M+A+E's Corner

Pretend Wedding- 2012

2012-01-27T10:21:00.000-08:00

Brentwood Christian School does a pretend wedding once a year. The four/five year olds get to be the wedding party and the three year olds get to be the wedding guests. Names were drawn and Mia ended up being a bridesmaid. She was thrilled to find out that she could wear a pretty pink dress and hold a flower during the ceremony.

Once the ceremony began, the bridesmaids and groomsmen were matched up to walk down the aisle. It was hilarious because they speed-walked onto the stage. Then a preacher came and spoke to the kids about a wedding and the importance of it. He talked to them about the promise (commitment) that their mommies and daddies have made and that that is a lifelong promise. He also told them that when they grow up and get married that it will be important for them to do good things for their spouses and to love them even when it's hard to do. Then
music came on and the wedding party left the stage (at a very fast rate!!!!!). Then they got to have cake and punch during the reception. It was short and sweet and I think it will be memorable for Mia. Ally was disappointed that she didn't get to wear a bridesmaid dress, so I had to explain to her that she'll have her turn next year.

Here are some pictures of the event:

Emi insisted on being in a picture with Mia...

Pictures right before the ceremony:

At the reception:
The one thing Mia was really excited about was being able to take a flower back home...and here it is:
Mia and Maizie...
Me and my girls

Organization

2012-01-26T12:30:00.000-08:00

If I can't find something I just ask Ally and she usually knows where it is. That is partly because she is detailed oriented, but partly because she tends to be the one to hide things. Sometimes she will hide things in order to get recognition when she retrieves it. Other times she'll hide it to gain power over Mia or to annoy her or push her buttons. Whatever the case may be, I haven't quite figured out why she does it or how to address it. Along with this, I think, is her method of organizing. I see patterns in the way she lays out objects, but I am still not sure how this will translate. Does this mean that she will be a great organizer? All this sort of stuff is very intriguing to me. I guess I'll keep on eye on her;)

Here are examples of her organizing:
Filling up plastic sacks with items, just like her Grammy! ;)
Making sure every square has a toy in it...
When we take walks, she'll make sure to jump over lines on the pavement. I remember doing that as a kid, so that might not be very significant at all. What do you think?

Ally's new carseat

2012-01-24T10:34:00.000-08:00

Ever since Mia got her booster, Ally has been asking relentlessly when it's her turn to get one as well. I kept telling her that she'll need to eat a ton of vegetables and fruits so that she can grow big and tall, which she wasn't too excited to hear.

Two weeks ago, when I took her to the doctor because she was sick, they weighed and measured her. It was then that I realized that she can move to a booster. Once I told her the news, she was beaming from ear to ear. She picked out her booster (she wanted a purple one, but there are none available in that color, so she picked out this gray, black and white one) and was very proud to have a say in all this. She asked several times a day when it was finally arriving, because she just couldn't wait to see it and sit in it. When it arrived, we took it out of its packaging and she insisted on sitting in it, even though it was not installed yet. Then she did a bunch of pretend play in it until Papa installed it that evening. Needless to say, she is one happy camper.

Here is Ally proud to be in her new car seat:

Every time we get in the car, she still makes sure I know that she is in a new booster. Sweet Ally!

Paper cuts

2012-01-24T10:30:00.000-08:00

This is what Mia told Wilson yesterday evening as she was pointing at the box of paper clips, "I know what's in there- paper cuts!"

Ha! We laughed pretty hard!

Emi is 26 months old

2012-01-23T10:49:00.000-08:00

Emi has been learning a ton of new things lately and I am amazed how much she is now talking.
She is mainly just talking in German, but has picked up several English phrases along the way.
Such as, "that's mine" or "No, Ally, don't do that!" or "I want to do it!" I guess that gives you a glimpse into Emi's world as being the youngest of three girls. She has definitely learned to hold her ground and fight.

Some new developments for Emi are:
- She is doing a ton of role playing with her sisters now
- she can skip
- she can wink
- she is singing very well now (her favorite songs are baa, baa, black sheep, Laternen song, happy birthday song, abc song, and the wheels on the bus)
- she loves nursery rhymes such as five little monkeys jumping on the bed (she gets into it and waves her fingers when you get to the "no more monkeys jumping on the bed part)
- she does not like onions (just like Mia)
- she LOVES broccoli
- she'll choose looking at books over any other activity!
- she LOVES eating Mama's homemade sourdough bread
- she plays with dolls a lot, especially Hank and Hubert
- she has been doing big kid puzzles and loves the challenge
- she thinks that band-aids heal her boo boos
- she finally pooped in the potty for the first time last week and wears underwear at home and stays dry for the most part. The only challenge now is that will wait to do #2 until she is wearing her diaper again for naps or bedtime.
- she is more independent now. She wants to be able to do everything for herself, such as climbing into her car seat by herself, buckling herself up, dressing herself, wiping herself after having gone potty, etc.
- she is taking 2-3 hour naps
- she is wearing 12-18 month clothing
- she weighs 20 lbs.
- she loves being outdoors
- after a bath, when she is wrapped up in a towel, she immediately wants to go to Papa- she is a Papa's girl
- you can pour water on her head and she is pretty tough about it, unlike her sisters!
- she wants to go to school with Mia and Ally
- she still twirls her hair when she gets tired
- she sleeps in a big girl bed and doesn't roll off anymore
- she still has a paci
- she makes sure to inform me every time the dryer or washing machine have finished their cycles (they make a fun tune)
- and has a great sense of humor (tongue and cheek)

Mia and Ally take themselves a little too serious, so Emi's silliness is just the right dose to counter their drama!

Expressive or what?
Book time...

Emi had pneumonia last week. Poor thing. She was keeping to her bed or the couch when awake. I am so glad that she is healthy again and not coughing as much as she was.
Here she is in the waiting room before she had an x-ray of her lungs to see how serious her pneumonia was.
Since Emi pooped in the potty for the first time last week, her reward was a piece of candy. She chose a blue raspberry jolly rancher and this is what happened after consumption:

Star of the week

2012-01-20T10:13:00.000-08:00

At preschool, each kid gets to construct a poster board with things on it that tell others about them. Each poster board will hang on the wall for two weeks so that it helps the kids to get to know each other better. Mia was really excited about being able to have her poster board hang up in the classroom. To help her remember this event, I took a picture.

On her poster board she put pictures of her friends, cousins, family, when she was a baby and toddler, when she was doing crafts (since she LOVES doing crafts!!!!), a spiral art picture that she drew, a picture of Rapunzel that she colored in (since she loves princesses), a picture where she is holding a chicken in Dime Box, a picture of her holding watermelon (one of her favorite fruits) and a picture of the packaging for cheese fondue. That girl loves cheese fondue and requested to eat that for her birthday last year!

It's neat to see Mia growing so much, yet it reminds me that she will be in kindergarten this fall and that makes me sad. Now school is still for fun, but in just a few months it will be the real deal. Anyhow, I thought Mia might enjoy reading about this someday, so I wanted to jot it down.

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-18T12:44:00.000-08:00

Silliness from Ally

2012-01-15T18:45:00.000-08:00

The last couple of days, Ally seems to have swallowed the silliness bug, because she has been cracking us up. Usually, Emi provides us with silliness, but she has been sick, so I guess Ally felt the need to take over:)

Here is a bit of her silliness:

Flowers from Wilson

2012-01-15T18:27:00.000-08:00

I wanted to brag on Wilson. He gave me these flowers for no apparent reason except to say that he loves me. I am a lucky skunk to have such a thoughtful and loving husband!!!!!!

Since they are all in bloom, Mia insisted that she take a picture of me next to them. Here it is:

Wilson, thanks for being committed to us and loving me the way you do. I love you.

Tanya

More puzzles

2012-01-13T12:03:00.000-08:00

As mentioned in a previous post, the girls have all been doing A TON of puzzles lately. Their favorite one right now is a HUGE princess puzzle that allows them to work on it simultaneously. It was a Christmas present to Ally, but she is sharing it and we are getting a ton of use out of it. It's neat to see them work on different parts at first and then have them work together to complete it. Here are the pictures of this life-sized puzzle.

Their completed work:

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-11T12:03:00.000-08:00

Sweet heart

2012-01-09T11:43:00.000-08:00

We all went grocery shopping together over the weekend. While we were there, Wilson wanted to buy me some flowers. While we stood by the plant/flower section, Ally had the idea to buy baby Maggie some flowers for her grave. She also insisted that she pick out what flowers Maggie should have. We thought it would be a neat way for Ally to "give" or show love to Maggie and her parents, so we let her pick out some flowers. She was beaming of just the thought that she could do this for Maggie (whom she still prays for every night) It was really sweet.

Later that day, we got in the car and drove to the cemetery where baby Maggie was buried. We let Ally lay the flowers on her grave, said a prayer and took some pictures.

On the way back home, I remember thanking God for Ally's sweet heart. I also remember praying for God to give us wisdom to know how to foster and treasure her heart, since it seems
like such a huge responsibility for us as parents.

I wanted to do this post so that Ally can look back on this and remember how compassionate and loving she was even as a 3 year old! We love very much, Ally.

Emi, my big helper!

2012-01-06T10:16:00.000-08:00

Emi has lately wanted to "help" with me with chores and has caught on fast when I show her how to do things. Now that we have a front loading washer and dryer set, the kids can easily help with laundry. Emi especially enjoys pulling clean laundry out of the dryer and taking it to our couch.
We also have assigned Emi with the task to put all the shoes in the shoe bin when it's time to clean-up. Several weeks ago, Emi learned how to fold kitchen towels for me, which is wonderful, since I go through two a day (with all the spills and messes from the kids and from our leaking freezer!!!!! yikes!). So, here is a video of her carefully folding a kitchen towel for me:

MAE-isms

2012-01-04T12:30:00.000-08:00

The girls have really made Wilson and me laugh lately the way in which they pronounce words or butcher phrases. So, I decided it was about time to record them before I forget them.

Be forewarned, a lot of them are in German and won't be funny unless you are fluent in German!

