55

Driving in Ohio-
Emma: So corn is the main food people grow here? There is corn for MILES

Emma: West Virginia is really popular, isn't it. Everyone lives there.
Me: I guess?
Emma: Everywhere we go, the West Virginia flag is the biggest.
Me: Well, in West Virginia it is, maybe.
Emma: No, we just passed that place back there and they had a big WV flag.
Me: I doubt that, we're in Michigan, they wouldn't have a West Virginia flag.
Emma: it was! It was a red and white flag with a blue corner with stars.
Me:  ok, that's the US flag, that's for our whole country.
Emma: OOOOOO

Listening to the Sound of Silence-
Kaylee: this is NOT silence. Silence is no one talking.

Me: Kaylee, I think you keep too much stuff. You should get rid of some of this.
Kaylee: what do you mean?
Me: All this stuff, you should get rid of it.
Kaylee: oh I thought you meant my clothes. Nope, I need all this. You have false in your mind.

Emma: why did they used to wrap people in white paper?
I launch into whole explanation about embalming and preserving mummies-
Lily: so what kind of spices did they use to embalm them? Like pepper?

Kaylee: DID YOU ORDER THAT THING FOR MY DOLL?
Me: no, is it your birthday or Christmas? No!
Kaylee: DID YOU TALK TO DADDY AND CAN YOU GET IT FOR ME?
Me: I'm not telling you what I'm getting you for your birthday!
Kaylee: NOOOOOO I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THIS!!

Emma: Luke needs to be more careful in Return of the Jedi: first, he falls in the "ranker" pit, then he almost falls into the sarlac pit. He needs to be more careful.

Emma: pickles are actually cucumbers. When cucumbers die, they turn into pickles.

Lily has to write a paper on a historical person for school this year. I was explaining about the paper to Jesse's parents, and going through a list of examples.
Me: there were lots of people she could have picked. I told her there were female authors, like Jane Austen, or famous scientists, like Marie Curie, and famous queens and Princess Diana..
Lily: YOU DIDN'T TELL ME I COULD HAVE PICKED PRINCESS DIANA.
Me: no, not Wonder Woman, an actual princess from England.
Lily: oh. Ok, never mind.

54

The older the kids get, the funnier they are 😂

Lily: what's the difference between a regular phone and a cell phone?
Jesse: well, these are cell phones, and regular phones are like what we have in the house.
Lily: is that the kind of phone they had way back in the day?
Emma: what did they play games on??

Kaylee: will all the kids from the first practice be at our practice tonight?
Me: Yes, they're on our team.
Kaylee: even that kid that didn't want to play?
Me: Yes, even if he chooses not to play, he's still on our team.
Kaylee: he was awful.

Kaylee: ILOVEYOUANDILIKEYOUANDSMELLMYBREATH
Me: wait what? No!

Kaylee: UGH I'm tired, that's why I'm having a sassy pants.

Kaylee: I know about Adam and Eve, they ate bad fruit. Do you think it was not done raspberries?

Lily: how do I know when to use "hashtag" in a sentence?

Lily: oh look it looks like he just got back from snowing the cloud!
Kaylee: oh yes the snow cloud went by.
(snow plow)

Kaylee, standing on the bathroom scale: look, momma, one foot costs the same height as the other foot.
Me: ... Good?

Emma: season salt..is it an important season like fall or winter?
Me: What do you think?
Emma: I was just playing with you.

Emma: I have a new Minecraft world, it's called Emma excited sign!
Me: Excited sign 😂
Emma: Yes! Like this !

Me: know what would be good?
Emma: a Pixel 3?
Me: ....?
Emma: yes, it has 7 hours of battery life off a 15 minute charge, you should get one.
Me: Well, I certainly agree!

Emma: should I change my last name when I get married?
Me: You can do whatever you want, but you don't have to decide right-
Emma: should I change it to Cookie Queen?
Me: yes absolutely.

Emma: olives are delicious, you with me, Mom?

LEK gold 54

Emma: Wasp-es are the worst-est.
Kaylee: but bees are mean AND nice. They sting us which is mean, but they give us honey, which is nice!

Kaylee: oh look, that boy has a rollin' pad like we do!
Me: ...a skateboard?
Kaylee: yes, I wish we had our skateboard so we could practice with him and he could teach us things.

Kaylee: WE SHOULD HAVE A S’MORE NIGHT!
Me: yeah that's a good idea.
Kaylee: WE HAD ZERO S'MORE NIGHTS LAST NIGHT!
Me: ... That is true.

Emma: what IS shrimp?
Me: a type of sea food.
Emma: EW I'M EATING SEAFOOD?!
Lily: at least it isn't fish.

I was explaining what service dogs are.
Lily: DO THEY HAVE SERVICE BUNNIES??!

Kaylee: why doesn't Han use the forest?
Me: only Luke has the forest.

Emma: I wish we had magic toys, know why?
Me: Why?
Emma: They'd clean up the toy room for us.

Kaylee, after a loud motorcycle:
he scared my tummy!

