Svea's Journal

Svea ate a large serving of bran cereal and no raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, whole wheat pita bread, ate avocado, and two servings of pears.  Next picture:  All five kids here today playing on the mattress.  Before Svea arrived Cal was wanting to know who's gonna be here.  "Avi coming? Avi coming?" No, she's at her camp.  "Vey Vey coming?  Vey Vey coming?"  Yes Svea's coming.  Atley's ponytail is flying and Svea's ponytails too.  Second picture: Nora and Svea were playing on the couch with all the soft things in the room.  Nora was peeking over the top to see how Svea was doing on her side of the room!!  :) Next two pictures;  One minute Svea doesn't want Miles to touch her toys and she's screaming for my help.  The next minute she's offering the toy to him and encouraging him to take it.  That is super common in this age group and it's also  one  of the reasons I'm hesitant to imme...

Svea ate two servings of French toast and three servings of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of whole 30 chili with meat, peppers, tomatoes, tomato sauce, sweet potatoes, and spices.  She ate whole wheat dinner roll, and a large serving of tropical fruit.   Svea started howling on the mattress and as I looked over that direction both she and Miles were grabbing their fore-heads.  (That's the universal sign of head-bonking!!)  :)  Svea came over and snuggled with me and I kept a close eye on Miles.  He frowned, but he never cried.  I said, "Wow you must be pretty tough Miles."  Svea wasn't real impressed with that comment.  She said, " My  tough too!!"  Haha.  Yes you certainly are tough too Svea!! Miles is living kind of dangerously in the second picture!!  Svea had all 8 ice cream flavors tucked under the pillow.  She'd stacked them together and was holding them like they were her baby.  ...

Svea had no cinnamon raisin English muffin and ate grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork roast, ate whole wheat toast, beets, and applesauce.   These first two pictures are from yesterday afternoon.  Nora and Svea had the couch loaded up with soft goodies and were pretending to sleep.  Svea has her head hanging off the edge and you can see Nora's feet hanging off the edge too.  All of a sudden Svea sat up, threw her arms in the air, and said, "Look at all the presents!!"  Haha.  Second picture;  They were dinking around on the couch and Svea put her feet in Nora's lap.  Oh man, big mistake!!  Nora was screaming and yelling like the worst possible thing just happened!  Haha.  Svea was very repentant, telling her she was so sorry, stroking Nora's hair, and you can see her trying to snuggle Nora in the picture.  :) Next picture:  After breakfast I came around the corner and here's where Cal and Svea had chosen to...

Svea ate whole wheat Chex cereal and ate peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of ground beef, no whole wheat hamburger bun, ate tomato, most of avocado, and ate mandarin oranges.     Svea came in, looked all around and asked, "Is it toy exchange Gary!?!?"  Yes it is Svea.  :)  She started with the ice cream toys you see in the first picture.  She had everything lined up on the sinks like she wanted it and said, "I'm gonna make a party!!"  She also wore some kind of dress-up clothes all morning as well.  You can see her and Callahan in the second picture with their hats on and Svea with some boots. Next picture:  Svea was at the window with a "viewfinder" toy.  (I'm not sure what they're called.)  She was experimenting with closing the "shutter" so there was less light, then more light.  She did this for a long time and was very intent in what she was doing.  Last picture:  First I'll explain why Cal doe...

Svea ate oatmeal and half of dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch: no tilapia, no whole wheat elbow noodles, no green beans, ate a large serving of applesauce.  This isn't about Svea, but I think it's funny so I'm sharing it!!  At breakfast Lauralea was standing beside Cal's highchair and Cal started rubbing Lauralea's backside; "Lauralea's butt, Lauralea's butt."  LOL!!  That cracked me up. I decided he was too young to talk about sexual harassment so I enjoyed a good laugh!! :) This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon outside.  It had been raining so we played with the rain toys on the patio.  Following picture: This was directly after Story Time and apparently Svea was feeling the need for a snuggle. Cal tolerated it momentarily, but he, on the other hand, wasn't really feeling it.  :)  I think he was feeling more squished than anything!! Svea just randomly told me; "I don't like it when I get hurt on my legs,...

Svea ate two servings of blueberry bagel and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of pork roast, no whole wheat tortillas, ate carrots, and ate fruit salad.  Speaking of meals the Program Monitor for CACFP (Federal Food Program) wanted to do one of their monitoring sessions today via Zoom.  Haha. Ok, that's fine with me as long as you don't mind the kids doing what kids do!!  I sat the computer on the art supplies cabinet and the three oldest girls were jumping up and down in front of the monitor so the lady could see them.  :)  But she was happy because I had all the proper paper work.  Thank you Parents for faithfully signing in-and-out which is one of several documents she needs to see.   Svea says funny little things that make me laugh.  This morning I asked her what she did last night and she told me what she DIDN'T do.  Haha.  "I did not chase squirrels."  :) "Gary!!  The PS guy is at you...

