Four Little Turkeys

Happy Thanksgiving from our four little turkeys!

We decided to stay here in BCS for the holiday. Since Rodney is hopping at the office, his day off yesterday wasn't really what we had planned. Add to that a sinus infection for Anna Beth, we are thankful that we stayed here. It wasn't exactly a traditional Thanksgiving (we had pizza for lunch!), but it was relaxing & stress-free. Exactly what we hoped for. We will head to Dallas over the weekend to attend Richard's forty year anniversary celebration that our former church is throwing, so we'll finish the holiday weekend with some family time.

We hope that everyone's Thanksgiving celebrations are safe, blessed & happy!

Return to Craftiness

I've taken a far too long hiatus from crafting/sewing. Creating things is something that I thoroughly enjoy. Since Vivian has finally ceased her daily/nightly hours of screaming I can now get back into my crafty mode.

I had this fun (maybe crazy) idea that I would make at least one Christmas gift for each of the girls this year. Today I was able to create & complete (GASP!) Vivian's gift. I was so pleased with the results that I have plans to make a companion item to give her as well.

Have you ever heard of Taggies? They are a double sided, super cute sensory blanket for babies. They retail for $20. I searched for an online tutorial so that I could create my own since I did not want to pay $20 for a square fleece blanket embellished with scraps of ribbon. Here is the tutorial in case you would like to make one!

It was incredibly easy & talk about inexpensive! I think it cost me all of about $3 in spare ribbons, thread & the fleece (on sale!) I purchased at Joann's. Here is my finished product... I think it is even cuter than the original Taggie blankets.

I enlisted Anna Beth & Corinne to craft with me today. It was a ton of fun to work with them. Anna Beth really got into it. We made hats for their American Girl dolls. Anna Beth is creating items for her doll that she doesn't even have yet! She will be purchasing her Kit doll this weekend in Dallas. She has been saving for it for months. Anyway, I will have to post a picture when Hannah (Corinne's doll) is awake & willing to model her hat.

Here's to happy creating!

And the winner is....

University Interscholastic League is a literary and scholastic competitive program. Anna Beth was asked to represent her school in third grade spelling. This was quite a challenge for her due to her Spanish curriculum. She is just now learning English spelling words this year and they are probably words that most regular first graders learn. Since she is such a strong reader (reading on a 7th & 8th grade level) we had faith in her ability to learn. After many weeks of practice before & after school and on weekends, she had a great time this morning at the UIL competition. Despite a low grade fever (masked by some Motrin!) the results were......

To avoid eye strain, please look for Anna Beth in the near center/right, about three "rows" back (does that make any sense at all?!) And please forgive my poor filming from today. I was juggling Vivian, Lila & the flip camera. At least Corinne was sitting on the floor watching!

Vocabulary Hat Parade

The girls' school has an annual Vocabulary Hat Parade to celebrate Halloween. This year our words were...

Anna Beth - Community
Corinne - Winter

It's a fun time for the kids (maybe less so for the parents with all of the "creating" going on), but all in all we enjoy it. It was extra special this year because Rodney surprised the girls with his attendance. He had been working in Dallas all week & was able to finish up in time to schedule his arrival at the Vocabulary Hat Parade.

Bald is beautiful

All of our babies have been bald. For what seems like forever...until they are at least two! Corinne never had any hair until she was two & a half and then boy, did it come in! Imagine our surprise when Vivian was born with hair. Lots of dark hair. We all thought that she would be our brunette baby in a house full of blondies. Things are changing.

Vivian's hair has been steadily falling out all week. I was shocked the other day when I was nursing her, I rubbed her head (one of my favorite things in the world is rubbing our babies' heads, so soft!) and I had a clump of dark, fuzzy hair wrapped around my fingers. WHAT?!?!

Her hairline has receded all the way back to the back 2/3 of her head. She looks so funny, but I know it will look normal when she finishes shedding. Here is a picture of the top of her now very bald head. I've also included a "before" photo, one from the other day before the serious shedding began. She still has the "old man ring" of hair around the back. I wonder when that will disappear? No matter what, she is a beautiful baby to us!

