Well, it is July and our summer is well under way. It seems to be flying by and very busy. Chad is almost finished with his 3rd week of summer school and has two more weeks to go. We decided to have Bryce have his own home summer school during the 5 weeks that Chad has summer school. It is VERY low key but it breaks up our day pretty well. We start around 9:00 and do 4 pages in a 2nd grade math book that Chad bought at the teacher supply store. Even though the book is 2nd grade it is pretty much a review of concepts he already learned in 1st grade. He then does a basic fact test and writes his name in cursive. At B's school they start cursive in 2nd grade and B has been trying to write his name for a while now but he has been doing it wrong. So I decided to teach him to do it the right way so he doesn't start a bad habit. We then take a half hour recess outside and the kids ride their bikes. Then we come in and do 4 pages in a summer workbook that he got from school and he reads a chapter from his book. The first week of school B did really well, the 2nd week he complained a lot but now he seems to be doing well. I think he realized that we are going to do this whether he likes it or not.
Emma also has her school and she loves to color and cut out pictures (one of her new favorite things to do is use scissors). I also wanted to teach her to write her name because a few weeks ago she was wanting me to teach her and she did really well but now she doesn't want to do it so I am not pushing it. She just loves to be at the kitchen table with brother doing her work.
After their work we go out again for another half hour or 45 minutes and that pretty much takes us to lunch time. The rest of our day is busy with Emma's naptime, errands, going to the library (once a week), doing crafts (once a week), swimming, and play dates. We have also gone into my classroom to work for a few days and the kids love to go in and play while I get some work done. The day is busy but a lot of fun.
Right now we are looking forward to the long weekend. We are going to see the fireworks here in town and basically just relax at home (at least I hope so).
Potty Training Update: It is going to be a slow progress for Emma. I think she has some real fears in regards to using the potty. She will hold it FOREVER until she can hold it no longer. She will sit on the potty but doesn't like to sit for long and by that time she does, she is really stressed. I try to read books to her, sing songs, but nothing really calms her down. Today she was begging for her diaper and I decided to give her one because it had been several days since she had a bowel movement and I think she was holding it because she is too afraid to go in the potty. We are trying to stay very positive with her and I am not asking her if she has to go to the bathroom-I wait for her to tell me because I don't want to add more stress onto the situation. She wore a diaper the rest of the day today and we just dropped it for the night. When she does use the potty she is SOOOOO proud of herself (plus she gets a little candy treat) and when she has an accident we don't make a big deal out of it at all (but we do tell her she has to help clean up the mess-like any other spill) and she really doesn't seem to mind helping. sigh...I was hoping potty training Emma would be just as easy as potty training Bryce but I guess not. Oh well, it will come with time. :-)
On Sunday, Chad's Aunt D and Uncle D from CA stopped in for a visit. They were visiting family in the eastern part of the state and stopped in on their way home. We wished they could have stayed longer but it was nice to visit with them while they were here. The kids had a great time showing off their rooms and of course all their toys, and it was nice catching up with family. We can't wait to see everyone when we come for a visit there in 3 weeks!!! :-)
Well, the last few days of the week, we told Emma that on Saturday was potty training day and she was going to learn to use the potty. She has been very excited. On Friday night we layed out some special underwear for her to put on Saturday morning. She had her underwear on from about 7:30 a.m. to about 1:00 with no success. She had a tiny bit of pee in her underwear about 9:30 but other than that she was dry. She asked several times for her diaper but we told her no that it was potty training day. At about 1:00 we put her down for her nap (and we had to put a pull up on). Of course she wet her pull up during her nap but then after her nap she put her underwear back on. No accidents the rest of the afternoon. Finally I was cooking dinner and she was at the sink washing her hands when she ran down off the step stool and ran to her potty and went in the potty for the first time! She was SOOOO excited!! I think fear is what is holding her up. The fact that she can hold it for so long (and this is with her drinking a lot of sugary juices) tells me she is ready it is just getting her used to using the potty. Today she had one accident this morning but she continues to remain pretty dry. I think we are on the road to being diaper free but it may be a bit of a rocky one! :)
It was 14 years ago today that I married the love of my life. I love you honey! Thanks for an amazing 14 years!
