This was the first year that the kids were old enough to understand Mother's Day. By honest coincidence, a few weeks ago the kids chose a book from the library with the story about Mother's Day. In the story, the brother and sister main characters debated things to do or get for their mother. They grew her some flowers, made her a card and made her breakfast-in-bed.
Last week, Andrew went to his friend's house, Marcus, to play. Marcus's mom helped them make Mother's Day cards (Olivia, you are one of the most thoughtful people I know - thank you). Andrew was very excited to hide his surprise from me.
Sunday morning I got up a little early feeling rested and was just about to start the day when I was informed that I was supposed to still be asleep. It took Mike a great deal of love for me to get out of bed (he was up till 2am the night before working). But I stayed in bed and waited for my "surprise." I honestly tried to go to sleep, but I was still awake when I heard the kids coming. I pretended to be asleep because I knew they would want to wake me up.
They served me breakfast-in-bed on a silver platter (cookie sheet) with a beautiful card made by Andrew. He and Rachael were very excited and pleased with themselves and hardly acknowledged daddy's help in making the breakfast.
It was a very relaxing day feeling very loved and appreciated by my family.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Mommy School - Andrew
I have been doing "mommy school" with Andrew and Rachael since Sept '09. First, it was just to supplement their preschool, but then we had to withdraw them from preschool and I started taking it more seriously. Since Jan '10 I have been working with another mom who has a boy and girl the same age and Andrew and Rachael, respectively. She is mainly responsible for math while I focus more on English.
This week, we have been working on the letter H.
Monday, Andrew is at her house. They worked on pattern recognition, addition/subtraction, and counting to 100 by 5's. For homework I had him practice writing the letter H and we did a letter find.
Tuesday, Andrew is by himself with me. We colored the letter H (he loves to color things as rainbows) then he practiced writing his full name. We then had a reading lesson and he read a short story about a man getting a pet cat in his stocking for Christmas. We worked on reading comprehension.
Wednesday, Andrew's preschool friend (not mommy school friend) Marcus came over and we went to the library and they did the letter X. For homework, we came up with words that start with H and he practiced writing them.
Thursday, Andrew is by himself with me. He learned about how the letter H changes the sound of other letters (eg: ch, sh, th, gh, wh) and worked on reading words with an H in them. We were supposed to practice writing words that have the H sound in them (as opposed to starting with the H sound), but I have had serious trouble coming up with words like that. I finally thought of a few (alcohol, longhorn, behave) but we'll have to come back to it. We did have a reading lesson about a man and a ram in the rain and worked on comprehension.
Friday, I host mommy school for the boys. Every week we practice writing the letter and then I find 5 pictures for that letter and they color the pictures and cut them out. They then have to match the picture with the word and practice writing that word. We talked about how to use the letter H in words and what rules dictate that letter. After that, I try to make a treat for that letter. Today we had hats made out of cookies, marshmallows and chocolate chips. I got the idea from Family Fun magazine. Their hats turned out much better looking than ours, but ours were still tasty.
Saturday, Andrew will finish whatever writing practice hadn't been finished earlier and we'll have another reading lesson.
This week, we have been working on the letter H.
Monday, Andrew is at her house. They worked on pattern recognition, addition/subtraction, and counting to 100 by 5's. For homework I had him practice writing the letter H and we did a letter find.
Tuesday, Andrew is by himself with me. We colored the letter H (he loves to color things as rainbows) then he practiced writing his full name. We then had a reading lesson and he read a short story about a man getting a pet cat in his stocking for Christmas. We worked on reading comprehension.
Wednesday, Andrew's preschool friend (not mommy school friend) Marcus came over and we went to the library and they did the letter X. For homework, we came up with words that start with H and he practiced writing them.
Thursday, Andrew is by himself with me. He learned about how the letter H changes the sound of other letters (eg: ch, sh, th, gh, wh) and worked on reading words with an H in them. We were supposed to practice writing words that have the H sound in them (as opposed to starting with the H sound), but I have had serious trouble coming up with words like that. I finally thought of a few (alcohol, longhorn, behave) but we'll have to come back to it. We did have a reading lesson about a man and a ram in the rain and worked on comprehension.
