I hibernated

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. No blog posts for 2 months? Yeah, well, you know, it's cold and we all just haven't emerged from the den for awhile... I'll try to summarize.

Around the holidays, we enjoyed visits from Uncle Mike and Aunt Holly as well as Gramma and Opa. The girls were very excited to give everyone the ceramic gifts they had painted at The Creative Escape. They have been asking to go back and paint again ever since. They loved having two Christmases - one at home with Mommy, Daddy, Gramma and Opa, and another over New Year's with Ama, Akung, Aunt Jean, Uncle Aaron, and cousins Clay and Owen. The gifts, as always, were wonderfully chosen and good times were had by all. We are a very lucky family.

Since Christmas, we've just been trucking along. Between two to three school days for all three kids and one day with swim lessons for the girls we really only have fridays that are completely free. We fit in plenty of fun with friends on those days or just spend lazy days at home doing crafts and playing playdoh (one of Ben's fav's). The girls continue to love to play "Baby and Big Girl" and create elaborate story lines of what Baby and Big Girl are doing, eating, going to, etc. Dani often tries to decide who gets to be Baby but occasionally Alex convinces her to be Big Girl. They still draw at least 1-2 times per day, and while I feel slight pangs of guilt over our paper consumption, in the end I am tickled that it is their favorite thing to do. I plan to post some of their awesome drawings soon.

Ben now has well over 200 words that we are able to understand and probably 75 words he can use with the public. He is Elmo-Ernie-(Big)Bird-Cookie Monster-crazy, and mentions them at least 5 times a day (usually in this order). His sisters love to teach him how to say things, breaking words up into syllables. "Say Cin-da-rell-uh Ben!" His least favorite thing about his sisters is how much they love to rub his head. It's incessant. He must feel like a dog most days. He tells them, "Let go me!"

Despite my surgery 4 weeks ago to fix stomach muscles that couldn't handle 15 pounds of babies four years ago, we actually have gotten out for a few days of fun in the snow. Ben and Alex love to crawl, roll, climb, and build in the snow. Dani loves to come in for hot chocolate. ;) Everyone enjoyed a walk at our nearby wooded park with me and Gramma, who has kindly come to help out for 3 weeks during my recovery. They ran from the car saying, "Let's go see nature!"

Here are some of my favorite shots from the last few months.

Uncle Mike and Aunt Holly come to visit!



The kids come up with hilarious ideas. Dani and Alex LOVE their princess dresses and pretending to have a ball like Cinderella.


Ben is a boy. All the way. "I'm going to test out every possible use for my body," thinks Ben...


Daddy has been a good source of entertainment in these dreary winter months.





It's fun to see the silliness get contagious...



One sister demands to be swaddled... so the other sister does too!



Ben's a pretty good sport when it comes to his sisters' ideas. "Let's play haircuts!"




The snow was good this year and we enjoyed it. When we weren't too busy throwing things into the pond.

Santa Claus came to town

We had a wonderful holiday this week here at home in Indy. Christmas Eve dinner was with Ama and Akung and then Gramma and Opa arrived Christmas day in the afternoon. I'll post more pictures soon of wrapping paper ripping, train tables in use, princess dresses being worn 24/7, and the like. For now, here are the letters the kids wrote on Christmas Eve. I was thinking I would write the note with them telling me what to write, but they wouldn't hear of it! It was worth getting them off to bed a bit late...

Dani wrote with Daddy's help:

translation: Dear Santa, Please leave presents under the tree. Love, Dani (the stickers are there to cover up drawings which did NOT please Dani. She is VERY particular about the results of her artistic endeavors.)

Alex wrote with Mommy's help:
translation: Dear Santa: Daddy said to take toys. But he is silly. Love, Alex (this was in response to an idea Jack had earlier about what Santa should REALLY do when he came to visit...)

