Highlights of our Thursday

Tonight was Elizabeth's choir concert. The concert where she had a big solo ~ the high note in the National Anthem! She did a great job and we joked that when she's being interviewed before opening on Broadway and they ask her where she got her start, this will be the event and experience she mentions. :) Enjoy the video ~ thanks to the stage's lighting, Liz is the tall headless one right in the middle of the frame.


As we were getting out of the van for the concert, Melissa showed me a picture of a camel she'd drawn. I thought it was pretty good and told her that. She'd also put a person on top of the camel, which she wasn't so pleased with. I understood her frustration ~ people are hard to draw, and I told her that. Melissa came back with, "but look at the people Picasso drew ~ they were crazy looking!" I laughed and told her that maybe there was hope for the rest of us then. She is so funny.

We've decided on a couple of nick names for Nathan. I thought tonight as there were catcalls from the audience during the concert for various performers (this was a middle school performance after all) that someday Nathan is going to be on a stage (or a field or court) and his sisters will be watching and will yell, "GO NATER-TOT!" (a play on tater-tot.....get it?) That's the nickname he gets for when he's being good and cute and wonderful. For those "he got into my stuff!" moments, the girls came up with "tor-nater" (like tornado, but personalized). Liz asked if he has an official nickname yet (like all of the girls do ~ those nonsensical names that have come to me when they were little. I don't even know how they're spelled really...). I told her no, but I call him Scooby a lot so that might be it. Kathryn's didn't come until after she was two, so I have a little time yet. Emily is also still waiting for hers. These are the names that I use for safety reasons in public. The girls know that only I call them that particular name so a stranger coming to them and calling them that would be a red flag. Scream and run!

In the "I wish I were kidding" part of our day, we made a last-minute stop at Savers this afternoon to find a white shirt for Liz to wear tonight. During which Nathan got to ride in the big part of the basket while I helped Kathryn and Melissa look for halloween costume possibilities.. Nathan's timer went off sooner than we were ready to leave and he decided to vent his frustrations by flailing around, coming in contact with Emily's face. He whacked her! Only a few minutes before that I looked down to find that he was just about completely out of his overalls... he was trying to take his pants off in the store!
I also had to feed Emily while we were shopping and had carefully put her blanket up over my shoulder. To the poor woman who was right in front of me when that blanket FELL OFF ~ I sincerely apologize! Even though you were sweet and complimentary of Emily, I am so sorry for the eyeful you got. Yikes.

Nathan has started saying "no" all the time, and answers pretty much any question with a very calm, matter of fact, "no". Does he want some cantaloupe? "no". Could he get mommy a diaper? "no". Of course he really does want cantaloupe and as soon as he answers me he's off to find that diaper. He doesn't know what he's saying really, but he likes that it's an easy answer. Tonight though we got him to say "okay". Actually it's more like, "okee", because it was the first part of "okee dokee", but still much more agreeable than even his calmest "no". Maybe we'll move on from "no" now.

Emily slept about six hours last night ~ not waking up until after four this morning. Amazing how a little bit of continuous sleep goes so far into making us feel human again. She took a big nap this afternoon as well which was great.

Nathan has learned to open the frigde and freezer doors. Last night he opened the freezer and saw the bacon and the juice. He wanted them both, so we transferred them to the fridge and I told him he could have them for breakfast. The boy likes bacon! So this morning when he got up I asked him if he'd like to have the bacon. "no" he said ~ his easy answer. He happily ate two strips though. Same with his juice, answering "no" only to head to the cupboard for a cup.

Special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Freeman for keeping Nathan tonight so we could enjoy the concert. More special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Evans for sharing the concert with us.

Happy Thursday!!