Thursday, July 26, 2012

Summer Days

We are in full summer mode!!
Kids are up at 7am (they still don't understand sleeping in!!)
We're pretty much in the pool swimming everyday (it's too hot to not be in the water!!)
We do a weekly library run; but honestly we get more movies than books (still learning!)
We watch movies and play video games, read our books, and play lots of imagination games!

In two days we leave for vacation and I'm totally excited about it!!
On Sunday we're taking the kids on a treasure hunt on this pirate ship in St. Augustine! The kids don't know about it yet, and I can't wait to see their faces!!
The rest of the week we'll be hanging out at New Smyrna Beach - with one extra trip to St. Augustine to see the fort and visit with TJ's dad... the kids already know that we'll be bowling, seeing a movie, and having lots of fun!! We're all super excited!!

At the end of summer we'll celebrate Tre turning SEVEN!! It's hard to believe!! He wants a Star Wars/Pool Party so I'm working on finding a friend who can teach a Jedi Academy (complete with light saber training); and the pool will be "recess/free time" - we'll see how that goes, but I'm really looking forward it if I put it all together!!

gotta go pull kids out of the pool; they're pruney!!
Jo

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Questions

My kids like to play the "Questions Game" - basically I ask them questions while they are in the bathtub. Anything from "what's your favorite color" to "would you rather drive a garbage truck or a tractor"... Here are some of their answers (Tre's answer to one question in particular reveals his character!):

Colin:
would you rather drive a garbage truck or tractor: Garbage Truck
Would you rather climb a tree or dig a hole: Climb a tree
Would you rather talk like a monkey or roar like a lion: talk like a monkey
Would you rather walk like a penguin or fly like a bird: walk like a penguin

Emma:
would you rather sing or dance: sing
what's your favorite princess: belle (though this changes almost daily)
what's your favorite game to play with Colin: band

Tre:
would you rather sleep-in in the morning or take a nap in the afternoon: sleep-in
would you rather have a brownie for breakfast or cake for lunch: brownie
**when fighting a battle would you rather have Spiderman or BatMan on your team: who am I fighting?

**Love this!! Love how he thinks through things!

If you have any ideas for more questions let me know! We play this game almost nightly and I'm running out of ideas!! But they love it!!

Monday, March 19, 2012

6 years, 6 months & 21 Days!

According to this, I changed diapers for 6 Years, 6 months, 21 days! Take out maybe a day here or there that I was out of town and someone else did it; or in the hospital popping out another pooping machine! But still... that's a heck of a long time!!

The first date I put into the equation was the day we brought Tre home from the hospital (August 20, 2005)! I don't think I ever changed any of his diapers in the hospital; I was too out of it!

And the last date I put in was last Monday (March 12, 2012) when we started potty training Emma! I kept the diapers a couple of days before I considered her completely trained, but as of today she is officially potty trained!! She's done well all week with #1s, and was just a bit slow with the other end. But today she did great, made it in time and is officially trained to do her business in the bathroom!!!

Six years! Six Months! Twenty-one Days!!!!!!
Done.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

I'm OK with my kid hitting...

Yes, I said it. I think I'm OK with my kid hitting...
but here's the story:

Yesterday while I was enjoying my lunch at Tijuana Flats (shout out!) I got a text from TJ saying that Colin had been placed in time-out while he was at school. It was his first trip to time-out while at school... he's usually really quiet (at school) and generally not a problem. My first reaction was shock: my child? at school? Here's the conversation that followed:

Me: Why?
TJ: He hit Mateo (his classmate)
Me: Arg. Did he give a reason? (hoping there was one!)
TJ: He said Mateo was hitting someone else so he hit him.


Oh.... well then. I feel completely different about that...
I'm kind of OK with my kid standing up for someone who was being bullied.

Before we get too far down this road though: Yes, TJ talked to him that it's not OK to hit other people. Yes, he was helping someone, but using words should always be first option. But really, I'm proud of Colin for standing up for someone else. And, no, Colin didn't tell the teacher about the other kid hitting (it really is the second hitter that gets busted) - he just took the punishment like a big boy.

I never thought I would say it; but my kid his a hitter, and I'm OK with that!

Friday, January 27, 2012

Naps...

Oh the joy of naps! How I love taking them!! How I love it when my kids take them!! And how annoying it is when they fight to take them...

What's the deal? Naps are a part of their life from day one. They go from sleeping all the time as newborns, to two good naps during the day, then they move to one nap a day. Just an hour or so in the middle of the day to refresh. They feel so much better afterwards; they behave so much nicer afterwards. Naps are great!

So why do they start fighting naps around age three and four? One day Emma won't nap, the next Colin won't nap; I seriously think it's a conspiracy some day. Emma naps more than Colin, she's better at laying down and resting.

Colin naps maybe two times a week. Most days he doesn't really need a nap, just a quiet time can do him wonders. But other days (when he's throwing a tantrum even after I've said "yes" to something) he needs a nap. I need him to take a nap! And most days he does great; today is not one of those days. He fought. So no nap. Hopefully bedtime will come soon enough and we'll both get the rest that we need!!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

A Whole Year?!?

It's been over a year that I've blogged! Are you kidding me?? A full year - gone?!
So much has happened there is no way to make up for a year... Kids have gotten a year older, a year smarter, a year better!

We are having so much fun watching them grow!

Tre is starting piano lessons along with his baseball season. We also have a goal that he will learn to ride his bicycle without training wheels by summer time. He is so helpful around the house and his younger siblings love playing with him. He would sometimes rather play video games than play with them... but that's typical 6 year old boy stuff!

Colin got drums for Christmas. "Why?" you ask me? Because the kid is ridiculously talented when it comes to finding a beat. He's a natural and we want to encourage his love for music. He was being loud anyway with his baskets & buckets, he's just louder now!! He enjoys school very much and is quite the artist. He's also incredibly smart and will hopefully be reading before he gets into Kindergarten (a full year and a half away).

Emma has probably grown the most since the last post; which is what happens from a 1 year old to almost 3 year old. And almost three is what she's good at right now - all the tantrums and stubborness included. She can be incredibly sweet saying "Mommy, I love you." a lot! But lately dinner time has not been fun trying to fight her to eat. Eat anything. Like mac 'n' cheese. She won't do it. Lately all she'll eat are cheese sticks. Breakfast & Lunch she's fine; but Dinner is a battle. This too shall pass...

Sorry for being gone a year... Here's to not missing so much of Team Chaos!!