Roaring Through the New Year!

Hi. My name is Alisha and it has been 10 months since my last post. One of my New Year's "resolutions" was to get back to blogging. Hello, it's already January 17th! I put quotes around resolutions as I never really set them, I just think of ways that I want to make the year better. I have, however, set a motto for myself this year...Follow through! I get so many ideas going through my head that I rarely see them all the way through. Pinterest has become an addiction of mine and is just adding to the problem of not finishing a project. I may purchase all the necessary supplies only to leave it setting half done for months. For example, I found a cute idea on Pinterest to melt peppermints to create a serving platter. My kiddos love peppermints and love to help in the kitchen so I thought this would be the perfect craft for them. We quickly made up five platters to serve brownies and ice cream to our neighbors for Christmas only to see them sit on the counter for three weeks! All I had to do was bake the brownies and buy the ice cream. ACK! To feel the rewards of following through, I made myself bake the brownie bites & made a trip to DQ yesterday. We went around to the neighbors houses and proclaimed "Merry Christmas" as they opened the door. We also gave them our Christmas cards that I had not mailed in the event that we were going to deliver them with our goodies. They all had a good laugh at the kids and appreciated the treats "later, rather than never". To help with my goal of following through, I have created a Top Ten list for my projects. I can't add anything to the list until I open up a spot for it. We will see how this list aides in reaching my goal as we enter the Valentines Day season. There are two things repeated from mouth several times a day: "I am woman, hear me roar!" & "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" Now go "Follow through"!

Grothaus-isms!

Didn't get to this conversation before "yucky" words were said to one another: (Gavin wanted Gunner to put on a tutu & Gunner wanted to play with his fishing pole.)

Gavin: Just put this on!
Gunner: No, I fixing my fishing pole.
Gavin: Well, you're a snapper!
Gunner: You're a pee pee!
Gavin: You're a bad tutu!
(Enter Mom who takes back control.)

Bears & Ballerinas, OH MY!

This evening I sent my baby off to her first "dance" class...ok, so it was more of a "mommy & me" activity class, but we call it dance. I got her in after the spring session already started so we were the newbies tonight. She will be going one night a week with the other five kiddos in the class until the end of March. During April & May, she & one other girl in the class will continue to go to class & start practicing for the recital. Although I think she's really to young to be expected to perform in front of a large audience, I couldn't pass on the idea of basically getting private lessons. While she enjoyed the stations in class tonight, at one point she pointed to the other girls dancing in the other room & said "I do that!" It was really cute!

Gavin continues to go to Awana Cubbies on Wednesday nights with his friend, Moses. He wanted to pose in his Cubbie Bear shirt so he could send a picture to Cael.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

OOOHHH...this was a fun little activity! I took a package of little bugs that I found in the party isle at Wal-Mart & froze them in platic containers. As shown, the kids then took hammers, aka ice picks, & freed the bugs. They loved it! The next time I will use larger bowls so that they have to work a bit harder to get to the bugs.

Bring on the sunshine!

Freedom of Speech

Yes, there is a point to the boys having colored-cotton-ball-straw-races...Gunner's speech therapist is always giving us ideas of how he can gain better muscle control with his mouth, lips, tongue, etc. Gavin is always game for anything competitive, so this works for both of them! The other picture shows another "tongue awareness" activity...if only they were all so fun & delicious!

Snap, Cracle, Pop

Last night as we were eating supper before Gavin left for Cubbies, I told him that if he ate all of his peanut butter & honey sandwich & peas that he could have some chips. Once he had devoured both of them on his plate, he COMPLETELY surprised me & asked, "Mommy, may I please have some more peas?" He ended up requesting five helpings & finished off the bag. He then told me was too full for chips. Unfortunately, Gunner did not follow suit as he ate his chicken, left his peas untouched, & licked his plate clean of ketchup. His request..."More ketchup, mommy!"

This morning I thought I would suprise the kids & give them some Lucky Charms that I had gotten on sale. We usually eat Pop Pops (aka Rice Krispies) or Honey Kix, so I was thinking this would be a really cool treat. Didn't go over as I had planned. Gavin was intrigued by the shapes so he ate a few bites. Grace enjoyed about 5 marshmellows, & Gunner just kept screaming "Why you cook this?" I ended up dumping three bowls of Lucky Charms & pouring three bowls of the good 'ole Pop Pops.

As a bonus, I 've added this pic of Grace....I heard her whining for me yesterday as her brothers woke her up early from her nap. I wanted her to get some more sleep so I thought I'd give her a few minutes to go back to sleep. The whining stopped so I thought my plan was successful. Lo & behold, I hear a sweet little voice reciting Goodnight Moon. I keep a copy of the book on the dresser beside her rocker which is not reachable from her crib. I crept into her room & found this. She had climed out of her crib, turned her light on, put on her mouse ears, & grabbed her favorite book. Love her!

Cherry Baby

Since today is President's Day, we created cherry trees in honor of George Washington. I tried to explain who our President is & what he does...not sure if they really understood. I ended up comparing him to a king & they seemed to be able to make a connection. I drew a trunk on a piece of construction paper & had them paint it with brown paint. They then dipped their hands in green glitter paint to make the leaves, and used a cotton ball dipped in red paint for the cherries. As usual, Gunner was more meticulous in his painting. I was very impressed with his trunk and leaves, but he didn't quite get the "dabbing" part of the cotton ball for the cherries. He tried to smear the first one & became very upset when he couldn't make an exact circle, therefore, quickly losing interest in the project. The rest of the day was spent putting away the last of the Christmas decs while the boys continuously tangled their fishing poles that Daddy let them bring inside. I either need to learn how to fix & tie the line when this happens or invest in several poles for both of them that I can swap out.

Monster Truck Madness

Since the boys are really into monster trucks right now, I found the PERFECT craft for us to do on a cold Tuesday afternoon. First, they decorated the body of their truck with crayons & markers. Then, we took an old tractor tire & dipped it brown paint to make the monster wheels. Cute & simple!

My Little Shortcake!

Although these pictures don't do it justice, Grace got tons of compliments on her outfit today. One lady at Wal-Mart told me to send her picture off to magazines because she looked like Strawberry Shortcake. As her mom, I obviously think she's adorable, but it's her personality that makes you fall in love with her!

Grothaus-isms!

So, I am always meaning to write down the funny things that the kiddos are saying but never get around to it. I thought I would try to compile a list right here on the 'ole blog. I'll just title each post the same...Grothaus-isms. Get ready to LOL! ;)

This one isn't all that funny, but oh so Gavin...
G:Mommy, I wanna go the Congo & catch a Tiger Fish.
M: I think you're a little too young to travel all the way to Africa to go fishing. I hope that one day you have the opportunity to fullfill that dream, though.
Later at supper
G: Daddy, when I"m like 32 I'm gonna go to the Congo & catch a Tiger Fish.
D: Ok, buddy, we'll do that someday.
G: Is Africa farther than Ohio??

And I'm going to cheat and go back to something Gavin told me about a month ago after Grace hid from me in a closet & I couldn't find her...(yes, again!)
G: When Jozie & I get married & have a daughter I'll never lose her like you do Gracie!

Moving on to Gunner...he has recently become interested in reading their picture Bible. Every time I read the story of the birth of Jesus, he points to Mary in the manger scene and says...
G2: and she poops him out.
M: who poops what out?
G2: Mary poops the baby out.