I got lost...

No, I didn't. I have no excuse. To the hecklers who have complained about my lack of new material, where is your blog? That's all I want to know.
Jody quit that crummy second job and we tightened our belts another notch. I'd like to say that's literally true. No, I still have an extra seven pounds to show for my latest pregnancy. I actually don't wear belts and don't intend to until I do lose that seven pounds.
This week we cranked up the hair self expiramentation a notch and I went to a cosmetology school for my haircut. Pippin cut my hair and I am SO happy. I'll be honest, it's a soccer mom haircut but oh well. I can wash it, shake it and GO, without it looking like a crows nest. Now all I have to do is go back and have her fix this dang color. The girls got their hair cut too and for Kait it was a first. It was so adorable. They behaved fantastically and Grammy met us there and held Nick the whole time. The grand total for our memorable outing = $13.50.
This weeks theme in school is the solar system. Eden is not into things like Star Wars so we started from scratch. She had a hard time believing me that the sun is bigger than the earth and the moon is smaller but once I convinced her, she was sold. We read books, talked about stars, made stars with the triangular metal insets, discussed the names and sizes of the planets and there's just so much to cover. She's lapping it up. The curriculum dictates that we spend two weeks on it. I thought it was a bit much at first but we're approximately half way there. We purchased a solar system mobile and painted 9 planets today and will assemble the mobile next week. We will also be visiting the planetarium at a local highschool.
Eden stands at the white board writing words all of the time. I, of course dictate the spelling because she doesn't read or spell yet, but I find it interesting how tirelessly she applies herself to this. I never encourage her, and if anything am slightly discouraging because I get distracted by the other kids and lose where we are in a word. What I'm seeing is that she is catching on to the spelling of words. I've heard of kids learning to spell before reading and I guess that maybe she will do that. Not by my plan, but by apparently her learning style. It's interesting. We have a moveable alphabet and she's fascinated by it. She doesn't try to spell things yet, but when I spell things with, it she's very attentive and I can see the wheels turning in her mind.
Today was a major accomplishment in the life of a mother of three. I took ALL of them to Walmart. Call me a saint, call me crazy. I did it. It went FINE. Every time I fear something, it turns out fine. When I think something will be no big deal, he world falls apart. I don't understand how I can always be wrong.
Monday at Spanish Class. When one mom is peppy, we're all peppy. Other times, it's like a monster comes and steals everyones sleep on the same night. We stood in the kitchen cutting out the spanish words for different colors and shapes in a complete fog, without any communication. I kept staring at a word wondering what it could be and finally asked Knelly. She was a Spanish minor in college... she made the words. I figured she'd be the one to ask. Her foggy gaze travelled back and forth across the word and finally she said "oh, it's orange. I just left the "N" off of the beginning." Well, that helped. Then I looked over and Knelly was cutting out heart shapes. I pointed to the container that had foam hearts and asked why she needed them and she gave an answer but I wasn't getting it somehow. Finally Tiffany looked up and said "oh Knelly, I needed the spanish word for "heart" not cutouts." In the background we could all hear babies crying, children chanting spanish songs that I don't understand and the teacher practically shouting her instructions to the children. It was a rough go, but we all muddled our way through. Eden counted to six in spanish without any prompting today.
I feel that this has been a horribly boring blog but at least I did it. I have recorded a week in the life of Elizabeth. For what it's worth.

It's all for you Jod!

I really didn't feel like posting tonight but since I know that you come home and go straight to the computer to find out what you missed... I'm pluggin away.
You missed a doozey. You stopped by at 5 right after Kait made her shirt into a doiley and things spiraled downward until I opened my wine. I'm not kidding people. There's this weird kind of conspiracy amongst the evil fairies. Every time the girls go to Grandma's I miss them SO bad and can't wait to see them and shower them with my love. As it turns out, the first night home is ALWAYS the worst. I don't know why.
Eden went right to work on some projects when she got home. That was great. She stapled and stamped to her hearts content. Kaitlyn got the kid safe scissors. Her original intent was to cut the tags off of Nick's new socks. I didn't keep a close eye. Okay, I'll admit it. I went to the computer to rearrange some stuff in our bank accounts knowing full well that Kait had scissors. I'm a terrible mom. There, I got it off my chest. On the baby monitor I heard Eden groan and say "Ohhhh Kaitlyn... Mom is going to be so mad." This was not a good sign. I charged up the stairs like an angry elephant and there was Kait sticking her finger through a hole in the middle of her shirt. My favorite. From Children's Place with a big rose embroidered on the front. I won't elaborate on my response but it was not nice. Kaitlyn told me she was sorry later and I asked her what she cut the hole for. I will paraphrase her reply "I wanted to cut the hole and put paper in it." Here's a better question, why in the world did I ask a two year old "why?"
After that my mood was rather black. It just happens. I worked my way out of it with a brisk walk around the neighborhood. We got home and had some icecream. Eden crumbled a cupcake (right in front of me) into a million little pieces all over her, all over Nick, all over the counter, all over the floor... I asked her why she didn't use the spoon I gave her... Here's a little tip, there is no freaking point in asking your children why. Any answer they give you will only make you more frustrated. I tried to implement some Montessori stuff. We had a cleanup with all of our equipment. It was so hard to stay close to calm. I guess I was just tired or something because now I don't know why it was so frustrating. About the time we finished up, Kait had a little pee pee accident. I got her half cleaned up and asked her to go downstairs and put on her night time stuff. She broke down and wanted me to go help her. I exploded. I really wish I were a good mom all of the time but I'm just not and I don't know what to say about that. I told her to sit on the couch and wait for me to finish the kitchen cleanup. Finally I took her downstairs and put her jommies on her. She went in the office and got my camera to take pictures. I told her to go get her new camera. It was still in the car and I was nursing Nick (groan). Eden volunteered to get the camera. Kaitlyn followed her. Two minutes later I hear Kaitlyn in the foyer saying "OH NO!" Can I catch a freaking break? I ran up the stairs and there she stood with the container of flour paste I made for the pinata at Spanish class open and all over her, all over the floor... yada yada yada. I wilted. This was after I had poured the wine and taken a cursory sip. Anyway, I peeled her clothes off, tossed them in the laundry, cleaned up the floor got her into new jommies and sank into the recliner. She looked at my wine and said "I want juice." Alright. I went upstairs and got the juice. I got Nick to sleep!!!!! I went downstairs to watch the children play and drink my wine and the dog threw up. At this point I was numb, just going through the motions. The girls and I spent at least ten minutes looking for the carpet cleaner. I still hadn't had more than a taste of my wine. Never found it but they did just happen to wake Nick up in the process. I decided that tepid wine might be better anyway and just having the promise of it was keeping me moving forward. The girls piled stuff in the floor and made a tent. Eden looked up at me with glowing eyes and said "can we sleep in this?" I was such complete pudding that I merely nodded and said "of course, would you like to sleep in that or your real tent?" They voted for the real tent. And there they sleep as I write this finally sipping my wine, halfway wishing it were chammomile tea. I cannot convey how satisfying it was to put them to bed happy, thinking I'm a great mom even though I sometimes wonder myself.

