Unicorns and Rainbows Birthday Party

We started off the girls birthday with rainbow sprinkle covered donut holes for breakfast. We then spent the morning cleaning and preparing for their birthday bash that evening. We got out of the house around lunch time to indulge in Happy Joe's and run a few last minute errands.

When we began planning the birthday party, Reese said that she would like to have a unicorn theme. I chose rainbows for Gretchen as I felt that the two went well together. I knew that we had the perfect theme when we found rainbow unicorn invitations and thank you cards at Target.

 

I attempted this unicorn cake after finding it on Pinterest. I think that it turned out fairly well!

The birthday girl definitely loved it!

I didn't get a picture of Gretchen's smash cake because she was teething and crabby during the party. It was a rectangular cake that was rainbow colored. I had used sprinkles to make a number 1 on top of the cake. Randy stuck her hand into the cake to get her started and she began sobbing and throwing a fit. I cleaned her up and she was done for the night, refusing to go to anyone other than mommy.

Though the party was held outside on our deck, I decorated the kitchen cabinets with pictures from each year of Reese's life and each month of Gretchen's first year.

 

My mom had purchased an American girl doll for Reese, so I made her and her doll matching shirts with a unicorn and a six on them.

Both girls received so many nice gifts and we enjoyed sharing their special day with all of the friends and family that were there to celebrate with us!~

Siblings

For the most part, the kids all get along very well. Reese and Aidan are usually smothering Gretchen in kisses and hugs causing her to fuss. While I try to remind them that she needs her space and that they wouldn't want somebody in their face all the time, I am so glad that they are so in love with their little sister!

While they get along well, Aidan and Gretchen really know how to push each other's buttons and Gretchen can hold her own against her older brother! She is intrigued by his cars and always trying to take them from him. Aidan gets mad and will try to take them away from her. Gretchen does not give in easily though! I have seen her take a bite at him or even ram her head at him to thwart his attacks.

Gretchen may be able to fight back against her big brother, but she is no match for her older sister! Whenever Gretchen is getting into something that she should not be or is generally annoying her big sister, Reese picks her up and places her in her bumbo seat. Gretchen is then stuck in the seat until somebody lets her out, but that doesn't stop her from trying to get out on her own!

Mother's Day 2013

My Mother's Day started bright and early with Aidan waking me up at 5:45 because he had an itchy butt. I helped him to clean up and then we went down to the basement to play so that we would not wake the rest of the house. While playing Aidan approached me and said that he wanted to make daddy a card because he was probably sore from roofing the day before. I'm not going to lie I was a little miffed that it was my day, he had come to me to take care of his personal hygiene and he was worried about making his dad a card! Soon after Gretchen woke up soaking wet! So I was wiping another butt, just 2 hours into my Mother's Day. About that time Reese woke up. After giving me a kiss and telling me Happy Mother's Day, she showered me with gifts that she had made at school. My favorite was a recipe book that her teacher made. She had asked the kids and moms to submit their favorite recipes that they enjoyed making together. Reese had chosen the Ariel birthday cake that we made for her 4th birthday, while I chose my mom's egg noodles for homemade chicken noodle soup. After reading through the recipe book and getting a few good laughs, I got the kids fed and then showered and got ready for the day. We left for Dubuque around 9am and met up with my mom and sister to do some shopping. A few hours later, we were not quite ready to leave, but the kids were finished shopping, so we went to Dairy Queen for a little treat. Afterwards we said our goodbyes and headed back home. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing at home and ordering in dinner so that I did not have to cook. After putting the kids to bed, I even got a chance to play with my brand new tablet! All in all, it was a perfect Mother's Day!

Easter Fail

We woke up to find our Easter baskets this morning since we will be staying at a hotel in Dubuque tonight. The kids loved their baskets and were thrilled to find them early, but soon after eating a few pieces of candy Reese came up to me and asked, "Mommy, does the Easter bunny have to buy the things in our baskets? Not sure where she was going with this question, I answered that I didn't know, then asked, "Why?" She replied, My movie says WalMart on it. I immediately replied that the Easter bunny does not have elves like Santa, so he must have to buy some things and she seemed to buy that excuse. Now that I have a reader in the house, I am going to have to do a much better job of preparing for the holidays!

