Spring Program Video #2

Here is the second video. It wouldn't let me upload it to my original post. Enjoy!

Spring Program

Ethan and Mia had their Spring Program today. Mike and I arrived 15 minutes early and got front row seats. I brought three cameras with me, which Mike was making fun of. I figured at least one of them would either have a dead battery or a full storage card. And I was right! One of the cameras had a full storage card, so it's a good thing I brought another!

The program was beyond cute. They sang four songs. Mia did pretty well with following the songs. Ethan did well the first song, and then he was in his own little world for the rest of them. The really tall boy by Ethan is the one that is singing along. You can hear him really well.

The little boy that has a crush on Mia is named Brody. He is standing right next to her in the white shirt. I guess he goes home and talks about Mia every day!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Bucky!

Happy Birthday to our St. Patty's day girl! Wow! 2 years old all ready. Where has this last year gone? She's getting to be such a big girl. She's becoming very independent and is quick to tell me that it's, "my turn." That's her favorite phrase right now. She learned it from her older brother and sister. She jabbers quite a bit. Some words are very clear and some are a work in progress. She really has been talking a lot more since going to daycare.

Riley is quite the little helper. She likes to help me unload the dishwasher and will help me pick up their toys. If I'm arguing with Ethan to go pick something up because he threw it on the ground, Riley will run over and pick it up for Ethan. She is also quite the little jokester. If she sees you putting your shoes on, she'll run over, grab one of your shoes, and take off running. The funny part is the person doesn't realize she took it, and they are looking all over for their "lost" shoe. Riley is usually standing across the room with their shoe with a huge smile on her face. She always does this to her grandparents.

We're still working on the potty-training. I'm not pushing her at all. I think I could have had her done by now if I was really persistent. She pees every time I put her on the toilet. She doesn't quite understand that she has to tell me when she needs to pee. I've found quite a few puddles on the floor. The thought of being diaper free through the day is very exciting!

She is still taking one afternoon nap a day for 1-2 hours. She has been quite the pain to get to go to sleep at night. Ethan and Mia go to bed around 9pm, but Riley isn't ready to sleep then. If we put her down then, she cries and cries. We've been letting her stay up until 10pm or so and then she goes to bed easier. If she knows I am home, she puts up quite the fight. If I am at work, she goes right to bed for Mike. How unfair is that?

I still need to make an appointment for her 2 year well baby check. I'm curious to see how tall the doctor thinks she'll be. My guess is 5 feet 4 inches. Mia is supposed to be 5 feet 2 inches, and Riley seems a little bigger to me than Mia. They weigh almost the same!

Riley continues to be my best eater. She isn't as picky as the twins. She can out eat Mia any day of the week. She is always the first one at the table when I tell them it's time to eat. I told them I was going to get pizza for lunch and then got busy with something else. I heard her yelling, "mommy, mommy, mommy" over and over. I go out to the kitchen, and she's sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her lunch. :)

A round of kisses for everyone.

I actually caught Ethan giving a kiss to Riley on camera! This is very rare.

The kids love their Uncle Nathan.

Can you see Mia's little fingermarks in the frosting? I caught her a couple of times licking the frosting off. Riley picked out the funfetti frosting. You can see some of my cabinets in the background. I need to take some more pictures of them.

Blowing out her candles. She singed some hair doing that.

A present from her friend, Lillian. The girls fought over it all night.

Letting Mia play with it.

Nice Coat, Ethan

Do you want to know what Ethan and Mia have been fighting over lately? Mia's, very girly, butterfly rain coat. Ethan has become obsessed with it. He wants to wear it everywhere. Mia does not want him wearing it. We went out to eat this week, and sure enough, Ethan ran and grabbed the butterfly coat. I had it hidden behind the couch, but one of the girls found it and pulled it out. So, he wore it out to eat. (Mia was screaming the entire car ride there because she didn't want him to wear it.) Mike was a little embarrassed. It didn't bother me too much. Though, I am not going to let him wear it to preschool. I don't want their teachers to think we're weird. :)

Modeling the coat. He insisted on wearing Mia's purple and black boots too.

