Lullaby and Goodnight

Opening Day, 2019

2019-06-12T21:29:00.002-04:00

Opening Day, 2017

2017-06-12T14:57:00.000-04:00

Camp, 2016

2016-06-13T16:51:00.002-04:00

Christmas Gifts, 2015

2015-12-15T21:23:00.001-05:00

Tillie:

Lego Creative bricks and a green baseplate in a Rubbermaid storage bin

Fashion Plates

4 Our Generation outfits

Princess in Black and the Perfect Princess Party

Teddy:

Lego Creative bricks and a green baseplate in a Rubbermaid storage bin

Lego Yoda alarm clock

Imaginext Transforming Batmobile

Flashlight

Bebe:
Lego Duplo Creative Animals

Build-A-Bear

Twilight Turtle

Knuffle Bunny Too

Teddy's Birthday Questions - 4 years old

2015-10-10T09:55:00.000-04:00

Starting at age 3, every year on their birthday you ask the same questions and see how their answers change over the years!
1. What is your favorite color? Blue and Green
2. What is your favorite toy? All the Dinosaur Imaginexts
3. What is your favorite fruit? Blueberries
4. What is your favorite tv show? PJ Masks
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Pretzels and smoothies
6. What is your favorite outfit? I only like my spider shirt. (It's just what he's wearing right now...)
7. What is your favorite game? The Princess Cupcake game we have downstairs.
8. What is your favorite snack? Pretzels
9. What is your favorite animal? A fox, I really like the foxes, like my camping chair.
10. What is your favorite song? Barges
11. What is your favorite book? My train book
12. Who is your best friend? Kai and Eli (Those are the two boys who are closet in age to him in our Camp group of friends.)
13. What is your favorite cereal? Apple Jacks
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my scooter
15. What is your favorite drink? Apple juice
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Imaxginext and cars and a blankie and sometimes Rosie's Dad. (Rosie's Dad is the name of his stuffed bear.)
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Blueberry bar
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Cake and cupcakes
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Fireman

Pigtails at Big Star Lake

2015-08-18T09:57:00.000-04:00

Father's Day

2015-06-21T19:51:00.000-04:00

Interview with Tillie, age 6 & Teddy, age 3.5

What's Daddy's name? Tim, Daddy

What does Daddy do for fun? Do things with us, Oh! Go in the rain. That's the thing he likes to do.

What does Daddy do at work? He works as a teacher, He fix things.

My Daddy likes to wear: Shirt and pants and shorts, Pants and clothes

My Daddy is smart because he knows: math, because he sits on couches. I thought he would think it was funny if I writed that one.

It makes my Daddy happy when: reads stories and does things for us, he goes to the Nature Center

What is Daddy's favorite thing to eat? Things that I don't like, Bacon

What does he like to drink? Coffee, Coffee

How old is Daddy? Some number after 20, Kind of like 7:30

How tall is Daddy? I don't know, He's taller than mommy.

What is Daddy's hair like? Light brown, Kind of like mine and yours, but mine is the same and yours is not.

How much does he weigh? I don't know?, *giggles* I don't know what Daddy is!

What makes Daddy the best? He loves me, Hmm, this is a tricky one. Maybe 'cause he knows what time it is.

If he could go on a trip, my Daddy would go to: Camp, Camp. That's the only thing I knew.

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Stay and play toys with him, Sit on the couch together

Our Mom By Tillie Leugs and Teddy Leugs

2015-05-10T08:45:00.000-04:00

Our Mom

By Teddy and Tillie

May 2015

Happy Mother’s Day! In honor of Amber and her day, enjoy the kids’ responses below.

I really love it when my mom plays Imaginext.

I really love it when my mom reads books to me.

My mom likes to wear dresses.

My mom always tells me, “Eat your food.”

My mom always tells me, “Clean your room.”

The best thing she does is taking me to Target.

The best thing she does is going shopping with me.

It makes her happy when I’m the fastest to clean up.

It makes her happy when we help her.

My mom loves to relax by shopping.

My mom loves to relax by taking a bath.

I like it when she helps me clean up.

I like it when she takes me to garage sales.

The best thing she cooks is bacon.

The best thing she cooks is broccoli.

When my mom shops she likes to buy all the food. A lot of food.

When my mom shops she likes to buy clothes.

My mom’s favorite household chore is cooking.

My mom’s favorite household chore is Sometimes cleaning.

My mom’s favorite TV show is Paw Patrol.

My mom’s favorite TV show is grown-up shows.

If she could go on a trip, she would go to Daddy’s house [the wood shop in the backyard] (Tim’s note: Amber would never go into the wood shop. It’s the only place where mice live on our property.)

