November....Birthdays, Thanksgiving, and Carlee!

It has been an awesome November!  Emily turned 1, Max turned 5, Carlee joined our family (during the day), and we celebrated Thanksgiving.  There have been so many topics on my mind from parenting practices to the craziness of birthdays to sleep...sleep....and more sleep... :)  Since its late, I'm just going to have this be a fun picture blog of the last month.  Here's also a quick list of what everyone's working on :)

 

Emily:

*Walking!!  Paul has seen her walk 5 steps!  (I've seen 1 step...hmmm...)

*First tooth popped through the day after her birthday (November 19th)...also when she took her first official step!

*Enjoying more foods such as squash, sweet potatoes, kiwi, oranges, green beans, and jelly sandwiches

*Talking - saying mama, dada, hi, uh-oh

*Loving EVERYTHING the boys do!

*Sleeping a little better :)

 

Sam:

*Somebody hit the terrific twos this month! 

*MAJOR middle child syndrome

*Life is NOT fair

*Still smart, sensitive, and so so so so sweet

*Identifies letters

*Sings songs

 

Max:

*BLOSSOMED!

*Crazy start to the month but he's really taken a role of responsibility on :)

*Writing

*Reading books he brings home from preschool

*LOVES the Transformers

*Silly and full of life :)

 

We have loved having Carlee join us this month! Carlee is a bright, beautiful two year old girl that loves to role play, loves Cinderella, and try new things :)

 

 We started out November making flags for Veteran's Day.  I don't have a picture of the final product but the kids did great gluing on the stripes, blue rectangle, and making stars with paint. 

 We were all super excited about the first snowfall of the year!!

 We love going the to the Valley Community Center and playing in their play area!  Carlee is surfing here :)

 Here they are all riding in a car with our friend Judah.  Carlee is driving.

Max is working hard at teaching Carlee how to play Sequence.

 Emily had a birthday on November 18th and was thrilled to turn one!

 We had a wonderful stay at home day and spent the day giving Emily all the extra attention and hugs that we could.  We enjoyed a feast of hotdogs followed by marshmallows to celebrate her big day!

 Carlee made Emily a playdoh birthday cake!

 We started the Thanksgiving festivities by playing Thanksgiving memory.  We practiced our vocabulary with Thanksgiving words.  Carlee did a great job at remembering where the matches were!

 We practiced our shapes by making pilgrim houses out of popsicle sticks.  We reviewed triangles, rectangles, and squares.

 Sticker fun!!

 We reenacted the first Thanksgiving with the Little People.  Noah and the princesses made appearances at the First Thanksgiving in our rendition!  The pilgrims also arrived in a camper rather than a Mayflower.

We added pumpkin spice to homemade playdoh and practiced rolling balls.  We put them together, added some feathers and googly eyes and woolah!  TURKEYS!

 I LOVE how these turned out and they smelled great too!!

 We spent a morning with scissors, tape, and construction paper constructing the Mayflower out of diaper boxes.  The kids had so much fun making their boats and playing with them!

 Carlee sitting in her boat.

 The children shoveled for me as I sipped my coffee and checked Facebook...kidding!  (maybe....)

 We practiced our counting skills and number recognition with Thanksgiving counting cards.

 Max had fun counting the big ones!

 And then Max turned FIVE YEARS OLD!!!  We are so so proud of you, Max!

 On Max's birthday, we baked him a cake all by ourselves!  It even turned out and tasted great!  Yes, Sam is picking his nose...heehee!

Oh yes...see??  The princesses did attend the First Thanksgiving....

Finally...here is our Thanksgiving turkey...stuffed with love, smiles, and giggles!!

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

 

{Okay...I have to go back now and say that I understand WHY Sammy has middle child syndrome!  Look at the poor child in November...he is MISSING!  Except for the one shot he's picking his nose...no wonder the poor child is crying for attention!  December will be a love on Sammy month!!}



Confession #2: All By Myself....Don't Want To Be....

Yes, I'm a Celine Dion lover (no that's not my confession....I'm proud of it!).  I know (Lindsey Heim)...you are shuddering but I can't help but just feel this sense of power and strength as I blare her music through the house and sing her ballads like I'm the winner of American Idol.

