Kittens

We were out in our front yard on Monday and discovered that our neighbors have kittens living under thier porch. We walked over and lured the kittens out so we could play with them for a while. Our neighbors didn't know the kittens were there, so once they came out and saw them they went in and got some food. The girls got the feed the kittens and we got an open invitation to come play with them.

So, today we went over again, and this time we took the camera. The girls really like to play with them, Alexander wasn't to sure about them on the first visit, but today he was chasing them around and patting them, trying to pull thier tales, all that sort of thing. He was running around saying "cat, cat".

Last week I took the kids to St. Joe to pick some apples. They were really excited about it and had been waiting for several weeks to go. It only took about 25 minutes but Isabella picked 15 pounds and Sophia picked 11! We have been rolling in apples. Pies, cheese cakes, breads, muffins, you name it! We are planning to make an apple lasagna this weekend!


 

Baby Pictures

These are some pictures from our 21 week sonogram. This is the one where most people find out the gender, we, however, do not. The are very sneaky when you tell them you don't want to know, so try as I might, I still don't have a clue.

The baby is healthy and right on size for development. It is about 7 inches from head to bottom, they don't really count the legs at this time since they are always tucked up under. So the baby books say it is about the size of a banana. I am able to feel it moving around now, which is always kind of exciting for me, it makes me actually "feel" pregnant. Faron can't feel it yet, but he and the girls are looking forward to that.

This is the baby's profile, the arrow is pointing to the nose bridge, forehead to the left, chin to the right.


This is the hand giving a little wave.


Looking straight on at the face is always a little bizarre on these Ultra Sounds, since it picks up the bones and not the "flesh" it looks a little like a skeleton, but use your imagination. The baby is looking straight at the camera, forehead to the left, chin to the right.

One little foot, toes to the left, heel to the right.

Pretty Pretty Princess

 

Productivity

Yesterday was a rainy day, so Faron's working on the house day was canceled (woo hoo!). Around 12 I decided to go to the store and then come home and make a bunch of meals to freeze. It has been several months since I have done it, just because it takes a full day of cooking, but it is so worth it when I do get to do it.

I didn't get started til around 2, but I finished 6 casseroles, soup fixins for the crock pot, 2 pear pies, pear cobbler, pear coffee cake and pear crisp (we had a bucket of pairs that had to be dealt with).

ahhhh

Dance class

Isabella had her first dance class yesterday. She has been looking forward to it for quite some time and was very excited to go. The studio we chose has small classes, she keeps a 5 to 1 teacher ratio and I talked to her before we signed up about how she would react to Isabella being shy. I felt pretty good about her answer so we decided to go ahead and try it.

The teacher was great. She has it really well organized and well geared for that age group (4 and 5). Isabella wouldn't do anything, but Miss Diana was still really good with her, she lead her to each new place the kids went and encouraged her to do the different dances, but didn't try to make her. When the other kids would say something about Isabella not doing it Miss Diana would just say that it was ok, and that she was learning by watching today.

The class is an hour long and they do 15 minutes of tap, 15 of ballet, 15 of tumbling and a cool down. It looks like it is going to be a lot of fun for her in the coming weeks as she starts participating. The entire studio is open, with only a half wall separating the parents from the kids. So I was able to watch the whole class, and Sophia and Alexander stood at the baby gate entrance and watched the class too. When class was over the kids got to pick a piece of candy out of a basket, then Miss Diana let Sophia come into the studio and told her that if she did a summer sault she could pick a treat for watching patiently. So she helped Sophia do a summer sault too.

Isabella said she had fun, and she remembered everything they did, even though she didn't participate. I'm sure that in the coming weeks she will get more relaxed and start dancing with them.

another organizational book

I am reading another organizational book, this one is called "Get more done in less time" by Donna Otto. It is a pretty good and informative book, I am enjoying it.

This is one of my favorite concepts out of the book, it can be found on page 49, if you’re interested.

"I have learned to ask myself a very important question before adding any activity to my life. The question is: Can someone else do it?"

"There are three, four, or maybe five things in life that only I can do...those things come first, everything else is optional."

So, I made my list of my "things that only I can do"

1. I alone am responsible for my relationship with God.
2. I alone can be Faron's wife. Only I can learn, and provide, the things that he needs from me.
3. I alone can be my children's mother, understanding, shaping and caring for them.
4. I alone can manage my house to the benefit of all that live here.

That is what I have come up with so far, I will add to it if I think of anything else. These are my priorities in life, if anything that I do interferes with these things, it should be removed.

Another quote from this book that I liked is actually a quote from another book "Poetics of Music". Igor Stravinsky, a famous composer, said, "My freedom thus consists in my moving about within a narrow frame that I have assigned myself....My freedom will be so much greater and more meaningful, the narrower I limit my field of action...Whatever diminishes constraint, diminishes strength. The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees oneself of the chains that shackle the spirit."

very sad

Isabella cut her hair today, her own hair. This is the second time, I am not happy about it. Last time she cut just a couple inches off of one strand, doesn't really stand out that much. This time she cut a lot. Several chunks. I saw the pile on the floor and started to freak.

I don't know why it is such a big deal to me, but I cried, for a long time, and I don't normally cry. She is a beautiful girl, and she still is, even with choppy hair. But still, that is her beautiful hair she just chopped up. How do you explain that to her without sounding vain and encouraging vanity?

I can't tell her that her hair looks bad or silly now, cause I don't want that floating around in her head. But I do not want this to happen again! UGH! So I went the " I'm not going to be able to put it into a pony tail or braid or anything" route. And the "this is going to take a long, long time to grow out" route.