If she could go on a trip, she would go to stores.

I love my mom because she cleans up after us.

I love my mom because she loves us.

I did try asking Bebe these questions, but she didn't have nearly as much to say. Just lots of smiles.

Happy Mother’s Day, Amber! We love you!

Tillie's 6th Birthday

2015-05-07T20:44:00.000-04:00

Birthday Questions:
1. What is your favorite color? Red, Pink and Yellow
2. What is your favorite toy? Fairy and Mermaid Barbies
3. What is your favorite fruit? Apples
4. What is your favorite tv show? Lalaloopsy
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Cheese sticks
6. What is your favorite outfit? Naartjie Outfit
7. What is your favorite game? Disney Princess Cupcake Game
8. What is your favorite snack? Fruit Snacks and Cheddar Popcorn
9. What is your favorite animal? Cat
10. What is your favorite song? Bluebird, Bluebird Through my Window
11. What is your favorite book? Counting in the Garden, The Duckling Gets a Cookie
12. Who is your best friend? Teddy
13. What is your favorite cereal? Frosted Flakes
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Making a House in the Front Yard
15. What is your favorite drink? Milk
16. What is your favorite holiday? Valentine's Day and Easter
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Rosie (Stuffed Bear)
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Frosted Flakes
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Ice Cream
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Superhero

12 Months - Happy Birthday Beatrix!

2015-04-17T22:10:00.000-04:00

And just like that, my baby turned one.

Sleep: Not too much has changed. I'm thankful she hasn't given up the morning nap yet.

Food: She's fully on whole milk and happily drinks it cold. I was a little worried about that since she always took warm formula. She loves real food and we don't spoon feed her very often, she'd rather do it herself from a pouch. Her favorites are raspberries, cheese, broccoli, popcorn, peanut butter sandwiches and graham cracker goldfish.

Play: She's starting to do a lot more of "playing" with toys instead of just putting everything in her mouth. She likes driving cars and hugging dolls. She tries to say Mama, Dada, More and All Done. She LOVES animals and being outside.

Movement: She walks across rooms by pushing chairs or doll strollers and cruises along furniture. She can use the tiniest bit of a stable object to stand herself up and has super-long limbs to reach EVERYTHING. She climbed up two stairs at my brother's house, but she hasn't had more opportunities to test out that skill. She doesn't like to, but if I balance her standing and let go she can stand for a couple seconds they gently sits herself down.

Size: She's 22lbs .5oz and 29.5". She's still wearing a lot of 6-12m things, but I should really weed them out and switch over to 12-18m. There are just a few things I'm not ready to pack up yet! Her shoe size is 4.

March 2015 #1SE

2015-03-31T20:30:00.000-04:00

Chair Pushing

2015-03-21T18:58:00.002-04:00

Beatrix doesn't cruise along furniture, but I think this is the same skill.

11 Months

2015-03-17T14:47:00.001-04:00

Sleep: She's in bed from 7-7 at night. Now that she can turn the light on, she does often. So, we know she wakes up and plays in the night, but falls back asleep. Sometimes after 5 I hear her playing, but I just turn off the monitor and Tim turns the light off when he get up. She can almost skip her morning nap, but really needs at least 15 minutes. If we're home I put her in bed at 9:30, but if we're out and about I just hope she falls asleep for a bit. She usually does.

Food: 11 months means we can start "milking down" her formula bottles! I'm so excited about buy less formula. She eats table food for most meals. but if she doesn't eat enough at dinner we give her some yogurt or baby food. Her favorites are raspberries, shredded cheddar cheese, yogurt, grilled cheese and broccoli. I'm trying to get her used to a sippy cup, but so far she's not awesome at it.

Play: She's waved "hi", "bye" for a while now, but this last month she's really gotten into it and does it at appropriate times. She can sign "more" and "all done", "all done" being her favorite. She loves to have us count to three and pretend to drop her. She loves the anticipation and starts giggling when you get to 2. She wants to have whatever her brother and sister have and always steals there things and crawls as fast as she can whenever the door to their room is open.

Movement: She can stand by a chair, push it across the room and walk with it, but doesn't try to cruise along furniture much. She pulls up on anything she finds and easily sits herself back down.

Size: She's wearing 6-12m and 12-18m clothes. The 12-18 are still a little big, but that's good because I want them to fit all summer! Diapers are size 4 and shoes are a 3 or 6-12m.

Packing

2015-03-05T17:07:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow night the kids are sleeping over at Grandma's. (Tim and I have LaughFest tickets!) They asked for their suitcases and a bit later they came out of their room all packed.

