Emmie and the Potty!

Along with all of the excitement of the end of the school year, Emmie made HUGE advancements in the area of potty training.  She actually sat on the toilet!!!!!  With only the ipod, juice, and M&M's bribing her.  She actually sat on the toilet for over an hour this morning.  Did nothing, although I know she had to go because the kid had had record amounts of liquids.  She was prompt to fill her diaper after we finally took her off the toilet though!  I think we're going to go into full force potty training next week.  Wish me luck, I'm going to need it.

Last day of School!

Yesterday was the last day of school.  My favorite part about it was that Ainsley had such a better last day of school this year than last year!  Months ago she mentioned that she wanted to be in the school talent show.  So after months of little girl drama and planning the big day finally came.  We saw a video of a friend of ours on facebook and totally copied their idea.  The dance turned out really cute.  The girls chose to dance to a combination of "Rock Party Anthem" and "Everybody Dance Now,"  (honestly I was surprised they even knew those songs! 

The performed on the last day of school.  We taped glowsticks to them and then sent them in the gym to perform for the k-2 students.  They were the grand finale and it couldn't have gone any better.  While they didn't display much actual talent, they were the stars of the show.  When the lights went out they looked like little stick people.  Seriously the crowd went wild and they got cheered more than any other act.  I was truly a toddlers in tiara's mom momentarily because I was just so happy for Ains.  She was so cute and even after the performance her personality shined as she gave a cute little smile and wave to the crowd. 

I loved seeing how well liked she was too.  After they danced so many kids came up to her and told her how awesome she was.  It just made me see how liked she was and it made me happy.  Maybe that's lame, but it made my day to see her in that moment.

Here's a link of the video on facebook.


I think the kids all had a great day, despite the fact that it was cold and rainy.  I took Owen to McDonalds to eat lunch and play with his kindergarten friends.  They played for hours.  Then we went to Target, which is always a blast.  Then we picked up Ainsley (who got to live a life of fame for the day) rented a movie and had a night full of fattening treats and TV.  It was great. 

And now we're gearing up for summer!!!

Baloon Animals

Last week Owen decided that he wanted to use his money to buy a balloon air pump and the balloons to make balloon animals.  And so he did, because he's a natural spender.  In one week he has made about 100 balloon animals/accessories.  I know this because his bag of 100 balloons is nearly gone.  As long as this kids hands are busy he's a happy camper.  Balloon animals are right up his alley along with his origami and his paper airplanes. 

On a side note, after Owen spent his money he started realizing that his funds were quickly depleting.  He came to me the other day with  a plan to make more money.  Now, keep in mind that I have offered him allowance if he would do certain jobs around the house.  And he has made it clear that he is absolutely not interested in making money by working in that way.  His plan involved setting up carnival type games that kids would come pay him to play.  When I told him that his friends should be able to come play for free he told me that their moms could just give them money so they could come play. 

He also then got mad at me when I wouldn't give him money to play his game.  I told him that I wanted to save my money and he got really mad and told me that I needed to spend my money on something!  Crazy kid.  I hope he keeps his entrepreneurial mind...but also gains a dose of willingness to work!

Some of my current favorite things about Emmie...

• She is still *typically* super pleasant. My favorites are when she is super disappointed/crying and I still get a , “OK, mom.” Out of her.

• When you call her and she comes running yelling, “I coming!”

• She makes me laugh…daily. The other day she made me laugh at dinner when she announced that her bum hurt. Then she stood after giving it some thought and said, “I need some medicine for my bum.” I must have the mind of a 5 year old boy because I couldn’t contain my laughter.

 

• Every day she asks where dad is and then answers herself with another question, “Dad work?”  
• One of her new favorite past times is talking on the phone. The other day I watched her have a long conversation on her Cinderella phone with her friend Suzanna. Her side of the conversation went something like this, “Hello….Okay….Okay…Okay…You come over? Okay….Okay….Okay…Bye.” She was cooking a very appetizing plastic meal in her little kitchen while having the conversation which made it that much more adorable.

