Being a big girl

Ready or not she's a big girl!

First Ballet Class

Taking some pointers from her friend Zoey :)

Her turn!

She slipped and fell after jumping over the teddy bear. Still cute!

Notice her hands compared to everyone else's.  She kept pointing them downward.

She clearly enjoyed herself!

Preschool Orientation

A little "dot-to-dot" before heading to school.

So grown up!

She might like playing more than learning...we'll see.

She kept saying, "I can see my whole kingdom".

I think she's ready.
 

Little Miss Independent. 

Family Vacation

Summer is drawing to an end. Gosh it went by fast! We have one more week with Brielle (little girl I've been watching this summer) and a trip to Tennessee before I can officially say it's over.  Once we get back things will shift into our fall schedule with dance classes and preschool.  I know preschool is going to be so good for Gemma. She's ready and so excited for it...clearly she doesn't understand that this marks the beginning of school for the next 15+ years.  I can't help but dwell on the fact that this is the beginning of her life without me. Yes I realize that sounds dramatic. Sure, I can ask her about her day, be involved in her school, and know who her friends are, but up until now I've been the one to teach her everything she knows (at least get to watch it). I taught her how to eat solids, watched her crawl, then walk, say her first words. color inside the lines, etc...now someone else gets to take over for a few hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I don't even get to watch! I think that's reason enough to be a little emotional about it. I'll be sure to update you guys on how I'm  she's doing once we are a few weeks into it.

We just got back from a two day trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City.  Who knew doing nothing but kid stuff for a weekend could be so much fun? I've come to realize that I will do anything to see them having fun. Gemma was in heaven as long as she was swimming. Although she wanted nothing to do with the water slides, she did plenty of under water swimming, wrestling with anyone who would give her the time of day (daddy, uncle Matt, and Papa), jumped in off the sides, and worked on sitting at the bottom of the pool.  Makael on the other hand, wasn't a big fan of the indoor pool, but seemed to like the outside pool okay.  He kept busy by filling and emptying his bucket, jumping into the pool, and pretending to be a tiger. Good times!  It was also the first time we all stayed in a hotel room together where Makael was actually old enough to understand.  They loved it! They stayed up until 10:00 every night playing together.  They played chase, jumped on the beds, wrestled, and laughed so hard I thought they were crying. The highlight of the trip (for all of us) definitely had to be the petting zoo.  We couldn't have asked for better weather and both kids seemed to really enjoy it.  I know personally, my favorite 5 minutes of the entire trip was watching Gemma enjoy her first pony ride. Definitely one for the books.

Makael is talking like crazy these days. Out of no where! It's so fun to understand what he wants, and it's even more fun to hear Gemma trying to get him to repeat everything she says.  He plays along for the most part but eventually he let's her know when enough is enough.   He's especially interested in numbers and colors at the moment. My favorite is hearing him say "yellow". He has also started understanding when he's in trouble. Obviously he has understood that for a while now, but until recently he hasn't seemed to care.  You should see the little face he gives me when he's in trouble. It's almost enough to get me to say, "Oh it's okay buddy, I really don't mind that you just broke my favorite bottle of perfume". I haven't quite figured out if he's overly sensitive or being manipulative, all I know for sure is that it's CUTE.

Papa was the one who took all the great pictures from our mini vacation so I'll just post a link to his album...

https://www.facebook.com/scottsboyd/media_set?set=a.10201181116322716.1073741831.1614600407&type=3

A rundown

Man, I wrote a whole blog last week meaning to post it as soon as I uploaded some pictures, but that took longer than I anticipated and after reading what I wrote, it is best to just start over.  It's getting harder to write about them. I'm having to make a switch from just documenting milestones (weights, heights, first words, first steps...) to having to describe specific moments with them.I find I lack  the ability to really illustrate moments through writing. The event is there, but not the frustration, sweetness, cuteness, or sadness of it.  I'll write it out and find myself just wanting to finish each post with, "you just had to be there to understand". Hopefully with time I get better. For now here's a rundown on the kids...

