Unleashing the Power of Sage

For Valentines day, I got Heath a hat, but got the wrong size. On Saturday, we took the girls to the mall to exchange it-Hayden was at a birthday party. Sage, of course, had to go potty the second we walked through the doors. What is it about public restrooms that is so enticing to little kids. Totally gross! Anyhow. We caught up with Heath at the hat store where he had found out that the store did not have any more of the hats and couldn't refund our money because Heath had taken a sticker off. Lame. So we were working our way out of the store when Sage prances up to the counter to visit with the guy Heath had been talking to. She bats her baby blue eyes and tells him all about her brother, where he is what he is doing, tells him a bit about her, how she is a princess and likes the Seahawks and goes on and on until I take pity on him and call her back so we can leave. The guy was totally taken with her. He looked at Heath and says, "hey, I'm going to give you your money back!" The guy totally disregarded policy because of a cute little blonde girl.
That quite pleased Sage, more time to visit! Heath and I walked out of the store in silent awe after the transaction was done. Way to work it Sister!!!

Video of my Darlings in Action

This is a little video I threw together of a few clips that I love, but they don't really go with anything. There is one of Marlee with her funny fountain duck. She love how it quacks and splashes all over (the kids really don't need any extra help with the splashing). Actually, all three of them quite like the duck. I love to hear Marlee quack back, it makes me smile every time.
Then there is Sage at gymnastics. She goes on Thursday afternoons and loves it. She waits all day to go and bounces around the whole time. Can you imagine the energy of this group of preschoolers? Sage is the one in pink pants, I love her free-spirit. She definatley marches to her own beat.
Last is a big one, Hayden finally has learned to tie his shoe. Whoo hoo! The smile at the end is the best part. :)

I have trouble with the music and the video at the same time. It has to think a lot! I have found that if you stop the music, the video plays fine.

Bitten

So, I have always enjoyed reading. As a teenager, I read lots of romance novels. Funny story: In my 9th grade English class, Mrs. Gregory had us each come up with vocabulary words taken from our pleasure reading. One week, I was reading Danielle Steele at the time, and I was desperate for a word. I chose voluptuous-it was a big word and I had never heard it before. Hmmm, yeah, looking back, perhaps this wasn’t the best word to pull from my reading. Wonder what Mrs. Gregory thought.
As I headed off to college, I pretty much had to trade my romance novels for text books. Not nearly as fun.
Then the babies came and it was What to Expect when You’re Expecting, followed by Dr. Seuss, Lift-the-Flap books, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, and Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.
I fell in love with Harry Potter and waited anxiously for each book to come out. I have read all 7 books several times. Hayden and I read book one together, but I’m dragging my feet on book two (it’s a bit scary for him I think). I cried and cried as I read Deathly Hallows, knowing that was the end of the fun. It took me a while to get over Harry. But as the kids talk about him and play HP daily, he lives on.
Well, it seems like it’s been forever ago that my mother-in-law told me about a series she was reading about vampires. What??? Vampires? Yeah, not my genre. So at Thanksgiving, when she lent me three of her vampire books, I wasn’t really in a rush to read them. They sat on my bookshelf for over 2 months without so much as a glance. (Stacy, can you believe that???)
So a couple weeks ago, I picked one up to read while I was on the treadmill because the volume was sorta not working so good on the TV/computer. You know, it’s not easy to read a book and run at the same time. :) Didn’t matter, it only took a few minutes to hook me. I was on the treadmill for way longer than I planned. (great strategy by the way). Well, I raced through the three books way to fast. They are fantastic! Amazing. The first book is called Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer,if you haven’t read it, what are you waiting for? Then New Moon, and Eclipse. The next book, Breaking Dawn, isn’t due out until August. :( What am I going to do? I have already re-read the first three. I’m completely obsessed.

Look at them, how bad can they be?