The confession here is that I can't be a mom by myself.  Of course I have Paul.  I don't mean that at all.  I am very blessed to be happily married and have a husband who helps tons.  This blog is more about the fact that I need a village to raise my kids. 

A dear kindred spirit once told me about her friends who did mission work in remote villages of a third world nation.  It could have been Africa, the Middle East, or Asia...I don't remember.  The point was that she told me how these remote villages would have no electricity, running water, or modern conveniences.    Yet all the moms of the village would come together to raise all the village children.  They saw each other's kids as their own kids and everybody worked together to help one another.  These missionaries were shocked to return to their home and realize that they were living in a hostile, competitive and sometimes very violent and hurtful country....The United States.  Welcome to Mommy Wars.

We are all guilty of it.  If I even start to point a finger, three are pointed right back at me.  Mom Blogs are going viral on facebook.  Some are lately about this very topic.  I love reading mom blogs but I do laugh about myself when reading them.  Just when I think "Yes!  This mom has it!  That's how I will raise my kids!"...then...I read another blog that contradicts those idea and I'm persuaded that this other way is actually the right way.  It can get exhausting. 

Let's face it.  Moms are scary.  Think about it.  You load your kids up at the park and what's the first thing you check out when you get to the park.  Not the kids, not the bathrooms, not the quality or temperature of slides.  It's the moms.  You look at...what are they wearing, how are they parenting their children, what kind of stroller with matching diaper bag are they sporting, and what healthy, homemade organic snacks did they bring (as I usually hide the cookies and juice boxes!!)  And then as you get the courage to say hi and start in conversation, it turns quickly to what issues are presently being faced with your kids and you are quick to say how you solved this problem and the steps that you took to do that. 
(Again...please know that "you" in this case is truly "me".)

The scariest thing about Mom Wars is that they are silent and subtle.  We don't even know we are doing them!  But I am....throwing on my battle gear to somehow create the illusion that I have it together and boy do my kids have it together!  Trust me, I'm fooling nobody.

What I am confessing is that I want to shed my battle gear, shield, and sword and live in this village that my missionary friends speak of.  No, I don't think I'm being called at the moment to live in the Amazon Rainforest but I am liking the idea of a village.  Honestly, after my own civil war in my house this week, giving up modern conveniences (even disposable diapers) for moms who hug, support, care for, praise and help one another sounds worth it.  I'd even give up showering.  Who has time for that anyway?

I am very blessed with my family and friends.  They are my village here in so many ways.  My mother will come in a heartbeat to help with any doctor appointment, painting project, or illness.  My friends will listen to me for HOURS talk about my mom problems and kid problems.  I am so blessed with my friends in Des Moines/Altoona and feel very supported in all areas.

My wish is that I could change the American way to be less of a battle zone and more of a village.  *Epic Music playing in background*  While I know I can't change society, I do know I can change myself.  I can put the war paint away and focus more on being that village to my own family and friends.  I can worry less about the kind of stroller and listen more to what my friend is saying.  I can sympathize and hug more than offer silly steps and "researched" material. 

Mostly importantly, I can turn to the Bible and the Lord.  Returning to the word of my Heavenly Father reminds me of the foolproof parenting way - LOVE.  LOVE my children.  LOVE my family and friends.  LOVE all children. 

Did you notice most of this blog was about MOMS and ME...not my kids?  When my focus is turned to my Heavenly Father and what His LOVE for me looks like, then the focus can be on my own beautiful CHILDREN and less on being supermom.  Afterall....a cape by itself won't make you fly....but the superpower of LOVE has no limits nor boundaries.

Confession #1: I want to wear pretty clothes

If I can get in the routine (like tonight) of getting my babies asleep by 8, I would love the time to start blogging again.  I do love the summer nights playing outside and we just LOVE our new neighborhood and neighbors.  Its a bit odd tonight having such a quiet night but I will let the quiet surround me and start my new blogging chapter.

