Eric has been in DC since Saturday for his yearly medical conference so I've been trying to make the days go by as quickly as possible so the kids don't miss him too much and so it seems like he wasn't gone too long. I've been doing a lot of activities that I normally wouldn't do, for example: sugar cookies.... I took the easy road with the dough and just bought that Betty Crocker mix and then added a little extra flour, patted down the dough with my hand and made shapes. Thank you Betty! It was actually fun to do, Bianca loved it too. She said "Mommy, this is like playing playdoh but you can eat this kind." And of course when I got out the food coloring she went crazy and had to make every color frosting, including the colors that result from mixing other colors together.
Bianca is very hard on herself, she started to frost and then asked that I finish it because she couldn't make it look nice with the knife. I told her she didn't have to frost with a knife and I started to frost with my fingers. I guess since I was doing that she decided it was acceptable (even though she hates to have messy hands) and followed my lead.
Bianca has really gotten into The Last Avatar. Eric has had the movies for a long time and talked me into finally watching them so she has been my motivation to continue because every day she asks if we can watch "MoMo". That is the avatar's pet, kind of a mix between a monkey and a lemur. Wyatt has also started to take interest in the show but couldn't get up onto the couch to watch so he would just stand against it. I decided to get him Bianca's old Dora chair from upstairs and he loves it. He got used to it real fast..but
not fast enough. Bianca was nice for about 2 minutes(see above pic) then decided she wanted her chair back, so I found Wyatt a bean bag. He didn't seem to mind too much.
In the meantime I'm wondering why my children prefer to sit on the floor when we have a cozy couch that fills up the entire family room.
We've been playing more in the toy room because I feel like my kids if I let them, would watch tv all day. So I've been setting times aside to do activities and turn the tv off and go to another room of the house. Wyatt is so happy to be able to play with Bianca's Hi Ho Cherry O game. I don't know why but he loves tiny things. If he puts one in his mouth I put the game away, and he knows that now so he doesn't. He can spend all day with these cherries. He will carry them around placing them in the cabinets, in little containers, wherever and then going to find them again. Of course, he sometimes can't remember where one is and I will be cooking the next day or whatever and find one in a pot or pan. It makes me laugh. I had a picture of his favorite toys, but I don't know where I put it. Anyway they all fit in the palm of my hand. One is a marble, the other a checker, the other a barret of Bianca's. He also really likes to take tops off and on of things. He will walk around most of the day with a color wonder marker taking the top off and on. Another funny thing, many times when I pick him up I've learned to check his hands because he will usually have some little knick knack in them.
And my little Bonk has started to play dress up. She got this Snow White dress on her 3rd birthday and didn't show any interest in it until about 3 months ago. Now she wears this one and some other dresses for church around the house over her clothes frequently. She also likes to dress up her bear and stuffed animals. I'm thinking of getting her her first build a bear for her 4th birthday.
She has also been favoring her tents for pretend play lately, which is a bummer for me because she always tries to stuff me into them with her. She gets in them and put blankets in there and toys and then says, "Mommy, this is the best hiding place ever!" And then yells for me to come find her, hmm I wonder where she could be??
And we've been doing a lot of talking on the phone, mostly to Daddy but also to others. Bianca likes to call her cousin Isaiah now. She calls him and I put it on speaker and he will say like one word, and then she will tell him something and then he will say another word. They don't have a conversation, they just kind of talk. My sister and I are in the background trying to help them finish their thoughts but I think we are learning to just let it be. It's pretty cute. She still doesn't talk a lot on the phone, she gets shy when people call for her, but I've noticed it's mostly with adults. When her friends or cousins call she is always willing to talk. So funny.
Phew, can you tell I'm bored here without Eric! This was a good chance for me to blog the updates with the kiddies. (: Daddy comes home tomorrow and is bringing Bianca her favorite animal in stuffed form of course: a flamingo.
This is our food storage in our basement. We have so much food down there now that I call it my little store. If I'm running low on ingredients I go shopping downstairs. It's really nice to have. Although at first I was skeptical. And I have to say that I think sometimes Eric is somewhat addicted to buying all the food. It's like a game for him to see how to get the best deals. But hey, it's not a dangerous addiction, and we're following the prophet's counsel of having food storage right! (: I just see all that food and panic about how I can use it all up so none goes to waste. I also think of so many people who have so little and I want share. Eric has talked about taking excess food to the nearby food banks, which makes me happy. He comes home every day with groceries to make sure we are fully stocked.
We tell them to be careful with the things we have down there. Bianca can be dramatic and decided to treat the items like little babies. Here she is cuddling a baby barbecue sauce. Oh dear.
Like Father, like son......
Eric really does so much for our family and for me as a wife and Mother. I am so grateful to have such a resourceful husband. Thanks for all you do Rico, and for taking such good care of us, we love you!
