Reading time

Bball game sleeping

12/28/10

Ben

Doing some reading

YEEHAAAA!

Ben's fave toys

Currently a two toy race between balls and books. He can sit in the same spot for 30 minutes "reading" books one after the other. And, balls clearly bring him a ton of joy. We are also surprised at his desire for autonomous play, figured he would either tag along more or want to do what Kate/Drew are doing, but he pretty much walks off on his own and can play happily for quite a while.

Current fave colors

Kate has shifted from pink to purple. Drew has shifted from orange to gray.

Last

Officially, that is the first 4 letter word that Drew has been able to read.

Random Updates

Things have been sparse around here because life gets in the way of writing about life.  So, what's been going on?

 

Kate got to experience a late night emergency room visit.  Ultimately, no big deal, but general crumminess became bad crumminess became a 10 PM trip to Scottish Rite.  An ultimately forgettable illness thankfully.

 

Drew had his first musical performance at church, just a little handbell exhibition for his 3 year old class.  Addie enjoyed the spotlight exactly as much as she did for soccer.  Drew and Emmy were focused automatons of ringing.  Maisie and McCoy bounced back and forth to their parents like pinballs.  Drew was pretty awesome, not to self.  Post the video, he is way focused on ringing and doing it right.  His mechanical abilities still continue to amaze.

 

Thanksgiving was quite fun.  Now that the kids are all getting old enough, I enacted the first annual Thanksgiving sportsapalooza. Played wiffle ball, soccer, and tag in the Mitchell's backyard.  Parents vs. Kids and Boys vs. Girls.  Sherri nailed Drew with a wiffleball in the stomach, leaving a perfect ball shaped bruise, complete with indentations and cutouts.  Drew, if you are reading this 20 years from now I am pretty sure she did it on purpose so make sure I am your favorite from now on.

 

Sitting in the gym last night, Drew told me his bottom burped.

 

Went to a Gwinnett Gladiators hockey game thanks to Kate's reading prowess.  We had a blast, Gwinnett won, lots of goals were scored.  The kids had a blast, especially since they got to hear "We Will Rock You", see lots of pushing and shoving, and the general excitement of all of the activity.

 

Ben is a walking machine now.  Lots of 10 step jaunts, some turning.  He can say basketball, though in the slightly mangled dialect of a 1 year old.  He eats everything, more than Kate or Drew did if I had to size it.

Drew at the first game this year

Drew: I don't want to call him Coach Terry anymore
Chris: what do you want to call him?
Drew: little tiny monkey.

Who likes hockey? Kate and Drew like hockey.

Went to the Gwinnett Gladiators game on Sunday and had a fun time with the two older ones. Gwinnett won 5-3 so we got to see lots of goals. There were a couple of shoving matches, one guy broke an arm when slammed into the boards, good crowd, and lots of fun. The kids seemed quite interested. Had a hot dog each as a snack, they loved that We Will Rock You was played on the PA.

Drew would currently not ratify the 19th amendment

Mainly because he is very much aware of and not wanting to use girl stuff right now. He refused to drink water from a red cup with pink hearts on it because that made it girl water. Also asked if the dog treats were for girl dogs only.

Happy Halloween

Drew dressed as Spiderman, Ben dressed as Spiderman. Guess what Kate dressed as? Yup, Spiderman. At least on one day of parties. For actual trick or treating, Kate was Supergirl, complete with a pink tutu to highlight the girl aspect of it.

Good weather and we hit tons of houses in the hood. Drew zonked out around 8:30, Kate made it to 9 and then had a blast sorting and looking at her ill-gotten gains. Ben didn't go out, but he didn't have a clue what was going on anyway.

More balls, less dolls

Talking about adddie's birthday present (Addie wants some princess pjs):

Drew said, "Like Kate likes princesses".  Kate said, "Actually, I don't like
princesses.  I like balls."  I asked, "What do you mean?"  Kate said, "Like
basketballs and soccer balls and baseballs."

