Skiing at Brundage

The moment we have been waiting for all season. Our first trip to the ski hill. We decided to rent used skis from Greenwoods for Pennington for the whole season. Pennington was really excited to go get sized and pick up his new skis and boats. Pennington also got a Lucky Bums backpack. Basically it is a backpack with a handle to help parents pick their kids up from off the ground and two ropes to help guide them when skiing. He also got what we call an edgee wedgee. Basically it helps to attach the tips of the skis together so they can make a good wedge. Obviously this makes 100% sense to someone who skis and probably no sense to someone who doesn't.

Sidenote: Pennington has been having some issues remembering to use the bathroom so we have been using skiing as a reward for good behavior.

We went skiing at Brundage on Sunday as a family. Poppy came along as well. We decided last minute to put Piper on skis. She actually did better than Pennington did last year. She lasted longer, had better balance, and didn't really cry.

Pennington did AWESOME... the lucky bums and edgee wedgee are key. So helpful and really made all the difference. We only skied the bunny hill but Pennington went on the chair 10 times and I think Piper went 7 times. Below are some pictures of the kids skiing.

Hanukkah Havurah Party 2012

On Wednesday we had our 2nd annual Havurah Hanukkah Party. A Havurah is a group of Jewish families that get together. Our group has several families with young children. This year the turn out with about 3 times as big as last year. Lets just say it was minor chaos but the kids loved it. I think we had 13 kids and 10 adults over. We had dinner, lit the candles, had a gelt treasure hunt, and played Hanukkah Pictionary. Below are are few pictures of some of the kiddos eating dinner and playing pictionary at our party.

Hanukkah at the Cabin

We decided to spend the last night of Hanukkah up at the cabin. This Hanukkah has been a lot of fun this year. Most of the gifts our children got were either things they needed like skis, coats, socks, underwear, etc. or educational toys like a cash register, puzzles, Melissa and Doug toys that are education but I have no idea what they are called, arts/crafts, etc. As expected the kids loved opening there gifts. I just love watching my kids problem solving how to put puzzles together.

One thing I love about spending Hanukkah at the cabin is getting to light the my favorite menorah, the Moose Menorah. Below is a picture of our beautiful menorah.

Ice Skating

What does Dad do with a 2 and 3 year old when Mom is out of town? Go ice skating.

Hanukkah - Pennington's Class

Last Thursday myself and another mother (Rebecca) who has a daughter (Lucy) in Pennington's class went to talk to Room 5 about Hanukkah. Our goal was to talk more about the symbols of Hanukkah rather than religion. We talked about what the candles symbolize, how we play driedel, and what hebrew letters look like. I was really impressed about how much the 3 to 5 year olds already knew about Hanukkah. I realize some of them could have been making things up but a handful of them already knew what a Shamash was and said they had there own driedel at home. Weird right? Half of you probably don't even know what a Shamash is. In case you were wondering it is the "helper candle" that we use to light the other candles. Overall, I think it went really well. I think Pennington enjoyed having us come into his class. Sorry I don't have any pictures to share. I was focused on trying to

Up Up High

Below are a few pictures that were taking at Harry's Harvest Party back in October. Harry is a boy in Pennington's class. I have to say that I really enjoy going to the kids parties. I enjoy getting out and meeting other parents with kids. If I have one piece of advice for all you married people with no children it is to have kids when your friends do. Don't wait. It will make it 10 times easier to have a network of friends with kids to hang out with.

Bath for 2

As you can imagine it is much easier to bath the kids together. For the most part the kids enjoy bath time together. I would say at this point there is limited fighting going on while in the bath. There is the occasional splashing and puring water on each others heads. I am sure at some point the fighting will increase and at somepoint they will get to big to be in the bathtub together. For now they will continue to be bath buddies. Below is a picture of the kiddos enjoying their evening bath.

Piper and her Bunny

Piper has never really been into stuffed animals or dolls. The only one that I would say she is starting to have an attachment to is Bunny. Bunny was given to Piper by G.G (aka Grams). Piper likes to sleep with Bunny. It is the softness little bunny ever. Pennington has a similar stuffed animal. I will try to get a picture of Pennington with his stuffed animal to share. Below is a picture of Piper and her bunny.

