Claire's first time in the snow.

Over the 4 day weekend the girls went outside to play while Bobby shoveled the driveway. He suggested this might be a good time to let Claire bear out for her first time in the snow. She liked it. A lot better than Sophie did! It was cute to see her all bundled up in her snow gear, and she was really excited about it! Franny laid face down in the snow and Claire went right over to her and did the same thing. I'm pretty sure they were eating the snow, but I didn't want to know so I didn't pay very close attention. She stayed out there for a good fifteen minutes while I stayed inside with Mabel and fixed up some hot chocolate.



When Bobby brought her back in, I took her sippie cup and filled it halfway with milk, then added some hot chocolate. I wanted her to have the full experience with playing in the snow and have her hot (or in her case warm) chocolate after coming inside. She took one sip and spit it across the room. All over me, the floor, and her clothes. It was so funny.

Franny was probably happiest about the snow. (That's her in the bottom left corner of the picture below.) She has been so frustrated with the unseasonably warm weather we've been having. (It's supposed to snow in January!) I couldn't be happier about it!

Back to School and Baby Sue

The girls started their school year and so far things are going great. From what I can tell, they seem to have excellent teachers and are enjoying their classrooms. The first day of school Franny came home from a letter from her teacher asking me to tell her about Franny in "a million words or less." I liked her immediately. Today Sophie's teacher said, "I'm sure you know how bright and what a delight Sophie is in the classroom." I hoped as much, but it's always nice to hear. It's been two weeks now and Sophie just wore a pair of shorts yesterday for the first time. She only wants to wear skirts or dresses.

As for Claire, I'm really enjoying the one on one time I have with her and I think she is, too. We go on a walk together every morning, then we come home and she watches Elmo (she calls it "Elwo") while I get organized and cleaned up for the day. She has become very attached to Sophie and Franny's dolls. She has about four baby dolls she carries around and she calls them all "Baby Sue." She started pushing them around in this triplet toy stroller we found at a garage sale this summer. It is the cutest thing! Today she wanted them to come with her to watch "Elwo." Here she is giving them both a hug-



And this is the face she makes when she talks about them. She scrunches her face up like she might cry and says, "OH! BABY SUE!!!"

Miss King

Franny had two fabulous teachers her first grade year! I couldn't have asked for better. We had one of them, Miss King, over for dinner last night and since it was the day after her birthday we celebrated with her and served ice cream sundaes. It was great to see her and Franny was so excited. She chose the menu and helped us get the house cleaned up in preparation for her visit. She loves Miss King so much!

Dance Recital 2011

I took a picture of Franny at her dance recital the other night and she said, "Maybe you should put that on your website." I thought it was so cute that she would think to suggest that. Then of course I felt guilty since it's been nearly two months since I've posted anything. It was a really fun night. Bobby brought flowers for the girls and Franny's school teacher came and gave her a flower, too! We hired a babysitter for Claire and I'm so glad we did. What a busy baby! It was nice to just be able to sit and enjoy the show without having to worry about entertaining a restless new walker on my lap.

Here are a few pictures we took that night. After the performance, we took the girls out for ice cream. They looked so pretty and danced so well! Sophie's little preschool class did a dance called "The Ladybug Club." It was so adorable. She has so many little friends in that class and they were adorable, too!



Here are the girls' individual and class pictures. I think they turned out great!

These are not the droids you're looking for.

We were watching Star Wars together a lot as a family together a while back. At first Sophie wasn't really into it. One time she got really upset when one of the characters she liked died, and she ran up the stairs, crying, "I don't like Star Wars. I like DORA!" She's come around. Franny had "show and tell" a month ago at school and brought her Darth Vader figurine. She asked me if she could be Darth Vader for Halloween and I said no. Franny decided she wanted to be Princess Leia for Halloween. Then Sophie decided she wanted to be the same thing. We sort of made the suggestion that she be Queen Amidala and she loved the idea of dressing up as Franny's Star Wars mom. So I guess all this is to say that we are now officially Star Wars nerds.

