Merry Christmas!

My goal in years past was to have our family film uploaded for viewing on Christmas Eve.

Well, after spending the majority of the day on my very fun project and less of the time with the girls, I decided to lighten up on my goal and get it posted when I can. 

So here it is.

Merry Christmas! Hope you all had a wonderful celebration.

(And yes, it is really TEN minutes long. It's just so hard for me to cut these sweet faces in their awesome acting! I had to convert it to a smaller size so the pictures aren't as crisp. Sorry!)

Here's our 2012 production of Rudolph.

Our 2011 production of The Gingerbread Man.

And our 2010 production of the The Nativity.

Look at how the girls have grown!

Woah! Whole in One . . .

Scratch that last post! Forget the five days of blogging. Who has time to blog when it's Christmastime???

Let's just do the whole thing in one post, eh???

One picture from our Thanksgiving break to Idaho. We got to spend it with Andrew, Maria, Inara, and baby Alba. We had a great time. We sure miss them!
(The only two pictures I have are these: The girls with Inara, and a screen shot from Robyn's Facebook page.)

Claire's Number Four Birthday:
Instead of making cake/cupcakes this year, I took Claire to a cupcake shop and she picked out this plate of goodies.

Then we played a cupcake walk and whoever won each time got to pick their goodie. After that, we sang to her, she blew her candles out, and we chowed down, sampling everyone's.

Then she opened gifts. (Back up here: in Disneyland, she tossed a coin into some water and wished for "a real live unicorn." And a few nights ago, she saw a star and wished for "unicorns all over the world and even in outer space.") So when I found this life-size, stretchy unicorn, I knew it was perfect. And she loved it! When she got it unwrapped, she launched off the couch, slid face-first onto the floor, and then rolled and rolled and rolled around with it in her arms. She laughed and laughed. And then she put the elastic on her hands and feet and ran around with it strapped to her. It was hilarious. We all laughed so hard.

The final part of her party was that the girls got to take a bath with glow in the dark rings, bracelets, and wands. It was so fun! We turned the lights on and snapped the toys, then put them in the tub with the girls. They had a lot of fun.

We also made another trip back to Idaho for Rhett's grandfather's funeral. Rhett was privileged to get to share the life sketch during, and I was able to play a piano solo. There was also a table display of some of the things of his life. I thought the keepsakes and pictures from the Korean War that he served in were really neat.

His purple heart medal:

The burial was an exceptional experience. There was a 21-gun salute from these veterans standing a ways away from the burial spot.

And then there was this group of veterans standing during the ceremony. The veteran on the right was the one who folded the flag and presented it to Grandma Vance, thanking her, on behalf of the President of the United States and all its citizens, for her husband's service.

Christmas Teaser

So I've decided to do the "Five Days of Christmas Blogging." This will begin December 19th, and will be a little Christmas countdown until Christmas Eve.

It will also be updates of the past few months, like pictures of Disneyland, Thanksgiving, Birthdays, and a Funeral.

And here is a little Christmas teaser . . . Summer's letter to Santa that she wrote last night. She sounded all the words out. I only helped her with "dark" and "Thank."

"Dear Santa, Please give, please, me a rainbow, glow-in-the-dark stick. Thank you. Summer."

* * * * *

A few days ago, Claire asked me this:

"Mom, do almonds really have milk in them? Or do you just squeeze the white part?"

And on our last trip home from Idaho, she said this: "Mom! I just swallowed a checkmark . . . without swallowing!"

What???

The Chicken or the Egg . . . and a Pickle

We were driving home from school a few days ago and our conversation went like this:
Summer: "Mom, how do they make paper?"
Me: "Ummmmm, well, from wood. Maybe we can watch a video on the computer about it."
Summer: "How do they make wood?"
Me: (feeling a little more confident about this answer than the one before): "Wood grows in trees."
Summer: "How do they make seeds?"
Me: "Seeds grow from plants."
Summer: "Well, how did seeds come before plants if plants grow from seeds?"

Smart girl.

* * *

And on November 4, 2013, Summer wrote her first word by sounding it out:

The smiley faces were her idea.
Love my little writer.

BIG Things

BIG things have been going on around here . . .

A few weeks ago, Pyper got sick. She was congested, coughing, a rash and fever, etc. She had a hard time getting better, so we starting looking for the source of her sickness. We discovered the source of it: mold in the laundry room. Since she sleeps in the laundry room, we figured we ought to make some changes to get her better. 

So, we cleaned it out, wiped it up, cloroxed it, and then diffused some oils in the room to kill any mold we couldn't see. And in the mean time we did this:

Notice ONE, TWO, and THREE beds in ONE room.

