A New Art Medium

By now, you all know how much Emily loves to draw pictures. Well, we have moved on to a new medium - chalk. I recently purchased two individual sized slate boards. Emily was so excited to be able to do a chalk drawing on both her board and the one I bought for Matthew (two boards to keep the peace and have no fighting over who gets to draw when). These are the pictures she made. Emily's is an under the sea "underwater scape" (well I can't say landscape, they aren't on land). She was most proud of her jellyfish. For Matthew, she drew a train. Matthew is but of course the engineer. I love how much she enjoys creating and drawing some pretty simple and sometimes complicated but equally amazing pictures.

Just Wait and See

On and off, we will ask Matthew and Emily what they want to be when they grow up. At first, Matt was telling us a fireman but there has been a recent twist to his response. Matthew now tells us he wants to be a fireman and an army man. I think the army man comes from our receiving from a friend a bag of army men for Matt to play with. Recently, I have found these men out of their bag and all over his room - sometimes positioned on his toy cars, trucks and fire apparatus. We've been telling him that he can be both if he wants to be. I love asking them this question because you can see what their exposure has been by either hearing and/or seeing of what people do each day as a career. Emily still is in the Power Ranger stage for her career although I did ask her what she would be if she couldn't be a Power Ranger and she said "a decorator". I asked her what kind of decorator and she said "a cake decorator". Can you tell she just recently watched an episode of "Ace of Cakes" on the Food Network? Thanks Duff for a whole new career path for Emily.

Revisiting the Past

This picture was taken in December 2007. After Christmas, we went on a short family trip before Dave's busy season at work started. We took Matt to see some of his first "real" trains (yes, he's seen daddy's work train but these are different) - I guess this trip is what started his immense love/addiction of trains. What I love most about this picture is the way Matt is looking at the train and how the steam, that is being emitted, surrounds the front of the engine - you have to love the Christmas wreath too. It looks like a scene out of a movie. I'm sure this year will consist of more train visits whether it be to see the big engines or the models trains. Either way I know Matthew will be happy.

Art 101

Let Emily's animal exhibition continue. Here are her giraffes. You have to love their long necks and smiling faces. She even included a tree that they can feast on if they get hungry. The only thing Emily omitted from her drawing were their brown spots. Maybe next time.

Revisiting the Past

These pictures were taken in February 2007. We had a lot of snow that had turned to ice. Emily and I made it our job to go out and move the ice pile that formed on the one side of our driveway. The ice was so thick we had to use a garden shovel to break off chunks and carry them away. Here Emily is imitating mommy's removal method the only difference is that mommy never fell.

A Sign of Things to Come

Matt loves his big sister Emily and loves playing with her too. On the days he is home from school, one of the ways I've been able to get him to go in for a nap is by telling him that when he gets up Emily will be home. Now, he even tells me when I say it is nap time, "when I get up I see Emme". Emily loves her brother, they get along great most of the time. There are times however when she wants her space and doesn't want him around. Usually when she is feeling this way, Matt is just the opposite and "really" wants to play with her. The other day I heard him knocking on her door saying "Emme, I come in and play?" Of course, she wasn't in the mood and told him so. Matt got upset because he wanted her. After a little insisting, Matt gave up. Later that night, when I went in Emily's room, I found this newly made sign on her desk. I guess she had put it up on her door when Matt was wanting to play. I love how she use me instead of my. I guess this is a sign of things to come. Emily will be wanting her space. Already when Matt wants to watch his mighty machine DVDs Emily tells him she doesn't want to watch those she is a girl. Their gender differences are starting to be vocalize now. The good thing is that 90% of the time these two get along great - whether playing together or on their own.

Art 101

Recently when Emily was home sick from school, she started to compile her very own animal book. The book has drawing of animals all created by Emily. This is one of my favorites - the elephant. I love how long it's legs are and what a small body it has. I was surprise at how well she drew the head, ears and even remember the tusks. She made sure that the elephant was in its proper surroundings with a bright sun and a coconut tree. Great work Emily!

Dress Up Time

This getup is courtesy of daddy. The one afternoon Dave decided to go through his clothes and Matt was helping -well, as much as a 3 1/2 year old can help. Matt came downstairs first in a pair of Dave's socks - which of course came up to Matt's knees. Then, Matt showed up in this "outfit". These are a pair of Dave's gym shorts -Matt is still wearing the socks underneath. The shorts kept falling down on Matt so Dave took the inside tie and made a loop to go around his neck so they would stay up. Once downstairs, Matt put on a little show for us. It was hilarious. This was the final stance in his performance. I can't decide if he looks like a hip hop star or a martial arts master.

