Preschool Art Week 5

This is from two weeks ago. I have got to take down the stuff from last week today!

I am sure R brought more than this home but I think some of her art got mixed with what is on the frig this week!

7 QT - resurrecting the blog from the lack of posts…

Did you think I'd ever be back… 

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Well nothing overly interesting or exciting has kept me from Le Blog. Just busy, busy,busy. SO stinking busy. But less busy than a good friend of mine who I FINALLY talked to this week and she just happened to mention that's she pregnant. Which is not super surprising because it's her 7th and we have not talked in oh a good 6-7 months, BUT the kicker was she's due in a month. I know! NOW, no surprises like that up in here. 

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School has been keeping us very busy...

The weather is super confusing when it comes to getting the girls dressed… I mean 50 when you leave the house and 85 in the afternoon… 

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M and I stole away to the grocery ALL BY OURSELVES the other day. It was glorious. We talked and got samples and I specifically went the opposite way around the store - because everyone goes to the fruits and veggies first right??? - just so she would not have a conniption fit over the bananas in the cart.

Man I could just snuggle her up at any moment  (and usually do!)

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Breakfast time makes me smile...

3 kids… One cereal 

Every morning it is a BIG deal to get a double 'pillow'. But in this box E got a quadruple pillow! It was so exciting to her. And then we talked about the name of pillows from quads up to decas. She still talks about get a pillow with 10 stuck to together.

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In case you missed it… We are into October, somehow. The year is flying! So October = everything pumpkin and a little birdie let us try some of the Trader Joes muffins and we are kinda hooked...

For life. They are awesome and the girls devoured a bunch for breakfast and then took some for snack the following day. I need to see if I can stock up on a few more boxes... and try and recruit a Traders Joes for the Mount so we don't have t drive to Raleigh!

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Oh and we had a pig picking and it was a blast

Except these are the ONLY pictures I took and I am really kicking myself : ( 

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I have big plans for the month including taking M's pumpkin pic (here's E's and here's R's) and taking a fall girls pic. Side note - I remember this time last year wondering if we would have a crawling pumpkin or a newborn pumpkin and M held out to be a crawler… Thank goodness for the pumpkin patch that is 2 miles away. Oh and also on my plate is Papa's stocking and our wedding photo album which has not been printed… Maybe, maybe I'll get that one done before 11/1 BUT no pressure : ) 

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Preschool Art Weeks 3 and 4

E's

R's

Living Life With More Joy

I struggle with doing things joyfully… Especially when there are little people involved… I read a quote (which I wish I had taken a screen grab of) that was something to the effect of - we need to be joyful warriors in this crazy world - (hopefully I can find the source). 

Instead of focusing on the beach being kind of a bust (well for me because there was not 24/7 beach time); we'll focus on getting to spend time with my parents and Uncle Kev and getting to go to the beach for a few hours - just enough to get a lite sunburn : ) . 

We are happy for the AWESOME weather we had for our first soccer game this morning and not on the fact that the Alligators could probably use a few more practices. But seriously I think our team had a fun time overall.

We can have fun in Wally World even when we look like this:

(M's the odd ball out in her non-soccer-wear; so we looked really cool matching, promise)

Seriously, it is the little things.

We were the only people on the bread aisle (which we went in circles looking for) and I revved up the cart and ran down the aisle. Seriously all the girls were cackling and I couldn't help but smile. We 'went fast' a few more times as we were checking out and in the parking lot. It was such a small but JOY-filled moment I cannot describe.

2014 Family Beach Pic

Obligatory family beach pose with the flamingo. I'll do a whole post on it… maybe. But it was fun hanging out with Grammy and Grandpa Joe and Uncle Kevin for a few days (yeah they put up with our crazies for more than a few hours! : ) HOWEVER, going to the beach when it is cloudy and misting and not warm is kind of a bust when you have 2 kids who desperately want to go to the beach and a 10.5 month old who cannot get on the beach house floor because it's not even worth discussing the germs and funk.

Without further details...

Until next year we're probably a little…

{crabby - in case you cannot read the shirts} because we've not on vacation

Raining with a Chance of Surfing...

R - I like… surfing… in dee rain

What's the most important thing to occur when you go to the beach and you are 4 and 2 yrs old?…

Go to the BEEEE-CH

Even if it is 65 and drizzling.

