thinking ball

The kids made up a new favorite game.
In between every activity or game they play, they now do "Thinking Ball".
They get this one certain ball and sit across the room from each other on the floor. They then roll it back and forth to each other and the rules are (and they actually did sit down and make up rules the other day);

1. no talking unless you have the ball
2. every time you get the ball you give an idea of something to do
3. you then roll the ball to the other player
4. play continues until one player yells "let's do it!" on his or her turn following the most appealing suggestion

example of most recent game played out in front of me just now:

"Sawyer, let's play Thinking Ball!"
each get situated
"play puppy", roll...
"work on art books", roll...
"go fish", roll...
"marbles", roll...
"Zingo",, roll...
"walkie talkies", roll...
"walkie talkies in the fort", roll...
"let's do it!!"
and they both immediately get up and head down to the blanket fort in the basement.

They've so far done this no less than four times today.

notes

I'm cheating.
I really didn't get much of anything done yesterday... a baby that didn't want to sleep, paired with my lack of motivation were not a good combination.

Still I told myself I would not pull out the Christmas decorations today until I got things completely mostly unpacked and organized around here.

But. We got three Christmas cards in the mail yesterday.
And I'm trying to get things organized and put away around here, right?
So of course I have to at least break into the Christmas boxes to get out our Christmas card holder... that's my favorite part of this season!

And of course I had a hard time not pulling out more than just that one thing... :)




What...?! I'm just hanging out with this cute little baybee... there's no Christmas decorating going on around here today... despite the large green and red things you see taking over my living room...














We're getting quite the collection of Christmas books and I love it!














I was looking through the basket, refreshing my memory on the stories we have and adding our new ones so far this year, when this little piece of paper slipped out;






















Back story-- one of the big 'Santa presents' for Savannah last year didn't make it in time and so she got a "handwritten" note from Santa last year on Christmas morning explaining that those silly elves didn't pack it on the sleigh and that Mrs. Claus would send it out to the mailman.
That letter was one of the highlights of her gifts!

I knew she thought that a personal note from Santa was pretty special, but I didn't realize just how much. And to want her brother to feel that special too...
Awww.

*In case it's hard to read above, this note I found today -from last Christmas- says

Please Santa,
Please let Sawyer
have a note too.
Love, Morrisons

things heard in our house in the past week

I'm not just any funny kid, I'm Sawyer!

*****

Would a restaurant be a .com or a .org?

*****

I think Lucy wants to marry me.
-Why do you think that?
She just loves me too much.

*****

Something stinks in here!
-It smells like skunk.
That's not how skunks smell.
-Well then how does it smell?
It stinks like Grandpa's farts.

because

There's been an unfortunate combination of Lazy Blogger and entirely Too Much Going On this past month summer, and I'm not only behind on documenting the big, fun stuff, but also the little funnies day to day.

So real quick, here are a couple of things from yesterday I wanted to jot down...

While we were away on vacation, the Swinigans kept our pet frogs.
(Didn't know we had pet frogs??... oh yeah- that's because I never wrote about it. Refer again to initial sentence of this post)
Savannah was headed over yesterday to play with Norah so she made the family a thank you card for their pet-sitting services. I didn't read it until we were on our way over there, and when I did, it sure had me chuckling...
the front read:
Thank You a hole lot!
inside:
Dear Swinigans,
Thanks for keeping our frogs.
Did you feed them crickets?
Did I hear a YES?
You better have!
Love, Sawyer and Savannah, Ryan and Heather, Frank and Fruity (the frogs)

Hehe. Did I hear a yes? She cracks me up!

Also a couple of things from Sawyer...
I ended up really sick on Tuesday and had been in bed with a horribly achy head, the chills and a throw up bowl when the kids got ready for bed that evening. They had both come in to say goodnight and Sawyer left with a "hope you feel better soon Mommy!"
Well, in the morning I did feel much better (still annoying cold symptoms, but at least the fever/flu stuff was gone) and I was downstairs before Sawyer woke up. When he did wake and come downstairs he was calling ahead for me...
"Mom?!"
"Yeah bud?"
"Mom, are you feeling better today Mom?" Awww.
I was surprised and touched that that was his first thought in the morning; to come looking for me to see how I was.

But amusingly, that evening, as I was tucking him into bed (and had recently had a sneezing fit making my hoarse voice sound even more stuffed up and sick) he didn't seem so concerned;
Sawyer has a bugbite on his neck.
He asked me, "Why did God make us have necks? So our head can stay on? Why do we need to keep our head on? Why do we need a head?"
We were playing around being a little silly and I said "So I can pinch your cheeks."
He said, "And so we can keep our ears on and hear?"
"And so we can see,"
"So we can snore?"
Then I said, "So we can give goodnight kisses" and I puckered up for him.
He held up his hand, suddenly dead serious, and retorted, "No kisses for me tonight Mom, you have a cold!"
"Okay, how about a hug then?"
"Uh, no. You're sick with a cold all over."
So he blew me a kiss.