Friday, I host mommy school for the boys. Every week we practice writing the letter and then I find 5 pictures for that letter and they color the pictures and cut them out. They then have to match the picture with the word and practice writing that word. We talked about how to use the letter H in words and what rules dictate that letter. After that, I try to make a treat for that letter. Today we had hats made out of cookies, marshmallows and chocolate chips. I got the idea from Family Fun magazine. Their hats turned out much better looking than ours, but ours were still tasty.
Saturday, Andrew will finish whatever writing practice hadn't been finished earlier and we'll have another reading lesson.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Mommy or Human?
While I was cleaning up dinner, Rachael announced, "Next, I'm going to be human."
"What?" I asked. She hadn't said or done anything to prelude the "next" part of her statement.
"When I'm done being a mommy, I'll be a human next," she answered.
Curious, now, I asked, "So, a mommy isn't human?"
"No," she said in a tone of voice the denoted, "Duh!"
"Oh," I said, "If a mommy isn't a human, what is she?"
Her brow wrinkled down in frustration as she said, "A mommy is a mommy, not a human."
well..... ain't that the truth.
"What?" I asked. She hadn't said or done anything to prelude the "next" part of her statement.
"When I'm done being a mommy, I'll be a human next," she answered.
Curious, now, I asked, "So, a mommy isn't human?"
"No," she said in a tone of voice the denoted, "Duh!"
"Oh," I said, "If a mommy isn't a human, what is she?"
Her brow wrinkled down in frustration as she said, "A mommy is a mommy, not a human."
well..... ain't that the truth.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Homemade Christmas - Nativity Set
Mike once worked in a ceramics store so he thought it would be fun for us to make our own Nativity set. We got just the bare basics this year and will add more each year. We had fun with the kids cleaning the green pieces then painting on the glaze. We talked about Joseph and Mary and Baby Jesus. It was a fun activity and the start of a great tradition.
Homemade Christmas - Sunday Bags
I decided to do a homemade Christmas for 2009 while I could still get away with it. Andrew is already starting to want the expensive toys and such, so I knew my window of opportunity was fleeting. While I had many ideas of things I could make, only a few actually got completed.
I was tired of packing activities and snacks for Andrew and Rachael in the diaper bag, just to have them complain that they wanted different things. I would explain that there wasn't room for everything and it made Sacrament Meeting in church anything but reverent or spiritual. So, I decided to make each of them bags with special Sunday items and they are responsible for packing what they want each Sunday
I had some leftover fabric from their pillows and I found some wintery sparkly fabric at 75% off, so here are the final products. Rachael's is the rag-time bag and Andrew's is the rainbow one.
They each got their own coloring book, Book of Mormon, and Gospel Art book. They love the big coloring book and we often flip through the pictures in the Gospel Art book. Andrew is starting to recognize some of the pictures and associated stories. Rachael loves to "read" her Book of Mormon.
I used old blue-jean fabric for the inside of each bag to make them reversible. Andrew's is a bit more reversible, since it's not rag-time. I had no pattern to make these from and it took serious mental acrobatics to figure out how to make his reversible with all the seams on the inside; I'm quite proud of the accomplishment. :)
I was tired of packing activities and snacks for Andrew and Rachael in the diaper bag, just to have them complain that they wanted different things. I would explain that there wasn't room for everything and it made Sacrament Meeting in church anything but reverent or spiritual. So, I decided to make each of them bags with special Sunday items and they are responsible for packing what they want each Sunday
I had some leftover fabric from their pillows and I found some wintery sparkly fabric at 75% off, so here are the final products. Rachael's is the rag-time bag and Andrew's is the rainbow one.
