Movies we saw: Star Wars IV A New Hope, Forest Gump (Katie liked the part about life being like a box of chocolates)
Some books Katie read: Diary of Anne Frank, Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Li looked at Material World to see how other cultures live.
Everyone listening to Tales of My Father's Dragon. Waiting for the book to come in also.
Katie peeked at The Baby Book (reading sections on growth).
Kana loves so many books...most of which we have upstairs on a bookshelf. She enjoys reading them at night in bed and has her three favorite Clifford books for when she sits on the potty. She used to look at Pippi in the South Seas while on the potty, but now that one is not in the bathroom anymore. She always wondered why the father looked like he was crying on the back cover of the book. We began reading it to find out, but only got halfway through that book and she lost interest. It had been read at bedtime, so everyone heard it if they weren't busy reading themselves, but we haven't finished it as of yet. Kana generally has her favorites which she chooses over and over. She likes the I Can Read and Dr. Seuss books alot. Li still likes Sue Snue, esp the ending where she says "I know what I'll do, I'll just be myself, my whole self and not you. etc, etc...that WHOLE page is SO Li too!
Feb 8th - Jim worked. The kids and I built a snow fort.
Here's Kanoa all bundled up after we came in.
Feb 9th - Monday - Here's Kanoa again.
Feb 10th - Tuesday - Li had tennis again for the third time. Lots of kids were not there. Sickness? It is that time of year.. Even only Matt came with just Leo as Josiah and Ben and Rosie had the beginnings of a cold and were trying to take it easy and not pass it around. Katie did not go with them due to their colds. Sierra came home with us and had lunch and played on the Wi, made up clues for tomorrow's scavenger hunt and sledded and played with the snow fort outside.
All the kids got along well and had fun!
Kana and I made soup because not only would it be good for us, but because of Rosie's and the boy's colds. She loved to stir!
Then at 5pm we left for the Rockland library for a new (different than before) book club. The discussed Diary of a Wimpy Kid and gave out Bull Run books. Li participated because they had pizza.
Feb 11th - Wednesday -
Went to homeschool group for the first time!
Kara and Quinn and Carolyn helped me so much getting out of there! Kids had fun doing the scavenger hunt. Katie and Sierra were excited to put up their clues and Katie was like a drill sargent getting everyone to line up to organize the whole thing...funny to watch. Carolyn cracked up at how she got the boys to line up. I believed it, although I wonder if it is any reflection of me ...I don't wish to come across like a drill sargent...is this about me at all or is it my own self-centered universe I tend to see? Maybe it is just about her and her personality, not any modeling I ever do. Or maybe it is from Katie watching me teach ballet? (See, I still see things my kids do as reflections of me sometimes! Can I let it go? Should I let it go? Is it sometimes a reflection of us and how we model? You bet it is sometimes! Just not always.) The crafts everyone brought were not as big a hit as we thought they would be. 2/13/09 - Friday - Played Sorry! with Li at the table. Kana was off doing something else and can't recall what Katie was doing. I took Li to the Strike Zone and dropped Katie off at the Y. Ran into Benta and Ana in the Y parking lot. Emma was at swimming lessons...Li was dissapointed as he wished to see her. Emma had received Li's package and loved it. Benta said she sent him something back. Katie wasn't ready by 5:15pm and I was fretting that baby might wake up. Li went in to find her. After they came out, we picked up pizza at Megunticook Market. Spoke to Jene. Nice conversation. Wish we could really see her and visit with her! The kids watched a premiere show of Pokemon and then an hour of Star Wars The Clone Wars from 9-10pm. I was with baby who was a little gassy/crying. But he calmed down much much easier than the previous few nights. Phew! What time did we end up in bed? Hmmm. 11pmish? Yes, it was because Jim and I and baby ended up by ourselves downstairs and King of the Hill was ending and Jim caught the beginnning of Family Guy when I went upstairs. We both like King of the Hill much better than Family Guy now. Has some little lessons in it and has more of a story to it. Wait! Last night I do now remember Katie saying an individual "Happy Valentine's Day" to everyone and then Kana following suit, so it was a few minutes after midnight when we *went* to sleep.
Photo from 2/13/09 of Li and Kana sucking on lollypops.
Photo from 2/13/09 of Katie on the computer.
