Before It's 2011

It took me a few days, but I think I've recovered from the hectic holidays and I wanted to post about Christmas before it's Valentine's Day.  I say that because my tree is down and the hearts are up...I have a thing for the month of February!  Hint, hint! 

We started Christmas Eve Day at our house with some sledding and snowmobiling.  Then I served lunch for everyone and looking at this picture, it looks like I just served dip.  Somewhere in that dip-covered claw is a carrot, I think.

Next, I tortured everyone with pictures.  Here are Maija, Lexi, Ella, and Emma humoring me in front of the tree.

Then it was me and the girls.

Followed by my favorite siblings!  Pete was apparently practicing for his next mug shot and Maija was taking notice...

Finally, the family of 6 shot! 

So, we opened presents.  We timed it and it took about 45 minutes.  Then came a knock at the door.  Well, I'll be darned...SANTA!!  The funniest thing was Maija's reaction.  She threw that blanket over her head so fast and she stayed covered the whole time.  She finally came out of hiding after he left sweating and exhausted from shear terror. 

Next, was dinner at Papa Al and Jo's house.  Present opening took even less time as someone decided that the tornado-style of package opening would be best.  Lexi was just happy as a clam with her stocking of candy.

O.K. and here's a cuter picture of Blanket, I mean, Maija.

Christmas Morning, the older, more anxious sisters discovered a pretty sweet kitchen and a Wii with a "Just Dance" game to rock out to.  I must note that it looks like Ella and Emma attempted to put on all of their new clothes, jammies, and socks and wore them to bed.

We spent the morning having breakfast and playing the Wii and then Auntie Jen thought it would be a good idea to get them all cranked up to go to Tower for the Lamppa get-together.

There were more presents and more good laughs.  And when it's Christmas, things like eating a whole plate of cookies is more than acceptable! 

It was another wonderful Christmas Holiday!  We are so blessed to spend it with so many of our relatives in the area.  What more could we ask for?

A Picture of Grace

Alright...a mom can exaggerate a little, right??  She's only 6 and has been taking dance for all of 3 months, but still...

She looked beautiful and I was one proud mama while I got to observe Ella's dance class for the first time.

She was once just a peanut in my arms...

And here she is now discovering things she enjoys doing and that she's good at...

And when I asked her, afterwards, if she was nervous, she looked at me a little confused and said, "No, why would I be nervous?"

A beautiful ballerina with nerves of steel!!  So proud to call her MINE!

Grocery Store Gawking

Josh has been pheasant hunting in Montana since last Wednesday.  Livin' the dream, I like to say!!  So, yesterday we HAD to get groceries because we had NOTHING to eat.  And because of the slim-pickings, we had eaten out Tuesday night before Josh left.  Thursday we dined at McDonald's after Ella had dance.  Friday, I ordered some pizzas.  It was getting ridiculous. 

So, I chose Saturday late-morning to do grocery shopping with the 4 Littles.  Wouldn't you?????  When we got in the store, I quickly realized that it was Sample Day or something.  There was free samples at every corner!  JACKPOT!  (It's the little things in life nowadays that I get excited about.)  So, the kids feasted on crackers and dip, potica, cookies, caramel apple pie.  They were good and normally they are pretty good.  But what's funny about the grocery store is the number of times I am stopped by strangers who ask if they are all mine.  Maybe it's because my cart is full of jackets and bodies and bags and not groceries.  And as I stand there sweating from pushing the cart around (because of course, we need the ginormous car cart that seats 4), it's really nice to hear a compliment like, "They are being so good!" or "They're all so beautiful!" or "I bet they're a lot of fun!" 

It reminds me that yes, they are being really good.  Yes, I am so very fortunate to have 4 healthy, beautiful girls.  And yes, they are fun and they do bring a lot of joy to my life.  Sometimes you need a stranger to remind you of your blessings when you're sweating and would rather be any place else!

Ella and her cat-like ears heard 6 compliments yesterday.  She said I should start keeping track with a marble jar.

And one lady who I talked to had raised 5 daughters and 1 son.  She told me I should really consider buying stock in feminine hygiene products.  She was very serious and said she wished she had with her family.  Sometimes I get strange advice instead of a compliment....

'Tis the Season To Be Busy

Lots of holiday fun this past weekend.  Friday night, I took Emma to Duluth's Christmas City of the North parade.  (Ella was at her 1st birthday-slumber party at the Coates Hotel and the twins stayed home with Daddy.)  We went with Becca and Jordan as well. 

See a year ago, I took Ella and Emma to the parade and the very 1st group is members of  the 148th Fighter Wing and the 3 of us agreed that we would love to see Uncle Pete marching with his group.  So he volunteered to march this year because he is such a GREAT uncle.  (And then Ella bailed on him for a better offer.  Geesh!  Stood up by a 6-year old.  Sorry Uncle Pete!)  So, anyway, we braved the bitter cold winds to applaud our uncle, hear "Jingle Bells" played over and over by numerous bands, and just before we hit dangerous frostbite temperatures, we waved to Santa at the very end of the parade.  It was fun and it's becoming one of my favorite traditions with the kids!