You can tell by Mia's expression just how thrilled she is having to share her coat.

Friday Update

-Ethan and Mia will be going to summer school! Mia's teacher called today and asked if I wanted them in their summer program. Heck yeah! It'll run from the beginning of June until the end of July. It'll be Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 8:30-11am. It will be less time than what they're going now.

-Mia's teacher also said that a little boy in her class has a crush on her. I guess he goes home and talks about Mia all the time. :) We're going to her St. Patty's day program, so I'm going to scope this kid out! :)

-Bucky's birthday is all ready next week. How did that creep up on me so fast? I'm so bad about getting birthday gifts on time. I'm thinking of getting her a big trampoline for outside. I know the kids will love it, but I may have to convince Mike to let me put a 12 foot trampoline in the middle of the yard. It'll have an enclosure, of course. I don't want any broken bones. We pay enough from health insurance and doctor's visits!

-We played outside for an hour today. The kids had a blast! They were splashing in puddles and got really dirty.

-Mia has all ready changed her clothes 4 times today. She's gotten really bad about that. Mike said that she will not be doing it when he watches her this weekend. HA! I'll tell you how that goes.

-My trip to Minneapolis was awesome. We went out to dinner and then to the engagement party. I got to meet a lot of Jenna's friends and got to know Matt a little better. We were in bed and sleeping by 10pm and I didn't wake up until 8am. I haven't slept that well in a long time. We went to the Mall of America and did a little bit of shopping and went to a movie. We left after the movie and drove through a mini-blizzard. It was nice to spend some time with my mom and sisters!

-I have to work this weekend, so Mike has Daddy duty. Wish him luck! :)

Scissors

When we went to Ethan and Mia's preschool conferences, the teachers told us to start letting them use scissors. Ummm....okay, do we really have to? I don't care if my kids don't know how to use scissors. I actually prefer it that way! :) We did a couple of school projects that needed scissors, so we used my huge gigantic ones. Ethan and Mia sat there for a good 20 minutes cutting little chunks off of construction paper. I thought it was probably time to buy them some kid scissors.

We decided to do a Target run. It was actually Ethan's idea to go. He kept asking to go to, "Target's house." (That's my boy!) I let them each pick out a pair of scissors. They were beyond excited.

We tried them out today for the first time. I really don't want the girls cutting their hair. I think that's what I'm dreading! I watched them like a hawk. They sat there for 20 minutes cutting paper and had so much fun. They did really well. No one was missing hair! I guess this will be part of our "art time."

I Love Being a Parent

...most days. Do you ever have those days where you're tired of being a parent? I'm having one of those today. It usually follows a sleepless night (Mia was up until 2:30am with a stomach ache) or a day where I'm not feeling well (I'd like to thank my offspring for the lovely RSV nastiness. I feel like crap!) So, when these two things are combined together, I'm almost guaranteed a "tired of being a parent day". The day is almost half over! Only 8 hours to go. Do I sound optimistic? :)

I think Mike and I need to get away together. The last time we got away was in August for his Washington DC business trip, so it's been 7 months. I wouldn't even mind staying here at home. (After all, I'm totally freaked out about getting bed bugs from a hotel.) We'll have to kick the kids out of the house for a weekend. The nice thing is that we have two very capable sets of grandparents to take over for a couple of days. Imagine staying up as late as we want, sleeping in as late as we want, and going out to a nice quiet dinner and maybe even a movie. Of course, I'd probably make a dozen phone calls to check on my little ones! And the house may seem too quiet, but we definitely need a little vacation.

Mike will be in Phoenix until Saturday. He said it's 70 degrees there. I told him I didn't want to hear anything about it. I do have to say that it's really nice here today. It's 40 degrees, the sun is shining, and the wind is hardly blowing. The kids and I spent a good 45 minutes outside. We even trudged to the back yard and played on the swing set.

My mom and I are going to Minneapolis on Saturday for Jenna's engagement party. Mike's parents are going to watch the kids on Saturday until he comes back that night. It'll be a nice little trip. My mom got a hotel. I had her research out the bed bug database to see if it had any bed bug infestations. I am seriously paranoid about bed bugs.