Gemma has become quite a little swimmer. It seems like she spends more time under water than above.
She has a new found love in painting. Over the span of two days she painted for 5.5 hrs. Her paints didn't last more than a weekend.
She's officially enrolled in both preschool and dance for this Fall, and she could not be more excited. She has started earning her keep around the house :) by doing "chores". It's pretty cute to watch her and it always makes me chuckle when she wants to spend her hard earned quarters on candy. It's a nice reminder that she's still little.  I'm definitely going to cry the day she wants me to take her to "Abercrombie" instead.
She got her first hair cut last week (by yours truly). All I can say is wow...good news is, she doesn't really care what her hair looks like yet, and it's still long enough to pull back in a pony tail.

Makael is a 2 year old...well not really, he's still two months away from that, but he has majorly grown up in the last few weeks.  He's no longer a sweet quiet momma's boy, he's very much a highly energetic and vocal little guy, not to mention he's now in a twin bed :)  It seems like over night he turned a corner in his vocabulary and is now using words instead of grunts to communicate. Some of those words are still only understood by me, but still, it counts.
Getting him to like the pool wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  He loves it now! The moment we get there he asks for a "pup" (cup) and spends his entire time filling it up and pouring it out.
His current "thing" is climbing and then jumping off of anything and everything.  He usually let's me know he's climbing while he's in the process, "I climbing!", and then proceeds to say, "I okay", after he has jumped off.  He's definitely the acrobat in the family.

When there's a long time between posts, I typically have lots of pictures to post....

Playing in the rain

Someone was fighting his bedtime.  

A very small portion of Gemma's paintings...or as she calls them "her artists".

She wanted to pose with the painting Grandpa did for her.

I think he's pretty photogenic

This boy will sleep anywhere!

A little summer update

Success! Makael has actually liked the pool the last two times we've gone. I've decided the only thing he doesn't like is that initial coldness of the water.  Once he's in, he seems to like it like every kid should. He threw a major fit last time when we said it was time to go, and although I did my motherly duty of making sure he knew it wasn't okay to act like that...I was smiling on the inside.

No surprise Gemma loves the pool. Besides being comfortable with putting her head underwater and wanting to show everyone her kicks (even complete strangers who couldn't care less), she hasn't carried over much from her swimming lessons. I'm still so glad she took them though. It was worth it.

So the kids have started manipulating us during bed time.  It's amazing how they get along so well right about the time we start saying it's "time for bed".  Sure they have proven how tired they are with all the afternoon wining and bickering, but miraculously, right around 7:30 they become best friends. They typically wrestle, play chase, or race around the house laughing hysterically. They've realized that the second they start fighting or someone gets hurt we usually send them to bed. I'm okay with being manipulated in this way though...seriously it's the cutest thing you've ever seen.
Unfortunately they've also started coming into our room in the middle of the night.  They like to crawl into bed with us, which I of course love, but David hates. Gemma isn't so bad since she rarely comes in to begin with, but she's also a pretty mellow sleeper.  Makael on the other hand, has been coming in almost every night and is a mover (a.k.a. kicker) in his sleep.  Actually, he likes to cuddle with me and save his kicks for David.  As much as I love hearing his little footsteps coming down the hall, and then cuddling with him until we're both fast asleep, I know I'll have to put an end to it if it goes on for much longer.

To add to this topic...Gemma did come in last night, not to lay down with us, but to tell me she wanted kiss. So what do you do when your three year old wakes you up at 2:00 a.m. wanting a kiss?  You give her a kiss that's what! Gosh I love her!

Some pictures...

This boy will climb or swing on anything.

So frustrating when he can't get over to the other side.

M got into my make-up kit and gave himself a uni-brow.

The sprinkler can be an afternoon babysitter.  She spent two hours one day playing on her own in the back yard.

Nothing like a good cup of (whatever) and your favorite chair.

Perpetual goofball.

Like I said...

Yes...that's Makael actually sitting in water!

Sweetness

One of the most precious pictures! Gemma's first time fishing with Papa.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! To say you guys are wonderful fathers, is putting it mildly :)

Water Hater

Pool time is here again and Makael seems to be taking the same approach as last year...avoid the water at all cost.  I honestly never thought one of "my" kids could ever dislike the water.  I can't think of anything I loved more than swimming when I was growing up, so admittedly I was pretty proud when Gemma took so well to being in water...like somehow she inherited that from me. I had to claim something being that she was a mini David in every other way. Sadly I can't claim that in Makael. He HATES it! I'm going to give him a break for now sine I'm not a big fan of hypothermia either, but the second he can put his feet in the water and still feel his toes, I will most definitely be doing whatever I can to get him to like the pool.