Emi-
English:
ater ater means see you later alligator
Snug snug means snug as a bug in a rug
any football team that Emi sees playing on TV are automatically the Razorbacks!
Little Citter means Little Critter
Curious Dorge is Curious George

German;
dosse means grosse
dut means gut
armband means gummiband
angerling means andere
tomen means kommen
tatze means katze
tom her, Mama! means komm her, Mama!
Metterling means schmetterling
Pitze means spritze

Mia- Old McDonalds means McDonalds
Salagna means Lasagna

Ally-
English:
"You can't catch me, I'm the ginger-ale man!"

German:
Schwerdeschwanz means Pferdeschwanz
...because he didn't pass auf
Gefruehlschrank means Kuehlschrank
Prinzesserin means Prinzessin

Cousin time with Hannah

2012-01-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

My brother, Daniel, and his wife, Sarina, and their daughter, Hannah came and spent New Year's with us. We had a great time with one another, despite allergy attacks and minor cold symptoms.
What was neat about this trip was that Hannah was much more interactive with Mia, Ally and Emi. I am guessing it's mostly because of her age. She is growing and learning a ton and feels comfortable around her cousins now. So, here some pictures of their adventures together.

Hannah insisted that Emi hold her hand while walking down the stairs...
Twinkie picture- Emi and Hannah
Cousin bubble time...
Hannah helping Emi on the see-saw...
Eating breakfast together...
Hannah feeding Emi some cereal...
We went to Patterson Park together...

and played with leaves...READY, SET, GO!

played the donut game together...
We took a trip to the grocery store together...
and helped Mommy and Sarina stay on track;)

As with any family visit, we have a great time while they visit, but are glad to be back to "just us" mode. It's amazing how much well behaved our kids become when we don't have as many distractions!

Happy 2012!!!!!!!!!

Family Portraits

2012-01-02T12:52:00.000-08:00

One of our sweet friends is trying to start up her own photography business and "needed" us a guinea pigs. So, she did a photo shoot for us to get some practiceI had intended to some of these out as our christmas pictures, but they didn't come in the mail on time. So, I am posting them on my blog instead. Enjoy!

Meet Hank and Hubert

2011-12-30T11:08:00.000-08:00

I love being married to someone who has a great sense of humor. For this very reason I'd like for you to meet Hank and Hubert- Emi's baby dolls. Wilson decided one day that they needed better names and so he started calling them Hank and Hubert. Since we have quite a few unnamed baby dolls it's nice to be able to identify at least a few;)
Emi must have liked those names because she was the first to ask for Hank at night when going to bed. I laughed pretty hard when it happened, but now it's just a normal part of life- fetching Hank and Hubert for naps/bedtime. Just felt like sharing!

The red car

2011-12-28T12:48:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas break, my brother, Daniel, let the girls ride on one of his "toys." (ie. a red car) Apparently, he had bought it in weathered condition and recently had made some changes to it and fixed it up . Since his daughter, Hannah, is still a bit too young for it, he let our girls test it;) Boy, did they have fun driving it around.

Mia drove it first. She was a bit hesitant and wanted to figure out how everything worked before driving it. So, not only did she drive it with whiplash action, but she learned how to shift it into reverse.

When it was Ally's turn, she got on and without any hesitation just took off. She has good hand-eye coordination and it was obvious when watching her drive. However, to our detriment, she was somewhat reckless. She was having so much fun that she forgot to steer or look if there were obstacles ahead.

Emi got her turn and hit the gas a couple of times, which made the car move inches. She wasn't afraid at all, but I think her legs were not long enough to reach efficiently, so she gave up and enjoyed being the passenger for the rest of the time.

Uncle Daniel brought the car to my parents house the next day and Mia and Ally enjoyed driving it through puddles and ditches. So, they both got more practice and had a blast.

Here is a video of Ally driving the car:

Ally and Emi driving the red car:
Papa helping them steer clear of the white car ahead...
Cousin Hannah giving it a try...
A picture of Mia and Ally the following day as they are about to head out on another adventure:
Thank you so much, Uncle Daniel, for providing our kids with fun activities that they otherwise would not have experienced!

Christmas in Houston

2011-12-27T11:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas this year took place with my family in Houston, Texas and was a lot of fun.
Holidays are becoming easier as we speak mainly because our kids are growing up and don't need as much supervision. It also is very sweet of all my family members who enjoy spending time with them, because we get a break. So, thank you all who have been sweet to help us with our kids. We never expect it, but will gladly accept it:)

We had a wonderful time spending time with everyone in particular playing cards, and all the many conversations that happened late at night.

It ended up raining a ton and was really cold, which made it feel more like Christmas.

Here are some pictures:

A picture of Wilson and me:
The biggest news was that Julia and Philip got engaged! Congratulations to you two love birds.
We read some books together...
and smiled for the camera...
Took a Christmas 2011 Family Picture
Some other family pictures:

(Left: Sarina, Raya, Middle: Jess, Sarah, Right: Me)
Great picture of Mom and Dad
Sarah and Jessica with Emi
Some silliness from Jason (my brother)...
And my Dad made sure to keep things funny as well...
Cousin pictures:

Opa doing a nursery rhyme with Emi:

Unwrapping presents:

Mia kept asking when she could unwrap presents. It became so annoying after a while, that Wilson told Mia she was only getting socks for Christmas. She, of course, was upset that we'd even mention such a notion. My Mom decided to play a joke on Mia and wrapped one sock in an envelope and requested that Mia open it first. Here is her reaction:

Thank you, Grammy and Geedah, for all the wonderful presents!
Ally hugging her presents...
Emi still waking up while unwrapping hers...
Allly hit the jackpot this year and LOVED all her presents. Here is a video of her unwrapping one of her presents:

Jason made this for Uncle Grant with confetti...
Emi seeing how comfortable cousin Hannah's chair really is!
Hannah trying on Uncle Jason's shoes...
Random pics:
Sarah accessorizing with Mia and Ally (aka...nail polish!)
The result:
The girls insisted that Oma sit with them during a meal, so this is what came of it...
Skyping with Aunt Kira so that she could see their reactions when they opened their presents from her!
I got some great play time with Hannah. Here was an attempt to take a picture together...
Mom ready to eat her homemade waffles for breakfast! Yummy!
Aunt Raya reading books to Emi and Hannah. Thanks for loving on our kids, Raya!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-22T07:41:00.000-08:00

We leave tomorrow for Houston to spend the holidays with my family. The kids have been doing a count-down for when we leave to go to Houston and for Christmas. They are super stoked and can't wait to open all their presents! I am not sure how much time I will find to blog while we are in Houston, so I will leave you with a few Christmas pictures.

Emi- 2 years old
Ally- 3 1/2 years old
Mia- 5 years old
And last but not least- some silliness:

Some silly faces...
Ho Ho Ho! Have a merry Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

Chick-fil-a event

2011-12-19T13:03:00.001-08:00

For dinner last week, we met up with some friends at Chick-fil-a because there were suppose to be some fun activities planned for the kids. Once we finished eating, the kids were able to paint a house and then decorate it with stickers. Man, did the girls have fun doing that. Then they played in the play area and later on they got to have an ice-cream cone. Each week, this particular Chick-fil-a has different kid activities planned. Since the kids had so much fun, we might have to repeat this event;) Anyhow, here are some pictures of the fun:

Mia, Brooklynn and Ally being silly with their stickers...
Painting their houses:

Kenric enjoying his ice-cream cone...
And the girls too...

All three

2011-12-15T11:48:00.000-08:00

There is something to be said when I see all three of my girls playing sweetly with one another. I can't describe how it feels except to say that it's very gratifying. It's as though it's affirmation that we have done something right in our parenting. Anyhow, here are two pictures of them all doing something together while having fun:

They all wanted to have fake tattoos on their arm...
Sister pile-up...

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-14T08:43:00.000-08:00

A cold walk

2011-12-12T11:44:00.001-08:00

It has gotten really cold lately (yipee!) and we got the urge to take a walk and to check out the christmas lights in our neighborhood.

We got us all ready, and started walking. IT WAS COLD! No wonder no other soul was out that night. Anyhow, Emi's hands were hurting her, so we encouraged her to pull them into her sleeves. Once she did that, it looked hilarious.

Like this...

After ten minutes, Ally chickened out and wanted to go home. Great excuse for me to take her home, since I was frozen.

But Wilson and Mia continued on their walk for another 3o minutes. I think it ended up being great bonding time for Mia with Papa.
Anyhow, we had a good time and that is all that matters, right;)

A mouse adventure

2011-12-10T06:03:00.000-08:00

While Mia and Ally were sweeping the back porch at Dime Box, Mia found a tiny mouse. It was raining at the time, so the mouse must have escaped to the porch for cover. It also happened to be VERY cold that day and the mouse was shivering and drenched. The kids took pity on the mouse and wanted to keep it and take it home. Of course, that was not possibly, much less did we know if the mouse was even going to survive. So, Aunt Kira got out some toilet paper and brought the mouse inside to dry it off and warm it up. The kids were so curious and attentively watching the mouse's every move. A couple of times the mouse yawned and stretched and Ally and Mia got really excited. They even took a hairdryer to warm up the mouse and built a tissue bed for it, but we had to leave it on the back porch, hoping that it would recuperate .

As a kid, I have fond memories about "animal adventures" we used to have. Once, we rescued a baby hedgehog and fed it until it was strong enough to return home. I loved help feeding it and nursing it back to health and I saw that excitement in my kids as well. Not only was it fun, but I enjoyed seeing a mouse up close and watching its every move. So, it warmed my heart to see them experience a mouse adventure, even if it was small!

Thanks, Aunt Kira for making this adventure possible!

Silly faces

2011-12-09T11:15:00.000-08:00

Lately, if I try to take a picture of Mia, she'll make a silly face. She thinks it's hilarious.

Happy Friday!

A bit of randomness...

2011-12-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

Here are some things that have been going on in our household...

