Fun Times with Baba and Grandpa

My parents came on Saturday and we are having a wonderful time. We've been on the go for the last 2 days with Allie's recital yesterday and errands today. First thing this morning (after I slept in till 8 - sleeping in used to be defined as 11 or noon maybe - now 8 is LATE for me), we took the girls to get hair cuts. Allie has wanted her hair cut short for months, but I've been putting her off because she had to have her hair in a bun for her recital. She got an incredibly cute bob this morning. Jaelyn just had her hair trimmed. She wants to grow it to her waist and then donate it to Locks of Love again (she has a good heart). After the hair cuts, we went to Sears and everyone got new shoes ~ even me. Thanks Baba and Grandpa. Next, we stopped at the library to sign the kids up for the summer reading program.

The highlight of the day for me was a trip to the dentist. My mom seems to have instilled a love of the dentist in me. I'd go once a month if my insurance would pay for it. I love the feeling of nice, clean teeth.

In the late afternoon, we took the kids to the school to ride bikes and play on the playground. Allie has the balance, steering and stopping down. Now, she needs to work on starting by herself and going downhill. She doesn't like to go to fast (who would have thought Allie would be scared of speed?!) She's almost there.

We finished off the day with the slip n slide and wacky sprinkler in the backyard. I'm hopeful that everyone will go to sleep easily today.

Check out Allie's hair and her snazzy outfit. Her tap costume is now in the dress-up bucket and a neighbor dropped off a hand-me-down bag that had these shoes in it - va va va voom!

(Unfortunately, the shoes caused a major issue between Allie and Jaelyn. They are now in the Goodwill bag.)

Domesticating Jaelyn

Jaelyn has always been a wonderful helper. She's been doing even more to help around the house now more than ever. She makes the beds most mornings for all of us. She loves to help fold laundry and dust. Lately, I've been letting her clean the bathtubs and shower with baking soda and vinegar.
She's starting to help more in the kitchen. Not only can she crack eggs, she's learning to scramble them herself as well.In the last few weeks, I've been letting her chop vegetable for salads. She's being very careful with the knife....no injuries yet.

Allie's Recital

Allie's recital was today. We've only semi enjoyed dance class this year, and honestly, I'm glad it's over. We will never again do an activity after school. Anything we do will be on Saturday, at least until the kids are bigger. It was just too much structure at the end of a long day. Allie's class was ballet and tap. They always started with ballet and you can tell watching the video. Allie was done with class by the time they put on their tap shoes and didn't know the routine very well because she was always too busy playing to pay attention. Her teacher's name was Miss Elizabeth and she wrote me the sweetest card about Allie. She said "I am glad I had the opportunity to work with Allie ~ she has reminded me of the importance of imagining and dreaming :)." So true...

Allie with Miss Elizabeth in her ballet costume.

Allie with Baba in her Tap costume.

The Day of Baba

Jaelyn woke up this morning (at 5:30, but that deserves it's own post..grumble, grumble) declaring "Today is the Day of Baba." She added in Grandpa as well at the end. Their plane lands at 4:38 this afternoon. We are excited!

My Friend Knows Me So Well

The mailman left me a box of my doorstep yesterday and this awesome shirt was inside. I think my friends know me a tad bit to well!!

Encase the writing is too small, it says "Chocolate: Here today - gone today."

Bye Bye Earrings

We pierced Allie's ears about 2 1/2 years ago. She loved them and they were so cute on her. BUT they have also been a major pain. It took a full year for the holes to heal. Since then, she's had several infections in one ear. The other night I noticed there was blood around her earring. Her ear was so swollen and puss came out the back when I took her earring out (yuck - sorry, TMI). There is no way she will let me put it back and I don't really want to try. Allie and I have talked and decided to let her holes close up. If she wants them pierced when she's older, we'll try again, but for now, bye bye earrings.

