Pre-K doin's.

 I've always thought that things like pre-k graduations are so silly and unnecessary.  Logically, I buy into the idea that kids don't need participation trophies, and that we don't need to make up silly milestones for them.

Then, I had a kid in Pre-K.  I'm not saying I don't think it's silly, because it is.  And it's certainly unnecessary.  But, the kids all seemed pretty proud about graduating, and I'd be lying if I told you I didn't get teary during the ceremony.

It started with Dani being named "Pre-K Student of the Year" for her school.  This meant she got to attend a local baseball game and was recognized on the field--and got to run out onto the field with the home team.

She stayed out there for the National Anthem.  She was so proud.  And, it was pretty awesome, the whole family got to watch her from the stands.

 Two days later, it was Pre-K graduation.  Nothing like a hot summer night in an un-air conditioned elementary school cafeteria.

 Dani got to lead the assembly by holding the mic and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.  (teary mommy)

 Look at this kid's face.  She's walking to receive her Pre-K "diploma".  She's beaming.

It's impossible not to be excited for her--because she's so excited about being ready for real school!

 Tori and Tommy managed to sit relatively still during the event.

 An attempt at a family photo was, as usual, like herding cats.  Tori is channeling her inner Bangles "Walk like an Egyptian" vibe.  This was the best, of many attempts.

It's amazing how fast this time flies.  Dani's headed to kindergarten.  Kindergarten!  (And Tori to Pre-K)

When we were driving to the Mohawks game, the night she was receiving the Student of the Year honor, she was in the back seat telling Tori, "To be the student of the year, you have to work hard and do your best every day in pre-k, Tori."

She is amazingly smart, and articulate for her age.  (I realize every parent says this.)

And, we're so proud of her.

 

A few kid sayings of late...

Some weeks ago, Tori hopped into the coveted second row minivan seat (that Dani had asked for) and when Dani protested, Tori's response was, "You snooze, you lose, kid."  (Thanks Grandma.)

Now, all three kids vie to be the first at anything so they can hurl the "you snooze you lose" taunt.

 

Last night I was talking to Dani and Tori about my parents' impending visit.  I was mentioning that there were a few things in the house that I wanted Grandpa to fix.  I told them that Grandpa could fix anything.  Dani disagreed.  "Grandpa can't fix people, mommy."

 

At dinner tonight, Tori announced that she would like to call me Bethany.  When I said no, she could call me mommy, she settled on mom, and told me if I were a balloon she would pop me.

 

Dani's favorite jokes to tell these days;

What do you call a cow with no legs?  Ground beef.

Why can't you hear a pterodactyl going to the bathroom?  Because the "p" is silent.

 

 



March madness.

 March means birthdays--one which Wes and my mom share.  Happy 42, Big Man.

And we had lots of recent visits from Grandma and Grandpa.  Grandpa got to enjoy a weekend with the kids, without Grandma.  Usually, he's second fiddle to Grandma, but when she's not around, he is lavished with attention.  Snuggles on the couch.

 Snuggles after dinner.

 And then Grandma came, and more fun was had.  Tea parties.

 Trips to the park.

 More tea parties.

 Finger painting--I think Grandma enjoyed it more than the kids!

 And, somebody lost another tooth!  This time it was just in time for family photos.

 

We're trying to teach Dani and Tori about money, and the tooth fairy deposits are helping with that.  A month or so ago, I opened savings accounts for the kids.  Since Dani was born, we've been throwing change into a large baby bottle bank.  The kids are always asking for coins to put in it.  It was finally full so Dani, Tori and I went to the bank to feed the coins into the machine to deposit into their accounts.  (the net was almost $150!).  If you enter my house, they will shake you down for more coins for the bank. 

And, I broke down and bought a minivan.  There's just no making that cool.  But it's practical...woo hoo!

 

And, in funny things my kids have said lately:

 

"Mommy, nobody's perfect; not even astronauts." (Dani)

"But Mommy, I'm not littering, I want to give the birds some stickers to play with."  (A disappointed Tori when I wouldn't let her throw stickers out of the car window.)

 

During a dinner, I had made a roast beef on the rotisserie.  Dani pointed out that the meat was the same color as Daddy, "brown and pink".  I suggested to the kids that perhaps that meant that Daddy was perfectly cooked and ready to eat.  Tori's response was, "NO!  We can't eat Daddy, because he would be too hard to chew."



Preparing for the holidays.

 I'm a bit behind in my posting because we've been having SO MUCH FUN!

It started with decorating for the holiday, and getting ready for Christmas card photos. 

It's torture a fun afternoon of getting toddlers dressed up and using a variety of bribes and threats keeping them smiling and interested while I desperately try to get a few decent photos for a card.

It's so hard to get all three looking at the camera and smiling at the same time.

We were so close with this one, but Tommy...

This one made the card.

 So did this one.

 We couldn't manage a hugging photograph that worked.

 Not sure what they were looking at, but it wasn't the camera.

 Crazy eyes.

 Duck face.

 A little clowing around.

 And we're still trying.

