3rd week of October, 2016

She loves the slides and is fearless (even in her cute dresses)

He was really into it and was even serenading me with my own rock ballad.  "I love you.  I love you, yeah!  I love you.  I love you, yeah!  I love you, mommy.  I love you, yeah!  I love you, mommy.  So much, the rest of your lives.  And so much that I love you.  I love you so much that I'll never ever forget you."

All three of them had guitars to play rock and roll.

Enjoy some of the kids' "rock and roll"

Peter and I went to meet with Maxwell's teacher after school for Parent/Teacher Conference. 

 (I had gone a few weeks ago to talk about how he was doing.  I asked to meet with her because I was concerned that we were more than one month into school and I still felt like I was yet to see him being challenged or learning anything new - especially in math.  She showed me some of his writing and drawing and talked about how she was challenging him to give her more details and tell/show her more.  She basically said that in regards to math that they would only be covering kindergarten curriculum.  I asked if he could possibly go to first grade for math and she said she would ask the principal (the answer that came back was no).   I was really hoping to walk away feeling like she was engaged in helping him learn and grow this school year but unfortunately I didn't walk away feeling much better.  She said they were finishing up assessing each of the kids and that the kids would be put into learning groups for certain subjects with kids at their level.  So, my hope was that being grouped with kids with higher skills would help a little.  So, when I showed up today I was hoping that I might get a difference experience from the P/T Conference.) 

Here was her feedback.  Subitizing is basically having the kids look at dots and comprehending what the number is without having to count the dots (think dice).  So I said what numbers should he be working on and she said numbers above 10.  So, I guess we will work on that.

Maxwell's picture about the pumpkin patch.   I'll translate -

"I saw pumpkins.  I saw lots of pumpkins there."

We are still getting cucumbers from our garden!

Happy with her Halloween sticker

Britt had lunch with the boys at school and brought Emmalyn along.

I had a work trip to attend NACS - The National Association of Convenience Stores convention.  It's fun to spend time with some of my CROSSMARK associates plus it's a good opportunity to spend time with my clients as well.  I also walked the floor collecting bags of candy/snacks/trinkets/etc.  It is such a huge convention!

Me, Alla, and Maureen went to dinner at this crazy restaurant called "the Vortex" in Atlanta

I got the burger in the middle.  It was delicious but oh so unhealthy. I got a salad as my side to compensate but it was covered in bacon, cheese, and croutons so not very healthy.

While I was out of town, they had a dinosaur exhibit at the school one of the evenings.  The kids all had a good time.

Peeping into the neighbor's yard

Silly kids.  It's a very small hole.

Being goofy with Uncle Joe - she adores him.

This will be Maxwell's Halloween costume. We got it out to try it on.  He LOVED it.  He specifically wanted to be a blue ninja.

Ninja moves

And of course, she's got her own ninja moves.

We got our garage doors and front door re-stained.  After living in the house 4 years, they needed it.  They look so nice!!

Second week of October 2016

We sure do a lot of fun things in the fall!

Maxwell creating a drawing with a shape template.

Big girl playing at the mall on the toys while the boys were in school.

Melissa and I kidnapped Mary Ann one night and took her to get a reflexology massage.  She was totally surprised and clearly nervous as we were driving there and she had no idea what we were doing.  It was Melissa and her first time getting this type of massage and they loved it (of course - they are great!).

Pumpkin painting!

Maxwell was very detailed in his painting this time  (he puts a date on everything now).  He kept saying he was "doing more details" as he'd paint other things.   That must be something he's hearing in Kindergarten.

Ditching the paintbrushes

Emmalyn had her 30 month check up with her pediatrician.  She was so excited to see and talk to Dr. Nail.  She let him check everything with no problem.  pin prick to check her iron and she said ouch that tickles :) it was awesome. He thinks she will be 5 ft 3-4 inches tall when she grows up. 

The results of the questionnaire

She had her finger pricked so they could check her iron levels in her blood.  When they pricked her finger, she said "ouch, that tickles". :) It was awesome. 

Emmalyn's 30 month stats:

Weight - 26 lbs 7 oz 32nd %

Height - 35.3 in 39th %

(huge jump from 17th at 24 months.  I doubt this will last)

Head Circumference - 19 in 58th %

Playing at the park

Maxwell made friends and rode his bike around.  Now that he's in public school, he always seems to know someone at the park.

Emmalyn touching a butterfly (I hope that doesn't really kill them)

Aunt Tammy was so kind and sent the kids a Halloween card.  They were VERY excited.

Cool glow in the dark stickers

I got a little adventurous with her hair

At Kindermusik, they were doing a song about cleaning up and so we were "scrubbing" the walls.

We had a play date with a bunch of the boys from Maxwell's class at Castle Montessori and their teacher Mrs. Cynthia even came.  They were ALL so excited to be around each other.

Dylan, Preston, Joshua, Mrs. Cynthia, Maxwell, and Lucas

She was the best!  I can't wait for Emmalyn to be old enough next year to go to school and be in her class.

Me wearing Maxwell's glasses.  Yes, I have a child size head. (but yet oh so round...yuck - not a good picture!)

I got out all of Maxwell's winter clothes to get them washed and ready for cooler temps that will be here eventually.  This kid has quite a lot of clothes.

Blowing bubbles

She loves pretending to be a doctor.

Emmalyn still wants to nurse, she asks for milk each morning or will point to my boob and say "it works momma" and I tell her it doesn't  Sometimes she's okay with that and other times she loses it.

Peter bribed Emmalyn with a sticker for going pee in the potty and a sticker AND a sucker for going poop.  So she pooped (at night!) two nights in a row!  The next day I got her to pee on the potty. But she still doesn't have it all the way because then the next day, she peed in potty then came over and peed on the floor, showered, and peed on the floor again.