Monday, March 30, 2009

Odds and Ends

Yesterday after being inside for, well, most of the weekend, we ventured out.   Here is a picture of the Rose triumvirate on the back of my car in the front yard.  Yes, we have a carport in our front yard.  I hate the carport and want to have the cement removed this summer.  I want to put a rain garden in instead!

We will see if this actually happens.  But anyway, here are the Roses:
We also had a very large elm tree in our front yard - on the boulevard actually - but it had dutch elm disease, and the city cut it down last week.  The Roses took this opportunity to post on the extremely large stump, which is all that remains of that once-majestic tree:
I think we are going to turn over a bit of a new leaf at our house.  There is entirely too much TV watching going on.  Rose #1 is just FOUL tempered after watching TV for more than 30 minutes, and so I have a new rule - 30 minutes of TV time per day!  Tonight after MND we read books and the Roses took pictures with my camera.  This is vastly superior, IMHO, to wrestling them away bodily from the television.

I want my girls to grow up to be writers and readers.  This will not happen if they are drooling in front of Disney channel every day, for hours on end.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Spring Break...At the Waterpark

It is a semi-staycation. We are at the Holiday Inn in Otsego, MN. It is a very nice Holiday Inn, unremarkable except that it is connected to an excellent waterpark!! We swam for 2 hours tonight after arrival. Up and down the slide, over, and over, and over again. It is very good for kids.

Rose #1 is very tired but happy.  She is sitting on the kids' bed.
Roses #2 and #3 are sitting having their snack.  Rose #3 spilled her juice, but it is OK (on a hotel towel!!).
We feel very lucky that we get to take a vacation, even if it is just to Otsego...

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Catching Up

We-ell, for class night this week we had an extra special visit from the Underwear Team!  Our friends came over for dinner, and after the kids were excused they went straight upstairs and morphed into the Underwear Team.  We had UnderJ, UnderH, UnderN, and Captain Under. (They picked their own names.)

And then, tonight, Rose #1 lost her fourth tooth in about three weeks.  She just lost the other top tooth and one bottom tooth on Sunday!  Now she looks like a jack-o-lantern.
Not to be outdone, Rose #2 has to show you all just how smiley she is.  
And, we waited a bit long to get Rose #3 to bed.  Doesn't she have healthy looking molars?  She really was very, very tired in this picture.
This has been a bit of a long week, with various stressful items resulting from various stressful things.  I am grateful to be delivered to nearly week's end, with a fine upcoming weekend planned at the waterpark!  Yes, it's true, for spring break we are going to a waterpark.  Just Friday night - Sunday morning.  Luckily we are going with some aunts, uncles, and cousins of the Roses, so there should be ample opportunity for entertainment (and perhaps even the occasional break for the adults).

Monday, March 23, 2009

Oh Gosh, I am Behind

Rose #1, first off, lost that VERY dangly tooth.  And another one that I could not stand to look at anymore because it was so gray.  Actually proceeding to brownish.  So, in a fit of - I don't know what - industriousness?  Vigor?  Anyway, whatever the noun you choose, I pulled the tooth on Sunday morning.  Right before church.   It bled for approximately 3.4 seconds, and then Rose #1 was grinning like a jack-o-lantern!  And, it saved me big bucks at the dentist.  The dentist had promised to pull all loose teeth on our next visit (on Monday).

We have the requisite gap toothed smile picture, but it is on the "big" camera, and I don't have the motivation to get the big camera out right now.

Rose #2 smelled just like a big pickle tonight.  I think she must have spilled a jar of pickles, or something, because why else would a little girl smell like a pickle?  I will have to think on that one for awhile.

Rose #3 received 18 applications of lip gloss at MND tonight, courtesy of her Guppy.  Rose #3 loves chapstick of all kinds (and when I say "love" I including that she loves how it tastes when she takes a big chomp off her chapstick stick).  So, it was naturally only a matter of time until she graduated to lip gloss.  Remember Bonne Belle Lipsmackers?

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Ladies Night, Or Isn't the Semester Over Yet?

Rose #1 has the dangliest, loosest tooth you ever saw, but she won't let me pull it out:

And, Rose #2 was really cheerful after she brushed her teeth tonight (don't you just love our fish shower curtain? what?  you can't see it?  don't worry, it is just as tacky as you might expect a fish shower curtain to be).

I wanted a straight up cute, smiley shot of Rose #3 in her very, very cute flower print shirt from Old Navy (handed down twice - from Rose #1 to Rose #2 and finally to Rose #3, then will make its inexorable way to baby Kate).  But she just had to HAM IT UP:

We had a lovely ladies night.  We had dinner, then did Rose #1's homework, then went to Target.  I bet you did not know that if you have one child sitting in the merchandise area of the cart at Target and two children on the end, the cart will in fact flip over, landing both of the children on the end on the floor, and the other child whimpering miserably in the overturned cart.

