has the very best imagination of the group and often blames her mischief on her pet dog lovey. Maggie gives the very best hugs ever!!


Drama girl Kate is always looking for something to elicit sympathy. This girl can really milk a boo-boo! She too loves high heels and all things girly. She's got preschool basics down pat. She has amazing rhyming skills, and her favorite game is the one where we say, "What is an animal that rhymes with __________ (fill in the blank with any word that we can come up with that rhymes with an animal). She beats the other three almost every time.... drama and quick wit! As I already mentioned, Kate has taken over Maggie's adventurous eater title. She is willing to try almost anything I put in front of her. As a result, she likes more foods than the rest. Kate is also the most eager and very best kitchen helper I've got. She loves to get her hands into flour, she works a microwave like a champ, and I thoroughly enjoy having my beautiful little half pint helper by my side! Kate also loves to do tricks with daddy. He can spin her around, toss her in the air, and hang her upside down, and she always comes back asking for more.


I can hardly believe how much Ella has changed this past year. She is now 5 years old and headed to kindergarten in the fall. I still can not believe it is time already!! She is such a great helper, an even better boss, and according to her preschool teacher only has kind things to say about everyone. She loves her sisters, but she definitely enjoys her time apart as the Big Sis. Ella has a keen sense of style. She is making rapid progress toward learning to read. We just finished reading Charlotte's Web together at bedtime, and according to Ella her new favorite books are "chapter books". We can't get away with spelling things we don't want her to understand anymore. She is working on blending consonant and short vowel sounds. Another recent skill of note, Ella is now able to "pump" and swing herself. She is super, duper tall, but still only weighs around 40 pounds.




Scott has been working lots... work stuff, ARMY stuff, and wood working. Yeah, you read that right... woodworking. He made a bar height island for the kitchen. When we removed the quad feeding table way back when I had no idea we'd leave a Little Tykes picnic table in our kitchen in it's place for so long. But we finally found a picture of a replacement we liked, and then with my uncle Greg's help, Scott made it for us. It matches the kitchen table really well, and we've already gotten tons of use out of it.... evidence above where all four girls are making homemade play dough together. We're still on the lookout for perfect barstools so if anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears?!?


Even I've had lots of new things going on this past month. My friend Dena and I kept one another motivated, trained together, and then ran our first 5k early in March finishing with a time of 34 minutes and something. Two weeks later I ran another one in the rain. Apparently I don't like running in the rain because I finished with a much improved time of 29:44. Woohoo!

I have also kept very busy in the kitchen trying to have a little Food Revolution of our own here. I've finally ditched the pancake and waffle mixes and found homemade versions that the girls like to go along with our homemade pancake syrup. I'm trying to be more conscious about getting fruits and vegetables in with every meal, and I've been doing lots of homemade breads... so far French bread is a favorite. Next I'm going to tackle whole wheat sandwich bread. It's not huge by any means, but we're making our revolution one baby step at a time.

Hopefully there will be more to come tomorrow... we've had lots going on that is not being documented while I'm not blogging. I've got to get back into the swing of things!

7 comments:

Laura S. said...

What a blessed Mom you are to have four beautiful, smart, and funny little girls! They are all getting so grown up and I really can't believe Ella will be starting kindergarten. Congrats on your 5k's!!!

Candace Hickey said...

Your girls are beautiful. Glad to hear all is well...and BUSY!
Wish we lived closer...I would love to run with you. :)

Anonymous said...

MB, What a great post! I love to check in and learn something new about your beautiful family. I just can't believe how fast they are growing! Just like their mom, such smart girls. SDunn

Mama B said...

Aww your little girls are too cute! Make sure and check out my blog. I am having an online Thirty One Gifts open house!

Stephanie said...

29:44! Wow! You were smokin' fast. Maybe you should run more races in the rain! Congrats! ;)

We recently ditched boxed pancake mixes too. Our new favorite recipe is for Cinnamon-Peach Cottage Cheese Pancakes (sooooo good!): http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cinnamon-Peach-Cottage-Cheese-Pancakes/Detail.aspx.

stephanie@metropolitanmama.net

JMT said...

Great post and family update. Thanks for the recent batch of clothes. We always appreciate it and our girls get excited trying out new clothes.

Ms. ~K said...

I so enjoyed getting caught up on the girls...
Look how they have grown, so much like their sweet mom!
Hugs to all,
Kit