Sunbathing might be more his thing.

We've done a lot to our house since we moved last year, but unfortunately haven't done a single thing to the master bedroom.  We still have the mirror to our dresser leaning up against a wall instead of mounted or safely stored downstairs.  I just can't get myself to put it away when I get to see this all the time... 

 

A kid trying to be that cool probably wouldn't appreciate me posting about his softer sensitive side. But who could resist...

I really do plan to post more frequently this summer :)

I promise I haven't given up on the blog. It's been hard for me to keep it updated, but rest assured the kids are still growing, still funny, and still cute.  We've been staying busy by staying outside now that the weather is getting warm...okay well, we at least take advantage of the warm 70+ degree weather before it dips back down into the 30s. What a strange Spring this has been!  Remember those beautiful 3 days a couple of weeks ago when it got up into the 80s? We jammed as much outside time as we could before the cold front came in. So much so that I was actually excited about the cold and hopefully getting a "break" from all the activity.  During those three days, we visited at least 5 parks, played with bubbles for HOURS, had picnics, splashed in buckets of water, and came in every night with 1 or 2 skinned knees.  Glorious! I hope the warm weather sticks this time.

Operation "get Makael fat" is going pretty well.  There are no noticeable "chubs" per say, but he feels heavier, he's noticeably taller, and I've officially been able to put all of the 9 month clothes away, along with most of the 12 month stuff..never mind he's closer to 2 now. The biggest difference I have seen is in his overall demeanor.  He's a much happier kid and has been flashing his killer smile a lot these days :) He seems so grown up now. Sure he still doesn't talk much, but he understands everything and always finds some way to communicate whatever it is he wants me to know. He's just the most precious!

Gemma got to visit cousin Ariya's dance class a couple of weeks ago. It was "bring a friend to class" day. I am planning on enrolling her in the fall anyway so it was a good opportunity to see if she will like it or not.  She loved it! Probably even more than swim class...if you can believe that.  She seemed a little hesitant when I was getting her ready at home, but she joined right in once we were there. There was no question who the seasoned dancer was between her and Ariya, but she really did give it her all. Watching the two dance side by side was almost too much cuteness to handle.

Gemma got upgraded to a queen size bed last week.  Can you say spoiled?!  The reason we did this was to have a bed big enough to accommodate guests when they come to visit. We had the bed that was in our guest room (at our old house) painted white to match her other furniture. It turned out beautifully!  Unfortunately, what I thought would be a simple switch ended up being somewhat of a project.  Where I originally thought the bed would go prevented us from being able to open her dresser drawers.  Queen beds are big apparently. So I ended up taking her book shelf out, taking things off the wall, patching up the holes, repainting the walls, painting some shelves, hanging everything back up on the walls in new locations, and buying new bedding.  I loved every second of it!  Have I told you how much I love decorating rooms?  Kids rooms are by far my favorite. Hopefully guests don't mind staying in a pink girly room when they come to visit...at least until we have a proper guest room in our basement . You should see how teeny tiny Gemma looks in her new bed!

We will have a back yard fence in tomorrow! I never thought I would be this excited about a fence, but boy howdy am I ever. When you have a little boy who likes to be outside as much as Makael does, a fenced in back yard is a must. This fence is more for him than it is for the rest of us, so he better like it!

Gemma asked if she could borrow a towl.  She didn't tell me it was to drench the entire vanity in water.  

Still little enough to be able to jump on the bed.

Showing off his killer smile...and new electric toothbrush.

Still loves to turn things on and off. Good news...he's actually liking water more these days.

Ready for dance class.

Gemma found her spot...notice she didn't wait for Ariya's help.

Stretching.

So worn out he didn't even wake up while having lunch with daddy.

It was a big day I guess...this is nap 2.

Sharing nicely. :)

Part of her (even bigger) girl room.

Beautiful!