Poor Rose #1 got her leg hurt, and Rose #2, the whimperer, helped me pick up the contents of my wallet, which I managed to scatter across the aisle while scrambling to get the cart righted.

New rule:  No One Ever Rides On The Edge Of The Cart.  Ever. Again.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

How long do you let them stay sick before you go to the CDC?

"Them."  Well, "us."  We have ALL been sick.  Hacking away like dogs in a kennel - Rose #1 calls it kennel cough.  I have it, H has it, and Rose #2 really has it.  Rose #1 is mainly better, thankfully, and Rose #3 goes back and forth.  Poor Rose #2.  She is such a little wan looking thing with this kennel cough disease.  I think it is just a cold or a virus or something.  At least I hope that is true.

Rose #1's conference is Thursday night.  I always look forward to school conferences.  We got her report card in advance, and she is doing well in reading and math.  Her writing needs some work - she tends to rush a bit - but overall I am SO PROUD of her.

Rose #2 was watching a movie tonight after dinner.  We usually play movies with the subtitles on, and she picked out the word "now" from the screen.  She spelled it out and asked if that was how you spell "now."  She is SO CLOSE to reading.  She needs the push from school - they have a great program called Accelerated Readers that really pushed Rose #1.  

Rose #3 is...well, you know.  She's Rose #3.  We are super excited for her preschool.  I talked to the preschool program director and she confirmed (thankfully) that potty training is NOT a prerequisite for preschool.  Tonight after she was done with her farm puzzle she VOLUNTARILY and WITHOUT PROMPTING put the pieces away.  That's progress!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

O Glorious Day of Warmth and Sun

Today, thank the heavens, it was 56 degrees!  In Minnesota!  It was a gorgeous day of sun and melting snow and riding bikes with the snowmelt splattering up my kids' backsides.  We rode bikes to church, and when we got home from church, the Roses TORE outside to play with the neighbor kids.  This was about 12:30 - I put their lunch on the back porch, like sliding a tray through a small slot for a prisoner or something - and they did not come in until called for dinner at 6:00.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, whichever heavenly body or mystical presence controls the weather.  Really, it could not have been more welcome.

Unfortunately, I did not have my camera today.  So, you will have to be satisfied with a few shots from Rose #3's Friday Night Bath:


Here is a plug for a wonderful kids' photographer.  We went to Grace Park photography on Saturday.   True, the photographer is our former nanny's sister, and our former nanny is the photographer's assistant, but they had the Roses working like putty in their very capable hands.  We can't wait to see the shots!  

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Ladies' Night...Lost Count

I can't believe it, I forgot my camera.  Tonight of all nights!

The first item on our long Wednesday night agenda was a stop at Aunt Boo's new salon.  The Roses have a photo shoot scheduled on Saturday, and they needed to be freshly shorn.  Aunt Boo gave them the full treatment - Rose #3 was very cute perched in Aunt Boo's chair with her cape and her wet hair.  (I am specifically not telling you about how Rose #3 was poised to climb one of the shelves in the new salon before I stopped her at the last minute, or about the, well, "delighted" looks on the faces of the other patrons as we entered the salon.  I tried to keep the Roses under control, I really did!)  Very nice new hairdos they all have.  Thanks for letting us come down at the last minute Aunt Boo!

By the way, Aunt Boo:  I think you are wrong about Zac and Vanessa.  :-)

Then we went to McDonald's just down the road.  Oh. My. Goodness.  That place is gross!  It is just filthy.  It has a playland (which is why the Roses wanted to go there, of course) and although I am not normally a germaphobe I made each Rose take a shower as soon as we got home.  BLECKY.  Never again.

After we got home it came to light that Rose #1 had not in fact yet done her homework, so we scrambled to get math and moon observation done before I packed everyone off to bed.  There are just not enough hours in the day, even when you are only 6 years old, I guess.

Monday, March 9, 2009

My little Rose #3:

This was after dinner tonight.  Rose #3 is wearing her Gabriella dress, and when she puts her hair behind her ears, she always says with satisfaction:  "I'm Gabriella now!"

(Gabriella being the lead female character in the High School Musical saga, of course.)

As a brief aside, it is sometimes disconcerting to not resemble my children at all.  Especially when they were younger, people used to ask me where I adopted them from (A very exotic country called "My Uterus," I was always too chicken to say).  They each have a little something of me in them, but there really should be ZERO doubt about who is their father:

I think Rose #3 was maybe 2 days old in this picture.   Our sweet little bunny.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Overheard last night...

As I was putting the Roses to bed last night, Rose #1 looked at me balefully and asked, "Are we going to church tomorrow?"