You get in the wave and splash around and fall down and have a great time. 

And then you freeze your little behind off on the walk/carry-me-pul-easeeee mama ride home

Recent Happenings 'Round Here

Yes it has been awhile since I posted so here's what's up…

This summer I have been 50/50 on having E rest. Sometimes she can work on her workbook other times she can play upstairs and other times she must rest. One afternoon it was entirely too quiet upstairs and so I called for E and nothing. Ran upstairs to find this. Checked in Papa's office. Ran back downstairs to see if she opted to rest on her own. Nothing. My heart maybe got a little nervous.

So I went back upstairs and did some searching to find this...

Sigh of relief? Yep… And while we are on the topic of sleeping… 

Goodness she loves her Papa!

At the beginning of summer I knew it was going to be a long summer of semi-napfilled afternoon… enter Pre-K workbook. It's about 500 pages of coloring letters, shapes, numbers etc. I thought it would take E into the fall. Well turns out she was super into it and finished 100 pages in the first week. She did settle down and finished in early August. 

I told her if she wanted to finish the book and pick out a reward she had to diligently do each page (not overly scribble scrabble) and write somewhat legibly. The prize of her choice new markers. Oh man. Those last few pages of correcting 'not-so-diligent- work were challenging but the day the markers showed up - E thought it was all worth it. So what's she working on now? The Kindergarten workbook. 

If that book had cutting and gluing on every page she would have finished it weeks ago. Also, if I could teach this kid to read by cutting stuff out she would be reading novels. Any good cutting and pasting your way to reading activities? Anyhow, she claims she wants something Frozen related once the K workbook is over but she has got some time before that happens : ) 

M is finally out of the infant carrier and into E's old carseat. E got a new one. I installed E's (zebra) and left R's (pink) where it was. For arguments sake I wanted to see if you could fit 3 Britax (yes they are the most massive but considered some of the best) carseats across the third row of el Odyssey. Yeah… That would be a definite negative. I did manage to fit three across the back once but only one was a Britax. Good thing M is rear facing in the second row… 

About little M:

She would love to pull up on everything. Except she doesn't. Though she did pull herself up on the little bottom bunk in the girls room yesterday - much to E's delight - and then proceeded to fall off the other side. Much to my heart stopping moment of fear I kept the - I told you this would be a not so fantastic idea - speech to myself. 

Why is Minnie by the garage door? Because a certain 4 yr old left her for show and tell. And let me tell you, we talked about show and tell the night before and what she was bringing and the day of and please put it by the door so you don't forget it and EVERYTHING. Well 2 minutes into the drive I said… So, do you have your show and tell? {insert wailing and tears and screams} 

Fortunately there was enough junk in the van she had a run of the gamut for options but it was tough forgetting show and tell (for the first time). Apparently the point was not completely driven home because the next day she walked out without her backpack and we got to school and we were hopping out of the van and she looked at me and said 'Where's my book bag' I said 'Did you remember to bring it'

Oh the tears started welling up and the thought of no snack was going through her head. I let that soak in for a minute and asked her if she was moving to fast and why she was not being responsible for her stuff. But then, being the reasonable mama I am, pointed her to the back hatch of the van in which laid her book bag. Let's just say it has not been forgotten since. 

Oh and M is into everything. She especially loves her big sisters toys - the Duplos are some of her favorites. E is not overly happy about the occasional M invasion and R is usually on board with E but sometimes R is super sweet to M and gives M her Nini and piles up a bunch of stuff for her to play with. 

E's godfather gave her a 2 wheel scooter and E happens to think it is fantastic. She still cannot figure out the whole balancing thing but E at least feels like one of the big kids. R is still quite skeptical of the 3 wheel scooter… 

Oh my goodness. R has some of the best 2 yr old expressions… EVER!

She thoroughly enjoyed her cupcake :  )

E and I hit up the HT for a few items after she went with me to the dentist. Gosh she is getting so big and super fun to be around. We hit the samples but the cookies were gone : ( 

This made me smile - 

M almost fell out of the stroller leaning over trying to reach the ball she dropped… 

Finally…. Mexican caldo. Seriously. If you are sick you need some. Thank goodness for Nani who brought me some last week. I have this super annoying head stuffiness that I cannot kick. Hopefully a fews days of salt water will cure that…