Family Outing to the Science Museum

The best laid plans...(I remember saying that to a friend in college in our feminist days - "the best laid plans of mice and men" - and she said, "good thing we are neither!")

Yesterday, Rose #3 was unexpectedly, unexplainedly sick. She threw up a couple of times and was generally miserable. So my veggie-heavy, TV-free day morphed into a junk food, movie day during which we only left the house to go to Cub and Target.

So we made up for it (in part) today. We went to the Science Museum, of which we are members. Rose #1's favorite part was a computer program that helped her learn about how wind patterns are formed.  She spent quite a while learning about high and low pressure centers, and wind direction and speed, etc.
Rose #2 liked an exhibit that demonstrated air flow.  A ball sits on top of an exhaust outlet and when the air goes on, the outlet can be moved.  Then you see how far down the outlet can go before the ball bounces off.  Here is Rose #2 prepping to catch the ball:
Rose #3 took frequent breaks (with me) for snacks.  Nilla Wafers, raisins:  she wasn't picky.  Here she is in the snack corner smiling since she got to eat a bunch of Nilla Wafers:
MY favorite part of the Science Museum is the musical steps.  The Science Museum has connected a flight of stairs to a music program so that when you step on a stair,  a musical note plays.  There are lots of good things about these steps:  they are neat, plus they encourage young children to run up and down many times.  I.e.,:

Quiet Saturday Morning

Up early to get some work done.  Every morning I wake up with one girl on my right (usually Rose #2) and one on my left (usually Rose #3).  Until the Christmas loft beds, I would also normally find another girl at my feet, lying perpindicular across the bed (Rose #1).  Yes, they still come into our bed, almost every night.  I just try to remember that when they are teenagers, they won't even want to TALK to us.  Quite the opposite these days, of course.

Today we are going to try to do a family activity - Science Museum, maybe, since we are members.  And my personal goal is to have 1) very little television 2) lots of fruits and vegetables (wish you saw Rose #2 with her ice cream and Whopper sundae last night) 3) thank you notes done by the end of the day and 4) a minimum of yelling.  On my part, that is.

Tomorrow, the Christmas tree comes down.  It seems like we only had it up for such a short time.  This year the Roses got to the glass bulbs before I could put them mostly on the top of the tree, so they were all threaded precariously on the bottom branches.  We lost quite a few of those bulbs this year, of course.   I feel like I was always running into the tree room with a broom and dustpan.

Christmas '08 Continued

The most beautiful little shepherd you ever did see:
And Rose #2 and her cousin in a Christmas tank dress hug:

Christmas '08!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve. We had a shepherd and a cherub in the Christmas pageant:

They were extremely well behaved.  Rose #2 the cherub waited patiently for her turn to go on, and Rose #1 the shepherd wanted nothing to do with me - she was playing Apples to Apples with the big shepherds in the shepherd waiting room.

After church - which went late - we had Christmas Eve dinner with Ahma and Ahgong.  Here are the Roses in front of the tree with their grandparents:

We had a slight emergency when Rose #1 opened the door to our bedroom and found one of the Christmas gifts in there - but all ended well.  Roses #1 and #2 got new beds for Christmas - loft beds.  They share a bedroom so they need extra space.  

Friday Night Cuties

Rose #1 LOVES Kung Fu Panda. Mainly so she can do kung fu herself. SeeExhibit 1, below:
Rose #2 was just smiley. Slightly out of focus, but very smiley.

Rose #3 has ketchup on her face. (We had turkey burgers for dinner and I haven't washed her face yet.) But isn't she cute? She's a stinkpants, but a cute one. Sometimes she calls me "Mommy Tinkpants."

And, a shot of them watching the movie. The only movie we ever watch anymore - Kung Fu Panda.

I love spending Friday night with my girls.

We are having two big parties this weekend - one for Little Fins, the limb difference group we belong to for Rose #1 - and the other for BECHAMP family Christmas. We had the house cleaned on Thursday (by a group of professional cleaners) and the house looks GOOD.

Frayed Tempers

The holidays are coming up fast, and all we have is frayed tempers at our house. Or, to be more specific, my temper is frayed. I don't know if it is remnants of strep, or cabin fever (dang has it been COLD here in Minnesota), but everyone is crabby. Or I am crabby and my crabbiness is making everyone else crabby.

Every night as I drive up to the house at 5:30 I vow to be a patient, loving, kind, sweet and empathetic mother. But every single night I am greeted by super crabby, whiny kids. Example: Rose #3 asks for juice before dinner every. single. night. We have a rule: no juice before dinner. I am not a paragon of consistency but I have stuck to this rule for quite some time. You might think that eventually she will stop asking, but you would be wrong. Tonight I had to bodily remove her from the kitchen because she was HOWLING at the top of her lungs. (I do find it a tiny bit funny when she is sobbing, gulping for air, and somehow still asking "Juice! Please! Juice! Please!" As if adding Please! will change my mind. It doesn't.)

Another tussling point: every night Rose #2 wants the TV in the kitchen to be turned up to FULL VOLUME. I let the kids watch TV while I make dinner but I can't tolerate super loud TV. So every night I turn it down to a very, very respectably audible volume. Every single night we have a screaming fit about how "I can't hear the TV". (OF COURSE YOU CAN'T HEAR THE TV, YOU ARE CRYING AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS.)

Phew. These are not earthshaking problems, I know. I know, I know, I know. But I feel like such an awful mother after I get mad at them for the umpteenth time about juice, or TV volume, or leaving everything on the floor all the time, or hitting each other, or, or, or.

Tomorrow, I will try again. To be patient. To be loving. To be kind. Because really, I do love the Roses more than anything in the whole wide world.

Jammie Shots

So, I told you that I broke Rose #3's crib, and here is proof:

She is now using her bed as a toddler bed. The unfortunate side effect is that she can get out of it whenever she wants! Oh well, this day was bound to come sooner or later.

I also offer for your enjoyment a quick shot of some post toothbrushing shenanigans. Doesn't Rose #3's hair look cute? Thanks Aunt Boo for letting Rose #3 muscle in on the MND haircut schedule.

I have been slacking a bit on the posting lately - I know, I know. I have been super tired in the evenings so it has been hard to blog. Most nights I just fall asleep on the floor in the girls' room. (Not very comfortable.)