It's been a long while to say the least.
E had her first bubble bath today. She loved it. Wanted to get the bubbles, but got so excited she'd kick, and the bubbles would disperse.
The other day she had our recorder in her mouth and just walked back and forth across the family room "playing" the recorder. so proud of each step and whistle.
B has said several funny things lately, but I'm so exhausted I can't remember them. why such a feeble memory???
I need to set a reminder on my phone to make me blog. I also need to see if I can get this blog on my phone so I can post immediately (that way maybe I won't forget)

So I've been meaning...

So I really have been meaning to post. Of course it's not like it's been seven months, oh it has? Oops. Or as Bella used to say "ope-a-daisy". There have been so many blog-worthy happenings since Jan 27th. My poor feeble memory can't reneged many. Here are some recent things...
I went into my room Sunday afternoon to wake up Bella for life group. Upon entering my room I could see bare shoulders peaking out of the covers on my bed. Weird, I thought, that she would have taken off her shirt. Though she can be pretty silly. She has been known to try on my nighties while she is supposed to be resting. I walked towards the bed to gently wake her, and noticed a pile of clothing on the floor. Ther at my feet were the skirt, shirt, shorts and underwear thT she had worn to church. She was in my bed and she was naked. She was in my bed, naked AND on my side. Ha!
That night I wS saying goodnight to the girls and found Bella all bundled under her covers. She said "I'm a racoon". Then after she shuffled under the covers she emerged with her blanket draped over her arms and spread wide saying "and now I'm a beautiful butterfly.
Claire came out of my room wrapped in a scarf and had her sun glasses on. I told her she wouldn't be able to wear those to gymnastics. Her reply "but I'm totally fashioned". Oh no. It's starting.
Bella asked on the way home from the softball game " when will we (as in our particular family) go to the moon?"

Oh, so much has happened recently... I'll try to remember the best stuff.
Let's see...
at the end Christmas Eve service Pastor Brown said "raise your hand", before Bella could here the end of the sentence Bella shot her hand up. what great obedience! then he said something to the effect of "if you would like to accept Christ's gift of salvation tonight". then he said "anyone else? raise your hand". And so she raised her other hand. She must be double saved now- hee hee.

the other night after the girls had gone to bed and were not supposed to call for us unless it was an emergency... I hear "daddy" it was bella. So I said "bella you aren't supposed to call". Her reply "no, I said daddy". In other words "daddy is a pushover". hee hee!

oh, man, the only two I can remember right now. oh, mommy's sleepy brain.

we were out to dinner with my aunt Linda and uncle Mike at the Iowa Machine Shed and B had been pretty shy all afternoon. we think that looking at her Papa's twin was a little eerie for her. So, my outgoing daughter was quiet and my shy girl was talking up a storm (???). I took the girls to the bathroom and B perked up a bit. She had to dance in front of the mirror and then as we were walking out, well, she was running, she stops and while waving her arms says "Listen to me, I'm serious". Then kept running. ??? What? she's so random sometimes.

Even better...
that day at lunch we were at Panera standing in line to order our food and I got a tap on my leg. I looked down to see what was going on... B points with her finger and her eyes to something she is finding odd. By her expression I can tell she thinks something isn't quite right, rather, it's out of place. I look in the direction she's pointing... and I see a little person. I knew this was her first time seeing a little person and I didn't know what to do. He could see her pointing and was waiting to see my response. I told B "Say hi, B". She drew closer to my leg and the man said "hi, are you shy?". I responded for her "yes, she is shy, especially of men". the man said "how old are you?". I again responded for her "she's three, this one is five, and this one is five days old." the little person, who was about B's height, said "wow, five days! I don't think we were out that early with my son after we had him. He's three, too." I'm not sure what else we said, I think we had finished placing our order and headed to the table. I told B that "he's a daddy, but he's just small". C didn't know what to think and didn't really comment. When I first turned around I thought "do I tell him she's never seen a little person". then I thought I better not say anything like that, he probably gets kids stairs all the time, he's used to this. He did handle it really well. it was I who didn't know what to do. I had to keep talking to him to fill the awkward silence. When we left mom and I were hashing over the story to laugh again. Mom asked "how did you know that guy?". I told her "I didn't know him". which made the whole thing even more funny. Mom asked why, then, was I talking so familiarly with him. I said it was only because I had no clue what to do. ahh! there should be a class you can take on how to handle such situations.

