Veterinarian Birthday

The Plan

We had a great Veterinarian Party this weekend.  Princess told me quite a while ago that she wanted a Veterinarian party and her plan was to have pens in the yard to hold everyone’s real pets.  Yikes!  I didn’t really say anything about it at first, hoping she would not remember and I could talk her into something else, but she did remember.  So, with only a few weeks to go, I was trying to back pedal with her and get her to agree to a different plan.  We agreed to have everyone bring a stuffed animal and they could give them check-ups.  As a result of travel and illness, I wasn’t able to shop for anything until the night before the party.  To say I was worried would be an understatement.  I prayed before I left that God would guide me and help me to find the things I needed, especially since one of the items was pretty specific.  I believe He did just that.

Princess wanted to buy a little dog in a pet carrier at Toys R Us a few months ago and I wanted to use it in my party plan, but I wasn’t sure they would still be carrying them.  When I arrived at the store, I couldn’t find any.  I finally found one broken one, but I needed five.  Just as I was about to call Ryan and see if I should at least get the broken one for her, an employee walked up and asked if I was finding everything.  I asked if there was any way to see if there were any more of these little dogs in the store.  He scanned it and said there should be four more…exactly the number I needed.  We walked to where they had been, but neither of us saw any.  He looked at his hand-held to confirm, and realized there was a brand new box of six in the back room.  Amazing!  A brand new box of a clearanced item.  What are the chances?  The rest of the night went similarly.  I usually plan for weeks, if not months, and shop over time to get the things I need for my theme.  I found everything on my list, including a trip to the grocery store for the food, in three hours!

The Party

When the guests arrived, they received a Dr. Badge with their name on it.  I ushered them into the “Exam Room” where they put together their “Dr. Kit" which consisted of a White Bag with a Red Cross on it filled with a “syringe” (really a CVS oral medicine doser…I just happened to have six lying around from past prescriptions), Sports tape (“casts”), Popsicle sticks (for tongue depressors and splints), a small sponge for cleaning wounds, two Exam Gloves and Band-aids.  We also had a bin with all the medical equipment I could find from our dress up box, stethoscopes, otoscopes, thermometers, blood pressure gauges, etc.  We brought in the food scale to measure weight, as well.  Once everyone’s bags were set up, we did the “Pet X-Ray Quiz” on the Animal Planet website.  Then, everyone got their stuffed animals from the “waiting room".  I gave them some “Patient Charts" to fill out for their animals.  While they were doing their checkups, I had Ryan call my cell phone so it would ring.  I answered it and pretended that someone was telling me about some puppies that had been abandoned near our house.  I told all our Veterinarians that we needed to go get the puppies and give them a checkup to make sure that they were healthy.  I gave everyone an empty pet carrier and we headed out to the bushes at the end of our yard.  Everyone took a puppy and brought it in to give them a checkup.  They then picked names for their puppies and made collars for their puppies out of ribbon held together by Velcro and decorated them with jewels and foam stickers.  I then left them to play in the exam room with their new doctoring skills.  They played for quite a while and then took their patients outside to play with them.
Princess had asked to help with her cake and I let her pretty much do everything on her own.  I turned on the oven, reminded her of what to do next whenever she had a problem and put the cake in the hot oven.  Other than that, she measured, mixed and followed all the directions herself.  She also decorated the cake with Ryan.  She decided she wanted white frosting with a Red cross in the middle, and she picked animals and a “Veterinarian” from her toy box.  And…the cake tasted great!

My Thoughts on the Day

I was really worried that this would feel like the “consolation prize” of birthday parties for Princess, as we did not have real animals.  Seeing her face when I pulled out the pet carriers was priceless…I knew she remembered it from the store.  Tonight, when it was time to clean up the Exam room, I heard the kids saying, “It’s time to clean up…for now.  We will play again tomorrow!”  It is these moments in life when I remember that God delights in blessing us, even in the little things.

As an aside, even if you are not planning a Veterinarian Party, this is a great activity for kids.  I saw a lot of websites that used the idea in “Pretend Play”.  I couldn’t find any printable Patient Charts to use for today.  So, I threw one together using ideas from the internet at the last minute.  I thought I would share mine here in case anyone wanted to use it.  It is not perfect, but the kids still really enjoyed it.  I can see many of these charts being filled out by my kids in the near future.

