Tuesday, March 31, 2009

My Kids







"Incredible" Imagination

When Anika asked me to help her dress up as Violet from "The Incredibles", I was stumped. I told her that she would just have to do her best. Well, here is what she came up with:-) I had to laugh when she spent like 20 min. in the bathroom trying to get her bangs to part and cover her eye like Violet. All she succeed in doing is making the ink from her mask run down her face. Such memories!!! (She taped the mask to her face.)

Virtuoso

Anika is truly taken with the piano right now. She patiently practices "Mary Had A Little Lamb" over and over again. (It is the only song I know off hand that only uses the first five notes of the scale). She is anxious to start lessons. She also thought it was great to introduce Kathryn to the delight of pounding out sounds.


Breakfast in the Living Room

I had to catch this moment of Andrew & Anika sharing breakfast in the living room. This is not a normal occurance, but in the spirit of the week - lounging, sleeping, resting, recovering - I decided to let them start their day this way:-)

This was also the day that Lloyd's first words to me when he awakened were "good afternoon" (and he was only exaggerating slightly). He has been trying to rest like a good boy so his pneumonia will improve. So far, he is doing well.

Cabin(et) Fever

We are all experiencing some cabin fever around here. Lloyd came down with pneumonia last week and we've all been battling one aliment or another so we've see more of the inside of the house than we would like on these beautiful spring days. Kathryn continues to grow and develop new skills. She now pulls herself up by the kitchen cabinets and bangs them. . . over and over. Yeah, for new milestones:-)

Monday, March 23, 2009

If Life Gives You Lemons. . .

Since I knew our sick family needed the vitamin C, I couldn't resist when Anika asked if we could make lemonade today. How amazing to walk out our back door, pick 6 lemons, and make lemonade. I know that Anika already has visions of a lemonade stand for this summer.


Anika showing off her skill with the juicer!Andrew can't be outdone by his sister!A play by play: "Mom, can I y-ick it?"

Spring Weather

Until this weekend we had been enjoying some beautiful, upper 70 degree weather. Here are a few shots from our time outside!
Kathryn's nose betrays the trials of the Wickers in trying to overcome these colds. Lloyd is still pretty much down 'n out but still trying to plug away. Anika & I are struggling with sore throats and coughs. Drew is pretty much recovered.


Whew! What hard work. Anika will still choose to ride her trike over her bike occasionally.
PURE CHEESE!!!!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Comforting Tea

We've been feeling a bit achy and stuffy around here so I made the kids some tea to start the day. They enjoyed drinking it in their "Guess How Much I Love You" mugs from Nene at the table from Grandma. I've think I've created monsters though because they want it every morning now. I think Andrew and Kathryn are on the mend, but Anika & Lloyd are in the midst of it. I hope the worst of it passes soon - Anika is feeling quite crabby!



Mom's Club Cookie bake

Our church just started a Mom's Club. We get together once a month to do something fun. This past Sat. we had a "Monster Cookie Bake". It was so much fun. The kids got to mix everything with their hands and choose what candies/chips/sprinkles went into their dough. There was even nursery provided for Kathryn. What a good time! (There was some talk of sharing the bounty with the church the following day during the social hour. Upon further reflection, we decided to only expose our own families to the possible contaminates in the cookies:-))

Game Time

Guess who picked the game? Lloyd wasn't sure that he wanted me to take and post these pictures, but I thought it was so great to have my family playing a game together.
And the winner is. . .



Thursday, March 12, 2009

Puzzles for Andrew

When we moved I stored all the kids toys in tubs and put them in their closets. (The thinking being that we would take out 1 tub at a time and then old toys would seem new again. In actuality, they play without tub toys about 90% of the time.) We got out one of the tubs recently and Andrew went crazy with the puzzles. He LOVED them. How fun to play with toys we already have instead of longing for new things!


Water Baby, part 2

Kathryn is fascinated by all things WATER - I'm a little bit nervous about the upcoming summer with pools, lakes, etc. Anyway, Kat has found the fountain so I had to break out the baby gates. She will also stand at the side of the tub and watch her siblings take baths. Good thing she can't get in the tub by herself!!!

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Happy 500th Blog Entry

Can you believe it? This is my 500th time bringing you a story/picture/anecdote of the Wicker family. Thanks for hanging in there:-) (I must pause and give credit where credit is due. Thanks, Jen, for your 500 blog entries and bringing such a milestone to my attention! I even stole your picture idea!)

What a blessing it has been to look back over the years -- this was started initally as a way to keep in touch with family (and it has definitely been that), but it has grown as well to become a digital scrapbook (no beautiful creative memories book for my kids, just "the blog"), a digital journal (looking at past posts brings laughter and tears), and a contact point with friends across the country (we are so glad to stay in touch this way.) I'm so excited to see where the next years take us -- and the next 500 blog entries!

Water Baby?

A better mom than I would have swooped in and whisked her child away from danger, dried her off, and closed the door. I went for the camera:-)


Kathryn couldn't have been happier. Ever since she has started to crawl, life around her has changed. She hits her top speed when she sees an open door to the dog food. (Why? I have no idea.) I now have to train the older two to keep things off the floor so Kat doesn't put it in her mouth and choke. Back to a baby proofed house:-)



Music Mania

I loved Anika's creativity this morning when she came out of Andrew's room (where his workbench is) and showed me some musical instruments she was creating with the foam pieces from his bench. First she had a guitar but Drew really wanted that so she made herself a violin. She is so excited about it (and I've been priviledged to watch about 20 performances!).

You can't really see the rubber bands that make noise and her bow is a comb.

Daddy Does Bedtime

Although my kids are creatures of habit, they will occasionally delight in having Daddy put them to bed and read them their story. This was one such night!