So I decided that since Anna-Kate was turning 6 this year, I would involve her more in the planning of her party (that would, evidently, be mistake #1).
She's settled on a luau theme and, I thought, wanted to do it at the pool. Super, zero mess, pretty cheap = all good things as it is just days before baby comes. Imagine my shock when we sat down to talk about it the other day, so I could work on invitations, and this conversation transpires...
Me: "So, we'll have the party at the pool. Would you like crafts too?"
AK: "Umm, I don't think I want it at the pool, just our backyard. And I want to have a craft of making hula (grass) skirts and no one will wear swimsuits just their hula skirts."
Me: "well, first, I don't think boys are going to be interested in making a skirt. Second, you can't have people wear hula skirts without a swimsuit, it isn't modest."
{Bursts into hysteric and over the top dramatic tears}
AK: "But I don't want there to be water! I don't want my friends to see my hair wet!"
Me: (incredulous that I just heard that come out of my 5 year old daughters' mouth) "You love swimming! Why in the world would you care if people see your hair wet?"
AK: (still sobbing) "Because it's not beautiful when it turns brown."
Me: "Oh. Wow."
Monday, April 9, 2012
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Happy Easter!
With child like faith, Anna-Kate chose the words to write for her Easter story at school. I couldn't be more proud of her work and her sensitive heart to the Lord.
Happy Easter! May you know the love of our Lord!
Happy Easter! May you know the love of our Lord!
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
A series of unfortunate events
That about sums up the past few days, Mondays specifically.
A couple of weeks ago I met my mom and a couple of her friends/old family friends I've known forever for lunch. I missed moving my car by nine minutes and got a parking ticket. Granted, I "deserved" it, but that is still annoying nonetheless. The ticket price ($25) doubled if they didn't receive it in 5 days (due on a Tuesday) so when I remembered Sunday evening I put it in the mailbox {I'm just at that point in pregnancy where if I don't do something when I"m thinking about it, it doesn't happen...}. The next morning my alarm didn't go off {who knew, if you don't turn off your iphone regularly, or ever, things don't work properly} and I woke up at 7:28 am. I have to leave to drive carpool at 7:34 at the latest. Thankfully, my friend drove the other two kids and I just had to get Anna-Kate to school. As I pulled out I noticed that my mailbox was open, and the envelope containing my ticket and check were gone. Oh goodie. Thus, Monday was spent trying to cancel checks, flag our accounts and contact the county about the ticket (and I won't even go into my current feelings on my tax dollars, red tape and the obnoxiousness that is bureaucracy.).
Lessons learned: 1.) Never put a check in your mailbox. Ever. 2.) If you need to cancel a check it costs $29 (more than the cost of the ticket, in my case). However, if you cancel three or more checks, it's free. Go figure, but I'll take it (thanks to the hubby for figuring that one out!).
The rest of the week remained about on par with that day for various reasons...I was ready for the weekend for sure.
On Sunday I was backing out of my parking place, had my hand on the gear shift to change to drive when I heard a crunch. Scared the daylight outta me! I'm always a pretty cautious driver, especially with my kids in the car, but when I'm pregnant I turn downright neurotic. Sure enough, my bumper is completely crushed, the side panel pushed under, paint job completely shot. Thankfully, we were all fine as my car was completely stopped at the time so there wasn't much impact. Anyway, I spent most of yesterday and this morning dealing with insurance calls, taking the car in for an estimate, meeting the claims adjuster etc. I did some online research for damage/impact and found the evidence to back what I recall of the incident, (cause, you know it happens so fast I was starting to doubt myself when the other driver claimed we were equally at fault backing at the same time) I was clearly stopped, as there was no scraping, just crunch. My car was hurt, hers wasn't, which showed her hitting me. Bottom line, unless the insurance company cites it as so (we both have the same company) we will be out our deductible. Also, it is a minimum two day repair, up to seven plus if there is damage behind the bumper he couldn't see. The Honda guy felt sorry for me, I think, and is getting me his rate for a rental van, so that's another $30+ a day...and truly, I wasn't at fault. Really praying this one gets sorted out.