The Office Door	The Medical Bag Setup

This was Princess' reaction to finding out that the new stethoscopes actually worked.

Let's find us some Puppies!

Eye drops for Little Man’s	Checking the Ears

Some of the puppies were worse off than others...this poor one was Pookie's.

First Day of School

I got this idea for a First Day of School Interview from Carissa at 1plus1plus1equals1.net.  You can see her interviews with her kids here.

I copied her format exactly, right down to the questions she asked. You can click on their blog names below to see the answers my children gave.

Princess



Little Man


Pookie



Here are some other pictures I got of them together.



The start to our school year has gone much better than I expected. We have already had a meltdown or two, but they were over quickly. And they are enjoying their curriculum changes, which makes the outlook for this year very bright!

My Boy

I love this little boy more than words can say…but I really wish he had not stepped on my foot the other day!
It has been a bit of a joke in our family that ever since he started to walk, Little Man had a talent for inflicting pain on others with his feet.  He never meant it, just stepped at just the right spot to make it REALLY hurt.
Well, he is much bigger now, and I found out a few days ago that he has not lost this talent.  He stepped on my foot one night, and when I went to bed I thought, “Man, my foot is cramping up.  I wonder what I did.”  Three days later, it was painful to even walk.  And after dropping a laundry basket on my other foot, I was pretty much not walking anywhere.  It’s a good thing I kept busy this summer and got a lot done!  All told, I was somewhat "out of commission" for a week.  After staying off my foot completely for a week, I think I am almost recovered. I took that as my chance to finally sit around and blog about some of the work we have done.  I will try to share those posts in the next few days.  Maybe I will get a chance to sit some more and blog about all the kids activities next!

Treehouse News - Up to speed...

Yes, I know.  I have definitely failed in updating here over the last few months.  I just looked at the last entry I had started in here and it was cut short by a hard drive failure.  I never really caught up after that.  Although, I have been trying to keep my priorities in line, as I said here a few months ago, so my kitchen has been cleaner.  *smile*

I decided not to try getting everything in here, but thought an update on the kids was way overdue.  Here are some of my favorite moments of the last few months.

Yep, we started school!

The new school space

Princess

My Second Grader

Princess has grown so much. She lost all her front teeth, and as her new ones are growing in she is looking more and more mature to me. Here are some of my favorite moments from her:

Princess was showing off her new toothless spot in her mouth to our neighbor.  Then, our neighbor shared that their puppy had just lost some puppy teeth, too.   Princess giggled, “Did he leave them for the doggie tooth fairy?"



While watching Pixar shorts, Princess concluded, “That Jack-a-lope is like God.”  I wasn't sure how to take that, so I asked her how.  She said that the jack-a-lope was like God because he accepted the sheep no matter what, whether he had fleece or was shorn.

Little Man drew me a picture of me driving in an 18 wheeler through the country, with lines in the back to indicate speed. I asked, “How fast am I going?” He answered, “About 150.” Princess said, “I guess the speed limit is fast in the country!”

I added red pepper to a dish, and Princess’ reaction was, “The peppers touch only the nerves that say, ‘I don’t like them!’”

We had been reading a biography on George Mueller who started his life as a swindler, but was a changed man when he became a Christian. One night, after reading only about the start of his life, this was our dinner conversation:

Me to Princess: “Where did your manners go tonight?”
Princess: “I don’t know. Maybe to a big beer party that lasted seven days.”
Ryan: “Good homeschooling, hon. I bet they don’t advertise that on the Sonlight website!”

One of the things we have covered in Language Arts recently is Compound Words. Princess’ eyes lit up after talking about them for a few minutes: “Mom! A lot of times we use Compound Words in knock knock jokes!”

One evening, the lights suddenly went out in Princess' room because she tripped the breaker.  She said, "Did I have a blackout in just my room? Am I gonna have to sleep somewhere else?"

Princess and Little Man were looking at books in the car.  Little Man asked what a "wosset" was.  Her response was, "That, apparently, is a wosset."

The kids wanted to play a joke on Daddy.  They asked if he ever played tricks on me.  I said, "Yeah, but not in a long time."  A short while later, they were planning their joke and asked me what I thought we should do.  I said, "I can't even tell you the last trick daddy played on me."  Princess said, "Well, I can tell you he next one we are going to play on him!"

