Updating The Blog

Now that I'm finally attempting to update this blog, I'm going to try to fill in the gap a little - I haven't posted anything for over a year, so I'm going to start going through my old journal entries* and then I'll copy and paste any fun stories that I find onto the blog.

I'm going to change the dates of each post to match the date that it was actually written, so that it will all make sense in the archives. So don't be surprised if all of a sudden lots of new posts start showing up that say they were posted sometime last year (I know it's a little sneaky to pretend that I've been posting all along, but hey, it's my blog, right?)

*When I say "journal entries", I actually mean old emails/letters that I have written to my family and then saved in a big Word document that I call my journal. That's about as close to journal writing as I get these days. So don't worry - they aren't really "dear diary" sort of entries.

Sign Language

Tristan and Rachel have decided to only use sign language when answering 'yes' or 'no'. I don't know how Tristan learned it, but one day he just started doing it. Then out of the blue, Rachel became a mute answerer, too: I asked her a question and heard no answer. I turned around, and there she was, solemnly staring at me, signing 'no'. Now they both do it all the time. They never forget. Actually, Rachel sometimes forgets, but then she has me ask the question again, and she answers in sign language. I have learned that I need to be facing them when I ask them something, or else I think they're ignoring me. Weirdos.

Update: After I wrote this, Rachel decided to make up a new sign. She asked me what the sign was for 'you're welcome', and upon hearing that I didn't know it, she promptly made up her own sign. It's hard to describe, but it involves putting both arms up kind of like chicken wings and then waggling them up and down. It almost looks like a legitimate sign. Anyway, I know at least she's considering it legitimate, because first thing this morning I thanked her for something, and sure enough, I received the chicken sign.

Flag Football

Tristan has had such a fun time playing flag football this year. He's finished with all the regular games now, but they'll start the playoffs in a few weeks.

I didn't take a lot of pictures of him while he was playing because I was trying to videotape most of the games, and it was hard to take pictures at the same time. Here are some of the pictures I took over the course of the season. When he's holding up his fingers, that's to show how many flags he pulled that game:

I did take lots of pictures of the other kids (Oliver, Rachel, and Elizabeth) playing around at Tristan's games. We usually had to get to the games pretty early for warmups, so it was nice when there was a playground near the field for the kids to play on while we waited for the game to start. If the game was far away and we didn't have time to eat before we left, sometimes we dropped Daniel and Tristan off to warm-up and then we went to breakfast. The kids loved that.

Here is a little highlight video of Tristan pulling flags. I made it after the first two games, so it is very, very short. I'll update this with a longer one once I upload the action from all of his games.

Rachel's Idea of a Great Outfit

I brought in a box of winter clothes from the garage and let Rachel sort through them. This is what she came up with to wear today.

She Doesn't Ask for Much

I was tucking in my precious 3-year old for her nap the other day, being very tender and loving and kind, and this is what happened:

Me: I sure love you a lot.

Rachel (looking up at me sweetly, surely about to say how much she loves me back): Mom, when are you going to start being REALLY nice to me?

Me: What??? What do you mean? What things would I do if I was REALLY nice to you?

Rachel: You know - you would give me lots of ice-cream and buy me a new bed and all that stuff.

Me: ?????

Me: Since when do you need a new bed? You already have two beds in your room.

End of conversation. The mom is left wondering what the heck 'all that stuff' is that she's supposed to be buying, and what on earth made 3-year old think she needed a new bed. The 3-year old is left in her unsatisfactory bed, probably wishing she could somehow trade in for a mom who was REALLY nice.

I just love these kinds of meaningful heart-to-heart conversations.

Rachel's Song

Rachel found an old hymn book that she loves to carry around. She says it has lots of special songs in it, and she loves to sing these made-up songs while pretending to read from the book.

I call this song "Wishful Thinking" - Rachel goes on and on about how perfect her life is: everyone loves her so much and wants to sit by her in the car, the family goes to McDonalds and eats beautiful pink ice-cream, she has a pink bed and a red bed, Mom lets her turn on her pink lamp in her room, Lizzy is so nice to her and always gives her lots of kisses when she hurts her every day (this part is definitely wishful thinking - Lizzy is not very nice to Rachel), she gets banana splits and cake for snack time, etc., etc.

It's obvious from the raw talent shown here that Rachel is going to have a great future in the music industry.

Art Lessons

Oliver teaching Rachel how to draw a jack-o-lantern. They were both taking it very seriously.