Mini Mani Party

We are celebrating Reese's 4th birthday at Disney. But I couldn't resist a little party with a couple friends as we say farewell to this city. Here are a few pictures of the 4 year old fun! Yes, Reese loves her colonial dress...she just thinks she is the bees knees when she wears it. 

Smilely Elli

So, in response to the Christmas card, my sister asked me the other day if Elli ever cries. She said every picture she sees of Elli she has a huge smile. Here is a sampling of that awesome smile. If you make eye contact with Elli and say something sweet to her, you will most likely get this huge smile from her. 

I thought to myself as my sister asked me this question at 8:00 at night, and I couldn't remember Elli crying on that particular day. She grunts or whines, but rarely cries.... I am a lucky momma!

So at dinner tonight when she looked at us and randomly gave us the fat lip and then pulled out full on tears, I, like every mom would,  grabbed (nope not the baby)... the camera. So here it is Andi, a unhappy Elli.

How is she so cute even in full on tears?

Did you spy her two new teeth?

Farewell MSP

The girls had their last day of school at Montessori School of Pensacola. I knew when I looked at the school just under 3 years ago this school was special and a perfect fit for my girls, but Friday as we said our good byes that decision was confirmed.

These are the faces of the three teachers as they had to give the girls a hug one last time.

 I am not sure if you can tell in the pictures, but all three teachers were boo-hooing as they gave out hugs. One teacher was even heaving/shaking from tears as she gave me a hug. I will be lucky if I ever find teachers this compassionate about my kids again.

I did get one huge reminder from Reese. I was asking her to give out hugs to her friends and teachers to say good-bye, but Reese just kept coming back and giving me hugs. I was thinking I needed to get her to give hugs, then it hit me...she was giving hugs...to me! I was overwhelmed by ease in knowing that with this move, I will say lots of good-byes to lots of amazing people but I will always have my family by my side. I will always be able to get the best hugs there are, those from my husband and girls. "Home is where the Navy sends us" is a common phrase among us military families. It is true, I may not be in NC but I am HOME with my family.

I had to chuckle to myself though, Reese finally gave one hug to a friend, and I was shocked by what I saw.

This is the same little boy she asked for help on the calendar when she was the leader of the day the previous week.... I think Reese has a crush!

On a side note: I think the girls are unphased by this move. They are looking forward to Disney World and may not quite understand the permanence of the move. Also it helps big time that their best friend from school last year now lives in Virginia Beach. They are super pumped to be back in the same city as her.

Daddy's Girl

Brady proudly labels herself as a daddy's girl. They have started working out on base weekly. There is a running trail with intermittent stations. She is very proud of her time with her daddy and she likes to show me the exercises that are at the stations. 

Next Children's Book Author?

Reese received a kit to write her own story book. This is her story... grammar is obviously her doing. 

Well, would you buy a copy?

Letters to Santa

We will be getting to our new house a couple days before Christmas so the girls wanted to make sure that Santa knew where to find us. 

 Brady's read" "Dear Santa, My new address is ....... Maria is our elf. I have been a good girl this year. I want bunk beds for dolls, Olivia legos set, book of Santa, Carolina doll. Love, Brady"

Reese's has some of the same sentences, but she is asking for princess playdoh and caroline doll.

I hope Santa gets these letters so he can track us down. 

Peek-a-boo

This is no longer a toothless grin.

November 28 Elli's first tooth popped out. Within ten minutes of my discovering it, she bit me three times while nursing. OUCH!!! I have to break that habit fast!

Speaking of peek-a-boo... This is Reese on her best behavior at a fancy restaurant. And yes, I choose to take her picture instead of correcting the behavior.

Owl Blanket Project: Six Months

Well, I am a few days late posting this, but my baby girl is six months old! Look at how she has grown...I had a hard time snapping this picture this month because she was rolling all over the place.

-Her biggest strides came this month in hand control. She know reaches straight out for the object she wants to touch. Her favorite thing to grab, hair! Brady and Reese have been at the receiving end quite a bit. I love it though because when I hold her facing me she grabs with both hands and it is just like a little hug from her, I look forward to my hugs after her naps.
-We had a interesting month in the breastfeeding department. Her weight gain had slowed down last month so I spent some time with a lactation consultant to get everything back on track. In the previous month she only gained 2 ounces, but after the consultant got everything fixed Elli gained 10 ounces in one week!
-Since I didn't have as much milk, Elli has stopped sleeping through the night. She still sleeps on average 6-8 hours, but definitely not through the night, but it is okay because she needs to calories.
-A day before she turned six months, she got to try solid food. She did the best out of the three girls. I believe this is due to the fact that she takes medicine nightly so she is used to different taste. She has tried sweet potatoes, avocado and bananas. I think bananas are her favorite.

My two favorite things about this video: one, she uses her thumb to suck the food down, Brady did the same thing and I think it is so clever and two, how she would be eager for the next bite.

Our Baby Business Woman

Our family had a yard sale this past weekend. I had been preparing for it for a while so the girls we very aware of what was going on and how it all worked. I decided to let them get involved. Karl and I use credit for everything these days and they need to learn what money is and where it comes from.

The day or two before the yard sale we baked cookies (from scratch  and made lemonade (from crystal light powder). They were very eager to have their first lemonade stand.

