Sometimes...

you just need to

SMILE!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wish that we could all find a little more joy in the simple things, like a fun game of pat-a-cake!
And that we could be proud of our accomplishments, like learning how to clap, instead of thinking of all we have not, or could not, do.
Sometimes, we need to be a little bit more like
EMMA!

Ben and AllSpark

This afternoon Ben got it in his head that he was going to make a robot that worked and moved by itself. Before dinner, he drew the plans for a robot, and knew just what he wanted to make.

After dinner, he and Josh took apart a remote control truck, gathered supplies, and built a robot that is controlled by remote. The name is AllSpark, and I guess he beeps when danger is near.

I introduce to you AllSpark, and his very proud builder:
The mind of a five year old boy never ceases to amaze me. In case the pictures are not very clear, AllSpark has a head, two arms, and four wheels. He is at this moment rolling around the living room floor. I honestly do not know it I have seen Ben so excited! Or proud!

This has been so exciting, and such a wonder for a little boy to see the plans in his mind come alive!

The Kuka Fairy Came!

What- you don't know who the Kuka Fairy is? How do you get your three year olds to give up their beloved pacifiers? Your three-year-olds don't have pacifiers? Huh. Well, this is awkward.

Grace has loved her kuka (pacifier) for 3+ years, and it was time for a clean break. Enter the Kuka Fairy. She is a beautiful fairy who comes in the middle of the night, takes your kuka, and leaves you a very special gift. What does she do with the kukas, you ask? Why she gives them to little babies who do not have any kukas. She is a very generous fairy, and it kinda keeps her in business.

So she came last night, and left Grace a beautiful PINK unicorn, a box of Dora fruit snacks, and 2 suckers.

Grace was so excited to see her unicorn and treats, and was not sad at all to see her kuka go!
Until this afternoon, when she cried and cried like she had lost her very best friend in the world. It was heartbreaking to watch, she was just so heartbroken.

We are nervous about tonight, but since the kuka has been given to a little baby, we will make it through these next few days.

Fortunately, Grace has many other best friends to keep her busy, including her little puppy. Here is a sweet pic of Grace and Daisy:

We Love You Grace!!!!

Beach Party!!!!

We were having such a heat wave this week- above zero temps (at least during the day) that we decided to celebrate the impending (only 2-3 months away) arrival of Spring with a Beach Par-tay! Woo Hoo!!! We had a swimming pool, cool shades, beach balls, and very summery foods! Grandmas and Grandpas came for the occasion, bringing fun and sun along with them!

Grace in her pink shades and pink nails- she had to have pink finger and toe nails, just for the occasion! She certainly is a bathing beauty!
Ben is cool amid the massive heat wave! He also gave quite the performance after dinner, telling jokes and playing music.

Emma is cool as a cucumber in her pink shades, amid the waves of balls.

Grandma Kathy, Ben, Grandma Pam, and Grace enjoying yummy malted milk pops (thanks for the recipe, Melissa). Notice the kids in their suits and the Grandmas in their sweaters. Some people have better (and more cold-resistant) imaginations than others!

Emma and Papa Jim just chillin'-

We had a great time, celebrating the beach and all things sun, even in the middle of February(and after a week that included -20 windchills)!

Pay it forward....

Pay It Forward .....

So, here's how it works: the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Please submit in an e-mail or on the comment, your address, if I don't have it already. Remember that only the first 3 comments will receive a gift from me, so be quick!

Have fun!

10 months

Emma is ten months old today. I don't really want to talk about it- I think I will just talk about her.
What a busy month it has been for Emma. Standing is her new very favorite thing in the whole world. If you sit anywhere near her, she will army crawl or roll to you, grab your fingers, and pull herself up. Please believe me when I tell you that walking away, saying "not now", or any other form of not letting her stand is UNACCEPTABLE! We are seeing more personality, and yes, temper, every day. Emma spends her days reading books (TAILS is her most favorite), playing with her numerous toys, standing at her table or push toy, and rolling around to find all sorts of mischief. She still loves to eat, Goldfish, Puffs, and Cheerios are best, and she loves to play with her brother and sister.

