April 30th So much Love to Give

Sylvie seems to have a very nurturing temperment. I loved watching her try to arrange all three bears, herself, and her blanket all in the rocking chair. She worked pretty hard and had lots of loving words for each of her bears.

April 30th Bike Fever

Everyone in our house seems to have bike fever these days, even Sylvie. She has set her sights a little high, however. She'd better stick to her little red scoot bike for now.

Notice that Jens has carefully put blue tape around the back wheel of his bike.

April 30th Sandy Deposit

Just in case some sand is needed for later, Jens thoughtfully placed some on the back of the chair.

New Bike, a pencil, and Mom's shoe

April 25th

Hi Everyone!

We have been busy enjoying beautiful weather around here, and in honor of the weather, we have been doing some shopping to get ready for summer. I bravely took the kids to the outlet mall because Sylvie was in sad need of some new (bigger) pajamas. She also got some new shoes.

Jens came with me and did a pretty good job. He got to pick out a new pair of pajamas and a new shirt, too. The shirt is so popular that he has tried to wear it multiple days in a row. This picture is crummy, but he had been making a large mud pool. It was so splashy he required goggles and a shower afterwords. And then he wanted to put the "88" shirt back on.

To break up the sunshine we had a big rainstorm on Tuesday. Jens always wants to play with umbrellas and I never let him, but since it was actually raining, we decided it was a good day to go for it. He dressed warmly and Sylvie and I sat in the dry garage and watched. He had a great time.

We also braved Ikea this week for the previously blogged curtains. We also bought a trash can, which Sylvie has found to be really great. You can use them for so many things! Notice the one large shoe she is wearing in the picture below.)

On Friday Jens got a summer haircut. He was pretty patient and was pleased with the result.

Friday night we went for a family bike ride, which was really fun. Jens rode his own bike and Mike pulled Sylvie in the trailer. We saw lots of wild flowers and some bunnies. We probably went 4 miles and Jens was plugging away the whole time. He especially loved "racing" and on Saturday morning he climbed into bed and said "Do you remember when we raced on the bike trail and I won?" He was very happy.

Yesterday Mike rode his bike all morning and I took the kids to the farmer's market and the tile store. No, we still haven't picked tile. No, we don't seem to be any closer to making up our minds. Yes, I am tired of not having a functioning bathroom, and No, I have no idea if it will ever get done. When we got home I planted flowers in the front yard and weeded while the kids got filthy and ran around.

In the afternoon we had a special outing with Natalie and JP. They took us out in the boat! We cruised around and had such a great time. It was Sylvie's first boat ride and I think she liked it. Her life jacket seemed really tight, so I think that made her extra calm. I think she needs a larger size.

The best part, though, was when Jens got to drive the boat all by himself. JP had Jens sit on his lap and steer and do the throttle. JP was super brave and let Jens do all the steering himself. Jens was all smiles and did a great job. He was able to follow JP's vocal instructions (right, left, faster, slower etc.) and looked like a natural driver. It was fun to see him feeling so big.

We topped off our Saturday with a date night. Yay for babysitters. We went out to eat and then tested out JP and Natalie's new media room. They have a 135 inch drop down screen with a projector. It was pretty amazing--we loved watching a movie on it.

Interesting children situations of the week:

*A raw, intact egg in Sylvie's toy bucket
*Jens's bottle of multi-vitamins suddenly and mysteriously is empty
*Sylvie climbed out of her bed TWICE at naptime. The third time she tried I ran in clapping my hands and I think I scared her out of trying again.
*A new jar of peanut butter opened under Jens's coloring table (Sylvie got a yucky mouth rash from chewing on the foil top)
*Sylvie is dropping her morning nap and we are trying out one a day. It seems to be going okay.
*Two large, almost full containers of sprinkles disappearing from the cupboard and reappearing empty in the front room.


Today was a normal Sunday--church and a quiet afternoon. I think we will head to the park and have dinner there tonight.

Here's a little video of Jens driving the boat:

Duathlon

Mike was talked into completing a duathlon last Saturday by JP. I got a babysitter and Natalie and I went to cheer them on in the race. We had a good time and the weather was perfect. It was fun to see Mike race--he did a great job considering his training for the running section was pretty minimal. (He started running the weekend before the race!). It was 4 miles of running, 13 biking,

then another 4 of running.

Our friend Sophia has inspired us to sign up for a sprint triathlon or two this summer. We are going to join a gym so we can have pool access and see how the swimming goes. It will be great to have a change up in the old workout routine, and Mike is looking forward to improving his swimming. I just hope I still remember how to do it!

New Curtains

Again. We moved the brown curtains to our bedroom, where we have really been enjoying them. I got something to replace them this week. Ikea is great and all, but it has taken me ALL DAY to assemble the curtain rod and iron/hem the curtains. I guess for the price, though, I can't complain! They look sort of greenish in the picture, but they are white.

Jens calls Sylvie "Sylvietta." Which is actually spelled Sylvieatu, according to Jens.

Get Down, Get Down!

April 14th

Well.