Lessons learned: 3.) if your car gets hit in a parking lot and you don't know who the driver was, file an incident report with the police and you will be able to file it under your uninsured motorist coverage which is a zero deductible and free rental car, in my state at least. Perhaps that will help in the future. Unfortunately, I know exactly who hit me.
Well, there are your helpful tips for today. You're welcome. :)
A couple of weeks ago I met my mom and a couple of her friends/old family friends I've known forever for lunch. I missed moving my car by nine minutes and got a parking ticket. Granted, I "deserved" it, but that is still annoying nonetheless. The ticket price ($25) doubled if they didn't receive it in 5 days (due on a Tuesday) so when I remembered Sunday evening I put it in the mailbox {I'm just at that point in pregnancy where if I don't do something when I"m thinking about it, it doesn't happen...}. The next morning my alarm didn't go off {who knew, if you don't turn off your iphone regularly, or ever, things don't work properly} and I woke up at 7:28 am. I have to leave to drive carpool at 7:34 at the latest. Thankfully, my friend drove the other two kids and I just had to get Anna-Kate to school. As I pulled out I noticed that my mailbox was open, and the envelope containing my ticket and check were gone. Oh goodie. Thus, Monday was spent trying to cancel checks, flag our accounts and contact the county about the ticket (and I won't even go into my current feelings on my tax dollars, red tape and the obnoxiousness that is bureaucracy.).
Lessons learned: 1.) Never put a check in your mailbox. Ever. 2.) If you need to cancel a check it costs $29 (more than the cost of the ticket, in my case). However, if you cancel three or more checks, it's free. Go figure, but I'll take it (thanks to the hubby for figuring that one out!).
The rest of the week remained about on par with that day for various reasons...I was ready for the weekend for sure.
On Sunday I was backing out of my parking place, had my hand on the gear shift to change to drive when I heard a crunch. Scared the daylight outta me! I'm always a pretty cautious driver, especially with my kids in the car, but when I'm pregnant I turn downright neurotic. Sure enough, my bumper is completely crushed, the side panel pushed under, paint job completely shot. Thankfully, we were all fine as my car was completely stopped at the time so there wasn't much impact. Anyway, I spent most of yesterday and this morning dealing with insurance calls, taking the car in for an estimate, meeting the claims adjuster etc. I did some online research for damage/impact and found the evidence to back what I recall of the incident, (cause, you know it happens so fast I was starting to doubt myself when the other driver claimed we were equally at fault backing at the same time) I was clearly stopped, as there was no scraping, just crunch. My car was hurt, hers wasn't, which showed her hitting me. Bottom line, unless the insurance company cites it as so (we both have the same company) we will be out our deductible. Also, it is a minimum two day repair, up to seven plus if there is damage behind the bumper he couldn't see. The Honda guy felt sorry for me, I think, and is getting me his rate for a rental van, so that's another $30+ a day...and truly, I wasn't at fault. Really praying this one gets sorted out.
Lessons learned: 3.) if your car gets hit in a parking lot and you don't know who the driver was, file an incident report with the police and you will be able to file it under your uninsured motorist coverage which is a zero deductible and free rental car, in my state at least. Perhaps that will help in the future. Unfortunately, I know exactly who hit me.
Well, there are your helpful tips for today. You're welcome. :)
Saturday, March 31, 2012
2 year old stats
Well, it's official! Jack is our "tall" child. :) He is 34 inches tall which puts him in the whopping 39%--a record for any of our children. Ha! {and no, I'm not kidding.} His weight is 26.4 lbs (29%) and he has the smallest of all of my kids' heads at 49 cm (59%).
She was completely comfortable with all of his milestones (including his speech-yay!). Of course, he was a ham with her and showed off all of his skillz. :)
Stupid me forgot to bring up his motion sickness/constant vomiting which she told me talk with her about at his 2 year appointment. Wanna know what reminded me of that fact? Yep, about 45 minutes after his appointment he threw up {but that is a story for another post. Yep, a whole story.}.
She was completely comfortable with all of his milestones (including his speech-yay!). Of course, he was a ham with her and showed off all of his skillz. :)
Stupid me forgot to bring up his motion sickness/constant vomiting which she told me talk with her about at his 2 year appointment. Wanna know what reminded me of that fact? Yep, about 45 minutes after his appointment he threw up {but that is a story for another post. Yep, a whole story.}.
