December Festivities

This month has just flown by it seems. Lots of Christmas parties - school, PJ's work, church. We got to go PJ's work party just the two of us, while Mark and Camille kept the kids for us for a couple of hours. It is just so refreshing and nice to go out as a couple and be able to interact with people and not having cater to the kids' needs and constantly watching over them. We had such a good time!

At church, the Christmas party had a Latino flare to it. With a pinata and everything. Just a few weeks ago, our ward got split and the ward boundaries changed, so there are lots of new to us families at church. It was good to meet a few of them at the party. We ate lots of yummy enchiladas and for dessert we had cupcakes. Om the way home from the party Ophelia noted: "I ate my cupcake like Cookie monster....too fast!" :) Made me and PJ crack up!

Texas winters are kind of dry, lots of static here:

Both the kids are struggling with dry skin throughout the winter months. We use lots of hydrocortisone, which Ophelia calls "hydro-quarters".
My friend Natalie shared some Krispy Kreme joy with us. The kids were in heaven:

Ophelia's school put on a big Christmas concert this month. PJ stayed home with Emerson, since it was kind of later in the evening, but me and Grandma and Grandpa got to enjoy it. Ophelia did so amazingly great. She sang loud, she did the actions, and she truly had fun doing it. They sang 3 songs and on the last one (which I didn't get a good video of) Ophelia pretty much dominated the voices. We had friends whose kids were in the concert too comment to us later about how well and loud Ophelia sang!

Lovely Christmas jingle:

Pretty much the first week that PJ was off work, he got the flu. Not just some little flu, he got THE FLU! He was miserable. The first two days he spent in bed with chills, fever, achiness. He slept awfully. It was rough! I did my best to quarantine him from the kids, but I myself got something too. It wasn't the flu according to the flu test at the doctor's office, but I felt sick for a few days, but not nearly as bad as PJ. We were blessed that the kids did not get any of it!

My friend Candace makes the best gingerbread ever! She gave us a house making kit for Christmas, so decorated one as a family. The kids loved the project. Emerson was more interested in tasting all of the candy though, but Ophelia got into sticking colorful candies all over the house.

We had a quiet family Christmas Eve with just us four. It was neat to do our new tradition as of this year of the 25 days of Christmas with a Christ-centered message and a symbolic ornament to go with it each day. Emerson looked forward especially to videos about Jesus and Ophelia loved opening the gift box with a different ornament each night. On Christmas Eve we drove around as a family and delivered goodies to neighbors and friends in the area.

Just in time for Christmas, everyone was finally well enough to spend time with family in Oatmeal. Whatever germs we had, we shared like this:

Cousy love is powerful and there's no way around it! Here's the beautiful tree. I love that Mom always has a live tree for Christmas! I love its smell, because it reminds me of my childhood and our end-of-year festivities. I also love eating mandarins all December long because that's what I did as a kid. One time I ate so many mandarins that I got a rash all over my body!

Grandma playing with Emerson. This Sesame street house is one of the kids' favorite toys at Grandma's house:

Mark and PJ played some lovely Christmas songs for us:

And then Ophelia played some too :)

She's got the guitar hold down. Now we just need to teach her how to make the right notes on it:

The table is set! Looking good:

Grandma got Ophelia and Emerson a little play kitchen for Christmas, which they love! But they also loved playing in the huge box that the kitchen came in. As a bonus, check out Em's huge mouth :)

A few Ophelia-isms that we've heard lately:
* She told PJ one morning: "Papa, you make the best breakfastes!" I giggle at the grammar that she uses, but then I turn around and speak just like her, because we hang out so much together, I talk like her too :)
* As a proper dietitian Mom, I have been talking to Ophelia about candy and junk food, so she is starting to figure out what's good for our bodies to take in and what isn't. One day she told me: "Candy infects moods and makes us act like a baby and a spoiled rat." Petty much...nailed it :)

We had our annual dumpling night in Oatmeal. Auntie Jane was there too and Emerson developed a special love for her:

We made a few attempts to take a good picture of all three cousins. Here are the best two tries:

Someday we won't have that problem any more, of trying to have all three look at the camera and smile and sit still for just 5 seconds!!!! Here they are playing ring around the rosie:

Emerson has a special place in his heart for Grandpa. It is so sweet! Whenever I tell the kids that we're going to Grandma's house, Emerson always adds "Grandpa's house". Also when Grandma stops by on occasion, on her own, while running errands in town, Emerson asks her "Grampa go?", meaning "Where did Grandpa go?" Emerson is always so excited to see Grandpa, to give him a hug and a kiss, or to have Granpda hold him. Here Emerson is singing with Grandpa:

The kids had fun hanging on Aunt Judy:

On one of our visits to Oatmeal, Auntie Cami did some beautiful shots of the kids. Sure makes me want to get a nicer camera!

I just LOVE this one:

This boy is just so incredibly sweet and polite! He even gets excited for his sister. Like when Ophelia shows her artwork to Emerson, he says :"Awesome, Awa!" Too cute! He is starting to pronounce her name correctly most of the time nowadays. He says "Opheya" or "Opheyaya".

Emerson is getting really good with speaking in sentences too! Here are some dinner time Emerson-isms:
* "I like it strawberries." He's learned from Signing Time to says "I like it" and "Don't like it", so he plugs the "it" in his sentences when he talks about his likes and dislikes.
* When calling Ophelia for dinner to the table one evening: "Awa, eat sushi papa make it!" Blew my mind how he put all those words together. Love that boy!

Our Sweet Joys

As I was rushing to finish last night's post, I realized that I forgot to mention a bunch of little things that I wanted to mention here. Even though PJ does not blog, he contributes by reminding me constantly: "You need to put that on the blog!" after something particularly funny or important happens in our family. So I have a running list of the things that if PJ were to blog, he would mention.

First important thing is mentioning the day when Emerson finally first said the word "Papa" - 18th of May 2013. For the longest time, Emerson called every family member "Mama". Each time Emerson called PJ Mama, PJ would respond "I'm Papa!". Finally, in May, Emerson's tongue turned in such a way as to be able to make the P sound and say "papa" for the very first time in his life! It was very memorable, especially for PJ! Since then he's been able to say Grandma - Mawmaw, Grandpa - Bawpaw, Babushka - Baba, and Dedushka - also Baba. We're getting there, people! Be patient and happy that you are not at least called Mama!

Back in May Emerson also had his 15th month checkup. He checked out to be in the 5% for height and 20% for weight. So in reference to other boys his age, he is a tiny guy. BUT he is in the 75% for head circumference, so that tiny body has one big head on top of it! During that well-child visit, the doctor commented on what a great personality Emerson has. That despite the poking, prodding, and looking, Emerson stayed calm and happy, and relaxed. The doctor said that 15-mo appointment are the worst in terms of behavior. Toddlers at that age do not want to be messed with, but not out sweet little guy. He did get two shots in each leg at the very end, so that did not go so well, he was not happy about that.

Both Emerson and Ophelia had ear infections in the beginning of June and were on antibiotics. So we saw the doctor a couple more extra times after that and every time Emerson sits still and calm while being examined. All the doctors and nurses have asked me: "Is he always this calm during doctor visits?" And he is! Maybe he is taking mental notes on how to be a doctor in the future!

This month we have been taking Emerson to nursery at church and he has loved it! He loves the various activities and having other kids around, singing time and snack time. So far I have been staying with him for half of it and then sneaking out and we had no issues at all. I think all those times of me taking him to the babysitting room at the rec center helped. He loves his rec center babysitters and knows them by name. He gets excited to go there every time! The babysitters have told me once that they want to adopt him! Of course! He snuggled and hugs on them, who wouldn't want to have a sweet boy like that? They have no idea that he wakes up at 5:30 am every morning...