Ally and Emi have been playing a lot with each other lately, and I love it best when they end up giggling:)
Aunt Jill, this is for you. The kids ask to play with the Sushi Game at least once a week!
Emi being a big helper with laundry...
At the playground...
Emi can now swing in a big swing...
Ally's favorite thing at the playground is for me to chase her...here is an action shot of just that.
The girls have enjoyed using water when drawing with chalk. The colors come out much brighter and you can blend them more easily.
Emi still hasn't gone #2 on the potty, so we had to phase out the candy for #1, because she was overdoing it and consuming too much candy. So, our new rules are if you go #1, you can place a sticker on the potty chart, and if you go #2 you get a piece of candy. I hope this will motivate her to go #2 on the potty.
There was a ceremony to light up the Mueller control tower and we went. They provided hot chocolate, hot cider, cookies and crafts. We didn't stay long, but it was fun for the kids.
Enjoying some refreshments after the lighting ceremony...
I had a load of clean laundry on the couch that needed to be folded. Next thing I know Ally had taken it all off and used it as padding for her bed under the piano. She must have had fun, because she stayed there for quite a while.
Emi has been practicing trying on clothing and just recently started attempting socks.

What a big girl!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-07T11:43:00.000-08:00

St. Nikolaus

2011-12-06T17:01:00.000-08:00

Saint Nikolaus lived in the 4th century and was a Greek bishop of Myra (modern-day Turkey). Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession , he is also known as Nikolaus the Wonderworker.
He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus, whose modern name comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas.
In German tradition, children put a boot called Nikolaus-Stiefel (Nikolaus boot) outside the front door on the night of 5 December. St. Nicholas fills the boot with gifts and sweets overnight, and at the same time checks up on the children to see if they were good, polite and helpful the last year. If they were not, they will have a tree branch (Rute) in their boots instead. Sometimes a disguised Nikolaus also visits the children at school or in their homes and asks them if they have been good (sometimes ostensibly checking his golden book for their record), handing out presents on the basis of their behavior. This has become more lenient in recent decades. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas)

I grew up placing my boots near my bed and when I awakened the next morning they were filled. I have fond memories of this and wanted to pass this on to my kids. So, on December 6th, our kids woke up (even though we were in Dime Box!) and found their boots filled with goodies. This tradition does replace the stockings on Christmas day, but personally I think it is nice to have my kids get their gifts in stages.

My mom recalls having to polish her boots before she was able to set them out. So, I am sure there are many different ways that this tradition is celebrated. I enjoy being able to pass on such traditions!

Here are the girls' boots before they were secretly filled by St. Nikolaus (ie. Oma)

The aftermath...

What sort of Christmas traditions are you doing?

Emi's two year birthday celebration

2011-12-02T11:21:00.000-08:00

Since Emi's birthday was a day before Thanksgiving and we were already going to be in Searcy, AR we decided to celebrate it with all of the Robertson clan. I made a chocolate cake, we sang happy birthday for her, we ate cake and she unwrapped presents. It was short and sweet- perfect for a two year old!

With 16 people present, Emi seemed a bit shy. So, when we asked her to smile for the camera, she just stood there and froze. However, after a while she got a little bit more comfortable, but only smiled a tiny smile when she opened up a present. Very unlike Emi, but I know she felt loved and special and that is what counts. With much further ado, here are a video and some pics of the event:

Papa lighting the candles:

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Emi:

Emi on "stand-still" when asked to smile for the camera...
Emi about to blow out the candles...
Emi observing all the her cousins were doing...
Unwrapping presents:

Chow-down time...

Does Emi remind you of anyone?

A picture of Emi and all her Robertson cousins...
Happy Birthday, Emi-chan! We love you so very much.

Mama-Ally picture- Nov. 2011

2011-12-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

Mia's 5 year & Emi's 2 year stats

2011-11-30T10:31:00.000-08:00

As we were on our way to the pediatricians office this morning, all three girls kept asking where we are going. I kept telling them that they'll see, knowing that they would freak out if they found out we were going to the doctor's office for wellness check-ups (ie. shots).

Mia and Emi had their 5 and 2 year wellness check-ups scheduled (back to back) and I was dreading it. I knew that Mia (who is very pain intolerant) would freak out, wouldn't cooperate and talk her way through the whole visit (because she talks non-stop when she is nervous or afraid). Emi would probably cry a ton and Ally would be climbing around the seats while all this is going on and probably hurt herself or annoy me. Anyhow, we got there and Mia immediately figured out that this is the place where she gets shots. She started crying and wouldn't stop until I told her that she could have a smoothie/slush if she was brave throughout the visit. Emi had no clue, so I kept it at that.

Once the nurse checked their records, we found out that Mia needed zero shots and Emi needed only one (Hep. A). From that point on, everything went smooth. The pediatrician was very pleased with Mia's weight and height and to our surprise Mia will not need shots next year either, which was more great news.

When it was Emi's turn, I held her for some of the time while the pediatrician checked her ears and eyes. He was also very pleased with Emi's improvement in having gained weight. He told me that he has received new growth chart standards, which is a growth chart comparison that is used all over the world instead of the previous one, which was for "fat Americans" as he called it. He basically said that he is more concerned for the kids who are overweight than kids like mine who were off the chart and finally have made it onto the chart. Yeah.
When Emi got her shot, she didn't cry at all. I was so surprised. She immediately asked me for a smoothie after they gave her the shot, which made me smile. Emi also was very proud of her snoopy band-aid and her snow white sticker. So, all in all, we had a good visit and I am so glad that that is behind me.

Mia's 5 year stats:
Height- 42 inches (50%)
Weight- 35 lbs. (25-30%)

Emi's 2 year stats:
Height- 31.5 inches (3rd %)
Weight- 20 lbs. 3 oz. (3rd %)

Mia's 2 year stats:
Height- 34 inches (5-10th %)
Weight- 23.6 lbs. (5th %)

Ally's 2 year stats:
Height- 31 3/4 inches (7th %)
Weight- 23.2 lbs. (5th %)

As of now, Emi is the shortest and lightest of my children at age 2. Mia is the tallest and Ally is right in the middle. Funny, right?

Once we got home, Emi would point to her band-aid and say, "Emi, brave (tapfer)." Here is picture of her showing off her Snoopy band-aid.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-30T06:18:00.000-08:00

Happy Turkey Day

2011-11-29T10:12:00.000-08:00

We were in Searcy, AR with Wilson's family for Thanksgiving this year, so I am way behind on my blog. We just got back yesterday and I am scrambling to get back in the swing of things. So, an official Thanksgiving blog post will come later. Until then, I'll leave you with two family pictures.

Emi counting in German

2011-11-29T09:49:00.000-08:00

I am amazed how fast Emi learns things from her older sisters. An example of that is counting from 1 to 10 in German. Mia learned how to do that at age three and Emi just turned two and has already mastered that.
I can remember a time when Mia and I would practice her numbers and abc's to memorize them. We had fun doing that, but I never did such a thing with the others. They simply learn from Mia. Part of me feels guilty that I cannot give that time to Ally and Emi, yet I realize that I have plenty of other things to do with three kiddos versus when we just had Mia. So, it all evens out:)
As an oldest child, it would have been nice to have sibs to learn from, since I had to figure a bunch of things out on my own. However, I do realize that there are other perks to being the oldest;)

Here is Emi counting from 1 to 10 in German:

My version of Cranberry Fluff

2011-11-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

3/4 cup erythritol (natural sweetener)
1/2 tsp. stevia extract (NuNaturals brand)
2 cups cranberries, ground
1 cup granny smith apples, ground
1 cup crushed pineapple
2 cups marshmallows
1 cup pecans, ground or chopped
2 cups whipping cream, whipped

Grind cranberries, apples, pineapple (if bought fresh) and pecans. Add them together in a big bowl and then add the rest of the
ingredients to it. Voila.

This recipe was from my mother in-law, Roki. It is probably my favorite part of the Thanksgiving feast. So, I wanted to attempt to make it a bit healthier and this is what
I came up with. Hope you enjoy.

Mia turned 5!

2011-11-20T19:04:00.000-08:00

Mia is five years old! Goodness...time flies. It's amazing to think about how many wonderful memories we have already made with Mia in the past five years. What do the next few years hold? When will she loose her first tooth, start swimming or go to kindergarten?

We are truly blessed to have you in our lives, Mia, and would never trade you for anything in this world. Thank you, God, for having entrusted her to us. May we teach her your ways and guide her to be a woman of noble character.

Some Mia-ish things:
- dramatic
- she wants to be a teacher when she grows up
- she thinks Emi is hilarious
- she remembers things and holds you to them
- she loves to learn
- she loves to do crafts
- just learned how to ride a bike
- is girly, but doesn't mind getting dirty at times if it involves learning
something
- has a low pain tolerance
- loves to sing
- pretty lazy in nature
- picky eater
- has a sweet tooth
- loves Fancy Nancy books
- loves Pinkalicious books
- still insists on sleeping with her blankie and wants it when she is sad
- is a major extrovert
- she told me once that there are not enough hours in one day for her to be
able to do all that she wants to do (sound familiar? just like Wilson)
- fast learner
- wants to understand how things work
- freaks out about immunizations months before they are administered
- would dress up every day for every occasion if she could
- is fascinated with fire/candles right now

Mia at 5

Mia at 4
Mia at 3
Mia at 2
Mia at 1
Mia as a newborn
We love you, Mia-chan!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-16T18:25:00.000-08:00

Mondays is park day

2011-11-15T10:59:00.000-08:00

A neighbor of ours, Dagmar (a German lady) and her grand-daugher, Ana, meet us at our neighborhood park every Monday morning. The goal is to have my kids play with other German speaking kids. Ana doesn't fully speak German yet, but she'll get there soon. An added bonus is that Dagmar speaks in German to my kids and it's good for them to hear someone apart from me speaking to them in their native tongue. So, this set-up has been great. We will have to resort to Plan B once it gets colder, but for now we have truly enjoyed being outdoors and keeping up with our German.