The girls were really excited about their costumes. It was a different story when I was applying Sophie's face makeup, though. She was crying, "I change my mind! I change my mind." She didn't like the way it felt on her skin, I guess. But I think it totally made the costume! So I sort of insisted. We were hoping Franny might want to use her costume next year, but then I washed and dried a load of whites with a black crayon and destroyed it (along with many other articles of white clothing. Super lame.)

We had a fun Halloween weekend, despite Bobby having a busy call weekend. We kind of lucked out because even though he worked a lot, he was still able to join us for most of our Halloween activities. We hit the SAA trunk-or-treat Saturday morning, then we stopped at Hyvee for some trick-or-treating and then on the way to the church Halloween party we stopped and trick-or-treated at our neighbor's dad's house. He likes to give the kids he knows giant candy bars. He gave my girls the biggest candy bars I have ever seen in my life! The girls were so excited.

It was a nice change to not be running around all day on Halloween, since usually it's a two-day affair for us. On Sunday we had our traditional chili dinner and the girls actually passed out candy to a few trick-or-treaters, which I think they kind of liked. Then we all curled up and watched Harry Potter. It was a great Halloween.

Have fun at work, Dad.

I'm not feeling so hot tonight. I am ready to climb into bed, but I have to get this written down first. It's nothing major- chills, sore throat, achiness... Franny has noticed and has been really sweet, asking me how I'm feeling, telling Sophie to leave me alone, etc. Bobby is on call this weekend and we were happy to have him home with us since about 10:00 this morning. Well, the pager went off about 8:15 PM. Bobby was saying goodbye to the girls and Franny said, "Have fun at work, Dad. We'll take care of Mom." It was the sweetest thing. After that she came in to the room I was laying down in and kind of tip-toed over to see if I was still awake. She brushed her fingertips down the side of my face and looked at me sympathetically. Then she kissed her fingertips and rubbed my arm that was outstretched across the bed. I was so touched by her concern. After that it got very quiet. I called out from the bedroom I was in and asked what they were doing. Franny said, "I'm just waiting for Sophie to finish her treat." Then a few minutes later I heard them walk into their room and shut the door. A few minutes after that, I was able to drag myself into their room, where I discovered that Franny was taking it upon herself to put her and her sister down to bed so that I wouldn't have to get up. Sweet girl.

Baby Claire at three months old.

This should give you a good idea of why I haven't been blogging much lately. It's hard to get anything done with this sweet little thing around. I'm definitely not taking enough pictures of Claire. I have a higher standard now that all my friends have SLR's and I see what they can do with theirs. Problem is, I still have your average point and shoot variety so I just don't bother. It's really sad. Please, like Claire is going to care if her baby photos are "blah blah blah..." (I don't know photography jargon.) Anyway, what I have been doing is taking lots of video. So please enjoy these short clips of Miss Claire if you'd like:

I'm starting to really get used to having Franny and Sophie home with me all day. I was actually kind of nervous when Franny finished summer school at the end of June. She's been going to school in July since she turned three years old. Having three kids at home all day at first was pretty intense. We were having a lot of fun, of course- going to the pool, the library, playing with friends, etc.- but I was just so tired. But now that it's been a couple of weeks, we've all adjusted to being around each other more and we've hit a good rhythm. I'm sure it will be hard to send them back in a month. A month! Summer goes so fast. I'm glad I feel that way. Of course it will be nice to have some peace and quiet in the afternoons and time to do the things that I like to do, but I've really enjoyed planning our days, feeding them, helping them do a little homework each day... We've had a good time. I still feel like I'm way too tired too fast even though I'm getting a decent amount of sleep.

Here are some fun Franny and Sophie stories:

Franny loves bugs. Well, she loves to kill bugs. With her bare hands. Yesterday morning Melissa was watching my girls and she asked Franny to kill a bug. She watched Franny walk over to a big beetle-looking thing, thinking she would just step on it, but she picked it up and smashed it between her fingers, crunching the life out of the poor thing. Yesterday afternoon, Franny walked in and said, "Mom? MOM!!! A bee stung me!"
Me: "WHAT?!" (I've never been stung by a bee before.)
Bobby: "Wait a minute, were you trying to hold the bee?"
Franny: "I was holding it, and it STUNG ME!"

