Handley's note and summer goals

I consider myself a pretty laid back mom.  While I expect a lot of the girls, I also can overlook a lot, too.  However, there are sometimes that it just builds up and I loose it.  Like tonight.  Hudson was crying all evening, Harper was whiney and I was repeating myself over and over and over.  As we were making our way to the bathroom for baths, I was practically tripping over toys and stuff that was strewn all over the house and I lost it.  I yelled at the girls for not cleaning up their things and told them I was going to start throwing toys in the trash instead of picking them up myself.  That got their attention.

After their bath I told them to clean-up while I was putting Hudson to bed and then they could play for a little bit after they were done.  Well, when I came out of Hudson's room I found a very tidy house and a special note Handley had written for me.

Translation: she drew 3 hearts first, then the letters WR SRe FR No clen up = We're sorry for not cleaning up.

 I couldn't quite make out what she had written, until I had her read it for me.  Then I totally saw it and my heart melted.  I also felt really guilty for getting mad at them.  She is so sweet.

She really loves writing and I want to do more to help her reading and writing skills.  To hold myself accountable, I wanted to post my academic goals for the girls this summer.  I started working with her on sight words and she LOVES practicing them.  She knows 4-5 right now and my goal is for her to know 20 by the time she starts Kindergarten.

Harper has much less interest in doing anything academic related (besides cutting her shapes), but seeing Handley doing her work has made Harper a little more interested too.  My goal for her this summer is to have her writing her name by the time school starts and for her to know at least 50% of the alphabet.  Besides the letter H, she tells me everything is an A and if I say no, she moves to her next guess, B. :-)  Last week Handley said she would help Harper with her ABC flashcards while I was putting Hudson to bed.  She came running in to tell me that Harper knew ALL of them.  I had to see what she was talking about.  Turns out she knew what all the pictures were on the flashcards.  Ha! I had to explain to her that we wanted Harper to learn the letters, in addition to the pictures.

The first time Harper let me help her write her whole name. 

RaceTrac Family Day

Today was the annual RaceTrac Family Day.  This year it was at the zoo and not only did we get to see all of the animals, but there was also face painting, carnival games, a bounce house, raffles and a great lunch.

When we first arrived we started making our way around the zoo to check out all the animals.  Handley had her job as tour guide with the map and kept directing us where to go next.  Every time she saw a spot for a photo-op, she wanted us to stop and take her picture.

Then we rode the train and the kids loved it.  The train went through a giant tunnel with colored lights that they thought was lots of fun.  Next up it was time for lunch and all of the fun activities RaceTrac had planned.  Handley showed off her skills with the hoola-hoops as she waited for face painting and loved playing the ring-toss games.

On our way out of the zoo we made on last stop by the carousel and then it was time to head home.  Everyone was exhausted by the time we got in the car and 2 out of 3 kids napped on the way home.  I'd say that was a successful day!

Check-ups

This morning was Harper's 3 year and Hudson's 9 month check-ups.  Harper didn't have to get any shots, so her appointment was pretty easy.  The only thing the dr. had to say about her was to keep an eye on her enunciation of certain words.  She does have a tendency to leave off the beginning consonant sounds of certain words.  However, if I ask her to say it correctly she can.  I just need to make more of an effort to correct her and have her practice saying words clearly instead of thinking its sort of cute the way she talks.

Harper's stats:
weight - 33 lbs. (75th percentile)
height - 37 3/4 inches (55th percentile)

Hudson thought getting to sit on the table and play with the paper was the best part of our visit.  He got one vaccine, but he only cried for a few seconds.  He also got his toe pricked to test his iron levels and he didn't even flinch for that.

Hudson's stats:
weight - 19 lbs. 8 oz. (30th percentile)
height - 29 inches (75th percentile)
head circumference - 18 inches (55th percentile)

I must say I was really shocked that his weight is now in the 30th percentile (down from the 60th percentile at his 6 month check-up).  He looks and feels so solid to me, has the squishiest little legs and even has rolls on his knees.  I know that a lot of it has to do with the fact that he is becoming more mobile and moving around a lot more.  However, the doctors like for kids to continue on the same trend and don't like to see a big drop like that in percentiles.  She suggested I just keep offering him lots of table foods (which he is already eating) and to do little things like give him his waffles with butter and syrup instead of just plain.  I know he'll love that!

