Who Needs Toys to have Fun? Not Emma!

I always get a good laugh at the things that amuse kids. All of these pictures were taken in a matter of minutes as Emma cruised around the family room:

Boinging the door stops:




Violently shaking our light:



Trying to escape??? Already????




Pushing our side table around the room:



Opening and shutting the one non-childproofed cabinet:



Collecting any remote control or phone that she can get her hands on:



And when she's in her play area, her favorite thing to do is to throw all her toys out as evidenced here..... All her toys had been inside the play area earlier in the day:

The Ice Storm......

In the past whenever there has been mention of icestorms- I've thought- big deal. We'll lose our power for a few hours, the ice will melt and all will be fine so long as we stay off the roads.

Such was not the case on December 11, 2008. The ice began falling around 8:00pm. The lights flickered on and off for a couple hours until finally going off for good at 10:30. After reading by flashlight for a short while, I rolled over and went fast asleep.


At 1:30 Friday morning, I was awakened by a loud crash which shook our house. It was just the first of many crashes, crunches and booms that were going to occur for the next 6 hours. These were the longest and darkest 6 hours that I can ever remember. I pride myself on being able to sleep through anything but the sheer terror of what was falling outside our house was enough to keep me awake all night long. A half hour after I woke up, JP stirred and got up with me so we could assess any damage we might be able to see through the dark night. The crash that awakened JP was a huge part of our neighbors tree falling across our street. We saw headlights approaching down the street and then turning around as the street was impassable. A short while later a police officer arrived and assessed the situation. While he was there, he crunched through the 2" deep slush on the side street pulling tree branches and debris to the side of the road as that street was impassable as well. From what we could see from the windows thanks to the shining blue lights and the police spotlight, two sections of our picket fence had been crushed to the ground by a 10-12" caliper tree branch that broke off one of our Silver Maples (which was just one of the 5 trees we would have liked to have cut down this past year if we'd had a few extra thousand dollars lying around). Mother Nature had decided to do some pruning for us instead.

We looked at a clock at 2:30am and I couldn't believe it was still so early in the night and that daylight was still hours away. Kylie joined us in our room for a while and eventually she and I moved to Emma's room because her tossing and turning was keeping JP awake. I knew there was no chance I'd fall asleep with the continuous crashing outside. I just lay awake wondering which tree had fallen and what it had hit. Each time the ice covered branches struck the ground, all the ice shattered which made the damage sound much worse than it really was as I realized once daylight of morning finally arrived. After quickly surveying the damage from every window of the house, thankfully it appeared that most of the damage was superficial. We will definitely need to have all the Silver Maples taken down now as there isn't too much left of the 70' tall trees except bare trunks and a few branches. JP ended up having to cut down most of one of my favorite trees, an 80 year old Crabapple at the top of the driveway as it was split and was blocking the garage. Ironically, just the night before this one, I had awakened and sat bolt upright after a terrible nightmare that my stepfather had cut down this very tree and I was fuming that he would do such a thing to such a beautiful tree! We also lost a really large Burning Bush outside the play room which I'm hoping will somehow manage to grow back as they are now prohibited to plant in Massachusetts but I love them all the same. Other than that, despite the fact that every square foot of our yard was buried in trees, tree branches and debris, we manage to weather the storm ok.

Our once beautiful Crabapple which blocked our exit from the garage until JP chopped part of it down.....





Our newly "pruned" Silver Maples:



The view into our side garden:



Our family room was 52 degrees when we woke up and JP quickly made a fire to take the chill off. The kids couldn't understand why the TV and the lights wouldn't work. Fortunately, we have a gas stove so we were at least able to make a hot breakfast for everyone and some coffee for us. I called my parents to see what the news was saying about the extent of the damage so we could figure out when power might come back on. The news was not good. A State of Emergency had been declared and they were guessing that it could take at least 2 to 3 days for electricity to be restored. Sitting at home with 4 kids under 4 without any heat or electricity for that long a time was out of the question. I packed everyone up and we evacuated to Norwell..... JP stayed behind to begin (and finish!) the clean up and to protect the house.

