A Very Late Christmas Post

Only nearly a month late...

Merry Christmas!

Kibby provided our laugh for the morning, when she got her stocking, she went from Grandma to Grandpa saying in an excited voice, 'TRICK OR TREAT!!!" and held out her stocking to them. Ah, Kibby... Great enthusiasm, but wrong holiday. :)

Checking out their stocking gifts and candy.

Ethan got a chore chart. It's magnetic, and I still haven't thought of a really good place to put it where the little ones won't be into it and either rearranging the magnets or losing them, or worse - choking on them. Ethan was (still is) pretty excited about it, though.

The girls got fleece slings that Grandma made for them. Ruby loved hers and I have a couple dozen pics of her wearing her baby that morning. Kibby liked hers but wasn't nearly as excited. She chose to carry a Care Bear in hers.

Here is Ruby when she first opened hers. My mom had made them each 3 dolly blankets and a sling. Ruby immediately gave hers a snuggle!

Our family of six! (Wow, nobody is crying!)

Cousins

Okay, I know lots of bloggers post less in the Summer because they are busier and all. I guess I would fit into that category. Somewhat. It's Summer, and we're busier than normal, but too busy to blog? Hm, well...

I can honestly blame some of my lack of posts to our internet issues, but that's only for the past month. (Issues now resolved, yay!)

But, instead of trying to figure out why I've been so absent, how about I just actually write a post, huh? :)

I wanted to share pictures of the kids at the local (small) zoo, but that won't be in this post. Neither will you see pics of my kids at a few other various fun events... They are still in my sister-in-law's camera. And she's on vacation. At Yellowstone.

And I'm not jealous at all.

I do however have pics of last week when Seth's sister and her family visited from out East. It was a fun week that went by too fast. The kids got to meet their cousins for the first time. Here are a few shots:

The Birthday Girl with Kibby

Just before their long drive home.

At MOA

Cha Cha!

Awww... Ruby kisses.

So what have the kids been up to? Quickly, here's a run-down:

Ruby's been busy trying to learn all her cousins' names. Kibby's been busy... being Kibby. (More on that in a future post, but I will say that I finally set up her Early Childhood Screening appointment for later this month!)

And Ethan? Well, he's bored. Or at least that's what I hear about 20 times a day. I think it will be good for September to come and school to start up again. The routine will be good for him.

And me? I think I'm starting "nesting" already. Just under 3 months to go, and I've been sorting baby and kids' clothes, arranging beds, and rethinking furniture and sleeping arrangements. We still don't have a name for the baby, either. Seth and I need to sit down and discuss that some day, huh?

You know, in all our FREE TIME. Or should I say, free time when the kids are quiet enough for us to actually have a conversation beyond "has Kibby gone potty lately?" or "well, if you don't want pizza again for dinner what DO you want?" or "who drew that picture on the wall with brown crayon?"

Because I don't want to name the baby "T-Bone". (Suggestion by cousin Isaiah, age 10.)
Or "Max". (Suggestion by Ethan, age 7. Because then we'd have a Max AND a Ruby. You know, like those rabbits on that one show. Or in those books. Or whatever.)

No T-Bone. No Max. Anyone else have any name suggestions?

If I Can Just Stop Coughing Long Enough to Say...

Ah, sickness. When it hits, it likes to stick around. None of this one-day-visit type thing. In my last post (which should have been a funny "Not Me! Monday" post, but was sorely lacking on the humor) I talked about how we're all sick around here. How we've been sick for the past week.

Well, we're all still sick. No more tummy viruses, thank you, God! Just some yucky colds with red noses, hacking coughs and blocked sinuses that steal our sleep at night and make us walking zombies during the day. I'm sure you all can relate. After all, they don't call it the "Common Cold" for nothing, right?

So I haven't been blogging much yet this month. Partly because of the sickness and partly because I've been spending some time getting some much-needed reorganization done in my kitchen. I'd like to paint it next month when my sister and her family come to visit. (My sis has offered to help! The men can handle watching our 4 kids while we spend a day painting, right???) Maybe I'll post some pics - you know, before / during / after shots.

So, last Friday I cleaned off the area above my cupboards (wow was it dusty up there) and washed and reorganized all my cupboards. I have a box of stuff ready to go to Salvation Army. Which is still sitting in my garage. Even though my neighbor works there at the dock where they accept the donations and could probably just take it along with him to work some day if I asked him, But have I? Nope. And Seth hasn't taken it in, either. So it sits.

But at least it's out of my kitchen!