They'll Sleep When and Where They Want

This past Saturday we had one of our "snow storms" here in NJ. Dave did some morning errands alone (still dry at that time) and then we all headed out to do a few together - yes, when the snow started. It took us some time to get the things we wanted to done, and the snow compounded that by slowing us down a little. By the time we got home, it was close 4 p.m., so Dave and I decided putting Matt down for his nap so late would probably lead to either a very cranky shortened nap wake up or not wanting to go to sleep at night. Emily decided she need to rest, so she settled in on her bed and fell asleep (she was still recovering from being sick) and I went up to read for a while. The "boys" stayed downstairs watching TV and playing. Some time later (probably 45 mins.), Dave came upstairs and told me that Matt had gone to sleep anyway...where?...on his bedroom floor. I came downstairs and this is what I found. He was so peaceful on the floor we decided not to move him. It's cute how he brought both his "comfort" caterpillars down off his bed in order to sleep - he sleeps with them at nap (only at home) and night. It was almost like he fell asleep amidst playing. Let me tell you, this boy did not want to wake up. We tried three times and all three times he fell back to sleep. One of our errands for the day was renting family movies for us to watch that night and thank goodness we did because both kids' naps basically hampered with normal bed time. I think they finally went to bed at 11 p.m. I was willing to forfeit an early night sleep for these cute pictures and we saw the cutest movie together - "Horton Hears a Who."

Anything "Fire" is Cool

Matthew was completely awestruck by this gingerbread firehouse and truck displayed in the children's area of the NYC Botanical Gardens. This gingerbread house was amazing and, of course, created by a professional bakery. Thank goodness they had the foresight to enclose it in glass, if not I am sure Matt would have tried to take it home with him (at least the firetruck). At one point when we were in the children's educational/play building where the gingerbread exhibit was held, we couldn't locate Matt but knew we didn't have to go to far just back to the firehouse. He had made a beeline right back to it while our backs were turned. You can't keep him away from anything fire related - just like his daddy. I just hope he doesn't expect us to be making one of these at home next year for Christmas.

A Beautiful Sight

We have been hearing for several years now about the train exhibit that is created for the holidays at the NYC Botanical Gardens. This seemed to be the year of the train for Matthew. First, we saw them at an exhibit at NYC's Grand Central and then a small town exhibit in Bethlehem, PA while on a mini vacation after Christmas. Matt's excitement about trains continues to grow at each new exhibit. So, it only seemed appropriate to take him the show at the Garden - which also had an appearance by Thomas the Train. We didn't really know what to expect or what we would actually see. What we did see was spectacular. The exhibit consists of trains going through the different areas of NYC and highlighting their area landmarks. The buildings are constructed of bark and other organic materials. It was so amazing looking at all the detail and artistry of these pieces and then of course trains were circling through the areas too- absolutely amazing. If you are ever in NY at Christmas time, this is a must see in my book. Because it was so beautiful and blog space is limited, I created a photo album from our outing on my Facebook page. Enjoy!

Meltdown before Bliss

We took Matthew to see Thomas the Train Engine at the NY Botanical Gardens Train Exhibit this year. He was getting over being a sick (he had a fever the night of New Year's day but was cleared as okay by the doctor on Friday - the show was Saturday). We think due to sickness and of course the time being right smack dab in the middle of nap time that we has the "pleasure" of experiencing a meltdown in the waiting line. It didn't help that it was a 45 minute wait in the line either. We were determined though to stick it out and see Thomas, tears and all. Matt was also a little peeved that I kept taking pictures of him but I just had to document his meltdown for future "blackmail" purposes. His mood changed dramatically when we made it to the front of the line and could see Thomas through the doorway. The sad part was our visit with Thomas lasted about a good 5 minutes (and you couldn't even climb on him). It was worth the wait tears and all.

