I believe its called defiance

Oh, Dani was on one today. It was stake conference and we sat in the "cry room" and I think the kids may have misintrepreted that as an invitation to misbehave. Jason was helping with parking duty, so I had the kids by myself. Finally, when Dani started climbing over the back of the chairs from row to row, I had to take her outside for a time out, even though that meant leaving Emily and Evan alone in the room. We went into the hall, I dumped her in a corner, while she's is crying that she doesn't want a time out. Suddenly, oh so conveniently, she has to go potty. "Too bad," I told her and walked the few steps back to look through the door where I left Evan and Emily. When I turned back around to Dani, I notice she is playing in a puddle. In a split second, I realize, SHE JUST PEED ON THE FLOOR IN THE CHURCH HALLWAY! "YOU DID NOT JUST DO THAT!" I gasped, as the usher standing by the door looked to see what had happened and then quickly looked away and pretended he hadn't seen anything. I grabbed her by the arm and stalked off to find Jason, who was coming in the door at that moment, thank goodness. "Take this kid to the car and BEAT HER," I told him (its always a good thing for a child, especially Dani, to be handed off from the livid parent, to a calmer one), and stalked off the clean the pee puddle. I was so so SO tempted to just pack it up and head home, but we stuck it out for the whole 2 hours conference (the behavior did not improve much either) and then Dani was bannished to her room until dinner. I had a talk with her about her behavior before she was released from prison. I asked her why she had been so naughty at church. She said, tapping her hear, that her heart told her to choose the right. I said, "Then WHY didn't you choose the right?" "I WILL choose the right, Mom. I'm sorry." "Ok, let's try choosing the right for the rest of the day." Guess what..... her heart needs to learn to speak a LOT louder.

It finally came

After many, many weeks of eager anticipation, Evan's birthday finally arrived. A simple birthday, it was, but he was quite pleased with it. We wrapped his presents and put them on the table in the kitchen and he stood in front of them, touching them, marveling at their sizes, and begging to open them. We let him open ONE before Dad had to go out for a while. And then for the next 2 1/2 hours, he and the girls played with the flashing light up matchbox cars he had opened. Seriously -- TWO AND ONE HALF HOURS. It was great! When Jason got home, Evan just happened to be in his previous position -- parked in front of all the presents. When he saw Jason, he exclaimed "Yay! Dad's home! Open presents now?" and so I relented and allowed the gift frenzy to begin. Besides the cars that Emily gave him, Dani gave him a bubble lawn mower, Brendan gave him a Superman action figure, Mom and Dad gave him 2 Rescue Hero action figures and an Adapt-a-track piece for his train tracks. Grandma and Grandpa Knapp gave him a Zoo Train toy wiht all kinds of crazy gears and pieces. Grandma and Grandpa Rush's package arrived just as Evan ran out of presents to unwrap, and he was thrilled to discover a Power Ranger costume (just like the one they gave Dani) and a Power Ranger sword (just like the one they gave Dani -- they quickly commenced a swordfight), and some more train tracks. What a load of gifts for a kid who's just three! I think he gave everything equal playing time -- quite a feat, I think! Shortly after present mania, we headed out for McDonalds, letting the kids play on the playground for a whole 40 minutes or so. When I tried to bribe Evan into leaving by asking if he was ready to go home for birthday cake, he nodded vigorously and said, "And sing 'Hap boyday." He loved the singing, loved the candles, loved the cake. Sadly, this picture is a little blurred, but it was too good not to post.
Just before bed, I noticed there was a voicemail, which turned out to be Grandma and Grandpa Knapp singing happy birthday. I put the phone on speakerphone and let Evan listen to it... his face broke into a cheezy grin and when in it was over he said, "Hap boyday again!"

What will he have to look forward to now?

What does a girl have to do to get some good Chinese around here?

As we were driving to Blockbuster today, we passed a Chinese Restaurant. This conversation followed:

Dani: Mom, do you like Chinese food?
Me: Yeah
Dani: Me too. Why doesn't Daddy like Chinese food?
Me: He just doesn't like some of the flavors they use in it.
Dani: (quiet for a moment) If Daddy died, could we get Chinese food?
Emily: (appropriately offended for Dad's sake) DANI!!! You want Dad to DIE????????
Me: What about if we got some Chinese food and we just get Daddy something else?
Emily: (relieved) That sounds like a MUCH better idea.

