Cause I know you do...

Seeing as how I don't post on here as often as I would like, I thought I would try something different. I found this totally awesome Linky Party and decided to join up! Every WEdnesday they do a "We Want To Know" Party. It's hosted by:

Impulsive Addict, Janette, Mamarazzi and Seriously Shawn

The questions this week:

{1} What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Are you an eyes or a smile person? Maybe another body part?
{2} If a movie was being made about you who would you like to see cast to play you? And would your movie be a comedy, drama, romantic-comedy, action film or a horror movie?
{3} Does your high school yearbook include a senior comment section? If so share what you said about your future goals. Have you met those goals? If you do not have a yearbook just share what your goals where when you were 18 and if you have met them. If you’re brave enough include your Senior Picture!
{4} What latest trend simply baffles you?
{5} When you walk into a room how do you present yourself? Do you walk in with confidence and command the attention of others or do you slink in and do your best to go unnoticed?

On to the answers!

{1} What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Are you an eyes or a smile person? Maybe another body part?

The first thing I noticed about Joe was how very animated he was. It was like he walked right out of a Jim Carrey Movie! The second thing I noticed was his sense of style (turns out it was his younger brother's sense of style... long story), the third was that he had a nice caboose... :)

{2} If a movie was being made about you who would you like to see cast to play you? And would your movie be a comedy, drama, romantic-comedy, action film or a horror movie?

I would love to see Jennifer Aniston play me... but lets be honest. That isn't likely to happen. I have been told I look like Jodie Foster or (ugh this is hard to admit) Kimmy Gibbler (From Full House). And my movie would definitely be a dramady. Some funny some drama...

{3} Does your high school yearbook include a senior comment section? If so share what you said about your future goals. Have you met those goals? If you do not have a yearbook just share what your goals where when you were 18 and if you have met them. If you’re brave enough include your Senior Picture!

My yearbook didn't have the future goals section- but the goals I had set for myself were pretty much: 1. Get Married. 2. Have Kids. 3. Travel. 4. Learn to make money doing something I love. I have met the first two, I have done a little of the third (though not nearly enough) and I am still working on the 4th... As for my senior picture... I don't have it on this machine, but I have a picture of me at one of the Dances my senior year... so here ya go!

{4} What latest trend simply baffles you?

Leggings on adults. I just don't get it... Skinny jeans are okay in a jean color (read: blue) but colored skinny jeans look too much like leggings to me.

{5} When you walk into a room how do you present yourself? Do you walk in with confidence and command the attention of others or do you slink in and do your best to go unnoticed?

I am kinda in between these two examples. I walk in with confidence, but I don't command the attention of others. I am fairly confident in myself, but I don't feel the need to showcase myself.

See? That was kinda fun! Now maybe I can get to posting about what's up and what's not...

Let's hear it for the girls!

This was a fun week for both of my beautiful girls. On Friday of last week Lilia came home with the long awaited "Big Green Tractor!" (For those of you not in the know, this is a big construction paper tractor for them to decorate with pictures and info about themselves to then take back to class. Basically it means just this- Lilia is student of the week!) Then on Monday Lacey came peeling out of preschool yelling, "Momma! I got to be the helper today and I get to take home the show and tell bag!"

Lacey thought about it all day Tuesday and decided what to take for show and tell. So we put the object in the show and tell bag and then had to write three hints about what was in the bag so the rest of her class could guess what it was. The hints: 1. I am white. 2. I am fuzzy. 3. If I could talk I would say, "quack, quack!" Funny enough- this specific toy was an Arctic Circle kids meal toy. She just LOVES her fluffy duck. :)

As for Lil, her tractor went back to school on Monday sporting pictures of her, her family, and her favorite thing to do (gymnastics), as well as telling about her favorite color (blue), food (peaches), and if she has any pets (1 dog- Midge). Yesterday she came home with what I think is just about the cutest spotlight ever! It seems whoever is the student of the week- forgive me- FARMER of the week gets letter written to them by everyone in the class. And I must admit. These letters are SO CUTE! I, of course, being the proud momma that I am will share some of them with you. After reading them it seems almost as if each table (group of 4-5 students) shared information since she has almost identical letters in little bunches, but they are still fantastic. The letter starts:

________ is special because...

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Love,

____________

The kids fill in all the blanks.