Thanksgiving 2012

 This year for Thanksgiving the family went up to the cabin. Lots of extended family joined up. Grams, Papa, Uncle Mike, Aunt Lisa, Cousins Bryan and Issac, Uncle Ben and Elliott and Nonie and Poppy. We had a great time with our extended family playing games, putting puzzles together, origami, stickers, eating, playing in the snow, etc. Since there was so many family members at the cabin our family got to sleep in the "little cabin" (aka Guest House). I actually really liked sleeping over at the little cabin. It was nice to get away from everyone for a little while. The only thing that wasn't good was sleeping on the futon with a bad back. Below are pictures from Thanksgiving 2012. I really need to do a better job of taking photos. Neither one of these are very interesting but it does evidence that the kids were actively learning.

Piper 2 1/4 Year Old Update

Here is the update on Piper.

Piper is starting to push the limits on things. Before I felt like she was always doing what I asked but not now. She is definitely exerting her independence. She wants to buckle herself up in the car. She wants to dress herself. She wants to get her milk cups out by herself. The list goes on and go. I am constantly having to remind myself that I need to ask Piper if she would like to help or do it herself before I start doing it for her and she has a nervous breakdown. It is so interesting the little things that will set girls off. The crying is more than I can handle sometimes. The worst is when I am in a hurry and she refuses to let me get her dressed or buckle her up. I literally have to beg her to hurry up.

Piper is starting to be interested in watching some TV. We try not to let our kids watch a lot of TV but sometimes we just have to. Piper likes to watch what Pennington likes. Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Go Diego Go are the current favorites. After watching the shows the kids will pretend to be Jake and Izzy or Diego and Alicia. I will say I love the imaginative play that comes out of watching kids shows. It could go on for hours and hours. We currently have a permanent Bucky (Jake's pirate ship) in our house.

Piper is starting to be more and more interested in girl stuff. Princesses, babies, purses, etc. She loves everything that is pink or purple. I read somewhere that at this age little girls overdue the girly thing and I have to say that is totally true. She is constantly talking about how she is a girl and Pennington is a boy. She had determined what boys do and what girls do.

Today I took Piper to her first Baby Shower for my dear friend Matt Haller's first child. Piper literally said to me, "Mom you can't fit in a baby shower". I love that line. Below is a picture of Piper from the baby shower. Enjoy!

Pennington 3 1/4 Year Old Update

It has been a while since I have written about how Pennington is doing. So here goes.

Pennington continues to be totally obsessed with sports. Pennington has been to all of the Bronco football home games this year. Johnny tells people that Pennington has actually been to more games this season that he has. The whole family went to the last game. Pennington ran into two of his buddys from school Davis and Luke. Pennington adores Davis and Luke because they have the same love for sports that he does. Luke even gave Pennington a hug. Johnny and I feel bad for Miss Emily (Pennington's teacher) since she has lots of jocks in her class. They all show up with there Bronco jerseys on.

Pennington has been having some poop issues lately. We has had several accidents at school and home lately. In fact, I am starting to have a hard time remembering that last time he actually went poop in the potty. Our current game plan is to stop making a big deal out of it, try to remind him that he needs to use the potty, and just ask him to tell us what we need to do to clean it up.  So far I haven't seen much improvement but it is much better to be positive instead of yelling at him for having an accident.

Pennington is getting more and more interested in learning his letters. He is interested in playing card games (memory, go fish, etc). He also likes to put together floor puzzles with 24 pieces.  Now when he is coloring or painting it is all about trying to get the color within the lines.

Pennington is definitely not shy. He is pretty much willing to talk to anyone usually about sports. Except for the other day he was hiding behind me when a really cute Kindergarten girl in class tried to hand him something.

Below is a picture of Pennington taken today at the Bronco basketball game.

