Wednesday Randoms

I'm not feeling very creative today, hence my very creative title of this post.

• I turned the big 3-2 today.  Boo.  Birthdays just aren't very fun as you get older. 

• Emily signed my birthday card all by herself.  I'm so proud of how well she's doing at writing her name.
  

• This morning when I dropped Evan off at school, his morning teacher mentioned that he sure does have a lot of energy.  I said yes, he does.  He runs everywhere and climbs everything.  She said he does that at school too.  I said, oh, do all the kids do that?  She said nope, just Evan.

• When I picked Evan up from school today, his afternoon teacher said, Evan is a little linebacker.  He just plows over everything and picks himself right back up like nothing happened.  Should I be worried that both his morning and afternoon teacher made comments about all his energy?  Haha.  I'm just glad to know he acts the same way at school that he acts at home.  This boy wears me out!!

Soccer Star in the Making?

This fall we signed Em up for her first season of soccer.  She's in the under 4 girls league through our city.  To be honest, I really have no expectations for her this season.  She has taken a soccer class at school for the last year and a half and she has given us mixed reviews on how she likes it.  In fact, there were several times that she told us she asked to just sit on the side and watch because she wasn't interested, however, recently she seemed to be enjoying it more.  In fact, she would get super excited when she told us she scored a goal during class.  So really our plan for the season is to just try it out and see how she likes it.  Although I keep telling myself, we have yet to find an activity that Em doesn't love (hence why she is in so many. . haha!).  This girl thrives on keeping busy! 

Today was Em's first soccer practice with her team, the Cowgirls.  I think there are 7 or 8 little girls on her team, including her bff, Aubrey.  Parent participation is required during practices at her age, so Em had a blast with her Daddy.  Evan enjoyed running around playing as I tried to wrangle him.  I was able to watch a little bit of practice though and Em really seemed to be enjoying it.  So we'll see what this season brings.  Her first game is in just a couple weeks.

I wasn't able to take any pics during practice since I was too busy chasing Evan, but I did get a few beforehand and during water breaks.

First Day of Pre-K 1

Em started Pre-K today at school!  Since her birthday is in October she'll do a full year of Pre-K 1 and then next year she'll do a full year of Pre-K 2.  As I was looking at all of the first day of Kindergarten pictures on facebook this morning, I couldn't help but be glad that we still have 2 more years before we have to do that.  I just don't think I would be ready next year for Em to go! 

Em wasn't at all excited about another year of uniforms, but I expected that.  At least she still has Fridays to look forward to.  I was a little hesitant on how Em would do in Pre-K 1 this year because we had her skip over Preschool 2 altogether.  I'm sure she'll do fine, but it doesn't mean I won't worry.  However, I think she's totally up for the challenge.

In this class, she'll get computer time and take assessments in the Fall and Spring.  We also start having parent / teacher conferences and she may get to take field trips too.  Em is most excited about being able to play on the "big kids" playground now!  I can't wait to see what all she learns this year.

Someone was not excited for me to be taking her picture this morning.

Our Little Swimmer

Thursday was Em's last day of swim lessons for the year.  She successfully completed both Aquatots and Advanced Aquatots at Emler Swim School.  She's definitely come a long way since she first started back in April.  She used to be afraid of putting her head underwater and also had trouble figuring out how to swim on her belly with her feet kicking out vs. swimming vertically.  Now she has absolutely no fear of putting her head under and is swimming in the correct position.  She can swim by herself up to 10 feet in distance. We are so proud of our little swimmer!  We're planning on taking a break from swimming until next spring / summer.

Sunday Funday

This afternoon we spent lots of time outside enjoying the nice weather.  Emily has been asking to paint for weeks now, so we finally obliged and let her paint outside.  Evan enjoyed it just as much.  Well, he might have enjoyed fingerpainting more.  Shawn got out the whale pool, water table, picnic table and 2 tubs of water for the kids to play in too.  They had lots of fun stuff to keep them busy.  Both of them love being outside and were sad when it was finally time to come in for the night.

My 2 little Picasso's

He looks thrilled that I'm taking his pic, huh?

Sportin his new shorter do.  He got his second hair cut this morning.

Both kids love standing in front of the mister fan.

We started out having them paint on paper and an hour later they had moved on to the patio.

This little guy has figured out how to climb the ladder on the swing set and scares his mama to death.  I'll look over and he'll be half way up. 

