And We're Back!

It's been a while since the last post....sorry for the brief hiatus.  We've been having lots of fun but have also both been busy at work so the three day weekend came just in time!  Saturday I went to the farmers market in Madison while it was raining in the morning and Jay and the kids enjoyed a new movie, and after I arrived back with herbs, bacon, cheese, tomatoes and other yummy items the sun was out.   We took everyone for a walk to a new park not far from the house, then circled back for dinner at a cafe down the street, and couldn't resist stopping in for gelato before heading back home.  Sunday we did another walk, this time to the bakery for donuts and drinks, and then we stopped at the park at what will be Joseph's elementary school this fall.  Later we enjoyed a fun cookout with friends in our old neighborhood, and outside again this morning for more fun in the sun with bubble guns and water play in the yard.  We all had a great time, except for maybe Rosco who was forced to have a bath once we were done with the play pool.  Girls are now tucked in bed, storms are in full swing outside, and Jay and Joseph are putting together the lego imperial v-wing star fighter.  Oh and did I mention that Hannah and Leah are potty trained?  They are still in diapers at night, but for about a month now have been in underwear and going to the bathroom on the potty!  No more swim diapers!  And Joseph has started spelling!  Today he did spider, ball, and mint.  He was wearing a spiderman shirt, is signed up for baseball this summer, and made mint chocolate chip ice cream with Jay and I today.  And now I'm debating....House or The Big C?  We already watched the Modern Family and Office season finales, and I caught up on my drama viewing (I cannot believe they left Grey's Anatomy with so many open questions....it was like the Empire Strikes Back....only with doctors and dreamies instead of star ships and stormtroopers)  Actually the more pertinent question....Frog and Toad or Sir Cumference?

Girly Girls

I have been trying to post this picture for over a week now, and can't seem to get it to upload the right way no matter what I try and have spent way to much time trying, hence the sideways view of Hannah and Leah hugging last weekend.  They are quite the girly girls.  They love dresses, the color pink, having their hair in two braids or two pigtails, getting their nails painted, wearing different kinds of shoes and hoodies with pockets.  And when Hannah runs she kind of bounces with her hands out to the side by her hips.  Hannah is brought to tears at any hint of a stern tone, and Leah frequently needs hugs to feel better.  I know they look like me.....but I'm not quite sure they act like me (at least not as it relates to being pretty in pink).  And I don't think Jay liked dresses or shoes when he was younger either (I don't think I even need to ask that question!).  Maybe they are the kid version of the adult version of me? (minus the pink....even as an adult I have a hard time with that color.  Though I took a big step this weekend and purchased a shirt with a "coral" stripe in it).  They can of course be whatever they want to be and like whatever they like to like.  Right now I think Hannah would choose to be an Elephant and Leah would say she was going to be a Rhino when she grows up.  Pink ones of course.

Joseph at 5 Years Old

Height: 43.5 inches (61%)
Weight: 40.6 lbs (49%)
Favorite Color: Red
Future Occupation: Hockey Player (or a super hero)
Favorite Things: Pizza, Angry Birds, Scooby-Doo, Spiderman, Legos, Star Wars, Goldfish Crackers, Pears, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Dr Suess books

Spring Sprung and then Sprang

We went from 80 degrees and sunny to barely 40 and cloudy for last weekend's egg hunt in our neighborhood. We had fun with Jay's Dad and Pam watching the kids quickly go dashing after their eggs and counting off ten to put in their baskets (the girls can actually count to 6 or so, whereas Joseph would have counted to a hundred if we let him!). Good thing we didn't pack away our winter coats just yet....I think tomorrow with be hats and mittens for Joseph's birthday!

I don't think it's ever been this nice on MY birthday...

And that would be because it hasn't. 80 degree record breaking temperatures and it was awesome. Jay and I took the afternoon off work, ate outside at a cafe down the street from our house, went back for Rosco and headed out to play bocce ball in a park at the end of our street, picked the kids up and had dinner outside at a restaurant in the village. And then, home for baskin robbins ice cream cake and presents. Was one of my best birthdays ever!

Daddy Makin Me Grumpy

That's what Hannah says whenever Jay is stern with her, it's quite amusing really. Jay tells her "no", and she makes that face from this picture and chokes out the words "Daddy Makin Me Grumpy". When Leah gets upset and she's ready to be over it, she says "Leah needs a hug". Girls. They are so ridiculous sometimes.

I Knew They Were My Children When....