Passing an apartment complex.
Lily: I want to live there! Then we can walk to our neighbor's house!
Emma: I don't want that, I don't want to be all friends and neighbors.

Emma: I want to be a vet pretty much because I can see a lot of baby deers and frogs and and go aww that's so cute!

Kaylee: the Joker and Cruella are similar, aren't they.
Emma: well, if Diana wasn't from Amazon, she wouldn't have super powers either, like Batman.

After the 1000th person told me, "oh, so momma gets all kinds of quiet time once school starts," this week,
Lily: why do they all think we won't be there?

Emma: and I was grumping at Mom because she wouldn't buy me a lunchable.
Jesse: well is that a good reason to be grumpy at Mom?
Emma: yes, it is because I wanted it.

Me: is that your feet that stink?
Kaylee: no, my feet smell like flowers!

LEK 53

Emma: scary movies really give me the nightmares.

Kaylee: what are teenagers?
Lily: people who are done with school and who lay around on their phones all the time and listen to music. That's what I'm gonna do when I'm a teenager.
Me: ....no, you probably won't.
Lily: well I'm going to listen to music all the time!
Kaylee: I'll be on my phone all the time.

Kaylee crying: I just don't want cry drops on my shirt!

Emma: GRRRRRR MINECRAFT IS BEING REALLY SWITCHY.

Kaylee: I wish I was a teddy bear, then I'd cuddle with myself.

Kaylee: can we play in the creek? It's green. I promise we won't drink it.

Emma: ew I just achoo'd on my hand.

Lily: I want a baby brother.
Jesse: what? A baby brother?
Lily: yes I'm bored of sisters.

Kaylee comes out after we put them to bed: Emma needs you.
Me: is she bleeding, is she sick?
Kaylee: no (goes back to their room)
5 seconds later
Kaylee: Emma has systemic juvenile arthritis, that's sickness.
Me: 😂🤦

Trying to explain why all the teachers were protesting here a few months ago.
Lily: well I guess that's a good way to get more money
Emma: a better way is a garage sale.

Emma: MOM Kaylee dropped a goldfish where you park and ate it.
Me: oh well what can you do.
Lily: sell her?

Lily singing presidents: Wilson, Harding, Kool-Aid..

Reviewing the states.
Me: here's Florida, that's where Disney is.
Lily: ARE WE TAKING AN AIRPLANE
Me: yes probably.
Lily: let's take a jet, they serve snacks.

Passing an eyebrow threading store at the mall.
Lily: what's that?
Me: oh sometimes ladies don't like the shapes of their eyebrows so they go there to have them fixed.
Emma:  oh like triangles and squares?

Emma: Lily is being a grumpy-potamus.

Lily: what is the word that means being creative?
Me: ...uh, imaginitive?
Lily: no, like if you go camping and have way too many clothes, but forgot your tent? So you make a tent out of your clothes?
Me: Oh, improvise?
Lily: YES!
(Note, I will make sure we remember a tent when we camp next 😂)

LEK (52)

Me: what is the shape of the face of most clocks?
Emma: what's on most clocks? I don't know, cats?

Kaylee: I can't open this moustache-io.
(pistachio)

Emma: how do you tell the difference between a boy horse and a girl horse?
Me: .........................
Kaylee: the girls have long hair.

Lily: it sure would be funny if I was raised by squirrels, wouldn't it?

Emma: NO COOKIES FOR YOU.

Jesse, filling me in on football: Miami lost on Thanksgiving, they were 2nd in the country.
Kaylee: what about Emma?
Me: not myEMMA, MiAMI.
Lily: who is Ami?

Lily: I wish we had 15 puppies. Then I could have 5, Emma could have 5, and Kaylee could have 5.
Kaylee: I KNOW, I could have 3, Lily could have 7, and Emma could have 5.
Me, adding it up: HOW DID YOU DO THAT KAYLEE.
Lily: oh, those are our ages, smart, Kaylee.
Me: oh, that makes sense.

Me: Kaylee, please stop following me all over the house. Find something to do that isn't that.
Kaylee: but I don't know WHAT to do.
Me: whatever your little heart desires that isn't following me everywhere.
Kaylee: but that's what my heart desires! Following you around!

Kaylee: can I light the candle on fire?

Emma: I want a foot stool so I can rest my feet.

Lily: when we're teenagers, we can do whatever we want.
Me: ...no, not really.
Lily: well, some stuff. Like listen to music.
(note, we listen to music ALL THE TIME)

Emma: ok, Google, play a funny joke.
Google: what's brown and sticky? A stick!
Emma: NO, it's CHOCOLATE.
Me: well yes, but also a stick, because it's stick-y.
Emma: ...ok, Google got me.

(watching football)
Lily: so whoever shoots the winning point gets their picture taken?

Kaylee: how do you know?
Emma: because I'm old and I'm wise!