I told Karl we would start setting up at 6am so that we would be ready at 7am. I my alram was set for 6am, I woke up threw on a jacket and headed out. Karl had already set up half the stuff and the girls were both awake, ready to sale lemonade. It was like it was Christmas morning for them and they couldn't sleep in anticipation. Brady and Reese got their stand all set up and sat in their chairs in the dark waiting for a 'bite'.

Apparently 'early birds' don't get the worm (or cookies and lemonade). Even though we had a steady flow of costumers in the first hour, none of them showed any interest in the girls whatsoever. I had to be their first costumer. This bored Reese and she went inside for the rest of the morning. Brady, however, was determined. Patience paid off.

 After all was said and done Brady sold about $20 of cookies and lemonade by noon. She was very proud of herself, and often bragged about her success to people stopping by to check out the yard sale. Occasionally I would hear "I have LOTS of money" being sung to visiting costumers. We had a little mini lesson about bragging.

Brady came in with her cash and Reese immediately went after the money assuming she got half of it. Insert another teachable moment...you have to work for your money. Reese was quite upset that she didn't get to have money even though she didn't work for it.

We brought Brady out to use her money for whatever she would like. She choose Doc McStuffins play set and Lego Friends doll.

Brady we are so proud of you for working hard for your money!

Owl Blanket Project: Five Months

Little Miss Elli Dew is five months old today! And boy is she a cutie! Look at my little ham...

 Not only did she pose for the picture above, but she kept turning out adorable moments.

 One of her new favorite toys...a toy that is always within reach...

Elli does like reaching out for toys, faces, books, earrings (ouch), hair (ouch) and iPhones (whoops). Here she is grabbing and hugging her dolly. 

Some other new milestones are:
-She is the ROLLY POLLY ELLI! She has mastered the barrel roll, which means she can move across a room within minutes.
-She is stable enough for extended time in the exersaucer. The older girls love playing with her during this time.
-She is still sleeping about 12 hours straight at night, however she has moved her bedtime up to 5ish, which means this momma gets up early these days.
-She is very distracted while nursing now, other words she is very aware of the world around her and doesn't want to miss out.
-Speaking of awareness, she stares me down when we eat now. She watches the food go from the plate to our mouth. And boy does she have the glare down to make this momma feel guilty. One more month baby girl and you can join us for dinner.
-Elli's talking lately has become singing...this video will do the talking

-She weighs about 15 pounds and is 26.5" long. Her growing has slowed down a little bit, I feel like.

I am really having a great time with Elli lately. She is constantly sending smiles my way and I just can't get enough of them! I love you Elliot!

"They're Changing"

I have to record this Orthnerism that happened tonight at bedtime that had all of us rolling...

After the girls were put to bed, Reese comes out boo-hooing. She fell off her bed and her head hurt. After being asked where is hurt, she states all over. After some consoling, I get a flashlight out to check her pupils to rule out a concussion. So lying on her bed, Karl looking at her pupils while I move the light over her eyes. Karl says "Yea, Christy, they are changing!"

Reese starts crying again... "But I like hazel!"

Reesey Poo, I am glad you love of the color of your eyes!

Time for a Reset

I know all kids go through rough phases. At first I felt as though I had two kids going through phases at the same time. Was it school starting? Adjustment to baby? Impending move? All of the above combined into one? Either way, the cause aside, this wasn't a phase, we have consistent bratty behavior on our hands that NEEDS to be corrected asap. Minor triggers would cause catastrophe. Appreciation of the good in their lives had gone out the windows. 

On Monday morning, both girls had a major tantrum, one over clothes the other over having to give Elli her goodbye kiss second. It was time for major mommy intervention. While the girls were at school, I got to work. Almost all the toys are packed away. Clothes are put away so that their wardrobe contains less then 10 outfits a piece. Not even the bath has any toys.  

Thank goodness for the extra bedroom so that I have a place to lock up all the toys. 

So I have a Good Behavior chart posted on the fridge. We are focusing on the positive here. There are five bullets for the girls:

     ·    Happily share with your sisters

·    Listen to parents the first time

·    Use manners: please, thank you, excuse me

·    Use happy voice when asking for something

·    Help out around the house 

If they have good behavior all day they will have a toy and outfit returned to them. 

Now if I feel the kids are heading towards bad behavior, I kindly take their hand and read the good behavior chart, emphasizing the bullet that needs work. 

Brady loves these new boundaries. She ran around showing Karl the empty house when he got home from work Monday. Today, she said "Mommy,  I love earning my toys, this is so fun!" Reese on the other hand is trying to figure out how strong those boundaries are. She needs the chart read to her about 5 times a day but she corrects the behavior easily after reading the bullets. We have not have a single tantrum since this was implemented two days ago. I know you are thinking that is not that long, but considering their behavior before then, I am sure we are making progress. 

Hopefully we are back to the sweet behaved girls that I so often brag about. 

As a side note, I love seeing the girls use their imagination with the few toys they have access to.

Video Clips

I am proud of my girls and the growth socially, physically and mentally that is happening at school. 

Here is a few clips to enjoy:

Reese out of nowhere has been really picking up on her German. I have not a clue how accurate this is, but I believe she is counting up to 29 (with some numbers skipped) in this video.

Brady has been working on the monkey bars ever since she started at that school. They have a low set that Reese can reach while standing on the ground to practice on. Then as the kids get older they learn on the big monkey bars. In September Brady was so excited because she could go across two bars. Well look at her now...