Some hard times...

We've been having a hard time this week. The kids (the older ones) have not been being nice to each other...again. We go to the park together a few times during the week and I feel like this is the only time that they are nice to each other. So we fight the morning battle and go to the park where I can get a bit of peace and quiet....sometimes.

Hannah and Ben went to the dentist on Tuesday. Hannah got frightened and freaked out in the waiting room. She screamed and cried for about 15 minutes and finally agreed to sit on my lap in the chair. Then the hygienist came in...another freak out but this one was the "silent treatment" with no eye contact and her lips shut tight. Fun. After what seemed like an eternity, the hygienist managed to get her to open her mouth (at her own will), talk about princesses and Dora and clean her teeth! Go Shawnee!! A quick race to the treasure chest after she was given her bag of goodies and she was out of there! This was her second time to the dentist and last time she did wonderfully! Even the dentist commented on how she did well last time (see December 17, 2005)! So sad...one can only hope that the next time is muuuuch better. *fingers crossed*

Here's the update on the caterpillars:
Monday (June 26th) we went to check on them and they were outside their chrysallis's and getting ready for flight! So awesome to see them go through the cycle! Here are the pics.







And look we have some more caterpillars to watch! This time there are about 4 around the house. Cool!

Picky picky picky

I have known many picky eaters in my life. Many of them were/are children and only a handful of them are adults. I don't like picky eaters. Unfortunately, I have two picky eaters at my dinner table every night. It drives me insane. I haven't changed the way I cook food, the menu, the spices, their seats. They just won't eat.

We have tried everything to get them to eat dinner... Not feeding them (no snacks) all afternoon from lunch until dinner - doesn't work. Not worrying about it or making a big deal out of it - doesn't work. Forcing them to eat every bite - doesn't work. Making them eat their dinner if they are hungry and ask for food later on - doesn't work. Feeding them with a fork or spoon - doesn't work. Making funny faces out of their food on their plates - doesn't work. Spicing things up and having plain ole food - neither work. Eating earlier...or later - nope! Having them in charge of what they want to eat by having them serve themselves - doesn't work! Putting sugar on it - well we haven't tried this but I'm thinking that it won't work.

Hannah is the worst at it and the most stubborn. She will not eat, if she doesn't want to. Some days she decides that she doesn't want to eat from the beginning and states "I don't feel like eating". She saw this work when Ben had the flu and didn't have the appetite to eat, and thinks that it should be OK all the time.

It is the most frustrating time of the day because they won't eat after I've (or Corey has) cooked a meal. I'm at a loss. We have been having dinner together as a family at the table since Ben was born and we'd like to continue doing it, but if they aren't eating, we are arguing about them needing to eat and it isn't a pleasant experience.

They DO eat lunch and a big breakfast on most mornings and aren't picky about that most of the time. The picky-ness, they save that just for dinner.

I don't like picky eaters and I hope this phase soon goes away!

Saunter...

Corey, Benjamin, Hannah and Noah in the carrier (not seen) saunter across the bridge

~

This weeks theme at Mama Says Om go on over to check them out for more sautering.

Caterpillars...

Well they haven't done much since they enclosed themselves in a chrysalis the other day. The kids and I have been checking them out every morning and evening to make sure they are still there. They are and haven't done much since I last posted pictures. On Saturday Nanny came to watch the kids and while she was here there was a bunch that were heading from the grass to the house. One new one is on the eave of the house but alas...I think he has been killed by some spiders. yum! I'll try to get a current picture of them tomorrow. The kids can't wait for them to turn into butterflies, I'm starting to think that it will never be. But I don't know how long it takes for them to be ready and come out and that site I referred to before said that it could take 3 days or 3 weeks... So we'll have to see.

math...

About 2 or 3 weeks ago Ben came up to me and said "Mommy 3 and 3 makes 6" I was slightly surprised with this statement and then we talked about some more math. He had been looking at one of Noah's toys that has 2 rows of 3 lights. Later on that week we were in the car and he said "Mommy 2 and 3 make 5" I asked him what that was and he said "Math". This time he was seeing Corey and I in the front seat and the 3 kids in the back. He is really interested in it and so we're going with it just doing how much or little he feels like doing. He is learning to write his numbers! AND showing Hannah how to do them (I caught him showing Hannah how to make a 5 this morning) I'm so proud of him.

Father's Day...