This chapter will be all about the nitty-gritty honest confessions I have as a mom.  Confession #1:  I want to wear pretty clothes - more specifically - work clothes.  I longingly look at the clothes racks at the stores and rows of heels and lose myself in a minute imagining wearing something other than t-shirts as I walk down the halls of school. As several posts on FB are indicating they aren't ready to go back to school/work, I am secretly missing work a lot.  I miss the idea of work.  I am stuck in this illusion of getting the kids up early, dressing them in clean crisp clothes with washed faces and combed hair to an amazing daycare provider where they will learn the best of things and have the most fun as the frolic in the sun with their friends.  Then I go off to work with my great pair of heels and coffee in hands as I set out to change the future by teaching today's children.  LOL!  Right?  We all know if I worked OUTSIDE the home (because trust me, I DO WORK!) that would so not be the case!  My kids would be throwing fits, mashing bananas in their carseats as I desperately tried to feed them breakfast on the way, and we'd hear all sorts of reports from their daycare providers while I scribbled down lesson plans during my bathroom breaks.  That would be reality.  So, I choose yet again to be content with what God has given me right now.  And I am.  I truly am blessed to be home with my three babes.

As I'm trying to keep up with my teacher friends, here is a glimpse as to what we did today:

If you follow FB, you know already about Sam's ice cream addiction.  He loves it!

 Max and I have started a new reading curriculum written by a mom from thereadingmama.com

 Our sight word is "a" and letter of the week is "t".  Max knows his letters and letter sounds and somehow Sam does too.  I did so much with Max to learn them and Sam somewhere picked them up as well.  Ha!

 Yesterday, Max poked holes along the word "a" with a screwdriver in the carpet - sounds weird...but super cool for a kid like Max and looks great on the window!

 

 We did a syllable jump with our fingers on all the "t" words.

 Max completed a sight word maze to get the turtle to the tent.  He asked me if turtles could jump and I told him that they had to walk.  He showed me how the turtle could walk to the tent but also how the turtle could jump to the tent.  I love how that kid thinks!  (Although standardized testing may not....:/)

Our favorite...army men counting game.  We rolled the dice and counted out army men to put on each square (left to right to reinforce reading).  He LOVES the army men and was so excited to knock them all down when we got to 20 :)

Then we got out our bug capsules that dissolve in warm water.  The kids LOVED watching the capsules dissolve and make predictions about what was going to come out.

 Later in the afternoon, the kids strung pony beads on pipe cleaners.  Sammy was supposed to be napping during this activity but chose to stay awake for it.  He actually did great with fine motor and did it!  Max made a great pattern.

By then we had too many wiggles so it was outside time.  The neighbor girls helped us design a car wash with race tracks, baby pools, water, cars, and kitchen utensils.

 

And that's a wrap!!  What a day!  Emily was here today...just realized she didn't make it in any of the photos!!!

Quick Catch Up!

Blogging has not been a priority with all the craziness with trying to sell our house.  Cleaning lately is taking priority.  I'm also working really hard on spending less time on the computer and phone during the day and more time with the kids.  Even a small amount of quality time is worth it!

However, I'm anxious that this year will be a blur and I want to remember the little things so here is a quick catch up.

Emily (5 months!)
*on formula for sensitive tummy - trying new diet (no allergens) and hoping to nurse her agan
*much much happier
*giggles when tickled
*loves toys - color red, things to chew on, and doll
*loves books and starts turning pages
*reaching for food
*rolls over both way
*gets up on all fours and tries to scoot
*cries when mommy walks away
*wakes up once at night (around 2 or 3) to eat
*still sleeps in carseat
*loves her brothers
*sneezes and coughs scare her

Sam (23 months!)
*talks so well
*has the sweetest voice
*says "I'm okay"
*insists on doing everythng (putting on clothes, buckling seatbelt) by himself
*opens fridge on own constantly
*kisses Emily all the time
*loves to play with animals, tractors, and balls
*sings songs (Abc, old mcdonald, wheels on the bus)
*throws hands up in air when say "hold on!"
*loves to read books
*can count to 20
*loves going to the zoo
*Emerson is his best friend

Max (4 1/2!)
*As lively as ever
*plays wiffle ball and going to start t-ball
*loves Sunday school
*enjoys riding bikes at school
*interested in Star Wars
*starting to draw more respresentative pictures
*wants to write notes
*loves to play with cash register, trains, and cars
*new obsession is worms and ants
*trying new foods like meat!
*talks about feelings and how mommy hurts his feelings when I'm "mean" to him
*enjoys playing with kids his age
*adores Emily and is a really big helper with her
*Max and Sammy get in endless mischief together!

