Friendly Monsters

Some of Noah's and Zoe's favorite books are the "Olivia" books by Ian Falconer. In one of them Olivia makes a monster mask out of a brown paper bag to scare her little brother Ian. The kids thought it would be lots of fun to make some. We just happened to have their friends Wyatt, Dayton, and Jenna over. As previously posted my friend Brya and I have this wonderful arrangement; once a month we watch each other's kids so the other can have a date with their spouse.

It's been working out great. In February they went shoe shopping, to a movie and lunch.

Dan and I did a doctor's appointment, lunch, and window shopping at the malls in Reno.

Basically we enjoyed a nice, quiet, kid free day. Once again our kids were exhausted when we picked them up and managed to fall asleep before leaving the Steffen household. I can't wait for our March outings.

Here are the not so scary monsters.......

Adventures at Grandma's House

Our visit with Grandma Sandi was a ton of fun. Here are some highlights:

Zoe got into Chelsea and Trenity's make-up a time or two while we were there. Don't you just love the pink cheeks?
Noah and Zoe making Grandma's bed. Did you know that bed making required throwing all the pillows on the floor and walking/jumping on it to make the covers smooth. If you saw the height of the bed you would understand why they were on it while making it.

Zoe insisted on wearing a dress because Chelsea was. Here she is playing in one of Trenity's old dresses. This was the one from Brandon and Melody's wedding.

Dancing around...

We woke up to snow three mornings in a row. The storms reminded me of a winter when I was younger. It had snowed for days our pipes froze and the electricity went out for a day or two. To make thing worse we all had the stomach flu. Including cousins in town for the Partin Family Christmas Party. Luckily none of that happened this time around.

The Wrong Road!

Not really, that's just what we told the kids. For Chelsea's 5th birthday we decided to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese's. It was the first trip for my kids, but it is one of Chelsea's most favorite places. When we picked her up at Pre-School we decided to keep the trip a surprise and see how long it would take her to figure things out. Well, it took the whole trip, we kept asking her where we were going - her response was "New York City," or "Placerville." Boy was she excited when we arrived at our destination. We had a nice afternoon with the kids. Here are some of the highlights:

Noah and Zoe retrieving their Tickets after fishing....
Noah, Zoe, and Chelsea on the giant rocking horse.....

Chelsea helping Zoe ride the Barney Train....
Noah and Barney.....
Noah the Bee Keeper.....
Noah's new invention the bike/balloon.....
Zoe (and Noah's feet) on the little slide.....

Noah and Zoe riding "Scoop" from "Bob the Builder"....
Chelsea in the indoor play structure....

Upon returning home we opened presents, had dinner, and then it was time to start the lengthy bedtime routine. Take a look:

Noah the Pirate....his chosen prize for his share of the tickets....

Chelsea's pile of presents......

Noah can't wait to go back with his Daddy.

Grandma Sandi's House

The kids and I are spending the week and Grandma Sandi's house. We've only been here about 24 hours and Noah has already made all the beds and has helped Granny make him a milkshake. We had a nice drive over the pass with Papa Tim yesterday - we were lucky enough to reach the summit just as they were lifting chain restrictions. However, Papa had to chain up on the way to get us. I was just glad the kids slept most of the way, so Papa could take his conference calls in peace.

While waiting for Papa to pick us up at Daddy's work yesterday morning, Noah informed me that he has to make a chart for his Dad so that his dad will sleep in his own bed and not Mommy's bed. I'd like to know what bed he thinks is Daddy's. But good news is that even at Grandma's house Noah is getting big enough to sleep in his own bed.

Hopefully Dan enjoys his quiet week at home. It should give him plenty of time to prepare his talk and EQ lesson for Sunday.

Time for Bed

We've been cursed with kids who have terrible sleeping habits. Or ,maybe we have created the bad sleeping habits. Either way, we are growing tired of the "family bed" and have been struggling to find ways to get the kids out of our bed and into their own beds. I think we've finally found something that works with Noah. Here's a picture of his bedtime chart..... It has three different goals on it:
1. I went to bed by myself.
2. I went to bed without crying.
3. I slept in my room all night.
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Every night he goes to bed by himself, he gets to pick out of his treasure box in the morning. If he goes to bed without crying three times he gets to pick out of his treasure box. If he sleeps in his room all night for 30 nights he gets a garbage truck. Something "Santa" forgot to bring him for Christmas. So far it is working great, he's half-way to his garbage truck. It is so cool to see how pleased and proud of himself he is every morning when he has slept in his room all night. Plus he finally has his bedtime routine down. Story, prayer, hugs and kisses, and then he gets tucked into his bed. Here's a picture of the inside of his treasure box (Zoe has her own).....
Now we just have to find something that works with Zoe. I've let her cry it out in the past and it worked out well, but with Noah doing so well I don't want to take the chance of her waking him up. So as it goes, once she's asleep, she'll last in her bed for a few hours, but always winds up in our bed. I'm thinking about trying a toddler bed as opposed to her crib. Maybe she feels too big for her crib? Who knows? However, I think she is too young for a chart. I'm hoping it's just a phase.

I'm pooping.....

So, we are attempting the whole potty training thing with Zoe. So far it is going okay. I think she is a little bizarre in that she always wants to go on "Mommy's" potty, which of course is the furthest away from what we are doing. Here's a picture of her sprinting down our hallway exclaiming: "hurry, I pooping!" (And yes, she is wearing her brother's underwear and "white" shirt. She wants to be just like Noah, who wants to be just like Daddy.) Half of the time it seems like the mad dash down the hall is for nothing, but you never know when she actually has to poop. She's got pooping on the potty down pretty good, it's the whole peeing thing we've got to work on. Which I think is the opposite of most kids. But, I can't complain as it's been awhile since I've had to change a poopy butt. Now I just get to wipe one when she's done.

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Funny things overheard on the potty:

"I want Sweeping Booty" (insists on only wearing the Sleeping Beauty pull-ups)

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"how bout Jamine" (since Sleeping Beauty is gone, she'll settle for the ones with Jasmine)

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"it's not working" (when she doesn't have to poop or pee on the potty, or she's done and wants off)

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"I pooped on the castle" followed by tears (when we didn't make it to the bathroom before she started pooping)

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"like Noah" (proud that she can go on the potty like Noah, and is getting big like Noah)

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From Noah:

"Zoe went on the potty like me, She potty train like me!!" jumping up and down and running around in circles. It's so nice that she has such a supportive big brother. Today, I overheard him telling Grandma Sandi on the phone that he can't lift Zoe on to the potty yet. Maybe he's trying to be a little too helpful. I guess I better keep a better eye on those two.

Mom! Look, I made your bed.

This is a picture of Noah's newest talent. Bed making. He all of the sudden loves to make my bed while I am taking a shower. I don't know if he does it for the praise, or that he just realized it is something he can help with around the house. I can't wait to get a picture of the bed making process as it requires him standing and walking on the bed to smooth things out. Upon completing the task he asks numerous times if I like it, or if he did a good job. So, he now considers himself "great" at beds. The funniest thing he said today was, "I'm great at beds, not at frogs." We have a "frog" humidifier that has started making more noise than usual. I don't know if the kids got water where it shouldn't be, or if it's just that the thing is old. But, everyday Noah plugs it in to see if it is working. But to his dismay, it is still noisy and he hasn't managed to fix it. Hence the "I'm great at beds, not at frogs."