snowed in.

I have another post about 80% complete, just sitting, waiting for me to finish writing about how marvelously brilliant my children are, and how super chill and together my life is (hah I'm hilarious), but then we got snowed in.

And being snowed in needs to be recorded.

"see, it says right here, 'DEEP SNOW.'"

Obviously, this winter has been mild for us in WV, as well as a good chunk of the country.  Something something science weather patterns, we have barely gotten any snow and the girls and I have been bummed.  Lily and Emma are both to such a fun, adventurous age that I want to do all the things with them, and they are willing participants, but then we had no snow!  I kept telling them that Christmas would come and we'd have snow and then no snow.  They didn't believe that Christmas was coming and I had to explain that I don't predict the weather. 

We did have a brief snow- we could still see the grass- a few weeks ago, and they were just thrilled that we could get the sled out, bundle up and make at least snow angels.  They both made little piles of snow, asked for carrots and declared that they had made snowmen, but I was bummed this was all the snow we'd gotten.  

And then about a week or so ago, we all started hearing about this Storm Jonas that was supposed to hit, and in the days leading up to it, we heard predictions from 4-30 inches of accumulation and everyone began to freak out.  Understandably.  But I was skeptical, and thus excited when we actually started to get some of this snow.  And then girls and I were honestly beside ourselves this morning when we saw that we had gotten at least 16 inches of snow over night and it was still coming down.  

Jesse came home from work early in anticipation of the snow, and I'm so thankful he did because once it started coming down, the snow fell hard and fast and quickly piled up.  I'm so glad I wasn't stressed over him driving home in it, like so many were.  Emma was a little stressed by the height of the snow this morning, but waist high snow is pretty stressful when you don't have enough force to plow through it.  She and Lily got the hang of it and were tromping all over, having a grand time.  Kaylee likes the snow, but only for short periods of time.  She also has been trying to fight a cold and been extremely tired, so she and I have spent a lot of the last few days cuddling.  And I'm writing this down for myself when she's in high school and being difficult: yes, it wasn't easy to get stuff done, but the cuddling was worth it.  You are glad that you took the time to hold your children and turn off your brain's to do list. 

extra snuggles with Daddy, too.

 Emma was extra tired this evening from the hard playing in the snow, and so was extra weepy at bedtime.  I always feel the need to hold Emma as much as possible because she and I had such a rough first year, so when she asked me to snuggle her for awhile before she fell asleep, I couldn't say no.  And it was wonderful and guess what.  The laundry didn't die while I avoided it.     

  

oh you know...being ridiculous.

this was before we forgot the sled was outside and it is now lost somewhere in our yard, buried under the snow. drat. we'll look harder tomorrow. 

pulling the troops on the sled, down to the field to check on our chicken friends. Lily kept yelling, "go faster, Momma!"

And by "snowed in," I really do mean it.  I don't expect to see a snow plow for a few more days and the roads are still ridiculously covered.  I saw 3 cars all day, and there is no way we can get anywhere, even with AWD.  I'm thankful for electricity, a warm house, plenty of food, a family I like, and not frigidly cold temperatures where we can't even play outside!  We can at least go out for awhile without fear of frostbite!  We will see what tomorrow brings!

pretend I posted this before Christmas.

October and November went by in a blur.  School and our other activities have kept me busy this year, and I think I'm still working on finding our new normal and a balance of how to have stuff while keep the house in order.  Some days I do much better than others and feel like I'm on top of it; other days I send Jesse, "please bring home pizza for dinner, I failed," messages.  I try to keep those days to a minimum.

