It was a year of many changes......

It's hard to believe that we're about to wind down another year!  Where has the time gone?  Each year at this time, I create calendars for the grandmothers and as I was going back thru each month of the year, I was overwhelmed at how much my girls have changed.  This has happened right before my very eyes!  How can it be?

The most notable change, has of course, been with Little Miss M.  One year ago she was still very much the baby.  She is now a full blown toddler with a vocabulary that would make a 2nd grader jealous!  How many two year-olds look at their own picture and say, "how adorable is this"?  She cracks me up!  The other day she was having a minor melt down over I'm not sure what and I asked her "why" she was whining.  Her response, "I don't know."  I love the fact that she can verbalize that.

As I perused those pictures, I realized that my sweet K had made the jump from toddler to little girl.  Somewhere this past year, she lost that baby face, the one defined by the remaining baby fat, and now is officially a little girl.  She is a force to be reckoned with!  I love her mischievous grin!  She loves princesses and all things pink and sparkly.  And did I mention she is a social butterfly?  She can't wait to get to school and see her friends and teachers.  The only child I know that cried when we had a snow day last week and she couldn't go to school.

Last, but not least, my big girl.  I can only say, "Wow!" G has really come into her own this past year with definite opinions on everything-how she likes to wear her hair, what clothes she likes, what she wants to do, and the list goes on.  I'm so proud of the kid she has become.  She is an awesome big sister to the littles.  I'm sure they would say she is overbearing, but I see my own actions mirrored in her.  Sometimes good, sometimes scary :-)  This past year I've really seen her take-off academically.  She was always a good student but this past year she has started expressing that desire to study and to excel.  (and secretly I do the Snoopy happy dance over this!)

So for all who haven't noticed Santa yet, it's R!  Doesn't he make a great Santa!  I love that my favorite photographer comes up with these great ideas.  I wish I had of thought of doing a family shot that included myself but I'll have to wait for another session for that.

Alone time with my K-bug

I love the "alone time" that I get to have with my K-bug!  It's seems few and far between that I get to have individual time with each of the girls and so I really cherish our car rides to preschool in the morning.

It's those early morning drives is when I can really get the feel for the little person she is becoming--not the middle child, not the younger sister to G, and not the (sometimes) bossy big sis to M--just her own little individual self.

Her seat is situated in the back row of the silver bullet and so when the radio is on, it is really difficult to hear her.

A Saturday afternoon playing with a sheet of "bandaids".

Overheard on a recent trip to school:

K:  In a loud voice, "Mom, look at my hand!"
Me: Turning down the radio and trying to look in the rearview mirror. "What's wrong with your hand?"
K: Making a turning motion with her hand. "Can't you see this?  This is sign language for turn the radio up."
Me: Trying not to laugh out loud. "K, it's best to use sign language when someone is actually looking at you."

Love my kid and wondering at the same time where she comes up with this stuff :-)

K and M in their usual state of "jolliness" on G's school fieldtrip.

All three goofin' it up with hats made by our Aunt J.

Tales From the Back of the Bus

For good or bad, the family van has now become known as the "Silver Bullet."  K likes to throw her arms up as we are going around the curve of the exit to the interstate like she is on a roller coaster.  R consistently grabs onto the "oh sh**" handle (as he likes to call it) when I'm driving.  All this grief and I haven't had a ticket or an accident in 20+ years.

But onto other things.......

On the way home the other day, G is relaying a story of something that K did that did not set well with her.  She said, "that really pulls my trigger."  I think that's the nine year-old version of "that pushes my buttons."  It was hard not to chuckle as she was being quite serious.

The picture below is the girls in their Halloween finery.  This year they were Dorothy, Sofia, and Cinderella.

She's in LOVE.......

Somehow, somewhere, I crossed a line and now karma is coming back at me :-)  My sweet K has revealed that she is in love!  His name is David and he's going to be a door-banger.  Yep, you got that right......a door-banger. 

I am silently panicking on the inside because I see my hopes and dreams of independent, self-supporting children, coming to an end.  My sweet girl has fallen for a guy who wants to be a door-to-door salesman.  Russ' retirement is in jeopardy...instead of leaving the nest, they're going to be inviting others to come in!

Imagine my relief when she explained that a door-banger doesn't sell things, he bangs his head on the door and yells, "owww"----LOL!  Love these girls! There is still hope...........

Voices from the family room.....

And the little voice from the family room said, "I'm gonna eat you up..........because you look like a gummy bear."

Where did that come from?  is this the new version of the Three Little Pigs?

**K at dance class.  On the last day of each month they get to dress-up in costumes and act out a ballet--this was from Sleeping Beauty.