Franny was saying prayers and told Heavenly Father who was in her family. She told him our names as well. Then she told him, "I don't have a cat. I don't have a dog. And I don't have a unicorn." The next night she asked for a baby brother who likes to be tickled.

Sophie has been dabbling in the art of deception. One day I said, "Sophie, sometimes you don't tell the truth." She looked at me coyly and said, "Well, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't." A few days later, Franny asked if she could have fruit snacks AND a fruit roll-up. I said no, and Sophie walked off. When she came back she said, "Dad said I could have both." I scolded her for going to her father after I said no and Bobby walked in and said, "I told her no, too." What the?! She's three years old. I'm so screwed.

The other night the girls were asking about my Mom again. How she died and why she died. Bobby answered for me and started bearing testimony of Jesus Christ and his resurrection and that because of his sacrifice, we would be able to see Grandma again. Sophie said, "And the deer." I had to duck my head to hide the giggles. Franny recounted the story of when we hit the deer with our car. Sophie piped in with, "And the deer died." Bobby said, "Yes and do you know why? Because force equals mass times acceleration..." and I had to leave at that point because I couldn't stifle the giggles anymore. One minute he's bearing his testimony, and the next minute he's giving a physics lesson. Hilarious.

Ten minutes

That's all I'm giving myself to write about today.

Today was a big day, and normally I would spend an hour and a half on a post like this. I want it to have accompanying videos and images and be worded just perfectly. But I don't have time. And I know if I wait until tomorrow it will never get done. So whatever I can come up with in ten minutes will just have to do!

My Franny has been receiving therapy since September 2006. We're going on four years! It's called EIBI (Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention) or ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis). It has changed our lives and hers for the better. When we were first told that she would need 25 hours of therapy a week at 2 1/2 years old, I could hardly believe it. The day she turned three years old she started going to school from 8 AM to 3 PM and had 1:1 therapy all day. ALL DAY. We noticed a huge difference right away. We have had amazing therapists, para's, consultants, doctors, and administrators helping us along the way. People that now feel like part of our family.

I could go on and on about this, but I have a deadline.

I got a call today from one of Franny's consultants. You see, Franny has had a whole team of people who evaluate her needs and her progress on a monthly basis. She said that Franny is ready to "graduate" from the EIBI program. Which basically means she has caught up to her peers. She'll still receive a few services like speech therapy and she'll work with a writing specialist, but nothing compared to what she had before. No team, no monthly meetings, no EIBI minutes.

I can't believe it. It's been such an emotional day. I remember taking this video footage the first day of therapy. She screamed and screamed because she didn't want to play "my turn" with Melinda. (Melinda would pass the ball to Franny and then say "my turn" and Franny was to give it back.) It's a video of a very sad Franny. I remember that as I was recording her melt down, I was hoping that someday I would come back to watch this video and say, "Wow, look at how far she's come!" Today's news is exactly what I hoped and prayed for when we first learned about Franny's diagnosis. I prayed so hard for this. And now that we're here... it feels great. It also feels scary. We won't have the same support we're used to having. And I will miss seeing these people regularly. It's so exciting! There should be a big party with all the people who helped her get to this point! Melinda, Mary, Tiffany, Chrissy, Karen, Stephanie, Jen, Mary Ellen, Liz... and OH SO many more. Bobby and I are both so grateful for the help she has received and so proud of our Franny, the hardest-working kid we know.

It was a good day. Wow, look at how far she's come!

Maybe she's born with it.

Today is Franny's last full day home before her half day summer school starts for the month of June. We had just finished eating lunch and the baby had just fallen asleep in her swing when Franny said, "Let's go on a walk." I wasn't thrilled about waking up the baby, but I knew the kids would enjoy being outside. I woke Claire up, put her in her stroller and went outside to meet the girls. Franny said the neighbors had set up their pool and then she said, "I was just kidding. I don't want to go on a walk anymore." Ha! I laughed at her and made her go around the block with me once anyway. I told her I didn't wake Claire up for nothing! So we made it around once and Franny and Sophie ran straight for the neighbor's pool. When I caught up to them, I found the two of them in their [brand new] clothes splashing around in an inflatable pool with two inches of water, already soaking wet. Awesome.