At the beginning of November, we went to Nashville for a long weekend to see some dear friends.  Basically all of our friends that we have stayed close to from college have ended up in TN, and we were able to get down there for a few days that went way too quickly.  Except for the drive, that took FOREVER.  I know some of my friends are blessed with children who travel easily and well, and please know I am very jealous of you.  Mine have gone through stages of cooperating on roadtrips, and I think overall, Lily and Emma can stay entertained easily now.  Kaylee. hates. the. car.  The projected 16 hour round trip drive ended up being at least 21 and I think Kaylee cried/screamed/fussed for 18 of those hours, and I'm not exaggerating.  But the time with friends was wonderful: we walked into Jared and Lindsey's house and Lily and Emma immediately took off to play with their two daughters like they were together every day.  Those four little girls ended up slumber partying together, and it made Lindsey and my hearts so happy.  Jesse and I also were able to FINALLY able to meet sweet Olivia, our friends' Derek and Tiffany's little girl.  My 3 crazies just loved her to pieces and Kaylee didn't want to let anyone else hold her...until Lily, Emma and Kaylee saw the pile of dirt and sand they could play in.

Thanksgiving day was low key here.  The plan had been to go to my dad's side of the family gathering, but I was not feeling up to it.  We all were fighting congestion and coughs, just changing weather related, and with Jesse's family coming in that weekend, I just couldn't do it.  I was incredibly disappointed, but coming off of the Nashville trip with our little screamer, we felt that was the better option.  Our neighbor's rescued us and let us hang out with them for the day, and the report I got when Lily and Emma went to help make pies was that Lily was a pie crust rolling champ, and rolled out about a dozen crusts by herself.  Emma and Kaylee absolutely melted down later, so staying home was definitely the better option.  Matt, Erin and kiddos came in Friday evening and Mom and Dad Hildebrand Saturday for a Hildebrand Thanksgiving weekend, and that was wonderful and fun.  Erin and Mom held down the fort entertaining kiddos so Matt and I could make our dinner, and it was delicious, and being able to cook without the girls coming into the kitchen at all was just the best.  The powers of grandparents and their super special play dough!

The first weekend in December was Jesse's company Christmas party.  Mom and Dad H came back to our house to watch the kiddos for us so we could, and much fun was had and we looked spiffy.

A few weekends ago, we drove to Great Wolf Lodge in Ohio to meet up with my side of the family for our Christmas weekend.  It was so much fun and the girls had a blast.  Someone had the great idea to go to the Cincinnati Zoo for Zoo Lights, which was brilliant.  We ended up going after naps and leaving right as it was getting dark which was even more brilliant because holy crowds, Batman.  NOT something any of us really wanted to do with 4 little kids.  Plus, Kaylee and Cameron were very done, but we really enjoyed it anyway.  Lily was a little fish and loved swimming as much as she could, and loved showing everyone how she could go under water.  She stayed in the wave pool most of the time, getting splashed and thrown around and loving it.  Which kills me, because she was getting dunked and loving it and handling it perfectly well, but if she gets a drip of water on her face in the bathtub, she freaks out.  I don't get it.  The last thing Jesse and I were able to do before we left was leave Emma and Kaylee with my parents and take Lily on one of the water rides.  She was nervous the whole way up, but decided she could be brave and give it a try and as soon as we got to the bottom, she was LOVING it and wanting to go again and again.  So fun to share that with her.

Emma Photography

Emma Photography

Emma Photography

"girls, come get a cheesy picture with me!!"

"Lily and Emma! go sit with Kaylee! fine! be difficult, SOMEONE please come get in a picture with the big kitties!" enter Cameron and Aunt Kimmy.

I'll catch up more eventually!

c is for cookie

I started a different post, catching up on all the shenanigans of the last 3 months, but then we made cookies and I have to share these pictures.  With my patience being as thin as it has been this week the last few months, I made the cookies and the girls got to roll some out.  I wasn't in the mood to deal with three small people bickering over whose turn it was to dump ingredients into the mixing bowl, and fortunately, I have 3 rolling pins.

it took Lily all of 30 seconds to get flour on her face.

favorite picture.

Emma was in her element.

I love Kaylee's concentration in these pictures.

some of the cookies that I rolled out and decorated. I'll let the girls decorate their own how they want.

And maybe I'll get my act together and finish my other catch up post before Christmas...or at least maybe before Christmas 2016.  Setting standards high. 

Emma and Lily isms 37

Lily: that was so clever of Daddy to make a spaceship.

