Monday, July 5, 2010

Our 1st Dance Recital

Who can believe that this toothless little angel would LOVE to get on stage and dance in front of an audience? She does...and she actually does a pretty good job.

Trust me, her coordination does not come from me. But she follows directions SO well, that she does really good.
Her dance class was small, only four girls, but that was a perfect fit.

I think Amy was a little jealous of the costume. She insists that she is going to take dance in the fall. We'll see.

Start of Summer

We have had a busy summer so far...but it is so much fun! I really HATE that July is here already which means less time before school starts. I know many people love sending their kids back to school, but I am not one of them. I like to have control over my day, and when school is in session, I no longer have control. Of course, the fact that I will be sending Amy to Kindergarten all day every day doesn't help anything, but I am determined not to think about that.

So, the girls started the summer with Fox Junior Warriorette Pom Pom Camp. They were a little unsure of it a first, but only because they had no idea what Pom Pom camp was. They learned a bunch of dances, got t-shirts and ribbons and they both even won Spirit Awards.

Funny story about those Spirit Awards. Back when my niece attended her first dancing camp, (she now dances on a competitive traveling dance team called Utopia), she was so disappointed that she wasn't chosen to win the "spirit award". I tried to take away her disappointment like any good aunt would, and I told her, "The girls that win spirit awards are the girls that can't dance. They win the awards to make them feel better." I am not sure if she believed me or not, but that little bit of advice came back and bit me, when my girls attend their first camp and win "Spirit Awards".

As usual, I have the quiet girls, and Amy was one of the younger girls, so she and this teenager (I have no idea what her name was, because neither of my girls asked her name.) clung together all week. Every time I'd get there early to watch, this girl was either carrying Amy or Amy was sitting on her lap.

They had a great week, and they are looking forward to attending again next year. Especially since their "spirit awards" were free registration for next year.




Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Favorites and Not Favorites

My cousin, http://furnamom.blogspot.com/ , who writes an incredible blog and has gorgeous children by the way, posted this on her blog and I decided to copy. Feel free to let me know your "favorites and not favorites" in the comments!!!

My Favorites:
  • Summer days when my kiddos are home
  • Fresh and local fruits and veggies
  • Little girl dresses
  • All kiddos, not just my own
  • Cooking new things that EVERYONE likes
  • Singing
  • Shopping for my girls
  • Talking on the phone to Andrea
  • Talking on the phone to Sherry
  • Talking in general...LOL
  • Laughing
  • Bible Study fellowship
Not Favorites:
  • Sending kiddos to school
  • Sending my little one to kindergarten this year
  • Hearing "I'm hungry" 5 minutes after meal
  • Crabby and sassy 6 year olds
  • Coming up with ideas for dinner
  • Putting on shorts that keep getting tighter
  • Shopping for clothes for me
  • Grocery store
    Getting gas
  • Cleaning house
  • Crying

Monday, May 31, 2010

Pierced Ears

Almost 2 months ago, when Amber was on Spring Break, I told the girls we could do something special. Anything they wanted to do. Somehow the idea of pierced ears came up. Both girls were so excited. They were both going to go and get their ears pierced. It was all they talked about all night. The next morning, Amy says, "I don't want to get my ears pierced." Not shocking at all. I kept waiting for Amber to back out as well.

I called a couple of places at the mall to find out when they would have 2 people on the schedule that would be able to do ear piercings. One person to do each side at the same time. I learned that from my neighbors little girl. Grandma took the girl to get her ears pierced and came home with one pierced and there was no way she was going to sit in that chair again to have the other one done.

On the way, we stopped at a beauty school and Amber got her hair trimmed and both got manicures. They thought they were hot stuff. Then off we went to the mall. I was still waiting for Amber to back out. We went in, she sat down while they marked her ears, and boom they punched those earrings through. Not a tear in her eye.
She did so good keeping them clean and turning them. She is a bit obsessive with rules like that. She was SO excited when it finally came time to change them. So Dave and I, loaded the girls into the car and went to 3 different stores before she picked out the "perfect" earrings. Once we got home, we decided to change them out. If I knew now what I didn't know then...YIKES! Amber is so skittish anyway, then add to that the fact that she was an ear infection baby and had her tubes removed in the ENT's office with the doctor, a nurse and myself holding her down. ANYTHING that has to do with her ears is a hairy situation.





