Wednesday, December 28, 2016

The Season of Advent

The month of December was busy for us as we prepared for Christmas.  The festivities began with the Otte Family Christmas Party at the beginning of December.  The kids were excited to open the first gifts of the season.  







The little girls all received beaded necklaces.  The boys got small skidloaders.  All were a hit.  Like last year, all of the grandchildren also received matching Christmas PJs.  It will make for a cute group picture at Christmas.

We went to the library in mid-December to see Santa.  Vera was excited, and did a great job talking to Santa.  She even spoke on her brother & sister's behalf.  Vince didn't cry, but he was not interested in sitting with Santa.  He did offer a very reluctant hi five.  Miss Annie was the crier and only lasted long enough for a fast photo.  The most exciting thing was that Santa knew we were the Pearsons before we even talked to him!!  That Santa knows everything!


A little uneasiness from Annie

Then a lot of uneasiness.


Later, after we ate a snack and then worked on a craft in the library, Vince walked off.  He walked to the front of the Santa line and walked right to Santa.  I grabbed him and made him wait his turn.  He willingly waited and then comfortably walked to Santa when it was time!  Woohoo, Vinners!  Vince was so good while we were at the library.  He stood by us, and waited patiently without throwing any fits.  It was a fun evening!

Last year, Patty gave the kids a gingerbread house kit for Christmas.  We didn't attempt the project last year, but I thought it'd be a fun weekend project for this year.  Vera and Vince were so good as they worked together to complete "Pluto's Doghouse," as Vince named it.  They took turns adding candies and were so diligent in making it turn out just right.  It didn't take nearly as long as I had initially thought.  They were eager decorators! :)




After the gingerbread house was completed, we made suncatchers with pony beads and cookie cutters.  The project was inspired by Pinterest, and turned out well.  I mediated the project and tended to Annie while dad, Vera and Vince crafted away.  Vince mostly dumped beads in his cookie cutter, emptied it, and repeated.  Vera made a snowflake and dad made a gingerbread man and a snowman.  We melted the beads on the grill to avoid the melted plastic smell in the house, and they turned out really cute!


Hard at work!
The Bertke family Christmas was the weekend before Christmas.  Despite the icy weather, we had a fun day.  Vera and Adam even won prizes for their Christmas-themed attire!  I didn't take any pictures, but we did capture some successful photos of the great grandchildren.  There are 12 of them, ranging in age from 5 (Vera) to 7 weeks (Aubrey).  

L to R:  Cohen, Vera, Aubrey, Blake, Annie, Eli, Scarlett, Vince, Amelia, Audrey, Nora and Beau on top
I would say Paul and Lucille would be proud!
As if Patty isn't already good enough to us, she got us all a Christmas surprise.  Vince & Annie got bath crayons, and she baked some delicious muffins for our family.  Patty is such a blessing to our family!  We are so lucky to have her!  


The kids enjoyed another year of Chippy the Elf and all of his antics.  Even Annie got excited to see Chippy each day.  Chippy didn't play many tricks on us this year, but he did leave behind some notes and gifts from the North Pole.  One of Chippy's notes said that our house was too wild and noisy, and we found him in our car the next morning.  His note said he needed a quieter place to keep watch.  The highlight was probably the Christmas train that Chippy brought.  The kids found it one day driving around the Christmas tree.  All of them, especially Vince, sat for quite a while watching the train circle around.

As always, the excitement and magic of Christmas is so fun to enjoy through the eyes of children.  I loved their innocent excitement, squeals of delight, and sweet smiles as we prepared for Jesus' birthday and the magic of the season!

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Great Grandma

We have been lucky to see Great Grandma Otte a lot recently.  At baby Aubrey's baptism, Grandma offered walker rides, the highlight of Vince's day!  He was willing to share and let Scarlett have a turn, too!



Cousin Sleepover!

Blake and Nora came for a sleepover right after baby Aubrey was born.  They were so, so good.  I told Nora that she can just move in!  She ate so well, was so easy to put to sleep, played nicely with Annie and was really cooperative.  (They were all up at the crack of dawn; however, that goes with the territory.)

We had quiet time and watched some TV before bedtime.  There was no chance that Vin would share that beanbag with Nora!


Cheese!




Sideliners for Supper

We used to go to Sideliners every Thursday for dinner.  When it was just Vera and baby Vince, it was easy to go out to eat.  Now that we have 3, we don't even think about going out to eat with them.  But, one evening before we went to visit Grammie, Adam had the bright idea to eat at Sideliners.  Seeing that everyone was in a decent mood after school, we took a big gamble and went for it.

We got there at 4:30 before it was busy.  We had the restaurant to ourselves for a short while.  The kids were pretty good, considering.  Everyone ate and sat in their seats for most of the meal, so we will count it as a success.

