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.