Emma: too bad, too sad, don't let the bed bugs bite! Is that how that goes?
Lily: yes.

are you tired of reading the funny things my kids say? 51

Kaylee: when we were by the tomatoes, we saw a HOLY SMOKES MOMMA tomato.
Emma: YOU WILL FREAK OUT ABOUT IT.

Emma: Batman caught a Monarch butterfly, but it still had flight power, so I made him let it go and it got away.

the girls and I were in one vehicle, following Jesse in the other.
me: oh, sorry girls, Dad made it through the light and we didn't.
Lily: why didn't you put on super speed?

Lily: why do they call it football if they don't use their feet?

Lily to Emma: you need to do what I say because it says so in the Bible.
(I didn't teach her this)

Kaylee: I just waited a couple whiles and then, poom, turned on.

Lily: are the Phoenix birds real?
me: well, those are something called mythical creatures, like mermaids, unicorns, and the Loch Ness monster. They probably aren't real, but it's fun to imagine they could be real.
Lily: oh yes, it's fun to pretend Santa is real.
Emma: yes, and to pretend Pluto is real!
me: ...well, I mean, Pluto is real. It's not a planet, but it's still out there.
Emma: my Sunday school teacher told me she lived way back in the day when Pluto was a planet!

Lily: I LOVE IT!
Emma: I don't, it's not good for me.
Lily: it's so good!
Emma: well that's ok, we have different taste bugs.

Jesse: what kind of donut do you want?
Emma: oh, I don't know. The kind I wanted last time and had a fit about!

Lily: the very first humans alive were paleontologists, right?

Kaylee: is right here (pointing to her elbow) a bending bone?

Lily: I just think bones are super important.

Emma: Mom, is your brain your squishiest part of your body, or your butt?

Kaylee was watching Beauty and the Beast.
Kaylee: is this Mom's work?
Jesse: what?
Kaylee: well, Mom is pretty like Belle, and you're like the Beast.

LEK 50

Emma: Diamond wanted the guinea pig toy, so Batman kindly gave it to her, then she didn't want it. So I gave it back to Batman. I thought that was nice.

Lily: EMMA HISSED AT ME!
Me: why?
Lily: well, I pulled her hair. But I was just sitting on it, so that technically isn't pulling it.

Kaylee: Momma, I want the show that starts with an, "m."
Me: ...ok, what's it about?
Kaylee: it has Pongo?
Me: 101 Dalmatians?
Kaylee: YES!

Lily: Emma, if you had one wish in the world, what would it be?
Emma: for a unicorn.

Lily: Momma, blueberry pie is delicious, right? I'm not much of a pie lover, I'm a chocolate cake lover.

Lily: do I need to write the mystery dot?
(a question mark)

Lily: can I have some of that tortilla chip sauce?
(salsa)

Lily: oh, what are those animals with tusk-es like elephants. Not seals, that live in Antarctica?
Me: walruses? I don't know if those are in Antarctica...
Lily: oh, well, one of the Arcticas...

Groot: I am Groot.
Emma: is his name Groot?

Lily: Emma, will you please move your face?

Me: Kaylee, where are your sisters?
Kaylee: playing on the trampoline with a wolf spider.
Me: ...well sure.

LEK 49

Kaylee: Momma, it'd be a great idea if I went to sleep?
Me: yes, definitely.

(Emma came to me upset and said she needed a way to serve me.  I asked what she meant, and she said they had talked in Sunday School that they should find a way to serve their moms, I assume in a helping way.  She went on to tell me she wanted to serve me):
Emma: I need to serve you, like Mimi does at the Duck Pond.
Me: the Duck Pond?
Lily: she means the Swan House! (which is the local tea house where Mom works)

Emma: well, that just scared me the freaking out!

Kaylee: why was Lily talking a lot?  I couldn't talk because she wouldn't stop talking.

Kaylee: is heaven all the way up in the sky?  Do you have to take a cloud?  Or an airplane?

Me: Kaylee, put Katie (the doll) down so you don't get food on her.
Kaylee: but my hands aren't all foody!

Me: girls, look at this baby hippo!
Emma: we should adopt one!  He could sleep in our bathtub!

Kaylee: I DO NOT LIKE ROLY POLYS IN THE BARBIE DREAM HOUSE.

Lily: there are more American Girl Dolls out now.  I bet Uncle Joel would like one.

Emma: COME TO POPPA!

Emma: wow, that was a whole crowd of birds!

Emma: does the bank worker take those things up the tube at night?
Me: yes.
Emma: yeah, because a bad guy could just reach in there and take their pen!
(she was referring to the canister in the drive through line of the bank)

Lily: I wish my birthday was the same day as Addy's, then we'd be Twinsie Friends.

After making and serving chicken parmesan for dinner,
Lily: I don't like it. The only thing I taste that's familiar is burnt.

LEK are hilarious 48

Emma, passing napkins out at dinner: how about the napkins join our feast?

Emma: I need a Barbie chair!
Lily: there's another stool in the Barbie house..
Emma: I'll get it! What's it look like?
Lily: it' short, like this, shaped like a square..
Emma: no no, just tell me what color it is.
Lily: pink.
(Emma runs off)
Lily: WAIT! It's like a medium pink.
[note: this is how Jesse and I also give directions]

Kaylee: IT'S GETTING STRUGGLE PANTS!