Cutest baby (and a big shot) drinking from her cup!

Silly faces while we wait!
Like father, like son!  Vince and dad are paying the bill.  I love how he has his hands on the bar, waiting and watching attentively. 

Happy Fall!

Trick or Treat Sunday had lousy weather, but the elements didn't slow down these little goblins.  

Vera had quite the time deciding what to be for Halloween.  First, she wanted to be Wonder Woman.  After looking at costumes, she decided on this bumblebee outfit.  (The wings, antennae, and scepter are what sold her!)  Vince was super excited to wear the monkey costume.  And Annie, if I can say so myself, was an awfully cute flamingo!



Vince always looks like the pouty one.  He really was excited to go out.  He did have some trouble understanding why he could only have ONE piece of candy per stop.
The kids opened their trick or treat surprises from Grammie and Papa a little later than normal.  But, here are the pictures of their cute treat bags. (Read: Pics of the girls only.  Vince doesn't have time for pictures.)




Adam and the kids worked on leaves for what seemed like forever!  He finally finished the last of them last weekend--and it's December!  The kids went out when they could and "helped."  Vince roamed around mostly, and Vera played pretend, of course.  They think it's fun to tromp through the leaves, walk in them as Adam blows the leaves at them, pick up sticks, and sit in the big piles.  Vince enjoyed helping rake them on the tarps and tugging the tarps to the field.  They even helped neighbor Jeff with his leaves.  He's such a dedicated helper!


Annie wasn't so sure about the leaves.  I can't say I blame her.  They're cold and itchy!
She spent most of the time in the house with mom, and she enjoyed watching out the door!



Needless to say, we had many leaf-filled shoes and pant legs.  I was a little frustrated with crunched leaves in the house (when they'd come in without dusting off), but the kids had fun and enjoyed the fresh air, so that's what counts!







Los 3 Pearsons

Here's an update of our kiddos...

Vera is loving Kindergarten and has adapted to that routine quite well.  She knows the first and last names of everyone in her class.  She's also made some new friends who aren't in her class.  I've learned, however, that Kindergarteners just play with everyone (makes me happy to hear!)  When she comes home from school, she's pretty tired, though she'd never admit it.  Brilliant Beginnings also seems to be going well.



I can't believe how much she's growing up and changing.  Her little personality makes us laugh and drives us crazy at the same time.  She is still sometimes whiny when she's tired.  Her ability to play pretend is really out of this world.  For the longest time, she had an old Spanish-English dictionary (a discard from my classroom library) in our vehicle.  She would "read" stories from it.  Often she'd look up "spells" to cast on people, and other times she'd teach from it.  Regardless, if we were in the car, she was reading from it.

Vera is also a master at piddling.  It would take her an hour to put on a shirt and pants if we didn't keep on her.  She is so very easily distracted, talks to herself about all kinds of things, talks to the mirror, or simply forgets what she's supposed to be doing.  I created a checklist for her to keep track of what she needs to do each morning so she can be ready for school on time.  Honestly, Adam and I wonder how she survives at school.  The thought of her carrying a cafeteria tray alone nearly frightens me simply because I don't know how she's able to focus on the task from beginning to end.   Last week she reported that she wasn't watching where she was going on the playground, fell really hard, and ripped a hole in her pants and skinned her knee.  She said she tried hard to not cry, which made a part of me feel really bad for her.

At her parent-teacher conference, her teachers said that she's pretty quiet, but is very well-behaved.  She's doing quite well academically.  Surprisingly, her strongest suit is math right now.  We've started reading.  I can't believe that she sits next to me and reads books on a regular basis.  I'm so proud of her sounding out words and genuinely trying to read.  Her handwriting has improved so much already, especially forming her numbers.  She doesn't seem to get quite as frustrated with herself as she did in preschool.

She's had some pretty hilarious one-liners lately.  I have to document them for memory's sake:

*As we are driving by Taco Bell: "Ugh mom, not Hot Bell!  I hate Hot Bell."

*"Dad, will you make me some eggs?  But please no 'oak.'  I don't like the 'oak' part."

*"Jenna won't be at school tomorrow or Friday.  She's going on vacation to Florida, I think.  Florida is close to North Star."

*After asking her about school lunch.  "Walking taco day is awesome.  But the brown mashed potatoes are not."  "Brown mashed potatoes" that she's referring to are refried beans.

*Vera: "Dad, what does your shirt say?"
  Adam: "Adidas"
  Vera:  "Quesadidas?  That's funny!"

*When introducing her "guest reader" Vince to her pretend class:  "Everyone, this is Vince.  Vince, would you like to introduce yourself?  He talks kind of weird, but do the best you can to understand him."


Vera loves to color and make cards for others.  Vince sees to it that he is not left out.