 

Our favorite member of the 148th Fighter Wing--
Thank you Uncle Pete for serving our country!



One good thing with bundling kids is they can't get away very quick! 
Wherever they plop down is where they are stuck!



Saturday, Ella got home from her slumber party and we all got to experience the consequences of her not getting proper sleep.  Oh the joy...fortunately, she had a field trip with her Daisy group making Christmas wreaths in Embarrass.  So she got to mellow out--out in nature.   

Ella (front and center) and her Daisy Troop.

We ended the weekend with a Family Day at the Festival of Trees.  Grandma Ann helped me out as Josh was still trying to score a monster buck.  Ella and Emma talked with Santa for a bit.  Ella earned some brownie points by wearing her "Santa Rocks" shirt.  The Big Man noticed her efforts.  Lexi and Maija climbed me like a tree and held on for dear life.  We stood at a safe 50 foot distance from that scary man dressed in red and his even more scary looking wife.  Then we frosted and sprinkled some cookies, tattooed our faces, and decorated picture frames.

If you look closely, you can see Lexi, Maija, and me in the WAY distance!

Now we prepare to host Thanksgiving on Thursday and consider participating in the madness of Black Friday.  I LOVE this time of year!



Lexi and Maija pouring over the toy catologs. 
It's a riot listening to them jibber-jabber about what's for sale!



My 37-Year Old Gift

Today is my big sister, Jen's birthday.  (I can just hear her saying, "Is that a fat joke?") 

And she is my best friend.

Growing up, I didn't always realize the gift of having an older sister.  Growing up, I probably had other adjectives to describe my older sister.  She and I are 27 months apart exactly the same as my Ella and Emma. 

But as I've grown up, she has become someone I turn to for EVERYTHING.  And when you have someone as special as she is, she is ALWAYS there.  Need a laugh, she's got a bad joke.  Need to vent, she knows how to listen.  Need advice, she can make up some good stuff.  Need a retreat, her house is always open.  Need some help with the kids or the house, she rolls up her sleeves and gets to work.  Need some love, she gives great hugs.

I have the best sister in the world (and I'm not just trying to get an extra Christmas present out of her)!!  And what's even better than that is that my 4 girls have an auntie who is involved and who loves them to the moon and back. 

I wish her the BEST year of her life! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

LOVE YOU AND HUGS!!!!

Aren't you glad that you're the older, more mature one of us???

They got candy--the rest is just details!!

I've been known to get caught up in the details of things.  Things like paint colors (I often don't get it right the first time.), accessorizing our house, my kids' birthday parties, what color plates should I get, will they coordinate with the cake.  I, unfortunately, could go on and on.  So holidays are no different.  There are LOTS of details that I can obsess over when it comes to the holidays.

So this Halloween, Ella chose to dress up as the Tooth Fairy which I found cute since she currently has so few teeth.  We really just used dress-up items we already had and I added a few tooth items to her costume.  Emma wanted to be Batman.  She wanted to be the blue Batman, not the black Batman, and she didn't want a costume with built-in muscles.  This was impossible to find, so she got a black Batgirl costume.  Lastly, the twins...and when you have twins, there is this unspoken, unwritten rule that until they are old enough to have an opinion, their Halloween costumes must coordinate, go together, compliment one another, or all of the above.  It's weird, I know.  So a few weeks prior to the big day, I came up with the idea of one being a chicken and the other being an egg.  Get it?  Which one came first?

I'm not big on "sewing" costumes--I like to pin, glue, and make-it-work long enough to trick-or-treat in.  And it better not be too windy because I do not allow for 30 mph wind gusts in my construction.  So, I "made" my chicken and egg costume and I thought they were pretty darn cute.

The problem with being detail-orientated is that when you throw 4 kids in the mix, my rose-colored "vision" is often smeared with boogers and tears.  Obstacle #1:  Maintain cute costume while bundling the child up in layers for warmth.  Not everyone appreciates wearing so many layers that they can no longer bend.
Obstacle #2:  What to do when 2-year old suddenly refuses to wear assigned costume.  Maija was not feeling well and did not want to be the chicken.  (Lexi would later step up and wear the chicken outfit.)  Obstacle #3:  Handling frustration when you realize you forgot to bring the EGG COSTUME!!!!  We drove into town and got ready at Davis and Laura's house.  It was there that Josh and I realized we FORGOT the EGG!!!!  Maija trick-or-treated dressed as herself.  Obstacle #4:  Attempting to capture these wonderful memories and you see that your camera batteries are dead.  Yup, I know...God is trying to tell me something.