Emma: I'm burning like a hot dog.

[I wrote myself a note about a conversation the girls and I had, but was not descriptive enough to remember the specifics of it. Fail. However, I do remember that Emma was sharing with us something from Hercules, and referred to Pegasus as, "Pegahorse." And that was really the important part.]

Kaylee (singing): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 once I caught a fish alive.
              6, 7, 8, 9, 10 then I let him go again.
              Why did you let him go?
              Because he bit my finger so.
              Which finger did he bite?
              This one on the left.

Lily: see, I told you the zebra skirt was a good idea. It goes with everything.

Lily: I would take good care of a puppy, if I got one.
Emma: well, maybe we should get something else to practice on first. Like a plant. If we take good care of a plant, we will take good care of a puppy.

Kaylee: I ate all of my potato tots!

Me: hey yo, don't track your dirty shoes all across my house, please. And wash your hands since you were cleaning up dog poop.
Emma: oh yes, well, I didn't step in any!
Me: ...that's good...
Emma: I just touched it a little bit with my hand by accident.
😨

Lily: you look so tan, Momma! Just like cookie dough that just got made.
[???]

Kaylee: wow, this is really spicy. I'm NOT in a fan of this.

Emma: this cookie is just melting to town.

Emma: we need really chocolatey chipp-idy pancakes!

LEK isms 47

Kaylee: Old MacDonald's had a farm...with a moo moo here and a moo moo all over the place.

Emma: Momma, when I was yawning, a hiccup got in the front of it.

[Lily asked the Amazon Echo to tell her a joke, and came to tell us what she'd heard]
Lily: hey, what do you call a camel with no humps?
us: what?
Lily: free humps!
Jesse and me to each other: that's a terrible joke.
:: we looked up the joke to see how it actually went, the answer was "Humphrey."

Lily: why do we have to shut the door when we leave?
Me: so nobody comes in and takes all our stuff.
Emma: well, maybe they don't know which way to turn the door knob.
Me: that's possible.
Emma: ...well then what if they turn it the other way...maybe if it's a little girl that's a bad guy and she couldn't reach the door knob.  Maybe she'd have to kick it.

Me: wow, you girls made a mess down here.
Kaylee: I think it was coyotes.
Me: oh really?
Kaylee: yes, they came in, threw this stuff all over the place and then went home.

Me: Lily, what's the name of the big bald guy in Mulan?
Lily: I think it's....Sham...ooo? I dunno, it sounds like shampoo.
:: it's obviously Chan Po.

Kaylee: I want to go to Coleman's.
Me: I don't think they're home right now.
Kaylee: are they at church?
Me: probably not, but I suppose they might be.
Kaylee: I think they are, and will be home at thirty o'clock.

Emma: can I put a fossil in the water?
Lily: no, that will turn it back into dirt. That's what it's printed out of, when dinosaurs made them.

Lily: MOM. I HAVE to learn goalie this year. Remember when I played soccer and I could use my hands? That was goalie. My teacher told me we have to learn to play it. Like, have to have to, so we're ready for next year!

Kaylee's 3rd

Only a month late.  But our not-so-little Kaylee is 3!  We were able to have both sets of grandparents come spend time with us for her birthday, and it was so nice to have both Jesse and my parents here at the same time with the kids for a few hours.

At 3, Kaylee is a ball of fire.  She is incredibly clingy to me right now; separation anxiety is incredibly real, and ending in hysterical fits when I leave, even for an hour workout at the gym.  Fortunately, she calms down in about 5 minutes and enjoys herself after that, but she is having an incredibly hard time with me actually leaving, and walking out of the room.  We're dealing with this as patiently as we can.

Kaylee loves her sisters, and loves to play with "our sisters," and to pester them.  She loves to push their buttons, but just as quickly wants to snuggle up with them when they are willing.  When she is in a particularly good mood, she loves to trace the wipe off letter pages we have, and is actually pretty good at staying in the lines.  She wants to do everything her sisters do, and tells me all the time she just wants whatever Lily and Emma have or are doing.  Her fine motor skills are great, in my opinion, and her vocabulary is fantastic.  Whereas her sisters were just now starting full stories (if I recall correctly), Kaylee has been telling us make believe stories and silliness for quite awhile.  She is in the same size clothes as Emma, for the most part, and will likely pass her before Emma knows what has happened.  She continues to be the snuggler, and will glue herself to who I hand her to.  Nearly every Sunday, I get the report back that Kaylee was the teacher's buddy, and was content to sit on available laps the majority of the time. 

We are all looking forward to the warmer days, where she can ride her new scooter on the road with her sisters for sure!  Kaylee also loves to play with her baby dolls, and will come up with elaborate stories by herself, which is highly entertaining to me to watch.

she painted her own nails, and managed to get some on her face...

