Miss us?

Did you miss us?  It may not be surprising to hear that it has been a busy two months.  Now we are gearing up for Holden's birthday celebration this weekend.  I am also on summer "vacation," which will predictably entail me adding way too much to my to-do list, including teaching an on-line course for the first time.  The summer break started off with a bang, as Holden had a double ear infection, Noella has battled a stomach bug on and off for two weeks, and Mariel has another case of lice.  We thank our lucky stars for a working washing machine several times a day here.
Updates in a few photos:

Mariel's (rescheduled) Birthday Party

 A few perks of the "rain date"- we got to celebrate with Grampy and Babci and the Irish themed party got to take place on St. Patrick's Day!

 Mariel's gift from Babci and Grampy: Disney on Ice!

 Easter!

 And we helped host a baby shower for a friend.  The girls (and their dolls) did not do much with the planning or food prep, but they still came early to help out.

 I got to share in the dessert table creation and frosted many dozen baby face cupcakes.

Dancing Away

Poor Mariel spent Sunday, her birthday, sick in bed with a fever.  We had to cancel her party and she also could not go to her big celebration.  Sunday was a fundraising event for a non-profit that I work with, complete with an Irish Band.  Mariel was pretty sure that the band was really there for her birthday, so it was quite devastating when she could not go.  I took Noella as my replacement helper.  A few lessons learned:  it is much easier to sell raffle tickets when you have a sweet 4 year old charming people; Noella can hang out independently at a bar with suprising (maybe alarming?) ease; and Noella has not yet outgrown her wild dancing phase.  She was quite entertaining for all involved.

Hopefully we can re-schedule Mariel's birthday celebration for next week.  She went with an Irish theme, so St. Patrick's day weekend will work well.

Too much information?

We were all home on Monday for the Presidents Day holiday.  This worked out well, as we discovered that Mariel had lice and spent much of the evening trying to clean/ heat/ freeze everything possible to kill our new louse friends.   The kids were fully treated and safe to return to school this morning.  Far from being embarrassed about her situation, Mariel walked to school with a friend discussing what life would be like if the world was overrun with lice.  I fully expected her to spend the day discussing it with her classmates.  I was not prepared for  Mariel to come home with this lovely self-confidence building worksheet on "What makes you different."

I was pretty relieved that I had already spoken with her teacher this morning.

Stylish

Noella got her hair cut this morning (as did the other two).  She came home and decided to fix her beautiful new hair up.  So - this is the picture of the results.  "Take my picture, mom.  I look STYLISH."
In other news, Holden's vocabulary has been expanding.  While "NO" is still a favorite, he is also getting creative in making up words for things he does not know.  His new contribution is "spoon saw"... for knife.  I was pretty impressed.

Just some thoughts on kids these days...

Here are some thoughts on what the kiddos are like these days....

Mariel these days is alternately funny, inappropriate, and surprisingly thoughtful.  She is a model first grader.  She is missing odd teeth, thinks saying the word "booty" is hysterical, and interjects some of her many new pieces of odd knowledge randomly throughout the day.  Mariel is still fascinated by fashion and the idea of clothing, and she really does sit down with Vogue and go through each magazine several times, carefully identifying which things she likes and does not like.  Needless to say, she and I have some very different tastes in clothing!

Noella remains her spunky little self.  She is an excellent middle child and a very amusing preschooler.  Noella puts so much energy into wanting to help and wanting to take care of others that it can be overwhelming (both to her and to those targeted others).  She is also increasing in her love of singing (see the future Christmas hits below) and has somehow managed to learn most of the lyrics to "Call Me Maybe" and "We are Never Ever Getting Back Together," which she enjoys belting out repeatedly.  If you don't know those particular songs, you may consider yourself very lucky.

Holden continues to embrace life as a toddler.  He does not walk so much as run/gallop/dance his way around... often while throwing anything resembling a ball so that he can immediately chase after it.  He has been struggling a bit due to molars that are taking their slooooooow time coming in, torturing everyone in the family and at school.  When he is not a grumpy monster he is a warm, snuggly, sweet boy who loves to give (snotty) kisses and yell "Thank you" to everyone he can think of.