The second child, Vince, is living up to his reputation.  He can be such a sweet and loving little guy, but so temperamental and stubborn in the next breath.


He is talking more and more all the time.  Slowly, he's starting to speak in broken sentences.  Sometimes, especially when he's tired, he will just say "mom" over and over.  Even after I answer him, he just keeps with it.  Just recently, he was telling Annie to stay away from the steps.  He walked up to her and said, "No, no Nee Nee.  No step step."  (He does watch out for her from time to time.  Mostly he just takes her toy or knocks her down.)  Vera is his best buddy.  He's lost without her lead.
His kindness really is heartwarming.  


They're starting to play and interact together more often.  I'm noticing that they have similar interests, which will be the case for quite some time.  

He can get in, but he can't get out.  The disclaimer is that he gets in on his own.  This is not a method of detainment by his parents, although maybe it should be!
He can be the sweetest!  

I can tell Patty has started working with him on some basic school work.  He knows a few colors.  He also tries to sing the alphabet.  Usually we can make out "E, F, G"  Surprisingly, every single time we ask him what A says, he says "aaaa" and B says "B B B."  I haven't had a time where I've asked and he didn't know.  :)

Sleeping in his bed is going better.  We've graduated to just rocking for a few minutes and then putting him to bed awake and leaving the room.  He seems to really like the one-on-one time of rocking together.  We always have to sing Twinkle Twinkle.  He tries to sing along, which is pretty sweet.  Sometimes when we rock, he even falls asleep in my arms.  We definitely cannot rock unless we have his fuzzy blue bear and blanket.  We don't cover up or do anything special with the blanket, but we gotta have it!  Lately, he's insisted on sleeping without socks at nap time.  And, usually he's pretty resistant to being covered up.  I always have to sneak back in and cover him up later.

Mealtime at the Pearson household still leaves much to be desired.  There are still too many nights where he refuses to eat all-together.  Lately, he insists on sitting in a regular chair rather than his booster seat.  As long as he eats, it isn't such a problem.  But, he stands on the chair or roams around and comes back for a bite here and there.  Vince usually refuses to use silverware at some point.  We've had instances of eating yogurt, peanut butter and ranch dressing with fingers.  He still will not push his sleeves up to eat or wear a bib, so his clothes are usually destroyed after supper.  Speaking of ranch dressing, he must have "dip dip" for everything.  He's starting to say "white dip dip" and "red dip dip" referring to ranch and ketchup.  He can also tell the difference between mayo and ranch.  Don't try to sneak it past him.

Vince loves trains, tractors and trucks right now.  He diligently hooks them up and pushes them around.  He's sure to get mad when they won't stay hooked up or someone takes part of his ensemble.  He reminds me of my brother when I watch him as he diligently pushes his tractors around, loads the animals, and freaks out when something isn't just right.  


And then, baby Annie.  She is growing up so fast!  She is talking and interacting more and more each week.  She gets so excited when I pick her up at Patty's or when Adam walks in the door.  She squeals loudly, smiles and waves her arms.


Just recently, she's started walking along the furniture.  I haven't caught her standing alone yet, but I imagine it will be soon.  I really dread the thought of her walking around, only because I know she's going to be knocked over constantly by Vince and the cluttered toys in the house.  As long as she isn't walking, she still seems like a baby to me.



Her sleeping habits lately leave much to be desired as well.  When she wakes up, it is early, and she is loud.  Instead of jabbering sweetly, she cries hard.  About 95% of the time, she wakes with a dirty diaper.  So, once she gets clean pants and a cup of milk, there is a slight possibility that she'll go back to sleep.  In doing all of this, we must be ever-so-quiet.  Vince is like a sleeping bear.  If we wake the bear, it's over.  Everyone is up.  I'm hoping their abilities to "sleep in" will improve.  We do not enjoy 5:30 and 6am on the weekends.

One of our early mornings during the week.  Annie loves our phones, especially the cameras!
Breakfast before school.  Vince had a skinned nose for about 2 weeks.  He took a tumble, and then re-injured it with another tumble.  
When they wake up too early, we throw them in bed with us.
I love this picture!  Bright eyes and sippys all around!

Annie eats primarily table food.  She does really well at self-feeding.  We packed away the bottles and are using sippys all the time.  Yogurt seems to be the go-to food when she's fussy.  It's something we know she will always eat.  Ironically, she really dislikes the yogurt melt snacks.  She spits them out every time we offer them to her.  She's the only one of the 3 that will eat bananas, which has been welcomed.

Annie is usually very happy.  But, if we put her on the floor to play and she doesn't want to be there, she lets us know!
Things are still pretty nutty around our house.  Little by little, things are getting easier.  Vince is talking more, Vera is super helpful, and Annie is eating more table food.  All are tiny things that help mom and dad keep their sanity! :)