dining room update!

Heavens, my blog has slowed down post-Christmas, hasn't it?  Oh well, that seems to be the way it always is every year.  Frankly, there's just not that much going on 'round these parts.  I always have big hopes (I even have coffee filters collecting dust that I had plans to turn into snowflakes with the kids), but I'm just so burnt out after all the fall and December festivities that I kind of just lay low all of January.  I didn't want to leave y'all hanging on the dining room/kitchen project, though, so I figure I'll fill ya in on that front at least.

After we tore down the wall and had a mini-week-long breather we tore out the carpet and a few boards from the kitchen (you don't want a clean line between the two, obviously).  The weekend before Christmas, we started to lay the flooring.  It was hard work, but surprisingly not all that difficult, once you got the hang of it.  We continued to lay flooring up through Christmas afternoon, when we finally got everything laid.

This is the linoleum we found under our kitchen hardwood.  Georgia thought it was simply gorgeous and couldn't understand why we'd want to cover it up.

In this picture, you can see where we tore up some of the boards leading into the kitchen to make it less obvious where the new floor starts and the old one ends.

You can also see Ezra putting together his new Legos on Christmas day...which is where he sat all. day. long.  I'm not even joking, he literally sat down before the rest of the family finished opening presents and didn't move all day long except for a 10 minute break when his "hands got sweaty."

This is with everything sanded smooth.  Right before this point, the chillun' and I had headed down to Oklahoma to visit the fam and Spence was on his own.  Heaven knows he was more productive that way ;)

Ahhh, lovely newly stained flooring :)

This weekend, Spencer put the molding up around the doorway.  I don't have a picture yet, since I wanted to wait until everything is painted, but I shot this while Scarlett was helping Spencer nail the molding up.  She was so cute about it and didn't miss an opportunity to help out.  Then again...what little girl doesn't like power tools? ;)

I think that's about it for now.  Sorry I'm so bland and what-not, but to be honest, the brood has taken it out of me today.  I am completely ex.haus.ted.  Hopefully next post all be a lot more witty-like :)

Oh, my heck, I love this kid.

I was going to post this on facebook, but then I remembered I like you better :)
 

Ezra taught last night's Family Home Evening lesson on money management.  He set up a mini-store to show the girls different options for spending their pretend money and to explain the virture of saving up versus spending it on something short-lived (like the infamous Cotton Candy Blunder of '12).  He then asked each of us personalized questions like, "Dad, if you lose your job, should you get the first one you can find, or wait for one that you're better at or with a better price?"

I suggested he teach it after listening to him show me his business plan for next summer's lemonade stand for the 500th time.  He's already made up posters and has a list of items needed (with accompanying picture) labeled S1, S2... for Step 1, Step 2... It's friggin' adorable, but still, one does get tired of hearing about it.

His new favorite movie is Piggy Banks to Money Markets from the library.  It's kind of like Dave Ramsey for kids.  He informed me he'd love a copy of his very own next Christmas.

He's currently walking around singing the song (from the aforementioned movie), Money Doesn't Grow on Trees.

Sometimes he's so much like his dad, it kills me.

Oh, my heck, I love this kid.

the chatterbox that isn't.

So...

Let's talk about this guy.

gorgeous, isn't he?

even with Christmas morning bed-head.

 
Oak is the most vibrant, social, happy little guy I know.  He is an absolute joy.  Oak walks around the house all day throwing things, singing made-up little ditties, and letting a constant stream of chatter flow forth.

But, see, that chatter and those songs...well, they're not comprised of words.  Pretty much not at all.  In fact, not only are they NOT words, but they're not anything remotely resembling words.  They actually resemble humming more closely than they do words.

At 12 months, I didn't even bat an eye at his non-talking.  At 15 months, I raised an eyebrow, but figured that the words would come.   At 18 months...well, at 18 months, I talked to the doctor.

Now, all three of my other kids were early, voracious talkers (they are my children, after all ;).  By 18 months, they could pretty much communicate anything they needed or wanted to, even if the general populace couldn't understand all their constant chatter.  So, when I finally got my turn on the non-verbal baby train, I simply didn't know what to think.  I didn't know what was normal, what was not normal, what to worry about, what not to worry about, etc.  I asked my facebook chums and they all pretty resoundingly responded not to worry.  But, see, even with their good intentions, I did still worry.  Not because I don't think that some kiddos are just slow talkers and pick it up on their own, like they said, but because of the things between the lines.  Like, "he's just a fourth...just don't pick him up until he says up."  Well...that doesn't really work because not only does Oak not say "up," but he doesn't even say anything remotely resembling up.  When your son doesn't bother even having a noise for his favorite things (balls, car, milk)...then he's not going to bother with "up."