Yesterday I hung new curtains in there, and I think after I get the room painted, it might actually look nice. My house needs some color. Except my bathroom, which is two-tone purple. I've been wanting to re-do that room since we moved in. (It's next on my list!)

Ok, enough about boring house projects. If you're still with me, wake up, stop snoring... I'm gonna talk about my kids now. :)

I probably don't write enough about them on here. So I'm going to try to be better about recording their milestones and such. After all, that is one of this blog's main purposes! But oh, how I get distracted! (My sister calls it ADOS - "Attention Deficit - Oooooh Shiny!" We both seem to have it!) So, without further ado, here is the latest on:

Ethan: Six-and-a-half (and don't you dare forget the half, my goodness). Loves school. Loves stories. Loves movies. Starting to love Pokemon (not so sure I like that a whole lot.) He is not so fond of onions, peppers, mushrooms... well, it's easier to just write what he does like - Mac N Cheese. Peanut butter and jelly. Fish sticks. That about sums it up. Oh and corn dogs, but I haven't bought them in a while. It's so hard to get him to eat anything else. He will sit at the table for hours if we don't keep encouraging him to eat his food. He always whines about something and asks why he has to eat it, and why can't I make him a PB&J sandwich... Yes, it gets frustrating. Somedays we set a timer for 20 min (after he's been sitting there for 10 - 15 min or longer, not eating) and say when time's up, you're done, and the kitchen is closed. Is that mean? Seriously, anyone got any ideas for us??? I don't like the idea of him eating a separate meal from us all the time, so we've been making him eat what we eat. And it's nothing weird, I assure you! :)

Kaliyan ("Kibby"): Three years old. Is just starting to learn that her name is Kaliyan, but we still mainly call her Kibby. (For those of you who don't know, Ethan gave her the nickname Kibby when she was only 2 weeks old, and it stuck. Her given name, Kaliyan, is Cambodian, and is supposed to mean "sweet, morally good, charming" and is pronounced more like "kaul-ee-yahn" with the "K" sound sort of a cross between a K and hard G sound. See why we call her Kibby? Seth is the only one who gets the pronounciation perfect, but that's just because he's Cambodian!)
Ok, getting back on track (remember the ADOS, people, give me a break here...)
Somedays her speech / language still concerns me. She doesn't answer questions well still. She will either respond with yes or no (if a yes / no question) or just repeat the question back to me. It gets frustrating. For more on her speech / language issues (my concerns) see here.
Some new or current phrases she uses:
~~ "Kin Wooby hug Wooby, Mommy?" Usually when she is being "tormented" by her little sister. She means "Can you hold Ruby, Mommy, (so she will leave me alone?")
~~ "Hup abow, _________?" Fill in the blank with any Disney princess movie. Means "How about, ________?" She will say this repeatedly, trying to get me to switch movies for her halfway through one. Or if I refuse to put one in for her to watch. (So terrible to just color, or play with toys / Mommy / sister...)
~~ "Doh wowwy, Wooby!" Meaning, 'Don't worry, Ruby." She says this when Ruby cries.
~~ "Oooooh, I nee ice pack!" When she gets an owie. Or when Ruby gets a bump, she says, "Ooooh, Wooby nee ice pack, Mommy!"
~~ "NOOOOOO!!! Dohn' you unerSTAN?!" ("NO! Don't you underSTAND?!") Um, yeah, we hear this one a LOT. Poor little girl! :( Although I have to say she has been using this more lately with the meaning of, "I didn't get my own way, and I really should have, don't you know that?"
~~ "I be a pwincess!" She says this while parading around in whatever, a pink blanket, my nightgown, or one day, it was my bra around her middle. Nice. So glad we didn't have company then...
Some other Kibby stuff... She loves pink. Anything pink. She is a picky eater, but loves fruit. And always wants to eat Fruity Pebbles cereal. Except she calls them "Pimples". I'll have to remind her when she is a teenager that she always said, "I wan PIMPLES!" as a 3-year-old!
She also refuses to share her favorite things with anyone. She screams when Ruby gets near her My Little Ponies, Care Bears, or anything else she happens to hold dear at the moment.
What else? Oh, potty training. Ugh. Not going well. She hasn't gotten it that she needs to let me know before she wets... and whenever she does tell me I think it's just to get a piece of candy. Which reminds me. Another favorite phrase of hers is, "Go potty get candy!"

