Akiva: month nine

Poor Akiva, his posts have been neglected. It is a good thing he has not been neglected. He is growing by leaps and bounds. He is amazing! He is eating everything in sight.
When we are not moving fast enough he screams. His screams are not your run of the mill screams, they are the ear piercing variety.

We can not keep up! We find ourselves having to give him spoonfuls of food while he shovels food into his mouth by himself.

He is crawling everywhere and anywhere. No more army crawling for him, he is up on all fours chasing after his sisters and the dogs. When he is not crawling, he is pulling up on anything and everything in site and cruising around using our furniture as his crutch. I think he will be walking in no time.
Did I mention he talks? Yes he babbles and giggles like most babies his age but he says "hi!". He really does. When ever the dogs walk into the room you can hear him say "Hi!". I get it every once and awhile when I have been out of site. He is just a very yummy baby!

Hijacked

My life has been hijacked by the auction at the girls school. I eat sleep and drink this auction. I will be glad when it is over and I can focus on my family again and updating my blog! There are so many wonderful things that I have neglected to blog about. It is just not like me, so I am going to do my best tonight and try very hard to keep up from now on.
There was another trip to Lion Country Safari where the girls rode the train by themselves nonstop for ten minutes.Lior allowed me to hold her while I fed the giraffe,


and then she allowed me to get close enough for her to get a close-up of that purple tongue.

Sydney loves every minute of feeding those giraffe's, she has no fear. There are no pictures of Jordan anywhere near a giraffe, she wants no part of them.

Akiva loved riding the "caraself". I do not think it was his first time but it was the first time I remember him squealing with delight.

The girls went on a paddle boat with Matt. They were so excited and very cute.
Poor Sydney, her life jacket was too big and she could barely move when she sat down. I was terrified she was going to fall into the lake.


They were climbing all over that boat while Matt was paddling around.

Another milestone! The girls were able to ride without a parent, for the very first time. They were so proud of themselves.

Jordan was happy to hitch a ride with dad.

We had a great day at the end of January and I am just getting around to it today!

Art outside

I must be seriously distracted! Look at how cute that little boy is! He really wanted to paint. The paintbrush just wound up in his mouth every time.

Sydney painted with such purpose. Her concentration was great to see.
Jordan got more paint on her face than on her paper.


Lior covered every inch of her paper with gusto! It was a red rainbow.
"Sydney's rainbow"

Tomorrow's rainbow

Further evidence that I have been hijacked. Here are more pictures from the fundraiser we attended earlier this month. The kids had a blast on the huge inflatable slide.
Look at those smiles!


Sydney had a blast playing with the goats.

Akiva enjoyed petting the sheep. The wool is so thick (and dirty).

The kids played games. Jordan has an amazing arm. She actually made it through one of the targets the first time she tried.


Sydney gave it a good try.

Lior takes after her father, unfortunately and inherited his inability to throw.

They roped cattle.


Then they hoola-hooped cattle.



Then Matt carried Jordan in the baby b'jorn. Had I been paying attention I would have noticed that Jordan has been in that carrier more than Akiva has.

She did it!

I was going to go to sleep but I just needed to clarify something. Sydney did earn her purse for writing her name. She was just so excited it was hard to take her picture. She loves the purse and the gloves which came with us everywhere we went today. She is so proud!

Camera thieves

The kids stole my camera today while we were at the Tomorrow's Rainbow Country Fair. They had a blast and took some great pictures and a lot were not so great.
Sydney took these:


And Lior took these:

I think I am going to start bringing my old camera with us when we go out so they can take all the pictures they want and I will not have to fight them for it.

What did she say?

On Wednesday night my parents took us out to dinner without Matt who was at his class. Jordan was sitting at the other end of the table across from my dad. All of the sudden I hear (In a very loud voice) "Gampa you a penis boy!" My dad looks up at her and says something like "yes Jordan" but had no real reaction. I look at him while laughing and ask him if he heard her and he informs me he can not hear a word she is saying. In an even louder voice Jordan says "Gampa YOU HAVE A PENIS!". Still nothing. When I fill him in on what is going on around him and he turns about ten shades of red he apologizes to her for not hearing her but is at a real loss of what to say to her. I told him he should say what Matt always does "thanks for noticing!"

Working

For the last week or so the girls, especially Sydney, have been drawing maps of Disney World and telling me that they want to go to "Disney WooWald". Sydney has even been packing. Our responses have been varied but generally we tell them that we just can not afford it but some day we will go back.
About two weeks ago, I started to work again. I started slow and I will be working anywhere between seven and ten hours a week. My mom is watching the two little ones two days a week and on the third day Matt is going to work late. It has been an adjustment but the kids are dealing with it well. Jordan loves the time with my mom and it does not impact the big girls at all, except that they see me working with their friends at school.
Well, Miss Lior must listen to our conversations very closely because the other day in the car Sydney and Jordan were talking about going to Disney and saying how we were not going for a long time. Lior joins the conversation and says "Mommy is working now so we can go to Disney!" She misses nothing and maybe if things get better we will go, maybe.

Last saturday

It was very cold last weekend so Matt decided it was the perfect temperature for camping. I can not believe how cold it was outside, Akiva was completely bundled up and I think he was still cold. I know that I sat dangerously cold to the fire after the kids went to sleep, I'm becoming a Floridian and do not fair well in cold temperatures anymore.
Like their last camping "trip", this one included s'mores and I do not know who enjoyed them more! This trip was much more successful for Jordan. She calmed down beautifully and slept right next to Lior who told Jordan to sleep next to her so she could cuddle her.
A great time was had by all.

January thirty-first

It all started back in December when we were in Disney World, the first time. Jordan saw a Minnie Mouse purse and really wanted it so I decided to use it as motivation towards potty training. We told her that when she peed and pooped in the potty all the time she could have her Minnie purse. Well our very smart three year olds wanted purses too so we needed to create a goal for them to work towards.
Since Sydney was obsessed with writing her name. I decided that when the girls wrote their names they would get there purses. Lior was the first to achieve this goal and I can not believe it. She has demonstrated absolutely no interest in writing her name yet when she mentioned that she wanted that purse and I reminded her all she had to do was write her name she said "Okay, I will" , walked inside picked up a marker and a piece of paper and wrote her name like she has been doing it for years "L- I- O- R can I have my purse now?". You know she has not written it since, I wonder what she is holding out for now?
I am going to go on notice by saying that bribing her to write her name goes against my better judgement because I really think kids write when they are developmentally ready to do it. I guess Lior was ready and just needed a little encouragement in the form of a sequined purse.

Letter game

Guess who wrote her name today? Our very own Sydney wrote her name
today after weeks and weeks of trying. Way to go Sydney!! You did a
great job and your name is not easy!

Ooops!

Anyone who knows my husband knows that he is clumsy. They might not know just how clumsy until today when I present some pretty compelling evidence.
This was once a window in the kids play room. Now my window looks like this:

Matt slipped and does not know how exactly the window broke. Either his elbow went through the window or the dollhouse did. I am happy to report that he does not even have a scratch. Jordan and Akiva, who were home with him are fine as well. Words can not express how relieved I am that all we need is a new window!