Summer Fun

Summer vacation has begun.  We are going into the 3rd week of summer break, and the girls are having a blast.

To catch up, we had Alli's dance recital and year end class party.  1st Grade has proved to be her favorite so far, but mostly because of her teacher Ms. Fisher.  Alli did great, winning some year-end awards at the party.

Alli's dance recital sparked some interest in Natalie.  First, here's Alli in her recital.  She is such a beautiful ballerina!

But seeing Alli all dressed up made Natalie feel like she should have a costume too.  So that started a full week of being a bee, including going to the park several times as a bee, and going for a family walk as a bee:

After the bee costume went through the wash, it was not longer a draw.  Whew!  I was afraid I was going to have a bee all summer!

Soon we will be going camping, so we decided to "practice".  I mean, we have a 2-1/2 year and a new dog.  Practice seemed like a good idea.  And it was!  We learned alot and are making adjustments before our trip.  Here was our "practice":

And of course, one picture of the morning it rained.  Not sure why the girls couldn't grab their own shoes, but that was obviously not in the plan.  This was 6:30am, hence the PJs.  Rain and umbrellas is always a fun thing in Arizona!

Update

Over the past several months, I've thought of lots of topics to post about, but I just haven't done it.  Now I have no choice but to post a big update...

Let's see....  Alli has lost her 2nd tooth.  The big tooth had already showed up, so she looked like a shark with her 2 rows of teeth.  But now that the baby tooth is out, her tongue is very slowly pushing the big tooth forward.  Not that it has a good place to go cause it's way bigger than the opening that's there.  I feel there will be braces in our future.

Natalie decided in February that she didn't wear diapers anymore, and so potty training began immediately.  She actually does pretty well, most days.  Right now she's on a streak where she doesn't want to take a break from playing and sit on the toilet.  Can't blame her.  Thank goodness she will wear pull-ups cause for a while it was underwear only and we were getting exhausted with all the cleanup.  Following in her sister's footsteps, she likes the characters on the boys underwear better than the girls, so right now she's in her blue colored pull-ups with Jake, Buzz, and Lightning as the choices of characters.

The elementary school did a gifted testing this spring so we asked if we could get Alli tested.  They said that there is nothing special they do for the kids until 3rd grade, but if we wanted, we could get her tested.  So we did.  And she tested gifted (97% or higher) in one of the 3 categories.  So she is now listed as gifted and apparently that tag follows her all over the nation.  Interesting.

And we went to the elementary school and got Natalie enrolled for preschool next year.  She can't start until she actually turns 3, but they said if there is room, they call us a week before and she can start on the day of her birthday and show up with a birthday party in the class.  We shall see if we actually start her like that.

The girls have been great playing together lately, and it has been very helpful for Kim and myself to be able to let them play alone for periods of time while we do our own thing (for Kim, usually something on the computer, and for me, usually something around the house like dishes, or mopping, or laundry.)

Another Tooth!

Yesterday Alli was showing me a very wiggly tooth.  I asked her if she was going to try to pull it and she responded "not yet".  So they day went on...  By dinner, I looked at her mouth and it just seemed different.  So I asked her if her tooth fell out.  She said she didn't think so.  I made her open her mouth and sure enough, her tooth was gone.  She has no clue when it happened, but she was guessing during snack time with daddy since they had apples.  So....poor thing may have swallowed her tooth.  :) 

We left a note for the tooth fairy and sure enough, the tooth fairy came and left her $1.  What a nice fairy.  :)

Berkley!!!

I've been wanting another dog.  I miss the furry, unrelenting love that comes with a dog.  But Kim and Alli didn't want a puppy because they didn't want to go through the potty training or the chewing phases.  So I've been scouring rescue sites to try to find a dog that might fit into our family.

The other night, I think I had found one, so I inquired about the dog.  That was Thursday night around 9pm.  By Saturday at 3:00, we had a beautiful, female, 9 month old, black lab / pointer mix bounding into our home and our lives.  The rescue place she came from requires a "trial" period of at least 3 days before the adoption actually happens.  We've had Berkley in our home for all of 18 hours, and I can't imagine we will let her leave.

Here are some photos of the girls with Berkley.

Alli and Berkley "hiking" in the back yard.

Natalie and Berkley hanging out.

Night Night Bed

A while ago, Natalie was awake in the crib when we put Alli to bed.  Natalie noticed that I stayed in bed with Alli and rubbed her back.  Well, that smart little cookie decided that going straight to the crib to fall asleep by herself was not very fun, so she started asking if she could go night night bed.  Oh sure, why not.

