Life of the Lorenzens

Snowmen!

2012-01-26T23:12:00.000-06:00

Today was a perfect day to play in the snow. I was so eager to get outside, I woke Lincoln up from his nap (he'd already been sleeping for over 3 hours) so we could have plenty of time to play before the sun went down. My first priority was making a giant snowman. There are already two big ones in our neighborhood. However, I quickly realized my limitations as to how big of a ball of snow I can realistically lift into place. Regardless, this was our first creation.

With such ideal packing conditions and a whole yard full of pristine snow, we had to make another one in the front yard. Emily spent a lot of time "packing" it together while Lincoln was just interested in sticking in the nose and eyes. Lincoln was pretty proud of the end result! (Note: I am aware that Lincoln is not wearing mittens in any of these pictures. He is still at the age where getting his thumb in the proper hole is nearly impossible and just sticking them on renders his hands useless. Because it was fairly warm out, it was just easier to let him go barehanded.)

Emily soon got bored with snowmen and spent the next 45 minutes digging holes and tunnels in the small pile at the end of the driveway.

Lincoln scooped and raked snow, went for a ride in the sled and even trudged out to the backyard for a quick ride on the swing. He was quite disappointed that the sandbox lid was tied down for the winter, but I learned my lesson after the first big windstorm when our neighbor thankfully grabbed it and stored it in her garage until the wind died down.

We're hoping for some more nice days to dig around in the snow!

Beach Body

2012-01-20T22:44:00.000-06:00

Austin & I both got new workout videos for Christmas and both were produced by Beach Body. Emily spotted this on the boxes they came in and has referred to them as "Beach Body" ever since. After observing Austin exercise (I have had a bad head cold and haven't done anything for a week--at least that's my excuse), Emily decided to set up her own Beach Body exercise course. She made a sign and tickets and everything. Lincoln was the first (and only) customer, but I don't think things went very well. ;o)

Plasma Cars

2012-01-20T22:34:00.000-06:00

In addition to the art desk corner, we picked up all the toys from the rest of the basement and did a good vacuum/sweeping. This was quite necessary due to the fact that Lincoln had dumped and scattered the entire container of pea gravel Emily had collected from parks over the summer all over the floor. :op With everything cleared away, the kids were finally able to both use their plasma cars at the same time.

And yes, I realize Lincoln is barefoot and Emily thinks it's July. Sometimes you have to pick your battles. ;o)

Art desk disaster

2012-01-20T22:05:00.000-06:00

Today was a snow day--6+ inches fell during the day and school was cancelled. Emily & I took advantage of the free morning by addressing the art desk disaster in the basement. Emily's corner had become so overwhelmingly messy, no one ventured there. Here's what it looked like when we started:

After getting a new garbage bag and a box for recycling, I started sorting through the big white "Craft Box" that had become a dumping ground (in addition to the floor) while Emily worked on little sorting projects like collecting all the crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc. I asked her opinion on a few things, but most went straight to the garbage or recycling without her even noticing. A few things got hung on the wall. It was really a matter of sorting supplies back into their proper containers and eliminating the "fun and done" projects. After a couple hours it looked like this:

Most of the containers had already been in use but just needed to be re-labeled. The old art cart could use a better sorting, and we still need to come up with a better system for storing paper (plain white & colored construction), but it was a vast improvement. Emily spent most of the afternoon working on projects at her desk. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for it to slip back into messy mode, but I think if we try to sort and keep up a little more often it won't get so bad again that it becomes unusable.

2 years + 8 months

2012-01-19T21:38:00.000-06:00

Lincoln is another month older! A big thing I noticed this month is that he has pretty much stopped drooling. Hallelujah! It has been 2 years + 5 months since he started. I was almost to the point of starting to look into it medically, but my procrastination paid off and he stopped on his own. I think he would just get too busy and would forget to swallow.

Lincoln's speech continues to expand. He has become a lot more conversational lately. There are still times when I don't know what he's saying, but more often I'm surprised by what he does say. He has a lot of thoughts that go on that he hasn't been able to share before!

One of his funny sayings (and favorite things to do) is to "make schuguh wif Mommy" (make sugar with Mommy--i.e. help me with baking/cooking). Whenever I put on my apron or he hears the mixer bowls clanging he comes running. He even has his own little blue apron. His favorite things are to stir the dry ingredients, lick the beaters and play in the dish water.

Another of Lincoln's favorite things to do this month is combing his hair. Since his hair is really too short for it to do much good, I think he really just likes the feeling on his scalp. I'm trying to get him to comb my hair because I love it when people comb/brush my hair, but it's going to take a little more practice. :op

Lincoln had a little cold the first bit of January and ended up with an ear infection (only the second of his life). The funny kid absolutely LOVED his non-flavored, non-colored amoxicillin. He sucked it right down every time and begged for more. I had to hide it in the trash when the 10 days were up because he wasn't ready to be done.

Lincoln is definitely our snuggler and loves reading books. He asks for books by name and can kind of "read" along. He recognizes there are letters on the page and demands that you read them if you haven't already (although you can still get by with skimming through the words sometimes). He has started enjoying longer books like Franklin and The Berenstain Bears. He is definitely a second born/baby in that every once in a while he likes to turn a book upside down just to see what it looks like from a different viewpoint. As a firstborn, this drives me nuts, but it makes me smile. :o)

Lincoln's eating habits continue to be sporadic and come and go in phases. This month he/we discovered a new love: strawberry jam. His go-to lunch is a "jam samich", shredded cheese, fruit and Cheetos. I have been known to trade single Cheetos for bites of a meal quite a few times in the past couple weeks.

In the movement category, Lincoln has been doing a lot of jumping. He always wants to jump off the last step on the stairs. He often carries around and jumps off the step stools scattered around our house. We had to immediately put the kibosh on jumping off the furniture. It's a good thing he received a little exercise trampoline for Christmas! On a related note, whenever Lincoln falls down or runs into anything he gets a funny sad look on his face and says, "I go bonk!" or "I bonk my head!" As you can imagine, we hear this quite often. :o)

52 OHC: Week 2 & 3

2012-01-18T20:43:00.000-06:00

I haven't been doing a lot of blogging recently, but I have been doing a lot of organizing! I kind of overlapped two weeks worth of challenges because they both involved kitchen cabinets and drawers. One week was focused more on dishes/gadgets and the other on food storage. I feel like my kitchen is already organized in the most efficient way possible based on the current layout. I thought long and hard about this (with help from my mom) when we moved in 2.5 years ago. However, there are definitely things that haven't been touched since they were initially placed there. So, I took this opportunity to go through every cabinet and drawer (except the "junk" and "phone book" drawers--that is a whole other project!) and really considered things.