Picture from the Past

This picture was taken of Emily in January of 2006. The reason I chose this picture is that this is a time when Emily was a little sick - kind of reminiscent of this week. It was her first time of suffering with the knowledge of how a stuffy nose actually feels. My wonderful neighbor was watching the kids during the morning, so I could do errands alone, when that little "ouchie" on Emily's nose was created. Emily decided that in order to get the stuffiness out of her nose she would rub the outside of her nose on the carpet - she wasn't aware of the whole nose blowing method. My neighbor said I saw her do it once (rubbing her face on the carpet) and wasn't sure what she was up to, then she did it again much rougher. Well, Emily ended up with rug burn on her nose. My poor neighbor was mortified that Emily hurt herself in her care and that she didn't understand what she was doing until the damage was done. I reassured her that all was okay....even after she hurt her nose, Emily still tried this "remedy"one or two more times in my presence before she learned her lesson. Thankfully there are no permanent scars from her "self-healing method". We joked that she was trying to look like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer seeing this happened just after Christmas. To this day, Emily still has not mastered the nose blowing technique but thankfully she has never resorted to the rug burned nose method again.

Back to "Normal" - Art 101

Sorry that I've been not keeping up with the blog but if you've read my last entry and have been checking on Facebook you'll see that I have been being keeping up with my motherly nursing duties. Emily has been home sick all week (sent home from school on Monday afternoon) with high fevers and a cough due to a right ear infection and upper chest congestion. Wednesday on to Thursday, Emily finally made it through the night without a second dose of Motrin after having her last dosage at 8 p.m. when her fever was 102. She woke with a temp of 99.6. Finally, it was under 102. All day she stayed under 100 and her temp even came down into the 98 degree range. Unfortunately, I started feeling that scratch in the back of my throat and my sleepless nights were catching up to me, so I had Matt go down for his nap and made Emily join me for a nap in my room. We all slept for 3 hours. It felt fantastic to sleep. On Friday, Emily's fever stayed at bay and as a treat I took her to lunch to get her out of the house for the first time since coming home from the doctor's office on Tuesday morning. Her choice for lunch - Burger King. It wasn't based on the food but the toy that comes with the meal. Silly girl. Today she took her last dose of antibiotic (she says it tastes salty) and is doing well. She took a nap all on her own this afternoon and as I write this we found Matthew on the floor of his room sleeping.

So, the drawing for this entry depicts a happier, healthier, sunny day. This is Emily and Matt playing outside the house with their pets - Matt has a dog and Emily has her cat Pettyball (by the way recently she changed her pet request to a dog). Emily has picked a flower from the flower garden planted by the house. You will notice that there is love all around them by the heart in the air (don't take into account the fact that it is black - that has no meaning).

In the near future, you will be seeing drawings from Emily's new "Animal Book". She has been working on it the last two days. I think it will surprise you. I personally love her elephant and giraffe drawings.

Looks can be Deceiving?

We took this picture of Emily on Saturday, January 3rd while at the NYC Botanical Gardens train show. The show was our last "event" for Christmas break/vacation. The day before this outing I took both kids to the doctor to have them checked out. Matt was up Thursday on to Friday with a fever and was complaining about his ear hurting and Emily still had a cough that has been around for a few weeks. So, to be proactive for the "regular" week to come I thought I should have the doctor see if there was anything serious going on. Matt was fine....his ear pain seemed to be a result of one of the tubes which was placed in his ear last year being in the process of shifting and falling out. His ear drum was clear and so was his chest. Emily's chest was clear even though her cough was "rough" and is apparently a result of postnasal drip. I don't think she will ever learn to blow her nose. Well, Monday every one headed back to school and work. Around 1:45 p.m., Emily's school nurse called to say not only was she coughing a lot but she was running a fever of 102. So, I picked her up and brought her home. Later that evening and through the night her temp reached 104 and she complained that her ear hurt (the only time Emily has ever had a fever of 104 was when she was little and had a double ear infection). Also, her coughing was constant through the night so very little sleep was gotten by either of us. Fortunately, Dave stayed home Tuesday (he was feeling ill too) so I was able to schedule an early appointment for Emily with her doctor and Matt got some time with daddy. Emily has a right ear infection and the cough/cold has now moved to her chest so, she is on Zithromax. She has been running fevers every day and through the night. Motrin only takes it down to about 100 and even takes a while to bring the fever down to that. Because she has to be fever free 24 hours without the aid of acetaminophen for school, she was of course unable to go today and now tomorrow (102 temp at 11 a.m.) so we've decided it would be best just to keep her home the rest of the week. So much for getting back to my "normal" schedule....there is always next week. Her spirits are surprisingly good for being so sick and asks every night and morning if she can go to school and is disappointed that she can't go. Keep her in your prayers that the fever will break and that the cough will subside. Matt is just fine by the way - at least as of today. By the way, this is also the reason I haven't been blogging or Facebooking the last few days.....kids come first.

Year In Review Part 3

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Year in Review Part 2

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Year in Review Part 1

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