I like to move it, move it!

I'm my last blog post from 9 months ago I said maybe we won't do anything crazy like move and that we need to "nip the girls getting in our beds ASAP". Well, I'm 0 for 2.

 

So here we are now in a new house with a fresh 6 yr old and 3 and 1/2 yr old that STILL sneak into our bed often. God totally has a sense of humor.

 

I feel like I blinked and Addie is now a real live big girl. People say it goes by fast and you don't realize how true it is until you live it. GRANTED, some days and YEARS I will admit have gone by really REALLY slow. It hasn't all been rainbows and unicorns, which are EVERYWHERE right now. So naturally that's what Addie's birthday/last few months have been all about. It's so much easier to buy her things and decorate for her now that she has VERY clear ideas and opinions about what she likes. Currently she’s into her new “American Girl” doll, Addie (of course). Sometimes I think she’s still more into the little puppy dog that came with the doll though. That gal loves her some stuffed animals. I deep down love that and wish she could play make-believe with all her animals friends forever. That probably wouldn't look too cute when she's in college though. She and Emme play together now really well for the most part. Sometimes there have been stretches where they can play for hours with zero supervision. BLISS. This part of my kids growing up I can really get used to. It feels so strange when I do not have to do very much for them. Unfortunately it does not take long before one of them has flushed something down the toilet or whacked the other one with a broom and I’m quickly reminded that they still need me.

So back to the move. We have moved AGAIN to a new (to us) house in Meridianville. It’s  surreal being back in my hometown. Ryan/Lindsey are practically across the street from us and Laura/Luke are just a short bike ride down the neighborhood. We went from not really having connections in our town to now having best friends in our back yard. The kids are in major culture shock and want to play with their neighbor friends constantly. We go on bike rides/walks a lot together. I am sure the newness of them being so close will wear off eventually. It is sweet though. Addie tends to get VERY energized by her friends yet needs her alone time to mellow out. She doesn’t understand that yet and wants to hang out with buddies way past her limit. I totally get that. I think has that weird extroverted/introverted thing going on like me. Having friends close has been the good part of the move, but leaving her comfortable house and yard she loved so much has been really hard on her. We’ve been at our new house almost 3 mths now and she’s getting a lot more comfortable. Her room is mostly finished and the rest of the house is coming along. Emme has had a hard time adjusting to her room and her bed at night so the girls tend to sleep together more often than not in Addie’s room. IF it doesn’t take 2 hours for them to settle down, I really don’t mind them sleeping together. It’s actually just about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen and I’d love to freeze that picture in mind. 

Back to Addie! She started Kindergarten at Lynn Fanning. Yes, it’s her 2^nd year of Kindergarten and I DON’T CARE. Last year was good practice. I don’t think she needs this year to repeat the academics but for getting used to going somewhere SEVEN hours a day, five days a week. That’s a lot on a little kid…or a grown adult. I’m on team “Let’s keep them young as long as possible”. Anyways, she likes her class and teacher now that she’s about 6 weeks into school. The first few weeks were a STRUGGLE. She did fine once there but at drop-off time she had to be pried out of the car crying. Not a fun scene to witness. Lord bless those big, big 6 year old feelings. She has made a sweet new best friend, Sophie, which has helped her out dramatically! A close friend can make all the difference. Her teacher is Ms. Williams. I don’t know a ton about her. We are definitely not in mother’s morning out anymore where you know ALL the things about their teacher, class, potty breaks, etc. It’s taking some adjusting but I totally remember my teacher days and parent-communication was unfortunately not on my survival list. Note to self:  Do that better if I ever teach again. Teachers now are just insanely busy which is so sad. Welcome to the real world. It’s a hard-knock life in K these days. However, Addie also tells me fun stories about going to the treasure chest, having dance parties, picking fun stations to go to, music class, and mostly recess time. Lord, thank you that our babies still get time to just be a kid and play on the playground with their buddy. Sometimes, I worry if Addie is learning enough since she already learned so much last year. Honestly though, at this age, I’m pleased if she learns how to swing high, be kind to others, make it all the way across the monkey bars, share, accept others, obey the teacher, and develop friendships that she’ll carry with her for the next 12 years of school. Of course I want to see her become more comfortable reading and all those other academic type things but I really want her to work hard and be proud of her growth no matter how fast or slow her peers are moving along with her. Bless her perfectionist heart. I’m thankful she cares but I also want her to know she’s important even when she’s not meeting perfect marks. At least home is her safe place where she definitely doesn’t worry about being perfect. Ha. Lucky us! (but for real though, lucky us)

She’s started acro this year instead of dance. She’s in class with Sadie and Emma Jane and seems to really love it. She gets so excited about doing her back bend or walkover (with help). I think she likes gymnastics more than dance at this point. Working slowly on specific skills is much more her rhythm.

This was Addie’s first year to also go to church camp. I went with her and stayed in her cabin. It was a lot for a 5 year old to engage with K-5^th graders and stay up until 10-11 at night. She had fun though. She was pretty shy and wanted me a lot but if I were not in sight she’d be so brave and have a great time. The cabin girls were all very sweet and exceeded my expectations especially at bedtime. Few fits were thrown which majorly surprised me. I think all the sugar they were fed helped.