Then for prayers, we usually hold hands, but when I asked, he informed me (like, DUH) "You probably have the cold on your hands too, so I'm not going to touch your hands either."
Apparently I suddenly have a germ-a-phobe under my roof.
Hope I'm over this soon; I missed my hug and kiss from that little guy last night!

understated

It's been awhile on the SJ quotes. I'll admit I'm not so good about jotting things down these days and my memory fails me often. Luckily for me, a now five-and-a-half-year-old Savannah doesn't have quite as constant a stream of amusing quips as three-year-old Savannah.

I had to write this one down though...
We were sitting down to lunch yesterday (snow day) and I was still in gray sweatpants and an old baggy t-shirt (otherwise known as pj's around here) as we had been in and out of snow clothes all morning, had no where to go, and no real reason to get dressed.
Sitting at the lunch table together, my five-year-old daughter, who we all know is the fashion expert in this house, informs me that she hopes I know my "outfit is understated".

She went on to explain...
"that means plain. Boring."
"Oh really? Where did you learn that?"
"In my new Fancy Nancy book; it's the word for U. Understated. Like my mother wears understated clothes."

Oh yes, she did say that.

wishes

Savannah's up in her room stomping around, huffing around, complaining loudly about how much she hates cleaning up. I'm making her clean her room. Which in reality simply entails a few books on the floor and the laundry pile she never put away from last Wednesday. No big deal. Except to a certain overly dramatic five-year-old... you know I always make her clean up everything all by herself. I got tired of hearing her complaining and told her I was closing her bedroom door; that she could do what she liked, whether it be mope around feeling grumpy by herself or actually take 5 minutes and clean up the clothes, but the door was to stay closed until it was clean. I may not see her again until morning.

She did come out to deliver a note to me. It said "I wish my family was not mean to me everey day!". I know it was supposed to make me feel sorry for her, but it only made me smile because she had added it as an entry to her Wish Journal. She got this journal last year from her grandma and the front has a fairy princes and the words "Wish List". Savannah has pre-headed each page in the book to read "I wish..." and writes in it pretty regularly.

After reading the amusing sad entry from this evening I went ahead and thumbed through the earlier entries. I thought I'd record them here for posterity. (I asked her permission.)(And started from the beginning and these are direct quotes, spelling and all, and I didn't ask for explanations. Yet.)

*I wish I could go with my cousin to the Zoo. Taegen!
*I wish I could go and be at the Zoo
*I wish I could go to the moon
*I wish I could go up to God but I am a kid
*I wish I could wish for Sawyer and he would be 4
*I wish I could go to cran with mommy (?!?)
*I wish I could stay at Norah's house for ever
*I wish I could have a wigglly tooth
*I wish I could be a grow-up now
*I wish I had one of my grandmas live with me
*I wish for my friend Rebeka to be three just like Sawyer
*I wish that Ramona's being a pest for ever
*I wish I could go to hevin and play with Jesus so I can see God and I could maybe see mom and dad too
*I wish I can have a Ramona doll becuz I have a Ramona book. So I want one.
*I wish I was 6 not 5. When I was 4 I did not want too be 4
*I wish I could go to the moon in a moon ship
*I wish that I had my family was me
*I wish that I was soooo silly like Christopher
*I wish even school days were Sunday and Saturday
*I wish I could go to Aunt Becky's house
*I wish I could go to Aunt Trisha's house too
and finally
*I wish my family was not mean to me every day

money sale

So the garage sale is going well so far... just from this evening we've already made $200!

Savannah and her friends made a lemonade stand (and made quite a bit of money themselves!!) at the front of the driveway for the evening rush. They were pretty cute with a million and one signs all decorated and they were like middle schoolers advertising for a car wash; five girls standing in a line on the curb with their signs waving people over chanting "lemonade! fresh pink lemonade! get your lemonade!".
I wish I had thought to (or had the time to) get my camera out.
Instead, I just snapped a picture of their table sign after the lemonade was all gone:


I also snapped a pic of the sign Savannah made after we ran out of cups and had to close down the lemonade part of the lemonade stand. They left the money cup out for donations for awhile (which also made quite a bit of money as well!!) and then apparently SJ decided they needed a new angle:You may have to click and look close to see the best part--
Monny (money) Sale. You can give me monny. (The monny I love) (The name is Savannah)

The money I love?! Who is this kid??
Oh, and The Name is Savannah?!!??

At least E was a little less greedy with her signage:

It is, in fact, a money sale but you don't have to pay :)

sj quotes

Savannah woke in rare form today. It seems she's realized she's been deprived of attention all night while sleeping and suddenly needs to refuel in the first 30 minutes of the day with us.
Also, it seems she's realized she's been deprived of teasing her brother for the past 12 hours while asleep as well and feels the need to make up for that lost time.