Bottom line, they got candy.  And I am learning to let go of some of the less important details.  

Ella, the tooth-less Tooth Fairy

Here's the only shot I have of Batman and Maija's scary costume!

Lexi, my chicken.  And yes, she did come first!

And the egg...maybe it will be debuted next year!





Pumpkin Patch

Today was our annual trip to the Nordic Ridge Pumpkin Patch in Bovey.  We were joined by Auntie Becca and Jordan who were newbies to the "Patch".  And actually, so were Lexi and Maija.  We were graced with a gorgeous day and when we arrived it was quiet with very few cars in the parking lot.  I guess it was quiet until we showed up.  Like I said in my last post, I just never know what I'm going to be served with the twins.  And today for some reason, being unfamiliar with the Pumpkin Patch and their surroundings, they BOTH wanted to be carried by me.  They wanted so very desperately to be carried.  And the more I refused, the louder they screamed.  So this family-friendly, peaceful setting was quickly turned into the Field of Screams.  Blood-curdling screams.  Screams that scared the scarecrows.  But what are you going to do?  We got through it and things improved.  They've got to, right??

So here's some proof that we DID, in fact, have a good time:

Maija and Lexi conquering the haystack!

Here's Maija not enjoying the smell of the geese, I guess!

Ella coming down the tunnel slide.

Lexi looking confident in her choice of pumpkin.

Becca and Jordan



I HAD to include this picture even though
Becca is probably going to yell at me!
Doesn't it illustrate just how far moms will go
to bring pure joy to their children's lives?
She's 6 months pregnant and her face is saying,
"THIS IS SO NOT FUN!!"
But she's doing it for that HUGE smile on her little boy's face.
I love this picture!





Time Flies

I really haven't forgotten about my promise to journal regularly.  It's just that life has been pretty low-key lately.  So it won't take long to re-cap the last few weeks!  Emma is loving preschool.  We haven't had any hesitations about going.  She does get really quiet when we arrive and she has grown fond of one teacher who holds her hand each time as they walk to their classroom.  Ella has been busy with dance and Daisies and this past Tuesday, Josh and I went to her conference at school.  She is doing amazing in reading and math with high scores on daily work and some of the standardized tests.  Her teacher said that she is also very quiet, but they're working on it.  Ella also had tubes put in her ears yesterday.  She's been having numerous ear infections and complaints about ear pain.  Surgery went well and I was really impressed with how brave she was.  A little Tylenol and a McDonald's Happy Meal and we were good to go!  Lexi and Maija (I know I shouldn't always group them together!) are just hanging out being 2-year olds.  Sometimes life for them is good and silly and easy-going; other times, it's whiney, cranky, and down-right miserable.  I just never know!

I did get to leave town a couple of weekends ago.  I took Ella and Emma along with Grandma Ann to the cities.  The purpose of the trip was to go to Ikea and get Ella some furniture for her new room.  So shop we did and her room looks great with a set of shelves, a desk, and a dresser.  The girls also suckered me into the Build-a-Bear workshop.  They had a blast designing their bears.  We stayed at a nice hotel, did some swimming, met up with Auntie Jen, rode some rides at the Mall of America.  I'll have to post some pics of the new room and the bears!

I am grateful for this MEA break...Pumpkin Patch tomorrow with Becca and Jordan...celebrating Uncle Pete's birthday on Sunday.  I should have much more exciting posts and pictures!  Then again, sometimes no news is good news!

Growing Pains

There seems to be a lot of focus on the 1st born...she's 1st!  First, at just about everything.  The younger siblings, for awhile, seem to just be going along for the ride until it's their turn.  Well, this week, it was Emma's turn.  She started pre-school.  She had been against the idea of school since I planted the seed in her head early this summer.  I will never forget when she was outside wearing her new school shoes and purposely dragging them through the dirt.  I had been telling her that these shoes were for school and had to stay clean.  So when I told her to stop getting them dirty, she looked at me with a sly smile and said, "Well, if I get them dirty, I don't have to go to school!"  And then I thinked she actually winked at me as if to say, "Gotcha, Mom...now what are you going to do?" 

So her big day was on Tuesday and to make a long story short, there were tears.  I had to force her to get dress.  I had to carry her to the car.  I had to carry her into school.  The teacher had to carry her backpack and take her by the hand.  Emma just looked back at me the whole time and cried.  And let me add, that I had the ONLY crier!!!!!  Why ME????  Ella liked to be the solo crier, too!!!!  I had several parents come up to me after the kids left and tell me that that just about broke their hearts.  Well, you can just imagine my own heart then. 

At times, we want these little people to be so brave and grown-up.  Other times, we tell them to stop growing so quickly.  How confusing for them. 