LEK isms 46

There has been a lot going on.  But my kiddos continue to make me laugh, so I will share those rays of sunshine.

While I was singing a Christmas song, Kaylee yelled across the room to me,
"IT'S NOT CHRISTMAS YET, BUT WE'RE GETTING THERE!" with a giant smile.
note: this took place before Christmas.

Me: Lily, the broom is not a toy.
Lily: I know, it's a super weapon!

Lily: after we clean up, let's play goose, goose, duck!

Emma: what's in our throats that makes us talk?
Lily: a voicemail!

Lily: Mom, why didn't you name Emma, Sweet Potato?
(I'm looking at you, Betsy!)

Lily: what does this say?
Me: "you rock."
Lily: I'm not a rock.

Lily: I can't wait to see Fiona tomorrow, we're becoming bff sisters.

Emma: Jupiter is the biggest planet on earth!

Emma: Momma, that movie we're watching?
Me: the Super Bowl?
Emma: yeah, it's boring.

Me: that's the daddy cow.
Emma: how can you tell?
Me: there is no udder.
Kaylee: what's an udder?
Me: where the baby cows get the milk.
Lily: and where we get the milk? From the gutters?

five minute car seat blanket

Guys, this took me 5 minutes. 

Not even that, because I went super low tech, and didn't hem this at all.  But my model was heading to bed, and my sewing machine is neatly put away.  So here you have the no-sew car seat blanket, which I'm sure is on Pinterest already, but you know that rabbit hole: if I'd gone there to look, it would have taken me multiple hours of researching and prep, and getting majorly sidetracked on other projects for a brilliant Pinterest fail.  

Five minutes.  Half of that was probably taking the pictures. 

I got the cheapest fleece blanket from Walmart.  The kind I buy and give my dog.

Put it in the carseat, and marked the straps, which you can see in black sharpie. 

Cut across the buckle, and connected the dots.  I honestly will probably go back and stitch the tops and bottoms of these cuts at least so that it doesn't rip more.  You could easily hand stitch this if you're allergic to a sewing machine or don't have one.  Or use a stapler, I guess...

Put the kiddo in said blanket.

And then buckle and go.

Kaylee is also modeling her pajama style, which include a dress up skirt over her jam pants.

Jesse thinks we should just leave these in the car, but my objective behind these is that I don't always get the car warmed up before it's time to go places in the winter, and they'd be as cold as the car if we left them outside, ready to go.  I'm not sure what we'll end up doing, but what are 3 more blankets laying around the house and piled to take with us?

Again, I'm sure there are way better and much cooler car seat blankets you can make on Pinterest.  Or if you know a super crafty person.  This is my (less than) 5 minute model, and Kaylee was ready to go try it out immediately, so I think she's on board with it.

Lily/Emma/Kaylee 42

Emma: thanks, Kaylee!
Kaylee: you're welcome, babe!

Kaylee: where is the walking feet Ariel?
(meaning the Ariel with legs vs a mermaid tail)

Kaylee walked into the kitchen,
"I'm not saying anything, I just need a towel for a mess.."

Emma: MOMMA! When I yell, there's a gecko!
(echo)

Emma: I know what a Boxer is.  It's a dog you put in a box and send to someone else.

Jesse whispered to Lily and Emma:
Lily: DON'T TELL MOM!
Emma: ok, but Mom, don't look out the fire pit window, it's a surprise!

Emma held something out on her finger:
"Look it's an opening seed!"
Me: a sesame seed?

Emma: that's not funny, and I know funny!

Lily: let's get a princess cat that sparkles!
Emma: no, let's get a GOLDEN cat!
Lily: uh, gold cats aren't real.

Emma: can I have some M and Emmas?

Emma: MOM.  Aunt Shasta and Aunt Jess rhyme because they both have the "aunt" sound in it!

Kaylee: I love this show, crackle nuts.
(the Nutcracker)

I was doing a spelling lesson with Lily.
Me: spell, "cob."
Kaylee: HEY!  Like cob on the corn!

a baby doll fell out of the toy high chair:
Kaylee: oh, it's ok, she didn't die, she just fell.

Lily's 6th!

And here we are, into November, and my little Lily turned 6 at the end of September.  Over a month behind on documenting it, but whatever, she isn't graduating college yet, so I say I'm doing fine. 

Overall, she had a great day.  Grandma and Grandpa H had sent her a check with birthday money so she could go pick out something she wanted from the store.  When they watched the girls back in August, they reported that Lily just was enthralled with ads and commercials and kept pointing out the things she wanted, so they thought it'd be fun for her to go pick one.  She knew right what she wanted, and she convinced her daddy to get up bright and early on the morning of her birthday, "as soon as the toy store opens, Daddy," to pick out what she wanted.  My parents and Gigi were able to come spend the weekend with us, and we had a great time playing together as a family, celebrating with presents and cake, and enjoying being outside. 

