Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Kid Conversation

Peach:  Hey, mom, can you put my milk in the fridge so it doesn't get soggy?

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Frozen Frenzy

I don't know if this is my fault for moving and having Frozen available on our iPads for the kids while the chaos was happening, but there is a serious Frozen addiction going on in our family.  Peach can often be heard belting the words to "Let It Go"  (or, "Don't Let it Go" as she used to sing...) and now Hazel has caught on.  I've heard her singing it to herself in her crib when she's supposed to be falling asleep.

The kids request the Frozen soundtrack in the car.  (and now that we rarely go anywhere that takes less than 15 minutes to get to, that's a lot of soundtrack time)

I don't do this often, but every time I try to sneak in a catnap on the sofa, Peach's "Fro-dar" will go off and she'll seize the opportunity to run up to me and say, "Elsa, do you wanna build a snowman?" followed by whispered instructions for how I'm supposed to respond like Elsa.

Even The Frog will chime in if someone starts singing "For the first time in forever..."

If Hazel sees a snowman anywhere, no matter the context, she points excitedly and exclaims, "Owaf!" (Olaf)  And more often than not, she is sleeping with Anna, Elsa and Olaf in her clutches.

Neither The Frog nor Peach requested to watch movies before 2 (because they never did) and even though Hazel won't sit through a whole movie, when she sees an unused iPad laying around, she will point at it and say "Watch Frozen!"

That being said, you will better understand the following Kid Conversation with The Frog.  I was instructing him from afar about how to use our new microwave while he heated up his own hotdog, and he was searching for the button that says "Power".

The Frog: (excitedly) Hey Mom!  There's a button that says "Frozen"!!

Monday, October 13, 2014

Kid Conversation

This is a conversation I was trying to have with Peach after she ripped some coveted toy from Hazel's clutches for the 17th time that day...

Me: You should tell Hazel, "that is mine, can you please give it back?" instead of grabbing it from her and making her cry.
Peach: It's not yours, mom, Kennedy gave it to me.
Me: No.  I'm saying if I were you, I would say to Hazel, "That wallet is mine, can you please give it back?"
Peach: But mom, it's NOT yours!! It's MINE. Kennedy gave it to me!
me: No. I'm pretending to be you. And I'm telling you what I would say, pretending to be you.
Peach: Ok!  You can be me, and I can be the mom.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Hello NY!

Well, we are moved in.  I keep meaning to take pictures for a tour, but I'm having a hard time finding a large enough chunk of time to do that and see that the rooms look clean in the pictures.  You'd think living in a smaller space would be easier to keep clean, and in some ways it is, but mostly it just means that there are less places to hide the mess.

We have settled in Wappingers Falls.  I know, I know- it looks like "whap-ing-ers" but it's really "wahp-in-jers".  Now you're in the know.

I decided that I wasn't going to be my normal introverted self and made sure to introduce ourselves to at least our direct neighbors.  We met them with some chocolate zucchini muffins in hand, and though I was terrified, they were well received.  Turns out, we have a couple of neighbors with young kids/grandkids too!

We've had to re-"break-in" the kids with homeschooling.  We completely got out of our routine and had to go through the 2 weeks of power-struggle so they could see that we mean business and, yes, we have to go to school every day, and work before play and all that.  Peach has settled in nicely and has started addition and sounding out words (but addition is her favorite - that's my girl!) and Jack is really getting into reading.  Things are going really well!  Hazel really wants to get in on the homeschooling action and during The Frog's first break will often run over exclaiming, "my turn! my turn!"  At first, I kind of sighed and went through the motions of what we are planning to do a year from now, but actually, Hazel recognizes the letters A and B and knows that the B says "buh".  It's awesome!

I think the hardest change is that The Frog and Peach are sharing a room and so they are much more sleep-deprived than they used to be, and we are much less in control of their bedtime (because they stay up late playing with each other).  The Frog still wakes up early, typical, but Peach sleeps in until about 7am.  I think his sleep-deprivation may be closely tied to his crankiness, but I'm not sure what to do about that.  It seems weird to reinstate naps with our now 6-year old (oh yeah! we had a birthday party!  I really need to upload my photos.) but that may be in order.

Our ward here is much smaller than in Provo (not unexpected) and the people seem nice and there are a few other moms with young kids that seem great.  Unfortunately, half of them live 45 minutes away, (ward boundaries are a lot bigger here) - closer to Connecticut (and Costco!) so playdates with them will be trickier to arrange.  I am happy to be living where I am, though - a pretty street with well-kept, simple homes and convenient to shopping and farm stands.

Jay has been called to be the Young Men's President here - meaning he is in charge of the boys ages 12-18 (all 4 of them!) and I've been asked to serve as the second counselor in the Relief Society Presidency - they are head of the women's organization, all women over 18.  I also get to play piano for the choir, which is nerve-wracking but so so fun!

I would like to post pictures, but I really haven't been taking very many.  I think I'm over the worst of the depressed part of moving and so hopefully I'll feel more like I want to remember more moments.  I must say, though it's really hard to get ready to move and then move in somewhere else with kids underfoot, they have really made this whole thing so much easier.  Peach, especially, has just become so funny (though, at times, soooo difficult) and just seems to know when I need to hear someone say "I love you".  I'm going to try and be better about writing down the cute things they say that make me chuckle.  I still remember how nervous I was to bring the kids here for the first time because to me this place is worse in every way compared to our beautiful home in Provo that we made ours, but Peach, after doing a quick run-through exclaimed with a squeak, "MOM!  I LOVE our new house!!"

Hopefully you and my future self are all feeling updated! :)

Monday, October 6, 2014

Family Photos at Vassar!

I have so much I could say right now and a lot of catch up, but this blog has been photoless for too long, and I'm excited about how well our photo shoot went today, so I'm just going to put up some of my favorites.  We thought it would be fun to utilize all the cool old buildings at Vassar, so that's where we are!

Unfortunately, the family pics weren't great... we'll probably have to do them again (the downfall of using self-timer...) but I got some really fun shots of the kids!  One of our family shots would have been ok if the lens were just clean!! argh!!  You'll know which photo that is when you see it...

These are all without editing, except for the second family photo whose colors were completely washed out.

here's the dirty lens shot.  le sigh.

if only I had just scooted closer!!

The Frog suggested this picture.  I love that he was getting into the whole thing :)

Peach chose this spot.  It's one of my favorites! 
Candid, but I love this one!

Can you tell I love this door? Put it with these kids and I'm completely enamored!

3 of the same shot, sorry! it's so hard not to show them all!!

I finally got an all girls shot to replace my framed one of me with Peach when she was a baby

LOVE this girl!!

It is SO hard to get him to look at the camera!

Turns out, The Frog might be boy band material! ;)

It is sooo hard to get a good pic of Peach smiling.  When she smiles on command she really just squints her eyes and shows her teeth, haha

Funny small door.  "What's in there?"

My cute boys

I love seeing the hole where The Frog's 2 teeth are missing! :)