No Fear

We recently got a four wheeler for the kids and it has been so funny to see their differences come out in how they drive. Aidan is very tentative, which reminds me a lot of me. He was actually content to sit atop the four wheeler without moving and watch the traffic in front of our house. When he is driving he is very slow to react. He will run into the garage door or the fence and continue to push the pedal to the floor. Though I am yelling at him to take his foot off of the pedal and back up, he just does not yet understand that he needs to change his action to get unstuck.

Reese on the other hand has almost completely mastered driving in just 2 days! Not only has she mastered driving skills (pulling her foot off of the pedal when she is about to run into something, knowing when to reverse or move forward, turning the handlebars to avoid running into things) she also found that she enjoys going fast! At first she pushed her foot down as hard as she could on the accelerator while saying, "Come on, come on!" Eventually she learned that by simply turning the grip on the handlebar the four wheeler goes faster. She usually does this in the middle of a turn. While I am worrying that she is going to be thrown off of the four wheeler, she screams in delight! I love that she is not afraid to try new things and to take a risk, sometimes I wish that I could be more like her!

First Crush

On Sunday we pulled out all of Reese's valentines, which she had already addressed to her classmates in her own handwriting, so that she could decorate them. With all of the valentines spread out in front of her, Reese said, "Where's Andrew's? I want to work on Andrew's first." I immediately asked, "Why do you want to work on Andrew's first?" Reese: "Because Andrew is so cute! I just want to take his picture so that I can hang it in my room and look at it whenever I want!" Me: "Does Andrew think you are cute?" Reese: "No." Me: (muttering under my breath) "Thank goodness!"

One BIG happy family

As we usually do, I was asking Reese about her day at school on our ride home. She started telling me how she went to the library and picked out the best book. Our conversation went something like this: Reese: I love the book that I picked out because it reminds me of our family. Me: Oh yeah, what is it about? Reese: A family of hippos! Yep, that's us! One BIG happy family!

Swim lessons

I signed both Reese and Aidan up for swim lessons this fall. I was not sure which level to sign them up for since they had both advanced significantly in their abilities over the summer. Reese had completed the introductory level last year, so I signed them up for level 1. The first week, Aidan was totally soaking up all of the attention and allowed the instructors to help him float around the pool. Despite Randy and I trying to get him to show off his ability to hold his breath under water or swim, he refused. The second week he finally showed off some of his abilities and after the lesson, the head instructor approached me and asked if I would be willing to allow them to move up to level 2 since Reese seemed to show a higher ability and she thought Aidan would not want to be separated from his sister. We consented and began the following week. The kids enjoyed the new lessons and the instructor was suprised at their ability. At one point Aidan went underwater as he waited for the instructor who was working with another student. When she turned around, she grabbed out to pull him up as if he had been drowning, and just then he popped his head out of the water and grabbed onto the side of the pool. She breathed a sigh of relief and from then on trusted more in his abilities. They learned how to do several different strokes and swimming skills over the following weeks. During one of the last lessons, the instructor tested them on their ability to hold their breath underwater. Most of the older kids went, holding their breath to the count of 11 or 12. When it was Aidan's turn, she counted to 12 and looked impressed, she got to 15 and she looked kind of nervous, and when he finally came up at the count of 25 she was incredulous. Though they did not completely pass the level 2 requirements, I was very impressed with the skills they learned. We will continue to work on their swimming and I hope to get them both involved in a swim team next year.

