Updates

Jameson- J has been cruising through 4th grade. Every time I see his teacher, she tells me what a delight he is to have in class and he just brought home a truly stellar report card. His attitude about school and with friends is so pleasant and for this I am so proud and thankful. He had a science fair last week and did a fun experiment to determine how size and shape of balls affects how fast they travel. He has done some traveling of his own recently and had a great time on a ski trip with Jim and Cameron. He loved taking the chairlift and going off jumps, and wishes he could do a lot more skiing. Hockey ended on a good note and now he is gearing up for the start of baseball and spring soccer. He was so excited to have just won his NCAA basketball bracket that he did with a bunch of friends, and is still busy playing basketball out on the street with the posse of boys from the neigborhood. Jameson has been so great with his siblings, and I have been relying on him to help me with the girls, whether its entertaining them in the playroom or helping me keep an eye on them while we are outside. He amazes me with his positive attitude and truly has a calming effect on the whole family.

Cameron- Cam is making great progress with his reading. He has come along way this year and I am so proud of him. He still struggles with school work and gets easily frustrated during homework but we are trying to sort it out so that he can get the help he might need and he will know what a great kid he really is. He was thrilled to finish hockey and those skates might be hung up for good! He loved the boys ski weekend and is quite a natural skier and fearless out on the mountain. Now that the weather is warming up, he has really enjoyed playing outside with his neighbor friend usually building a fort of somesort or making a science potion. We played a little wiffle ball today and he had a blast with that too. He is so curious and always very busy. He is very determined (read :stubborn/ defiant) but so lovable and affectionate too! His can make Addie giggle louder than anyone I know! He just started soccer and has had fun practicing out in the backyard with me and just scored a goal in his first game. Baseball has just started too and he is lucky to have his dad helping coach the team.

Ella- Ella is still very much into her baby dolls. She loves to rock them, swaddle them and give them bottles or make a bed for them. She also loves bags and purses and is always filling them with odds and ends from around the house. She also enjoys projects so almost everyday we try and do a crafty activity. She still loves her pacifier and carrying around her "bitty" but we have been trying to leave these items in the crib. Speaking of crib, nap times have been a challenge to say the least. Her zipper on the crib tent broke so she started climbing out of the crib again, resorted back to her old ways of taking off her diaper in her crib, so back she went into sleepers with the zipper in the back and now her sister and her have to be separated for naps because they were having way to much fun in their cribs keeping eachother up! On her own Ella will easily nap for three hours and I often have to wake her up! In other milestones, Ella is really starting to speak in full sentences, can sing her ABCs and count to 20! She has been asserting her independence a lot recently (read :tantrums all through out the day) and is very opinionated about what she wears, how she wears her hair and what shoes go on her feet. She usually wants whatever her sister has and is usually the one to end up getting it! She loves animals and we have yet to pass a dog she doesn't run to pet. She is a great eater, although tonight told me her dinner was "yucky, Eyya no yike. Eyya have ice cream!." Yesterday, I tripped Avery by accident, and Ella said with out hesitating "Oh, sorry honey" beating me to it. It struck me as very funny at the time. She is quite the character these days and always makes me laugh.

Avery: Avery is also into babies, bags, jewelry and make-up (especially mine that she finds in my purse when I don't keep it out of sight). It is so fun to watch her engage in pretend play and see that little imagination at work! She loves to get into drawers and cabinets and is always finding treasures to keep in her pocket. She loves to color and can recognize a couple letters in her name and tries her best to write the letter A. She is pretty good a drawing circles. She could listen to stories for hours on end. All of her baby dolls are named "Baby Gemma" after her little cousin. She loves special alone time and is so pleasant to be with one on one. Her sister and her have been getting into lots of scuffles recently and Avery is usually the one to give up the favorite toy and always ends up in tears. This age has been particularly difficult with Miss Avery as she has such strong opinions about what she wants and when she wants them. I am trying very hard to be consistent with timeouts for unfavorable behaviors like hitting, whining and shrieking. Hopefully I will see the fruits of my labor soon and get back my sweet little girl. She was doing great with Potty training a month or so ago, but I got too lax about it and we have regressed a lot but hope to get back at it soon! She enjoys playing school and I think we will all be ready for her to start in the fall as these days leave me utterly exhausted!

Addison: Addie is still the sweetest baby ever and I don't want her to become a toddler! I wish I could keep her this sweet and happy forever. She always has a smile on her face and is so happy to go with the flow. She is great at entertaining herself, but now that she is mobile has to be watched every minute or will be easily led into trouble by her sisters. When you ask her a question she always nods her head "yes" in agreement. It is the cutest thing. She blows kisses making the the sound affect along with it and it just melts my heart. She waves and says "hi" to everyone and is such a friendly little girl. She loves music class and crawls around the room visiting everyone and dancing along to the music. She has been pulling up on anything she can reach, and balances for a few minutes so walking is not far off, although I wouldn't mind if she stayed my little baby forever!