Overheard from the backseat.....

Trying to get the girls in the car (and rushing like usual) to get to an after-school activity:

Little Miss M was attempting to push the automatic door button on the van.

Me: "Don't ever push the automatic door button while we are trying to get buckled in because someone's arm or hand could get caught in the door.  If that happened, we'd get really hurt."

Little Miss M: "And go to the doctor?"

Me: "We would probably have to go to the hospital."

and the little voice from the backseat..............."and then we'd be late for ballet school." 

You gotta love the "all about me" attitude!

Sun, Sand, and Waves

The week I had waited for all summer finally arrived......beach week!  We had such a wonderful trip in 2012 that we couldn't wait to go back this year. 

What a great week we had--we missed our friends who went with us last year but this time some our family joined us.  The weather was perfect all week, and the house we rented was stunning--incredible attention to detail in the design and layout. 

Here are some pics from our week.  (and yes, I do have first day of school pics to post, eventually)

A man and his girls.

Grammy and K.

One bucket....so many uses!

One of many beautiful sunrises.

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Mimi and K.

"No Daddy, go the other way!"

Last sunrise snuggle (or at least until next year) with Daddy.

We're getting old....

We're getting old......I'm not sure when we crossed the great divide but I'm pretty sure it has taken place!

We had the pleasure of free tickets, courtesy of friends, to see Toby Keith in concert this past weekend.  It was a great show but it came in second to the exceptional amount of "people watching" that we were able to experience.  We must have stuck out like sore thumbs in our khaki pants and polo shirts.  The norm for dress was short shorts (with the pockets hanging out of the front) and halter tops for the women, jeans for the men, and cowboy boots and hats for everyone.

When we arrived at 7:00pm it was obvious that the majority of the crowd had been there for awhile.  There were grills fired up, cornhole games taking place, and full-on picnics complete with tables and chairs setup truck-side.  I thought that tail-gating only took place at football games. Boy, was I wrong!

There was also no shortage of red solo cups! or alcoholic beverages to fill those cups!  By the time Toby Keith came on stage there were quite a few passed out fans.  It left me wondering how they were going to get home!

Thanks friends for an interesting and enjoyable date night with the hubs but I think I better keep my older self home with the younger crowd :-)

Best Mom Eveerrrr!

Yep, that's me!  Best Mom Ever! and all it took was a $.50 ice cream cone from Burger King and a new Palace Pet.  I'm trying to enjoy these small moments because all too soon they will be replaced with bigger expectations :-)

We've joined the crowd

Yep, we're officially "in".  The Jones family is now an epi-pen carrying member of the peanut allergy crowd.

I'm trying to make light of the situation because honestly, I am completely overwhelmed by it.  Peanuts and nuts are everywhere!  I went to buy a prepared roaster from our local grocery yesterday and it had an allergy warning on it because of a shared preparation space.  I've fed these same roasters to my kids several times over the past year and have unknowingly put my youngest at risk.

We were at a playdate earlier in the week and I brought some potato chips and guess what?  They were cooked in peanut oil.  AAAAHHHHH!

And to complicate my induction into this new society, sometimes peanuts can masquerade as other things.  If the food has hydrolyzed plant or vegetable protein, and has been imported, it may really be peanuts/nuts.

So much to learn, so much to learn........

A busy couple of weeks

We've been trying to "catch up" or maybe I should say "get ahead" with all the girl's checkups, dental visits, etc.

It seems like everytime we go for one appointment, it generates another appointment.  In the past two weeks we've seen: the pediatrician a couple of times, the asthma/allergy doc on two separate visits, the eye doctor, the dentist, and had blood drawn at the lab.

Little Miss M's visit to the pediatrician generated a visit to the asthma/allergy doc for further allergy testing.  I have been hesitant to do further testing because the pediatric dermatologist who treats her skin rashes advised that allergy testing is not very accurate until a child reaches age 4 because their immune system is immature.  The pediatrician felt that even though we would need to test again at age 4, it would be helpful to find out what the results were right now.

We had done some minor allergy testing when M was just about 4 or 5 months old because of the skin rashes to rule out a milk allergy.  At that time, the only thing she tested positive for was "cat".  We've tried really hard to minimize the cat exposure over the past 18 months but there have been several instances where she has not been around cats and has had a flare.  I was beginning to think that she was allergic to grass/trees, the chemicals in the swimming pools, sunscreen/different lotions, and maybe even new carpet fibers--there have just been some weird times that she has flared up.