We had a birthday party for her last year, for her 5th birthday, and I think she was hoping for a party this year also.  She handled her disappointment well, no complaining, but the sensitive momma side of me could tell that she was sad we didn't have more people over.  I am adding this paragraph for the sole purpose of stating a fact that I can cry about later when she's in college.

So far, she loves being six.  She honestly seems to be living each thing with new wonder, every single day.  I wish I could live this way.  Everywhere we go, though she's been 6 for a month now, she states, "this is the first time doing xyz since I turned 6, isn't it," or, "so and so hasn't seen me since I turned 6, have they."  Lily also got her ears pierced a few days before her actual birthday- more on that in a minute- and we can tell she just loves it.  She will mention that her friends just will not be able to guess what's different, or, "do you think they will noticed I have my ears pierced?"  She seems to really be a little girl now, completely gone of the toddler years, and I am having so much fun with my oldest girl.  We can sit and have good conversations about a ton of stuff- both light and silly, to serious- and play anything she can daydream, and then sit down and focus in on a specific challenge with a lot more attention than I ever had.  Jesse and I got her a pile of hemp, beads, and a book on different knots to make friendship bracelets, and she just loves it.  I don't know what is normal for 6 year olds, but to me, her dexterity is fantastic.  She braids everything, and it's a good solid braid, and can tie shoes well.  One of her presentations at school for our community day was to show/teach her class how to do something, and I suggested she take her doll with long hair in to give her class a demo to braid.  She loved that idea, and while she was practicing for Jesse and me one evening, couldn't figure out how to both show her class (Jesse and me), and successfully braid.  After trying a few things, she sat the doll in her lap backwards, and announced she'd just show us, and then proceeded to braid backwards towards her audience.  I can barely braid backwards as an adult, and I think my jaw hit the floor. 

So Lily expressed interest in getting her ears pierced around her 5th birthday.  Jesse and I talked about it, and decided she was old enough for that if she really wanted it, after I described in detail what they would do.  I'm not big on sugar coating the truth to my kids, and try to tell them as much of the truth as I/we feel they can handle at their respective ages.  After I told her exactly what would happen, she decided on her own to wait.  No problem as far as we were concerned, this was now absolutely her decision, as we wanted it to be.  She talked about it off an on for most of the year, deciding that 8 would be the perfect age to get her ears pierced.  We encouraged her that whenever she felt she was ready, we'd make her an appointment.  A little before her birthday, she decided she was ready.  I had fully planned on taking her to a tattoo/piercing place to get it done, and I barely could say piercing before they said no, absolutely no piercing on people under 18.  With that out the door, we drove immediately to the mall and got them done.  She was a champ.  She teared up, I told her she could cry if she wanted to and that I was proud of her, and Emma and Kaylee cheered her on.

Lily is caring, has a fabulous memory and attention to detail, and loves her people.  And all people are her people.  She asks me about everyone she has ever met, I think.  When I show her pictures of my friends, she knows who they are right off the bat, and typically asks if we can call them to say hi.  Heads up, friends, we may start doing that.  

the start of the school year

We are halfway through our 5th full week of school and I am just now sitting down to share about the first.  Oops.  

We actually did a couple days before our first day of Classical Conversations, just to reintroduce it to the kids and how our mornings would.  Additionally, we got back from our Canada trip the Monday before our first Community Day for our CC group, and I just wanted to get the ball rolling before then.

Lily is doing great.  She continues to memorize things pretty easily, and is doing well with math, reading, and spelling, even though I can't convince her that if she focused on her work, she'd be able to get it done in less time- and be able to do more than one page, some days- but her sisters "NEED" her, are "too loud," and "keep talking" to her.  Oh the joys.

To refresh for those of you who aren't familiar with the Classical Conversations group model, we meet weekly for a Community Day, where a tutor introduces the next week's information to a class of students.  So the kids get an "in class room" day, as well.  Lily is doing much better with working independently this year, both at home and our community day, and keeps telling me she doesn't need my help with her weekly presentations at CC- which is GREAT, but I keep forgetting and try to help her.  Oops.

Nothing too much to report here, her first grade year is off to a good start!

Emma.  Oh, sweet little Emma.  As I mentioned, our first Community Day was coming off a fun, long weekend away playing at Grandma and Grandpa H's, so I had to get the kids all moving pretty early Tuesday morning.  None of us were particularly thrilled with this.  The first day was incredibly overwhelming for Emma, and she cried most of the class time, poor thing.  She does fantastic at home, her memory work is down pat and she's buzzing through the math I have for her, but the in class days have been a struggle.  By Week 4, she finally was getting the hang of it, and only teared up once or twice, but no actual tears!  And no tears this past Tuesday either, YAY!  She isn't participating too much in class, but I know she's listening.  It's kind of tricky for me, because I'm tutoring her class, with Lily in it also, so I can't just handle things quite how I would at home.  She's getting there, and I'm figuring things out, I think.  Hopefully. 