Some pics:
Yesterday, Lilly joined us so that her Mama could get some stuff done.

I was amazed that Lilly was content to swing for 20 minutes straight...

So, what do you do when you have four kiddos with you at the park?

You maximize your space;)
Just like I used to do with Mia and Ally when they were little!

Latern Walk (aka St. Martin's Tag)

2011-11-14T10:59:00.000-08:00

In German tradition, St. Martin's Tag is celebrated on November 11th each year. St. Martin's Tag is named after St. Martin of Tours, a Roman soldier who became a monk after being baptised as an adult. He eventually obtained sainthood from the Catholic Church for being a kind man who cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm. In many parts of Germany it is traditional for children to participate in a procession of paper lanterns in remembrance of St. Martin. They make their own little lanterns in school or kindergarten and then gather on city streets to sing songs about good old Marty and their lanterns. (http://www.thelocal.de/lifestyle/20111111-15437.html)

And this is what some of us families at Mueller attempted to recreate in our neighborhood. I have fond memories of the many lantern walks I did as a kid and wanted to pass that German tradition on to my kids. My Mom and sister, Jessica, joined us and we had fun.

In order to accommodate all of our schedules though, we decided it would be better to do the lantern walk on the 12th and it worked out great. We also met a week before this event to make our own lanterns and the girls really enjoyed the craft. The weather ended up being perfect and during our walk we stopped along the way at two different houses for snacks (ie. gebrannte Mandeln (sugared almonds, which is a traditional German Christmas treat; and hot chocolate.

Here are some pics and videos of the event:

Emi kept singing the Lantern song over and over again as she was swinging it around...

Here is a video when we left to meet everyone:

Here is Mia ready to go:
Oma, Emi and Tante Jess...
In the procession...

Here we stopped for our first snack- sugared almonds ( gebrannte Mandeln); they were yummy!
A picture of all of us...
And then we stopped in front of our house for some hot chocolate! And that is where the walk ended.
Here is the whole crew chatting and hanging out afterwards...

Happy St. Martin's Day to you!

"She was so happy,...

2011-11-14T10:55:00.000-08:00

...that she cried," is the title of this work of art from Mia. Thought it was cute, so I posted it.

More static hairdos

2011-11-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago, when I was reading books to the girls we noticed that Mia's hair was clinging to the couch. She, or course, thought it was funny so she rubbed her head all over the couch. Ally followed her lead and these were the results:

The big five!

2011-11-06T18:35:00.000-08:00

Even though Mia is not yet five, each year we celebrate her birthday early to make sure all her friends can make it since it is so close to Thanksgiving. This year, Mia told me that she wanted a 'girls only' birthday party. And since she LOVES crafts, we had her party at a place called The Art Garage.
It was a perfect way to celebrate. Each kid got to choose what dish they wanted to paint and then the fun began. It was really neat to see their little personalities come out through their painting. Simone had planned out what she was going to paint and that is what she did- a smiley face. Maizie and Ally made a hodge-podge from all the colors and Mia, Madison and McKenzie drew designs and then covered it up and/or drew a new design.
A week from now, I'll go and pick up their dishes, which will have been glazed and fired up in a kiln. I am excited to see how each kids dish turned out, since the colors they used will become more vibrant once fired!
Anyhow, the party was very low-key and small and it was nice for a change:)
Mia requested an ice-cream cake, so I made a peanut butter ice-cream cake for her and everybody seemed to like it. I think her favorite part was opening the presents though. After she had unwrapped them, she carefully put the gifts back in their respective bags and carried them around until we got in the car. She just loved having gifts! Who wouldn't, right?
I guess Mia had a ton of fun, because she told me today that next year she was going to paint a bowl instead of a plate!

Here are the pics:

Let the painting begin...
Mia's friend, Madison...
Mia's friend, Maizie...
Mia's friend, Mckenzie...
I love this pose of Ally while painting. She was so focused and loved every minute of it!
Here is Simone's smiley face...
After crafts, we ate some yummy cake...

And, of course, sang "happy birthday" to Mia:

Unwrapped presents:
And smiled for the camera!
We love you, Mia-chan! Happy almost birthday;)

Big bed

2011-11-03T12:24:00.001-07:00

Emi is in a big girl bed now! We took her crib down and pulled out a mattress for her. She loved the idea of being a big girl, but as soon as the lights went out, she was a bit scared at first. You see, in her crib she never saw the curtains or other objects in the room. Now they were in full sight and looked different in the dark. It took her a while to fall asleep, but today was already much easier for her. So, I am hopeful that this transition may be easy. I am crossing my fingers.
Something I have found interesting is that Emi never once tried to climb out of the her crib. Ally climbed out of her as soon as she could crawl and Mia could do it, but only did it when she wasn't suppose to sleep!

Here is Emi all proud to have a big girl bed:

Emi, I can't believe you are 20 days away from being 2!!!!!!!! My lil' big girl...

First cold day

2011-11-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

Last week temperatures went down to 49 degrees one night and Wilson had the grand idea of letting the kids drink hot chocolate after they had played outside. I got it all ready and they were so excited to find hot chocolate waiting for them when they came back inside. They happily slurped their way through the drink.
What makes this extra special is that Mia had been asking for several weeks now if she could have hot chocolate. But it hadn't gotten cold enough for me to want to make it, so we waited until it was REALLY cold.
Btw, this was Emi's first hot chocolate experience and she loved it. I tried to take her spoon away at some point thinking she could sip it, and she gave me an evil look. But the best test to see if your kids like something is the quietness factor. If they are eating and quiet, you know they must love it.:)
So, here are a few pics of the event:

Keep your fingers crossed that the weather will actually stay cold!

Halloween activities

2011-11-01T10:18:00.001-07:00

It seems that we participated in a ton of Halloween activities! Now that Halloween is over, I can honestly say that I am glad we have moved past that, even though they were fun. And as a lot of you know, I LOVE the x-mas season, so I am ready for it to begin. Speaking of that, I heard my first x-mas song on the radio last night- on Halloween?????!!!!!!! I squealed out of excitement! Bring on X-mas:)

But since I am doing a Halloween post, here are the pictures. Mia and Ally had a fall festival hosted by their school. They got to do all sorts of activities to "earn" treats. Among those were a bean bag toss, ring toss, and throwing a basketball into a hoop.

Here is Mia during the festival:

And here is Ally during the festival:

I think for Ally it didn't matter what they were doing, as long as she was having fun with her friend, Brooklynn!
A class picture:

We also went to a monster birthday party. There was even a spider pinata!

Some pictures of the girls in some of their Halloween attire:

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T17:51:00.000-07:00

Mia couldn't decide what she wanted to be for Halloween this year. Here is what she was considering:
Being a carebear
or Princess Belle
Ally wanted to be a frog and left it at that!
and we were considering having Emi be a mouse...

And this is what they decided on:
Introducing...

Our Princess Mia Belle
our ribbity frog, Ally!
and our lil' giraffe, Emi-chan!
I love the side view of her in this costume! Every time she walked, her little tail would wiggle. It was adorable to watch and people stopped to watch Emi trick or treat, because she was so cute!
Some pics of them before we headed out:

and then we took off. The kids were jumping up and down because they were so excited!
As usual, Mia eating along the way...
Emi got the hang out of it pretty quickly. If she got to pick a candy, she'd always pick a lollipop. Mia would look for nerds or lollipops and Ally just grabbed whatever.

Lilly and Shea joined us for a while. Lilly was a cute bumblebee!
Then we headed home...to start handing out our candy!
Happy Halloween!

What the girls have been up to...

2011-10-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a bit of silliness from Emi after breakfast this morning- Multi-tasking at its finest:

The weather has been gorgeous, so we have been outdoors a lot!
I think Emi gets the concept of pedaling, but her legs are still too short. Boo!
My big helper; Mia insisted that she could peel a whole potato, and she did! When she handed it to me, it was completely peeled. I can see a little me in her, since I tend to be a perfectionist about random things.

Here is a video of the girls singing "4 little monkeys jumping on the bed":

What is the perfect distraction when babysitting? A kitten! My friend, Hanna, was gracious to watch our girls a few days ago so that Wilson and I could go out on a date to celebrate my birthday. Well, she brought her kitten, Lilly, with her and they had a blast running after her, playing with her, trying to find her and just learning about her. Thank you so much, Hanna, for braving your kitty with my kiddos. Since then, they have asked me twice if I could call you and ask to bring the kitty back to our house;)
Emi saying 'night night' to Lilly...
Ditto for Ally...
and Mia!
Another random pic: don't be deceived- it's only Nutella!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

More pumpkin pictures

2011-10-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

Backyard pumpkin picture
Dime Box pumpkin pictures:

I love Emi's expression in this picture...

Friends pumpkin picture...

Puzzles

2011-10-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

All of the sudden, Ally has been enjoying doing "big girl" puzzles (60+ pieces). I am amazed how long she can concentrate to complete one. Often, she wants me to watch her, but as soon as I try to help her, she's refuses the help. It's neat to witness her now understanding that not only do you try to match the pieces, but also the picture/pattern. What a special gift it is as a parent to witness our children learning, even if it's something simple.

Red Barn Garden Center Pumpkin Festival 2011

2011-10-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

We went with some friends to a pumpkin festival this past Saturday and had a great time. It was a perfect event when you have to go solo (Wilson had a ton of work to do!). There was a petting zoo, two bouncy houses, a witch who handed out candy, face painting and of course, pictures to take by the pumpkins! Now that I have no babies to tend to (yeah...don't get me wrong, I love babies, but I really needed this break and am now thoroughly enjoying it) it was a breeze to take them by myself. The girls would jump in and out of the bouncy houses, went to the petting zoo to hold bunnies, played with their friends a ton, ate candy and played some more. And the best part is that all of this (except for the face painting) was a free event. You better believe I am going next year again. Here are pictures of the fun:

A decent pumpkin picture of the girls- they saw the bouncy house and were very eager to get going on the jumping that it was quite a chore to get them to cooperate:)
Best friends and only two days apart- Ally and Brooklynn
Sweet friend picture...
Bouncy house play:
Petting zoo time:

Here is a video of a duck washing itself. The kids were fascinated!