2/14/09 Saturday - Today was the Hope Winterfest. Wanted to go, but decided it was too windy and might not be a good idea to walk on snow and ice with Kanoa. Glad Makana and I stayed home because Jim said he fell twice on the ice! Hardly anyone was there this year he said. He and Okie thought that the poor attendance was due to a lack of advertising. Okie had gone with Keely and they all met there.
There were tons of goodies for sale and since there were not alot of people (and because Li was such a nice young boy the ladies said), Li bargained for loads of sweeties and baked goodies. He came home with a couple of bags of cookies and such and told Makana he felt bad she couldn't come, so he bought these for her (some? all?) and asked if she'd share them. She thanked him and said she would. But later he changed his mind. Daddy bought her a giant cookie at French and Brawn when she asked for it as he heard Li tell her she couldn't have one of his cookies. Glad Jim did that. Photo of Li sledding at the Hope Winterfest.
2/16/09 - Kanoa in bouncy seat in bathroom (where he sits while I shower sometimes).
2/16/09 - Kana likes to line up things in the bedroom while I nurse and dress Kanoa. Funny, I remember all the kids going through the "line up things" phase. Neat!
2/16/09 - Katie took the camera and had fun making Katie expressions/faces with it!
2/16/09 - Katie took this picture of Kanoa and me.
2/16/09 - Kanoa sleeping in his warm woolies. Notice the stuffed animals lined up near him?
2/16/09 - Photo of "Puppy," Katie's beloved stuffed animal that she's had since she has been two! Thank you so much Jen! It was the best surprise ever!!
2/16/09 - Li's favorite stuffed animal that Katie and I handmade for him years ago so he'd have a special animal like "Puppy."
2/16/09 - Kana's "Beary" - her favorite stuffed animal.
2/16/09 - "Katie's little pillow" that she so generously lets me use every night. I could not sleep as well without it!
2/19/09 - Katie and Kana wanted to put make-up on Kana. I said "Okay, but just a little" as I didn't want it to get rubbed off in the house and I didn't want Kana to have to scrub it off as that is sometimes difficult for all of us (sometimes it takes a long time and I didn't want to take a chance of her getting sore trying to rub it off..and seemingly simple things are just harder to do with a baby). But this was the end result. They did have fun and Katie helped Kana take off the make-up. Don't recall if I ended up helping or not.
Saturday 2/21/09: Katie, Li and Jim visited Lindy and Edna Pendleton's home and kennel in Lincolnville, ME. Lindy is extremely passionate about his dogs, the Iditarod (has been going to Nome for years now) and mushing in general. He was kind to let us visit on his birthday and shared his love of the sport and the dogs with Katie, Li and Jim. We met Lindy a few years ago at the Ecology Fest at Merryspring (although we were just another family checking out the dogsleds and dogs - he wouldn't remember us - but maybe that is what started the interest in dogsledding?). Lindy makes and sells dogsleds too. They met his grand-daughter whom Li enjoyed playing with. Katie was excited to show us the dog booties he gave her that belonged to famous mushers. They can not be washed and still have doggie imprints and such on them.
Photo of Katie at Lindy Pendleton's kennel being kissed by two dogs at once.
9/22/09 Sunday - HUGE snowstorm. Power went out around 10pm. Still had dinner dishes out! Ick! Can't flush, heat and water shut off. We lasted until the morning when we decided to go to the Country Inn (with Fred the frog) where there was power. Took us all day to decide and pack and such. Had to do it before it got dark. Rosie called. Told her what we were doing. They ended up coming to the hotel too and we had a blast swimming (not me or Kanoa or Rosie, but everyone else) and watching movies and eating and hanging out. The power came on at 7pm. Oakie was kind enough to drive by our place to check that our lights were on. But since we were already checked in and settled and since the power might have gone back out, we thought we'd stay put for the evening. It took much of Monday the 23rd to get resettled. Could you believe that Penobscot Pension Services still had employees come in to work on Monday morning?! All employees were let go after noon though "to dig themselves out" Jim was told. He got docked a day of work though since he didn't go in. I don't get that because he has been working weekends and overtime into the evenings. How come he was charged a day of vacation? Will he get comp time?
2/23/09 - Monday after returning home from the hotel. Jim took these photos.
2/24/09 - Tuesday - I took these photos because of the humongous icicles and remaining heavy snow against the beautiful, clear, blue sky!
2/24/09 - Tuesday - Katie had been following the lego directions to a couple of Li's lego kits. Here is one of the constructions she was in the process of building.