Ophelia is our little creative bug. She loves to do any kind of crafts. She loves coloring and drawing. She can pretty much write all of the letters of the alphabet. When she colors, she does so using all of the colors possible, using each crayon or marker or pencil. She loves to come up with games for us to play for FHE. The other week, we played who can crawl under a string tied to a chair, while it was being lowered each time. Kind of like limbo. Good times!

She is also such a curious little girl. I love the questions that she comes up with and we are getting to the point where I don't know all of the answers and have to google them. How do ants kiss? What is inside of our bones?

The other Sunday, while I was getting ready for church and putting on my mascara, she asked: "What are you doing, mama?" I said: "Putting on mascara." She goes: "To scare everyone?" ....Logically! Never thought that "scare" and "mascara" are so similar sounding and in the mind of a 3-year old mean the same thing! Love that girl!

Also, she told me the other day: "Mama, I LOVE sugar!". Great! Just great! What kind of a mommy dietitian am I now? She does love her veggies too though, which has been a good influence on Emerson as well, so I guess not all is lost :)

The Butterfly Garden Experience

I just can't say enough good things about Ophelia's preschool. I am dedicating this whole post to them and the amazing job that they do. Ms. Carol and Ms. Janine are the two teachers, who dedicate all their time to creating a wonderful nature-centered learning environment for the kids. The school is based on the Waldorf method, which is all about creativity, imagination, nature, a daily rhythm, and art. The school is also called the Forest Kindergarten, because the children spend the whole time outside. They do projects, play in the mud-kitchen, eat snacks/lunch, paint on the huge white paper board, play games, swing in hammocks, explore the forest, do story time - all outside. Here is Ophelia with Ms. Carol:

Ophelia was always curious about nature and the outdoors, but after attending this school, she has become a totally outdoorsee person. Nowadays, she asks me all the time to go play out in the backyard, and she'd rather do that than watch TV! She has become into collecting rocks and has a her rock collection/treasure box. She recognized different kinds of birds. She picks up rolly-pollies without a wince (Yuk!). She loves picnics. Here they are painting with dirt:

Cold, hot, rain, or sunshine, they are always outside. Except for thunderstorms, when the house has some craft stations for them to do. Here are some heart rocks that they did back in February. Ophelia has her two rocks on the bookshelf in her room.

Something cool that the teachers have noticed is that Ophelia is very sensitive to others' feelings. She is very compassionate. This boy in the picture was new and kind of shy. Ophelia was there for him on his first day of school to show him around, tell him what things he could do, and made sure he was not feeling sad. So sweet!

Today after school, she told me that there was a new girl at school that she was protecting from being pushed by a boy. She said: "I said to the boy, Don't touch her!" She may be small, but does not allow to be messed with :) Here they are mixing the batter for muffins for their morning snack.

Some more art exploration, paper plate lady bugs:

This was their thumb-print ants. Ophelia kept saying: "This is path!" and I did not understand what she meant at first, but then I realized she probably means Math!

This is another boy, Lois, who never had a buddy at school until Ophelia came. They became "best buddies" as Ophelia says. They hang out together all the time at school. He always sits next to her at snack and lunch and they play games together, games involving bad and good guys, sometimes chasing and/or protecting, as I gather... It seems that she mainly hangs out with boys at school. She may be becoming a tomboy!

I also love that the school has so many animals for the kids to observe and play with: dogs, cats, chickens, guinea pig, rabbit, a tarantula, a frog, and tadpoles. They let the kids feed the chickens and the other animals, pet them, and also learn about them. The chickens were brought in as baby chicks, so the kids have the chance to watch them grow actually! Here is Ophelia swinging on a swing:

Everything is done outside as I said. Here is another art project in the yard:

She comes home with dirt and sand in her lunchbox, shoes full of mud and dirt, paint on her clothes and face. But most important, she comes happy to have spent her day at school!

