9/14/12

I came downstairs to find Gordon starting on his homework at the front room table and taking a little break to use his pencil as his drum stick on the little glass pumpkins I have out on the table for fall decorations. Brought a smile to my face.

We were listening to a CD in the car today and a song about sisters came on. Ella asked to listen to it over and over again. I could see her in the back seat trying to memorize the words. All about playing with and loving your sister. They are great sisters and it is going to be hard for them next year when Ella goes to school. At least the first year is only a half day :)

Russell is working on getting is first tooth...it is taking awhile but he is a little trooper. And speaking of trooper Grandma Nielsen was a trooper taking care of Russell this past weekend while Taylor and I did our triathlon. Russell wouldn't take a bottle as we had planned. Thanks Mom for holding him and loving him all morning.

And a BIG shout out to all the Grandparents for coming and supporting us and helping out! We sure love you all!!!

Gordon was just recounting one of his dreams for me, he said:
"In my dream I was at Stephen's house and Dad was there and he said, 'Bud can you do me a huge favor and get me a glass of water?' So then I did...I went and got him water and came back to give it to him. And then in real life I stuck out my hands. And in my dream I was thinking why are you not taking this water that I am holding out for you? And then I realized...oh it is just a dream."
Then he and I were laughing. What a cute kid!

Taylor is so sweet! He has been working really hard lately and even in the middle of it all he sent an email to Gordon which read: Hey Gordon, thank you for the picture of us in the ocean. It's awesome. I have it next to my computer so I can see it all day at work. I am so glad that we're friends. I love you buddy. Dad.
Then Gordon wrote back: Thanks for writing that note. I will miss you while you are at work everyday. I hope you enjoy my picture.  Love Gordon  (I have attached the picture too)

We love you all!! Hope your week was as fabulous as ours ;)

9/03/12

We have a jar of Starburts that they can get one when they get caught choosing the right... Well Eden was trying to talk me into letting her have two 'choose the right candies'. I told her she could have one. She responded with, "Mom you are so silly...and adorable!" Obviously she had moved into the flattering to see if that would work ;)

The girls have started to play a new game that they call 'Fashion'. They go get dress up clothes on and say 'fashion, fashion, fashion' while they walk around the house. Then I heard Ella say, "Eden on the count of three you say 'pretty' and I will say 'fashion'...ready...one, two, three..." So cute!!

Gordon lost another tooth. One of his top front ones this time. As Taylor put it..he instantly looks older now.

I found a note that Gordon had written for Ella. This is what it said...' you hatoo sae it kindlee" Made me smile ;)

Russell loves to grab for things...especially his sisters hair. A built in way to make sure they don't smother him too much with kisses.

Eden had a wonderful birthday party. She felt loved for sure! Pctures to come on the blog.

8/23/12

Did I ever send this one??If I did sorry for the repeat :)

I am still adjusting to the school schedule and from staying up late two weeks in a row watching the Olympics. Hopefully I get back on schedule. And sad to say that the grandparents journal has suffered because of it. And I am having a hard time remembering what I have written down and not already. So if there are doubles, sorry! :)

I gave Eden a lemon-head candy this morning and she said with a giant grin, "Mom, thanks for the potato-head!"

Russell rolled over the other day. I did not see it. I put him down on his back and I looked back a few moments later and he was on his belly. He did that twice and both times I missed it! Hopefully I will catch him while he is doing it soon. :) He is growing up so quickly. I did have a friend ask me just last night how it is with four and how can you divide your time. And it was good to reflect on. But I do really feel that I get that much needed time with each of my children. I have tried to be more aware of it lately and I have been loving my one on one time with each of them. (i do wish there were more moments in the day...but I feel like I am striving for that balance...and I love those precious moments!)

Gordon has started school again! The summer went way too quickly! He is loving his new school and I am loving that the drive has been reduced by more than half. I pick up a friends kids too and we have started a tradition to say what your 'favorite thing of the day' was. It is so fun to hear what they say and how it starts the conversation going. Gordon is really enjoying the extra classes right now (ie P.E. and Music).

Taylor again came up with a wonderful idea. Gordon is to be practicing 10 particular math problems this week. And since Gordon loves to do obstacle courses we put the problems on cards and taped them around the house. Then we yell out the different locations and he runs there says the math problem and then solves it (he can check the answer on the back). We have done that system for just one day so far and he has them down pat.

Ella stared ballet again, and she adores it. Yesterday was her first day back and all day today she was changing into all her different ballet outfits and prancing around the house. (And yes, Eden was following her every move) They are playing so well together lately it warms my heart!

8/06/12

We were watching the Olympics the other day and Eden came up to Taylor and said "Is this only girls playing?" (It was a womens sand volleyball game) He responded, "Yes". She then said "Then Dad you can't look you are a boy" --since the girls are wearing bikinis.

Gordon has been getting very into the Olympics. At times it seems to be almost painful for him to watch if it is close. He seems to have the Grandpa Gordon Hansen gene. He love to watch, but gets very concerned too :)

We were sitting at the movie theater (every Wednesday morning during the summer we were able to go see a kids movie at the theater). Eden leaned in and grabbed my head to whisper something in my ear, which she does often. This time she whispered "I love you Mom". Totally caught me by surprise and totally melted my heart!

This week Ella has been such a sweet girl! She is a helper...like a little Mama. I love her so much!