The other thing is the fact that he isn't crawling yet or trying to pull-up.  I'm not at all worried because he is starting to roll everywhere, scoot backwards, and spin around on his belly.  This afternoon he was close to getting on his hands and knees from a sitting position.  I really think he has just had such a laid back personality that he's not been too motivated and is just going to hit these developmental milestones a little later.  However, she did encourage me to help him scoot along, get to the sitting position on his own, and try to help him figure out pulling up.  I also talked to the girls about not always giving him a toy right away and letting him try to get to it on his own.  

Art Show - 2012

Tonight was the annual Art Show at the pre-school.  I look forward to this event every year.  Each class has several pieces of artwork displayed in really adorable ways.  The girls were super excited about showing us all of the things they had made.  They were also really excited to see their teachers and their friends.

Handley's fossil 

Handley beside her "sock" snowman

Harper's snowman with it's upside down hat and fly-away scarf. :-)

RaceTrac

Today I was on a mission to find a hat for Hudson that he will actually keep on his head for when we play outside.  He pulls off all the sun hats he has and I think the straps bother him.  I just love guys in hats and I especially love seeing my baby boy in one!  He loves supporting the home team.  Let's go BRAVES!!!

Tonight we went to the friends and family grand opening event for the RaceTrac that is right down the road from us.  My BFF, Jen, said it best earlier today when she said, "If you had asked me 10 years ago if going to a gas station grand opening would be on my calendar I would have thought you were crazy."  I feel the same way, but not only was it on our calendar, we were super excited about it, too!  We have been anxiously awaiting for it to open!  This store is AMAZING.  The inside looks like a mini fresh market.  It has a coffee bar, tons of fresh food, a beer cave, and a frozen yogurt bar with more toppings than any yogurt place around.

At the event today, the girls got to spin the wheel for free stuff.  They both won a free frozen yogurt, which we were going to get anyway so the coupon was an added bonus!

We saw lots of our friends there.  Harper just loves Will and had so much fun making him laugh.

 We LOVE RaceTrac!!!

Hudson - 9 months

Hudson is 9 months old today!  He is growing and changing so quickly.  I can't believe that he still isn't crawling, but he is rolling everywhere and can usually get to what he wants by rolling, turning around on his belly, or scooting backwards.  For the longest time I feel like he was happy to sit back and take it all in, but now he's more interested in checking everything out and figuring out what's going on around him.

 At 9 months Hudson:

• generally sleeps 12+ hours at night.
• has been fighting his morning naps and has a much harder time falling asleep in the car, but will take a really long afternoon nap (2-3 hours).
• is starting to get frustrated when he wants to move around so I'm hoping that give him some motivation to figure out crawling. 
• is eating a lot of finger foods, but can be pretty picky about textures. 
• has several favorite foods: goldfish, yogurt melts, and Chick-fil-a nuggets. 
• pulls down his bumper and peeks at the door when he wakes up to wait for someone to get him.
• does a funny little dance where he nods his head when he gets excited. 
• has two top teeth and two more that are very close to cutting through.  
• laughs like crazy and his crazy sisters. 
• started saying da-da-da-da a lot today.
• thinks its funny to stick his tongue out and blow. 
• does a funny little squishy face when he smiles sometimes. 

Water Fun and a Movie Night

The best $10 I ever spent was on our blow-up kiddie pool.  Today I had promised the girls we could fill it up and let them splash around.  The water was really cold, but they could have cared less.  They had SO much fun and it made me so excited about all the summer fun I know we'll have.  Our neighbors, Calvin and Elizabeth, saw us out there and came over to join in the fun too.

The girls had fun testing out silly ways to go down the slide into the pool.

My day is ending with my sweet girl, Handley.  She filled up her marble jar and picked a movie night, complete with a milkshake, as her reward.  We're watching Strawberry Shortcake as I type and enjoying our special time together while Harper and Hudson are in bed.