Ben was on his own. Not bad for a 20 month old! (Mommy helped with the name)

Winter begins

It's been a very wintery few weeks while we get ready for the holidays. The kids enjoyed getting outside for last week's first snow and we've now baked cookies as a family for the first time with Ben. It went surprisingly well! Ben loves doing anything his sisters are doing and his sisters have become quite skilled in all things crafty/homey. Alex exclaimed multiple times during our cookie making, "I love baking!" Hooray! So do I, Alex. Dani especially liked the decorating, which is not a surprise to us - she LOVES drawing and making things look pretty. They both enjoyed painting pottery for the first time a few weeks ago (items to be revealed soon! Can't spoil the surprise!)

So from all of us here at Chez Wei - Happy Holidays!

Dani:

Alex:





Cookies!







First snow, first snowflakes Ben has eaten on purpose!

Dani's play

I've been very very behind in posting, so here's a quick synopsis:

- Before Halloween: I got sick. With the flu. It really knocked me out. Not sure if it was H1N1 but it felt bad. And lasted for weeks. Ugh.

- Halloween: Dani was Cinderella and thoroughly enjoyed her costume and all her Halloween parties (3). She made her own crown. Alex was a butterfly with beautiful wings that she painted herself and was miserably sick. She missed every single party that whole week. Ugh. Ben was a panda who refuses to keep on its ears. He played the part well.

- After Halloween: Chrissa came from Philadelphia for a week's visit and a picture book conference, and she got sick. Ugh. Just for a day, luckily. We are a bacteria factory. But she and I had a wonderful time at the conference, learned a lot about how to make our book better (ie shorter and more marketable), and even got critiques from an editor and art director from a major publisher. We're working hard to get it ready for another submission. Exciting times!

- Week before Thanksgiving, Ben came home from school with an ear infection. We got him meds and drove up to Chicago for a nice visit with Omi, Gramma, and Opa.

- Week after Thanksgiving: Dani gets sick with a high fever that lasts 4 days. She's finally healthy now and have fingers crossed that Alex and Ben (and Jack and I) avoid the fever sickness (we already have colds).

But it hasn't all been snot and Motrin - we've had some fun too! Dani adores her Cinderella dress so much that she wears it almost every day. A few weeks ago, she asked us all to watch a play. I've been trying to post this video for weeks but my iMovie skills are lame and it's a long video. So here is Dani's play in three acts. Enjoy! (It's long, but funny.)

Fall Family Fun

Last week was a Daddy-stay-home week (aka vacation, without the traveling) so he helped pack in some family fun (and some house projects... chopped down a tree, cleaned my car, fixed a million little things, etc. all while we got a new roof!). We had a blast going to Stuckey farm again this year for apple and pumpkin picking. Everyone was old enough to participate instead of just scream, and we did a LOT of walking, picking, and eating.

Dani snacktime!

Daddy helps pick

Benny is thankful for teeth




Pumpkins were especially fun, even just to see how different each of our kids can be. Total time taken to pick a pumpkin: Alex - 45 seconds, Dani - 20 minutes and a half mile of walking, Ben - happy to have one chosen by Ama.

Dani is happy with her choice




Alex's new pet ladybug




Despite 50 degree nights, we let the girls camp out in the backyard with our new tent. Jack had first shift while I stayed inside with Ben (and my work) and then I went out to finish the night. It was COLD but dry and I slept really really well in the perfect smells of fall...


Finally, at the end of the week we took time for some crafts (My fav!) and got in the Halloween spirit. ;)

Sound bites from the breakfast table

"Mommy, can we start having our birthday in September?"

"Benny, that bow looks cute in your hair."

"Hurt my lungs, Mommy! Hurt my lungs please!"

We start our days around here with a nutritious breakfast of fruit, milk, carbs, and silliness.

In Memory of Opi

It's been an emotional few weeks since our visit to Chicago and I've been trying to find a way to express myself in the aftermath. That visit turned out to be my last chance to be with Opi, and I'm thankful for that time and all the other times he and I were together. He was not ill these last few months but just sort of gave up. At age 92, he was ready to move on and he did. I miss him. For the memorial service, I was able to scan pictures from Omi's beautiful heritage albums for a slide show. It was nice to spend time with Opi and his happy moments. He lived a simple but rich life, and he and his music touched those around him.