We've all been downstairs for less than twenty minutes this morning and already I need a break. Apparently I don't deal well with obnoxious, button pushing, turn a deaf ear to mom, let's see how many times I can make my brother squeal at the breakfast table, goofy, giggly five year olds at 7 o'clock in the morning.

On a more pleasant note, Savannah's been making quite a few off-hand comments lately that have been making me stifle a giggle in her presence. While they're not as entertaining as some of her past quotes, I was beginning to think the majority of SJ quotes were left behind with her three and four year old self. So these five-year-old quotes need to be recorded for posterity...

Mom, can I have blueberries in my yogurt today instead of the wheat germs? I don't really like wheat germs... they're actually Sawyer's favorite you know. You should save all those germs for him.

overheard relaying details of soccer camp to her little brother:
My soccer teacher's name is Miss Cardinal (It's actually Miss Robin... she's done this mixing up of the "red" birds three times in as many days! I think it's hilarious!).
And Sophie's teacher's name is Miss Laura. And then there are lots of other passengers who are in charge too. (and by passengers I think she's meaning Pastors... it's a church run soccer camp and there are a few pastors involved.)

Sawyer, do you know what mosquitoes do? They stick their nose in your skin. They like to sniff your blood.

scowls and sneezes

Savannah's been super moody and pouty lately; the most common look on her face is a big ugly scowl. Many times with the crossing of her arms and the appropriately placed "HUMPH" alongside of it. When she's told no or asked to do something she doesn't want to or getting reprimanded or most often, anytime her little brother says or does anything to her, she immediately adopts an ugly pouty scowl. Seriously it's getting out of hand. We've been cracking down on this attitude all weekend.

Last night she and I had some nice time together running a couple of errands and she helped me with a quick grocery trip. We were out past bedtime and we talked about how much fun we had and how we'd have to hurry and get ready for bed when we got home. Well, when we arrived home, Sawyer was still up too and he and Ryan were just finishing up one last game of Sequence for Kids. Seriously finishing up, as in they only each played like one more chip. Savannah plopped right down and tried to join in the game and Ryan told her no... they were done. And they weren't playing again, and it was bedtime. And immediately she crossed her arms, stuck out her bottom lip, furrowed her eyebrows and let out the loudest "HUMPH" I've ever heard. I was so fed up with it. After a whole weekend of talking up and down about focusing on attitudes and reactions and checking herself and all that; after a whole weekend of reminders, of turning frowns upside down, of time outs, of apologies, of distractions, of sending her off to be by herself with those faces, I was running out of patience. So in the midst of this pout last night I told her, "If you don't change that look on your face right now, I'm getting a big black permanent marker and making a big black permanent mark down your nose. If you want to spend your days making ugly faces, I'll help you out with that and make a big ugly mark on your face for everyone to see. And when people see your face and ask you why you have a big black mark on your nose you can tell them it's because you like to be ugly."
I was serious and she was scared. She went to bed with a much better attitude.
And apparently that tactic stuck with her because first thing this morning (which is always worse, as she's a grump in the morning) when Sawyer offered her part of his bagel, after she ignored him and he just left the half in her lap, of course she glared at him and started her scowl.
Then she looked at me, I gave her a look like 'watch yourself', and she immediately lost the scowl, her eyes got wide and she said, "I don't want an ugly black mark!!". HA!

*****
And another little funny from the other half of the dangerous duo around here...
Sawyer was sneezing next to me on the couch just now and I said "bless you!".
He laughed one of those you silly mommy, you don't know what you're doing laughs and said "Mo-om... two bless yous!"
He did sneeze twice, duh!

the sick house, the new neighbors and the gradulation

So Hi, I'm sick again. Not the cough and sore throat I've had for the past week. Oh no. I decided to go ahead and explore all realms of sick. After Sawyer's puke fest overnight Saturday/Sunday (and being fine all day Sunday afterall), Ryan woke up in the wee hours of the morning on Monday sick as a dog. He was home in bed all day yesterday. And then guess who's turn it was today?...
Thankfully, Ryan knew what I was going through and stayed home again today to take care of the kids for me. I slept most of the day. When I wasn't in the bathroom that is.

So now it's four o'clock in the afternoon and I'm thankfully feeling much better, sitting out in the sunshine on our front porch watching Ryan with the kids riding their bikes up and down the street. And I have the laptop. :)
And I'm checking out our new neighbors across the street. Yes, there's finally buyers for our dear neighbor who's been waiting to move since November. The new folks are here with the inspectors, termite guy, plumber, etc., I'm assuming checking out the house for the big inspection. We waved to the family as they came in. And now we're kind of hanging around out here waiting for them to come out so we can say hi. It looks like they have three little girls; maybe about 7 years, 3 years and an infant. Not our ideal ages/sexes for new kids to move in, but we'll take what we can get. It's better than a bunch of obnoxious teenagers who run over mailboxes!