2/25/09 - Wednesday - Still heavy snow sticking to the trees. Just beautiful! What a storm!!
Kanoa - Noticed clear drool - just a bit - coming from his mouth earlier this week (6 wks old). Then noticed a little more - a stream of drool - later this week (still 6 weeks old). And again - today I think - just a wee bit of clear drool. Could this be the very beginning of teething?
On Sunday 2/15/09 I was waiting upstairs for Kana to poop and was mesmorized by Kanoa's sleep smiles - and I even saw and heard him laugh!! Wow! Smiles, esp upon waking. He still looks at the border along the top of our ceiling and I told Katie that some people say babies might be seeing the angles. Katie liked that idea and says it often. He smiles at whatever he sees up there too. Told him to say hello to great-grandma for me! Cries - about 7pm or later it begins - gas? tired? poop not ready? We walk, try laying him on my tummy, try rocking...the Dr. Sears gassy baby hold works the best. He calms down for a bit, nurses desparately and then may cry more. Eventually he likes to be carried upright and finally falls asleep by holding or nursing. Katie and Wolfie think he often smells like throw-up. I never notice really. Used to it? Maybe I smell like it too!
Li - 1. Playing Magic with him a few times a week. Love how I can lay in bed on my side and even nurse or hold baby while playing on the floor to play this game! And it just means so much to Li! Have taken Li to the Strike Zone about three times so far so he can play or shop there. One day it was just him, baby and me and we got to play. (And that conversation with mom led to thoughts of what my kids are learning. With Magic, Li is learning to read more and add and subtract positive and negative numbers...pretty cool! And it is because he wants to and it is fun!)
2. He helps himself to making whatever food he wants - even cutting and toasting and buttering bagels by himself! (There is a huge crumbly mess which I end up grumbling about initially as it is sometimes hard to clean it up immediately if Kanoa cries to be held. Then when I am able to clean it up, I realize how grateful I am that Li can and does get his own food - what a blessing!! How self-sufficient he is!
3. Asked Li how he wanted us to try to get his attention when he is very involved on the computer or playing a DS game or watching TV, etc. He said to say his name and "simply" tap him on the shoulder. (I asked him this in front of Jim while they were sitting at the table because Li had taken another plate of eggs after I just cleaned up and Jim was frustrated that Li had not heard him - once again - when Jim asked him if he was done with the eggs - which he did several times, but got no reply. Pick anything though...when Li is into something, it is hard to get his attention! Jim said that twice earlier he resorted to turning off the computer moniter to see if he could get Li to answer him. When Jim told me he was having trouble getting Li's attention and sounded very annoyed and frustrated, I began to feel bad and upset too. I felt for a moment that we needed to do something to regain control and regretfully I said to turn off the screen if he had to. That's when he said he did twice already. Immediately I realized that was not right to do to anyone, was not a good thing to model and was rude. Also, we wouldn't treat each other like that. I think that perhaps we only even think of turning off the monitor when we feel powerless and insignificant/ignored/"less than" and that it might behoove us to just ask Li for a solution so we can work together to solve this family conundrum. Whoa! And so now we will try Li's solution.)
4. Li is so thoughtful of a person...full of thought and has reasons for everything. I just love him and who he is So much!
5. We were playing Magic today and Li was being so nice with Kanoa. I told Li that he would be a good daddy someday. He said he might not have kids, but if he did, he would let them do whatever they want. He'd "give them like a hundred bucks and take them to the fair."
6. Li mailed Emma Jordan, his girlfriend, a package earlier this week (on Monday 2/9). He just received a package back from her today (Saturday 2/14/09) and now wants me to give him her phone number to call her so he can tell her he got it and will mail her another package.
Need to get off here and get the phone number for him now. Li left Emma a message on her answering machine two times. First message: "Hi. It's Li. Your boyfriend." Hung up all flustered. Second call was more conversational and regular. Phone cluncked and didn't hang up easily. We laughed (in a good way, not at Li) and I said, "See what love does!" His whole message and mannerism was so sweet and cute! So was the beautiful card Emma made for Li and the note about his package "making her day." Li hasn't seen Emma since they swam together that day at the Y this past fall just before her dad died suddenly - so sad!!! He marveled how much she grew as her photos look so different. He tried calling again today (Sunday 2/15/09), but got the answering machine and hung up.
