Evan's note

Evan is loving learning to read and write. He knows that I regularly use the MagnaDoodle to leave notes for Daddy, so he wanted to leave a note the other day. It says "Evan gone to preschool". I told him the letters, and he wrote it all himself. I've marked out where each word is so you can follow where the words go.

1. Evan (Yay! He got the "tails" on his A and N the right place!)
2. Gone (He couldn't remember how to do a G, so I told him to do it as well as he could remember it.)
3. To (one of the words he can find, read, and spell on his own)
4. Preschool (Like all early writers, he looped his word up the side of the "page" so he could fit it all in.)

Pseudo-Vacation day - Coralville

Last Sunday, we went to Coralville to Coral Ridge Mall. We had never been there, but it was a nice halfway point between Chad's sister and us for all of us to meet for the afternoon. We considered going to the Children's Museum they have in the mall, but the (free) playground they have inside proved to be just as fun, if not more. We hadn't really considered it to be a Vacation Day, but Evan said something the next day about having had fun on our Vacation Day, so it must have been good!

Chad's sister, Janelle, spent quite a bit of time helping Laura get brave enough to play.

Evan was hard to get pictures of because he was in constant motion. Climbing, sliding, jumping, and flipping.

Laura spent a lot of time going through the little tunnels.

She also spent a lot of time sitting on this big crayon. I'd love this picture of her ... if it weren't for the other kid's bum right in front of her face.

This is to show that Chad was part of our pseudo-vacation day. And so I can tell him "Hi, sweetie! I love you!"

Kendra liked finding places to "sleep". Like on top of a crayon.

And on top of a whole row of crayons.

Our playtime was fun, and tiring. The ride home included sleep for 3 kids, driving for 1 daddy, and storm-watching for me. I spent a good portion of the ride home taking pictures of the sky. Mostly so I'd stay awake, but the sky was definitely worth watching!

I'm not sure where our next Vacation Day will be, but we will be having a real (multi-day) vacation in not too long!

Picture post 2

Can it be called "Picture post 2" when Picture post 1 was a week and a half ago? It can? Great! Hang on, here we go!

On Easter Sunday, we went to Chad's sister's house for the day. One of the goals for the day was to take a family picture. It didn't go too poorly. Here's the best shot from my camera. Yes, I realize that Kendra and Laura are neither one looking at the camera, but you'll have lots of other opportunities in this post to see pictures of them.

While cleaning out the attic to get ready for our garage sale, Chad decided we would go ahead and put the toddler bed in Laura's room. Her initial reaction was excitement that I had put her lamb in there.

Here next emotion was elation that not only her lamb, but also her bunny was in there.

And I think she liked the bed ok too.

But she doesn't get it all to herself. Her siblings occasionally give her "this is how you sleep" lessons in it. (No, she has not yet slept in the bed. I haven't even tried putting her in it. I like how well she sleeps in the crib, and I don't want to mess that up. So, the toddler bed is just decorational for now.)

This is Kendra's new favorite place to hang out.

And her daddy doesn't seem to mind it too much either! (These photos were on 2 separate days. As soon as Kendra sees Chad wearing this shirt, she runs over to him so she can crawl in. I don't think the shirt is going to last for too many more snuggles though.)

A full, full chair at bedtime.

Laura showing that she still sports her "fluff" quite well.

Kendra likes warming up in a sunbeam. This is how Kendra has been found on numerous occasions lately. Including a couple of them in the driveway (in similar states of undress) while getting ready for the garage sale.

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We now interrupt this picture post for a cookie break. Evan and Kendra's cookie break to be exact. But they left the table, and this happened.

Hi Mom! This is my I'm-sweet-and-innocent face.

This is my Look!-a-cookie! face.

This is my taking-a-very-ladylike-bite face.

This is my not-a-care-in-the-world-as-I-eat-stolen-cookies face.

And this is the back of my better-check-to-make-sure-they-haven't-noticed-me-yet head.

We now return to our regularly scheduled picture post.
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You'd think at some point I wouldn't find my children napping in my bed to be completely irresistible. But, that point hasn't happened yet. (Yes, we still have flannel snowman sheets on our bed even though it's now May.)

Laura loves yogurt. Laura loves feeding herself yogurt. Laura is very tasty after feeding herself yogurt.

I know I'm a bit biased, but is this not one of the most handsome boys you've ever seen? (If you have sons of your own, I'll excuse you from answering.)

Evan got to try using headphones with his Tag. Should you be able to see the level of concentration when you can only see the top of his head?

Just a picture to show that I am indeed part of this family also.

The kids had a snack at the little table the other day. I took a picture because I thought they were cute all sitting together eating. But I'm posting the picture because of the expressions on their faces -- mostly Laura's.

And this concludes Picture post 2. From now on, I will try to stay more up to date with my blog posts. "Try" being the key word.

Missing pants: Found!

On Easter Sunday, Chad's sister gave us a bunch of clothes for Kendra that Morgan had outgrown. In this wonderful stash, was a pair of jeans with flowers on them, and there's buttons for the centers of the flowers. They're adorable! I'd post a picture, but the pants have been missing for a couple of weeks. I found them today. Under the coat tree. I took them to Kendra to show her I found them, and I told her where they were. Her response? An upset, "but that's where they're supposed to be!"
Maybe I should start checking under the coat tree for missing items more often. Like the Bob the Builder jammies that still haven't shown up. Even after going through every tote and box sorting out stuff for the garage sale.

dot com

Evan and Kendra both have a calendar every month that we print off the internet so they can choose their pictures. We're ready to do their calendars for May. Evan runs over to me and asks, "where do you find calendar.com?" I think he has too good of a grasp on the internet!

Magic cards

Yesterday, I opened a new package of number flashcards that Kendra got for her birthday. Evan and Kendra played with them at the table while Laura napped. Less than an hour later when Laura woke up, I picked up the cards, and there were 4 missing. How's that happen? It was the 2 oldest kids. While the youngest napped. At the table and only at the table. The cards were brand new. And all of them had been there when I gave the cards to them, I checked. Now there are 4 missing. How's that happen? Maybe they're magic cards instead of number flashcards.

MckMama vs Jennifer

MckMama gets talked about in our house a lot these days. Mostly, Stellan gets talked about in our house a lot these days. But it's always preceded with something like, "ready to hear MckMama's latest blog post/tweets?" Evan asked yesterday who MckMama is. My first thought was that it was surprising it's taken him this long to ask. My second thought was how to explain who she is. I went with the simple, she's the lady who writes the blog Mommy reads all the time. She's a mommy too, and her name's Jennifer, but she calls herself MckMama on her blog. Evan accepted that answer. Then today, out of the blue while he's playing, he asks, "why do you call her MckMama instead of Jennifer?"
How do you explain that one? Uhhh...because I don't actually know her?

Narrating

Kendra has just reached a stage that I had forgotten about with Evan (it must have been before I started blogging!). She narrates what she's playing, like it's in a book. For example:
The girl walked over there. Kendra asked, "Where are you going?" The girl said, "over there." Then they walked over there together.
It's fun to listen to. And it makes me feel like I must still read to my children often, even though it doesn't feel like I do anymore. Or maybe it's just because they spend hours upon hours playing with their LeapFrog Tags. One or the other...

Crusts

Evan and Kendra wanted toast and honey for breakfast this morning. I eat the crusts off their toast. Between the two of them, I ate the crusts off 8 pieces of toast (you can do the math on how much toast that means they ate). When you eat that much crust, are you still allowed to have your own breakfast, or were the crusts your breakfast?