The first night, we did our night time routine, turned the lights out, and closed the door. Everyone was tucked in and quiet. And then all of the sudden we heard Pyper yelling, "Care! Care!" 

Claire, whispering, "What Pyper?" 

"I need another binky." (Instead of a comfort blanky that she takes to bed, Pyper takes three binkies.) "Care! Care! I need another binky." 

Claire: "Shhhh, Pyper, or you'll have to go back to the laundry room."

Pyper continued to talk to the girls, and Summer chimed in, "Pyper, you don't want to go back to the laundry room, do you?" (Sounds like a scary threat to me!)

They've been like this for about two weeks now and still going to bed is tough for them. It's just too exciting. But they are getting the hang of it.

* * *

Pyper also had a BIG birthday number TWO. I realized this year that birthday number two is super fun because they are actually aware of what's going on. When she turned one, she didn't know what cake or cupcakes were. She didn't understand the concept of a gift inside wrapping paper. She couldn't even participate in the games we played in celebration.

But this year, I had to hide her gifts that came in the mail so she wouldn't open them right away, and I let her pick out a pack of six cupcakes from the store (stress free, and hardly any leftover to tempt me--and she got to carry them home from the store), and she loved our party game (this year, we just blew up balloons and had a race to pop them. She LOVED it!).

* * *

Another BIG thing around here is--wait, what's that in the background of Pip's picture??? Yes, it's our piano! Rhett painted it. I LOVE it. We started sanding it about a year and a half ago. We got one small corner done, and realized it was a HUGE project. So then we got the liquid sanding stuff, whatever that's called, and did that across the top. HUGE project again. We were originally going to just stain it to keep the wood grain, which we love, but since it was becoming such a big project, we decided to do something else. We researched Annie Sloan's chalk paint, picked the olive color, and learned how to wax it. Then we painted it green (without sanding the rest of it), did a clear coat of wax, and then a dark coat of wax to give it the wood grain look. Okay, and really, it wasn't "we," it was all Rhett. He did a great job. We love it.

Bottom left is what was sanded, top is what we had started painting, and the rest of it is the wood we were going to paint over.

The dark wax made the green go a lot darker than what it was (see top picture), plus it gave the wood grain look. And we just have to finish it by doing the last bit on top.

* * *

And the last BIG thing around here is a HAIRCUT.

(This is day-after-Sunday hair. I haven't done it yet today, but I wanted you to get the idea of length.)

I'd been thinking for a while now about Summer's hair and been feeling like she needed a change. With the shape of her face, her personality, and her spice, I thought short would fit her. When I talked to her about the idea, she was excited about it, so we did it.

I've trimmed her hair before (myself), but I took her to a salon this time. She was excited, and maybe a little nervous too. When I told the stylist how short to go and she took the first snip, my heart stopped. That was a lot of hair! What if Summer didn't like it? And as she kept snipping, Summer reached for my hand and I held it while the lady cut away. I actually got quite teary eyed. So many emotions . . . she's growing up, is this the best way to take care of her, will it look okay for her, I don't want my kid to look weird and have people treat her poorly, etc.

But I love the haircut. And she does too. She is sooooo excited about it.

We might even go a little shorter next time . . .

Halloween

Halloween is probably my least favorite holiday. No, wait. It is my least favorite holiday. Not because the kids get gobs and gobs of candy, and not because they stay up late wandering streets in the dark (of course, with Rhett or myself), and not because it's "The Devil's Holiday," but because I have to stress about COSTUMES.

In the beginning of our Halloween-life-with-kids, Rhett stepped up to the plate and made us some awesome costumes. These were usually thrift store, last minute masterpieces.

Like this one: Captain Hook, Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell.

Or this clever super-hero one:

Or this one: The Kung Fu Panda crew (Po, Master Shifu, Po's dad, and Tai Lung)

Once the girls were old enough to want to be something for Halloween, we still did thrift store costumes for them, and we were a little creative for our own--painting our skeletons onto black jump suits. (Note baby Pippy's skeleton.)

We even got to recycle our's the next year, since I was pregnant again. The girls were bumble bees that year. I made them from Joann's fabric store--probably the most stressful Halloween for me because I was relying on Rhett to pull through, but with his work, he wasn't able to, and I had to do it on my own. (Though Claire makes the costume look smashing.)