A list of characteristics attributed to Lilia in these letters is:

Lilia is special because...

She is fun/funny.

She has a wonderful memory.

She is beautiful.

She is pretty.

She is cool.

She is smart.

She is nice.

She has pretty blonde hair.

She is creative.

She is a good friend.

She smiles all the time.

She is polite.

She is honest.

She has a nice laugh.

She is good at hula hooping and jumping rope.

She has hicups.

She is prepared.

And she is respectful.

I just loved these letters. Certain one's in particular stuck out as note worthy, and for Lilia's sake, I want to share them here so we have them recorded long after this booklet disappears.

From Drew:

She is smart. She is very very pretty. She was my partner for the dance. (They just did a first grade program where each class did dances. So cute!)

From Jillian:

She is nice to me. She is respectful for Miss S. I can't blef (believe) that she is so respectful.

From Michael (I mentioned him before as someone she likes in her class)

She is so smart. She's so fun to play with. She's so nice. She's so respectful. She's honest.

(this made Lilia smile and do a little dance. She is too funny!)

And prehaps the best in the bunch- from our neighbor Kyle:

She was my first friend I made when I moved here. She can be really funny. She is very pretty. She can be super nice.

I love how he said "can be" and not "is". Hahaha! It's totally true. These two are very good friends, and they also fight like an old married couple. I sure love my neighbors and their kids! Lacey does too-

*Funny side note* As I was reading these letters out loud I read one from one of Lil's classmates named Zach. (Kyle has a younger brother named Zach who happens to be Lacey's age). After reading the letter I read, "Love Zach" and Lacey yelled, "Zach!? I LOVE Zach!" So cute!

I am so proud of my adorable girls. They really are such good kids, and make my day to day life so much more fun.

Happy List

I figure it's been a while since my last post, and since today is shaping up to be a good day, I wanna tell everyone why I am so happy! Lucky me, I ran across a blog that promotes just that! A HAPPY LIST! SO without further ado:

I am happy to see some significant change in the basement! I have painted the office down there and chosen fabric for the curtains. Now to just acquire a sewing machine to finish those curtains and all will be well! (pictures to come eventually...)

I am happy with my new couch! It's so perfect for us. And it looks nice. And it smells nice (gotta love leather).

OLD COUCH...

NEW COUCH!

I am happy with this weather. Nothing like some sunshine and a little rain. The temps have been cool, but not too cold.

I am happy to be mother to three adorable miscreants. They are so much fun!

I am happy with Lilia's report card. It was the 1st grade equivalent to straight A's.

I am happy to hear Lacey's prayers at night (where she prays to be "almost cute" and asks if she can "go to school every day" like her sister).

I am happy to see my little man, Matthew, healthy. And to see him fold his arms on demand. It's pretty cute. See?

Attempt #1...

Attempt #2 complete with bowed head.

I am happy to finally have the fabric for Matthew's blanket all ready to go! Now, to get me that much needed sewing machine...

I am SUPER happy that Joe and I have finally decided to become a TWO CAR family! After 10 years, it's about time.

I am happy to be married to such a marvelous and funny man. He really does make life that much better. :)

I am happy for beautiful things. Like the peacock at the zoo last week.

I am happy. Yup- that's all there is to it.

More of the same...

My kids really do make my life so much fun! Some of the funny things my kids have been saying/doing in the last month or so (with some good pictures added in for the fun of it):

1. Lilia informed me the other day that our neighbor, Josh, has been chasing her on the playground at school. She then said, "He won't stop chasing me, so I am breaking up from marrying him."

2. Midge (our dog) was in the middle of getting her semi-annual shave, and because it's winter, we are sure to put her in a sweater when we shave off all her hair. As I was putting her sweater on her, Lacey started giggling and asked, "Mom, are you putting a swim soup (suit) on her?"

(before her shave)

(The blade was too hot to finish shaving her- Joe left her with the mowhawk and poofy feet for a day)

3. Lilia was preparing an impromtu performance with Lacey's help. She kept saying, "Lacey, it's time to rehearsal my song!" or "Lacey your rehearsaling time is over! It's my turn!"