525,600 minutes, 525,000 minutes so dear....how do you measure, measure a year?

 A lot of dear moments have happened since  last blogged.  A friend had open heart surgery, our brother had quadruple bypass surgery, a best friend had a baby boy, a dear cousin celebrated the birth of her daughter, a strawberry party, and Easter!  The past few weeks sure had its minutes so dear. 

Today has been full of minutes too...some dear...some not...but I'm going to share my day with you.  If you want to relate, empathize, or tell me about how your day had even more intense minutes, please do!

All these moments happened after I was awake with Emily about 6 times last night.

*Unknown time:  Woke up to Paul shaking me..."wake up, I have to go fix a work problem"  I thought, "no, I need to fix a sleep problem!"  but I instead mumbled..."ok, go to work".  The children woke up bright eyed and chipper.
*7:00 - turned on Curious George in my room and put the boys on my bed.  Popped in Emily's paci in and her in crib.  Attempted to shower.
*7:15 Stepped out of shower to hear Sammy say, "Hair cream!" and realized that over half of my vaseline jar was now in his hair.
*7:17  Jumped back in shower...this time with Sam and washed his hair three times.  Emily is screaming.  Sam's hair is delightfully shiny and still full of vaseline.  Gave up and spiked it.  Managed to get myself dressed.
7:30 Brought down one naked Sammy, one mad Emily, and one hungry Max.
7:31 Found Max and Sam in the bathroom.  Max sat on the toliet with lid closed and Sam was on his potty chair.  Max requested breakfast in the bathroom.
7:35  Chased Sam around and finally pinned him down to get on a diaper.  Emily is still screaming.
7:36 Quickly poured the boys their cereal and nursed and changed Emily.  There was 5 minutes of total silence while all three children ate.  It was heavenly!
7:45 Time to put clothes on all three children.  I don't remember this part of the morning but all three of my kids have clothes on so I must have succeeded.
8:15 (yes, it takes 1/2 hour to clothe all three children)  Shoo kids into playroom and throw away dirty diapers, wipes, and put pj's in laundry
8:30 Sit down to play trains - get Max involved in trains, Sam's reading a book, and Emily content on floor.  I estimate it may last 5 minutes.  So I ponder, what to do with my sacred 5 minutes?  My choices:  eat breakfast, make coffee, throw a load of clothes into washer, blow dry hair, put on makeup, or just sit.  I decide to eat breakfast.
8:35 Eating oatmeal and sipping freshly brewed coffee when I hear the first protest.  Put Emily in bumbo chair.  Gulp down rest of oatmeal and chug coffee.  As I finish, boys are fightng over who gets the green bucket (there is also a yellow and blue one...untouched).
8:40 Resolve conflict - continue playing trains.
8:45 Smell a diaper change is needed and find the culprit - Emily.  Go change diaper and apply diaper cream.
8:50  Find Sam in the kitchen climing on a chair to help himself to a snack in the cupboard.  He grabbed a bag of croutons and poured the entire contents on the picnic table.  Max comes and starts eating croutons with Sam.  I am okay with this as Emily starts fussing again.
8:55 Clean up croutons.
9:00  We have a playdate at 9:30 so I start the process.  I check all diapers again...clean.  Time to go upstairs and get socks.  Pull out coats and shoes and give the boys instructions to put them on.
9:05 I pull Sam down from sink.  He climbed up to wash off his pacifier because it had crouton crumbs on it.
9:15 Still putting on coats, socks, and shoes.
9:20 Time to put Emily in carseat but Sam is already in hers and refuses to get out.  Emily starts screaming so decide to feed her quick.
9:25  Sam took off his shoes and coat and put on Max's shoes instead.  Max is throwing a fit about that.
9:30 Get right shoes on boys and start the process of loading them in the car.
9:40 We pull out of driveway.  Max asks for a snack in the car.  I tell him we are driving for 2 minutes.
9:42 Arrive at playdate...realize I forgot the present we brought for a birthday.  Drive back to house and back to playdate.
9:50 Unload children and have a wonderful, much much much needed playdate with a dear friend and her children!
12:00 Return home.
12:05 Emily is crying and Max and Sam and racing to the fridge for food.  I shoo them in the living room and throw together a quick lunch while poor Emily cries.
12:10 Max, Sam, and Emily are quiet again...for 5 minutes...eating
12:30  Rock Emily to sleep
12:40 Put Sam down for a nap and Max goes to his room for quiet time.
12:45  Make my own lunch and sit down to blog.  An hour later my blog is finished.  In that hour, I put Emily back to sleep 3 times and found Max in my room sneaking the touch pad (tsk, tsk!).  However, I successfully ate my lunch.
1:45 Drink some coffee and clean!