They each got their own coloring book, Book of Mormon, and Gospel Art book. They love the big coloring book and we often flip through the pictures in the Gospel Art book. Andrew is starting to recognize some of the pictures and associated stories. Rachael loves to "read" her Book of Mormon.
I used old blue-jean fabric for the inside of each bag to make them reversible. Andrew's is a bit more reversible, since it's not rag-time. I had no pattern to make these from and it took serious mental acrobatics to figure out how to make his reversible with all the seams on the inside; I'm quite proud of the accomplishment. :)
Homemade Christmas - Pens & Markers
I decided to do a homemade Christmas for 2009 while I could still get away with it. Andrew is already starting to want the expensive toys and such, so I knew my window of opportunity was fleeting. While I had many ideas of things I could make, only a few actually got completed.
I got the idea to make flower pens for Rachael when she threw a fit at an office that had flowers on the ends of their pens. Her fit was over the fact that we couldn't take one of the pens home with us.
Rachael keeps smelling them and saying they smell pretty. I keep thinking I should put perfume on them, or something, but I don't know if I even own any perfume.
I wanted to make a counter-part for Andrew and my friend Molly loaned me a book with this great pencil scroll pattern. I decided to use washable markers, though, instead of colored pencils.
While I was finding matching fabric for the markers, I left them out late one night. The next morning Rachael woke up before me and found them. Shortly thereafter, I'm assuming since I was still asleep, Lizzie woke up and Rachael decided to help Lizzie be happy while stuck in her crib. Rachael was very proud of herself for her helpfulness. She told me how she kept Lizzie happy with the special markers. This is what I discovered when I sought for clarification.
And, yes, it was all over Lizzie, too.
I got the idea to make flower pens for Rachael when she threw a fit at an office that had flowers on the ends of their pens. Her fit was over the fact that we couldn't take one of the pens home with us.
Rachael keeps smelling them and saying they smell pretty. I keep thinking I should put perfume on them, or something, but I don't know if I even own any perfume.
I wanted to make a counter-part for Andrew and my friend Molly loaned me a book with this great pencil scroll pattern. I decided to use washable markers, though, instead of colored pencils.
While I was finding matching fabric for the markers, I left them out late one night. The next morning Rachael woke up before me and found them. Shortly thereafter, I'm assuming since I was still asleep, Lizzie woke up and Rachael decided to help Lizzie be happy while stuck in her crib. Rachael was very proud of herself for her helpfulness. She told me how she kept Lizzie happy with the special markers. This is what I discovered when I sought for clarification.
And, yes, it was all over Lizzie, too.
Homemade Christmas - Pillows
I decided to do a homemade Christmas for 2009 while I could still get away with it. Andrew is already starting to want the expensive toys and such, so I knew my window of opportunity was fleeting. While I had many ideas of things I could make, only a few actually got completed. One of them was pillows.
I was with Rachael in the fabric store and we passed by some "sparkly" fabric - fabric with glitter on it. There were many varieties, but she fell in love with one that was black and had rainbow dragonflies on it. I bought half a yard with no idea what to make. I settled on making full-size pillows for her and Andrew. I had extra minkee fabric (that's the last super-soft fabric) and could get cheap pillows at Walmart.
I then let Andrew pick a special fabric. He loves rainbows and sparkly things, so here is his pillow.
And, of course, Rachael had to have a special pillow and blanket for her special doll, Baby Beth.
I was with Rachael in the fabric store and we passed by some "sparkly" fabric - fabric with glitter on it. There were many varieties, but she fell in love with one that was black and had rainbow dragonflies on it. I bought half a yard with no idea what to make. I settled on making full-size pillows for her and Andrew. I had extra minkee fabric (that's the last super-soft fabric) and could get cheap pillows at Walmart.
I then let Andrew pick a special fabric. He loves rainbows and sparkly things, so here is his pillow.
And, of course, Rachael had to have a special pillow and blanket for her special doll, Baby Beth.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
It's all my brother's fault.
I made Ella a special blanket and I would have loved it, if it weren't for my brother....