B's latest nickname for C "you little muffin maker".

We started our ant farm for home school this week. When they arrived in the mail we set up the habitat and then introduced the ants to their new home. Of course we had to name all 25 ants.
Pizza, Aliza, Thomas, Butter, Honey, Grass, Tree, Elizabeth, Nine (was the name of number 9), Ten (name of #10), Bella, Bella 2, (she had to write those on her own), Head, Eyeballs, Cheeks, Lips, Cup, Bowl, Three (no, not the name of #3, but #19), Twenty, Shirt, Shoe, Hair, Skin, and #25 came dead
Of course they look in the habitat and say "oh, there's Aliza".
What fun! they wrote in their science journals about the ants and had to draw a traced hand with an ant on it and wrote about how the ant's would bite! I'm glad they got that into their head so they don't start trying to "hold" their new pets.

B looked at my baby bump today and said "you don't have a belly button". Which therefore inspired her to sing the veggie tale song "he don't got a belly button- bel- ly bu-tton' repeatedly.

Our new room on the house is just about finished. We moved our furniture in two weeks ago and have really been enjoying the extra space. The girls especially have loved it. they have a giant king size bed to jump on!! They have new closets to hide in!! We both have our dressers tucked into our closet and for some reason the girls have decided they like that idea. in Micah's closet they found they can get on top of his chest of drawers since it's about 3.5 ft tall. then when they are on it they become a teacher (???). so, last night B get's on top the dresser and says "okay, I da teacher. Daddy come on" so micah is sitting on the bed next to C and B says "Okay now do dis" as she gives a dance move example. Then moves onto the next instruction "now shake." she pauses, "shake like a wet dog". Hilarious. where did she hear that? Then she said "do something that's good for everyone" Then she gave us examples of what that might be "hug someone, kiss your mom, kiss their hair, kiss their tummy, kiss their ears". we were all cracking up, but she wasn't done. "kiss their bum". OH, BROTHER! all this inspired by a dresser in a closet that begs to be taught from? What is this teacher thing? I guess they are on a pedestal or soap box. they are in charge.

Tonight B ate an onion out of her Thai Basil Chicken and said "I ate an onion!" I asked if she liked it and she said "I didn't taste it". So this inspired C to try one too. they both decided that the onions couldn't be tasted in this dish. Wow! after all this time thinking they were "gross", they finally see that they are GREAT! I hope we can move forward from here.

Wednesday I went to the Dr and she told me all my late night contractions had amounted to... NOTHING. I had made no progress. this really discouraged me. Of course my lovely girls new the perfect words to comfort me. I went in to get C after rest time and she says "when I look at your belly I don't think baby E is ever coming out". oh i wanted to burst into tears again. Knowing C didn't realize what she was saying, I held the tears in. I said after making sure my voice wouldn't reveal my sadness "of course she's coming out. she'll be here soon". I guess to a 5 yr old nine months is even longer than it is for a 30 yr old.

C has been getting leg cramps lately. poor girl! i had them all the time growing up and hated them. it would seem to be mainly at night and wake me up with just awful dull pain that wouldn't go away. so monday night she starts having leg cramps so we get out the icy-hot and the hot rice bag. I also start massaging her poor little legs. she's distracted enough for a while playing games and with grandma's kitten. then on the way home she's no longer distracted and all she can do is moan the word "ouch, ow, ouchy". B is trying to figure out what is wrong with the sis she loves. we say that she is growing and it is making her legs hurt. B says "I don't cry when I growing. I am happy when I grow" emphasis on the "I" . i told her that C 's muscles are hurting. B says "but she's whinning". of course this stems from the ongoing battle at home to "STOP WHINING". so we explained that C can't help it and then Micah and I laugh about B's comments.

c asks micah the other day "does Baby E know that I love her?" Micah, wanting to feed her little ego says "Of course she does". C replies "but she doesn't even know what those words mean". so, surprised at her intelligent retort he says "well she'll learn that you love her".