Earlier this morning, I was putting on my makeup when Sophie joined me in the bathroom. Sometimes she likes to take one of my powder brushes and put her makeup on too. Today she had her baby doll with her and was applying the makeup to the doll as well. She was asking me what all the different brushes were for. Then she picked up the mascara and asked what it was for. I said it was for your eyes and I was sure she would just pretend to put it on instead of unscrewing the tube. I was wrong. I looked down when I heard her say, "I like this mom. I like this on my eyes." At first I was like, "SOPHIE!! No! You can't play with that." Then I guided her to the mirror and told her to look at what she had done to herself. She burst into tears when she saw her reflection. Then I couldn't help but laugh. She wasn't real happy with me for taking this picture. I knew I'd be sorry if I didn't take a picture of the first time one of my kids got into my makeup.

Claire started sleeping through the night last Thursday night. She slept through the night five nights in a row, until last night when she woke up every THREE hours! I'm so hoping it's just a fluke and she wasn't teasing me before. It's got to be her just trying to increase my milk supply, right? I mean I know that sleeping through the night is more than most can expect when babies are only 7 1/2 weeks old, but I was starting to get used to the extra sleep and it just seems too cruel to take it away at this point! :) She's also cooing now. I love that so much.

I'm confused because I ate too many snacks.

My talented sis-in-law Jen took this picture, as if there was any question that this could possibly be a picture I could take. It's way beyond my abilities.

I've had a few emails, comments, phone calls, etc., from sweet people wondering how we're doing, possibly due to my lack of posts on this blog. I'm overwhelmed and I don't know where to start. I have blog posts I want to write about Claire, Franny, Bobby, and Sophie. I want to write about Bobby's mom's visit, and how wonderful it was to have her here. About all my friends here who helped us right after the baby came and my friends who sent all sorts of wonderful gifts (including cinnamon bears from Utah!) I have recipes for BBQ and homemade yogurt that I want to share (two separate posts- that would be a strange flavor combination). I want to write about Claire's baby blessing and how I felt like my mom was with me all day, and how nice it was to have some of Bobby's family there with us. But you know how it goes... if I get a spare minute, I spend it with the children, or cooking dinner, doing laundry, yard-work, or exercising. Record-keeping falls by the wayside.

We are all doing well. Some of us are still trying to adjust to the change. And by some of us, I mean Franny. She seems to love baby Claire, but I think she's angry with me. It all started about two weeks after the baby was born, almost like she realized that the new baby (i.e. disruption in her life) was a permanent change. So we're working hard on that. Meanwhile Claire is a remarkably easy baby to care for. Wouldn't mind one less feeding at night, but that would probably be asking for too much. Aside from being a little over-sensitive, Sophie has been her usual sweet and sassy self.

Here are my favorite things the two of them have said lately:

Sophie has been learning about feelings at school lately. She said, "Mom, are you excited or confused?"
Me: "I'm excited. What about you?"
Sophie: "I'm confused."
Me: "Why are you confused?"
Sophie: "Because I ate too many snacks."

My favorite thing Franny said is an example of her recent attitude. She came home really tired after a fun day at our local state park, where they hiked and played all day. She called this field trip her "camping trip."

She was sitting next to me on the couch and said, "Ask me how was my camping trip?"
Me: "How was your camping trip."
Pause.
Franny: "I don't want to tell you."

Sheesh.

Poor Miss Mary

Franny's "helper" at school is Miss Mary. She loves Miss Mary. Miss Mary took a sick day last week and Franny wanted to make her a card. In case you can't read it, the card says:

"Miss Mare (Miss Mary)

she fro up" (she throw up.)

with a lovely drawing to accompany the heartfelt inscription.

Bobby and I loved it. So did Mary.

Three Girls

At least once a week now I hear myself saying to Bobby: "We have three kids!" It's been nearly a month since I posted. Taking a little break I guess, but the list of things I want to get written down is getting long so I better start catching up. By the way, we're still loving Miss Claire- some of us a little too much- and everyday there is more of her to love.

"Sorry about the drama, we just hit a deer with our car."