One tool I used was a suggestion I've seen multiple places, but championed by the FlyLady. I found a dual pop-up laundry sorter I had purchased a long time ago but had never used. I labeled one side "Put Away" (i.e. things that don't belong in that room and need to be put in their rightful place) and labeled one "Giveaway/Sell". I had the large kitchen trash can for "Throw Away". I also made myself a little organizer tool box that includes things like labeling supplies. I have to say these little guys are my best friends: Post-it® Super Sticky Removable Label Pads. They are everywhere in my house. They last a long time unless heavily abused (e.g. Emily's art cart), but are easily removed and replaced. Unfortunately, they only come in bright green and pink. And I've only seen them at Target and Amazon (not Wal-mart).

But I digress. Here is a before and after of one of the worst drawers in the kitchen--the mid-sized, moderately used gadget drawer.

The utensil drawer also got a fresh sorting and mild purging, although most items stayed in the same place.

The cabinet that needed the most attention was the corner cabinet containing sprinkles, frosting supplies and plastic dishes. I don't have a "before" picture, but it was getting bad. As in, it wasn't unusual to have a container of sprinkles drop on your head if you reached for anything up high and the sippy cups were getting harder to cram inside when everything was clean. I pared the plastic things down to what we actually use on a regular basis--including travel mugs and koozies. I then used plastic containers I already had in the house to corral the sprinkles, baking cups, frosting/cake supplies, etc. as well as the vitamins/gum/medicine. I did purchase two new containers from the dollar bins at Target for the plastic lids and bowls. Pictured is the end result (notice the lovely neon labels).

You may also notice all the spices/cooking supplies on turntables. Turntables are great for awkward corner cabinets! One of the daily challenges from the Declutter Calendar last week was to purge outdated spices, etc. I did this and actually wasn't surprised by the amount of stuff lurking in the cabinets that was past its prime. The collection is pictured below. The worst offense was an unopened bottle of peanut oil that I believe I received as part of a wedding shower gift with an expiration date of 2003! Sadly, that means I moved it to two different houses AFTER it had expired. Yikes! Many of the cooking wines/vinegars dated back to my experimental cooking days before kids and expired 3-5 years ago. Everything else is now back in place (and still alphabetized--but I bet that doesn't surprise you!).

I also took the time to really tidy up my pantry closet. I am very lucky to have a dedicated closet with built-in shelves. I still don't feel like the space is completely maximized, but it works well for now. Here's a top to bottom view with commentary:

These shelves are way high up, so I use plastic crates to hold paper products (plates, napkins, cups, silverware, etc.). I can walk the crates off with my fingertips without having to get out a stool and the labels tell me what's inside each crate so I don't have to get both down everytime trying to guess which one has the napkins (it took me over a year to figure that one out).

These shelves hold baking chips (specialty kinds are sorted into labeled Glad-ware containers), box mixes, pasta, and canned goods. The green bag is for collecting Terracycle items. Some kids in Waverly led by a mom I know run the program at the recycling center. They collect specific plastic bags like chips, cheese, cereal liners, etc. and each bag gets $.02 for the WSR school district. It's amazing how fast you can accumulate these things!

The bottom shelves hold larger bottles and boxed items, including cereal. The plastic tub holds extra baking supplies (flour, sugars, etc.). The trash can is for collecting recycling items that are sorted in the garage when it gets full (usually twice/week). It sits on top of the ample supply of Diet Coke. :o)

I did finally add stackable bins for potatoes/onions and other large items instead of just leaving them all on the floor.

It feels really good to systematically go through things that I know should be done, but I would otherwise have a hard time finding the motivation to do. I would love to have you join me if you haven't already!

P.S. I submitted two entries to the Home Organization "Hall of Fame" and both got published! You can see the kitchen countertop one here and the spice organization here.

He begged me for it today...

2012-01-10T22:05:00.000-06:00

...but he's going to hate me for it later!

Playing at the park in January

2012-01-10T21:58:00.000-06:00

The weather this "winter" has been nothing short of amazing. I don't ever remember going this long without snow that stuck around for more than a day. You know you're getting spoiled when you're disappointed that the high temperature wasn't at least in the 40's! Since today was another amazing, sunny 54 degrees, we ate an early lunch and walked to the library wearing light jackets. Then we took a pit stop at a park on the way home. I ended up sacrificing Lincoln's nap, but it was worth it. :o)

Hey Diddle Diddle

2012-01-10T21:22:00.000-06:00

It's nursery rhyme month at preschool!

Sweetness

2012-01-09T21:13:00.000-06:00

Thoughts on Pinterest

2012-01-09T00:56:00.000-06:00

Okay, I'll admit it. I've been sucked into the black hole of awesomeness that is Pinterest. For those of you aren't familiar, Pinterest is the latest online social networking phenomenon. It allows you to collect and organize all the cool things/ideas you find online onto "boards" that mimic a bulletin board collage. The networking part is "following" other people's boards. Newly "pinned" items show up continuously on a main board. You can then "repin" it to one of your own boards if you like the idea and want to save it. You can also add comments. The nice thing is that the link to the original source is preserved, so you don't end up with a non-working link of a link of a link that someone else posted. If you can't get enough of the stuff of the people you're following, you can always go out and look at the general board collections of all users. Plus there is a search function.

After a week or so of use, here are some observations, tips and tricks I have:

I didn't get the whole "invitation" thing at first. Apparently, it's starting out semi-exclusive similar to Facebook. You can request an invitation, but I'm not sure what happens next. I was invited by a Facebook friend. If you link it to your Facebook account you can follow and invite your Facebook friends.
There aren't great instructions on how to use the web site (or at least I didn't read them). It's more learning by doing and exploring. That's how I did it. I'm sure I haven't discovered everything yet.
Organize your boards for your own personal needs. Don't just use the pre-set titles.
Be choosey about who and what you follow. Find people with similar interests. Don't feel like you have to follow all their boards, because it just clogs up your main board. Since I care very little about the topics, I have eliminated all boards relating to fashion and hairstyles. I am also on the verge of unfollowing some food boards, too. I'm interested in some of the main dish recipes, but the amazing desserts/treats are almost overwhelming. Don't get me wrong! I enjoy an indulgent, gorgeous looking concoction of sweetness just as much as the next person, but I've decided I've already seen enough recipes to last a lifetime (which will likely be somewhat shortened if I actually make and eat them all). Frankly, I don't have enough people/places to share the caloric love. So I might try a new one for fun once in awhile (I already have a huge stack in my recipe collection), but I'm probably mostly just going to stick to my tried-and-true favorites. [end of food rant]
Add the "Pin it" button to your web browser tool bar. It's an easy way to pin stuff you personally find on the web and not just relying on repinning things someone else found.
It's fascinating to watch the effects of a pin. You are notified who repins anything you've pinned. You can't see the exponential effects beyond that, but it's interesting to think about. I pinned the 52-week challenge, and it was repinned 6 times within 24 hours (I only know one of the repinners personally). Plus I saw it pinned at least 5 more times on my main board by other people from totally different sources. Just out of curiosity, I pinned the blog post of our monkey bathroom remodel. Although it has only been repinned twice, there were over 100 direct page views of that post within 24 hours. I usually average 5-10 direct page views of my posts (I'm guessing most people use a reader). A single blog post can almost instantly go viral. It's a great way to advertise and generate traffic!
Don't feel like you have to scroll through everything to "catch up" every time. Although it's tempting, I've decided that if it's really that great, it will show up again (e.g. 52-week challenge).

There are definitely hits and misses, but it is an awesome way to collect great ideas. My main interest areas are home organization (surprise, surprise), tips and tricks around the home, activities for kids, easy meal recipes and a place to collect book titles I hope to read someday. If you're interested and haven't been invited to join the cult yet, feel free to let me know and I'll let you in. ;o)

Oh, and I'd love to hear your thoughts, too!

52 OHC: Week 1

2012-01-07T21:45:00.000-06:00

This week's challenge was the kitchen countertops and sink. The focus was on decluttering and keeping things clear. This is an area where we are already doing well. For the most part, the only things on the counter are things that are used on an almost daily basis. However, there are a couple "hot spots" (as the FlyLady calls them) that seem to build up clutter quickly. The first is the "mail" area. This spot tends to collect papers, projects and items that need to go downstairs or be put away. Mail that doesn't require my immediate attention gets put in the mail holder and builds up. It gets cleared off regularly, but I thought it could use a little sprucing up.

Like most things with picture slots, I've always had intentions of putting something in the slots of the organizer. I don't consider myself a creative or crafty person, but I was pretty proud of this little project I thought up on my own. (Must have been inspired after getting sucked into Pinterest!) Whenever we receive cards of any kind, they get thrown in a basket in the cabinet. The basket was starting to overflow, and it was one of the daily missions on the 2012 Declutter Calendar this week, so it was a win-win-win idea. I quickly sorted through almost three years worth of cards and looked for patterns that could be used as backgrounds. I chose three that went together and gave the rest to Emily for her own art projects (they use a lot of greeting cards at preschool in the art center). I cut out squares of patterns and glued labels on each before sliding them into the slots. Total cost of the project: $0. Now each item has a home, and theoretically, I shouldn't have to hunt around so long for a Sharpie. ;o)

The other "hot spot" in our kitchen is the top of the fridge. One of the reasons is because it is one of the few "up" places left on the main floor of our house. It was just a matter of putting things away that had accumulated and restoring it to the state I had put it in over a year ago. I also cleared off the front of the fridge and hung up the January Declutter calendar.

Here are the "after" pictures of our kitchen counters. As I alluded to earlier, 95% of the time this is what they look like after supper is cleaned up. One thing I'm quickly learning about this little organizing adventure is that I'm more organized than I give myself credit for sometimes. However, there are always things to be tweaked and improved. There are also just some areas that need a little more help than others. :o)

P.S. These pictures make me even more anxious to gut this kitchen and put a little life and character into a part of the house I spend a lot of time in!

Tube sculpture

2012-01-06T20:08:00.000-06:00

Emily spent two days working on a "sculpture" in the basement. The great unveiling revealed a robot made out of paper tubes with cut out eyes, nose, & mouth. Both Emily & Lincoln had a lot of fun "feeding" the robot all sorts of things.

Spending money

2012-01-04T22:04:00.000-06:00

Soon after Emily turned five, we started a money jar system with her (recognize them, Julie?). Every week she receives a letter in the mail from Grandpa Lorenzen with some stickers and a dollar bill. Using a roll of quarters from the bank, each week Emily trades in the dollar for four quarters. One goes in Save, one goes in Give and two go in Spend. This was a bit difficult for her to grasp at first. She kept wanting her dollars back. She also didn't have much of a concept of what each jar was for. This past week we had a little money lesson where she traded back quarters from each jar in exchange for dollar bills. Then we talked some more about what each jar was for. I told Emily she could take some money out of her Spend jar and go to Wal-mart with me. That's where the really money lesson took place.

Emily carefully put $1.25 into a little purse thing, and it immediately started burning a hole. After picking up a few things I needed, we headed to the toy section. Emily very quickly learned the value (or lack thereof) of a dollar. She kept asking how much different things were and was visibly disappointed with the answers, "$17, $23, $28, $32..." There were a couple boxes of dollar items, but all were complete junk. Emily was pretty crestfallen until we passed the party aisle. There was a whole row of cheap party favors for $.97. Emily excitedly picked out some sparkly jewel rings. She was almost equally as excited to receive two dimes and a penny in change after paying for it.

As expected, two out of the eight rings broke within the first hour. She tried wearing the rest to preschool, but I made her choose only one for each hand. They are now residing in her new jewelry box. I'm sure this is only the beginning of many lessons learned about making good buying decisions.

P.S. Emily is now saving for a toy guitar to replace one that broke several months ago. And she can't wait to bring her Give money to Sunday school on Sunday.

Shoebox train

2012-01-01T22:30:00.000-06:00

It was a cold (relatively), windy, nasty day outside. Emily's big project this afternoon was making a train out of a box and construction paper. She called it the "Shoebox Train".

A new year of organization!

2012-01-01T22:00:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! Like many people, I often get motivated about starting/doing things at the beginning of the year. Right now I'm on a major organizing kick. I know, I already had a comment on Facebook saying, "Can you be any more organized?!?" The truth is, being an "organized" person is also a curse, because you never feel you can be organized enough. There is always something to tweak or re-do. Plus changing life stages mean changing needs.

