'Twas the first half of December...

I feel like I'll need multiple posts to get through our Christmas events this year. Though, truthfully, most of them are done and over with by the end of next week once school is out for Cadence and me.

Our December began with a great deal on an artificial tree. ;-) I was agonizing (okay, not really) over how to get a great tree without risking Jen's allergies while still staying on a budget, but as time began to run out, someone posted a used-one-year-old tree that I had been eyeing new in the store for almost half price. I snagged it and put it up while the kids were sleeping, so they woke up to a 7.5 foot Christmas tree. Cadence and Megan's reactions were downplayed, but Connor's was hilarious. He kept going up to the tree and trying to blow the lights out. After a couple days of having it up, I pulled all the ornaments back off and put ribbon around it. Next year, I want a thicker ribbon. And I want it in gold, but for now this will do.

By the way, that's "Dragon Age: Inquisition" on the TV screen. Mwahaha!

We had a brief visit with Uncle Jon, but alas, no pictures were taken this time. I put the wrong time down in my phone, so I got a call an hour before I thought he was supposed to be picked up saying "I'm here!" and rushed the kids out the door. The bus station is not in the best part of town. Oops.

But, we had fun. Cadence and James both got home early one day to spend some extra time with him and we even let Jon cook for us his last night here. Chicken Parmesan, yum!

Tonight, we had our ward Christmas party. It was Polar Express themed, so everyone was encouraged to wear pajamas. (Sorry for the poor quality. I left my camera at home and had to rely on the "smart" phone figuring out the lighting).

With a Polar Express theme, there had to be a visit from Santa! The girls were eager to greet their favorite Christmas personality, but Connor took one look at him and started to cry. Why? Because we'd traumatized him earlier in the week at Bass Pro Shop and he was NOT going to go through that again. :-P

So, there's part 1. :-) Part 2 may not involve as many pictures. We're going to a special meeting with Santa tomorrow night. He's visiting a friend and we've been invited to have cookies with them. ;-) Cadence has a class party on Thursday that I will unfortunately be missing, since I have to work. I've also got Christmas party planning to do for my own work, while also going to CPR training on Tuesday and trying to figure out how things are going to work in January (both with my taking over the pre-K class and Connor and Megan enrolling). I've been trying to collect items for Christmas AND get the items they'll need for their first day of school.

Another "this and that" post

It's been a busy couple weeks since the girls' birthdays, so I'll just post general thoughts and updates and a few pictures (and even a video!) as I go along. :-)

First up? Cadence's kindergarten "Friendship Feast". Megan and I both got to attend, that is, Megan insisted on going and once I got back from dropping Cadence off at school, she hounded me about "can we go now?" until we finally showed up 15 minutes early.

Cadence and the rest of her class between performances of their songs. (video at the bottom of the post)

I could not get Megan to look at the camera for the life of me, and she was super disappointed to not get a serving of the fruit salad. We made it up to her by buying a slush from Sonic after my appointment.

Thanksgiving week was long. Cadence and I were both pacing a bit by the time Wednesday came around, and James joined us in the pacing for his extra long weekend. Thanksgiving itself was nice, very quiet. I again told James we need to find a similarly lonely family and combine the holiday. It's just not really "Thanksgiving" without the crowded house, surplus of appetizers and lack of proper seating. We did have lots of laughs during the weekend. Connor continued being his charming self. The girls ran around like crazy and had fun playing together all day, something they haven't been able to do that often since Cadence started school.

Once I got the camera out, Connor insisted on his fair share of model opportunities.

With a little extra time on our hands and no need to be strict about bedtimes, we attempted rag curls in the girls' hair.

When I attempted to brush out Megan's hair, it poofed up. I thought it was so funny, I left it that way for awhile.

We did tame the curls before taking the dog to the dog park Thanksgiving morning. Megan looked so chic in her long sweater and her crimped & curly hairstyle, I had to take a picture!

Cadence's curl results. We just pinned hers back and let them do their own thing. Super cute!

Megan's curls did eventually tame themselves into adorable Shirley Temple curls. This girl was BORN for curly hair! I'm so bummed her hair has straightened out as it grew longer.

I have not given a personal update on my new role as a working mom! :-) I've now been working for "Little Lambs Learning Center" for 4 weeks. I started the first week in November and I am really enjoying it. At the moment, I'm assigned to Mondays and Wednesdays in the toddler room, and on Tuesday and Thursdays I fill in where they need me. It's been an experience, that's for sure. I miss Megan and Connor like crazy (Connor more than Megan, but only because I'm constantly reminded of him while surrounded by toddlers), but it is a great place to work. The women are incredibly friendly. I love that we start every day with a prayer, too.