We're going to have to think about dinner soon (not me with my stomach, but at least for the kids). Savannah's preschool graduation program is this evening. She's excited.
Is it wrong that I don't correct her pronunciation? For weeks, she's been calling it her Gradulation. And I just think it's so stinkin' cute. Like a combination of graduation and congratulations. My mom sent her a little surprise in the mail to celebrate and Savannah was excited to show me what she got for her Gradulation gift! It makes me smile every time!
I just know we're getting down to some of her last few mis-enunciations and I have to hold on to some of these before they're all gone!!



Happy Gradulation Savannah Joy!
























preschool graduation pics, April, 2008

she's all growed up

Okay, not really, she's only just turned five. But again today I'm feeling a little bittersweet about all this growing up that's been going on around here lately.
Savannah's at her last afternoon of preschool right now as I type. And while I'm not necessarily sad about her being done with her year there (last year's school, yes... that was sad. That was hard to leave. She had some amazing teachers and really enjoyed the friends she made. This year's class? Notsomuch.), it is hitting me as such a huge stepping stone.
Preschool is over. Time for the real world. She's now a big kid. A real kid.

And of course, being the big kid that she is, Savannah made her teachers her own card today. She asked for a card to decorate, and with stickers and colored pencils she had at it, all on her own. I offered to help her, to be sure she said thank you for a fun year and yada yada yada, and she said no-- that she could do it herself. *sniff*
And she did. And I was quite impressed.
I didn't scan it like I wanted to, but here's what it said, word-for-word:
Dear Teachers
Ther's 1 day of sool left.
Thank you oh thank you for a grat class!
I will miss you
(heart) Savannah

We didn't have much ta-do over the end of the year thing. We really didn't get the teachers gifts or anything. I just didn't feel attached to them, or that they were all that attached to my daughter. Or any of the class for that matter. They were fine teachers, but that's kind of where it ends. And lest you think I'm being ignorant and of course they loved their kids and I just don' t realize how much work and effort and heart they put into making this last year of preschool a year of fun and nurturing and learning for these kids... Uh-uh. I taught preschool for 10 years. I know when a teacher puts in the effort she should and when she doesn't. And sadly, they didn't. I'm just soo glad that Savannah had such a great year of three-year-old preschool the year before in Michigan, and while she enjoyed her year this year too, it just wasn't the same.



Anyway. We did bring them a treat today, with it being the last day and all.
We made a chocolate covered strawberry bouquet for them. For some reason, it didn't turn out as pretty as it did last year when we brought one for Savannah's then teachers' valentine, but it at least served it's purpose; they liked it, which is what counts.
Turns out white chocolate covered strawberries are actually Savannah's teacher's absolute favorite thing, and she was so excited!!







So when I pick up Savannah in another half an hour, I guess I'll technically have a kindergartener on my hands. Man oh man. What am I doing with a Kindergartener?

it's going to be a smooth(ie) summer...

Sawyer loved when I would make him smoothies last year. Savannah hated them and I could never get her to drink them, even if they were all fruit or the sweetest blend I could think of. Even two days ago, her dad got a berry smoothie at Costco and he got it in his head to make her try it. It was a huge ridiculous battle and in the end she took one sip and then acted like she was going to throw up.
So when I made smoothies today to go along with our lunch of eggs and waffles, I was completely prepared for Savannah to ignore the smoothie next to her plate. Now that the weather's warmed up, I've decided to start making them (almost) every day for Sawyer as #1-he's not a breakfast eater and maybe since he likes these so much he'll get a little energy coming in in the mornings if I blend up some goodies. And #2- he really doesn't eat vegetables OR fruit. He loves carrot juice (wouldn't eat a carrot to save his life) and he'll eat cucumbers and maybe a couple of peas, but that's it. Meal after meal, I can't get him to eat veggies in their whole form, whatsoever. And I've never met another toddler who won't eat fruit like this kid. He'll eat bananas three at a time, and on a good day maybe some grapes, but other than that, he won't even try. He doesn't like melon, won't eat peaches or pears, no oranges, berries, nada. So while I'm still offering him fruits and veggies at meals and snacks, smoothies work for now as far as actually making it into his system!!

Todays mix was simply 2 bananas, 3 handfuls of baby spinach, and about 2 cups of frozen blueberries.
Sawyer gulped down two big cupfuls.

And Savannah....
loved it!
She drank down her whole cup even before moving on to her waffle and pears. And asked for more. And told me over and over again that she loved it. She told me she couldn't leave it alone long enough to eat her lunch! LOL

And you know what else she said to me just now, a half an hour after the fact?
"Mom, I just can't get that smoothie out of my head!... Let's have those every day, pleeease?!!"

hairy

Savannah left this note for me on the fridge weeks ago and I thought it was adorable, so here it still sits...It says I love when my mom is happy by the way, if you need translating.
Ryan informed me last night that whenever he looks at it on the fridge he every time thinks it says I love when my mom is HAIRY.
And then he laughs to himself that SJ thinks I'm hairy and she likes me that way. Nice.