I'm not a full-fledged FlyBaby, but I have adapted quite a few suggestions from the FlyLady over the last year. One of the biggest tools for me has been an app on my iPhone called HomeRoutines. It aids me in breaking down cleaning chores (both surface and deep) and other tasks that occur (or should occur) on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. I have a morning, after lunch and before bed routine similar to the FlyLady, as well as specific tasks assigned to each day of the week. Do I follow all of my routines perfectly? Absolutely not! But I have everything set up. I want to work on getting better at actually following through.

However, I'm always looking for new ideas, and there are certainly a lot out there! One area I really need (and desire) to work on is decluttering/purging. I have finally reached a point where I realized we have way more stuff than we need, and I'm emotionally ready to start letting some things go. I started doing some of that with my wardrobe this past fall, but I still have a long way to go. Almost every day I run across something somewhere in the house that I really don't think I would miss. So here are some things I'm going to try:

This 52 Week Organized Home Challenge is from Home Storage Solutions 101. They have broken down things into weekly challenges. You can check the challenge online or sign up to receive the weekly email that comes on Monday mornings. You can also post before and after pictures to be featured in the Creative Storage Solutions Hall of Fame. I have a button on the side bar of my blog if you'd like to check in at any time. I hope to post updates of some of the challenges I complete.

Another tool/option I just found out about is the 2012 Declutter Calendar from MySimplerLife. It is a series of monthly printable calendars offering very small tasks for each day of the week with a fun or renewing task on Sundays. You can also sign up for a weekly email containing simplicity tips. You can even join a "Declutter Group" in January or May!

Since I am a task-oriented person who LOVES to check things off a list, all of these options are very attractive to me! I know it seems quite silly and repetitive, but I'm going to try these simultaneously. Maybe I can get organized in half the time! ;o) In the end, I hope to find a system or combination of systems that work best for me at this stage of life.

Here are some other resources I have found interesting and/or helpful:
IHeartOrganizing
Memories On Clover Lane: Organization
I Used to Be So Organized: Help for Reclaiming Order and Peace by Glynnis Whitwer

What resources/systems have you found helpful?

I'll end this post with a excerpt from the Clover Lane blog. The quote at the end needs to be my mantra.

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Wednesday, March 16, 2011
40 Days Tips and Tricks: Questions and Decisions

Take time to deliberate;
but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in."
Napoleon Bonaparte

Some tips for de-cluttering decisions:
Is it really that hard of a decision? If I am pondering over keeping that kitchen tool that I don't really need or want, what is the WORST thing that can happen if I get rid of it? I might have to buy a new one down the road after I find that I miss it terribly? It might cost me $3.99! If I am thinking of getting rid of something that costs $1,700 of course I will put some thought into it. But most of the clutter is the little stuff that slowly ads up. Fear of letting go of little things is silly, I have found.
I was going to post some practical professional questions I found on the internet to ask ourselves while de-cluttering, but it was just all so stupidly generic and magaziney-ish I thought "OH how dumb".

I'm a mom just like you, so here are my unprofessional REAL-LIFE thoughts when I am making decisions to rid my house of something:
Do I want this in my house anymore?
Where the heck did this come from and why is it in my house?
Do I love this toy for my children? (Was it just a gift that I would never have bought, or did I make a mistake thinking it would be hit and it's plain old dumb.)
Do they play with it often?
Do I look good in this shirt or do I never wear it because my bra straps always show and bug me or the sleeves are too short, or some other annoying thing?
Do these pants make my butt look big? Or do they make my butt look bigger than it already is?
Will my child look like a rag-a-muffin wearing this?
Will he/she EVER wear this in spite of my attempts to force them into it?
Does it have stains?
Do I want to dust this for the rest of my life?
Do I want to look at this for the rest of my life?
Is this really me or do I feel I need to keep it out of obligation?
Do I use this daily, weekly, or monthly?
How long will it be before anyone even notices it is gone?
Will I be able to sleep at night if I get rid of this, or will I be racked with guilt?
Do I really need more than one of these?
Do I swear at this thing a lot? (Like a small lamp that was in my kitchen once that shocked me all the time. Or that battery toy that never shuts off and drones on and on and on? So long, sucker.)
Or more eloquently put, I always keep this quote in mind:
Have nothing is your house that you do not know to be useful,
or believe to be beautiful.
william morris

Lots of new posts

2011-12-31T22:32:00.000-06:00

There have been a lot of new posts with the flurry of activities over the holiday season. If you're reading on the actual blog page, be sure to click "Older Posts" at the bottom to check for any you may have missed. :o)

December 2011 videos

2011-12-31T22:25:00.000-06:00

New Year's Eve

2011-12-31T22:22:00.000-06:00

We attended the annual "It's Midnight Somewhere" family New Year's Eve party hosted by our friends, the Ulven's. It was a smaller group this year, but so nice because we're to the point where the kids could sit at the kitchen table and the adults could sit at the dining room table for a real meal and conversation! It was good food and good fun. "Midnight" took place at approximately 8:00pm. (This is also getting later from the 6:00pm it originally started out at!) The kids were thrilled with the noisemakers, party hats and confetti falling off the ceiling fan blades.

Cookie balls

2011-12-31T22:09:00.000-06:00

Because I'm a glutton for punishment, and we didn't already have enough sugar-laden items gracing the counter and stuffed in the freezer, I decided to make cookie ball pops for our New Year's Eve party. I tried chocolate peanut butter and mint Oreo. It wasn't nearly as neat and easy as they made it look in the magazine or the YouTube video. However, Emily had a lot of fun decorating with some fun items I picked up from the cake decorating section at Wal-Mart. We did stick lollipop sticks in after they had hardened (because they kept falling out while trying to dip), but I didn't take any pictures.

The hilarious thing is that when we arrived at the potluck party, I discovered that my dear friend, Kathryn, had also agreed to make a dessert and decided to bring...cake ball pops! Hers looked WAAAY better than ours, and I found out a lot of tricks and tips from her. I obviously watched the wrong YouTube video! Here's her final product:

The good thing is that they all tasted good. :o)

5 years + 2 months

2011-12-30T21:47:00.000-06:00

Emily had her sparkle on for New Year's Eve! This is probably her current favorite outfit. She is either wearing it, it's in the laundry basket or it's air-drying. She usually does have matching socks. I guess she just felt like being extra bright today!

