Pennington 3 1/2 Years Old

Pennington turned 3 1/2 years old about 2 weeks ago. Here is what Pennington has been up to.

1. Pennington continues to be totally obsessed with sports. He has an imaginary favorite sports player named Mitten Rocky. You might ask if he is really saying Mitt Romney. I have asked him several times and he continues to tell me, "No Mom his name is Mitten Rocky." Pennington enjoys watching sports on TV with Daddy including fishing shows. Lately we have taken him to a few BSU basketball games which he also enjoys.
2. About a month ago I had a meeting with Miss Emily about how Pennington is doing in class. He went through a phase where he was having several accidents every week at school. He also didn't seem to be very engaged at school. Come to find out I guess children go through a transition period approximately every 3 years. This is partly why Montessori has classrooms with 3 ages together. Right now Pennington is going through this transition period where some days he seems really grown up and other days he seems like a toddler. I guess there are days at school where he can put the entire United States puzzle together (note there are 50 pieces to this puzzle one for each state, can you imagine putting together all of those tiny east coast states?) and other days where he doesn't even know how to eat his own lunch. Of course by the time I talk to Miss Emily he is starting to have more days where he seems grown up. I'm really excited to watch Pennington grow up. He is turning into the sweetest little boy. I just adore him right now.
3. Pennington is doing a great job skiing. It is amazing to see this 3 1/2 year old ski pretty much all by himself on the bunny hill. He is also looking forward to starting soccer again in the next few weeks. He asks me everyday if he today is a soccer practice day.
4. Pennington knows all of his numbers (0-9) and almost all of his alphabet. I love how excited he gets when he can tell me the letters in a word he sees. Miss Emily asked me at the beginning of the school year what I hoped he would learn this year and I said his alphabet. I am happy to say that I think he will have learned it by the end of June.
5. Pennington really enjoys coloring and painting right now. Specifically he likes to have me draw the outlines of something and then he will color it in. He did this awesome rainbow picture the other day that he was so proud of.
6. Pennington has a crush on a little girl named Vivienne. He really likes her a lot. He also talks about Rowan and Henry a lot. Vivienne, Rowan and Henry are all in Pennington's class.
7. Pennington loves to dress up. His favorite things to dress up as are a Pirate, any kind of sports player (football, soccer, golf, you name it), a snow mobile guy, astronaut, etc.

All in all Pennington is so much fun to be around right now. I am really enjoying this age. I am realizing now that I wasn't definitely not fit for the newborn age but I am fit for this age. I feel like I have so much love for my children right now. I look forward everyday to talk to my children and hear about how they are doing and what they are learning about.

Below are a few recent photos of Pennington.

Piper 2 1/2 Years Old

Piper turned 2 1/2 about a week ago. Here is a summary of what Piper is up to these days.

1. Piper loves Disney Princesses, specifically Cinderella and Rapunzel. She asks to reach here Disney Princess books every night.
2. Piper is totally potty trained  . . . . except for at night. Piper rarely has accidents. In fact, Johnny and I were talking about how we never have to worry about Piper having accidents because she always tells us if she needs to go. Piper doesn't appear to be anywhere close to being potty trained at night. Hopefully she will figure it out before she turns 3.
3. Piper enjoys putting puzzles together. I find that I can start her in on an art project and she will totally focus on that task for at least 10 minutes. You can tell she takes her "work" seriously.
4. Piper is starting to enjoy watching cartoons with Pennington. Johnny and I were talking about how Pennington loved Kipper when he was younger but Piper didn't really watch them with Pennington. We started to watch Kipper again and Piper LOVES it. Kipper is such a great show. She also likes to watch Diego with her brother.
5. Piper can totally dress herself from head to toe. She does not want your help. Oh and she LOVES anything pink or purple.
6. Piper loves going to school. She is hoping to move up to the big kid class soon. She has realized that some of the other kids in her class are now in the big kid classes so she wants to be a big kid as well.

Below is a picture of my sweet little Piper.