Amazing Progress

When Dani started preschool this year, she barely knew her colors and shapes. When her teacher, Ms. Katie tried to get her to learn her numbers, Dasni would sigh and say, "Ms. Katie, I just don't know my letters," to which Ms. Katie would respond, "That's ok, Dani, because these are NUMBERS." Dani had no interest in letter or numbers, she lived in her own little world of ignorant bliss. I tried some throughout the year to get her to learn her letters, but she has steadfastly remained oblivious to the all of the letters, except for the letter D, becuase it "starts Dani!" When Evan was inspired to potty training by a new power ranger, Dani kept suggesting things that SHE could do to get a new power ranger, I suggested that if she learned ALL her ABCs, that she might get one. Suddenly, an interest in letters was born! See this to watch her new abilities (I also find it interesting to note how focused she can be when she wants to be focused and how distracted she can be when she wants to be distracted). She also can recite our phone number with 95% accuracy and is constantly reading us the letters and numbers off of packages. Her favorite new game is Boggle Jr. and she will recite long strings of letters to me and ask what they spell. And the BEST part? She has forgotten about the power ranger!

Amazing Progress

When Dani started preschool this year, she barely knew her colors and shapes. When her teacher, Ms. Katie tried to get her to learn her numbers, Dasni would sigh and say, "Ms. Katie, I just don't know my letters," to which Ms. Katie would respond, "That's ok, Dani, because these are NUMBERS." Dani had no interest in letter or numbers, she lived in her own little world of ignorant bliss. I tried some throughout the year to get her to learn her letters, but she has steadfastly remained oblivious to the all of the letters, except for the letter D, becuase it "starts Dani!" When Evan was inspired to potty training by a new power ranger, Dani kept suggesting things that SHE could do to get a new power ranger, I suggested that if she learned ALL her ABCs, that she might get one. Suddenly, an interest in letters was born! See this to watch her new abilities (I also find it interesting to note how focused she can be when she wants to be focused and how distracted she can be when she wants to be distracted). She also can recite our phone number with 95% accuracy and is constantly reading us the letters and numbers off of packages. She insists on having several flashcards on the bullitien board all the time so she can practice them whenever she feels like -- and she feels like it frequently. Her favorite new game is Boggle Jr. and she will recite long strings of letters to me and ask what they spell. And the BEST part? She has forgotten about the power ranger!

Brendan's new tricks

Before I relate the latest with Brendan, let's review his current status. He's a good little scooter/slitherer, but not much of a crawler and not a great sitter. He attempts both crawling and sitting, but needs a good amount of practice before he can handle either. Now, lately, I have noticed him slithering up to different things around the house that are above his head and just looking at them... I could practially see the wheels turning in his little head. Then yesterday, he slid up to a chair in my bathroom, reached up, grabbed the seat and pulled himself up onto his knees and grinned at me. Today, he pulled up to his feet. Its like he can't get one skill mastered before he moves on to the next. I wonder what this indicates about the future!

Dental Disaster

Dani had her first fillings yesterday. She wasn't fazed by any of it, except that she couldn't have a treat afterwards. She kept insisting that her mouth wasn't asleep anymore and that she could definitely have a KitKat (yeah, I'm going to give her CANDY after getting 2 fillings and making appointments for her to get 4 more filled). The dentist had given her some "tooth pillows" to tuck between her teeth and her cheek, to keep her from playing with her numb face. Dani being Dani, she refused to keep them in her mouth. About 2 hours after the appointment, as I was getting her ready for school, I noticed that her mouth was bleeding quite a bit. It appeared she had chewed on her cheek some and thus, we got her to shove the tooth pillows in there to stop the bleeding. Today, I noticed that her left cheek was swollen and I peeked inside her mouth.


The entire inside of her left cheek is an enormous canker sore! I have never seen anything like it! She is so tough though -- she hasn't complained about it at all (well except when I was brushing her teeth, but she was complaining when I was brushing the OPPOSITE side of her mouth, so I suspect she was just whining to whine) and every time we ask her if it hurts she says no. She has to go back to the dentist THREE more times for more work! You'd better believe she'll have her whole mouth stuffed with those darn tooth pillows next time, if I have anything to do with it!

I love this picture of her.... this is her sad face. It says everything there is to say. Doesn't her swollen cheek make her look like Marlon Brando from The Godfather?

Some pictures of our Wisconsin trip and Emily's report of said trip.

Brendan found all the fun a little exhausting




There was a huge bucket that dumped out tons of water every 5 minutes. Emily loved it right of the bat and Dani warmed up to it and eventually stood in the water. The lady and the little blond girl with the girls in the picture are our friends -- my friend, Heather, the girls' friend, Samantha.