Soooooo, we go this past week for the skin allergy tests and what comes up positive,  the only thing that comes up positive??????  Peanuts.  My child who had previously tested positive for cat on a skin test and a blood test did not have a positive reaction to cat.  There was no reaction to grass/trees/pollen but she tested positive for peanuts.  This is my child who doesn't like peanut butter.  I know that peanuts and nut products are found in a lot of foods nowadays, but I'm just finding it hard to believe that she has tested positive for peanuts.  I think the doc was also a bit surprised about the cat findings and so we just made a trip to the lab for bloodwork to confirm/deny the recent findings.

UUUGGGHHH! So frustrating!

So on to my beautiful K.  We went for her 4 year checkup which is considered the kindergarten screening and she didn't do so well on the eye test.  This morning we went to the eye doctor and she has a astigmatism in both eyes.  Her vision is approximately 20/30 in each eye but because a astigmatism makes everything a little blurry, the doc recommended she wear glasses all the time because at this age all learning is done visually.  It's possible that the astigmatism may get better as she grows or it may get worse.  If it does get worse, it is something that can be corrected surgically when she she is older.

She picked out her own glasses.  Is this kid cute or what?

"Is this mud" and other questions from the Jones house

Some recent conversations from the Jones' house:

K-"Is this mud?" (referring to the gravy on her porkchop)
Me-"No it isn't mud. Have you ever eaten mud?"
K-"It looks like mud."
Me-"I wouldn't feed you mud.  Please, eat your dinner."

Miss M holding a plastic fried egg from her kitchen set:
M-"This icecream?"
Me-"No, it's a fried egg."
Several more attempts by Miss M to confirm that she was holding icecream.  Thinking I needed to clarify my answer since she didn't know what a fried egg was.
Me-"It's an egg that has been cracked open and cooked."
M-"This icecream?"
Feeling like this conversation could go on indefinitely.....while I'm trying to watch something on the TV.
Me-"It's a fried egg but you can use it for anything that you like."
M-"Fine. I'm leaving!"  as she slides off the couch and goes back in the playroom.
Leaving me with a WTH just happened expression!

"Mom, almost there?"

The little voice from the backseat that uttered that statement is my two year-old, and this my friends is why all car trips are limited to a max. drive of four hours.  If this is what the two year-old is saying, you can imagine how many times that statement is uttered by the older girls.

I still can't believe that Little Miss M is speaking in sentences.  How did that happen?  It is like somebody flipped a switch, but then again, with two older siblings around, she has to make her communiques pretty clear to get heard. 

I took her for her 24 month checkup last week and she is 33" tall and weighs 25.2 lbs.  We're still having problems with very sensitive skin which may be related to allergies but at this age the immune system is still so immature that allergy testing may give inaccurate results.  The pediatric dermatologist has said that she would treat the skin irritation the same regardless of whether the allergy was known or unknown, but it is still hard to not know what may be causing the flare-ups.  It puts a real damper on summertime activities:  very limited time outside and only after the sun is going down so I can limit sunscreen use and very limited time in the swimming pool because of the possible reaction to the chemicals in the water. 

Here are a few pics from some happenings over the last couple of weeks.

Little Miss M just beamed in every picture that she took with the characters.

Little Miss Drama is what I am now calling K.  I've noticed in almost all recent pictures, she has to "strike a pose".

Always the Big Sis--my G helping her little sis with the birthday crowing.

The girls with cousin C.J. at Mimi's church.

Monkey see, monkey do.  The "strike a pose" is rubbing off on her little sister!

Alica Keys has nothing on this girl singing "This Girl Is On Fire", except maybe a real microphone :-)

Just a pretty smile!

My G is getting so grown-up!

Twenty-five pictures taken and this is the only one that has them all looking forward.

Trying to catch up....

This was the post that I started for Mother's Day: 

"This is always such a hectic day as we schedule visits with family and still try to squeeze in a little relaxation time as well--I think that is an oxymoron--but I'm definitely not complaining!  So many of my peers have lost a parent this past year and so I'm concentrating on being thankful and not complaining because of the hectic schedule."

And now here it is the end of June.  I would like to say I've been on vacation since my last post at the end of March but in reality I've just been living life with my girls.  I always forget that from the time their birthdays start until we get cross the finish line into summer, it's just crazy.  This year has been no exception.  The girls had birthdays in March, April, and June and we celebrate each birthday for a week.  In our house we have a "birthday bucket" and each day of their birthday week there is a small treat/gift in the bucket.  There is also a family birthday party and a party with their friends.  This year G opted out of the party with friends and instead went to the American Girl store.   In addition to birthdays, the girls had school field trips, and end of year activities.  Why do school officials schedule all the trips/parties, picnics, teacher appreciation activities at the end of year??????  Then you throw in some holidays- Easter, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Father's Day, a couple of weekend getaways, a family member's wedding, another heart scare for my Dad, and here we are at the end of June.  Everyone is now sleeping in until 7:00am and so I can say we've successfully made the transition into summer :-)

In all that craziness, there is also all the time spent getting the girls ready for summer.  Researching summer activities/camps/bible schools.  Trying to line up just the right amount of activities to keep them busy and having fun and not so many that I make myself crazy trying to get it all done.  It's a very fine line my friends!