Jack turns TWO! {the party version}
Well, my baby is two. Tear.
We started his {fake...ie party day} birthday with our traditional birthday breakfast of donuts and eggs. He spied the Thomas the train napkins I scored at Target for $1.48 a pack and was over the moon about it.
Man, he's a cute kid. :)
His party was at 11 so we did the final things to prepare. I actually got in bed before midnight, which is early for me--especially for a night before a party. :) Chris got in bed at 11, he refused to stay up as moral support as I made Jack a birthday shirt to wear. He did not appreciate the "need". :)
I seriously wonder how people planned parties before pinterest. I love that site! I have been storing away ideas for months now and was very happy with both the cuteness and simpleness of the party. And, bonus, Jack had a blast--and that's really what it's all about (not a photo-op, I have to remind myself!).
Party favors were little trains. The original idea I found was to make the body of the train from a tube of lifesavers. Well, unless special ordered, lifesavers are only available in bags, which didn't help me at all. Because of peanut allergies I couldn't use the tubes of mini-M&M's, so I was seriously scratching my head! Two nights before the party, as I was searching my 6th (yes, sixth) store for lifesavers, I saw bubbles packaged 3 for $1. Done. So we have bubbles, a rolo, hershey kiss, "thank you for coming" on the back, lifesaver wheels and the toothpick cut off of the thomas heads--intended for cupcake toppers--to form my train. Cheap, cute, allergy free, not too much of a sugar high and relatively practical use wise. :) Super.
I found super cute wrapping paper at Costco and put out a request for shoe boxes from friends to come up with my train cars for my food. Very happy with them.
Food set up...(that would be a log car--pretzels, aquarium car--goldfish, citrus car--orange slices, coal car--raisins, and the next picture shows, produce car--celery, carrots and ranch, station house sammies--ham and cheese, and the adults' pasta salad and wagon wraps--spinach wraps with avacado, cheddar, ham, bell pepper and lettuce--and they were awesome!).
Closer up...
Cake Table:
Jack spent a good portion of his party sitting in Poppy's lap eating pretzles, err, "logs". :) He was in hog heaven...
And, my simplest cake to make yet, and the birthday boy L-O-V-E-D it. For simplicity sake I served cupcakes to the kids and cake to the adults. I pre-scooped birthday cake icecream into muffin liners (in a muffin tray) and had them in the freezer ready to pull out and serve. I did it for Ryan's party too and I think it's one of my favorite birthday party ideas yet.
He wasn't sure about everyone singing to him, but as soon as everyone finished he started trying to blowout the candles.
I'd say the cake was a hit. :)
Sweet little Caroline--that poor beautiful dress! :)
Chris totally wins a prize for father of the year. :) He often begrudgingly plays along with my crazy ideas, but this time he totally ran with it. I showed him a {pinterest} picture of a train built from boxes. I had been asking friends to save them for a few weeks (PS, you can't get refrigerator boxes anymore--all of the big companies sell/recycle them.). He spent over an hour constructing the train for the kids to play in. It was such a hit and he did an awesome job! I had a can of markers for the kids to decorate the train and they could climb all in it--such cheap fun!
Annie, Anna-Kate and Luke decorating. :)
Lydia in the train.
Me, with my big 2 year old!
We blew up the bounce house again (such a good investment for us!) and the kids enjoyed our backyard toys and the awesome new bubble machine that Mimi and Oompa gave Jack for his birthday!
Bubbles! (and every time I see kids giddy over bubbles it makes me think of Nemo. Lol).
Jacks buddy, Jack, going for a spin.
We ended up leaving the bounce house up all afternoon and the kids jumped to their little hearts' contents. Then we ate dinner outside, (leftovers from lunch-YES!) they jumped some more, threw them in the bath and everyone slept like rockstars. The end.
The big kids {And Anna-Kate showing off her "pink" tooth. Lol.}
Happy 2nd birthday little Jack...time sure flies when I'm having fun.