Again, the cute blond girl with the kids is Samantha





Dani loved this slide. She was really scared of all the water at first, especially slides, but this one was nice and slow and Dani would sit there, arm pinned primly to her sides as she glided along the curves. Shortly after this picture, she came to me and asked to have her floaties taken off, since she "couldn't float" in this water, as it was only up to her thigh.





Brendan loved the baby pool. I laid him on his back and he would kick his feet and then tilt his head back into the water over and over again. A couple of times, he tipped his head so far back, he went all the way under, but he handled it like a little fish!





This slide was a little faster than the one that Dani liked, so of course, Evan loved it.





Emily was a waterslide addict. She just took off and went down slide after slide. Who knew she could be such a daredevil?



Our Trip To The Dell's [by Emily]
We went on a trip to the Dell's. The beast part is a water slide that is dark at first, but when you get close to the water you can see when you're going into the water. The rule is you have to lye down flat with you're legs crossed. But watch out, you may not know the turn and you’ll get water up you're nose! There is another water slide near Lazy River and you have to sit in a double tube or just a tube, and you go down a really big and fat water slide and then you're back in Lazy River. But in the 1 ft. 2 in. place there is a two fish slide, a totem slide, and a Yellow Bird slide.

Mediocre pictures of stupendously beautiful children

Man, I was so excited today -- I got the kids all gussied up and they looked SO cute. Took them outside to record their cuteness, and not one picture turned out well enough to do them justice. How hard could it possibly be to get 4 children to look in the same direction at one time? What does it take to keep a 5 year old's fingers out of her baby brother's mouth for long enough to click a little button? Can't the wind just give it a rest for 5 minutes while I get this done? Why is it that the longer children sit without the picture taking process, the more contorted and unnaturally positioned their bodies become? Even if I can't get them to look in the same direction, Emily's hair is blowing just right to make it look like she has a moustache and the wind keeps the boys ties from lying flat.... they ARE still pretty cute, aren't they? Luckily I took enough pictures that everyone looks good in at least ONE picture.

A kid at heart?

We are on a little overnight trip to the Wisconsin Dells. with some friends, the Wood Family. We're staying in a cool hotel with an indoor waterpark and needless to say, the kids are in heaven -- playing in the water AND sleeping with friends? Nothin' better. Last night, we hit the water park, and to my own surprise (perhaps shock), I went on the waterslides. Now to be fair, this is mostly due to the fact that my friend, Heather, took Brendan from my arms and practically DARED me to go on the Howlin' Tornado waterslide with Jason. Dang my pride. As we were waiting in line, Jason asked if I was scared. Actually, I was... I haven't been on a waterslide or roller coaster since our honeymoon, so my big girl bravery was a little out of practice. So I'm watching people go down this slide and I'm having flashback of a waterslide I went on when I was about 14 that was one of those that you drop straight down super super super fast. You were supposed to go down with your arms arcoss your chest and your ankles crossed, but the minute I went over the edge and felt nothing below me my arms and legs flew out to find something to grab onto and the tshirt I was wearing over my swimsuit flipped up over my face and I went all the way down the slide in this very graceful blindfolded spreadeagle position... and my uncle has it all on video tape. I was envisioning having a similarly poised and elegant reaction to the steep drop I could see on the slide and I told Jason I wanted to be the one to face forward so I could see what was coming up, but when we got into our tube, we were side by side and the teenager lifeguarding at the top of the slide insisted someone has to go backwards and I said Jason would... the kid kinda hesitated and I said, "Why? Is backwards better?" thinking he could sense my apprehension and was trying to give me a better ride. "I prefer backwards," he said, flipping the tube, so I was backwards, and sending me blindly into a 90 mph DEAD DROP. I kept trying to twist my head around so see what was coming as my stomach dropped into my toes and I screamed and screamed and screamed. So much for maintaining any kind of composure. As we shot out of the end of the wateslide, there was Trevor (Heather's husband) and my kids watching for us so they could laugh at us. I figured once I'd lost my cool like that though, the sky was the limit. So when Heather suggested we take our oldest girls down the kids waterslide, I was game. Surely it wouldn't be worse than the Howlin' Tornado! But yes, it was, because Emily had us climb three levels of rope nets to get to the top. In our swimsuits. And buns stickin' way out as we climbed up. And did I mention that we were just wearing our swimming suits. And I didn't let it bother me! As I climbed up the nets, I figured, I may be nearly 28, but I guess I can still act like an 8 year old -- and enjoy it too! Maybe I'll even go on the Howlin' Tornado again today...... if I can face forward.

Distinctive

We went to Dani's parent-teacher conference today and while we were waiting for our turn, we looked at a book Dani's class had made. Everyone drew a picture of where they would go if they could fly on a plane. A lot of kids would go to Florida, some to their grandma's, a couple to Disney world. But Dani? Dani would go to "Washington, which has volacanos," with a big picture of a volcano with green lava flowing out of it. We knew it was her entry before we even read her name.