We got these buckets out along with some cups, thinking they'd like to just dump the water back and forth.  Nope, Em thought it would be more fun to sit in it.

Playing in the tree house.

Crazy Hair Day

Last Thursday was crazy hair day at school.  I thought it would be fun to put some gel in Evan's hair and give him a mohawk.  Em got several ponytails on her head.  I love all the fun theme days they have at school during the summer!

Conversations With Emily

Like I said in a previous post, Emily loves talking about going to high school.  Her and Shawn were talking about high school and kindergarten one day and Emily made a comment that she would be going to high school before kindergarten. . .

Shawn: "No Em, kindergarten is closer than high school."

Em: "Oh, then maybe I'll have to take an airplane to high school."

Fourteen Months

Dear Evan,

Another month has come and gone.  A lot has happened this month.  I officially feel like we have a toddler now instead of a baby!  Getting you to sit still for pictures is becoming increasingly difficult, hence the lack of pictures this month.

You moved into the toddler room at school this month and along with that came a ton of changes.  The biggest being that you are completely off bottles and formula!  Woohoo!  You took to milk very easily and once I started the transition, there was no turning back.  Now you just get milk in a sippy cup with your 3 main meals.  Other than that, it's just water. Another change is that you now only take 1 nap a day, both at school and at home.  We put you down right after lunch and you take anywhere from a 2-3 hour nap.  You and your sister are now on the same nap schedule and it's something that Mommy and Daddy love!  Haha.  You also don't get a paci during the day at school.  However, you still love having it at home.  Since you're still so attached, I'm not fighting this at home just yet.  In a few months though, I plan to start limiting your paci to just your crib.   You have transitioned so well to the toddler room and have yet to cry at all when I drop you off. You love being able to sit down right away and eat your breakfast! 

You are still on the move all the time!  Instead of just walking, you now run all over the place.  You can also walk backwards.  You're constantly on the move and getting into something.  We have had to babyproof the house to keep you out of stuff and off the stairs. You love to be on the go instead of just sitting around the house. You constantly say "bye bye" throughout the day. That's your way of saying you're ready to leave that place and move on to the next spot. You do great on the days where we have to run lots of errands.

You still have a huge appetite little guy and continue to impress us with the amount of food you consume each day.  You love meal time and have also become a very big snacker.  You go to the pantry door whenever you want a snack and start doing the "more" sign.

As of today, both of your carseats have been turned around to face forward.  I tried to keep you backwards as long as possible, but in my car you just don't get enough a/c facing backwards and you get all sweaty.  So forward it is!  Now that I can see you, you look so little to me in your big boy carseat.

Your vocabulary continues to grow.  You still don't say words really clearly, but Daddy and I can usually make out what you are trying to say.  You say "hot hot hot" whenever you go near the oven.

You love playing with your sister, but you can be rough with her too.  We have to remind you quite often that you can't just tackle her.  When you get older, I see a lot of time outs in your future. . haha.  While you sometimes play rough, you are still my snuggle bug.  You love sitting in my lap and will still let me rock you at night.  You love to push your cars and trucks around on the floor.  You also love carrying around the little stool that goes to the art table.  You'll carry it all around the house.  Shawn calls this your lion tamer act. . .haha. 

You still don't like to brush your teeth.  Usually this task ends up with you in tears and frantically signing the "all done" sign.  I keep hoping that this will get easier as you get older.

I still can't believe another month has come and gone!  Love you little man!

14 Month Stats

Weight: No appt. this month
Length: No appt. this month
Eating: Table food and whole milk in a sippy cup.
Bedtime: Around 7:15 pm
Awake: 6:30 am
Naps: You're down to just 1 nap a day.  You usually go down around lunchtime and your nap averages 2 hours.
Diapers: Size 3 Pampers.
Clothes: mainly 6-12 months clothes, some 12 month stuff, 12-18 month jammies
Favorites: pushing your cars / trucks around, your lovey, playing with your sister, reading books
Development: running, walking backwards, saying more words, pointing to what you want
Teeth: 6 - 4 top and 2 bottom
Shoe Size: 4 Extra Wide