A Little Teary Eyed

I don't know what's the matter with me. I've been looking forward to this day for months...the last day of school. But I got all teary eyed this morning as the girls got on the bus. I'm silly. They went to school as Kindergartner and 1st Grader and are coming home as soon to be 1st Grader and 2nd Grader. I guess I'm a little sad to see them growing up. And boy have they grown this year. They have learned so much, they have grown more mature and they've grown bigger. I miss my little baby girls, but I do love these new big girls!

The first day of school 2008-2009The Last Day of School 2008-2009

Prayers For Mrs. H

I would love prayers for a family friend. I only know the basics so can't give you a ton of information. Mrs. H is the mom of Dan's best friend. She is a kind, caring, wonderful Christian lady and we love her. I just found out she has lymphoma. She's in the middle of 6 rounds of chemo. Would you please join me in praying for a healing miracle? Thank you.

Hunting a Dr. Karen

My mom worked for an orthodontist for a few years. Every time we are in Pensacola, we go in and visit Dr. Karen. The kids love to get in her chair and let her look at their teeth. We've known Jaelyn would need her cross bite fixed since she was about 3 or 4. We've just been waiting to see if it would shift itself when her 6 year molars came in. It didn't and they are in now. Jaelyn doesn't do so well at the dentist. She'll let them clean, but it really upsets her. We have 2 orthodontic consults scheduled in the next month. Could either of them be as nice and comforting as Dr. Karen? I'm praying and hoping so.

Allie is going to be right behind Jaelyn needing expansion as soon as her baby teeth start coming out. Her mouth is so crowded with her tiny teeth. I can't imagine her with big huge permanent teeth. She's 6 years 2 months and not a single tooth is loose; so we have time.

I'm afraid Caden will follow in both the girls' footsteps. My 4 1/2 year old is STILL sucking his thumb. He's got a weird bite thing going as well.

We are so going to need that raise Dan is about to get. Orthodontics is so expensive - even with bad insurance.

Set for Summer

I have been worried about how I would manage all 3 kids 100% of the time while retaining my sanity this summer. My babysitter called me back yesterday and she's going to be able to help me. 1 day a week , 4 hours, I am going to get to escape. Not sure what I'll do during this hours - probably grocery shopping because that's just not fun with 3 kids - but whatever it is, it'll be alone!

I bought our pool pass today and signed the kids up for a week of VBS. We have our bowling coupons being emailed to us daily and the free movie schedule is posted on the frig. Add in a few morning at the gym and a breakfast at Ikea here and there and I think we are all set!!!!

Major-ly Excited

The Major's list came out today and Dan's name is on it. The list still has to get approved by Congress and the last article I read said promotions should start by the end of the summer. So...Dan will be a Major in the fall. Very cool! I'm proud of him and of course, I'm thrilled with the major pay raise :p!

Last Week of School F-I-N-A-L-L-Y

I wasn't sure this week would ever get here. While Allie has enjoyed school even through her struggles, Jaelyn has been done with school since day 1. She came home that first week complaining about having to go and telling me she'd finish 1st grade, but that was it. No more school after that. We've obviously had our other struggles this year. Just recently there's a been a call from the assistant principal about inappropriate language one day and a note home about hitting another day. Sigh...but in 5 days summer will officially start and we can forget about school for a few months. This week is busy with Allie's space camp, class picnics, a good news assembly, dance class and recital dress rehearsal. Saturday, my parents come. Don't you just love the word "reinforcements?!?!" Allie's recital is Sunday and then we are done with scheduled activities! Our summer plans consist of play dates, pool time, bowling, picnics and free movies. And of course, we'll wrap summer up with a wonderful homecoming...2 MONTHS...we can do this!

Jaelyn's Dinosaur

Jaelyn has been working on story writing. They've spent time writing story beginnings, middles and endings and then they put them all together into a complete story.

When I came home from the bus stop a dinosar had stept on my house. It hapend on the first day of school. I started to criy. I cote a dinosaur and made a dinosaur house in my back yaord for hime. He liket it so much. He did not come in side to eat. So I need to punish my dinosaur. I am going to let my dinosaur come out. He is going to eat.