Today was Chad's turn. For 15 days out of the year we are the same age so now I can continue harrassing him for the rest of the year how he is again older than me. :-) Poor Chad does not get to celebrate much on his birthday because he had to work all day at summer school today and then he has professional development at his school until 8:00. He was able to come home for about 20-25 minutes in between summer school and his meeting though and the kids and I made him cookies that spelled out Happy Birthday (Chad is not big on cake) and sang Happy Birthday.
We knew we would not have a lot of time to celebrate so we went to a baseball game on Sunday. The Royals were taking on the SF Giants (who is Chad's favorite team). This was Emma's first professional sporting event. We weren't sure how she would do because in the first inning she said she wanted to go home but amazingly, she did well and made it through the whole game. We got a pretty good deal (4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 sodas, peanuts and a game day magazine for $44). Our seats were pretty good but it was a hot day. We brought fan/water bottles which the kids loved (and everyone around us loved them as well-the lady in front told her husband to pay Bryce $1 to keep him using his fan/water bottle :-)) but then after a few innings we moved up in the stands to sit in the shade which was very comfortable even without the fan/waterbottles. It was a great day (even though the Giants lost) and Chad was able to finally go to a professional sporting event here. Here are a few pics of our day...
Bryce was excited because he was able to get a plastic Giants hat...
We all got free Kansas City Negro league hats (which is what Emma and I are wearing in the pics). In the last few innings Emma got tired of sitting by us and decided to sit a few seats away with her magazine...
Happy Birthday sweetie! I love you!
I can't believe my little girl is three years old. Her birthday was yesterday. We let her open her presents as she has gotten them. My sister and her family got her the birthday girl crown and the whole set up. I will have to get a picture with her wearing it all. It is pretty cute! She also got some princess costumes (which she loves) and money from her Grammy and Grandpa Hill and she can't wait to go shopping. She looks really cute in the Snow White costume (again, I need to get some pictures). From Grandma and Grandpa Jensen she got a doddle bear. She was SOOO excited when she saw this bear and when we tried to show her how you could doodle on it with the markers and airbrush she proclaimed: "NOOO! I love him! I don't want him to get dirty!" So the bear is still very clean and she has used the markers to color on paper. he he he :-)
For her birthday morning we let her open up her dollhouse that she got from us. She loves it and has played with the last few days most of the day!
We hung out at home most of the day and played. It was hard for her to wait all day until the end of the day for her party. We let her invite one of her friends to the park (I figured I would keep it simple for her 3rd birthday) and we would have pizza and cake. She invited E from CBS babysitting and her family. We also invited the T family. I had decided to make Emma a cake for her birthday but for some reason the cake collapsed in the middle so I stopped and picked up a cake on the way to the park. (we ate some of it today though and it did taste good so I don't know what happened). Here is a picture of it before it fell apart!
I asked Emma if she had a good party and she told me yes but that E did not sit by her. She then went on to tell me that E didn't even talk to her. I asked her if she talked with E and she said, "Well, I tried." So, she has already told me next year she wants MORE friends at her party so I guess next year we will have to do a bigger party. :-) She got another princess costume (amazingly none of them are the same and she LOVES all of them!) and a bubble machine which we took out again this morning to play with bubbles. I think she had a great day! I can't believe she is already three! She seems to be growing and changing so much.
At the start of the party as we were setting up, I was taking something out to our car, when I fell (stepped off the sidewalk and into the grass). I was not hurt badly but I was embarressed (anyone who knows me knows that embarress very easily). I landed on my elbow which broke my fall (fortunately just a minor scrape) but I twisted my ankle and it was sore most of the party. It did not swell up (Praise God!) and by the end of the party, it was feeling better but I can't say the same for our camera which I was holding when I took the fall. The camera still works but the zoom is no longer functioning and it looks really beat up. We have been having problems with it for a while now so I guess this just may be another sign we need to save up some money to buy a new camera. UGGHH!!!
