Our January

Sometime I'll get around to finishing up our December pictures, but here's some pictures and funny stories from our month!

We have had some weird weather this winter--more days of snow, so much cold weather, so many days of hiding in the house with fast dashes to the van when we venture out.  I forgot how much work it is to get everyone geared up to leave the house, especially when we go out to play in snow and sled! :)  After spending two and a half days inside this week, our big adventure was to the grocery store where the kids and I ran laps on the sidewalk around the strip mall.  I'm a pretty cool mom like that.  We found lots of fun ice blocks and icicles that were fun shapes.  The kids loved it.

Abby got a great Lego Friends book from Grandma and Baba for her birthday.  That was a great afternoon-long activity.  That was great since she had school only today (3 days of school cancelled due to snow and super cold temps).

Oh, how I love these three people!

Sam has been really loving to build towers lately.  He usually uses these big Duplo blocks.  Lately, his favorite thing is to trap his Dr. Lizard (some bad guy from the super hero collection) inside his tower and then his super heros (Iron Man, Spider-man, Hulk, and Wolverine) attack both the tower and Dr. Lizard.  He will spend 15 minutes building the tower that will be in pieces all over the room in 60 seconds.  

I can't show a Sam picture without sharing some of his zingers from the last couple weeks.  That kid...he constantly makes us laugh:

• Sam was laying across my lap, "Mommy, your tummy is bouncy (giggles).  MY tummy is hard.  Feel it!"  The he begins to boing his hand on my stomach.
• The other night he said a really sweet prayer.  At the close, he said Amen , but before we could say Amen, he jumped in with, "And please bless all the bad guys to be eaten by sharks."
• Today we retold that story to my brother, who laughed.  I should have known the end of his prayer tonight would be, "And please bless all the bad guys to be eaten by sharks and crocodiles and let the crabs eat their throw-up."

Abby's PE class is doing gymnastics.  One of the PE teachers is my PTA buddy and sent me this picture of Abby (who is proud to be called PTA girl by the PE teachers).

And last, here is our big announcement!  We are happy to introduce the newest member of our family.  Big plans are being made by everyone, but especially by Abby.  She is so excited to have a new sibling, especially if this one doesn't wrestle her.  She checks in multiple times per day to see how "the baby is feeling."  All three have been excellent and patient during my morning sickness and exhaustion moments, which has been a huge blessing.  We're excited to meet this little one about August 10!

Sam Sayings

Sam has a very unique way of seeing the world and he can always, always make me laugh:

• Sam told me this week he had to borrow the white car for work tonight.  I asked him a little about his job and about where he was driving the car.  He told me if I got my shoes on I could join him at his job.  I finally got the name of his job: "The park!!!" Too bad it was 15 degrees outside.
• Sam and Lydia were sitting right next to each other at lunch.  Sam grabbed Lydia's face, squeezed her cheeks and said, "We can be squishy buddies!"
• Sam has been having nightmares on and off lately.  We've talked about lots of strategies to deal with nightmares and finally decided to try praying before bed to not have nightmares.  That next morning, he reported that he had no nightmares the night before because "monsters are afraid of Jesus."
• The next night he added a little something extra to his prayer about no nightmares: the ability to throw up on ghosts and monsters.
• Tonight as I was talking to him before bed we were going through the list of things we can do to make nightmares go away or be changed or be made funny.  And then came the question: "Why does Daddy poop on monsters?"

This and That

Abby got a Disney Princess cookbook and rainbow apron from my parents (Mor Mor & Far Far) for her birthday (she's 6!!!).  The first recipe we tried was Bullseye Pizza from the princess Merida.  She was so proud of her creation.  And it was delicious!

Lydia and her beep.  I feel like I should be documenting my girl and her blanket.  She has several funny stories already about the adventures with her beep, but she seriously loves it so much.  Lately she's been having a great time sitting on the toilet.  We've actually had some successful moments on the toilet (hooray!).  The other night she insisted on having beep go potty with her.  It may have been a bedtime delay tactic, but I couldn't resist my girl perched on the toilet saying, "Cheeeeese!"

I made a back-up beep over Thanksgiving week.  Now she calls it "No Beep".  Even in the dark and sleepy she can tell the difference between beep (well-loved and washed often) and no beep (pretty brand-new softness).  

What happens when we tell the kids to smile for a picture:

There are LIONS in the house!

 Roy was having a rough morning so I attempted to get an extra happy picture to send his way.  The girls jumped right on the assignment, even getting matching headbands on and not complaining about brushing their hair.  Sam is still under the impression that the funny things he says can somehow be communicated via picture.  I'm sure he was saying something about stinkypants, poop, giant squids, or ghost monsters.

Abby got spotlighted at school for her artwork!  They have been talking about different kinds of lines (straight, squiggly, wavy, etc).  Their (very awesome) art teacher took a picture of them whistling and they were asked to draw a picture using different kinds of lines to show what their whistle looked like.  Abby was thrilled to be spotlighted on the school hallway in the art masterpieces area.

We've been watching/listening to a lot of "Frozen" music on youtube lately.  Turning on the music turns the house into a stage made of blankets and requires everyone to sing their heart out.  Please note that Lydia is standing on her beep.  Notice the trend?