Franny has been in need of some pretty serious dental work for quite a while now. Actually last summer was when we first became aware that she needed to have some cavities filled. She had to have a crown put on, a tooth removed, a spacer put in and three cavities filled. We were referred to a pediatric dentist in Columbia and made the drive down early Friday morning. Bobby scooped the girls out of the car and put them in the van hoping they would just go to sleep. Instead they had a lot of questions. Sophie wanted to know why we were going to the dentist at night time?

About a half an hour into our trip we saw the sun beginning to rise and we were talking about the pretty colors and the horizon, etc. I realized I had forgotten to tell Franny's teacher she wouldn't be at school that day so I picked up my cell phone to leave them a message. (It was only about 6:45 AM.) Here's an idea of what that message sounded like:

"Hi, this is Katherine. My daughter Franny won't be at school today because she's having some dental work done in Columbia. Would you please let her teacher know she won't be there... Bobby, Bobby- there's a deer. Right there. Deer, deer, deer.... AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! [Thud] Oh my gosh! Oh! Sorry about the drama, we just hit a deer with our car." Click.

Isn't that the funniest phone message ever? If I were working in that office, that message would have totally made my day. Seriously, I am such a spaz.

So anyway, back to the deer. Poor stupid deer. I saw the deer start running across the lanes of the highway from a pretty far distance. We had quite a bit of time to react, but as Bobby adjusted his speed with his breaks so that he could avoid killing a large and panicked animal, the deer adjusted her (we think it was a doe anyway) speed to match ours and was actually aiming for us. We felt like there was nothing we could do. The deer leaped at our car and hit the beam that separates the windshield from the driver's window. We're afraid that if our car was a second faster than where we were, he would have slammed through the window right into Bobby! While we recognize that "lucky" would have been not to hit any deer at all, we do feel very lucky that the none of us were hurt and the damage to the car was minimal.

Another fortunate thing for us was that a road worker pulled up about two cars behind us, turned on his hazards, and told Bobby he would move the deer for us. (The deer was still alive but struggling.) So Bobby got back in the car and we drove the rest of the way to see the dentist. So the morning started off pretty weird.

Franny had to be put under anesthesia again for the dental procedure. (She was just recently put under for a tonsillectomy that I have been meaning to blog about here. I'll get to it.) She did a lot better when she came out of it this time. They made her a little cocktail with Verced and something else to help calm her before separating her from us and putting her out. She's pretty cute when she's high. She said, "I loovveee you Moooommm...." with very slurred speech. She was stroking my hair and my face and looking up at me with a goofy smile. It was pretty cute. She was really annoyed with the spacer in her mouth at first, but she seems to have gotten used to it.

Later than night Bobby and I were in the office watching "The Office" when the girls came in. All of the sudden my calendar alerted me that our town's Daddy-Daughter dance was starting in 15 minutes. Bobby was pretty excited to take Franny, but she couldn't decide if she wanted to go. One minute she did, the next minute she didn't. It was a little frustrating, but we knew she must be tired. But Sophie said she did want to go, so the two of them went. I snapped this picture before they left:

I could tell it meant a lot to Sophie to have that one on one time with Daddy. They were walking out to the car and Sophie said to Bobby, "Are we going on a date?" She was exhausted from waking up so early, so they weren't gone too long, but from what I hear there was plenty of Hannah Montana and Taylor Swift to dance to- just what Sophie loves. I have to say I was really grateful all day for Bobby- for coming with us to help with Franny's dental procedure and then that night for taking Sophie out at the last minute, before he had even had a chance to eat dinner. He was kicking back and relaxing in comfortable clothes, but as soon as he realized that Sophie really wanted to go he had a shirt and tie on in about five minutes. I just really like him a lot.

Spring Break in Springfield

We spent a couple of days during Spring Break in Springfield, IL. Bobby and I have been wanting to check out the Abraham Lincoln sites as well as a Frank Lloyd Wright home there. So we went for it and we are so happy we did! Our first stop was the Lincoln home. Abraham Lincoln and his family lived there for seventeen years before moving to the White House and I believe it was the only home they ever owned. It was really cool to walk around his neighborhood and inside his home and get a good look at what the interior of his house may have looked like.

