Once again, Katherine has inspired me to blog. As I was sitting with her last night, trying to convince her to eat her dinner before the babysitter came, I said to Chris,"Why don't you go up and get dressed."

Katherine looked at me like I had 3 heads and asked "Why does he have to get dressed Mommy, he IS dressed!"

"Well, usually you don't wear a sweatshirt when you go out to the Opera."

"Oh, you mean, you have to wear fancy clothes?"

"Well, sort of fancy I guess"

Her eyes lit up, "Are you going to wear a beautiful dress Mommy?"

"Um, actually I was thinking about a fancy shirt and some nice pants, Katherine"

"PANTS? I didn't know girls could wear fancy pants! I thought you would wear a beautiful dress, like Cinderella wears with her prince."

"Not tonight, Honey. Tonight, I'll wear pants, and maybe another time I will wear a fancy dress, OK?"

"That's a good idea, Mommy, cuz you don't have any glass slippers either."

(note to self, find some glass slippers!)

Stay tuned for more updates and pictures. Just had to get this published before I forgot!

I was scolded for not posting a picture of last weekend's adventure - so here it is. Chris and I took the "big" girls snow tubing. It was absolutely super fun. I had as much fun as the girls....if not more! I really think it should be an olympic sport, because I could be a gold medalist for sure. It's similar to sledding, however, you ride in a large tube (think tubing behind a boat in summer) and you have your own "private" lane to go down the hill so there are no worries about crashing. Also, this particular venue has it's own "lift" to take you back to the top. It's essentially a moving sidewalk that you jump on and ride to the top of the hill. It was awesome and the girls are still asking when we can go back again. Abby had her own fun, hanging with Boom Boom and Mr Jeff in West Bend while we were gone.


Ah, Katherine. She is certainly the life of the party. I swear, if I could write down half of what she says every day I'd have a best seller for sure. She is just too funny! Playing dress up is nothing new, but this outfit was particularly interesting. When I asked her why she was wearing the blue Statue of Liberty crown around her waist she explained, "This purple thing keeps falling down and I don't like it when it falls down!" I guess she gets credit for finding a creative solution, perhaps I should plan for her to make an appearance on Project Runway some day?

She's also making progress playing Wii. Last night she hit a home run, a first for her. However, Maggie won the game. She was distraught and told Chris "I don't know what happened! I hit the home run, but Maggie still winned!"

On Saturday, Abby decided to help with our weekend home improvement project. She wasn't quite sure what to do with the drill, but eating it was a pretty good option. She DID help by entertaining herself while Chris and I figured out how to install the new Microwave over the stove. (The old was was more than 20 years old and the exhaust fan recently died, so we got a new one for Christmas.)

Abby had her 9 month Doctor visit today and her stats are 20 pounds, 28 1/2 inches. I went back to compare, and her sisters were the same height but 1 & 2 pounds lighter at their 9 month visits.

Looking at Maggie now it's hard to remember when she was only 9 months old! Do you like her new haircut? When I mentioned we'd be getting her hair shaped up, she asked if she could have shorter hair, "Like the other girls in my class" I guess peer pressure is here already. I had no objection, so she went for a cute bob style. How cute is that?

Also, her toothless grin is about the be even LESS-toothy. She fell in gym 2 weeks ago, bumped her top tooth and made it pretty loose. She won't just pull it out, so it's getting looser everyday.

She's nine months today. How did THAT happen? She's so darn cute it kills me. She is as happy as can be ..... almost all of the time. (Turns out, if she refuses to eat for the sitter all morning, and then refuses to nap for the mommy all afternoon, she is a BEAST by 6pm!) Most of the time she is content. She loves playing with her sisters. She'll sit with her basket of toys for an hour, or until she flops onto her belly and gets stuck. She claps. And I mean, she REALLY claps. She has clearly figured out that her hands can make a pleasing noise, and she claps. When she claps, she smiles and laughs. She plays peek-a-boo, sometimes even initiating the game. She shakes her head no - not meaning no- but just because she sees you do it and thinks it will be a fun game to play. She blows raspberries. A LOT of raspberries. She hums while she does it - almost like singing. She'll share her suckie (pacifier) with you if you want. She thinks it's awesome to put it near your mouth and then laugh when you shake your head. She refuses to drink ANYTHING other than formula in a bottle. No sippy cup. No juice or water. And she won't hold her own bottle either, even though she certainly could if she wanted to. She sleeps from 7pm to 630am. She'll eat anything you let her try, but she's happiest if she can do it herself.