Kaylee is doing well.  She isn't a huge fan of being dropped off for her preschool class at our Community Day, but after she calms down, she loves her class, and talks about it all the time.  She isn't really doing too much at home, mostly coloring or if I have a second, I'll work with her on tracing letters.  She absolutely lights up when she "stays in the lines!" and Lily and Emma come over to admire her work and praise her.  It's the best.  She is learning all the memory work right along with her sisters, and her favorites are to sing the Latin songs we are all learning, which is hilarious.  

And as this is my first year tutoring at our Community Day, I feel I might be getting into the swing of it?  I'm not sure yet, but I'm really enjoying it.  The kids in my class are fun and excited to learn (so far, we aren't close to Thanksgiving break yet!), so that really helps.  I feel much more organized with what I'm doing at home this year as well, which is making our days go smoother.

The girls are also playing soccer.  Well, Lily and Emma are.  They are on two different teams, on the same nights, at the exact same time, at two different locations.  Which is annoying for obvious reasons, but also kind of nice because we don't have soccer every night of the week.  Lily is enjoying it, and kind of paying attention some games.  Emma cries.  Haha, are you noticing a pattern?  Actually, the way this soccer program works is that the kids practice for half an hour and than scrimmage another team for half an hour.  She loves the practice part, but hates the scrimmage.  Oh well, she's only 4.  

ON THE FIELD, with no tears!

That's it for now, I guess!  Maybe I'll catch up on Lily's birthday and turning 6 next!  But in case I don't, no worries because Lily will be telling, "you know, I'm 6 now!" to pretty much anyone who will listen!

Lily/Emma/Kaylee isms 41

Emma pulled the draw string out of one of my hooded sweatshirts.
Me: Emma, did you do this?
Emma: yes.
Me: Emma, please don't mess with other people's things, why did you do this?
Emma: because it was right there...
:: I laughed so hard I was crying and had to have Jesse send her away so she wouldn't see me laughing while I tried to be stern.

Emma: look! Horses!
Me: oh cool.
Lily: why are they cool?
Me: well, you can ride them...
Lily and Emma: I WANT TO RIDE A HORSE!
Me: we can probably do that sometime.
Emma: well, we can't until we have the right hat!

Emma: oh look, two deer!
Lily: oh yes!  One is a buck, and one is a unicorn.

After a long dinner prayer,
Emma: and please help my toe to feel better, because I really like it.

At soccer,
One of Lily's teammates to Lily: what's your name?
Lily: Lily.
Teammate: I'm going to call you Layla.
Lily: I'm not going to talk to you anymore.

Lily: Momma, we'd like to listen to smooth music, please!
Me: move music?
Lily: NO! SMOOTH! Like cement. Smooth.

Emma: hey!  Cookie and cookieS both rhyme because they both have the cookie sound!

Kaylee: this is a runny babbit!

weekend trips

I just want to post really quickly on the last two weekends in August, because they were jam packed, I was super stressed, and a lot of fun was had.  And then I'll get to the start of our school year. 

So we went camping.  Lily, who we took camping when she was about 11 months old, tried telling her sisters all about it, and filling them in on what to expect.  Which was highly entertaining and not at all accurate, but whatever.  We have tried to encourage the girls to try new things, and remind them often that they can't know they don't like something until they've tried it.  While we typically are discussing foods I serve at dinner, Emma has caught onto it and started using it as her motto when she's nervous about new things, and will tell us she's nervous, "but I just have to try it because 'you don't know if you like it until you've tried it!'"  Love when they repeat the good things. 

our super awesome tent.

Anyway, we met up with our friends and their kiddos at the camp site on Friday night, down near Summersville, WV at a place called Ace Adventures.  We participated in the giant water park/pond, but they also have all kinds of outdoorsy activities.  The same weekend we intended to go, Ginny discovered that there was a 8 mile trail run.  AND we got a free night of camping and a free burrito bar out of the race, so of course we signed up.  Holy trail run.  They were serious and I about died.  It was the hardest race I have ever done, I hated every step of it and probably whined to Ginny too much, which is the real reason she was ahead of me the whole race and finished first (just kidding, but she did finish before I did!).  It was hilly.  The rocks hurt my feet.  I rolled my ankles all the time.  I fell.  BUT I got a free burrito at the end and a tshirt that says, "this was a lot of work for a free burrito," so all in all, a great race.

TADA, still alive.

this picture is just hilarious. this was after we finished, and the photographer asked us to cross the finish line again so she could get a better picture. 

We had a blast at the water park pond.  So.  Much.  Fun.  We played all day and watched the storm clouds roll in and we decided that we had had enough fun and we'd rather bail a night early than pack up in the rain or pack up wet tents, so we left Saturday evening for home.  Which worked in our favor, because there was a torrential downpour and I had no regrets about sleeping in my own bed for that.

So then we were home for a few days to unpack, laundry everything, and repack before we took off for Canada.  Jesse and I dropped the kids off at Mom and Dad H's on Wednesday evening and took off for upper New York to overnight with my aunt and uncle before heading into the neighboring country.  It was a short and fast visit, but I'm so glad it worked out we could see them and cousin Beth!  

