Mid February Review

Another snowfall this year! Sylvia, Gus, and I were pleasantly surprised when Rex rushed into the room during story time to announce that it was snowing. They got out in it a little while but then it was time for bed. And they couldn't stay up late this time because Rex had cooked us a steak dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day.



Et voila! The meal was delicious. Too bad Rex doesn't do most of the cooking around here. I can never muster up the time to carve hearts out of butter. We turned the couch around in the family room and watched the snow as we dined.



My mom sent the children a few small gifts to celebrate Valentine's Day. Gus' bubble gun was the favorite. For Sylvia's birthday we made blackberry pancakes for lunch and pizza topped with ham, pineapple, and mushrooms for dinner. We gave her three ballets on dvd (Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake) and a couple of dresses I had sewn for her.



This picture of Sylvia's caught my eye. It's Gus, me, Sylvia, Laila, and Millie on a boat. Apparently Rex was at work for this trip.



I caved in and bought a big hunk of multicolored plastic to keep Millie entertained during read alouds. It works!



Sometimes it works REALLY well!

Dirt Cake!

We had Sylvia's birthday party this weekend. After carefully considering the type of cake she would have the other 50 weeks of the year, she finally settled on a dirt cake 2 weeks ago. A far cry from the runner ups which were a blueberry cake and a rainbow marshmallow cake. I really had a lot of fun with the cake accessories. We had a bunch of the "neighborhood" kids from our country stomping grounds, her homeschoolings (her term for some of her homeschooling friends), their families, plus my parents and the rest of our local family. The evening was a big hit with tons of pizza and rowdy play inside and out.

She will officially be 5 this Thursday. Assuming she meets the normal milestone of moving out in her late teens/early twenties, one quarter of her time at home with me is already gone. Day to day our time together seems immense. But the big picture proves otherwise.



She had a couple of her friends spend the night after the party. They get such a kick out of sleeping on the floor. I remember those days well!



And finally, here's a picture she drew this morning. Her handwriting has come so far in the past month. I credit it to her intense delight in drawing and coloring. She seems to have a crayon, colored pencil, or marker in her hand about 25% of the day. She kept writing down these numbers and asking Rex what was one, zero, zero, zero, etc.

Park Timidity

I took the kids to the park on Saturday to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather. Millie got her first swing ride. We all enjoyed the sunshine but my children are timid park goers. You would expect a child to get to the playground and be ready to burst out of the car and run to the jungle gym. Sylvia and Gus tend to hang back and watch the other children. They take their time getting used to the place and gradually get into their own groove of play. And Sylvia is definitely the most timid of the two. Although I value her observance, I feel she would benefit from a healthy dose of rambunctious courage. If I could just get her to go down the twisty slide a time or two I'd probably have a hard time getting her to stop. I remember the same situation for myself as a child. I had a hard time taking the initial risk and doing something new and somewhat scary. But once I got the hang of it, I would become quite adventuresome. For instance, my dad basically had to throw me into the water during a beach trip around the age of five. And not long after that I spent more time than anyone floating on the waves and begging to be tossed in again.