This opportunity has been truly amazing and it's something I can see myself doing for awhile. In fact, I've already begun looking into what it would take to get my certification. I'll need a little more experience before I can qualify, but it's on the back burner and the online course is bookmarked. ;-)

Connor and Megan will actually be enrolled in the program for January, since they need me to go "full time" (4 days a week, not full-time hours) starting in January. I will actually be trading positions with another employee. She will take over my part-time toddler room gig and I inherit her pre-K class as a lead teacher, Since childcare was a bit up in the air for January, the solution was to enroll them for the month. So, I guess my readers will get "first day of preschool" pictures soon, though I feel like I have to already start apologizing to my immediate co-workers in the toddler room, because I don't know how Connor is going to handle the change. I guess we'll see! And at least, when they're at work, I'll get an extra hour with them each day, since they'll get to spend my prep time with me.

Now we're getting ready for Christmas, slowly. Thanks to the car giving us issues and other such things, it's yet another quiet Christmas ahead, but the kids won't notice because they've already been spoiled and don't even know it yet. They don't read over my shoulder so I can post this: If things play out right, the girls are getting bikes for Christmas. Fingers crossed things work out before all the good bikes are taken! We've also already begun collecting presents ourselves, though we're in a bit of a bind about a tree. Debating how much to risk Jen's allergies with a real tree, or to just kick my snobby self and get a cheap artificial tree for the year (the snobby part of me whines that the one in our current budget is sparse and cheap-looking, *sigh*)

Cadence's 6th Birthday!

Cadence was so excited to go to school this morning. She was filled with stories of what she would get to do because it was her birthday: bring cupcakes, wear the birthday crown, get a birthday pencil! I walked her in to school this morning, rather than just dropping her off at the curb with her 2 dozen Tinkerbell cupcakes. It was a little surreal to step into the school hallway and watch her easily step into the flow of students without me. She's so grown up!

After school, showing off her birthday crown and the decorations we put up just for her (the balloons were dangling first thing this morning, but Aunt Jen had to tape them up before Connor pulled it all down)

Birthday cake. Yum!

She blew out the candles so fast I couldn't snag a picture

Opening Grandma Bobbie's present

We had to give Connor a piece of cake to appease him during the present opening ceremony. What is he going to do when there's no cake tomorrow?

Cheesy grin time!

Safety first! Showing off her safety glasses for her big girl present from mom and dad...

Practicing with dad with her new BB rifle. Learning the basics of aiming and safety. She did pretty well, except it was still a little too big for her. But when she aimed and let Daddy pull the trigger, she hit the target. ;-)

So, she's 6! It still hasn't completely sunk in that I have a genuine kid. Not a toddler, not a preschoolers, but a kid! She's excelling in school, she's making friends, she's learning a dozen new things a day, and she's doing 100% fine without me. *sigh*

Last Friday she got to do the "birthday bash" for all the kids with a November birthday in school, which meant she got to eat on the decorated stage and bring a friend with her. She invited her best friend: Nishi, which is a great story. I had worried that Cadence would struggle with making friends, but she plays with everyone and when their teacher was worried about Nishi not making friends easily, she enlisted Cadence to play with her and I encouraged her to keep it up and before I knew it, Cadence had a best friend. I'm excited to go to their "Friendship Feast" this Friday and finally get to meet all the kids I hear so many stories about every day. :-)

Megan's 5th Birthday

It's always a busy couple days when mid-November comes around and we have our back to back birthdays, but the weekend is upon us and Megan Ruth turned 5 years old!

All the kids enjoyed the streams and balloons hanging over the hallway door entry.

After getting ready for church, Megan insisted on posing.

We did the whole birthday cake and presents ordeal a little earlier than usual today, only because Cadence's present requires being opened before dinner, so Megan got to open hers before dinner too!

There's a definite pink theme for girly Miss Megan

She needed more than a little help blowing out the candles.

Opening her present from Grandma Bobbie

And squealing in delight over her present from James and me. When you turn the crown on top of Aurora's head, her dress changes colors.

Cadence read the instructions and Connor came over to investigate Hulk's newest girlfriend while Megan waited patiently for Daddy to get the doll out of its packaging.

Connor enjoying his sister's very pink cake.

Megan got an absurdly large slice, but, hey, it's her birthday!

So, that was Megan's day. Now she's happily playing out stories with her color-changing princess doll and soon we'll be cooking up her birthday dinner selection: hot dogs, beans, corn, and fries. I'd say "I can't believe she's 5!", but I totally can. She's matured so much recently and she's just as ready for school to start as Cadence was when she turned 5, more so, actually, because she's crazy excited after hearing how much fun Cadence is having at school.

