April/May 2017 - Notes from my phone

I'm so far behind in blogging that I'm just going to post the notes from my phone so they are documented somehow even though there are no pictures...

April!

1st- Emmalyn says "restauronk" instead of "restaurant".  Maxwell loves soft things like fleece shirts, soft blankets, soft stuffed animals, sweat pants...he's all about soft. He asked his little friend at school, Brooklyn, if he could marry her and she said yes. They are pretty cute together - she's a head taller than him.  Emmalyn is throwing tantrums with kicking feet if she doesn't get her way. I remind her it works better to use her words.

27th - Emmalyn has had an awful week for potty training... Has gone pee in front of the toilet many times and had many accidents.  It's so frustrating!

May!

8th - At the dentist appointment last week, Emmalyn did awesome. She watched me during my cleaning/exam and chatted the whole time.  She was totally up and looking in my mouth.  Then it was her turn and she was a little nervous but did great.  She was really excited about "mr slurpee" and the sugar bugs. She was even able to do the fluoride treatment!  Then it was Maxwell's turn.  He wasn't as nervous but when things touched his tongue started coughing and would cough randomly. Could tell he was nervous but he was strong through it.  Then today Maxwell had a visit with the pediatric opthalmologist.   He did awesome during the visit.  The doctor said his eye is improving - it's almost as good as his other eye.

Emmalyn back to doing good on potty.  She can get herself into the big potty and so she goes there most of the time.  She sings Kindermusik songs all the time. She does pretend play with toys more often- will see her sitting there pretending and talking to her Minnie Mouse for example. She is riding her bike with training wheels!  And we have moved Maxwell's seat on his bike higher.

Second Week of November - Shannon's yearly trip! and Maxwell takes on the stage

I was pretty impressed with this painting Maxwell did.

Trying out my new charcoal mask

I had cavities.  :(  I haven't had them in years.  It was weird to have that numb face feeling again.

Maxwell decorated his turkey for school like Super Mario

Time for another visit to the pediatric optomologist

He always does a great job and is a super patient.

His eyes are improving but not enough that we need to get new glasses unless the ones we have break.

I think I've finally found a hairstylist I'm happy with here!  Her name is Karen.

It was Maxwell's kinder teacher, Mrs. Garza's birthday so the other room mom and I took her a little cake and the kids sang Happy Birthday.  We wanted to do more (nothing crazy) but the principle put out a really strict set of guidelines about what could be done for teacher's birthdays...could only take 10 minutes at the end of a day, couldn't collect money for a present, etc.  It was obnoxious and overboard in my opinion but I followed the rules.

Play-do fun.

Tennis practice

I took the kids to JC Penney to get their Christmas card pictures.  They are going to be so cute.  I give myself brownie points because I did it all by myself - neither Peter nor Brittany were there.  The worst part is after the pictures have been taken when you are going through them all at the computer and trying to look at the pictures but also keep the kids entertained.

She really is this precious and sweet (just with a little spunk sometimes)

Being a silly kid

Donna moved out this week.  It just wasn't working out so she packed up her stuff and Peter took her to the airport to fly back to Utah.

Yay!  My friend Shannon came to town for her yearly trip.  We ALL love having her here.

I took her to a new foodtruck park in town.  I was thrilled to see that my favorite sliders foodtruck was there!

2 sweet and lowdown please!

Maxwell was invited to his friend Preston's birthday party at a kid's theater place.  The kids were going to practice and put on a show for the parents.  Maxwell wanted none of it and was super scared and crying.  I was at Kindermusik with Emmalyn while it was going down and he texted me that Max was doing the super hard-can't-catch-your-breath cry.  The Teacher guy was kind to Max and tried to help him calm down.

Talking and getting ready for the performance.  I wonder if Max will end up doing it?

He did!!!

Whew - that went okay!

Maxwell and Preston (who was the star of the show and a born performer)

We hit up Sam Moon, as always!

Delicious Mexican food for dinner

Spa night and staying up late talking

Maxwell slept in our room on the floor so Shannon could have his bed since Donna's room wasn't fully cleared out.  He thought it was pretty cool.

Shannon and I finished off our fun, but short, weekend with a pedicure where I let Emmalyn pick the color before I left.  She chose orange.

Maxwell loves Shannon.  He only wanted to cuddle with Shannon on the couch, not me.

Daylight savings happened which is awful!  The kids wake up so early, it's painful. Emmalyn keeps waking up early (like before 6:30 am) and only wants milk or milk and cereal.  She doesn't want to go back to sleep.

Love that cute bum in the air.

Emmalyn is progressing on the potty training.  She's had multiple accidents for both pee and poop.  We need to be better facilitators of this process but I'm just no ready yet for her to go out of the house in panties and she won't treat pull-ups like panties but just like a diaper.

Second week of April 2016

Big, exciting news...  We got a new tree for the backyard!!!  It's in a different spot than the old, dead one and hopefully will provide a little privacy from our backdoor neighbor's massive balcony.

I did a little challenge at work with my team across the country.  I challenged them to go geocaching with their family and so of course I had to do it too.  We've never done it and it was a fun challenge!

Maxwell look at the GPS on the phone

We found it buried in the branches of a pine tree

We left behind a treat for the next person to come looking for this cache.

Family pic

It was a nice, windy day so we flew kites at the park with Brittany's family.

It ended up getting REALLY windy where the kids had to really fight the wind.

Emmalyn and I flew her first kite.

Look at that hair go in the wind!

No running needed in order to get the kites up, just someone to hold it up in the air and let it go - - it was that windy!

Spring brings not only wind but rain too!  Another day we had fun outside splashing in the puddles after the rain.

Mr. Chris came over to splash a little too.

The kids had a blast jumping.  :)  I think jumping in puddles is really a lot of fun, too.

Maxwell had his second visit to his eye doctor.  He did a great job - - the doctor commented on how great he was to work with.  

His eyes had changed a little but not enough to get new glasses. We got another prescription but the doctor said to use it only if Max's glasses broke and we needed to get new ones, otherwise the old ones were fine.

Because of his doctor's visit, Maxwell went late to school.  We stopped and got Subway for lunch and ate it together at his table.

We had a fun morning together!

I stayed a little and watched Maxwell engage with the other kids in the class.

The kids are great at walking down the halls, keeping quiet and their hands to themselves.  I love his preschool!

This girl loves her spaghetti.

Video - On her 2nd birthday eve, enjoyed hearing this cutie speak and watch her do a great job eating.  Love her little voice!

Maxwell wrote this series of notes in the car one day.  I thought it was so sweet!