Emily's big accomplishment this month was learning the basics of telling time. I used The Clock Struck One: A Time-telling Tale by Trudy Harris and this manipulative clock from Emily's Scholastic bookorder. She can definitely do 30-minute increments, is getting better at 15-minute increments and can usually figure out 1-minute increments if she thinks about it long enough or uses the manipulative clock for reference since the minute numbers are written in 5-minute increments around the outside. She definitely has digital figured out! I think she's starting to grasp the concept of the passage of time and what happens at different hours. It has been helpful when she asks for a snack at 1:00pm or wonders why we have to stop reading books at 8:30pm.

Emily's downfall this month has been picking at and ripping her fingernails until they hurt and sometimes even bleed. It is a bad habit that really needs to be broken. She even tried putting socks over her hands while we read books together at night, but she unconsciously starts doing it one-handed.

Reading books before bed has become even more fun with Emily. Her big gift from us was a nearly complete set of Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne (again from the school bookorder). We started after returning home from Christmas travels and have finished the first three books already. Both Emily & I look forward to finding out what will happen next!

It's a good thing we can have these nice bonding moments, because things can sometimes get a little dramatic around our house. On more then one occasion after Emily got upset about something she declared, "You're not the best mom!" It's a good thing I don't take this personally, because this same child would say something like, "You're the best mom because you have the best plan/idea" only hours later.

Austin gets in on the action, too. He has been ~~brain-washing~~ teaching Emily about football. Most importantly: who to cheer for. It all started with the Steelers/Ravens Sunday Night Game. When asked who we wanted to win, she was taught to reply, "The Ravens." When probed why, she would reply, "Because the Steelers play dirty." Now whenever a game is on, she asks which team we want to win and whether or not the other team plays dirty. She does know that we always cheer for the Panthers (UNI, that is)!

Emily continues to be the craft queen. This month seems to have involved a lot of cardboard and boxes. Many of these boxes have collected in her room because she wants to still "use" them. Unfortunately, they are usually rather large boxes. Just yesterday she took a large diaper box and poked a hole in it just big enough to fit a jack for an old pair of headphones and dubbed it her "listening box". Then she had to save the whole thing. I finally told her she needed to figure out a way to store/organize her boxes because it was creating a bit of a hazard on her bedroom floor. I told her if there was an emergency at night that we had to run upstairs it would be dangerous. She took that very seriously and has them all stacked up now. Now to find a way to permanently "let go" and eliminate them...

Swimming!

2011-12-30T21:36:00.000-06:00

The W also has a really nice indoor swimming pool. It's ridiculously expensive if you're not a member, but the kids each had free day passes from running in the Kids Fun Run in Waverly this summer that expired at the end of the year, so we decided to go swimming today! Both kids had lots of fun--especially in the vortex pool. It was quite a workout for me, too! Emily was excited to try out her new swimming suit. Who knew you could get a decent one at Target in December?!?

Future IRS agent?

2011-12-29T20:58:00.000-06:00

This is what Emily had set up in her bedroom doorway this afternoon. Really not sure where it came from. Too many political ads?!? At least she says please!

Fun Zone

2011-12-28T21:18:00.000-06:00

The W in Waverly hosts a "Kids' Fun Zone" every Monday/Wednesday/Friday morning from 9:00-11:00am during the winter. They open up two courts in the fieldhouse and supply all sorts of fun play equipment. It only costs $.50/kid (no charge for parents). Lincoln & I have enjoyed it several times while Emily was in preschool. Since Emily was on vacation this week, they both got to burn off some energy today. Emily worked on her soccer skills and ran lots of races. Lincoln loves crawling in the pop-up tents and chasing after the hula-hoops. There are also trikes, scooters, a bowling set, ring toss and a Cozy Coupe.

Great-Grandparents

2011-12-26T16:53:00.000-06:00

We also took the time to visit with great-grandparents before heading home.

Great-Grandma Boote

Great-Grandma Freking

Great-Grandpa & Great-Grandma Lorenzen

Christmas Day

2011-12-25T22:40:00.000-06:00

After breakfast on Christmas morning we headed to NW Iowa. The Vander Kooi side of the family was at my parents'. It was fun to visit with people I hadn't seen in a long time. Somehow I forgot to take pictures. At night we celebrated Christmas with my parents and siblings. We attempted yet another grandkid photo with the standard results:

Then it was time for presents. We all got lots of nice stuff. Lincoln & Ryan got matching Battat Take Apart Cranes and PlaSmart PlasmaCars. They also enjoyed Lincoln's new Pop Goes Froggio game.

And who can resist a Where's Waldo? search with Uncle Wade?

Lincoln got his Christmas wish because it was warm enough for a ride in the Kubota with Grandpa Boote. Emily was really excited about her Where's Waldo? The Complete Collection, Qwirkle Board Game and some new puzzles. She was probably most excited about throwing around all the wrapping paper (see video in December player). Of course, there was also lots of good food and fun with family. We are so blessed!

Christmas Eve missed

2011-12-24T22:30:00.000-06:00

On of the downsides of Christmas is having to choose between family celebrations. It was the year for us to be in Waukee for Christmas Eve, so we missed my extended Boote family Christmas. It turns out we were the only ones unable to attend that evening. So courtesy of my Aunt Nikki, I wanted to post the amazing family pictures they took that evening. We must be the ones that destroy every family photo attempt!


The whole Boote clan (6 children + spouses, 16 grandchildren + 6 spouses, 8 great-grandchildren counting us)

Grandchildren

Great-grandchildren

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T22:00:00.000-06:00

On Friday afternoon we headed to Waukee to Austin's parents'. We enjoyed a fun evening of pizza and playing with cousins. Christmas Eve was another day of fun (and food!) with everyone. The kids decorated Christmas cookies (mostly so they could lick all the sprinkles off their plate afterward).

We all went to the 4:00pm Christmas Eve service. Afterward, we attempted some family pictures.

Then it was time for presents!

Lincoln was most excited about his Imaginext Helicopter Rescue Set. Emily loved her new jewelry box with a wind-up ballerina and giant activity sticker book. Austin & I both got new work-out DVD's (P90X2 for Austin and 10-Minute Trainer for me).

Of course, everyone needed a bedtime story! :o)

Then the adults enjoyed a traditional viewing of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Christmas Adam

2011-12-23T15:25:00.000-06:00

Since we would be traveling over Christmas, we did are own family Christmas today on the 23rd. Austin jokingly calls it "Christmas Adam" because Adam came before Eve. :op

We all slept in and enjoyed cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then it was the moment Emily had been asking about for weeks--time to open the presents under the tree! Of course, I made them take pictures first. :o)

Each kid received books and a game as gifts. Emily was very excited about getting "Momopoly, Jr." We don't really do the whole "Santa" thing, but there were some small things in a stocking for each of them. The highlight for them was probably the M&M fans that they have been playing with asking about in the Fareway check-out line for months.

