Just say cheese... PLEASE!

I would like to report that taking family pictures gets more difficult every time you add another person to your family, just in case you were wondering. Matt's awesome sister, Raegan, took some pictures of us while my Mom was here, and although there are almost 200 shots, it was very tricky finding any where we all look presentable- in fact I'm still looking! Also, my children have gotten to that age where posed smiling looks a little disingenuous, if not startling at times. All that said, they are so adorable. This particular Friday was a very crazy day and Daphne missed her all-too-necessary nap. Then, of course, she fell asleep on the couch 1/2 an hour before we needed to leave for the pictures. So, for those of you who know Daphne's personality, you can imagine the scene that ensued. Let us suffice to say that there was screaming and tears. My son, who dreads changing clothes, or even putting on the first pair of the day, was extremely frustrated to cut short his game of football to come get his picture clothes on. Victoria was right on time, but everyone else being irritable put us off of her schedule straight into exhaustion. I'm not sure why I'm writing all of this- maybe just because Matt's out of town and I can't sleep! Anyway- here are a few shots from the day!

This is our silly pose, which was an attempt to get the sillies out so the kids could really smile... I just thought it was cute!

To the Zoo!

We have really wanted to take Daphne & Isaac to the zoo all year. We actually tried to take them in the spring before Victoria was born, but it started raining on the way and we went to the Children's Museum instead. Daphne, of course remembers this unfortunate event vividly and reminded us whenever the moment suited her. Anyway, my Mom came to visit the weekend before last and we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous fall weather. So to the zoo we went!

It is sort of a tradition in Matt's family to take pictures in front of this gorilla display, so here we all are. It's kind of fun to compare with pics of cousins, etc...

Victoria spent much of her time at the zoo in my baby wrap, which we both love. Her hands are tucked in here so she looks a little funny...

While everyone was in the reptile house, I got some adorable video of Tori cooing and laughing... so sweet!!

Here they are with GiGi!

4 Month Stats

Now that Victoria is almost 5 months old I thought I would post her 4 month stats! She was 16.6 lbs at her check up and was 26 3/4 inches long, which is the 95th percentile for weight and height! So far she is right in between Isaac and Daphne's growth curves. The doctor said, "She is just perfect. - How tall is your husband?" "Um. 6ft 6 in." I guess that will do it!
Here she is in her Halloween shirt, which I couldn't resist! In case you can't read it, it says "I heart my Mummy!"

More Fun at School...

So, sometimes getting up and out the door with Daphne by 7:30 is a challenge. It's a lot of work for Matt to get Isaac off to school and Victoria off to Nanny's house so that I can keep teaching part time. BUT, it is also incredibly fulfilling for me and for Daphne! We have so many experiences that just wouldn't happen if we all stayed home! I caught a few pictures of recent fun times! Here is Daphne dressing up and dancing in my class last week. Also last week, we had a special visitor come and play this Japanese drum in my classroom. Daphne LOVED it! The kids are all dancing and jumping in this one!

Alice, our visitor, wanted so much to let the kids each have a turn, but we had 3 other classes come to participate and there was no way for all of them to take a turn. So Alice decided to let the teachers learn some simple rhythms!

A few weeks ago, we took a field trip to the Fire Station and learned a little about fire safety! Here is Daphne trying on the big Frie Fighter's coat!

4 months & 30 years

October 6, 2008- Victoria is 4 months old and Matthew is 30 years old today! I have been somewhat derelict in my motherly photography duties so my pictures from this occasion are limited. Here are a couple of pictures of 4 month old Victoria: Her 4 month appointment is scheduled for next week, but I do know that she weighed 15 lbs. and 3 oz. last week. She is a little bigger than Daphne was and lot smaller than Isaac was at 4 months.
Victoria is an absolute joy! She is very drooly and I anticipate that she will have a tooth or two within the next month. She is a very happy baby and will usually sleep in a stretch of at least 5 hours or so at night, which is FABULOUS for this Mommy, who endured the every 2 hour night- waking of Daphne Faith! She loves to go for evening walks, as outside is the only place where she is content from about 6:30 tp 7:30 pm. Matt and I play tag team and one walks outside with the baby while the other eats dinner with the big kids. Tori seems most content with me, but she talks and squeals most when she is with Matt. I guess she can already tell that he is the fun parent!
Thirty years ago, the love of my life was born! I am so grateful to God for my amazing husband. Many of you may not know, but Matt was sort of a Surprise, Unplanned Miracle baby. Matt's mom had 3 children, the last two were only 16 months apart. She had just found out that Jude, who had just turned two had juvenile diabetes and she had a six month old baby. She had an IUD and absolutely was not going to have another baby. That very month, they found out Matt was coming. The doctor removed the IUD and the chances of the baby surviving were not great. But he made it and I am so grateful and so were his parents! Matt is such a wonderful man and I thank God for his life and love daily. We celebrated his birthday in a very disjointed fashion over 3 days, and somehow I did not get any pictures. So, I thought I would share the pictures that the kids gave him. Here is Daphne's painting of Matt. You can see the letters of her name, which she usually writes in order- I think she just didn't have room!