Vacation time

Went to Hiawassee and Dollywood. Kate's favorite ride was probably the Dizzy Disk. Drew's favorite ride was the Smoky Mountain River Rampage. Drew through the largest, most random tantrum about going to the bathroom. Don't even really need to blog on it, let's just say Sherri will always have that burned into her mind.

Drew's first real bike ride

Happened at the most nerve wracking place on earth actually. He did a great job once he figured out how to really get moving. Note to self, post a picture. Training wheels worked well.


As for the nerves, he (and Kate and Dylan) rode their bikes at the Hiawassee Dam. There is a walkway about as wide as 1 and a half parking space that goes along the top of the berm for half a mile. This was the riding spot. Can't find a good picture of it, but picture that width. Off one side is a 60 degree hill going 50 feet down. The other side is a 60 degree hill covered in rocks leading to the reservoir.

So that was pretty awesome.

Thanks for visiting Granny

We had a grand old time while Granny was in town the last few days. Ate out lots and she got to see both kids play their soccer games

Deep mysteries discussed before bed

Kate: What's wrong with formula?
Chris: Well, nothing's really wrong with it. It's just not as good as mommy milk.
Kate: Why not?
Chris: Well, God made mommy milk to have all of the stuff a baby needs. People make formula and do their best, but it just doesn't have all of the stuff a baby needs.

pause

Kate: Avy drinks formula right?
Chris: Yes
Kate: And, did Dylan drink formula when he was a baby?
Chris: He did
Kate: That must be why he acts so crazy sometimes.

Hello Captain Haircut

And, Ben has now had his first ever haircut. Boy, did he not enjoy that one little bit. All camera work (pictures and video) done by Kate. Hands and head held by Chris. Cutting by Sherri. But, dude looks good as a junior executive.

His first haircut was a little less eventful than the other kids. Kate's was at Amanda's buzz day and involved mass quantities of hair going in front of a giant crowd. Drew's was at Disneyworld with the parade going by. Sorry Ben, you're the third kid. You get gruel and you'll like it.

Yet more pictures

Good parents let their kids play with snakes. Part of our hike.


Kate the soccer stud, and make no mistake. This year she is a stud. 3 goals last game and she is leaving other kids in her wake. Picture the post-battle scene in "Gone With the Wind."


Kate is also taking gymnastics. She has made it quite clear that she got Chris' leaping ability which we are thrilled about.


Kate also climbed Amicalola under her own power. 1 mile in, 700 steps up. 1.5 miles down.


This face is awesome in so many ways. Taken randomly just when the doorbell rang and we caught Drew's reaction. Almost positive this could be an internet meme somehow.

Pictures part 2

Drew and his first organized sport. He is getting more comfortable and less hesitant. Youngest kid in the league.


Ben was very nice to share his birthday cake. Drew, Kate, Andrew, and Dylan all got to eat the detritus off of Ben's hands.


I don't even know what this is.


Yum.


This is a big tree we saw whilst hiking. Sort of awe inspiring.

Let's do a giant batch pictures

I have a good reason for not updating a ton recently. Work is nuts and I can no longer get to the posting function of this blog thanks to work web blockers. So, I actually have to be productive. Let's let the pictures do the talking


Ben opened some birthday presents. Note the tongue.


Ben was Godzilla, the cake was Japan, and a family watched in awe at the destruction.



Ben proved he enjoys all food and has the manners of a bear.


Drew climbed Amicalola falls. Rode the backup up, walked down on his own about 1.5 miles. Also, he urinated off the mountain, so that was pretty awesome.



Ben showed a yen for castles and boy toys.

Benzing Norgay

So Ben was able to crawl all the way up the stairs today. Sherri was behind him letting him test his mettle. Made it with no issues, other than some random distractions from shiny objects.