7/28/12

Russell has started to suck his thumb a little. Never had a thumb sucker before....It is adorable! I half love it and half don't.... Love it because he can sooth himself, it will never get lost (like a pacifier) and it is so cute...don't because it can cause teeth problems later on, and you can take a pacifier away but not a thumb ;)

We have started a "Happy House" Chart. You can earn extra happy faces throughout the day (or loose them) but at the end of the day if you are in the green you get the extra privilege for the day (like dessert, or an extra story at bed time, staying up 10 min late...things like that). Then if you get into the star area you earn 'daddy bucks' that you can save up and spend to get a special outing with Dad. On the first day Gordon was almost into the star area...he asked to help make dinner and then he went and cleaned the loft upstairs all by himself and then made both of the girls beds for them. I am loving this little chart! Great idea goes to Taylor of course, he has the best ideas!

We had a Christmas in July party today. We started off by going to the kids summer movie "Arthur Christmas" then had friends over for lunch and decorated a giant gingerbread man while listening to Christmas Music and watching 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'. Then we finished it off by going swimming at a friends house and ate pizza. The kids had so much fun that they all crashed when we got home. :)

Eden has been wonderful this week at using the toilet. Big girl unders all week :) It will be so nice to not have to buy any more pull-ups...well for awhile. :)

Ella is such a girl and so into fashion! My friend Jessi gave me one of her shirts that she doesn't wear anymore, so I decided to wear it the other day and Ella came into the room and let out a loud gasp..."Mom! Is that a new shirt?....it is beautiful!" Then she runs out of the room yelling, "GORDON!! HURRY YOU HAVE TO SEE MOM'S BEAUTIFUL SHIRT!" --Thanks to Jessi for making me stylish. And thanks to a little girl that made me feel beautiful :)

We love you all!! Can't wait till the next time we see you!

7/22/12

Gordon: "You get your snap on smile."
Mom: "You get what?"
Gordon: "You know, when you get old you get your snap on smile"
Mom: "Where did you learn that?"
Gordon: "From Qubo!" (a kids tv channel)

I have put a couple more posts on the blog:
earlfamilyblog.blogspot.com

Russell has not "officially" rolled over yet, but it seems like it could be any day now..we'll keep you posted!

Eden: "Mom, I can't help clean anymore...my arms are tired."

I was having a bit of a ruff day awhile back. Gordon totally caught on and set up the Super Nintendo all by himself and came to me and said, "Mom, I want to watch you play Dr. Mario" (Gordon knows that is my favorite video game to play...he was trying to cheer me up. Such a sweetheart.)

Gordon asked me to pitch some balls to him in the backyard. Before we started he put on a bike helmet. After we were playing for awhile I mentioned that real baseball players wear helmets when they are batting. He looked so surprised and said, "Really! I was just wearing it because I like it, cool!"

I got Russell to cackle laugh the last two nights in a row. Melt my heart!

Eden has been my snuggle bug the past several days, every morning she creeps into our room and climbs into bed with me. She is adorable!

Thanks to G&G Earl for watching the kiddos and then letting us hang out and swim yesterday. We all had a wonderful time!
We love you all!!

6/30/12

Eden walks around the house referring to herself as "Eden JaNae"...."Eden JaNae likes to do this". Then today I heard her call to the other room to Gordon with excitement, "Gordon JaNae come and look at this!"

Gordon came down stairs the other day with a proud look on his face. I asked him how he was doing. He said, "Mom I just helped you out....I unclogged the toilet!" I was a bit curious in how this happened since I have never taught him the "how-to" of de-clogging a toilet. So I asked him, "How did you do that?" He said I got the masher and mashed up all the pieces into really small pieces and then I got lots of toilet paper to get it all out.....and don't worry Mom, I put it all into the trash." I had been meaning to deep clean that garbage can for sometime now and now I had that extra motivation to get it done :) I had thought that Gordon's "masher" was the toilet brush but he did actually use the plunger. Looks like it is time for a little lesson on how to clear a toilet. And the great thing about this is that it wasn't even Gordon that clogged the toilet in the first place. He saw a problem and was trying to help me out without asking. I love that kid!

This past week we went to the Arizona GRAND resort for our Earl Family Reunion. It was simply wonderful! The kids had a blast being in the water all day. We are hoping to compile a little video of our week and we will send that off when it is completed. BIG thanks to G&G Earl!!

I asked each of the kids to choose a book for me to read them tonight. Gordon and Eden brought their choice. Ella then brought hers which was a very long book. I looked up at her and said, "This book is a little long, we will not be able to read it all tonight...." And then she whipped up her hand and said, "Mom, I got it covered." I saw in her hand the little post-it note tabs. She continued, "We can use this like a little bookmark." She really is a smart cookie! And I love her!!

Russell is cooing all the time now. What a talker he is. I was cleaning up the kitchen tonight and I had him on the floor in his little recliner chair and he was talking away the whole time.
His face is so cute I could just stare at him all day!

Gordon lost another tooth. It was causing him some pain so he was trying to get it out and having some trouble. He was crying because he wanted it out....I told him I could get it out, he didn't like that idea. But he continued to cry because the tooth was hurting and he wanted it out. He finally agreed to let me try to get it out. I got a good grip on it and started to pull really hard...and just as I was about to stop because I thought it wasn't ready to come out...POP! Out it came. And the look of relief on Gordon's face was priceless! And after seeing the tooth I am sure it was painful. One root was totally gone the other however was still totally intact. Way to go Gordon! So that is number 5 for G-man. All on the bottom. His two top front teeth are both loose now. Chewing his food will become more of a challenge here soon :)