Wednesday, September 24, 2014

More September

Arabelle stole Jeffrey's blanket off his bed the other night, and when Jeffrey asked politely if he could have it back, Arabelle said,  "I'm won't give it back until you beg for it!"



Jeffrey has been in a phase lately where he asks lots of questions, most of them in-answerable either because they are unintelligible because he just really is still not constructing his sentences very well, or because they just don't really have answers.
Some recent examples are:
"Are kangaroos not afraid of heights?"
"Do spiders eat 2 flies for breakfast?"



After Charlotte's recent head injury, I have been trying to keep a special watch over her so that she doesn't burst open her wound or worse yet, acquire another one!  It makes me realize what a clumsy little daredevil she is.  She is constantly running around, jumping off the back of the couch yelling "cannonball!" or hanging by her feet from the back of the desk chair.  Last night she was running around the house in circles (with most of the lights off).  I was worrying about her doing this because I didn't want her to run into anything, and then I hear from the kitchen, mid-run, "Can't catch me, I the gingewbwed man!"



Charlotte was very over-tired yesterday because of her refusal to take a nap, and last night shortly after I put her to bed I heard her crying.  I went in to check on her and she was sitting up with her pillow/blanket in disarray and she told me despondently, "Piwow not working, bwankie not working, juice not working!"  I think we all know that feeling.



Jeffrey:I didn't finish this worksheet because I was in speech.
Arabelle: That's okay because you're still the best boy in the world.


And...here's our latest traumatic event.  Last Friday Charlotte tripped in the front room and as I tried to catch her she hit her forehead on the corner of a speaker.  I picked her up expecting her to be no worse for wear because the fall didn't seem that bad.  Imagine my horror when I saw a gaping 3/4 inch cut that obviously required stitches.  I had all of my kids plus one extra that I was babysitting.  I had to keep pressure on the wound to prevent bleeding and knew that it would take John too long to get home from work 30+ minutes away and then drive with me to Urgent Care in Loveland.  So I called Sister Hawkins in the Relief Society Presidency who I know quite well, and she arranged for Sis. Huff the Relief Society President to drive me and all the kids to Urgent Care.  There really are few ladies in the ward that don't work or have various kids at home.  Then Sis. Huff took the 3 older kids to the park and to get ice cream.  John met me at the Urgent Care and it's a good thing because it was quite a traumatic experience as I knew it would be.  The doctor told us that stitches would provide better closure and a thinner scar but that it's a lot more painful for the kids than simply gluing.  We decided to give the stitches a try, but after getting 4 shots to numb the area, Charlotte was so angry and upset that the doctor said he wouldn't do the stitches.  John and I both agreed that we think the doctor gave up too easily .  We were quite confident that John could have held her still enough to do the stitches, especially since she was already numb at that point, but we had to do what the doctor was willing to do.  I felt horrible about the whole thing because I felt like I could have prevented what happened since I was right there and I felt like I had ruined her perfect little face.  I'm unwilling to remove the band-aid to take a picture of the actual wound, but this will give you an idea of the placement.
More bathtub art.  Arabelle always impresses me with her creativity and perfect symmetry.


Arabelle continues to torture Elsie and then ask me to take pictures of it.  Arabelle got in Elsie's face on Sunday when Elsie was really agitated about a squirrel in a tree, and Elsie bit her nose, but despite a couple of small cuts on, this has not deterred Arabelle in the slightest.




a cooking class with Corinne

school outfit

Some messes are creative...this went all the way around the house.  Arabelle said she was making a "trail".




Thursday, September 11, 2014

September

Arabelle's second day of preschool.  Another outfit she put together herself.  Still hoping she will let me have a say in at least some of her outfits this year...
Can anyone guess what the monocle is?  Also it went freakishly well with her pirate PJs.

The band-aid phase was a rather annoying (and expensive) one.  She would find every tiny mark, freckle, etc on her skin and then freak out until it was covered by a band-aid.

We had just bought the Jake and the Neverland Pirates band-aids at the store and Charlotte was very excited about them.   I left her alone for a couple minutes while I made dinner, and I came back to find this...I was really amazed that she could open all those herself, let alone so expeditiously.

Poor Elsie

Arabelle wants to grow her bangs out.  I make her wear a hair clip when she goes to school/church, but it's driving me nuts, so not sure how long before the bangs are back.

Arabelle wanted me to post this picture.

Mermaid wearing a wig, talking on a cellphone and carrying a wand and a cherry purse?  Check.


They were so excited when Emery finally got her own mermaid costume!

She was hip before she knew what it meant to be hip.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Arabelle's First Day of Preschool

Arabelle finally started preschool, and she could not have been more ready!  She has been asking about it all summer and has been bugging me constantly since Jeffrey got to start a couple weeks before her.  When I gave Arabelle her sign and started taking her picture, Charlotte immediately ran to the craft table and grabbed this paper with random stickers on it so that she could have a sign too.  And she's got her backpack of course.

I had actually bought Arabelle a special outfit to wear on the first day of school, but before I even got up this morning, Arabelle had put together this ensemble, tights and all.  She was so pleased with her choices that I had to let her wear it.  When she finally gets around to the outfit I chose, I will be sure to take a another picture.  Arabelle really enjoyed her first day.  Afterward she bragged to Jeffrey, "My preschool is so sooo fun!"

This was to show off the backpacks.

Yes, Arabelle is wearing a Barbie Princess dress and a coontail cap.

This swing that John made is quite dangerous because the kids seem to be constantly ramming into the fence, etc.