Svea ate bites of whole wheat toast and ate half of her grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of hamburger & sausage pizza with meat, peppers, pineapple, tomato sauce, and olives.  She had no whole wheat pizza crust (which we serve separately) and she ate pineapple on the side.   Svea said, "Gary, I have a friend named Addison."  Oh, you do?  Svea said, "Yes, my best friend." Avilene of course heard that and had to clarify at this point.  "It's not her friend; it's her cousin."  Haha.  Then Svea saw a food toy stuck between the two play sinks.  She said, "Can everybody help me!?! Can everybody help me?!?"  Haha.  I don't know about everybody, but somebody can.  And did. This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon when Svea was looking at a book and then while pointing at one on the back she said, "Gary you don't have this one."  Well actually I have all of this author's books and t...

Svea ate whole wheat English muffin and ate dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of chicken, bite of brown rice, bite of stir fry vegetables, and ate mandarin oranges.   First picture:  Here's Svea showing me the picture of the author she says, "Gary, this look like you."  Ha. She'd been searching for the "Baby Beluga" book for us to snuggle with.  I wrap her blankets around her and sing, "Baby Svea" using the words of that book and she loves it.  She said, "Gary can we read 'under the sea' book?"  That line is in the book.   Next picture;  Svea was putting on different slippers when Callahan and Miles joined her.  She has on a Spiderman shoe, a Ninja Turtle slipper, she's holding a Batman slipper, and Cal's arrived with a Toy Story slipper to offer another choice.  Haha.  Following picture:  Svea you're doing a good job creatively keeping your toy away from Miles.  :)  I love this last picture: ...

Svea ate two servings of cheerios and two bites of banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, whole wheat pita bread, olives, avocado, and three servings of watermelon.     First picture: Lauralea went across the street to the mail box and the kids lined up at the window.  She was going "down the line" and I happened to get this picture when she was in front of Miles.  Second picture: Svea asked me to snuggle her two or three times this morning.  I took this picture when I was getting up to go fix breakfast.  Little cutie.   Next picture:  Miles was crawling up and messing with what Svea and Nora were playing with.  Svea didn't act like it bothered her much, but Nora was yelling, "no no no!!  Get out of here!!"  Atley had to come over and see what the ruckus was about!!  Haha!  Following picture: So they covered up their toys to try to keep Miles away!!  (See Svea's blankets there!)  From left to ...

Svea ate bites of oatmeal and no baked cinnamon apples for breakfast.  For lunch she ate salmon, no whole wheat dinner roll, ate a large serving of riced cauliflower, and ate mangoes.  This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon and I love this picture.  Primarily because this is totally Svea.  Zoom in on that cute grin!!  The far side of her hat, that you can't see in the picture, was totally covered with snow and she couldn't care less.  She is such an independent little spirit.  Love her.   Last picture:  Svea was in the chair with the "Superman Castle" - I have no idea what it's really called - she had it up there primarily to keep it away from Miles.  Ha.  I led him over to the "Batman Castle" that's essentially just like this one, but it's always way more interesting to go for a toy someone is already playing with.   Last picture:  Svea was searching all over the floor like you see in the picture. ...

Svea ate whole wheat English muffin and two servings of mandarin oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of ground beef, no whole wheat elbow noodles, bites of peas, and she ate a large serving of applesauce. First picture;  Svea did a good job sharing her blankets and here she's letting Nora have one.  Miles crawled over and he's pulling it away from Sister.  Now if this was any one else Nora would be screaming her head off!!  Brother Miles gets special treatment from Sister.  Atley is laying in the background stretching out a stuffed animal in case you were curious about that!!  :) Next picture:  Alexa was playing "Little Drummer Boy" again and these three joined me in doing some drumming.  Svea is still concerned that I don't ask Alexa to play Little Drummer  Girl .  Haha.  I love it. Notice Avilene is right there with Miles and sister Svea.   Last picture;  Svea played with her blankets most of t...

Svea ate French toast and two servings of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of hearty paleo stew with meat, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, green beans, and sweet potatoes.  She ate saltines and half of tropical fruit.  At the breakfast table I asked the kids, like I do just about every day,  "What did you do last night?"  If I don't get an answer especially from the little ones I'll frequently say silly things like "Did you chase squirrels?"  This morning Svea thought about it for 20 seconds and then she said, with a big grin on her face, "Catch squirrels."  Haha.  Good one Svea!! First picture: Callahan joining Svea in using the combs.  Svea has much more practice staring at the mirror and she knows you're supposed to look in the mirror when you comb.  Haha. I was cleaning up the breakfast table and Svea was at the gate saying, "Hey Gary, hey Gary, hey Gary."  Yes Svea?  She was quiet for a moment...

Svea ate waffle and most of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, bites of whole wheat tortilla, ate corn, and no baked cinnamon apples.    Here are some pictures from Svea's morning.  She started out by asking to do some art with the markers. I'd brushed her hair and she found a comb and was looking in the mirror while carefully combing it some more.  In the third picture she'd been playing with some sea creatures.  She had the octopus and said, "This one is a mommy."  So I asked her if the other one was a daddy.  "No, it's a sister."  :) Next picture: Svea had this draped around her shoulders in front of the mirror of course.  She said, "Gary, I'm a nice pirate."  Haha.  Last picture:  "Hey Gary!! Lookit!!"  She was thrilled when she realized her baby could suck it's thumb.  She was lovingly holding it and said in the sweetest dreamiest voice, "My baby is so beautiful."