Lily: we aren't crazy drivers.
Me: no, we aren't.
Lily: you're crazy.
Me: wait, what? No, you are.
Lily: no, I'm sneaky. You're crazy.

Emma: no, Taco Bell has the ringy thing on the top.

Emma: LILY! I just saw a baby horse! He was so little!
Lily: how old was he?!
Emma: I don't know, I didn't ask him!

Lily: I'm freezing.  Brrrr!  I'm cozy as an ice pop!

Lily: was Kaylee in your tummy when Emma was?
Me: no, just Emma.
Lily: oh, God hadn't made her yet?
Me: that's right, I only had one baby at a time.
Lily: oh. But Aunt Nikki had 2.
Me: yes, God gives some people 2 babies at one time.
Lily: yeah, God probably knew you couldn't control 2 at one time.

Lily: one time, I got the hiccups down at the Coleman's.  Very interesting, Mommy.

Lily: can I have a drink?
Emma: yes, just an itty bitty bit *barely holds out water bottle.*
Emma: now, give me your mouth!

Jesse: look, cows!
Emma: they're SO beautiful!

Lily: will you speak your voice up so I can hear you?

Emma, looking up at the stars:
"maybe those lights are angels singing to God."

Lily (grab the tissues, Family):
"Poppy was so great wasn't he. He was really great. I always would sit on his lap and he'd talk to me. And now I sit on Gigi's lap, and when she is sick, I sit on Mimi and Poppo's laps."

how am I so behind?

Apparently, having a few things to do during the week is enough to make me feel swamped and by the time the kiddos are in bed and the kitchen is cleaned up, I sit down with zero motivation to actually completely anything.

It's not the worst, but it's definitely not the best.

Kaylee is hilarious.  And has apparently hit a "I want Momma and ONLY Momma" phase- ugh- again, and I am just trying to wade through it.  She also is struggling with the concept of naps lasting longer than half an hour, so I am figuring out how to entertain her and encourage her sisters to play with her so I can get things done without hauling her 30 pound tushy all over the place.  But as a result of that, I have a much stronger left arm AND a pinched nerve in my neck that makes my shoulder super sore, so there's that.  She is trying so hard to keep up with her sisters, and wants to be in the middle of everything they do.  My current favorite thing ever is that Lily has taught Emma and Kaylee how to skip and they all will skip around the house, clapping.  And by skipping, I mean quick and jerky movements that look nothing like skipping.  Kaylee is a little motor mouth.  The other two were barely saying 10 words by their 2nd birthday, and Kaylee is speaking in multiple word phrases, which is so much fun.  I love it.  

Story: she isn't a huge fan of cows up close, though she gets very excited about them from a distance still, and tonight, she randomly started to get really upset and not let me put her down because, "cows, get me!," "Kaylee scared," etc.  It was odd, we definitely don't have any cows, we weren't discussing them or looking at pictures, it was completely out of the blue.  And then after she'd been asleep for awhile, I heard her crying.  I tend to tell people that my girls' dreams wake them up, because I really think that's the case: they aren't fully awake, just take some re-assurance and cuddles and they're back to sound sleeping.  Anyway, I went in and Kaylee was crying, "get me, get me," so I reached for her and told her that nothing was going to get her.  I cuddled her a few minutes, telling her that she was safe and nothing would get her, and she said, "ok," and then started giggling and said, "silly, that's silly."  So we both laughed over that for a minute and I laid her down, telling her she was fine, and she kept right on giggling, saying, "silly."  Those silly cows.  It makes the rough times worth it when I can forget them in the sweet and fun moments. 

Emma.  Oh my Emma.  So sweet, so gentle and funny.  She absolutely lights up when Kaylee wakes up in the morning or after a nap, will give everyone hugs- whether she actually knows them or not- and still has the quickest and most wonderful laugh ever.  And...on the flip side, because you knew it was coming...she can be SO upset and a little snot.  She is going through this thing where she's discovered she can push her sisters's buttons...so she will intentionally annoy and pester, and when I correct, she will give me the nastiest little face ever and say, "NO."  Actually, that has been happening less, so I may be getting through to her.  But plenty of chats, discipline and sharp correction have been happening over here, because that's just unacceptable.  She loves doing everything Lily is doing, and loves to be with her sisters.  She doesn't like to pick up when I ask her to take care of her own toys or clothes, but if I ask her to help me clean up the kitchen, or help me clean the bathroom, or any other household chore, she jumps up and is ready help in the blink of an eye.  Emma is my helper, and loves to sing and repeat things that she's picking up on from Lily's schooling.  Her favorites so far are to tell you the classification of living things and the fall of Rome, because who doesn't love talking about that?

