Yummy!

Patience.

Oh, and something has happened that I didn't think would.

Evan's eyes are not blue.  They are greenish.  

I didn't think it could happen because blue eyes are incredibly dominant in Derek's family.  Siblings. Parents. Grandparents.  Aunts. Uncles.  (Not that I've met everyone, but those that I see often all have bold blue eyes.)

I didn't remember from my biology class the Punnett Square (other than brown almost always dominates).  I guess our kids have a 50/50 chance of blue or green.  I'm glad I can be a factor after all.

Another Week Without Daddy

This has been a rather interesting week.  It probably began last week when Meghan was quite sick all week with a chest infection.  Then, Friday night Evan got the croupy cough.  By Saturday it was just a regular cough, but quite intense.  On Sunday Meghan started to feel better, but Evan was horribly sick with an awful cough.  The frequency and intensity were rather scary, but at least he was breathing normally.

On Monday morning Derek left for an out of town work week.  We had known about this trip for a couple of weeks, and I had asked Derek's aunt, Donna, to come visit us.  We knew she would be great company, but wouldn't be arriving right away.

Each day I tried to do something special for the children.  In addition, Derek wrote them a note to give to them daily.

On Monday we made rainbow pudding.  (Linked to the other blog and more pictures.)  Meghan absolutely loved the process of making the different colors and creating her own rainbow cup.   It was also the first day of spring.  We spent a good bit of the afternoon visiting the doctor to learn that Evan only had a cold, though he had fluid in his ear (not infected).

Tuesday was a rather quiet day.  After not attending school at all last week, she did pretty well adjusting to it.  Meghan was very eager to help clean for Donna's arrival.  (By clean I mean I vacuumed and cleaned up the kitchen a bit.  My lack of sleep had taken its toll on me.)

Wednesday morning the children found out that Donna had arrived during the night.  Meghan saw her shoes first, and knew she had a mystery to solve.  Then she found another clue- Donna's coat.  It wasn't long before Meghan decided that Donna must have arrived.  I had promised her that I would make lemonade while she was at school.  (We have been listening to Little Town on the Prairie.  In the book, Laura gets the special treat of lemonade at the Independence Day festivities.  I love these books!)  It was a special treat.

Evan was much too sick (and miserable) to go to the local potato chip factory for a free tour, but Donna was happy to take Meghan.  They had a great time!   During nap time, Donna and I relaxed and watched a movie.  The picture here shows that we forgot to pick up after our snack during the movie.  The cheese curls did come from the factory tour.

(Notice the position of Evan's legs.  They form a "W."  When a child sits like this consistently, it shows they have low core muscles.  That is the main reason Evan is in physical therapy.  He is making good progress though.)

Later in the day I contacted the pediatrician about Evan, since I suspected the ear infection had officially arrived.  Donna and Meghan got to go on a "mission" to get the prescription and a couple of items at the grocery store.  Meghan had a very important role at the pharmacy.  To verify the patient, they ask for the patient's address.  Meghan was able to say her address for them.  (We have worked on this since summer or so, but recently at school she perfected it.) 

Thursday morning was not fun.  Evan spent more time crying than not.  Seriously.  (I'm not sure how Donna was able to stand it!)  However, Meghan had her "Sing" at school.  It's like a miniature concert of her class and another singing a few songs.  It was an incredible performance by Meghan, even without considering that she has refused to sing/sign in the past on stage at school.  She may wish to be a star sooner than later with all of the extra "moves" she added!  We did get a great video to show to Derek.

Donna left during nap time.  To make the evening a bit special, I had taken pizza dough and sauce from the freezer.  I had the children make their own pizzas.  Meghan also requested lemonade for dessert!  By Thursday evening (as I'm typing) Evan is still sick and cranky, but his disposition is incredibly improved.  Maybe that antibiotic is kicking in!

You are likely reading this Friday morning, and I am happy to report that Derek will be home in a few hours!  Phew!  We made it through one difficult week!  I thought Donna would be good company and a good distraction, but it turned out that she was able to give a certain four year old the attention I couldn't when tending to Evan, as well as being the good company I needed and a good distraction for all of us.  Despite the crying, it was a pretty good week.  