Well, Emma had a note from the teacher saying she snapped out of it within minutes of class starting and ended up having a really good day.  Today, her 2nd day of school, went much better.  She gladly got ready for school and just teared up when I was leaving.  I'm proud of her, though.  She did it on her own even though she really didn't want to.  Growing up isn't easy...especially when you're only 4!

A Great Day to be a SAHM

I have been a stay-at-home mom, a.k.a. SAHM, since Ella was born.  Every year, we look at our funds and say, "How do we make it?"  Somehow, someway, by luck, by chance, by bargain shopping, I don't know, but we have made it.  To be honest, this was the first school year I found myself looking through the employment section of the newspaper.  Could I be ready to get back out there in the "real world"?  Updating my resume will wait a few more years as I know I will stay home until the twins start school and I will make sure to not take this time for granted.  And it's days like today when I am so grateful for the position of SAHM.  It was beautiful and calm and I got to spend it in the company of some little ladies.

Emma, Maija, and Lexi



I had Ella convinced that a squirrel took this picture!



 

Emma said this looked like a slide.



Have Faith

I am Catholic.  Josh is Lutheran.  My mom was Catholic.  She was a Marquette School graduate and not only did she "know" her religion, but she also had a wonderful, loving relationship with God.  She always maintained a strong faith and it helped her through many difficult times.  However, she was very quiet about it.  My dad is Lutheran and his position on religion remains a mystery.  He entered into a Catholic Church only when necessary...baptisms, First Communions, confirmations, maybe a wedding or two.  He stayed home during all the Christmas Eve masses to "guard the presents".  Growing up, I did Sunday School, Wednesday night religious education classes, confessions, retreats, and I went to church every weekend with my mom and siblings.  I know all the prayers said throughout mass.  I know the more "popular" Bible stories.  But I never truly understood... As a family, we never openly talked about God, or prayer, or what this all means.  Looking back, I feel that I was completely going through the motions. 

And now I have 4 children who I have chosen to raise Catholic and I want to do a better job in helping them develop a relationship, an understanding, a true faith in and love for God.  It's a difficult position to be in when I feel like I have so much learning to do myself.  Ella and I are having some wonderful discussions and she is asking questions that I don't have the answers to...right now, but I hope to get her the answers she needs to understand.

It's hard to admit your weaknesses and your short-comings, but I believe it's the first step in making a change.  So I pray for guidance as I take this journey with my 4 blessings in raising them up!

Fall Beauties

                                                                                               

Someday, I would love to own a nice camera and take some photography classes.  I am mesmerized by the work of some professionals and amateurs out there.  For now, I will pretend.  Last year, I spent some time photographing each child and I hung the best ones on the wall.  Well, it's been a year and it's time to update the pictures and attempt to capture their beauty in a single snapshot!  Some are more cooperative than others and one has a snotty cold so her picture hasn't been taken yet.

                                                                                             

Our Year In Review 2009-2010

Click here to view this photo book larger

Watch What You Say

This blog may turn into a confessional for all those "mom" mistakes I am going to make.  For example, I may swear in front of my sweet, innocent babies.  I'm not proud of it, but @*it happens, and golly-gee, it might happen again.  Well, Lexi and Maija, at the ripe old age of 2, have begun to repeat my less-than lady-like words.  But I've got to admit, when I hear Maija say, "Damnit, Lexi!", it's kinda funny.  I repeat, I'm not proud of my behavior.  Another thing I like to say is, "Seriously, _________!"  Fill in the blank with any child's name.  I often say this in disgust when whoever is throwing a temper tantrum or she is over-reacting about something ridiculous.  So, today, I had the twins in Target and I had purchased a bag of candy.  Well, Lexi didn't want to wait the 3 more minutes until we got to the van to have it.  She wanted it now, actually, she wanted it yesterday.  So there was crying, and yelling, and falling over...and my sweet Maija, sitting calmly in the cart, says in her little, 2-year old voice, "Serious, Lexi!"  I laughed myself right out of the store!!

Finally!

I have been a mom for 6 years...well, actually 6 1/2 if you're talking to Ella, and I have made numerous attempts at journals for my children to read when I am no longer around.  I am hoping this route will FINALLY stick! 

I chose the name for this blog for several different reasons.  First, Ella, Emma, Lexi, and Maija together make up the 4 leaves of my lucky 4-leaf clover, and a 4-leaf clover is hard to come by--once you find one, you hold onto it dearly.  I am blessed to have 4 healthy daughters and I will forever treasure these beautiful girls.  Second, the 4 leaves of the clover stand for faith, hope, love, and luck.  And when raising 4 kids, who doesn't need all 4 of those in every day?? 

I hope you, Ella, Emma, Lexi, and Maija (when you're old enough to type in a web address) enjoy and "treasure" all that is to be blogged about in the days, weeks, months to come.  And for anyone else who comes along on my journey, thanks for reading!!