Only Brother

Yesterday I took the day off work for Randy's surgery. Since Reese was not sick and did not have any reason to miss school, I took her to school while Aidan and Gretchen stayed home. I cleaned most of the morning while Aidan played and Gretchen cooed. They kept themselves entertained and I was not constantly breaking up fights! We headed into town about 10 and dropped Randy off and then ran a few errands while we waited. While at HyVee, our first stop, Aidan commented how it was nice without "Reesey" and I kind of had to agree. We got a kids shopping cart and Aidan was driving by himself and I did not have to yell at anyone to quit fighting or keep their hands to themselves. After getting a few supplies for cookie making, we decided to go get lunch. We went to the McDonalds play place and there happened to be another little boy about Aidan's age. They were playing very well together when I overheard Aidan tell the other little boy, "I wish that my sister was here." Again, I had to agree.
Recently, Reese began referring to Aidan as her "little bother", just like Nickelodeon's Olivia does to her little brother. As she has started school, their relationship seems to be even more difficult. Reese is growing and wants her privacy and time alone, while Aidan is so intrigued by all the things that she is learning and doing and wants to be involved in it. Although they fight the majority of the time that they spend together, I do believe that they really do love each other. It's things like their time apart yesterday that reveal their true feelings and the special bond they share.
As the only boy between 2 girls, I think that Aidan is going to have a lot of skills in dealing with women when he gets to the age to start dating. In another instance yesterday as we were walking through the mall, another shopper said, "Oh look, he is playing with her hair!" I had put Aidan in the back of the double stroller as he requested, so Gretchen was in front of him. He had leaned forward in his seat, with his arm resting on the seat back and rubbing his sister's head and playing with her hair. He has done this often since she was born and it always melts my heart because I know that he truly loves and cares for his little sister. I just feel sorry for any of her potential boyfriends, because I think that he is going to be pretty protective of his little sister.

Halloween 2012

Since I had a lamb costume for Gretchen, I decided that it would be fun to dress Reese up as Little Bo Peep. I started looking for costumes and was disappointed to find that most costumes were around $30 or more and were not the best quality. Though Reese was on board with the costume idea originally, she decided after watching the "Aristocats" that she wanted to be a white cat like "Marie". Wouldn't you know that a white cat costume would be impossible to find. Everywhere I looked, I found balck and leopard tails, ears and costumes, but never anything in white. Since I couldn't find a costume, I decided to try to make one. I just needed a white sweatsuit, which also turned out to be impossible to find. Eventually we found a white sweatshirt and leggings the Saturday before Halloween and day before trick-or-treat. I had some leftover fur from a Christmas project and used it to fashion some ears and a tail for her to wear with the sweatsuit. Though it was a fairly simple costume, Reese was ecstatic. She even thought that she should crawl on her hands and knees like a cat for trick or treat and drink milk from a bowl for her meals.

While we were uncertain about Reese's costume until the last possible minute, we had been working on Aidan's costume much longer. I brought a copy paper box home from work and taped off some boxes and the number one. Then I spray painted it blue. After removing the tape, I painted those areas red. I painted a face on a paper plate and spray painted several paper plates black and attached them to the box with hot glue. Finally, I added a striped piece of scrapbook paper on top and some black buffers to the front and back. I added some straps and Aidan's Thomas the Train costume was finished. Just like Reese he was so excited to wear his costume. I put him in it and he immediately began running around the house bashing into things.

Though Gretchen's costume was not homemade, she still looked adorable!

I hope that the kids will continue to allow me to help them create costumes in the future. It was so much fun to be able to work together to create something that they truly loved and was different from anything else that the other kids were wearing.

Silent E and other school lessons

A few weeks ago Reese was writing small words like "stop" and making short sentences like 'We go to PE." The other night she was sitting at the table writing like she does most nights, but when I looked over at what she was doing I saw words like "butrfli" for butterfly and was so impressed. I can't believe how quickly she advanced from writing and recognizing short words to sounding out and spelling much longer words. She started reading the words off to me and then began to give me a little lesson on the silent E. After her lesson she said, "Oh yeah, I forgot the silent e!" and promptly went back and added the letter e to the end of each of the words she had already written. Friday, when I went to Reese's school for "read with me", her teacher informed me that Reese was so excited for me to come that she wrote about me in her journal. I'm hoping that we get to see her journal writing when we go in next week for conferences. Regardless of when I get to see it, that journal will likely become one of my most prized possessions when it finally makes it's way home, just like all of the drawings she brings home each week that depict her and I. I'm so glad that she has fun and enjoys school, but it's also nice to know that she thinks of me.

