January 29th

This week at our house was another big week. Potty training keeps going great and on top of that we took down the crib, which made me shed a little tear. I can't believe that she is so grown up. We started out with a mattress on the floor and yesterday brought a little frame up so she is lifted off the ground. Maybe I will manage to take a picture of that this week. She is loving her room right now, finding it her little haven. She loves to take her "babies" in and put them to bed. At any given moment she has a coyote wearing Sylvie's pj pants, a dog wrapped in a blanket, and elephant resting on a pillow, etc. She often cooks them snacks and sings them songs. On this occasion, they were having a tea party. The twisted sleeve is an intentional fashion choice:

We are enjoying her so much--I can't tell you how often Mike and I look at each other to make sure the other heard or saw whatever cute thing she is doing and saying.

Jens has been up to his usual hijinks, running around and being his regular nutty self. He tried his first Mad Science this week, which he liked. They learned about animals and habitats. He has been doing really well with his job chart, getting everything done and having a good attitude. He has been practicing basketball and playing the piano every day, which has been fun. We just finished reading Encyclopedia Brown, which he loved.

I am still sick, and now I am sick on top of my cough. I don't want to talk about it, but lets just say I feel awful. Maybe tomorrow I will be better.

Mike took the kids to swimming lessons on Thursday, which they love. He is enjoying riding his bike, and I enjoy having him in spin with me to be my friend. He went to the Kings game on Wednesday with a friend who won tickets to the Intel box, so that was fun for him. We are looking forward to Mike's birthday this week--Sylvie and Jens think we should get him a puppy. I don't think so!!

Cute things Sylvie says:

A conversation, as Sylvie lays on my lap:

Me: Are you sleepy?

S: No, I'm tired.

Me: What does it mean to be sleepy?

S: You go to bed.

Me: What does it mean to be tired?

S: You yawn.

As she is sitting on the potty and I walk past the door: "You can join me if you like!" (She really likes having company in the bathroom.)

She really wants "Wallypop" Valentines.

Yessir!

Mayvee.

Desker (dresser)

Dusker (duster)

After having an accident, consolingly: "I'm frustrated too, Mom. I'm frustrated too."

January 22nd

Well. We have very big news to report this week. VERY big! Calm down. Not THAT big. Sylvie is potty training at last, and very successfully! I feel like this deserves a lot of exclamation points, but I am trying to behave. After several failed attempts, Mike randomly put her in a pull up and set the timer for every 30 minutes, something we have tried in the past that didn't work. But this time it did, and, get this, no treats, stickers, charts, bribes involved. She just wants to be a big girl. Unfortunately, this week of all weeks she is having a terrible sick tummy, which means she is spending some not-very-fun time on the toity, but hey, at least we aren't having to change diapers! She woke up dry this morning and kept her pull up clean all day today. We are very proud of our big girl. We are going to wait until she feels better to try panties, though. Here we are trying to stay occupied during a 20 minute sit.

Also in fun news, the kids had a swimming lesson this week. They both enjoyed the lessons a great deal and told me about it with enthusiasm. Jens informed me that the--"What was it? Batmans? Oh, I mean Superman," he learned from Rec. lessons is actually called "streamline" and he seemed very professional about it all. Sylvie told me she put her face in the water, even her eyes. Mike informed me that she definitely did NOT do either of those things, but maybe she is planning ahead to next week.

Jens has been writing all sorts of nice things:

and also bouncing off the walls a little bit because it has been rainy and he hasn't been out on his bike to work out his extra energy. Sometimes by 4:30 he just has to run around the house yelling, it can't be helped. I have a feeling we are going to be at the gym more and more often as the rainy season progresses . . .

Mike served one day of uneventful Jury Duty this week, in which he (yet again) didn't get picked, much to his disappointment. I had book club and did a clay project with Jens's class at school. (We made fish. They look cute, but we still have to fire and glaze and fire.) Mike and I enjoyed a night out at the Intel Winter ball, which is a nice catered affair with dancing. 3000 people attended this year and it was fun. The weather was horrendous--I did my hair and everything, just to have it whipped around and blown straight up and rained on in the 5 minute run from parking to the convention center. And I mean straight up! But we had a great time with friends and even danced for a while.