Princess was not speaking very respectfully in her request one night at the dinner table, and I asked her to reword her request in a more respectful manner.  She complied and then said, "Do you want me to do an example of the really rude way of saying it?"  I said, "No."  She replied, "Okay. Well I'll be right here if you change your mind."

"I think I'm going to name my 105th child Dora."  I am not sure what she is planning on naming the other 104!


"Christ died to save us from our skins."  Princess immediately caught her error, but it has been repeated over and over ever since!

Little Man

My Kindergartener

Little Man is just starting Kindergarten. Some of the things he comes out with are hysterical, but I don't always share them here. Some things are just better to tell about in person...you know…with facial expressions and body language!  Here are some of the things I think will be fun even in type.

Ryan:  What would mommy do if we came home with a Puppy?
Little Man:  Run away.

I think Little Man will definitely be the strong, sensitive type. I was comforting him one day when he was upset and, true to his nature, he said, “What do you do when you cry? Does Daddy pick you up?” I love this boy! He is so sweet!

I can’t remember what question I asked, but I had asked about what someone wore for some reason. Little Man said, “I know! Whitie Tighties!” He had just heard the term, "Tighty Whities" for the first time a few days before and, clearly, he likes the term - even if he doesn't quite have it right!


I went to Starbucks to get my regular and Little Man said, “I think they are almost out of those…You keep on taking them!”

Ryan: Wow. you're doing a great job (on that puzzle).
Little Man: Thanks. It'd be better if I had a giant octopus helping me.


"You don't touch that. Even though it looks like a log...it's not." (In case you hadn't guessed...he is talking about poop!)


Princess was saying she wanted to be an explorer and go all over the world.  Little Man's concerns were natural, "You would need to pack a big lunch for that!"

A few years ago, we drove along the local river to explore the different parts of a river up close and personal.  Every so often, I will ask the kids if they remember anything about it.  Recently, I was checking with them again to see if they knew the name of the river.

Me:  "Do you know what it is?"
Princess:  "The mouth?"
Me:  "No, but good guess. The mouth is on the other side. Do you know what it is though?"
Little Man:  "It's nose? It has a mouth, it must have a nose!"

One night at dinner, Little Man prayed, "Please help mom to let go of her control and help us to be more obedient." We have been learning about character traits, like "self-control" and "obedience" but I thought his misstatement to "let go of her control" was probably a pretty accurate description of what I actually need.  Out of the mouths of babes...


While practicing his memory verses, Little man said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only forgotten son..."  He, unlike Princess, does not generally catch his mistake in this one.  hehehe

Pookie

My Preschooler

Pookie is an amazing beam of light everywhere she goes.  Sometimes it is like sunshine and rainbows, other days more like lightning!  She is always trying to make people smile and laugh.  As she learns more, it is fun to watch her try to explain things.  She doesn't always get the words right, but she gets her point across.  Here are some examples:

We went on a walk during one of the nicer days in May, and it was new for Pookie because we were letting her walk instead of riding in the stroller. We don’t have sidewalks, so we have to be very watchful of the kids and are training them how to take a walk safely through the neighborhood. After Pookie stepped out on the road, I picked her up to carry her. She was trying to convince me that I could let her walk, and she said, “I gonna try not to break my heart.”

Ryan told Pookie one day, “You’re a piece of work!” She replied, “A piece of work?!! I (Pookie)!”


Pookie has been getting better at letter recognition, but she misheard me one day:
Me: Look, it’s a ‘W’
Pookie: “It’s not that a double me!”

I have mentioned before that I like cooking shows, and that Princess has given me critiques on my “presentation,” but there are other ways this has infiltrated our house. Pookie’s new request is that she be permitted to “go to the dessert round”!

We were on our way out one day and Pookie asked, "Can I bring Anna?" (You know...Anna Green Gables). Hehehe

Pookie was frustrated with trying to eat corn on the cob.  Her way of telling us was to exclaim, "I can't eat it...the buttons."

Pookie got stung by a bee...because I put her down in the grass and didn't see the bee.  She had been playing in the pool, and between the cold of being wet and being upset by the sting, she was chattering.  She started to laugh, "I make clicking noise with my teeth!  See?"

Pookie still loves footprints.  After playing in the pool, she was walking on the driveway.  She was showing off to me, "Fooprintz. I made it out of my feet!"