A Fun Saturday

The day started out at 7. That might not be a big deal in your world, but in my world, where I sometimes am awakened by 3 kids at 5:45 (always on a Saturday), it's a big deal. I was in such a good mood that I fixed the kids cinnamon rolls, minus the icing. I might be happy, but I'm not crazy. The couple came and picked up the kids kitchen first thing - I've been trying to sell it on Craigslist for months and finally found someone to buy it. We are using the money to buy scooters. I'm still on the fence as to whether or not that's a good idea with Evil Knievel Jaelyn and Fearless Allie. At least Caden's scooter comes with 3 wheels like a trike.

We got to webcam with Dan twice today. His connection has improved drastically since April. Being able to see and hear him and just stare at him if I want does me lots and lots of good. We've been playing games together on msn. Apparently, I'm much faster at puzzles, but he kicks my butt in trivia. For someone, who's main love language is quality time, separations are hard. The time we've spent IMing lately has been wonderful.

This afternoon, we went to a birthday party for one of Caden's friends. His mom was sweet and invited all of the kids, not just Caden. It's was a warmer, sunny day and they had their big, inflatable water slide set up. It was sooo much fun. It almost made me wish I had a bathing suit, but not quite. They have a big yard with a play set, sand box, play house and lots of toys. I told the kids, 2 houses from now, we will have a big yard :p! Most of the kids from Caden's preschool class were there plus one older brother who's in Allie's reading class so it made the day fun for everyone. We got home from the party just in time for baths and bed. After rocking and rubbing backs, all is quiet. I didn't even have to do my 10 minute recheck. I'm going to have a nice quiet evening all to myself! Peace and silence....I love it!

Validation

For anyone who's cup is empty from giving, giving, giving...watch this short movie. It's a little long, but really cute and has a great ending.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao (encase the embedded video doesn't work)

More Flower Pictures

I'm having an "in need of validation" day because my cup is on empty. Yesterday took everything out of me. A friend suggested I get out and enjoy nature to recharge. Pick some flowers, she said. I didn't pick flowers, but I did take pictures. Not much is blooming in my back yard other than the vegetables. Soon, however, I'll have shasta daisies, day lilies, astors, black eyed susans, hibiscus and hydrangea. I can't wait. Anyway, I took my camera out front and snapped a few pictures inbetween pitching a baseball to Caden.

My salvia - I planted this the first spring we lived here, not realizing it was a perennial. I was so excited to see it came back after that first winter because I think it's so pretty. I had lots of little babies this year that I was able to transplant to other areas in the bed.

I have no idea what this is. It was in the $1 section at Lowe's because it's hanging basket had a small crack in it. The plant itself is fine and looks beautiful sitting in a stand beside my front door.

I love Lantana. It's sold as an expensive annual up here, but it's worth every penny I paid for it for it's pretty, sunny flowers. It makes me happy.

Artwork

The girls are starting to bring home their artwork from school that they done throughout the year (7 more days!!!). Here are some of my favorites:

Jaelyn's fish - still trying ot figure out how to display it. I'm hoping to find a plate hook that'll let me hang it on the wall.


Allie's very hungry catepillar


Allie's landscape. I love the swirls in her sky. It reminds me of Van Gogh's Starry Night. I don't know if this was modeled after that painting or not, but it sure looks like it was.

Good Sleep Does Not Beget...

...good behavior. Jaelyn slept 11 hours yesterday. Well rested does not always equate to well behaved however. I was helping her with her homework and it was taking 20 minutes to do something that should have taken 5. She was being silly in a not funny way and I told her I would help her when she was ready to be serious. Ka-boom. I did not see it coming at all. It makes me feel tired, very, very tired. Her excuse later when she was calm..."I exploded because I miss Daddy." Yeah, okay - that makes everything better.