She's Abigail. She's 9 months today. And I love her so much.

I'm sure it will shock you to know that things around here aren't always sunshine and roses. Sometimes, it's a bit hectic/crazy/ridiculous in this house I heard a mom say recently that on those crazy days when things are just one step away from being totally out of control, she reminds herself, "I will miss this someday." And it has sort of stuck with me.

That refrain was especially helpful yesterday when the TV table tipped onto Abby, and Maggie pinched her finger on the same table while rescuing Abby, while I was just trying to brush my teeth, and all I could hear was the shrieking of my older 2 daughters.

And it came back to me as I felt like a terrible mother for putting Maggie on the bus even though her cheeks were tear-stained and her hair was a mess and it seemed like she was having "one of those days."

And when Katherine asked me to play Memory for the third time yesterday, and I really wasn't feeling like it, I thought to myself, "Self, someday you will BEG her to play games with you. Do it. Now. Enjoy it."

So I'm going to keep reminding myself...they grow so fast, and someday I'll miss all of these crazy moments. So for now, I'll enjoy them while I can!

Changing gears....

I've been making a mental list of funny things to blog about this week

..... Katherine deciding it's her duty as big sister to teach Abby everything she knows how to do as she does it every day. "See Abby, this is how you walk...you stand up on one foot, then the other and then again, see and now I'm walking, you can do it too!" "See Abby, this is food. And you pick it up with your hand and your fingers, and you put it in your mouth, and you use your teeth to chew it up and then it goes in your belly, see?"

..... Maggie, who came home in tears from a ski lesson with Chris, but when I asked her if she had fun she laughed through her tears and told me it was awesome and that next time she'd go even faster than Daddy.

.......Abby, who is now quite adept at moving around the room.....on her bottom. She just sits and bounces until she reaches what she wants And she's still talking, NON STOP. Video Proof.

2 random stories from today.

1. Maggie is growing up, and acting like her mother. She came home today with some paper she'd been doodling on during quiet time at school. Along with other things she wrote, "Laith said, 'I love you Maggie.' Maggie said, 'I love you Laith.'" Laith is a boy in her class who invited Maggie to his birthday party this weekend. And so it begins.....

2. As I was cleaning in the kitchen tonight, Maggie and Katherine disappeared. When I called out "Girls, where are you?" They called back "In the living room!" OK, so they hadn't gone far, but I couldn't hear them like normal, so I called, "What are you doing?" and Maggie called back, "Playing with Jesus!" Um, yes, well, "What are you doing with Jesus?" "We're playing 'Jesus and the Terrified Lion' ....... I am Jesus, and Katherine is the Lion." And then I was laughing too hard to ask any more questions.

Abby thought it was funny, too.

Life is never boring, right?

Today was our first day back to regular routines after Christmas break. It went pretty well. We all made it to school on time, I managed to cross a few things off of my to-do list, Abby took 2 good naps, I made a really great dinner, if I do say so myself (Chicken Satay with peanut dipping sauce.)

However, 2 of my daughters challenged me today. First, it was Katherine. She refused to nap, which was really fine, she was happy to play while I made dinner, and was not too whiny. Once dinner was made, I sat down to play with her. She wanted to do her new Zoo puzzle (Thanks Gram!) So we put it all together, and sat together talking about it. After a bit I told her I really liked the giraffes and asked her which animals were her favorites. She thought about it for a long time. Then, she looked at me with a twinkle and said, "Mommy, my favorite thing here is ... YOU!" and she climbed into my lap and gave me a huge hug. My heart melted and she could have asked for ANYTHING right there and I would have given it to her.