Hawkeyes

Since football season has started we have had several opportunities to sport our hawks gear. The first time was during an open practice at Kinnick. Randy and I were very excited to take the kids to the stadium and see their reactions. Unfortunately, they were not nearly as excited as we would have hoped.

I snapped these pictures of the kids in their black and gold before the first home game. Gretchen is actually wearing one of Aidan's old outfits, so I threw the bow on to be sure people knew she is a girl!

Whatever the season brings, the kids will definitely be cute cheering on our favorite team!

Swimming lessons

Both kids attended their final swim lesson for the fall last week. During the lesson, the instructor asked the kids to dunk their heads under the water while she counted to see how long they could hold their breath. The first few kids went and she counted to anywhere from 10 to 15 for each one. Finally, she got to Aidan, the youngest in the class. She started counting immediately after his head went underwater. When she got to 10 she kept going to 15. At 15 she looked impressed and continued counting to 20. At 20 she got a little worried and continued on to 25 when he finally lifted his head up out of the water. Needless to say, both kids passed the level 1 that I originally signed them up for and accomplished all but 2-3 skills from the level 2 class. I am so proud of my little fish!

Favoritism

The other day Reese and I were talking and out of the blue she says, "Remember how I didn't even get a cake on my birthday because you were at the hospital getting baby Gretchen out of your stomach." I reminded her that we did not have cake on her birthday but we did go to Happy Joe's for pizza and an ice cream sundae the night before and threw a giant Tangled themed bash the day after I got home from the hospital. Though she admitted that both events were fun it was just not acceptable that we did not have a cake on her actual birthday! And so it begins!

Reputation

During dinner the other night, Reese announced that she had a new friend named Andrew. Me: "Oh really. What did you and Andrew do today?" Reese: "We played under the slide and in the tunnel." Me: (thinking that those places sound kind of like hiding spots, needed some clarification) "What else did you do?" Reese: "Whenever I left, Andrew waited for me to come back." Me: "Oh, really! Why don't you tell daddy about your new friend." Reese: "Daddy, Andrew and I were digging rocks under the slide." Thank goodness! I was worried about Reese getting a reputation!