Ruby: 15 months. She's learning so many things! Words she now uses: Momma, Dadda, No, Hi, Bye, All Done, Go, Baby, Awo ("hello" - while holding play phone to her ear). I can't think of any more right now, so that may be it. But what a difference from Kibby, who started to say Dadda and Momma a little (very very little) around 1 year and then didn't start talking again until she was 21 months!
Ruby also is learning to feed herself. Such a messy time! She loves to play with Kibby's tea set, and like to play in the bath and to stack cups. She has learned how to unzip a zipper (thanks, Dad...) This has made it more challenging to keep jammies on her! :)
She runs, loves to be tickled and chased, she climbs up on things, and loves to tug on (and chew on) the speaker wires in our living room. Much to our unliking...

So that's the latest scoop. I'll try to be more prompt about updates in the future, to avoid another overly-long post.

Anyone still reading? You deserve a medal! I'm done! :)

Mango Elves!

To read my Not Me Mondays, click here or just scroll down to the next post! :)

I just had to post this! :) Couldn't wait 'til tomorrow!

Enjoy!

The Present from Auntie...

We went to Wisconsin this past weekend and my sister was nice enough to give the kids a little table, bench and two chairs. I believe my kids are the third set of children to have them, but they are in great shape yet and my kids love them! It has been nice for me, too, that they sit there and color or play with stickers, or just sit there, staring at the TV...

Um, yeah, I know... one of the reasons I wanted a little table and chairs set was to have a spot to keep the girls occupied during the day so I wouldn't end up turning on the TV to entertain them. But... well, the first thing out of Kibby's mouth in the morning is always, "Can I wanna wanna wanna wanna watch ______?" (Sometimes she says a certain movie, sometimes not.) I don't always give in, but a lot of times I do, especially if Ruby is still sleeping and I want Kibby quiet for a while.

So... I will have to keep working on it. Maybe I can slowly wean her off the movies. :) One a day, maybe? I need to find some more activities that the 2 girls can do simultaneously, if not together. Coloring is fine for Kibby, but not for Ruby yet (she likes to eat the crayons.) Playdough, same thing. Well, most things are that way. Now that winter is coming, I need to get on the ball. Maybe even wipe down their little slide and bring it in, down to the family room. Then they can spend a couple of hours down there (no TV hooked up down there!) running around. Hm...

Anyway, here are a few pics I took today of the kiddos enjoying the "new" table. :)

and some more...

See? She LOVES having her picture taken! (Can we say "NAP TIME"?)



Seth had just woken up from a nap and the kids all jumped on him. :)



Combing her hair!



She loves to put things on her head (blankets, hats, whatever) and then try to walk around like a little ghost. :) At least she could see this time!

Ok, so here's some more...

I was trying to get a nice picture of the girls wearing their matching outfits... As you can see, it didn't work so well.



It's a "Ruby-in-the-Box"!



This girl would try to live on popsicles if we let her!




Moody girl. She refused to have her picture taken with her brother and sister.




This was taken this Summer at a local park. It's one of my favorite pictures of Ethan at this age!

Three

For those of you waiting for me to post some pics of the kiddos, today is the day. :)
















Ruby being her happy self.


















Kaliyan (Kibby) loves pink!
















Kibby REFUSED to be in this picture!


















My "Helper".

















Who needs fancy toys? All 3 of them are sitting in drawers. They dump the toys out, put blankets in, and sit in them. Here they are reading Care Bear books. Well, Ethan is reading to the girls. What fun!

More coming soon...

:)
Susan

Mangoes?

I thought I'd take a minute to explain the name of my blog, for those of you who don't know me. My husband grew up in Cambodia, and our last name means "mango" in the Khmer language. :) So... we are the 5 mangoes. :)

It is my intent to write about daily happenings in our household, post pictures and short videos of the kiddos, and ramble on with my own thoughts on life. Hm, was there anything post-worthy that happened today?

I spent about 2 hours reading through a fellow blogger's comments section, and spent some time in prayer for families that have lost babies.

I recorded a video of my kids dancing to a congolese song (Esengo, by Selah). My 6 year old was dancing and pretending to play his guitar. He was even attempting to lip sync, which I found humorous because he is not very familiar with the words. Since they are not English words!

Which reminds me.

Ethan wants to learn another language. He talks about it all the time. I personally have admiration for people who can speak more than one language fluently, so I guess I can see his interest! My husband is bilingual, but he has not taught very many words to our children. I know a bit of Spanish, but certainly not enough to teach Ethan very much. He is proud that he can (for the most part) count to 10 in spanish, though. :) He always forgets "siete" but he is getting there.

I think my 2 year old just fell in the toilet. Sigh. I sure hope not, but I guess this ends my blogging for the day!

:)

Susan