2 hours later, after Maggie was home, and they had created a HUGE mess in the family room, I asked them to clean it up before dinner. There was wailing and gnashing of teeth. There was outright defiance. Maggie did her part, but Katherine only created a bigger mess. She was threatened with the loss of TV (she'd been waiting all day to watch a show) As I engaged in this battle of wills, I thought to myself "What happened to the sweet little girl of 2 hours ago?" ARGH! Just life with a three year old, I suppose!

Lucky for Katherine, I was also trying to get Abby settled to eat her dinner. And Abby's challenge trumped Katherine's. After I put her in the high chair, I reached over to push her sleeves up (to minimize the mess) She started crying, and after I tried a few things to stop the crying, I realized that she wasn't moving her left arm. I took her out of the chair and had Chris look at it with me and we both cam to the same conclusion - her elbow had popped out. Having been through it with Maggie a few times, we were pretty confident in our diagnosis.

So, I put her into her snowsuit, and into the car seat, and headed over to the ER. I LOVE this ER, it's never busy and always friendly and fast. We got in and settled and it seemed like she wasn't in as much pain - had she fixed it? No, she just wan't using it as much. But, somehow, before the Doctor/PA could come in, something happened and it was better. Was it the nurse moving at around? Was it her eagerness to play with the TV remote/call light? (so eager that she pushed the call light to summon help from the desk) Who knows. But when the PA came in, she said, "This is a cured baby!" and she sent us home. Abby was all smiles for the rest of the night.

Life is never boring, Indeed!

Happy New Year! I started this blog exactly one year ago. I wasn't sure how it would work, but I thought I'd give it a try. Looking back, I'm so glad that I did. I love re-reading the funny things the girls have done, those little things that are so easy to forget. It was a pretty exciting year for us and I'm eager to see what 2010 has in store. Thank you for reading, and enjoy these funny kid-moments...which all occurred yesterday, just another day in our crazy, wonderful life.

As Chris and I are chatting in the kitchen, Katherine marches in. One hand out in front and above her head, the other pushed out behind her. She’s singing Jingle Bells as loud as humanly possible. It wasn’t until her second pass through the kitchen that we saw her front hand was actually holding the Baby Jesus from our Nativity scene. It was a parade for Jesus, with Jingle Bells.

Maggie, ever the optimist, is the best cheerleader for Wii. It doesn’t matter if you miss when you swing in Baseball, You’ll get a “Great Try Mom!” And if you actually HIT the ball? “Wow Mom, Great hit – you hit it really far. Yeah, it’s a foul ball, but that was a really great hit!” Or in Bowling, “Great Job….you got 3 pins! That was great!” She is just as excited for her sister to do something well as she is to do it herself. “Little Polly Positive” I guess!

Abby knows when you’re making a bottle. She sees it when you take the bottle off the counter,

she watches you put it in the microwave, and she will turn her head and search for you when she hears the sound of the fork mixing in the bottle. And don’t even THINK about taking that bottle and walking to a different room to grab something before you feed her, oh no. Once she knows it’s coming – you’d better not stop, pass GO or collect $200. You’d better get that bottle into her mouth ASAP. If you do, you will be rewarded with flapping arms, giant smiles, and a cuddly baby. And after she’s done, she will thank you by making noises and trading sounds back and forth like she’s having a conversation with you. Adorable.

Katherine, again. Wanders through the room with a magnifying glass up to her eye. “What are you doing Katherine?” “I’m wooking for fings dat are ree-wee wittle. I can see dem wif dis fing” and she walks on by, not stopping to chat, just wooking for fings dat are ree-wee wittle.

Maggie and Katherine created a new game- playing “Santa and Elf.” Katherine wears a Santa hat, and carries a "backpack" filled with random items. Maggie is the “elf” who tells Santa what to do. They use their walkie talkies to communicate (though they are in the same room) Santa’s sleigh is the couch, and he (she) visits “houses” (wherever Maggie points in the room) to deliver presents (from the backpack.) Favorite line of the day? K: “I’m getting tired of this” M: “Come on Santa, only 2 more houses to go, YOU CAN DO IT!”