A Nephew!

Heidi and Dave had a little boy on Thursday, Brody David. We went to visit on Friday, Brookelyn was at school that's why she's not in any pictures, Taylor was such a pro, a bit of a baby hog, just like her mama!

SO BIG!

Wedding Dress

At breakfast, Molly asked me when I would buy her and Taylor wedding dresses. I told her not until she gets older. She asked how old she needed to be to dance. (Both her and Taylor like the wedding picture of Chris and I dancing~me in my wedding dress) After a pause, to make sure I gave an age I could live with, I said 26. Do we need to be discussing this already????

Some Fun in the Sun!

Taylor jumping off the diving board at swimming lessons and on the slip-and-slide at home.

Morgan, Taylor and Molly playing in the baby pool.

Bait and Switch

When Lacey was born I thought I had selected the 'perfect' blanket. So soft, and fluffy! But after a few dozen washes, it started to get matted and not so soft. So I got another one. You see, I love Morgan's blanket but didn't want to get Lacey the same one, so the new one I got Lacey was actually half like Morgan's and half a little different. Well after a few months of washing the 'different' half did not hold up either, matted and not so soft. So last night, I went and bought Lacey the same type of blanket that Morgan has just in a different color. However, Lacey had been used to the other one for so many months I'm not sure how the bait and switch will go. Cross your fingers!

Red Light, Green Light....anybody?????

Morgan has started playing impromptu games of red light, green light. With nobody. She will suddenly yell 'green light' then turn around real quick, pause a moment, then turn and yell "red light'. She especially likes to do this at the end of the hallway, a good path for such a game, I guess.......... It took me a few times before I realized "A" what she saying and "B" what she was doing. Now, of course, I think it's just hilarious!

E-Mail

Taylor loves to color and write. Often throughout the day she will go into the kitchen, grab some paper and colors out of the cupboard and sit for an hour. She likes to pick a crayon, look at the color of it (for example, turquoise), then write with the crayon the name of the color. She will fill a page with 30 some color names. Another favorite is to draw our family. She will draw everyone in order, starting with Chris as the tallest, and draw each of us as smaller and smaller all the way down to Lacey. She will search you out to see what you are wearing (I had on gray shorts and a red shirt~so that is what she drew) or ask you what color you want you clothes ("Molly, what color do you want your dress to be?") and finally she puts everyones age above their heads: Chris gets 35, I get 33, she gets 6, Molly gets 4, Morgan gets 2, and Lacey gets 0.

Tonight, she was drawing and left the picture on the table to go do something else. When I went in the kitchen to start dinner I asked her what she had been drawing. It looked like a picture of her between two gardens. She told me it was a picture of her going on a trip....OK....then she asked me what she should take along. I suggested a camera, then I started making dinner. A few minutes later she brings her picture to me with some additions. She had added a camera, some snacks, and a computer, "So I can e-mail you, mama."

Fingers in Ears

Miss Molly has developed a sensitive hearing issue. One of my daycare kiddos is sensitive to the sound of the garbage trucks, so we addressed it weekly during the school year, but I didn't really think it was contagious! Our first incident was the Sun Prairie Midget Races, now granted they ARE loud, but I brought ear protection for the girls (taylor and molly, and my sister heidi had brookelyn there). We had plugs, as well as ear phone type things. She planted her fingers in her ears, shook and screamed. Fortunatly the cars are so loud people could not hear Molly over the sound of the race. After about 10 minutes it appeared to be a lost cause so I took her home. Her fingers remained in her ears all the way to the car along with her wailing "I can't stand it!" OY! I was finally able to pry her fingers out of her ears while I put her in the van.

So a week later we pack up the family to attend the 4th of July parade in Columbus. Mind you, that Molly has been attending parades since she was a baby...now she's 4~she had a complete panic/anxiety attack as the fire trucks approached. Screaming, crying and no midget races to drown her out this time, everyone around us was wishing they had ear plugs. I had a few 'talks' with her. She said she wanted to go in the house, I had to explain to her that we don't know the people that live in that house, more "I can't stand it", and again with the shaking. So we left...again... But I am not a quitter...so we attend the Waunafest parade.

We arrive purposely late (yah right) in hopes to avoid the firetrucks, but of course arrive just as they are passing by. No screaming this time, but still fingers in ears and some tears. We stuck it out. I tried lots of "it's just noise~it's not going to hurt you" and "there's no crying at parades" and finally just let her be. After about 20 minutes she came around and started to chase down some candy. Fast forward to tonight, Sun Prairie's Corn Festival parade. We talked about it during the day and Molly went back and forth about wanting to go and wanting to stay home. During dinner after some sassy back-talking I informed Molly she would be staying home from the parade, this resulted in a melt-down and a time-out. After discussing her back-talking we talked about the parade and she said she really wanted to go. I reminded her about the loud noises, but she promised she would be brave. Walking to the parade route she could hear the firetrucks getting closer and she was getting nervous. I reminded her how badly she had wanted to come to the parade. She didn't cry, but those fingers were in her ears during 3/4ths of the parade and she only left my lap once or twice to chase down candy. I'm chalking this up to irrational 4-year old behavior. She can honk on the recorder so long it makes my skin crawl and not complain a bit while I blow-dry her hair but loud noises are 'scary'. This too shall pass.