We managed to get some decent pics, and I found a deal on overnight shipping from Snapfish, so we had them in time to actually mail so people would receive them by Christmas....except I didn't order enough, so not everyone did....and I got to pay for rush shipping a second time, for the second wave of cards.  But they got done, and we were ready to celebrate!

 

And in crazy child utterances this month:

Dani informed me at bedtime yesterday that she wishes she was a boy "because it's more fun to be a boy because they have wee wees and get to have the boy toys at McDonalds".

Tori's favorite thing is to replace words with "poop", and she walks around singing "Frosty the Snowpoop" and all manner of silly poop related things.  Tommy then mimics her.  Yikes.

Driving in a car with Tommy results in yells of RED LIGHT STOOOOOOOOOOOP at the top of his lungs every time we see a light.

Little Dude turned two.

 Tommy turned 2 on the 16th...good thing he doesn't know his dates, because we had cake on Saturday.  Grandma and Grandpa sent presents for all the kiddos, and fun was had.  Probably our last birthday without a kid demanding a party.

And what to say about this little tyke?  T is for Tommy and for Temper and for Tantrum.  He is Mister If I don't get my way I will scream until you give in.

He's also destined to be the class clown, amusing his sisters at every turn with silly faces and gestures.

He's the daredevil.  The only kid we've really seen bleed.  Because when you are jumping off of everything, and getting in to it all, you are bound to get a little banged up.

He likes to announce "HAND" as he extends his so that he can lead you where he wants to go, which is, most often, to the kitchen for cookies. 

Amazingly agile, he could climb the stairs like a big boy months ago.  He's our little mimic, repeating everything the girls say.  Tonight at dinner it was "Chuck E Cheese" over and over in varying voices to Dani and Tori's delight. 

He is, by far, the best snuggler of the three.  When you pick him up, he wraps his arms around your neck and places his head on that sweet spot on your shoulder made for baby heads and just snuggles.

He is love.  He is energy.  He is chaos.  He is our Tom Tom.

 And he loves his sisters.  "DANEEE. TOWEEE" he calls, often when they sneak away to do something else.

 

 We went to Animal Land a week ago.  Tommy had no fear.  He touched every animal he could, feeding them, petting them, and at one point, picking up a huge piece of deer poop that we thought was a rock.....ugh.

 He's game for rides, and whatever his sisters have in store for fun.

 On the safari ride, one camel followed us, and was fixated on Tommy.  All I could think was "please don't bite my kid's face off", but the camel walked along us, sticking with Tommy as he petted her nose and said hello.

 And then, of course there was some cake.  Dani helped me bake it.  What a difference a year makes.  He wanted a fork, he always wants a fork because his sisters use one.

He's an amazing boy, our little Tommy.  No doubt, because he has grown up with two smart, older sisters, his vocabulary at his age is amazing.  He's the king of the funny face, and without a doubt makes Wes and I laugh at least once per dinner.  He's our little fireball, and I love him to bits.  Happy Birthday Tommy!

 

And, before I forget to add some of the recent fun things the kids have said.....

We've had a bunch of work done in our house recently, and I was somewhat friendly with the contractor beforehand...so that meant that he shared a number of meals with the family.  One day, his car broke down and he took a cab to our house.  We would routinely bring him home.  On day three of no car, he mentioned at dinner, "I just feel naked without my car."  Dani leaned over to me and said loudly, "Why does Mr. M think he doesn't have any clothes on?  He's wearing clothes!".  I looked at Wes, perplexed (probably because we weren't paying too much attention to Mr. M), but Mr. M caught on--and pointed out to us what she meant so we could explain.

 

In other news, and funnies, Dani is starting Pre-K next week.  We received a packet in the mail two weeks ago with information from the teacher, and which advised us of the dress code:  solid color collared shirts and pants/shorts/skirts in designated colors.  Reading it, I explain to Dani that she will need to wear solid shirts to school.  She looked both disappointed and perplexed.  "Mommy, will the shirts be hard?", she asked.  I looked at her, not having a clue...and asked what she meant.  "Mommy, solids are hard...you know that," she said.  There has been some talk of liquids and solids with water and ice cubes, but it's easy to forget how literally words can be taken.  Ice cubes are solids, and they are hard, so wouldn't the shirt be hard too?

 

These kids, all amazing in so many ways, but I feel like I'm leaving Tori out.  Perfectly potty trained, she's been accident free and wearing underwear to bed for about 6 months...amazing.  At newly 3, she can write most of her letters, as she showed me with chalk on the sidewalk yesterday.

 

They are amazing little peeps, my kiddos!

Long overdue.

Wow--this post is LONG overdue.  I haven't posted in nearly two months--which has never happened.  I got so caught up in life, kids, work, etc., that I just did not make time to blog, and I thought "no biggie".  But when I started thinking about it tonight, I reminded myself that this blog is, for all intents and purposes, the baby book for the kids, the record of our lives that I have printed and bound every year for the kids to have someday, and I realized that posts to facebook won't be anything tangible years down the road that the kids can read, and hold and touch.  So...I'll do better.  And until then, here's the summer in a recap.