Tillie:

Blanket, clothes for Saturday, a few pairs of underwear, pajamas, lip gloss and a book. She told me she'd add Rosie(her bear) when it was time to leave. I'll probably just add a tank for under the shirt and call it good.

Teddy:

Spiderman bag from his scooter, Henry the hedgehog, blanket, book, toy water sword, Ken doll, felt tools, part of a dinosaur Imaginext, Imaginext guy, a couple pull-ups, a few a pairs of underwear, clothes for Saturday, pajamas and slippers. And then a whole random pile of toys and weird pieces in the zip-pocket. I'll probably take out most of the toys and add an extra outfit.

February 1 Second Everyday

2015-02-28T10:31:00.003-05:00

Musical Kitty-Cat

2015-02-27T18:16:00.000-05:00

Tillie came home from school on Tuesday asking me to mark the Cs on our piano. She said she needed it for the Kitty-Cat song from music. I was busy then, but I asked Tim to do it tonight during dinner. He asked Tillie why, and she said it was for this song, which she sang. (I made her do it again after dinner for the video. She actually did better the first time!)

Then she wanted to try to play it on the piano. She though she could figure it out since she played it on a xylophone at school.
Tim and I are just a little big proud.

Mr. Fix-It

2015-02-23T15:02:00.003-05:00

"Mommy, I just found this broken."
"Okay, I'll look at it."
"No, I can fix it on my tool bench."

And he seriously put the handle back on!

One Day App

2015-02-18T07:41:00.001-05:00

I found a cute app that easily makes kid videos. Enjoy!

10 Months

2015-02-17T13:26:00.002-05:00

This silly girl is 10 months old today!

Sleep: She's still a 7-7 girl. She wakes a little before then, but we don't get her out of bed until 7. (She's playing, not crying.) Her morning nap is getting a lot shorter and she's fine if it's only 15 minutes in the car. If we're home, it's usually 1-2 hours. Her afternoon nap is at 1:30 and it ends anywhere between 3:15-4:30.

Food: Bottles are still exactly the same, 6oz at 7:30, 11:30, 4 and 6:45. Ocasionally she doesn't finish them anymore. For lunch she usually eats something in her highchair. Dinner is whatever we're having and depending on how much she ate we give her a jar of something. Her favorites are broccoli, cheese, berries, pasta and bread. She feeds herself very well. She's just starting drinking out of a sippy cup.

Play: Her favorite things to play with are whatever Tillie and Teddy have at that particular moment. She likes to make a "pop" noise with her lips and still loves peek-a-boo. She LOVES shoes, specifically a pink pair she has that have a bow on them. She likes to mimic sounds we make, or have us mimic her. She puts EVERYTHING into her mouth. Of course this is my third kid with a million tiny accessories on the ground from the older two.

Movement: Just this past week she started pulling up on things, and she's been doing it all day long now. She can get into even more things!

Size: She's wearing mostly 6-12m items, but I've put a few smaller 12-18m things on her since I know they probably won't fit her next September/October when it's cooler again. Size 4 diapers, which I'm sure she'll be in for a long time now.

1 Second Everyday

2015-01-31T15:24:00.000-05:00

Here's my January compilation! The quality is poor, but hopefully I can get a better copy before the year is out.

Indoor Shoes

2015-01-19T20:31:00.000-05:00

I pulled Tillie out of bed tonight because I found a sweet deal on shoes that would work great for indoor school shoes next year. There were three pairs available in her size and I wanted to know which ones she liked best.

"Well, I like two of them, the blue and the pink. But, I want the blue ones because I don't want a shoe in my favorite color for 1st grade. My favorite colors are red, pink and yellow."

"Oh, you think your favorite color might change?"

"No, I don't want to wear my favorite color on a shoe if I'm already wearing it. Can I go back to bed now?"

"Yes, goodnight!"

To Tim - "She made a really good point, blue shoes are more likely to go with her outfit when she's wearing pink, red or yellow."

Nine Months

2015-01-17T13:37:00.002-05:00

Sleep: Beatrix goes to bed at 7pm and we get her up for the day betwen 7:00-7:30am. Some days she sleeps all night, some days she does not. I don't feel tired every day anymore, so that's a good thing. She takes one 15-90 minute nap around 9:30 and takes another 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.

Food: She takes 4 6oz bottles a day and loves to eat "real" food. She eats a full meal at dinner and something small at lunch. Right now her favorites are broccoli, shredded cheese, spaghetti, cooked carrots and veggie straws. We still feed her purees, but she would rather eat what we're having. I've just introduced her to pureed pouches, which will be nice when we're on the go.