In November 2009, Jo-Ann's fabric store started having these amazing sales and coupon deals. I was in the sewing/crafting mode as I had decided that Christmas would be home-made this year. I was also starting to think about getting ready for Ella's birth (what her colors would be and what to make special instead of just hand-me-downs). I found this beautiful fabric that was cream with a thick soft swirly nap. I fell in love with it and was determined that it would be the back of Ella's baby blanket. However, it was $13/yd and I had used all my coupons. New coupons would be available the next week, so, with great trepidation but very proud of myself, I resisted the urge to buy it immediately and told myself to be rational and wait a week when I could get it at half off. The sale on that type of fabric began the day after Thanksgiving.
For the first time in my life, I braved the insanity of shopping on Black Friday. I reasoned I didn't need to get up too early since most people would be shopping for clothes, technology, or toys. How busy could the fabric store be? Wow! was I wrong? Not only was it a 2hr wait for the cut-counter, but my fabric was gone! How could it be gone? It was a full bolt a week ago.
I was obsessed with this fabric and returned to the fabric store at least once every week thereafter and never, ever saw my fabric again. I called other stores; I began hovering around the shelf of fabrics that had been cut but not reshelved; I stalked other shoppers who had bolts of fabric that looked like the one I wanted. I became the scorned lover of this fabric, desperate to have my dreams fulfilled!
As the weeks turned into months with no sign of return, I slowly began to accept my fate - I had had my window of opportunity and had let it slip by. The only rational thing for me to do was to move on - just as there are plenty of fish in the sea there are plenty of soft cuddly fabrics on the shelf.
I moved on with life and redesigned the blanket with different colors and fabrics and even liked the new design. All this time, I continued searching for my fabric but it was gone. I began wondering if I had only imagined my brief encounter with the all-too-perfect fabric.
At the store one day in February, I got the last bit of fabric necessary to make the blanket. On the way to the register I remembered that my brother wanted me to make him a silk bedroll for his upcoming trip to the Ukraine. I had a few minutes, so I detoured my route and went to the Special Occasion fabric to search for silk. While there, I ran into a friend that I hadn't seen in ages. As we chatted, my coveted fabric walked right passed me - not on its own, but the woman pushing the cart carrying the fabric (MY fabric) is inconsequential. While I struggled to not hurdle the shelves of fabric and tackle the receding woman, I remained composed as the bile of what-could-have-been settled in my mind. I had already committed to the other fabric and design; it would be wrong to reject them as I had been rejected by the cream fabric.
I walked dejectedly to the cash register, trying to reconcile myself to my fate. As if to pour salt in my wounds, the woman in front of me for the register was the same with my fabric, only now she had a large amount of my fabric neatly folded and ready for her blanket - not mine. Oh the bitter jealousy of rejection!
Here is a picture of the final product - not using the beloved yet not-meant-to-be fabric.
I would love the big soft blanket, if I hadn't known that I could have gotten the cream fabric. My dissatisfaction is clearly my brother's fault - if he hadn't wanted a silk bedroll for his trip I never would have been looking in the Special Occasion fabrics, I never would have run into my friend and I never would have seen My fabric walk past. I could have been peacefully reconciled to the new design, but no.......
:)
In November 2009, Jo-Ann's fabric store started having these amazing sales and coupon deals. I was in the sewing/crafting mode as I had decided that Christmas would be home-made this year. I was also starting to think about getting ready for Ella's birth (what her colors would be and what to make special instead of just hand-me-downs). I found this beautiful fabric that was cream with a thick soft swirly nap. I fell in love with it and was determined that it would be the back of Ella's baby blanket. However, it was $13/yd and I had used all my coupons. New coupons would be available the next week, so, with great trepidation but very proud of myself, I resisted the urge to buy it immediately and told myself to be rational and wait a week when I could get it at half off. The sale on that type of fabric began the day after Thanksgiving.