(Apparently when life is too crazy to blog for a week, you get long posts like this.  Yes, I did blog on the other blog, but most were "scheduled".)

Big News...

Well, maybe not that big, but it's big for Meghan.

Meghan earned her toenails being painted today!

Last week I was visiting with a friend and her daughter was dry overnight.  They were rewarding the daughter with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese.  That got me thinking that maybe Meghan needed some extra motivation to stay dry, at least at nap time.  (She takes very long naps, and she is also very tiny, so I wasn't too concerned.)

I had told Meghan that if she could be dry three naps in a row, she could paint her toenails.  She has asked to have her toenails painted for a long time, but really, I don't want her to grow up too soon.  

(I should point out that I almost never paint my fingernails...maybe once since we were married, and not on our wedding day.  I do attempt to paint my toenails in the summer months, but it is not a priority.)

Meghan has been planning to have one foot pink and one foot purple since we first discussed this.  I thought she could have a nail polish in her Easter basket, because I truly didn't expect her to be dry until after that.

I only have two nail polishes.  (In college I preferred green.)  The one you see on Meghan's toes above and a pale pink.  I fully intended to use the pale pink for her, but I just couldn't find it.  With Meghan's chest infection (we visited the doctor yesterday), I didn't want to run out with the kids to buy her special polish.  So she's wearing a grown-up pink for now.

However, when she is well behaved (nice to brother, no spanks or time-outs) for ten days (not in a row-HA!), she will get her own bottle of nail polish.  In the meantime, she earns a sticker for each good day.  

Quite frankly, I do not think rewarding good behavior is the best way to discipline.  But for now we are trying to train her and get her in the habit of doing a better job.  A while back we were using behavior cards.  They were quite effective, however we stopped wanting to see what would happen.

And there's been a lot of fighting since then.  So we'll try this to see how motivating it is.  Since her toes are already painted, it may not be motivating at all.  

It's still exciting though that she was dry for two naps and one night!  (She was dry at night because she was still up around 9, and I sent her to the bathroom.  Early this morning when she asked for more water, I sent her to the bathroom, too.)

I know that Meghan will often go in her pull-up when she is awake.  I would at least like to stop that lazy behavior.  

Sickly

After our fun playing outside on Sunday, Meghan developed a cough.  Tuesday she developed a fever.

Monday and Tuesday it was easy to keep her on the couch watching TV.  Today it's been a bit harder.  After lunch, she and Evan started running around.  Cough.  Cough.  And Meghan loves to sing.  Cough. Cough.

Check out the perfect heart Meghan cut after I drew the half heart!

Despite the fever being less today, she still has no appetite.   Between yesterday and today at lunch she has had 1/2 a slice of toast, a bite of a chicken taco, and four crackers.  Thankfully she can't get enough water and juice, and I'm giving all that she wants.  Today she asked for spaghetti and meatballs for dinner...and she ate it!

To keep Meghan very hydrated, we had a tea party (with water).   It was definitely a hit, though it was before the fever hit.    They had 4 or 5 pitchers of water, and Meghan did most of the drinking!

Once again, Evan had speech therapy.  The knock on the door at four o'clock surprised me.  Again.  It's a good thing my kids are asleep at that time, or we would not be here for ST way too often.  It's pretty shameful.  Even when it's on the calendar, I seem to forget and ignore it.

Handy Dandy Kids

(I promise I do comb my daughter's hair daily.  We just don't seem to recomb it for photos.  Her hair comes out of the pony tail so easily...)

We were given a bunch of real and play tools a long time ago.  I had wanted to wait to give them to the kids until Evan was older and able to play appropriately with them.

The children know (and usually follow the rule) that they are not to use the tools on the walls, doors, or wooden furniture.  The slide is a perfect place to use the tools.

Apparently we watch a lot of Bob the Builder and Handy Manny.  Neither child was wearing carpenter pants, but both managed to find openings for their hammers and wrenches.

The best part is that there were two real tape measures and two real mini-hammers (with metal heads).  No fighting!!