Here's a few pics from the girl's birthdays just so you can see how they've grown.  I've taken tons of pics over the past couple of months-I may have been slack on my blogging but I've got plenty of pictures :-)

Thoughts to share....

Here of late, my beautiful K has comes up with the sweetest, funniest things.

My pink chenille bathrobe hanging on the back of the bathtub door:
K-"Mommy, I love your pink karate jacket!"
Me-"Thank you!  I wear it while I'm vacuuming and doing my karate moves."

On cherished childhood songs:
K-"Old MacDonald had a farm, meatball, meatball, meatball"
This is followed by hysterical laughter.

While looking thru our photo album of our trip to the RMI:
K-"Mommy, who is this?"
Me-"That's our friend Miss Laura."
K-"Oh Mommy, she's so beautiful. Just like Princess Delora (Aurora)."

K and R heading out for Father's Night at the preschool.

It's all about being the princess.....

Just like G did at this age, K is now going thru what I call "the princess stage".  She can identify the princesses by name, and has claimed Rapunzel and Princess Delaura (Sleeping Beauty) as her favorites.  The strange thing about this is that we have only watched the Rapunzel movie, yet she knows all the princesses.  Pat on the back for that great marketing Disney Co.! 

She has a pretty frequent conversation where she'll ask each one of us "what princess do you want to be", and of course if we don't say the right one, she pick one for us--she's too funny! (even R gets to be a princess!)

Each night we say grace before dinner and K usually starts everyone off.  Her prayer goes like this, "Dear God, thank you for this food, and that I be Rapunzel with long hair."  So I know it's not totally appropriate as a prayer of thanks but she's so cute, because she's so serious about it.

She has a birthday coming up in a couple of weeks-hard to believe that she's going to be 4-and I'm sure there will be lots of princess stuff involved.

So long to February

To say I've been a little slack about posting and keeping this blog up recently, is an understatement.  I've been in such a fog with everyone being sick, my parents having some medical issues, and the dreaded tax season being upon me.  I just haven't had the energy or inclination to put anything out there.

And February was a busy month-there was Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, the preschool party, PJ day at school, doctor's visits, and did I mention it's tax season?

Chinese New Year celebrated with our local FCC.

The Three Musketeers getting ready for our family Chinese New Year celebration.

K and M wearing their CNY outfits that were handed down from G.

These two are either "best buds" or are doing a WWF takedown on each other.

The lovebugs returned on Valentine's Day with books and candy.

Anyone notice that M is only wearing her onesie and tights in the next picture?  She started the party with a really cute matching sweater and denim jumper.  I was the party mom for the preschool Valentine's Party and while I was setting-up the tables, she went in the bathroom, backed up and fell in the small-sized toilet.  Of all days not to have a change of clothes in my bag.   But you have to admit, my girl was rockin' those sunglasses!

M eating the craft (making necklaces with fruit strings and fruit loops) at the preschool Valentine's Party.

K all ready for Pajama Day at preschool.

These beanbags were one of my best impulse buys.  They actually have a semi-molded seat in them and are just the right size for little legs.  I would have been happier with a different color but it was either purple or black.

New beanbags for the little guys.

The one thing that stands out in all these pics is the sore that is on M's face under her lip--it has necessitated a trip to the pediatrician and a trip to the pediatric dermatologist.  Many creams and some night-time doses of benadryl have finally started to kick-in.  Fingers crossed that my March pics will show the improvement!

Remember.....

In the car yesterday, driving past the small pond that we pass everyday,

K:  "Mom"
Me:  "Yes"
K:  "Remember, don't drive the car on the pond."
Me:  "Okay, I'll remember."

Honestly, where did that come from?  I think she's been listening to her father "dis" my driving skills.  Note to all:  I have a near perfect driving record, with only one speeding ticket, from when I was in my early 20's.

K reading to her preschool mascot, Brown Bear.

Now that's what I call determination.....

A certain middle child in our family received a sparkly, baby blue Cinderella scooter for Christmas and while she wasn't overly ecstatic about it, someone else was.  The only problem,  legs not long enough to reach the pedal.  That only slowed her down momentarily.

"I did it!"

I found the following quote which I think perfectly describes my littlest girl, "Though she be but little, she is fierce!"-by William Shakespeare