Side note: Yesterday at Costco Piper screamed for a solid 10 minutes while I was taking her and Pennington to the bathroom. Nothing that I said to her would stop her from SCREAMING. I had two ~50/60 year old women stop me and tell me I handled her very well. They both said they have had several children and that I was doing a really good job with my children. It definitely made me feel better. Piper . . .why were you screaming???? You made a lot of people think I was hurting you or something. Mommy loves you but please don't scream like that again. :)

First Sleepover

The kids had there first sleep over on Friday night. We had Bella stay the night at our house. Bella is the kids cousin. I think technically she is there 3rd cousin because Bella's mom is Johnny's cousin. Bella joined us for Shabbat dinner followed by lots of playtime. The kids slept on the floor in Pennington's room. I was surprised how easy it was to get them to go to bed. They each picked out one story for me to read to them and then we turned out the lights. I think they talked for about 5 or 10 minutes and then they were all sound asleep. Below is a picture of the kids with Bella. This photo was taken a week ago when Johnny tried to take them all to a movie. I told him movies for young children don't work well. He should have listened to me because I think they were only in the movie for about 20 minutes.

More skiing

I can't help but post more pictures of the kids skiing. I can't even begin to explain how happy it makes me that the kids love to ski. Only a few more years and the whole family will be skiing on the big hill together. What an awesome lifetime sport to be able to share with your children. We plan to get the kids in ski lessons next year at Bogus so that Johnny and I can have a few hours to ski together. Pennington is skiing now without the backpack and is doing a good job forming a wedge and stopping by himself. Piper does great with the backpack but still needs to work on turning and forming a wedge. Johnny has been taking both kids through some powder and off little jumps. The kids love it. I think we have now been skiing 6 times this winter and plan to go at least one more time. Below are some pictures of the family skiing.

Baby Cousin Rollin

Rollin Ryker Luangaphay was born on Saturday February 10th. He was 8 pounds 4 ounces and healthy. The kids are really excited to have a baby cousin. I don't think the kids totally understand that it will be months or even years before Rollin will really be able to actively play with them. Both of the kids keep asking when they can teach Rollin to say words or play soccer. All I can say is someday kids . . . someday. As you can see from the picture below Piper was a very proud cousin and wanted to hold baby Rollin. I think she would like a baby brother or sister but I don't think that is in the cards for mom and dad. For now a baby cousin will have to do.

January 2013

Just like that January flies by and I never posted anything to the blog. Here is what we did.

1. Family went skiing up at Bogus.
2. I was out of town for two days in Spokane and began working more (its my busy season for the next few months). I can definitely tell at first that the kids were affected by this (acting out etc.). Now that they are used to it they seem to be doing better.
3. Kids started going to school 4 days a week. We thought Piper was going to move up to the big kid classes in January but she is still having issues staying dry at naptime at school. She doesn't seem to have this problem at home but she does at school. I think by March she will be in a new class. Pennington continued to have a few accidents at school. Seems to be getting better now. I talked to Miss Emily about how Pennington is doing in school. I think he is having issues listening and focusing on tasks. Miss Emily said she has also noticed that but it isn't anything to worry about since he is still really young. Over the last week or so it is getting better. Miss Emily said having him there 4 days in a row will definitely help. Consistency with kids is key.
4. Pennington adores this little girl name Vivienne who is in his class. I would say it is his first crush. He has known her for more than a year now since she was at Montessori Home with him. Vivienne is a Amerasian as well (White Dad and Asian Mom). He is really excited to give her a Valentine.
5. Piper is obsessed with Disney Princesses. Her favorite is Tangled. For a good month now they only stories she wants to read are the Princess ones. I know Johnny is really enjoying that.
6. Kids had a dentist appointment. Teeth look good.
7. Kids are still going to K'tanim. Shabbat dinner is becoming a big thing at our house. The kids love helping make dinner and saying the blessings. I have had a few proud parent moments when the kids can say the blessings and answer questions about Shabbat to the Rabbi.
8. Johnny took the kids to a BSU basketball game.

I think that is it for now. I promise to start posting more soon. Pictures included. :)

New Years Eve 2012

Our family spent New Years Eve 2012 at the cabin.  I have to say while Johnny and I did wish we could have been with friends in Sun Valley it was pretty fun rocking out with the kiddos. Enjoy.