Kate's future

Kate and I were talking about how she would still have to take hard classes
and classes she didn't like when she chose a major in college (because she
was whining about learning to add by 8s). She said, "Mommy, I can be more
than one thing, right?" I said, "Sure." She said, "Then I want to be a
dentist and a dog doctor and a doctor that gets babies out of Mommy's
tummies and then a coach." I said, "Wow. You sure will need a lot of
school to do all of those things." She said, "That's ok. I don't mind. I
would be so disappointed if I couldn't do all of those things."

Happy birthday to Drew

And, he's now 3. The party was quite fun, held at Grayson Park. Friends there were Andrew, Addie, Katie, Emmie, Kate, Avy, Ben. Water gun fights, bubbles, tons of playground time. Gifts were heavily focused on superheroes (and again, Drew has never seen any of them really do anything, they just appeal to his masculinity). He had a "Dark" Vader balloon that he chose.

Ben has a drinking problem

No, not really, but he did his most obvious deep thinking communication so far. Sherri and I were in the dining room, Ben was working his way around the kitchen floor. He went to the drawer with the kid cups, grabbed one, crawled over with it to the fridge, got on his knees and held the cup up towards the water dispenser. Looked at me with a big smile on his face.

Once again, soccer season

Or, an actual OK excuse for Drew to kick things. Kate is back with her crew, most o the team is the same as last soccer season, adding in Sophie which Kate is thrilled about. Rest of her team is Watson, Wynn, Andrew, Katie, Audrey, Zach.

Drew is playing for the first time, and I had forgotten (willfully obstructed) the memories of how much more stressful it is coaching 3 year olds that haven't played before. Drew has Emmie and Addie on his team which is nice. Other random kids are Riley, Theran, Ella, and Ethan. Once Drew decides playing is fun, he'll pretty much dominate I think. May not happen until we get into games though. Plus, he's the youngest one out there.

School updates

Kate is an avid reader. lots of time spent with puzzles, math, parts of speech, handwriting, following directions, creative writing, and probably 20 things I am not thinking of.

Drew spends time with puzzles, learning letters and numbers, and mechanical manipulation of objects.

Ben is a partial walker

As of about 5 days ago, he will now get up and walk behind something. Maybe 10 steps max, but he digs it. Only a matter of time now.

Kate is a relentless reading machine

And, after the test we gave her tonight, she has proven to read at somewhere between a 4th and 5th grade level.

Ben has a budding future as a sherpa

Since he has now figred out how to crawl while transporting things. The mouth can be a handy tool at times.

Week one of Katelyn the Kindergartner in the books

Lots of book technically. She learned all about Leif Ericsson, what a noun is, addition (and other math principles), a decent amount of puzzles/handwriting/and batches of other things. On the flip side, sounds like her friends in elementary school did some coloring. So, that sounds challenging.

How mellow is Ben?

Last night in the bath, Ben reached forward to get a ball bobbing in the water. In doing so, he stuck his head fully under the still running tub faucet and was thoroughly doused. Fished around, got his toy, and then sat up and smiled.

Now, imagine the same happening with either Kate or Drew at that age.

Thanks for the fun night in-laws/Sherri

So, forget the the kids in this one. This post is all about me. Sherri's parents are on a much needed vacation. When you leave behind a house, you tend to leave behind a couple of things that need doing. Sherri remembered last night at about 8PM that those things (take trash out, water indoor plants, move some stuff) still needed doing that night.

So, I did it, especially since Ben needed to stay home and was stuck on her like white on rice.

The only thing is, no one informed me that their new house has a working alarm system or that the code is now different than it was at the old house. There really is no feeling quite as helpless as those few seconds between realizing the alarm pad is warning you of an imminent alarm and knowing there isn't a thing you can do to stop it. Thankfully, with the door closed, what sounds like a piercing alarm on the inside can only be faintly heard on the outside. And, with the combination of empty neighborhood lots and really old people with poor hearing around them, I actually think I may have distrubed no one.

Plus, when the alarm company called to check to see if it was a real or false alarm, I was able to guess the all clear code.