Weekend Highlights

The weather was wonderful this weekend and it is finally starting to feel like spring. Some memorable kid quotes from the past few days include: Jameson, after playing with his baby sister for close to an hour in the playroom, "Mom is'nt Addie the sweetest most playful baby in the world?" I think so, and think its pretty nice her big brother agrees! Avery (without any prodding by me, apologized to her sister for taking a toy), "Sowee Eyya" to which Ella replied, "Your welcome Avie." Avery (after I caught her with a pencil and pencil sharpener and told her she had to put it back), "I do my homework!" On a similar note Ella has been walking around with a backpack on for a week saying "I go bus". Can you tell they have big brothers in school? When I ask Addie if she's a big girl or a baby she says "Baby"- a brand new word! At dinner I ask the kids the best and worst part of their day, today Cameron said, "I don't have a worst part because I got to spend the whole day with you!" Awww One quote I would like to forget from today, Ella "Uh-Oh" as she dropped an industrial size bottle of chocolate syrup on the ground cracking it open all over my pantry. This clean up rivaled the syrup incident of 2009!

Twins for Sale- Two For the Price of One!

If you think you had a rough day, I invite you to read on. I woke to Avery and Ella shrieking about an hour earlier than their usual wake-up time. They were both in foul moods and up too early for their own good. They had taken the sheets off of their cribs, and stripped their beds of the mattress pads as well. This has become a new way of tormenting me at bed time and nap time. I remade the cribs which is real pain when you take into account the bumpers which all need to be untied, and the crib tent which has to be contended with. I'm tempted to let them sleep on their cold mattresses to get them to stop doing this, but my softer side always takes over and I remake the cribs. Things progressed pretty smoothly from there and girls enjoyed a lovely breakfast and after some play time it was time for baby Addie's nap. I've learned that I can not leave the girls unattended for long, so they came with me while I changed Addie and read books with me while I gave her a bottle. I then turned on Barney on the TV while I brought Addie upstairs to her crib. I returned after no more than a minute (the length of time it takes to zip Addie into her sleepsack and pop a pacifier in her mouth) to find that the girls had moved a kitchen chair to climb up on the counter to get to the cabinet where I keep the baking ingredients. I'm sure they were reaching for the sprinkles, possibly the chocolate chips, when they knocked down the 2lb container of sugar and 1 pound bag of flour, which knocked a bowl onto the ground breaking it into a hundred million pieces. I walked in at this point and after calmly exclaiming my horror ( I gave up yelling for lent) carried the girls up to their cribs so that they wouldn't step on the glass with their bare feet or track the mound of sugar and flour around the house. I cleaned up the floor, swept, vacuumed and mopped, all in under 5 minutes then went to retrieve the twins from their room. The flour-sugar-glass mess was nothing next to what I was about to witness. Both girls had taken off their pants and diapers and pooped in their cribs managing to get it just about everywhere- all over the dolls and books I put in the cribs to keep them entertained while I cleaned up the previous mess, all over the sheets, all over themselves, their hair, their blankets, oh and Ella managed to smear it all over her crib tent. Did I mention that just yesterday, we installed a new crib tent on Ella's crib after she managed to get a hole in her other one (after she climbed out of her crib one too many times)? I know better than to put the girls in their cribs with out backwards sleepers on (so they can't unzip and take off their diapers) during nap time and at night, but it didn't even cross my mind to take this preventative measure while they were in the cribs for 5 min while I cleaned! Anyway I scrubbed the girls down, then bathed them, redressed them, then set out on the miserable task of cleaning, sanitizing, and bleaching the cribs. The crib tent was a pain to clean to say the least for it had to be disassembled, washed dried and then reassemble. Leaving the upstairs smelling like an indoor swimming pool from all the bleach I decided it was time to get out of the house and off we went to the gym, where I was able to leave the girls in the babysitting room, completely guilt free. We got home and after some lunch, I put the girls in for naps. I was so excited for the upward swing in the day at this point for I had booked a sitter! I wished her luck and off I went to run some errands- glorious errands, and get my hair done for the first time in 6 months. I was so enjoying this time alone until I got a text that from the sitter that Avery was throwing up everywhere, so I cut (no pun intended) my hair appt short and returned home to clean up vomit and deal with my sick and extra clingy and cranky two year old. We made it through the dinner hour when I noticed Ella holding Cameron's wallet. I had her put the wallet down, but noticed she still had a nickel in her hand. When I asked her to give me the nickel (could have been a penny, didn't get that clear a look), she popped it in her mouth. When she saw me coming to retrieve the nickel, she swallowed it, not with out gagging first. I called the pediatrician and am now blessed with the task of examining her every stool to see if it passes. As if I haven't dealt with enough poop today!