Bittersweet

If I had to summarize my day in a word, that would be it. It was fun, basically uneventful... there was that rather crushing disappointment about the kids table and chairs in the school room but other than that, my day was very good.

We arose at 8AM. I know we're sluggards. We don't like to get up early and we don't have to. Well, nobody except Jody, poor dear.

I made a sumptious breakfast of cream biscuits, eggs and sausage. Eden was crestfallen that I made trianular biscuits instead of circular ones. I promised next time they will be circular. Jody came home and shared it with us. We cleaned up. Nick went down for a nap. We had school. It went so famously I wish it could have lasted two hours longer. Jody came home for lunch. Jody's mom came over to pick up the girls. They trotted off to Chatfield. I had an email wrestling match with a swindler and lost. I really am heartsick about it. Now I'm stuck with a table that I can't afford chairs for. My heart screams for justice! Anyway, I'm going to make myself just sit on it for a few days and then decide what to do. Nick and I spent the majority of the afternoon rolling around on his new quilt that arrived today. It's lovely in the picture but in real life it's spectacular. He is such a lucky little man. He giggled, cooed, tried to inch worm, chewed on it, tried to get the firetrucks and just basically entertained me to no end. Then he cudddled up and nursed on it, uninterruped by blood curdling screams, poo poo disasters, pee pee accidents, water catastrophes, milk spills, mud, hungry sisters, broken toys, doll fights, people stuck halfway into shirts twisted sideways, paint free for alls, escapees that ran out the front door, craigslist customers, telephone calls, the computer, the tv, mommy needing a drink of water, mommy needing to pee or anything. Nothing interrupted the little dear and he nursed until he was replete with little drips of milk on his happy chin. Then we took a bath together with apricot oil and laughed and dipped and cooed. I have to tell you, nothing prepares you for how special such moments are with the third child. They are truely rare and to be treasured. I'm honestly half broken hearted that the little booger is trying to scoot around the house. I barely got to hold my baby and now he wants to go racing around the rooms (I exaggerate). Bittersweet joy taints every step he takes towards growing up. He's the last one and it really hurts. Would it hurt this bad no matter how many babies we had? I really can't be sure. It's a hard door to shut.

Eden and Kait are so cute together. Eden's way with Kait is to offer leading questions that Kait will answer predictably. "Do you want this really pretty pink shirt or just the blue one?" If Kait answers as predicted things go smoothly. If Kait says "the blue one" then Eden says "Are you sure? The pink one is much prettier and it goes with your skirt." If Kait is feeling stubborn and still wants the blue one, Eden offers the last ditch effort. "Okay here's the deal, today you wear the blue one, but tomorrow you wear whatever I want. Deal?" Kait falls for it every time and agrees. I have no idea why, but it is just hysterical. The delights of having a baby monitor in their room.

Today Eden worked on metal insets and sandpaper letters. It was so neat to see how long she can focus on a project. She will work and work without anyone to motivate her. If she sees me do something she thinks is neat, she'll just go to town. I don't have to say a word.
Kait worked on the sandpaper letters and the cylinder blocks. She's very good at reasoning from all of the puzzles she's addicted to and the cylinder block is just an extension of that. She actually did two at one time. That's twenty pieces. I was very impressed.

Short and sweet

Today was long.
Today was hard.
Today had some really funny moments.
Haircolor is a hot topic these days.
Kaitlyn walked by Melvin at Spanish class and brushed his hair with her fingers and said "he's got red head." By the way, she is finally settling in. She participated in part of the class and cried when we had to leave. Yay!
Eden was sitting at the counter this evening and smiling at Nick in his bumbo chair and said "I think Nick is going to get hair like Melvin's." I said "red?" She said "yeah, when he turns his head that way it looks a little red." I said "nah, I think he's a blondie." Kait popped up and said "I have blonde hair." I agreed and made a fond comment about my three little blondies. Eden looked at me and screwed up her face and said "but YOU don't have blonde hair." I agreed and commented that I don't think my hair is any particular color, just a mess. Kaitlyn lifted a lock of it and said " you have darling hair." Melted me like buttah. First time I've ever heard her say darling.
My children are wonderful little people. I am so darn lucky to spend my days with them and I can't even imagine how badly I will miss them all when they leave my comfy little nest. It makes me wonder how people ever really get done having kids sometimes. It's such fun stage of life in so many ways, even if it is harder than heck.