This year, every time I asked the girls what they wanted to be, it was different. So Thursday night, on Halloween Eve, I asked them one last time. Summer said, "A purple cat." "Purple cat?" I asked her. "Yeah. From Brown Bear." Ohhhh! We have a book called "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?" It goes through many animals and many colors. And she picked the purple cat from it. Cool! And doable! Even better!

So here's what our purple cat looked like: (On the front of the shirt it said, "Purple Cat, Purple Cat," and on the back it said, "What do you see?" -- and Summer wrote the word "see" because that's one of her school sight words that she knows.)

And Claire, who loooooves unicorns, wanted to be a unicorn. We made a cone, spray painted it and glittered it up, then I made a vest from some weird white, furry coat we got in a giant costume bag at a garage sale years ago. I also sprayed it purple.

And Pip, well, she got to go as Tinkerbell. No story there. Just simple and quick.

Basil wore whiskers and Tai Lung's body suit. Throughout the day she switched between a baby cheetah and a baby leopard.

I feel a little insecure about my last-minute thrifty costumes. They are nothing compared to the fancy princess and fairy costumes at the stores. And they are nothing compared to actual home-made costumes that are sewn and ironed and look store-bought. Mine are hot glued, pinned, and stapled. But Rhett kept asking if the girls were okay with what they were dressed up as. They loved it. I guess that's all that matters. And it really was a lot of fun seeing the excitement in the girls eyes as each door was opened and a giant bowl of sugar was presented to them.

On the way home from school yesterday, I told the girls they could each choose a sucker from their candy bags. And, for a moment, I was "The Best Mom Ever."

Little did they know I was going to make them eat a carrot ginger soup for dinner. Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha.

Updates

So much to write about. So little time . . . 

I need to write about our trip to Disneyland, and Summer's two week break from school right now. And I should post a video clip of Basil rolling all over the floor or Pyper and her language skills. I should probably post some pictures that Claire has drawn or talk about Summer starting piano lessons and loving it. But for now, I'll just post some blurry pictures from my phone and a little about each girl. 

Summer

Favorite Disneyland ride: "It's hard to choose. Guess why. . . all the rides were my favorite."

Current Hobbies: Piano lessons (started last week)

Sending messages to me by fingerspelling words in sign language

Identifying "I," "I'm," "see," "can," "run," and "stop" in print

Quotes: 

"Next time we go on Splash Mountain, we need to bring our swim suit."

After having to wipe the table off: "I know how to work now. I really do."

"My fingers are a little tired from playing the piano so much. I think they will feel better after we win something on Mario Kart Wii."

"I got hit by my hula hoop today."

"You did? How did that happen?"

"I was hula hooping in the gym and I hula hooped into myself."

Claire

Favorite Disneyland ride: Splash Mountain 

Current Hobbies: 

Practicing writing the letters in her name

Holding and playing with Basil

Quotes:

"Mom, next time we go on Splash Mountain, be brave, okay?"

"Mom, guess what we had for snack today. . . whip cream and donuts!" (bagels and cream cheese)

"Dad, does mom know how to have babies that are boys?"

Pyper

Favorite Disneyland ride: It's a Small World ("I wuv it!")

Current Hobbies:
Placing the Blockus pieces onto the Blockus board
Doing heavy board puzzles

Quotes:

"holdmedaddyholdmedaddyholdmedaddy" (said in .75ths of a second)

Me: "Pyper, what would you like for a snack?"

"Cookie."

Me: "No cookies right now. What else?"

"Chocolate."

Basil

Favorite Disneyland ride: Tie between "It's a Small World" and dad's carrying pack

Current Hobbies:
Rolling across the floor from corner to corner
Finding floor treasures to put in her mouth and suck on
Karate chopping our throats with her feet when we lean in to give kisses

Quotes: Currently NA



And a picture of us out on a walk last week . . .

Kindergarten

Summer has now started her sixth week of Kindergarten. She's attending CCS (Continuous Curriculum School), and she goes full day: 7:45 to 2:15. Since the school bus would pick her up at about 6:30 in the morning, we opted to drive her. On Tuesdays through Fridays, Rhett gives her a ride, then he catches the bus to downtown where his office is. On Mondays, since it's late start at 9:15, I give her a ride. 

It's a good thing Rhett gives her a ride the majority of the time because when I take her, I still get a little emotional watching her place her backpack against the kindergarten wall, and then run off to the playground. 

As we drive away, Claire will say she misses Summer, or Pyper will say, "Want Nummer." It's pretty cute.

First day of Kindergarten

Kindergarten has been soooo good for Summer. Most of the other children her age here in Liberty Lake  go to the "Kindergarten Center." But that was only half day kindergarten, and I really felt Summer would do better at a full day school. When I picked her up from school on that first day, she said, "But mom! I thought it was all day kindergarten!" I told her "all day" meant until after lunch time, not right before bed time. 