4. I happened to catch my two youngest kids playing together and giggling, so I stopped to watch. As I was watching I started to laugh and said, "You two are so STINKIN' CUTE!" Lacey smiled at me and said, "I not stinkin' I took a bath- uh member?"

5. A conversation we had in the car:

(Sitting at a stop light)

ME: Lil, take your seatbelt off for a second and grab the pen on the seat in front of you.

LILIA: But what if a cop comes?

ME: If a cop comes I will get a ticket.

LIL: But I don't want you to get a ticket! They will put you in jail!

ME: They won't put me in jail for a ticket.

LIL: They will if they think you are an idiot driver...

6. Lacey latest favorite show, much to my chagrin, is Dora the Explorer. Except that's not what she calls it. If you ask her- her favorite show is "Do-do-do-do-do-Dora!" (If you haven't heard the theme song, than this wouldn't be as funny to you...)

7. Along those same lines- Matthew is learning to talk. His latest statement (when requested) is also, "Do-do-do-do-do-Dora." Except he says "d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-duh uh" :)

8. Lilia's Valenine LOVE story...

Day 1- Lilia: Mom- two boys in my class love me. You don't know them though. Donovan and Michael.

Day 2- (Lilia made a valentine for Donovan (It said "I like you" inside a hand drawn heart).)

ME: What's this? A love letter?

LIL: No! It's a second valentine.

ME: But what about Michael? Where is his?

LIL: I didn't make one for him because he doesn't love me as much as Donovan does.

9. Lacey got an earache a few weeks ago. Her last experience at the doctor was when we had to hospitalize her a few months back from dehydration. At the hospital they gave her an IV. Which she HATED. Fast forward to the earache...

(on the drive to the doctor)

LACEY: I don't want a shot! My ear is better.

ME: Uh-huh... Lacey, they aren't gonna give you a shot. The doctor will look in your ear and say, "EW- Yuck!" and give you some medicine.

LACEY: Ohhhh, okay...

(15 minutes later as the nurse calls us back to the exam room)

LACEY: I don't want a shot!

ME: Lacey, remember? They aren't gonna give you a shot. The doctor will look in your ear and say, "EW- Yuck!" and give you some medicine.

LACEY: Ohhhh, okay...

(2 minutes later as they are weighing her and preparing to take her temp with an ear thermometer)

The nurse gets the thermometer and steps toward Lacey, she backs behind me and says quietly, "Oh dear!"

I tell her "It's not a shot- it is gonna tell us how warm you are. They will check your good ear, okay?"

LACEY: Ohhhh, okay.

(10 minutes later as the doc enters the exam room)

DOC: Hi little Miss Lacey, how are you today?

LACEY: I don't WANT a shot!

ME: ::sigh:: Lacey, honey, they are not going to give you a shot. He is going to look in your ear, say, "EW- Yuck!" and give you some medicine.

LACEY: Ohhhh, okay.

(and like a good doctor he looked in her ear and did actually say, "EW- Yuck! Let's give you some medicine..." I love my pediatrician!)

10. Backstory: Lil and Lace have a bunk bed. Lil on top. Lace on bottom...

The other night Lil jumped on Joe while he was asleep, startling him awake just to tell him about her potty habits. I caught her at it and said, "Lil! Dad was asleep! How would you like it if I jumped on YOUR bed tomorrow to wake you up, just to tell you I went potty?" She said, "Mom! You'd break my bed and KILL Lacey!"

11. Tonight we were playing a guessing game in the car. Someone thinks of a person, and everyone else tries to guess who it is using only yes and no questions. Such as, "Is it a boy?" "Is he older than Daddy?" etc. Lacey tries to play along, but she doesn't quite get it yet...

ME: Is it a boy?

LIL: Yes.

ME: Is it Daddy?

LIL: No.

LACEY: Is Daddy a boy?

ME: (totally kidding) Nope- Daddy is a girl

LACEY: Noooo! Daddy is a boy! He says this, (she lowered her voice as deep as her 3 year old voice could go and mumbled something incoherent.)

And the best for last...

12. We were watching a movie the other night that ended with the two main characters kissing. Nothing bad- just a good, passionate, kiss.