Lily is at such a fun age.  As of right now, 5 is my favorite age.  It helps that she is absolutely brilliant and observant, obviously.  She is having so much fun in ballet and school.  Oh I could go on and on and on about that.  We are thrilled.  I know Emma and Kaylee will not learn the same way that she does, and that is absolutely fine, but she has such a quick memory!  It's fun to see her do so well.  She is learning to read and how to add, and even though she doesn't actually realize she's doing it, Lily is also doing simple subtraction.  I've know for awhile that she's sensitive, but I'm starting to see new sides of that sensitivity, and while she loves to be in the spotlight, is very hesitant if she thinks that people will laugh at her.  I'm not sure where that came from.  I asked her at one point to share some of her schoolwork with family and she clammed right up.  She later told me she was afraid that they would all laugh at her, which they absolutely would not have done, as I told her.  We'll figure it out, it can be difficult to have a full conversation with a person who doesn't understand feelings and words too well.

Jesse and I are doing well!  We recently were able to (FINALLY) take up archery!  I have wanted to have my own bow since middle school, and Jesse finally decided on an acceptable one for me and I love it.  It's so much fun and I even hit the target, which is super impressive for me since I have zero hand-eye coordination.  I had other things I wanted to talk about but they're forgotten now.  This was just to quickly catch up, I really want to try and add some other pictures eventually, but here are a few recent ones...oh life, it sure keeps me busy and doesn't slow down. 

science!

I was trying to get a picture of all 3 for height comparison and this is what I got, plus a grumpy Kaylee sitting next to me.

lol, oh Emma.

Robin Hood!

Emma and Lily isms 36

-- my apologies for any repeats, I lost track--

Lily: what are girl deers called?
Me: does.
Lily: and boy deers are called deers.
Me: no, boy deer are called bucks.
Lily: why?
Me: because the animal is a deer but the boys are bucks and the girls are does.  Like female chickens are hens and males are roosters.  We are humans but you, your sisters and I are girls and Daddy is a boy.
Emma: yes, and mermaids!  They are called mermaids.

Emma: my stomach makes noise when I'm hungry, right?  Or maybe there is a tiger in there.

Lily: no, I want you to stay here and help me with Legos, Daddy!
Jesse: Momma will be here, she can help you.
Lily: no, she's no good at Legos!

Lily: did Queenie (a cow) and Big Red (a bull) get married?
Me: no, animals don't get married the same way humans do.
Lily: oh.  Well can cows dance?  I don't think they can.  They can only sing, right?
Emma: I'LL BE A TEACHING FARMER AND I'LL TEACH COWS HOW TO SING!!!

in a completely quiet house, Lily had a song stuck in her head for the first time:
"I can hear the Timeline song all the way over here!!!"

Lily: let's get crackin'!

Lily: if I see it, I'll give you a shout.

Emma: well, it looks like I'm strong!

Emma: I SAW A SQUIRREL! IT WAS JUMPING AND JUMPING AND JUMPING and I don't know where he was going.

Lily: see, I'm being careful cutting: all 5 fingers still.

Emma: this is a big mess, but it's my mess, so I will clean it up because I'm a big girl.

#teamhschoolforgiftedyoungsters

Guys.  Summer went so fast and I didn't blog about it at all (obviously).  I am going to look back years from now and wonder what I did this summer that seemed to fly by.  Maybe eventually, I'll recap what happened on our #hildebrandgirltrip 2015 edition..but thank you, Instagram, for keeping up with me there.  