No Good Horrible Rotten Week

Reese's very first full week of Kindergarten is best described by the title of this post. You name it, anything bad that could have happened did and then some. She was nervous to go to the bus stop on Monday and asked me to stay and walk her to the stop rather than having grammy take her. Since the bus comes just a few minutes after I drop her off at her grammy's I told her that I would take her just one more day. We snuggled on the couch until it was time to go and I walked her to the bus stop. When the bus came, she forgot her reservations and ran after her friends to get on the bus. I followed the bus to her school and waved as I drove past to my school just down the road. Everything was fine until about 2:55 when I received a call from the school nurse that Reese had had an accident and they were holding her to be picked up by a parent. I immediately left work to pick her up. When I arrived she was dressed in completely different clothes and was absolutely a wreck. She was crying and tired and totally overwhelmed. The nurse explained that she cleaned her up as well as she could with wipes, but it was obvious she needed a bath. After gathering up her dirty clothes, we rushed home and got her into the tub. I was starting my first class for the semester, so I quickly cleaned her up, got her dressed and got her settled on the couch. I gave her a kiss and rushed out the door before I could change my mind and decide to skip class. It was agony sitting through class because I was so anxious to get home and find out more about the first day. When I got home, she had taken a quick nap and eaten dinner and was in much better spirits. We talked about the incident and I found that she had gone in her pants during end of the day recess. I emphasized that she needed to find a teacher and ask to go use the restroom if something like that ever happened again. The very next day her grammy took her to the bus stop and all went well at school. After work, I picked the kids up and we headed to town for a scheduled checkup and cleaning. Both kids did very well, but the dentist revealed that Reese's front tooth that had been dead for several years (after falling into a coffee table) was abcessed and needed to be removed. She would not do it in the office, so she referred us to an oral surgeon. By this time, Gretchen was screaming, so we quickly scheduled the appointment for the next day and then ran to the car so that I could feed Gretchen. Reese was already very upset at the thought of having the tooth removed and kept asking questions about it. Randy was out of town on business, so I called him immediately to give him the news. That night I checked our insurance and discovered that the oral surgeon they had referred us to was not a preferred provider, so I called to cancel the appointment and rescheduled with a preferred provider for the next day. Wednesday night, Randy's aunt watched the kids so that I could attend my other class. By the time I got home and ate dinner, fed Gretchen, looked through Reese's school stuff and packed lunches, it was time for the kids to go to bed. I hate how little time I have with them on school nights, but I am so glad that I get to be home in time to still be able to tuck them into bed. Thursday morning we slept in a little as I took 1/2 day off to take Reese to the oral surgeon. We dropped the other kids off and drove to the office. When I pulled up in front of a dilapidated old Victorian home with boarded up windows, I did not have a good feeling. Those feelings became overwhelming as I sat down with Reese to fill out the paperwork amongst the taxidermied animals hanging all around us. When I got to a disclaimer that stated that we would owe the entire amount of the visit up front regardless of insurance, my inner voice was screaming at me to run! I asked the receptionist about the disclaimer and found that they were going to be charging a minimum of $300 to knock her out. After a quick call to Randy, we cancelled to appointment. Reese was upset because she had been all worked up about having the tooth pulled and whether or not it would be painful. I was crying and upset because I just wanted the whole ordeal to be over with for her. Since I had not fed her and did not pack her a lunch for school, we stopped at Subway to get both of us a lunch, and the cookies worked wonders at improving both of our moods. I dropped Reese off at school and went in to work. While I was at work, Randy contacted the insurance to find out about our coverage and rescheduled the appointment with the surgeon that our dentist had originally suggested. After work, we picked up the kids and went to town to sign the papers for the refinance on our house. After signing the papers, we went out to dinner. The kids were tired and crabby and it was not the smoothest or most relaxing dinner out, but I was still glad not to have to cook! The next morning Randy took Reese to the surgeon and had the tooth removed. Reese was a trooper and did not even cry during the procedure. On the way back to school, she wanted to see me, so Randy brought her into my work. All of my co-workers doted on her and though she was in a better mood, she was sore and decided to go back to grammy's. I told her that I would pick her up if and when she felt better and take her to school if she wanted, and not even half an hour later I got the call. I picked her up and took her to school and told her to have a good day. That afternoon when I got to grammy's to pick up the kids, I was shocked to find Reese in the same clothes that she had borrowed from the nurse on Monday! She had had another accident at recess and this time they had just sent her home on the bus. I was livid that they sent her home on the bus rather than calling to have her picked up. After talking to Reese about the incident, I learned that she was scared to ask the teacher to go inside to use the restroom because they had told the students that nobody was to go back inside during recess. Over the weekend I drilled it into Reese that she needs to let somebody at school now when she needs to use the restroom and that they will let her inside if she just lets them know. Thankfully, she has not had an accident since then and she has had a blast meeting new friends and showing off all of her artwork and things that she has learned. Though we got off to a rough start, I feel that we have finally found our way to enjoying Kindergarten!

Not an "S" word

Reese has been working on the sounds that the letters make at school. Reese often exaggerates words trying to sound out each letter to figure out how it is spelled. Each week they have one letter that they focus on practicing writing and also bring in an object that starts with the letter for show and tell. This week's letter is "S", so I suggested to Reese that she could wear her new shirt to school on her show and tell day. Reese: "Sh-sh-sh shirt. Nope. Not an "S" word. I love Kindergarten!

Kindergarten!

Today was Reese's first day of Kindergarten! I can't believe that my oldest baby is old enough to be in school! We have been very excited and anticipating the start of the school year. We got ready in record time this morning and I took a few pictures of Reese all ready for her first day.

We drove to grammy's to drop the other kids off and then drove to the bus stop because of the rain. We introduced Reese to a couple of kids that were waiting at the stop. One of the kids asked who Reese had for her teacher, and when we told her she responded that that teacher was mean. When we inquired further why she was mean, I almost laughed out loud when she said that she gets mad if you color outside the lines! I snapped a picture of my sweet little girl waiting in the rain with her princess umbrella.