She's seriously the sweetest girl. She lives to love, 100%. She is perfectly content to just shower love and affection on everyone around her, and she's just as excited about everyone else's achievements as her own. When Cadence and I get home after school and work, she's the first one at the door to greet us and she's learned quickly how to be a great big sister to Connor without Cadence around to fill that role.

Halloween 2014

Took me long enough to post these pictures, right? But Halloween was a fun event this year. Sadly, I had to cancel our "Zoo Boo" plans with friends due to car trouble (that is a whole new rant, but after a long weekend and a grand total of 20 hours in a mechanic's waiting room, the car is no longer making the squealing sound), but we did make it to our wards chili cook-off/trunk or treat. We also spent an evening in the elementary school parking lot jostling our way through for another trunk or treat, where we got a lot of dum dums and business cards, since businesses signed up to be the "trunks". At least we did get some balloon flowers and a chance to climb into the cab of a fire truck.

As for the ward trunk or treat, we got there on time, which means we were "early" and spent some time letting the kids run around before dinner was finally served. Then it was time to gather our pumpkin pails and go trunk to trunk. Without the overcrowding issue, I was able to take Connor out of his stroller and run wild. He quickly figured out how things work and had the time of his life.

The girls posing in the church's parking lot. Cadence was "Fancy Nancy" and Megan is doing her best Spidergirl impersonation.

Showing off her cat face paint.

A close up of Connor's costume. Everyone "awwed" over his muscled Spiderman as he strutted around.

Connor enjoyed the fruit of his labors. If anyone tried to even touch his pumpkin, he threw a major fit.

Halloween night, I was so excited to finally be in a neighborhood that actually trick or treats. This made it the girls' first real Halloween experience, because up until this year, their only trick or treating had been in the church parking lot and the zoo. Connor, who refuses to talk at home and insists on communicating with grunts, whines, and pointing (third child syndrome, I suspect), forgot himself for the evening and went up to each door to shout "tree!".

He only got to go once around the block before James took him back inside, and the girls and I explored a little further through the neighborhood.

Posing right outside our dressed-up front door.

Pictures & Captions

Our Book of Mormon reading chart. We have a family goal of finishing it together before the end of the school year. Once we do, there's a big surprise planned. It's a surprise even for James and me, because we have no idea what it is yet. Whatever it is, it will be AWESOME.

  

Pumpkin painting, because the kids and the pumpkins were too small for pumpkin carving this year.

Cadence actually painted a face on hers. ;-) Megan just painted all sorts of designs.

Connor got paint everywhere. We discovered the blue paint would come off with paint and water, but a blue stain remained. Luckily, baby wipes did the trick!

Dentist appointment!! Both girls were cavity free once again, but the dentist did remind me we'll have orthodontic bills rolling in eventually. Poor kids likely inherited my crowded teeth.

That's right, I'm hired! Made possible only because of amazing family! This of course segways into how excited I am for Robyn coming out in a few months (well, and Jen will be here for the holidays until then, yay!). Of course, Robyn was planning to come out before I even thought about taking a job, but super glad she's able and willing to help out for a few months until summer break.

Visiting the pumpkin patch. It was actually hosted by the same place I'll be working, though I had planned on going to this one before I even contacted the director of the preschool program.

Family picture, thanks to a very sweet woman who instructed us to smile and say "Cucaracha!"

Riding on the barrel train. Boy was I cramped, but the kids loved it. I might have loved it more if the guys in the background hadn't catapulted a pumpkin toward us. They were so focused on looking one way, they forgot to look out for us. It launched over 250 feet, but came less than 20 feet from us. A little scary, but all was well. They apologized profusely as soon as we pulled up to the "train station".

The girls in their barrel as we drove through the "woods".

Time for a generic update post:

Connor

Connor has had a few updates recently in this blog. His first day of nursery (first and only day, since we had General Conference then a sick day) and his 18 month check-up with a check-list of his milestones. His most recent excitement was teething. He had four teeth attempt to break through at once and they are finally ALL through, so no more teething for us for quite awhile. Thank goodness!

Unfortunately, we started some BAD sleep habits during his teething nightmare and I''m still trying to fix them. Essentially, my sweet boy who would read a book with me then run to bed, now refuses to go to bed willingly and we wait him out on the couch in a darkened living room before quietly transferring him once he's in a deep enough sleep. Yeah, bad habits, but I'm not sure how to fix them without a monster session of cry-it-out and I'm just not sure I can handle that. The boy is a pro at tantrums and can cry for 30 minutes over nothing even with me attempting to soothe him. If he actually has something to cry about... I don't think it will matter how tired he is.


