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!