It's been a tough year of changes for her but also a HUGE year for growth! Some nights she’ll give herself a bath, brush her teeth, clean her room, and help Emme get dressed. Moments like those make me a believer in prayer. J I am so, so proud of her doing so many new things like reading by herself and riding her bike without training wheels, but mostly I am so happy that she is finding her strengths, passions, and friends. Thank you God.

Penny, School, and Snowman Poop

It's been a while since I've written so there's just a teensy bit to catch up on.

First off, the dog. We still have her which is kind of a miracle considering some days she chews up everything in the house from the girls' toys to my hairbrush. I know it's cliché to be complaining about a puppy chewing on things but the struggle is real. She still darts out of the front door like a bat out of "the hot place" if we aren't careful. My mom loves chasing her around the neighborhood... in the rain... and cold. ;) The house training is coming along other than some surprises every once in a while. She's not a fan of the cold weather so that's been a challenge. Other than her puppy issues, she's a champ at tolerating the girls. I even think she likes them sometimes which is somewhat surprising considering all the turmoil they put her through. She's fallen asleep with each of them a couple nights which was really sweet and shocking that they could be still with her that long. With all things considered, I'm really glad we have her... during the hours of 8:30-10:30pm when she's really cuddly and calm.

This Fall both girls started Mt. Zion Baptist weekday school. Addie is in their Kindergarten program every day from 9-1 and Emme just goes to the 2 yr old class Tue-Thur. We're glad that we decided to ease Addie into Kindergarten this way bc of her August birthday. Adapting to the curriculum and going five days a week is plenty for her at this point. She's doing really well academically and has great behavior at school. She's probably had to work a little harder to be on the same level as the other kids since she's the youngest. She wants to do everything perfect at school. We're working on some of those issues with her... and myself. One day I hope to be perfect at not being a perfectionist. ;) Bedtime is still tough because she just wants to keep playing. One day we pray that she will gain the ability to fall asleep well. She and Emme both have been sneaking in our bed almost every night for a while. We're either going to need to get a King bed or nip this in the bud ASAP. Emme enjoys her class. According to her teacher she's a chatterbox and "pushes the buttons" sometimes. We were surprised by that! I think she's probably really sweet 90% of the time though.... but I'm not biased at all.

Speaking of Emme, she turned 3 TODAY. GULP. I've been somewhat teary about this day for a little while. I'm not fully ready for my baby to not be a baby anymore. I don't know if a 3rd baby is the solution but it's tempting! As sad as it makes me, I do LOVE seeing all of her growth. I know how challenging 3 can be so I'm bracing myself. Maybe going into it with the bar set low, I'll be better equipped to handle it. LORD BE NEAR. She's so funny with her expressions and vocabulary. I could listen to her talk all day. Wait, I take that back... especially at bedtime or at 6 am when she wakes up. It's hard to describe her interests because she's pretty easy going and plays with whatever Addie plays with. She does seem to enjoy puzzles and playing ball. We're having a Minnie Mouse birthday party on Sunday. She doesn't really watch or play with Minnie so not sure where her request came from but it'll be cute and easy since Addie had a Minnie party when she was 2. It's fun to see how alike and different the girls can be. Emme goes to sleep easier but definitely sleeps lighter than Addie. She's in Addie's old daybed and Addie now has bunk beds that we inherited from a family at church. So far we've never had two people sleep in the bunk beds because well, see paragraph above. I thought we'd try them both in there but I think we have enough issues at bedtime to introduce that scenario. Maybe when they are over 10 we'll let them... Kidding... Kind of.

Andrew and I are about the same. He's busier at work these days. In a month we're going on our first cruise together! Excited and nervous. I'm taking a sewing/crafting break for a couple months now that the holidays are over. Speaking of, Christmas was crazy, busy, fun, and exhausting as usual. Addie was really into gifts this year. Their big gift was a trampoline which we haven't used very much because it's been extremely cold. They probably (Addie specifically) are disappointed because Santa didn't bring a Barbie dream house, zip line, or hula hoop. There's always next year kiddos. However, I'd love to minimize the amount of presents next year. That's such a slippery slope that I'm afraid we're already too far down though. We did an advent type calendar this year with nativity magnets the first half of the month and then activities/gifts the rest of the days. They really got into it. I was pleasantly surprised that they enjoyed the nativity magnets so much. Parenting WIN! Now the 2nd half of the month was a little dicey. It took a turn towards materialism and sugar. Some days we did family activities like going to see lights, watching a Christmas movie, going to Christmas village, etc. I was so DONE with thinking of ideas by the time Dec 25th rolled around. One day I just gave them an orange... because um, that's what kids used to get in their stockings way back when. Thankfully, it worked. Another day I found tic-tacs and just said it was snowman poop. Of course, they LOVED that one. Going from Baby Jesus to snowman poop probably isn't what the advent calendar was intended for but OH WELL.

Here's to 2018! Maybe we'll just take it easy and not move or add a dog or human to our family this year. No guarantees with us! Apparently Addie now wants bunnies for Christmas next year. Stay tuned.

ALL PRAISE TO GOD!