Today

So, I'm letting them watch a movie right now because I have to get some work done (or blog). When the movie started, this is how the conversation went:

Miss C: Mom, we need some popcorn, peaches and adult drink (which is what we call any beverage besides water)

Me: Oh?

Miss C: Well, of course not soda or anything like that.

Uh, ok. It's obviously more likely that I'll agree to it since you clarified that you didn't mean soda! Funny how her mind works. They don't ever drink soda, so where that came from, I have no idea. And how random is peaches?!

On another note, we redecorated Miss C's room over the weekend. I had bought this vanity at a garage sale 2 years ago with the intention of painting it and putting it in her room. Well, it sat out in the garage for about a year, then it got moved to the upstairs hallway for another year and we finally put it in her room yesterday. I never did paint it. Anyway, since I won't let her have makeup alone in her room (that's just a recipe for disaster), I decided she could use it as a desk and I gave her a pen (which now thinking about it, could be another disaster) and paper. She's been drawing up a storm in there during her quiet time. I'm kind of enjoying the little drawings and notes she is creating. Here are two of my favorites so far.

This one is a movie theater. The things on the right and left side of the people are drinks. She did tell me the adults had sodas. The person on the bottom right has a remote control in their hand. Tinkerbell is on the movie screen in the front. Who knows what the random smiley face is in the back (I asked and she said she didn't know).

This one is from today. It's a picture of her and her friend (Miss K). They have ropes in their hands and are catching easter eggs with them (???). On the bottom it says, "I love yo (J's name) Hpe Esdr" Which translates to "I love you (J's name). Happy Easter". She sounded it out all by herself.

Look ma, no training wheels!

About two weeks ago, we took the training wheels off Miss C's bike. She's been telling me her bike is too small and she needs a new one. Before she gets a bigger bike, I told her she needed to learn how to ride it without the training wheels (I figured it would be easier on the little bike). After we took them off, I kind of thought maybe we made a mistake. She's a little cautious when riding her bike and generally doesn't like to go too fast. Well, going fast is kind of important when learning to ride the bike without the training wheels. But I figured we might as well try it. The first day, she did pretty well. I think I counted maybe 3 seconds of her riding it all by herself. After that, we kind of dropped it for the past two weeks. Today I decided we should take her to the basketball court at our neighborhood park and try again. I wasn't expecting too much, and honestly, I was planning on putting them back on after this afternoon. But low and behold, she did it! And she did it the first time she got on the bike too. I couldn't believe that she did it and that she did it so quickly today. She was able to pretty much ride around the entire basketball court without assistance. We ran next to her just in case, but she did it all by herself. She even started up *almost* all by herself, but that still needs a little practice. She's also a little afraid to stop. So we'll have to work on that. But I really couldn't believe it. In fact, I didn't even bring the video camera because I wasn't expecting much (but of course I always have my camera). So here are a few pics of Miss C riding her bike by herself without training wheels!

Little buddy

I'm sitting here on a rockin' Friday night cleaning up the hard drive. How exciting is that?! I came across a few of my little buddy that I don't think I've shared (who knows, maybe I have--so stop me if you've seen them before).

My little buddy and his beloved baskenball (what he calls it)

This one pretty much can be lumped into the blackmail category. He did this little get-up all on his own. I love the little smirk. That's pretty much his signature look (like his dad).

These are from his birthday invitation (speaking of which, I still need to share the pictures). We did a star wars theme and it turned out pretty cute. I don't think I ever shared the invitation on here.....so I'll do that now.

Of course names and other info were blocked out to protect the innocent :)

Graduation

Well, it's really just graduating to TK in the fall, but a graduation none-the-less! Last Thursday was Miss C's last day of school. They had a cute little graduation ceremony for the kids and then her teacher put together a fantastic little slideshow of all the kids with pictures she had taken throughout the year. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house! I really got spoiled with preschool this year. Not only were her teachers great, but there were only 10 kids in the whole school in the afternoon. The small environment was exactly what Miss C needed to bloom this past year. I couldn't be happier with the whole experience and I'm happy that she'll have one more year there before "real school".

They did this little skit about how they can change the world. It was so cute! I love that they incorporate being responsible citizens. Miss C's was, "I can reach out to you and give you big hugs." They decorated the posters themselves and you probably can't see it, but the wrist has a bracelet that is bejeweled with "diamonds". Miss C loves those big jewel things that you can get at the craft stores and insists they are diamonds. I could only wish.....

Her class and the two teachers. One of those kiddos in the back left is Little J. You can't tell from this picture, but he took the opportunity when my attention was diverted to throw mulch in his hair.

10 today

Hmmm, what to blog about. At first I thought, "we haven't really been up to much" but then I realized, that's so not true. I feel like we've been go, go, go for the past couple of weeks. Doing what? I really can't say. But we have been busy. So much so, I'm actually going to try for a 10 on Thursday post :)

1. The kids started swimming lessons about 2 weeks ago and are doing great. It's such a dramatic change from last year. I remember last year signing them up and making, no forcing, them to go to the first two or three classes. It was a total disaster. I guess they just weren't ready. This year, it's a totally different story. I've really seen a big increase in Miss C's confidence over the past year or so and I'm really proud of her. That of course trickles down to her little brother. He pretty much will do anything as long as she is involved. My goal this year is to get Miss C off the life vest and swimming on her own. I think she can do it. Little J, he's probably still a little too young, but I bet he gets pretty close by the end of the summer. He's already getting the idea of the crawl stroke and is pretty fearless for a 3 year old in the water.