There are a lot more minutes to this year!  And I am blessed for each and every one!

Episode 2: The Middle Child Syndrome

Sam has decided he's taking matters into his own hands.  He has been very good about accepting the fact that he has to share his mama with two other children.  Really, he's just decided to do everything on his own, which is great!  Today while cleaning up (I was preoccupied), Sam decided to help himself to some lunch...chocolate ice cream and an apple.

While I wasn't watching, Sam retrieved a bucket of ice cream from the fridge, pulled over a chair to the counter, got a measuring cup and spatula and ate his icream and apple!  "Mmmm....tasty!"  he kept saying :)  Later that night, he had a dirty diaper and got out his changing mat, diaper, and wipes and laid down. "Mom!  Change my diaper!"  he yelled to me in the other room as he laid down!  Ha!  Poor lad!

Over it was a great day!  We had a fun playdate with a new friend who has three boys about the same age as my kids.  Max and Dane (the 4's) had a great time together and Max was thrilled about his new friend. 

Here's some pics from our unexpected snow days:

Emily spent a lot of time in the Bumbo.

 Max loves to make Emily smile.

 We got out Easter Eggs and filled them with treasure (puff balls).

 It was a bit frustrating for Sam but he sure was delighted when he could fit two halves together!

 We always have to put the bowl on our head!

 We then used kitchen tongs to "clean up" and pick up all the puff balls and eggs and put them in the bowls.

If anybody wants to come and fold and match all those socks in the background, feel free! :)

Season 2 Episode 1: Ironic

Baby Emily is currently in her carseat wide awake where I laid her after she fell asleep in my arms.  Remembering that she had tooted a bunch during story time, I carefully carried her over to the changing table to change her diaper after she had fallen asleep.  Of course she woke up.  Now she's looking at me with her big wide eyes and huge grins begging me to pick her up and play.  As much fun as that sounds, it's time to go to sleep Baby Emily!!!!

Today was a day when nothing constructive nor productive was accomplished.  It was not a glamerous day as a SAHM.  I decided to keep Max home from preschool since a freak snow storm came upon us and I was warned by many not to leave my house if not a dire emergency.  Today ended up being just one big, giant mess with several meltdowns.  I finally reached my threshold of patience after the following happened:

*Sam dumped out the entire container of cookie cutters in the playroom.
*I discovered a full gallon of paint in Max's shopping cart he was zooming around (no disaster there - thank GOD!)
*Sam got into our Crayola paints and brought them into the living room (disaster averted again...praises!)
*Sam dumped out my coffee on the carpet - ugh -- big mess
*Sam snuck upstairs and flushed our toliet multiple times
*Emily decided to stay awake for most of the day and not nap
*Max wanted to do a project...multiple times...and continued pulling out ribbon, tape, cotton balls and scattering them around the house
*Sam ate a red marker
*Max pushed and provoked Sam the entire day
*The boys refused to share
*Emily cried some more
*Sam took out everything I put away
*Max took out a small bag of Quaker bites, opened it in the living room, then proceeded to stomp on it.
*Sam spilled his cereal over the kitchen floor and continued to stomp in it
*Sam screamed the entire time I nursed because two of the railroad tracks would not fit together.  Max passively refused to help. 
*Max (accidentally) moved a chair on my toe (OUCH!)
*Sam sprayed our kitchen with water
*I stepped in the water with socks on my feet (absolute pet peeve)
*I currently have a very awake baby (that is absolutely adorable) but 100 things on my to do list!