• She and Owen have a cute little friendship. I think it’s adorable when I find her in Owen’s bed in the morning (they seem to be partners in crime when it comes to waking up too early). Or when Owen helps her get off the trampoline. They still fight, like any good brother and sister should, but there is an underlying love there that I love. (And speaking of sibling argumentativeness….Ainsley and Owen’s fighting has gotten particularly extreme lately. So much so that the other night Ainsley woke up yelling in her sleep, “Owen! Stop it! Owen! No!!!! Owen!” John and I just laughed…and calmed Ainsley down of course)

• Emmie is also a little sleep walker. It kind of creeps me out. Sometimes we will hear her playing out in the living room in the middle of the night. Or she’ll wake up crying on the couch because she doesn’t know where she is. One night she even carried her pillow into our bed…don’t know if she was awake for that one or not.

• We also think she might be color blind. I don’t know how you tell if a 2 year old is color blind or not. But is seems that for how bright she is in other areas of her life, she should know a few colors by now. But when you ask her the color of something 90% of the time the answer is blue. And unfortunately she is only right about 2% of the time. It is really strange. I hope it’s just a fluke, but I guess only time will tell. For now it’s kind of cute…

• Just today we were driving and she was pointing out all the parks (the strips of trees and grass along the busy streets. She was so pleased with her discovery of more and more parks everywhere we went. "That a park, that a park!"

• She's very dramatic when she thinks something is yucky or gross. Another day while driving (apparently we do a lot of driving) she asked what was on the side of the road. (there was a big weedy field) I told her it was grass and weeds. She then exclaimed, "That yucky grass! Blech!"

• She is also a terribly picky eater right now. If it's not dairy or candy of some sort there's a slim chance that it will be entering her body. But what is cute is how she insists that food is "Yucky, Blech!" and then begs for candy with a dramatic and drawn out, "Pah-leeeaaaase!"

• She hates bugs. She committed the most violent killing of a rolly polly that I have ever seen. Ever. Let's just say she made sure it was dead.

What can I say we lover her!

Owen's Kindergarten Graduation

Well...he did it.  It was a long road, but Owen will officially be attending the first grade next year .  :)  We were a little worried when he brought home his third skunk note!  Owen is a great kid and had a fun kindergarten year.  Maybe even a little too much fun.  His teacher was Mrs. Patterson, her room was always full of excitement (this may or may not have something to do with the skunk notes, the jury is still out on that one.)

He did great at his performance.  I love his sly little grin.

Emmie and I thoroughly enjoyed the program as well, apparently.

 Owen getting his certificate from his teacher.

 The proud graduate and his family.

The Habitat

For weeks we (I mean Ainsley) worked on her big second grade project.  The habitat.  She chose to do the Arctic.  She did research on animals that lived there and on the climate and then we were to create a 12x18 (yes there were specifications) model of her chosen habitat.  John built the base out of wood.  I figured if we were going to have to make 2 more of these we might as well make a sturdy/reusable base.  She had to make her own animals out of clay.  After a lot of time (and waaay more money than any second grade project should cost) she had a beautiful Arctic habitat.  Never mind the fact that it will soon be gutted and stored until Owen is in 2nd grade!

First Love

I overheard a conversation in the car the other day as I was driving home kindergartners from school.  It was between Owen and his friend Clara.  It went a little something like this.

Owen: Clara, I love you.

Clara: (silence)

Owen:  I'm serious, I love you.

Clara :  What are you talking about?!

Owen then blows Clara a kiss....okay 3 kisses.

If we go back in time one day previous to this conversation we would see Owen and Clara playing the wii at our house.  Clara is pretty good at the wii.  Owen loves the wii.  This may or may not have something to do with his new found love.

Here is a picture of Clara.  John took their family pictures last year.  I love Clara because she is the most adorable little girl....but also the least photogenic person (possibly in the US.  I won't say the world because that might be taking it to far.)  I feel comfortable saying this because I've talked freely about it with her mother.  Who told me of a time when someone approached her and wanted to use Clara in a photo shoot.  She had to inform them that while her daughter was beautiful, they absolutely didn't want her to be in their photo shoot because the moment someone brings out a camera she immediately pulls her chin to her chest as she smiles.  But I think John got a pretty good picture of her :)

They would make a cute couple though, don't you think?