The rest of the week has been the normal stuff. I am still down with a cold, which is entering its second week, but hopefully by next week I will be miraculously healed.

Bike Movie

January 15th

This week I am first putting up pictures from last week that I forgot. Natalie, Sylvie, and I went to the mall and shopped and had lunch. Sylvie also got to ride the carousel, which she always likes. It makes me a little dizzy.

Lunch was at Rubios, where Sylvie had black beans and I had fish tacos. Yum.

Back to this week. As Mike is finally feeling better, the rest of us are feeling a little stuffy. Jens stayed home from school 3 days with a runny nose and cough. The extra rest prevented anything more serious, but it drove me a little crazy because he wasn't so sick that he was really quiet, especially by the third day. He and Sylvie actually had a pretty good time playing some of the time. Here he is in my "exploring" boots. He and Sylv were going on a "pig hunt."

Bikes continue to be a big deal as we enjoy an unseasonably sunny and warm winter. We went to the park last Saturday and the kids just rode and rode. Sylvie is in bike heaven!

This week marked the resumption of a lot of our regular things--music makers,visit teaching, play group, normal grocery shopping, the gym, etc.

Mike and I did go on a "date" if you can call it that--it ended up being sort of lame. We got free tickets to a preview of a play downtown, but we were late and by the time we got there the seats were full and the doors closed. The theater was tiny! So we left and went to Pinkberry instead, which is fun and all, but not quite the same as seeing a show. Oh well. Mike did manage to get out for a movie and bike ride with friends, so at least someone got to do something fun!

Sylvie has gone from refusing to pray to praying about all sorts of things. Items mentioned (in gratitude) in her prayers this week:

slippers

shoes

dresses

Santa

Christmas

Rudolph

Disneyland

Sometimes she just gets going and you have to remind her to wrap things up. It is pretty cute. She has also been dressing up her dog, Suzanna, and putting shoes on her feet. She has set up little beds for her "babies" (mostly animals) in her room. She informed me that last night while she was trying to go to sleep they were crying.

Jens is turning into a Mario expert. He and I have been playing for a half hour when he gets home from school (after he does reading and at least one other job). It is a fun little bonding time, which I like because he insists on sitting right next to him. Sometimes, though, I have to remind him not to be grouchy and bossy. We have also been enjoying the ever-virtuous Box Children books. We are reading the 3rd one right now.

We have been missing our east coast family this weekend, knowing they are all together to celebrate Abbie's baptism. What a special thing. We wish we could be there.

January 10th

I hope everyone is enjoying a grand 2012 so far. We are settling back into a routine after the excitement of the holidays. Mike was sick for the first week of 2012 and also visited and orthopedic surgeon about his knee. This seems to be a new tradition we have--ringing in the New Year with some sort of large doctor's visit, and we seem to take turns with it. Oh well. In sick news, he is finally feeling better, but Jens is home sick from school today, so cross your fingers for me that we have a healing miracle and he can go back tomorrow. In knee news, Mike is going to do a month or so of PT and see what happens. He has been given the green light to get back on his bike, so that makes him very happy. Also in Mike news, after working like a man possessed, he has checked off all of his blocks for the latest mile stone at work, which means he has actually been home for dinner! We are all so happy--we have really missed seeing him.

I am getting back into the swing of things, too, working on FAME and starting back up on our regular weekly activities--music makers, play group, YW, exercise, grocery shopping (isn't it funny how even grocery shopping gets wacky during the holidays?), book club (The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax this month, which was a delightful mystery from the 60's), and cleaning up the house. I love getting out Christmas things, but I love putting them away, too. Everything looks so tidy.

