The Lost Month of August

Oh dear . . . school started again and everything blog related slipped right out of my mind. 

Here is a quick catch-up to what we have been up to: 

My mom and I took Lexi to see 'Mary Poppins' a couple weekends ago. Lexi loves this movie and taking her to see the stage show was wonderful. She stood up and clapped at the end of every song and at the end of the show she refused to leave. I think I found my little theater buddy. 

We only JUST took both of our kids out to eat without additional assistance. It was only Jason's Deli - which they love, and we love - but we still consider this a great accomplishment of 2013. 

Lexi entertained herself by taking pictures of her sister and a selfie for good measure.

Lexi's first day of Kindergarten went so well! She was excited, a little nervous, and super smiley! 

 

 

I held it together during drop-off, too. I was fine - Lexi was fine. 

However, when I checked her folder at the end of the day to see what she had done, I found a sweet little picture she drew and then I got a little teary eyed. Somehow I blinked and my little girl went from drawing squiggles and scribbles to pictures of princesses and palm trees. 

Going to all day kindergarten is kicking poor Lexi's buns. 

She has fallen asleep after school almost every day. 

 

Emma has decided to stop sleeping again. She goes to bed around 7:45 - 8:00, but she is waking up around 2 a.m. WIDE AWAKE. She wakes up ready to play, asking for toys, movies, anything but bedtime. Sometimes she will fall back asleep and sometimes she just stays up until 5:00 a.m. when we have to wake up to get ready. But then this happens: 

falling asleep in the big bed waiting on Momma to get ready.

Lexi started at a new ballet school this week. She was a little unsure about this change to a new studio, but she ended up loving it. She was a little sore the next morning, though. We took the summer off from dance classes and her new school has a one hour class instead of a 35 minute one.

 

My parents awesomely offered to keep our girls over night last weekend. Paul and I were super awesome and cool and spent the night off buying a new blender, getting pumped about eating candy that 'MAY CONTAIN PEANUTS' and going to bed early. We got up early the next morning to get in a 10 mile run, since we are training for a half marathon. Coolest kids in town.

 Lexi got to cash in her Kindergarten readiness workbook today. A local toy store offers this AMAZING deal where you buy the workbook that bridges summer break and if the kiddo finishes it they get any toy 1/2 off. It is standards based, the activities are varied, and I would endorse it without the toy incentive.

 Lexi chose a unicorn stick pony that clomps, whinnies, and makes other noises. 

It is so perfect for her!

 Emma continues her naughty streak, but is then extremely sweet. You can't stay mad at her for long.

 She was thrilled with the blanket fort her daddy set up for her in the basement. 

(shameless plug) You can purchase your own HERE.

So Long Summer

 Our summer is coming (too quickly) to a close. I was looking through our pictures from this summer this morning, and I realized we had a great two months! 

 

It was mostly laid-back, relaxing, and calm. There were a few interesting events along the way, though. 

Here's our summer recap: 

Emma vs. Potty Training

I *stupidly* tried to potty train Emma this summer. She turned 2 in May, and she communicates really well for her age. I bought into the mindset that because other people were potty training their 2 year olds, I should be potty training MINE. Except mine isn't ready. I did this with Lexi, too - started way too early and had to come back again (and again) before her little body was ready to be diaper-less. You'd think lesson learned, right? Nope. 

So we spent two weeks tied to the toilet. Emma would go on the potty sometimes, in her pullup sometimes, in her panties sometimes, and I spent ALL my time Clorox wiping and saying "Do you want to go potty?"

 After all this, we switched back to diapers until Emma's body is ready. The only thing she learned is that she thinks being naked is the best. Behold the gallery of Emma's refusal to wear clothes: 

 

JUNE:

We spent most of June outside - the weather was great this year!

 

 

 

Can't forget about Lexi's Dance recital: 

 

And our 6 year anniversary trip to Washington D.C.:

JULY:

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Columbus with Grandma and Grandpa: 

 

I forgot the camera (*shameful*) and the only photo I got was this one. Thank goodness Emma and her cousin, Ethan, are so adorable in this picture! 

On the way home from our K-State day trip, Lexi created an alter-ego: Ruboness (pronunciation: ruh-BO-ness). I laughed until I cried, when she was acting silly and making up these crazy stories about Ruboness, who is sassy and tough and not afraid of anything. She's giving you some Ruboness sass in this picture:

 

 One weekend in July, cousins Chloe and Trey came down to stay (and play . . . I love rhymes). My girls are pretty obsessed with these two cuties!

 

 

 The last week of July, Paul had another week long business trip. The girls and I survived by playing a lot of dress up:

 

 

 

 And stalking the Royal Baby: 

 

 

 Emma can now recognize pictures of William and Kate and she always yells "ROYAL BABY!"

And both got a turn to sleep in the Big Bed with Momma: 

 she's an early riser. 

 

 She stayed up until 10:00 this night because of the Royal baby coverage (and a thunderstorm).

Sick-O:

All three of our dependents took a turn being sick. Lexi started it on a Tuesday. She told me her skin hurt and when I checked on her I found this: 

 unusual because this child hates napping. 

She had a fever, so I gave her tylenol and within 20 minutes she started throwing up.

 She was down for another day, but recovered by Thursday morning. 

In the early hours of the same Thursday morning, Roxy started throwing up. This happens occasionally - she's kind of a dumpster diving dog and has been known in the past to eat napkins, used tissues, baby wipes, and crayons. When she kept throwing up (and being sick in other smelly disgusting ways) I decided to take her into the vet on Friday. Luckily, they diagnosed her with an intestinal infection from her garbage bin eating habits and couple (expensive!) medications later - she's fine. 

Roxy was relegated to this towel while she was sick. Emma took her blankie over and curled up beside Roxy. Sweet. Risky, but sweet.

 

Emma's turn: Emma just had a slight fever for a couple days. She never threw up, but she was really cranky.

 

 Only wanted to be held for all hours of the day or this happened. 

The only other acceptable alternative was to watch the CUPS video - over and over and over. But now I can sing the song and I know how to do the cup rhythm. I'm not like other moms - I'm a cool mom! 

I gave Emma a (bad - really bad) haircut: 

 

And In Conclusion:

 Now that I go back to work in a few days, I can look back and say it was a great summer. We laughed, we cried, we went to the ER, trees fell on our house, and we had a really amazing relaxing time. But we also accomplished goals. 

At the beginning of summer, Lexi made these goals for herself in her Kindergarten readiness workbook:

 She took swimming lessons, but can't swim yet (because she doesn't like getting her hair wet . . . no idea where she got that from . . . ). But she did make a fairy house. It will get it's own post later. And she learned to tie her shoes - so proud of her! 

Emma quit her pacifier and is consistently sleeping through the night!

 

 We were able to eat out successfully this summer multiple times. We have been avoiding restaurants for 5 years. Asking a toddler to sit still for an hour is a personal form of hell for us. But this summer we turned a corner. We usually had backup in the form of grandparents, but we were all able to eat without crying!

 

 And I am going to keep running. I've logged over 110 miles this summer. Putting it out here makes me accountable. These puddles, however, have made it more of an obstacle course the past few weeks

 

 but I'm going to keep going - I've got more goals to conquer!

 

This summer also helped me get organized. I attacked almost every closet and storage cabinet in my house.  This is an after picture of a bathroom cabinet that previously contained 900 more items than this.

 I set up a cleaning schedule, and I stuck to it. I feel ready to head back to work (full time this year) knowing my home life is organized. Will it stay that way? Hopefully. Time will tell. 

The past few months have been amazing. I'm sad to see this easy going time end, but excited about our future adventures!