Joseph started singing "Party rock is in the house tonight. Everybody just have a good time" while playing in the kitchen
Hannah did a happy dance at the dinner table when her food was placed in front of her
Leah gave a smirk when she thought she was about to get away with something

Underwear Test Drive

Hannah asked to wear underwear the other day and we told her if she kept pooping in the potty that we would let her try it. So every morning for four days in a row she went to the bathroom and asked if she could wear underwear and finally on Saturday we let her and Leah put on their pretty princess panties for the first time (Leah has also been practicing on the potty). They were both quite pleased with themselves, and stayed dry for the two hours they had them on (we switched back to diapers for the zoo and naps). This morning they started out with underwear again too, both said once that they had to go pee, and then both proceeded to pee there pants by lunchtime (not bad for our first run at it. For now this is only going to be a weekend thing, when we aren't in the car, when they aren't sleeping, when we aren't going somewhere. An underwear test drive if you will) Before Jay left for his trip he played tackle with everyone one night before bedtime. The kids have a blast (as does Rosco), and it may have ended with Leah and Joseph bonking heads, but everyone had a good time. Maybe Jay should get some pajamas with footies. Then it would be a really cool photo.

Strike a Pose

Hannah has been striking some interesting poses whenever the camera comes out. In the picture with Leah smiling Hannah is yelling "Cheeseburger!". Joseph may actually be saying Cheese in his pose with the soccer ball, and Leah is just giving me the "You're crazy mom" look when I was trying to capture the kids having fun in the play tunnel. This weekend they had lots of fun playing with Bubbie and Poppa (ah hah hah ha haaaah - which is what the girls came up with, like a little joke that no one else gets) while we helped Aunt Gina load her things onto the Uhaul to move back to Evanston for her new job. They made brownies, did some artwork (and if I'm not mistaken they did this without Leah coloring her tongue and Hannah tattooing her hands and feet which is usually what happens when I let them color while helping Joseph with his homework each week), Joseph did some connect the dot alphabet exercises, and of course there was some Scooby Do. (it would not be a weekend without any Scooby Do, though today Hannah expressed her desire to watch Spiderman instead). Jay's got the new tv all ready to go in so we're going to wrap up the weekend with a family room viewing of Megaminds with some popcorn and lemonade (which is Joseph's favorite drink, when we make it he stirs and then sticks his nose in the pitcher to see if it "smells ready").

Family Fun in February

We had lots of fun this weekend playing in the snow with family. The Goulds and Groggs were here and the kids were super excited for Grandma and their cousins to arrive. We did our first snowman and sledding of the season, and while we have had a few big snowfalls we actually didn't get too much of the white stuff this year so this was our first time taking a run down the small hill down the street and putting up Frosty in our yard. I found Joseph in the living room after lunch today, on the couch staring out the window singing "Frosty the Snow Man" which he said would get our Frosty to start talking. He was so happy to be outside having so much fun with everyone, and Hannah and Leah seem to have warmed up to the wet stuff too. They've also all had some pretty funny quotes lately. Last weekend when we made Joseph clean up a few of the rooms that had toys everywhere he said in a quite serious voice "Arg you guys are making me do all the work" and later exclaimed "No way am I picking up girl socks". And I can't remember exactly what we were doing but he told us one day "I'm wearing super hero clothes so I can go super fast" (Joseph is very into shirts with super heroes on them, and since acquiring all kinds of fun spiderman, captain america, and scooby shirts over the holidays and getting a few pep talks from Jay, has been doing a great job of getting himself ready every morning. He even seems to pick out things that match....though none of the nice striped or solid color shirts mom likes, and definitely not any jeans.) Leah and Hannah are quite particular about their clothes as well, and have started battling over who gets to wear what color or which pear of shoes. I think we have worked out a rotational system with the pink shoes that seems to work though. Leah will sometimes however get so distraught over this or other things that she goes into tantrum crying mode, and after one time out Hannah turned to me and said "Can I go give Leah a hug?". And actually, hugs and kisses do work with Leah, and for the moment we have figured out that this is what will make her snap out of any sort of fit. She will even ask Joseph or Hannah for a hug when she is sad (very cute). There was also another time when Leah was crying in the car on the way home from school (probably due to her fingers not being in the right spot in her gloves or me not giving her the purple mittens to wear) and when she paused for thought, Hannah turned and said "You all done Leah?". To which Leah responded with "Raaaaar" (as in, a Lion). The "raaaars" tend to make Hannah cry, and she is quite emotional and her feelings are easily wounded by any tone from her siblings or mom and dad that is anything less than butterflies and roses. And of course Leah isn't the only one to loose it at times, but lately she has had the most memorable moments that end with something so humorous that you can't possibly forget what occurred. For example, both girls, unless totally exhausted, don't go to bed so easily. Leah will look at you quite cleverly with a smile pretending to put her head down on the pillow (but not quite) and then when you walk out of the room the whispering or giggles begin. The other night, I had hung the girls square baby picture announcement things back on their wall above their beds, thinking they had outgrown the phase where they were pulling things off the wall that fell into their reach, and then later went back in to find Leah in bed with hers to which she said "Leah broken it. I broken it again". And so the wall things are back on the shelf out of reach. Also out of reach for the moment are cups for Leah. She literally spills her cup at almost every meal or snack. And she used to feed the food that she didn't want off her plate to Rosco (but now we keep a close eye on what is going on and try to keep Rosco at a safe distance....not only to prevent Leah from feeding him all her unmentionables, but also because sometimes Hannah has accidentally dropped an item that was still desired, which Rosco would then snap up before we could get to and Hannah would then burst into tears). Hannah is better with the drinking, but seems to struggle with staying in her chair. She quite frequently falls head first out of her chair, unless strapped into a booster seat, so we are still using both boosters at most dinners. Joseph also has a problem with staying in his chair, but it's not clumsiness that is his downfall, just ants in his pants and a small tendency to not listen. Right now he is staring at me with his hands pulling down his cheeks waiting for me to finish on the computer so that he can have some fun with Nick Jr. And since I can also hear the girls giggling and "boinging their butts" (as Leah put it...Hannah explained to me that it was jumping off their beds) which means they are awake from their nap, and since Joseph doesn't have any strikes at the moment, it seems my writing has come to an end and his game playing will begin!