We started his {fake...ie party day} birthday with our traditional birthday breakfast of donuts and eggs. He spied the Thomas the train napkins I scored at Target for $1.48 a pack and was over the moon about it.
Man, he's a cute kid. :)
His party was at 11 so we did the final things to prepare. I actually got in bed before midnight, which is early for me--especially for a night before a party. :) Chris got in bed at 11, he refused to stay up as moral support as I made Jack a birthday shirt to wear. He did not appreciate the "need". :)
I seriously wonder how people planned parties before pinterest. I love that site! I have been storing away ideas for months now and was very happy with both the cuteness and simpleness of the party. And, bonus, Jack had a blast--and that's really what it's all about (not a photo-op, I have to remind myself!).
Party favors were little trains. The original idea I found was to make the body of the train from a tube of lifesavers. Well, unless special ordered, lifesavers are only available in bags, which didn't help me at all. Because of peanut allergies I couldn't use the tubes of mini-M&M's, so I was seriously scratching my head! Two nights before the party, as I was searching my 6th (yes, sixth) store for lifesavers, I saw bubbles packaged 3 for $1. Done. So we have bubbles, a rolo, hershey kiss, "thank you for coming" on the back, lifesaver wheels and the toothpick cut off of the thomas heads--intended for cupcake toppers--to form my train. Cheap, cute, allergy free, not too much of a sugar high and relatively practical use wise. :) Super.
I found super cute wrapping paper at Costco and put out a request for shoe boxes from friends to come up with my train cars for my food. Very happy with them.
Food set up...(that would be a log car--pretzels, aquarium car--goldfish, citrus car--orange slices, coal car--raisins, and the next picture shows, produce car--celery, carrots and ranch, station house sammies--ham and cheese, and the adults' pasta salad and wagon wraps--spinach wraps with avacado, cheddar, ham, bell pepper and lettuce--and they were awesome!).
Closer up...
Cake Table:
Jack spent a good portion of his party sitting in Poppy's lap eating pretzles, err, "logs". :) He was in hog heaven...
And, my simplest cake to make yet, and the birthday boy L-O-V-E-D it. For simplicity sake I served cupcakes to the kids and cake to the adults. I pre-scooped birthday cake icecream into muffin liners (in a muffin tray) and had them in the freezer ready to pull out and serve. I did it for Ryan's party too and I think it's one of my favorite birthday party ideas yet.
He wasn't sure about everyone singing to him, but as soon as everyone finished he started trying to blowout the candles.
I'd say the cake was a hit. :)
Sweet little Caroline--that poor beautiful dress! :)
Chris totally wins a prize for father of the year. :) He often begrudgingly plays along with my crazy ideas, but this time he totally ran with it. I showed him a {pinterest} picture of a train built from boxes. I had been asking friends to save them for a few weeks (PS, you can't get refrigerator boxes anymore--all of the big companies sell/recycle them.). He spent over an hour constructing the train for the kids to play in. It was such a hit and he did an awesome job! I had a can of markers for the kids to decorate the train and they could climb all in it--such cheap fun!
Annie, Anna-Kate and Luke decorating. :)
Lydia in the train.
Me, with my big 2 year old!
We blew up the bounce house again (such a good investment for us!) and the kids enjoyed our backyard toys and the awesome new bubble machine that Mimi and Oompa gave Jack for his birthday!
Bubbles! (and every time I see kids giddy over bubbles it makes me think of Nemo. Lol).
Jacks buddy, Jack, going for a spin.
We ended up leaving the bounce house up all afternoon and the kids jumped to their little hearts' contents. Then we ate dinner outside, (leftovers from lunch-YES!) they jumped some more, threw them in the bath and everyone slept like rockstars. The end.
The big kids {And Anna-Kate showing off her "pink" tooth. Lol.}
Happy 2nd birthday little Jack...time sure flies when I'm having fun.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Kindergarten
I went to Anna-Kate's 3rd quarter parent-teacher conference this morning (what??!?!?! This year is flying by!). I am so proud of my girl! She has excellent grades and, so I can remember...
Is reading at a 2nd grade level. Her teacher was "floored" at how well she was reading, (on a first time through a new book status) especially considering where she was when she entered school. She said Anna-Kate was doing "phenomenally" and that I should be very proud (which, of course, I am).