It's just so many things.  He has 4 words (mama, da (dad), miii (mine), and ha (hot), and even those are spoken pretty infrequently (like maybe once a day, twice, tops for mama and hot and much, much less for the other two).  He doesn't traditionally babble nearly at all (ba-ba, etc).  When he does make a random babbling noise, he thinks it's more of a joke than a way to communicate and there definitely isn't a sentence structure to it like there should be (one of our biggest concerns).  He also doesn't identify pictures or body parts at all (like pointing them out when asked) (also another big concern).  He only makes one animal noise (ruff ruff for a dog...his favorite animal) and even that's only on a whim.

He's a smart kid, he just doesn't communicate with anything other than pointing or yelling.

Anyway, so, I went to Oak's well-check not sure what to expect.  I had my worries and concerns, but my doctor is pretty laid-back and I didn't figure she'd do much more than tell me to give him time.  Instead, she suggested we contact the county and get him tested (yay! for free services) and see what they say.  She agreed there's always just the chance of it being 4th child syndrome (ie: laziness because big brother or sister will get you what you want), but that it wouldn't hurt to figure things out.  After all, your typical 18 month old is saying 20+ words, a couple of small sentences, and identifying multiple items/body parts...which Oak definitely is not on all counts.

In non-typical government form, things have moved pretty quickly since then (the 11th of December) and we met with two government workers (one was in charge of the paperwork side of things while the other was doing more of the actual testing) yesterday morning (January 3rd).

Overall,  it went really well. Oak was at his very social, happy, non-verbal best, so I feel like they got a true representation of him (the social accuracy was very important to me, in particular, since we're watching closely for autism spectrum). They couldn't get over how social he was as he kept on playing with them and engaging them. We discussed Oak's (non)use of words and the issues with babbling, lack of identifying, etc.  We checked for following directions, back and fourth play, and imitating actions, all of which he does to some degree. They got to see, first hand, his humming version of "talking" that he uses constantly.  They noted that it seems like most of his noise-making is more from the back of his throat than with his mouth and tongue, like it should be.

They want me to get his hearing checked, just to know for sure, but we all doubt that's the issue since he responds well to directions. There is a chance that things sound muffled and it's flown under the radar since he doesn't typically have fluid on the ears or any other red flags, and that would lead to a talking issue, obviously.

So, they're planning on setting up speech therapy for him after we get his hearing checked. They said they don't often start this young (he'll be 19 months in a couple of days), but since he (1) seemed very receptive and engaged, he would probably enthusiastically participate with a therapist and (2) there's definitely a real need there. Just the combination of all the things is just not developmentally normal. They say cognitively he's right where he should be and physically he's well beyond where he should be, but he's very, very behind with communication. In fact, he communicates more at the level of a 13 month old.

 He's wants to talk, he tries to talk...but he doesn't even get close.

So, anyway, there's where we're at. We'll be in touch with them in the next couple of weeks and hopefully get the ball rolling.

Until then, I'll just continue to enjoy my happy, joyful little acorn in all his non-verbal glory.

  This is Oak's first official Time Out last month.  He looks so repentant, doesn't he? :P

 Partay in the hooooouse!

For kicks and giggles, feel free to compare with Scarlett's first Time Out found here. 

Merry Christmas to all...

...and to all a good night.

 Happy Christmas, ya'll!

Love,

The Lifferth Brood

'tis the season for lots of pictures

Goodness, there's so much to catch up on.  Sorry for doing one of my oh-so-frequent uber-posts, but I wanted to get everything out there before The Big Day.  Here's what we've been up to!

Every year our ward hosts a Christmas Breakfast instead of dinner.  I love the casualness of it and that it doesn't take up valuable evening time during the verrrry busy December month.  The downside? cranky morning kids.  Then again, who am I kidding?  You have a 70% chance of my kids being cranky at anytime of the day.  That average has been bumped way up due to Georgia's 90% grumpiness rate all on her lonesome.  As I'm sure you'll be seeing from the pictures, Georgia lived up to her reputation and didn't disappoint ;)...

Note that this was while she was in line to see SANTA CLAUSE. It takes some balls to be this naughty before talking to the big man himself.

 

Oh, and the irony of the shirt...totally not lost on me.

