Bossy, Bossy!

Lately Hannah has become increasingly bossy. I think she thinks of herself as a little mama. One night Elias came downstairs to use the bathroom after I had already said goodnight to him. I reminded him that he is not supposed to get out of bed and that using the toilet is part of his getting ready for bed jobs. After I left him to do his business Hannah climbed out of bed, walked into the bathroom and yelled at Elias for getting out of bed. Never mind that she just gout out of bed to tell him this, never mind that she is 3 years younger than him, she had to be the boss and put him in his place. Of course, I had to step in and point out that she wasn't supposed to be out of bed and that what Elias does is none of her business, but it was really hard to do without cracking up.
This past weekend we got some snow. Maya and Elias headed out to shovel the driveway. Hannah took her time getting ready to go out and when she was finally ready she stood at the door crying because "There is no shovel for me." I told her she could go out anyway and just play in the snow. "OK" she says then proceeds to open the door and yell "Elias, Mom said you share shovel with me." She repeated this about 3 times, until Elias finally came in to ask me if he needed to share with Hannah. I told him that he could take turns with her. After they both proceeded outside I sat in utter shock at how "Hannah the Little One" had completely taken the situation into her control so that the outcome was in her favor. I guess I'll need to watch her a little closer in the future and discipline for deception. Who thought I'd need to do that with a 3 year-old?

Happy Belated Birthday Elias!

Elias' birthday was last Monday. We did celebrate on his birthday but I didn't have time to get pictures up. Elias brought treats to school to share with his class on his b-day - Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls -YUM! We had pizza for dinner, then we went to my parents for cake and presents. Elias loved all his presents - play dough, legos, pajamas, dinosaurs, and a basketball.
Elias is still a joker. Just look at his face in the picture with his pile of unopened presents for proof. He continues to be happy most of the time. I'm told he still smiles all day long at school. He loves to play outside, run, sing, play legos, play with his sisters, anything sports, tell jokes, laugh at all jokes and read. He is doing great in school, starting to sound out simple words and do simple math problems. He desperately wants to be able to read as well as Maya.
Last week Maya and Elias started a new session of swimming lessons. They both love being in the water. Hannah went to the doctor for her 3 year check-up. She is now in the 10% for height and weight. When she came home in July she was only in the 3% for both. She's grown out of a lot of clothes and shoes this winter. I measured all the kids on the wall last week and then have all grown 1.5-3 inches since last fall. Elias goes in for his check up next week. I can't wait to see what his numbers look like.
The kids got the opportunity to go out on a frozen river last weekend. We saw a lot of people ice fishing,dogs, snowmobiles, and cars out on the river as well. I think it was the first time for all 3 of them to be on a frozen body of water. It was a fun activity for all of us and it was free! I need to seek out more of these fun free activities.

Busy Vacation Week

Last week Maya and Elias had the week off from school. I was able to take some time off work and ended up having a little vacation. On Monday we had Girl Scouts. Tuesday Maya, Elias and I went to the Ronald McDonald House to deliver breakfast bags, then on to the zoo with the Girl Scouts. Wednesday I took all three kids to a big indoor playground for a few hours. Thursday we picked up Girl Scout cookies then on Friday we headed out of town to visit my sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew for the weekend. While there we had a mini birthday party for Elias and my niece, went bowling and played outside. The kids had a great time sliding down a big snow pile in the back yard of my sister's house. Bowling was a big hit too, Hannah had 3 strikes and Maya did better than me. Elias wants to have a bowling birthday next year.
The up coming month is busy as well. Next week Elias turns 6 years old. We have a Girl Scout overnight coming up and two Girl Scout cookie booths. Maya and Elias started a new quarter at school today and both are excited about new classes and new subjects they are learning.
Unfortunately we were in an accident last week. We were all in the car and everyone is safe and uninjured but my car has a huge dent on the front passenger door. It happened as I was dropping Hannah off at day care on Thursday. I had my right blinker on and pulled to the left to give myself a wider turning frame to turn into the narrow driveway space. The guy dringin behind me saw me pull to the left and assumed I was turning left. He then proceeded to try and pass me on the shoulder on the right just as my car was turning. Now I have to deal with insurance and getting my car fixed. Hopefully it will all work out easily. He did say was going to try and contest the ticket he got claiming icy conditions even though the only part of the road that was icy was within one foot of the curb on the shoulder. We'll see what happens I guess.