So, that was pretty awesome.

Thanks for the fun night Ben

So, he's sick. The guess is an ear infection that caused mighty fun fever starting yesterday afternoon, the doc appointment will hopefully prove that out. So, he was pretty lethargic. And, between being up with him late, up again from about 3:15 to 4:30, and having to drive to Kroger to get children's Tylenol (off brand only please), it was a night that veered from the hoped for "sit down, hang out, vegetate" plan I had in mind after being on the phone with the CFO until 7PM last night.

Fever seemed better this AM, so that was good.

Drew's new girlfriend

While he still says he will marry Katie (when he is five), he also says he'll marry Barney the dinosaur, a chair, and the house. So, I think it's safe to say he has no clue what he is talking about.

However, he really does have a blast when he sees Courtney, an upcoming junior that plays for Sherri. She's a tiny point guard who Kate loves to follow around and I think Drew has picked up that habit as well.

Ben really digs standing

Because he does it all the time now. Pulls up on anything he can get his hands on, though no obvious attempts at steps yet. This is also a self-reminder to post pics/video for those of you reading this that don't get to see him on a regular basis.

He still likes all foods.

And the first two people to see Ben pull up are...

Chris and Drew. Ben pulled up to a standing position for the first time yesterday in the afternoon, though no one actually saw it. Sherri looked over and he just happened to be standing. Last night with the girls gone at basketball, Drew and I saw Ben actually pull up right in front of us. He had no clue what to do after that.

Ben appears to like plain avocado. Ugh.

Kate is in basketball camp this week with kids somewhat her age. She's two years too young, but fits right in size wise.

Ben - one step closer to taking one step

Mainly because it looks like he may have started to figure out how to crawl. Rather than rolling and shifting his way around a room, he managed to string together a couple of actual crawling motions last PM.

Drew - one step closer to evil genius

And why is that? He has a minion. Apparently some kids movie is coming out about an evil genius. Whilst at the children's museum with Katie, Emmie, and Andrew, the museum folk were giving out minion pictures (mazes, word searches, etc on the back) to promote the movie. Drew has become quite attached to his. We have to laugh every time he asks us where his minion is. The disconnect between the idea of what a minion is and the sweet way a 2 1/2 year old asks about the whereabouts of his prized minion is too cute.

What's his minion look like?

Drew's future

Sherri: "Looks like Katie's birthday present has shipped in the mail."
Drew: "My Katie?"

And, in the bathroom at Moe's last night: "I'm going to marry Katie when I am 5 and a half."

And vacation is over

Or it was a couple of days ago. Sherri and Chris did the Siler Bald hike which is 5 miles in and 5 miles out of mountainy terrain with elevation change of 2400 feet, rated strenuous. Made it in exactly 3 hours.

Kate and Drew got to enjoy the new pizza place in Hiawassee as we reloaded all of our lost energy. Ben enjoyed it 3 hour later.

Drew currently likes to randomly sing the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" theme song. Although, in his world it is Almon, Syndom, Feodore. Close enough.

The best of vacation. The worst of vacation

The best would be the AM half of the day. Chris, Sherri, Cindy, and Ben did a 6 mile hike rated as strenuous. And it was. 2 mountain summits,a couple of great views, no people, interesting animals. Meanwhile the other kids did a mountain climb with Granddad. Even Drew made it the whole way on his own. Building up those soccer legs

The worst part was going to the little beach here at the lake. We are famously not beach or lake people but the kids had a blast. Lots of swimming, decent weather, and jet ski rides for Sherri and Kate

Just about to eat so off I go. Dinner appears to be cabbage, squash, chicken, sweet potatoes, plums, and peaches. Not all in the same dish.

