My attempt to appease my mother....

My mother has been on my case! She calls me daily to remind me what a terrible blogger I am. Well, I just haven't taken many pictures lately (I'm more of a picture blogger if you know what I mean). And, I try to have semi-entertaining blog posts. So, I had to scrounge through my pictures and I actually found several worth posting. Mom, this blog's for you!


I have a friend who has picky eaters too. I saw a chart at her house the other day that had "So-and-so tried a new food" and it had several magnets behind their name. I thought that it might be something I could try with Cal (and of course, I have to do it for Patti too). So, I made this nifty chart. They have to try something new/different in order to get a sticker (right now, they just have to try it.... a little bite). When they get 10 stickers, they get to choose from a toy at Toys R Us, games at Chuck E Cheese, or bowling at Grand Station. I know, the prizes are pretty big, but I figured that I needed to make it worth it and super-exciting to start off with.

At first it worked great... Cal had a bite of a grilled cheese one day and several bites of spaghetti the next. That was it. He'd had enough. Patti, on the other hand, couldn't wait to try something new! She quickly filled up her chart... eating things like tuna, salmon, pot roast, asparagus, peas, and radishes. And, she loved all of them! So, Daddy took her to Grand Station the other night. Unfortunately, all the lanes were full so that opted for miniature golf instead. She had tons of fun. We thought that rubbing it in to Cal would encourage him to want to eat more, but he's so hard headed (a Livingston trait :) and he really didn't care. He missed them while they were gone, but didn't really care that he was missing out because he knew good and well what he had to do in order to join them. Hmm... another great plan foiled by the stubborn-4-yr-old!

Here's Patti with her chart and at Grand Station....

Since she's been trying all these new foods, Patti has been eager to help me in the kitchen. Here we are making something super-duper healthy..... haha.

Daniel took the twins swimming almost everyday this summer. I just found these pictures on a water-proof camera we just got. Doesn't look like they are having much fun, does it?

Sweetness

I have to share a little about how sweet this little girl of mine can be. This afternoon after picking the kids up from school, she put on her unicorn outfit (she was a unicorn last Halloween). She asked for a snack for her unicorn so I gave her a big gnarly unpeeled carrot..... perfect for a unicorn. Before I knew it, she had eaten most of it and handed me the rest and told me "Mommy, you buy the bestest carrots." So sweet.

Then, she put on her princess dress (also a Halloween costume... from 2 years ago... it's a tad small). She told me "This is the dress I'm going to marry in. Yes, this is the dress I'm going to marry Daddy in." So so sweet.

What's been going on?

Whoa... where does the time go? I blinked and it's the middle of September! So, I'll briefly catch you up on what's been going on around here lately.



David is 4 months old today! He's doing much better! He's sleeping better and eating better.... his appetite has increased immensely... Grams is even on the menu!






Patti is now officially enrolled in Taekwondo and she loves it! Isn't she cute? So far, she's been the only girl. But, she doesn't even notice. She is a little on the gentle side when it comes to being aggressive, but her form is better than Cal's! Ah, I love this precious little girl.

Jennifer (Daniel's sister), Jamie, and the kids came to visit for Labor Day.It's always so fun when all the cousins are together! They are all so close in age all get along so well. There are 11 total (Lily and David aren't in picture)... their ages are 7, 7, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3, 2 (one day from being 3), 1, 8 months and 4 months.

Nathan is almost exactly one year older than Cal and is Cal's bestest friend. Cal LOVES Nathan.

Things overheard today while playing Wii with Patti and Cal.....

P: I'm not very good at this game.

C: I'm really good at this game.

C: Mom, why don't you have any arms? (Baseball players have invisible arms... just hands)

P: I hit a stripe!!!! (strike)

C: Wow, I got 50 pounds! (50 points)

C: Patti, pluck "A" (push "A")

P: Which one do I push to make it go "ch"?

P: Cal, do you want to change your club, because I know how.

Mommy: (trying to teach Patti how to serve a tennis ball) Okay, now throw the ball up (Patti pretends to toss the ball with her left hand -- while the remote is in the right hand). No, the other hand (she puts the remote in her left hand and then pretends to toss with the right hand).

Great Idea... Bad Idea

Today is Sunday.... and Sunday's are suppose to be easy and restful... right? Well, not today. Both kids are sniffly and Cal lost his voice last night. We're hoping that it's just allergies and that we'll be all better by tomorrow (they start school on Tuesday.... please let them start school on Tuesday). Not to mention that Daniel went to bed this morning at 4:30 am (he had a presentation today at the Wildlife Expo that John Deere was hosting... in Wildlife Photography). He had some issues with the computer (and he waited until the very last minute to work on his presentation... but, that's just Daniel). AND, David was up ALL night!!! Needless to say, my family was not venturing out this morning :)

So, this afternoon, the kids were getting a little bored. I pulled out a "craft".... I thought I bought one of those stained glass crafts.... you know, the one that has the little crystals and you put them in the oven? Well, wrong... I got this "lava" stuff that was ooey and gooey. The kids had fun nonetheless.

I know, I've been wordless a lot lately (though some of you may prefer it that way). Not too much going on around here..... well, I say that and half a dozen things just popped into mind.


The kids start back to school (Pre-K) this week.... yahoo for them and for me!!! They love it and I love that they love it. It's only 9 hours a week, but it's amazing what can get done in those 9 hours.



Cal started Taekwondo last week... he loves it! At the end of the half hour, they had to stand at attention (arms to their sides and feet together) staring straight ahead for 2 minutes.... 2 minutes is a long time for a 4 year old! Especially my 'ants-in-his-pants' 4 yr old! Daniel and I were sitting in the back watching (and thinking 'this is going to be funny'). To our surprise, out of 6 kids (four 4 yr olds, one 5 yr old, and one 6 yr old veteran with a yellow belt).... Cal and the 6 yr old were the only two standing after 2 minutes. We were shocked (and I think the instructor was a little surprised too). At that moment, we realized that we had totally made the right choice for him... Taekwondo is his calling. I was hoping that Patti would do it to, but she clung to me and daddy and refused to try it out. After we got home and she saw the uniform and after some 'practicing' with daddy, she started to change her mind. She now says that she wants to do it. We'll find out tomorrow.


David is growing like a weed! He's rolling over.... from tummy to his back..... like it's his job. He's really proud of himself. The last 2-3 weeks have been really rough though. I've mentioned his reflux before and how he's on prevecid... he was doing great on it (still spitting up, but not as fussy) and even sleeping through the night! BUT, that changed a few weeks ago. He started waking up several times (up to about 5 times) a night. He'll eat and then it is a struggle to settle him down enough to get him back to sleep. It's been exhausting. He fusses a lot more throughout the day (probably b/c he's so tired and his tummy is hurting). I finally called the doctor and got him an appointment Friday. We upped his prevecid and I'm changing a few things in my diet to see if that's upsetting him. We pray it gets better soon.


Okay, here are a few pictures (because that's what everybody's looking for right.... I know I'm more interested in a blog when there are lots of pictures :)





The kids are snuggled in our bed watching a movie... and no, David wasn't really watching it with them.... I just put him there for the picture and the TV just caught his attention.



My boys are just acrobats at heart. Some people thought that David's little stunt on one of my previous posts wasn't real..... it's real.