Here it is now, 8:00 Sunday night and JP is still home alone without any power. He mentioned that the family room was 46 degrees this morning when he woke up. Brrrr...... I'm hoping tomorrow we can head home but not until we hear that the heat and electricity are back on!

Edited Tuesday, December 16:

I'm glad to say that we made it home yesterday. Power came back on around 7am. The house was still a bit cold at 3pm yesterday but it takes a long time to warm up a big old house that had cooled off to a chilly 42 degrees!

Driving around the streets in our town and the surrounding towns is eerie. There are downed trees and branches along every roadside and piles of branches everywhere..... Crazy!

Today I spent some time picking up off the ground shattered Christmas ball ornaments that had been hung on the garland along the fence. I tried to restring the garland the best I could but one set of lights had been snapped and although I thought the other set was ok, tonight when we tried to turn them on they didn't work so I'll try to figure that at tomorrow. Tonight they are forecasting snow which I will take any day over ice.

It's the Great Christmas Tree, Emma Lynne!

To say that I go all out when decorating our house for Christmas is an understatement. I LOVE to deck the halls with garlands, and lights, and ornaments and beads and anything else I have on hand (or that Michaels sells...). My mom always decorated our house so beautifully during the holidays with several Christmas trees and lots of little decorations and greenery everywhere which I just adored. I always knew that I would do the same for my family one day because it just made Christmas that much more magical.

I'm so excited that the kids have the same reaction to our house all decorated, that I had to my house when I was little. Kaitlyn loves our Dickens Village and declared that it was "Beautiful!" when I was setting it up on our family room shelves. Kylie everynight asks me to turn the people on- meaning turn on the Village lights so that she can watch the little people dance in Fezziwigg's Ballroom. Kylie also raced around the house after she got home from the Cape "oohing" and "ahhing" in every room. It melted my heart to see how excited she was!

Emma, too, is fascinated by all the Christmas accroutrements. At every meal, she points to the garland over the kitchen French doors and mumbles one of her many incomprehensible phrases until we plug the lights in and then she breaks out in a huge smile and points to the garland over the kitchen window until we plug those in as well. Yesterday, she toddled over to the Christmas tree and stood just a few inches away from it and slowly lifted her head gazing at the tree until her eyes reached the top of the tree and then her eyes lit up in excitement. I saw in her face, the true meaning of Christmas- peace, joy and wonderment!

Our Little Plumber checking out the structural integrity of the tree:



Appreciating all the details:



And taking it all in:

Success! Christmas Photos are done!

Every year I dread taking the kids' pictures for our annual Christmas photo card. This year was no exception..... I thought for sure it was going to be a complete nightmare trying to get 3 crazy kids and 1 very busy toddler to stop to smile at the same time..... Boy was I wrong! I got each one dressed right after they woke up from their naps, and took some solo pictures. Emma was first and she was a complete ham. She could not stop smiling as she sat proudly in her "big kid" chair. Then came Kylie who is usually my monkey of the group- but today she couldn't wait to get all dressed up and to have her hair done and she happily posed by the tree. Ethan and Kaitlyn then joined us and had their solo pictures taken too but Kylie kept trying to hop in for a group picture so their individual pictures were a bit rushed.

The group photo session went really well, too. These pictures speak for themselves:

A Quiet Weekend....

Emma and I have had the house to ourselves this weekend!

Ethan went down to the Cape with his Grammy Thanksgiving night and JP took the girls down Friday morning. I haven't been alone with just Emma overnight since we were in the hospital after she was born-and we certainly weren't all alone there. It's been really nice and so easy! I've never known what it's like to only have one baby to take care of from morning to night..... Well, it's certainly peaceful. The house has been really quiet without the kids racing around and bickering with eachother (or with me).

Friday I finished up some design work for a new Client that I'm meeting with on Tuesday. I still have some handsketching to do over the plans but I need to have them plotted out at Staples on Sunday or Monday. Emma and I then played together in her play area and she enjoyed some freedom following me from room to room as I began decorating for Christmas. I definitely got a lot more done when Emmma was napping- she loved snooping around into all the kid's toys and I spent most of my time chasing after her making sure she wasn't putting anything in her mouth that didn't belong there. Emma is definitely reaching the point where she wants permanent freedom but I'm not ready to disassemble her play area yet- I need a safe place to put her once in a while when I can't be by her side. She did manage to escape once last week- I'm still not entirely sure how she did it but she wandered up to the kitchen to see me and was very proud of herself. After she's been out on her own for a while, she screams when she gets put back in her play yard..... Maybe after Christmas the play yard will come done when there aren't so many things for Emma to get into- I'm just not ready yet.

