Foxy Loxy

AJ spotted this guy in our yard a few days ago, but today he came back and I was able to get some pictures! He is a BIG fox! He probably lounged in our backyard for a good 15-20 minutes before jumping the fence to go to the neighbor's yard.

Rating: 5 Lollipops

Family Photos

Back in June we had some family photos taken. My friend Carolyn is a photographer and she did a great job. It was quite a task getting all the girls to focus and look the same way! Here are a few shots of the whole family. You can spot Lil's "foo-foo" in every picture. Letting her hold that stuffed dog kept her happy for the picture taking (mostly) so we let it slide.



This next one cracks me up because there were some little ducks that were following us. You can see them there in the grass.

Rating: 5 Lollipops!

The Kissing Hand

Have you ever heard of the book The Kissing Hand? Good little story! It is about a little raccoon that is scared to go to school, so his mother gives him a kiss on his hand to keep with him when he goes to school. I've been doing the same thing for Emmaline and she has been doing much better! She keeps the kiss in her hand and if she feels sad or lonely then she can put the kiss on her cheek.

Rating: 1 Mommy Kiss

Occupational Therapist

So yesterday, Liliana had an evaluation with an Occupational Therapist. Her Speech Therapist made the referral. Mostly it was so we could talk with her about strategies for dealing with some of her behavior. When Lil gets mad or frustrated, she likes to yell and to throw things. Sometimes she will even LOOK for something to throw if she doesn't have something in her hand! The Speech Therapist called it self-regulation.

It was funny when the OT arrived, she was apparently expecting a child who was much much lower functioning so she said she instantly had to change her plans of what she was going to do with Lil! She said that Lil is very smart - particularly with visual processing - which I could have told her! She gave us some strategies for teaching Lil how to deal with anger and frustration differently. However, what she was really fascinated by was how Lil moves! She said she wished she had had a video camera with her so she could film Lil. Apparently it all goes back to the way Lil crawls and stands up, using her fists. She noticed when Lil is up and moving and playing that her muscle tone and movement is great. However, when Lil sits down or is playing on the floor, apparently she stiffens - in the feet and through the shoulders. The OT said it was really interesting. She talked about some ways we can have Lil sit and lay when she plays that should help with that. She also told us that it is really a very minor thing and nothing to be concerned about - just interesting. She doesn't think Lil needs any regular Occupational Therapy though she may come back a couple more times just to check things out.


The OT also had fun playing with Idgie. She said that she never gets to play with or hold babies that have regular muscle tone and movement and it was a great reminder for her what "normal" is like. She also said that it was great that Idgie is still crawling and not walking because apparently crawling is great for all kinds of motor control and balance and everything.

Rating: 1 Lollipop

First Day of Kindergarten

My little baby - all grown up! Emmaline was excited all day to go to school. She burst into our room this morning saying, "Today is the BIG DAY!" All morning long she kept asking me if it was time to go yet. Finally after lunch we were able to get ready and go! She was completely stoked - just thrilled to death to be going to school.

There is a drop off area outside the school that the kids meet their teacher at and all walk in together. However, the closer the time came to go inside, I could see her getting more nervous. She would come and hug and me and say, "I'm going to miss you mom!" Finally when they started to line up to go in, her poor chin started to quiver and she ran out of the line several times to give me more hugs and tell me that she was going to miss me. She was trying to be so strong and so brave and really hold herself together but those eyes were watering and her chin was quivering. I did my best to give her big smiles and assure her that she would have a great time. Her teacher asked if she would like to hold her hand while they walked into the school and of course Emmaline accepted. As they walked in I saw some tears fall.

When I picked her up, her teacher assured me that Emmaline did a great job. Emmaline said she had a fun time and told me all about playing on the playground, and eating her snack and sitting on the class rug on the letter "M" and getting to learn all about how special the letter "I" is. There are two kids from church that are in her class so she is lucky that she already had friends there as well!

Overall I think it went very well and I suspect now that it is no longer the unknown, she will do great tomorrow!