One special memory for me was also on the first day of school when she came home. There was a different air about her. And every time she looked at me, or talked to me, there was like this feeling of, "Hey, mom. We're good, you and I. You trust me to go off to Kindergarten. And that's cool." 

I love hearing her stories about the things they are doing--whether it's PE day, library day, computer day, or music day. Or who's eating hot lunches and what the other kids are bringing for cold lunch. Or what letter they learned that day, or who got the golden ticket for the treasure box. It's been fun to watch her have ownership of her experiences, and to have them independently from her sisters. 

And since Claire and Pyper have started their preschools, our schedules are crazy, but worth it. Summer goes early in the morning, which gives Claire and I some one-on-one time while the younger two sleep, and then Claire and Pyper go to school at 12:15. Basil and I have one-on-one until I pick Summer up at 2:15, and then Summer and I get some time together until we pick Pyper and Claire up at 3:30. So it's a full day, but it's been good to get to spend some individual time with the girls.

It's a little bit scary sending her off to school, to be surrounded by the influences of the world. Of course, the first day was hard. We watched her line up with her class and follow their teacher into the classroom. And of course, we shed some tears, wondering if we'd done all we could to prepare her to enter the "world." But it's helped me realize just how important it is to teach our kids in the home the important things we want instilled in them, and to not leave it up to school. Summer will be influenced at school, but she will also be influencing others. I hope we've given her a good foundation for that.

Agreeing

At a loss for what to do when the girls fight over something, I decided to make them work on their negotiation skills.

I've done it a few times before, like when they would fight over who got the first drink of water at bedtime. I made them discuss it with each other and decide who would get it, or they would have to go without. They talked about it, and, with the coaxing of Summer, Claire decided to let her go first. That's how it usually ends.

This morning at breakfast, Summer and Claire were both fighting over the yellow chair. I told them to discuss it. Their fighting voices quieted as they tried to work it out.

It was fun to hear their reasonings ("But I need it." or "But it's my favorite chair.") and the ideas they were coming up with. But they still couldn't decide who would get it for the immediate meal.

"Claire, let's do a pattern. Me, then you, then me, then you."

"Okay. But I'm first."

"No, I'm first. Or I get it two times in a row."

"No!"

Every few minutes, I'd check back with them: "Are all in agreement on who gets the yellow chair?"

"Yes."

"Then, Claire, who gets it?"

"Me."

"And Summer, who gets it?"

"Me."

"Okay, keep discussing."

The "discussing" went a little long this morning, and Rhett and I were getting a little impatient. There was a threat of no one getting the yellow chair at all, but then I wanted to see if they were going to work it out so we rescinded.

Finally, I asked again, "Girls, are you in agreement of who gets the yellow chair?"

"Yes."

"Claire, who gets the yellow chair for breakfast?"

"Me."

"And Summer, who gets the yellow chair this morning?"

Summer paused. Her lip quivered. Quietly, she said, "Claire." Then she burst into tears. "But I do not agree! And I do not like it!"

I held her while she cried, and I told her I was proud of her giving up something she wanted so much so her sister could have it.

The meal is done, and it's forgotten, but I'm still feeling proud of how Summer let Claire have it.

Max

S: "There's a new boy in our class. His name is Max."
C: "Hey! There's a monkey named Max! In our game at home!"
S: "No. Max goes to school and he is not a monkey."

Silence.

S: "So what game is Max in at home?"
C: "Oh, I just made it up."

Summer Comes to an End

 We've had such a great summer this year. It was full of lots of fun activities, like . . .

bike rides

relaxing in our homemade hot tubs

painting the deck with water

playing wii

 "go go go!"

painting ceramics (a childhood tradition for me)

attempts to take pics of all four together

washing our faces with yogurt

(okay, so that was just Pyper)

painting projects

going to the dentist

watching a few movies

making our own family trees

(Pyper did her hand prints for the leaves; I put the pictures down for her. The other girls did their own leaves, cut out their own pictures, and glued them down where they wanted them.)

playing in our homemade sand box

And lest ye think it's all fun and games in the Barney home . . .

Not pictured: Pyper (clinging to my legs)

I'd been waiting for this moment since Basil was born--for the moment when all four kids were crying at the same time. It happened just last week. And of course, as soon as I got my camera out, Summer stopped crying and started picking up the puzzle pieces that I asked her to clean up. Ironically, the moment I turned the camera off, she burst into tears again.