Cadence

Cadence has lots of exciting updates. She is still excelling at school and loving every minute of it. She's still getting "purples" most days at school. She had her first "yellow" a couple weeks ago and was quite upset about it, but it was a one time thing. Every day she comes home with more stories and things she learned and stories she read and pictures she drew. I am eagerly awaiting the parent teacher conference so I can hear more about how she is doing and have time to ask the teacher a few questions. My biggest concern is her making friends. It seemed like she was becoming good friends with one little boy, but recently that seems to have cooled off. She's getting along with her classmates, bu I do worry that she's not making any real friends.

Her biggest achievement that I've seen is reading the scriptures. We've made it a goal to focus on our family scripture study, so Cadence has her own Book of Mormon and she usually reads one or two verses each night. I am constantly amazed at how easily she figures out words that I'm so sure will stump her.


Megan

Ah, middle child syndrome. It's something I have been keenly aware of lately. It doesn't help that this little girls lives for her brother and sister. I had a chat with her primary teacher at a Relief Society event and her teacher mentioned that all Megan talks about is her siblings in class. Then, her milestones are so close on the heels of Cadence's...

Megan is reading, though. As much as Cadence is self-taught, Megan is more so. Of course, she wants to be reading just as fast and easily as Cadence, which means she'll guess on a lot of words so she can "read" them at a glance, then grow frustrated when it isn't that easy. However, I can quiz her on Cadence's sight words from school and she can read most of them without a second thought. I'm collecting easier books for her and I to work on together and we're trying to review letter sounds so they're ingrained in her head. She still sometimes stumbles over vowel sounds and mixing up "y" and "w" and thinking a little "l" is a capital "I".

She is having trouble with the whole "friends" thing. She's never really had to worry about it before, always having Cadence to fall back on. It doesn't help that she's the only one her age at most playdates and only one girl her age in her Sunday class, so... I need to take up a friend on her offer for playdates. Her daughter is a year younger than Megan, but they're close enough it could be good for both of them. Megan would undoubtedly draw the quieter girl out of her shell and Megan would have somebody closer to her age than Connor to play with.

James and Me

"New" stuff is definitely a thing for the younger generation, but we do have a few goodies I suppose. James is continuing to work. We have had a few ups and downs recently, but that's the norm for life, right?

I have also actually begun looking for part-time work. With some family coming out to help us out, I've put some feelers out and actually had an interview for a part-time job at a mothers-day-out program nearby. Nothing official yet. I still have a telephone interview with the head of the program, but... It's an amazing opportunity and I am cautiously optimistic. Thinking long-term, for when I won't have help with watching the kids, the hours would allow me to drop both girls off at school, take Connor to work with me (he'd be enrolled), work, pick the girls up from school and go home for the rest of the afternoon with my family. It would give Connor the socialization he's used to once his sisters are no longer around, and I'll get some socialization too. So, wish me luck. ;-)

Spiderman at the zoo

When we go the email that the Houston Zoo was having a special visit from Spiderman and Captain America, James and I knew we wanted to take the kids. Connor and Megan had recently discovered an old-school Spiderman cartoon on Netflix and all the kids have an interest in superheroes right now, thanks to the recent Marvel movies.

Knowing the zoo would likely be crowded, we tried to get in early. With a later-than-wanted start, we managed to get there right as the zoo opened and we still had to park in the back parking lot. Even with a beeline to the meeting place, we had an almost 30 minute wait to see the masked duo and we were the lucky ones. By the time we had our picture done and left the building, the line was twice as long and on our way out of the zoo it had doubled once again.

The moment Connor caught sight of Spiderman, he demanded my attention and pointed him out. He then stared at the spot, waiting for the people to move so he could catch yet another glimpse.

Once we were at the front, he got a little shy. Spiderman was great, crouching down and interacting with him. Connor still wasn't sure what to make of them, though he couldn't stop watching.

The girls were equally excited to meet them, giggling and giving them high fives. By the time we took the picture, Connor had lost interest and was walking away, so I had to jump in. Of course, once we stood next to Spiderman, he couldn't stop grinning at his new hero.

Once the visit was over, we wandered to some of Cadence's favorite exhibits and the girls got to show James everything.

And, as always, a sidenote: Today was Connor's first day of nursery. It would have been last week, but that was Stake Conference, so this week James dropped him off (learning from past mistakes). I hovered in the hallway hoping for an immediate update and kept peeking through the windows before I finally had to go to where my class waited for me. James did peek in and assured me all had gone well, spurring exclamations from my small group of teens over his beardless face. I did my best to not rush to pick him up afterward. It wasn't that I missed him, it was actually nice to listen to the Relief Society lesson and not have him attempt to dive off the folding chairs for fun. Mostly, I wanted to hear how he had done from his new teachers. As it always goes, they were all smiles and raved about how sweet and quiet he was (that made me smother a laugh).

And, of course, the nursery leaders did mention how much they loved his little grin. Look at all the attitude conveyed in that smile. ;-)