Daddys Gone for a Week

Johnny left on Friday morning for New Mexico for 8 days for what I am calling a mini guard deployment. Luckily we have plenty of family to help out while Johnny is gone. I plan to only work while the kids are at school next week except for on Monday morning Uncle Elliott is going to watch the kids for a few hours. The kids and I did facetime with Johnny this afternoon. So far the kids seem to be doing fine with Daddy gone. They also seem to be doing fine with Uncle Henry being gone too. I'm interested to see what is going to happen when the kids finally realize Uncle Henry doesn't live at the house anymore. To be honest I am pretty sure the kids are going to be fine with Daddy gone for a few days. I think I am really going to be the one that misses him the most.

Note: At the end of November I am going to be gone for 6 days for a work training in Texas so Johnny will get to be a single dad for a while.

Parent Teacher Conferences

On Thursday we had our first parent teacher conferences for both kids. It was very informal but also very informative.

Pennington is doing well. He is adjusting really well into his new class. He is working on packing away (picking up) after he is finished with his work. He is very interested in puzzles, jobs (chores), building blocks, etc. I have personally noticed some significant improvement in his knowledge of the alphabet. I asked Miss Emily what we could do at home to help improve his learning and she said we need to help foster more independence at home. There are times when Pennington would prefer that Johnny or I do things for him. We really need to focus on having him be more independent and building more self confidence. Overall, Pennington is right on track for someone his age. While Pennington doesn't talk a lot about what he does at school I can tell he is learning more and more and his attention span for his work in increasing.

Piper is also doing well. I believe Miss Rose's exact words were Piper has a big personality in a little body. Piper is extremely independent. She wants to do absolutely everything by herself while at the same time she will ask for help if she needs it. Piper is definitely ahead in all learning areas for someone her age. Typically children in her class don't move up into the next class until around their 3rd birthday. Piper on the over hand will likely move up within the next few months when she is around 2 and a half. The only thing holding her back right now is potty training. She still has a few accidents during nap time at school and at home. She is still wearing a pull up at bedtime and will likely have to for several more months. Overall, I am really proud of my little girl. She is doing so well at school. I love to hear her talk about what she does at school, her friends at school, and the songs she sings. Piper loves to sing. I really need to find her a music group that sings a lot so she can explore her interest in singing more.   

All in all I think it was a really successful parent teacher conference. I can't wait until the next one to hear how much they have learned.

Henry Leaves for the Air Force

Uncle Henry left on Tuesday to join the Air Force. We are all really excited for him. He has worked really hard to get into the program he is in. Below are a few pictures of the kids with Uncle Henry. We can't wait to see Uncle Henry in January after he is done with Boot Camp.

Halloween 2012

The kids had several opportunities to wear there costumes this year. My office party, Greyson's birthday and Halloween. Below are some pictures from many of the Halloween events the kids attended over the last few days.  Piper was a strawberry and Pennington was a dragon. Enjoy!

Baby Cousin

Pennington and Piper will be welcoming their first baby cousin into this world in the next few months. Uncle Rocky and his long-time girlfriend are expecting a baby boy this winter. A few weeks ago our family took all sorts of baby things over to Uncle Rocky and Shannon's house for baby cousin.This has been a really good experience for the kids. Anytime they find something a baby would like they give it to me and say we should save it for baby cousin. Pictures to come as soon as the baby is born.

2 and 3 Year Old Checkups

Last week I took the kids to their 2 and 3 year old checkups with Dr. Booth. Nothing really exciting. Both kids are doing great and appear to be right on track. There were a few take aways I got from the appointment. (1) I need to have the kids take a vitamin with iron in it. Right now the one they take doesn't have iron in it. (2) I need to try to give them more water. Right now I pretty much only give them soy milk or juice. Basically I need to just give them water when it is not meal time. I have heard this a thousand times but it was a good reminder.

Below are the stats. I have to say I am not 100% sure if they are comparing my kids to other children that just turned 2 or 3 or if they are actually comparing them to children that are 26 months and 38 months. Regardless I would say my kids aren't the smallest but on average are smaller.

Piper

Weight: 26 pounds - 48 percentile
Height: 33 1/2 inches - 26 percentile
Head Circumference: 18 1/2 - 39 percentile

Pennington

Weight: 31 pounds - 37 percentile
Height: 38 1/2 inches - 52 percentile
Blood Pressure: 70/60

I guess at 3 they stop doing head circumference and move to blood pressure. :)

Family Photos

I decided it was about time we got some family photos taken. Below is a preview of some of the photos that my dear friend Nora took for us tonight. I have hundreds more to go through and edit/crop so expect to see more soon. Thanks Nora!!!