For Pookie's 3rd birthday, I gave out kaleidoscopes for favors.  The day after her party, she wanted her "Ida-cope."  Even after she slowed it down for me, "Ide-a-cope," I didn't understand what she was looking for.  I don't think I figured out until a few hours later what she was so upset about losing!  Now, she has started calling it her "Telescope."  At least I know what she means!

"I am gonna leave that for people...little people."  Pookie said this about the bib at the restaurant on the way to visit Ryan's family.  You know, the little people, not like her...she is big now.

Pookie's favorite birthday present, by far, was a little lip gloss purse.  "I can't find my lip gloss anywhere. I looked all over...downstairs,upstairs. I can't find my lip gloss anywhere!"  I also heard her singing "oh where oh where are you my lip gloss purse!"

Pookie has been having a difficult time in the car, because Little Man and Princess are in the back and she is in the middle.  I am always calling to the two in the back to give her a chance to talk, and working with her to make sure that she is asking politely for her turn to talk.  One day, I heard her say, "Uh, excuse me, Evan. I am going to talk to myself."  Gotta work on her understanding of when to ask them to be quiet...

Pookie also has interesting solutions for things:  "Little girls twirl (their hair). See? Like that. Every time they don't get hiccups by doing that."  I have heard of a lot of solutions to hiccups, but never that one!

After asking what happened to Little Man, Pookie said, "(Little Man) hurt himself by me."  She had been jumping on his belly while he was laying in bed.

When I said that someone turned up the chapstick too much, Pookie said "It wasn't me. It wasn't you. It wasn't a fox..." then proceeded to list everyone else in the family. 

Pookie has been enamored with butterflies lately.  She did a sponge capsule one day and thought it might be a butterfly. I said, "I think it is a farm animal." She said, "Yeah. It is a farm butterfly." (Thankfully, she was happy with the rabbit it actually became.)

Okay...so this was long, but I am glad I will be able to remember these stories in the years to come.  I hope you enjoyed them, as well!

Happy Birthday Princess!

Happy Birthday to my Princess, who seven years ago rocked my world by making my dream of being a mommy come true.  As a baby, she was content and quiet...until she just didn't like something!  She still screams the loudest when she is just. not. happy.  But she also tends to walk through life content and joyful.  I thank God for that because she weathered my "mommy ignorance" pretty well.  We looked at some of her baby pictures today and I thought I would share some of my favorite pictures and memories of her first few years...

• When getting my ultrasound, we decided to find out the sex of the baby.  She was turned the wrong way and we had to move on, with the promise we would check one more time before leaving.  I said, "Come on, baby, turn around so we can see what you are."  A minute later, she moved and we were able to easily see that she was a girl.  =0)



Here she is less than two weeks old. Smiling already!

• While watching Baby Einstein farm animals for the first time, she LOVED when the kids would start to sing.  I have a video of her sitting studying the screen until they would sing, then she would look at me and give me a BIG smile as if to say, "Did you hear that, mom?"  They would stop singing and she would go back to studying...as soon as the voices started again she would look at me with that BIG smile again.



Baby Einstein age

• When Little Man was still laying on his blanket at two months, not even rolling yet, Princess was coloring and came over to give him some crayons to play with, too.



At sharing, she's a natural!

• Little Man had an infection that made him cry all the time as a baby.  I was frustrated and sad for him as he cried one day, and Princess (around 2 years old) said, "That's okay mommy, that's what babies do."  Yeah, she has always been articulate!



No one believed me that she was
loud at home...

• Our neighbors had some work done on their driveway, and she LOVED to watch the backhoe!



"I wanna see the backhoe!"

• Princess is a natural momma...she wonders aloud how she will juggle being both Mom and a veterinarian.



Little Mom

• Princess was so affectionate toward Little Man that she even wanted to be close to him when they were both buckled in at meal times.  Her solution was to "hold feet" with him.



Meal times are still time to be close...

• She has always had her own sense of style.  As we looked through pictures, it was all about the layering...



Pajama shirt, Bathing suit, Jean shorts...

Here are some of my other favorites from the first few years:

Three Months

18 months...this is a week before Little Man was born.

Bounce house fun! 2 1/2 years old.

Loving Big Sister

Loving Big sister, again!

If you have any memories of her you would like to share, leave them in the comments here or on Facebook and I will share them with her!