Ben's nickname

Not sure if I have mentioned this yet.  Drew and Kate currently call him Sippis.  And why, you might ask?  Somehow after he was born, Kate (when learning about states) learned of Mississsippi.  I think she thought it was a fun sounding word and called Ben by it one day.  Drew laughed, and a silly nickname was born.  At some point, the started calling him Mistersippi, I suppose since he is a boy.  That then worked it's way down to Sippis.

Drew's breakfast

Insisted he wanted cold waffles (homemade kind, not those Eggos thrust upon the proletariat). So, cold waffles he got. And, he appears to be enjoying them mightily.

Nicknames

Not that we are hankering for a move to nickname based child identification, but if we ever do with one for Drew, the obvious choice is "Dash" based on the movie The Incredibles. Seriously, watch it. It's Drew.

Basketball Camp

Kate is back from her first overnight high school basketball camp. She worked very hard with Sherri's team. Did the fundamental stations as best she could, "won" a dribbling game with her group, and did a super job with lots of physical activity and little sleep. Read way more books than we initially estimated. Her current favorites are the Junie B. Jones series. Hadn't heard of those til Amanda but Kate is quickly pouring through that pile.

Ben survived his time without Sherri around. Drew probably got a little too comfortable as the lead child of the house so he has been under a bit stricter eye the last couple of days.

The race is still on to see if Ben crawls or stands up first. A backward seal walk is definitely mastered.

Drew is funny. And, other stuff.

While walking down the stairs last night, Pophank was going into his tendency of over-managing a situation and telling Gram something to do that she had well under control.  Her response to him was "Dick, still 61."

Followed immediately by Drew, "Pophank, still two and a half."

The other stuff.  Ben is on the verge of either crawling or standing up and taking off.  A bit of a race to see which happens first.  Gotta do video of it.  Or pictures, or something. He can kind of move himself around backwards, the inefficiency of that movement is perplexing.  Kate is having a blast at VBS with Sherri as her teacher.  Sherri has to keep reminding herself that the rest of the class is not quite where Kate is when it comes to reading/writing ability which is throwing some kinks in the progress of the class activities.

PopHank = Methuselah

Kate about Pop Hank and the location of Randy's Water Garden in proximity to
the Gwinnett airport: "He knows almost about everything 'cause he's seen
everything for a long time"

Updates

It's not a dereliction of duty, the kids just haven't had any ridiculously cute moments recently. More like run of the mill awesomeness.

Kate/Drew/Sherri went to Six Flags with Andrew/Shari. Drew did some of the bigger rides for the first time. Kate is tall enough to do the rides with the 48" height limit, but Andrew wasn't. She handled not going on those well so as not to make Andrew jealous though. I think their days of being size twins are rapidly ending thanks to wildly divergent genetic heritages.

Drew appears to now be motly good with anthropomorphic, life-sized characters. The Chick-fil-a cow has received hugs a couple of times in a row. As he did it he said "I'm going to do something great!" "I'm gonna come see you cow!"

Drew also apparently had his first experience with waking up in the middle of the night, realizing he needed to potty, and doing the whole process on his own and heading back to bed.

Kate got her new mattresses and proclaimed it her best bed ever.

Ben is getting vaguely into crawling position, though no movement yet. He'll also hold onto fingers and pull up. Only a matter of time before I have to start chasing him around the gym during basketball.

I before E...

Drew can spell his name now, first and last. Not necessarily via letter manipulation but by doing it out loud. Kate is pretty much a professional bike rider now. We told her once she is comfortable, she can forgo the kneepads. Sure, that'll lead to scrapes, but those just build character.

Ben is currently a human pogo stick in his jumper. He's part kangaroo apparently. Also, he has yet to turn his nose up at any type of baby food. I think he'd eat sticks if you could puree them.

Go speed racer, go

Drew, on our most recent hike whilst riding on my back in the backpack "I like to go fast daddy, yeeha!"

Random stuff

Hiking around Stone Mtn today, we were fairly deep in the woods and Drew asked if we were on "a secret package". The other day while exercising he asked if I was slimy. I had to inform him it was sweaty.