LIL: Mom? Is that a suction kiss?

ME: A what?

LIL: A suction kiss!

ME: (trying to hide the smile) What's a suction kiss?

LIL: Well... YOU KNOW... if you and Daddy didn't suction kiss I would never have been, well... (long pause) BORN!?

Kids really do say the darndest things! I sure love mine!

Birthday Party!

My family has a tradition. It started when I had my first birthday. My mother, at the time, was right in the middle of a stage in her life where she had become a cake decorator. For my birthday party she made me the cutest panda bear cake, and thus a tradition began. When I was pregnant with Lil, I went on an Ebay hunt for that same cake pan, and found it! So with each of my kids, I have made this same cake. Here are some pictures from Matthew's party.

The Birthday Boy in all his glory!

The cake in all IT'S glory- this was my fastest one yet... only 3 hours to decorate it! (That includes the 20 minutes to get Matthew down for his nap, and while trying to keep the kids entertained so they wouldn't make a mess of the house I cleaned up...)

When he got this hat as a gift, he got super excited. He thought it was a stuffed animal.

Then he found out the truth- what a bummer! Just a hat... (Mom loves it, though!)

Matthew loved the elephant rider he got from his grandparents.

He was totally mellow while being sung to.

See the chunk he took out of the toe? It's the most damage of all my kids. Lil and Lace just picked at the frosting...

After he had his fun with the cake, I handed him a cupcake. Notice the clean tray? He won't put the cupcake down.

"Oops! Dropped some cake- better get that. Wouldn't wanna waste it!"

Oh the joy of good ice cream (he won't let go of the chunk of cake in his left hand... pretty funny!)

Matthew poses with Uncle James. What good lookin' men! (Still holding that cake!)

Time to get cleaned up!

Happy Birthday Matthew! We love you!

Matthew turns 1!

On Friday, my little man turned 1 year old.

It has flown by so very fast!

Matthew was born Jan 28th a little after noon.

He was a monster baby (as my belly proved) weighing in at 9 lb. 2 oz.

He gave me all sorts of trouble for the first 5 months due to allergies.

He has (thankfully) outgrown his allergies, though he has been a bit of a sick baby this year.

Matthew is such a cute baby. He is pretty mellow. And he LOVES his Momma!

His sisters love him to pieces, and are quick to come to his rescue whenever he cries.

He is pretty sure he likes dad most of the time, and I would venture to guess that Dad likes him a lot too.

His smile is so contageous, and as he gets older he is quicker to laugh.

My only complaint is his lack of sleeping through the night...

but when I look at that handsome sleeping babe, how can I not just melt?

He has quite the sweet tooth and loves candy, more specifically suckers.

In true boy fashion he is a fan of guns...

He makes my life all sorts of fun, and is quick to find trouble.

His sweet personality really makes him a joy to have around.

I love my little man, and hope he knows how very blessed we feel to have him in our family. I love you Matthew!

Even if he does make me feel like I need this:

(ALL THE TIME)

A Lesson Learned...

Lil has been a real teaching tool for me over the last few weeks. Which is true most of the time, really. Being my oldest child, I learn a lot through the trials and missteps of parenting. But this last week has been a real eye opener.

Lil's teacher is amazing. Let me start there. She had tested each kid in her class during the first two weeks of school on the High Frequency words that all 1st graders are expected to know. Then, she would keep track of the one's that the kids hadn't spelled right, and turned those into their spelling words. Lilia is a fantastic reader. She is one smart cookie- though, we did notice that even though she can read all the High Frequency words, she couldn't spell them all. For example, she can read "who" but when asked to spell it, she would say, "H-O-O." So the spelling homework was 5 words that belonged in the same family (ie. cat, fat, hat) and the first 5 words she couldn't spell from the HF list. When she passed them off on her spelling test, the next week would be another 5 "family" words, and the next 5 words from the HF list. At the beginning of the school year it became obvious that her homework was too easy. She was breezing through her whole week's homework in a day, and wasn't the slightest bit challenged by her spelling. Even though she had spelled them wrong, she needed only to look at them, and be told once for her to spell them right. Her first week of spelling homework, the words were:

den

hen

men

pen

ten

her

his

have

now

they

These were way too easy for her. So I talked to her teacher. Turns out there were two other kids in class who were bored as well! So after some thought on how to handle it, her teacher set Lil and the other two kids up with 2nd grade spelling words. This was a program that one of the second grade teachers used, and the words were not the High Frequency words. Just words found at the level Lil had tested at (Level K). The first week of 2nd grade spelling, her words were:

dream

mother

noticed

happened

read

father

nothing

said

might

pictures

Talk about a difference! Lil went from getting 100% on her spelling to 30% that first week. It became apparent to me that Lil would be able to handle these harder words, but not without a little extra attention being spent on them. Soooo- I talked to my cousin (A super fab school teacher) and I went back through my childhood to some of the techniques I was taught, and came up with extra spelling assignments that would help her remember and spell her words. Though the new assignments were fun (as fun as homework can be) they also took time. Lil went from spending about 10 minutes a day doing homework, to nearly an hour (though part of this could be because she would take her time and let her attention wander). Instead of spelling the words 3 times a week (like her homework insisted) I had her spelling them 6-9 times a week. MY only concern was this: I worried when she moved to 2nd grade spelling that by skipping past all those 1st grade words on the HF list, that she would never understand spelling because she had skipped over the more basic spelling lessons. Even if they are easy and require very little brain power from my braniac kid, I think it is still important to learn those lessons. Either way, she began passing her tests. Eventually (like 7 weeks later), Lilia was moved up to the next level's spelling as she had passed all the previous level's tests. Level L spelling was (as expected) harder than Level K, and it began to wear on Lil. And though she didn't mind the extra work when it paid off with passed spelling tests, it was now too much for her. Not only was she having a harder time with the homework, but she was spending an hour a day doing her spelling and was not passing the test.

Finally- she snapped. She sat at the table, in tears, because she hated her homework, and she didn't want to do it, and "what's the point, I am not going to pass my test, anyway..." I got upset and left the room. As I was pacing in my bedroom I kept thinking how maybe I should talk to her teacher, but darn it! I didn't want Lil to get behind the other two kids doing the second grade spelling! ... ... ....

Ohhhhhhhh crap. I am an AWFUL mom! I am pushing Lil too hard! And why? Because I wanted her to be the best. I didn't want the other kids to be ahead of her... I didn't matter to my mind that Lil was wearing down. It didn't matter that she was unhappy. She HAD to keep up! They say the first step in fixing a problem was realizing there IS a problem. I was GONNA fix this. NOW.

I instantly dropped to my knees and said a prayer. Then I talked to Joe. Got his opinion on how to fix the problem, and after talking with him I wrote her teacher a letter. Than I deleted the letter, and ended up talking to her teacher on the phone. I explained how Lil was doing too much. (The teacher had said at the beginning of the year that she only expects the kids to do 40 minutes of homework a day and 20 minutes of that should be the required reading that the whole school participates in) I explained how she was doing an hour of homework, plus the 20 minutes reading. I then went on to tell her how stressful it has made my life, and how frustrated Lil is with homework and spelling tests. She completely agreed that Lilia is too young to hate her homework so much, and that she was spending too much time doing something that wasn't reaping any rewards... After a nice talk she presented us with a solution that was EXACTLY what Joe and I had come up with, and we couldn't be more thrilled.

The plan is basically, that Lil will no longer do the 2nd grade spelling program, but she will not be moved back to the 1st grade program either. She will be somewhere in between. Instead of having 5 "family words" (sit, hit, pit...) she will have all 10 words from the high frequency list. Instead of just the 1st grade list, she has now been tested on the second grade list. This way she will get a solid foundation to build on. Her words this week:

blue

around

about

know

right

every

pretty

green

once

yellow

MUCH better. And lesson learned.

The lesson I learned here?

I need to be more aware of what is best for my daughter vs. what I WANT for her.

Is there a lesson for anyone else to learn?

If we don't stand up for our children, who else will? If our kids are not challenged enough, or are too challenged, we need to be willing to talk to the teacher. And I did both. In the same year. Ugh! But at least Lil is where she needs to be. And what do ya know, she likes her homework again!