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March 13th 2010

Lowe's Build and Grow - Basketball Hoop

It seems like we are doing construction every weekend now, and the girls don't mind it one bit.  Mommy was debating staying home for this one, but we decided to switch it up.  I would hold Enzo and take photos while she helped the girls build.  Ssshhhh, don't mention that Zoë's base was put on backwards.  But we always seem to make at least one mistake during the projects, although I have been getting fairly good constructing these things as of late.  We were surprised to see Anna Claire show up for the build.  She also met some of her school friends there as well.  Abby and Zoë were excited to meet them.  We were done with the project quickly and made our way over to Target for our ritual snack while we browse event.  The girls have turned into some true grazers, and Enzo too.  Oh yeah, forgot to mention that Laura, Enzo and the girls got to try their first Shamrock shake from McDonalds.

Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 29 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 29 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 19 days
Entry Art posted by christopher at 11:40 AM | Comments Comment

March 10th 2010

Wednesday Park Day

During the cold months the homeschooling group has been meeting at the nearby recreation center as their 'indoor park day'.  Unfortunately we haven't made one single time.  Today, however, we finally got there.  With the nicer weather, though still a bit on the chilly side today, a lot of the kids were outside at the skateboard park.  This made me really nervous, because it's just cement and pavement everywhere.  I sucked it up however, put Enzo in the ergo and let the girls play - with just a few requests of ramps not to play on.  Zoë, Abby, and Maggie found a good sized ramp and used it as a slide, wave, waterfall, and who knows what else.  Zoë did fall down when running once and hurt her hand, but no serious injuries were had.  The upside of that was that Maggie said she'd go play inside in the gym with the girls, which was nice for Enzo because he was ready to get down.  Iris joined in and they all played different games with the basketballs.

We took a snack break in one of the other rooms after Maggie and Zoë collided and Zoë's nose started bleeding all over the place.  It wasn't really a bad run in, Zoë just has a sensitive nose like her Daddy.  Enzo was all over the place, running through any open door that he saw.  He did pause to try to hug Maggie's little sister, Zeland, who is two.  She wasn't in to having a hug though so Enzo moved on to Naomi's baby brother, who was happy to have the attention.

Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 26 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 26 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 16 days
Entry School posted by Laura at 4:03 PM | Comments Comment

Zoë's Second Tooth Lost

Zoë mentioned something about how loose her second front tooth was feeling so after I got Enzo down for his nap, I washed my hands to check it out.  Zoë was nervous that I was going to yank on it or something, but it turned out that all I needed to do was to touch the tooth and it came out.  Zoë was thrilled that she'd be getting another visit from the tooth fairy.  Abby on the other hand was quite peeved.  She went downstairs and huffed to Chris about why did Zoë already lose her second tooth when Abby was the first to lose a tooth and her second tooth is barely even loose!

Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 26 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 26 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 16 days
Entry Milestones posted by Laura at 1:56 PM | Comments Comment

March 9th 2010

PiYo No Go

We are going to try out taking turns doing the PiYo class and the yoga classes with the girls at the Y.  The PiYo (pilates and yoga mix) is on Tuesdays and the yoga classes are on Wednesdays and Fridays.  The only drawback to this is that the PiYo class starts at 8:25 and the yoga classes start at 7:30... a.m.  This morning the girls slept until about 7:00, but I didn't hear them get up and didn't get up until Enzo woke up at almost 7:30.  This didn't leave much time since Enzo was ready to eat and I'd hoped to get out of the house by 8:00 to give us time to get there and have our mats set up a few minutes early.

Chris and I decided that if I was going to go into the class with the girls, as I was going to this morning, he and Enzo would still come along in case Enzo needed me and then Chris could get me and just stand in to monitor the girls in the class.  When we do the yoga class this may be especially neccessary because I'll need to get up and have the girls up by 6:30 at the latest, right around when Enzo usually does his morning nursing.  Anyhow, we all scrambled around and got to the Y just barely before the class was to begin.  However as the girls and I were heading back to the aerobics room, the person at the front desk directed our attention to the hand written note on the door saying that the instructor had just went home sick and class was cancelled.

Chris was just coming in with Enzo in the stroller as we were talking at the front desk.  We told him we rushed for nothing and headed back to the car.  Chris told the girls that this was a "Piyo drill".  We're all wondering how on earth we're going to make it to tomorrow's 7:30 yoga class.

Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 26 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 26 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 16 days
Entry News posted by Laura at 9:32 PM | Comments Comment

Picnic and Bird Feeding

Zoë and Abby were bummed that we'd missed the PiYo class, therefore missing the ability to show us how well they were going to do.  I decided that I'd pack up a picnic as well as some stale bread for the birds.  We also brought the bubbles along.  Just before heading out, Daddy ended up having something come up on the computer, so we had to go without him.  We were bummed that he wasn't coming, but set out anyway.  It was a bit windy in the park so we found a building to sit behind and then the sun warmed us nicely.  We ate our greek salad sandwiches - Enzo loved the olives and feta and then took turns with the bean/corn salad and the cucumber salad.  After our mandarin oranges were finished we decided to go feed the birds before having our cookies. 

As we were tossing bread to a huge bunch of hungry seagulls and pigeons, we saw Daddy ride up on the bike, he'd even brought Enzo's helmet along.  I let Enzo out of the stroller and he immediately started chasing the birds.  Abby told Chris, "Dad, those seagulls are so big and some of them are really nasty." Once the bread was gone, Chris dumped some bubble solution in one of our lids and the girls used all of the various bubble blowers.  They also got a quick spin on the bike, sitting in Enzo's seat (it is rated for up to 40 pounds, which they aren't yet).  By this time Enzo had run all over the park and was getting cranky so we hopped him into his seat and I biked home with him while Chris and the girls packed up our stuff.  I heard they even got turns riding in Enzo's stroller.  Abby helped Chris push Zoë up our street at the end.

Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 25 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 25 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 15 days
Entry News posted by Laura at 1:53 PM | Comments Comment

March 8th 2010

Another Give-Away

I'm trying again to win one of these thing!  I just saw that softbums (the brand of cloth diapers we use) is coming out with new prints for spring and they're doing a giveaway, which you can earn entries into by doing various things - one being to blog about it. :)

We still just have the original cover colors we started with ('cause I didn't win anything in the last giveaway!), green,  blue, orange and one white.  It sure would be nice to get some extra covers and such!  Keep your fingers crossed for me (us)!

Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 24 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 24 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 14 days
Entry News posted by Laura at 1:37 PM | Comments Comment

Potty Poo Number Two

That's right, Enzo pooped on the potty for the second time!  Enzo was nursing and told me he needed to poop (or that he was pooping, he says/signs both in the same way) so I asked him about it but he continued nursing.  After just a moment he again told me, "poop" so I talked up the potty and got him on it, with no protests from him.  When I was taking his diaper off I noticed that he had just started to go a bit, so I hurried with having him sit and then tried to keep him occupied while he finished up.  He got this out of the way nice and early, Daddy wasn't even up yet (possibly why there were no protests for Daddy to sit with him on the potty instead of me).

He and I went up to wave good-bye to the poo and tell Daddy all about it.  There was lots of clapping and high fives.

Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 24 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 24 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 14 days
Entry Milestones posted by Laura at 8:25 AM | Comments Comment

March 7th 2010

First Ice Skating

We started the sunny day by walking to church and back.  As soon as we got home it was time to pack our stuff up and head to Angie's for lunch and then ice skating.  The girls played outside with Kayla while Angie and I got lunch ready - green and pasta salads, as well as marinated chicken and spicy sausage on the grill - and of course I had to help out a little with holding sweet little Alyssa.

After lunch clean up was done we packed up and headed to the nearby ice skating rink.  Angie had some beginners skates that were the right size for the girls, so I just kept my shoes on and walked around the rink with them.  After maybe a lap, Angie suggested that I put on her extra pair of ice skates and go around with the girls.  I was a sorry sight, but at least I managed to stay up and I think it was helpful for the girls to see, slowly, how to make the skates go on the ice.

Chris was wearing Enzo in the ergo, taking photos but Enzo tired of that pretty quickly and they went to the playground instead.  Zoë and Abby also decided after not too long that they wanted to go to the playground so we cut the skating short and played for a while.

Back at home Zoë and Abby were begging to bake so I let them make some chocolate chip cookies, mostly, on their own.  Abby worked on the dry ingredients while Zoë mixed the sugar, butter, and such.  They needed some help mixing with the electric mixer and then combining everything together, but somehow I still ended up with most of the clean up.


Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 24 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 24 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 14 days
Entry First Moments posted by Laura at 9:56 PM | Comments Comment

March 6th 2010

Sunny Play and Potluck

This morning Daddy took the pedals off of the bikes, as well as the 'training wheels' off of Enzo's little fisher price bike, for some more balance practice.  This time we had them go on our side street, so that they'd be able to coast a little on the (very) slight hill.  Doing it this way seemed to really help, both of the girls were at least attempting to balance.  Zoë was coasting for a good few seconds by the end of our practice.

Later on Grampy came over and brought his air pump and filled up the tires in both bikes.  We all went out for some more bike riding.  Each of the girls got two turns down and back up the road with Grampy helping, and two turns with Daddy.

Just before dinner time we packed up and Grampy joined us for a potluck that one of the families in our homeschooling group was hosting.  We made a spinach artichoke dip in the crockpot to bring.  I was excited to use the carrying case for the first time.  (It's the little things in life, right?)  Of course, when we first arrived the girls were too excited about running around with Iris, Greta and some of the other kids and wouldn't sit down to eat.  Finally, a little bit before the fire was started outside, we got the girls to sit and eat a little something.  Grampy followed Enzo around, as he was curious about everything around.  Chris got Zoë and Abby rounded up to get their shoes and coats on to go outside as all of the other older kids were heading out as well.  Grampy, Enzo, and I stayed inside for a while and then we too joined the group outside.

Enzo was getting tired by now, but instead of settling down to snooze in the ergo, he got into over-tired mode and was just cranky and all over the place.  At about 20 minutes to 8:00pm we started getting ready to go... unfortunately some of the girls other friends had just arrived and everyone was bummed that we were leaving.  I told them that we'd try to make it to the indoor park day on Wednesday and they'd get to hang out then.  As the girls admired the beautiful starry night, they said their good-bye's to Grampy and then we got home.  I got Enzo to sleep while Chris got the girls stuff done and to my surprise, when I came downstairs, the girls were all cozy on the couch with a movie!  They were happy to be snuggled up having a late night movie night.


Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 23 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 23 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 13 days
Entry News posted by Laura at 9:54 PM | Comments Comment

Home Depot Kid's Workshop - Rain Guage

It was a quick and easy build today.  Abby and Zoë were excited to see that they had some craft stuff ready for after the project too.  They like that kind of thing.   We started quickly as this project only required a few nails.  I did the glueing and helped Abby.  Don assisted Zoë with her project.  Five nails and a single screw to hold the rain guage on was all it took.  We were done in record time, and without any complications or errors.  We have been getting better at these projects.  After Home Depot we stopped by Market Basket for some supplies for the pot luck we planned on attending tonight.  Laura likes Market Basket for the free coffee while you shop.  The girls like the 5 cent bulk candy sample coin box, that they feel they need to feed.

Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 22 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 22 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 12 days
Entry Art posted by christopher at 10:41 AM | Comments Comment

March 5th 2010

Two-Wheeler Practice

We finally had some sunshine and warmer temps today so I decided to take the girls to the park to practice riding thier bikes without training wheels.  One of the bikes had a flat, so I took the training wheels off of the other bike and got Enzo into the ergo and off we went to the park.  It didn't take long for me to give up, though I did let each of the girls have a couple of turns trying.  Instead I decided to just let them run a bit in the park.

On the way home I was sure that I just wasn't going to be the person that would be able to work with the girls on this balancing act of riding a two-wheeler.  I got some suggestions though and have renewed hope that Zoë and Abby really will one day ride a bike with no training wheels.  And hopefully before Zoë's exasperated prediction of  "by the time we're 10".

Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 22 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 22 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 12 days
Entry News posted by Laura at 9:21 PM | Comments Comment

March 4th 2010

See You Later

Enzo just learned to sign "see you later" and it is so cute! You can go here to see the actual way to sign it (though it's a very slow example for those learning the language, it's a more fluid sign).  Enzo does more of a chicken wing and wrist twist combonation while attempting to say the phrase.  "Table" and "dirty" are two other newer signs he's been doing a lot lately.

We're working with him now on signing two or three word sentences.  Whereas the girls singed in sentences seemingly from the start, Enzo prefers a more short and to the point approach such as just signing "more" or "milk" or "please".