Our Kind of Crazy

Yesterday we took all three kids out to run some errands in the morning, and then feeling rather adventurous I brought everyone to the grocery store with me in the afternoon. Joseph and Hannah sat in the car attached to the front of the cart and Leah was seated up by me. Those things are hard to maneuver! I must have been having a crazy moment, but it actually wasn't too bad of an experience until the end when everyone was crying for a different reason while trying to load up to go home. Right now everyone is perfectly happy, watching their favorite show on tv (Scooby Do) while I catch up on pictures and the blog and work through putting away the final load of laundry which it feels like Jay and I have been doing all weekend. Jay is out getting two flat tires fixed (crazy...but at least it happened on the weekend and when we were both here) But in between loads and the other stuff I have also found time to start our 2010 photo album, order some more pictures to hang on the wall, and maybe if I'm lucky sometime in 2012 I will find the blog books and photo books that are still missing from the move. (I must have cleverly packed them somewhere and very smartly put the box where no one could possibly find it. Or maybe I'm crazy and I accidentally threw them away.) The kids have caught up on some of their favorite activities today as well....building towers with trio and lego blocks, Hannah doodling on the Doodler, Joseph running Leah around the house in a stroller meant for a doll. Right now Leah is actually walking around the family room telling everyone that it is "Clean Up Time! And at one point I heard phone ringing noises and found Hannah in our bedroom with phone in hand, for which she gave the simple explanation of "I was trying to call Grandma". (at one point there might have been a little craziness with Joseph getting frustrated and throwing fifty books out of his room into the hallway, and the girls may have struggled briefly with listening to me as they repeatedly screwed around with the xbox and stereo, but we're over that now and I'd prefer to talk about funner things). There has been a lot of fun stuff going on at school lately. The girls had two weeks of learning colors, and each day were assigned a different color to dress in. They were the purple experts, and made a poster of all things purple (which is actually one of their favorite colors, as they sometimes refer to themselves as Leah Purple and Hannah Pink. Hannah has also recently started referring to herself as Miss Hannah, so please use proper etiquette when in her presence) Joseph made a drum for one of his homework assignments out of a paint bucket and some glitter fish, and then everyone had a Valentine's Day Party which they all dressed up for, and Joseph celebrated his 100th day of 4K by bringing in 100 cheese balls that he counted out to share with his friends. And he is also signed up for 5 year old Kindergarten at Washington Elementary School! I actually ended up needing to go back to the school with his birth certificate so I brought the kids with me to check things out, and Joseph's first question was "Where are all the toys?" Which makes perfect sense since when you walk into our daycare you navigate through classrooms filled with fun stuff, not long hallways. And since Joseph is starting elementary school (which is crazy!), we're moving the girls to the daycare just a few blocks from our house, where Joseph will meet them after school. We'll see how the transition goes for everyone, but hopefully sometime this fall things will get a bit simpler. Will still be a crazy house full of crazy people and a crazy dog, but it's our kind of crazy!