Neither boy was particularly happy for this picture.  Oak because I wanted him to sit on a creepy old man's lap and Ezra because he had already done the Santa thing (I missed the photo op) and didn't want to have to pose again.

We finally got a semi-smile out of her for this one.

What can I say?

Scarlett has a knack for awkward pictures.

Ahhh, much better.

Cute little thing talked his ear off...as she does with most people.

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No Christmas season would be complete without a visit to the Crown Center! We look forward to it all year and, once again, it didn't disappoint :)

The kiddos playing in Santa's workshop before we head out into the cold:

Ahhh, I love that big ol' dimpled grin

Who can resist a photo op with giant Lego people?

obviously not my children:

.

Finally, we made it outside into the cold night air.  As I mentioned last year, outside the Crown Center, they've set up a bunch of kid-size wooden vehicles and buildings...on top of concrete.  Here in the midwest we don't care about liability too much.  I'm not complaining, though!  A good knock every once in a while will just do them good ;)  It was funny, this was the first year the kids were reeeeally into posing.  Every time I turned around there was one of the kiddos yelling at me to come take a picture.

In case you're wondering, that's Spencer in the background all creeper-like.

 Who can resist a good planking?

  

 

Ezra insisted on taking this picture, regardless of his younger brother well-voiced opinions and wishes.

 I suppose that's what older brothers do :)

 

  

 

 I love this picture of Oak.  He was enthralled with the lit fountains and would stand watching them for as long as we'd let him before moving him out of the way of the spray.

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This past Saturday evening (the 22nd), Georgia and I went on a date to see The Nutcracker put on by a local youth ballet company.  We were pretty excited as neither of us had ever seen it before, not even in movie form.  I was a little nervous about how well Miss Gee would sit for it, but she really did do smashingly.  The elderly couple a few seats down from us just oohed and ahhhed over how well she did.  Not only did she sit through the whole thing (other than the occasional ballerina imitations she couldn't resist doing during the particularly exciting parts...luckily we were on the back row of our section, so her arms weren't waving in anyone's face), but she actually watched it.  I was so proud of her and I can't wait to make it a Girls Night Out tradition that Scarlett will join when she's older (knowing her general wiggliness and short attention span, we'll probably have to wait a few years on that one ;)

My general consensus as a first-time watcher of The Nutcracker?  A little boring during the first half, especially the party scene, but if you can sit that out, it vastly improves during the second half.  It was so entertaining and lovely the entire second half.

 Georgia was so darn excited for the much-anticipated night to arrive.  She could barely contain herself!

 She's showing me her much-practiced Ballerina pose here

A quick self-portrait before we take our seats

She wanted me to take a picture of her "holding up the stage" during intermission

(and thank heavens for it!  Intermission was a great chance to get all of her little girl wiggles out)

Oh, goodness, do I love that girl.  She is, hands down, my hardest kid right now, but she can be so charming and bewitching when she's happy.  I look forward all month long to our alternate monthly dates (dad gets the other month) and she always proves to be so much fun to hang out with.  Really, honestly, the whole reason we started the whole monthly date thing was for this girl.  She just blossoms with the one-on-one attention.  She certainly shined for me on Saturday night :)

Well, I think that's everything for now, at least Christmas related.  I'm sure I'll be posting our Christmas card and possibly a Christmas Eve jammie, though, tomorrow or the next day.  Check back soon!

tear down this wall!...and other random musings

Here's some random musings to start your morning right (if a morning can be started after 10:00am, anyway ;).

I can't believe we're so darn close to Christmas! 8 days!!! eeeeeee! I feel like this has been the longest Christmas season ever due to that extra week between Thanksgiving and December.  I'm so excited to finally be only a week away from Christmas eve.  I feel like a little kid :)

So, our car is in the shop for a transmission fix.  To most people, a car in the shop is inconvenient and obnoxiously expensive...to us it's like friggin' doomsday.  As Spencer works on cars, we pretty much never take our car into the shop.  I think maybe once (?) in our entire marraige, and that was when we had to replace our transmission for like $3000.  ouch! Hopefully that's not the case this time around.  I just don't think we'll keep the van if the transmission needs to be replaced again.  I'm honestly not sure what we'll do.

As for exciting news from the Lifferth household...drumroll, please...

(no , I'm not pregnant)

We tore down a wall!!!! We had a Ronald Reagan moment (Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!) and down the wall came between our kitchen and dining room.  Yep...like gone.  The kids had an absolute blast doing it too.  Even Oak got in the fun...with a hatchet...needless to say, Mom was not around while that particular moment was happening.