Piper - The Fashion Queen

Piper loves to dress herself. This was one of my favorite outfits she came up. She has on Cars pajama pants, a pink vest with hearts, lots of necklaces, black Mary Jane's, a teal and white polka dotted shirt, and a headband. Johnny and I joke around about how she got her fashion advice from Grandma because Grandma is always wearing things that just don't go together. However, lately Piper has been talking a lot about matching so hopefully her fashion expertise will be better. Below are some pictures of my fashion queen.

Harrison Classic

Today Pennington and Piper ran the Harrison Classic which is a one mile race down Harrison Blvd. Grandma came along to help run with the kids since Dad had to work. Both kids did great. Pennington walk/ran the whole thing and Piper walk/ran or was carried. While they didn't time it I think Pennington did one mile in about 15 minutes and Piper did it in about 20 minutes. It was really fun to run the race since there were tons of our friends from Montessori Home there. Below are some pictures from the race.

Piper is Potty Trained

We did it!!! Piper is potty trained. What is so interesting about potty training Piper is that she basically did it herself. Johnny and I hardly had to push her to do it. With Pennington we had to work with him a lot but not with Piper. Piper was just very insistent that she no longer wears diapers and only wears underwear. I will say that she isn't potty trained at night and if her nap is longer than say 2 hours she will have an accident. I actually have to beg her to wear a pull-up or diaper at night. I tried just letting her wear underwear to bed at night but after about the 3rd night of having to wash sheets I said screw it and made Piper wear a pull-up. I wouldn't be surprised if Piper has to wear a diaper or pull-up at night for another 6 months or so. She just doesn't seem to be ready to wear underwear at night. This is 180 degree difference from Pennington. When we finally got Pennington potty trained we realized we just had to take the diapers away all together even at night.

I have to say it is so awesome not to have to buy diapers or bring diapers with me everywhere. I feel like I have a whole new freedom. I will say that you never know when they will have accidents even though they are potty trained. You never want to get to comfortable and decide you don't need backup clothes in case they have an accident. Pennington has been having at least one accident everyday lately. Boy I hope this phase goes away soon.

Overall I am really proud of my little girl. She basically potty trained herself. Love you little Miss Piper.

Piper gets a hair cut

Last weekend Johnny and I were at our dear friend Tessa's wedding. On Sunday morning after the wedding I woke up to find that Piper had bangs. Turns up Grandma decided it was okay to cut Piper's hair without asking Mom. While I do agree that the bangs look good, I really didn't want Piper to EVER have bangs.  I even told my mother-in-law this a few months ago when I told her I planned on taking Piper to get her haircut soon. Being a girl I totally understand how it can take months, even years, to grow out bangs. At this point I guess Piper is probably going to have bangs until see decides she no longer wants them. Which will probably be in like 10 years. Honestly it has been over a week and I am still a bit worked up about this. I made sure to let my mother-in-law know that Piper's hair is very special to me and that I do not want her to cut her hair again without asking me first. It is really interesting how I didn't get very worked up about Pennington getting his haircut but I am definitely getting worked up about Piper getting her haircut. I think it is because I don't have any pictures or hair to put into a keepsake box. At the end of the day I really need to get over this since we are talking about hair which I know will grow back.

Harvest Festival - 2012

.On Saturday Johnny and I took the kids to the Harvest Festival at the Botanical Gardens. The kids had a great time. They picked pumpkins, painted pumpkins, did the ring toss, corn maze, etc. Below are some pictures of the kids and some of their friends that we ran into along the way.

Piper picking out a pumpkin

Piper and Pennington paining pumpkins

Piper in the Corn Maze. Did you notice the bangs? See my next posting about the bangs.

Pennington, Avery (Becca Allen's Oldest), Piper, and Harkin (Chetan Baxter's Oldest)

Piper, Pennington and Avery

Pennington and Piper on the John Deere tractor