Her math scores are all high. The money section had given her problems, (adding various coins together and determining "fair trades" and then subtracting various coins was hard for her) but it has finally clicked and she got them all perfect on her evaluation.
She got the highest marks possible in Art, (with her teacher commenting that she is a natural) PE, (which is hilarious to me as she hates it) and music. Spanish she is an "S+"--we'll see about "E" by schools' end. :)
Honestly though, the thing I took away most was her writing skills. Her teacher showed me her paper of the alphabet from August, then a paper that she had written during oral dictation. It was unreal. Her teacher was extremely encouraging and commented on Anna-Kate's excellent pencil grip/handwriting and the good job she did with spelling (only 1 mistake in dictation for a whole page of writing!). In addition to dictation, the kids are learning to write short stories. They have learned about rough drafts, ("sloppy copies") which include a main idea, a couple of sentences to describe that idea and a concluding sentence. She shows such creativity, good spelling and the way she illustrates her stories is amazing (I swear, she can draw better than I can!). Next one that comes home I'll take a picture of and post. So great.
I'm just blown away by what she is doing--and to the degree of excellence. We are so thankful for her awesome school and thankful that she chooses to apply herself to it so well.
Is reading at a 2nd grade level. Her teacher was "floored" at how well she was reading, (on a first time through a new book status) especially considering where she was when she entered school. She said Anna-Kate was doing "phenomenally" and that I should be very proud (which, of course, I am).
Her math scores are all high. The money section had given her problems, (adding various coins together and determining "fair trades" and then subtracting various coins was hard for her) but it has finally clicked and she got them all perfect on her evaluation.
She got the highest marks possible in Art, (with her teacher commenting that she is a natural) PE, (which is hilarious to me as she hates it) and music. Spanish she is an "S+"--we'll see about "E" by schools' end. :)
Honestly though, the thing I took away most was her writing skills. Her teacher showed me her paper of the alphabet from August, then a paper that she had written during oral dictation. It was unreal. Her teacher was extremely encouraging and commented on Anna-Kate's excellent pencil grip/handwriting and the good job she did with spelling (only 1 mistake in dictation for a whole page of writing!). In addition to dictation, the kids are learning to write short stories. They have learned about rough drafts, ("sloppy copies") which include a main idea, a couple of sentences to describe that idea and a concluding sentence. She shows such creativity, good spelling and the way she illustrates her stories is amazing (I swear, she can draw better than I can!). Next one that comes home I'll take a picture of and post. So great.
I'm just blown away by what she is doing--and to the degree of excellence. We are so thankful for her awesome school and thankful that she chooses to apply herself to it so well.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Translation
In case you were wondering, when Jack says...
"Eddie", he means "Woody"
"Essie", he means "Jessie"
"Ex", he means "Rex"
"Isa Buzz!", he means "Buzz Lightyear"
"Yee-haw" or "sigh" he means "Bulls Eye"
"Ninny", he means "Minnie"
"Kickey", he means "Mickey"
"Woof-Woof", he means "Pluto"
"A quack quack", he means "Donald"
"oofy" or "tat", he means "goofy" (and usually is referring to his hat)
"lip smacking noise" he means Nemo or Flounder
"uh-sess", he means "princess"
"beast", he means "Belle" (really awkward when he points to a sweet little girl in a Belle costume and repeats loudly-- "BEAST, BEAST!!!")
"Eddie", he means "Woody"
"Essie", he means "Jessie"
"Ex", he means "Rex"
"Isa Buzz!", he means "Buzz Lightyear"
"Yee-haw" or "sigh" he means "Bulls Eye"
"Ninny", he means "Minnie"
"Kickey", he means "Mickey"
"Woof-Woof", he means "Pluto"
"A quack quack", he means "Donald"
"oofy" or "tat", he means "goofy" (and usually is referring to his hat)
"lip smacking noise" he means Nemo or Flounder
"uh-sess", he means "princess"
"beast", he means "Belle" (really awkward when he points to a sweet little girl in a Belle costume and repeats loudly-- "BEAST, BEAST!!!")
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