Rating: 5 Pixie Dust

Harry Potter

AJ and I were able to go see Harry Potter this weekend. Who knew it was possible to see TWO movies in just 1.5 months??? Amazing what weaning can do for your freedom! A friend of ours (thanks Sarah!) came over after the kids were in bed to hold down the couch while they slept and we were out. Sadly, apparently all three kids woke up one after the other and gave her a run for her money. When we returned home they were all soundly asleep in their beds so it was all good (for us!)

We really enjoyed Harry Potter. We both agreed that this movie might have been one of our favorites. They did a good job with keeping a heavier storyline light with some good humorous parts.

Rating: 1 Large Popcorn with extra butter (free with coupon of course!)

Bikes!

Emmaline and Liliana both got early birthday presents of new bikes! I can not even tell you how thrilled Emmaline was to try it out. She did a great job riding it and was so proud of herself. The real crack-up was Lil! Sometimes Emmaline would have trouble getting herself going, so Lil would jump off her bike, run over, and give Emmaline's rear tire a good push to get her going. Great teamwork! And of course everytime Liliana managed to move forward on her bike, she jumped off and came to AJ or I for a "kee-kee" (big hug).


Don't they look like they're decked out in sparkly riot gear?







Rating: 3 Pixie Dust

Dirt, Dirt, Dirt

Last week Emmaline and Liliana discovered the joys of playing in the dirt. Well - not just playing in it, but tossing it, jumping in it, rolling in it. Emmaline didn't get too bad but Liliana was deep enough in it to plant radishes on her I think!




Rating: 3 Mud Pies

She's in!

I have several posts I want to catch up on - but I just wanted to post this really quick and say that Emmaline got into the charter school! We got at phone call at 8:00 this morning. Luckily I was taking Emmaline in today for yer 5 year check and shots so after we did that, we went straight to the school to get the paperwork and Emmaline was able to peek into her classroom and meet her teacher. We were also happy to learn that there will be two children from church that she knows that will be in her class as well!

Rating: 5 Lollipops

Go Couponing, Serve Your Country

So my Brother-in-Law recently shared a fun story with me. Last year he was deployed to Afghanistan. From time to time I would send him little care packages of treats and toiletries. He mentioned once that the people there were in need of vitamins and that kind of thing. As luck would have it, around that same time I scored at a great sale at Walgreens and got a ton of women's multi-vitamins for free! I packed them up in a box and mailed them to him to give out if needed.

Apparently at one point after that, a man came to the medics saying his wife was sick. She was anemic and vitamin deficient. Unfortunately, the medics only had prenatal vitamins to give out and since the woman wasn't pregnant, they couldn't give them to her. So instead, my Brother-in-Law gave them the vitamins I sent. The wife took them and recovered nicely! He told me that as a result, it helped to foster some good relations between the soldiers and the people there, which of course is always a blessing!

So there you go - use coupons, get free stuff, share it, serve your country!

Rating: 5 Lollipops

Bowling - For REAL

We discovered recently that the local bowling alley was going to have a 50 cent Saturday - since bowling is on our list of things to do this summer, we decided that we might as well do it for cheap! We didn't tell them where we were going and when we walked in the doors Emmaline was so excited to see that we would be bowling. She probably had more fun than anyone though Lil had great fun too pushing the ball down the lane and saying, "I did it!". I even managed to bowl with Idgie firmly attached to my hip. Not too shabby!

And of course a shot of AJ in action - the only one of us who can actually bowl!

Rating: 4 Lollipops

Playing Mommy

The girls were super cute today. They got two of my baby slings and were wearing them around the house. There are approximately 4 different dollies/animals in each sling!

Rating: 3 Pixie Dust

School

Well in an interesting turn of events, I talked with the Charter School and found out that they are only a few numbers away from Emmaline's lottery number! The lady I talked to seemed to think there was a real chance that Emmaline could end up getting in after all.

I have gotten completely geared up for homeschooling here. I already have the curriculum and all the supplies and started doing lesson plan, so this is a sudden change of gears for us. I feel like I am still in limbo because I don't know whether to continue on with making homeschooling plans or to start searching around for last minute deals on uniforms.

The school actually built a new building over the summer and they had a public open house yesterday, so I did go check that out and see. It looks really nice!

Rating: 1 Lollipop