Today I finished decorating the inside of the house and got most of the outdoor garlands and lights up. Ahhhhh...... Tomorrow we'll go get our tree after JP gets home with kids. It's such a fun time- the kids loved the adventure of looking for the tree and cutting it down last year. This year should be a bit easier now that Emma can walk, too.

I'm especially excited to see the kids tomorrow! I've talked to them on the phone several times over the last two days but I still miss them so much. I've enjoyed the peace and quiet but I've missed their hugs, kisses and smiles. I wish I could bottle up this feeling because I know as soon as they get home it will be like they were never gone and we'll be back to business as usual. I'm completely caught up on laundry, the kitchen counter is cleared off, and all the toys are pretty much put away. It will only be a matter of minutes tomorrow when all that will change....For now, I'm just happy that the house is in order!

The Trials and Tribulations of 3 Potty-Trained Preschoolers & a Baby aka A Crappy Day

The last 24 hours have been filled with some laughter, some dismay and some sheer frustration all revolving around pee and poop......

Last night fifteen minutes after the kids went to bed, Ethan & Kaitlyn pulled their usual "I need to go potty" routine although they had both just gone before getting into bed..... I was downstairs and said "Fine- just go....." figuring taht of course they would take turns as usual. Well, 2 minutes later Kaitlyn started screaming out in tears. I raced upstairs to find that Kaitlyn had been the first on the toilet but that didn't stop Ethan from doing his thing. Poor Kaitlyn's underwear, pajama bottoms, and legs were covered in Ethan's pee. Ethan's response- I couldn't wait. After a quick lecture on the importance of taking turns, assuring Kaitlyn that the baby wipes would clean her up sufficiently and that she wouldn't smell like pee- both headed back into bed.

A while later, I was doing some computer work in our bedroom and overheard some very funny conversations between Ethan & Kate. (Kylie was asleep as soon as she hit the pillow.....that's what a day of troublemaking will do to you!) Both kids had to go to the bathroom again- I don't know how it's possible- but anyway Kaitlyn learned her lesson before and let Ethan go first. While he was doing his thing, she commented that she wished she could have a penis to which EThan replied that she did have one. Kaitlyn explained that "no" she didn't" because she's a girl and girls don't have penises only boys- Ethan just said "oh" and went to bed.

Just before falling asleep, Kaitlyn proceeded to lecture Ethan on how he needs to be sure that someone isn't on the potty before he uses it because it's not nice to pee on people. She said that she had just had a tubby before dinner and that now she was stinky because he had peed on her and that she was very upset with him. To which Ethan just replied "oh" and went to sleep.

Then there was today.......
Yesterday I changed everyon's bed sheets. This morning while making Ethan's bed- it was soaking wet. He only ever seems to pee in his sleep when he has a freshly made bed. Maybe I tuck the sheets in too tight so he can't get out in time? Who knows?

This morning while Emma was at the table for breakfast, I was racing around (putting clean sheets on Ethan's bed, emptying dishwasher, filling dishwasher, doing laundry, folding laundry, putting it away, and picking up the house so that the housekeeper could actually find a floor to vacuum, and also getting ready for the playgroup we were hosting- I was busy....) Emma seemed happy and I was hoping she'd poop before I put her in her play area so that I could change her first so I just kept giving her Cheerios to munch on and a third cup of 1/2 water, 1/2 apple juice to keep her happy.
She never pooped and Lisa needed to clean the kitchen so I moved Emma to her play area. I started making pumpkin muffins with Ethan and heard the Kaitkyn and KYlie calling me from the family room. They said that Emma had thrown up.....no it wasn't throw up- it was from the other end and was all over the floor blanket, up her back and all through her clothes. Muffin making was postponed as I collected another load of laundry and headed upstairs to give Emma a bath.