Cheerleading Pep Rally

One of the perks about our daycare is that they offer different classes and programs during the day.  One of the summer classes they offer is cheerleading.  I actually tried to avoid signing Em up for this class because I feel like she already does so many activities, but as soon as Em heard about it, she wanted to join.  So we signed her up for it.  Each Monday for about 10 weeks, she got pulled out of class during the day and got to learn cheers, jumps and dances.  Several of her friends are in her class, so I know she's been really enjoying it.  Well, everything except having to wear her cheer t-shirt. . .haha.  Let's just say, out of the 10 classes, Em has worn her cheer shirt 1 time.  She's just not a t-shirt type girl.  :)

Anyways, today her class put on a pep rally for all the parents.  I admit I was super excited to see what she's learned.  She really hasn't talked too much about the class, so I had no idea what to expect.  There were so many little girls in the class that they split it up into 2 different pep rallys.  Hers had about 10 kids in it, although I'd say only about half of them actually performed.  Em did really well.  She doesn't get the least bit shy in front of crowds and just loves to perform for people.  They showed us several cheers and dances.  They even had an audience participation part where the moms and dads got up too.

 

At the end of the pep rally, the coaches handed out awards to all the kids.  Emily's award was the miraculous memory award.  They said Emily had a great memory and always remembered all her routines and cheers.  We were so proud of Em.

I think this is a fun activity Em will want to continue to do each summer.

Weekend Wrap Up

Sorry for my lack of posts lately, it's been a rough few days here at our house.  Without going into too much detail, let's just say Evan has been running a 104 degree temp for 3 days and has just been feeling awful and I ended up with pink eye.  :(  So needless to say, our weekend plans were a bit different than we expected. However, we still ended up squeezing a few fun things in.

Saturday morning Shawn took Em to a Home Depot kids workshop.  They do these the first Saturday of every month.  I heard about them a long time ago, but because of dance class, Em has never been able to go.  However, since she's not doing dance this summer, I asked Shawn if he'd like to take her.  I figured it was more of a Daddy activity than a Mommy one.  He said they had so much fun and he was really impressed with the workshop.  Of course I just wanted to know if he took pictures for me.  :)  They built a truck at this workshop and Shawn said Em did great at gluing and even hammering too.  She got an apron to wear and after building the truck, she got a certificate and a pin showing she completed it.   The point is to bring your apron back each time and fill it with pins showing each workshop you completed.  She also got a backpack, balloon and her favorite part, a cookie and sucker.  All this from a free workshop!  You can't beat that!  I can't wait until Evan can join them at these workshops.  I know he'll have just as much fun.

By Sunday, Evan's fever had broke and he was starting to get back to normal.  We went grocery shopping as a family just to get him out of the house.  We think having him couped up inside for 3 days was starting to wear on him.  I think this may be the only time we go grocery shopping as a family. . haha.  Shawn likes to get in and out and with 2 kids that's not so easy to do.  I didn't mind, but he might have. . haha.

After both kids took a really long nap (and I might have too :) ), Shawn set up the backyard with lots of fun stuff.  We bought a slip n slide at the grocery store, so he set that up along with the whale pool and water table.  After Shawn demonstrated the slip n slide, Em loved it!  I will admit I may have tried it myself a time or 2.  It was pretty fun, however, I realized that the older you get, the more a slip n slide hurts. . haha.    After spending a couple hours outside, we wrapped up the night with dinner followed by ice cream cones outside.  It was the perfect way to end what started out as a rough weekend. 

The Difference Between Emily and Evan

It's been really fun having a boy and a girl, but the older Evan gets the more we're realizing just how different they are!  With Em we could tell her no and while she might test us once or twice, we knew after that we'd never have to worry.  We never had to lock our cabinent doors, put a gate at the bottom of the stairs, move breakables up high, etc.  She just wasn't interested in getting into stuff.  Evan on the other hand. . totally different!!  He's into everything and I mean everything!  We can't keep bedroom doors open because he's in the room tearing it apart or closing himself in.  We can't leave the bathroom door open because he unrolls the toilet paper, plays in the toilet or climbs on the stools.  He tries to climb into the fireplace and pull lamps down by their electrical cords.  We have 2 windows and 1 door in our kitchen that we have to keep the blinds pulled up when he's awake because otherwise he pulls on them to see outside.  We have to lock every cabinet in the kitchen or he's opening them and pulling all the contents out. Shawn had to build a gate for the bottom of the stairs because no matter how many times we tell him to stop climbing them, he still does.  Shawn always jokes that this little boy is going to turn my world upside down.  He's definitely accomplishing that.  Haha.  It's been fun, but man he keeps me on my toes!!