T-shirt

My sister made me a T-shirt for Christmas. This is what's on the front. I absolutely love it!!
I love that the graphic uses Rosie the Riveter too!!

New Year's Eve/Day

New Year's Eve I spent cleaning our basement and getting Tom to put together their train table, then watching the kids playing with their big joint Christmas present.

This is the one I bought back in April or May on sale. (I think it was $79 plus tax) I'm so glad I did! My Mom got the table on sale from her work for $20 or $25, so it was a great bargain all around!

Timothy particularly is enthralled with it. But Leanna and Justin love it too. And I've had some moments of peace while they went downstairs and played with it! Bonus for Mommy!!

Christmas Dress

I was trying to find a picture of Leanna in her very pretty Christmas dress but I really didn't get any good shots. The brand was Cinderella, how could I resist that? I'll just assure you that she looked very pretty. She took it off not that long after getting to Nanny Sue's (she spilled chocolate milk down the front), and Christmas morning I usually dress the kids before going over to my parent's house, but this year I left them in their pjs. We got up late and I knew it was going to take forever to open presents at my parent's house......so they didn't change into their Christmas outfits until before we left for my grandmother's house.

I'll probably have her wear it again for Easter -since it's white it'll work.

Fast Labor story

CONNELLSVILLE, Pa., Feb. 15, 2007
(AP) A woman gave birth to a boy outside a western Pennsylvania hospital, a delivery that happened so quickly that the infant wound up in the woman's pants."It happened so fast," Rebecca Johnson, 24, told the Daily Courier in Connellsville. "I didn't know what happened until he was in my pant leg."Johnson had just gotten out of the car at Highlands Hospital in Connellsville and was still in the parking lot when her 5-pound, 15-ounce son, Mason Matthew Parkinson, arrived Wednesday.An emergency room physician cut the umbilical cord in the parking lot, and doctors attended to Johnson until she could be taken to Uniontown Hospital, which has a maternity unit.Mason, Johnson's fourth child, was doing well.

A family of pack rats

It's funny, my mother in law just posted a link to an article on clutter being bad for you and I'd been thinking about that subject lately. It really is harder for some of us to get rid of things.......what's funny is that the stuff I'm willing to get rid of, my husband wants to keep. The stuff he wants to get rid of, I want to keep.....and stuff we're both willing to throw out, Leanna wants to keep!! I thought at this point we had only passed this on to Leanna but then today I realized Justin's already got it too:
I tried to have Timothy wear a soccer sweatsuit his paternal grandparents had given Justin last Christmas. It was on the small side when he got it, but he loved it because it had a soccer ball on the chest. So Justin got very upset and grabbed the clothes and put them on despite my protestations that they didn't fit and should be passed on to Timothy. As Timothy started crying because Justin was wearing his clothes, Justin happily declared, "This is the perfect outfit!" (That is exactly what he said, lol) "It fits!" (Yeah, like Urkel!) So we compensated by having Timothy wear the sweater I had for Justin. Since it had a dump truck on the front, this was acceptable.
This wasn't really about "the perfect outfit." Justin was sentimentally attached to the clothes. I'm like that too, I get attached to things. So I'm not sure how to change it, or even if I necesarily should.

Thanks!

I wanted to say thanks to those who gave us gift cards for Christmas-we bought groceries earlier this week. It was very nice to have a tiny bill at the checkout! Thank You!!

Fainting after Gardisil Shot

How did I forget to mention this!!???

Two days ago Jacob called out for "Mum!"

I hesitate to mention it, but he also occasionally cries, "Hun-ry!" in a desparately pleading voice. I very very frequently ask him if he's hungry when I feed him (because I wanted him to associate the word with the act) and I am positive he is trying to say it. But I know that most people would be quite skeptical of this. Both the fact that he's saying it and the fact that he's beginning to talk at all. It isn't perfectly clear to anyone other than me, so it doesn't count as his first word. I would also like to keep the stigma associated with having Hungry be your first word away from him, lol.

All four of mine were relatively early talkers though, so it's not that unusual.

I have such trouble getting a picture of him smiling because the flash on the camera fascinates and sometimes scares him. Here I caught him smiling, but of course the camera moved and took the picture mainly of a blanket. Still cute.

Milestones

Jacob is sitting, occasionally without support now. He is also starting to show interest in toys, sometimes. This is good as it means I can distract him for a little

with something other than me!

He is so rolly-polly!

Random things

*I fully expected a horrific morning the first day back at school, but both Wednesday and Thursday mornings went just fine. Such a relief and I actually got to enjoy her before school.

*Leanna was excited to show people at school her two missing teeth

*Timothy continues to randomly let me know he has to use the potty(and then sucessfully use it). I think it's time to get him his own underwear for some trial runs.


*I owe big huge thanks to my mother for tacking, heck, conquering!, my messy kitchen yesterday. I just couldn't bring myself to touch it, beyond doing the dishes and cleaning the table, repeatedly. There was just soooo much to do during the holidays and then I'm still putting aways Christmas toys and presents and ripping apart cardboard packaging etc.etc. now. So I just kept cleaning the living room over and over and putting off the kitchen. Thank you thank you thank you!!


*Timothy insisted on going to bed with two handfuls of cars last night. : )


*I found out from the WIC office yesterday that Justin is in the 8th percentile for weight. (The doctor's office didn't tell me, but the wic lady did. and I always find that stuff fascinating, I don't know why). He looks normal to me though.


*Justin asked for peaches today, and ate them(the two don't always go together) and then Timothy had some too! Every little step towards healthier eating counts!
(Mumbles motto to herself: _Progress, not perfection_)

Qutoes

“We are all teachers, or should be. Anyone who relays experience to another person is a teacher. Not to transmit your experience is to betray it.”
---Elie Wiesel

His Aunt's underpants

I came accross this info today

There is an old Jewish proverb that says, "Every child comes with a loaf of bread under its arm." We often chart astrology and Chinese horoscopes looking for signs and hope that our children will improve and enrich our lives.2007 was the year of the Golden Pig, an event that occurs once every 60 years in the Chinese calendar. The Chinese believe this to be the most auspicious year for a child to be born.

Maybe he WILL be our mild child!!

A Calm birthday party

This was actually Maree's calmest birthday party in years. Sure Maree' and Tom had their annual cake-in-the- face-shoving and all the kids were jumping on Tom (and he loved it), but the level of violence was way down this year.

Maree's friends & relatives

Maree's half sister and half brother-I think her little brother looks a little like her. Not the best picture of her and her Mom, but the sentiment is sweet. And for the few of you who know Rod and Shelly, that's their son Cody.

Maree is now 11

Maree' with her birthday card from Tom, and with her Christmas grill. She loved that.

All I want for Christmas

Leanna lost her first tooth Christmas day. It was very hard to get a picture where she didn't smile so that it hid the empty space or else look retarded.

She lost the one next to it yesterday also. The tooth fairy brought her a dollar for each one. (The tooth fairy didn't consult with me, I think I would have given a quarter or .50)

Ay Mimi's

Mimi's was fully decorated again this year (quite a project). Timothy playing with a car present (Car!!) he's got tons now and loves it. Justin eating one of Mimi's rice cakes, he loves them. And a rare shot of me, with Leanna.

Young photographer

Timothy apparently took a picture of his shoulder.

Bonding?

In a few moments pretty out of character for Claire, she actually played with her nephew. And I think both enjoyed it about equally.