My boyday coming

Ever since Dani's birthday, Evan has been waiting for his. Several times a day, he informs me, "My boyday coming." "I presents" "I want red phone" Sadly for Evan, today was Jason's birthday. It was a nice day for the rest of us, with Daddy's requested dinner of 7-layer mexican dip, birthday cake and chocolate milkshakes. The girls were excited about Daddy's birthday presents -- a heart rate monitor, season 3 of Scrubs, and season 1 of Dr. Katz. But Evan... well, Evan was pretty sure it was HIS birthday, not Daddy's. When we told him the presents were Daddy's, not his, he found the roll of wrapping paper and started unwrapping the cardboard tube saying, "My boyday, my present." He sobbed when he didn't get to blow out the candles on the cake. I felt so bad for the poor kid. He can even point to his birthday on the calendar. And yet, he still has to endure MY birthday before his comes! I think we might have to celebrate his birthday a week early. If he has to endure another birthday that isn't his, I'm afraid it will break his poor little spirit. But hope springs eternal. When I put him to bed tonight, he told me, "My boyday coming. I want red phone." Just 3 more weeks, baby, hang in there!

He won't eat Cheerios, but dirt clods off the floor are ok

I can't believe I bought it

I took the kids shopping for some new clothes last night -- all four of them.... BY MYSELF. It was hectic, to put it mildly. Dani started asking me about army pants... not sure what she was getting at, I said, yes, I had seen army pants before. Like these? she said, pulling out a pair of pink and dirty green camoflauge pants. Uh... yeah. Not up to dealing with a tantrum in the middle of the store I let her try them on, with a brown (yes a BROWN) shirt she begged to try on and was so pleased with her reflection (indicated by her standing on the bench in the dressing room and dancing in front of the mirror, singing at the top of her lungs "ITS TIME FOR THE FASHION SHOW, THE FASHION SHOW, THE FASHION SHOW" that I let her get them. I can't believe I let my daughter have PINK CAMOFLAUGE pants. The only defense I have is that her psychologist suggested I let her have more control over things that it was ok for her to have control over. They're not immodest, they weren't terribly expensive... they're just........kinda ugly. Figures Dani would love them.


The shirt isn't quite as busy as it looks. Those are all the stickers she got at the dentist today. And we DID get some other clothes that I DO think are cute. Dani, of course, doesn't want to wear those today though.

An open letter to my parents' wallets

I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for every single time I didn't brush my teeth, for every piece of candy I ever ate, for every retainer I ever lost (even the time that I lost it and was not allowed to go the Aunt Starr and Uncle Ed's house as a punnishment -- I'm even sorry for that one), for my braces, for my overbite, for anything that has anything to do with my mouth that cost you money.


Dani went to the dentist today. She has SEVEN cavities. I could almost see the dollar signs chinging in the dentists eyes. This is a horrifying lesson in what it means to be a parent.

Big sister

Emily has taken to lugging Brendan around like he's her baby doll. She doesn't even want to put him down to do her homework.

Is it just me or do these two look an awful lot alike? I think its the nose.....

By George, I think he's done it!

Evan is potty trained! I can hardly believe we've finally done it! He fought me for so long on this and just couldn't seem to get it through his head that he could do more than 3 drips into the toilet. My potty training secret? Jealousy! Dani got a new Power Ranger for her birthday and Evan thought it was his, so I told him if he filled a potty chart with stickers, he could get his own Power Ranger and then anytime I suggested he go potty and he didn't want to, I just bribed him with a sticker. He earned the Power Ranger in 2 days. We've had a few setback since -- like when Grandma and Grandpa Knapp here... he kinda forgot how to do it, but a new sticker chart got us back in business. Of course, Evan does it his way... he wants to change his "pantsies", as he calls them, everytime he goes to the bathroom, he is delighted when he makes a "rainbow" with his urine stream, and.... if you're squeamish, skip this part... he thinks his poop is chocolate coated. "It has chocolate on it!" he exclaims everytime he does the deed. Chocolate and rainbows -- potty training is FUN in the Restuccia home.

Movin' on up

Em loves gymnastics. She was so proud to move up to the Beginner Girls level from the Kindergym level. Ever since, she has been asking me when she'd move up again. I kept telling her it would be a long time... she had a lot of practice she needed to do. To my great surprise, she came home on Monday with a certificate of completion and she gets to move up to Advanced Beginner Girls. It is a proud day, indeed.