I got this new hair conditioner. I saw it at Walmart, picked it up because it looked good, and what looked even better was the "try me free" tag on the bottle. I opened it up and smelled it and I was in heaven. In fact, I smelled all of the scents, and had a hard time deciding on a "flavor"! I thought, what the heck I'll give it a try, and took home a little bit of Vanilla Silk. And oh lordy, am I hooked now. This stuff is amazing. My hair feels so light and so soft and smooth, but not flat or heavy and not at all flyaway or frizzy. It feels perfect. And it smells soooo good. The first night I used it (I usually wash my hair in the evenings rather than the mornings) I asked Ryan how he liked the smell and he said I should be careful that he doesn't eat me in his sleep.
Problem is, I got it for the rebate. The regular price at Walmart is $6. Now that may not seem like much to some of you, but that's steep for me and what I choose to spend on my hair.
And the rebate? Is only one per household. Ugh. Which means this is my only free bottle of this glorious stuff. It depresses me a little. But then I go sniff the bottle in my shower and all is right in the world again...

Anyway, you should try it. It's good stuff. And right now it's free.
Or go out and buy it, get your rebate, and send the stuff to me. You know, whichever. I'm not opposed to surprises in the mail. heehee!

Friday Questions!!
Do you use a certain shampoo/conditioner; a certain salon brand, or certain store brand, or just whatever's on sale? And also, let's inventory your shower right now; tell me what I would find if I looked in your shower right now. Aside from mold and mildew please!

I'm a whatever kinda girl. I usually have my regulars, but they are by no means salon quality or prices. I've probably used Garnier Fructis stuff the most/longest. I used some Abba conditioner at my mom's once and completely fell in love, stocked up on some good prices while I was there, but long ago ran out and haven't found any stores that carry it for as good a price around here. I haven't broken down and purchased online yet, but that might be an option, depending on the price. I haven't even checked. I just have a hard time spending more than a few dollars on shampoo and conditioner!!
In my shower you would find today; a jumbo bottle of an Equate (Walmart brand) version of Head and Shoulders, my Garnier shampoo, my new conditioner, a bottle of Milk and Honey body wash, a bar of Zest, an exfoliating bar from Melaleuca, 2 venus disposable razors, a shower poof (what do you call those things?), and 2 washcloths hanging on the shower door for the kids.

spotlight on the newest five-year-old

I've enjoyed reading some other bloggers "interviewing" their kids and I thought it'd be a fun little tradition to steal. So in honor of SJ's birthday, here are her first answers in the spotlight...

When I get home, the first thing I like to do is... say hi to my family

Some words that describe me would be... friendly and playing because I like to say hi to everyone I see and I like to play games all the time

The best thing about being a kid is... obeying (??!)

The best thing about being Five Years Old is... tucking myself in at naptime

The very best dinner would be... macaroni and cheese. And Ants on a Log.

Some of my favorite songs are... the bible verses (Hide 'Em in Your Heart Songs)

When I grow up I want to be... a princess
Why? because I could wear skirts and dresses and tights everyday

One thing I like about having a brother is... being nice to him

One thing I don't like about having a brother is... him hurting me

My dad is... a worker. He works a lot.
What does he look like? he has black hair and he likes me

My mom is... really nice
What does she look like? she has brown hair and she loves me and likes me

When I am a mom I will... do the same things as my mom. And I will play the piano like my mom.

sj's door

and so it begins...

the wisdom of an almost 5 year old

being passed down to her two year old brother in the car...

Sawyer: (pointing to a Red Robin) Let's Eat!

Sawyer: (pointing to a Lowe's Home Improvement Store now being silly) Let's Eat!

SJ: Sawyer, that's Lowe's... we can't eat at Lowes... We can only eat at Target or Walmart. But it's not really eating at Walmart, it's a Subway store in Walmart. But Target has Target food. Those are the only stores we can eat at. Do you really want to eat at Lowe's?

Sawyer: (pointing to a bank) Let's Eat!

SJ: Sawyer, that's a bank... do we eat money? Do you want to eat at a bank? You can't eat money. You could get a sucker there though. One time they gave us suckers.

Sawyer: (pointing to the benches outside of the bank) Eat on Bench!