Treehouse News - Wedding Week Memories

I can't believe it has been a month since Princess walked down the aisle as the flower girl for her Uncle's wedding. I don't think I was prepared for how much it made me think of her actually walking down an aisle for her own wedding! Maybe it was the white dress, maybe the pretty flowers or the beautiful hair (thanks Kim!) but, something just made me sad watching her walk away from me down the aisle. I was standing with the wedding party at the back of the church so that I could tell her when she was supposed to walk, and to be there in case she decided she just couldn't go by herself. She was a trooper, though. It was a l-o-n-g aisle, but she picked up her head and determined to go by herself...without me. I was so proud of her! It was bittersweet, though. Just another reminder of how big my little lady is getting.

I want to remember so many things from that day, and I know I am probably already starting to forget, but here are some of the things I wrote down that I wanted to remember:

Princess:

Enjoying some TV before "showtime"

"Mom, someday, you might disobey the GPS." - We had made it to the salon fine using the GPS, but we had followed some advice to follow a different route at the start of the trip.  I was fumbling with the GPS maps trying to figure out how we were supposed to get back to the road we started on when Princess made this comment.

Princess is definitely not used to getting attention and it usually takes her a little while to warm up in a crowd.  When we got to the salon, she was a little overwhelmed by all the women in there.  She sat in the chair without cracking a smile until they started curling the front parts of her hair that she could see.  From then on, she giggled every time she watched the curl coming off the curling iron.

Princess was also given her flower girl gift by the bride at the salon.  She did not really give a reaction when she opened it, so we were not sure what she was thinking.  Rest assured, Julie, she loves it.  Here are two things she said in the next few hours that express her gratitude:  "I'll keep this forever!" and "I love it, it's my favorite thing!"

Little Man:

A happy boy who earned his slide time

The wedding day was hard for my Little Man.  He had to wait, sit and be quiet most of the day, with a lot of controlling done by his mama.  At one point, he was very upset that I was "mad" at him.  We had to have a little talk at that point to encourage him.  He did have some fun, too, though.

When we got to the photo location, we parked right next to a playground...that we had to tell the kids they could not go on.  Little Man had just woken up to the exciting view of a playground, and then was told he could not go on anything.  He was bawling...loudly...by the time we were supposed to take pictures.  This is when Ryan decided that bribery was the best option..."If you smile for the pictures, I will let you go on the slide."  As you can see, he enjoyed it!


"I promise, I will give you a hug." - When we were all seated at the reception, Little Man leaned over and said this to me.  He then leaned over and gave me a big hug.  Apparently, they have been talking about promises in his Bible Club group, and he wanted to make me a promise. It was really sweet.

"That was a good one!" - After Ryan's prayer at the reception, half the reception hall heard Little Man's praise for his father's accomplishment.  Poor Ryan was left wondering why people were laughing at him when he was done praying. =0)

Pookie:

Enjoying some spinning on the dance floor

"My potty...(we) forgot it." - We told Pookie at the beginning of her trip that she could not use the potty because we forgot it at home.  Toward the end of our trip, we heard her talking to herself in the back seat about the missing potty.


Spinning in her dress. - From the moment we first tried her dress on her, Pookie started spinning around in it.  She absolutely loves to dance, and was not going to miss the opportunity to twirl that skirt!

Passing time with Mommy - At the reception, it was difficult to keep an overtired toddler entertained at the table.  I tried walking with her, hoping that she would be able to fall asleep.  That didn't happen, so we went into the next room and she spun around and ran around until I thought she would hurt herself.  Then, we started going around the room counting everything from plates in a curio cabinet to the shades on the windows.  She did so well, considering how tired she was.

All three of the kids enjoyed dancing to the music just before we left for the night.  It was great because they really had the dance floor to themselves.  They had such a fun time!

They also loved walking back to the car, and I was thankful we could get to the parking garage through indoor tunnels.

The final fun quote, though, comes from about a week after we got home.  Princess was getting ready for dance class, and Little Man saw her putting on tights and a skirt...he sighed and said, "Are we going to another wedding??? (ugh!)"  He was pretty happy to learn our trip was going to be much shorter.

Treehouse News

Things have been much busier around here than I expected them to be.  I knew that starting home school would be a big undertaking, but was not thinking of all the other things that would be going on.  We have started our homeschool year, Preschool for Little Man, had a birthday party for Pookie and Princess and have been cleaning out at the house - both inside and out.  It has been a crazy time.