Kenric and Emi taking a break in the stroller; Emi ended up sharing with Kenric and when he wanted more, he'd make some yum-yum noises and then Emi would stick the sucker back in his mouth. It was hilarious to watch...
Scary teeth...

Attempting to take a scary face/teeth picture, but they were too giggly.

Independent streak and static hair

2011-10-21T10:30:00.001-07:00

Lately, Mia has made it clear that she wishes to do certain things herself now. Such as pouring juice or milk into her cup, peeling clementines herself, folding her clothes, washing/rinsing dishes for us and smearing miracle whip on her sandwich bread. She was surprised that I let her do it and was very proud once she finished. See picture below...

I also couldn't resist to post this picture. The girls rubbed their hair on a fuzzy blanket and this was the result:
They laughed and laughed and kept running to the mirror to see what sort of hairdos came out of the static electricity. Just something small I wanted to capture.

Happy Friday!

A great day at the park

2011-10-19T11:50:00.001-07:00

We went to Ramsey Park today. The weather was beautiful (60's; crisp, yet sunny) and it was a perfect day for the park. I brought snacks, in anticipation of being there for a while and we had a great time. Ally discovered that it's a ton of fun sliding down head first!
Emi loved climbing ALL BY HERSELF onto the playscape and then sliding down and doing that over and over again, while saying either "ready, set, go" or "auf die Plaetze, fertig, los!"

Mia played with another girl for the most part, but did give the head-first slider a try!
Peek-a-boo!
I also chased the girls and they loved it.

I am so grateful for some fall weather!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

Scared

2011-10-16T12:21:00.000-07:00

There are two things that Emi is deathly afraid of right now: trains and windshield wipers!
Since it has been so dry for the past six months, we have hardly had to use our windshield wipers, so when we did turn them on, they were dry and made a VERY loud noise, which freaked
Emi out. Since then, she screams violently whenever she sees them being used! Poor Emi.

For some odd reason she also freaks out when she hears a train horn. It first started when we went to her cousin Hannah's house. They live near a railroad track and trains come through all the time. So, every time Emi would hear the train horn, she'd flee to me and start screaming and crying. I tried calming her by saying that Humpty Dumpty (she loves the Little Engine that could book) is on the train along with the clown and they are nice, so the train is nice too. It comforts her a little bit, but not enough for her to stop crying. Again, poor Emi. I wish there were something I could do about it, but as I recall, this is just a natural phase all kids go through- fear of something.

Side note: You might ask why Emi is wearing funny socks in this picture. Well, they are Wilson's socks and she has been doing this lately a lot. She'll wear Wilson's socks, one or both, and keep them on for hours as she is roaming around the house. I think she is so proud that she was able to put them on all by herself, that she refuses to take them off. Gotta love their quirks!

Random Pics Oct. 2011

2011-10-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

I took this picture this past Sunday right before we left for church. It was raining (yeah!) and this was the first Sunday they wore long-sleeved articles of clothing.
A smile from Emi on the playscape...
Emi catching a quick ride with Lilly...
Apparently Ally is eating ALL her lunch now that her teacher has been saving her drink until the end!
Ally's attempt to push the stroller...she is pretty strong and can push it fine but cannot see a thing. Guess we'll work on that;)
I wanted to post this picture because, again, Emi is growing and is now a toddler. Crazy...

Crowe's Nest Farm visit

2011-10-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

In the past month and a half, I have been sick for 4 weeks. Now that I am on another set of antibiotics and feeling better, I think we all felt the need to get out and explore a bit. So, I scheduled a tour at Crowe's Nest Farm in Manor, Texas. It's about a thirty minute drive for us, so it was not too bad. The neat thing about us being there was that hardly anybody showed up. It was predicted to rain that day, so it kept crowds away. It was great for us because we got to sit front row and were not crammed on the wagon.

Here we are waiting to take the tour:

A somewhat decent family picture...
Sweet Papa and Emi picture...

We watched turtles swim around...
We watched a cow being milked. Here is her calf- two days old.
Here is Mama cow hooked up ready to be milked...
Here is where the milk was collected...and as the farmer put it, "brought to HEB." :)
We took a ride on this wagon to go see some of the animals that were a little father away- the ostriches and bison.
Some pics on the wagon...

As soon as the tractor started pulling our hay wagon, Ally got really excited. Can't you tell?
We saw all kinds of animals. Among those were:

Bison

Ostriches:

By the way-
An ostrich egg is the largest egg in the world and it looks about the size of a medium cantaloupe. Some fun facts about it are that it weighs usually between 3-5 pounds. The smallest bird egg is the bee hummingbird. You could put 4700 bee hummingbird eggs inside one ostrich egg.

Some turkeys...

The kids were amazed how funny the turkey sound is...

A pig...
A peacock who was roaming around...
Some goats and sheep...
A porcupine...
and a Tortoise...
Yeah for a fun family event!

Dishes

2011-10-07T10:37:00.000-07:00

Mia has been asking for a while now if she could rinse dishes for us. I have been somewhat hesitant because I was afraid that dishes would break. Well, I have changed my mind and Mia has LOVED rinsing dishes for us now. We have talked about being careful when handling them and so far so good! As Wilson would say, "Start them young...!

Harmonica

2011-10-06T10:49:00.000-07:00

Emi has been spitting, blowing and screaming into this harmonica for days hoping that she'd hear a tone. Finally, she did it and was sooooo proud of herself. Just something small for today.

Tangerine Crossvine Update

2011-10-06T10:41:00.001-07:00

Not only is the vine growing a ton and giving our courtyard area charm, but it's also blooming! I guess watering it every day has paid off. It survived our dreary, hot summer!

Two songs from Mia

2011-10-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

In Mia's preschool class each week they learn about a new letter of the alphabet. This means that Mia's show and tell coordinates with that letter and the teachers do all sorts of activities and songs that then talk about that specific letter.

I have always seemed pretty impressed with Mia's recollection of songs (I think she get's that from Wilson!). Well, here is a video of her singing two songs she learned at school that day concerning the letter d:

Go Hogs!

2011-10-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

The Arkansas Razorbacks played Texas Aggies this weekend- HOGS WON 42:38! I was sick in bed, so the girls enjoyed watching the game with Papa. Ally was proud to wear this Razorback jersey. Yeehaw for another college football season being in swing:)

Emi singing the 'abc' song

2011-10-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

Fry's Fun Farm 2011

2011-09-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

Every year, Brentwood hosts a Farm Day where the farm comes to the kids. With this being Ally's first year in preschool, she was super excited about it. Each preschool class got to visit with the farm animals individually, so Ally's group was first. Emi and I stayed on the sidelines most of the time, but that was as much as Emi was wanting to do. I suppose it could be intimidating to see a lot of animals who are bigger than yourself! I must add, that the weather was magnificent (high 70's) and a bit windy, so it was a perfect day for this event!

Here are pics of our fun:

Mia holding the bunny for Emi to pet...
Can you tell they are having fun?
Mia spent most of her time with the bunnies and it took her a few tries before she felt comfortable picking them up...
...but once she did, she was very proud!

Then she pet the goats...
...and thought she could hold a baby goat just like a classmate, but got scratched in the process and decided to let it be.
Then on to the donkeys...

Here was Ally's fun:
Ally's class listening to instructions from the farm owner...
Ally spent 95% of her time with the bunnies as well. She went into the pig, goat, and donkey pen for two minutes, pet one goat and turned right back around to pet some more bunnies!

Here was a class picture attempt...
Emi loved watching the animals from afar and pet a few bunnies a couple of times, but that is as far as she took it. She squealed a few times because she was having a blast seeing animals up close so that was neat to see.

This bunny was feisty- it followed Emi and when she fell, it nipped her in the butt. I thought it was hilarious, but Emi didn't share my opinion;)
But she got over it and decided to pet it after all.
Happy Friday to you!

Date

2011-09-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

As mentioned before, Wilson and I have tried to go on dates with our kiddos, where they get individual attention from one of us. They get to pick what restaurant to go to, what food they want to order and what the activity should be. We haven't gone on a date with Emi yet, but plan to when she's older and understands better.

It was Ally's turn to go on a date with Papa. She chose to go to McDonalds (I think because of the indoor playscape and the Happy Meal toy!!!!!). Apparently, Wilson said that she was just beaming the whole evening, delighted to be able to have one on one attention from her Papa, being able to call the shots and later ecstatic when she opened up a box, which contained princess figurines- the ones she had wanted for a while now! She really enjoyed being the center of attention and having a special moment with her Papa. When she came home (which was her bed-time), we allowed her to stay up later than her sisters to play a bit more with her new toys.
Needless to say, she fell asleep fast and slept soundly:)

We are blessed to have such an intentional, deliberate, caring, and loving Papa. Thank you, Wilson, for taking the time to show our daughters that you love them.

Side note: You might be wondering why a pair of scissors is lying by Wilson's knee. Well, he took them along to be able to open the box which contained the toy.

Flashback

2011-09-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

Super awesome family picture;) It was taken in 1999 and I was 19 years old; I had come back for a break from Harding University to take this...
A bathtub scene- left, Daniel; middle, Tanya; middle, Jessica; right, Kira.
Me, Jessica, Kira, Daniel and Raya playing with friends outside...
A sweet picture of my sister, Kira!
Our snail city: We found a bunch of snails in the bushes near a railway in our neighborhood. We collected them in glass jars and brought them home. Then we built a city for the snails and had loads of fun making sure they'd stay within the walls of their city. I remember playing with those snails a ton. Memories....;)
My German grandfather (Uropa) reading us (me, Daniel and Kira) a bedtime story in Braunschweig, Germany.
My mom going sledding with us (me, Daniel and Kira)
The best picture ever of my sister, Kira, rockin' it in the awesome Subaru hat!
I noticed that Kira is wearing a ton of red clothes in these pictures. Either she got a ton of hand-me-downs from Daniel or Mom must have liked the color red:)

September 2011 happenings

2011-09-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

September was a more relaxing month for us. A lot of that can be attributed to us deliberately not having planned much. It's the best when a weekend is on the horizon and there are no commitments. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy being active and having things planned, but so often I over plan, which then exhausts me and takes the joy out of what I am doing.