Jens was happy to get back to school and see his friends. He has decided he wants to be an inventor and is telling me all sorts of interesting inventions he would like to make. He is now signed up for Mad Science at school, an after school science program that he is VERY excited about. He wanted to do it so badly that he is even helping to pay for it. Basketball has started in earnest now, and Jens had his first practice/game on Saturday.

It was pretty fun. He came home very happy about it, although his skills needs some improvement. I hope he will continue to enjoy it. He is still loving his big new bike, even though getting going is tricky sometimes.

Sylvie is my little helper. Suddenly she is interested in helping pick up, which is a miracle. She wears her red sparkly shoes every day, with every outfit, and loves riding her new bike. She suddenly learned how to wink, which surprised all of us.

She was very excited again this week to go to primary. It makes her feel very grown up to have moved on from nursery, and it makes me a little teary to see her being so big!

Thursday night while I was at YW Mike and the kids had fun with dry ice, left over from my Graeter's shipment (thank you, Rhoduses!)

Sunday night the kids both donned straw hats, and armed with flash lights and a bucket, they went exploring in the back yard. It was pretty cute, and they had a very good time.

In family news, we had a fun little challenge last week. Jens, in the midst of our holiday celebrations, came to me and said "After New Years, we should have a whole week without sweets!" He was apparently having a tummy ache. On Monday after the last of our company was gone, as I was starting to put things away, I found a bag of chocolate chips in his room and decided he was right. So we had a FHE about making healthy choices and decided that if all of us could go 5 days during the week without sweets, we would have a family prize. Jens wanted the prize to be ice cream, but I convinced him that rewarding ourselves with sweets for going without them seemed a little counter productive. So we settled on a night swim at the (outdoor) pool instead. Last night we went swimming! It was cold out, but there is a little hot tub. No one else is crazy enough to take their kids swimming in December, so we had the whole pool to ourselves. The kids had a great time, and so did we. I think we will do another challenge, maybe next week, this time to do family scripture study every night. We have been doing pretty well, but we occasionally forget.

Lastly (if you have stuck it out this long, I am impressed), I am going to change my blogging a little bit this year. I am going to go back to one big post with pictures per week, probably usually on Monday. I might put up a little thing here or there during the week, but I think for the ease of doing my blog book (which is one of my main blog motivations) it will be easier to organize and "slurp" into a book that way. I think doing this year's book is going to be a real pain in the patoot. So don't be disappoint by lack of posting, just realize I am posting once and longer instead of lots of short posts. Happy New Year!

PS--I reserve the right to change my mind about that as I start last year's book. Maybe it will be easier than I think?

Happy New Year!

We celebrated the first day of the new year by dragging out of bed and going to church. Well, I went to church with the kids. Mike was sick and I made him stay home since he is now in the nursery and could have started an epidemic.

It was a New Year's miracle--I was there early enough to sit in a pew! For those of you who have been to our chapel, you know this really is a miracle because there are only about 10 rows of pews.

We came home to a tidied up kitchen (thank you, friends!) which I promptly destroyed making abelskievers for lunch. There were a few blaster wars, indoor bike riding, and Star Wars watching, so Kristin and I escaped for a walk.

The kids were all pretty sad that it was their last day together. When I tucked Jens in, he asked if Mati could come back and stay longer next time. We felt pretty lucky to have them stay as long as they did, and we do hope they will come back soon.

December 31st

We ended our year (and began the new one) with one last round of company. Our dear friends the Johnsons spent a few nights with us to ring in the new year. We were very glad that they came for many reasons, one of them being that Mike and I NEVER would have finished the puzzle without Matt's enthusiasm! It was a lot of blue.

Success!

The kids were also thrilled to see each other. I think Jens was missing seeing kids his own age, and Matisyn arrived in the nick of time. They played very happily and excitedly the whole time we were together, except when Mario was on and all three boys were transfixed by the screen.

The adults managed lunches out and socializing. After the kids went to bed, I admit it, we played Mario Brothers, sometimes for hours. How embarrassing. But somehow when there are four of you playing together, and you are as skilled as we are (especially me and Kristin!) it is really fun.