Ben has realized that when he does things, he gets attention and smiles from people.

Kate said she wished she was a parent because "they get to stay up later. They get to eat more and they get to be parents and have kids."

While at the thrift store, Sherri told Kate and Drew they could each pick out a book to buy, something that looked interesting. Drew picked this one.

Three kids, three updates

Drew's goodnight routine is to tell me "hasta manana" and then we salute.

Ben can clap, he seems quite pleased with this newfound skill. He's also currently trying to attack Sherri's computer.

Kate is most proud of her new silly bracelet that Andrew gave her. I think she likes it because it's a bracelet more than that she got it from Andrew.

Played at Gram and PopHank's abode this evening. Kate and Drew rode bikes, Ben drooled on everything within mouth reach.

Say what, Kate?

Mommy, I really want to go to Disneyworld. I mean, can I do gymnastics?

Catching up

Climbed Stone Mtn on Sunday with the Niemann crew. Kate and Andrew did a good job together and sort of spurred each other on when tired. Drew still does not like the wind, especially on the top of the mountain but he may finally be getting past it. He climbed the steeper top part under his own power rather than in the backpack.

Ben has at least 5 teeth pretty clearly poking through. If I had to guess, I would predict he will talk before he walks. We are OK with this.

Went to the Dekalb Farmers' Market where the kids knew they had to pick one thing to try they have never eaten before. Ended up coming home with a casaba melon. Not cooked and eaten yet, but it is lurking.

Kate has decided that artichokes are grosser than brussel sprouts, so we may have a new food to mock. More bike riding (and crashing) but a better attitude about not doing it perfectly right at first.

Ben does not like flying like Superman. On the flip side, Drew really likes his Superman jammies.

More malaprops with Drew

"Batman is my favorite superhero in the whole live world."

"Na nanny boo boo, You canta catch me"

Kate's a bike rider (sung to the tune of Paperback Writer)

Who's the girl with the happy smile?
Riding around for lots of miles?
Spinning wheels, wind in her hair
She wants to speed along and be a bike rider.
Kate's a bike rider.

In Alexander Park on the grass or trail
She'll pedal along without fail
Walking's fine, running is too
But Kate's decided that she wants to be a bike rider.
Kate's a bike rider.

Kate's a bike rider.

And so on, I am not a songwriter for a reason.

Look ma, no training wheels

Kate had her 2nd go around without training wheels today. Yesterday was a somewhat controlled descent on a grassy slope. Lots of courage building needed, and lots of talks about her brain needing to think positively and make her body fight through the fear. A few bumps and bruises later and she had done a really good job of practicing.

Today, she rode on the street completely unencumbered. max distance of about 150 feet. And, she wanted to quit and definitely cried at junctures, but fought through it and had some really good rides and showed that she is starting to get more comfortable up there. A few more days of good practice and I think she'll be in pretty good shape.

Malaprops with Drew

On your mark, get set, go = Uncle Mark, get set, go
Yellow = Lellow
PopHank = PongKank

Favorites

Might do this once in a while, just listing out some of the kids favorite things at any point in time.
Kate
Movie - The Princess and the Frog
TV Show - Ninja Warrior
Song - We will, we will rock you by Queen
Food - Moe's burrito
Color - Pink
Friend - Someone from the Dylan/Katie/Andrew triumvirate

Drew
Movie - Mulan
TV Show - Ninja Warrior
Song - We will, we will rock you by Queen
Food - Broccoli
Color - Orange
Friend - Andrew or Dylan

Ben
He's 7 months old, he couldn't care less

Also, don't think I have mentioned yet that Kate's pet name for Ben somehow became Mississippi. I have no idea why this is, though she hasn't used that in a few weeks.

Random updates

Kate has started a new trend of wanting to end her day by reading in bed, by herself. As in, she actively shoos us out of the room. She read a book listed as grade 2.8 by herself. She has decided she doesn't really like T-ball. The gist of her reasoning is that T-ball has a lot more stuff you have to learn and work on than soccer or basketball, both of which seem to be much more straightforward.