We had two visits from family in the month of September: Wilson's parents and Wilson's sister, Jill, who just moved back to the states from Japan. As all visits with family, they are enriching and lots of fun for the kids!

One not so pleasant happening for me was that I somehow (no idea how) caught Giardia, which is a water-born parasite. Yuck. It was not fun at all and I was pretty much miserable most of the time until the antibiotics started kicking in. The pharmacy was unable to fill my second dose of antibiotics in time, so I ended up having to see the doc again and was put on a second set of antibiotics to kill it off. They are stubborn little boogars! The worst part of it was that I was weak, dehydrated twice without knowing it, and felt nauseated anytime I ate something. Trust me, I did take two pregnancy tests to be sure! Sickness does remind you how blessed you are that you are normally healthy. We tend to take our good health for granted! So, I am glad that is behind me. Wilson was awesome to help out as much as he did to make up for my lack of energy!

It continued to be hot, so we were still indoors a lot doing crafts, drawing and playing games. Thankfully, school has started, because Mia and Ally have truly enjoyed going and ask every day if it's a school day.

Wilson has been working a ton, so we have had to both adjust to a new schedule. No complaints though;)

I also took the girls to Houston to visit my sister in-law, brother and parents.

So, no major new things, but just hoping fall weather kicks in soon!

Here are pictures of this past month:

The girls playing in our alley...
Aunt Jill's visit:
Here Aunt Jill is teaching the girls a new sushi game...
Lego time!

Book time!
Some silliness with Papa...

We had the privilege to go visit baby Maggie at her grave. Ally has been praying almost every evening for her and sometimes is in tears for her. So, we finally had the chance to buy Maggie some flowers and see where she is buried. We met Maggie's Mommy and a friend there and after we sat there and visited for a little bit, Ally led us in prayer for Maggie. It was really sweet and I think it was good closure for Ally. She was able to see where Maggie is and has an image in her head now. She still points out a cemetery when we drive by, but now she knows where Maggie is at and doesn't have to wonder anymore. I just love her heart!
A new hairdo idea...
Grammy showing the girls how to make Japanese rice balls (onigiri)...
Pool time with Grammy and Mia...
Grammy also came and visited Mia and Ally's school...
Potty update for Emi: she is still consistently peeing on the potty, but not going #2 yet. So, we have told her that she can pick out some undies when she starts pooping in the potty. I am in no rush, so we will just take our sweet ol' time:)
Lots of pretend play:
Mia going shopping for me...
Mia in a tent during Ally and Emi's nap time...
Looking at books together...
Lately, the girls have insisted on doing homework immediately after they get back from school, so here they are doing their homework. Most of the time, this involves glue, scissors and coloring.
Trinkies picture taken on a Sunday morning...Mia did not want to be in it...:)
We had a few playdates with our friend, Ana...who is almost bilingual in German and English and lives in our neighborhood!
More coloring/drawing:

They have also done a lot "there is a monster coming" pretend play. One will see the monster, the other will shoot it and then the last one will assure everyone that the monster is gone. Gotta love it...
Bubbles have also been popular lately...
And last, but not least we have Mia and Ally pretending to ride a horsey!
Hope you had a great month! Cheers.

Fridays...

2011-09-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

... is bread making day! I make sourdough bread from a bread starter and Fridays one or all of my kids will either help or watch me make the dough. It then rises all day Friday and gets baked in the oven Saturday mornings, just in time for breakfast!!!! We have been doing this for so long that if I accidentally forget to make the dough, they point it out and are visibly upset. Their favorite part in "helping" make the dough is taste it- to make sure it's edible;)

Do you have a family tradition that you do on a weekly basis?

Happy Friday!

Unexpected...

2011-09-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

... flower from my hubby! Although receiving gifts is not a love language of mine, I will never say no to being pampered here or there;) These are gazer lilies and he did a fine job picking them out. They are beautiful. The best part of this was that he gave these flowers to me when I was at my worst- I was sick on the couch all day and he came home to a messy house. My husband rocks! I love you very much, Wilson! Thanks for sticking with me:)

Last minute Houston trip

2011-09-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

With all the heat we have had and Wilson teaching bible class Sunday mornings, we have been "stuck" at home for the past month and a half. I could tell that the girls were ready for scenery change. So, I decided to pack up last minute and head for Houston. Wilson stayed at home to work and he managed to even squeeze some home repairs in!
My brother and sister in-law let us stay with them (I wanted to see their new house anyway;)) and then we stayed with my parents for another day. The girls had a blast playing outside in the rain (and yes, it did pour down rain for almost all of Saturday!!!!), playing with their cousin, Hannah, seeing cows up close, seeing and hearing lots of trains (which Emi ended up being afraid of....who knew?), feeding ducks at a pond, and spending time with Oma and Opa.
On a personal note, I was feeling pretty weak and sick to my stomach, so I was just trying to survive. So, in a way, I was glad I went, because I didn't have to entertain them. Mother Nature brought entertainment to them;) I ended up going to the doc last night and have received a second dose of antibiotics for Giardia. Please pray that I can get back to normal health. At any rate, here are lots of pics from our weekend:

Mia playing with Uncle Daniel's gadget...
Emi chillin' with Oma and Opa...
Sweet Hannah with Ally...
Emi and Hannah time:

Indoor play:

When we woke up Saturday morning, we heard the cows mooing outside. Of course, we had to check it out and the girls were pretty amazed to see the cows up close and personal...
Then a little later we walked to a pond to feed the ducks...

and got rained on while feeding the ducks...

Then we headed home to play in the rain some more...
The first thing Mia, Ally and Emi will do if it rains is put their rain boots on and that is exactly what they did...
My favorite pic of Emi from this weekend...
Ally all proud that she wrote her name with chalk on the driveway...
Same for Mia...
Chalk time; it's much more fun drawing with chalk when the ground is wet...

some more outdoor play...
And we got some cuts and bruises along the way:( Poor Ally!
And some more playing in the rain at Oma and Opa's...
Then some more cousin play...
And Oma showed Emi how to use water colors. Emi was so focused and seemed to enjoy every
moment of it...
She sat there for at least 10-15 minutes coloring!
You think my girls like to color? wink wink
Thanks everyone for putting up with me and for letting us come. I know it was somewhat disruptive to your lives (it always will be when you add three little girls and one adults to the mix!) , so thanks for letting us get out for a while;)

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-14T13:14:00.000-07:00

Shoe fetish

2011-09-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

Two have it, one doesn't! Usually it starts at an early age and carries into toddlerdom.
Here is proof that Emi has caught the "shoe fetish virus:"

wearing Papa's running shoes
Mama's moccasins
wearing Mia's flip flops with socks! Nice.
wearing Ally's sandals
wearing Geedah's house shoes
and Grammy's sandals
wearing Mia's wellies
and Shea's dress-up shoes!

She also enjoys wearing princess dress-up shoes, because of the noise they make:

This is what you do...

2011-09-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

...when you want to get out of trouble! You smile real big and hope that you look cute enough to avoid punishment from Mommy;)

Ally is 3 1/2 years old

2011-09-09T09:52:00.000-07:00

I have noticed dramatic differences in Ally within the past month. For one, she has become more independent. I think partly that's due to the fact that she is fluent in English now. She can converse with anyone she chooses and doesn't need Mia to translate. So, that's HUGE! I have also tried really hard to emphasize that she is her own person and that God made her special and different from Mia (since she is always living in her sister's shadow). She gets it and has been much better about taking initiative to play on her own (instead of always wanting to play with the toy that Mia has at the time!).
Secondly, Ally is learning a ton now that I am able to teach her by way of kinetic/tactile learning.
This makes her feel confident. School has really helped her to feel more confident as well. Who knew? She looks forward to going to school and learning is portrayed in a positive way, so it's been a great tool as well in boosting her confidence/independence.

We have also figured out (somewhat) how to get Ally to sleep a bit more. We don't force her to nap, but just do quiet time. On the days when she is worn out, she'll go right to sleep. On other days, she'll just play quietly in her bed and she gets the "rest" she needs. So, it has been working out great. We have also tried to stay away from doing major playground visits right before bed time, because it riles her up and then keeps her up until really late!

Here she is practicing the letter E...
Ally loves the monkey bars...

Some things that Ally has recently accomplished are:
- she can write her name
- she can write the letter A, L, E, O, Y and M.
- she is singing a ton of songs in tune now;)
- she can count to 20
- she can FINALLY take off shirts all by herself (they are a bit hard to pull over the head at times!)
- she'll eat broccoli, squash and zucchini without complaining!
- she keeps asking when she can have a brother
- she can climb onto a swing all by herself
- she colors within the lines!
- she loves princess glitter figurines
- her favorite movies are Mary Poppins, Bambi and Princess and the Frog
- her favorite food is pizza, pasta, noritama, guacamole and chips, mandarine oranges, gum and lollipops
- she does not like potatoes of any kind except french fries!
- she loves to look at books, especially Berenstein Bears
- she is looking forward to Halloween, Thanksgiving (because she gets to fly in an airplane!) and Christmas.
- she is still very thoughtful and caring towards others and will go out of her way to please someone!
- she is a hard worker
- if she hurts herself she shakes it off most of the time
- she is not very ambitious or competitive
- she enjoys people
- she operates in a world of detail versus big picture thinking
- when we are in the car, she'll point out any taxi, firetruck or ambulance cars and counts how many she can find;
- she talks about a lot of cause and effect things right now
- she is still VERY physically active and has a great need to physically exert herself
- she has been praying for rain every day for the last month!
- she has a lot of questions about cemeteries, death and life after death right now
- she can give the best HUGS
- she likes structure and still is my homebody

We are so proud of you, Ally! I have learned so much through you already and I am excited to see what God has planned for you with your talents.

