Sneaky

I took like an hour nap today. Not long enough though. I thought Belle was watching a movie. She gave herself away though when I came to my laptop to find a million programs open and just as many pictures just like this one.

She's getting way too computer literate.

First Day of PreK

Belle had a great day at PreK. Her teacher's name this year is Miss Mary. When the teacher brought Belle out at the end of the day she said that Belle did perfect and did everything that was asked of her. It's hard to believe she might go to Kindergarten next year.





Here is Belle's picture from last year. She's grown up so much!

Tea Party Time Again!

The time came again for my friend Kelly's summer tea party. Its been a great time to reconnect with friends Sarah and Kelly from college. And well, Belle is always up for a party and to meet new friends.

Kelly always plans this so cute down to the littlest detail. And it just keeps getting bigger. There were about 20 girls there. The smallest being about 18 mos maybe up to 8-10ish.









The girls played games and did crafts. Kelly's sister-in-law Erica even did a hilarious skit that later tied into a game they played.









We wrapped up the night with a dress up contest and a movie before bedtime. This was Belle's first time to sleepover and it went great. I stayed with her and I'm still recovering from sleeping on the floor. We stayed up til 1am and I'm pretty sure Belle could've kept going til dawn.





I'm glad Kelly does this every year. It's fun to get together with friends I don't get to see and it's a blast for Belle as well.



And to make this a really long post. Here are a couple photos from the last two parties. Here are the posts for the first and second parties.

Characters

I thought it would be fun to update every now and then on the kids personalities and their likes and dislikes.

Belle - 4 years
• You are a CHARACTER. You will never go unnoticed if you can help it.
• You're extremely outgoing and have no problem going up to kids and saying "Hi, my name is Belle, whats your name?".
• You constantly embarrass your parents by telling every single person at Walmart "hi". Once I asked you why you feel the need to say hi to everyone, your response "because they look my in my eye".
• You wake up every morning asking for candy. For you candy can mean anything from gum to chocolate to a popsicle. You are a junk food junkie like your mother.
• You love school although you DO NOT want to work on any school stuff with mom at home.
• You love horses. You have a ton of toy horses.
• Your favorite shows are Ruff Ruffman and Caliou.
• Your favorite movie is The My Little Pony movie.
• This summer you love going swimming and taking "nature walks" with daddy (walks along the high school cross country trail).

Ethan - almost 2 years
• Like your sister you are pretty outgoing. Although it's yet to be seen if you are just copying your sister.
• You love your sissy and want to do EVERYTHING your sissy does.
• You are a daredevil. You've scared us all to death, jumping from crazy heights or diving into the pool head first. There is no physical obstacle that you'll let stand in your way.
• You are becoming a picky eater, but I'm beginning to think it's only when you want to be. You've been known to out of the blue try new things and eat them no problem.
• You are starting to put words together pretty well. My favorite is "thank you mama" or "mama cere-all?" (when you are asking to share my breakfast)
• You are starting to like trains and cars a lot more. You'll lay in bed and drive a car around while you go to sleep.
• Your favorite shows are Sid the Science Kid and the movie Cars.

Daredevil

I put the little stinker down for his nap today, handed him a car and went on my way. I was downstairs cutting onions when I heard Ethan start to cry. I figured he just didn't want to sleep. If he was still crying by the time I got done I'd go up there. Well by the time I was done, he was hysterical. Imagine my surprise when I walked in and saw this. He had gotten up, but couldn't get down.


And being the wonderful mother that I am, I quickly saved my precious angel from that dangerous situation. Nope, grabbed my phone, turned on the light and snapped a picture. I figure he's lucky I didn't run downstairs for the Nikon. =)

I think he must of been after the other car I sat on top of the dresser (he has it in his hand in the picture). I've seen him stretch from his bed to the dresser before to get his cup, but never get on top. That would've been interesting to see.

Never a dull day with this kid. I see stitches or something getting broken in his future.

A week with Mimi and Poppy

We got quite the break in July. First Mamaw and Papaw took the kids for a almost a week and then it was Mimi and Poppy's turn.

They did all kinds of things. They played with Brody and Cooper everyday I think. Brody and Ethan took a while to warm up to each other. I guess there were a lot of fighting and screaming over toys. Ethan really liked Cooper though and kept saying "Hi Ba-bay". They went to Youngs Dairy and got ice cream, they went to the Creation Museum and on the last day Belle got to go ride horses. An expensive hobby I'm not sure I want Belle getting into. =)

Video updates

Today is the second to last day for swim class. It was pretty much a "lets see if you can really swim" day. Belle spent a lot of time underwater, but she didn't seem to mind. (not sure why this video uploaded all crappy)




And can you handle this cuteness. Ethan is saying more words everyday. Although I imagine he might be like his sister and not really be able to speak well til almost 3. I remember worrying and worrying about her speech, but now you can't shut her up.


Notice how when Nic asks him to say "horse" and "cow", Ethan says "neigh" and "moo". Cannot get him to say horse or cow.

A few more things we've been up to

Belle has started swim lessons. She's done great. She now can go under water with no problem. She hasn't quite started swimming like the other two girls in her class, but she loves to try. Aside from a few behavior issues with her, she's having fun and doing great.





We had a houseguest for a week. The kids just loved having Maggie while her family was in Myrtle Beach. Belle is still telling me that she misses Maggie. I really wish the kids could have a dog that loved them back. But Sadie is just an old biddy that just wants left alone.

Sweaty weekend

Well first you'll notice my blog design. Its some crappy blogger template. I figured I'd change it so that it might spur me to get to redesigning. We'll see how long it lasts.

Its been crazy hot here. But last weekend we managed to go to the fair and the fair parade.

Here are the kids. Right when we got there.


And then it got sweaty. I've never sweated so much in my life. I had to come home and shower.


On Sunday we headed to the fair and the kids got to see the animals. Ethan got to ride his first ride by himself. Well he had to ride with his sister, but they enjoyed the "choo choo".


Ethan is not good about holding our hands but pretty good about holding sissy's hand.

The Belle show

Last week Belle kept asking me to video tape her dancing. And what is a show without special guests.

Special guest Olivia. Including Maggie chewing on Belle's giraffe. I just realized this after I uploaded the video. Err.


Special guest Titus.

4th of July weekend!

We were pretty busy over the fourth of July weekend.

The kids loved the fireworks. It was Belle's second time trying to watch fireworks. You may remember this post. The Eldridges came with us and we had a great time.


Titus was happy so long as he had popcorn.




Belle loved the light up bands so much she was pretty much a christmas tree.


And Jeremy was a sport and let Ethan feed him


We made it to the zoo the day before. Belle got to ride her first roller coaster and had a blast. Ethan could probably spend all day just looking at all the exhibits. The sharks were especially friendly and we got to pet several.









Here is Mr "I can do it myself" not letting me touch him while we rode the carousel.

Marriage

The subject of marriage came up during one of Nic's walks with the kids.

Belle was telling Nic that she wanted to marry Ethan. Nic informed her that she cannot marry her brother, thats just the way it is. So she asked if she could marry Audrey (a friend her age), Nic said no. She asked if she could marry Daniel (Audrey's brother), Nic said no. "So who am I going to marry?" she asked. Nic told her that she'd figure it out when she got a lot older. Then she said "Daddy, will you help me?" and Nic said "you better believe it!" Ha ha.

We also had a little conversation about heaven. She asked me in the car the other day if when she got old she could go live with Jesus, just like her pink fishy (that died). This was right after she said "uh mommy. I was thinking" " I don't want to grow up".

I love hearing about all the stuff in that girls head. She sure is growing up and starting to ask some good questions. =)