SJ: Yes, you could sit on the bench, but what would you eat? The bushes? That's what the bunnies eat, not us! You'd need to have lunch before you could eat your sucker, so you'd have to have Mommy or Daddy get you some lunch and then you could have a picnic on the bench and if you're really quiet maybe the bunnies would eat with you. That's what you would have to do if you want to eat at the bank. But you'd be smarter to eat at Red Robin. They give you free balloons.

about last night

S: You're doing a sleepover all by yourself Norah... good job!!
N: Yeah. It's easy.
S: Yeah.
N: Well, not really by myself... with you and Sawyer and your mom and dad are here too you know.
S: Yeah. But it's easy. It's just like my mom having two girls!
N: Yeah. Like we're sisters. If Sawyer had a friend here there would be two boys.
S: Or if you brought your favorite boy friend we would have two boys here too. Four kids, oh my gosh! Ewww... who would want two boys?!!
N: Yeah, ewww. (Pause) Who's your favorite boy friend Savannah?
S: Um... a boy named Sammy. Who's your favorite?
N: Um... I guess it would be Luke. :)

This is what I overheard in Savannah's bedroom last night. Savannah had her friend come over for her first real sleepover. Talk about exciting! She's been talking this up for months, asking me at least weekly; "maybe Sophie could come for a sleepover?... maybe Kristin would want to have a sleepover?... maybe we could invite Norah for a sleepover?..." and finally we all agreed to give it a try. Last month our kids and the Swinigan girls had a combo babysitter with a super late night at their house. She talked about it like a sleepover, but since we came in and plucked them out of bed to take them home at midnight, she always told me (in her wise four year old voice), "I know it's not a real sleepover mom".
So last night was the night. Norah came over and the girls played dress-up (what else?!) for a bit, but were then telling me by 7 o'clock that they were ready for bed. I was going to hold them off until after I'd put Sawyer to bed, but when I came upstairs I found them already in their pj's, brushing their teeth with books picked out on their beds, blankets, animals and night light ready. Too funny!

Of course they didn't settle down for a looong time after that, and after listening to the giggling and hopping (?!) going on up there for over an hour, I went up at about 9 to remind them to settle down. I then stood outside their door, knowing they'd be out of hand again in a few minutes. And I wish I had a tape recorder. Their conversations were just absolutely cracking me up. So random, so off the wall, so giddy with sleepover excitement, so four year old version of 10 year old overnighter conversations... hilarious!

Another random one:
on the heels of a conversation about meeting each other's friends and friends who have the same names...
N: Do you go to the same Dr. as I go to?
S: No, my Dr. is someone else. (the girls do in fact have the same pediatrician)
N: What is her name?
S: Dr. Wingday. (her name is actually Dr. Hanson)
The nurses name is Miss Erin. (another made up)
N: My Dr's name is Dr. um... Bookey.
S: Oh yeah, I've met her. (?!!) Sawyer's Dr. is Dr Gootie. And the nurse is Dr Fluesh.
N: Oh, I've met them too. They're nice.

They finally fell asleep at little after 10. With me sitting quietly inside the bedroom door. I was torn at what to do... on one hand I'm all for planning sleepovers before really having nothing to do the next day and just letting the girls (and boys I guess, when Sawyer's older) (no, not the same night!!) do what they want... if they end up giggling until 1am (and probably eventually 4am) then so be it. I think that's part of the fun of a sleepover. There shouldn't be a bedtime. Quiet time yes, but not a "you need to go to sleep now!". However... at four years old?? I just don't know if they'd ever settle down without getting wound up beyond belief you know? So I just wasn't sure whether I should let them be and see what happened, or step in and be a calm and present reminder of time to lay quietly. But I did, and Norah was out in about 5 minutes with Savannah not far behind.

All in all, a success! I'm glad they had fun!!

honey

I must use that word more than I realize, because Savannah has taken to calling Sawyer Honey all the time. It comes out in a totally mothering way too... like she does this little 'I'm older and wiser' chuckle and says, "no no, we should use our spoons honey".
I hear it about 20 times a day.
Her "kind" bossiness.

***
We a great dinner last night. At McDonalds. Hehe.
I have been so unmotivated with planning and cooking meals this week. I've managed to squeak a few real meals out, and had at least something on the table every night, but last night I just didn't want to. And Ryan came home from work saying we should go out to eat because with all the snow coming down everyone was scurrying home and we'd be the only ones out there. He was joking, but I took him at his word. So after he and the kids romped out in the snow a bit, we went to the closest dining establishment... Mickey D's. And we were the only one's there! There was one other family there when we got there, but by the time we had finished eating, they had left and so our kids had the whole huge playplace to themselves. This is a nice McDonald's too, with a new play area that climbs around and goes on forever, complete with nice cushy armchairs for the parents to hang out in. So we hung out with out feet up in the cushy chairs, watching cnn, with Ryan running around with the kids every now and then, and just let the kids have a ball in the empty McDonald's for probably an hour! Finally, when we realized our car was getting a little too buried in the snow, we bundled up and headed home.

***

Now this morning we have almost 8 inches of new snow on the ground!

I love it!! All the schools are closed, lots of businesses; even Pfizer closed down their facilities... Ryan still went in early this morning, saying he gets more done without everyone else around, but is hoping to be back early with plenty of time to enjoy the snow with the kids.

