student becomes the teacher

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Yesterday I had a teaching moment with Ellie in which... I am pretty sure I was the one who learned the lesson.
I realize that I'm far from all the perfect mothers out there and still have so much to learn and yesterday was proof of the many area's I need to work on.
-Morning's are always a blur at our house. Waking up kids, making and serving breakfast, doing hair, making sure teeth get brushed, getting them dressed, finding shoes, packing up all four out the door and to the school by about 8:00. So as I was in a crazy hurry because I had to change a surprise poopy blowout, I tossed Ellie her clothes and shoes to put on. Enter Whining.
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"I don't like this shirt" "These shoes are big and heavy" "I look silly, like I'm on a farm"
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We went back and forth pleading our cases until she got sassy and threw her shoe on the ground in protest and sat on the couch with her arms folded. STINKER!!
I had Enough!!! I was at my limit.
I said "That's it! I'm done... you take care of getting yourself ready. You have 14 minutes and then you are to be in the car." And I walked away.
-This is how I expected the next 14 minutes to go:
Ellie (a little shocked and realizing that it is hard to find a matching outfit, find clips, do her own hair, and gather the missing shoe from under the couch) cries but finally gives up and just gets ready my way.
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-This is how the 14 minutes actually went:
Ellie, with a Victory smile on her face, proceeds to her closet and comes out with an outfit only the mind of Lady Gaga could think up. She gets dressed in 1 minute flat, puts on an equally hideous jacket, runs a brush through one side of her hair and hops in the van. 1o minutes to spare. Done and Done.

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My mouth drops. I don't even know what to do. I can't go back on my word, I can't make her come back in and put on the clothes I had picked out. She was to get herself ready. It was her....Punishment??
-She learned that she could easily pick out her own clothes and it was fun.
I learned to think out my decisions that are spun out of frustration before they are said out loud and to make sure my 7 going on 17 fashionista is involved more in the outfit choosing process.
Oye! (Stop laughing Mom)

So to school she went!
My guess is that her teacher might have thought I was out of town or super sick and she was dressed by her daddy. (heehehe, love you Scottie) And I wish more than anything I would have taken a picture of her that morning, all bright and smiley full of sass and a whole lot of self confidence!

"homemade" school pictures

Due to having 2 kids in school this year and the $40+ price tag of the typical Lifetouch school pictures we opted for taking our own this year. So here are some of Ellie's I took and Connors are on their way.

Second Grade:

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Sawyer

Tomorrow Sawyer will be 4 months!! wow. He becomes more of a little person each day. He loves to laugh and gives the cutest gummy smiles. Lately, he loves to suck in his lower lip like this:

He is still a tremendous sleeper. He only wakes up once a night to nurse. His eyes have turned a beautiful chocolate brown and have the little stripe of color coming off the pupil (like a marble), just like his sister and daddy do.
We think he might have the lightest hair out of the four of them. ?? We'll see. We are all wondering if he will get Ellie's curly hair. Sawyer loves his baths and needs them daily due to his constant drooling. By the end of the day his neck seems to smell a little like cheese....gross. Looks like I need to make this boy some bibs.

He is, let's just say WELL loved by all of his siblings. He is always being kissed and tickled and held. We just started giving him a little rice cereal 2 days ago and he so far is not a huge fan. He is nearing 20lbs, is in 6-12month clothes, and is already up to the top strap setting on his car seat.

I could just dip him in chocolate and eat him up.

Stripes

On Sunday we were all getting ready to head over to my parents house for dessert to celebrate my Dad's birthday. Everyone was ready and about to head out the door except Connor. I called for him over and over and finally just went to find him. He was sifting through his clothes drawers and still not dressed. I asked what was taking him so long and he said he was trying to find a shirt. I was frustrated because he had already thrown about 7 shirts on the floor. He still kept searching. I asked why not the 7 shirts that were on the floor and he told me that he had to find one with stripes! That made me smile because even though that might sound weird to you... Connor knows that if you are wearing stripes when you go to see Grandma Lynnie she "counts your stripes". Meaning, she has Connor sit in her lap and pins his arms down and starts at the bottom of his shirt and with her fingers walks up the stripes, counting as she goes. It tickles! He only makes it to about rib cage area before he is laughing so hard he can't breath.
My mom has done this with Connor since he was a baby and I think it will be one of the great memories he will have forever of her.