Frustrating or Funny?

I have been having lots of fun verbally battling Joseph. I don't recall what he said to me tonight, but I thought it was mean, so I asked him, "Joseph, do you talk to your friends that way?" He responded with "No, because the teachers are there. I don't talk that way in front of teachers. And I don't talk to teachers that way, just moms."

Weebling, Wobbling, and Vogueing!

The kids had a lot of fun playing around the house today. Joseph had a friend over, and then after naps he and his sisters had a super fun snack dinner (they took a later nap and didn't wake up until closer to 5) which sounds so much more fun than regular dinner so all were quite happy. Cheese sticks, gold fish, pretzel rods, broccoli, grapes....all the typical super bowl fare. They hung out playing in Joseph's room for a while, and then while we were waiting for the half time show to start they spent a good twenty minutes (which is like forever in terms of attention span) dancing to the weeble wobble song on the weeble wobble tree house. It started out with just Joseph dancing like a robot to the catchy tune, with Hannah joining in, and then by the end Leah was in full blown party mode bouncing all over the place. It was the perfect warm up to preparing for Madonna, which we all enjoyed. (with more dancing around the room of course). Hopefully the girls are now drifting off to sleep, and it's not another one of those nights where you have to stay in their room with them or take bear and bunny away to tire them out with tears. They should be pretty wiped out from weebling, wobbling, and vogueing!

Welcome Home Daddy!

Jay was traveling for work the past two weeks and the looks on the kids faces when he walked in the door last night were priceless. Rosco and I were pretty happy to see him too. (Yes, Joseph frequently spends his days disguised as spiderman. He had taken the mask off to eat dinner.)

Snow Behavior

Apparently Snow = Good Behavior at the Conway house. At least upon it's arrival. Friday morning I awoke fairly early to shovel before the kids were up (though I did hear noises coming from the girl's room), and when they saw all the snow on the ground they were extremely excited and motivated. When I said listen, they listened. When I said stop crying, they stopped. When I asked Joseph to get his shoes and coat on while I scraped off the car, he did. And miracle of miracles, when I dropped them off at daycare, no one had a fit. The girls went straight to their room, and Leah waved "bye bye mommy", and Joseph hung up his coat, waited for me to meet up with him, and went straight to a table to color after giving me a big hug and kiss. (apparently this is "normal" for when Jay drives, but almost never happens when I drive). I then went home to return to the shoveling, in quite a good mood. If having new snow on the ground gets the kids to do that every morning for me, I'll take it every day! (well, at least until march. at that point the snow isn't nearly as exciting anymore). All three of the kids seem to enjoy snowballs and watching for snow from the windows, but Leah it seems does not actually like being in the snow. She would prefer to stand on the sidewalk, laugh, watch, toss a handful of snow or two, while Joseph and Hannah go full throttle running down hills, laying on their backs, falling all over the place. I am pretty sure it is that Leah does not like being cold, and also gets a bit scared. She doesn't think it's funny to fall or to have her mitten fall off. But she loves watching her brother and sister go crazy, so she still has a good time. The snow did not however, turn the girls back into obedient bed timers. I can't figure out what gets them to stay in bed, and what causes them to act like crazy little giggle monsters. One night I actually thought they had gone to bed, and then later when I checked on them found Leah asleep on Hannah's bed (with Hannah, was actually very cute but I was afraid the flash of the camera would wake them up!). Thursday night the girls even went so far as to open their door and stand in the hallway, though that time someone had pooped, and I guess I understand not wanting to sleep in that all night long. So I changed them and then sat in their room for 15 minutes waiting for them to quiet down. Not so bad except that it was about 9pm at that point, which is pretty late at our house. Keeping them up later doesn't seem to help, baths don't do the trick, and when I tried music (that's what they use at school) I found the CD clock unplugged from the wall, in Leah's bed, and the CD on the floor by the door. Again, kind of funny, other than when you are actually in the moment. And I know the subject is snow, so I'll mention that Thursday night when we were in the middle of the snowfall, I couldn't get into our driveway, and after shoveling and making several attempts (while the kids were enjoying Kids Live Radio in the car....favorites include "I think I'm a Bunny", "The Leftover Song", and "Yeah Toast") I decided to go back onto the street and enter our alley from the other end, which worked! Well Joseph remembered this, and Friday on our way home, said "Mom, remember, you need to go to our house the other way so we don't get stuck". What a nice kid!