mass chaos

Sunday, 2/17/13
LeaAnn 23-1/2mo (we're trying to potty-train???), Lydia 3-3mo, Lindsay 6-1/2, Lauren 7-10mo

This video speaks for itself... I just showed it to Chris and we both laughed out loud ... again :)  Just a typical Sunday night....

And I threw this in there just b/c I know Mimi likes them :)  We were trying to get LeaAnn to say "Warn" but she wouldn't 'on-que' of course. Her words are just  coming on fast & furious and they are adorable. Mys,  favorites are, "orange, boots, green, balloon, moo" I'm going to have to start writing them down ;)

valentine's day

Thursday, 2/14/13

Valentine's Day in Lindsay's Kindergarten classroom :)  I was 'party-chair' as I was for Lauren when she was in Kindergarten...only I was big-preggo with LeaAnn at the time! Much easier to move around this time ;) And I took no pictures before school (I know...)  sorry Mimi.  Here's what I got.

Look how little Lauren was!!!  Oh my gosh... unbelievable... oh yes, this is Lauren at her Kindergarten Valentine party :)

Fell in love with this one :) She is my daughter! ;)

Lydia goes to school...

Wednesday, 2/13/13

Lydia was invited by our go-to-babysitter, Ashley Benton who is a junior at East Buchanan, to attend 'Little Buc Day' ...I said, "sure... what is it?" :)  It's an ALL-DAY venture for 3-6-yr-olds.... (yup, all-day) to attend school with the high-schooler who is taking the child-psychology class. I was shocked and kept telling her that if she needed me to come and get Lydia mid-day I would do so :)  BUT, she did great... I guess she dozed off around 1:30 but she stayed the whole day like a champ. AND, the kicker... she got to ride the bus home. :D  I Ok'd it with the principal (it's a 15-min bus ride) as long as Lauren & Lindsay agreed to look out for her.... done.

So of course I got no pictures of her before she left. It was pretty much mass chaos. The night before we packed her bag and I asked her, what do you want to wear? And she said matter-of-factly... "my Grandma-Alice dress" :)  melt. my. heart.

What I DID take pictures of was Ms. Wiam who wanted to know where "Wyia" was ALL day.  

And finally we saw it... the bus coming over the hill. So here is LeaAnn. Short but sweet :)

She got so excited... it was adorable.

However, I couldn't take film and get pictures at the same time... so I failed to get her coming off the bus. She was SO MAD at me!  It was hysterical. I guess she was mad to get ON the bus b/c she didn't want to leave school... and then she was MAD at the school bus b/c she didn't want the bus ride to end or to get off. :)  Oh what are we going to do with this 'little-big' girl... as she always has been.  Obviously not taking a nap, and being at daycare the previous 2-days, did not help anything.. but here she is sulking off ;)

And my futile attempt at getting a group shot.

I do wish there was a sheet that came home with her that told me what she did all day... according to Ashley she did great... I'm pretty sure pre-school will be a hit next year ;)

in preparation for Valentine's day...

Friday, 2/8/13

We started with coloring .... the big girls were working on writing all of their Valentine's out to their classmates, so Lydia & LeaAnn did not want to be left out :)

Still... the only thing she will really 'play' with is books and colors... much like her oldest sister, Warn ;)

On Saturday, 2/9/13 - Grandpa surprised us with a lasagna dinner!  He came not only with dinner, but bearing gifts for everyone :)  Grammy was in Iowa City watching the Raefield clan while Aunt Jill & Uncle Eric were on their 10-yr-anniversary trip to Mexico!

Wish I would have taken a picture of the individual cakes... they were decorated (by Papa) using chocolate chips and licorice to make it look like a smiley face on top of the icing :)  They were delicious.. I am such a sucker for cream-cheese frosting.

And there were four of course :)

Beer for dad :D  how cute is that??

and wine for mom ;)  but after one glass I said, "sorry Jim, your daughter-in-law prefers Dad's present' ;) maybe someday....

Then on Sunday, 2/10/13... we attempted to be able to walk through the downstairs... which started with cleaning the dining room so we'd have somewhere to eat... this is what 'cleaning' looks like ;)

Always a big helper :)

Sunday I also tried a recipe... a REAL one :D  complete with 'presentation' and all!  (so of course I had to take a picture of it ;)  Stole from Iowa Girl Eats, click here for the deets... is was awesome!  avocado-mozzarella-and-bruschetta-chicken

Then that night... all four of them on the couch... a huge rarity.  Notice 'big-girl'.... not paying attention to the show ;)

four clean kids in a clean living room... too bad the rest of the house wasn't that way!!! ;)

Oh yes, and Dr. Dad had to fix up the monkey... Lydia tore off both his arms!! ;)  (freebie from Children's Place the year before)  Whew! Big weekend... I think we're ready for the big V-day!