Twenty months old! I really don't think that this will be much of a post. It's not that Edith isn't still fabulous and adorable, but that I have already posted most of her pictures as a part of my Friday Favorites and I don't think my brain is working well enough to actually think of anything to say. It's just so much easier to let my pictures do the talking.
Speaking of talking, Edith continues to get better and better at it. I guess that's usually how it works. I'm glad she doesn't say everything perfectly, though. There's just something about the way she walks up with her arms outstretched saying, "Mama, holdee me." that makes my heart melt.
Edith is still such an outdoor girl. She loves going to the park and on hikes. Even just running up and down the driveway makes her giggle with delight.
Art is beginning to become a real passion of Edith's. She draws or colors almost every day. I know that it makes her happy because pretty much the whole time she's doing art she says, "Mama. I love you. Luva you." I'll let her do art when ever she wants.
Edith continues to be a real nurturer. She loves playing with her baby doll she calls her 'little sister' (kinda creeps me out) and when we were all taking turns being sick recently, she adored making sure Bud was entertained when he was home from school.
Reading to herself and others is still one of Edith's joys, but she'll allow me to read to her more than she used to. She loves books with a good story. Those baby board books are only used by her to try to learn how to read. "Tuh, tuh, tuh... train! Tuh, tuh, tuh... boat! Tuh, tuh, tuh...girl!" We need to work on it a bit, but we have time. One of the interesting things Edith will do is point to a word in a book and command, "Mommy say. Mommy say it." She studies the word as I tell her what it is, as though trying to memorize it, and then will move on to another for me to identify.
Edith also seems to love playing the role of damsel in distress, lying on the floor with her arms reaching up, crying out, "Heellllp! Hep, hep! Help up!" She just loves being saved. It got a little old in church today when she kept slumping down in the pew, calling, "Heelllp! Help up!" And last night she learned a little bit of what it means to cry wolf-- since she usually doesn't really need help when she's hollering for it, her brother and sister ignored her pleas as she slid her upside-down-self part of the way off the couch. Sorry you tipped the scales too far and landed on your head, baby. I'll teach your siblings to recognize how the tone of your voice changes from fake asking for help to real asking for help.
As she has gotten older, Edith has let more and more of her silly-cheesy self emerge. It can get a bit frustrating when she's determined to be silly and I'm just as determined to get her to do something else, but she always seems willing to listen to reason. I'll say to her, "Edith. Mommy really needs you to be obedient and do what she asks right now. Mommy needs you to be nice and hold still." Edith stops her unhelpful behavior almost immediately and responds in a drawn out, slurred, remorseful way that actually makes her sound kind of like a drunk. A really nice drunk. "Okaaaay. Love you, Mommy. Luva you." You'd have to hear the tone in her voice, but it's hilarious. And, unfortunately, her vow to reform her behavior never lasts long so we'll go through that whole interaction more than once pretty much every time I change her diaper or get her dressed. Luckily it's so dang funny or I might get even more frustrated than I do.
We love every cheesy bit of you, Edith! Happy 20 month birthday!
With no other plans for the day, and Halloween happening on Wednesday, today seemed the perfect time to carve the pumpkins we picked out at the store last night. Well, perfect except for the fact that Rophone is out of town. I wish he could have been here with us because there were some Halloween firsts that happened.
The kids were all so excited to carve their pumpkins, even Edith who really had no clue what was going on. At first, Edith wouldn't even let me cut a hole in her pumpkin so she could clean it out. She was just elated to even have her own pumpkin!
Eventually Edith let me cut a hole in it and I put it on its side so she could reach the innards. She peered into her pumpkin and said, "Ooooh! Yucky!". Then she dug right in and started cleaning it out. Not bad for her first time.
She was having a ball and even tried out a little bit of the guts as a styling product. It didn't seem to have the same hold as the peach juice yesterday. Or maybe it's just that she didn't use as much.
Between the cleaning and the carving, we took a little break for lunch. Pen had the fabulous idea of having an hors d'oeuvres style picnic on the family room floor since the table was covered in pumpkins and their innards. It worked out great. I served them a plate with apple slices, banana chunks, and grapes; a plate with brie on two types of crackers; and a third plate with cucumber slices and sandwiches cut into bite-sized pieces. Num!
Another first this Halloween is that both Big and Bud actually poked out their chosen pattern on their pumpkins. I was so impressed with the focus and patience they both displayed in getting the job done. I mean, all of my kids have great attention spans, but what they were doing was time-consuming and kinda tedious. Big took a few breaks to shoot some hoops, but that's okay because we were short on pokers anyway. The job got done and they did fantastically!