Anyway, now that the wall is down and the edges have been framed, the plan is to tear up the dining room carpet and put down hardwood to match the kitchen.  Then we'll sand and refinish both the kitchen and dining room to a dark mahogany color (it's currently light oak (it takes all I have not to capitalize that word ;)).  We're doing it now, despite it's inconvenience with the holiday goings-on because I'm planning on heading down to Oklahoma right after Christmas (we'll see what happens with the car situation).   That way, Spencer can refinish and seal the floors while no one else is home.

Anyway, here's the proof!

Before #1 (dining room):

Before #2 (kitchen):

The demolition

(all those spots are dust in the air)

(in case any of you are wondering who the random blue-shirted boy is, that's Liam, one of Ezra's besties from up the road.)

We break through!

 

about half-way there (poor Spence, he did most of the work from here forward)

This was at about midnight or so on Saturday night.

What's left of the wall has been framed and we just has cleanup left before bed (which, let me tell you, is no small job!)

...aaaand this is where we're at right now.

Next up, the flooring!

Also, as inquiring minds have requested, this is our new table set, a craigslist find.  We love it, but we'll probably re-sell the table after a bit as Spence has his heart set on building a table.  It'll be long and rectangle and will fit the space better (this one is smaller and rectangle or big and square with the leaf in).  The chairs are perfect and exactly what I had my heart set on, so we'll keep them for sure.

Well, that's it for today, folks!  I have loads more things to post about, so there'll probably be more posts in the near future :)

It's a marshmallow world in the winter

 ...when the snow comes to cover the ground.

Ok...we definitely don't have any snow yet, so white frosting will have to do instead.  'Tis the season for gingerbread house-making.  As typical, we always do graham crackers instead of traditional gingerbread.  Spencer claims it's because it's structurally more sound...I just claim it's because I'm lazy.  This year we shook things up by throwing upside-down waffle cones into the mix as Christmas trees (thanks for getting married and having reception leftovers, Kim!).  I was originally intending to just do the trees, but then I over-bought candy (what can I say? any excuse is a good excuse to buy sugar in my book) and Ezra was aghast at the thought of a house-less gingerbread decorating activity...so we busted out the grahams.  Anyway, here's the proof:

Ezra holding his fancy tree-topper in place.  It was the only frivolity the boy allowed his decorating and it just wouldn't balance atop his tree.  After about the 5th fall he finally gave up on it.

Spencer helping Scarlett get her house in order

 The ever-smiley (and bad-hair-bedecked) Miss Scarlett

How Oak entertained himself.

He was like a little puppy dog that the kids occasionally threw treats in the general direction of.

 The oddly eternally-homeless-looking Miss Georgia

Poor, poor girl.  Her house completely collapsed not once, but twice, and even then it was a little shaky.  She was a trooper through it all.  It's not been confirmed, but I have my suspicions it's because she kept pushing the candy onto the house so hard.  Georgia's not exactly well-known for her light touch.

The finished products:

(I love how they fit all their personalities to a tee)

Mr. Ezra's austere, yet remarkably realistic house

Bless his heart, the boy couldn't add frippery if his life depended on it.  Note that the sum total of his house decor includes: 4 shrubs, two roof windows, some lines on the roof to indicate shingles, a door knob, and a door bell ("I have to put a doorbell on it, Mom. What would a house be without a doorbell!?")...after all, real houses aren't covered in skittles, now are they?  Most of his time was spent on the people (red is girl, green is boy, I believe).  He also made sure to include a well-thought-out smartie garden in the backyard.

Spencer's half-finished tee-pee circle

He had high hopes but the kids and their incessant pleading for help got in the way.

Miss Georgia's thrice-created home

We convinced her to leave the roof open as "skylights" to cut down on the weight of the roof and hopefully avoid further collapse.  She lost a lot of the extra decor on the third-go-round of construction.  That's ok, though, she focused her efforts on the tree, marshmallow snowman, and smartie people.

And finally, Miss Scarlett's house

Scarlett's house is just like her...full of lovely, yet occasionally overwhelming, frivolity and randomness.

This is the first year I've gotten basically all of my Christmas prep done early.  I'm almost overwhelmed at the thought of all the Christmas festivities I have the opportunity to still do with the kids.  We'll see which I run out of first: time or enthusiasm ;)

The End