Skinamarinky Dinky Dink, Skinamarinky Doo,

I Love You.

  

I love you in the morning and in the afternoon, 

 I love you in the evening underneath the moon.

  Skinamarinky dinky dinky, skinamarinky doo,

 I - LOVE- YOU.

The Bee-- Almost Four

SLEEP:  Sweet Buzzy Bee has been going through a MAJOR nightmare saga lately.  She had one very bad dream when she was sick. I thought it was because of the fever and that she wouldn't remember; almost like a night terror. However, remember she did; every single detail.  So each night when she goes to sleep, she is very fearful.  We have had to reinstate her reward chart for going to bed calmly and that helped tremendously.  Mom suggested we make a dream catcher and that has also eased her fear.  I am praying that this subsides, but I feel like it is here to stay a while.  She has such an anxious personality- especially when she fixates on one thing.  I should know, as it is one of my worst traits.  But, since I struggle with this, I know that she cannot help it and that she is not just being silly, so I try to treat it as a very real fear and just talk her through it and we pray about it often.  Thankfully, she is still sleeping great once she goes to sleep.

Another big development is that Amelia gave up her nap.  It just happened.  She couldn't fall asleep one day and she couldn't the next either, and that was that.  I let her lay back there with books to read (and I watch her on the video monitor) and she lays there a long time doing just that.  She eventually transitions to playing mom with her stuffed animals.  There was one day she put a lemur up her shirt and birthed it....and then nursed it.  Oh the joys of listening to Ross talk about births all the time, haha.  This no nap thing has actually proven to be fabulous because she goes to sleep so quickly and seems to sleep better.  Such a big girl.  I cannot believe that she will be FOUR this month.

SCHOOL:  Amelia absolutely loves running into her classroom each morning.  This year has been such a blessing for all of us.  There is no hesitation as she rushes in to start her day.  For this "semester" Mrs. Lisa has not done individual discipline (ie the green dot system) and they have been doing group behavior and earning warm fuzzies.  Although Amelia had only earned two yellow dots, she was always worried about not receiving all green.  This is my fault as I made a huge deal out of getting those yellow dots and was very strict and hugely disappointed, etc.  Parenting fail.  So, this has been a fun break and the class all filled up their tub with warm fuzzies and had a Penguin Party as a reward. I am just praying that she loves her school next year when we move.  I have been telling the girls that we found a new house that we might live in if it is God's plan.  Neither seem phased right now.  I also have no idea how many days to send her.  The classes are available for all week and are all FULL day which makes me sad.  I know these are all just the next steps, but they make me feel nervous.  Trying to just soak up this last month of having her be three.

Elise walks Amelia into her class in the morning.  :)

SISTERS:   One thing that continually amazes me is that Amelia has such compassion and love for Elise.  Even when Elise messes up our game or tears down our Lego wall, Amelia tries to be calm about it.  Now, this is only the case if it is Elise, haha.  She doesn't have the same patience for others.  Their relationship is one of my daily proudest moments.  Not to say they don't argue some or to paint a false picture, but most of the time Amelia praises Elise and builds her up and I pray that always continues.  I hope that I say the right things to nurture their relationship as they get older.  Since Steph is my best friend, I just know first-hand how special the friendship of a sister is.  No judging, no withholding, no off-limits.  All that to say that I love what an amazing sister Amelia is and is becoming.

And for a keep-it-real moment, I was discussing with Amelia how sad I was that her friend Aiden was sick on the day of the penguin party.  I told her I was so sad that he missed out on the fun, etc.  She looked at me and deadpanned, "But, Mom, the most important thing is that I was able to go to the party.  I wasn't sick and I had fun.  That's all that really matters."  Yep, she's my kid.  Teehee.

Vacation Roundup

Ross finished off his vacation week with a flourish and I didn't blog much.  Just soaked it all in.  We filled up our family Patience Jar and were able to go to Incredible Pizza for a fun lunch treat.  I saw the idea on Integrity Parenting's Blog and the girls really responded well to it.  We picked patience as something we needed to work on and whenever I saw the girls being patient in a situation without being told, I put a cotton ball in the jar.  It took almost two months to fill it up, but what JOY the girls had (especially Amelia) when we reached our goal. 

Amelia has just now discovered the beauty of showing the food you are eating to others.  You are welcome. Note Elise's "ew gross" face.

Since we went at lunch, we had the place to ourselves pretty much and there wasn't a soul in the gameroom.  We had a blast playing games and wasting money, hehe.  Amelia chose a Tootsie Pop and Elise chose a sticky, suction cup ball.  Clearly one person made the better choice. 

During vacation we had Jared's birthday party and as usual, Jen gave the best party.  She had a taco bar set up that was magnificent.  I absolutely love that we all get together for every family birthday.  Makes me so happy. 

A great-grandma that gets down on the floor and plays like a young pup.

Tom working hard!

Beautiful Jenny

Sissies!

Oh how Amelia loves this Livvy Poodle

Elise kept proclaiming, "Oh I have MISSED my Pop."

Twin

Birthday boy hates pics, so I tried to take very few

Showing D how she can sound out a few words!

 

We had mostly low-key nights and played a lot of games.  Our current favorites are as follow:

Elefun

Hungry, Hungry Hippo

Zingo Bingo

Cootie (ugh, I only added this because Buzz likes it, haha)

Scootin' Along

It has been SO cold this week.  Like, wearing sweatpants and a robe, and still chilly type of cold.  We had a beautiful burst of sunshine and warm weather poke through on Saturday and we went to the walking trail for the girls to use their new scooters from Santa.  We were blown away at how well Amelia did.  She literally was zooming on hers!

 Elise did great also.  She was very cautious and would scoot her little foot and people on the trail would stop and say, "Aww."  They couldn't help themselves.  She did fall once and after that only wanted Ross to push her while she held on. 

 I know I took a million pictures of them on their scooters, but it was just one of those few hours that I couldn't stop smiling.  So proud of my girls. 

Discovery Center

Ross is on vacation this week and we couldn't wait to go to the Discovery Center on Monday to kick off our fun week adventures.  (actually it was kicked off on Saturday with game night and Sunday with Jared's party, but I haven't uploaded those pictures).  Elise didn't remember the last time we went and I was really excited to see her reaction; she LOVED it.  Both of my girls have such a great time there (and my husband lives for science) that it is worth the hefty price tag every once in a while.

Figuring out the pulley

Elise would have spent FOREVER digging in these old tire pieces

The wind xylophone

One of our favorites

They have a dinosaur dig, a grocery store, a health section, magnet tables, gravity spins, funny mirrors, and so much more.  It was a wonderful morning.  Ross was obsessed with these Kapla blocks.  I made a railroad, Amelia made a teepee, Elise threw her blocks on the floor, and Ross made this...

Genius/show off

 

Then, after naps, G and Pa surprised the girls and they were so excited and WILD.  They had a ton of fun playing and we had a lovely supper at The Village Inn.  I had strawberry crepes with whipped creme that were simply AMAZING.  And, I had a cheese omelet that was so fluffy and delish.  Perfect night.

G brought new sticker books