Cabin trip, winter 2011

I told Seth I wouldn't have anything blog-worthy to report on during our winter retreat because the pipes didn't freeze (like last year), the pipes didn't freeze (like the year before), we opted not to sleep on the "black-hole bed" (like the year before), and we didn't get stuck in the snow (like the year before (P.B. (pre-blog)).

So ... we went to Island Park last weekend. We stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks' cabin (and we love them so much because they let us). We went sledding on a nearby snowmobile trail. We drank hot chocolate and apple cider. We played in the snow in the yard. We watched movies (Unstoppable for us, Elmo in Grouchland and "Elmo's World" for the girls). We attended church in the Island Park building. We packed up. We came home.

In short, a good time was had by all.

Except ... what should have been an uneventful first night. Miriam slept in the bedroom downstairs. Seth, Andrea, Bekah and Analee all slept on the beds in the loft. Andrea took two Benadryl to (hopefully) make up for the lack of a humidifier (to create white noise) and the closeness of the sleeping children. Turns out, I needed something stronger than that.

Bekah woke up three times throughout the night in what can only be described as "freak-outs." Seriously. The first time, she startled us awake by yelling, "Mommy, Mommy!" After I bolted to her bedside, it didn't take me long to figure out that the child wasn't really conscious. So after I reassured her that everything was okay, I tucked her back in and spent the next 20 minutes trying to fall back asleep. This was repeated twice more ("Daddy, Daddy!" then "(Mumble, mumble, mumble) need more light!") with a similar routine of reassurance.

Needless to say, I was tired the next day. And the ever-sweet Seth took the girls out in the afternoon to play while Miri and I took afternoon naps.

Anyway, you're not here to listen to my sleeplessness woes; you're here to see cute/fun pictures:

Miriam's opinion of sledding has not changed. Please excuse her runny nose; the poor kid is getting over an ear infection, and she just cut her two top teeth.

Bekah hiking back up the snowmobile trail/hill while Seth pulls Ana in the sled.

Analee playing in the snow at the side of the road by the snowmobile trail.

Back at the cabin, Seth dug out a snow cave for the girls to play in. That is, they played in it until Seth walked through the roof of it.

Bekah playing in the "fort" she discovered on the side of the cabin. There is so much snow in Island Park that the drifts reach up to the slide-off from the cabin's roof.

Didn't believe me about the amount of snow? Here is the truck in the plowed-out driveway. And there is Rebekah on top of the unplowed-out yard.

To view more, click here (and skip past the first four pictures ... they're from a previous sledding excursion).

This is what happens ...

This is what happens when your baby's hair is long enough that it falls in her eyes so you use a clip to keep it out of her eyes but her hair is still so fine that it doesn't stay in very well so at naptime the clip slides down in her hair and she falls asleep on her tummy with the clip on her forehead being smashed into the mattress. (Dare you to say that five times fast.)

Math genius

Bekah came out of her room last night after we had tucked her in to ask a very important question.

"Is five times two plus five times two twenty?"

As my mind was still trying to put everything together, Seth answered, "Yes, Bekah. Now go back to bed."

He then repeated her question to me ((5 x 2) + (5 x 2) = 20) so I could understand what had just happened.

I just hope Seth is brushing up on his calculus so that when she brings her third-grade math home, he can help her. Because heaven knows I'm not gonna keep up with her.

First (okay, second) ponytail

Miriam's hair is starting to get a little out of control. If she were a boy, we'd shave her head and be done with it. But because that's socially unacceptable for a baby girl, we're doing what we can to keep it out of her eyes. (We did her first ponytail for church on Sunday and I didn't take any pictures of it, hence the admittance in the title.)

If you look closely, you'll see that her tear duct-probe turned out to be unsuccessful. Sigh. ... We'll wait until after she turns 1 to see if she needs the tubes.

Bekah had much more hair when she was born, so by the time she was a few months old, she was being subjected to the silly top-of-the-head ponytail.

Bekah sporting the top/side pony when she was less than five months old.

Ana took her time growing her hair out. And since it's not stick-straight like her sisters, she got away without the ponytail or pigtails for a long time. When we did resort to it, it was super-cute because of her curly hair. It was like little fountains on top of her head.

Ana with pigtails at 21 months.

Poor Rebekah and Miriam ... they're "blessed" with their momma's straight hair that falls straight into their eyes. But when you're an adorable baby, you can get away with having antennae.

h-e-double-hockeysticks (Ana-ism #11)

Setting: Seth and Analee are playing with Miri and her little toy telephone
Seth: Hello? Hello? Is Miriam there?
Ana: Daddy. Miriam is too little, she can't talk yet. She can't even say "Hello."
Seth: She can't?
Ana: Babies can't say "hello." She can only say "hell."

Bekah Grover ≠ Bear Grylls

My kid is smart. I mean, she's halfway through kindergarten, and she has already earned 9.7 AR points. Her teacher tells me that she's pleased that Bekah still enjoys school because she already knows everything that they're working on right now.

So how come she's not smart enough to survive the winter?

Here's the story:

Today the doorbell rang right after 3 p.m. just like it does every day. Only, instead of finding a cheerful little girl excited to be home from her day of kindergarten, I found a poor little girl with tears running down her cheeks.

"What's wrong?!" I asked, alarmed.

"I'm cold!" she whimpered.

Of course she was cold. It's currently 4 degrees outside. No, I didn't skip a digit. It's F-O-U-R degrees outside! But she was a heck of a lot colder than she could/should have been. Because her coat wasn't zipped up. And her hood wasn't up. And her mittens were nowhere to be seen. And in her hand, she held a shiny, red apple. A juicy, shiny, red apple. With its liquid contents seeping over her bare little hand.

So I rushed her inside. And I made her stand next to the fireplace. And I tried to assess how cold she really was. When she told me that her fingers hurt and screamed when I touched them, I immediately ran downstairs to ask my good friend, webmd.com, just how bad the situation was. I looked up "frostbite symptoms" and "how to treat frostbite" as quickly as possible. And I made her put her hand in a pitcher of warm water.

I'm happy to report that she's now fine. Her fingers warmed up and stopped hurting. She's even using them again.

I just hope my genius child can remember her mittens and keep her fingers long enough to ace her future spelling tests.