Three Peaceful Nights

Jaelyn has really struggled with sleep. She's always had trouble going to sleep, but it seems like the problem got way out of hand in the last few months. Bad sleep begets bad sleep and it just builds and builds until everything explodes (literally in her case). The rocking is helping her some to relax, but turning her brain off to go to sleep is almost impossible for her some nights. I'm talking two hours of her crying "I'm tired, but I can't go to sleep" with me trying everything I can think of to help her go to sleep. We've now had 3 good nights for different reasons.

The first night was Saturday and we were busy all day long. We rode bikes around their school and played on a new playground at the library in the morning. The girls did gymnastics mid-day. They played outside in the afternoon and then we met friends for a picnic at a park in the late afternoon. I rocked her to sleep in 10 minutes that night. She was beyond exhausted. While I don't mind tiring her out to help her fall asleep easier, I do mind the hour of whining she did between leaving the park and the beginning of our rocking.

Sunday was a pretty normal day activity wise. I've been researching melatonin and while it's not something I want to give her every night, I would love to have something to help her when she's had several nights of bad sleep in a row. I gave her the melatonin at bedtime, rocked her for 10 minutes and she was asleep within 2 minutes of putting her in bed. Again, not something I want to do all the time, but I'm glad to have something that seems to have worked in my bag of tricks when nothing else is working. She got 10 1/2 hours of sleep Sunday night. 11 is optimal for her, but 10 1/2 is so much better than the barely 9 she's been getting.

Today was again a normal day. She went to school and played outside when she got home. We had long baths and settled down with books on beds. Jaelyn moaned a little after rocking and I was afraid she was going to start the crying, but she didn't. I was proud of her. She was asleep within about 15 minutes of being in her bed. That's a big deal compared to what she has been doing.

I've been trying to help Allie to settle and go to sleep easier as well. Allie is so active and seems to need to bounce around in bed before she finally settles and is still. Once she's still, she's out instantly. It's just getting her to that point that's hard. For the last week, I've been letting her leave her lamp on to read while I've rocked Jaelyn. She turns it off when I put Jaelyn in bed and then I rub her back for a few minutes to give her that one on one time she sees Jaelyn getting. She loves it and is going to sleep much quicker.

I would so much rather invest the time in rocking or rubbing backs to get them to sleep rather than spend my time going up and down the stairs dealing with the playing and crying. Bed time is my most stressful time of the day. Of course, as with all things with parenting, once I have all the kinks worked out of this system, they'll change and I'll have to reach into my bag of tricks, or my friends' bags ;), and find something new. For now, however, we are sleeping happily!

PS I guess I should mention Caden's sleep habits as well. Now that he's not napping, he goes to sleep so easily in less than 10 minutes as long as I remember his "bumps." Think knuckle bumps, but we bump feet and noses and ears and elbows and knuckles - basically whatever pops into his head to bump. It's quite the routine some nights. Dan started it before he deployed (thanks Dear) and I have been required to continue with the bumps before I kiss him goodnight.

Bloody Noses Need Bandaids, Mommy

Allie has had a few nose bleeds at night, but we've never had a nose injury that caused a bloody nose...until yesterday. The kids were playing on the slide and Caden fell, landing on his nose. He started crying immediately. I didn't know what had happened and was reading so I told him to come to me. He turned around and blood was just pouring out of his nose like a faucet. I sent the girls in for towels and ice while I calmed him down and pinched his nose. I was worried about it being broken, but Dan assured during a webcam session (yea) that he wouldn't have let me touch it if it had been broken. Anyway, with a pressure and ice, we got it to stop bleeding. The whole time though, Caden was crying at me saying "mommy, I just want you to put a bandaid on it." I think in the end he was more upset that I wouldn't put a bandaid on his nose than by the bleeding. It was cute in an I'm sorry you are hurt sort of way.

Thankfully, he woke up this morning with no bruising. He did bump it tonight and started the bleeding again, but it was more of a trickle rather than the pouring from yesterday.