The first few times, after 40 minutes of laying with her, she either fell asleep or was still awake.  Either way, she wound up back in the crib for the night.  Then we got into a routine where after laying with her for about 5 minutes, we would just move her to the crib and she would go to sleep from there.  And then we got into a routine where she would lay super still and basically demand to stay in the bed, so if she stayed super still, we would keep giving her more time to fall asleep.  Eventually, she was sharing the twin bed with Alli.  Alli *loved* having her sister in bed with her, so no issue there.

Well, then we hit a few nights where Natalie woke up in the middle of the night, screaming and crying, and would not stop if we put her back to bed in the crib.  She wanted mommy to lay with her in bed.  A twin bed, and Alli was also in it.  3 girls.  1 twin bed.  Are you nuts child?  Well, yes.  But of course mommy obliged and spent quite a few very sleepless nights crammed in the twin bed with the girls.

One weekend after cramming in the bed for a good portion of the night, I told Kim we were heading to the mattress store to get Natalie a bed.  We walked out of the store with a new twin size bed, and out of Target with a set of sheets.  We set up the bed right next to Alli's bed, so voila!  Instant king size bed for two very little girls.  Now the whole family could sleep there comfortably and mommy is very happy.  Alli actually is too.  She confessed that she was cramped sharing the twin with her sister.


We took some shots of the girls sleeping:

Sharing the twin:

Sleeping arrangement with beds pushed together:

Yes, notice that room so everyone can sleep sideways?  :)

Two Year Old Stats

The Dr's visit is over.  We have a healthy 2 year old.  Here are her stats:

Height:  35.75" (91%)
Weight:  24.4 lbs (17%)


If the old wives tail is true, that you grow to double your height from when you are two, Natalie will be just shy of 6' tall.  I'm guessing that old wives tail really isn't true...

Sleeping beauties

Natalie Turned 2!!

Natalie had a great 2-year old birthday party.  We had the Jackson family and most of the Belt family over to visit.  The theme of the party was Clifford.  Everyone had a good time.

And since turning 2, Natalie has decided naps are unnecessary.  Of course, she is quite a handful by late afternoon, so we are kinda disagreeing with her on that one.  But when you leave her in a crib for over an hour and all she does is play quietly and not sleep, then it's hard to argue the point (or to change it).  So, we are quite a fun family come about 4:00!  ;)

Here are some cute pics from her party.

Teeth, Beds, Toilets...

Hooray!  Alli lost her first tooth tonight!  It was really loose, and two big teeth are already growing in behind her two bottom teeth.  Only one was really loose, the other just slightly.  She said tonight after brushing teeth that it was bothering her.  I told her to just pull it out.  Well, the family all went separate ways - I went to put Nat to bed, Kim to do the dishes, Alli to play.  I came out about 5 minutes later and Alli was showing Kim her tooth!!!  I guess she took my words very seriously.  :)

Natalie will be two on Sunday.  She has started this thing about sleeping in Alli's bed.  She always wants to go night night in the bed now.  While I don't mind her sleeping in a bed, it makes putting her to bed much more difficult.  She doesn't stay in it!  And when we lay down with her, she wiggles for 30-40 minutes before settling down.  It's a bit frustrating on us parents.  So I think for her birthday, or soon after, we will get her a twin size bed.  I mean, it's really crowded in the middle of the night with Alli, Natalie, and mommy all on one twin bed!!  :)  (Yes, the bed is really for mommy!!)


Ok, so I figured Natalie is two.  She wants to do everything her big sister does.  So I decided we should start potty training.  Well, she is stubborn just like Alli, but in different ways.  She figured things out pretty quickly the first day I had her run around bottomless.  She peed once.  I wisked her to the toilet.  She graciously then went every 30 minutes just like I wanted, but never once did a drop leave her.  Until nap time.  I put a diaper on her.  Holy cow was it full - I had to change it before she even fell asleep!  And the stinker just kept doing that.  So no accidents while naked, but no success on the toilet either.  Grrr....  I went out and bought some underwear and training pants.  We'll see if those will help, although it's going to take a little time before I have another good weekend to devote to potty training, so we'll see if we can do it at mommy's convenience...

Eyes and Pig Latin

Natalie:

What a cutie.  She uses the term "eyes" for lots of things:  Sunglasses, lights in the ceiling, hand-held mirrors, actual eyes...  You have to interpret when she asks for "eyes" what she means.  It's really cute, and neat to see her associate the word "eyes" with all things that make you see/see better.


Alli:

Alli has gotten so good at spelling and reading that Kim and I used Pig Latin at the dinner table this evening.  I wonder how long *that* will last!  And let me tell you how rusty I am on hearing pig latin and then being able to figure out what is said.  Good thing we only have to use it for a few words here and there!!