Merry Christmas from the Lorenzens!

Christmas goodies

2011-12-22T21:30:00.000-06:00

After nap time, we made one of my favorite Christmas treats--dipped pretzels. I'm not sure why I continue to make the chocolate ones, because Emily & I both prefer the white ones. Anyway, Lincoln was supervising. I was concentrating so hard on picking the pretzels out of the almond bark, I didn't notice that Lincoln was helping himself. He gnawed off a good chunk of a chocolate square before I caught him. Apparently, he's not as picky.

Here is a picture of all the Christmas goodies we've made over the past couple weeks:

Fun in (a little) snow

2011-12-22T21:20:00.000-06:00

We received a light dusting of snow overnight. The kids were super excited, and the weather was nice, so we ate an early lunch and bundled up to go outside before it completely melted away. I was a little nervous about getting Lincoln bundled up since thus far he has refused to put on his actual winter coat, snowpants, boots or mittens. This is how he thought he was going to go outside:

Emily bundled right up almost completely by herself. After watching his big sister walk out the door, Lincoln decided he could get dressed, too. (Minus mittens) The kids got out the shovel and brooms to clean off the grass and back deck. Emily asked if we could make a big snow pile with the snow from the deck.

They both wanted to make a snowman. However, with the snow disappearing fast and limited packing ability, this is the best I could come up with. (Yes, I'm holding it in my hand.)

After half an hour Emily got cold and went inside. Lincoln decided it was cold enough to put on mittens. However, he soon discovered that mittens can really hamper your efforts to play T-ball, especially when you can't get your thumbs in the thumb holes. I ended up hitting the ball while he retrieved it.

Next, Lincoln tried out his tractor/wagon and sidewalk chalk (and ditched the mittens again).

Then he got out the lawn mower. I am not sure what he is trying to accomplish by the tree.

After an hour I declared it to be nap time. I put my feet up by the fireplace just like my dad. :o)

A birthday cake for Jesus

2011-12-20T22:09:00.000-06:00

Emily & I had planned on making a birthday cake for Jesus, so we decided Tuesday was a good day to do it. She wanted a white layer cake with pink and white frosting. Lincoln got in on the action, too. We dug out some seldom-used pans for a three-tiered cake. After carving off (and sampling) the bottom layers, the frosting began. (How do you like Emily's "frosting" outfit?)

Next came the pink accents. My buttercream frosting was WAAAY too runny to be squeezing out of a tube, but I was too lazy to open a brand new bag of powdered sugar to try to thicken it up. It did make for easy spreading for the kids, though. It quickly became apparent that team star-making was not going to work (see blobs on bottom left of final product), so I took over while receiving directions from Emily.

Of course, licking the frosting beaters is the best part. Why did I think it was a good idea to frost right before supper again?!?

The final product! (It is very difficult to write "Happy Birthday Jesus" on a tiny 4.5" diameter very domed cake with runny frosting and a too-big tip.)

Lincoln adding another candle so they each had one to blow out.

Blowing out the candles after singing "Happy Birthday"

It was complete sugar heaven. The kids & I worked on eating it for three days before leaving for Christmas travels. Half of it now resides in the freezer if we are ever desperate for dessert. :o)

2 years + 7 months

2011-12-19T23:09:00.001-06:00

Another month has flown by for Lincoln. It seems like he has grown taller lately, so I finally took some measurements at home. He is now 36" tall and weighs 28 lbs. Those are in the 35-40th percentiles, which is a huge jump from most of his previous measurements. He's still a skinny little thing, though!

Lincoln has entered full-fledged toddler stage with some impressive tantrums and boundary-testing (although Emily hardened me, and I rarely get flustered or lose my cool). He was a real stinker about eating this month. He would oftentimes refuse to sit at the table at mealtimes, and only when everyone else was pretty much done would he show up to eat--sometimes even completely cleaning his plate. This is a picture of one such instance. I recently decided that we needed to break this habit before Christmas travels. At the first meal Austin set Lincoln back in his chair about 20 times. Then I made Lincoln stand in a corner until he was ready to come eat. Amazingly, he stood there quietly for about 5 minutes and then willingly joined us. The next couple meals he had to stand in the corner again, but it didn't take as long for him to rejoin us. Lincoln willingly came to supper tonight. Let's hope that little lesson was learned!

Another little phase Lincoln went through this month was a sudden onset of separation anxiety. He has been the kid to run into a childcare room without a backward glance for as long as I can remember. Then one week he just started screaming whenever I left him anywhere--even in familiar places with familiar faces. Of course, he also sometimes screamed when I picked him up because he didn't want to leave. :op He has been okay the last two times at church, so I'm hoping this phase is also passing.

Lincoln continues to develop his verbal skills. Some of his popular phrases are, "Dat's mine!" "Me, too!" and "Please help me." His favorite, though, is excitedly clapping and exclaiming, "Yay--you did it!" He says this for many simple activities like when you cut up his food, park the van, pick up toys, get something down off the shelf, etc. He said it to Austin last week when Austin changed his diaper. :o) It's pretty nice having an enthusiastic cheerleader around!

Lincoln can sort of sing parts of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Jesus Loves Me" because I sing these to him every night before bed. He can also recite parts of "Humpty Dumpty" and "Mary Had a Little Lamb." The funniest thing is listening to him almost completely recite "Cobbler, Cobbler mend my shoe. Get it done by half past two. Stitch it up and stitch it down, and then I'll give you half a crown." I noticed him doing this while pounding a plastic screw with his plastic hammer. Then I remember that in the nursery rhyme book we often read, the picture illustration that goes with "Cobbler, Cobbler" is a picture of a man hammering nails on the bottom of a shoe. :o)

Lincoln is always trying to keep up with his big sister, and that includes playing board games. Emily got a lot for her birthday, and Lincoln likes to "play" all of them. You can kind of play a simple, modified version of some of them with him, but he mostly just likes to dump all the pieces and cards out. I swear we pick up every game 3x/day. And for some reason, Lincoln thinks we have to read the directions for "I Have" every time he gets out. He pesters you until you actually read some of the words.

As displayed in the meal picture above, Lincoln has very dramatic, and oftentimes hilarious, facial expressions. He can go from square-mouthed pout to sly grin with the flip of a switch. Lincoln & I often make and mimic funny faces across the dinner table. We all love our little schmoozer!