I guess it has been a little while since I wrote an update. We have been doing or normal stuff. Jens is back at school after a long spring break, although he is off today for conferences. I am going in at 11:30 to hear about how he is doing. I am looking forward to hearing what his teachers have to say about him. We have really loved his school this year. I wish he could stay there for kindergarten next year. In K news, we heard back and Jens did not get into the Spanish program. He is on the waiting list.

Jens continues loving art and craft projects. We met our friend Laura downtown for dinner this weekend, and after a walk/bike ride we were able to sit at the restaurant for over an hour thanks to smart Laura's pictures and crayons that she brought. He has been a little more challenging for me this week--not very good about following directions or being nice to his sister. Boo.

We had Cassie over to play Sunday afternoon--she and Jens played so nicely together the whole afternoon. Their pretend play was quite dramatic--they didn't have any money, so Jens was working very hard at cutting out dollars so Cassie wouldn't die of starvation. Fortunately he was able to cut out enough money to buy food. We tried to encourage them to use some of their dollars to do something fun, like go to Disneyland, but they were more interested in having to work hard.

Sylvie is working on tooth #5. She is busy and happy. She is still not a whiz with talking--she is content to say the few words she does know and let us figure out the rest. She still signs for "more" and always says "buckle" when I put her in her car seat. She loves the park and going down the slide, brushing her teeth, bath time, and animals of all sorts. Once the weather perks up I need to take her to the zoo. I think she would be in heaven. A few new favorite activities include knocking down towers and coloring on the magnadoodle.

Our favorite new trick is that she folds her arms for prayers, which is very cute. Sometimes she is more reverent than her brother . . .

Cooking without milk for her continues to be a little bit of a challenge. It has definitely made a difference for her, though, so it is worth the effort.

In me news, I put bead board in the laundry room. It looks nice, but I still need to paint the walls and the cabinets. When the project is finished I will put up a picture. Our bathroom is still not finished because we still haven't picked out tile.

Mike has been working hard and spending most of his free time exercising. At work, his group has started catering dinners which means they expect people to be staying late. Boo. He is doing a duathlon on Saturday. I am getting a sitter so I can go up and cheer. it is 8 miles of running and 13 of biking.

We would both like to try a triathlon this summer, but that will necessitate joining a pool so we can swim. I am going to try out a 10K in May. We'll see how that goes.

April 4, Easter

Prepare yourselves for a whole lot of pictures. Saturday Mike rode his 65 mile race. He was a little worried about the cold weather, but he ended up really enjoying it and felt good about how he did. While he was gone, we colored Easter eggs, something Jens has been really excited about.

Sunday morning Jens was a bit impatient about coming downstairs, but he was really cute about helping Sylvie with her basket.

The Easter Bunny brought us bar stools. The Easter Bunny might be regretting that move as the bar stools are stood upon and used to sit on the counter.

The Easter Bunny also brought Jens some construction paper, drawing paper, a globe pencil sharpener, and a glue stick. Clearly, the Easter Bunny truly knows Jens because he was thrilled. Sylvie got a soft bunny and an animal book. She was also very pleased. What a smart Easter Bunny!

Sylvie picked up on the egg hunting very quickly. She and Jens had a lot of fun, even though it was cold and gray.

Sylvie experienced her first candy, which was a hit. Just like with her birthday cake, she seriously sat and stuffed in jelly beans as quickly as she could. (Don't worry, there was only one jelly bean per egg and I think she got 7 or 8, so she didn't get to eat that much.)

Of course, we also watched conference. Sylvie really liked the choir and did some serious dancing, but she also watched a few seconds of at least one speaker:

We finished the day with friends for dinner and the infamous carrot cake bunny cake.

In the meantime

I have been sick for the past million years (that is seriously what it feels like, what with the back pain and then this hideous cold) so I have been slacking off. So much so that one day last week, when I was feeling really awful, I had to take this picture at 6 pm. It is my children, both wearing their pajamas and covered with sand from the sandbox. Sylvie's hairdo is from the day before.

In other news, we got a hand me down slide from our neighbors. It is a big hit. Jens spends much more time on it than I expected, and Sylvie is in love.


Sylvie has gotten a total of 4 new teeth, but they have come in asymmetrically, which is a little weird.

We have had her off of all dairy, including dairy in cooked foods (alas, no more pancakes). She has been very happy and cheerful and seems to be reacting positively. I wouldn't say her digestive problems have totally disappeared, but they are much improved and she doesn't seem to be starving all the time. Don't get me wrong, she still loves to eat, but she doesn't seem quite so desperate as before. She has also learned:

Which does not necessarily mean that she is done. She will occasionally get both feet out and on the tray whilst continuing to stuff her face. We got out the booster seat this week as the buckle on the high chair is broken, which is why she can escape.

This past week has yielded a couple of tender mercies as well as my miserable cold. The first one: The kids were on spring break and the next door neighbor girl offered to come over and play with the kids. She came over Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and entertained Jens for hours. It was such a gift! She chased him and played endless tag/hide-and-seek, did crafts with him, and played games with him. She also really liked Sylvie and put her down for a few of her naps. I was really grateful for a little help when I was feeling so down.

The second one: Jens and Sylvie played together sometimes. Happily. Without tears or injuries. Sometimes for more than a half hour at a time. Anyone who knows of our parenting struggles knows that this is nothing short of a miracle.