Connor is such a funny little kid. He has always been fascinated with the idea of grandparents. To this day, if you ask Connor what he wants to be when he grows up he will still say "A Grandpa" He has fun traditions with all of his grandparents. With Grandpa Bud he runs straight to the bookshelf and knows that Grandpa Bud will read to him for hours on end. (If he could stay still that long :)
With Grandma Pam the first thing he says to her when he sees her is "Lets make pudding!" because Connor knows that that is their thing, Grandma always let's Connor help her whip up some homemade chocolate pudding.
And with Grandpa Evan it's snake cookies- since I was a kid my dad has been the king of turning kids into food. He lays them down side by side and "cooks" them. Turning them into burritos, pancakes, hot dogs or cookies. He flips them over with spatulas, and stirs them with spoons, puts them in the oven and always takes a bite. Connor's usual request is that he gets to be made into a snake cookie!
My experiences and memories from my own amazing Grandparents have become a part of who I am an I am so grateful that my children get be molded and shaped with pieces of all the fun things they got to do with these strong figures in their lives.

sisters

Last week I took Ellie out to take pictures of an outfit I am reviewing on my other blog. Macie about had a fit because she wanted to go take pictures too, so we had ourselves a quick impromptu photo shoot.

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We had fun just us girls and Ellie was the the stylist.
She picked out every outfit for herself and Macie and a matching hair clip.
I know these days are going to be over in the blink of an eye and I hope that I can remember what made them laugh, how their little toes looked all painted pink and I hope these two stay such great friends....even at 14 and 18.
xoxoxoxo

School Days

We are back in school and back on a schedule. Ellie started (2nd) on Tuesday and Connor (Kindergarten) today.
First day for both went off without a hitch (except the day before, Connor biffed it on his scooter and now has some pretty awesome road rash)

The only tears shed were from Macie who DID NOT want to leave. "I go to school mama, my school" she sat her little bum down on the floor in the hall and folded her arms. She was so mad at me for wanting to leave that when another helpful mother noticed that this scenario had Potential Melt Down written all over it and offered to Macie that she could go home with her (thinking Macie would stand up and run to me).... Macie says. "Sure, do you have bubbles?"

Looks like those- don't talk to stranger lectures- are working great.

And did I mention how much I love having just 2 at home. All day.

Ellie update

To make a Long story short....
Positive-
Ellie got her cast off last month after having to extend the time she wore it.

Negative-
Her arm is pretty much as crooked today as it was the day she broke it.

Positive-
She can still move her hand and fingers like normal.

Negative-
She can't swing on monkey bars or put a lot of pressure on her arm. Easy for a SECOND grader...right???

Negative and Positive-
For some random reason neither Scott or I could make it to the last appt. with her when she got it taken off so we didn't get to talk to the doctor about what went wrong, but we did send her with someone who kinda chewed the doctors out because of the level of unsatisfactory which I would not have had the guts to do.

Double Negative-
We now have to go in November (ironical right after our insurance switches to a new year) and she might have to be put under and her arm re-broken and actually set this time, but with a pin.
Yikes! Poor Ellie.

Super Positive for her-
She's pleased as punch because she got to get her ears pierced a year early and thinks she looks like a princess!

Little Soy Sauce

Our little Sawyer is getting so big.

Part of me is so excited that he can now hold his head up and suck on his hands keeping him busy for 10 minutes and then I stop and think...forget the dishes,the sewing, the running around, all I want him to do is stop growing, stay pudgy and lay on my chest all day so I can smell him.

I am reading the most amazing "mothering" book right now (thanks Jena) and I was just blown away by this quote:

"Sometimes success is when we don't get through the to-do list but instead stop long enough to notice the little things. To savor moments. Not only to notice the delight in our children's eyes, but to help create that delight"

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I love being a mommy.