One of the cuter moments was when Edith put her head inside Ginger's pumpkin so she could see the saw as it kept poking through. When she noticed I was taking her picture she said, "Cheese!" while her head was still inside. Cute stuff, Edith.
All in all, it was a really fun day. I sure hope Rophone is around when we do it next year, though. I'm exhausted! But, the results were definitely worth it.
Good job, kids!
(Pumpkins belong to (L to R): Ginger, Bud, Pen, Big, Edith)
I really can't believe it's time to do one of these again. Seriously? I know I'll thank myself later.
1. We pretty much spent most of the past week being sick with a cold. We've overlapped each other, so there hasn't been much of a break, and it seems that some of the kids are in for round two with it. It's a really nasty bug, so I'd have to say that tops on my list of favorites is our good health when we have it. Please return to us, good health, so I can tell you in person how much I love and appreciate you. Thanks.
2. It seems that this particular illness spurred on a Potato Head Fest. When you're not feeling great, playing with a potato seems like a nice thing to do, I guess. Especially when you can team up with your also-sick siblings. Edith started it all, and it didn't take long for most of the other kids to join in. I loved it when Edith walked up to me where I was sitting and shoved her Potato in my hands saying, "Hold the tato."
You can't tell in the photo, but there's a nose on the other side. Fantastic.
This is Edith's last creation (the kid is an artistic genius, if you ask me):
The Potato Head Fest lasted for a few days and it was awesome. I love seeing my kids getting creative (yes, even with potatoes).
3. Bud lost his second tooth on Monday night. It tumbled out as I helped him brush his teeth (he's been having a bit of a hard time keeping them well-brushed since the front 7 are all in varying stages of looseness). Anyway, luckily I was there to fish it out from under his tongue with the toothbrush. He told me he would have just spit it in the sink, thinking it was a glob of toothpaste. I love being present for these fun moments with my kids.
4. On a related note, the Tooth Fairy actually came on the night Bud lost his tooth! Amazing.
5. On Tuesday, when I was out working in the yard (trying not to let this cold completely defeat me), I saw this lone rose blooming in our rose beds. I normally hate roses, but this one seemed a sign of hope. A sign of perseverance. Or something. Luckily I had my phone on me so I snapped a photo. It's really pretty (for a rose).
6. We let the kids try on their costumes on Tuesday, just to make sure we had our bases covered. Getting Edith back out of hers was a bit of a task. She even ate dinner in it (butternut squash chowder, you can see it around her mouth). The cutest frog around, I think. I can't wait to see her trick-or-treating on Halloween!
7. We awoke to our first snow of the season yesterday morning. I loved hearing the awe in Edith's voice as she said, "Snow! On ground. Pretty. Wet. Cold. White. Snow." Having a baby makes everything so much more monumental.
8. I looked over at Edith where she was sitting on the couch yesterday to see that she had gathered a few friends around to sit with her. She's so social. It was adorable.
9. When I was going through the papers from Bud's backpack this morning, I came across this story. I love it. Probably because I know how hard it is for him to write such small little blurbs and make them as interesting and descriptive as he'd like to.
I just love that his little fishy with the googly eyes is going to have FUN in the Tunnel of Doom. Awesome.
The past few days have been a bit rough, but that's just because I'm still not feeling well and Rophone is in San Francisco (and he'd better have a blast or else there was no point in sending him!). I'll continue to pray for patience and put money in the kids' therapy fund.
Not much of anything has really gone on this week. A few of us have come down with a terrible cold (and I mean terrible) so things have been less fun than they might have been. Plus, it makes my memory even more fuzzy.
1. We went and ran some errands with the 4 younger kids on Saturday and had a good time. I got to be with my hot husband, and the kids were remarkably well behaved. Can't really beat that. Part of what we accomplished was getting some groceries at the organic food store up North of us. We grabbed a bite to eat while we were there.
2. Probably my favorite thing that happened on Saturday was when we stopped at the mall to take advantage of a sale one of the stores was having. I turned around from looking at an item of clothing to find Edith holding hands with a headless mannequin, dancing to the in-store music. It was hilarious. I fumbled with my phone camera and was glad to capture a picture of it. It still makes me laugh when I think about it.
3. Even with Rophone working on Sunday, I managed to get all the kids and myself ready for 9 am church by 8:25. Yes, my organizational skills rock. Plus, it helped that Big didn't fight me every step of the way for once.
4. I skipped out during church to pick up Pen. We were glad that she returned safely from her trip to San Francisco. The fact that she had a great time makes me happy, too.
5. We have all really been enjoying the fall weather. I love this time of year. This picture was taken just before I swept the leaves off of the driveway. I've done it about 5 times already since the leaves started falling and it's only the beginning. Good thing I kind of like it.