Last Friday they had a reptile show and all kids and their parents were invited. So me and Emerson came too. Emerson did not need to go the this school to become outdoorsee. I think he was born loving to eat dirt and rocks, playing in the mud and poking at bugs. Must be a boy thing. Anyway, Emerson was not into sitting still and listening/watching the show about reptiles, so he roamed the school yard. Everything was fine until he was chasing a chicken and tripped and fell on a CACTUS!!! Not good! The cactus had no big spines, but mostly those pesky tiny ones that are so hard to see and get out of your skin. I spent 2 hours getting the spikes off Emerson, his clothes, and me! What a disaster! A little Ibuprofen, a good nap, and he was good as new, but for a while there I was panicking trying to get cactus spikes out of a squirmy, freaking out 15 month old.

I do want Emerson to go to the Butterfly Garden eventually. Unfortunately, they start at 3 years of age...or maybe fortunately, because by then they hopefully learn not to run into cacti...

Spring is in the air!

I love this picture of the kids. It is so hard to get them all still for a second, facing the same general direction, not to talk about smiling even!

Another sunny day in Oatmeal! The kids love the piano at Grandma's house. Pretty sure there is the same exact picture and pose of Ophelia somewhere in the archives:

Funny kiddoes! They figured out that they can reach each other in the car and hold hands like this:

On our way back from Oatmeal, the kids are all tuckered out:

This was spring break went by really quickly. The kids got sick, so we mainly stayed close to home. This is in our adopted backyard, behind our fence. A wonderful field to go fly a kite:

I didn't take any picture of a little trip that we made to Fort Worth over spring break. We stayed there for two nights with some friends, because PJ happened to have an ESL conference in Dallas. I don't have very many happy memories of the trip because it was pretty rough. A seemingly short three hour trip turned into a torture both on the way there and back. The kids were really fussy, Ophelia being uber-dramatic and Emerson hating being in his carseat for that long. Benadryl, Tylenol, Advil is all sugar water packed with Red 40, I was convinced! Nothing helped to ease the tension. We were to tense and stressed the whole time there, that on our horrible trip back we pretty much had a breakdown... By "we" I mean PJ and I! Not so fun. When we slept at our friends' homes, it was a disaster...we pretty much didn't sleep those night. Sleeping in the same room with our kids is something I hope not to do again for a while. I realize that sleeping was horrible because the kids were sick. But it didn't help that they couldn't fall asleep at night being all excited and Ophelia waking Emerson while he was just first asleep. Plus Emerson would wake up at 5 or 5:30am! Aaahhh! We were so happy to be back home, everyone in their own room, in their own bed. We all slept amazing!

I did enjoy seeing old Fort Worth friends a lot! We also made a trip to the FW zoo and despite the cold front moving in on us while we were there, the kids had a great time.

My attempt no.2 at gardening. Check out our little baby scare crow:

11/1/2013 update on the garden: I've come to the conclusion that I have a brown thumb...both of them. We grew caterpillars, ant mounts, and mushrooms in our spring garden. The 5 strawberries, 10 baby tomatoes, and 7 sweet pea pods are not worth the hours of work and loads of money that I spent on the garden! I have suspicions that the garden gets too covered by shade, thus we had no harvest this year. Too bad it takes so long to learn from your mistakes and start over the whole garden again!!!

Here is Ophelia, the bead lady:

Our friends, the Allens, invited us to go camping with them on lake Georgetown. We went camping our Kinzler-style: come hangout and enjoy all the camping fun and adventures and leave home after the sunset to sleep in our own comfy beds.

Ophelia said she was making "the German face" on this picture:

We joke about that because all the German pictures we have have totally stoic faces, no emotion at all. I think O did a great job of that! Emerson checking out the Allen tent:

Enjoying the warm March sunshine:

On the banks of lake Georgetown:

Mmmm! Hot dogs:

While Ophelia was enjoying her hot dog, our poor little baby was eating rocks...and loving it too!

Roasting marshmallows:

I'm telling you that's the best way to camp! We loved spending time with the Allens and do all the camping activities and then go home, take baths, showers, and sleep in our soft, comfy beds!

My parents 30th (!!!!) wedding anniversary is coming up. Here is what I made for them:

My parents are planning a trip to the Maldives for their anniversary. Now they get to wear matching shirts there!