(Now, we do go to church most Sundays.  I teach Sunday School and Rose #3 loves the nursery, so we usually go.)

"Yes, I am teaching Sunday School tomorrow."

"I don't want go to," said Rose #1.  "All we ever do is talk about prejudice and the inherent worth and dignity of every person."

What do you say to that?

(p.s. - we did go to church today, and Rose #1 went to service and to her Sunday School class, and it turns out they did not talk about prejudice or the inherent worth and dignity of every person.  They talked about music!)

Friday, March 6, 2009

Friday Night Dance

Tonight was the 1st - 3rd grade dance at Rose #1's school. Wow, was it ever a madhouse. Tons of kids running around, super loud music, and lots and lots of grownups. So many, in fact, that they ran out of food! We had hungry crabby kids on our hands who were torn between staying because it was really fun (for the kids, that is) and leaving because they were hungry.

That was fun.

I keep hoping to make a connection at Rose #1's school with another family, to have a family that we can be close friends with. So far it hasn't happened. I have tried in other contexts - preschool, church, etc. - and I always feel like we are the odd people out. I had that same feeling tonight, like many people knew each other, and they were coming from the pre-party or going to the after-party. I know that's ridiculous and left over from junior high, but I can't shake the feeling.

Each Rose got a new shirt from Rose #1's school, and we ended up at the drive through at McD's (not me - I can't STAND McD's) so they could eat before falling into bed. They are all pretty much sacked out, and H and I are hoping to watch at least some of Knocked Up.

Oh yes, by the way, there is another movie I am going to be getting as soon as it comes out. Not long now!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Ladies' Night #5

Another Wednesday night has come to pass, and the Roses and I are having a fine ladies' night. I had a splitting headache after work, the kind that not only gives you pain in the head but also nausea. So, we hurried through dinner and now we are doing crafts reading chapter books watching a movie.

True to form, I took a few shots to show how we are all getting along just fine here at Ladies' Night.  Rose #1 has been pretty happy and smiley lately.  I worry about her, more than the others, about getting along with her school friends.   But things seem to be going OK.

Rose #2 is always smiley looking.  She is back to school this week and it is GOOD.  She needed to get back to a routine.
Rose #3 is a whirlwind of development.  The other day she asked me if I remembered the time we went shopping together (she named the store!).  It was about 4 weeks ago and she was very tired and cranky when we got there.  I can't believe she remembers it!
We are really, really looking forward to the Roses photo session at Grace Park Photography.  It is a week from Saturday and we are getting ready.  Next Tuesday the Roses have a haircut scheduled with Aunt Boo (Aunt Boo, if you are reading this, I scheduled them today!).  And, we have to get outfits that everyone will wear.  That's a challenge in and of itself!

Monday, March 2, 2009

MND...Monkey Night Dinner?

File in the: Grownups Did Not Know (Before Tonight) What Was Going On file.

Ever since they started running the B&B in earnest, my parents have basically moved into their basement (which is not quite as desperate as it seems, since they have a nice bathroom, a bedroom, a large walk-in closet, and a theater room down there).  The theater room doubles as the place where the grandkids go on Monday nights.  They have toys and, as you can see from the following, pipes in the ceiling.

Well, well, well.  We did not (at least I did not) know that the kids were treating the pipes like jungle gyms.  Rose #1, who has terrible trouble with the monkey bars because of her small hand, can do the "pipe shimmy" no problem.  Here she is doing her shimmying thing, with Rose #2 looking on appreciatively and Rose #3 (look carefully) dangling from another pipe in her diaper
The pipe skill is widely revered.  Sam, one of the Roses' cousins, is looking on with admiration.
Good times, people.  Good times.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

A lazy Sunday evening...

Here is a very important person in the house of the Roses - their daddy.  He was laughing about the cowbell sketch on Saturday Night Live, that we saw as we were changing channels tonight:


Here is Rose #1.  You should see her mouth these days.  Her top right tooth is loose, and it is migrating away from her other teeth.  She has big gaps in her smile lately!
The other Roses in their nightgowns.  Rose #3 won't wear ANYTHING besides "dressies" these days.  She has changed her dress three times today.  To church she wore a pink fluffy dress with a long sleeve shirt over it.  Sigh.  Rose #2 will flex on her outfits.  Here she is wearing a hand me down Care Bears nightgown:
We had a good day today.  We got up, had breakfast, went to church, had lunch, took a nap (me and Rose #3 - OK, I admit it!  I took a nap!!  Are you Happy Now?), then brought dinners to our friends who live in Oak Park Heights.  They have recently had a rough time with health issues, so we wanted to help with dinners.  Tonight for dinner we had baked potato bar.  Yum!!