I'm off to get my "chores" done early so I can spend the rest of the day either out in the white stuff or curled up on the couch with a good book. I'm sure I'll be back with pictures later. (of the snow, not of the book reading on the couch!)

For now, here's my Friday question:
Do you wet your toothbrush before you put the toothpaste on or after?

child number one

*sigh*
kind of quiet tonight... Ryan's off playing two rounds of soccer tonight, my house is clean, my laundry's done, there's nothing on tv, my google reader has been empty all afternoon, and I'm bored. So I guess I'll blog.

Like I said before, it's been awhile since I've shared any specifics on the kids -other than about them getting up too early and their too much fighting and making too many messes and generally driving me crazy. So I should probably mention some of the good stuff too!

How about a little Savannah debriefing?

It just blows my mind that my little girl will be five years old in just over three months. Yes, three months is a ways away, but it scares me because we all know how fast it'll really go. Then it'll only be four months 'till kindergarten. Can't even think about that!
Anyway.
It's not just the numbers and dates that blow me away; I can turn a blind eye to the calendar and still freak out at how she's growing and changing. So often I look at her these days and I can't even see a glimpse of the little toddler she used to be. She's thin and tall and her limbs are getting that long and lanky look instead of the chubby dimpled elbows and knees she used to have. Her face is strangely thin and her neck is long and I watch her every day leave behind just a little more cuteness and become more and more beautiful. It's going too fast.
And she's reading, people! I'm not ready to have a kid that can read. She's honestly caught us spelling things out now. She's acquired a pretty good collection of sight words and she can sound out so many more it's crazy. And she is trying more and more writing on her own as well, with the fun simple phonetic writing kids do at the start. Sometimes it's a challenge to crack her "code" and read what she's trying to write, but it's so fun to see her try! She even has a pen pal. Kristyn, a fellow blogger, has a daughter and came up with the idea of having the girls send pictures and cards to each other since they were so close in age, and Savannah was thrilled! She's constantly drawing or writing something and now it's always for Cloey! She did this one the other day...


Noel Cloey
I love u do u love me
Savannah








Which reminds me... I owe Cloey a little package. We haven't sent any mail out in awhile!!







Here's another picture I found awhile ago that just cracked me up... notice her peoples' conversation... written in mirror image when he "talks back to her". Did I mention she was big on the Noel?







Another interesting note... now that she's writing all the time, her drawings have become super simple again. Her people were so detailed before, and now they're back to pretty plain people... like she doesn't have time for all that extra frivolous drawing... must write!!

Savannah's loving school and the music class they have on Thursdays. She's also still super excited each week about her dance classes. She's now suddenly decided she wants to be a ballerina ice skater and she asks me almost every day if we can go ice skating. Sadly, we can't, as I'm horrible on the ice and there's no way I could take her out. So she then tells me she wants to take lessons. haha!
She's also been bugging me, begging me really, for piano lessons. I put an ad out on Craigslist for piano teachers since I had a hard time finding many private ones, and most don't take students this young. I got quite a few replies to my ad though, so we may follow up on that one. I wish I was confident enough to teach her myself, I just wouldn't even know where to start.

SJ's totally into games right now and asks for willing players all throughout the day. Her favorites right now are Sequence for kids, Crazy 8's, Bingo, and really whatever she can get anyone to play with her. She even settles for Sawyer playing when Ryan and I are busy, although we can all guess how well that usually works out...

The other thing I've been loving with her lately is that almost every night she asks, "Mom, can I tuck Sawyer into bed tonight?" And she takes care of the whole thing. She helps him brush his teeth, she gets him all tucked into his bed, she lays with him and reads a couple of books to him and the she snuggles up to him, asking him what his favorite part of the day was, helps him come up with an answer, and says prayers with him (complete with Jesus, please help Sawyer sleep good all night, and stay in bed all the way till morning).
Then she gives him a kiss on the forehead, and says the same thing every night; "goodnight little buddy, I love you, see you in the morning" and turns off the light on her way out of the room. I just sit by in the rocking chair, soaking it all in... I just melt every time I watch this all. I love it.






Savannah is all about her friends, and I've decided that I need to work on facilitating that a little better. She always wants to play with the girls in the neighborhood, and we do do that quite often, but I need to take advantage of that even more I think. And there are a couple of girls from her preschool class that she talks about a lot; talk about having them over to play or going out to lunch with them. I need to jump on that and make an effort to help her make those things happen. It's just a little too easy to brush it off... she asks so vaguely, "Can we have H come over sometime to play?" and it's so easy for me to just say "sure, someday we'll do that" and never really make it happen. I wish we had a class list of email or phone numbers like they did last year. I feel like I never see the other moms. I'll have to talk to the teacher about how best to go about that.