Do Pigs Fly?

This weekend we were eating breakfast at the table. Morgan was almost done and lately has taken to throwing things at the table when she is getting full. It could be a fork, spoon, banging her cup, or food. I know, lovely toddler issues! We're working on it!!! Anyway, I hadn't noticed that she had tossed some of her bacon onto the table. Lacey seeing opportunity snatched the bacon off of the table. As my attention returned to Lacey I noticed she was holding something in her fist and knawing on something...upon further investigation it was the 'flying bacon'. Lacey is eating only table foods...will rarely eat anything resembeling baby food anymore...diva!..~but I pried apart her little fingers to retreive the bacon...she was not a happy girl...honestly, Lacey, you're only 9 months old!

Children's Museum

Took the girls to the children's museum for Morgan's birthday. Morgan liked the mini-water fountain....playing in water is fun! She enjoyed 'shopping' at the farmers market and 'planting' the garden. Instruments were a hit...literally!

Lacey's summer

My baby is growing so fast! She is on a much higher growth curve than her sisters were, so she cruised through her baby clothes and wore 12-18 month clothes this summer. By fall, her and Morgan will probably both be in 2T! But despite her extra chub she is very mobile! Moving faster that her sisters as well. She has been moving around the living room for almost a month already, mostly backwards, but is just on the verge of crawling forwards and is just turning 9 months...the other ladies didn't crawl until at least 10 months and nobody walked before 14...but I have a feeling Lacey will shatter that easily. She is very happy playing on the floor, unless she backs herself into a bucket or something and then she just hollers for help. But she does have some lungs on her! I'm guessing if Morgan is going to dance, then Lacey will be the singer. Her screams (when getting face washed especially) could break glass. I'm sure she has given me some hearing loss.

Taylor's summer

Taylor started T-ball the first day of summer vacation! She liked it~they spent time working on skills like catching and throwing and making sure they run around the bases in the right order! Her team (snickers) had 10 players, 8 boys and 2 girls. A little friend from school, Jessica, so that was extra fun! Once they had them on the field, a coach would holler "batter" as he placed the ball on the T and the kids on the field would holler back "up"....it was very cute. After the ball was hit most of the players on the field would charge the ball...comical! Taylor was very excited when she got to throw the ball to the first base coach. Tumbeling class started shortly after that. She was officially an Acrobat this year, since it's her third summer. She likes to tumble, an appropriatte outlet for some of her energy! She like the rings the best! She took two enrichment classes through the school district this summer; sign language and a math class. She remembers new signs she learned every day still. She can sign most of her colors, some emotions, and family members as well as the alphabet for signing her name. She took my Magic School Bus class that I taught through park and rec. She enjoyed being the 'teachers kid', made her feel important. She had four weeks of swimming lessons~~but don't get me started! Though she enjoyed her time in the pool, is not afraid of water, and did manage to jump off of the diving board on the last day, I really don't think she 'learned' anything in those four weeks. She can't float...how a 45 lb kiddo doesn't float I don't know, I told her she must have "bricks in her butt"....which she thought was hilarious, because like most school-aged children (and full-grown men) the mention of the word 'butt' brings on fits of giggles~as do bodily function sounds~sooooo lady-like!

Molly's summer

At four years old Molly struggles between being a big kid and little kid. I can see the internal struggle sometimes. She is much less aggressive than Taylor and can usually be reasoned with pretty well, but sometimes when it gets to be to much you can see it build and she has to scream to let it out~thankfully these are far and few between so I actually find them quite amusing. I must admit, shame on me, that I had very low expectations of Molly's classes this summer. I enrolled her in the Curious George class I taught in June and she did really well. Then ballet started in July, and I thought for sure that she would not leave my side...boy did she prove me wrong! We bought her a little ballet leotard, tights, and slippers and she was sooooo happy! On more than one occasion as we were driving to class she would announce from the back seat "I'm so excited!" I was very happy for her! She also floored me at her swimming lessons. Sat with her class, and followed her teacher right in! (It took me three days to get Taylor in the water when she started!) So my hats off to Molly~shame on me and my doubts~I am very proud of you!

Morgan's summer

Morgan had her first class starting in May. We did a "mommy and me" music class. She did very well and was not glued to my side the whole time. She was willing to get and return class supplies like scarves or rhythm sticks by herself. Morgan's language has really blossomed this summer. She's turning into a little chatterbox. New words and phrases pop up every day. "My get down", "My wash hands", "My George (her curious george stuffed toy)" "Shake butt" (she loves to dance!)~~~and she has some moves....she often just breaks into dance, I think she must hear music in her head sometimes! Plus, Morgan turned 2 on the 31st of July! She just loves her 'clif'!