My kids have a wonderful Dad. He takes care of them, loves them, plays with them, sleeps with them, wipes their boogers and tears, takes them to the park or mountains or swimming... When Benjamin was born and home from the hospital, he would take him to give me a break. I would find him asleep on the couch with Ben cuddled on his tummy or on his chest. He did the same for when Hannah and Noah were born. Ben used to climb onto his Daddy's neck (while he was laying down on the floor) and bounce and bounce. It was hysterical and still brings us to hysterics when we talk about it. Hannah loves her Daddy and sometimes he is all she wants to be with. Noah crawls or nearly jumps out of my arms when his Daddy comes home from work...yes already at almost 8 months old. Our Daddy loves his family and his kids know that he would do anything for them. And they love him unconditionally.

Happy Father's Day!

So we decided to have a party for him and the other Dads in the family. Our kids LOVE parties and today was no exception. We made a big banner for Daddy, Grandpa and Grandad and hung it over the table for all to see. Marissa helped to decorate it when she got here. We had a potluck brunch at our house and I've decided that I love potlucks. My life is so much easier when everyone contributes to the meal. We have vegetarian and vegan members of the family as well as meat eaters and planning for everyone is difficult. So they bring what they want to contribute and everyone is happy. Tha party was a hit and all the Dads left with presents from their children and hearts filled with love from their family.

Caterpillar update...

Well yesterday was the first day after we 'caught' the caterpillar. We were playing outside and lo and behold we found one more, then another and then another until the grand total caterpillars found ouside was 5! They are all (but one) hanging under the eaves of the house. The last one is hanging in a plant that I discovered while watering it. This one is much easier for the kids to view because the others are so high up.

The one in the plant (it looks like it's hanging from the red part)

So yesterday all they were doing was hanging from one end like in this picture. They had a bit of silk coming from one end but they weren't moving much. Just hanging.

Just hanging

And today they are fully (or mostly) covered with their chrysallis. But this one is still poking out. It is amazing to watch and the kids are all into it. They don't want to nap because they have to keep care of the caterpillars.

This one is still poking out a bit

This one (below) is fully enclosed-looks lie a butterfly already through the 'shell'

So until next time....when the story of the gulf fritillary caterpillar continues...

Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar...

Hannah ran into the house last evening and said that she found a caterpillar. I ran out with her to find him and he was on the move... climbing so fast that we barely found him in the crack of the wall of the house. But we found him and he didn't get too far after that. We snapped some pics and then we went to get Ben's bughouse from the house. Ben was in the garage with Corey, we didn't want him to get away so we captured him and took the caterpillar to him.

Oh ... how cool!

Now he's in the bughouse and off to the net I went in search of his name. Here's what I found out. He seems to be a sort of gulf fritillary caterpillar that molts and eventually turns into a butterfly.

Ben doesn't want his bughouse to be where he molts and makes a chrysalis so we are looking for a new home for our new little bug friend...we'll also need some food. :-)

our budding artist...

We all know and love children's drawings ... full of character and full of life. Our budding artist today is Hannah. She loves her sidewalk chalk, makes a spot all her own and goes for it. Today was on the front steps and she drew Noah and herself! A self-portrait! Here she is showing off her masterpiece. I think she would've done the whole family but ran out of time.

new sensations...

Ben, Noah and I went to the park today. (Hannah stayed home to help Daddy cook dinner!) Noah loves the sand. At just under 8 months old he doesn't understand that it isn't good to eat yet but what fun to play with! He grabs at it and lets it trickle down onto his leg. We sat in the sand for a long time while they explored in the sand. Ben tried to cover himself because "he was cold and the sand was warm". Noah kept busy trying to fish out the eucalyptus leaves from the sand - another yummy thing to eat.

Noah's sand play

Ben's sand play

All about Diego...

Ben loves Diego. This is Dora the Explorer's cousin. He's an animal rescuer and rescues animals from all over the place (sea turtles, spectacled bears, penguins, three-toed sloths, blue morpho butterflies....) He thinks Diego and Hannah thinks Dora. They LOVE the show on TV but they REALLY LOVE the new movie Nanny has at her house. It's called Diego's Great Dinosaur Rescue. He helps a Maiasaurus get back to where she needs to be. They call her "Maya" and she's yellow.

We went to the San Diego Natural History Museum today. There were some dinosaurs on display but there will be more on display in a few weeks because a whole section was closed off. We'll have to go back to see more. We visited the Dinosaurs: Reel and Robotic section. At first, Hannah was a little frightened of them because they were so big and robotic so they were moving and making noise! They were huge! It was very cool. All Hannah wanted to do after a while though was sit underneath and stare at the T-Rex. Ben was in awe and very excited about it all. Yesterday, we made a dinosaur book together that we can read and learn about lots of different dinosaurs. We saw many of the dinosaurs that we included in our book in the museum display today. Noah had enough and slept most of the time. After a few hours at the museum we came home to rest our weary bones!