The most important and exciting thing going on right now is that we officially are a homeschooling family, starting with our very ecstatic kindergartner.  Lily has been ready for school for months.  Probably even since last year and she first heard the word "school," and we've hit the ground running.  To catch up, we are involved in a Classical Conversations group, and we.love.it.  All of 2 weeks in.  I begged asked my mom to go to a practicum over the summer that was phenomenal in explaining what it was we would be doing and the classical model of teaching.  If you are interested in it, send me a message because I would love to talk your ear off about why you should homeschool.  And since I've had quite a few questions about it: once a week, we have a "community day" where our entire group gathers and all the students break up into classrooms where a trained tutor goes over the upcoming weeks material.  It's wonderful.  Not only does it show me one way I can present material, but it also gives Lily some in classroom time where she can listen to another teacher and learn classroom etiquette. 

first community day, and so excited!

Anyway, the point of this post: we are starting. 

And I am so so so thankful we are starting now.  I am having so much fun.  I know that I am still honeymooning over here, but come on, I'M TEACHING MY KIDS and I'm thrilled.  This will take some getting used to, and making sure that all the important things are covered, but hey, it's kindergarten.  I didn't have to start with physics and calculus.  I am viewing this first bit as "oh hey, let's figure out a schedule so Lily can learn while simultaneously entertaining a 3 and 1 year old."  And let me tell you, a few friends have gotten  an earful of meltdowns from me already because Kaylee was tearing everything apart like the hurricane she is and school just was not happening right then.  But, we are learning and adjusting.  And it's wonderful. 

first day!

One of the key components of Classical Conversations (henceforth referred to as "CC") is the Timeline song, which is just what it sounds like: a song that teaches a timeline, starting with Creation and ending with some later date we haven't reached yet.  Put to music with hand motions/signs to make it stick a little more, my girls love it.  Kaylee even loves it and will start madly signing the beginning motions if I ask if they're ready for the Timeline song.  Each week at our community day, we learn a new section of the song with new motions, to be combined with the previous week(s) information.  Lily was heartbroken the first week because she didn't catch on immediately and didn't get to go on stage with the other children who were helping show us.  The second week, she was ready, and when the call for, "anyone who wants to come up front to help lead" was given, she practically jumped out of her seat and charged onto the stage with all the bigger kiddos to demonstrate.  She's not shy, that's for sure.   

Emma and Kaylee go to the preschool class at our CC.

Lily turns 5 at the end of the month (what??!) and is just a little sponge that has a fire lit under her to learn everything she can.  I showed her how to tie her shoes maybe 5 times total, over a few months, and one day she said, "I'm going to tie my shoes!" and sat down and did so.  Seriously?  This is not my style of learning.  Hopefully Jesse can keep up with her later because she's going to blow past me.  I'm letting her set the pace for math and teaching her to read right now, and she's doing fantastic, in my opinion.  We will slow down when she hits some concepts she is struggling to understand, so I don't mind zipping right along now because we'll get there.

Emma is participating while we go over the memory work that CC has provided, which covers History, English, Science, Latin, Math and Geography.  I found a few preschool level workbooks, but she is still trying to master enough dexterity to hold a pencil so I've been giving her tracing sheets with the alphabet to practice on mostly.  By the time the memory work is done, I have been trying to put Kaylee down for a nap and Emma may have Quiet Room Time while I finish with Lily, and bam, lunch time and we are done.  If only high school would be so quick and easy...

Kaylee...I don't know what to do with her yet.  A third of the time, she sits and plays quietly; another third, she is destroying everything in sight; and the final third is spent trying to color on EVERY surface she can find with markers I thought I had hidden.  Needless to say, I don't know how to conduct a school morning with a very active and independent 19 month old.  And by independent, I mean until I want/need her to be and play by herself in the next room over...but we'll get it!

couldn't leave this one out. 

we got our new pencil grips today!  SO much easier for these little hands and I'll stop stressing about how they hold their pencils.

these if you were interested.

And as our basement is under construction, my schoolroom is a disaster.  I will show it off when the construction is cleaned up and I'm organized.  Hopefully by the time Kaylee graduates.