On a funny side note, Chad told Emma on Wednesday morning that when she woke up tomorrow morning it would be her birthday. Well, she hasn't gotten the concept of tomorrow yet and so when she woke up from her nap on Wed. she thought it was her birthday. We had a few tears when I explained to her that her birthday was not until the next day. :(
I love you my little princess!
As a mom, I sometimes reflect on my kiddos and what is happening. There are so many times I wish I could just capture forever events and moments that are happening. I thought I would share 10 things that put a smile on my face throughout the day...
1. When Bryce says 'dude.' It is often "Dude, did you see that?" or "Dude, that is so cool!"
2. When Emma says 'nammick' for napkin. She has said it for so long we don't always bat an eyelash at it but it sure is cute.
3. Watching Emma and Bryce play. When we play at other places or go other places, it doesn't capture how well they play together at home. They get along so well and Bryce is a HUGE softie when it comes to his sister. She can get away with a lot of things that someone else would not have a chance to get away with with her big brother. Bryce is always so willing to share his candy, toys, etc. with Emma and always looking out for her and Emma does the same for Bryce. I pray that as they grow older that bond will continue to grow. I sure am enjoying this time with them. Now that Bryce is on summer vacation, it has been a lot of fun having them both home.
4. Watching Emma talk. She is so expressive and uses her hands a lot. She has great facial expressions. I love it when she puts one hand on her hip and uses her other hand to "talk with." Chad was even teasing her the other day that she couldn't talk without using her hands and she tried to but she couldn't do it. It was pretty funny.
5. When Bryce gets out of the shower, Bryce likes to look at himself in the mirror. He makes faces, combs his hair in all sorts of funny styles and basically just goofs off in front of the mirror. It just cracks me up.
6. Watching Chad play with the kids. He is such an amazing dad and always takes the time to play with them. I think the kids have so much fun with their dad whether its wrestling, going bike riding, making playdough creations, or even playing kitchen or dolls with Emma.
7. Listening to Emma sing. She can really get into her singing. There are so many songs she loves to sing. A favorite that she is always trying to sing is the B-I-B-L-E song. She often says "B-B-E." Yesterday at church they had the kids come up and sing a few VBS songs. Bryce did not want to sing (no surprise and we told him he didn't have to) but Emma wanted to sing. Chad videotaped it and I will post it later. It was pretty cute!
8. Emma going into Bryce's bed at night. This has been going on for months just about every night. Emma will climb into bed with Bryce and they will say "night night." We will have to turn off the light and leave for a few minutes, the kids will giggle, and then we will come in. Chad will put Emma to bed and I tuck Bryce in. They never seem to get tired of this game.
9. Bryce on his bike. Chad always says Bryce is a different kid when he is on his bike and on the trail. He absolutely loves to ride. This past weekend they went on an 18 mile ride on Saturday and a 6 mile ride on Sunday. Chad says Bryce talks about everything under the sun, he sings, and is just one happy kid. Do you think he could go to school while riding his bike? :-)
10. Emma's curious mind. She has been asking a lot of questions lately about how the world works. It is so fun watching God's amazing world come alive to Emma. Some things we have discussed in the past few weeks...
How do birds hatch out of eggs?
What do pandas eat? drink?
I need a book about elephants or dinosaurs or ????
This is such a fun age with her!
This is a crazy week in our house. We have VBS in the morning. The kids are having a great time. I am leading the crafts for the preschoolers. I see Emma for part of the time but the music leader told me that Emma is very expressive in music. he he he It just cracks me up how different Bryce and Emma are. Bryce hates music and Emma loves it. Praise God they get along so well and I pray that continues as they grow up.
Our afternoons have been busy with errands, working in my classroom, working in Chad's summer school classroom, swimming, Bryce trying to run miles for his summer marathon, and playing. Yippee!! Tomorrow is Friday!
Today is Michelle's birthday. Here is a video of some of our favorite moments.
Well, it finally happened. Bryce now has the same size feet as me. Bryce's feet have always been a little big for his age and I have feet that are on the small side. Today I wore his sandles when we went outside to play in the backyard. Bryce thought it was so funny that I could wear his shoes. :)