Symbolism

When each of my children were born I gave them a nickname associated with a tangible symbol. This way I have a little pet name for each of them that makes them feel unique and special. I also pick up there little symbols from time to time when I see them in a store to put away for them or give them as a gift. Jameson is my star, Cameron is my sunshine, Ella is my sweetheart, Avery is my angel and Addison is my princess. We now have quite a collection of stars, suns, hearts, angels and princesses especially adorning our Christmas tree! I think I picked quite fitting nick-names for each of my babies even before I knew their personalities. Jameson is very much a star. He lights the way for his younger siblings, always setting a good example of patience, responsibility, truth and love. He was the star of his Christmas pageant, elected class president, just brought home a straight A-report card and really is a star in my eyes. Cameron is my sunshine and a beaming ray of light. He is so full of enthusiasm and energy. He has a very exuberant and powerful personality and certainly rules this side of the galaxy! Ella is such a sweetheart, loving and affectionate. She is very sweet and caring with her baby sister and very nurturing with her baby dolls. She loves to cuddle and I see already she has a big heart! Avery was our fragile twin in the womb who caused us much worry but when she was born healthy and strong I knew she was my angel and had angels watching out for her. She has a strong outward personality but is an angel at heart, often conceding to her twin sister. She is my little angel and very much a mommy's girl. Addison is my princess- so lovable and adored from the start by not just me but by her siblings as well. She exudes happiness and will always be my little princess!

Mess Makers

Cleaning up after my kids is a full time job. At the girls music and gym class they are the first to jump up and start helping out at clean up time, but at home its a different story. I like my house organized and tidy, but my kids are out to sabatoge me at every turn. They can empty a cabinet in the blink of an eye, dump a box of crackers in a matter of seconds, unravel a roll of toilet paper before I notice they've left the room, write on walls faster than I can write my name, and leave a path of destrution wherever they go! Today I used up an entire box of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, trying to wipe my walls and tables clean of crayon and smudge marks. Here is just a sampling of the messes I encountered today:

Addie is just starting to get in on the mess making action, seen here after she dumped the basket of winter hats of gloves. Oh well time for spring anyway!


Avery attempting to clean up the coffee grinds she spilled while rummaging through the trash.


Ella apparently thought her artwork should be framed on display, so colored right over the frame with permanent marker (don't worry she colored on the walls too)!

Special Times

This past weekend, we shipped the girls off to their grandparents so we could get some stuff done around the house and spend some quality time with the boys. We started a bathroom renovation project, and although we made progress the bathroom is far from complete. More importantly we got to spend some much needed alone time with the boys. We went out to eat for breakfast and dinner and it was amazing how much we could actually learn from them without the girls crazy meal time antics. We even fit in some time for playing a board game and a game of basketball. Although I missed the girls terribley, it was amazing how relaxing the weekend was despite the manual labor and how quiet it was around here.

Yesterday, Cam and I took a day trip to NY city. It was a long drive, but I found it very relaxing compared to my usual morning. Cam didn't mind the time in the car and was entertained with movies, games and just chatting with me. He is such a pleasure to be with one-on-one and really enjoys our alone time. He asks so many great questions and really absorbs all of our conversations. One-on-one his ADHD symptoms are almost non existant and the day alone was such a great one. We stopped for breakfast along the way, and made it to the city a few hours later. We walked around (or skipped holding hands), took in the bright lights of Times Square, visited the giant Toy's R US where he picked up a "souvenir", rode on the ferris wheel, got a great lunch, strolled through Chelsea Market, shared an ice cream cone, saw a huge naval air craft carrier up close and enjoyed some very special bonding time with out any interruptions!

This weekend the boys are heading off on a ski trip, and I am looking forward to my quiet weekend home with the girls. It so nice to be able to spend quality time with the kids on their own, and I know they appreciate it too!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We really embrace our Irish heritage over here at the Lily Pad. The boys were excited for today and set out leprechaun traps last night which consisted of cardboard boxes which they painted in green and gold then filled with coins to lure in the tricky imps. They then propped open the lids with a stick in hopes of capturing a leprechaun. Well in the morning they found green tic-tacs and a box of lucky charms in the traps instead! The leprechaun also left other evidence of it's visit such as carnation flowers which had turned green, green milk in the fridge, and some shamrock balloons! I sent the boys off to the bus dressed in green from head to toe. When they got home they informed me that it was not in fact a "tag day" and they were suppose to wear their uniforms! Oops- my fault! Luckily their teachers were understanding! We finished our St. Paddy's day celebration with corned beef, cabbage and Irish soda bread! For dessert we all enjoyed sweet Irish potatoes which Jameson and I made by mixing cream cheese, confectioners sugar and coconut then rolling the mixture in cocoa and cinnamon!