2. The pool opened the weekend of May 15th (weekends only) and we've been probably 5 or 6 times already. The kids love it and I suspect we are going to be poolside just about all summer long. That's fine with me! Miss C will now slide down the "big slide" all by herself. I wish I had a picture of it, but I'm a little scared to take the camera to the pool. This would be a great time to get a little point and shoot for such occasions. Anyway, we wait at the bottom for her just in case, but she has started to not need our help. It's kind of funny because she already has the eye roll and the, "but daaaaaaaaad, I don't need your help!". I guess put us in the category of lame parents who just get in the way.

3. Miss C also jumps off the side of the pool into the deep end all by herself. She can swim well with the life vest and is comfortable going under water. Little J will jump off the side, but still prefers that we catch him.

4. A couple of weeks ago I took Little J out for a mini photo shoot for his 3rd birthday. It was spur of the moment and the cooperation was a little lacking. Of course I pulled out all the bribes, but they don't seem to have the same effectiveness as they do with Miss C. I'm going to have to find a new tactic. But I'm happy with the ones that I did get. They are just so him.

This is so typical him with his hands on his hips. Little stinker. This is the pose right before you are going to be blasted with lasers like the enemy you are. Isn't that nice?!
Can you tell he is sooooo over this?! Sadly, this was about 5-10 minutes into the whole thing too.
5. It looks like Little J might have picked up an imaginary friend. I think Miss C was about the same age when she picked up Consurey (or however you spell it). I'm not sure if it will stick or not, but last night he was talking about his brother. His brothers name is Abley (pronounced Ah-blei). Why do my kids always pick these names that no one knows how to spell? Anyway, he is apparently 5 years old and goes to school. He also wasn't feeling well last night and had to go to the doctor and get a shot. The shot was of course orange in color. I hope he sticks around for awhile because he seems like a nice kid. I love that they both have the imagination to have imaginary friends!

6. I just checked a friend's blog and she has a shiny new look. I'm so jealous! I need to do something about this blog. I'm tired of complaining about it and saying I'm going to do something about it. Just sh*t or get off the pot already. I just don't think it suits me anymore. Plus the pictures on her look like crap-ola. Nothing at all how they look in print or how they look on the computer after I edit them. I suspect it's a color space issue, but talking color space is like talking greek to me. I just don't get it.

7. Miss C went to a birthday party last week (her first drop off party--and let me tell you, I can get used to that idea!) and needed to wear her "best" dress. After searching her closet, she selected this one. This dress is almost 30 years old and I wore it when I was about her age. The elastic looping for the buttons in the back is a little shot and it did "yellow" a little, but otherwise, it's in great shape. I had to get a few pictures of her in it. I only wish that I had pictures of me wearing it too. Maybe if it survives the next 30 years, we can have pictures of her little girl wearing it.

8. Miss C "graduates" from pre-k next Thursday. She won't be attending kindergarden in the fall due to her birthday, but it's still an exciting time. I think next year when she graduates T-K it will be a lot harder. But for now, I'm happy to have her stay little for a little while longer.

9. Little J and Miss C will be attending a couple of camps this summer. I'm a little nervous about sending Little J. He wants so badly to go to school and the summer camp will be a good introduction, but I'm a little worried about how he is going to do. I'm sure it will be fine and I'm glad he will have a few little week long introductions before he stars in the fall.

10. We had Little J's birthday party two weekends ago and it was a huge success. I'll try to motivate and get some pictures up soon!

Mother's Day

I'm slowing getting all of this stuff blogged. I have a whole backlog of stuff that I need to get to. Maybe a monster 10 on Tuesday next week? I know, I know. I kind of laughed a little at the thought myself. Who am I kidding?! I'd have to start the post today to be done by Tuesday :)

Anyway, I had a great Mother's day this year. The kids brought me coffee in bed (with a flower cut and put in a shot glass) and gave me my presents. Some of it wasn't really a surprise since Miss C can't really keep secrets these days. For the week leading up to Mother's day, she kept saying that they made my gifts and that she couldn't tell me what it was but she would give me a hint. Well, a hint to a 4 year old is pretty much the same as telling me what my gift was :). They picked out and painted pottery for me. Little J chose a ring holder and Miss C chose a butterfly. I just love them. Everything was all them, from the selection of what to paint, to the colors to paint, everything. How does it get any better than that?! Well, throw in a spa gift certificate from J and I was in heaven.

After that, we had brunch at a French bakery. Yummy. I ate so much that I wasn't even hungry at dinner. At the bakery, J took this pic. Here we are. Me and my babies :)

Dance Recital

On Mother's Day weekend, Miss C had her first dance recital. I was kind of holding my breath on whether or not she would actually get out on stage, but in the end, she did it and it was a successful show. The dance studio had an American Idol themed recital, and Miss C's class did their ballet routine to What a Wonderful World and the tap number was to Sign Sealed and Delivered. I haven't watched American Idol since Season 1, so I'm not sure what those two songs have to do with it, but it was cute none-the-less. She really seems to like dance and was so excited about the show. The following pics are from the day of the dress rehearsal.

Some of the family before the show

Our star ballerina!

Edited to add:

Earlier in the day of the rehearsal, I had Miss C try on her costume just to make sure. Little J got a little jealous and wanted to dress up too. This was the best we could do but he was happy :). Love that he accessorized with cowboy boots!