I have been saving quotes for a few weeks now and I  keep thinking that I need to get them up here, so I am finally getting to that.  I also have a blog post I started over a month ago that was supposed to be about our first week of school - ha!  We are now in week six, and will have to just get an overview of the last month and a half (or two months, if it takes me that long to get to it!).

Princess

Princess is officially 6 years old.  She is very excited to be so grown up.  She is a big first grader, who is about to lose her first tooth.  I cannot believe how big she is!

Here are some of the things she has been saying and doing:

Prayer:  "Lord, I do love you but, sometimes you freak me out because you tell me what to do.  Amen."
"I am only suspicious on Sunday." - I am not sure what that was about!

We have been coloring some pictures for Little Man's preschool curriculum at home - they often have stick figures of children or families.  Princess has been drawing in an extra stick figure when there is not enough to represent Pookie.
The kids were trying to guess at something, Little Man asked, "Is it Chocolate?"  I answered, "No."  Princess asked, "Is it a food product?"  I was surprised at her for the wording, but also that she picked an appropriately broad grouping to start her guesswork.

Princess and I have been working a lot on her handwriting, lately.  One of the things she has a hard time with is getting her letters to "sit" on the line.  As we reviewed her handwriting page one day, I pointed out this problem from the day's writing.  She said, "Sit right, you horrid things!"  in mock indignation at their inappropriate placement.  It was so funny!
Princess has been announcing every so often that it is, "Just because I love you day" and giving gifts and drawings out to others on that day for no particular reason.
Not sure which one was funnier, Princess or Pookie, but they had a bit of a role reversal one morning.  I heard them playing baby and Mommy in their room in the morning - only Princess was being the baby, and Pookie was being the Mommy!
"The milky things are on my palm tree." -  "What?" was my response to that!  Then, she said, "You know, the things with milk in them."  Ah!  She meant the coconuts!

Little Man

The biggest news for Little Man is his new year of Preschool.  He has been working at home with me on a preschool curriculum, but also attends the same Preschool that Princess did, and I hope Pookie will, as well.  He loves it all!  He is growing in his ability to read at home, and has a favorite friend at school.  He loves his teachers, and even wrote them a note to tell them so - he brought it with him to his first day of school.  

Here are some of the things he has been saying and doing:

 Getting ready for church one morning, DH had put a dress on Pookie.  I said, "Do we need a diaper cover for her, too?"  Little Man responded, "Mom, it's called a 'pull-up'"  While trying to continue my conversation with DH, I responded to Little Man, "Not that, the thing that goes over the pull-up."  DH had responded that we did need one, but Little Man didn't think so, "No, we don't need that..."  He was not done his sentence when I started putting it on her, and he responded to my action in an exasperated tone, "Well, I guess we can put it on."

Little Man is quieter than the girls, but he has a few key phrases he has been using, lately.

"No Kerplaimo" - This is supposed to be "No problemo" which he sometimes says correctly.  But, if I try to correct his own special pronunciation, he repeats his own.
"In a jippy" - This should be "In a jiffy," but he has flat out refused to say it that way.
"You Bet!" - This is his answer to anything that he thinks is a good idea.

Also, on his first day of school, we looked in his box to find one of his first art projects.  It was clearly made for Princess.  It had her name on it in pink letters, and a pink flower sticker on it.  I thought it was so awesome that one of the first things he did at school was to make a present for his sister.

Pookie

This little lady's vocabulary and ability to communicate continues to explode in little bursts.  Sometimes, I am not sure why she is saying something, but I know what she is saying.

"Ow, Kiss!" - She was mooning me when she said this.
"Mom.  Check On.  (Little Man)" - She said this when she was about to cross a bridge at our friends house to go see Little Man.
"Superfast!  Tickle, tickle." - This was followed by trying to tickle my lips.  Not sure why...
"Nackup" = Napkin
"Pooh-boo" = Pooh Bear
"(gasp) A-prise me!" - She had been shouting for me to come get her, and when I opened the door, she gasped and said I surprised her.
"Mmmhmmm.  it's true." - Princess was trying to convince me of something in the car, when Pookie added her convincing endorsement.
"Pin, Pin a-den.  You busy?" - Translation, "Spin, Spin again.  Are you dizzy?"
I left Pookie in bed after reading some nursery rhymes, when I realized I forgot to get something for Princess before I left the room.  Upon reentering the room, I found Pookie, foot in hand, doing "This little piggy" to herself.
"Talk your mouth!" - "No talking with your mouth full!"
"Pick a you lou" - "Peek a boo"
"Piggy Head" - This means she wants a shoulder ride...a Piggy back, only higher...