Finally, the muffins were made and were baking, playgroup began and things were back in order. Then Kylie prances by me while I'm chatting with my friends in the kitchen and says that she has to go potty. I, as usual, say "well go ahead- you don't need to ask permission". Two minutes later, Kylie walks out of the bathroom..... with a smirk on her face- not good, I thought. I went in there to find that she had decided to pee in the wastebasket instead of the toilet. That gave her a ticket to her room for a 15 minute time out.

The next 4 hours were relatively uneventful :)

That is until Kaitlyn comes downstairs after waking up from her nap and walks into the kitchen with her undies and jeans down around her ankles and tears streaming down her face. I couldn't make it to the bathroom she says as I trace her steps back to a huge puddle on the dining room rug. I cleaned her again, changed her undies and pants and had a flashback to last night.....

On a comical note- because I need to find humor in this or else I will lose my mind eventually- while writing this post (and enjoying a big glass of wine while I do so), I have been called to the bathroom twice to wipe butts after Ethan & Kaitlyn pooped and I have been called into the family room to clean up 4 piles of poop that our dog Anna decided to contribute to my day's chaos. Fun, fun, fun.

And that isn't even a full 24 hour snippit yet. Fortunately, I'm getting chauffered to a friend's house tonight for an Italian potluck dinner.I just can't wait to get out of this crazy house! :)

A Social Experiment gone terribly awry......

Every year, the stress around our house builds up just after Halloween. Why? Battles over CANDY....... Last year we let the kids enjoy their Halloween spoils after lunch, at snack time or after dinner. There were many tears over who got which candy and why they couldn't have more of it at one time.

This year, Jacques and I thought we had the solution- just let them eat it when they want (within reason) so we could get rid of it as quickly as possible. So much for that idea.... I became fed up of coming downstairs in the morning to find half-eaten candy bars and wrappers strewn all over the house. The chocolate bar behind the warm heater in the play room was particuliarly unpleasant. Enoug was enough. A new rule went into effect- no candy in the morning. The witch's brew pot was set up high on the kitchen counter and was declared off limits. Last year, this technique worked just fine- This year not so well.

Tuesday morning, we come downstairs to the same mess we encountered Monday morning. The kids had climbed up on the counter and helped themselves. After a lecture about breaking the "off limits" rules, we moved on. Tuesday night I hid the candy in our bedroom. All was well the next morning. When we got up the kids asked where their candy was and I told them it was in Mommy & Daddy's room because they had broken the rules the day before. Well wouldn't you know, Thursday morning the little buggers woke us while having a discussion outside our bedroom about who was going to sneak into our room and get the candy. Kaitlyn was desperately trying to convince Ethan that he should do it because she quite clearly didn't want to get her hands dirty. Mind you this conversation is occurring at 4:30am- yes these kids have decided that that is there new wake up hour. We broke up their theft plans and set them on their way downstairs.

Last night, I forgot to bring the candy back upstairs to our room and left it in the kitchen again. Before falling asleep, I commented to Jacques that I was probably going to regret that decision in the morning but that I hoped the kids would obey the rules and not touch it. We then both figured if they did get into it, maybe they would just finish it off so we could be done with the post-Halloween candy antics.

This morning I came downstairs, to candy wrappers strewn all over the house and a HUGE mess in the bathroom of all places. They've been experimenting with water lately (which is another post all in itself). In the bathroom on the floor, there was a pumpkin filled with water, several empty cups, Kaitlyn's pajama top and the hand towel which were both soaked, and water everywhere. To make matters worse, there were melted M&M's in the water on the floor along with more half eaten candy bars and crushed animal crackers.

Mommy was not happy..........After a stern talking to about obeying the rules and being trustworthy not to break them, a few spankings, and many tears, they were all sent up to their room so I could cool off.

I'm happy to report that the Halloween candy will no longer be an issue this year because it has now all been thrown away. My blood pressure is still a bit high and I believe I may have given myself either an ulcer or a hernia from yelling so loud this morning, but at least tomorrow at 4:30am we know the kids won't be eating candy (although they will surely find something else to keep themselves occupied......)