Be Mine

Valentine's Day is winding down, but it was a really good one at our house. My sweet kids woke up ready to spread the love. Hayden made my bed and really wanted to make me breakfast (toast with jelly), but instead agreed to me making something tasty and nutritious. We had a lovely breakfast before rushing out the door to deliver him to school. Marlee napped at Diana's so that Sage and I could go to Hayden's valentine party at school. Wow, 25 hyper kindergartners; even Sage was overwhelmed. It looked like Halloween, only red and pink. So many cookies, cupcakes, suckers and candy hearts! It was way fun. I loved to watch the kids open a card, see who it was from and see the look of gratitude on their face. Precious. I told Hayden about when i was in 5th grade, there was a boy named James in my class and he was sorta mean. He always teased all the girls. He always picked on me about my freckles; I thought he was such a jerk. Well, on Valentines day, he showed up with out cards, but had taken the time to write a little note or poem to each girl. Mine was simple, but 20 years later, I remember: Roses are red, violets are blue, freckles are nice, and so are you. OK, it was 5th grade, that was pretty nice.
So anyhow, after the party the kids and I took Heath cookies at his office. We had a little valentine gift too, but found out that Sage had already told him what it was the night before-Sage is terrible at secrets, but she thinks they are great. We completely disrupted the office, but I don't think anyone really minded all that much.
Lunch, naps, gymnastics, then we met Heath for dinner at "the pasta house" as the kids call it. yum! It was a rushed dinner though, since we had to make it to Heath's basketball game. It was a fun game, they lost in the last second though, major bummer!

There was a very loving atmosphere around our house today and it was wonderful. Not that we usually hate each other or anything, but today was very special and I really hope that we work to keep that nice spirit in our home.
Hayden wrote the sweetest note to me this morning. They have been working on spelling things phonetically at school and he really seems to do a good job. He has pretty good handwriting too! I could totally brag all day about my smart boy. He wows me each time I help in his class. ("Couldn't have a better mom then you," if you didn't already figure it out).

9 months

Oh, Marlee is growing and growing and growing. Well, length wise that is. Doctor says Miss M is at the 85th percentile for length. She is long and lean, only at the 15th percentile for weight. We are going to watch her weight over the next few months to make sure she doesn't crash off the growth chart, but the doc and me sorta attribute the drop in growth channel to her mobilitiy. She is burning her calories as fast as she eats them. Thats pretty fast. And let me tell you, this is a girl on the go! At the start of the month she would move along slowly and sometimes backwards, often getting stuck under chairs and beds and corners. One day I could hear her calling me, but couldn't see her. She had backed under her crib and was hiding behind the dust ruffle. But now, its full speed ahead, onward and upward as she crawls and pulls up on anything she can get those busy little hands on. She is quite proud of herself to have learned this. Yes, that means she is helping with unloading the dishwasher, clearing off low book shelves, and generally finding all sorts of stuff that she shouldn't have. She is very curious. She is entertained with most anything these days, toys, toothbrushes, a shoe, the twangy thing on the back of doors (had to take the tips off though, she likes to put them in her mouth), and especially her brother and sister. She can sorta chase them now, and knows that she is part of their fun. Hayden is soooo good to his sister, she adores him and always smiles when he is near. Sage and Marlee are starting to be friends too. She has never taken a binkie, but found one when I was cleaning out the diaper bag and decided it was too funny. She likes to plug it in and spit it out. I laugh because she knows its funny. She has a good sense of humor. Bath time has always been Marlee's favorite, but it is especially now with her fountain duck. Marlee cracks up at this funny quacking duck that always squirts her in the face. She even quacks back! Between the duck and the baby, the bathroom is always flooded. This past month brought lots of snow, which still seems to delight this baby (and her mom). Her little nose gets cold as can be when we go out in it, but she doesn't care. She liked riding the sled with Sage around the yard. Daddy is most proud because she loves to chase balls. At Hayden's last dentist appt. Marlee got a little basketball that is her favorite ball of all. She knows its hers. Hayden can't wait for her to get a little bigger, he would love someone new to play catch with! 2 Teeth! The first was a breeze, the second one hurt us all. She has really swollen gums, so we are wondering if more are on the way. She does not really like anybody peeking at them and will clamp her lips shut and turn her head if you look like your going to do an inspection of her mouth. Marlee has always been a chatterbox, but now she seems to have realized that words are a must. She tries to mimic any noises she hears. My favorite thing she does is snuggle in to my shoulder with a blankie and sing her own little song when she is getting tired. It melts my heart every time! She is the best eater. We have finally found the one food she refuses: baby spinach...well, can you blame her? Everything else she opens her mouth wide for. This month she got to try lots of new table foods which she is really good at eating. She has mastered cheerio flicking. Marlee also tried her first french fry-now that is something to brag about! She wasn't into eating it as much as she was into waving it around like a wand...learned that from Hayden and his Harry Potter obsession. It was a really fun month, we are trying to slow down time so we can enjoy every ounce of this amazing little baby, but are failing miserably, she is growing so fast and time is flying.