I love that each of my kids makes me smile so much.  There are so many more things they do and say that I forget to write down.  I am just glad I get to save some of them and share them with you!

Treehouse News

No, we are not building a treehouse. As much as we all would love that, it is not in the plan, yet. So, let me explain a little. I wanted to have a design for my blog that would be a little more permanent. In thinking about that, I have gone back to the verse that helped me name this blog, "A longing fulfilled is a tree of life." I am hoping to design something using a tree type theme (more on that another time...) I was also looking for some way to name our updates about the kids so that it was always the same. I figured I would go with the tree theme. I hope that I get around to designing the new look so it will make more sense, but I am going to start naming our posts about the kids stories and quotes as "Treehouse news." Hopefully, this will help the grandparents find their favorite stories. =0) I am also hoping it will help me write them more often.

For now, I will start with our most recent "news". It has been a while, so I will just give some highlights.

Princess

Princess Enjoying TWO books

I have been watching this little lady, of late, and I am amazed at her firstborn tendencies. As a second born child, this is killing me! I have been getting some insight from some of the other firstborn's I know (thanks, Dad!) so, I am learning to see her differently.

Here are some other things she has been up to:
- If I find Princess quiet somewhere, she is either reading or coloring. Her creativity with color is so much fun to watch.
- She loves to wear MY sweater when she is cold. The other day, my DH said, "Don't worry, someday she wont fit into your clothes anymore." Funny...she is only five and I already have to share my clothes with her!
- Everyone she meets is her best friend - From the child who would not LOOK at anyone as a baby, this is a real turn around. She talks to everyone. The other day, we spent an extra five minutes at the checkout so she could finish her story to the cashier.
- Just so you know, her vocabulary is also expanding...I am not even sure where she got this one:

P - "We used to have fires all the time." (In the fireplace.)
Me - "We will again."
P - "When? When winter sets in?" (For the rest of the day, both Princess and Little Man were looking forward to that time when "winter sets in")

- We have been getting books from the "Teach me how to be Good" series. We read the book on being rude, and I often remind the kids that they should not be rude to each other. Here is the response I got one day from Princess: ""That wasn't rude. I read the whole book, and that wasn't in there." Yep...love that comprehension!
- "Mom, you're so sweet, I'm never gonna leave...not even when I am grown up and supposed to."

Little Man

Cooling off by the air conditioner

I have been at a loss with Little Man for the summer. He needs structure and he needs to run around...he hasn't had much of either. Things have been changing around so much that our structured days took a backseat to opportunities for fun. When we have been home, we haven't had much time out because of the heat - and Little Man has a difficult time with the heat. Even when we have gotten out, he is the first one ready to go in.

Here are a few examples of what he likes right now, and a few quotes:
- Solving mysteries - We have been reading some mystery style books lately, and he has really gotten into it. One night, after Pookie's birthday party, I left a cupcake wrapper and candy bar wrapper downstairs. The next morning, he came up to tell DH, "I have a CLUE! Two Clues! A cupcake wrapper...and a candy bar wrapper!" After doing some sleuth work, he discovered who left them. =0)
- Rain Boots - I got rain boots for the kids so they could go out in the rain, and they have REALLY enjoyed jumping in the puddles with them. Little Man, however, does not like getting rained on. So, he is generally in a jacket with his hood on!
- Love for Pookie - He has been writing notes and drawings to tell Pookie that he loves her. It is so sweet!
- This summer dressing up has exploded as an activity in our house. Little Man likes dressing up, but has informed Princess he does NOT want to be the prince! I guess that story line has gone on long enough for him!
- Starting to love books - I love that I am finding him more and more often with an open book quietly looking through it. It is going to be interesting teaching him to read because he guesses correctly so often!
- This is a conversation we had in the car on a day when the kids had been in front of the TV ALL DAY (Confession time for me, I guess...)

