leap year birthday

For those born on February 29 and have a leap year birthday they get to celebrate their actual birth-date only once every four years.  On this February 29th I'd like to say:

Happy Birthday Dad! 

We love you!!!

He was here on Monday and he had an early birthday dinner with 6 of his 12 grandkids.   

My sister, Heidi, called and said "Dad, every 16 year old boy dreams of having a Camaro, and since this is your16th official birthday we (she, her husband, and kids) rented one for you for a week."

Yes, he's been having a lot of fun driving it :-)

home made noodles

Jeff's grandma is all about love.  She says it with words, her hugs, and her laugh.  Even her food is made with love which must be the secret ingredient for why it tastes so darn good.

She recently came by for a visit and while here made a big batch of egg noodles for us.  That evening for dinner we had the world's best chicken noodle soup!  The girls had fun helping and Erik took the photos.

She uses maybe 4 ingredients, a bowl, a mixing spoon, rolling pin (and a few decades of experience)

Megan, Claire and Grandma

Erik got bored and decided to take pictures of his foot :-)

a 4 year old in the house

I have to say that 4 year olds make for endless stories.  Especially, a 4 year old like Megan. 

Megan is the youngest around and it is a good thing (I think) that she is feisty because she has had to learn to stick up for herself.  The other day when Erik was mad at her he told her she was a “BAD girl.”  That fired Megan up and she told Erik, “No!  YOU are a BAD girl.”  Erik got all defensive and said, “I’m not a girl I’m a BOY!”  It ended with Megan singing, “You are a bad girl.  You are a bad girl” and Erik shouting, “NOOOO!”

One problem (common to probably every 4 year old) is Megan has become a picky eater to the point where she will announce that she doesn’t like something before even seeing what it is. 

We maintain the rule that if you don’t eat dessert then you don’t get dinner.  Oh wait…REVERSE THAT… if you don’t eat dinner then you don’t get dessert.  It was much to Megan’s dismay when she didn’t qualify for the cookies n’ cream pie by ignoring dinner.  When everyone else finished dessert and was clearing the dishes I caught her licking the leftover chocolate pie crust crumbs off of the table.  But don’t go feeling sorry for her, this little chica gets plenty of sweets.

I really do like having a 4 year around.  They are quirky, curious, imagination galore, enthusiastic, silly and a whole lot of fun. 

To be honest I don’t think I was as patient with 4 year old Erik as I am with Megan.  He had (has?) the oldest child curse.  You know the one where the parent expects the child to behave older than he/she is.  I was probably more relaxed with Claire.  After having had a couple more children I think I have a better understanding what age typical behavior is.  I wrote him a note last month saying

“Over the years you have heard me say to you, “You should know better.”  I was thinking that I don’t like that phrase much.  There are more important things that you should know.  First, know that I love you!  I also want you to know some things I admire about you are: ”

(and I listed 10 things)

Now he is 9 and I try to let him be 9.

Erik working on his science fair project- he loves this stuff.

Claire

Megan