Another cute thing he's started doing, though not sign language it is sort of related because it's a gesture, is shrugging his shoulders, putting up his hands and saying "I don't know" in his cutie little toddler way.  If he is wanting something and doesn't know where it's at he'll come up to us and do this.  It never gets old.

Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 21 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 21 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 11 days
Entry Milestones posted by Laura at 9:24 PM | Comments Comment

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups (14 to 16-oz.) thinly sliced onions
2 tablespoons (about 6 cloves) coarsely chopped garlic
1 (12-oz.) box lite silken tofu
1-1/2 to 2 pounds broccoli florets
2 (14.5-oz.) cans vegetable broth
1/2 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh lemon juice to taste (optional)

Directions:
1) Heat oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add onions; cook covered, stirring occasionally until onions are caramelized. Remove onions to bender jar. Add garlic to skillet; cook until garlic is fragrant. Add to blender jar. Puree. Add tofu. Pulse to combine. Return to skillet.
2) Add broccoli, vegetable stock and water to skillet containing onion-tofu mixture. Bring to a simmer; cover and cook for 10 minutes. Transfer broccoli, in batches to a blender jar. Puree. Season to taste to with salt, pepper and lemon juice if using. I've found this recipe needs a good deal of salt. Yield: 6 servings.

source: http://www.oneperfectbite.blogspot.com

Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 21 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 21 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 11 days
Entry Recipes posted by Laura at 9:23 PM | Comments Comment

March 3rd 2010

Morning Play at the Valley's

After breakfast the kids and I got all ready to go hang out with Auntie Reanna and Cousin Elijah.  They will all be leaving for Hawaii early Friday morning so we won't see them for a couple of weeks.  We arrived and Alicia was there with Aurora as well.  I guess she had the same idea - entertain Elijah so that Reanna could pack.

The kids played until a little before lunch when we all got ready to leave - Reanna and Elijah needed to get to school.  Zoë and Abby helped clean up the mess that, mostly, the boys had made and we gave Daddy a call to ask him start boiling water for pasta and then we too were on our way.  Of course Enzo (and the girls really) wanted Auntie Reanna to buckle him into the car, as he'd been snuggling with her before it was time to go.  So, after Reanna got my kids in the car and I got Elijah into their car then we headed home.

Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 20 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 20 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 10 days
Entry News posted by Laura at 10:47 PM | Comments Comment

March 2nd 2010

Solo Family Swim

It seems like we may have figured out the perfect block of Family swim time at the Y.  They offer a few different choices throughout the day - some new times have been added since we last went - some being just half an hour and others being all the way up to an hour and a half.  Today we went during the 3:00-3:30 block, figuring that the kids don't really last all that much longer than half an hour anyway (especially Enzo, who's shivering and ready to get out after 20 minutes at the most).

We literally had the pool to ourselves.  The Y had lost power during the storm, which means that the heater for the pool wasn't working, so the water isn't as warm as it's supposed to be - it's still slowly working up to temp. - , but it wasn't all that bad.  Enzo was chilly though, as he's not moving a whole lot, and just wanted to sit on the side and play with the toys.  He was ready to get out probably 10 minutes after getting in, so Chris took him and tried to keep him occupied for at least a little longer.  I think he'd probably like it better if he could touch and just mill around in the water with some toys, but hopefully we can work him up to wanting to kick around like he does in the tub.

Not only was this a nice time to go for empty locker room and pool reasons, but it was nice to let Enzo have his full nap at the usual time, us to get a snack a little bit before swim time, and then to have time to finish up anything that needed to be done for dinner. (Tonight it was making the cornbread to go with the black bean soup, which had been cooking in the crock-pot).  I think we may try to get there at this time for the majority of our swims.

Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 19 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 19 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 9 days
Entry News posted by Laura at 8:25 PM | Comments Comment

Enzo's First Poop in the Potty

Enzo finally told me before he pooped today and I could see him just starting to grunt.  It took a little coaxing to get him to sit on the potty (he ran to Chris, who was on the couch), but offering blowing bubbles did the trick.  He sat and pushed his poo out and then continued to blow bubbles for another minute or two.  When he got up we all cheered and made a really big deal about it.

The praising continued as he and I went up to the bathroom to dump his poo in the toilet and wave it good-bye as it got flushed away.  In retrospect, I can't believe I didn't photo it (you know us, we document everything) but I guess we were just caught up in the moment.


Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 18 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 18 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 8 days
Entry First Moments posted by Laura at 10:46 AM | Comments Comments ( 1 )

Comments:

Comments March 7, 2010 07:05:04 PM posted by Nonna
Enzo..that is GREAT!! xxoo

March 1st 2010

Back to the Y

We've really slacked the past couple of months with going to the Y.  January we just didn't go, no excuses really.  February was full of sickness so we really weren't motivated to go out and swim.  We decided that this was the month we were going to get back into the habit of going there daily.  Reading about all of the swimming the Gaver cousins have been up to was a good motivator. :)  Zoë and Abby were so excited and kept reminding us that we would be going swimming today.  Enzo even has some new swim trunks to wear that Auntie Reanna found him at the fill-a-bag sale, which I missed due to sickness.  They have a reusable swim diaper built into the swim trunks, so they're quite handy.

We got some carrot ginger soup in our bellies and then quickly got ready to make it to the 5:30 - 7:00pm swim.  Even though the girls and I put our suits on under out clothes at home, and I get their hair conditioned and tied back - swim cap ready - it still seems to take us forever to get set and out to the pool.  Chris is forever baffled at how it can take us so long.  The girls don't need a lot of help, but I do have to remind them of this that or the other, as well as focus their attention on what they're supposed to be doing instead of the goings-on of the locker room.  I prefer to have things organized and ready to make our after pool time easier (Chris will roll his eyes here) and I also have to get Enzo all ready.  I guess I need to figure out some ways to cut our locker room time down - because after swimming is worse. :)  Either that or Chris just needs to learn to deal with our pokyness.  (Besides, soon enough Enzo will be going into the locker room with Daddy and that should even us up a little - even if we are three girls vs. two boys)




Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 18 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 18 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 8 days
Entry News posted by Laura at 7:46 PM | Comments Comments ( 1 )

Comments:

Comments March 7, 2010 07:00:37 PM posted by Nonna
Yes, Enzo should go with Chris,,,then he wouldn't have to wait so lomg for you to come out!!

Foe Turned Friend

We've introduced Jake before.  Now he's being re-introduced to you as Enzo's new best pal.  I kid you not, Enzo does not want to be without Jake for the past two days.  Chris has been trying to warm Enzo up to Jake, kissing him goodnight/goodmorning as they pass him on the stairs.

Yesterday Chris asked Enzo if he wanted to sleep with Jake - Enzo's never wanted to sleep with any sort of snuggly no matter how fond of it he is in the daytime, as long as he has my hair and some warm milk, that's all he cares about at bed time - and Enzo shook his head yes.  Lo and behold, come bed time, Enzo insisted that we bring Jake upstairs with us.  After Jake went off, "got angry" as we refer to it, twice I tried telling Enzo that I'd put Jake to go night night in the playpen, but Enzo wouldn't have it.  He wanted to have Jake right there in his arms.  I'm not fully convinced that it isn't a case of "... keep your enemies closer" and that he feels better knowing exactly where Jake is, but he wanted his arm around Jake, patting him.  After a little bit of nursing he even turned over and just wanted me to pat his back with Jake and he fell asleep.  Chris came up with the camera, but by this time Enzo had turned over, now resting his back on Jake.

Today at nap time, after carrying Jake around all morning, Enzo again insisted on taking Jake up.  He fell asleep holding on to Jake so I put him down in the playpen just like that, and there he slept with his arm around Jake.  I managed to get a few pictures of this too, though Jake's face was covered by Enzo's girraffe blanket/mat type thing (we use it as a pillow cover, since it's much softer than the case on his travel size pillow).  Enzo did wake up during nap and sound a bit scared over the monitor, rather than just upset, but I went up and got him back to sleep and he finished out a nice long nap.


Abby @ 6 years, 2 months, 17 days
Zoë @ 6 years, 2 months, 17 days
Enzo @ 1 year, 5 months, 7 days
Entry News posted by Laura at 3:17 PM | Comments Comments ( 1 )

Comments:

Comments March 3, 2010 08:35:10 AM posted by Celeste A. C. Gaver
Maybe Enzo figures that if Jake can guard the stairs during his waking hours, he can guard Enzo during his sleeping hours!  No one would bother a baby and a gorilla, right?!


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