So the starter earrings are a little tougher to get out than I remember, but I got one out without too many tears. Amber insisted that we put the dolphin earrings in that she pick out, but more about that later. For some crazy reason I let her have all control. MISTAKE! Once she was given control there was NO WAY she was giving up...even if it meant sitting in the bathroom and sobbing for more than an hour. Which is exactly what she did. I stood back and patiently waited until she called me for help. I also gently reminded her that if she wanted my help all she had to do was ask. At some point she decided she didn't want the dolphin in after all, but she wanted the starters back in, in all her hysteria, I cold have cared less as long as this was all done. Long story short...one of the starters got dropped down the drain in the bathroom...new level of hysteria reached...dad intervened, mom got dolphin earrings in.





Lessons learned: 1. Don't give Amber more control than she can handle. 2. Dolphin earrings have fins that will poke into ears and cause nasty issues on little girls who wear their earrings too tight. 3. You can't see earrings from the front if your little girls has chuncky cheeks.




P.S. I have pictures on my phone that I cannot figure out how to upload onto my blog.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Making Friends

I have wondered, since my girls were born, what kind of friends they would have. I was never one that had tons of friends, I was not the popular girl by any means. I did make some really good friends when I was in college. That is probably why I love that time in my life. But I am getting off the point. More often than not, I hung out with my sister's friends, who then became my friends. Over the past few years, I have learned that I really need my own friends. While I think it is very important for Amber and Amy to be friends with one another and play well together, I also think they need their own friends.

This past school year the girls both made friends with some really cute girls. Amber had play dates with a couple of girls from her class. One of which started calling her "Ambie", which I found hilarious. She was also really good friends with the boys in her class. Near the end of the school year, she started playing a lot with Presley. Presley, is an adorable little girl who is smart as a whip. She is VERY knowledgeable in regards to dinosaurs. Which has led Amber to be obsessed with dinosaurs. Everything we do now is dinosaur related in some way. Amber and Presley were partners on the field trip that their Kindergarten class took to Grant's Farm. In the picture, Presley was apparently Amber's pet Billy Goat. So, here it is summer time, and Amber's obsession with dinosaurs continues.


Amy on the other hand, waited until the very end of the year to really befriend a sweet little girl in her class named Ava. She even invited Ava to her birthday party. Amy insists on holding Ava's had everywhere. I haven't really seen them have any conversations, but I am assuming that they do. Amy is pretty quiet, so for her to make a friend, it is a big deal. The bad news is that Ava and Amy will not be going to the same school next year. I will definitely have to keep the play dates going with Miss Ava.

Busy, busy, busy...

The month of May was an extremely busy one for us. I am going to try to get caught up with this blog over the next few days. I'll just give you a quick run down of all the things that we finished out.


*Amy and I finished BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) for the year. I will go back in September, but it will be by myself since both of the girls will be in school. I am also going back as a Children's Teaching Leader. So, I had to start my training for that at the conclusion of this year. It is an awesome Bible study, in case you are looking for a study that will give you in depth and personal applications straight out of the Bible. Next year, we are studying the book of Isaiah.


*For Mother's day, we went to the Botanical Garden. It was a fun day and I got some cute pictures of the girls. I will post more about that day later.

*Amy's birthday came and went, as did her birthday party, and a visit from Grandma and Grandpa.

*Amber graduated from Kindergarten, and Amy from Preschool.

*Dave had a birthday and wow...we are already at the end of May.
(Just FYI, both birthdays, both graduations, and about 100 other things all happened in the last week.)

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Whatever

Amber has been having some bad days at school. Of course, she doesn't fill me in until the mornings right before school. This doesn't give us a lot of time to talk and problem solve together, but it should give me a lot of time to think about an appropriate response. Unfortunately, I don't always have the right answers even after I think about it. YIKES, that scares me!

Last week apparently a little boy in her class walked up to her and said "I don't like you. You are not my friend. " right in her face. I, of course, went into immediate defense mode when she told me this in the morning as she was sobbing that she didn't want to go to school. What is a parent to do? How dare this little boy hurt my beautiful little girls feelings? I finally talked her into going to school after promising that Amy and I would come eat lunch with her. After eating lunch, when the kids were outside this little boy walked up to me and asked my to tie his shoe. While I was tying his shoe I asked him if he said those things to Amber, of course he said "No", DUH what did I expect him to say...he is 5 maybe 6, if he said them, he probably wouldn't remember anyway...I quickly explained that she thought that he didn't like her and that it hurt her feelings. WHAT WAS I DOING?

See, I told you should have been thinking about an appropriate answer...this was not it. This was my maternal instinct kicking in. She needs to learn a way to handle these sorts of things on her own. Her mommy will not always be able to come to her rescue. Oh how I wish I could, but then she really would have any friends...HA!

After talking to my very smart friend, Andrea, who has more experience in this since her kiddos are a little older, we decided that we needed to arm her with a response when people say things that she perceives as hurtful.

Her response is "WHATEVER" and walk away.

Have any of you encountered this, and if so what is your mommy response?