This and That 2012

(the kids watching a stunning sunset from our front room)

(Kate graces us with a smile - her idea, no doubt)

A word about Katie Jane who gave me a fabulous gift for Christmas -- she decided to be potty trained! At last . . . nearly eleven years into this parenting saga, we are out of diapers!!!

If I thought Katie was an independent spirit before this latest milestone - 'Noooooooo, lemme do it!' - learning to use the potty has only increased her desire to do everything by herself. She has an elaborate balancing and climbing system worked out so that she doesn't need any help getting up on the big potty (she was done with that little potty after the first week and thanked me when I hauled it off to the D.I.). She insists on dressing herself - usually several times per day - which involves about twenty minutes of wrestling with her clothes. But, heaven forbid I should so much as turn a sleeve right side out during the process and she starts all over again.

She's getting pretty good at the dressing part, and watch out, because that girl has got some pretty progressive fashion ideas. She is suddenly really in to wearing 'skirts,' as in those fluffy princess skirts that have been collecting in her drawers over the years (they are just too hard to pass up when I see them in the stores). She even wears one over her blanket sleeper at night. And, it's a good thing she has a closet full of shoes, because she loves trying out different pairs with each outfit (and, she wears those to bed over her blanket sleepers on occasion too). The other day, after she had changed clothes a few times, she was wearing a shirt with leggings and a skirt over the top and when she did a somersault I realized she had gotten the underwear on the outside of the pants. Oops! And, adorable.

Miss Kate has been way too independent to snuggle with her mama since, oh, about the age of 9-months. So, you can imagine how thrilled I am that she has recently started climbing into my bed in the middle of the night. She tiptoes down the hall and sleepily asks to sleep with me. I pull her right in between Brian and me -- princess skirt, blanket sleeper, light up snowboots and all -- and we snuggle for a few hours. Then, she wakes up and realizes she is not in her own bed and that independent little spirit of mine jumps up and heads back down the hall. We didn't let our other kids sleep in our bed by the time they were as old as Katie, but I sort of love it.

(Sophie, left, with her cousin Tyla, right, on a hike with extended family near our home after Christmas)

You can't imagine how proud I am of Sophie. She is selling Girl Scout cookies, and she has been working SO hard! One of the incentives for selling is an ipad. You just have to sell 2,500 boxes in two weeks. No big deal, right? She decided to make that her goal and she gets out there and knocks on doors every chance she gets. We hit the pavement for several hours on Saturday and Monday and we've gone out after school Tuesday and Wednesday. She has a special "cookie selling pen" to record orders, and she puts on these pink glasses I bought for a Halloween costume because they make her look "cheery," then she suits up in her Girl Scout vest and adds a sock monkey hat for warmth and we are off! I think more people buy cookies when I carry Katie on my back while we sell, but maybe that is just my imagination.

Last night, she even insisted on selling in the rain! I wimped out and drove alongside her in the van while my poor girl got soaking wet and struggled with the wind blowing her umbrella inside out. (note: people don't feel sorry for a Girl Scout selling in the rain, almost everyone said 'no' last night!!!). But, she didn't give up. She has already sold 342 boxes - which I think it very impressive. She has worked SO hard and I felt kind of bad last night when she asked in a super excited voice, "So - how many more boxes do I need to sell to meet my goal!?" Ummmm, only 2,158 more boxes to go sweetie.

She might be sad to not get her ipad, but horse camp is (hopefully) going to be (mostly) paid for.

How cool is a week-long camp with horseback riding?

(crazy hair day last fall -- Isaac insisted on the pink pigtails)

Speaking of being proud, I was also really proud of Ian a few weeks ago when Isaac lost his first tooth. Just FYI - Ian is an amazing saver of his $. Another FYI - Isaac is not Ian's favorite person due to their vastly different personalities.

Back to the story of Isaac losing his first tooth -- the next morning we were all surprised (Brian and I most of all) when Isaac found not $3 but $6 under his pillow! Ian said with a sneaky grin, "Mom, come on, it's his first lost tooth."

I knew there was a soft spot somewhere in that sweet guy's heart for his brother.

And, while we are on the topic of Isaac, he is going through an "I love you," stage in which he writes love notes to me all day long. I have piles and piles of them. And, every time he finds a heart shape (for example, a spot in the snow that melted into the shape of a heart) he calls me over to show it to me and says, "that is for you."

He has turned into quite the scholar (as well as charming lover boy) and is loving Kindergarten this year. They have only practiced writing their first names so far, but, being the little over-achiever he is, he tries to write his full name on his papers and it looks like this:

Isaac Briin Nislkin

I love it!!!

I guess it's time to tell him his last name isn't really Nislkin. I haven't wanted to correct him all these years. It's kind of like the way Sophie use to say "mazagine" when she was little. So endearing.