For New Year's Eve we had a fun dinner (fondue, lettuce wraps, little smokies, fruit) and Had a "party" with the kids. At some random time (8:47 maybe?) we put on party hats, counted down, did poppers and noise makers, and had "fancy drink."

Jens was very determined that at the end of the countdown, as well as shouting "Happy New Year!" we should also shout "Let's party!" which we did.

Then the kids went to bed and we--what else?--played Mario Brothers until the ball dropped, which we watched, along with Lady Gaga's performance. That lady is strange. It was very fun and Mike was super impressed that I stayed up so late.

Enjoying the spoils and the company

Mike and I both had to try really hard not to go completely nuts this Christmas. We just saw so many things our kids would love. I can see why people go crazy, buying tons of things. As it was, we had a big Christmas this year, but it has been so rewarding to see the kids playing with and loving the new things. We had a lot of "hits" this year, especially the Magnetics (thanks, Grandma and Grandpa--they have been played with LITERALLY every day since they were opened). All of the new books have been enjoyed, candies gobbled, art supplies tried out, blasters shot (and shot, and shot, and shot . . .)

Also loved: the furniture for Sylvie's house and Jens's new markers (thanks, cousin Abbie!)

The bikes, of course, have been popular. Sylvie still insists on having hers inside and rides it all around the downstairs. She has picked up peddling very quickly and is getting faster!

Jens's new wheels are much bigger, which is sometimes discouraging, but he loves having hand breaks and being able to "back peddle." The result, though, is that sometimes he is slower on his new bike because he is so busy peddling backwards he loses all forward momentum.

Sylvie loves her new dress up things. Here she is modeling new hair bows and shoes.

We even have a few Christmas gifts that I have hidden away to pull out in a month or two when we need something "new" to do.

We also loved having a few more days with Uncles and Grammy and Papa. By Tuesday I was tired of cooking, so we had In 'n Out for lunch and Chicago Fire for dinner. We stopped by the temple after lunch to see the nativity.

It was a little sunny and bright out.

Sylvie cuties, Jens news

Sunday was Sylvie's first day in primary, so I had talked to her about it and prepped her. As we were walking through the hall to the primary room, one of the nursery leaders sweetly said "Hi Sylvie." Without pause, Sylvie replied "I am not in nursery anymore, I am going to primary the whole time!" and hurried on down the hall.

During family prayer:

Mike: Sylvie, it is your turn to say the prayer.

Sylvie: I said the prayer last year.

She knows just how to do it, but is so resistant! Any suggestions to warm her up?

Jens finished a chapter book on his own today. We read most of the book together, but he read a chapter last night by himself (he was supposed to be asleep!) and this morning he read the last chapter. Part of me is excited, part of me is a little sad!

Christmas Day

We started the morning with snuggle time in bed, a story, and thinking about gifts we could give Jesus this year. Once everyone was awake and Gram was here, we headed downstairs for a tree viewing and stockings. Of course, the new bikes were very evident, so those also got "opened" right away. Both kids love them, by the way, even Sylvie who once proclaimed to hate "eckercise."

We drank orange julius and ate sugar cereal for breakfast

Then got ready for church, which was thankfully pushed back to 10:00. We were ready and even had time for pictures before!

The kids were so good about waiting--no fits or arguments, although Jens did ask every 2 minutes during sacrement meeting when it would be over. It finally was (but it was a VERY nice meeting) and we came home to make brunch. We let the kids open a few presents while we prepared food.

They are still at a really fun stage where they like to stop and play with each thing. We never rush through things. It took us well over 3 hours to empty everything out from under the tree.

Jens thoughtfully chose gifts for everyone--flowers for me, Christmas decorations for Grammy, a scraper for Papa, potpourri and decorative stones for Gram, blasters for Peter and Loren, and a mirror and little horse for Sylvie. He was very pleased as everyone opened his gifts.

Our last big thing was the Wii, which the boys then spent HOURS playing. Really. Hours.

We had ham and deconstructed trifle. It was a lovely, peaceful day.