Play: She's clapped before, but this week she's been clapping ALL DAY LONG. She loves it, especially if you comment on the fact that she's clapping. (Obviously that calls for more clapping.) She sometimes waves. She's been getting louder and likes to make Ma-ma-ma and La-la-la sounds, among others. She still enjoys her jumperoo, but only if someone is watching her congratulating her on her great jumping skills. She smiles at everyone in grocery stores and makes friends wherever she goes.

Movement: She crawls all over the house now. Miraculously, she waiting until after Christmas, so we took our tree down shortly after the 25th. She is starting to try to pull up, but usually stops when she gets to her knees. She easily gets herself into a sitting position on her own.

Size: On our home scale she's still just over 20lbs. Her appointment is on Tuesday, so I'll update this then. I packed away the 9m(6-9m) clothes a couple weeks ago because she was too tall for them. She fits into 6-12 and 12m(9-12m) clothes nicely. She's wearing 6-12m shoes and I moved up to size 4 diapers(But that was mostly a logistics thing, I think size 3 would fit for about a month still.). Her first tooth finally popped through on Wednesday and other is half-way through today.

Easter Shopping

2015-01-11T18:56:00.001-05:00

"Tillie, which dress is your favorite?"

"My favorite is... all of them."

Year in Pictures, 2014

2014-12-31T09:12:00.000-05:00

In January it snowed. And it snowed. The first two days back from Christmas break were snow days, along with others in the month. It was also wicked cold.

There was still a lot of snow in February, but on the 18th it was 44*. That felt warm enough to my kids to not want coats. The sun was out and I couldn't argue.

Tillie did 6 weeks of dance at the Wyoming Parks and Rec. Because of the snow days one was canceled and it pushed the recital into March. In other words(in case you forgot already), this winter was snow and more snow and cold. Forever.

April 17 brought the cutest baby born this year. She's not as snugly(she'd rather be moving) and her hair isn't as dark, but she's still the cutest girl who loves her blankies and pacifiers.

Tillie turned 5 in May. She also "graduated" from preschool.

Like we always do in June, we moved to Camp. I also made sure the kids got to do other fun summer things like visit the local farmer's market to get fresh Michigan strawberries.

With Tim's huge writing project from the first half of the year finally completed in July he did a lot of projects around the house like refacing our front steps, cleaning out the "dog-run" and putting together a campsite for the kids to play with. Tillie and Teddy ran a mini-Camp out here, ringing the bells for their meals and everything.

The long-awaited bunk beds for Teddy and Tillie's new shared room arrived in August. Teddy dropped the screws in all the slats for Tim to tighten. I was a little nervous about how bed time and nap time would go, but the transition couldn't have been smoother. They really love being together. I still have to share pictures of their room, but I have to finish the decorating first(like making Ted's silhouette).

Tillie started Kindergarten in September. He was a little jealous when we first left her on the playground, but he's quite fond of running errands with just Beatrix and me. She can't talk, so he gets to make most of the the choices. I think they were both happy to see each other again when we picked Til up on the first day.

My boy, who gets angry if you refer to him as baby, turned 3 in October. We made a lot of trips downtown to ArtPrize, which all the kids enjoyed.

November brought a white Thanksgiving. I don't think anyone was really surprised when it started snowing in November. It just seemed par for the course for the year. Beatrix didn't really seem to care one way or another about the snow, but once we got her out in the sled she really enjoyed it.

There's been no snow really in December, which was totally weird, but I'll be honest and say I kind of liked it. I think I'm still scarred from last winter and am just enjoying wearing ballet flats instead of Uggs. Among many other festive outings and parties, we went to the Gardens to see the trains and trees. These three are so much fun.

Happy New Year! While I haven't gotten much sleep this year, I wouldn't trade a single minute.

Christmas Stockings, 2014

2014-12-18T19:55:00.000-05:00

Here's what my kids will find in their stockings this year.

Little People Hedgehog set
Wood ring teether
Little People Cinderella & Prince Charming
Camelbak water bottle
BlaBla bird rattle
Mam pacifiers
Sweet Potato puffs
Doll dress

Batman Build-A-Bear costume
Cars Band-Aids
Hello Kitty Pocky Sticks
Doll outfit
Flynn Fire Engine train
Mike the Knight Klip-Klop
Spiderman glow stick
Mini Mentos
Schleich baby tiger
Yogurt raisins

Fairy puzzle
Frozen Band-Aids
Mini Mentos
Hello Kitty doll outfit
Gymboree necklace and bracelet
Frozen Spot It!
Hello Kitty Pocky Sticks
Schleich baby hippo
Yogurt raisins
Build-A-Bear outfti
crewcuts glitter purse