As always, we were spoiled at Christmas.  That day deserves it's own post.  Someday it'll come. :)

How can these happy sisters not make you smile?

Zwahlen Family Christmas Letter

According to Yahoo, 2013 was the year of Miley Cyrus, Kim Kardashian, and twerking.  God bless you if you don’t know who and what those are.  While the Zwahlen family will probably remain off Yahoo’s list of cultural embarrassments for the foreseeable future (although with Roy you can never be sure), there was much to celebrate and be grateful for in 2013.

Abby’s year begins and ends with starting Kindergarten.  The much-anticipated day finally arrived and she has loved every minute of it.  Her teachers have seemed to notice her enthusiasm and they keep finding new ways to challenge her both mentally and socially, including being pulled out for advanced academics with different teachers.  Of course, she doesn’t let it go to her head (that’s our job).  She spends her days planning her upcoming birthday party and doing extra chores to earn money for her recent toy obsessions.  She loves her dolls, making jewelry, writing and illustrating novels, and everything about music.  She even finds small ways to surprise us, including recognizing someone’s needs, praying for them, and then going out of her way to help them.  Needless to say, we are very proud... and Roy is getting a paternity test.  

Sam permanently traumatized his parents by having emergency surgery this year.  Everything is perfectly ok and he has no long-term issues (except for maybe a fear of doctors and the hospital… definitely Roy’s son).  Of course, Sam’s year involved a lot more than surgery.  Sam has been going to preschool, taking Rec classes, and epitomizing the 3-year-old emotional rollercoaster.  Sam still makes fun of Roy but is getting much better at it.  He loves wrestling with Dad, building towers for his Angry Birds, and teasing and trying to embarrass his parents.  We discovered that Sam is perfectly comfortable walking up to relative strangers and sitting in their laps.  Of course, this comfort only applies to people over 4 feet tall.  He still terrorizes everyone his age.  Sam asks lots of questions each day and loves to be involved in conversations.  He is as quick to give a kiss as he is to wipe off the kiss you just gave him.

Lydia is a delight.  She has started talking, a lot (see Abby 4 years ago).  She loves to ask people about “Cars”, “Elmo”, and “Bo on the Go”.  If she feels she has been ignored too long, she will say “Cars” and unsuccessfully try to hold back a smile.  Lydia loves to swing her body side to side until she gets complimented for looking so pretty, help comb hair, and read books while cuddling up on a lap.  She sweetly says ‘baby’ and then growls like a monster.  A perfect friend for both brother and sister.  She loves to build, play dollhouse, color, steal things from Sam and run away laughing.  She especially loves Dad’s iPhone.  Lydia is very good at reading people and will give a wave, hug, kiss, or lay-upon as needed.  She loves to make people laugh and will say or do something funny to get the laugh.

Michelle spends her time keeping up with kids.  Along with shuttling kids around to various events, she is in the rotation to teach preschool, a music class,  and a class for children at our church.  Michelle also joined the PTA and has become the head honcho for all things box tops, points, and every other pyramid scheme out there to bring money into the schools.  The school loves Michelle.

Roy continues his international travel as a result of his recent promotion to Associate Counsel assigned to the International Department.  This year’s international travel included India and Malaysia.  There were plenty of stateside trips as well to San Diego, Chicago and New York.  He still enjoys the science and policy niche very much and is looking forward to the challenges and opportunities a new year brings.  In the little free time Michelle allows him to have, Roy loves to play video games, watch movie trailers, and mess around on his iPhone.  Of course, most of that is done while he is hiding in the bathroom (he has to hide from Michelle and her to-do list and all 3 kids who want to steal the iPhone).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  May 2014 bring you happiness and joy!

Gingerbread House

We made a townhouse-style gingerbread house one day after school.  Surprisingly, all the kids did well not gorging on candy while we made it.  Lydia is our little candy-lover and she even had fun participating without eating too many treats.

Below, Abby is working on the candy river.

Do you like the lollipop shooters on the roof?  Sam is very serious about defending the home. :)

Happy kids showing off their house, path, river, and candy car (you can see a little square of color in front of Abby's knee--jelly beans for tires and tootsie rolls for the car).

Time for crazy faces!

Snow Days!

We had 3 snow days a couple weeks ago and they were so fun!  I love to see my three kids having so much fun together.  The snow started on Sunday (see my girls in dresses?) and church was cancelled.  We enjoyed playing in the snow and drinking hot chocolate during the 2 days of cancelled school too.  These pictures make me happy.

Monday and Tuesday snow fun:

Abby and Sam made snowball launchers by building a snow wall around their plastic rakes.

A Short Catch-Up

Lately, the youngest enjoy taking a shower together.  It is so loud in the bathroom with their shrieking and hollering.  Their friendship has really blossomed since Abby started school.  In fact, Lydia especially enjoys grabbing one of the toys Sam is playing with, running away while giggling, and having to speed up a little more as soon as Sam comes scream-playing after her.

Lydia making her cupcake at Sophia's birthday party.  Of course, she added even more sprinkles after the picture was taken.

The other day, Abby was singing Christmas songs.  She has such a great voice and really loves singing.  After a minute or two, she asked me, "Why does this song say, 'It makes Chelsey sing, oh!'?"  In case you were wondering, she was singing "Angels We Have Heard on High".