Stumping the three year old.....

Yeah, so there was a sleepover here last night -- topic for another blog post -- anyway, all but Lucy have gone home. They are watching a Hannah Montana video. I am making french fries, polish sausage, and veggies for lunch.

Jaxon comes in and asks, "When is lunch going to be ready? I'm hungry."

I reply, "I'm working on it. It should be ready soon."

Jaxon, "Why is it taking soooooooo long?"

Me, "Because I'm slow."

That's when he looked at me then walked out of the kitchen, stumped by my strange response. I guess I burst the bubble of his protesting. :)

Today - Wind Chill Day

Well, let's see, Alaya's birthday party is on Sunday and I am not even close to being ready for it. Just bought party favors, supplies, and food today. Oh, and joy upon joys, I had to drive through crazy snow and wind to do it.

Thoughts to ponder after today's craziness:

--Why does it take me hours to get what I need at Walmart?
--How do I always end up leaving Target with more than I wanted?
--Why do teachers have to report to school when the windchill is -20 degrees. That's just stupid. If it's cold enough to call off school, then just take the plunge and let teachers stay home too.

Other things of note:
-- Today dad told me that while Jaxon was at their house in Marilla for a sleepover with his siblings and cousins, they were watching some Blues Clues video. I guess in part of it, it started talking about where orange juice came from. "So, where does orange juice come from Jaxon?" Ready for his answer.... ba - dum - bum "From Wegmans"
--Jaxon has also been using "totally" a lot -- 'i'm totally cold' 'i'm totally hungry' and so on.

15/365 Too many toys

15/365

January 15, 2009

Well, I simply call this one "too many toys." Perhaps that is 'nuff said. However, not being one to just give it short and sweet, I'll fill y'all in. This is a shot of our playroom and the 'wall of fun.'

And to answer any questions you might have:
-yes, I can be a bit obsessive
-yes, most of those boxes have labels to tell what belongs in them
-yes, my children do help clean and will usually put things back in the right spot
-yes, I know this is an insane number of toys

So, did I predict all your questions? :)

14/365 Jaxon tuckered out

14/365

January 14, 2009

Almost forgetting to take pictures today, I snuck upstairs with the camera to snap photos of the kids sleeping. I chose this one of Jaxon because he is sleeping on top of his new Diego doll. I guess, should I say, squashing him. It's so cute how he cuddles up with the guy :)

Now, the pictures were actually snapped a few minutes after midnight but I'm still counting them for the 14th. I had fallen asleep with the kiddos at 8 pm and woke up at midnight, refreshed from my nap & worried about when I'd actually get back to sleep :(


Here's Alaya

Here's Nora

13/365 Jaxon -- look at my "boo boo"

13/365

January 13, 2009

Jaxon was being super silly today. I got a whole bunch of photos of him sticking his tongue out and just generally goofing around. Here he is showing me the wound on his pinky finger. He is just so silly. Jaxon, you make me laugh so much. You are just awesome. I couldn't imagine life here at home without you cracking me up!

See, here you are again, Jaxon with the tongue. I just want to grab it and yank on it. But, I won't, but only because I could hurt you. You silly boy!

Here's Alaya working on the alien puzzle, deep in thought as well as showing off her completed puzzle, proud of her effort. Today, Alaya, it took you a little while to get this one day. You started to get frustrated, "this is hard" and "I'll never get it" you were saying. However, today you persisted. You kept going and didn't get frazzled. And you know what, you DID IT!! I was very proud of you for sticking it out.

Pics of me, by the kids

I'm rarely ever in the pictures -- I'm the one behind the camera snapping away. However, since starting project 365, the kids have been taking pictures with the Canon camera. They enjoy it and surprisingly, their photos are often quite good.

Well, I figured since there are barely any photos of me, I would put a few up that the kids had taken.

January 12, 2009
Nora snapped this photo of me.

January 11, 2009
Jaxon took this one of me -- too cute, he was sitting on the carpet, with his knee up, balancing the camera on his knee and taking pictures.

12/365 Silly Nora

12/265

January 12, 2009

Today I didn't take many pictures. Most of the pictures were actually taken by Nora as I was letting her play and experiment with the Canon camera.

I did get a few pictures of my own in. Most I was not terribly impressed with. However, I love this silly one of Nora. She's awesome.

11/365 Alaya in the snow

11/365

January 11, 2009

It's a beautiful Sunday. The snow is so fluffy and white, not yet icky and black from snowplows and cars. It's not actually that cold out. Perfect to go out and enjoy the snow. Fun fun fun.

Here's Alaya having a great time outside. I especially love the rosy cheeks and EAR! LOL She's so cute. I love how you can also see how her "grown up" teeth look! I can't believe she's about to be EIGHT! How on earth did that happen?