For the first time in my life, I braved the insanity of shopping on Black Friday. I reasoned I didn't need to get up too early since most people would be shopping for clothes, technology, or toys. How busy could the fabric store be? Wow! was I wrong? Not only was it a 2hr wait for the cut-counter, but my fabric was gone! How could it be gone? It was a full bolt a week ago.
I was obsessed with this fabric and returned to the fabric store at least once every week thereafter and never, ever saw my fabric again. I called other stores; I began hovering around the shelf of fabrics that had been cut but not reshelved; I stalked other shoppers who had bolts of fabric that looked like the one I wanted. I became the scorned lover of this fabric, desperate to have my dreams fulfilled!
As the weeks turned into months with no sign of return, I slowly began to accept my fate - I had had my window of opportunity and had let it slip by. The only rational thing for me to do was to move on - just as there are plenty of fish in the sea there are plenty of soft cuddly fabrics on the shelf.
I moved on with life and redesigned the blanket with different colors and fabrics and even liked the new design. All this time, I continued searching for my fabric but it was gone. I began wondering if I had only imagined my brief encounter with the all-too-perfect fabric.
At the store one day in February, I got the last bit of fabric necessary to make the blanket. On the way to the register I remembered that my brother wanted me to make him a silk bedroll for his upcoming trip to the Ukraine. I had a few minutes, so I detoured my route and went to the Special Occasion fabric to search for silk. While there, I ran into a friend that I hadn't seen in ages. As we chatted, my coveted fabric walked right passed me - not on its own, but the woman pushing the cart carrying the fabric (MY fabric) is inconsequential. While I struggled to not hurdle the shelves of fabric and tackle the receding woman, I remained composed as the bile of what-could-have-been settled in my mind. I had already committed to the other fabric and design; it would be wrong to reject them as I had been rejected by the cream fabric.
I walked dejectedly to the cash register, trying to reconcile myself to my fate. As if to pour salt in my wounds, the woman in front of me for the register was the same with my fabric, only now she had a large amount of my fabric neatly folded and ready for her blanket - not mine. Oh the bitter jealousy of rejection!
Here is a picture of the final product - not using the beloved yet not-meant-to-be fabric.
I would love the big soft blanket, if I hadn't known that I could have gotten the cream fabric. My dissatisfaction is clearly my brother's fault - if he hadn't wanted a silk bedroll for his trip I never would have been looking in the Special Occasion fabrics, I never would have run into my friend and I never would have seen My fabric walk past. I could have been peacefully reconciled to the new design, but no.......:)
It's A Girl!
Briella Ann Martineau was born Feb 25, 2010.
6lbs 13oz
21 in long
beautiful auburn hair
we'll call her Ella
I know many didn't even know i was pregnant. I'm sorry, the whole year of 2009 was a blur with Lizzie being born in Mar and then getting pregnant 3 months later (no, not planned - I was on birth control).
Our one request for the delivery this time was that a Dr would be in the room (Lizzie came so fast we were lucky to have a nurse there.) Well, that wish was granted since Ella's cord became prolapsed and they had to do an emergency C-section. She was born with blue feet and hands, but started screaming immediately and so, was ok. She is perfectly healthy. I am healing well and very quickly. Many people also haven't known that i had a large blood clot in my leg that was causing complications for the pregnancy (it was superficial and has remained so). It is now receding and I'll be able to treat it 6wks post-partum. I am, however, still on blood thinners.
My brother and sister came down from Salt Lake to help with the kids while I was in the hospital. Then my sister stayed a few extra days to help me as I healed from the surgery. I am so grateful for their tremendous help and kindness.
It has taken a while to see Ella as a gift and blessing, but I have finally gotten there and am truly thankful for her. Considering my medical history, she truly is a miracle. I'm still not sure what to do with 3 girls, but I'm learning to tolerate dolls and princess dresses and nail polish. All 3 girls have birthdays within 7 days of each other, so I'm sure we'll have lots of princess parties and slumber parties and dress-up/make-up parties. Perhaps I'll learn how to be a girl, after all.
I hope you enjoy the photos.
-Becky
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