Emma says "mama" and "baba", and still spits at everyone. She thinks she is HILARIOUS and loves to laugh and make others laugh.

Have you noticed that sleep has not been listed as a favorite thing? That is because it sooo is not. She gets up at 5:15 everyday. Sleeping in is 5:30. I am tired- at times a zombie. You would think this were tragic, but it is a special time for me to play with her, with no distractions (well, except for Morning Joe on MSNBC). We spend many early morning hours standing and playing together.

He Can See!

We think.

It is an exciting day in our house- Ben's new glasses arrived! He can now see near, far, and anything in between. Except it may all still look exactly the same, as he tends to look over the glasses to look at anything. We are working on it- it has only been a few hours!

Poor Ben, only at age 5 and learning about one of life's great mysteries- Why on earth can glasses never STAY UP??!!
Doesn't he look handsome? And smart?

And a little like he is modeling the newest line of children's glasses? Tell a kid to pose, and they pose!

On another note, Ben brought home the sweetest Valentine's Day gifts for me the other day, from school. He made me a big card, a little card, and a chocolate wrapped in beautiful paper and tied with a bow: (I cannot figure out how to turn the picture, so please turn your head)

This was the picture that Ben drew on the back of the big card. It is a bit hard to see, but such a cute picture:)

Love ya, Ben!

Do you see what I see?

Ben had his vision exam today. He needs glasses. Badly. His prescription is pretty strong, and his right eye is worse than his left, so we go back in 5 weeks to see if we will need to patch the eye. This all sounds so fun, don't you think?

We picked out some super cute glasses, and they will be here in about a week. I will post pictures then, so that you can all see how handsome (and grown up) he looks in them. I will say that they had frames that were perfectly round, just like Harry Potter. We did not get those. We got lenses with scratch guard, and I made sure there was some kind of warranty on the glasses. How on earth do I convince Ben that glasses are breakable and expensive, and we must be very careful with that particular combination? I have no idea.

So that is that, we will show you pictures when the new glasses arrive!

By the way- so much for memorizing the vision charts. It totally did not work!

Ben's stats

Ben had his 5-year check-up today, and it went pretty well. The drama leading up the appointment was not so fun (Ben does not like going to the doctor, and has been worrying about it for the past month), but we survived. And the shots he had been sooo worried about? He never even cried while they were giving them to him. Guess we should have done them first!

On to the stats- Ben is 41 inches and 38 pounds. He is shorter and lighter than the last time he was there. What? Did you read that right? Yup, you did. We are quite sure that he did not shrink, and assume that somewhere the measurement was off just a bit. Still, he is only on the 20th percentile for height. When he was a baby he was in the 75th percentile, the 50th as a toddler, and now the 20th. My poor little boy- he is just little. Grace is not much smaller than him- they actually can wear the same size clothes. And his weight is in the 30th percentile. This also went from the 75th to the 50th to the 30th. The really funny thing is that when he woke up on his birthday he said "I GREW!!!!!". He kept asking us how much he grew- he truly thought it was at least a foot. He has not even grown an inch. Uh-oh! We will not share this with him.

Ben also did not pass his vision test- he could not read any of the letters in one of the smaller lines, and his vision is 20/40. I guess this is not good in children, even though mine is like 20/120 and I squint just fine. Anyways, we get to visit the eye doctor. Yipee. We are hoping that this was a fluke, as Ben hates having anything on his face, and glasses will be a sensory nightmare. NIGHTMARE. Although, I have always thought that little kids with glasses were so cute. Just not mine. Only because glasses break. Easily.

So usually I end these posts with "great growing", but I think this one I will end with "Great job, my brave little boy." And now I will go and help Ben memorize a vision chart.