5. Rophone took the day off on Monday for the last day of Fall Break. It was so nice to have him to hang out with, too.
6. We got our trimmer fixed! Another bonus with Rophone home for the day. I am so excited to use ours rather than my dad's crummy one. Big loved going with us to take it in, too. It was fun to see his excitement.
7. We took a nice walk on Monday. Enjoying the weather, see?
8. On Wednesday night we had a little bit of ice cream for dessert after dinner. When I asked the baby if she wanted a little mini cone of chocolate peanut butter ice cream she replied with a breathy, "Yeah. A double." She gasps her 'yeah's a lot. It's hard to explain, but it's kind of like my dad used to do. Anyway, it's cute when she does it.
9. Big and I went on a walk to gather leaves as a part of his homework assignment for Thursday. We took Edith along and had a nice little walk and chat. I loved that even though there were tons of beautifully colored fall leaves, Big chose to pick those that were still green. When I suggested he pick more of the different colored ones he replied simply, "But I like green." I love him.
10. I like that Big is getting more excited about reading to me. We're having fun.
11. I played some one-on-one basketball with Big today. I think he was surprised about how his Mom can play. I also think he'll start working on his left-handed dribble so he doesn't have the ball stolen so much when he's driving down the left side. I just maybe might have stolen it once or twice... Big is darn good for his age, though.
12. I worked in the yard again this afternoon while I waited for Rophone to come home. Enjoying the fall weather again. After we finished, Rophone and I took Big and Edith on a walk around the block. So nice and relaxing.
There's more than a chance that I overdid it a little today (this cold bites), so I'm proud of myself for making cookies this evening like I promised Big I would. Praying the kids sleep in tomorrow.... Yeah, so I'm a dreamer.
1. Last weekend was our church's General Conference. What is normally one of my two most dreaded weekends of the year, wasn't. Why not you ask? Well, because Rophone didn't have to work Conference this time. Instead of having him gone for 35 hours over a two day period with no comp days to make up for it, he was home. Enjoying the weekend with his family. Yessss!
2. Part of what we did over the weekend (besides listen to Conference) was to go to a free scrimmage held by our local NBA team. I'm so glad that Rophone suggested it because we had such a good time.
3. On Sunday, I printed out some really cool coloring pages for the kids to color while we listened to Conference. It kept them occupied (and quiet!).
4. I took the 3 younger kids to the park on Monday afternoon and Rophone met us there on his way home from work. You can read about it here. It was a lot of fun.
5. Big asked me to buzz his hair for the first time ever on Tuesday. I happily obliged (I mean, free haircuts rock). I think he looks adorable (and I'm just glad he didn't decide he hated it when I was done).
6. Also on Tuesday, I made Big's outfit for his kindergarten Halloween doll. Big wanted me to make an Iron Man or Hulk costume, but I nixed those and came up with the idea of making a basketball uniform. Luckily Big is basketball-obsessed so he happily agreed. As I was making it, I began to realize that it was going to be more time consuming than I had expected. When I commented something about it, Big responded dismissively, "Well, you're the one who came up with the idea." So true. Made me laugh. My favorite part about this whole thing is that I think I kinda rocked it. I say that in a most humble way, of course. Now Big just needs to cut out the doll, add a face and glue the costume on!
7. Edith and I went to the park again on Wednesday morning. I didn't see why not. We didn't have to pick Big up from school because he had a play date (a 4 1/2 hour long play date-- I think I'm in love with the other boy's mother), so we just took our time until lunch. It gave Edith a lot of time to practice on the stairs.
8. We sent Pen off on a trip to San Francisco with her dance team on Wednesday night. I'm just so excited for her!
9. Fall break started after school on Wednesday. Not much of a break for me, but I enjoy not having to do the routine in the mornings.
10. I mowed our lawn earlier in the week and then I managed to mow my mom's lawn and trim both lawns yesterday morning while Ginger watched the kids. It's nice to have that done and I enjoyed being out in the fall air getting some exercise. As a reward I took the 3 younger kids on a hike up the canyon in the afternoon (Ginger declined the invitation). The weather was perfect, the scenery was beautiful, and Big is really becoming proud of his climbing skills. He's getting better at keeping up with Bud. It was so nice to do something I love after a long week.
11. Today is blustery and rainy (which I love) so I thought it would be a perfect day to make cookies. Big and Edith are great helpers.
12. Edith told me she loves me about 50 times today. It makes me feel so good. I especially love it when she's in the other room and hollers, "Mommy! I love you!". I love you, too, Edith.
I think that it has been a pretty good week for everybody. Not too shabby.