LM - Can we watch a show?
DH - No you already had enough shows today from the sound of it.
LM - No, we didn't have that many.
Me - Yes you did. You watched...(I started listing off the titles)
LM - That's only 4.
Me - Oh, then you watched...(I listed two more)
LM - That's only 6. That's not a big number. I want like 10.
DH - Do you know how many shows I watched today?
LM - No.
DH - None.
LM - Oh, well when we get home we can watch a show and then...

I didn't hear the rest of what he said...I was laughing too hard.

Pookie

Pookie after her first bath with "Baby"

This little firecracker has had a wonderful time the last few weeks. She got to celebrate her birthday 4 times the week of her birthday, and now "Happy Birthday" is her favorite song. (It has nothing to do with the singing Pooh Bear balloon I bought her for her party...guaranteed to play at least 50 times! I thought DH was going to lose it!) The picture, above, is her with her new bath time baby doll - she loves it!

- Potty training - I can't believe how well Pookie is potty training. She has had two or three accidents all week. We did go out a few times with pull-ups on, and she did need them. At home, though, she has done wonderful. Today, in the car, she told us she needed to go. We were a few minutes from home, but when we arrived she was still dry and went on the potty. You go girl!!! We had an awful time finding panties that would fit her, though. Size 18m just doesn't seem to exist. Luckily, we found some really narrow 2t/3t. They seem to fit her okay. We will be trying them out this week.
- Singing, dancing, dressing up - I can tell how much she adores her brother and sister because she wants to be where they are and doing what they are doing. She is ALWAYS singing, and if she has a dress on there is dancing to go along with it.
- Quotes -

- I dropped a towel going from the washer to the dryer. I said, "Whoops." She responded by picking it up and saying, "Tain choo, wackum". (thank you, you're welcome) and then throwing it in the dryer for me.
- I asked, "Do you want me to carry you?" "Umm-hmm, carry me." I find it interesting that she used the correct "me" instead of "you."
- "Watch me mom!"
- Dictionary of terms: Cuckoos=Blues Clues
Tepup=ketchup
Fa-fish=goldfish
Yam=lamb

I hope you enjoyed our long update here. Hopefully, I can keep up with their news a little better so I don't feel like I need to tell you everything that they have been doing. I am so proud of them, and how they are growing. I hope you have enjoyed some of their stories, too.

Little Miss Independent

I had alluded to Pookie's tendency to just go ahead and get whatever she wants in my last post about the kids. She is the only one of my children who will go into the closet and grab whatever she wants and start eating it. She did not start out being sneaky about grabbing stuff, but that has evolved as she figured out I would take it away when I found out. *smile* Her tendency to run away with things has expanded to non-food items, as well. After my last post, I decided to start keeping track of the things I have found her with. Here are some of the things I remembered to write down:

• Raisins - by far her favorite snack! They get stolen more often than anything.
• Body Spray - Not only did she take it from my room, I found her spraying it on herself frantically to get as much out of the bottle before I took it.
• iPod - When she knew that I saw her, she ran to try and put it back where she found it.
• Goldfish - We have the biggest box I could find...she can't even get her arms all the way around it.
• Scissors - Another thing she knew she wasn't allowed to have...thankfully I got to her before she went running with them.
• Chocolate Covered Almonds - She doesn't even like them! I think she thought they were the chocolate covered raisins. hehehe
• Make-up Bag - AGAIN! Thankfully, I found her before anymore red got on her face.
• My Keys - This one is kind of funny, because I have found the doors to the car open when she played with them before.
• Chip Bag - At 10am, a little after breakfast, I heard her plop down on the floor with a bag. When I turned around, she already had the clip off and was eating.

Here is an example of what it is like when I catch her in the act (at the end, she is telling me to turn the camera screen so she can see herself...)



Last, but certainly not the least...yesterday, she came up to me with my espresso beans. She had taken the bag out of the box I keep them in, opened it and already had a few in her mouth. She said, "Coffee!" Then, she started to chew them. The look on her face was priceless! She looked like she was confused by why something that mommy likes so much would taste so horrible. I wanted to grab the video camera, but it was downstairs. I asked her if it tasted good, she said "mm-hmm" (yes). A few seconds after I figured out what she had in her mouth, she spit them out. So, I only got a picture of her pointing to them on the floor. Still, I wonder if she has learned anything from this valuable lesson???

Pookie pointing to the beans on the floor		The beans by the bag