Kate is totally a night person, Drew is totally a morning person, Ben is not yet defined.

Ben looks good with his 3 teeth.

Stone Mountain day

Kate did her 11th solo ascent up Stone Mtn today, with her most driven pace ever. She didn't even want to wait on Sherri to catch up. Drew continues to not be a fan of the wind, so the top of the mountain was not his favorite place to be. Ben was just bob-bob-bobbin' along for the ride. No skinned knees or head bonks so I would consider that a successful trip.

Drew may be moving past the need for a nap, at least as an every day event. We may be close to shifting him to an every other type of thing. Ben only wet through one outfit today.

Ben at the Atlanta Hawks game

3rd row seats, courtesy of Jana Schmidt and Harland Clarke. Niemann's to the left of us, random overweight people with a little too much plastic surgery crowding our personal space to the right of us. But, super fun and Ben's flirting with the cheerleaders did get us some more free stuff.

Journey Walk results

Every 15 laps equals 1 mile and we had about 40 minutes to do this. Kate pounded out 47 laps and would have been able to hit a few more if not for the fact that a good portion of the parents and younger kids walked so slowly as to clog up the track a bit. Ben also went the same 47 laps, though he was little more than ballast strapped on to Sherri

Drew made it 35 laps with me. I had figured 30 laps was a wildly optimistic target. I think he could have had a few more, but the arrival of the Chick-Fil-A cow (Drew considers him completely evil) managed to wreck our pace a few times.

So, between the two of them, I think they managed to raise $61 for the Indonesia mission trip.

Drew's letters

By looking at their journey bags, Drew was able to correctly identify the 4 letters of his name and Kate's. I think he might have read the word STOP off of a sign while driving to church, but not totally aure on that.

Journey walk tonight. 45 lap max which Kate is sure she will make. I think Drew and I will be moving a good bit slower.

Yay Marlins! Boo 4 AM wakeups! Boo croup!

Kate had her first t-ball game of the season last night. Hit well, fielded well, we just need to work on her directional throwing, but that'll come with time. Drew and Ben happily watched with Gram. Went to Moe's afterwards to eat and Shari/Andrew were going also so we had a big old party there.

Kate then woke up at 4 AM (this after Ben's 4 AM shenanigans the night before) with wheeziness, coughing, etc so that was really awesome for our tiredness. Turns out she has croup, which sounds a bit like a 1700's pirate disease to me. 3 days of meds and breathing treatments, but otherwise no big deal.

This weekend

Was a normal weekend by all measures. It appears Kate's new obsession is the concept of having a sleepover. I think this idea mainly got started when we were hanging with the Niemann's and she and Andrew got talking about it. The whole boy/girl thing pretty much puts the kibosh on that happening, so it appears she may have now set her targets on having a sleepover with Katie. We'll see.

Drew is probably up to recognizing about half of the alphabet now.

Ben probably set a record for longest time he let a non-relative hold him, with a good 10 minutes with Barbara Riley. The best part was him spitting up all over Sherri about 5 seconds after she took him back. Good timing Ben, kudos!

Drew and letters

Pulling up to Stevi B's Pizza to eat lunch Sunday

Drew: Stevi B's! I see a B up there.
Sherri: Where?
Drew: Next to the S.

So, he's starting to figure out letters.

Outside time

Spent the last two nights over at the Niemann's. Kids playing outside, with Drew essentially tagging along behind Kate and Andrew wherever they went. Watching it, I can pretty easily see how not fun it can be to be the bigger kid with a younger one wanting to horn in on everything and how not fun it can be to be the younger one trying to be cool like the bigger kids.

Also, I was a little worried at one point when I head Kate and Andrew discussing boyfriends and girlfriends. Turns out it was in the context off friends who are boys and friends who are girls. So, I can live with that.