Our girls are a lot of fun to travel with. They love being on the go and it makes family trips a total blast. Thank goodness for that! We wondered if we were crazy to plan a not-so-kid-friendly vacation, but they did great. We were sure to break things up with a couple of trips to candy stores, time in the hotel pool, and some kid-friendly restaurants.

Another "must-see" for us in Springfield was the Dana-Thomas house built by Frank Lloyd Wright. I saw the Robie house in Chicago last year and that is the only other FLW site I've had the opportunity to see. This one was really impressive because it still holds so much of the home's original furniture. I just can't get over how far ahead of his time Frank Lloyd Wright was. Bobby and I were trying to imagine what he would come up with if his career were starting now. I can tell you one thing- he would totally have his own show on HGTV. And I would watch it. There was a bowling lane in the basement. It was freaking awesome.

We also went to the Lincoln Presidential museum. Admission was a little pricey but totally worth it. I was really impressed and learned a lot about our former president. I got a little teary-eyed watching a perplexed Franny look at one exhibit where an auctioneer was standing next to a small boy who's parents were being sold into slavery and separated leaving the boy alone. I held my breath and waited for the question I knew was coming about what kind of scene was being depicted here. It's hard to explain things like assassination and slavery to such small children. But please, how long do I think I can shield my babies from the less than pleasant things in life? Anyway, that was something I hadn't really prepared myself for when we decided to take a trip to Springfield. Sophie was really upset when she found that "Hamalon Lincoln" died. She told a stranger in our hotel's elevator like it happened yesterday.

I like how Franny is holding little Willie Lincoln's hand in this picture.

They weren't all smiles and cheerful the entire time. Although I think this picture of Sophie was staged. These were both taken in "Mary's Attic"- which was a children's room where you could play with a large doll house designed to look like Abraham Lincoln's Springfield home. You could dress up in period clothes, play games the Lincoln kids may have played, and pretend to cook in a play kitchen.

The last thing we did was visit the Lincoln tomb. The building is has some structural problems so we weren't able to go on top. But we were able to go inside and see where Lincoln, his wife, three of his sons, and his only grandson are buried.

This is Franny rubbing Lincoln's nose for good luck.

Here's a cute picture of Bobby and the girls in front of a temporary tomb where they kept Abraham Lincoln's body before he was moved to the larger building above. And here's a picture of the girls sitting on the steps of the Old State Capitol building.

And guess who lost another tooth!

Franny's Rainbow Quilt

Franny has been asking for a "rainbow quilt" since before Christmas. After Sophie got one for her birthday and Bobby got one for Christmas, I guess Franny wanted in on the fun. Bobby found this video online and the girls love it. Ever since then Franny's been a big fan of rainbows. In fact, right after Christmas we took the whole family to Walmart for a shopping trip. We were hurrying past the fabric section and Franny spotted a fleece she liked with a rainbow pattern. She called me over and said, "Mommy! Mommy! For my rainbow quilt!" It was so cute. I didn't end up using the fleece, but luckily Walmart actually had a cotton fabric with a rainbow pattern that Franny liked even more. The rest of the fabric just came from my stash. Again, I borrowed the idea from a quilt from the Red Pepper Quilt lady. I love her style.

This is the first time I've ever met a deadline when finishing a quilt. It took about a week start to finish. I think it measures about 4 feet by 6 feet. I quilted it using my regular sewing machine. I bought a walking foot, but I haven't been able to figure it out. I just picked some random spots on the quilt and worked outward in kind of a rectangular spiral until it was all quilted.

We gave it to her after cake and ice cream on her birthday. I was so glad we had gifts wrapped and the quilt finished because the poor kid was pretty sick on her birthday and watching her open her gifts was the first time I saw her really excited the whole day. For a while she kept telling me, "Mom, I really love my quilt." She still does say that occasionally. Little sweetheart.


Poor little sicko.
A couple of extra shots from her birthday. We took her to school even though she was sick just to share cupcakes with her friends. She was so excited about it- I just couldn't bare for her not to go. The rosettes were fun to make. I just bought the fondant, dyed it with food coloring, and followed these instructions from Bakerella.