I did it!

I survived a week alone with all four girls!

Rodney left on Sunday for 5 nights in Dallas. I was petrified to be on my own, but we made it. Even with Lila and her stomach bug. I hate to ask for help. I am the type of person who really wants to do it myself...well, that is no longer the case!

I asked our next door neighbors to watch Vivian yesterday while I cleaned up my car and Lila (who had thrown up all over herself on the way home from preschool - NASTY!) and I also asked a friend to bring Anna Beth home from dance last night. I definitely could not have made it through yesterday's "trauma" without these special friends. They were such blessings since our family is 3+ hours away. I almost made an "emergency" phone call to have Gran Jan come down here to help. Lila is fine now & I am hoping that no one else comes down with the bug.

I am definitely more confident about a few days of being a "single mom", but I am not ready to try it again anytime soon. Having Rodney gone this week definitely makes me more appreciative of his involvement as a father and husband. I will now overlook his dirty laundry on the floor!

My first official post at Four Smocked Sisters!

Here we are....over here at Four Smocked Sisters! I haven't found the time to bring over my old blog, so I am starting over.

Here is a bit of an update for each of our four smocked sisters...

Anna Beth - She auditioned for a lyrical group dance on Sunday. We were nervous about the outcome since she had attended her first slumber party the night prior to the audition. Really, how much sleep was she going to get & then expect to dance her best the next afternoon. She had a blast at the party, came home to nap for almost 3 hours, then head to another birthday party before her audition. We found out the results tonight. Beaming, she pulled me over to the dance studio bulletin board and I knew....she had made it! I am so proud of her. I would have been proud of her had she not made it, but she really wanted this. I certainly couldn't learn several eight counts of a dance and then perform it half and hour later. Way to go, AB!!!

Corinne - She just turned SIX and loves everything American Girl. She got her own "Just Like Me" American Girl doll for her birthday & "Hannah" goes almost everywhere with her. Too cute! She is blossoming in Dual Language Kindergarten. She is already reading Spanish sentences. I was blown away when she read "Yo quiero mi mama y mi papi." (I think I wrote it correctly!) Her teacher had many compliments at our recent parent/teacher conference (which takes place for all kinder students in lieu of a first six weeks report card). He told us that he can see why she was chosen for the Dual Language program and that he sees how excited she is to learn Spanish. We also found out that she is the "teacher" at her table. She is the only native English speaker at the table, so she has taken her fellow tablemates under her wing. Bueno Trabajo, Corinne!

Lila - I recently tagged along on a field trip with Lila's school. We visited a local pumpkin patch and had a ball. Her class played games, read a story & painted pumpkins. She discovered that not all pumpkins are smooth...she loved the bumpy ones. She hopes to take her sisters & Daddy to the pumpkin patch this weekend so that she can show them the ropes. Lila did almost give me heart attack this week. She was crawling on the kitchen floor and slipped, chipping her tooth when she fell. We made an emergency trip to our wonderful dentist and they xrayed the tooth, filed the jagged edge & told me to watch it in case it turns grey/black (which means dead tooth!). Dr. W told me that it was just a slight possibility, thank goodness. I was worried about that room brightening smile! Lila was such a brave (and motionless in the dental chair!) three year old during the whole experience. It helps that she recently had her teeth cleaned for the first time so all she really cared about was getting to choose something fun from the treasure chest.

Vivian - Sweet Vivian will be three months old tomorrow. Time certainly flies or maybe it's the lack of sleep/rest that simply makes it all a blur. Vivian has started to swat at toys. Her favorite toy is a rattle penguin on her playmat (loves that black/white contrast!). Her smiles will melt your heart. Her reflux has flared up again, so we're trying to keep her comfortable. Playing with your baby while upright is getting old, but we're managing. I keep reminding myself that the first three months are the worst, so we are definitely in the home stretch (I hope!)