Christmas crafts

2011-12-18T22:01:00.000-06:00

It was a successful Christmas craft day with Emily. The foam tree was a kit from Wal-mart. The paper cut-out nativity set was from here thanks to my friend, Kathryn. One more week until Christmas!

Leg wrap

2011-12-17T23:13:00.000-06:00

Emily was once again dressed for summer this afternoon, but she is beginning to feel the effects of dry, winter air. Apparently, her leg was itchy and started turning red when she scratched it. Therefore, she decided to "wrap it up" to make it feel better. She decided snowman wrapping paper was too boring, so she added a streamer and a few feathers. I can only shake my head and smile.

Christmas cookies

2011-12-16T21:44:00.000-06:00

After once telling Austin that "I don't do cut-out cookies," Christmas wouldn't be the same without them! :o) I specifically planned to make them during Lincoln's nap time. Emily has become a fun cookie-making partner, but I'm not sure I'm ready for Lincoln yet. Don't feel bad for him, though. He "helped" mix up the dough in the morning while Emily was at preschool and got to lick the beaters (his favorite part of baking with me).

Emily & I got fancy this time and made a small cup of black frosting to use for faces. Emily practiced using a toothpick. We each made a large gingerbread person (do you still call it "gingerbread" when it's really a sugar cookie?) I love Emily's attitude. When I broke off the head and one arm of the boy I made for Lincoln trying to get it off the pan, she said, "It's okay, Mom, it will still taste the same."

We were pretty proud of the final product. And yes, Emily changed into a short-sleeved shirt, skort, socks and white dress sandals while decorating because she "didn't want to get my long-sleeves dirty." Mmm-hmm.

Nativity faces

2011-12-16T21:11:00.000-06:00

Someone was a little more excited than the other someone about taking this picture at preschool.

Angry Bird Bowling

2011-12-15T21:51:00.000-06:00

Heart-warming Christmas cards

2011-12-15T21:30:00.000-06:00

Today Emily decided to make some Christmas cards for people using some old ones I had in a box. It's very interesting what can come out when a kid starts drawing pictures! Here is the card she made for Austin. It's a picture of him coming into her room in the morning to wake her up. How sweet!

Here's the card she made for me:

Here's the backstory: There is a CD player up on a shelf in the living room that we often use to play kids' music. Sometimes I put it down lower so Emily can push the buttons to find the specific songs she wants to listen to. Lincoln just likes to push buttons. (You can already guess where this is going.) This morning they begged for music. I told them I would put it down low as long as they didn't fight over it. Of course, that lasted less than three minutes. This picture is Emily's version of what happened next. I'm shaking my finger saying, "No, No, No!" while Emily is teasing Lincoln saying, "You're neeeever going to get it!" Nice.

More Christmas tree decorations

2011-12-15T20:00:00.000-06:00

Our Christmas tree has an interesting combination of decorations this year that changes based on Emily's whims. I thought I'd share a few additions since I originally posted pictures. The first is a "popcorn" string Emily made at preschool out of packing peanuts and beads.

Next are the random headbands nestled deep in the middle of the tree. (Emily rarely wears the navy and light pink one).

Then there are the candy canes. Emily brought a candy cane home from preschool one day all excited after learning about "J" for "Jesus". She remembered from a very vivid experience last year that she does NOT like the taste of peppermint at all. However, she forgot that you should leave the wrapper on. She, of course, broke it in several pieces attempting to unwrap it so she could hang it on the tree. After shedding a few tears, I promised we'd get some new ones. We received a few when viewing the live nativity scene at the church where Emily's preschool is located. I happened to buy a box of Jolly Rancher ones at Wal-mart the same day. Emily was very generous in sharing them with Lincoln when hanging them on the tree. It soon became evident, though, that all the candy canes needed to stay up high. I think Lincoln broke three of them in the first 24 hours after taking them off and banging them against something. :op

Advent Dinner

2011-12-13T23:00:00.000-06:00

I hosted a table again this year at the Women's Advent Dinner at our church. It was pretty similar to the table I decorated last year. This year's theme was JOY, so I changed up the centerpiece a bit. This year was even more fun because my table was full of people I had invited! We also heard a great message from Tara Thomas of KWWL News and enjoyed beautiful music and drama. Thank you to everyone who made the evening great!

And a special thanks to my great table decorating helper! :o) She wanted to go back at night for the dinner so bad. She even said, "Mom, I'm dressed fancy enough!"

Here is a slideshow of some of the other decorated tables:

Tea for Two

2011-12-13T21:47:00.000-06:00

What do you do on a dreary December day? You have a tea party! This entertained both kids for quite some time and Lincoln by himself for at least a half an hour more. They had so much fun pouring out water from the tea kettle and drinking it out of the cups. I'm not sure how many times they refilled in the bathroom.

Nativity Scene

2011-12-12T22:23:00.000-06:00

Emily's drawing of the Wisemen

It was Nativity day at preschool where the kids dress up and act out the nativity scene. Emily said she got to be the "head" angel this year. I think she was secretly disappointed she wasn't Mary, but it was a promotion from Shepherd last year! ;o) As expected, as soon as she got home, Emily wanted to recreate the nativity scene again. We didn't have the same cardboard as last year, but we re-used the farm scenery from earlier this fall. Emily drew a stable roof, drew and directed me in cutting out doors and windows and added a blue "star" at the top. Then she recruited all the stuffed animals in her room to be the characters in the scene. I asked her if she was going to dress up, but she said she didn't have to because she was the narrator. Here is the cast and crew:

Angels

Pillow Pet as Mary, Big Bear as Joseph and Baby Jesus in the manger

The Shepherds

The Wisemen (Emily insisted the lamb be a Wiseman and not a sheep)

Animals (or aminals as Emily calls them) in the stable

The whole scene

Emily as the director, producer, set designer, casting director, costume designer and narrator

Hidey-hole

2011-12-09T20:39:00.001-06:00

This is a common scene in our house these days. Emily uses blankets, pillows and cushions to build a "hidey-hole" almost every day. It has doubled as a classroom, a restaurant and tunnel, as well as a hiding place.

Making tracks

2011-12-06T21:19:00.000-06:00

During the living room project, we moved most of the toys & books into Lincoln's room. He had never really had anything in his room before. I decided not to move everything back. One of the things I left was his little wooden train set. He has spent hours putting the tracks together and moving train cars back and forth with great sound effects. This is a picture of a track he proudly made all by himself (I only helped get the sloped pieces from the bridge in the right way).