Father's Day--the kiddos greeted Big Man with "I love my Dad" t-shirts.  Getting three toddlers to smile and look at the camera at the same time is impossible.

 We spent so much time outside, squirt guns in hand, in the big and little pool.

 We have a gender-neutral dress-up policy.....Tommy's wardrobe is compliments of Dani and Tori.

 We were invited places, and actually showed up, despite being outnumbered by kids who could scatter upon arrival.  Here's Tori at a graduation party.

 And Dani at the same one--they love putting on "party dresses" to go somewhere. 

 At times, they felt like they were in baby jail, just waiting for release.

 Meanwhile, Tommy just sprouted. 

 Grandma and Grandpa visited and, of course, that meant a trip to the beach.

 Grandpa braved the deep waters of Caroga Lake!  (Grandpa is actually an accomplished swimmer and diver, not that he'd need it in the lake!)

 Grandma showed Tommy around.

 Dani and Tori saw their first fireworks this summer.  Their reactions were priceless.

 It was just awe.  Tori yelled, "Mommy, look it's pixie dust!"

 Swimming.

 Dinnertime silly.

 And there are just so many things I didn't capture because I didn't post them when they came up--sorry kiddos.  A few funnies I can think of:  Dani is starting Pre-K and we received the orientation packet.  School has a dress code so I told Dani we needed to get school clothes so she could dress accordingly with solid shirts and pants.  "Will the shirts be hard?" she asked.  I asked what she meant...."Solids are hard, Mommy, not like liquids," was the response. So we explained the concept of solid colors.  We've had someone doing some home improvements  (painting, etc)  "Mr. Mark" who has had dinner with us a time or two while he was working...the other night Mr. Mark (who had taken a cab to our house as his car would not start) remarked at dinner that he felt naked without his car.  A minute later, Dani leaned over to me and asked, "Mr. Mark has clothes on, why does he think he's naked?"
It's been a zany few months...and I promise it won't be so long for me to update.

 Sister hugs!

Dani draws.

Me:  Dani, you drew a picture of a kid crying?  Why is she sad?
Dani: Mommy, it's Tori.
Me:  Why is Tori crying?'
Dani: She's crying because she didn't get her way.  She's crying for no reason.

Dem bones.

Wow, there's a whole lot of learning going on in this house.  We've got these Leap Books, with a Leap Pen that the kids can use to point to words and pictures, and letters, etc.

One of the books has a section on the body, and Dani and Tori love to point to the bones on the skeleton.  And I went on youtube to let them hear the "Dem bones" song, and now it's the theme song of the week.

Tonight at dinner, Tori told me that when she grows up she wants to be a skeleton.

She is also known for saying, "I have a PELVIS!" "I have two patellas!"

Both Dani and Tori are happy to point out where their scapulas are, and are well-versed in metatarsals and metacarpals (and that's more than I know!)

Tonight, while skyping with my parents, Tori told them that she had phalanges.  When grandma and grandpa asked what those were (and I had no flipping clue) she wiggled her fingers to the camera and said "here".  The kid is not quite 3, won't poop on the potty, but knows the skeletal system better than I do.  It's adorable, but in a way where you start to wonder if you are turning your kids into little nerdies who will be teased mercilessly in kindergarten maybe not letting them watch enough Spongebob.

 

 Tommy is turning out to be the best mimic ever.  He repeats everything anyone says. He is really musical--can baby mumble sing the words to songs in perfect pitch.  It's really pretty awesome.  We've got to bank on some kind of artistic or athletic talent with that one--he's eaten more board books than he's read.

Dani asked me tonight if she could stay up all night, because last night she had bad dreams.  She came into my room at 1:30am literally shaking.  I had to turn on lights and she flipped when I left her in the well-lit bathroom to get a fresh underjam for her (ain't noone peeing in mommy's bed).  And then we had a mommy half asleep discussion about whether dinosaurs could hurt us, and I literally was teary and begging promised her there were no dinosaurs in mommy's bed and she went to sleep. I told her that she was going to sleep on Daddy's pillow and that always means good dreams. She was so resistent to sleep tonight--but in the eldest child, compliant way.  She went upstairs, we brushed and washed, and she pleaded to stay up, knowing full well she would get into bed when I told her to.  Then she begged for Daddy's pillow because it was the good dreams pillow (but Big Man was sleeping as he works tonight!).  Hmmmm, what to do.  I went into my dressing room and got out an old bracelet, a costumey one with stones.  After I turned off the light, I put it on her wrist and told her it was Mommy's good dreams bracelet, and that it would help her to have good dreams tonight...she was in awe.  I whispered, "Don't tell Tori because I only have one.  But if you think happy thoughts tonight and know you have my bracelet, you will be fine."  It seemed to work, but I'm guessing I will have company in the wee hours.

 Tori's making progress on the potty.  She's in pullups, but will always pee on the potty.  She always asks for a magazine when we ask her to try to poop.  She will just sit there, flipping through the pages.

It's the most wonderful chaos.