Here is Isaac's picture of Matt and him playing soccer. In his defense, Daphne had about 45 minutes to work on hers and Isaac had about 5 minutes to get it ready before Matt came home! They wre so excited for his birthday!

Daphne Says....

This past weekend, Daphne attended a birthday party for her friends, twin sisters Hannah & Sarah, at the Treehouse Museum. This is one of our favorite places to take our children, although we visit much less often since we moved last year. Daphne had a fabulous time and it was completely chaotic, to say the least. She looked so cute, though, so I took a few pictures. Here she is with Hannah: Waiting for cake:
So Daphne has been awfully busy of late. She loves her preschool and her teacher, Sherrie, who is one of the most amazing women I know. Anyway, recently, she has gotten into a little delimma at school. She does not like eating with her classmates, or should I say, watching her classmates eat their food. Most notably, the little boy next to her was dipping his chips in his milk the other day. Now Daphne did not care for this choice and had no qualms in expressing this distaste. She began saying things such as, "That is disgusting. I don't want to watch you do that." Well, this had very little affect on the boy, so she took things a step further. "You are a disgusting boy. I don't want to sit by you." This made the little boy cry, which was so sad. Daphne's teacher tried to help by saying that we can choose how we want to eat our chips, etc.. Anyway, I was talking to Daphne about this experience later and was telling her all the right things, like" You don't have to watch him eat his chips that way." and "It's not okay to call people disgusting, even if you don't like what they are doing." Daphne seemed to understand most of this and respond well;. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, she just wanted him to stop and was going about it the wrong way. She was, however, completely grossed out by this little boy eating his chips that way. I can't say that I blame her. So I said, "Daphne, you don't have to eat your chips that way. Just don't watch him. What if your friends didn't like the way you were eating and they said you were disgusting?" Daphne looked me in the eye, (and in a tone that says "Are you completely insane?") and said, "You mean, like if all of them were dipping their chips in milk and I wasn't?" I love her logic! She was looking at me and thinking, what do I care if they think I'm disgusting, when they are dipping chips in milk?
A few days ago, Matt took the girls for a walk around the corner to see the horses that live close by. Across the street is a farm that has sheep and Daphne asked if they could walk over to see the sheep. Matt said, "Probably not." Daphne (of course) said, "Why?" Matt siad that they usually run away from people, and once again, Daphne siad, "Why" "Well, because they probably think you are going to eat them." "Why?" Daphne said again. "Because lots of people like to eat lamb." And in a voice dripping with honey, Daphne said, "Daddy, someday can we come over to the farm and get a lammy and take him home and cook him and eat him for dinner?"
One more story about Daphne: Last week we were having family home evening we were talking about family unity. We each went around and told each person in our family something we appreciate about them. Daphne was great- she was articulate beyond her years and needed no help in thinking of something meaningful for each person. Then I did a little object lesson where you take one stick and break it easily. Then you put a bunch of sticks together and see how it is much harder to break them together. We likened this to our family and talked about how yelling at eachother or disrespecting eachother or being rude would break down our family. Then Daphne folded her arms and raised her eyebrows, making her best teacher face and said, "Now let's take turns telling eachother what they do bad." Well, needless to say, we talked about how this probably wouldn't make our family stronger.
So the kids went outside and began eating popsicles. Matt lightly smacked Isaac on the back of the head to kill a mosquito and they playfully began hitting eachother. Daphne said, "Boys! No! That breaks the rules of Family Home Evening!" Then, Matt said, "Yea, that's probably not good for our family." Daphne said, "Yeah. I feel weak."