So that's probably enough about Savannah already. If you're still reading along, you get a gold star! I just wanted to make sure I wrote some of this stuff down so I don't forget. And it's nice to sit and reflect on more of the good and fun stuff, the things that remind me I'm so blessed to have this little girl and that I'm blessed to have these years with her. Savannah Joy.

Oh! That's one other thing! She is obsessed with her middle name! For the past month, all of the Christmas stuff out and around that says Joy... I think she pointed out every single sighting of the word Joy in this whole city this holiday season. I think she thinks she's pretty hot stuff to have a whole holiday do so much celebrating of this one little word that happens to belong to her. She got a Christmas shirt that says Joy and with it she wears a necklace she has that says Savannah, and when she wears them she points out to everyone she sees, "did you know this is my name? You just read, 'Savannah' and then 'Joy'... Savannah Joy! That's me!"

this is what I've been dreading

There are six cars parked outside of our house right now. They contained many children my daughter's age. They are all parked there to visit the little girl across the street. They were carrying gifts and treats and everyone was excited and happy to see each other.
And Savannah watched from inside our front room.

Now I'm not saying just because we're neighbors we have to be friends. But Savannah does consider this little girl her friend. One of her very good friends. They play together once every couple of weeks and Savannah without fail, waves Kristen off on the bus to kindergarten almost every morning.
Her mother and I, I would not consider friends. I'd call us neighbors. She's quiet, I'm quiet, we've just never had much to talk about. She doesn't seem too interested in my friendship.
But the girls are friends.

When we first moved here, the girls played together quite often outside. And about a month after we moved in, it was this little girl's birthday. Loads of cars, balloons on the mailbox, we knew it was her birthday, but never heard a word about it. I'm not saying I expected Savannah to be invited... after all, we had only been there a few weeks. But we were in fact invited to another neighbors' kids' birthday party right around the same time, and I have to admit I was a little surprised that we weren't included in this one. That's when I have to stop and tell myself that not everyone thinks like me. I would think, "Hey, new neighbors! They need to meet people and make friends and feel included!". I mean, heck, we invited all of these people to Ryan's big birthday party a month later! But not everyone thinks that way.

Anyway. Since that first birthday thing, I've noticed quite a few afternoon "playdates" (I'm only assuming) with cars lining our street (I counted 11 one day as I pulled in from the grocery store), mostly in front of my house, and kids piling into their house, including other people we know in the neighborhood. This is a regular occurence, and I just quietly close the front blinds and shrug off the fact that we're never included. And Savannah has always been none the wiser.

Until today.
First she asked me why all these cars were coming outside.
I said, "I'm not sure hon, Miss L. and K. must be having some people over." and ushered her back to the family room. A few minutes later I took Sawyer upstairs to tuck him in for a nap, and when I came down I found her perched at the front window again, this time with binoculars (?!). I asked her if she wanted to play a game, and she cut me off saying excitedly, "Mom! There's other kids over there! It looks like K's having a party!". I said, "Wow, fun for K! She must be playing with some of her Kindergarten friends. Do you want to come help me wrap some presents?".
Just then other neighbors (another 4 yr old girl) we know from way down the street pulled up. Savannah recognized their car and stopped dead in her tracks. "S and C are here mom!" And then she realized why S was here and saw her face fall. She almost whispered, "Oh, she's going to K's house." We watched them walk across the street and up the front lawn and in the front door and when Savannah looked up at me and I swear she looked like she wanted to cry, "I can't go because we weren't invited over there, right?"
"Not today honey," was all I could say.
She played with me for a little bit before she went up for her quiet time, and she'd every so often glance wistfully towards the front windows. I tried to keep her attention on other things, but I could tell it was really bumming her out. I mean, it is hard not to notice; the whole front of our house is windows. I just felt bad for her. She shouldn't, at not even five years old, be feeling left out and rejected with friends like that. It makes me mad and sad all at the same time. I mean, I don't expect for us to be included; I'm not blaming our neighbors or saying they're doing anything wrong. I'm mad that it's just one of those life's not always fair things and it's frustrating to see that in my daughter's face already. It's one thing when it's about sharing your toys that you don't want to share, and a whole nother thing entirely when it's realizing you're not wanted at a party.

We talked as she got in bed for her quiet time, and I reminded her how much fun she had at her friend Sophie's house this morning. And then she was talking about her friend at school and how she wants to invite her over to play sometime and it'll be so fun cuz she has a little brother Sawyer's age and Sophie could some too and S from down the street and also K.
"I would invite K mom, cuz she's my friend and she likes to play with me... Do you think K likes to play with me mom... even though she didn't want me to come over today?"

"I'm sure she does Savannah. Did you know I like to watch you play with your friends because you are good at making your house fun for them and to make them feel good here. You like to share your home and you like to share your things and you like to share your friendships and that makes you a very good friend to have."

*sigh*

It's only just begun, hasn't it?