After breakfast we went to gymnastics. I think Lily took over 100 photos of Annie during class. Lily was such a proud big sister. She was cheering and snapping pictures just like a Mommy would. Annie loved the attention.
Setting her cones on the beam. During this class, they were working on stepping over and jumping over the cones on the beam. Before mounting the beam, Annie would go and organize all the cones if the gymnast before her moved any of them. She is still our little organizer!
Thursday we met Daddy on campus for a lunch date. It was a gorgeous sunny day. We sat in an atrium type area and enjoyed the sun shining on us through the windows. Tommy loved looking out the windows at all the students walking by. Annie loved standing over the HVAC vents and getting her hair blown around.
Preparing for her career as a supermodel.
Tommy trying his first pickle. He wouldn't bite it, but he sucked it to death. I think the cold and bumpy texture felt good on his teething gums.
I found a great idea for a "Calm Down Jar" on Pinterest and decided to give it a try. Sometimes the kids get on each other's nerves and just bicker all day long. These jars have helped a lot in the past two weeks. When I can feel the tension between them begin to build, I send them to their corners with their jars. I took them to the craft store to choose their glitter. Annie's is aqua and Lily's is dark blue. They shake the jar and then set it down and watch the glitter settle. It takes about 5 minutes for the glitter to settle to the bottom. By the time the glitter has settled, the girls feel calmer and ready to play again. It is also a good tool for time out. I let Annie hold the jar in her lap while we talk calmly about why she is in time out and how to avoid that negative behavior in the future. Often, she will shake it up again while sitting with me which gives us more time to talk and let her cool down. I have to confess that these are great for parents too. I have used it to help myself calm down in frustrated moments. Watching the glitter sparkle and spin in the sun is really soothing. Thanks Pinterest for another great parenting tool. As soon as I have a large plastic jar available, I'm going to transfer the glitter solution to it and super glue the lid on. The glass jars are a little heavy and awkward for the kids at times; and something tells me that sticky glitter sparkling all over my carpet and kitchen floor is not nearly as relaxing as it is in the jar.
Tommy is old enough to ride in the bike trailer! The sunshine and warm (45 degree?) weather just called to us one night. Mommy and Daddy took turns pulling the kids up and down the street. Tommy was willing to get in and strap in, but as soon as we started moving he started crying. He was so relieved to be taken out. Lily tried hard to comfort him and show him how much fun it can be. We'll have to try again soon.
Tommy is our master mess maker! I feel like I spend all day picking up after him. On Friday I decided to take pictures of some of his messes to help me remember this phase. Here are four of the many just from one day. He is unstoppable. Basically if something is in a drawer, cabinet, or container Tommy makes it his personal mission to remove it from where it belongs - while Mommy is busy cleaning up another mess in another location. Then there is laundry......I try to get it folded and put away while he naps but that doesn't always happen. And when it doesn't, he pulls it all off the couch and then crawls through the piles. Busy! Busy! Busy! I just can't keep up some days.
Our week ended on a low note. Friday night we had a game night with friends. We all got home and went to bed. At 12:30 a.m. Tommy woke up hungry. I got up to feed him and then tried to get back to sleep. But I just didn't feel well. At 1:30 a.m. I went to the bathroom and basically spent the next four hours there. I dragged myself back to bed after 5:00 a.m. At 6:00 a.m. Annie woke us up. She threw up all over herself and her bed. She had a fever and tummy bug. Jeremy let me stay in bed and took care of all the kids for two hours. By 8:00 a.m. he was sick with the stomach bug too. Somehow this one missed Tommy and Lily - Maybe it is the same one Lily had last weekend? Anyway. It was a long weekend of bathroom trips, ginger ale, soda crackers, Coca-Cola, dry toast, laundry (lots of laundry) and disinfecting. We're starting to come out of it and feel better. Hopefully we're done with stomach issues for a while. To celebrate feeling better I went all out and cooked us an amazing dinner.....
Doesn't get much better than sticky rice and chicken broth after being sick! We're hoping for a healthier weekend next week while Puna and Papa are here.
What was really disappointing about being sick was: Jeremy had won tickets through a radio station to the Home and Garden Show in Idaho Falls Saturday morning and we had plans to go to a catered dinner party Saturday night. But we were just too sick to go anywhere. That's what we get for trying to plan a date away from the kids! We are excited about the coming week. Grammy and Grampy are coming to visit and then Puna and Papa are coming to visit! Don't worry grandparents - we are going to clean every inch of the house before you get here so we don't share our germs. See you soon!
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