Bonus, no bloody nose for Drew this evening.

Thank you Richard James Phelan

Drew, this AM at breakfast: I have to go potty outside.

Ensuing lesson on pottying and indoor bathroom availability

Woohoo!

Drew made it through the night without a diaper or an accident. I think we are now officially down to one child with diapers which is all kinds of awesome.

Kate has a growing horse obsession, along with an ever growing daredevil streak.

Ben is cute. His teeth are looking good.

Spring Flowers

Planted by Kate and Drew at Gram and PopHank's house

Drew, looking awesome at McDonald's

Drew

Ben is too cool

Kate's future, Drew's apparent turkey obsession

Kate with me at the vet today
I was thinking I could be a veterinarian. I could be a doctor. I could be a veterinarion. I could be a doctor. But I really think I should be a veterinarion. I wanted to choose now so I don't have to think about deciding later.

Earlier in our kitchen:
Sherri: Drew, do you want a piece of cookie?
Drew, from across the house: OK.
He comes wandering in to the kitchen
Sherri: Here you go
Drew: That's not turkey
Sherri: No, I said cookie
Drew: No, I wanted turkey
Goes stomping off

Running with Scissors

Well, something safer than that.  Drew got to use scissors for the first time ever.  Controlled environment, directed by Sherri.  But, he did well which is little surprise since he seems unusually gifted when it comes to the mechanics of making things work.

Best Drew moment ever

This is a test

Solely to see if I really can post from an email. Move along, nothing to see here.

Blah

Well, it is a rainy day which is good because it knocks the pollen out of the air. It is bad because it precludes walking/outside play. Kate got her $1 from the tooth fairy. She was far more concerned about being unable to find her tooth when she lost it yesterday than about the nice flow of blood down her face from the now gaping hole at the bottom of her smile. We assured her a note to the tooth fairy would suffice. She did a good job spelling words she probably has no business knowing how to spell yet.

Drew seems mostly over the sickness. Unfortunately, we now know far too much about just how much volume his stomach can hold. Awesome.

Ben? Probably riding the sick train a bit.

Sherri? Definitely on the sick train, at least around 2 AM so that was awesome for her.

Chris? A-OK so far.

Ben - Currently smiling at me from the comforts of his exersaucer.

Kate - Lost yet another tooth today. I think it was loose anyway, but she did help coax it out a bit with some poor hand-eye coordination while playing.

Drew - At lunch prayed to God that he would get to eat a tootsie roll. Just finished a nice round of throwing up so I guess he picked up what Kate had a couple of days ago. Egg salad, less attractive the second time around. Good times.

The Beginning

I'll be honest, should have started this long ago. Sherri and I have intermittently kept up journal stuff about Kate since she was born and folded in Drew and Ben as they came along but, like most parents, really busy lives means there are probably some cute, funny, eventful, or somewhat horrifying stories now lost to the mists of time. Oh well, we'll just have to catalog them from here on out. I assume this blog may help. A little more immediate, a little more centrally located. And as long as the vast series of tubes, bells, whistles, and wires that make up the internet keeps working we should have a long lasting record of Phelan kid activity.

I won't bother too much with setting up who we are. If you are reading this, then you probably already know us pretty well. If you don't know us pretty well, then wait for a few dozen more posts and you'll have us pegged soon. My goal is not to document the kids lives to the utmost, that would probably be unhealthy. Plus, you'd get tired of reading about their awesomeness and my bias. Just fairly big events, stories most people would consider cute/funny, and probably some other random stuff here and there. Heavy on the light stuff, light on the heavy stuff as it were.

Events to note:
Kate
Lost her first tooth on 4/1/10. Got her $1 from the Tooth Fairy (the economic times are tough even for fairies). She woke up in the middle of the night freaked out she swallowed another one but all was good.

Drew
Continued success away from diapers. Superhero underwear is a potent motivational tool.

Ben
Tooth #1 makes an appearance. Let the biting begin.