Love,
Mama

Friend's visit

2011-09-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

Our dear friends, Myra, Patrick, Morgandy and Bretton, came and visited Austin for a week, so we got to hang out with them quite a bit. It was like old times just with more kiddos in the mix;)
Kim was nice enough to share her house so that we could all be together. We ended up meeting at the playground/park, at Kim's house or at ours for a pool visit. It was so special to be able to reconnect, even though it has been a year since we last saw each other. It was also neat to see Morgandy and Mia immediately take to one another. They played together a lot (we missed you, Maizie!) and hardly ever fought. I was amazed! Ally tagged along wherever Mia and Morgandy went, but it didn't seem to bother them very much. Here are some pictures of us having fun:

At Kim's house for a playdate: Mia (left), Morgandy (middle), and Ally (right)
Flashback: Mia and Morgandy on a playdate at age 14 months!
They did all sorts of things together: video games...
chat at the playground...
look for rocks together...
A sweet picture of Ryan and Molly:
hung on the monkey bars together...
swung on the swings together...
and cooled off in the pool together.
We are so blessed to have such awesome friends! Thanks for having come and let us play with you. We love you, Morans!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-31T11:53:00.000-07:00

Matching dresses

2011-08-29T10:59:00.000-07:00

Shea suggested that all four girls should wear their matching dresses to church and so they did. It did take quite some effort to assemble them, since they are pretty rowdy and tired after service, but we did it. Here they are:

Preschool 2011/2012

2011-08-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

Mia had her preschool orientation this past Tuesday. Since I didn't have anyone to watch Emi and Ally while that was going on, I took them with me. This event took place in Mia's future classroom and Ally and Emi had a blast playing with all the toys they had provided. On our way out, Ally told me that she wanted to go to school too. I told her that Papa and I would talk it through and then let her know what our decision would be.
I did tell Ally that she won't have as much Ally-Mama time anymore, because when Mia is in school, Ally and I would usually spend one on one time together. She didn't seem phased by that at all, which surprised me. Once Wilson and I discussed it, we realized that it might be really important for Ally to have her own social network apart from Mia and that preschool would grant her such an opportunity. We also recognize how valuable it is for Ally to be able to converse with her peers in English, since we have a "German only" policy at home. So, we decided (last minute) to let her go to preschool.
She has been super excited for the last two days and kept asking when school starts. Well, today was her first day of school and she was beaming. When I dropped her off in her classroom she didn't even say goodbye to me. Instead, she already had started playing with toys and kids in her class. I feel good about this decision, but never would have envisioned that she'd want to go to preschool this early. I guess in some ways it's important the we, as parents, stay somewhat flexible and always reevaluate things for the benefit of all involved. I do realize that we will not always grant Ally wishes in the future, but in this case, it was important that we let her do go. We will see what her reactions are when I pick her up today.

Mia was also very excited about school. In her classroom, there is a loft bed with a blanket and comfy pillows and lots of books to look at while up there. Mia has not stopped talking about wanting to go up on that loft bed to read books. So, I hope she at least got to do that;) She also is excited that she will have more girls in her class this year. Hopefully, she'll befriend some of them.
On the way to school this morning, Emi overheard Mia and Ally talking about school, so Emi chimed in and said, "Emi, school too!" Silly girl. I guess she will always want to do what her older sisters are doing. As for her, she and I got some good quality time together this morning before she went down for her nap. She soaked up every moment of it!!!!!

Ally was ready to go to school waaayyyyy before it was time. She kept waiting by the door hoping it was time for us head out...
My attempt at taking a picture of Ally and Mia, but Emi insisted on being in the picture as well:)
My preschoolers in front of their school...
After I dropped them off, Emi wanted me to take a picture of her, just like I had done for Ally and Mia.
As a special treat, Emi got to sit in Ally's car seat on the way home!
Yeah for a new school year!

Emi is 21 months old

2011-08-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

One of many attempts to put her jeans on...

Some new things for Emi are:
-her eyes are starting to change to green
- she is NOT potty trained yet, but is peeing on her potty at least twice a day and has yet to have an accident!
- when Emi wakes up from her nap or first thing in the morning, she'll go find Mia and Ally. As soon as she sees them, she'll say, "Hi, Guys!" It's so cute when she does it.
- she can jump up and down on a mattress fairly well now
- she loves to complete my sentences when we do "this little piggy went to market"
- she loves singing happy birthday, goodnight baby, and the wheels on the bus go round and round
- she has all her teeth (8 on top and 8 on bottom)
- she can pretty much self-feed with a fork or spoon and does not get very messy!
- she is in the "I want to do it myself" stage, especially when it comes to shoes, diapers and clothing
- she still LOVES looking/reading books with Mama and Papa
- all babies are either Lilly or Asher
- she has been cooking up a storm for me lately in her play kitchen; most of the time she either makes pizza, noodles or soup for me:)
- her favorite food is noritama (a Japanese rice dish) and edamame
- my favorite Emi'ism is "angerling" for other (anderer)
- she also started being jealous of me playing with other kids; as soon as she sees me doing that, she'll come up to me and ask to be held
- she's saying three and four word sentences now
- at bed time, she loves twirling her hair for soothing; however, she only can do that when there is a rubber band in her hair. If she doesn't have a rubber band in her hair, she'll stand in her bed, calling out my name, while saying, "hair- band" (haar band). She only calms down when I have finally placed it in her hair. So, having a rubber band in her hair for twirling purposes is a MUST these days:)
- she is still not interested in watching movies- Yeah!
- she is very daring in the pool; she'll go into the big pool with her swim wings and jump into the water, even if she submerges! Mia and Ally still won't do that.
- she also has learned to open doors! We're in trouble...see video below:

A Gift for Mama and Papa

2011-08-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

Proud Papa writing here. I want to record in writing what happened today because it is the kind of thing that makes you look back at the task of parenting and say, "It was worth it."

Since the day I became a Father, I have never heard one word uttered in prayer from my eldest daughter, Mia. We have never pressured her, nor tried to extract the reasons why she has always declined the invitation to pray at the dinner table, at bedtime, or anywhere else.

She is the sort to hold closely the things deepest to her heart, to whisper to us in quiet her doubts, and one who is likely to prize authenticity and genuineness when she is an adult. While her younger sisters have willingly led us in prayer at dinner time, even volunteering on a regular basis, Mia has always shook her head and let someone else take the lead. She is four and a half years old.

I wish you could have heard the tiny words that came from her mouth before dinner this evening: so simple, so brief, yet so monumental for me. I want to encapsulate this memory and play it again over and over in my head. Thank you, God, for holding my little girl's heart.

Mia, some day you will read these words. I tried to express to you today how proud I am of you, but now may not be the time for you to fully grasp it. Please understand and know that there is nothing you can do to make your parents more proud than to walk closely with the Lord and hold fast to the abundant life He gives us.

I like this picture of you. It make me think, "She grew in wisdom, and in statue, and in favor with God and man." Love you, dein Papa.

Tired of the heat

2011-08-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

We have had 100+ degree weather for weeks now and no rain(stage 2 severe drought warning) to make up for it. This is why we are either...

...in the pool A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!

...or at playgrounds early in the morning to "bare" the heat.

The most discouraging thing is to look up the 10-day forecast only to find that every single day the expected high is STILL over 100 degrees. When will this end?
I suppose it is easy to blame the heat for having to deal with bored, constantly fighting and nagging kiddos, who are stir-crazy!

My little pony ride

2011-08-19T11:38:00.000-07:00

Who are these kids?

2011-08-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

I am not sure what is happening, but lately my kids have been really well behaved when I go grocery shopping. If you notice in this picture, it won't be long until all three of my girls won't all fit into the shopping cart anymore. Anyhow, the purpose of this post was to brag on them for obeying and listening while I do grocery shopping. I guess it does help to get samples and food along the way;)

Lovey

2011-08-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

Most kids have one lovey, but Emi has several. It first started out with Raggedy Ann. Then she got attached to a little baby doll which she refers to as "baby." Then she got a stuffed animal monkey from Krazy Praizy and is crazy about it. And last but not least she got Raggedy Andy from Oma, so, of course, he has to be in bed with her at all times as well:)
I hope there will be no more additions to her lovey collection;) What is precious is that when she goes down for a nap, she'll make sure all of her loveys are present. If one is missing, she'll call out the name of whichever one is missing and say gone. She will not relent until I have found all her loveys. Then she can finally sleep.
It's hard enough to keep up with one lovey, but four? Well, I am just gonna roll with the punches on this one. It's not a battle worth fighting and it is rather cute to see her so fond and attached to them. Do you have any fun lovey stories?

Drawings

2011-08-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

One way in which I realize that Mia and Ally are getting older is in their drawings/art. I love that their imagination can run wild when they draw and that, now, I can actually tell what they are drawing. Mia has been drawing a ton of stick figures lately, specifically girls and/or Papa and Ally started drawing a lot of rainbows and octopi. Here are some of their masterpieces;)

Ally's octopus
One of Mia's girl stick figures
and another stick figure

Would you believe...

2011-08-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

...that this little stinker peed twice in her potty today? Coincidence? I hope not:) Whatever the reason is for this unexpected surprise, we are super stoked. Yeah, Emi! And who would have thought that you could pull this off at 20 months of age. Keep it up, Emi-chan!

Surrey bike

2011-08-13T11:06:00.000-07:00

Anybody been on one of these before? Well, this was definitely a first for us, but it was a fun experience. Shea's Mom, Sue, owns this surrey bike (which can fit 6 adults and 2 kids) and she brought it to Austin. I guess you just gotta have the right connections;) I think Lilly and Emi had the hot spots, since they didn't have to pedal and had plenty of room in front:) My only advice is to ride one of these when it's not so hot outside.