Happy Birthday Hannah!!

Yesterday Hannah turned 3 years old. We had a little party for her during half time of the Super Bowl. Hannah picked a pink cake, of course, and got some fun presents. I think she was a bit overwhelmed at first which would explain the odd expressions of her with the cake. She has been to enough family birthdays to know that she needed to blow out the candles, making a wish will come later. She loved opening the presents, as soon as she got one open she would pose for a picture then start on the next one. Here are a few of her gifts. Notice the hat in the picture to the left? My talented sister made that hat for Hannah. The cat purse looks just like our cat, Bootsie. Hannah did get toys for her birthday, legos, little care bears, a princess game and a coloring bag. She got a new outfit too. She loves new clothes as all little princesses do.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Happy Holidays

Can you feel the excitement in the air? We are getting closer to Christmas. Today we made the mints for the teachers. The kids will bring them to school tomorrow. I managed to make Maya's gift (it's very cute) and wrap a few presents today also. I still have shopping and more wrapping to do before the big day. Since I work all weekend I guess I'll be one of those shoppers on Christmas Eve.

Here are some pictures of the kids making cookies last weekend. We made those peanut butter cookies with the Hershey kiss in the middle. Maya and Elias had fun mixing and forming the cookies. Hannah just got to watch, she had a cough and runny nose, I just didn't want her to get all her germs on the cookies. Now that the cookies are almost all gone we will do some more baking this weekend. I think we'll make caramel corn and more cookies. We are also planning on making mints to give to the teachers.

In the past I have given the teachers books or a Barnes and Noble gift card so they can buy books for the classroom. With the increased number of teachers to get gifts for this year I decided to go with the mints and some caramel corn. We do have a book to donate to the school library entitled E is for Ethiopia . It's a book I ordered this summer that goes through the English alphabet but has a photo of something in Ethiopia for each letter.

Last night Maya started writing out her Christmas wish list. I told her she could put anything on it that she wanted but not to expect to get everything on her list. So far she has only come up with four things she wants.

Maya's list:
1. A dog of my own
2. Hannah Montana movies
3. All the family here for Christmas
4. People in Africa get what they need.

I am truly amazed with this little girl's compassion for others, she is only 8 years old yet she believes she can save all of Africa. Sunday mornings she loves to sit down and watch the infomercials about sponsoring a child in a third world country, or sending money to help pay for cleft lip/palate surgeries for children in third world countries. She always tells me we chould be doing this. I wish I could grant all of her Chirstmas wishes but that is financially impossible. So I think I'll research companies that sponsor children and grant her part of her wish.

Here are some pictures from a recent Girl Scout overnight trip at camp. This is my third year as a one of Maya's Girl Scout leaders. I have enjoyed watching these girls grow up and teaching them new things. At this overnight (our first ever) the girls learned to tie knots. In the picture Maya is demonstrating her ability to tie a square knot. Elias and Hannah came along for fun and also because I couldn't leave them home. This was their first time wearing winter cats, hats and mittens. Shortly after this picture the mittens were shed in order to pick up rocks to throw in the lake. Hannah found some coins in her coat pocket (62 cents) as she was loading it up with rocks. She started yelling "Mom, moneys!" I though this was a pretty good deal considering I bought the coat and matching snow pants this summer at a garage sale for $3. I guess I saved 62 cents!
The rest of the weekend consisted of the girls learning to sew buttons on fabric, cooking two meals and practicing some outdoor sports skills. There was sleeping too, though not as much as we needed.
This coming week is Thanksgiving so I have been thinking of all that I am thankful for. Lately I have been so grateful to Elias and Hannah's father. He made a very hard, painful decision to let his children leave. In my thanks for bringing these children into our lives I grieve for Elias and Hannah's father in all that he has lost and I grieve for Elias and Hannah too, for the father that they have lost. Now that Elias' English comprehension and communication is getting better every day he has started to tell me things about Ethiopia. He refers to his father as "Bopa". As I have started explaining Thanksgiving to him we have looked at pictures of his Ethiopian family as well as his American family and talked about how and why we are thankful for all of them. Hopefully some of this is sinking in and he'll grow up thankful instead of resentful for all of his family.
I am asking all three children to make a list of three things they are thankful for and to draw a picture to go along with it. I'll post the pictures later this week.