Loved this one of Jaxon




Nora has one of the sweetest smiles



We watch the plow go down the street

And below: more random favorites of the children from our fun time outside. I love outside snowy shots

9/365 Alaya with her Mamma

9/365

January 9, 2009

Alaya is all dressed and ready to go to dance class. She dances on Fridays from 5:30 to 7:30. Today, I have Montessori training from 6 - 9 so I can't drop her off. Mamma to the rescue. Mamma comes and picks her up to take her to dance.

Here Alaya is wearing her most favorite hat ever. It was made by her Aunt Patty and, when the weather is cold, you can rarely find Alaya in any other hat.

Here's a photo of Alaya & Mamma together, ready to head out the door.

8/365 Nora & her mermaid

8/365

January 8, 2009

Today I took pictures after dinner. I took a few of Jaxon playing with the snowglobe -- he loves that thing. Then I took some pictures of the girls upstairs. I got a few of each girl in their room. This one of Nora with one of the mermaids I painted on her walls -- keeping with the "Under the Sea" theme.

7/365 Paint-a-licious Fun

7/365 January 7, 2009

Today school was closed. It was very icy on the roads so instead of a snow day, I guess it was technically an ice day. We had great fun, painting away a big chunk of the afternoon.

This picture is near the end of the painting extravaganza. The three of them have decided to paint on 'gloves' and then use their gloves to paint. Jaxon has green gloves and the girls have black gloves.

So, yes, this is the messy part! But oh what fun they had. They did another painting after this. They did a great job of washing and washing and washind their hands to help with clean up.

Nora's Paint Tray
Jaxon's paint tray at the end of the extravaganza

Alaya's paint tray -- she was keen on the swirls and placed the paintbrushes back in for the photo.

Two Pictures of Nora -- note the black gloves and the look of concentration.

Two pictures of Alaya -- note her black gloves and her careful attention to her painting.

Jason makes rainbow handprints and paints with determination

Okay, so, yeah.............

IMG_2101, originally uploaded by melissa.kirkley.

Here's Nora today. Nice pose right? Silly girl! Where did she get this from, do you wonder?

I didn't have to.

We looked at a few pictures I took at school yesterday. This was one:


Make sense now?

Jan 6th - Adorable Children

January 6th -- Alaya, Nora & Jaxon cooperate, indulging me in a whole series of photographs. None of these I chose as "the" picture for the day because I thought the collage picture told the story of today better. However, a bunch of these pictures were simply too cute not to share

Here they are when asked to "smile"


How about when I ask them to "smile, but not so big"


Here's Alaya practicing her winking


Here's when asked "just look serious. don't smile"


Jaxon leans over and snuggles with Alaya unprompted

6/365 Collage Making

Collage Making, originally uploaded by melissa.kirkley.

January 6, 2009

Today Lucy and Jude came over for a playdate -- for the most part keeping my own children occupied. Only a few instances of "referree" mom needed.

The biggest hit of the day was making photo collages. They had a blast looking through this box of photographs.

Here Lucy is showing one she made of her family to the other kiddos at the table.

NOTE: Um, in case you didn't notice, the mess on the table is the 'real' story! or at least a HUGE chunk of it.

5/365 Nora

IMG_2062, originally uploaded by melissa.kirkley.

January 5, 2009

It was the first day back to work for me and the first day back to school for the kiddos. I took a bunch of pics at school and a few at home. It was so hard to choose a pic as my "one".

However, this one of Nora speaks to me. The colors are soft and golden. The look is not forced. She's just my swet little lovey girl.

Nora, I love you!

Josh, Brittany's boyfriend, opens his birthday gifts --
he turned 19 on 1/4

Jaxon, the ever silly man

Cute one of Brittany and
Alaya

Now it's Alaya the ever silly

Nora, man I love her

Today I had to take Nora to the doctor today to have a lung re-check. We had taken her to the ER on Tuesday for breathing issues. Luckily, things are fine and under control again. I hope we don't have another asthma outburst for a LONG time.

Anyway, on the way home Nora was talking about the book her teacher was reading. It was about Ruby Bridges and Martin Luther King Jr. She was telling me, with great feeling in her voice, that there used to be white restaurants and black restaurants and white schools and black schools. We then talked about Rosa Parks and how she got arrested -- Nora told me how Rosa sat in the front of the bus and how she refused to get up because she was tired and didn't want to work anymore.

Then I asked her if she knew why there were black restaurants and white restaurants and black schools and white schools. She didn't. I told her that many white people believed that black people were not as good or important. How many white people were afraid of black people and thought black people were bad and shouldn't be allowed to do the things white people could.

I said that some people, even today, think that the color of your skin makes you a good or a bad person.

She looked at me incredulously and said,

"Don't they know it has to do with their character?"

Couldn't have said it better.

Back to School in January

IMG_2030, originally uploaded by melissa.kirkley.

Yes, January 5th was back to school day. Back to the daily grind. This is a photo of my lab room, the place where I must now again become used to being every day.

Playing around with focus -- here's a triple beam balance

Front of the School

Now that's some chimney on the school!!!! Whew

Asia, Shontai, India & Angel

Felicia, very surprised that the flash pops up on the camera!