We got up Friday morning and headed to Niagara Falls.  We had both been to the falls previously, but not together and we had all day to get to our hotel, so why not?  And since Jesse despises driving in big cities and hates stressful driving, I got to drive us into Canada and through downtown Toronto when we got there.  Jesse was very twitchy and nervous about the whole border crossing bit, but I made the guard laugh so I felt I got bonus points.  So at the falls.  It was ridiculously hot, Jesse saw his first selfie stick in the wild (which may have been the highlight of his trip?), and he kept getting feisty that I was giving my phone to random people to take our picture.  I told him he should have bought me a selfie stick and we could have solved this problem.  He wasn't amused.

After our pit stop at the falls, we headed to Toronto.

Several months ago, Jesse told me that the North American finals for a computer game he plays/follows would be up in Toronto.  I suggested that because it was so close, he should go.  What followed in the next 10 minutes was a very hectic conversation of him telling me some of his college friends would be going, me saying maybe the kids and I would tag along and go explore the city and then finally both of us settling on the fact that we'd ask grandparents to watch the kids for us so we could go together to the finals.  Done and done, don't have to ask me twice.  In addition to a group of college friends going, one of my cousins basically runs the whole lighting aspect of it (or something...but this is my blog and you don't know, so I'm gonna say the whole production would fall apart without him), and he would also be going to do his thing, so yay! 

So anyway.  We got to our hotel, checked in, and Jesse spent a few minutes changing our cell phone plan to include Canada so we could actually use our phones, and then headed out to try and intercept our friends coming in from the train station.  I was navigating us there and just as Jesse was getting antsy that I'd taken a side street and we'd certainly miss our friends- as they'd be on the main street- we just about literally ran into them on the corner.  Since we walked everywhere, we got close to 30 miles of walking in a 3 day (ish) period, and Heather and I were glad we had decided not to go for early morning jogs. 

I have no idea why there was a boat there...but there was and we were on it!

greatest picture ever.

super excited to try poutine. 

Jesse and I were also able to meet up with another friend from college who lives in Toronto, which was very spontaneous and awesome that we got to, and do some sight seeing in between League of Legands events.  We made it out to the Toronto Island Park with Heather and Teddy, which was very pretty and cool, and definitely worth the trip.  

After the finals, Geoff invited us to go hang out with some of his production people, and I'm not sure how it the connection was made but we also ended up with some of the production people for Kanye West's tour?  AND I got to go on my first Uber ride and felt super VIP. 

So the tournament.  I've watched Jesse play, I've watched the professionals play, I just never really followed what was going on until that weekend.  And now Heather and I actually get what's going on.  I don't think the guys were too impressed by all the names we were coming up with for the champions, but it made it much more entertaining for me, at least.  The third place game was crazy and loud, mostly because of the high school girls behind us, but the finals was just on a completely different level of intense.  

packed house for the finals

A very fun and different experience.  The first time I've ever been in an jam packed hockey stadium/arena/field (what is it?) where there was never a single line for the women's bathroom, but the guy's was out the door.  I took a picture because I was so amused.  

And that is that!

#hildebrandgirltrip 2016

I had a nice entry mostly ready to go about our #hildebrandgirltrip and hit "save," but that apparently didn't do what it was supposed to do and so here I am, starting over.  

Oh well. 

This was the third summer of our girl trip, and I have really enjoyed them and am so glad we've been able to do it.  I'm a hot mess for most of the trip, but it's getting easier as the kiddos get older, and I'm glad we have the opportunity to visit family and do some fun stuff we don't get to here.  The first summer was the busiest, as we centered it around 2 baby due dates and a wedding.  Last year was 2 birthday parties, and this year, one birthday party for Cameron.  And, the girls got some time with Mimi and Poppo while I went to Louisville for some brother/sister in law time!

First stop, Findlay, OH! 

Lily gave a private concert.

the girls got to try out playing a harp.

We went to Swan House for a real tea party 

Then we were off to Fishers, IN! 

Indianapolis Zoo!

We saw the dolphin show!

We played at the splash pad at the zoo and loved it.

We spent as much time in the pool as Lily could convince us to. 

We read stories.

We went swimming with, "Momma's Friend Emily, whose wedding we went to," as Lily fondly refers to her.

We disguised huge meltdowns as cute Mom/Daughter moments (but this was actually a huge meltdown from Kaylee).

We went to Mrs. Curl.

We made French fry mustaches.

We went swimming.  Again.

We played with sparklers!

We had a birthday party for Cameron!

Big 2 Year Old boy!

Then Joel and I roadtripped to Kentucky!  And we all discovered that I just say whatever I'm thinking and ramble on for a long time about nothing when I don't have little people interrupting, asking questions and being my children and needing things every 0.5 seconds.

We went for a run and loved life.

I text this to Jesse and his response was, "NO."  Kimmy's foster kittens are the best.

We pretended we'd never seen deer before and were wildlife adventurers. 

And I thought I had more pictures to share, but this is apparently it for now.  So there you have it!  I'll try and share about school soon!