Soon after the bus pulled up and the kids ran for the door. I tried to take a picture of her climbing on the bus, but between trying to give her a kiss, showing her the bus number to look for when it was time to come home and my heart suddenly jumping up into my throat, I didn't even have time to turn on my camera! I stood back and waved as the bus drove off and then walked to the car with tears in my eyes. As I got into the car and realized that Randy was also teary eyed, I started to lose it! I can't imagine how hard it would be to let a child go if either the parent or child had any apprehension. Here we were all excited and looking forward to this major step and we still turned into blubbering idiots! Her school is on the way to my work, so I wound up following her bus all the way to the school. As the bus turned into the driveway, I waved and blew a kiss out the window. A family friend works at the school and I thought about emailing her all day just to see how things were going, but I restrained myself. I cannot say the same for my mother-in-law! She emailed her and found out that Reese seemed a little shy but that things were going well! Randy was there to greet Reese as she got off the bus this afternoon and she was all smiles!

The smiles did not last for long though. I arrived soon after and anxiously approached her to see how her day was. She whined and pushed away from me, refusing to tell me anything about her day. I anticipated that she would be tired as she is used to taking a 2 hour nap, but did not expect for her to want nothing to do with me! We went home and she went straight up to her room without a word. I went up to check on her after a while and found this:

That is Reese completely passed out! She stirred a little when I took her picture, but went back to sleep immediately. About an hour later I woke her up for dinner. A few minutes later when she was fully awake, she was finally in the mood to tell us about her big day! "They read a story, "The Gingerbread Man" and went on a tour of the school to find the lost cookies. They finally found them in the lunch room on top of the milk cooler. Could I believe that they have a doctor in their school? We got to see her room and everything. I had a taco thing for lunch. We didn't get to play on the playground for very long." Besides being tired when she got home, it sounded like she had a fun day. Unfortunately, she does not go back to school until Monday, but she did bring home some work from school and pulled it out right after dinner and got to work. I think that this year is going to be a lot of fun! I can't wait to see all of the new things she learns and all of the changes that will take place.

Just around the corner

On Monday night we attended a Meet and Greet at Reese's school. We arrived just before 5pm and introduced ourselves to her teacher. After chatting for a moment, the teacher instructed us to find Reese's chair and to do the activity we would find there. We walked over to the tables and after walking around about 3 times, Reese finally found the chair with her name on it. At her spot we found a bag full of goodies that represented the goals for the year: Smarties because they are all smart, gum to remind them to stick with it, and band aid to remind them to be kind to their friends. After looking through the goodies, we got to work on the activity. The activity was a sort of classroom scavenger hunt. It directed us to find Reese's mailbox and locker as well as important areas of the room including the bathrooms, calendar and play kitchen. I read off the items and hung back to let Reese find the items on her own. Immediately after reading the first item, Reese grabbed my hand and asked me to come with her. After finding all of the items on the scavenger hunt, Reese sat down to color in a worksheet with a blank t-shirt. I snapped this picture of her working at her desk.

Aidan had been occupied with some blocks while Reese and I worked on the scavenger hunt. As soon as Reese sat down to work on her coloring page, Aidan grabbed up the container of blocks and moved to the seat across from Reese at her table. As he sat down he announced, "I want to sit by my Reesey!" I have been so concerned with Reese's transition and my own feelings about Reese going into Kindergarten, that I had not really considered the transition that Aidan will also be experiencing. Reese finished up her assignment and then got down on the floor to play with Aidan while I ran around taking care of bus arrangements, dropped papers off with the nurse and made a payment on her lunch account. We made our way to the car and went out to dinner to celebrate. I can't believe that in just one day we will be watching Reese board the bus for her first day of Kindergarten!

Very Convincing

I got a rare opportunity to watch the kids play at aunt Linda's house one night as we waited for Randy to pick us up. Immediately when we got there Reese found a treasure, a paper drink umbrella. She snapped it right up and started going on about how she needed something like it for her "fluffy". When Linda said that she could have it, Reese absolutely beamed! She turned away from Linda, pumped her arm and mouthed, "Yes!". Oh yeah, she knows how to pour it on!