It's nice to have another room/area for the kids to play in, but it's sometimes a battle to get Lincoln away from the trains and into his crib for naps and bedtime.

Playing trains is apparently hard work. Especially when you skipped your regular nap time. ;o)

Christmas Decorations

2011-12-04T21:58:00.000-06:00

I am a "no Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving" person. I am also not a Black Friday shopper. The day after Thanksgiving is for decorating! This year we had to hold off on the tree and mantel decorations until the living project was done. Here are some pictures of Christmas from around our house...

I love having an artificial tree that you can store in the basement with a sheet on top and pull it out all put together and fully lit each year. I let Emily decorate the whole tree all by herself (minus the lights and bow on top). I also got a foam ornament kit to keep her busy and to add to the collection of unbreakable ornaments. She was pretty proud of her work!

I'm still trying to decide whether or not to wrap some gifts to place under the tree or just wait until the day they are going to be opened like I have in the past.

I have dreams someday of putting up my snow village again and having a blue & silver themed tree in the foyer, but for now the Little People Nativity set will suffice.

The Jesse Tree is one of the highlights of Advent/Christmas for Emily. She can hardly wait until after supper to hang up the next ornament. Luckily, Lincoln isn't fighting her to do it yet.

Emily also made a new "Mommy" and "Emily" person with a Christmas tree instead of a turkey on the shirt. However, she was quick to point out that we're both wearing sandals. I told you she was in denial about winter!

Cozy living room

2011-12-02T22:22:00.000-06:00

As you might have noticed in Emily's monthly picture, we have made some significant changes to the living room! It was our latest remodeling project. Ironically enough, one of the only things we didn't change was the wall color.

It started on November 8 when we had a new picture window installed. The old, original one was drafty, and the side panels were already caulked and painted shut when we bought the house. This meant there was no way to clean the cobwebs off the screens inside them, plus the ventilation in the room was not the greatest.

The same day the window was put in, Austin took a vacation day to install new recessed lighting around the perimeter of the room. It didn't go quite as smoothly as we had hoped when Austin hit rafters on three out of the six holes even after carefully measuring and plotting them out. But it all got patched up again. Austin also moved all the cords and wires hanging down from the the TV/Dish/DVD player into the wall.

Next on the list was a new gas insert fireplace. The previous owner had put a gas log in the wood-burning fireplace 20 years ago. I only got it lit twice the first winter before it died altogether and I used packing tape to seal the glass doors closed. Before the new insert was installed, Austin re-tiled the surround and hearth using the same tile as in the foyer. It replaced green swirled marble and chipped hearth tile.

The final step was new carpet. The old carpet was solid off-white. It held up fine for 20 years in a house with an older couple, but didn't stand a chance with two young kids. :op

I am pleased with the results. It now feels more like a warm and cozy family den instead of a cold (literally), old-fashioned living room. We will spend a lot of hours curled up in front of the fireplace this winter! Below is the transformation in pictures. (Many of the "before" pictures are not the best quality because they were taken on my old 35mm camera to use up the film.)

Old window from inside

Yucky cobwebs

Old window from outside

Big hole!

New window from inside

New window from outside

Helping Daddy drill holes

Eager helper

Before & after fireplace

More "helping"

North view before


North view after

West view after

South view before

South view after

Fireplace before

Fireplace after

November 2011 videos

2011-11-30T23:06:00.000-06:00

I guess I didn't take very many videos this month. That will probably change next month. :o)

5 years + 1 month

2011-11-30T21:47:00.000-06:00

Another month has come and gone for Emily, and she has sure been busy! You could probably tell that based on the number of "craft" posts lately. She especially loves the "Make and Do" Child Craft book. I tried hiding it once, but she's too smart for that. The books are numbered, and it didn't take long for this firstborn child to realize #11 was missing! Pictured here are the cartoon faces she drew using the instructions in the book. She has also drawn some pretty good "Larry the Cucumber" likenesses after watching the bonus features on some VeggieTales DVDs.

Another thing Emily got into this month was doing experiments with water. I would find random containers of water on the counter or in the fridge or freezer. I showed her how to use the digital thermometer from the kitchen drawer to occasionally check the temperature of the water. I'm not sure where she got the idea, and I don't think she understood much besides that it gets colder, but it was fun to see her all excited about science!

Emily often proves that you can never underestimate kids when it comes to electronics. She is a whiz on the iPad2. This month she also mastered the DVR. Without my knowing, she figured out how to run the Smart Search function to find a show and then record the episodes she hadn't seen yet in addition to being able to find, play and skip through recorded programs. Luckily, the show she was after was "Blue's Clues" after getting a couple of videos from the library. Parental controls here we come!

Emily continues to have lots of "friends". For most of the month her imaginary friend was named Addy, which was really confusing since she has both an Addie and an Addison in her preschool class and another friend named Addy from church. Sometimes it was hard to tell if she was talking about a real person or an imaginary one. Emily also continues to "imagine" with other objects. Her bracelet named "Lasic" (I was corrected on this) has a bed in a shoebox but also has a decorated "sleeping shoe" that she takes naps in. Ladybug Beetle is also a constant friend. It looks like she's ready to go on vacation in this picture (with Sunglassa and Teddy Beara)!

Another thing Emily invented this month is "siwish" (pronounced swish), According to her list (see picture), she has a teeth siwish, eat siwish, drink siwish, reading siwish and snowblower siwish. I'm still unclear on the exact definition of "siwish", but her snowblower siwish is when she blows really, really hard on her food to cool it off when she thinks it's too hot. She uses it a lot.

Emily is also quite the chatterbox. Sometimes my head literally hurts from listening to her talk. We also often have to make deals at the dinner table about taking a bite or two before she can say something again. Otherwise, we would be cleaning up and she would still be talking with her full plate in front of her!

This month Emily was really into corny jokes. Austin downloaded an app for her, and she also remembers them from TV shows and books. At the beginning of the month Emily all of the sudden figured out how to say a proper "S" sound without a frontal lisp. We started practicing at night while reading books. Then she started doing it during the day, albeit with a very concentrated effort and lots of hissing. Toward the end of the month she slipped back into a lisp during everyday speech, but can do it the right way if reminded or prompted. Hopefully, it won't be long before she won't have to think about it at all.

Final note: Emily is somewhat in denial that it is winter. She also loves wearing skirts & shorts. If we're not leaving the house, she often wears the outfit in her monthly picture or something else from her summer collection that she hasn't quite outgrown.