Here we are ready to go:

We were dropped off at home by our front door, but our girls enjoyed it so much so that they requested to ride it again. So, Anthony, Shea and Sue rode them around the block one more time. Here is the video of that:

My lil' cowboys

2011-08-13T11:05:00.001-07:00

Monsters

2011-08-10T11:17:00.000-07:00

Lately, Mia and Ally have been doing pretend play that involves monsters and crocodiles. While Ally was napping yesterday, Mia and Emi pretended to fight lots of monsters. Mia kept shooting them down, while Emi kept coming to me with hilarious expressions, while saying, "afraid monsters!" (translated angst monsta) They pretended that the monsters and crocodiles were on the floor so they escaped to the couch and Mia, the hero of the day, even fired off both guns, one from each hand to kill the beasts. Very advanced, I know;) Because Emi was so hilarious with her facial expressions, I thought you might enjoy seeing that footage.

Emi says "afraid monsters" twice in German for you non-German speakers:

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

Marvin & Kale visit

2011-08-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

To give you some background information, you should know that Wilson's sister, Jill, has been teaching English in Japan for three years . She now has finished up her three year contract and is moving back to the US. Roki left on July 25th to fly to Japan to help Jill with the move. So, this left Marvin all by himself for a month and that would be one too many frozen chicken pot pies he'd be eating, which is why he came with my nephew Kale to visit us for a week. We had been talking about having Kale come and visit us for a while, so it worked out great to have both come simultaneously. Wilson had to work most of the days that they were with us, but we tried to plan fun activities in the evenings to make up for lost ground. Among the activities were: a visit to Austin Children's Museum, riding Austin's metrorail train to Wilson's work, many, many pool visits, playground/park visits, riding the Zilker Zephyr train at Zilker Park, eating a fancy donut at Gourdoughs foodie trailer, going to Dime Box (my parent's vacation home about an hour away) for the weekend and eating out at Salt Lick BBQ (see picture below).

It was neat to have a boy around because suddenly a lot of the drama disappeared that usually is a constant! Of course, that was not the only reason why we enjoyed having Kale. He taught the girls quite a lot of things, especially showing Mia how to play a race car video game. I never thought I'd see her enjoy that;) It was also neat to get to know my nephew more on a personal level, since we have never lived in the same city. Some things I learned about Kale are that he likes to have a planned out day. As soon as he wakes up, he is already asking what the plan is. He loves to eat good food, which is definitely a Robertson trait (*wink wink*) and can chow down. Kale loves to read and loves being in the pool. He is very conservative with his clothes (he must have worn three shirts and 2 pants in a time span of 8 days) and therefore, made my life easier:) Kale we love you very much and had a great time with you and Geedah. I hope we will have many summers to spend with you in years to come. Now that I bragged on Kale, I need to brag on Geedah. He is an individual who enjoys sitting, reading his books, dozing off ever so often, playing computer games and golf. So, the fact that he helped clean up around the house, did his own laundry, took the kids to the pool, and let me run errands while kiddos were napping was HUGE! It was a nice break for me, so thank you so much, Geedah for all your help.

Emi remembered Geedah for the first time, so it was neat to see her excited every morning to see him in our midst. She kept calling his name only to get his attention, yet not feel the need to say anything else. She also supplied Geedah with plenty of letters that she then sent off for him in her play mailbox. He also read a lot of books to the girls and treated us to several yummy snacks/desserts along the way. Thank you for coming to spend that time with us. We love you, Geedah.

And now, picture time:

Ally and Kale in Dime Box waiting while my Mom bought guinea hen chicks...
Mia and Kale played lots of games together:
We went to Zilker Park, rode the Zilker Zephyr train, ate snow cones and played on the playground together:

Rootbeer snowcone...
Ditto for Ally. They'll try to get "sodas" in whatever form or fashion its available...

We went to the Austin Children's Museum together:

We watched a penny roll down in circles until it fell into a hole at the bottom...

Mia and Ally played at this cash register most of their time...

They played on monkey bars together:

And tried to figure out gadgets...

We went to a playground together:

And went to the pool together. Kale was at the pool every day at least once, that's how much he loved being there. His claim to fame was attaching a noodles to a jet in the pool, so that the water would squirt out the other end of it.

We made a trip to Gourdoughs together. It's a foodie trailer that serves fancy donuts! It was delicious.

And were silly together. One evening, Kale said he was thirsty and he grabbed milk. There was quite a bit of milk left in the jug, so Wilson dared Kale to chug it. Kale went for it and drank it all. Let's just say that his belly had expanded;) He also was advised not to do any quick moves or else it might come back up!

Ever since Uncle Andrew and Aunt Kira gave us the game Blokus, it seems that it has become a family favorite.
Geedah reading books to the girls...
I was surprised to see how much time Kale and Mia spent playing together. She loved learning from him and he enjoyed having a companion.

Wrestle time:
I dropped them off at an Austin metrorail station so that they could ride it to Wilson's work.
On my way to pick them back up at Wilson's work, they passed me, so I was able to take a picture of them in the train. Obviously you cannot see them, but I know that they are in that train.

Then we went to Dime Box for three days.

Did I mention before how much Emi LOVES watermelon? She'll say, "Lone" with a German pronounciation to let us
My Dad and Simon were doing hard physical labor to fix some things on the property...
...when Marvin joined them!
Simon reading a book to Emi...Die kleine Raupe Nimmersatt (the very hungry caterpillar)
Color time with Sarah...
Book time with Mama...
Splash time outside. It poured in Dime Box. We were all floored that it had rained, since we desperately needed it. So, I let the kids splash around in the rain. This was probably Ally's favorite activity for the weekend. She had so much fun and definitely was in her element.

Pancakes for breakfast per Sarah one morning. Kale definitely suped up his pancakes with Nutella and strawberries. Yum!
My Dad used to tell us Princess Squadamere stories before bedtime. Princess Squadamere got her name because she had a square nose! Each night we heard how Princess Squadamere embarked on another adventure. Several months ago, my Dad had the idea to start telling Mia, Ally and Emi some Princess Squdamere stories while we were in San Francisco. The girls loved hearing Opa's stories so much so that they requested to hear some more adventures while we were in Dime Box. So, Kale got to hear one for the first time and he seemed to enjoy it.

And last, but not least a family picture!

Sick

2011-08-08T12:04:00.000-07:00

Ally is sick today and she has been low energy just sitting on our couch for the most part. I had asked her to clean up some cards and she said: "Mama, I can't clean up these playing cards, because my throat hurts too much!"

Happy birthday, Wilson

2011-08-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

Wilson's birthday was on Aug. 5th, but I wanted to do a birthday post anyway to allow you to celebrate with us.
Here are some things that have come to mind that I love about Wilson:

Wilson is very committed husband and father.
He is there when we need him and is a great listener.
He has been a great spiritual leader in our family and really seeks to hear God's voice in all that he does.
He is serious when he needs to be, yet has a VERY silly side to him.
He is ambitious in nature and will work really hard to achieve a goal, but also has no problem relaxing.
He has the courage to say no to things that don't seem ethically correct and stands up for his beliefs/Lord.
He has a way with words and can explain things very well.
He is an excellent investor and is very frugal, which helps me stay on track;)
He loves learning about other cultures and thinks it's funny when I mess up idioms.
He is pretty intuitive and can sense if something is wrong.
He is also very observant, so he will always notice if I am wearing a new shirt or if I just got a haircut.
He likes to see what all his options are before making a decision, which is not necessarily good at all times, but it helps me not to rush into things at times.
He is not afraid to say what he is thinking.
He is very creative and does things with our kids that I'd never think of. For example, he set up a ladder in our library and leaned it against the bookshelf. Then he let the girls climb up and down on it and in the end, I walked in when they were reading books up on the ladder. It was another adventure, even though we were home!

I am so blessed to have Wilson in my life. I love you, Wilson. Happy birthday!
Love,
Tanya

Mia and Asher

2011-08-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

I am not sure what Mia has done or is doing to get Asher to babble, but he does it only in her presence. See for yourself:

Learning style

2011-08-04T12:52:00.001-07:00

For months, I have been so frustrated trying to teach Ally numbers and shapes, because she won't be able to recollect information two seconds after having mentioned it. One day, it hit me. What if Ally is not an auditory learner? What is she learns best in a different way? So, I went online and started researching and found out that she is most likely a tactile/kinetic learner. Knowing this information was huge to me. It was as though a whole new world of opportunity has opened up to her. It also reassured me that it wasn't lack of ability on my part to teach her and that it wasn't lack of intelligence on her part. She just processes information differently.

Characteristics for tactile/kinetic learners are as follows:
- Learns through moving, doing, and touching
- Learns best through a hands-on method, actively exploring the world around them
- Enjoys tasks that involve manipulating materials and objects
- speak with their hands and with gestures
- Remembers what was done, but has difficulty recalling what was said or seen
- Good at drawing designs
- Often doodles while listening, thus processing information
- Good at drawing designs, art, cooking, construction, engineering, sports, mechanics, and
using appliances and tools
- Often adventurous
- May find it hard to sit still for long periods
- May become distracted by their need for activity and exploration
- Sits near the door or someplace else where they can easily get up and move around
- Is uncomfortable in classrooms where they lack opportunities for hands-on experience
- Needs to be active and take frequent breaks
- Finds reasons to fidget or move when bored
- Relies on what they can directly experience or perform

When reading through this list, I realized that I was a tactile/kinetic learner as well. No wonder I always struggled to remember lectures in college and made sure to take a tape recorder with me. No wonder I re-wrote notes from lectures to be able to remember it. No wonder I enjoyed crafts and cooking, because those are hands-on things to learn. What stinks is that most schools use the auditory approach! That is can of worms I am not wanting to open for now, but just being aware of how Ally learns best is amazing. I can cater to her learning style so that learning can be fun for her and not a burden. What a blessing.

Anyhow, we were at a friend's house today and Ally got to play the drums. She came alive and couldn't stop smiling because she was having so much fun. Just like it says in the list of characteristics for tactile/kinetic learners: "Learns best through a hands-on method, actively exploring the world around them." Here is a video to prove that:

Anybody have experience or suggestions for a tactile/kinetic learner?