So, during this time today, to keep sane, I wrote a new song...a spin off of Alanis Morisette's "Ironic"

A mom of two turned twenty-nine
She looked at her husband and got pregnant the next day
It's a pacifier in your orange juice
It's a babysitter cancelling two minutes too late
And isn't it ironic...don't you think

It's like baby spit-up on your favorite sweater
It's free formula when you've already paid
It's the good advice (from moms) that you just didn't take
Who would have thought...it figures

Mrs. Clean It All was afriad to hire help
She cleaned her whole house and kissed her kids goodnight
She waited her whole long life to hire the carpet cleaners
And as the cup of coffee fell on the carept she thought
"Well isn't this nice..."
And isn't it ironic...don't you think

It's like baby spit-up on your favorite sweater
It's free formula when you've already paid
It's the good advice (from moms) that you just didn't take
Who would have thought...it figures

A traffic jam on your way to preschool
An out-of-order sign on your kid's bathroom break
It's like ten thousnad toothpicks hitting the floor at a time
It's find the coffee shop of your dreams
And then seeing the "closed" sign
And isn't it ironic....don't you think
A little too ironic....and, yeah, I really do think...

It's like baby spit-up on your favorite sweater
It's free formula when you've already paid
It's the good advice (from moms) that you just didn't take
Who would have thought...it figures

Ellen - this is just for you!!!!!!!  Brings back great memories :D  You can add your own verses!!
\

Season Finale: The Snow Storm: Part 2

We woke up Friday morning to Paul saying, "Kristie, get up, I have to go to work."  Boo!  We were really hoping for a snow day with daddy home all day but we reluctantly got up and let him to go work.  It was okay, though, because we still had lots of fun up our sleeves!!

 

First we had to paint a snow storm.  Black paper and white paint created our snowflakes, snowmen, and snowballs.  We declared today a stay in your jammie day.  Sam didn't get the memo.  Max LOVED wearing his Perry jammies all day.  He kept say, "Uh, mom, look, I'm still in my jammies!" like he was going to get in trouble.  Then he'd just giggle.

 Of course we had to bring our snow inside!  I filled up pans with snow and brought out their animal bucket to make animal tracks. 

 Oooops - out of order - we were still painting here!

 Ahhh, yes, back to the snow.  We put on our gloves and went to town playing in the snow.  Nothing like gloved hands and bare feet!

 Max of course dismissed the animals and ran to the playroom to grab his cars.  He made tracks in the snow with his cars and played that his cars got stuck in the snow. Emily loved watching the boys play.

 More cars and a giant centipede!

 The centipede made great tracks in the snow.

 We received a disappointing 6 inches (or so they say).  It looked like a lot less!

 Then the dump trucks and diggers came out to haul up the snow.  We all had wet feet and socks for the whole day.

 I cleand out my pantry that afternoon and found 5 or 6 boxes of open cereal that was stale. Ooops!  I almost threw it away but then decided it was time for the boys to cook.  They played with pots, bowls, measuring cups, and the cereal for HOURS!

 Yes, it made a giant mess.  It was a great feeling having wet feet and stepping in crumbled Shredded Wheat!  (sarcastic tone)

 Whoa....we have a dishes problem.

 There were a lot of dishes to wash by the end of Friday.

Sam helped sweep up the cereal.

 However, that of course dispersed the cereal even more so we just left the mess, put on our snow stuff and dove in the white fluffy stuff!

 Somehow (I don't remember how) I washed all the dishes before Paul got home!!  Emily must have napped :)

So that wraps up season 1 of The Kolsrud Life as a sitcom.  It was full of laughs, messes, noise, and absolute delight.  Please join us for season 2 as a major life change may be approaching...!!