Bookcase

Grandpa J. is very handy with wood.  He has made us many lovely pieces of furniture and other wonderful things.  To date we have two small bookcases, sofa table, toy box, rocking horse, blanket chest, coffee table, and an end table all made by Derek's grandfather!  The beautiful oak blanket chest was our wedding gift!  Several pieces made by Grandpa J. were made from cherry wood harvested from Derek's Grandpa W.'s farm many, many years ago.  (If you didn't follow that last statement, that's okay.  Just know that all of the pieces are very special to us!)

Grandma and Grandpa on vacation in Vermont in August 2010

We first asked Grandpa to make us a cherry bookcase when our other bookcase (also handmade, but by Annette's great uncle) was overflowing.  Then we were expecting Meghan, and we determined that it should be in the baby's room.  When we were expecting Evan we had Grandpa make another bookcase for his room.  Last year we finally asked Grandpa to make us a bookcase to accommodate our overflowing shelves again.  He made us a beautiful bookcase.  It took Derek a while (less than a year though) to finish the bookcase with a clear coat.  We love it and know it will be a family heirloom!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!!

It's so nice to have a place for the grown-up books on the first floor!  It is actually much more filled than this now.   The only books Derek put on it (other than a Bible) are computer programming books.  Honestly, I have no idea where he had them before this, and he has since added to the collection.

The basket has some often-used craft supplies in it.  The box has colored paper in it to go with the other craft supplies.

Unfortunately, my decorating skills have a dancing dog on top of the bookcase and nothing else.  I just don't have anything that seems natural to place there.

Hayride

On Sunday after dinner (being the noon-time meal on Sundays), we headed outside to enjoy the somewhat mild temperatures.  I worked in the flowerbed removing a few more flower stalks.  Somehow I didn't get it completed in the fall, especially the irises.  Derek removed our new neighbor's straw from our yard.  Before they moved in, the builder's contractor placed straw down on their yard on a VERY windy day in January.  The straw made it mostly into our yard (and left their yard a muddy mess).  Too bad we don't have a farm animal that needs a bed.  We had plenty.

Instead, the kids went on a unique "hayride."  

(It seems that these days playing outside is the only way to get Meghan to wear her jeans.  I can think of worst things.)

A Special Treat

Yesterday Derek and Meghan were getting some groceries.  (I really appreciate Derek's willingness to shop for the family!)  While in the cereal aisle, Meghan said she wanted to have "Pops" after reading the cereal box.  We do not typically get sugary cereals.  Our kids enjoy oatmeal, Corn Flakes, Raisin Bran, Rice Krispies, Special K, Chex, and Cheerios.  However, as a reward for reading the box, Derek got her the Corn Pops.  She loves them, and told me I had to try them this morning!  (I definitely explained that it was a special treat!)

Yesterday Meghan went to the local children's hospital for an eye appointment.  She has had a clogged tear duct since she was a baby.  Basically, with the clogged tear duct, whenever she has a cold, her eye waters like crazy.  It even got infected at least once.  Her pediatrician thought she should have outgrown it by now, so he sent us for the consultation.

As it turns out, the eye doctor determined that the clogged tear duct wasn't severe enough to perform the procedure on.  We're thankful!

Family Exercise

Derek got the exercise DVD's of  P90X for Christmas.  He uses it at work and at home on occasion.  (For many years Derek has used his lunch hour to bike and run.  Back in the day, he and his coworkers would train for sprint triathlons together.  Derek stopped after a few years because of the swimming factor.  It was just too much to train for the swimming portions without a pool close to us.)

If you know Derek personally, you likely know that he is quite athletic.  On Saturday morning I got to watch the kids get into his exercise program, too.

I was actually quite impressed with how Meghan could mimic the exercises.

I was equally impressed that Evan took after his mommy and just watched.

Then, Evan got in on the action, and Meghan needed a break.  (She had really been working!)

On some Saturday mornings I use the elliptical machine.  That is about as much exercise as I get in the winter, though I do enjoy walking outside with warm weather.

As for our email issues, we think they are resolved.  We hope!

Email Woes

Today our emails were compromised.  We hope that the hacker is done now, so for now we'll continue with our regular email.

However, the hacker removed all contacts and did us a favor by cleaning out our inbox.  So if you have our family email, feel free to send us a note so that you can be in our contacts again.

I did write a bit more over at the other blog.  You can read more there if you wish.

Sorry that so many of you received that bogus email today.  Thanks for understanding!